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David Walend edited this page Jun 7, 2017 · 20 revisions

Summary: I'm waiting for the next versions of operating systems to be available on new phones. I have five sample contenders, none have the latest OS yet. I'll wait a few more weeks to give Nougat and iPhone7/iOS10 time to get to market.

Cost-to-own the device will be between $500 and $1100 over the two-year expected life. About $300 will be connectivity. The rest is initial cost of the device. (That's up from $200 for two years with my dumb phone.)

  • Minimal network service on T-Mobile is a commodity which should come in at about $12/month, or ~$300 for two years, from US Mobile or a similar carrier.

  • There's likely about $100 of "other" lurking in insurance and app costs.

  • The big open question is "When will the new OS versions be available on devices?"

What's important:

  • Need texting to match other people's habbits
  • Two-factor authentication support for work. (Harvard is going to all-two-factor due to the Anonymous attack on HMS and Children's.)
  • Beam.in covers 2/3rds or more of my communication needs. http://beam.in/
  • Email (currently smpt from godaddy, could be moved - AWS SES? a problem for another day)
  • Phone call service for those two calls I do make per month. wifi (via xfinity when on the move) won't be reliable enough. Maybe next device.
  • Uber and Lyft
  • Some kind of map app.
  • Way to tell if a Green D train is a leader or a chaser. http://transitapp.com/ and http://www.mbta.com/rider_tools/apps/
  • Show a presentation, preferably from markdown. Is HDMI and a full-screen browser enough?
  • Phone insurance - Definitely want that.
  • Deb says "it needs to fit in your pocket so you can carry it to a park." , so either a handset (for existing pockets) or I change to utilikilts http://www.utilikilts.com/accessories/switchback/the-mocker.html .
  • Regular security patch updates.

For Hacking

General buying guides:

Which carrier?

  • I have to pay per-device??? I'll only be getting one, but that seems cheezy. I expect it's 95% of the time I'm using zero, 5% I'm using one, 0.04% I'm using two.

  • T Mobile has the best coverage for Boston metrowest, but all are reasonable. http://www.pcmag.com/article/345123/fastest-mobile-networks-2016/10

  • Small carriers - Consumer Cellular, Ting, and Republic Wireless - are much less expensive. Big carriers - AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, or Verizon Wireless - may have a better deal for multiple devices. ** "The top four carriers in our Readers' Choice poll last year were all virtual: Consumer Cellular on AT&T, Republic Wireless on Sprint, and Straight Talk and MetroPCS on T-Mobile." AT&T owns Cricket; Sprint owns Boost and Virgin; T-Mobile owns MetroPCS; and Google owns Google Fi, which combines the Sprint and T-Mobile networks. ** Tracfone is another prominent virtual carrier, with spinoff brands like Straight Talk, Family Mobile, and Net10" http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2367064,00.asp Deb already has a prepaid plan. ** "there are a few popular unlocked phones—most notably the Google Nexus series, the Moto X, and the iPhone 6 and 6s—that work just fine on all the national and prepaid carriers."

** Jason Ross likes Ting - good service.

Which small carrier

  • US Mobile's minimum is an a la cart menu, minimum is $2 + $2 for 100MB data (100 minutes of talk is $3, 100 texts is $2) "which is pretty impressive, and you can scale your plan up from there. The carrier uses T-Mobile's LTE network with any T-Mobile-compatible phone." https://www.usmobile.com/

  • Turns out the prices I saw were an introductory rate, but I don't use that much data. TPO for $10 a month covers my needs. 500 minutes, 500 texts, and 250 MB data. https://store.tpo.com/plans. Sprint.

  • Republic Wireless https://republicwireless.com/cell-phone-plans/ $20/mo for 1GB data. $30/mo for 2 GB. Wifi emphasis. Sprint or T-Mobile networks.

  • GoogleFi - http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2489872,00.asp - as of 8-2015, Nexus 6 only. Swaps between Sprint, T-mobile, and wifi (without dropping a call). Price is about right. Not sure if it's a google experiment or a long-term thing. Worth considering if either it works beyond nexus 6 or nexus 6 is the right fit.

Unlocked is the right choice in 2016:

  • "If you want to spend a total of $100-300 for your phone, opening yourself up to unlocked phones gives you some high-quality choices that aren't in carrier lineups. Blu Products sells several Android models in that price range, and we expect to see more from Huawei's Honor line in the future."

How much data?

I'm likely to use 2-4 GB/month tops, ever. I suspect I'll be well under 100MB most months. Dev instead of gaming, plus the commute. "4G LTE networks beating many home Internet connections in terms of speed"

OS

  • Latest Android OS is Marshmallow, 6.0. Previous was 5.1. Nougat is out, but not available yet.

"Nougat likely launching in August, with the widely-rumored duo of HTC Nexuses apparently hanging back until at least September." http://www.androidcentral.com/lets-talk-about-lg-having-first-phone-android-70-nougat

Nougat's new features are not critical, but are nice. In particular, notifications sound less annoying: http://www.computerworld.com/article/3110607/android/android-70-nougat-faq.html

Devices

Lots of Android phones in a table: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2483688,00.asp

"If you want a pure Google experience, then you want to go for either Nexus or Motorola devices, both of which deliver very clean, Google-centric versions of the software."

"True Android devotees should spring for the latest pair of Google Nexus handset, the 5X and 6P." http://www.cnet.com/topics/phones/buying-guide/

Google Nexus 6P $470 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2493305,00.asp "...sensor hub (which powers Doze, the power-saving feature in Marshmallow that puts apps into deep sleep when unused), an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a barometer, a proximity/ambient light sensor, a hall sensor (to detect magnetic fields), dual-band (2.4 and 5GHz) 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, GPS, GLONASS, and a compass." "With 32GB ($499), 64GB ($549), and 128GB ($649) storage options at relatively reasonable prices, the lack of expandable storage shouldn't be a problem for most users." "9 hours, 59 minutes of battery life" "The 64GB model we tested came with 53.67GB of available storage. "Editors' Choice for unlocked smartphones."

Why to buy Nexus (if Android) http://www.computerworld.com/article/3092228/android/nexus-phones-android.html - best security updates, OS updates, best fit into the ecosystem, and least gloppy bloatware.

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