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Last time we covered some of the annoying habits we have picked up, or some of the bad habits we need to get rid of. Thanks to this article it has given us a great guide to what we should or should not do.

5. Texting while you are driving. Not only is this a good way to mis-spell a lot of your words while you are typing, but it is a very dangerous thing to do. I am guilty of it, and I have really tried to stop. It is really dangerous. I am usually aware of what is going on around me while I am driving, but texting really takes you out of the game. Not just texting, but e-mailing, Twitter, and so on.

4. Checking your phone at the movies. At Cinemark (The only theater in my town) Front Row Joe says no calling or texting during the movie. It really is annoying when the person at the movies is constantly checking their phone. If you have something so important to tend to, tend to it and skip the movie.

3. Interrupting a conversation by taking a call. This is self-explanatory, most of us have voice-mail for a reason. Let your voice mail pick up. You do not need to stop your conversations to answer every call.

2. Inappropriate Language/Conversation. Nobody wants to know what you did last night with your friends, or how you don’t remember after a certain point. Not only that, but it seems like when you have these conversations they are 10 times louder than a regular conversation. A good rule of thumb is to pretend small children or elderly folks are around.

1. Talking to loudly. This went with number two for me, but you do not have to put your conversation on anybody an a 100 foot radius. I am glad you are important, but I do not care if your pet squirrel zippy is sick, and I do not think the other people at Walgreen’s do either.

So that’s it, a few good rules to not do. Good luck breaking some of these habits if you have them. It is hard, but it is possible. Good luck!!!

I came across this fun article and thought I would share some basic cell phone etiquette rules. We all have our personal pet peeves for cell phones and what people should do and should not do with them . It is really funny my father in law hated that I used my phone for e-mail, games, music, new, and so on. He had a really simple ATT phone, and now he has the pleasure of using his Verizon Blackberry with his new job. I think he has seen the light!!!

So anyways here are 6-10.

10. Location There are places where you should use your phone and should not. Of course the movies is one place you shouldn’t. It does not matter how important you are, you can run out and take the phone call.

9. Disturbing Performances I love going to comedy shows and I have on a few occasions seen a person take/make a call during the routine. It is rude, and gives the comedian an extra target to go after. Save yourself the embarrassment and send a text, or leave the room.

8. Ringtones This is a hard one to gauge because everybody has really different tastes and what I feel may be appropriate may not be for you. SO here are my general rules. Do not have a ringtone with curse words when children or elderly people may hear it. Make sure your ringtone is quiet or appropriate for the work environment if you are at work.  You are not at the club you are at your job, so maybe Lil’ Wayne is not he best choice.

7. Texing insignificant conversations I hate it when somebody texts me “Hey”, I reply “What’s going on?” and they say “Nothing”. That is the whole conversation, there is nothing else said, you just made me type on my phone twice for nothing. Give me something significant to reply to.

6. Writing a text or e-mail while somebody is talking to you This is a hard one for me. I have my Blackberry and with it I take pride in responding quickly to e-mails. This becomes a problem when I am visiting with an employee or a customers. I want to reply, but I do not want them to think I am ignoring them. So I go with my instinct and either excuse myself to briefly reply to an important e-mail, or silence my phone and continue my conversation.

So I will continue the list tomorrow and hopefully you are not guilty of the top 5. It is fun to see what we do and do not do.

For those of you that read this blog, you know my love of Telenav. It has really come to my rescue on several occasions and is an application on my phone I will not live without. I like it so much in fact that I will buy( or not buy) a phone on its inclusion of Telenav. Now there are some people out there that do not have a carrier that provides the Telenav service, or they do not have a phone that has it integrated. For some of these people I recommend Google Maps.

If you have ever used Google Maps on your computer it is very similar. You can change between map view and satellite view, and it helped me on my trip over the weekend. Google Maps is another great application that helps you find where you and are, and helps you find where you are going.

Like Telenav Google Maps has a search built in, where you could search for restaurants, gas, streets, and so on. Google Maps follows your location and shows you which streets to turn on. It does not have spoken navigation, so if you did use it, I would recommend having a partner to help you navigate. I have not exploited all the features of Google Maps, but since it is a free application you can’t lose!

I have been in the wireless world for several years now and something that always intrigued me was the idea of tires that were integrated with bluetooth. Now with fuel consumption being such a hot topic, I was thinking of how something normally associated with the wireless world would help this dilemma out. Bluetooth tires were the first thing to come to mind and maybe one of the weirdest sounding useful things around.

Now, like many people we all lead busy lives, even if you do not work maybe you are a stay at home mom that has to manage the kids which is like 50 jobs. They say our tire pressure is something that can make a very significant difference when it comes to our fuel economy. I do not have time to check my tire pressure everyday, and sad to say even weekly. I know I should, but there is just a slew of things that I feel are more important.

Enter the Bluetooth Tire. The Bluetooth Tire alerts you when your tire pressure is low. It is not integrated to work with wireless devices yet, but should be easily introduced once it becomes more mainstream. Just think you get into your car in the morning and your tires send your phone a message as to what your tire pressure is. Or you get an alert on your Blackberry (or other Bluetooth phone) when you are dangerously low. This is a really cool and useful technology that we should be on the lookout for. To learn more about this product read this article.

I know there are a lot of awesome ways many people customize their telephone. If you have a phone like all of your friends have it is a definite must. It is funny, I see a lot of friends come in our stores with phones like the Razor and they have the same color and the same phone.

There are several options like the standard leather case, skin, and hard plastic shell. On my phone I opt for the Otterbox, but some people send their phone to Colorware. Colorware is an awesome company that custom paints some smartphone devices. Naturally since I am writing about it, it is offered for Blackberry. The level of quality that Colorware provides is unmatched. They have great colors and offer a high gloss scratch resistant paint. Some celebrities like Mariah Carey and Jay-Z have their Blackberries customized by Colorware.

Colorware offers their services for some Sidekicks, iPhone, and Blackjack. So if you are not partial to Blackberry, send in your iPhone or Sidekick. They also paint computers, game consoles. music players, and HD Tvs. As always if you have any questions let us know.

Some of our friends at Sales By 5 (Nan, Kya, and Erik) have recently taught me finding what inspires you is the key to success and happiness. Makes a ton of sense, but it feels great to have that inspiration pointed out to you by somebody else. We have an awesome new employee named A’Laura and she reminded me of what our company is all about and what it means to people.

She lives in Seguin, TX (Close to San Antonio) and she purchased her phone from us a little over a year ago. She actually lives on the outskirts of town from what I understand. Either way her dilemma was not knowing what cell phone provider would work at her home. Somebody from the store drove to her house with a T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and Helio phone to test out the signal. In her case Verizon worked the best.

So long story short, we really did what we could to take care of this person. I do not know if any other retailer would go through even half of the trouble. This is what our company is made of, people that are really willing to do what it takes to take care of our customers.That is also why I am proud to be part of this company. The owner of The Phone Store, Charlie Slaughter, has really spilled the belief of taking care of customers into the small and medium business world. We have displayed this with The Smartphone Challenge which is really a one stop shop for their communication needs, e-mail, voice, text, and data. So if you need help visit one of our retail stores or contact us. We really want to teach our customers how to buy wireless. If you have any additional questions you can e-mail me @ alex@thephonestoreinc.com.

I love my Blackberry and everything I can do on it. I can write and receive all of my e-mails in a very organized way, I can use a great phone, I can play games, and it seems with all the applications out there I can do a countless number of things. There are so many applications out there and one I am sure many business people have been waiting for is a Quickbooks application.

Now, I am not in charge of finances for our company, but I know that Quickbooks is a very important tool to make sure we are keeping track of all of our expenses and profits. Thanks to our good friends over at Blackberry Cool, they have let us know this is available for Blackberry and iPhone users.

So for those of you that manage your company’s expenses or those of you small or medium business owners that do it yourself, download this application now. On top of the hour a day Blackberry helps you save, this should make your life just a little easier. If you do not have a Blackberry TAKE THE CHALLENGE!

For most of us using our cell phones are as much a part of our everyday lives as brushing our teeth or going to school/work. So many of us need to use the phone whether it be for business or to chat with friends. One of the biggest things many lawmakers are trying to do is, get us to use a handsfree device (Like a Bluetooth) while driving.

I know some people feel like they may be talking to themselves or they may not like the device in their ear. I feel a bluetooth gives you the safety of being able to drive with both hands and not holding a phone, which at times also blocks your field of vision.

For the people that can’t seem to find any comfortable bluetooths to fit on their ear, there is a great company called Blueant which makes an awesome handsfree speakerphone. I do a lot of driving and the Supertooth Light is awesome. The calls are much louder than what they would be with the phone pressed against my ear. Not only that but driving at 70 is usually pretty noisy, and I the people I speak with say I sound great.

So I do support bluetooths. I support them for the convenience. I support them because they allow me and other people the ability to be much safer when we drive. If you do not already have a handsfree device please get one; Also, check with local authorities to make sure you are complying with their local laws. In some states they are the law, and there are cities and counties out there that require them as well.

Something that bothers me is when a customer does not purchase insurance on their phone. It is not a pet peeve, I  just usually want what is in my customer’s best interest and declining insurance is usually a mistake. Now for some, insurance seems pointless because the mentality is this phone was just $10 or this phone was free. So the thought is if it breaks I can go to the store and receive a new one for free again.

To be honest the free phone usually retails in the $200 dollar range. So if your phone took a swim and you bought it two months ago and do not have insurance, unfortunately you have no choice but to pay retail, that is unless you buy insurance of course. All major carriers offer a form of insurance for their phones, some do not cover all phones.

Please buy insurance it is worth it. We even make it easy for you, you can walk into one of our stores pay an upfront amount and have insurance for a year. If your phone breaks or has issues, you just walk right back in and get a new phone….that was new not refurbished. Not only that but we save you about $25 in a years duration. If you do not buy it please buy the carriers or a third party’s insurance. Make that small monthly or one-time investment and you will have the peace of mind that you did. As always any questions let us know.

We usually write about the newest applications we have heard about or tried, accessories, or the news in the wireless industry. We like to give tips and tricks on how to make your phone work for you, but seldomly do we recommend wireless carriers. The best carrier for you usually is based on your needs versus what they offer.

I have noticed that some Contract Carriers have had their credit requirements become stricter and have been asking for a higher deposit. At The Phone Store we understand everybody does not have a great credit score and we do not feel that you have to have perfect credit to get a cell phone. Boost Unlimited and Cricket are great pay in advance wireless carriers.

Most contract carriers offer unlimited plans for the $100 range. Don’t get me wrong it is a great value considering the huge variety of features that some of the carriers offer. But, Boost and Cricket both offer Unlimited Minutes for $50 or less. They both have very reasonable text or web options and a decent variety of phones.

Now beware, the rate is almost unbeatable with these carriers, but keep in mind they are ideal for people that do not travel out of their calling area. Boost Unlimited charges a 15¢ a minute for calls outside of your home calling area. In Texas they allow you an extra $5 attachable that gives you most of Texas and Oklahoma. If you wanted to go to New York you have to put extra money on your account so the minutes pull from your balance.

Cricket has some great options for roaming, and they include a certain amount of roaming minutes on their higher tier plans. Overall Cricket is the less expensive of the two Pay in Advance services, but has a slightly smaller calling area. They trump that with the level of flexibility and number of plans they have. So as always do your homework to find what is best for you, and if you have any questions contact us.