[FairfieldLife] Re: Which will you buy?

2012-09-17 Thread Alex Stanley


--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, card cardemaister@... wrote:

 
 http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/09/iphone5-spec-showdown/
 
 Whoa! Guess I'll keep my Nokia shares at least for a while, after all...


Out of those, I'd buy the Galaxy S3. I bought a Galaxy S2 a few months ago, and 
I'm delighted with it. But, I'm not so thrilled that Samsung keeps making their 
phones bigger and bigger; the S3 is bigger than the S2, and the S4 is 
supposedly going to be even bigger still. I want a phone that fits in my 
pocket, even when it's in a protective case.



[FairfieldLife] Re: Which will you buy?

2012-09-17 Thread Richard J. Williams


  Whoa! Guess I'll keep my Nokia shares at least for a 
  while, after all...
 
Alex Stanley:
 Out of those, I'd buy the Galaxy S3...

It all depends on what you need a phone for. Since I'm at 
a computer desk all day I don't need much else to 
communicate. Almost any phone will send and recieve phone 
calls if I step out to the parking lot for a break. And, 
almost any smartphones can browse the internet for mail 
and snap a photo. 

It all boils down to security - how much are employees 
allowed to use on the company network for their personal
communications. 

Actually, I find cell phones to be a distraction and I 
don't like talking on phones, unless it's an emergencey. 
That said, if I get another phone it will probably be the 
Nokia Lumia 920 for the camera and video capabilities.

'Why Android has a reason to be paranoid'
http://tinyurl.com/99bl3hv

A Windows tablet that works seamlessly with Microsoft's 
Exchange email system and Office applications would be a 
godsend for corporate technology managers, who have been 
bending over backward to put their CEO's iPads -- 
'executive jewelry,' as one analyst puts it -- onto their 
company's email and security systems.

'Microsoft unveils Windows 8 for public test'
http://tinyurl.com/82pqg7e

With the rise of texting, instant chat and transcription 
apps, more people are ditching the venerable tool that 
once revolutionized the telephone business, displaced 
armies of secretaries and allowed us to eat dinner more 
or less in peace. The behavioral shift is occurring in 
tandem with the irreversible fading of voice calls in 
general, prompting more wireless carriers to offer 
unlimited voice minutes.

'The Death of Voicemail?'
http://tinyurl.com/8rc3dz8



Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Which will you buy?

2012-09-17 Thread Bhairitu
On 09/17/2012 06:08 AM, Alex Stanley wrote:

 --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, card cardemaister@... wrote:

 http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/09/iphone5-spec-showdown/

 Whoa! Guess I'll keep my Nokia shares at least for a while, after all...

 Out of those, I'd buy the Galaxy S3. I bought a Galaxy S2 a few months ago, 
 and I'm delighted with it. But, I'm not so thrilled that Samsung keeps making 
 their phones bigger and bigger; the S3 is bigger than the S2, and the S4 is 
 supposedly going to be even bigger still. I want a phone that fits in my 
 pocket, even when it's in a protective case.



The Galaxy Nexus has a 4.6 screen and with an Otterbox case still fits 
in my pockets but that's not the way I carry them as I use the holster 
instead.  Maybe look at a different case because the holster overlaps 
the phone jack. :-(

I like the larger screen but there are plenty of smaller ones but I 
suppose stuck in the boonies you can't exactly window shop like I can 
at places like Fry's or Best Buy.  The nice thing about the larger 
screen (and higher resolution) is that I watched a Netflix movie on it 
last night which might not have been as enjoyable on a smaller screen.




Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Which will you buy?

2012-09-17 Thread Bhairitu
On 09/17/2012 07:39 AM, Richard J. Williams wrote:

 Whoa! Guess I'll keep my Nokia shares at least for a
 while, after all...

 Alex Stanley:
 Out of those, I'd buy the Galaxy S3...

 It all depends on what you need a phone for. Since I'm at
 a computer desk all day I don't need much else to
 communicate. Almost any phone will send and recieve phone
 calls if I step out to the parking lot for a break. And,
 almost any smartphones can browse the internet for mail
 and snap a photo.

 It all boils down to security - how much are employees
 allowed to use on the company network for their personal
 communications.

 Actually, I find cell phones to be a distraction and I
 don't like talking on phones, unless it's an emergencey.
 That said, if I get another phone it will probably be the
 Nokia Lumia 920 for the camera and video capabilities.

 'Why Android has a reason to be paranoid'
 http://tinyurl.com/99bl3hv

 A Windows tablet that works seamlessly with Microsoft's
 Exchange email system and Office applications would be a
 godsend for corporate technology managers, who have been
 bending over backward to put their CEO's iPads --
 'executive jewelry,' as one analyst puts it -- onto their
 company's email and security systems.

 'Microsoft unveils Windows 8 for public test'
 http://tinyurl.com/82pqg7e

 With the rise of texting, instant chat and transcription
 apps, more people are ditching the venerable tool that
 once revolutionized the telephone business, displaced
 armies of secretaries and allowed us to eat dinner more
 or less in peace. The behavioral shift is occurring in
 tandem with the irreversible fading of voice calls in
 general, prompting more wireless carriers to offer
 unlimited voice minutes.

 'The Death of Voicemail?'
 http://tinyurl.com/8rc3dz8



Bingo!  That's why the newer low cost plans with less phone minutes and 
higher data bandwidth.  I had 450 anytime minutes with Verizon but used 
only 30-40 minutes a month and rarely every around 60.  I was paying $40 
for those minutes and another $30 for the data.  The new plan only has 
100 minutes of talk, unlimited texting and 5GB of data.  My data use was 
often only around 1/2 GB a month but depending on what I'm doing I might 
use more.  Netflix is watched on the phone via wifi anyway and in fact 
their new app has setting to just use wifi.  The new phone also won't 
use carrier data if I'm connected to wifi.  BTW, the data plan is no 
contract, just month to month.  So I can drop it anytime or change the 
plan.

Not everyone needs a smartphone but they're getting cheaper and plans 
cheaper so more people are getting them.  Android is way outselling 
everything else.  That's why Apple and Microsoft are pissed.  But 
they're old world business plans with closed source software.  Unless 
they change they're doomed.





[FairfieldLife] Re: Which will you buy?

2012-09-17 Thread Alex Stanley


--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozguru@... wrote:

 
 
 I like the larger screen but there are plenty of smaller ones but I 
 suppose stuck in the boonies you can't exactly window shop like I
 can at places like Fry's or Best Buy.

Out here, ATT is all about fewer bars in rural places. Verizon's coverage is 
good, but US Cellular has absolute blanket coverage out here, and their 
customer service is great; we've been with US Cellular for about 16 years, and 
we're not about to change. They were a little slow to hop on the Android 
bandwagon, but they're up to speed now. If I'd waited a few months, I'd could 
have gotten an S3 instead of an S2, but the HTC Desire's running out of app 
space was driving me crazy.



Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Which will you buy?

2012-09-17 Thread Bhairitu
On 09/17/2012 09:54 AM, Alex Stanley wrote:

 --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozguru@... wrote:


 I like the larger screen but there are plenty of smaller ones but I
 suppose stuck in the boonies you can't exactly window shop like I
 can at places like Fry's or Best Buy.
 Out here, ATT is all about fewer bars in rural places. Verizon's coverage is 
 good, but US Cellular has absolute blanket coverage out here, and their 
 customer service is great; we've been with US Cellular for about 16 years, 
 and we're not about to change. They were a little slow to hop on the Android 
 bandwagon, but they're up to speed now. If I'd waited a few months, I'd could 
 have gotten an S3 instead of an S2, but the HTC Desire's running out of app 
 space was driving me crazy.



US Cellular appears to be a mid-west only service.  I can't even access 
their web page which is a bit odd.  I got my first cellphone in 1993 and 
then there were few carriers and I was on Cellular One, an early west 
coast company.   They got bought by ATT Wireless who got bought by 
Cingular and then ATT bought Cingular.  These companies are all run by 
the get rich quick types or what we used to call the gold rush 
mentality.  They're often salesmen who gambled on an emerging technology 
even if they don't really understand it.  Many of those types are CEOs.  
Good reason why the Hindus made them the third rung on the caste system. 
:-D

3G and 4G are built on the back of WiMax which is a wide area broadband 
that was designed to bring broadband to rural areas, farms, etc where 
laying fiber or even phone lines wouldn't work.  It is part of why 
analog TVs went dark because those lower channels are being used by 
companies and emergency networks now.  Those lower frequencies propagate 
better over wide areas than the higher UHF frequencies.  That's why one 
could often get VHF channels 2-6 with just rabbit ears.

At the house I mainly get E on the phone which means Edge and on 
some phones will say 3G.  4G shows up as H for HSPA and I do sometimes 
see that.   If I had the tower right behind as there should be by now it 
would be H all the time.  The acid test was going on my walk in the 
neighborhood and even with 3G there was no dropouts on the streams when 
I occasionally would get them on a walk using Verizon.  The neighbors 
were worried about kids playing near the towers while they are probably 
irradiating them more with their wifi routers in their homes. :-D

If you want to talk about large phones, my nephew's company got a cell 
phone in 1984 when they were the new thing.  I recall attending his 
brothers wedding here and my nephew had this box with phone handset, 
antenna and a handle on it.