My first smart phone.

January 9th, 2017 at 6:31:41 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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Quote: Pacomartin
You never could pick up cell calls on a baby monitor, but you could pick up cordless calls.


I know. But when was something real ever shown on TV?

"I know what to do. Jumanji! Does anything from the movies ever work in real life?" Homer Simpson.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
January 10th, 2017 at 7:19:59 PM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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I turned it on at home, got the Wifi working, got into iCloud, and installed Audible.

And then I got tired.

You know, a busted power button isn't so problematic when you don't turn off the phone ever. When you do, it's a pain the neck.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
April 27th, 2017 at 8:49:40 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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I got a new power bank (external battery).

This one boasts it can handle "up to four full charges," and it has two out ports.

Testing it at home, it can charge my phone from ~50% to full, and then the tablet from ~55 to full, but it keeps just about 1/4 of its full juice left. That's far from "up to four full charges," but it's not bad. also, keep in mind both phone and tablet run BOINC while charging, and that uses up a lot of power.

What this means, is I can keep the devices charged over the weekend without using any power at home.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
May 17th, 2017 at 5:04:38 PM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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Quote: Nareed
The company relented, finally, and decided that 15 months on an old Blackberry model was enough. Later today we all get new phones, this time "smart" ones with Android.


After 3+ years, we finally got new handsets.

This time they splurged (at least for some), and I got a Samsung SM-G532M (the box also says "Galaxy Grand Prime+" which I'm sure is a slight exaggeration). It's smaller than my current hand-me-down Galaxy Note 3, and has less memory (8GB vs 32GB) and no slot for an SD card. On the plus side, I guess, it has Android Marshmallow (vs Kit Kat for the GN3).

In short, I prefer my old phone.

The really good news is we're also changing carriers. So finally we get G4 and better coverage (one hopes). It's nice to get G4 when it's about to be obsolete (unless it already is).

I could get a SIM chip for either phone, both are unlocked, but the idea doesn't appeal to me. More likely I'll install BOINC, Pocket and some other apps and games to use with WiFi at home and without connection for breaks at work. That will spare the battery for the main phone.

It's not a bad problem to have :)
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
May 18th, 2017 at 7:04:55 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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I played around a bit with the new office phone yesterday evening.

The screen is a very reasonable 5" diagonally. But it feels tiny compared with my current 5.75" screen on the GN3. I feel I'm being unreasonable calling the screen tiny, but there it is.

I also have issues with the lock screen. You have to slide the lock icon in a particular direction, and I find that to be very annoying. Also it has a Win8 style charms bar thing on the left side. In principle that's not bad, but in practice it links to crapware I'm trying to get rid of. For some reason, I don't want quick, instant access to a video service I don't use (it's 100% Spanish), or to the carrier's store, or to newspapers I don't read, or to the latest news about sucker (I mean, I already know it sucks), etc.

And there's a crapware fest going on in the apps listing. Many cannot be uninstalled. Usually I don't mind such things, I just banish them from my sight. But with only 8GB RAM and no SD slot, removing them would be helpful.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
May 18th, 2017 at 2:57:23 PM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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Oops, it does have an SD card slot.

See? You need to pay attention to the stuff drawn on the battery well...

That's a good thing, because it badly needs more memory. The 8GB advertised on the box is not storage, but the total memory on the device. System and user data takes up about 6.5 GB. So there's very little for everything else.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
May 19th, 2017 at 10:06:13 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
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I'm feeling a bit bad that they gave us a nice phone, and I'm not going to use it. I also just learned the sub-head of IT advocated long and hard to get us nice devices. She's a nice lady and I like her quite a bit. So it was a bit awkward when I ran into her and she asked whether I'd gotten the new device yet...
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
May 19th, 2017 at 4:01:53 PM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: Nareed
After 3+ years, we finally got new handsets.

This time they splurged (at least for some), and I got a Samsung SM-G532M (the box also says "Galaxy Grand Prime+" which I'm sure is a slight exaggeration). It's smaller than my current hand-me-down Galaxy Note 3, and has less memory (8GB vs 32GB) and no slot for an SD card. On the plus side, I guess, it has Android Marshmallow (vs Kit Kat for the GN3).

In short, I prefer my old phone.

The really good news is we're also changing carriers. So finally we get G4 and better coverage (one hopes). It's nice to get G4 when it's about to be obsolete (unless it already is).

I could get a SIM chip for either phone, both are unlocked, but the idea doesn't appeal to me. More likely I'll install BOINC, Pocket and some other apps and games to use with WiFi at home and without connection for breaks at work. That will spare the battery for the main phone.

It's not a bad problem to have :)


Fourth generation was originally a nearly impossible standard to reach, so the standards organization relented and let the manufacturers market "4G LTE" as a lower standard. So basically nobody will build a phone that actually meets the fourth generation standard, but will wait to get the fifth generation phone in the next few years. So no you haven't missed a generation.

I don't think the downloadble apps can move to sd card. You can only store data (like music).

The specs are not that impressive for a phone of that price. I have the same resolution display on a $30 phone that I got at Walmart. You have better cameras and more memory, but it is 4X the price.

Specifications from Walmart
Price $129.95
Model Name Samsung Galaxy J2 Grand Prime+ G532M Unlocked GSM 4G LTE Quad-Core Phone w/ 8MP Camera - Black
Manufacturer Part Number SM-G532MZKD
Processor Type Quad-Core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53
Resolution 540 x 960
Cell Phone Service Provider Unlocked
Front-Facing Camera Megapixels 5 Megapixels
Rear-Facing Camera Megapixels 8 Megapixels
Cell Phone Type Other
Processor Speed 1.4 Gigahertz
Contained Battery Type Lithium Ion
Battery Life 11 Hours
Mobile Operating System Android v6.0 Marshmallow
Brand Samsung
Has Touchscreen Y
Has Bluetooth Y
RAM Memory 2 Gigabytes
Cellular Network Technology GSM
Assembled Product Dimensions (L x W x H) 3.00 x 6.00 x 9.00 Inches
Screen Size 5 Inches
May 19th, 2017 at 4:35:30 PM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Quote: Pacomartin
So no you haven't missed a generation.


I think I understood some of the (don't explain it further).

Quote:
I don't think the downloadble apps can move to sd card. You can only store data (like music).


The old clunker phone with the 512MB (M-effing B!) had a 4GB SD card. I recall being able to move some apps to the card.

If not, a 16GB SD is only $20. I'll get one and see.

Quote:
The specs are not that impressive for a phone of that price. I have the same resolution display on a $30 phone that I got at Walmart. You have better cameras and more memory, but it is 4X the price.


Seeing as I didn't pay for it, I don't really care much :)

I named it, BTW, and already paired it to the good phone (I ought to pair it to the tablet). The new phone is named Misix, after a character in a story I'm trying to work on.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
May 20th, 2017 at 10:09:39 AM permalink
DRich
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 51
Posts: 4944
Quote: Nareed

I named it,.


You named your phone? That seems odd.
At my age a Life In Prison sentence is not much of a detrrent.