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Happy New Year 2023 2024

Mr. flip phone bitchin about his smart watch ...




laughinghard
 
My sister is consdiering of getting one though, and I told her "Well are you going to stand in line and talk with them a few hours on getting a new device?"
 
I only got it because it's the first and only device that is breaking the 'every phone looks the same' mold. I was forced by the damn carriers to give up my trusty HTC Thunderbolt and I went through a few A-series junkers before getting the Flip 4.

I'm still spending a good amount of effort '2010-ifying' it to resemble somewhat my Thunderbolt's UI. I'm still struggling at theming the status bar. I've already replaced a good portion of the built in apps with Android 2.3 counterparts. I just can't find any status bar app that has the HTC Sense 3/4 status bar, or even an Android 2.3 style option. Every one has nothing but flat UI and iOS looking ones.

I'd have been much happier if the carriers would have let me keep my HTC. It's bad enough one wanted to shut 3G down (in a pandemic nonetheless in an area that already struggles with LTE connectivity) but did all of them have to be sheep and copy each other?
 
nickdalzell said:
I'd have been much happier if the carriers would have let me keep my HTC. It's bad enough one wanted to shut 3G down (in a pandemic nonetheless in an area that already struggles with LTE connectivity) but did all of them have to be sheep and copy each other?
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These switches take years to plan, and they all have the same regulatory constraints and financial incentives (running different technologies in parallel adds significant cost, while limiting the use of a finite resource, their spectrum allocations, so older, slower technologies will put them at a commercial disadvantage). I think it's far more likely that facing the same commercial pressures and usage predictions they made the same commercial decisions.

Here in the UK only one network will still be operating 3G by the end of the year, and they will switch in 2025 (my own network is planning to change in the first quarter of this year). But very few people will notice, because as far as I can see they are all reallocating the spectrum to LTE, and as essentially every phone here made since 2015, plus some as far back as 2012, supports band 1 LTE(*), all that will happen is that people will see better LTE coverage. I guess if you still struggle with LTE coverage that's not what your carrier did with their 3G bands?

(*) All UK 3G services used the UMTS 2100 band, which shares spectrum with LTE band 1. LTE band 1 has also been used in urban areas for some years now, so many are already using it, making this a very straightforward switch. To be honest the real question here in the UK is "why has it taken so long?".
 
I still do struggle with LTE in many areas. I used to get 3G extended coverage, now I just go No Service. Kinda leaves me in the lurch if anything goes wrong like me getting into an accident. Carriers don't care. There's literally one pocket of 5G coverage--ironically the parking lot at Walmart. Having something to fall back on was a better idea.

I begged them, even offered to pay more for montly service to keep it up. They seemed stuck to their script and had no empathy. They really just did it to force people to upgrade and there's increasing hostility from futurists who can't imagine why anyone like me would want an old phone or use an old laptop that still runs Windows 7. I ask why it matters to them, and get nothing but crap such as "adapt or be left behind" or "you people are holding us all back"

If the latter were true, we might not be such a minority....

Point is, I pay for service on time, and am not delinquent, and am following all the rules of the ToS, and they still felt it necessary to screw over a customer in the name of 'FuTuRe'. I didn't WANT a modern phone, I was FORCED. The illusion of choice is that they make it where all you got is two mobile OSs, and literally three OEMs available here. I'd rather we had MORE choices, MORE competition, and MORE variety. Sliders, slates, folding phones, 2G, 3G, LTE whatever. But they just want limited homogenization of everything. The world was far brighter in 2010. UI design had that lovely frutiger aero look, we had TONS of variety, From the very modern Nokia N9 to the Palm WebOS Pre, The HTC Touch Diamond, the Samsung Omnia line, etc. The world was literally at your fingertips. Today, it feels more closer to the dystopia that Klaus Schwab wants for all people. Boring, lifeless brutalist design, flat UI design, everything looks the same. "Life as a service" "You'll own nothing and be happy"

I don't want to live in this era. I want to go back but I cannot. Why should I live in a world I hate? Why should I be forced to use tech that I hate?

The whole 'spectrum was limited' is bunk. They had no issue having 2G, 3G. LTE and 5G coexisting fine a few years ago. As for the LTE support, that would be fine; the HTC Thunderbolt was a 4G LTE device. But thanks to them forcing VoLTE on us, you have to have a VoLTE device, which the Thunderbolt sadly is not. They also need to have specific bands, such as Band 13, which the Thunderbolt doesn't have either.

I wish it were simpler, I'd be happy keeping an Android 2.3 device going as it suited my needs. But I have a right to complain when they force me to use something I struggle with and don't enjoy nearly as much, despite theming it. Themes can't offer the same nuances as Android 2.3 had. You get some of the look, but modern Android blocks a lot of my favorite classic apps, some don't work at all, and I can't make the status bar look like Android 2.3's even rooted. Heck, I spent 4 hours last night trying to get an Android 2.3 weather app to run on my Z Flip 4. I succeeded, but it shouldn't be that hard to get the UI I want.

I also cannot believe flat UI design is still a thing more than a decade later. So much for 'design swings in cycles like a pendulum.'
 
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