I will admit to being a Samsung fan. While I haven’t always had their top of the line - every Smart Phone I have had has been a Samsung. My last one - I finally decided to buy something that was not so slow - I bought a S8, and i love it.
But, I walk 3-6 miles a day, and I listen to The Tech Guy or talk radio while walking each and every day. I won’t buy a phone without a headphone jack.
Now, they have gone by the wayside for the various flagship phones.
Next time, I’ll have to buy a high end Nokia or something similar. I had to go with something besides Samsung, but they’ve given me no choice.
Anyone else looking elsewhere next time - for whatever reason?
Most of the big phone manufacturers are usually still providing a USB C/Lightening to 3.5mm adapter (or headphone adapted but that’s not as good) with their phones that don’t have a headphone jack. While I agree that it is annoying to have to use something like that I just wanted to put that information out there.
I hope you find something that works for you. I don’t personally use the headphone jacks for anything so I don’t have a dog in this hunt.
I had various Samsung phones - S3, Note 5, S8, but I switched over to an iPhone Xs in 2018. Very happy with it and probably won’t go back to an Android phone any time soon, mainly due to lack of consistency in Android world and software updates that don’t make it to phones more than two or three years old.
Headphone jack is not crucial to me. Beats X paired with my iPhone has plenty of quality and battery lasts a long time; a five minute charge gives another 2+ hours of play time if flat. I always found I snag corded earphones/headphones so once the sound quality went up on Bluetooth earphones I was happy to ditch the cord. I do a fair amount of walking - about 8KM per day and Bluetooth is fine; it was fine on a recent 20KM walk too and lasted me for the whole journey.
I expect I’ll be on a Pixel of some sort, or a Google branded phone anyway, for as long as Google has their own branded devices. I don’t like iPhones, and Samsung is just to full of bloatware. I suppose for some, the Google apps could be bloatware, but I’m very Googly, so I use those. Love my Pixel 3a.
My daughter is on an LG flagship phone and she swears she’ll never switch to any other Android. She’s the ONLY person I know with an LG! The whole rest of our family is on iPhones. Where did I go wrong!
I admit, it really is a nice phone and has been rock solid for her. I wish LG luck staying in the competition!
Yea, I suppose that would be an option, but I don’t want another dongle hanging off the phone… And, then I would have to try to keep track of it and not lose it. As it is, I keep 2 sets of earbuds at home, and 1 at work.
I found the unlocked S8 did not have a lot of bloatware. If you buy a phone straight from the vendor (ATT, Verizon, etc) - then it seems to have more junk on it.
Yes for sure. (Cough - Verizon - cough) So a PIxel on Google Fi is the perfect mix. When you say “not a lot of bloatware,” I guess that still means some, and since Google’s bloatware is the only bloatware I can accept, Sammy’s amount is still too much.
Heck, they seem to be getting taller all the time…though not necessarily wider!
I believe iPhone is coming out with a next gen of the SE…the itty bitty size of yesteryear! My granddaughter loved hers as it was the only phone that fit into her itty bitty pockets.
Well, I may eventually see if Samsung can replace my battery in my S8 when the time comes, in order to buy myself more time.
I don’t do any secure stuff on my phone. Just visit various forums on the internet and text. So, using an older android version is not that huge of a deal. If i can extend the life of the phone, I will.
Yeah you could upgrade to an S9 as well which is still getting android updates and security updates where S8 is just getting security updates which I’m sure will stop before long. The S9’s are not that expensive and are almost identical to the S8.
True. But, I have had the S8 less than 18 months right now. I got it right after the S9 came out. I paid $50 a month for 12 months (no interest) - so it took 1 year to pay off. I don’t want to go buy a phone right now. That’s another $450-$500 again.
Oh yeah, if you buy them new I can see that, I have never bought a phone new always used. The company I work for sales them for less then $200 for the S9 and less than $100 for the S8. Its pretty close the same on eBay. But I see your point and if that is the case the battery should be good for some time to come and by the time it is getting bad the S9 would just be cheaper.
Assuming the S9 is still on sale by that point - in another year or two - yes. I will buy the S9. But, we’ll see…
I’m just not one to buy a used phone. Hell, I know I have dropped phoned pretty frequently. The S8 not as much, because it is taller and narrower, so easier to hold. But, I used to drop my J3 literally 5x a day. I don’t trust buying used electronics.
I agree, I fell in love with having pure Android with the fastest most complete updates when I went to Google Fi and a Nexus 5X a few years ago. Currently I’m on aPixel 3a, it’s so nice to get security updates within 24 hours of their Android release. Other manufacturers and carriers can make you wait weeks or even months for them to approve the update.
Every Samsung phone has bloatware especially annoying is the custom Samsung messages app. Very annoying trying to help friends and family when they have an app that behaves so differently from the very good and reliable stock Android app.
so I use those. Love my Pixel 3a. 
