7-11 Speakout a good way to test cell waters?

[Ustauk]

Ust, do you find you listen to the radio/MP3 player a lot, or take a lot of pictures with the phone?  Do you do a lot of text messaging, or is it mostly voice calls?

On my trip to Canmore we alternated between MP3s on the speakers of my girlfriend's and my phone, since my FM stero doesn't work in my car for an FM transmitter, and my tape deck is not friendly to tape adapters.  My Tungsten can play MP3s, but it's speaker isn't as loud and it's limited to 1 gb cards, whereas I grabbed a 2 gb microsd card off of eBay for my phone.  I've used the FM radio and MP3 player while I've been walking to work, as well.  I've used the camera on the phone a couple of times, mostly for spontaneous shots.  The MP3 and radio do cut into my battery life when I use them, but I have a car charger and a charger at both home and work, so that's not too much of an issue.

My girlfriend likes to send me text messages, which are free to receive.  I usually phone back, since it uses my plan minutes instead of me paying for an outgoing text, plus I still suck at text message typing   I've sent a couple, though.  I recently finished my month, and requested my usage sheet, so I'll be able to figure out how many when I get that.

I was going to get the cheapest phone possible, but my girlfriend intervened and managed to convince me to get the nicer phone.  Did I need all the convergence stuff on it?  No, but since I've got in anyways, I'm going to use it.

As to your link to weasalking, it is a valid point, but it is fairly painless to bypass the DRM locks on the phone once you have the USB cable.  I agree their advertising any MP3 as a ringtone when they mean any MP3 they can sell you sucks, but at least there's a way around it.

I agree Darren should get whichever Virgin phone fits him best, if he does go with Virgin.  I read some negative reviews about the LG 3300, though.  The LG-150 has some positive reviews, but its the same price as the Nokia with less feature, though it is a flip phone.  If you want a very basic phone, the Nokia 2125 has some good reviews, but it felt kind of cheap when I looked at the display model, and it only had a ninety day warranty compared to a year for my 6275i, which also has some good reviews.    Wal-mart may have deals on the other Virgin phones.  And you should be able to do price matches at Staples and Best Buy if you can make it to either.  Good luck with whatever you get, Darren.

[Darren Dirt]

My 6275i is charging now... Ustauk, is it true what some user reviews said, that it takes a few full charges to properly "condition" the battery (i.e. the first few charges it seems to last a shorter time than the specs ... specify?)

I'm charging it as I leave for work, will assume the Lithium Ion batt will be fully ready to go in 10 hours -- is that how long you did first time? (I couldn't find info. in the manuals that said how long for the First Charge)


PS: some really interesting user comments here: (including a list of software, suggested enhancements to check out, etc.)
http://www.cnet.com.au/mobilephones/phones/0,239025956,240063801,00.htm

[Mr. Analog]

My 6275i is charging now... Ustauk, is it true what some user reviews said, that it takes a few full charges to properly "condition" the battery (i.e. the first few charges it seems to last a shorter time than the specs ... specify?)

I'm charging it as I leave for work, will assume the Lithium Ion batt will be fully ready to go in 10 hours -- is that how long you did first time? (I couldn't find info. in the manuals that said how long for the First Charge)

Let me jump on this one, for most Lithium Ion batteries you will have to fully charge and nearly deplete the battery to get the longest possible duration out of the battery (if it's important to the battery your phone uses it should say so in the manual). Otherwise the effectiveness of doing this is going to be so insignificant you either won't have the phone long enough to care about the long-term condition of the battery or you'll be able to justify the cost of a replacement without thinking about it too hard.

Your battery may only take a few hours to charge (well under 5, let alone 10 hours)

[Ustauk]

The first of Dan's Letters at this link has a pretty good explanation of lithium ion battery charging.  I drained the battery twice initially as the manual suggested (leaving the radio on is a good way to do this), but after that I throw it on the charger when it drops to 2/3 or 1/3 charge.  The phone is pretty good at not overcharging; I've seen the fully charged indicator come up, and when this happens the phone stops charging, according to the battery/charging indicator.  I just left it charging overnight the first time.  I think the manual had the recommended charing time, but I could be wrong.

[Thorin]

On my trip to Canmore we alternated between MP3s on the speakers of my girlfriend's and my phone, since my FM stero doesn't work in my car for an FM transmitter, and my tape deck is not friendly to tape adapters.

Gah, you spent four hours in a car driving to Canmore listening to music on being played on the speakers of cell phones?  Could you even *hear* the songs over the road and wind noise?  How about bass, could you hear any bass?  I don't mean sub-bass like you hear from a 12" subwoofer, I mean bass like you hear from a 4" mid-range speaker...  If your car already has speakers in it, how about spending $150 on a deck?  $106 for the deck (includes GST), and $40 for installation.  You can plug your MP3 player into the plug on the front, so you can still listen to all that music on your portable music player, but actually hear the music.

Sometimes being cheap causes you to miss out on enjoyable experiences.  Like hearing lower frequencies in your music.

Sorry if this sounds like a personal attack, it's not intended that way.  It's just that I'm a closet car audio enthusiast (can't afford the best systems ), and I can't imagine not spending at least a couple hundred dollars on a car stereo that lets me actually *enjoy* music while driving.

Wait, headphones would make it sound better because the speakers are placed right next to (or inside of) your ears.  You weren't using headphones, were you?

Oh, and if I manage to convince you to buy a car stereo and you're not willing to pay to get it installed (which is probably the smartest thing to do since those guys have all the tools and connectors they need), someone like Melbosa or myself could probably help you install it.

[Mr. Analog]

LOL, chill man, he only listens to Nickelback so it wouldn't sound good on anything.

J/K OF COURSE

[Ustauk]

On my trip to Canmore we alternated between MP3s on the speakers of my girlfriend's and my phone, since my FM stero doesn't work in my car for an FM transmitter, and my tape deck is not friendly to tape adapters.

Gah, you spent four hours in a car driving to Canmore listening to music on being played on the speakers of cell phones?  Could you even *hear* the songs over the road and wind noise?  How about bass, could you hear any bass?  I don't mean sub-bass like you hear from a 12" subwoofer, I mean bass like you hear from a 4" mid-range speaker...  If your car already has speakers in it, how about spending $150 on a deck?  $106 for the deck (includes GST), and $40 for installation.  You can plug your MP3 player into the plug on the front, so you can still listen to all that music on your portable music player, but actually hear the music.

Sometimes being cheap causes you to miss out on enjoyable experiences.  Like hearing lower frequencies in your music.

Sorry if this sounds like a personal attack, it's not intended that way.  It's just that I'm a closet car audio enthusiast (can't afford the best systems ), and I can't imagine not spending at least a couple hundred dollars on a car stereo that lets me actually *enjoy* music while driving.

Wait, headphones would make it sound better because the speakers are placed right next to (or inside of) your ears.  You weren't using headphones, were you?

Oh, and if I manage to convince you to buy a car stereo and you're not willing to pay to get it installed (which is probably the smartest thing to do since those guys have all the tools and connectors they need), someone like Melbosa or myself could probably help you install it.

I've been meaning to get my car stereo replaced for a while; I just hadn't gotten around to it yet.  The radio works in the summer, so it wasn't as much of a concern until winter.  By that time, it was too cold to work on the deck outside (Melbosa said he'd help me with it, I didn't know you (Thorin) fiddled with decks as well), and the last time I checked at Future Shop the wait for installation was a couple of weeks long, so I planned on getting it done in the spring.   Now that spring is here, I'll get the deck installed one of these weekends. 

As you said, the phones had no bass, but they were suprisingly loud, especially given the wind noise I get in my car at high speeds.  You're right though, they're nothing compared to proper speakers, even the stock ones that are in my car.

[Thorin]

Yeah, sorry Ust, I'm not trying to be mean, I just really can't imagine road-tripping like that...

[Thorin]

Now that spring is here, I'll get the deck installed one of these weekends. 

Have you got your eye on a particular deck or a particular set of features you want in your deck?  CD playback, MP3-on-a-CD playback, front-panel audio input to hook up portable music players?  Removable faceplate, since your car is pretty easy to get into and doesn't have an alarm system?

[Ustauk]

Now that spring is here, I'll get the deck installed one of these weekends. 

Have you got your eye on a particular deck or a particular set of features you want in your deck?  CD playback, MP3-on-a-CD playback, front-panel audio input to hook up portable music players?  Removable faceplate, since your car is pretty easy to get into and doesn't have an alarm system?

All of the above would be nice.  I just noticed that Best Buy has free installation with a deck over $149.

Installation Included on all Car Decks over $149 ? Click for Details


Installation Included on Car Decks over $149*

*Applies to basic car deck install only, parts and extensive labour extra. Exludes prior purchases. Offer available in store only. See store for details. 

I don't know if ripping apart my dash would qualify as extensive.  Given the age of the vehicle, I imagine converter cables would be required.  I might wait for Mel to come back from Mani, though, since I know he swapped the stereo on his old '82 Supra among other Toyotas, so he'd know the quirks of replacing a deck in a vehicle like mine.  If you'd like to give it a try in the meantime, Thorin, there'd be a 26 of your favourite beverage in it.  Or do you think I'd be ok with the Best Buy guys?  I get nervous at the thought of strangers touching my baby.

[Melbosa]

Most Toyota's dashes fit the after market dashes quite well.  All that you really need to find is a tray if you have a 2 DIN deck in there now.

As for helping you out, you know its no problem for me.  As you said I've done many Toyotas and well about 50 other ones as well.  All I would suggest is that we try and find a Wiring Assembly adapter, as those make the installs easier and quicker.  Other than that we can always do it the other way, just need a test light to figure out which wires to splice into (I never cut the original wiring plugs out of any car, just splice into the wires behind it).

Looks like I should be back from Mani next wednesday guys.

[Thorin]

I started a new thread for this here: http://forums.righteouswrath.com/index.php/topic,5069.0.html