Low Cost Smartphone. Why not?

[OFSO]

No, I have bluetooth on all the time, I maybe get 20-30 WA and mails daily, plus check-in time and weather. 21 days are what I get. The Huawei it's tied to lasts about 20 hours per charge, down to under 30%.

My senior stepson, studying aeronautic fluid dynamics, bought a Xiaomi phone from a subsidiary company,
different name, ludicrous cheap price, direct from China, removed the Android OS, installed a third party OS with modifications (he's a very bright lad) and showed me the result. I was stunned. Beats anything with an -i in the name.

[Pontius Navigator]

I have a junk cleaner all on my phone and over two pages of app s. I am continually asked to delete junk. Never come close to filling it.

[G-CPTN]

I don't want a smartphone (well maybe just a little bit) - I currently use a 2G PAYG 'phone which serves me fine.
When/if I move to a smartphone (I would like the ability to check emails when I am out - which is several days a week), I want a battery life of at least one week (I can't believe that people are content with daily charging), a facility to attach a lanyard (I would lose an unattached 'phone), a standard-sized SIM - not micro-SD as I want to be able to revert to my current 2G 'phone when I don't need a smartphone.

[OFSO]

I run memory clean every night. I have to say I use the phone for everything, communication, editing documents, processing photographs, listening to music, watching films and of course - posting here. The house computers are rarely used these days. Wife also does everything on the phone. Almost.

I actually kept a record of charging the band. Bought Nov4, put in a 50% charge, on Nov13 down to less than 25% so full charge. On Dec 4 down to 25% so full charge. On Dec 16 down to 60%, as going travelling, full charge.

[Rwy in Sight]

G-CPTN regarding SIM there are adaptors from credit size to the smallest one.So you can have several size. For the lanyard you might have to do it with a case.

OFSO - how much faster your mobile battery is being discharged with the blue-tooth always on. My mobile battery lasts two days with very frequent interactions - I keep checking the mobile.

[Slasher]

I use an iPhone 6 Plus. Bloody expensive but I had no choice at the time. Apart from busting its screen when I fell down the ramp stairs once and smashing it on the apron, it’s given little problem for the past 6 years. I don’t do iOS upgrades until it’s absolutely necessary. Too many extra bells and bloody whistles each time.

Thing is one has to go online to work out how to maximise battery life and minimise battery discharge. One finds that going through the Background Refresh list and knocking off a lot of unnecessary crap decreases the discharge rate quite a bit.

Wife and kid use Huawei. I’ll also go the Android route when the Crapple eventually dies. Hell of a lot cheaper.

[Rwy in Sight]

Since you mentioned it Slasher, I favour 3 reasonably priced mobiles over 1 really expensive one. So I 'd rather get 3 mid range Samsung or Xiaomi ones rather when each one dies than a top of the range Apple. By the time I get the last one it would be much better than a 5 years old fruity one.

[Slasher]

I always go top of the range RiS so that the damn thing is still useful 8-10 years later, using the better-bang-for-the-buck vs expected phone lifetime vs the present cost vs the expected cost 8 years hence formula.

As mentioned I had no choice but to get an iPhone 6+ at the time.

Nothing against mid ranges though, but I think it appeals more to those who like buying the latest models every 2 years.

[Rwy in Sight]

I wish I could follow your idea Slasher but giving a sizeable amount of money and then be exposed to theft, loss or damage makes your approach a bit difficult for me. It seems we spend the same amount on phones you do it in large chunks I do it in instalments and with a bit of luck I can go for 2.5+ years between phones. My previous one lasted almost two years but it suffered from memory issues and I wasn't sure which app to erase to make rooms for updates.

[llondel]

I had a Galaxy 4 (still have it somewhere) but when it got old enough to need replacing (four year old) I baulked at the cost of such things and went mid-range instead,. No way would I pay for a top of the range phone now, the lower cost ones do everything I need them to do so why pay for a bunch of useless features I don't need. Even on the current phone I still use a password to lock it and not a fingerprint.

[Rwy in Sight]

I acquired the finger print facility and I enjoyed so much I only use a PIN when absolutely necessary.

llondel how Galaxy 4 was better than other mobiles of its era, and more general how a upper range is better than a mid range one - besides battery capacity?

[Pontius Navigator]

My laptop demands a password when booting. PITA but at least only on boot. Now Microsoft, in its wisdom, introduced a PIN. Why as all that is holy have they reduced the security level. As it happens it is the first 4 numbers of my password so . . .

[larsssnowpharter]

About 3 years ago my old Nokia gave up the ghost and I went down the smartphone route. Señora Larss and the Sproglettes all have various iPhones which tend to be bought second. They are a good product and pretty resilient to use by kids.

However, they do seem to be as much a fashion statement as anything else.

I went down the Android route and bought a Motorola 4G. Cost about £125 as I recall. Perfectly happy with it as it seems to do everything I need..

[Rwy in Sight]

Are you sure it doesn't have the option to use a password instead?

However, they do seem to be as much a fashion statement as anything else.

So true!

[llondel]

I acquired the finger print facility and I enjoyed so much I only use a PIN when absolutely necessary.

llondel how Galaxy 4 was better than other mobiles of its era, and more general how a upper range is better than a mid range one - besides battery capacity?

I don't know that it necessarily was better at the point I bought mine, and I think the Galaxy 5 was already out so it wasn't current top-of-range, but when was time to get a new one, I looked at the Samsung offerings and decided they were way overpriced for what I wanted. They also got stupidly large at one point, which meant they wouldn't fit comfortably in my pocket.

As for fingerprints, there's a little twist in the US where the law prevents you from being required to divulge a password but a fingerprint scan is fair game. It's also easier to use force to get someone to scan a fingerprint, way harder to get them to divulge a password. Mythbusters also demonstrated how to extract a fingerprint from a surface and make something that would fool a lot of sensors.

[ian16th]

As for fingerprints, there's a little twist in the US where the law prevents you from being required to divulge a password but a fingerprint scan is fair game. It's also easier to use force to get someone to scan a fingerprint, way harder to get them to divulge a password. Mythbusters also demonstrated how to extract a fingerprint from a surface and make something that would fool a lot of sensors.

But for most of the people, most of the time, it is simpler and quicker, and gives a level of protection.

If you want to be secure against the combined forces of the CIA, MI6 and the KGB, you have a problem

[Rwy in Sight]

Plus I don't intend to travel to the US any time soon so finger print scan works well against a loss of the device.

[Pontius Navigator]

Plus I don't intend to travel to the US any time soon so finger print scan works well against a loss of the device.

I found an unlocked Nokia in the woods. Dried it out over a few days, charged it, and then phoned 'mum'. Mum had no idea where daughter was and pretty sure she had never been in that wood. 'Dad' had not answered.

If the phone had been locked they would not have got it back.

[ExSp33db1rd]

If the phone had been locked they would not have got it back.

Yes, found a phone at the side of the road whilst walking to Starbucks. Rang "Mom" and 10 minutes later her daughter walked in looking for the man in the red shirt wearing a wide-brimmed hat with her phone. Paid for my coffee, too !

The phone had fallen out of her pocket as she exited her car, luckily "Mom" knew the number of one of her flatmates.

[Slasher]

Like Faecesbook Twatter DickedIn and Instacrap I’ve never ever followed the herd as it invariably leads to trouble. The same with fingerprint ID for same reasons outlined in above posts.

The missus or a fellow drunk for example could use my finger to unlock my phone when I’m asleep/out cold and from there I’d enter a world of sh!t, esp if the wife enters Ops-n and reads my remarrying thread in Agony Aunt then my history after putting 2 and 2 together. Not only will I be divorced again but she’ll have me committed with the key thrown away.

I experimented using my right foot big toe print with success but cancelled it after I realised I’d have to take my shoe and sock off each time. This wouldn’t look good in public and also be quite cumbersome to do. Besides I’m not allowed to wear open slip-on sandals at the sim facility.