What's everyone up to right now?

[pocaracas]

Best Smartphone ever means midrange within a year... so $200~$300 worth by then. Looks like a bad investment, whichever way you look at it.
That's why I go for the mid-low range phones - nowadays, they behave almost like high-range ones, but cost a fraction.

Here's a peek into Xiaomi's new Redmi 3 (still in pre-order, and they have a US warehouse):
http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_294231.html
- Sure, the processor is a Qualcomm 6xx series, not an 8xx series.... carries "only" 2GB of RAM, instead of the overkill 4GB, the screen is "only" FHD (which, for 5", is overkill, anyway)... but the price is a wonderful sub-$200. You get way more than half the phone performance (not even going into perceived performance vs actual performance) for way less than half the price..

Plus, if something steps on it, it's not such a great loss.

No thanks. That would be a downgrade from the phone I have... And with the apps I run, 2 GB of RAM is not enough. That's what my phone has now and I have to shut down background processes to run Lollipop, much less Marshmallow.

I want a big screen, and I like the UHD AMOLED screens. The camera is important, and this has a boss camera on it.

Also, the biggest selling point for me is direct from Google support and lack of bloatware. It will get the first OTA updates directly from Google, and their builds will be made for the phone. I don't have to wait for Xiaomi to build their own kernel. Eff that. LG is a major company and they take forever to get their updates pushed.

I get two years worth of full warranty with next day replacement delivery if something happens. Google even covers water damage. Because of this I get to take $10 off my cell phone bill for two years by dropping Verizon's protection plan.

I buy a flagship phone once every two years. This is the most research I've done in purchasing one. I am not making an investment. If I have to have a phone, I want it to be top of the line.

2GB is not enough?... wow...

Full warranty is not the same as a protection plan. Warranty covers faulty parts that may fail ahead of schedule... that one also covers water damage due to poor handling? nice! Does it cover crunching? I'd say you're prone to that sort of eventuality...

Big screen? there's the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, too!

Xiaomi does their own android ROM called MIUI. The current stable version is built on top of Kit Kat (in spite of the retailers' claim that it's Lollipop), but the nightlies are now on Marshmallow...
They replaced some google apps for their own, which work quite well within the MIUI environment... but yeah... I got used to google stuff, so those become useless extras.

Top of the line... I've learned never to buy the shiniest new toy around... it's always a waste of money. The same goes for the super-cheap runts. And this applies to anything: from phones to power tools, to jackets, to umbrellas, to cars.. anything.

Anyway, congratz on the behemoth phone! Enjoy your time with it.


I also put a lot of research into the xiaomi phenomenon...
It can handle smoothly my most demanding usage: music playback, connected to the car's AUX audio jack, while filming the road ahead and storing the GPS coordinates and present speed in a subtitle file.... and, if anyone calls, it just lets me answer it. All of it done smoothly.
There comes a time when better than enough is just marketing...

[SteelCurtain]

2GB is not enough?... wow...

I suspect this has more to do with LG's shitty build of Lollipop on this G2. I should have stuck with KitKat, but I really love the features of Lollipop, and just dealt with the necessity of a memory dump every couple of hours.

Full warranty is not the same as a protection plan. Warranty covers faulty parts that may fail ahead of schedule... that one also covers water damage due to poor handling? nice! Does it cover crunching? I'd say you're prone to that sort of eventuality...

I have never busted a screen. Not even now, the screen hasn't busted, it still works just fine. I have been working at this plant for almost a year now and this is the first phone related issue I've had. Knock on wood. But yeah, full warranty and free replacement for even accidental damage.

Big screen? there's the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, too!

Xiaomi does their own android ROM called MIUI. The current stable version is built on top of Kit Kat (in spite of the retailers' claim that it's Lollipop), but the nightlies are now on Marshmallow...
They replaced some google apps for their own, which work quite well within the MIUI environment... but yeah... I got used to google stuff, so those become useless extras.

This is all a major drawback for me. I want bone stock Android. No fluff, no bloatware, no nothing. I won't get a Verizon splash screen when I turn my phone on, I won't have any of the VZN apps and the Location Agent that you can't fucking turn off but eats up your data if you have GPS turned on...

Top of the line... I've learned never to buy the shiniest new toy around... it's always a waste of money. The same goes for the super-cheap runts. And this applies to anything: from phones to power tools, to jackets, to umbrellas, to cars.. anything.

Anyway, congratz on the behemoth phone! Enjoy your time with it.


I also put a lot of research into the xiaomi phenomenon...
It can handle smoothly my most demanding usage: music playback, connected to the car's AUX audio jack, while filming the road ahead and storing the GPS coordinates and present speed in a subtitle file.... and, if anyone calls, it just lets me answer it. All of it done smoothly.
There comes a time when better than enough is just marketing...

I haven't had that experience, especially as "shiniest toy" doesn't always mean most expensive, for me. For a flagship phone this is dirt cheap. Samsung and Apple's comparable phones are over $1100 unlocked. I am always looking for bang for buck. This phone will last me two years at least, and just like my LG now, will perform great the whole time.

To be fair... "enough" is technically a phone that can take calls, send texts, and send emails. A Blackberry from 2007 is enough. I don't need all the bells and whistles. I enjoy them. That's why I pay for them.

[c172]

Pondering why I'm even up.

[Joods]

Me too. Then again, I already know. It's because I have a kid to put on the bus.

[Clueless Morgan]

I had my first dream about my house

[Angrboda]

Drinking Pepsi and waiting for my new housekeeper to arrive. I've been short housekeeping services for a month and the place is really in need of it.

[c172]

In a weird FB convo with a guy from Nigeria who friended me a while back. i thought it was for some game, like Pearl's Peril, but he appears to have chosen me at random. Like about a month ago.

[Alex K]

In a weird FB convo with a guy from Nigeria who friended me a while back. i thought it was for some game, like Pearl's Peril, but he appears to have chosen me at random. Like about a month ago.

Does he have money from an exiled prince that he needs to have brought out of the country quickly before the rebels confiscate it?

[c172]

Nothing of that sort, oddly. He just seemed like a lonely guy. And when I seemed guarded to him (which I often do to people IRL) he thought it was a race issue.

[pocaracas]

I had my first dream about my house

Ha! I was there, first!