One or two times of reaching into the bag and putting them on only to hear *boop* *boop* "battery low" is enough to throw them away. I don't need to babysit a $100+ product when my $9.99 traditional headphones work 100% of the time.Originally Posted by Yw-slayer
And as Swerve said, maybe they've gotten better as I haven't used them since 2015, but it would lose reception in the short distance from my ears to the pocket of my Camelbak while running. It's just so lame.
I've found phones to steadily be getting better at transmitting a strong enough signal, but the smaller earbud style of headphones just physically can't fit a large antenna, so they're already at a bit of a disadvantage. The other downside is that increasing output to make this better is just exacerbating a signal strength arms race that's part of the problem - Bluetooth isn't actually all that well designed, and it's really easy for nearby BT devices to disrupt the signal for your device. It's part of the reason why I can listen via BT earbuds upstairs in my own home while the phone is downstairs without a problem, but if I'm on a run it's now competing with people driving by and other runners all also broadcasting their BT signals in close proximity. Sometimes on my rides I can even tell which car has a really strong BT device in it because my signal drops out every time I get near it. So, while my newest phone, a Pixel 3, is *way* better about keeping the signal going vs. how my Pixel 1 was, it's only a matter of time before every other phone starts drowning it out again, and in the meantime I'm probably inflicting that on other users near me with older phones.
Things have improved since 2015. Battery life, perhaps a bit too. I'm more concerned about sound quality myself, which has also improved since then.
That could be the difference to our approaches. Sound quality is very low on my list of priorities. I just ripped the rear deck speakers out of my car and threw them away this weekend as they're blown. I did not replace them.
90% of my listening is podcasts. The residual use is listening to music loud enough while I'm running that I can't hear my own breathing and footfalls. It's a very utilitarian approach.
I think, unless I destroy my S7, I'll just keep it as long as I can. Deactivate the cellular service when I upgrade but so long as I can access Google Play Music over wifi I can still use it to run with. Annoying having to manage multiple devices, though.
So the S10+ reached $300 off initial price, and my S9+ has passed the threshold at which I can do an upgrade on AT&T Next. Monthly payments slightly more due to higher initial price, but only a couple bucks. My S9+'s battery life was just awful since around the Pie upgrade, so that's the biggest reason I wanted to upgrade. So far I've got mixed feelings.
I actually thought about returning it because I thought I was having serious data speed issues, but I think it might be AT&T, not the phone, despite the issue happening in three cities (I was travelling from FL to ND yesterday). I tried putting the SIM in my S9+ to check, and same slow speeds here in Bismarck. I'll have to check next time I'm visiting my dad. I always get 50+ Mbps there.
Cons:
Fingerprint Scanner. I really don't like the in-screen one. I LOVE the one from the S9. It was in the perfect position, worked first time every time I was even close to touching it properly, probably overall success rate of more than 90% on first try. And the gestures were really helpful to bring down the notification drawer. New in screen one is in a worse place, not even comfortable for my thumb when holding, too low. Only upside is being able to unlock when on a table, but I could still use pattern just as easy, if not easier that way. Success rate is down to probably 50% (they couldn't put a small image or something on the always on display so I touch it in the right place?). It's slow (can't turn off stupid animation?!). And no more gestures with my fingers on the back (have to reach all the way to top, boo).
Selfie cam hole (oblong for the S10+'s dual camera). Not as bad as I thought, but it does make the screen seem smaller, since the top 1/4 inch is kinda uselss. Also the icons fill up the smaller horizontal space quicker. They might as well stack them with all the wasted vertical space. Also, didn't realize there's no more front LED for notifications/battery status. Boo again, but I guess not a huge deal.
Power button has been raised up on the side, making it slightly more awkward to use.
Pluses:
Power Share. This is a huge thing for me. I'm on the road a lot, and I no longer have to travel with the stupid dock and cable for my watch.
The Cameras. They seem improved, and I love the new wide angle lenses.
Seems snappy, but my S9+ was actually still performing really well aside from the battery life.
The screen is pretty amazing. I don't know if it's settings or what, but it seems a lot better than the S9+. Adaptive brightness is too bright though, so I think it's wasting battery.
Speaking of the battery, it hasn't seemed amazing, but they never do right at first. I think they do some learning/breaking in. It's got almost 20% more capacity, so it better impress. And hopefully it won't start to suck after a 8-12 months, but every Samsung has so far... Still a huge improvement over my S9+ that was lucky to get 2 hours screen-on time.
If they could have just kept the bezel and fingerprint scanner from the S9+ it would be perfect.
I thoguht about OnePlus 7 Pro, but no AT&T Next availability, no SD card, no IP rating (though it apparently is protected), no headphone jack (starting to be okay with this) made me go Samsung again, once the price was about even. Though I'm still kinda thinking I should have given it a chance.
FWIW, the OnePlus6T's in-screen fingerprint reader isn't as fast or accurate as the bezel mounted fingerprint readers on the OP3T and OP5 that I had. Those were excellent.
OnePlus phones have had water resistance since at least the OP6, but they claim that they don't want to pay for the IP certification and pass the costs to the consumer.
The OP6T USB-C to headphone jack adapter that was included with my phone was terrible. I replaced it with some random eBay adapter that doesn't have audio quality issues.
Got the wife an S10e as the XZ Compact was acting up (couldn't detect or use earphones plugged into it). Plus the screen protector was going nuts and, well, it's looking a bit tired now.
Is it worth upgrading an OG Pixel XL to the 3A XL?
If your battery is now an issue and a hard reboot won't fix any slowdown problems you may be experiencing, then maybe. If not, you're going to get most if not all of the software improvements, and the hardware isn't incredibly improved. At this point I'm thinking of keeping mine until the Pixel 4 or even 5. The Sony Xperia 1 is a temptation, though. If I didn't already have the headphones that were part of the pre-order bonus, I'd have ordered one already.
Get that weak shit off my track
I can say it's absolutely worth it to go to a Pixel 3 XL, but not sure about a 3a.
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