Saké, phone
Still hosting my saké tasting this Saturday, around 7:30pm, as a break from gaming at dagibbs' place all day. Surprisingly, there hasn't been any addition to the tasting line-up, for once! And I really hope all who I wanted to know got the message.
Because I'm still without a cell phone. Had I started looking right after my last one failed (and not tried to wait two weeks to hand it to a store right before the holidays and thus waited two weeks to hear it's dead), I might have been able to snag something sweet - but right now seems a horrible time.
The only low-end phone which wouldn't be crappier than my old phone is the Moto G, except there's four versions: 1st and 2nd generation, without then with LTE. The 1st-gen LTE is only at Rogers/Fido, while I'm currently with Bell and looking maybe of switching to Koodo (who have better US roaming packages than Telus, its parent company). Koodo only has the 1st-gen HSPA/3G, dating from November 2013. Mid-grade phones I was looking at were the Galaxy S4 and the Nexus 5, both of which are just about two years old. I expect all three of these phones to disappear from retail space next month, when the new phones are announced and come out. (The sweet 2nd-gen LTE Moto G came out last month in Brazil, but likely Rogers will be the only one snagging it again in Canada.)
Apparently I can't go to Rogers, buy that phone then walk to Koodo - it seems paying full price for a phone means you still need to switch to that carrier for a minimum of a month, then pay for unlocking and hope it doesn't brick the phone. And Rogers may not be happy in me being a customer for only one month; I doubt they'd let me do it if I told them of my plan. (I thought of the Sony Z3, but trying it out live in the store, it seems to have a fair amount of extra apps/bloatware, and I can't even figure out how to use it, even after reading the manual.)
Because I'm still without a cell phone. Had I started looking right after my last one failed (and not tried to wait two weeks to hand it to a store right before the holidays and thus waited two weeks to hear it's dead), I might have been able to snag something sweet - but right now seems a horrible time.
The only low-end phone which wouldn't be crappier than my old phone is the Moto G, except there's four versions: 1st and 2nd generation, without then with LTE. The 1st-gen LTE is only at Rogers/Fido, while I'm currently with Bell and looking maybe of switching to Koodo (who have better US roaming packages than Telus, its parent company). Koodo only has the 1st-gen HSPA/3G, dating from November 2013. Mid-grade phones I was looking at were the Galaxy S4 and the Nexus 5, both of which are just about two years old. I expect all three of these phones to disappear from retail space next month, when the new phones are announced and come out. (The sweet 2nd-gen LTE Moto G came out last month in Brazil, but likely Rogers will be the only one snagging it again in Canada.)
Apparently I can't go to Rogers, buy that phone then walk to Koodo - it seems paying full price for a phone means you still need to switch to that carrier for a minimum of a month, then pay for unlocking and hope it doesn't brick the phone. And Rogers may not be happy in me being a customer for only one month; I doubt they'd let me do it if I told them of my plan. (I thought of the Sony Z3, but trying it out live in the store, it seems to have a fair amount of extra apps/bloatware, and I can't even figure out how to use it, even after reading the manual.)