I bought a new phone

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.

Into the space age now!  You will love it but, don't let it become an obsession. I was in Bangkok, Thailand one day on the Skytrain when school got out. There must have been 300 students in the car we were in and every one of them was on a cell phone or texting.

We almost did T-Mobile but there's zero coverage where we live most of the time.  In hindsight, we probably could get along using WIFI around the house.

Glad to hear the crowds in SF convinced you to look into it.  It probably takes photos (in an emergency) too.

Try gas buddy. its pretty good. It does have ads but still finds cheap gas!

BTW, Welcome to the now! (oops, forgot to tell you, you are out of date already!) 

Congratulations Tom and trust me, you will never regret it!

Mariekie.

Strangers on a ferry convinced you when your Forum friends couldn't. Have fun with the phone. And give the Oh Ranger app a try, it's one of my favorites. Didn't even think of telling you about Shazam and other apps that identify music. Have fun and You're Welcome.

Wendy

The strangers on the ferry (sounds like a song title) really didn't convince me, it was the $30 per month that sold it. I really love the GPS feature. I realized that I have been on hikes on the trail and in a city when I thought I might be lost. Turns out I wasn't lost, but I it did give me bit of a scare. With a GPS in my pocket I will feel a lot more comfortable walking around.

taoshum - Yep, their coverage map definitely doesn't look as good as Verizon, ATT or Sprints does. I decided to give it a try and if it doesn't work for me then I can sell the phone and go back to a dumb phone.

One other thing that really impressed me about this phone is how tightly it is integrated with Google. I use Google everything. So I synced it to my Google account and it imports all my contacts. The coolest thing is the way it tinkles at me whenever I get an email.

Wendy - Thank you and trust me, I am having fun. A new electronic toy is like dying and going to heaven. I have wanted a smart phone for a long time. It was only the price that was scaring me away. You must remember I am in great financial shape mainly because I refuse to use credit and I refuse to have monthly bills. The only bill I have is $50 per month for my Verizon air card and that pays for itself every month with all the money I save shopping at Amazon instead of shopping locally. So it was impossible to talk myself into $80 a month for what would be basically a toy for me.

Glen - No chance of it becoming an obsession. I rode up to SF with my family sitting next to an 18 year old niece that never let the phone out of her hand for the entire one hour trip. She sent an average of three text messages per hour.

Marie - I know I won't regret it. I would have regretted it at $80 per month.

Steve - I have used gas buddy online and I didn't like it. I got too many false reports. I would drive to the cheapest gas station in town only to find out it is a lie. And gas buddy is something I can do with my laptop much easier. The only apps I am interested in are ones that need to be portable to work, like the bird field guide. I own all 9 of the current North American bird field guides, so I don't need another one for the house, but I do have a use for one in the field. Same with Soundhound, it needs to be portable. Same thing with NightSky. I don't like using a computer with a 4 inch screen when a laptop will do. I am only interested in apps that should be used when I am not at my computer.

My daughter was visting recently and she put me on to Soundhound....you're right, it is a great app, and kind of fun just to play around with. I love that it even scrolls the lyrics.

Tom,

I have an iphone so I don't know if ProHDR is available for yours. It analyzes a scene, takes two photos and then does HDR on them. Only works for static scenes but does help with indoor shots where the sun might be overexposed. It was either free or  $0.99.

Jim Dick said:

Tom,

I have an iphone so I don't know if ProHDR is available for yours. It analyzes a scene, takes two photos and then does HDR on them. Only works for static scenes but does help with indoor shots where the sun might be overexposed. It was either free or  $0.99.

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Jim, There is an HDR program available for Android. But there are three problems with it. I really don't like HDR photography. I see a lot of HDR shots on my photo forum and they always underwhelm me. They just look too unnatural too me. The other problem is I shoot RAW exclusively so I can fix an indoor scene where the sun is overexposed. The third problem is if I did want to do HDR my a55 has it built in so there is no need for me to get another program to do it. But I really appreciate you taking the time to make the suggestion.

Tom,

I understand. I also only shoot in RAW unless it's a snapshot. I was just thinking of times when I don't have my good camera with me, such as a neat restaurant or other location where carrying a large camera might be awkward. It gives me a better chance of capturing some neat feature that otherwise would be lost due to unbalanced lighting. What I don't need is another photo program on my computer! ;D ;D

Jim Dick said:

I was just thinking of times when I don't have my good camera with me...

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You actually go somewhere without your good camera? The only place I go without my good camera is the shower ;D I think that the worst sentence anyone can say is "I saw such and such and it was 5 feet away and posing and I didn't have my camera with me..." ???

Tom,

I hate to admit it but, yes, I do sometimes go places without my good camera. ;D I agree with your last sentence. At least now my iphone does take really good photos so something that close can be capture. Still, not a replacement for the good camera.

Jim

Let me tell you a story that helped push me over the edge to getting a smartphone. I was camping illegally at the Grand Canyon about 5 years ago in the employees parking lot next to an employee dorm. I got up around 5:30 and went into the dorm to use their shower. It is a 50 foot walk and dawn is just breaking. In the middle of the path is 4 baby Juncos and when they saw me they all started begging for food. They must have just left the nest that morning. Do you know how adorable 4 baby Juncos look when they are begging for food? No camera at all with me. I should have walked back and got my camera but I figured they would still be there when I got done with the shower. They weren't. No photo.

So what did your $30 plan include?

Barb said:

So what did your $30 plan include?

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100 minutes of talk, unlimited text and unlimited web.

Wendy - I checked out Oh Ranger. It looks like a really neat program but it is not one I would use. All that info is available online so I would much prefer to use my laptop to find that type of information.

HI Barb --

While I was typing this, Tom aswered the question, but it took me so long to type this I'm going to post it anyway ;D

Tom's probably out hiking and shooting birds, so I'll tell you what I found on the T-Mobile website.

The $30 plan is available only at WalMart, WalMart.com and T-Mobile.com.  It includes 100 minutes Talk, Unlimited Text, and Unlimited WEB*.
*=the first 5Gs is at up to 4G speed.  Presumably, then, they reduce the speed thereafter.

I couldn't find any Gotchas.

Do you think if I got one of these Russ would stop calling me a Luddite?

Don

gmsboss1 said:

Tom's probably out hiking and shooting birds, so I'll tell you what I found on the T-Mobile website.

I couldn't find any Gotchas.

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Don - I only wish it would stop raining long enough so I could go hiking and shooting. I searched long and hard for Gotchas about this plan and could find nothing but raves for T-Mobile. They are not number one and they are trying harder. Since it is a no contract situation I have nothing to loose by trying their service. I am in the boonies and it is working fine.

Just having a nice camera in my pocket all the time makes it worthwhile for me. I was paying $10 per month for a dumb phone with 33 minutes per month. Now for another $20 per month I get another 67 minutes and unlimited web. I can't beat that with a stick.

Presumably, then, they reduce the speed thereafter.

Click to expand...

Don, from the T-mobile web site:

"All Unlimited data services include unlimited data, but the amount of high-speed data varies. You won?t incur overages if you exceed your plan?s allotment of high-speed data, but your data speeds will be reduced for the rest of your billing cycle."

Good luck interpreting that  ;D

FWIW we've had one or more T-mobile phones and air cards/USB (thumb drive) modems for 9 years. I've even used them on the GSM system in Europe. Never upgraded to smart phones with T-mobile, because I activated smart phones on Verizon. I saw one of their (T-mobile's) "unlimited" banners while driving around another town recently and came home to investigate. My thinking was that I might activate a smart phone to check them out. But, it didn't take a lot of research to figure out you don't get unlimited high speed data.

Edit: It's possible that WalMart has enough buying power to get cell providers to offer special deals to their (WM) customers that they can't get elsewhere. This is true to some extent with Costco, although more so with the equipment and add-on goodies.

Tom said:

Don, from the T-mobile web site:

"All Unlimited data services include unlimited data, but the amount of high-speed data varies. You won?t incur overages if you exceed your plan?s allotment of high-speed data, but your data speeds will be reduced for the rest of your billing cycle."

Good luck interpreting that  ;D

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You are right, that is not easy to interpret. However if you go here everything is crystal clear:

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans

With my $30 per month plan I get 5 gigs at 4G speed and after that I get throttled back. There is no way I will ever come close to using 5 gigs on my phone. I will be lucky to use 1 gig. The fine print says this plan is new activations only however some users have stated that they were existing customers and were allowed to switch to the plan. Like I said, I can't find the chink in the armour.