No Contract Phones as Audio Players

[booklover6]

Amazon Fire Phone (no contract) as an audio book player:

The headphones are nice.

Kindle Unlimited with narration audio books are handled a little differently. Download the book in the kindle reading app. To access the audio, just tap the Play arrow in the bottom left. It is not TTS, it is real narration. If you want to watch the screen, you can see the text highlighted for easy following along. Turn the screen off, and the audio continues. Volume buttons on the side of the phone, and in the cord, both work well with the screen off.

I did see table of contents, and now can't find it, either in the book or the audio book. Tapping vainly results in losing my place. Grrr!

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by paulak39

I notice this morning that Radio Shack is selling the LG Bolt for $99 now. Thanks to tubemonkey, I read about the $30 sale last week and ordered one, which should be coming today. Didn't even know what an LG Bolt was at first; (thought it might be a device charger). I may have several questions once I try to set it up and add audiobooks. This site always gives me lots of interesting and helpful information. Thanks tubemonkey and others.

Glad to help; and eel free to ask away. BTW, it's Volt

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by booklover6

Amazon Fire Phone (no contract) as an audio book player:

The headphones are nice.

Two? What's with this two audio players bit?

[tubemonkey]

I ordered one of these from Amazon to use with the devices I have that don't have decent built-in speakers (LG Volt, Fire Phone, Fire HD 6, etc). Would go great with our new audio players. Great price and highly rated. Thinking about getting a second one.

• Kinivo ZX100 Mini Portable Speaker --> $13.99

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I ordered one of these from Amazon to use with the devices I have that don't have decent built-in speakers (LG Volt, Fire Phone, Fire HD 6, etc). Would go great with our new audio players. Great price and highly rated. Thinking about getting a second one.

I like this speaker because it can play directly from a flash drive or SD card (there's no navigation with these inputs, though, the files just play in order), as well as an AUX connection.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Two? What's with this two audio players bit?

Well I think I like the Volt better for audio books.

I have 3 mp3 players, too....

[paulak39]

Received my Volt yesterday evening, and was able to install Overdrive, Audible, and Oneclickdigital. Is there any way to eliminate the reminders to activate service by unchecking a box or doing something else, as this is a little annoying?
Aside from this, it is really a nice device, and I'm pleased that the speaker is loud and clear. Also, does anyone have a recommendation for a cheap case? Thanks.

[copyrite]

Originally Posted by paulak39

Is there any way to eliminate the reminders to activate service by unchecking a box or doing something else, as this is a little annoying?

I'd like to know the answer to this too!

[booklover6]

Where are you seeing the activate service reminder?

[kacir]

I have just got a fancy Android phone with gorgeous 5" IPS 1280x720 screen on the contract [that I do not pay for with my own money]. I continue to make phone-calls using my old dumb-phone.
The contract is used to make my work-related calls and has the same price whether you get phone on contract or not.

Fortunately my new phone works wonderfully as:
- an e-book reading device when I do not want to carry a 6" e-ink
- Tetris (and similar games) playing machine
- Android minitablet
- media mini-player

I was afraid I would have to get a cheap non-contract SIM card, but it works beautifully without SIM.

[paulak39]

The activate service reminder pops up when I power on the Volt and connect to wifi. By clicking the activate box and then quickly pressing the apps icon, I find it does disappear. I guess this is good enough for me if there's no way to prevent it from appearing at all.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by paulak39

The activate service reminder pops up when I power on the Volt and connect to wifi. By clicking the activate box and then quickly pressing the apps icon, I find it does disappear. I guess this is good enough for me if there's no way to prevent it from appearing at all.

I haven't seen it, but I haven't powered it off, either. I do turn wifi on and off without seeing it.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by kacir

I have just got a fancy Android phone with gorgeous 5" IPS 1280x720 screen on the contract [that I do not pay for with my own money]. I continue to make phone-calls using my old dumb-phone.
The contract is used to make my work-related calls and has the same price whether you get phone on contract or not.

Fortunately my new phone works wonderfully as:
- an e-book reading device when I do not want to carry a 6" e-ink
- Tetris (and similar games) playing machine
- Android minitablet
- media mini-player

I was afraid I would have to get a cheap non-contract SIM card, but it works beautifully without SIM.

No offence, but that is not what the monkey meant by this thread. The phones that you can get on a contract plan are very expensive. Even the "free" phones are paid for by locking you (or your work) into the contract. If you buy a no-contract phone (e.g. a straighttalk) your choices are limited to really cheap and or older phones.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

No offence, but that is not what the monkey meant by this thread. The phones that you can get on a contract plan are very expensive. Even the "free" phones are paid for by locking you (or your work) into the contract. If you buy a no-contract phone (e.g. a straighttalk) your choices are limited to really cheap and or older phones.

No offence taken ;-)
This is very fancy phone by a two years old standards. Nowadays the price is *very* reasonable. A small fraction of the price of really expensive ones (such as iPhone or latest Samsung or top-of-the-line HTC). The price is still nowhere near the $30 listed in the first post.
We (the company I work for) are locked into the contract anyway.

Here in Europe contracts and "free" phones work a little bit differently than in USA where, IMHO, providers are more aggressive in the lock-in.
Last time I bought such phone on contract for my daughter, I have inserted a pre-paid, very cheap SIM from competing provider and the phone just worked. And my wife (who signed the extension of the contract) continued to use her old clunker with her old provider.

[booklover6]

I am happy to report that the battery life on the unactivated LG Volt is terrific! I can listen for hours with no noticeable depreciation of the battery. (Wifi is off).