Belief Points

This week I want to tell you about the Belief Plans from US Cellular! This is a whole new concept in wireless plans. You sign a two year contract (or switch to a belief plan in the middle of a contract) and never sign another contract as long as you are a US Cellular customer! With the belief plans you get reward points just for being a customer and paying your bill on time! How great is that?
You can also save up to 5% on your bill by signing up for paperless billing, and auto pay.
So go see how much you can save by switching today!
You can use your points for early phone upgrades, phone accessories, or like I am doing upgrade the wife's phone early and earn reward points at home!

John US Cellular Customer Crew Member

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Launchers 101

My subject this week is launchers. For the ones who are not familiar with the term, the launcher is the "overlay" that runs your smartphones Android OS. Every manufacturer has there own UI or launcher. HTC has Sense (which is considered by many to be the best stock UI available), Samsung has TouchWiz (which is considered by many to be a POS, but TW 4 is much improved). Now on to the aftermarket launchers, some of the best known are ADW Launcher, LauncherPro, GO Launcher EX, and now the new kids on the block TSF Shell launcher. The TSF shell launcher is the newest and coolest 3D launcher around, and allows for a lot of customization, but it is rather pricey at $17! If you want the latest and coolest and can drop the money it is a fun launcher! 

  I have used LauncherPro and while it is a good launcher it just didn't measure up to my expectations and ran very slow and jerky on my USCC HTC Desire. 

  I have tried the TSF shell launcher and while it is cool and I really like the animations, transitions, and widgets, these niceties come at a price in battery life my Samsung Galaxy SII from US Cellular, and on my WIFI Samsung Galaxy Tablet. I will try to give a more detailed review of this launcher at a later date.

  My personal launcher of choice is GO Launcher, when coupled with plethora of "GO" products in the new Google Play Store you can customize your phone in almost any way you can think of. I change the theme, background, number of screens, homescreen (the screen I need that day) almost daily! The possibilities are limitless, so go to your local US Cellular location, get your new Android powered smartphone and start making it yours!!!

  

  Message me on Facebook or email me at jblount51@gmail.com if I can help or answer any questions you may have.

John

Official USCC Customer Crew

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Awesome service

I want to take a few minutes this week to talk about my carrier US Cellular. As you know I bought a new smartphone a couple of weeks ago, the Motorola Electrify. This was a great phone and I was satisfied with the features of the phone, then US Cellular released the awesome Samsung  GS II! I took the Electrify back to my local corporate store and traded it for the GS II for only the difference in price. Now what other carrier will let you trade phones in the first 30 days? And give you the great wireless coverage of US Cellular?  None that I know of! Thank you US Cellular for taking care of your customers!
Now for this weeks app. I purchased a new launcher called TSF Shell, and this thing rocks! I am still learning everything I can do with this awesome home screen/launcher replacement! It is rather pricey at $17, but when you see the awesome things you can do with it you decide if it is right for you. Just a word of caution, it is my understanding that this app works best with dual core devices. If you are not sure about your device, check with your wireless carrier or better yet switch to US Cellular today!
Well that is all for this week, I am going to finish setting up my new GS II now. Thanks again US Cellular!

John/Proud USCC Customer Crew member

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This weeks app review

In this post I am going to share an app with you which is not for everyone, but can come in handy when traveling. Or when checking up on those teenagers!  The name of the app is Glympse, free in the Android market. This little gem will let you share your whereabouts with whoever you chose (if they have the free app loaded also), your position will show up on their Google Maps for 10 minutes, then become inactive. I have used it to give my wife an update when on my way to work in the winter during snow storms. I can also see it being very handy when traveling anywhere US Cellular has coverage (which is just about everywhere)! If you happened to break down or be in an accident you could send a Glympse of your position to a loved one to get help. And YOU get to chose who gets to see your position, not some social media giant. So if you don't have a US Cellular Android powered phone check them out or message me and I will be more than happy to help you become one of the "happiest customers in wireless" in anyway I can!

Still a proud USCC customer crew member

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My carrier

I know I normally post about a new cool must have app, but this week I want to tell you a little about my wireless provider. I started in 1993 with Cellular One, switched to US Cellular in 1996 with my wife on a shared plan, switched to AT&T in 2001 for the "new cool phone" the Moto razor. I switched back to US Cellular and a family plan with my wife in 2005, and have been with them every since. (I should have listened to my wife and stayed with USCC like she did). We changed to a Belief Plan in Oct. 2010 when I got my HTC Desire Android phone. Now here we are 17 month later and I just upgraded my phone two month early with the help of some of our Belief plan reward points. With US Cellular you can upgrade at eighteen months anyway, but you can use your reward points (1000 points = one month) to upgrade even earlier! And another cool thing about USCC is you sign one contract for two years, then never have to sign another, even when you upgrade! Now is there any other wireless provider who does that? I don't think so!! Also you can now use your Belief plan reward points for phone accessories in any corporate store. If you have any questions or if I can help you to become "one of the happiest customers in wireless" just comment here or hit me up with a Facebook message.



Proud USCC Customer Crew member!

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I want to talk about making your smartphone do so much more automatically this week. The name of this wonder app is Automateit. This app will make you phone do everything from updating your PRL on a schedule to enabling your GPS when you open Google maps and much more! These actions can be triggered by GPS position, time, or simply opening an application. Just an example is my mobile data is enabled when I open my Vlingo app., when the application is turned off the mobile data is disabled. It does the same thing when I enable/disable Google maps, it enables/disables my GPS. The beauty of this app is that by enabling/disabling the mobile data/GPS, it saves battery life, (but with USCC's unlimited battery swap this is never a problem).  It automatically calls to update my PRL every Monday morning at a preset time. The possibilities are endless!!! With the 3G coverage of the US Cellular network, and the soon to come 4G speed this app works anywhere! Also with the early upgrade from USCC (as little as 12 months) you can put it on a new phone sooner. So go to your local US Cellular store and get your new Android powered phone, and download the app, and start automating your phone! If you have questions or need help ask the customer crew.
John/USCC customer crew member

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This week I would like to talk about a problem that seems to plague all smartphones, battery life. I know we all want to get the full enjoyment from our phones, and I am here to try to help you with that. There are a number of thing we will do to get your battery lasting longer and let you enjoy your phone!

1. Go to menu>settings>display>brightness, be sure auto is NOT checked, set the brightness as low as you possibly can. 
2. Turn off auto sync. Menu>settings>accounts & sync, the ONLY thing you want to auto sync is your Google account. Do you really need your Facebook, G+, Twitter, etc accounts to auto sync while you are at work or a restaurant? Just long press on your home screen, chose widget, then power (bar), from here you can chose different options to add to the power bar. I personally only have three, WIFI,  mobile hotspot, and mobile data. You can add auto sync if you like, then you can turn the auto sync on/off easily.
3. Turn off mobile data, bluetooth, and GPS when not in use. I have found the biggest battery hog on my phone is mobile data. If my phone is laying on my desk do I need mobile data on? NO, I can still make/receive phone calls and text messages without mobile data.
4. DO NOT use battery savers or task killers. These will kill essential apps which will just restart on their own causing more battery drain.
5. Back out of apps using the back button. This will shut down the app correctly and not leave it running in the back ground, using battery power. Pressing the "home" button just takes it out of the app, it does not exit it correctly

But the best battery saving tip I can give you is to have a GREAT wireless carrier like US Cellular who gives you free battery swap anytime you need it!

I hope these tips help you get more enjoyment out of your smartphone!

John / USCC customer crew member

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