Tag: HTC One V

Minecraft Pocket Edition Issues with Samsung Galaxy S3

On By Michel McDonaldIn GamesLeave a comment

Screenshot_2015-04-30-11-51-40

I blogged the other day that I was having issues with Minecraft PE on my new phone, but I didn’t really get into what the problem was. I bought Minecraft PE on the Google Play Store about a month or 2 ago for $6.99. I have a app called Google Rewards that reward me in actual cash for surveys, and I don’t even have to wait a month for it, I can use the money to buy Android apps.

So I bought Minecraft PE specifically for when I’m not home and I am having Minecraft withdrawals. The struggle is real people LMAO!!! Of course when I bought it, I intended to only play it on my Nook HD+ because of the bigger screen, but as it turns out, I don’t bring my Nook to doctor’s appointments. My old HTC One V smart phone was a bit small, but it installed just fine and I have played it there with no issues. When I bought my Samsung Galaxy S3, no bueno! It installs, as you can see from the image above, but it just won’t play. Let me show you the screens that I get screen by screen.

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So the first screen you see is the main screen when you first load the game. You click the Play button, obviously. The next screen is supposed to show your worlds, if you have created any, so you click the world, but since it’s new to my phone, I haven’t created any yet. So I click NEW at the top right corner and you get the 3rd image above. You can choose survival or creative, you can hit advanced and go through that menu. Once you hit Create World, you should see a world come up on the screen and you rush to get your shelter in order to stay alive, but instead, I’m seeing the 4th image. No bueno!

Screenshot_2015-04-30-12-06-45Screenshot_2015-04-30-12-09-31I’ve researched the issue, and one admin of a website mentions files, or the lack of rather. I went into the file manager and sure enough, in every folder where I see the word Minecraft, there are zero files. And there are several folders too, but what’s odd is that it shows that there are 44.38mb total, 14.69mb is application and 29.50mb is SD card app. Then of course the data, which should show a number since I tried creating a world, or 20.

I know people are going to suggest that I clear the cache and clear this and clear that, but trust me, I have done that. I have even copied the files from my Nook and even copied the worlds from my Nook to the Samsung phone and they still don’t work.

Just so you know, this is NOT a huge issue or deal. I can still play this game on my Nook HD+ and my PlayStation 4, but it’s just the idea that something won’t install that bothers me. I can’t upload images to Twitter and I’m not sweating over that one, it’s just that I don’t have an addiction to tweeting pictures as much as I have an addiction to games.

I am still researching every time I remember to and I’m hoping I can find out how to fix it because it does bother me that I bought something that I can’t even use on ALL of my Android devices.

Once again I am using a Samsung Galaxy S3 with Snapdragon. It’s a refurbished phone that I bought for $99 from Choxi (formerly Nomorerack). I’ve tried all the tricks I’ve seen in the message boards like uninstalling it and reinstalling it, unmounting the SD card, installing, then remounting the SD card. I’ve tried rebooting, then installing. Nothing works because it is not installing specific files, remember the empty folder? Every folder that has the word Minecraft in the title is empty on the device and on the SD card.

If anyone has answers, please comment. In the meantime, I’ll continue with Minecraft for PS4.

New Samsung Galaxy S3 Phone with FreedomPop Service

On By Michel McDonaldIn TechLeave a comment

phones

My new Samsung Galaxy S3 came a couple of days ago. I was going to activate it as a pre-paid phone with Sprint, but the Quick Start card that came with the phone was from FreedomPop. It said FreedomPop on the Nomorerack (now Choxi) website, and I dismissed that since I figured I would activate it with Sprint. Anyway, check out the difference from my old HTC One V (left) from Virgin Mobile compared to the new phone (right). Huge difference!

The sound quality was HORRIFIC when I made my first phone call to our landline lol. Well, first of all there wasn’t any sound at all. My partner could hear me just fine, but with a ton of static, but I couldn’t hear him at all. We hung up and tried again and it was still bad, but I figured out how to turn the mic volume down and suddenly he could hear me just fine, and no static. I called my aunt and it sounded like she picked up the phone, but there wasn’t anyone on the other line, and then the line was dead. I called her the next day and the timer was going, but I couldn’t hear anything. I figured perhaps she could hear me, I just couldn’t hear her, but when I called her on my Virgin Mobile cell phone which is still active for another month, she told me she could barely hear me at all on my new phone. She said it sounded garbled. Ugh!

By the way, my aunt has a Samsung Galaxy S2 and she told me that when she turns her head, no one can hear or understand her. This is supposed to be the crème de la crème of phones, so why do they suck for making phone calls?

Today I went to the FreedomPop website to get help. I found out that this is a common issue. Well shit, why is it that I always seem to get something that has a common issue? I installed Minecraft PE on the new phone and for some odd reason it wasn’t installing specific files, and guess what? It’s a common issue. So here I am with this awesome phone that I can’t make calls with.

Several people on the message boards on the FreedomPop website said that they could not make a phone call without wifi being turned on, so I thought what if that is my problem? What if I turned OFF the wifi on my phone and see what happens, so I called my Virgin mobile cell phone and it was perfect. I could hear myself on both phones. I can call my new cell phone from another phone and it works with WiFi turned on, but I can’t call out with it turned on. Well, that’s still not right that I have to remember to turn the WiFi off just to be able to make a phone call. Oh and by the way, it was garbled. I could hear myself perfectly fine on the Samsung speaker, but on the Virgin speaker, I could hear myself garbled from the Samsung mic. It’s also too low, and now I can’t find where the mic volume is lol. I can’t win!

I have a Bluetooth watch that I just bought last month and it seems to work with my new phone, but the call quality, not so much. I tried calling my Virgin mobile phone with it and I couldn’t hear anything. Ugh! Perhaps a Samsung bluetooth ear piece might work?

When I first activated the phone on my computer, it told me it was sending me a new phone. I can’t even remember what kind of phone it was, but I figured it was probably something they do for customers who want service, but don’t have a phone, but then again I did activate an actual phone, so I don’t know. I thought that perhaps it was a mistake, but then I got this today.

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If they actually do send me a new phone and it works, I would be curious to know if Choxi would give me a refund and allowed me to send their refurbished phone back to them. The point of me buying the Samsung Galaxy S3 was to get a kick ass phone with 16GB, not to get a phone that probably only has 1GB, then I’d be back to where I was before with my Virgin Mobile phone. I can forgive the Minecraft issue because I can just play that on my Nook HD+, but I need to be able to make phone calls, and if the Samsung one will just work as a phone, then I’d like to just use that and not a free phone from FreedomPop. I wonder if I can keep both and just use the new one for calls, but the Samsung one for apps and texting and data. I don’t know if they would allow me to have service on 2 phones though, so that’s a good question. I just don’t want to have to go back to a phone with 1GB lol. I bought this Samsung one for a reason dammit!

Ugh, I’m so beyond frustrated. Why does this always happen to me? Why is it that the thing (technology) I love the most, hates me the most? I will definitely be back if/when a new phone comes and I get to speak with someone over at FreedomPop about my issue.

Time for a new cell phone

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cell Phone, Products I Like, TechLeave a comment

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Call me an excited nerd, because I am so beyond freaking excited to be getting a new cell phone lol.

Today I woke up, got the mail and saw a flier on our screen door for “MetroPCS.” The ad was $29 for 4G phones, and in the picture are the Alcatel One Touch Fierce 2, LG Optimus L70 and Hydro Life by Kyocera. The small writing at the bottom of that side says:

“Phone Instant Rebate Offer: Limited time offer, while supplies last. Requires new line activation or a phone upgrade. Between February 11, 2015 and April 30, 2015 at participating MetroPCS stores purchase and Alcatel ONETOUCH Fierce 2 phone, an LG Optimus L70 phone, or a Kyocera Hydro LIFE phone and receive an instant $120 rebate off of regular price.”

Ok, I’ll bite… The other side of the flier says our best deal ever. $30. Unlimited data, talk, text on the nationwide T-mobile Network. So that means if I went to MetroPCS today and bought a $29 phone, I would say goodbye to Virgin Mobile. Well, I was ready to say goodbye to Virgin because all these years that I’ve had my HTC One V phone has been a living nightmare of only being able to actually access a website or use an app using the Sprint network about 10% of the time. Yes, 90% of the time I have tried using my phone has been a complete failure. I was so ready to leave Virgin and go back to T-Mobile, which used to be what I had when I was using my old Nokia 3390 phone.

I went to their website and typed in the LG Optimus L70 and found that it only has 1.3GB of hard drive space, meaning I would be right back to where I am with my HTC One V which is a 1GB phone, and what a nightmare that has been having to deal with constantly having to clear the cache every time an app wants to do an update. While I was at the MetroPCS website I noticed that they give you an instant $70 rebate, but then you have to fill out paperwork and wait for a $50 mail in rebate. So instead of only being able to pay $29 for a phone, I’m paying $79 and I have to wait, I’m guessing 3 months for the $50 rebate. So basically the flier lied to me, even in the small print. The website specifically saying “In store only” so that means that if I went in the store, I’d get screwed. I can see how the conversation would be, “but your flier specifically says I get a $120 instant rebate” then they make up some kind of excuse as to why I have to pay the $79 and wait for the $50 rebate. No! Screw that!

I remembered that Nomorerack had a sale on their Samsung Galaxy S3 Snapdragon MSM8960 for only $99 and it has 16GB hard drive installed, and I got free shipping. Yes, by me saying “got free shipping” that says that I did buy it lol. So that’s what you see in the image above. My HTC One V on the left and the new Samsung Galaxy SIII on the right. The phone I got says it is CDMA unlocked & refurbished. It’s unlocked meaning I can go to the Virgin Mobile website and add the serial number to swap phones. I’m not sure I will have to worry about any fees, I hope note, but if I do then life’s a bitch and then you die lol.

The thing I am most excited about is the front facing camera. I will finally be able to use some apps I haven’t been able to use because I didn’t have that camera. I’ll now be able to Skype with people who never want to Skype with me and I’ll now be able to take selfies without having to delete about 20 because I couldn’t find the button and ended up taking a blurry picture of my forehead.

What was wrong with my old HTC One V you ask? Well, what wasn’t wrong with it is the better question. It was constantly rebooting on its own. Whenever I would call someone, or that very rare occasion when someone called me, the speaker was so messed up that it sounded like Kanye West trying to sing with auto tune. It sounded horrible, just awful, and so did the phone calls. I couldn’t stand it, but at the same time, I was stuck with it because I didn’t have the money to upgrade to a better phone because they were always like $300 or more.

My HTC One V was nice to have for the first year or 2, but then it just started getting frustrating. I mean, literally, frustrating. I find myself going UGH every time I heard it reboot. There were times I left it at home because it was pointless to bring it anywhere since I could never get it to work right. Oh and don’t get me started on the apps constantly crashing. I have an app where I scan barcodes and have to submit my grocery list every time I go to the grocery store for points to buy prizes, but practically every time I go to use it, I have to reboot my phone and wait for it to allow me to load the app to use it. I do that so it is a fresh reboot, so I don’t have to worry about it rebooting or crashing, but it still does it anyway.

So thank you MetroPCS for your flier and thank you for being so dishonest in your advertising that you drove me to buying a new phone somewhere else and staying with Virgin Mobile.

My New HTC One V for Christmas

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cell Phone, Christmas, Computer, Gadgets, Pictures, Products I Like, TechLeave a comment

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I got a brand new cell phone for Christmas thanks to IZEA paying me to blog and tweet.  I just love blogging and tweeting for money.  It’s not a very good living, but at least I get some cool things out of it.

It just so happened that when I got my new HTC One V from Virgin Mobile, my partner decided that he wanted to set his computer up and naturally his mouse and keyboard weren’t working, so I gave him mine which meant that I lost my computer.  So I’ve been using my new phone as a computer for a few days now.  I’m not used to using such a small screen so it takes getting used to.  I have my Chromebook, but the WiFi crashes after typing a few words.  I reset it to factory settings, but it still does it.  Resetting it helped make it faster because even clearing the cache and browsing history wasn’t speeding it up, but the WiFi problem still happens, which meant my phone is now my only means of being online.  I’m “borrowing” my keyboard and mouse for this lol.

So after a few days of using it, here are my impressions.  I read a few reviews and watched a dozen video reviews on YouTube before I committed to buying this phone just to make sure it was what I wanted.  Of course, I wanted a better one, but this was what I could afford that I could get before Christmas day.

I was under the impression that it had 4GB onboard, but when I went to install the Sims free play, it said I didn’t have enough room which told me that I only had 1GB available.  I figured I’d be okay until I could buy a MicroSD card, but apparently not.  I am using a 2GB MicroSD card from my previous phone, so that is working for now until I get my new 32GB MicroSD card.

I am very impressed with the performance compared to some of the reviews that I watched.  It’s not slow at all.  I mean, sometimes I have to wait for a page to load or a game to load, but I’m not spoiled with a faster cell phone since this is my very first smart phone so maybe I just don’t know the difference yet.  It is slow however when I am not at home on my WiFi.  We were at the movies yesterday and it took forever for Foursquare to load so I could check in.  It finally checked in by the time we got home.  So the 3G isn’t great so far, but it’s wonderful on our WiFi.  I will have to see how frustrated I am the next time we have a doctor’s appointment lol.

iphone folder screenshot The OS is pretty impressive, well to me anyway.  It has the big clock with the weather, then room for 8 icons underneath.  There are 2 screens to the left and 2 screens to the right.  I decided that I didn’t want a bunch of icons, so I downloaded the iPhone Style Folder app.  I tried another one that allows me to put the icons in folders, but it only allowed me to have one folder, which is not what I was looking for.  This is perfect for me.

Oh and by the way, I downloaded an app to take screenshots and it was nice enough to tell me that my phone already has a way of taking screenshots by simply pressing the power button and then the home button.  So that’s one less app that I have to worry about taking up room or putting a watermark on my screenshot.  The background image is of our Christmas tree btw.

Before I got the phone, I typed out a post about how to make money using your phone.  I installed those apps (as you can see from the folder in the image above) and here are my impressions so far.

1. iPinion was a pain to sign up on because it insisted that my email address was currently being used, but when I tried to get the password, it said that email address wasn’t even in their system lol.  I had to use another email address to sign up with and even then they didn’t have any surveys for me to fill out.  I’m not giving up on it just yet.

2. IconZoomer wants me to take pictures of things like what my fridge, coffee maker, my form of entertainment etc.  But they haven’t paid me in credits for any of the pictures I have taken.  They each say they have so many days left, so maybe when the question expires I might get credit.  If not, delete…

3. CheckPoints wants me to scan barcodes of products at the grocery store, but I am broke so there isn’t a reason for me to go to the grocery store.  I’ll do it when I get some money.  I don’t want to look suspicious if I go in, scan barcodes then leave LOL.

4. ShopKick wants me to go to the mall and walk into specific shops for points, that would be fine if I went to the mall all the time, but I don’t and I don’t think I would be willing to walk around just for this because of my back pain issues.  It’s fine for some people, but not everyone.

5. Cash King wants me to download apps, watch videos and fill out surveys.  I only get 1 video a day to watch so that’s not what I thought it would be.  I downloaded 1 app which is a game which I actually enjoy and it connects to Facebook and is a game people have been wanting me to play anyway.  They don’t have any surveys yet.

6. Viggle is a wonderful app.  All you do is turn on the TV and let Viggle hear what you are watching and you get points which you can use to buy stuff.  They mostly want me to watch college football games on ESPN so I turn it to ESPN and let it hear the game then I just wait for the next one.  They will give you credits for everything you watch, but specific shows they give you bonus points for.  I have almost 2,000 points after just 2 days.  It’s not going to take long to get some decide rewards if I continue to check in and watch videos everyday.

7. Staree is from IZEA and I will never question them, but… what the heck is this app for?  I have taken a few pictures and haven’t gotten any credits lol.  Maybe they will ask you to take pictures… who knows.

One of my favorite features of this phone is how it takes pictures and video.  This doesn’t do 4:3 like most cameras do, it does 16:9.  In fact, I have it set so it takes pictures that are 1280×768 which is the resolution of the wallpaper on my desktop computer.  Videos are 1280×720 which is the same resolution as my HDTV.  Also I am loving the flash lol.  I know it’s funny to hear but every digital camera I have ever had was missing one thing, the flash, so I am in heaven.  It also uses the light from the flash for video which is pretty cool.  My camcorder doesn’t have a light so now when I need to take video at night, I’ll be able to.  Not that I will have a reason, but you never know.

Here are some pictures I have taken with the camera on my new HTC One V.

So I think I will have a lot of fun with this new phone.  It is so much better than my other one and I love that I can post pictures directly to Facebook and Twitter and I can email pictures to myself instead of having to move them to the MicroSD card, then putting it in my printer to copy to the computer.  It sure takes out so many steps.  I also love the voice recognition.  I don’t mind typing, but I make tons of mistakes with the on screen keyboard.  Although, the voice recognition isn’t perfect, but it’s still better than typing.  Yep, this is going to be a beautiful friendship.

Oh and I gave my other phone to someone who really needed a cell phone so that makes me feel really good.

Virgin Mobile

On By Michel McDonaldIn Gadgets, Products I Like, Social Network, Tech1 Comment

Virgin-Updated-Logo-300x300I bought my first cell phone in 2002 against my partners wishes because he didn’t think I needed a cell phone, which if truth be told I really didn’t.  I mean, I don’t go to work everyday and need to make important phone calls, in fact I really hate talking on the phone lol.  I will call people from time to time, but I don’t spend a lot of time on it.  The main reason I wanted one was because I was traveling to visit family on the Greyhound and Amtrak busses back then two or three times a year and I didn’t like having to use dirty pay phones when I got there to have them come get me.  It was also difficult making and receiving long distance phone calls on their home phones, so I needed my own cell phone to call home.

nokia 3390 The cell phone that I bought was with T-Mobile and it was the Nokia 3390 which was fine at the time.  I had that phone for maybe 8 years and I hadn’t really used it for the last 4, but I kept paying for it just in case I needed it.  I had Gold Rewards, so I only had to pay for 1 month, but got a whole year of time.  I forgot to buy another card for another year and lost the number and the phone was no longer valid.

samsung-T401G-net10-hero-lg My next phone, which I am still using is a Samsung T401G, which is a great phone for texting, but the internet sucks on it and my signal is so weak that it drops calls on me all the time.  I got a “Are you there?” thing going on.  I have it with Net10 so I don’t have Gold Rewards which means I have to buy a $20 card every month to keep it even though I never use it.  I would use it more if it had more features though.

That’s where I am at now.  I really want to buy a smart phone to keep up with the times.  I have been shopping around, but nobody has given me any really good prices.  My partner has an iPhone with Verizon and he pays more than $100/mo for his service and he is stuck in a 2 year contract with 1 more year to go.  I don’t like that their smart (Android) pre-paid phones are $50 a month.  Net10’s smart (Android) pre-paid phones are also $50 a month, but they won’t sell one to me through their website and they are too expensive in the stores.

That brings me to Virgin…

I saw a commercial for Virgin, and even though I have seen this commercial a million times, it never clicked until last night.  They have Android smart phones and you never have to sign a contract.  You get 300 minutes with unlimited data and unlimited texting for only $35 a month.  That’s $15 more than I pay for my Net10 phone.  They also have another plan which is the same, except you get 1200 minutes for $45 a month and then unlimited everything for $55 a month.  That’s not bad.  Although I would get the $35 plan since I never use my minutes, I just want to use the apps with the unlimited data and texting.

What I really want a smart phone for is for certain apps that will make me money.  Like Staree which pays you when you take a picture and share it on Facebook and Twitter.  Viggle also pays you (with gift cards) when you check in when you are watching TV.  I mean, it’s not a steady income, but anything helps.  Plus I would like to read Kindle ebooks that aren’t available for my Nook without needing to buy a Kindle.

I also want a smart phone so I can do Facebook and Twitter updates and check email when I am not at home and don’t have a computer nearby, like at the doctor’s office while I’m waiting for him to come in the room for example.  I would also like to be able to play certain games that are only available on cell phones too.  My Samsung T401G has games, but they are nearly impossible to play with the numpad.

htcevov-gallery-angle-3 So, this is my Christmas wish.  I want a new HTC EVO V 4G Prepaid Android Phone (Virgin Mobile) .  Right now, this phone is $249.99 but on sale for $189.99 on the Virgin website, but it is on sale for $199.99 on Amazon.  Of course I don’t have the money for it now, but I will put money in PayPal every month until I can afford it.  I’m always broke so it’s difficult to save any money, and paying this much money up front for something like this would break me for the rest of the month. It’s not easy to just make a decision to spend that much money when I really don’t need to lol.

I chose this phone because it looks like a good phone.  It has a front facing camera and a 3D camera for video and pictures in the back.  According to a review, it’s good for playing games.  Even though this isn’t my main focus, I’m not going to buy a phone that doesn’t want to play games, because if it doesn’t play games well, then how would I expect it to run apps very well?

If/when I do buy this phone, I will probably give my current phone away to someone who doesn’t have a cell phone.  I won’t be able to keep my phone number, but I haven’t really given it out to too many people anyway, so changing my number won’t be a real issue.

I really don’t need this, but I want it, and why shouldn’t I have something cool, eh?

Oh and by the way, this is my commentary on my experiences and my wish for a new phone.  I am not getting paid for this.  It’d be cool if I were (hint hint wink wink Virgin Mobile).

Update: This is edited.  Previously, I chose the Kycera Rise and then I decided on the HTC One V.  I then decided that I wanted to spend a bit more and buy the HTC EVO V 4G.

Obviously I don’t have the money for this phone, but like I said in the paragraph with the phone, I will have to save up the money for it because this is a good phone.  Who knows, maybe by the time I have the money saved, it will go down in price and I’ll actually be able to afford it.