Random Question Thread: Tech

[Mojo]

Cellphone question for myself as well. I figured it's about time to actually get a cellphone (last phone I had was 6yrs or so again and was just a Verizon Trackphone that I used for 3 months and then threw away)

Not looking to go crazy in terms of top of the line smartphone that can wipe my ass and shoot helicopters out of the sky but something decent. Probably gonna get another once my wife's current plan ends in the next few months. I've heard Sprint was pretty decent around here (Columbia, MD) and ive read T-mobile is decent as well. Any suggestions on where best to start on looking? I don't trust BestBuy, Radioshack or any of the actual phone stores since i'm brand new to this shit so want to educate myself before hand and shop around.

That Nexus looks pretty cool, what is 4G LTE? Just a higher bandwidth wifi?

4G/3G is your connection to your carrier's network. WiFi is totally different. To be honest, there isn't really a tremendous difference between 4G LTE and 3G HSPA+ in terms of what you will notice. What's far more important is network coverage in your area. When I was on Verizon's network, I got good coverage anywhere I was. T-Mobile is really patchy where I live (although the savings are worth it, to me, because I can use VoIP calls over WiFI while in areas with poor carrier connections.)

[Talint]

If you're somewhat tech savy, or at least have some determination, I recommend using a monthly prepaid plan and using VoIP calls.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans (on the bottom left, 100 mins/unlimited text/unlimited calling)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2057887

$30/month and some know how can get you unlimited everything. You can go a step further using FreedomPop and get completely free service, although you're limited to 500 mb/month until you start paying and it requires you to micromanage your WiFi connection if you want to optimize your data usage (too much hassle imo)

Fascinating. That's a decent chunk of money saved per year, if I could get it all functional.

Good stuff, Mojo. Thanks.

[Meresgi]

So is it best to look at a prepaid phone with a chunk of $$ up front but no contract or just do the contract shit? I mean some of these contracts are stupid, what am I gonna do with 700 minutes a month?! I'll talk maybe like 1hr at most for a month. I just want it so I can look shit up on the go when i'm doing IT work so data plan would have to be decent I guess? Not sure.

[Mojo]

It depends on what you plan on doing with your phone and how important connectivity is to you. You'd be surprised at how often you actually end up talking on the phone in a given month. The prepaid phone deals can be great but it requires an investment in time and knowledge to get the most out of them (i.e. setting Google Voice up as your primary number.) I hate the idea of paying $70/month for a phone bill so that's what works for me.

[Meresgi]

yeah I dont really like the idea of paying 70bucks/month. I mean I would use it for emergencies and to surf the web for IT solutions and problem solving, other then that i'd have my laptop and shit. Though If I dont have a phone line at my new house it might be beneficial to get more minutes and shit I guess.

[Mellema]

Though If I dont have a phone line at my new house it might be beneficial to get more minutes and shit I guess.

I haven't had a home phone line for over 10 years now and it's never been a problem. Time Warner is always trying to convince me to get phone service through them, their pitch being you never know when your cell phone might not work. My response is that my cable goes out far too often, but in the past 10 years I only lost cell service once, and that was for only 30 minutes.

[Seiji Okita]

For those of you thinking about picking up a nexus 4. I've had mine for 5 months on t mobile and I average around 20mbs down. I love the phone and for 350$ off contract I could not be happier.

[Ratatapa]

Android phones works like iPhone contract wise?


Aka if I buy an android phone on contract, it's lock on the carrier for ever unless you unlock it ( from carrier or imei?)

[Seiji Okita]

Android phones works like iPhone contract wise?


Aka if I buy an android phone on contract, it's lock on the carrier for ever unless you unlock it ( from carrier or imei?)

Yes. You can of course buy unlocked versions of some phones. That's what the nexus that was linked a few posts back is.

[Meresgi]

Yeah co-worker just told me he has the Nexus 4 and loves it on a T-mobile plan. As much as I hate dropping that much $$ in a lump sum, its worth it over Verizon or another company bleeding triple that out of me over 2 years.

[Seiji Okita]

Exactly. As long as t mobile is strong in your area you won't regret it. Nexus phones also get android updates strait from Google and have unlocked bootloaders.

[Melena]

So update to my browser crashing, i've cleared the cache in settings as well as the temp internet files, still crashes back to the home page 1-2 times a day. No errors, just stops loading the page midway, freezes for a few seconds then back to home screen. Any other suggestions?

[Omniyoji]

Tried uninstall/reinstall?

[Melena]

Well uninstall/reinstall would mean reset to factory settings since it's the stock browser. I may try chrome first and see how well that works as I want to save a restore as the absolute last step.

[Intervention]

Well uninstall/reinstall would mean reset to factory settings since it's the stock browser. I may try chrome first and see how well that works as I want to save a restore as the absolute last step.

May not work but worth a try, try deleting the system cache in the bootloader before full wipe as well. I had some weird resets on my phone and that fixed it for me.

[Palpatine]

Any place I could download this?


Or find for cheaper? I haven't taken a college course in about 7 years, and never at this school.

[hey]

www.amazon.com/dp/B008MEZ4ZC

$25 used.

[Siya]

Not really tech related but anyone know of a decent chair with a tall back and possibly head rest? Hoping to spend around 100-150 (I know that's really low for such a chair but ;/)

[ArchDizzle]

Looking to give my pc to my son and upgrade to one a little bit better and wanted to know if anyone had opinions on ibuypower and cyberpower pc? Want to create a custom rig but dont want to actually build it myself. A quick look at cyberpower pc and it seems I can get what I am looking for for around $1200-$1300 with them OC'ing it etc.

I don't mind paying extra to have it built and ensure I don't mess it up and when looking on pc part picker it seems not much more then if I just ordered all the parts and pieced it together myself.

Any thoughts?

[Melena]

Looking to give my pc to my son and upgrade to one a little bit better and wanted to know if anyone had opinions on ibuypower and cyberpower pc? Want to create a custom rig but dont want to actually build it myself. A quick look at cyberpower pc and it seems I can get what I am looking for for around $1200-$1300 with them OC'ing it etc.

I don't mind paying extra to have it built and ensure I don't mess it up and when looking on pc part picker it seems not much more then if I just ordered all the parts and pieced it together myself.

Any thoughts?

My last PC I bought a little over 4 years ago was from ibuypower.com which is their parent company. Only issues I had was the video card shit out on me about 9 months ago, and I found out after the fact the case I chose had issues with the integrated fans. Everything else was great though.