Tag: phone fun

Phone Fun (Pixel 10 xl pro): Spaceballs 2 the search for more money.

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It’s been about two years since my last phone review and its time for a new one! When I had the ability to get a new phone I decided to forgo the Pixel 11, I have no interest in a light bar. It’s just influencer vomit.

Though google has to take one knock here on the pixel 11 , they took away the temperature sensor which is a huge loss to people who love the world around them. Searching for a hotspot on a motherboard or piece of electronics bust out the phone and find it. Your kid says she doesnt feel well you bust out the phone. Testing food to see if its done you bust out the phone. seriously google tripped on itself on the pixel 11 by putting in a gimmick rather than a tool!

Give or take it has the ability to bring back the oh so good notification lights! but anyways enough about the Pixel 11.

I ended up getting the Pixel 10 pro XL. As far as an upgrade at the surface from the 9 pro xl you spend a few days looking at the phone and go “So?” . Then, three days in, you glance at the corner of your screen and realize you haven’t plugged the damn thing in once, and it’s still sitting on a fascinating level of charge.

The worst thing about the smart phone generation was the fact you just about had to charge it every day. Google is finally seeing the sweet spot that most other phone developers have missed, A fucking phone that lasts.

My old metric for measuring phones was as so and it was valid for many many years. Phones have come away from just being a phone to the portable PC. All of this is good but as my old metrics I think we can make a change to come up with the times.

The new Metric is as follows (it closely follows the old but is more refined.

1: Communications & Media
2: Configurability
3: Durability:
4: Good battery life

Sure making phone calls is good but there was a time in smart phones that you could send a Telegram before you made a call, Im specifically looking at the Sprint EVO and some Samsung phones.

1: Communications & Media: The phone is much like the 9 to some point but you gain one more speaker out of the deal better sound at the earpiece and seamless Bluetooth connection and it sounds really good with the Bluetooth.
2: Configurability: What can I say when I am using a google pixel, It’s a Pixel it remains the modular Lego kit of the Android world, unlike Samsung where you can get yourself in trouble with Knox you can do just about anything, Install another OS, Install whatever you want within reason.
3: Durability: The frame on the pixel 10 seems a bit more rigid than the 9, While I dont want to drop it it seems like google had paid some attention to that years model.
4: Good battery life: The Pixel 10 Pro XL is much the same as the pixel 9 but with the changes under the hood no one sees anyone who does not pay attention to the phone would think that the 10 is not an upgrade, The 10 on many levels you could completely ignore and think you are not missing much. The phone has a fantastic battery life, I have gotten up to 4.5 days of use between charges. In smart phone terms that is another universe as far as usage.

The return of the temperature sensor is a welcome device because most people do not realize how useful that tool is. If you are working on a car engine and you are not sure about something you can pull the phone out and avoid the touch test to see if something is hot. If you have a kid that’s not feeling so good you can take the phone out and take their temp. If you have questions about food, surfaces and the world around you the pixels temperature sensor is your tricorder of the phone world. Given the inclusion of the ships computer of Gemini it gives you a tool kit that comes closer to the tricorder of starfleet with you pair a pixel watch to the phone.

Given that the Pixel 10 feels like a Fox Body ford mustang. While the economy version looks cool the pro version is the 8 cylinder of the phone world that actually has some good fuel economy. The 9 introduced the fox body and the 10 refines it into a monster.

Google needs to stop with the pixel A/B lines of Pro being a phone with all the bells and just make the pro the base model than market to engineers with an engineering model that has options to interface with machines using a OTG cable and keep the sensors and other stuff useful.

Phone Fun (Pixel 9 xl pro) .. Part live action reboot!

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So here we are 8 years later and sadly I have not updated this blog in ages. I think it’s time to go back to the roots.

With age we tend to lose some abilities. I like having a smaller screen or used to. The realm of the battleship sized screen always used to Irk me because I would be thinking where the fuck am i going to put this thing.

Honestly…. though I think i need to change my benchmark points here. When i used to post my old phone funs, my benchmarks were
1: To make Phone calls – I do think this singularly is still one of the most important things.
2: Configurability – I am not sure if this point is really valid in some ways the way i used to review phones. but, add/make ringtones and Applications should be bound into one thing now. These are almost a universal given these days.
3: Durability: This is still really important. with phones with back glass which is really fucking stupid, I should not expect to have a phone that you need to hold in a bubble.
4: Good battery life – this is hugely important.

So anyways… Here we go!

The Pixel 9 xl Pro … this phone is huge, you could land a small helicopter on it. The phone has a lot going for it. The early reviews were calling the phone out for not being powered by a stark Arc reactor and Ai …. While it has AI its really a point of Who the fuck cares that is on the phone. It has enough power to run any app on the store. google will never risk bifurcating the app store and have an app that will not run on all current phones.

1: To make Phone calls

For phone calls the pixel 9 xl pro gives a decent experience. the volume is decent the Bluetooth options are always nice. In reality in the past phone calls had more weirdness in the call quality area. Now it seems that call quality is more governed by signal…. which is annoying. With the collapse of options in the USA for companies phone call quality has more to do where you are standing than the phone itself. it is like the old days with walkie talkies. So given that location is an issue it would be nice for the phone companies to start working for more coverage in the urban environment , Do not show the bullshit maps of WE COVER EVERYWHERE…

2: Configurability

Pixel phones are generally one of the most configurable devices on the market. if you want to change your phone in to Dora the explorers backpack I’m sure you can do that. Ringtones, got that too. The app store however….. Now there is an issue. There needs to be more checks and balances in the app stores for google and others. App dilution is really at a maximum where you can search for an app you want and know what it is and accidently install some other bullshit app. Google should phase out older apps unless you specifically need them, give the users the ability to fence the types of apps you want. the updates for apps has become a bit more of a chore and while simple , its stupid.

3: Durability

Also with configurability , Phone case fall into this! I’ve bought phones that did not have options for a phone case or you have to wait for the next coming of jesus for a case to ship out (motorola) . Pixel phones always tend to have a good amount of cases with a slow rollout for choice. Getting a day one phone has one real risk. you get your new shiny phone and twenty minutes into owning the device you drop it and you see shards of glass. Generally pixels have some decent survival on drops.

4: Good battery life

This has always been a thorn in my side since phones have gotten “smart”. With the new phones added with bullshit technology such as AI and clouds, AI is a joke. its just a replacement of linear learning AI . It’s just standard problem solving we have had for 20+ years dressed up in a new coat of paint so our corporate overlords can brand it as SAS . But back to the battery … It is nice …. nicer than i’ve seen in years. Getting almost 3 days is amazing. That is more time than i’ve seen in 10 years.

5: overall impressions and opinions.

I think the idea of a phone is lost on companies. they are looking to turn the phones into the same devices we had in the 1980s …. The television. where all the phones functions are tied into advertisements and bullshit. almost every app is tied to the advertising , our information is being sold off for every tap , Every picture every move we make. this is horse shit. AI is a joke, it is not going to take jobs. moreover it is going to kill people in a non-terminator way, Almost every part of our phones has some insane subscription . the “assistant” on the pixel is helpful but it is no more helpful than the old assistant. Google seems to be dumbing down their old assistant to make the Gemini look smarter than it is . these new assistants are trained off of our words and our posts and more over it is making a linear answering psychopath. You want to learn to fuck ducks. you can now ask google and somehow if you word your phrases just right somehow the “new and improved” ai will find someone reddit post and tell you exactly how. but if you ask the weather… holy fuck . or ask it for something in your IOT .. shit.. i’ve seen the AI loose its mind and tell you some things that you did not want to know like the weather 4000miles away .

Lastly… is the pixel 9xl pro a good phone… time will tell. from the start i am going to say maybe yes. but i will favor the idea that it should be a phone i can have for a few years and not fall off the technology peak. So yes. Buy the phone. Don’t Smell the AI generated Roses and use your phone like any phone without AI .

Phone Fun part 12 Return of the king.

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Well now … Back to this ..
If you think about this , If you have followed this little sites quest for the one phone… Its been a long quest. Many have fallen. Much tech support bullshit was had, but to which end  each and every phone was used through and through, so In our eighth year of phone fun I figure why not.. lets visit the classic  style I had originally set as my standard for phones.
The Standard I set in the Samsung M520 post is kind of solid and holds up even to this years phones .

Even If we drop in the most recent acquisition the Nexus 6p  is reviewable with the old standards.

  • to make calls –

    Well this may be the weaker point of the review process but this is more over a fine point , If the provider selling the phone has a shitty network , most will point at the phone before the network.
  • The Phone is configurable

    This is paramount more than ever with phones, as companies try to release  phones with smaller space to save money this is where phones stand up for themselves.
  • good battery life

    Oh holy shit yes. on the most recent generation of phones battery life is in the toilet.
  • add/make ringtones

    Still a valid assumption due to some phones complicating the process needlessly. It may seem redundant but its not.
  • Applications that don’t cost a years pay for a small 3rd world country

    While technically not part of the phone review, you will find that on phones that sometimes phone applications make the phone.
  • Durable

    Yes indeed. durability … still an issue … from you farted and bent your phone in your pocket to a drop accident while taking a dump

I’ve had a few phones since the original phone fun . at a rate of one a year about.

Nexus 6p , Nexus 6 , Galaxy Note 3 , Galaxy Nexus , Nexus 4 s ,HTC Touch , M520 ,katana LX

With the Nexus line being the phones I’ve favored and when I have strayed I have been reminded why the stock experience is the way to go. My last non-stock devices were less than appealing in the long run.

 

So onwards with this review.

Again the old review process in play here lets start from the beginning..

 

To make Phone calls: The nexus 6p is very good at making phone calls , On the other hand places I’ve lived have been questionable at best for phone calls. Now the nexus 6p has the ability to hand off phone calls from WIFI to NETWORK to NETWORK flawlessly … When it works its fucking fabulous , When it does not work you wonder if the call was transferred  to a demons asshole for the weird noises it can make.. if this hand off can be straightened out it will turn a great feature into a brilliant feature.

Configurable: Being a Nexus phone give this phone advantage over most of the android phones out there.  Google give you a frame with a Warp engine and allows you to build off of It.  Rather than be stuck with provider baked in bullshit that reminds you to wipe your ass twice before swiping google trusts you enough to know how to download something.

good battery life: Unfortunately smart phones have one of a  few drawbacks… The battery life sucks and while building better and faster hardware seems to be the case of things , I can say the Nexus is not half bad. I get roughly 24 to 48 hours depending on use.

add/make ringtones:  Over the years this has become a redundant with configurable , Though it would be a subsection because who knows what the fuck developers are thinking .

Applications that don’t cost a years pay for a small 3rd world country: While this still has importance , the shift away from a per phone store is now a marketplace.  Out of the box this phone is more or less ready to go… I think one complaint that other manufacturers should pay attention to is.. STOP FUCKING INSTALLING APPS YOU THINK I WILL USE! IF there is something I have hated with the non-nexus phones was spending an hour getting rid of app after app of completely monkey shit.  Nexus phones do not do this.. its wonderful. But, When you have a phone with a notification going off in the middle of the night to remind you to put in your store loyalty card , you bet your ass that app is going to get deleted. in the past there were many purchases i made to fix the faults of phones that is not a litter of dead apps that i don’t use .

Durable: Durability , as it stands is kind of a moot point these days.  Unfortunately when you have a phone where one side is a large piece of glass , its hard to judge durability .. Most manufactures tend to sacrifice durability for aesthetics , The problem of aesthetics is …. the only way you see how “nice” your phone is , is if you go naked. These days its saner to just put a case on your phone to make it durable.  if you look at your phone the wrong way sometimes even with gorilla glass 473487234 your phone will end up fucked by a single micron of dust.

 

Over all the Nexus 6p is a comfortable sight. Its what you expect out of a google phone rather than the aborted attempts that manufactures try to collaborate with wireless providers for.  the nexus line is about choice and its something that people do not realize they have when they are stuck in the world of samsungs that want to sniff your asshole for caloric content to sell to who knows what.