Smart phones are a pretty personal thing. Everyone likes what they like, certain features are a must, or a deal-breaker. I’m no different. So I bought a Motorola phone 4 phones ago. A co-worker was singing their praises and making fun of me for not having one, so I succumbed to pressure and bought one. It was the Moto g6 and I loved it!
I used it until it basically stopped being functional, which was only about 2 years sadly. The only gripe I had with that phone was the placement of the fingerprint sensor. It was on the only physical button on the front of the phone which was also the Home button. It worked well enough, but the placement was less than ideal.
So when that phone finally became obsolete Susie bought me the G7 as a Valentine’s day present! What a great gift! The phone worked great, the fingerprint reader moved to the back of the phone below the camera, the upgrades were on point. I was stoked!!
But into each life a little rain must fall. The phone started acting funny within a few short months. First it would hang, just a tid-bit when I touched the screen. It was hardly noticable. Then things went south. Quickly.
My newest, favoritest phone started to freeze. All the time! And it was a gift from my sweetheart! Oh my! What should I do?
I kept the phone for a short time longer, but finally I had to buy a new one. I kept searching for a new Moto product that would meet my standards, but every subsequent G version of the Motorola was a global model and not compatible with USA carriers. Fuck!
So I did the unthinkable and bought a new phone, much to my love’s chagrin. After much exhaustive research I decided to go back to Samsung, having been a fan of their Galaxy series up until the 3rd generation.
So far we’re looking at about 3 years of Motorola usage, and with the 7th Gen I noticed that the USB C charging port, while extremely convenient for its ease of use, was lacking in, shall we say, durablilty. When new the port on the phone is great. The cord snapped in place with a satisfying click, stayed put and did its job. But after a few months the port started to wear out. The cable would sometimes not connect well, leading to an uncharged phone.
Devastating!
So I opted for a mid-grade Samsung (with a great camera, spec-wise) but I was severely disappointed. The camera took awesome pictures, but it made the phone grind to a halt. An update to Android 11 eased the pain a wee bit, but the real problem made itself apparent, USB C sucks!
The couple issues I had been having multiplied. In less than a year the Samsung was now almost impossible to charge. Sometimes it would take 15 attempts at pluggin the cable in to make it connect. Several times I woke up with a battery at 20% or less.
Unacceptable.
Also, I found that Samsung’s skin for Android was not to my liking. And I had to install several 3rd party apps to get the basic Android functionality I had previously enjoyed without issue on the Motorola phones. To say I was disappointed with Samsung was putting it mildly.
Yesterday I received my newly ordered Motorola Ace, with a magnetic break-away charging cable. The charging system contains an insert that stays in the charging port with a cable that magnetically connects to the insert. I’m betting a dumb amount of money that this will end my USB C charger problems. Fingers crossed.
On a side-note, I am extremely happy to be back in the Motorola world. The basic communication apps included on the phone just work without need of installing 3rd party apps to enable basic phone functionality. I will give the new charging system a run-through and if I’m happy you probably won’t hear another word about it.
Motorola for life? Probably.