Project Fi

Google is finally stepping into the cellular service provider industry with Project Fi. Google has partnered up with Sprint and T-Mobile to use their cell towers to provide their own service. The technology involved that makes this work is what is new and interesting.

Network
With the network setup, nobody should ever have an issue of no bars. The Fi network will be covering over 120 countries, so going to another country means your phone will still work! The Fi network will switch between Sprint, T-Mobile, and open WiFi networks depending on which one has the strongest signal at the time. The only time you will not have 4G LTE service is when you are outside both of Sprint and T-Mobile’s networks. You get the benefits of using two separate services for the price of one. When you are on a phone call and switch between networks or get into a WiFi signal, your call will continue and the networks will switch without you even noticing. Another thing to note, when you are on an open WiFi network, phone calls and text messages will be encrypted as a standard.

Pricing
For just $20 with Fi, you get unlimited domestic talk and text, unlimited international texts, WiFi tethering, and low-cost international calls. Fi will charge an additional $10 per month for each GB of data you want. Now that doesn’t sound too great, but here is where Fi shakes things up a bit. Any unused data will be refunded back to your account. Meaning, if you pay for 5 GB of data and only use 4.5 GB, you will be refunded $5 for that unused data. While being on a WiFi network, you will not be charged for the data being used. It is astonishing that it took this long for phone companies to come up with a concept that benefits the consumer for once.

Benefits of Fi and Hangouts
With Hangouts, anyone can get all of their texts, phone calls, and voice chats to their phone/tablet/laptop and will all be synced together. No more needing to run and find your phone just to read a text that says “k”. This means you will be able to make phone calls and text from not only your phone, but as well as your tablet and computer.

The downside right now is that this service is currently invite only and will only work with Google’s Nexus 6. There are rumors out that Google will be coming out with another Nexus phone later this year and will be supported on the Fi network. Invites are said to be going out on a weekly basis. Google states that you should expect your invite about a month from when requested. Google will not pay for your current cell phone providers cancellation fees, this is the only thing that is deterring me from joining this network right away. Let me know your opinions in the comments below, I would love to hear what other people think!

Nexus 6 Review

The Nexus 6, Google’s newest flagship phone and only phablet. I’m not here to talk about the specs of the Nexus 6. You can find many articles about the specs of then phone, one of which here, if that is what you are looking for. I am more interested in the experience of using one of these trendy larger phones.

SIZE
The size is quite large, there is no getting around that. For me, I haven’t had much of an issue with it. Granted, now I can’t text with one hand as easily. The only problem that causes for me is that I can’t text and drive even if I wanted to (Not so much of a bad thing). The size is great for watching videos though and I have no issues when it comes to two hand use. I do want to note that it does take a little bit to get used to having a larger phone in your pocket and the feeling of it. I haven’t had any pairs of clothes where the phone doesn’t actually fit in my pocket though. I think girls might have more of an issue with that though. For anyone that is afraid of stepping up to a bigger sized phone, if you have small hands I wouldn’t recommend it.

CAMERA
The camera is great for my uses. Both front and back I have no issues with. I primarily use the HDR+ function for the back camera and pictures turn out great. I am not an avid photo taker, and only use it every once in a while though. The front camera is fine for taking selfies and Snapchat use, but since it doesn’t have a front LED, night pictures tend to be difficult. I also find it hard to use the rear camera to take pictures of yourself just because of the sheer size of the phone. Other than that, the camera is great for the average user.

ANDROID OS 
This is probably my favorite part of the phone. I absolutely love the simplicity and usability of the pure android experience. Everything on the phone is used the way that Google intended it to be. There aren’t any crazy apps that you cannot delete and never use. Everything is just pure Google, anything you want to add is up to you. I know a lot of companies brag about all the crazy things you can do with their phones. I have fallen for this trap before. The truth is though, I NEVER use them. I may use those “cool” features once or twice, but after that, I never remember that they are there or just have a faster way of doing the same thing. Recently the only feature I find on a phone that I would probably use consistently is using your phone as a TV remote. Other than that, I prefer to use my phone as a phone. This is why I love the pure android experience and the Nexus 6. It allows me to stay in contact with my friends without all the crazy extras I’m never going to use.

Overall, the Nexus 6 is a great phone for anyone that can handle the size. The pure android experience is great for those that aren’t quite comfortable with technology yet and don’t want to just “jump into the deep end”.