Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!
Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!
Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.
So, how’s it going?
I’m still on my S9+! I want a new phone sometime but don’t really know what to go for any more. My priorities have changed a little and I only really care about long battery life and maybe a half decent camera. Also maybe if the phone isn’t so massive in size…
Remember when flagship phones were like $8-900 max? Now they’re like $2k or more. It’s crazy people really spend that much on a phone!
I got my S10+ for $700 second hand on trademe. Phone was like $1800 new? I got mine a year after release, so could only have been a year old. I got it just after the S20 was released so those people who buy a new phone every year were offloading them on trademe and so I picked up a great deal. Phone was the same price as a mid-range phone but much better specs.
This time I got a Pixel 7 Pro (the larger 256GB model), was $900 and probably a similar $1,800 or so when new (you can get new ones for about $1,400 these days, now the 8 has been released). Buying second hand is of course more risky, because you don’t get a warranty, but I figure if 1 out of 3 is no good, then you still come out ahead of buying new.
Good idea, but I’ve always a been a bit wary to buy second hand phones, I should consider it though. Even now I feel bad about spending $900 for a phone. I don’t feel like I really need flagship phone features any more. I think I’ve become boring. 😅
When the wifes S7 died she went to an A53 and it’s been more than enough for her. We used to always get the previous generation flagship, but even that now is unreasonably expensive IMO, especially when it’s only from last year.
I use my phone a fair bit, and really notice the difference between higher spec and lower spec phones these days. The lower spec ones feel sluggish to me now.
I think it’s one of those things that’s personal. I buy second hand partly because I feel bad about all the e-waste and try not to contribute, but when I was buying new I spent the same amount for a worse phone so I think it has paid off.
I don’t get new phones very often, every 5 years or so if possible. I got a new phone recently not because I needed it, but because we wanted spares for the kids to use for minecraft on long car trips and that sort of thing. We don’t have tablets, this sort of serves that purpose. It’s the first time I can remember buying a phone when my last one wasn’t dead or near to it. Although I couldn’t take phone calls because everyone said they couldn’t hear me or I sounded muffled.
Nevertheless, my old phone was 4 years old (I’ve had it for 3). I’m hoping it will last a few more with the reduced usage. It was also an excuse to get a Pixel to install GrapheneOS on.
That’s a good run. I think I’m going to hit my 6th year soon with the S9+. It’s one of the only phones I bought on release.
I used to love changing phones, I’ve jumped around from Motorola, Samsung, one of the Nexus phones, Sony, Oneplus. I enjoyed messing around flashing custom roms, but I can’t be bothered with that any more.
In what area do you notice the performance differences the most?
The obvious answer is games. The kids play minecraft, which is probably the most demanding thing played on my phone.
The next is the camera. Phones often do some level of post processing, which the phone can struggle with. I’ve had phones in the past that you can only take one photo every 2 seconds or so, which seems plenty but then you miss the one good time when all the kids were looking at the camera at the same time.
And depending on what level of phone you go for, lower end phones feel sluggish, often very sluggish. Higher end phones just feel nicer to use, smoother scrolling, quicker when you tap things, etc. However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t perfectly usable, just that they feel sluggish in comparison.
Battery life can also vary wildly, but if you aren’t using location tracking automation, watching Netflix, or taking lots of photos then the battery of most phones probably lasts plenty.