Oh, I intend to write off 100% of my cell phone bill! I have a land-line at home that is for personal use, that I do not write off. On a no-contract plan, if I find I don't make enough $$$ with my cell to justify the expense, I can just stop using it.

The g-mail requirement is something I have to overcome -- these apps are in "Google play", so you have to have the g-mail thing.

Steep learning curve, additional monthly expense...nerve wracking!



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I got my first smartphone a few months ago and am still trying to find my way around it. As a matter of fact, today I am attending an Android workshop at my local Verizon store. It's for beginners, which I might already be beyond, but they also have an advanced class. I'll see how this one goes, and maybe I'll do that one too. It's free and I hope it helps me be a bit more comfortable using my Samsung Galaxy. I know it is capable of a lot more than I'm using it for. Watch out you youngsters. We old timers are catching up...slowly..maybe.

Perhaps a Verizon store not too far from you offers such a workshop. Sounds like exactly what you could use to get you up and running.

They don't -- but I sure am willing to suggest it to them!



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I switched from a Tracfone (not smart phone) to a Samsung Galaxy S3 in the Fall and it has made shopping so much easier I don't know how I managed it before.

I have done many cell phone shops and have gleaned like earlier posters have commented that Verizon has the best coverage but it is expensive. I have a pay as you go plan with Virgin mobile for $35 per month and it has worked out well for me. They use the Sprint towers but I am in a metro area. My tracfone didn't always work when others (Verizon) had coverage.

Regarding the gmail account think of it as an account to get the apps. I don't think you would ever have to go into the mail part for anything.

A little update. I am as confused and bewildered by this as is possible. I am an absolute, hopeless MESS when it comes to technology.

I do not have the phone activated AS A PHONE. I'm totally befuddled, because I was able to go to Google and get a gmail account set up, dowload the mobile app "mysteryshopwatchlite"; I then used
the phone on my next two shops! Oh, wow, so much easier than trying to DISCRETELY write down
times, names, descriptions, etc.

What apps do you/have you used for timing? Even though I know NOTHING (or less!) about technology, I found it quite simple to use "mysteryshopwatchlite".

I can tell my phone to look up a phone number for me, and it does it!

Should I call it a phone, if I don't have it activated as a phone, LOL?

Verizon says they now have a pay-as-you-go plan for $45 a month. Verizon is the closest store to me (45 minutes away); they seem to have excellent coverage. The people there are nice, professional, and knowledgeable (yes, I have shopped them, LOL!!!), much more so than the
clerks at Walmart (who somehow manage to never be in the cell phone area to answer questions --
yep, shopped THEM, too!!!!)

Pony234lucy, you say your cell has made shopping so much easier -- how? How do you use it? What apps? Anything you want to share...if you don't want to in public, feel free to PM me....

I live so far in the country, I'm not competing with anyone on these boards.....

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"Cease, I hope somebody at the store can change the color scheme for me!

How do I find "killer voice recorder" -- is that in "the app store", too? And for how LONG will it record? Just the couple minutes you're in line at the Arches, or an hour in the big home improvement store?

I don't have a clue about "create a folder" -- I can't even do that on my home computer."


Changing the color scheme of the mystery shopping aid is in the settings of the application (not the phone's settings).
Once you download the app from the Google Play Store (the app store for Android), play with the app for a bit and you will find the settings. I just pretended at first to have a shop and went through the motions to learn it.

About the killer voice recorder, that is in the Google Play Store as well. About how long it will play, I haven't maxxed it out yet so I'm not sure how long. However, I have used it on a Coach shop and a Solstice shop (where they want to know the exact greeting, sales features, etc.) and it did just fine so I would think it would do fine in the home improvement store too. My phone is a Samsung Mega so it is huge and most people could not fit it in their purse anyway. I put it in a side pocket and have the top (with the speaker) sticking out so it seems normal but the sound isn't blocked. Just make sure you are in a one party consent state for this.

About creating the folder, this should be something that the salesperson at the phone store would normally show you as part of their demonstration. A cell phone shop would even show you this if you shop Android phones.

Thanks!

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