From the Dark Side
by Tiny Ruisch
After almost two and a half years, it is time for me to start thinking about replacing my Moto X Pure smart phone. I’ve finally broken the habit of saying “Pocket PC”. I’m also thinking of breaking the habit of getting a high end phone this time.
I don’t use my phone the same way that I did five or six years ago. You may remember that back in November 2013, I gave a presentation to the club on how to use your cell phone as a computer. I attached a powered USB hub to my phone and installed a full sized keyboard, mouse, storage drive, etc. I then demonstrated many common tasks like word and photo editing, web browsing, playing games and more.
In 2018, I use my phone much differently. My number one use is listening to audio books and music. This is followed closely by playing games. I’m pretty picky about which games. I usually only have about eight of them installed. I also use my phone to read magazines (about 20 a month) that I’ve checked out from the library. I don’t read too many books on my phone as I’ve found it easier to use my tablet for that task. I don’t know why I’ve never purchased a dedicated e‑reader.
I’m in the advanced looking stage. I really like my Motorola (Lenovo) phone, but they were usually pretty slow with their monthly security updates. They were often two or three months behind. My machine was recently updated to Nougat 7.0 with an Android security patch of October 1, 2017. I don’t expect that I will receive any more “official” updates.
I would like to get the Google phone, but I can’t justify spending a thousand dollars or more. The same goes for Apple products. People that know me can tell you why Sony is off any list of products I am buying. I used to buy Samsung phones. They have always made good products with great specifications, but they got to the point where there was so much “junk” software installed that I had to spend hours rooting the phone and getting into a usable (for me) status.
I’ve looked at One Plus phones but they don’t work with all of the Sprint bands. Even if it was a usable phone for me, I have pretty much concluded that they are neither a responsible or reliable company. They have done a lot of dubious things since their first phone release. Do you remember when they first started selling the phone? It was by reservation only and if you were female and sent a picture, you went to the front of the line. Then there was the take a video of smashing your old phone. Most recently, they lost a lot of credit card numbers.
It is looking more and more like I’m going to try and get another year out of my Moto X Pure. I have started to notice that the battery needs charging more often. Of course, it is not easily replaceable. Maybe by then manufacturers won’t be modifying the Android OS. Isn’t technology fun?
Thanks for reading.