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Does anyone have any recommendations for best value camera phone from T-Mobile(That is not an Iphone)? I've started doing a lot of traveling and would like a better phone for taking pictures. Since I pretty much just take a backpack, hop in my car and go out for the weekend. I currently have a Lumia 635 and the camera is pretty lack luster. I'd like to keep the budget around $300, because beyond taking pictures and texting. I dont play any games, surf the web, ect on my phone. Any suggestions?
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# ? Apr 7, 2015 14:17 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 09:35 |
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A follow-up to my previous question re. the xperia z3compact: since it's a pretty expensive piece of hardware I'd like to use it as a camera and gps too. is it feasible or it's like in the old days when dedicated equipment was a thousand times better?
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# ? Apr 7, 2015 16:06 |
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TorakFade posted:A follow-up to my previous question re. the xperia z3compact: since it's a pretty expensive piece of hardware I'd like to use it as a camera and gps too. is it feasible or it's like in the old days when dedicated equipment was a thousand times better?
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# ? Apr 8, 2015 02:05 |
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LastInLine posted:A good phone should be far, far better than a dedicated GPS receiver (due to wifi/cell location services and aGPS) but a good camera is always going to be better than a phone camera. That said, the best camera is the one you have available when you need it. What kind of battery life does a phone give if used as a GPS? Mainly tracking, but the odd look at the screen. I've got an actual GPS that I use to record my rides, and map a bit when I'm near town, and lasts for 15-20 hours on a pair of eneloop batteries - so 2-3 days of riding. edit : For example on a Z3 compact, which supposedly has decent battery life. I'm coming from a position of no phone, hence the possibly stupid sounding question. Sad Panda fucked around with this message at 08:45 on Apr 8, 2015 |
# ? Apr 8, 2015 08:37 |
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Sad Panda posted:What kind of battery life does a phone give if used as a GPS? Mainly tracking, but the odd look at the screen. I've got an actual GPS that I use to record my rides, and map a bit when I'm near town, and lasts for 15-20 hours on a pair of eneloop batteries - so 2-3 days of riding. Of course you're charging a phone every night regardless of whether you need to or not so it's not quite comparable. A Z3c is a notable exception because of its large battery but even then getting 15-20 hours of use out a cellphone without using GPS is a very tall order. Using high precision GPS on a cellphone generally reduces its use time to the order of minutes, not hours. Without the screen on maybe I could imagine getting a couple hours out of it but I have absolutely no reference point as I've never used the GPS for anything but navigation and then only under charge.
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# ? Apr 8, 2015 09:02 |
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How do you even go about shopping for a decent carrier do I have to do an in person informal poll of carriers in my area or is there a website I can type a zipcode and they say "probably not AT&T for you, buddy" Is there a non-suckers data plan out there I mean come on I'm almost always by a friendly router. When I google questions about cell phones I am 99% sure every link returned is ads masquerading as tech website reviews.
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# ? Apr 8, 2015 10:01 |
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Krinkle posted:How do you even go about shopping for a decent carrier do I have to do an in person informal poll of carriers in my area or is there a website I can type a zipcode and they say "probably not AT&T for you, buddy" Depends on your budget and needs but if you want pre-paid Cricket is probably the best option. It's on AT&T's network, is cheap, and offers pretty good coverage. You'll also need to think about how you want to pay for phones if you aren't willing to buy your own up front so that might be a factor. As you can bring your own devices to AT&T and T-Mobile you won't have such freedom with Verizon as they will only activate branded devices (though you can buy Verizon devices and bring them in). I think you'll probably find AT&T/Cricket to have the best balance of coverage, plans, and devices but again it depends on your budget and needs. Once you have an idea what network and plan you want then come back and we can talk about devices and ecosystems. Do you not have any phone of any kind right now? *Change "probably" to "definitely". It only tracks signals on devices that report and it looks like because of that you only see coverage along roads. Turns out to be pretty much useless and at least for my area where I'm very familiar with the dead zones in T-Mobile's coverage, it's very inaccurate. I would characterize this site as worse than nothing as T-Mobile's coverage map is a lot more accurate. ClassActionFursuit fucked around with this message at 11:53 on Apr 8, 2015 |
# ? Apr 8, 2015 11:48 |
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LastInLine posted:
Right now I have a droid charge on the verizon network and I put it through the washing machine. After three days of an incomplete boot up that repeated ad nauseum it miraculously rose again but it takes 20 seconds longer to wake up from idle now and I fear it's not long for this world. I'd like basically the same capabilities while near my own router or a hotspot I have the password for, and the opportunity to stream Yes-Roundabout when I drive through that one roundabout and get it stuck in my head, but not have an obscene data plan. My family plan used to have unlimited data but it fell apart and suddenly it's 80$ a month for me alone and I gotta, at the very least, un gently caress this plan. Verizon no longer has an unlimited plan so they'll let me keep it but they're punishing me until I leave it. Someone has advised me to avoid samsung phones because touchwiz is awful but I don't understand what touchwiz is besides some kind of UI overlay unique to samsung phones. It's supposedly bad but I didn't notice it and I don't know what it would be like to not have touchwiz. AT&T looks okay for where I live. This map is weird you zoom in and the areas covered doesn't expand so it looks like a spiderweb of roads and pockets of dead zone.
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# ? Apr 8, 2015 19:16 |
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After about two years I've just about had it with my Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini. Got it as part of a joint offer two years ago and the contract just ended. Issues I'm experiencing is that the battery life is getting shittier every day(Factory reset did nothing), and the battery was replaced last year because the original one was showing signs of bulging and as a result the phone was crashing all the time. The lack of updates and support from Samsung is also quite terrible, as a result I'm still on 4.1. I'd install Cyanogenmod but there are some apps I have that require the phone to not be rooted. I don't wanna sign up for another joint offer due to the overall cost, and my budget is a bit on the limited side(200 euros tops) For this reason I've already been looking at the 2nd gen Motorola E and Motorola G, and a coworker suggested I get a Xiaomi. Storage space is not really all that important, but the presence of a MicroSD slot is one of my requirements(Also helps if it's easily reached without having to pull the battery, as in the S3 Mini Samsung decided that the best place was under the battery) Country: Belgium. Not locked into any plans anymore and not planning to. Main requirements: Stable, decent speeds, good battery life, decent (rear)camera, readable screen(I read a lot of ebooks on this thing), decent performance for navigation(Google Maps and Navigator), I occasionally also use it with Autoguard as a dashcam. I don't game or watch movies on my phone. Design is not important, neither is size(Don't have a need for huge high-res screens) Would prefer it to be Android since I already have a few purchased apps. I'm kind of done with Samsung as a brand due to the terrible support wrt updates, previous phone was a Galaxy S which had a show-stopping bug(random hard freezes when looking at the Applications list) on the final FW version(2.6.3) they never fixed(Ended up flashing Cyanogenmod on it, but that made it just slow as hell) and their current offers don't look interesting at all to me. Anything else I should be aware of on the market?
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# ? Apr 9, 2015 10:03 |
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I own a Samsung Galaxy 4S Mini. I don't need internet/diamonds just the ability to make and recieve calls on it. I have <$100 reccomend me a plan. Thanks. I'm in NYC, USA. I spoke to a T-Mobile rep and she said the cheapest plan is $40+$15 Sim card. Anything else? Thanks.
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# ? Apr 10, 2015 14:30 |
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You're gonna need to tell us more about your phone since it's going to limit what carriers you can use it on.
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# ? Apr 10, 2015 15:34 |
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Endless Mike posted:You're gonna need to tell us more about your phone since it's going to limit what carriers you can use it on. Sorry, I got this resolved earlier today and the best answer was pay $40 for a sim card with unlimited text/calls for 30 days. I didn't get to choose my number but oh well.
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# ? Apr 10, 2015 23:53 |
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Hope this is the right place for this: I'm going to be renewing my Verizon contract in the next week or so and need to replace my failing Droid Razr M. I don't have a lot of spare funds at the moment and am looking at cheap options. It looks like I can get an S4 and LG G3 for free and and a Galaxy Note 3 for $20. I've always wanted to try a Note but as I likely won't be getting another phone until my contract is up in 2 years, is there a compelling reason to get the S4 or G3 instead? Or are there other options I should be considering?
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# ? Apr 14, 2015 18:53 |
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If you're getting a 2-year contract and really can't afford to spend much, the 2nd generation Moto X is $0.99 from Verizon or $0.01 from Amazon. Amazon also has the Droid Turbo for $50, which would be worth it more than a Note 3 for $20.
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# ? Apr 14, 2015 19:45 |
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BrianRx posted:Hope this is the right place for this: I have both the S4 and the LG G2 and I prefer the G2 more, so I'd definitely go G3 over S4. Can't comment how either compares to the Note 3, unfortunately.
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# ? Apr 15, 2015 04:45 |
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My Samsung Galaxy Exhibit 2 is on it's last legs after about 4 or 5 years. Country/Provider: US / T mobile Current contract status: T mobile dork plan Budget (phone/plan): Around 100 bucks and 150 Features I know I want: I mainly use the phone to text and watch youtube videos in bed. Only issue I ever had with my old rear end phone was the firmware not being supported by apps like Vine and venmo. Thanks!
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# ? Apr 15, 2015 21:15 |
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Slightly complicated question. I'm currently on a USA Verizon plan paid for by my job. I don't and never have had a smartphone. I'm on vacation in Australia for three weeks where, obviously, my phone doesn't work. I'm planning on buying a prepaid phone from Vodaphone or Optus in order to keep in touch with people over here. My question is this - http://www.vodafone.com.au/personal/mobile-phones http://www.optus.com.au/shop/mobile/prepaid/phones?SID=con:mob:cat:til:3:ccrd Of the prepaid smartphones available here, are any of them worth buying and then using with my Verizon plan back home? If there's one that is A) a decent price and quality and B) will work with my Verizon plan, I'll buy it; if not, which one is the cheapest prepaid smartphone that'll run google maps without making me enraged by slowness/unresponsiveness?
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# ? Apr 16, 2015 03:21 |
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None will work on Verizon, so throw that idea right out the window. The cheapest that will run Google Maps looks like the Alcatel Pop C1. It'll do it, but it doesn't look like a good phone at all, so don't let it sour you on smartphones.
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# ? Apr 16, 2015 03:27 |
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I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 Active on AT&T in Boston, MA. My 2-year is going to end in a couple months. I kind of hate this phone... it's slow, and the battery doesn't last a day. I would really like something rugged, so it won't break when I drop it. I'd also like something smaller. Phones are getting bigger and bigger, and I can't stand it! My thumbs don't reach across the screen, and they're heavy if I hold it up in bed for a while. I'm thinking about the Cat S50, but I can only get it unlocked from what I can tell, so it's really expensive. I'm also worried that it'll have the same exact problems with battery and speed as the Samsung. Maybe not at first, but it'll happen sooner or later (probably sooner). It's also pretty big. Does anyone have any suggestions on a RUGGED phone on AT&T? Are there any alternatives to CAT? Maybe something a little smaller? Thanks.
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# ? Apr 16, 2015 23:44 |
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JamMastaJew posted:I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 Active on AT&T in Boston, MA. My 2-year is going to end in a couple months. I kind of hate this phone... it's slow, and the battery doesn't last a day. I would really like something rugged, so it won't break when I drop it. I'd also like something smaller. Phones are getting bigger and bigger, and I can't stand it! My thumbs don't reach across the screen, and they're heavy if I hold it up in bed for a while. Rugged phones are not flagship phones, so they're all going to be a little slow, with not great battery life, and not great support. Don't buy a rugged phone, just buy a good phone and put it in as big and dumb a case as you need.
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# ? Apr 17, 2015 05:09 |
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RVProfootballer posted:Rugged phones are not flagship phones, so they're all going to be a little slow, with not great battery life, and not great support. Don't buy a rugged phone, just buy a good phone and put it in as big and dumb a case as you need. I carry my phone naked and when I saw it happen I thought about how different it would be if I dropped my phone. We were talking about it a bit later and she said what I'd expect a mother of two young daughters would say, that she just doesn't want to have to worry about that poo poo because even if she's careful her two year old is going to grab it and throw it in the toilet just for fun. I'll tell you, even with a case I don't know how confident I'd be throwing my Nexus 5 in the toilet. I'm not disagreeing with your primary point that if you want the best phone you have to give up ruggedness but I am saying I understand if that's your primary concern. JamMasta.Jew, maybe a Sony Z3c with a case and a screen protector? Really that's your only option for good plus small, rugged or not. Also remember that thickness will only make reaching across the screen more difficult so cases do affect that.
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# ? Apr 17, 2015 06:11 |
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Yeah the S5 active is a solid phone with good battery life, solid build and a great screen. It also is getting or has lollipop and you can buy it brand new unlocked on eBay for dirt cheap, cheaper then the vanilla s5 last I checked. Just don't get the hella ugly camo color. Edit: also, unlike the s4 active, the s5 active is not cut down at all. The only thing you would be missing from the s5 is the fingerprint scanner.
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# ? Apr 17, 2015 12:45 |
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I didn't realize they made an S5 Active. I thought they just brought water/dustproofing to the normal S5 and called it a day (which they dropped for the S6, right?). I just looked it up and it says it's drop-resistant for 4 feet... Not great, but better than any non-rugged phone. Anyone have any experience with NEC Terrain? I miss having a physical keyboard. What about Kyocera Duraforce?
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# ? Apr 17, 2015 14:34 |
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Smoke posted:After about two years I've just about had it with my Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini. Got it as part of a joint offer two years ago and the contract just ended. Issues I'm experiencing is that the battery life is getting shittier every day(Factory reset did nothing), and the battery was replaced last year because the original one was showing signs of bulging and as a result the phone was crashing all the time. The lack of updates and support from Samsung is also quite terrible, as a result I'm still on 4.1. I'd install Cyanogenmod but there are some apps I have that require the phone to not be rooted. Quotin' dis because I've been looking around lately and I'm less sure of what I want. Most of the Android stuff in my pricerange seems to be poo poo or will be poo poo in a year or so, so I've expanded my options to include Windowsphones. Already ditched the Motorola E because it seems fairly limited. The Lumia 640 especially looks pretty nice for its price, I'm just a bit worried about app availability. Budget is also free to go up a bit.
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# ? Apr 17, 2015 15:32 |
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Captain Yossarian posted:Yeah the S5 active is a solid phone with good battery life, solid build and a great screen. It also is getting or has lollipop and you can buy it brand new unlocked on eBay for dirt cheap, cheaper then the vanilla s5 last I checked. Just don't get the hella ugly camo color. Yeah, that's true, but I wouldn't recommend an S5 to anyone really either at this point. But the S5 Active is easily the best rugged phone, definitely, not that that is a very high bar JamMastaJew posted:I didn't realize they made an S5 Active. I thought they just brought water/dustproofing to the normal S5 and called it a day (which they dropped for the S6, right?). I just looked it up and it says it's drop-resistant for 4 feet... Not great, but better than any non-rugged phone. The NEC Terrain was released in June 2013, is a portrait keyboard phone, and has a 640 x 480 3.1" display. Do I really have to tell you it is awful? The Kyocera is at least more recent, but if you want something that won't feel slow, you probably won't appreciate its cpu from late 2013. It also is not a small phone, despite the small display. This is it compared to an S6: http://www.phonearena.com/phones/size#/phones/size/Kyocera-DuraForce,Samsung-Galaxy-S6/phones/8995,8997 You never really answered though. You said you just needed a phone that could be dropped. Have you looked at tough cases? Do you need it to be waterproof and dustproof or just not break if you drop it? The latter is really easy to get with a case on a flagship phone. sourdough fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Apr 17, 2015 |
# ? Apr 17, 2015 16:27 |
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I have an iPhone 5s (on AT&T, in Hawaii) and my contract is coming up. I have been thinking I want to jump ship and go over to Android, since the only reason I have stuck with Apple so far was because of the smaller form factor, and they seem to have abandoned it anyway. Are there any really good Android phones of that form, or should I give up and join the current popular form factor? Two bonus questions: - it is possible that I will take a job in Japan and move back there soon. I've lived there before but at that time I didn't even have a cellphone in the US, so it was neither here nor there. What's the current status of transferring smartphones between countries? Or is that not even worth the trouble to consider? - What the hell is with the wrapping screen on the Galaxy 6 Edge? The more I look at it the less I understand why anyone would have developed a feature like that in the first place. Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Apr 17, 2015 |
# ? Apr 17, 2015 18:28 |
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The only thing at all worth recommending that's vaguely similar in size to an iPhone 5s is the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, which is still a little bigger. Nothing else is at all worth getting. If you buy an unlocked phone, you should at least be able to get 3G service in Japan with a US phone. I don't know what their LTE situation is, though. The wrapping screen is a gimmick that offers almost no added functionality at an upcharge of $100. It does look nice, though.
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# ? Apr 17, 2015 19:58 |
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RVProfootballer posted:Yeah, that's true, but I wouldn't recommend an S5 to anyone really either at this point. But the S5 Active is easily the best rugged phone, definitely, not that that is a very high bar I do like the waterproof aspect, just as it's less for me to worry about, but it's not like I actually use it underwater. As far as cases go, I hate them on principal. I feel as though I should be able to buy a $500 phone that can protect itself. It seems that manufacturers don't feel the same way... so yes I will probably wind up getting another stupid gigantic phone that I can hardly hold, and pay another $20-60 for a case that makes it even bigger, and the glass screen will still shatter if it hits the ground the wrong way. My favorite phone I've had, as far as form factor goes, was a Pantech Crossover. Built like a tank, had a physical keyboard, comfortable to hold. I like plastic screens, they don't shatter. Ideally I'd like an updated version of this, but no company would ever make it because I'd probably be the only person to buy it.
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# ? Apr 17, 2015 21:46 |
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Smoke posted:Quotin' dis because I've been looking around lately and I'm less sure of what I want. Most of the Android stuff in my pricerange seems to be poo poo or will be poo poo in a year or so, so I've expanded my options to include Windowsphones. Already ditched the Motorola E because it seems fairly limited. For the love of god do not get a Windows phone. There are no apps. I had one until last year and it was also buggy as hell. You are going to have to look at less mainstream brands if you want something cheap and decent with Android, like Xiaomi, Huawei, Acer. Edit: buy online. Amazon Germany and French and Dutch online stores have better price too. Moto G fits the bill, great phone, 160€ online. Spatule fucked around with this message at 16:03 on Apr 18, 2015 |
# ? Apr 18, 2015 15:56 |
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I'm one of those hold-outs that won't give up the QWERTY slider form factor, but my LG C800 (myTouch Q) is showing its age. Is there anything more powerful than the LG Optimus F3Q available, or coming out soon? Country: USA Contract status: T-Mobile Simple Choice, would like to keep. Budget: Around $300 I guess, but I have some splurge savings to go higher if the specs are worth it.
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# ? Apr 18, 2015 19:00 |
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Endless Mike posted:The only thing at all worth recommending that's vaguely similar in size to an iPhone 5s is the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, which is still a little bigger. Nothing else is at all worth getting. Looking at Japanese carriers, LTE seems to be the thing. If I get that job, I think I will drop my carrier here entirely and just get a normal plan there. I am wondering though, are any of the smartphones unique to that market exceptionally good? Smartphones are newer to them than to us, but maybe they've jumped ahead in some way. Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Apr 18, 2015 |
# ? Apr 18, 2015 19:04 |
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Kilty Monroe posted:I'm one of those hold-outs that won't give up the QWERTY slider form factor, but my LG C800 (myTouch Q) is showing its age. Is there anything more powerful than the LG Optimus F3Q available, or coming out soon? You're not going to find a good phone with a hardware keyboard anymore, sorry.
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# ? Apr 18, 2015 19:37 |
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Samurai Sanders posted:Thanks.
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# ? Apr 18, 2015 21:18 |
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Endless Mike posted:In the Japanese market, iPhones are so overwhelmingly the best selling smartphones that Samsung is rumored to be leaving the market there altogether. So, no, there's really nothing special about the Japanese smartphone market. Every single student from anywhere in the world has a smartphone of one kind or another though.
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# ? Apr 18, 2015 21:21 |
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LastInLine posted:JamMasta.Jew, maybe a Sony Z3c with a case and a screen protector? Really that's your only option for good plus small, rugged or not. Also remember that thickness will only make reaching across the screen more difficult so cases do affect that. I bit the bullet and got the Z3C, and while I can't attest to its ruggedness (it looks drat fragile with all that glass, but with a decent case this shouldn't be a problem), the battery life is astounding. With medium-heavy use - games, calls, texts, browsing, downloading hundreds of MB over Wifi etc - it lasted 2 and a half days, I guess with medium use and using at least some of the battery saving stuff it has (I didn't bother yet) you could easily squeeze 3 full days out of it, and it's fast as a top of the line phone should be. Nothing but the highest praise for me, but I come straight from the prehistoric age of phones so I guess it could be that I'm just in awe at modern technology
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# ? Apr 18, 2015 23:32 |
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Spatule posted:For the love of god do not get a Windows phone. There are no apps. I had one until last year and it was also buggy as hell. Moto G looks to be about 180-190 to get in/to Belgium at first sight, and I haven't seen them around any stores. I could always hop over the border and get one in The Netherlands. The reason I looked at the Lumia 640 is because it's new and getting a lot of positive reviews, and I'm kind of disappointed in Android overall. This might also just be because of Samsung, Touchwiz and getting phones that are suddenly seemingly EOLed two months after buying them and have lovely battery life that only gets shittier the more you use them. This is also why I don't want to spend too much, I'll most likely end up replacing it after 2-3 years anyway. It does seem to be a bit scarce in terms of apps, but as long as I have ebooks and navigation I don't really need anything more(Both banks I'm with don't have an app for WinPhone though, but I can live with that, since my new primary bank uses a SecurID for logging in rather than a card reader), I can keep my current phone around for some tasks since my ISP also gives me a free data SIM card. I have an irrational hatred for Acer due to terrible experiences with their desktops and laptops over the past decade despite never owning any actual Acer hardware. No experience with Huawei outside of USB cellular datamodems, and I can't really find too much from European users about their phones. I do see them all over the place in stores nowadays though. I kinda kept away from Chinese phones due to shipping times, support levels and the fact that I'll have to install Google services myself. Not that I can't do it, just don't want to deal with it.
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# ? Apr 19, 2015 19:32 |
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Smoke posted:Moto G looks to be about 180-190 to get in/to Belgium at first sight, and I haven't seen them around any stores. I could always hop over the border and get one in The Netherlands. I priced one at 166€ delivered through a french website (rueducommerce), but yeah, that's not a big difference. The Lumia I has was the 820 and it sucked. Buggy as hell. Sometimes Wifi would never turn on. You had to do a battery pull once a week because it crashed, and the plastic uniboday was a bitch to open (not to mention ridiculously slippery). I had to reset it to factory defaults once and the backup that it supposedly made of your apps, settings etc never ever loaded. Navigation was ok, free with offline maps but sometimes they would not download, or would disappear overnight. It would not sync with my also made by Microsoft Surface tablet. Sometimes the alarm would not go off in the morning. This was less than a year ago too. I'm not making any of this up. There was a very positive point about it though: I repeatedly tried to break it after it crapped on my for the 10th time every single day, by banging it screen first onto things (my car's gear lever was a favorite when navigation refused to launch as it was my primary GPS), or dropping it and it never even scratched. Built like a brick. About as useful as one. Maybe the 640 is better, who knows...
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# ? Apr 19, 2015 19:56 |
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Smoke posted:Moto G looks to be about 180-190 to get in/to Belgium at first sight, and I haven't seen them around any stores. I could always hop over the border and get one in The Netherlands. FWIW I think most or all Huawei phones come with google services. At least the Ascend Mate 2 I'm using as a backup to my Moto X does.
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 01:26 |
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Did a system restore on my HTC One M7. It's not eating it's batteries to death anymore. I bought a Fire Phone for 189 bucks plus I'll take that Prime extension, thank you. It'll be interesting to see how decent it is. I know I can put play store and what not on it.
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 01:45 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 09:35 |
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I just found out that the new blackberry devices let you load android apps from the amazon store and also side load any apk you want? I miss that full qwerty keyboard a lot. Does the Blackberry Classic suck?
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# ? Apr 20, 2015 02:03 |