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The Mega Technology Thread - Happy 3rd Birthday!


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On 10/8/2022 at 3:07 PM, Hawkingbird said:

I thought about getting the watch but the battery lasting 24 hours is a huge deal breaker. I'll stick with galaxy watches

 

My thing is that the Pixel Watch doesn't auto track workouts. I currently use a Garmin day-to-day for the feature set, but Google locking the vast majority of the watch's features behind Fitbit Premium is some what of a deal breaker for me. I personally would have liked to have seen Google offer a year's worth of Fitbit Premium, but I guess I cannot be choosy; as the smart watches available on Android are good. Not great, not terrific; but a solid meh.

 

Bored Married With Children GIF

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22 minutes ago, YourFavGrandpa said:

 

My thing is that the Pixel Watch doesn't auto track workouts. I currently use a Garmin day-to-day for the feature set, but Google locking the vast majority of the watch's features behind Fitbit Premium is some what of a deal breaker for me. I personally would have liked to have seen Google offer a year's worth of Fitbit Premium, but I guess I cannot be choosy; as the smart watches available on Android are good. Not great, not terrific; but a solid meh.

 

Bored Married With Children GIF

Hands on impressions of the pixel watch pretty state it's a Google branded Fitbit. I've never used a Fitbit watch but I know they go for less than the pixel. Given some of the dates tech in the watch it doesn't sound like a great buy.

 

2 minutes ago, Darc_Requiem said:

Words cannot describe how much I hated my Google Pixel 6. I literally bought a refurbished version of my old phone and deactivated it.

My current phone is the pixel 6 pro. I like the phone well enough despite the flaws. I'm definitely not buying first gen again.

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6 minutes ago, Hawkingbird said:

My current phone is the pixel 6 pro. I like the phone well enough despite the flaws. I'm definitely not buying first gen again.

I could deal with the worse battery life because of the more compact size but the constant need voice activation for everything drove me nuts. Even turning the phone off was unnecessarily complicated.

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Just now, Darc_Requiem said:

I could deal with the worse battery life because of the more compact size but the constant need voice activation for everything drove me nuts. Even turning the phone off was unnecessarily complicated.

I never had those issues. My problems are weak signal strength, double tap to wake up not working half the time, screen flickering, and the occasional battery drain.

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24 minutes ago, Hawkingbird said:

I never had those issues. My problems are weak signal strength, double tap to wake up not working half the time, screen flickering, and the occasional battery drain.

The swipe function on mine didn't work a quarter of the time. Audio from some of my apps wouldn't work. It was one thing after another. It's the first cellphone I've gotten that I've flat out hated. I got my first cellphone in 1998. It made miss my damn Blackberry which was, until the Pixel 6, the least favorite phone I owned.

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1 hour ago, Darc_Requiem said:

The swipe function on mine didn't work a quarter of the time. Audio from some of my apps wouldn't work. It was one thing after another. It's the first cellphone I've gotten that I've flat out hated. I got my first cellphone in 1998. It made miss my damn Blackberry which was, until the Pixel 6, the least favorite phone I owned.

Every smart phone I owned has been a Google phone (I had the Nexus phones before they became pixel) and those never gave me issues. I would have stuck with OnePlus if I knew the long term problems.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Modded my Lotigetch G603 to be almost half the weight

 

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I removed the plastic around the switches, cut out the old battery area (that held 2 AA Batteries) to put in it's place a single AAA battery holder.
And remove the tension system from the Top Cover and cut what plastic I could to lower the weight. The one thing I didn't go for was drilling holes to lighten the body further and I never though that looked good. But I would consider a 3D printed cover with Hexagon shaped cutouts if I can find a good 3D Print service that isn't too expensive.

I Still need to replace the Scroll Wheel, the two click Switches and the Teflon skates on the bottom of the mouse.

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  • YourFavGrandpa changed the title to The Mega Technology Thread - Crashin Like Elon | Beware The Winds of Black Friday
On 10/12/2022 at 12:23 PM, Hawkingbird said:

Every smart phone I owned has been a Google phone (I had the Nexus phones before they became pixel) and those never gave me issues. I would have stuck with OnePlus if I knew the long term problems.

circling back to this ... 

I would love to see Xiaomi get picked up by a carrier in the States, just to see OnePlus get some competition again on the lower end of the flagship spectrum. But I honestly don't know if people are ready for the mess that's MIUI.

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4 hours ago, Darc_Requiem said:

Honestly, I miss HTC. I don't like earbuds and those were the only phones that had a decent set of speakers. I moved over to LG and they stopped making phones. So basically I'm going to be screwed when I eventually have to buy a new phone. I guess I'll just have to have a Samsung like everyone else 😑

OnePlus makes decent phones if you don't have to go Samsung. Asus phones are pretty sweet if you don't mind how ugly they look.

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On 11/7/2022 at 10:25 AM, YourFavGrandpa said:

circling back to this ... 

I would love to see Xiaomi get picked up by a carrier in the States, just to see OnePlus get some competition again on the lower end of the flagship spectrum. But I honestly don't know if people are ready for the mess that's MIUI.

OnePlus' new lower end model is just a rebranded Oppo.

 

They're already taking the Chinese phones and rebranding them -- I wish those companies would just bring their stuff over here on their own though.

 

Vivo/Oppo/Xiaomi all make some pretty great stuff.  I like the Chinese UIs too.

 

I buy all my phones unlocked on my own.  I'm not a fan of carrier financing/all the random crap carriers install.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • YourFavGrandpa changed the title to The Mega Technology Thread - The Watchening

So, I'm in the market for a new wearable (as my Venu Sq is starting to get a little dated technology-wise). Did a bit of research over the weekend, and if I actually get a smartwatch; it looks like I'm getting a Galaxy Watch 5. Otherwise, I'm buying an updated Garmin (probably the Forerunner 55). 

Originally, I had looked at Samsung, Garmin, Google, Mobvoi, and Fossil and narrowed it down to those two. I did not like the idea of factory resetting a watch to install WearOS 3 (looking at you Fossil), manufacturers who haven't given a specific timeframe for said update (Mobvoi), or first-gen products that are basically overpriced Fitbits with no auto tracking of workouts (Google).

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

So I was true to my word, and my Garmin Forerunner 55 arrived earlier this week. Here's a brief review.

Pros:
Battery life is super good to start out, 3 days of pretty much having the thing on non-stop and it's only below 75% just today.
Comes with a free compliment of training courses (using one of the courses to do my 5k training)
Watch faces are super nice, with some pretty decent free ones. 
Strava integration is super nice, and welcomed. 

Cons:
Found a bug with the emergency contact system (have my wife on there) and occasionally it doesn't sync up right. (edit 01/11/2023 - this was fixed a couple of days ago, and was user error on my part).
Dress bands are expensive, but not as expensive as the Milanese loops for Apple Watch ($80 from Garmin directly for their Milanese versus $100 from Apple for the same)
Initial time to get used to menu system on watch. I almost called 911 a couple of times completely by mistake figuring it out.
Standard stuff about responding to messages on non-WearOS device.

Solid A for the Forerunner 55, after fixing the bug with the contact system.

Edited by YourFavGrandpa
updated rating for Forerunner 55 due to user error
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  • YourFavGrandpa changed the title to The Mega Technology Thread - Where Do Phones Go When They Die?

Been super busy with life in general, to the point where I had to drop the 5k training. Have a couple technology things to brag about though.

 

1.) We upgraded our router last month from a PoS TP Link one to one of the new Eero Pro 6E models. Seems good after a month of use and outside of a bad cable initially, has been largely fine. The 6E client steering sucks on it though, as my S22 Ultra supports Wi-Fi 6E and it's super inconsistent. It is a nice thing to have though.

 

2.) Had my Anker earbuds shit the bed. Took them back to Best Buy and bought some Pixel Buds in their place. They may end up being retired though if this replacement earbuds delivery for my Galaxy Buds 2 comes through.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
On 5/1/2023 at 10:54 PM, Hawkingbird said:

 

I might get this. I want a tablet and fuck getting an iPad.

The OnePlus Pad is supposed to be really good, if what I have heard is accurate. Only bad thing I can immediately see is that they're using the charging tech from Oppo/BBK sub-branded phones; which only works as advertised if you spend the extra money on their charger plus that hideous orange/red cord! $500 bucks is a little much though for 8gb RAM/128gb of storage in a tablet form factor, at least to me it is.

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For those interested in what Google plans on offering in the (not so) near future, the I/O main keynote is in about 90 minutes from this post. I'll post the edited one later today, once it's been edited and the preshow's been edited out.

 

Edited by YourFavGrandpa
who are you, my fucking mother?
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  • YourFavGrandpa changed the title to The Mega Technology Thread - Never Buy The 1st Gen of Any Tech (This means you Pixel Fold)
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I paid off my S22 Ultra today! The last payment was super dumb ($350), but knocking $50/mo off our cellphone bill pays for itself in the long run. Planning on finishing out the year on the S22, then maybe looking at new phones next year in either March or April; as that will be the two year point of ownership.

Also, if I can help it; I'm paying cash upfront this next time for a unlocked phone.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • YourFavGrandpa changed the title to The Mega Technology Thread - Standing Idly By In The Land of Foldables
  • 2 weeks later...

So ... I gave my wife my S22 Ultra, and I reclaimed the older iPhone 12 Pro Max for myself. I also switched back to the Apple Watch from the Forerunner, and it does a lot of things better despite having a piss poor battery. I'm trying to work out a situation to where I can get a new iPhone at the holidays this year, and the 12 Pro Max will either go to my granddaughter, or it'll be traded in towards the new iPhone. I do plan on paying a substantial amount for a first device payment though, to minimize the monthly payments to T-Mo.

I also plan on upgrading the Apple watch sometime in the fall. Typically when I buy something, it's predecessor gets announced immediately.

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  • YourFavGrandpa changed the title to The Mega Technology Thread - Apple Joins The 21st Century
  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/7/2022 at 10:25 AM, YourFavGrandpa said:

circling back to this ... 

I would love to see Xiaomi get picked up by a carrier in the States, just to see OnePlus get some competition again on the lower end of the flagship spectrum. But I honestly don't know if people are ready for the mess that's MIUI.

They aren’t and it won’t happen after the Huawei fiasco. Xiaomi isn’t a bad brand, but its tie in to Chinese surveillance just isn’t something that people are gonna ignore.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 7/12/2023 at 10:57 AM, YourFavGrandpa said:

I'm trying to work out a situation to where I can get a new iPhone at the holidays this year, and the 12 Pro Max will either go to my granddaughter, or it'll be traded in towards the new iPhone. I do plan on paying a substantial amount for a first device payment though, to minimize the monthly payments to T-Mo.

I also plan on upgrading the Apple watch sometime in the fall. Typically when I buy something, it's predecessor gets announced immediately.

A update on this:

I have a 15 Pro Max on order in White Titanium, scheduled to be delivered between October 11th and November 6th. Screen protectors are in house already, and case will be ordered on Wednesday; and should be here the following week. My 12 Pro Max will be traded in.

I do also plan on getting a new Apple Watch when I go to Dallas on November 30th for a concert. Planning on trading in my Watch SE for a Ultra 2 (since it'll knock $90 off the price), but I may end up with a Series 9 to save some money.

also new JerryRigEverything video on the 15 Pro Max:

 

Edited by YourFavGrandpa
who are you, my fucking mother
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • YourFavGrandpa changed the title to The Mega Technology Thread - Happy 3rd Birthday!

A few technology things as of late:

1.) Apple TV and iPhone 15 Pro Max are here and have been used for a week or two now. Expect reviews soon(ish) on both.

2.) Planning on finally retiring the Watch SE in a couple of weeks (gonna do a trade-in on it for a new Series 9 to knock $100 off the price)
3.) I have a Kindle being delivered next week. I do not plan on a review of this.
 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/12/2023 at 12:04 AM, Hawkingbird said:

 

The main differences between Pixel 8 and 8 Pro is software locking. Both models largely have the same specs but certain features are only accessible with the pro. That's some foul shit google. 

It is some absolute BS. The 8 is a strong performer, yet this is just silly. Give it 6-8 months, it'll be on both devices. 

On 10/12/2023 at 11:27 AM, Darc_Requiem said:

Given my hatred of the Pixel 6, it's the only cellphone I've ever hated, I wouldn't be looking their way away. That said, it's straight up BS. Sounds like something Apple would pull.

The 6 was the first phone that I ever traded in (I went to the Pixel 7). The main reason was the battery was ass. The 7 was pretty solid, but I've moved up to the 8 because I still have a bit left in my shenanigans fund 🤣.

 

Now that being said, this phone feels pretty refined compared to the previous version. Also, the bonus Pixel Buds Pro were a pretty great add-on. I hated the Pixel Buds A primarily because they didn't stay in my ear. These seats a lot better. They also have some pretty "smart" features. The "Transparency" mode pipes sound from your microphone into your headset. It also has a feature where it'll detect conversations and will automatically pause your music. It's great unless you are a person who talks to yourself a lot. If That said, people are selling them on Swappa for about $100 new, which I think is a great deal. I honestly just wish that Google would create a sports model that has an ear hook. 

 

 

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I have a Apple Watch Series 9 in-house. Minus a couple of initial setup/backup quirks, it seems to be running fine. Charging it now while the World Series is on. I did not trade in my 1st Gen SE, and just plan on having it recycled when I go to Dallas on November 30th.

Edit:
I promise I'm working on reviews on the Apple TV and the 15 Pro Max.

Edited by YourFavGrandpa
who are you, my fucking mother lol
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  • 3 weeks later...

A gadget update ... 

I won a iPad Air from a local raffle that the soccer association did a couple weeks ago, and also have a pair of the new Airpods Pro (with USB-C) that I'm breaking in. I swear, I'm working on stuff; but with recent changes coming at work and the Thanksgiving holiday here stateside means I have been super busy.

I promise reviews are coming!

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  • 3 months later...

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