Weather apps

Hello everyone, I hope this week's blog finds everyone safe, which brings me to this week's
subject.
  In light of this weekend's severe weather I want to take a few minutes to give you some insight into some must have (in my opinion) weather apps for your  US Cellular Android 
powered smartphone
  For a lightweight everyday weather app I like 1Weather by OneLouder apps, it has a very neat, and if I must say different UI. This is my daily driver for a weather app.

  The second is The Weather Channel app, while this app is a little more involved, it also has the power of the weather channels 200+ meteorologists, weather maps, detailed forecast for
multiple locations, and severe weather alerts of varying levels.
  These apps are free in the Google Play Store. Now on to some good paid apps.
  First up from the Amazon App Store, is Weatherbug Elite. This is a very powerful, full
featured app with detailed forecasts, animated maps, severe weather alerts, several 
handy widgets, and was voted the 2009 Best Weather App.
  Next up is Weather, USA Radar, Alerts, Quakes, Barometer, this is probably the most full 
featured weather app I have found. It has current conditions, hourly, daily, and 10 day forecast 
for temperature, precipitation, humidity, barometric pressure, winds, and even UV levels! 
  So in closing I hope you will go to your local US Cellular store to pick out your Android 
powered smartphone, then try these weather apps and choose the one that is right for you and 
stay safe!!!


  As always if you have questions about any of these apps or questions concerning US Cellular,
feel free to message me through Facebook or Google+, and I will be happy to help!


John Proud US Cellular Customer Crew Member

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Instagram

As most of you know Instagram for Android was released this week and if you read any of the tech blogs you will see praise and hate from both the Apple side who are upset that they lost their exclusive app and the Android side who want to know what the big deal is. There are any number of quality apps in the Google Play Store which will allow you to apply all sorts of neat filters. Here is a very well written article featuring a few of these apps.
With Facebook, Google +, and any number of other photo sharing sites, you can upload your photos instantly, so this can't be the appeal of Instagram, so what is it?
I think Instagram has been over-hyped and the average person using it is just looking for their "15 minutes of fame" through the Instagram community.
I personally am not a photo person, but I have to wonder why people pay a lot of money for a phone with a great camera, would then add an app which adds filters to their photo to take away from the awesomeness of that same camera! I know part of the reason I bought my Samsung Galaxy S II from US Cellular was because of the great (8 MP) camera. Like I said I am not a huge picture taker, but when I take a photo I want it to be the best, clearest it can be.

I am just throwing this out there for you to think about, why do you want the Instagram app? Be your own person, don't be a follower. Which is why I have chosen US Cellular as my wireless provider, they are leading the way with one and done contract, giving current customers rewards with their industry leading belief plans, and everything incoming free, no matter what carrier or time of day.


John USCC Customer Crew Member

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File explorers

Hello again!
This week I am going to take some time to talk about everyone's favorite topic, file explorers. You can use file explorers for a multitude of things, but we are just going to touch on the basics here.
First go to your local US Cellular store and pick up a great Android smartphone!
Next I suggest downloading a third party app for this. I am currently testing two which I think are the best on the market. The first is ASTRO File Manager. This is the very first file manager I used and it is a good one. The next app I am going to mention is ES File Explorer.
While both are excellent apps I personally have come to use the ES file explorer as my main file management app.
Now you may be asking "why do I need to worry about managing my files?" Well first (and most important to most) you can back up you apps to your SD card. It is important to do this on a routine basis, because most, if not all of us have had to do a factory reset at one time or another, and know the joys of trying to remember all of the apps we had downloaded! Also with a file manager you can share your files with others easily and quickly. First less do a quick back up of our apps using ASTRO.

• Open your app drawer and select Astro
• Click application back up, you will notice in the upper left corner it will say "Installed Apps", be sure this is highlighted.
• Check the box on the top right (this selects all of your apps), or conversely you can select individual apps to back up
• Press Backup on the left just below Installed Apps and let it do its magic! 

Now that your apps are backed up we will go through the re-installation process (you know you will need it)!

• Open ASTRO and select File Manager
• Choose the folder labeled "backups"
• Choose the folder labeled "apps"
• Choose the app you want
• Click install

There is much more you can do with the file manager, but we are running out of time for this week.
Next week we will go through the ES File Explorer.
If you have specific questions please ask them in the comments section and I will try to answer them.

John Proud US Cellular Customer Crew Member

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Tablets

This weeks post is about Tablets. Almost everyone is now jumping on the Tablet bandwagon with an abundance of Android devices to choose from, and with Apple announcing the iPad3.
I personally have a Samsung Galaxy tab and I have been very satisfied with, very few if any issues.
Tablets come in many sizes and prices, with Acer, Samsung, and Amazon being the leaders in the 7" range. Asus and Samsung seem to be leading the way with the 10" size range in the Android OS race.
You can get tablets which are WIFI only, WIFI/3G and now even 4G!
While speaking of Samsung, my carrier, US Cellular has just announced the release of the Samsung 10.1 LTE Tablet this week. This is the newest and fastest tablet offering from Samsung, sporting a speedy 1.2 GHs dual core processor, and running Androids 3.2 Honeycomb OS.
If the Samsung 10.1 LTE version is not for you check out US Cellulars HTC Flyer, a 7" WIFI/3G  tablet with a fast 1.5 GHs single core processor, running the familiar 2.3 Gingerbread OS.
I personally like the 7" model because it will fit in my pocket, but my next purchase will be the 10 " model, which is still portable but with a slightly larger screen for my "old" eyes.
In short go to your nearest US Cellular store and check out both of the great tablet offerings and get in on the tablet revolution!!!


John Proud US Cellular Customer Crew Member

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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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