Yep. . . and they don’t cover the LTE bands for the carrier I’m stuck on, lol :(
Which sucks; my partner had a Z3 back in the day and we LOVED that thing
I’m never going back to Apple…!
The regular S21 looks pretty good to me, so I think I will wait a few more weeks for that one rather than getting the S20 FE. The S20 FE was a little larger than I prefer anyway.
Aargh, my Pixel 3 has a sticking power button. Only reasonable fix appears to literally be some percussive maintenance, but failing that I’m probably in for a new phone. Bleh!
JD
2937
Me: Man, it would be nice if Sony went back to producing really solid Xperia Compact phones in the mid-price range.
Sony:
Canuck
2938
Ooh a phone that literally almost no one will buy. How Sony. I desperately wanted a Xperia Compact but by the time I discovered them they were nowhere to be found. I ended up getting a Pixel 4a which I’m very pleased with but I would have gone with a smaller Sony had they been smart enough to offer that.
I wonder how Apple’s new compact phone is selling.
Half (-ish) price new-line Samsungs through Google Fi is tempting. What are the respectable outlets for reviewing handsets these days?
Yeah, it’s crazy, turns out CNET was right in @lordkosc’s post about now being the worst time to buy the Samsung Galaxy S20. Who knew a couple of weeks later they would be offering S21 essentially for the same $400 price? No one! No knew that!
Edit: Ok, maybe some people who work for Google Fi probably knew.
To be fair, that’s the phone they basically built to be used in wireless 4K live video production. They used these for the first 4K NFL games.
I’d love if they made a mid range handset, but I think it would be hard for them to really compete there with all the Chinese brands.
JD
2942
I was specifically about the Compact line. Yeah, there’s an abundance of smartphones in the lower price tiers, but pretty much all of them are 5,5" or above.
You guys I keep eyeing the Blackberry Key2 because I want that physical keyboard and the lease on my Note 10+ is up but I know I should wait for what Blackberry announces this year but I want a new toy but I know I should wait but uuuggghhh.
Canuck
2944
I understand your feeling but unless you’re getting a huge deal the Key 2 is not worth getting. If I could pick one up for $150 i would do so just to have a retro toy to play with but it is at the EoL stage now.
Great keyboard, I’m sure.
I know I know I’m being silly but gaahhhh
I honestly don’t see any phones that make me want to trade up from my Pixel 2. I like its boxy, solid feel and basic Android. The later Pixels don’t seem to offer much of an upgrade, and the only thing I don’t have now that I’d kind of want is wireless charging, and that seems hard to find outside of expensive phones with a lot of extraneous stuff I don’t need.
ddtibbs
2947
I really like my Pixel 2, but problems with battery life and an erratic charging port are pushing me to looking for a new phone. With all the problems I’m having with charging, wireless charging is an absolute requirement.
I haven’t had port or charging issues, but the phone sure eats battery life if you try to Zoom with it, for example. Overall though it’s been rock-solid.
I really like the heft and feel of it, too. Many of the fancy new phones fell slippery and insubstantial.
I’ve been doing a lot of speaker phone calls with my boss lately using the Pixel 3 since our office phone has been having issues.
It’s surprising how much speaker phone calls gulp down the battery.
Meanwhile one of my other bosses, who I turned on to Google Fi wants to replace his Pixel 2, and wants my advice. I was telling him the details of Pixel 5 vs getting the new Samsung S21 with the $400 Fi Credit. He liked the idea of going with the Samsung. He’s not very technologically savvy though, so I’m nervous about not everything transferring from a Pixel to a Samsung properly. My wife had that issue with some things, but she’s more tech savvy than my boss.
Slack/Skype absolutely chug battery even if the screen is off and they’re doing voice-only. Speaker calls themselves will eat battery if you leave the screen on – all that light has to come from somewhere.
For transferring to a new Samsung phone, Samsung has their Smart Switch app but it may only work if the new phone is a Galaxy. Google also now has their Google One app that is supposed to be more like iCloud and enable full phone backups and transfers to a new phone, including things like MMS messages (if you use the Google Messages app for texting).
