I'm just back from a holiday which included dropping my phone and cracking the screen. The phone is a UMI Super which has served me very well, with the exception of a spotty GPS. However I found myself with a very real problem. The crack was across the top right corner of the screen about 1/2 an inch in from the top. It had the unfortunate side effect rendering the whole right hand side of the screen 1/2 an inch in unresponsive. This prevented me from unlocking the phone with the PIN (the fingerprint scanner on the back worked fine, however I forgot that I had set the phone to shut down during the night and it requires the PIN when the phone wakes up).
This effectively left me without a phone for the remainder of the trip and while I will get the screen replaced and continue to use the phone, I'm also considering getting a backup feature phone, or another smartphone, or when I change phone in the future move to a feature phone entirely.
In examining what I was missing out with the loss of the phone, I realise I only use it to message (the very odd call), Internet, Navigation and Netflix. However, with Netflix now allowing downloading of many shows, I can use a tablet better for this, and I can consider using a phone with hotspot for streaming and messaging.
What feature or smartphones do you suggest as a move away from large flagship devices? I have unlimited 4G data and am living in Ireland. My understanding is that most feature phones are aimed at the older generation (large buttons, loud speakers etc) and not for "I just don't want something that breaks easily" people. Budget is in the 100-150€ range, though I will entertain more expensive devices if the recommendation comes with good reasons.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 10 2017, @05:25PM (1 child)
> I used to swear by MIUI until last year. Not anymore.
Ha? Just switch to non-MiUI apps or LineageOS like OP suggested. That's the whole premise of the reply.
> it is now impossible to remove stock apps
That's Google's policy. The way they told the OEMs to do things is to allow users to install whatever alternative they want and set that as the default while allowing them to "disable" the stock apps.
> delete whole threads of SMS (it crashes),
No one uses the default SMS app since the secure messaging apps all replace them. Here's 10; Pick one: http://www.techradar.com/news/top-10-best-secure-messaging-apps-of-2017 [techradar.com]
> impossible to set a live lock screen wallpaper.
Setting a separate lock screen wallpaper isn't even an AOSP feature let alone a live wallpaper. It's mods and OEM roms that hack-in the feature. If you want it, use LineageOS.
> Their service is so bad, it is not even laughable.
Service? For a cheap smartphone? Seriously this isn't a $600 ISP contract we're discussing. This is a 100-150€ contract-less phone. There's the google account for backup and Google's lost-phone service. And when something breaks, you take your phone to whatever shop in the area that offers repair or you just look up instructions on how to replace a part and buy the part over at ebay.
> Whenever I ditch my Mi5, I am going for latest 1+ or, sucks to say, iPhone.
OnePlus are great but slightly out of the price range. Still, was mentioned in the links. As for iPhone... This again? At 100-150€ contract-less? Good luck with that.
Seriously are you trolling? It's like someone asking a recommendation about an affordable family sedan and being offered a Lamborghini from a guy complaining he wasn't satisfied with Toyota's service... Holy shit soylent is going down the shit can.
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Friday August 11 2017, @06:55AM
You getting paid for that, yo?
That's the most nonsensical reply anyone could have ever have devised without making grammatical mistakes. To anyone who has ever used MIUI. Nice try...
What the fuck is wrong in your brain, man? If I were not in my office I would literally be rolling on the floor. Right now I am trying to contain it at my laughter. WTF?
HA???? JUST SWITCH TO NON-MIUI APPS BWWWAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!
I was replying to parent, a fellow Xiaomi user. You confused it with your own parents.
Now THAT's trolling.