My First Impressins of Project Fi - Google New Phone Service

Okay people, its all about consistency here!!! and I am writing this 2 weeks in a row!!!!

So after receiving the phone shortly after ordering it, I chose the Nexus 5XP, and this is a pretty smooth phone, I would have to admit I am pretty impressed by it. The last major google phone I had was a Moto X, and that phone was cool, but this phone is way better and right now at a Project Fi price point of $150 plus taxes and fees, probably one of the best purchases I will make this year.

I would walk you through the sign up and activation process, but Google made a series of videos so you can just look at those. The activation process and number porting from Republic Wireless went very smoothly and new activations are even easier. Once you get started you will spend a good amount of time updated the software and also installing patch upgrades to bring the device up to date.

As coming from an older phone, immediately the finger sensor in the back, IMO, better and more convenient than the iPhone thumb print sensor and better than sliding a thumb on the Galaxy. The screen is amazing and the phone has a great weight balance in your hand, and as a phone made by LG instead of Motorola, you see the build and experience is much better. The camera is great and the apps run 1,000 times better than my previous phone, Moto G, on Republic Wireless.

So lets get into this discussion, I compare this Moto 5XP to a Moto G not because they are similar in specs, because they are not. However the Moto 5XP is a flagship phone from Google at $150 and the Moto G is a budget phone at $150, although the price is only good till early May 2016, pretty much come out the same from my wallet, $150! comparing the phones is probably a waste of time because the Moto 5XP blows out the Moto G in everything and is probably more suited to compare the Moto X 2nd Gen, However that phone is $250, are you starting to get my drift here!

So the main reason I feel Republic Wireless and Project Fi is a great phone service choice is because of not only the VoIP, but the fact that you can have a smart phone, a premium one at that, and not be forced to buy and access data. Plans from Verizon and AT&T require you to have a data plan if you want the premium phone so you are spends north of $100 as I am paying south of $30, because I turn off data.

So my biggest gripe with Republic Wireless is that the calling experience wasn't the best, however because I used a Moto G, I probably credit that experience more towards the phone to the service. The phone and call quality is very good in the Moto 5XP, mostly because of the advances and improvements that are in the phone, not just the added service of using the T-Mobile towers.

So in conclusion, with staying with a low monthly service plan, the experience is very similar to Republic Wireless as I don't have or use data, the phone selection of Project Fi is better, payment plans on the phone makes it easier on getting the one you want with the amount of memory you want. Now a days that people are using their phones at a all time high, its mostly used for texting and apps and not as much for phone calls. The pleasant surprise is the integration of Hangouts and Gmail as you can send and receive SMS messages through Gmail, this is not a revelation however this is a great feature when you discover how to use it, especially if your in an office environment or consistently on a computer.

My first impressions of Project Fi have been nothing but great, I encourage you to be brave and make the Jump from cell carriers to Google, with all the $$$ you would be surprise how much more stuff and things you can enjoy instead of just giving it to Verizon and AT&T. Its your money and you can do what you wish with it.... With mine, I chose to keep it!   

Project Fi - My Impressions and why you should try it

I don't know how many time I try and relaunch the blog and something comes up, but this is a life lesson that things are going to happen, motivation comes and goes and their is never a perfect time to do anything so you got to keep grinding it out. When its a passion it doesn't feel like work until it becomes like work and then we don't like to do it unless we get some incentive or whatnot.... So enough with the rambling.

I am here to talk about Google's new service called Project Fi and why you should care about it. If you have followed the Blog then you know my stance on technology and that I am a little ahead of the curve even though it seems like I am Apple bashing but time told us Apple just wasn't the same company as the one we romanticized about a short while ago.

Anyhow, Google released or is now in the Cellular phone game competing with the giants of AT&T, and Verizon, while not battling Sprint or T-Mobile because those are partners rather than rivals.

So the big questions is why should I care? and to a lot of people it won't but for some it will. Is this a revolutionary phone service? No, kinda No, is this something we have never seen before, No... all of what Google offers is what has been available to us for some time now with services such as Freedom Pop and Republic Wireless, which I am a current customer of.

So lets get down to it! Google's Project Fi is a Wifi-Cellular phone that mainly uses Wifi in your house to operate data and phone service. If you use your phone it will make the call over Wifi before it connects to a Sprint or T-Mobile network. the plan's basics is $20 dollars a month for unlimited talk and text, so who cares right... and it charges you only for the data you use at a rate of $10 per Gig.

So this is why you should care. As of right now you can take advantage of being an early Project Fi supporter and you will get $150 off a Nexus 5 phone, which is a flag ship device that will run you $150 plus taxes. So in an age where you are paying a premium for your devices at $20+/month, this is a savings. In an era where we pay data access fees for our smartphones these fees will add up to a rate of about $100/ month for a phone... I know I will get back lash over comments of how people are going to post that they get some crazy discount or something, this isn't for you and keep your phone service. But for the rest of the population who think their current bill is to high and want to cut something, this is something to consider

Now one main reason that I am backing Googles Project Fi, is that I was a Glass Explorer and the process and experience was great, So I have experienced other Google products and I have had nothing but great experiences so I don't think this would be any different.

Here is my input on this whole topic. I switched from AT&T to Republic because I wanted to cut down on the data usage and also my Phone bill of about $200 per month with both line unlimited data. I switch to a plan that was $13/month at republic and been pocketing around $50/month on my phone bill which I use on other things other than AT&T, not that AT&T is bad, I just dont think updating snapchat and facebook is worth the data and fees. The things about Republic that I do like is the control to get data and to turn off data at a prorated fee, they were first with the data rebate per month for the unused data so I am completely happy with the service. However because I have a Moto G and now it does the job, a Moto X is more what I want, the out of pocket fees was around $300 bucks, which kinda hurts and cuts into my savings per month. With Project Fi I am getting a flagahip premium device at a discounted cost and a very similar service, I am a customer who elected to has service without data however I am pretty sure the majority of people use at least a 1 GB of data.

So as an early adopter, I don't know what the service is like but I anticipate great things!

Here is the link to project fi
https://fi.google.com/signup

Why Microsoft Tablet will only scratch the Surface (Pro or Not)

Here is to my New Years Resolution to start blogging consistently again, Like many New Years Resolutions, commitments kinda come and go but habits that you form make them stick. So why are you reading this article anyway? And why am i writing this? because this in not a full review of the Microsoft Suface Tablet because hey, you can watch dozens of Youtube channels and articles by people who can make videos waaaaay better than I can, however I find most videos and reviews don't have the caution and warning to things that are critical to know, or you find out the hard way right after you buy the product.

My beef with the Surface Tablet, and by beef I am referring to what I don't like about it is that the Miscrosoft Surface tablet on TV and even on the specification sheet states how much memory is in the actual product. Now if you are a regular reader or a level above a zombie than we have probably have some tech experience with what Apple and Samsung state is the memory and what is usable because of the OS need to go somewhere... Right!!! So the OS for an Apple Product varies and the storage you need to install updates is a tad more, if you need specifics and Google it, however that OS requires X GB to run the device, phone or tablet. However in a Surface (RT or Pro) offers tablets at a much higher storage capacities of their entry level product that Apple or Android (Android because there a zillion of them) so this in turn looks attractive to the consumer. However after having the tablet and exploring things, I would expect the Windows OS to be roughly the same as the Apple and Androids, however this was TOTALLY WRONG! The required space of the Microsoft Surface OS is around 22 GB approximately so a 32 GB tablet you thought you were going to have storage on... is really like an 10 GB tablet which is Good for around 5 movies.

Also what is great feature about the tablet is the 16:9 aspect ratio of the screen and that the videos and movies come out better and the cameras on the device is not comparable to the Apples products, but it is serviceable for Skyping and what not and generally the hardware seems good enough to perform to your needs.

In my opinion what kills this tablet, more than the storage which is a pretty big deal, is the fact that the applications in the Window Store is so out of touch than what we need. Only if you were in a Microsoft Bubble and had nothing but Microsoft than this wouldn't be a problem, however the world now works in eco systems, so by buying a product I am buying into your ecosystem of products because that what we have come to s a tech society. I would say the average tech user, which is everyone on the planet, uses either instagram and facebook on a normal basis and the younger generations use snapchat and techies love their Google+. None of these apps are on their app store. SO when you purchase a product to portability and to use it to replace your laptop, it doesn't even give you the access to what 99% of the people use a connected device for so you have to carry around more technology and now you are technologically redundant... and if you don't know what that means I have a blog for that!

I don't like to make my blogs super long because of the attention span of a reader but also these are the 2 most important things I would tell somebody if they were purchasing a Surface Tablet.... I don't want to go into another blog about this but stuff has to get said and done!

Thanks for reading and comment, +1, like and enjoy!!!!

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Charlie Seanez! 

Bigger Phone are Burring the Lines and Sales Between Tablets and Smartphones

I had to take a little hiatus on this Blog for a bit for work and studying purpose. As you may know writing is a rhythm you have to be in to do, similar to dancing…So I am back with a lot of topics for discussion for the techies and not-so-techies out there!

So lets get down to business here!!!

So as the Christmas shopping season is upon us, maybe you were deciding to get a really good Black Friday deal on a new iPad or Galaxy or go with something else like a new Galaxy Note 4 or the large iPhone6. It is not surprising that you are thinking this and you seem to be struggling on a decision on what to buy because your iPad2 (because everyone has an iPad2) is still performing very well, even with the new updates to the OS. Now if you are having this difficult decision, the big boys, Samsung and Apple, have an even larger problem to deal with. The reports state the tablet sales are dropping as large phones sales are increasing and Samsung's profits have dropped to the tune of 70% from last year and they simply claim that they ran out of people to sell a phone to. 

Part of the reason that you are having this question is the fact that the phones and tablets are becoming redundant technology to each other. "Redundant tech" is the meaning I use that I user will have multiple devices on them to be productive and plugged in. Now since phones now a days are a necessity and the lifeblood to humanity, this is also something that has equity because the fact that you can trade in and get comparable value even if it is 2 years old, as compared to a tablet which has little and depreciating equity and the value doesn't hold itself like a premium cell phone does. Because the larger screen on the cell phones, the functionality, use and entreatment  that you would get with the tablet (games and movies) are really blurred. Throw in the mix of smaller 6", 7" and 8" and the waters become more and more muddy! 

Now let's bring it back to basics here, and just stick with the main tablet and the phones. The Galaxy Note series offers a stylus for precision for a smaller screen and the iPhone is a couple years late with copying Android (let's be real, and stop acing like we don't know or deny the fact. We are all educated here) and the fact that tablets are heavily reliant on wifi to be enjoyable and also connecting the wifi to your cell account is going to cost you extra money for what? updating Facebook on a 10" screen instead of a 7" phone? Mostly tablets have been reduced to giving it to kids to watch a movie so they don't bother us and now the phones are large enough that they just watch Youtube movies on the phone. 

Just observe the discounts the big box stores (Target and Best Buy) are giving you if you buy a tablet this season, over $100 bucks off in gift cards as well as a minimal price drop from retail MSRP. But I believe the lines can be blurred both ways into the tablets favor. As the tablets are getting smaller and cheaper and still hold its processing value, with the big push the phone carriers are doing to get off the unlimited data plans, consumers will probably start going to tablets more and more because the price of data and overages are not worth what you pay for. I mean can we just update the selfies when we are on wifi? The larger phones mixed with the smaller tablets are basically the same things. except you not going to pay several hundreds of dollars to instantly update your instagram account. The mobility of the smaller tablets give portability of to tablets to fit in your pocket similar to the large phones and also the fact you don't really loose much screen real estate.  

In my opinion, I think users are going to come off the premium phone services and get the second tier services and get tablets with the savings of their monthly data charges. And if you think I'm crazy, just wait and read the fine print on these family sharing policies you see on TV, 2016 is going to suck for a lot of people(but not for you because you are smart and you read my blogs) because all the family sharing plans promotional data expires then, and then enjoy the 200+ phone bill, I mean is Facebook and Instagram that important to update? I rather Lease a Car instead!

For more stories like this and to get your daily dose of Tech news follow me on Flipboard…

https://flipboard.com/section/charlies-techlist-b5sLg7

Thanks for Reading

Some source articles

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-iphone-6-is-killing-the-need-to-own-an-ipad-2014-11

Be Smart in choosing a smart watch!

I am always on the consumers side when choosing technology and what exactly fits them and also why this is a good buy for them. Many questions are asked to me and the most popular one was "which smartwatch should I buy"? The answer is not a simple and straight forward one, however if you are an iOS (iPhone) user then the answer is clear, do not buy one... well not yet.

As the wearable market continues to expand due to the popularity and push for tracking your progress and heartrate for fitness purposes, Apple has lacked a product in this field and also as been very quite on the progress (typical Apple). The wearable field has been dominated by three major companies: Google/Andriod wear, Samsung and Pebble and the wearable market shows no sign of slowing down, but where is Apples?

Apple has always been very secretive about their products until they are announced in the Keynote Speeches of the events. So looking through patents that Apple has filed has given us an iDea of what they are trying to do. Apple has been acquiring fashion consults from designer companies and also designers of the Nike Fuelband which is a project that is very popular with fitness consumers,  but will no longer be supported by Nike. Using key people in these industries tells us that Apple is going to release a solid smartwatch that will be integrated in the OS and also one that is desirable. I expect the iWatch to be focused more on fitness tracking than the other watches due to the iOS8 and the healthbook functions that will be integrated in the OS.

Andriod and Motorola have announced an event to released the follow up to the solid Moto X, Moto X+1 and the Moto 360 is expected to announce their release date as well. The Moto 360 is the smartwatch that is getting all the buzz from the tech consumers because of the round interface and the fact it doesn't run Tizen (Samsung's Operating System) as compared to the Galaxy Gear. The Moto 360 supports functionality of a round interface and integrates very well with Google Now giving people the alerts on their wrist instead of their pockets.

Last but not least the Samsung Smartwatch, Galaxy Gear which is anticipated to release models that are not required to be connected to a Galaxy Phone. Having a device that is somewhat maybe the kick Samsung needs to sell more units even though Samsung admits it has ran out of phones to sell people. The Galaxy Gear line is an interesting line because it falls into the category and philosophy to never buy the first version of anything (due to the functionality of the product is low and the refreshed version 2 is a lot better).

Smartwatches are an interesting field because this is a niche product with mass appeal. People are excited and have large expectations about a product and are anticiping it to deliver a great product experience without owning a wearable device. In my opinion the wearables market is nice however I feel the consumer needs to be in the wearable ecosystem and not use this and browse you phone all the time, then there really isn't a point of getting a smartwatch. Owning a wearable device will only show you how dependant you are to a wall outlet and you must be near a charger at all times because having technology is one thing, having dead technology is another. The benefits of Glass is to not stare at your phone and realize there is a bigger world out there full of stiff larger than a 5" LCD phone. If you go after the wearables, I recommend to try and reinvent the way you consume mobile technology and get it out of your way. Unless you get a LG smartwatch,  because there really isn't a reason to own that watch as it does nothing for you. 

What you need to know about streaming your music - Pandora, Spotify and Songza

This blog has always written tech articles and blog posts about the hardware devices and software that effects our everyday lives, I wanted to shake up Charlieschecklist.com a little bit and write an article about music.

Many many many years ago, we used to have these businesses called record stores like Sam Goody and Virgin Mega Store that had nothing but media to sell to the consumers and when Napster and the iPhone was invented, it put the record stores out of business because why would I buy the entire CD when I only want one song? Since then mp3's have dominated the music market, but with the invention of Limewire and other file sharing systems, even digital sales are struggling to sell units today.

Now the new wave of technology brought us Pandora Radio, Pandora Radio was the first music project to integrate into our everyday lives. Pandora is a streaming music service that finds similar artist and songs to whomever you pick. You have the option of "liking" (thumbs up) or "disliking" (thumbs down) and this tell Pandora what you really want to hear. Pandora is now in smart TVs and  everyone's cell phone as the original streaming music.

Spotify is a music streaming service that allows you to make playlists that are custom to your liking. Unlike Pandora, Spotify lets you stream the entire album of any artist on their network which is very large and comprehensive. Spotify allows you to follow people and artists on for profile and also share playlists with fellow Facebook users. Spotify is great and many people's go-to streaming service because of the ability to control more of the content you like and also gives you the option to download songs with a premium subscription. If you choose the Premium subscription then you also enjoy ad-free listening and also the ability to hear any song and playlist as you like without having to have your playlist song selection shuffled.


And now Songza... The reason Songza is relevant as of late is because Songza was recently acquired by Google and will soon be incorporated into the Google Music. While Apple acquire Beats and Beats Music, I haven't got around to using that service but will post a review about it soon. Sognza is a service that will let you stream music by mood, time of day or activity you are doing, such as studying, working or working out. The playlists are created by people/DJ in the music industry and the playlists are updated weekly. This is a good feature because if you want to listen to Current Music, but specifically Club Music, there is a playlist for that, and a Happy Hour Latin Playlist... this is better for people who want to discover more music that is specifically for occasions for parties and also relaxing which Spotify requires you make or follow and Pandora will just play similar artist but mostly the artist you pick.

In closing, I use all three streaming services on my phone. the one I recommend is Songza, not because I am a Googler, but as a DJ who needs to hear and stay on top of music while discovering new music, current and old, I need a service that could help me as the radio stations have the same songs on rotation all the time. On my desktop, Spotify is my preference because the user experience is great as it really doesn't work well on mobile, except if you are just streaming your playlists. And if you have a Smart TV, Then Pandora is your go-to Streamer..... by defaut


Thanks for reading and also enjoy the Podcast!!!



 

Free Tech for Everyone!!! Except for the people who pay for it! - LAUSD to furnish laptops and tablets to student

This is a blog post is usually insightful about technology, uses and up and coming topics. But I guess todays posts can be considered a rant...

LA Times, Los Angeles Time which is a newspaper because some of us forget about what that is, reports that the LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) is now rolling out to students technology such as tablets and laptops through "bond" money for students learning in one of the largest school districts in the United States. This will give students in 27 high schools laptops and tablets. Previously the LAUSD furnished the students with iPads and the security and firewalls that were put in place were bypassed and deleted. Students freely browsed the internet and apps instead of what they should be doing.

Microsoft markets their Surface tablet to be used in schools and for students to use them in lieu of paper similar to how they should use a notebook. However in the real world, students are not using them as tools and also most like going to surf Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all day. I can't wait to see these teachers as they try and teach their curriculum to students and they instead of taking notes, they are taking "selfies" of them looking like they are studying however the #hashtag list is a mile long.

Glass Explorers understand that with Beta testing Glass, the society is not ready for a computer on our face, and the public is still somewhat uncomfortable, however, now their are more interest than insecurity so I think that is going in the right direction. However, giving kids tech such as tablets and computers baffle me because not only are these things affordable now, such as HP Slate and Chromebooks, but they should invest in it themselves.

And here is why...

When people give you technology, or basically anything in life, if you didn't work for it, it simply not valued. Giving kids the technology, redundant technology because most kids already have a smart phone and access to whatever they are trying to accomplish is the worst type of technology because now they have two things to carry, two things to write and double functions for everything.  The article quotes that you cant give every kid the same technology, that every kid isn't the same and probably needs different tech to fit into what his life. Not every kid is going to use the technology for this, not to mention that using technology is good in some aspects however crippling in others. Kids are going to learn more about technology and what it can do for them, which is a good thing. What they are not going to learn is the basic and fundamentals and building blocks such as focus and writing. With integrating the new technology, the effort and the learning process is going to be affected, spell check is going to run the lives of these kids and the attention span and long term memory is going to suffer and probably feeding the popcorn culture of we need everything now.

As someone who tries to Innovate the office and other things as much as I can I have learned this. Not everyone is going to get it and secondly technology is a double edge sword, it can either make you more productive or it can cripple you. What makes me laugh is the people implementing these policies are probably no smarter than the kids are that are going to use them. Before you roll out this type of technology would you think coding programming would be implemented first? Did they even consider the speed that technology updates and how fast things become obsolete, so in 3 years the tech you invest $40 Million into is not only wasted, but undesirable and unusable. Am I exaggerating? Research the release date of the original iPad, give people a ICS (Ice Cream Sandwhich) or a Google Tablet or an original Chromebook. Well let's just hope they did their homework and not just Googled the answers, well at least they will get a new toy (I mean tool).....

And don't even get me started on cheating..... No way on earth are they ready for that!!!!

What a waste of money.....

Thanks for listening.... I mean reading!!

http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-lausd-laptops-20140630-story.html