I've wanted a tablet from the first time I saw an iPad. I thought it would be so great to have all that internet capability with me at all times. Because iPads were and still so expensive I didn't buy one.
Tablets by other manufacturers got cheaper and became tempting again. Kim Komando said not to buy a cheap tablet because they didn't measure up to the iPad and most people would be disappointed. So I continued to wait.
The Samsung Galaxy became popular and also got Kim Komando's okay. My neighbor has one and she likes it a lot. I was unempressed with her internet speed so I continued to wait.
Earlier this month Andrea and I went in to Best Buy Mobile in the mall. They had a really good deal; buy a hot spot for a dollar and get a hundred dollars off certain tablets. I was excited because the salesman told me I could use Google Voice or a third party app to use the tablet as a cell phone. That clinched it for me, I could get rid of my cell phone and have a tablet to boot!. I got the small Samsung Galaxy S3 or whatever it is.
Andrea started setting it up while we were still shopping. The hot spot worked great because our internet was fast. I got the google voicy app put we couldn't get it to work. I thought I needed to make some changes to my account on my computer or something like that. I got the MARTA app that has all the bus and train schedules but the best part is it will show where the bus is along its route. I was really excited about that one. I had Andrea pull up coupons to show the cashier in JCPenney and Kohls so we could take advantage of discounts we didn't have paper coupons for. I'm loving this thing and couldn't wait to get home to explore it more on my own.
I found it difficult to use. Some was due to my sight problems and some was due to the size of the tablet. I couldn't hold the tablet and magnifyer at the same time it tap the screen wery well. It was combersome to use. typing on the touch screen was a challenge for the same reasons. I thought I could get used to enough of thses things to still make it worthwhile. Then I discover Google Voice isn't set up for what I wanted to do. I kept getting a message saying I can't forward to a Google voice number. So we tried the third party phone apps. They either didn't ring any phone or the delay was too annoying to deal with. I was disappointed and decided to return everything.
I got Andrea to show me her smartpone. I played around with it and made an unexpected discovery. The smaller size is better for me than even a small tablet. I asked her lots of questions about when I needed the phones internet and when I could use WiFi. I came to the conclusion I could use a cheap smartphone like the Virgin Mobile's Awe to do all my tablet use and have a phone if I wanted to.
Between Ebates and a Virgin Mobile sale I got the Awe for $42.50. I got the cheapest card to see how I like everything. I still have Sprint because neither my billing cycle or minutes cycle is over. I want to make sure I like the Awe before I cancel Sprint.
I like the tablet features such as all kinds of apps. I don't like the touchscreen keyboard but I don't text anyway. Once I get my contacts in I won't need the keyboard much. I need to call people and talk on it more. I'm considering keeping Sprint and using the slow random WiFi when out and home WiFi at home.
These are the apps I have: my favorite department store and grocery store apps, Domino's Pizza, LDS Library, apps for ringtones and wallpapers, flashlight, MARTA, and Smugmug. I don't plan to do banking on my phone because I make too many mistakes on the keyboard and there's always the theft issue; but I do have my banks apps just in case, but I'm not logged in. I didn't get the Facebook app because I waste too much time there already, plus the keyboard issue. I don't like browsing for apps, too many things that look like games but when I hear about or come across something that sounds interesting I get it.
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