Smart Phone Recommendation

[BigEasyStache]

Currently, my wife and I both have Galaxy S6 Edges.  Hers is fine but I destroyed the glass on mine.  Amazingly, I can still use it but at any moment I fear a shard will come out and then it's over.

Would like to stay with Samsung since we've had such good luck/service other than my dropping mine on the concrete.

Anyone got any good/bad/ugly things to say about some of the new Samsung smartphones?

FWIW, I have AT&T and am can upgrade at a heavy discount if we renew our service.

[Daley]

Have you tried checking with some of your myriad local cellphone repair shops? Even with the S6 Edge, replacing the screen will probably be significantly cheaper than a new phone, and far less wasteful. If you're up for the challenge, you could even replace it yourself for even less, though it's not exactly the easiest screen to replace... which is why I recommended a shop.

Also, I'd recommend not going back under contract to get a "cheap to free" phone. You're paying way more for the phone staying with AT&T postpaid and subsidizing the handsets under contract than if you took your business to an AT&T MVNO. It's cheaper to buy outright and just pay for the wireless service you actually need.

[enb123]

@Daley - with apologies to OP for slightly changing the direction of this short thread, do you have any insight re: whether keeping a phone past the point where it's being updated is safe?  I'd like to keep my iPhone going for as many years as possible, but Apple will soon drop support.  (I don't know whether this is more/less risky on an Android phone.)  My hunch is that it is safe to use past the end of support - I've never heard of anyone getting a mobile virus - but I've never found a real answer, and I use my phone for mobile banking, etc.  I would love to know what you think!

OP - Sorry, I don't have an answer for you, but I would trust Daley's opinion!

[alsoknownasDean]

If you want to stick with Samsung, see if one of the A series phones fits your needs, rather than the higher end S/Note series.

If an S6 fits the bill, maybe something like a Galaxy A31 or A51 would still be a very decent upgrade for much less.

And yeah, worth asking around for screen replacement prices, but replacing a curved AMOLED screen is likely to be expensive.

I wouldn't put too much cash into a phone that's stuck on Android 7.

[Daley]

I wouldn't put too much cash into a phone that's stuck on Android 7.

Oof, between time melting away and what have you... you're quite right. Forgot how old these things are already, and didn't realize LineageOS doesn't have anyone doing current builds for this model now.

@BigEasyStache - listen to Dean's advice... as much as I hate seeing electronic waste. This said, if you're in the market for new, going Nokia/HMD or Motorola could give you longer upgrade paths either internally or through LineageOS. And used/refurb never hurts, either.

@Daley - with apologies to OP for slightly changing the direction of this short thread, do you have any insight re: whether keeping a phone past the point where it's being updated is safe?  I'd like to keep my iPhone going for as many years as possible, but Apple will soon drop support.  (I don't know whether this is more/less risky on an Android phone.)  My hunch is that it is safe to use past the end of support - I've never heard of anyone getting a mobile virus - but I've never found a real answer, and I use my phone for mobile banking, etc.  I would love to know what you think!

I'd tell you to check for current and ongoing unpatched iOS vulnerabilites in your last stuck on build of iOS and stay until you're uncomfortable with what's been left unpatched, but CVE Details hasn't updated their iOS database since last August, and the NIST database is not structured in such a way as to let the unfamiliar access information easily. Given you're using it for banking, I would err on the side of caution and stay current... of course, if you just stop banking on the device, that reduces the risk considerably. iOS has more vulnerabilities than you realize, but out of date anything if you're doing sensitive app stuff like banking and what-have-you is not recommended. If you're just using it for phone calls, texts, emails, IM clients and farting around on forums or social media... low stakes stuff... it's not quite as big a deal, unless and until what goes unpatched becomes serious.

OP - Sorry, I don't have an answer for you, but I would trust Daley's opinion!

Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I am getting rusty.

[Syonyk]

OP: Fix your screen.  Or at least buy a $5 screen protector on eBay and attach it to your shrapnel.  Failing that, a bit of packing tape keeps the pieces in.  But a $5 tempered glass screen protector solves the problem, at least for a while.  Then, seriously, replace the screen.

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...with apologies to OP for slightly changing the direction of this short thread, do you have any insight re: whether keeping a phone past the point where it's being updated is safe?  I'd like to keep my iPhone going for as many years as possible, but Apple will soon drop support.  (I don't know whether this is more/less risky on an Android phone.)  My hunch is that it is safe to use past the end of support - I've never heard of anyone getting a mobile virus - but I've never found a real answer, and I use my phone for mobile banking, etc.  I would love to know what you think!

6S or so?

How's your financial state?  Net worth positive, net worth "hair on fire," ?

In general, my stance is that you shouldn't run a device much past end of software support.  Apple, being my devices of choice lately (because (1) Android is horrid, and (2) Apple supports them far longer than any Android OEM), will typically offer major security issue patches for 1-2 years past end of mainstream software support.

If your device falls off with iOS 15 (as mine is likely to, I've got a 6S), I would be *generally* comfortable running it 6 months past end of software support without any real concerns, would run it to a year or so with less permissions on it (this starts to get into "Do I trust it to run email and Authenticator territory?"), and beyond a year would only run it with absolutely minimal accounts.  It's a pessimal view on hardware, but that's where I sit for iOS devices.

Android?  Given their general "train wreck of security" and "don't care, buy a new phone..." view on things, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with an Android device more than a few months past end of mainline software support.  You might be able to bootloader unlock it, flash your own ROM, etc, but... damn, I hate having to do that stuff on a device.  Yeah, I can.  No, I don't like to.

My personal plan is to replace my 6S (assuming it doesn't get iOS 15 support, so it would be end of software support late 2021) sometime next year, with a 2020 SE, and ride that for another 6-8 years.  It's not far enough from optimal to bother me.

[enb123]

Thanks, @Daley and @Syonyk.  Yes, it is a 6S, and my financial state is healthy enough that I don't want a bored teenager - or a motivated pro - accessing my bank account (haha).  I appreciate both of your insights - that question has been on my mind for a very long time.

[cool7hand]

My wife and I use old iphones with Verizon. We have their 2gb data plan, are religious about using WiFi for anything but traffic, phone, and price checking when out, and we pay only $67 a month. Given that we fish all over the northeast, we value the help navigating on strange roads and the ability to call for help if we breakdown in the middle of the water. When our phones die, we'll just buy more very old iphones and again use them for years.

[Syonyk]

Yes, it is a 6S, and my financial state is healthy enough that I don't want a bored teenager - or a motivated pro - accessing my bank account (haha).  I appreciate both of your insights - that question has been on my mind for a very long time.

The risks are reasonably low for older devices, unless someone target you specifically, but... I just don't need more risk points in my life, and the reality is that spending $60/yr on a phone just doesn't impact my finances enough to get worked up about.  Obviously you can extend that out a lot and get yourself into trouble, but my plan is that come about a year from now, assuming the 6S doesn't get iOS 15, I'll find a refurb 2020 SE (my wife has one and it's perfectly boring in all the right ways, she got sick of Android devices dying every few years) and run that until the end of its service life.  I've spent more time and mental energy waffling on how to do things once my 6S gets to end of life than reasonable, and I need to learn that at some point, which I'm probably long past, "Spending a week waffling and researching and pondering and such" is silly, just pick an option and go with it, because the delta between options just isn't that great.

When our phones die, we'll just buy more very old iphones and again use them for years.

As long as you don't keep financial credentials or email credentials on the devices, that should be fine.  Your "main email account" is pretty much the core of a modern life, in terms of allowing password resets and such, so keeping that secure is well worth the slight hassles.  I have two factor auth on mine, which means that a phone with access is a quite privileged device in my life.

[dang1]

I’m still very happy with my Galaxy S9 Plus, bought used, of course, off eBay about a year and a half ago now. Working great, last two weeks used 40 GB of data. I'm currently at Battle Pass Tier 51 in Call of Duty Mobile, lol

[HPstache]

Galaxy S8 with an edge protector.  That's what I have currently with no complaints.

[dang1]

Galaxy S8 with an edge protector.  That's what I have currently with no complaints.

Galaxy S8 works great too- my wife uses one. MIL got one couple of month ago, bought used, of course, off eBay. funny- MIL rejects other phones "because it's not a Samsung"

[Syonyk]

I’m still very happy with my Galaxy S9 Plus, bought used, of course, off eBay about a year and a half ago now. Working great, last two weeks used 40 GB of data. I'm currently at Battle Pass Tier 51 in Call of Duty Mobile, lol

... wtf?  40GB?  In two weeks?  I use a fraction of that in a year.