OT:Smart Phones

[dbdynsty25]

I'm actually digging the stock TouchWiz launcher this time around. Sure - it's not as customizable as Nova, but it feels very similar to the Pixel Launcher. Simple and straight forward. Love the ability to hide apps in the app drawer too.

I threw on a better TW theme and it's feeling good. I suggest trying Material Dark theme.

Guess you haven't installed Nova in a while. They made it EXACTLY like the Pixel w/ more customization options. So it's really a no brainer to switch. But yeah, Samsung did okay w/ the Launcher.

[Spooky]

I'm actually digging the stock TouchWiz launcher this time around. Sure - it's not as customizable as Nova, but it feels very similar to the Pixel Launcher. Simple and straight forward. Love the ability to hide apps in the app drawer too.

I threw on a better TW theme and it's feeling good. I suggest trying Material Dark theme.

Guess you haven't installed Nova in a while. They made it EXACTLY like the Pixel w/ more customization options. So it's really a no brainer to switch. But yeah, Samsung did okay w/ the Launcher.

I have the Nova Beta version. I've got it tweaked perfectly, but, as I have it now, it's not really offering me anything that advantageous over the stock TW.

Maybe I'm just already over the Pixel launcher look...

[fletcher21]

I saw a video that said for anyone who keeps the AOD on, you should use the option to turn off the on screen home button, as this small square could lead to burn in, since it doesn't move at all with AOD on.

How are you guys enjoying the phones? I'm really feeling left out this time, but I promised myself I'd wait til fall to buy something. I don't want to buy an s8+, only to have to take a few hundred dollar loss selling it to buy a Note 8.

[fletcher21]

Flossy Carter(my favorite YouTube reviewer) always complains about the price of phones, but he said this time the S8/S8+ are worth it. If I didn't know there was a Note 8 coming, I would be typing this on an S8+. That orchid grey looks so bad ass. Black is boring to me, but seems to be the most popular color by a mile. Whatever happened to a nice white galaxy?

[fletcher21]

Sold my Z Play today on Swappa. The only other time I sold a phone on Swappa, it was a local buyer and I delivered it.
The buyer requested UPS, who is closed today. Can anyone give me an estimate on how much it will cost to ship the phone? How much is insurance usually for a $350 product? Am I required by Swappa to ship 2 day, or can I use the much cheaper ground? I googled this and couldn't find any answers. I know db has done many transactions on swappa, and maybe some of you guys have also.

[Gangrel]

Not to be sarcastic, but i'm going to be sarcastic.

Just for fun i googled UPS shipping cost estimator, and the first thing that comes up is the UPS shipping cost estimator................


https://wwwapps.ups.com/ctc/request?loc=en_us

[dbdynsty25]

Sold my Z Play today on Swappa. The only other time I sold a phone on Swappa, it was a local buyer and I delivered it.
The buyer requested UPS, who is closed today. Can anyone give me an estimate on how much it will cost to ship the phone? How much is insurance usually for a $350 product? Am I required by Swappa to ship 2 day, or can I use the much cheaper ground? I googled this and couldn't find any answers. I know db has done many transactions on swappa, and maybe some of you guys have also.

You also need to read the swappa terms...ground shipping is fine. Probably end up spending 20-25 or so bucks via UPS ground w/ insurance.

[fletcher21]

Sold my Z Play today on Swappa. The only other time I sold a phone on Swappa, it was a local buyer and I delivered it.
The buyer requested UPS, who is closed today. Can anyone give me an estimate on how much it will cost to ship the phone? How much is insurance usually for a $350 product? Am I required by Swappa to ship 2 day, or can I use the much cheaper ground? I googled this and couldn't find any answers. I know db has done many transactions on swappa, and maybe some of you guys have also.

You also need to read the swappa terms...ground shipping is fine. Probably end up spending 20-25 or so bucks via UPS ground w/ insurance.

Yep, it was $29. I am a noob, I expected it to be like $8-$10 lol.

[fletcher21]

Costco has a deal now for TMo users. You can get a $200 Costco gift card with purchase of the s8/s8+. It also comes with the gear vr for free. You can apparently sell the vr for ~$100. Add the $200 gift card, and it's the equivalent of $300 off. It's all I can do to not get in the car and go pick up an S8 for the Wife and an S8+ for me. I'm really committed to waiting for the Note 8, but I feel like I am missing out. Samsung is killing the game.

[wco81]

Costco has a deal now for TMo users. You can get a $200 Costco gift card with purchase of the s8/s8+. It also comes with the gear vr for free. You can apparently sell the vr for ~$100. Add the $200 gift card, and it's the equivalent of $300 off. It's all I can do to not get in the car and go pick up an S8 for the Wife and an S8+ for me. I'm really committed to waiting for the Note 8, but I feel like I am missing out. Samsung is killing the game.

Usually though, it's for opening new accounts.

Or TMobile ran "free" iPhone 7 deals shortly after release which meant either open a new T Mobile One account or for existing customers, upgrading to T-Mobile One, which wasn't a great deal unless you used a lot of data. And at the time, very limited tethering, which they've changed since.

[fletcher21]

Costco has a deal now for TMo users. You can get a $200 Costco gift card with purchase of the s8/s8+. It also comes with the gear vr for free. You can apparently sell the vr for ~$100. Add the $200 gift card, and it's the equivalent of $300 off. It's all I can do to not get in the car and go pick up an S8 for the Wife and an S8+ for me. I'm really committed to waiting for the Note 8, but I feel like I am missing out. Samsung is killing the game.

Usually though, it's for opening new accounts.

Or TMobile ran "free" iPhone 7 deals shortly after release which meant either open a new T Mobile One account or for existing customers, upgrading to T-Mobile One, which wasn't a great deal unless you used a lot of data. And at the time, very limited tethering, which they've changed since.

You may be right. I just saw people on reddit talking about it. Someone said he "upgraded to the s8" and didn't really elaborate. I'm committed to the Note 8, but it's hard to wait for it. My current phones are fine, but I love to switch them up. In a perfect world the Note 8 will come out with some unreal deal. BOGO would be the best possible deal for me.

[dbdynsty25]

You may be right. I just saw people on reddit talking about it. Someone said he "upgraded to the s8" and didn't really elaborate. I'm committed to the Note 8, but it's hard to wait for it. My current phones are fine, but I love to switch them up. In a perfect world the Note 8 will come out with some unreal deal. BOGO would be the best possible deal for me.

It's for new lines...all of the BOGO deals are always for new lines. The Gear VR is a legit pack in tho...mine should be arriving tomorrow, just for me to throw it on eBay. VR is whack.

And you're crazy if you think there are gonna be NOTE 8 deals.

[Teal]

Advice: I've never needed an app to push photos and videos to the SD card. Is there one that doesn't require a bunch of fiddling to make sure those files wind up on an SD card instead of the internal memory? SD card is pretty useless right now.

[fletcher21]

The upcoming OnePlus 5 might be THE phone to wait for. I like the s8/s8+, but I was committed to waiting for the Note 8. If the OP5 comes in around $550 or so, it's going to be in my pocket asap. There are plenty of leaks out right now, and if they are accurate.. This phone will be better than the s8+ for nearly 1/2 the price!
SD835
6/8GB
QHD
35XXmAh battery

If they nail it on the battery life, I will be selling my 3T and going all in with the 5. OnePlus has some areas they lack in, such as customer loyalty and customer service, but the phones perform for a good price. I don't think I'd call $439 or even $539 "budget", but they are a steal compared to a Pixel, iPhone or Galaxy. I don't care about the camera, and I've never noticed the touch latency issue that so many people are losing their mind over.

If the 5 comes in at $550 or less and has good/great battery life, I think this will be my phone until 2020. I've had 5 phones in the last 12 months, so that is saying something. I know DB is probably looking forward to it. Anyone else willing to give OP a shot?

[dbdynsty25]

The upcoming OnePlus 5 might be THE phone to wait for. I like the s8/s8+, but I was committed to waiting for the Note 8. If the OP5 comes in around $550 or so, it's going to be in my pocket asap. There are plenty of leaks out right now, and if they are accurate.. This phone will be better than the s8+ for nearly 1/2 the price!
SD835
6/8GB
QHD
35XXmAh battery

If they nail it on the battery life, I will be selling my 3T and going all in with the 5. OnePlus has some areas they lack in, such as customer loyalty and customer service, but the phones perform for a good price. I don't think I'd call $439 or even $539 "budget", but they are a steal compared to a Pixel, iPhone or Galaxy. I don't care about the camera, and I've never noticed the touch latency issue that so many people are losing their mind over.

If the 5 comes in at $550 or less and has good/great battery life, I think this will be my phone until 2020. I've had 5 phones in the last 12 months, so that is saying something. I know DB is probably looking forward to it. Anyone else willing to give OP a shot?

I don't know. As good as the OnePlus phones are, the width really bothers me. Which is the whole reason I adore the S8 form factor. Narrow for one handed use, yet still a huge screen. Gonna take a big design change for me to actually get a 5 I think. We will see.

[Teal]

Just upgraded the family. The wife and I got the Moto Z Play. Slick phone. Nice upgrade from the G4 play.

[fletcher21]

Just upgraded the family. The wife and I got the Moto Z Play. Slick phone. Nice upgrade from the G4 play.

I love my Z Play. It's got probably the BEST battery life of any android phone available in North America, thanks to the Snapdragon 625 and Motorola's near stock version of Android. I can't say enough good things about it. The camera is crap, but I take about 10 pics a year, so it isn't even an issue to me. The only thing that took a while to get used to was the fact it doesn't have a notification light. I solved this by pairing it with my smart watch. I alternate between the Z Play and my 3T. Motorola shrunk the battery on the Z Play 2, so the original Z Play is actually a better phone in many ways. You can not kill a Z Play in a single day. I've seen people online who get over 15h screen on time from their Z Play.

If you have $400 to spend on a phone and want to buy it outright, it's a very close battle between the Z Play and 3T. The 3T is a better phone overall, but the battery life of the Z Play is superior. Both phones are slick as hell and nearly bloat free. I think Oxygen OS is the best take on Android, period. There are a few things the 3T has that the Z Play lacks, and vice versa. A lot of people love the Moto actions and the ability to buy mods, but I am impartial to them.

[Teal]

If I ever bought a mod, it'd be the battery pack, maybe the zoom lens. I doubt know what the difference is between the z play and the z play droid (we have the droid), but my last phone was the g4 play, and hers was a Nokia Lumia 830 (wp), and this is MILES better than either, in every capacity. Super impressed.

[fletcher21]

If I ever bought a mod, it'd be the battery pack, maybe the zoom lens. I doubt know what the difference is between the z play and the z play droid (we have the droid), but my last phone was the g4 play, and hers was a Nokia Lumia 830 (wp), and this is MILES better than either, in every capacity. Super impressed.

The Z Play and Z Play Droid are the exact same phone. The only difference is the Droid is the Verizon version. Verizon and Motorola have had a long partnership. When the Z Play first came out, it was a Verizon exclusive, known as the Z Play Droid. They released an unlocked version later, which is what I have on TMO. Many times when a Motorola phone releases, it is exclusive to Verizon for a short period of time.

As for mods, none of them are worth it for the Z Play. The Z Play battery is good for 2-5 DAYS for most people. The battery mod works best in efficiency mode. It's not good to keep in your pocket and throw it on when the phone is nearly dead. The camera mod is also pretty weak, especially for how much you pay for it. The mod concept is cool, but at this point in time none of them are worth it compared to getting a standalone version of it. The speaker mod is over-priced, and a good quality standalone Bluetooth speaker is way better. The battery mod is more for the regular Moto Z, which has a small 2600mah battery. The Z Play has a 3510mah battery, and is honestly the BEST battery life of any phone available in North America. 1 hour of reddit uses around 5% for me. The phone is well worth the price. I know you can get it for something like $10 a month if you get a contract. I am thinking that's what you did. At the $399 price it is still worth it. For cheaper than that, it is a steal!

[Teal]

Appreciate the info.

[fletcher21]

The leaked pics of the OP5 look identical to an iPhone 7+. So much so, that if it is real I wonder how OP will avoid being sued. I like the look of the 7+, so that part doesn't bug me. The fact they blatantly ripped someone off is the thing that gets me. This is of course depending on if the leaks are real or not. People have speculated it is OP trolling us, but we will see on June 20th.

[fletcher21]

Thinking about getting the s8 for my wife and s8+ for me via the BOGO sale on tmo.

S8 users: Are you still happy with the phone? Is it slowing down yet?

[fletcher21]

Picked up an s8 for the wife and s8+ for me via the BOGO sale at TMO. I missed out on the Samsung BOGO that also included a memory card and Netflix, both of which I have already.

So far so good. It's not a drastic change from the s7e I had. Hopefully the phone is durable for a while. I figure I came out ahead since I needed a new line anyway.

I wanted the OP5, but I think the 8+ is most likely better in every way except all out speed and smoothness. I'd rather deal with Samsung than OP in the case of warranty repairs.

$790 for the 8+ at full retail plus a free s8 is solid. Hopefully I can stick with these 2 phones for 2-3 years. Samsung has new battery technology in the s8 where it is claimed to only lose 5% capacity over a year. The S7 was claimed to lose 20% in that time span.

The note 8 sounds like nothing more than the s8+ with a pen, so it's not worth waiting for in my opinion. They won't be able to get the fingerprint scanner imbedded into the screen until at least next year.

Just waiting on cases and hoping I don't start seeing crazy lag like Samsung have been known for. Is there a decent tempered glass screen protector for these phones yet?

[fanatic]

Hey. Thanks for the S8 impressions... Such a beautiful phone and yes, it's hard to see the $450 difference between it and the note (Canada prices).

I've really been enjoying the stock Android experience of the pixel. The phone is not that exciting and the design is a bit off but it really is a solid performer with great camera. Got it about 3 months ago.

For you guys who know about phone internals, do you think it would be a mistake to grab another pixel but make it an XL (would give pixel to wife)? My worry is that I then wouldn't be able to upgrade with carrier for another 21 months. Based on the specs of current pixel (oct 2016 launch) , do you think it will perform well until early 2019? These Google phone seem to run smoothly over time so maybe?

I would wait for the pixel 2 but I absolutely want a headphone jack. The s8 and v30 are other good options but I'm wondering if the upgrade from the pixel to pixel XL might be a better move considering my enjoyment of the phone.

[dbdynsty25]

The Pixel will be fine for the next two years, easily. Software wise, it's got no bloat and will get updates going forward, so you'll be fine there. Processors aren't speeding up anymore, they are almost strictly going for power consumption now. Speedwise, you're likely not going to notice a difference.

The question I have for you fanatic, is why are you buying phones via your carrier? If you're with Verizon, you can still buy a phone via Google Play Store and finance it if you don't want to spend full price up front. Stay out of contracts and have zero connection to Verizon or whatever carrier you're with.

I've got the S8 right now and I mostly like it. That said I'm eagerly awaiting the V30 now...that's definitely going to be my next phone. That headphone jack w/ the quad dac is just soooo awesome. Now that they made the phone smaller than the previous V series phones and got rid of the dumb second display, I'm all over it. It would be nice to know the price/release info tho.