I tend to be about three years behind things when it comes to technology. If you are willing to wait three years, the amount of money needed to acquire technology devices like mobile phones, laptops, cameras, etc. is vastly less. (Actually for cameras I usually end up waiting even longer since they are so expensive.)
Another aspect of this three-year thing that I’m on is that I find out about amazing, revolutionary things far after most other people have. I am writing because I have just recently found out about how amazing new mobile phones are, compared with older ones.
A few weeks ago I had my older LG L9 phone stolen and, needing a replacement, I was able to get a very good deal on a used Samsung Galaxy S4 phone. The difference between the two phones is amazing.
Something significant has happened in this jump. The phone has suddenly become a really usable device. Lag times are significantly less. Things run better. Things run faster. More things run. It really is amazing.
I can see now how there is so much enthusiasm over the “mobile space” or whatever it is called. Having a device this potentially useful changes a lot of things.
Not long ago I also had a brief opportunity to hold someone’s new iPhone 6s Plus. Wow. That form factor is, at least as far as I’m concerned, truly the future! Typing input on it was vastly better than any other mobile device I’ve ever experienced before. The size of the display seems to be at this sweet spot where you can carry it around but its not too small either.
I just thought I would write this because, for me, this big revolution in the mobile space just happened a couple weeks ago and I’m still blown away.
One sad thing I will note: Because I rooted (really easy instructions) the phone and put a custom recovery (very easy) on it it will no longer allow system updates. Apparently the carrier (MetroPCS which I’ve used for years and only costs $41 per month for unlimited voice and 2GB of data) somehow blocks it when the phone is rooted or has a custom recovery installed. I’m going to wipe the factory install and put Cyanogenmod on it very soon.
I was able to get a Samsung EVO SDHC Class 10 64GB microSD card for well under $30. This card was rated as performing very well with this model phone. 64GB of storage! Wow!
I got another great deal for a 4850 mAh extended slim NFC battery which is almost double the power of the factory battery.
One thing I recommend: Whenever you get a new phone, go online right away and look for an extended battery. You can usually almost double the available power to your phone for under $20.
Find out how many milliamp-hours (mAh) the factory battery is (from one of those cool sites like phonearena.com or pdadb.net), and then look for extended batteries on your favorite online shopping site(s) (here’s an example search). Remember that if you have an NFC-enabled phone that you may need a battery which is specifically designated as having NFC support.
For the S4, you can actually find some with ridiculously high mAh level batteries – well above 7000 mAh – however these also require a back cover that protrudes out further than the factory one in order to accommodate the fatter battery. If you really want to have long battery life then this is a good idea. The 4850 mAh one I got is the same size as the factory battery but still significantly increases the available power to the phone.
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