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Hour 2 Guests Include:
Also on this hour of the broadcast:
Wesley in Tyler, Texas listens on “News-Weather-Talk” KTBB and asked:
“I have a Galaxy Note 7 and I have to eventually turn it in. But I was wondering what’s the best option to replace it.”
Wesley, you should probably turn that phone in ASAP. Not just because it may explode on you, but also because Samsung has officially gotten back over 96% of Note 7s sold in the US, and has gotten most phone companies to agree to send out an update that will basically brick all Note 7 phones still in the wild.
If you wait past that point, Samsung may say “hey, thanks for wanting to return it way, way after we asked you too, but you’re too late.”
As for devices themselves, if you like Samsung and you like the size of the Note 7, the obvious alternative is the S7 Edge. It doesn’t have an S-Pen, but it should feel familiar otherwise.
If you’d prefer to try a brand that hasn’t exploded a flagship yet, you can give the Pixel XL a shot. It’s an Android phablet made by Google, which pretty much guarantees that you should get a pretty solid Android experience, it’s generally viewed favorably, and the Pixel is probably the greatest threat to Samsung’s dominance of the Android market right now.
Our gaming geek Mark Lautenschlager has repeatedly said that the Pixel XL is the only Android phone that could possibly lure him from his iPhone 7 Plus.
The LG V20 is also a powerful phablet that may serve as a good replacement for you, but again, you won’t have an S-Pen type of device, and unlike the Edge, the V20 will definitely feel different. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you’ll notice it’s not a Samsung but something else.
Our gaming geek Mark Lautenschlager has repeatedly said that the Pixel XL is the only Android phone that could possibly lure him from his iPhone 7 Plus.
Because the Pixel is a phone that comes directly from Google, it receives its Android updates as soon as new versions are ready, rather than waiting for the handset maker and wireless carrier to fiddle around with it and shovel their own apps on top of it.
We were impressed by the Pixel’s speed, how light it was, the quality of the screen, the sharpness of its camera, and the integration of the Google software into the basic phone interface (Pixel owners will know what it means when we say “just swipe right on the letter G”). The LG V20 is also fast, light, with a beautiful screen and a great camera, but the Android support direct from Google is something to give weight to in your decision.