Smartphones

Yea but let's not forget that these companies have been making huge gains every step of the way. Verizon is now leasing the towers that the customers (and taxpayers) have helped to build tootherwireless companies all the while charging more money for less data (relative to content).

At least in the case of Verizon, they are involved in the line bullshit as well.

Thanks for the replies. Just checked my Fi status and it says 2-3 weeks. Going to order the 5X which should be a major upgrade from my iphone 4s. What cases do you guys use or going to use?

My wife got a tudia? I think it was off Amazon. She loves the polycarbonate care with rubber lining. Her s3 is still mint despite many falls.

Gator_sl said:

What cases do you guys use or going to use?

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I'm getting a 6P, but I think I'm going bareback.

Doing a bit more research on FI. Still likely going to switch once I get deadwood off my plan but there are complications if you use Google Voice. Make sure you fully investigate that.

I use GV for OBI at home and forward to all my phones. So GV is my primary number. I switched many years ago when the service first started up and used it for free texting and calls to canada etc.. So I'm pretty invested in the number and wouldn't like it to go away.

I realize though that if I port that number to FI, FI is essentially google voice but without the old web interface. That means that there is no call blocking or spamming numbers that bug you. That also means that OBI won't work.

As such I'm going to have to decide how I want to port my numbers and move them. I can move my current GV number to another gmail account. The only thing is that it will NOT forward to FI numbers just like it won't forward to other GV numbers now. So that sucks. I can move my line to ring.to which is a service more or less exactly like GV. In fact I think GV uses them for their back end if I'm not mistaken. This is free, which is surprising.

I can move my GV number to FI which means I'll lose OBI. I can always get another number for OBI but its a PIA getting a new home number setup and I don't want to give out more than one number. I also lose calls that would normally go to mobile and home at the same time which would then only ring mobile. So meh.

I'm leaning towards giving Ringto.com a shot. No complaints on reddit. I can keep everything working like it is now and if I want I can change numbers, forward as I do now, control calls as I do now and also port my number out if I don't like it.

Intrinsic_sl said:

Most carriers these days don't own their own towers. Crown Castle, Pinnacle, American Tower, etc own those assets and lease space to multiple carriers, public safety users, private companies, etc... Carriers got out of the tower leasing business. AT&T sold off their stuff for a couple billion and Verizon I think recently did the same. I've worked with a couple of tower management companies and smaller local companies to build towers in rural areas, and they'll build them at a loss almost because they know multiple carriers will turn around and pay good money for 30 year leases to increase their mobile footprint.

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When the smaller companies say "we use XYZ towers" its not literal, they are actually leasing spectrum- the big ol Verizon antenna spitting out whatever CDMA and LTE stuff it does- Metro or Trackphone whatever lease out x% of that same stuff- lets say Verizon dish is spitting out 100 whatever's, - it will lease out 10 of that to Metro... usually there is QOS stuff, like metro customers can ride as much as they want of the pipe but if for whatever reason all 100 of 100 whatever's is used up, and a Verizon customer comes online to use some of that 100, and there are 25 metro users, one of those metro users is getting booted for priority of the Verizon customer. Those companies do not have their own antennas on a "Verizon" tower.

As for the ACTUALL tower, all companies do own some, most are indeed leased- where I work has a big tower outside and we just signed with Verizon- a 3rd party tower company came out and installed the antenna while a Verizon guy watched...oopse was that an osprey nest that just got tossed off the top of the tower?

And yes, many towers in terms of building, placement and sometimes fiber link is provided/subsidized etc. by government in places where companies would not normally build for $ reasons.

Full Nexus 5X/6P reviews are starting to roll in:

Nexus 6P review: Google gets better at big phones

PROS
Snappy performance
Android 6.0 is a worthy update
Solid battery life
Fingerprint sensor is excellent

CONS
Design is a little drab
Overly sensitive power button
Improved camera still outclassed by its rivals

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Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P review: The true flagships of the Android ecosystem | Ars Technica

Good
Always-on "Ok Google" voice commands are some of the best features we've seen added to a smartphone, and these are two of the few devices that support them.
Ambient display allows you to see a notification without having to unlock or touch the phone.
An excellent camera. That's right, a Nexus camera is finally good.
Stock Android's material design means you'll have a software package that is consistent with the rest of the Android ecosystem.
The most secure Android phones. Three years of fast monthly security updates means that while the rest of the Android ecosystem is vulnerable, these devices should be OK.
The fastest, most reliable OS updates mean you'll get new features faster than anyone else and (hopefully) won't be abandoned by your OEM.
The fingerprint reader is fast and accurate, and the new APIs in Marshmallow mean apps should support it soon.

Bad
Large top and bottom bezels feel like a step backward for phone design.
Anorexic 8mm and 7.5mm bodies could have been expanded to fit more battery. The thinness war is dumb.
The rear-mounted fingerprint sensor won't work out for everyone.

Ugly
No Qualcomm quick charging or wireless charging. If you invested in either of these power standards, you're out of luck.

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Good to hear on the 5X. I ordered one for my wife. Should have some hands on with it whenever they decide to ship it.

My iPhone is dying and I'm really sick of Apple. Looks like the 5X is the way to go for me.

Chanur_sl said:

After seeing the 5x release I am glad I went with the Moto.

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If you are talking about the MotoX Pure, I don't think comparing it to the 5x is quite apples-to-apples. A more apt comparison would be to the 6P, and I'd give the edge to the 6P personally but each one makes trade-offs in areas that will come down to the end-users preferences on what makes it better for them. If you are talking Moto-G I don't see where anyone would think the Moto-G was better than the 5x in any area other than price and expandable memory.

FWIW if price isn't a factor at all, seems like the Note 5 is outperforming everything else in the phablet world benchmark-wise.

Kedwyn_sl said:

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Wow. That's serious business if accurate.

If you ARE looking for alternatives to the 5X, the HTC One A9 looks promising as well. Promises Android updates within 15 days of Nexus releases, expandable storage, 13mp(or 12?) camera with (dundundun!) OIS and some other advanced photography features, all inside a very iPhone-esque form factor. Does have a bit smaller screen and theoretically an undersized battery compared to the 5x...

Only runs $20 more than a 5x*edit: price may be a possible limited time pre-order special.

HTC One A9 hands-on: A midrange smartphone that feels like a flagship | Ars Technica

opiate82_sl said:

If you ARE looking for alternatives to the 5X, the HTC One A9 looks promising as well. Promises Android updates within 15 days of Nexus releases, expandable storage, 13mp(or 12?) camera with (dundundun!) OIS and some other advanced photography features, all inside a very iPhone-esque form factor. Does have a bit smaller screen and theoretically an undersized battery compared to the 5x...

Only runs $20 more than a 5x*edit: price may be a possible limited time pre-order special.

HTC One A9 hands-on: A midrange smartphone that feels like a flagship | Ars Technica

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Yeah if I was going back Android, I would probably get this phone. Even with the snapdragon 617. I really wanna see what the battery life is like and what the camera can do.

opiate82_sl said:

Full Nexus 5X/6P reviews are starting to roll in:
CONS
Design is a little drab
Overly sensitive power button
Improved camera still outclassed by its rivals

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I haven't read any other reviews but one of the comments on the 6P review lead me to this...

Mobile rating - DxOMark

Which has the 6P in only 3rd behind the Sony Xperia Z5 and Samsung S6 Edge... so I'd take Engadget's (who is know to be pretty fucking biased) word with a grain of salt on that one.

I'm not a fan of 48 hour reviews. Between the videos they shoot for the piece, writing up the actual text portion of the review and getting it all ready for consumption that leaves not a ton of time actually testing devices.