Good day all, this is the Angry Systems Administrator. It’s that time again when we need to replace the moron’s Angry Webmaster’s cell phone.
I’ve been researching a replacement for His Nibs Samsung Galaxy S3. When it was announced that Samsung was going to release the Galaxy S6 I thought that might be a great upgrade. Then the technical specifications came out and I recoiled in horror. The S6 does not have a removable battery or an SD card slot. Basically, they turned it into a Korean Iphone.
These “features” were a deal killer for me. I liked the S3 and removing these features is the dumbest idea I’ve seen in a while. Basically, they are creating planned obsolescence, which is exactly what Apple has done with their Iphones. Since Samsung jumped the shark, I started looking around, and landed on the LG G4.
I’ve also learned that our mobile provider, TING.COM, had added a second backbone provider. When we set up with Ting a few years ago, they were using Sprint as their backbone provider. It was acceptable, but there were areas that the signal dropped out. Recently, they added a GSM provider to their network, T-Mobile.
I’ve always preferred GSM to CDMA, (CDMA is used by Sprint and Verizon), especially since GSM is the favored protocol around the world. The only problem was that Ting only had the Samsung Galaxy S6. They hadn’t received any LG G4 phones yet. Fortunately, Ting also has a “Bring Your Own Device” program. I contacted Ting and they said it would be no problem to add the new phone to their network.
I went to Tmobile and talked to them about the phone and getting it unlocked from the Tmobile network. (While Ting uses them, if the Webmaster should go overseas, he will want to buy a local prepaid SIM to save money) This is where I ran into an issue. Tmobile has a policy that you have to be connected to their service for a set period before they will unlock the phone.
While I thought this may be a deal killer, further research and good timing indicated that if I went with a prepaid plan, they will unlock the phone in a month, and even with the prepaid plan, I would still save money buying the phone. I made the decision to go with this and whipped out the company credit card.
Now this is a very nice phone. It’s slightly larger then the Galaxy S3 and has a much larger onboard memory capacity. I’ve ordered a few accessories, such as a new car charger, a case and holster and a 64GB San disk.
Currently I’m configuring it to be as close to what the Technical Klutz Angry Webmaster has now on his current phone, so that when I swap them out, he won’t panic and run around screaming like a stuck pig. Since he has a Google account, porting his contacts and apps over was simple. Now I’m just pulling in his backups to match his customized apps and contacts.
In the next few days the accessories as well as the Ting SIM card will arrive and I will convert him over to the new phone. This should keep him happy and quite for a few more years, and keep him for pestering me for the latest and greatest budget busting new toy. Oh who am I kidding? That jerk is never happy.
Thank you
~The Angry Systems Administrator~
[yasr_visitor_votes size=”medium”]
I can understand disliking the lack of an SD card. I don’t agree on the battery. WAY too many times my cover for my S4 and S5 fell off and the battery just fell right out. While it was caused by a drop in each case, the distance that it fell was sometimes as little as two inches and boom there goes whatever website or book I was reading or app I was using or whatever. One of my S3 batteries even fell into water as a result. I got lucky and it wasn’t ruined. But I’m totally OK with the sealed battery.
Interestingly enough, two years ago I wouldn’t have been. But that was because I had a HORRID experience with the LG G2. Major and constant app incompatibilities. Crashing apps for no reason. Apps that shouldn’t have affected each other setting up resonance chains such that if one was installed the OTHER would not work. Oh and the ONE screen I’ve ever had go bad on me? It was the G2, and suddenly I couldn’t even turn the stinking thing off. They had to replace the screen in the store. It was a complete joke of a system and a mess. I went to the S4 and even when they’ve offered me a free LG tablet since I haven’t seriously looked at it.
I’m also not as upset about the “planned obsolescence” as you since I’m deliberately on a plan to get an upgrade every year. But that’s more of a personal preference and/or nerdiness.
It is, of course, VERY likely they’ve improved a lot since then. But when your first experience is THAT bad, it’s easy to hesitate and delay that second look.
Having the battery drop out isn’t an issue since we wrap the phones in protective covers. Also, we’ve avoided plans for almost 10 years now. Not having a plan allows you to find better deals.
I’ve used LG’s, Samsung’s, Motorola’s and Nokia’s for almost 20 years. I always carefully research things. About the only phones I haven’t used is Palm pilots, (When they made them.), and Blackberry’s.
We tend to hold onto the phones longer then most and it’s usually the battery that goes first on them. anything else that breaks is usually either through a sudden meeting with the Earth or a manufacturing problem that happens during the warranty period.
We also hold on to the old phones, “Just in case” so if a problem happens with the new ones we can reactivate them.