Tag: kyocera

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.

New Cell Phone from NET10

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

I was about to start watching Cirque Du Freak earlier today and before I could hit play on the DVD remote control, Darrin told me that he had to go to Sears to pay his Sears card.  While we were there he said “I wonder if they sell cell phones” because he has a job interview tomorrow (he finally got a call back) and if he gets the job then he will need a new cell phone.  My old 2002 Nokia 3390 cell phone isn’t working out anymore.  The battery never keeps it’s charge anymore and it’s just too old for him to look professional.

So we get there and see a display for Verizon with prepaid cell phones and their phone cards.  The phone itself was only $20 but it was only 1 style of phone.  We went downstairs to the electronics department where they have many different wireless providers.  We were looking at the pamphlets for Verizon and the plan was too confusing.  Next to it was Virgin Mobile but they only had expensive phones.  One was a Kyocera Loft and the other was an LG Rumor Touch.  I don’t remember what it was, I do remember how expensive it was though.

Darrin went and got a sales clerk to get the Virgin Kyocera Loft phone out so he could buy it but thought to ask which company was better.  The sales clerk pointed out that each phone call was .25¢ per minute.  That’s a bit much and it was a good thing that he found that because Darrin was about to buy it.

He asked which one has the least cost per minute and the sales clerk pointed out the NET10 display.

It was a good thing that he showed us the Net10 phones because number 1 they were cheaper.  Darrin almost spent $70 on the Virgin Kyocera Loft and he almost spent $100 on minutes for it.

The phone that he did buy was the Samsung T401G which has a slide out QWERTY keyboard.  It was on sale for $59 (normally $79) and he also bought a $60 phone card which is 600 minutes.  He got a bonus of 170 minutes as well when I activated it.

For some reason it didn’t have a memory card so he’ll have to buy that extra if he wants to take pictures.  He just needs it for making/receiving calls at work, he doesn’t need games.  He connected to AOL from his phone already but it used minutes so that’s not a good idea for him.  If he had a monthly plan with unlimited web then that’s one thing but he chose pre-paid.

Text messaging is only 3¢ per text which is ok.  I don’t know who he’s gonna text though since I don’t have a cell phone lol.

I hope that he gets the job, keep your fingers crossed.

Update: He did get the job and he is very happy there.