Tuesday 16 December 2014

Back to Iphone

Readers of the blog will know that earlier in 2014 I took the decision when my mobile phone contract renewed to move from IOS over to Android. So I mothballed my old iPhone 5 and moved over to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

To be honest the Note was a fantastic handset - the perfect size for both work and pleasure (videos, games, You Tube and so on) and with the SnapDragon 800 chip on board fairly whizzed along. I wasn't initially a massive fan of the Samsung Touch Whizz skin over Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) but over time I learned to navigate and ultimately it stopped bugging me.

One of the main drivers to the move was the screen size of the iPhone 5 being just too small which was the reason for choosing the enormous Note. At that time (April 2014) Apple just didn't offer a larger handset.

So when the fruity one launched the 6 and 6 Plus I decided to make the move back to IOS on the 5.5 inch screen of the 6 Plus.

I've now been rocking my 6 Plus for a full week and am enjoying it immensely - it's a more solid and well made version of the phone the Note wanted to be, the screen is awesome, especially in full sunlight. However I am finding IOS buggy on the 6 Plus - in particular the Audible, You Tube and Netflix apps are prone to jamming and requiring a re-boot of the phone. I also remember the iPhone 5 running IOS 7 at the time) never being laggy or slow when swiping between screens and in fact faster for this than the Note. However I am seeing a little slowness around the OS on the new iPhone using IOS 8 - maybe the OS isn't fully optimised for the new hardware or maybe with only 1gig of RAM on board the processor isn't quite fast enough to handle the screen and the demands of the OS simultaneously.

Still the device is beautiful and I'm still not out of the 'honeymoon' phase - do still fancy an Android as a back up nd I'm considering trying to lay my hands on a HTC One M8 for a play.

Will update on my progress with the iPhone in subsequent posts.

Thursday 11 December 2014

Bid for my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (Black 32GB on 3) on eBay

I'm selling my 7 month old Note 3 to raise cash to replace it with an iPhone 6 Plus.

I put the auction up on eBay last week and there's now only two days to go. You can visit the auction at : Visit Ebay

The phone is in mint condition and comes in the original box with all the accessories (charger, unused earphones etc). I loved this phone and am only selling it for the change really and will probably end up back on Android in a few months when I get sick of the iPhone again.

In the meantime this would be a great gift, ideal as a second or replacement phone - really enjoyed using the Note and I will miss the multi screen feature and the stylus.

It's currently on '3' network but they will unlock for free as long as you have a PAYG sim in the phone - so essentially it is unlocked.

Please visit the auction and have a look - as I type I've had over 600 views and have 3 watchers but so far new bids - the auction starts at £ 200 (free postage) and on eBay/Amazon these are going for the £ 280 mark so given the condition it's possible you might get a decent bargain.

Friday 5 December 2014

Early December round up

Welcome to the blog - here you'll find all things business, medical insurance with a bit of comics, SF and fantasy thrown in for good measure.

Today is my fortnightly 'social media' work day where I put aside a bit of time to catch up on the blog, twitter and also record new episode of my podcast on medical insurance : PMICast

I also record new editions of my video podcast 'Purely Medical Insurance' for my You Tube Channel.

You can find them as follows : PMICast : www.pmicast.podbean.com (also on iTunes, Stitcher etc)

This weeks episode of PMICast is the 61st and we're now settled into the two weekly recording schedule which makes everything a little less frenetic and rushed I think and as opposed to the weekly schedule gives me a chance to aim for better. more cogent content. This weeks covers a range of issues as usual for both purchasers of insurance and also introducers - I think it's the best PMICast I've ever done and is definitely worth a listen if you have chance.

Purely Medical Insurance : www.youtube.com/channel/UCvecpE3OUT58rFNkskSykXw

The aim of the first few videos on this new channel is to offer fairly high level guides to key issues on medical insurance. So video one is a general guy to medical insurance, the second covers PMI for personal clients and the third I put up this morning (www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwupDj_fywc) is a guide for company paid medical insurance.

The last of my 'foundation' videos will be posted in a fortnight and will cover off my work with introducers - so watch out for that one.

As a general principle I think that in this day and age an on-line presence and use of social media effectively is absolutely vital - I regularly pick up clients and introducers on the back of twitter, the podcast and now the YT videos - so please subscribe, keep current and feedback if you want to chat about becoming a client, working with me or just want to interact.

Monday 1 December 2014

Always read the small print

There are several bits of important 'kit' in my pdf 'briefcase', one of the most important things are the insurers plan features documents that I send out with every client report to show the client what each insurer recommended offers.

It's pretty important when buying anything to read the small print and of course understand it. This is of course especially important when it comes to buying medical insurance. The product features documents that we intermediaries send our clients along with quotes, reports and terms of business etc. are documents that tell you about all of the insurers plan features - remember then that they include all the features not just the ones you've chosen via your discussions with me - so there may be things described on these pieces of literature them you haven't got. For example, if you buy medical insurance without an excess, the product literature will still cover all about the insurers range of excesses and how they work (the documents are of course general purpose and not bespoke to each individual client) but unless you tick the box on the application form to have an excess you won't have one - these then are optional features.

So if you're ever not sure what I have priced for you or what options you've chosen you have just to ask me and I will confirm exactly what product you have in detail.

In a similar vein, if you ask me for something you're going to get it - so if you tell me that price is the over-riding issue then I won't add in lots of little product features that increase the basic cost. As mentioned above, I tend to give clients what they ask for rather than engaging telepathy - so the best course of action is to read through the information that you receive and double check if you're ever unsure of which bits of plan benefits you have.

I'll talk about these issues a bot more in the next episode of PMICast due later this week but wanted to just outline this important issue on the blog today.