[TgeekB]

We are having the crappiest weather. Of all the weekends to be this crap it had to be this one.

Rain? You're in France, right?

[libra89]

So it's been 6 days which is sufficient enough to me to have more to say about the Samsung Galaxy A3 2017. Consider this my review (If I have this in a month, I'll do a follow up). Some of this will overlap but oh well. I'm not even going to say that I'm not going to try to make this long haha but I will do my best to space it out accordingly.

The good:
-Battery life is great. Because my battery anxiety habits are still in me, I check it a lot throughout the day...and each time I check, I'm put at ease. I always get over a day, even after reading on it for like about 30 minutes with normal usage. Always.
-The size is great too. This is a great one handed usage phone. I don't have to shift it in my hand or anything. It actually feels better than the iPhone 7 and the Pixel felt in my hand.
-Cameras are nice. Both of them meet my standards for cameras in regular light and low light situations. There's a night mode that can used in low light but doesn't use flash. That mode is nice to have.

-There's a mute mode that silences the ringer but allows media to play just fine. I have tried so many Android phones without a mute or silent mode without vibration and having that not there, always grinds me. Love having that mode and also without DND at that.
-Performance is also good. Occasionally, it closes apps to save power but surprisingly, not many apps have to reload all the time.
-Speaker is good, as are calls. I'm good with the experience I have had on phone calls.

The neutral:
-Physical buttons. I don't love or hate them but it feels weird to have them again. The iPhone has just one button, so having three has been an adjustment.
-Speaking of, the button placement! Having recent apps on the left and back on the right is weird. It's still weird but I think I have got it down now.
-On the placement note, holding it landscape means that I have to remind myself not to cover the speaker.
-Fingerprint scanner is kind of fast but occasionally it doesn't read my thumb.
-Memory management is interesting. It closes apps in the background occasionally that are consuming power but it's not as aggressive as EMUI/Honor/Huawei style.
-The UI is Grace UI. I like it, there's many features but this is just a neutral for me. Not amazing, and surely not bad either.

The bad:
-It's still on 6.0.1. I knew this coming in, but I had to remind myself that some things don't work because that came later. I don't think this will bother me, but it's hard to note that as a good thing.
-The 16gb of storage. Being "forced" on WhatsApp has me wondering how this will go for me, since it saves media on the phone directly. It's still okay, but I see myself having to delete silly videos that people like to send on it. (To be fair though, I have a 16gb iPhone SE, and I'm used to deleting stuff I don't see a need to keep on my phone).
-The signal appears to be weak. One would think that a glass backed phone would not have that problem but that's not the case. Phone stats show me that 14% of the time, I haven't had a signal, which seems high to me. Even so, battery life doesn't seem to be affected, weirdly enough.

That's it though. I feel like I have met my phone match, and I'm glad that I took a chance on this somewhat rare phone.
It finally feels like I'm not sacrificing much. I still really like the SE but the only thing that made it tough was the front camera, especially coming from the Pixel and Honor 8, which have 2 of the best front cameras in the Android world currently.

[MSFTisMIA]

So it's been 6 days which is sufficient enough to me to have more to say about the Samsung Galaxy A3 2017. Consider this my review (If I have this in a month, I'll do a follow up). Some of this will overlap but oh well. I'm not even going to say that I'm not going to try to make this long haha but I will do my best to space it out accordingly.

The good:
-Battery life is great. Because my battery anxiety habits are still in me, I check it a lot throughout the day...and each time I check, I'm put at ease. I always get over a day, even after reading on it for like about 30 minutes with normal usage. Always.
-The size is great too. This is a great one handed usage phone. I don't have to shift it in my hand or anything. It actually feels better than the iPhone 7 and the Pixel felt in my hand.
-Cameras are nice. Both of them meet my standards for cameras in regular light and low light situations. There's a night mode that can used in low light but doesn't use flash. That mode is nice to have.

-There's a mute mode that silences the ringer but allows media to play just fine. I have tried so many Android phones without a mute or silent mode without vibration and having that not there, always grinds me. Love having that mode and also without DND at that.
-Performance is also good. Occasionally, it closes apps to save power but surprisingly, not many apps have to reload all the time.
-Speaker is good, as are calls. I'm good with the experience I have had on phone calls.

The neutral:
-Physical buttons. I don't love or hate them but it feels weird to have them again. The iPhone has just one button, so having three has been an adjustment.
-Speaking of, the button placement! Having recent apps on the left and back on the right is weird. It's still weird but I think I have got it down now.
-On the placement note, holding it landscape means that I have to remind myself not to cover the speaker.
-Fingerprint scanner is kind of fast but occasionally it doesn't read my thumb.
-Memory management is interesting. It closes apps in the background occasionally that are consuming power but it's not as aggressive as EMUI/Honor/Huawei style.
-The UI is Grace UI. I like it, there's many features but this is just a neutral for me. Not amazing, and surely not bad either.

The bad:
-It's still on 6.0.1. I knew this coming in, but I had to remind myself that some things don't work because that came later. I don't think this will bother me, but it's hard to note that as a good thing.
-The 16gb of storage. Being "forced" on WhatsApp has me wondering how this will go for me, since it saves media on the phone directly. It's still okay, but I see myself having to delete silly videos that people like to send on it. (To be fair though, I have a 16gb iPhone SE, and I'm used to deleting stuff I don't see a need to keep on my phone).
-The signal appears to be weak. One would think that a glass backed phone would not have that problem but that's not the case. Phone stats show me that 14% of the time, I haven't had a signal, which seems high to me. Even so, battery life doesn't seem to be affected, weirdly enough.

That's it though. I feel like I have met my phone match, and I'm glad that I took a chance on this somewhat rare phone.
It finally feels like I'm not sacrificing much. I still really like the SE but the only thing that made it tough was the front camera, especially coming from the Pixel and Honor 8, which have 2 of the best front cameras in the Android world currently.

Adopted storage to increase space?

[MSFTisMIA]

So it's been 6 days which is sufficient enough to me to have more to say about the Samsung Galaxy A3 2017. Consider this my review (If I have this in a month, I'll do a follow up). Some of this will overlap but oh well. I'm not even going to say that I'm not going to try to make this long haha but I will do my best to space it out accordingly.

The good:
-Battery life is great. Because my battery anxiety habits are still in me, I check it a lot throughout the day...and each time I check, I'm put at ease. I always get over a day, even after reading on it for like about 30 minutes with normal usage. Always.
-The size is great too. This is a great one handed usage phone. I don't have to shift it in my hand or anything. It actually feels better than the iPhone 7 and the Pixel felt in my hand.
-Cameras are nice. Both of them meet my standards for cameras in regular light and low light situations. There's a night mode that can used in low light but doesn't use flash. That mode is nice to have.

-There's a mute mode that silences the ringer but allows media to play just fine. I have tried so many Android phones without a mute or silent mode without vibration and having that not there, always grinds me. Love having that mode and also without DND at that.
-Performance is also good. Occasionally, it closes apps to save power but surprisingly, not many apps have to reload all the time.
-Speaker is good, as are calls. I'm good with the experience I have had on phone calls.

The neutral:
-Physical buttons. I don't love or hate them but it feels weird to have them again. The iPhone has just one button, so having three has been an adjustment.
-Speaking of, the button placement! Having recent apps on the left and back on the right is weird. It's still weird but I think I have got it down now.
-On the placement note, holding it landscape means that I have to remind myself not to cover the speaker.
-Fingerprint scanner is kind of fast but occasionally it doesn't read my thumb.
-Memory management is interesting. It closes apps in the background occasionally that are consuming power but it's not as aggressive as EMUI/Honor/Huawei style.
-The UI is Grace UI. I like it, there's many features but this is just a neutral for me. Not amazing, and surely not bad either.

The bad:
-It's still on 6.0.1. I knew this coming in, but I had to remind myself that some things don't work because that came later. I don't think this will bother me, but it's hard to note that as a good thing.
-The 16gb of storage. Being "forced" on WhatsApp has me wondering how this will go for me, since it saves media on the phone directly. It's still okay, but I see myself having to delete silly videos that people like to send on it. (To be fair though, I have a 16gb iPhone SE, and I'm used to deleting stuff I don't see a need to keep on my phone).
-The signal appears to be weak. One would think that a glass backed phone would not have that problem but that's not the case. Phone stats show me that 14% of the time, I haven't had a signal, which seems high to me. Even so, battery life doesn't seem to be affected, weirdly enough.

That's it though. I feel like I have met my phone match, and I'm glad that I took a chance on this somewhat rare phone.
It finally feels like I'm not sacrificing much. I still really like the SE but the only thing that made it tough was the front camera, especially coming from the Pixel and Honor 8, which have 2 of the best front cameras in the Android world currently.

Solid review. If it gets 7.0, it sounds like it will be much better. Seems like you've found a solid match for your needs.

[N_LaRUE]

Rain? You're in France, right?

No the UK. I'm moving to France eventually. I'm just in the process of buying a property there.

[TgeekB]

No the UK. I'm moving to France eventually. I'm just in the process of buying a property there.

Ahh, I thought you were still there.

[libra89]

Adopted storage to increase space?

I have to check if that is possible, thanks for suggesting that!

Edit: Apparently, it's disabled intentionally by Samsung but there's a thread on how to enable it on xda and it seems over my head so I don't know if I'm up to attempting it right now. I might give it a try when I read it very carefully.

[libra89]

Solid review. If it gets 7.0, it sounds like it will be much better. Seems like you've found a solid match for your needs.

Thank you! Yeah I think so too. I'm surprised how well it fits and works for me. I forgot to add a pro that Samsung seems not to nag you about not having a second sim. It's a dual sim phone but it's so easy to forget because you don't see anything related to it until you open the call log, along with the texts log.

Whoops, I forgot to say that the A 2017 series is also water resistant too at that. That doesn't make a difference to me but it's surprising to see here.

[MSFTisMIA]

I have to check if that is possible, thanks for suggesting that!

Edit: Apparently, it's disabled intentionally by Samsung but there's a thread on how to enable it on xda and it seems over my head so I don't know if I'm up to attempting it right now. I might give it a try when I read it very carefully.

Remember, if you do that it simply means you're stuck with that memory card in the phone.

[libra89]

Remember, if you do that it simply means you're stuck with that memory card in the phone.

Hmm that's a good point. To be fair, since I am about the cloud life, I don't think I would mind. I'll really have to think about this though and if it is worth it.

[MSFTisMIA]

Hmm that's a good point. To be fair, since I am about the cloud life, I don't think I would mind. I'll really have to think about this though and if it is worth it.

Well, to each his own. I'm still the old school local storage guy, so 16GB doesn't cut it for me.

[MSFTisMIA]

Still trolling for new post ideas for the blog. I have an old series refresh scheduled but I'm not sure if I'll still post it. Need to sleep on it some more.

[MSFTisMIA]

It's amazing how brutal hardware in the Android space can be. Thumbing through some listings from some of last year's solid but quickly forgotten flagships and some serious deals can be had if one is willing to look past certain flaws.

It's one of the pros and cons of using Android...if you buy a hit, you're in a good space...usually. if you buy a flop, you're SOL.

[libra89]

It's amazing how brutal hardware in the Android space can be. Thumbing through some listings from some of last year's solid but quickly forgotten flagships and some serious deals can be had if one is willing to look past certain flaws.

It's one of the pros and cons of using Android...if you buy a hit, you're in a good space...usually. if you buy a flop, you're SOL.

This is so true. It comes down to what one is willing to deal with, like you said. I remember being excited about getting a Robin around this time last year for $300. Not a flagship but an okay phone. I would have never guessed a year later that it was last sold for 116?

On the flip of that, it's weird to me how some brands seem to hold a price. Trying the HTC One A9 last year was an adventure to find a price that I was willing to pay for it. Even though it was approaching "old" territory, it was still on the pricey side.

[libra89]

It's amazing how brutal hardware in the Android space can be. Thumbing through some listings from some of last year's solid but quickly forgotten flagships and some serious deals can be had if one is willing to look past certain flaws.

It's one of the pros and cons of using Android...if you buy a hit, you're in a good space...usually. if you buy a flop, you're SOL.

Speaking of, what are your thoughts on the LG Q8? Considering that you are currently trying the V20 and it's a mini version of it, do you think it would be interesting since it has a smaller footprint but similar specs?

[MSFTisMIA]

Speaking of, what are your thoughts on the LG Q8? Considering that you are currently trying the V20 and it's a mini version of it, do you think it would be interesting since it has a smaller footprint but similar specs?

LG Q8 is the Japanese LG V34. It's too late in the game.

[MSFTisMIA]

This is so true. It comes down to what one is willing to deal with, like you said. I remember being excited about getting a Robin around this time last year for $300. Not a flagship but an okay phone. I would have never guessed a year later that it was last sold for 116?

On the flip of that, it's weird to me how some brands seem to hold a price. Trying the HTC One A9 last year was an adventure to find a price that I was willing to pay for it. Even though it was approaching "old" territory, it was still on the pricey side.

Agreed. Some brands are hit and miss. It can be such a grind in the weeds finding what you want sometimes.

[N_LaRUE]

Ahh, I thought you were still there.

Better weather in France where I'm planning to live.

[MSFTisMIA]

Better weather in France where I'm planning to live.

And here I thought you preferred the teacher-student pairing over the I-Ron May-Bot as your main reason for moving...

[N_LaRUE]

And here I thought you preferred the teacher-student pairing over the I-Ron May-Bot as your main reason for moving...

No Brexit is the reason for moving. It looks like Maybot is going to be removed by another horrible person of some sort. This is not surprising. No idea which horrible person yet...

However, that doesn't change the reality. Brexit is why we are moving and why thousands of others are doing the same.

To put into perspective, my wife has lost about 80% of her business due to this mess. That's not simply because EU citizens are not coming over anymore but also due to the uncertainty so people are not spending money as they don't know what's going to happen.

That's more than enough reason to leave. However, add in how unwelcome we feel now and you realise that moving is the only option. Why stay in a hostile environment?

The weather side is a plus but it does rain there and apparently the winters can be a bit harsh. Summers are definitely better though. We're looking forward to the change. Timeline is a bit up in the air but at least we're heading in the right direction.

It's just unfortunate the currency is taking a major hit... :/

[N_LaRUE]

So for anyone curious. I'm going to post Before/After pictures of our current house. The pictures I'm posting of Before are the ones that were in the ad. Believe it or not, the place actually looked and was worse than these pictures indicate. We had to replace flooring in some areas. We plastered pretty much every wall and ceiling. All new electrics. All new plumbing. All new heating. New laminate flooring. New kitchen. Two new bathrooms. New windows. New front door.

One of the reasons I was complaining about the weather is because our house is going up for sale and we wanted to get a nice picture of the yard. So in this grouping I won't be showing the yard or the garage.

Here is the old/new floor plan so you get an idea of what we did.

OLD FLOOR PLAN



NEW FLOOR PLAN

[N_LaRUE]

So original photos of the house. This is from the ad to sell the house.

RECEPTION



RECEPTION AND STAIRS



KITCHEN



SECOND RECEPTION (EXTENSION)



KITCHEN AND SECOND RECEPTION



UPSTAIRS BATHROOM



BEDROOM 1



BEDROOM 2

[N_LaRUE]

Funny I posted pictures and they went into moderation.. so are the mods all asleep? LOL!

[N_LaRUE]

I'll wait to for the that to show before I post the others... no point otherwise.

[N_LaRUE]

I can't believe it's taking this long to get my photos out of moderation... what's the deal? There wasn't that many and the photos were small.