Please recommend an Android phone

[Muse]

I'd use the latest OS as a matter of course, if just to make sure you have the absolute latest security. This isn't like Windows Phone, where Microsoft effectively abandoned much of its existing user base with its first major OS revision.

Got an update, should have it in 3 days, i.e. Friday. Thanks!

 

[Muadib]

So, I suppose the question is if I can retain my rollover minutes from my MVNO. I'll call them and find out... also I don't know if I can just move the SIM from my Windows phone and put it in the S9.

I’m not sure on moving the sim as it may be too big for the S9. If that’s the case, you can either go to an at&t store and get one, or dial 611 and have them ship you one. I think it’s 10 dollars.

 

[Muse]

I’m not sure on moving the sim as it may be too big for the S9. If that’s the case, you can either go to an at&t store and get one, or dial 611 and have them ship you one. I think it’s 10 dollars.

I had to trim down the SIM that's in the Windows phone (the previous Windows phone used a bigger SIM). I have a feeling it will fit.

I downloaded to my Kindle Paperwhite what was at that moment a freebie maybe a year ago, Android for Dummies. It's the first edition, don't know if another came out since. It covers 4 flavors of Android 8: Oreo, Nougat, Marshmallow and Lolipop. It's 345 pages. It's a reference book. It's not intended to be read cover to cover but to be picked up to figure out some feature, how to do something. I suppose it would be useful for a lot but wonder if I should get something else or go some places online to find out about the new features since version 8, since I will likely immediately install Android 10. What do you think?

 

[Muadib]

I had to trim down the SIM that's in the Windows phone (the previous Windows phone used a bigger SIM). I have a feeling it will fit.

I downloaded to my Kindle Paperwhite what was at that moment a freebie maybe a year ago, Android for Dummies. It's the first edition, don't know if another came out since. It covers 4 flavors of Android 8: Oreo, Nougat, Marshmallow and Lolipop. It's 345 pages. It's a reference book. It's not intended to be read cover to cover but to be picked up to figure out some feature, how to do something. I suppose it would be useful for a lot but wonder if I should get something else or go some places online to find out about the new features since version 8, since I will likely immediately install Android 10. What do you think?

I always used YouTube for Android new features. My last Android phone was a Note 8, and hated not getting all the features thanks to AT&T blocking them.

 

[Muse]

I always used YouTube for Android new features. My last Android phone was a Note 8, and hated not getting all the features thanks to AT&T blocking them.

Maybe I'll go to Verizon just to avoid AT&T. I had them for years for DSL and their support was always pretty awful. Plus their coverage here for cellular in my home location was 1-3 bars. Lately, the last week I see 4 bars upstairs so maybe they finally improved it, don't know... still haven't used cellular since seems forever... well, not for months. The S9 is supposed to come TODAY! Was Friday, am getting notices several times a day and suddenly says TODAY!

I found this site poking around and it has a bunch of stuff on new Android features in Version 10. Not clear to me that I will have all that since I don't have a Samsung S20 or a new Pixel.

The best Android 10 features you should be using today

Android 10 is full of useful features. You just have to know where to look.

www.cnet.com

 

[Muadib]

Maybe I'll go to Verizon just to avoid AT&T. I had them for years for DSL and their support was always pretty awful. Plus their coverage here for cellular in my home location was 1-3 bars. Lately, the last week I see 4 bars upstairs so maybe they finally improved it, don't know... still haven't used cellular since seems forever... well, not for months. The S9 is supposed to come TODAY! Was Friday, am getting notices several times a day and suddenly says TODAY!

I found this site poking around and it has a bunch of stuff on new Android features in Version 10. Not clear to me that I will have all that since I don't have a Samsung S20 or a new Pixel.

The best Android 10 features you should be using today

Android 10 is full of useful features. You just have to know where to look.

www.cnet.com

I love CNET! Their tv reviews are great, and so are their phone reviews.

Verizon also blocks Android features. Your best bet is to go to their forums and see.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, my new Samsung A01, with a T-Mo SIM that handles 4G LTE data and Wifi calling, well, now I'm not getting any DATA plan. I get LTE data, for the VoLTE (*"HD Voice") calling, and my account lists that data usage as "whitelisted", but there's only a few other listings under the account for "data", from prior dates. (I just got the phone a few days ago.)

So, it seems like the 4G LTE bands that it uses (it's an "International" phone), are supported by T-Mobile, and it auto-created the right APN settings for it, those all match, but for some reason, I'm not getting usage of my 2GB of 4G LTE data per month. It just rolled into the next billing cycle, maybe something's up.

T-Mobile's pre-paid site, wouldn't accept any zip codes whatsoever, either, when either clicking on "Bring your own device", or "shop phones". Great web site guys.

And when I enter the IMEI to check compatibility, they claim that they don't recognize it.

I called customer support, and the guy had me go over a few things, reboot the phone, verify the APN settings. Yeah, all good.

Maybe this phone is "too new", it only came out a few months ago, and it's not in T-Mobile's system.

 

[Muse]

I love CNET! Their tv reviews are great, and so are their phone reviews.

Verizon also blocks Android features. Your best bet is to go to their forums and see.

S9 forums? Can you link me? Possible an MVNO (Verizon or AT&T) will be better in terms of not blocking features?

 

[sdifox]

Thank you!

A question... that OnePlus 8 Pro. No headphone jack. I don't see how that would work for me. Several times a week (when I'm working out, maybe other times) I listen to music using Etymotic corded headphones. I do have a high end set of wireless headphones but there's some connectivity issues, not sure I'd be happy doing the bluetooth music thing with them. It's a maybe. Now, you say "an adapter or good earbuds." You mean wireless earbuds (I have the Sony WF-1000XM3), but what do you mean by "an adapter?"

I'm not in a hurry. Guess I could cancel my Windows phone account and activate one of my LG ~$30 cheapies to my current cell phone number and use that for any wireless calls and outside-of-wifi app support until I get my next phone.

That 6.8 inch screen! My Alcatel Idol 4S Windows phone is the biggest I've had and the thought of a 6.8 inch ... seems like a small tablet! I don't know what my usage patterns will be. At least at first, likely not much data used, of course I will travel with it. I really think a 5 inch screen is gonna be big enough.

I'll check out those other suggestions you made.

You can get a bt adapter for your wired headphones.

The Best Bluetooth Headphone Adapter

If you want to use your favorite wired headphones over a wireless connection, the easy-to-use 1Mii ML100 is the best Bluetooth headphone adapter we’ve tested.

thewirecutter.com

 

[Muadib]

S9 forums? Can you link me? Possible an MVNO (Verizon or AT&T) will be better in terms of not blocking features?

I was a fan of Android Central: https://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s9-s9-plus/
I never used an MVNO, so I'm not sure.

 

[Muse]

You can get a bt adapter for your wired headphones.

The Best Bluetooth Headphone Adapter

If you want to use your favorite wired headphones over a wireless connection, the easy-to-use 1Mii ML100 is the best Bluetooth headphone adapter we’ve tested.

thewirecutter.com

Isn't that an extra gizmo between the phone and the headphones? And then I'd be dealing with bluetooth, which is apt to have it's own issues (dropouts and who knows... pairing). Anyway, every smartphone I've bought has had a headphone jack including this S9.

I unboxed it today. The screen's scratched up, not real bad or anything, maybe I won't even notice once I turn it on. Gotta figure out how to get my SIM into it.

 

[killster1]

Isn't that an extra gizmo between the phone and the headphones? And then I'd be dealing with bluetooth, which is apt to have it's own issues (dropouts and who knows... pairing). Anyway, every smartphone I've bought has had a headphone jack including this S9.

I unboxed it today. The screen's scratched up, not real bad or anything, maybe I won't even notice once I turn it on. Gotta figure out how to get my SIM into it.

which mnvo do you have? blutooth always works great for me so no problems there. the s9 is a decent phone, just ordered a s10e yesterday for 250 for verizon and a s20+ for myself for 800 (512gb) i switched to verizon for the same reason att is great sometimes but verizon seems to be king of the signal here in california driving off road etc. you can trim down the s9 or get a new simcard and have redpocket switch it over (i use redpocket mnvo) but i think u might use trackphone or net10. anyway congrats on the new phone, ebay had s9 verizon for 160 last time i looked.)

 

[sdifox]

Isn't that an extra gizmo between the phone and the headphones? And then I'd be dealing with bluetooth, which is apt to have it's own issues (dropouts and who knows... pairing). Anyway, every smartphone I've bought has had a headphone jack including this S9.

I unboxed it today. The screen's scratched up, not real bad or anything, maybe I won't even notice once I turn it on. Gotta figure out how to get my SIM into it.

BT should be pretty stable unless you buy those ebay Chinese five dollar junk. I prefer wired myself.

 

[Muse]

which mnvo do you have? blutooth always works great for me so no problems there. the s9 is a decent phone, just ordered a s10e yesterday for 250 for verizon and a s20+ for myself for 800 (512gb) i switched to verizon for the same reason att is great sometimes but verizon seems to be king of the signal here in california driving off road etc. you can trim down the s9 or get a new simcard and have redpocket switch it over (i use redpocket mnvo) but i think u might use trackphone or net10. anyway congrats on the new phone, ebay had s9 verizon for 160 last time i looked.)

My MVNO is Airvoice Wireless, they are strictly AT&T towers, if I understood the ESL customer service guy on the phone yesterday. My BT worked pretty OK, but not all the time in the gym early in the year using my Sony BT earbuds. Wasn't happy with that experience, went back to my wired Etymotics noise isolating earbuds.

I wish this S9 was "new" but it's not. I'm seriously thinking return it because, well, it looks pretty damned used. I mean there's scratches all over the screen, just hundreds and hundreds. Tiny stuff and maybe using it I wouldn't notice. Some bigger than others. The back, well, the camera and finger print sensor area looks like shit. Will they work OK... maybe. Thing is, I'm practically a newbie with Android and have never had a Samsung phone. I don't know how to check this thing out. I'm actually considering buying a new S9, I'm pretty sure I saw a listing. Would cost me twice as much but I figure I'm apt to be happier with it. I don't figure to buy another phone in a year or anything like that.

Looking at my Alcatel Idol 4S, it just looks so much better, it looks like a brand new phone. Has stereo speakers that are dynamite (OK, I don't use them that much, mostly headphones). This S9, my guess is that I'm at least the 3rd owner. On the back it says REFURBISHED BY ASURION. My listing said seller refurbished, so I have to think it's at least the 2nd time it was sold used. My listing:

Samsung Galaxy S9 G960U 64GB AT&T T-Mobile Sprint Verizon Factory Unlocked Good | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Samsung Galaxy S9 G960U 64GB AT&T T-Mobile Sprint Verizon Factory Unlocked Good at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[Arkaign]

I really really like the Moto G series from 4th gen to current.

Samsung makes fine hardware, but not a fan of their software. It seems like they have a Samsung special flavor of like 50 dang apps/Android components and it's just kinda cludgy.

- VERY LONG STORY/POST HERE LOL, SKIP TO END UNLESS SUPER BORED

I vastly prefer as close to base base core Android as possible. Minimal storage use taken up, and the ability to root and good support for Cyanogen and the like, which can dramatically improve the life of a phone. This is actually where Samsung stuff DOES shine quite well, as their phones are eventually understory well enough by the custom Rom community to be opened up for support, and even long after the OEM has abandoned the phone, you can still get custom Roms for it that are both current and lightweight.

It's been a little while due to the world being a little extra crazy, but I donate time to a food bank/resale shop where people donate old stuff all the time. Mostly I just help reload PCs that people donate so as to securely wipe any data that remains as well as fresh loading OS etc. Some people pull their HDD before donating a PC, which of course is their right, but until I got there they were unable to sell those, so I install little ssds to complete those etc.

What people also donate a lot are OLD phones. Almost never anything recent, but 4-5 year old stuff right up the wazoo. Usually beat up, and old phones are not something we can legitimately sell comfortably to the resale shop customers. Does the phone have a bug where it works for a few hours and then shuts off automatically? Does the Bluetooth radio overheat when in use for more than 15 minutes? Is it soft-blacklisted by a particular carrier for some reason? Does the touchscreen randomly not work from time to time? Who the hell knows, and it's not worth activating and testing ancient phones for so long as to guarantee their success.

So, that lets me use them for unlimited experimentation. And so I've rooted and rommed hundreds upon hundreds of them now, to give away as freebies and kids gaming mini tablets. And Samsung Galaxy S series has always seemed to have the best success for older models. Just weirdly, NEW Galaxy S models take a solid time before getting custom Rom support, and I have never liked their Samsung Roms.

TLDR - Plenty of good choices I think. I don't find good value in expensive phones from any brand. So I now stick to $200ish Moto G stuff. Lightweight OS, solid custom Rom support, good quality and performance without breaking the bank, and no CCP backdoors. Samsung Galaxy stuff is not the worst choice, particularly if you don't mind the kinda bulky OS, but they also age very well once custom Rom support starts picking up.

 

[sdifox]

I really really like the Moto G series from 4th gen to current.

Samsung makes fine hardware, but not a fan of their software. It seems like they have a Samsung special flavor of like 50 dang apps/Android components and it's just kinda cludgy.

- VERY LONG STORY/POST HERE LOL, SKIP TO END UNLESS SUPER BORED

I vastly prefer as close to base base core Android as possible. Minimal storage use taken up, and the ability to root and good support for Cyanogen and the like, which can dramatically improve the life of a phone. This is actually where Samsung stuff DOES shine quite well, as their phones are eventually understory well enough by the custom Rom community to be opened up for support, and even long after the OEM has abandoned the phone, you can still get custom Roms for it that are both current and lightweight.

It's been a little while due to the world being a little extra crazy, but I donate time to a food bank/resale shop where people donate old stuff all the time. Mostly I just help reload PCs that people donate so as to securely wipe any data that remains as well as fresh loading OS etc. Some people pull their HDD before donating a PC, which of course is their right, but until I got there they were unable to sell those, so I install little ssds to complete those etc.

What people also donate a lot are OLD phones. Almost never anything recent, but 4-5 year old stuff right up the wazoo. Usually beat up, and old phones are not something we can legitimately sell comfortably to the resale shop customers. Does the phone have a bug where it works for a few hours and then shuts off automatically? Does the Bluetooth radio overheat when in use for more than 15 minutes? Is it soft-blacklisted by a particular carrier for some reason? Does the touchscreen randomly not work from time to time? Who the hell knows, and it's not worth activating and testing ancient phones for so long as to guarantee their success.

So, that lets me use them for unlimited experimentation. And so I've rooted and rommed hundreds upon hundreds of them now, to give away as freebies and kids gaming mini tablets. And Samsung Galaxy S series has always seemed to have the best success for older models. Just weirdly, NEW Galaxy S models take a solid time before getting custom Rom support, and I have never liked their Samsung Roms.

TLDR - Plenty of good choices I think. I don't find good value in expensive phones from any brand. So I now stick to $200ish Moto G stuff. Lightweight OS, solid custom Rom support, good quality and performance without breaking the bank, and no CCP backdoors. Samsung Galaxy stuff is not the worst choice, particularly if you don't mind the kinda bulky OS, but they also age very well once custom Rom support starts picking up.

Moto is owned by Lenovo... so yes CCP backdoor

 

[Arkaign]

Moto is owned by Lenovo... so yes CCP backdoor

LOL, well sort of but not really.gif (as far as CCP running it like Huawei, and compromised SOCs).

MediaTEK socs were notoriously poor security wise, but the G series has used regular old Qualcomm SOCs for a good while now, and the XDA hacker community has found absolutely nothing fishy about any of the Moto phones either, they're really basic.

Where the problems lie in cheap phones are when they're made by defacto CCP fronts like Huawei or ZTE, where the firmware level itself is untrustworthy, not to mention the software backdoors found.

Blu had a backdoor SMS exploit on about 120,000 devices, but patched it out after it was discovered, it was because they had used a third party company to source their Rom build from that was not trustworthy in the end, but the issue was at the software level, unless you had a MediaTek SoC and were targeted by nation-state level security services (to be fair at that point, no phone is truly 'safe' lol)

But all of this is why I do prefer custom Rom and not having default ROMs installed. Just like in the Windows desktop world, the biggest threats can come from little unnecessary holes, like the Asus, HP, and Dell 'update' hacks. Bloatware that's constantly running that can be exploited to gain access to your data or device hardware. Also, for example stock Galaxy S7 and S8 rom, maybe a few dozen millions of users on it, and if the CCP MSS or other malfeasant types have discovered undocumented security vulnerability in one of the dozens of pointless Samsung versions of apps on there, it is a massive security hole, vs a custom Rom that only a few thousand people may be running, with only base Android running and far fewer processes running on the OS at all. Security by obscurity in a way, as opportunity cost is a major factor in any Intel or hacking outfit.

 

[Muse]

Gonna look at these discussions, I'm not whiffing but it's deep for me... ROM support. I guess that's referring to software development after the fact, i.e. after the phones are released and we're down the road??

Well, I'm uncomfortable keeping the S9 I have ATM because it looks so much like it's been through the mill. It might be OK but you look at it and have to wonder if it doesn't have issues, which I suppose would have to be hardware issues. It looks like it's taken 10,000 photos and been in and out of people's pockets 20,000 times and mixed it up with keys, coins and what not.

TBH I put the linked S9 item seen below in my Amazon cart today, so am thinking of ordering it and returning the S9 I have to Brooklyn, with the complaint that being the top of the 3 tiers of cosmetic beauty that they offered it sure looks mighty ratty. The Amazon offered S9 linked below is presented as appearing and performing as NEW, is $50 more than what I bought, has a 90 day return policy. I'm comfortable paying $50 more for a phone that looks new as compared to the one I have in hand. I suppose I'll have to pay for shipping the one I have back to Brooklyn unless I can make the case that it isn't as represented.

I'm trying to figure out if the below linked S9 through Amazon will work on both AT&T and Verizon. Says "fully unlocked," wouldn't it imply that? Seems like the history of this listing is suggesting that it's been provided by more than one party so maybe what's offered now isn't what has been offered in the past at some point. Many reviews seem to be about S9's supplied by a different provider. I posted the question does it support both AT&T and Verizon and got two answers, one said they're using it on AT&T, the other said on Verizon. Is it the same? Dunno.

Samsung Galaxy S9, 64GB, Coral Blue - Fully Unlocked (Renewed)by Amazon Renewed

 

[Arkaign]

Hi Muse. When you do find your desired S9, I recommend starting casual research into how custom ROMs perform on there. The XDA devs at

Samsung Galaxy S9 ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries, & Ot

Improve your Samsung Galaxy S9 's battery life, performance, and look by rooting it and installing a custom ROM, kernel, and more.

forum.xda-developers.com

 

[Muse]

Well, my new Samsung A01, with a T-Mo SIM that handles 4G LTE data and Wifi calling, well, now I'm not getting any DATA plan. I get LTE data, for the VoLTE (*"HD Voice") calling, and my account lists that data usage as "whitelisted", but there's only a few other listings under the account for "data", from prior dates. (I just got the phone a few days ago.)

So, it seems like the 4G LTE bands that it uses (it's an "International" phone), are supported by T-Mobile, and it auto-created the right APN settings for it, those all match, but for some reason, I'm not getting usage of my 2GB of 4G LTE data per month. It just rolled into the next billing cycle, maybe something's up.

T-Mobile's pre-paid site, wouldn't accept any zip codes whatsoever, either, when either clicking on "Bring your own device", or "shop phones". Great web site guys.

And when I enter the IMEI to check compatibility, they claim that they don't recognize it.

I called customer support, and the guy had me go over a few things, reboot the phone, verify the APN settings. Yeah, all good.

Maybe this phone is "too new", it only came out a few months ago, and it's not in T-Mobile's system.

My Android LG Rebel 3's do have removable batteries. The reviews are pretty positive. They are cheap at $30 (well, that's what I paid), I have one that supports T-Mobile, two that support Verizon (but haven't activated any of them). They've done what I've asked of them, but may well not satisfy you. Just sayin', in case the one you have doesn't work out and you're looking for something else. They may not support the Android updates you want, for one thing.

 

[Arkaign]

Woops lol, anyway, that's the dev group for it.

Here is lineage for S9, pretty slick

 

[killster1]

250 should be in s9+ territory with like new photos. Dont purchase with out exact photos of what you will get. You don't need to root your phone and run custom os just disable what you don't use. The s10 is also in 250ish territory att phones cost alot less then Verizon! Really I'd switch carrier and phone to Verizon. 5gb a month is 220 a year with redpocket on eBay. Unlimited talk and txt. 160 for 1gb? 180 for 2gb per month. Etc. Get what service u can actually use!

 

[Muadib]

Gonna look at these discussions, I'm not whiffing but it's deep for me... ROM support. I guess that's referring to software development after the fact, i.e. after the phones are released and we're down the road??

Well, I'm uncomfortable keeping the S9 I have ATM because it looks so much like it's been through the mill. It might be OK but you look at it and have to wonder if it doesn't have issues, which I suppose would have to be hardware issues. It looks like it's taken 10,000 photos and been in and out of people's pockets 20,000 times and mixed it up with keys, coins and what not.

TBH I put the linked item seen below in my Amazon cart today, so am thinking of ordering it and returning the S9 I have to Brooklyn, with the complaint that being the top of the 3 tiers of cosmetic beauty that they offered it sure looks mighty ratty. The Amazon offered S9 linked below is presented as appearing and performing as NEW, is $50 more than what I bought, has a 90 day return policy. I'm comfortable paying $50 more for a phone that looks new as compared to the one I have in hand. I suppose I'll have to pay for shipping the one I have back to Brooklyn unless I can make the case that it isn't as represented.

I'm trying to figure out if the below linked S9 through Amazon will work on both AT&T and Verizon. Says "fully unlocked," wouldn't it imply that? Seems like the history of this listing is suggesting that it's been provided by more than one party so maybe what's offered now isn't what has been offered in the past at some point. Many reviews seem to be about S9's supplied by a different provider. I posted the question does it support both AT&T and Verizon and got two answers, one said they're using it on AT&T, the other said on Verizon. Is it the same? Dunno.

Samsung Galaxy S9, 64GB, Coral Blue - Fully Unlocked (Renewed)by Amazon Renewed

I would return the scratched up S9 and buy the Amazon one. It’s unlocked and has a warranty. I don’t think you can beat that.

 

[killster1]

Woops lol, anyway, that's the dev group for it.

Here is lineage for S9, pretty slick

yea super cool, no front camera, a crappy camera app instead of samsungs ai and umm what do you gain? crashes and buggy software? the s9 already comes with android 10 on verizon update so. im confused why y ou would want to use it. (i used to be ALL INTO the custom roms on XDA forums, but honestly i cant even remember why!) now with my unlocked s20 i use it with verizon and have the hotspot app that works just fine (seems like if you have verizon firmware it wont allow hotspot unless you pay for it??) what am i missing!? if you are to lazy or busy to flash or unlock unlockboot.com is very handy and provides low cost and actually free service sometimes. think its 20$ to flash fw and the price to unlock or change imei etc changes based on teh phone.

 

[Arkaign]

It's not something to do right away, but rather to keep an eye on. Once a rom is fully mature (of course some never are), it makes for a decent option for those that despise the Samsung software like myself. The S9 is also several years old now and approaching the drop dead date for continued current support. For people who constantly buy newer phones this again is no concern, but I've seen cases especially with S4-5-6 models where custom mature ROMs give newer Android builds, zero bloatware, and stripping carrier limitations away. It's not something to do simply for no reason, and only hobbyists should bother with immature ROMs on primary phones.

It's the same thing with how some.people love iOS.