Smart phones for stupid people

[Kraken]

I specifically want the S10. It will most likely be Samsung's last flagship with an earphone jack, and possibly the last phone I'll have to buy. My S4 lasted 6+ years and I expect the same from the S10.

[Jeff V]

I specifically want the S10. It will most likely be Samsung's last flagship with an earphone jack, and possibly the last phone I'll have to buy. My S4 lasted 6+ years and I expect the same from the S10.

I'm putting off upgrading my S7, but it's getting really difficult. The phone has storage issues, the SD card has a tendency to lose connection with the phone and it seems the phone decides that everything off-loaded to the SD card needs to reinstalled. Playing this game occupies several hours per week of my time. On top of that, the battery is nearly useless and requires a large external battery to be connected whenever I need to use it away from a charger or need more than a couple of hours of standby.

Headphone jacks are a necessary feature. One of my cars does not support BT audio and I need use a cable to attach the phone to the car AUX.

[Kraken]

I bought the phone yesterday.

Do y'all still use screen protectors? I removed the one from my S4 six months ago, and it still doesn't have a scratch (I don't carry it around routinely, though). I am thinking about getting one of those cases with a fold-over cover. This one caught my eye.

[Jaymann]

Screen protectors - the pocket protector of the new millennium! I couldn't believe my i-7 (don't laugh, free from work) could not get a contact charge, but I found a case that enables that. Now it mostly sits on a charging port on my rig.

[gilraen]

Do y'all still use screen protectors?

Absolutely. I use Tech Armor Ballistic Glass one - it's not so much about scratches, it's about dropping my phone and not cracking the screen. Last time I dropped my phone, it actually cracked the screen protector, so I had to replace it - but the screen was fine.

[Kraken]

Do y'all still use screen protectors?

Absolutely. I use Tech Armor Ballistic Glass one - it's not so much about scratches, it's about dropping my phone and not cracking the screen. Last time I dropped my phone, it actually cracked the screen protector, so I had to replace it - but the screen was fine.

For the S10, they make a glass one for $20, or a 2-pack of film covers for $9. I prefer film unless the glass one is greatly superior.

[Kasey Chang]

I personally prefer glass, as I can't seem to install the film properly EVER. But I don't think I have a protector on right now, as the ones I found don't stay on properly. The phone's weather resistant, and this allows moisture under it making the phone nearly useless once it got a little wet.

[Kasey Chang]

I personally prefer glass, as I can't seem to install the film properly EVER. But I don't think I have a protector on right now, as the ones I found don't stay on properly. The phone's weather resistant, and this allows moisture under it making the phone nearly useless once it got a little wet.

[Isgrimnur]

Mall kiosks will generally install them for you.

[Jeff V]

Do y'all still use screen protectors?

Never. I carry the phone around all the time in various pockets, never got one scratched or cracked (my wife, OTOH...) I use a phone condom I got for like $7 on Amazon that does a perfectly fine job insulating it from drops and doesn't add much to the dimensions of the phone.

[Kraken]

I went with an old-skool film screen protector and a clear plastic case. Necessary or not, I feel more secure for having spent $20 on extra protection for my new $600 gadget. And I got the film on with only one tiny speck of grit short of perfection. Apart from that, it's so invisible that the fingerprint scanner works fine.

I was surprised that one can activate a phone at home and transfer content from the old phone easily and fairly quickly, at least if you aren't changing carriers. I'd resigned myself to spending an hour at a Verizon store to get that done.

I do have two questions.

First, how does one responsibly and safely dispose of an old phone? I doubt that my S4 has much value to anybody; I just want to make sure all of my personal info is wiped, and ideally keep it out of a landfill, and do that with no expense or hassle. Bonus if it gets reused. It still has a new-ish battery.

Second, I didn't know that Samsung had dropped the LED indicator from the S10. This is the only thing (so far) that I don't like about my new phone. I relied on that blinking blue light to tell me when I had a new text message/voicemail/missed call. The new phone dutifully gives me a notification when a message arrives, but if I miss it when it comes in, it's just a black slab of glass. Other than getting in the habit of checking it more often, is there a way to make a sleeping phone signal that an unread message is waiting? You know, like that LED does on every previous Galaxy. (I found a weak workaround that uses a couple of apps to make the front camera emit light, but it doesn't work with third-party apps and it isn't persistent. A momentary flash doesn't help. I need a persistent glow or blink.)

At some point, I'm probably going to ask "What's Bixby?", but not yet.

[Jaymann]

I think he played the Hulk.

[Blackhawk]

I've read that the notification light can be fixed with a number of different apps that use the camera LED into a notification light. I'm still on an S7 myself, so I can't make recommendations.

My old phones both serve as radios, one in the kids' room, one in mine. I keep them charging and a set of speakers plugged into the headphone jack. All I have installed are Spotify and Pandora. They're on my local network, so no carrier/plan is required.

[Hrothgar]

For 1, do you have and EcoATM near by? Factory reset is usually under settings, general management, reset, factory reset.

For 2, the easiest solution is probably to customize the always on display. You can tell it what notifications to display and whether they're hidden (icons only) or not (shows a standard notification like the shade). The default has the aod on if you set the phone down face up and turns it off if you set it down face down (or put it in your pocket, etc.).

Bixby isn't as bad as most reviewers make it out to be, but it's no Hey Google.

[Kraken]

Whoa! There's a kiosk at the mall and my phone is worth $8. That's just about enough to persuade me to go to the mall...after xmas, of course.

The always-on display adds a ghostly clock to my black slab of glass, which is kind of cool, but it doesn't display notifications.

[Hrothgar]

Try settings, lock screen, notifications. Toggle the switch to on. Then, after you turn it on, you can tap the word notifications. Then turn on the toggle for 'show on Always on Display.' That's also where you can customize the view style and hide content.

[Kraken]

Did that. The always-on display shows the clock, battery percentage, and four tiny cryptic icons. One of them is some kind of spiral, one is a phone receiver, one is a lock, and one just says "+2". No idea +2 what. Tapping any of those icons just opens up the lock screen, which displays text notifications.

I'll watch it for a few days to see if it ever displays the notifications I want -- text messages and phone calls.

[Kasey Chang]

+2 means there are two more things it's not showing due to lack of screen real estate.

[Kraken]

Yeah...it's giving me a lot of notifications I don't care about. Every damned app wants to tell me something every day (Candy Crush is having a contest!). I am tinkering with settings and permissions to shut those up. Eventually I'll look into those apps that try to make the camera emulate the old LED.

Samsung made two dumb decisions with the S10 -- dumping the LED, and moving the headphone jack to the bottom. Why? Aesthetics, I guess. People seem to want a featureless slab of glass.

[Hrothgar]

Did you try playing around with view style (brief vs. icons only) and Hide content toggles? You might find a combination you like.

[Kraken]

I think turning on Do Not Disturb, with exceptions for messages and calls from my Contacts, is getting close to what I want.

[Kraken]

I wanted to neuter my old phone preparatory to recycling. I think I conflated two different methods: First, I removed the SD card and the Verizon sim card. Then I did a factory reset and wipe. Should I put the little cards back in, or trash them? If I put them back in, do I need to do the reset/wipe again? My hunch says I should've done the wipe with the cards installed.

When I boot the phone now, it wants to go thru a setup routine, so it's definitely wiped.

[Isgrimnur]

The SIM is useless and can be trashed. The SD card can be moved to another device of yours.

[Kraken]

Thanks. It's only a 32 GB card, so I'll most likely just replace it.

[Jeff V]

Get as large as one as the phone will use. I put in a 200 GB in my S7 when the 64 ran out of space; wife's A6 took a 500GB that I now need to run an undelete app on it because it decided to delete all her picture (many years worth).

[Kraken]

Get as large as one as the phone will use. I put in a 200 GB in my S7 when the 64 ran out of space; wife's A6 took a 500GB that I now need to run an undelete app on it because it decided to delete all her picture (many years worth).

Since I'm used to having no space, I'm also used to downloading photos to my PC or uploading them to the facebook periodically. I also take a photo, like, every three months.

I think my S10 can take either 128 or 256GB. If I add that, will it be obvious how to save photos and videos there? I'm still assuming this phone is smarter than I am.

I think an SD card is only $50 or so, but my October paycheck got held up so I have to live under a bridge and eat worms until xmas. If my November check hits on time around New Years, though, I'll be living the high life again. (This is what happens when you depend on one client.)

[Jeff V]

Internet says your phone will take 512GB.

[Jaymann]

Did you know you can change Siri's voice to a male with an Australian accent? If they had a cockney accent I would be all over it.

[Isgrimnur]

My Siri is female Australian.

[Isgrimnur]

There's an S10e, which trims $150 off the total price of the S10. TechRadar has good things to say about it.

Wife's S10e just arrived, and I just took possession of my iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Merry Christmas, $2k out the door. If mine lasts four years like my 6 did, I'll be thrilled.

[LawBeefaroni]

I think an SD card is only $50 or so, but my October paycheck got held up so I have to live under a bridge and eat worms until xmas. If my November check hits on time around New Years, though, I'll be living the high life again. (This is what happens when you depend on one client.)

Micro SD card. And a decent 256 GB card should be available for $30 or less. 128 GB $20 or so.

[coopasonic]

There's an S10e, which trims $150 off the total price of the S10. TechRadar has good things to say about it.

Wife's S10e just arrived, and I just took possession of my iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Merry Christmas, $2k out the door. If mine lasts four years like my 6 did, I'll be thrilled.

On Christmas day we will have 3x iPhone 11 (and a 6s with no service) in our household. Last week we had a 7 and a 6s. Net expense: $800.

[Isgrimnur]

Did you change service providers?

[coopasonic]

Did you change service providers?

Nope. 1 free from work, buy 1 get 1 free(ish) on Verizon with adding a line (13yo gets his own phone - was supposed to be an 8, but the 11 was free so *shrug*).

We looked at switching to AT&T but their switch deal mandated a 7 or better trade and we didn't have it (the 7 we had belonged to my employer).

[Isgrimnur]

Nice.

[raydude]

I’ve been trying to make my iphone6 last till the iPhone 2020 comes out. I noticed it has been taking some time loading things like Tapatalk pages but instead of getting frustrated I just shrug and think of it as Apple telling my to reduce my screen time.

At some point next year I expect I’ll just be using the phone to call and text.

[Kraken]

I think an SD card is only $50 or so, but my October paycheck got held up so I have to live under a bridge and eat worms until xmas. If my November check hits on time around New Years, though, I'll be living the high life again. (This is what happens when you depend on one client.)

Micro SD card. And a decent 256 GB card should be available for $30 or less. 128 GB $20 or so.

Thanks. The internet confirms that I can add 512 GB and those are around $80-90. I can't imagine ever using that much space, but nobody ever complains of having too much space, so I might as well go all the way. Who knows, maybe I'll make a video someday. Turns out Samsung changed the size of the charging port, too, so I also have to replace the cable I keep in my car. Still waiting for my paycheck....

[Kraken]

Whoa! There's a kiosk at the mall and my phone is worth $8. That's just about enough to persuade me to go to the mall...after xmas, of course.

Christmas is far enough in the rearview mirror that I braved the mall today. I figured I'd turn the $8 for my old S4 into a fast food lunch at the food court. I thought there was a Sonic burger place there, and I've always wanted to try that.

Long story short, the Eco kiosk couldn't read my phone, probably due to its own cable. After multiple rejections, it finally gave me the option to continue without connecting, warning me that the payout would be lower. Fine, whatever. In the end it told me that the S4 has no cash value and gave me the option of recycling the phone anyway. Since I'd already wasted half an hour I decided to walk away with no money, but no phone either.

The Sonic place actually turned out to be Johnny Rocket, which I'd also never tried. What the heck; it was lunchtime, and I only go to the mall every few years, and the food court never. Turns out that a bacon cheeseburger, order of fries, and small soda is $15. That's almost twice as much as the $8 I didn't get for my phone! It was a pretty good sandwich, but not a $15 lunch.

Oh well, I kept the phone out of a landfill, so Yay me.

[Jeff V]

The last time I went to a Johnny Rockets it was at a Six Flags and I think a small fry was $15, so consider yourself getting a fairer deal.

My S7 is really wearing thin with me. It doesn't help that my son snatches it at least once a day and installs enough crap to fill the internal memory. Then I need to make time to delete shit, I'm not sure why he doesn't just play what he has.

In their never-ending quest to be less employee-friendly, my job eliminated the $20 per month subsidy for using my own phone. I'm pretty sure demanding a company-provided phone (which I can do) is going to cost them a lot more; I didn't want to because of the hassle of carrying two phones but fuck it, there's a chance I could get an S10 without dropping $1K for it.

[Daehawk]

The Sonic place actually turned out to be Johnny Rocket,

Had a Johnny Rockets in our mall in the 90s. Ate there one time. The look and atmosphere were neat and the food good. But way overpriced. They didn't stay long. Maaaaybe 2 years if that.