New Android Phones

[scotchandcigar]

Here's an article explaining Samsung's AI.

Are the moon photos taken with the Galaxy S23 Ultra fake? Not really

Smartphone cameras get better every year, but compact sensors still have many limitations, especially when it comes to photos in...

9to5mac.com

 

[JHDK]

Well I dropped my pixel when trying to open a unit yesterday. Cracked the screen. I wouldn' need it fixed right away except it did more than break the glass. The whole top half of the screen didnt responded to touch.

I'm happy I pay for the insurance. I ran over to t mobile at lunch and they ordered me a new one and I was able to move my sim over to my old phone for the rest if the day. The new one was overnighted and I got it at like 1 today and everything is back to normal. It did still cost $105 so that's not great but it's a lot better than $900.

 

[HecticArt]

I’m surprised that I haven’t cracked a screen yet.
Do you use a case, or go commando?

 

[scotchandcigar]

I got a new Samsung Galaxy S23 over the holiday break. I've been eligible for an upgrade since September or so, but I didn't need one. However, my S21's habit - locking-up and restarting randomly - got really frequent recently, like several times an hour (but then fine for several hours).

Anyway, I found that Verizon set the trap for me to do the upgrade: they offer $800 for trading-in my otherwise $120-market-value phone. So the new phone, at $849 with the 256gb memory, costs me $1.38/month. And by picking it up at a store in Portsmouth NH, I paid no sales tax.

The new phone is fine, it's supposedly better than the old phone. All my data and apps got transferred over, but of course I had to sign-in to everything again. And some apps had me start from scratch. One of them was my new password-less login app for work, SDO (Secret Double Octopus). I just got the return box to trade-in the old phone, so I'm getting that ready now. And it'll take a few weeks to get the credit. Otherwise, it's all the same.

 

[Channel98]

I, too, have a Samsung Galaxy S23. The phone was introduced on February 17, 2023. Hey, it's been 11 months – time to make them obsolete!

Samsung's New Galaxy Phones Are Coming Jan. 17

The Galaxy S24 lineup is expected to be the star of the show at Samsung's next Unpacked event.

www.cnet.com

 

[scotchandcigar]

I, too, have a Samsung Galaxy S23. The phone was introduced on February 17, 2023. Hey, it's been 11 months – time to make them obsolete!

Samsung's New Galaxy Phones Are Coming Jan. 17

The Galaxy S24 lineup is expected to be the star of the show at Samsung's next Unpacked event.

www.cnet.com

Yes, when I looked online for information about the S23, I saw all the previews about the S24. I would've been happy with a discounted S22, but that's not the way cell providers work. Because then everyone would just buy last year's phone.

 

[HecticArt]

My note 9 is still hanging in after several years, but it's starting to slow down a little.
I've been looking at the S23 Ultra, but if the 24 is coming out soon, I can wait just a little longer.
The back screen is cool.

 

[JHDK]

So I posted this in December 2022 when I became a pixel person on Pam's advice:

Got myself a Christmas gift. I went with the Google pixel 7 pro. The gf has an iphone but kept telling me she used to have a Pixel and loved it. It was time for a new phone and that swayed my decision. I'll never be a childish macintosh person hehehe. So far I'm loving it but I just got it a couple hours ago. The review people that I like seem to dig it. One of them was raving about it and the other basically said it's just under the iPhone for the best phone you can have right now or whatever. The camera seems to be really good. Some sort of five times optical, zoom or whatever. And also I'm not writing this. I'm dictating it and it's getting it like 100% right so that's cool.

This is the first time I've had a phone that's like brand new. My last phone was the galaxy A70 that I bought in August 2019 and it was already a year old. This one came out 2 months ago. I had a month-to-month service before this and now I'm going with T-Mobile.

Maybe this is for a different thread but I also went with the T-Mobile 5G internet for my apartment. Comcast and regular internet is a giant pain in the ass to get at a public storage because they view it as a business even though there is also a residence on the property. So if you go on the t mobile site it says that the 5G home internet isn't available in my area but that's a bunch of bullshit. I didn't lie to the people I told them I'm going to give you an address where it says it works but I'm going to use it at my address and they said there's nothing wrong with that. Give it a shot. It should work just fine and they were right. It's perfect. I could stream 4k and everything's great and it's super cheap. It's 25 bucks a month.

Anyway, I am pretty happy with both the internet and the phone so far. We'll see how it goes.

I really like my 7 pro. It was the first time I ever had a flagship phone and I am a pixel person now that's just who I am.

So I got myself a new toy last week. I had to call a few stores and only one T-Mobile store had it in stock the day after it actually came out.



The guy who made that video Mr. Mobile has this whole series about when phones used to be fun and he's so right. Like back before smartphones there was so many variations of phones like that were fun. And the closest thing we have now to fun different modern smartphones is the folding phone. So I went with the pixel 9 profile and so far I love it.

I mean you all know this but it's a phone when it's folded and then it's basically a top-of-the-line tablet when you open it. When folded the regular phone screen is a little smaller than my 7 pro was but open. It's freaking huge. And I don't know. It's just really neat to see a screen be able to fold down the middle. Also, this thing is more powerful than any computer I've ever owned with 16 gigs of RAM.

It is shockingly thin. When folded it's just slightly bigger than the 7 pro was and when unfolded it's about even with three stacked quarters. It is noticeably heavier than the 7 pro though.

This thing was super expensive but I put a little bit less than half down and that way my phone bill with T-Mobile stays exactly the same for the next two years as I pay off the other half.

I wanted to get the first pixel fold but we all know it's a bad idea to get the first generation of any new tech so I was able to hold off and by all accounts people were saying this second iteration is way better. Also I of course kept the very expensive like $25 a month insurance on this thing because I had to use it once on the pro 7 and that was awesome. Basically it was like an $80 copay and they shipped me a brand new seven when I dropped mine and broke the screen. Samsung is on what like their 5th generation of foldables. So the tech here is refined, but I am still worried about getting a crack in the fold at some point. Maybe like a year from now. And that's when the insurance will come in handy.

Anyway, that was a lot of words to basically say I'm a happy boy who has a new toy hah.

 

[HecticArt]

I"m curious how well the fold will hold up.
Is there a noticeable crease at the fold?
Keep us posted.

 

[JHDK]

I"m curious how well the fold will hold up.
Is there a noticeable crease at the fold?
Keep us posted.

I've never used a foldable before in person, so I don't know if the crease is more noticeable than like the Samsung or the Motorola. The reviews generally say it's less noticeable, but I can definitely notice a crease and you can feel it with your finger the whole time. But when the screen is on and you're like reading a news article or something, you can't really see it

Also, the crease feels a little more noticeable at the bottom than it does at the top, but it's only like a tiny amount so I might be imagining it. I'm not sure if that's normal for folding phones and I'm glad this is my first one ever because if it's not normal that would drive me crazy and I would return it and get a different one. But like it's totally an OCD thing. It's a normal person. Would not care like it's very barely noticeable

 

[scotchandcigar]

 

[sadchild]

pixel person

My son got a Pixel (not a fold) and installed a completely different operating system on it (basically, it's no longer Android)

I"m curious how well the fold will hold up.

A salesperson here got a Samsung fold in Oct. The screen stopped working last month. He took it to a Verizon shop and was told 'yeah that's been happening a lot'. That salesperson is now using his previous phone.

 

[JHDK]

My son got a Pixel (not a fold) and installed a completely different operating system on it (basically, it's no longer Android)

A salesperson here got a Samsung fold in Oct. The screen stopped working last month. He took it to a Verizon shop and was told 'yeah that's been happening a lot'. That salesperson is now using his previous phone.

Yeah I'm paying that ridiculously expensive insurance. It's like 25 bucks a month onto my phone plan. It was a bit less with my last phone but I had to use it once when I dropped the pixel 7 and broke the screen and they shipped me a new one overnight so it made it all worth it. Even more so with this one I imagine. I'll keep you posted about the health of the screen. The reviews say it's supposed to be able to open and close 200,000 times.

 

[JHDK]

Do any of you use wireless charging? The only time I ever used it with the pixel 7 was to see if it would work when a friend brought a wireless charger into work one day. I also used it once to charge my headphones with my phone battery. But that also was just to see if it worked. I didn't like really need to charge the headphones. I could have just plugged them in.

Anyway, the reason I mention it is because I don't want to have a case on this phone. I put a screen protector on the outside screen and yesterday I bought a popsocket for the back of it and I think I'm just going to paste the popsocket right onto the back glass. And of course that will negate the wireless charging capabilities.

 

[Aaron]

I used to have a wireless charger for the iPhone but at some point I gave up on it, maybe it charged too slowly after a while.

Anybody else use a very minimal case on their phone. I’ve never covered the glass with anything and never covered the back either. I always get something like this.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I used to have a wireless charger for the iPhone but at some point I gave up on it, maybe it charged too slowly after a while.

Anybody else use a very minimal case on their phone. I’ve never covered the glass with anything and never covered the back either. I always get something like this.

I cover the back and sides. I used to do an invisible shield on the front but haven't for years.

I use wireless chargers. But sometimes at night when I put my phone on it I don't check it is aligned properly and it doesn't charge. I wake up with a phone at 36% which is a drag.

 

[scotchandcigar]

Do any of you use wireless charging? The only time I ever used it with the pixel 7 was to see if it would work when a friend brought a wireless charger into work one day. I also used it once to charge my headphones with my phone battery. But that also was just to see if it worked. I didn't like really need to charge the headphones. I could have just plugged them in.

Anyway, the reason I mention it is because I don't want to have a case on this phone. I put a screen protector on the outside screen and yesterday I bought a popsocket for the back of it and I think I'm just going to paste the popsocket right onto the back glass. And of course that will negate the wireless charging capabilities.

I started with a wireless charger at work. It's essentially a phone stand that charges. When you get a call, you can just grab the phone. With a plug-in charging cable, you're either tethered to the wall (or computer), or you have to try to quickly unplug it before you lose the call.

When I started to WFH, I bought a 2nd wireless stand for the home office. My phone is always on it.

I used to have a wireless charger for the iPhone but at some point I gave up on it, maybe it charged too slowly after a while.

Yeah, all the wall plugs for my charging cables now are fast/super-fast charging, while my wireless stand is not. So sometimes it charges slower than I need. But if it's on there all the time, t's OK.

Anybody else use a very minimal case on their phone. I’ve never covered the glass with anything and never covered the back either. I always get something like this.

I've always used a thin case. My case now looks like that, but it also covers the back (with a cutout for the cameras). I need the phone to fit in my pocket, so I've never used a big, rugged case like an Otterbox. For many years, I've had phones that were some nice color; such as dark blue or dark gray. So I'd get a clear case. And of course, it would turn yellow. Now my phone is black, and my case is like a smoke gray translucent.

 

[JHDK]

I've never used a big, rugged case like an Otterbox.

When I got the pixel 7 I bought that super expensive thick as shit rugged OtterBox for it and then I dropped my phone once at work and the screen still shattered and I had to use the insurance like I mentioned in a previous post. So if I'm going to spend like $80 on a case and one drop is still going to do that, what's the fucking point of having a case at all?

Anyway, I got the popsocket and it makes it a lot nicer holding this phone. I also bought tempered glass screen protector for the cameras on the back. So it's got the protector on the front, the back cameras and the popsocket and if I drop it then I guess I just have to use my insurance.

In general, I'm pretty careful with my phone like always make sure it's the only thing in the pocket I put it in so there's nothing else to scratch it. And I try my best not to drop it like everybody in the world. But I think in the two years I had the pixel 7 I probably dropped it three times other than the time when the screen broke.

 

[sadchild]

I've only ever damaged my screen once and it was minor. A phone dropped on concrete while I was trying to put it in my pocket. Fortunately I was weeks away from getting a new one (every two years).

I will say that I had two phones that were Motorola unbreakable models, so that helped. I miss having that security.

 

[scotchandcigar]

I also try to be careful with my phone, which is why a thin case does okay. But now I don't even use a screen protector. Back in the old days, they had the clear plastic ones that you had to carefully squeegee on, while in the bathroom running the sink. Or you could have someone do it for you. But anyway, they worked.

Then they phased them out, for the thin glass protectors. This never made sense to me. So my phone screen is made of Gorilla-glass version 18 (or some such), but I'm going to cover it with a hair-thin super brittle sheet of glass, that will crack just by looking at it wrong? Mrs. Scotch got roped into this for a while. She'd pay big bucks to have a Zagg screen protector installed, and then when it inevitably cracks, it's got a "lifetime warranty". Except you have to pay $10 each time for shipping. And then it just cracks again anyway.

The way they make the screens now, I never even think about a protector.