A short review of a TPU case for my S4

I ordered a Caseology Matte Finish TPU case from Mercury U.S.A. for my S4. The price was great $6.49 with shipping. I wasn't overly excited about it getting here as it didn't come in my favorite color (Red). But the blue did look good on their Amazon.com website. Well it arrived yesterday in the mail. The textured back reminds me of those good ol blue jeans The color looks like them as well when those jeans were new The edges are a smooth black, but not slick, easy to hold a grip on. The cutouts are well placed, but there is a mystery cutout in the upper right hand corner that I have yet to figure out. My best guess without looking into it would be that its for better antenna reception or maybe there is some sort of strap that you can place between the phone and case, running it through that hole. If you know, or have a wild idea post a comment and educate the Duck, I'm good like that. Here are a couple of pics of the case. Maybe soon they will get a red one and make me happy. Its all about making the Duck happy you know



For those of you who don't know I like to have choices on cases. Depending on how I feel and what I'm doing that day I will "Dress" my phone. I have a very active job and have broke more than a few holsters doing it. A case is the best way of protecting my device. Although I do not like the idea of the bulky cases, a few of my friends love them. Sound off, what if any case to use to protect your loved one?

My look at the LG Optimus G Pro

A friend of mine who works at the local AT&T store asked me to stop in and checkout the new phone from LG, the LG Optimus G Pro. I have always liked LG and have owned a few of their phones in the past. So I went in and had a look. They let me pretty much do what I wanted on the phone including loading Quadrant standard benchmark. I ran the test twice and it scored a respectable 8600+ both times.


This phone runs smooth and is powered by a Snapdragon 1.7 GHz quad core processor. The screen was impressive sharp and clear. It boasts a 5.5" full HD screen, and the poke at Samsung was kind of cute as well. You see there was a live wallpaper of pure white feathers falling. (The note II has a couple feather wallpapers). I think it is a good competitor to the Note II, all be it may be a little late hitting the shelves. The Note 3 is rumored to be out in a few months (September) and will I'm sure have a ton of new things for us to drool over.

The LG Optimus G Pro is actually smaller than the note II and was comfortable in my hand. Would I own this phone....YES I would pick this thing up in a heartbeat if USCC carried it. The only "Con" I seen with it was it was still running 4.1.2 Jelly Bean when it really should of came out of the shoot running 4.2.2. But I am sure that it is in the works and will be a OTA update soon.

So have you seen the new power house from LG? What are your thoughts?

My review of the S4, now that I have had the time to play with it

The Samsung Galaxy S4 from uscc has been a fantastic phone. I have had it for three weeks now and have had a chance to play around with it. So here is my true review.

Pros: There are many. Speed is a big one to me and this phone packs a 1.9 quad core processor. I haven't had any lag at all. Now I also use "The Next Launcher" as I switch phones and brands its nice to have one launcher that I like that I can take with me. Battery life isn't really any better for me than my Note II was. Accept when both phones are at idle, for some reason the Note II would burn through the battery faster. The screen, for the first time I can actually tell the difference in the screen, I don't know if my eye site is improving (I doubt it) or if it really is that much better, but I love the way the colors pop out at you. The hover view was rally a nice addition, it was something I thought I would miss coming from the Note II, as is the ability to put notes on my calendar.


As my schedule can change in a heartbeat so a quick little scribble can fix it right up. Reception hasn't been any better than my Note II, but then I never had any issues with that on either phone. The camera has to be mentioned as it is one of the main things that had me in fits to get this phone. So far it hasn't been matched. Even the front facing camera seems to be a hit with me. As some of you know I am not big on pictures of myself, but when kids are involved I can't help myself. (Kids are my favorite humans of all)


Z-man and the Duck. This could of been a better picture but due to where I was at its the best I could do.

Now for the cons: Storage, that's it. This thing is billed as having 16 GB of internal storage and out of the box you have 8.9 (or there about's depending on carriers bloat ware)I have around 90+ apps installed right now and am sitting at 7.2 GB of storage. Now I can live with that, but with this screen and the processor I would love to load up a few movies and maybe that new Iron man 3 game and see what it would look like. I have such things on my Nexus 7, but as many of you know the tegra 3 processor and the 720 screen are not the best for such things.

As far as an over all rating I would have to give it 4.8 stars out of 5... the storage being the downside. Would I buy it again... Yes, and I most likely will be picking up another one as I will have a line available for an upgrade next month. Maybe I will even get the black one.

I hope you found this helpful, Ken USCC Customer Crew Member.

The Duck gets his own twitter account

Phone Talk With The Duck now has its own twitter account. Post from @phonetalkduck will be 99% phone related. (I leave 1% for events beyond the Ducks control. There is also the YouTube page http://www.youtube.com/user/k1960g?feature=guide. So sign up to follow the Duck.

testing, is this thing working?

I just thought I would give a test post from my phone. I haven't tried that out yet. Thought it would be good to do a test before I actually needed to do a post... Get the bugs worked out sort of speak.
My favorite family. My daughter and her husband and my 2 grandchildren.

A quick review of the Samsung S4 from U.S.Cellular

So I have had this powerhouse for a little over a week, but it has been a busy week. I have yet to scratch the surface of all the features of this new phone. However I am really impressed with it so far. Coming from the Samsung Note II that is saying something. The 1.9 quad core processor is simply amazing. I haven't came close to getting any lag and it the battery is lasting longer than my Note II is at idle. The S Voice seems to have been improved upon, and the camera as you have seen in my previous post shows that there is no equal (IMHO). Here are just a couple screen shots of some benchmark scores I have gotten, one from Quadrant and one from AnTuTu.






People will say that one is better than the other, well that's fine, all I'm saying is that this puppy is fast no matter which one you think is the best. This is stock no rooting and over clocking at all.

So have you picked up the Samsung Galaxy S4 yet? If so how are you liking it? If not stop in at your local USCC store and check it out. This pony has more trix than that silly rabbit.

Ken USCC Customer Crew member

Who's Ready For Some S4 Photo's? (you are if you're reading this)

Here are a few pictures taken with the Samsung S4 from U.S. Cellular.

This little guy was not camera shy.


The Spit Screen option


First babies of the season


And the Drama shot!