They are working hard on taking away SIM cards so that you can’t move to another phone without your provider charging you and giving you an okay.
Yes in theory eSIM cards are better, but the way many providers handle issuing you an eSIM card is a nightmare. Whereas with a physical SIM I can just pull it out and put it in any phone that supports that provider without a problem.
I went as far as buying one of those physical SIM cards that holds e-sims on it so that I can swap that into a new phone. But newer phones are more frequently not coming with SIM slots at all.
I’m resisting esims for as long as possible.
Nanosims provide this key feature where I can put my sim in a cheap 20$ flip phone when I go snowboarding or kayaking and don’t want to risk breaking my smart phone.
This also is a convenient way to get Google, and tech, and social media noise away from me for a short time.
I also noticed there is a complete lack of esim capable dumb phones. This has me starting to question the motivation behind esim.
Ehh…esims have their upsides (like instant delivery from your cell provider).
And for your case: Multi-sims (with telephone) are a thing.How often you need that though? I mean ordering a SIM. And if you need it immediately you just go to one of provider’s kiosks (which is plenty of them) and you get one instantly.
As for multi sims, that’s useful especially if you travel, but on the other hand there are phones with multi SIM slots. I have one right now. The sun card slot is just longer and you can put multiple.
The whole esim reminds me when I was at Verizon when they still used CDMA. Phones didn’t have SIM and you had to call provider to make a change. So to me it feels like a step backward.
I think what Cape is doing is innovative wrt esims.
But I’d still lose out in flip phones atm. I’d be totally fine beaming my esim over to the flip phone in a p2p manner and beaming it back when I am done. Its just a matter of, hopefully, someone making such a flip phone.
If it’s just for a throwaway situation like risky adventures in the mountains, I guess some refurbished device that is 3/4/5g capable would suffice me. Not like you can use 2G nowadays anyway.
I like eSIMs now because I can get a different account every month, data only and then I use jmp.net to have SMS and voice call services with a permanent number for when I need that. Its cheaper then anything else and more private too.
I don’t know who you’ve been getting your esims from but it I’ve used simjuno and nadanada both are pretty easy to setup.
As soon as the ability to just physically remove the SIM is gone, the big providers will add locks in software to enshittify the experience.
That’s a given. I can see Apple becoming a mobile service provider and locking all iPhones users to them, for example.
eSIM experience will only stay smooth as the alternative physical SIM option exists.
Won’t happen because then the major carriers will throw a fit.
Lock ins are only a problem if you sign a contract to get your phone costs subsidised. The solution is not physical sims, its stop buying over priced shiney things with a contract just cuz MaBell will give you a “deal”. You can almost always get a better deal yourself if you are willing to look for it.
I pay in a year less then most ppl pay for a month of the same exact service, but instead of paying T-Mobile or Verizon $40 I pay $4 for the same amount of data. Instead of buying the latest phone I get a used one that will get updates for the next 3+ years.
I don’t see how apple or Verizon or anyone else could really ever make this setup not work for me unless they lobby congress to destroy MVNOs and used phone resale.
Apple always sells their phones unlocked when you buy directly from them. I don’t ever see them ever going back on that.
That sounds like a major pain in the ass.
A lot less pain then getting stuck paying off $1000 phone and over $300 for service. I guess some people just prefer to get ripped off
What does the cost of the phone have to do with changing your plan monthly? You can not get ripped off and not have to do all that hoop jumping each month.
Well related because just buying a phone outright in my area is not easy. I have to ship the phone direct from manufacturer because all the major retailers refuse to sell unless you buy through a contract.
Well I dont have to change it monthly if i don’t want to but I happen to want to because it makes it harder to track and create a profile If I do. My actual phone/SMS service stays the same either way and routes over XMPP.
The cost of the phone is why most average people get suckered in to long term contracts.
Always buy unlocked. I transferred carriers on the bus one afternoon and by the time I was home, it was done and I had already deactivated my old account. Kept my mincer and everything. It was even simpler because I have a dual eSIM. Once it was done, I deleted my original eSIM. There’s also the big advantage of using dual eSIM when traveling internationally as you can just activate foreign networks immediately.
But even if you don’t buy unlocked, the carrier has to unlock your phone if you’ve been with them for like 60 days or something according to the FCC. My friend couldn’t get his phone unlocked so he threatened to report them to the FCC and BOOM. Unlocked remotely. It was crazy that it had to go that far.
Locked phones aren’t really a thing in Canada; they are all unlocked. That doesn’t dictate the eSIM switching process be easy between devices though :/
Also, wtf is with the “only one or two eSIMs” limit. That physical eSIM card I bought will fit as many fit in storage; something like 8 apparently. I hate arbitrary “no, only X” limits without a justification.There is only zero, one, and N (more than can be used because of physical or natural limits) in my mind. :P
what the fuck? I stopped on “no jack for you sir” phase, no doubt I am not going for another smartpone when the current one dies out
The first phone I got with an e-SIM crashed during startup. After it cooked my old SIM card. It was so arduous to get fixed. So fucking stupid. This tech isn’t ready for prime time if it can’t handle the phone crashing at specific points.
Take away your ability to install apps that aren’t stamped approved.
Oh wait, one did it over a decade ago and the other is about to start enforcing it.
Oh, and there’s pretty much only the two of them.
I miss the headphone jack so much.
That’s still a hard requirement for me, but I don’t mind using older “tech”.
I totally get it but I have been pretty happy with the earbuds to be honest. I know that’s a bit of a hot take but I always wanted wireless in the past and I use my jabra’s on a daily basis. Still, I dont like the removal of useful features, we could easily have wireless earbuds and still have headphone jacks for fuck sake
Same. It took about a decade after the widespread removal of headphone jacks before wireless headphones became a reliable replacement. Now I can’t imagine being tethered to my phone.
I recently upgraded my phone, and the lack of a 3.5mm jack really hurts. But at least I have an excuse not to listen to my sister’s 20 min Whatsapp voice messages…
One other thing I really miss is the LED indicator that you have new notifications when the screen is off.
Starting 2019 most smartphones vendors have stopped adding the notification LED which could be explained by the advent of AOD and a drive for smaller bezels.[6][7]
An always-on display (AOD) is a computer-device feed feature mostly found on smartphones that has the device display show limited information while the phone is asleep. I
both from Wikipedia. tl;dr. modem screens can be switched on partially and do so efficient enough to replace LEDs. if and how they do depends on the os
It’s so much less convenient tho. The led meant you knew at a glance that there was something for you, you didn’t have to look at the screen long enough for it to trigger the screen, then process a whole* bunch of info BEFORE determining if there was something for you.
Huh? That doesnt make any sense. For AOD to work without draining battery way too much it has to be OLED of some kind (or eink). But still to this day something like half the phones are built with LCDs, even moreso in 2019.
Writing this on my $100 LCD phone from last year without a notification LED. Actually had one on my previous one. And I hated it, though thats just me, I hate LEDs in general and always disable/disconnect/tape over them so that my room doesnt look like disco christmas party at night.
I loved my Xperia M and its huge ahh LED
Cheap solution, whatever your charger port is, they make that to 3.5mm
Next they will add more AI and more tracking and more ads.
I miss the IR blaster so much. It was great to not only be able to control my own devices, but also be able to change TV’s in waiting rooms or gyms when they were stuck on shit like Fox News.
Ooh, maybe a dedicated AI button right next to the power button that can’t be turned off or used for any other function that you accidentally hit all of the time.
My LG G8 all but got “upgraded” to this, it was a dedicated Google assistant button, right next to the power switch, and the assistant became AI. Thankfully, while you were unable to remap the button you could still just turn it off, I did that pre AI because I just never used assistant and kept accidentally hitting the button. There are a lot of things I miss about that phone, the AI button is not one of them.
No more touch screens! You press a button to turn it on and you watch/look at/read whatever we give you to watch/look at/read! But first, point the camera at your ID and bank cards.
“Cameras always on”
For the user experience.
/s
The charging port will be subscription-based.
I’m actually a tiny bit shocked apple phones haven’t gone wireless charging only and had no ports tbh
Yeah I thought they would do that to avoid USBC in the EU
I’m sure they’ve considered it, but there’s some technical reason not to (yet).
I wonder why, if it wasn’t for charging they could leave another port on it still if it needs one for some reason. Or partially seal it before the customer gets hold of it. Or even leave a metal ring around each camera hole and map that to USB pins, phones managed with micro USB for a long time so that could cover any internal need they have for a port.
I miss the IR blaster so much, I used it constantly
Can you explain this to me? I’ve never heard of this as a feature and literally cannot tell if this is a joke or real.
It was an IR led tied into the phone. You could record and send out IR signals to anything with a receiver like tvs, appliances, etc.
For a little while you could buy an IR blaster that plugged into a headphone jack.
Don’t need a phone if you never leave your house.
Galaxy brain
But how are you going to rot in bed then?
Take lessons from Grandpa Joe.
Laptops exist
They’re going to integrate AI and make it non-removable. “You need this.”
They took your removable battery
So you’d have to buy a new phone instead of replacing it with a better battery off Amazon
They took your IR blaster
Not sure where this is or what it’s supposed to do
They took your microsd slot
So you’d have to pay for cloud storage
They took your headphone jack
So you’d have to buy wireless headphones
They took your buttons
Because they think they know what you want better than you do
They cut a hole in your screen
Because bigger screens sell
They added 5 cameras you don’t use
Because better cameras sell
The IR blaster lets you use your phone like a universal remote. I can control my TV, my air conditioner, and most importantly, some stores’ unsecured commercial displays with my phone.
I like that last part the most I kind of want to get one now.
The IR blaster was an IR LED you coud use to turn your phone into a remote control. Also for direct data transfer, though that one was iffy.
They added 5 cameras because people use iPhones as social media machines and Apple knows it.
We’ll add five cameras! And guess what, if even one camera fails, we’ll brick all five! Isn’t that great! More points of failure for everyone ❤️
But those cameras are awesome? I need wide angle, normal and zoom. Ideally even “super zoom” like 5x or 10x or in absolute like 200 mm in 35mm equivalent. And I have not seen a case where one broken makes all of them non-functional?
At least on my s24 is the case. I get camera failure when trying to use them, and running hardware check shows only the telephoto lens having issues. Thankfully for some reason using the camera app in messages let’s my use the macro lens still. I have the replacement part to fix, just been lazy 😂
