This is still my current cell phone, the Motorola RAZR M (XT907). Back in 2012 I wrote an article Finally a Cell Phone I like where, like today, the new cell phones weren’t better than the old cell phones in the features that are important to me. Now it’s 2015 and I’m in the same situation. I would buy a new cell phone if there was one that was better.
So – you might ask – what am I being picky about? The most important feature of a cell phone to me is actually making phone calls. So I’ve been sticking to Verizon because they have had the best connectivity of all the carriers. As a one person business I need to be able to not only make and receive calls but turn my phone into a hot spot so I can get online with my laptop when I need to.
If you look at the above picture, I can hold the phone from the corner or bottom lip. You can do that with any Samsung phone. Samsung makes great phones but, like Apple, they copied the iPhone’s worst feature – the single button. But since it is an Android phone the back and task buttons are right where my fingers would be and that means I would always be accidentally be hitting buttons when I’m just trying to hold the phone. I complained about that back when I reviewed the Samsung S3, and they are still doing it wrong. Samsung might get sued less by Apple if they stopped copying their worst features too.
The Droid Turbo is attractive, but it suffers flaws as well. No unlocked bootloader option yet so I can’t get and maintain reliable root access. To me root is a must because it’s my phone – not theirs. I want to do what I want to do – not what Verizon will let me do. I want control. But beside being a power freak – you can’t do a good backup without root. And there’s tweaks out there for root only that I like. For example – if an app wants access to my camera and I don’t want it to access the camera I can override permissions to deny the app access.
The Droid Turbo also lacks a car mount. What’s up with that? You would think that after being out half a year they would have a car dock. And for some reason it also has hardware buttons rather than onscreen so you are stuck with the old KitKat style in a Lollipop world.
Another problem is that many phones are just too damn big. Again – it’s about making calls and I want something the feels good in the hand and isn’t a burden to carry. So 5.2″ is a little big. The new 6″ phones are just too big. I think they should have more phones in the 4.5 – 5″ range.
So – here I am with money to spend and no where to spend it.
Are you pimping for Motorola, Android or Verizon?
Not pimping for anyone.
Is Elon working on a solar cell phone that soft-lands if you drop it?
No doubt it is a plug-in that lets you sell energy back to the grid.
MikeN you’re so sexy with your jealousy Heart Boner for Elon!
Poor pathetic pedro now has a Heart Boner for me, how cute!
I’ve got you so pwn’d and hard, it’s hilarious!
Now that you’re pwn’d and following me around, should I start calling you my sweetie, my Mexicali bitch?
Great, another Perkel cell phone rant! They should rename this blog “Perkel Uncensored…”
Here’s an idea Marc. Why don’t you buy a Tesla S?
I here they have a few bugs but are very nice. They work great with cell phones and e-mail.
Is that background a dingo on the armrest of a Tesla?
No root access.
Hey look!! It’s the squirrel!
Personally, I’m glad there are no car mounts for newer phones. I’ve almost DIED several times due to phone-heads like you out there driving around in your goddamn living room. I’ve even known people who are now DEAD because of jerks that can’t pull the f**k over. So with less crap like car mounts for phones (which encourage distracted driving) I say, the better!
But really. Look at the bigger picture here. You sound like another clueless big business jerk with crap like this. “Wa wa wa. I want a new phone. Wa wa wa.” Do you even hear yourself?
And that crap about using Verizon?! What are you? Stupid or something?! Verizon is second only to AT&T for the WORST and MOST EXPENSIVE carrier out there! But I’m sure you value your convenience more than life itself (as evidenced by your unwillingness to change technology, service provider, etc.).
So maybe instead of spending your money and enabling these motherfu**ing corporate thieves, how about donating some of it to help someone get some clean drinking water, or a little food, or something more meaningful? Or maybe, you’d like to give your employees a raise instead of raiding your company profits for your own selfish consumption?!
Or maybe, you’d like to get an overpriced electric car and reduce your carbon footprint since you clearly don’t like walking or ridding a bicycle anywhere as a means of transportation.
Oh, the problems of first world clueless Silly-Ville executives. What a bunch of worthless, entitled, arrogant boobs …with money to spend.
But hey! At least someone at Dvorak finally posted an article about TECHNOLOGY for a change.
What are you talking about? Marc Perkel supports lowering employees’ wages by letting in more illegal immigrants.
There ya go. You called illegals, “immigrants”. Just like everyone else who swallowed the blue pill. Pretty soon, we’ll be having girl scout fund raisers for them.
My ancestors were legal. Your ancestors probably were legal. Let’s call them (the people of the topic) what they are. Illegal. And they are not immigrants until they earn that status.
No they are immigrants, by the basic definition. And they are illegal by the basic definition.
Their lack of enthusiasm about assimilating both culturally and economically, and their “my country” flag waving tells me that “colonist” is a far more appropriate term than “immigrant.”
Well, some of my ancestors (the Cherokee ones) were legal. The rest, not so much.
I’ve not yet bought a cell phone.
I had one of the first $5000 satelite phones. Actually worked while on safari but was like another suitcase to carry. Put me off phones.
First impulse to buy one: very used to act as a music player with the phone only for emergency uses.
Now my second impluse: same as the first, plus camera for Citizen Acitvism.
Third and maybe the dam breaker: as a remote media controller for my computer to TV set up. Phones are becoming Universal Remotes in this Skynet World.
………..as the Singularity approaches………all to be replaced by implanted chips.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Money burning a hole in your pocket. Yes, I’ve had that feeling. After about 2-3 splurges in the $500 range, it went away. Thought about Quadcopters with cameras? Buy a few and “do battle” with neighborhood kiddies you let use with you…… and parental permission.
Maybe increase the hard security at your house? How easy are your glass sliders to jimmy? Remember—even the best security is to keep the honest people and the teenagers out. but the false sense of security ………. is …… nice.
Buy some other cheaper electric car.
Antique Maps?
So you have Perkel beat by 15 years with the best cell phone being a Motorola? Hilarious!
Come on, tell us you crashed an electric car thirty years ago, and you’ve been to space.
Worst camera on the market. Slow, once loaded up. However, very serviceable. Used it for 3 years. Switched to an S5. Wish I had waited for the S6.
RAZR M for sale.
I’m the proud owner of a Nokia dumbphone which I’ve had for years and it still makes/receives calls perfectly. Plus it’s small, fits in a pocket easily and weighs almost nothing. No intention to purchase a smartphone in the near or distant future. I’m sick of washing blood off the car every time I run over a smartphone cretin who’s too engrossed in WhatsApp to look up when crossing the road.
There’s no reason why a three year old smartphone shouldn’t be perfectly usable today…. except for security.
If you are using an old classic cell phone in a controlled environment, like the network of a cell phone company and you have no important data stored in it, then you can keep using it for decades.
BUT
If you are using a smartphone in the wild wild west of the ‘Net and questionable Apps and you keep very important data in it, you DO wanna have the latest patch installed, and if the company doesn’t offer it, dump the smartphone and get a new one.
Never get an HTC phone, which tends to disappear old models even before they are out of contract.
I have a Motorola Atrix. I cannot find a new phone I would upgrade to. I love the one I have, and it took a while to figure out how to use it.
My old phone is fine too
Actually I get what you’re saying. You have a limited number of things you want to do with a phone and a long list of options you don’t do with a phone and since the new phones aren’t giving you what you want your money is staying in your wallet.
I’m still on win 7 on a I7-920 & 9 gig of ram with an upgraded video card & 30 ” monitor and old copy of MS Office. For what I use it for nothing else is going to be better. Same for my 15 + yr old car and note3 and big screen tv. I’m not going to gain anything by upgrading so I don’t.