Smart phone. [poll]

[DavidDetroit]

My phone isn't smart. I don't do anything on it other than call, text and take beer and pet photos--I know, sad to some, but I like it that way. My wife uses an actual camera.
The one I have wasn't much of an investment (well under $100) so I'm not overly concerned about its welfare and just leave it on. Sometimes it runs out of juice on its own so that should count as turning it off/rebooting. If I don't want to be disturbed, I wrap duct tape around its mouth and give it stern looks if it even thinks of making a sound.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I watched a video of a guy changing the battery on my phone i would score him 10/10 for his patience, i will be buying a new phone when mine gets to the stage where its no longer holds enough charge to get me through the working day but with a 4000 mah battery i think it will be a while before i need to worry.

 

[druid1966]

No idea as I still (so far) do not own one of the evil things...

 

[Chippy_Tea]

No idea as I still (so far) do not own one of the evil things...

I have heard phones called many things but evil has never been one of them, why do you call them evil?

 

[druid1966]

Whenever I look around...all I see is heads down buried in whatever people are looking at....people seldom look at one another anymore let alone interact. Ive heard that they are addicting...and not sure how true, but heard they actually change people brain function.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

To be honest the way things are on our streets I don't think I would be walking round looking at people, I do agree that conversation between groups of friends seems all but dead as they sit in groups staring at their screens but having said that I wouldn't be without my phone, for one I couldn't use or moderate this place without it and now 4G is widespread living in the lakes and trying to use my phone is not the chore it used to be, Myqul doesn't have a smart phone so you are not alone and maybe the world would be a better place we're we still on landlines and pagers.

 

[Banbeer]

The problem is not entirely the smart phones fault, I own one and wouldn't be without it, the problem is social media as everyone wants to check how many likes they have etc etc.......... I never check my phone whilst driving and hate it when people at the traffic lights don't go on green cos they are fixed on there phone.....!!

 

[MmmBeer]

Mine is always switched on. Mainly becasue I worked 'on-call' during the nineties and noughties and the habit stuck.

I once bought a touchscreen phone, but became so infuriated by it not doing what I wanted it to do, that I had to be restrained from launching it at the wall and persuaded to take it back to the store and demand my money back. Shortly afterwards on a business trip to Scandinavia, I was on the train and was horrified to see nearly everyone else in the carriage was a mombie, head bowed, screenglow on their faces. I swore that I would never get like that and still use a small pushbutton phone, that makes calls and sends texts and has a battery that lasts nearly a week.

 

[johncrobinson]

What is said here about Lithum batteries is true they suffer from sudden death syndrome.

At the last count I have:-
Three phones,
Four laptops,
One kindle,
Two digital slr Nikon cameras.
One digital Canon slr camera.
ALL yes ALL with knackered lithum batteries.

Some are replaceable (at a price !!! )and the laptops still work on mains power.and i did replace the kindle battery.

Now my lithum powered electronic *** is starting to give up the ghost at under two years old.

I also understand on the latest phones one cannot replace the battery.!!!

Perfectly good products ruined by poor lithium batteries,And they want people to go green and avoid waste HA.!!

 

[Gerryjo]

Even when the phone manufacturer says the battery is not user-replaceable, it often is. I've just fitted a new battery to a Moto G1.

I had a Moto G when they first came with 1gb ram 8gb storage and no sd card and was a cracking phone then and ironically is still going strong as I had handed it down to my daughter and after 5 years she handed it down to her younger brother who is now using it nearly 6 years on.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I also understand on the latest phones one cannot replace the battery.!!!

I checked my phone Moto G6 play and the battery is not replaceable (officially) but i have watched a video showing how to do it, to be honest its a right PITA and as the phone only cost £80 i will probably replace it.

£169 when new now £80. (he says no option for English only american which is not the case)

Plus points for me are 4000mah battery and turbo charger and fingerprint scanner, a decent budget smartphone.

 

[Gerryjo]

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/wjbzzy/your-phone-is-listening-and-its-not-paranoia

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I think for most of us its not really an issues (as this part of the article says) and the only option we have is to turn our phones off, i cannot see many of us doing that even if we don't like the fact we could be listened to.



So yes, our phones are listening to us and anything we say around our phones could potentially be used against us. But, according to Peter at least, it’s not something most people should be scared of.

Because unless you’re a journalist, a lawyer, or have some kind of role with sensitive information, the access of your data is only really going to advertisers. If you’re like everyone else, living a really normal life, and talking to your friends about flying to Japan, then it’s really not that different to advertisers looking at your browsing history.

“It’s just an extension from what advertising used to be on television,” says Peter. Only instead of prime time audiences, they’re now tracking web-browsing habits. It’s not ideal, but I don’t think it poses an immediate threat to most people.”

 

[johncrobinson]

Whilst being snooped on is not very nice I personally have nothing to hide from anyone and we do get somethings back such as in my case free google search and email.

Where i do have a concern is this,I am on pay as you go mobile internet via a mobile router and am charged by the megabyte,
So if my computer is uploading/downloading in the background that will be chomping its way through my data allowance.
Windows 10 still tries to download updates despite setting my internet as a "metered connection" which is supposed to stop all that.
When i eventually get moved i will be going for conventional land line based internet.

OH nearly forgot my Huawei mobile router has yup thats right a lithium battery which at one year old is just starting to show the usual failure symptoms. (Add to previous list above).

 

[kelper]

If you want to extend the life of your phone battery, switch the phone off at night and don't charge it unless it's nearly empty - try and get two day's use. Many types can only be recharged a thousand times. If you charge it every night you won't get three years out of it. My Pebble watch is five-and-a-half years old and going strong because it only needs a charge every four or five days. My Moto G watch didn't last two years - it needed a daily charge.

 

[johncrobinson]

Speaking of people walking around plugged into their phones.
When the Sony walkman craze came in about 35yrs ago i nearly got killed several times as i could not hear anything around me and was not paying attenion to what was going on due to to the loud music playing in my headphones.
I soon gave it up

I am suprised this similar latest phone craze is not causing loads of accidents

 

[johncrobinson]

Yes Kelper it seems the batterys life is determined by the number of charge cycles with a very very steep falloff towards the end.

 

[GerritT]

I consider it a portable minicomputer, and use it as such. Reading books, music whilst driving, alarm clock, occasionally browsing: I would have done the same things without the phone, but in an analogue way.
I'm not social anyway, I prefer to not interact with other people.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I am old enough to remember the first mobile phones they were analogue and the size of a house brick, no touchscreen, Internet and to be honest not much use as a phone, now as you say they are a micro computers.

 

[johncrobinson]

I too remember late 80s house brick phones made by Motorola i had one. The NiCd batteries tasted about 8 to 10hrs on standby.

Fast forward about 6yrs to about 1995 when i lived in London.I went back to my home town in NE england to visit my parents, I walked into a bar put my phone on the bar and ordered a drink,The phone rang and i picked up the call.Well all the conversation in the bar stopped stone dead, People just turned and stared at me using a mobile.NOBODY in the town had one at that time.

Fast forward another 5yrs everyone in the town,even the young kids had them.But I will never forget that incident in the pub.