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What phone?

Started by Beagle 2, October 24, 2018, 12:21:58 PM

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Cloud

S9 here.  I got it effectively for nowt as it was such a good deal with a 30GB contract vs. going SIM-only.

It's not the best though.  I actually quite like the Samsung "skin" these days, I think it adds to Android, but unfortunately you also get lag if you don't  reboot once a week (how quaint) and the battery life is crap. 

OnePlus 3T was the best Android phone I ever had.  Would have another OnePlus if they hadn't succumbed to Notch Disease (I hate it, and I hate this mindset they all have of "Apple did it so it must be good").   As things stand, I'm probably on course for upgrading to a Note 10 next year as that should be enough "oomph" in the hardware department to get past the lag and battery life issues.

Jittlebags

Have Pixel 2 XL. Very smooth. Pixel 3 out imminently.

AsparagusTrevor

I own a Pixel 2 XL also, love it. It's the first phone I've had in a while which truly feels 'smart', as in well thought out and actually useful beyond regular phone functions.

With the imminent release of the 3, the 2s will likely drop in price.

Beagle 2

Got me Nokia 7 Plus, ended up paying 350 notes for it in the end just not to have to deal with our friends in Hong Kong. Seems lovely. They were trying to flog me other maybe better handsets in the shop and I felt like a fanny saying "I just love this chassis", but I just love this chassis.

Looking forward to getting off my £75 a month contact in a couple of weeks (yeah, I know).

Depressed Beyond Tables

Save yourself time and money and just get a bloody Moto G. Super phones.

Cuellar

Yeah moto gs are the tits to be fair.

My partner got one for about 200 and I got a Huawei p20 for about 350 and honestly there's barely any difference.

greencalx

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on October 24, 2018, 07:26:11 PM
I'm with Giffgaff and haven't had any issues with them, but I am based in London so you'd expect the coverage to be good.

Another giffgaffer here.

People who live in London tend to describe it as the only place they know where they can get obscure thing X at 3 in the morning. That may well be true, but, relevantly to this thread, London is the only place where I struggle to get a stable 4G connection (maybe O2 customers get first dibs?). Or a pint after 11pm.

a duncandisorderly

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on October 24, 2018, 03:31:04 PM
Every iphone user who says "i hate android phones" has generally used them for about five minutes and found that some things aren't precisely the same.

Enjoy your iphone, I'll enjoy my having £700 more quid and not being a thick fuck

everyone's got their own opinions, just like they've got their own arseholes. there's no need to tar all of us as thick fucks or fanboys or whatever just because we prefer one sort of hardware/ecosystem over another.

my first 'smartphone' was a nokia, back in 2000. it was shit, but I could use it as a modem for my laptop. later I tried a windows phone. it was shit, but I could just about use it as a modem for my laptop. I went back to using ordinary phones that couldn't even take pictures until the dell 'streak' came out in 2009-10. this was running android 1.6 when I got it, & while it was great for browsing, watching telly, taking pics & stuff, it was a shit phone, & actually cost me work on more than one occasion. I actually liked the thing, but it was flakey as fuck.

a year into this contract, I binned it & bought an iphone 4. immediately, I was able to use about 90% of the apps I had on my ipad- lots of music stuff, but many other things too. I JB'd it so that I could alter the fonts & alert sounds (this is much harder these days).

I've had other android stuff- four tablets & another phone, all of which were catastrophically unreliable, refusing to charge off anything but their own special wall-wart, always seeming to need updates, & without the extensive & vetted ecosystem of the iOS stuff. getting files on & off them, either with mac or windows, is a proper arse-ache.

so I'm sim-only on a refurbed 5s, & perfectly happy with it. I've had it apart & changed the battery. including that, it cost me £250, & works fine with image-capture & itunes on seven different macs I use.

Beagle 2

Quote from: greencalx on October 26, 2018, 07:13:38 PM
Another giffgaffer here.

People who live in London tend to describe it as the only place they know where they can get obscure thing X at 3 in the morning. That may well be true, but, relevantly to this thread, London is the only place where I struggle to get a stable 4G connection (maybe O2 customers get first dibs?). Or a pint after 11pm.

Hard to tell which sim-only deal I should go for as according to trustpilot they're all worse than Hitler, but giffgaff being flakey in London still sets off alarm bells. Anybody on Virgin?

olliebean

Just because you've only had shit Android phones and tablets, doesn't mean all Android phones and tablets are shit.

What's the problem with getting files off them? You plug it in via USB, you select the notification to enable file sharing, you open it on your computer like a USB disk. iPhones are more of an arse-ache, you can't get anything off them without installing bloody iTunes.

Dr Rock

My two year contract with ee for a Samsung S6 is coming to an end and I've been offered to upgrade. Although the phone's charging point has broken so I have to use a charging pad, other than that I'm not excited about an upgrade but I am interested in just keeping the phone and changing to one of these Sim only £10 a month sounding things (currently stuck with the £35 a month plan I soon regretted not thinking through). I was seduced the hot phone sales lady. I have no idea how much data I use, I mostly use it for free calls on Wassap and some other calls which come with my unlimited plan. Are there any Sim only deals where you get unlimited calls? i've gone over my limit when I had them in the past quite easily by chatting to someone for four hours.

canadagoose

Quote from: Beagle 2 on October 26, 2018, 08:45:24 PM
Hard to tell which sim-only deal I should go for as according to trustpilot they're all worse than Hitler, but giffgaff being flakey in London still sets off alarm bells. Anybody on Virgin?
I've been with them since February, on a 40GB SIM-only plan for £18 a month. (Dr Rock may be interested to know that it's got unlimited calls!) It works perfectly well for me; it uses EE's network, but you don't get access to their 800MHz layer so don't go expecting to be able to use data in old stone-walled pubs in the middle of nowhere. It's absolutely fine in the central belt of Scotland and the Borders, though. Probably the best 4G coverage of all the networks, good speeds, and your unused data rolls over to the next month if you haven't used it. I swear I don't work for them. To balance it out, Virgin Media's cable broadband service can stick their outages up their backside.

greencalx

Quote from: Beagle 2 on October 26, 2018, 08:45:24 PM
Hard to tell which sim-only deal I should go for as according to trustpilot they're all worse than Hitler, but giffgaff being flakey in London still sets off alarm bells. Anybody on Virgin?

I'm only an occasional visitor to London, and it may be specific to the region I tend to visit so I would put more store on what people who actually live there have to say.

New Jack

Quote from: Cloud on October 26, 2018, 12:45:45 PM
S9 here.  I got it effectively for nowt as it was such a good deal with a 30GB contract vs. going SIM-only.

It's not the best though.  I actually quite like the Samsung "skin" these days, I think it adds to Android, but unfortunately you also get lag if you don't  reboot once a week (how quaint) and the battery life is crap. 

OnePlus 3T was the best Android phone I ever had.  Would have another OnePlus if they hadn't succumbed to Notch Disease (I hate it, and I hate this mindset they all have of "Apple did it so it must be good").   As things stand, I'm probably on course for upgrading to a Note 10 next year as that should be enough "oomph" in the hardware department to get past the lag and battery life issues

I've got the Oneplus five and it's ace. Fast charging and lasts two days and has no notch and it has headphone socket

a duncandisorderly

Quote from: olliebean on October 26, 2018, 08:51:11 PM
Just because you've only had shit Android phones and tablets, doesn't mean all Android phones and tablets are shit.

What's the problem with getting files off them? You plug it in via USB, you select the notification to enable file sharing, you open it on your computer like a USB disk. iPhones are more of an arse-ache, you can't get anything off them without installing bloody iTunes.

you're kind of making my point for me... I never said they were all shit. I said I'd had issues with them. other people get along fine with them.
I prefer the iOS ecosystem, because there are more music apps & so on, & because the apps are properly ratified for the devices.

& if you really can't tame itunes & make it work for you, there are plenty of other ways to get things in & out of iOS devices.

there are other places where you can thrash this out, air your disparagements & wave your dicks if you want.

New Jack

If you can't use Nova launcher there's something wrong and it isn't with the blower

Shit Good Nose

I can both recommend and urge to steer clear from Huaweis - brilliant phones, but the battery fucking sucks.  Two charges a day if I've made or received a few calls.  Doing my fucking nut in.

Admittedly I've been used to BlackBerrys and old style Nokias which survive on one charge a week, but even compared with other cheap Android phones it's appalling.

Ferris

iPhone 6s. Had it 2+ years, still going strong. Got it free on my contract and not looking to change it any time soon.

gmoney

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on October 27, 2018, 09:54:25 PM
I can both recommend and urge to steer clear from Huaweis - brilliant phones, but the battery fucking sucks.  Two charges a day if I've made or received a few calls.  Doing my fucking nut in.

Admittedly I've been used to BlackBerrys and old style Nokias which survive on one charge a week, but even compared with other cheap Android phones it's appalling.

I've got a Honor 9 which I believe is made by Huawei and the battery is great. I very rarely have to charge it during the day, and I use it a good amount.

seepage

very happy with my LG G6, but then again it's my first smartphone so waddoIknow?

Cloud

Went down the Samsung path but would be perfectly happy with the Huawei 'ecosystem'.  The phones seem great, I have their noise cancelling USB-C-powered earbuds which are magic, and their smartwatch is also very good.   They even have a pretty decent health app.  To integrate it all would be a pretty decent experience I think.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Cloud on October 28, 2018, 01:17:55 PM
Went down the Samsung path but would be perfectly happy with the Huawei 'ecosystem'.  The phones seem great, I have their noise cancelling USB-C-powered earbuds which are magic, and their smartwatch is also very good.   They even have a pretty decent health app.  To integrate it all would be a pretty decent experience I think.

I have a P8 light (let's say RRP brand new £150, although I know you can get it new for £110) and compared it with my mate's £700 iPhone (6 or 7, I can't remember) and, ignoring the battery life (not that his iPhone was much better, mind) we basically confirmed that he'd massively wasted his money - about the only thing his iPhone was the clear winner on was the quality of pictures and video from the camera, but even the ones from the P8 were absolutely fine for everyday use. 

I really don't get what people see in Apple products, but then I've never liked anything they've done so I am admittedly biased against them.

New Jack

Oneplus 6T looks shite value for the money. I got the first Oneplus then the 3 and the 5 but think this will break my loyalty.

- Not waterproof
- No headphone socket
- No SD card
- No Wireless charging
- Notch (albeit a nice teardrop one)


Now,  some of those I live with already, but it seems to be falling behind still leaving these out. REALLY can't stand the idea of bluetooth headphones - especially if it's not in aid of waterproofing?

GSMArena's review seems to confirm my fears

https://www.gsmarena.com/oneplus_6t-review-1843p7.php

Quotethe heyday of OnePlus as the underdog disrupting the market and growing big on viral marketing seems to be officially over now. Frankly, this comes as no surprise, since the earlier model was inherently unsustainable and we have been observing the slow transition to a more mature market presence for a few generations now. It took the arrival of the OnePlus 6T, however, to officially finalize the transition in our mind.

Cloud

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on October 29, 2018, 12:28:52 PM
I have a P8 light (let's say RRP brand new £150, although I know you can get it new for £110) and compared it with my mate's £700 iPhone (6 or 7, I can't remember) and, ignoring the battery life (not that his iPhone was much better, mind) we basically confirmed that he'd massively wasted his money - about the only thing his iPhone was the clear winner on was the quality of pictures and video from the camera, but even the ones from the P8 were absolutely fine for everyday use. 

I really don't get what people see in Apple products, but then I've never liked anything they've done so I am admittedly biased against them.

Part of it is historical. Apple  used to make really good, solid, dependable products.  Not the case any more (typing this from my MacBook  Pro 2017 which  now inserts double spaces randomly because the keyboard has been ruined with a spec of dust) and I won't be buying their shit again.  But they used to and people remember that.

Also with iPhones,  I've had them a few times and the attraction is the same reason NOT to like them: the restrictions.  Because they're heavily restricted and apps can't run in the background etc you don't get the random lag and battery  drain issues caused by third party software on Android, so you  know you're always consistently going to get an instant response from the device and your  battery life will always be about the same.  It's the one thing I hate about Android.  On an iPhone when you get random battery drain...  well you just don't.   On Android it's "oh, well you're supposed to not install any third party software really, because a lot of it sucks, and really you should turn off all the features as well, and maybe try the cache partition wipe placebo".  A few times now I've missed photo moments with Android because it's decided to go on a lagfest and take too long to open the camera.

iPhones also  have masses of oomph  and good memory management - I could multitask with Pokemon Go, Ingress, Messenger etc on the iPhone  8+ when I had it, without it breaking a sweat.   On the S9 it's constantly kicking them out of memory and slowing to a crawl.

But the downside is they're Apple shit.  So horrendously expensive, appalling design decisions, force you to use their apps as default apps, and a speck of fucking dust can ruin your £1750 laptop.

olliebean

Quote from: Cloud on October 29, 2018, 10:24:06 PMOn an iPhone when you get random battery drain...  well you just don't.

Pretty much every time they release a new version of iOS, the internet is flooded with reports of excessive battery drain.

Cloud

Quote from: olliebean on October 29, 2018, 10:36:50 PM
Pretty much every time they release a new version of iOS, the internet is flooded with reports of excessive battery drain.

This  is a couple of things - 1) OS  upgrades mean it spends time doing whatever it does for the first day or two (reindexing  or whatever) and it settles soon enough and 2) OS upgrade effect in general and people imagining stuff.  The internet is also usually flooded with reports of better battery  life.

New Jack

Quote from: Cloud on October 29, 2018, 10:24:06 PM

Also with iPhones,  I've had them a few times and the attraction is the same reason NOT to like them: the restrictions.  Because they're heavily restricted and apps can't run in the background etc you don't get the random lag and battery  drain issues caused by third party software on Android, so you  know you're always consistently going to get an instant response from the device and your  battery life will always be about the same.  It's the one thing I hate about Android.

I know full well most people aren't going to root their phones, and even an app you don't need root for like Greenify is "too much" for some, but the counterpoint to all this, the plus of Android, is I can control and address what I want to control and address, including these and other strengths of the iPhone. Where I couldn't change that if I tried.

It does sound like that's the android of a few years ago.... but I'll cop to being well into custom ROMs and monitoring what services run so I might be a bit out of touch with the vanilla experience.

I think some of the big names are fucking terrible for exacerbating problems this though - Samsung for example. Entire layers of bloat, my Samsung tablet phones home constantly until I basically crippled those worthless functions. Christ, what is it with Android and the chance to mark your own stamp on it? It is almost always a layer added for the worse.

Apple in that sense have congruity. And I suspect, well, I know full well, for many - that's enough. Aye you're right, the pluses to some are negatives to others.

MojoJojo

Quote from: Cloud on October 29, 2018, 10:24:06 PM
Also with iPhones,  I've had them a few times and the attraction is the same reason NOT to like them: the restrictions.  Because they're heavily restricted and apps can't run in the background etc you don't get the random lag and battery  drain issues caused by third party software on Android, so you  know you're always consistently going to get an instant response from the device and your  battery life will always be about the same.  It's the one thing I hate about Android.  On an iPhone when you get random battery drain...  well you just don't.   On Android it's "oh, well you're supposed to not install any third party software really, because a lot of it sucks, and really you should turn off all the features as well, and maybe try the cache partition wipe placebo".  A few times now I've missed photo moments with Android because it's decided to go on a lagfest and take too long to open the camera.

I know I can't argue against personal experience, and I would have agreed with you about five years ago, but I really don't have this problem with android anymore - I believe google have tightened things up, consumers have left punishing reviews for shitty app behaviour, and developers have learnt how to write apps properly. End result is I don't have apps randomly killing my battery anymore.

Cloud

Yeah that's the perfectly fair counterargument in Android's favour.  It's down to the individual and how much tinkering they want to do or have time for.

I quite like what Samsung added in their current 'skin'.  Things like how it Googles incoming caller ID to tell you what company it is, the shortcuts you can get by swiping from the edge, the built-in equivalent of Greenify, the palm swipe for a screenshot, double click power button for camera etc.  Some of it can be had by adding third party software to plain Android but if you don't root (I don't) then not all of it.  Plus it's more clutter for the "soandso is running in the background" notifications.  Also I find the camera app way better than Google's.

MojoJojo

Quote from: Cloud on October 30, 2018, 10:24:18 AM
I quite like what Samsung added in their current 'skin'.  Things like how it Googles incoming caller ID to tell you what company it is, the shortcuts you can get by swiping from the edge, the built-in equivalent of Greenify, the palm swipe for a screenshot, double click power button for camera etc.  Some of it can be had by adding third party software to plain Android but if you don't root (I don't) then not all of it.  Plus it's more clutter for the "soandso is running in the background" notifications.  Also I find the camera app way better than Google's.

I don't know exactly what samsung have added or what Greenify is, but I think the basic functionality is basically built into android now - i.e. you can see what apps are using battery while idle (and sometimes get warned by battery hogs) and "battery optimise" them.