SeilerBird
Well-known member
A few weeks ago I damaged the front LCD screen on my Verizon prepaid phone. It only cost $20 so fixing it was not an option. I was down to only $10 airtime too. I went to Verizon's web site to see what phones were being offered. To my surprise they are now offering a 4G prepaid phone for $200. The bummer was there was only one plan available and it was $80 per month.
I rarely use my phone and I never text. In 2011 I put $100 into my account and it lasted all year, that works out to $8.50 per month. So the idea of spending ten times that amount just to have Internet access seemed rather silly to me. So I posted a thread here asking people what they did with their smart phones that made them worth $80 per month. No one really impressed me enough with their opinions to convince me I needed one.
Then I stayed in Marin County for a week and took the Larkspur Ferry to San Francisco three times. The first time was during rush hour and the boat was packed. Everyone, and I mean everyone had an electronic devise in their hands the whole time. Most had laptops, there were netbooks, tablets and smart phones of every type. I had my netbook so I fit right in. Then I got a phone call. I was so embarrassed to pull out dumb phone that I actually shielded it with my hands so no one could see what I was using. And I never get embarrassed.
Then I got to SF and walked around town and took a tour bus one day. I realized that the GPS would have been very handy especially when I was looking for a drug store. I found one with my netbook, but I had to wear a backpack to be able to cart the netbook around. I realized with a smartphone I would have not needed the backpack.
So when I got home I decided to check and see if any of the other major carriers were offering a prepaid 4G smartphone at a reasonable price. Well I could find only one other carrier that did, T-Mobile. They were offering the Samsung Exhibit II 4G T679 for $200. I read the user reviews and they were mostly raves and it got 4 of 5 stars at Amazon. Then I went back to T-Mobile's site to look at plans. I almost had a heart attack. 100 minutes of talk, unlimited text and unlimited web for the unbelievably low price of (drum roll) $30 per month. NOW YOU ARE TALKING!!!
I assumed there was a catch so I researched it and could find no chink in the armor. They offer 6 different prepaid plans from $15 per month to $70 per month. The $70 plan is unlimited talk, text and web. Wow. So on my birthday, last Wednesday I went to Walmart and bought the Exhibit and signed up for the $30 plan and I got my number ported over. A crowd of doubting Thomas's (myself included) was predicting that the smart phone would never end up in my hand, but they were all wrong. I have come into the 21st Century.
I have been playing with it constantly since I got it so I could figure everything out. It is a beautiful phone and very easy to figure out. I was completely blown away by how great the T-Mobile customer service is. I had a problem porting it and they went out of their way to make sure the job got done. And they were people who spoke English as their native tongue.
I have been spending a lot of time shopping for apps and not finding very many that appeal to me, but I knew that before I bought the phone. So far I have gotten 6 apps. iBird Pro 2, which is a field guide on steroids. I know about 99% of the birds I see on site, so I won't be using it often, but it will come in handy.
I got Soundhound, which is music identification software that is beyond mind boggling. Hold it up to a speaker and it samples about 5 seconds of the music and then identifies the song, displays the album cover of the album it is on, had a link to buy the song or album, a link to the song lyrics and other links of interest. You can also hum a song and it will figure it out. Of course I knew I could stump the program so the first thing I did was sing badly an obscure 30 year old Monty Python song. Bingo it nailed it.
Ok, so much for the easy stuff, time to take off the gloves and hit Soundhound below the belt. So I played a 1936 Bob Wills song and I sampled it in the middle of the fiddle solo so it wouldn't have words to help it. Bingo, up pops Bob's smiling face and the title "Bring it on Down to My House". I almost fainted.
Next up was NightSky, the night sky identification software. Hold it up to the sky and it identifies the heavenly bodies from the sun to Iridium satellites. Way cool.
Then I got Paper Camera, which takes photos and turns them into bizarre abstract pieces of art. I have attached a photo I took with the camera and then ran through the Andy filter in Paper Camera. Too cool.
I did download a few free apps and they had ads in them so I quickly uninstalled them.
There are two reasons for posting this thread. I want forum members to know that there is an affordable 4G prepaid phone with affordable plans on the market. And I am hoping for some suggestions for apps that you think I might like to try.
I am sorry if I made you faint, Wendy.
I rarely use my phone and I never text. In 2011 I put $100 into my account and it lasted all year, that works out to $8.50 per month. So the idea of spending ten times that amount just to have Internet access seemed rather silly to me. So I posted a thread here asking people what they did with their smart phones that made them worth $80 per month. No one really impressed me enough with their opinions to convince me I needed one.
Then I stayed in Marin County for a week and took the Larkspur Ferry to San Francisco three times. The first time was during rush hour and the boat was packed. Everyone, and I mean everyone had an electronic devise in their hands the whole time. Most had laptops, there were netbooks, tablets and smart phones of every type. I had my netbook so I fit right in. Then I got a phone call. I was so embarrassed to pull out dumb phone that I actually shielded it with my hands so no one could see what I was using. And I never get embarrassed.
Then I got to SF and walked around town and took a tour bus one day. I realized that the GPS would have been very handy especially when I was looking for a drug store. I found one with my netbook, but I had to wear a backpack to be able to cart the netbook around. I realized with a smartphone I would have not needed the backpack.
So when I got home I decided to check and see if any of the other major carriers were offering a prepaid 4G smartphone at a reasonable price. Well I could find only one other carrier that did, T-Mobile. They were offering the Samsung Exhibit II 4G T679 for $200. I read the user reviews and they were mostly raves and it got 4 of 5 stars at Amazon. Then I went back to T-Mobile's site to look at plans. I almost had a heart attack. 100 minutes of talk, unlimited text and unlimited web for the unbelievably low price of (drum roll) $30 per month. NOW YOU ARE TALKING!!!
I assumed there was a catch so I researched it and could find no chink in the armor. They offer 6 different prepaid plans from $15 per month to $70 per month. The $70 plan is unlimited talk, text and web. Wow. So on my birthday, last Wednesday I went to Walmart and bought the Exhibit and signed up for the $30 plan and I got my number ported over. A crowd of doubting Thomas's (myself included) was predicting that the smart phone would never end up in my hand, but they were all wrong. I have come into the 21st Century.
I have been playing with it constantly since I got it so I could figure everything out. It is a beautiful phone and very easy to figure out. I was completely blown away by how great the T-Mobile customer service is. I had a problem porting it and they went out of their way to make sure the job got done. And they were people who spoke English as their native tongue.
I have been spending a lot of time shopping for apps and not finding very many that appeal to me, but I knew that before I bought the phone. So far I have gotten 6 apps. iBird Pro 2, which is a field guide on steroids. I know about 99% of the birds I see on site, so I won't be using it often, but it will come in handy.
I got Soundhound, which is music identification software that is beyond mind boggling. Hold it up to a speaker and it samples about 5 seconds of the music and then identifies the song, displays the album cover of the album it is on, had a link to buy the song or album, a link to the song lyrics and other links of interest. You can also hum a song and it will figure it out. Of course I knew I could stump the program so the first thing I did was sing badly an obscure 30 year old Monty Python song. Bingo it nailed it.
Ok, so much for the easy stuff, time to take off the gloves and hit Soundhound below the belt. So I played a 1936 Bob Wills song and I sampled it in the middle of the fiddle solo so it wouldn't have words to help it. Bingo, up pops Bob's smiling face and the title "Bring it on Down to My House". I almost fainted.
Next up was NightSky, the night sky identification software. Hold it up to the sky and it identifies the heavenly bodies from the sun to Iridium satellites. Way cool.
Then I got Paper Camera, which takes photos and turns them into bizarre abstract pieces of art. I have attached a photo I took with the camera and then ran through the Andy filter in Paper Camera. Too cool.
I did download a few free apps and they had ads in them so I quickly uninstalled them.
There are two reasons for posting this thread. I want forum members to know that there is an affordable 4G prepaid phone with affordable plans on the market. And I am hoping for some suggestions for apps that you think I might like to try.
I am sorry if I made you faint, Wendy.