f13.net

Some of you may have noticed that I am a bit of an electronics/gadgets freak.  At least in terms of major and typical consumer electronics stuff, but I also tend to dive headfirst into new trends as well (VR anyone?) from time to time.  That said, I gotta believe there are at least a few more of you out there on a forum such as the one we have here that either have the same disease that I have, or just in general want to discuss such topics and share/seek advice.  So!  I don't know if there are any old threads out there that could be re-used, but I think we need a general, mostly non-PC kind of thread where we can share info, ideas and opinions on all manner of stuff.  First hand product reviews, even, from people you might trust slightly more than the average Amazon shill.  I usually do my homework when I buy stuff, because I like to get the most possible value out of my money.  That also often means that I avoid the really high-priced stuff, unless I get a deal or buy it second hand.

I'll get the ball rolling in a second post.

Okay, so possibly my biggest obsession:  sound.  Home theater, car audio, portable music, etc.  My latest purchases have all been around improving the portable audio experience.  I listen to music a LOT, and a good deal of that is time spent at the gym where I have something portable.  I currently have an iphone 7, which in terms of audio ouput is a legitimate piece of shit.  I mean, the actual signal itself is probably just fine if you have good source materials (flacs or other hi-def sources), but the power output itself is unacceptably terrible.  So weak.  They apparently get away with this, because most people don't notice it, or simply don't know what they are missing.  I have a lot of portable devices, and this thing which was more expensive than all of them is possibly the worst in this area.

So among other options (including headphones, IEMs and even other portable devices), I have recently spent some cash on this little thing:

https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B00MFMW29I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1497341871&sr=8-2&keywords=fiio+a3 (https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B00MFMW29I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1497341871&sr=8-2&keywords=fiio+a3)

In short, it is a portable, rechargeable amplifier for portable music players.  It is quite basic in its functionality, but all you really need to know is that it will boost the power of your device by a crazy amount.  I don't know if it is possible to get specs on an iphone 7 power output, but I would guess it to be somewhere around 50mW or possibly even less.  A great audio smartphone will probably not exceed 100mW, though I haven't checked.  This Fiio A3 is putting out 450mW, so many times the power of what you are probably currently getting.  What it does to your music...it is dramatic.  At lower volumes it just improves the depth and quality of the sound over the whole range, and by a great deal.  And if you like it loud, like I do....Oh my.  Earth shattering loudness, and not just a distorted mess.  Full, powerful, mind-blowing.

I read all kinds of argumentation that if you are running a pair of 16 ohm headphones or IEMs, particularly if they are high sensitivity, that you do not benefit from any kind of external amplification and that it is unnecessary overkill.  After testing a number of phones that fit those parameters, I can say this is categorically false.  The difference is astounding, even with very efficient, low impedance IEMs.  Also, this will basically connect to anything via a 3.5mm plug, so no reason you couldn't also hook it up to your pc headphones. Testing a pair of Steel Series (Siberia, I think?) headphones produced amazing results from the iphone, and I am sure hooking up to a PC would be similar.

The primary and only drawback I can put my finger on with this thing is that, even though it is quite small, you get quite a sizable brick when you piggy back it onto your device and want to put it in your pocket.  Aside from that, it is an insanely good and worthwhile upgrade, for the hilariously low price of 60 USD.

Do not listen to your music loudly in headphones. You may think hearing loss and tinnitus won't happen to you, it will. And it sucks. In fact, use headphones as little as possible, because the temptation to listen too loudly is too great.

I mostly use a Creative SB Roar to listen to music/movies on my devices. I think I've gotten every artist in the area into the habit, it's nice to always have good music to draw/paint to.

Other than that, the only tech I have that isn't about pc games or backups is a little bit of music gear. I find tech too gadgety, expensive and short-lived.

Agreed. I have some significant loss at top and bottom-end and can't make-out people's voices in crowds at all due to listening to headphones at max everyday during my teen years. You can be standing 1' from me and you sound like the background noise if it's above a murmur.

So now noise-cancelling headphones are my go-to instead of trying to boost the audio over the ambient noise. This also makes yardwork a lot easier on my ears. I'm the only guy in the neighborhood who wears ear protection when mowing/ trimming/ leaf blowing and I get looks, but fuck 'em. The loss I have is bad enough I don't need more.

I picked-up a shock-proof/ water-resistant Bluetooth speaker for $15 at Best Buy the other day for the rest of my outdoor use. Sounds great and I never would have expected it from such a cheap device.

I have one of these kits: https://www.boxedkitamps.com/solop-headphone-amp-kit for building a little headphone amp, but I keep forgetting to put it together. I've never tried one before, so thanks for the post - now I have a reason to dig it out and give it a whirl.

My other project is a little self contained shelf speaker with a Bluetooth-enabled amp, using one of these boards: http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-TPA3116-Bluetooth-Amplifier-Board-Class-D-50W-2-Amp-Board-CSR4-0-/261802317897 (2 channels, 50W each)

The concept of amplifying headphones is terrifying to me for the above stated reasons.

This is a gadget I am eyeballing:  http://www.dji.com/mavic

I've been thinking about getting a photography drone for a while but they've never quite seemed idiot-proof enough for me.  This one has a battery life of about half an hour, automatic obstacle avoidance, a signal range of a few miles, and it knows how to automatically pilot itself back to its origin point if it loses signal or starts to run low on battery.  Being able to fly this thing pretty much anywhere in the city and feel reasonably confident that I won't lose it sounds pretty dang cool...

Your post came at a perfect time, as I have been complaining to myself about the quality of sound from my iphone.  Ordered it today, looking forward to trying it out Thursday.  Thank you Cyrrex!

I took my noise cancelling headphones to the Tesla/Poison/Def Leppard concert last week.  During Poison's set I wore the headphones over my earplugs, and spent the time drowning them out listening to acts I'd like to go see but can't, like Chris Cornell and Rush.  Leppard is holding up pretty well though  :awesome_for_real:

But yeah, I use them all the time for mowing/on the tractor/powertool use.  I've got about 40db of loss above 3khz in my right ear from noise exposure, and I don't want to aggravate it any more.

I know it is one of those kinds of things where I should watch out a little, but for me it is kind of one of those "out of my cold, dead hands" things.  I take unusually good care of myself in most respects, but I need my music to be loud.

In any event, it doesn't change my recommendation.  Even at moderate  and lower volumes, the little device I linked is a great boost to the overall sound quality.

So what's a good wireless/Bluetooth headphone that can be used with both Windows PC and Xbox 360? Something that won't break the bank, but will let me crank up the volume late at night while the rest of the house is asleep? Been using an old set of wired headphones, but would be nice to have more mobility...

Sorry to all for double posting, but goddam that is a nice drone! I was honestly expecting the final price to be a whole lot more than a grand too.

Now I want one, dammit.

Yeah, those look really cool.

Done something lately I wouldn't normally think of doing:  Buying headphones second hand.

First, these little beauties:  

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Headphones-Earphones/Betron-Earphones-Headphones-Definition-BlackBerry/B00S2P0M4Y/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1498640802&sr=8-2&keywords=betron+ysm (https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Headphones-Earphones/Betron-Earphones-Headphones-Definition-BlackBerry/B00S2P0M4Y/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1498640802&sr=8-2&keywords=betron+ysm)

Really impressive sound quality for a very low price.  Huge upgrade over anything Apple ever came up with, and even a significant upgrade over a nice pair of free HTC IEMs I have.  High sensitivity / low impedance also means they play pretty well for the anemic power output from lots of devices.  

Secondly, after much deliberation and hesitancy, I bought a pair of (wired) Beats Solo 2 headphones.  Got them gently used, for something like 35% of the full retail price, so not a huge risk.  I know that Beats stuff is overpriced and overhyped, and a couple of years ago I loaned a pair of Beats HD cans...and man, were they terrible.  Objectively shitty.  After doing a bit of homework and a few in-store tests (which you have to take with a giant grain of salt if you cannot control the music source), I took a chance.  Initially, I was a bit "meh" about them, although they were clearly better than the HD version.  Paired with the little amplifier I spoke of earlier in the thread...and they really sing.  The overall sound quality is actually excellent across the whole range.  I was expecting them to be bass heavy (which would have been fine), and found out they were actually very well balanced.  And with enough power, they sound bloody great.  

Would I recommend them at full price?  LOL no, but then again the full price is ridiculous.  At half price or less, even if gently used?  I would say probably yes if you are running something weak like an iphone.  Anything with more power would be a definite yes recommendation.  Taking a chance paid off here.

Just caught this: http://elbow.co.nf/

It's possibly the most minimalist cassette tape player you could ever have. So very cool and unnecessary it fits exactly in the niche of 'useless gadget.'   I mean, who the hell still has cassettes they want to listen to but hasn't gotten some form of digital copy of?

I have hundreds of them that I don[t have digital copies of, many because they were obscure musicians who never made the jump to CD much less digital. :(

Been slowly, slowly trying to rip them. Takes forever.

I think I've actually sort of fallen out of love with gadgets in general and my only big tech expenses are a pair of gaming PCs and accessories (some of which are decidedly goofy - I have an RGB mousepad) for them.  

My phones for some time have been 'the best I can buy for under $200 off-contract', I'm still using an ancient Nexus 7 as my go-to tablet and I only recently added an Echo Dot to my entry/middling HT setup, mostly because it makes for a decent 'set and forget' jukebox.

I'm also definitely not an audiophile.  Most of my listening is either in the car or from the HT.  Everything else is via 'whatever $10 earbuds that won't fall apart when you look at them' I'm using at the time or my PC headset/speakers.

Fuck that, use a service.

*raises hand*

That gadget looks neat.

I'm pretty sure that all the stuff I had on cassette that I cared about, I snagged on Napster in the like 5 months I had between getting off of dial-up by getting a cable modem and Napster being shut down.

I actually need to do this, I have a couple rehearsal tapes lying around I'd love to digitize. My tape player bit the dust years ago and I hesitate to buy a decent quality model but also don't want to cheap out to do the transfer.

I bet 90% of it is arguing and bong rips, but hey, good times.

iPhone X: Best of Android 2014-2016

Did specs get released or something? I haven't paid attention to them since they took away the absolutely-necessary-for-flights 1/8" jack.

Yup, release event today.  iPhone X looks pretty neat but pricey at $1000.

I am just arguing with an apple groupy.

He saying iPhone X replaces DSLR cameras, I am saying, only for people buying DLSR as status symbol, else try attaching an a camera objective to an iPhone

And absolutely impossible to protect as the glass has no bezel and is all screen. I foresee many replaced phones without decent cases.

I'm amused at wireless charging. I bitched 2 years ago that wireless charging should have been included before Bluetooth-only headphones. MacFanboys said "the technology isn't there yet." "Phones have to be too bulky to support it" "heat is too much of an issue to make wireless charging viable" in response.  I should browse my reddit history and find what those idiots are saying today then post their own quotes as links, but I'm too fucking lazy for that.


People who don't understand photography have been saying that since 2009. You can safely ignore those idiots.

... the fuck wants to drop a goddamn grand on a fucking phone?

Oh wait, I forgot. Apple users.

Nice thing is the 6 & 7 are good phones and they dropped in price.  But still cost too much.  I think Jobs would be proud.

Looks like I'm holding on to my 7 until it croaks.

 :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real:

Ah, there's the bitching I was looking for.

(https://www.browncafe.com/community/attachments/this-thread-delivers_dhl-jpg.100614/)

i'm never gonna get a good phone with a proper keyboard again

and that makes me sad

I will probably replace my 6 with an 8 in a few months once the initial release madness dies down.

I have no desire for the giant form factor of the new style, and I rely on TouchID way too much to want a phone without it.
 

$1000 for a tablet is too much. Sorry. I'm leaning toward an Apple phone of some kind as the wife and mother and pretty much my side of the family are all using apple stuff. But seriously... the bubble will burst at some point, it always does.

Which is why Apple has 8 (lucky number!) different models to choose from now :awesome_for_real:

So much for simplicity...

This. No one's forcing anyone to get the X. You can grab an 8 or a 7 or hell even a 6S or SE and be perfectly happy with most of the features. The people going for the X will be the edge cases for the most part and the features missing in the other devices will trickle out in lower priced future versions as they always have.

I'm not sure why that matters. My glass screen protectors go out to just about the very edges of my phones, regardless of the widths of the bezels.

Smartphone cameras decimated the compact digital camera market, as you would expect, but DSLR and mirrorless camera sales are down significantly at almost 1/2 their level in 2012.

(http://i.imgur.com/5hgGq6B.png)

Of course on a technical basis a smartphone camera is nowhere close to the quality and functionality of a DSLR but as the old adage goes "the best camera is the one that's with you". Also young people don't seem interested in non-smartphone cameras so it's just us older folks who have experience with cameras pre-iPhone that are keeping that market alive.

it looks like they actually did the opposite of decimated

*pedantry*

The iPhone X is not that much bigger than the iPhone 6/7/8 (non-Plus).

iPhone 8: 2.65 in. width x 5.45 in. tall
iPhone X: 2.79 in. width x 5.65 in. tall
iPhone 8 Plus: 3.07 in. width x 6.24 in. tall

The iPhone X display is an elongated display/aspect ratio which is why if you just see the screen measurement of 5.8" it sounds like a massive phone when in fact it's not (iPhone 8 Plus is 5.5").

https://www.apple.com/iphone-x/specs/
https://www.apple.com/iphone-8/specs/

My 6 is the perfect size for me, I don't want/need anything bigger!

What I want is a damn iPad mini refresh to replace my 1st gen one for taking with me traveling to watch movies etc.

What's wrong with the mini 4?

Old processor so it will become obsolete in terms of OS updates a lot sooner, only available in giant storage size so the price is  too high compared to the entry level larger one. If they still sold a 32GB one for, say, $279 I would probably buy one.

For now, it seems the iPhone 6S is the pinnacle of iPhone models. The 7 is OK, but no headphone jack!  :mob: The 8 is a marginal improvement to the 7.

They wouldn't need to keep upping the processor speed if they didn't let the OS get so bloated with unwanted/unneeded crap.

The headphone jack thing annoys me a lot, but I already have bluetooth headphones for when I am riding my bike or at the gym so I suppose I don't need it.

Honestly, I would be interested in the new model if it was not so expensive and they had figured out how to keep the TouchID sensor. I am willing to take a chance on no headphone jack since I rarely use it but I draw the line on no TouchID. I have to have a PIN on my phone for work and between checking my email and 2FA to get into things, I probably unlock my phone 200 times a day. And I am not interested in facial recognition as an unlock method under pretty much any circumstances.

I actually forgot what model I had. I have a 6.  :awesome_for_real:

Yah, I'm not really into a big phone either.  Some of the other crap seems neat, however.

The only big phones are the pluses. The X doesn't come in a plus, thank god.

Yeah, I don't know man.  I spent a ton of time trying to learn my DSLR and take quality photos over a few years, lugging that damn thing around with me on trips.  Friend of mine got one of the 7 Plus's with portrait mode, and showed me pictures from a trip he took.  Almost everything looked better than any picture I've ever taken, haha.  I'm sure it cannot handle fun stuff like low light, long exposure, and long zoom obviously.  But if you can take that nice of a photo with your phone, and not have to carry around a giant camera and len's (which cost thousands).....

I may buy an X just for that, and stop bothering with DSLR's, if it does a good enough job.

The wife's brother and sister are professional photographers, she's got a DSLR and the skills learned from her siblings to take some amazing pictures with it. I know I suck, so I stick to my phone.

So when I was in LAX before my flight back to Melbourne I had a lot of time to reflect on my lack of headphones and the painfullness of what they give you on the plane.

And I had limited options available to address this, and an obsessive need to not get crappy quality things...

So I bought some Bose QC35s.

And though I feel a bit absurd for spending so much money on headphones after having and using them on the flight and for the last couple of weeks I have to say that I really enjoy them.

The noise cancelling part is nifty, though I'm glad the mobile phone app lets you dial this back in public, but what I found this part of the headphones best for was being able to listen to something in a noisy environment without having to ruin my eardrums - I won't use them much to just block out sound.

What I also really enjoy that I didn't expect is the wireless capability. It's especially handy when working with the stand up desk as I can move about without having to put the headphones on and off, and just less fussy to use with the mobile phone in public.

Battery life is excellent, really really good, too.

In terms of playing music they're obviously not the best around, but for general use they are still very good.

Does anyone have a trusted battery pack they use (aslo available in Australia being the kicker.)

This is why I pre-ordered a Light L16.

Which will probably go down as the dumbest purchase I've ever made.

Had to look that up. So, it bruteforces the focal length and sensor size issue by packing 16 sets of lenses and sensors (off the shelf versions, 4 sets of 4) into a single chassis.

Well, yeah, that's one way to do it. Of course, it's also 16 times the failure modes....

--Dave

If I didn't buy things due to some quantity of failure points, I'd own no technology whatsoever.

Welcome to my world.  I'm still struggling to understand why the majority of people think they need a smartphone for daily life.  I also own a CD player with a tube preamp and miss the days when I could work on my own cars with a computer diagnostic system. 

I have to confess that I had a completely different notion when I clicked this thread.  The things I see as "useful gadgets" would likely get laughs from people here.

Let's hear some of them. My useful gadgets of late have been torx screwdrivers, a dremel, a 3D printer and a sous-vide wand.

(http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4ed91bb369beddf53700000b-400/usb-pet-rock.jpg)

I need to get me a reverse star drive bit.  One day I might have to take the carburetor off of my new nemesis, the Briggs & Stratton GenPower 10.0 generator engine.

My wife is still using a iPhone 4, or something like that which is so tiny she can't read the icons on a map and we miss turnoffs.  The upside is that it is apparently Apple's answer to the unbreakable Nokia.  Thinking about going iPhone because I use a MBP all the time now.  I might be simply assuming that there are many conveniences which would go along with that.

That is not what I meant. I meant I don't give a fuck about points of failure.

No idea how representative I am, but:

Internet surfing, Twitter, WhatsApp/SMS, listening to music when walking/in train, getting notified of emails without having to check outlook at home.

Yeah, for me it's giving it a glance while I'm having lunch or whatever alone (my secret pleasure is Instagram, I actually really like it), use Google Maps and that's it, really: I barely use WhatsApp and, for example, I turn off my "last online" visibility (I tend to have a solitary personality and love my privacy).  

Talking about other brands...I don't know, a P9 Lite perfectly does the job, for example (I bought it for my fiancee, while I have an Honor 7).
---

With the rest of the money, if you are really into videogames, buy a 1080Ti instead of an iPhone X :P

Yeah: navigation, messaging services (Whatsapp + Wechat), checking out news updates on the Underground and listening to podcasts. Handy to have a digital camera at all time. Sometimes I even phone people. For a lot of those (barring the first two) I could have a few different devices but carrying around a digital compact, dumb phone and an MP3 player seems a bit much. I also have a SatNav when I'm borrowing or renting a car without one.

The new Google Pixels are coming out soon and have apparently also gone the 'no more headphone jack' route. I don't like having to charge multiple devices all the time so I really don't like bluetooth headphones, this is not a move I really wanted to see. I listen to podcasts a lot and I'd have to be charging the headphones and phone at least once a day. Also in gadget bitching news: smaller form factor tablets seem to have gone away. The market wasn't ever really there (or didn't have enough turnover) and so my crappy old nVidia Shield isn't really replaceable with a similar device. Which is a pain since I dropped and massively cracked the screen which apparently did something to the processor as well as it is now suuuuuuuuper slow. It's quite nice for web browsing or as a recipe stand in the kitchen, just sometimes I have to wait a minute or so for an app to load.

Smartphones are absurdly useful. Maybe not necessary, but fuckin near.

This is a tempting gadget: SETI-quality mass market telescope. (http://www.seti.org/seti-institute/press-release/seti-institute-unistellar-partnership-promises-revolutionize-amateur) One of its features is that it can upload its data to SETI so that they can effectively crowdsource some of their observation projects.

I'm told the price tag on the thing will be around $1k -- that's a bargain compared to the iPhone X IMO.   :drill:

I'm tempted to grab one of these hiking chairs.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51cKLtILYfL._SL500_.jpg)

Weighs less than 1lb and folds into a pouch the size of a water bottle.  A blessing as I get older.

Link?  I throw my birthday party on the beach every year and there are never enough camping chairs.  Being able to throw a half dozen of those things into a backpack would be awesome.

They are a bit pricey for what they are, but you tend to have to pay more for shedding weight on hikes.

Here's one example.  (https://www.amazon.com/BigFoot-Outdoor-UltraLight-Folding-Backpacking/dp/B074N9PTRF/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1505335699&sr=8-7&keywords=ultralight+hiking+chair)

Prices vary widely by maker.  I've seen these chairs go over $100.

Speaking of hiking, I bought an Aarn Peak Aspiration pack with some bodypacks yesterday.

I'm very intrigued by the concept and keen to see how it goes in my hike this weekend.

Oh. And I got a DJI Mavic Pro. Going to the Maldives next month, looking to get some solid footage with it.

I have an iphone 7, and it has a few quirks that annoy me.  The obvious lack of the 3.5mm connection being one, and the terrible audio being the other.  That said, the main reason I couldn't imagine upgrading it any time soon is because it is the first phone I have owned where I simply don't think it could operate faster in any noticeable way.

And Nebu, man, I respect your stance on things for the most part...but smartphones are like having the entire world in your pocket.  We gripe about the prices being so high (because we are spoiled), but these things are basically little miracles you can take with you wherever you go.  It won't be long before you won't be able to function at all without one, it already basically is like that where I live.  I'd sooner go without pants than I would my phone.

Yeah, I pretty much use my smart phone for almost every conceivable thing now.

From what I have read you will be waiting a long time as Apple is dropping the mini line altogether. I like my 4.

For those of you complaining about missing headphone jack on the 7, there are cases that add the jack to the case.

Have seen these, but haven't gotten into serious backpacking yet.  If I end up doing Philmont then I'll get one of these as well as a lot of other equip.

At the moment, my "phone" primarily does the following daily tasks:
1. Waze (welcome to The ATL).
2. Two factor auth for various things.  Both work and pleasure.
3. Communication.
4. Random data lookups.
5. Grocery list management.
6. Calendar and alarms for schedule management.
7. Photos + videos.  Related: Instagram.
8. Notepad.

Less frequent but useful:
1. Delta flight check-in.
2. Business receipt upload.
3. Look at home security cameras.
4. Pandora music.
5. Android Pay (got me into a toilet in a mall in Koln).
6. Read a book if nothing else to do.
7. Play my music over the house speakers instead of my wife's shit.
8. Find out that Danny Woodhead is out for the season.

If you give me more time, I might think of a few more.  The list grows over time, as well.

I'm trying to get excited for that iPhone 10 because while the hardware is always a gen or two behind the latest Samsung/Android flagship, Apple's software for camera use is just so fucking top notch.  That plus imessage being what everyone in my family continues to use despite like 12 different messaging apps that work better and seamlessly between operating systems.

That said, looks like Google is unveiling Pixel 2 in a couple weeks, so it might be a moot point anyways.

Yego's list is pretty accurate for what I use mine for: pictures/vids, messaging, 2 factor, phone, maps and browsing.

I will say this about smartphones in general - the mobile web is FUCKING CANCER because of the app store.

Has anyone used one of these before: https://pi-hole.net/ basically adblocker at your router.

€1149/€1349 for a phone that is doing a lot of stuff wrong and feels like a step back from previous generations is really hard to swallow.

My company has been a member of the wireless power consortium (the people behind Qi wireless charging) and this technology is practically dead. Less than 40 products have been certified this year and it's on its way out in practically every other phone with Samsung being a weird holdout. Apple isn't even supplying its own branded charger. It's so unlike Apple to integrate a decade old nearly dead technology into their flagship product.

Throwing out Touch ID for facial recognition - a tech that still needs to prove that it works at all and isn't fooled by a simple photograph or stops working when you replace your glasses. The price equivalent of a MacBook. Return to all glass (otherwise wireless charging wouldn't work) and therefore foregoing the color customization that was really popular.

That weird 5.8 inch OLED screen.

Animated 3D emojis and selfie functions

This device feels like three years ago.

I never had a mobile phone when they were just phones. I had no need to talk to people if I wasn't at work, where I had a phone; or at home, where I had a phone. I never had one when texting first got big. Call me, damnit. If you can't reach me I don't need to talk to you.

I do however, have a pocket computer. And it's glorious.

2-factor authentication alone is mandatory anymore. This requires the phone.
Electronic boarding passes.
Photos at a whim
Internet in my pocket
Weight management software
Exercise tracking software
"Oh shit what was I buying again?" list management for Home repair & grocery.  I had SO MANY goddamn sticky notes before 2013.
Music for workout/ car/ yardwork.  I had an iPod previously and would still without the phone. Music goes everywhere with me.
movie pass. (now $10/ month for unlimited 2d viewing. yay.)
Managing frequent buyer programs. My data's already out there, I may as well profit from it.
Kitchen Timer
Recipe Book
Replaced my alarm clock, added lots of timers.

Wait for the rose-colored tint ... you know it's coming.  :why_so_serious:

I don't know, maybe. The only recent Apple product I'm excited about are the AirPods because they are really awesome small wireless headphones you can only use with iPhone 7/7+. They lack an accessory which would enable you to use them on standard audio equipment which is a fucking obvious product idea (AirPod transmitter). One that Steve Jobs would have gladly capitalized on and sold to you for $199.

I can't imagine myself going back to an all glass phone. Disliked that in the recent Samsung devices as well. Makes the device heavier, thicker and more prone to breaking for little additional benefit (wireless charging) it also make the colors look shit because painting it is fucking difficult and has delayed previous all glass iPhones for over a year. (Anyone remember the first white iPhone 4?)

I'm also waiting until others have lost their rose tinted glasses and i get the real gist on face ID and if it works at all and if it was worth scrapping one of the best ways to unlock your phone and authenticate yourself just to get rid of one button.

You know just like the touch bar on the new MacBook Pros that was hyped up at launch and is now universally loathed by even the most die hard fans.

I am also starting to realize I don't really need a smartphone. It's nice to have access to email/Slack/browser on the go.

If I cut the list down to must-haves, it looks like:
Lyft
Spotify and white noise
2FA

I think 2FA is the only one I can't live without, everything else I can do from a browser.

The argument has been made that there's no adoption because no one's bothered to back it properly. That's pretty much what Apple's process is. Look at NFC and how it wasn't really that big a deal in the US until Applepay. And if wireless charging doesn't work out, you've still got your lighting charger.

It's also possible QiWireless's technology is the easiest to extend to do what Apple wants it to do and/or that QiWireless the company was the most willing to work with Apple on the types of changes Apple want.

:nda:

is apple pay actually a thing people use?

i like my metal credit cards with chips

I'm running with it.  Its really good 95% of the time - the 5% is when you actually do want to use ads (primarily because of referral links and the like) - I'm still too thick to be able to whitelist stuff correctly, so I have to stuff about with turning it off and back on etc.

But the 95% of the time its great.

I use it all the time, it works great.

A lot of places accept Apple Pay but don't have their chip readers active yet too.

I have literally never encountered this. I think the only places here with apple pay are like, whole foods and a couple other supermarket chains

or hell maybe everywhere has it

but everywhere has chip readers also, except, ironically, THE BANK

I stop at Panera about once a week to grab a bagel on my way from the parking lot to the office and they accept Apple Pay but not chip cards, as one example.

That is literally the shittiest chain in America. Their bagels, and all their bread products, are complete and utter garbage.

This isn't even a discussion.

Panera. Is. Shit.

Bad, Chimpy.

They have some decent soup. But I can get better bagels at a supermarket. Not even some high end grocery, just Kroger or equivalent.

--Dave

The only good bagels in this town are Einstein Brothers' (which I prefer) but their locations are not convenient and the Panera thing is literally a "I didn't get up early enough to eat at home, going to grab a fast/cheap bit of calories on my way into the office" thing.

Wat

There is no place that makes bagels that is not a chain (or a grocery store, but all the stores here have crappy bakeries that make even worse bagels than Panera).

Delis are not a thing here.

Subway has NFC payment but not chip readers.

Since we're talking about Apple gadgets, I'd like to register my displeasure at how they've handled their new high efficiency format.

It's cool and all, but maybe don't roll it out as the *default* for one of the most commonly used cameras in the world a week before your own desktop OS even supports it.

Subway here has both.

But Discover only works as a chip there for some reason, not ApplePay and that is the only card I have on my phone right now so I have to pull the card out of my wallet which takes longer.

Whole Foods, Starbucks, cab rides, hell, even my local liquor store takes it. And it's quicker than a chip.

It is faster, yes.  Although I use Android Pay.  Same diff.

Probably a bigger benefit is the reduced chance of physically losing the card or having someone obtain your actual CC number.  Not that I know for sure there is any real additional protection if someone grabs the virtual number other than Chase is then PROBABLY not going to reissue my CC at an inconvenient time*.





* All times are inconvenient times.

All things I don't do. Hey, no wonder I'm not using it.

I have seen it around Target and all the restaurant chains, though. I haven't paid attention at Meijer, Aldi or Kroger. I may give it a shot just to check the 'it's faster' claim.  I'm in the habit of just jamming the card in while still tallying the order. Doesn't cause problems anywhere except JoAnn's.

I use it at the Meijer gas station. I don't use it in the store because I buy groceries on my debit card because I usually need to get cash.

Best place to use it: the vending machines inside security at an airport if you forget your empty water bottle at home :)

You don't need to "learn" a DSLR to take quality photo's. 90% of a quality photo is the frame.

Anyway besides attachment the main reason DSLR's are nice is because they have mass; which makes it easier to use.

The biggest thing is probably that its small. If you want to take a photo for the photo you want something that has a bit of mass to it. It makes it easier to hold steady in the position you want it without a tri-pod (and having any attachments)

Southpark vs your smart home

https://twitter.com/DanJackson415/status/908928246711906305

Man, the Apple Recycling program is pretty great. My mom sent me the $55 gift card they gave her for her iPad2 a couple months ago and they are saying I will get $100 for my base level iPad Mini.

Since they have refurbished 128GB Mini 4s for $329 I think I will do that and use both the gift cards on it.

Still annoyed it is the only Mini option but at least it will be usable unlike my current mini which barely works for Netflix and pretty much not for anything else.

The older system that Apple pushes mandatory updates to has become so slow it's unusable, and the credit for junking it (and therefore not selling it used) won't cover the cost of the "refurbished" (read; purchased for gift credit at scrap prices by Apple) item that is the only available option for using up that credit?

Funny how that worked out. Wow, such a deal.

--Dave

Fuck off with your Apple hate, Dave. Who else is going to give you 30% of the purchase price of an item you bought almost 5 years ago as trade in value?

Also, refurbished iPads and iPhones from Apple have new batteries and the same warranty as brand new. I just don't want to spend $40 more for brand new.

I think I touched a nerve. Don't mind me, I spent half as much for something twice as powerful, but obviously that's just my irrational hatred talking. Maybe the iPad Mini 5 will be great.

Oh, wait....

--Dave

I own android phones but Apple tablets.

Every Android tablet is basically garbage if you want to play games and not be a fucking neckbeard.

Also, despite Apple's walled garden being complete nonsense in 2017, the Android store's total free for all is even worse.

So no, no one will mind you because Android tablets are absolute shit.

I admit my anti-Apple bias but also agree with the above sentiment.

I'd buy half a dozen apple tablets before I considered an Android or Windows one. The experience is just that much better.

I will admit that my preference for Android tablets is predicated on there never having been something I disliked on them that I couldn't fix, where anything I dislike about an Apple tablet is literally "baked in". But my being both willing and able to do so, even when it requires rewriting parts of the OS, is pretty much "neckbeardy" by definition.

My youngest daughter uses iPads. I literally cannot stand to fix anything about them more involved than "turn it off and turn it back on again". On the other hand, they rarely *need* more than that.

--Dave

no one wants to fix a tablet

if you're doing things that are breaking a tablet, it's you, not the tablet

Yeah, that.  The entire point of a tablet is you just buy it and use it.  That's why Apples work so well, that's the realm of things they are strongest in.  It extends to phones for me as well.  Mind you I haven't tried them all, but every time somebody hands me an Android, I always feel like I'm struggling with the shitty interface.  Pretty much have to use Apple for phones/tablets now, as everything else drives me bonkers.

Also, all electronics five years old or more are completely worthless.  Phones, computers, tablets...I use them as Frisbees or target practice.  It's completely stupid of Apple to give any money for that worthless garbage.

We give money for that stuff because its better than people tossing them in landfills.

Businesses never do anything for a reason like that.  I'm assuming they buy them back for parts they can sell in the Asian markets and any rare metals that can be extracted and reused.

Pushing updates isn't an Apple thing, it's an industry thing. I've turned off every option I could find for updating apps, uninstalled as much crap as I could, and every time I connect my Galaxy tablet to the wifi, it sucks down all my connectivity updating shit I don't use.

Though it would be nice if Apple would stop asking me DAILY if I want to update their suite of bloatware on my laptop.

Also, ShirleyBob, for the love of Odin can we get an HDCP chain? I have the Apple-branded C -> HDMI adapter and it breaks HDCP. C'mon, man.

Oh, come on, that's greenwashing rhetoric for the rubes. You don't give money someone could use in a restaurant (or to buy a competing product), you give store credit that can only be used inside the Apple ecosystem, exchanging a portion of your extremely fat margins to take used product out of the market (so that you can sell used goods at 10% off the price of new).

Which is fine, it's a business strategy and as such not really subject to moral judgements. But don't pretend that the goal is anything other than profit.

--Dave

I've started hearing Rick Sanchez when Dave posts.

Not that I use a tablet.  They are in-between bastards for my purposes, rather use a phone for lightweight/mobile and a laptop for heavyweight tasks.

Moving to a Mac from a Win laptop has been summarily incredible.  This is because it just fucking works.  There are two parts to "JFW": I don't have to install a lot of intermediary applications to do my job, and it doesn't break.  Guess how many times I've had to restart the print spooler in Windows in any single year since 1996.  Now guess how many times I've had to restart the print spooler on the MBP over the past 2.5 years that I've used it.  Hint: the number is the same even when you multiply it by the 3 Macs that I now own/use.

Bonus points if you guess my interest level in PC repair these days.

I'm really thinking of moving to iPhone after using Android since it was a thing I could buy.  While Apple makes expensive things that JFW, Google makes free/cheap shit that works for some percentage of the time with an even lower percentage of features.  Maybe Project Fi was the last straw, failing to meet the advertised ability once again.

Feel free to sprinkle several "Aw, geez" in there.

(https://s26.postimg.org/3za439le1/41c10b15f39111297362852f5ab111a9--rick-and-morty.jpg)

You kind of asked for this.

Project Fi has been nothing short of perfect for me, but I go out of my way to never ever go to most of America.

So does Project Fi! BOOM!

I've started playing around with home automation vie Amazon Echo, the Logitech Harmony hub and a handful of WeMos.  Not gonna lie, it's kinda cool to tell your house what to do with simple voice commands and have it work.

I've dipped my toe into those waters recently with a Blink camera system.  I have one set up to watch my front porch so I can see when I've got packages waiting for me at home, and a nightvision-enabled one in the backyard so I can spy on the local wildlife.  Whole thing is connected to a free cloud service and is controlled via phone app that lets me turn cameras on and off, get live video, etc.

Yeah, but how long before your house is hijacked by some script kiddie in Estonia and is used to DDOS Amazon?

my current iPad Pro got stuck in a loop verifying the OS11 update. Can't even turn it off.

completely forcing a reset seems to have worked, annoying

Absolutely. :awesome_for_real:
My wife's favorite quote is "Being nice is what stupid people do to hedge their bets".

I have an echo dot in the kitchen and I use it for times and music. It's great.

I have an Nvidia shield tv and im looking forward to Google Assistant.

Fucking amateur hour over at google. AMATEUR. HOUR.

They make it so fucking hard to BUY A PHONE.

What happened? The only thing the headlines tell me is that one or both have a very nice camera.

Argh.

Fucking iPad trade in website didn't take my submission properly 2 weeks ago when I submitted it and now the estimated value is $25 less. Of course, since it is a contractor that runs the website when I call them they say "your quote request was not submitted properly" even though I went through their process properly and asked for them to ship me a return pack. It kicked me to their "check the status" page as soon as I accepted their terms. Since "Apple sets the values" I am apparently out the $25 because I didn't call and check earlier.

The question now becomes, is it worth my time to try and navigate through the Apple bureaucracy to get that $25?

I’ve never once had Apple successfully bend policy or protocol. I enjoy the products overall, but I’m always purchasing with the idea they’re fucking me in one way or another. I hope you win.

Yeah, you have to go into being an Apple customer with the understanding of the massive ego of their corporate culture.

Man, Google. Fuck you. You release the Pixel 2 XL. You don't stock enough of the OBVIOUSLY superior black and white one. You offer a good price on a Pixel XL trade-in ($400). And then your fucking shopping cart breaks. And before you restock them, the price of the trade-in on the Pixel XL starts going down.

If Apple didn't offer even worse trade-in prices, this would be the end of that shit. I'd be on that ridiculous iPhone X in the blink of an eye. Alas, Apple's trade-in prices are somehow more insulting.

In Bizzaro World: my wife is considering replacing her iPhone 5.  Apparently the choices suck even in this situation.

I'm considering giving up my flip phone for my first smart phone.  Change IS possible.

Battery life on my old Fire tablet is down to maybe 3 hours per charge, and it won't hold charge for long when not in use.

Ordered a Fire HD 10 as a replacement.  Sure, it's shit for anything other than consuming media, but that's all I used the old one for anyway.  And it's dirt cheap.

Now I need to learn how to transfer my Analog/Asimov's Science Fiction magazines between the old and new devices.  I'm hoping it's just a matter of drag to PC/drag to new Kindle....

It's probably for the best that you can't get one right now:

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/10/18/16489756/google-pixel-2xl-awful-lg-oled-screen

https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/22/16518298/google-investigating-pixel-2-xl-screen-burn-in

I'm actually kinda debating going over to Google Fi with the Moto X4, which seems pretty solid for a midrange ($400) handset.  Just waiting to hear about how the experience goes for people first - I've been with AT&T (using cheap off-contract phones) for years now and have been pretty happy, even on the customer service side of things.

If you use over 8ish gigs of data Fi is pointless.

TMobile is better.

i use like 1gb a month unless i'm on vacation

I use like .04GB unless I'm on vacation. The old lady? Last month I had to up the plan to 12GB and she still went over. 4 times.

She's hard into the FB addiction. It's a problem.

Every time we've exceeded the 30 gig monthly cap, it was due to my daughter's data use on her phone.

So the kids' devices got moved to a separate AT&T unlimited data account and I added an LTE hotspot to it.  For once, living in the sticks has worked in our favor--the family killed the 22 gigs of guaranteed hi-speed data in a couple days watching Netflix & Hulu, but I've yet to see any deprioritization.  There just isn't enough network traffic around us for it to happen.

I was chuckling at the timeliness of watching ten minutes of youtube video at home on lunch because the power went off. For me, that's a pretty big drain! Only ten minutes because I just read a book instead.

It doesn't take long after the power goes out before I remember how ok I am with power being out (though I'd prefer a modern bathroom situation!).

I find the overall experience of Fi to be less than VZW.  The wifi calling is pretty shitty.  I think it is what phone calls sound like in Venezuela.  The coverage is less, except in my own house where it is still shitty but I can get calls over wifi.  Somehow I am now unable to place calls over wifi.  Yeah, the price is less but what the fuck am I working for if I am going to just use my money to buy something shitty?  The grave is fast approaching and I don't want to have to spend time not making calls.

I'm going back to VZW as soon as I can get a signal booster installed.

My place seems to be in some AT&T dead spot, so I have to use WiFi calling there anyway. Which is very :uhrr:, but whatever. Since it is only within a roughly 30 yard range, I suspect one of my neighbors is running some kind of jammer.

--Dave

Really? I use wifi calling on Verizon all the time and it's crystal clear.

I use google voice on an at&t phone, for the last few days outgoing calls can't be completed through voice.  At&t fuckery again I suppose. Or maybe google is just shitting the bed in the southeast

Razer has finally gotten around to showing us what they did with their purchase of Nextbit, and their first phone is a pretty impressive flagship-level device (https://www.razerzone.com/mobile/razer-phone).

I have no idea why I'd want a 120Hz adaptive refresh panel on a phone, but it's there.

Did they reveal the price? Also not sure it works on fi

Prices start at $699 for preorders.

Hmmmmm this or the pixel 2 xl

I mean, all that really matters in a phone is the camera

Playing games on Android is just dumb

I'd wait on the Pixel 2 XL till they sort out the screen issues. That said, I've given up on bleeding edge stuff, been cut too many times! So I just bought a Pixel (1) XL last week.

I'd also wait on the Razer. While some of their gear is spot on great (still use a 5 year old mice of theirs) they also have some really shitty products that clearly went through insufficient quality testing.

I agree re: Razer products being hit and miss.  At least this time, they bought a company that had actually delivered a phone before to jumpstart their entry into the market.  I'm using a Nextbit Robin now and it's been a pretty solid budget handset, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Razer phone is pretty decent out of the gate - they're sticking to using largely vanilla Android, which is nice.

Seconded on VZ wifi calling. It's fine. Tmobiles Wifi Calling is great too, but their coverage blows too much for me to use sadly, as they really are a customer friendly company.

Raising this from the dead for recommendations on new phones. I have used iPhones for the past seven years and currently hobbling along with my 6+ now that is slow as heck. Looking at the new iPhone models but so damn expensive. I'm tentatively considering switching over to Android but worried about breaking up the family Apple ecosystem (kid and wife both are using iPhones). Does it ultimately really matter having the family split on platforms?

I'm aware I will need to do some manual transfer of contacts and stuff like that, but the S9 monthly payment is like $26/mo and the Note9 is around $33/mo. And the darn new iPhone is over $40/mo!! If you have any suggestions or recommendations, let me know your experience. I'm trying to keep the costs down a bit, if that's possible.   

Have you done the discounted battery replacement for your 6+ and tried iOS 12 yet?

There are lots of iPhone models to choose from right now, why are you (apparently) only looking at the most expensive model(s)?

What's the primary OS on your home PCs?

1. No and No, but I will try it tonight I suppose. Regarding the battery, my battery life is actually still fairly decent. Is there a link between the battery and system performance?

2. I was only looking at new models to maximize the purchase value, assuming I got four years out of this 6+, I would like to get four years out of my next phone and buying an 8 or X won't be that much less in cost but may only last 2-3 years before the system software is 'old'.

3. The kid and I are using Windows 10; wife is MacOS on a lower end MacBook Pro.

**edit - I should say that none of us in the family are really using our phones and PCs together all that much. I offload my photos to Dropbox monthly. The only real challenge to the upgrade for me is setting up 2FA tools again and contact info.

I switched over from Android to iOS in Jan for two main reasons:

1. everyone in my family and my wife had iOS devices; so having the convenience of platform stuff.
2. T-mobile was having some sweetheart deal where if my wife upgraded to an 8 series, she'd get a free iPhone8 if I was bringing my number off a different service which I was. So we got her an 8+ and I got the free 8.

Yes, iOS can throttle performance depending on how much life is left in your battery.

https://www.apple.com/iphone-battery-and-performance/

iOS 11.3 added the ability to change the battery-related throttling settings but you may want to get the battery replaced while the discounted replacement cost is still in effect (through the end of this year) if you plan on handing down the phone.

iOS 12 promised and delivered better performance even on old devices so it's something to consider if you don't mind the inevitable issues on the first release (12.1 should be out when the XR is available):

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/09/ios-12-on-the-iphone-5s-iphone-6-plus-and-ipad-mini-2-its-actually-faster/

Unlike most Android phones, Apple supports their older hardware for a very very long time (in mobile-device years). Based on previous models you are looking at around 5 years of major iOS updates from when the device launched. So something like the iPhone 8 will likely get major iOS updates through 2022 (launched September 2017). In contrast, something like the Samsung S7 which is only 2.5 years old is already out-of-date on the OS-side as it won't be getting Android 9. Basically on Android you are lucky if you can get one major Android update on a brand new phone before those stop. Even Google phones (Pixel and Nexus) are not much better as they only promise 2 - 3 years of major OS updates.

In any event the iPhone XR is brand new (actually it's not even out yet, have to wait till October 23) and cheaper than the XS and close in price to an S9 ($749 for XR 64 GB vs $720 for S9) if you are looking for something cheaper. Forbes has a good run-down of the differences:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2018/09/19/apple-iphone-xs-vs-iphone-xr-whats-the-difference-upgrade/#38525ed65984

I am still on an iPhone 6 (granted, it is a refurb only 18ish months old because I had to have it replaced when the  replacement screen popped off due to battery swelling so my battery is not totally degraded yet) and it still runs nicely. But it is 4 year old hardware and it is still supported by Apple. I have not updated to 12 yet because I don't like being on a .0 OS release with iOS but I will probably have to update next weekend even if the .1 or whatever is not out because I am traveling to the UK in 2 weeks and my carrier recommends being on the newest OS and updating carrier settings before using the international roaming.

I plan on buying an 8 to replace it in November/December and expect that to last me 3-4 years before I need to replace it (hopefully they will have figured out how to put the touchID sensor behind the screen and I won't be forced to use the stupid facial recognition).

Hmm. Lots to think about here.

Thanks for putting that info together, Trippy. Much appreciated. Also thanks to the other opinions, that was exactly what I was looking for.

I'm an old fuck who can't explain all the technical crap, but I use an Ipad Mini and Android phone, my wife has an Android phone, and my kid has an I-phone. All on the same plan/network. We all also run Windows computers. All seem interchangeable at this point and we haven't run into any problems for the two years we have had this mix.

Only thing I insist on with i-Things in my family tech ecosystem is that I refuse to learn how to configure them, so if my family members want to use them, they're on their own if they break. My advice is limited to "Turn it all the way off, and back on again."

--Dave

The previous two major iOS upgrades seemed to slow my phone down considerably each time; on 11 the phone was becoming a real chore to use. However, 12 has significantly improved the response time of most things on the OS. If everything stays the same I might be able to stave off an upgrade for another generation at least.

Thanks again for the advice.

Get a Fairphone.

But the world isn't fair.

I've been using the same iPhone 6 since around when it first came out and earlier this year was the first time I really started having a noticeable performance and battery life issue.  I paid ~$40 to have a new battery put in and it was like having a brand new phone.  It sounds weird, but it seriously made a huge difference.  It worked so well in fact that I went ahead and did the same thing on my son's 6s.   Highly recommended if you're happy with the old phone and want to get some more time out of it.

I'm also on iOS 12 now but I din't really notice a difference good or bad after updating.

Same thing with my wife's phone.  iPhone 6+ and we put a new battery and iOS12 and it's snappy and responsive.

Need some advice on a smart phone.  

1. I don't care about the camera.
2. I want it to primarily act as a phone.  So call quality, reception, and battery life.
3. Durability a plus.
4. I'd like to stay on the cheap end.  I'll spend more money if I see a reason to.

Looked at Asus zenfone and Motorolo Moto G6.  Suggestions welcomed.

Edit: With Verizon for connection quality where I live.  Might change, probably not.

What size phone/screen are you looking for?

Whose your carrier and do you want to be tied to a multi-year carrier plan?

Never owned a smartphone, so no idea on screen size.  Like the idea of web access, GPS, and a few other apps.  Figured I should try it.

With Verizon at the moment.

Motorola has really gone downhill, I can't recommend their products in any capacity. Asus makes good tablets, I'm on one now, have never used their phones.

--Dave

???


 :oh_i_see:

My advice, get the cheapest smartphone you can for right now, since anything you get will satisfy your basic requirements. Looks like Verizon sells ancient refurbished phones in either iPhone or Android flavor for under $200.    That's hopefully cheap enough that if you decide after a year of usage that you want something with a bigger screen or more storage or a better camera or whatever you won't feel obligated to stick it out with the old one rather than upgrade.

Thanks to the both of you.  I'm actually a bit sad about giving up my flipphone, with its one-week-without-a-charge capability, but it's probably time. 

https://www.nokia.com/en_int/phones/nokia-8110-4g

snort

edit: I have no clue if you can buy it or even if it'll work. but...

I made the move from a burner-type phone (that I almost never actually carried on me) to an iPhone in 2010.  Prior to getting a smartphone I would have said "oh, I never actually use my phone, so I don't care about any of these features," but once I got used to having a web browser, gaming platform, decent quality camera, GPS, photo album, video player, etc etc etc in my pocket, I very quickly wanted it to be as good at all those things as it can possibly be.

I'm 10 years behind you.  I got my first cell phone (flip phone) in 2008.  I used to hike in the deep middle of nowhere with nothing but a compass.  Times have changed.

In some ways I envy your ability to resist the technology, because this goddamn thing seems to be consuming my life.

On the other hand, modern smartphones are literally miracles.  If you step back and think a little about just what they can do, it is nothing short of astonishing.  Does it improve my life in any measurable way?  I don't know.  It's a bit of a paradox.

And I thought I was late! I used to bike and hike around with a compass and paper maps. I still carry a compass when I travel. I resisted phones until 2000, despite being a journalist for a technology magazine. This was my first, and it even looked comical then:


I still keep to a low budget for phones and I'm still only on a Galaxy S7. It gets a real workout because I have the tech knowledge and I'm rarely without it, but compared with some people I don't live my life on it (no Facebook app, no Messenger, no Instagram, no Whatsapp).

That's right about when I began using a flip phone, as well. I went to the dark side in 2014, no ragrets, smart phones are handy tools if you can afford them.

And I used to hike without a compass :D My general aversion to gadgetry provides me some enjoyment in my profession.

So what do you other Luddites suggest as a good first smartphone?  Any advice on plans? 

Budget?  Would used be an option?

My feeling is generally 'if you're going to do it, do it right' with a hefty dose of 'don't cheap out and then hate the experience'.

I could probably use the new camera style on the samsung s9, but I'm holding strong with my s7 edge. It was a great upgrade from the s5, which felt underpowered. The s7 edge doesn't feel underpowered, does what I need it to do, so I'm enjoying the time not paying for a phone. I was also looking at a Pixel when my upgrade window opened.

I think you'll enjoy the upgrade to a smart phone, they really do a lot of useful things despite all the nonsense most people use them for :)

Yeah, I’m going to agree with that sentiment.  My first smart phone was the latest iPhone at the time, and I never looked back.  Get something good to start with, so you can fully appreciate what they can do.  If you still hate it, you can buy cheap terrible ones for your next upgrade.

Everybody seems to be raving about the Pixel as an iPhone or Samsung alternative.

I've got a Pixel 2 XL, I really like and Google's magic algorithms mean it has a really neat camera (your not caring about cameras notwithstanding). Battery life is solid on it.

One thing to bear in mind when looking at relative phone sizes: People are rarely happy going from bigger screens back to smaller screens provided you can fit the thing into your hand reasonably comfortably. Also relative to flip phones, smart phones are super thin and what sounds like a gigantic block actually turns out to be pretty small in your pockets. I've pretty much grown up with mobiles and got my first smart phone relatively early (the original Nexus I think) but don't use it as much as quite a few other people. If you travel much or have friends abroad it makes calling or messaging with them suddenly really, really easy. I keep in touch with friends all over the world in a way that I never did through facebook just because it's on my phone and pops up (I refused to install facebook messenger because they won't let me use their web interface to access my messages).

Some solid advice.  Do it right the first time.  That's essentially what Schild also said on Discord. 

Android is probably my first choice.  With the new Pixel coming out, I may wait for the price on the Pixel 2 to drop a bit unless anyone could suggest a reasonable alternative.

I've always liked Samsung's stuff; I'm currently using the Note 9 but the 8 is probably fine and cheap at this point. The Galaxy series is slightly smaller and less expensive, but the Note series comes with a stylus for easy note taking, drawing, etc.

Same. I went over to LG phones for a long time (G2 and G4) and loved some of their features (tap-tap wakes the screen) but returned to Samsung at the S7 and I'm so impressed that I'll probably stay. I previously had a Samsung S2 and S4 (4G version), which were both incredibly solid phones. Even when I had the LGs, I would use the S4 to hold a data SIM in WiFi hotspot mode, for travel and moving house. Still works and never skipped a beat, and the S7 has been even better (two years on).

Great stuff.  Thanks guys.

If you just want to dip your toe in the water you can buy an iPod touch and get the smart features without having to change your phone. Of course it only works on wifi.

I was thinking something like a refurbed iphone 6s or the Samsung equivalent like a refurbed 7.  Pretty cheap, and still pretty marvelous.

Do try some different sized Smartphones first. Like just ask colleagues/friends if you can quickly try it. Pull up a news site you regularly check to see how well you can read the screen and maybe pull up a Youtube video. Also try to type a message with it.

Speaking of typing:
I exclusively swipe on my phone (Google's Gboard has that built in) but find that nobody else seems to do that. It's by far the easiest and most forgiving way to type one-handed on a smartphone especially since Gboard has a one-handed operating mode (so stacking the keyboard more to one side). Anybody else using that?

You do realize that you are explaining to a caveman who just discovered fire about the proper roasting technique of marshmellows and the correct temperature at which to remove a flank steak from the grill  :awesome_for_real: 

I swipe type and have since my first google phone that offered it. Tap typing is just weird.

I run a multi-million dollar cancer research facility where I repair and maintain state of the art equipment myself.  I think I can handle a phone, smartass.   My delay in getting a smartphone was largely born from not needing the utility.  The short battery life was also an annoyance as I didn't want to carry a backup power source every time I went on a deep hike. 

 :geezer:

Hah! Git 'em, grandpa! My favorite flip phone moment was at a tech conference, maybe 2012. Topic was BYOD at the workplace, and the presenter was asking everyone to hold up their phones and say what model/OS... there was an audible gasp when I held up my Tracfone flipper  :grin:

Battery is something you kind of get used to. Lots of backpacks have USB cables so you can put a battery in them to charge devices. The s7 has a fairly decent battery, depending on how you use the device, of course. It's the main thing I like about s7 over the s5 I had.

I'm also a swiper. I hate typing on a phone, it's one of the things I'm willing to allow in my generation gap, so to speak.

I am well aware lol

I was more poking fun.  Your comment did make me chuckle. 

Putting in my two cents on the subject of the camera: I felt the same way but it turned out to be one of the most useful features this little super computer in my pocket has.

Being able to take a quick snapshot of lists, notes, schedules, plans, etc etc is invaluable. I document every step of a project now, not just to post pictures here but to make sure I have a clear record of the positions of stuff like wiring and plumbing that will be covered up later. Also it is tremendously handy when you are at the store trying to remember the sizes and types of fittings you need to be able to whip out the phone and double check. You can even quickly show the guy trying to help you images of the project so he can actually help you.

Note: Get in the habit of tagging photos right off. Very helpful when you are looking for above mentioned wiring locations.

Any thoughts on a refurb Galaxy S7?  Too much of a risk buying a refurb?

Buy a new phone.

On battery life - smartphones can last for days if you leave them on airplane mode when you don't need to use them. Not being contactable is a plus too :grin:

I'd support going for a basic smartphone (I have a Moto G4), they do 90%+ of what a higher end smartphone can do!

You've been right so far.  I'll listen this time.

The cost difference on a refurb or used with phones is not worth the potential hassles. Regardless of manufacturer.

Dunno if you can still get them new, but I LOVE my Pixel XL. Great phone, great display, great battery life, FAST charge on USB-C (limited somewhat to compliant chargers), great camera, uncrappified version of Android, and it has a headphone jack (unlike newer phones). It's my pocket note keeper, maps/gps/navigation, music player, web browser, flashlight, photo album, casual gaming device, calendar, alarm clock, timer/reminder, ebook reader, bubble level, planetarium/star map, address book, camera manual, car music source, ...

In addition to actually taking decent photos (well beyond snapshot quality) I take pics of whiteboard stuff, things I'm trying to fix/work on/need a matching part for, paint labels to get match at store, frozen food packages the picky grandson actually likes, interesting landscaping or design ideas, etc.

I even text with it occasionally and once in a while even make/get phone calls, but honestly I would still take it everywhere even if it couldn't do telephone stuff!

I have a couple small usb-power bank thingys. Sometimes shows have flaky power and I have to be able to take credit cards. They're good for throwing a quick charge onto a phone without taking up too much space/weight.

This but a Pixel 2 XL, Google Keep is actually my favourite app. I've found it great for going to conferences or presentations to be able to take notes and pictures of slides through the app so I have multimedia records of it. It can also auto generate a Google doc if you're at a training session or something and want an easier to work with format.

Also being able to take pictures of things and pull the text out is surprisingly useful at times, quickly generate a shopping list by taking a picture of a recipe ingredient list in a cook book for example. Can be hit and miss of course but smart phone uses are really, really incredible when you get down to it. If you travel abroad at all Google translate is also really, really invaluable. The auto-translate feature (where you hold it over printed text and it translates on the fly) is also very hit and miss but pretty cool when it works.

Dude, I didn't know the Google Translate app had the camera thingy built in.  I even just held it up to the monitor an it instantly translated your post into Swedish!  I have no use for a Swedish translation of your post, but it was still magical nonetheless.

I've been living and dying by the google translate apps camera function for several years now.

Earlier this year I grabbed some bluetooth earbuds (Jabra Elite Active 65t) and I'm a convert. They're not perfect, but my main gripe is that they made the solo earbud the right one, and I use the left at work (my desk is open on the right side, and my left ear has more hearing damage, so I try to preserve my right ear). On the other hand, it's fun when people walk up to my desk and start talking to me and I don't notice for a few minutes  :drillf: Of course, at work I pair them with my laptop, which doesn't seem to support the bleedthrough feature. At home (paired with my phone, usually) I can hear if the old lady says something, which is really handy.

Case is the same mini USB as my phone charger, so one cord for both is also handy.

Yes, but Snake is preloaded.

I can threaten the boy with this if he gets careless with his iPhone.

Ok, this is useful.  VERY useful. 

I may wait and see if the Pilxel 2 drops in price when the 3 comes out soon.

I barely take notes anymore, the phone camera was one of the biggest game-changers for me. Wiring diagrams, connection info, config screens, error messages, etc. And it keeps it for reference. I work with some foreign vendors, and it's nice to skype them and stick my camera in the machine so they can watch what happens as they make software changes in Croatia or w/e.

And it's possible to have a smart phone and not be 'that guy'. I chuckle in the evenings when I'm in my recliner enjoying a good book and the fiancee is buried in her phone (she being the librarian and me the tech guy). I generally don't like gadgets, but I do love good tools.

Anyone have any good bluetooth earphone/headphone recommendations?  Now that Apple has broken compatibility with standard headphone jacks I have to cut the cord, because fuck the lightning-connector version.

Wait a week or two to see if the AirPod 2 is announced?

While bluetooth ear buds are tempting, and wires are a royal PITA, I've unfortunately been contaminated by The Countess with an appreciation for high fidelity, especially bass. And while you can't feel earbud bass in your pelvis (or all your bones) like you are supposed to, the wired Klipsch buds she gave me after she switched to headphones are absolutely incredible. To the point I started using them in the old car even because they sounded so much better than the 8yr old car speakers. I've yet to find bluetooth buds to match, and probably couldn't afford them if they exist.  The Klipsch were definitely not convenience store rack cheap as it was!

I have been happy with the stuff from BlueAnt over the years. I have a pair of their waterproof ones for the gym and they work well. Especially considering they are priced a lot better than other non-alibabamarketplace brands.

I have a three-year-old pair (https://www.whathifi.com/sony/mdr-zx770bn/review) of Sony bluetooth noise-cancelling headphones that I use with my Galaxy S7. I commute by train and foot, listening to podcasts along the way, and when I get to work I plug them into the work PC as wired headphones. I've put them through hell and they're still going strong.

But I recently researched the best active noise-cancelling bluetooth headphones and tried them in a store, and if you can afford it, there is NOTHING as good as a pair of the latest active noise-cancellers. Best are either the Bose QuietComfort 35 II, or the rival newer and slightly better Sony WH1000XM3. You might still find last year's Sony WH1000XM2 at a cheap price now that the XM3 is out, and they are almost as good as the other two. I ended up buying a pair of XM2s for my wife and she likes them.

They all work similarly to mine (they can switch between bluetooth or wired) but with much better noise-cancelling. Like, you put them on and the world becomes totally silent except for what you are listening to. Great on a plane or in a noisy work environment, but a little dangerous in the street (you can always switch the noise-cancelling feature off and on as needed).

Assuming music listening is one of the key use cases you have for it, you might have to explain what kind of features are important to you in terms of the sound signature.  I might be the exception, but I need powerful, loud, high energy phones, because that is what I listen to.  Must of the noise cancelling stuff sounds awful to me, because they tend to seriously lack power.  YMMV

Within the in-ear, I have tried cheaper stuff from Taotronics and Soundpeats.  Of these, the Soundpeats (Q35s I think) are for sure better, and so cheap they are worth having as a second pair.  In the pricier range, I tried out a pair of Beats Xs, and was hugely disappointed.  They have nothing going for them and cost a small fortune.  I replaced them with somewhat cheaper pair of Jaybird X3s, and I am quite happy with these.  They are probably in the real world only slightly better than the Soundpeats for my kind of listening, but the Jaybird app you can get to customise the sound signature puts it over the top, especially if your phone is outputting bad sound (as is the case of my super expensive iphone X).  It hardcodes the EQ settings you want into the phones themselves, so the signature will follow to the next device you use it with.  The Jaybirds are all around the best wireless In Ear I have tried for my tastes.

I won't say much about Over Ear, because I am probably different than others when it comes to tastes.  Noise cancelling?  If I can hear the outside world, it is because the music isn't loud enough.  THAT SAID, if you like it loud and powerful, get the Skullcandy Crusher Wireless headphones.  They have an over-the-top bass adjustment slider that is patently asbsurd (and synthetic as hell) if turned to maximum, but if you use is just ever so slightly it actually ends up being quite nice.  In fact, although they are intended for music, they end up being shockingly good for movies and video games on a portable device or in an airplane.  The stupid bass slider is actually wonderfully for games and movies, becuase here you can have the sound turned down, but the bass boost is still significant, leading to a much fuller sound at low volumes.  They sound hysterically better than a pair of Beats Studio 3s at half the price.  But if you want something accurate, soothing and noise cancelling...no.

The Jabra Elite Active 65t are what I have, and I'm quite happy with them. I'm not an audiophile, but they sound good for earbuds, in my opinion. I listen to everything from classical to metal. Sound passthrough on mobile devices is decent.

And as a former musician with hearing loss, don't listen to Cyrrex at all. A snug pair of earbuds means you can reproduce the feeling of volume at much lower db.

As a side note since we're talking bluetooth sound, I'm disappointed that the PS4 can't send sound to my bt earbuds. Plugging my cans into the controller is super awkward.

October 30 is the date for the next Apple event where the AirPod 2 may make an appearance.

I have a set of Treelab earbuds that can bluescreen my media center if I turn them on and off really quick.

They come in a really snazzy case though.

Agreed. Picks up my BT keyboard automatically but fuck your hearing device... oh unless it's specificly the PS4 headphones. Those are just fine.

Glad I got the Arctis 7. Works perfectly with the PS4. They are a little bulky, but they work and sound great. I can just move the little receiver between the PS4 and PC with little issue. If you have a really huge head, I'm not sure they'd be great for you.

Before that I had a cheap bluetooth set that worked well. Just paired it with my TV. Easy.

Quit pulling your idiotic "as a former musician" card.  It qualifies you for exactly nothing in this conversation.  I can counter it with "as a person who owns thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars worth of audio equipment" and it is just as meaningless.  Your second sentence is patently untrue, or rather, not so simple as you state it.  Poor headphones sound poor no matter how snug the earbuds are.  And "snug" isn't enough to do it anyway, the signature changes depending on the material, the shape of the buds, the size of the driver, the angle it is in your ear, etc.  And power matters, it always matters.  

Edited to add:  Whenever I make a recommendation for something "high volume and or high energy" I usually mention the caveat that my tastes are different than many.  I have a very high tolerance for loudness, and always have.  I gave this caveat when I recommended the Skullcandy Crushers.  These are for particular tastes (although most people would probably like them for lower volume multimedia purposes).  For the IE recommendations above, I gave no such caveat because I was not factoring my unusual tastes into my recommendations.  The Soundpeats really are good, inexpensive IEs.  The Jaybirds are great mid priced IEs, and probably sound better overall than most top priced stuff.

What is lost in these conversations is the source material for the signal.  The device you use to listen to headphones makes a huge difference, wired or unwired.  Very few people understand this or factor it in, which isn't surprising because professional reviewers also fail to factor it in, or at least, they fail to explain it to the public.

I have a set of these Arctis 7 as well for the PC, and I agree, they are great.  I would probably like them less for the PS4 as you lose the SteelSeries app to control the sound, but these are probably my favorite PC headset ever.  Drawback is the receiver.  I really wish they would have just gone with regular bluetooth.

I think the question was about bluetooth headphones to use with a phone.

A 'high tolerance for loudness' is another way of saying 'hearing loss'.  :why_so_serious:

Anyway, back to the point. I'm in headphone mode at work today, and though I've owned the Jabra for a few months now and listened to a ton of stuff it still blows me away how much better the Emperor of Sand sounds through them. Tons more detail and the bass lines are nicely audible. That last is great, because they tend to mix thumpy on their albums, it beats up my sub in the truck. Mastodon is layering a TON of stuff in their mixes, it's nice to hear so much of it coming through.

They may not be audiophile quality, but they're about as good as one could hope for with the current state of consumer true wireless bt earbuds.

To get back to pass-through, I mentioned I could hear my fiancee when I have it turned on (not well enough to carry on much conversation, though). With it off, the isolation is great, I killed my leg playing drums when I got them, my new drum monitors.

+1.  One thing I do like about the receiver is that it can do passthrough - I have a set of dinky speakers on my desk for when I want to play sound to share with the family (youtube videos etc).  Big fan of the Arctis.

Probably normally a fair assumption, but I have had a high tolerance ever since I was yay high, even when I had confirmed perfect hearing.  At 45, my hearing has only degraded slightly (after a billion hours of unsafe listening for more than 30 years), probably no more than average, and I seem to be able to hear high sounds just fine.  So, it is a thing.  My oldest boy has a really low threshold, for some reason, and always has.  There is nothing wrong with his hearing per se, though as a youngster he had issues with infections and stuff.  He inherited some genetic inner ear weakness from his mother, that much I know.  Ears are different?

Curious about your Jabra love.  In this neck of the woods (where their HQ is and I believe they are produced as well), they are generally considered okay-to-poor sounding, but feature rich.  Jabra in general, that is, not the model you mention.  What are you comparing them to?

I have a pair of jaybird x2 and they are great for doing anything active. Decent sound. Great fit and can take a serious workout session/sweating.

As for over ear headphones, I just got a set of the Sony w1000 x m3s and I think im in love. The noise cancelling works. For listening to music everything else is shut out pretty good and you are left with just a great range of sound. I have listened to songs that I have listened to a million times before and am picking up little bits that I never knew were there previously.

I am finding them pretty comfortable and as a dude that sweats easily these are not too bad at all.

As for getting the previous xm2s, I'd recommend not doing that as a number of people complained of cracking headsets. The new ones have a new design around the hinges and better plastics so they should be much more durable.

Bottom line is if you like music and want a great set of noise cancelling headphones you cannot go wrong with these. If you travel a lot or take transit on the regular then you need these.

On an overseas trip in October, the hotel wifi was weak and lacked security, and I thought "there must be a gadget that piggybacks this, boosts the signal and creates my own secure wifi network on top of it". So I googled up the Hootoo Tripmate Titan (https://www.amazon.com/HooToo-Wireless-10400mAh-External-Performance/dp/B074LHG47K/), and have just taken delivery of one.

It's basically a battery with a router on top. If your hotel room has internet via ethernet cable, you can plug it into the Tripmate and create your own private wifi network. If there's only wifi in the hotel, it can connect to that and sit your own private network on top (great if the hotel limits the number of devices that can connect). This also lets you add things like a Chromecast to your hotel room. And if you connect storage to the Tripmate via USB, you've also got NAS. And the only thing you ever need to put wifi details into is the Tripmate itself.

Being mostly battery, it doubles as a portable recharge point for phones etc, so you take it with you when you go out sightseeing for the day. I'm sure it will also be useful in other public wifi situations like cafes, but I haven't thought of those yet.

You do realize you'll be sending all your info to China now, right? :awesome_for_real:

My first touchscreen phone was a Huawei (https://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_u8150_ideos-3513.php). I'm doomed. Also, I live in a giant Chinese operation called Australia.

Super Duper necro, because why not.  It is the fucking apocalypse.

Anyway, I bought a 4K projector.  Ended up getting an Optoma UHD40.  It uses Pixel Shifting technology, which basically is a way of using a 1080p signal and replicating it four times faster than the human eye can perceive, thus simulating a 4k image.  Well enough that it officially qualifies as 4K, though falling a teensy bit short of true 4K to a professional eye (and costing waaaaaay less).  Cost me roughly...1150 bucks.

The long and short of it is this....placement was a goddamn bitch that required me to basically re-arrange my living space a few times.  Extremely inflexible.  I had gotten used to my 1080p Epson projector that had a brilliant shifting tech that let me put it almost anywhere.  This one needs to be almost dead center, and fairly low to the ground.  Annoying.

The picture, OTOH, is absurd.  Yep, looks like 4K.  I found one of those ultra HDR 4K youtube videos and put it up on the wall and it looks fucking unbelievable. At 4 meters of screen space on the diagonal, that’s almost 160 inches.  It is also bright as hell, I can actually use it in broad daylight.  Highly recommended if you have the space.  

Care to take a pic and post it?  I was looking into something when we finish the basement.

I'm waiting for my 1080p bulb to go out before I upgrade to 4k.  The most expensive part of a really good projector setup is the room, after that the furniture then the AV system, the projector itself is the least expensive thing in the whole setup (other than consoles, dvr's, cable box's and such).  I'm also convinced my screen is adding significantly to the experience (the completely non-reflective border squares up the projection perfectly so it looks like an LCD screen).

edit - So happy with my inherited BenQ 1080p projector I will likely go with them for the 4k upgrade as well.

Here's some pics of mine, with lights on and off:

(https://i.imgur.com/KpljdVj.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/oHlcklE.jpg)

If you are thinking of doing your own media room I highly recommend darker paint on the walls and a screen with a non reflective black border.  Luckily i didn't have to think of either of these things since they were there when i moved in.

After hanging my first big tv (82") by myself, it's likely the last big tv for me. I'll move to projection next time. I was just looking at that projector for the library earlier this week. Then they gave me a budget without asking me what I needed to do it right, so we didn't get it  :oh_i_see:

On gadgets: any recommendations for a 12" class android tablet that's cheap but not too crappy? We want to get one for the fiancee's mom so she can watch daily Mass, since she's starting to get depressed being cut off from church services. Needs to be big because she's also legally blind. We don't want to dump much money into it because it's such a limited need item, but important for the next few months.

If you're trying to play video on a tablet, you probably need to spend a little money. It may not be iPad level of money, but take it from me - don't buy one of the $120 Android tablets that are out there. I bought one of the Best Buy Insignia brand ones for about that much a year ago, and it's great as a comic book/eBook reader, but useless for trying to stream YoutubeTV or any of the other streaming services I've tried.

Why exactly?  Bad connection?  Bad screen?

I will see if I can take a picture of a projected 4K image and do it justice.  Not even sure I can figure out how to load it up here.

Like video was janky as shit bad, not to mention you could feel the Wifi antenna heating up in the bottom of the pad when it passed too much data.  :why_so_serious:

Alright, let’s try this.  For visual reference, those speakers on the side are 80cm high.

Bleh, I don’t want to bother resizing, because I think it defeats the purpose in this case.

https://imgur.com/ZXdgpCG (https://imgur.com/ZXdgpCG)

https://imgur.com/UWM0yZM (https://imgur.com/UWM0yZM)

Should probably add that this is close to Worst Case.  Maximum image size on a white painted and textured wall with no dark borders.  Not sure if the pics do it justice, the 4K nature stuff looks almost as good as my 65 inch Sammy.

Anyone have any experience with short throw projectors? Sometime in the next year I'm probably going to be getting a new tv. Current tv is over a decade old and how it survived, I have no idea.

In any case, I'm looking to go 75"+ and your typical projector is a non starter because I have no where to hang it from in my living room. I've seen some of those short throw projectors that throw against a wall from a table top. They any good? Waste of time/money?

I think this one I am talking about might be considered a short throw.  Better question is....how far would you have it sitting from the wall?  You can often find a calculator for whatever projector you are looking for.  I think Optoma’s site has a calc.  75 inches is pretty easy, I don’t think you have to be more than 8 or 10 feet away.  Maybe less.

Short throw is basically projecting up on to the wall, sitting where a conventional TV would sit.

So you literally mean a projector that is already sitting up almost against the wall?  Sounds....challenging.

Quick look tells me that you can probably get a really good 4K short throw that would do the job at about....18 inches from the wall.  But cost close to 4 grand.

I have used a couple Epson short throw projectors and they are ok. I wouldn't pick them as a primary Media room projector mostly due to the lack of features and cost. Also you would end up mounting it to the ceiling so why not just go with one a few feet back that is cheaper / better.

Quick question on USB wall charger units: Does anyone make any with a mix of USB C and A ports that isn't just one USB C + some number of regular USB ports? I've got a phone and chromebook that are both USB C but my kindle and headphones (and dive computer if on a trip) are USB A. I basically could usually do with 2 USB C ports and one, preferably 2 USB As for travel. I don't know if there's a technological limitation but it looks like multiple USB Cs never have a single USB A port tacked on, just the other way round.

Alternatively I guess I could hunt down a USB C - MicroUSB cable.

A charger with a single Type-C Power Delivery port that can put out enough power (>=45W) to properly charge a laptop is not cheap. Putting two such ports on a charger essentially doubles the price. My suggestion is just to get a charger with a single PD port for your Chromebook and charge your phone at a slower rate on one of the regular Type-A 2.4A/5V/12W ports with a Type-A to Type-C cable. There are plenty of those types on the market. If you absolutely positively must have two Type-C PD laptop-capable ports *and* Type-A ports this is what you want for $100:

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Charging-PowerPort-Intelligent-Allocation/dp/B07VSMK849

I haven't seen a charger with a single Type-C PD lower-power (45W) laptop port and another less powerful (18W) Type-C PD phone port *and* Type-A ports, which is basically what you are asking for.

Edit: clarified last sentence

Edit 2: spoke too soon, I found one with the above configuration for relatively cheap ($40) if you are willing to go with a no-name brand (I wouldn't):

https://www.amazon.com/Nozza-Charger%EF%BC%8CAdapter-Charging-Compatible-Nintendo/dp/B07Z8VVXTF

At 75W it provides just enough power for a 45W PD laptop, 18W PD phone, and 12W Type-A device.

There's also this 100W one similar to the Anker model from a slightly-less no-name brand for $55:

https://www.amazon.com/Charger-Key-Power-Desktop-Delivery/dp/B07THC5DJV

Another slightly less no-name brand, Satechi (never heard of them but they do at least seem to specialize in charging products unlike that Nozza brand above) also has both a 75W and a 108W dual PD + Type-A ports charger. This is the 75W one for $70:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07M97XGNZ

Personally I would just spend the extra $30 and get the Anker.

Those are pretty solid but big options. I'd actually be totally happy with lower power Type C options though. A regular phone charger actually puts out enough juice for the Chromebook. Definitely going to stick with the Anker though, I've heard way too many horror stories to trust a no-name Chinese brand with stuff that can actually explode.

Then you are back to my original recommendation with something like this (for compactness):

https://www.amazon.com/Charger-Anker-PowerPort-MacBook-Laptops/dp/B083LK6KMV

With the single PD Type-C for the Chromebook and 2 Type-As, one which you’ll need to used with the Type-A to Type-C cable to charge your phone, albeit at a slower rate than an 18W PD port can provide.

I had an Anker USB charger (circa 2014) literally melt, it is still a cheap Chinese brand. Luckily I had to move the iPad it was charging (our POS) and found the problem before it burned down the library (it was next to a shelf full of books).

I've begun doing without rather than relying on dangerous garbage (dad was a fire fighter and is appalled at the amount of cheap fire hazards people are loading their homes with).

At the least, never leave any of these things plugged in unattended. Inspect your fire extinguishers regularly and drill on their usage (that info needs to be in the subconscious when a fire breaks out!).