#BlogLife844 - Samsung A16 - Was it worth the dramas?

My previous phone is the Oneplus Nord ce2 lite so I'm going to compare the Samsung A16 to that.

I do actually really love the colour, it's light but it's just a classy green.

To me it's different from the usual dark and dreary blue, black, grey nonsense. 

Unfortunately it's a lil bigger, a lil heavier and oof chunkier. I hate the fiddly sim and memory card removal but I have to do it.

Plus all the app transfers which I might ignore, oh and the updates.

The battery came 50% charged, I just set up the wifi and then it prompted me to restart it.

I had some problems with Googly it said it wanted me to authenticate on a different phone that I don't use, but eventually managed it.

I just tested bluetooth, sound is good. Mobile data seems fine, the real test will be when I'm outdoors and it just fails.

Normally they used to send the settings via text, I wonder if it's automatic or maybe I need to request it?

The sim seems to be working fine, although it's got a different phone number.

I might have to call EE about that also, he did say, your number would remain the same.

It's running android 14 at the moment. I have to remember to make the sd card the default storage, it popped up on the camera which was handy.

Now I'm downloading musicolet my preferred music player with the option to speed up songs.

I need my adblock browser and my games. At some point I have to test the calls and texts, although a text did come through, it must be working.

It's nice that dark mode is an option but I don't like the keyboard being black, I need a good theme.

Even though they have the complimentary samsung store themes, they seem a lil dull.

I prefer Zedge, sometimes you have to watch an advert but the quality and choice is amazing.

I found a way to change the samsung keyboard colour, turning on high contrast, closing the settings, reopening them and picking layout, lets me select, from yellow or blue.

I think I've finished with the apps now, the bus, the games, etc. I can already see a huge difference in the contrast.

Samsung just seems so vivid and sharp compared to the OnePlus.

Plus once I changed the timeout screen to longer, it actually stayed awake, unlike the OnePlus that just turns off, no matter how long you set it.

I need to see how it performs when I'm multi tasking. I usually have several apps or games open.

Plus I don't need to have it on half or nearly full brightness to see clearly.

I think it will definitely be an improvement but we shall see down the line.

Some more observations are that it's really laggy and struggling with the graphic heavy game Looney Tunes World of Mayhem.

It struggled to load, log in and settle. My old phone the A41 has no issue whatsoever.

Maybe I have to fiddle with the settings. It's a bit of a joke for a new phone not to handle a game....

Also what's making this process slow, I am adding the bookmarks manually, I only want the basics and unlike the OnePlus nord...

It doesn't pop up with that prompt, would you like us to use your saved passwords and log in for you?

I keep having to look them up one by one and unfortunately LastPass is hiding them lol.

Ugh I just want the necessaries like email, blogger, discord, twitter, that's probably it actually.

That felt good, I had been putting off changing the recovery/security back up email and as I was logging in on the phone, it just seemed easier to change it.

At first I was going to switch from msn, which I no longer use to the protonmail but then they said something about inactive accounts being blocked or closed and I don't use mine much.

A more realistic one is my phone number which doesn't change.

I just opted for a safety text to recover my account that is so much easier.

If ever I have to use the library computer again, they can just text me the code.

Sometimes there is so much security, I can't even get in, yeesh!

Crikey that was easy, blogger just logged me in and loaded straight away.

Ok strangely enough on my second or third attempt to load up Looney Tunes it seems to work fine. Very odd!

I spoke to EE customer services. Apparently the handset cost was supposed to be £30 but they waved that so maybe that was the culprit for the supposed accessory charge.

He said there didn't seem to be any outstanding costs they billed me for, but to keep an eye out for my next bill just in case.

Also he didn't know anything about the 10% off, he said that might have been the handset offer.

I hope not, I hope it's a reduction for the line rental every month, I guess I will find out later.

Some key differences, the battery is lasting a full day. The screen is staying on, which I am thrilled about.

There is a lock screen that sometimes comes on, I have to disable that.

There's been no crashes while I'm switching tabs and games. Phone calls are fine.

Oh something confusing, shoot, I don't know how to disable voicemail. 

I might have to ring customer services back and get them to do it.

Maybe that's what I did last time, I can't recall. The only other difference is pressing the side buttons to alter the volume or switch the screen off.

It's awkward, it doesn't seem to press seamlessly, takes me a few tries, eventually I will get used to it.

#BlogLife382 - Samsung A13 Return of the brick..

Song of the day - UB40 - Reasons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_iE7GzWdnI&list=FLI0DEk_aDykRP0sJnme-JBg&index=126

I'm relieved it's in my hands. I was gonna sneakily cover my hand over the expired date on my passport but the DPD driver just snapped my piccy and asked my name and then handed it over.

That's a relief, then I had to work out how to get the wrapping off and a sharp tug did it. How does one switch on the phone? The middle button.

As soon as you see whatever language you require click on start I think it was, otherwise it keeps recycling through all the languages.

Yikes I didn't see a way to fast forward and it warned me about tapping too much or I would have to set up a pin or some garbage.

Next I set up the wifi, had to snap a pic of the wifi code and type it in and that was followed by transferring data to the new phone via smart switch I think.

Next comes the personalisations, to your taste but I always prolong the screen display time, download swiftkey but actually i'm having more fun with the samsung keyboard.

Eventually I will get the christmassy wallpapers and I don't intend to get a case as this phone is much heavier than the last one.

Oh heavens I got to work out how to do the PAC code and BT sent me an unlock pin but this is a new phone, mind you with a BT sim card....

I haven't put either sim in and I have a memory card. Ooh I forgot to add as well as the unlimited texts/minutes..

I told her I just wanted 1gb of data just to tide me over, as I don't use it, except in emergencies like power cuts and maintenance workers switching my wifi off..

She said I'm giving you 4gb. I had 6 before lol. I'm not fussed. Better to have extra I suppose.

On hold with EE as the PAC code didn't register on their website so either they gave me the wrong one or..

Reading the delivery note it seems it's 5g with 2 sim slots available and of course the sd slot.

Well that was crazy, the representative said that I had completed all the steps and it would be activated tomorrow probably maybe around this time so 5pmish possibly..

I didn't have to put in the BT sim into the EE phone after all. I didn't see the point of that anyway.

I don't want to have to remember a new number or change it and update people.

I kept the volte thingy setting on which means it will automatically switch to 4g if that's available.

I did have headphones on and he could hear me properly and he was crystal clear so that side works.

I haven't tried the internet. Oh it came 50% charged if you are curious and I'll wear it out and then restore it to health.

I'm gutted it didn't come with a plug but I have my old one to use.

The apps and bookmarks didn't migrate so I'll just add them manually. I haven't transferred my sd card yet. I'll do that tomorrow.

I must remember to set the default location to the sd card for the camera and browser.

I don't have many apps really. A screen dimmer, music player, games, screen on always and that was it.

Right last few steps now that the number transfer is complete. BT emailed me at 8am and it didn't seem mandatory but I restarted both phones and the BT sim said emergency calls only.

I just have to insert my 64gb memory card. It seems excessive but I had a 4gb card I think or 8gb and that was bursting so it felt time to upgrade.

Now it's up to you if you choose to format it and have it locked to that device. I never do as I upgrade as often as possible.

But watch out for that, there is a option that deletes the entire contents of you card, ouchy!

At least I'm glad all but 4/5 songs migrated over. I'm not sure why phones stopped having music apps but meh no matter.

The apps didn't duplicate which is another new thing. The camera asked me if I wanted to change storage to the sd card but I don't know where the setting is to do it for the overall phone..

Remember to set it for your browsers also, if you download as much as me, that's useful.

As for the battery life, it's too soon to tell, with light use today and yesterday, calls, texts, gaming, internet, bluetooth, it is showing 81%.

I've done a few more calls without the headphones and had no issues, unlike the last phone.

They could all hear me clearly and vice versa. They weren't telling me it was a bad line and to speak up or anything like that.