Upgrading my Mother's phone
Finally, over the Christmas time when my mother was visiting, I had the opportunity to upgrade her phone from the old Motorola G phone that was many years old and insecure as all hell to a very nice OnePlus 6T. With the Android Treble project that is now standard on the Android OS, it will help a great deal with security updates and make sure that the phone stays up to date with the Android OS security patches that come out monthly.
Being a tech nerd myself, I'm completely jealous! I'm on an older OnePlus 5 which is still pretty decent... however, a quick play with this new 6T reveals that it is just much much faster and powerful and also takes some hellishly good photos! Sigh... nerd jealousy! Well, now my mum (who is a complete tech disaster...) has the latest and greatest shiny in our family. I'm not sure how I will cope with that....
At least I get to toy around with it whilst setting it up....
The various standard bits and pieces. However, the stars of this stage of the unpacking are the Dash charger (and the associated cable). This is the technology that has been included on the last few generations of the OnePlus phones... and it is stunningly good. A 30 minute charge will pretty much set you up for the whole day! Even a little short charge juices up the battery pretty significantly!
Also pictured was the USB-C to headphone jack.... yes yes, OnePlus finally ditched the headphone jack. I'm not too fussed, but I would prefer that they didn't, as I still have some good headphones that have the jack.
You can also see the in-screen fingerprint scanner, which is pretty fast and accurate. No complaints there!
Oh look, a personal message from Pete, the OnePlus CEO. Maybe it is an invitation to his BBQ next weekend?
I wish companies wouldn't do this... it is really wanky! It is up there with all these stupid inspirational "origin" stories... just make good stuff, don't blather about anything else!
This screen is pretty decent! Minimal notch, which is a good thing. Apparently they speak English in the United States! I am definitely changing that... The United Statesians always spell everything weirdly and use funny strange units from the medieval times!
Oh man! Data migration has moved ahead in light years since I last did this! I was expecting this to be the pain point, but it was all completely straightforward!
So, now my mother has a really decent phone... and I'm green with envy. Over the course of the next month we manage to teach her the new tricks and how to use everything. The camera is really pretty good though, as was the in screen fingerprint scanner. Other than that, fluid and fast... as expected!
However, there were a few things that had to wait until she got back into Australia (where her home SIM was). I'm not looking forward to that long-distance tech support call.....
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You mom has a better phone than me lol. The OnePlus phones here are expensive but is very good as my office mate has one.
My mum has a better phone than the majority of the world population (including me...)... Ahhhhh the tragedy and the wasted potential!
Is like giving a Tesla to a person who will take it once weekly for the local grocery shopping...
If your mum is as bad as my aunty the new device is probably a good thing XD
Yep, the incremental security updates are what really bothers me. Although, that said, I forgot to tell her how to install them... It's simple enough, but....
The 6T looks awesome @bengy
I like OnePlus and the 6T has an amazing spec.
Funny enough I took possession of my new Chinese phone yesterday. I opted for the Xiaomi Mi8 (my previous phone was the Mi4s). I managed to get one of my students mums to pick one up for me in China for 260 Pounds sterling (1300 lei Romanian, 290 euros) It's 400 pounds in the uk. Still a great deal at 400. The only issue is that I have to put Google play services on it myself but it's pretty simple.
I nearly went for the pro version because of the in screen fingerprint sensor (same as the 6T) and the very cool transparent back. The 3000 MaH battery put me off though. Weird having a pro version with a smaller battery (3400 -3000 MaH).
I hope you mum enjoys the flagship experience.
Gaz
I had been a my time user of the Nexus line until they got ditched for the premium Pixels. Too pricey for me now!
Anyway, I had an invite for the very first OPO, and I jumped at it! Funnily enough, the thing that I loved most (and there was a lot of things to love) was the sandstone back. Grippy and a great tactile feel. Everyone other one, I have had to buy the sandstone cover for, it feels so much better than glass or metal.
Anyway, I have always been tempted by the Xioami phones. Great hardware at good prices, but the OS skinning they do puts me right off...
The Pixels do look a little pricey.
The sandstone back sounds nice. Glass covered phones are as slippery as fish so a grippy surface makes a lot of sense.
One of my students has just purchased a Oppo R17. He will have it tomorrow so I'm sure there will be a lack of teaching English and more of an unboxing session.
I've had my Mi8 for a few days now and it's brill. I'm really happy with it. I love the Miui overlay. I think it is really solid and useful and not too bloaty. I had to load Google play services myself but it was easy enough.
Overall great value for money at 260 pounds.
OPPO is a also a great choice! Great that you liked MIUI, I didn't like it when I loaded it on an old Nexus... but that was quite some time ago when they were trying to look like Apple. Not sure if it is different now?
They still kind of copy Apple but I'm not to bothered about that and have no love for Apple as a company. I guess it's about personal choice at the end of the day. Miui has always seem to work well for me and I don't mind the ios feel. I've used stock Android before on my Moto G and It was good. If I could have a Xiaomi phone with stock android I would probably go for it.
Pity, I always found the Apple interfaces counter intuitive due to my long time job use of them! It's hard to find a new muscle memory...
You could always root and flash LinageOS Rom?
I've never tried flashing a rom. I certainly wouldn't start on my new phone but I could give it a go on my old one just for the experience. How complex is it?
It's been a couple of years since I flashed one (kids...). Normally it isn't very hard if you have some halfway competent computer skills (there are a guides and tools on xda-developers). Nowadays, most Android phones have enough grunt to power through even the most heavy skin, so it is more the ability to keep up to date with security and UI updates when the manufacturers stop supporting the hardware.... or for some cheesy fun with some odd ROMS!
https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-install-custom-rom-android/
Rooting and unlocking your bootloader might be the trickier thing... but again, there are good guides for each phone.
Haha! howdy sir bengy! "long distance tech support call" lol. Maybe you won't get one. I'm glad they are making them more user friendly to set up these days though! I guess we know what your next purchase is going to be, you can't let your mum out class you like that!
Yup! I'm hanging out for this next year's release! I only need to somehow convince my wife that this phone is no good!
haha! that's too funny sir bengy. . good luck with convincing your wife! If you accomplish that you need to do a post about it!
It looks like a very good phone with many sophisticated applications. Unfortunately the phone model hasn't entered my country yet.
It's a very nice phone... It doesn't ship yet to your country? I think it also doesn't go to Australia either (not directly angst...), so I had to get it in Europe whilst my mum was visiting.
Best Wishes to your mum, and that looks like a really nice phone!
I had to chuckle when you said "The United Statesians always spell everything weirdly and use funny strange units from the medieval times!", because I know exactly what you mean. I grew up with those old Imperial measures, but after 5 years as an expat, it's always a jolt to see things in feet and inches; I honestly have to stop and think about it now.
The phone I use here in Argentina is cave, a simple model with a grossly inadequate 4 gigs of memory, which is a real pain in the ass, since most apps cannot be installed to the SD card. Then again, I don't worry about having my phone stolen; no self-respecting thief would bother.
When we first arrived in Netherlands, we had the basic Nokia bricks. We lent one to a family member when he visited. He got mugged, but the mugger wouldn't take the phone!
I used to have OnePlus X, really loved the design. 6T is a killer, now I'll be looking for new one, so maybe this will be one of the solutions :)
I didn't have the X... I went from the original OPO and then jumped to the 5. I have to say, they are pretty decent phones and with a great price. The 6T is pretty awesome, I am considering the 7 when it comes out next year... however, the 5 that I'm on is far from redundant!... so it is likely, I will upgrade my wife's phone instead...
Today I discovered Xiaomi Redmi Note 7, looks amazing and has a damn good price, which is about 300 euro. I need to upgrade my phone because a battery is dying :/
I've been eyeing the Redmi Note line for a while as well... as a second travel phone, or maybe as a house automation remote control for the kids... but I haven't really justified it yet as an essential purchase!
Nice! Good for her! My mom has a much nicer phone than I do. I remember back when I thought she was a "tech disaster"... now days she's got all the cool stuff and I'm left in the dust with my old junk. lol! Oh well.
My mum is still a tech disaster... But with cool toys!
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