The Swamp

BSF21 wrote:Shirley, do they complain about not having phones, especially the 10th grader? It seems from the outside looking in that almost every kid in high school has one and is constantly taking pictures of themselves. Not saying that yours would be a complainer, just hard to imagine in this day and age.

Oddly enough, no. They'd say they don't need them. I think the closest was my younger son when Pokemon Go got popular. He would love to have a device he could use around the neighborhood or wherever to find the Pokey Mans.

They do both have laptops and iPads they can use on Wifi. They each have one of our old iPhones as well, to use as an iPod, but they really never use those.

The only reason we got the flip phones (AT&T Go) was because I was mostly out in Redmond last year, and my wife was always struggling to get to school to pick them up on time after various practices and games. Having that communication eased everyone's stress. They never use the phones for anything else.

Of course, my kids don't really watch TV or play video games either. I guess I am a monster.

Shirley wrote:

BSF21 wrote:Shirley, do they complain about not having phones, especially the 10th grader? It seems from the outside looking in that almost every kid in high school has one and is constantly taking pictures of themselves. Not saying that yours would be a complainer, just hard to imagine in this day and age.

Oddly enough, no. They'd say they don't need them. I think the closest was my younger son when Pokemon Go got popular. He would love to have a device he could use around the neighborhood or wherever to find the Pokey Mans.

They do both have laptops and iPads they can use on Wifi. They each have one of our old iPhones as well, to use as an iPod, but they really never use those.

The only reason we got the flip phones (AT&T Go) was because I was mostly out in Redmond last year, and my wife was always struggling to get to school to pick them up on time after various practices and games. Having that communication eased everyone's stress. They never use the phones for anything else.

Of course, my kids don't really watch TV or play video games either. I guess I am a monster.

That's fantastic. I get concerned that kids growing up today won't have hobbies or anything of the sort. Social media has just condensed everything into "look at this and give me approval so I have a sense of self worth", and it's nice to hear some kinds don't subscribe to that. I loved video games and computers probably more than the next kid and spent a lot of time at the comic book shop as a youngster, but when I wasn't doing that I was putting together models or fishing or doing sports or riding bikes getting into shit with my friends. I hope kids today still get to experience that in some regards.

My daughter is 15 and she has an old iphone4 with a cracked up, taped over face. She and her friends text each other constantly. She's on Tumbler a lot, too. But, her grades are great, so the only real worry for us about it is her lack of exercise (she's no athlete). So, this year we told her she gets to ride her bike the two miles to school instead of one of us driving. She didn't complain, and after three weeks of riding, I can already see a positive effect on her. So, for her birthday in October, we're going to get her a new phone. Probably an iPhone SE (which is pretty much the same as the iPhone5, which is no longer available).

So she can text her friends to pick her up after she rides a block away from the house. Winky face.

Leaning towards cool on this one. Don't @ me.

Apple Maps very handily now remembers where you parked your car, so you can get back to it without wasting time walking up and down similar-looking streets or a huge car park. Everything works automatically. When you stop driving, Apple shows a notification to say it’s dropped a pin at the relevant location (tap the alert for details), a pin you can then use to navigate your way back to your motor. There’s the option to add a photo as well.

Ryan wrote:Leaning towards cool on this one. Don't @ me.

Apple Maps very handily now remembers where you parked your car, so you can get back to it without wasting time walking up and down similar-looking streets or a huge car park. Everything works automatically. When you stop driving, Apple shows a notification to say it’s dropped a pin at the relevant location (tap the alert for details), a pin you can then use to navigate your way back to your motor. There’s the option to add a photo as well.

The problem is that with Apple Maps, they'll tell you your car is in Rhodesia.

Steve of phpBB wrote:

Ryan wrote:Leaning towards cool on this one. Don't @ me.

Apple Maps very handily now remembers where you parked your car, so you can get back to it without wasting time walking up and down similar-looking streets or a huge car park. Everything works automatically. When you stop driving, Apple shows a notification to say it’s dropped a pin at the relevant location (tap the alert for details), a pin you can then use to navigate your way back to your motor. There’s the option to add a photo as well.

The problem is that with Apple Maps, they'll tell you your car is in Rhodesia.

Give them a little credit that they'd have updated it to Zimbabwe at least.

Google maps sent me on a wild goose chase the other day to a school I didn't know how to find. I didn't miss any turns and it sent me past the correct road on two separate occasions. First time it's been that bad.

Ryan wrote:Leaning towards cool on this one. Don't @ me.

Apple Maps very handily now remembers where you parked your car, so you can get back to it without wasting time walking up and down similar-looking streets or a huge car park. Everything works automatically. When you stop driving, Apple shows a notification to say it’s dropped a pin at the relevant location (tap the alert for details), a pin you can then use to navigate your way back to your motor. There’s the option to add a photo as well.

So in 10 years, are we going to have to use our brains for anything? I wonder if dropping the need to memorize anything will eventually alter the brain structure. I'm sure it must, because if you don't use neural passageways, they weaken, and if kids don't use brain processes, the pathways won't form in the first place. Before cell phones, how many telephone numbers did you know? How many do you know now? I don't know my home phone FFS, and it is something like 322-3232. I know my wife's phone number and my parents, since it is the same number since I was 3. Other than that? My work number, since I give it out. That's all I can think of.

I had that discussion with some friends the other night (literally! not in a months ago way, but like 10 days ago). I know mine, my wife and kids (3), my sister's, one of my good friends, my in-laws (2) and my sister in laws, plus I know a bunch of work people cell numbers because we have them all in a row from 8571-8578. And of course I remember my childhood phone number.

elflaco wrote:when are you getting phones for your swamp offspring?

flaco jr just started 5th grade.. more independent -- taking the bus for the first time and all that.
he has uses of a laptop (his) and old tablets/phones at home (Samsung Tab2, and an S2) on wifi around the house... skype and email to keep touch with friends and family far and close...(of course, i control all acces.. his email is on gmail and goes thru my account... plus i know all the passwords)

thinking of dropping a feature phone on him.. relatively cheap.. texting allowed.. but no web. most of folks in town seem to give out iphones and s7s to 4th grade and up.. i just don't see why that's good (and i'm cheap).

when do swamp jrs get a phone? difference in gender?
enlighten me please!

Been having this conversation a lot lately. The consensus in my town is to give phones in 6th grade. The middle school doesn't have the after school care younger grades do, so kids either walk home or go to the public library and wait to get picked up. I think most kids get flip phones or phones limited to certain numbers. That's my thought. I still have a couple of old flip phones around the house, so that's my plan for next year. Spoke to a father of a 6th grader the other day, and he said he had a pact with a group of his son's friend's parents, and they agreed to all go flip phones. Then 2 kids ended up with the newest iPhone, and all the others caved. He refuses to give the kid a smart phone, which I'm sure will be fun to deal with. He took a group of the kids to a weekend at a shore house and said the kids were all on their phones playing or watching videos, and he confiscated all the phones. I'm definitely not going smart phone. The boy is in 5th grade, has a laptop and iPad. No need for smart phone capabilities out of the house.

A lot of the older flip phones won't work on current networks. YMMV.

It's pretty standard around here for kids to get phones in 6th grade (or younger, but almost never older). My kids don't get them until high school, woe betide them.

My younger kids have older phones (no service) and devices that use wifi networks. They have wifi at the middle school, the library, and throughout the small town downtown area where they hang out on half days. They're never out of contact so I don't worry.

Also, we still have a house phone so it is possible for them to chit chat with their friends the old fashioned way. Not that they ever do.

The Sybian wrote:So in 10 years, are we going to have to use our brains for anything?

So Sager and Evans had it right, but missed on the timeline. Everything you think, do and say/Is in the pill you took today

That reminds me, I forgot to take my Soma this morning.

Ugh, if you (your kids) want to use the new text features, you have to turn on that awful motion effect thing that animates the closing and opening of apps. Fuck you.

HaulCitgo wrote:

Johnny Carwash wrote:So my current phone is on its last legs with the battery randomly dying after minimal use. I want to get another of the same one (Google Nexus 5), but it's not one of the available options from my carrier (T-Mobile; I use a pay-as-you-go plan and don't want to change since it works best for my relatively low rate of use).

I see where I can buy an unlocked Nexus 5 directly from Google, but wouldn't know how to get it to work with my current service and number.

Is this possible? Is it easy? I have no real idea and can't expect any help from my carrier, who loves to obfuscate the everloving fuck out of things if you're not directly giving them more money.

Same phone and carrier. Cracked mine up and shards are starting to come loose. Will probably just get the same thing. Let me know what kind of deal you find.

Update: Got a Nexus 5X directly from Google. Saw other places offering it cheaper but they looked sketchy, so just played it safe. Works fine after getting the sim card transferred.

Never the worst option when completely unsure. When it comes to shopping around, I'd stick to either there, Amazon, or Newegg.

But I also subscribe to the Android subreddit and visit Slickdeals when I'm looking to buy things cheaper.

Glad it worked out for you!

I'm hopping off the Nexus bandwagon and joining the iPhone brigade.

I have a Nexus 5x but apparently there's an issue with the hardware that gets triggered with the Android nougat update. And once it's triggered you're SOL.

Learned that yesterday when the phone went into a continuous bootloop. The only time it would work (not kidding) was when it was in the freezer. Apparently that cools the chip down enough to let it function temporarily before the overheating happens again.

They're sending me a replacement 5X, but it's just a matter of time before that'll go crazy, so I figure I'll bite the bullet and get an iPhone given that I can expense it. It freaking sucks as I wasn't planning on buying a new phone anytime soon, but I need to have a working phone.

If you can expense it, why do you care?

Brontoburglar wrote:I'm hopping off the Nexus bandwagon and joining the iPhone brigade.

I have a Nexus 5x but apparently there's an issue with the hardware that gets triggered with the Android nougat update. And once it's triggered you're SOL.

Learned that yesterday when the phone went into a continuous bootloop. The only time it would work (not kidding) was when it was in the freezer. Apparently that cools the chip down enough to let it function temporarily before the overheating happens again.

They're sending me a replacement 5X, but it's just a matter of time before that'll go crazy, so I figure I'll bite the bullet and get an iPhone given that I can expense it. It freaking sucks as I wasn't planning on buying a new phone anytime soon, but I need to have a working phone.

I'm about to do the opposite. Headed to Google Pixel. And yes, Mr. D., I'm expensing the shit out of it.

mister d wrote:If you can expense it, why do you care?

Because it's $1000 I didn't want to spend, business expense or not.

govmentchedda wrote:

Brontoburglar wrote:I'm hopping off the Nexus bandwagon and joining the iPhone brigade.

I have a Nexus 5x but apparently there's an issue with the hardware that gets triggered with the Android nougat update. And once it's triggered you're SOL.

Learned that yesterday when the phone went into a continuous bootloop. The only time it would work (not kidding) was when it was in the freezer. Apparently that cools the chip down enough to let it function temporarily before the overheating happens again.

They're sending me a replacement 5X, but it's just a matter of time before that'll go crazy, so I figure I'll bite the bullet and get an iPhone given that I can expense it. It freaking sucks as I wasn't planning on buying a new phone anytime soon, but I need to have a working phone.

I'm about to do the opposite. Headed to Google Pixel. And yes, Mr. D., I'm expensing the shit out of it.

Why are you swapping from iPhone to Pixel? The Pixel specs are better than the iPhones, at least hardware wise. But after issues with the Nexus 5 and now the 5X, I'm ready for a change even though I looooove them (outside of the hardware issues)

If I'm going to centrally coordinate a lot of my activities, I trust Google more than Apple. I like the Google Fi option for service. I'm somewhat concerned about having to rebuy apps (generally under $5) when making this switch, but it seems like it should be a money saver in the long run.

govmentchedda wrote: I like the Google Fi option for service.

I'll let my brother know, he was part of the team that helped develop it.

govmentchedda wrote:If I'm going to centrally coordinate a lot of my activities, I trust Google more than Apple. I like the Google Fi option for service. I'm somewhat concerned about having to rebuy apps (generally under $5) when making this switch, but it seems like it should be a money saver in the long run.

I have an iPhone!

And I have Google Fi!

I now have two phones, one for business and one for personal. I'm big time now.

Having a work phone and a personal phone means you have to carry two phones. It sucks.

mister d wrote:Having a work phone and a personal phone means you have to carry two phones. It sucks.

I bet you even get to leave yours at home on weekends, so it's gonna suck doubly bad for bronto.

I successfully lobbied to go back to one phone. Whatever slight annoyance there is to getting some calls and texts on my personal is well worth not having three larger items for two pockets.

mister d wrote:Having a work phone and a personal phone means you have to carry two phones. It sucks.

This. I've been carrying two around for a few weeks as a "trial" of the Pixel. Been too lazy to make the final switch, and I don't have my case for the new one yet.

Like you guys don't have the pockets in your cargo's.

mister d wrote:I successfully lobbied to go back to one phone. Whatever slight annoyance there is to getting some calls and texts on my personal is well worth not having three larger items for two pockets.

I had to go to a personal phone, even though I am on call 24/7 and the vast majority of my calls are business related. Saving a $1000 a year, boy glad I could help out the budget woes (we just got a 1.4 million dollar tech endowment.)

Our kids got phones when they were 13 (oldest) and 15 (youngest, autistic). Neither was a smart phone. My wife and I have dumb phones as well. The phones were essential in the logistics of teen life. We were more comfortable with kids out on their own, even in walking around the block (youngest), with a phone in their pocket.

We've used tracfones for years with great success. Cheap phones that work well. Got the last one for $5. Pay for what you use, which for us is still modest. We've got a landline, largely due to emergency utility, and we use it.

The oldest is in college on the west coast. She decided that a smartphone was basically an academic requirement, so reluctantly got an out-of-date Apple and after shopping around gets service from Ting. Apparently it's quite cheap.

Rush2112 wrote:

mister d wrote:I successfully lobbied to go back to one phone. Whatever slight annoyance there is to getting some calls and texts on my personal is well worth not having three larger items for two pockets.

I had to go to a personal phone, even though I am on call 24/7 and the vast majority of my calls are business related. Saving a $1000 a year, boy glad I could help out the budget woes (we just got a 1.4 million dollar tech endowment.)

WE CAN'T FIND A COPY OF The CRUCIBLE! COME QUICK!

mister d wrote:Having a work phone and a personal phone means you have to carry two phones. It sucks.

Well, yeah, but I'm not going to be taking the work phone with me to non-work things. And carrying two phones around the house or in a backpack with a laptop and an iPad is a burden that I think I can manage.

A_B wrote:te]WE CAN'T FIND A COPY OF The CRUCIBLE! COME QUICK!

Ha! I haven't dealt with patrons or books for years. I manage the libraries servers.

It took a little longer than expected, but Obama finally came for our guns...

So, I've had Sprint since 2003 thanks to my brothers friends and family plan. Well, our family has been divided down the middle and we're no longer talking (blocked on FB, being told we're a dysfunctional family somehow, etc.), so I'd really like to switch carriers before I wake up one day without a working phone. Anyone switched recently and know of any good deals?

Just made the move to Pixel and Project Fi as the carrier. Pixel isn't cheap, but it can be financed, and I like Project Fi a lot, so far.

Make sure you look into possible advantages of bundling your internet and/or cable/satellite tv with your phone service.