blonde poker forum

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S5. It's 5 years old. I love it.


(https://zdnet1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2014/07/30/3cfcca64-17b1-11e4-8460-00505685119a/thumbnail/770x578/4519bff165f133fe97e37d2ef16a2f7b/samsung-galaxy-s5-review-top-notch-specs-less-software-bloat.jp)g


Recently, I have been considering changing it for a newer model, so I've done a vast amount of research (I enjoy research) into various possible replacements.

My non-negotiable criteria are, in no particular order:

Decent spec camera with good low-light performance.
Good battery life.
3.5mm headphone jack.
Flat, i.e. not curved screen.
At least IP67.

I would also like a removable, and therefore easily replacable battery but I will do without that if I have to.


I've looked at everything and nothing ticks all the boxes (Rod's Blackview came closest)

There are two exceptions, my current phone and the Samsung Galaxy S7.

My current phone is still working perfectly, so why not keep it? Well, Samsung stopped supporting it in 2017 so it won't be getting any more security patches and although I've had no problems, I'm a bit nervous about it. That said, I have had no problems nor do I know anyone who has. I keep my apps updated and I don't click suspicious links. Am I worrying for nothing?

If I ask the question online I mostly get the obvious and safe "You should upgrade" answer along with the occasional "I'm still using my S5 with no problems" thrown in.

Why not upgrade to the still supported Galaxy s7?

Well the S7 is also an older phone (2016) and although it's still on sale, support will probably end in the next year or so.

So, does anyone know anything about the security of unsupported phones?

Don't worry, I don't expect any definitive answers.

 

I love a bit of qualatative analysis.

Selection criteria of >2018, Available & Coming Soon, >12MP, 3.5mm jack, >=IP67, removable battery

https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?nYearMin=2018&nCamPrimMin=12&chk35mm=selected&sAvailabilities=1,2&sIPCerts=5,6&idBatRemovable=1&nOrder=1

if you remove the removable battery filter there are 37 more to choose from although I assume some of those will have curved screens. And decent spec camera is subjective city. Interested to see what you end up with Red.

As for the other point - there are very, very few attacks taking place on phones.

The theoretical risk is there but the actual risk is probably pretty small.

The figures I have found for 2018 was Kaspersky Labs (so someone who sells security software); they said the number of attacks and people affected has grown a lot.

However they gave a figure of a bit less than a million people affected.

There are an estimated 5 billion smart phone users in the world - so about 1 in 5000.

I have the Galaxy Note 9 and its by far the best phone ive ever had, love the stylus too

Thanks Mr Long. That's a great tool.

I got 16 results, 8 of which are Samsung with curved screens and 7 are LG's with poor low light performance.

There was one I haven't seen yet, the Oppo R15 Pro.

I will report back.





To refine your search click here.

    [Samsung Galaxy S10 5G Android smartphone. Announced Feb 2019. Features 6.7″ Dynamic AMOLED display, Exynos 9820 chipset, 4500 mAh battery, 512 GB storage, 8 GB RAM, Corning Gorilla Glass 6.]
    Samsung
    Galaxy S10 5G
    [LG V50 ThinQ 5G Android smartphone. Announced Feb 2019. Features 6.4″ P-OLED display, Snapdragon 855 chipset, 4000 mAh battery, 128 GB storage, 6 GB RAM, MIL-STD-810G compliant, Corning Gorilla Glass 5.]
    LG
    V50 ThinQ 5G
    [Samsung Galaxy S10+ Android smartphone. Announced Feb 2019. Features 6.4″ Dynamic AMOLED display, Exynos 9820 chipset, 4100 mAh battery, 1024 GB storage, 12 GB RAM, Corning Gorilla Glass 6.]
    Samsung
    Galaxy S10+
    [Samsung Galaxy S10 Android smartphone. Announced Feb 2019. Features 6.1″ Dynamic AMOLED display, Exynos 9820 chipset, 3400 mAh battery, 512 GB storage, 8 GB RAM, Corning Gorilla Glass 6.]
    Samsung
    Galaxy S10
    [Samsung Galaxy Note9 Android smartphone. Announced Aug 2018. Features 6.4″ Super AMOLED display, Exynos 9810 chipset, 4000 mAh battery, 512 GB storage, 8 GB RAM, Corning Gorilla Glass 5.]
    Samsung
    Galaxy Note9
    [LG G8 ThinQ Android smartphone. Announced Feb 2019. Features 6.1″ P-OLED display, Snapdragon 855 chipset, 3500 mAh battery, 128 GB storage, 6 GB RAM, MIL-STD-810G compliant, Corning Gorilla Glass 5.]
    LG
    G8 ThinQ
    [Samsung Galaxy S9+ Android smartphone. Announced Feb 2018. Features 6.2″ Super AMOLED display, Exynos 9810 chipset, Dual: 12 MP (f/1.5-2.4, 26mm, 1/2.55″, 1.4µm, dual pixel PDAF) + 12MP primary camera, 8 MP front camera, 3500 mAh battery, 256 GB storage, 6 GB RAM, Corning Gorilla Glass 5.]
    Samsung
    Galaxy S9+
    [Samsung Galaxy S10e Android smartphone. Announced Feb 2019. Features 5.8″ Dynamic AMOLED display, Exynos 9820 chipset, 3100 mAh battery, 256 GB storage, 8 GB RAM, Corning Gorilla Glass 5.]
    Samsung
    Galaxy S10e
    [LG V40 ThinQ Android smartphone. Announced Oct 2018. Features 6.4″ P-OLED display, Snapdragon 845 chipset, 3300 mAh battery, 128 GB storage, 6 GB RAM, MIL-STD-810G compliant, Corning Gorilla Glass 5.]
    LG
    V40 ThinQ
    [Oppo R15 Pro Android smartphone. Announced Mar 2018. Features 6.28″ AMOLED display, Snapdragon 660 chipset, Dual: 16 MP (f/1.7, 25mm, 1/2.6″, 1.22µm, PDAF) + 20 MP primary camera, 20 MP front camera, 3430 mAh battery, 128 GB storage, 6 GB RAM, Corning Gorilla Glass 5.]
    Oppo
    R15 Pro
    [Samsung Galaxy S9 Android smartphone. Announced Feb 2018. Features 5.8″ Super AMOLED display, Exynos 9810 chipset, 12 MP primary camera, 8 MP front camera, 3000 mAh battery, 256 GB storage, 4 GB RAM, Corning Gorilla Glass 5.]
    Samsung
    Galaxy S9
    [Samsung Galaxy S Light Luxury Android smartphone. Announced May 2018. Features 5.8″ Super AMOLED display, Snapdragon 660 chipset, 16 MP primary camera, 8 MP front camera, 3000 mAh battery, 64 GB storage, 4 GB RAM, Corning Gorilla Glass 5.]
    Samsung
    Galaxy S Light Luxury
    [LG G7 ThinQ Android smartphone. Announced May 2018. Features 6.1″ IPS LCD display, Snapdragon 845 chipset, Dual: 16 MP (f/1.6, 1/3.1″, 1.0µm, OIS) + 16 MP primary camera, 8 MP front camera, 3000 mAh battery, 128 GB storage, 6 GB RAM, MIL-STD-810G compliant, Corning Gorilla Glass 5.]
    LG
    G7 ThinQ
    [LG V35 ThinQ Android smartphone. Announced May 2018. Features 6.0″ P-OLED display, Snapdragon 845 chipset, Dual: 16 MP (f/1.6, 1/3.1″, 1.0µm, OIS) + 16 MP primary camera, 3300 mAh battery, 128 GB storage, 6 GB RAM, MIL-STD-810G compliant, Corning Gorilla Glass 5.]
    LG
    V35 ThinQ
    [LG G7 One Android smartphone. Announced Aug 2018. Features 6.1″ IPS LCD display, Snapdragon 835 chipset, 16 MP primary camera, 8 MP front camera, 3000 mAh battery, 64 GB storage, 4 GB RAM, MIL-STD-810G compliant.]
    LG
    G7 One
    [LG V30S ThinQ Android smartphone. Announced Feb 2018. Features 6.0″ P-OLED display, Snapdragon 835 chipset, Dual: 16 MP (f/1.6, 1µm, 3-axis OIS, PDAF & laser AF) + 13 MP primary camera, 5 MP front camera, 3300 mAh battery, 256 GB storage, 6 GB RAM, MIL-STD-810G compliant, Corning Gorilla Glass 5.]
    LG
    V30S ThinQ

This is the kind of thing I was hoping to see.

It's a fabulous phone but I can't do infinity display/curved screen.

Ignore if you are going to be stubborm,  but all those red lines make you look like Theresa May.

The Samsung A40 is a lot of phone for the money and has an above average camera for £200.  I have an S8 with a worse camera and they are a lot pricier.  My daughter loves hers.

Don't chuck it in a river, and it is cheap enough that battery removal doesn't matter so much.

edit, I couldn't find the oppo R15 in the UK

No, the Oppo is French, nuf said.

Battery removal isn't a biggie, it wasn't in my non-negotiable criteria.

Does the A40 have an IP rating?

No

She went from my old repaired S7 to an A40 and loves it a lot more.  If I had my time again I'd buy it over the S8.  There isn't anything I'd really want on my S8 that she doesn't have on her A40.

Suspect you can drown it 2.5 times before it gets more expensive than an S8.  And as it doesn't have the curved screen it is likely more durable and cheaper to fix.

I had an S5, the longest I ever kept a phone but eventually the battery life and a few other issues made me swap.

No idea how the spec matches up to your criteria as mine are limited to being able to browse and make phone calls, but bought a Huawei P Smart for about £150 outright and I can't really find fault with it.

Camera seems pretty decent to me

At least IP67 was on my non-negotiable list and preferably IP68.

I understand the 'cheap to replace argument' but I get my phone wet, (Not submerged, but outdoorsey wet & dirty) regularly and being without then setting up a new phone is a real PITA.

You could have replaced s5 the battery yourself (It's removable) for about a tenner.


Nothing wrong with the Huawei, it just doesn't fit my admittedly pernickety criteria.

Is tikay alright? This is usually the point where he makes some smart-arse comment.

Did that, never performed the same - have to say battery life on the Huawei is rather ace.

That's a given David.

Never known such a fusspot in my life.

OK, but there isn't a phone meets your criteria, at least once you start worrying about obsolescence , so isn't it a question of working out which criteria is important?

Stick with your S5 then.  

Spiffing!

.....and relax.

Too busy editing out unintended card graphics which all smartphone chit-chat is inclined to generate, e.g., Samsung S5.

Helpful hint - Go to Additional Options & tick "Don't Use Smileys"..

You're right.

My options are:

Compromise my criteria.
Buy the S7.
Stick with the S5.

Still interesting to know what everyone is using and what they think of it though.

This may be useful for you know Tom;


compromise; expediently accept standards that are lower than is desirable.

Fascinating. Think I may have to fire up my Diary & relate some interesting stuff, this is purgatory.

tikay's phone.


(https://st.depositphotos.com/1695366/1398/v/950/depositphotos_13980003-stock-illustration-cartoon-caveman-cell-phone.jpg)

No chance.





See above.

Option 4:
 
https://www.clove.co.uk/products/samsung-galaxy-xcover-4s?variant=21226933813307

:D


I have an iPhone XR, and it was an upgrade from my 7 I'd had for about 3 or 4 years.

Before that I had a 4, so you could say Apple have me in their eco-system.

What does the below mean for our customer?  Does it mean they can sell us a refurb that they could say they had to break the seal on? 

If you order an EU Model or Convert then you may find that Samsung Pay is unavailable, even if it is supported in your country.

This is because Samsung restricts the use of Samsung Pay so that it only works with banks registered in the same country as the phone's origin.

The origin country is recorded in the phone's firmware and cannot be adjusted by end users. At this time we are unable to advertise the exact origin country of EU Models prior to sale.

...

COUNTRY LIST: **All member states of the E.E.A and the following additional territories: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (F.Y.R.O.M), Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino, Serbia and Vatican City.

IF YOUR CHOSEN DELIVERY COUNTY IS NOT LISTED, CLOVE TECHNOLOGY WILL BREAK THE SEAL ON THIS DEVICE AND ACTIVATE IT. YOU MUST AGREE TO THIS PROCEDURE IN THE CHECKOUT BEFORE THE SALE WILL COMPLETE.

Clove have been around for donkey's years, I've got a sneaky feeling I bought an Ericsson T39 or T610 from them back in the day. They've always sold a fair number of grey market items, sometimes because the particullar model was not available in the UK or it had been released overseas first.

If you read the full Region Lock bit it's clear Samsung sre trying to reduce grey market cross-border sales, probably in an attempt to maintain margins in the high cost countries so if you want to buy one and use it in Australia for instance then you need to let them open the box and make a call otherwise only European SIMs roaming in Oz would work rather than a native Oz SIM.

It looks like Samsung haven't released the consumer version in the UK, only the Enterprise version aimed at corporates that need ruggerised handsets.

UK Enterprise version: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Enterprise-Dual-SIM-Android-Smartphone-Black/dp/B07VK9MMPB

Cheaper grey import consumer version (I'm guessing Latvian EE, not UK EE): https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07TP75452

Encouraged by Jon's post, I went digging and found some reassuring stuff.

I didn't even know I had Play Protect, but I checked it out and hey presto!

(https://s17.directupload.net/images/190928/t5o9ldid.jpg) (https://www.directupload.net) (https://s17.directupload.net/images/190928/4xxi3ng5.jpg) (https://www.directupload.net)

Here's to another 5 years.   ;cheerleader;




(https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.198332765.7551/mwo,x1000,iphone_xs_soft-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8.u2.jpg)

Bought this.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F133077637092

Arrived a week late and I don't like it now I've seen it in the flesh.

I will be returning it.

So now I am going to buy a Galaxy S7.


But.


Should I buy it here.....




https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LTE-32GB-Unlocked-Factory-Galaxy-New-Samsung-4G-S7-G930F-Phone-Android-FREE-SHIP/401915336847?var=671757859634





Or here?




https://store.musicmagpie.co.uk/products/samsung-galaxy-s7-32gb-black-unlocked-e0cda38a-bb4b-48e3-94b9-43c202db137c

BTW- You don't think I'm rushing into this do you?

You are returning a galaxy S7 and going for an S7 instead?

Was the galaxy just too big or was it something else?  I know I am a bit wary of some of the sellers on ebay and amazon.  You read a few comments stating the phone is blocked or second hand whenever you see a phone seller that sell phones cheaper than you'd expect.

I used to have an S7 and it was the fragility of the screen and the cost of replacing it that did for me.  But get it well shielded and it should be fine.

I'm returning the S7 'Active' and buying the common or garden S7.


So are you saying go for the refurbished on Music Magpie rather than the new on eBay?

BTW- If you click Additional Options - Don't use smileys you won't get playing cards littering your posts.

I went from an S5 to an S8 and I'm not a big fan of the curved screen at all, you get used to it but for the first few weeks I absolutely hated the thing.

From what I know the S7 is very similar to the S8 so if that's a flat screen then happy days. You still won't like it though as it'll be smaller and just won't feel right in your hand. There's a joke there somewhere but I'll leave that to someone else.

I got mine from here: https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/st/samsung-galaxy-s7

Decent price, excellent service and they have some very good second hand offers as well.

Wow. Spades everywhere. So annoying :D

I don't know the answer to the first question.  My choice would be to go for a cheap phone from a reputable dealer, but we covered that earlier, and maybe I am too cautious when buying expensive stuff.

I know the latter about smileys already, it is just that I don't do it often enough for it to stick in my mind.  And as long as we have OCD Tikay to tidy up after us...  Hi Tikay and thanks, Evilpie needs your help.

Not any more, I edited them out.

Note what Fusspot Tom said earlier, click "Additional Options" then "Don't use smileys". 

Posts crossed. And yes, I'm a bit OCD about them.

From what I understand a lot of the low cost phones are Chinese imports. I noticed the Ebay one stated that it came with English firmware, no reason to state that if it was English in the first place.

Really can't see an issue with it but personally I'd avoid them because I'm funny like that.

Wish I'd read your smileys tip earlier..... Such a difficult range of phones to discuss on Blonde.

Whilst I appreciate your amendments I don't appreciate the fact that I now appear to be a massive racist.

Thanks.

 :D

That's right Matt. I was going for the S9 until I found out that everything later than the S7 has the curved screen.

My Daughter has the S7 and it's the same size as my current S5 so that will be great.


£350 for a new one though. Almost £200 more than the new ones on eBay.

The spec look the same on the eBay ones and paypal gives excellent buyer protection.

Aren't they all originally Chinese imports Matt? Even the English ones?

Oi!! What did you edit in this?

Very good point. Imports originally intended for the Chinese market then.

Hmm... I wonder what, if any difference there is after the UK firmware update?

The annoying thing is, if the new ones were in the shops for £350 and there was no alternative I would buy one without a second thought, It's not a hefty price to pay for a phone, but because there are alternatives a can't do it without investigating.

The other confusing thing is that refurbished ones are always more expensive that the new eBay ones, and used ones on the shops are dearer still.

A note for Tony.

The S7 is very similar to our phone but with twice the memory.

Yeah, I'm really struggling for memory. And so is my 'phone.

I've got that "You're dangerously low on space" notification again.

I want to add the "Slack" App, but I'm scared it will have too many MB things, & tip the whole thing over the edge. I need the phone to work to be able to log in to my Laptop. No working phone means I can't get on my Laptop.

Mike Postle never has this problem.  

A temporary solution might be to install an SD card and move all your photos to that or to download them to your laptop and then delete them from your phone.

Off to see what Slack App is.

BTW- I'm almost ready to pull the trigger on the 'Pristine' Music Magpie S7

It is in my world.

Yeah, but you know what I mean. Most people renew their phone with their contract and end up paying eight or nine hundred quid for it.

My current phone cost ~£300 and is 5 years old. That's £60 a year.

I'm sure that all makes perfect sense Tom, but I fear it's way beyond my skillset. I have a zillion photos on my phone, many of them several times (originals in Gallery, many in "Photo & Picture Resizer" (which don't seem to be delete-able) plus they seem to be in google something too since I opened a google e-mail account recently. I've got photos coming out of my ears, but still can't easily find the ones I want.

Is Gill useless with technology too, or are you too busy canoodling to care?

What about all those kids that you work with, can they help or do you hide your tech lexia from them?

I was going to ask why you're using your phone as a storage device - but it seems obvious now that it's not particularly out of choice :D

Can you connect your phone to a computer?
Can you browse your phone files and folders from your computer when you do this?

Once you get to that stage it's just the same as moving things on your computer, you might just need to dig a bit to work out where the photo's are all stored.

I think you lost him at "Can you"

I think so, yes. I can charge my phone via the UB thing from my laptop.

I'm a little tied up for the next few hours, but I'll try that later. I can't bring myself to delete all my photos, but I've got so many of them.

My Messages & Phone Contacts don't work any more either. I have about 4,600 of them, going back to my first ever Mobile Phone, 30 (?) years ago.  Think I have a hoarding habit.

PS - thank you, & best regards to S W.