I'm traveling from the US to London and then to Scotland in about a week. I bought my Touch Pro 2 with this trip in mind because it's a world phone and can operate on both CDMA and GSM frequencies. What concerns me now is the voltage difference between the US and UK/Scotland (Here in the US we use 110v/120v. In both UK and Scotland they use 220v/240v). The charger is rated for 100v-240v which means it's okay to use in both places without a converter. I just want someone with some experience to confirm or explain otherwise. From what I understand as long as the charger says "input:100v-240v 50hz/60hz output: 5v I'm okay because it will convert it down to 5v anyway, correct?
Also, I heard from someone (who doesn't own a smartphone) that they've heard horror stories of people's smartphone's memory being scrambled from going overseas. This person said regular phones are fine, ONLY smartphones are in danger. I don't understand what would cause this, so I doubt it, but I'd still like to check it out.
I went to Italy and Spain and as long as I had the right adapter for the plugs, the charger worked fine. Same with my camera charger.
So you didnt have to buy a voltage converter? Just the adapter to change the physical shape of the plugs?
why not contact htc? seems that they may be able to provide the best peace of mind to your questions
So long as you get an adaptor (looks like this one, which costs under one UK pound) for the UK plugs for your US-based charger, it will work just fine with our English and Scottish-flavoured electricity we have over here.
When they say input voltage from 100-2340volts it means just that: in that range the adaptor will work perfectly fine to produce the required 5 volts output to charge your phone.
As to your friends "story", well it's just that: a story. a smartphone is a computer with radio chips that functions as a phone and happens to offer a windows mobile OS platform.
Likewise an ordinary Nokia phone is a computer with radio chips that functions as a phone..... so why would one get it's brain "scrambled" and not the other?
take your non WinMo owners story with a pinch of salt, but DO remember not to get chatted up by 2 nice girls in a bar in case you wake up in the bath missing a kidney! yes! it's true! it happened to a friend of mine... well a friend of a friend, he was in Asia, when he got chatted up...... (insert more urban myths here)
Joe
OP, you will be fine. I've travelled to many different countries with my TP2, including the exact two that you mentioned, and can assure you that you will *not* need a voltage converter, just the plug adapter. Best to pick one up before you go, but if not you will find *plenty* of them for sale at every airport you travel through. Don't worry. Have a good trip!
anarde said:
So you didnt have to buy a voltage converter? Just the adapter to change the physical shape of the plugs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, no converter needed, not for the phone, anyway. It is needed for things like hair dryers or shavers that plug directly into the socket without a transformer brick. I got a cheap set off eBay that has various plug adapters for just about any country in Europe and a converter in a hard case for $20.
The charger already IS a voltage converter, as long as the house voltage is within the rated range of the charger, and you have an adapter to fit the physical shape of the prongs, you are good to go. This goes with chargers for other devices, including laptops.
The story about a smartphone's memory being scrambled by travelling is hogwash. I used my Tilt2/Touch Pro 2 and my Tilt before that in Japan many times, and it works just like its supposed to. Like a previous response said, a smartphone is just a cell phone which happens to also have pocket PC functionality. A foreign country is not going to send some evil cell signal into your smartphone and scramble it. Somebody your friend knows probably just messed up their smartphone by dropping it in a squat toilet and blamed it on "travelleing".
Thousands of people travel to foreign countries all the time with their WM phones, iPhones, Blackberries, etc. If there was really some problem there, it would be well publicized by this point, not just one guy you know telling a scary story.
works like a champ
I've been to Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands with my AT&T Tilt 2 and it has worked like a champ.
The included charger handles 100-240V so all you need is the plug adapter for the specific country that you'll be visiting.
For an extended trip you could get a SIM unlock code from AT&T so that you can use a pre-paid SIM card while traveling.
Have a fun and safe trip!
I took mine to Australia and used it for SatNav where the heat from the sun through the window not only stopped the thing charging properly but made the glue melt and run out of the strip on the back around the PTT/Mute button untill it was partially hanging off.
I also took it to Thailand where the humidity caused all sorts of strange issues including it switching itself on during take off three times until I removed the battery. Also the buttons and keys gave unusual results when pressed.
Then I took it to France and used it as SatNav again. It was hot again and the glue came out again until I was in the airport in Switzerland flying back and the back caught on my bag, rolled up and became un-pocketableee so I pulled the back off. Much better now although ebayers may not agree.
Don't worry about taking your phone with you, all you need is a plug adapter which I guarantee someone or other will try and sell you multiple times during your journeys. Mine (still on stock wwe 6.1) even has all the data settings which it sets on insertion of a sim.
In the UK the cheapest prepaid sims are from the supermarkets, I'd go for Tesco or Asda. Asda is a little cheaper but the have fewer shops for you to top up in.
Hope this helps
Related
Due to an upgrade to a Kaiser, I have the following for sale:
TWO O2 Branded XDA IIs - One complete, one lacks stylus - Both are UNLOCKED.
One, my spare second one - the battery *may* be faulty. The reason I have two is that I had issues with it rebooting when i first got it, O2 sent a replacement and neglected to send a return bag . It ended up that it seemed to be the battery, so I used the original handset but the replacement battery, and I slung the replacement handset and original batt in a drawer. After rooting it out of the drawer (where it had lain for a couple of years) the battery seems to work fine and power was still over 84%. I will run it some to check. Maybe I was just being a noob or the backup battery hadn't charged.
Both handsets have some minor wear on the corners but otherwise are fine. No loose sliders etc. The rubber cap over the headphone socket on the main one is starting to split.
Also, there is a GlobalSat BT-338 SirfStar III Bluetooth GPS unit. I should have the wall charger lying around somewhere lol, I never used it though, I always used the car charger (Which I definately have and is included). A really great unit.
Also, there is a windscreen sucker mount for the XDA. Just a cheapo halfords one, but it fits perfectly and doesn't obstruct power or headphone sockets.
Also included is a retracting mini-sync cable - USB one end, custom XDA connector the other. Get a car lighter -> USB adapter (No! You can't have mine!) and leave that in your car, then you can use the mini sync you keep in your pocket with any PC or in your car to charge or transfer files.
Also included is a 1GB SD card. It is Integral branded card, it shows no speed but it seems to have enough bandwidth to play DivX off the card
Also included are two cradles - one for work, one for home
There should be two holsters, but I mislaid one the other day, I am sure it will turn up lol.
Would anyone be interested in the job lot? May split the 2nd phone off for a spares sale, but would rather sell the lot as one.
I can provide pics, I will need to bring the 2nd cradle from work, and see if I can find the missing holster / GPS wall charger first...
I live in the UK, but I suppose I would consider sending elswhere in europe. Would be unwilling to send to Nigeria even if were is for £10,000
Offers please
I think you will get your best deaL on on ebay here.
I suggest you list them separately
Might be interested in bidding on the spare one...
hardingt0110
I have just taken delivery of my HTC battery charger. It cost £9.09, came from Amazon and I assume it is genuine.
It works perfectly in my Nissan X-trail. However it does not work in my wife's Renault Clio (2003/4 reg).
Is there any form of adaptor I can get or do I just have to go down the route of trying the numerous chargers out there (a significant number of which are not to European safety standard, apparently) until I find one that works.
Or is anyone out there happily charging the Desire in their similar age Clio in which case what are you using? I would prefer to find one such as the HTC where data connection is not enabled hence allowing rapid charging, very important with the sat nav running.
Or do I have to buy a new car?....which seems a tad extreme nevermind how much I like the phone!!
Thanks.
How come it doesn't work? Is it the fitment etc?
You sure the lighter socket works in the car? A lighter socket is a lighter socket after all and the only thing I can think is that is has an odd shaped surround that prevents it from going all the way in. Our peugeot 306 is like that and I can't use my flush fitting usb charger in it.
Phil
Thanks for that.
The lighter works fine. I have been browsing Renault information fora and it seems likely that, unless someone comes up with "this is the one I use and it works", I will have to change the lighter socket, French ones being of a different size to UK ones in a car that age. Bizarre.
That's odd!
They probably did it just to annoy us brits!
I'm looking to buy the car dock, MHL Adapter and USB adapter for the SGS2. I was hoping that we'd have something in Canada by now, but it doesn't look like it. Anyone have any ideas where I can get these accessories, and when they'll be available (especially at Best Buy, as I have gift cards)?
BTW, I tried to order these accessories from Bell in early August. Their website doesn't show availability and I got an email a couple of days later saying that they had none in stock and weren't expecting them until end of August. I cancelled the order (as they charged my credit card right away and I don't trust them). I followed up this week to see if they had any in stock and they told me that they can't tell me. I have to place the order to find out. Ahhh, you gotta love Bell.
There is none available in Canada, I order my accessories on eBay, a Korean seller.
For cases there is a seller in Toronto selling authentic SGP cases, love my SGP Neo Hybrid!
Thanks for the reply. I checked ebay, but the price of the car dock was too high.
I ended up ordering the car dock and MHL adapter from ExportPrive (they didn't have the USB adapter). This was still a bit expensive, but the only place that I found cheaper was expansys.ca. After the reviews I read about expansys, there's no way I was going to order from them.
I have ordered a car,desktop dock and battery pack case as well as other cases all with expansys and have never had a problem.
It's good to know that not everyone has had a bad experience with Expansys. Probably more times than not there are no problems with Expansys, as people are generally more vocal about negative experiences than positive ones. However, I've read enough bad stories (even on their own forums) to not risk it.
It figures. After ordering the MHL adapter from Export Prive, I found a similar one for less from MonoPrice. I know it's not an official Samsung adapter, but I'm sure the quality is excellent, as everything else I've purchased from them is.
Here are the details:
Product Name: Micro USB to HDMI MHL Adapter - Black
Product ID: 8675
Price: $15.92
The current list of MHL compatible devices includes:
Samsung Galaxy S II
Samsung Infuse 4G
HTC Evo 3D
HTC Flyer Tablet
HTC Sensation
Oakville place had all accessories at the bell store
timby said:
It figures. After ordering the MHL adapter from Export Prive, I found a similar one for less from MonoPrice. I know it's not an official Samsung adapter, but I'm sure the quality is excellent, as everything else I've purchased from them is.
Here are the details:
Product Name: Micro USB to HDMI MHL Adapter - Black
Product ID: 8675
Price: $15.92
The current list of MHL compatible devices includes:
Samsung Galaxy S II
Samsung Infuse 4G
HTC Evo 3D
HTC Flyer Tablet
HTC Sensation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, I bought one. ill post up a review when it comes in.
ks2hot4u said:
thanks, I bought one. ill post up a review when it comes in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem. I'm pretty sure the quality will be pretty good, but I'm interested in reading your review.
BTW, I've since found that the Bell store in Ajax had the MHL adapter in stock. They haven't received any stock of the car adapter or OTG USB adapter yet, though.
Anyway, $16 from MonoPrice for their brand (+ shipping) vs $50 from Bell for the Samsung one...it's an easy choice. I just wish I would have found it a day earlier!
I received my order from Export Prive today (the 14th). I ordered it the night of the 8th, so it came pretty quick. It was pretty much right on their estimate.
If anyone's interested, here's a breakdown of the costs from Export Prive compared to Bell:
Export Prive:
1 SSGMHLADGS2 Samsung MHL Adaptor to HDMI Output for Galaxy S II i9100 $33.12
1 SSGVHCLDGS2 Samsung Vehicle Dock for Galaxy S II i9100 $51.02
Sub-Total: $84.13
Shipping via Express Mail Service (EMS): $17.90 (you can save about $5 if you choose a slower shipping method)
Total: $102.03 USD (came to $103.04 on credit card bill due to currency exchange fees)
Bell:
HDTV adapter: $49.95
Samsung vehicle dock (window mount): $49.95
Sub-Total: $99.90
HST: $12.99
Total: $112.89
As you can see, ordering these two accessories from Bell would have cost me more than it did with Export Prive.
I tried out the vehicle dock kit and I like it. It's light weight, yet solid. It comes in two main pieces. There's the arm that has a suction cup for the window / dash, and there's a holder for the phone that can snap to the arm.
To insert the phone, you just pull down the lock (at the bottom), snap the phone in and push the lock back up (which connects the micro USB). This could probably be done with one hand. There's no way the phone will fall out.
To take the phone out, pull down the lock at the bottom, press on the tab at the top and pull the phone out from the top. Most likely this will require two hands, but we'll see after I get used to it. I kept pressing the power / lock button on the phone when trying to take it out, but hopefully that won't be an issue as I adjust the technique I use to take it out.
Once the phone is in the dock, it can be rotated and the angle can be changed. This means that you can have it vertical or horizontal (on on any orientation you want). The angle can be changed so that it's directed more to one side. It's on a ball joint, so it's completely up to you how you want to set it up. There's also a knob on the back that will allow you to adjust the tension.
The phone holder can be removed while the phone's still attached, so if you need to quickly detach it and put it back, it's pretty easy.
When you insert the phone, a few things happen (regardless if you have the lighter apapter plugged in or not):
Care mode is activated. A little steering wheel icon is shown in the status bar at the top to indicate this mode is active. It can be disabled from the notifications window.
The "Voice talk" application is started.
The speakerphone is activated.
Unfortunately, the speaker is on the back of the phone. There is an opening on the holder to allow the sound through, but there's nothing to redirect the sound to the front (maybe the windshield will help, we'll see). I can't see this being loud enough in my car. I'll have to try it out for a couple of days.
There are two ports on the back of the phone holder: one for the speaker line out and one for the micro USB adapter. It comes with a lighter adapter that has a micro USB connector. They've also included a little magnetic clamp that can be used to bunch up any excess cable.
Overall, I'd say it's a well built and thought out vehicle dock kit. It's solid, looks nice, holds the phone really well and automatically puts the phone in car mode. It has a couple of minor issues, such as needing to pull the phone out from where the lock / power button is, and the speaker on the back (which is more of a phone issue than dock issue). I'd say it's also overpriced, but I think it's worth it. I'm happy with it.
I haven't played with the MHL adapter yet. I can't believe Bell is charging $50 for it, though. Even worse is the standard battery from Bell...it costs $89.95!!! I know all of the other accessories are over priced, but that's ridiculous!
I ordered my Otterbox Commuter case directly from the Bell website, at which point it said "expect your shipment in 3 weeks when we're restocked". It came a few weeks ago. It's $34 CDN on the Bell website, which is cheaper than most places I think. I noticed they now have the car dock as well. The battery price seems downright ludicrous however; perhaps it's also a mini desalinization plant?
Any/all Bell stores I went to had SFA for the SGSII in stock.
Verizon HTC Trophy (mwp6985) Have emailed Wilson Electronics and been told no adapter for this phone being made (yet?) WTF? Anyone knowing differently or of different manufacturer availability please respond! HTC was brilliant enuff to make an external antenna connection totally simple (pop out rubber plug) and now a simple adapter cable is unavailable... frickin' genius!
This one should work
Heres some (quite expensive some of them are) that are claimed to be compatible and i've been reffered to this link before. (sorry for it not being a direct link, privaleges don't allow it so just copy-paste it to a browser tab)
htctrophyaccessories.com/htc-trophy-antennas.htm
The pop out plug on the SparkW is for GPS only.......
.....yeah, I'm not happy about it either. My HTC Eris had the exact same issue... (Eris has a plug for antenna, but is isn't exposed on Verizon model.. while on normal Hero it is).
Only kinds of antennas you can get are the ones like this that require a holster to hold the phone. :/ You can get lower powered antenna kit.. but... without the broadcast end (two-way) its not really worth it imo.
So today is the day, after doing good bit of reading to try to study up on the the current crop of potentials for new phone.
Wife and I migrating from H918 LG V20's. Gonna miss the replaceable battery, headphone jack, and SD card slot, but had to do something. Down to about a month now, at least according to the SMS alerts from T-MO.
So picked up 2 LE2125's today. Was looking at few others with the OnePlus 10 Pro as my next choice, but since LineageOS is important in my world view, neither 9 or 10 Pro have SD card slots, and the sands of time running low for my wife's V20, I couldn't wait to see if OnePlus ever got around to releasing a *US* unlocked 12GB/256GB version of the 10 Pro, and anything Samsung is fuhgeddaboudit I don't care how nice their displays might be.
Seems like a pretty bleak time, comparatively, to be looking for a smartphone that covers all the bases. At least compared to features my V20 has. Gonna miss those but if nothing else they might make good network video cameras.
I don't have any illusions about OnePlus/Oppo caring much about what I want in a phone, but I would like OnePlus to know that lack of a 12GB/256GB storage OnePlus 10 Pro US model cost them the sale of 2 OnePlus 10 Pro's today. I was also a bit disappointed in lack of mmWave 5G radios in the 10 Pro while the 9 Pro has n258, 260, and 261 bands, but that wasn't really a dealbreaker for my wife's or my own usage pattern or interests
BTW If anybody at OnePlus/Oppo DOES want to know what people are interested in a phone and you really want to stand out from the rest of the crowd, I bet the market would respond favorably if you put a model out that has an SD Card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack. I could be wrong, but I don't think so.
These are unlocked phones, we have T Mobile service and SIM's and figure if worst comes to worst for some reason and we decide it is time to move on from TMO, the phones' specs seem to support VZW LTE and the current crop of 5G VZW towers as well. 'bout the only other cell provider we would even consider.
Anywho, the adventure begins.
VelosterM14 said:
So today is the day, after doing good bit of reading to try to study up on the the current crop of potentials for new phone.
Wife and I migrating from H918 LG V20's. Gonna miss the replaceable battery, headphone jack, and SD card slot, but had to do something. Down to about a month now, at least according to the SMS alerts from T-MO.
So picked up 2 LE2125's today. Was looking at few others with the OnePlus 10 Pro as my next choice, but since LineageOS is important in my world view, neither 9 or 10 Pro have SD card slots, and the sands of time running low for my wife's V20, I couldn't wait to see if OnePlus ever got around to releasing a 12GB/256GB version of the 10 Pro, and anything Samsung is fuhgeddaboudit I don't care how nice their displays might be.
Seems like a pretty bleak time, comparatively, to be looking for a smartphone that covers all the bases. At least compared to features my V20 has. Gonna miss those but if nothing else they might make good network video cameras.
I don't have any illusions about OnePlus/Oppo caring much about what I want in a phone, but I would like OnePlus to know that lack of a 12GB/256GB storage OnePlus 10 Pro US model cost them the sale of 2 OnePlus 10 Pro's today. I was also a bit disappointed in lack of mmWave 5G radios in the 10 Pro while the 9 Pro has n258, 260, and 261 bands, but that wasn't really a dealbreaker for my wife's or my own usage pattern or interests
BTW If anybody at OnePlus/Oppo DOES want to know what people are interested in a phone and you really want to stand out from the rest of the crowd, I bet the market would respond favorably if you put a model out that has an SD Card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack. I could be wrong, but I don't think so.
These are unlocked phones, we have T Mobile service and SIM's and figure if worst comes to worst for some reason and we decide it is time to move on from TMO, the phones' specs seem to support VZW LTE and the current crop of 5G VZW towers as well. 'bout the only other cell provider we would even consider.
Anywho, the adventure begins.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have OnePlus 10 pro 12 256.
In public room, will i hear music, and i have no jack port to my headphones. .
So I bought cheap adapter on Chinese website. Now can I hear music with my adapter connected to phone.
I'm using the LE2125 on Verizon Network better Xfinity. You wont miss anythingi it s all working even 5uW. Only thing to do put your SIM-Card inside and go.
JonasHS said:
I have OnePlus 10 pro 12 256.
In public room, will i hear music, and i have no jack port to my headphones. .
So I bought cheap adapter on Chinese website. Now can I hear music with my adapter connected to phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, a US version or Int'l/EU/India or something?
but yea, I resigned myself to having to buy headphone adapter to solve that problem.
The general public gives no care for SD slots or 3.5mm jacks and these phone companies have made clear that they don't wish to cater to the <1% of their market share that comes from people like us who might care (while I wouldn't object to an SD card slot, I would never use a 3.5mm jack and I haven't had an SD slot in so long that I have learned to live without it) so those particular wishes fall on deaf ears unfortunately.
As for your other wishes, you can find what you want on Amazon. Since you're on the T-Mobile network, it's a great fit.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XWHY8ZX/
I get it... headphone jack may not be for everybody. Me, well let's just say that I've got my reasons. For a good long while I was chained to a desk in corporate IT cubeworld, surrounded by noisy people. I needed headphones and a good collection of music to drown out the.... lack of productivity generally going on around me. It was also hard to be very productive in my line of work with music cranked up in my ears, but at least I got to pick the noise, which was never the case there around my desk at the office.
Sadly, in my searching tonight for a USB-C headphone jack adapter, I've not seen one yet with a built-in charger input that you can do both simultaneously (charge AND listen to music at the same time -- or charge and participate in a call over the headset) on a OnePlus, although other brands seem to be able to. So if I ever do have to go back to cubeworld again (hopefully not), especially at the current peanut dispenser, this will surely bite me in hindermost parts at some point, ie, needing to charge AND keep the music going at the same time. Or face the certain peril of my phone having to recharge while the next bagel party is planned or other mindless, non-productive blibber blabber occurs around me...
So I don't see buying a USB-C to headphone adapter as a very good solution. I did find one that looks nice and doesn't cost very much (like a good shrubbery) which I ordered, but I'll have to settle for not being able to charge simultaneously. I'll admit to being a little salty about that.
Musicians are another example of a group of people who tend to prefer wired over bluetooth/wireless monitors/headphones for pretty good reason. Especially drummers. When even what you are hearing in your ears lags behind realtime...
So it has taken me a long time to settle on a phone, lack of headphone jack being among the main reasons. It's funny at least to me how they can justify the real estate for more and more camera eyes and sensors (but still fall so short of truly breathtaking camera performance) -- but on flagship models their marketing people also want you to believe are a pro audio platform, you either have to have bluetooth audio or buy an adapter, because they just don't have the room (or the market demand?) for a 3.5mm headphone jack.
I'm perfectly OK with people not seeing things my way, but in my book, bluetooth cans/IEM's/earbuds are also just something else that have to be recharged when the battery is drained. The marketing people may tell you cords are tangly and a hassle for joggers and other people with active lifestyles -- my take on that is a little diferent. At least when the wired earbuds fall out of your ears, they are still attached to something you can probably grab before they get away from you.
The SD card slot, well it's another thing related to having a decent music collection on my phone and room for backups and various root/mod/etc things handy without using up the device's storage. But with 256GB I will survive. I would not have been able to suffer 128GB though.
These little obsoletions are the sorts of things they call "progress" these days. I tend to have pretty good reasons for knowing what I want. It's just getting harder and harder to find anymore. I'm pretty used to the world going the other way though. It's just really been picking up the pace lately.
But at least I was able to find something well supported by LineageOS and by what I've been reading around, has decent moddability and tools etc.
Hopefully these will last a good long time.
EDIT/PS: I sat down and compared the radio band support of the 9 Pro and 10 Pro, along with coverage bands my current carrier TMO and the only other one we would ever consider switching to supports (if TMO really goes bad somehow, VZW would be most likely escape route but we are not really big VZW fans after many years of customer abuse, why we switched to TMO) . There's not much of difference between 9/10 for bands support really but for those times we do go out and about, those mmWave bands the 9 Pro supports would be useful, and are used/supported by both carriers we care about in our area.
Something like this Y cable is what you would need.
USB c to 3.5mm Headphone and Charger Adapter,2-in-1 USB C PD 3.0 Charging Port to Aux Audio Jack and Fast Charging Dongle Cable Cord Compatible with Samsung S21 S20 S20+ Ultra, Google Pixel 4 3 XL… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GYRH6YM/
I see your argument for 3.5mm, I'm just saying most consumers have moved on to Bluetooth. My Sony WH-1000XM3s have a 30 hour battery life so it would be near impossible to kill them without an opportunity to charge them and I'm plenty happy with the sound quality.
mmWave is largely useless on T-Mobile. I wouldn't make a decision based on that since the coverage is insanely limited. T-Mobile's n41 midband is what you really want.
EDIT: Actually, looks like OnePlus killed the ability to charge and play at the same time in software. It died in 2020 and was still dead in this thread so you may be SOL.
OnePlus Community
Introducing our new OnePlus Community experience, with a completely revamped structure, built from the ground-up.
forums.oneplus.com
Yep, bluetooth may be more practical or convenient for others.
It's a shame about the inability to charge and use the headset at same time. But I see this as another example of... well, it could be a lot things. But it wasn't that long ago at all that a simple thing like that would have been a given. Something you could take for granted within a phone's specs or capabilities because, the people defining criteria or design for a phone were not developing in a vacuum. It was just common sense.
Over the many years I have been paying attention and participating in technology at work and at play, there seem to be less of those "no brainer" type of givens. As if the people designing things don't ever use them, and aren't listening to people who do use them.
Great example, totally unrelated but it really reinforces the point, at least to me. Our car is a Hyundai SUV with an "ultimate" package of features, trim, etc. One of the most insane, ridiculously stupid things I have ever seen in the interior passenger compartment of a car is the simulated wood trim the dashboard of this SUV is festooned with, from left to right.
Some genius at Hyundai, or a whole team full of them, probably all with college degrees in marketing, sociology, or business decided that the top of line model of this SUV needed to have a super high-gloss finish on all of the interior imitation wood veneer trim. In their minds, this is probably the pinnacle of bling - I can almost hear them saying "ooooh, shiney!" This was their idea of luxury.
The reality of the matter is quite different, however. As the owner and driver of this vehicle, I dread driving on sunny days when the sun will reflect off the dashboard AND BLINDS ME WHILE I AM DRIVING. Right through my sunglasses sometimes.
Of course I am aware of this and it seldom catches me off guard. But it is inevitable that circumstances will (mis)align from time to time.
Anybody who had any sense would have never put high gloss finish on anything around the dashboard on the interior of a motor vehicle. Nobody in the 60's did. (I used to work on old classics)
But if you asked them why they thought high-gloss imitation wood veneer on the dashboard was a good idea, they would probably have several reasons that would make sense to a lot of people. People who don't have to drive one of them every day....
By the time we realized this was a problem it was too late, the car was ours and the paperwork was signed.
There used to be a lot more things you didn't have to research or think about so hard when you were shopping.
Sure do miss the good old days.
PS: The mmWave support of the 9 Pro wasn't really a make or break feature for us, we aren't out and about all that much anyway even if they do have a bunch of those towers in the (2nd largest in the US and fastest growing) metro area we are kind of stuck living in right now. Just that we might actually get some use out of it from time to time. I *KNOW* I'll definitely make use of the extra storage on the 9 Pro than can be had in a US market 10 Pro model.
I came close to choosing one of a few Motorola unlocked models that were semi-interesting but none of the ones with some attractive specs really quite did it for me. There was always something that killed it for me, like the problems so many reported with green screen tinting on many of the edge models. Or the models that might have had other desirable features and compatibilities, but only supported one carriers tower coverage very well instead of 2 strong players around here.
I know a lot of people aren't really interested in many of the same things I am -- but the case can be made that what a lot of people don't know or realize is how much of what they think THEY want is actually due to marketing and media influence and manipulation -- people TELLING you what you want and how to think -- and how afraid so many -- manufacturers and consumers alike -- are afraid to take even the tiniest of risks and being the nail that sticks out -- everybody is afraid they'll get hammered.
In the end, originality and thinking for one's self become bywords and, oh my goodness, nobody wants to be accused of being "UNSCANNABLE!!!!" (Idiocracy, 2006) or going against the grain. And so it's a lot easier for a lot of the lemmings to end up in a pile somewhere down there below, just outside of public awareness and the news cycle/drumbeat.
i won't apologize for thinking that (proverbially, continuing along the Idiocracy story line) using Brawndo for everything but flushing the toilet with is just stupid. If that's how everybody else wants to go, OK fine, but I really shouldn't have to go to the toilet to get plain old water for the things people used to use water for when more things in life "just worked".
I just wish I had better choices. I don't see that many of the choices being offered these days are coming from people who think about things very much, or know how to plan and execute well.
Anyway, enough of the blabber, I am actually looking forward to getting started with our Oneplus 9 Pro's. I haven't even broken the seal on either box yet - but trying to line up all the info I can to get a quick early backup of the devices before I do much.
Appreciate the conversation!