"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
05/01/2018 at 09:21 • Filed to: None
0
11|
"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
05/01/2018 at 09:21 • Filed to: None | 0
| 11 |
Alright, I know what you’re going to say: “Mercedes indecisive about a phone? Who knew!!” Well...uh...crap...uh, you’re totally wrong!
When I used to live in my house, it was easy to take on more bills because the rent was cheap, I only had three smarts, and I didn’t really care if the house didn’t have furniture.
Well since moving out, my rent has gone up and I’ve taken on two new sorta hefty and unavoidable bills. That means I have to trim overhead elsewhere! I’ve already arranged per-mile insurance for the fleet. I’m not paying any more for the four than I would pay for one with traditional insurance.
Next is my phone bill. When I was depressed, I tried to find happiness in stupid things. That means I signed up for a contract at Sprint. Eww. And while I love this iPhone 8 Plus, I admit that I’ve grown to love Android’s lack of a “walled garden”. I miss my easily whipped up custom ringtones, using my phone as a flash drive, and so on.
So, I’m paying the early termination (surprisingly cheap!!!) and am getting myself back to either Straight Talk or trying Mint SIM. I have no idea what made me lock myself into a contact in the first place. Going to Mint will reduce my monthly by $100 while ST will be something like $70+. And I know ST works well so long as you onboard a good unlocked phone.
And what phone am I doing this with? I sold off some more of my tech collectibles for this bad boy:
This is the Xiaomi Mix 2. I’ve always wanted the first generation of this phone. It had flagship specs with a build that not even all flagships have with a ceramic back and tiny bezels. However, the lack of full US band support left me feeling disappointed and steered me towards Huawei’s Honor brand.
The second generation says “I got you, fam.” And does away with the first gen’s downsides and limitations.
The only thing I don’t “like” about this phone is the lack of water resistance. However honestly water resistance has never been an issue for me. Actually, it’s sort of a nuisance for me because to dip my phone in water, I’d have to take it out of the case. It’s a feature that’s nice to have, but absolutely doesn’t matter. Even worse is that my anxiety had me freaking out about the chances of the phones leaking.
So fine, you Android lovers win, I’m coming back!
Fun fact: After giving back the iPhone to Sprint (yay device rental), my Apple products will be down to some iPods and my 10 year old MacBook.
Wacko
> Mercedes Streeter
05/01/2018 at 09:25 |
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You change phones more than most change underwear
random001
> Mercedes Streeter
05/01/2018 at 09:30 |
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That’s a good looking phone, though...
Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
> Mercedes Streeter
05/01/2018 at 09:31 |
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That phone looks crazy. I love it.
Cé hé sin
> Mercedes Streeter
05/01/2018 at 09:37 |
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I only had three smarts,
It’s not many people can say that!
CalzoneGolem
> Cé hé sin
05/01/2018 at 09:39 |
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shop-teacher
> Mercedes Streeter
05/01/2018 at 09:42 |
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How much are these, and how is the camera and signal reception? I went back to Andriod about six months ago, which I love, but I went too cheap on my phone. The camera sucks, and while the WiFi reception is great, the cell signal reception is garbage.
deekster_caddy
> Mercedes Streeter
05/01/2018 at 10:36 |
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I stopped doing two-year upgrades and contracts on phones years ago. We pay for our phones outright and mostly buy gently used (Gazelle is awesome) and trade in old phones when something goes wrong. My family is all using iPhone 5S, 6 or 6Ss and it’s really inexpensive to keep the lines lit up. They all do what we need them to do... I’m just not looking for anything outside the mysterious walled garden. It takes phone calls, I can update google docs, take great pictures and videos, and I can easily keep track of my family. Ringtones aren’t exactly simple to add, but they are definitely add-able with garage band and itunes. But that doesn’t interest me either.
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Mercedes Streeter
> deekster_caddy
05/02/2018 at 10:50 |
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That’s the appeal iPhones have always had to me. They were simple and because of that simplicity, they just worked. This is part of I’ve only owned Apple products for mostly everything up until 2016. Maybe my foray into Android back in 2016 and 2017 spoiled me. I liked having hacked versions of paid apps, I like being able to transfer files and music between my devices with little more than connecting to my computer, and so on. The Galaxy S7 was the first Android I’ve loved as much (if not more) than an iPhone, which to me means that high end Android phones have definitely caught up to the big fruit company.
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Mercedes Streeter
> shop-teacher
05/02/2018 at 10:51 |
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Oh yeah, you’re going to want to get a good Android phone for the best Android experience. Cheap Androids will make you hate the OS. This one is about $400. People on the XDA forums seem to like this phone, but I’ll report back when I get the phone tomorrow.
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shop-teacher
> Mercedes Streeter
05/02/2018 at 11:36 |
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Please do!
I love Android. But for the crappy cell signal reception and the crappy picture quality, everything else about the phone is great.
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deekster_caddy
> Mercedes Streeter
05/03/2018 at 09:37 |
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Yeah, I get it. I have a central computer at home with all of our movies on it, those ripped with handbrake and those we purchased from Apple. Because all of our phones sync to the same computer it’s really easy to add the movies or music etc, and we use family sharing for purchased songs. I have no interest in hacked apps either, it would violate my Eagle Scout badge and I don’t like the idea that hacked apps often include malware, and it’s really hard to tell what is and isn’t “safe” anymore. With these things going to my kids, I can take some comfort in the way Apple will kill an app if needed and I prefer their approach to customer privacy. They make their money on the devices, not the data.