Sucks.

I'm not happy with any of the current phones. Knowing that I will end up getting a phone that I'm not happy with anyways just increases the suck factor.

My current phone is a Samsung 5S Active. Expandable memory, couple of days battery life, replaceable battery, headphone jack, physical buttons, supper durable, can't count the number of times I've dropped it and you can't tell its not brand new.

And I'm pretty sure they put those cords on the display phones so I can't shove it up the sales guy's ass if he tell me one more time about all the social media apps that are pre installed.

I'm thinking that my next phone will be a cheap mid tier phone with 5G. Preferably unlocked but only if it supports all my networks 5G/LTE bands. At least the mid tier phones still have headphone jacks and I'll never pay a thousand dollars for a phone that doesn't have one. Then a screen protector and a cheap Spigen case gives me the ruggedness I need.

Probably next years version of this: Galaxy A20

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
Sucks.

I'm not happy with any of the current phones. Knowing that I will end up getting a phone that I'm not happy with anyways just increases the suck factor.

My current phone is a Samsung 5S Active. Expandable memory, couple of days battery life, replaceable battery, headphone jack, physical buttons, supper durable, can't count the number of times I've dropped it and you can't tell its not brand new.

And I'm pretty sure they put those cords on the display phones so I can't shove it up the sales guy's ass if he tell me one more time about all the social media apps that are pre installed.

Doesn't Samsung still make an Active phone? The S9 active which is a newer version of what you have? If you're happy with your current phone, why are you replacing it?

I had been putting off getting a new one for years. Yes it was a smartphone, but a slow Casio 3G one.
It finally went tits up and I upgraded to the newer version. Skipping a couple in between which had already been replaced by newer models.

The new phone, Kyocera Dura Force Pro 2, has been GREAT.
Quick, easy to use, more usable features, etc.

For me there's really only ONE phone, military grade.
Dust proof, water proof, drop proof, break and scratch proof glass, etc.

Spin, I had the S5 Active also. It was a great phone for sure. I upgraded to the S8 Active and never looked back.
I have no experience with the S9 or S10 but I can tell you the 8 is probably what you should look at.
Since the newer ones are out, should be able to get an 8 for a good price. Hopefully you can find one. Good luck.

See if anything on Gazelle.com sparks your interest.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
Doesn't Samsung still make an Active phone? The S9 active which is a newer version of what you have? If you're happy with your current phone, why are you replacing it?

The last Active they made was the 8. No idea why they stopped making them, if they made a 10 active it would be a no brainer.

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
And I'm pretty sure they put those cords on the display phones so I can't shove it up the sales guy's ass if he tell me one more time about all the social media apps that are pre installed.

Buttttttt wouldn’t it be nice if Facebook came Pre-installed so you didn’t have to click a single button to install it yourself?

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:

And I'm pretty sure they put those cords on the display phones so I can't shove it up the sales guy's ass if he tell me one more time about all the social media apps that are pre installed.

Actually the string is there so the medics can find it easier after you do shove it....

quote:

Originally posted by joatmonv:
Spin, I had the S5 Active also. It was a great phone for sure. I upgraded to the S8 Active and never looked back.
I have no experience with the S9 or S10 but I can tell you the 8 is probably what you should look at.
Since the newer ones are out, should be able to get an 8 for a good price. Hopefully you can find one. Good luck.

I am thinking about just getting the 8 active. When I buy things I usually buy the latest and greatest and then keep it for the long term so getting one that is 3 models old seems wrong but I am seriously considering it in this case.

quote:

Originally posted by Excam_Man:
I had been putting off getting a new one for years. Yes it was a smartphone, but a slow Casio 3G one.
It finally went tits up and I upgraded to the newer version. Skipping a couple in between which had already been replaced by newer models.

The new phone, Kyocera Dura Force Pro 2, has been GREAT.
Quick, easy to use, more usable features, etc.

For me there's really only ONE phone, military grade.
Dust proof, water proof, drop proof, break and scratch proof glass, etc.

I'll see if I can check one out in person. It looks good but it is twice as thick as my 5 active. I'll have to fondle one to see if that really matters or not. I really like no having to use a case on my phone.

Got a few new phones here lately, not me but others and a gift. Most were IPhone 8’s, right from apple.com.

It kinda depends how you use one, features etc.

Google jitterbug phones for old geezers like you.

I understand about dealing with the person across you. I had a doc who said I might have picked up valley fever. He asked, “Did you go hiking through a desert area?”

I looked back at him and answered, “Do I look like I go hiking anywhere much less in a desert???”

In general terms you have three choices:

• Inexpensive Android-based
  
• Expensive Android-based
  
• Apple
  

With either inexpensive or expensive Android-based you're going to get pre-loaded apps. Pre-loaded and not un-installable. Period. (Though it used to be you could at least deactivate/disable them.)

A Google Pixel will give you the Android experience the way Google intended it to be and the absolute minimum of annoying pre-loaded apps. (The Pixel falls under "expensive.") I believe Lenovorola (Google sold Motorola to Lenovo years ago) phones are still stock Android, with very few alterations on Lenovo's part, and they're much more economical than Google's Pixel. There are a couple other brands that are minimally intrusive. Samsung, OTOH, has long been known as the Android Bloatware King.

All Apple iPhones will come preloaded with Apple's apps and that's all. They won't force you to have, for example, Facebook. Unlike Android phones and tablets, which can vary widely from manufacturer-to-manufacturer: If you know how to use one Apple phone or tablet, you know how to use them all.

Can't help you with "drop-able" and otherwise rugged phones. It's been too long since I researched it. They're probably out there. They're probably expensive. They're probably all Android phones. I know Kyocera used to make a couple models.

Phone jacks, replaceable batteries, and µSD cards are going the way of the Dodo. I didn't like that. I still don't like it. But I've gotten over it.

FWIW: I switched from Android to Apple a couple years ago. Tired of Android's and the Google Play Store's unenviable security, and Google's overall behaviour.

Just to update,

I said screw it and put a new battery in my S5 active and got another year out of it but it is starting to have issues running some apps. I thought about going to the S8 active and kicking the can down the road some but then I found out that the S8 active has a plastic body instead of aluminum and does not have the hard buttons.

I decided to suck it up and stop my whining so I ordered the new Samsung S21 ultra. No head phone jack, replaceable battery, expandable memory, durable body, or hard buttons but otherwise it checks all the boxes. (That was Sarcasm)

It does look like a really capable phone and once I get used to it I will probably get to like it and have it for the next 5+ years. I went with the ultra for the larger battery and the better camera, I think I'll get used to the larger size pretty quick. I did go with the 256gb version, if I can't add any memory to it then I'm going to get the most I can.

We went in to ATT to look into new phones. Walked out with our old phones.

The guy at that store wasn't overly helpful & wouldn't give us the rates for a plan change, only saying that he advised us keeping what we have.

If we pursue it again, I'll go to the larger ATT store that's a few miles further from our house.

The AT&T girl at the store was actually pretty helpful. One of the things I wanted to see was how the bigger phone would fit in my pocket. When I asked her if they had one I could try out she pulled her own S21 Ultra out of her pocket and handed it to me.

She also ran the numbers for both our current plan and a different plan that she thought would be cheaper.

Considering the usual staff there she was a pleasant surprise.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
We went in to ATT to look into new phones. Walked out with our old phones.

The guy at that store wasn't overly helpful & wouldn't give us the rates for a plan change, only saying that he advised us keeping what we have.

If we pursue it again, I'll go to the larger ATT store that's a few miles further from our house.

We switched from Verizon to AT&T around a year ago.

Got a cheaper unlimited data, text and talk plan than we got at Verizon by quite a bit, 2 free iPhone Xrs, $400.00 in preloaded Debit cards and $70.00/month off of my DirecTV bill for 2 years.

Not a bad deal at all.

If you haven't purchased your Samsung phones directly from the Samsung website, you paid too much.