[og bunky]

wanted to get a used iPhone for using in Wi-Fi mode, mostly as a dedicated phone for running Uber.

anything even remotely close to $1,000 is way too much for this budget, and basically looking for a phone that won't be terribly slow and outdated, and won't have too many issues running either Uber or lyft, maybe other stuff as well.

so far I've settled on the iPhone xs max, which was a little bit more money than the iPhone xs, but I think the larger screen will be worth it. if I recall correctly, it was something like $250 versus $320.

I don't know anything about the chipset names or how they perform relative to the other versions, but what I thought was important was having 4 GB of RAM for multitasking. I looked at the iPhone 11, and it was a bit pricier for what appeared to be not too much more in terms of hardware, but I could be mistaken here.

iPhone 12 and later are too expensive for this budget. and the XS seems like a faster version of the x?

any thoughts, opinions, recommendations?

 

[Ted Fink]

www.trademore.com - they will refund you if there's an issue and their customer service is great. prices good too

 

[og bunky]

that's primarily the reason that I bought it off of amazon, for the easy, free, no hassle 90-day return.

 

[og bunky]

I bought a Samsung a50 to replace mine with a broken screen, and the refurbished one that I bought came with a really poor quality LCD screen with a faulty capacitive touch sensor, nowhere near the brightness and quality of the original super AMOLED screen. returned it a month or so later, since I'm terrible about returning stuff in a timely manner, no problems at all.

hopefully the iPhone xs will have a quality screen installed, but I will not have a very good way to gauge the quality of the screen versus the original besides recognizing whether it's good enough or not for me.

I actually bought the original iPhone xs then ordered the xs Max a couple of days later, so I will have both of them in my hands at the same time. plan on returning the small xs. definitely an abuse of the return policy

 

[LoLo SF]

I think this is a pretty good buck-banging deal and it's brand new. I'm thinking about getting one. I had a 6T and it was a great phone. They are selling them for $699: Buy OnePlus - OnePlus (United States)

OnePlus 9 Pro Specs | OnePlus United States

Explore the specs for the OnePlus 9 Pro 5G. Discover the 120 Hz display and latest technologies that offer an extremely compelling smartphone experience.

www.oneplus.com

 

[og bunky]

has to be iphone

 

[og bunky]

most likely returning the xs and keeping the xs max

 

[New2This]

most likely returning the xs and keeping the xs max

I used an Iphone 6 with no problem. Got it for around $200.

That Robitussin is good for the COVID cough. I went through bottles of it when I had it.

 

[ObeyTheNumbers]

wanted to get a used iPhone for using in Wi-Fi mode, mostly as a dedicated phone for running Uber.

Let me stop you right there.

My carrier was working on the local tower near my house for 5G and I was being denied trips due to no signal.

So I tried WiFi from another carriers phone, it's not fast enough for Uber. The problem is WiFi needs to be highly encrypted and decrypted this slowing things down considerably.

I ran some speed tests and this is the result.

5G on the upgraded tower, followed by 4G Wifi of the new carrier and of course just plain 4G. Old phones may not be 5G compatible, but newer ones are and you want 5G, it's awesome. 😎

4G everywhere I go is severely stressed, with sometimes no signal on the meter. WiFi is far worse.

Don't waste your money on a non 5G compatible phone, 4G going obsolete soon.

 

[og bunky]

either I misunderstood you or you misunderstood me. either way, I've been doing it off of Wi-Fi for a long while without problems

 

[Invisible]

I had an iPhone 6 and now an 8. I’m happy with my 8, and mine still works fast. I have zero plans to upgrade anytime soon and wouldn’t pay $1000. I’d get rid of my phone before then or buy used next time.

Check out used IPhones at a pawn shop. They test them out before. Many people probably had to sell theirs to pay the high gas prices or to make rent.

 

[ObeyTheNumbers]

either I misunderstood you or you misunderstood me. either way, I've been doing it off of Wi-Fi for a d the longttt while without problems

WiFi at home (cable/DSL) is faster than hotspotting off a phone, especially an older one on 4G. Obviously you'll be moving thus using the cell hotspot.

What I do now is use the 5G phone for just Uber and video, the 4G phone for everything else. No hotspotting at all except to pax or Pandora phone (I have three phones). Uber set up on two, but only allows one online at a time.

 

[og bunky]

with apps like Uber it's not throughput speed that's important it's latency and if it's good enough it will work fine.

 

[og bunky]

XS vs 11

iPhone 11 Vs iPhone XS: Performance, Camera, Design & Display

Apple's iPhone 11 is up for pre-order and at the same time, the company has stopped selling the iPhone XS. Here we compare both gadgets.

wccftech.com

 

[og bunky]

amazon now has 2 levels of refurbished ("renewed") phones, used to be just 1 level. now there is a "renewed premium" that they guarantee will work "like new". im assuming the "renewed premium" ones are in better physical condition with OEM parts used for replacement (ie screen) vs aftermarket.

planning on keeping the xs max if all else is equal; otherwise plan on keeping the one with the better quality screen if the other is subpar. if both have cheap quality screens, I'll return both, but will keep one to use during the 90 days until i can find a suitable replacement

 

[Uber's Guber]

has to be iphone

An older iPhone 8+ has plenty processing power to run multiple gig apps at the same time and offers ample view screen.

 

[og bunky]

An older iPhone 8+ has plenty processing power to run multiple gig apps at the same time and offers ample view screen.

one of the major things I didn't like about the iPhone 8 is that it doesn't have an edge to edge screen and like a quarter of the front face is eaten up by the bezel. not a huge deal breaker if they were that much cheaper, but they weren't. the 8+ was only about $50 less than the xs max

 

[ObeyTheNumbers]

with apps like Uber it's not throughput speed that's important it's latency and if it's good enough it will work fine.

Yes but if 4G is overloaded in your area your driver app will have network issues, can't go online/offline and those "are you still online?" issues where it lost network connection when it had trips for you.

You won't know how well 4G is in your areas unless you drive around tower to tower using the Network Cell Info app. Also rebooting a lot to get the strongest signal from that tower.

I would start there first then perhaps get a cheap 4G phone if strong 4G signal as it may be good for another 2 years or the life of the used 4G phone.

But if poor 4G, likely the area already or soon will be 5G so you'll need a compatible phone if you want to keep getting trips reliably.

 

[ObeyTheNumbers]

with apps like Uber it's not throughput speed that's important it's latency and if it's good enough it will work fine.

Good 4G signal, both cell and cell hotspot

Bad 4G signal, driver app doesn't work once in yellow or red zones

Problem of course it might work fine in one area and terrible in another on another tower causing dead zones.

I would get a used 5G/4G phone over a used 4G/3G phone. (3G obsolete)

 

[og bunky]

no issues here yet i dont think

i dont plan on using it over cell, only via wifi hotspot. already have 5g/4g phone