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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by tjg_marantz »

Got the nexus 6p yesterday. Yeah, it's that good so far. Got a cheap case while my black candyshell ships. Snappy as hell, no lock ups, battery will last the whole day without issue. Loving it so far.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Jeff V »

Ah, seems Samsung maybe wants to sell me a new phone after all.
After a self-induced stumble with the Galaxy S6, Samsung is reportedly adding back features it removed: Expect the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge to have expandable storage, water resistance and more power.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by tjg_marantz »

Samsung had me since the Galaxy S but I've been rooting and roming them to get rid of the bloat. Now I'm on the Nexus 6P and boy, I'm really not seeing a reason to go back no matter what they do to their phone. Just the bloat is enough to keep me away now.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Xmann »

tjg_marantz wrote:Samsung had me since the Galaxy S but I've been rooting and roming them to get rid of the bloat. Now I'm on the Nexus 6P and boy, I'm really not seeing a reason to go back no matter what they do to their phone. Just the bloat is enough to keep me away now.
Yep, exactly what happened to me when the Nexus 4 came out. I was on the S3 and went to a N4 and haven't looked back.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Isgrimnur »

Blackberry goes Android:
BlackBerry will run Android on its next two smartphone models in 2016, instead of its flagship BB10 mobile operating system, as it works to increase sales and find new energy in its hardware business.

The move to Android over BlackBerry's BB10 OS was revealed by the company's CEO, John Chen, in an interview at CES 2016 in Las Vegas, according to a Jan. 7 article by Pocket-Lint. Chen said the company will unveil two new mobile devices in 2016 and that both will run on Android, the report continued.
...
The move to an Android phone won't be BlackBerry's first. That distinction goes to the company's Priv handset, which was released in November 2015 with a 5.4-inch curved glass touch-screen display, a 1.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 hexa-core processor, 3GB of RAM and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, along with Android 5.1. The Priv was aimed at enticing new users who want a different kind of phone with touch-screen capabilities and a true keyboard, along with the wide array of apps available for Android. BlackBerry is hitching much of its future hardware business on the new device, which is selling well, according to the company. Sales of the phone will be expanded to 31 countries by the end of February, according to an earlier eWEEK report.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Jeff V »

Xmann wrote:
tjg_marantz wrote:Samsung had me since the Galaxy S but I've been rooting and roming them to get rid of the bloat. Now I'm on the Nexus 6P and boy, I'm really not seeing a reason to go back no matter what they do to their phone. Just the bloat is enough to keep me away now.
Yep, exactly what happened to me when the Nexus 4 came out. I was on the S3 and went to a N4 and haven't looked back.
The water resistance is killer feature for me. If the Nexus had it, I'd go back to it (I had one a few phones ago).
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by stessier »

I was thinking I might finally get a cell phone and was very interested in the S7 Edge...and then I read a review where Samsung has removed the ability to make the SD card part of the internal storage and is only selling 32 GB versions in the US. How very stupid of them. :grund:
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Jeff V »

I have the S5, and add-on storage does not merge with system storage (I've never even heard of such a thing).

It's app-specific whether an app can run in full or in part from an SD card. Some apps just will use it to store data, some won't run from an SD card at all.

Samsung started selling 32 GB only with the S6, since they didn't have SD card storage at all. Offering 16 GB with the S7 would have been a step backward IMO.
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Re: Cell Phone News

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Marshmallow allows the SD card to become part of the internal storage - it's a new feature for that release. And Samsung has intentionally disabled it because their market research indicates "this is what our customers want." The best part is that if their customers really wanted that, it was still an option! When you put in an SD card on base Marshmallow, it prompts you if you want to merge it with the internal storage (locks the SD card to the phone - removal loses all your data), or leave it as removable storage. So rather than give people the option, Samsung forces them. Brilliant customer service!

As for 32 GB - the rest of the world also gets a 64 GB (or maybe it was 128 GB) versions. We're stuck with the lowest memory and no way to expand. Simply genius!
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by tjg_marantz »

And that 32 won't be 32 after Samsung and your carrier are done with it. So stupid. I've only had Samsung phones until this 6p and I don't think I could go back any time soon.
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Re: Cell Phone News

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Oh - you have the 6P? Can you give a top 3 likes and dislikes? I'm wondering if I wait for October and their new one or just get this one.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by tjg_marantz »

Battery life gets me through the day and then some. Security updates that are delivered in a timely fashion (as in first). Camera doesn't have OIS and that will make moving video not as good as OIS devices but I just don't take video. On the other hand, pictures are gorgeous and great in low light as well. The HDR does a band up job. Check out the nexus6p subreddit and you'll see what I mean about pictures. Actually just check out that sub and you'll get a bunch of real world testimony. I like having plain Android without all the crap you can't uninstall from Samsung and whichever carrier you are on. I've always rooted my Samsung phones and took a chance on warranty/bricking. Haven't felt the need with this phone. It's very snappy/responsive. Just the best first 3 month experience I've had with a phone. Running Android N currently, stock apart from that.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Xmann »

tjg_marantz wrote:Battery life gets me through the day and then some. Security updates that are delivered in a timely fashion (as in first). Camera doesn't have OIS and that will make moving video not as good as OIS devices but I just don't take video. On the other hand, pictures are gorgeous and great in low light as well. The HDR does a band up job. Check out the nexus6p subreddit and you'll see what I mean about pictures. Actually just check out that sub and you'll get a bunch of real world testimony. I like having plain Android without all the crap you can't uninstall from Samsung and whichever carrier you are on. I've always rooted my Samsung phones and took a chance on warranty/bricking. Haven't felt the need with this phone. It's very snappy/responsive. Just the best first 3 month experience I've had with a phone. Running Android N currently, stock apart from that.
Ditto

I've had the 6P since January and love it. I had the Nexus 4 and 5 as well. Had a Samsung Galaxy 3 several years ago.

I'm also using Project Fi for a carrier and love it. Saving me $15 extra a month
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Jeff V »

stessier wrote:Oh - you have the 6P? Can you give a top 3 likes and dislikes? I'm wondering if I wait for October and their new one or just get this one.
Samsung removed usability features from the 6 that they added back in with the 7. You might appreciate the water resistance features they removed in the 6 -- I've been caught running in the rain several times and my 5 got soaked but with no ill effects. The 6 also doesn't take SD cards for additional storage.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by stessier »

Jeff V wrote:
stessier wrote:Oh - you have the 6P? Can you give a top 3 likes and dislikes? I'm wondering if I wait for October and their new one or just get this one.
Samsung removed usability features from the 6 that they added back in with the 7. You might appreciate the water resistance features they removed in the 6 -- I've been caught running in the rain several times and my 5 got soaked but with no ill effects. The 6 also doesn't take SD cards for additional storage.
This was not directed at you unless you happen to have the Nexus 6P? Or perhaps think the Samsung is called 6P?
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Isgrimnur »

Isgrimnur wrote:
Isgrimnur wrote:
Isgrimnur wrote:Nokia eyes return to cell phone market:
Or not
Or it will:
Nokia, once the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, plans to start designing and licensing handsets again once an agreement with partner Microsoft allows it to in 2016, its chief executive told Germany's Manager Magazin.

"We will look for suitable partners," Rajeev Suri said in an interview published on Thursday. "Microsoft makes mobile phones. We would simply design them and then make the brand name available to license."
Dead
The last remaining vestiges of Nokia at Microsoft are being closed down as the company "streamlines" its smartphone hardware business. "Up to 1,850" people will lose their jobs (1,350 in Finland, 500 elsewhere) as the company essentially exits the phone market.

Microsoft bought Nokia's Devices and Services business in 2013 for $7.1 billion. In July last year, Microsoft laid off 7,800 of the staff from that acquisition and took an impairment charge of $7.6 billion. The remaining feature phone portion of the business was sold off last week for $350 million. With today's announcement, the smartphone hardware business is being all but wiped out. There will be one last impairment charge of approximately $950 million, of which $200 million is severance pay.

CEO Satya Nadella insists that the company is still working in the phone space, but in a much narrower way, saying "We are focusing our phone efforts where we have differentiation—with enterprises that value security, manageability and our Continuum capability, and consumers who value the same."
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Fitzy »

Nokia will no longer be of any concern to us. I have just received word that the CEO has dissolved the company permanently. The last remnants of old phones have been swept away forever.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by EvilHomer3k »

That's really too bad. MS messed up their phone division often and in big ways. WP 8.1 was great. Then they bought Nokia and proceeded to not release a flagship phone for nearly two years. When they finally released a flagship it was only on ATT (and eventualy T-Mobile) and it was running WP10. WP10 took away most of the great things about 8.1 and is a mess overall. The 8.1 UI is still much better than Android or iPhone. Not at all the case with 10. Android has gotten better and Windows much worse. The Nokia 920 was such a great phone and the only one I kept for more than a year. I kept it a full two years. The only thing close to that is my current Note 5 (though I highly doubt it will make it past the fall). Even if they do release a surface phone unless they do something more with the software it won't matter. They'd have been better off taking half of their nearly 10 billion dollar investment and just giving people Windows Phones. At least then they'd have some market share.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by McNutt »

I never tried Windows 10 on a phone, but I completely agree with Evilhomer3k. The lack of apps hurt Windows phone, but the UI was fantastic. I really wanted Windows phone to turn that corner and I kept hoping for a great flagship phone when it was time to replace my 920.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Isgrimnur »

T-Mobile
T-Mobile US Inc., the fastest growing wireless carrier in the U.S., has introduced the ‘Get Thanked’ program to execute a series of giveaways. Under the program, T-Mobile US will give its customers free Domino’s pizzas, Wendy’s ice-creams, movie rentals and a bunch of other freebies through its T-Mobile Tuesdays app. While free giveaways and cash credits have been frequently used by wireless players to retain customers in the heavily contested telecom market, none of these came close to T-Mobile US’ latest ‘Stock Up’ promotional campaign – an innovative idea of granting a stock to its postpaid customers.
...
Meanwhile, under the ‘Stock up’ plan, T-Mobile will give each of its postpaid customers a stock of the company as a gesture of gratitude. Customers can also get a stock per referral with a cap of 100 stocks in a year. However, there will be no new issue of shares, except for a stock buyback from the market and re-issuance of the same to eligible customers. The entire operation will be undertaken by Loyal3, an online brokerage firm.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by gilraen »

T-Mobile US Inc., the fastest growing wireless carrier in the U.S., has introduced the ‘Get Thanked’ program to execute a series of giveaways. Under the program, T-Mobile US will give its customers free Domino’s pizzas, Wendy’s ice-creams, movie rentals and a bunch of other freebies through its T-Mobile Tuesdays app. While free giveaways and cash credits have been frequently used by wireless players to retain customers in the heavily contested telecom market, none of these came close to T-Mobile US’ latest ‘Stock Up’ promotional campaign – an innovative idea of granting a stock to its postpaid customers.
Oh nice...thanks for the heads-up :D Looks like I'll be eating a lot of pizza and Wendy's frosties!
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Jeff V »

If they try sending me Dominos trash I'm canceling service with them immediately. :x
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by stessier »

Jeff V wrote:If they try sending me Dominos trash I'm canceling service with them immediately. :x
That will show them!
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Isgrimnur »

Nothing like having to pay two early termination fees to really show them who's boss.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Jeff V »

Isgrimnur wrote:Nothing like having to pay two early termination fees to really show them who's boss.
Our contract expires in 2 weeks. This is not a concern.
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Re: Cell Phone News

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Isgrimnur wrote:T-Mobile
T-Mobile US Inc., the fastest growing wireless carrier in the U.S., has introduced the ‘Get Thanked’ program to execute a series of giveaways. Under the program, T-Mobile US will give its customers free Domino’s pizzas, Wendy’s ice-creams, movie rentals and a bunch of other freebies through its T-Mobile Tuesdays app.
Domino's quits:
T-Mobile’s latest “un-carrier” move — an attempt to reward its customers with freebies offered via an app called T-Mobile Tuesdays — has been just a bit too popular. Demand for the app and its various promotions was so high that the app crashed under the influx of customers right out of the gate. And now, one of the best deals it offered — free Domino’s pizza — has been pulled. According to T-Mobile CEO John Legere, Domino’s couldn’t handle the increase in order volume, and has pulled out of the promotion indefinitely.

Knowing that the loss of the Domino’s deal would be a blow, the CEO placed blame on the pizza chain and even published an internal Domino’s memo explaining why the company was exiting the promotion.

Among other things, the memo told its retail staff that it knew the program had “put a lot of stress on your stores.”

“After reviewing yesterday’s results and taking your feedback into account, the decision has been made not to continue the T-Mobile Tuesdays promotion unless we can find a solution that is best for the brand,” the memo read.

Legere’s tweet also noted that Domino’s stores saw three to four times the volume of a typical Tuesday’s sales.

But while the increase in pizza orders was clearly a factor in T-Mobile’s decision, the promotion was already leaving T-Mobile customers upset when they found out that Domino’s was limiting the number of free pizzas per store due to promotion limits. Stores stopped accepting the coupons for the free pizza provided by the T-Mobile Tuesdays app, which left users frustrated.

Plus, in what was a huge oversight in crafting this deal’s terms, T-Mobile customers on a single family plan could all use their own codes to place large orders of multiple pizzas. That is, T-Mobile was actually offering the pizza giveaway to anyone with an available line, instead of just one free pizza per account.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Isgrimnur »

Verizon
Verizon Wireless revamped its pricing plans Wednesday, offering customers more generous data allotments while also increasing monthly rates by $5-$10.

It also added catch-up features such as the ability for customers to roll over any of the data that they don't use to the next month.
...
Verizon's cheapest "S" (for smallest) plan will now offer 2GB of shared data for $35 per month, up from $30 for 1GB. The medium "M" plan will also increase in price by $5, offering 4GB of data for $50 per month (up from 3GB for $45).

Verizon's "L," "XL" and "XXL" plans will all see $10 increases. The "L" plan will now cost $70 a month for 8GB of data (up from 6GB), the "XL" plan $90 a month for 16GB (up from 12GB) and the "XXL" $110 per month for 24GB of shared data.

You can switch among any of the sample sizes at any time via a newly-designed My Verizon app. Current users happy with their existing plans do not have to change them.
...
Verizon also introduced a new optional "Safety Mode" feature that in effect brings back unlimited data, albeit with a pretty hefty catch.

Included with the larger "XL" and "XXL" plans, Safety Mode for no extra cost will slow down users' data once they reach their plan's monthly limit from typically blazing fast 4G LTE to a rather anemic 2G-like 128 kbps speeds.
...
But Clark adds that if you want to watch video or engage in other data-intensive activities that would almost certainly require LTE-type speeds, you can buy a data boost of $15 for each additional gigabyte of full speed data.

Verizon doesn't consider "Safety Mode" equivalent to an unlimited plan, and it's certainly different from the unlimited data plan it offered before it started to move away that feature in 2011.
...
Smaller Verizon plans can add the Safety Mode feature for an additional $5 per month through the company's updated My Verizon app.

A new "Carryover Data" feature will let customers save unused high-speed data to be used in the next month, a move similar to what is already offered by AT&T and T-Mobile. This feature will be available for free to all plans.

As part of today's announcements, Verizon also said that customers in the XL or larger plans can get unlimited talk and text from the U.S. to Mexico and Canada and also continue to use their data plan and received unlimited talk and text when visiting those countries. On smaller plans, you can pay $5 per line per month for calls from the U.S to Mexico and Canada. To roam with your data and unlimited talk and text in Canada or Mexico, a Verizon TravelPass feature costs $2 per day per line.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Pyperkub »

Galaxy S7 (US Versions) - root now available:
Android is mature enough that root is no longer a basic necessity, but for fans of custom ROMs and those who can’t live without in-depth tweaking, root access is still highly desirable.

Some of the hardest devices to root are carrier-locked models, but there’s little that carriers and manufacturers can do in face of highly skilled and passionate members of the Android development community.

Take the AT&T versions of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, which were both rooted by XDA member br3w3r in collaboration with princecomsy and root legend chainfire.
I'm holding out for now, but will probably root in a week or so, as long as I can get Xposed working right. Looks like there are also some power-related bugs to be worked out...
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by EvilHomer3k »

I was going to switch to the new plan and drop our data down from 10 gb to 8. Unfortunately, they are not only raising the price of the plans but are also increasing the fee for individual lines from $15 to $20 per device. We could easily get by with 8 gb (never used more than 6) and the rollover would be nice but increasing the line fee ends up costing us $2 per month more and we were planning on moving both of our kids to verizon from Ting (we don't give them data with Ting).

I could drop to 4 gb and save about $15 but would end up paying $2 more once the kids are on the plan (and only have 4 gb). Overall, boo, Verizon.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Kraken »

Isgrimnur wrote:Verizon
Thanks for posting that. I saved $8 per month by dropping from the M to the S plan. We only used 0.8 of our 3 gig last month so 2 should be more than enough with the carryover. Total bill for two phones is $77.36 after Wife's employer discount plus all taxes and fees. Not too bad.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by The Meal »

Kraken wrote:
Isgrimnur wrote:Verizon
Thanks for posting that. I saved $8 per month by dropping from the M to the S plan. We only used 0.8 of our 3 gig last month so 2 should be more than enough with the carryover. Total bill for two phones is $77.36 after Wife's employer discount plus all taxes and fees. Not too bad.
This is how it's going to work for me as well. (Though I save a bit less as my corporate overlords have a discounted rate for this sort of thing already -- so I expect to save 90% of $8).
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Kasey Chang »

My Moto X is bogging down a bit. I'm tempted to nuke it and start over, but I kinda want to see what the modern phones are offering... but I don't have any USB-C peripherals...
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Isgrimnur »

AT&T
AT&T is finally phasing out overages fees on its mobile data plans. Today the company unveiled a revised lineup of monthly service plans — now called Mobile Share Advantage — that will launch on August 21st with prices starting at $30. AT&T is also (yet again) switching up the data buckets you can choose between. The data allotments are shown below, but keep in mind you'll also need to factor in a device access charge for whatever devices you're using on the account. For smartphones purchased at full price, bought through AT&T Next, or "bring your own" handsets, that's $20 per month.

The biggest piece of all this is the end of overages. Now, instead of charging you $15 for another gigabyte of data, AT&T will slow your connection speeds down to 128kbps once you've exceeded your monthly plan. There's no risk of unexpected bill shock. You've still got the option of paying for more high-speed data, of course, but AT&T won't automatically assume that's what you want.
...
1GB $30
3GB $40
6GB $60
10GB $80
16GB $90
25GB $110
30GB $135
Which would mean a $10 increase on the cost of 3GB for my wife's plan without the possibility of getting additional GBs on her high use months at $10/GB. I love how they keep making things worse and worse as technology gets better and better.

Way to keep reinforcing the decision to go elsewhere once we're free of our contracts.
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Enough »

Just in case this helps anyone save some money, I thought I would share. I have been on Republic Wireless and when my Moto X died it was time to consider my options. For coverage reasons in rural CO I gravitated to Verizon and ATT but hated the offered plans. In studying Cricket I realized it might be a good fit since it's owned by ATT and uses their towers, so I bought a Nexus 6P on sale, got my SIM kit and discovered Cricket will not port my Republic number because it was VOIP (apparently only Circket and Fi/Google have this restriction). So I went to Wally World and picked up a T-Mobile SIM card kit that comes with a $40 bill credit for $35.

Tmobile happily ported my Republic VOIP number and I used the SIM kit credit to pay for one month of service on a no-contract plan. After the month ended I went back to Cricket with my now non-VOIP number and in addition to the bring your own device credit ($35) we received a credit for switching from T-mobile ($50) and then yet another credit for porting a number ($50) for a whopping total of $135 of credit to "switch." So thanks to their silly corporate policy they ended up making significantly less revenue off me for the first year. We also get monthly bill credits for auto-pay and group (just my wife and I). This makes it super affordable!

Another pro-tip for Cricket is to buy the SIM kit on Amazon and follow the instructions in the reviews on how to activate online. It's only like $5 at Amazon but they will charge you $20 for the same thing in the store from what I understand.

Also, I am not sure the T-mobile credit deal is currently active, it would be good to check something like Slick Deals before proceeding to make sure you are aware of the best deal available.
My blog (mostly photos): Fort Ephemera - My Flickr Photostream

“You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn’t waste either.” ―Galen Rowell
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stessier
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by stessier »

Enough - I'm curious - did you at Google Fi? I don't know what the Cricket plan is, but $20 for phone plus $10 per GB is very attractive to me (although I'm a very low use customer).
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Pyperkub
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Pyperkub »

A good reason to avoid the iPhone 7, IMHO:
Apple's rumored announcement that future phones won't have headphone jacks starts with the main event: "1. Digital audio means DRM audio."

It's true: the existence of HDMI ports enabled the use of HDCP, and led to the growth of video services whose products refused to play at full resolution (or at all) through analog outputs, and also arbitrarily refused to talk to various monitors and screens if some secret algorithm decided that they'd be a risk.

Patel later notes that "Ditching a deeply established standard will disproportionately impact accessibility," but misses the connection between these two phenomena. Once there's DRM on an output, then you can only plug new devices into that output if you have permission from the consortium that made the DRM.
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Chaz
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Chaz »

stessier wrote:Enough - I'm curious - did you at Google Fi? I don't know what the Cricket plan is, but $20 for phone plus $10 per GB is very attractive to me (although I'm a very low use customer).
My wife and I have been on Fi for several months now. We're also low-use, and our bills come out to ~$26/line each month. We're happy with it. You got questions?
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Enough
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Enough »

Chaz wrote:
stessier wrote:Enough - I'm curious - did you at Google Fi? I don't know what the Cricket plan is, but $20 for phone plus $10 per GB is very attractive to me (although I'm a very low use customer).
My wife and I have been on Fi for several months now. We're also low-use, and our bills come out to ~$26/line each month. We're happy with it. You got questions?
I may yet join Fi, Cricket is month-month no contract. We skipped it initially due to rural coverage of Tmobile and Sprint not being the greatest but now that they also have added US Cellular and Tmobile is massively upgrading so it may make sense sometime in the future. On Cricket I have 5 gb data and my wife has 2.5 for a total of $70 monthly. You could get that down to $60 for both of you if you both went with 2.5 gbs with the autopay and group discount.

Basically you get $10 off for each additional line on your account and $10 off for autopay. So if you had other people in your group you could get it pretty darn low.
My blog (mostly photos): Fort Ephemera - My Flickr Photostream

“You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn’t waste either.” ―Galen Rowell
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Xmann
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by Xmann »

Been on Google Fi since January and love it.

My bill is less than $30 as well.
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stessier
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Re: Cell Phone News

Post by stessier »

T-mobile and Sprint are going to start offering unlimited data plans (I guess again?).
T-Mobile One would cost customers $70 for the first line, $50 for the second and $20 for each additional line on a shared plan, up to eight users. Sprint's Unlimited Freedom Plan is offering $60 for the first line and $40 for the next. Each additional line will cost $30, up to 10 lines. Both plans would charge extra to stream high-definition video.
I require a reminder as to why raining arcane destruction is not an appropriate response to all of life's indignities. - Vaarsuvius
Global Steam Wishmaslist Tracking
Running____2014: 1300.55 miles____2015: 2036.13 miles____2016: 1012.75 miles____2017: 1105.82 miles____2018: 1318.91 miles__2019: 2000.00 miles
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