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

[freeagent]

Idk maybe foe some 300 usd every 24-30 months isn't a small amount of money.

Wow, so cheap!

We pay half price if we want to return it, or full price if we want to keep it. So if I want to keep it I am looking at about 70 bucks a month for the hardware, plus another 80 for the plan. This country pisses me off sometimes.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Wow, so cheap!

We pay half price if we want to return it, or full price if we want to keep it. So if I want to keep it I am looking at about 70 bucks a month for the hardware, plus another 80 for the plan. This country pisses me off sometimes.

I always wait till they're doing the 800 usd trade in with the 150 usd bill credit..... I feel like they do it pretty frequently.

 

[Dr. Dro]

google pixels get five years support

Pixel 6 and later phones will get updates for at least 5 years from when the device first became available on the Google Store in the US. These updates include security, software, and may also include feature drops.

Yeah, they announced this alongside Samsung or around the same time. It's great that Google has responded to user feedback, although the Android branding guidelines still demand only 18 months.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I think this is the first phone I've ever day 1 unlocked+rooted

Not me. Mine was in 2012, Samsung Galaxy S Relay. Rooted that sucker the moment I got it home.

STILL one of my favorite phones. I passionately detest onscreen keyboards. Learned to live with them, but not happy about it..

No Google Pay is a big freaking deal for me.

Really? Why? Never used it personally. Couldn't care less about it.

Pixel 7 family also seems to be a pain in the ass, neither regular safetynet fix module for Magisk nor the workaround guide works. Trying out the modded fork of safetynet fix right now.

Give it a few months. That phone is brand new. It will only take time. That said, the world hummed along just fine before the likes of Google Pay and Apple Pay and the world will be just fine without them.

 

[Deleted member 230939]

Nokia N95 was an amazing phone, I kept using it up until 2017.

Nokia 6220C was also a sick candy bar style version of the N96.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Nokia N95 was an amazing phone, I kept using it up until 2017.

Ok, that's hardcore commitment! What did you do for spare batteries?

 

[Deleted member 230939]

Ok, that's hardcore commitment! What did you do for spare batteries?

If they ever revisit the N series lineup with a fresh take and updated feature set, I would instantly drop my current phone for it.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Nokia N95 was an amazing phone, I kept using it up until 2017.

I still have one with all of its accessories and a new, unused spare battery as well

Ok, that's hardcore commitment! What did you do for spare batteries?

Oddly enough I found a phone shop that still had one in the inventory. It was the same shop that also had a spare battery for the LG G3 that I purchased unused in box recently, the battery on that old phone was completely decayed and would no longer hold a charge.

 

[lexluthermiester]

If they ever revisit the N series lineup with a fresh take and updated feature set, I would instantly drop my current phone for it.

If Motorola ever released a modern version of the following, I'd be in 7th heaven!!

Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE XT897 - Full phone specifications

www.gsmarena.com

This was my favorite phone ever!

Do you hear me Motorola? I want one of these again, but with modern specs!!
5.7" 1920x1200 IPS screen, Snapdragon 845, 3 or 4 GB of RAM, 32 or 64 GB of storage, 3.5mm audio jack, USBC, 3500mah REMOVEABLE battery, unlockable/rootable recent version of Android? Oh yeah.
Thank You in advance!

 

[Dr. Dro]

What I don't miss about physical keyboards is that they were often hard instead of clicky, and my hand is gigantic, so it really made it hard for me to use those.

Back in 2009 or so I owned one of these, and it was a nightmare. That and the mobile Vista it ran lol. Zero app support.

LG GW550 - Full phone specifications

www.gsmarena.com

 

[tabascosauz]

Not me. Mine was in 2012, Samsung Galaxy S Relay. Rooted that sucker the moment I got it home.
View attachment 295983
STILL one of my favorite phones. I passionately detest onscreen keyboards. Learned to live with them, but not happy about it..

Really? Why? Never used it personally. Couldn't care less about it.

Give it a few months. That phone is brand new. It will only take time. That said, the world hummed along just fine before the likes of Google Pay and Apple Pay and the world will be just fine without them.

Fortunately the displax safetynet fork worked fine. I can understand the need for security surrounding payments, but it's really annoying how safetynet selectively chooses to become a problem only for certain devices on certain ROMs.

It's just a matter of convenience, I haven't actually taken my credit card out of my wallet for months now. Just tap with the phone. I've also had some security scares with one of my cards in the past year (I suspect an illicitly modded card terminal at a restaurant I used to frequent) so Apple Pay and Google Pay are better since they don't disclose your card number to vendors, only a virtual number that is assigned.

 

[lexluthermiester]

What I don't miss about physical keyboards is that they were often hard instead of clicky, and my hand is gigantic, so it really made it hard for me to use those.

Back in 2009 or so I owned one of these, and it was a nightmare. That and the mobile Vista it ran lol. Zero app support.

LG GW550 - Full phone specifications

www.gsmarena.com

Not the Photon or Relay. They both had clicky types. I never saw that LG model..
I've seen the one below, buttons were also clicky type. Never owned it though.

LG Mach LS860 - Full phone specifications

www.gsmarena.com

 

[Space Lynx]

STILL one of my favorite phones. I passionately detest onscreen keyboards. Learned to live with them, but not happy about it..

my phone was something like this one... not the exact model... when I was in college. I still have it somewhere I think. I really miss the keyboard being physical, I got so good/expert at it I never made mistakes.

On the touch keyboards, I make mistakes all the time still. Really wish we could get a rebirth of new design phones, with a slide out physical keyboard. I don't ever see it happening though sadly.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Fortunately the displax safetynet fork worked fine. I can understand the need for security surrounding payments, but it's really annoying how safetynet selectively chooses to become a problem only for certain devices on certain ROMs.

It's just a matter of convenience, I haven't actually taken my credit card out of my wallet for months now. Just tap with the phone. I've also had some security scares with one of my cards in the past year (I suspect an illicitly modded card terminal at a restaurant I used to frequent) so Apple Pay and Google Pay are better since they don't disclose your card number to vendors, only a virtual number that is assigned.

I agree, I use Samsung Wallet as well. It's quite convenient. I'm surprised that just about every credit card terminal works with the phone nowadays. The Knox-secured biometric lock for authorization makes it particularly safe. It's also one less risk since these applications can't be used for accessing your bank account, so being caught out without your credit card would greatly help avoiding a bank run during an eventual stickup.

 

[Deleted member 230939]

View attachment 296000

my phone was something like this one... not the exact model... when I was in college. I still have it somewhere I think. I really miss the keyboard being physical, I got so good/expert at it I never made mistakes.

On the touch keyboards, I make mistakes all the time still. Really wish we could get a rebirth of new design phones, with a slide out physical keyboard. I don't ever see it happening though sadly.

That color pallette though. wow.

 

[Space Lynx]

That color pallette though. wow.

mine actually was this color at the time, again not exact model, but it had that teal black theme. i liked it. i remember texting my college gf at the time often on it... she ended up marrying a doctor though. can't say i blame her.

 

[silentbogo]

Nokia N95 was an amazing phone, I kept using it up until 2017.

That was my last non-touch phone. Rock-solid, good camera, and of course - Symbian. Used to learn to program in Python while on the bus on my way to work(yes... on a T9).
Only retired it in 2010 after getting a killer deal on iPhone 3GS(the only iphone I ever owned).
What's funny, is that my stepdad kept using it all the way 'till 2019. And it still works. Just needs a new battery.

Nokia 6220C was also a sick candy bar style version of the N96.

That's my bosses daily driver. I've rebuit it for him at least 3 times. You can still get new chassis and batteries for most 6200 and 6300 series.
He has a smartphone as well, but that old Nokia is the only thing that works flawlessly with his ancient Kenwood car stereo in handset mode(over BT).

 

[Dragam1337]

I have never understood that about Android phones, they only get updates for a couple of years?

Depends on the brand. The samsung s23 will get 4 years of feature upgrades, and 5 years of security updates.

Android software support is terrible, this is an area iOS has it beat hands down. Google mandates 18 months from the date the device launched, so for all practical purposes you're only given one year of updates unless the phone's manufacturer does something about it on their side. Due to a lot of pressure and market demand, some manufacturers like Samsung began to offer 4 to 5 years (4 generations succeeding the device), but that's about it. Low-end Android devices are usually shored on the software that they ship with. No updates are planned or provided.

Older Android versions will still be relatively useful and run most applications as long as it's generally newer than Android 9, and more recent versions have tried to separate security from Android binary updates (with Google Play system binaries, security patch levels, etc.) but if your phone's maker drops support your only recourse is using community-made ROMs, and most manufacturers will only provide Google's mandated lifetime. You will find that a 4 year old Android phone is practically obsolete, abandoned trash (see: Galaxy S10 series), while an iPhone 11 is a current, performant and updated device.

I disagree with the s10 being trash at this stage - i only replaced my s10e because it was a company paid phone that i had to give back. Otherwise i would have kept using it.

As for the iphone 11 being more performant... well, yeah... it always had a vastly superior chip...

 

[Dr. Dro]

Depends on the brand. The samsung s23 will get 4 years of feature upgrades, and 5 years of security updates.



I disagree with the s10 being trash at this stage - i only replaced my s10e because it was a company paid phone that i had to give back. Otherwise i would have kept using it.

As for the iphone 11 being more performant... well, yeah... it always had a vastly superior chip...

It doesn't feel like it until you place it right next to a phone with a newer or better SoC - if you put my S10+ next to the S20 FE 4G (with Snapdragon 865) I bought my mom a couple of years ago, you will see precisely why I'm calling it trash. If you compare it to a modern Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 or 8 Gen 2 device, you'll be blown away at how bad the S10+ has aged. Of course, this is strictly regarding the Exynos version, I can't speak for the Snapdragon 855 variant version sold in the United States and I can imagine it's not that bad, but the global Exynos 9820 model belongs in the garbage especially if you want to play any sort of games on it. The GPU is so ridiculously bad.

Speaking of bad things, I booked an appointment at the closest Samsung Store tomorrow afternoon to get the PET film on my Z Flip 3 replaced. Thing peeled off to the middle of the fold at this point, it's seriously annoying. Will likely sell the phone afterwards, if it requires servicing every 6 months due to the PET film on the foldable screen coming off, then it's not a phone for me, no matter how much I enjoyed it.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

I have never understood that about Android phones, they only get updates for a couple of years?

True for Galaxy S5, especially. Made in 2014, support cut off in 2017. The latest official updates would be in 2017.

 

[dgianstefani]

It doesn't feel like it until you place it right next to a phone with a newer or better SoC - if you put my S10+ next to the S20 FE 4G (with Snapdragon 865) I bought my mom a couple of years ago, you will see precisely why I'm calling it trash. If you compare it to a modern Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 or 8 Gen 2 device, you'll be blown away at how bad the S10+ has aged. Of course, this is strictly regarding the Exynos version, I can't speak for the Snapdragon 855 variant version sold in the United States and I can imagine it's not that bad, but the global Exynos 9820 model belongs in the garbage especially if you want to play any sort of games on it. The GPU is so ridiculously bad.

Speaking of bad things, I booked an appointment at the closest Samsung Store tomorrow afternoon to get the PET film on my Z Flip 3 replaced. Thing peeled off to the middle of the fold at this point, it's seriously annoying. Will likely sell the phone afterwards, if it requires servicing every 6 months due to the PET film on the foldable screen coming off, then it's not a phone for me, no matter how much I enjoyed it.

I have the Hong Kong variant s10+ ceramic with Snapdragon.

No issues, did a battery and screen replacement after I damaged it, which is cool as I now have cardinal red frame and ceramic white rear, but performance is more than fine. 512 GB is nice to have.

No reasons to upgrade to new S series until solid state batteries are the norm.

 

[tabascosauz]

Just returned to stock TQ2A firmware and relocked for now. Seems like most people are still waiting on their phones and ROMs won't be coming for a while.

I will say, the online Android Flash Tool for Pixels is shockingly convenient and easy to use. In the future I'll obviously use some variation of PixelFlasher instead, but Google's official tool is a delight to use and nice to know that it's a reliable fallback.

Xiaomi had MiFlashTool which was similar in a lot of ways but more convoluted, not a web interface, and not really an official tool (?).

Android Flash Tool

flash.android.com

 

[Dr. Dro]

I have the Hong Kong variant s10+ ceramic with Snapdragon.

No issues, did a battery and screen replacement after I damaged it, which is cool as I now have cardinal red frame and ceramic white rear, but performance is more than fine. 512 GB is nice to have.

No reasons to upgrade to new S series until solid state batteries are the norm.

Mine's a dual SIM 128GB prism black one. The only technical problem I've really had it with it was battery decay (which in turn was causing even worse slowdown problems), but I used this phone a ton in the past 4 years I've had it. Snapdragon S10+ would be a keeper, given it still has a headphone jack, supports fast charging, etc. - and doesn't have Exynos garbage performance, shame it was only released in limited markets.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

Mine's a dual SIM 128GB prism black one. The only technical problem I've really had it with it was battery decay (which in turn was causing even worse slowdown problems), but I used this phone a ton in the past 4 years I've had it. Snapdragon S10+ would be a keeper, given it still has a headphone jack, supports fast charging, etc. - and doesn't have Exynos garbage performance, shame it was only released in limited markets.

I have the Snapdragon variant.
Is the Exynos variant really like the meme of Moto e4? (2017)
The Moto e4, was a slow-tacular phone and mine had the problem with the touch screen randomly selecting things.
Boots extremely slow, like I would expect Windows 10 to on a potato with a 320 GB 7K RPM HDD from 2008!

 

[tabascosauz]

Snapdragon S10+ would be a keeper, given it still has a headphone jack

Funny note, the new Poco F5 has a 3.5mm jack. Absolutely no precedent for it as F3, F3 GT, F4, F4 GT all did not have one, and the Pro doesn't have one either. Upon seeing the 7+ Gen 2 performance and the 3.5mm jack it made me feel a little left out, until I remembered the utter dumpster fire that is MIUI. I refuse to touch another Xiaomi phone before the availability of stable, OTA, AOSP ROMs for said phone.

I have the Snapdragon variant. Is the Exynos variant really like the meme of Moto e4? (2017) The Moto e4, was a slow-tacular phone and mine had the problem with the touch screen randomly selecting things.

No......pre-Dimensity Mediatek was truly rotten garbage lol. I feel like only half the problem with Exynos is actual performance, the other half is that everything seems to be more readily and better optimized for Snapdragon due to sheer popularity. Though, these days that seems to be less of an excuse.

It's just surprising to me that after what, 12 years, Exynos has still not shaken off its crappy-Snapdragon stigma.