iPhone 5S question

[maximus]

Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: maximus
I can't comprehend why someone would buy obsolete tech 3 gens behind.

Apple is not the only choice. I purchased a bran new LG Stylo 2 for a relative for $150 with her cricket service. It's not a high end device, but it came with 6.0 lollipop, has a great camera and is perfect for her. It has 5.5" screen. I still can't believe how inexpensive it was.


Apologies. I don't keep up with "latest and greatest". Nor do I want to. I've long realized that if I chose to be a generation or more behind, then the tech gets "cheap". Perhaps that doesn't work with Apple. If you want Apple, then you have buy the most recent, if you want to get a proper 3-5 years out of the device. Otherwise you're just overpaying.

I long ago gave up on trying to make sense of the rapidly changing tech. Whatever you learn today is obsolete info a month from now. It's way easier to find someone who is in love with this stuff to tell me what to get. But then I get odd looks for not understanding, nor caring. What am I to do?


Sorry, not trying to chastise. The 5s came out Sept 2013. Thats ancient for a phone. As others have said, that device wont be supported sooner than a later model. You can certainly get something more current without breakng the bank. Sounds like your on the right track with the Samsung you found. You want to talk about overpaying? Everytime someone purchases an Apple device, they over pay. I say this as I type on my ipad air i was forced to acquire for work. I absolutely despise Apple btw.

I was taught to always buy the best you can afford. I bought the ipad Air instead of the Air 2 because it was the best I could afford.

 

[Andrew1972]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: supton
Looking at Samsung Galaxy Sky now. 5" screen, 1280x720 size. Latest Android 6.0 (I think), 11GB of internal space (it's 16GB but it's about 11GB "open"), 1.5G of RAM. Has flash for the camera, 5 megapixel, but no gps

Are you sure about it not having a GPS? I thought all smartphones had one these days...

Also, Android 6 is not the latest, but it's not too far behind. Battery life on my Nexus 5X actually got worse ever since upgrading to 7.


Even flip phones ALL have GPS. It's only tablets where it is hit or miss whether a GPS is present. Apple does not include GPS in there stuff unless you get the cellular data option too.

The gps ties back to using 911 as receiver can get coordinates if enabled.(you have to go out of your way to disable it)

I would not spend $200 on a used iPhone 5s. Maybe a 6/6s I'd spend $250 max. I concur the op is better spending more money or looking at decent android which is out there new at similar price point.

 

[supton]

I think I see what I did wrong: I read one review that said the unit didn't have a compass feature, and when I looked under "sensors" it didn't list GPS. Later on I looked at a different phone, and it too didn't list GPS under sensors--but it was listed elsewhere in the specifications. So it may very well have GPS.

The $200 was for a new iPhone 5S, BTW. Warranty, charger, cable, earbuds (I think). Might only last 2-3 years but then again, that might be all I need of it. It's not going to replace a computer; a 5" phone won't either.

Still looking at my various options. Looks like 4G phones now all use SIM cards, and in that case I think I can change phones much more easily, once I get my Tracfone account transferred to that SIM card. That would simplify upgrades.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: supton
I think I see what I did wrong: I read one review that said the unit didn't have a compass feature, and when I looked under "sensors" it didn't list GPS. Later on I looked at a different phone, and it too didn't list GPS under sensors--but it was listed elsewhere in the specifications. So it may very well have GPS.


I'm sure it's a compass that it doesn't have (the Samsung phone). Some lower-priced phones do not include that. My Motorola Moto G4 also lacks a compass, but navigation while driving works brilliantly, because it does have the GPS sensor (as nearly everything does).

If you're just a "basic" phone user, the low-cost-brand-name Android phones are hard to beat. Samsung has a few, Motorola has a few, and some others may as well. I really enjoy the Moto G4. It has a pretty large 5.5" screen. We bought our daughter a Moto G4 Play for Christmas. It has a smaller screen, I think 4.8" or 5". It was $129 all-in at Best Buy (unlocked, all carriers, no ads). Incredible deal for a brand new phone with stock Android (none of the skins that some manufacturers apply). The larger G4 is $199 for the full unlocked version, and $149 for the Amazon Prime version.

 

[supton]

Moto G4, eh? The Plus is a big jump up in price, for a better camera; but the G4 does seem pretty decent. I suspect its price bump may be wortwhile: 2GB of RAM vs the 1.5GB in the LG I was thinking of, and a yet higher resolution screen (1920x1080 vs 1280x720).

The HSN deal was $130 for phone plus a $100 Tracfone year-long plan; the G4 is $180 at Best Buy (16GB version) and I have to buy a SIM. Technically I only buy service every 3 months, and that comes out to $80 of service per year, so total cost for the first year would be $260 for the G4 (bought at Best Buy) vs $130 for the Samsung Sky (bought at HSN). Big price bump.

I'm not sure what to make of Geekbench performance ratings. The Samsung Sky comes in at 1419, the Moto G4 at 3104. Mind you, the iPhone SE is 2406, and the 6S slows down to 2370 (same guts but larger screen to drive). The iPad Mini 4 that I've been thinking about is a paltry 1633. [My beloved iPad Mini rates 326, and I can't find a number for my LG39C other that "it's gotta be low".] So that extra $130, does it buy a much faster phone that will feel good 2-3 years from now?

 

[Hokiefyd]

I've never wanted for more performance out of my G4, but I'm also a pretty low-load user. I use Microsoft Outlook on it for work email, Gmail for personal email, Chrome for web browsing, and the occasional hill racer type game to pass the time if need be. Oh, and various other tools like Weather Underground, Google Maps/Navigation, Waze nav, YouTube, etc.

I really like three things about it: the display, the battery life, and the value. The 1080 display really does look like a very nice display. I don't know who makes it or the tech specs behind it, but it looks great watching YouTube. The battery is a relatively large 3000 mAh unit, and it easily lasts a day and a half through pretty moderate use. It also comes with a Motorola Turbo Charger, and it'll pretty much charge back up from completely dead in about an hour. Charge times are remarkable when using its big brick. And value...it's objectively one of the best Android values out there.

I'd absolutely buy it again.

 

[supton]

Interesting. Well, I decided to get the Moto G4 (non-plus). After adding up all the hours spent looking I realized I could just buy the darn thing--it's expensive, but if I get 2 years out of it then it should be fine. Plus my iPad is giving me fits, so if this can somehow replace it then it has value as a quasi-tablet replacement. We'll see how that works out--my tablet was my computer replacement, but somehow I don't think this phone will rise to that level of usefulness.

On the flip side, once set up, I should be able to move the SIM from one machine to another. I might be more apt to buy used phones as a result.

I did hold the 5" Samsung Sky (or Sky J3). I liked how it fit my hand better. Better one hand operation and I thought it felt better. But ultimately the screen resolution was lower, due to being a smaller screen. Given how little I use my phone, and how much I use my tablet, I decided that if I lost one handed operation then I might not be losing that much. Plus the Moto has more processor and is 2GB of RAM, vs 1.5GB of RAM. More is usually better.

 

[supton]

Got to play with it more more last night. Wowzer. Didn't realize how slow my iPad had gotten (or is). Crazy.

Not quite the tablet replacement I wanted: surfing BITOG wants me to rotate into landscape mode, instead of the portrait mode that I've used for years. Huge issue? Of course not.

Otherwise I had fun playing with the usual settings. Updated my contacts etc. Got it connected to both cars now too. Only issue is that I need to play with the car radios, and figure out how to make phones without turning on the phone as I can't one-handed unlock the phone.

Now I just have to figure out what client to use with my yahoo email. I guess I could use Outlook (required for work) or gmail.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I'm sure you'll like your G4. I use both Outlook (for work email) and Gmail (for personal Gmail account). Gmail does have the capability to connect to Exchange accounts and other services, but I usually have the best experience using the service's home-grown app (Yahoo for Yahoo, Gmail for Gmail, etc).

 

[supton]

So far I like it. I had to root around -- err, dig around -- to find how to set up vibrate options, and I miss file manager, but now that i have things moved around I should be fine. I do feel that the apps I use most are a bit lacking on Android: myfitnesspal wants money to get rid of ads (and feels completely different than what is on my iPad), and when I looked for Suduko I couldn't find the free version I have on my iPad. Small annoyances.

I did find that there is a USB charger in my house which won't work with this phone. I noticed that the battery was going down while plugged in! I suspect that charger must be crowbarring under heavy load, and thus every 30 seconds coming back to life. So my phone screen turns on to say "charging" -- at which point the supply crowbars. Minor too, as all the other supplies have been fine. Battery life is so-so: not the multiple days I'm used to, but since it takes hours to run down I've yet to get lower than about 50%.

Turbo charger makes for a hot battery! But boy does it bring up the battery fast.

I did stream a podcast over BT but honestly the audio was "off": poor color and low audio. Usable but different than a USB thumb drive.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: supton
I miss file manager,

ES File Explorer app works great on Android.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: supton
I miss file manager,

ES File Explorer app works great on Android.

Supton, come on man, you are an electric/electronics engineer...
where is your excitement? ("I got a new toy")

 

[supton]

My excitement has burned away over the years due to the relentless march of technology. I remember when Pentiums were the big deal; and that's about when I tuned out, as I didn't need a Pentium to play games (as I rarely played).

I much more prefer designing circuit boards and working on analog circuits. Digital is interesting but software is where I start getting lost in too many lines of code.