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Help Need Your ideas about what phone to buy.

Tom Hartley

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Apr 22, 2020
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My wife has a Nokia 6.1 running Android 9. She doesn't like it. What would be the advantage if she got an Samsung Galaxy S10+? Shouldn't they both have the same features not including the camera, assuming they both run Android 9? Do you answer a call the same way? Do you turn the speaker phone on the same way? Can the speaker phone be on all the time? Is my thinking wrong? She doesn't use any social media, does text and doesn't use much data. Please give us your ideas. Thank you in advance.
 
why does she not like the nokia phone? i think that answer will dictate if the s10+ would be better.

not all android 9 os are the same. nokia has there own "skin". i have only owned a samsung device. my current phone, the note 10+ has the One UI 2.0 skin. yes it is on android 10, but One UI is samsungs software that runs on top of the android os. so its look and feel will be different.
 
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On the "skin" thing, Samsung modify the android interface more than almost all manufacturers. The Nokia is probably a more stripped-down and "standard" interface. So in general the s10 probably will feel different, but whether ways that she will consider an improvement is hard to say. Samsung tend to cram a lot of stuff into their phones - whether you regard that as exciting features or pointless clutter and gimmicks is a matter of taste.

I've not used a recent Samsung, so can't answer your questions in any detail. There probably are small differences in the call interface, but whether they address the things she dislikes is impossible to answer without knowing what she dislikes about them. By and large you answer calls by tapping or swiping a button (which may depend not just on which phone but what state the phone was in when the call came in), you activate the speakerphone by pressing a button, you can leave the speakerphone on as long as you like but I've never heard of a phone that will automatically start a call in speaker mode (unless connected to a bluetooth speaker), though I can't say for sure that it doesn't exist.
 
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why does she not like the nokia phone? i think that answer will dictate if the s10+ would be better.

not all android 9 os are the same. nokia has there own "skin". i have only owned a samsung device. my current phone, the note 10+ has the One UI 2.0 skin. yes it is on android 10, but One UI is samsungs software that runs on top of the android os. so its look and feel will be different.
To answer a call sometimes it is a swipe up or down and sometimes it is a "decline" or "answer" button. After that it is two steps to turn on the speaker phone (doesn't always work). So I guess that you are right when you say not all Androids are the same. I had no problem with the Windows phone we had before this one. May be the screen protection that I put on has caused the most problems.
 
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On the "skin" thing, Samsung modify the android interface more than almost all manufacturers. The Nokia is probably a more stripped-down and "standard" interface. So in general the s10 probably will feel different, but whether ways that she will consider an improvement is hard to say. Samsung tend to cram a lot of stuff into their phones - whether you regard that as exciting features or pointless clutter and gimmicks is a matter of taste.

I've not used a recent Samsung, so can't answer your questions in any detail. There probably are small differences in the call interface, but whether they address the things she dislikes is impossible to answer without knowing what she dislikes about them. By and large you answer calls by tapping or swiping a button (which may depend not just on which phone but what state the phone was in when the call came in), you activate the speakerphone by pressing a button, you can leave the speakerphone on as long as you like but I've never heard of a phone that will automatically start a call in speaker mode (unless connected to a bluetooth speaker), though I can't say for sure that it doesn't exist.
That's what I thought, not all Android phones are the same. Thanks for your time.
 
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To answer a call sometimes it is a swipe up or down and sometimes it is a "decline" or "answer" button. After that it is two steps to turn on the speaker phone (doesn't always work). So I guess that you are right when you say not all Androids are the same. I had no problem with the Windows phone we had before this one. May be the screen protection that I put on has caused the most problems.
that is odd as far as how you answer the phone. i love my note 10+ which is basically an s10+ with a stylus. i have always been a fan of samsung's flag ship phones. i can't say much for their lower tiered phones, however. if you can find a best buy that's open (mine is open but you have to wait as they only allow a certain amount of people at a time), you can check out the demos and see how she likes it, before buying it.

if you want something lower in price, you might want to checkout the s9 series of phones as well.
 
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that is odd as far as how you answer the phone. i love my note 10+ which is basically an s10+ with a stylus. i have always been a fan of samsung's flag ship phones. i can't say much for their lower tiered phones, however. if you can find a best buy that's open (mine is open but you have to wait as they only allow a certain amount of people at a time), you can check out the demos and see how she likes it, before buying it.

if you want something lower in price, you might want to checkout the s9 series of phones as well.
Price isn't a factor, I guess we'll see if we can try one somewhere. Thank you for your time.
 
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With regard to answering a stock android / Nokia et al phone, you would get the drop down red / green answer buttons when the screen is already in use.

I still struggle to answer a call when my Nokia phone is locked after being without a Samsung for 3 + years, it was a more intuitive system then. I think it keeps changing to make me look stupid.

Try this download or your carrier may have their own manual:

https://www.samsung.com/us/business/support/owners/product/galaxy-s10-plus-unlocked/
 
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That's what I thought, not all Android phones are the same. Thanks for your time.

With regard to the "skin" thing, you can go to the play store and download launchers that will completely change the look and feel of the phone, some are quite configurable. Remember that the UI is simply a shell that sends commands to the OS; you said you liked your windows phone (I did too) and there are launchers that will emulate that, live tiles and all. I don't think that skins or launchers will help with the phone answering problem, though, as once the app is called, it does what it does regardless of launcher. Are you sure that the stock phone app is handling incoming calls? Go to settings > apps > default apps (may vary, but you'll find it) and see if a different "phone app" besides the stock app has been designated.

Hope this might help.
 
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We are in the US.

OK, that's useful for us to know. So I think you now need to check with your carrier, e.g. Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, etc. as to what phones they sell, or is compatible and can be activated for BYOD.

I'm in China, so it would be no good me recommending phones that are not available to you in the US.

This seemed like a simple question, are all Android phones the same?

It's not a simple question at all. Android phones come in all prices and specs, anything from equivalent of about $30, to several thousand bucks.

How about Samsung S10 or S10+, they seems as good as anything?
 
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OK, that's useful for us to know. So I think you now need to check with your carrier, e.g. Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, etc. as to what phones they sell, or is compatible and can be activated for BYOD.

I'm in China, so it would be no good me recommending phones that are not available to you in the US.



It's not a simple question at all. Android phones come in all prices and specs, anything from equivalent of about $30, to several thousand bucks.

How about Samsung S10 or S10+, they seems as good as anything?

Actually, I think that most phones are still available, you just can't buy some of them at the phone store. I really like my oneplus 7, a phone I bought off of Amazon, but it's on aliexpress as well. American phone stores won't offer these things to you. I use AT&T, but they'll work with t-mobile, too, as they both use gsm.
 
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My wife has a Nokia 6.1 running Android 9. She doesn't like it. What would be the advantage if she got an Samsung Galaxy S10+? Shouldn't they both have the same features not including the camera, assuming they both run Android 9? Do you answer a call the same way? Do you turn the speaker phone on the same way? Can the speaker phone be on all the time? Is my thinking wrong? She doesn't use any social media, does text and doesn't use much data. Please give us your ideas. Thank you in advance.
Hi
I just got a moto one 5g Ace 2 weeks ago and I was surprised it came with Android 11 installed.. I really liking this phone...
 
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