Que 5.5 & Blackberry Torch
By Perry & Cindy Mack
I’ve been happily tethered to a Blackberry for seven years. Next to my wife and kids, it’s my longest current relationship (aside from a concert T-shirt I have from high school). I put my hand over my heart at the site of the Canadian flag, sing Oh Canada loudly, proudly and poorly at every hockey game, and have stuck with Blackberry through the years, which has been as tough as being a Leafs or Oilers fan.
I’ve been enamored by the new larger cell phones and I had a hankering for the new iPhone 6 Plus, right up until I saw the price could reach a heart stopping $1000 plus tax with the best memory package.
Having had a dalliance with a dual SIM Android phone this past winter spoiled me, and left me unwilling to part with this unique feature.
Before I chat about the solution to my new phone fetish, let’s talk dual SIM. You may not have heard of dual SIM phones as no major Canadian or USA carrier advertises them. They have been around for years and are popular in Asia and Europe. The advantage is that you can have two cell phone numbers – let’s say work and play – in one device. One phone – two phone numbers.
For RV’ers (and anyone who skips across the border for short or long stays) it allows us the ability to escape our Canadian carrier roaming plans by having an inexpensive, pay-as-you-go US phone number and plan - with all of your contacts, photos and apps in one phone. I’ve been using Roam Mobility for the past winter as I travel to and from the USA. They have an unlimited nationwide Snowbird talk and text plan for $19.95/month (three month minimum), my calls home to Canada are free, comes with caller ID and voicemail and they are a Canadian company so I pay in Canadian dollars.
Some RV’ers I spoke with during RV shows across the country last fall use TracFone. They pay roughly $100 US per year to maintain their TracFone account. My eagerly accepted alternative was that you could use Roam Mobility for the 6 months you’re in the US for the same price (given todays exchange rate) without being limited in your minutes or having to pay long distance to call home.
I just read (Feb 1, 2015 – Associated Press) that TracFone Wireless will have to pay $40 million to settle US government claims that they misled millions of smartphone customers. No thanks, I’ll stick with the Canadian company.
You don’t need a dual SIM phone to take advantage of Roam Mobility, all you need is an unlocked phone. Then you just pull your existing SIM card out of your phone and insert the Roam Mobility SIM with your US number.
One phone, two countries, life is very good.
Why my desire for the larger screen in my phone? The bigger screen makes emails and texts easier to read because it allows larger fonts and you can see more of the message on screen. It also gives you more of a traditional web browsing experience because you see more of the web page. A larger screen means a bigger keyboard for easier typing, and a larger view screen to take better pictures and shoot video so you can share you RV experiences with family and friends.
There are some cons as well which include; it doesn't necessarily fit into pockets you might traditionally put your phone, it is slightly heavier, and small hands may have some issues adapting to the larger size.
So how did I reconcile my desire for a larger screen and dual SIM, with my thrifty nature?
After searching the web for deals (Amazon, Kijiji, eBay) I ended up on Roam Mobility’s site to top up my plan and low and behold – three sizes of brand new dual SIM phones. The Que 4.5, 5.0 and 5.5, the model numbers correspond to diagonal measurement in inches of the screen size. Starting at $150 plus tax ($220 for my 5.5) it includes a SIM card and an accessory package, which includes all the essentials (USB sync and charge cable, car charger, screen protector and folio case).
You can call me a geek, and I won’t deny it, but I was like a kid on Christmas morning tearing the box apart to get at the phone when it came. Cindy watched rolling her eyes and sighing, once again reconsidering her decision to say ‘I do’ fifteen years ago, expecting I would grow up long before now.
Cons were few. Cindy didn't enjoy the larger size and preferred her smaller Blackberry – perhaps a function of her small hand size. The boot screen plays an annoying audio, but I installed a free app called ‘Silent Boot’ which canceled it. The adhesive in the folio case wasn’t sticky enough to hold the phone in so I used some two-sided carpet tape to solve this minor issue.
The most significant advantages an iPhone enjoys are the quality of the music player and the software. If you are an Apple user (as I am – Mac computer, Apple TV, iPod), the integration and similar function of Apple software across platforms is enticing, but I certainly couldn’t justify the additional cost.
The Pros were many. The screen is sharp and bright, the larger size providing the additional ease of use I was hoping for. The 13 MP camera takes great photos and the 1080p video is sharp clear and the colours are natural. Watching Netflix is great.
It comes with KitKat, Google’s newest Android operating system – with an interface that is more intuitive than ever and packed with functional features. Setting up my emails was simple and it synced my contact lists so everyone was in my phone without any extra typing. Downloading and installing my ‘basic’ apps including BBM, Twitter, Netflix, and Dropbox was a breeze.
Overall the phone met my expectations and then some. If you like to save money and if simplifying your life is important to you, the Que phone in conjunction Roam Mobility can certainly help you enjoy and share, more of your RV travel experiences.
Que 5.5 Specs
- SIZE & WEIGHT - Dimension: 154.6 mm x 78.6 mm x 8.9 mm; Weight: 184g with battery; Screen Size: 5.5"
- BATTERY - 2650mAh
- MEMORY - 1GB RAM / 4GB ROM - Expandable Memory up to 32GB
- PROCESSOR - Quad Core 1.3 GHz, Cortex A7
- OPERATING SYSTEM - Android™ 4.4 KitKat. Upgradable to Android 5.0 Lollipop when available via OTA (over the air).
- CAMERA - 13MP camera with 1080p Video Recording capability; 2MP front facing camera
- 4G LTE capable