Cell phone entertainment

     I have used prepaid cell service for almost 13 years, cheap, poor quality phones and very low budget costs for the phone and service.  And it has worked and seems to keep working, not those phones, I have no idea how many cheap cell phones I have gone through in those years, about 2 years per phone or so would be my guess and very low budget, and low quality.

     So, more than a year ago I ditched the land line, the lousy quality of that service that kept getting more and more costly and the very poor internet service I also was paying for with that land line.  I went to my local cable company for JUST internet service, no tv service, no cell service and no phone service, because I just did not need them.  And I still do not.

     But I have decided I do want a good quality unlocked, will work with my current prepaid cell service that runs me around $200-225/year.  And, normal for me on such purchases, I started looking at unlocked cell phones, both on line and at Best Buys and our local Walmart, not saying those stores sell or promote those unlocked phones but I knew I could often find that same phone, unlocked for sale on line, but I could see, touch, handle that display phone in the store.

     And I Googled for reviews, was entertained by 'destroy the phone' videos, Motorola droid Turbo 2 won that contest hands down, and I liked the 1 I saw in the store, but for ram, hard drive and costs, it fell short on the first 2 and ran high on the last one. But I still liked the video and how tough that phone is.  But I am not buying, it is too over priced, it has too little a hard drive and it doesn't have as much ram as I would like. 

  So, having finally made the decision of which phone I wanted, which brand, model and so forth, I then went shopping for where was the best place to buy this item.  Which ended up being from the maker, gee, that works for me, and no, I am not buying Apple.  I wanted android based and also a phone that there was a jailbreak or re-rooting out there already.  I will be wanting rid of all that bloat ware, apps I have no use for that come pre-installed and will not leave without re-rooting.  Apple calls that jail breaking and has actually gotten a law passed so it really is illegal to remove the original operating system, software, and install a custom one.  Some companies void a warranty for that and some say 'have fun' and think if developers can make improvements and on their devices, all the better, works well for Google and their Nexus line, but I am not buying a Nexus phone either.  

     But Asus made the Nexus 7 and they make great quality tech things, including cell phones, my new phone will be 128G, 4G ram, cool, purple back, good price which includes a screen protector and case.  My coming phone is the Asus ZenFone 2, and I will be pleased when it gets here and once it is all set up.

     But putting it on my credit card proved another entertainment.  My credit rating is just at the low side of excellent, and I am not buried in debt, and have several major credit cards, 2 of which are from my very big, nationwide bank, as opposed to my local, has my house loan and safety deposit box bank.  So, I thought, as it is the easiest of my credit cards to make payments on, I would use that bank plastic, the cards that live tucked away and rarely get used.  And the order would not go through, it was refused by the credit card,  strange, I thought and tried again, but again that automatic system refused the charge, but they also sent me fraud alerts....about 3 of them that I then got to deal with.  I got out another credit card, which gladly accepted the charge, so the order did get placed and I did deal with the fraud alerts, Yes, that was really me, yes I really was trying to place that order.....

     Last night I was annoyed, it made a purchase a real hassle, and a trip up and down stairs several times, which hurts, with that big black dog helping or hindering, which is another hassle at times.   And I know the big hassle comes when that phone arrives and I battle setting it up, getting my service changed to that new phone, which, like the current cell phone, will live in the kitchen most of the time, it the case, being quiet.  And I know I will probably end up re-rooting that new phone, but not right away, but I will probably be setting up the needed filed for that re-root and tweak stuff in my laptop in the next few days so it is handy when I am fed up with those blasted not needed, not wanted, in my way apps that come pre-installed.

     Companies like Amazon, EBay, Twitter and so forth actually pay to have those apps, their apps pre installed and not removable in that new phone, and most people either use them or ignore them but I get in a snit fast when they take up MY space in MY device I paid for, when they want to download their updates for something I have NO need or want in MY device.....  And as much as I love my Apple devices, that is an issue I have with them and their pre-installed apps, I did discover I can tuck some into a 'folder' and I did all I could to keep them inactive and from wanting updates or anything else.

     But I want android for a smart phone, and a BIG amount of data space.....and that means I want rid of anything I have no use for, like sports, or financial, I can download and install the apps I want, buy an app if it suits me...  And I am glad my credit cards attached to my bank where my paycheck goes every week are so well screened...but it was an annoyance last night.