@ItalianScallion I love the fact that I can synchronize everything in my Samsung to everything else Samsung. My tablet allows me to text from my tablet instead of my phone, and I can even do stuff with my Samsung tv.
I also had a guy at a fun store once tell me that after somebody is used a couple of the top Samsung phones that they find it very hard changing to lesser expensive phones because Samsung has modified Android so much and added so many features that you get used to them being there. I would imagine the same thing is true with Google and their pixels but I don’t know. As far as I’m concerned though they can take the camera out of most of the stuff.
@Cerridwyn@ItalianScallion
Yes, this! Recently went from an S10 to an S24 for exactly that reason. I buy my phones used and have found that they come in pristine shape using back market or swappa. Still trying to figure out all the bells and whistles on this one. So far I’m liking it. Gotta admit it has been a pain in the ass having to reauthorize all the apps when I first use them though. Still trying to get my Sam’s app to work. Wants to send TFA to my email address on Juno but I never seem to receive it! There’s a place where I could click to change the email address they send the TFA to but when I clicked on it they said you had to do it from inside the app… D’oh!
(compared to as few as two years for other brands).
@ItalianScallion Yeah, that was the reason I moved away from Motorola; they were 1 year for the OS, 2 years for security updates. For a sub-$100 phone, I understand the lack of longer term support. For $200+ phones, it’s not.
My current Samsung, which was bought 2 years ago from Amazon Resale (Warehouse) for under $150, is supported until 2027.
@narfcake Exactly the same for me. I had Motorola phones for several years and when I decided to get a better phone, I looked into software support. Motorola was the shortest support period. Samsung looked like the best, so even though the not-the-latest Samsung models were still a bit pricey, I figured I’d get more time out of one of them. I have the Galaxy A32 5G and I think it will be good until support runs out and then some.
@ItalianScallion@narfcake
That was exactly my thinking. If you factor out the annual cost over the span of the life where it gets support it works out pretty reasonable ($320ish S24). The other plus is not having to update the damn thing and transfer all your data from phone to phone which (as I recently spent a bunch of time doing) I know it’s a total PITA.
@chienfou@ItalianScallion I used to be part of the 2% 0% that used a Windows Phone and had I stuck with the 635, it would had the lowest cost per supported years. It was a 2014 release, I bought it new in 2015 for $9.99, unlocked by AT&T for $0, had 8.1 support until 2017 and was upgraded to W10 Mobile, which was supported until 2019. It wasn’t a great phone by any means but it was stupid cheap; the 32GB SD card I put in it cost more than the phone did! It lived on as a media player after I upgraded to a 640 (and then a 640XL), both of which were also purchased on the cheap when the writing on the wall was Microsoft would stop lighting money on fire continuing Windows Phones.
Mine is an Apple 12pro max, (bought as a refurb) and I love the camera. I was a Luddite about cell phones when they first came along and having a camera that could do what phone cameras do was what finally convinced me to get one.
I was never going to be one of those people who was staring at their phone all the time … yeah. So much for that.
@Kyeh
Likewise I resisted for as long as possible. Had to switch when family stopped using email and went to texts.
I still use a PnS for my primary (planned) picture taking but have to admit I use the phone for most of my candid/on the fly pics. S24 takes pretty good pics but can’t compete with my Canon SX740HS ultra-zoom for detail in the shots. The light/exposure algorithms are pretty good tho.
I’m still on my Pixel 7 Pro, and have no plans to migrate for the moment. I wouldn’t say that there’s anything I “love” about this phone, it’s more that there are things about it that I’m used to at this point, as well as a bunch of stuff that I find mildly annoying but not objectionable enough to merit doing anything about.
My Pixel 9 just came in and is waiting on me to port my number to it, hopefully this weekend. But I kind of love that my Pixel 7 pretty ruthlessly stops robocalls and telemarketers from getting through. Occasionally one does, but it’s maybe once a month. And occasionally people get freaked out by the call screener. But overall my life is improved by the combination of call screening and spam blocking it offers.
@Kyeh I’d be shocked if it didn’t. Google adds features to it’s Pixel line a few times a year and the later phones get more features (probably because of newer processors) in addition to the ones the older models get.
The spam/screening features seem to have matured a good bit over the past year or so, I think most of it is actually powered by Google instead of the phone itself, so I think it should be about the same.
@djslack I have a Samsung S23 (the fancy red one, I paid through the nose for that one, wont do it again, LOL) through Verizon (blech, but…) and haven’t had a spam call for a long time, Verizon filters most of it.
I do hate the AI shit, you can’t escape it. You can only ignore it. I tell Gemini to go to hell all the time, it claims it cannot understand it (I know the truth is that it just doesn’t believe)
@Cerridwyn at least on the pixel you can switch back from Gemini to the Google assistant. For Samsung it might be Bixby or whatever instead.
Gemini was pissing me off, it was terrible at accidentally triggering. But Google assistant is also starting to pipe up more frequently from my pocket with “Sure, but first you’ll have to unlock your phone.” And depending on the company I’m in at the time it might hear back “I wasn’t talking to you” or “fuck all the way off, Google!”
I bought a new Pixel 4a 5G a year ago to replace the three-year 4a whose battery finally gave up the ghost. Yes, it was a very slight upgrade, but the 2020/2021 smartphones (up to the Pixel 6a or current non-MAX iPhones) were actually more “phone” (especially when you factor in a case) than “giant battery” (~6 oz and 6" versus the current half-pound 7" “phablets”)
@pakopako A close friend is in the throes of moving to a new phone after the battery in his old one suddenly went spicy-pillow and popped the display off the frame in two pieces.
If I had to replace my Pixel 7 Pro, my current preference would be the Nothing 3.
@werehatrack I like the Nothing line, but they tend to be very pricy (especially new). It’s about the same as a Pixel 7 Pro (but with an updated OS/upgrades line and better camera).
Why not just buy an unused phone from two years back? It would cost 50% as much as a current phone and offer 75% as much efficiency.
I have the iPhone 15 Pro Max and I’m still a fan after all these years. I’ve never owned an Android, so maybe that would change if I switched to try it. I’ve just never had a reason to switch. I’m not an expert photographer, so for me, the upgrades in the camera and the OS to use the camera are phenomenal in the newer models. I DISLIKE how much Siri has gone backwards in understanding simple statements since Apple made it “AI smarter.”
It completely fits in the back pocket of my jeans (iphone 12 mini), does the required phone stuff, and I use a mac so I have all that trading of information between the two (calendar, passwords…).
I got one of the last iPhone SE models. It was cheap and it barely does anything. If it breaks it breaks. Not caring is a wonderful feature, it turns out. It’s also quite small.
@jouest I had an SE original model prior to the 12 mini. Both I bought at Black Friday sales. It finally broke, thus the 12 mini. I am sad that they are no longer are going to make small phones. I gather an new SE is coming out but that it will be bigger than the old models. If I need a bunch of screen real estate to do what I need to do that is what laptop computers are for. And I can use my phone as a hot spot for an internet connection if there is no other choice.
@jouest@Kidsandliz I’m thinking that eventually things will come around as they usually do. People will start complaining about how big phones are, won’t fit in my pocket, etc. and small phones will make a comeback.
I still wish someone would make a phone with the “graffiti” feature of the Palm Treo 180g. Graffiti was Palm’s name for their screen writing feature: the phone came with a stylus and you could write on the screen using a simple, easy-to-learn shorthand instead of using either an on-screen keyboard or the common micro-sized physical keyboard.
@chienfou@jouest@Kidsandliz About laptops and tablets, I got a nice in-between: a Microsoft Surface Go with a magnetically-attached keyboard. I picked up an older model on eBay for $100. It has storage comparable to a phone and came with Windows which took up quite a bit of said storage. It measures 9.5x7x0.5 inches and is quite lightweight. I use it when I know all I’m likely to be doing is stuff on the internet, rather than local stuff like big documents or storing and watching videos and when speed isn’t a big concern. Being a computer geek, I changed over to Linux to get back some storage space and run a little faster.
I’ll never buy another Pixel. Primary reason is the battery was just crap. And even when I’ve read reviews for the newer versions, the reviewers always gloss over the battery and the charging. They basically are smaller batteries and then they charge slowly. When I got to the point with that phone where I had to charge it three times a day, I went out and searched for a relatively inexpensive Google OS phone with a great battery and I found the OnePlus 12R. I’m kind of glad I bought the older edition because the 13R has less memory and is actually not as good as the 12R.
This phone has a 5500 mAh battery, lasts all day playing games and reading. It’s extremely fast, great CPU, tons of RAM memory. I can run a bunch of applications at the same time. I think the phones aren’t as popular in the US because they require you to set it up yourself. They don’t sell them in the phone stores.
I use my old Pixel to listen to music when I sleep at night. It’s still such a
beautiful phone. But just not a fan of that battery.
I got a 9XL last month, haven’t explored the new stuff yet.
I love that Samsung provides updates to my phone’s software for five years (compared to as few as two years for other brands).
@ItalianScallion I love the fact that I can synchronize everything in my Samsung to everything else Samsung. My tablet allows me to text from my tablet instead of my phone, and I can even do stuff with my Samsung tv.
I also had a guy at a fun store once tell me that after somebody is used a couple of the top Samsung phones that they find it very hard changing to lesser expensive phones because Samsung has modified Android so much and added so many features that you get used to them being there. I would imagine the same thing is true with Google and their pixels but I don’t know. As far as I’m concerned though they can take the camera out of most of the stuff.
@ItalianScallion that’s a solid reason to love it!
@Cerridwyn @ItalianScallion
Yes, this! Recently went from an S10 to an S24 for exactly that reason. I buy my phones used and have found that they come in pristine shape using back market or swappa. Still trying to figure out all the bells and whistles on this one. So far I’m liking it. Gotta admit it has been a pain in the ass having to reauthorize all the apps when I first use them though. Still trying to get my Sam’s app to work. Wants to send TFA to my email address on Juno but I never seem to receive it! There’s a place where I could click to change the email address they send the TFA to but when I clicked on it they said you had to do it from inside the app… D’oh!
@ItalianScallion Yeah, that was the reason I moved away from Motorola; they were 1 year for the OS, 2 years for security updates. For a sub-$100 phone, I understand the lack of longer term support. For $200+ phones, it’s not.
My current Samsung, which was bought 2 years ago from Amazon Resale (Warehouse) for under $150, is supported until 2027.
@narfcake Exactly the same for me. I had Motorola phones for several years and when I decided to get a better phone, I looked into software support. Motorola was the shortest support period. Samsung looked like the best, so even though the not-the-latest Samsung models were still a bit pricey, I figured I’d get more time out of one of them. I have the Galaxy A32 5G and I think it will be good until support runs out and then some.
@ItalianScallion @narfcake
That was exactly my thinking. If you factor out the annual cost over the span of the life where it gets support it works out pretty reasonable ($320ish S24). The other plus is not having to update the damn thing and transfer all your data from phone to phone which (as I recently spent a bunch of time doing) I know it’s a total PITA.
@chienfou @ItalianScallion I used to be part of the
2%0% that used a Windows Phone and had I stuck with the 635, it would had the lowest cost per supported years. It was a 2014 release, I bought it new in 2015 for $9.99, unlocked by AT&T for $0, had 8.1 support until 2017 and was upgraded to W10 Mobile, which was supported until 2019. It wasn’t a great phone by any means but it was stupid cheap; the 32GB SD card I put in it cost more than the phone did! It lived on as a media player after I upgraded to a 640 (and then a 640XL), both of which were also purchased on the cheap when the writing on the wall was Microsoft would stop lighting money on fire continuing Windows Phones.I love that it makes phone calls and can send text messages.
Everything else is pretty meh like other phones.
@yakkoTDI
/giphy mind blown
@yakkoTDI You do WHAT with them??
Silent mode.
KuoH
My hate for the new phone:
Love:
@Thumperchick
I hate the fact it took out the micro SD option. I have a fraction of my previous storage because of that.
@chienfou @Thumperchick same and I refuse to upgrade from my Galaxy s20 because of it. Holding out as long as I can.
Mine is an Apple 12pro max, (bought as a refurb) and I love the camera. I was a Luddite about cell phones when they first came along and having a camera that could do what phone cameras do was what finally convinced me to get one.
I was never going to be one of those people who was staring at their phone all the time … yeah. So much for that.
@Kyeh
Likewise I resisted for as long as possible. Had to switch when family stopped using email and went to texts.
I still use a PnS for my primary (planned) picture taking but have to admit I use the phone for most of my candid/on the fly pics. S24 takes pretty good pics but can’t compete with my Canon SX740HS ultra-zoom for detail in the shots. The light/exposure algorithms are pretty good tho.
I’m still on my Pixel 7 Pro, and have no plans to migrate for the moment. I wouldn’t say that there’s anything I “love” about this phone, it’s more that there are things about it that I’m used to at this point, as well as a bunch of stuff that I find mildly annoying but not objectionable enough to merit doing anything about.
At least it does not appear that the update to Android 16 forced Gemini into my device.
@werehatrack lucky you. I’ve had so many pushes to use AI for things it doesn’t need to do.
My Pixel 9 just came in and is waiting on me to port my number to it, hopefully this weekend. But I kind of love that my Pixel 7 pretty ruthlessly stops robocalls and telemarketers from getting through. Occasionally one does, but it’s maybe once a month. And occasionally people get freaked out by the call screener. But overall my life is improved by the combination of call screening and spam blocking it offers.
@djslack Will the 9 still do that?
@Kyeh I’d be shocked if it didn’t. Google adds features to it’s Pixel line a few times a year and the later phones get more features (probably because of newer processors) in addition to the ones the older models get.
The spam/screening features seem to have matured a good bit over the past year or so, I think most of it is actually powered by Google instead of the phone itself, so I think it should be about the same.
@djslack That makes sense.
@djslack I have a Samsung S23 (the fancy red one, I paid through the nose for that one, wont do it again, LOL) through Verizon (blech, but…) and haven’t had a spam call for a long time, Verizon filters most of it.
I do hate the AI shit, you can’t escape it. You can only ignore it. I tell Gemini to go to hell all the time, it claims it cannot understand it (I know the truth is that it just doesn’t believe)
@Cerridwyn at least on the pixel you can switch back from Gemini to the Google assistant. For Samsung it might be Bixby or whatever instead.
Gemini was pissing me off, it was terrible at accidentally triggering. But Google assistant is also starting to pipe up more frequently from my pocket with “Sure, but first you’ll have to unlock your phone.” And depending on the company I’m in at the time it might hear back “I wasn’t talking to you” or “fuck all the way off, Google!”
@djslack Yeah, the spam filtering is pretty solid
It’s purple
@heartny! This was on the news this evening and I had to get a picture for you. It’s at some sort of woodcarving festival that’s going on.
@Kyeh Wow, that’s awesome! Looks like a field trip might be in my future.
OWLS! TOWELS! JOWLS! AWESOME!
It’s light.
I bought a new Pixel 4a 5G a year ago to replace the three-year 4a whose battery finally gave up the ghost. Yes, it was a very slight upgrade, but the 2020/2021 smartphones (up to the Pixel 6a or current non-MAX iPhones) were actually more “phone” (especially when you factor in a case) than “giant battery” (~6 oz and 6" versus the current half-pound 7" “phablets”)
@pakopako A close friend is in the throes of moving to a new phone after the battery in his old one suddenly went spicy-pillow and popped the display off the frame in two pieces.
If I had to replace my Pixel 7 Pro, my current preference would be the Nothing 3.
@werehatrack I like the Nothing line, but they tend to be very pricy (especially new). It’s about the same as a Pixel 7 Pro (but with an updated OS/upgrades line and better camera).
Why not just buy an unused phone from two years back? It would cost 50% as much as a current phone and offer 75% as much efficiency.
I have the iPhone 15 Pro Max and I’m still a fan after all these years. I’ve never owned an Android, so maybe that would change if I switched to try it. I’ve just never had a reason to switch. I’m not an expert photographer, so for me, the upgrades in the camera and the OS to use the camera are phenomenal in the newer models. I DISLIKE how much Siri has gone backwards in understanding simple statements since Apple made it “AI smarter.”
It completely fits in the back pocket of my jeans (iphone 12 mini), does the required phone stuff, and I use a mac so I have all that trading of information between the two (calendar, passwords…).
I got one of the last iPhone SE models. It was cheap and it barely does anything. If it breaks it breaks. Not caring is a wonderful feature, it turns out. It’s also quite small.
@jouest I had an SE original model prior to the 12 mini. Both I bought at Black Friday sales. It finally broke, thus the 12 mini. I am sad that they are no longer are going to make small phones. I gather an new SE is coming out but that it will be bigger than the old models. If I need a bunch of screen real estate to do what I need to do that is what laptop computers are for. And I can use my phone as a hot spot for an internet connection if there is no other choice.
@jouest @Kidsandliz
A tablet also works for that use case it is nicely portable.
@jouest @Kidsandliz I’m thinking that eventually things will come around as they usually do. People will start complaining about how big phones are, won’t fit in my pocket, etc. and small phones will make a comeback.
I still wish someone would make a phone with the “graffiti” feature of the Palm Treo 180g. Graffiti was Palm’s name for their screen writing feature: the phone came with a stylus and you could write on the screen using a simple, easy-to-learn shorthand instead of using either an on-screen keyboard or the common micro-sized physical keyboard.
@chienfou @jouest @Kidsandliz About laptops and tablets, I got a nice in-between: a Microsoft Surface Go with a magnetically-attached keyboard. I picked up an older model on eBay for $100. It has storage comparable to a phone and came with Windows which took up quite a bit of said storage. It measures 9.5x7x0.5 inches and is quite lightweight. I use it when I know all I’m likely to be doing is stuff on the internet, rather than local stuff like big documents or storing and watching videos and when speed isn’t a big concern. Being a computer geek, I changed over to Linux to get back some storage space and run a little faster.
I’ll never buy another Pixel. Primary reason is the battery was just crap. And even when I’ve read reviews for the newer versions, the reviewers always gloss over the battery and the charging. They basically are smaller batteries and then they charge slowly. When I got to the point with that phone where I had to charge it three times a day, I went out and searched for a relatively inexpensive Google OS phone with a great battery and I found the OnePlus 12R. I’m kind of glad I bought the older edition because the 13R has less memory and is actually not as good as the 12R.
This phone has a 5500 mAh battery, lasts all day playing games and reading. It’s extremely fast, great CPU, tons of RAM memory. I can run a bunch of applications at the same time. I think the phones aren’t as popular in the US because they require you to set it up yourself. They don’t sell them in the phone stores.
I use my old Pixel to listen to music when I sleep at night. It’s still such a
beautiful phone. But just not a fan of that battery.