My Haven
Cell phones. It is almost absurd the extent to which we've come to depend on those things. Wait, I'm almost certain I said the last time I had problems with them.
Only a couple of short months ago, I purchased a new battery for my Verizon LG EnV phone because the previous one wouldn't hold a charge. I thought that would be the end of that particular difficulty. It appears though that I was wrong.
As time has gone on, the charger connection has gotten looser and looser. Recently, it was so bad that in order to pump anything into the cell I'd have to sit there like a statue holding the phone just so. If I moved even a fraction of an inch, the connection would be lost. Needless to say, this got old real fast.
Finally I'd had enough, and so I decided to go over to the Verizon store and let them take a look at things. A kind classmate took me over on Saturday night. My worst fears were confirmed: the charge port inside of the phone had been so severely bent that it could not be easily repaired. The customer service representative therefore concluded that I should go ahead and get a new phone. I'd already heard this podcast on the SamSung Haven, and so I already knew I'd ask about it in this event. It's a fairly simple phone, with no e-mail capabilities but an enhanced menu readout for the blind. I think they worked with a company called Nuance, makers of all sorts of voice software.
Anyway, so I got the phone out of the store, scrambled to my computer, and redownloaded the podcast. Once the presenter led me through getting the phone to speak, I was impressed with the fact that not only could I read text messages, as was available with the LG, but I could also easily edit them, and that I could tell from whom a message had come even if I happened to miss it as it came in. Believe me this is a welcome addition, as on my LG phone I could at times have 3 conversations going at once, and thus accidentally send a response to someone that was actually meant for someone else. Not surprisingly, I got so wrapped up in familiarizing myself with the features that I neglected even to eat until well after 12 AM. Good thing the time changed, huh?
The podcast presenter mentioned something about the battery being very bad with energy, at best. He said that a potential solution to this was to get a battery extender, whatever that is. So when the phone went dead by 12:30 AM I felt a little worried. I could, however, chalk that up to my heavy initial use. I charged it up, only to then wake up at 9 with it already back down to 25% capacity. Uh oh. Maybe I just hadn't given it enough juice. This time, I plugged it in for a little over three hours. It said the phone had been fully charged, and even seemed to hold that way from 3:30 till approimately 7 PM. Someone called, and I conversed with her for approximately an hour. By the time I hung up, it was already down to 50%. A little questionable, but not unheard of in this area of cell hell in which I currently reside. The kicker came though when the phone was already dying by 11:30, after having sat untouched on my table since the completion of the phone call.
Two things are fortunate here. First the CSR let me have the phone for free, saying it was my lucky day. It's supposed to cost $20 with a 2-year contract and upgrade eligibility, $39 if only getting a contract. Second, he also programmed his name and number into the device and told me to be in touch with him specifically if I had any issues. So I will do that in fairly short order, and hope that some kind of solution can be quickly generated. I actually like the phone, though the voice can be buggy and is kind of slow. I like feeling that I can control not only my texts more, but also my alarm clock, calculator, and even the setting of ringtones. Maybe it is as they say though, you get what you pay for. Hopefully this darn battery doesn't end up costing too much!
Only a couple of short months ago, I purchased a new battery for my Verizon LG EnV phone because the previous one wouldn't hold a charge. I thought that would be the end of that particular difficulty. It appears though that I was wrong.
As time has gone on, the charger connection has gotten looser and looser. Recently, it was so bad that in order to pump anything into the cell I'd have to sit there like a statue holding the phone just so. If I moved even a fraction of an inch, the connection would be lost. Needless to say, this got old real fast.
Finally I'd had enough, and so I decided to go over to the Verizon store and let them take a look at things. A kind classmate took me over on Saturday night. My worst fears were confirmed: the charge port inside of the phone had been so severely bent that it could not be easily repaired. The customer service representative therefore concluded that I should go ahead and get a new phone. I'd already heard this podcast on the SamSung Haven, and so I already knew I'd ask about it in this event. It's a fairly simple phone, with no e-mail capabilities but an enhanced menu readout for the blind. I think they worked with a company called Nuance, makers of all sorts of voice software.
Anyway, so I got the phone out of the store, scrambled to my computer, and redownloaded the podcast. Once the presenter led me through getting the phone to speak, I was impressed with the fact that not only could I read text messages, as was available with the LG, but I could also easily edit them, and that I could tell from whom a message had come even if I happened to miss it as it came in. Believe me this is a welcome addition, as on my LG phone I could at times have 3 conversations going at once, and thus accidentally send a response to someone that was actually meant for someone else. Not surprisingly, I got so wrapped up in familiarizing myself with the features that I neglected even to eat until well after 12 AM. Good thing the time changed, huh?
The podcast presenter mentioned something about the battery being very bad with energy, at best. He said that a potential solution to this was to get a battery extender, whatever that is. So when the phone went dead by 12:30 AM I felt a little worried. I could, however, chalk that up to my heavy initial use. I charged it up, only to then wake up at 9 with it already back down to 25% capacity. Uh oh. Maybe I just hadn't given it enough juice. This time, I plugged it in for a little over three hours. It said the phone had been fully charged, and even seemed to hold that way from 3:30 till approimately 7 PM. Someone called, and I conversed with her for approximately an hour. By the time I hung up, it was already down to 50%. A little questionable, but not unheard of in this area of cell hell in which I currently reside. The kicker came though when the phone was already dying by 11:30, after having sat untouched on my table since the completion of the phone call.
Two things are fortunate here. First the CSR let me have the phone for free, saying it was my lucky day. It's supposed to cost $20 with a 2-year contract and upgrade eligibility, $39 if only getting a contract. Second, he also programmed his name and number into the device and told me to be in touch with him specifically if I had any issues. So I will do that in fairly short order, and hope that some kind of solution can be quickly generated. I actually like the phone, though the voice can be buggy and is kind of slow. I like feeling that I can control not only my texts more, but also my alarm clock, calculator, and even the setting of ringtones. Maybe it is as they say though, you get what you pay for. Hopefully this darn battery doesn't end up costing too much!