phones

[Chad Fabry]

I break phones so I've had quite a few.

I've had the string of Galaxy phones from Samsung but they haven't been durable and they're packed with bloatware that you cannot delete.

The app Flipboard is what made me swear off Samsung and switch to Google's Pixel XL.

Hands down, it is the best phone I've ever had. If you're in the market, it's a great tool.

[kurt]

It only makes sense. Operating systems and hardware have to be integrated as only the OS side can make it happen. It's why the iphone was so good for so long. Samsung makes zero money on the hardware side; almost nothing anyway. That can only hold out for a while.

[Erby]

I rely on Otterboxes!

[AmeriSpecguy]

I've used a OnePlus phone for years. No bloatware and the same basic OS as Android with some tweaks.

Otterboxes are the best defense against drops that I've used. Had one of my Samsung years ago. Dropped it daily from atop ladders and never had a single issue

[John Kogel]

I found a belt pouch with elastic sides at the builders supply.

Holds the iPhone, which has a Roots rubber jacket.

Have another belt pouch for the moisture meter.

Why does my wifes Galaxy 4 go dead just sitting there, while the iPhone holds a charge for days.

[Tom Raymond]

I rely on Otterboxes!

I have a Samsung Galaxy S6 in an otterbox. I broke it.

[Charlie R]

I have been using a Samsung for years, and am thinking of getting something newer. What is it you really like about the Google phone?

TIA

[Erby]

Anything can be broken Tom.

What did you do to break it?

[Tom Raymond]

Missed my pocket and dropped it.

[John Dirks Jr]

My first smart phone was an iPhone 4s. I'm still using it. It's sluggish but get me by

[Chad Fabry]

I have been using a Samsung for years, and am thinking of getting something newer. What is it you really like about the Google phone?

TIA

I've been asking myself why I really like it too.

The camera isn't just good, it's bordering on incredible. It has excellent low light capabilities, it's fast and has great color.

The phone is superb. iPhone users, don't take this wrong, but I can always tell when I'm talking to you because iPhone call quality just isn't good. This phone feels like it has true duplex and voice clarity is like when we were kids talking on a wall mount model.

The display is excellent. It's as good, maybe better than the S6 Edge.

The apps work fast as heck and without glitches- My Chase Bank app was a struggle for my last phone. On this phone, I can open the app using my finger print, take pictures of the front and back of the check and deposit the check in about a minute. The same process used to take about 5 minutes. The watermarks on the back of the check made the Samsung really struggle with focus. Not so with the Pixel XL.

Voice to text actually works- it works well enough so that I'm not obsessing about what it thought I said because it types what I say.

Battery life is between good and very good. Easily an all day battery.

Buttons and controls are placed where you cannot accidentally move them.

You can actually take the phone out of your pocket, check to see who's calling and return it your pocket without accidentally answering the call.

No bloatware, no bloatware, no bloatware.

Apps are right at the bottom, not in a separate folder. Swipe up from the bottom and all your apps appear. It's an awesome feature because I only need my essential apps on my home screen since it's so easy to get to the rest.

Google organizes my photos and stores them so I'll never come close to using the 32gig of memory.

Everything works.

[Steven Hockstein]

It is amazing the price difference in obtaining a phone, even with the same provider.

Here is what recently happened...

We have Sprint. Where we need to use it, the service is great and the price is substantially less than Verizon. We also have unlimited data. Four of us are on the plan for about $200.

Our two year contract was up in December. I went to the Sprint store and asked about phone upgrade options. They offered to sell me a phone with a $200 credit or allow me to lease a phone.

I went to Best Buy and the deals were a little better but not much.

I looked at Apple.com because I wanted to see my phone options and we all got new IPhone SE's with 64G of memory for "free", directly from Apple if we commit to two years of Sprint. If I wanted the 6s it would be $99 each.

I actually like the SE better because it is essentially a 6s in a 5s size case. It was a seamless phone upgrade from the 5s.

[kurt]

They're all just phones. Everyone gets super excited about new ones, then it wears off.

In China, I use a Xiaomi phone. They have all the same stuff as every other phone and they cost <1/2 as much.

I switched everything to T-Mobile about a year ago. I got 4 phones for what it used to cost to have a single phone @ Verizon, coverage is the same or better.

I dream of the day I can chuck my phone in the garbage can.

[Tom Raymond]

They're not phones at all. One has to all the way back to the days of the bag phone to get decent call quality and phone functionality.

[kurt]

If we're going nostalgic,.......my first was a car phone, called such because the equipment took up most of the trunk space in my Dodge. 5 grand. Seemed like a good deal in the mid-80's because I was blowing about $10 a day on pay phones. My first bag phone (and, if one is going back to bag phones to describe quality, early senescence is taking hold)...was about $2800....another seeming bargain.

I remember battery problems. I had an early handheld that, one day, started getting warm, then really warm, then hot, then ridiculously hot, then I put it on the sidewalk where an impromptu demonstration of critical mass and nuclear meltdown occurred. The whole thing was reduced to stamped parts in a matrix of black plastic goo. That was a great phone. Educational and entertaining.

[Jerry Simon]

I got a car phone when they first came out (widespread, that is). First time the phone rang, it scared the heck out of me and I threw my cup of coffee all over me and the car. Wouldn't be so bad now, but back then I wore nice suits.

[Nolan Kienitz]

And then there is this:

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[Rob Amaral]

the first mobile phones I used were hard-wired Audiovox Nynex types that were part of the limos I drove... (Commonwealth Limousine/Boston and a stint as 'house driver' for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel/Boston). Stretch Lincolns and some Lincoln Town Cars (they were like Lear Jets!) (Longest-fare was BOS-NYC... starting at 430PM.. UGH). Longest 'fare by time' was over 1 week.. (US Open---Brookline, MA "The Country Club".. the fare was a golf-writer and all around excellent guy---Dan Jenkins...of Golf Digest . All I did all week was watch the US Open in person...)

I then got one in 1988 for my car ... very similar... between the mobile phone, land-line Code-A-Phone answering machines and pager, we had a 'system' to signal each other in the field and such... and of course.. 'pay phones' where necessary...

GPS was 'via mapbook 100%" of course and dead-reckoning...