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cr0y posted:Oh god something I can hack/root the gently caress out of sign me up. you're one of those tinkerers! i'd probably spin up an empty vm and use stock chrome if you have a pihole or adblock or use brave or ..etc. they use a super, super insanely creepy device fingerprinting vendor that also tries to portscan you/your local network from client side js, and if you fail or block any of the scripts they load (including turning off canvas or webgl) your address/phone/name/etc is basically banned from the offer.
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Apr 9, 2021 05:41
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I'm on Verizon and my current phone is a Samsung S8 that I've had for coming up on four years, I think. It's got screen burn-in of the keyboard and the power button is starting to not register consistently, so I'm thinking to upgrade. I want to pay in full for something because I can get most of the cost reimbursed through my work for it if I do. I was thinking to get a recent Samsung but saw some comments about them having ads, which is a big dealbreaker for me - I already knew Samsung put a bunch of bloatware onto their phones, that's true even with the S8, and it sounds like that is the same or worse with the current gen. Feature-wise, the S8 has plenty of capability for the things I do (texting, reading this forum, and GPS/bluetooth music when I'm driving), I don't play any games or run any demanding apps. Waterproofing is a must, though, because of all the times I've been caught in the rain while cycling. I'm not in dire need of upgrading and can wait for a while if there's something good about to be released, but the issues with my current phone are annoying enough that I don't want to wait indefinitely. I appreciate any input.
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Apr 12, 2021 20:37
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Kylaer posted:I'm on Verizon and my current phone is a Samsung S8 that I've had for coming up on four years, I think. It's got screen burn-in of the keyboard and the power button is starting to not register consistently, so I'm thinking to upgrade. I want to pay in full for something because I can get most of the cost reimbursed through my work for it if I do. I was thinking to get a recent Samsung but saw some comments about them having ads, which is a big dealbreaker for me - I already knew Samsung put a bunch of bloatware onto their phones, that's true even with the S8, and it sounds like that is the same or worse with the current gen. A lot of Verizon customers (not all) have fairly decent retention trade in offers right now. I’m off the next 3 days, but if you want me to check for you on Friday or so, send me a PM.
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Apr 13, 2021 04:28
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My current phone is a Galaxy A3 which I got over 5 years ago. I feel like I could do with a new phone. I don't have the patience to review every phone that's available, but after flicking through a few options I was thinking of getting the Galaxy A42. Are there any potential deal-breakers with that one? I noticed that it seems to have a large battery, which is something I'd like, and it seems to be cheap among 5G-capable phones. I don't make very heavy use of my phone. I'm in the UK.
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Apr 15, 2021 18:30
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Biowarfare posted:you can get a free tmo locked hotspot shipped 1 day ups https://www.t-mobile.com/offers/free-trial FYI, They are using a more secure (less fun) device for test drive now. I just got mine and am bummed out that as of right no one has been able to do much bashing on it. The new device is this something with the model "TMOHS1", and googling that turns up several other annoyed hackers 
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Apr 15, 2021 20:00
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cr0y posted:FYI, They are using a more secure (less fun) device for test drive now. I just got mine and am bummed out that as of right no one has been able to do much bashing on it. The new device is this something with the model "TMOHS1", and googling that turns up several other annoyed hackers haha drat. probably because of the number of t9's that turned up on ebay shortly after. they used a coolpad before the t9's for longer, afaik if TMOHS1 googling is correct, giving out the T9 lasted like.. one or two months
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Apr 15, 2021 20:10
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Biowarfare posted:haha drat. probably because of the number of t9's that turned up on ebay shortly after. they used a coolpad before the t9's for longer, afaik if TMOHS1 googling is correct, giving out the T9 lasted like.. one or two months Seems to be a newer device and people already are tearing into it so she's going on to the "put on a shelf until someone finds something cool to do with it"
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Apr 15, 2021 20:34
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It's not quite a question about a phone or plan but does anyone have any recommendations on a little tripod for a mobile phone? I have a Pixel 3a and I need to record some interviews coming up, and I want to make sure the camera stays in place reliably. I've been looking at the ones with flexible legs so you can make sure the phone is level on any surface.
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Apr 19, 2021 22:42
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Tripod on a table or a gimbal with stand?
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Apr 19, 2021 22:48
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Just a tripod on a table, it will be static the whole time.
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Apr 20, 2021 00:06
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Country/Provider: GTA, Canada : Freedom mobile Current contract status: 35 CAD (grandfathered plan) Data: 2 GB then throttling (never had an issue with throttled speeds) unlimited country wide talk Budget (phone/plan): Phone: 750 CAD tax included so 670 CAD or so. Features I know I want: So my 2016 iPhone SE's battery is crap now and it is inconvenient to have to carry a cable around/ plan around how long the battery will last. The last 3 phones (nexus 4/5, iphone se) I have purchased outright to keep my current plan because I can't add phone tab without a more expensive plan (60 CAD for unlimited talk + 15GB data). So my question is If I don't see any benefit from the more unlimited data is there any point in changing plans just to get a "discounted" phone. I also have the Shaw/freedom merger in the back of my mind that if I need to bail I would prefer not to have to cancel a 24 month plan. My only phone feature that I want is a headphone jack because I listen to podcasts or music all day and I don't another device I use daily to a. be another thing that needs to be charged and and b. have a life span.
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Apr 21, 2021 14:23
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MasterBuilder posted:So my question is If I don't see any benefit from the more unlimited data is there any point in changing plans just to get a "discounted" phone. Take the discounted price and add how much you'd be paying for service for the contract duration (24 months?). Compare that to the full price plus the discounted service. If it's an extra $25/month for 24 months, the discount would have to be $600 to break even. You may want it for other reasons (less up front cost, you'd use the additional features of the new plan). There's now 3.5 mm jack on the new iPhone SE. The Pixel 4a and 4a (5G) have it, I believe. You can always use a USB-C to 3.5 mm adapter, I hear the Apple one is really good, though that's one more dongle and I find it a tad annoying to have that extra bit on the end of my headphone cord.
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Apr 21, 2021 14:45
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Uthor posted:Take the discounted price and add how much you'd be paying for service for the contract duration (24 months?). Compare that to the full price plus the discounted service. If it's an extra $25/month for 24 months, the discount would have to be $600 to break even. Yeah I dumb. The price for what I am willing to spend for the phone is the pixel 4a 5g price tag. I'm stuck with the 4a5g because the pixel 5 has no headphone jack but is a bit smaller than 4a5g) and the straight pixel 4a has a smaller battery and fewer software updates than 4a5g but is smaller and has a headphone jack. I am also partial to the google or apple phones is that if there is a hardware problem I know who I will have to contact to get it resolved. The other thing with my current plan is that I wouldn't be able to get it back later on. So as a sanity check over 24 months which is the Canadian maximum length that you can amortize a phone for. Taxes not included. Current plan + phone for 24 months = 35*24+696 = 1536 Minimum new plan (60/m) + Tab (696-240(discount)) *24 = 60*24+456 = 1896. So a mathematically worse deal. But I guess are there any deals with any of the other CAD providers or should I head over to the Canadian wireless thread?
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Apr 21, 2021 15:27
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MasterBuilder posted:Yeah I dumb. The price for what I am willing to spend for the phone is the pixel 4a 5g price tag. I'm stuck with the 4a5g because the pixel 5 has no headphone jack but is a bit smaller than 4a5g) and the straight pixel 4a has a smaller battery and fewer software updates than 4a5g but is smaller and has a headphone jack. The 4a and 4a 5G have the same software now and going forward. Battery life is probably going to be fairly similar between them too, definitely both have great battery. It's really just whether the smaller size + cheaper price is worth it to you vs slightly better processor + ultrawide lens + 5G.
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Apr 21, 2021 17:23
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sourdough posted:The 4a and 4a 5G have the same software now and going forward. Battery life is probably going to be fairly similar between them too, definitely both have great battery. It's really just whether the smaller size + cheaper price is worth it to you vs slightly better processor + ultrawide lens + 5G. Doesn’t the 4a5g get one more OS update than the 4a.
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Apr 21, 2021 17:53
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MasterBuilder posted:Doesn’t the 4a5g get one more OS update than the 4a. Seems pretty unlikely but I guess we’re in a little bit of uncharted waters with the delay between the 4a and 4a 5G. Keep in mind the og Pixel got Android 10 in September 2019 and updates through December 2019 despite having no guaranteed updates after October 2018, and Pixel 2 has its latest Android 11 update from December 2020 with no promised updates after October 2020.
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Apr 21, 2021 18:53
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Ended up with the 4a 5g. Probably regret the size at some point but c'est la vie. Thanks for the help.
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Apr 22, 2021 19:43
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MasterBuilder posted:Ended up with the 4a 5g. Probably regret the size at some point but c'est la vie. Thanks for the help.  yeah size is the only downside to it imo
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Apr 22, 2021 20:08
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tldr; UK market Non-contract (service provider independent) Long term support for (at least) security updates Mid-tier features Decent-ish mid-tier camera Headphone jack Preferably not giving a handy to Amazon, Google, or Apple Budget £200-500 Per this post in the android thread, I'm looking for a new phone. I bought the cheapest not-total-garbage android I could find on amazon at the time, because I needed a basic-rear end functional phone for business calls & emails, which turned out to be a Motorola g6 (play), which is now 1 year behind on security updates (on android 9). It migrated to my main phone when I broke my iphone, and it's served me perfectly well ever since. It still works fine but without security updates I just can't keep using it as a main phone with banking apps on it etc. I use the camera quite frequently but for documentation rather than artistry. A better camera would be nice but I don't need anything too fancy as I have a DSLR for that. I have both bluetooth and good quality wired headphones, so I'd like to keep the headphone jack, but I don't know how feasible that is these days. I'm in the UK market, out of contract. I've been buying phones outright for many years and buying SIM-only plans. I'm not against going back to an iphone as I still have a bunch of macs, but I was already kinda sick of their walled garden and I hate planned obsolescence (which is why this thing with the lack of security updates for my phone is pissing me off). I also used to have a Nexus S which was fine. I'm trying to reduce my reliance on the giant megacorps, though I'm still somewhat in the google ecosystem for services and the apple ecosystem for laptops. I'm pretty much done with Amazon outside of the kindle. A foldable screen would be cool but assuming it'll be a few years before they're actually usable I'm not going to wait around. Jaded Burnout fucked around with this message at 07:32 on Apr 27, 2021 |
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Apr 27, 2021 07:29
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Update wise you can really only consider the Pixels and Samsungs. I think Sammy committed to four years of updates and the Pixels are guaranteed three. Right now its probably not possible to beat the Pixel 4a on price relative to features. They also have headphone jacks so there's that. Hopefully the price is reasonable in your market, I can't say, but they're cheap here in the US. The 5a isn't coming to the UK so there's no reason to wait.
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Apr 27, 2021 16:53
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Samsung phones do come with the caveat that you are giving a handy to Samsung though, from $1.5k devices that have full screen push notification image ads for other Samsung products to the Samsung app store etc
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Apr 27, 2021 17:13
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LastInLine posted:Update wise you can really only consider the Pixels and Samsungs. I think Sammy committed to four years of updates and the Pixels are guaranteed three. Right now its probably not possible to beat the Pixel 4a on price relative to features. They also have headphone jacks so there's that. Hopefully the price is reasonable in your market, I can't say, but they're cheap here in the US. The 5a isn't coming to the UK so there's no reason to wait. Looks like prices are comparable. No 5G, I guess that's currently a premium feature, and coverage here stops about 20ft from my house, so I guess that's not a big deal either. I was also considering an iPhone SE, since going back to iOS gives me a couple of small advantages (cross-machine Messages, omnifocus). I see that has no jack, which is a shame, and it would be a reduction in screen size (5.7" to 4.7"). I used to have a 5S which was a 4" screen, presumably I thought the screen on the motorola was too big when I switched over, funny how you get used to these things. Pixel 4a comparable to the motorola there. Edit: Biowarfare posted:Samsung phones do come with the caveat that you are giving a handy to Samsung though, from $1.5k devices that have full screen push notification image ads for other Samsung products to the Samsung app store etc I heard about that with their TVs, yeah. Are the phones as bad?
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Apr 27, 2021 17:19
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Jaded Burnout posted:I heard about that with their TVs, yeah. Are the phones as bad? Yes. In my experience Samsung are decent at hardware but their software quality, security, and business practices are worse than Google or Apple.
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Apr 27, 2021 17:24
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Biowarfare posted:Yes. A friend gave me a really high quality 42" Samsung TV. The amount of ads it shows you is insane. I eventually just use it with a streaming stick and don't even have it on WiFi.
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Apr 27, 2021 18:08
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Jaded Burnout posted:I was also considering an iPhone SE, since going back to iOS gives me a couple of small advantages (cross-machine Messages, omnifocus). Messages on web works just fine for this and even installs as a PWA assuming you're a Chrome user. As a Mac user myself I haven't found much integration that using iOS would improve, though I'll admit I'm predisposed to prefer a web service over a native app given the choice. Apple's preference for the latter is honestly my biggest peeve with their ecosystem.
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Apr 27, 2021 20:46
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Jaded Burnout posted:Looks like prices are comparable. No 5G, I guess that's currently a premium feature, and coverage here stops about 20ft from my house, so I guess that's not a big deal either. Keep in mind the iphone has a 16:9 screen, your Moto an 18:9, and a Pixel 4a is 19.5:9, so you can't really get a good feel for size differences by the screen diagonal. Your Moto is a substantially bigger phone than either of the other two: https://www.phonearena.com/phones/size/Apple-iPhone-SE-2020,Google-Pixel-4a,Motorola-Moto-G6-Play/phones/10750,11311,10805
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Apr 27, 2021 22:14
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Jaded Burnout posted:I was also considering an iPhone SE, since going back to iOS gives me a couple of small advantages (cross-machine Messages, omnifocus). I see that has no jack, which is a shame, and it would be a reduction in screen size (5.7" to 4.7"). Dongle life kind of sucks, but wired dongles are $10 (£10, probably) and Bluetooth receivers aren't much more. If you're concerned about update longevity, Apple's in a completely different league from anything you'll find running Android. The 6S and original SE (5+ years since release date) are still current on iOS updates. And, even after Apple cuts off a device from major version updates, they'll push high-priority security fixes for a while longer. iOS 12 (the last version supported by the 5S and 6) is still getting security fixes as of a month ago. The current SE also has a high-end SoC in it, which is good news for its longevity. In the past, Apple's usually made the "no more iOS updates" cutoff based on hardware features like instruction set support or available RAM. If you're trying to decouple your life from megacorporations but aren't ready to give up smartphones or go with one of those ultra-cyberpunk, ultra-niche fully open source Linux phones, then Apple's focus on privacy might also be appealing. There are definitely reasons why you might not want to get an iPhone, but if it's important to have the longest possible support window and less-than-Google-or-Facebook snooping, it's probably the top contender.
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Apr 28, 2021 01:47
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sourdough posted:Keep in mind the iphone has a 16:9 screen, your Moto an 18:9, and a Pixel 4a is 19.5:9, so you can't really get a good feel for size differences by the screen diagonal. Your Moto is a substantially bigger phone than either of the other two: https://www.phonearena.com/phones/size/Apple-iPhone-SE-2020,Google-Pixel-4a,Motorola-Moto-G6-Play/phones/10750,11311,10805 Good note, thanks. Space Gopher posted:If you're trying to decouple your life from megacorporations but aren't ready to give up smartphones or go with one of those ultra-cyberpunk, ultra-niche fully open source Linux phones, then Apple's focus on privacy might also be appealing. A compelling argument. While I'd like a hyper-paranoid phone they're not quite there yet. Maybe the SE will be the right choice.
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Apr 28, 2021 06:02
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Jaded Burnout posted:Good note, thanks. There was a recent refresh of the linux phone, actually, thats a bit beefier hardware than the librem 5. Its the pro1 by fxtec https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2020/10/27/this-gorgeous-new-linux-phone-ships-with-ubuntu-touch-and-lineageos/ https://www.fxtec.com/pro1x I was considering one for the sheer keyboard factor. God I miss those sliders.
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Apr 28, 2021 07:11
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I've gone for the iPhone SE. Thanks all for your super advice.TheParadigm posted:There was a recent refresh of the linux phone, actually, thats a bit beefier hardware than the librem 5. Its the pro1 by fxtec Nice. Perhaps for next time, though I don't much care for those sliders, they always seemed to get a bit flimsy over time.
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Apr 28, 2021 08:04
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I currently have a LG G8, and i've had it for about two years. It's starting to get a little slow (usually if i'm using spotify and open the camera) and the battery is starting to lose it's weight (which isn't the worst thing, but it is annoying). So I figured it's time to start browsing around for new phones. Any goons have any recommendations? I'm looking to buy outright, too. Budget: 600~800$. Carrier: Tmobile Longerer is betterer when it comes to battery life, and is always a key feature. Good camera(s) is also good, but not as important to me as NFC and wireless charging. Expandable storage is ideal, but honestly has kinda gone to poo poo on android lately. I prefer a little-as-hosed-with-as-possible android ROM, because LG's is locked down in fucky ways, and there isn't always a lot of good support on XDA or the like for custom ROMs. That said, if there's a good phone that is (comparatively) easily flashable, I don't mind if the stock ROM sucks. Any suggestions? It's been two years since I looked at or really paid attention to the smartphone market, and I'm kicking myself for not keeping up at all, because all this poo poo can be so goddamned overwhelming.
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Apr 29, 2021 17:55
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SpookyLizard posted:I currently have a LG G8, and i've had it for about two years. It's starting to get a little slow (usually if i'm using spotify and open the camera) and the battery is starting to lose it's weight (which isn't the worst thing, but it is annoying). So I figured it's time to start browsing around for new phones. Any goons have any recommendations? I'm looking to buy outright, too. Sucks because , as manufacturers either exit the game or gently caress out of they haven’t , it’s really coming down to 4 main manufacturers: Apple Samsung Motorola And Motorola for high end phones is a stretch, although they make fairly good medium and cheap phones. I think? One Plus Phones may be in this as well, but I don’t follow them enough. Samsung makes great hardware but yeah, their software blows and apparently they now have a bad habit of having ads everywhere. That said, I still recommend Samsung, I don’t think you need to flash the software, but you can download stock apps and disable the Samsung crap. Google is great software but not as powerful hardware. At this point you may be able to find a good deal on the pixel 5. I don’t think the 5 is worth $700 (others disagree) but a bit less and yeah that is what you are looking for.
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Apr 29, 2021 19:45
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Currently with AT&T with a Note 8. Replaced the screen twice but getting keyboard screen burn in. Looking to trade it in - looking at a Pixel-series phone because I like the camera options and lower price tag. I like 3.5mm jacks. Is there anything else I should be considering, promos going on, etc? Thanks!
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May 3, 2021 10:31
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Hello Thread - Hopefully some easy questions: My mom has a Galaxy S3 which is on its last legs (not surprisingly). She's asked me for help with buying her a new phone and getting it setup (she has AT&T). I haven't shopped for a new phone in about 5 years myself so I have some questions. She doesn't need a high end phone, and since her old phone is 8 years old, pretty much anything will be light years ahead of the S3. She wants to stick with an Android phone and spend around $300-400. It looks like the Pixel 4a is a solid phone and in her price range. Primary use will be phone calls, texting, email, taking pictures/video, and web browsing. A battery that lasts through the day is also a plus. The Pixel may be a bit overkill, but its got solid reviews and meets her needs so I'm going to go with that unless there's a much better option. So here's where I need a lot of help. She wants to transfer her contacts, texts, pictures, etc over to the new phone. It looks like AT&T has a tool to do this, but her S3 is on Android 4.4 and the tool needs 5.0 or later. Is it correct she can go into the system settings, back up the phone and then once she gets the new phone, import her profile (with her contacts, texts, etc) from the old phone to the new phone? The last time I got a phone I went to the AT&T store to get it activated. My mom and I are trying to stay home as much as possible due to covid so we're trying to avoid going to the store if possible. Is going to the store still necessary or can the phone be activated at home? Thank you!
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May 3, 2021 16:54
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If you buy the phone outright you should almost certainly be able to just move the SIM into it. Android should have a built in migration tool where you just touch the two phones together or scan a QR code to set up wifidirect. I don't know if something as old as 4.4 can go straight to 10-11, but I don't see where AT&T has anything to do with it.
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May 3, 2021 17:08
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She should have her contacts set up to use her Google account and back up there (unless she has some privacy reasons to avoid that), which syncs them with Gmail and will automatically import onto the new phone. Emails should be in Gmail or whatever provider she uses. Photos can be backed up, most easily with Google Photos, but one can also use Dropbox, OneDrive, or other services. Google Photos would allow her to keep her photos in the cloud and view them on the new phone without downloading, if she'd like to do that. The other services would require some manual downloading to the new device. Note: photos take up a lot of data and one may need to purchase an upgraded storage plan. If she uses Chrome, web browsing history/etc would be automatically backed up to her Google account, unless turned off on purpose. I don't do regular backups of texts, so I don't know how well those would be automatically backed up versus using some 3rd party software. If the transfer between phones doesn't work, there are (fairly simple) ways to get the data onto the new phone. And it'd be good to set that up in advance to have backups of the phone in case it breaks unexpectedly.
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May 3, 2021 18:16
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Thank you all for the info. Sounds like moving over photos and email will be pretty easy. Texts and contacts may be trickier but she really doesn't have that many so worse case we can manually add her contacts.
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May 4, 2021 17:07
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Contacts should be the easiest thing to transfer...
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May 4, 2021 17:50
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Biowarfare posted:If you buy the phone outright you should almost certainly be able to just move the SIM into it. If I'm not mistaken, the Galaxy S3 uses a micro SIM, which would require trimming to fit the Pixel 4 Nano SIM slot.
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May 4, 2021 18:29
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maltesh posted:If I'm not mistaken, the Galaxy S3 uses a micro SIM, which would require trimming to fit the Pixel 4 Nano SIM slot. Shoot you're right, the S3 uses micro and the Pixel 4 uses nano. If I don't want to trim the micro sim, can I buy a nano sim off Amazon? Will that let her keep her same number?
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May 4, 2021 18:52
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