Cell Phone Hell
First, I have to say I despise T-Mobile! Every trip to their outlets results in a 45 minute slog as the poor staff must do everything calling in to some call center. T-Mobile customer service is often cumbersome and the cell signal coverage seems no better than when we were Spring, which T-mobile took over. Customer service at Sprint was far better however. Anytime I deal with a T-mobile customer service rep they always say “thanks for being with T-mobile for over 20 years” and I respond that the bulk of that was with Sprint! T-mobile acquired Sprint August 2, 2020.
Anyway, my previous two phones were Galaxy S4, then an S8. Great phones operationally. Unfortunately, as phones do, they cease to operate correctly after a couple years. I had the S4 for almost FIVE years- a lifetime for cell phones!
When Joni and I went to Toronto a weekend in September 2022 (for a Florence & the Machine concert), we saw the Samsung Z-Fold for the first time in a T-mobile store in a mall. Pretty sharp on display!
Joni said “you use your phone all the time for so much you should get one.” But no, my S8 was working fine. JINX. November 2022 the battery starts getting hot, the phone won’t stay charged. So I went to the T-Mobile store and got the sexy new folding phone. Paying $50 per month on the $1800 list price for 38 months.
A year and a half later the sexy has worn off. I don’t use the phone in the open state very much at all. If I were traveling a lot by plane like I used to for a previous job, it would be great for watching the downloaded movies on the larger screen, but that isn’t the case. Typing on the on-screen keyboard is cumbersome in the unfolded position because the phone is five inches wide- too wide for two thumb typing comfortably while holding the phone. 95% of my use is with the front sceen in the folded position. Dust also collects in the phone in folded position, which is kind of irritating.
Despite my disgust with T-Mobile, knowing buying another phone means I am locked into them like a galley slave, I did the math. I also perused the T-Mobile shopping tab for a different phone. Though I had considered Google phones, I opted for the Samsung Galaxy S23. I like their interface with the Android system. I can’t go to another cell service until I have a “paid off” phone and don’t want to shell out hundreds of dollars for a phone up front and doing so at this stage means I still have to pay off the Fold to T-Mobile.
First, some background information I found. According to Techwalls.com [1], the production cost of a Z-fold is $670! The retail of $1800 is a 55% markup! WOW! The Galaxy S23 FE list price is $600 which I estimate from Techwalls information to have a production cost of $200–250. (The S23 was not listed on the site at this time).
I got the Galaxy Z-Fold November 2022 and have had it for 19 months paying $50 a month on the purchase. Which means I had another 19 months to go to pay off the balance of $950 from the original $1800 list price. The S23FE monthly cost will be $25 for 24 months- so half the cost monthly for only 5 months more on a contract. But I was one month from being “half way” on the phone cost, said the customer service woman per company policy. So fifty bucks up front got me to the halfway mark and the ability get a different phone and get out from under the Z-Fold payment contract. New phone should be here by the end of the week.
[1] https://www.techwalls.com/production-costs-of-smartphones/comment-page-1/
