Author Archives: Guus

Globe WIMAX discontinued

Okay, here we go. Let’s take this complaints business a bit more serious, even though I prefer to continue making my DoctorsConnect project work.

And my main reason to start this now is that I can’t imagine that I/we were the only ones affected by Globe discontinuing their WIMAX service. And yes, I know we were probably outside the official service area of Globe, so somehow Globe may have a point discontinuing the service with us. However, as far as I know we still have a contract with them and they have been continuing sending bills and charging us, even though I just received a bill with some kind of refund, so my complaints(!?) seem to have had some effect.

And yes, I can be very annoying and childish sometimes, or maybe even often, with my complaints, with how I complaint. Regardless of that, I am still a valued customer, at least according to Globe as that is how they address me, and, as stated before, there is still a legally valid contract for Globe delivering internet service and we paying for that.

And, as usual, I just started this article to get it out of my mind and ‘just start’, so I won’t continue right now to make it into a nice article, but again. I have to start somewhere helping other people with this, or with other issues, related to Globe. And that means I first have to find them.

Just comment or write an e-mail to guus@inspiration-for-success.com if you have a problem with Globe or with any other (large) company and don’t know what to do.

And please keep in mind in my opinion complaints are in the interest of (those) companies also. My experience, especially with Globe right now, is that they have no proper procedure in place to deal with the issue I am dealing with and am complaining about. I am pretty sure the management of Globe is not happy with how it is being handled, but apparently they don’t know about it.

Monogamy impossible?

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No more sponsor

Secret photo of Guus. I just kind of decided to let go of my sponsor. And that was kind of a hard decision, and affects me right now a lot, as I feel like sharing, complaining, or whatever. And yes, I still need some kind of advice, as I feel like being fully being back to square one, fully have fallen back to my old, bad behaviors. I almost ended up having a one night stand a few days ago and I hate that so much, don’t really believe in that. I believe in having a relationship with one partner, one lover, yes, a monogamous relationship. But that is so hard if that partner, that person is not there.

And I am not sure how to continue now, as I don’t really want to go into human sexual needs or something, as, yes, somehow that feels like appropriate writing about. And this site is supposed to be about success, and certainly not about my unfulfilled sexual needs. But yeah, somehow my unfulfilled sexual needs play a big part in me being unsuccessful, in me being so unhappy. Like I notice the last few weeks, months, I am moving into unwanted sexual behavior, in what I believe in unhealthy sexual behavior. But yes, where will I go if I don’t see any healthy way of dealing with sexual feelings, with sexual needs. And I know sometimes it drives me crazy, when I don’t have sex for a long time, sometimes weeks, sometimes months, sometimes even years, then in the end I just feel, well, sometimes ‘jumpy’, sometimes just bad, sometimes just unfulfilled, well, whatever. And yes, I try to suppress that, try to ignore it, try to do something else sometimes. But yes, sometimes nothing seems to work to deal with that, sometimes that feeling just needs to come out, becomes overwhelming. Like the last few days, weeks, I notice I hardly do anything anymore, hardly anything comes out of my hands, as I feel so along, so useless, like nobody wants me, or at least wants me in the way I want it, in the way I like it, in the way I feel I need it.

Two people and trust needed

And the hard thing with sex is, at least for me, in the end you need two people for it, two people being physically together. And that is hard to arrange in my experience, if you want a monogamous intimate relationship with one person. And in my case even harder to arrange, as I even want to want it with one specific person, the person I have been with for many, many years, but who says he doesn’t want me anymore. But he is still here, came back, lives in the same house as I live. So how can I believe him, that he is only here ‘because he is part owner of the house’.

And yes, I also understand how hard it is for him to believe me, to trust me, also sexually, as I have not been fully faithful to him over the years, no matter whether I believed I was single, that he had left me. And even now I am not faithful to him, as my escape, my coping mechanism to handle my sexual feelings, my sexual needs, is internet sex, like chatting and exchanging photos. Sometimes even having video chat, although I am trying to avoid that.

So how can I gain the trust back of that person, of the person I love, the person I want to be with, the person I want to have a relationship with, the person I want to be my lover and partner when I can’t even trust myself, can’t wait for him to be ready for that again, connecting to other guys, having sex chat, things like that.

But yeah, as far as I know sexual feelings can be pretty strong, at least they are for me, so they are very hard to ignore; and very hard to suppress. So yeah, how to deal with that and at the same time be faithful, to myself and to him?

Sexuality normal?

And slowly I am hearing more and more people say it is normal to have those feelings and do things like that. That most or all people do things like that, watching porn, having sexual chats, exchanging sexual photos, and yes, even having one night stands, just having sex.

But I still don’t like that, don’t want that. But not easy, staying sane and not doing any of that. And I didn’t find a better way yet, waiting for my partner to be with me again, my biggest dream in life.

My biggest dream in life.

My biggest dream in life: Lee and me being lovers again.

Sleeping around?

And thinking about what I wrote before you may think I have been sleeping around like crazy, but that is not the case. More of the opposite, actually more of the extreme opposite. And don’t get me wrong, nothing wrong with that. If you are adult of even teenager and you like having sex, no matter if you are in a relationship and you are alone, please go ahead. And if you are in a relationship and you and your partner are okay or enjoy having sex with other people, please go ahead. Before I considered that bad behavior, as I believed that sex only belonged in relationship, in committed relationship. But over time I changed my mind about that, especially after realizing what happened between Nico, my ex-partner, and me. As what at first couldn’t believe proved to be true: relationships can exist, even if there is sex with other people. I now even believe that it may be more healthy than a monogamous relationship or more healthy than having no sex at all when you are not in a relationship.

So what actually happened?

I feel pretty sure if it is wise to share what I just wrote below here. But somehow I feel the need to share it, maybe just to defend myself that I am not as bad as I think I am. And yeah, if you can’t deal with some very personal stuff of mine, maybe just stop reading here.

So what actually happened related to not being monogamous with Lee? Would I write that here? I tried to tell him, as I think it was not that bad at the time, although the more I think about my sex life, the more guilt I feel. As it seems I made big mistakes, unforgivable mistakes. But then, it seems sex is a very powerful force. And for most of my life my sexual needs were not met. So how can I blame myself so much for making mistakes in that area? Like the last eight months I had no sex, not with anybody. Yes, I had my internet encounters, but no sexual physical contact. And I miss that so much. I thought it was part of ‘normal life’, but apparently it isn’t. At least not for me.

Then, during my trip last year, I had three sexual encounters. Sounds like a lot to me, taking into account that I want to be monogamous, want to be strictly monogamous. But then again, the last time I had sex before was half a year before. And that was kind of a mistake, even though it could have lead to a relationship; at least that I was kind of hoping, thinking. But it didn’t. So another mistake.

And before that it was about half a year earlier or so? I don’t even remember the date, even though I can figure that out. That was the first time I allowed someone in the master bedroom, a big thing for me. And again, nothing really happened, but yes I was with someone, slept with someone. And was it sexual, well, yes and no I guess.

Before that I remember I met two people I had sexual encounters with. With one, the first, it was a big thing. I had decided to start dating, as Lee had been gone for so long, was mostly in Siargao. So I met someone and we set a date. And finally I decided to bring him home. And finally I decided we would sleep together. And just before that, I texted Lee, as I didn’t really want it, as I really wanted to be with him, stay with him, only have sex with him. So I sent him a very emotional ‘love text’. And the reply stunned me. And then the answer stunned me. And then there was indeed nothing that stopped me to continue what I was doing. And again, nothing really happened, but yes, the encounter was sexual. And I remember how good it felt to hold someone; and to be held by someone. That warm feeling of closeness. That felt soooooo good.

And then, of course I fell in love, as I easily fall in love. But then, also kind of course, it appeared not to be mutual. So another lost cause. Pattern repeating?

And around that time I was connecting to someone else also. And he came to the house. And I just wanted to hug, to hold. And that was the only time there was real sex involved. And no, again, not all the way, but yes, real sex. And after that he just left, not even wanting to stay to sleep with me. And sleeping together is the most important thing, not just having sex. The worse thing was that it happened twice, in a similar way. Me not really wanting it, but yes, allowing it. And again, the first time the feeling was so great. It had been soooooo long since I had some kind of real sex.

Before that, between 2012 and 2015 Lee and I came together again somehow, but not really. And that meant practically no sex, no love making, at least not satisfying to me. And yes, that all goes back to communication as far as I know now. And yes, I was so happy he was back, but I didn’t know how to connect to him in the right way. And I guess that is why he left me behind so much, sexually, intimately. But then, I guess we have never really been good at that. And I guess I am not the only one in that situation.

And 2012 was crazy, as Lee really had left me. I really felt we had broken up. And I was devastated. And yes, with my frustration about not having sex for many, many years, I started dating. Well, not really dating I guess, but just looking for some kind of comfort, any comfort. And strange, reading 2012, as that is five years ago now. A pretty long time. And since then nothing really changed, at least not in sexual matters, even though the last one or two years I made an awful lot of progress after joining Coda.

So what happened in 2012? Well, actually it was crazy, but I guess I can be a bit easy on myself as I was really devastated my second relationship had ended, at least so I believed. So I was about to kill myself and nothing really mattered anymore. Basically three things happened. The first was that I kind of started ‘something’ with some guy I met through a friend. And that ‘through a friend’ made me trust him. How wrong was I, as later on I found out they were not really close friends or something. And that guy, I don’t even remember his name, was nice to me, touched me in a nice way, in a way I never really experienced before. So one day I found myself lying together with him on the couch. And yes, the feeling was great, how he touched me, caressed me. Neither Nico, nor Lee had ever really done that. Nor any of the other guys I had been dating. It had always been about ‘relationship’ or merely ‘sex’, not that feeling of mutual caressing. And please don’t get me wrong, as I considered I had a good relationship with Nico as well as with Lee. So well, I found myself lying on the couch with that guy. And the next day or a few days after again. And the weird thing was that exactly that event made me turn around, made me realize I only wanted Lee, and nobody else. So I decided to write a love letter to him, and yes, I did a lot of effort on that. As I only wanted, and still want, him, Lee.

The kind of funny or sad thing was that the moment Lee received my love letter, he also somehow found out that I had been ‘loving, loving’ with some guy on the couch here. He later told me that that had made him very confused, that he didn’t know what to believe, which of course I understand. But believe me, the only thing I want and wanted is being together with Lee again, no matter what I do or what you see or how strange I may behave.

Mmm, I need to stop now, as I still don’t know if it is wise to share this here. But then again, as I have learned in Coda, it is not up to me to decide what other people think.

Complainer, complainer

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Mmm, the word ‘complaint’ and complainer comes to me often the last few days. And somehow it seems to start to get meaning, why my complaints are getting so much attention recently.

Hah, and now I don’t feel like writing. Yes, a complaint it seems LOL. So why I am complaining or complaining so much? Or why are people complaining in general? And what does it solve? Or doesn’t it solve anything? And yes, why am I complaining so much and why are other people turned off by it? And is it really too much?

And indeed, could I use my complaining as a skill, to my benefit, start a business from it as a friend suggested to me? Well, I will never know unless I try, do something. So I just did, share a link to this page in Facebook with the question if people have things they have problems they want solved, but don’t know how to complain about.

The love of God

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I recently started a post A loving Higher Power. And maybe I better continue extending and improving that post, but somehow I wanted to start from scratch again as I am struggling so much with ‘Love’.

And today or yesterday the definition as given in The Matrix came back to my mind. It was said by, well, I forgot the name, but I will put later. The guy from the Machine World that Neo meets in the railway station. Found it: Rama Kandra.

Ah, and I feel so restless, not really in the mood of writing. But I also know writing is good for me. And so many things to do…

And it is a few days after I started this post now. And I just had a phone call with my mom in which she told me what she put on the grave of my dad: “God is love”. Not sure why she mentioned it and she did not know why she put it. She said it just came to here to put that.

And that brings me back to writing here, as this page is exactly about that. And I guess it cannot be coincidence that she mentioned it, even though I mentioned to her about my struggle with ‘love’ in relation to God, in relation to Higher Power.

And I thought I put a link to ‘Love’ as written about in Wikipedia, but apparently I didn’t. Or I did somewhere else. And this may be an important paragraph about it in Wikipedia:

Ancient Greek philosophers identified four forms of love: essentially, familial love (in Greek, storge), friendly love (philia), romantic love (eros), and divine love (agape). Modern authors have distinguished further varieties of love: infatuated love, self-love, and courtly love. Non-Western traditions have also distinguished variants or symbioses of these states. Love has additional religious or spiritual meaning. This diversity of uses and meanings combined with the complexity of the feelings involved makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, compared to other emotional states.

And I remember the word agape mentioned related to the love of God, I think from a religious meeting or attending church. Not much in the article worth copying here though at first sight, so I guess I have to write myself a bit more and/or do some more research.

And I am pretty tired and still kind of upset, as today it was confirmed Iwa, one of my dogs, has a tumor that needs to be treated. And unfortunately the vet is on holiday for two weeks, so I feel pretty stressed and confused, as I am thinking of cancer spreading. And I would like, love(?!) Iwa to stay quite a bit longer, as she is not that old yet.

So yes, I feel like stopping now, need some rest. And yes, I will try to pray, hoping God will cure Iwa. Not easy believing in a loving God with things like this, like sickness and possible death from that.

Firefly AURII Secret Mini internal memory problem

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Strange memory problem?

Well, I can’t find anything about the problem (until today, August 6, 2017, see below) I am having with my Firefly AURII Secret Mini, so maybe this post can help me, and Firefly Mobile, as I presume they would want this solved.

The problem is that the internal memory of my Firefly AURII Secret Mini slowly fills up with ‘something’. And that ‘something’ is not apps and it is not data. The ‘something’ is completely invisible from a users point of view, at least invisible for me, and believe me, I know a little bit how to find ‘things’ in a computer like device, which my Firefly AURII is.

So well, let’s just create a basic page first. Maybe add a screendump of the current memory, as I will have to do a factory reset again as the internal memory of the phone is virtually completely full and some things don’t work anymore. I already uninstalled Dropbox that still resided there, but that didn’t really help.

So the memory before the factory reset, after uninstalling DropBox, that wants to be in that memory:

Memory Firefly AURII Secret Mini before factory reset.

And now it stopped completely, probably because it was hardly charged and connected to my computer through USB, at least I hope that is the case.

And fortunately that was the case. I was just able to turn it on again.

Just continued setting it up, I am getting good and fast with it. Memory just after the factory reset:

Memory Firefly AURII Secret Mini after factory reset.
And the memory after my ‘mixed’ formatting with ADB:

Memory Firefly AURII Secret Mini after (mixed) format.

And looking at the pictures now I may have been able to format the first partition as internal memory without formatting with ADB, but well, maybe next time. Or with second thought, not easy, as it is not visible. I thought it was visible looking at this page, but probably was looking at the wrong image.

Maybe a known problem

<div style=”margin-right: 1em; width: 8em;”>Seems to be a known problem as I found https://androidforums.com/threads/low-on-space-system-data-huge.278837/ and some more pages about a similar or the same issue. I presumed already it was some kind of log file growing and growing (folder /data/log). I already presumed something like that. On my phone the ‘dial *#9900# does not work. And no, I don’t like rooting my phone also, so for now it seems I am stuck with the problem. Went to the shop where I bought it today and not easy to explain what is going on, but it seems they are willing to help.

And the problem seems to be getting worse. I did a factory reset two or three days ago and the internal memory is virtually full again. I made screendumps to keep track.

Today, August 7, 2017, I went back to the store where I bought my Firefly AURII Secret Mini, after going there yesterday, but finding out there is not much they can do on Sundays. And yesterday the phone was full again, so I deleted Dropbox to make some internal memory available, but today, just now, and also when I was at the store, the memory was virtually full and the phone started complaining again things might not work. And indeed, things started to stop working properly, especially tonight.

Another factory reset

So yes, I decided, or better had to, do a factory reset again, which I just did. Memory before was:

Memory Firefly AURII Secret Mini before factory reset.

And this time I decided to just go for the full use of the SD card as internal memory by just using the standard phone option. I doubt that would make any difference, but according to the staff in the shop I am the only one having the problem, so it might be the split setup of the SD card I used before, even though I strongly doubt that. But I saw some messages about ‘memory card found’ before, so this setup may be different somehow. Anyhow, here is the memory for the clean Firefly AURII Secret Mini with my 16Gb SD Card:

Memory Firefly AURII Secret Mini after factory reset.

So, well, installing all the stuff again. And yes, I made a copy of everything that was on the phone and am using Carbonite SMS Backup & Restore for backing up my SMS messages. Main issue is that Viber does not seem to keep the messages, so I made a screendump of an important message I got yesterday.

So here we go again:

enter local WiFi passwords;
enter Google account for Google Play;
install Carbonite SMS Backup & Restore;
copy my files like music and videos back, and yes, the SMS backup files;
set up security, like entering pin;
set my desktop background image;
set up SIM and other preferences;
answer all ‘allow’ questions;
remove (default) signature for messages;
…

And full again today, August 11, 2017, with complaints about internal memory again and possibly problems storing/handling (SMS) messages. And I could not even move some apps that still resided in the ‘real’ internal memory to the SD Card without deleting the data of some of the Google system apps. It didn’t make much difference though as the internal memory filled up pretty fast again after deleting and moving some last ‘options’.

So factory reset again tomorrow I guess.

And I did not have really time, so I am kind of in trouble now as I did not find the time yesterday to do the factory reset again. And this was much earlier than expected, only after three or four days. I thought I had some more time. And it is a real problem right now, as my phone may not store any messages anymore or may not accept calls.

Memory Firefly AURII Secret Mini full again.

And I already cleared the cache, moved the remaining apps there to the SD Card, deleted Dropbox and even deleted the data from the system apps residing there, like Google Play stuff. The last may create more problems, but the phone stopped working properly, like I was not able to send messages again.

And it is getting annoying, as it seems some photos were not stored, some photos I cannot replace. So yes, better install a ‘mixed’ SD Card formatting as I think I did not lose photos when I had that.

And another

So here we go again…

Virus

Fortunately I am in touch with Firefly support. They didn’t respond to my e-mails, but they do respond to Facebook, or did, as it seems they have blocked me, and to Viber.

Related to my problem they suggested it is probably a virus that can only be analyzed and removed by their service center in Manila. Remedy would be to ‘re-software’ the phone.

Related to my research and analysis I can hardly imagine my phone is infected by a virus, as that virus would need to survive a factory reset and it would need to have access to system memory that I presume is, or better should be, inaccessible to anything ‘app’ or, in my case, something booting from my SD Card, as I can’t imagine any virus like that installing itself on a non-rooted phone without somehow running at boot time or something. Of course if a virus survives a factory reset it would also have access to the system memory, so ‘access to system memory’ is nothing weird, presuming the virus installed itself somehow from some kind of boot/reset option.

So no, I can hardly imagine it is a virus, as I never rooted my phone and also did not boot it (consciously) from the SD Card I have. As far as I remember I also did not install anything outside of Google Play. So if there is a virus in my phone it must have either come from my SD Card, or from Google Play.

And I just did some research on ‘virus after factory reset’, which seems to confirm there is stuff that can survive a factory reset. But even if, how did the virus get into my phone anyhow, as I can’t imagine the Android OS running ‘anything’ from an SD Card and I can’t imagine any app containing a virus that I got through Google Play.

So what now?

Well, I am trying to convince the vendor to let me do the re-software myself. Or maybe the store is willing to exchange the phone with another one of the same type and model. In the last case I guess I have to somehow erase the SD Card before putting it in the new phone, otherwise I would have the same problem again, IF the virus came from the SD Card.

And IF the virus comes from any of the apps I normally install from Google Play, then it would also be back on the new phone in no time, as I normally install the same apps. And no, nothing weird or out of the normal, just Facebook Messenger, Facebook, Viber, WhatsApp, Dropbox, now the SMS backup software, Google Maps(!?), sometimes Remote Desktop for Windows and the Kindle software from Amazon. I can’t imagine any malware in each of those apps still. But who am I? The vendor is King I guess…

And I did some more reading and everywhere I find that to access anything ‘system’ you need to have root access. And the only way to get that is to root your device. But my device is not rooted and I prefer to keep it that way.

And again…

And yeah, again due for factory reset, as I see 2.15 Gb used of 2.26 Gb. Saw it already in the command prompt. That data seems to come from the /data folder, exactly where the article I found said the ‘log files’ were found.

So again, just now, August 15, 2017 in the evening, as the system really started to complain, I did a factory reset.

Phone surrendered

This afternoon, Thursday August 17, 2017, I surrendered my phone to be sent to the service center in Manila. Fortunately I was offered I could lend another phone temporarily and I accepted the deal, even though I am not fully happy with it. I already had made the decision if I would not be offered another phone I would buy another phone, and already decided it would probably be a Lenovo A1000 as that phone seems to meet my specs, even though the front camera seems to be very limited, 0.2 Megapixel as per specification. But I am not really a selfie type of person, so that is less important than specs like memory, and yes, now also, brand.

Main issue for me now is that I probably have to miss the phone for about two weeks, where I still can’t imagine the problem is really with my phone, this specific phone. I am pretty sure a software upgrade would solve the problem.

So yes, I expect something in return for surrendering my phone and not being able to use it for two weeks. And if it would turn out it has only gotten a software upgrade or a custom built or something I would be pretty annoyed, angry even, as that could have been done online. And if it would be returned with the same build number and the problem gone I would be amazed.

Anyhow, I don’t know exactly what is wrong with it and my thinking could be wrong, so let’s see what Manila says or comes back with first. And no, I can’t post any photos or screendumps here right now as I don’t have the phone anymore and I don’t have a card reader or another phone that can read my SD Card.

Life without my Android phone

It is August 27, 2017 now, more than a week ago since I surrendered my phone for repair. Fortunately I got a replacement, even though a very simple phone, but I can still call and text. I can’t use Viber and WhatsApp though and I can’t take photos and such. I also can’t use Messenger when I am on the way and such, but until now I managed pretty well.

And I wanted to write more about it, as I still don’t fully understand why Firefly wanted to have the phone checked by their service center where to me it is apparently a software problem that needs a software upgrade. And as far as I know that can just be delivered through Google Play.

I am also a bit in doubt about Firefly providing me a simple phone instead of an Android capable phone, but that is of course kind of industry standard or maybe even above. Still, it creates problems for me as I don’t have the full phone functionality I am used to.

Anyhow, let’s see what they found and if they were able to find and solve the issue.

Phone is back!

Well, my phone is back, about 3 weeks after I left it to be sent to Manila for repair as it is September 8, 2017. And it seems they just installed an older version of the OS, as the records said something like ‘upgrade’, but it seems it has been a downgrade as the build number is now FIREFLYMOBILE_SECRETmini_V002_20170324, where the ‘old’ build number was FIREFLYMOBILE_SECRETmini_V003_20170503.

Firefly AURII Secret Mini before repair.
Before repair

Firefly AURII Secret Mini before repair.
After repair

So yes, i am absolutely not happy only to find out my phone has been downgraded and that I had to miss it for about three weeks. And yes, of course I am happy my phone is back, but I am pretty sure if I update it now, as, yes, it says there is an update available, it may have the same issue again.

My main annoyance is that I guess they could have just made an update available through Google Play instead of capturing my phone for three weeks. And if I am right and the problem is related to the update, then the problem is NOT solved, as I, or any other owner, may just accidentally update the phone. As the update available says indeed FIREFLYMOBILE_SECRETmini_V003_20170503_20170503-1504, which resembles the build number that was installed on my phone before I returned it to Firefly.

Firefly, I think you can and need to do better. As no, I am not happy with the SMS app that is installed right now as it does not group the messages.

To be continued I guess…

Bad news

I think about two days ago I started to have the feeling the problem might still be there, but it only became obvious today, as only today the internal memory filled up very quickly again, going from 1.5 Gb to more than 2 Gb in half a day or one day or so. Very strange, as the first few days I had my phone back I had the feeling the problem was not there. So over the last week I slowly installed all my apps again, and yes, formatted the SD Card mixed again in a rate 40/60 as before.

So well, I went back to the store to report the problem. And the staff in the store agreed that the phone really has a problem, has the problem again. However, the tech people in Manila said something like the RAM is the problem, like 512 Mb is not enough and is causing the problem. Finally I said something that an option for me was to get my money back as the phone is not usable for me in this way. Then they offered 75% of the original price, which initially I did not agree with

Anyhow, I became kind of angry, got kind of very angry partly, so I decided to leave and go back tomorrow or so, insisting that I just wanted the full amount as a refund, not a 25% deduction, as to me the phone has a factory defect, which the Manila office keeps denying.

And right now I don’t really know what to do, as to me the solution is very simple: just put a software upgrade online fixing the problem. As actually I am very happy with the phone. It feels nice and does everything I want, like I can install all the apps I normally use in daily life. So actually I rather have the phone fixed than having a refund, as that would also mean I have to spend more, as my next phone will certainly be a 1Gb/8Gb phone again, not a 512Mb/4Gb phone. And price of that is around PHP 3,000.00, not the PHP 1,999.00 I paid for this one.

As again, same as with some other issues I had before, if I am not satisfied with the solution the brand will lose and I will lose, just losing trust, where Firefly actually had gained a lot of trust with my Vision 4 Plus that was a very good deal and made me also decide to buy this phone (and keep it) as I just trusted the brand.

So Firefly, please fix the problem and please don’t deny there is a problem, as there are many phones out there having 512Mb RAM and 4 Gb internal memory and as far as I know virtually all of them work very fine.

And yes, I really like the Firefly AURII Secret Mini, so I would not be happy letting it go.

Letting go

And it is September 15, 2017 now, a day after I went back to the store, and last night I decided that I was really tired of this whole thing and that I would just buy a new phone and take whatever refund they give me for this Firefly AURII Secret Mini. So yes, this afternoon I bought a new phone, a branded one now, not the Lenovo A1000 as I planned earlier, but the Lenovo A2010-a as it has a better front camera and as I like the 4.5 inch screen of the Firefly AURII Secret Mini.

Just bring it to the service center.

So yes, I learned a lot from this whole experience, from the falling and braking of my beloved Firefly Vision 4 Plus to the experience of a new phone with lower specs to an annoying problem Firefly is not able to or does not want to fix. Imagine, I continued my conversation, reporting the current status of the issue and the response I got was “bring it to a service center”. Well, I just got it back from the service center, and the issue is not solved. I even suggested it probably just needs a minor update that they can easily put online. But no, they didn’t get my point. Anyhow, that was after I had already decided to let go of the Firefly. And yes, also of the Firefly brand for now. As they fully lost the trust with me.

Indeed, not easy to build trust, which they really had with me, but relatively easy to lose it.

No refund (yet)

So I went back to the store today, Wednesday September 20, 2017, in order to get my refund, whether with or without 25% deducted. As I had understood that Firefly had accepted my suggestion to just have my money back and, as far as I understood, offered me a refund with 25% deduction, where I suggested to the store attendant to try to get a 100% refund as to me the phone is just not usable.

So today I went back to just get my refund, phone prepared, including box, headset and charger, only to find out that somehow the deal was off, or had never been there. Or at least not approved today. They asked for my number and they would call me. I have no clue why, but we’ll see. Just some time wasted as I went especially tot he store to return the phone and get my refund.

So another disappointment, and yes, it was my choice to buy a new phone already. But no, no Firefly for me again.

End of story?

Yesterday, September 28, 2017, I went back to the store not really knowing what to expect as I had not had any phone call or something. To my surprise I received a refund and even to my bigger surprise I received back the full amount, PHP 1,999.00. So I guess that is my end of the story, and also my end with having a relationship with the Firefly brand, as I am still not fully happy with what happened and as I would still have preferred to keep the phone, as I really liked it.

Anyhow, I think Firefly did the best they could, giving me a full refund for the phone. Maybe even better than what is common in the industry in these kinds of cases. So yes, thank you Firefly for acknowledging the problem and taking action on it.

Of course I would like to know what happens after, as I did not do a factory reset on the phone, so they might be able to analyze what files are causing the issue with the phone.

And well, my Lenovo A2010-a is doing fine, even though it has Android 5.1 Lollipop and not Android 6.0 Marshmallow, meaning I can’t move apps to the SD card, so I need more internal memory and have no option to do anything really as it is full. And it is already half full with quite a lot of bloatware, more than the Firefly AURII Secret Mini. But it seems to work fine until now and indeed gives a bit more of a feeling of being engineered better than the Firefly. Especially battery life is much longer than the Firefly.

Unexpectedly there is more to this issue.

And a possible solution is the adb command ‘logcat -c’.