About to get smart phone- stupid yet important questions!

Life Technology
1

I’m about to get a smart phone. For that matter. my wife’s phone is on the blink so we may get two. My problem is keeping the costs down.

My wife and I work in places that are already under a wifi umbrella as well as our home.
I’ve already paid for CHT wifi everywhere, it was less than 14NT a month.
I have an MOD and ADSL so … we are pretty well invested in this.

My cell phone service is minimum. I basically just used it for voice calls and I really plan on using my smart phone as a media player and document holder for bouncing around the house. I don’t want to spend an extra 1K for one phone or 2K for two per month if I can help it. I already give CHT a chunk of my money.

Can I get by on using a smart phone primarily via wifi? I would be interested in making voice calls to my wife (wifi) and perhaps some students who are using 3G. It would be great to bypass the traditional voice network as much as possible.

What apps would I need? How transparent or easy to use are they? Would it be worth the effort? Should I splurge and get 3G even though I’m for the most part under a wif umbrella. PS: I will be getting 3 an on demand 3G that some friends are using where you pay by the day… but that would be for only special trips.
Please give me a patient tour on what it is like using this stuff. I really have no idea. Share your strategies.

2

My wife and I use our cell phones in much the same way that you do. I recently bought her a TWM Amazing A2 from Taiwan Mobile - with no data plan or anything. My wife loves it.

By the way, the phone looks like a rebranded ZTE Blade 3. ZTE seems to have a pretty good reputation on the mainland (and parts elsewhere).

For myself, I went even further out on a limb and bought something from Zopo. So far, so good.

3

Thank you for the kind reply. I took the plunge and got myself a “G-phone” a locally branded made in China phone. So far so good. I got it at our local Aurora retailer and it came with a two year warranty. My wife ordered a Yangtse River phone from MoMO that should come in the next day or two.

So far I’ve found the whole idea of the smart phone and the google OS sweet. There was no way I could even imagine what it can do…

Skype worked quite well if the Wifi signal was strong. I’m still having some connection issues, but I just got the phone and am still playing with it.

I was amazed that when I activated Google Maps, my exact location showed up on screen. I don’t know how that happened because I had yet to enable the GPS, and I was inside most of the time. :google:

The voice recognition is AMAZING. Much better than MS voice recognition on the PC. The Q-Code reader on the phone also is fantasic. I never could get the PC apps to work well. That’s all for now…

4

if GPS is not enabled, google maps can get your location using your IP address.

I didn’t get any mobile plans because I don’t really call very often so I just bought a prepaid SIM. Just like you, I also have wifi most of the time so whenever I really need to make a phone call, I use calling apps like keku and rebtel. both apps use wifi to call a mobile phone or landline (recipient doesn’t need to be online) and they work really well. the cost is just around NT3/minute, you pay using a credit card or paypal. Calling abroad is also cheap but voice quality may vary with country and network.

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[quote=“Taiwan_Student”]
I’ve already paid for CHT wifi everywhere, it was less than 14NT a month. [/quote]

Really? just NT14 per month? how do i sign up for this? any bandwidth caps?

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I tend to exaggerate and am lousy at math but here’s the facts… There’s always some unknown promotion at CHT. The current promotion is that you pay for 6 month “hotspot plan” and get six months free. You can choose to pay all at once, a one time charge to your ADSL bill for around +/- 400NT. that’s about 40NT a month or so. Or you can choose to have the charges added to your bill monthly.

It works where ever there is a government building and in many public venues like McDonald’s, 7-11’s you name it. It even worked in my local laundromat. I mostly use it at McDonald’s. One catch… only one ADSL password/account can log in at a time on the network. Meaning, if you are in, your wife or family member cannot also use the hotspot network… No matter…

I just learned last night that all CHT mobile phone subscribers are eligible for 60 hours a month free hot spot access via its Enome service. You have to register online and your enome password will be texted to your phone.

Once you get your passwords it’s easy. You go to a place like 7-11 or McDonalds, choose the CHT hotspot from your list of network connections. You will get a message, that you are connect but may require some additional log on info. You start your browser. Your browser, meaning Google Chrome, will then be diverted to CHT’s log in page. You can choose English if you would like. At this point you must select the tab for the service you want to use be it Enome or Hinet.
If you choose hinet, you just enter the account number that appears on your ADSL card followed by the words “@hinet.net”. Enter your password, then select the remember me option and log in.

So far, I have not been able to make it log in automatically. I still have to push the login button on the page before I start browsing.
Skype seems to work fine even before I log on though. Skype is offering some kind of pay per minute option for your hotspot but it is outrageous. I just close the skype log in box before I log in. Funny thing… my Skype contacts and messages appear on the screen so it looks like you can use Skype for free if that is your only purpose.

Bandwith caps? What do you want to do sitting inside a McDonald’s or 7-11 that would even approach questionable bandwidth requirements? I’d love to know. I’d like to know if you can even do that on a cell phone…

Back to topic of Google Phone. When I logged on to Forumosa from the phone, a was notified that there is an app that would make accessing this page easier. I tried to download the app and I got a message that it is not available in my country :loco: ?

What to do, what to do? When I try to enter text in forums using my phone in landscape mode (the only way I can see what’s on the screen), the keyboard seems to cover the entire screen. I can’t seem to resize the keyboard either. Suggestions?

7

[quote=“Taiwan_Student”]I tend to exaggerate and am lousy at math but here’s the facts… There’s always some unknown promotion at CHT. The current promotion is that you pay for 6 month “hotspot plan” and get six months free. You can choose to pay all at once, a one time charge to your ADSL bill for around +/- 400NT. that’s about 40NT a month or so. Or you can choose to have the charges added to your bill monthly.

It works where ever there is a government building and in many public venues like McDonald’s, 7-11’s you name it. It even worked in my local laundromat. I mostly use it at McDonald’s. One catch… only one ADSL password/account can log in at a time on the network. Meaning, if you are in, your wife or family member cannot also use the hotspot network… No matter…

I just learned last night that all CHT mobile phone subscribers are eligible for 60 hours a month free hot spot access via its Enome service. You have to register online and your enome password will be texted to your phone.

Once you get your passwords it’s easy. You go to a place like 7-11 or McDonalds, choose the CHT hotspot from your list of network connections. You will get a message, that you are connect but may require some additional log on info. You start your browser. Your browser, meaning Google Chrome, will then be diverted to CHT’s log in page. You can choose English if you would like. At this point you must select the tab for the service you want to use be it Enome or Hinet.
If you choose hinet, you just enter the account number that appears on your ADSL card followed by the words “@hinet.net”. Enter your password, then select the remember me option and log in.

So far, I have not been able to make it log in automatically. I still have to push the login button on the page before I start browsing.
Skype seems to work fine even before I log on though. Skype is offering some kind of pay per minute option for your hotspot but it is outrageous. I just close the skype log in box before I log in. Funny thing… my Skype contacts and messages appear on the screen so it looks like you can use Skype for free if that is your only purpose.

Bandwith caps? What do you want to do sitting inside a McDonald’s or 7-11 that would even approach questionable bandwidth requirements? I’d love to know. I’d like to know if you can even do that on a cell phone…

Back to topic of Google Phone. When I logged on to Forumosa from the phone, a was notified that there is an app that would make accessing this page easier. I tried to download the app and I got a message that it is not available in my country :loco: ?

What to do, what to do? When I try to enter text in forums using my phone in landscape mode (the only way I can see what’s on the screen), the keyboard seems to cover the entire screen. I can’t seem to resize the keyboard either. Suggestions?[/quote]

Tapatalk 2 is the application I use for that. If an app isn’t available see if you can find an apk to download and set your phone to allow installation from alternate sources.

Sent from my SGH-T679 using Tapatalk 2

8

Taipei city gives free hotspot access at many locations, including 7-11s. Would there be any advantage to paying hinet? Faster?

9

Hinet is pretty fast via their hotspots. I live in a small town/city in Taiwan. We don’t have that. For me, I like the portability of it. My subscription works nationwide. A great companion to the wifi is a “Buy one, get one free” card at McDonald’s. Buy a Latte, get a large iced tea for your kids to share or for yourself if you are doing a marathon internet session.

Hmm… I’m not too sure about that. I was sitting in the McDonald’s hotspot this morning and found my position to be a bit off. When I walked around, the Google position changed in the direction I walked. The message on Google Maps said that my position is accurate to with in 42 meters and if I wanted to increase my accuracy, I should turn on the GPS. I think they are getting the location from the cell phone towers, ya think?

I played with Google Sky Map last night too. Even in my house. I was able to point up to the sky and get a view of what’s out there. Fascinating. Wonder how they do that with no GPS enabled. The built in compass and the gravity position switch?

The only sucky thing is … this beautiful machine becomes… well a phone and an mp3 player… only… without wifi or 3G connection.

Did you know that you can minimize accidental usage of your out of plan 3G service by just asking them to disable it. I didn’t until yesterday. Now if you kids or students get a hold of my phone… there will be no data charges…

10

More stupid questions… It seems that apps I want to spend money on are not available in Taiwan?

Almare Chinese Reader- Amazing. I can point it many things and it will recognize the Chinese Characters and even give you the pinyin. Unfortunately… the translation part is reserved for the paid version. I tried to check it out and got a message. Not available in your country… (Taiwan).
It would be useful… I can actually read the ingredients in packaged foods and sauces to see if there is anything I’m allergic too. That’s fish… and that is in the most unlikely places…

I could also quickly read notes from my children’s teachers. If anyone has a better suggestion, lay it on me and tell me how I can purchase and download it. If the above program is the best… How do I get it?

I also would like to know the basic dictionaries and flash card programs I should arm myself with… Thanks.

11

You could try Pleco for OCR and dictionaries (and much more). Find it on google’s Play Store.

Positioning without GPS enabled is done via “assisted GPS”, the accuracy of which depends on a lot of circumstances, several antennas (wifi+mobile network) and sensors are used together.

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+1 for Pleco, it’s pretty amazing!

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I 2nd that!. Now, how do I buy it? I don’t see an account setting thing like Amazon or PayPal I read some references to Google Wallet.

Do I have to set up another account on Wallet? I would really prefer to use Paypal since I’d rather keep my number of online accounts minimized.

This Pleco is great. It seems better than my Besta as well. I think I will buy it. Any suggestions for other packages I should look at instead?

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Pleco is free! If you buy the full version on google play you get some extra features, but I’m happy with the free version!

15

It’s a great app, but I want, and if it really works…need the OCR option to read package labeling and whatnot. … 14.00 is not a bad price. The dictionary alone seems worth it…
So how do we buy apps here in Taiwan?

New Problem… I want to download my WABC app. I scanned in the QR code… and I get sent to the play store… But only Chinese menus pop up.
I select what I think is download. I get a pop up box saying something about Chungua telcom… and the app doesn’t down load. Am I restricted from gettign a free radio player? Any work arounds… If I can get my talk stations… this here cell phone will have all that I need… Help.

wabcradio.com/Article.asp?id=1599261

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I have currently have an HTC One that has a cracked screen. I know it is a Taiwanese company, are HTC phones affordable and available with an English interface?