Phones that are 5 years old, though, are what I consider garbage phones. It's not a classism thing where I discriminate people who can't afford good phones. It's just that these are the phones that aren't expected to work well anymore with networks that cater to phones that are 3-years old at most. They run slowly, they didn't age well, and they're pretty much useless nowadays unless you want a Samsung-branded paperweight. These are the kinds of phones that shouldn't really be repaired anymore because the cost of repairs would cost more than the actual phone.
There are always those horrible phones that sticks out because customers bring them to me and they expect it to work perfectly. Well, newsflash, buddy! It's not 2010 anymore when that phone would've been relevant. And when these phones don't work properly - which they won't, of course, because they're old - guess who the customers blame? The company! Bloody hell.
Let's talk about the garbage phones then.
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| Horrible shape for a horrible phone (Photo from GSMArena.com) |
The Motorola Spice is a horrible phone. It didn't age well. It's not something you'd want to use to be "retro" or "counterculture" or however you call it. Anyone who uses it is either very cheap or doesn't know anything about phones because they'll say "This phone is just as good as any phone" (WRONG!). The screen size is terrible for daily use even though it's bigger than Blackberry 9220's screen.
The phone is sluggish because of its pathetic 256 megabytes of RAM, which is garbage then and it's still garbage now when you consider that the Nexus S is just as old as this phone but has 512 megabytes of RAM, has a better camera, and runs Android 4.1 which is better than what this phone has. This is the phone that you chuck at raccoons who rummage through your garbage bins at night. It's heavy and isn't worth keeping.
The slide-out keyboard isn't really better as well. It feels like a small Blackberry keypad. I love Blackberry keypads because they're great for typing but the keyboard on this phone made it smaller and flatter so it's even harder to type. The slide-out keyboard reminds me of a Blackberry Priv though. Maybe this phone is the Blackberry Priv's crack-addicted grandfather who he doesn't talk about (I know Blackberry and Motorola aren't really connected in terms of lineage so shut up).
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| Just because there's a well-known brand name doesn't mean it's actually good (Photo from GSMArena.com) |
The Samsung Galaxy Mini is something that people bring to me and think that it'll work just as good as any phone (WRONG!). It's also known as the Samsung Galaxy Pop, which is an absolutely dumb name that makes the brands Verykool and Coolpad sound classy. 384 megabytes of RAM sounds like it's better than the Motorola Spice but no, it's still slow as a snail on sandpaper.
The 3.14-inch screen would've been good in 2010 but Android 2.2 is old and slow so that screen basically emphasizes a shitty version of a great operating system.
Of course, because of the phone's age, it's not gonna work on every phone company. Again, a lot of people say "It's still a phone". A crashed car underwater is still a car but that doesn't mean it works. Loading emails is basically playing a slot machine - you'll be lucky if it works. Every time someone brings this phone to me and asks if it'll work, I just turn them away because no, it won't work and if it does by any chance, it'll still have issues that you'll probably blame the company for.
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| BLOATED (Photo from GSMArena.com) |
Alcatel Onetouch Evolve is the worst. First of all, it has the T-Mobile tramp stamp on the back, which means it has a ton of unnecessary bloatware that you can't get rid off. With 512MB of RAM. It makes the phone sluggishly slow and hard to use. It's a basic smartphone but there are a lot of other alternatives to this horrible garbage phone. The ZTE Martin II has 1GB of ram but less bloatware so it runs a bit better.
Basically anything with the T-Mobile logo is bogged down a ton of bloatware that kills the phone's storage and RAM to a sluggish space. Instead of giving you stock Android where you have at least a reasonable amount of RAM and internal storage, T-Mobile gives you unnecessary apps that take away needed resources that you'll never use in your daily life.
Please consider getting an alternative to these phones. The alternatives won't give you or me any headaches. Basically, we're helping each other. You get a new phone, I'll help you get that phone started. There are always alternatives to these garbage phones that cost a little more but maybe a little less. I'm not saying you should spend 500 dollars on a new phone - even I didn't spend close to that when I bought my phone and it's a great phone. Nowadays, smartphones can cost less than 300 dollars. They could even go for less than 200 if you're lucky. Don't settle for garbage phones that don't work properly anymore.
Hell, I'll even quickly suggest some good phones that are under 200 dollars!
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| The Reliable (Photo from GSMArena.com) |
Motorola Moto E 2015. 130 dollars. Has 1 gigabyte of RAM but still runs smoothly. Stock Android at its finest. I bought one of these as a backup phone because Motorola is a brand you can trust.
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| The Undying (Photo from Amazon.ca) |
BLU Energy X Plus. Has 4000mAh battery that could last you 2 days on one full charge! Even comes with a free case and screen protector like other BLU phones.
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| The Classic (Photo from GSMArena.com) |
Nexus 4. 2 gigabytes of RAM on stock Android is always welcome. Costs under 200 dollars refurbished and it still holds up as a great phone even compared to new mid-range phones released today.
There, I threw 3 options for you that are under 200 dollars that will definitely won't hurt your wallet and would still run like a modern smartphone. These will have less issues than these 5-year old phones that give nothing but headaches to anyone involved. Sticking with an old phone isn't "easier". It's a hassle. You either adapt or perish. That's evolution. Don't stay stuck in the technology's past because it won't ever wait for you.
