Category: cell

Mobile device and internet price

Posted onAuthorTruXterLeave a comment

I read a post on reddit (which linked to this article) that covers a few of the topics I have covered before. This brought up an issue I am having. This issue is with my cell carrier charging me more for less.
Seriously I don’t see why so many people pretend this isn’t going on. My only guess is everyone really wants to pretend they are so wealthy, they don’t worry about stuff. Or they figure they can’t do anything about the issue so they won’t discuss it and assure someone else they notice the issue, so something can get started to solve it.
The issue. Is bandwidth limits. 4 gigs.
what can you do with 2-4 gigs a month?
Not dang thing.
Except check email.
Facebook has too many pictures. You should hit your cap before the end of the month all year round.
but the trick is, you upgrade your phone to a phone that can only use 4G and now your unlimited internet is capped at 2-4 gigs a month. and my carrier will not allow me to switch back to 3g for this phone. My cell phone provider says my phone won’t work on 3g because my cell phone is specifically made for 4g. So their website wouldn’t even let me register the phone I had until I would call and change my service plan. Since the 3g cell phone I had couldn’t use 4 g it wouldn’t let me change my plan. Imagine how those phone calls went when I was speaking to Stewy in the middle east..So now I am on a 4g plan that costs slightly more than my 3g plan was… Which was unlimited, and of course when I am in an area that doesn’t have 3g, the internet status on the phone shows that I am running at 3g or whatever is available.
Seriously. I do not see much difference between 4g and 3g. at all. Signal isn’t better. bandwidth might be a tad faster on the stats tests, but youtube still loads like hell.
Something posted on reddit on this issue.

They’re like drug dealers “here, have better stronger faster internets on your little squint device, at the same price as your home device… but you can only have so much a month, unless you pay more”.

This mentality is as if there is a limited amount of internet “sorry sir but your internet baggy is now empty, pay more and we will refill it for you, only so much per person”.

as if they are conserving something.

Truth is. If they leave their bandwidth at one current speed and not increase to faster,The more their use goes up, would reflect more customers are signing up. It’s not our fault they increased their speed.

I mean really , how fast do you need to load a 6kb m.xxx.com website?

The whole thing is a f-ing scam.

Someone seemingly fighting this battle all alone for a while now.

2009 saying same thing

2010 saying same thing

2012 saying same thing

and it seems to be coming more and more true.

Later in 2012

We’re all feeding a corporate beast in denial. To hide our sham e of being so gullible we tell ourselves we like it and need it and take it to the next level of upgrading and updating our phones and other mobile devices to the latest and greatest as soon as it comes out. That’s $400 each time. That’s two or three times a year. We want people to think we are on top of things and smart. Truth is, if we were smart we would know that these devices do nothing but waste our valuable time and ruin our eyesight doing it. Yet here we are. You on your iPad, either agreeing or disagreeing with me.

Samsung Galaxy Admire 2 From Cricket

Posted onAuthorTruXter2 Comments

Built in the Axiom shell is the latest Android Galaxy. This means that if you need a new case or any accessories, you have a good chance of finding the parts you need by simply looking for Axiom. Or go into setting/about device and scroll to bottom you will see a model number SCH-R830c. Google that or search eBay for that number and you will find Axioms and Galaxy Admire 2 are the exact same phone, and share a lot of identical parts.
Video of first boot of my Samsung Galaxy Admire 2 From Cricket to show it’s boot time (scroll to bottom of page). Then pictures to compare the Admire to a Bionic and a Zio. ( Benchmark scores)
I received my Samsung Galaxy Admire 2 today from Cricket. and right away, put the phone on it’s charger. Battery was at about 50% charge upon arrival. (of course I didn’t think to take pictures until a bit after opening and charging)
charging Samsung Galaxy Admire 2
Admire_Quarter

Finally, No stupid logo in the front.

Finally, No stupid logo in the front.

The sim card and micro SD already inserted. For the record, this phone does not require a special memory card to Cricket’s Muve Music.

Samsung Galaxy Admire 2 with back cover off

Samsung Galaxy Admire 2 with back cover off

Now understand, I am upgrading from a very out dated Kyocera Sanyo Zio. Which is a decent phone for it’s time. But. Single core 600mhz little to no storage, Android 2.2.1.  on the plus side, the phone is almost bullet proof. Been dropped countless times and still works fine, no cracks and less than average scratches. It’s a little tank.
Little is the key word. The screen is a bit small so the Samsung Galaxy Admire 2  will be a nice upgrade with near 1/4 inch larger screen.
Here is a front comparison of the two phones the Samsung Galaxy Admire 2  and the Sanyo ZIO
admire_zio
Which doesn’t look like that much pocket space has been compromised, but look at the slight difference in the screen size.
Here is a side photo of the two phones
admire_zio_side

Very little (if any) difference in thickness.

I do have to admit that for a couple months, I had a flashed Motorolla Droid Bionic from Verizon , but there was this stupid update notice that I was warned not to do. Well one day, I was typing a text…. and the notice popped up. yep… I clicked it. $50 for the flash right down the drain. but the screen on the bionic was huge. and the Android version was Ice Cream Sandwich. Some options and abilities from Froyo android 2.2, gone, but some things ran smoother with ICS. Also I had to replace the screen on the bionic on the second day after flashing to Cricket. Dropped  the thing not even 2 feet. Landed on a corner.
Here’s a front view comparison of the Motorola Bionic and the Galaxy Admire 2.
admire-bionic
The screen area of the Bionic is nearly the same size as the entire Admire 2.
Thickness comparison between the bionic and the Samsung Galaxy Admire 2.
admire_bionic_side

The Samsung Galaxy Admire 2 is a considerable amount thinner than the Bionic.

Took me too long to figure this out, but the tiny button on the right side of the Samsung Galaxy Admire 2 is the power button. Not the big skinny button in the front.

Now for the initial boot up

Very fast boot.
Shockingly fast.

Big issue I have run into repeatedly is the back button and menu button. They buttons are too close to the edge. My fingers barely ever make proper contact. and then add the edge of the case I recently added. Plus, for some reason that space between the buttons and the glass, is somehow active and sensitive. So whatever is on the screen above that space activates when you hit that space.

Trying Siri Like Assistant for android

Posted onAuthorTips Of TechLeave a comment

I have been trying sms readers and text to speech apps for days now. and have not found a single tts program yet that works all that well. So I took a break from the  few I installed.
Motorola Droid Bionic
With Android version:Ice Cream Sandwich

Here are the text to speech apps I liked the most

SMS Reader This one worked for a while, then I opened settings, and exited and it never read my messages again. Also wouldn’t do speech to text.

This one I didn’t like so much. everything was trial.

Now to the Assistant.
So far, the only one worth messing with is called
Assistant from Speaktoit.

Pros
You can change the way your Avatar looks. you can tell her/him she/he has a new name and change her/his name. You can send messages to your Twitter account and Facebook account.Your assistant will offer you the chance to have your responses to your Facebook status update read to you when someone replies. You can search for anything nearby. You can search for answers to most questions and you can schedule plans using your Google calendar.

Cons
Uses it’s own selection of search engine which could be a Google affiliated program, but not sure. The “search for nearest” isn’t the most correct for any of the searches I did. I even searched for a taco bell right up the street less than a mile away, it showed me one that is ten miles away and said it was three miles away. twitter portion does not use twitter app. Neither does the Facebook status updates. So this thing is constantly running . Which means it sucks your battery down fast.If you tell the assistant to open Facebook app, it tries to post a status to Facebook. Not sure how comfortable I am with giving away so many passwords. With the app open while phone was on charger, my battery dropped to 80%. Normally I can watch youtube videos and post to Facebook and never drop a percent while on charger. When responding to a text message, the other person never gets it.

Tried for a while to locate more voices while going through all of the tts and text to speech searches (yes type it both ways different results). None for free and most apps have their own voices. Surely all of this should come free with the dang phone.

Phone Demos CES 2013

Posted onAuthorTruXter

Firefox Phone OS DEmo

Ubuntu Phone OS Demonstration

These two look like great phone operating systems. The Ubunto phone though surely has more developers and would most likely have a greater chance of surviving the market. but if the Firefox phone makes it out to enough people in the market, we could see a huge drop in phone prices and an increase in advertisement (sponsored by) but the question I have is “Does the firefox phone run on a Linux kernel?”. If this is a fact then lots of my fears of Microsoft and Apple consuming Linux, can be put to rest. Unless the Linux group is building up (fattening up) the market for sell off.

but that has very little to do with phones.

Sorry I didn,t have anything to write so I popped out opinions. These phones look like they will be great options/alternatives over the big three. Sorry rim lovers, you don’t make the list.

ubuntu_phone

ubuntu_phone

Are you getting Strange Spam Text Messages Lately?

Posted onAuthorTruXter

We are trying to find the connection in all of these text messages that everyone seems to be getting. So we are checking to see if certain phone companies are either compromised or selling our phone numbers out to the next bidder.

[poll id=”28″]

No need for any personal information. Just who is the carrier you are using when you get the spam invites to bogus contests?

 

 

Are you Getting CashForChristmas.net Text Messages

Posted onAuthorTruXter

CashForChristmas.net is the latest spam to go around. This one came to me later in teh day than normal. No idea who is handing my cell phone number out to cell phone text message scammers/spammers

donnacindy479@CashForChristmas.net : Please enter 8939 here to claim your prize from last week’s entry www.CashForChristmas.net

CashForChristmas.net

CashForChristmas.net

and this image is what I got when I tried to leave,CashForChristmas.net While using Firefox browser.

CashForChristmas.net.scam

CashForChristmas.net.scam

When I selected “Leave page” I got redirected to a penny bid/auction site. When I clicked “leave page” again, it finally let me go. but I had a background pop up that was on “target.freegiftcardtoday.com”
It was a bit scarier on Internet Explorer. So I left fast and didn’t get screen shot. but that dang “blink doink” sound Explorer makes when you get pop ups startled me.

From what I can guess, they get your email address by having you put this information in on their site, and they sell your email address off to some advertising company willing to spam you for the rest of your life. Of course, since you confirmed it’s a real email address . Do nothing with that website other than warn others of CashForChristmas.net’s risk to you and your privacy.

CashForChristmas.net does not have a prize and CashForChristmas.net does not have a winner.

do not go to CashForChristmas.net . they will give you nothing.

Notice the other messages about scam text messages on here and You will see that nothing changes between all of the sites this guy puts up.

CashForChristmas.net redirects you to
http://111.67.203.41/targob/

Poll trying to see if certain phone companies are selling our data

Are You Getting XmasTarget.Com spam text messages?

Posted onAuthorTruXter

Have you received a text message from Getting XmasTarget.Com? Are you wondering if this Getting XmasTarget.Com is a cam?
The message reads:

My name is Justin. You contact is on the third place, Your X-mas code for http://xmastarget.com?HCBHJKAHEF is (and then some random 4 digit number)

The people who send these text messages are just expecting you to type in your special code and it will tell you that your code is valid, then the website will redirect you to a page to type in your email. your email address will then be sold to hundreds and hundreds of spam websites. Bad news.. no prize no gift. Read the message again, you won nothing. They do not say you won. They do not owe you anything, you willingly gave your email address to a spam broker (I shall coin that phrase!!!). The poor broken English should be the first clue. In his earlier scam text messages, he said less and it was easier to fall for. but now… Now he said a whole sentence.. Sorta.
The like button at the bottom of the page, the count never changes across all of the sites they use this thing on. It’s complete utter crap. best use of this is to share it with someone you hate and let them spam themselves to death. Also notice at the bottom of their page it says ” clicking continue you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy”. Which of course is written in some almost unnoticeable text color.
Highlights of User Agreement

1.These businesses may include providers of direct marketing services and applications, including lookup and reference, data enhancement, suppression and validation and email marketing. For example, if you express interest in a particular product or service, you may be contacted by telephone regarding that particular product or service. prizecenterdirect.us collects minimal demographic and personally identifiable information from many users. This information is aggregated and analyzed to help us tailor future offers and to help our marketing partners and advertising agencies understand the demographics of our customers in order to evaluate the potential effectiveness and profitability of doing business with us. Part of our business model involves sharing personally identifiable information, such as name and address, with third-party marketing concerns.
2.All information provided to prizecenterdirect.us by the users of this site may be used to support our suppression, validation and enhancement services to other marketing companies, advertising agencies, compilers and data companies.

XmasTarget.Com website that the text message spam wants you to visit.

XmasTarget.Com website that the text message spam wants you to visit.

Notice the other messages about scam text messages on here and You will see that nothing changes between all of the sites this guy puts up.

I am sorry to inform you but your cell phone number has been compromised and this dude has it and will continue to send you text messages. EVERY SINGLE DAY.
These messages break out between Thanksgiving and New Year, every year. This is the time when you are most likely to be gullible enough to think you have some special Christmas/New Year luck. And you might want to win back your expenses of the holiday season, in one hit.

Do not share that website on facebook. or we will have an epidemic of spam. and uncontrollable fury of 1996-1999 spam.

Hopefully after the holidays are over, this will subside.

On the plus side, there is an “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of their page. On the downside, that link leads to a dead a page.

Poll trying to see if certain phone companies are selling our data

Are you Getting BBHolidayCard.net Text Messages

Posted onAuthorTruXter4 Comments

Have you received a text message from  BBHolidayCards.net or BBHolidayCard.net? are you wondering if this  BBHolidayCards.net and BBHolidayCard.net are scams?
The message reads:

Best Buy is giving away 50 One Thousand Dollar Gift Cards for the Holidays. Only 12 have been claimed. Enter 6384 here to get one! BBHolidayCard.net.

It’s the same message to everyone. This message is sent to millions of people, and I will guarantee you that at least 400 people will fall for it, and the messages will continue to roll out like this saying only 12 have claimed the prize.

Again, this scam does not say you won or what you won.

If this is the first text message scam you have received in the past week with the same format, and the text messages stop, consider yourself lucky. Everyone else is sick of these. It’s everyday the exact same way.

For no reason should you ever text back to these people. For no reason should you ever Click a link to the page they suggest you to go to. If for some mistaken reason you find yourself on their page, do not click any of the links on their page. If for some reason you find yourself on their page and clicking links with in their page that take you to some page that is supposed to be good, please say that you will not type in any confirmation codes or your phone number. Even/Especially if it is to remove you from a list. Because these are pump and dump sites. They are bought on stolen credit cards, they are not traceable and they will get you for everything they can. These people are practiced at doing this.

bbholidaycard.net

bbholidaycard.net

Just for your comfort, I took me a trip to that page on 4 different junk computers here at the office. Typed in random numbers. 8886, 8887,8889,5309.
All were accepted and listed as “valid” . This dude is going to sell your phone number, and the email address you put in after it redirects you. oh and to make it totally funny is there was a 5minute timer when you get to the page saying that’s how much time I had left to enter the code. Hit refresh button, and the 5 minute timer restarted. If it was valid and there was any reason for the timer other than anxiety, the timer wouldn’t start over. The scammer didn’t work out all of his bugs.

 

Please don’t tell me that people are hitting the share button on this crap. If so, then facebook people need to be warned also. The share count is fake. Notice in this previous scam from the same people, the likes count is the exact same. I guess it counter acts on it’s self. I mean if you share the link (and let’s say it could be winnable thing) Wouldn’t you be reducing your chances?

This BBHolidayCard.net text message is a scam
bbholidaycards.net is the same thing and takes you to the exact same page.

 

Poll trying to see if certain phone companies are selling our data

ContestTexts.net Scam Text Message

Posted onAuthorTruXter2 Comments

Yet another spam text message came to my phone today.

Another text message from a scammer claiming I have been entered into some sort of a contest and have been made eligible for a prize.

wxchequer%kbrnd_dit[1-4] ContestTexts.net:You’ve finished Fourth in our Contest! Your Code is: XXXXX ContestTexts.net

Looks like the moron messed up his scammer application this time.

Here’s a few more scams We have received here in the past few days.

 

Poll trying to see if certain phone companies are selling our data