Thread of Cellphones

[Morkle]

Question: my daughter is getting a new iphone. Can I order it, just switch the SIM card, and then go through the set up process? I don’t want to have to go to a store to do it.

I've never had to touch the sim card. Basically, I just back-up the phone on iTunes, then just re-upload on new phone. I never switch service providers.

I've picked them up, shipped to my house, never really ever touched it.

[tifosi77]

For the second time in less than three years, Mrs Tif has left her phone behind in a public place. Last time was at a restaurant, but today it was on a Metro Red Line train. Yaaaay.

[dodint]

@eddysnake (or anyone else) how are you enjoying Fi? Thinking of trying it instead of adding a line through Sprint.

[eddy]

@eddysnake (or anyone else) how are you enjoying Fi? Thinking of trying it instead of adding a line through Sprint.

Enjoying it very much. Haven't had a bill over $90 for the 3 of us yet. My Pixel 2XL died after I dropped it in a river so just got the pixel 3a for $300 and it's been a tremendous phone so far.

[dodint]

That's exactly what I was thinking of doing. Awesome, thanks!

From the reviews the 3a might be a better overall value than the 4. I guess the 4's battery life is bad enough that the 3a comes out ahead in the end.

[skullman80]

I have a normal Pixel 3 and it's been a great phone for me. I had the OG pixel prior.

[eddy]

That's exactly what I was thinking of doing. Awesome, thanks!

From the reviews the 3a might be a better overall value than the 4. I guess the 4's battery life is bad enough that the 3a comes out ahead in the end.

4a should be coming out in may. I wanted to get the main line of pixel for the visual core aspect for photography, but paying$400 more wasn't an option. So far I can say I don't really see a difference in picture quality between the 2xl and 3a, both are excellent. I also didn't like the 4 only has face unlock. I like the fingerprint scanner and 3a also has a headphone jack.

[dodint]

The only thing stopping me is that Google makes you use your existing Google Voice number or surrender it. My GV number,which I do 98% of my texting with, is a 412 number and I need this line to be a 724 number.

[dodint]

Google Fi was a bit fussy to setup. You get one device/number per e-mail address. I didn't know that and I already ordered a vanity number with my main account. Had to juggle various e-mail addresses and phone numbers all evening to get it worked out.

Replaced my personal phone with a Pixel 3a, keeping my Sprint number. To do so I have to surrender my Google Voice number that I have been using to text from Hangouts the last few years. But it won't really matter since I should be able to use my real number in Hangouts moving forward.

I am going to reuse my old Galaxy S7 with my new line of service, my business line (for now) for the firm I am starting up. Google is sending me a SIM for that. Earlier in the day I used Legacy Google Voice to order a vanity phone number for this line but did so under my personal account, so I had to transfer that to another gmail account I set up for that purpose.

When my first two phones are activated I can order a data-only SIM for my tablet and move it off of Sprint.

Initially this will only save me about $30 a month. But once the contracts for my wifes lines of service are up and I migrate them the total savings will be about $130 a month, or half. And I will have moved on from Sprint after 14 years. Nice.

I am very happy with the Sprint service, but their website is awful and I am sick of it. Time to go.

[willeyeam]

Got the pixel 5 yesterday. Had the 3 xl and it seemed smaller but the screen takes up a lot more or the face so the actual screen is only slightly smaller. It's nice, smooth. I feel like everyone says this with every new phone but the battery seems nice. I've had it off the charger since 8 with moderate use and am at 80%. My last phone would be under 50 right now

[dodint]

Nice.

Ordered my wife a Pixel 4 5G, should be here tomorrow or so. Traded her Galaxy S9 on it.

[eddy]

I've had the 4a 5g for a week now coming from the 3a and it's a pretty huge step up. Mainly got it for the camera which is the exact same as the 5 and it does not disappoint.

[dodint]

How's the size compared to the 3a? She looked at my 3a and said it was a good size and just get her a 4a 5G. My Samsung A71 is too big for her but I think the 4a 5G might be closer to the A71 than the 3a, doh.

[eddy]

It's really not too much bigger at all. I liked the smaller 3a coming from a 2xl and it was just slightly larger than the 3a, almost no difference. Battery is much better than the 3a too

[dodint]

Excellent, thanks! After I ordered it I panicked and googled to see if it had a headphone jack. It does, but the review also said the screen was pretty big so I was a little worried. Good to know.

[eddy]

Yep, basically same size with a bigger screen. Only downside so far is they got rid of squeezing the side for google assistant.

[willeyeam]

Yeah I do miss that on the 5. Was a nice little feature

[count2infinity]

My touch screen on my iphone 11 just stopped working. No damage that I can see, just stopped. It happened a few months ago where it stopped for like 5 minutes and then came back to functionality a few times through the course of a week. I then updated and didn't have issues. Yesterday it stopped at lunch and never came back to functionality.

I went to verizon online help to see what could be done. They ask me to do a hard restart, which I've done a few times to that point. They kept asking me to go into my settings. "Uhhh... hello? The touch screen doesn't work, at all. How would you like me to do that?" I got frustrated and just went to a verizon store.

"Yeah... you'll be able to get a replacement, just go online and fill this out." "Ummm, I'm in a verizon store right now, you have iphones. Can't we just do the swap here?" "No sir, it doesn't work like that..."

Back to online... fill out the form. Have a chat with a very nice lady online, she gets everything sorted for me and a new phone is getting here today.


Meanwhile, I wake up to my alarm on my phone and snooze it with the lock button. It goes off again and I realize that I can't turn off my alarm without the touch screen. All I can do is snooze it. Holy hell, this thing is going to be going off all day. I figure I'd try a hard restart so that it at least might turn off the alarm. Bam.. full functionality back. Touchscreen works, everything works... wtf???

Just a venting/csb. No response needed.

[Viva la Ben]

The all time greatest tech hack.....turning it off then turning it on again.

[count2infinity]

The all time greatest tech hack.....turning it off then turning it on again.

It didn't work the first 17 times. 18 did the trick.

[DigitalGypsy66]

I'm an Android main, but have to service a fleet of iOS devices at home (wife and kids, and I have a work iPad).

Why are there multiple ways to turn off an iPhone? And then it's different per iPhone model. Like there is a sleep mode, which reboots the phone but doesn't really turn it off. Then there's a hard restart, which does shut the phone completely off. And we have a 7, an X, an XR, and an iPad Pro. To do each of these reboot/hard restart is different for these devices, iirc. It's nuts.

Meanwhile, longpress the Pixel 3's power button, and it gives the option to power off or restart. Easy.

[count2infinity]

Also, just an FYI... do not hit the lock button multiple times. Like 15 in a row. It call 911. And when you don't have a touch screen to cancel the calling of 911 it makes for an awkward conversation with the 911 operator.

[Ad@m]

Also, just an FYI... do not hit the lock button multiple times. Like 15 in a row. It call 911. And when you don't have a touch screen to cancel the calling of 911 it makes for an awkward conversation with the 911 operator.

I managed to do that, the day after I purchased my 12 pro max and immediately hung up.

[tifosi77]

Are notification preferences app-level or device-level?

I have the same apps installed on multiple devices, so I get notifications from them across all installs. I would like to stop that, but still get notifications on my primary device. Is that a thing, or will I stop getting notifications altogether once I turn them off on the secondary devices?

Forgot I asked this a few months ago. Anyone know the answer to this question? I have a couple backup devices that I'd like to shut off notifications, but they are all on the same Android/Google account as my primary.

[eddy]

Cool stuff and explains why I'm impressed with the 4a 5g quality

https://9to5google.com/2021/04/23/pixel ... racketing/