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  • Originally posted by Ironduke View Post
    I opt for the $50 smartphone. I've had the model I have now for about 18 months now, and the only reason I bought it then was because I lost my previous phone in a car rental, and was never able to get it back. The $50 phone does everything I need. That's my only criteria for a smartphone. Does what I need. Make and receive calls, texts, and emails, has internet, can take pictures. I need those things for work. A $500 phone doesn't offer any additional features I have to have, and as phones are easy to lose, break, etc., and obsolescence is forced, I'd rather only be out $50 every few years, rather than $500 every year. The fact that it cost so little makes it inconsequential if it's lost, broken, stolen, etc.

    If I were to lose or break the phone I have now, I'd probably opt for the LG Phoenix 3. Costs only $39 at just about every retailer that sells it. Half inch bigger screen, Android 6 would be the only beneficial upgrades. It does have twice as much storage, and a higher megapixel front camera, but I don't even use the 8GB of storage I have, and I don't take non-work related photos of anything, so those upgrades are of no practical use to me.
    Only red flag with those phones is the RAM is too damn low. 1.5GB RAM is crazy small to be using in 2018. But it isn't a problem if all you want is a feature phone and have to make do with this. The price seems much lower than i'd expect which makes me think these are subsidised by a carrier in some way. There are many people i know who are exactly like this. Would still use a feature phone if only it could run whatsapp. And that's the point. You're not using anything that makes this thing smart. Would you be able to navigate cross country with it ? doubtful. It lacks a real GPS and is dependent on cell signal for assisted GPS. How long's it take to get a lock and how accurate is that. If you were ordering a cab would it place you on the right street or the one a block away. The thing that will grate the most is general lag but you will only realise that if you used a faster phone.

    You don't have to change a $500 phone every year. I bought my V20 a year after it came out and paid $400. When it launched it was closer to $800. I fully expect to use it for at least three years if not longer. Ideally i'd prefer five. I can swap out the battery if necessary and it works great. I'm no longer a first adopter. I looked at phones this year and there were none i wanted or felt i had t get. The same happened the last year as well.

    Most high ends lose 25% of their cost within a quarter. There is always the option of second hand which will be still cheaper provided everything is working and not broken which is why the asking price is so low. Lower end tend to come out every three months with slight improvements which is hellish compared to higher ends which can still hold their own a couple of years later.

    Thing is with subsidised phones which is most of the west, you don't even pay full price, its spread out over the term of the contract. Two years ? It would be a very different story otherwise. So it isn't difficult to get a good phone and here you don't need high end. Something like a Moto G is good enough and one i consider a bare minimum to be doing anything smart with a phone. That is until more Chinese phones arrive on your shores
    Last edited by Double Edge; 04 Aug 18,, 01:26.

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    • Originally posted by Ironduke View Post


      My grandparents had a TV of either this model or one very similar to it:



      They kept it for 40 years. The quality of the display was in poor shape at the time they got rid of it, but that being said, it seems LCD TVs get thrown out every few years. They're typically only designed to last that long. The viewing experience is far, far better than old CRTs, it's a pity they're not made to last decades like many CRTs were.
      I remember those. Had to turn it on early so the tube could warm up before your show came on. The picture would "Snow" during thunderstorms. Put out a lot of heat. And it cost an arm and a leg. CRTs were not designed to last decades. But when something went wrong it was cheaper to fix them than buy a new one. When was the last time you saw a TV repair shop?

      The last CRT TV I bought (a 26in in 1991) cost around $700 dollars. I can get a nice 60in OLED one for the same price today. And if I go to an inflation calculator that same 1991 TV in 2018 dollars would cost $1289

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      • My parents had an enormous one in the 1960s...lasted into the 70s. B&W...I remember watching the Kennedy funeral, Viet Nam news reports and the Space Program....to include Apollo 1...on that TV.

        We then got 2 smaller TVs when we moved to DC...the color one for the family room and a Black and white for the sun room. I earned a Boy Scout merit badge fixing those TVs. I could take the burnt out bulb out and take it to the local Dart drug store to their test machine. When confirmed dead I just grabbed a new one and replaced it in the TV...same with radios.

        Bought a CRT TV in Germany in 1984 and had it until I got my first flat panel about 10 years ago. Now I have a 48 inch HD!
        “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
        Mark Twain

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        • Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
          Only red flag with those phones is the RAM is too damn low. 1.5GB RAM is crazy small to be using in 2018. But it isn't a problem if all you want is a feature phone and have to make do with this.
          If one is only using them for phone calls, email, texting, Google Maps, and light web browsing, why do they need more than 1.5GB of RAM? I'm not streaming video or playing any games on them.

          The price seems much lower than i'd expect which makes me think these are subsidised by a carrier in some way. There are many people i know who are exactly like this.
          No idea why the price is what is, but that's the walk-away price. You simply buy it and pop a SIM card in. No added costs on the cell phone bill to pay it off, as is commonly the case with more expensive phones.

          Would you be able to navigate cross country with it ? doubtful. It lacks a real GPS and is dependent on cell signal for assisted GPS. How long's it take to get a lock and how accurate is that. If you were ordering a cab would it place you on the right street or the one a block away.
          No idea about any of that. Whenever I order a Lyft, it comes to my location. Google Maps seems to accurately mark my location too. I prefer not to to use or be dependent on GPS when I do drive, I prefer to navigate and plan trips by memorizing/writing down directions and routes.
          "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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          • Originally posted by Ironduke View Post
            If one is only using them for phone calls, email, texting, Google Maps, and light web browsing, why do they need more than 1.5GB of RAM? I'm not streaming video or playing any games on them.
            I'm thinking of the time when you want to do more than just that : )

            If you use more apps, less memory prevents multitasking as each time you swap to an app it has to refresh itself. For some apps that does not matter but it does with others.

            Way i think of it is better to have and not need than the other way around.


            No idea why the price is what is, but that's the walk-away price. You simply buy it and pop a SIM card in. No added costs on the cell phone bill to pay it off, as is commonly the case with more expensive phones.
            Can't get these phones at the prices you quoted in India and that is assuming they're even launched here which i doubt. They are subsidised by carriers for sure or LG's doing a package deal

            No idea about any of that. Whenever I order a Lyft, it comes to my location. Google Maps seems to accurately mark my location too. I prefer not to to use or be dependent on GPS when I do drive, I prefer to navigate and plan trips by memorizing/writing down directions and routes.
            I think its guessed your location correctly from your location history then. Google tracks where you go. I usually turn this off by default as it tends to drain battery inexplicably some times. Course when you do that google can't help you locate a lost phone if it matters.
            Last edited by Double Edge; 09 Aug 18,, 20:06.

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            • Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
              I think its guessed your location correctly from your location history then. Google tracks where you go. I usually turn this off by default as it tends to drain battery inexplicably some times. Course when you do that google can't help you locate a lost phone if it matters.
              I have location history turned off as well. I think it's the first thing I do whenever I get a new phone.
              "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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              • Originally posted by Ironduke View Post
                I have location history turned off as well. I think it's the first thing I do whenever I get a new phone.
                This is what i mean by acceptable minimum for people without special needs.

                https://youtu.be/eudDRiadDeU

                $200ish

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                • Nokia still exists?

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                  • Originally posted by kato View Post
                    Nokia still exists?
                    Yes and no. The original was sold off to MS and now its owned by HMD. They've been making waves of late with their offerings. There is an incredible reservoir of brand appreciation with Nokia.

                    So its not the Nokia of old but it has people who used to work there

                    Same story with Motorola phones, had a stint with google now owned by Lenovo

                    Brands manangement

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                    • Today I Learned: my inner complaint voice looks exactly like a Chinese man named Gordon...
                      : D

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                      • I've recently seen some ads on YouTube that got me thinking again on the loss of basic skills and intelligence due to technology doing it for us.

                        These particular ads are for a company called Grammarly.

                        Compose bold, clear, mistake-free writing with Grammarly’s AI-powered writing assistant.

                        From grammar and spelling to style and tone, Grammarly helps you eliminate errors and find the perfect words to express yourself.

                        In 20 years time, will anyone actually have any inherent grammar or spelling abilities? Will everyone's writing all look the same, dictated by and conforming to the same computer algorithms?

                        Already there's been an enormous loss in navigational skills and spatial intelligence as a result of things like GPS directions and Google Maps. So many people don't even know east from west anymore even when it should be clearly apparent from the position of the sun.

                        When we rely on technology to perform these tasks for us, the human brain never develops properly. There's this constant erosion of capabilities and skills the more technology does our thinking and problem-solving for us.
                        "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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                        • I think grammar and spelling will definitely improve especially for people for which it isn't native. And for natives as well. I can't see it getting any worse than before tech.

                          Hand writing otoh : O

                          I always compliment any doctor that has legible writing.

                          When it looks like a foreign language even though its supposed to be in english i have to write in all caps underneath

                          How often do you see anything hand written these days
                          Last edited by Double Edge; 03 Aug 19,, 01:51.

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                          • Originally posted by Ironduke View Post

                            Already there's been an enormous loss in navigational skills and spatial intelligence as a result of things like GPS directions and Google Maps. So many people don't even know east from west anymore even when it should be clearly apparent from the position of the sun.
                            You do know that the sun rises due east and sets due west only 2 days out of the year. Depending on your latitude the variation between sunrise direction in midsummer and mid winter can be as much as 90deg.

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                            • Originally posted by Gun Grape View Post
                              You do know that the sun rises due east and sets due west only 2 days out of the year. Depending on your latitude the variation between sunrise direction in midsummer and mid winter can be as much as 90deg.
                              Looking to the position of the sun in the sky is good enough to get one's general bearings. Or the direction of twilight before and after the sun has set.

                              Only some tens of millions of the 7.7 billion people on Earth live in northern latitudes where the latter phenomenon exists. Maybe 1% of the world's population. The number in the southern hemisphere is so small, it's practically zero.

                              The increasing inability to intuitively navigate and wayfind, in the age of GPS and smartphones, is what I believe to simply be a stark example of the erosion of the skills and capabilities of a human mind, in the age of technology. The increasing inability to tell east from west, when it's plain as day which way is which, is just an example within that example.

                              Take a civil engineer from the times of the Roman Empire vs. one from the 21st century. The modern-day civil engineer uses computers and programs such as AutoCAD to do much of the work. The engineer from Roman times, the engineer's brain itself was a biological computer, and I suspect it was vastly more capable and complex than a modern mind in the same profession today. The same could be said for navigators on ships in the Age of Sail, vs navigators on ships today.
                              Last edited by Ironduke; 03 Aug 19,, 08:04.
                              "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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                              • Originally posted by Ironduke View Post
                                In 20 years time, will anyone actually have any inherent grammar or spelling abilities? Will everyone's writing all look the same, dictated by and conforming to the same computer algorithms?
                                Think of those bots as guardians of the language. If people conform.

                                Italian after all is Latin spoken wrong over a course of a thousand years : )

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