LED Bulb and Phone APP (WTF)

[Jerry.Tan]

They have an Ad on TV for a LED bulb being sold by Menards. The bulb is adjustable for different levels of white (color), by using a phone app. The cost is $50. That sounds really worthless, and for that price they can keep it. Just buy the color you want in the first place!

And I have to ask. I do not own (or want) a Smartphone. It seems there is an App for everything these days. A fast food place has an app so you can order your food before you get to the restaurant. [Why not just call them, if you cant wait in line for 5 min?].

But I do have to ask, just how many Apps can those phones handle before they overload? There has to be a limit!

[Ralph Mowery]

The phone I have has 12 gb of memory. There are over 70 aps on it and a bunch of pictures. Only 4 gb of memory has been used.

It all depends on how much memory the phone has and how big the apps are. I have a GPS app on the phone with stored maps of 3 states. If I put all the states on it, I am sure it would use a lot of memory.

The main reason I have a smart phone is because of the Republic phone system I am using requires you to buy one of a couple of their types of phones.

[Jerry.Tan]

That's more apps than I thought could be used. I would have guessed 20 to 30 apps maximum. But I didnt think those phones have that much memory.

For prepaid phones they dont even offer smartphones, and I only got the phone for emergencies. However, the minutes cant be saved forever, so I have to use them up. But I got rid of the long distance services on my landline, which saved me close to $20 a month, and I pay less than that for the prepaid cards for the cell. I just make all long distance calls on the cell to use up the minutes. But I would not pay $100 a month which a lot of people seem to be paying for a smartphone and their contract.

On my flip phone (dumbphone), I can make calls, send texts, and get very basic internet (such as a weather radar map). It's supposed to work for facebook too, but I wont waste my time or money on crap like that!

[Ed Pawlowski]

I never thought I'd use a smartphone much until I got one. Yesterday I deposited a check so it saved me a trip to the bank or an ATM.

I checked my email. I got a weather alert that thunderstorms were nearby. While waiting for my wife at the doctor's office, I read some news articles and an email. I got a notice from Amazon that my package was out for delivery. I checked the USPS for a zip code.

I don't do Facebook, buy my daughter does. She texted me to let my know my sister is in the hospital. She found that out from my niece. I'm trying to lose 10 pounds so I watch how much I walk and set a goal. The phone tracks my steps so I can see how well I'm doing.

We were sitting on the deck discussing where we were going on Wednesday so I pulled out the phone to check for restaurants in the target area. Found two if interest, checked the hours, checked the menu.

Yes, some of that could be done on the computer, but instead, it was done at my convenience sitting outside. I lived for 65+ years without a smartphone, but now I'm choosing to use one. It just simplifies some things and lets me do it where I am, at any time. Worth the $45 a month to me. Optional for others..

[Jerry.Tan]

How can you cash a check on a smartphone? Is there a slot to insert the check or what? Thats a new one on me.

Probably the weirdest thing I saw someone do with a cellphone was to set it on a pool table in a bar and check if the table was level. It looked just like an actual level.

[trader_4]

I agree. It's one of those things that you have to use it a bit to appreciate all it can do. I figured I'd use it mostly when traveling to get internet access, but wound up using it a lot at home. Including using it to pull stuff up on the internet or look at email while watching TV.

As to the number of apps, I have an entry level one and it has about 35 apps on it. It is close to the max though, I have started to run into trouble, needing to free space to do an update, etc.

Some examples of the apps I like:

Gas Guru - Shows the lowest price gas available where you are Ooma - Can answer or make calls on my home phone service which is Oooma Super Backup - Makes automatic backups of important info, saves it emails it Compass360 - Electronic compass PowerBubble - Level Maps RPN Calculator ConvertPad - Unit conversion Accuweather DropBox - Automatically uploads pics taken to my PC WorldTime

Jerry said they don't offer smartphones on prepaid plans, that's not true. All the major carriers do. You can get unlimited V/T and 500MB of data for ~$35 a month. There are also companies like Ting, that ride on Sprint and offer low cost monthly plans. I got mine from Zact when they were in business. They offered plans that you could adjust on the fly. They sold the phone service part of the business to Virgin Mobile. I still have the plan at VM, but they have stopped offering it to new customers. I can get 250 v/t/d for $20. I don't use it that much though, virtually all my data usage is on wifi, etc so I typically end up paying less than $10 a month.

[trader_4]

That may be the smart bulb that was on SharkTank on TV a year or so back. That's how that one worked too. I don't remember if it changed colors or not, but the smartphone control was part of it. I can see it being of value in some special applications, but agree I don't see the need for it here.

[Dan Espen]

That's a tiny amount of storage. Mine has 10x that much.

Smart phones also work as a GPS device. No more getting lost in the car.

[Ralph Mowery]

Yes, you just take a picture of the check and send it to the bank. While it is not much savings, I have saved about $ 25 in the last 6 months or less by a Walmart app. Get the recept and take a picture of the code on it and send it off. A day or so later they compair their prices to other store prices and if found for less you get a credit for the difference on the items.

The plan I am using is from Republic Wireless. It cost $ 12 per month for unlimiated talk and text. Also when in range of a wifi unlimiated internet. What they do is if you are around any of the wifi systems they make calls and internet through that. If out of wifi range the calls go through a cell tower. I do loose the internet connection,but if I really need or want it for a short time, all I have to do is hit a few buttons on the phone and upgrade the plan and when done I can go back to the $ 12 plan.

The smart phone I got was about $ 200 but they have one for $ 100 that is very similar to it .

If you have Direct TV or cable or Hulu, or some other TV services you can watch that on the phone. Being a ham radio operator, there are some repeater stations that I talk through. When in a strange town I can use one fo the apps that tells me if any are in so many miles of where I am.

The two I use the most is the calander/schedular and to show pictures to others.

[Ed Pawlowski]

You can't "cash" a check, only deposit it to your checking or savings account. You endorse it, take a picture of both sides and in seconds, I have an email confirmation from the bank that it was approved.

Yes, there is a level app as well as compass, sound meter, distance, flashlight. See that plane flying over? You can tell what flight it is and where it is going to and from as well as altitude and speed.

Getting back to the lightbulb, I agree it is extreme and silly, but you can also monitor home security. My 3 year old Hyundai has a lot of features like remote start from the phone, but the new ones this year you can turn on the defroster and set the temperature for the climate control too.

I have set TV shows to record at home from my phone and can tell it to use the Family Room or the bedroom DVR.

UPS and FedEx tell me when a package is on the way to me and notify me when it is delivered. In their database it tells the driver where to leave it. USPS does that but not quite as fast. I have to enter a number for them.

The list of uses is endless. Some kind of silly, others downright ingenious and useful. It is a very powerful tool when used properly.

[trader_4]

How well does using Wifi as the preferred voice/call path work? All the VOIP I've tried on my cellphone, mostly just for experimenting, hasn't worked that well. Problems like voice quality is poor, echo, dropped calls, etc. I tried MajicJack, NetTalk, and Ooma. Ooma is the best of those. In my experience VOIP on a cell phone isn't close to a regular cell phone connection. And that is with a good wifi connection close by. Is Republic able to do it better?

[Ralph Mowery]

I can't really answer that. I don't use a cell phone all that much. From what little I have used it, it seems ok to me with my wifi around the house. When away from the wifi it automatically goes to a cell tower.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

One important thing about Ting is the customer service. You get to talk to a person (who speaks English).

[Stormin Mormon]

I'd rather a rep who spoke American. I don't motor my petrol lorry to my flat, so I can take my tyke in the pram to the chemist for some paracetamol.

[Jerry.Tan]

I wish they made one that would do my laundry, clean the house, cook my meals, put up fencing for my livestock, mowed the lawn, and so on....

[Jerry.Tan]

I hope they work better than the old GPS units. About 6 yrs ago I bought a TomTom GPS. That piece of shit got me lost more than it helped me. I finally tossed it in the garbage at a wayside, after smashing it against the pavement. I said I'd never buy another GPS. I paid close to $100 for that piece of shit. I could have bought lots of maps for that!

[Senator Pocketstuffer]

The problem with GPS is that their screens are too fusking small. If only I could get a 24" (1920x1200) display in my dashboard. ;-)

[Dan Espen]

You seem to have anger management issues. I don't think a smart phone is for you.

You need something else, but I don't have a license to prescribe.

:)

I had a Tom Tom before the smart phone, they both worked great. I think I like best that you can make a wrong turn either by accident or if you want to explore and it recomputes the route and gets you where you want.

[Dan Espen]

I do have issues with reading the fine print, but the blue lines vs. red, etc. are pretty clear to me. The high resolution on a good smart phone helps a lot. But, you really don't have to look at all. They tell you when to turn.

[Ralph Mowery]

You should have bought a Garmin.

It also helps to have a little common sense when using them. They are not always accurate or up to date. I have one that will get me home from work (about 20 mile drive) if I follow it. However it adds about 15 minuits more to the drive home. It wants to take me a way that is shorter,but it is in an area that has stoplights every block for about 15 blocks. The way I go bypasses the lights to only a few.