Okay, this might seem like a re-run for some, but some new events have more or less forced my hand to ask again... and vent some frustration. no tl;dr for you.
At the time, I bought the Moto X Pure, having to settle on it, because I was at first eyeing the unlocked LG G4, until contacting LG for information about it and they expressed that regardless of whether it was purchased new or at retail, no unlocked LG phones have any warranty at all, anywhere. This forced me to look elsewhere, and of the time, only the MXPE had the universal carrier support, while still retaining a usable SD slot for storage expansion. This was in April 2016.
Since then, its factory charger completely died within two months, forcing me to shop for additional quick chargers, in part because it would take a day and a half (yes, 36 hours) to charge from dead to full otherwise. Over a dozen ruined USB cables later, and as of two days ago, the phone now decides that it won't accept a quick charge from anything, anywhere, anymore. And having two jobs, I need the navigation on the other one. And of course it will happily burn down its battery while still plugged in to charge.
So, against my will, I know this phone is dying. And presently, I can't even find a replacement battery for the thing anywhere near its original MSRP, nor any way to reassemble the thing correctly, since the ifixit guide only shows how to take it apart and doesn't even acknowledge the fact that part of the process will ruin the adhesive that holds the back plate to the phone. There's no instructions at all to what to do about that to get it to reassemble properly.
While I have been with T-Mobile for about... three(?) years total now, here's the thing. I've been burned so many times, by so many carriers in the past, I can't bring myself to simply get a carrier locked phone anymore. Especially knowing that just one move or even as little as one year of updates or maintenance can turn solid service into a useless brick. I'm tired of carrier bloat. I'm tired of firmware embedded ads. I'm tired of arbitrary apps I never use being unable to be uninstalled.
I really don't care about having "latest and greatest" in terms of phone fashion. I'd really rather just buy a phone once, outright, and have it last me three or more years at a time. All I see now, are phones being sold that are $1000+ and then are built to not even last a year, given what my MXPE has been like. No phone is worth that much to basically rent. I'd sooner rather save that money to finally have a laptop, or PC upgrades, than for any phone.
Based on my needs, it seems like only the Unlocked V20 would be the only thing that even comes close. Because nobody will make something that meets all of my needs, at any price point. and my biggest problem with this MXPE has been all traced back to its miserable **** of a battery, forcing me to have to constantly keep it on a charging brick and ruining cables left, right, back and front.
What's rage inducing is that yesterday I check on Amazon and find they dropped the price again. but funds were not in for me to be able to afford it (especially not with them advertising free shipping and then slapping me with an extra $50 in taxes. WTF?! ). Well, today, money is in the bank for me to suffle around and clear enough balance to buy the thing, but Amazon blocked it out to only Prime members may purchase this. I'm apocalyptically PISSED OFF about that, right now.
I don't want Amazon Prime, because Amazon has screwed up so many of my prior orders in the past that they sure as hell don't deserve any more than absolutely necessary.
Meanwhile, T-Mobile itself still charges $500 for their V20, that sure as hell won't work on anyone else's network even after being paid off for. I've yet to have what I'd call a good experience buying anything from eBay, let alone something complex like a smart phone. Annoyingly, about the only phone I could say that would still work for me if I had to finance it, would be the iPhone 6S Plus... but that would have its own frustrations, again, in large part to the battery that was already a problem with this MXPE. Objectively, the tear down and reassembly are easier than it is for this XPE.
So... I don't know what the hell else I can do. Because the place that currently has the best price for a new phone, won't let me buy it without some kind of stupid membership.
At the time, I bought the Moto X Pure, having to settle on it, because I was at first eyeing the unlocked LG G4, until contacting LG for information about it and they expressed that regardless of whether it was purchased new or at retail, no unlocked LG phones have any warranty at all, anywhere. This forced me to look elsewhere, and of the time, only the MXPE had the universal carrier support, while still retaining a usable SD slot for storage expansion. This was in April 2016.
Since then, its factory charger completely died within two months, forcing me to shop for additional quick chargers, in part because it would take a day and a half (yes, 36 hours) to charge from dead to full otherwise. Over a dozen ruined USB cables later, and as of two days ago, the phone now decides that it won't accept a quick charge from anything, anywhere, anymore. And having two jobs, I need the navigation on the other one. And of course it will happily burn down its battery while still plugged in to charge.
So, against my will, I know this phone is dying. And presently, I can't even find a replacement battery for the thing anywhere near its original MSRP, nor any way to reassemble the thing correctly, since the ifixit guide only shows how to take it apart and doesn't even acknowledge the fact that part of the process will ruin the adhesive that holds the back plate to the phone. There's no instructions at all to what to do about that to get it to reassemble properly.
While I have been with T-Mobile for about... three(?) years total now, here's the thing. I've been burned so many times, by so many carriers in the past, I can't bring myself to simply get a carrier locked phone anymore. Especially knowing that just one move or even as little as one year of updates or maintenance can turn solid service into a useless brick. I'm tired of carrier bloat. I'm tired of firmware embedded ads. I'm tired of arbitrary apps I never use being unable to be uninstalled.
I really don't care about having "latest and greatest" in terms of phone fashion. I'd really rather just buy a phone once, outright, and have it last me three or more years at a time. All I see now, are phones being sold that are $1000+ and then are built to not even last a year, given what my MXPE has been like. No phone is worth that much to basically rent. I'd sooner rather save that money to finally have a laptop, or PC upgrades, than for any phone.
Based on my needs, it seems like only the Unlocked V20 would be the only thing that even comes close. Because nobody will make something that meets all of my needs, at any price point. and my biggest problem with this MXPE has been all traced back to its miserable **** of a battery, forcing me to have to constantly keep it on a charging brick and ruining cables left, right, back and front.
What's rage inducing is that yesterday I check on Amazon and find they dropped the price again. but funds were not in for me to be able to afford it (especially not with them advertising free shipping and then slapping me with an extra $50 in taxes. WTF?! ). Well, today, money is in the bank for me to suffle around and clear enough balance to buy the thing, but Amazon blocked it out to only Prime members may purchase this. I'm apocalyptically PISSED OFF about that, right now.
I don't want Amazon Prime, because Amazon has screwed up so many of my prior orders in the past that they sure as hell don't deserve any more than absolutely necessary.Meanwhile, T-Mobile itself still charges $500 for their V20, that sure as hell won't work on anyone else's network even after being paid off for. I've yet to have what I'd call a good experience buying anything from eBay, let alone something complex like a smart phone. Annoyingly, about the only phone I could say that would still work for me if I had to finance it, would be the iPhone 6S Plus... but that would have its own frustrations, again, in large part to the battery that was already a problem with this MXPE. Objectively, the tear down and reassembly are easier than it is for this XPE.
So... I don't know what the hell else I can do. Because the place that currently has the best price for a new phone, won't let me buy it without some kind of stupid membership.
