With Father’s Day just around the corner I wanted to quickly suggest the no-contract devices from Sprint brands, Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile. Forget the ties and tools--what Dad’s want are tech products, but without being stuck with a two-year contract and a pricey monthly bill!
Boost and Virgin Mobile offers devices for every need, whether your Dad is into the latest and most high-tech devices or the phones best for talking and texting.
Boost Mobile
Paired with Boost Mobile’s Monthly Unlimited with Shrinkage plan, Dads can have the coolest phones without breaking the bank. Monthly Unlimited with Shrinkage starts at $50 A MONTH for unlimited talk, text, web, email and 411, then goes down the longer you stay. With Shrinkage, the plan rewards those by taking $5 off for every six on-time payments made.
- Samsung Galaxy Prevail ($179.99): Boost Mobile’s second Android device that comes equipped with the everything a gadget-lover needs including a 3.2-inch touchscreen, 2MP camera with video, and a 2GB microSD™ card included.
- Motorola i412 ($69.99): An entry-level flip phone with Nationwide Walkie-Talkie, perfect for dads who want a straightforward, easy-to-use, affordable phone. (*Available in June)
Virgin Mobile
Join the revolution and avoid being among the 66 percent of cell users overpaying for service by shredding your existing contract and embracing a lifestyle of Independence and no-contract. Virgin Mobile offers top-of-the range Android smartphones at a fraction of the price compared to competitors due to their low-cost BeyondTalk prepaid plans ranging from $25-$60 A MONTH for unlimited text, data and web with talk.
Virgin Mobile saves consumers 25 percent or more when compared to traditional contract-based phone service.
- LG Optimus ($199.99): Upgrade to Android 2.2 on this 3G & Wi-Fi capable Navigate on a 3.2" touchscreen with a virtual QWERTY keyboard and Swype® text entry. This handset provides full access to the Android market as well as Virgin Mobile LIVE music stream.
- Broadband2Go MiFi 2200 ($149.99): Give your Dad the gift of portable Internet connection to use whenever he needs it. The MiFi creates a secure Wi-Fi hotspot for up to five nearby devices. Virgin Mobile’s No Contract Broadband2Go plans feature 3G speeds and start at just $10 for 10 days/100MB of access. For heavy users the $50 plan offers unlimited data access with 3G speeds up to 2.5GB each month.
My Take on the Phones I was able to try out Motorola i412 from boost mobile. Boost has been a company I have been hearing more and more about lately. Mostly this was because of people liking the graduated decrease in monthly fees that you get while you are a member, but also, I have been hearing more and more on radio stations like NPR talking about their market share increasing. So needless to say I was excited to try this phone out and see what the buzz was about.
In receiving the phone I found it to be lightweight and portable. It took me a little time to figure out where things were on the phone and how to use things as my current phone is a bit less technical. One of the first things I tried was calling a few people, and I found the reception to be quality. No dropped calls and overall sound quality was positive.
Second I tried to send an image to someone. Taking the image was not a problem. I will suggest you play with the image size controls though as you need to make sure you have enough memory in the camera as I took a few pictures on the large picture setting and I was already at 42% of the memory capacity. The phone does provide you with three image sizes to choose form though. Sending the picture was easy enough or so I thought (but I will explain this later).
Third, I texted... I do not have a texting plan on my current phone but have had it in the past so this was a fun add-on. I sent a few text messages without problem and with the qwerty keyboard it made it simple for the user.
The problem that came in was that my pictures and texts were not sending. I ended up turning the phone off eventually and rebooting it up and amazingly all of the messages and images ended up being sent. So go figure... I will chalk it up as a technical glitch.
The messaging system on this phone keeps a record of your text conversations so you can go back through them later. I have yet to be able to figure out how to delete an image or a text message to conserve space though as it is not readily clear to the user.
Using the internet was next. The phone comes with some sites preset and you can also search. The graphical display is not the best but I found it easy enough to use. Data processing took a little time, but all-in-all it was not that difficult and I was able to send my first mobile tweet with this phone!
Overall, this phone was fun and I loved the idea of no contract. I will definitely be looking into Boost or Virgin Mobile in the future as I am off contract and would love to be able to stay that way if possible!
All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New to the Divadom or to Dad of Divas Reviews?
Please Subscribe to my RSS Feed! Subscribe in a reader
Questions?Drop me a line at dadofdivas@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment