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Biowarfare posted:Prepaid or postpaid, what providers do best in your area, how much do you care about latency, how much do you care about being cut off for ToS violations, what device are you using this on, and how "above board" or legitimate do you want it to be? thanks for the quick response i was going to dedicate an old phone to being a modem and leave it tethered to a router all the time. lg v10 most likely but i have access to others and am not opposed to buying a device if i need to. got a samsung galaxy mega around if custom roms help, everything else is too old to have lte. i don't care at all about legitimacy or being above board, getting cut off for ToS violations would be annoying but i don't really care about that either. i'm broke as hell and just want to shitpost/watch videos, not a gamer so latency isn't a huge deal. i don't care about prepaid vs postpaid that much but ideally wouldn't have to put my name on anything i'll look into visible, honestly that att option doesn't sound terrible either. i don't know which providers are best here yet, haven't been around long and ironically my current connection is too lovely to pull up the coverage maps
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# ? Sep 30, 2020 08:23 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 23:30 |
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Visible requires very specific phone choices, FYI. But if you don't care and don't play super latency sensitive trigger games, it's difficult to beat $25/m perfectly-fine-for-a-few-hundred-GB @ 5-50Mbps. Use Paypal - their card processor often rejects almost every card or triggers fraud warnings/card suspensions. Videos are throttled to about 2-3 Mbps. They will give you a mildly newer (though still crappy, but you can tether I guess?) Android phone at https://www.visible.com/swap if you ship them your oldest, shittiest Android. Note that this has a tethering limitation of hotspot max 1 device on the phone they give you. If you BYOD an iPhone SE [cheapest] or similar this won't apply. ATT "Rural Home" requires a year contract. They used to have a $35/m tablet prepaid plan that people abused (for tablets, but people would put in a fake IMEI to register and then move the SIM to a tablet), but they've dropped the unlimited prepaid plan and kicked off abusers, and are now locking out any remaining abusive accounts by asking people to re-confirm by moving their SIM back into a device that matches the IMEI they signed up with. quote:i was going to dedicate an old phone to being a modem and leave it tethered to a router all the time. I use one of these https://www.amazon.com/GL-iNET-GL-MT300N-V2-Repeater-300Mbps-Performance/dp/B073TSK26W, they are about $10-13 used. They're tiny openwrt boxes that you can connect a phone or hotspot to tether via USB or wifi (it'll connect to the wifi, and then broadcast its own separate access point), and it'll do ethernet and wifi out in any combination. If you have an existing wifi router you can pretty much just put this in the middle and do ethernet out to it. Impotence fucked around with this message at 08:36 on Sep 30, 2020 |
# ? Sep 30, 2020 08:29 |
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Biowarfare posted:Visible requires very specific phone choices, FYI. But if you don't care and don't play super latency sensitive trigger games, it's difficult to beat $25/m perfectly-fine-for-a-few-hundred-GB @ 5-50Mbps. Use Paypal - their card processor often rejects almost every card or triggers fraud warnings/card suspensions. Videos are throttled to about 2-3 Mbps. if i got openwrt on my router there's no need for that box though, right? i've never done it before, but from what i'm reading should be able to tether right to it. it's super frustrating trying to figure this poo poo out when i can barely load a forums thread or wiki page, none of the carrier's websites work for poo poo. gonna run into town tomorrow and get this figured out on someone's wifi. looking like either visible (like you said) or us mobile are gonna be my best bet though. unless i'm missing some fine print, which i probably am because it won't load, us mobile seems to have unlimited data without throttling at $45/month prepaid which is really dang tempting. know much about them?
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# ? Sep 30, 2020 09:09 |
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Yeah, if your router has the correct ports too - https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wan/smartphone.usb.tethering - it might be a bit of a pain to initially set up. The last time I used us mobile, if you are on a budget, they don't include fees in all of their pricing like most prepaid places, often adds up to $10+ in tax/fee per month, I don't know if this has changed. It looks like you can only use 10GB for hotspot if you pick the highest "ludicrous + hotspot" upgrade tier (so about $65-75/m all inkl.) - unlimited my rear end, pretty much. Also, throttling/"traffic management" starts at 15GB. Edit: it hasn't changed, $2 access fee + $7ish "cost recovery charge" (CA), $5ish tax, bunch of other stuff. In comparison Visible charges me the flat $25, presumably they eat the sales tax and all. Impotence fucked around with this message at 09:52 on Sep 30, 2020 |
# ? Sep 30, 2020 09:48 |
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What is a better phone than a Samsung galaxy s8? I really like the s8, and wish it would last for two or so more years, but if I'm going to buy a phone I might as well upgrade. It is currently randomly not receiving phone calls, and sending me my texts in batches. My requirements are: Verizon or unlocked. A nice camera, and maybe decent video. Not so fragile, the s8 feels like a tank compared to how fragile some of the newer phones I've seen look. sd card support. Can emulate video games up to psp. The S8 does this pretty well. Ideally not 1000 dollars.
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# ? Oct 2, 2020 12:53 |
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gay for gacha posted:What is a better phone than a Samsung galaxy s8? I really like the s8, and wish it would last for two or so more years, but if I'm going to buy a phone I might as well upgrade. It is currently randomly not receiving phone calls, and sending me my texts in batches. Either the Samsung S20 FE for $700, or the Google Pixel 5 (coming out late October) for $700. Pixel doesn’t support a memory card, the FE does.
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# ? Oct 2, 2020 12:59 |
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Apparently the 765G is a slight step back from the Snapdragon 835 (Assuming you have a US S8 since you said "Verizon or unlocked) when it comes to the GPU. Though for emulating the PSP, I suspect that beyond a point we got to years ago, CPU is more important than GPU, not 100% sure though.
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# ? Oct 2, 2020 19:18 |
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Hello goons, total smartphone newbie here. Country is Germany, with whatever prepaid card I can get at the local shop. I need something inexpensive for a middle-aged person to browse the web, youtube, casual games and standard apps. ~6.5" 720p is fine. Camera quality is no concern. Requirements are pretty much sub 200€, ideally more towards 100. 3.5mm jack, radio, NFC, Android 10 as clean as possible, full access to google store which I heard is an issue now for cheap China phones. Oh and they need it soon, please no Aliexpress etc. The Cubot Note 20 caught my eye for 93€ on Amazon. Specs are 3/64GB, Mediatek Helio A22 MT6761D The Nokia 5.3 (Snapdragon 665, 4/64GB) also looks appealing, but it's literally twice the price. Is the peace of mind of Android One and general polish worth it? Would appreciate any thoughts, cheers. sauer kraut fucked around with this message at 11:08 on Oct 3, 2020 |
# ? Oct 3, 2020 10:19 |
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Duckman2008 posted:Either the Samsung S20 FE for $700, or the Google Pixel 5 (coming out late October) for $700. Would the S10 plus be better than the S20FE?
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# ? Oct 3, 2020 13:28 |
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sauer kraut posted:Hello goons, total smartphone newbie here. Country is Germany, with whatever prepaid card I can get at the local shop. https://www.alditalk.de/motorola-g8-power-64gb-schwarz/p/30029360 https://www.notebookcheck.com/Motorola-Moto-G8-Power-Smartphone-im-Test-Viel-Akku-und-gute-Kamera.454241.0.html It's unfortunately 200€, but it fits your specs perfectly and it has a gigantic battery, which is a good thing for smartphone newbies who might sometimes forget to charge the phone.
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# ? Oct 3, 2020 13:55 |
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Hey phone/plan nerds. I've gotten a CAT S42 to review. It's a dual SIM unlocked GSM/LTE phone with Android 10 (promised to get 11, so that's cool). Looks like it supports all the standard AT&T/TMo bands, and none of the Verizon or Sprint space. I'm currently looking at the $15/mo Mint plan and then deciding if I want to keep it or ditch it after the 3 months for $45. Is there anything else I should be looking for in the sub $20/month space? I'm in a pretty solid Verizon area, and AT&T/T-Mo seem to be fine, which is what steered me in the Mint direction.
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# ? Oct 6, 2020 00:45 |
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Verizon has a Visible MVNO but your phone isn't compatible TMobile prepaid connect plans are $15/m for 2gb data
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# ? Oct 6, 2020 03:53 |
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The S20 ultra is too large. That is all. Swappa worked great though, paid several hundred less than the lower capacity model you can actually buy, and like 500? less than this thing would have cost new.
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# ? Oct 6, 2020 06:50 |
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Anyone have thoughts on the Samsung S20 FE vs. the Google Pixel 5? Both cost the same, and except for the RAM in the Pixel 5 the S20 FE has it beat in every area. The usual Samsung bloatware really makes me hesitate though. I have a Pixel 1 now and I really like it but it is getting long in the tooth.
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# ? Oct 6, 2020 14:06 |
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Biowarfare posted:Verizon has a Visible MVNO but your phone isn't compatible Yeah. I have a shitton of Verizon lines already and if it was compatible, I would have just added it to our unlimited for $20/mo. I ended up buying the 3 month Mint 3gb SIM, which should be sufficient to evaluate the phone.
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# ? Oct 6, 2020 14:42 |
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owl_pellet posted:Anyone have thoughts on the Samsung S20 FE vs. the Google Pixel 5? Both cost the same, and except for the RAM in the Pixel 5 the S20 FE has it beat in every area. The usual Samsung bloatware really makes me hesitate though. I have a Pixel 1 now and I really like it but it is getting long in the tooth. Samsung bloatware has gotten increasingly absurd. They do push notification spam for new Samsung products, and banner ads in stock apps. From a pure performance standpoint it's not a killer. Phones are fast enough now that fetching a few ad images for your phone dialer isn't going to kill anything. But, you still end up with ads in your dialer, and the stock weather app, and your notificaNEW SAMSUNG GALAXY AVAILABLE NOWtions. If you don't like bloatware, stay away from Samsung.
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# ? Oct 6, 2020 15:43 |
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Space Gopher posted:Samsung bloatware has gotten increasingly absurd. They do push notification spam for new Samsung products, and banner ads in stock apps. I haven't seen this yet but I pretty aggressively disable things. To the point I pay for this package disabler to help with the issue. Worked on my s7 w/ att+Samsung bloat, seems to be working with this S20 ultra. Bixby and all 3 integrated Facebook processes are gone. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kinder.pksafety This is the list so far: It so has the ability to add things to a widget so that you can cancel toggle on/off things you want around but not on all the time. H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Oct 6, 2020 |
# ? Oct 6, 2020 15:52 |
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Space Gopher posted:Samsung bloatware has gotten increasingly absurd. They do push notification spam for new Samsung products, and banner ads in stock apps. Their TVs do this too, it's gotten really egregious on TVs. Ads are showing up all over the UI where they weren't there before.
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# ? Oct 6, 2020 15:56 |
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I'm glad my TV is like ten years old and that all it does is display the signal that my receiver sends it. My only interaction with it is turning it on and off.
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# ? Oct 6, 2020 16:29 |
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Twerk from Home posted:Their TVs do this too, it's gotten really egregious on TVs. Ads are showing up all over the UI where they weren't there before. Don't forget that Samsung also uploads what you're watching regardless of method (similar to Shazam). There is basically no opt out. I think it's egregious bullshit that a $1-2k phone still has unremovable push ads. H110Hawk posted:I haven't seen this yet but I pretty aggressively disable things. To the point I pay for this package disabler to help with the issue. Worked on my s7 w/ att+Samsung bloat, seems to be working with this S20 ultra. Bixby and all 3 integrated Facebook processes are gone. IIRC, OTA updates will roll these back or reinstall/reenable them Impotence fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Oct 6, 2020 |
# ? Oct 6, 2020 18:26 |
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Are any of the iPhone upgrade plans worth it? My employer reimburses me for phone hardware and plan costs, and I keep it. My plan was to hold on to my iPhone 11 Pro for a year or two, get a 12 or 13 at some point, and sell this one used. Is getting an upgrade plan through Verizon or Apple a better deal?
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# ? Oct 6, 2020 18:35 |
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AlexDeGruven posted:Yeah. I have a shitton of Verizon lines already and if it was compatible, I would have just added it to our unlimited for $20/mo. Best buy just put this on special, 3mo for $30 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/mint-mobile-3-month-prepaid-sim-card-kit/6022211.p?skuId=6022211
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# ? Oct 6, 2020 19:39 |
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Biowarfare posted:Don't forget that Samsung also uploads what you're watching regardless of method (similar to Shazam). There is basically no opt out. I think it's egregious bullshit that a $1-2k phone still has unremovable push ads. I will spend sort of as much time on the phone with samsung as it requires to make that go away. I haven't hooked my LG TV up to internet due to that sort of bullshit. So far so good. My last phone I disabled all the OTA updates using this same application.
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# ? Oct 6, 2020 19:46 |
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I'm a big ole phone dummy. I've been on a T-Mobile family plan with my parents from back from the old Nokia Brick days, and I've just been buying unlocked phones for the past few years. Currently I have a Moto G5S Plus and I loving hate it. Plus we just moved a year ago and I have no service in my own home. Sure I can fight with T-Mobile to send me a booster, but we get semi-frequent power outages and I don't want to lose service when that happens. I'm going to use this opportunity to buy a Pixel 5 and switch to a Verizon prepaid plan but I don't know the best way to go about doing this. When I try to pre-order the phone through verizon's website, it only lets me select unlimited plans. Pre-orders aren't up on google's website for the Verizon locked phones, but they are for the unlocked phones. ...why would you ever get the verizon locked phone when you can just get the unlocked version instead? Just to confirm, it should work if I buy the unlocked Pixel5 from Google, then when it arrives, switch to verizon pre-paid and just BYOD? Or should I just wait for the 29th?
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# ? Oct 7, 2020 02:34 |
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Renegret posted:I'm a big ole phone dummy. I've been on a T-Mobile family plan with my parents from back from the old Nokia Brick days, and I've just been buying unlocked phones for the past few years. Currently I have a Moto G5S Plus and I loving hate it. Plus we just moved a year ago and I have no service in my own home. Sure I can fight with T-Mobile to send me a booster, but we get semi-frequent power outages and I don't want to lose service when that happens. Yeah, Verizon literally won’t sell you the Pixel 5 as a pre order for a prepaid plan. The prepaid plans are fine, but the word is bare bones. The system def can’t do stuff like that. Buy the unlocked phone, then you can go to the local Verizon store and get a prepaid SIM card and be fine.
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# ? Oct 7, 2020 02:55 |
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Duckman2008 posted:Yeah, Verizon literally won’t sell you the Pixel 5 as a pre order for a prepaid plan. The prepaid plans are fine, but the word is bare bones. The system def can’t do stuff like that. Great, thanks! I'm assuming that I can get them to ship me a prepaid SIM if I set it all up online? Even though my local Costco has a Verizon Kiosk so I can just go there out of convenience if it comes down to it. I'm just lazy. I really don't need anything crazy anyway and bare bones is fine for me. I don't even want all that poo poo that comes bundled with the unlimited plans, and even before COVID I rarely went over 3GB of data used a month. The only reason I'm considering Verizon over a cheaper MVNO is due to the terrible reception in my neighborhood. The whole point of me switching is so I can have such luxuries such as, making phone calls from my own home.
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# ? Oct 7, 2020 03:25 |
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Renegret posted:Great, thanks! You might see how google fi works, or are those on t-mobile towers? You could in theory test it out right on your new pixel.
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# ? Oct 7, 2020 03:33 |
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Renegret posted:Great, thanks! I think online you should be able to order a SIM card. I assume Costco can sell prepaid but I can’t say 100% for sure.
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# ? Oct 7, 2020 03:43 |
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H110Hawk posted:You might see how google fi works, or are those on t-mobile towers? You could in theory test it out right on your new pixel. Fi is on T-Mobile. But how would I test it? I partly suspect that my phone has a lovely antenna because my parents have okayish reception when they're over, and my wife is on a Sprint MVNO and she has okayish reception too. (I was going to switch to that MVNO but that's a saga in itself). But I never really considered Fi because the pricing scheme turned me off and it doesn't actually seem all that much cheaper in practice, especially compared to the verizon 5 gig prepaid plan. But hey, if the plan is 5G compatible, and I'm getting a 5G phone, I guess it's worth considering. Regardless, I just want off my parent's plan so, might as well switch. I'm very open to options. Renegret fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Oct 7, 2020 |
# ? Oct 7, 2020 03:55 |
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Apparently my 7 year old s3 is chock full of security holes so I should get a new phone. Not really worried about the plan because I can change that whenever. Country/Provider: France/Free but probably going to change soon Current contract status: I guess I can change whenever, but I'm on sim only plans and would like to stay that way. Budget (phone/plan): Ideally not more than 200 euros? I don't think I need something super expensive for what I use it for. Features I know I want: I have these apps installed: whatsapp, messenger, gboard, awful app, hangouts dialer, chrome. I don't use my phone for much more than messaging and calling, the awful app and occasionally surfing the internet. I'd like something with decent battery life, probably dump some mp3s on it to listen to music for long trips and whatever. The s3 was a pretty good size, so something around that size would be nice?
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# ? Oct 11, 2020 11:34 |
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ilmucche posted:Apparently my 7 year old s3 is chock full of security holes so I should get a new phone. Not really worried about the plan because I can change that whenever. I loved the s8 for this and that's about what they cost.
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# ? Oct 11, 2020 12:38 |
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ilmucche posted:Apparently my 7 year old s3 is chock full of security holes so I should get a new phone. Not really worried about the plan because I can change that whenever. you can get a super stable android 7 running on the s3 still, if yours is the i9300 i'd be interested in picking it up after you upgrade. international s3 and blackberry torch 9810 are still my all-time favourite phones gay for gacha posted:I loved the s8 for this and that's about what they cost. s8 is much larger tho
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# ? Oct 11, 2020 18:03 |
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If I root my phone to put android 7 on it will that clean up a bunch of the security issues? Be a drat sight cheaper than buying a new phone
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# ? Oct 11, 2020 22:35 |
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ilmucche posted:If I root my phone to put android 7 on it will that clean up a bunch of the security issues? Be a drat sight cheaper than buying a new phone all the ones between 4 and 7, none of the ones between 7 and... what is it, 10 now?
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# ? Oct 11, 2020 22:54 |
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ilmucche posted:If I root my phone to put android 7 on it will that clean up a bunch of the security issues? Be a drat sight cheaper than buying a new phone 4 versions out of date versus 8 versions, plus it'd be running software written by someone you can't trust--seems like six of one, half dozen of another. Honestly if picking up a cheap phone, any of which would be many times faster and more usable than the one you've got, is outside your means and you've already been using this device for seven years without any reason to give it up and nothing's happened to you yet, I'd say gently caress it and not get a new phone until you're absolutely forced to. It's gotten you this far, right? I say it's ride or die at this point. It's amazing there are still 3G networks for your phone to connect to, now that I think about it. Most of America's are gone and what's left barely work and have almost no coverage. If you still want a new phone I'll let others recommend since I'm not in Europe and don't know what low cost devices are available to you but I'd say you're better off not buying now, saving up a little, and buying a phone that's better than bottom of the barrel since you seem to be willing to keep yours for a while. Might as well have a good one for those first few years. owlhawk911 posted:all the ones between 4 and 7, none of the ones between 7 and... what is it, 10 now? 11
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# ? Oct 11, 2020 23:03 |
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LastInLine posted:4 versions out of date versus 8 versions, plus it'd be running software written by someone you can't trust--seems like six of one, half dozen of another. s3 was 4g yo and lineage is a pretty big name in roms, i trust them way more than any of the bloatware packing oems
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# ? Oct 11, 2020 23:20 |
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Yeah the s3 can do 4g. If I disable mms without me hitting receive and don't download poo poo that reduces my risk yeah? Internet I use is pretty much youtube and twitter from forums links. Oh I check my gmail too ilmucche fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Oct 11, 2020 |
# ? Oct 11, 2020 23:51 |
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owlhawk911 posted:s3 was 4g yo Most S3s weren't but I know some variants were. As for Lineage, they can be as big as they want but they can't backport security patches that were never made and they simply don't exist for the chipset in question. ilmucche posted:Yeah the s3 can do 4g. If I disable mms without me hitting receive and don't download poo poo that reduces my risk yeah? Internet I use is pretty much youtube and twitter from forums links. That's a decent practice, sure. Like I said you've made it this far anyway. What's the worst that can happen? At click fraud, signing you up for paid SMS scams, and ransomware? Live dangerously.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 00:27 |
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I had the Galaxy S3 in 2012 (the year is was debuted). Kudos it has lasted this long, but man, I would upgrade. Not just security, but at some point the apps are gonna stop working right with it.
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# ? Oct 12, 2020 13:22 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 23:30 |
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So here's a dumb question that I hate to even ask, but are there any remotely reliable phones with physical keypads left that aren't flip phones? My girlfriend's dad has severe vision issues that make using a phone somewhat difficult, but he could definitely manage to use a smartphone if he tried. He's also stubborn, however, and he wants something with buttons that's not a flip phone. He's basically been going without a phone for almost a year now and it's making everyone who gives a poo poo about him insanely anxious since those severe vision problems also mean that he sometimes has accidents. He still works and he still rides his bike everywhere, so it'd be great to find something that meets his criteria so he'll actually keep it and use it. For what it's worth, I'm not really asking about phones that are accessible for someone with vision problems or easy to use for someone who isn't familiar with technology. He's a smart guy and he'll manage to figure out whatever, it just needs to meet the specific requirements of having physical buttons and not being a flip phone so he'll actually use the stupid thing.
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# ? Oct 15, 2020 04:04 |