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Is it just me or are the phone manufacturers getting out of control?

I feel like Android phone manufacturers are making so many new phones no one can even keep up anymore. (Unless you have thousands of dollars to invest into phones). I just bought a droid Charge in August 2011 and pretty much there are 3-4 phones out or that will be out that are better in the next 2 weeks.
Personally I think they are making to many phones to fast and they are not giving the older phones the updates they need. This could turn in to a major fail. Just wanted to hear some other peoples thoughts on this issue.

Riddlin said:
I feel like Android phone manufacturers are making so many new phones no one can even keep up anymore. (Unless you have thousands of dollars to invest into phones). I just bought a droid Charge in August 2011 and pretty much there are 3-4 phones out or that will be out that are better in the next 2 weeks.
Personally I think they are making to many phones to fast and they are not giving the older phones the updates they need. This could turn in to a major fail. Just wanted to hear some other peoples thoughts on this issue.
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get used to it br0. It's the cycle of technology. You can NEVER keep up. Just love what you have.

I do love what I had. That is why I just sold it on ebay. LOL I want the latest and greatest, but this is getting ridiculous. Who in the heck wants to hang with their old droid when there are 20 better phones out there within a year. Either Apple is on something or they are on to something. 1 new phone ever 6 months to a year and people go nutz for the fricking thing.

My advice evaluate the phone technology and its likelihood to be supported. These are the 2 most critical items to consider.
I have had a Galaxy phone since its release and I waited for it for 5 months before getting it............ because I knew it was going to have tech that would endure for a while. Now, we have the dual cores everywhere. Beware, just because it is dual core does not make it a great phone. Make sure to check everything out, and make sure it will be supported. Finally, As soon as you get a dual core in ........2012 there will be quad cores..........and so it goes...........

illuminarias said:
get used to it br0. It's the cycle of technology. You can NEVER keep up. Just love what you have.
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exactly the same goes for PCs

Riddlin said:
I do love what I had. That is why I just sold it on ebay. LOL I want the latest and greatest, but this is getting ridiculous. Who in the heck wants to hang with their old droid when there are 20 better phones out there within a year. Either Apple is on something or they are on to something. 1 new phone ever 6 months to a year and people go nutz for the fricking thing.
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Well, yeah. Then commercial groups offering spaceship travels for big money definietly shouldn't do it, but wait until everyone can afford it.
If only having the best phone makes you feel the best I feel sorry for you. : (

Riddlin said:
I want the latest and greatest
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Then the problem is clearly you and not the manufacturers. Ask yourself why you always want the latest and greatest. What significant and meaningful difference does it make in your day-to-day life.

Riddlin said:
I feel like Android phone manufacturers are making so many new phones no one can even keep up anymore. (Unless you have thousands of dollars to invest into phones). I just bought a droid Charge in August 2011 and pretty much there are 3-4 phones out or that will be out that are better in the next 2 weeks.
Personally I think they are making to many phones to fast and they are not giving the older phones the updates they need. This could turn in to a major fail. Just wanted to hear some other peoples thoughts on this issue.
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Click to collapse
The carriers will never update their phones as quickly as we would like, but we have CM7, Miui and other distributions to fix that.

Do you upgrade a laptop every 3-4 months? Likely not.
'phones' are becoming similar.
Also, Android being a powerful free OS allows many phone makers to get in on making a smartphone quite quickly. This is a good thing, not a bad one.
I dont go to the food store and complain there are too many different types of bread. Choice is a luxury.
/firstworldproblems

There is a problem.
The problem isnt choice or speed of new handsets. Its the fact these handset makers seem to be going out of there way to hold back features just to create more options.
Nearly every choice you make you sacrifice something that shouldnt be. This last year Samsung was incredibly guilty of that.
We shouldnt have to pick between the phone with the best camera or the best screen 3g or 4g when theyre released with identical specs within a few weeks/months of each other.
You end up with a situation where IMO since 3GS/NexusOne were both available at same time theres basically no best handset to get. They all have some glaring downside that often seems intentional. Nexus Galaxy having weak gpu/pentile screen/5mp camera for a flasgship phone is the calling card of this awful trend.
Hopefully Google buying Moto means a true flagship android phone will be out in the future. HTCs lousy digitizer selection , and Samsungs half assed approach really are getting on my nerves.
Win7 just needs more options PERIOD.

Actually I'm happy I'm a reviewer and I get all the newest models for a week only. I never have to regret my choice and invest in next generations and upgrades.
That's why I chose a mid-tier device - If review phones must be wiped, I can still keep my data on my Ace and customize how I want.
It's good that technology is moving so fast. You buy a thing, but there are many others that haven't bought this thing. If they were iPhoners, they would have to wait until June (or October in 4s case) till the next model.
But Androiders and WP7ists just go in the store and buy tech that is up to date, because it is released just weeks ago and so specs are always at its zenith.

Phone manufacturers are really going out of control. They produce phones with specs that are missing, then include them in their next offerings. but then they produce phones which are pretty much the same as the ones before except for 1 or 2 upgrades to increase sales.
They like to make their products 'diverse' but if you look on the bird's eye view of it. It becomes clear that they are just going for quantity without quality products.
Why don't they just drop down a killer phone whose specs will stay for at most 2 years?
Better buy a product which suits you for the next year or two

I think it's great, actually. People only THINK they need the latest and greatest device, when they don't. I rather have 5 new phones come out in a 2 week period than having to wait for something for a year or so. With android, there's little chance of you not finding the PERFECT phone for you. (Mines is the SK4G, I can care less about any other phone now)
The only problem I see with rapid phone releases is updates. I highly doubt the Sidekick 4G, even with it coming out earlier this year, will see ICS... let alone Gingerbread, because they're forgotten about/ not important enough.
Honestly, if you have a rooted GB device, and it runs how you like it, do you need to worry about the newer phones?

yujin_11 said:
Why don't they just drop down a killer phone whose specs will stay for at most 2 years?
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Because, short of Apple and their ability as a small company producing both hardware and software,there is not profit in that. Companies are out to make money, it is not their fault that the wealthy people of the world have decided that they must have the latest phone no matter what, that's on the consumer.

I bought a Nexus One in April 2010 and I've not felt tempted to replace it before now because it runs Gingerbread and newer phones didn't seem to offer that much more.
However, the release of the Galaxy Note with the stylus for accurate screen pointing and screen large enough and with sufficient resolution to display entire Web page makes an upgrade now worthwhile to me. Zooming and panning a small phone screen across a Web page to find specific points of interest is a pain and I look forward to leaving that experience behind.

zerocool79346 said:
Because, short of Apple and their ability as a small company producing both hardware and software,there is not profit in that. Companies are out to make money, it is not their fault that the wealthy people of the world have decided that they must have the latest phone no matter what, that's on the consumer.
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^What he said

yujin_11 said:
Phone manufacturers are really going out of control. They produce phones with specs that are missing, then include them in their next offerings. but then they produce phones which are pretty much the same as the ones before except for 1 or 2 upgrades to increase sales.
They like to make their products 'diverse' but if you look on the bird's eye view of it. It becomes clear that they are just going for quantity without quality products.
Why don't they just drop down a killer phone whose specs will stay for at most 2 years?
Better buy a product which suits you for the next year or two
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because if they play apple's game, they will lose horribly. Apple is apple, and apple is the standard whether you like it or not. When a average person compares a phone, what does he compare it to? The iPhone of course. So a manufacturer will not survive if they only release a oh so powerful phone every year or two, simply because they do not have nearly as much of a fan base apple has.

it's really awesome imo
always something to be excited about
I love waiting for a phone I've been wanting to drop in price, and while I wait, an even better phone gets released lmao

http://www.facebook.com/motorola?sk=wall&filter=1 click the link people like it and comment on it.
I have seen first hand proof of this working. I had an evo 3d. Htc decided all futre devices would have locked bootliaders well that made alot of people angry. Someone posted a thread on xda suggesting we let htc know that is not gna fly. So it turnd out thousands of people got on there facebook wall and twitter. Guess what the next day htc released a statement saying that they wanted too keep there coustamers happy and that the bootloader would be unlocked. They were. Id like to be able too have a device and not have too get a new one juzt because moto or htc or sammy wants too put them out constantly get people too buy them and then ditch them and out out another. The atrix is 100 percent capable of runing ics and theres no excuae for it l not too recieve it just because moto wants people too buy new devices every couple months. I know many many people feel the same way well as i said we have the power too change that if people would stop bickering and take it seriously. And also if moto started supporting devices longer not just bug fixes but the new android flavors. Id definately make my next device a moto it would do nothing but benefit them

Kailkti said:
Because if they play apple's game, they will lose horribly. Apple is apple, and apple is the standard whether you like it or not. When a average person compares a phone, what does he compare it to? The iPhone of course. So a manufacturer will not survive if they only release a oh so powerful phone every year or two, simply because they do not have nearly as much of a fan base apple has.
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I think it is this statement that sums it all up. Very well said.

Am I being too overly fearful?

My cellphone history:
Cell phone - Bought for - Sold for - Used for
Nokia X6 - 250 $ - 180$ - 2 months
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10i - 250$ - 220$ - 2 months
Apple iPhone 3gs - 300$ - 100$ - 1 year
HTC Incredible S - 250$ - 180$ - 1 month
I have had other cell phones in the gaps but I don't remember them, the prices or the time used for.
So here is my story, I have had the need to buy a cellphone in the recent days and I have been following the market too. I first wanted an HTC Sensation which was for 320$, 3 months earlier, but now, I can find the same one for 210$ or something. I then wanted a Samsung Galaxy S 2 which was available for 380$ 2 months before but now I can find one for 260$ or less. The same goes with other cell phones I have been following (much of stalking).
Living in a country where I get 15$ a month for my pocket money, you can understand the importance of even 1$ for me. 10$ here means a lot for some people. I can get a Nokia 1280 or a Nokia 1202 for 10$, so, that explains the story. Being the guy who loves new technology, I want to get the best technology around me and get one which can get me through a period of 1 - 2 years without being called outdated or old. From the above history, you can know that I have used the iPhone 3gs for 1 year or even more time than that due to the fact that Apple gives update to most of it's devices (starting from 3gs), I was happy with it but that's the time when the iPhone 4s came to the market and I had to bear a loss of 200$. That loss meant a lot to me. It brought down to the earth from the sky. There aren't any companies which offer contracts which are good. I then think that I should wait for the next model to release because I want to buy an older model because it would fall cheaper.
This is being too big, long story short. Any cellphone that comes to the market losses it's value within a new cellphone from that company. Since I want to buy a phone and not bear a big loss the next time and have the best technology at the same that, I can't decide to buy a cellphone because I am being fearful because if I buy a cellphone, it might loss it's value tomorrow when a better one comes to the market and I will have to bear a great loss again. I was just wondering if I am being too fearful regarding this matter.
Can anyone advise me what to do because I am confused a LOT?
Note: All the phones talked about above are second hands because I can't offered new ones.

Thats the way it is with technology, especially in the fast paced mobile market. New models are always coming out and devices depreciate very quickly. You want a phone that can work for your needs, it doesn't have to be the lastest and greatest if your needs don't require high end hardware.
iPhones do get supported quite a while in new OS versions, but for older devices the OS can be stripped of new features like Siri. iPhones are also more expensive because you are paying for the brand name. If you want an Android device that stays up to date for a while, get a Nexus device. But you don't need to be on the latest and greatest phone with the newest version of Android. Find something you like and can afford and buy it. Don't assume it will get any OS updates if its an older or uncommon device. And don't pay attention to its resale value, technology loses its value fast.

I kinda wonder why it is more important to you what your phone costs than what it can do for you. Personally, I don't care at all about value loss. I list the features I want and then go for the cheapest model that has them. The phone then gets used till it either breaks down or is lost.

spunker88 said:
Thats the way it is with technology, especially in the fast paced mobile market. New models are always coming out and devices depreciate very quickly. You want a phone that can work for your needs, it doesn't have to be the lastest and greatest if your needs don't require high end hardware.
iPhones do get supported quite a while in new OS versions, but for older devices the OS can be stripped of new features like Siri. iPhones are also more expensive because you are paying for the brand name. If you want an Android device that stays up to date for a while, get a Nexus device. But you don't need to be on the latest and greatest phone with the newest version of Android. Find something you like and can afford and buy it. Don't assume it will get any OS updates if its an older or uncommon device. And don't pay attention to its resale value, technology loses its value fast.
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Sorry but the talk isn't about getting an iPhone or an Android. Not that you are provoking a war or something. I just liked the way it was, simple and stable. I can't recall any crash on the OS or anything. Anyway, the topic is being turned away. The basic meaning of getting an update is that most of the new applications are supported by the latest OS. Having OS 4.3.3 won't get you the Facebook application because it isn't supported, likewise, you can't get Google Chrome application on anything below 4.0.4 on Android, that's where it starts to suck.
I have to agree that technology loses a lot of value in a very short time. I was just wondering if I was being too fearful. I can't even decide on something.
onyxbits said:
I kinda wonder why it is more important to you what your phone costs than what it can do for you. Personally, I don't care at all about value loss. I list the features I want and then go for the cheapest model that has them. The phone then gets used till it either breaks down or is lost.
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In my case it does, specially with the case that I want an upgraded chipset model when it becomes cheaper.

I recommend purchasing a device second hand if you haven't decided that already, but with fairly good dev support and a large community.
EDIT: that way ROMs running latest firmware which would be delayed or discontinued on your handset, will come your way in just a matter of time
Galaxy nexus, or S2 would be smart options imo
Sent from my GT-I9300

Yea, would agree with 23Six. Galaxy Nexus or SGS2 (if SGS2, try to get the I9100 as there are a couple of variants and the I9100 has a wider dev base). With the Nexus, OS updates are pretty much as soon as Google releases them AFAIK. The SGS2 should be at a relatively good price point and shouldn't depreciate too much further since the SGS3 is out and SGS4 sounds to be in the pipeline.

It's a lot of money - but it's up to you if it's worth it.
One thing I think that's keeping you back is that you are looking at price to determine value. Price doesn't tell you if something is still a good phone, if the phone can still do what you need.
"Keeping up with technology" is an expensive hobby - but it's just a hobby, it's not necessary. You can buy a phone and keep it for two years, no problem - and it will probably be just fine unless you lose it or break it. Your iPhone 3 was still just fine and wasn't a $200 loss when the iPhone 4 came out. You had the phone for a period of time before the price dropped - it will ALWAYS be cheaper to wait, and you can wait literally forever.
I agree with onyxbits - figure out what you really want from a phone and then figure out which model best meets your needs for a price you're okay with. Setting a budget can help you narrow it down instead of feeling pressured and unsure.

sms - Message Failed. Would you like to retry

Ever since Updating to the official MM RUU posted in these forums I, and others are stating that they have been getting the following message:
Sending SMS messages
Message failed. Would you like to retry?
Deny Allow
(attached)
I aim opening this in an attempt to try and ascertain what the issue could be. As Nobody seems to have an answer in what limited fashion I asked.
This is on the Official firmware RUU by dottat ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/ver...pment/stock-m-firmware-nand-recovery-t3330972 ).
It was stated elsewhere that this matter was resolved by another dev, but am unable to determine how possibly that was done
This easily happens multiple times a day if I text frequently

carm01 said:
Ever since Updating to the official MM RUU posted in these forums I, and others are stating that they have been getting the following message:
Sending SMS messages
Message failed. Would you like to retry?
Deny Allow
(attached)
I aim opening this in an attempt to try and ascertain what the issue could be. As Nobody seems to have an answer in what limited fashion I asked.
This is on the Official firmware RUU by dottat ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/ver...pment/stock-m-firmware-nand-recovery-t3330972 ).
It was stated elsewhere that this matter was resolved by another dev, but am unable to determine how possibly that was done
This easily happens multiple times a day if I text frequently
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Click to collapse
That's odd.
That happened to me before I updated, updating with the ruu fixed it. That was my fix personally, maybe try redownloading the ruu and trying again? I used the first ruu posted by dottat when the marshmallow update dropped.

BadUsername said:
That's odd.
That happened to me before I updated, updating with the ruu fixed it. That was my fix personally, maybe try redownloading the ruu and trying again? I used the first ruu posted by dottat when the marshmallow update dropped.
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I did the RUU, and set it back up. Needless to say this permission garbage in MM is for the birds. I reverted to NEO's rom, and low and behold that message reared its ugly head again. I am beginning to think it is firmware related.
Since I am on my second and last M8 both due to charging port failures I have decided to abandon the M8 permanently, as it is at the end of its life anyways and not worth getting another, and MM has been a horrible experience honestly.. i thought windows 10 permissions were bad
Best Regards

carm01 said:
I did the RUU, and set it back up. Needless to say this permission garbage in MM is for the birds. I reverted to NEO's rom, and low and behold that message reared its ugly head again. I am beginning to think it is firmware related.
Since I am on my second and last M8 both due to charging port failures I have decided to abandon the M8 permanently, as it is at the end of its life anyways and not worth getting another, and MM has been a horrible experience honestly.. i thought windows 10 permissions were bad
Best Regards
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Ya I'm not sure what to say, I replaced the charging port on mine myself, not a hard fix at all. $12 for the port, $5 for spudger, $9 for the all-in-one screwdriver, and $5 for antistatic tweezers. Though for approximately $40 it may not be worth it to you. I'm hoping the next htc phone has an IR blaster, so I'm going to run this device into the ground.
But I have no idea what could be causing your sms issues. My guess it would have to be firmware related, possibly area specific. On stock I haven't really noticed any problems.

BadUsername said:
Ya I'm not sure what to say, I replaced the charging port on mine myself, not a hard fix at all. $12 for the port, $5 for spudger, $9 for the all-in-one screwdriver, and $5 for antistatic tweezers. Though for approximately $40 it may not be worth it to you. I'm hoping the next htc phone has an IR blaster, so I'm going to run this device into the ground.
But I have no idea what could be causing your sms issues. My guess it would have to be firmware related, possibly area specific. On stock I haven't really noticed any problems.
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The HTC 10 has no IR blaster.
I'm a bit upset myself about this but I honestly didn't use it much.

andybones said:
The HTC 10 has no IR blaster.
I'm a bit upset myself about this but I honestly didn't use it much.
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I know it doesn't, I love my IR blaster, I hate having my normal TV remote and it's nice having sole access to my TV through my phone.

BadUsername said:
Ya I'm not sure what to say, I replaced the charging port on mine myself, not a hard fix at all. $12 for the port, $5 for spudger, $9 for the all-in-one screwdriver, and $5 for antistatic tweezers. Though for approximately $40 it may not be worth it to you. I'm hoping the next htc phone has an IR blaster, so I'm going to run this device into the ground.
But I have no idea what could be causing your sms issues. My guess it would have to be firmware related, possibly area specific. On stock I haven't really noticed any problems.
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You know I just want a phone that works. I never had issues with any of my other HTC phones and charging port failures. I know its easy, but why fool with it if HTC is not going to support their phones for more than 2 years?
I love HTC phones but their 2 year support life span, and slow updates is frustrating to me. its like dropping 300 to 400 or more every two years for a phone just to stay current with security issues/fixes.

carm01 said:
You know I just want a phone that works. I never had issues with any of my other HTC phones and charging port failures. I know its easy, but why fool with it if HTC is not going to support their phones for more than 2 years?
I love HTC phones but their 2 year support life span, and slow updates is frustrating to me. its like dropping 300 to 400 or more every two years for a phone just to stay current with security issues/fixes.
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I understand your point, but what phone do you know of that is supported over 2 years?
Hardware failures in my opinion simply happen. Wear and tear on a device takes its toll. The only phone that I know have that have better support is an iPhone. Even then, the device you purchase won't be supported after a few years at most. I've also seen some terrible hardware failures associated with them as well.
I understand not wanting to fix it, but after my charging port broke, I just figured it was worth it to me to replace it myself. I like everything about this phone.

BadUsername said:
I understand your point, but what phone do you know of that is supported over 2 years?
Hardware failures in my opinion simply happen. Wear and tear on a device takes its toll. The only phone that I know have that have better support is an iPhone. Even then, the device you purchase won't be supported after a few years at most. I've also seen some terrible hardware failures associated with them as well.
I understand not wanting to fix it, but after my charging port broke, I just figured it was worth it to me to replace it myself. I like everything about this phone.
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All my devices I take excellent care of. Always cased, screen protectors, never; well extremely rarely dropped. If it was not for the lack of support, and red camera garbage i would still be using my m7 as it is still perfect, just no support.
As far as iphone goes. They have software support for 5 years on average, and they hold their value very well. i decided to go with an 6S and it is ungodly fast and responsive. I know some are going to curse me, but it is my choice. I got free WIFI calling and VOLTE. Anyways I got 12 more days to decide before the purchase is final. I understand certain things about it and was aware before I made my decision
I would have gone with the moto pure, however i do not want a phablet, I want something i can hold and work on in one hand. If the M7 was supported I would still be using it ( that damn red or yellow camera crap is annoying blunder that HTC seriously dropped the ball on ).
I would have chose nexus 5x but I found out the USC-C is 2.0 speed, and limited to 32 gigs
Anyways

carm01 said:
All my devices I take excellent care of. Always cased, screen protectors, never; well extremely rarely dropped. If it was not for the lack of support, and red camera garbage i would still be using my m7 as it is still perfect, just no support.
As far as iphone goes. They have software support for 5 years on average, and they hold their value very well. i decided to go with an 6S and it is ungodly fast and responsive. I know some are going to curse me, but it is my choice. I got free WIFI calling and VOLTE. Anyways I got 12 more days to decide before the purchase is final. I understand certain things about it and was aware before I made my decision
I would have gone with the moto pure, however i do not want a phablet, I want something i can hold and work on in one hand. If the M7 was supported I would still be using it ( that damn red or yellow camera crap is annoying blunder that HTC seriously dropped the ball on ).
I would have chose nexus 5x but I found out the USC-C is 2.0 speed, and limited to 32 gigs
Anyways
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Click to collapse
Haha, nobody is going to grill you for getting a 6s.
Yes, software support is definitely a reason to get an iphone. I just don't agree with their premium pricing for their handsets and their closed sourced software. Not much innovation going on there, but not everyone needs something that's more than that. I just think you're paying an absurd amount for something that you can't customize at all, not to mention lack of storage space and inferior specs compared to newer android models. And yes I know, specs aren't everything, but truthfully you're paying a lot more for a lot less.
Reasons to get an android revolve around customization and truly being able to change any aspect of your phone. I think with the new doze feature and the improvements google is probably going to make to it, it's going to blow apple out of the water in terms of battery life and overall efficiency. Pretty exciting stuff, it's nice being able to set my phone down at work, pick it up for lunch and having it at 90% battery, despite it being over 2 years old. It's also much easier to fix problems that arise with them, if you're having a problem with your iphone regarding anything related to this there is literally no way to fix it yourself. Take it to the apple store and have them tell you something along the lines of, "sorry, we're unable to revert your phone back to the previous version that worked, but I think we should try a factory reset, have you tried that yet?" like you have no idea how to operate it in the first place . It makes me laugh and frustrates me that there's literally no way to apply any of my knowledge regarding ADB and linux to fix an iphone. If someone comes to me about a problem with their phone, I always tell them, "Well, if you had an android I could probably fix that issue, but I can't fix an iphone."
The last thing I'd buy an iphone for is hardware quality. A friend of mine had a bent iphone 6, a few months ago. Apple refused to replace it for him even though the phone had no other physical damage to it. Now he's like "wow, you're phone is awesome and you can use it as a TV remote too, maybe I'll get an HTC instead next upgrade." It was bent due their manufacturing issues and quality problems after the initial launch, which to me was very well documented. That also would be something I would consider.
To each his own, however there really isn't much out there that's Verizon compatible that I would tell you to get instead. Main reason I'm not getting a phone this year is because nothing looks worth it in my opinion. Maybe LG won't make such an ugly phone, or HTC will put the IR blaster back and integrate their fingerprint scanner into the power button or something. I just won't buy an iPhone because I don't want to be like everyone else, and I don't want to support a company that locks and discourages development on their devices. If everyone had an iPhone this world would be a pretty sad place, a monopoly on a product that discourages creativity and imagination from the general public. Where would our smartphone technology be without android? I doubt we'd have NFC, IR blasters, HD screens, Micro-sd storage options, etc. Apple would have never put anything in because everyone will buy their phones anyway.
Anyway rant done, iPhone 6s is a good device for what it is. I don't think people here will grill you for getting one, they definitely have some advantages that are nice and that I think would be nice if Android wasn't so fragmented. But that's the price you pay for open source software and many companies making competing products. I wouldn't have it any other way.

BadUsername said:
Haha, nobody is going to grill you for getting a 6s.
Yes, software support is definitely a reason to get an iphone. I just don't agree with their premium pricing for their handsets and their closed sourced software. Not much innovation going on there, but not everyone needs something that's more than that. I just think you're paying an absurd amount for something that you can't customize at all, not to mention lack of storage space and inferior specs compared to newer android models. And yes I know, specs aren't everything, but truthfully you're paying a lot more for a lot less.
Reasons to get an android revolve around customization and truly being able to change any aspect of your phone. I think with the new doze feature and the improvements google is probably going to make to it, it's going to blow apple out of the water in terms of battery life and overall efficiency. Pretty exciting stuff, it's nice being able to set my phone down at work, pick it up for lunch and having it at 90% battery, despite it being over 2 years old. It's also much easier to fix problems that arise with them, if you're having a problem with your iphone regarding anything related to this there is literally no way to fix it yourself. Take it to the apple store and have them tell you something along the lines of, "sorry, we're unable to revert your phone back to the previous version that worked, but I think we should try a factory reset, have you tried that yet?" like you have no idea how to operate it in the first place . It makes me laugh and frustrates me that there's literally no way to apply any of my knowledge regarding ADB and linux to fix an iphone. If someone comes to me about a problem with their phone, I always tell them, "Well, if you had an android I could probably fix that issue, but I can't fix an iphone."
The last thing I'd buy an iphone for is hardware quality. A friend of mine had a bent iphone 6, a few months ago. Apple refused to replace it for him even though the phone had no other physical damage to it. Now he's like "wow, you're phone is awesome and you can use it as a TV remote too, maybe I'll get an HTC instead next upgrade." It was bent due their manufacturing issues and quality problems after the initial launch, which to me was very well documented. That also would be something I would consider.
To each his own, however there really isn't much out there that's Verizon compatible that I would tell you to get instead. Main reason I'm not getting a phone this year is because nothing looks worth it in my opinion. Maybe LG won't make such an ugly phone, or HTC will put the IR blaster back and integrate their fingerprint scanner into the power button or something. I just won't buy an iPhone because I don't want to be like everyone else, and I don't want to support a company that locks and discourages development on their devices. If everyone had an iPhone this world would be a pretty sad place, a monopoly on a product that discourages creativity and imagination from the general public. Where would our smartphone technology be without android? I doubt we'd have NFC, IR blasters, HD screens, Micro-sd storage options, etc. Apple would have never put anything in because everyone will buy their phones anyway.
Anyway rant done, iPhone 6s is a good device for what it is. I don't think people here will grill you for getting one, they definitely have some advantages that are nice and that I think would be nice if Android wasn't so fragmented. But that's the price you pay for open source software and many companies making competing products. I wouldn't have it any other way.
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Yes, I understand all your concerns, and I am with you on the price, and it will be one of the deciding factors as well as Itunes which I am finding most frustrating to use to add files to the device. So i got a few days to think about it.

Why won't phone manufacturers give us what we want?

Does anyone else here see a clear trend for phone manufacturers deliberately diverging from customer wants and needs when introducing new phones/features?
Here are three examples of seemingly irreversible trends that an awful lot of people DON'T WANT:
- Non-replaceable batteries - I've NEVER had a smartphone battery that lasted all day, or a smartphone battery that wasn't shot after about 18 months. Why should I need to buy a new phone every 18-24 months just to get around this, when newer phones typically offer such marginal improvements over their predecessors? I'm currently using a 2 year old LG G5 (WITH a removable battery), and I have no need of the marginal improvements offered by the G6, G7 or any of the other current handsets. I'll just replace the battery when it no longer retains enough charge for my use. I also have absolutely no need for a waterproof phone (which is one of the most common arguments made for sealing a battery into a phone).
- Glass backs - these are marketed as more attractive but basically they are guaranteed to smash within months of purchasing a phone, requiring the customer to buy another phone, which benefits nobody but the phone manufacturer
- Disappearing 3.5mm headphone sockets - even if Bluetooth "always worked", and never randomly disconnected, why would I want to rely on remembering to keep a pair of wireless headphones charged at all times? It's hard enough making sure that my phone retains enough charge (particularly as its battery will drain more quickly if it's connected to a Bluetooth headset). Why not just give us a CHOICE?
In short, phone manufacturers are cynically looking for new ways to force customers to replace their phones or invest in new hardware more frequently than they would like. While they have an obvious motivation, I was wondering how the masses could make their voices heard in a protest against the cynical product evolution cycles of the big manufacturers?
Would anyone else here like to send a loud message back to them that they are flying in the face of their customers' wishes by cynically forcing these technology or design "advances" on them?

if you get everything you want in a phone, then you'll never want to buy a new one. They make money by selling you their new product

li0nh3art3d said:
if you get everything you want in a phone, then you'll never want to buy a new one. They make money by selling you their new product
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Yes that was the "obvious motivation" that I was referring to. I was just wondering what might happen if the masses spoke back with a loud voice to say that they're not happy with it. Apart from everything else, their current policy means that an unnecessary number of discarded phones will finish up in landfill every year, when their owners would really rather have kept them.

itm said:
Yes that was the "obvious motivation" that I was referring to. I was just wondering what might happen if the masses spoke back with a loud voice to say that they're not happy with it. Apart from everything else, their current policy means that an unnecessary number of discarded phones will finish up in landfill every year, when their owners would really rather have kept them.
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Well I did hang onto my Note 4 until it wouldn't take a charge anymore. Then I replaced the charging port and it still wouldn't charge. I'm sure a lot of people are using old phones with removable batteries like the note 4 still

li0nh3art3d said:
if you get everything you want in a phone, then you'll never want to buy a new one. They make money by selling you their new product
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li0nh3art3d said:
Well I did hang onto my Note 4 until it wouldn't take a charge anymore. Then I replaced the charging port and it still wouldn't charge. I'm sure a lot of people are using old phones with removable batteries like the note 4 still
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Yes - I use an old G5 and my wife uses an old Note 4, and we both intend to keep replacing the batteries in them until either (a) the phone dies or (b) a new phone comes along which has a new feature that we actually want/need. The problem is that I don't see any new phones that offer anything new that I want or need - they are all a regression from my current handset because of the lack of a removable battery, glass back or lack of 3.5mm headphone socket.
Offhand I can't think of any other market where manufacturers can get away with making their products less and less appealing to customers with every new release, while effectively giving customers no choice but to purchase them (because of the short lifespan of their existing battery).

itm said:
Yes - I use an old G5 and my wife uses an old Note 4, and we both intend to keep replacing the batteries in them until either (a) the phone dies or (b) a new phone comes along which has a new feature that we actually want/need. The problem is that I don't see any new phones that offer anything new that I want or need - they are all a regression from my current handset because of the lack of a removable battery, glass back or lack of 3.5mm headphone socket.
Offhand I can't think of any other market where manufacturers can get away with making their products less and less appealing to customers with every new release, while effectively giving customers no choice but to purchase them (because of the short lifespan of their existing battery).
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not to mention IR blaster is gone from most new handsets. Such a cool feature to have.
I ended up getting a Sony Xperia XA2.. which is decent, although it does lack a few things I miss from my note 4. Mainly the camera doesn't do very well in low lighting.. I guess because it's a midrange. For gaming though, I'd say it's similar, and with a 3300 mAh battery, it does seem to be lasting decently the past 3 months or so I've had it.
I had one of those battery cases for my note 4 with like a 11800 mAh battery ?

li0nh3art3d said:
not to mention IR blaster is gone from most new handsets. Such a cool feature to have.
I ended up getting a Sony Xperia XA2.. which is decent, although it does lack a few things I miss from my note 4. Mainly the camera doesn't do very well in low lighting.. I guess because it's a midrange. For gaming though, I'd say it's similar, and with a 3300 mAh battery, it does seem to be lasting decently the past 3 months or so I've had it.
I had one of those battery cases for my note 4 with like a 11800 mAh battery
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Ah yes IR - another feature that I like and use but which is disappearing, presumably on the grounds that it's too useful for customers. Many's the time I've needed to use my phone when the TV remote in the hotel was missing or broken.
I've also had a few of those battery cases (sadly not available for my G5 though). Big clonking things but it was often preferable to a dead battery at 5pm or a dodgy cable connection to a battery pack in my pocket.
Everywhere I go I see poor suffering phone users desperate to top up their depleted batteries via whatever method they can, and the phone manufacturers simply look the other way and focus on the really important stuff like waterproofing and wireless headsets. How can we get them to get their heads out of their a*ses?

This is a very healthy discussion for me. I got answers to some questions which already in my mind. Yes, A phone doesn't have everything which anyone wants to have on it.

Is this a dev version of the Z Flip?

Hey! I recently bought a Galaxy Z Flip that was sold as open box. Considering what is on the back, this one seems to be for the Irish market (I'm from Chile, so this one was imported), and is the dual SIM model. However, upon further inspection I found a serial number printed both on the bottom of the screen and on the back of the phone (SLQ2199M). I haven't seen any other versions of the phone that come with this kind of number printed on the screen or the back, either online or in real life (I even went to a retail store to check).
To illustrate, here's pictures of the bottom of the screen and the back of the phone (sorry for the smudges).
Considering this, I thought about how I could tell if this was a prototype or dev phone. The hardware seems final, and the software it came with didn't have any differences with the normal retail one (though it was updated). My curiosity was peaked when I entered Download Mode and saw this:
It seems that the ENG Mode is set to Dev Device. So my suspicions are apparently correct.
Does anyone know more about dev phones? Is this a different phone than a normal retail version? Can it be used for something? Basically I'd just like more information, if possible!
Thanks!

They're used in a few scenarios. Mainly, I believe, for testing at Samsung and by operators. So like Vodafone would need to test the phone before it launches to be sure it doesn't screw up the network. They've also been known to be used at marketing events for demo purposes (i.e. given to those people who who need to talk up the phones).
It's probably same specs as retail, but I think the manufacturing process is different. Possibly a little more manually put together than the final thing would be.
I hope you got a good price on it. As you're at a little bit more of a risk of something going wrong than with a proper one. It'll probably be fine though, just look after it.
As for can it do anything special? I don't think so.

z0mbi3 said:
They're used in a few scenarios. Mainly, I believe, for testing at Samsung and by operators. So like Vodafone would need to test the phone before it launches to be sure it doesn't screw up the network. They've also been known to be used at marketing events for demo purposes (i.e. given to those people who who need to talk up the phones).
It's probably same specs as retail, but I think the manufacturing process is different. Possibly a little more manually put together than the final thing would be.
I hope you got a good price on it. As you're at a little bit more of a risk of something going wrong than with a proper one. It'll probably be fine though, just look after it.
As for can it do anything special? I don't think so.
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Thanks for the info! That's what I thought too. I did get a cheaper price for it, though not that much lower than a retail unit. I'm not sure if I'll keep it or sell it, but it's at least a conversation piece!
It seems to be a little slower than the normal Z Flip, but not that much. I wonder if there's a risk that it gets remotely deactivated, as obviously I'm not the intended user.
Oh well, we'll see. Thanks again!

sonofacpu said:
Thanks for the info! That's what I thought too. I did get a cheaper price for it, though not that much lower than a retail unit. I'm not sure if I'll keep it or sell it, but it's at least a conversation piece!
It seems to be a little slower than the normal Z Flip, but not that much. I wonder if there's a risk that it gets remotely deactivated, as obviously I'm not the intended user.
Oh well, we'll see. Thanks again!
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It won't get deactivated, but you'd probably do well to remove the images from your original post just in case.

Definitely remove the images or even take down the post. I ended up with a dev note 20 ultra that was on its way to google and I posted on here about it. Not even 3 days later Samsung and the police were knocking on my door wanting the phone back. Be careful.