It's time for a mobile phone upgrade

Discussion in 'New Roundtable' started by islstl, May 12, 2014.

  1. shane0911

    shane0911 Helping lost idiots find their village

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    I have had the 32gb for a while now and think I may have half of it used up. Pretty sure the 64 will be all I could ever need but who knows. I'm trying to figure out how to find /storage/emulated/0 on the damn phone. I connect through my laptop and I can't find that folder anywhere. I may have to root the damn thing to find it.
     
  2. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

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    You never know. In 1981 Bill Gates said that 640k of ram ought to be enough for anybody
     
    tirk and shane0911 like this.
  3. islstl

    islstl Playoff committee is a group of great football men Staff Member

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    So now I'm switching gears over the cheap side of town and considering Virgin Mobile (aka Sprint Cheapo Plans). I have Sprint now, so I know what I'm dealing with coverage wise. Coverage is actually quite excellent in Austin.

    I'm a real light user who hardly ever makes phone calls (plus I can start using my google talk service for free for making calls at home if need be). I'm mainly a play games, use the internet and text like crazy kind of user. I'll connect to my wifi at home and lots of places with wifi in Austin as well. I'll mainly use the high speed 2.5 GB allotment on the golf course with my yardage app.

    So for $35+sales tax (~ $3 more) I have unlimited text and data (2.5 GB high speed then it's throttled down, who cares since I connect to my wifi at home). Phone minutes are limited to 300 a month (I don't think I've eclipsed 200 in any one month over the past year and a half). You don't get overages since you have to prepay everything.

    So there's that.

    They have a really solid phone (Virgin Mobile Supreme, 5" screen, 720p res, 1.5 dual core, 1 GB Ram, 8 GB ROM with microSD card capability, 13 MP camera with 1.3 front facing and a decent battery which is replaceable). On sale for $199.
    http://www.phonearena.com/phones/ZTE-Supreme_id8150

    For $38 vs $70 a month, the phone pays for itself in less than 7 months. No activation fee, no contract.

    The other option is Boost Mobile (again, Sprint's network). It's $55 a month unlimited talk time with the same unlimited text and 2.5 GB high speed data. Then goes down $5 every 6 months for paying on time for up to 18 months ($15 reduction monthly). At that point it would be $40 a month (plus sales tax) and unlimited talk time. So it would be a better plan by then.

    I just don't want to wait 18 months to get to that price.
     
    Last edited: May 28, 2014
  4. islstl

    islstl Playoff committee is a group of great football men Staff Member

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    I just bought a cheapo no name brand 32 GB class 10 from a USA seller on ebay for $9 shipped. I don't need it to say Kingston or any other fancy name.

    It's going into a Hisense 7" Android Tablet that I got for $35 shipped from newegg (1 GB Ram, 8 GB internal Storage (thus the 32 GB aforementioned purchase), 1.6 Mhz Dual Core, 1024x600 res). Nice little tablet for next to nothing.
     
    Last edited: May 27, 2014
  5. shane0911

    shane0911 Helping lost idiots find their village

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    And I will tell you again, if you are not using Golf Logix you are missing the boat. Give it a shot bro.
     
  6. islstl

    islstl Playoff committee is a group of great football men Staff Member

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    yep I will most certainly do that once I get a smartphone into my hands again

    I just tried the golf logix golfnow booking feature, and I see where you get a discount for being a "club member" on golflogix. The issue is while they give you a discount, they are not forgiving the $2.49 standard booking fee (as I have all golfnow fees waived through 2014).

    So the $1.52 discount for being a club member is drowned out by the $2.49 fee popping up in it's place.
     
    Last edited: May 28, 2014
  7. islstl

    islstl Playoff committee is a group of great football men Staff Member

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    Ok, totally switched gears.

    Ended up deciding to go the Sprint Framily route. Got two members on it, hopefully will get up to 7 members, lowering the monthly to just $25/month per line with 1 GB high speed data allotment.

    As I only have a crappy Samsung Rant as a temporary phone, I now needed to get a smartphone since Sprint Framily is a no contract plan, and ultimately cancelled me out of the phone upgrade option.

    I just purchased the LG G2 (32 GB Black) off ebay, in like new condition with the original box and contents (e.g., charger) from a top rated power seller for $214 shipped priority mail. So I'm pretty happy with that. Also have the option to add on a square trade warranty of either 1 year for $39 or 2 year for $59 (the option I would go with if I do it), which would pay for itself if I decide to sell this phone before the 2 years are up.
     
  8. MLUTiger

    MLUTiger Secular Humanist

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    The LG G3 that's out in a couple months looks like a leap forward from the S5. Over 500 ppi on the screen resolution which is just sick.
     
  9. islstl

    islstl Playoff committee is a group of great football men Staff Member

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    I ultimately decided all the specs on the G3 were overkill. Plus I would not have been able to get that phone for less than $600 for quite a while (no contract purchase).

    I'm happy that the G2 is at the very highest end of the spectrum (other than the G3) and the screen size was the best compromise at 5.2".
     
  10. islstl

    islstl Playoff committee is a group of great football men Staff Member

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    So here's my squaretrade warranty story.

    I did not initially purchase the squaretrade warranty when I bought the phone off ebay. The two options were $39.99 for 1 year and $59.99 for 2 years. You have 30 days to make a decision whether to buy or not.

    I call up squaretrade (still open late on a Saturday night, impressive) and the CSR proceeds to tell that the price that comes up is $44.99 and $66.99. So she gets the idea that I'm not interested in purchasing the warranty at this point, so she asks if she can put me on hold to see what she can do with the price. So I'm thinking they will come back and match the price. She comes back with $16.75 off, knocking down the price to $50.24. So of course I bought it.

    That $50 will pay for itself in the increased value of the phone if and when I resell it, so not a bad deal at all.

    So all in all, a like new LG G2 Black 32 GB Clean ESN phone with original box and charger, and a 2 year warranty for $268 tax, title and license.
     

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