…gaming headsets than we are about charging our cell phones.
The gaming headsets are a moment of justified and harmless mayhem after a day of getting Bren in trouble…
The phone is a device that really should sit on the table and ring only with the pleasant salutations of friends wanting to do lunch.
Alas, we have calls from Unidentified, and various bogus or nearly bogus charities. Even if we’re on the do not call list.
The cells don’t have that kind of nonsense, but I do forget to feed them. So does Jane. Until we’re on the road again and say to each other, like Dekker, ‘What time is it?’
Of course our phones are deader than the ever-unfortunate mackerel.
I know the kind of cell phone plan I need: one that doesn’t charge you if the darn thing isn’t charged.
Now that phones have (mostly) standardized on the “Micro-B” USB connector, here’s a suggestion for the car: get a cheap cigarette-lighter–to–USB power adapter and leave it in the car with a couple of USB cables. $10, maybe $15, and you’re never stuck in the car with a dead phone. (The iProduct “Lightning” cables are more expensive, but the power adapter can be the same.)
Bwahahaha! Great minds think alike. 3:14 & 3:15 😉
Get an adapter that plugs into a car cigarette lighter and has a USB port on the other end. Cheap and easy to find–I found on in a parking lot! I dare say you can find an extra cable for the car at the local Goodwill store. ‘Round here they’ve a bin full. It doesn’t actually remind one to rechargem but makes it possible when out.
Cell phones are for my convenience, not the convenience of any other idiot in the ‘Verse that wants to cold-call me. I am liking the idea of the in-car charger, which is where you are most likely to discover a need for the now-dead phone.
Junior has changed venues and is lurking across the hall in the ‘Captain’s Cabin’, our de facto storage room and Zorro’s litterbox area. He has digestive issues, so I’m hoping I can coax hum to eat in the next day or so; bringing him home only to have him inadvertently make himself sick would be bad. Zorro, meanwhile, is camping in one of the boxes I brought home from my last Costco run and has not bestirred herself since this morning. I’m waiting to see what happens when next they meet.
Since my (Samsung Galaxy S4) phone has a user replaceable battery, I recently bought a spare battery with charging enclosure so I now have a fully charged battery that I can carry in my purse. This is in addition to the car charger that’s always plugged in. My phone is nearly 2 years old and as it has aged it seems to have become more persnickety about which cables it will actually accept a charge from. These days it usually won’t charge unless it’s connected to a Samsung cable which makes no sense at all. It’s not so much for phone calls that I like to keep it charged, but for email, web surfing, and the crossword & Sudoku apps that I amuse myself with when I’m in a situation where I can’t read a book.
And, no, I won’t be upgrading the to the Galaxy S6 since Samsung has decided to turn it into an IPhone with no user replaceable battery and NO SD card slot. NOT acceptable, Samsung. End of rant.
I find it useful to have a battery level widget that shows the charge in percent, rather than a bar. Then you always have an accurate idea of how much charge you have left.
I use this simple one, but there are dozens of others.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=bassmans.apps.battery.level.widget
Your phone is supposed to be turned on when not using it as a time piece? I use a tablet for web surfing at home. I have a land line through the cable company. Why use my cell phone? I have a very basic $20 flip phone with prepaid service through T-Mobile. Friends know not to waste time trying to call it.
The Prius, being overrun with gadgets, even a clock that is as accurate as we make it be, DOES have several USB plugins. A USB CORD in the glove compartment, yes, we should do that!
My 2015 Toyota Crayola (not to be confused with the 1987 Toyota Crayola with a moribund clutch which has probably now gone to the Great Garage in the Sky) has a USB plug in, a plug jack, and a “cigarette lighter” which has no lighter in it. (The car also doesn’t have any ashtrays!) My new Consumer Cellular cellphone (flip phone) that is on the way is Blue Tooth enabled which should allow me to answer hands free in the car — providing I can figure out how to get the two to play nice with each other . . . It will come with a car charger since I also got the “accessory package” which includes a case. This is also the reason I changed from the AT&T GoPhone I had, as I had had it so long you can’t get a car charger to fit it. My mom and I want to go places in my new car and this is a necessary option. (I also have a car charger for my Kindle and my MP3 players. I am now fully equipped!)
Off topic, but I thought I’d share this tidbit from the “Books read in 2015” list from Sharon Lee’s blog(of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller fame)
14. Tracker, C.J. Cherryh (read out loud with Steve)
13. Chanur’s Legacy, C.J. Cherryh (re-read, read out loud with Steve)
12. Chanur’s Homecoming, C.J. Cherryh (re-read, read out loud with Steve)
11. The Kif Strike Back, C.J. Cherryh (re-read, read out loud with Steve)
10. Why Kings Confess, C.S. Harris
9. Chanur’s Venture, C.J. Cherryh (re-read, read out loud with Steve) (Note: the publisher’s note at the end of the book states that the next-in-series is Chanur’s Revenge. This is false. The next-in-series is The Kif Strike Back.)
8. Angels’ Blood, Nalini Singh (read out loud with Steve)
7. The Pride of Chanur, C.J. Cherryh (re-read, read out loud with Steve)
Notice a trend?
Excellent taste. Now I know I need to read in Liaden. (I haven’t yet.)
I am so far behind in reading. Sigh.
…Cat, will you *please* chill out? …Darned cat’s walking across my keyboard and batting at me, wanting attention. Never mind I’m up at oh-dark-thirty because I can’t freakin’ sleep. Cat wants attention. Kitten, I love you. Don’t walk on my keyboard. Don’t bat towards my face with your paw. You have claws, you little so-and-so. … Ehhh, goofy cat. Like he doesn’t get a ton of attention already….
(…Removed kitty-code input…) (He must be trying to signal the mothership. Or all the cats running amok in the other thread….) (Yeah, as if…)
you know, I keep wanting to get a new phone, but I also do NOT want a 2-year contract, the prepaid plans I’ve seen require me to purchase a phone for more than what the same phone under a 2-year contract would cost, and I have decided that it’s really not worth it for me to purchase something that is either overpriced, or forces me to remain with a particular company. I’ve been with this company for over 8 years, I’m not about to lock myself into another 2 year contract, having gotten let my last one expire 2 years ago. I had to go back to one of my legacy phones, until it broke, and now, I’m using a phone that I absolutely hate, but is the only one that I have that will work. I dislike the fact that I have a smartphone, but my carrier will not allow me to activate it again unless I also buy into the data plan. I don’t want to have to pay for something I rarely use (or used), so, again, I’ll just do without, which is fine. I did without them for almost 60 years, I can continue to do so…lots of other people do, too.
Many of the major carriers have El Cheapo subsidiaries for people who just want a boring old phone that functions as a phone — not a camera, not a web surfing device, not their portable music player. Some of the ones I can think of off the top of my head are Cricket and Jitterbug. You could also buy a phone outright and activate it though your carrier; a secondhand phone need not be ridiculously overpriced and overfeatured.
The supposed selling point of the cheap services is that you aren’t locked into contracts to help subsidize a phone that does everything but scoop the catbox.
Wow, I’d like to find a phone that scoops the catbox…well, not necessarily a phone, but something that does it automatically AND bags it AND takes it outside to the trashcan. The LitterMaid only scoops and bags, it doesn’t transport it… 🙁
Consumer Cellular has no contracts, and they’ve got iphones and Samsung galaxies, and all that kind of stuff. I get 250 anytime, any-distance minutes for $15 a month. They use somebody’s 3G network that has coverage all over the place. They have text and data plans too, and you can change your plan on the fly. You should check them out.
I was with AT&T’s Gophone which is supercheap, but they cheat. I got mad and went with T-Mobile who will (for some phones) buy you out of your existing contract. Their own deal is contract-free.
AARP also suggests a phone service from Consumer Cellular, which is a ‘design your own plan’ sort, and their ‘economical’ is at least no ripoff. AARP endorsement is a big deal for a company and they behave well to get it.