I’ve had a succession of various Blackberry phones all the way to a Q10 and never had a problem with gripping them. I did not expect to buy a case when I switched to Android and got a Samsung S6. It was too slippery and I ended up having to buy a case for it.
I kinda like it when my phones look a little beat-up, as long as the beat-up / scratched-up part is metal (I suppose plastic that wears well could work), and as long as the screen isn’t cracked. It looks like a well-used tool.
I have one of those thin glass screen protectors on my Pixel 2. It has cracks across it, but I guess it did its job protecting the actual screen. Looks kind of grody though.
But not as bad as nearly every iPhone I see, all of which look like someone picked them up from a warzone somewhere. Then again, I see them mostly in the hands of my students, so there might be some connection there.
You guys who don’t have cases (at least minimalist Spigen ones) are crazy, IMHO (especially if you’re shelling out for flagship $1K+ phones). On a walk once this Pixel 3aXL flew out of my hand and the corner bounced off the concrete sidewalk, and the phone remained unscathed. I doubt it would have stayed that way without the case. Plus I’ve dropped it on the hardwood floor at least at least a handful of times.
Hardwood floors have not been a problem for any of my iPhones. I do try never to throw my phone onto concrete, though :-)
I’ve broken one screen over the years, when my phone slid off the table onto ceramic tile at a restaurant as I picked up the menu it was sitting slightly on. Quick AppleCare replacement.
Hey friends, question for y’all. My lease with Sprint/T-Mobile is up in a couple of months. While I do like this Galaxy Note 10 Ultra thing, I realize it’s a tad too big for me, and I’ve honestly been itching to get a physical keyboard of late, so I’ve got my sights set on a BlackBerry Key2. Might any of y’all have any experience with one who can share their impressions, please and thank you?
Here’s a question more about the Android OS (11)-- on my Pixel 3aXL, there seems to be no way to fix the screen orientation in landscape mode. Turning off autorotation seems to force portrait mode only, which kinda sucks. Am I missing something here? Is being able to do that device-specific somehow?
If you have rotation locked and rotate the phone, you should get a “rotate” button to show up in the lower right alongside your other soft buttons. That will toggle being locked to landscape/portrait.
On my Pixel 3 I sometimes have to jiggle the thing to get the gyro to recognize that the phone has been rotated, but other than that it works great.
Ah, thanks, that was it. I knew there had to be some way to do it.
So I unceremoniously took a dunk in the pool recently, and despite my Galaxy S8 spending a week in a bowl of rice, the screen is a mess. I guess I could possibly get it repaired, but water damage is unpredictable.
A refurb 128 Gb S8 is about $350 (AUD) here, which is 25% of the price of the latest base model S20. I’m perfectly happy with the phone so this appeals to me. But I’m completely out of touch with Android world, is there anything else I might consider instead?
Canuck
2884
I have a Spigen minimalist one and I love it. I love the fact that it really reduces the slipperiness of the the phone. Not as much in the hand (all though it does some) but definitely in the pockets. It creates a lot of friction with the clothing material and your phone is very unlikely to fall out of your pocket (which constantly happens to me with no case, especially when I put it in a breast pocket.
magnet
2885
Spigen cases are not minimalist enough.
I didn’t use anything at all for years, and then finally caved and bought a Rhinoshield bumper-only case. It’s pretty cleverly designed, there are raised bumpers over the edges that protect the back and screen from direct impact but don’t actually cover them. Think of it like dropping the letter H: no matter how it falls, the central part can’t absorb the blow.
Though I haven’t had any hard drops yet to prove that the idea is sound.
Wow, the first 2/3 of its feature list is about the camera! Once you get to the bit they tack onto the end about the phone, it looks pretty good, but it’s double the price of an S8 refurb. If I had more budget it would be ideal. Hmmm.
I got confused by the description I read, in fact it does have a headphone jack. That’s a major plus. It might even swing it.
Maybe get a 3A XL then if it’s cheaper.
If you want a bigger phone, skip the 4a and get the 4a 5g. That is Google’s code word for 4a XL, which I figured out much to my chagrin when I saw how small the 4a was only after I got it in my hands.
The 4a 5g is excellent.
5g is like squanch or wumbo. It means whatever the speaker wants it to mean, you have to pick it up from context.
I thought it meant that it was the same phone as the 4a but also worked on 5g networks, but apparently that’s crazy talk.
The 4a squanch would have confused me less.
That’s an appealing option, with deals about $100 more than a refurb S8 but it’s a better phone with a better camera. Plus new. The 4A XL would be my choice if I had the budget for it. Either way, it will be interesting using stock Android after the Samsung experience, although I never had a big issue with it once I’d disabled what I could.
