Ring ring

I think kids these days don't know how the telephone came to ring. Sure, they know about ringtones but do they know why it's called phone ringing? Just like how they don't know the Save icon is actually a floppy disk. Not going to bring you all the way back to that era. Maybe just a year or two back when my phone misadventure began.

Ah, the good old Sony Xperia ZL. Truthfully, I think this phone most certainly lasted quite long though towards the end, it was used mainly as my secondary (then third) phone. Sony had a lot of bloatware, nothing of which is too bothersome when you don't use it as an actual phone. I gave up on it after finding no solution for its bluish tint pictures.

Do you notice anything odd about this picture? Just showing how much I can procrastinate dragging myself out of bed. I do miss the phone. Mainly because most of my games were stored there.

My next phone was the flagship Xiaomi Mi3. For a less than one grand phone, it did pretty damn good. Initially, there were hiccups with the touch screen and that dreaded MIUI update that made Maxis unusable. But after solving all that (which included downgrading the OS), it worked like a charm. That is until I dropped it. Not that it was my first drop but that one shattered a corner of the screen and made the touch screen untouchable unresponsive.

I've seen people still using phones with cracked screens without any problem (except for the eye sore). I drop my phone and it just dies on me. The LCD screen cost about RM 280 to repair. Then, again it cracked during my UK trip which didn't make sense to repair it anymore.

Moving on to happier/current times, it does seem rather unfair, isn't it that the J3 gets a special mention but my own Redmi Note 4 doesn't?

To be honest, this wasn't my first picked. At the time, Huawei P10 launched not too long ago and the camera had rave reviews. After all, their camera is from co-engineered with Leica. Alas, the above 2k price tag just didn't cut it. Desperate I was that I was tempted to go for it's predecessor, P9. For a not-so-new model with a replacement just launched, it wasn't that much cheaper.

Somehow, the below RM 800 price tag for Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 got me baited. Ordered it on Lazada. Received it within the week (I think).

Compared to my previous Mi phone, this one certainly feels less .... grand?

The box is smaller but it comes with the same package of USB cable and charger which unfortunately is not meant for the local market so they kindly bundled in an adapter separately.

Upon unboxing, I realized that there was a blue pen ink stain. I'd like to think of nothing about it but my perception of it was slightly marred, like my phone itself.

After few months of using it, what's the phone like? How do it compare to its predecessor? Truthfully, it was disappointing to say the least.

• The camera picture quality is deplorable. Despite the same 13MP camera, the pictures turn out more pixelated, blurry
• Mobile signal is questionable. Although I'll get full bar on 4G, my apps won't load or refresh. Killing all apps and relaunching sometimes help, more often not. This isn't an issue with my telco as it happens on both Celcom and Maxis. Any random location. On WiFi, it works perfectly. 
• GPS signal is of no use. There was an update to the MIUI that it's now gotten better. Previously, my Waze could never get my location. When it does, it could never find the route. Anywhere, anytime. Again, not a telco issue. 

But, I've somehow come to work around them:

• use my iPhone instead 
• tether from my iPhone 

 At the rate that I'm going, I should probably give up on my Android, isn't it? 😂 Well, like what they say, for better or worse, we are in this together. Also because that iPhone is company property.