Is this the Droid I'm looking for? A technophobes blog

[kirk13]

Some of you might recall what happened to my last smart phone. It ended up failing to run away from an angry Kirk and his lump hammer,and died a very painful death.

Last Monday I bought an Alcatel Pixi3.5 from the local supermarket for £25. Today,I got it unlocked.

I'm going to run this as a blog to see if I can get used to a smart phone,or how long it will take for me to loose the rag again and grab a hammer!

[Grathr]

Pic?

[Gareth]

Make sure you install the "run and hide" app, for the next time Kirky gets smashy with a lump hammer.

[kirk13]

Pic?

Tomorrow

[Smashie]

Make sure you install the "run and hide" app, for the next time Kirky gets smashy with a lump hammer.

[pfrsantos]

Make sure you install the "run and hide" app, for the next time Kirky gets smashy with a lump hammer.

[Zed]

I used a Alcatel for ages, my youngest has it now,good phones for the money,as for my now year old huawei  its starting to play up 

[Tomcat_81]

One day, not having a smartphone will be the biggest status symbol
and greatest relief for us all.

Good luck with your Alcatel. And for your Alcatel ;-)

Tomcat

[hiraethus]

£25 for a smartphone?   Even if it's smurf that's a bargain.

[kirk13]

Pixi? Mini!


So far so good! Successfully sent text messages today

One thing I really like about this package,is that there's hard copy instructions! I've always said that if I could use the online manual,I wouldn't need an online manual!

Next thing is figure out how to use it as a mobile hotspot

[Tomcat_81]

There is something about me that always reminds me of this here... And if you watch it until the end, you'll find a nice version of your hardcopy-manual ;-)

[kirk13]

There is something about me that always reminds me of this here... And if you watch it until the end, you'll find a nice version of your hardcopy-manual ;-)

Yeah,that feels familiar

[kirk13]

Well,I now know how to use the mobile hotspot! And more importantly,I've set the ringtone:Kickback City by Rory Gallagher....feels appropriate for work


Next thing is set up the damn google play account. That can wait for tomorrow

[Gareth]

Just make sure that when you are looking at apps to download that you take your time to look at the "permissions".  If you're not careful you can be handing over all your contact details etc. just for a game of Connect Four.

http://about-threats.trendmicro.com/us/library/image-gallery/12-most-abused-android-app-permissions

[pfrsantos]

Pixi? Mini!


So far so good! Successfully sent text messages today

One thing I really like about this package,is that there's hard copy instructions! I've always said that if I could use the online manual,I wouldn't need an online manual!

Next thing is figure out how to use it as a mobile hotspot

Nice phone... and nice stylus, too...

 

[Alan K.]

Good luck.  I'm still learning how to do things with my phone and I've had for so long that the phone company told me I should trade it in.

[kirk13]

Good luck.  I'm still learning how to do things with my phone and I've had for so long that the phone company told me I should trade it in.

You sound like a man after my own heart

[kirk13]

Today marks one week of using the Pixi!

So,what do I think so far?

Well,against expectation,I'm growing quite fond of of the little thing! I'm not 100% sure why,if I'm to be honest.

Battery life is good...depending what you use on it. Using the MP3 player hardly makes an impact. The built in speaker is typical,in that you get fair volume,but it's mated to poor sound reproduction. However,if I use my noise cancelling earphones,sound is pretty good!

I've now registered with GooglePlay. Not too difficult,but the Pixi's small screen made it difficult to have the keyboard and see the information fields. In spite of some aggressive swearing I done it! It did seem to take forever to install a realitively simple game though!

Texting: I'm used to doing old fashion texting with there being three letters per key,and at this stage I can still do that faster than using the Pixi's keyboard,due to small keys,a slight off set to the left on the contact areas,and bloody predictive text

I've not tried using it as a web browser,and have no particular plans to do so.

As a wifi hotspot it's both very good and very bad. This is the feature I particularly wanted. It offers a fast and reliable connection to the iPad,but it eats up battery life like no ones business! A thirty minute use will account for thirty percent of battery life!


Overall though,I like the little thing...well so far at least! I think the key thing so far has been,it makes an OK smart phone for a dumb person,but it would fail as a smart phone for a smart person

[Mr. Whippy]

If you're paying extra to function as a hotspot (to the carrier), take a look at an app called Foxfi.  It allows you to run as a wifi hotspot without using the carrier's app (ie it's free aside from data usage charges).  You will need to check if your phone is supported however (not all phones on all carriers are supported).

[Zed]

Sounds like its going well kirky  my phone company offered me a upgrade today,so glad as my Huawei  is running so poorly these days  hopefully i can reset it and give it too my youngest  good luck with yours john 

[kirk13]

Sounds like its going well kirky  my phone company offered me a upgrade today,so glad as my Huawei  is running so poorly these days  hopefully i can reset it and give it too my youngest  good luck with yours john 

Cheers Paul

[kirk13]

Two weeks on and here's an update...

I'm really rather starting to like the Pixi.

After the phone tried to start downloading updates without my consent,I uninstalled a lot of the apps,well,actually all of them except the browser and solitaire. There's no way I'm going to use any of the social media apps,so there's no point in updating them Upside is more internal memory available

Last week saw me having to make a lot of calls(at least by my standards), and the battery life stood up very well. As long as the bells and whistles are kept under control,the Pixi is returning Nokia like battery life. I'm impressed!

I've now installed the Photobucket app,so should I start making use of the camera,I can do direct uploads...we'll see how much cursing follows

[zoidberg]

No hammer action?   

[kirk13]

Unbelievably no! The Pixi is actually working qunite well. Texting can be a pain,mostly due to the small size of the keys,but I'm only cursing slightly more than with the old style number pad on by nokias.

Having turned off the bells and whistles,and uninstalling the needless apps is giving me creditable battery life. As the reviews have said,it's an old folks phone. Suits me just fine

[eamo]

As the reviews have said,it's an old folks phone. Suits me just fine

old folks Kirky ? seriously ? you're only a wee slip of a lad yet, loads of milage left in you ! I have to say that cos you're younger then me, and i'm not old, in fact, according to my daughter i'm definitely juvenile 

[kirk13]

As the reviews have said,it's an old folks phone. Suits me just fine

old folks Kirky ? seriously ? you're only a wee slip of a lad yet, loads of milage left in you ! I have to say that cos you're younger then me, and i'm not old, in fact, according to my daughter i'm definitely juvenile 

Kirky's second law of technology: any technology that doesn't work better after being hit with a hammer is too complicated!