Need a Decent Phone

ddrueding said:
There are lots of cheap USB-C to headphone jacks. Expensive ones too, if you want better sound quality.
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Thanks. Just ordered one.
There is a considerable difference in data transfer compared to the 9S+.
Also needed new software, since VLC doesn't seem to see the 512G MicroSD card.
 
Santilli said:
I can connect by Bluetooth to the car, but only for phone calls.
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I spent about $400 on a head unit to get wireless Android Auto in my 2011 Honda. I know not a single thing about cars and I still managed to install it about three hours. Before that, I used a $15 bluetooth to aux transceiver, which was great for me but didn't work well for my partner's iphone for some reason or other.

There's a distinction between the bluetooth call profile and bluetooth audio profile. BT Audio is MUCH higher bit-rate and not even all BT headsets meant for phones handle it, let alone car stereos.

One of my favorite stories about this that the Pornhub Android app was specifically coded to work over the BT call profile. My partner found this out after being stuck in a rental car on a drive to Florida when nobody in the car had a way to make the car stereo play anything else. Also, there's a surprising amount of pirated not-porn movies and TV shows on there. The Pornhub app doesn't work any more. Pour one out for a true king.
 
Santilli said:
Thanks. Just ordered one.
There is a considerable difference in data transfer compared to the 9S+.
Also needed new software, since VLC doesn't seem to see the 512G MicroSD card.
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Android has had some changes to permission structures in the last six years. Your card needs to be exFAT and you need to grant permission to the root of the SD card before you can use it. I'm 95% certain that VLC prompts you for that. I also had an S20 for a very long time. I used a 1TB card on it without issue..
 
Santilli said:
Will the S20 Ultra see FLAC files, and play them?
What player did you use?
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I use Blackplayer EX for local media on my phone, Spotify for streaming when I'm out of the house (the app is more responsive and someone else pays for my Spotify), Amazon Music if I'm streaming at home, Pocket Casts for Podcasts and I've done an absolute fuckton of work to make Plex see and properly list my local audiobook collection if I'm messing with THAT. My partner is on an Apple Music family plan and she's an Audible subscriber.

I pay to keep Amazon Music because I'm grandfathered in to an Amazon Cloud Music plan that has many thousands of files I uploaded to it. One of the cooler things that can be done with Spotify/Apple/Amazon music is speaker groups via Echo devices. It's a pretty nifty way to get whole-home audio, since all of mine are connected to much bigger audio systems.
 
You can just as easily get a USB-C dongle that would let you hook it up, or a bluetooth dongle or FM transmitter (my personal choice when I still had my 2010 Corolla), or, hell, even a new head unit that'd support it natively. I have plenty of friends who've gone that route. You could leave it in the car. They're not dear enough to prompt a thief to get in just for it. And you can get other, admittedly more bulky ones, that also allow you to charge your phone while it's plugged into aux.

Seeing FLACs isn't a thing that a phone can individually decide or not, it's 100% about the app you use. VLC will see them fine, my personal music player of choice for local files was Poweramp when I was on Android last, and even your pack-in music player should very well also see and play FLACs fine though it might have some stipulations the other apps don't regarding bitrate, sample rate or bit depth.
 
news.samsung.com

Galaxy S24 Series Expands With S24 FE: A Premium Experience That Makes Full Galaxy AI Capabilities Attainable for More Users

Samsung Electronics today unveiled the Galaxy S24 FE, the latest addition to the Galaxy AI ecosystem, delivering premium mobile experiences to more users. Powered by the AI-based ProVisual Engine and Galaxy AI’s Photo Assist features, Galaxy S24 FE showcases an enhanced camera setup that...
news.samsung.com news.samsung.com

So the S24 FE is looking like a dud, with a larger and heavier design, inefficient Exogynous chipset rather than Snapdragoons, and increased cost. Maybe I should just wait for the S25+. Of course all they want is to enforce AI upon the users.
 
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I actually prefer the Exynos phones to anything Qualcomm -- even if they don't always win in a head to head performance comparison, it's close enough that for a phone I really don't notice a difference, and the Exynos will usually get better battery life in my experience. The Exynos ones are also the only ones that get custom ROMs anymore, if, you know, that's something you care about, which I know for you specifically it's not, but it's a nice way to extend their life past official Samsung support.

Frankly, on the subject of Qualcomm, I personally think Microsoft's stubborn insistence on continuing their exclusivity deal with them for Windows on ARM is going to be what kills the whole effort. They have a half decent translation layer now, something the Surface RT disaster sorely lacked, and yes it could use some improvement but the foundation is solid is my point -- but Qualcomm will absolutely bury them in the long run, because the only Windows for ARM devices you see are things trying (and failing) to compete in the top end of the market for top-end prices. Not a single one of these things will ever outrun a contemporary Apple M-chip, and I think it's folly for them to try. No, I think they'd have been better off offering an image that'd run on just about anything and let the market fill in bottom-up. Anyone can get a mediocre MediaTek SoC and make a cheap laptop that nonetheless still does about anything you'd want, say, a Chromebook to do, and get insane battery life while they're at it.

That said, yeah, this is a lukewarm mid-cycle refresh to try and get some mileage out of the AI trend. I'm not really loving it. Sorry to derail.
 
sedrosken said:
I actually prefer the Exynos phones to anything Qualcomm
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Looking at forums where people talk about phones, Eurolanders bitch constantly about how lucky we Americans are to get Qualcomm SoCs in our S series Samsungs. It's not just that Exynos chipsets are a bit slower, they're also a lot hotter. There MAY be better battery life, but if the device is consistently running warm to the touch, I'm not sure if I'd call that a win overall.

sedrosken said:
No, I think they'd have been better off offering an image that'd run on just about anything and let the market fill in bottom-up.
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The problem there is that you'll wind up in an Android Tablet situation: an absolute mass of shit-grade, unsupported devices that kill the market for anything that might hopefully be better. I have, I dunno, two dozen different Android tablets from over the last 10 years around and from the whole mess, maybe four of them actually delivered value. That's not a good track record.

LunarMist said:
Would you spend $650 on the S24FE?
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Mmmmaybe, if only because Samsung removed its second-best product from the US market. I've been recommending the Samsung A5x phones for years as the best choice for a lot of people. The SxxFE devices have definitely been solid products as well, but I didn't think they added enough to make them worth $200 more than the A5x phones. Now that those aren't available any longer, the next best strategy is to wait for sales and Samsung discounts. Samsung discounts are far and away the main reason I have an S24+ now.
 
I would have purchased an A55, but it's not available. Unfortunately T..Mobiles has no meaningful discounts on those S class phones hardly ever. They have some nonsense that the phone is cheaper up front if you add an expensive line or upgrade to an extra cost plan, so you are paying for it anyway.

One of my traveling compansions just lost an IpHone in transit through EU. Now he is buying another $1000-1200 phone. Loss or damage turns me off about expensive phones. :(
 
Phones purchased direct from Samsung have varying levels of protection plans. The most expensive plan includes loss and theft coverage. I think it's something like $12/month for up to three years.

Samsung's insurance plan is serviced by ubreakifix, which has several hundred retail locations in the USA.
 
LunarMist said:
I would have purchased an A55, but it's not available. Unfortunately T..Mobiles has no meaningful discounts on those S class phones hardly ever. They have some nonsense that the phone is cheaper up front if you add an expensive line or upgrade to an extra cost plan, so you are paying for it anyway.

One of my traveling compansions just lost an IpHone in transit through EU. Now he is buying another $1000-1200 phone. Loss or damage turns me off about expensive phones. :(
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In my experience, T-Mobile's had great deals on handsets, and I'd be a market for their Magenta Max lines anyway. You just have to be willing to accept a last-gen phone on a two-year not-contract. My S22 that I handed off to my sister was literally free for me. My iP13 was, like, 300 dollars, when that was still something like a 600 dollar phone when I signed for it.

In fact I'd say carrier subsidization is precisely why mid-range phones get next to no traction here, and why one is viewed as poor, as lesser if they can't "afford" a flagship. Why would you buy a mid-range phone outright when it would often cost more than just getting a flagship through your carrier? I'd hazard a guess that most people aren't using an MVNO that'd justify that behavior. When I was on Mint, that made sense, but on Mint, I was always deprioritized. I had decent enough voice and texting service, but my data basically only worked when it felt like it. Which isn't a great feeling if you're relying on it for navigation.
 
Mercutio said:
Looking at forums where people talk about phones, Eurolanders bitch constantly about how lucky we Americans are to get Qualcomm SoCs in our S series Samsungs. It's not just that Exynos chipsets are a bit slower, they're also a lot hotter. There MAY be better battery life, but if the device is consistently running warm to the touch, I'm not sure if I'd call that a win overall.
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The grass may just always be greener on the other side, I guess.

Mercutio said:
The problem there is that you'll wind up in an Android Tablet situation: an absolute mass of shit-grade, unsupported devices that kill the market for anything that might hopefully be better. I have, I dunno, two dozen different Android tablets from over the last 10 years around and from the whole mess, maybe four of them actually delivered value. That's not a good track record.
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That's a fair enough argument, but I don't think Windows would be in precisely the same spot that Android is for that. Since Microsoft controls the OS directly, you don't have a million fly-by-night manufacturers making however many ports of Windows with their own bespoke kernels with custom modules, you have people making devices that follow a specific firmware standard and providing drivers externally from the kernel itself. You'd have a glut of shitware, yes, but it'd all be basically the same and about as easy to side-step as it already is to avoid the x86 shitware that exists now.
 
It's $18 per month or $350 once.
sedrosken said:
In my experience, T-Mobile's had great deals on handsets, and I'd be a market for their Magenta Max lines anyway. You just have to be willing to accept a last-gen phone on a two-year not-contract. My S22 that I handed off to my sister was literally free for me. My iP13 was, like, 300 dollars, when that was still something like a 600 dollar phone when I signed for it.

In fact I'd say carrier subsidization is precisely why mid-range phones get next to no traction here, and why one is viewed as poor, as lesser if they can't "afford" a flagship. Why would you buy a mid-range phone outright when it would often cost more than just getting a flagship through your carrier? I'd hazard a guess that most people aren't using an MVNO that'd justify that behavior. When I was on Mint, that made sense, but on Mint, I was always deprioritized. I had decent enough voice and texting service, but my data basically only worked when it felt like it. Which isn't a great feeling if you're relying on it for navigation.
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I'm paying $110 for three phones. If I upgrade to some new BS plan that costs me more, that is not saving money. I use less than 2GB about 11 out of 12 months. Sometimes there are several updates and I'm not homely on the Wi-Fi. I don't watch video on the puny screen and the phone's cameras are disabled.
 
LunarMist said:
It's $18 per month or $350 once.

I'm paying $110 for three phones. If I upgrade to some new BS plan that costs me more, that is not saving money. I use less than 2GB about 11 out of 12 months. Sometimes there are several updates and I'm not homely on the Wi-Fi. I don't watch video on the puny screen and the phone's cameras are disabled.
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Then you're not most people, Lunar, and you can't really expect to be marketed to specifically. I hate to say it, but I doubt most people even kick their phone over to WiFi at all, or we wouldn't hear so much complaining over overages because there wouldn't be much if any. Not that I think tiered data plans need to make a comeback in any conceivable way, but they never would have left if people weren't using gobs of data and then paying the price. The unlimited plan prices are a lot steeper than they used to be before the introduction of tiered plans, because the telcos have decided to say to hell with competing, and they figure they can get that much. And they do. And a lot of people have stopped complaining because they legitimately do spend less this way.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to get a phone plan in 2008 or whenever and keep it grandfathered until now. I was a little busy being ten years old. 😅 I didn't have a cell phone with a service plan until I was 16. No, my method of unfettered internet access that I rotted out my brain with was my computer.

I never noticed any big issues with the Exynos in my A53 when I had it, but I never had a top-end Exynos, mine was a midranger. If Merc is right (and I think he is) the main issue with the 2400e will likely be heat.
 
If you have Gb+ Wi-Fi and are indoors it is probably faster than the cell data unless you are near a transmitter. That is not just about saving data. For example do you get good cell service in the basement and all interior areas of the home? Many people don't, although everyone doesn't have great Wi-Fi either.

T..Mobile has a Go5G 55 plan that is closest to what I have, but I'm not seeing the phone discount for current accounts. The website is so obtuse it is a turn off. What I don't want to do is lose my free international data on my current old plan.
 
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I'm not saying it's a good idea for you to leave your plan and finance a phone. It isn't, your best bet is staying exactly where you are. I was just illustrating how the general public here in the states ended up the way they are with regard to the phone landscape. Seems the phone discounts are seasonal anyway -- I got both of mine around New Years, probably some kind of lingering Christmas or after-Christmas promotion, and they still weren't advertised -- I had to go in-store to get them.

Yes, their website is a complete mess. I don't even really like their app. I prefer to conduct business with them in-store, but if I feel like paying the bill before it automatically draws, I'll use the app.
 
I still need a phone to replace the aging A53, then I will do a double substitution with the A54. Right now it would be the hulking S24 FE, S24+ or the upcoming S25+. I'm not getting anything other than Samsung. Having to learn some crazy new interface and have two substantially different phones will suck. It's like using two different cameras together.
 
The S24 FE now exists at T..Mobile. Mostly it is so large compared to any of my other phones that I'm not sure if it fits in the front pocket of a modern shirt.
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I decided to try the new Samsung S25+ 512GB using the Google Fi deal of $700 off the price, so I preordered it. I'm mainly hoping for a less laggy phone and a refreshed battery over my S22+. Don't have any huge expectations at the moment but it felt like a safe buy as a mild/medium refresh from my current device.
 
MKBHD basically said everything since the 22 has been the most minor of incremental upgrades. I'm still happy with my S22 Ultra, though the screen is now scratched all to hell.
 
I'm kinda looking hard at Fairphones for when my ip13 bites it, I kinda want to get back into messing with ROMs and it seems like the best place to start would be a phone that isn't fundamentally against that whole idea on principle. They're not explicitly targetted at US use right now, in fact if you're not on T-Mobile (I am) it's pretty safe to say they're not for you, but the LTE band coverage for the Fairphone 4 is only missing one band for T-Mobile (band 66) and the Fairphone 5 picks that up.

Their mmWave 5G band coverage is much... less good... but honestly, I'd have to go two full towns over to get an mmWave tower anyway. 99% of the time I'm on WiFi anyway, but when I'm in the car just navigating and listening to YouTube play in the background, LTE speeds are perfectly fine and usually all I get besides. I have similar thoughts for how powerful the SoC is -- I really don't care as long as it can handle background play YouTube and Maps going at the same time without crawling. I don't game on my phone.

Plus, the idea of being able to replace anything in it fairly easily is definitely an appealing one. I don't know how the replacement parts market is for them, though. Maybe they'll go the framework route and have a chassis system you can swap newer boards into.

They're not super expensive as far as phones go anymore, but they're definitely not cheap either, not cheap enough to buy on a whim for sure.
 
Handruin said:
I decided to try the new Samsung S25+ 512GB using the Google Fi deal of $700 off the price, so I preordered it. I'm mainly hoping for a less laggy phone and a refreshed battery over my S22+. Don't have any huge expectations at the moment but it felt like a safe buy as a mild/medium refresh from my current device.
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This is strange! My wife and I traded in our S22+ handsets and got S25+ 512 GB! I don't understand why the Plus gets dissed so much online. It's got a much bigger battery than the S25 and is quite a bit less than the Ultra. For us, it's in the Goldilocks zone.
 
I think the S2x+ models mostly get knocked for missing the premium camera features. I have as S24+. which as I have said repeatedly, are not that interesting if you have access to some other form of camera.
Nice to see you again, mubs.
 
Just got a message from T-Mobile that my 21 year old service contact is no longer going to be honored and I finally have to switch to one of its plans. My bill is about to double, or else I have to change carriers to MetroPCS or something.

What a revolting development.
 
I'd escalate it up the chain as far as it gets before I just accept that. Or just change carriers entirely. You had a contract and they're choosing not to honor it? Sounds like their problem, not yours.
 
I suspect that the last remnants of Sprint are no longer operating. I'm definitely not willing to pay $60/month for my phone. For as little as I care to talk on it, all I really want is real time maps and enough data service to play audio at a decent bit rate.
 
I kinda had that same moment of realization with my long term AT&T plan from 2008. Last year around this time I cancelled my plan and just went to Google Fi. Even though I pay as I use, my monthly avg bill is still below my AT&T cost.
 
I got to experience Samsung Care+ service for the first time yesterday. My phone slipped out of my hoodie while I was getting gas. It hit the corner of a concrete pedestal the pump was on at just the right angle to shatter the top-left corner of my phone's screen. Yes, my phone was in a bumper.

The Care+ claim took all of 90 seconds on the web site. I drove ~20 miles to the service center and they swapped my phone screen and had it back to me approximately two and a half hours after it was broken.

I am LEGITIMATELY impressed.
 
Who was it that recommended Boostmobile for 26.00 a month, with 22 gigs of high speed?
Much happier with that then Google Fi, that all to often went to 80.00 something a month...
 
Mercutio said:
I got to experience Samsung Care+ service for the first time yesterday. My phone slipped out of my hoodie while I was getting gas. It hit the corner of a concrete pedestal the pump was on at just the right angle to shatter the top-left corner of my phone's screen. Yes, my phone was in a bumper.

The Care+ claim took all of 90 seconds on the web site. I drove ~20 miles to the service center and they swapped my phone screen and had it back to me approximately two and a half hours after it was broken.

I am LEGITIMATELY impressed.
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How do you get Samsung Care+, and how did you contact them?
 
If you buy your phone direct through Samsung, you can pick up your phone at a retail partner and you'll have the option to buy Samsung Care directly along with the phone. IIRC it was like $120 for two years of coverage, which includes theft and loss protection. Repairs are USUALLY covered at Ubreakifix but MAY be offered at some Best Buy locations as well.

I was told by multiple Best Buy techs that the company doesn't let people certify for Samsung repair on company time so the only time a Best Buy has a Samsung or Google tech is if it happened to hire one trained somewhere else, and no Best Buy will ever have non-Apple parts in stock.

I wasn't holding out hope for a same day turnaround on a screen fix, but I got one.
 
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