Reliable cellphone

[LiveMusic]

I have a Samsung S9, several years old, I think it is 2018. 64gb. Just wondering if it is common for a phone to just do stuff on its own. Like, turn the ringer off and go to silent. Or change the volume of notifications. Or set itself in airplane mode. Or any number of goofy things and I haven't done a thing. This is Android, is this unusual and is iPhone any better? If this is just the way it is with everyone, no need to upgrade.

This phone has done this kind of thing for a very long time. Maybe even since I had it.

[Kh1967]

Our iPhones have been excellent in terms of quality and would not hesitate to buy another. But, as with most technology, it is best to revisit your preferred settings after each software update, as ‘things’ often change when a new version rolls out.

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by LiveMusic

I have a Samsung S9, several years old, I think it is 2018. 64gb. Just wondering if it is common for a phone to just do stuff on its own. Like, turn the ringer off and go to silent. Or change the volume of notifications. Or set itself in airplane mode. Or any number of goofy things and I haven't done a thing. This is Android, is this unusual and is iPhone any better? If this is just the way it is with everyone, no need to upgrade.

This phone has done this kind of thing for a very long time. Maybe even since I had it.

To start it is end of life for support so it could be exploited with ease unlike a supported phone. No one should be using end of life phones and computers. They get attacked and compromised more many realize. For example, we monitor our guest networks in the enterprise too. Every day I see alarms and reports of the attempted attacks and quite often network traffic tied to specific exploits.

Changed simple settings like you mention are almost always little mistakes we make or an app use creating that change.

"This is Android, is this unusual and is iPhone any better?" is complex. My department manages around 200 Android and Apple mobile. We sure have data on iPhone being better in some important and interesting ways but first tier Adroid phones are also fantastic.

Some newer Android phones have pledged having a longer life cycle which is nice - Google's Pixel line.

It does not cost much to get a good supported phone these days. Our enterprise gives a lot of support to staff for personal issues and we see it is easy to get good first tier phones at modest prices. There's a much bigger healthy/sure/easy used market for iPhones but it exists for Android too.

At this point I suggest any upgrade be a 5G phone. The network buildouts are extensive and they don't fix trouble spots or refresh areas with old technology. Now the coverage maps show spots of 5G that can seem like a surprise.

If I know your carrier and if you have Mac or iPad or Chrome devices I can offer some suggestions. No matter what make sure you have all your important credentials and accounts in order and set up well including the multi-factor authentication. Make sure you have all your important data on the phone backed up.

[boombox]

Phones, like all new technologies it seems, have very limited lifespans - if you get 5 years support you are lucky - so they may be subject to exploitation et. But I would first check your phone isn't overheating due to a dead battery, the telltale sign being that it looks to be swelling . My trusty Samsung started glitching and then packed in. The cause was the battery, which when it failed fried my board. Check the temperature on your phone - if it's hot, it may be the battery on the way out, in which case act quickly as you may lose everything, as I did.

As for Apple or Android, we have both in the house. i-phones tend to take better pictures indoors, but outside, my Samsung at half the price of an i14, trounces both the Apples. Personally, I would never go down the i-phone route - poor connectivity to anything which isn't Apple (although in Europe, common sense has finally prevailed and new equipment uses USB-C leads), limited unexpandable storage unless you pay for cloud storage and above all, due to said storage size limitations and inability to upload your own music you have already bought, you are generally forced down the streaming route, which we all know rips off musicians: I would still much rather buy CDs at 10-15 quid and rip to my phone for portability - more money goes to the artists and I can rip to lossless flac if I wish too.

[Chipotle]

I haven't found my Androids to be problematic. You can get a lemon--or have something go wrong when a device gets old--with any manufacturer. I have an old S9 myself that I use for WiFi only tasks and it works just fine, if a bit slowly.

As imwjl mentions, it would be good to upgrade anyway, for both security and performance reasons, if you can. Better battery life as well; they don't last forever and my S9 only lasts a few hours until it's run down. My primary Galaxy S21+ is better in every respect.

[Bowie]

They are made to go obsolete. Apple is the worst when it comes to that. They're even doing everything they can to get around EU's new consumer friendly right to repair legislation.

I recommend not spending a lot in expectation that it will last longer as the parts are not really where the problem lies. There's no certain brand that's going to guarantee longevity either. It's just a global problem with consumerism and people
being programmed to think they need to regularly buy new products. Because people think that's ok, that's exactly the situation we find ourselves in.

[TBman]

My Galaxy Note 10 had a mind of its own for a while, then I used a security pin number. After a few months I removed the security pin and now it doesn't start apps or act up otherwise on its own. Odd isn't it.

[RP]

I've been resistant to get an iPhone and still use my trusty old Kyocera flip phone. Too many functions and features is just more stuff that go wrong in my book...

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by Bowie

They are made to go obsolete. Apple is the worst when it comes to that. They're even doing everything they can to get around EU's new consumer friendly right to repair legislation.

I recommend not spending a lot in expectation that it will last longer as the parts are not really where the problem lies. There's no certain brand that's going to guarantee longevity either. It's just a global problem with consumerism and people
being programmed to think they need to regularly buy new products. Because people think that's ok, that's exactly the situation we find ourselves in.

I'm really lost on all that, or in a polite way will say nonsense because I've been tasked with knowing about the sustainability, lifecycle and footprint matters. Until the recent change from only 1 first tier Android maker Apple has had a longer life cycle and nothing else is even close to the repairability and recycling matters. Unlike other platforms Apple has a really good self-repair program.

In our enterprise we do all we can to recycle everything, and destroying or protecting data is part of that to0. 2-4x a year all retired electronics are recycled and destroyed as ethically as possible. The firms that haul it give us reports of how much was resold/reused, recycled and was landfill. The Apple products shine there.

In addition every Apple Store always takes all of their products for recycling and the following the news on their robots and processes are quite interesting.

I just looked and see 31 current and past iPhones are compatible with the current OS, and my last push for security updates to a few hundreds mobile and computers has older Apple OS products still getting security updates where there are none for Android and Windows products that old.

We have dozens of retail/inventory scanning devices that are Android and Apple. We have shorter lifecycle on the non-Apple and also more expenses to keep them secure. Getting 2 dozen units running Android 10 updated is a rather expensive software purchase for just the OS.

Then we have the title here - reliable. There are usually around 200 used actively 24x7x365 mobile and tablets we have and also in MDM. The Apple have fewer reboots and crashes, are more easily managed, and far easier to keep repaired.

We've wrapped up all we get monitored or send to our outside auditors this time every year. I expect this year will show same or better for the iPhones, iPads and MacBooks lasting longer and costing less overall.

I'm hoping the fall announcement for longer Pixel product life will get other Android products better.

[RJVB]

Originally Posted by imwjl

I'm really lost on all that, or in a polite way will say nonsense because I've been tasked with knowing about the sustainability, lifecycle and footprint matters. Until the recent change from only 1 first tier Android maker Apple has had a longer life cycle and nothing else is even close to the repairability and recycling matters. Unlike other platforms Apple has a really good self-repair program.

I can only agree about the lifespan support - my iPhone SE (1st Gen) has been receiving (sporadic) security updates until recently and is still doing its job just fine for me. I've still been able to install applications on one of my 4s phones (the one I allowed to upgrade to the latest iOS that it "kinda runs"); the other under 6.something still serves as a webradio, MP4 player and occasional photo camera.

But repairability? Just look at the iFixit scores and repair guides and ask yourself how good it really is if you don't have a department with techs and all the necessary equipment. I've replaced parts on my 4s phones which was relatively easy indeed, but even getting at the camera in my SE to clean off some dust on the lens requires intricate disassembly that even I don't feel like attempting as long as it's my primary "smart"device. The only thing I really dislike about newer Apple phones is the silly removal of the headphone/mic jack.

I don't get Samsung's popularity. I've seen too many reports of their phones giving up and have 1st-hand experience with a few other computing devices that have/had very obviously disposable crucial parts inside making them fail the same way as widely reported by other owners. Yet they *can* do better as shown by the parts they provide for Apple products...

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by RJVB

I can only agree about the lifespan support - my iPhone SE (1st Gen) has been receiving (sporadic) security updates until recently and is still doing its job just fine for me. I've still been able to install applications on one of my 4s phones (the one I allowed to upgrade to the latest iOS that it "kinda runs"); the other under 6.something still serves as a webradio, MP4 player and occasional photo camera.

But repairability? Just look at the iFixit scores and repair guides and ask yourself how good it really is if you don't have a department with techs and all the necessary equipment. I've replaced parts on my 4s phones which was relatively easy indeed, but even getting at the camera in my SE to clean off some dust on the lens requires intricate disassembly that even I don't feel like attempting as long as it's my primary "smart"device. The only thing I really dislike about newer Apple phones is the silly removal of the headphone/mic jack.

I don't get Samsung's popularity. I've seen too many reports of their phones giving up and have 1st-hand experience with a few other computing devices that have/had very obviously disposable crucial parts inside making them fail the same way as widely reported by other owners. Yet they *can* do better as shown by the parts they provide for Apple products...

Few want to buy what would be the iFixit dream phone. The big modular phones and laptops have all been failures or are doing poorly in the market. The market has also demanded durability and water resistance. You have a great business opportunity there if you think the market at any scale wants what some whine about.

I see as of this morning Apple has 9 recent models all fully in and with parts stocked for the self-repair program. Samsung playing catch up has 6 models where only 4 of them are popular first tier phones.

Here's the other important element in that. The others trying to do or catch up have utterly crap programs by comparison. They don't have the training, tools and parts ease/availability anywhere in the same league.

[Methos1979]

I have owned nothing but Samsung phones for at least the last ten, maybe 15 years and I've never experienced any of them 'turning on or off' things like you have stated. The fact that you 'think' it might have been there all along is weird. I generally keep them for at least 5 years and only upgrade when they get pretty beat up. I'll assume you are keeping it updated with every new OS update and security patches that come through?

I can't think of a single time my phone turned off or on some type of notification. How much of a 'deep dive' person are you when it comes to phones? Do you really go into the phones settings and play around with things? I know you can set things up so different notifications happen at different times automatically. Another possibility is that sometimes when an app updates things will change to that apps defaults. Are the changes app specific?

Either way, it's time to upgrade your phone. If you like Samsung/Android, stick with that. iPhones are fine but pretty limited in your ability to tweak certain things. Android is much more customizable. iPhone is pretty 'what you see is what you get'. They are rock solid though and very secure. My whole family is on iPhone. I'm on Android because I'm a tweaker. I like to setup my phone to do things they way I like them, not the way iPhone makes me.

[RJVB]

Originally Posted by imwjl

Few want to buy what would be the iFixit dream phone. The big modular phones and laptops have all been failures or are doing poorly in the market.

I don't know what the iFixit dream phone really is, but for me the iPhone 4s comes close with it's relatively easy access to the battery and camera lens. Not to mention its compact size.

I don't doubt "big modular laptops" don't cut it for the starbucks posers but my 2011 MBP didn't look out of place even there back then and it has been possible to upgrade and keep it usable for the past 13 years. It would still be perfectly adequate for me if it were possible to upgrade the GPU but in reality I don't really need a more powerful one for what I do. When I really have to replace it it will be by something comparably future-proof, probably something like this https://frame.work/products/laptop-d...el?tab=compare . Not the cheapest but apparently their formula works well enough that they've remained in business for quite some time now.

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by RJVB

I don't know what the iFixit dream phone really is, but for me the iPhone 4s comes close with it's relatively easy access to the battery and camera lens. Not to mention its compact size.

I don't doubt "big modular laptops" don't cut it for the starbucks posers but my 2011 MBP didn't look out of place even there back then and it has been possible to upgrade and keep it usable for the past 13 years. It would still be perfectly adequate for me if it were possible to upgrade the GPU but in reality I don't really need a more powerful one for what I do. When I really have to replace it it will be by something comparably future-proof, probably something like this https://frame.work/products/laptop-d...el?tab=compare . Not the cheapest but apparently their formula works well enough that they've remained in business for quite some time now.

It's not really appropriate to compare phones totally unsupported that also broke a lot to new.

Frame are a niche. I've seen and handled them. Starting with the M1 chips Apple put Air and Pro laptops in the self repair program. For almost all uses I cannot figure out why I would pay more for a clunky laptop that costs more, does less, and has the utterly crappy non-M battery life. We tried the Ryzen CPU laptops too. The similar i5 maybe got better battery life but staff hated how often the Ryzen fans were whirring compared to same series/brands with i5.

The Ryzen were not at all standing out as flakey as AMD CPU once did but they had some firmware and network chipset flakiness same Surface Laptop 4 gen with i5 and i7 did not have.

To be fair some of this is not likely so important to a home or personal user but wow stuff like drivers and updates issues can upset people. We encourage staff to get the first tier stuff just to cut that risk.

[TomB'sox]

Ironically, I just upgraded from my S9 a few days ago. I also had it for several years, even longer than you I believe and it never did any of the things you are describing. My wife had once also and it performed well. Beyond being time for an upgrade, I only did so as I wanted a better camera for a trip we are taking. I really liked the fact you could add memory via an sd card, but the new samsungs no longer offer that.

The fact you have had yours 5 years, and ours for closer to 7 and they are all 3 still functioning well, is a testament to the phone. I find things are not made to last like they once were. Our batteries were starting to need charging more often, but not too bad.

I have been very pleased with the android phone, samsung in particular.