What We Spend

Never understood this smart phone infatuation. I didnt get one until 2015 and its an Alcatel. Nothing fancy, my paranoia over how well you are tracked via smart phone has and still bothers me. All that time in the sandbox, I guess.

The way I see it I carry a computer that can make phone calls as one of its functions. I love my iPhone 7 Plus. I have zero interest in the iPhone X mainly because of the removal of the home button. The facial recognition to unlock is dumb, IMO. I'm outside a lot and wear sunglasses. I am certain it won't work with the type of glasses I normally wear.

Given I just bought a CJ Pony Parts steering wheel and PP2 which after installation and dyno runs I want to do I'll have $1100 or more invested. I'm certain those to additions to my Mustang will be much more satisfying than an iPhone X. I'll probably keep my 7 plus for another year and then upgrade. There's nothing in the 8 Plus that I can't live without.

Hertz Rent a car said:

Lol and I still have my LG G3 from July 2014.

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HA HAAAAAAAAAA
Nice. I'm still rocking the Samsung Galaxy 5.

I own an original Google Nexus "Smart Phone"; I purchased it in 2013 for $400. I have been on "Straight Talk's Unlimited Text and Talk Plan" the entire time; in fact, when I first started on ST, it was $30.00 a month; it has now increased to $45, with unlimited talk, text and 8 GB of data. I will use this phone until it DIES! I can't bring my phone into my job...so my phone spends 9 to 9.5 hours a day in my car, so why do I need a fancy phone and an expensive data plan?

NoVaGT said:

You end up paying the $1150.00 one way or another. Trust me, there are no "discounts" or "credits". It's a shell game, and the phone is paid for one way or another.

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There are discounts and credits you just have to know what to ask for and be able to get onto preferred plan pricing.

I'm speaking about Canada though I don't know how it works in the states.

Anyone have experience with the OnePlus 5? I recently broke my iPhone 6 and am now using an old S5 that has a cracked screen. I hate the idea of another $30+ monthly payment for a new iPhone or Samsung through AT&T but even buying outright is crazy expensive ($700+ for lowest storage iPhone 7 I think).

The OnePlus 5 would save a couple hundred bucks and seems to be really fast - I would purchase the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. Cons seem to be the camera doesn't work as well as the iPhone's version but main uses for me are calls/texts/apps/web surfing and it's got a great processor. I seem to use my phone to do most everything over my old MB Pro so this phone seems to check off most boxes and is fast enough that I won't seemingly need to upgrade for a few years.

Hoping someone has personal experience with these!

Its a status symbol....the same people who(tend to) buy the X spend 200bucks on sneakers(and have 50 pairs of shoes) they will wear only when they go out...or 150buck jeans. Same people that work min wage jobs and live in a rat trap.

It would be different if you are wealthy but sadly that's the society we live in...gotta be better then your peers when it comes to toys.

Kinjirra said:

It would be different if you are wealthy but sadly that's the society we live in...gotta be better then your peers when it comes to toys.

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Actually millionaires are all around us and many of them do not look the part. This is because they tend to live well below their means and save their money rather than spend it on expensive shoes, jeans or toys. It’s a mindset and easy to live that way when you have millions.

It's all good until Apple suspends updates for i"this or that"... Which is done purposefully so they are pretty much forcing you, the consumer, into making a decision to upgrade to THEIR product, or move on to Brnad-X.

We finally updated our iPads to the most current model - but ONLY because the prior could no longer revive any iOS updates because Apple removed them from their list of products that could receive the updates.

I'm sure the older models could still support iOS 10.3.3 to a certain degree, but when the product no longer can be updated - then you're pretty much forced into spending your $$$ anyway, regardless of which Brand you are loyal to (or will switch over to)...

Cobra Jet said:

It's all good until Apple suspends updates for i"this or that"... Which is done purposefully so they are pretty much forcing you, the consumer, into making a decision to upgrade to THEIR product, or move on to Brnad-X.

We finally updated our iPads to the most current model - but ONLY because the prior could no longer revive any iOS updates because Apple removed them from their list of products that could receive the updates.

I'm sure the older models could still support iOS 10.3.3 to a certain degree, but when the product no longer can be updated - then you're pretty much forced into spending your $$$ anyway, regardless of which Brand you are loyal to (or will switch over to)...

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FWIW, this pretty much happens with everything. It's natural progression, companies stop offering support for outdated systems because so few of them are still in use. I had an old laptop that was on an old version of windows and so it received no software updates, loading a new version of windows (thankfully for free) just made it slower than molasses.

As new software comes out, the hardware to run it gets over taxed because it was designed for stuff 2-3x more powerful.

Dr. Norts said:

There are discounts and credits you just have to know what to ask for and be able to get onto preferred plan pricing.

I'm speaking about Canada though I don't know how it works in the states.

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No matter the "credits and discounts" they apply, the phone still gets paid for. It's a shell game, moving money around.

Nothing is free. Nothing. You pay for the phone.

NoVaGT said:

No matter the "credits and discounts" they apply, the phone still gets paid for. It's a shell game, moving money around.

Nothing is free. Nothing. You pay for the phone.

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This