The Kyocera Zio (with Cricket Wireless)

Hey guys! In my last post I laid down some of the reasons why I use Cricket because I was planning on showing you their best phone to date that I'm so excited on purchasing when I save up enough money.... Srsly I've always wanted a smart phone with unlimited usage...

The phone runs about $249 on Crickets website, same price as the Blackberry. But seriously, why get a crappy blackberry with a data plan of $60 when you can get an awesome Android phone for the same price but with a lower data plan of $55. Five dollars goes a long way with Cricket. The phone comes with the 1.6 OS but will be upgradeable to I believe 2.1 later on. Hopefully it can be upgraded to 2.2 before I buy it :)

Okay so lets go over the visuals on the Kyocera Zio.

The phone comes with a trackball for those of you who just want to scroll through the icons, as well as a few menu buttons and send and end keys. The phone comes with all the usual Android features, market, as well as a Cricket market.

• Virtual Qwerty keyboard and 3-axis accelerometer
• Substantial internal memory (512MB)
• Built-in media player
• Digital compass
• MicroSD memory slot (supports up to 32GB microSD cards)
• Camera: 3.2 MP, w/auto focus
• Camcorder: VGA resolution @ 24FPS
• Dedicated camera key
• Light sensor
• Stereo Headset jack (3.5mm)
• Micro USB
• Vibrate Mode
• Scheduler
• Airplane mode
• Stereo Bluetooth® - 2.0 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
• Instant Messaging - Google Talk™ (Supports all IM clients downloaded from Android Market)
• Multiple Language options (English and Spanish)
• Multi-Media Messaging (MMS)
• Hearing Aid Compatibility
• EVDO Rev. A, Wi-Fi, and A-GPS/ E-911 capable*
• TTY/TDD support for the hearing impaired*
• Speakerphone
• Advanced voice dialing
• Full HTML web browsing

Display: 3.5" 262K-color TFT LCD WVGA (480x800 pixels), capacitive touch panel
Battery: 1130 mAh Lithium ion (Lilon) battery
Talk Time: Up to 6.9 hours
Standby Time: Up to 13 days (312 hours)
Web Browsing CDMA Network: Up to 3.9 hours
Wifi: Up to 7.0 hours

How to salvage or extend battery life!
With any new phone I get, I ALWAYS follow the recommended first charge procedure. 

What you're supposed to do:

• When you first get the phone and activate it, run the batter ALL THE WAY DOWN so that it won't turn on at all.
• Once the battery power is drained ALL THE WAY, this is the time when you first charge your phone. The reason it is important to drain all the battery before plugging it in is because this essentially PROGRAMS THE BATTERY CAPACITY and also extends how much power it can hold. Make sure the phone is powered off the entire duration of the charge. (It's better to charge it over night for the first charge.)
• Usually with brand new phones it alerts you as to when the charge is complete anyway. 
• Make sure that for every time you charge your phone from this point out that you wait for the phone to go completely dead, and plug it in while it's dead until fully charged. This will ensure your battery lives a healthy full extended life.

After I get the battery life all set up, I always set my brightness to the lowest setting. And when listening to music, I don't have it turned all the way up. Besides, loud music with headphones is more damaging than a Rock concert over time...

With phones that have Wifi capabilities, when using it while your phone service is still turned on can majorly sap your battery and fast. So make sure that any time you use wifi, to turn off your service temporarily. Usually it would involve airplane mode or something, you can figure it out.

I rarely use the loudspeaker on the phone itself, because if it's too loud, it could damage it or blow it out. So I try to use headphones with videos unless showing it off to multiple people. So if you just have to use the phone's speaker, set it to a low volume.

Here's the Kyocera review:

The best part about this is that you can skip buying it's accessories on Crickets website by buying on Amazon. Here are some cool stuff you can get for less!
 













Anyway, when I do get the funds to purchase this phone, I'll be sure to give you guys my review! :)

I Love Cricket

 

I love Cricket, and this particular post will explain all the reasons why I switched from AT&T.

1. No Contracts
 Like most people these days, due to the poor state of the Economy I've had to get rid of a lot of unnecessary costs. AT&T, like most big shot phone carriers, likes to give you massive discounts on mobile devices, but they make you sign a 2 year contract. With that contract you're obligated to pay their monthly rates which usually have a cap, PLUS data plans if you're one of those hip cats that like to have smart phones. They also slam you with overage charges the second you go over your minutes or data, or texts, what have you.

Now I recall at age 16 I was still on my mothers AT&T plan, and I loved to text. I sent so many texts during a one month period that I ended up owing my mother $500 in overage charges. Luckily I had a job, and was able to pay her back in two pay checks with money to spare. After that, I switched to Cricket and kept my phone number. I thought that would be the end of the hidden charges, but then they charge massive fees for cancellation. Some are even up to $350. They take off like $10 for every month you had the contract, so my mom ended up spending $175 just because I switched phone companies.

Either way, even with the phone discounts you still end up spending much more in the long run because of it.


2. The Plans
I love Crickets Unlimited everything deal. Right now they've got these All-Inclusive 'True Rate' phone plans out including 2 smart phone plans including unlimited data. They go from $35 for the basic plan, $45 for the cool regular phone unlimited plan, to $55 for the Android plan, and $60 for the Blackberry smart phone plan. The only downfall with their unlimited data plan is they throttle your speed after so many gigs of usage. At least they don't charge you anything extra lol.


Now right now I have the $45 plan with handset protection and 30 minutes of Roaming on the off chance that I go out of the city. My monthly bill was usually around $65 dollars when they had taxes and other state fees involved, but it should go down to $55-60 after I change to the all inclusive plan. To view what's included in each plan you can visit here.


3. No Cancellation Fees
Cricket doesn't have any cancellation fees. I like this idea because in the bad economy (omg shes talking about it again!!) a lot of companies have been downsizing their workforce to cut costs and a lot of people get laid off or fired. Now, honestly I have a fear of losing my job only because I have so many monetary commitments that require a monthly bill, like my lease, utilities, etc. I like the idea of if I lose my job, and can't pay my phone bill they wont slap me with late fees, or cancellation fees. Unlike other phone companies might... Let me put it in perspective.

• Verizon's early termination fee is something to the effect of $175, or $350 if you purchased an Advanced Device.
• AT&T's early termination fee is $325 minus $10 for each full month of your Service Commitment that you complete.
• Alltel's early termination fee is $200 per line for any early cancellation.
• Sprint's  early termination fee is $200 which progressively reduces to $50 depending on the number of months remaining in your contract. They even give you a nifty chart to see how much money you're wasting.

So even if Cricket might not have the easiest to deal with customer service line, I've never really had any issues. When dealing with their call center during the last half of the day always expect to have at least 10-15 minute wait time, and always ALWAYS keep a pen and paper with you before even bothering to call them.

As far as their signal strength, I've only had a dropped call during thunder storms or if I'm in a garage or for some reason Walmart.
 Either way, I give Cricket a 5 out of 5 stars for price and 3.5 out of 5 stars for Customer service.
This is Cricket's latest commercial featuring some of their smart phones.

I Got Soul

So I recently acquired an iPod touch 32 GB as a gift from my grandmother (I love you gramma!) and one of the first apps that I had installed was Tap Tap Revenge. Now I'm pretty sure it was Tap Tap Revenge 2 or 3... But while playing I did come across some good music.

Wallpaper's "I Got Soul (I'm So Wasted) really makes me wish I could go partying all the time. This guy is having a great time, and I'm guessing he's either blazed as f*ck, and drunk. But you never know with those bands.

Check out their album, you might get a better deal buying used, but then again I'm more of a music file person... Amazon can hook you up.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

The Legend of Zelda™: Skyward Sword is Nintendo's latest Zelda release. It will be coming to the states in 2011. It will be on the Wii platform and come with the introduction of full motion control enabled by the Wii MotionPlus™ accessory. It synchronizes player movements with Link's actions while offering the most intuitive play control of any game in the Legend of Zelda franchise to date.

Also youtube the creator playing, he wasn't the best swordsman out there, but this game looks fun. As a Zelda fan, I know I'd enjoy it even with the frustrating Wiimote if I had a Wii.

EEEEEEEHHH If only I had a Wii!!! This would be the first game I'd get. <3
Check it out on Amazon.com to pre-order. Every time I've used Amazon, I've always got my stuff quick. :)

Tourettes-Tot Beatboxing

I've always thought this was awesome. I love youtube remixes.

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