Mobile Phone Thread S2

[Yakumo]

Budget specs, budget price. With added hardware gimmicks on top to try and deflect from the many actual shortcomings it has.

I stand by what I said. Garbage. It has the market it has for a reason.

Somehow, I seriously doubt that premium device OEMs (Apple, OnePlus, Sony, Google, Samsung, etc.) will be bothered by this.

Samsung did make a phone with a projector built in but it failed due to having a small battery. Sony make Pico projectors which are basically the same size as this but lack a phone option.
You're looking at this the wrong way. It's not meant to be a daily driver phone, it's something to use on a trip or camping. Think of it as a portable smart projector that has the added bonus of playing games and making calls.
I also wouldn't call the specs crap. This has a pretty good CPU and GPU. Sure, it's not as good as my Pixel 7 Pro but it is close and way above some cheap lowend device as the Antuutuu scores clearly show.

[fishbowlhead]

Seems my partner has been conned by my.plan.com into a 36month contract, she got passed onto them by O2 when her contract ran out 6 months ago and now can’t get out of it, absolute bunch of scum bags. I knew nothing about any of this until this week when I got her a new phone as a bday present (galaxy s23u) now we have to send that back because she’s stuck in this poxy contract.

On some investigation, it wasn’t hard, seems they’re basically the worst company around. I’m trying to find something to get her out of it as she never agreed to a 36month contract. So far I’ve found,

-No signature, just an edoc that they have filled in.
-No voice recordings or phone transcripts, an operator let slip they have a 3rd party handle these files, fairly sure that illegal as these types of files have to be secured on site by any company handling them.
-They traced her IP address on the day of the call, i noticed an ip address on the contract and yep, it’s our home router.
-They’ve signed her up as a sole trader so they can add vat ontop of the agreed £26 a month.
-They have a history of immediately sending a debt firm to your home only days after non payment on anything.


Not sure how to get her out of this as they are shady as F.

[Yakumo]

Here's hoping yo can get her out of such BS. I always stay way clear of any 3rd party offering contracts with major carriers. Dodgy as hell in most cases.

[wakka]

Ouch. That sounds like a difficult situation, especially as she's been on it for six months now.

It might be worth contacting a solicitor.

This thread might be helpful:

https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/comments/186sve4/plan_com_no_cooling_off_period_help/

I always stay way clear of any 3rd party offering contracts with major carriers.

Most are fine - Carphone Warehouse, etc. You can get a much better deal with them than going to the network directly. This sounds like it was probably a cold call though which, yeah, are absolutely to be avoided.

[Nu-Eclipse]

I really CBA to argue with the weirdo who has suddenly decided to forum-stalk me. He's now been put on ignore.

Samsung did make a phone with a projector built in but it failed due to having a small battery. Sony make Pico projectors which are basically the same size as this but lack a phone option.
You're looking at this the wrong way. It's not meant to be a daily driver phone, it's something to use on a trip or camping. Think of it as a portable smart projector that has the added bonus of playing games and making calls.
I also wouldn't call the specs crap. This has a pretty good CPU and GPU. Sure, it's not as good as my Pixel 7 Pro but it is close and way above some cheap lowend device as the Antuutuu scores clearly show.

Like I said, I stand by what I've said and I'm not changing my mind. It's priced sub-£300 for a reason. Yes, it is garbage. The processor on it gets nowhere near the best. Does that affect it in terms of real-world usage for doing the basics/minimum? No. But it isn't a top-tier product. I'm sorry but it just isn't. The camping trip angle is all well and good but there are plenty of other devices that can do that and are as cheap but have better specs.

You dig it ? Cool. But my mind isn't budging. It's crap and the majority of consumers won't be going near it.

[Ouenben]

I really CBA to argue with the weirdo who has suddenly decided to forum-stalk me. He's now been put on ignore.

Translation: I have nothing of value to add after being proven wrong so I'll just block anyone who
presents facts to me.

Lucky there's no minimum mental age requirement to be a member of this forum!

[Ouenben]

I always stay way clear of any 3rd party offering contracts with major carriers. Dodgy as hell in most cases.

Some of them are dodgy, I know E2Save would regularly upgrade o2 customers to a 24 month contract with a lousy low end phone and tell them they're on a sim only and the phone was a free gift. Then when they try and upgrade a few months to a year later they find they're stuck in a 24 month plan they were not aware of.

But Carphone (RIP) now Currys mobile, and mobiles.co.uk are fine. Just able to negotiate better prices but you're still with the network directly for your contract.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Anyhoo...

In serious smartphone news, this year's Google I/O has been confirmed for May.

Pixel 8a and Android 15 might well be announced here, amongst other AI-related things.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/14/24101171/google-io-2024-announced-may-14-android-ai-gemini

[Anpanman]

Translation: I have nothing of value to add after being proven wrong so I'll just block anyone who
presents facts to me.

Lucky there's no minimum mental age requirement to be a member of this forum!

Haha, aye this individual can't take any scrutiny whatsoever.

I had exactly the same over in the deaths in January where this person listed someone who actually wasn't dead...

I challenged, and was told tersely that it was basically standard practise and I should go and check a few years worth of comments.
Fair enough I thought so I did.....and found that this was basically, untrue, false, wrong and completely and utterly factually incorrect.

After mentioning this I got the basically the same hissy fit reply of acronyms and the "you're stalking me"...
As with you I'm thinking - how old are you six?

...this person even had a pop at poor Yakumo.

[Ouenben]

Haha, aye this individual can't take any scrutiny whatsoever.

Which is funny when he's so quick to call other users names or call things rubbish with no context or explanation as to why.

Should have seen the massive tantrum that was thrown in the bargain forum too when another user said the item was available cheaper from another retailer.

Anyway, back on topic. I recently upgraded to the s24 ultra from the S22 Ultra. It felt very minor though the battery life is far better. I'm glad they kept the Snapdragon in the Ultra, as I heard the base and plus models have Exynos again. My S22 ultra was Exynos and I felt like I was getting 80% of the phone that the rest of the world got.

If Pixel would bring out a phone with an integrated stylus I might consider jumping ship, but I'd miss the S pen too much if I were to leave Samsung at the moment.

[Anpanman]

Apple could be in for a bollocking, though it seems the Justice Dept is doing this once a year to big companies;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68628989

[charlesr]

Please can we stop discussing forum people's individual merits. Thank you. Back on topic

[Nu-Eclipse]

Being told I can't take scrutiny from pure hypocrites who don't apply that same "criteria" to other posters on here is LOL hilarious. Absolute human trash.

Anyhoo...

Apple being sued by its own government.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/21/24105363/apple-doj-monopoly-lawsuit

[wakka]

Yeah, this is an interesting one. It's of note that after Apple's grandstanding about Epic opening their own app store in the EU - Apple told them 'no', on the basis that they unilaterallly deemed them 'untrustworthy', for anyone who's forgotten - Apple folded completely literally 24 hours later, after the EU merely announced that they were going to investigate. So Epic will now be allowed to open their app store.

Apple are definitely on the back foot, and while the US antitrust suit definitely isn't as far reaching as the EU's DMA (they're not going after Apple for not allowing alternative app stores, for example), I think it's a good challenge.

It's ridiculous, for example, that Apple are able to simply block Microsoft from launching an xCloud app on an arbitrary basis with no regulatory oversight. That's okay on something non-essential like a PlayStation, but when you have an unassailable 30% share of the world's 'do everything' computers and a much higher percentage in the wealthiest countries, it's time for the regulators to step in to prevent anti-consumer protectionism.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Yeah, this is an interesting one. It's of note that after Apple's grandstanding about Epic opening their own app store in the EU - Apple told them 'no', on the basis that they unilaterallly deemed them 'untrustworthy', for anyone who's forgotten - Apple folded completely literally 24 hours later, after the EU merely announced that they were going to investigate. So Epic will now be allowed to open their app store.

Apple are definitely on the back foot, and while the US antitrust suit definitely isn't as far reaching as the EU's DMA (they're not going after Apple for not allowing alternative app stores, for example), I think it's a good challenge.

It's ridiculous, for example, that Apple are able to simply block Microsoft from launching an xCloud app on an arbitrary basis with no regulatory oversight. That's okay on something non-essential like a PlayStation, but when you have an unassailable 30% share of the world's 'do everything' computers and a much higher percentage in the wealthiest countries, it's time for the regulators to step in to prevent anti-consumer protectionism.

Excellent synopsis. Cheers for that. It definitely contextualises the situation.

Still, I can't help think that the US gov't have been waiting for the chance to finally nail Cupertino on something like this, considering the way Senators have been scathing about Big Tech firms in recent times, not to mention how the EU have worked to try and prise Apple's walled garden a little more.