Hi all, I need some advice.
I'm trying to figure out what to do when it comes to mobile phones.
My current situation (ending). For the last 10 years I've had a "feature phone" (dumb phone, replaced every 2years) that has been paid for by my Engineer father. I am very grateful for this. However, he's now getting a company paid iPhone and is switching plans, thus I'm on my own.
After doing some research on these forums and around the web, I decided to go with Ting as they seem the most friendly, accessible, and cheapest (woo!). Last week I ordered my first smartphone from them: a Samsung Transform Ultra (refurbished) for $76 +tax = ~$81.
I like it, I like apps, I like games. Mainly I thought I could get away with using a No Data Plan (and 100minutes, 3000texts for a total of approx $25/month) from Ting and just use WiFi at my house, my girlfriend's house, and my college, (and anywhere else). So far it's been...rather lacking. I haven't started the service on the cell phone yet, as my current Verizon phone isn't disconnected until later this week. Today for example, I turned the phone on at school at 8am while I waited for a class to start, played some Angry Birds, and some Fruit Ninja, and then at 8:45am turned the phone off and went to class. (*Note, I have the screen set to low brightness, low backlit time, and I use Advanced Task Killer to turn off all the unneeded apps when I can, yes, I'm a total noob to smartphones but I was trying to save battery). I turned the phone on again at about 1pm and used it for about 30-35mins to surf the web with my girlfriend and then shut it off (battery down from 100% at 8am to about 60%). Lastly, I used it from 2:30pm to about 3:00pm to read a kindle book and then IT DIED. The battery gave ran outta juice. Not what I'm used to since I've been using my Verizon brick phone (battery lasts nearly a week).
What gives? What am I doing wrong?
Between the shitty battery life, the distraction of all the apps, the fear of hurting this (more) expensive technology and the fact that I don't really WANT to promote smartphones at colleges (too much distraction overall), I feel I should return the phone and get a "feature phone" and call it good, even though my monthly bill would be slightly higher (still no data plan but more texts and minutes). I was looking at Page Plus but am not very satisfied with their plans/prices/phones.
I apologize now for the wall of text..
What are your thoughts/opinions?
Sincerely,
-Jason