I bought a phone and feel like an idiot

[AkioOhtori]

As I mentioned on Oppo, in the before times, early in the year I bought an F(x)Tec Pro1, the modern keyboard phone.

I hated it.

So I sold it on eBay for $700.

(Sidenote: Holy crap eBay takes a lot of money. Between PayPal and eBay fees I only get to see like $610 of that.)

While I'd planning to repaint the Landy's roof with that dosh, drunk Akio had other plans, and I ended up picking up some new tech. Some of that new tech was a new phone. Specifically I bought a Moto G8 Plus, which had good specs and an astonishing price.

But you know what they say: If I seems too good to be true, it probably is.

TURNS OUT, the G8 and G9 were never "officially" released in the US and therefore don't support VoLTE.

What is VoLTE you ask? Voice over LTE. Basically offloading phone calls to the data network for... reasons. Saving the carrier money, I suspect.

Why does that matter, you also ask? Because starting as early as January 2021 carriers are requiring phones to have it to exist on their networks.

Motorola's apparent response is :checks notes: "Tough shit." They've responded to various forum posts with wishy washy "can't support all carriers" and "unlocked phones are bad" and "contact your carrier."

So after a semi-frustrating afternoon getting this phone set up, I just did a factory wipe and am sending it back to Amazon.

That is unless someone has evidence of making this work? I tried the ##4636## thing, but the option for VoLTE was greyed out...

I'd like to keep the phone because I love my Moto phones and the newest one they have is... not appreciably better than my G6. So... heh.

[khalbali]

I can't help but I just got a oneplus 8t this weekend and I love it so far, I'm an android guy but don't really like Google and I hated my last samsung.

[AkioOhtori]

@khalbali I have a Samsung S10e for work and HATE it, so I feel you. I might pick up a Pixel phone but I really do like Motorola phones... Might just wait until they make a new one?

[jminer]

@akioohtori I bought the G power after I broke the screen on my Pixel 3a. It does fine and has a decent camera, the phones a bit sluggish overall but fully supports Google fi and only cost me $150.

Overall I quite like Motorola phones the last several generations.

Also fuck ebay. I used to sell a lot on there but between their fees, high shipping costs and them automatically siding with the buyer on every complaint I've stopped.

I had someone ship me back an empty box once and still had to refund them.

[CaptDale - is secretly British]

Yeah eBay is terrible with their fees. I don't think there is much good going on in the smart phone base at the moment. Hell I am only running a Note 9 because my Note 9 got replaced under insurance, but they didn't have anymore to send me so yay free upgrade. Really are just the best bang for the buck atm at least in my eyes. Though I would also be happy to drop the smart phone for a Motorola Razr V3 from the 2000's if they weren't dropping all 3g networks making then unusable.

[Rusty Vandura]

@jminer I had a transaction with Swappa and they totally sided with the buyer. F**k dishonest people.

[jminer]

@captdale-is-secretly-british It didn’t used to be too bad. I’ve sold on there for probably 15 years but recently it’s a final value fee of 10% for eBay, plus 3% for paypal plus shipping costs. If I’m selling something less than $100 almost a third goes to fees and shipping, depending on how large it can be closer to half.

[VincentMalamute]

@akioohtori I'm sure you looked at the xda-developers forum. They have a procedure that looks pretty dang involved. But you've already done step one, unlocking!

I was picturing a phone like this when you mentioned keyboard phones. I carried one on a belt clip back in the early '00s and got called a nerd. They've come a long way. That Fx thing looks sweet.

[sn4cktimes]

@akioohtori I used to have a Samsung Vice back in the day. I really like the kick out keyboards. Not helpful now mind you. It was 3G.

[ITA97]

@akioohtori https://www.amazon.com/Moto-Z4-Unlocked-Warranty-PAF60007US/dp/B07RB78W37

I've been running one of these for the last yearish or so and been pretty happy. Okay enough specs for not the latest mid-range phone, but take advantage of the old moto mods to add a metric shit ton more battery and I can Oppo all day or wifi hotspot for a laptop in the field at work all day without having to think about battery life.

[jminer]

@ita97 I do wish that mod style took off. They’re a really awesome concept.

[ITA97]

@jminer said in I bought a phone and feel like an idiot:

@ita97 I do wish that mod style took off. They’re a really awesome concept.

Indeed. Most all the non-battery mods are pretty dated now, but it would've been cool had the concept really become a thing. Imagine how much 2020 mobile camera could be integrated into a modern camera mod...

[jminer]

@ita97 That would be amazing - carry a mirrorless sensor and lens to slap on the back of a phone. Would have been amazing back when I could travel. Got tired of packing my DSLR so just resorted to taking meh pics with my phone most of the time.