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Post by yankee on Nov 10, 2020 16:05:32 GMT
I've found that the first law of new electrical appliances is that the lead is never long enough. I'm sure they're shorter than they used to be years ago - probably a safety thing. The second law is that the door, if it has one, will open the wrong way round... I was quite pleasantly surprised when my new coffee maker came with a retractable lead that goes from fully retracted to up to 4 feet. In my case, the counter spot where I have the coffee maker is only about 6 inches from the wall socket so I pull out about 10 inches of lead to plug it in, leaving some slack. With a normal lead I would have to wind-up the extra length and wrap it with a zip-tie (zip-ties are a great invention by the way, up there with Velcro and duct tape). My clothing iron has a retractable lead as well which is nice for storing in the cupboard. It seemed with my last one every time I pulled the iron out of the cupboard the lead pulled Tupperware and lids along with it.  |
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Post by Miranda on Nov 10, 2020 16:24:21 GMT
I've just got a new tablet and the cord for the charger is ridiculously short! Must be how the companies are saving money.
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Post by yankee on Nov 10, 2020 17:08:21 GMT
I buy USB charging cords from the dollar store. A six footer for a buck. They last about 3 or 4 months before they get wiggy. Certainly a bargain tho. The proper ones from the manufacturer are ridiculously expensive.
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Post by Miranda on Nov 10, 2020 17:17:08 GMT
I've got one about 6 foot given to me by a guy who repairs IT stuff. His company buy them by the truckload.
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Post by yankee on Nov 10, 2020 18:04:50 GMT
The cords themselves hold up. Its the little springy things that hold them into the charging slot on the device that wear out quicker on the cheap ones. They will still work, they just fall out real easy if you are charging it and using it at the same time. If you lay them down to charge overnight they work fine even after the springs are worn out. I say a YouTube video where a guy showed how to fix the springs by pulling them out further with a pair of fingernail clippers but it didnt work for me. And I didnt want to pull them out too far and make the cord get stuck in my phone. Not when I could just buy a new cord for a dollar.  |
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Post by Miranda on Nov 10, 2020 19:27:40 GMT
My old tablet, which was a cheap one, it was the charging socket that was the problem. The little sticky out bit that goes into the slot that keeps bending and eventually breaking. My mom has kindly bought me a Samsung which is twice what I can afford but shouldn't have the same problem.
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Post by yankee on Nov 10, 2020 20:58:07 GMT
My last 2 mobiles were Samsung. I've very happy with them.
In fact, it was only because I cracked the screen on the first one that I got the 2nd. It would have cost nearly as much to replace the cracked screen as to just get a new phone.
Samsung seems to have a lot of software updates, which can become irritating because you have to restart the device, download the updates from the host site, restart the device again and it downloads the updates. It takes quite a while sometime. Like maybe 30 minutes on the extreme side, 10-15 minutes on the quicker side.
That might not be such an inconvenience with a tablet as it is with a mobile which I am used to just having always on or in sleep mode.
And I guess the fact that they do a lot of software updates means they are on the ball with keeping things current.
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Post by Miranda on Nov 10, 2020 21:02:11 GMT
I don't mind the updates too much cos, as you said, I don't have my tablet on all the time. It's mostly for apps I need that I can't have on a browser. Like my banking app. On the tablet, it just needs 4 numbers from my pin code. On the website, I have to use a card reader and then put in the code from that. 6 steps instead of 2.
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Post by technicolour on Nov 11, 2020 20:32:33 GMT
Sadly its not. One SIM pack has a phone number but the pack with the SIM which does fit only has codes no phone number. Both came together so I hoped the one number might be for both cards but when I log on to the website 'number not recognised.' "Three" network helper was useless. Told me to put SIM in another phone to find out if SIM or mobile at fault. I only have one other mobile - I might have had none - and I did not want to disable it as getting the back off is a real pain.
Helper found my new number from the SIM code and once I had that I sorted it out myself by phoning it. It rang, so card and phone obviously OK. Why didn't she think of that? This seemed to kick it into life and eventually I crawled through the registration process after several 'Oops there's a problem' messages.
Ah well, it passes the time in lockdown. 
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Post by cakewalk on Nov 12, 2020 7:53:17 GMT
Glad you've got it sorted now, technicolour. Well done for persevering.
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Post by yankee on Nov 12, 2020 12:51:20 GMT
Tech you should work customer support for their help line. Sounds like you know more now than their own staff manning the lines!  |
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Post by technicolour on Nov 12, 2020 14:02:57 GMT
Haha Maybe. Luck and common sense were my weapons.
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Anymore to come?
