# Does anyone use Walmart Straight Talk with an I-phone or Android in OC?



## TeleSki (Dec 4, 2014)

I've been doing Uber and just passed my mentor ride for Lyft. I'm thinking of getting an I-Phone 5c or LG Optimus L90 to use for Lyft from Walmart. Has anyone had experience with their phones/plans? I was going get an I-phone 5c for Virgin Mobile, but they are no longer selling them. My daughter has the 4s with Virgin, and I haven't experienced any problems with them.
Thanks for any input.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Buy an Android 'china' phone for around $100. You can find them on Amazon, eBay - or any of a hundred sites.

You'll have an unlocked phone that you can use with StraightTalk (Walmart) or BrightSpot (Target). You'll own the phone with no phone payments and you'll be able to move it to the cheapest unlimited data plan available at any time.

With an unlimited data plan (Brightspot is $35/mo) you'll also be able to run a hotspot app so you won't use any bandwidth on your main phone.


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## TeleSki (Dec 4, 2014)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> Buy an Android 'china' phone for around $100. You can find them on Amazon, eBay - or any of a hundred sites.
> 
> You'll have an unlocked phone that you can use with StraightTalk (Walmart) or BrightSpot (Target). You'll own the phone with no phone payments and you'll be able to move it to the cheapest unlimited data plan available at any time.
> 
> With an unlimited data plan (Brightspot is $35/mo) you'll also be able to run a hotspot app so you won't use any bandwidth on your main phone.


I have unlimited data on my other phone..but what brands are the "china? phones? OR do they just say "china" phone on amazon? tARGET, WALMART and Virgin all have decent looking phones for about 80-120.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

There a many different brands. 'Lenovo' (who recently bought Motorola from Google) is probably the best known brand name. Other brands are Elephone, Cubot, Huawei, iRulu. I have an iRulu 3G quad-core phone that I really like (http://amzn.com/B00NXDID00) - and just ordered a Huwei octacore with 4GB ram and 32GB rom for something like $148.

Read about the phones and the chips they use and then you can do an internet search for phones with the chips-set and features you want.


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## TeleSki (Dec 4, 2014)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> There a many different brands. 'Lenovo' (who recently bought Motorola from Google) is probably the best known brand name. Other brands are Elephone, Cubot, Huawei, iRulu. I have an iRulu 3G quad-core phone that I really like (http://amzn.com/B00NXDID00) - and just ordered a Huwei octacore with 4GB ram and 32GB rom for something like $148.
> 
> Read about the phones and the chips they use and then you can do an internet search for phones with the chips-set and features you want.


Thanks for the info. I'll check them out.


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## Casuale Haberdasher (Dec 7, 2014)

POST # 4 /@M


Michael - Cleveland said:


> There a many different brands. 'Lenovo' (who recently bought Motorola from Google) is probably the best known brand name. Other brands are Elephone, Cubot, Huawei, iRulu. I have an iRulu 3G quad-core phone that I really like (http://amzn.com/B00NXDID00) - and just ordered a Huwei octacore with 4GB ram and 32GB rom for something like $148.
> 
> Read about the phones and the chips they use and then you can do an internet search for phones with the chips-set and features you want.


POST # 4 / Michael - Cleveland : ......+1


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## Andy Uber-hol (Feb 28, 2015)

Took your advice. Blu-dash (walmart sells it). Even if I leave it plugged in (2 amp outlet), the battery drains which i've just been living with. Hating it! Then yesterday, battery went to zero and the mf shut down. During a trip!

I thought I read someone mentioning a bigger (more amperage ?) Fuse.

Lemmeno


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## Uber-Doober (Dec 16, 2014)

Andy Uber-hol said:


> Took your advice. Blu-dash (walmart sells it). Even if I leave it plugged in (2 amp outlet), the battery drains which i've just been living with. Hating it! Then yesterday, battery went to zero and the mf shut down. During a trip!
> 
> I thought I read someone mentioning a bigger (more amperage ?) Fuse.
> 
> Lemmeno


^^^
Did you get the 'low battery' sound from the phone with a 'plug into charger' notification on the screen?
If not, it's probably overheating. 
Does the phone feel excessively warm to the touch? 
How long does the battery take to discharge when it's not plugged in? 
Do this... Next time you get a chance, shut it down and if I remember, I think that your phone has a removable battery. 
Take the battery out and leave it out for like about 15 minutes and then reinstall it and see what battery life is like after that. 
Next step would be a hard reset of the phone which should be covered in the manual... it's really no big deal. 
If that doesn't work, then it's probably a defective battery or phone... take it back and have it replaced because the phone is DOA... Dead/defective On Arrival.

Also, go through your Application Manager and turn off all apps that you won't be using. 
A lot of preinstalled apps can't be removed without Rooting the phone, but if you can turn any of them off that you can, at least that will insure that they aren't running in the background.

Hope this helps.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Andy Uber-hol said:


> Took your advice. Blu-dash (walmart sells it). Even if I leave it plugged in (2 amp outlet), the battery drains ...


When a phone of mine was discharging or barely keeping its charge while plugged in I switched out the cable and found it was able to charge properly. If the battery drains while plugged in there is likely a problem with the USB cable, the USB charger or the battery. Before screwing with the phone, try a high quality cable.


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## Uber-Doober (Dec 16, 2014)

TeleSki said:


> I have unlimited data on my other phone..but what brands are the "china? phones? OR do they just say "china" phone on amazon? tARGET, WALMART and Virgin all have decent looking phones for about 80-120.


^^^
"China phones" are the ones you never heard of.


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## Uber-Doober (Dec 16, 2014)

Andy Uber-hol said:


> Took your advice. Blu-dash (walmart sells it). Even if I leave it plugged in (2 amp outlet), the battery drains which i've just been living with. Hating it! Then yesterday, battery went to zero and the mf shut down. During a trip!
> 
> I thought I read someone mentioning a bigger (more amperage ?) Fuse.
> 
> Lemmeno


^^^
I just reread your post and am I reading it right that you're plugged into a charging port in the car that's 2 amps? 
Is that a standard auxiliary port / cigarette lighter outlet? 
That should be more than 2 amps. 
I think that your charger that you're using says something like output is 550 miliamps and you might not be getting that. 
See what the 'fine print' on your charger says about input voltage/amps.


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## Uber-Doober (Dec 16, 2014)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> When a phone of mine was discharging or barely keeping its charge while plugged in I switched out the cable and found it was able to charge properly. If the battery drains while plugged in there is likely a problem with the USB cable, the USB charger or the battery. Before screwing with the phone, try a high quality cable.


^^^
Right... some USB cables can be faulty right out of the box but those are usually the after market cables that you buy and not usually the ones that come with the device. 
I would also try a totally different charger/cable and see what happens.


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## Andy Uber-hol (Feb 28, 2015)

Thanks johnny-on-the spots.

2 amp outlet on cig/lighter usb port converter.

Most of the time, after battery is discharged and plugged in, it occasionally will give me the low battery pop-up. When it bit it yesterday, I did get the 0% noise.

Not hot. Can't be cable if the charge indicator shows as charging?

Any idea what battery life it should reaonably have with only uber open before I go through trying to get it replaced?

Sitting and watching the phone charge, I am

Pissed.
thx


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## Uber-Doober (Dec 16, 2014)

Andy Uber-hol said:


> Thanks johnny-on-the spots.
> 
> 2 amp outlet on cig/lighter usb port converter.
> 
> ...


^^^
I've never had a phone that discharged while even using CPU intensive operations, like backing up to the SD card. 
Like the other night I did a backup (only about 4 minutes) while plugged into the computer's USB and started out at 10% and by the end of backup it was at 12%. 
Even the iPhone 5 that Uber rents has some really lousy battery life and the app doesn't seem to discharge them.
Anyway, if you keep having the problem then try the steps that I gave you. 
Couldn't hurt. 
Is there a tech support line for your phone?


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## Andy Uber-hol (Feb 28, 2015)

Nope.


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## Uber-Doober (Dec 16, 2014)

Andy Uber-hol said:


> Nope.


^^^
Do the battery pull first like in my first post and see what happens. 
If that doesn't work then do the reset.


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## Uber-Doober (Dec 16, 2014)

Andy Uber-hol said:


> Took your advice. Blu-dash (walmart sells it). Even if I leave it plugged in (2 amp outlet), the battery drains which i've just been living with. Hating it! Then yesterday, battery went to zero and the mf shut down. During a trip!
> 
> I thought I read someone mentioning a bigger (more amperage ?) Fuse.
> 
> Lemmeno


^^^
Have you gotten the problem resolved? 
I just thought of a problem that I had a long time ago.
Go into Settings>More (or possibly All Apps, or something like that... all phones can vary in the terminology) > and tap on 'Battery' and see what app is draining your power.


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## ReviTULize (Sep 29, 2014)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> There a many different brands. 'Lenovo' (who recently bought Motorola from Google) is probably the best known brand name. Other brands are Elephone, Cubot, Huawei, iRulu. I have an iRulu 3G quad-core phone that I really like (http://amzn.com/B00NXDID00) - and just ordered a Huwei octacore with 4GB ram and 32GB rom for something like $148.
> 
> Read about the phones and the chips they use and then you can do an internet search for phones with the chips-set and features you want.


Thanks for the info. I'm looking for a solid android. Need fast processing speed. Can you provide link to thee octacore and your review after you get it?


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## Uber-Doober (Dec 16, 2014)

ReviTULize said:


> Thanks for the info. I'm looking for a solid android. Need fast processing speed. Can you provide link to thee octacore and your review after you get it?


^^^
I got the Nexus 6 the other day but haven't activated it yet, but even without the sim it's really mega fast. It's a Snapdragon 805 quad core.
I'm debating which phone I want to deactivate.


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

ReviTULize said:


> Thanks for the info. I'm looking for a solid android. Need fast processing speed. Can you provide link to thee octacore and your review after you get it?


Sorting through the good from the lousy, I've settled on using two phone I like:

The ultrathin *Blu Vivo* (Octa-Core & 4G service in the US) (no ability to add a memory card - but comes stock with 16GB ram)
and the *Irulu Victory* (Quad-Core & 3G service in the US)

I have Brightspot/T-Mobile sims in both with unlimited data plans (under $35/mo ea).
While driving I have one of the phones running an app as a 'hot spot' which provides WiFi to my tablet, the other phone (and any pax that may need wifi).

While the two phones each have a sim with a unique phone #, I run Google Voice on both of them and on my tablet - and my Google Voice number is what I have set with Uber: That means that if I am driving Uber and receive a call or txt from a pax (or Uber) it rings/comes through on all three devices so I don't have to interrupt a device that is, for example, running a NAV route.

I also have the Lenovo I described above, but it is a 4G phone that does NOT operate on any US carriers...
so it's basically a very powerful, very fast, very small tablet that connects only through WiFi.
It pretty much sits in a drawer in my desk at home (as I prefer to have my Samsung Tab-4 tablet with me in the car while driving Uber).


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## ReviTULize (Sep 29, 2014)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> Sorting through the good from the lousy, I've settled on using two phone I like:
> 
> The ultrathin *Blu Vivo* (Octa-Core & 4G service in the US) (no ability to add a memory card - but comes stock with 16GB ram)
> and the *Irulu Victory* (Quad-Core & 3G service in the US)
> ...


Sounds like a lot is going on in your car. Is your setup similar to this??


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## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

ReviTULize said:


> Sounds like a lot is going on in your car. Is your setup similar to this??


No - not all. The tablet is hidden out of the way - just there if I need it for something or want to do some reading in-between rides.
One phone is in a magnetic mount in the center of the dash, below windshield level
and the other is on my left, just above windshield level.

Mostly everything looks like it's part of the car's accessories.
I hate clutter and do not want my dash to look like a recording studio.


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## ReviTULize (Sep 29, 2014)

I have one phone. Looking at getting a second to just run the Uber app due to privacy.


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