$3200 for the top of the line. I was wanting one when I first heard the rumors, but it’s so big and clunky and the price is way outta my comfort zone. I’ll just have to leave it to @Zorba ro tell us how nice it is
Zorba's new favorite thread
- Thread starter Apparition
- Start date
that's insane, but people will pay it by financing it on their service plan for 3 years, just like they do 84 month financing on a car they can't afford.
When I need a phone (almost always in response to my current one being physically broken), I usually go to ebay and buy the previous generation of a flagship phone, new in box. I'm currently on a Google Pixel 8 which I bought after the 9 was released. Before that was a 3, and my wife is still using her Pixel 4 - they're currently out to Pixel 11 so we're running 3-7 versions old and they work just fine for our uses. I like them because they're "vanilla" android without all the carrier bloatware. She took a while to convince, but eventually observed that my Androids were a fraction of the price and outlasted her iphones and stopped insisting on Apple. We've only ever had one problem with them, and that was repaired under warranty.
When I need a phone (almost always in response to my current one being physically broken), I usually go to ebay and buy the previous generation of a flagship phone, new in box. I'm currently on a Google Pixel 8 which I bought after the 9 was released. Before that was a 3, and my wife is still using her Pixel 4 - they're currently out to Pixel 11 so we're running 3-7 versions old and they work just fine for our uses. I like them because they're "vanilla" android without all the carrier bloatware. She took a while to convince, but eventually observed that my Androids were a fraction of the price and outlasted her iphones and stopped insisting on Apple. We've only ever had one problem with them, and that was repaired under warranty.
Last edited:
All I can think is how much COMPUTER I could buy for that kind of money (On either end of the new Phone's price spectrum). That's just highway robbery for a crippled toy - "A fool and his money are soon parted".
Yet
I made the mistake of paying $300 for my current flip - a ruggedized Sonim. Thing's a pain in the ass, has gone back for warranty work once, and needs to go back again. Never mind that it drives sort of odd, everything - and I mean EVERYTHING - is "sticky". When I sent it in for warranty work, I got a $40 flip to use while the Sonim was gone. The $40 flip is superior to the Sonim in everything but ruggedness. Needless to say, that'll be my go to in the future. If I manage to break it and have to replace it, I'm still waaaay ahead!
So it can be larger. They figure the max size of a phone that someone can still fit in a pocket. Then fold it, so it's twice as large when open.
Exactly. One of the largest problems (see what I did there?) with PHOOOOOONNEs is their lack of screen real estate. Still inadequate in my mind, but twice what came before so its a step in the right direction. It should be for what it costs. A $200 chromebook has 4X that space, plus a real keyboard. Still has a brainded OS, but with that said, it might be better than a PHOOOOOONNE OS - I've never used a chromebook. I probably should go buy one to see what the hubbub is about - similar to the Android tablet I purchased a few years back to see what that entailed.
I've been happy with the Pixel line, not too expensive. I currently have a Pixel 10. I'm the only one that usually wants the newer phones. My wife will always by the previous model for herself, then our phones become hand-me-downs for the kids (3).
I'm on my second Pixel. I was using Samsung Galaxy before. They have a decent 'budget' line (FE) so you don't have get the $1000+ model. I switched to Pixel because they cost even less. Though often the least expensive can be to buy an unlocked phone on Amazon.
I do IT for a high school. I just ordered Chromebooks to replace our Windows laptops (for students). The Chromebooks were about 45% of the price of a Windows laptop. They're also significantly less work to maintain.
I was getting pressure from the district to order Windows laptops because 'that's what the students will use in the real world'. I argued that all they REALLY need is laptop 'like' device that has a functional web browser. Most of the things they use in class are through a browser. The person I was arguing with in a meeting is the head of I.T.. Though he can't make decisions for our school specifically, that's up to the principal. Luckily our principal is in favor of Chromebooks and we can order either one.
During my argument, I looked up the percentage of Chromebooks vs. Windows laptops in use. Chromebooks are being used by 90%+ of schools in the US. He got mad when I pointed out that he isn't doing any of the maintenance work, that has to be done by people like me.
My kids school uses chromebooks as well. These days most of the Office type software I learned has a Google equivalent so I don't see a big reason to spend double until they get to something they really can't do. I was gonna say programming, but even Arduino IDE has a chromebook version, and with AI I'm not sure any humans are gonna be writing code by the time my kids enter the workforce anyway. It'll be a hobby like knitting.
I really like Google Docs and Sheets. I use them for a lot of personal stuff. List of Jeep mods is one example.
For the student laptops, they do get an online subscription to MS Office. So they can still use Word and Excel, it's just the online version. Side note: Publisher has been discontinued. That disappointed a few teachers.
The Windows-is-required mindset is weakening by the day, but its still with us and probably will be for a bit longer. Windows 7 was peak Windows. 8 was an unmitigated disaster (Smartphone-ization), 10 was "Ok", it ran a bit faster than 7 on the same hardware, but it was as ugly as home made sin (Smartphone-ization again). 11 is unacceptable at any price. Smartphone-ized into uselessness and untrustworthiness.
KennethS
TJ Expert
Meh. I had to replace my iPhone 6 a while back due to, well, it was too old to work with the current applications. So I got an iPhone SE, which is essentially a 6 sized device with iPhone 13 innards. It cost me a whopping $140 and does everything I need a portable device to do.
The biggest Windows holdout is Office.
If more people were aware of Libre Office, that hold would weaken as well.
Libre is free and does everything that MS Office does, even opening MS Office documents and saving documents in Office formats, but Oh No! It looks slightly different!
Not really a big deal until you consider that the typical MS desktop user knows how to use Word, PowerPoint, maybe a bit of Excel, and how to play Solitaire/FreeCell.
If more people were aware of Libre Office, that hold would weaken as well.
Libre is free and does everything that MS Office does, even opening MS Office documents and saving documents in Office formats, but Oh No! It looks slightly different!
Not really a big deal until you consider that the typical MS desktop user knows how to use Word, PowerPoint, maybe a bit of Excel, and how to play Solitaire/FreeCell.
I believe publisher has been gone for a while? When Adobe got in the game with pagemaker us in the printing industry called it ragemaker. Now canva is being used and it is total garbage, I woun't even quote a job that the customer made in that program.
I've never understood how you don't realize a computer isn't portable. Must be an old guy thing. Sitting at home in your PC room.
They are both tools. Use them or don't.
Phone for light work/personal, laptop for programming and design, old Linux laptops for networks, etc.
When I'm under the Jeep trying to figure something out, I can pull a phone out and look online for tutorials or watch a video. Handy as hell compared to the garage laptop on my bench.
If I'm flying, I can watch movies on my tablet and text my wife and kids on my phone, or check work email. Not enough space for much else and you can't have a laptop out for the beginning and end of a flight.
I can't do pipe stress analysis, do Bluebeam drawing reviews, run NavisWorks or BentleyView, or log into work's sharepoint sites on an Apple or Linux box. Both are about as useful to me as a phone for real work. I hear they draw well if you're a graphic designer.
I can't program on google sheets as well as Excel does it. And google sheets sucks for shortcut keys. Google office is rather basic. Sheets might as well be Lotus 123. But MS Word still sucks after all these decades.
Usefulness is a function of what real work programs you and the other 4,000 people you work with need. Not surfing the web. Phones, tables, and chromebooks are perfect for that menial task.
This reminds me of a situation a LONG time ago, probably early 2000s, as told to me by someone at the dealership.
The CEO of one of our customers always had to have the latest and greatest computer to better play Free Cell.
The computer for his lady who ran payroll was on the fritz so she needed to use his to run payroll.
She set everything up and started the payroll application for the pay period, then she got up and walked out because it usually took several minutes to run on her computer.
Before she got out the office door, the CEO computer chimed that it was done. Less than a minute.
She raised a stink and then she also got the latest and greatest from that point on.
The CEO of one of our customers always had to have the latest and greatest computer to better play Free Cell.
The computer for his lady who ran payroll was on the fritz so she needed to use his to run payroll.
She set everything up and started the payroll application for the pay period, then she got up and walked out because it usually took several minutes to run on her computer.
Before she got out the office door, the CEO computer chimed that it was done. Less than a minute.
She raised a stink and then she also got the latest and greatest from that point on.
Amazingly, I just never have seemed to NEED a computer when I'm "on the go" as the saying is. I didn't need to in 1978, and I don't need to now! It can wait until I get home, or back to the laptop in my hotel room. Why would I subject myself to the pain-in-the-ass of a PHOOOOOONNE when I have a MUCH better tool? As others have said, a PHOOOOOONNE is a "Gerber" tool - it does many things, but none of the particularly well. Someone else compared to to a spork - let me see if I can find the quote...
And I certainly wouldn't so denigrate a chromebook by comparing it to a PHOOOOOONNE. Its infinitely more useful. Even a larger tablet is "somewhat" more useful.
And yes, you list a bunch of things you can't do with a PHOOOOOONNE. So why would I want such a broken, crippled device?
None of this touches on the whole tracking/SPAM/spy-ware aspects - or the EXTREME expense of acquiring and "feeding" the thing - neither of which is even my primary objection to them. Or, as I've become increasingly aware since my trip to Egypt, the culture destroying and soul sucking EVIL of the things. That was when I became aware that my dislike was hitherto a bit simple-minded - its FAR worse than I had thought.
Let's face it: I can, and have, run computers from a hex keypad and a one byte hex display - or even a binary front panel. But I choose not to. A smartphone is a couple of steps above that, but ONLY a couple of steps. Crippled, fragile, EXPEN$IVE, and ultimately unnecessary and borderline useless. People crow on and on about how conVEEEEEEENient they are - the false God of our day. There's little convenience to be had, they're a pain in the ass to their user, and most DEFINITELY a pain in the ass to everyone around him. If I had a nickel for every time I was annoyed, held up, or inconvenienced by somebody else's phucking PHOOOOOONNE, I'd be writing this missive from my mountaintop villa in Greece!
And yet, the apologists swarm out of the woodwork every time. Addicted to, and blinded by, their oh-so-ESSENTIAL devices, their entire lives revolve around these things. I know people who "don't have a pot to piss in, nor a window to throw it out of" but by Goddess, they have that $1,200 device (heaven forfend they get anything but a "flagship", and replace it every 2 years), and a $100/mo data plan so they can stream music to their car stereo instead of using a cheap plug in "Geek Stick". They can't meet rent, their car needs new tires, but that's OK. They have their priorities straight. Its considered normal to pay, pay, pay, pay, pay for the dubious "privilege" of owning and dealing with these sub-optimal devices. You'll have to pardon me if I opt out. Its just fine if I need to crawl out from under the Jeep to find something on YooToob - I don't have to deal with a crippled toy, and I don't have to lie there under the Jeep while I'm doing it.
Last edited:
I'm sure it's very annoying to some, but I do respect the hell out of anyone who is willing to proselytize so much in regard to what they believe.
I don't believe you're wrong either. I think the smartphone—despite all of its achievements—is a scourge upon the face of society.
I really don't mean to proselytize - which is a bad word to me. But people make inane statements - the apologists literally SWARM out of the woodwork. They're even worse than the many "social media" apologists. 99% of the people know what the problems with this crap are, they just don't care. They're convinced these pain in the ass devices are "convenient" (or worse: "Essential"); I don't worship at that altar and I resent anyone who expects me to (which is increasingly damn near everyone). I may be Pagan, but conVEEEEEENience is a "false God" if there ever was one! A finger in the claw of Mordor.
All the smartphone apologia I've read had me a bit concerned when I flew overseas this past January. So many saying the damn PHOOOOOONNE was absolutely ESSENTIAL to travel in general, and overseas travel in particular. Amazingly, it was exactly ZERO problem. We did things the way we always have done them and it was just fine. The only time it even came up was at incoming customs/immigrations in Sweden, part of the smartphone addled EU. I had to show proof of an outgoing flight, had to dig the piece of paper out of the front pocket of my carryon where I kept it. The gal was surprised and said to the effect "Most people have that on their PHOOOOOONNE". But the paper was fine, it worked - I'd just never been asked that question before. Too bad they don't ask it in the US!
Another quote that I found interesting:
Yep!
I didn't mean proselytize in the religious sense, but you know what I mean.
We are the problem. In fact, one of the best things about the Bible (to me at least) is that it teaches me that the biggest problem in my life is me. Of course it's always easier to point the fingers at someone else.
I didn't think the smartphone apologists were the worst! I would have thought it was the social media apologists who jump through hoops just to justify giving their information to Zuckertwat and the likes.
They'll complain about forums like this going down hill but then fail to recognize that a big part of that is because they've left forums for social media! Blows my mind, honestly.
Similar threads
