Have Kyocera Rise, Want to Change--To What?

[larrytxeast]

I have a Kyocera Rise on Virgin Mobile & am looking to change. However, I want to do this right, as I am prone to being very volatile with my phones. I have zero patience with issues or lag & a desire for quickness and stability.

I thought the Kyocera Rise would work out well for me because I also like physical buttons & it's a slider, but the stupid thing is constantly locking up even with routine tasks such as opening the phone app. On many an occasion I've whipped it against the wall (my fuse is short, I admit) but the darn thing still works. That $4 case (not an Otterbox) is apparently quite the performer, too bad the phone isn't, that constant locking up and lag drives me nuts. Battery life is appalling too--why can't they make a smartphone that lasts the entire day, heck make it 2 days, even if your screen timeout setting is 15 minutes and every feature is on? What good is "slimness" if it's always tethered to a charger? Make the battery LAST for crying out loud. (I have an Anker 5600 but it still annoys me.)

Today I found a Samsung Galaxy Reverb on Craigslist for $50 and thought I had a good deal, but then I am trying to set it up & wonder why Google Play is taking so long to download the Dolphin Mini browser which is only a 1 megabyte download (it took like 15 minutes--FIFTEEN MINUTES!!--for it to download). It turns out the phone is automatically updating ICS to Jellybean without asking me or telling me (the previous owner hadn't used it in months), eating up nearly 500 megabytes of data (again TELL ME before you do something that major), and then I find out that every owner of the Galaxy Reverb hates the update due to freeze-ups & such.

I am not noticing any of that, but they also say that GPS started acting up on them, so I go outside to try it out and lo & behold--the stupid thing can't find me with a clear line of sight to the sky. 10 minutes later, it STILL can't find me, so I ended up smashing it to pieces. Sorry, I'm not going to spend hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours doing all of this CyanMod stuff to it or whatever. Work now, or get off my lawn. I have no patience, and I have no interest in getting it. I am interested in things WORKING and working NOW, right NOW!!!!

To wit:

(1) Don't download a 500 megabyte file without my permission. EVER. I don't care if failure to do so means my kids die--do as I say anyway.

(2) Further, don't update the OS (from ICS to JB) without ASKING me FIRST, even if it's a 2 kilobyte download, to say nothing of when it's a 500 megabyte download.

(3) Second, if I decide I didn't like it, let me revert back to the previous operating system QUICKLY, as in 3 minutes TOTAL.

(4) When I press the icon for finding my current location, do so within 10 seconds. I don't care if I just did a factory reset & you're starting from ground zero, do it anyway. I have no interest in spending 15 minutes waiting until my hair turns even more gray for you to find me.

(5) When I first set the phone up, do NOT do ANY "core" app updates until I'm done setting up the apps I want. Again, such is why it took me 15 freaking minutes to download a 1 megabyte app which I needed to use right away.

(6) Last ALL day on your battery, I don't care if bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi are all on, the screen timeout is 30 minutes, AND you are set for "real time" syncing on everything. LAST.

All of that aside, I am looking at what other phone to get or for things I can do to my Kyocera Rise to end the stupid lag it likes to do, because at least it's setup (no encountering Google Play wanting to update every "core" app before doing what I want to do) and that case on it is apparently the mother of all cases (I swear short of smashing the phone with a hammer, you can't break it).

The LG Optimus F3 looks appealing, especially with what I read about its long battery life, but I read its call quality is suspect. Is its battery removable?

To that end, my requirements also are these 2 (a) it must have a microSD slot and (b) the battery must be user-replaceable.

I think a quick way to ask this question is this: what can I get that would be most like the LG Optimus V I once owned? That phone at least WORKED and didn't lag on me all the time, and the GPS locked on QUICKLY and STAYED that way, and I didn't have to spend all day CyanMod'ing it or whatever. Give me that but with a larger screen (4" or more) and other such updates, and I'm all in.

I don't want to buy it only to get home and find out that it has an issue like the Galaxy Reverb being quirky if it has the Jellybean update (which you can't easily remove) or the Kyocera Rise lagging on routine operations or being like the Motorola Triumph and being an all-out disaster on everything. (That one, amazingly enough, survived my short fuse and I managed to sell it before smashing it, which of course I wish I had done today with my Reverb.)

 

[Bstressfree]

Virgin Mobile's ZTE AWE. You can STEAL one for $20 right now thru 11/30 at Target. Root it, download "Android Tuner Free" to get he 2nd Core firing and this little gem is a handful of ZZZZzzzzzip! This phone has a dual core 1.2 Ghz CPU but for some reason it comes with only one core activated?

 

[TDOW]

Virgin Mobile's ZTE AWE. You can STEAL one for $20 right now thru 11/30 at Target. Root it, download "Android Tuner Free" to get he 2nd Core firing and this little gem is a handful of ZZZZzzzzzip! This phone has a dual core 1.2 Ghz CPU but for some reason it comes with only one core activated?

I am seriously considering stealing another one (bought two last night) for $20 for myself. I am currently using an HTC EVO V 4G, which I do like, but after having played around with my daughter's phone, I have handset envy.

 

[larrytxeast]

Boy don't I feel like a twit! I could've gotten one of these for 20 bucks, and if I didn't like it, big woop, 20 bucks vs 50.

I've read some links at Howard Forums & such and the consensus seems to be it's not a bad phone. Heck, after using a 3.5" on my Kyocera Rise, it would probably seem huge to me. I'd seen it before for $90 (I think) at WalMart, and it looked like a crappy one, much like the Chaser or such, but apparently it's not a half bad model?

I was right in town & could've gotten one at a Target while I was buying the Reverb from the guy off Craiglist. I really hope they still have it tomorrow.

 

[pickleheadguy]

I don't have experience with the F3 or the AWE, but honestly. I'd go with the F3. I don't know if you have 4G coverage in your area, but it honestly makes all the difference in the world. My local BestBuy had them list at 89.99 as a "regular" price. No fancy sale signs that I could see when I was there yesterday.

It does apear to hsve a removable battery, as seen in this unboxing video:
LG Optimus F3 (Virgin Mobile USA) Unboxing - YouTube

Good luck.

 

[larrytxeast]

Will Check on the Target $20 ZTE Awe Special
I appreciate the tips, & apologize if the long rant that started the 1st post off took awhile to read.

The $20 deal on the ZTE Awe at Target is tempting & what I should've done to start with. I hope they still have it on "I'm sick of turkey" Saturday. It sounds like its specs & speed would put it on par with the Samsung Galaxy Reverb or Ring anyway. Anymore that's what passes for "entry level." That's enough for me--I don't need the speeds to play hard-core games on it, I just don't like it getting hung-up and lagging on basic tasks. The Kyocera does this so badly, sometimes when a call comes in it takes 2-3 rings for a stored contact number to pull up the name and you're locked out from swiping to answer and a call is missed. That's just pathetic.

As for 3G--some spots around here work off 1x, when I go in town it's like "wow, 3G speeds, this thing is FAST." I previously owned an HTC Evo V 4G (which I ultimately didn't like, and I don't know why, it didn't have a lot of lag) and I used to un-check the 4G option because it never exists around here & it drains the battery.

Rant, Re-visited
I admit to being a "grumpy old man" of sorts. A lot of the decisions made in the design of smartphones baffles me. The removable of the option for removable batteries & microSD slots is one. I find it stupid that your average $3 watch at a Dollar Store can have its battery changed, and who's going to bother when a new watch only costs $3 and it only takes a minute to set the time on it? Yet get a $300 Nexus 7 or whatever and you have to move 8-16G on that device all over again vs just removing the microSD slot from the old and you're done, and given the short battery life of these products they shouldn't be locking customers out of battery options like extended-life batteries.

It's funny because 2 of my bad experiences with phones have been with Samsung--this Reverb, and my old Samsung Captivate (AT&T based Galaxy S1), both of which had horrible GPS performance. (The all-time worst phone, though, was the Motorola Triumph. It couldn't do ANYTHING right. Call quality--no one could hear a word I said. GPS--it once took 20 minutes of driving with it held up to the windshield for it to finally lock-on. Battery-life--done after 3 hours. Lag--numerous times the screen wouldn't respond to your first touch.)

Yet Samsung is who I root for. Especially since the S3, their phones get high marks and unlike other high-line phones like the HTC One X or Nexus (or the Moto X everyone is raving so hard about) they still give you the option for changing your battery and storing your media on microSD cards. If I felt like getting a $300 phone, the one I'd get for sure would be the Galaxy S3 on Virgin Mobile.

What they need to do to fix phones in this regard:

(1) Every single phone on the market should have a microSD slot and a removable battery. Period. No excuse for it. In fact, I'm not a socialist at all, but I would actually not be opposed to this being REQUIRED BY LAW. They should MAKE them have these (and yes that goes for the Apple stuff also) whether they like it or not, or they should be forced out of business and MADE to exit the market. I'm absolutely serious.

(2) Things like Play store updates and especially massive 450 megabyte OS updates should NOT happen automatically out-of-box, or you should be prompted "a new OS is available for your device" with "Later" or "Now" options, perhaps "remind me in 24 hours" or "remind me in 7 days." When I first buy a phone, the 1st thing on my mind is going to the Play store & putting the apps on it I need. NOW. Otherwise my phone cannot do the things it's designed to do. Bugging me about an update when I'm just starting is beyond annoying, and to start downloading some 450 megabytes of such and not even bothering to tell me what you're doing, such is beyond appalling.

It's different when I set up a PC, because I have several of them and so I still have the means to do much of what I do on another PC while setting up whatever I'm setting up; thus, after installing Windows, I then install the Windows updates BEFORE installing the programs. Such is not the case with a phone--while it's down for maintenance, everything stops. Getting it going NOW and I mean NOW is THE priority. I can do massive updates later when it's night and I'm home, but when I'm out & about, I want to install apps THIS MINUTE. Get out of my way. (Plus, at least PCs typically give you the option of updating now or later, they don't automatically start updating and then not even bother to tell you what they're doing.)

In the case of yesterday, I was in town & my wife, unbeknown to me, was buying Christmas stuff & needed money transferred to the account. I always use Dolphin Mini as the browser for that function and it does that function fine, while Opera Mini does not. I never use the "stock" browser so that was an unknown. I find out she's doing this when I've just switched over to the Reverb. Obviously I wanted to install Dolphin Mini ASAP so I can transfer the money right away before doing anything else.

So I do so, and no matter what it stayed "hung" on "installing" forever, even though the Play store itself was pulling up the app in its search & showing screen shots etc. I was going crazy wondering what in the world was going on, and gave up and had to use the stock browser, which luckily worked for that task--otherwise, my wife would've been in a jam. (Again, I'm thinking--the stock browser is zooming, why is it taking so long to download a 1 megabyte app?) Finally, some 15 minutes later, it starts, and even then it's going at 1x speeds even with the 3G symbol showing, then later FINALLY other apps installed immediately. I then later find out about this update and how it's some 450 megabytes in size, and I'm like "they start downloading 450 megabytes and don't even bother to say anything?"

If that is "seamless" you can have it. Obviously there is a point you don't want the phone "nagging" you about every tiny thing, but I think a 450 megabyte download is the sort of thing you should be TOLD about EXPLICITLY, especially when you later find out this download (the Jellybean update for the Reverb) is something that a lot of persons had problems with and you would want to avoid to start with.

 

[larrytxeast]

Got the ZTE Awe, And Am Pleased

I got the ZTE Awe, and like it. I want to thank you Bstressfree for recommending it. You were dead-on.

I had seen this model in WalMart a few times before and it struck me as sort of a "ghetto" Android sort of like Coby or Insignia etc, so when you recommended it I was like "yeah, right" but when I saw where someone said it was $20 at Target right now and that the reviews for it were actually pretty good I was like "well, maybe?" By the time I had learned of this, though, Target was closed & I feared I had lost my chance, but I called this morning & all was still okay (although the display in the store had the full $99.99 price shown). I bought 2 of them, so I'd have a spare just in case.

In fact I'd say it is easily in the Samsung Galaxy Reverb/Ring class of 4" phones, and with a "pure" version of Jellybean to boot (although I actually kind of like Samsung's TouchWiz, especially the extra things packed in the notification bar). It is only the 1st day but so far it has not caused any lock-ups or lag issues with me, and the GPS very quickly acquired my location. The display, which has been criticized in reviews, actually seemed just fine to me. It definitely feels well above phones like the Chaser or Kyocera Event, it absolutely feels like a phone you'd pay $90-100 for like a Samsung Galaxy Reverb/Ring, and to get it for $20 is just nuts.

I was surprised it didn't come with even a 2G microSD, but no biggie, I plucked the one out of my Rise and used the File Expert-derived .apk files to quickly get going without the messing around in the Play store (should've done that yesterday also I guess). I did eventually have to go to the Play store to get Jason Hull's auto rotate widget, as--another surprise--I couldn't find the setting for turning off auto-rotate (I leave it locked in "portrait" orientation pretty much all the time).

It definitely got "off & running" way better than the Reverb did yesterday, I was looking for a local eating place & quickly found it in the phone barely moments after getting it switched over, and the GPS was dead-on. I installed Holo Launcher HD as I normally do, as well as the other apps, all very quickly and painlessly, and again it so far runs way smoother than the Rise and the display actually looks fine to me.

Thank you again, I feel so much better now.

 

[learning2]

I don't have experience with the F3 or the AWE, but honestly. I'd go with the F3. I don't know if you have 4G coverage in your area, but it honestly makes all the difference in the world. My local BestBuy had them list at 89.99 as a "regular" price. No fancy sale signs that I could see when I was there yesterday.

It does apear to hsve a removable battery, as seen in this unboxing video:
LG Optimus F3 (Virgin Mobile USA) Unboxing - YouTube

Good luck.

My local Target is out of BF Awes, which makes the F3 and the Awe similar in price.

Anybody compared F3 and Awe side by side? I'm coming from a Reverb, can totally relate to the poster who was disappointed in that!

 

[Bstressfree]

Got the ZTE Awe, And Am Pleased

I got the ZTE Awe, and like it. I want to thank you Bstressfree for recommending it. You were dead-on.

I had seen this model in WalMart a few times before and it struck me as sort of a "ghetto" Android sort of like Coby or Insignia etc, so when you recommended it I was like "yeah, right" but when I saw where someone said it was $20 at Target right now and that the reviews for it were actually pretty good I was like "well, maybe?" By the time I had learned of this, though, Target was closed & I feared I had lost my chance, but I called this morning & all was still okay (although the display in the store had the full $99.99 price shown). I bought 2 of them, so I'd have a spare just in case.

In fact I'd say it is easily in the Samsung Galaxy Reverb/Ring class of 4" phones, and with a "pure" version of Jellybean to boot (although I actually kind of like Samsung's TouchWiz, especially the extra things packed in the notification bar). It is only the 1st day but so far it has not caused any lock-ups or lag issues with me, and the GPS very quickly acquired my location. The display, which has been criticized in reviews, actually seemed just fine to me. It definitely feels well above phones like the Chaser or Kyocera Event, it absolutely feels like a phone you'd pay $90-100 for like a Samsung Galaxy Reverb/Ring, and to get it for $20 is just nuts.

I was surprised it didn't come with even a 2G microSD, but no biggie, I plucked the one out of my Rise and used the File Expert-derived .apk files to quickly get going without the messing around in the Play store (should've done that yesterday also I guess). I did eventually have to go to the Play store to get Jason Hull's auto rotate widget, as--another surprise--I couldn't find the setting for turning off auto-rotate (I leave it locked in "portrait" orientation pretty much all the time).

It definitely got "off & running" way better than the Reverb did yesterday, I was looking for a local eating place & quickly found it in the phone barely moments after getting it switched over, and the GPS was dead-on. I installed Holo Launcher HD as I normally do, as well as the other apps, all very quickly and painlessly, and again it so far runs way smoother than the Rise and the display actually looks fine to me.

Thank you again, I feel so much better now.

I think many people were put off by the brand name of the AWE. ZTwho? Actually I've read that ZTE is one of the Granddaddies of the cellphone industry right alongside Motorola. They manufacture many of the Wi-Fi hotspots distributed by the carriers.

 

[larrytxeast]

I think many people were put off by the brand name of the AWE. ZTwho? Actually I've read that ZTE is one of the Granddaddies of the cellphone industry right alongside Motorola. They manufacture many of the Wi-Fi hotspots distributed by the carriers.

In response to your earlier recommendation of rooting the ZTE Awe, how do you do that? I once rooted an LG Optimus V but that's been awhile ago.

I do have one concern--a few times yesterday my phone kept "loop booting," it would shut down and reboot during various activities. I did a master reset & re-installed everything, and this time did so strictly through the play store vs side-loading apps, as those .apk files came from the Kyocera Rise which is ICS vs JB, however my new phone STILL did that a few times. In one stretch, it rebooted like 10 times in a row & would do so barely 30 seconds after the previous reboot had finished. It seems fine now, but I figure rooting it might totally prevent that problem.

I hope so, because I'm calm now, not hysterical as I was when I first posted this thread, but I know me--if this continues, this phone will end up in splinters, which I don't want, because when the boot loop isn't happening (smooth since last night) it's actually plenty fine for me. I started to jump on the $250 Galaxy S3 figuring that would prevent any problems, but I didn't want to, as again this is fine if it will stop with the "loop booting." Then I read that the S3 runs slow after the 4.3 update, and that sounds too painfully like the "Galaxy Reverb is slow after JB update" I just went through, so I'm like--no, thank you.

So--again--how do I root the ZTE Awe?

 

[daranman]

So--again--how do I root the ZTE Awe?

Go to the ZTE Awe forum, All Things Root. I used Motochopper, which requires a connection to a PC, and you do have to get the phone to pass the drivers up to the PC when you first connect it. No one-click app exists yet for this phone.

 

[larrytxeast]

Well it's gotten messy again. I bought 2 ZTE Awes, and they are already both toast. The first on the second day slipped out of my shirt pocket & went straight for the concrete, all because I dared to stoop over and tie my shoes which I swear come loose about every 10 seconds. (I will never wear tied shoes again. I even went barefooted in the next store on the way home, throwing the shoes out the window prior to that.)

The second one periodically didn't show all of its contacts even if you had "refreshed" the contacts, and worst of all it developed a "loop reboot" bug where it would all of a sudden crash and reboot, and do so over & over in a loop about 20 times before finally stopping, rendering the phone unusable for at least 20 minutes. No matter how many times I wiped it, it still kept doing that, typically when the battery depleted to near 35% or so. (I changed batteries, I still had the battery from the 1st one, and it still did that.) It will just suddenly shut off with a brief "crackle" sound in the speaker, and then reboot. It would do it over & over.

That one I was about to "root," but I didn't make it--it kept rebooting over & over, as in about 15 times in a row with it barely spending 15 seconds at the "desktop," before doing so, and that one ended up smashed with my hot temper.

If that darn protective case wouldn't take so long to get here!

With regards to phone, can someone PLEASE HELP ME!!!

Is there ANY phone, ANY, I mean ANY, even a FLIP PHONE, that I can just buy and use and quit with the freaking bullcrap?

Let's run down the list of problems.

My Kyocera Rise--fine when you first install everything, but inside of a week or so it starts seriously lagging even on the most basic tasks. You also get used to 4" screens & then its 3.5" seems puny. Its battery life is AWFUL, too, I mean AWFUL, as in done by lunch. Also the screen keeps "going to sleep" during phone conversations way too soon, with me screaming "quit going to sleep! Stay on the ENTIRE TIME until I TELL you to turn off!" At least it doesn't "boot reloop," though, and the GPS doesn't take a decade to get a lock.

The Reverb--if it's updated to Jellybean, it's a lemon & a half based on what people told me. Its GPS NEVER got a lock, EVER. Then again, it didn't "loop reboot."

The ZTE Awe--great GPS, better battery life, the phone screen doesn't "go to sleep" while you're talking, the screen looks nice, no lock-ups or hang-ups like the Rise. Overall I like it, but my 2nd one got the "loop reboot" bug and I don't know if rooting it would've fixed that or not. Also many contacts were not showing up, even after performing a "refresh" & even after it had been easily long enough for enough time to have passed for it to have done so.

Samsung Galaxy S3--an expensive phone, which is why I've avoided it, but one I thought would probably solve all of my problems. However, echoing the Reverb, people complain that after the 4.3 update it starts lagging on basic tasks & battery life is worse.

ARGH!! Can Virgin Mobile get ANY phone right other than the now ancient LG Optimus V? And what is with all the PUSHED updates, how about ASKING people if they WANT the update, and if they say no, here's a novel idea--LEAVE THE PHONE ALONE!!! If they still want to run Ice Cream Sandwich or even Gingerbread, it's their phone and that's their business.

The only thing I can think to do is to buy another ZTE Awe--but now it will be at full price--and make sure I keep the papers & receipt (I had lost them with the previous 2), and make sure I can return it from whomever I buy it from if things don't go right, and don't put it into action until the protective case gets here, and even then don't switch over to it until I have it set up via Wi-Fi including "rooting" it and have had plenty of opportunity to see that it will not give me any problems. Stay inside the house with it so if I can't resist the urge to throw it I can throw it against the couch vs a hard surface (plus the case will be here by then too).

Or, else, I am seriously thinking maybe it's time to switch providers so I can get a phone that actually works worth a rip.

 

[larrytxeast]

Follow-up--maybe the LG Optimus F3? I've seen that model mentioned before & Radio Shack has it for $70. I'm asking in the forums now if that phone has any issues. Battery life seems good. Mainly I want to know (1) is GPS quick to lock-on, no serious hang-ups like my JB Reverb (2) any issue with "it did great until the OTA update ruined it" (Reverb, S3) and (3) any "loop rebooting" issues? If I do, I need to make sure I can return it if it acts up & hang on to that receipt--and set it up with apps etc at home on Wi-Fi but NOT switch over to it on my service yet (then again how would I know if its GPS worked okay?).

 

[learning2]

I went with the F3. So far so good, but only had it for a day. GPS worked fine. Performance is snappier than the Reverb. Seattle doesn't have LTE, but if there is LTE in your area, it should load maps (and everything else) faster than the 3G Awe.

With VM, you can activate a new phone once every 24hrs. So, if you don't like the phone you buy, you can reactivate your old phone as a temporary measure and wipe/reset the phone you want to return.

You should also be able to re-flash the stock ROM on your Awe using the tools on ZTE's website, rather than screwing around with tweaks that would break your warranty, if you want to try to make your Awe work out.

 

[aml1025]

The Galaxy S3 is a very nice phone indeed, and I'm quite happy with mine after a string of issues with a series of Galaxy Victories. I got mine with Flexplay through HSN which takes some sting out of the cost - and have seen no issues at all since getting the 4.3 update.

My only concern for you with this phone is... umm... It's kind of fragile ;-)

 

[larrytxeast]

I went with the $70 LG Optimus F3 in Radio Shack. It was tempting to go with the $210 special Virgin Mobile was having online with the ZTE Supreme, but I went with the F3. I made sure I was convered in terms of putting the receipt away & giving my info to them at the register. I also, to be safe, got a case for it--not a hard-shell "Otterbox" type as I had ordered for the ZTE Awe (by the time it arrives, it will be too late), but a rubbergized hardish "skin/grip." It seems to be about the same caliber as what's on my Kyocera Rise, which has certainly worked well. I may get an Otterbox type later, but regardless I wanted something NOW.

So far, I like it. One unexpected nice thing about it vs the Awe is the 4G. I didn't consider it to matter, as at home it's all we can do to even get 3G, but I left it switched on when I bought it just to see. Wow. It FLEW in-town where I bought it, where 4G is offered. (I've already located where it can be switched off in the interest of battery longevity.) Also, the GPS obtained a lock about the quickest of anything I have ever seen in my life, I'm talking in barely 3 seconds from the time I first opened Google Maps that phone had locked on. Also, though the phone has Jellybean it seems (so far anyway) to have retained the "classic" Google Maps look to it like what was on my ICS Kyocera Rise. I wasn't all that crazy over the "candy-skinned" version of maps the ZTE Awe eventually updated to, although the Awe at least did also lock onto my location quickly. The phone also seems zippy, I don't think I'm going to have any lag issues like I did with the Kyocera Rise.

Also, while I do prefer a "pure" Android, which is basically how the ZTE Awe did it, I like LG's interpretation for some reason. It just excudes class, I don't know. I don't like the funny location of the power button (on the side) but I like the large home button & how it wakes the screen up. I also would prefer the charging port to be on the side vs the bottom, but it's a lot better than that Kyocera Event I once owned for awhile--it had it at the TOP. It'll be fine.

The one weird thing--the F3 has a SIM card, which I didn't think Virgin Mobile devices did. They told me it was because of the 4G provision.

So far, on this 1st night anyway, I am liking it. I think this just MIGHT work out for me. So long as it doesn't develop any 9th hour quirks like the "loop rebooting" of my 2nd ZTE Awe, I think I finally found what I was looking for--a respectable 4" ICS/Jellybean device at a low price, and that just WORKS as it ought to, no fuss required. If the battery has the long life they talk about, I will especially be pleased & maybe it won't be necessary to tote around my Anker 5600 external battery power source/charger any longer.