QR Barcode Scanner

For anybody out there who owns a smartphone, a really cool app to download is a QR Barcode scanner. A QR Barcode scanner app will allow you to scan (by using your smartphone's camera) any 1D and 2D barcode. These codes could be anywhere and can contain various information including coupons on the internet, contact information that can be stored on your phone, or a link to an important text, or event. And of course you can scan barcodes when shopping (which is how I use mine most of the time). Something like this comes in handy for the person who is tech savvy and is always on the go. This is a way to keep pertinent information and share it with multiple people quickly, or for the person who never has time to manually input things into their phone (because lets face it we store EVERYTHING on our phones nowadays). This feature even came in handy in my previous post when I went to the movies. The movie theater attendant was able to scan the barcode on my phone for my movie tickets, and I was ready to go. When you get a chance, go to your phones App Store or Market and type "barcode" in the search. There are many different apps that will allow you to scan either type of barcode. By the way, the barcode displayed in this post is my personal barcode. Try scanning this code to have access to me and more of my views. Try scanning all kinds of codes and see what comes up!

Enjoy

Fandango Mobile Movie Ticket

I had been telling my boyfriend that I wanted to go to the movies for about a week now. We finally decided we wanted to go see Columbiana (which was a good movie). We decided to go kinda late, and we were cutting it close getting there on time because we were not close to the theater we wanted to go to. We were trying to figure out what the easiest way to handle this situation was because it was late on a Friday night, and we thought we may have to wait in a long line. I asked my boyfriend if he had a Fandango account so we could just order the tickets from his iPhone app. He advised he did, but didn't know how we were gonna print them out because the kiosk they normally have at the movie theaters almost NEVER works. He noticed that when he looked up the movie and theater, there was an option that said "Mobile Ticket Available". I asked him to read what it was since I had never heard of it before and I was driving (had to stay safe...lol). He explained that you can purchase your tickets like you would normally do with a credit/debit card. But instead of printing it out, your confirmation would be in the form of a barcode that the ticket person could scan. I was so excited because we could literally bypass that long line for the box office and have our phone scanned and enjoy the movie in a timely fashion.

For those of you who aren't self conscious of putting your credit/debit card on file and have a smartphone, download the Fandango app if you don't already have it and try it the next time you go to the movies. The cool part about this feature is that it will tell you which movie theaters offer this service because not all of them do. That way you don't have to worry about paying for tickets and receiving a barcode to a place that doesn't offer it. I'm sure that when you use it, it will make your movie experience go that much smoother. If there are any people out there who have already tried it, I would love to hear your feedback.

Enjoy

4G Phones

For those of you who have been following my blog, you guys know that I am OBSESSED with cell phones. Recently I came over to the dark side (aka I got and iPhone) and I absolutely LOVE IT! From time to time I wonder about the new phones that come out and how they stack up to my iPhone feature wise. Plus I have yet to experience 4G in all it's splendor so I am excited to see how it measures up to the hype. Below is what I experienced with the phones I came across.

Verizon 4G phones were interesting. The Droid Bionic has a HORRIBLE front facing camera. The front facing camera is VGA quality which doesn't even equate to a 1MP camera. Pictures came out very grainy. And for those who take pics of themselves and post to any social site like I do (don't judge me...lol), it didn't look very appealing. The Bionic is the only phone that lets you edit videos which is a cool feature. It doesn't have a vertical menu which is the new thing, but one can download a launcher to do that for you. The LG Revolution is by far the most generic of the 4g phones. Wasn't really appealing or flashy. The only thing nice about the Droid Charge is the screen clarity. Other than that not much to write home about. Looks and feels more like a toy than anything else. Moving on to the AT&T phones, the HTC Inspire is cool, but doesn't have a front facing camera. If I'm gonna have a phone that does all that this phone does, it doesn't make sense not to have one. The LG Thrill was definitely interesting because it is AT&T's first 3D phone. It was certainly fun to play with, but after 5 minutes on that thing, the headache started setting in. It was amazingly fast though. The Motorola Atrix is extremely cool in terms of the featured, and the sound quality on calls were really good. Let's not forget the phone has enough memory to be used as a laptop. Not something I would need, but still cool nonetheless for people who don't want to carry around a bunch of electronics. Last but not least we get to the T-Mobile phones. By far the best phone they have is the HTC Sensation. This phone is pretty much the best at everything it does. The camera is amazing, the front facing camera is crystal clear, the sound quality is good. The HTC UI is very interactive. For all the social media whores out there, friend stream is cool. If your not partial to it, there are MANY apps that can be downloaded that work just as well (I'm partial to Tweetdeck). The phone had a little lag time when I first started using it, but once I went to the first website, it was smooth sailing from there. All in all this phone was CLOSEST to my iPhone feature wise for everything I would use just in Android. Were any of these phones enough to sway be back to Android?? NO! But if I had to go back, the Sensation would be my best bet. Now if we can get this iPhone 5 rolled out, the sky is the limit!

HTC Sensation

I think that I have fallen in LOVE <3! My new boo? The HTC Sensation! I went into Best Buy today with yet another girlfriend to assist her with a phone situation, and I started playing with it. I must say this thing is really snazzy. I looked at it and I thought to myself "self, why are you getting so excited about this thing? You already have an iphone!" And even though I have an iphone, it was something that was pulling me over to this phone. It is really sleek, the dual core processor is really fast, and all of the features on this phone are amazing! And don't even get me started on the camera. I am oh so very vein and I LLOOVVE to take pictures of people, things, and especially myself (don't judge me). So when I started taking pics of me (of course), I was amazed at how crisp and clean the pics were. And sending it via text over T-Mobile's 4G network wasn't too bad either. All In all, I think I would TOTALLY cheat on my iphone with this HTC Sensation!

Android Withdrawal

Since I am the go to person for all the people I know when it comes to cell phones and electronics, it is no surprise that a girlfriend of mine called me when she needed help deciding what phone to get for an upgrade. She is currently with Verizon Wireless and she had a Samsung Rogue. I don't know if any of you are familiar with that phone, but it is a simple touch screen phone with a full qwerty keyboard. When she told me she wanted to upgrade to a Droid, naturally I got excited because that type of phone is my cup of tea. But when I got to the VZW location to meet her, my excitement turned to worry when I realized she was almost having a panic attack because of all the phones she was looking at. I assured her that we would find something that she would like and she wouldn't have to worry. My girlfriend very simple (unlike me...lol), and the only thing she uses her phone for is Facebook, Twitter, and texting. She wound up getting a Droid Incredible 2 by HTC. While we were in the store and I was helping her set up everything, it took me back to when I used to use Android phones and I got a little envious. It made me kinda miss all the fun things I could do and download with Android. Though I have my iPhone 4 now, I think I am gonna stick with this because it has been doing wonders for me, but every now and again I think I will visit the different wireless carriers to get my Android fix! :)

Wireless Epiphany

I COMPLETELY had an epiphany today. I recently changed my wireless carrier from VZW to AT&T because I was having a bit of signal issues. My boyfriend has AT&T so naturally I just hopped onto his plan and got an iPhone 4. One of my best girlfriends wanted me to go with her to get a cell phone because to her buying a cell phone is like buying a car. She didn't want to get swindled and be forced into buying a phone she knows she's not gonna use to it's fullest potential. She decided she wanted to go to Cricket Wireless. I asked her why she chose them of all carriers. She replied "if I can get unlimited everything for just $55/mo, why not? I don't know why you didn't"! I immediately thought to myself [self], she is absolutely RIGHT! Now for someone like me who goes so hard on ANY piece of electronic equipment, it would make sense that I take advantage of something like that. Now I know that a Cricket Wireless is nothing compared to an AT&T, but it would be nice to entertain the idea that I could surf the web, call whomever, whenever, download millions of apps, text the whole world and have a halfway decent phone all pennies compared to what I pay now.

In my previous posts, I know that I have mentioned that as soon as I could get out of my contract, I would RUN to a MetroPCS or Cricket. But when it really came down to it, I ran RIGHT TO AT&T. I like bells and whistles and when it was all said and done the iPhone is what won the race! Even though I don't have unlimited everything for a small price, my phone is AMAZING!

P.S. I am still learning some things on it so as I learn I will be posting!

Team iPhone

If any of you have been following my previous posts, you guys would know how many issues I have been having with Verizon Wireless. Well VZW NO MORE! I managed to get out of my contract, and I officially switched to (drumroll please) AT&T. Not only did I move to a different provider, I did the unthinkable. Something I never said I would do! I am now TEAM IPHONE (yay). That's right, I purchased a 32GB White iPhone 4. For so long I was against the iphone becuase I had literally used Android phones since they came out. I was all about it's features and functionality. But now that I have my iphone, I don't see why I was so against it! Now I do admit, there was a little bit of a learning curve, but after a couple of days,  I got the hang of it! Now that it has been a little more than a month, I am a regular old whiz! I must admit, from time to time I do miss some of the android features that I had before (like some of the FREE apps I used to have), but for the most part, this iphone is a well oiled machine that just keeps it moving.

Upgrade Issue

Today was an interesting day for me as it pertains to my wireless experience. I attempted to go into a Verizon Wireless store to check out the HTC Thunderbolt and the Apple Iphone 4. I wanted to look at the iphone 4 first because I have been dealing with android devices for a while now. I go over to the Iphone 4, and I start to play around with it. I feel like a deer caught in headlights because I have NEVER used one before (don't judge me). I go to the Verizon store and ask some very specific questions because I know what I use my phone for. If you have read my previous blog entitled "This Samsung Fascinate!", you would know that I had a very serious issue with utilizing my call waiting and conference calling on that phone because of a software issue with the phone. Well naturally when I go to try to get a new phone, I am going to need the phone to complete those tasks appropriately.

I go in the store and have a nice young man eager to assist me because I would like to upgrade. I tell him what I use the phone for and what I am looking for and immediately he seems turned off like I am talking too much. I explain to him that I need to make sure these features work and when I explain it to him, his eyes glaze over like he has NO idea what I am talking about. After a solid 10 minutes, and me having to demonstrate the issue, he finally understands. He even goes and gets another gentleman to try to assist him with this. We try placing calls on the iPhone 4 so we can utilize the call waiting. That works fine. Then we try to utilize call conferencing after using the call waiting and it was unsuccessful. Then we try placing calls utilizing the call waiting, and disconnecting one of the calls (not all). That was unsuccessful. Next we try all of this on the Thunderbolt. These steps were also unsuccessful.

When the reps finally understand what I am trying to accomplish, and see how unsuccessful we were with trying to get this done, the rep originally helping me says "You may just have to give up on upgrading". I was shocked that he said that to me. Was he implying that I can never upgrade again if that feature is important to me? He asked me "does it work on your current phone [Droid X]"? I told him yes and showed him HOW it works. He said "well if you really care about placing those kinda calls, you may just have to use Motorola's from now on!" Again I was floored! You are telling me that even with all the money I pay each month, and with all the money that I am paying for the phone, I just have to be stuck with one kind of phone and just deal with it because I want to place calls? I thought that was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard in my life and when I asked if he was serious he completely said yes like there was nothing wrong with the whole scenario. I asked if he had ever heard of this and he said no. I asked if he understood why I felt the way I felt, and he said yes. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do. Needless to say I was very unsatisfied.

This just further proved that Verizon Wireless doesn't care about the satisfaction of their customers. They are willing to charge you all this money for products and services, but don't really care if the product or services really work!

Sounding Off To The Termination of VZW's One-Year Contracts

I was making my rounds on the different mobile websites, and I landed on one of my favorite sites Phonescoop. I go there when I want to learn about what's going on in the mobile world. I happen to be looking on the main page, and I come across an article that made me feel a little bit un at ease. The article is entitled Verizon Wireless to Eliminate One-Year Contracts. Naturally I read it because I have Verizon, and they have been going through so many changes since the release of the Verizon iPhone 4, that I figured what now? As I read it goes on to say that it is no longer profitable for them to offer one-year contracts because customers have been utilizing two year contracts to take advantage of lower phone prices. Earlier in the year, we saw the introduction of the iPhone 4. Then we saw that they are doing away with New Every Two discounts. Next they terminate early upgrades, now this!

With all these changes, it makes you really wonder what exactly are they really trying to accomplish? These sorts of changes in my opinion don't promote customer satisfaction. It would be one thing if these changes were gradually rolled out between a time frame of at least six months apart each, but all changes rolled out within 2-3 months. This is just another way for their company to say they can pretty much do whatever they want and there is nothing we can do about it!

Emotional Spending

I felt the need to just give you a little insight about who I am and my electronic spending habits. I am an emotional spender when it comes to my electronics. When I get upset about something, instead of me getting a pizza or crying my eyeballs out, I spend money. And when I spend, I spend BIG! I spend on electronics. I think I need something to take my mind off of what is bothering me and need to play with something. So more than likely a phone, a camera, or even something like a laptop. Something that has a lot of features. Now these things do not come cheap, but at least I will be satisfied and preoccupied. And I get to expand my portfolio on something I can have a little more knowledge on. And I mean, hey, knowledge IS power...LOL!

VZW 3G Mobile Hotspot

I have a Verizon Droid X and I have decided to try out the 3G Mobile Hotspot on the phone to see how well it works. I currently also have a Clearwire modem in my home where I can plug up my ethernet cable. I have been trying both out just to get a feel of how one compares to the other. Currently in my home, not only do I NOT get the greatest signal for the Clear modem (which on a good day is maybe 2-3 bars), but I also only get no more than two bars of 3G coverage in my home. Needless to say I must have lead paint on my walls because my signal strength is pretty much non existent. Even when I am out of the house, the 3G hotspot works semi ok. It is nothing compared to my Comcast or Verizon internet (even though I couldn't stand to have either service). 

All in all, I don't see the use for it at the moment because the only place I would really need to have up to five devices hooked up to it is my home, and if I can't even get a 3G signal here, I don't have much hope for the 4G. Hopefully the 4G will be LOADS better! 

HAPPY SURFING

My Newest Toy

I am so over the moon with my latest toy. My new Apple Macbook Pro. Now I know that this is not anything new to most people, but for me this is a BIG DEAL! Sure I have used MACs back in the day when I was in school, but have never owned one or cared to use one for my own personal use. It literally took for someone very close to me to convince me that MAC is where I need to be. For so long I have been using PC's, but I find that I do so much with them that even a PC notebook with the fastest processor was not cutting it. I really have no idea what I do that is causing my notebooks to go up, but I go thru notebooks very quickly. Now that I think about it, I get one once a year. I have had them literally "blow up" from me doing so much (I'm talking about smoke coming from the unit and everything...lol)! But I am hoping that even though the user interface is much different, I will be able to adjust. Especially knowing Apple's track record, I am sure this is going to be a very good investment. No more crashing, slow, notebooks w/ viruses for me. I have officially moved over to the MAC side! YYAAYY!

Wireless MoneyPit

So I have been COMPLETELY obsessed with this for about a week or so now. I was thinking to myself how these wireless carriers are charging us up the wazoo every month and how we spend all this money on phones because something new comes out every other month. Since I LLOOVVEE cell phones so much, I find that when I want to take advantage of another phone, it may not always be available w/ the same carrier I have (I'm sure anybody who's wanted an iphone can relate). These wireless carriers don’t exactly make it easy for you to just switch from one carrier to the other unless you feel like paying an early termination fee which is at least $175 and could go upwards of $350. That means your looking at at least a 1yr contract to even get some kinda discount for the phone. And when you do find that phone you absolutely love, what happens if you want to switch carriers? You more than likely can't take the phone w/ you. Sure that particular carrier may have their own version of what you want, but that means shelling out more money. If you're anything like my mom, you can keep the same phone for at least three years and NEVER need a replacement. But for most, we want something new, bigger, and better. And with bigger & better comes bigger pricing! Oh boy!

This Samsung Fascinate!

Soooo,

I wanted to share with you the recent experience that I had with my Verizon Wireless Samsung Fascinate. I was with T-Mobile and had a Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant which I LLOOVVEEDD! For whatever reason I just wasn't liking T-Mobile anymore so I decided to switch to Verizon. At the time the Fascinate wasn't out yet, but I made sure I waited for it to come out because I liked the Vibrant so much. When I got the phone, it was like love at first sight! I was so happy with the way it looked (the screen was AMAZING), and all the functions it could do. But as I started to use it, I was starting to realize that i didn't heart this phone as much as I thought I did.

I'm pretty much the type of person (when it comes to my gadgets anyway), where I am gonna test out almost every feature and I need to make sure it works in its entirety. The one thing that absolutely needed to work didn't! I come to realize the hard way that this phone does not have independent buttons for call waiting/call forwarding allowing me to properly perform 3-way calls or click over. Something as simple as call waiting/call forwarding just did not work properly. I could take pictures of business cards, and have my phone tell me what mood I was in, but I couldn't place a proper conference call to save my life! It took Verizon five (YES 5) replacements for them to realize that this is something that the phone just can't do. And when I called Samsung, they told me that there was NOTHING they could do because NONE of their Android phones have independent buttons for those functions. I was SSOO sad because I knew that I had to give up my love at first sight all because it couldn't perform what I thought to be something as simple as placing a call! :'(

Hello Blogging World!!!

Hello World,

Nicki here. I just want to write a small introduction since I am new to this whole blogging thing. I always wanted to see what the fuss was about, and now I am here. It took me no time to figure out what I may want to write about and what people may want to hear, and it came to me like lightening! DRUM ROLL PLEASE.......electronics and technology! I absolutely LOVE everything that has to do with technology, and I thought that somebody out there may want to hear what I have to say about them. I will be talking about everything from cell phones, wireless services, to washer machines if need be (yes even they are getting sophisticated these days...lol).

So buckle up and enjoy the ride because I will take you through the highs and the lows of it ALL!

Enjoy!