The Republic Wireless phone

republiĉ™

        WIRELESS

    I am seriously considering Republic Wireless (RW) for phone service and being a future owner of a new Moto E phone.  As smartphones go, $99(+$10 shipping and $10 first month) for the Moto E is an excellent price, but nevertheless we are on a fixed income and I to have to save and consider the purchase carefully.

   If you're fortunate enough to be referred by someone before Oct. 31 you can get $20 off towards your first bill/s.  I will not be able to purchase by that time and do not have a friend to refer me, so I will have to prepare to pay the extra $20 for my first months to get started. Perhaps RW will have another referral offer soon that I will be more able to take advantage of. EDIT: I have been active on the forum and was pointed to a current referral link but alas it is only useful on for the monthly service it will not help me to get the initial cost down, so I must keep saving and I will miss out on the current referral program.  Who knows how the next program will work, perhaps it will let me use the referral credit towards the initial purchase.  I should be able to get a new referral from a forum member.

   Republic Wireless is a Wi-Fi phone with unlimited non-roaming minutes and up to 5GB free non-roaming data monthly (fine print) on the sprint network when no Wi-Fi is available. When I am home or any other open Wi-Fi location the phone will default to use that rather than the Sprint network thus keeping costs down for RW and then they are able to offer service at a much lower rate than most all other cell service providers.  As a benefit to Wi-Fi users, Wi-Fi can be audibly clearer than using cell towers.  There are a couple other new smaller Wi-Fi phone companies, but from my research Republic Wireless seems the best established with the best price plans.

   The Sprint network that RW uses looks to be adequate (map) for most cities and along I-5.  However Sprint service is lacking along Hwy 101 along our coastline.  There service along the west coast is essentially limited to actual city limit areas and open wifi locations.  This is a good reason to keep our clamshell phone for verizons widespread reliable service.

   Kathy and I currently use a clamshell on a verizon $15 monthly pay-as-go plan with rollover minutes for our mobile needs.  Kathy will keep this phone for its Verizon reliability and for important communications as its minutes are expensive and limited.  We only get 90 minutes a month on it, but any unused do rollover and they do add up.  We use the phone some but make sure we keep some in reserve for emergency use.

   We would also keep our home landline for reliable local calls and our message machine so not all calls are coming to us while we are busy out and about.  We do not have it connected to make long distance calls as they are expensive on a landline.  We have even talked between ourselves about giving up the landline but are not quite ready to give up the security of having it yet.

    We currently use Google Voice and Hangouts with our Nexus 7 and PC for Wi-Fi calls particularly for our long distance calls.  I will forward my Google calls to my Moto E so I do not have to change numbers,  1. In case RW does not work out for me,  2. To keep my existing number that my friends already know,  3. To keep Google Voice and Hangouts features that I currently enjoy,  4. And to keep access to my messages and calling abilities on my multiple devices.  We currently use our Google numbers for unlimited free long distance. It would be highly convenient for me to have access to my Google number on a real phone that we can more easily carry with us.

Moto E by Motorola

   RW uses the Moto X, G and E for their service.  The Moto E would be my phone.  It is an entry level phone by Motorola with good bang for the buck features.  It is not a phone for gamers or multi-tasking but it will make calls, give access to Google Play apps, let me check gmail, use Hangouts messaging, and be useful for meetings.  I like that it has a front facing speaker*, a slot for a 32Gig Micro SD card that I already have to add to its base 4 Gig space.  It is has a dual core CPU which I feel should be fine for a phone.  It does not have flash for its rear camera but I own a real camera to take pictures with.  It also does not have a front facing webcam for selfies and video chats that I personally would never use enough to warrant anyway.

  * (As a side note about speakers: It really does seem silly to me to have the speakers on the back of phones and tablets. Since necessity states that you have to have small speakers on portable devices why not face it forward to the listener rather than share what little sound their is with everyone else. Stereo speakers on such a small device seems a bit pointless. Good for Motorola on this one.)

   The Moto E comes with Android 4.4.4 (Kit Kat) and Motorola has stated that their phones will be upgraded to Android 5 (Lollipop).  At that point it is hoped that RW will update their custom Wi-Fi phone software quickly and pass on the upgrade to its customers.  Android 5.0 is a major upgrade that I would really like to have access to.  Motorola is excellent at being quick to keep their phones upgraded, however from what I read from the forums, RW takes quite some time to pass on their upgrades on to their customers.  This has worried me and caused me some reservations about how long I would have to wait for Lollipop if I got the phone.  Even while the phone is still using Android 4.4.4 (Kit Kat), it is still an excellent OS and I am still considering it, but I will really be watching the forums and the Republic wireless blog hoping to see the 5.0 (Lollipop) update announced.  I am sure RW is aware that having their phones upgraded to the current OS would better attract customers and will be working on passing it on as fast as they can.  It is being discussed by users in the RW forum here: Android 5.0 L on Moto X, G and E confirmed, although this is not an official statement that RW is getting it yet. 

  Republic Wireless has $5, $10, $25 and $40 plans available. I would choose the $10 Monthly plan for free wifi calling when I am around it and unlimited access to CDMA cell phone service for the times I am not.  Of course it also includes unlimited data over Wi-Fi.  I could also opt to temporarily upgrade to the $25 plan for months I need constant CDMA web data access (up to 5 GB) and drop back to the $10 plan when I do not, with no penalty from RW (up to twice a month).  I feel RW would be  a good fit for me because I am usually home or where there is Wi-Fi.

   So why am I considering RW?  Well lets take a look at some sample unlimited talk with data prices of the competition:

• Sprint charges $35 with 1GB of data
• T-Mobile charges $45 with 2GB data - OR - $40 with 500MB data
• Straight Talk(Walmart) charges $45 with 3GB data - OR - $30 for 1,500 Minutes with 100MB data
• Verizon charges $45 with 500MB data
• Republic Wireless charges $10 unlimited talk with Wi-Fi data with the option to switch plans up to twice a month as you need it.  The other plans are $25 with 5GB of 3G data - OR - $40 with 5GB of 4G data. Definitely prices with data caps the others can't beat.

    Admittedly network coverage is another factor to consider, for that, Verizon would be the clear winner.  But alas with such little data so as to be useless, except for the smallest of data sippers.  The trade off to get a usable amount of data, and cost down to my needed levels, will be a loss of coverage.

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My RW post linking to this page

Nexus 7 now well established

 The Nexus 7 a year old and getting more popular than ever.

  During this last year the Nexus 7 has become a well loved and popular tablet. Many in our congregation now have a Nexus 7.

   Being the Nexus 7 is now a year old, and it is time for the 2013 model of the Nexus 7 to take the reins. The older models are being sold on sale to get rid of  "old stock".
   
    I recently bought one for Kathy and my brother Craig bought one at these sales. And they are being upgraded to Android 4.3 now as well.  Last years model is still a great machine and will serve us wonderfully.

    The new Nexus 7 2013 is an even greater step up in specifications than last years model was. Even higher spec screen, 2 Gig Ram memory, Rear camera, Slim HDMI, Bluetooth 3. Ones buying the 2013 model will be very happy with these upgrades. Nexus 7's are now available at many local box stores as well as online including https://play.google.com/store/

My Nexus - One year old

  I have had my Nexus 7 for a year now and it has been wonderful. Kathy and I have used it regularly for meetings. What a wonderful tool it has been.

  iSlo has been wonderful to quick as lightning to look up scriptures at meetings. Moon+ Reader has worked great for viewing epubs and PDFs and has been awesome for annotating answers in magazines and books. I have found I like epub documents best, as I originally expected I would. The text wraps to fit the screen at whatever size I want it and it is so easy to annotate answers. And the hyper-links to cited scriptures are easy to follow.
 
  Kathy has also used it to regularly relax with a game of solitaire. I have read and also used to watch an occasional movie in our yard.

The OS war

After I read An Endless War by Jake of All Trades I decided to add my two cents on a related subject.

For the PC for Desktop and Laptops
   I like the openness of the standard PC. You can choose Windows which is easiest, most popular and is cost effective for most users. The PC's (Desk or Laptop) themselves are affordable. Linux is cheaper but there is a learning curve to get it set up and there are some limitations of available programs. iOS is stable but at a very high cost for hardware.

For Mobile for Phone and Tablets
   I have opinions here, and I can't help but let my personal opinion peek out, so forgive me. There are several war camps all trying to draw their own line in the sand. Android or iOS, that is a question a new mobile user must ask themselves.
   On one hand you have the openness of Android(Google) that comes at very reasonable prices and a large selection of devices. With Android you can shop wherever you want, get ebooks from anywhere on the web and even more than one app store is available. Its openness has helped it to be the most used mobile OS out there.
   iOS(Apple) is a simpler device but at a very premium cost. There is no selection of devices other than the current model made for that year. I have to admit this does make the decision simpler.
  Also Windows is trying to make a comeback after their failure with Windows Mobile with all new Windows 8 RT for mobile devices. Do not let the name fool you Window RT 8 does not run desktop programs, there is a proprietary Windows app store for that.

   Nothing is perfect but the war goes on. Everyone has their favorite and they all get the job done within their own limitations. I really wish there was one standard though. yes, variety is good but i sure would be nice is everyone at least use the same standards. I know there are users who do not want choices or or selection to just keep things simple, it is for these users that iOS exists and thrives.
   You can still have variety though, while at the same time having open standards. For example there is the PC which is open to a lot of variety, but yet you can still build a PC off the rack from standard parts of your choice.
   Take also Andriod, there are many devices to choose from with many different features and hardware for use by many different types of users. Both the PC and Android use open standards but yet give their users many open choices. This is the way I believe give users choice, but yet uses standards for all to build on.
 

Our 13th Anniversary Trip

   To start off our anniversary day I decided to start off with making coffee. I did not find this as easy as it sounds. One container was getting low on coffee so I mixed it with a new tin of grounds. Proud of my custom mix I went into the living room to await the brewing process. When it was done I went in to get the coffee only only to find out that while I had indeed mixed the grounds well I had left the empty carafe on the counter next to the coffee pot. I then promptly rolled my eyes at myself and filled it with water. And went into the living room to await our coffee. Kathy went to get our coffee this time only to find that I did indeed fill the carafe and put it in the machine, I had not run it through the machine reservoir. Thanks to Kathy we did get our coffee.

  The next phase passed our day out was to head down the McKenzie Hwy for lunch and then to Sheila Falls. Our lunch stop was at the Stage Coach Stop restaurant. We met two fun Brothers there eating lunch after their service.

   During our lunch we received a call the Kathy's mom would likely be coming up to the hospital for some diagnostic treatment so we cut our trip short and headed home. On the way home we were notified that her trip up was canceled. So we ended up doing our shopping on the way home instead.

No matter how you bind it, It's a book of a different technology.

Credit: DODOcase

    

No matter how you bind it, It's a book of a different technology

 • As with all the variety's of paper books, there various tablet types, sizes, quality's and colors of bindings to choose from.
 • It contains Menus, References, Appendices that just as easily lead with a click to the heart of the document.
 • The tablet makes reference books even more available and easy to search with reference materials from across the web. 

 • The tablet also easily adds Audio books, Dramas, Dramatic readings and Videos to be easily included in your library that would easily fill a vast library as tablets give you access to text, audio and video library's from around the world.
 • As an atlas that is always up to date with maps that you don't have to fold back up.
 • Its your tablet for writing letters to your friends and family, even sending it off for you and even retrieving your new mail to read right into your hands, and even to relieve old strained eyes by reading it to you.
 • It is a note book for reminders, A note book for lectures. Your scheduler of appointments.
 • Your shopping list along with coupons to save and a calculator for comparisons.
 • It goes beyond card games and board games and lets you play many other games that could never be played within your living room with friends who are are in their own.
 • It's even your phone book complete with yellow pages with extra pages to easily add, edit, organize and even delete old entries without messy white out.
 • ALL of this within the palm of your hands.
 • Paper books and tablets for all there bulkiness do have an advantage... if you loose power you can't read an electronic tablet by candlelight. 

 • What binding will you choose?

My Asus neXus 7

The Opening of the Nexus

 • I won my 8 Gig neXus ⁷  in a Tablet Forum contest based on creativity of posts. Here is my winning post entry

 • Prologue:  I did more research for this tablet than any other electronic product I have ever purchased before.  I have researched tablets for nearly a year, and now my choice is finally made. After a few first thoughts and a quick gloss over of the specifications we'll take a look at my own usage of this tablet. 

 • First Thoughts:  I like the rubber grip back. The specs as seen below are just awesome rivaling most other popular tablets.  It is indeed is a good bang for the buck. This tablet looks like a tablet that will last me for many years. The narrower than usual 4.7" width than most 7" tablets is optimal for my pocket usage. It fits in my front suit pockets just fine, even in its slim portfolio case.

 • Specifications: Made by Asus, the first neXus tablet was released June 27 with a 7” 1280x800 HD screen, Scratch-resistant Corning glass. 1.2MP front-facing camera. 1 GB RAM. 4325 mAh (8-9 hours of active use) battery. NVIDIA 4-PLUS-1 (5)core 1.3Ghz Tegra 3 CPU. Nvidia ULP GeForce 12 core graphics. WiFi 802.11 b/g/n. Bluetooth 4.0. Microphone. Audio dock port pogo pins. NFC (Android Beam). Accelerometer. GPS. Magnetometer. Gyroscope. 7.8"(H)x4.79 (W)x.41"(D), 11.9 OZ. Open to all app markets. 8Gig for $199 and $249 for the 16 gig.  Here is a comprehensive review from the Verge.  Here is my spreadsheet about what I have done with my neXus.

 • Current competition: The new Amazon Fire HD has improved resolution and more memory than the first Amazon Fire tablet for the Amazon consumer for $199. It will be a popular tablet as many will see it advertised prominently on Amazon's popular online store. Its 16Gig memory for $199 will be a powerful attraction by many. It is only a dual core tablet but will do nicely for many users. never the less From reviews it is still just a storefront for Amazon products.

 • The neXus 7 started shipping in mid July 2012  from the Google Play Store.  It is also sold at many brick and mortar retailers.  I entered a creative forum post contest at NexusTablets.net and was 1 of 7 winners of an 8 Gig neXus 7 on July 17th and received on the 21st. Boy, is it getting a lot of loving use.

 • Packaging:  It is packed well and quite tight in a nice box along with its vague quick start guide, USB sync/power cable, and USB outlet charge adapter. It had the typical protective film over the screen and back. It comes partly charged but will need to be put right on the charger to assure you don't go dead while your setting it up. Here is the real Guidebook you will want to have access to for more setup help.

 • My Pictures: I have taken unboxing pictures and put them in this album that I made for my Nexus.

Here is my unboxing video slideshow

 • Further thoughts:  I am very pleased with the neXus. At this point I would definitely recommend it to my friends. Audio port placement on bottom is awkward when holing in portrait aspect, but I just rotate it upside down and use it. Button placement seems well placed although I do often bumped the off button til i got used to its placement. The camera for Skype video calls, works great. It is very snappy moving around the menu's. Starting and running apps is buttery smooth.  I love all the extra screen space compared to my old Palm E2's 2.5" screen.

 • My Usage: I use it in bed, on my recliner, sitting out in my yard, at meetings and on our vacations.  It's great at meetings as an aid to follow along when I am not functioning well. Its is nice to have it as a back-up to my forgetful brain. Its pocket-ability for me is great, as I have large inside pockets in most of my coats. It also fits the outside pockets of my suit jackets just fine even in its slim SupCase I bought. I have a waist pack that it fits in nicely.

 • Memory: I wanted a 16 Gig model for twice the local memory storage but I ended up with the 8 Gig model. With my music on it it about uses up over 3.6 gig right there. Along with WiFi access and 30 Gig Google Drive space for even more storage online(I get it for $5 a year) I do fine.  A simple approach for more memory without rooting to read a Flash drive with a standard USB OTG cable and an app called Nexus Media Importer. More local external drive space is welcome when your not around a WiFi connection.

 • As an eReader:  I tried JW Reader to read my Epub publications but it does not underline as easy as Moon+ Reader does. I also use iSilo as it works best with my large publications with lots of internal and external links. Some of my publications come in the PDF format and I have been using ezPDF reader for them. I purchased a Caseen Vibe Long stylus that works quite well, even at low angles, to select links and highlight text, and seems more natural and less cumbersome to use to me than my fingers particularly at meetings.

 • My Apps:  For Isilo I already had a previous license for my Palm E2 so I got an addition license for Isilo 6.x Android for $11.19.  I have gotten most of my Apps from the Google Play Store. Check out my Abbs.. er.. eh.. Apps I use at AppAware.com ;)

 • My Case and Protection: I chose a thin portfolio case by SupCase for $9.99 to protect it but yet to look business like while discreetly using the tablet. The magnetic wake/sleep on open/close flap feature is very handy. I wanted a case that  fits in several of my inside jackets without adding to much pocket hindrance, but it does add some bulk and weight.  It still will just fit in my front suit pockets as well. I also have an ArmorSuit screen protector as I need to use this tablet for years without accidentally scratching the screen, it installed easily and works great. A full coverage insurance policy for tablets can be costly, however I purchased a Square Trade accident and defect insurance for the 8 Gig neXus 7 for 39.99 for 2 years

 • All the research I did to compare 7" tablet features and prices comes down to one simple choice, the neXus 7. This tablet totally blows all other 7" tablets out of the water. With the introduction of this tablet there is now no decision to make as to what 7" tablet to pick. Just so long as you know how to live without an Micro SD card reader.