Random household issues -- questions asked and answered here

Maybe she was daydreaming about random household issues?

Could be.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/samsung-recalls-all-galaxy-note-7-smartphones-after-battery-explosions-1.3055409?hootPostID=427cd7de1577135eca55558ec3a1d8a4

Well, I guess I won't be getting this one.

I just got the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and was actually considering the note.

Dodged an explosion there

So what, exactly, happens when you recall *all* of a flagship smartphone? They sold a hell of a lot of them and very likely rushed them to the market to get in ahead of the iPhone 7. Can you really tell people to *not* use their phone until they get them a new battery? Do they get a "loaner"? Wonder how many people will ditch the Note and grab an iPhone (they are coming out next week, I think).

P.S. Over on another forum someone was talking about issues with buying replacement batteries from disreputable (unreliable?) Chinese vendors on eBay or aliexpress because they had theirs overheat and damage their phone while charging overnight *under their pillow*. Yes, once again, we have proof that people are stupid.

It would take a LOT for me to switch to an Iphone. I'm used to Android and I've even heard from regular Iphone users that it's restrictive in terms of what you can do with it and what software you can use etc... I think you might see ardent Samsung users switch to another Android as opposed to the Iphone but I could be wrong.

No, I think you're right. *Ardent* Android users (AAU - can I trademark that?) won't drink the Jobs koolaid. But there are lots who don't know what the difference is. Face-umm... Time? Yeah, that's it. Well, for that you'll need an iPhone and, guess what, I have the latest one right here. I've grown to hate that ad.

How about we just drop the "household" and "issues" from the thread title?

I see a lot of FanExpo tweets in my twitter feed (since I was semi thinking of taking the girls there a while back and started following their twitter). Anyhow, just saw someone post pics of Adam West and Burt Ward. What the heck happened to Robin the Boy Wonder (more like Wonder Bread now)? Also, he's 71. Wow.

Dammit, I so wanted a phone like the Redmi Note 3. Bigger battery, all-metal body, fingerprint scanner, good performance. But there's no denying that the G4 has superior camera and screen. The G5 adds the fingerprint scanner and metal body but they made it smaller (I like 5.5") and it's a lot more expensive and the battery still sucks and reviews of how it looks/feels haven't been fantastic. And with the Xiaomi I'll be able to try the CyanogenMod skin. But I really like the camera in the G4. And the screen.

Now, the Nexus 6P has pretty much everything but it's big (5.8" I think) and quite expensive.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I just got the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and was actually considering the note.

Dodged an explosion there

Don't worry, they've got you covered: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-3-Tempered-Glass-Nillkin-Amazing-H-H-Pro-Anti-Explosion-Screen-Protector-For/32657122296.html

Take a look at these (rumoured) specs of the latest Xiaomi flagship, the MI Note 2:
http://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_note_2-8014.php

Screen: 2160 x 3840 pixels (~773 ppi pixel density)

By comparison, the Galaxy S7 pixel density is 534 (even though its screen is slightly smaller).

http://diply.com/sciencep/article/samsung-batteries-explode/1

Some scary photos in that one. Huge blow for Samsung. And this is happening just a week before the iPhone 7 launch. Hard to believe it's only a coincidence. Although they likely pushed the QA cycle to get it to market first and this kinds of stuff can happen for exactly this reason. Let's say their QA includes charging and discharging the phone 500 times. If the talk time is 8 hours that's at most 3 cycles a day, so 500 will take more than 6 months. Of course the problems stared happening a lot sooner than 5-6 months, but the point stands -- some items in the testing take a very long time and it's very possible some of the tests got accelerated and ended up missing this.

Well, since I'm planning on getting the kids on the $15/month text-only pre-paid plan with PC Mobility, I'm better off getting myself (and wife) on the same network (as even the $15 plan allows unlimited local calls to other pre-paid PC numbers). This means no subsidized LG G4 I suppose I could still look for a second-hand unit in the US (the Canadian version is not easy to unlock/root to install CM) but that will have to be later.

So I just took the plunge and ordered the Redmi Note 3. I decided to get it from GearBest since they accept PayPal (there is a certain measure of protection with PayPal). I was prepared to put up with the longer shipping times but, surprisingly, I found that they offered expedited shipping (claim 3-7 business days to Canada) and it was under $6. When I got to the final checkout page the shipping was listed as DHL (for which I have heard good things on other forums). This compares to Goldway charging over $16 for DHL, and other vendors on AliExpress charging even more. Not wanting to push my luck, I also added shipping insurance for a little over $6. In total, for the phone, soft cover and tempered glass film, shipping and insurance: $245.48 CAD.

Should get my phone by Monday/Tuesday next week with an outside chance of getting it by Friday this week.

wprager wrote:Well, since I'm planning on getting the kids on the $15/month text-only pre-paid plan with PC Mobility, I'm better off getting myself (and wife) on the same network (as even the $15 plan allows unlimited local calls to other pre-paid PC numbers).  This means no subsidized LG G4  I suppose I could still look for a second-hand unit in the US (the Canadian version is not easy to unlock/root to install CM) but that will have to be later.

So I just took the plunge and ordered the Redmi Note 3.  I decided to get it from GearBest since they accept PayPal (there is a certain measure of protection with PayPal).  I was prepared to put up with the longer shipping times but, surprisingly, I found that they offered expedited shipping (claim 3-7 business days to Canada) and it was under $6.  When I got to the final checkout page the shipping was listed as DHL (for which I have heard good things on other forums).  This compares to Goldway charging over $16 for DHL, and other vendors on AliExpress charging even more.  Not wanting to push my luck, I also added shipping insurance for a little over $6.  In total, for the phone, soft cover and tempered glass film, shipping and insurance: $245.48 CAD.

Should get my phone by Monday/Tuesday next week with an outside chance of getting it by Friday this week.

So what does a comparable phone retail for here?

wprager wrote:My b/d is in 8 weeks.  Not cracking till then.

Liar.

SeawaySensFan wrote:
So what does a comparable phone retail for here?

Well, first of all, I goofed.  I ordered the Mediatek version of the product (this is what they came out with initially).  They cannot sell Mediatek in India due to some legal hassles so they came out with an updated version with a different processor (Snapdragon).  The Snapdragon is a hexa-core (2 faster CPUs and 4 slower ones -- depending on what the phone is doing); the Mediatek comes with 8 of the slower ones.  So if you have some application that actually requires 8 cores the Mediatek will be faster; but that's not realistic.  The newer variant also has a faster modem (up to 150Mbps downloads, which is 2x faster than the older one), a 16MP camera (vs. 13MP) and the dual-SIM slot allows you to use the second one for an SD to get more storage.  The Snapdragon variant is $20 more but it looks like it is a different vendor (not sure how Gearbest works -- multiple vendors like Amazon/Aliexpress or all one big happy family) and there is no option to add the protective glass film.  I have a feeling this is the 152mm version (Goldway on aliexpress bundles in the glass film only with the China version, not the International one).  So I may have to cancel the order outright and start from scratch tomorrow.

Now as for the rest of the specs, it compares with the Moto G4 Plus ($449 at Staples).  

The Xiaomi has a slightly faster processor, 33% larger battery, a little thinner in size, all-metal body, slightly better selfie camera (f/2.0 vs. f/2.2)

Couple more comparisons:

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjmoNzs6PjOAhVYGGMKHdroD2AQFggeMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgadgets.ndtv.com%2Fmotorola-moto-g4-plus-3500-vs-xiaomi-redmi-note-3-3119&usg=AFQjCNHCKnPwYIaFBxKoof6kY99C1_hHQQ&sig2=LiXS_Khg-IrabBUADjMy-w

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjmoNzs6PjOAhVYGGMKHdroD2AQFggrMAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gsmarena.com%2Fcompare.php3%3FidPhone1%3D8050%26idPhone2%3D7863&usg=AFQjCNHnUUyDGeoDSyFC9DDY3V3tKNySDw&sig2=hDyo5Vazg_CvXJUSnoRj7g

And a speed test comparison:

spader wrote:

wprager wrote:My b/d is in 8 weeks.  Not cracking till then.

Liar.

Guilty as Charged But I thought I'd be getting the 4+ week delivery time so it was getting close.

By the way, here are some more cheap Chinese 'fones' to consider:

http://promotion.geekbuying.com/promotion/ulefone_phone_sale

Ulefone:

Their flagship is just under $295 CAD and features 4GB RAM and 32GB storage, same FHD screen, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner (first time I've seen that). Looks like it has the same processor as the Mediatek-version of the Xiaomi but a faster GPU. I don't know enough about this phone. It's fairly new. But they have a couple lower-end versions that I'll take a look at for the kids. For example the Ulefone Metal has a 5" 720p display, 3GB of RAM but only 16GB storage (there is an SD slot for expanding that). It's under $150 CAD and I doubt there are many all-metal body cameras with fingerprint scanner for $150 CAD.