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On 8/27/2021 at 6:51 PM, Parliament said:

My Galazy Note (whatever number) is getting long in the tooth, and has a moderately cracked screen.  Talk me out of a Galaxy Fold.

I have a friend with one and I played with it for a bit. Folded it is obviously thicker than the note but definitely more pocketable and usable as a phone one handed. Unfolded it is pretty fucking impressive. But it is big. 

I can see how that could be useful in certain circumstances such as editing or redlining docs, especially with the spen. Would also be useful if you needed customers to sign invoices or something. Would also be great for ebooks. 

But, for me it was just too big unfolded to really make much sense.  And the fact that you can't tuck the spen inside is phone is dumb. 

But if you are used to the note size I would definitely at least handle it and see what you think. Last note I had was the 7...the one that started on fire and was recalled. That was my favorite phone ever. Perfect size and spen. 

Since then I've been buying the smaller galaxies and why I got the flip. I want something with a smaller footprint in my pocket. 

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Related sidenote.  I finally disabled Android Auto in my head unit.  I got tired of it automatically connecting while I charged my phone.

There's nothing particularly wrong with it, I just don't use it about 90% of the time in my car:  not the nav, not the music, not anything.  And I would rather not have spam calls ringing through my speakers on a trip to the store.

There will be times that I use it, for nav and for music, as in long trips, and times I intend or need to talk on the phone while driving.  Then I will enable it. Otherwise, fuck that shit.

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On 8/26/2021 at 4:26 PM, woohorn said:


 

 

 

 

 

 


Anyone look into pixel 5 vs 5a? 5 is $699 and new 5a is $449. Pretty similar specs except for 5a's plastic case. I even think 5a brings back headphone jack.

 

 

 

 

 

I've got the 5, and it's been great so far.  Battery life is superb.  Camera is great. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I hate upgrading my phone and finding a new one (and configuring shit the way I like it, and learning new/different ways to do shit that I already know how to do), but I especially hate it because all of the features that I like are being phased out to facilitate dropping your phone in the toilet (swappable batteries, SD cards, headphone jacks...) but the battery life in my S9 is becoming increasingly unreliable. 

I have learned that the S20 seems to be the last model (at least by a mainstream manufacturer) that allows an SD card. 

I don't want to deal with putting all my shit on the cloud, or regularly downloading and deleting things in order to maintain free storage space like I'd have to without an SD card, but I'm a little apprehensive about buying a phone that almost two years old. 

I don't do anything fancy with my phone (work emails, photos, Internetting, Twitter, etc.) and I am kind of a Luddite about willfully resisting the ongoing march towards connecting every goddamn thing to every other goddamn thing and I'm generally a stubborn old man about protecting my privacy and frustrating/sidestepping Big Data, at least to the extent that I can as a technological nincompoop. 

I'm on Verizon, and the chip shortage seems to be shitting up availability across the board, but is there any reason why I shouldn't go with the 256gb S20 direct from Samsung? 

Edited by Prepuce of Doom
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I got my S20 Ultra direct from Samsung when they first came out.  No problem getting it to work with AT&T and doesn't have the additional AT&T bloatware.  I've got a 512gb and a 256gb SD card.  The internal storage is at 188gb used about half of which is System and Apps.  1.5gb on the SD card.  The phone has been great and, like you, I use phones as long as I can (previous was S8 Active).

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Replied to the iphone/ android thread back in March, when I traded my S9 for an unlocked S21 / 256GB through Samsung...  Trade-in worked out well.  I like the phone, and had no issues getting it setup (was already on Verizon, so, was able to use my old sim).  Only thing I noticed was that the antenna/ radio in the S21 doesn't seem to be as strong as the S9. Especially inside my house.  Wifi calling mitigates some of that, and, there is a free app you can d/l that allows you to select LTE bands only.  If you're not in a good 5G area the phone wants to grab the 5G tower, even w/ a poor signal.

I eventually switched over to a 15GB prepaid Verizon plan w/ 5G, and swapped out my old sim for a new 5G-capable one (bonus- seems like it's helped my coverage).  Verizon will give you one for free- either at a corporate store, or, by mail.

+++

Also, a quick note from that thread regarding trading in w/ Samsung- bunch of posts about this on reddit as well.  I'd take pics of your phone, screen, and boot up once you backup/ wipe it, jic.  Fortunately, I didn't have any problems trading in, but others seem to have experienced major problems.

=> If you trade an old phone in, make sure you follow the Samsung directions to the letter--- backing up your data, then logging out of Google/ Samsung accounts, before factory resetting from the Settings menu (not recovery).  Seems a fair number of people were getting jammed up on the trade-in, as their phones weren't actually wiped correctly, and the techs couldn't validate due to Factory Reset Protection.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/4/2021 at 2:47 PM, LosIllini said:

Replied to the iphone/ android thread back in March, when I traded my S9 for an unlocked S21 / 256GB through Samsung...  Trade-in worked out well.  I like the phone, and had no issues getting it setup (was already on Verizon, so, was able to use my old sim).  Only thing I noticed was that the antenna/ radio in the S21 doesn't seem to be as strong as the S9. Especially inside my house.  Wifi calling mitigates some of that, and, there is a free app you can d/l that allows you to select LTE bands only.  If you're not in a good 5G area the phone wants to grab the 5G tower, even w/ a poor signal.

I eventually switched over to a 15GB prepaid Verizon plan w/ 5G, and swapped out my old sim for a new 5G-capable one (bonus- seems like it's helped my coverage).  Verizon will give you one for free- either at a corporate store, or, by mail.

+++

Also, a quick note from that thread regarding trading in w/ Samsung- bunch of posts about this on reddit as well.  I'd take pics of your phone, screen, and boot up once you backup/ wipe it, jic.  Fortunately, I didn't have any problems trading in, but others seem to have experienced major problems.

=> If you trade an old phone in, make sure you follow the Samsung directions to the letter--- backing up your data, then logging out of Google/ Samsung accounts, before factory resetting from the Settings menu (not recovery).  Seems a fair number of people were getting jammed up on the trade-in, as their phones weren't actually wiped correctly, and the techs couldn't validate due to Factory Reset Protection.

i'll add something - make SURE you transfer over any Google Authorize tokens before you reset.  These are the 2FA codes that have little timer on them.  was a huge pain in the ass to go through all mine to reset and link them to my new phone.

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1 hour ago, midtown said:

The new Pixel 6's come out today.   I'll likely upgrade from my 5 and either sell it or use it as a back up and give my son my OnePlus6 which was my back up.    Prices should be absurd.   Anyone else?

I usually wait for black friday deals but with supply chain issues I'm not sure that's a good strategy this year. I saw a target ad leak that offered a free pair of pixel buds A with a pre-order. I was already going to get a pair for the boys christmas present so I'll probably do that unless a better deal comes along. Only problem is that I want the 6 Pro in the Kinda Coral color which is only on the regular 6.

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13 minutes ago, gyroprotagonist said:

i'll add something - make SURE you transfer over any Google Authorize tokens before you reset.  These are the 2FA codes that have little timer on them.  was a huge pain in the ass to go through all mine to reset and link them to my new phone.

 you can go into your google account and print out some permanent backup codes. keep those handy somewhere in case something like the above happens and you're locked out of 2FA

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22 minutes ago, gyroprotagonist said:

i'll add something - make SURE you transfer over any Google Authorize tokens before you reset.  These are the 2FA codes that have little timer on them.  was a huge pain in the ass to go through all mine to reset and link them to my new phone.

Can you expand on this? Is this for if you use Google authenticator app?

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20 minutes ago, Viper said:

 you can go into your google account and print out some permanent backup codes. keep those handy somewhere in case something like the above happens and you're locked out of 2FA

i  know you can get codes to get back to your google account in general.  i had not seen where you could get codes specific to Google authenticator after the fact when i was searching around.  

13 minutes ago, midtown said:

Can you expand on this? Is this for if you use Google authenticator app?

yes the GA app.  you can export your codes.  I was just saying do this before you wipe your phone if you are trading it in or whatever.

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I'm really liking this zflip3 I got last week. Got in on the equal swap last week but like it better than the iPhone 13 pro we got for the wife on trade in. 

iPhone OS is too restrictive. I like to have tivimate and IPTV smarters on my phone to watch a game anywhere when on the road and have to do a cumbersome jailbreak on an older iPhone to do that with apple. Once Jobs died apple switched from innovation to just recycling the same old thing in a new facade and charging innovator prices for it. It's become the tech for posers and people who aren't at all tech savvy and who want their hands held. 

Edited by Hermanator
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I went through Google fi and got the buds.  Google store had everything but Verizon as sold out.   I guess the held some back for those of us on FI.    Should have done more work on stretching my points on the purchase.

I've always felt my 5 was a bit small so I'm looking forward to the bigger screen on the 6P

Edited by midtown
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On 10/19/2021 at 6:00 PM, Hermanator said:

iPhone OS is too restrictive. I like to have tivimate and IPTV smarters on my phone to watch a game anywhere when on the road and have to do a cumbersome jailbreak on an older iPhone to do that with apple. Once Jobs died apple switched from innovation to just recycling the same old thing in a new facade and charging innovator prices for it. It's become the tech for posers and people who aren't at all tech savvy and who want their hands held. 

who let this guy out from 2007?

"apple is for non-techy people because i want some hacky streaming of television service"

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2 hours ago, Sam Lin said:

Unfortunately it doesn't have a headphone jack.

I was always bothered by this and fought it but it seems inevitable that almost all phones will be dropping the jack.   In a few years you'll be forced to use a 4 year old phone if you want to die on that hill.   They do sell headphones with a type C jack or an adapter so its not really an issue for me anymore.

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2 hours ago, midtown said:

I was always bothered by this and fought it but it seems inevitable that almost all phones will be dropping the jack.   In a few years you'll be forced to use a 4 year old phone if you want to die on that hill.   They do sell headphones with a type C jack or an adapter so its not really an issue for me anymore.

Will be interesting to see.  Notably, Apple has just reversed course on minimalist connections on laptops, and since phones don't seem to be trending much smaller, seems like some of those things may stick around longer than maybe thought.

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^ this is my hope. We have seen a couple of these dumb anticonsumer trends in mobile devices get reversed after a few years, anecdotally I am hearing more and more people complain about the cost of disposable wireless earbuds (since the batteries typically last ~2yr and then your talk/listen time sucks). I remain optimistic.

(I already use a 6y/o phone, so I may have already died on the hill.)

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On 10/21/2021 at 5:12 AM, Sam Lin said:

I love that the 6 finally gets a very good camera sensor.

Unfortunately it doesn't have a headphone jack. Maybe a future 6a will get a good sensor + headphone jack, I'll be the first one to preorder if so.

Headphone jack??  It has a usb-c port that you can plug into with an adapter... no need for one.  Plus, do people really use corded headphones with phones anymore? Bluetooth headphones all the way with my phone.

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33 minutes ago, midtown said:

I just figured everyone was tired of them.   I'm sure they make a decent phone.   

My 6 Pro arrives tomorrow.  Looking forward to  powering it up

don't be so sure. mine was in Houston yesterday and supposed to arrive today but it's now in St. Paul and arriving Monday. This is after the pixel buds took 8 days to arrive. FedEx is the worst.

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Just got my pro today, the day it was supposed to be delivered. This is a pretty big step up for me as I'm going from the pixel XL OG to the new Pixel 6 pro.

Pros:

The voice to text is awesome. It is seamless and quick, and adds punctuation automatically. I am totally in love with it.

The Tensor chip seems to be very effective. Processing is seamless and quick.

The camera is nice. Good results from night pictures especially. Magic Eraser is cool but sometimes janky, especially for prominent elements in a picture.

Now playing is pretty cool. It's nice to have a record of songs I heard today.

 

Cons:

Battery life seems not so great. Hard to know for sure since I have only had the phone for 8 hours, but I charged it to 100% and was at 80 in two-three hours. 

Just a personal thing but I don't like curved screens.

Fingerprint sensor is slow to respond at times. It also doesn't recognize me a little too often.

The camera bar works fine and IMO isn't ugly at all. It actually works well as a sort of finger rest. It will be unnoticeable when my case arrives next week.

 

 

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On 10/22/2021 at 5:52 PM, midtown said:

Btw I got Android 12 on my 5 today which is nice to drive until I get the 6 pro.

I like it other than I'm still getting used to the Lock screen clock and fact that I can't hit my clock widget on the home screen and get Outlook calendar like I had it set up to do previously.  Seems to be a disabled feature now.

Edited by dcbc
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3 hours ago, midtown said:

I just figured everyone was tired of them.   I'm sure they make a decent phone.   

My 6 Pro arrives tomorrow.  Looking forward to  powering it up

Of the reviews I've seen it looks like a fantastic phone. I'm interested in your review. Maybe the legit first iPhone killer. But when I can fold my phone in half and slide it in my pocket... and it takes up less room in my pocket than my wallet and the screen has zero exposure.... well that's pretty good in my book. 

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So far so good. Getting used to the settings. And working out some kinks like no audio notifications on text and issues with web messages.

Big ass phone and screen. Fast fast. Slippery. Will definitely need an grippy case.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

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Shattered my 3a screen yesterday. Went to look at the new Pixels and of course they are out of stock everywhere. 

The 5a is $450 thru Google, and the 6 is 600, but the only real difference I can see is the CPU and like 2 extra GB of RAM. Beyond that, the specs are very similar between the two. I don't care about the camera being a little bit better or whatever. 

Any other reason to spend the extra 150 for the 6?  

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44 minutes ago, Chips O'Toole said:

Shattered my 3a screen yesterday. Went to look at the new Pixels and of course they are out of stock everywhere. 

The 5a is $450 thru Google, and the 6 is 600, but the only real difference I can see is the CPU and like 2 extra GB of RAM. Beyond that, the specs are very similar between the two. I don't care about the camera being a little bit better or whatever. 

Any other reason to spend the extra 150 for the 6?  

It's a much better phone. 2 reasons not to get it, 1) Size, it's big. If you were using the regular size 5a and not the XL this phone will be bigger, about the size of a 4 XL. 2) No rear fingerprint scanner. It uses an optical in-display scanner which some people have had trouble with.

Otherwise it's pretty much a flagship phone for $600.

https://www.droid-life.com/2021/10/29/google-pixel-6-review-a-clear-winner/

https://www.androidpolice.com/google-pixel-6-review/

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/30/2021 at 6:32 AM, Chips O'Toole said:

the camera being a little bit better or whatever. 

Hard to understate how much the camera is improved, both on the hardware (sensor size as well as being many generations newer), and on the software side, Tensor processor with realtime HDR even for video. If you use the camera AT ALL, pay the 150 for the difference, it's a small price for the performance jump.

Yes be aware of the size difference.

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Been reading this thread for a few pages, Current phone is Galaxy 9+

What Android phone would give me a dramatically improved performance/experience?

I'm seeing some enthusiasm for the Pixel 6 pro from some of you, any other phones to consider?

Verizon is my carrier.

Edited by BearSchlong
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23 minutes ago, BearSchlong said:

Been reading this thread for a few pages, Current phone is Galaxy 9+

What Android phone would give me a dramatically improved performance/experience?

I'm seeing some enthusiasm for the Pixel 6 pro from some of you, any other phones to consider?

Verizon is my carrier.

Apart from the fingerprint scanner issues reported, I'm sure the P6 is a great phone.  You might check out the P5 as well.  I have one, and it has been a great upgrade from the P2, which also was great.

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The 5a will be $400 on black friday

https://store.google.com/?hl=en-US#Promo Grid 1/3

I have the 6pro and it's been great. The in display fingerprint scanner is an annoyance but not a bad one, it's just a step down from the rear fingerprint scanner. The size is large which was not what I was used to coming from a regular sized pixel 3. Battery life improved after a week or so. Charging is slow compared to an S21 or OnePlus, it will top out at 23W and slow down after 50% battery. If you want the best camera, try for the Pro at $900, if you want a good camera, then the regular 6 is an amazing value at $600

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4 hours ago, Viper said:

The 5a will be $400 on black friday

https://store.google.com/?hl=en-US#Promo Grid 1/3

I have the 6pro and it's been great. The in display fingerprint scanner is an annoyance but not a bad one, it's just a step down from the rear fingerprint scanner. The size is large which was not what I was used to coming from a regular sized pixel 3. Battery life improved after a week or so. Charging is slow compared to an S21 or OnePlus, it will top out at 23W and slow down after 50% battery. If you want the best camera, try for the Pro at $900, if you want a good camera, then the regular 6 is an amazing value at $600

Anyone having issues with the Pro/Fi and messages?    Messages are not synching well.   Some times they sync sometimes they dont

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