Any Good Forecasters Here?

[darkswordsman17]

I had forgotten about them, but OP, have you looked into some of the less well known phones? Like CAT has a phone, and there's some others (I saw somewhere that listed a bunch of them, think they had reviews or at least some hands on feedback and/or fairly comprehensive list of features). They're largely similar rebrands of cheaper Chinese phones, but have features you might be interested in (tougher/rugged case, SD card, some have big - like 10,000mAh - batteries, think some have like night vision cameras or integrated FLIR ones). They tend to be cheaper I think, using low/mid range Qualcomm chips and the like. Probably not the best software support/update/security though.

CAT PHONES

Our range of rugged smartphones are designed to be strong, tough and durable.

www.amazon.com

Wouldn't have helped anyway since you don't like Samsung, but I miss the Active phones, which tended to be current S line hardware in a more rugged case (often with flat screen when the S line had rounded edges), with usually a bigger battery, and I think they kept the uSD card when they ditched it on their mainstream lines as well.

 

[lxskllr]

Not that anyone cares, but I decided to stay put with my phone. I'm gambling it'll outlast Trump, and if not, it's the boss' problem to source another one. I'm not concerned with updates aside from google's new 'insecure phone' flag that can be leveraged by devs to prevent apps from working on the phone. I recently started using a banking app to make deposits, so if their devs enforce the 'insecure phone' flag, I'll have to do something different. I may be able to just work from their website, or I can switch with my internet phone, which was released in 2024, so it'll be good for awhile longer. I may do that anyway, cause it's specced better, and the only thing I'd really lose is the stylus.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Just picked up a Moto G Power 5G for $70 with a year of service.

My 4 year old Stylus still works well for daily use but I wanted to try a 5G to see if I get a signal. Cheap works for me. This new one will also tether by USB if I want it to.

 

[manly]

I have a Galaxy A54 and I'm pretty happy with the phone. I traded my A51 for it so the A54 was $250.

I used to use Motorola phones but it always seemed like I would get an update right near their last set of updates that would kill my battery standby life. I also got tired of using a phone that wasn't getting security updates. I always wanted to try a Samsung and I haven't looked back. I would consider a pixel but no sd card is a deal breaker.

Samsung is about to launch its 2025 models, and one of the first on deck is the $200 A16. It's squarely a budget phone, and is coming with 6 years of software updates!

At a glance, the SoC specs are a bit weak but you can expect the superior A26/A36 to arrive with the same long term support. I think they're finally axing the headphone jack, which honestly most consumers won't care about anyway.

But the UX should be quite similar to a "flagship" device from 4 years ago; so there's very little reason IMHO to buy a cheap device with a shitty update policy. Consumers need to send a message to Lenovo to properly support their gadgets.

 

[balloonshark]

Samsung is about to launch its 2025 models, and one of the first on deck is the $200 A16. It's squarely a budget phone, and is coming with 6 years of software updates!

At a glance, the SoC specs are a bit weak but you can expect the superior A26/A36 to arrive with the same long term support. I think they're finally axing the headphone jack, which honestly most consumers won't care about anyway.

But the UX should be quite similar to a "flagship" device from 4 years ago; so there's very little reason IMHO to buy a cheap device with a shitty update policy. Consumers need to send a message to Lenovo to properly support their gadgets.

Great to hear they now include both 6 years of android updates and 6 years of security updates.

My A54 doesn't have a headphone jack but that issue can be fixed with an adapter. While I prefer wired most people like the convenience of Bluetooth.

 

[sdifox]

I am on Stylus 5G 2024 with 8gb ram and it's fine for what it is.

 

[manly]

Great to hear they now include both 6 years of android updates and 6 years of security updates.

My A54 doesn't have a headphone jack but that issue can be fixed with an adapter. While I prefer wired most people like the convenience of Bluetooth.

My main gripe with the new A16 is that 4GB RAM is pretty bad in 2025.

But for $50, OP can have a brand new device that's carrier unlocked in two months:

https://slickdeals.net/f/18097426-straight-talk-128gb-samsung-galaxy-a16-5g-1-month-gold-unlimited-plan-from-50-new-added-lines-free-s-h