Choice of smart phone?

[woodsmoke]

QQmike:

My TOTAL BILL..........total....... has been $64.23 per month for several years,

Five years ago I traded an S2 that I had made payments on to Verizon to the "telephone repair / used " business and paid $110.00 , the next year I purchased the second phone for $$120.00 cash.

So that would amortize for ABOUT .... $230 / 60 months = about $30.00 per month so for the last five years my cost per month has been $94.00 per month.

The S3 now is down around $50.00 here

So, even if I did now what I did then I would still be about $50.00 per month under your $150.

One caveat is that I purchased the unlimited plan five years ago and it was cheaper then so I called the store, one of the premium ones and the fellow said that I would probably be, NOW in the 1 Gigabyte range for data, but he said that I have never actually USED 1 gigabyte even when I was in Nassau.

He said, that eccctually........... the powers that be really REGRET having sold those unlimited plans when they did, so....

If you can live with one gigabyte then you would be under a hundred a month. even amortizing the cost of TWO phones and the 1 gigabyte plan.

The critical thing on the data plan is how much you will stream video and / or music or play online games while NOT ON WiFi.

I am "on WiFi" almost 100 percent of the time, the times that I am off is when I'm wandering around in Florida on out of the way beaches or off shore, or in Nevada exploring canyons or some other oddball thing.

What is amazing about Florida is that..... quite a few of the dive boats actually have a "portable wi-fi transponder" on board the boat! lol

As I mentioned in the previous post, one should think about just how much of the "stuff" that you would do has been "offloaded away from the phone", how much you will be on WiFi and also whether you actually NEED a brand new phone to play the absolute latest ONLINE game and how many times you will watch a new movie on the phone.

woodjustsomethoughtssmoke

[Qqmike]

One detail,

$230 / 60 months = about $30.00 per month

Do you mean $3.83/month?

The critical thing on the data plan is how much you will stream video and / or music or play online games while NOT ON WiFi.

Bingo there, I agree. The trick is to use the WiFi.

We must remind ourselves that almost none of this is a real necessity in life. This is all--mostly--nonsense, right? Of course, entertainment has personal utility and is not, strictly speaking, nonsense per se. And there are medical and business uses, of course.

in Nevada exploring canyons

Really? Badlands? Mines (gold, silver, turquoise, other)? Interesting.

I think I can do this smart phone deal for a very reasonable monthly. I have had so many people tell me they spend $100-$150/month on these things (data, text, voice); I think you'd almost have to work at doing that!

Thanks.

[woodsmoke]

lol ahh those pesky decimal points!

Last was Calico Rock Canyon, whereafter I dropped into Red Rock bar!

woodsmoke

[Qqmike]

lol ahh those pesky decimal points!

Yeah. It was such a nice round, even number--30--that I wasn't sure if I missed something. You know, having a math background, I suspect the worst (in complexity or subtle assumptions) ...

[Rifester]

I am not affiliated with Ting, just a happy customer: https://ting.com/ My wife and I both have phones with Ting and our combined bill has never been above $74.00 per month. We also just upgraded to the Motorola G4 and have really been pleased so far. If you use the Linux Action Shows promo code you can get a discount. I have been very pleased with their service. They also have Apple phones (I use Apple as my work phone and I am not impressed).

[Qqmike]

Consumer Cellular

Not Ting, but similar philosophy, and they've been around awhile, targeting people who want to simplify it all and keep the monthly bills down, excellent customer service, plan flexibility (you can change in the middle of a billing cycle, then change back again, if you wish--no charge), no-contract, 10% discounts for AARP members, affordable international rates, many neat benefits/offerings:

https://www.consumercellular.com/sav...FQx7fgodqWYDcg

(Prior to using Consumer Cellular, I was a loyal Verizon customer ...)

[mparillo]

I am not affiliated with Ting, just a happy customer: https://ting.com/ My wife and I both have phones with Ting and our combined bill has never been above $74.00 per month. We also just upgraded to the Motorola G4 and have really been pleased so far. If you use the Linux Action Shows promo code you can get a discount. I have been very pleased with their service. They also have Apple phones (I use Apple as my work phone and I am not impressed).

How hard to you work to turn off cell data? On an app-by-app basis, or simply turn it off entirely and try to use WiFi whenever possible.

[GreyGeek]

My wife's iPhone 6 display screen, upper 1/4th, started getting hot after the iOS 10 upgrade, and her battery was draining at about 1% per minute after she unplugged it. My thermal gun showed it was running at 95-98F. Almost too hot to put to the cheek. A bit of DDG'ing and I found it was a big problem with some. My iPhone 6+ didn't show any hot display problem.

I turned off most of her background updating and notifications, and slide her screen brightness down from 100% to around 65-70%. Problem solved.

[Feathers McGraw]

Unfortunately, that's a no-go in the US.

I would LOVE a Jolla...

Damn, does Fairphone 2 not support the radio frequencies available in the US?

I remember you saying you backed the tablet, were you one of the lucky few who got one or were you refunded?

There's a list of phones supported with Sailfish ports using libhybris (kind of like ndiswrapper but it takes android drivers and uses them with SFOS). Couldn't you use one of those e.g. the US version of the Nexus 5?

All of them have a few quirks, but they're small things e.g. on FP2 if you have the bluetooth on and you reboot, the device will boot up with it disabled and you have to manually re-enable it. I'd say the ones I've used (Fairphone 2, Nexus 5) are as good as many Android ROMs based on a higher Android version than the phone was released with.

[oshunluvr]

Refund no tablet.

Nexus 5? They're like 3-4 years old. There are a few out there for sale.

Fairphone 2 - I'd love one, but alas - not a USA capable phone. The US cell industry has a tight lock down and Congress doesn't seem eager to promote competition.

[GreyGeek]

Well, my wife and I have been using the new iOS 10 update for a day now. It STINKS! [emoji107][emoji107][emoji107]
Have you ever been pestered by a nine year old who wanted to help you do everything but was just getting in your way? iOS 10, with a lot of new "pretty" graphics and app formats that make running it more complicated. Apple did keep their promise about being able to delete any app, so I've deleted the Apple Watch icon and others I'll never use. And, they've closed the barn doors after the animals have left, but other than that it's a pita to use.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Feathers McGraw]

Nexus 5? They're like 3-4 years old.

Sailfish is really light compared to Android, it's very snappy even on older hardware. If you want to try Sailfish it's a good way to do it without spending lots (or was your point that you can't find them any more?).

I actually have a US model N5 that's practically new, feel free to row across the pond and get it!

[oshunluvr]

Yeah, hard to find and not real cheap when you do. I did see some on Amazon for $200 which isn't super-high but it's a bit too for a phone that old - and one that doesn't have a user replaceable battery, which is kind of a big deal with a phone that old.

My wife had one a while back - battery went to less than 2 hrs life so I bought an after market replacement. It lasted six months, then it expanded in the phone and shattered the back glass! Time for a new phone then anyway...

[oldgeek]

I use a Motorola G after my Samsung Galaxy SIII was stolen at work. I find Android quite comfortable to use and the phone itself is quite nice, although it takes awhile for it to change from vertical display to horizontal. I pay around $20 a month at the most, and don't use it all that much. The camera works fine and has good resolution. I haven't upgraded it because it does everything I need it to do and I don't like the policy of obsolescence that most phone companies ascribe to. What happens to all those obsolete phones, with their poisonous components that can't be recycled?

[GreyGeek]

.... What happens to all those obsolete phones, with their poisonous components that can't be recycled?

Some are sold to reclaimers that salvage the Gold, Copper and Lithium out of them. Here is a geology student who makes a variety of interesting videos, one that shows, crudely, the process for extracting metals from scrap components.

Also, some are sold to Jihadists to make bomb detonators. Some end up in dumps.