|
Post by ET on Jan 24, 2015 18:21:11 GMT -5
Man this is insane at what this small device can do.
Since my last posting on this subject I have added additional APPs such as Photo Editing to name one example but my amazement is actually with an existing APP for Maps and driving instructions that resembles Map Quest. The driving instruction can be set to even be conveyed verbally. It talks to me, chuckle. Also I can save these travel routes for future references.
Travelling to new different locations with my line of work I often go to Map Quest on my computer at home and print out instructions on how to get there before I head out. Now I can setup my travel route before heading out and recall it when needed. Heck I’m going to have to purchase a dash mount for my vehicle as it is illegal to manually operate a hand device while driving. The device must be operated hands free.
For how many years I’ve had to read maps and remember the route I needed to take to get to a specific location. Boy is my brain going to get somewhat lazy after this new feature gets used. But should it break down I still have old school skills that can take over in a pinch.
Another App if available I would like to get is language translations as I do sometimes work with multinational people and being able to better understand what they are saying or to convey to them what I need too would make life easier. As Winter months are slow I try to get my required or assigned learning done because when the nice weather hits I usually don’t sit around with free time on my hands.
I don’t have any games on my cell as I’m not a Gamer but am considering finding a Chess program as I do like a good game of chess should I get stuck somewhere with time on my hands. Now that I’m becoming more familiar with functions and controls on a Cell the learning gets easier. As funny as it sounds I still don’t use the text sending feature. Where I get a chuckle is when Arnold in Terminator 3 used the line “Talk to the hand” whereas in my case it’s “Talk to the Cell” using voice commands and typing.
Ed
|
|
|
Post by rambler on Jan 24, 2015 20:28:40 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by ET on Jan 25, 2015 6:42:38 GMT -5
Rambler
Maybe a momentary cellular monster who is gobbling up helpful info at an alarming rate, chuckle. Yeah I probably make the Cookie Monster or Tim Allen look like wimps at the moment. It’s kind of like waking up and discovering a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in your hands. This tool is a device with an enormous amount of resources available to a user. Eventually some of the enthusiasm will begin to subside once I gain familiarity with what I have and then I will return to normal, chuckle. For now I’m on a break-away on the info highway with no stops in front of me.
For years I owned a simple cell phone for calling or receiving calls and seldom got used. Now the d**n has burst and I have a powerful tool that has opened many doorways to further assist me. This alone has encouraged me to carry this tool more often. But once I’m home it gets put on charge or put away unless I’ve got some unfinished learning left.
As always you provide helpful info and links that I can only say "Thanks for your help".
Ed
|
|
|
Post by wilmsmeyer on Jan 25, 2015 7:25:39 GMT -5
I have yet to go down the road of high tech phones. My old flip phone with the broken hinge is still working. Everywhere I go, all I see is people looking down into there phones. They walk without even seeing where they are going. They eat dinner in a restaurant and stare more at their phone than they do at their parents, or their dates or their friends.
I know that it's "just the way it is these days". And call me pessimistic but if I had one of these, I would feel like I was being watched. With all the talk of big, multi billion gig storage facilities, I feel that many of us have left a 100% trail of our lives out their for someone to see and possibly used against us. Am I too paranoid? I don't know.
The devises are absolutely amazing. And what ET says about being lazy in the brain? So true. Older guys like us can revert back to simple ways to get information, use a paper map and other important things. I'm not so sure about the younger generation.
My wife and I went out for pizza yesterday at a place we like. There was a large group that seemed like mom's, dad's and probably 12 kids all having pizza and wings. The kids were anywhere from 5-15 years old and I swear, everyone of them had a gadget. One girl wasn't even eating....probably for fear of getting wing sauce on her hands and then not being able to text.
But, as said before, they are truly amazing and I bet that some corners of the gov't, that track everything, can use the data collected to keep tabs on bad guys, use properly obtained warrants to get evidence for trials, etc. I just don't like putting myself out there that much and having someone have the ability to get into my world and mind.
Also, there's the learning curve that I think us older guys go thru just to maximize the ability to use these things. The kids can fire these things up and be up and running in a day or less....some of their very first phones were a smart phone. A young guy at work, just out of collage really aged me when I described our phone at home when I grew up. A rotary phone! He said what is that? I said google it. And he did. In less than 30 seconds he had images of old rotary phones on his smart phone. Unbelievable!
|
|
|
Post by rambler on Jan 25, 2015 8:39:48 GMT -5
wilms:
I felt exactly the way you do. Then I took a dip in a 5 foot full drainage ditch with my 4-wheeler in December of '11, had my cell phone in my pocket and the rest is history. (it did recover but it was temporary)
Had to get another phone and now here we are. I must admit texting is a very easy way of communicating and never thought I'd see the day but time and place is still a factor.
Big brother listens in on the old flip phones too.
I promise if you get a smart phone you won't regret it. But they are expensive to buy outright and most plans require a contract. Like ET I find them highly useful in what I do everyday, in and out of the office.
Steve
|
|
|
Post by ET on Jan 25, 2015 11:15:14 GMT -5
Wilmsmeyer
My leap to a high tech cell phone started about 1-1/2 years ago when I needed to communicate long distance to reach home. In order to get the plan I wanted I had to upgrade to a specific level of phone sophistication. Well I actually bought more than what I needed so as the phone would not be quickly outdated and I wanted a rugged phone for outdoor use. In the end I actually got more than what I bargained for but no regrets because new doors were also opened that I could utilize.
You are right about the misuse of cell phones that seem to end up controlling a person’s life. Unless I’m expecting an important call mine gets shut off when communicating with others. My line of work requires full attention at times and again the unit gets turned off. To me a cell is a device or tool that when properly employed is beneficial. For the next generation to them it’s a new toy (novelty) with many features to play with and keep in constant touch with their generation. I like to refer to it as a novelty addiction that can become hard-core.
As for Big Brother watching well you are already on the radar screen with all your licenses. Even Doctors are phasing out hard copy files for recording your medical history on a computer and if that system has internet connect-ability then that is accessible IMO. No sense trying to hide or mask your life as it is already exposed.
At this point I don’t even need to carry a lab-top along anymore when I travel so no more security BS to deal with and carrying extra baggage. I still want to connect to my computer so that any pictures or filming I take are also sent there immediately. My printer at home is wireless and here to I want to connect with my cell to print out any documentation I need in hard copy format. Yep there’s a real learning curve I need to follow but if I didn’t really need it or it’s not beneficial I wouldn’t bother.
Another App I downloaded today is a Clinometer to measure slopes or angles. Basically I’m only downloading Apps that I can utilize in a productive manner or in my line of inspection work. So you are not forced to clutter your cell with useless Apps. I remember when scientific calculators first appeared that cost dearly. Now you download a free App and your cell becomes such a calculator. If you want a unit converter from metric to standard or vice-versa there’s a free App for that too.
In other words you can transform the cell phone to a multi tool and needed attachments you can utilize. And I will be utilizing mine to the max in different formats for sure.
Ed
|
|
|
Post by deadeer on Jan 25, 2015 11:21:19 GMT -5
My wife and I are new to the smart phone endeavor also. Pretty amazing to say the least. Only about $20/mo more than our old plan. Verizon has a new deal called 'edge'. You don't sign a new 2 yr deal, but they finance the new phone price for 2yr with option to buy out at any time for remaining balance. Then they give us a $15 credit/mo towards the phone that cost us $14.92/mo, so we are getting it free with $.08 going towrds the bill also. Ours are the entry level LG 4G LTS. Sounded too good to be right, but our bill is only $20/mo more so it is on track with what we were sold. So far so good.
Jay
|
|
|
Post by rambler on Jan 25, 2015 11:29:01 GMT -5
My wife and I are new to the smart phone endeavor also. Pretty amazing to say the least. Only about $20/mo more than our old plan. Verizon has a new deal called 'edge'. You don't sign a new 2 yr deal, but they finance the new phone price for 2yr with option to buy out at any time for remaining balance. Then they give us a $15 credit/mo towards the phone that cost us $14.92/mo, so we are getting it free with $.08 going towrds the bill also. Ours are the entry level LG 4G LTS. Sounded too good to be right, but our bill is only $20/mo more so it is on track with what we were sold. So far so good. Jay Android or iPhone?
|
|
|
Post by deadeer on Jan 25, 2015 11:38:32 GMT -5
My wife and I are new to the smart phone endeavor also. Pretty amazing to say the least. Only about $20/mo more than our old plan. Verizon has a new deal called 'edge'. You don't sign a new 2 yr deal, but they finance the new phone price for 2yr with option to buy out at any time for remaining balance. Then they give us a $15 credit/mo towards the phone that cost us $14.92/mo, so we are getting it free with $.08 going towrds the bill also. Ours are the entry level LG 4G LTS. Sounded too good to be right, but our bill is only $20/mo more so it is on track with what we were sold. So far so good. Jay Android or iPhone? Android. But, they have that deal going for anything, although the prices go up as you can imagine. Jay
|
|
|
Post by wilmsmeyer on Jan 25, 2015 11:59:33 GMT -5
Can't disagree with anything you said Ed. We are all on the radar with other ways like you said. I need to look at it in another way.
|
|
|
Post by rambler on Jan 25, 2015 12:34:52 GMT -5
Can't disagree with anything you said Ed. We are all on the radar with other ways like you said. I need to look at it in another way. "RESISTANCE IS FUTILE"
|
|
|
Post by ET on Jan 25, 2015 20:33:22 GMT -5
My wife and I are new to the smart phone endeavor also. Pretty amazing to say the least. Only about $20/mo more than our old plan. Verizon has a new deal called 'edge'. You don't sign a new 2 yr deal, but they finance the new phone price for 2yr with option to buy out at any time for remaining balance. Then they give us a $15 credit/mo towards the phone that cost us $14.92/mo, so we are getting it free with $.08 going towrds the bill also. Ours are the entry level LG 4G LTS. Sounded too good to be right, but our bill is only $20/mo more so it is on track with what we were sold. So far so good. Jay Deadeer When I got into the new technology I felt like an idiot on how to operate it for a while. What really helped was when I found the specific manual for my model on line, downloaded it on my computer and began to pick it apart to get a feel for the instrument. Well I can honestly say I no longer feel demoralized like an idiot and am now enjoying usages I never knew existed before. The only thing that hasn’t happened yet is that device being glued to my hip all day. Like a tool I fetch it when needed and when I’m home it gets parked. Sounds like you got a good deal from Verizon. I outright bought mine with no contract agreement and if not happy with my provider I can go elsewhere anytime. So far Ma Bell has been good to me. Ed
|
|
|
Post by ET on Feb 3, 2015 7:43:33 GMT -5
Well my cell phone got a workout the other morning when we had a winter storm visit our area. At the central office I got all the gear loaded to do some x-ray work. When my partner didn’t show up I checked my emails and learned the storm socked him in at his location. Okay I then contacted the contractor to let him know we were having difficulty getting to the job site, The contractor also couldn’t get to the job site and cancelled the RT activity for that morning. Then my boss was notified of the situation who then rescheduled the job. So within 10-minutes all parties involved were notified of the situation instead of me just sitting there waiting. In no time I was on my way home again to enjoy a few extra Z’s.
One additional App I now have is called “Screen Shot”. Basically it is the same function as “Print Screen” on your keyboard. It captures what is seen on your screen and can be saved to a file for later reference or recall. Yeah I’m like a kid with a new toy having fun learning the art of utilizing a cell phone’s capabilities. Hey why not take advantage of what you pay for and in some cases make life routines easier.
Ed
|
|
|
Post by edge on Feb 3, 2015 8:29:18 GMT -5
We would be lost without our phones. If you trust the other person you can see where they are at any given moment. If I forget my phone in my car I can look in my wife's phone and it will show it in the driveway, or wherever it is. It is accurate enough to know if is in the front back or which side of our house it is on.
Google Maps is a good app for navigation as it gives you traffic on your route and options to change on the fly. Waze is great when there is a traffic jam and drivers input their speed and whether there is an accident up ahead.
You go Christmas shopping to a mall and tap one of the car parking apps and 5 hrs later you can find your car, or a week later at the airport. Or shoot a deer and don't want to lug your backpack , hunting gear to where the deer is and you can find your stuff in total darkness.
Mossy Oak has a pretty good app for hunting, you place a dot where you have tree stands and it will show your scent cone form the stand now or hours into the future so you can decide where to hunt without spooking the deer.
The longer you have it the more you find it hard to not have it on you at all times.
edge.
|
|
|
Post by muzzleman 54 on Feb 3, 2015 9:21:45 GMT -5
Beem Me up Scotty !
|
|
|
Post by ET on Feb 3, 2015 18:54:26 GMT -5
We would be lost without our phones. The longer you have it the more you find it hard to not have it on you at all times. edge. Edge, you are absolutely right and that may be the addiction itself. The dependency development is the ease that things can be done at. Compass, GPS, and route traveling are a breeze. Communicating in another language is no longer a barrier. Mathematics and formulas are readily accessible along with unit conversions. Emails are readily accessible without having to wait till you get home. And a whole lot more is readily available. Sometimes I have to wonder where the limits for these cell phone and Apps are really defined. I definitely enjoy having my Tool (Cell ) along when I leave my home but when I get home It gets parked in a desk drawer. We’re only adjoined to the hip when I leave home, chuckle. Thanks for the mention of additional Apps I need to at least look at while I’m in the candy store. Ed
|
|