Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Biding Time Waiting for a Phone

brokenIncredibleBelieve it or not, I’m still using a Droid Incredible purchased the day they came out.  I'm on my fifth cracked screen and third speaker (all replaced DIY via eBay or Amazon), and the back cover is just about to fall off (so many little pieces have broken off that it can barely cling to the phone body on it's own).  I’m thinking about using some duct tape.  The Millennium Falcon only looked cooler with all that blaster carbonizing, right?  Same deal.

If it weren’t for the fact that a lot of new apps won’t run on anything that doesn’t have Kit Kat, I’d probably just keep the Droid Inc.  The form factor/size is just SO much better than all the giant “dinner-plates-posing-as-phones” that have come to rule the market.

But since I can’t hold back the tides of change, I have conceded to the fact that I will need to purchase a huge phone.

At least manufacturers are starting to swing back on their decisions regarding replaceable batteries and SD cards (my main reasons for not upgrading before now).

I've got a Samsung S5 in my Amazon cart.  It's been there for weeks.  The only reason I haven't completed my purchase is because until yesterday it was out of stock and Amazon was claiming "*should* ship within 2 to 3 weeks."  Their fulfillment claims are not good enough for me.  I've been burned too many times before, waiting weeks beyond when they’ve said things “should” ship.

But Amazon is selling for $99, as opposed to $200 everywhere else, so that's where I would (will?) be buying from.

The whispers of the new LG flagship started a couple weeks ago (soon after I put the S5 in my cart).

Supposedly it will release on May 27 (with it's own wearable, at an additional cost, but cheaper than Samsung's).

Not much is known about the LG G3 yet.  Probably an octacore processor.  Maybe a 16MP camera, but most likely a 13MP.  The G3 will almost certainly have greater pixel density than the S5, but after using the S5, I can hardly believe that it will matter (the Samsung’s screen is stellar).

The S5 is hampered by Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, but the camera on the Samsung is just SO kick-ass (not to mention the S5 shoots 4K 30fps video, which I will actually use).  And even though the Samsung’s fingerprint reader has it's issues, it's still a great feature.

So now I wait for the G3 specs to surface.  At the very least, I'm hoping the S5 price will drop when the G3 rears its head and I can purchase from somewhere I can walk out with a phone (vs. waiting for it to ship and then going through the hassle of activating with Verizon over the phone).

Until then, I slice my fingers on Gorilla glass and wait.