I desperately need a new mobile phone. The battery in my 4-year-old Samsung Galaxy S4 is dying, it will barely hold a charge. I also suspect the USB socket is worn, or maybe one or more of the soldered connections is failing. The cheap plasticky emergency handset I had to buy (on my way to a funeral, even ..... but I'm not convinced there is ever really such a thing as a
good time for your mobe to pack up ..... unless you had
just done a full backup and were planning a holiday somewhere such as a desert island without even a 2G connection or something) hasn't even got enough storage to update its own pre-installed apps, and it won't let me move them to the micro SD card.
Anyway, I'm not desperate for a top-of-the-range phone anymore; my old S4 was not exactly slow. and I don't really like the way the high-end handsets are going. I'd rather have a mobe that was a full centimetre thick, if that meant a bit more battery life, and I'd rather have a few millimetres around the edges than easily-breakable edge-to-edge glass. But I really don't want another crappy, entry-level one either, though. It feels as though I am having to fight it all the time; which goes against my definition of a good tool, i.e. one that you can forget you're even using.
The following requirements, if not met, are absolute showstoppers:
- Android. At least Marshmallow (6), preferrably Nougat (7). I'm sure iPhones and Windows phones are raved about by their respective owners (it's just like the old Sinclair ZX Spectrum / Commodore 64 / BBC Microcomputer playground wars from the 1980s ..... ) but I have neither an Apple Mac nor a Windows PC, just Linux. Android devices are pretty self-contained (you can use any music file as a ringtone, you don't need to use iTunes), Linux can to transfer files easily both ways via a USB lead or Bluetooth connection, and the Android developers' tools exist on Linux (not too surprising, really, seeing as Android is basically Linux underneath .....)
- Screen about 12cm.
- Micro SD card slot. So I can have copies of important stuff that don't depend on an Internet connection. I've designed controls for gas appliances, where the order of the day was belt, braces and adhesive underwear.
- Camera with LED flash, that can be used as a flashlight. There's a lot of dark that might need exploring .....
- Available from Vodafone stores. I've been on a monthly contract with Vodafone long enoug, and my Upgrade Fund is full to busting after keeping the same phone for 48 months
- Removable battery. Forcible deprivation of power is sometimes the only language these things understand.
- 3.5mm. headphone jack. Not just for headphones, but as a general-purpose audio feed. I built a little amplifier with an actual valve, for my last phone -- there's just something about the juxtaposition of old and new technology that I can't resist. Fun fact: The electronics in a top-of-the-line mobile phone are roughly equivalent to somewhere around the number of valves the Mullard factory in Blackburn, Lancashire made during its entire working lifetime.
Any thoughts?
