Our Samsung Equipment Is Terrible

[JJReyes]

Our Samsung Galaxy tablet freezes two months after the warranty had expired. We had to send it to a repair center and with shipping charges, the total cost was around $130.00. My Samsung basic phone takes 30 seconds to dial and incoming calls are routed to voice mail. It stopped ringing to alert me about any incoming call. My wife's Samsung smart phone went kaput. First the dealership explained the battery design is obsolete and no longer produced even if the phone unit was purchased just three years ago. We found a replacement batter. Now the unit itself is malfunctioning.

 

Any suggestions regarding a better manufacturer? Should we make the leap to Apple? 

Edited March 24, 2014 by JJReyes

[Tukaram (Tim)]

Most phones are made pretty crappy now.  They expect you to upgrade every 2 years.  Most US companies will give you a free phone every 2 years... with a contract extension...    But my Motorola Droid lasted me 4 years with no problems! 

 

Never used iPhone but I have heard mostly bad about them too.

[earthdome]

I had to replace the battery on my year old Samsung Galaxy SIII mini. All of sudden battery life got very short. Pulled out the battery and I could see that it was slightly swelled.

[BrettGC]

The top 5 flagship phones on most sites are:

 

1. LG G2

2. Google Nexus 5

3. Sony Xperia Z1 Compact

4. Sony Xperia Z1

5. Apple iPhone 5S

 

That list takes into account functionality, reliability and value for money. 

 

The surprise on most aggregated lists is that the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 come in around 7 and 10 respectively. 

 

Android does appear to be the way to go.

[robert k]

The problem with Phone sites is fans. iphone fans, tech spec fans and so forth. They forgive the fact that speakers go out frequently on top of the line LG phones, overlook the fact that if the battery is not made to be swapable, you are returning the phone to the manufacturer when yours goes bad and you buy another phone while yours is being repaired, use an old phone or do without. The metal case on an iphone is supposed to bring a sense of quality and it does until you drop it, because there is no give whatsoever between metal and glass, some sort of protective skin is in order. iphones have Siri and they say it's the best, I can believe that, it's just not a function I would use very often. I love the two volume control buttons on iphones, the Chinese make metal cases that other phones will fit in which have two separate volume buttons that push on the ordinary phone's rocker. I wish I could find one to fit mine. :)

 

I think Tuka Ram has the right of it, none of them are made to last anymore. 15 years ago I had a dumb Qualcom phone that was as reliable as they come. I forgot and left it on the hood of my truck and drove off. It fell off at a place where I was doing 50mph. When I figured out it was missing I went back and found it, a little scuffed up but still working! Before that I had a Nokia that lasted 7 years.

 

I think you just have to pick your poison, the phone that does what you want at the price you are willing to pay for it. My brother uses a My Phone and although the reveiws are horrible, it works for him and it was cheap. I'm using a Huawei Honor/Glory 2 because I wanted a hd screen and a phone that would get 3G internet anywhere in the world you can find a provider, it's quad band 2G and 5 band 3G, unlocked, takes great pictures and video, has fair battery life of 1-1/2 days since I always have data on and usually wifi. It has not failed me in the few months I have had it. I have a Lenovo A 820 of which I like the build quality but it's on AT&T frequencies for 3G and I'm using T-Mobile at the moment. I won't pay astronomical prices for a phone, the Lenovo was $140 and the Huawei was $224 shipped.

 

If you are looking for reasonable price, I would recommend the My Phone in the US, if it fails, you aren't out much and they are probably still available at Walmart. In the RP, Cherry Mobile has some decent smart phones for 4k piso, or so I've heard, maybe 3k piso for a smaller screen model dual core rather than quad core processor. How smart does a phone have to be? I can't tell the difference between a nanosecond and a picosecond. :)

[MikeB]

I have both a Samsung tablet and a Galaxy S3, never had a single problem with either. Ditto the TV. Samsung refrigerators, forget it. 

[Malcolm Graham]

FixYa rates the the top 4 in the order Apple,Samsung, Nokia, Motorola.  As Nokia now produce the Nokia X Android phone then it will move up.  The big problem with Nokia is Windows doesn't have the apps like Android or Apple.  Though they have all the apps I need but windows hasn't the number of fart apps like Android.  I only switched from Nokia, with Symbian to Android, HTC One X because of the deal I was offered.  I'm now looking at the 1020 or the 1520 as my new phone

[BrettGC]

Just so you all now, the list I posted was an aggregate of about 6 lists I found.  Looked at the top 5 in each, number one scored 5 points, number 5 scored 1 point.  But yes, these are mainly lists created by tech type people for the most part but does include reliability and value for money in all of them.  But as Robert K pointed out it is individual choice and preference in the long run. 

[robert k]

I have an update on my Huawei Honor 2 /Glory. The charger was always slow at 550 Mah but it seemed to be getting slower, I think it's bad. Fortunately the cable from the charger is also the data cable, has a usb plug and plugged into my desktop, the phone charges much faster. Still love the phone but the peripherals not so much. The charging data cable works fine though, and the phone charges faster.

[JJReyes]

The T-Mobile store offered to replace my wife's smart phone with another Samsung for $450. If she wanted an iPhone, the upgrade was $650. Replacing my Samsung basic phone with a newer model would be an additional $135. The agreement required a new two years contract with T-Mobile. 

 

We went to Radio Shack. Yes, Radio Shack. They offered us $150 special on the iPhone 5S and a free replacement for my basic phone. We had to sign a two years agreement with AT&T, but the price was actualy lower than T-Mobile because of bundling. One new feature with the iPhone 5S is a hot spot that allows us to use both our tablet and laptop when free WiFi is unavalable. We opted for 2G service rather than the recommended 6G family plan.  I was able to check our actual monthly usage earlier and it was less than 600MB because we don't download large files like movies on my wife's mobile phone. If we exceed 2G, the charge is $20 per extra 1G and they will start sending warning message as you approach the monthly limit.

 

Interesting tidbit. California is the most aggressive when it comes to tax collection. Their extensive welfare system cost a lot of money and the state is teetering on bankruptcy. My sister-in-law who resides in Southern California is furious. Her special in-store price for an iPhone 5S was $200, but the receipt indicates the manufacturer's retail price of about $700. So the 9% sales tax is based on the retail price, not the store's discounted price.  

 

I had purchased two Nokia phones for our use while in the Philippines plus a Huawei device for our laptop. The equipment prices totaled around $100. The price for load was equally cheap. Of course, the quality of service was not very good. I could access the Internet between the hours of 7:00pm and 7am after everyone from the surrounding buildings of our condo had gone home. This is to read our emails. The phones had frequent dropped calls.