Modern Phones Vs older Phones

I have a collection of now "old" phones in the bar phone era and have just noticed some differences, some good some bad.
Galaxy S5-2014, verizon
Galaxy Note S4-2014 verizon
Galaxy A01-2020, tracfone

Modern phones weigh noticeably more than the plastics based S series, even the smaller A01 weighs noticeably more than both the s5 and the much large note s4. The form factors are different as they used to be wider and now are taller/thinner. I get the same basic phone, text, internet, camera usage out of all of them. The cameras on both the older phones are BETTER than the one on the A01, having the options for much higher resolutions and such than the A01 which is just 1080p and 30fps 1080p video. The S5 had a 60fps option I think, some higher than 1080p, and I'm sure the Note 4 had more options.

I miss the lower button, it's not as comfortable to always have to use the side button for things as I don't hold the phone cupped like that assumes most of the time, I hold it from the bottom and the side button is too high to naturally use to wakeup etc the phone. So now I have to shift my hand a couple times whereas w the other form factor and the physical lower button it was much more comfortable. My thumb naturally rests where the physical button used to be. Not good, not an improvement. The option needed is a special swipe while the phone screen is off where the physical button used to be but that would mean the screen would need to be on in a way to a certain swipe at a certain screen location. The A01 is comparatively small but still noticeably heavier.

Obviously the cpu/OS is better on the newer phones, more optimized and zippier w the newer hardware but it's not that big of deal really. Way overrated. The S5 and Note 4 are on EOL OS Android Lollipop w the garish white out theme. I REALLY like the dark mode that android came out with later on. The newer OS, Android 11/12 is pretty dumbed down and infantilizing compared to older versions and is not necessarily easier to use. I'm also not a big fan of OneUI of samsung either compared to the previous system they had. Eh they both work though.


For my typical usage I get about the same full to empty battery usage about 2 days if I don't charge it. The S5 has about the same sized battery as the A01 of about 3000 maH, the Note 4 has a default a bit bigger like 3500 but I have an newer large sized battery that's around 4000. I don't use the Note 4 as a phone just a media-wifi device so can just assume typical usage would be into the 2.5-3 days range. AND you can easily take out the battery on both the older phones and pop in another one. I have several batts for both phones always having a 100% battery ready to pop in. MUCH BETTER than the sealed batts in modern phones and I also didn't need to have a tool or paper clip to put in a simcard either. Just tear off the back and good to go. The S5 is mostly all plastic, never had a problem w it at all. The Note 4 is some plastic with a metal body. More to come.

 

I'm guessing the A01 has more metal in it since it weighs more and more stuff packed into it, but I don't get any more use out of it and it's still a 4g phone so idk, maybe more radios on the board so more metal. Body seems plasticy to me, there is another camera depth I think so that adds weight.


Price wise the A01 was under 200 new, but I got a reconditioned from Straight Talk one a year or so after it came out for about 33$, I had an s4 for years then got a used verizon S5 for about 75$ and I think the note 4 a few years old was about the same. I think the s5/note4 were originally around 500 brand new. More to come later.

 

The latest form factor is I guess more efficient to how mobile pages are encoded, being more scrolling and not as wide pages w more wasted space. More scrolling also equals more ads, they think of us as cattle to be milked and sheared continually. Occasionally huge wars to skin a certain amount of us, the goy that are not trannys in their satanic cult. But the FF certainly is not more comfortable to our hands imo And the larger and larger phones are not pocket friendly, pants pocket anyways. As I said the A01 is on the smaller side of the spectrum so does fit ok in normal sized pants. The S5 is only marginally wider really so it's not a big difference.

The snappiness of newer hardware is nice and I do like the dark theme but it's all marginal benefit really. As I said the total battery time for normal usage is not any better than the s5, about 2 days so the efficiency of modern OS is just not there as far as afa battery life. Same battery size of about 3000mAh on both, same full to dead time.

I DO like the USB-C standard though it's more versatile doesn't have to be plugged in a certain way and has higher current I think so faster charging. The s5 has old style miniusb and can use the single or double prong, default it has the option for those two prong usb3's but the other prong is just for data. USB-C is better at both in one prong. The Note4 is just the single prong old style which is curious, it's a bigger better version of the s5 but has only that. It also has the wand which is nice but I never use it.

Internal storage wise the low end A01 has the same 16gb of my s5. The premium note4 has 32gb which was a lot in 2014 for a phone. I have 32gb mini cards in all of them for more photos storage. I'm not into apps too much just the basics of maps and ereader, fdroid, third party browsers, not much else. With the only 1080p camera on the A01 the photo sizes are much smaller so it's fine. The s5 I had to higher than 1080p so the sizes were larger.

The camera is better on the s5 and much better on the Note4 than the basic but newer one on the A01. It's to be expected on a low end but very cheap phone really. It's comparable but def not better. I could go get another reconditioned phone from straight talk/tracfone for around 80 which would have a much better camera, more space, etc doesn't seem worth it for me tbh.

As far as materials I assume the glass is sturdier on the A01 but I've always used a screen cover and case so it's not really a big deal. I'm not one to drop my phone or careless w it so the s5/note4 I've not had problems with for years. The a01 came with a protective wrap you can see through so I kept it on there as a screen protector, otherwise I'd just use some boxing tape, done with spending the ridiculous prices for a custom screen cover. I usually get a cheap gel case as that's all I've ever wanted really, not too big and just cushions case during a fall. I think the plastics that the s5 is made of is totally fine, there is no need for metal really. I'm not sure the A01 seems like a harder heavier plastic but may be metalized in places, electroplated. Makes sense but the added weight must be camera, antennas and more metal/metalized plastics. Likely because the phones are bigger and many are opting for no case at all to keep the size down. Also the prices are insane for a phone, most people do not and will not use them for more than the basics, so no improvement or benefit to the higher prices. Just greedster stuff.

The s5 no contract was 649 and that's the top line S series phone in 2014. The top line S24 phones now are 1200$ with little new benefit to them. Other than more space, better cameras, larger, 5g, and such but on a day to day basis normal use it's no benefit for double the price of 10 years ago. Nah. I wouldn't pay more than 200$ brand new for any phone and certainly a reconditioned version for a fraction of that is totally fine. Like everything else the prices are really for B2B business use, only way those prices fly. There are people who like the latest toy and are willing to blow money on them but for most they make no sense at that price, better off getting a used one a few years old at around what a brand new top line s5 cost or less, do 90%+ the same thing.

 

Since Samsung androids have a power saving feature I usually have that on, you get the basic functions most people use but everything else is only in full power mode. So phone, text, internet and a few other apps you can choose for basic use. On my a01 this means if I don't use it at all the batt will last about 7 days so with use of any kind it probably is around real world use 4 days on one full charge depending on how much I use the phone or whether I switch to full mode to do something etc. With full mode it says I get 2d2h from a full charge. So doubling the battery time or more seems like a good deal to me.

On the s5 it has a power saving passive mode which I believe just throttles the cpu and a full ultimate power saving mode which can only use their chosen browser which I'm not too interested in using. Android 12 lets you choose 4 apps to include in the 8 apps total and they can be anything so I can use any net browser. The ones they always have there are settings, messages, Chrome and phone. I have inBrowser, gallery, maps and camera as the other 4. For regular use that's all that's needed really for me. And I can access the full mode as needed. If I'm sitting at a computer having full mode features on just eats battery for no reason. I can use wifi as well and just turn off the cell radios to save even more power but don't. I pay for cell tower usage for calls and texts.

As I've said the biggest drawbacks to modern budget phones vs 10 year old top level phones are the screen dpi is much lower, they don't use AMOLED screens, the available resolutions are lower like camera/vids are only at 1080p max, the OS is actually harder to use more dumbed down less options, no bottom physical button and most modern phones are physically larger. I also very much miss the easily removable battery, sim and sd card.
The A01 is on the smaller side thankfully so pocket stowing is more comfortable and holding it is also better. I have 3 s5 batteries and always keep the other two fully charged so just pop out/in useful for camping and other places where it's difficult-impossible to plug in. Old S level phones were also almost totally plastic making them much lighter than modern phones with heavier components. Most people are careful enough with phones as to not need the sturdier build. My Note 4 is metal framed but is STILL light than the smaller A01. Both have cases on too. The Note4 is also much bigger and has a writing pen.

To me the Note4 and S5 were the height of Samsung design. The Note5 is great too but I think has a sealed battery. Versatile, decent resolutions, functionality and such all much better than modern budget and mid range phones. I can't say for high range but those are way overpriced for minimal extra real world features. Granted the Note4 is too big to easily put it in your pocket and is not as easy to hold but everything else is better. How sad that 10 year old top of the line phones are better than modern budget phones and could give mid range a run for their money depending on user preferences.

It's a managed market only nothing to do with real world convenience but profitability. The thin tall form factor is for more scrolling/more ads and the sealed battery is for planned obsolescence. And plastics based phones would be better for 5g antennae, granted the higher weight is probably due to more radios and more durable plastics mostly but in normal real world usage there's not much difference. The batteries are same 3000mAh in smaller modern phones. The costs of mid-high phones are not justified other than pure greed nothing more. The speeds of cpu-gpu are not needed except for more gaming and badly optimized and hogging apps. And 5g radios are largely big city line of sight stuff, minimal benefits.

I get about 23 Mbps 4g in a mid sized city, 4/5 bars. Searching it says avg 5g is 47Mbps, sure it's twice as fast but makes no difference to regular browsing, maps and such so is of little use. Similar to 4k there is little need for it other than selling. A real full 1080p data rate looks amazing and it was only ever available on blu ray. Granted you notice the difference in sharpness with 4k but what you get is a lower data rate that's called 4k but is really somewhere around 1.5-2k in practice. Again it's all just managing the market by monopolies under different names nothing more.

 

Coming back to this my sister got a galaxy a03 and it's much longer then my a01, much less handy. I also grabbed a Moto G Play 2024 4g for 39$ new but straight talk-tracfone-verizon locked to test it out. I also grabbed an h2o sim card for 1$ to test if the phone is unlocked or not. H2o is ATT network only, whereas straight talk is multiple networks since it's an open MVNO, however now like it's parent Tracfone is owned by Verizon so I would imagine ST would be moving towards a Verizon only network at some point. Any of these cheap phones new that are bought in a branded box are locked, I just wanted to confirm that the Motorola was locked since that company has a history of being more open ended and uses an almost stock Android with less bloatware then other phones. There was still plenty of bloatware just Google bloatware and some minor Moto stuff that is mostly useful.

Her a03 Straight Talk was also 39$ new and she is with Safelink a tracfone verizon provider so was able to call them and they transferred her service to that phone. If you're with any tracfone/verizon wireless company AND you're willing to deal with the inept poor rude customer service you can get it transferred internally to another tracfone-verizon company even if it's network locked since it's all the same company now.

The A03 is nowhere as good as the Moto G Play 2024, more ram, more internal space, gorilla glass 3, likely more and better radios, same size, 50MP camera vs 16MP etc At the same price it's a no brainer but I had not done the research before she bought hers and already called Safelink and transferred her account to that phone. If the transfer process was streamlined and such it should be no problem but it isn't, it's a minefield of nonsense in the USA.

So anyways I am now with qlink wireless and DO NOT recommend them for anything. However I get lifeline and thus free service for a year. They cap lifeline users at barely high speed on the tmobile network. At first it was 1.1mbps then about a month later it is now 0.5 mbps or pretty much half speed, terrible. Works but is way slow loading some sites and downloading more than 20mb or so takes over 10mins. Pretty disgraceful in the USA that "high speed" means anything above 64kbps or so, which is freaking dial up! So these providers of free gov service milk that by providing very low speeds and charging the gov 40$ for them when your typical 40$ paid plan is at least 10gb of 10mbps++ at the low end. It's all just a money game with the intl mafia that controls govs by megacorps then those are controlled by megabankster scum.

So I just wanted to test it out having 2 weeks to return it and it's great but is just too big. My a01 is 146mm long or 5.67" and is handy, not as good as the 2013 galaxy S5 but you get used to it. The Moto G Play 2024 is around 6.5" Long and about 0.25" wider. Making easy in the pocket and in the hand very difficult to impossible for average people. Many people like 146 or below sizes and not as wide and why these makers can't or won't make phones in that range is due to just greedster culture. Bigger longer screen=more larger ads=more money to be made, simple as that. Another reason is the larger batteries. My a03 has a 3000mah battery, from the a02 up it's a 5000mah, so it is larger.

Still for the 39$ brand new price I likely would have kept it but as I found out Straight Talk DOES lock their phones to the tracfone-verizon network or whatever network they have locked the phone to. This phone would NOT work with an H2o ATT network so it's locked. IF it was unlocked I would also have kept it, good backup to have for such a cheap price new. Thankfully Walmart allows returns for full refund within 2 weeks of purchase so I got to test it out and determine nogo.

I have since got tired of qlink free lifeline service, as they also determined to heavily throttle my service from 10pm to whenever since I must have streamed too much between those hours, ridiculous. The free plan is unlimited talk text and 4.5gb of data at "high speed" or really deprioritized and capped at 0.5mbps, ridiculous. Other lifeline providers like my sisters Safelink goes up to 17mbps on her A03. For various reasons I can't go to Safelink so I signed up for Standup wireless with free lifeline and they are also a tmobile mvno but I've read they don't throttle. I don't care if I get throttled but not at that speed, 5mbps would be fine and not at the almost no network during certain hours, ridiculous. My a01 I was able to get unlocked by straight talk so can use it with any carrier. Standup is supposedly sending me a free phone but I'll likely just move my sim over once it's activated.

So yeah the only phones I've seen that are not 6.5" long and 0.25" wider and up are the s10e and the S23 both higher priced phones, no thx When are these makers going to stop this madness with phablets only? I want a phone I can easily hold in the hand, put in my pocket and also have a physical button but they are hard to find.

From a paid plan viewpoint I wouldn't go back to straight talk, it's overpriced. Tello is a much better deal at 25$ for 35gb and has plans down to 2gb for about 10$. I think the three big carriers and their mvnos and the independent mvnos have likely just fine speeds and coverage for anyone. Faster or slower in places but the minimum speeds for normal usage are fine if they're not capped artificially and even if they are if theyre at least 5mbps would be fine for most people. A 5G capable phone would get faster speeds normally but those phones are more expensive even in the budget space. Cheapest I saw major brand was samsung a14 5g at around 80$.

 

So yeah getting back to qlink wireless DON'T use them. As I said I get free lifeline service which is unlimited plus 4.5gb of data at "high speed". High speed to them means 0.5 Mbps or less which is barely enough to browse most sites, forget about any download larger then a few mbs unless you want to wait 10+mins and it doesn't time out.

In contrast my sister who also gets lifeline but through Safelink gets 10gb of data and I've seen speeds up to 17mbps. Granted she is on an a03 and I'm still on my a01 but the radios shouldn't be that much better on a 2 years newer phone imo. Qlink wireless or it's parent Tmobile throttles badly. At first I got 1.1mbps which is barely high speed, doesn't even fit old 4g average speeds but is usable but then about a month later consistently get 0.5 or less, ptifiul even free. So I'm trying to transfer to Access Wireless also tmobile and there are no horror stories about throttling out there so we'll see. I just hope I'll be able to transfer my phone number to the new sim they are sending me. Can't be worse then Qlink which has a history of shady things and being fined and disciplined by the FCC.

I have to say Lifeline is a disgraceful program in the way that it's providers have terrible outsourced customer service whom do almost nothing but waste peoples time. I tried to transfer to safelink but they just can't do it for some reason. I have a sim they sent to the wrong zip code, my parents hundreds of miles away so I foolishly used the Qlink service which did send a sim to my newer correct zip code. Safelink just can't or won't delete the old account to then transfer to the new zip code account and I've tried multiple times been told it's all good to no avail.

Lifeline needed to be just the gov doing it themselves and directly supervising the data rates and such, one place OR give an e voucher to anyone qualified to then apply it to the available networks and data plans out there. NOT have these skeezy companies setup JUST for lifeline and ACP which provide measly plans that you could buy for 10-15$ on say Tello with non throttled speed and such. They then turn around and charge the gov 45$ for 10-20$ service plans to double their money each plan. They also send out these off brand junk phones free that they likely bill the gov 100$ for, total scam that the gov if it was interested should shut down. "High Speed" minimums need to be at least the average working 4g connections of 10mbps or more, not going back to dial up speeds, ridiculous and the FCC is obviously involved in the scam. Likely kickbacks and such, nothing new with the jewmasontranny infested government, all just a mafia really.