Forced to use my phone during a windows update which breaks my computer. My phone is shitty and slow. Google is full of unhelpful results. Youtube is showing nothing but political ads about ms-13 killing white people.

Truly 2024 is great.

    • btfod [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      6 months ago

      De-googling (FOSSifying?) my digital life has been very costly, not in money but in time, effort, and loss of convenience. I make it work for me just fine, I just wish it was easier to bring my friends and family with me.

      • newfie@lemmy.ml
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        6 months ago

        Do you have any recommendations on how to effectively do this now that you’ve gone through it?

      • homhom9000 [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        6 months ago

        The one thing I’m struggling to get rid of, eventhough I hate it to high heavens, is google messages. The features I do like are great but they keep adding crap I will never use(Gemini) and I’m naturally concerned with privacy. But if everyone in your life is still on one platform, it’s so hard to switch.

        • btfod [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          6 months ago

          I quit using google messaging when they killed Hangouts and Voice. Sorry, wish I had a recommendation for ya. Definitely feel ya about platform woes, and this is coming from a guy who got his IRL loved ones to switch to Signal back in 2017. I wanna get my peeps on Element/Matrix but already I’ve run into some resistance… so it goes. Good luck comrade.

          • homhom9000 [she/her]@hexbear.net
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            6 months ago

            The main one was the automatic spam check where it’ll move percieved spam messages to another tab. Most of the time it’s correct and it catches all of the political spam. I also like the rcs support too since most of my friends have iphones. Then the last thing is the Ui/UX which I like, easy to attachment pics and emojis

      • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        6 months ago

        I’m glad that you proverbially got yours. I have seen no such offers for affordable not-smart phones with coverage in my area.

        • Wertheimer [any]@hexbear.net
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          6 months ago

          I’m in the U.S. This is TMobile. When I used Verizon I had a flip phone that cost me maybe $80. I just did a quick search and found flip phones for AT&T for $60. That covers >90% of the U.S. cell plan market share.

            • Wertheimer [any]@hexbear.net
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              6 months ago

              Even if you have a smaller carrier they probably still use one of the big three networks , in which case the cheap phones will be compatible.

              I want to be clear that I’m not saying “fuck you, I got mine.” I didn’t get a special deal or win a raffle or anything. You’re certainly right that they do try to hide the fact that it’s at all possible to get a cheap phone. But contrary to appearances, you can probably save money here. If not now, then the oligopoly will probably invade your section of the country soon enough.

              • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                6 months ago

                I may have to dig around if it really is possible in my area to get a cheaper not-smart phone. If I can keep my current number, even better.

                • Wertheimer [any]@hexbear.net
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                  6 months ago

                  I had to order mine separately from my carrier, but I verified with them that they could activate it and all that - I think you’d use the same SIM card and therefore wouldn’t have to change your number but I don’t really know how that works. When I’ve had to change phones I just tell the people at the carrier store that I have certain red lines I absolutely will not cross (budgetary and otherwise) and whatever their misgivings or confusion they’ve worked with me on that. They still try to upsell me whenever I have a technical support question, of course.