I am using a Nokia XR20, not the particular model or the brand to blame, but it seriously messed up. The phone first got a faulty screen, there were lines and marks, replaced twice at the authorized service center, then the 3rd time nightmare came !

I set the wake up alarm on the phone, and when I got back the phone from service I restored my stuff from the cloud, but it suddenly got mad and the screen kept jumping due to the "ghost touch". I reset 3 times but it was still the same, so I put it aside prepared to bring it to service again the next day. Then the next morning the alarm rang, I don't know why it still rings when the phone is off, anyway that's not the main point. There's no display during the alarm so I could not see the button to push, I tried the power button and other buttons but none can mute the alarm. After some pushing around I carelessly triggered the emergency call to 112 (no SIM) and connected to the police station ! but I couldn't drop the call, the screen was still blank... then later the phone loop booting so the system completely corrupted. Then I put the phone inside a keep warm bag with metallic coating to prevent it from calling out, that's the craziest experience I had with Android, could happen on any phone.

Wow! That's unique! I never had any issues like that before! Interesting story. Thanks for sharing.

Just confirms my determination never to own a smartphone.

Maybe you don't have to do business with MA BELL(e) ! I dropped her 20 years ago - reason: she keeps increase the price from 20$ to 40$ a month at the end of the year, then drops back to 20$ again if you complain. The cycle then start again and again. Every option (Voice Message, Call Waiting ... is an extra 7$). After 30 years as their customer I got fed up and called it quit just for the sake of my mental health.

Just as note, MA BELL (the original AT&T) no longer exists. Today's AT&T is Southwestern Bell under a recycled name (they were Cingular for a while).

But no matter what they call themselves, they will always be Southwestern Bell.

First step is to stay away from Android and Google !

I was an Android user. Now my family prefers iPhones. They seem reliable.

Frank, it's Bell (I am Canadian), just added MA as a joke.

I don't use it, but there is a such thing, as both IOS (Apple), and (Pinephone). If you want to try other types of smartphones.


https://pine64.org/devices/pinephone/

Pinephone looks like one day, it could be more promising than windows phones were so far. Windows as an OS? No thank you anymore, when I can. But windows as a phone OS? Well, that could be promising, if they go back to it. But android has everything I need for now, so it would take some kind of new trend to pull me away so far. Even if it was do it yourself open source trends.

I used Lineage on my old Pixel for a few days, then quit. The cost to give up Google (Maps, Meet ...) is too much - and there is no guaranty of a return.
I'd never do banking on line, as for privacy, to heck with that.

A lot of times, to heck with privacy too. Too many services which there's no alternative to today, exist, so until specifically FOSS or some other place with privacy in mind, runs the whole world, which (maybe someday?), to heck with it! I'm gaining a little more with linux mint, but still, I have to use android for now, and I have to use windows in some places, just not main pc, and IOS, in some places, like it or not, mac, and finally, alexa and google home. I am trying to use home assistant more, but with all those companies knowing little pieces, I can't really stop and get privacy myself. Then, for my cat's sake, I'm on camera almost all the time anyway. Privacy is something that should have just been written in the USA consititution, but now it's way too late!

Quote:

Originally Posted by des_a I don't use it, but there is a such thing, as both IOS (Apple), and (Pinephone). If you want to try other types of smartphones.

Yes I know about the "Pine" thing, and I want to get the Pinebook Pro to replace my Thinkpad, Pinetab 2 to replace my Android tablet, and Pinephone Pro to replace my Nokia... My new wanted item is the less known "uConsole", it's almost perfect for me to replace a tablet and a phone, it has wifi and cellular. The above devices are not quite ready for the general users yet, they are for developers that are willing to deal with bugs and design flaws. The problem to delay my decision to jump ship was not to use a different OS, but can I live out of the Google ecosystem.

I was a stubborn user unwilling to use Google contacts when I first used their smartphone, so I backup the contacts offline and import them to new phone and tablet, but sometimes I will mix up so that the two devices are not in sync., not really a big problem though. Then later I found the convenience of Google Maps, which keeps track of my whereabouts, to remind me how to get to a place. And later I found the convenience of Apps, many services are using either iPhone apps or Android apps, much easier than using the web…. I can live with Linux and I already cut off from MS windows for many years, but it is quite hard to live without Google just to be frank. First problem I need to solve when I get a Pine device is how to keep using the Android apps that I relied on, such as to book tickets and pay bills…etc.

Btw, some people want to stay away from smartphones bcoz they worry about tracking, and yes smartphones track a lot, your everyday move is recorded, and do you trust Google will clean your trash after 30days and remove the data, I do not ! If you are one of them please listen to this, all kinds of cellular phone smart or dumb tracks, once you turn on your phone the exchange/carrier will know your position, 5G tracks more precisely than 4G due to the close proximity of the cell towers, that’s how cellular phone works, without this tracking the system won’t work, please Google for more info. about how cellular phones work. I spent some time working in telephone exchange although not in the cell phone section I still know something, and I’ve background in radio communications so you can trust me on that.

So that I’ve to accept the fact that Google or Apple tracks me, but I can’t live completely off grid, I just wanted something to work as promised to make my day easier !

I've had to accept the fact too, that I can't completely go without Microsoft either. I can reduce it, but NOT eliminate it. I hate it though!

Right, but to me, to part me MS is much more easier than to part with Google ! I was so sick and tired with MS, simply put, it done a lot of things I did not ask for and slow down the PC, according to my experience, Win7 was the last best version to use. On the other hand, Linux is not so 'automatic' as MS, it do not 'overdo' things, you have to tell it what exactly you wanted it to do, so that it will take some times for newbies to get use to it.

I haven't had a crazy experience with Android, but it hasn't been the best lately. Few months ago, I was happily running Android 11 on my OnePlus 8T. I think OxygenOS 11 was the last true version before the ColorOS merge.

I didn't really want to update to A13/OOS13 on this phone. Seems on North American models, Google Play Services handles the updates, and forced it upon me even after refusing the updates. I reboot my phone one night and I'm suddenly on OOS13.

Now I have to re-root the phone. The apps aren't working because they all need to re-request permissions. Some things I had setup were specific to A11, so now I have to fix/replace those things. The newer versions of OOS are also missing features of the old OOS. Notifications are all messed up. I felt like I had to relearn my phone.

Few weeks later, new OnePlus 12 arrives. Luckily OOS14 is very similar to OOS13, so less trouble transitioning to the new phone. But, new phone is Arm64 only. Now I have to replace a couple important 32 bit apps. Finding replacements was a bit frustrating.

Seems for popular/quality apps, they're moving away from sub $3 one-time purchase to $5+ monthly subscriptions. Some companies are buying up these apps and adding obnoxious ads and ridiculous subscriptions.

I had two apps bought out by the same company. They went from maybe $5 purchase to $20-$60 a month! Luckily, my "Pro Keys" were backed up and still work (for now), but no longer offered in the Play store.