Saving Companies Thousands. Be One!

I at times have to travel and when I travel I am usually going to places that are about 100% unfamiliar. Thankfully since I am not great (or even good) at reading maps, I have Sprint Navigation/TeleNav. I have tried a few other options like Blackberry Maps, Google Maps, and even Garmin, but TeleNav is my favorite.

I had to go to a meeting in San Antonio a few weeks ago and I used TeleNav the second I got into the car. For those of you who have not been in San Antonio recently there is a healthy amount of road work being done. Naturally, my exit was blocked and TeleNav found my new destination and redirected me so I was still at my meeting with 5 minutes to spare. Don’t worry you do not have to look at your phone every 3 seconds, listen and TeleNav will tell you to turn and give you spoken directions on where to go.

There are so many good things about TeleNav. One of my favorites is that it will help you find lower gas prices. I recently went to El Paso and on the way back I stopped in Van Horn and the gas was 4.29. This seemed really high considering I was averaging around 3.79-3.89 at most pumps. I searched for the lowest gas in that town using TeleNav and it guided me two blocks away where the gas was 3.99. There are a slew of good things you could find with TeleNav so if you don’t have it, try it out. It is really a great product and I strongly recommend it.

If you all have not heard the news yet Virgin Mobile is buying Helio. Many people have not heard about Helio, maybe this will sound familiar, “Don’t call it a phone.” Helio is actually a really great product with many innovative features they give to their customers.They have a really great Myspace and Youtube application built into their Helio Oceans.

The purchase is really not going to change what most Helions are accustomed to. I actually think the purchase is a really good thing and it will combine the older teen/young adult demographic. Virgin Mobile is a great pre-paid service and Helio is a great contract service. From what I have read Helio will be kept as Virgin’s “Top Tier” product.

So keep an eye open. If you want a Helio phone do not be afraid to still buy one. I really think this will help make both companies stronger and since they both run off Sprint towers there will not be much of a change in their infrastructure. Remember Sprint has the largest mobile broadband network in the United States. So buy a Sprint Blackberry for yourself and get your kids set up on Helio!

I was thinking about what new technology or application could make our lives better? There are so many things out there and we like to tell you about the latest and greatest. Today I wanted to change it up and give you some advice on porting your number.  Porting does not mean you are close to the water it is when you take your number from one carrier to another.

Having been in the wireless industry for some time I have come to realize this is not the easiest process a customer could go through. There are things that happen that delay the process from 2 hours to 2 months ( I am not exaggerating). Most carriers need the same group of information;

• Account Number
• Telephone Number
• Name and Billing Address
• Passwords
• Full SSN

All the listed information has to match with the information your current carrier has. If your name is Alex Johnson and your carrier has you as Alx Johnson make sure that is made clear to the company you are going to.  I am hesitant to give my SSN out to people, but to ensure the port process goes smoothly it will be necessarry. Also, many people do not want to leave their home phone because they want to keep their number, it is your right to keep your number. So if you need any other help let us know!

I was browsing the web today and I came across a new application for the Blackberry called Vlingo. I still am not too sure on how to pronounce it (maybe a mix of Vlad and Lingo?), either way it is a really great voice based application. You basically have to just download it here and change a few settings to allow it to work properly.

You can do a few different things with it. So far all I am sure you can do is Web Search (Google or Yahoo), send a text message, send an e-mail, make a note, new task, new memo, voice dial, and open applications like camera or address book. So you may have just read the list and said to yourself, “So I can do about everything?” Yes! You can do so many things with Vlingo and it is really great for those of us who have to multitask and do not always have those few extra seconds to type things into our phone. So again you can download here to start trying it, or type m.vlingo.com into your mobile web browser.

I love to search things on my phone using Google and I have found I can find almost anything that way. Vlingo is kind enough to allow us to choose Google or it also integrates Yahoo One Search into their search options. I tried it and the voice recognition they use is pretty solid. Watch the video here to see how it works. Do yourself a favor and dowload it. Give it a shot. If you do not have a Blackberry to use it with click here and we will help you with that too.

I just finished reading an article from our good friends over at Blackberry Cool and they say that almost 400,000 small businesses (defined as a business with less than 99 employees) are either using a Smartphone or are planning on purchasing one in the very near future.

Now why would a small business do this, why would a small business customer invest the money into a more expensive device? Once you have seen what Smartphones can do the answer to that question is easy; a Smartphone will allow you to compete with your larger competition. One of the biggest problems small businesses face is real-time communication. A Blackberry, Palm, or Windows Smartphone allow you to e-mail, talk, and use the Internet in a nice little package. We feel Blackberrys are the best for e-mail integration. I almost always receive my e-mail on my Blackberry before it hits my Microsoft Outlook. Think about it,  your most important client sends you a time sensitive e-mail at 2:45 and you are out of the office. You do not get back until 4:30, you walk to your computer and you missed the deadline your client gave you. That is a lost client opportunity and your client has a little less faith in you. With your Smartphone you get the e-mail at 2:45, respond instantly, and you become your client’s hero.

Let me tell you, as I have said before my Blackberry has really made my life easier. It is a little easier, but the more important thing is that my customers are more satisfied. That is so important for a small to medium business, give your customers a reason to do business with your for life and that little extra cost for a Smartphone will be a no-brainer. Still not convinced click here.

Great news, Blackberry has just updated their already great Desktop Manager. It is mostly a cosmetic update of the previous Desktop Manager. If you have not used your Desktop Manager before, use it. Install the disc your phone came with or click here. An awesome feature of the Desktop Manager is the Backup and Restore tool. With this you can back up all of your information from your Blackberry and save it in case you need to load it onto a new device. 

A great addition to the current update is the ability to support Lotus Notes and Windows Mobile. There are several other small updates, and you could see a full list here. Desktop Manager does other things like helps load applications (for those that are not available OTA). It also has a Media Manager and you can change the options to Synchronize your data with your computer.

Bottom line is if you have a Blackberry and you have not used it try it. Blackberrys are so easy to use and the new Desktop Manager makes it a little easier. If you have any questions e-mail me alex@thephonestoreinc.com. You could also contact us here.

I want to tell you about a couple of great tips and tricks for your phone that most people do not know about. We want to educate our customers about wireless. We are always excited to give our friends, family, and customers these tips that not only will help them, but they could spread the word and it will help others.

1. 1-800-555-TELL is such a great tool I find myself using it on a daily basis. All you simply have to do is call the number say your city and state, business name or category, and it will give you the results. What I like best about this service is that it will send me the information via text message. No pen or pencil handy to jot the information don’t worry, the text message will house the phone number and address. It also taps into your GPS and helps you find maps, directions, and traffic.
2. Opera Mini is an awesome web browser! Check out MySpace, read your RSS feeds, or check your bank account on a secure browser. Check out this website to get started http://www.operamini.com/download/wap/.

We want to help you use the full potential for your phone. Do not be afraid to try both things out, they are really great tools to help your phone be a more powerful tool for you. Click here for more great TIME SAVERS.

If I’ve heard it once, I’ve hear it 1000 times: “The BlackBerry is not tough enough for me.”  Sadly, a few lost souls who said this chose “other” phones.  On the surface, could those other phones be a bit more rugged?  Possibly.  Do they come close to the productivity possibilities of a BlackBerry?  Not a chance.  Enter OtterBox.   OtterBox Defender Cases provide the ultimate in protection for your BlackBerry device. 

Check out the features of the OtterBox Defender Cases:

• 3 LAYERS OF PROTECTION!
• First, a thermal formed clear membrane that protects the screen
• Second, a hi-impact Polycarbonate shell
• Lastly, a Silicone skin to absorb bump and shock

We have had the privilege and honor to partner with the great people at OtterBox.  Individuals and companies that were hesitant to purchase and/or distribute BlackBerry devices to their employees are now having a change of heart thanks to the protection of the OtterBox case.  Whether you have a Pearl, Curve, World Edition or the 8700 series, OtterBox has the protection you need.  

The OtterBox website sums it up perfectly:  “Business can be slow if nobody can reach you.  Protect your phone with an OtterBox.

I always read reviews of products a fair amount of time before the product launches and with the reviewer having a very short period of time before giving their final verdict. I have had my Blackberry 8830 for about 6 months now and I have a good foundation of what this device does.

First of all let me say I have had several regular flip phones or bar phones throughout my cell phone life, from old Nokia bar phones to most recently a Moto Q. I was always a little intimidated by a Blackberry. I can tell you it is my favorite phone I have ever had by far. If my Blackberry was ugly and did everything it does I would love it, although it is not ugly, it is a great looking device. It is a high quality black plastic with really nice chrome accents, a bold looking modern phone.

Enough about looks though (which are great), what makes the Blackberry 8830 so great? For me it lets me do my work more efficiently and it allows me to spend more time with my wife and 1 year old daughter. How does a phone do that? Its easy, with a Blackberry my work world comes to me, my e-mails, instant messages, stat updates, and so on. The really funny thing is 90% if the time my e-mails hit my 8830 before they hit my Outlook.  I do not have to open a laptop or go to the computer and pull everything up, I just play with my daughter in her room and my phone rings with the theme from “The Office” and I know I am receiving an e-mail from work. It is really great, we previously wrote it saves the average person 60 minutes a day and I think it saves me quite a bit more. It’s funny at work I find myself sending the majority of my e-mails from my Blackberry instead of my work computer.

There are a ton of applications I have on my phone like Facebook, TwitterBerry, and Viigo to name a few. The phone has a Password Keeper built in which I find very handy. Like many people everything we do is online now, and I can’t seem to remember 20 different Usernames and Passwords, the Password Keeper does that for me. The phone has a good browser, I have downloaded Opera Mini which works really well. There are endless applications Blackberry offers. You have to find what is right for you and do not be afraid to experiment because there is so much cool stuff out there.

I would review the Blackberry in full or everything I use it for, but I do not think a blog post should have more pages than phonebook. Bottom line, it is a great phone. I use many of the features it came with and there are so many others that would fit anybody’s style. If you do not have a Blackberry, do yourself a favor and buy one (especially if you do a lot of e-mail). So my verdict is an A+. This is truly the best phone I have had and I really love the extra time it gives me. If you are a business click here and we will help you get into that new Blackberry you have always wanted.

I just got an email from our friend Andy Mercier at DataViz, Inc., he informed me that he just tried the Beta version on Documents To Go on his BlackBerry and loved it.  For those not familiar with Documents To Go, imagine being able to open, edit and save a Word, Excel or PowerPoint presentation right from your BlackBerry device?  Well, with Documents To Go, you can!  The latest version of BlackBerry OS 4.5 will include DocsToGo, however, for those using a BES, you will need to be running version 4.1.5 before you can take advantage of the software.  Unfortunately for all of you BlackBerry OS 4.2+ users, you will have to wait to download your copy of Documents To Go until your carrier offers the update to your phone.  At any rate, this is the ONLY drawback that BlackBerry users have been missing and with Documents To Go, we will be able to have our cake AND eat it too.