Picking the Right Phone
I've had a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 for about two years now and totally loved it. I have always liked having a stylus with my touch screen devices because I like to draw and take written notes and the Note 3 was perfect for that. I also liked the fact that I could replace the battery and add more storage with the micro SD card slot. So when it was looking like that Samsung was not going to update the Note 3 to Lollipop, let alone Marshmallow, I knew it would soon be time to upgrade.
I was thinking that I would probably just go with the Note 5, but I was conflicted. The Note 5 didn't have a micro SD Slot or a removable battery and cost quite a bit of money. I really need to reevaluate what I used my smartphone for and what I really needed from it.
My first thought was that I would just go with a Note 4 or even a Note Edge and then just wait out a year to 18 months to see what other phone makers would come up with. But even these phone were a little on the expensive side and it was difficult to find a new model that wasn't used or refurbished.
So after looking at all of the options I decided that first of all battery life, while important, probably was something I could live with for a couple of years, which would probably be about the time for a new pone anyway. I still really wish that new phones were still serviceable especially for the battery. Then I also decided that having the extra storage was something I could probably get around with putting more of my stuff in the cloud. So since a replaceable battery and an SD card slot were not as important on a phone, I may as well look at what other phones were out there.
I decided that having the latest or close to the latest version of Android was pretty important, especially if I wanted to try out new tech from Google, then I would probably want a phone that gets updated pretty regularly. I also want a good camera since I take most of my pictures on the phone. So all that being said, I thought a Nexus phone may be the way to go.The Nexus 6P was getting really good reviews from everyone and when I saw that this weekend, Google was taking $50 off and Best Buy was giving away a $50 gift card, I thought the price was right to make the jump.
Changing Phones Ain't Easy
Now changing to a new phone is not something that can be done lightly, especially after being a part of your everyday life for two years. Android does make it pretty easy to switch and using mainly Google services helps too. But it still requires a lot of setup.
It is kind of nice because its like Spring Cleaning and I can just try to get by with the apps that I think I'll really need. If I find I'm missing something I can always add it later. I still need to find a decent background that doesn't clash with my apps. I'm also trying to keep much more of my apps together on one page, but I'm not too sure that is going to work, ts just too busy. I like having similar apps on separate pages.
The biggest setup challenge has been getting my other devices connected to my Bluetooth and getting different wireless networks set up. I got Google Glass set up this morning, but I still need to get the truck hooked up. The wireless at school almost worked but I had to play with the settings to get it to work and I'm not sure if its working 100% yet. Finally, the magnet switch on my Google Cardboard doesn't seem work and I'm going to have to research that one.
Finally, I need to get my accessories like a phone case and screen protector. I may even need to get a second set of cables for this phone since it is using USB type C connectors.
