[NA] Real-World Iphone Use

When my wife and I were pretty much dragged into the land of smart phones (our carrier at the time, Verizon, was about to phase out 3g support and require 4g phones, and our clamshell actual PHONES were 3g...but they worked great and we liked them. Certainly can't allow THAT!...sigh....), we shopped around and bought a pair of unlocked Moto G7 phones for about $180 each, and promptly switched to Mint Mobile (better customer service and 1/3 the price...no-brainer), as a thank you to Verizon. I can't imagine "needing" more capability in a "phone" than our relatively cheap Moto Android phones. Installed 128gb sd cards, camera works fine (read the reviews that all stated many more expensive phones have better cameras, but the pics and videos taken with my phone look better than the ones we used to take with a couple Nikon Coolpix point'n'shoots...and if the absolute best is needed, out comes our DSLR), haven't experienced a single lockup, crash, or bug in over a year, runs iFlyGPS at least as well as my Samsung tablet (only drawback is the smaller screen), fast scrolling and switching between apps.... Like I said, I can't imagine what possible "need" could be fulfilled by spending $1000 on a phone. Wants, status symbols, bragging rights...sure. "Need?".....

We don't own a single Apple product. I try to remain as Google-free as possible (still hoping for an inexpensive Linux or other privacy-conscious OS phone with enough software support...), and use Linux on desktops/laptops except for a few pieces of software that require Windows. I state that only to make it clear that it's not that I'm solely an "Apple Masher;" I'm not a fan of any of the big tech companies forcing their customers to allow them to use their private data or work solely or primarily within that company's cyber-ecosystem.
 
I was happy with my Motorola flip phone but was forced to get 4g. . Tried an Android, didn’t like the UI. Found a used iPhone 5s, quite happy. I don’t care about music or camera or anything...I just want a phone
 
there are several online articles about how to create/upload a custom ringtone (for free, nothing to pay for). it's not all that difficult but if you're not at least like level I tech savvy then you may not find it easy. if you're more a steam gauge guy than a g1000 guy, then here's the phone for you:

rotaryphone.jpg
 
Part of my considering an iphone is consolidating platforms. Currently using an iPad for FF and most of the other 'light'on-line stuff I do...email, etc. The Android is pretty much just my phone. So I'm feeding data to both Apple and Google.

On a related note....those hesitating to switch to Linux because certain Windows apps won't work.... I'm using the latest incarnation of Mint (20.1) and am having good luck installing Windows apps using Wine. Install Mono, Wine, Winetricks, and have at it. I have the current Garmin GTN Trainer, iSpy for the cams, and some other things working....had to putz with it a bit.

LibreOffice in Mint 20.1 is a great substitute for MS Office.....have yet to find an output file incompatibility....fwiw.

Sorry for the threat drift, Ron....we now return you to your regularly-scheduled post.

Jim
 
steingar said:
I dunno, I haven't had so much trouble getting things on the iPhone, but I don't have the 1918 Mr. Zippy whatever to contend with either. I only ever got a cell phone to placate Mrs. Steingar, who raised the very good argument that if I was going to go out and do something insanely dangerous like flying an airplane I should have one in case things go south. To be honest, keeping Mrs. Steingar happy is far, far, far more important than having ancient recordings on my IPhone. But that's just me.
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As everyone knows, if momma ain't happy.........
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
Simply put, you buy the device that fulfills your needs, if you need a full functionality of FF or GP, get the iPhone.
I’m thinking of going Max version to replace my old mini and iPhone in the future.
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Sounds like an Android fulfills his need. The iPhone fixes someone else's need.
 
FastEddieB said:
I’m very happy with my iPhone 12 Pro Max. The Apple ecosystem is not for everyone, but the way my phone, Apple Watch, Apple TV, IPad, Mac Mini and Apple One service all pretty seamlessly integrate works for me.
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Do you run FF or GP? Can you post a screenshot or 2 showing how they look on the Max?
The Pro Max is suppose to have a much brighter screen and higher resolution than the mini iPad.
 
I've had an Iphone for years, but this is the last one. The recent IOS upgrades were causing over-heat issues that'd wipe a full charged battery out with little to no use in about 6-8 hours. After multiple IOS releases, that issue finally was resolved. I have Foreflight and it is the only reason I didn't change to another brand. This phone is new and had all those issues.

On a similar subject: if dealing with Verizon there are "corporate stores" and "franchise stores" ... if you had issues at the "franchise store", then you're on your own. Had a nightmare trying to get them to honor a trade-in deal that was in writing regarding phone upgrade. Got about 75% credit after fighting for months on end ...
 
MuseChaser said:
Verizon, was about to phase out 3g support and require 4g phones, and our clamshell actual PHONES were 3g...but they worked great and we liked them. Certainly can't allow THAT!...sigh....
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murphey said:
I was happy with my Motorola flip phone but was forced to get 4g.
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Airwaves are a scarce resource. One comparison would be a 35mph country 2-lane road. You're perfectly fine with it because your Model T can't go past 40mph anyway. However, all your neighbors own Autobahn cruisers so now that road is a toll freeway and the only way they can get a 75mph speed limit is to keep your antique off of it.

So in sum, it's my fault. Me and my 5G phone willingly take the blame. :)
 
mcdewey said:
I've got AT&T and my son has Verizon and they've never put bloatware/adware on the phone. II've never heard of an iPhone having that crap put on it. There is nothing added beyond what comes with the iPhone straight from Apple.
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Same here. I believe I purchased my first iPhone from AT&T. I have purchased the others from Apple directly. Neither AT&T nor T-Mobile installed anything I would consider 'bloatware'. I have the T-Mobile app to manage my account, but it was not pre-installed as the phone from Apple was not carrier-specific. The other T-Mobile app, ScamShield, I installed voluntarily.

I am one of those people who use my phone 99% of the time for something other than making or receiving calls. Never been a phone chatter. Since I don't have an on-call job any more, I sometimes don't even answer it.

I would say the feature I enjoy the most is the camera. The 11 Pro takes awesome pictures. The last vacation I took, I didn't even bring a 'real' camera.
 
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MooneyDriver78 said:
Do you run FF or GP? Can you post a screenshot or 2 showing how they look on the Max?
The Pro Max is suppose to have a much brighter screen and higher resolution than the mini iPad.
Click to expand...

I’m using WingX.

50933053057_0db38d99e0_z.jpg


I don’t have a third camera handy, but I’d say side-by-side with my iPad Air 4, the iPhone is maybe about 10% brighter indoors with brightness on both cranked up all the way. Resolution is much higher than the photo shows.

As an aside, this display is so much brighter, sharper, more detailed and larger than the dedicated Garmin aviation GPS’s that I’ve used in the past, that I find it plenty big for cockpit use. Considering what even a Garmin 295 cost ($1,275?) even @ $1,000+ it’s hard for me to too worked up at the price of a phone. With credit for my iPhone X, it works out to about $16/mo on my AT&T bill.
 
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Had both, pros and cons to each depending on whether you are one that has to always be messing with your phone customizing things. I will use either but for my mission Apple works better since I use foreflight. I have my iPad and iPhone synced together so if I add something on my phone it adds it to my iPad and vise versa. I use the iPad for foreflight and use iPhone for backup. All my family has iPhone so we can text and FaceTime easier. You can still do it with android but works better with Apple IMO. I do not like being under Apple’s thumb but I got real tired of android phones freezing up where I had to restart them constantly and the lack of security updates


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
eman1200 said:
there are several online articles about how to create/upload a custom ringtone (for free, nothing to pay for). it's not all that difficult but if you're not at least like level I tech savvy then you may not find it easy. if you're more a steam gauge guy than a g1000 guy, then here's the phone for you:

rotaryphone.jpg
Click to expand...

I still have one in the basement but it's not connected to anything.
 
steingar said:
I dunno, I haven't had so much trouble getting things on the iPhone, but I don't have the 1918 Mr. Zippy whatever to contend with either. I only ever got a cell phone to placate Mrs. Steingar, who raised the very good argument that if I was going to go out and do something insanely dangerous like flying an airplane I should have one in case things go south. To be honest, keeping Mrs. Steingar happy is far, far, far more important than having ancient recordings on my IPhone. But that's just me.
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More rescues have been done via cell phone tower hits than ELTs for a very long time now. She ain't wrong. Lol
 
danhagan said:
I've had an Iphone for years, but this is the last one. The recent IOS upgrades were causing over-heat issues that'd wipe a full charged battery out with little to no use in about 6-8 hours. After multiple IOS releases, that issue finally was resolved. I have Foreflight and it is the only reason I didn't change to another brand. This phone is new and had all those issues.

On a similar subject: if dealing with Verizon there are "corporate stores" and "franchise stores" ... if you had issues at the "franchise store", then you're on your own. Had a nightmare trying to get them to honor a trade-in deal that was in writing regarding phone upgrade. Got about 75% credit after fighting for months on end ...
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Same goes for AT&T...don't go to the franchise stores.
 
mcdewey said:
Same goes for AT&T...don't go to the franchise stores.
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I suppose that depends. Have had excellent customer service and support at the AT&T franchise store in Lenoir City, TN.

That said, when trying to get a cellular router that worked from Verizon, their customer service sucked at a franchise store, leaving me to try to fight unauthorized charges on my own. Never again.
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
How do you tell the difference?
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A franchise store will have a sign posted "AT&T Authorized Reseller". You can also search the Internet for AT&T Corporate Store locations.

Searching AT&T corporate stores vs franchise stores will reveal the horror stories.
 
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