OnePlus One Purchasing Experience and Unboxing

I apologize for not having written a blog entry in close to 3 months since I've been busy with some other things and mainly write my blog reviews as a hobby and because writing and technology are 2 of my passions.

Although I've purchased/received many items that I could write about, I'll start with the latest technology gadget that I recently purchased. This would be the "exclusive" OnePlus One mobile Android smartphone.

I ordered it on Monday September 29, 2014 after receiving a random invitation from the company and was a bit hesitant on whether to purchase it or wait for the next Nexus version. As it turns out, a co-worker had offered me an invite the week previously on Friday but informed me that if I wasn't 100% sure that I would purchase it, he wanted to know so he could give it to someone else. Since I wasn't 100% sure that I wanted it (I was thinking of getting the next Nexus phone), I informed him that it might be best if he were to give his invite to someone else.

I didn't get the HTC Nexus-One but purchased the Samsung Nexus-S, skipped the Samsung Nexus Galaxy, got the LG Nexus-4, skipped the LG Nexus-5, and I was planning on getting the next Nexus version but it hasn't been announced yet. Because I probably wouldn't get another invitation to purchase the OnePlus One, I decided to redeem my invitation and ordered the OnePlus One when I arrived home from work on Monday September 29.

For those of you unfamiliar with the OnePlus One purchasing method, I'll just cover it briefly here. First of all, the reason that I wrote that the OnePlus One was an "exclusive" phone was because unlike most other phones where a customer can just purchase a phone given the amount of stock available at a retailer, someone wanting to purchase a OnePlus One must be invited to purchase it. Even after being invited to purchase it, he/she must purchase it within 24 hours of the invitation since the invitation expires. Also, in order to purchase the OnePlus One, the customer must create an account on the OnePlus One website as well as have a PayPal account since at the time of me writing this blog post, PayPal is the only accepted method of payment however OnePlus One will ship the phone to an address that isn't verified (I shipped it to my work address which isn't listed on my PayPal account).

The invitation marketing method is similar to how Google first distributed their Gmail and GoogleVoice accounts. If I were to want to purchase the latest 2 phones (Blackberry Passport and iPhone 6) available now, I can basically pre-order it from my carrier or I can purchase these phones from one of the retailers who sell them. With the OnePlus One, excluding purchasing it second hand, you can only purchase it from their website and in order to purchase it from their website, you must be invited to purchase it either by randomly being selected by the company or being invited by someone who already purchased it.

I was surprised how fast I received the OnePlus One after working it late on Monday September 29 (~10:00PM EDT). Because I knew that I would have to pay taxes/duties/customs/brokerage fees, I opted to send the item to my place of work as opposed to sending it to my place. On the OnePlus One website, it showed the "Processing" status the following day on Tuesday, September 30 and then on Wednesday, October 1, the item shipped from Los Angeles. I received it in Montreal during my lunch on Thursday October 2 at work at ~1:58PM where I left the fees after having received a phone call from the courier company (DHL) informing me what the fees would be after it passed through Canadian customs.

I didn't open bubble-wrap envelope before getting home but after opening it, there were 2 boxes; one small OnePlus One labeled box and another brown cardboard coloured box.

When I opened the brown cardboard coloured box at home as well as the small OnePlus One labeled box, I saw that the small OnePlus One labeled box contained the AC USB adapter plug and the brown cardboard coloured box contained a large OnePlus One labeled box. I believe that within the smaller white OnePlus One box, there was also a nanoSIM card adapter/tray. I was a bit curious on what the nanoSIM card adapter/tray was used for but when I ejected the OnePlus One SIM card tray and saw that it was a microSIM card tray, it was quite obvious that the nanoSIM card adapter/tray are for those users who have a nanoSIM. Instead of having to purchase a microSIM to nanoSIM converter, the included nanoSIM card adapter/tray is used directly instead of using the microSIM card adapter/tray that was already in the phone. This is ingenious and I wish most manufacturers included a different tray for at least the 2-3 common sized SIM cards for their phones without having to resort to an adapter.

Opening up the large OnePlus One labeled box, I found the OnePlus One phone. Underneath the white board that the phone sat on, was the USB cable as well as the SIM extraction tool.

It will take me a few days/weeks of using my new OnePlus One phone in order to write my review/thoughts about it but the phone is noticeably larger than my LG Nexus-4 and in terms of responsiveness/speed, I find it to be quite fast and responsive. After opening the box on Thursday evening after work, because I arrived home late, I didn't really "play" with my new technology gadget but charged it for the entire evening and after work on Friday I spent most of my time configuring it as well as installing/customizing the Android applications on it.

You can get some information of the OnePlus One from the keynote document either from the company's own website *HERE* or from my blog *HERE*.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

Samsung Nexus-S Review

I've been using my Samsung Nexus-S for approximately 1 year now and here is my thoughts on it. When I purchased it, I had used a Sony Ericsson x10 mini so I was familiar with the Android OS and interface. At the time that I'm writing this review, my Nexus-S is running Android version 2.3.6.

The first thing that I like about the Samsung Nexus-S is that it is factory unlocked regardless of which carrier it is purchased from. That means as long as the carrier supports the band for the particular version of the Nexus-S, you can insert the SIM card into it and it will work.

In Canada, there are basically 2 versions of the Nexus-S so you have to be careful when purchasing one. If you purchase one from Fido (like I did), it will fully work with Rogers, Bell, Telus, Koodo and any of the MVNOs that use their networks (such as Petro Canada Mobility which uses the Rogers network). If you purchase one from Videotron or Wind, it will work with Fido, Rogers, Bell, Telus, and Koodo BUT the data will max out at EDGE speeds since this model doesn't support the 3G network that Rogers, Bell, Telus, & Koodo use. That being the case, if you purchase one from Rogers, Bell, Telus, Koodo, or Fido, it will NOT WORK on Videotron or Wind at all except in roaming mode because Videotron and Wind don't have a 2G network to fall back on.

I find the Samsung Nexus-S to be very responsive. During the 1 year that I've been using it, it has never rebooted on me. I rooted it initially but then after accepting an update, it obviously returned to the unrooted state and because I was only using 1 program that required root, I never bothered to root it again.

I find that the back facing camera takes pretty good pictures (better than my Blackberry Bold 9700 which I use primarily as a data device). It connects to my wireless routers without any issues. If you like Android, chances are, you will like this phone. I've never used my front facing camera so I can't really comment on it.

The only negative comment that I have about this phone is that the earphone jack is on the bottom of the phone. I guess that it could be worse... it could have been on the side of the phone (like it is on my Blackberry Bold 9700). The good thing about it being on the bottom of the phone is that when I place it in my pocket, the bottom of the phone is at the top and when I remove the phone from my pocket to make/receive a call, it is at the correct orientation to do so. With my iPhone 3GS, when I remove it from my pocket, after listening to music, I have to flip the phone somewhat. I guess this is why Samsung decided to have the earphone jack on the bottom of their phones including the Nexus-S. For me, I have a belt case for my phones and I just like the earphone jack to be on the top of my devices. For people who put their phones in their pockets, I think that that earphone jack on the bottom works out better for them.

All the programs that I've tried on my Nexus-S work properly and without any problems. The 2 programs that I use the most on it is "Netflix" and "SlingPlayer Mobile". Both work seamlessly on it. I've also used "Beautiful Widgets" and this also works very well on it as does "Angry Birds".

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section.

Google Voice Service

I've been using Google Voice since it was called GrandCentral and I find it useful even with the limitations that Google Voice has which GrandCentral did not have.

As many services by Google, Google Voice is an ever changing product so one of the things that GrandCentral offered which Google Voice didn't offer has already been addressed. The feature that I'm referring to is free calling to Canada. When Google Voice was first launched, if I remember correctly, calling Canada was approximately $0.01 per minute. GrandCentral allowed for the forwarded numbers to be Canadian numbers, however Google Voice currently does not allow this.

Google Voice grandfathered users of GrandCentral so that any Canadian numbers that they have in GrandCentral were automatically migrated to Google Voice. However, once the Canadian number is migrated, no changes can be done to the number. One of the things that this means is that Canadian numbers cannot have associated ring schedules.

The first thing to note is that Google Voice is associated with an e-mail address. When you create your Google Voice account, you are prompted for an e-mail address. BE VERY CAREFUL WHICH E-MAIL ADDRESS YOU ENTER. Once entered, you pick the US area code that you want for your Google Voice number and you are given a phone number from that area code. You won't be able to easily change your associated e-mail address. You will have to contact Google via their online support page and ask them for assistance if you want them to change the e-mail address associated with your Google Voice account.

In order to use your Google Voice invite (since Google Voice is available based on "invites" only), you will need access to a US proxy server. The reason for this is that Google has limited the sign-up process so that it works with US IP addresses only. During the registration process, you will also need a US phone number that Google can verify via an automated process. After registering for Google Voice, there is no US IP address restriction on which country you can log in from.

Google Voice has a lot of features. The 2 features that I use most is making long distance calls (Canada/US) for free and sending free SMS to Canada/US mobile numbers. I will also sometimes use their conditional call forwarding.

The free long distance calling to Canadian/US phone numbers works like a callback service. Google has some Google Voice clients for specific phones but I generally use their webpage to initiate the callback service. I log into my Google Voice account and I enter the phone number that I want to call and I select from my list of forward numbers which phone I want to take the call on. When I click on "Call", the phone that I selected from my list of forward numbers will ring (call display will show the Google Voice number). When I pick up the call, Google Voice will call the other number and connect the call together. The recipient will see your Google Voice number. The only cost to the Google Voice user is the cost of receiving the call. If the Google Voice user has unlimited incoming calls, he/she doesn't pay anything for the call.

The sending/receiving of SMS works with Canadian phone numbers and US phone numbers only. It does not work with SMS notification systems like MSN, Skype, Twitter, etc. so you won't be able to receive an SMS from a non-mobilephone system..

I use the conditional call forwarding by forwarding a local number to my Google Voice number (long distance charges may apply to forward to the Google Voice US number). Depending on the caller ID of the number calling me, Google Voice routes the call to ring (forward the call) to whatever forwarded number(s) I've configured. For example, let's say that I'm in the US and I want my friends and family to be able to reach me but no one else. I would then set the numbers in my "friends" and "family" category to forward to the US number that I'm using while in the US but all other numbers outside of the "friends" and "family" category to forward to one of the other numbers that I've set as being a forwarded number. For telemarketers, I can even set it so that they receive a message saying that the number which they've dialed is not correct.

There is also a "call me" Google Voice widget similar to the alpha Vonage Me widget/webpage. I tried the call me Google Voice widget (and the Vonage Me service) but don't actually use it except in special cases since I personally feel that it encourages telephone spam and there isn't any filter based on contacts.

Google has a blog specific for Google Voice (like many of their other products/services). In their blog, they discuss the existing and new features of Google Voice. Their Google Voice blog can be found *HERE*

As of today, you can set the forwarding numbers to be US phone numbers, GoogleTalk, and Gizmo VoIP numbers. You cannot set the forwarding numbers to an international number or services like Skype or another Google Voice number.

If you have any questions/comments regarding my review on Google Voice, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section.