;begin typical "naysayer" rant....
I gave the rant warning so that people who don't want to hear it can skip over. Yes, I am a bunker-dwelling Redneck Hippie Hillbilly, so take everything I say accordingly.
Apps. Yeah, don't. By clicking "I Agree," you are giving HUNDREDS of third parties access to EVERYTHING on your phone. Sorry to yell, but it seems that nobody is listening.
This is not an exaggeration. A recent study of a typical iPhoney, with a typical installed app lineup, revealed that the device was communicating with more than FOUR THOUSAND entities around the world while innocently sitting on the charger overnight. Yeah, seriously.
As far as where you get your phone, I cannot recommend enough that you purchase your phone directly from the manufacturer. This way, you will have a phone with a virgin factory OS, rather than a version of the OS that is "owned" by the service provider. Once they get their grubby mitts into it, all bets are off. Like when you use WiFi to save on cellular data usage, but the provider counts the data against you plan's data allotment anyway, with the dubious argument that you are using "their" device to download said data.
Or the careful programming that accidentally launched the web browser when people pressed the "Up" arrow, this at a time when all web usage was charged by the minute. That little "mistake" netted the provider over 300 million dollars a month. One guess who did that... their name rhymes with "horizon."
Some providers [such as Ting] will allow you to use any device, as long as you can set it up yourself. Yes, this is work, but it is worth your time, because you will end up knowing a lot more about how these devices actually work. We are phone guys, so lets OWN these devices ourselves. It's time to take it back.
Knowing more about how these devices work will give you an edge over the allegedly "tech savvy" younger generation. Keep in mind that a shocking majority of the new generation actually believe that their phone transmits their location TO the GPS satellites, so the bar isn't very high anyway.
;end rant [sorry]
Jim
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Ranting from a secure undisclosed location.
