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Electronics Pondering

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So, I'm having a lot of fun with this Surface. I know some knock it, but it will do everything I need when I travel. The ability to get things written while on the plane will be HUGE for me...plus its easy to have shows and such loaded onto.

That said, I'm asking for the click-type keyboard for Christmas, I got to mess with one in a store and really like it.
 
Its a way better key board. It will give you a lot of freedom too type larger documents.
 
Jman said:
So, I'm having a lot of fun with this Surface. I know some knock it, but it will do everything I need when I travel. The ability to get things written while on the plane will be HUGE for me...plus its easy to have shows and such loaded onto.

That said, I'm asking for the click-type keyboard for Christmas, I got to mess with one in a store and really like it.
Click to expand...

I didn't know you nabbed a surface. I bet that click keyboard will allow you to do everything with it that you want. I can see you now on an airplane slamming away on that thing in January.
 
TheDoctor said:
I have had HTC (Desire, One X, currently One X+) for the last couple of phones and Jen has had Samsung (S2 and now S3) and for me personally I am not a fan of Touchwiz that Samsung uses, I prefer HTC Sense so I couldn't see myself moving to a Samsung in the near future, but that is all down to personal choice so I would suggest having a good mess around with both

One thing that I am not keen on with the Samsung is the plastic back on the case, as I was always a little bit worried that it would break easily if ever we had to remove it - don't get me wrong, it never did in the couple of years that Jen had the S2, but it was always in the back of my mind

I do wish that HTC had stayed with a removable battery and storage, although 64GB in my current phone is enough (for now), but that is the only gripe that I have got with the phone. It isn't too much of a problem as with all the spare cables we have lying around, I have one at work, one in the car and then obviously the main chargers are at home so I can always top the power up if needed


If you want opinions from someone with the HTC One, I am fairly certain El Bandito has got one so it might be worth dropping him a PM with any specific questions
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I think the HTC One is the way I'm going to go. I would prefer a removable battery but I don't use my phone too much and I've never had a problem with batteries in the past. 32GB will be more than enough for me as well and I don't think that with my basic phone use processor speed makes any difference at all.
I may stick it out and wait for all the 2014 phones to be released so I can either have more selection or cheaper prices. If I've read correctly the next HTC phone is going to be a massive piece of equipment (tablet-like) and I know that won't be for me.

Dealing with our carriers up here in Canada is a nightmare too and it just over complicates the situation. The phone's I like are only available with crazy expensive plans it seems. I may end up with a Nexus 5 just because it's the only "premium" phone that is available on a sub 75/month plan.
 
ArmyGolf said:
I think the HTC One is the way I'm going to go. I would prefer a removable battery but I don't use my phone too much and I've never had a problem with batteries in the past. 32GB will be more than enough for me as well and I don't think that with my basic phone use processor speed makes any difference at all.
I may stick it out and wait for all the 2014 phones to be released so I can either have more selection or cheaper prices. If I've read correctly the next HTC phone is going to be a massive piece of equipment (tablet-like) and I know that won't be for me.

Dealing with our carriers up here in Canada is a nightmare too and it just over complicates the situation. The phone's I like are only available with crazy expensive plans it seems. I may end up with a Nexus 5 just because it's the only "premium" phone that is available on a sub 75/month plan.
Click to expand...

It's stupid what we have to go through with companies here. I'm thinking of leaving the "Big 3" shortly and trying something else.
 
ArmyGolf said:
I think the HTC One is the way I'm going to go. I would prefer a removable battery but I don't use my phone too much and I've never had a problem with batteries in the past. 32GB will be more than enough for me as well and I don't think that with my basic phone use processor speed makes any difference at all.
I may stick it out and wait for all the 2014 phones to be released so I can either have more selection or cheaper prices. If I've read correctly the next HTC phone is going to be a massive piece of equipment (tablet-like) and I know that won't be for me.

Dealing with our carriers up here in Canada is a nightmare too and it just over complicates the situation. The phone's I like are only available with crazy expensive plans it seems. I may end up with a Nexus 5 just because it's the only "premium" phone that is available on a sub 75/month plan.
Click to expand...

I was considering the One when I was up for renewal, but after getting this One X+ as a replacement to the One X following my insurance claim, I am just going to stick with this handset for now when my contract is up in about 4 months time. I currently pay £37 for basically an unlimited plan (minutes, texts and data) but once the contract is up, I am dropping to a sim-only tariff where I can get something fairly similar for around £20 per month
 
Golf Ghost said:
It's stupid what we have to go through with companies here. I'm thinking of leaving the "Big 3" shortly and trying something else.
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Yeah me too. I'm currently looking at all my options at least but I just feel handcuffed. Any of my friends that have left the 'big 3' have all complained of lousy reception in many areas, billing problems and a host of other weird problems. Trying to get a new device is supposed to be a happy time IMO, kind of like buying a new truck, but it's such a pain in the ass that I'm temped to keep using my 50 year old Blackberry as long as I can.

I'm short-sided in a bunker with a plugged lie and a 10' lip to put it in golf terms.
 
JB said:
Its a way better key board. It will give you a lot of freedom too type larger documents.
Click to expand...

ddec said:
I didn't know you nabbed a surface. I bet that click keyboard will allow you to do everything with it that you want. I can see you now on an airplane slamming away on that thing in January.
Click to expand...

Yep, I'll be able to get all sorts of review work and such done with it. I'm SUPER excited about that more than anything else to be honest.
 
JB said:
I believe you would need Surface Pro and then yes, most of that would function well.
Click to expand...

Or one of the convertibles like the HP Envy X2. Convertibles have the benefit of larger screens than tablets if you want more real estate, more weight being the drawback if you don't.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
ArmyGolf said:
Yeah me too. I'm currently looking at all my options at least but I just feel handcuffed. Any of my friends that have left the 'big 3' have all complained of lousy reception in many areas, billing problems and a host of other weird problems. Trying to get a new device is supposed to be a happy time IMO, kind of like buying a new truck, but it's such a pain in the ass that I'm temped to keep using my 50 year old Blackberry as long as I can.

I'm short-sided in a bunker with a plugged lie and a 10' lip to put it in golf terms.
Click to expand...

I've heard the same thing, which makes me a little worried, but at the same time, no contract so if I'm not happy, I'll just leave.

Nexus 5 just showed up at the door.
 
So, two weeks ago, my wife's phone quit charging. 2 days before we are leaving for Cali for a conference. I do some googling and figure out that it could be a bad charging port. She takes it up to a T-Mobile store. The salesperson tells her it's a bad battery. Unfortunately, the store does not sell batteries. So, he proceeds to try to sell her an upgraded phone. "You can walk out of her today with an S4 for only $18". She said it was like "pulling teeth" trying to get the guy to fess up that T-Mobile was also going add $20/month for 24 months to our monthly statement. Fortunately, my wife politely declined.

So, she drives over to Batteries Plus to get a new battery.... $40. The next day the charge on that battery goes out and won't recharge. So, I google local phone repair shops and the Mrs takes the phone over for them to take a look. 3 hours later, they call me and say the phone is fixed. They replaced the charging port, cost $40. Phone fixed before are trip. Thank you, Baby Jesus.

So, for you smartphone users, if you don't know where your local, trustworthy phone repair place is, I highly suggest you get on yelp.com and find it. Those dudes are lifesavers.
 
good to hear they fixed it up for her. What kind of phone was it?
 
staticline said:
Samsung S2
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guy in my office just started to have some similar issues like your wife. His contract is up and he's about to just go upgrade anyway, but I'll have to mention that to him.
 
ddec said:
guy in my office just started to have some similar issues like your wife. His contract is up and he's about to just go upgrade anyway, but I'll have to mention that to him.
Click to expand...

$40 is definitely better than $200-400.

My phone (Samsung Blaze) did the same thing 2 days ago. At home we have a couple of the cheapo chargers around the house. I couldn't get mine to work with either of those. So, I took mine to work the next day, where I had a better charger. My phone charged up. Then, I take my phone home that evening and it worked with the cheap chargers. So, I think my charging port isnow getting loose. Maybe those low end chargers don't fit as snug or it was just one of those days.
 
ddec said:
Since finding out that we receive HBO now for the year thanks to our latest cable upgrade(and lowering our bill), I have become obsessed with HBO GO.



how were they on the plane?
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Awesome. Great purchase
 
Those with the Note3, how big is it and is it a PIA? I played with one Saturday and could not imagine putting this monster in my pocket. I am an iphone dude and am thinking android but hate my work phone which is the samsung rugby. Is the note anything similar to that? Also, what happens to all the apps I have in itunes if I was to switch to an android? gone?
 
Costco this weekend had 4K tv's for the first time. Makes me super excited for CES again this year.
 
Electronics Pondering

Really enjoying the TiVo Roamio Pro. It works very well. I can stream live TV or recorded shows when remote which is nice when traveling. Streaming to any device when on the home wifi net is nice too. Since it pools it's 6 tuners and allocates them only when requested you can have a combination of devices and Tivo Mini-equipped TVs accessing live or recorded TV with few limitations.

It's really a great solution as you no longer must have big, bulky and expensive cable boxes on all TVs and can watch live or recordings from all. Really flexible and the TiVo Minis are fairly unobtrusive and reasonably priced. Very happy with the setup.
 
For those like me that still use Outlook as a calendar and would like an easy sync option to their Android device there is a program called Syncroid. Its got a free trial, but the cost is only a few dollars I believe. I gave it a try a few weeks ago and ended up purchasing it with in a day. I absolutely love it. Each day I sync everything (it uses bluetooth) and it works flawlessly.
 
JB said:
For those like me that still use Outlook as a calendar and would like an easy sync option to their Android device there is a program called Syncroid. Its got a free trial, but the cost is only a few dollars I believe. I gave it a try a few weeks ago and ended up purchasing it with in a day. I absolutely love it. Each day I sync everything (it uses bluetooth) and it works flawlessly.
Click to expand...

I saw Outlook and said yes...I can sync all of THP events now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
JB said:
For those like me that still use Outlook as a calendar and would like an easy sync option to their Android device there is a program called Syncroid. Its got a free trial, but the cost is only a few dollars I believe. I gave it a try a few weeks ago and ended up purchasing it with in a day. I absolutely love it. Each day I sync everything (it uses bluetooth) and it works flawlessly.
Click to expand...
:banghead:

That looks sweet. However, I wouldnt know.
 
Hmmmm. I wonder if Syncroid would also work with Windows Live Mail. Off to their website to check it out.

Edit: Apparently not--just OE.
 
Speaking of calendar's, is anybody using Cozi? My wife and I started using it a few months ago with some success. I don't know if it is T-Mobile specific. But, it allows us to view calendar, shopping list, etc, in real time from each other's phone. Pretty handy when I say I'm driving to the grocery store and she is updating the shopping list from home.
 
Thinking about a tablet, and of course price is always a concern for me. I know I do not want an Apple device, because I do not want to support their business practice/model.

So here is what I would be using it for:
- Watching videos
- Couch browsing and email
- Playing games
- Possibly reading books - if it's easier and better than my Nook

Thinking of the Nexus 7 or 10, as well as the Samsung Galaxy Tab's. I've also since found and seem to like the idea of the Microsoft Surface RT because I can use MS Office (sounds like a poor mans laptop) - sounds like it has some great features but would be lacking in the apps department. If MS Office works smoothly than I can possibly move away from excessive electronic devices and have a tablet/ereader/office tool all in one.

Anyone have thoughts on these devices?
 
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