Mobile Phone Thread S2

[QualityChimp]

Sorry, to clarify I got it for £709 for the 256Gb version, down from £1059 (£350 off).
I can also trade in a old phone for about another £170 off or about 5 months of payments, making it about £539.
Google One 2Tb of storage is for 6 months YouTube Premium is for 3 months.
Plus I can spread the payments and it's free delivery.

I use my phone all the time and I was annoyed that I got down the front for The Smashing Pumpkins and Download but my photos looked a bit arse.
Got a family holiday coming up and Bestival, so want to get some nice snaps, knowing I can take a picture and it'll be okay, without worrying, then put it away again.

I use my phone all the time, so makes sense to get a decent one.

I know there's always a nicer one or the next model around the corner, but it feels like it's pretty close in quality to the S24 Ultra, but will be significantly cheaper.

I found this blind test photo comparison really interesting:

[wakka]

£539 is a very good price for that phone man. Good work!

I can stomach those kind of mid-tier prices, but once it gets up to £900, £1k+, that's too much for me.

[Neon Ignition]

My modern era policy of sticking to second hand phones on a £10 per month pay as go sim continues to pay dividends.

I'm at a point on the sim now that the Data boosts every three months have taken me up to 15GB per month which is well beyond my needs. My Xperia 1 has been great the entire time I've had it but the charge port is starting to become finicky and clearly doesn't have too much life left in it. To get ahead of it before it completely gives out I'm about to take receipt of it's replacement - A Sony Xperia 5 III

Only 2.5 years old for the princely sum of £120
Literally saving thousands and losing out on nothing

[QualityChimp]

Yeah, it's deffo the way forward, but in this case I wanted that optical zoom, which is only in a few newer phones and also wanted to futureproof as I don't plan to update (my current phone is 5 years old).

[Brad]

My modern era policy of sticking to second hand phones on a £10 per month pay as go sim continues to pay dividends.

I'm at a point on the sim now that the Data boosts every three months have taken me up to 15GB per month which is well beyond my needs. My Xperia 1 has been great the entire time I've had it but the charge port is starting to become finicky and clearly doesn't have too much life left in it. To get ahead of it before it completely gives out I'm about to take receipt of it's replacement - A Sony Xperia 5 III

Only 2.5 years old for the princely sum of £120
Literally saving thousands and losing out on nothing

This plan will be even better once the deadline in the EU for having replaceable batteries arrives.

[QualityChimp]

So, I've had the Google Pixel 8 Pro for a few days now and it's... alright.

I'm used to a smaller and lighter phone, so it's taking me a while to get used to one that's so heavy and bulky to use, mainly one-handed.
The apps list is rubbish. On my Samsung, you can group apps to make it neater, but it's this long long list and if you want to group them, you have to drag them to the "desktop" and group them there, so I've got a finance group and streaming group, for example.

It doesn't seem particularly fast, but I haven't pushed it either.

The AI stuff seems absent. Not sure when that kicks in, but there's supposed to be a way to let you know when a call on hold gets answered, but it didn't so I had to wait ages to book a dentist appointment.

Did a replacement photo thing and it was okay, but probably works better close up, than something a long way off.
I deleted the washing line and there was a really obvious repeated grass pattern like a bad PhotoShop.

Gestures are a bit rubbish. You're supposed to swipe from the right to go back, but if you have a keyboard up, you end up doing the swipe-to-type thing, so you're always stretching your thumb around.

So, I haven't really pushed it, so the difference between this and my old phone is negligible, it feels.

However, the camera is insanely good.
I took a photo of some flowers at the end of the garden and it was amazing.
Then I took one close up and it swaps to the macro lens and it was so clear.

So basically, I need to play about with a few more features and have a good go with the camera and get back to you.

It's not rubbish, at all, but I know I appreciate honest opinions, rather than "Oh wow, this expensive thing I've bought is the best thing ever!"

[QualityChimp]

Actually, this question I asked 10 years ago on Facebook came up on my memories, so I'll as the same question here:
If you could recommend one Android app, what would it be?

[Neon Ignition]

For me, and it's not even Andrid specific - VLC
Key to catching up on so many films and shows

[wakka]

I don't use Android but here are a few apps that I like that are almost certainly multi-platform:

Airalo

If you are still buying SIM cards at the airport when travelling, or overpaying for roaming packages from your network, you are living in the past! Airalo's eSIMs are incredibly cheap and convenient for roaming data. They aren't the only game in town for this, there are def other options, but this is the one I personally use.

Flightradar24

Also oddly plane related. This one is just for fun. I live in the Heathrow flight path (albeit thankfully pretty far away on the other side of London, so it's not noisy), and I like to be able to see where the planes I see overhead have come from or are going. I mentally collect rare sightings like Pokémon...yeah I need to get out more. The direct from Changsha was a recent ~rare sighting~. Most of the time it is just plane after plane from Dubai, though...

Sleep Cycle

This is an alarm app which listens to you while you sleep using the mic and uses a half hour window to wake you up for your chosen time when your sleep cycle is at its lightest. As a non-morning-lark (very much a night owl), I find this helpful for getting up in the morning without being shocked out of bed by a maximum volume alarm like I used to have to be. I'm not sure what the free version is like cos I get the premium one thrown in with my Revolut account, but it's a great app. Gives you analytics and stuff about your sleep if you're into that, too.

Panels

The best comics reader I've used recently. I use this to read manga on my phone and it's really great. It's not got a store to buy comics etc, you need to lob in your own CBR/CBZ files. Very nice to use.

[Nu-Eclipse]

NewPipe - access to ad-free YouTube & YouTube Music as well as SoundCloud and Bandcamp. Also allows for downloading/offline usage of content from them too, as well as allowing content to play while using other apps in background but doesn't paywall-gate that function like YouTube Premium does.

Indispensable for me.

[wakka]

In case it’s useful for anyone, for iPhone users, Vinegar enables ad free YouTube free. That’s an app btw. Please don’t immerse your iPhone in Sarson’s.

[Anpanman]

Flightradar24

Nice one, I feed Flightradar!
We have a new Shanghai service at Manchester and get the Genshin game themed Dreamliner visiting.

[wakka]

Oh that is cool. I saw a 'Pride of Korea' livery Korean Air plane recently, which was a new one to me.

It's a shame more planes don't paint the underside as it's mostly the bit I see best from where I am. It's only Emirates and Etihad (which, to be fair, there are an absolute ****load of) which seem to.

Which airline is running the Manchester service out of interest? China Eastern?

[Finsbury Girl]

Microsoft Solitaire - can be as easy or as challenging as you like completely free new puzzles everyday a good brain exerciser.

[Neon Ignition]

Key problem with my plan... DHL