Another cell phone thread

[chrisinhouston]

Well, I got my new phone and am really happy with it. I ended up getting the new LG-G3 which is a bigger model phone, not quite the size of the iPhone 6+ but close. I got it from Amazon for 1 cent and renewing my 2 year contract; couldn't beat that deal!

It arrived Tuesday evening so I just charged the battery and sort of checked it out but waited until I had time on Wednesday to activate it and start migrating my settings and files over to it from the old phone. It all went pretty easy, the hardest thing was adding all my email accounts because I have several and they are all IMAP ones and I had to enter all the incoming and outgoing server settings, a real pain in the ass. The other thing is after I added the apps I like I had to go into several where I am registered and enter the user name or email and the password, sites like Pandora, TuneMeInRadio, Pinterest, etc. And I use LastPass to generate passwords so most are long and rather complex with lots of punctuation and a mix of upper and lower case letters and numbers.

Then I messed with ringtones and notification sounds. Some I really got used to from the Samsung phone and found I could just download them. I also added a bunch of ones I've collected like the one for when my wife calls me. It's the scene from the Alien movie where the Nostromo space ship is about to self destruct and the nice woman's voice keeps saying over all the sirens and bells "Danger, the emergency destruct sequence has now been activated. The ship will self-destruct in t-minus, ten minutes. The option to override automatic detonation will expire in t-minus, FIVE MINUTES. "

[lumberjim]

I should get that one for Ripley's ring tone

I get my notifications from Zedge.

RIght now my ring tone is the Sanford & Son song, my text alert is a Turkey Gobbling, and Email is the arrow thudding into Concord as he crosses the creek with Sir Lancelot. thwaaaaang.... thup! message for you sir!

[gvidas]

Seems like this thread has good advice mojo. My turn?

I've been rocking an iphone 4s + prepaid non-contract (straight talk) for a few years.

Wifi on the phone seems to have kicked the bucket today, which kinda sucks -- I use this phone a lot on for on-the-go emails. I'm going to try and eke a few more months out of it, but I'm taking this as a sign to start looking for a new phone.

My main conundrum: I think phones are too large. I'm really reluctant to go physically larger than a 4s, which rules out newer Apple devices (see chart). I don't have anything ideologically against going Android, but the shopping experience is kind of overwhelming. Too many choices.

Secondary conundrum: I'm abusive to phones. It gets dropped a lot. Carried in a pocket with screws and saw dust. Carried in an uninsulated pocket in subzero weather. Used with greasy hands. I am honestly amazed this phone is not yet destroyed.

It looks like I can pick up another 4s on fleabay for $180-250 depending on how refurbished it is. I'd be willing to spend a few hundo more for something a few years newer/not refurbished, if it's an actual improvement. Thoughts?

[Undertoad]

It really depends on how you use it, what you want out of it, etc. What apps do you run? How long do you want your battery to run?

It sounds like an Otterbox Defender would be a good idea. Pricey, but if it saves you a phone,... here's the link

Otterbox Commuter and Defender series for 4s

[lumberjim]

I'm 6'2" and have big hands. The Note4 looks like a normal phone in my hand.

We have a Vietnamese guy here that is 104lbs. (I think my legs weigh that much each) He's maybe 5 ft tall. He has a new Samsung that he really likes. It's super light and about the size of an iphone. I have found the Samsung phones to be far superior to any of the motorola, nokia or LG phones I've had.

maybe have a look at that S5 mini.

[lumberjim]

CORRECTION

he has the Alpha

comparison

[Clodfobble]

I adore my HTC One. It's smaller than my husband's Galaxy, and I find the buttons far more intuitive. I've dropped it repeatedly, and the kids have stood on it repeatedly, and it's never taken any damage. I don't remember what brand of case I have around it, but it's semi-soft plastic and extremely thin, so I can't imagine it's helping all that much.

[gvidas]

I think the thing that makes me glaze over when it's phone-shopping time is that I just don't care enough relative to how much information is available. All the reviews/info sites go on and on about features that are either presumably important, but esoteric (some specific processor!); clearly not important but presented as though they are (heart rate sensor!); or presenting as positive things that I consider negatives (massive screen!) To be more fair to the phone industry: largely I just don't have the patience for decisions between subtle choices, especially when it appears that the subtle choices are in fact significant.

I want a phone that's reliable: it rings when someone calls me. Beyond that, I'm thrilled if I can do some basic math on it, check emails, read a PDF, search the web, and take a quick picture. I've been slowly gaining an appreciation for all the other smartphone perks (music, etc), but most of the time I'm at work or at home, where if I were less lazy I could have my laptop handy. If 2015 is the year that Peak Oil/Colony Collapse Disorder/etc ends the world as we know it, and I have to go back to a rudimentary flip phone, I'd be fine with that. I'd leave reading material in the bathroom and probably be completely fine with the rest, phone-usage-wise.

In terms of battery life, I'm happy to charge a phone nightly.

In terms of durability/cases, this 4s is more or less unscathed after ~2.25 years of steady (ab)use, notwithstanding the wifi dying (which I am concluding is a hardware problem, and altho there is an amazing guide on how to fix it I'm not going to go there.) I put it immediately into an Incipio case. Actually, that's a lie -- the cord port is a little funky, there's a specific angle that the cord has to be at to charge. But the occasional drop onto a sidewalk / concrete floor (once it came out of my pocket onto pavement while bicycling) has yet to crack the screen, which I'm lead to believe is the usual first failure.

[Undertoad]

I'll skip over the part where you didn't install Tapatalk to browse the Cellar -- because that will make you want a bigger phone.

You are Apple target market: make it so that it works, control the environment, remove choices if they are more bothersome than helpful.

The 4 generation iPhone was designed to shatter the screen on drops, but if you put it in a case, that design is lost.

[gvidas]

Yeah, that sweet spot of an exhausted / overwhelmed consumer: "fuckit, I'll just buy this maybe it'll work."

Wasn't there a psych study involving bombarding people with questions and then asking them to resist eating cake, and if you bombard them with more questions they can't resist cake as well?

A phone is so central to life now. The stakes feel higher. But it's really just a piece of techno-consumer crap. I could probably stop answering the phone and do just fine for the next several months, conduct all business by email. Maybe "no phone" will be the next curmudgeonly small business trend, like the hip new bars/restaurants that are cash only.



Do you say "designed to shatter" as a sarcastic critique of the design, or is there some practical advantage, like crumple zones on a racecar?

[lumberjim]

If it shatters, you have to buy another

[Undertoad]

It's my critique of the design.

On the 4, the glass sticks up above the aluminum edge. This means a glass edge is almost always the first thing to hit the ground when the phone is dropped. Then they decided to use a harder glass to avoid scratching. Harder glass shatters instead of flexing a tiny amount.

They changed this for the 5, and now a drop is just a scuffed up corner.

[Carruthers]

Well, I've finally been dragged, kicking and screaming, into the age of the smart phone.

For years I've had a PAYG phone which was OK as far as it went, but calls were a crippling £0.40 per min.
That's about $0.60, so a twenty minute call would set me back the equivalent of $12.
Texts were £0.14 each. That was with Vodafone by the way.

Today an iPhone 4s arrived which I know is not the newest model but I got a pretty good deal, as these things go, so I'm quite happy with it.
There was no 'up front' cost for the phone and £15 ($22.50) per month on a two year contract, buys 500 mins talk time, 5000 texts and 500mb of data.
The network is Talkmobile which is a virtual operator and piggy backs on the Vodafone network.
It's better value than going direct to Vodafone on a similar contract.

I'm still getting to grips with all the settings although I made my first call to Sundae this evening and that went well.
The old phone will remain in service for a day or two until I get a protective wallet for the new one.
I tend to have all manner of detritus in the pockets of my outdoor clothing, usually dog biscuit shrapnel, so I need some method of protecting it.

I just hope it doesn't go wrong!

[glatt]

I also have the 4S and recently replaced the battery to give it new life. It's still an amazing phone, two years later.

I've got the Otterbox Commuter, and it's a really good protector.

My favorite App is the Smugmug Camera Awesome, which allows you to control the focus and exposure setting of the camera. It was free.

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by glatt

I also have the 4S and recently replaced the battery to give it new life. It's still an amazing phone, two years later.

I've got the Otterbox Commuter, and it's a really good protector.

My favorite App is the Smugmug Camera Awesome, which allows you to control the focus and exposure setting of the camera. It was free.

Thanks for that glatt. I've heard good things about Otterbox products. I'll investigate further.

Rechargeable batteries are always a bit of a worry, so if I manage to get two years of service out of the present one, I think I'll be reasonably happy with that.