# What phone you use as your daily driver? And, a discussion of them.



## Kissamies (Sep 29, 2021)

iPhone 8 Plus here


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## ThaiTaffy (Sep 29, 2021)

Doogee s88 pro


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## TheLostSwede (Sep 29, 2021)

Zenfone 6.


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## Chomiq (Sep 29, 2021)

OnePlus 7 6/128


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## Jetster (Sep 29, 2021)

I'm cheap and I hate phones. Moto G stylus


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## Mussels (Sep 29, 2021)

Google Pixel 4 XL. Love it, love it, love it - but google make a few mistakes here and there.
volume for notifications and ringtone are paired? why?
Widevine security was killed in an update, cant do HD streaming now. No fix.

Secondary phone is a samsung A21s, which has horrible performance and a crap LCD but amazing AMAZING battery life - we're talking 5 days of regular use, 2 days of non stop video, or multiple weeks without a SIM (as i use it)... it's the perfect spare, in other words


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## ixi (Sep 29, 2021)

S20+


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## hat (Sep 29, 2021)

I use a cheap Blu Studio Mini. No reason for anything better really.


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## ThaiTaffy (Sep 29, 2021)

I tend to break phones within weeks, I'm slightly clumsy but alot of the time it's just awful luck, shattered screens from 6 inch drops, even running over one while reversing a forklift.

My current phone (doogee s88 pro) was reasonably cheap for what it is and it seems many parts are just outright stolen from other manufacturers so as long as you know who, the parts are available.
  I've had it almost 1 year and it's been slightly punished,metal housing has a few dents and it's been dropped too many times to count but it still functions as new. Reverse wireless charging means I'm the families power bank as the 10,000mah battery is stupidly impressive and with the pandemic I've got into the habit of wishing it with the dishes once a day.


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## silentbogo (Sep 29, 2021)

I'm suffering through the pains of having Poco F3 as a daily driver. Proximity sensor issue got better, but not completely fixed yet.
I still keep my Nokia 8 as a backup, but I'm a bit weary of using it daily. It was an excellent phone when I bought it, but just when warranty expired something would go wrong every once in awhile (screen, camera AF, fingerprint scanner, and later - bad signal and random reboots).


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## WatEagle (Sep 29, 2021)

Samsung a8 2018, still going, the only thing is that I should change the battery after 3 years of use, but they used the stupid back glass panel, a bit of a nightmare


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## Muaadib (Sep 29, 2021)

Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro. My phone usage is low so i stay below the $200 range (previous phone was Moto G).


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## claylomax (Sep 29, 2021)

Xperia XA1 Ultra


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## Space Lynx (Sep 29, 2021)

Samsung Galaxy A30, I dislike it. It reboots randomly, was laggy as crap until Android 11 update got pushed to it, and overall has been a bad experience. Really wanting to upgrade it, but just nothing interests me right now. I almost went with an iphone 13, cause I have never had anything nice before... but then I was like nah... I like my money.


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## ThaiTaffy (Sep 29, 2021)

WatEagle said:


> Samsung a8 2018, still going, the only thing is that I should change the battery after 3 years of use, but they used the stupid back glass panel, a bit of a nightmare


Order a replacement back glass they are cheap that way if you break it at least you have a replacement ready.


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## johnspack (Sep 29, 2021)

Ancient Galaxy S7.  Still works perfect!


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## FireFox (Sep 29, 2021)

Samsung Galaxy S8+ ( 4 years old )

Note: i can have a free phone every 2 years i got the S10+ and sold it.


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## WatEagle (Sep 29, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> It reboots randomly, was laggy as crap until Android 11 update got pushed to it, and overall has been a bad experience.


In my experience OneUi is beautiful but also really slow especially as it ages. I uninstalled the crap out via adb but still kinda laggy once in a while



ThaiTaffy said:


> Order a replacement back glass they are cheap that way if you break it at least you have a replacement ready.


Probably I'm gonna do it  via a repair shop, I would still like the IP68 waterproofing


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## Outback Bronze (Sep 29, 2021)

iPhone 7+

Bought new and still going : ) Just..


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## ThaiTaffy (Sep 29, 2021)

WatEagle said:


> Probably I'm gonna do it  via a repair shop, I would still like the IP68 waterproofing


Then you might be better off doing it yourself.


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## Palindrome (Sep 29, 2021)

Moto G5S Plus. Was barely mid-range when I got it 4 years ago, and it's really starting to struggle now. Can basically only keep one app open at a time, otherwise massive slowdowns and freezes occur. YouTube playback will occasionally freeze and then resume, Spotify will freeze up while scrolling through my playlists, etc etc. Battery only last about a day if I actually use my phone, otherwise I get about 2 days if it's just cellular standby. 

I absolutely love the build quality though, it is just a fat brick of aluminium and has stood the test of time very well. The front-facing fingerprint sensor is decent, but I mainly love it for the swipe gestures you can use to replace the on-screen buttons.

Definitely need to replace it, but so many phones are just glossy plastic copies of each other with no aux port and more megapixels and cameras than any human could ever need. May have a look at some of the phones here if there are any that suit my liking


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## Nuckles56 (Sep 29, 2021)

IPhone 11 pro, my second in fact after the first met an untimely death after 3 months of owning it. Stress, sleep deprivation, phone in shirt pocket and chainsaws are a bad combination


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## P4-630 (Sep 29, 2021)

Galaxy S7


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## FireFox (Sep 29, 2021)

P4-630 said:


> Galaxy S7


I still have my S5+
One of the best.


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## elmatic (Sep 29, 2021)

Still (or should say: again!) happy with my old Samsung Galaxy S6 (Modelname: SM-G920f).
Short after the 24 months, battery was getting real worse (less than 6-12 hours!).

BUT then found an article on custom roms and mods, so...

Now it is smooth, faster and 3 days battery life!!!
I will try how long this holds...


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## P4-630 (Sep 29, 2021)

FireFox said:


> I still have my S5+
> One of the best.



I'm using a sim-only plan now with 1GB data, unlimited calls/sms @ 11 EUR/month


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## WatEagle (Sep 29, 2021)

P4-630 said:


> I'm using a sim-only plan now with 1GB data, unlimited calls/sms @ 11 EUR/month


I don't want to flex but which country? Here in italy I get 105GB(with unlimited socials), 1000 minutes of calls and 1000 sms a month for 15€. That's amazing the gap


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## P4-630 (Sep 29, 2021)

WatEagle said:


> Not to flex but which country?


Europe/NL  , I rarely use mobile data so 1GB is good enough for me, mostly use wifi where I'm at.


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## WatEagle (Sep 29, 2021)

P4-630 said:


> Europe/NL  , I rarely use mobile data so 1GB is good enough for me, mostly use wifi where I'm at.


Fair enough, I would also say that here in italy they all go crazy with the phone like they can't live without it, that's why data is cheap


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## dorsetknob (Sep 29, 2021)

HTC Desire 320 its getting on but still good ( and i can replace the Battery as its designed to be replaced )


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## Shihab (Sep 29, 2021)

Nokia 7 Plus.
Prolly would've still been on my ol' Moto G5, if it wasn't for **** thieves! -_-


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## FireFox (Sep 29, 2021)

P4-630 said:


> I'm using a sim-only plan now with 1GB data, unlimited calls/sms @ 11 EUR/month


I pay €89 more than you 

My phone with 30GB data, unlimited calls/sms, Wife's phone with 20GB data, unlimited calls/sms, internet at home + receiver and tv channels, a Simcard for my Daughter's tablet.
Can't complain at all.

Forgot to mention: every 2 years a free phone.



WatEagle said:


> I would also say that here in italy they all go crazy with the phone like they can't live without it, that's why data is cheap


Tell me about it.
I lived in Italy for 6 years, i know how it's.


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## P4-630 (Sep 29, 2021)

My favorite mobile phone by design is still the motorola RAZR v3 (had 2 in the past, lost one in a taxi...  )

Wished they could make a smartphone of it with keeping the keypad.


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## FireFox (Sep 29, 2021)

Loved the Motorola StarTAC with the cute antenna


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## arczi19 (Sep 29, 2021)

FireFox said:


> I pay €89 more than you
> 
> My phone with 30GB data, unlimited calls/sms, Wife's phone with 20GB data, unlimited calls/sms, internet at home + receiver and tv channels, a Simcard for my Daughter's tablet.
> Can't complain at all.
> ...



It doesn't sound like a free phone if you're paying 100 euro per month


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## 1freedude (Sep 29, 2021)

OnePlus 6T running LineageOS 18.1.  No Google or fb


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## AhokZYashA (Sep 29, 2021)

my current daily driver phone is Asus ROG Phone 2
i chose this phone because of the battery life, 3.5mm jack, and dual front facing stereo speakers which are amazing


secondary phone for music listening, reading and occasional video watching is Sony Xperia XZ Premium (yay for 4K screen)


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## freeagent (Sep 29, 2021)

I’m using an iPhone XS Max..


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## P4-630 (Sep 29, 2021)

The outside design of the latest razr is ok but I just miss the old keypad when you flip it open...


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## Hyderz (Sep 29, 2021)

iphone 12promax 256gb 
will be my phone for the next 5 years


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## mb194dc (Sep 29, 2021)

Pixel 4, already dropped it and had to change the screen out. Slippery!

Kept by pixel 1 for nearly 5 years before it just changing battery once before it died.


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## WatEagle (Sep 29, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Tell me about it.
> I lived in Italy for 6 years, i know how it's.


Essentially from what I can see daily from kids to even grandmas are on socials, for ALOT of time. Heck even my sister use her phone 25+ hours a week (too much for me, max I use it 1 hr a day) and the main thing they use is tiktok and instagram (far less ultimately, mostly tiktok). 
Then since wifi and fiber coverage isn't that great and vastly different from city to countryside we  use tons of data. Also in the last 3/4 years arrived Iliad and changed completely the market and older operators had to adjust their plans to the market. That's when data started to be really cheap
From personal experience my sister used almost 80Gb of internet only on tiktok in 2 months, that's like  downloading GTA V from scratch


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## FireFox (Sep 29, 2021)

arczi19 said:


> It doesn't sound like a free phone if you're paying 100 euro per month


Re-read all what i get for €100


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## arczi19 (Sep 29, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Re-read all what i get for €100



I've read it already and I stand by what I've said - perhaps it's a good deal in the country where you're living (Germany?) but not so much when I look it a it through the perspective of the country I know of (UK).

Unless you're implying you're wife is also getting a brand new phone every 2 years?


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## bonehead123 (Sep 29, 2021)

S21+, Note 20 Ultra, iPhone 11 (until next week, when she switches to a 13pro )


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## FireFox (Sep 29, 2021)

WatEagle said:


> Also in the last 3/4 years arrived Iliad and changed completely the market and older operators had to adjust their plans to the market


I thought that Vodafone was still the leader in the market, long time since i was last time in Italy.
I just know/remember, Vodafone - Tim and Wind


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## RJARRRPCGP (Sep 29, 2021)

Since July 26, 2019, the Samsung Galaxy S10+


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## FireFox (Sep 29, 2021)

arczi19 said:


> Unless you're implying you're wife is also getting a brand new phone every 2 years?


Yes she gets a phone too.



arczi19 said:


> perhaps it's a good deal in the country where you're living (Germany?)


For a Deutsche Telekom customer is a great deal, they are expensive but their services are worth the price.


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## arczi19 (Sep 29, 2021)

FireFox said:


> Yes she gets a phone too.
> 
> 
> For a Deutsche Telekom customer is a great deal, they are expensive but their services are worth the price.



Ah thats awesome. I'm currently paying £4 per month for 8GB data with unlimited call/text, but phones I tend to buy outright - currently on iPhone 11 Pro Max.


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## Ferd (Sep 29, 2021)

P4-630 said:


> My favorite mobile phone by design is still the motorola RAZR v3 (had 2 in the past, lost one in a taxi...  )
> 
> Wished they could make a smartphone of it with keeping the keypad.
> 
> View attachment 218676View attachment 218677


Just got one from eBay , It’s carrier locked sadly 
The phone feels and looks amazing for its age :d


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## ThaiTaffy (Sep 29, 2021)

I pay €30 a year for unlimited 4g in Thailand I don't call anyone or sms and if I do it's VoIP


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## FireFox (Sep 29, 2021)

arczi19 said:


> I'm currently paying £4 per month for 8GB data with unlimited call/text,


Now i hate you  
That's pretty cheap, when i used to live in the UK i always bought a £10 Top-up, was enough for me.


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## TheoneandonlyMrK (Sep 29, 2021)

Pixel ,4A only complaint is no two day battery, lasts a day but.

On a bit pre pay 100GB adequate calls etc, £20.


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## WatEagle (Sep 29, 2021)

FireFox said:


> I thought that Vodafone was still the leader in the market, long time since i was last time in Italy.
> I just know/remember, Vodafone - Tim and Wind


I still use vodafone but i can say that's far from being the leader. Instead wind and tre became a single operator and now has more users than Vodafone. On the other hand we have  iliad, Keena mobile and other operators that are relatively new and are associated to Vodafone etc but with a lower cost


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## Sithaer (Sep 29, 2021)

Realme 8 6/128 4G Punk Black _'no cringe text on the back'_ since 2 weeks or so.

So far I have no real issues with the phone, works as it should and the battery life is good.
I'm not a heavy user but I do game on it casually and watch YT on it so it should last me a fair bit of time just like my previous Meizu M6 Note which I used for 3+ years and its still in solid condition.



silentbogo said:


> I'm suffering through the pains of having Poco F3 as a daily driver. Proximity sensor issue got better, but not completely fixed yet.
> I still keep my Nokia 8 as a backup, but I'm a bit weary of using it daily. It was an excellent phone when I bought it, but just when warranty expired something would go wrong every once in awhile (screen, camera AF, fingerprint scanner, and later - bad signal and random reboots).



I almost bought a Poco X3 Pro instead of this Realme but some ppl who own the phone told me to stay away cause it can develop various issues and I just couldn't take the risk knowing that I buy phones for 3-4 years at least.
Oh well at least I don't have to carry that big ass phone with me so thats a +.


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## GerKNG (Sep 29, 2021)

S20


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## AusWolf (Sep 29, 2021)

Samsung Galaxy A20e, because cheap phones have better battery life than expensive ones, but they run Messenger and mobile banking just as well. Also, it fits into my pocket, and I can use it with one hand, which is a must.


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## TheLostSwede (Sep 29, 2021)

ThaiTaffy said:


> I pay €30 a year for unlimited 4g in Thailand I don't call anyone or sms and if I do it's VoIP


Isn't that limited to something like 10Mbps though?


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## ThaiTaffy (Sep 29, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> Isn't that limited to something like 10Mbps though?


100Mbps as far as I know

Ahh yes 10Mbps but if I need faster I can pay 50pence to get 100Mbps for the day


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## TheLostSwede (Sep 29, 2021)

ThaiTaffy said:


> 100Mbps as far as I know
> 
> Ahh yes 10Mbps but if I need faster I can pay 50pence to get 100Mbps for the day


The subunit to Euros are cents, not pence.


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## ThaiTaffy (Sep 29, 2021)

Potatoes, tomatoes their all the same value pretty much now.


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## Liquid Cool (Sep 29, 2021)

I use a Moto G6 Tracfone stripped down and de-googled to the bare minimum.  No account, paid in cash.  Ran me 79.99 for the phone and a year of service, no monthly fee.  Bought several at once.  I'm set until the end of 2023, then I'll rinse and repeat although probably with a "stupid phone" or a linux phone.

Here is a current example of what Tracfone has on offer:

Moto G from ebay.

They have a few newer Samsung's as well, although...I personally like the battery and durability of the Motorola.  If needed, you can refill minutes with a card purchased from Walmart(or right through the phone if you have an account).  I haven't had to do that on mine.

Never owned a cellphone before 2020.

Best,

Liquid Cool


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## dgianstefani (Sep 29, 2021)

Galaxy S10+ Ceramic white 512gb - Hong Kong edition for the unlocked bootloader+snapdragon 865 chipset. Owned since new no contract.

Google Pixel 2 as backup. (got for £50 3 months ago).

Recently replaced the battery of the s10+, since I needed to replace the screen after throwing it onto the bed from the couch when things got frisky with the GF.  4000mAh lasts 2 days.

£300 repair, but worthwhile I suppose as it's a £1k phone which I've used heavily for 3 years, and a new battery + OLED will keep it going for at least another 3 years.


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## Mr Bill (Sep 29, 2021)

Old iPhone 6s, still works great for all my personal needs.


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## dcf-joe (Sep 29, 2021)

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra here in the United States.

I use Visible as my service provider, $25 a month for unlimited everything and 5G.


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## ThrashZone (Sep 29, 2021)

Hi,
iPhone SE black 64gb only free iphone I've ever gotten from xfinity mobile 25.us month seems fine 

Still have a iPone 4 & iPhone 5s until at&t dropped support switched to above bye at&t phones still work well and in great shape


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## DR4G00N (Sep 29, 2021)

LG Velvet 5G because my provider updated their network and didn't have any older gen phones and everything good was at least $100+ a month.

Other than it only being half as fast as an S20 it works pretty good. I hate the glass back though, who ever decided that was a good idea? Just a total fingerprint magnet.


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## micropage7 (Sep 29, 2021)

still using samsung galaxy a5 2017


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## JalleR (Sep 29, 2021)

SGS 20+ really happy with it, but i have ordered a SGZ Flip 3


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## jayjr1105 (Sep 29, 2021)

Pixel 5, 2 day battery piece of cake.  Best smartphone I've ever owned.  Been on beta Android 12 too since May.  Some bugs but nothing horrendous.


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## Susquehannock (Sep 29, 2021)

Galaxy s4. Got it free when upgrading my account over seven years ago. Was actually looking at flip phones because I don't have much need for a fancy smart phone. My monthly data usage averages well below 1gb. Mostly google maps and weather radar.


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## Space Lynx (Sep 29, 2021)

Susquehannock said:


> Galaxy s4. Got it free when upgrading my account over seven years ago. Was actually looking at flip phones because I don't have much need for a fancy smart phone. My monthly data usage averages well below 1gb. Mostly google maps and weather radar.



how does your battery still even work? that's insane.  unless you strictly only use your phone for the random phone call once in awhile...


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## jayjr1105 (Sep 29, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> how does your battery still even work? that's insane.  unless you strictly only use your phone for the random phone call once in awhile...


Replaceable battery in that model.  Just order one up on ebay or aliexpress and viola


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## Susquehannock (Sep 29, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> how does your battery still even work? that's insane.  unless you strictly only use your phone for the random phone call once in awhile...


$10 replacement Somesang battery about 1.5 years ago. And yeah. Calls and texts are roughly 90% percent of it. Only got the smart phone because it was free. Except data charges of course.
[edit] - ability to replace battery is one of main reason I stick with the s4. Surprised the original lasted so long. Soooo many of my friends had to replace their nearly new phones because the integral battery crapped out. Seems ridiculous to me.


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## Space Lynx (Sep 29, 2021)

jayjr1105 said:


> Replaceable battery in that model.  Just order one up on ebay or aliexpress and viola



lovely. shame companies don't do replaceable batteries more easily and through official channels to boot.  

if they actually cared about climate change and not short term greed they would.  but eh.


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## P4-630 (Sep 29, 2021)

JalleR said:


> SGS 20+ really happy with it, but i have ordered a SGZ Flip 3



Hope it lasts since it's gen 3 now.... Does samsung still put out a number of folds it should handle in the warranty?


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## oxrufiioxo (Sep 29, 2021)

Note 20 ultra..... I swap phones every two years to whatever catches my eye.


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## Athlonite (Sep 29, 2021)

Oppo A72 the only thing that pisses me off about it is the so called USB type C port yes it's it a type c connector but it's backed up by a shitty USB2.0 controller so plugging it into a PC's type c port won't get you 18W charging nor will it get you USB3.1 gen 1 or 2 speeds but other than that the phone works great nothing I've run on it to date has bogged it down or made it freeze up needing to reboot the phone and it's just had an update to Android 11 so yay


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## outpt (Sep 29, 2021)

iPhone 11
forever!


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## Splinterdog (Sep 29, 2021)

I've had a Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra since last October and it's the best phone/camera I've ever had, but with further Galaxy Note phones in doubt, I'll be hanging onto it for a while longer. The Spigen Tough Armour case, 256Gb of storage, 8GB of RAM, 108 Megapixel camera and an SD card slot really sealed the deal for me.
The only aspect that would make me change is 5G, but I can't see that arriving in Argentina for quite some time.


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## freeagent (Sep 29, 2021)

I might upgrade to last years phone in 6 months or so if my carrier has any certified preowned models on discount. I bought my XS Max 256 for literally half price, and I swear it was a brand new phone. I haven't let it go dead, but I have worked it pretty hard with Mario Kart during my 10 months off, and the dam battery is still over 92%. I'm going to have to drop it or something to get a new one lol.. but its a tough phone, regular drops don't seem to work lol.. That money I paid for Apple Care is the same as a replacement phone.. We still have our 4S, 5S and 7.. and a few iPads. I did have an S3 once.. I stuck an Anker 4400mah battery in it and charged it once a week.. it was great! But the hardware sucked. But you could run utorrent.. so not bad I guess..


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## mtosev (Sep 29, 2021)

Blackview A80Pro. I had the phone for over a year now. I paid only 122 eur for it. I'm surprised that there is even an official upgrade to Android 10 considering how cheap was the phone in the first place.


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## RealKGB (Sep 29, 2021)

iPhone 6S. Recently replaced the battery for $50 so the battery lasts 2 days instead of 2 hours.
It is the 16GB version which is annoying since I have to play The App Shuffle with offloading and installing apps every so often, but it doesn't bother me all that much (and the phone was free so I ain't complaining). The heaviest thing I run on it is Ingress which is a battery-muncher, but it lasts more than 4 hours now which is plenty and no slowdowns unless I'm feeling crazy and play a very graphically-heavy GD level.


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## AusWolf (Sep 29, 2021)

micropage7 said:


> still using samsung galaxy a5 2017


I used to have the 2016 model. Solid little phone.  Or at least it was back in the days.


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## The red spirit (Sep 29, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> lovely. shame companies don't do replaceable batteries more easily and through official channels to boot.
> 
> if they actually cared about climate change and not short term greed they would.  but eh.


Not this argument again. Many people only keep their phones for 2-3 years. There's really no point for replaceable anything in phones. They are just cheap electronic devices with limited usable lifespan. I have kept my previous phone for 5 and half years and battery was still kinda okay. Surely not as good as when it was new, but adequate nonetheless. Batteries don't really degrade that much over years.


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## Nuke Dukem (Sep 29, 2021)

tl;dr - Nokia 808 PureView. Daily driver for about 5 years now. Pretty much useless as a smartphone these days, but it answers calls and shoots pics like a motherclucker 



Spoiler: Wall of text with my impressions



The 808. The Legend. The last of the Mohicans. Took the other players the better part of a decade to catch up to its camera.

Ever since it lauched I wanted one. Then in late 2016 I finally looked around. Got it crazy cheap second hand (about $50, when good ones were fetching about $240), then replaced the cracked digitizer myself and since early 2017 I've been using it as a daily driver.

Pros:
+ camera (duh) with an actual xenon flash
+ small compared to most modern phones
+ can be used with one hand
+ actually comfortable and safe to hold (because it's so thicc)
+ pretty good AMOLED display (even if low res)
+ hardware buttons for screen lock, calls and menu, camera, even LED flashlight (ridiculously useful!)
+ offline GPS with pretty good maps
+ 3.5 mm port
+ microSD slot
+ replaceable battery
+ FM radio
+ FM transmitter (never seen this on any other phone)
+ the alarms ring even if the phone is off

Cons:
- Viber/WhatsApp/fb/skype/etc. support was naturally dropped ages ago
- modern web pages are so heavy that the browser sometimes makes the phone hang
- the GPS no longer syncs for some reason
- the 2-stage camera button won't do stage 1 anymore, so I have to manually tap on the display to focus, pretty annoying
- something's constantly filling up the system storage and for the life of me I can't figure out what
- the 3.5 mm port rarely works anymore, possibly because the whole thing is in dire need of a teardown and cleanup 

Still, it does calls and awesome photos, especially if you know what you're doing, which is most of what I expect a phone to do (I'm no power user). And I still love it very much!  Such a cute chunky boy! 

I'm gonna have to replace it eventually, and it's probably gonna be for some phone from a smaller Chinese brand, because none of the big players make smaller phones anymore. A 4" screen is my upper limit. In that regard, I think Apple had it right with the iPhone 4/5. Now, I know I'm in the minority here, but I absolutely _hate_ the modern glass slab monstrosities they dare call phones nowadays, which you can neither operate properly with one hand, nor comfortably fit in a pocket.


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## neatfeatguy (Sep 29, 2021)

Samsung S8 - going on year 4 with it once December gets here.

Battery still holds a decent charge. I'm not on it much so usually by the end of the day it's still around 65%+


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## The red spirit (Sep 29, 2021)

Samsung Galaxy A50. Bought in 2019, hopefully it will last another 2-3 years. Pretty decent mid range phone.


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## jayjr1105 (Sep 29, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> Not this argument again. Many people only keep their phones for 2-3 years. There's really no point for replaceable anything in phones. They are just cheap electronic devices with limited usable lifespan. I have kept my previous phone for 5 and half years and battery was still kinda okay. Surely not as good as when it was new, but adequate nonetheless. Batteries don't really degrade that much over years.


My Pixel 3 that I gave my daughter was still amazing.  Battery was shot after me using it for 2 1/2 years.  Would had been nice to be able to replace it easily.


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## morapp90 (Sep 29, 2021)

iPhone XS


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## The red spirit (Sep 29, 2021)

jayjr1105 said:


> My Pixel 3 that I gave my daughter was still amazing.  Battery was shot after me using it for 2 1/2 years.  Would had been nice to be able to replace it easily.


I find it hard to believe. It didn't have a good battery life when it was new, it was passable at best. It only took some degradation to make acceptable battery life into unacceptable one.


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## Oasis (Sep 29, 2021)

Note 4 until it died 2 months ago...  I now daily drive the LG V20 H910 flashed US996 to it, used ADB to remove bloatware and use OpenGL Skia 

Removeable batteries 

I normally kept my phones for 6-8 years a bit less than my laptop's 8-10 years


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## The red spirit (Sep 29, 2021)

Mussels said:


> Secondary phone is a samsung A21s, which has horrible performance and a crap LCD but amazing AMAZING battery life - we're talking 5 days of regular use, 2 days of non stop video, or multiple weeks without a SIM (as i use it)... it's the perfect spare, in other words


If by awful LCD you mean that screen has high temperature (way above 6500K kelvins), you can fix that. Go to eye comfort shield and adjust it to what seems decent. All it does is reducing kelvins. Cheap Galaxies tend to have Kelvins cranked up to wazoo. Or you can use vivid screen mode and adjust kelvins that way, there's also advanced mode to adjust each color brightness, but only use it if you have some odd tint. Adjusting kelvins in vivid mode is exactly the same as using basic mode with eye filter.


----------



## Fangio1951 (Sep 29, 2021)

iphone XS and battery still lasts me around 5-6 days


----------



## INSTG8R (Sep 29, 2021)

iPhone 2020 SE


----------



## theFOoL (Sep 29, 2021)

I'm using a LG G4 t mobile Model just bc I can ha. I miss how phones were easy to take apart. That and battery removal. I have batteries to last me a life time *Yes a joke but thanks to a guy who sold a TQTHL 10K Battery for 20$. I have also a 6k from company Perfine in which I used in the past 

I just wish ROMs didn't have crappy drivers for the camera


----------



## 80-watt Hamster (Sep 29, 2021)

Motorola G7 Power


----------



## theFOoL (Sep 29, 2021)

80-watt Hamster said:


> Motorola G7 Power


Replacement Battery

I'm sure ebay or Amazon has the batteries (or... Aliexpress) 

Side Note - I hated at that time where companies copied Apples notch


----------



## The red spirit (Sep 29, 2021)

theFOoL said:


> Replacement Battery
> 
> I'm sure ebay or Amazon has the batteries


I love it when phone was worth 150 USD new and replacement battery is 33 USD /s

That's why no one should buy batteries from iFixit


----------



## theFOoL (Sep 29, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> I love it when phone was worth 150 USD new and replacement battery is 33 USD /s
> 
> That's why no one should buy batteries from iFixit


No No iFixit at least gives the model of the battery


----------



## docnorth (Sep 29, 2021)

Sony xz2, it’s 2018 model, bought it 2019 as a flash offer. Still very fast, good battery. Sensitive touchscreen if talking on ear, fortunately I mostly use bluetooth. Even it’s 18:9 ratio is narrow for me, I prefer 16:9 for work, but can’t find one anymore.


----------



## LTUGamer (Sep 29, 2021)

Not the common one - Oukitel K12.

I like how thick case, unpopular brand and strange materials (lether back and aluminium on sides) make people crazy about it. While I am enjoying superb battery lifetime and sufficient performance


----------



## theFOoL (Sep 29, 2021)

LTUGamer said:


> Not the common one - Oukitel K12.
> 
> I like how thick case, unpopular brand and strange materials (lether back and aluminium on sides) make people crazy about it. While I am enjoying superb battery lifetime and sufficient performance


I'm all about battery life man. Sucks our tech in that department hasn't changed much but I hear China is in testing on something of course. I hate how people "Back when I had a Doogee V80? forgot the model  but everybody at work say hey what phone is that. I said Doogee V80 then ask where's that company from. I said China based and they looked away.  Ah people where do ya think y'alls phone come from lol. Not like we have space here to build factors


----------



## lmille16 (Sep 29, 2021)

Fangio1951 said:


> iphone XS and battery still lasts me around 5-6 days



5-6 days? Do you not use your phone much or have a battery pack? Normal usage for me has me charging every night. 

On a iPhone XS as well. Probably not planning on upgrading for a few years or until it breaks.


----------



## Anth0789 (Sep 30, 2021)

Using the Samsung S21 Ultra since April, love it, had a Huawei P20 Pro before that also which was pretty decent.


----------



## The red spirit (Sep 30, 2021)

theFOoL said:


> I said China based and they looked away.  Ah people where do ya think y'alls phone come from lol. Not like we have space here to build factors


At least my Galaxy A50 is made in Vietnam. I remember that they used to be made in Korea. It's not really surprising, knowing that Samsung alone is responsible for liek half of Korea's GDP. And Samsung has tons of manufacturing facilities. They also make tanks, fridges, ships, cars, dryers and etc. Basically anything at least a bit electronic or moving. After reading more, Samsung also makes phones in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Turkey. They seemingly wanted to also make phones in China, but C19 dropped and it fell apart. Nokias before going bust, used to be made in Finland. That was 2016. Nokias later were made in Vietnam. Sony and Kyocera still makes phones in Japan. LG, before they went bust, made phones in Korea. Xiaomi, Huawei, Lenovo, Motorola, LG, HTC, Asus, Micromax to certain extent are made in India. HTC, Asus are made in Taiwan. Modern Blackberries are made in Canada. 

Not saying that China doesn't make most phones, it's just that China is losing stranglehold it once had. India seems to be a lot like China was a decade ago. It doesn't help them any, that China has political tensions with western world.


----------



## theFOoL (Sep 30, 2021)

Why oh Why... LINK


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Sep 30, 2021)

Samsung S10+ 1TB version. I use it more than I use my deskstop itself and I filled it up 500GB worth of pictures and videos. I even use a 1TB sd card for it. Also great phone with the headphone jack still remaining. I wish there is phone like this with everything in it like SD card and headphone jack plus 1TB plus space. S10+ is almost perfect if the battery is replaceable. S10+ is also the first phone with wifi 6 or wireless AX having wifi speed almost as fast as Lan is amazing.


----------



## Auxityne (Sep 30, 2021)

Unlocked Samsung Galaxy S21+ (256 GB) that I managed to pick up for about $300 less than MSRP. My only minor gripe is that I wish it had a rear- or side-mounted fingerprint reader.


----------



## yotano211 (Sep 30, 2021)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> Samsung S10+ 1TB version. I use it more than I use my deskstop itself and I filled it up 500GB worth of pictures and videos. I even use a 1TB sd card for it. Also great phone with the headphone jack still remaining. I wish there is phone like this with everything in it like SD card and headphone jack plus 1TB plus space. S10+ is almost perfect if the battery is replaceable. S10+ is also the first phone with wifi 6 or wireless AX having wifi speed almost as fast as Lan is amazing.


I have the same phone model, I love the amount of storage it has. I can install all of my shows and movies on it and watch them when I get off from work and relax in the truck. I also have a 256gb SD card, I want to get a larger one but I'm waiting until prices fall a bit more.



MIRTAZAPINE said:


> Samsung S10+ 1TB version. I use it more than I use my deskstop itself and I filled it up 500GB worth of pictures and videos. I even use a 1TB sd card for it. Also great phone with the headphone jack still remaining. I wish there is phone like this with everything in it like SD card and headphone jack plus 1TB plus space. S10+ is almost perfect if the battery is replaceable. S10+ is also the first phone with wifi 6 or wireless AX having wifi speed almost as fast as Lan is amazing.


When you transfer videos to the computer, how fast is your transfer rate. On my phone its is only about 36mb/s. I thought it would be faster.


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Sep 30, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> At least my Galaxy A50 is made in Vietnam. I remember that they used to be made in Korea. It's not really surprising, knowing that Samsung alone is responsible for liek half of Korea's GDP. And Samsung has tons of manufacturing facilities. They also make tanks, fridges, ships, cars, dryers and etc. Basically anything at least a bit electronic or moving. After reading more, Samsung also makes phones in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Turkey. They seemingly wanted to also make phones in China, but C19 dropped and it fell apart. Nokias before going bust, used to be made in Finland. That was 2016. Nokias later were made in Vietnam. Sony and Kyocera still makes phones in Japan. LG, before they went bust, made phones in Korea. Xiaomi, Huawei, Lenovo, Motorola, LG, HTC, Asus, Micromax to certain extent are made in India. HTC, Asus are made in Taiwan. Modern Blackberries are made in Canada.
> 
> Not saying that China doesn't make most phones, it's just that China is losing stranglehold it once had. India seems to be a lot like China was a decade ago. It doesn't help them any, that China has political tensions with western world.


My Galaxy S10+ was made in Vietnam as well. Looks like Samsung closed the China factory for their phones, sometime after 2014. (if they didn't the same year as well) My Galaxy S5 from 2014 was made in China.


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Sep 30, 2021)

yotano211 said:


> I have the same phone model, I love the amount of storage it has. I can install all of my shows and movies on it and watch them when I get off from work and relax in the truck. I also have a 256gb SD card, I want to get a larger one but I'm waiting until prices fall a bit more.
> 
> 
> When you transfer videos to the computer, how fast is your transfer rate. On my phone its is only about 36mb/s. I thought it would be faster.



I just did a test transfer now I could transfer a 1Gib video file under 10 seconds. It should be running  100Mib/s for me. I need to use a 3.0 type C cable though. It sound like your usb type C cable is at usb 2.0 speed being at 30Mib/s. It is hard to find type C usb 3.0 cable I used the cable that came from my portable ssd to make a transfer.

I downloaded tons of videos to my 1TB sd card is awesome little portable computer. Really easy that I forget to go my deskstop. Amazon have an occasional price drop for their 1TB sandisk card which I currently use in this phone.


----------



## Flanker (Sep 30, 2021)

Honor 20, the last Huawei phone with GMS


----------



## Hachi_Roku256563 (Sep 30, 2021)

Pixel 4a
Replacing a nokia 5.1 plus
Loved both
Am kinda limted though Only like stock android
No custom android versions or IOS for me


----------



## erocker (Sep 30, 2021)

I'm still on my Pixel 3 and it's still running strong. Battery still lasts almost two days for me. I do plan on getting something new in the next couple of months though. Just waiting for the Pixel 6 and whatever else is launching with it.


----------



## windwhirl (Sep 30, 2021)

Had to replace my outdated Lumia 640 XL a few months ago, went with a Moto G9 Power. Large 6000 mAh battery and good enough specs in general for me. I'm only using it for communications and browsing the web, so I'm expecting it to last me at least three years. Maybe five if I can get away with it.


----------



## yotano211 (Sep 30, 2021)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> I just did a test transfer now I could transfer a 1Gib video file under 10 seconds. It should be running  100Mib/s for me. I need to use a 3.0 type C cable though. It sound like your usb type C cable is at usb 2.0 speed being at 30Mib/s. It is hard to find type C usb 3.0 cable I used the cable that came from my portable ssd to make a transfer.
> 
> I downloaded tons of videos to my 1TB sd card is awesome little portable computer. Really easy that I forget to go my deskstop. Amazon have an occasional price drop for their 1TB sandisk card which I currently use in this phone.


I'm using the cable that came with the phone. I guess I'll need to find a correct cable. 
Since getting the phone I always wanted to get higher transfer speeds. 100mb/s would be awesome.


----------



## Khonjel (Sep 30, 2021)

Galaxy S II Plus


----------



## chrcoluk (Sep 30, 2021)

Still my one plus 6, but I have a new one plus 8 pro boxed for almost 2 months now as I havent had time to change over.


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Sep 30, 2021)

yotano211 said:


> I'm using the cable that came with the phone. I guess I'll need to find a correct cable.
> Since getting the phone I always wanted to get higher transfer speeds. 100mb/s would be awesome.



It really a great phone. Often time phone would run out of space before their unusable. The 1TB version makes it able to last a long time. Also the back for the 1TB is ceramic. I bought this phone 2nd hand and it look pristine due to that being harder than glass. There no 1TB phone aside from this from Samsung still or other manufacturer.  I can't think of any better phone than this. Ceramic back, 1TB space, micro-sd space, dual sim and trusty old headphone jack. It is Samsung last fully feature phone without compromises. Talking about transfer other phone still use type C usb 2.0.


----------



## wolf (Sep 30, 2021)

Galaxy S21 Ultra currently. Great phone, I like it a lot more than I thought I would.

Used to have iPhones, but put in an oversimplified statement, the nerd in me needs more customization ability. I swore off Samsungs years ago and loved a couple of Oneplus phones I had (most recently the amazing 7pro), and the S21 Ultra wasn't even on my maybe list until a mate hit me up knowing I was shopping for a phone and had a 50% off MSRP code I used, which made it like upper midrange price for the top-end model.

The Upgrade cycle is yearly, but it's because I cater for my wife and her mother too. So, I get a new phone, wife gets my old phone, her mum gets her old phone. Works well for them so instead of us all buying a phone every maybe 2-3 years, I get my cool new gadget every year, my wife consistently gets a 1-year-old flagship which suits her given I'm the techie one and pick fairly high end devices, and her mum gets a ~2-year-old phone every year which blew her old purchasing policy out of the water, which was use it well beond it's use-by date (flogged battery, broken screen, battered casing, no longer gets any updates etc)



arczi19 said:


> I'm currently paying £4 per month for 8GB data with unlimited call/text, but phones I tend to buy outright - currently on iPhone 11 Pro Max.


This is the way. For many years now I buy (preferably salary sacrifice) phones as I desire, and use a 'sim only' plan, currently $30 AUD per month for 30GB data, what you don't use rolls into a bank of up to 250GB (really handy for travel), unlimited everything else.


Susquehannock said:


> Galaxy s4.


Man I loved that phone, user replaceable battery for the win! plus I bet it still holds up reasonably well today, and there would surely be decent ROMs for it if you have the inclination.


----------



## sam_86314 (Sep 30, 2021)

LG V40. Was a great phone until I tried to replace a swelling battery. Slipped while trying to pry it out and nicked the back of the screen, which caused a patch of pixels to die and a vertical magenta line to appear on the screen. I managed to get ahold of another V40 to hold me over until I can justify buying a new phone.



Spoiler: So sad...











My biggest complaint about the V40 (aside from the lack of magical pull tabs on the battery) is the software. My original one is stuck on Android 9, and the replacement is stuck on Android 10 (which is much better). LineageOS does exist for the V40, but it's unofficial, tricky to install (need to mess around in QPST; Qualcomm's leaked maintenance tools), and isn't all that supported by its developer.

T-Mobile will be shutting down the old Sprint network, so _all_ of our phones will stop working in January. We'll probably switch providers when that time comes.

The phones I've got my eye on are the Google Pixel 4a and 5a and the OnePlus 8T. All of these phones look good for custom ROMs, and they also look to be easier to repair than the V40.


----------



## las (Sep 30, 2021)

iPhone 13 Mini as of today. Flagship performance in small form factor is what I need. Android phones can't deliver that.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 30, 2021)

Outback Bronze said:


> iPhone 7+
> 
> Bought new and still going : ) Just..


Gotta love Apple's long support. I suppose you also upgraded to iOS15?


----------



## las (Sep 30, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Gotta love Apple's long support. I suppose you also upgraded to iOS15?


Yep, that too, 5+ years of support is great.
Can't really see myself going back to Android. It's my 4th iPhone in a Row after being an Android user for many years.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 30, 2021)

las said:


> Yep, that too, 5+ years of support is great.
> Can't really see myself going back to Android. It's my 4th iPhone in a Row after being an Android user for many years.


I used Android for about 5 years before my current phone, I had Galaxy J5 (2015) -> Nexus 6 -> Nokia 5 -> Pixel -> Nokia 2.2 before I went back to iOS. Yeah I had an iPhone 4 before using Android phones. And before that, I had Symbian (Nokia E7).


----------



## las (Sep 30, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> I used Android for about 5 years before my current phone, I had Galaxy J5 (2015) -> Nexus 6 -> Nokia 5 -> Pixel -> Nokia 2.2 before I went back to iOS. Yeah I had an iPhone 4 before using Android phones. And before that, I had Symbian (Nokia E7).



My first iPhone was 6S  Had so many Android phones that I can't even remember them all. Last one was Samsung S5 and it was decent but Android phones exploded in size over the years and I have no need for a huge phone when I pretty much always are close to a PC/Laptop. I want a small, yet powerful, phone that I can control with one hand.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 30, 2021)

las said:


> My first iPhone was 6S  Had so many Android phones that I can't even remember them all. Last one was Samsung S5 and it was decent but Android phones exploded in size over the years and I have no need for a huge phone when I pretty much always are close to a PC/Laptop.


Yeah, I use PC way more too, and I just don't nees to have the most recent phone. Even my iP8+ feels damn snappy even it's already 4yrs old.


----------



## Outback Bronze (Sep 30, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> Gotta love Apple's long support. I suppose you also upgraded to iOS15?



Duuno what iOS I'm on. I just use my phone to make calls, check emails and the odd app or two.

I have had to update the iOS as some apps were made redundant if I didn't update the iOS.

Also, not sure if your being sarcastic about the apple support. Had an iPhone 6+ that shat itself about 24 months after buying brand new and the hardware warranty was only 12 months.

Hell even my retic controllers that I need for my business come with a 5 year warranty..

I was a bit skeptical about buying my iPhone 7+ for that reason but it's been good so far. Much better than my iPhone 6+ was that's for sure.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 30, 2021)

Outback Bronze said:


> Duuno what iOS I'm on. I just use my phone to make calls, check emails and the odd app or two.
> 
> I have had to update the iOS as some apps were made redundant if I didn't update the iOS.
> 
> ...


By support I mean that they still push new iOS versions to older phones. Even 6s from 2015 is supported by the most recent iOS15 which was released few days ago.


----------



## Splinterdog (Sep 30, 2021)

I'm trying to remember the last time I made an actual phone call on my phone


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 30, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> I'm trying to remember the last time I made an actual phone call on my phone


Heh, just called my mom about a hour ago


----------



## Outback Bronze (Sep 30, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> By support I mean that they still push new iOS versions to older phones



Yeah just wish the hardware warranty was longer on such expensive phones..


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 30, 2021)

Outback Bronze said:


> Yeah just wish the hardware warranty was longer on such expensive phones..


Agree here, though I bought mine used from a friend. The screen has a little crack though it doesn't bother usage, I can barely see it. My friend's cat dropped my phone from table and the screen took a hit, dammit.


----------



## GamerGuy (Sep 30, 2021)

Daily driver for myself is a Z Fold 2, with a Z Flip 3 and a Note 10+ as alternates should my Fold 2 be low on battery when I wanna go out. Bought a 2nd year warranty (Samsung Care+) for my Flip 3 as I intend to use it for more than a year.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 30, 2021)

GamerGuy said:


> Daily driver for myself is a Z Fold 2, with a Z Flip 3 and a Note 10+ as alternates should my Fold 2 be low on battery when I wanna go out. Bought a 2nd year warranty (Samsung Care+) for my Flip 3 as I intend to use it for more than a year.


I suppose they have fixed the problems they had in the first Flip/Fold ones.


----------



## las (Sep 30, 2021)

Outback Bronze said:


> Yeah just wish the hardware warranty was longer on such expensive phones..


iPhones are not really expensive compared to high-end Android phones like Samsung S series. Same price pretty much. However, iPhones always keep their prices much better. Tons of people are interested in buying iPhones on the used market, so price is way higher. Also, Apple keeps their pricing steady. Android phones gets cheaper and cheaper till they go EoL and gets replaced, this means that your old Android phone often is worth peanuts after 2 years.

Had 4 iPhones, zero issues on any of them, both hard- and software. The small software issues I have had, was all fixed very fast.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 30, 2021)

las said:


> iPhones are not really expensive compared to high-end Android phones like Samsung S series. Same price pretty much. However, iPhones always keep their prices much better. Tons of people are interested in buying iPhones on the used market, so price is way higher. Also, Apple keeps their pricing steady. Android phones gets cheaper and cheaper till they go EoL and gets replaced, this means that your old Android phone often is worth peanuts after 2 years.
> 
> Had 4 iPhones, zero issues on any of them, both hard- and software. The small software issues I have had, was all fixed very fast.


I suppose that for example Samsung has improved their support. Few years ago they put only max 2 OS updates on their phones.


----------



## las (Sep 30, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> I suppose that for example Samsung has improved their support. Few years ago they put only max 2 OS updates on their phones.



Yeah they do 2 years on their flagships now, I would like to see 3 or even 4 years minimum. Alot of people keep their phones for more than 2 years.

The cheapest androids generally have the worst track record for updates and bug-fixing in general.


----------



## Solaris17 (Sep 30, 2021)

I have a iPhone 12mini. I dislike big phones.

I actually just dislike phones. I still have the default wallpaper on this amd probably won’t ever change it. I need to call text and search the web.

I tried a few android’s and didn’t like the experience every time. Though the hardware was generally better.
I just want my phone Simple. I work with tech all day and phones are just an entire eco system I don’t have the time to worry about.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 30, 2021)

las said:


> Yeah they do 2 years on their flagships now, I would like to see 3 or even 4 years minimum. Alot of people keep their phones for more than 2 years.
> 
> The cheapest androids generally have the worst track record for updates and bug-fixing in general.


Truly agree with this.


Solaris17 said:


> I have a iPhone 12mini. I dislike big phones.
> 
> I actually just dislike phones. I still have the default wallpaper on this amd probably won’t ever change it. I need to call text and search the web.
> 
> ...


I feel you, on the other hand I like having as big phone, but on the other hand, it sucks to use one with one hand.


----------



## Ferrum Master (Sep 30, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> I suppose they have fixed the problems they had in the first Flip/Fold ones.



Yes and no. You have to be very accurate, clean and careful with these. They are better, but incrementally.

I currently use Fold2, Sony Xperia 1 mk2 and dust gathers on S21, S20 Ultra, Note 20, LG Vevet and few others...


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 30, 2021)

Ferrum Master said:


> Yes and no. You have to be very accurate, clean and careful with these. They are better, but incrementally.
> 
> I currently use Fold2, Sony Xperia 1 mk2 and dust gathers on S21, S20 Ultra, Note 20, LG Vevet and few others...


I bet that Apple puts a foldable phone sooner or later too.


----------



## Ferrum Master (Sep 30, 2021)

Jill Valentine said:


> I bet that Apple puts a foldable phone sooner or later too.



No, I doubt it. It is just a marketing hype. I like the Fold2 just because it has a Snapdragon not the gimped Exynos like EU variants have for Notes and Galaxies.

Imagine all the fuss regarding iOS app development and make compatibility with that screen size... no it won't happen.


----------



## The red spirit (Sep 30, 2021)

las said:


> iPhones are not really expensive compared to high-end Android phones like Samsung S series. Same price pretty much. However, iPhones always keep their prices much better. Tons of people are interested in buying iPhones on the used market, so price is way higher. Also, Apple keeps their pricing steady. Android phones gets cheaper and cheaper till they go EoL and gets replaced, this means that your old Android phone often is worth peanuts after 2 years.


On the other hand, there's really almost no need for flagship phones anymore. They are mostly made for flexing nowadays. Something liek Galaxy A52 has all anyone could want at 350 Euros and it will last you 5 years without problems. You will get 2-3 major OS updates and even if you run out of them, then Android versions age extremely gracefully. You most likely could still get all latest apps 4 years later. With some pushing, you could get out 6 years of usage out of 300 EUR phone if you got one in 2014, but if you buy one today, it might last you even longer. We might be looking at 8 years then.


----------



## Splinterdog (Sep 30, 2021)

las said:


> iPhones are not really expensive compared to high-end Android phones like Samsung S series. Same price pretty much. However, iPhones always keep their prices much better. Tons of people are interested in buying iPhones on the used market, so price is way higher. Also, Apple keeps their pricing steady. Android phones gets cheaper and cheaper till they go EoL and gets replaced, this means that your old Android phone often is worth peanuts after 2 years.
> 
> Had 4 iPhones, zero issues on any of them, both hard- and software. The small software issues I have had, was all fixed very fast.


I'll never have an iPhone again. I've had two - an iPhone 3G and a 6S - the lack of software flexibility, customisation and often compatibility with other standard devices such as Bluetooth drove me insane.
Even jailbreaking them didn't satisfy me and you can customise and root an Android phone to your heart's content. It's like democracy vs dictatorship.


----------



## Ferrum Master (Sep 30, 2021)

Splinterdog said:


> I'll never have an iPhone again. I've had two - an iPhone 3G and a 6S - the lack of software flexibility, customisation and often compatibility with other standard devices such as Bluetooth drove me insane.
> Even jailbreaking them didn't satisfy me and you can customise and root an Android phone to your heart's content. It's like democracy vs dictatorship.



You prolly needed the LE. But I've mentioned, Apple radio is the worst. It includes the cellular part too.

There are strange people buying Samsung smartwatches and pair them with iPhones, and they magically expect them to work fine. Apple even does screw Samsung delaying Gear software updates, when the watch already upped the firmware and it expects the same from the gear framework in the phone, but in the end it is a haywire for few weeks and made so Samsung looks at fault here. Pretty much a circus.


----------



## morapp90 (Sep 30, 2021)

Fangio1951 said:


> iphone XS and battery still lasts me around 5-6 days


Maybe hours??? I have a iPhone XS too battery is 85% i have since 3 years


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Sep 30, 2021)

las said:


> I want a small, yet powerful, phone that I can control with one hand.


I've heard good things about the iPhone SE, IIRC. I thought I saw a successor to that format of iPhone.


----------



## theFOoL (Sep 30, 2021)

Can I butt in and ask how's the battery life vs android? I heard mix story's


----------



## cst1992 (Sep 30, 2021)

Moto G Plus 4th Gen.
Got it in May 2016 when it launched. 
Almost went with the G non-plus but then it was not that much more money for the Plus so I went with that.
Then the non-Plus launched and it basically sucked so yeah. Sometimes it's a good thing to spend those few extra bucks.

I wish cheap phones had more battery life though. Maybe my Kindle has me spoilt.


----------



## yotano211 (Sep 30, 2021)

MIRTAZAPINE said:


> It really a great phone. Often time phone would run out of space before their unusable. The 1TB version makes it able to last a long time. Also the back for the 1TB is ceramic. I bought this phone 2nd hand and it look pristine due to that being harder than glass. There no 1TB phone aside from this from Samsung still or other manufacturer.  I can't think of any better phone than this. Ceramic back, 1TB space, micro-sd space, dual sim and trusty old headphone jack. It is Samsung last fully feature phone without compromises. Talking about transfer other phone still use type C usb 2.0.


I did the same thing, I bought it used on Amazon. Looks brand new, came with everything when it was sold brand new at the store. 
I ordered a usb 3.0 on amazon.


----------



## Psychoholic (Sep 30, 2021)

iphone 13 pro now that they have 120hz displays.  Previously Galaxy S21 Ultra which i love but honestly its a bit too big.


----------



## yotano211 (Sep 30, 2021)

wolf said:


> Galaxy S21 Ultra currently. Great phone, I like it a lot more than I thought I would.
> 
> Used to have iPhones, but put in an oversimplified statement, the nerd in me needs more customization ability. I swore off Samsungs years ago and loved a couple of Oneplus phones I had (most recently the amazing 7pro), and the S21 Ultra wasn't even on my maybe list until a mate hit me up knowing I was shopping for a phone and had a 50% off MSRP code I used, which made it like upper midrange price for the top-end model.
> 
> ...


30gb per month, wow, lots of times use that per day I use my phone for everything, from work to download all kinds of things. 
i'm currently at 1.54tb for the month of data usage.


----------



## theFOoL (Sep 30, 2021)

I don't really GET the whole 120Hz display stuff so I'm ok with 60Hz since our Eyes can only See that much. I mean I get the frame per sec crap but that gaming requires a Fast Internet which where we Live isn't possible and LTE is a thing but at a cost


----------



## Anoniem (Sep 30, 2021)

Got the iPhone 13 Pro Max on Saturday, man those camera's rock  The macro feature is wonderful but the auto switching of the camera can be a bit annoying. The brighter screen is also a nice bonus.


----------



## Halo3Addict (Sep 30, 2021)

Still holding on to my Pixel 2  The USB-C port barely functions (fast charging no longer works) and the battery doesn't last a day. Out of support so I've loaded LineageOS on to it.

Holding out for Pixel 6 Pro, but only if Google offers at least five years of support. Otherwise, I'll get something else with wireless charging cuz I've never owned a device with a USB port that doesn't eventually fail...


----------



## Psychoholic (Sep 30, 2021)

theFOoL said:


> I don't really GET the whole 120Hz display stuff so I'm ok with 60Hz since our Eyes can only See that much. I mean I get the frame per sec crap but that gaming requires a Fast Internet which where we Live isn't possible and LTE is a thing but at a cost


it is possible it affects some people differently but it is night and day for me.. buttery smooth. 
Same thing on PC Monitors, once i used 144hz i couldn't go back to 60; not just gaming, even just moving windows around on the desktop.


----------



## Toothless (Sep 30, 2021)

OnePlus 9 for home, LG V40 ThinQ for work.


----------



## RealKGB (Sep 30, 2021)

theFOoL said:


> so I'm ok with 60Hz since our Eyes can only See that much


What?
Our eyes don't see in FPS or Hertz.


----------



## theFOoL (Sep 30, 2021)

RealKGB said:


> What?
> Our eyes don't see in FPS or Hertz.


Well ha whatever I meant. Just the whole 120hz for displays is stupid. If your on Wifi/LTE would not matter bc of the Server ones on plus Latency and... Movies as far as I know are still shot in 24fps


----------



## Ferrum Master (Sep 30, 2021)

theFOoL said:


> Well ha whatever I meant. Just the whole 120hz for displays is stupid. If your on Wifi/LTE would not matter bc of the Server ones on plus Latency and... Movies as far as I know are still shot in 24fps



Don't bring that crap here. We are not digital beings defined by a number. We have peak based vision depending previous background and item changes. With thinking like that we technically won't be able to see lightening strikes. On averaged approximate, our vision relies with peaks, 200-500Hz spikes, usually fighter pilots relay on things like that... with that cinematic 24FPS experience they would simply crash into something.

120Hz is good, the overall experience is better and people like the fluid UI rendering effect it brings, despite the power consumption tax. You can always turn it off in settings, for those who care.


----------



## cst1992 (Sep 30, 2021)

theFOoL said:


> Well ha whatever I meant. Just the whole 120hz for displays is stupid. If your on Wifi/LTE would not matter bc of the Server ones on plus Latency and... Movies as far as I know are still shot in 24fps


Ha, then 240Hz gaming displays are useless? 



theFOoL said:


> the whole 120hz for displays is stupid


That's not true. If your phone is set to view in VR mode, its display can be split in two and that 120Hz can be split into two of 60 for a fluid VR experience. Some high-end phones can be configured like that.


----------



## CabanaBanana (Sep 30, 2021)

iPhone 13 Pro Max on launch day, Love it, great phone, great camera and I like iOS 15.


----------



## Anoniem (Sep 30, 2021)

theFOoL said:


> Well ha whatever I meant. Just the whole 120hz for displays is stupid. If your on Wifi/LTE would not matter bc of the Server ones on plus Latency and... Movies as far as I know are still shot in 24fps


120Hz does make a difference! Scrolling through a menu at 60Hz is perfectly fine BUT at 120Hz the text is way more legible. The animations also give a more snappy and responsive feeling. I found myself scrolling through articles looking for pieces of information and I almost never overshot my target. That was way harder with 60Hz back on my 11 Pro Max. As for gaming on PC: If I play Forza Horizon 4 on 60Hz it's feels as if I'm missing information. 120Hz and higher certainly has a place in the mobile space and most certainly in the PC and TV world.

PS. There is such a thing as an adaptive refresh rate that changes the Hz based on the content you're consuming, helps with movies


----------



## Liviu Cojocaru (Sep 30, 2021)

OnePlus 8 Pro 12GB RAM/ 256GB Storage , next one will be an iPhone


----------



## dirtyferret (Sep 30, 2021)

Pixel 4a 5G, the camera is amazing and shows every detail crystal clear


----------



## InhaleOblivion (Sep 30, 2021)

OnePlus 8T Plus.  Solid device.  I've had OnePlus phones since the 6T.  Still use my 7 Pro as a backup.


----------



## toilet pepper (Sep 30, 2021)

I got the Samsung A71 as a gift from my wife and it pretty much does everything I need it do. Camera and games is decent when I use it and the size is just perfect.

Never really a fan of high end phones. My reasoning was with the price they are asking, I can buy pc parts + a mid range phone with the asking price of an iphone.

I pretty much use graphics card prices as a baseline for my other electronic purchases and this whole shortage messed it up. Ohhh that iphone costs as much as an rtx 3080 which I can game and mine on to get some of my money back..  I guess I cant afford it.

That Lenovo Legion phone got me really interested though. The cooling and the way the battery is laid out makes me think it will last longer.


----------



## cst1992 (Sep 30, 2021)

Anoniem said:


> 120Hz does make a difference! Scrolling through a menu at 60Hz is perfectly fine BUT at 120Hz the text is way more legible. The animations also give a more snappy and responsive feeling. I found myself scrolling through articles looking for pieces of information and I almost never overshot my target. That was way harder with 60Hz back on my 11 Pro Max. As for gaming on PC: If I play Forza Horizon 4 on 60Hz it's feels as if I'm missing information. 120Hz and higher certainly has a place in the mobile space and most certainly in the PC and TV world.
> 
> PS. There is such a thing as an adaptive refresh rate that changes the Hz based on the content you're consuming, helps with movies


Adaptive does not mean it helps with movies. Movies have back-to-back frames and are independent of display refresh rate.
That is fundamentally different than your GPU cranking out frames in real time - if they are not in sync with your display, you will get tearing - that is one half the frame is different than the other half.


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Sep 30, 2021)

2017 Moto e4 is as slow as heck!


----------



## theFOoL (Sep 30, 2021)

​


RJARRRPCGP said:


> 2017 Moto e4 is as slow as heck!


removable battery a plus in my book. slow bc  it has a MediaTek cpu "A old one" *LINK* doesn't seem old but does it do basic of task? Probably which All I need


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Sep 30, 2021)

theFOoL said:


> removable battery a plus in my book. slow bc  it has a MediaTek cpu "A old one"


Booting Android on that one, is like booting Windows 10 on an early-2010s' dual core CPU!


----------



## theFOoL (Sep 30, 2021)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> Booting Android on that one, is like booting Windows 10 on an early-2010s' dual core CPU!


But when booted All good yes? just for basic


----------



## LordFarquaad (Sep 30, 2021)

Huawei P20 Pro have had it for about 12 months, I picked it up on Amazon UK warehouse as "used in good condition" with 12mth Amazon warranty for about £120, it was as good as new IMO, 6GB/128GB Kirin 970 SOC. Honestly it's been pretty amazing for the specs and the price I paid for it, still only used about 40GB storage out of 128, battery easily lasts 1-1.5 days under heavy usage, 2 days under "normal" use, not really got a bad thing to say about it, I don't game or do social media on it so it's mainly just web browsing, YT/streaming video, banking, etc but it hasn't skipped a beat afaic, just a shame the newer Huawei models didn't come with Google Play Store and services, though that might not be a bad thing


----------



## theFOoL (Sep 30, 2021)

LordFarquaad said:


> Huawei P20 Pro have had it for about 12 months, I picked it up on Amazon UK warehouse as "used in good condition" with 12mth Amazon warranty for about £120, it was as good as new IMO, 6GB/128GB Kirin 970 SOC. Honestly it's been pretty amazing for the specs and the price I paid for it, still only used about 40GB storage out of 128, battery easily lasts 1-1.5 days under heavy usage, 2 days under "normal" use, not really got a bad thing to say about it, I don't game or do social media on it so it's mainly just web browsing, YT/streaming video, banking, etc but it hasn't skipped a beat afaic, just a shame the newer Huawei models didn't come with Google Play Store and services, though that might not be a bad thing


Have tried loading Aptoide?


----------



## lmille16 (Sep 30, 2021)

All this talk is making me miss my Nokia Lumia Icon. Say what you want about Windows Phone, but I truly enjoyed it.


----------



## LordFarquaad (Sep 30, 2021)

theFOoL said:


> Have tried loading Aptoide?


I use APKPURE/APKmirror if I need to "sideload" anything, though P20 Pro does have Play store, so I don't often need to do that, just the later Huawei models don't with the whole US sanctioning Huawei and what-not  can't see me wanting to upgrade this any time soon unless I break it which is a possibility as I usually don't upgrade out of loss of perfomance, it's a lot sooner than that when I drop it on the ground or throw it out of anger


----------



## MIRTAZAPINE (Oct 1, 2021)

LordFarquaad said:


> I use APKPURE/APKmirror if I need to "sideload" anything, though P20 Pro does have Play store, so I don't often need to do that, just the later Huawei models don't with the whole US sanctioning Huawei and what-not  can't see me wanting to upgrade this any time soon unless I break it which is a possibility as I usually don't upgrade out of loss of perfomance, it's a lot sooner than that when I drop it on the ground or throw it out of anger



Generally Huawei phones are reliable. I used the Huawei Honor Note that I imported from China. Theere is no playstore so I have side load it with an apk. Somehow though certain apps that is very dependent on google services especially don't work well like google photos keep uploading blank photos up to drive. Sideloaded apps and obscure ones work better than official android counterpart though.

Edit : Yes battery was amazing on Huawei. They pretty much close any background apps and you have to enable them manually again. It only drop like 20% for a full day used for me when new.


----------



## LordFarquaad (Oct 1, 2021)

I'll never buy a flagship again, when I can get 3/4 of the features, performance, build etc for about 1/5 of the price with some clever shopping around, who needs a £1300 PHONE? it's obscene really


----------



## theFOoL (Oct 1, 2021)

LordFarquaad said:


> I'll never buy a flagship again, when I can get 3/4 of the features, performance, build etc for about 1/5 of the price with some clever shopping around, who needs a £1300 PHONE? it's obscene really


Especially those iPhones dude especially those...


----------



## wolf (Oct 1, 2021)

It got brought up on a previous page, but it would be nice to see a few big Android players make a high-end 'mini' phone to go up against the iPhone mini's, if only to keep Apple in check perhaps? but theres clearly a market for them. Who does right now, maybe a Sony Xperia? Samsung, Oppo/Oneplus and maybe Google could fairly easily pull off a great mini model imo.

Personally, I have large hands and 0 issues with these ~6.7-7" display phones, in fact it's preferable for many reasons, and having tested a standard Galaxy S21 through work, I found that to be downright small in 2021, wouldn't take much more shrinking to get a S21 mini in the lineup.

Oh and 120hz / high refresh is dope, I was spoiled by the Oneplys 7 Pro and now the S21U and I want more!


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Oct 1, 2021)

Currently, I stopped at Galaxy S10+, because there's not even 5G!


----------



## theFOoL (Oct 1, 2021)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> Currently, I stopped at Galaxy S10+, because there's not even 5G!


5G isn't really a thing yet at least here in AL


----------



## GamerGuy (Oct 1, 2021)

theFOoL said:


> Well ha whatever I meant. Just the whole 120hz for displays is stupid. If your on Wifi/LTE would not matter bc of the Server ones on plus Latency and... Movies as far as I know are still shot in 24fps


That's one of the things that was fixed when I'd moved from the original Fold to the Fold 2, with the Fold, when I'd scrolled up or down, the image/page had this watery effect. It didn't really bother me though, and I think it was more obvious 60Hz vs 120Hz on the larger screen of the Fold,I don't see that effect any more on the Fold 2. I'd originally thought of getting the Fold 3, the S-pen and under-screen camera were nifty wanna-haves, but I didn't need these, though the IP rating was a good bonus. I'm now on my 2nd gen of the Fold and am pretty careful with it (using a Spigen Slim Armor Pro for the best Fold 2 protection).

I'd then decided on the Flip 3 as I'd still want to a fun foldable phones (bought an Araree Nukin 360 case, as well as a Spigen Tough Armor). Not truly concerned about battery life as, as stated, it's my alternate phone, that it looks great is a bonus. Honestly, after having gone foldables, I ain't turning back, will only move forward when rollables debut. I'd also gotten a pair of Buds2 with the Samsung promotion (paid about 36USD + store credit from Samsung) and have gotten a Spigen Tough Armor case for the Buds2 charging dock/case. 

That doesn't mean I've given up on regular phones, hence my Note10+ 512GB (+512GB mSD card) as well as a Mi Max 3 64GB (+400GB mSD card)  as the former is great for watching movies and music (using an iBasso DC02 + my various IEMs) while the bigger screen on the Mi Max 3 is great for reading my eBooks and manga, besides, the Mi Max 3 has outstanding batter life.

Finished downloading Industria while I was mucking around on the net, gonna start playing the game when I'm done with my usual sojourns around the various forums.....


----------



## yotano211 (Oct 1, 2021)

LordFarquaad said:


> I'll never buy a flagship again, when I can get 3/4 of the features, performance, build etc for about 1/5 of the price with some clever shopping around, who needs a £1300 PHONE? it's obscene really


I bought my phone used, about 1.5yrs after it came out. I love the space it has. I dont use the camera that much so I dont need the top camera. I mostly use the space, my phone has to have lots of storage.


----------



## GamerGuy (Oct 1, 2021)

yotano211 said:


> I bought my phone used, about 1.5yrs after it came out. I love the space it has. I dont use the camera that much so I dont need the top camera. I mostly use the space, my phone has to have lots of storage.


When able to, I try to buy my phones used, like the Mi Max 3 which cost me about 148USD just over a year back, my 12/512GB Note10+ cost me 368USD a little more than a year back (bought it from my bud). The Fold 2 and Flip 3 were brand new purchases, so I guess I tend to split my purchases between used and brand new.

Samsung has come a long way, my Note10+ still has one more major OS update (Android 12) while my Fold 2 has two more, with the brand new Flip 3 having three more OS updates. I know the cameras on my phone aren't terribly good, but then, I ain't one for selfies and photography. I do take the occasional pics now and then, so the latest and best cameras aren't exactly a priority for me. As long as I can aim and shoot, and pics taken are of decent/passable quality, it's good enough for me. I did have a Huawei P30 Pro for a while, but the issue with full Google support got to me, plus the awesome camera on it was wasted on me.


----------



## PLSG08 (Oct 1, 2021)

Just bought the Poco F3 and flashed AOSP android on it. Makes it a very different phone and because of GCam i can get pixel-esque quality images.


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Oct 1, 2021)

theFOoL said:


> I don't really GET the whole 120Hz display stuff so I'm ok with 60Hz since our Eyes can only See that much. I mean I get the frame per sec crap but that gaming requires a Fast Internet which where we Live isn't possible and LTE is a thing but at a cost


That's a load of rubbish btw theoretically our eyes can see up to 1000hz but the increase has  diminishing returns most tests  have proved that the eye can accurately perceive upto around 150hz anything past that and the only way to notice is to have large jumps in frequency.


----------



## GamerGuy (Oct 1, 2021)

ThaiTaffy said:


> That's a load of rubbish btw theoretically our eyes can see up to 1000hz but the increase has  diminishing returns most tests  have proved that the eye can accurately perceive upto around 150hz anything past that and the only way to notice is to have large jumps in frequency.


I've seen peeps claiming to see a difference between 120Hz vs 144Hz, and 144Hz vs 165Hz, I'd find such claims to be head scratchers for me as I do sincerely doubt that many, if any at all, can see a difference between 120Hz vs 144Hz, and 144Hz vs 165Hz in a 'blind' test. As for myself, I'm perfectly happy with my secondary Acer 75Hz Freesync monitor, and my main Samsung 144Hz monitor.


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Oct 1, 2021)

There is science to suggest otherwise those small increments upto around 150hz can be perceived but past that point is where it gets harder. Noticing the difference between 250hz and 270hz is extremely negligible but between 250hz and 450hz would be reasonably obvious.

There are alot of hardware hoarders on this site maybe a thread about them using a old 60hz monitor then moving to something near the 300hz range might give us some real answers.


----------



## GamerGuy (Oct 1, 2021)

ThaiTaffy said:


> There is science to suggest otherwise those small increments upto around 150hz can be perceived but past that point is where it gets harder. Noticing the difference between 250hz and 270hz is extremely negligible but between 250hz and 450hz would be reasonably obvious.
> 
> There are alot of hardware hoarders on this site maybe a thread about them using a old 60hz monitor then moving to something near the 300hz range might give us some real answers.


Yep, it'd be interesting to hear from such users/upgraders, but we've digressed, apologies to one and all. On a side note, my Fold 2 just received an update to One U.I. 3.1.1, with Security Patch to 1 August....


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 1, 2021)

cst1992 said:


> Ha, then 240Hz gaming displays are useless?


They kind of are right now. Our hardware is still too weak to truly drive those displays at anything over 1080p.


----------



## 1freedude (Oct 1, 2021)

All this talk reminds me of hanging out in Android Users Clubhouse, chatting with @InnocentCriminal.


----------



## SN2716057 (Oct 1, 2021)

Samsung Galaxy A50, works fine for me, although the camera is shit.


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 1, 2021)

SN2716057 said:


> Samsung Galaxy A50, works fine for me, although the camera is shit.


Those cameras would be fine, if Samsung removed e-waste depth camera and used that budget to remove crappy post processing and gave us real manual mode. Oh and 4K mode that phone supports and can record, but for some reason it was removed by Samsung from stock camera app.


----------



## v12dock (Oct 1, 2021)

iPhone 11 Pro Max I can't wait to go back to an android.


----------



## milewski1015 (Oct 1, 2021)

iPhone 6S here, still going strong. Looking to upgrade soon though


----------



## sam_86314 (Oct 1, 2021)

Just switched cell providers because T-Mobile can go fuck themselves.

Gonna be dailying a Moto One Ace until I can get the phone I really want. Got it for basically $1/mo, so y'know.

Who knows, maybe I'll like this phone. Dunno about custom ROM support for it, though.


----------



## Solid State Soul ( SSS ) (Oct 1, 2021)

Galaxy A22

90hz Amoled screen and 5000mah battery for 180$ is a solid deal!


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 2, 2021)

sam_86314 said:


> Just switched cell providers because T-Mobile can go fuck themselves.
> 
> Gonna be dailying a Moto One Ace until I can get the phone I really want. Got it for basically $1/mo, so y'know.
> 
> Who knows, maybe I'll like this phone. Dunno about custom ROM support for it, though.


From specs and reviews it looks like pretty good phone. Despite many reviewers saying that cameras are average, they are actually quite good. There isn't any visible overprocessing in photos. Macro cam is e-waste, just like many others. Ultrawide is serviceable. And that's probably the weakest part of that phone. Everything else is solid and well balanced. I don't really think that it will suck in long term usage.


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Oct 2, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> Those cameras would be fine, if Samsung removed e-waste depth camera and used that budget to remove crappy post processing and gave us real manual mode. Oh and 4K mode that phone supports and can record, but for some reason it was removed by Samsung from stock camera app.


I would take a Galaxy S5 over that! Back in very-late-July, 2016, I was given a Galaxy S5 and while there was no cell service, the camera was excellent, when it came to clarity! I also regularly connected it to wifi hotspots. The camera was so good, that it looked like even Canon, would start panicking!


----------



## sam_86314 (Oct 2, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> From specs and reviews it looks like pretty good phone. Despite many reviewers saying that cameras are average, they are actually quite good. There isn't any visible overprocessing in photos. Macro cam is e-waste, just like many others. Ultrawide is serviceable. And that's probably the weakest part of that phone. Everything else is solid and well balanced. I don't really think that it will suck in long term usage.


Ran GeekBench 4 on it. Here's its result compared to my old phone...

Single-core performance is better, multi is worse. While I do occasionally do Wii emulation on my phone, I doubt the difference will be that big.

This phone has a Snapdragon 750G and the V40 has a Snapdragon 845.



Spoiler:  LG V40 ThinQ vs Moto One Ace


----------



## theFOoL (Oct 2, 2021)

I'd imagine the G series is good for battery management?


----------



## Arjai (Oct 2, 2021)

Ok so, I have a Google 4XL. I am now holding out for the 6. Which is slated for OCT'22, as far as I know. By then, 5G should be a little bit more solid. I know a delivery guy, has the new IPhone, w/ 5G. He is on T-Mobile. He says he doesn't even get Ultra in the suburbs, around the edges of the first ring of suburbs. That should improve over the next year. I just hope Verizon doesn't tax me to death for 5G!!


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 2, 2021)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> I would take a Galaxy S5 over that! Back in very-late-July, 2016, I was given a Galaxy S5 and while there was no cell service, the camera was excellent, when it came to clarity! I also regularly connected it to wifi hotspots. The camera was so good, that it looked like even Canon, would start panicking!


Well, I previously had Note 3 Neo. It was an odd phone, because despite tremendous value that it offered for ~300 Euros almost nobody bought it. Media didn't give a shit about it and yet it was better than 98% of phones then. Anyway, it had excellent camera. Due to not having any of this stupid post processing, it took excellent pictures. There is no doubt that it beats A50, but not because sensor or lenses were awesome, but because of no software retouching of photos. A50 has some great camera sensors, but if you look at picture size, photos at same resolution as Note 3 Neo's are 1-2MB big, meanwhile Note's are 5-8MB big. There's a ton of compression, the bad kind of compression, lossy compression. To fix it up, A50 oversharpens, overexposes and often sacrifices dynamic range to make those small photos somewhat better. Not only that, but default 16:9 mode crops sensor's natural 4:3 aspect ratio and then reduces megapixel count (hopefully to reduce noise and improve quality in poor lighting). So from that 25 MP sensor, you lose megapixels in final photo and you end up with maybe 12 MP or so. And then photo is compressed, oversharpened, overexposed, noise-smoothed. Such a waste of hardware is really maddening. The most ridiculous thing is that there's no reason to compress photos so much. Lower end galaxies, have post processing cut out and they embarrass even S series in terms of pictures quality that they produce. But then reviewers, who have shaky hands and zero photographic skills or knowledge, shit on those cameras, because they are not used to that and post processing was saving their sorry asses from complete photographic disasters. Not only Note beats A50, but even in some cases, my ancient Galaxy Ace 2 beats it.

But when it comes to actual digital cameras, I can tell you, that even Note isn't at that level. I have very old Canon IXUS 85 IS camera and it has 10MP sensor. If you know what you are doing, that thing can and does take better pictures than Note 3 Neo and is leagues above A50 or or even S10. It's truly lovely digital camera, which is easy to use and achieves great results with little effort. I once even compared it to DSLR (some modern Canon something with stock lens) in same conditions. I gave myself time to learn to use that thing and I learned that, but despite all that it didn't really beat a decade old digital camera. Only in some scenarios it managed to beat it. That honestly was quite underwhelming, on the other hand, I learned that decent digital camera can be a strong rival for entry level DSLR. The only things that were a lot better on DSLR were shooting in very unusual conditions or using very specific settings. If you want super low exposure shot or perhaps take a quality picture of moon, digital camera has nothing on it. Also DSLR is great for super underexposed light bulb shots, but in more common scenarios it was no better than IXUS 85. In fact, it is quite slow, has unreliable autofocus and is more transportable than truly portable. Note 3 Neo came surprisingly close to IXUS 85, but it lacked proper manual adjustments that sometimes were needed. In more ideal conditions, it produced good photos, but a notch bellow IXUS 85. Considering sensor and lense size differences, Note 3 Neo did as good as it could. Right now, many phones do truly have very respectable sensors and lenses and they have potential to be excellent, but for some reason automatic post-processing, which you cannot disable or adjust is forced to smartphone owners. It is often possible to overcome file compression issues with 3rd party apps, but there's nothing to disable that annoying post processing. It seems that many people don't notice or don't have a clue that there's is post-processing and that cameras on phones weren't as bad as they are today. As to why phone makers do that, I have no idea. Maybe it's for faster social media sharing, maybe it's for same reason why TV makers post process the shit out of videos and make them nearly unwatchable, if you know how they are supposed to look like, maybe it's due to people wanting to be able to store shit ton of pictures (by that I mean over 10k pictures) on their phones and never delete them. Whatever that reason is, it made phone choosing much harder than it should have been and taking higher quality pictures with modest equipment literally impossible. It's not just Samsung, but all phone makers doing that shit in some quantities. Some have rather small touching up, meanwhile others go completely bonkers with post processing, so far that they ruin some poor cameras.

Despite all that, during lockdown I managed to take some rather good pictures with Galaxy A50:













P.S. I really miss lock-down and all that free time. Everyone was panicking and being depressed, meanwhile I just chilled and had some very nice days. I walked outside almost everyday, took pictures, explored my own city and was doing well academically. I even started to invest. I don't think that I will ever in my life will get to enjoy my time any better than during lock down. That peacefulness of nearly no people and almost no cars in streets is irreplaceable.



sam_86314 said:


> Ran GeekBench 4 on it. Here's its result compared to my old phone...
> 
> Single-core performance is better, multi is worse. While I do occasionally do Wii emulation on my phone, I doubt the difference will be that big.
> 
> ...


I'm sorry mate, but I have no idea if that's a lot or not. I frankly don't even care much about performance of phone and I only understand Antutu scores to some extent. 30k is what Note 3 Neo gets and that is acceptable. Galaxy A50 is probably at over 100k. Beyond that, anything more is very excessive. I always leave power saver enabled and it limits CPU usage to 70%. In years that I used this phone and previous Note 3 Neo, I never, not even once, felt the need to disable power saver. They were fast enough for everything. Phones are not meant for productivity or heavy gaming, that's what desktops are for. There's also so much of power that you can get out of phone, before you ruin its battery life or make it excessively hot. Anyway, those scores are probably great and likely beat my A50 by two times. Those 700 series Snapdragons are no slouches.


----------



## Space Lynx (Oct 2, 2021)

Solid State Soul ( SSS ) said:


> Galaxy A22
> 
> 90hz Amoled screen and 5000mah battery for 180$ is a solid deal!



got a link? i'd like to buy this. not joking. i need to upgrade. are you USA? i can't find it at this price...


----------



## sam_86314 (Oct 2, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> I'm sorry mate, but I have no idea if that's a lot or not. I frankly don't even care much about performance of phone and I only understand Antutu scores to some extent. 30k is what Note 3 Neo gets and that is acceptable. Galaxy A50 is probably at over 100k. Beyond that, anything more is very excessive. I always leave power saver enabled and it limits CPU usage to 70%. In years that I used this phone and previous Note 3 Neo, I never, not even once, felt the need to disable power saver. They were fast enough for everything. Phones are not meant for productivity or heavy gaming, that's what desktops are for. There's also so much of power that you can get out of phone, before you ruin its battery life or make it excessively hot. Anyway, those scores are probably great and likely beat my A50 by two times. Those 700 series Snapdragons are no slouches.


For comparison, the i5-10400F scores around 5200 single-core and 25000 multi-core. They claim scores are directly comparable between manufacturers and even architectures.

The numbers under the main score show the actual tests it performs, like AES encryption, file compression, and the like.


----------



## R-T-B (Oct 2, 2021)

I'm using a Verizon carrier subsidized Motorola One 5G UW.

Next phone will not be carrier subsizdized.  I don't terribly need an unlocked bootloader, but Verizon makes it helluva hard thing should I want one later in the phones life.

Otherwise, the phone has been good to me with a solid battery.


----------



## Solid State Soul ( SSS ) (Oct 2, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> got a link? i'd like to buy this. not joking. i need to upgrade. are you USA? i can't find it at this price...


I live in the middle east, thing about Samsung phones i noticed, is they're sometimes cheaper internationally than the us market

be patient tho, you can find it around 200$ at times, if not i might suggest the Redmi Note 10 non pro version, its one of the best buget phones right now


----------



## sam_86314 (Oct 2, 2021)

R-T-B said:


> I'm using a Verizon carrier subsidized Motorola One 5G UW.
> 
> Next phone will not be carrier subsizdized.  I don't terribly need an unlocked bootloader, but Verizon makes it helluva hard thing should I want one later in the phones life.
> 
> Otherwise, the phone has been good to me with a solid battery.


My new Motorola One Ace is also through Verizon. Been trying to figure out what apps I should disable. I've removed the cancer like Candy Crush (my nemesis), Facebook and the like. Also disabled most of the Verizon stuff.

How long have you had yours? I'd love to be able to put stock AOSP on it, but I dunno if I'll be able to.

Might get a Pixel 5a (factory unlocked of course) in the future. I dunno.


----------



## R-T-B (Oct 2, 2021)

sam_86314 said:


> How long have you had yours?


About one year.  

They won't unlock the bootloader on it.  And yeah, disabling the crapware makes it much more livable.  One of the apps (dtignite I think?) actually installs "recomended" apps without your permission.  Fun.


----------



## droopyRO (Oct 2, 2021)

The most important thing for me is the battery size. And i refuse to pay more than 250$ for a smartphone. I like Motorola, so i went with a Moto G 5G. But the 5G part is draining the battery fast so i just stick to 4G that is sufficient for all my mobile needs.


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 2, 2021)

sam_86314 said:


> For comparison, the i5-10400F scores around 5200 single-core and 25000 multi-core. They claim scores are directly comparable between manufacturers and even architectures.
> 
> The numbers under the main score show the actual tests it performs, like AES encryption, file compression, and the like.


If that is actually possible and is true, then those mobile chips are seriously impressive. They have cores as fast as FX 6300 and they usually have 8 cores. Anyway, there are no phones today that are slow due to CPU power anymore. Most slow phones are due to eMMC storage, insufficient RAM or poor governor choice and setup by manufacturer. Most people aren't aware of Android governors, I/O schedulers and perhaps some other tweaks that make or break phone's performance and battery life. Also most of those chips are choked in some way by manufacturers to deliver proper battery life and since those trickle down from flagship devices to low end devices, there's a chance that they can make phone way slower or unpleasant than it really needs to be. The hardware itself (minus GPU) isn't really as much problem as it used to be, even 400 series Snapdragons have plenty of CPU power.


----------



## P4-630 (Oct 2, 2021)

droopyRO said:


> The most important thing for me is the battery size. And i refuse to pay more than 250$ for a smartphone. I like Motorola, so i went with a Moto G 5G. But the 5G part is draining the battery fast so i just stick to 4G that is sufficient for all my mobile needs.



Don't they have plans+phones in your country?


----------



## Aquinus (Oct 2, 2021)

v12dock said:


> iPhone 11 Pro Max I can't wait to go back to an android.


That's unfortunate. I like my iPhone 11 Pro Max and it has served me well for the last year and a half-ish. Initially it was for the camera, but that's less of an issue now that I have a real full frame camera. Out of curiosity, what about the phone do you not like? I have very few complaints about it.


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 2, 2021)

P4-630 said:


> Don't they have plans+phones in your country?


Why would anyone want that? That's just extremely anti-consumer strategy by carriers to milk their clients.


----------



## P4-630 (Oct 2, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> Why would anyone want that? That's just extremely anti-consumer strategy by carriers to milk their clients.



Well if you don't have the cash in one go for a premium phone, it can be an option to pay off the phone monthly.
This is normal in my country, many people who can't buy a premium phone because they don't have the cash for it.


----------



## ThrashZone (Oct 2, 2021)

Hi,
Majority of cell providers sell phones monthly with 1-2 year contracts nothing new there 
What is new is xfinity actually giving away free smart phones with same 1-2 year contracts


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 2, 2021)

P4-630 said:


> Well if you don't have the cash in one go for a premium phone, it can be an option to pay off the phone monthly.


If you don't have cash for phone, then you don't buy such phone. It makes no sense to go into plan (debt) for something this cheap and what is not financial asset. And there are some good inexpensive devices which are totally enough to get by. Besides overpriced plan, those "cheap" phones are the main way how carriers make a shit ton of money. They literally do the same as banks do, when they issue debts or mortgages, it looks like profitable business, there's collateral, legal protection, so even if client refuses to pay (defaults), they can't really default on that as carrier already has too much information and can easily find out where you live. And despite that, they make quite a big premium on that loan, they are not a bank and don't deal with few percent yields per person, they are making double digit yields per person. They can also increase price without notifying you and if you live in USA, they usually make request slightly custom hardware and software, so that you won't go into XDA and won't hack it as you see it fit. 

All in all, it's just totally not worth doing that, because what you get are peanuts and and what carrier gets is a lot more. It doesn't really take long to read a bit about Verizon, AT&T or or some other carrier that is as evil as they can possibly be.


----------



## P4-630 (Oct 2, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> They can also increase price without notifying you and if you live in USA


No USA here, here they can't increase the price during the contract....

Sad to hear that they rip you off in your country.


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 2, 2021)

P4-630 said:


> No USA here, here they can't increase the price....
> 
> Sad to hear that they rip you off in your country.


I have no idea if they rip off people in my country (which is certainly not USA), but either way phone carriers aren't your friends and have never been. There's no good reason to just not pay full amount up front and be done with it.


----------



## P4-630 (Oct 2, 2021)

each their own.


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 2, 2021)

P4-630 said:


> each their own.


Not really, if you calculate everything, carrier phones are significantly more expensive over time than paid for ones. It's just a basic economy. Carriers wouldn't sell phones if it wasn't profitable to them.


----------



## Logan7 (Oct 2, 2021)

LG G7 ThinQ. Bought one used a few months ago since my HTC 10 started failing on me. Probably would've gotten another HTC if they still made phones (and if they worked w/ Verizon, the last 2 flagships didn't connect to the right LTE bands).

The camera on the G7 is bad but I use a mirrorless for anything significant, otherwise really happy with the phone.


----------



## P4-630 (Oct 2, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> Not really, if you calculate everything, carrier phones are significantly more expensive over time than paid for ones. It's just a basic economy. Carriers wouldn't sell phones if it wasn't profitable to them.



You don't get it do you? Some people can't afford a 1000 USD phone, a solution can be at monthly payments, ofcourse you pay some more over 24 months then if you bought it in once but at least you can have that nice phone you wanted that you couldn't pay otherwise...


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 2, 2021)

P4-630 said:


> You don't get it do you? Some people can't afford a 1000 USD phone, a solution can be at monthly payments, of course you pay some more over 24 months then if you bought it in once but at least you can have that nice phone you wanted that you couldn't pay otherwise...


If you are that straped for cash, then that's even more reason not to engage with loans. It doesn't matter how much you want that phone, if that's too much for you, then you can't really buy it. And now back to reality, budget phones at 200-300 USD offer tons of value. You can get 80% of flagship at 25% of cost. They also last a long time. Also flagships and ultra-flagships are poor at their jobs, because you want the best, but they are only best until next release. Most flagships have horrendous depreciation and if you are with carrier, you still have to pay like depreciation doesn't exist. It's just a poor deal no matter how you look at it and is one of the reasons why people still say "poor stay poor, while rich get richer". 

OP should just take a look at phones that cost 200-300 USD and pick whichever is the best. There are plenty of good options.


----------



## GamerGuy (Oct 2, 2021)

I used to get my phone with a mobile plan, I'm a slow learner, but it took me a while to realize that it'd be more cost effective to simply buy my phones outright and pay for a simple SIM plan. From the Fold, followed by the Fold 2 and with the recent Flip 3, I'd paid for them outright via pre-orders. The Note10+ and Mi Max 3 were used and bought outright as well. I'm now using 3x SIM plan, each costing me 7.36USD for a 50GB/mth plan, so I'm basically paying about 22USD/mth for my 3x SIM plans for my 3 phones. In the long run, I'm gonna save myself a fair bit of moolah.

My Flip 3 (and Fold 2) just got updated to One UI version 3.1.1, with ensuing Security Leval patch. My Flip 3 has 8GB of RAM, with the new feature as part of the overall update, RAM Plus has been activated with 4GB reserved as virtual RAM (not sure how it works, or whether I'd need it in the first place), so I now have 8GB + 4GB Virtual RAM on my Flip 3. I don't really see a need for this since the Flip 3 has 8GB of RAM already, but I guess it'd not hurt. I'd checked, looks the Note10 series (hence, my Note10+) has been slated for this upgrade as well, though, like my Fold 2, it already has 12GB of RAM, so I don't see a need for this added feature.


----------



## Guwapo77 (Oct 2, 2021)

iPhone 12 Pro Max, just waiting for my iPhone 13 Pro Max 1 TB to arrive in the mail.  Why?  I think its an outstanding phone and I've never had any issues with any iPhone I've had since the 3GS.  However, this will be my last iPhone for at least 5 to 6 years unless something magical happens.  The last thing I waited for was the 120Hz screen.


----------



## droopyRO (Oct 2, 2021)

P4-630 said:


> Don't they have plans+phones in your country?


We can buy stuff with credit cards that have 0% interest rates. If you pay in time, 3, 6,12 months in installments that have 0% interest. It depends on the bank and the shop where you buy it from. And with my pre paid SIM at 6$/month i have 6GB + 30GB of internet traffic, unlimited calls, 2000 SMS'es and free calls to Italy in the same network.


----------



## FreedomEclipse (Oct 2, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> If you are that straped for cash, then that's even more reason not to engage with loans. It doesn't matter how much you want that phone, if that's too much for you, then you can't really buy it



Sometimes its not about being _'strapped for cash'_ but not wanting $800-1300 flying out of your account all in one go. But i digress... Samsung (and maybe other phone manufacturers) will quite often have 0% finance on their up and coming latest and greatest handsets if you buy from them directly to get people onboard but the elephant in the room is they are still going to charge you on the upper end of the scale for the privilege of having 0% finance. once the phone has been out for a few months the price usually drops by 10% or more but every retailer will run their own deals and promotions to get those sales.

Otherwise I generally agree with your sentiment. Dont spend money that you havent got. Budget phones have also come a long way in the last 5years

But FOMO plays a big part in purchases. The handset will always be on sale but there are people out there that dont want to miss picking up a flagship handset on launch because to them its a symbol of status as well as rights for bragging.


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 2, 2021)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Otherwise I generally agree with your sentiment. Dont spend money that you havent got. Budget phones have also come a long way in the last 5years


I wouldn't really call phones in 200-400 USD range budget phones, they are mid range. Budget phones are 200 USD or less. If you buy midrange phone, it will most likely will last you a really long time. I managed to keep Galaxy Note 3 Neo for over 5 years and I could still use it if I wanted to. It cost me around 300 EUR. I think that if you are poor, you should spend according to your means or preferably bellow your means. Extra payments and unnecessary expenses kill modest budgets. 

There's a Motorola G30. It's decent all around phone for 180-220 USD. It doesn't really lack anything and has great camera. Even with one major Android update, it should have no problems lasting 4 years and it may get more than 1 update. There are many phones like that. As long as you avoid too expensive brands (Apple, Google) or politically uncertain brands (Huawei, Xiaomi) or some low quality brands (Umidigi, Doogee, Asus, Blackview, OukiTel and etc.), there are some decent options. My go to brands for mid range phones are Samsung, Motorola, OnePlus (their lower end phones), Nokia, Sony (more like used to be, because now they barely make anything). You can experiment with Xiaomi, Realme, but their quality of phones and long terms software support may be questionable and they have been deceptive in market (adding fake cameras, not supporting all WideWine DRM, ads in software, spying concerns without government intervention). Out of what is left, you settle on some vague budget, look at reviews and decide what is best for you.  




FreedomEclipse said:


> But FOMO plays a big part in purchases. The handset will always be on sale but there are people out there that dont want to miss picking up a flagship handset on launch because to them its a symbol of status as well as rights for bragging.


Stupid shit like FOMO is something that people should learn to leave in high school. Anybody can learn to control it and frankly should learn it. I don't think that letting it run amok has made anyone happy.


----------



## TheUn4seen (Oct 2, 2021)

I have the Galaxy Note 10+. Not much to say, There was a time when I changed phones every few weeks, after a while I lost interest in this market and just got every generation of the Note series, it is my favourite since the first, "enormous" and "impossible to hold with one hand" as some reviewers called it, 5.3" monster - really, back in the year 2011 people thought that 5.3" screen is too big - no "lifestyle" fluff, no childish colors. Just a phone with reasonably best hardware available, easy to root, de-bloat and get rid of Google's spyware. I skipped the Note 20 because, as incremental updates often go, there really is nothing to spend so much money on if you have the 10+.
I did have the Note 7. Two of them, actually, one as a business expense and one for personal use. Sadly, none of them caught fire and burned down my house, the first one I returned during a recall, got an S7edge, a smartwatch, microSD card and some other accessories for it. Second one I sold a year or two later to a collector for much more than I originally paid for it
I also have the Realme 6. I got it cheaply as damaged, repaired it, got Lineage OS on it and now I use it as a secondary phone. I like how much did the "low end" market improve. This device is actually nice to use, despite the rounded LCD corners.


----------



## mrpickem (Oct 2, 2021)

_I still have my Note 10+ and its a solid Android performer but I've switched to iPhone going on 2 years, had 11 Pro Max and now 13 Pro Max..great battery, camera and everything just works,_


----------



## GamerGuy (Oct 3, 2021)

mrpickem said:


> _everything just works,_


That's the advantage of Apple's walled-garden ecosystem. I could have gone with an iPhone, one of my brother (and his wife) is a diehard iPhone guy, but I find no 'fun' factor in just regular cellphones any more. Hence my preference for foldables which add that little extra 'fun' factor to me. 

My Note10+ is for watching movies as I have 512GB internal + 512GB mSD (might up to a 1TB mSD card) as it has great battery life and an awesome 1440x3040 AMOLED display. My Mi Mix 3 which have a decent display is great as an alternate to my Note10+ for movies, as well as a good eBook/manga reader, I do also have a Mi Pad 4 and Tab S5e (former as a reader, latter for movies) for when I go overseas. 

I'm looking forward to rollables, and felt the pain when LG bowed out of the cellphone arena, they had a nice prototype rollable they were working on before they'd quit. I'm waiting for Samsung to roll out their rollables (see what I did?), gonna see what these offer and more importantly, the pricing....ain't gonna be cheap, gonna make regular flagship Android and iPhones look cheap. Heck, the Fold series has already done that actually.


----------



## BlackSun59 (Oct 3, 2021)

I've been using a Moto E2 gen 2 CDMA that once used FreedomPop but was able to be migrated to MNVO Tello using the Sprint network. Not bad for a $40 phone that lasted four years and a monthly phone bill of less than $7.
Alas, T-Mobile bought Sprint, so Tello is moving to GSM T-Mobile service. Now I am waiting for my new Moto G Play and Tello SIM to arrive in a few days.


----------



## silentbogo (Oct 3, 2021)

GamerGuy said:


> I could have gone with an iPhone, one of my brother (and his wife) is a diehard iPhone guy, but I find no 'fun' factor in just regular cellphones any more.


For me the main issue with iPhones is not "fun factor" or "walled garden" ecosystem (at least in my opinion both are a pro rather than con, with some exceptions), but UI design choices are terrible. The thing that puts me off buying an iPhone is that it's geared towards different audience: media consumption and social network integration is excellent (I don't care about either), while mundane things like changing an alarm, switching wifi AP, or making few work-related notes takes twice as long (even worse if you want to get to some advanced features or settings). And, of course, battery life  


The red spirit said:


> I wouldn't really call phones in 200-400 USD range budget phones, they are mid range. Budget phones are 200 USD or less.


+1. People seem to forget that flagship phones used to cost under $600 not too long ago, and then year after year have gotten past the $1000 mark.


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Oct 3, 2021)

I always get phones for my wife on contract it's nothing to do with affording it I could buy the phone outright without issue but a contract not only allows me to spread the cost over 12 months, gives her a regular upgrade (uses her phone to trade stock so is more a tool than a luxury)but also improves my credit score the more small crap I buy with credit the bigger the stuff I can buy later.


----------



## sam_86314 (Oct 5, 2021)

The Verizon reseller lied to us and we weren't getting the Motorola One 5G UW Ace for the price they said, so we returned it.

Suffering with an iPhone SE in the meantime. I have a factory unlocked Pixel 5a on the way directly from Google. First plan is to install LineageOS on it.


----------



## Hachi_Roku256563 (Oct 5, 2021)

For me the perfect size is around 69.4 x 144 x 8.2 mm (pixel 4a)
phones of this size are limted to
Pixel 4a
Samsung S10
and Iphone SE
so its a pixel for me


las said:


> I want a small, yet powerful, phone that I can control with one hand.



At least for me Iphone would never  never be a option
as i want to make and sideload my own apps and have on more the one occasion


----------



## sam_86314 (Oct 11, 2021)

Hopefully, this is the last phone I get for a few years.

Been dailying a Pixel 5a for the last couple of days. Bought it directly from Google for just under $500 after tax.









Pictures taken with the V40. Also the temperature outside right now is pretty nice.

So far, I absolutely love it. It may be a slight downgrade from the V40 in terms of performance (slightly worse performance all around in synthetics that isn't noticeable in general use), but I really like how it basically has stock Android on it. Memory usage is also quite a bit lower, which is interesting.

Oddly, despite having a slightly higher-end SOC than the Motorola One Ace (SD765G on the 5a vs SD750G on the Ace), it actually scores worse on Geekbench. But the heaviest things I do on it are occasionally emulating Wii games and playing RuneScape, both of which it handles just fine.

My main complaints are the punch-out camera and the lack of a MicroSD slot. It's one of the few modern phones that still has a headphone jack; MicroSD and an under-screen camera would've made it perfect.

I plan on rooting it at some point. Unfortunately, I didn't unlock the bootloader before I initially set it up, so I'll need to reinstall everything when I decide to do that.


----------



## Xeon (Oct 12, 2021)

I'm still rocking my G1


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 12, 2021)

I was surprised that my backup phone (iPhone 5s) also got a minor update for iOS12


----------



## joemama (Oct 12, 2021)

Anyone using a cheap Samsung A50 like me?


----------



## Space Lynx (Oct 12, 2021)

joemama said:


> Anyone using a cheap Samsung A50 like me?



I have an A30 and really dislike it. I have never had a phone that cost more than $150, I am considering going all out and getting the Pixel 6 $799 variant next month, assuming it doesn't cost more than that... rumors are it will have a 5 year security updates and OS updates, plus I imagine ifixit will have official replacement batteries for it over the years, etc.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 12, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> I have never had a phone that cost more than $150


Kinda same here though my limit is 200EUR. Paid 185EUR from my iPhone 8 Plus and I have to say that it was truly money well spent. Though a battery replacement could be a thing soon..


----------



## Hyderz (Oct 12, 2021)

Guwapo77 said:


> iPhone 12 Pro Max, just waiting for my iPhone 13 Pro Max 1 TB to arrive in the mail.  Why?  I think its an outstanding phone and I've never had any issues with any iPhone I've had since the 3GS.  However, this will be my last iPhone for at least 5 to 6 years unless something magical happens.  The last thing I waited for was the 120Hz screen.


woah i cant justify the upgrade from just 1 generation but if you want the upgrades .. go for it


----------



## Space Lynx (Oct 12, 2021)

Hyderz said:


> woah i cant justify the upgrade from just 1 generation but if you want the upgrades .. go for it



everyones income is different, also the trade in offer that a lot of places offer in on a back to back upgrade like this is really really top notch... I mean it probably will only cost him 100-150 bucks to upgrade, if that, so fair enough.  its amazing how much value iphones hold.


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 12, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> everyones income is different, also the trade in offer that a lot of places offer in on a back to back upgrade like this is really really top notch... I mean it probably will only cost him 100-150 bucks to upgrade, if that, so fair enough.  its amazing how much value iphones hold.


For me in general changing a phone sucks a lot, even upgrading one. All that hassle when setting up a new phone... that's why I avoid doing it.


----------



## puma99dk| (Oct 12, 2021)

I am using my Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max, in about 1month and 18 days or so it will turn a year and I am planing on having it next year too because my phone budget is non existing at the moment because I am moving to a new place.


----------



## Space Lynx (Oct 12, 2021)

puma99dk| said:


> I am using my Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max, in about 1month and 18 days or so it will turn a year and I am planing on having it next year too because my phone budget is non existing at the moment because I am moving to a new place.



I think there are some places that let you trade that in for its 13 equivalent with no extra cost, just sign a 2 year refresh on your existing monthly contract.


----------



## puma99dk| (Oct 12, 2021)

lynx29 said:


> I think there are some places that let you trade that in for its 13 equivalent with no extra cost, just sign a 2 year refresh on your existing monthly contract.



Only cell phone company here is Telia that I got access to but it comes with a contract of like £34 or something a month and then you can "upgrade" your phone but at the moment I am currently on no contract just going monthly basics and I pay £10,15 for 10 hours talk, 30GB 5G data (8GB for EU when I travel) with free sms/mms in europe.

So far I am not gonna buy 3 times as much for something I won't use even if they bundle it with a lot of other features.


----------



## The red spirit (Oct 12, 2021)

joemama said:


> Anyone using a cheap Samsung A50 like me?


Me. Mine is black version 128/4GB model.



Hyderz said:


> woah i cant justify the upgrade from just 1 generation but if you want the upgrades .. go for it


I don't even know how many gens pass when I upgrade. I had Note 3 Neo and upgraded it in 2019. At that point there already was Note 10 available (but not Lite version, that came later), so I guess I managed to keep my phone for 7 generations. But at some point Samsung skipped some gens, so it's probably 5 gens in total. I can't recall Note 5 or Note 6. That was 300 Euro investment and over 5 years it became 60 EUR/year, which is great. I managed to hit perfectly into not too cheap, so that it is so ass to use, that you won't survive long with it and not so expensive that it will never pay off. I got Galaxy A50 in 2019 and I already have used it for 2 years. I could have went with Galaxy A40, but I wasn't sure if it will truly be a long lasting device or not (overall slightly lower specs and only 3000 mAh battery, which is fine today, but probably won't fare well years later), so I picked a safer option. I think that I could expect a very realistic 4 more years out of A50 as unlike ever before, years later phones at same prices didn't really get better and same A5x class got way more expensive (even then upgrade is just okay, not really significant). And unlike ever before, I have latest Android version. It seems that 6 years of total usage time is doable and I may survive longer as innovation has grinded to halt. Not only that, but also factors that make phone obsolete also become almost dead or insignificant. In 2012, unless you got flagship, you would have already compromised experience with device. Like small battery, no updates, barely enough storage for few apps, poor cameras, general sluggishness of devices. In 2012, you bought crap and you were happy that it's just this crap, but not even more crap. Today, crap phones almost don't exist, unless you really go way cheaper than you should. Due to many factors, buying a flagship today is barely worth it anymore as mid range phones truly became a flagships of yesteryear and flagships today just fail to provide real additional value over mid range phone.



puma99dk| said:


> Only cell phone company here is Telia that I got access to but it comes with a contract of like £34 or something a month and then you can "upgrade" your phone but at the moment I am currently on no contract just going monthly basics and I pay £10,15 for 10 hours talk, 30GB 5G data (8GB for EU when I travel) with free sms/mms in europe.
> 
> So far I am not gonna buy 3 times as much for something I won't use even if they bundle it with a lot of other features.


Let me guess, is there Tele2 available to you?


----------



## Guwapo77 (Oct 13, 2021)

Hyderz said:


> woah i cant justify the upgrade from just 1 generation but if you want the upgrades .. go for it


There will be no trade in as I never trade them in.  I worry too much that someone will extract the information that was on the phone (IT/Cybersecurity).  Last I read, Apple outsources the clearing/refurbishing/recycling of their phones.  One of the recycling contractors was reselling the phones instead.  This is a huge security risk and I just don't trust them.  Long story short, I'm giving the 12 Pro Max to the wife while I'll take the new 13 Pro Max.  120 hz means nothing whatsoever to her.  LoL



lynx29 said:


> everyones income is different, also the trade in offer that a lot of places offer in on a back to back upgrade like this is really really top notch... I mean it probably will only cost him 100-150 bucks to upgrade, if that, so fair enough.  its amazing how much value iphones hold.


Spot on!


----------



## Space Lynx (Oct 13, 2021)

Guwapo77 said:


> There will be no trade in as I never trade them in.  I worry too much that someone will extract the information that was on the phone (IT/Cybersecurity).  Last I read, Apple outsources the clearing/refurbishing/recycling of their phones.  One of the recycling contractors was reselling the phones instead.  This is a huge security risk and I just don't trust them.  Long story short, I'm giving the 12 Pro Max to the wife while I'll take the new 13 Pro Max.  120 hz means nothing whatsoever to her.  LoL
> 
> 
> Spot on!



fair enough, helping family and friends out is always a plus and smart imo.  good on you


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Oct 13, 2021)

Iphone 8 64gb



Xeon said:


> I'm still rocking my G1



I bought a G1 boxed, it was on 1.0 but i stupidly updated it to 1.6 grrr. Pretty collectable now, specially on 1.0


----------



## sam_86314 (Oct 22, 2021)

Got the Android 12 update on my Pixel. So far, there are things that I like, such as a lot of the visual changes, and a few things I don't like. Unfortunately, the gradient in the notification area wasn't removed so I'm still using Lawnchair, which still works despite its last update being from 2019.

Interestingly it increased my benchmark scores, so now they're closer to what I thought they should be.



Spoiler: Geekbench 4 Android 11














Spoiler: Geekbench 4 Android 12











Still scores slightly worse than the 750G-based Motorola that I briefly had, but ultimately I don't think it matters.


----------



## Lei (Nov 1, 2021)

I use Huawei Nova 4e with Harmony OS. 
It weights 159 grams and the cameras are good.


----------



## seth1911 (Nov 1, 2021)

Blackbery Passport, before that a Blackbery Q5 and Huawei P40 Lite E


----------



## P4-630 (Nov 1, 2021)

As long as my apps are still working I will keep using my S7.
Still looks as new.


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## Trompochi (Nov 1, 2021)

Xiaomi Poco X3 pro 8gb/256gb. I got it recently, very happy with it.


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## xrobwx71 (Nov 1, 2021)

Note 20 Ultra5G I'm probably going to give this one to my daughter(since she has said to me 1000x "I want/like your phone Daddy") and go to the Pixel 6 Pro. 

I went from the Pixel 4 to the Note20Ultra and I'm not digging Samsung too much. I miss the Pixel 4.


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## The red spirit (Nov 2, 2021)

xrobwx71 said:


> Note 20 Ultra5G I'm probably going to give this one to my daughter(since she has said to me 1000x "I want/like your phone Daddy") and go to the Pixel 6 Pro.
> 
> I went from the Pixel 4 to the Note20Ultra and I'm not digging Samsung too much. I miss the Pixel 4.


I don't think that kids need a fancy phone like that.


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## xrobwx71 (Nov 2, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> I don't think that kids need a fancy phone like that.


You are more than welcome to your opinion. I happen to agree with you


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## Vya Domus (Nov 2, 2021)

I have an iPhone 12, I bought it primarily because I like to go for a different manufacturer every time I buy a new phone and seeing how basically all Android flagships have become monstrously overpriced over the years I reckoned might as well try Apple this time.

It's alright, really the only advantage I see with Apple is that they retain their value better which is why I might sell it and buy a 13 Pro next spring or so.


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## The red spirit (Nov 2, 2021)

Vya Domus said:


> I have an iPhone 12, I bought it primarily because I like to go for a different manufacturer every time I buy a new phone and seeing how basically all Android flagships have become monstrously overpriced over the years I reckoned might as well try Apple this time.
> 
> It's alright, really the only advantage I see with Apple is that they retain their value better which is why I might sell it and buy a 13 Pro next spring or so.


Why not try lower cots Androids? You know, phones like Galaxy M12, Nokia G20 or Motorola G30.


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## Vya Domus (Nov 2, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> Why not try lower cots Androids? You know, phones like Galaxy M12, Nokia G20 or Motorola G30.


I want to have something that is as fast as possible, usually that means the latest chipsets which are only found in flagships.


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## Deleted member 24505 (Nov 2, 2021)

Like the Pixel phones, but the camera strip on the 6 pro is just the worst camera hump i have ever seen.


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## The red spirit (Nov 2, 2021)

Vya Domus said:


> I want to have something that is as fast as possible, usually that means the latest chipsets which are only found in flagships.


It's just as much influenced by storage speed. But past certain point (which in recent years got really low), there's no appreciable benefit from higher specs and ever faster chipsets.


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## RealKGB (Nov 2, 2021)

Still on the 6S, but I'm thinking of upgrading to a 7 somewhat soon.
I know that's not much of an upgrade, but the "16GB" (read: 4.5GB) of space I have is just not enough for what I want to have on there, and instead of trying to find a 32/64GB 6S and doing a brain transplant I can both upgrade storage capacity and hardware capability.
I will be losing the headphone jack but that doesn't bother me too much; I barely use it anyway, and I'll get stereo speakers instead of mono (playing music is something I use my phone for a lot; I have 1.75GB of music on my phone)

Why a 7?
Simple: checkra1n, and I like having a home button. I know the 8 also has a home button but it's A11-based and when checkra1ning an A11-based device you have to disable all security - password, Touch ID, Face ID, etc., and I don't want a crackable glass back.
There is Fugu14 for the SE 2 but it only works for iOS 14.5.1 or lower and there's a very low chance of getting an SE 2 on iOS 14.5.1.


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## Vya Domus (Nov 2, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> It's just as much influenced by storage speed.



I know, flagships also usually have the fastest storage. 



The red spirit said:


> But past certain point (which in recent years got really low), there's no appreciable benefit from higher specs and ever faster chipsets.


There is if you switch from a phone you used for 2-3 years. I previously had an S8, modern mid to low end chipsets are just as fast but that would defeat the purpose of upgrading.


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## The red spirit (Nov 2, 2021)

Vya Domus said:


> I know, flagships also usually have the fastest storage.


Not really, as long as you have UFS storage instead of eMMC, you are good. 



Vya Domus said:


> There is if you switch from a phone you used for 2-3 years. I previously had an S8, modern mid to low end chipsets are just as fast but that would defeat the purpose of upgrading.


No, you don't get it. Past certain point, faster chipset doesn't make everyday tasks any faster at all:









As you can see, as long as it's not A32, everything opens and works exactly as fast.










At higher end phones, their performance is up to random chance. The chipset only makes difference if you run benchmarks everyday or play most demanding 3D games. Otherwise it doesn't matter. Things like camera, screen, OS flavour are more likely to make a difference than chipset.


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## Deleted member 67555 (Nov 2, 2021)

Motorola one 5G Ace.
It's decent and 5G is a noticeable speed increase.
I don't like that on this phone if you don't get 5G you only get 480p video...720p with 5G


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## Vya Domus (Nov 2, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> At higher end phones, their performance is up to random chance.


I don't know what you are trying to convince me of, the iPhone 12 I have now is unequivocally faster than the S8 I had in everything I do.


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## yotano211 (Nov 2, 2021)

My phone is a Samsung s10plus with 1tb storage, 256gb micro SD card. 

This might be my lost samsung phone that I use. The s20's max storage is 512gb but only in the s20 ultra which is too big, s21 doesn't even have a mini SD card slot. I don't care about losing headphone jack but I'm sad for not having a micro sd card slot.


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## theFOoL (Nov 2, 2021)

I hear you there. Not having a SD card slot is so a downer. I'm having a LG G4 as my Driver "Yes I should of gotten the V20 or V10" but G4 is what I had before so


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## droid-I (Nov 2, 2021)

Currently, a Samsung S21 5G. I do feel I would need a 3.5mm audio jack in the phone, this does not have.


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## The red spirit (Nov 2, 2021)

Vya Domus said:


> I don't know what you are trying to convince me of, the iPhone 12 I have now is unequivocally faster than the S8 I had in everything I do.


It probably has more to do with OS itself rather than hardware and likely it's a placebo than actual difference.


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## theFOoL (Nov 2, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> It probably has more to do with OS itself rather than hardware and likely it's a placebo than actual difference.


The thing with Apple they Force uipdates to where those updates can make the previous phones like a crawl... Hence Slow


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## The red spirit (Nov 2, 2021)

theFOoL said:


> The thing with Apple they Force uipdates to where those updates can make the previous phones like a crawl... Hence Slow


That's like literally every OEM out there.


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## theFOoL (Nov 2, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> That's like literally every OEM out there.


I don't understand why can't the user choose to update or not...


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## Lei (Nov 2, 2021)

Because each company looks at the revenue of another company and then immediately looks at our pocket.


theFOoL said:


> I don't understand why can't the user choose to update or not...


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## sam_86314 (Nov 2, 2021)

jmcslob said:


> Motorola one 5G Ace.
> It's decent and 5G is a noticeable speed increase.
> I don't like that on this phone if you don't get 5G you only get 480p video...720p with 5G


The Motorola One 5G Ace that I briefly had much better 5G speeds (close to 100Mb/s) than my current Pixel 5a (seems to max around 50Mb/s).

It was a solid phone, though I ditched it because I was worried about official and third-party software support.


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## Susquehannock (Nov 2, 2021)

Galaxy S4. Got it free when re-newing my Verizon account about seven years ago. Works fine and see no need upgrade, yet. Only had to replace the battery once.


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## Deleted member 24505 (Nov 2, 2021)

I have had iphone 6s in the past with the latest update on and never experienced any crawl. My partners phone is a iphone 7 plus which has ios 15.1 on it which is the latest and it is fine. the bonus with iphones is they test their new ios versions much better and as there are less phones for it to go on there are less problems. How many different Android phones are there? probably thousands. With Android, my advice is buy a google pixel as they usually get the new versions first, and as there is only one current pixel version at the time the updates will be guaranteed to work. Google IS Android, so may as well have a phone from the creator imo. 

Also why do people need phones with 512gb or more on them? Don't forget you have to back it up and a half terabyte backup is stupidly big. What do you do with that much space? carry your whole music video and photo collection around? maybe it's just me that doesn't get it.


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## Vya Domus (Nov 3, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> It probably has more to do with OS itself rather than hardware and likely it's a placebo than actual difference.



It has to do with the OS as well as the fact that the chipset is simply faster.


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## The red spirit (Nov 3, 2021)

Vya Domus said:


> It has to do with the OS as well as the fact that the chipset is simply faster.


We are in times, when faster chipset means nothing for everyday usage. Seriously, haven't you seen that comparison of Samsung phones? At this point, software is the main bottleneck and that doesn't matter, as with nearly any new device, you won't have to wait ages until everything gets done on it. Gone are times of low tier device with single core 800MHz chips, 256 MB RAM, 512MB storage and Android 2.3. Gone are also times of early quad core chips, early UFS storage with 2GB of RAM. Phones today are reasonably well optimized, generally have overpowered hardware and what you see in terms of performance, may have more to do with choice of governor, I/O scheduler and some other kernel or OS tweaks. You can (and really should) adjust that in developer settings. There's really no point in buying entirely new phone just for everyday tasks and even more the one that costs as much as car (iPhone). You can do some things with adb (like get rid of bloat) and spend some time to root phone (if possible). I'm pretty sure that it's just settings and software config that slower than expected, rather than hardware.



Tigger said:


> Google IS Android, so may as well have a phone from the creator imo.


That's a common misconception. Google phones are not pure Android phones. Pure Android phones are the ones with AOSP (Android Open Source Project) ROMs. They don't have any Google services, but they function just as Android phones. That's the most pure Android version that you can get (it's free of proprietary Google stuff), but you are right that creator of it is Google. 

The problem with AOSP ROM is it's so pure, that it doesn't have Google Mobile Services. Is that a problem? It is. About 20-30% of apps are estimated to rely on them to function at all. Some other things like APIs (for mobile payments and such) are also missing. That's why most people, who use AOSP also flash GAPPS package. There are multiple packages each with different amount of stuff included. Smaller packages can have enough of things to make your phone usable, but Google phones usually have standard version preinstalled, which besides necessities, installs some extras, which you may or may not need. And pretty much that generous GAPPS package is the main defining feature of Google flavour of Android. 

BTW it's not just Google which pumps out "pure" Android phones. Motorola and Nokia have been making phones like this for years now. Their update agility isn't as great, but if you like "pure" Android and want to save some cash, well they are interesting options. Higher end models could be seen as proper rivals for Pixels.




Tigger said:


> Also why do people need phones with 512gb or more on them? Don't forget you have to back it up and a half terabyte backup is stupidly big. What do you do with that much space? carry your whole music video and photo collection around? maybe it's just me that doesn't get it.


Here's the secret, people don't back up.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Nov 3, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> Here's the secret, people don't back up.



Well imo that is just stoopid, imagine loosing a phone or breaking it with all the stuff on it. imo 64gb is enough for a phone.


----------



## The red spirit (Nov 3, 2021)

Tigger said:


> Well imo that is just stoopid, imagine loosing a phone or breaking it with all the stuff on it. imo 64gb is enough for a phone.


I only back up photos. Everything else on my phone are just apps and lots of random digital poo that I don't care about if I lose.


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## Vya Domus (Nov 3, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> We are in times, when faster chipset means nothing for everyday usage.



That's entirely your opinion and it's completely wrong but you can continue believing it if you so desire.


----------



## Deleted member 67555 (Nov 3, 2021)

I have 100gb of unused storage.
I had no idea I had that much storage.


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## The red spirit (Nov 3, 2021)

Vya Domus said:


> That's entirely your opinion and it's completely wrong but you can continue believing it if you so desire.


It's not really wrong. If you want to argue about that, bring evidence.


----------



## Sithaer (Nov 3, 2021)

Vya Domus said:


> That's entirely your opinion and it's completely wrong but you can continue believing it if you so desire.



I guess it comes down to the person's use case.
I'm also on the side of not needing flagship phones cause I just don't see the reason for my use case, it would be an utter waste of my money.

Recently upgraded to a Realme 8 4g 6/128 for ~230 $ and even this goes like barely half utilized by my needs if even that, my previous phone for almost 3 and half years was a Meizu M6 Note with a Snapdragon 625/3GB memory and 32Gg storage.
Sure I can see that my new phone is snappier when it comes to everyday/standard apps but everything I do I could also do on my Meizu all the same.
Its not a terrible experience by any means. _'stuff like watching YT, browsing internet in general, checking reviews on TPU and whatnot, messenger/discord with a few ppl to chat with'_

Where I can clearly see the upgrade is the gaming performance ofc but I don't game that much on my phone nowadays, while its a nice extra its definitely not a main reason for me to upgrade.
Don't take too many photos either, I was already more or less fine with what my old phone could do and perfectly fine with the Realme + gcam instead of the factory software. _'factory took too vivid images for my taste'_

To be completely honest if I wanted to I could still easily use that Meizu as my daily driver and not be bothered, I just wanted to buy something new and also cause the 32GB internal storage was getting problematic lately.

Unless something bad happens to this phone I don't plan on upgrading anytime soon, preferably not for the next 3-4 years and then buy one 200-300$ phone at most.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Nov 3, 2021)

I agree that faster chipset means nothing for everyday usage. the phone manufacturers produce new phonees every year. They need us to buy them or they'd be screwed. Imagine if for one year not a single human bought a new samsung phone, they'd be pretty screwed. imo there is no need to buy new phones every year. Some older phones are still very much usable.


----------



## The red spirit (Nov 3, 2021)

Sithaer said:


> I guess it comes down to the person's use case.
> I'm also on the side of not needing flagship phones cause I just don't see the reason for my use case, it would be an utter waste of my money.
> 
> Recently upgraded to a Realme 8 4g 6/128 for ~230 $ and even this goes like barely half utilized by my needs if even that, my previous phone for almost 3 and half years was a Meizu M6 Note with a Snapdragon 625/3GB memory and 32Gg storage.


My magical budget has been 300 Euros +- 30. I have used Galaxy Ace 2 from 2012 up to 2014, then got Note 3 Neo and used it until 2018 and now I have Galaxy A50. A50 will have to last minimum 2 more years, if not 4 more. I think that 6 year phone is doable, before experience starts to become poor and phone falls apart (more like wears out). I also use it caseless and did that for nearly 2 years. I don't really miss cases.

In recent years, there have been some interesting offers at 250 Euros, so maybe in future I will finally buy a device from slightly lower tier, but who knows? I still plan to use current phone for a long time, things may change and it's cheaper to just use what you already have.



Sithaer said:


> Sure I can see that my new phone is snappier when it comes to everyday/standard apps but everything I do I could also do on my Meizu all the same.
> Its not a terrible experience by any means. _'stuff like watching YT, browsing internet in general, checking reviews on TPU and whatnot, messenger/discord with a few ppl to chat with'_


I have watched comparison videos and I really can't see a difference at that. I can see a difference between my own Note 3 Neo and A50, it's really significant, but between A50 or S21, nope. I can bet that my A50 might be a little bit faster as I messed with dev settings, adb and on software side it might be somewhat lighter.




Sithaer said:


> Where I can clearly see the upgrade is the gaming performance ofc but I don't game that much on my phone nowadays, while its a nice extra its definitely not a main reason for me to upgrade.


I used to game a bit with Ace 2, but before initial cool factor of doing that on phone and better quality of games back then, somehow I don't see an appeal to game on tiny device like that anymore. I don't care about that anymore, but I'm pretty sure that I could run GTA SA well. PC is my main gaming platform and then comes X360, which I use for literally only one game - Forza Motorsport 3.



Sithaer said:


> Don't take too many photos either, I was already more or less fine with what my old phone could do and perfectly fine with the Realme + gcam instead of the factory software. _'factory took too vivid images for my taste'_


And that's where we differ greatly. I take a lot of photos and quality should be reasonable. A50 is somewhat disappointing, but serviceable, still a big downgrade from Note 3 Neo. Ultrawide is nice to have and is fun to use sometimes, unfortunately it's even more sucky than main cam, which is already not great.



Sithaer said:


> To be completely honest if I wanted to I could still easily use that Meizu as my daily driver and not be bothered, I just wanted to buy something new and also cause the 32GB internal storage was getting problematic lately.
> 
> Unless something bad happens to this phone I don't plan on upgrading anytime soon, preferably not for the next 3-4 years and then buy one 200-300$ phone at most.


I have been looking at newer A52 and it looks way more luxurious than just midrange phone. Frankly, it rocks for the price, but on the other hand, I wished that lower end line up was more decent or A52 cheaper and more basic. And since middle class is now so good, I think that S21 just fails to have a reason to exist. It's a bit better, but not really much. And well S21 Ultra is straight up e-peen phone, along with Fold/Flip. 

In terms of brands, I think that Samsung is best all around brand due to general quality, updates, political stability (I sure as hell don't want Huawei case to happen to me with GMS being wiped off my phone), pricing. I still don't like Chinese brands as they shit out decent phone, but anything beyond that is questionable, also UIs are a bit out there. Out of them Meizu, OnePlus, Motorola, Realme could be real considerations. Xiaomi is interesting, but it's too much like Huawei in terms of questionable political situation. Brands like Asus, Google ruined their own reputation with appalling Nexus 7 that I had (it was full of issues, clear lack of quality control and crappy updates. Nexus Devices were known for that, but maybe after rebranding to Pixel they have changed. Asus doesn't seem like it did). Sony is interesting, but their prices are awful. Nokia fell from grace due to flooding low end market, poor update policy and not having anything high end or much of mid range. It's literally like Google, but worse. So screw them and on top of that, their all phones feel ancient with zero things looking like progress. They completely ruined their Zeiss branding edge that they once had. Nokia is just depressing nowadays.


----------



## Vya Domus (Nov 3, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> If you want to argue about that, bring evidence.


Evidence that some phones are faster than others ?

Lol what ?


----------



## Sithaer (Nov 3, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> My magical budget has been 300 Euros +- 30. I have used Galaxy Ace 2 from 2012 up to 2014, then got Note 3 Neo and used it until 2018 and now I have Galaxy A50. A50 will have to last minimum 2 more years, if not 4 more. I think that 6 year phone is doable, before experience starts to become poor and phone falls apart (more like wears out). I also use it caseless and did that for nearly 2 years. I don't really miss cases.
> 
> In recent years, there have been some interesting offers at 250 Euros, so maybe in future I will finally buy a device from slightly lower tier, but who knows? I still plan to use current phone for a long time, things may change and it's cheaper to just use what you already have.
> 
> ...



My max budget was around 230 Euro/270 $ this time around and I was eyeballing the Xiaomi Poco X3 Pro and I read/checked reviews for a week + asked on 2 different forums but in the end I decided not to go for it. _'thanks again for the peeps who offered help on this forum in case I buy it'_

It just sounded too risky with the already known possible issues like the ghost touch screen, and considering I'm buying a phone for years _'3-4 or so'_ I didn't want to risk that.
After that in this price range I ended up with this Realme, its nothing special but it ticks everything I need and now I really wonder what would I even do with that extra performance of the X3, probably nothing. 

Samsung is grossly overpriced imo, at least where I live not sure about other places. _'this goes for any Samsung product really, I used to be a Samsung user at one time but not anymore with their pricing/brand tax'_
Even those newer A models are way out of my range so I ditched Samsung entirely off my list.

I'm pretty much a person who stays mainly at home so not much to take pictures of, even then I take very casual photos which I only share with friends/family so eh not that important to me_. 'I don't do social media share or any of that'_
At most I take some simple nature related photos when I do happen to go outside or photos of our/grandparent's cats.

So far I have no issues with this Realme, I have the global/EU version and I'm yet to run into any random pop up or weird behaviour.
It was the same with my Meizu, had no annoying Asian bloatware on it that I know of or noticed anything after 3+ years of use.


----------



## The red spirit (Nov 3, 2021)

Vya Domus said:


> Evidence that some phones are faster than others ?
> 
> Lol what ?


Well, duh, yes. The evidence that faster chipset actually translates into real life gains at everyday tasks. I showed you some that it doesn't, you argue that it does. Bring evidence or accept that it doesn't make a difference.



Sithaer said:


> Samsung is grossly overpriced imo, at least where I live not sure about other places. _'this goes for any Samsung product really, I used to be a Samsung user at one time but not anymore with their pricing/brand tax'_
> Even those newer A models are way out of my range so I ditched Samsung entirely off my list.


Eh, could be. I noticed that Samsung has two phases. One is overpriced overadvertised stage, when they make Ace 2, og A series, Alpha and then great value, zero or little initial advertising, then they make Axx sereis, Note x Neo series. Samsung may have its faults in price, but as I mentioned, they seem to be very dependable and their UI is neutral. In the past, Samsung was the king of software, their Touchwiz interface was lightyears ahead of everything else. They put some things in it, which became common years later. I could multitask with side by side windows in 2014, no other brand had that. Also many other bits. I think that Samsung gradually lost that edge and toned down their own UI to be lighter, closer to stock, while remaining distinctly Samsung. And that's not really great. I'm not sure about that, but it may seem that Chinse became innovators of UI. We will see how that will play out. Right now, only A52 and S20 FE are decent value phones from them. Lower end ones are overpriced, higher end ones don't offer enough to justify their price and fail to decisively slam dunk on competition.




Sithaer said:


> So far I have no issues with this Realme, I have the global/EU version and I'm yet to run into any random pop up or weird behaviour.
> It was the same with my Meizu, had no annoying Asian bloatware on it that I know of or noticed anything after 3+ years of use.


What about ads in UI, DRM support, camera processing and updates?


----------



## Vya Domus (Nov 3, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> Well, duh, yes.


Man, you really should send an email to Qualcomm or Apple, those idiots keep making new chipsets every year, they could've saved billions of dollars.

Thanks for enlightening me, on my way to throw my phone in the trash can and buy a 150$ one because it makes no difference.


----------



## The red spirit (Nov 3, 2021)

Vya Domus said:


> Man, you really should send an email to Qualcomm or Apple, those idiots keep making new chipsets every year, they could've saved billions of dollars.
> 
> Thanks for enlightening me, on my way to throw my phone in the trash can and buy a 150$ one because it makes no difference.


They make a difference for games  or some rare very intensive tasks, but not everyday usage.


----------



## Sithaer (Nov 3, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> What about ads in UI, DRM support, camera processing and updates?



No ads that I'm aware of or ran into, been using the phone since early september and I'm yet to see anything out of place.
Its running on Android 11 and using the latest Realme UI 2.0 which is fairly clean/closer to a stock Android and user friendly/customizable. _'To be honest I was a bit worried after getting used to my Meizu's Flyme but it was really easy to get used to this UI'_

DRM support well I'm not sure since I don't watch Netflix or anything that would require that from what I know but I read it in a review that it did work with the 4G version I have.

The camera sensor itself is capable considering the price range its in but the factory camera app is what holds it back and for my taste its a bit too heavy on post process and also too saturated.
Its usable but definitely a weak point if its important for someone, while its not dead important to me I did a bit of research and installed a Gcam version on my phone that actually works and is customized.

This way its takes better/more natural and detailed photos so now I use this as my default camera app, I will have to get back to you later with some pics if you want. _'unless its raining again like today..'_

Updates are often-ish for now, latest being on october 23 and in total it had 2-3 since I started using it. 
Tho I don't expect this to last longer than 1+ year but eh, to be honest updates are a non deciding factor to me when picking a phone.
As long as it works just fine I don't care about updates. _'That Meizu barely had updates in over 3+ years ' _


----------



## The red spirit (Nov 3, 2021)

Sithaer said:


> Tho I don't expect this to last longer than 1+ year but eh, to be honest updates are a non deciding factor to me when picking a phone.
> As long as it works just fine I don't care about updates. _'That Meizu barely had updates in over 3+ years ' _


I wish I could agree to that, but updates are important for software longevity. It's one of the factors deciding how long phone will last. I remember times when Android versions didn't last and that had serious consequences. Anyone remembers Android Froyo or Honeycomb? They didn't last long and got software support cut prematurely. Now it happens way slower and updates to Android version no longer bring massive upgrades, just small things. And I remember big thing being AMR v versions, because they weren't intercompatible and thus one ARM version software couldn't work with another AMR version phones or tablets. I'm still salty about that, because Galaxy Ace 2 couldn't run Modern Combat Sandstorm. I no longer care too much about ARM versions or Android versions, but they start to matter, when phone is 3 years old, or 5 years old. OS update may suck, but at least gives you a chance to have all latest apps. My Galaxy Ace 2 came with Android Gingerbread (2.3.6) and only got broken update to Android Jelly Bean (4.1.2). Unofficially, it even got ROMs until Android 6 or 7 and with tons of patience, it could still be used today.


----------



## UwuCurlyWurly (Nov 3, 2021)

Huawei P40 Lite no Google Play Services, honestly no problems. Great for the price, would recommend


----------



## Sithaer (Nov 3, 2021)

The red spirit said:


> I wish I could agree to that, but updates are important for software longevity. It's one of the factors deciding how long phone will last. I remember times when Android versions didn't last and that had serious consequences. Anyone remembers Android Froyo or Honeycomb? They didn't last long and got software support cut prematurely. Now it happens way slower and updates to Android version no longer bring massive upgrades, just small things. And I remember big thing being AMR v versions, because they weren't intercompatible and thus one ARM version software couldn't work with another AMR version phones or tablets. I'm still salty about that, because Galaxy Ace 2 couldn't run Modern Combat Sandstorm. I no longer care too much about ARM versions or Android versions, but they start to matter, when phone is 3 years old, or 5 years old. OS update may suck, but at least gives you a chance to have all latest apps. My Galaxy Ace 2 came with Android Gingerbread (2.3.6) and only got broken update to Android Jelly Bean (4.1.2). Unofficially, it even got ROMs until Android 6 or 7 and with tons of patience, it could still be used today.



Considering that my 2017 ~135 Euro Meizu still works today with Android 7.something its not really an issue to me, doubt that Android 11 will be trashed anytime soon or before I buy a new phone anyway.
I jumped on the smart phone thing very late tho, like I bought my first one in 2016 or so and I'm 32 years old, yes I was using a _'dumb' _phone for 8 years after high school until it died on me.


----------



## theFOoL (Nov 3, 2021)

According to my phone (LG G4) the store still works and phone still works so I'm happy


----------



## Lei (Nov 3, 2021)

How's the 40W fast charging? Does it really beef up to 70% in half an hour...


UwuCurlyWurly said:


> Huawei P40 Lite no Google Play Services, honestly no problems. Great for the price, would recommend


----------



## yotano211 (Nov 3, 2021)

Tigger said:


> Also why do people need phones with 512gb or more on them? Don't forget you have to back it up and a half terabyte backup is stupidly big. What do you do with that much space? carry your whole music video and photo collection around? maybe it's just me that doesn't get it.


I drive a semi truck for living, when the trucks off the inverter doent get any power so I can't use the laptop. I store tons of movies/shows on the phone. It keeps me sane and entertained.

Would you rather have a insane truck driver or a sane driver who delivers the loads on time and well rested.


----------



## theFOoL (Nov 3, 2021)

The fast charging is somewhat bad in my opinion bc fast charging adds heat which is bad for batteries per say. Companies just want you to have a new phone 1/2 years


----------



## Lei (Nov 3, 2021)

8 degrees here and I'm planning to always live in places that have got snowflakes. Latte in the morning, seafood, octopus, squid, oysters, love it 

Edit: I think you can set it to normal charging as you wish. 


theFOoL said:


> The fast charging is somewhat bad in my opinion bc fast charging adds heat which is bad for batteries per say. Companies just want you to have a new phone 1/2 years



You can use an external hard disk and connect it to your phone:






yotano211 said:


> I drive a semi truck for living, when the trucks off the inverter doent get any power so I can't use the laptop. I store tons of movies/shows on the phone. It keeps me sane and entertained.
> 
> Would you rather have a insane truck driver or a sane driver who delivers the loads on time and well rested.


probably an ssd external drive so you won't run out of power.


----------



## theFOoL (Nov 3, 2021)

Lei said:


> You can use an external hard disk and connect it to your phone:
> 
> View attachment 223557
> 
> ...


What does that have to do with what was referring to? I could careless of inserting a HDD. That's what SD card is for "I no wait I forgot" companies are throwing that out bc they want Thinner phones but yes I get All the whole better cpu/chipset battery life saver technology


----------



## Lei (Nov 3, 2021)

theFOoL said:


> What does that have to do with what was referring to? I could careless of inserting a HDD. That's what SD card is for "I no wait I forgot" companies are throwing that out bc they want Thinner phones but yes I get All the whole better cpu/chipset battery life saver technology


There are external ssd drives. They're power efficient. 
Probably he already is using one SD card.


----------



## The red spirit (Nov 4, 2021)

theFOoL said:


> The fast charging is somewhat bad in my opinion bc fast charging adds heat which is bad for batteries per say. Companies just want you to have a new phone 1/2 years


I think that they set some temperature target, which would be maintained and charging could be sped up sometimes. I don't think that they allow faster charging without controlling heat.


----------



## Lei (Nov 4, 2021)

Developer Options has charging temperature limit.
My phone turns itself off when it's too cold. It also halts charging at midnight to lower the temp and continues later (Since it learns that you won't be using it at night and won't be in a hurry)


The red spirit said:


> I think that they set some temperature target, which would be maintained and charging could be sped up sometimes. I don't think that they allow faster charging without controlling heat.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Nov 15, 2021)

using a iphone 7 plus now as it has exceptionally good audio output, either with the headphones supplied, or the lightning to 3.5mm adapter.

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...mm-adapter-has-very-good-audio-output.288975/


----------



## Timelessest (Nov 17, 2021)

I am using a S20 FE 4G. Has decent battery life, but I just use it for emails, whatsapp and browse the internet.


----------



## NAM3ofVIOLATION (Nov 17, 2021)

Xiaomi Redmi 9T


----------



## RealKGB (Nov 17, 2021)

Upgraded from a 6S to an



(It's still the same phone I just made the name stupid)


----------



## wheresmycar (Nov 30, 2021)

Samsung S8+

... 3 years old and still going strong. Surprisingly, the battery still lasts the whole day and then some. Won't be upgrading anytime soon.


----------



## theFOoL (Nov 30, 2021)

wheresmycar said:


> Samsung S8+
> 
> ... 3 years old and still going strong. Surprisingly, the battery still lasts the whole day and then some. Won't be upgrading anytime soon.


I had that but I dropped it days later. Poor phones with there glass all around body. As Jerry says "Glass is Glass and Glass can Break"


----------



## wheresmycar (Nov 30, 2021)

theFOoL said:


> I had that but I dropped it days later. Poor phones with there glass all around body. As Jerry says "Glass is Glass and Glass can Break"



I've dropped mine a few times, even on hard surfaces. Just a little unnoticeable crack on the bottom right... courtesy of a decent slim rubber cover and I probably only paid around £10 for it  

Although I can't say the same about my previous Sammy Note 4..... "smashed to pieces" and no one knows what happened although the Mi5 and CIA's combined effort held a 2 year old as the prime suspect. He was later shipped to Guantano Bay.


----------



## pcwolf (Nov 30, 2021)

Pixel 6 on Google Fi


----------



## INSTG8R (Nov 30, 2021)

Retired my 6S for a 2020 SE. same size so that’s all that really mattered to me overall. I’m really not a “phone guy”  obviously but I had to accept it was time to upgrade. But I have zero interest in a “giant” phone.


----------



## theFOoL (Nov 30, 2021)

Amen. Big phones + large screen = Battery Life Hog. Just no matter the way they improve cpu power efficiency screens will always be a factor

My LG G4 with a 10000mAH TQTHL and Perfine 6000mAH make a Joy of 34HRs 6HRs SoT and 46HRs 8HRs SoT


----------



## Remeca (Nov 30, 2021)

I use a Pixel 2 and an S9. Battery is terrible on the Pixel but the S9 is still doing fine.


----------



## freeagent (Nov 30, 2021)

I am still grinding away on my 22 month old Apple Certified Pre Owned XS Max 256GB. I almost upgraded last weekend to a 12 Pro Max Certified Pre Owned.. but then they sold out as I was trying to make up my mind. I might get a 13 Pro Max.. but I have a feeling this may be the last year for lightning cables.. maybe. Would be nice to know. If that's the case I can tough it out for another year. My battery lasts me all day and the phone still does what I need it to so.. plus I am frugal and I would really hate to drop down to 128GB lol.. my phone bill is already 200 a month, my goal is lower, not closer to 300 lol.. she wants a series 7 watch for Christmas..


----------



## INSTG8R (Nov 30, 2021)

freeagent said:


> I am still grinding away on my 22 month old Apple Certified Pre Owned XS Max 256GB. I almost upgraded last weekend to a 12 Pro Max Certified Pre Owned.. but then they sold out as I was trying to make up my mind. I might get a 13 Pro Max.. but I have a feeling this may be the last year for lightning cables.. maybe. Would be nice to know. If that's the case I can tough it out for another year. My battery lasts me all day and the phone still does what I need it to so.. plus I am frugal and I would really hate to drop down to 128GB lol.. my phone bill is already 200 a month, my goal is lower, not closer to 300 lol.. she wants a series 7 watch for Christmas..


When I upgraded through my provider I apparently signed up for a “switch” plan so apparently in a year I guess I can upgrade to the 2021 SE, I hope…


----------



## freeagent (Nov 30, 2021)

INSTG8R said:


> When I upgraded through my provider I apparently signed up for a “switch” plan so apparently in a year I guess I can upgrade to the 2021 SE, I hope…


I did consider that, but the thought of leasing a phone doesn't sit well with me.. then again, I have never owned the newest phone.. I have 1 more year of my soul sucking loan payments and then I am free and clear with an elephant off my shoulders..


----------



## INSTG8R (Nov 30, 2021)

freeagent said:


> I did consider that, but the thought of leasing a phone doesn't sit well with me.. then again, I have never owned the newest phone.. I have 1 more year of my soul sucking loan payments and then I am free and clear with an elephant off my shoulders..


Meh only way I could afford an upgrade…but yes the extra cost paying off the new phone stings no doubt…it’s only $30 CDN extra but in Kroner it definitely feels harsher.


----------



## LabRat 891 (Nov 30, 2021)

OnePlus 7T HD1907. Bought used on eBay 'damaged' for $100. Run it on Mint Mobile.

I call it my 'Banana Phone' since the original owner clearly sat on it. I saw that as a 'feature' since the backplate is now removable. That 'feature' came in handy when I first received it as the ZIF ribbon cable for the SIM came loose in shipping. Amazingly, the Engineered Borosilicate Glass (gorilla glass) is happily sitting curved. 
I keep a case on it to minimize ingress and keep the backplate on.

My only complaint is that OnePlus removed every feature I had sought the phone out for. After a mid-life Android 10 update, OTG and Video Output cannot function while charging. Only known fix is a custom ROM. I'll consider doing that after reassembling an ATT LG V20 I had kitbashed parts out of to repair and customize my previous T-Mo LG V20 (before the display cable tried to light itself on fire anyway.)


----------



## Iron_Merc (Dec 4, 2021)

Motorola G7 play. 
Got it for $27 w/ ATT monthly contract. 
I love it. Very snappy and durable to boot.


----------



## Yraggul666 (Dec 4, 2021)

Still with my first ever smartphone bought in august 2018. Felt like crying when i paid 850lei/195$/170euro for a phone, and if i didn't need the bank token and 2FA for some stuff i'd still be on a dumbphone.

The mighty Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie.
Battery is not what it used to be but it's ok if i don't "game" on it; i only play pool and nitro jump while i wait for idiots to make things happen anyway but still, those small uncomplicated games kick the crap out of it's battery and cpu, it gets really REALLY HOT.
No odd bheaviour, just the ocasional"sorry master, i can't switch from cel data to your wifi, would you mind doing it manually pls". 
Other than that and the fact it only has Android 7 bcs it's old, i love it.

When i upgrade because i'm going to have to at some point i'll stay in the below 200$ or max 250$ pricepoint.


----------



## Liviu Cojocaru (Dec 4, 2021)

I just moved to iOS, my daily driver now is an iPhone 13 Pro


----------



## ixi (Dec 4, 2021)

Liviu Cojocaru said:


> I just moved to iOS, my daily driver now is an iPhone 13 ProView attachment 227566



Looks like children toy. Just apple things. I just unlocked the universe secret. Why every children wants Ipawn, because it looks like toy.




Congratulation on the new device :]. How much did you pay for that in your country?
In Latvia Iphone 13 pro, 256GB version costs 1350e. It is possible to buy it as well for 1290e from different internet shops.


----------



## micropage7 (Dec 4, 2021)

people want a high end phones but now low end phones kinda promising too, i know some aspects will be reduced


----------



## ixi (Dec 4, 2021)

micropage7 said:


> people want a high end phones but now low end phones kinda promising too, i know some aspects will be reduced


Yep, you can get for 500-600e really powerful phones, even for 300e with good specs.


----------



## Liviu Cojocaru (Dec 4, 2021)

ixi said:


> Looks like children toy. Just apple things. I just unlocked the universe secret. Why every children wants Ipawn, because it looks like toy.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Paid £950


----------



## ViperXTR (Dec 4, 2021)

Poco F2 Pro, so far so good


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2021)

Just wondering that what I should get as a replacement in like, few months. An used XS Max or 11? I'm staying on iOS..


----------



## ixi (Dec 4, 2021)

Maenad said:


> Just wondering that what I should get as a replacement in like, few months. An used XS Max or 11? I'm staying on iOS..



Well I guess it depends on price.

Used xs max battery should be weaker than 11, but that depends on previous user, how he used the phone.



ViperXTR said:


> Poco F2 Pro, so far so good



Poco phones in performance segment are nice and cheap. Do you see adds in settings?


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 4, 2021)

ixi said:


> Well I guess it depends on price.
> 
> Used xs max battery should be weaker than 11, but that depends on previous user, how he used the phone.
> 
> ...


I'd say the budget is about 350-400EUR.. I'll check first the official used phone resellers (like Swappie etc) and then from invidual people. A 64GB El Cheapo one will do, as I have the 1EUR/mo subscription of 50GB of iCloud storage. I have over half free on my current 8 Plus 64GB.


----------



## AusWolf (Dec 4, 2021)

Samsung Galaxy A20e here. In the age when the only noticeable difference between a £150 phone and a £1000 phone is the screen resolution and the number of cameras, I really couldn't care less.


----------



## ViperXTR (Dec 4, 2021)

ixi said:


> Poco phones in performance segment are nice and cheap. Do you see adds in settings?


what ads? i dont see them


----------



## seth1911 (Dec 17, 2021)

Still my Blackberry Passport, it have some issues with me as metalworker but anyways it works still pretty good,
the keyboard is another good thing like my Q10 and Q5.

I can still answer messages if my hands are full of dirt, oil and cooling solutions.

All Keyboard BB are still alive, even no one Touchsceen only smartphone is alive not even a galaxy xcover 3 
The best phone i had was a Galaxy S8 with IP68 and it got metal shavings behind the case


----------



## Bones (Dec 17, 2021)

An old LG flip from 2018 that's still going and I'm happy with it.


----------



## DarkReaper969 (Dec 17, 2021)

OnePlus 8. Really satisfied with it.


----------



## freeagent (Dec 17, 2021)

My phone is paid for and now I am wasting money on my plan.. was looking at another certified preowned phone.. but my battery is still above 90% dammit. I paid for apple care because I thought I would be on my third glass phone by now. This thing has hit the parking lot a few times caseless, and has even been power slammed to the floor a few times trying to catch it in a fumble.. because glass is glass and it is a slippery mofo sometimes lol


----------



## Nike_486DX (Dec 17, 2021)

iPhone 7 with iOS 10.2.1 here, got 3d touch and the back is shatterproof. Both things are missing in iPhone XSSSS (13 Pro). 32+64bit apps, decent battery life, all the good stuff. btw did a hack with the touch id sensor, by putting matte film on it, the firngerprint recongition has improved, and the sensor never gets greasy.


----------



## The red spirit (Dec 17, 2021)

ixi said:


> Yep, you can get for 500-600e really powerful phones, even for 300e with good specs.


And you can get something good enough for even less. It's 2021, there's no reason why basic smartphones would cost a lot.


----------



## freeagent (Dec 17, 2021)

Nike_486DX said:


> 3d touch


XS/Max have this too. I still have my 7 as well.. and I bought her the SE2. not sure if I would miss it or not. Battery life on the 7 has always been terrible


----------



## Nike_486DX (Dec 17, 2021)

freeagent said:


> XS/Max have this too. I still have my 7 as well.. and I bought her the SE2. not sure if I would miss it or not. Battery life on the 7 has always been terrible


Yes _if _the X or XS is running iOS 12 and lower. But what about battery life with iOS 10 tho? Afaik iAppleBytes did a video some time ago, where there was iOS 10 vs 11 vs 12 vs 13. And guess what, iOS 10 smoked them all. In my case its around 8 hours of onscreen time, and yes i changed the battery, but i nstead of going generic i just bought a locked 7 (made in the beginning of 2020), and salvaged the battery from there.


----------



## AugeK (Dec 17, 2021)

S7 active,  ATT version unlocked for  use with my national carrier. 
Replaced my S6 active which replaced my S5 active which replaced my S4 active.
Some major signs of wear, but the S8 active is not an option as they are lacking the physical buttons.


----------



## wheresmycar (Dec 19, 2021)

AugeK said:


> S7 active,  ATT version unlocked for  use with my national carrier.
> Replaced my S6 active which replaced my S5 active which replaced my S4 active.
> Some major signs of wear, but the S8 active is not an option as they are lacking the physical buttons.



I was a bit hesitatant going for an upgrade without the physical buttons too. Ended up upgrading to S8 PLUS anyway after trying it out. Felt a bit weird at first but within a couple of days I got used to it.


----------



## Totally (Dec 19, 2021)

Galaxy S20FE


----------



## AugeK (Dec 19, 2021)

wheresmycar said:


> I was a bit hesitatant going for an upgrade without the physical buttons too. Ended up upgrading to S8 PLUS anyway after trying it out. Felt a bit weird at first but within a couple of days I got used to it.


Being an oldtimer i simply don't want to lose the physical buttons. 
You may call it a matter of age, but that's how it is.


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Jan 29, 2022)

I did a stupid thing today, left my phone on the roof of the car and drove off, wasn't until I was doing 100kph down the duel carriageway and I heard something hit the back of the car then 30 seconds after looking in the rear view mirror and see something bounce down the road and hit other cars I realized.
I did a U-turn to go look for it but by the time I got there someone had already snatched it, after persistent ringing someone finally answered and we went to pick it up. To my surprise it's totally fine, casing has some slight road rash but other than that it's totally fine, gorilla glass ftw.


----------



## BlackSun59 (Jan 29, 2022)

Moto G Play (2021) using MVNO Tello (=T-Mobile).


----------



## R-T-B (Jan 29, 2022)

I actually have a last-gen socalled "flagship":  The motorola edge+.

I got it for a steal because aparently they did not sell terribly well, but I find the phone snappy and good.  Unlike many motorolas I've had the camera is decent, too.  Motorola is still supporting it with updates as well.  Someday I'll probably unlock it's bootloader too as motos tend to have good open source support.

The old phone (a lowly moto one) hit the tile floor at high speed (I had it in my shirt pocket, it escaped.  The screen did not).


----------



## TheoneandonlyMrK (Jan 29, 2022)

ThaiTaffy said:


> I did a stupid thing today, left my phone on the roof of the car and drove off, wasn't until I was doing 100kph down the duel carriageway and I heard something hit the back of the car then 30 seconds after looking in the rear view mirror and see something bounce down the road and hit other cars I realized.
> I did a U-turn to go look for it but by the time I got there someone had already snatched it, after persistent ringing someone finally answered and we went to pick it up. To my surprise it's totally fine, casing has some slight road rash but other than that it's totally fine, gorilla glass ftw.


I've actually driven over my phone without killing it. DOH , glad it was saved lucky that.


----------



## 1freedude (Jan 30, 2022)

R-T-B said:


> I actually have a last-gen socalled "flagship":  The motorola edge+.
> 
> I got it for a steal because aparently they did not sell terribly well, but I find the phone snappy and good.  Unlike many motorolas I've had the camera is decent, too.  Motorola is still supporting it with updates as well.  Someday I'll probably unlock it's bootloader too as motos tend to have good open source support.
> 
> The old phone (a lowly moto one) hit the tile floor at high speed (I had it in my shirt pocket, it escaped.  The screen did not).


The lesson here?  Frogs shouldn't wear shirts...


----------



## xrobwx71 (Jan 30, 2022)

Pixel 6 Pro. I had the Note 20 Ultra for a while but I hate the Samsung software. I've owned the Pixel 2 XL and the Pixel 4 XL I loved them.

The Pixel 6 Pro had a few bugs, 1. Dropping calls after 40 seconds or so when connected to my Trucks (Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro 2019) BlueTooth. 2. The fingerprint reader could be better. (It si better than the Samsung Note 20 Ultra).

These mentioned bugs seem to have been fixed with the latest OTA update. I talked to my Mom tonight in my truck for 30 minutes without issue. The fingerprint reader is faster and as long as my finger is clean, never misses.

All mentioned phones are carrier unlocked and USA based.


----------



## Mussels (Jan 30, 2022)

Still Pixel 4 XL here, but my views have soured

Widevine security is stuck at L3, so no HD content with DRM - netflix is stuck at 720p
Google says its software, and refuses to fix it still


----------



## theFOoL (Jan 30, 2022)

Well I throw in my rant lol I'm fine with 720p bc who's going to tell a difference on a smell screen. I say small bc you aren't going to see a difference only on 70 Inch TVs. I hate how people are complaining this and that on screen quality


----------



## caroline! (Jan 30, 2022)

Any oldtimers using dumbs? Still rocking my Sony K790 as daily driver, I don't really need anything else and it _just works_, servicing is easy and I have some spare parts, 3 housings, batteries, and several charging/data ports I bought some years ago from a closing store.

Haven't got anything smart due to Google, iPhones worth a kidney in my banana republic and simply lack of use, I only make calls and send some texts, both mine and a $2000 smartphone can do it. If I want to browse the internet I've got my computer.


----------



## freeagent (Jan 30, 2022)

I am still using an XS Max 256GB. The newer phones are nicer, but man those prices.. I just updated our plans for a bunch more data with no overage fees.. gettin with the times lol. Hopefully I can snag a 13 Pro Max on some kind of Certified Pre Owned special like I did with my current phone. The battery is still at 91% after two years.. not too bad. I will take it in for a new one soon as I paid for Apple Care lol.. hopefully they just give me a new phone like they did last time. The Apple guy was like you paid for it might as well lol..


----------



## Esthirel (Jan 30, 2022)

I am using Realme GT master edition 128GB. 5G
Snapdragon 778G processor and 120hz display...
65w charger...charges to 80% in 19 minutes (Dual battery!) ...over 80% charging you shouldn't do (85 tops) . Wear @100% =1. Wear @80% = 0,24
It is lightyears ahead of my previous phone Huawei Psmart 2019. 

The only device that may stand in its shade is Poco X3 which is 70 euros more expensive and has no 5G! The poco F3 5G is technically the most like the Realme GT but more expensive.
Buy this phone everybody! So much speed for 250 euro. It is almost similar to Samsung A52s but 150 euros cheaper. It looks better than the Samsung too..Cheers.


----------



## Mussels (Jan 30, 2022)

theFOoL said:


> Well I throw in my rant lol I'm fine with 720p bc who's going to tell a difference on a smell screen. I say small bc you aren't going to see a difference only on 70 Inch TVs. I hate how people are complaining this and that on screen quality


It's a 1440p 90Hz HDR display locked to 720 30FPS SDR.
Yeah, you can see the difference.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Jan 30, 2022)

Iphone 8 plus. still does the job with great audio output


----------



## Mr Bill (Jan 30, 2022)

iPhone 6S still going strong, and does everything I personally need a phone to do.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Jan 30, 2022)

among my favorites, my previous one (i used to change every six month till that one, reselling the old one or giving them to my parent and friends ) Redmi Note 9 Pro which i did hold 9 month (Note *9* hold *9* more? coincidence?) more than the usual and the actual Poco F3 5G (why pay 4 time more for the same day to day performances )

the Poco F3 is a come back to my all time favorite when i discovered the Poco (at that time Pocophone) F1, flagship features (screen SOC and much more ) and some compromises (no uSD slot and slightly lower pixel count camera than the Note 9 Pro although not much price difference between them and the camera actually take more than decent shots, meanwhile the N9P was 64gb and the F3 was 128gb )

3 days in with the F3 and i already know it will remain strong for quite some time the SD870 is still a strong runner (although the SD8 Gen1 and the Dimensity 1XXX and 9XXX are "stomping" on it) ... and the Dolby Atmos dual speaker made me sell my BT speakers  (not as bassy as a Boom 2 Le but the sound output is quite satisfactory )

sidenote 
you have the right to call me a hater on Samsung and Apple (Samsung for all reason, price device, Apple only on price ... their devices are quite good and their extremely closed ecosystem are an advantage for some peoples.)



Esthirel said:


> The only device that may stand in its shade is Poco X3 which is 70 euros more expensive and has no 5G! The poco F3 5G is technically the most like the Realme GT but more expensive.
> Buy this phone everybody! So much speed for 250 euro. It is almost similar to Samsung A52s but 150 euros cheaper. It looks better than the Samsung too..Cheers.


mhhh the Realme GT Master Ed. is 329chf for me meanwhile the Poco F3 5G was 299 (outside of the discount i got for it) and SD870, stereo speaker and better build versus SD778G, for the rest yeah they are alike (storage, screen), even in battery capacity (although 220mAh more on the F3 5G ) but yes ... 65W charging is better (over the 33W )

the GT Neo 2 is actually the counterpart of the Poco F3 5G but price is around 399Eur (aka 100 more than the F3 5G ) and the GT 5G and GT2  with the SD888 are the top dog in the pack (but 400+ Eur price )

no misunderstanding i really do like Realme, they have excellent offers too.


----------



## theFOoL (Jan 30, 2022)

I'm on my LG G4 with the TQTHL 10kMah Battery. Does what I need which is browsing, email, video, light games 

Note - Do not charge a extended battery by USB otherwise it'll expand over time Hence loosing it's capacity a bit. I have two slim models batteries but they still fit just the capacity lost a bit


----------



## puma99dk| (Jan 30, 2022)

I am still on my iPhone 12 Pro Max since more people I know is going iPhone I am staying even I secretly wants a Oppo phone again but that's in another life time.

I am staying on iOS I know that I can receive iMessages and so on.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Jan 30, 2022)

Unless it has near flat output like my 8 plus, not interested


----------



## phill (Jan 31, 2022)

Well for the last 5 ish years I think (might be a bit more or less) I've been with Huawei..   Got tired of Samsung phones with all the bloatware and rubbish, so I went to them.  The first Huawei I had was the P10, worked really well, nice phone at the time and the camera which I prefer to have something decent, was pretty good.

I think I went over my contract for a few months and didn't do anything but then moved on the P30 Pro which I still have (as I still have the P10 as I sometimes use it for the camera.... explained below...)

Was very impressed and happy with the phone, the quality of the screen, camera and just general performance of the phone was great.   Battery life wasn't too bad either and with it's about an hour or so charge to full from empty, that was a positive thing too.

Up until June ish last year, everything was going great until I had an update with the phone and it appeared to have knocked out the main camera (so 1x to 10x I think??  Might be up to 5x but still has issues with anything sometimes up to 10x zoom)  which has really rendered the camera side of it pretty damn useless.  As I was just getting out of my contract for my two years, I refused to pay £200+ for a repair and getting it sorted as seeing the prices they wanted for the motherboard/main camera and then labour etc. I just thought it seemed crazy to spend it on the phone when I could use the money to go to another.

I've stuck with the faulty camera after seeing a lot of people on the web on various phone sites, complaining of the same thing.  Some getting it repaired and some not having the luck.   Sadly though with the lack of Google on the P40 and P50 phones now I can't really stay with them as some of the apps I do use (which still grinds on me) banking or the DS File for my Synology box (phone backup basically) as an example, I need to have on a new phone.

I'm not sure I'm going to like it but the S22 models will be out in a few weeks so I'm going to get to the release date and see what they bring.  I'm looking for anything Android with a decent camera, good screen, battery life that can last a day or more with a bit of use (I don't generally play games on the phone or really use it for anything that demanding... and I try to limit it to at most 2 hours screen time) so I don't have crazy requirements really.  Even storage space isn't really an issue as the phone backs up to the server, I'm not very likely to fill up a 16TB drive just yet...  (Bloody hope not!!) 

Sorry I thought I'd be a little quicker than that explaining but my little user experience.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Jan 31, 2022)

The high end galaxy S phones are really good, but too many apps you will never ever use. Their screens are very good too.


----------



## Space Lynx (Jan 31, 2022)

Tigger said:


> The high end galaxy S phones are really good, but too many apps you will never ever use. Their screens are very good too.



ya if the S22 didn't come with an unremovable facebook app, etc i would prob upgrade to a s22.  as it stands I am waiting until August I think and getting a pixel 6A.  or whenever the pixel 6a comes out anyway.  I might go with the iphone se 2 if that comes out in april/may.  I have not decided yet.


----------



## Quigly (Jan 31, 2022)

MOTO E2020. Cheap, cheerful, relatively free of bloatware. Had an LG G6 THINQ before, lasted 4 years and 2 batteries. Funny enough, the Moto is more performant. LG was trash at keeping up with updates, it's probably for the best they're no longer in the mobile game.


----------



## ShiBDiB (Jan 31, 2022)

Pixel 4a

I prefer small phones and not carrying a TV around in my pocket. So it's perfect. And fuck apple.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Jan 31, 2022)

Most important for me is sound, and the iphone has it. Had both Android and Ios, and i mainly only use it as a phone now so it does the job. I do miss the customisation of Android, but don't matter.


----------



## AhokZYashA (Jan 31, 2022)

changed my phone to ROG Phone 5s
have everything i need, big battery, excellent speakers, 3.5mm Jack, excellent screen, okay-ish camera

got it for pretty cheap too


----------



## Space Lynx (Jan 31, 2022)

ShiBDiB said:


> Pixel 4a
> 
> I prefer small phones and not carrying a TV around in my pocket. So it's perfect. And fuck apple.



not a fan of Apple either, but all their phones support all bands (I think), and if you travel a lot that comes in handy.


----------



## Frick (Jan 31, 2022)

Sony Xperia 5 III.


----------



## Remeca (Jan 31, 2022)

I'm still using my S9. I'm seriously considering upgrading to an iPhone 12 or 13 (base model.) Anyone have any opinions on switching if you've only ever had Android? I have some paid apps and games on Play, but nothing I can't live without. No other Apple devices except an iPod Touch 4g that hasn't been touched in many years.


----------



## git_nerdy (Jan 31, 2022)

iPhone 13 Pro Max


----------



## Khonjel (Jan 31, 2022)

Oppo F19. Lightweight at 175g relatively compared to 190-200g competition. Slim width at 74mm compared to 77mm and fatter competition. 1080p AMOLED vs LCD 90hz or 720p 1080p.

But most importantly ColorOS is very stable. Had good experience with Realme UI, a slight variation of ColorOS with mum's Realme 8 Pro bought earlier in 2021. Not random bricking like Redmi/POCO's MIUI. Not to mention no incessant ads like MIUI and Samsung's budget phones.


----------



## Cutechri (Jan 31, 2022)

The crappy Galaxy A51 as I only use my phone once a century.


----------



## Athlonite (Feb 1, 2022)

Khonjel said:


> Oppo F19. Lightweight at 175g relatively compared to 190-200g competition. Slim width at 74mm compared to 77mm and fatter competition. 1080p AMOLED vs LCD 90hz or 720p 1080p.
> 
> But most importantly ColorOS is very stable. Had good experience with Realme UI, a slight variation of ColorOS with mum's Realme 8 Pro bought earlier in 2021. Not random bricking like Redmi/POCO's MIUI. Not to mention no incessant ads like MIUI and Samsung's budget phones.


this 

USBUSB Type-C 2.0

is the only thing I hate about cell phones that sell for under a grand would it really hurt to put an actual USB Type C 3.x gen 1 or 2 controller inplace of a shitty USB 2.0 chip I doubt it


----------



## ShiBDiB (Feb 1, 2022)

Athlonite said:


> this
> 
> USBUSB Type-C 2.0
> 
> is the only thing I hate about cell phones that sell for under a grand would it really hurt to put an actual USB Type C 3.x gen 1 or 2 controller inplace of a shitty USB 2.0 chip I doubt it



Pixel 4a has 3.1? And was never close to $1000 even at launch


----------



## Khonjel (Feb 1, 2022)

Athlonite said:


> this
> 
> USBUSB Type-C 2.0
> 
> is the only thing I hate about cell phones that sell for under a grand would it really hurt to put an actual USB Type C 3.x gen 1 or 2 controller inplace of a shitty USB 2.0 chip I doubt it


Do people use phones as backup storage now or sth?
I mean it's nice to have ngl but is it a burning need that I missed?


----------



## Franz (Feb 1, 2022)

S9+ since release for now and works perfectly. I dont like waste things, that S9 is the third smartphone that I have. The first one was the first model grand duos, the hardware was OK and the camera BY FAR is the better that I had, pitty the screen was shitty, I selled that for a friend after one year and regreted it

The second was Note3 and the hardware was incredible (even now it would have avery good performance) the screen is better than S9+ but the camera was TOTAL shit! It survived for almost 8 years and I still miss the IR cannon for remote control

The S9+ is a good phone anyway, not a perfect, but good and solid, almost 4 years of use and some drops but in perfect form. I think my next phone will be a note family again, I always buy flagship aiming for long lifespan and not regret at all.


----------



## Athlonite (Feb 1, 2022)

Khonjel said:


> Do people use phones as backup storage now or sth?
> I mean it's nice to have ngl but is it a burning need that I missed?


I like audio books and when I'm copying 7+ GB's of them over I really don't want to be waiting half the bloody night for it to finish but I also don't have a need for a 1000+ dollar phone either


----------



## Mussels (Feb 1, 2022)

ShiBDiB said:


> Pixel 4a has 3.1? And was never close to $1000 even at launch


My pixel 4XL is USB 2.0 type C
no faster transfers, no faster charging (USB-PD, 5V 3A - no 9V or 12V)


----------



## AVATARAT (Feb 1, 2022)

iHunt i7 4G​


----------



## xtreemchaos (Feb 1, 2022)

9+ but not as a phone i have no card in it and never have as my tinnitus will not let me use it with me ear so its just a min tablet.


----------



## silentbogo (Feb 1, 2022)

Mussels said:


> My pixel 4XL is USB 2.0 type C
> no faster transfers, no faster charging (USB-PD, 5V 3A - no 9V or 12V)


Do you use the original charger and cable? I'm pretty sure Pixel 4 series has USB PD 2.0, which means it should bump it to 9V if everything works as intended. 
Something like dirty USB port, damaged or low-quality cable, or malfunctioning charger can cause that. Also, if you are using a third-party QC charger - it won't work and roll back to 5V 2A.
My old Nokia 8 used to have this issue w/ QC2.0, cause it kept collecting dust bunnies, pocket rollies and tobacco from my pockets. Had to clean it with tweezers and IPA every month or so. Now I have a Poco F3 with stock case, which has a USB plug on it, which protects it from filthy dirtbags like me   
Regarding USB - it's actually 3.1, but write speeds are gimped by some quirk in Google's implementation of MTP. It's been in the news a couple of years back, after some review outlet tested transfer speeds.


----------



## Mussels (Feb 2, 2022)

silentbogo said:


> Do you use the original charger and cable? I'm pretty sure Pixel 4 series has USB PD 2.0, which means it should bump it to 9V if everything works as intended.
> Something like dirty USB port, damaged or low-quality cable, or malfunctioning charger can cause that. Also, if you are using a third-party QC charger - it won't work and roll back to 5V 2A.
> My old Nokia 8 used to have this issue w/ QC2.0, cause it kept collecting dust bunnies, pocket rollies and tobacco from my pockets. Had to clean it with tweezers and IPA every month or so. Now I have a Poco F3 with stock case, which has a USB plug on it, which protects it from filthy dirtbags like me
> Regarding USB - it's actually 3.1, but write speeds are gimped by some quirk in Google's implementation of MTP. It's been in the news a couple of years back, after some review outlet tested transfer speeds.


charger supports 9V, phone doesnt use it
Or am i thinking of the pixel 1, that did that?

Googling to find out


----------



## NoiseBox (Feb 2, 2022)

Until recently I was a die-hard Blackberry user, the BB KeyOne was the best of both worlds, a real QWERTY keyboard, and a hardened version of Android. Sadly, it was 4g only and no carrier around my area would support it, so I was forced to downgrade to some random black slab of a generic Android phone. A Moto 5g Stylus I think.


----------



## Deleted member 74752 (Feb 2, 2022)

Google Pixel 4 - It works and my service is $31 a month.


----------



## Athlonite (Feb 2, 2022)

Mussels said:


> My pixel 4XL is USB 2.0 type C
> no faster transfers, no faster charging (USB-PD, 5V 3A - no 9V or 12V)


that too the only way I get quick charge is by using the wall wart plug it into the PC via its USB Type C port and 5V 500mA is all you get


----------



## Mussels (Feb 2, 2022)

Athlonite said:


> that too the only way I get quick charge is by using the wall wart plug it into the PC via its USB Type C port and 5V 500mA is all you get


Thats normal, PC ports dont provide extra power


----------



## silentbogo (Feb 2, 2022)

Mussels said:


> Thats normal, PC ports dont provide extra power





Athlonite said:


> plug it into the PC via its USB Type C port and 5V 500mA is all you get



That's not entirely correct either. There's USB BC (5V 2.4A) and there's USB3.0 with its quirks. On lots of boards, laptops, prebuilts manufacturers skip on USB protection, which means theoretically you can pull as much current out of USB as you want(or as much as the device is capable of pulling). Our guys at work burned a couple of mini-PCs that way: 5V rail was capable of 5V 4A combined, but each port was able to provide ~1.5A or more to the phone/tablet. With 4 phones connected it managed to kill that rail.... twice... After I explicitly said to use powered hub for more than 3 devices....  



The only reason you see 500mA when the phone is plugged in, is because phone itself tried to negotiate and failed. Older Samsungs used to be that way too: can't negotiate - roll back to 0.5A for safety. 
And if you, @Athlonite , are using a cheap "pigtail" USB tester to measure current - it may become that barrier that stops phone from detecting port's capabilities. My old tester used to do that crap, so I replaced it with a new one, which has all lanes connected and even allows QC and PD to go through.



Mussels said:


> charger supports 9V, phone doesnt use it


Does your charger support 9V QC or 9V PD? As I said earlier, QC is not compatible with PD, so if you are using a third-party charger - you better check which one it is.
Same applies to Pixel 1.


----------



## Mussels (Feb 2, 2022)

silentbogo said:


> That's not entirely correct either. There's USB BC (5V 2.4A) and there's USB3.0 with its quirks. On lots of boards, laptops, prebuilts manufacturers skip on USB protection, which means theoretically you can pull as much current out of USB as you want(or as much as the device is capable of pulling). Our guys at work burned a couple of mini-PCs that way: 5V rail was capable of 5V 4A combined, but each port was able to provide ~1.5A or more to the phone/tablet. With 4 phones connected it managed to kill that rail.... twice... After I explicitly said to use powered hub for more than 3 devices....
> View attachment 234966
> The only reason you see 500mA when the phone is plugged in, is because phone itself tried to negotiate and failed. Older Samsungs used to be that way too: can't negotiate - roll back to 0.5A for safety.
> And if you, @Athlonite , are using a cheap "pigtail" USB tester to measure current - it may become that barrier that stops phone from detecting port's capabilities. My old tester used to do that crap, so I replaced it with a new one, which has all lanes connected and even allows QC and PD to go through.
> ...


Okay i found the info i was looking for:

The pixel phones use Qualcomms charging hardware internally, which supports qualcomms quick charge 2.0 (including 9V 2A) - but its disabled
They instead only work with USB-C PD 2.0

Example link about the Pixel 2 XL, where the charging hardware supports 27W, but only charges at a max of 18W (and ofc, many sites failed to report the update on that)
Pixel 2 supports 27W chargers, won't actually charge faster (update) - CNET

Then the 4XL moved to USB-C, but kept it USB 2.0 and didnt change the charging rates (but we did get 11W wireless charging with the pixel stand, woo?)
by and by Compatibility - GTrusted

My mistake about the USB-C 9V vs the quick charge 9V is what threw me off, actual figures are:





With an official spec 27W charger, it went up an entire 1W faster
Pixel 6 boosts to a huuuuuuge ~22W max, if you buy your own 30W charger, averaging to 13W (the fast charge only applies to the first 50%)

the slower charging rates are meant to keep the battery alive longer, and if you have adaptive charging on it slows it even further "phone will reach 100% by (next alarm)


----------



## RealKGB (Feb 3, 2022)

I upgraded to an iPhone 5C 32GB.
Yes, older than my 7. But it's fun to try to see how many people I can troll into thinking it's the "XR Mini" (I put a sticker on it so it looks like a Touch ID button). So far I've gotten 3.
And it runs iOS 10, so Discord compatibility!


----------



## Samiam66 (Feb 3, 2022)

iphone SE


----------



## Athlonite (Feb 3, 2022)

silentbogo said:


> @Athlonite , are using a cheap "pigtail" USB tester to measure current - it may become that barrier that stops phone from detecting port's capabilities. My old tester used to do that crap, so I replaced it with a new one, which has all lanes connected and even allows QC and PD to go through.


Yeah no pigtail tester here I use a wee little program called USBview it show what's attached to what port and at what speed and power draw for each device


----------



## silentbogo (Feb 3, 2022)

Athlonite said:


> Yeah no pigtail tester here I use a wee little program called USBview it show what's attached to what port and at what speed and power draw for each device


It only shows the "power mode", not the actual current draw (e.g. whatever it should be according to spec, but not in reality). 
If you look at my photo above, that's USB3.0 running "in spec", which should've been 900mA cap on the current. Most hardware doesn't have an actual current limiter or active power control, and very-very rarely (on very few laptops) you may get something like a USB power switch with OCP set to over 2A and that's it. In 99% of cases it's just a straight-up power going from 5V rail to the port, and if you are lucky - ESD protection IC. And if you are really lucky - a polyfuse.
This means that USBView will show you 500mA even if you are pulling 3-4 times that.


----------



## Mussels (Feb 3, 2022)

^ what he said

Software reports what it thinks its sending, but some hardware ignores those limits and does whatever


----------



## ratirt (Feb 3, 2022)

Galaxy A6 and A5


----------



## Cvrk (Feb 4, 2022)

OnePlus 5


----------



## Dr. Dro (Feb 4, 2022)

Rocking a Samsung Galaxy S10+ Duos (SM-G975F/DS), Exynos 9820 + 2 physical SIM card slots variant


----------



## ERazer (Feb 4, 2022)

iPhone 12 pro, I was android user but ever since started working in IT field I switch, makes it easy to support not a whole lot of variant.


----------



## INSTG8R (Feb 4, 2022)

I’m sure I’ve already said I’m using an iPhone 2020 SE. My current plan is basically called “switch” so I was perusing their shop recently and they now have an iPhone 12 Mini(I have no desire for a “brick” phone); sadly I can’t switch until June without paying a hefty fee but that is definitely on my radar for my next upgrade.


----------



## Remeca (Feb 7, 2022)

Got an iPhone 11 yesterday, replacing my S9. After over a decade of Android phones, this is taking some getting used to. I'll miss the QHD+ AMOLED though.


----------



## INSTG8R (Feb 7, 2022)

Remeca said:


> Got an iPhone 11 yesterday, replacing my S9. After over a decade of Android phones, this is taking some getting used to. I'll miss the QHD+ AMOLED though.


I had my 6S in for service and got a mid range Samsung as a loaner. Trust me I felt the same way  I couldn’t wait to get mine back. There was nothing inherently bad about Android I just didn’t like the overall experience in comparison. I really only stay with it now because I use my iPad like 90% of the time and they are perfectly synced. I take a pic on my phone and it’s on my iPad.. Notes, Calendar etc are all synced.


----------



## theFOoL (Feb 24, 2022)

Now I'm on the LG V20. A good phone, camera (which the front needs replaced due to fuzziness) and still companies selling batteries for it


----------



## Divide Overflow (Feb 24, 2022)

CallandorWoT said:


> ya if the S22 didn't come with an unremovable facebook app, etc i would prob upgrade to a s22.


I was able to uninstall Facebook from my S22+.
It's been a nice upgrade from my old S8.


----------



## RealKGB (Feb 25, 2022)

RealKGB said:


> I upgraded to an iPhone 5C 32GB.
> Yes, older than my 7. But it's fun to try to see how many people I can troll into thinking it's the "XR Mini" (I put a sticker on it so it looks like a Touch ID button). So far I've gotten 3.
> And it runs iOS 10, so Discord compatibility!


The sticker came off, so I've ordered meself an iPad Air 2 home button (and a battery). Gonna swap the Air 2 button in place of my current home button for a more authentic feel.


----------



## ThrashZone (Feb 25, 2022)

Hi,
Iphone SE
Only free phone I've ever gotten ! even though all were advertised as free phone with.... but came with a 15.00 monthly charge at&t lairs lol
xFinity mobile


----------



## freeagent (Feb 25, 2022)

I like my old iPhone, it works well. Starting to get old though.. still XS Max. My AppleCare is almost up, and I figured I would go in for a new battery.. since I paid for it already.. seems they don't like doing stuff like that anymore, the battery is still at 91% and it lasts me all day.. but I wanted a new one, no go though, it has to be at 80% or less. Ahh well.. Still looking for a Certified Pre Owned of newer vintage  That's what mine was, but I swear it was a new phone..


----------



## ThrashZone (Feb 25, 2022)

Hi,
Yep still have my iphone 4 & 5s around used both as long as the cell networks allowed.
Use the 4 as an ipod and the 5s shows some security video cam I have so I don't have to use the se all the time for it.


----------



## freeagent (Feb 25, 2022)

Oh yeah, we still have a 4S kicking around, a couple of 5S, a couple of 7s.. the iPads see a lot of use from the kids.. I just use my phone.. the older phones don't see much love and get charged now and then.. Cameras are a good idea.. someone cut the Cat off my Sante Fe, probably a good idea to install some for the upcoming summer..


----------



## ThrashZone (Feb 25, 2022)

Hi,
The app I use is GV-eye it's part of our condo community not sure what the service costs though.


----------



## Space Lynx (Feb 25, 2022)

Divide Overflow said:


> I was able to uninstall Facebook from my S22+.
> It's been a nice upgrade from my old S8.



yeah google Fi had the new S22+ for $550 off basically if you transferred your number. I almost did it. I kind of regret not doing it, to late now, oh well.


----------



## sepheronx (Feb 25, 2022)

I got a S20 FE for free


----------



## T3RM1N4L D0GM4 (Feb 25, 2022)

S20 Fe (personal)
A40 (work)
Iphone Se 1st gen (backup)


----------



## RealKGB (Feb 28, 2022)

I'm considering switching to the 4S for the lols, though I'll need to find a nanoSIM to microSIM adapter.
Interestingly, the 4S lists No Service, not No SIM, like I'd expect it to. It is both GSM and CDMA, and it's Sprint-locked (who was CDMA, and CDMA doesn't need SIMs), but T-Mobile (who bought them), is GSM...
So what happens now?


Spoiler








On T-mobile's website it says that Sprint's 3G CDMA network will be retired March 31st, 2022, and I'd think that it's trying to use that? Whenever I try and place a call it just says "this number is incorrect", even if it's confirmed working. No I didn't try 911 that's a crime since I don't actually need 911.

Also I just realized I own 4 phones now.

EDIT:
It seems that the No Service is caused by the blue inductor coil inside breaking.
That's not likely at all.... (/s, the thing has been through hell, I'd be surprised if it wasn't broken. Thankfully many have fixed it by just putting a ball of solder to reconnect.)


----------



## Mr.Scott (Feb 28, 2022)

Just dumped my 6 year old Iphone. Battery wouldn't hold a charge for more than about 2 hours.
Bought a Galaxy A13 5g.


----------



## kiriakost (Feb 28, 2022)

Galaxy S5, G900F (the waterproof European one) 
Replaceable battery. 

Root sealed, along Qi Charger genuine Samsung case.

Unfortunately the chip included at ASUS and Gigabyte motherboards for Fast Charge it can deliver only 1A for the Samsung protocol.
Fast charge only availiable for IOS protocol.


----------



## 68Olds (Feb 28, 2022)

I have an iPhone 11 Pro from the Apple Refurb Store.  It's replacing the company provided iPhone 10.


----------



## Mussels (Mar 2, 2022)

My Pixel 4XL is giving alarms every hour or so that it cant read the battery, and takes me to warranty pages - that dont apply to australia

Yay for error messages i cant close?

If i order an S22 ultra within 24 hours, i can get some preorder bundles (A8 tablet, triple-charger, 65W brick)


----------



## plastiscɧ (Mar 2, 2022)

iPhone 13 pro max.

Actually I never wanted to have such a huge phone but after 4 years iPhone X, unfortunately broke after I crashed with an eScooter at 20km/h [pain included], I was faced with 2 decisions:

*rationality >> iPhone 11* (best battery after the 13).
*Greed >> iPhone 13 pro max*

after my wife has snatched my Christmas 12er from me, I have extended my contract and let me get paid for the 13er.

what i am currently very happy about is that i can now use one phone for 2 connections (private and business). the e-SIM and a physical one make it possible.


----------



## theFOoL (Mar 2, 2022)

Hi again guy's,

So I had bought a LG v20 on ebay but there's something a miss on the front camera which I had bought the part and screen frame plus screen with add on screen protector. Here's a shot of the front... (seems blurry or some moisture in the glass portion.  Just looking through reviews it's supposed to be clear...


----------



## Mussels (Mar 3, 2022)

I mean, if you bought a new camera - it might simply be a chinese knockoff


----------



## plastiscɧ (Mar 3, 2022)

theFOoL said:


> Hi again guy's,
> 
> So I had bought a LG v20 on ebay but there's something a miss on the front camera which I had bought the part and screen frame plus screen with add on screen protector. Here's a shot of the front... (seems blurry or some moisture in the glass portion.  Just looking through reviews it's supposed to be clear...
> 
> View attachment 238477View attachment 238478


i would describe it as milky rather than blurry on closer inspection.
a front camera also usually does not have the same resolution as a rear camera.


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 3, 2022)

No one here has mentioned ( Its Been Announced for USA ) that the UK 3G networks will be shuttered ie closed down here in the UK.
Just received txt message saying
Vodaphone will close its 3g network in 2023 ( no idea about other networks ).
3g phones will then switch back to 2g ie Text and calls only.

So Current 3g smart phones get a lobotomy and become Dumb but still working ).
with the current price of 4G and 5G phones being outlandish  guess its time to save for a new phone.

ps if and when i upgrade i'll want one with a replaceable Battery none of this built in and sealed crap (non user replacable )


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Mar 3, 2022)

Big corps just want you to spend 800 bucks on a new phone every year as it has a better camera and 512gb of much needed, for a phone, storage.


----------



## dorsetknob (Mar 3, 2022)

Bit of a bugger for those with Smart Meters............... they use 3g connectivity.

You can bet a "9 bob" note they wont replace them free


----------



## Mussels (Mar 3, 2022)

dorsetknob said:


> No one here has mentioned ( Its Been Announced for USA ) that the UK 3G networks will be shuttered ie closed down here in the UK.
> Just received txt message saying
> Vodaphone will close its 3g network in 2023 ( no idea about other networks ).
> 3g phones will then switch back to 2g ie Text and calls only.
> ...


3G will shut down in 2024 here in Au.
They've been doing a per-frequncy staged shutdown for a few years now, leaving just the 850/900Mhz bands still working for calls and text (also, making them look slower vs 4G/5G)
I think just one telco (Optus) will keep 900Mhz 3G alive, past that date. To answer Knobs question, i assume at least one carrier per country will continue basic, low bandwidth support for such devices.

(Fun fact, optus had $2 a day, unlimited data SIM Cards. They never put an end date to the offer, and people STILL sell them for hundreds of dollars and recharge the credit using the original owners details. We dont get unlimited mobile data here, and before the 3G network began to shut down you could get 50Mb/s out of them. These days some numpty still tries to sell them and get their money back, when they get <5Mb/s)


While it kinda feels too soon, 4G/LTE has been around a long time already, 10 years here in Au.
Those of us who upgrade slower or live in regional areas, it feels a lot less.

I view the disconnected devices as being wifi tablets, after that point. Media player, MP3 player, raspberry pi wannabe... they arent useless, just less useful.


----------



## dgianstefani (Mar 3, 2022)

S10 Plus Ceramic White 512GB - Android 12.

Replaced battery and screen since I threw it against the bed from the couch and it hit screen first in the middle lmao.

Top - top phone.

Battery lasts two days.


----------



## HammerON (Mar 3, 2022)

Just replaced my old Galaxy 9 (was a good phone) with a Galaxy 22 (256 GB).  Not the fancy Note that @Mussels and @phill got, but I am happy with it so far.


----------



## Mussels (Mar 3, 2022)

HammerON said:


> Just replaced my old Galaxy 9 (was a good phone) with a Galaxy 22 (256 GB).  Not the fancy Note that @Mussels and @phill got, but I am happy with it so far.


Ahah! I have now beaten TWO of you!
(Changed to S22 ultra 512GB)

Two. Ah. Ah. Ah!


----------



## phill (Mar 3, 2022)

Only you @Mussels !!     I have done some Geekbench tests on my phone and I was surprised with the performance, I thought it was meant to be bad but from test results I've seen online of the Exos version or whatever it is, it appears that I'm slightly faster?  Surprisingly..  I'll grab the screen grabs 

   

I did also try it whilst it was on charge and the scores stayed pretty much the same, a few more points but nothing major at all...

I trust Geekbench a fair bit less than 3D Mark tests at times but I guess the numbers look ok...


----------



## droopyRO (Mar 3, 2022)

kiriakost said:


> Galaxy S5, G900F (the waterproof European one)
> Replaceable battery.
> 
> Root sealed, along Qi Charger genuine Samsung case.
> ...


Are you running the stock Android ?


----------



## HammerON (Mar 3, 2022)

phill said:


> Only you @Mussels !!   I have done some Geekbench tests on my phone and I was surprised with the performance, I thought it was meant to be bad but from test results I've seen online of the Exos version or whatever it is, it appears that I'm slightly faster? Surprisingly.. I'll grab the screen grabs
> 
> View attachment 238627 View attachment 238628 View attachment 238629 View attachment 238630
> 
> ...


Out of curiosity I installed Geekbench and ran it on the S22:


----------



## plastiscɧ (Mar 3, 2022)

phill said:


> Only you @Mussels !!     I have done some Geekbench tests on my phone and I was surprised with the performance, I thought it was meant to be bad but from test results I've seen online of the Exos version or whatever it is, it appears that I'm slightly faster?  Surprisingly..  I'll grab the screen grabs
> 
> View attachment 238627 View attachment 238628 View attachment 238629 View attachment 238630
> 
> ...





HammerON said:


> Out of curiosity I installed Geekbench and ran it on the S22:
> 
> View attachment 238637




 i have one of the most expensive smartphones and use it to call and text.
i'm a consumer victim... i'm out...


----------



## phill (Mar 3, 2022)

plastiscɧ said:


> i have one of the most expensive smartphones and use it to call and text.
> i'm a consumer victim... i'm out...


Nah, not just call and text!!  Geekbench, 3D Mark, oh and WhatsApp!!  

I mainly have it for the camera to be honest, plus I had a deal of a trade in with my P30 Pro, so it cut the price down a fair bit    Couldn't say no!   (as I did need a new phone for the camera...) 






Back at ya!!


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Mar 4, 2022)

Funny, never seen a pap using a phone cam.


----------



## Space Lynx (Mar 4, 2022)

March 8th its rumored the iphone se 2 is coming out. I most likely am going to do that. i really only use my phone for gps maps, asking questions on search, calls, text, thats about it lol

so that should do me nicely.  for entertainment I think may get the galaxy s8+ but i want to go see it in person at Best Buy before I decide, its quite pricey... eh


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Mar 4, 2022)

CallandorWoT said:


> i really only use my phone for gps maps, asking questions on search, calls, text, thats about it lol



Apart from a bit of music and some simple crapper gaming, exactly the same. Iphone 8 plus btw.


----------



## robot zombie (Mar 4, 2022)

I'm running my LG G8 til it dies. It has a really good line out, they actually built the damned things to have decent audio. It blew my mind. People talk about phone audio on a "phone audio" scale. In that context, we can say many phones sound great. But on a more general audio scale, phone audio is like motherboard audio used to be a lot of the time. Well... they had dedicated circuitry. On most phones, the bulk of the audio hard bits comprises of a small amount of real estate on a teeny little package.

Shame they won't be making more. Just having a headphone jack is something these days... to have one that actually outputs good sound, with the ability to power every portable thing to deafening volumes, is just rare air to be breathing. I covet it immensely.

For me, that really is the most important thing. I stream ~4 hours of music on it a day when I'm at work. And I work on my feet, so carrying around an extra device is just not happening. I wouldn't even carry a phone there half of the time if I didn't need to be reachable at all times, because it hogs a pocket I could often use for anything more practical to have in the middle of a repair. The wire is the one compromise I accept. Bluetooth would be easier, but then I have to contend with battery life, and I'm not just talking about the earbuds. IME, the moment you go heavy with bluetooth listening, you're bringing chargers around, leaving them places for convenience... not the life for me.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Mar 4, 2022)

robot zombie said:


> I'm running my LG G8 til it dies. It has a really good line out, they actually built the damned things to have decent audio. It blew my mind. People talk about phone audio on a "phone audio" scale. In that context, we can say many phones sound great. But on a more general audio scale, phone audio is like motherboard audio used to be a lot of the time. Well... they had dedicated circuitry. On most phones, the bulk of the audio hard bits comprises of a small amount of real estate on a teeny little package.
> 
> Shame they won't be making more. Just having a headphone jack is something these days... to have one that actually outputs good sound, with the ability to power every portable thing to deafening volumes, is just rare air to be breathing. I covet it immensely.
> 
> For me, that really is the most important thing. I stream ~4 hours of music on it a day when I'm at work. And I work on my feet, so carrying around an extra device is just not happening. I wouldn't even carry a phone there half of the time if I didn't need to be reachable at all times, because it hogs a pocket I could often use for anything more practical to have in the middle of a repair. The wire is the one compromise I accept. Bluetooth would be easier, but then I have to contend with battery life, and I'm not just talking about the earbuds. IME, the moment you go heavy with bluetooth listening, you're bringing chargers around, leaving them places for convenience... not the life for me.



The audio on the iphone 8 plus is near flat, which is what you want


----------



## robot zombie (Mar 4, 2022)

Tigger said:


> The audio on the iphone 8 plus is near flat, which is what you want
> View attachment 238663


Yeah, but then I have to have an iphone. I like where I'm at with android. Well, I don't love it. But I like it more than the apple world.


----------



## Courier 6 (Mar 4, 2022)

oldie samsung J2


----------



## dgianstefani (Mar 4, 2022)

The se2 isn't coming out this year, it's just the current se with 5g and the a15, redesign not till 2024, will still be in iPhone 8 body.


----------



## kiriakost (Mar 4, 2022)

droopyRO said:


> Are you running the stock Android ?


----------



## seth1911 (Mar 4, 2022)

Im still with my passport and as second part my huawei with SD 425 and 2GB RAM.

I didnt see any sense to buy a new one, for what better pictures ok maybe but anything elsen than drölf cores and drölf gb ram?,
even the games u can play on a smartphone are a joke to real games on console or pc.

Even my old ps vita have real games and not this microtransaction p2w shice on phones.


A few years ago i though yeah the phones are faster and faster maybe they will becom a counterpart with a game lineup like ps vita or nintendo DS,
but for now 99,999% are totaly bulshit games.


----------



## wolf (Mar 30, 2022)

My unlocked Australian Galaxy S21 Ultra just got the One UI 4.1 update and _holy cow_ it's good. Faster, smoother, everything works so damn well, bulk camera improvements to boot, and more features than you can point a stick at. I swear even auto brightness works faster and more accurately. After having an S3/4/5/6 I swore off them because of the software basically and my lord have they turned it around, it's is a damn _pleasure_ to use it's all so slick and well executed. All I have done in terms of software is pick a more preferable launcher (lawnchair), and changed all 3 animation speeds to 0.5x.

This phone is the strongest example of fine-wine I have ever experienced in the tech space, it just keeps getting better and better. I hope they can hold that trend.


----------



## Mussels (Mar 30, 2022)

wolf said:


> My unlocked Australian Galaxy S21 Ultra just got the One UI 4.1 update and _holy cow_ it's good. Faster, smoother, everything works so damn well, bulk camera improvements to boot, and more features than you can point a stick at. I swear even auto brightness works faster and more accurately. After having an S3/4/5/6 I swore off them because of the software basically and my lord have they turned it around, it's is a damn _pleasure_ to use it's all so slick and well executed. All I have done in terms of software is pick a more preferable launcher (lawnchair), and changed all 3 animation speeds to 0.5x.
> 
> This phone is the strongest example of fine-wine I have ever experienced in the tech space, it just keeps getting better and better. I hope they can hold that trend.


Hell my S22 ultra just got a 1.3GB patch today too


----------



## wolf (Mar 30, 2022)

Mussels said:


> my S22 ultra


Nice! how is it treating you? The consensus I saw was for an S21U owner there's little to be gained, and it was mostly the camera but they're still so similar. I wanted to want it but ultimately for me it seemed like a bit of a waste of money, considering the wife is still fairly happy with her Oneplus 7 Pro. 

If I was on anything from the year before the S21 series I think I'd have been all over that S22U tho.


----------



## eidairaman1 (Mar 30, 2022)

Moto G Power 2022 64G 4GB. Cost less than a crummy A11 and is by far a superior built phone.

Sammy screwed up.


----------



## Mussels (Mar 30, 2022)

wolf said:


> Nice! how is it treating you? The consensus I saw was for an S21U owner there's little to be gained, and it was mostly the camera but they're still so similar. I wanted to want it but ultimately for me it seemed like a bit of a waste of money, considering the wife is still fairly happy with her Oneplus 7 Pro.
> 
> If I was on anything from the year before the S21 series I think I'd have been all over that S22U tho.


the 10x zoom lens is worth it for me. even done a few 100x shots of the moon.

(Screenshot of previews below)
They're fuzzy, but no shit... 100x zoom, handheld from a phone without even a tripod? fecking nuts results.




What i gotta work out is why the motion photo is broken on samsung vs pixel, it records fucking backwards like nvidias shadowplay.

Press button, receive 2 seconds of the past. So at my sons school sports... i had 2.5 seconds of looking at the grass and 0.5 seconds of him doing the activity -.-

pixel, catches a second before and a second after, and lets you choose frames from the shot. I've already installed modded google camera APK's to get that function, but the zooming works slightly better on the samsung camera app.


----------



## wolf (Mar 31, 2022)

Mussels said:


> the 10x zoom lens is worth it for me.


I was sold on the S21U by the camera system too, it's so ridiculously versatile. My only gripe right now is you cant switch between lenses on the fly while recording 4k60, only 4k30 tops, but it's manageable and still excellent quality.


----------



## caineshiokaze (Mar 31, 2022)

I use the ZP (Hong Kong/China/Macau) iPhone 11 Pro; one key feature of being a ZP version is that it has two physical SIM card slots, allowing me to use two cards today. I use one card strictly for Local Calls and emergency data if needed and being my personal phone number I've been using for about 6 years now. I use another prepaid card for data.

I've done the calculations, and it's safe to say that I use A LOT of data. Usually more than 15GB a month, wayyyyyy more than when I compare to my friends. Previously, using only one SIM would result in me paying for a 15GB Plan at $250 HKD (32 USD) a month, which I thought was quite ridiculous. Having cheapskate Singaporean genes, I've set off to find methods to cut costs. Eventually, I came across the method I use today; on the main SIM, I pay $50 HKD ($6.4 USD)/month for 5000 minutes of calls and 600MB of 4G data. On the prepaid, I pay $33 HKD ($4.2 USD)/month for 50GB of data. Even when I include my current prepaid card for my Cellular iPad Pro at 33 HKD ($4.2 USD)/month as well, I'm looking at savings of 134 HKD ($17 USD) monthly. It might not seem like much at first, but it accumulates over time; the thought of having to total $1000 HKD within four months on the old plan seems extreme.

One of the main complaints about my old phone (iPhone XR) was the size; I personally felt like it could be smaller. The iPhone 11 Pro is the smallest Dual-SIM supported phone, thus I went to try and buy one used. Luckily earlier this year, dad upgraded to a 12 Pro, which was handed down from mum, who got a 13 Pro. I'm a happy owner of the ZP iPhone 11 Pro with little regrets.

Unfortunately, being a used phone, battery health has degraded to 83%. So far, it's not necessarily noticeably bad, I can still expect a bit of juice left by the time I get home from school (well, when we had physical school anyways), but out of habit, I always bring a power bank anyways.

If only Apple came out with a Dual-SIM capable Mini-phone; that would be beyond my dreams.


----------



## Mussels (Mar 31, 2022)

wolf said:


> I was sold on the S21U by the camera system too, it's so ridiculously versatile. My only gripe right now is you cant switch between lenses on the fly while recording 4k60, only 4k30 tops, but it's manageable and still excellent quality.


Thats fair - 4k60 wouldnt work on all the lenses
The new update doesnt fix samsungs motion photos, they still record way too long in the past

The photo: (Wowee look at mussels shiny bin)




The motion photo as a GIF: this is not cropped shortened or altered, just compressed.





Tell me how that's useful at all? Wheres the actual shot of the door i took?
This happened at my kids sport festival, with the entire series being useless shots of the grass


The google camera variant of this, does 1.5 seconds in the past and 1.5 after - so a photo of a person/group of people you can slide around before and after blinking and so on. You can also export any single frame from it, vs the samsung version that gives me no usable frames, period.


Edit: The thing is, this phone works fine with modded Gcam. You just need a config file to go along with it, that tunes it for the specific lenses available.
Suddenly i get working and better motion photos, as well as googles better processing...


----------



## wolf (Mar 31, 2022)

Mussels said:


> The new update doesnt fix samsungs motion photos


Damn that seems pretty terrible, can't say I use motion photos but I do see their value and they should fix that asap.


----------



## Mussels (Mar 31, 2022)

It's only useful if the phones set up on a tripod and locked on target, AND you time the shot perfectly

Googles version is for when you get the timing WRONG - and get alternate frames to fix it


----------



## wolf (Mar 31, 2022)

Mussels said:


> 4k60 wouldnt work on all the lenses


@Mussels So I can record on 4k60 using all 4 lenses though, I just cant switch between them while recording continuous video like at 4k30


----------



## de.das.dude (Apr 1, 2022)

eidairaman1 said:


> Moto G Power 2022 64G 4GB. Cost less than a crummy A11 and is by far a superior built phone.
> 
> Sammy screwed up.



sadly all my moto phones in the lenovo era has always died withint 18 months, irrespective of how well built they were.

My moto g first gen (made under google) is still up and running lol.


----------



## WhiteNoise (Apr 8, 2022)

iPhone 13 Pro Max - Love it.


----------



## AhokZYashA (Apr 8, 2022)

Asus ROG Phone 5s 12/256
bought it for the battery life, 120Hz screen, amazing speakers, and 3.5mm jack.

this phone has an astonishing set of speakers, it is very good
the camera is pretty mediocre, but everything else is solid, apart from the heat when i play some heavy games, but the included fan does help in dissipating some of it


----------



## remixedcat (Apr 8, 2022)

Galaxy  s10 plus snapdragon 855 here


Battery life is nice so far...


Got it brand new condition for 420


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 8, 2022)

Just got a Galaxy S20 plus 5G


----------



## remixedcat (Apr 8, 2022)

Almost did the fe variant of that but a lot of ppl have phantom touches issues and other screen probs.


----------



## Ferrum Master (Apr 8, 2022)

remixedcat said:


> Almost did the fe variant of that but a lot of ppl have phantom touches issues and other screen probs.


Those problems are long solved. Besides being cheap shit ie A series in G series dress and higher price, I would avoid it either way.

Currently I sport XQ-BC52 and F926. Phones are boring these days anyways.


----------



## Space Lynx (Apr 8, 2022)

had my galaxy a53 for over a week now or so, and I love it. man 120hz OLED is sooooo nice.  its really fast for everything I need it to do. this also has an built in front display fingerprint reader, and i am loving it more than I expected I would...  4 years OS updates and 5 years security updates... 

best $450 i ever spent. not sure why anyone needs a flagship honestly.  battery life is way better than it was on the iphone se 2022 i tried.

camera is also way better. i popped in a 500gb microsd card and downloaded a bunch of netflix and prime videos to it, and its fast and without issue.


the only negative with this phone is Bixby is by default the power button, but its easily remappable to traditional shut down or restart in settings. Samsung seriously needs to chill out with Bixby though, who the hell uses it... lol


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 8, 2022)

My S20 Plus 5g cost me £320 in mint condition with not a mark on it. Not too bad, for such a nice phone.


----------



## Space Lynx (Apr 8, 2022)

Tigger said:


> My S20 Plus 5g cost me £320 in mint condition with not a mark on it. Not too bad, for such a nice phone.



the only reason I didn't pay a little extra for something like that or the s21, is the 4 years OS and 5 years security updates samsung promised for the a53, and the 5000 mah battery is nice too.

the 5nm chip may be slower than snapdragon, but its insanely fast for me... so yeah no complaints on my end.


----------



## remixedcat (Apr 8, 2022)

Was it marked as new or refurbished plus or whatever.. ? 

I don't get used bc compromised  waterproofing and battery stuff so..

The a series isn't as supported by good lock modules and stuff like smart devices to.. that's why I don't get the a series.. might be good as a backup. 

Hubby has an a20s and he like it tho. He doesn't do much on a phone besides internetz


----------



## Space Lynx (Apr 9, 2022)

remixedcat said:


> Was it marked as new or refurbished plus or whatever.. ?
> 
> I don't get used bc compromised  waterproofing and battery stuff so..
> 
> ...



I don't even know what a good lock module is... and I don't need smart devices other than bluetooth earbuds, so I guess I chose the right series for me.

I got new. the A53 just came out a couple weeks, its a brand new model, I had mine on pre-order.  the battery is insanely good on it


----------



## remixedcat (Apr 9, 2022)

Good luck is a tweaking utility that gives your more ui customization as well as sound tweaks and stuff.

Only a few modules work w a series


----------



## Space Lynx (Apr 9, 2022)

remixedcat said:


> Good luck is a tweaking utility that gives your more ui customization as well as sound tweaks and stuff.
> 
> Only a few modules work w a series
> 
> ...



thanks for letting me know, I googled a couple in the images there, I really have no need for any of that. I am not a power user by any means though... I turn on Dolby Atmos... and hit play on Netflix, lol that's about all I use my phone for other than calls and texts.


----------



## remixedcat (Apr 9, 2022)

Okies

Lmk how that battery works out for yah

This is how my phone is holding up with mixed LTE and wifi usage


----------



## Space Lynx (Apr 9, 2022)

Does anyone here know if modern phones, when they have 100% battery and are plugged into the wall, do they run off the wall electricity or is it always draining and charging like that last tiny percentile of battery making its longevity worse?


----------



## Sithaer (Apr 9, 2022)

CallandorWoT said:


> Does anyone here know if modern phones, when they have 100% battery and are plugged into the wall, do they run off the wall electricity or is it always draining and charging like that last tiny percentile of battery making its longevity worse?



This is something I was also wondering since I'm not sure what to trust.
I did read that 'modern' phones simply turn off the charging after its 100% and it does no harm but I'm not sure really.

For what its worth I always charge my phones when the battery is at ~20-30% and then I often fall asleep and unplug it in the morning.
So far my previous phone I had between 2018 June-2021 August still has good battery life so even if it does something its quite insignificant. _'4000 mAh battery Meizu M6 Note'_

I'm doing the same with my Realme 8 4G I bought in 2021 August and so far I can't notice any worse battery life vs brand new. _'5000 mAh battery in this one'_

That being said I could be completely wrong so correct me in case and that was just my personal experience with this use case.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 9, 2022)

I charge mine full then use it till it's below 15%, then plug it in and charge it while i sleep. I also turn off fast charge.


----------



## Space Lynx (Apr 9, 2022)

My A53 has a new feature under battery settings:  "stop charging at 85% (this will increase longevity of battery)"

I wouldn't mind doing this feature, and turning off fast charging. I intend it to last all 4 years of OS and 5 years of security updates it has... so I think I will do that.


----------



## Sithaer (Apr 9, 2022)

CallandorWoT said:


> My A53 has a new feature under battery settings:  "stop charging at 85% (this will increase longevity of battery)"
> 
> I wouldn't mind doing this feature, and turning off fast charging. I intend it to last all 4 years of OS and 5 years of security updates it has... so I think I will do that.



That sounds reasonable I think, tbh I'm not sure if 85% or 100% difference would bother me either.
Fast charging uh I will have to check if my phone even has that as an option, it charges to ~100% in about 1 hour from 20-30% even tho I don't really need that.


----------



## theFOoL (Apr 9, 2022)

CallandorWoT said:


> My A53 has a new feature under battery settings:  "stop charging at 85% (this will increase longevity of battery


That is true. What I do on my V20 enable battery saver while I charge. I don't think with the new phones charging at 100 will hurt the battery but I'm also curious of how phones now do if at 100 while full


----------



## erocker (Apr 10, 2022)

I use a S21+. Kinda wish I didn't get the plus version I don't need the size. I miss my Pixel 3.


----------



## Space Lynx (Apr 10, 2022)

@remixedcat You know a lot about phones, can you please answer this for me or if anyone else knows feel free to help:

Can I turn off a phone, pop out the sim tray, replace the sim card (but leave the microsd card) pop sim tray back in with new sim card, turn on phone, and not risk any corruption on the microsd card? or does the microsd card always have a trickle of battery going to it? I should always unmount while phone is on, unmount sd card in settings, before doing a sim swap?

i just don't want to risk getting a corrupted microsd card ever again...


----------



## theFOoL (Apr 10, 2022)

I don't see why replacing a sim would damage one's SD card...  Now if you go to insert the sd card in another phone it would I think to format it I'm assuming


----------



## remixedcat (Apr 10, 2022)

CallandorWoT said:


> @remixedcat You know a lot about phones, can you please answer this for me or if anyone else knows feel free to help:
> 
> Can I turn off a phone, pop out the sim tray, replace the sim card (but leave the microsd card) pop sim tray back in with new sim card, turn on phone, and not risk any corruption on the microsd card? or does the microsd card always have a trickle of battery going to it? I should always unmount while phone is on, unmount sd card in settings, before doing a sim swap?
> 
> i just don't want to risk getting a corrupted microsd card ever again...


Depends on quality of SD card and it doesn't matter if you leave it in


----------



## The red spirit (Apr 10, 2022)

Sithaer said:


> That sounds reasonable I think, tbh I'm not sure if 85% or 100% difference would bother me either.
> Fast charging uh I will have to check if my phone even has that as an option, it charges to ~100% in about 1 hour from 20-30% even tho I don't really need that.


Accubattery app has basically the same thing, which is vibrating once phone is charged to say 80%. You can set it to whatever value you want. I have been trying that app for a while and yes initially it does bother you and kinda panic a bit, when you have overall less battery life and aren't at home. With 100% charges my A50 was very close to being a two day phone. But after capping battery to 90% charge, it's just not the same and I'm not willing to test if it lasts 2 days. I once got into less than 20% charge and wasn't at home, not fun. Before trying app, I almost never used fast charging and even if I did, A50 only has 15W charger, so it's not like it really had much of those capabilities anyway. With basic charging mode it still reached 10 watts. I have decided to use 5 watt charger to see what happens and surprisingly nothing much. It becomes somewhat longer procedure, but I don't really care about that enough. I even tried 2.75 watt charger, but that was just way too low and clearly bothersome, so I don't do that again. And to be fair, according to app, there isn't much temperature delta between 10 watts and 5 watts. It's still above 30C, perhaps 34C instead of 32C. Meanwhile putting phone in pocket can raise temperature by 4C and opening window at night and leaving charging phone there, can reduce temp by 8C. So I'm not sure if there's any merit by going that low. Perhaps at that point amperage may do more bad than temperature, but I haven't found anywhere if amperage itself, without negative temperature effects, can harm battery. Most people online only mention temperature and talk about ridiculous fast chargers. And yet we all used Nokia bricks before and their batteries still degraded after years. My Note 3 Neo had some battery degradation too after 5 years of daily use, but when I replaced battery, I saw no real difference between old one and new one. In terms of usage stats, it seemingly performed basically the same, but psychologically it felt off. I once switched back to it after using A50 and it felt liek it had poor battery, meanwhile on screen time difference between them two is just a bit bellow 2 hours. It seems that psychological perception of degradation and actual degradation are really off, not to mention ever growing psychological demand for longer lasting batteries and then completely making that feel not like improvement, but like new normal. So yeah, you can't really fight against your mind, but I'm still not sure if all this effort to preserve battery health is worth it and if it really works. BTW my 3 year old A50 according to that app still has 90% battery health, meaning that degradation rate is really damn slow and to meet technical definition of being underspec, it will need 3 more years to reach 80%. At that point phone will be 6 years old and I will be more likely to see more degradation of AMOLED screen and of screen's glass wear from all scrolling.


----------



## nguyen (Apr 10, 2022)

Just got an Samsung S22 Ultra and the best thing is the 10x optical zoom camera, looks great


----------



## NDown (Apr 10, 2022)

Samsung A22 5G

Stopped buying flagship after my V50 broke down on me for no obvious reason, it just died


----------



## remixedcat (Apr 10, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> Accubattery app has basically the same thing, which is vibrating once phone is charged to say 80%. You can set it to whatever value you want. I have been trying that app for a while and yes initially it does bother you and kinda panic a bit, when you have overall less battery life and aren't at home. With 100% charges my A50 was very close to being a two day phone. But after capping battery to 90% charge, it's just not the same and I'm not willing to test if it lasts 2 days. I once got into less than 20% charge and wasn't at home, not fun. Before trying app, I almost never used fast charging and even if I did, A50 only has 15W charger, so it's not like it really had much of those capabilities anyway. With basic charging mode it still reached 10 watts. I have decided to use 5 watt charger to see what happens and surprisingly nothing much. It becomes somewhat longer procedure, but I don't really care about that enough. I even tried 2.75 watt charger, but that was just way too low and clearly bothersome, so I don't do that again. And to be fair, according to app, there isn't much temperature delta between 10 watts and 5 watts. It's still above 30C, perhaps 34C instead of 32C. Meanwhile putting phone in pocket can raise temperature by 4C and opening window at night and leaving charging phone there, can reduce temp by 8C. So I'm not sure if there's any merit by going that low. Perhaps at that point amperage may do more bad than temperature, but I haven't found anywhere if amperage itself, without negative temperature effects, can harm battery. Most people online only mention temperature and talk about ridiculous fast chargers. And yet we all used Nokia bricks before and their batteries still degraded after years. My Note 3 Neo had some battery degradation too after 5 years of daily use, but when I replaced battery, I saw no real difference between old one and new one. In terms of usage stats, it seemingly performed basically the same, but psychologically it felt off. I once switched back to it after using A50 and it felt liek it had poor battery, meanwhile on screen time difference between them two is just a bit bellow 2 hours. It seems that psychological perception of degradation and actual degradation are really off, not to mention ever growing psychological demand for longer lasting batteries and then completely making that feel not like improvement, but like new normal. So yeah, you can't really fight against your mind, but I'm still not sure if all this effort to preserve battery health is worth it and if it really works. BTW my 3 year old A50 according to that app still has 90% battery health, meaning that degradation rate is really damn slow and to meet technical definition of being underspec, it will need 3 more years to reach 80%. At that point phone will be 6 years old and I will be more likely to see more degradation of AMOLED screen and of screen's glass wear from all scrolling.


The way I see it is I wanna use that capacity... that's the reason I went for a higher mAh phone.

And I would rather do software tweaks to get better battery in the first place to reduce charging cycles overall for better health.  Much easier to do in the long run.

Biggest thing is to use dark mode,  disable all the location accuracy shit and only enable location period..if you are navving for trips, put apps to sleep you don't need to have notifications on, disable stuff like blur and turn animation scales down to .5x , etc...

Those alone make a difference..

This was mostly using LTE  and I had Hotspot going for 45 minutes.




Here's my gsam  from yesterday


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 10, 2022)

I like flagship, but no way am i paying the dumb prices for them sim free, or getting a £/$ 50+ a month contract just to have one. My S20 plus 5g was second hand, but is mint condition with not a mark on it. Still a flagship phone without the extortionate cost. If i want a s22 i will wait and do the same. I am on a £20/month contract that is unlimited mins/text and 6gb data which is fine as i am mostly at home on the wifi. 

On mine i use Nova launcher, have done for years. Not a fan of Samsung's default


----------



## Sithaer (Apr 10, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> Accubattery app has basically the same thing, which is vibrating once phone is charged to say 80%. You can set it to whatever value you want. I have been trying that app for a while and yes initially it does bother you and kinda panic a bit, when you have overall less battery life and aren't at home. With 100% charges my A50 was very close to being a two day phone. But after capping battery to 90% charge, it's just not the same and I'm not willing to test if it lasts 2 days. I once got into less than 20% charge and wasn't at home, not fun. Before trying app, I almost never used fast charging and even if I did, A50 only has 15W charger, so it's not like it really had much of those capabilities anyway. With basic charging mode it still reached 10 watts. I have decided to use 5 watt charger to see what happens and surprisingly nothing much. It becomes somewhat longer procedure, but I don't really care about that enough. I even tried 2.75 watt charger, but that was just way too low and clearly bothersome, so I don't do that again. And to be fair, according to app, there isn't much temperature delta between 10 watts and 5 watts. It's still above 30C, perhaps 34C instead of 32C. Meanwhile putting phone in pocket can raise temperature by 4C and opening window at night and leaving charging phone there, can reduce temp by 8C. So I'm not sure if there's any merit by going that low. Perhaps at that point amperage may do more bad than temperature, but I haven't found anywhere if amperage itself, without negative temperature effects, can harm battery. Most people online only mention temperature and talk about ridiculous fast chargers. And yet we all used Nokia bricks before and their batteries still degraded after years. My Note 3 Neo had some battery degradation too after 5 years of daily use, but when I replaced battery, I saw no real difference between old one and new one. In terms of usage stats, it seemingly performed basically the same, but psychologically it felt off. I once switched back to it after using A50 and it felt liek it had poor battery, meanwhile on screen time difference between them two is just a bit bellow 2 hours. It seems that psychological perception of degradation and actual degradation are really off, not to mention ever growing psychological demand for longer lasting batteries and then completely making that feel not like improvement, but like new normal. So yeah, you can't really fight against your mind, but I'm still not sure if all this effort to preserve battery health is worth it and if it really works. BTW my 3 year old A50 according to that app still has 90% battery health, meaning that degradation rate is really damn slow and to meet technical definition of being underspec, it will need 3 more years to reach 80%. At that point phone will be 6 years old and I will be more likely to see more degradation of AMOLED screen and of screen's glass wear from all scrolling.



Thanks, I will check that app out now it made me curious.
I also kinda agree that it depends on perspective and use case, thats why I ususally avoid giving any short of phone related 'advices' since my use case is definitely not relevant for most 'modern' users nowadays.
Like I'm a very light user and I stay mostly at home and barely touch my phone during the day and even then I only use it for watching YT and browsing the net + playing a simple idle game for ~30 mins/day when I'm resting in the bed. _'thats why I'm not buying fancy expensive phones, it would be a complete waste on me'_
Don't have many apps installed or running in the background either, this way I easily last 2-3 days with 1 charge from 100% to ~20-30%.



Tigger said:


> On mine i use Nova launcher, have done for years. Not a fan of Samsung's default



I had Nova launcher _'free version'_ on my first smart phone, it was a very budget crappy phone and the default launcher was terrible + ate trough the already bad battery like nothing.
Nova Launcher somewhat made that phone useable till I bought a better one.

On my previous and current phone luckily the factory launcher is alright so I kept that. _'Flyme on my Meizu and Realme UI 2.0 with Android 11'_


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 10, 2022)

Sithaer said:


> Thanks, I will check that app out now it made me curious.
> I also kinda agree that it depends on perspective and use case, thats why I ususally avoid giving any short of phone related 'advices' since my use case is definitely not relevant for most 'modern' users nowadays.
> Like I'm a very light user and I stay mostly at home and barely touch my phone during the day and even then I only use it for watching YT and browsing the net + playing a simple idle game for ~30 mins/day when I'm resting in the bed. _'thats why I'm not buying fancy expensive phones, it would be a complete waste on me'_
> Don't have many apps installed or running in the background either, this way I easily last 2-3 days with 1 charge from 100% to ~20-30%.
> ...



It's worth paying for nova. has some cool stuff like swipe to open folder.


----------



## The red spirit (Apr 10, 2022)

remixedcat said:


> The way I see it is I wanna use that capacity... that's the reason I went for a higher mAh phone.
> 
> And I would rather do software tweaks to get better battery in the first place to reduce charging cycles overall for better health.  Much easier to do in the long run.
> 
> ...


Already been doing this for years, charging to 90% is just recent cherry on top.


----------



## theFOoL (Apr 10, 2022)

I don't bother using those battery monitor apps. They are a waste. Just use the settings battery


----------



## Yraggul666 (Apr 10, 2022)

Finally retired my trusty Zenfone 4, it started to powerbleed, not charge properly etc. 
Wanted to buy Asus again but they didn't have Asus phones in stock, needed new phone asap so i couldn't wait; switched to a Xiaomi 11T.
Difference is of course night and day. I'm ok with this one but i'm switching back to Asus in 3-4 years


----------



## theFOoL (Apr 10, 2022)

Yeah Asus and Sony seems to be the companies that nobody seems to understand lol


----------



## The red spirit (Apr 10, 2022)

theFOoL said:


> I don't bother using those battery monitor apps. They are a waste. Just use the settings battery


Not sure about your phone, but my phone only has fast charging toggle. It doesn't have charge level alarm at all. As far as I know, Accubattery is really old timer on Play store (I think it has been in Play store for nearly decade if not more). It shows charging rate, amperage, voltage, battery temperature. It's a neat utility. obviously their claims should be taken with grain of salt, but as long as you do, it can be informative. It doesn't seem to suck battery or have negative effects, so I will keep it. BTW this app is battery monitoring tool, but any of that optimization junk. I gotta admit that I used Greenify on rooted phone for a while and saw negative consequences like crashing apps and too aggressive sleep mode. In the end even with those things, it didn't manage to save any power as the screen was the main user of it. Got rid of it pretty fast. Perhaps it did something in era of Android Gingerbread, when phone chipsets were often overwhelmed by various tasks and sleep modes were universally poor and often prone to not really working, therefore apps could easily inhibit it and just drain battery for no good reason. Perhaps it worked fine then, but not in Android 5 and I wouldn't dare to touch it now.



theFOoL said:


> Yeah Asus and Sony seems to be the companies that nobody seems to understand lol


After having Nexus 7, not touching anything mobile from Asus ever again. Their QC and just general care about quality is complete joke. Despite lots of positive press, Nexus 7 was a pile of junk. For a while fast pile of junk, but later just completely disappointing pile of junk. reading some reviews of newer Asus phones, they seem to have that Asus classic lack of quality.


----------



## Mussels (Apr 11, 2022)

remixedcat said:


> Good luck is a tweaking utility that gives your more ui customization as well as sound tweaks and stuff.
> 
> Only a few modules work w a series
> 
> ...


Goodl*O*ck

It was originally for tweaking the lockscreen, hence the name - but it's got a hella lot more options these days (Even resolution control for dex, with the DP out on S series)


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 11, 2022)

Mussels said:


> Goodl*O*ck
> 
> It was originally for tweaking the lockscreen, hence the name - but it's got a hella lot more options these days (Even resolution control for dex, with the DP out on S series)



Is it the App with the clover like icon?


----------



## Mussels (Apr 12, 2022)

Tigger said:


> Is it the App with the clover like icon?


Installed here, it looks like the windows 10/11 icon but the squares have colours

Good lock by Good lock labs


----------



## Peter1986C (Apr 12, 2022)

Since just a couple weeks, it is a Nokia G21. Lovely no-nonsense phone with fantastic battery life, enough performance for what I do, stock Android experience with extremely little bloat and 2 promised Android upgrades.


----------



## vekspec (Apr 12, 2022)

iphone 13 - midnight


----------



## remixedcat (Apr 14, 2022)

Mussels said:


> Goodl*O*ck
> 
> It was originally for tweaking the lockscreen, hence the name - but it's got a hella lot more options these days (Even resolution control for dex, with the DP out on S series)


The swipe aurocorrect got me there lol


----------



## Mussels (Apr 14, 2022)

I just got a 2M USB 3.1 10Gb cable, using it with my genki compact switch dock and my S22U gives me quite an interesting Dex experience


And when all those gibberish sounding words combine: phone + nintendo switch dock = linux PC


----------



## remixedcat (Apr 14, 2022)

I like the wireless dex too.


----------



## Sithaer (Apr 14, 2022)

Side note thingy, around ~1 week ago I got a notification on my Realme 8 4g that theres a new system update available and I kinda ignored it for a few days thinking its just the usual small update.

Yeah not really, I got the new version of Realme UI _'3.0 from the previous 2.0'_ and also came with Android 12 update.
It changed some stuff but so far I did not notice anything annoying or way out of place so everything works as before. _'even my custom Gcam camera app'_

I was somewhat surprised cause I did not expect to get big updates like that based on my previous Meizu M6 Note that never had any major update over the 3+ years I was using it.
Personally I don't care much for updates as long as my phone works but its a good extra thing I guess.

In overall I'm pleasantly surprised with this phone, been using it since 2021 August and so far no big issues nor any weird system freeze or anything/no bloat or adds whatsoever since its a EU version bought in my country with local warranty.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 14, 2022)

Mussels said:


> I just got a 2M USB 3.1 10Gb cable, using it with my genki compact switch dock and my S22U gives me quite an interesting Dex experience
> 
> 
> And when all those gibberish sounding words combine: phone + nintendo switch dock = linux PC



So the phone can sit in the Switch dock? I have a switch dock and my s20+


----------



## The red spirit (Apr 14, 2022)

Sithaer said:


> Yeah not really, I got the new version of Realme UI _'3.0 from the previous 2.0'_ and also came with Android 12 update.
> It changed some stuff but so far I did not notice anything annoying or way out of place so everything works as before. _'even my custom Gcam camera app'_
> 
> I was somewhat surprised cause I did not expect to get big updates like that based on my previous Meizu M6 Note that never had any major update over the 3+ years I was using it.
> Personally I don't care much for updates as long as my phone works but its a good extra thing I guess.


Major updates are becoming a normal thing, in the past you only got major updates, there weren't any patches. My A50 came with Android 9, but now it has Android 11. Samsung has update schedules online for each model and it seems that phones get 1-3 major updates now. Google instead just specifies date until their phones will get updates. AFAIK Xiaomi in the past used to be good with OS updates even on lower end phones.


----------



## Mussels (Apr 15, 2022)

Tigger said:


> So the phone can sit in the Switch dock? I have a switch dock and my s20+


I'm using a third party dock -  typod the name before
Covert Dock – Genki (genkithings.com)
That + logitech K400plus (wireless keyboard w/ trackpad) turns it into a chromebook, more or less.



I'll see if the phone works in the stock nintendo one now, for you


side note: gotta love the zoom on the S22u







Tigger said:


> So the phone can sit in the Switch dock? I have a switch dock and my s20+


Tested: the stock dock doesnt fit due to plastic support pegs

With a C-C extension cable it may well work, just make sure its a 3.1 cable (none of my C-C cables work, except my 10Gb ones)


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 15, 2022)

Mussels said:


> I'm using a third party dock -  typod the name before
> Covert Dock – Genki (genkithings.com)
> That + logitech K400plus (wireless keyboard w/ trackpad) turns it into a chromebook, more or less.
> 
> ...



Not tried DEX. Might have a try of it with the S20+


----------



## Mussels (Apr 15, 2022)

Tigger said:


> Not tried DEX. Might have a try of it with the S20+


Good Lock can force 1440p output (on some models), otherwise its 1080p 60hz
This is a googled image, showing the S8 doing it with the now discontinued dex station (they moved to the universal alt-dp standard making it un-neccesary)





especially if your adaptor has a USB port or if you use bluetooth peripherals, its a windows/linux lookalike OS running your android apps. adjustable window sizes, splitscreen and so on.
The wireless version also works, but much much lower image quality - no good for video playback.

I may or may not have filled my phone with 4k movies and dex'd to a hotel TV and played things back with VLC...


----------



## remixedcat (Apr 15, 2022)

I only played around with wireless dex for a half hour since I just now found my Bluetooth mouse.. will play w it more later...

BTW I also made a customization thread too for ppl to show off their stuff









						Show off your phone customizations!!
					

For those that can theme their phones and have prettied them up nice here's a place for you to show them off!!  I have a Samsung galaxy s10 plus with one ui 3.1  Here's my desktop   Lock screen   And I use good lock modules to get the nav bar to be cats




					www.techpowerup.com


----------



## theFOoL (Apr 15, 2022)

And when your charger only fits slim batteries, you have to use the MICRO USB charger mini


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 15, 2022)

A very zoomed moon pic. Zoom lens must be pretty good. S20 plus 5g


----------



## Mussels (Apr 16, 2022)

Tigger said:


> A very zoomed moon pic. Zoom lens must be pretty good. S20 plus 5g
> View attachment 243723


a lot of people thought the pics were faked, but tearing the APK's apart showed them it's preset contrast/shutter speeds that help it out

And point two: your moons upside down. My superlaser hole is at the other end.


----------



## RealKGB (Apr 16, 2022)

I've switched to an iPhone 5S on iOS 11.0.1, my iPhone 7's Smart Battery Case is having...... problems.


Spoiler








The silicone wrap is peeling. Which is fine around the bottom, because that's held in a plastic shell. I double sided taped it to stick.
But around where the volume buttons are to the top of the mute switch, it's JUST silicone, because to put the phone in you have to bend it.
And today, part of that cracked, where I can't simply tape over it with electrical tape.
A replacement from Apple is only $50 so I'll be saving up for that, but in the meantime iPhone 5S!


Spoiler












It's jailbroken with Electra at the moment. Yes, I cleaned up the toothpastey stuff on the back.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 16, 2022)

Mussels said:


> a lot of people thought the pics were faked, but tearing the APK's apart showed them it's preset contrast/shutter speeds that help it out
> 
> And point two: your moons upside down. My superlaser hole is at the other end.



Upside down? has the phone cam flipped it? was taken the right way up.


----------



## Mussels (Apr 16, 2022)

Tigger said:


> Upside down? has the phone cam flipped it? was taken the right way up.


... i'm in another hemisphere


Tested with the genki switch dock: Works fine and gives a USB 3.0 port, however it's capped tp 1080p

Using this USB-C dock works at 1440p on my 2nd display, also with a USB 3.0 port
Volans Aluminium USB Type-C Multiport Adapter (VL-UCH3C2) : Amazon.com.au: Computers

Terrible photo, hard to take with the phone being tethered to the display




(TV's are hit and miss with 1440p, my sony works fine if you add it as a custom resolution, while samsungs have it as a natively supported res)

Edit: turns out netflix has issues with Dex, where it wont go above 1080p 30FPS. Any time it tries, it drops to 720p 30FPS instead.

Edit 2: it's just android in general?
You can search for "test patterns" and anything above 30FPS just locks to 720p


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 16, 2022)

Mussels said:


> ... i'm in another hemisphere
> 
> 
> Tested with the genki switch dock: Works fine and gives a USB 3.0 port, however it's capped tp 1080p
> ...



lol yeah i guess it is upside down to you 


Can't see that adapter on the UK Amazon.


----------



## SpittinFax (Apr 16, 2022)

Tigger said:


> A very zoomed moon pic. Zoom lens must be pretty good. S20 plus 5g



Impressive detail considering that my budget J7 Pro I got in 2018 wouldn't have a hope of seeing anything other than a white orb.

Moon pictures definitely depend heavily on zoom ability. Even with my crappy J7 Pro's camera, peering through a telescope is a totally different story. This one was through a Celestron 80AZ refractor scope with a 2x Barlow lens (180x magnification):


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 16, 2022)

SpittinFax said:


> Impressive detail considering that my budget J7 Pro I got in 2018 wouldn't have a hope of seeing anything other than a white orb.
> 
> Moon pictures definitely depend heavily on zoom ability. Even with my crappy J7 Pro's camera, peering through a telescope is a totally different story. This one was through a Celestron 80AZ refractor scope with a 2x Barlow lens (180x magnification):
> 
> View attachment 243768



The zoom cam is pretty good on the S20+ 5g, must be better on the S21/2. I should have taken a non zoomed pic so you could see just how small it was un-zoomed.

I can't wait till there are readily available scopes that will be able to see the stuff the astronauts left behind.


----------



## Mussels (Apr 17, 2022)

Tigger said:


> lol yeah i guess it is upside down to you
> 
> 
> Can't see that adapter on the UK Amazon.


I got it locally in a store for $20, was trying to find an online link. One of the few 4K 60hz capable ones



SpittinFax said:


> Impressive detail considering that my budget J7 Pro I got in 2018 wouldn't have a hope of seeing anything other than a white orb.
> 
> Moon pictures definitely depend heavily on zoom ability. Even with my crappy J7 Pro's camera, peering through a telescope is a totally different story. This one was through a Celestron 80AZ refractor scope with a 2x Barlow lens (180x magnification):
> 
> View attachment 243768


You certainly get more detail with that - i wonder what the S22U could do with a tripod and some stability, or an add-on optical lens


----------



## ramjithunder24 (Apr 18, 2022)

Galaxy Note 10...it's lasting much longer than my S7 Edge ever did...


----------



## Count von Schwalbe (Apr 18, 2022)

Pixel 3 XL w/ Android 12. Getting a little long in the tooth...

The Pixel 6 looks attractive but not sure I can justify it...


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 18, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> Pixel 3 XL w/ Android 12. Getting a little long in the tooth...
> 
> The Pixel 6 looks attractive but not sure I can justify it...



The cam hump on that Pixel 6 is a monstrosity.


----------



## Count von Schwalbe (Apr 18, 2022)

I run a thick case anyways - it would even it out. Really was looking at performance and features for a really good price. It gets compared to phones 2x the price and can hold its own - especially the pro version. Trouble is, I am so cheap I am going to hang on to my old 3 until it becomes unbearable or I find a good deal on another non-Samsung android with decent performance. Really like the Pixels though.


----------



## Mussels (Apr 19, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> Pixel 3 XL w/ Android 12. Getting a little long in the tooth...
> 
> The Pixel 6 looks attractive but not sure I can justify it...


google went backwards, check out reddit before you sidegrade

The sheer amount of software bugs is staggering
I ended up moving to samsung, and using googles apps *shrug*

(Oh, both samsung and google announced repair kits for end-users to fix their own phones - so the age of user replaceable batteries is returning!)


----------



## Cutechri (Apr 19, 2022)

Pixel 6 Pro in a few days, I cannot wait. Going from a Samsung A51. It's going to be my first flagship.


----------



## Mussels (Apr 19, 2022)

Cutechri said:


> Pixel 6 Pro in a few days, I cannot wait. Going from a Samsung A51. It's going to be my first flagship.


Awkward after my last post... good luck, look forward to hearing your experiences


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 19, 2022)

I did like the Pixel phones, but could not live with that awful camera hump on the 6.

Just make sure you get the pro, for the better screen res and better cameras. They nobbled the non pro pretty well.


----------



## Icon Charlie (Apr 19, 2022)

The current phone is a LG artisto 2.  I've had it for 6 years now and it is in excellent shape. When it breaks down I'll purchase something similar.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 19, 2022)

I have had Sony, and LG int the past, but always end up with Samsung if i am on Android. Love em or hate em, imo they are the best for Android.


----------



## Cutechri (Apr 19, 2022)

Mussels said:


> Awkward after my last post... good luck, look forward to hearing your experiences


I don't care, I'm buying it for security. No other phone has better software/hardware security. Read this article I wrote if you're interested, Pixel section towards the end.

Man this forum is fantastic at fucking up my excitement, not sure why I even come here anymore. You're not going to be hearing of my experiences.


----------



## Count von Schwalbe (Apr 19, 2022)

Mussels said:


> google went backwards, check out reddit before you sidegrade
> 
> The sheer amount of software bugs is staggering
> I ended up moving to samsung, and using googles apps *shrug*
> ...


Honestly cannot stand Samsung. They make great hardware but the software pisses me off every time I use one. All the better for you if you can but I just simply cannot. It just feels like they are trying to be Apple layered on Google. 

@Cutechri I would love to hear about your experience. The main reason I haven't bit the bullet and made the jump was those bugs - was going to wait until more of them have been ironed out. 

User-replaceable batteries, woohoo


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 19, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> Honestly cannot stand Samsung. They make great hardware but the software pisses me off every time I use one. All the better for you if you can but I just simply cannot. It just feels like they are trying to be Apple layered on Google.
> 
> @Cutechri I would love to hear about your experience. The main reason I haven't bit the bullet and made the jump was those bugs - was going to wait until more of them have been ironed out.
> 
> User-replaceable batteries, woohoo



I just change the launcher on my samsung and then its much better.


----------



## The red spirit (Apr 19, 2022)

Tigger said:


> I have had Sony, and LG int the past, but always end up with Samsung if i am on Android. Love em or hate em, imo they are the best for Android.


That has been true pretty much since Galaxy S2. I have also tried some alternative, but nothing can top Samsung in delivering quality, software and reasonable value. Nexus 7 did a lot to put me off from "Google" devices forever.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 19, 2022)

Nova launcher and samsung=win


----------



## theFOoL (Apr 19, 2022)

Tigger said:


> Nova launcher and samsung=win


Too bad it's *not the default Launcher

Rooting isn't easy nowadays


----------



## dirtyferret (Apr 19, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> Pixel 3 XL w/ Android 12. Getting a little long in the tooth...
> 
> The Pixel 6 looks attractive but not sure I can justify it...


currently on a pixel 4a 5g after using the pixel XL, and pixel 3a XL.  I was thinking about picking up the pixel 6 when it goes on clearance but frankly the 4a 5g does everything I need it to do



Mussels said:


> I ended up moving to samsung, and using googles apps *shrug*



The swapped samsung navigation buttons are pure heresy....HERESY!!! 






I do know you can change them in settings.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 19, 2022)

theFOoL said:


> Too bad it's *not the default Launcher
> 
> Rooting isn't easy nowadays



Don't have to root it. I don't bother rooting my phones any more. Too much hassle, and most custom roms are as insecure as a bit of string locking your bike. Not risking my s20+ 5G by rooting it or unlocking the bootloader, would have ten years ago mind.


----------



## Count von Schwalbe (Apr 19, 2022)

> The swapped samsung navigation buttons are pure heresy....HERESY!!!


Every time I try a Samsung I nearly change it out of aggravation - and every time I try a Samsung it is someone else's phone .



> Nova launcher and samsung=win


I would but I use a weird setup that I don't think would play well with custom ROM. Thinking about waiting for Pixel 7 and seeing how Tensor 2 (?) plays out. Actually really surprised by the (apparent lack of) performance of Tensor with the specs it has.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 19, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> Every time I try a Samsung I nearly change it out of aggravation - and every time I try a Samsung it is someone else's phone .
> 
> 
> I would but I use a weird setup that I don't think would play well with custom ROM. Thinking about waiting for Pixel 7 and seeing how Tensor 2 (?) plays out. Actually really surprised by the (apparent lack of) performance of Tensor with the specs it has.



Nova is NOT a custom rom. its a launcher you install from the play store. No need to root or modify the system in any way.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher&hl=en_GB&gl=US


----------



## theFOoL (Apr 19, 2022)

Tigger said:


> Nova is NOT a custom rom. its a launcher you install from the play store. No need to root or modify the system in any way.
> 
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher&hl=en_GB&gl=US


I'm not saying it wasn't. Just I find why not let us Uninstall the default when have downloaded. The store can ask that you know. Like when you DL it, it should ask "Do you want to apply this launcher and Uninstall the default one?"


----------



## Count von Schwalbe (Apr 19, 2022)

> Nova is NOT a custom rom. its a launcher you install from the play store. No need to root or modify the system in any way.


Interesting. Didn't realize that. I might have to try this out. Honestly, I don't know that much about Android, I try and stick with computers and my discrete camera as much as possible. 

Does anyone here have any experience with the newer OnePlus phones?


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 19, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> Interesting. Didn't realize that. I might have to try this out. Honestly, I don't know that much about Android, I try and stick with computers and my discrete camera as much as possible.
> 
> Does anyone here have any experience with the newer OnePlus phones?



Nova is very customisable, icons, fonts, docks, etc etc. there is a immense amount of stuff for it.


----------



## The red spirit (Apr 19, 2022)

theFOoL said:


> Too bad it's *not the default Launcher
> 
> Rooting isn't easy nowadays


I never really understood the argument for custom launchers. All of which I tried were barely beta tested junk. One UI is decent, nice looking and functional UI. Why would you replace it?


----------



## theFOoL (Apr 19, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> I never really understood the argument for custom launchers. All of which I tried were barely beta tested junk. One UI is decent, nice looking and functional UI. Why would you replace it?


Like I said in my previous post. Why can't Android make where if you wanted to once you DL the Launcher it'll ask to remove and replace it. *meaning the default one


----------



## Count von Schwalbe (Apr 19, 2022)

Ideally Android would incorporate a Hardware Abstraction Layer, allowing you to install whatever the heck ROM or launcher you wanted on any phone but the overhead would not be worth it.

Anyways, one thing I really love about my Pixel 3 XL is 2-button navigation. I have heard rumors that it is unavailable on newer Pixels, so if anyone can confirm or deny that would be great.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 19, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> I never really understood the argument for custom launchers. All of which I tried were barely beta tested junk. One UI is decent, nice looking and functional UI. Why would you replace it?



One of the pluses of Android is customization. If you want a stock non customisable interface that comes as it is, you need a iphone. Nova is not beta tested junk, have a look how many downloads it has, read some of the reviews on the store, it is far from beta junk.



Count von Schwalbe said:


> Ideally Android would incorporate a Hardware Abstraction Layer, allowing you to install whatever the heck ROM or launcher you wanted on any phone but the overhead would not be worth it.
> 
> Anyways, one thing I really love about my Pixel 3 XL is 2-button navigation. I have heard rumors that it is unavailable on newer Pixels, so if anyone can confirm or deny that would be great.



All that swipe navigation is available on Nova. You can use a normal dock/button or use swipe. It is highly customisable.

If you change the Launcher, the old one is still there, just not active. You don't need to uninstall the old one really, if there is a problem with whatever launcher you use ( I have never had a problem with Nova ) the old one is there to go back to. If it was uninstalled and the new launcher crashes, you would have to restore your phone to restore the stock launcher.


----------



## Pawelr98 (Apr 19, 2022)

I run Xiaomi Mi5X 4/64GB purchased back in 2018.
707PLN which back then was ~190$ iirc.
Same hardware as the european market Mi A1 but running Miui instead of clear android.

Rooted and running standard Xiaomi.eu rom.
Sony Xperia Z3 launcher installed instead of the MIUI one.

Positives ?
Cheap replacement parts, works well for a 4 year old phone


----------



## The red spirit (Apr 19, 2022)

Tigger said:


> One of the pluses of Android is customization. If you want a stock non customisable interface that comes as it is, you need a iphone.


Shitty argument.




Tigger said:


> Nova is not beta tested junk, have a look how many downloads it has, read some of the reviews on the store, it is far from beta junk.


Why not just use One UI? You still going to have rest of the apps looking like Samsung ones and then launcher having completely different style. That's why I called launchers barely tested sub-beta junk. Launchers only work fine with AOSP like ROMs, where you can achieve style continuity and perhaps extend some customizability features. On heavily modified ROMs like One UI or MIUI launchers simply don't blend in well. And stock launchers already come loaded with quite a lot of customization options.


----------



## theFOoL (Apr 19, 2022)

Plus I tend to get having two Launchers waste battery life regardless it's not in use though I have no use to back it up lol. That's why I'd love to root my phone but it's a hassle plus if I brick it then my fault


----------



## Cutechri (Apr 19, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> I would love to hear about your experience


I won't be bothering. I came to this thread to post my excitement about getting the Pixel, and all I got in response was disappointing remarks.



theFOoL said:


> Too bad it's *not the default Launcher
> 
> Rooting isn't easy nowadays


I would also not recommend it. Take it from a cybsec nerd. The only processes in Android that need root access are about 6 system ones. Giving apps root permissions *above* the OS is plain dumb.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 19, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> Shitty argument.
> 
> 
> 
> Why not just use One UI? You still going to have rest of the apps looking like Samsung ones and then launcher having completely different style. That's why I called launchers barely tested sub-beta junk. Launchers only work fine with AOSP like ROMs, where you can achieve style continuity and perhaps extend some customizability features. On heavily modified ROMs like One UI or MIUI launchers simply don't blend in well. And stock launchers already come loaded with quite a lot of customization options.



My icons don't look like Samsung ones, i customised them, kinda my point that you missed. If i showed someone my screen without telling them what it is, they would never guess it is samsung at all. Who gives a shit what's happening in the background, you are customising the front end to look how you want it.

You use one ui if you like. i will carry on like the 1 million plus people using Nova quite happily, you can do what you like.

Shitty argument, well said from the same attitude. True though.


----------



## tussinman (Apr 19, 2022)

dirtyferret said:


> currently on a pixel 4a 5g after using the pixel XL, and pixel 3a XL.  I was thinking about picking up the pixel 6 when it goes on clearance but frankly the 4a 5g does everything I need it to do


I'm in a similiar situation. Went from a 2 to a 4 and have no reason to upgrade. 6GB of ram, basic interface, and a good camera is really all I need.


----------



## Splinterdog (Apr 20, 2022)

Tigger said:


> Nova is very customisable, icons, fonts, docks, etc etc. there is a immense amount of stuff for it.


I also use Nova (paid version) on my Note 20 Ultra and it's remarkable what you can do with it. Shrinking icons sizes/grid, locking the home screen so that you don't accidentally move or remove app icons and so much more.
I've had the phone for a couple of years now and would go for a flagship phone again, like the Galaxy S22 Ultra, but at the moment this does everything I need. Besides, $1000 is far too much at the moment.


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## Count von Schwalbe (Apr 20, 2022)

Tigger said:


> All that swipe navigation is available on Nova. You can use a normal dock/button or use swipe. It is highly customisable.


I tried swipe too - ugh. Sorry if I sound like a stubborn idiot, but it was one of those features that I felt was way underrated. I actually switched my phone to 3-button so I am used to it when I switch phones. 



Cutechri said:


> I won't be bothering. I came to this thread to post my excitement about getting the Pixel, and all I got in response was disappointing remarks.


Dang. Ok, your call.


----------



## Mussels (Apr 21, 2022)

Cutechri said:


> I don't care, I'm buying it for security. No other phone has better software/hardware security. Read this article I wrote if you're interested, Pixel section towards the end.
> 
> Man this forum is fantastic at fucking up my excitement, not sure why I even come here anymore. You're not going to be hearing of my experiences.


I'm not gunna hype it up after the terrible experience i had at the end of life with my 4XL, why would I lie about that to hype you up?
It's a warning so that if you run into trouble you can change phones.

Three dead batteries in 2 years, and when it comes out that its a design flaw they abandon it in Aus and leave me with popups i cant close for a warranty i cant apply for, and a question mark instead of a battery icon. Wow, such recommend.

Security on smart phones is a joke, if you're important enough to need a secure phone you wouldnt be using a smartphone for that task


----------



## Cutechri (Apr 21, 2022)

Mussels said:


> Security on smart phones is a joke, if you're important enough to need a secure phone you wouldnt be using a smartphone for that task


What am I even reading. Linux on desktop is an absolute joke when it comes to security. Android is good, and Pixel Experience takes it further. Fuck do you want me to get, Samsung's bloated garbage or Apple's proprietary shitfest? You want me to use a dumbphone just because I have the slightest bit of concern about my own security? Please.

Either way the phone's been completely fine and I had none of those purported bugs so thank you again for fucking up my excitement before it arrived, you guys are great at doing that. I think I should leave this forum for good and mind my own business. Tech communities have once again proved to me how they're absolute cesspools. I make a single post exclaiming how happy I am for this phone to arrive, I get some dude telling me it's all buggy or whatever when my experience has been the opposite, accomplishing nothing but bringing down my mood, as if it's not already brought down enough in my miserable fucking life. If it WAS buggy, I could've found that out myself and returned it. No need to say shit. Well, I'm tired of all this. I kept coming back and back here expecting something different but it's all the same. Toodles.

Thank you again for making me miserable about the only thing I've been excited for in several years.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Apr 21, 2022)

Cutechri said:


> What am I even reading. Linux on desktop is an absolute joke when it comes to security. Android is good, and Pixel Experience takes it further.
> 
> Either way the phone's been completely fine and I had none of those purported bugs so thank you again for fucking up my excitement before it arrived, you guys are great at doing that. I think I should leave this forum for good and mind my own business. Tech communities have once again proved to me how they're absolute cesspools. I make a single post exclaiming how happy I am for this phone to arrive, I get some dude telling me it's all buggy or whatever when my experience has been the opposite, accomplishing nothing but bringing down my mood, as if it's not already brought down enough in my miserable fucking life. If it WAS buggy, I could've found that out myself and returned it. No need to say shit. Well, I'm tired of all this. I kept coming back and back here expecting something different but it's all the same. Toodles.



Bye. keep well and safe.


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## DoLlyBirD (May 9, 2022)

I just bought a Samsung S10 Lite 8g/128g version in excellent condition on ebay for £120, I have been using an old S7 with a degraded battery for a few weeks that needs charging twice a day as I broke my last one, was kinda excited to post in here then read the last page of comments lol  regardless it will be like night and day compared to an S7 that barely get's through half a day of use..


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## Count von Schwalbe (May 9, 2022)

DoLlyBirD said:


> I just bought a Samsung S10 Lite 8g/128g version in excellent condition on ebay for £120, I have been using an old S7 with a degraded battery for a few weeks that needs charging twice a day as I broke my last one, was kinda excited to post in here then read the last page of comments lol  regardless it will be like night and day compared to an S7 that barely get's through half a day of use..


No issue with old phones here! I bought mine refurbished and at least 1 gen old...


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## xu^ (May 9, 2022)

anything that works , got a samsung a42 5g think it is, apart from had it a year and cant b bothered to put a 5g sim card in, dont really care what it is tbh as long as it does what i need it to


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## Deleted member 24505 (May 9, 2022)

i always buy a few gens old, like my s20 plus 5g, screw paying silly prices for a s22 plus/ultra


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## Count von Schwalbe (May 9, 2022)

Tigger said:


> i always buy a few gens old, like my s20 plus 5g, screw paying silly prices for a s22 plus/ultra


And yet we all pay silly prices for latest-gen computer hardware, but have our phones with us more than our computers...


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## DoLlyBirD (May 9, 2022)

I used to always have a contract up until about 6 years ago, usually the latest flagship on a 2 year contract android 40 a month and rinse and repeat,  now I'll spend 150 max on a headset and 6-8£ a month on calls and data from giffgaff, it works out roughly 3x less and you can get close to last gen high end in good used condition if you look around, plus kids so i have no choice 



Count von Schwalbe said:


> And yet we all pay silly prices for latest-gen computer hardware, but have our phones with us more than our computers...


I'm rocking a Ryzen 5500 and 5600xt i can't buy the latest and greatest in computers either unfortunately though do squeeze the most performance out of what i do buy


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## RedBear (May 13, 2022)

Tigger said:


> i always buy a few gens old, like my s20 plus 5g, screw paying silly prices for a s22 plus/ultra


But then you have to live with shorter update cycles, which is bothersome if you don't need/want to update every two generations or so. Samsung now is promising a 4 years of Android updates, but only starting from the S21.

Incidentally the S21 Ultra 5 G (Exynos) is my current daily driver, battery life was especially disappointing and I personally _hate_ the huge camera bump on the side (my phone not being level on the table triggers me at many levels), but on the other hand the photos were the most impressive aspect of the new phone, compared to what I had before (S8+, which stopped receiving updates last year).


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## Deleted member 24505 (May 13, 2022)

RedBear said:


> But then you have to live with shorter update cycles, which is bothersome if you don't need/want to update every two generations or so. Samsung now is promising a 4 years of Android updates, but only starting from the S21.
> 
> Incidentally the S21 Ultra 5 G (Exynos) is my current daily driver, battery life was especially disappointing and I personally _hate_ the huge camera bump on the side (my phone not being level on the table triggers me at many levels), but on the other hand the photos were the most impressive aspect of the new phone, compared to what I had before (S8+, which stopped receiving updates last year).



When it is no longer updated officailly, i will do it un officially, so no worries, i can debloat it and remove all the crap at the same time.


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## P4-630 (May 13, 2022)

Galaxy S7 user since 2016, not using any case or protectors, it's still as new.


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## The red spirit (May 14, 2022)

Count von Schwalbe said:


> And yet we all pay silly prices for latest-gen computer hardware, but have our phones with us more than our computers...


No, we don't.


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## Mussels (May 15, 2022)

Tigger said:


> When it is no longer updated officailly, i will do it un officially, so no worries, i can debloat it and remove all the crap at the same time.


I do this as well, as the features i lose from modding/rooting tend to matter less with a secondary/old device

fortunately the modern samsungs seem to need less debloating than the old ones (yes theres still preinstalled apps, but not of the always running thrown in your face kind)


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## Space Lynx (May 17, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> No, we don't.



If I have to pay premium for next gen pre-orders this Fall I plan to do so... (cause I think the world is getting close to catastrophe... ) so at least I will have a next gen gaming rig to entertain me for ten years as the world recovers from World War 3...


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## The red spirit (May 17, 2022)

CallandorWoT said:


> If I have to pay premium for next gen pre-orders this Fall I plan to do so... (cause I think the world is getting close to catastrophe... ) so at least I will have a next gen gaming rig to entertain me for ten years as the world recovers from World War 3...


My point was that some of us still care about GPU prices, also some of us don't buy at launch and some of us keep using what we have for quite a lot of years. I'm still with Polaris card and I don't plan to upgrade it anytime soon. And there's no WW3.


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## Durvelle27 (May 17, 2022)

My daily is a iPhone12 but awaiting the infamous iPhone 14 Pro to drop as I Skipped the iPhone 13


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## Space Lynx (May 17, 2022)

Durvelle27 said:


> My daily is a iPhone12 but awaiting the infamous iPhone 14 Pro to drop as I Skipped the iPhone 13



I am going to try to sell my Samsung A53 when the iphone 14 comes out. I want to move to Apple for my phone stuff, and I am really hoping for an ipad mini OLED edition at some point... 

as far as everything else entertainment in my life though it will be PC/LG OLED screen

I am really disliking how much bloat is on my Samsung A53...  I uninstalled a bunch of it, but a bunch is still there, like galaxy store stuff... etc, its a bit annoying, especially since I am pretty sure it is collecting all my data... Apple is really the only secure OS there is for phones imo


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## Deleted member 24505 (May 17, 2022)

I have 128gb plus a 256gb SD in my S20 plus so not really fussed about the bloat. I just don't run the apps I don't want to use.


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## The red spirit (May 17, 2022)

CallandorWoT said:


> I am really disliking how much bloat is on my Samsung A53...



Many brands are way worse and if it bothers you, use adb for further clean up.


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## Durvelle27 (May 17, 2022)

CallandorWoT said:


> I am going to try to sell my Samsung A53 when the iphone 14 comes out. I want to move to Apple for my phone stuff, and I am really hoping for an ipad mini OLED edition at some point...
> 
> as far as everything else entertainment in my life though it will be PC/LG OLED screen
> 
> I am really disliking how much bloat is on my Samsung A53...  I uninstalled a bunch of it, but a bunch is still there, like galaxy store stuff... etc, its a bit annoying, especially since I am pretty sure it is collecting all my data... Apple is really the only secure OS there is for phones imo


I mainly have Apple due to ease of apps, ease of use, the apple ecosystem (Have a iPad Pro and Mac), and long term support


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## TheLostSwede (May 17, 2022)

Just upgraded to a Pixel 6 and discovered something of an issue, no, not with the phone as such, but USB-C charging.
The Pixel 6 is USB PD, but apparently it doesn't want to charge properly from older USB-A chargers, at least not QC3.0 compliant chargers.
As such, I have to get a new charger, as so far I haven't splashed out on a USB-C charger. 
When connected to a USB-A charger, the phone claimed it would take 11h 30min to charge from around 60% to full, so it's not as if it's just charging slower, it's charging at a crawl.
Luckily my powerbank has USB-C and PD support and it charged just fine from it.


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## Deleted member 24505 (May 17, 2022)

-points to Apple ease of use for not having drag and drop yet to add music files. Not exactly ease of use having to use itunes to add just a few tracks when it can take seconds to do it on android.


----------



## Cergy (May 17, 2022)

Motorola L6 here, 16 years old.


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## Mussels (May 18, 2022)

TheLostSwede said:


> Just upgraded to a Pixel 6 and discovered something of an issue, no, not with the phone as such, but USB-C charging.
> The Pixel 6 is USB PD, but apparently it doesn't want to charge properly from older USB-A chargers, at least not QC3.0 compliant chargers.
> As such, I have to get a new charger, as so far I haven't splashed out on a USB-C charger.
> When connected to a USB-A charger, the phone claimed it would take 11h 30min to charge from around 60% to full, so it's not as if it's just charging slower, it's charging at a crawl.
> Luckily my powerbank has USB-C and PD support and it charged just fine from it.


PD is specifically C to C only.

QC 3.0 is unique to qualcomm hardware - it's qualcomms proprietary quickcharge technology, where USB PD is a part of the USB standards.
Samsung moved to USB C connectors for a while there, while still using qualcomms QC tech (to be fair, i dont think they'd finalised it at that stage)

Depending on the cable you used (especially if you used any type of clunky adaptors) you have have been limited to generic USB 2.0's 480mv


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## TheLostSwede (May 18, 2022)

Mussels said:


> PD is specifically C to C only.
> 
> QC 3.0 is unique to qualcomm hardware - it's qualcomms proprietary quickcharge technology, where USB PD is a part of the USB standards.
> Samsung moved to USB C connectors for a while there, while still using qualcomms QC tech (to be fair, i dont think they'd finalised it at that stage)
> ...


I presume you mean 500mA?

I'm aware of QC being Qualcomm, I should've been more clear here, as I assumed there was some kind of fallback mode, beyond what appears to be 5V/1A, but apparently that's the common fallback mode for chargers. 
Ordered a "fancy" USB PD GaN charger that should hopefully last a few years.


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## Mussels (May 18, 2022)

TheLostSwede said:


> I presume you mean 500mA?
> 
> I'm aware of QC being Qualcomm, I should've been more clear here, as I assumed there was some kind of fallback mode, beyond what appears to be 5V/1A, but apparently that's the common fallback mode for chargers.
> Ordered a "fancy" USB PD GaN charger that should hopefully last a few years.


5V 1A is a common fallback for modern chargers, but the spec is actually 500mv (in testing, it always seems to run around 480mv and thats why that number stuck in my head)

Basically, if the devices cant negotiate (shitty type C to anything else adaptors can do this) they can drop to 2.5W or 5W charging

I've got the type A to C cords my pixel phones came with that support the 5V standards just fine, but they're USB 2.0 and designed for 5V 3A and 9V 1.5A - throw them onto my S22U, and they default to 5V, but at least manage the 3A output.

Using my higher quality 10Gb rated type C-C cables, the higher voltage charging works - the device and charger can negotiate for the range of voltages the USB-PD-PPS standards allow, which are 5-11V, 5-16V and 5-20V (It's not fixed and static any longer, they specify what voltage they want in real time)


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (May 18, 2022)

Mussels said:


> 5V 1A is a common fallback for modern chargers, but the spec is actually 500mv (in testing, it always seems to run around 480mv and thats why that number stuck in my head)
> 
> Basically, if the devices cant negotiate (shitty type C to anything else adaptors can do this) they can drop to 2.5W or 5W charging
> 
> ...



I charge my s20+ using a C-C cable from the rear C port on my PC, i have no idea what voltage or A it charges at, but assuming it will be just 5V 1A


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## Splinterdog (May 18, 2022)

Tigger said:


> -points to Apple ease of use for not having drag and drop yet to add music files. Not exactly ease of use having to use itunes to add just a few tracks when it can take seconds to do it on android.


Don't get me on iTunes. I've had the misfortune of owning two iPhones over the years - iPhone 3G in 2011 and a 6S. The 3G wouldn't communicate with any other Bluetooth device if it wasn't Apple and the 6S, whilst not being downright terrible, was just dull and boring.
iTunes has to be the cruddiest piece of phone/hardware interface ever produced and is the Son of Satan as far as I'm concerned. I jailbroke both phones just to make them more useable and even then, I couldn't wait to get rid of them.
Apple ecosystem? The walled garden which they want to keep that way, so no thanks. Never again.


----------



## entropy13 (May 18, 2022)

Xiaomi 11T. And it was a timely purchase too; after a few weeks my old S8's display started dying, and a week after that the display is practically dead lol


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## DoLlyBirD (May 20, 2022)

MyHiawei p20 Pro broke, I didn't have much to replace it and bought a Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite from ebay for about £120, the seller let me down and cancelled the order (likely realised they could get £50 more) had to wait another week for the refund, ended up buying an Oppo Reno 2 for £110, best phone hands down for the cost, turns out it was the 256GB/8GB version as the seller didn't specify in the auction, condition is very good, hardly a mark on it, the camera's are very good compared to my p20 pro and 10x better than the S7 I was using as a placeholder, it's snappy, looks good, hardly any bloatware, and photos look amazing from the few limited snaps I've taken, love the in-display fingerprint reader, sharkfin selfie camera, glass front and back, 3.5mm headphone jack, 256GB storage, near stock Android experience, 8GB RAM, honestly it was a steal at £110 I feel like apologising to the seller for robbing him lol


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## Mussels (May 23, 2022)

Tigger said:


> I charge my s20+ using a C-C cable from the rear C port on my PC, i have no idea what voltage or A it charges at, but assuming it will be just 5V 1A


That'd be the minimum it charges at, yeah - but it may go higher
Type A USB 3.0 is 0.9A (4.5W) vs USB 2.0's 500ma (2.5W)

Native type C ports should always be USB 3.1, and should do 5V 3A, for 15W


That said, a lot of the early qualcomm fast charging devices relied on 9V or 12V so they'd be unable to use it beyond their max 5V amperage (5V 2A was common on samsung)


USB 3.2 ports support power delivery with variable voltage from 5V to 20V at 5A (100W max) - but it's an optional spec, so motherboards arent likely to waste the money on it (In the future i assume USB 4.0 ports might do so)


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## Mussels (May 26, 2022)

And another post since my technobabble scared everyone:

I hate to pixel bash after 5 years of supporting them but something changed with their attitude and they're cutting corners everywhere these days - with problems discovered in one generation of phones simply covered up with quick hacks and not actually fixed for future models. 

Since their first-party phone cases and manufacturing issues came out i've gotten bored and annoyed and listed together all the issues I've encountered over the years since i retired my still perfectly working original Pixel XL - what I've noticed is that it's VERY VERY HARD to find all these issues listed anywhere coherently - if I hadn't been suffering them and fighting my way through reddit to diagnose them, I'd have been unaware of what was happening and why. Even now, it took effort and knowing the exact catchphrases 'green tint 90hz' 'camera stopped responding' etc or I'd never have been able to find these examples again.

A TL;DR summary:
Pixel 1 was great. unlimited full quality cloud storage, no hardware issues. 
Pixel 2 had serious camera hardware issues - and they let it continue, coming back to reoccur on the pixel 3 and 4 as well
Pixel 2 XL had screen issues unique to its LG provided display, and could have permanent screen burn-in in less than a week
 Pixel 3 had serious screen issues with burn in, or just turning yellow in the sun as well as flickering lines (This was not entirely fixed with the Pixel 4 series, my 4XL still had smearing if brightness was low)
Pixel 4's had the faulty battery drama i posted through the thread already, as well as issues with the screen - when the 90Hz refresh rate was active everything tinted green and smearing became an issue at low brightness. Googles eventual fix was to simply disable 90Hz when brightness was low, which personally felt like a major copout (despite pretty much disabling a major hardware feature of the phone unless you're in direct sunlight, google didn't deem this to be RMA worth or refund worthy)

This is the green-screen issue on two identical phones, one at 60Hz one at 90Hz - it's not mild (not my image, i only had one phone at the time) - with the dynamic 60-90Hz switching the phone used you'd see it flickering back and forth between these two states constantly.





I've had three 4XL's fail with faulty batteries (all three had the above 90Hz green tint, with the software updates forcing higher brightness and 90Hz to hide it), my Ex-wifes 3A and our ex-best-mans 4A both got replaced last year because of a combination of battery issues (inaccurate battery readings) and just crashing the network/modem randomly requiring hard resets to reconnect, or in the case of the 4A it totally lost wifi and bluetooth, but was refused warranty as a 'software issue'

Onto the new-news!









						Google Pixel 6 cases are aging just about as well as a glass of milk
					

Google’s cases used to be among the nicest feeling in the industry, now they’re just overpriced poor quality options




					www.androidpolice.com
				




These are the official, expensive and pricey Google branded cases:




People have even found misaligned hole punches for the front facing camera, and this just screams lack of quality control - even automated systems should have seen this




It's not a one-off either, with people noticing their phones had oddities with the hole punches on the pixel 5, as well (But mostly covered up by that black circular sticker, which may be why its there)




This ones worse, far far worse: the top right corner hole punch on a brand new phone is clearly a perfect circle (or a cut off part of one) - so you can at least argue for warranty.




The problem? They very fast start 'bleeding' and the owners get denied warranty because of user error damaging the screen






I'm okay with any brand having issues.
How i judge them is on how they respond - and googles answer to these issues (faulty batteries on the 4 series, bad displays on 5 and 6, faulty cases etc) has been to deny warranty every single time, unless local law prevented them


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## The red spirit (May 26, 2022)

Mussels said:


> I hate to pixel bash after 5 years of supporting them but something changed with their attitude and they're cutting corners everywhere these days


To be fair, Google has always been like that. Nexus devices also had tons of problems and Google gave zero fucks about them. Nexus 7 that I had was a lemon. Nexus 4 was plagued with problems. Nexus 5 was poor too. At that point I gave up on Google forever. Embarassingly, it wasn't just hardware either. My Nexus 7 got Android 5 software update that ruined device. It started to have charging issues, battery drain issues, performance issues, made colors washed out, had some random dimming problems, despite brightness being manually controlled. And there wasn't any patch, any update after that, essentially leaving me with nearly bricked tablet. Charging issue was so bad that it took nearly whole day to charge it and around 4 hours of YT to drain it. Ever since then not only I boycott any Google phone, but also any Asus phone. Since it seems that situation with neither changes.


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## Mussels (May 26, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> To be fair, Google has always been like that. Nexus devices also had tons of problems and Google gave zero fucks about them. Nexus 7 that I had was a lemon. Nexus 4 was plagued with problems. Nexus 5 was poor too. At that point I gave up on Google forever. Embarassingly, it wasn't just hardware either. My Nexus 7 got Android 5 software update that ruined device. It started to have charging issues, battery drain issues, performance issues, made colors washed out, had some random dimming problems, despite brightness being manually controlled. And there wasn't any patch, any update after that, essentially leaving me with nearly bricked tablet. Charging issue was so bad that it took nearly whole day to charge it and around 4 hours of YT to drain it. Ever since then not only I boycott any Google phone, but also any Asus phone. Since it seems that situation with neither changes.


I gave them leeway back then, because prior to the pixel they were reselling someone elses devices - not designing their own at all.
In the spirit of honesty i'm doing a full product list of the nexus devices and issues i know about or can easily find - without knowing the catchphrases etc, i'm sure i'll miss many of the known issues back then.

One common example was bootlooping due to faulty flash memory, but that plagued *every* smarthphone and tech device back then either due to low TBW (GBW? MBW?) on early flash memory, faulty solder (cough samsung cough) or actual firmware/bootloader bugs


Samsung S4 google edition was a firmware flash away from the regular S4 when you bypassed samsungs region locks 
The LG designed nexus devices were the ones with the biggest issues at the time, and that came back with the LG display issues on the Pixel 2XL

I had no first hand experience with the earliest nexus devices, they werent available here in Au.

Nexus one was HTC
Nexus S was samsung
Galaxy nexus was samsung
Nexus 4 was LG (Had erratic display/touchscreen issues)
Nexus 5 was LG, and the first nexus i owned. It had serious GPS issues, but since i got it second hand, i didnt realise this was a known issue
Nexus 6 was motorola, and had a great reputation overall
Nexus 5x was back to LG (bootloop issues, a real plague at the time)
Nexus 6P by Huawei: My dad owned this until recently, and it was fantastic. He had a faulty charger cable catch fire and damage the socket, until then it was flawless and what made me try my Pixel 1 in the first place.

I had a second hand 2012 Nexus 7 (Asus) for a few years before my son broke it, but as we got it second hand i never assumed any issues it had were design related, instead assuming they were toddler related.

Nexus 7 models (2012 and 2013) were both Asus, while the 9 was HTC and the 10 was samsung.


It is at this point that i think i'm having a stronk as i read this quote:



And my brain promptly shut down, told me Nexus is not a word and i've never seen it or read it before. I'm stopping now before i stronk out and smell burnt toast.


----------



## The red spirit (May 26, 2022)

Mussels said:


> I gave them leeway back then, because prior to the pixel they were reselling someone elses devices - not designing their own at all.
> In the spirit of honesty i'm doing a full product list of the nexus devices and issues i know about or can easily find - without knowing the catchphrases etc, i'm sure i'll miss many of the known issues back then.


Yeah, I know.



Mussels said:


> One common example was bootlooping due to faulty flash memory, but that plagued *every* smarthphone and tech device back then either due to low TBW (GBW? MBW?) on early flash memory, faulty solder (cough samsung cough) or actual firmware/bootloader bugs


Somehow haven't heard of that happening on any other brand. 




Mussels said:


> Samsung S4 google edition was a firmware flash away from the regular S4 when you bypassed samsungs region locks
> The LG designed nexus devices were the ones with the biggest issues at the time, and that came back with the LG display issues on the Pixel 2XLs


The only functional "Nexus". 




Mussels said:


> I had a second hand 2012 Nexus 7 (Asus) for a few years before my son broke it, but as we got it second hand i never assumed any issues it had were design related, instead assuming they were toddler related.
> 
> Nexus 7 models (2012 and 2013) were both Asus, while the 9 was HTC and the 10 was samsung.


Nexus 7 (2012) had quality control issues. Screen lift was QA issue, poor screen calibration was QA issue, nearly 90C of Tegra 3 chip was actually withing a spec, but imo that's crazy for portable device, no camera app was just Google's own neglect, no Gorilla glass was just PR fail (it had some anti-scratch Corning glass). Nexus 7 was dumpster fire with only remarkable features being Tegra 3 (meaning ability to run GTA Vice City) and low price, otherwise unremarkable.


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (May 26, 2022)

Good write ups @Mussels

Well i'm gonna go buy a pixel.........................Not

Whatever problems there are with samsung, i have never really had any myself. Really enjoyed the s6, s7. and s10 plus, and have had zero issues with the s20 plus. Not sure about the 21/22 as they are out of my price range(for now)


----------



## Mussels (May 26, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> Yeah, I know.
> 
> 
> *Somehow haven't heard of that happening on any other brand.*
> ...


The bootlooping was *huge* on samsung to the point there was custom firmwares allowing you to boot from SD cards instead of internal memory - some of them literally desoldered themselves from the mainboard and you had to use a heatgun or careful oven baking to reflow the effing things

And yeah i recall the tegra being a huge thing, but it feels like nothing since the shield has used NV's ARM hardware


----------



## The red spirit (May 26, 2022)

Mussels said:


> The bootlooping was *huge* on samsung to the point there was custom firmwares allowing you to boot from SD cards instead of internal memory - some of them literally desoldered themselves from the mainboard and you had to use a heatgun or careful oven baking to reflow the effing things


I only heard about bootlooping issues about LG phones, but that happened way later than what we are talking about here.



Mussels said:


> And yeah i recall the tegra being a huge thing, but it feels like nothing since the shield has used NV's ARM hardware


And it just flopped. The only Tegra that managed to gather some recognition was this Tegra. There was later Tegra X1, but didn't gain much traction. After that Tegra brand was basically dead. Back then even Intel was putting Atoms into tablets and some phones, but they didn't end up being great. Their chips mostly competed with Mediatek chips, not with Snapdragons, that explains why they pulled out of that market too. My first Android phone had Sony Erricson CPU. I swear, even the most random brands wanted their own ARM chips.


----------



## Mussels (May 27, 2022)

A few random observations today, since i put a new screen protector on my S22U and it was a complicated AF process i fired up the pixel 4.

*The worst thing about comparing devices is when you go to a device that has new features and can do new things, that you don't know exist
If you don't know about them, you can't try them out!*
Imo this is why apple users are generally happy, they switch to an android phone, test all the things and say "yeah but it's not compelling enough to change" - while android users (from the premium phones at least) switch and go "But where's X Y and Z?"

In this case going back to pixel was generally pleasant, except i noticed a few things stood out as inferior or superior:

1. Pixel 4XL has was faster face unlock. I dont think the newer ones do, since they ditched that weird radar tech.

2. Samsungs screenshot tools blow pixels apart. Instant cropping (and smart-snapping to edges of things at the right times) combined with "scrolling" screenshots vs dumping it straight to your photo album.

3. 3rd party apps with camera access just shit all over the pixel. Snapchat, instagram, messenger etc - they all seem to use some janky low quality method of accessing the camera, while the S22U they all use direct hardware access. I can zoom in with a snapchat video to 100x and see the moon in real-time, where the pixel cant even change to its 2x zoom lens.
This feels really really backwards to how it should work, since the pixel 4XL is two major versions of android newer -.-


----------



## Atomic77 (May 29, 2022)

My Phone is the iPhone 8. I used to be really old and use a 6.


----------



## izacksabbath (Aug 26, 2022)

Poco X3 Pro, not the crappy indian variant with tons of overheating issues , global version, SD860 is a very capable SoC and i can play whatever mobile game i want with high or ultra settings


----------



## remixedcat (Aug 26, 2022)

The red spirit said:


> I only heard about bootlooping issues about LG phones, but that happened way later than what we are talking about here.
> 
> 
> And it just flopped. The only Tegra that managed to gather some recognition was this Tegra. There was later Tegra X1, but didn't gain much traction. After that Tegra brand was basically dead. Back then even Intel was putting Atoms into tablets and some phones, but they didn't end up being great. Their chips mostly competed with Mediatek chips, not with Snapdragons, that explains why they pulled out of that market too. My first Android phone had Sony Erricson CPU. I swear, even the most random brands wanted their own ARM chips.


The intel chips in tablets were infuriating... slow and hard to get 3rd party OSes working without the fix I made the thread for..


----------



## freeagent (Aug 26, 2022)

Almost bought the 13 PM..

But I think I might just buy a battery for my XS Max 256.. It still works pretty well..


----------



## Splinterdog (Aug 26, 2022)

I've had my Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra for two years now and can't fault it. If I were to change it I'd go for the S22 Ultra but at the moment I can't justify that kind of expense.


----------



## GreiverBlade (Aug 26, 2022)

Splinterdog said:


> I've had my Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra for two years now and can't fault it. If I were to change it I'd go for the S22 Ultra but at the moment I can't justify that kind of expense.


i can't ever justify a Galaxy S since the SII which was, imho, the last "worth it" of that line from Samsung (well their low/mid ranges are better priced but their specs are laughable, aside camera, actually that still make them overpriced. ) and i owned a S SII and a S3 (sold the S3 in the first month i got it  )

to me Flagship class specs should not cost more than 800chf  (ideally 499chf for 6gb/128gb) why would i pay 4/5 time the price of a Poco F3 5G (299chf when i got it, a bit less if at the normal 399chf price  ) to get a "flagship" that will do exactly the same...

camera? nah, i can take very nice pict playing with pro mode, with the "reviewed as" mediocre camera setup the F3 sports (even made a side to side comparison with a friend with a  S22+ he was surprised to say the least. )
aluminum rim instead of plastic? (and GG Victus instead of GG5) well ... that's one hell of an expensive aluminum piece 

8 month already? ahah, yeah still my daily driver, 1 month more and it will be the longest standing (previous reccord owner was a Redmi Note 9 Pro for 9 month) and i inted to keep it even longer than that


----------



## theFOoL (Aug 26, 2022)

I have the SAMSUNG A53 5G. Does what I need to do which is Browsing my Forums, texting, watching videos sometimes and a little bit of gaming


----------



## P4-630 (Aug 26, 2022)

My Galaxy S7 does what I need, phone calls, sms, whatsapp, sometimes browsing and for 2FA.


----------



## ThrashZone (Aug 26, 2022)

freeagent said:


> Almost bought the 13 PM..
> 
> But I think I might just buy a battery for my XS Max 256.. It still works pretty well..


Hi,
Yep after two years my iphone se battery is acting funky 

Could of been the 10' fall last week though  

It's top bounced off the downstairs neighbors BBQ lid and landed on it's back in some leaves though.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Aug 26, 2022)

Splinterdog said:


> I've had my Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra for two years now and can't fault it. If I were to change it I'd go for the S22 Ultra but at the moment I can't justify that kind of expense.


I have the S22 Ultra, my son has the Note 20. They are both comparable phones, I don't think you'd notice anything switching to the S22 honestly. I upgraded from an A70, the difference is night and day though.


----------



## Splinterdog (Aug 26, 2022)

ShrimpBrime -retired said:


> I have the S22 Ultra, my son has the Note 20. They are both comparable phones, I don't think you'd notice anything switching to the S22 honestly. I upgraded from an A70, the difference is night and day though.


I don't get as excited about phones now, as much as I used to. And yes, the S22 is probably a cool phone, but I'd rather save up for a new GPU.
My stepson has a Samsung Z Flip 3 and he loves it.


----------



## freeagent (Aug 26, 2022)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> Yep after two years my iphone se battery is acting funky
> 
> Could of been the 10' fall last week though
> ...


I bought my wife the SE2 a couple of years ago, man that battery life is terrible!

It is faster than mine though 

I am sold on the Max battery capacity


----------



## ThrashZone (Aug 26, 2022)

freeagent said:


> I bought my wife the SE2 a couple of years ago, man that battery life is terrible!
> 
> It is faster than mine though
> 
> I am sold on the Max battery capacity


Hi,
Good it's not just me 
SE was free from xfinity so I'm not complaining but now I see why it was free 

I turned off battery optimization and it's a little better.


----------



## INSTG8R (Aug 26, 2022)

Well I only had it a year but because my current plan is basically called “switch” I switched my 2020 SE for my first flagship phone since the 6S and got a 13. I just decided my tired old eyes need a larger screen and I’d been holding onto that small form factor just too long. I’m absolutely loving it. The battery life so far has been impressive as heck considering who we’re talking about I’ve barely had to plug in the few weeks I’ve had it and while sceptical of FaceID now I think it’s brilliant, super quick compared to a Touch ID. 
BUT I will be keeping this one for 2 years this time because frankly I don’t need a new one every year.


----------



## ThrashZone (Aug 26, 2022)

Hi,
Not sure why apple activates bluetooth but I also turned that crap off to plus some other crap they turn on after updates.


----------



## INSTG8R (Aug 26, 2022)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> Not sure why apple activates bluetooth but I also turned that crap off to plus some other crap they turn on after updates.


That annoys me on my iPad because I don’t need and it’s just wasting my battery being on.
Edit: guess who forgot to turn it off again after the last security update….


----------



## theFOoL (Aug 26, 2022)

Low and behold I still have my LG v20 but for Home use. I wish I could use it outside but no 4G LTE Support AT&T


​


----------



## silentbogo (Aug 26, 2022)

theFOoL said:


> Low and behold I still have my LG v20 but for Home use. I wish I could use it outside but no 4G LTE Support AT&T


LoL. Just a couple of days ago I got my favorite phone I almost forgot about. Interestingly, it's not my old HTC One M7 with unkillable screen, or LG G5 with modular design and hot-swappable battery, but a puny Xiaomi Mi4c which I bought with a cracked screen ~6 or so years ago off some feisty dude in the middle of the puke-smelling alley with bums, gypsies and other local demons, near Kyiv central railroad station.
Got it fixed up for an equivalent of my 2-day coffee budget, flashed the latest(at the time) LoS on it, and for nearly 2 years it was THE best android experience I ever had. Later sold it to a friend of a friend for a symbolic sum, cause he really needed a phone... and now, few years later it's back at my office. Just needs a new screen and maybe proximity sensor calibration, but otherwise it's still clean, undamaged, unscratched, and well taken cared off. Might even do it for free, just to talk him out of buying a new phone.

I'll post some pics once the new screen gets here.


----------



## wheresmycar (Aug 26, 2022)

I think i've already replied to this thread previously... i'm on a Sammy S8+. Does everything i need it to do and still plenty of storage (well-maintained). I like the above posters (theFOol) extended battery solution and after seeing this was having a look at some options for the S8+. Battery life is still decent, lasts a full work day... but throw gaming/media into the mix it drains fast. 

Quick question: rather then pulling out a second device (portable charger) and having to deal with 2 devices to charge.... would these extended battery solutions make for a good solution? Also, might be a silly question... since the S8+ has a 3500mah battery and i'm seeing a Amazon listings showing 5000mah extended battery options... does that get me a total of 8500mah?


----------



## theFOoL (Aug 26, 2022)

wheresmycar said:


> I think i've already replied to this thread previously... i'm on a Sammy S8+. Does everything i need it to do and still plenty of storage (well-maintained). I like the above posters (theFOol) extended battery solution and after seeing this was having a look at some options for the S8+. Battery life is still decent, lasts a full work day... but throw gaming/media into the mix it drains fast.
> 
> Quick question: rather then pulling out a second device (portable charger) and having to deal with 2 devices to charge.... would these extended battery solutions make for a good solution? Also, might be a silly question... since the S8+ has a 3500mah battery and i'm seeing a Amazon listings showing 5000mah extended battery options... does that get me a total of 8500mah?


I had the 8+ was a good phone and yes with that battery case it'd be 8500mah. With that 10500mah on my v20 it's quite heavy but it's worth the extra time 3.5 days


----------



## wheresmycar (Aug 26, 2022)

theFOoL said:


> I had the 8+ was a good phone and yes with that battery case it'd be 8500mah. With that 10500mah on my v20 it's quite heavy but it's worth the extra time 3.5 days



impressive!

My portable charger is 10,000mah and I get 85% of that on a single device solution... im definitely gooing to look into this further. Some of the Amazon reviews are a little concerning... any recommendations?


----------



## AusWolf (Aug 28, 2022)

I somehow managed to F up the charger port on my Galaxy A20e a couple months ago, so I picked up an A22 5G as a replacement. Other than its size, I couldn't be happier. It's screen is great (and it's IPS, so won't degrade like an OLED panel would), its cameras are awesome, and the basic SoC is enough for everything. Faster ones only sip more power with no benefit whatsoever, so you'd have to charge the phone more often. Two days with one charge is brilliant.

My only complaint is its size. I can't use it with one hand, and I have to take it out of my pocket when I sit down, which is really awkward, especially while driving. I keep forgetting about it, and leaving it in the car. Unfortunately, every phone is a tablet these days - I really don't understand why.


----------



## dgianstefani (Aug 28, 2022)

freeagent said:


> Almost bought the 13 PM..
> 
> But I think I might just buy a battery for my XS Max 256.. It still works pretty well..


S23 is rumoured to have a new battery type, at least from the leaker who is generally right. 

I had the ceramic 512GB s10+ for two years before breaking the screen, £300+ to fix since its the whole chassis. 

I bought a pixel 2 to use while considering if it was worth repairing and that's been great. Got a deal on a pixel 4xl from amazon but the rear glass popped out and the battery connector eventually failed. On warranty but I'm in no rush to send it back. 

I think it's worth waiting for solid state batteries in phones before upgrading - will be huge improvement. I suspect Samsung will introduce that in the S23 series.


----------



## theFOoL (Aug 28, 2022)

AusWolf said:


> I somehow managed to F up the charger port on my Galaxy A20e a couple months ago, so I picked up an A22 5G as a replacement. Other than its size, I couldn't be happier. It's screen is great (and it's IPS, so won't degrade like an OLED panel would), its cameras are awesome, and the basic SoC is enough for everything. Faster ones only sip more power with no benefit whatsoever, so you'd have to charge the phone more often. Two days with one charge is brilliant.
> 
> My only complaint is its size. I can't use it with one hand, and I have to take it out of my pocket when I sit down, which is really awkward, especially while driving. I keep forgetting about it, and leaving it in the car. Unfortunately, every phone is a tablet these days - I really don't understand why.


I hear the asus zenfone 9 is decent. Back to 5.9 goodness


----------



## GamerGuy (Aug 28, 2022)

New daily driver, transferred all my data via Smart Switch from my old daily driver (Fold 2, right) to my new one (Fold 4, left). Ever since I went with fold phones, I can't seem to go back to just regular phones. My Flip 3 5G and my Note 10+ are my backup phones.


----------



## I hit the lottery (Aug 28, 2022)

S20 fe, still benches within 10-15% of flagships TONS of aftermarket support........has held up amazing, the Cameras are still great, I got gcam for s20fe recently and it became even better.... tons of storage WITH SD option still a feature... 5g if you're into that, great screen.  Thumbprint reader that works the first time... and half the price of a flag ship brand new, infact I find it so good next to my friends Brand new 1200$ phones, I wont touch an upgrade till solid state batteries..


----------



## Totally (Aug 28, 2022)

I have a S22 Ultra on the way 2 month wait, long time Galaxy Note user currently using an S20FE for about two years after the N20 Ultra 5G  I had for less than a month was stolen when theives broke into my car. Can't speak much about the N20 since I had it for such a short period of time orher than the difference from the N10 I had felt like just more of the same but at the same time being a massive departure, like lots of subtle little changes and improvements. Then it got stolen and I the one time I opted out of theft insurance, so I grabbed a S20FE in a hurry and develop a love hate relationship with the thing. Had none of the things that I had grown used to on the note series but struck a happy medium on screen size and more than made up for it by have flat edges. Can't put into words I felt, and how much better than the curved glass on the rest of their lineup. Making me wish there was FE verson of the 22 Ultra.


----------



## Mussels (Aug 29, 2022)

ShrimpBrime -retired said:


> I have the S22 Ultra, my son has the Note 20. They are both comparable phones, I don't think you'd notice anything switching to the S22 honestly. I upgraded from an A70, the difference is night and day though.


Just the camera - the S22U has a better zoom lens, otherwise they're pretty similar for use


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Aug 29, 2022)

Mussels said:


> Just the camera - the S22U has a better zoom lens, otherwise they're pretty similar for use


Both expensive AF too... XD Camera is 108mp if I'm not mistaken. 

The night mode feature is pretty nice though. Look up at the stars and take a picture of em. I've never had a phone that could do that before!


----------



## Lei (Sep 2, 2022)

For me, choosing Phone criteria are:
1- Should not be more than 170 grams
2- good camera, more than 24 mega is not really necessary. same quality larger files. 
3- fast charging, at least 18w
4- It's good to have 3.5 audio jack 

I prefer not motorized selfie cams. on-screen finger print is not necessary. 
I use Huawei Nova 4e (aka p30 lite) I think Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite meets my criteria. or Nova 10 for better selfie cam.

Nova 10 : 168 grams, 66w charging, cams 50-front 60-selfie
Mi 11 Lite: 157 grams, 33w charging, cams 64-front 16-selfie

Current phone: 159 grams, 18w, 24-front 30-selfie

I personally don't like to spend a lot on a phone for 3 reasons:
1- It's nowhere near as important as PC. It must not become the dominant device for daily use
2- Social Net has lacerated communities, why should I add fuel to the flame
3- taking too may photos kills the moment. I respect people I meet by not taking too much photos from them. I don't make a video of every pigeon I fed.


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 4, 2022)

Just got a Samsung A23 (upgrade for my HTC 320


----------



## theFOoL (Sep 4, 2022)

dorsetknob said:


> Just got a Samsung A23 (upgrade for my HTC 320


What's the difference between my A53 5G besides the chipset


----------



## mplayerMuPDF (Sep 4, 2022)

Still using an iPhone Xr and will continue using it for the foreseeable future. My interest in phones has reached an absolute nadir. They are all pretty much the same now and focused on extracting as much data from their users as possible (despite the obscene prices that people already pay to get one in the first place) and then you remember the fact that all those corporations are working with the government too, to make 1984 a reality. Let's not even start about repairability/the environmental aspect or the cancerous OLED screen fad. I am just absolutely disgusted at this point. I have thought about getting one of those new VoLTE/4G dumb phones but those aren't ideal either because you can't install alternative messaging apps such as Signal or easily use proper navigation. You would have to use a separate device for all the non-phone stuff.


----------



## dorsetknob (Sep 4, 2022)

theFOoL said:


> What's the difference between my A53 5G besides the chipset



mine has 3.5 jack and 64gig 
But more important it cost average of £100 less than A53 5G.
mine was only £180 inc VAT


----------



## AusWolf (Sep 4, 2022)

dorsetknob said:


> mine has 3.5 jack and 64gig
> But more important it cost average of £100 less than A53 5G.
> mine was only £180 inc VAT


That's a good deal! I bought my A22 5G for that price half a year ago.


----------



## Kissamies (Sep 5, 2022)

I'll order a new battery tomorrow as I have no reason to upgrade from my 8 Plus. The last big iPhone with a home button.  

I'll refurb it completely later on when I can afford it (a new screen and frame), but now the battery is the most important thing.


----------



## theFOoL (Sep 5, 2022)

Since the ASUS Zenfone 9 so many companies have copied the rear camera match up. I like it but why others copy just my 2¢


----------



## TheLostSwede (Sep 5, 2022)

Pixel 6 these days, as I upgraded a couple of months ago.


----------



## Mussels (Sep 12, 2022)

Still rocking the S22 Ultra and loving it.

Bixby routines are growing on me, the ability to set things like 'if on wireless charging, stop at 85%" or "disable fast charging on home wifi" are going to keep this phone battery alive for years longer than it should, while also not causing me any issues if I forget those settings are on/off


----------



## Arco (Sep 13, 2022)

I don't really understand the reasoning to buy a 1000$ phone that breaks easily. I'm fine on any 50-100$ burner phone. (All I need to do is, call, youtube, browse the web, some games, and I guess read?)

Currently on an iPhone SE (2nd gen) Bought it for like 50 bucks.


----------



## paulwarden (Sep 13, 2022)

i am very happy with my Sony Experia 10ii  plus it only cost me £330 brand new


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Sep 13, 2022)

Mussels said:


> Still rocking the S22 Ultra and loving it.
> 
> Bixby routines are growing on me, the ability to set things like 'if on wireless charging, stop at 85%" or "disable fast charging on home wifi" are going to keep this phone battery alive for years longer than it should, while also not causing me any issues if I forget those settings are on/off


I got mine for the pictures. 108mp camera = can't upload pics to forums any more because it conflicts with the upload size.

Mine set to performance mode, man this phone can eat up the battery juice real quick. Especially when gaming.


----------



## theFOoL (Sep 13, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> I got mine for the pictures. 108mp camera = can't upload pics to forums any more because it conflicts with the upload size


Can you just *Attach file as it will resize.  I just thumbnail mine


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Sep 13, 2022)

theFOoL said:


> Can you just *Attach file as it will resize.  I just thumbnail mine


No, that doesn't work. The picture is 17.35mb, tried to upload one of my dogo. No success 

Says
"The uploaded file is too large for the sever to process."


----------



## AusWolf (Sep 14, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> I got mine for the pictures. 108mp camera = can't upload pics to forums any more because it conflicts with the upload size.
> 
> Mine set to performance mode, man this phone can eat up the battery juice real quick. Especially when gaming.


That's why I think expensive phones have more drawbacks than useful features nowadays. Bad battery life is the biggest one. My A22 5G easily goes 2 days on one charge - 3 if I'm at home and don't use it much.


----------



## shovenose (Sep 14, 2022)

iPhone 13, pink, it works fine. I absolutely hate Apple and iOS is pure trash especially when it comes to how notifications are handled, even on the new iOS 16 they released today. I miss Android. What I don't miss is getting half a day out of a full charge LOL. And hey, this is my 1000th post.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Sep 14, 2022)

AusWolf said:


> That's why I think expensive phones have more drawbacks than useful features nowadays. Bad battery life is the biggest one. My A22 5G easily goes 2 days on one charge - 3 if I'm at home and don't use it much.


Yeah I came from using an A70, which was a really decent phone. The camera was not too great and eventually stopped auto focusing. Cause I dropped it a lot of times. 

The store had no upgrade path from it however, so I opted to go big instead of dealing with a broken camera.


----------



## GamerGuy (Sep 15, 2022)

Arco said:


> I don't really understand the reasoning to buy a 1000$ phone that breaks easily. I'm fine on any 50-100$ burner phone. (All I need to do is, call, youtube, browse the web, some games, and I guess read?)
> 
> Currently on an iPhone SE (2nd gen) Bought it for like 50 bucks.


I'd been on the original Fold, which had screen issues, traded that in to Samsung for a Fold 2, which as you can see is still working. Granted, Folds are a tad more prone to damage than regular phones (which is why I still have my Note 10+ as backup), but as long you are more careful, and take precautions like installing a tempered glass screen protector (TG SP) for the cover screen and using a case with hinge protection, you should be okay.

My Fold 2 (a 2 year old device) is still good and I use it when I leave my Fold 4 at home (for whatever reasons), it's well protected with a Spigen Slim Armor Pro which I believe to be one of the best cases to get for a Z Fold phone. My Fold 4 is protected with a Slim Armor Pro as well....


----------



## arnold_al_qadr (Sep 15, 2022)

secondhand vivo v20se..


----------



## AusWolf (Sep 15, 2022)

GamerGuy said:


> I'd been on the original Fold, which had screen issues, traded that in to Samsung for a Fold 2, which as you can see is still working. Granted, Folds are a tad more prone to damage than regular phones (which is why I still have my Note 10+ as backup), but as long you are more careful, and take precautions like installing a tempered glass screen protector (TG SP) for the cover screen and using a case with hinge protection, you should be okay.
> 
> My Fold 2 (a 2 year old device) is still good and I use it when I leave my Fold 4 at home (for whatever reasons), it's well protected with a Spigen Slim Armor Pro which I believe to be one of the best cases to get for a Z Fold phone. My Fold 4 is protected with a Slim Armor Pro as well....


How is the Fold 4 as a daily user?

I'm tempted to buy a Fold phone one day as I hate the phablet mania and really miss a phone that fits into my pocket. Only two things keep me back: the price, and the (on paper) tiny battery.


----------



## GamerGuy (Sep 15, 2022)

I'm not a power user, but I'm part of a group chat about all things Fold 4. I don't really read any complaints about battery though, seems most are satisfied with battery 'life' as a daily driver, it's been even reviewed that the battery outlasts the S22 Ultra (due to more efficient chipset). With a modified 12L OS, and more optimized apps that go well with the Fold, things are looking better. I'd read that Google wanted assurances from Samsung that they (Samsung) would release new fold type phones every year for them (Google) to lend them their support.


----------



## AusWolf (Sep 15, 2022)

GamerGuy said:


> I'm not a power user, but I'm part of a group chat about all things Fold 4. I don't really read any complaints about battery though, seems most are satisfied with battery 'life' as a daily driver, it's been even reviewed that the battery outlasts the S22 Ultra (due to more efficient chipset). With a modified 12L OS, and more optimized apps that go well with the Fold, things are looking better. I'd read that Google wanted assurances from Samsung that they (Samsung) would release new fold type phones every year for them (Google) to lend them their support.


That's good to know. I'm only worried that it wouldn't come close to my A22 5G and its 5000 mAh battery and basic MediaTek chipset. I'm not a power user, either. Any basic phone is fast enough for me these days, but I don't like skimping on battery life. There's nothing worse than having to charge your phone every day.


----------



## Dr. Dro (Sep 15, 2022)

AusWolf said:


> That's good to know. I'm only worried that it wouldn't come close to my A22 5G and its 5000 mAh battery and basic MediaTek chipset. I'm not a power user, either. Any basic phone is fast enough for me these days, but I don't like skimping on battery life. There's nothing worse than having to charge your phone every day.



I really wish phones with removable battery, expandable storage and IR blasters made a comeback... I scored a mint, unused LG G3 still in the box a couple of weeks ago and I have actually been using it alongside my craptastic S10+, it's very slow nowadays, of course, but with some great deal of patience, I find it's still more or less usable today. I was able to find two new batteries for it, I can just replace them when one is depleted, and the universal TV remote functionality has come in handy already


----------



## avidgamer121 (Sep 15, 2022)

Redmi Note 11, though it's a decent midrange phone i have no interest in them whatsoever so i mostly use my pc


----------



## dirtyferret (Sep 15, 2022)

pixel 6a for about the last six weeks


----------



## JrRacinFan (Sep 15, 2022)

Recently repaired a Pixel 4a 5g, put in a replacement battery. The battery on it was so swelled it popped the screen off the housing. So I purchased a new phone, a Moto Edge+ 2022. The 4a lasted me 2 years before repairs were made.


----------



## Mussels (Sep 16, 2022)

AusWolf said:


> That's why I think expensive phones have more drawbacks than useful features nowadays. Bad battery life is the biggest one. My A22 5G easily goes 2 days on one charge - 3 if I'm at home and don't use it much.


That's why i like the bixby features - the ability to automaticly toggle various things depending where i am.

I honestly wish it had a more conservative power saving mode - as a non gamer, i'd happily settle for lower clocks and longer battery life. 1.5 days is fine, but why not the 7 my otherwise crappy A... A22? 12? Look i forgot, it's an older one that sucks for everything but battery life and video playback life.


----------



## ShrimpBrime (Sep 16, 2022)

Mussels said:


> That's why i like the bixby features - the ability to automaticly toggle various things depending where i am.
> 
> I honestly wish it had a more conservative power saving mode - as a non gamer, i'd happily settle for lower clocks and longer battery life. 1.5 days is fine, but why not the 7 my otherwise crappy A... A22? 12? Look i forgot, it's an older one that sucks for everything but battery life and video playback life.


The screen brightness seems to matter a great deal with a lot of these UHD screen phones. 
My oldest uses a Note 20. Really nice phone. Keeps brightness at like 5%. 
Must be nice to have young eyes (he's 21yld) I need cheaters at less than 35% haha.


----------



## AusWolf (Sep 16, 2022)

ShrimpBrime said:


> The screen brightness seems to matter a great deal with a lot of these UHD screen phones.
> My oldest uses a Note 20. Really nice phone. Keeps brightness at like 5%.
> Must be nice to have young eyes (he's 21yld) I need cheaters at less than 35% haha.


What's the point of having a UHD screen if you have to keep it at 5% brightness to save some battery life?
Same with the SoC. Why have a 3 GHz CPU with the most modern GPU when any basic Chinese chip can run Messenger and Gmail just as nicely?

Or am I getting old?


----------



## AleXXX666 (Sep 16, 2022)

iPhone 11 Pro now. However, there are still spare iPhone 6 in drawer. _Just in case._



AusWolf said:


> What's the point of having a UHD screen if you have to keep it at 5% brightness to save some battery life?
> Same with the SoC. Why have a 3 GHz CPU with the most modern GPU when any basic Chinese chip can run Messenger and Gmail just as nicely?
> 
> Or am I getting old?


maybe. because, basic chinese cr*p runs messengers and gmail as sh*t.


----------



## AlienIsGOD (Sep 16, 2022)

Pixel 6 user here since May and love it, had a LG velvet before that and it did the job but as a previous Pixel 2XL owner i personally love Googles approach to phones and slimmed down OS compared to other companies bloated OS release chock full of useless software and preinstalled games


----------



## AusWolf (Sep 16, 2022)

AleXXX666 said:


> maybe. because, basic chinese cr*p runs messengers and gmail as sh*t.


My A22 5G has a cheap MediaTek chipset (the most basic 5G SoC in existence), and runs everything I need like lightning. It could even do some light gaming if I wanted to.


----------



## AleXXX666 (Sep 18, 2022)

AusWolf said:


> My A22 5G has a cheap MediaTek chipset (the most basic 5G SoC in existence), and runs everything I need like lightning. It could even do some light gaming if I wanted to.


well, mediateks have evolved lol. back a few years it was pretty dumb


----------



## vectoravtech (Sep 21, 2022)

I just bought a one plus 10 pro 5g. On the phone I disabled the virtual ram that was halfway when I bought it. 



This is the chair and desk that came in boxes. From my new phone. I also used Lightroom.


----------



## sam_86314 (Sep 25, 2022)

Not my main phone, but I am considering switching to it...








Youtube and YT Music apps are the community-updated Vanced versions.

Grabbed this Pixel 3 off eBay for around $65. It has an immaculate front side with a cracked and worn back.

I originally intended for it to be just something to play around with. I unlocked the bootloader, installed LineageOS (microG version), and rooted it.









Now I'm getting buyer's remorse... for my Pixel 5a. I think I like this old Pixel 3 more than my main phone, despite the 5a having 2GB more memory, twice the storage, and a headphone jack (that I actually haven't used at all).

I really like the smaller size, the better quality (and front-facing) speakers, and the lack of a punch-out camera. Even the screen, despite being four years old, is better than the one on the 5a. The Snapdragon 845 in it is actually faster than the 5a's 765G in some cases.

I also am liking LineageOS, though I can put that on my 5a if I really want to.

I have yet to test if my SIM works in it. It is a factory-unlocked phone, but it's originally from Germany, so I don't know if that will affect anything.

EDIT: Stuck my SIM in it, and everything worked right away. It lacks 5G support, but that's kind of limited in my area anyway.

Honestly, I think that if the Pixel 3 had a headphone jack, a microSD slot, and an easier-to-replace battery, it would be my perfect phone.


----------



## vectoravtech (Sep 25, 2022)

this picture was taken with my new one plus 10 pro 5g 


my post before this im trying to delete


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Sep 25, 2022)

I have a Samsung Galaxy S 10+ from U.S. Cellular. It was fully paid off. But updates appear to be denied now. Looks like I only get 3 years of updates! 

Looks like I now require a modded OS and be able to bypass the "anti-consumer" features that are known to the phone gurus!

I got it on July 26, 2019 and the last update was applied in July of this year. So, I threw a red flag like a referee!

[sarc] Great! Now my Galaxy S10+ may become as bricked as my Radeon RX 5600 XT! [/sarc]


----------



## gffermari (Sep 25, 2022)

iPhone 8 - I don't have any interest in mobile phones. I had Nokias only before the smartphones arrive and a Google Pixel before moving to iPhone.
I may move to my wife's 11 when she decide to buy a newer one.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Sep 25, 2022)

gffermari said:


> I had Nokias only before the smartphones arrive


I stuck with Nokia even after that. My last Nokia was the E73 Mode on TMobile. Brilliant phone!


----------



## GamerGuy (Sep 26, 2022)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> I have a Samsung Galaxy S 10+ from U.S. Cellular. It was fully paid off. But updates appear to be denied now. Looks like I only get 3 years of updates!
> 
> Looks like I now require a modded OS and be able to bypass the "anti-consumer" features that are known to the phone gurus!
> 
> ...


My Note10+ came out not long after the S10+, sometime in August, 2019, and my phone has a Security patch up to August, 2022. Don't tell me that that was the last update!


----------



## r9 (Sep 26, 2022)

Liked my Pixel 4a(non 5G). Nice oled screen, good camera, light and fast then I damaged the touchscreen by handling the phone with wet hands.
Looking at getting another phone I saw they had Pixel 6a with trade in for only like $150 so I jumped on it.
And to my surprise putting the phones side by side the 6a screen looks dull, the fingerprint sensor is slow and doesn't work most of the time have to enter a pin to get in, the camera also looks worse and the phone is like holding a brick. I ordered a case but I'm not using it as it's making it even worse. And I'm getting calls randomly disconnecting that I had no issues with from the same location with the 4a.
Only thing that's better on the 6a is on 5G I get 880Mbit which honestly it's not something you'll notice by just surfing or streaming as the LTE did that just fine.
If I didn't ordered the phone straight from Google I would have thought that's a cheap copy.


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Sep 27, 2022)

GamerGuy said:


> My Note10+ came out not long after the S10+, sometime in August, 2019, and my phone has a Security patch up to August, 2022. Don't tell me that that was the last update!


Looks like it is, exactly what I dreaded! Looks like you need to successfully install a custom Android, or ban Samsung phones from being the daily driver.  The camera is the best thing on a lot of their phones, it looks like.

3 years, just like the Galaxy S5. (2014) (2017 was the last time it got an official update, at least that's the case with U.S. Cellular)

Now, I wouldn't be surprised if other Galaxy S fans are pissed off as I'm typing this!


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Sep 29, 2022)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> Now, I wouldn't be surprised if other Galaxy S fans are pissed off as I'm typing this!


I love Samsung Galaxy S phones, but the 3-year limit of updates, is making me stressed out! I can't keep putting up with this.


----------



## Shihab (Sep 29, 2022)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> I love Samsung Galaxy S phones, but the 3-year limit of updates, is making me stressed out! I can't keep putting up with this.


Meanwhile in the walled garden, the 9 year old iPhone 5s is still getting [albeit not-so-frequent] security patches.

On topic: I started using a second-hand and beaten up iPhone X for a few months now. So far it's only proven that these things are nice to look at from afar, but mostly useless to own. I still keep a cheap Samsung phone around for music because it has a 3.5mm jack, the bare minimum for a bloody media player device!
Can't use the damned thing as a portable storage. Can't use any peripherals with it (because apparently, universal standards must be enforced by regulation ). Can't run emulators on it. Can't even run my own software on it because I haven't sold half my organs for a Mac that is even more useless (to me).
On the plus side, my screen-time has dropped significantly since I started using it. 

It is really a pity. Great hardware (and some pretty good software design) wasted on this thing. Here's to hoping the Open App/Digital Market acts turn this thing into something more useful. Until then, I'll probably start looking for replacement parts for my broken Nokia 7 Plus (and hope HMD is still pushing patches for it).


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Oct 1, 2022)

I'm possibly going back to Apple for real this time, LOL (not JK'ing)


----------



## freeagent (Oct 1, 2022)

I’m still using my XS Max lol.. still a good phone for me


----------



## Space Lynx (Oct 1, 2022)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> I love Samsung Galaxy S phones, but the 3-year limit of updates, is making me stressed out! I can't keep putting up with this.



My Samsung phone came with 4 years OS updates and 5 years monthly security updates, not bi-monthly, literally every month I get the security update. It's great. its a 2022 model samsung. i plan to keep it for all 5 years too, as I am not much of a phone guy. so it should be just fine for my uses, the montly security updates for 5 years is main thing for me.


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Oct 1, 2022)

Well, I got another update today. Don't know if that will be the last one or not. For me, they seem to come at like the last minute! They seem to delay them for a month.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 1, 2022)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> I'm possibly going back to Apple for real this time, LOL (not JK'ing)


Have fun with that..


----------



## Night (Oct 1, 2022)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> Well, I got another update today. Don't know if that will be the last one or not. For me, they seem to come at like the last minute! They seem to delay them for a month.





			
				Samsung said:
			
		

> And select devices launched in 2019 or later will be supported with firmware security updates for a minimum of four (4) years following their global launch, while select newer devices will receive up to five (5) years of security updates.


You can find the phone list here: https://security.samsungmobile.com/workScope.smsb
You'll also have 4 OS updates, and 5 years of security updates for a 2021/22 select models: https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_pl...es_for_2021_and_2022_flagships-news-53070.php

On my S20 the battery drain is starting to take its toll, I've been using it more frequently for work now: Lots of emails and calls during work hours. The battery will last a day, but it will definitely need a charge at the end of the day. I've been scoping the new iPhone 14 Pro because I'd like to try new software because I've been using Android based phones since they came out. Reading the review for the 14 Pro, the battery life is mediocre at best for the price and the year of the release, Pro Max however has much better battery life, but I don't really like the increased size (always liked more compact phones), however I am aware the size of the phone is also a limitation to the battery size. To make things worse I recently bought a Galaxy Watch4 Classic that apparently isn't connectable to iOS anymore, and that's due to new WatchOS that was developed together by Google and Samsung. There were no such limitations for the Tizen OS that was featured on the Watch3 (hint: was developed by Samsung alone). Guess I'll wait for the S23 lineup after all as I'm hoping that Snapdragon 8 Gen2 will have increased efficiency thus increasing battery life, but I think it won't do much. I'll have more options to consider after S23 lineup launches.


----------



## RJARRRPCGP (Oct 2, 2022)

> Samsung said:
> And select devices launched in 2019 or later will be supported with firmware security updates for a minimum of four (4) years following their global launch, while select newer devices will receive up to five (5) years of security updates.



Good! Because my sister was like, "No! You're not getting another phone!" I can understand, especially when it's only been 3 years!


----------



## Atomic77 (Oct 2, 2022)

My Daily Driver is my brand-new iPhone 13 blue that I just received today.


----------



## lexluthermiester (Oct 2, 2022)

RJARRRPCGP said:


> Good! Because my sister was like, "No! You're not getting another phone!" I can understand, especially when it's only been 3 years!


She's got the right idea. It is extremely wasteful to replace a phone every year or two. No one should be changing phones on a whim like a lot of people do.



Atomic77 said:


> My Daily Driver is my brand-new iPhone 13 blue that I just received today.


Not judging you with my above statement. That was a thought just throw out there..


----------



## micropage7 (Oct 2, 2022)

for now actually i try to dig phones aroun $100 to $200 to replace my old lagging one, and honestly the spec for that range is not too bad


----------



## sam_86314 (Oct 7, 2022)

Time for a post about my previous daily driver.

So from 2019 until 2021, my daily driver was an LG V40. Pretty good phone; with flagship specs (Snapdragon 845, 6GB memory), a headphone jack, and a microSD slot.

In mid-2021, the fingerprint scanner stopped working. Taking it out of its case, I saw that the back cover was popping off. The battery had expanded.













Not a problem, I'll just pick up a new battery on iFixit and replace it. That was until I tried to remove the old battery. While prying it out (it was held down with way too much adhesive), I just barely nicked the back of the display, and...






...the sadness began. A magenta line appeared on the screen and a patch of dead pixels appeared where I nicked it. I ended up getting my hands on another V40 thanks to TPU being such an incredible community, and that held me over until I could get my current daily driver, a Google Pixel 5a.


Unfortunately, recently the replacement V40's battery also expanded and met a similar fate when I tried to replace it, though that time I tried using 91% isopropanol to remove the battery. That worked really well, but I guess I got it in places it shouldn't have gone, and the screen died shortly after I reassembled it (something on the lower portion gets extremely hot, probably the driver board).

Fast forward to a few days ago, and I decided to try and get my original V40 working again. Tore it apart, put the iFixit battery in, and...






...the screen has gotten much worse. So sad.

So I popped on eBay and found a replacement screen for only $50. It arrived today.









It's in absolutely fantastic condition, with basically no scratches.

My repair journey begins; I'll need to transfer the motherboard, charging port, vibrator, front camera, headphone jack, and earpiece to this new frame. It thankfully included all of the buttons and the heat pipe, so I don't need to transfer those.






Installed the vibrator, charging port, and headphone jack from the replacement phone and the motherboard from the original phone. I later realized I forgot to screw in the headphone jack, but it doesn't seem to affect anything.






Next was the iFixit battery and the front camera. I didn't bother adhering the battery in place because I'd like to be able to replace it if necessary. The wireless charging coil will hold it in place anyway.

At this point, I hadn't removed the earpiece from either phone, so this one no longer has one. Later, I was able to remove the earpiece from my original phone, so I'll probably install that at some point in the future. I tried to also remove it from the replacement phone, but tore the cable.






Finally, the wireless charging coil and speaker assembly go in and then a bunch of small Philips screws go in. Thankfully, they're all exactly the same size.

Moment of truth, I plug it in and hold the power button...






...and I didn't break anything! I stuck the back cover on and put it into one of the cases I got with the replacement phone.






It's basically good as new now (though the fingerprint scanner completely stopped working at some point; maybe a software issue). As for the replacement phone, I'll likely try to repair it at some point. Its motherboard still works, and I have enough parts from the two phones (minus an earpiece) to fully rebuild it. I just need another new screen.

I have no plans to part with either phone. I also skipped some repair practices because I repaired this phone for myself, and I'd like to be able to easily take it apart again if I need to. Sure, it isn't water resistant anymore, but I don't intend for this phone to ever leave my house.


----------



## Shihab (Oct 7, 2022)

sam_86314 said:


> While prying it out (it was held down with way too much adhesive), I just barely nicked the back of the display, and...


Made the same mistake with my 7 plus, trying to open it to get to the infamously poor quality USB port.
Well, not "the same." I didn't just nick the display, I drove the prying pick halfway through the screen, and it was completely ruined. :|


----------



## Kissamies (Oct 16, 2022)

Got a "new" taptic engine. Now the vibration works again on my iPhone 8 Plus.


----------



## Derek12 (Nov 2, 2022)

Motorola edge 30 pro
iphone x


----------



## Count von Schwalbe (Nov 2, 2022)

Upgrade! I really can't recommend the Pixel 3 XL, it can't survive being smashed by a car door. 

J/K of course. But I did finally decide to upgrade to a Pixel 6 - and it seems like Cyberpunk. Stunning graphics and plenty of launch day bugs that are now fixed.


----------



## xrobwx71 (Nov 2, 2022)

Pixel 6 Pro. I waded through the bugs and now it seems like a decent phone.


----------



## anachron (Nov 2, 2022)

AusWolf said:


> What's the point of having a UHD screen if you have to keep it at 5% brightness to save some battery life?
> Same with the SoC. Why have a 3 GHz CPU with the most modern GPU when any basic Chinese chip can run Messenger and Gmail just as nicely?
> 
> Or am I getting old?


I'm not sure how UHD screen and brightness relate, but ~5% brightness is all i need for my everyday use on my Galaxy S20 FE 5G, yet it's useful to be able to crank it up to 100% when outside under the sun.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 18, 2022)

Oh great. Now I finally got a crack in the front glass, doesn't disturb though but I guess it's finally time to upgrade.

An iPhone SE 2020 looks like a solid choice.


----------



## plastiscɧ (Nov 18, 2022)

Lenne said:


> Oh great. Now I finally got a crack in the front glass, doesn't disturb though but I guess it's finally time to upgrade.
> 
> An iPhone SE 2020 looks like a solid choice.


imo

if you have your eye on the SE2020, i would rather go for the iphone 11. for a simple but very plausible reason:
the battery!
SE 2020 1812mAh
iPhone 11 3110mAh ~ 20 hours talking time

30% more battery power for a little more money but the devices are only 6 months apart in release date.


----------



## Kissamies (Nov 18, 2022)

plastiscɧ said:


> imo
> 
> if you have your eye on the SE2020, i would rather go for the iphone 11. for a simple but very plausible reason:
> the battery!
> ...


The SE from Swappie is about 250EUR. 11 from there is about 400EUR. Too big difference.


----------



## ThrashZone (Nov 18, 2022)

Hi,
Funny gif 

Think the 2020 se all you need to do is disable battery optimization and it lasts longer.


----------



## theFOoL (Nov 19, 2022)

IPhone aren't for everyone or they just *Think they are  when not. I going to get the next Samsung A series phone when I can when my payments is done. Just everything Apple is $$$$


----------



## ThrashZone (Nov 19, 2022)

theFOoL said:


> IPhone aren't for everyone or they just *Think they are  when not. I going to get the next Samsung A series phone when I can when my payments is done. Just everything Apple is $$$$


Hi,
Yeah I read the cheap androids are just that cheap crap 








						The best cheap Android phones
					

Want a smartphone but don't want to spend $1,000? We've got you covered.




					arstechnica.com


----------



## theFOoL (Nov 19, 2022)

Laugh it up.  Android is king. I  have the A53 5G and does everything I want it to do $500


----------



## ThrashZone (Nov 19, 2022)

theFOoL said:


> Laugh it up.  Android is king. I  have the A53 5G and does everything I want it to do $500


Hi,
iphone se 2020 was free and is doing just fine


----------



## theFOoL (Nov 19, 2022)

ThrashZone said:


> Hi,
> iphone se 2020 was free and is doing just fine


How's that battery life   Poor se phones. Especially that slow charging... (which is so good for phones to which people don't realize) but the capacity of the batteries they used but but the cpu energy efficient was there but..
 The OS and high bright screen


----------



## ThrashZone (Nov 19, 2022)

theFOoL said:


> How's that battery life   Poor se phones. Especially that slow charging... (which is so good for phones to which people don't realize) but the capacity of the batteries they used but but the cpu energy efficient was there but..
> The OS and high bright screen


Hi,
Seems fine to me like I said earlier all one has to do is disable battery optimization features and battery last and charges swiftly but I charge overnight and haven't had any issues with battery life.
But then again I don't listen to music or youtube/ facebook/... crapola either
All phones have screen dimming features 
I usually unbloat apps as well as turning off especially gps and never install safe driving insurance tracking apps they eat the hell out of a battery not to mention auto syncing backup/...


----------



## theFOoL (Dec 2, 2022)

Using SAMSUNG A53 5G and just updated to Android 13


----------



## wolf (Dec 2, 2022)

My wife finally broke the Oneplus 7 Pro she was using, dropped it and it now has a cracked screen (admittedly minor) and the bottom mic doesn't work.

So I'll be on the hunt come new year to replace the Galaxy S21 Ultra so she can have it, I'll probably go S23 Ultra with how damn much the S21U has impressed me.

Seriously, almost 2 years old now, and it's the Exynos version (roughly on par with SD for S21 gen tho), just got Android 13 a year ago and it feels like the phone is faster, smoother and more feature rich than ever, some serious fine wine here Samsung, colour me impressed - especially after swearing off Samsung's for Touchwiz.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 2, 2022)

wolf said:


> My wife finally broke the Oneplus 7 Pro she was using, dropped it and it now has a cracked screen (admittedly minor) and the bottom mic doesn't work.
> 
> So I'll be on the hunt come new year to replace the Galaxy S21 Ultra so she can have it, I'll probably go S23 Ultra with how damn much the S21U has impressed me.
> 
> Seriously, almost 2 years old now, and it's the Exynos version (roughly on par with SD for S21 gen tho), just got Android 13 a year ago and it feels like the phone is faster, smoother and more feature rich than ever, some serious fine wine here Samsung, colour me impressed - especially after swearing off Samsung's for Touchwiz.


Sucks how they use different CPUs in different parts of the world.


----------



## wolf (Dec 2, 2022)

Kissamies said:


> Sucks how they use different CPUs in different parts of the world.


Yeah it does and it's a bit strange, seems like the S20 Gen and S22 Gen the Exynos was quite a letdown too, I luckily bought into the gen that was close to parity. Unless Exynos gets their shit together though it seems like the S23 series will use the SD chip which is rumoured to be excellent. I really wanted Exynos + RDNA2 to succeed, and still do, so I wonder what the future brings there.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 2, 2022)

wolf said:


> Yeah it does and it's a bit strange, seems like the S20 Gen and S22 Gen the Exynos was quite a letdown too, I luckily bought into the gen that was close to parity. Unless Exynos gets their shit together though it seems like the S23 series will use the SD chip which is rumoured to be excellent. I really wanted Exynos + RDNA2 to succeed, and still do, so I wonder what the future brings there.


Haven't used Android phones in a while but yeah, I prefered SD chips back then.

I'll probably get an used iPhone SE 2020 or 11 next month myself.


----------



## theFOoL (Dec 2, 2022)

I mean to me my phone runs great and battery life is par good


----------



## wolf (Dec 2, 2022)

theFOoL said:


> Using SAMSUNG A53 5G and just updated to Android 13





theFOoL said:


> I mean to me my phone runs great and battery life is par good


I bet that's an excellent phone dude, the specs are really good for not being the S series, and having used the A13 update myself, I agree on how great the phone runs and the great battery life too.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 2, 2022)

wolf said:


> I bet that's an excellent phone dude, the specs are really good for not being the S series, and having used the A13 update myself, I agree on how great the phone runs and the great battery life too.


Isn't the A series a mid-end product line?  My mom has an A8 and it's fine for its age.


----------



## theFOoL (Dec 2, 2022)

Kissamies said:


> Isn't the A series a mid-end product line?  My mom has an A8 and it's fine for its age.


Yes it is but what about it? Not everyone wants or can afford top notch stuff


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 2, 2022)

theFOoL said:


> Yes it is but what about it? Not everyone wants or can afford top notch stuff


Yeah, I agree. Haven't paid over 200EUR from a phone in 14 years (I got a Nokia N95 back then) as I prefer either mid-end phones or used ones.


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## wolf (Dec 2, 2022)

Kissamies said:


> Isn't the A series a mid-end product line?


Absolutely it is, I was just commending their software update timeliness and quality, Samsung have come a long way for me personally.

If my procurement cycle was just for me I'd probably buy more midrange too, but I buy for myself every 2-3 years, then my wife gets the phone I had, and her mum gets the phone she had, so I buy something high end as it generally needs to last at least 4-5 years in my household and then longer once it goes to MIL, plus I'm pretty good at finding discounts and then salary sacrificing the phone too.

The S21 Ultra for example, was $1949 AUD RRP for the 12/256 model, I got it for half price, so $974.50, then that was salary sacrificed, which equalled -10% absorbed by my employer, so $877.05, deducted from my pre-tax wage. The upper part of my wage is taxed at 32.5%, so in effect I paid ~$592 AUD (~$400 USD) out of pocket for a $1949 RRP product. Very happy with that price, especially as I am highly motivated by the camera experience now that I'm a dad and constantly taking photos of my son, among other things.


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## sLowEnd (Dec 2, 2022)

I use a 3rd gen iPhone SE. Normally I wouldn't consider an iPhone, but I ended up with this thing because I found an old mall gift card that had 200 bucks on it.
I tried to spend it on other stuff in the mall, but most stores didn't accept it anymore. Only the Apple store still accepted the card, and even then they weren't 100% sure. I had to wait like 20 min for a manager to give the green light. lol

The phone runs really well, and I have no big complaints about it.


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## Tech_fanatic (Dec 2, 2022)

I am still rocking a Oneplus 6 luanched in 2018 although the company fitted battery is almost giving up and the company no longer provides genuine replacement batteries for it so I am screwed.


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## Dr. Dro (Dec 2, 2022)

I've been living with a LG G3 (2014 flagship and 1440p pioneer) this past month. The poor thing... just can't cope with even the most basic tasks today. Android 6 is surprisingly compatible with a lot of applications today, but the Snapdragon 801 processor is really slow and 2 GB of RAM isn't enough even for the most basic tasks nowadays. It's always lagging, sometimes for a minute plus, and the very high screen resolution really doesn't help things.

Ordered a Galaxy Z Flip3 5G this Black Friday, at a pretty decent discount since that's the outgoing model from the Galaxy S21 generation. It's still a Snapdragon 888 phone, so it should perform leagues above any of the Galaxy A or M series (even the A73 5G flagship has only a 778G processor), and reasonably higher than the S20 (with Snapdragon 865) and the S21's Exynos 2100 variant. That foldable OLED screen is some really exciting technology, too. Might have to sign up for Samsung Care though! I can't lie, I take excellent care of my devices, but I am a bit scared of screen damage, I really think it'll be a matter of when, not if. I don't mind the crease too much, from all I've seen and felt it's not that much of a big deal, but panel fracturing is going to occur over time, and I think that's pretty much inevitable on any foldable today. 

My Galaxy S10+ didn't have a very happy 3rd birthday. I've used it a lot to play NieR Re[in]carnation for very prolonged periods of time (read: sometimes looping quests for days on end), so it pretty much lived overheated 24/7 for months, over time that heat load softened all of the adhesive inside the phone, and it pretty much began to fall apart. First the back came clean off, battery had mild signs of stuffing already, given it will receive no further updates to Android, I decided to retire it. I'll probably drop it at the Samsung store for a battery replacement and a complete reassembly/re-seal sometime, though. It should make a nice backup.


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## WhiteNoise (Dec 2, 2022)

iphone 13 pro max is my main and an iphone SE (2022) is my work.

I love the 13 and its battery lasts me a couple of days easily.


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## Operandi (Dec 2, 2022)

OnePlus 9.  First time with a OnePlus and I'm liking it quite a bit, and is honestly the only non-Google Android phone I can tolerate.  Only real complaint is the glossy finish is absurd as just looking at it leaves imprints of the photons light let alone finger prints.


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## Isadoorian (Dec 7, 2022)

I have my Samsung Galaxy S10.

It's over 2 years old, and I got it through Koodo (a Canadian Mobile Carrier, that's a Subsidiary of Telus) through a $0 Promo they had going on through their Upgrade Program. I didn't have a Credit Card at the time, so I bought a $25 Visa Vanilla Pre-Paid Card and got it that way. Still can't believe it worked even to this day. 

Before acquiring this, I've had:
A Samsung Galaxy S7 (which I still have).
A Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime.
Some old flip phone (_possibly _the LG CE110 looking at pictures of old phones on GSMArena to try and jog my memory) which my Dad gave to me at the start of High School or maybe start of Grade 10, though I gotta say; I do not miss texting on that thing, _at all_.


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## dcf-joe (Dec 7, 2022)

Android user for a long time and decided to try Apple. Keep in mind, from my long list of Pixel and Samsung phones, I have never had any physical issues with my phones.

I got a brand new iPhone 14 Pro Max. I gave up my S21U for this phone. Within two weeks, the ultrawide camera failed, just simply stopped working. I noticed this, because I use it a lot. To top that off, the phone would become unresponsive in rare cases. Power button wouldn't wake the phone, volume down+power wouldn't wake the phone. The phone would eventually reboot on its own. The final straw was, I use my phone as my alarm and guess what didn't go off one work morning because the phone was unresponsive? The phone was plugged in all night, and I had finally learned about the volume up+down+power button to force reboot, which did reboot the phone and what do you know, the alarm went off as soon as the phone booted.

I got rid of that phone and just recently got a Pixel 7 Pro, and I absolutely love the phone. The recent December patch fixed a lot of little issues here and there, although I will have to say the random audio cutouts via bluetooth keep occurring, albeit much, much less frequently. The patch notes did say that Google worked on this issue.


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## lexluthermiester (Dec 7, 2022)

Isadoorian said:


> I do not miss texting on that thing, _at all_.


No one does..


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## sLowEnd (Dec 10, 2022)

Isadoorian said:


> I have my Samsung Galaxy S10.
> 
> It's over 2 years old, and I got it through Koodo (a Canadian Mobile Carrier, that's a Subsidiary of Telus) through a $0 Promo they had going on through their Upgrade Program. I didn't have a Credit Card at the time, so I bought a $25 Visa Vanilla Pre-Paid Card and got it that way. Still can't believe it worked even to this day.
> 
> ...


I had a prepaid Nokia 2730 Classic from Bell back in the day. I also didn't enjoy T9 texting. It was a pretty handy MP3 player for me though, until the battery gradually became a spicy pillow back in '15-'16.


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## Cvrk (Dec 31, 2022)

OnePlus 9. 

it was on color OS, and 2 weeks ago changed to Oxygen OS 13. Color is superior. Everything was clean, now it looks like a child's phone.


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## Morgoth (Jan 1, 2023)

LG G9 also called a brick 
slow piece of garbage XD reminds me of the pentium 1 days haha


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## Jaffakeik (Jan 1, 2023)

Samsung s22 Ultra 256gb Black


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