Yeah, I’ve given up on bootloaders long ago. After I broke my last phone, finding a decent mid range phone with expandable storage, a headphone jack, stylus and nice colors was pretty nice. The cameras are decent, and the processing power is fine for most stuff. The only time it slows down is if I’m cropping and editing a video or screen recording, which is a pretty seldom thing.

I got Motorola with a headphone jack, and I use it surprisingly often. All my Bluetooth stuff has fallen apart faster than my wired stuff.

https://archive.ph/sKSFk

I like foldables, but I won’t be getting another one until Samsung and other OEMs dramatically overhaul their design and durability. When a ribbon connector went bad, they required repair companies to replace the two screens and hinge, a $600 repair on a phone worth $400. The ribbon connector is a 20¢ component, if that. I ended up getting a Motorola on sale for $250 that can do most of what high end flagships can do.

Are there better alternatives? I was planning on using tailscale until now. :P

Honestly, it’s been a really good trend with ebikes. Some ebikes brands have been including brake lights that light up when you slow or stop, and it makes it much safer, since you can tell when someone ahead of you is slowing down. Front brake lights for cars and bikes would also make sense, especially at signalized intersections and four ways.

I hope they become a thing.

This is a 2024 moto g stylus 5G.

I’m on a Motorola, I don’t think it’s flashable…

Honestly, I kinda like it. I don’t think my phone will get 16, though. I’ll probably get android 18 or whatever is out then.

I had the Samsung version shit itself. 20 cent ribbon connector blew, Samsung refused to replace it, and instead wanted to replace BOTH screens and the hinge for $600. I threw it in the landfill and bought a $250 Motorola. Idiotic, anti-R2R companies.

I like the idea, but people have a bad habit of just pissing all over the urinal itself. Some people have remarkably bad aim. Make it wide, haha.

Looks like he’s on that new shit, lol.

Old version:

Honestly, not much of a difference. Default android is a bit more annoying, and the secure folder is inferior. The cameras are decent. It’s a solid phone, and the stylus is pretty decent for notetaking. I use my stylus for grocery lists. The headphone jack and SD card is awesome. The screen and processor are great, and the battery is way larger AND charges faster than my s9 or my z fold 4. The stylus is about the same as the z fold stylus.

The phone is pretty solid as an all-arounder. For $250-450, it’s hard to have any complaints.

The Stylus 2024 is an excellent phone, coming from Samsung. It was on sale for $250 last year, which was great. I doubt I’ll go back to flagships, tbh. This phone feels nearly as fast as flagships in everyday usage. The only slow part is editing screen recordings or videos, which I seldom do anyways. The headphone jack and microSD card is really nice and surprisingly useful.

That is way too expensive. I’m not paying $450 for a switch, or $80 for Nintendo games. Trump can also shove those tariffs up his fucking ass, I’ll buy my expensive shit in a foreign country before I bend the knee to his idiocy.

I love the idea of using it, but between getting married, looking for better jobs, and maintaining friendships, I haven’t found the time to study for the amateur radio exam, which appears to be considerable.

GMRS is $35 and a license so that I can use a radio with my family, husband, and licensed friends while skiing or mountain biking, making localized communication easy, while the cert process was mostly friction free (looking at you, ancient FCC website and the guides needed to figure out licensing- something less dedicated people forgo, hint hint). The friction for getting ham licensed makes it difficult for young people who don’t have much time for additional hobbies.

I do hope it’s around when I’m older and (hopefully) have more free time!

They actually are really nice, but they still need some time in terms of reliability. They are awesome for reading books or the news on the go, though. Or if you need a maps application open while biking. I miss mine, but Samsung still has dogshit repairability, so when a 10¢ ribbon cable broke (understandable), their solution was to replace all three screens, or pull a repair shop’s license. A $600 replacement.

A lot of the top movies got mixed reviews from friends and family. I saw some that were meh. Hope next year has some better ones.

We certainly are entertaining the possibility of getting one. That said, I think getting better antennas will probably do what we’ll need a repeater itself…even though it is tempting…

(My current walkie talkie can already hit one of our local repeaters 24 mi away just by getting a better antenna, so I will probably upgrade my loaner radios as needed!)

Thank you! I think that makes sense. :)

And for my husband and I, not really. We have 5w handhelds with 5- 15 inch whips. But some friends are on .5w to 2w radios, which definitely aren’t as powerful.

I don’t know if there’s a point at which longer antennas have diminishing returns on UHF (GMRS), But it seems like directionality isn’t too much of a concern, even if people are behind a ridgeline or two.

This might be kinda a stupid question, but does the direction of the antenna affect the output of the wave? (Eg, if the antenna is tilted 45 degrees from vertical, is the radio wave it transmits also 45 degrees from anyone else’s vertical antenna?) Or does the wave stay the same (parallel to the earth, but most of the power is just dumped in an unhelpful direction, so it doesn’t transmit nearly as far?)

I know this is silly, but I don’t actually know the answer, and it makes me curious, since I tend to ski with radios, transmitting while skiing down steep slopes while people are above or below me by hundreds/thousands of feet.