We didn't have an Android phone thread because I posted phone stuff into the Android tablet thread because Android phones are just little (usually) tablets with telephony capability. In fact, I've accumulated several quite useful aPods over the years, snapping up unlocked Android phone bargains at electronics liquidators, and using them without SIM cards.

So my original Motorola Atrix (I'd acquired it soon after Cam's Hamilton GTXP) got to where its touch screen was flakey. Certain areas predictably registered beside and never at the correct location. That was about last December, exactly two years into the three year contract. I'd actually bought a prepaid (for same provider) Samsung Galaxy Discover a few weeks before, for aPod experimentation, before the flakiness, so I just switched the SIM card. Seemed to work OK, although mobile would seem to be unrecoverable after about a day or so, and seemed to need a reboot to fix. And all network use was pretty slow. The Galaxy Discover is a small cheap version to allow consumers to discover they need something better. But it is a very nice size.

But I'd taken to haunting the displays at stores, trying to decide between an S4 and S4 Mini. Got talked last weekend into an S4 for the cost of my buyout plus only a small increment for a two-year contract on a customer loyalty plan.

I was surprised he couldn't use my old SIM, as I learned I had a Mini SIM, whereas the S4 needs a Micro.



(Someone pointed out to me that that so-called "Standard SIM" in the big blue diagram is in fact just a credit card; the "Normal SIM" in the other set of diagrams is the "Mini").

SIMs being free to retailers and customers, they at the store didn't offer to trim my old one, although that is possible.

A scam^H^H^H^Hservice Bell Canada is currently pushing is Push to Talk. "Just say DISABLE". Might be something reasonable for high-volume business users or something, but as an ordinary consumer the advantages seem to be more for the carrier than the consumer. Trouble is, until disabled, the PTT app tends to send bizarre notifications soliciting you to sign up. Almost seems like malware. Glad the web told me how to DISABLE it.

The S4 certainly seems a bit more fragile in a number of ways than the old Atrix. And I'm still thinking "Perhaps I should have gone with the Mini". But you lose a few toys--IR transmitter at least--with the Mini. Display resolution would have been adequate (better than my old Atrix), whereas the Discover had noticeably bad resolution; web pages with tables would occasionally lose random horizontal dividers! Oh well, the Discover will remain a fun aPod, and perhaps I'll even try to root it.

Another easily available prepaid I'd considered co-opting was the Huawei Ascend Y300. Around last Christmas when I'd got the Discover you'd see them for about $50 prepaid. But at $100 prepaid they still seem to get snapped up and was never there if I felt in the mood to really buy one. It looks thick compared to modern phones, but as I compare my Atrix to the new Galaxy, I think the thickness causes little inconvenience, and would seem to represent extra robustness.