Author Topic: How old is your phone?  (Read 22410 times)

FamilyGuy

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How old is your phone?
« on: June 16, 2017, 09:05:50 AM »
My S5 had issues with mic not working, so callers won't hear me unless I switch to speaker mode or use headset.
It was fun to take every call in speaker mode :) I was not convinced to change the phone or even repair it for this petty little issue.
I try to find a corner to attend the phone and this is happening for last few months. This drove my friend crazy. He never expects a phone to last for more than 2 years and wanted to upgrade to the latest...he is having apple latest version I think.

How old is your phone? And what issues you're facing with it but not convinced to get a new one?

birdman2003

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2017, 09:11:41 AM »
3 years old.  I usually upgrade every 4 years.

SnackDog

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2017, 09:19:26 AM »
My old company iPhone 5 battery was getting so weak it could only make it a few hours.  I asked the IT dept for a replacement and they somehow found a NIB iPhone 5, even though they haven't been in production for ages.  That was disappointing but fixed the battery problem.

Cwadda

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2017, 09:21:21 AM »
Just got an iPhone SE after having the same iPhone 5 for four years. Paid $150 cash for the new one and can still use my Airvoice plan!

marielle

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2017, 09:24:35 AM »
Nexus 6P.
15 months old but I bought used. The battery dies early, as high as 45%. It pretty much stays glued to a charger. If it becomes a serious issue, a $30 powerbank is cheaper than a new phone.

I keep phones way longer than I probably should... My last phone had SO many problems. Most of the time the keyboard would not pop up which was incredibly frustrating. Plus a cracked screen and overall slowness.

Car Jack

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2017, 09:36:35 AM »
5+ year old iPhone 4S.  I was given it as a company phone in my last job and when I left, IT laughed when I asked if I could buy it....so they just gave it to me.  My understanding is that this is the last iPhone that doesn't self-screw-itself-up.  No problems with anything.  Memory fill up so it doesn't work?  Nope.  Battery issues?  Nope.  I'm on it (conference call listening now) and it's fine.  I plan to upgrade it....uh....well.....never.  I am not a gadget collector.  My son has one of these as his backup.  If I ever need to replace it, I'll take that one or find another 4S.

FamilyGuy

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2017, 09:49:36 AM »
Nexus 6P.
15 months old but I bought used. The battery dies early, as high as 45%. It pretty much stays glued to a charger. If it becomes a serious issue, a $30 powerbank is cheaper than a new phone.

I keep phones way longer than I probably should... My last phone had SO many problems. Most of the time the keyboard would not pop up which was incredibly frustrating. Plus a cracked screen and overall slowness.


Smart power bank idea. But a new battery won't help? I thought it would be less than power bank.

marielle

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #7 on: June 16, 2017, 09:56:30 AM »
Nexus 6P.
15 months old but I bought used. The battery dies early, as high as 45%. It pretty much stays glued to a charger. If it becomes a serious issue, a $30 powerbank is cheaper than a new phone.

I keep phones way longer than I probably should... My last phone had SO many problems. Most of the time the keyboard would not pop up which was incredibly frustrating. Plus a cracked screen and overall slowness.


Smart power bank idea. But a new battery won't help? I thought it would be less than power bank.

Every Nexus phone is having this problem, and Google is being sued over it supposedly. I guess a battery replacement is possible, but I'd have to open the entire phone.

BrandNewPapa

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #8 on: June 16, 2017, 10:44:51 AM »
You'd have better luck with a battery case.

I have a Nexus 5X, bought it new about 1 year ago. The design is several years old at this point.

If it were up to me I'd still be using my LG G3, it was a great phone until the display stopped working after about 2.5 years.

nouveauRiche

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #9 on: June 16, 2017, 10:55:18 AM »
iPhone 4 from December 2011.

A couple of times recently I have seen the volume go all the way up when no one was touching the phone.  Otherwise, no issues (but I'm not picky).

DH has an iPhone 5 (something).  The battery started swelling & Apple gave him a new (? refurbished?) one.


Edited to add:  I've been asked why my phone is "so small" by a curious 7-year old.  I told him it was an antique.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2017, 12:03:47 PM by nouveauRiche »

Ozymandiaz

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #10 on: June 16, 2017, 12:22:17 PM »
Which phone? I've got a CPAA ("cheap phone acquisition addiction") problem and now have three smartphones that are all about a year old. They were all under a hundred bucks. I need to stop taking advantage of deals, and stop thinking that I could use yet another backup/emergency phone. LOL.
Seriously though, I don't understand people who pay a lot for phones, or need to keep "upgrading" every time the latest and greatest new model is released. As with cars, that's an easy way to stay poor. But if your phone isn't working or the battery runs out too fast now, there are lots of deals on cheap smart phones (think Android not Apple), as well as low cost or free service. If you're looking to save on your cell phone service, read this FreedomPop sim review. It takes a little of work, but if you get a free Google Voice number and use Hangouts, all you need is cellular data when you're not on wifi. And FreedomPop gives you about 700mb of free AT&T LTE data per month. Again, you need to due a little bit of research and pay attention, but it's really not that hard to get the free service. Couple that with a cheap but good smart phone, and save more money for the truly important things in life, like good beer.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2017, 06:07:04 PM by Ozymandiaz »

fuzzy math

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #11 on: June 16, 2017, 08:34:08 PM »
Nov of last year - scored the "free after $120 service rebate" from Republic Huawei phone. Before that I was rocking a Moto E 2nd gen. What a terrible phone that was...
Before that an IPhone 4...

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #12 on: June 16, 2017, 08:43:00 PM »
Couple of years. It came free with the plan. No idea what kind it is, but it does get the internet and all that. I could upgrade for free.

Step37

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #13 on: June 16, 2017, 09:25:54 PM »
iPhone 5s that I purchased used 16 months ago for $250 - I was happy with my previous phone, a BlackBerry Q10 that was paid for by my employer at the time of getting it, but it was incompatible with the cheap (for Canada) carrier I wanted to switch to. The plan savings alone is $50-60/month, plus I was actually (amazingly!) able to sell the BB for $120, so it's been a very good move.

I will probably look at upgrading to a 6s or 6s Plus once the iPhone 8 comes out . . . This one should still have some value and I will sort of be keeping up with the planned obsolescence. Although part of me thinks I should not bother until it becomes an issue. This phone has given me zero trouble.

nara

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #14 on: June 17, 2017, 09:13:09 PM »
3+ year old Iphone 6. However, my husband and I both got brand new replacement Iphones from the Apple store 2 years ago. He had taken his underwater with a lifeproof case that leaked and so the phone was water damaged--but Apple replaced it with a brand new one because they said there was something faulty in the phone anyway(????!) And I was having some minor but annoying problems (screen freezing) and went to the Apple store to see if they could fix it and they just offered to give me a new one. I'm thinking I might make a trip there again soon!

Bateaux

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #15 on: June 18, 2017, 07:42:10 PM »
Samsung S4.  You can change the battery to a spare and expand memory in ablut a minute.

Gone_Hiking

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #16 on: June 18, 2017, 09:39:01 PM »
I have a flip phone.  Bought it seven or eight years ago.  By now people who talk on their phones are ignored by the market.  It's not necessarily a bad place to be.

alsoknownasDean

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #17 on: June 19, 2017, 04:16:58 AM »
I've got a cheap ($99) Huawei smartphone that I bought in October at the supermarket. It replaced an LG G3 that died. I'm not buying another LG.

Unfortunately I've got the 'I wants' for a new phone (currently I want the Moto G5 Plus) because I think I went a little too cheap with this one. It'd be OK if I could put more apps on the SD card, but unfortunately when I've only got 4GB available for apps, it fills up fast.

katekat

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #18 on: June 19, 2017, 04:31:03 AM »
I have an iPhone 4S that I got new 3.5 years ago. It works great, had no real problems so far (although gone through a couple of chargers in that time) -- the battery life has decreased a little but not so much that it's causing problems for my lifestyle yet. Hoping I can keep it at least another year, but we'll see.

Only regret is that I bought the 8GB and I think I should have bought the bigger one, managing my music & photos & audiobooks and having to take things on and off it all the time is annoying.

marielle

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #19 on: June 19, 2017, 06:06:25 AM »
I've got a cheap ($99) Huawei smartphone that I bought in October at the supermarket. It replaced an LG G3 that died. I'm not buying another LG.

Unfortunately I've got the 'I wants' for a new phone (currently I want the Moto G5 Plus) because I think I went a little too cheap with this one. It'd be OK if I could put more apps on the SD card, but unfortunately when I've only got 4GB available for apps, it fills up fast.

You could root the phone so that you can move more apps to the SD card. It will let you move apps that you normally aren't able to. At least, that's how it used to work. It's not too difficult, I used to root all the time in high school when smart phones just came out and were still awful/slow. Overclocking made them usable.

Rosy

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #20 on: June 19, 2017, 05:24:38 PM »
LG Flex - love that thing:)! No issues at all.

Picked it up new three years ago, just after they announced an upgrade for that model.
We change about every five years or so.

FamilyGuy

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #21 on: June 20, 2017, 01:38:27 PM »
Samsung S4.  You can change the battery to a spare and expand memory in ablut a minute.

Flexibility!

FamilyGuy

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #22 on: June 20, 2017, 02:09:23 PM »
I have an iPhone 4S that I got new 3.5 years ago. It works great, had no real problems so far (although gone through a couple of chargers in that time) -- the battery life has decreased a little but not so much that it's causing problems for my lifestyle yet. Hoping I can keep it at least another year, but we'll see.

Only regret is that I bought the 8GB and I think I should have bought the bigger one, managing my music & photos & audiobooks and having to take things on and off it all the time is annoying.
That memory thing sucks every time and it is always 100+ dollars extra for apple.

PoutineLover

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #23 on: June 20, 2017, 02:14:41 PM »
I have a 6 month old phone because my old one got stolen while on vacation (totally my fault, stupid rookie mistake). At least it only cost $87 to get a brand new one. I usually keep my phones for 2 years and get a free upgrade, it doesn't change the cost of my plan and I can usually sell the old one. Right now this new phone has a weird glitch on the screen so I want to send it in while it's still under warranty, but I've been procrastinating backing it up and bringing it in. Time to put that on my to do list!

Spork

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #24 on: June 20, 2017, 02:31:18 PM »
Mine is 6 months old because, like an asshole, I put my previous phone in the washing machine.  (I was amazed at how well the squeaky clean phone worked, but there were just enough broken annoyances that I caved and bought another $150 phone.)

ketchup

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #25 on: June 20, 2017, 02:44:34 PM »
Only seven months old, and the (lousy) phone it replaced was only just over a year old, but the one that replaced was five years old (the first Galaxy S).  Current phone should last at *least* three years.

JLee

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #26 on: June 20, 2017, 05:13:02 PM »
About 7 months (OnePlus 3T). I have a OnePlus 5 ordered for release day delivery (it was announced today).  These are holding their value ridiculously well - the cheapest 3T on Swappa is listed at $39 less than I paid for my phone new last year, so my upgrade cost should be minimal.

I do not lead a Mustachian life when it comes to my smartphone.  Work also gives me a generous subsidy and I use it heavily, so...eh.

pennyhandlebar

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #27 on: June 22, 2017, 04:07:36 AM »
My Nexus 5x was replaced under warranty, so I've only had my current one for a year (it was a refurb though, not new). I usually keep my phones for 3 years, after that the battery is hosed...and I have some gadget lust. Not sure what I'll get when this one dies now that Google has eliminated Nexus handsets. I want a 4" to 5" screen, and everything is bigger than that now!

alsoknownasDean

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #28 on: June 22, 2017, 04:16:44 AM »
I've got a cheap ($99) Huawei smartphone that I bought in October at the supermarket. It replaced an LG G3 that died. I'm not buying another LG.

Unfortunately I've got the 'I wants' for a new phone (currently I want the Moto G5 Plus) because I think I went a little too cheap with this one. It'd be OK if I could put more apps on the SD card, but unfortunately when I've only got 4GB available for apps, it fills up fast.

You could root the phone so that you can move more apps to the SD card. It will let you move apps that you normally aren't able to. At least, that's how it used to work. It's not too difficult, I used to root all the time in high school when smart phones just came out and were still awful/slow. Overclocking made them usable.

Yeah I'm not sure how to do that. I've made it usable by selectively disabling or uninstalling heavy apps and replacing with lighter alternatives where possible (including the Google app itself, Google Play Music and Chrome). I use Friendly to access Facebook instead of the Facebook apps themselves. I didn't like the idea of uninstalling the Uber app, but I've got no idea why it needed to be 180MB.

Now I've got a bit over 1GB free and I'm happy to make do for a while longer. Once I move I'll have another look at things, taking into account if I'll be spending a lot of time on public transport.

lizzzi

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #29 on: June 22, 2017, 05:25:18 AM »
Still using the iPhone 4S that I got in 2011. So far so good.

russelljohnson

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #30 on: June 22, 2017, 10:07:06 PM »
Still using my Nexus 6 from 2015 Black Friday. Paid $220. Market price right now is $140ish. Not bad for almost 2 years of use.

skip207

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #31 on: June 23, 2017, 02:08:00 AM »
I generally get 4 years or so out of a phone before something crops up.  I had a HTC desire that was great but that ran out of memory and could not update any apps or OS.
I had a Note 3 which was great and was going to last longer than normal due to user replacement battery and SD card but then I sat on it and cracked the screen.
I then wasted about £200 trying to replace the screen myself and made a right mess of it! 
So now I am on an S6 which I have probably had 12 months or so.  I also have a Gear S3 which actually reduces the need to use the actual phone quite a bit.

pancakes

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #32 on: June 23, 2017, 03:26:31 AM »
My iPhone 4 will be 7 years old in about a month.

I've run into a few problems with apps no longer supporting the os and the camera isn't nearly as good as it was out of the box. I'd like to get something with a better camera to take better quality pictures of our baby out and about but I could also always remember to pack my actual camera.

YttriumNitrate

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #33 on: June 23, 2017, 06:32:00 AM »
I've had my Samsung S3 for about 3.5 years now, but I bought it used so I'm not sure how old it actually is. For what it's worth, I have had great success buying used phones from Ting, not so much from Glyde.

SquirrelStache

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #34 on: June 23, 2017, 07:27:24 AM »
My iphone (6s) is only about 10 months old due to a toilet incident with my previous phone. My current phone is in a lifeproof case ;-)

dacalo

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #35 on: June 23, 2017, 03:04:24 PM »
It's just over 18 months old. I loved latest tech and bought a new phone every 2 years. No more. I am going to keep my iphone 6S plus as long as I can, and then buy a generation behind with cash.

JLee

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #36 on: June 26, 2017, 03:34:50 PM »
My OnePlus 5 arrived today.  It's technically released tomorrow...is it considered new, or -1 day old? :P

11ducks

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #37 on: June 28, 2017, 05:26:00 PM »
5+ year old iPhone 4S.  I was given it as a company phone in my last job and when I left, IT laughed when I asked if I could buy it....so they just gave it to me.  My understanding is that this is the last iPhone that doesn't self-screw-itself-up.  No problems with anything.  Memory fill up so it doesn't work?  Nope.  Battery issues?  Nope.  I'm on it (conference call listening now) and it's fine.  I plan to upgrade it....uh....well.....never.  I am not a gadget collector.  My son has one of these as his backup.  If I ever need to replace it, I'll take that one or find another 4S.

Ditto, 2nd best phone ever (RIP Nokia 5110). I've dropped mine in the bath twice, slammed a car door on it (Accident), and dropped it a hundred times. Hopefully it never leaves me!

freedom55

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #38 on: June 28, 2017, 05:30:45 PM »
I just upgraded my S3 to the Samsung edge, but only because it was a requirement for work and the expense is a write off.

Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk


coolistdude

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #39 on: June 28, 2017, 11:45:00 PM »
My phone is about 15 months old. It is a Moto G3 on Republic Wireless. I bought a different screen protector than usual, which was easy to put on but has taken quite a beating (no case). The screen protector has a few cracks in it, and a couple impact points. I'm literally waiting for it to fall off. I was planning on getting a new phone after 3 years, but this phone is aging better than planned so maybe 4 years is possible. I work in tech so I need a non-flip phone.

Erma

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #40 on: June 29, 2017, 12:09:00 AM »
Almost 5 years and I'm determined to keep it at least until it reaches these 5 years. It has a big scratch but since it got this, this absorbs all impact if it falls down. The battery still lasts 1 to 2 days and would be replaceable, but the apps cause problems - there is almost no space left and if I have to update one I usually have to delete the app and some other things and then reinstall the app.

Moonwaves

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #41 on: June 29, 2017, 06:49:39 AM »
I actually have two phones, as I kept my Irish phone when I moved here. It's handy to have when I'm back there but mostly, at the time anyway, it was so my brother could phone me for free (it only cost me a 79c roaming charge per call, although that has been abolished now, too). I don't actually remember when I got that phone but it's at least 11 years ago. It's a Nokia 6030 and still going strong. Needs to be charged about every two weeks if I've been using it. Normal use is one or two phone calls lasting about an hour every week.

And my second phone is my first smartphone, which I got almost three years ago, a Samsung Galaxy Mini S3. The battery life has starting getting pretty ridiculous but a friend who had a similar old phone lying in a drawer gave it to me recently so if I know I'm going to be out all day I can charge up that old phone and just take the extra battery along with me.

Roboturner

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #42 on: June 29, 2017, 02:06:07 PM »
1 Week, so I think i won this game :).

In all fairness though, my last phone (iphone) was 2.5 yrs and would have kept it going, but I switched to Google FI (can only have a Nexus or Pixel). However, I did get my pixel used off ebay (and sold the iphone), so that's worth something right?


o2bfree

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #43 on: June 29, 2017, 04:50:06 PM »
I have a flip phone.  Bought it seven or eight years ago.  By now people who talk on their phones are ignored by the market.  It's not necessarily a bad place to be.
Another flipper here. Mine's about 5 years old. I might still have my first cell phone, a little Nokia brick, if I hadn't left it on my car roof one morning.

Not a bad place to be at all. Especially cost-wise. I get pre-paid minutes and spend around $100-$150/year on phone service. Don't have to worry much about it getting stolen, and if I break it, it's only about $20 to replace.

nouveauRiche

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #44 on: June 29, 2017, 07:25:54 PM »
Mine is 6 months old because, like an asshole, I put my previous phone in the washing machine. 

Thank you for making me laugh out loud.

Alim Nassor

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #45 on: June 29, 2017, 07:53:32 PM »
Mines brand new, after killing my old phone in a salt water phone drowning.  But all I ever get is the 20 or 30 buck phone from Cricket.   I've seen nothing more expensive phones do that I think justifies the cost.  At all.

jda85

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #46 on: June 29, 2017, 07:56:05 PM »
A little over a year and a half.  Buying a new phone wasn't my fault. My previous phone was 9 years old when the battery finally died forever. They don't make new batteries for it anymore...

This is my old phone when the antenna broke off and I replaced it with a wire. It continued working for another year and a half after.

« Last Edit: June 29, 2017, 08:07:36 PM by jda85 »

11ducks

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #47 on: June 30, 2017, 12:57:39 AM »
A little over a year and a half.  Buying a new phone wasn't my fault. My previous phone was 9 years old when the battery finally died forever. They don't make new batteries for it anymore...

This is my old phone when the antenna broke off and I replaced it with a wire. It continued working for another year and a half after.

Its a little sad that our kids will never know the feeling of using a coathanger/random bit o wire as a car/tv antenna.

RobFIRE

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #48 on: June 30, 2017, 09:14:39 AM »
Moto G3, 16 GB. Got it used, have had it a few months. It's my fifth smartphone since first getting a smartphone in 2010. I have always bought them used, generally go for best midrange phone as of 12-18 months earlier, then keep the phone for 18-24 months. Newer phones still have a price premium, older ones start to have battery issues/won't get software security updates for much longer. I look after the phones and resell, so £490 total spent on the 5 and £180 back from resale, so net about £300 for 8 years, not bad compared to others who will effectively pay that per year for their iPhone/latest Samsung. The first two or three phones were each significant jumps up in terms of performance and features, now it's just incremental improvements (I don't play games on phones so don't need the highest performance etc.), the latest one I got mostly for the better camera. Each one has been cheaper than the previous, we are now in the position that you can spend £100 on a phone that to me seems to do everything 95 to 99% as well as the latest and most expensive ones (apart from gaming which is no matter to me, and while the most expensive phones do have even better cameras if I really wanted a great camera I would spend £200 on a Lumix compact camera that would beat any phone, and I'd still have spent less than half the top end phone cost). So smartphones to me have become a pretty cheap item, which is great considering that I still remember going into the computer shop in the mid-1990s and seeing the latest and greatest desktop PC on sale for £2096, the latest and greatest because it was one of the first Pentium II processors so ran at an enormous 400 MHz. Personal computer technology is probably now both 100x faster and 10x cheaper compared to just over 20 years ago, not bad!

sequoia

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Re: How old is your phone?
« Reply #49 on: July 02, 2017, 03:05:56 AM »
Nokia Windows phone. I think 7 or 8 years old. Still running fine, but battery does not last more than 24 hr. I been looking for another phone in the past year, just do not want to spend the money lol

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!