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Showing results for tags 'cell phones'.
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It's strange how both headphone jacks and expansion card slots have seemingly gone away on newer mobile phones. I can kind of understand in a lot of cases why the headphone jack is gone with the rise and advancement of wireless technologies for audio like Bluetooth, etc., but I liked using the jack for other things, ex. expansion recording microphone, Square payments device. Is it asking too much of a modern flagship Android-based phone for, at the very least, a microSD card slot AND regular updates to OS and security patches? Even on the newer Pixel devices and OnePlus devices I can get the updates but not the headphone jack or card slot. To that end, should I resign myself to spend $200 USD extra on the extra storage model (rather than $40-50 for a comparable microSD card) or is there something out there where I can get an unlocked phone with the current best-in-class or close to it CPU (ex. Snapdragon 865), card slot, and reliable support? Or is this conundrum basically the telecom industry and phone manufacturers collectively flipping me the bird?
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- buying advice
- corporate aggravation
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(This is my first post so bare with me on this) So, you saw the title, why are these bills so high. I can't afford any more data! Well, there's so many different ways that the bills can get so high because of that. There's so many articles out there trying to explain the technical details and things like that, so I've compiled some and used actually a book (yes a book) that analyzes so many different things, but there was a section on this subject. So, without further ado, let's just jump right into it. (subscribe to Pewdiepie please). First off, the fees. U.S. cellular, where I'm from boasts no fees and that other companies have hidden fees. Did you know that that marketing strategy is a bunch of B.S.? Yeah, it actually is. The United States government wants to tax cell phones, this isn't just recent, it dates all the way back to 2007. So they'll say that they are "Emergency 911 fee" "Federal Universal Fee" and so on. So what does that mean? These types of fees aren't the carriers fault, they have to pay them. This doesn't stop with government meddling in this. There's a few things that the FCC regulates when it comes to Cell Phone Towers and such. First thing I want to talk about is what I call the "Band Wars" This isn't a battle of the bands style school of rock competition, this competition is won with money. Guess who has the best Bandwidth and Service. Sprint? nope AT&T wrong, T-Mobile, 2nd, but not close, that leaves one. Verizon, yes, Verizon. First is the Bandwidth Auction, where the FCC auctions off certain bands to the highest bidder, so Verizon won so many of those, then sold some of the lower ones to T-Mobile. Another thing is that the carriers had to pay licenses for certain bands too. There are currently 1900 licenses held for bands used for Cell Phones in the United States. So, should we just have an uprising just to make our phone prices cheaper? Not necessarily. You all hear about Huawei and their spying and vying for 5G equipment. That costs you too, but not installation, upkeep and maintenance. Your cell network is nothing without Towers and equipment. These towers are expensive too, but the companies don't own them. Carriers lease their towers. That's right, they literally rent their towers from other companies. Verizon's rent cost $258 Million per year. That's not the end of it, T-Mobile had to pay $5.7 Billion in so many different things just for maintenance for the towers in 2016. Network access fees, roaming fees to other companies, and regulatory costs, that doesn't cover all of it. Now that, really is shocking. We always want faster data, more and more and more data without limits, but that comes at a cost. In the Unites States, all combined carriers together reportedly had 15.7 Billion Gigabytes of data, let me do some math, so 15.7 Billion GB is 15.7 Million Terabytes. Let's convert that into Petabytes. That is 15,700 Petabytes of Data, in one year. That is so, so much data being transferred. So that isn't your fault that it's so expensive, it's so much data to be handled in one year. So, can you please use less data, for the good of everyone. Will we ever get a break from these expensive phone bills? Probably not. We always want newer and more, so that will cost more in turn. So, Unless you wanna not have 5g, your phone bill will probably be more expensive as time goes on.
- 35 replies
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- cell phones
- bandwidth
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So basically, some friends and I are pulling some money together to buy another friend a new phone to replace his old and dying Samsung S4, since he is disabled and not able to afford to buy his own. I feel like the Huawei Mate SE is a solid option for everything he needs, some gaming, youtube/twitch watching and things like browsing reddit or twitter, etc. My main concern is that the battery is not replaceable, and him being a heavy phone user will degrade the battery at some point, anyone tried getting batteries replaced for Huawei phones in the US? Thanks for the help! -Mayo P.S. Link for phone below: (https://www.amazon.com/Huawei-Mate-Factory-Unlocked-5-93/dp/B0791VS3N9/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1542508213&sr=1-2&keywords=smartphones&refinements=p_36%3A20000-35000)
- 1 reply
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- huawei
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Ok, my family just went through a blackout for three days straight. No power, no refrigerator, no heating, everything was dead. Our worst problem was not having our cell phones for communication (Towers were still working for a while) as they were quickly depleted of power. Now I've considered getting a UPS before but never got around to it and after some research I'm confused on how long they last. I understand based on what you are running on them and how much power they are drawing a USP can deplete at different rates. But I keep seeing conflicting information on the subject especially if people are using the exact same set up. What we want to do is set up a USP to charge cell phones when they get too low and recharge flashlights during these emergencies. My questions are: 1. How many times could we charge our cell phones? (We have 1 Samsung Galaxy S5, an IPhone 5 and an old Blackberry) 2. How to calculate how much power each device needs (a flashlight, cell phone or any device) to charge it fully? I understand there might be alternatives but at this moment we're looking at several and want some clarity on this option please.
- 8 replies
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- cell phones
- ups
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I'm looking for something really specific and I'm certain something must exist but I'm not sure. I have an issue that I live somewhere very remote and we have no internet access for a couple months. My solution in my head is finding a NIC that takes a SIM card so I can hook it up to my existing cellular plan, and later on be able to drag it out somewhere so that I can game in remote places. Preferably I want something that uses a pci port as I hate the asthetic and the design of most USB dongles. Does anyone know if something like this might possibly exist?
- 9 replies
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- cell phones
- nics
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So I recently installed a custom ROM on my Zuk Z2 and looking back it felt like it was a huge pain in the rear. Here are some of the steps I had to go through: - I had to create an account with Lenovo. - I had to request a zip file required to unlock the bootloader. - I had to install Minimal ADB and Fastboot - My phone wasn't recognized by Minimal ADB and Fastboot so I had to mess around with drivers and security settings just so that my phone would be authorized in Minimal ADB and Fastboot. - Then I easily unlocked the bootloader - Then I had to enter a few command lines to flash TWRP on my phone - Then I had to find a decent custom ROM and with the compatible Gapps (Google Apps), since the ROMs never come with Google Play Store installed. That was a super annoying ordeal in itself because I had to guess between different Gapp versions looking at ARM Vs. ARM 64 and different versions of Android. Nobody seems to explain this in any tutorial. They just glance over it and say "just flash the Gapps". Oh yeah, and you have to flash the ROM and the Gapps simultaneously. Because if you don't, the Gapps won't work! - Then Netflix doesn't show up anywhere in the Playstore so you have to find the .APK file for Netflix somewhere and install it using an .APK installer app. Surely, it can't be harder than this! I am speculating that it's easier with other phones because you can just use Kingroot to root your phone and then install TWRP from the Playstore? Is that correct? I didn't have that option with my Zuk Z2 because Kingroot just didn't work for whatever reason. So I had to use this bootloader unlock method. It just makes me wonder about these Chinese phones from Gearbest like the Zuk Z2. How easy are they to root if they don't show up anywhere in these one-click root programs like Kingroot? I wonder if I should just stick to brand phones from the likes of Samsung from now on.
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I've been looking at and was kind of curious. what would be the best phone to get for the latest game sweeping the nation. currently using an LG Tempest but the AR feature doesn't work since the phone is literally a $20 prepaid phone the game works okay but no camera feature. could anybody tell me what kind of cell phone I would need?
- 6 replies
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- cell phones
- pokémon go
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After watching LTT videos for a couple of years now and I have noticed that for a while that phones and some laptops, namely the XPS 15 and then today the blade stealth (at least on vessel, I haven't checked youtube) have all come from or have at least been passed through DBrand before getting to Linus. Are the products themselves being supplied by DBrand themselves, or is Linus having them "fed through" DBrand to get a cool looking version. I'd find it weird that he would request or get offered review samples of products from a skinning company over the product manufacturer. Is it purely an advertisement thing or have all mobile product companies decided to boycott LTT (The latter of two is a joke before people take this too seriously) I know that almost all people are unlikely to know the answer to this (Unless it's been mentioned on social media and I've just missed it) so here's to hoping that one of the LTT team members reads this post. Also anyone else hoping for a HP spectre review sample? Maybe even in a DBrand skin
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Whats this? Oh nothing, just the FCC continuing to implement awesome rulings that benefit the consumers more than they benefit the carriers that are probably not amused with all the recent rulings that have been dealt. IMHO, unlocking phones should just be a thing. Why do we have to treat it like some magical invention? People who buy phones should have the expectation to get them unlocked ASAP. If they leave your network, so be it. You lost a customer because you probably suck. Fix that and suck less, I'm sure people would be happy to take your devices to your network. I personally won't even look at a phone if it can't be bought out of the box unlocked. I once went through way too many hoops and hurdles on my S3 to get it unlocked, left a fairly sour taste in my mouth on how carriers handle some devices and unlocking in general. http://www.modernreaders.com/fcc-now-requires-american-carriers-to-unlock-consumers-handsets/19740/lorenzo-tanos
- 24 replies
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- fcc
- cell phones
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Hey guys, I am using an HTC one M8 with verizon carrier and often data is not working for no reason whatsoever. I have data turned on and I will be in an are with full bars 4g and data will not work. Is it a problem with the SIM card?
- 4 replies
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- cell phones
- data
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This may be a stupid question, but is it possible to buy Nexus phones on contract (AT&T)? I can't afford to buy a phone unlocked.... Other than that, what our your thoughts on it so far? Personally, I find 5.9 inches to be way to large. And I think QHD isn't worth it at the moment- you could do better with just an FHD screen and get more battery life! Besides the size of the screen, with the rumors floating around the internet space, it's shaping up to be a killer phone- despite the monstrous size. SERIOUSLY GOOGLE? WHAT WERE YOU AND MOTOROLA THINKING?
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http://gizmodo.com/new-wireless-power-set-up-charges-40-smartphones-from-a-1565610545 Apparently some scientists have developed a way to charge devices without the need for a charging pad, like some of our newer phones do. This could be epic.
- 2 replies
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- wireless charging
- batteries
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Does anyone use the isis app for android or apple? I heard if you sign up you can get a free $50, so i wanted to try it but i didn't know how it was. Also do you have to link a credit card with it or be a certain age? Finally can you use it at amazon? Thanks so much for the help.
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Hey, Just wondering what you guys would recommend for a cell phone carrier. Looking for a decent byod program and $30 a month billl (assuming the device was bought off contract). I understand that doesn't cover most of the "major" carriers but there are alot of pre-paid carriers that seem to be underground. As for my personal needs I don't use any data and would only need at most 200 calling minutes with the drawback being there would be a large number of texts. Does anyone know of a carrier that still just has a low cost unlimited texting plan? Any help is much appreciated, Beefy
- 5 replies
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- cell phones
- coverage
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