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Welcome to the side load where we are on our fifth fall spring. I recorded this episode in a sweatshirt and it is now 72° out. I'm your host Will Saddleberg. I am so excited to welcome back to the program today YouTuber and podcaster Steve Rodosa. Uh, we are talking Motorola's new Razors. We are talking why it's a bad idea to upgrade to a 2026 smartphone. We are talking about his new podcast with past and future guest Daniel Bader. Uh, and like 5 minutes of thoughts on the Oceans trilogy. It makes sense in context. It's all coming up right after this word from our sponsor NordVPN.
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Joining me back on the show today, excited to be here and I'm going to get his name right as I always do. It's Steve Rodosa. Yeah, there we go. Well done. Um, uh, we worked together for so many years and I just, it genuinely took until the last time you were in this podcast for me to get your last name right finally and I still got it wrong when I asked you the pronunciation for minutes ago. Well, it's everything through Slack, so you don't say people's names pronounce everything, anything. So, it's just it all gets lost. And even when we and like obviously you and I were on meetings together, but it's not like you're
introducing yourself by your first Mr. Do you have anything to add to this uh to the proceedings? Although with how many Stevens we've had, you know, have worked at Android Police, uh they should maybe we should all go by last names. Okay. Um you are here uh because I think we both have a lot of feelings about the about phones. I don't necessarily need to do a state of the smartphone check-in yet because we've we've done that kind of recently. Instead, I sort of wanted to talk about um and I'm working on writing this as a piece that is hopefully up uh before this goes live. But um the this week we saw the release of or the launch of the latest razors for Motorola and
they are continuing this trend of that kicked off I guess at the start of this year really cuz I wouldn't say the OnePlus 15 fits into this but certainly um the Pixel 10a the S26 series this Razer lineup I'm probably forgetting one more um all sort of fit into but very much the North American flagship or even mid-range smartphone market. All sorts of it fits into this bubble there aren't even upgrades this year. It's very much like this is a repackaged version of what we shipped last year. Maybe there are some changes. If there are, you're probably paying more. Or in the case of the Razer, there are no changes and you are still paying more. So that's the weird one. See, Moto, I got to tell you, Moto was the one that
surprised me the most. I think there are reasons for that. Like you said, OnePlus isn't a part of that. I think enough of that overseas DNA creeps in. But the other thing I think about with OnePlus is they're the only ones that really can't get away with some sort of upgrade cycle. They're not in carrier stores. They have to do something that would impress people and get them to go to That's a good point. wherever and buy their phone. So, I don't think they can rely on it just being there being go someone walking into AT&T and say, "Hey, give me the new one." And they hand them the OnePlus 15. But the Motorola shocked me because there's there were two directions that these companies could go in. Samsung
chose like, "Okay, we're gonna give you some upgrades, but we're going to raise the price." Google for the Pixel 10a, I think, rightly kept the phone at 500, but we're going to kind of downplay some of the upgrades that are going to be fantastic. Yeah. Sort of do nothing, but at least we're not raising the price. Motorola said, "You know what? We're doing Let me break it down." So, I wrote this piece uh last week as people are listening to this called here's everything that's actually new with Motorola's 2026 Razer lineup. It's not much. And so I will I can quickly break this down. The Razer Ultra uh gets a slight battery boost.
They're all going to get slight battery boost. So, let's skip over that. Slight battery boost. Uh a couple new colors, new textures. Uh loses the one TB model and gets a $200 price hike for all of those changes. Oh, um, a couple more. Uh, Gorilla Glass, ceramic 3, LOIC on the, um, main camera sensor for improved uh, HDR. These are changes that are, I would argue, are to be expected, should be built into the price and certainly not require a price hike. And, and notably, no, you know, again, 1 TB gone. Uh, no improvements to RAM, unsurprisingly. Um, same processor. Despite this being a $1,500 phone, it is running a Snapdragon 8. Uh, what is this called? Snapchat.
Sorry. The naming structure is comical. It's goofy. Especially since you got the Elite Gen 5 and then just the Gen 5. So, I was trying to find a place to put the word gen is exactly what I was doing. And I was like, I it doesn't go here. Doesn't go here. Stupid. Anyway, um, Qualcomm, you know, whatever. Uh, yeah. So, so no new processor. Um, and I'm not trying to say that Snapdragon 8 Elite is bad. It's just that for if you're getting if you're $1,500 smartphone, like, right. So, the um the Razer Plus can keep this very quick because this is the third time they've launched this phone. This is only one color.
One color essentially unchanged specs from the 2024 Razer Plus model. And it uh it's $1,100 now. Yeah. So instead of uh a thousand it again larger battery uh it switches to a an ultraide shooter from a telephoto to match the other two models. That's that's it. Uh and then finally the base model. I've always been a big fan of the base model. It's my preferred Razor because a good like for the price I don't think you're usually getting enough advancements. You get all the sleek. You get all the style, all the sleek, all the experience of using a clamshell foldable for significantly less. So, so, so we get a $100 price hike up from 700 to 800.
Okay. There are changes. It does have a slightly upgraded processor. It's not 7450, right? Instead of 7,400 uh MediaTek Demenity 7400 or 7450X. Uh 50 megapixel ultrawide lens up from 13. Uh, and then a 120 Hz uh, outer screen instead of a 90 Hz. I don't think you needed that. Not moving the needle. Um, you know, it would be one thing if it was 60 to 120, but 90 to 120 doesn't do a lot for me. I, you know, I don't want to speak for the even on my like my Steam Deck is 90 Hz and when games can run at, you know, 90
FPS, I that looks like 120 to me, right? Um but so all of this said, uh the spec list weirdly does not mention uh 120 fps uh video recording, which last year's model had. I don't know. Oh, that'd be interesting. I'm not sure. I don't know if that was just like an accidental uh exclusion or whatever, or if that's actually true. Uh but one downgrade I am confident on is that they have dropped the storage from 256 to 128 despite the price hike. So even still you are getting downgrade a downgrade. Um the only battery. Oh yeah. The only thing that I'll I'll that saves Motorola and because it's a trend for them or it has been for a while.
The Motorola Edge releases at $550 and it's not worth that. And it quickly goes down to 400. Last year's Ultra whatever that was $1,300 not worth that. quickly goes down to a thousand and then where it sits now, which is half price or something like that. So, dude, you can literally and I wrote a follow-up piece and look, as we're recording this on Friday, May 1st, it's still on sale. So, I'm going to promote this go like if you are interested in the Razer Ultra specifically, but any of the Razor really, you can right now and it's on sale at Amazon and Best Buy. The best deal, however, is through Motorola directly. You can score a 1 TBTE Razer Ultra from last year, but remember it's essentially the same phone, right,
for $800 with a free pair of earbuds. And again, the one TB model doesn't exist this year. So, you're arguably buying a model, the $1,500 one that's going on sale in a couple weeks. And I have I've always had a theory on why this happens with Motorola and why they do it. They are in carrier stores. My thought is this. since it jumps down, the price jumps down so quickly after release that they use that $1,500 number or whatever to basically be like a door buster on carrier sites and their own site. Hey, it was 1,500 but now it's a,000 and if you get in your trade in or whatever to make that seem more impressive. Yeah, that's the only thing I could think of in my head. my so that probably makes sense and is certainly a strategy and to a
certain extent Google does that too although they do not drop their prices as significantly as Motorola I would argue um I guess to me it's like okay so what they've decided to do if we're mapping this out if this follows similar trends is that yes this year's Razer Ultra is launching at $1,500 but you know it will be $1,200 in a couple months and then by Black Friday it will be routinely $1,000 or whatever. But couldn't they just keep the price like do these minimal upgrades, the slight downgrades in a couple of places, right? No terabyte on the Ultra, the drop in storage on the base, but keep the prices the same and then just don't reduce the sale like don't reduce the price as much. I don't like wouldn't
that isn't that better pressed to be like people aren't going to write about I mean maybe you and I but most people will not notice if Motorola suddenly stops doing these like 50% off discounts but we all noticed when Motorola downgraded their phones and raised the price. That's a good point. Initial is when you're making your first impression and that certainly provides a bad one. I get it. I don't understand. I mean, I love them as values because right now the last year's razor, the one that we like, the base razor, 340 bucks on Amazon if you get a one renewed, if you're comfortable with a renewed one. Like, it's just unbelievable what you can get. And I don't I never understood it. I never
understood on the Edge. I never understood on the G Stylus. I never understood it on any of the Motorola phones, but they all seem to have a very high initial MSRP. And it's just Moto's MO. And I don't understand what it is or what the strategy there is. And like you said, I think that's absolutely 100% correct. It hurts you because the attention, if you're a style brand, if you're a flashy brand, people are looking at that fancy new bluish purple one and the Alcantara one and all these other ones that they got. They're trying to be this lifestyle brand, which I agree with, by the way, worked well for Apple for 100 years. So, why would you why would you have that sticker shock there unless you're trying to be a
premium brand and you think that the pricing somehow puts you in that Apple stratosphere and people will say, "Oh, it's expensive." I don't know. Do people still fall for that? I mean, I maybe people do. I don't quite understand. They equate the price with the quality still. Probably to a certain extent. Although, you know, I mean, you mentioned Apple. I feel like Apple is in some ways doing away with that with something like MacBook Neo, which I'm I'm sure people are sick of me talking about. I don't even have one. I just think it I think it's smart. Shake up. I think it's very smart. I think Apple We could talk about Tim Cook if you want a little bit later on. I mean, that's Apple. Never mind.
I don't even know what to I Yeah, go ahead. I No, I But I think that there is a portion of that. I do like that Motorola is following Apple's playbook. I think it's successful. I think the Razer lineup is that kind of flashy status symbol is kind of awkward to say now, but it's that kind of hey, I've got a you got a Razer like it's a conversation starter in a way that it was 20 years ago. And I think that's very smart for Motorola to lean into. I've actually been a huge fan of Motorola. I wish Motorola would come out and be say, you know what, we're going to provide these. We're going to be the anti- AI company. We're going to not worry about AI and Gemini and all this stuff on our phones. We're just going to be value.
They've just preloaded literally every AI app they can get a licensing deal with on this phone. I mean, it's like the press release is like they have still or what is it? Gemini and Perplexity and Co-Pilot and all the like everything you could ever ask for. And it's okay guys. Yeah, those are also on the Play Store. Whatever. Yeah, you can just download them. Like that's cool, too. I don't need a, you know, and it's frustrating cuz to your point about design, that is, I think, what people care more about the Razer, which is why I've always been like, look, like,
you're not gaming on this thing. The Snapdragon 8 is over. You're not going to want to. It's not going to be comfortable. Like, it is such a w a tall narrow device opened up. You're not going to want to play a Genchin Impactesque game on this phone. It's it's not going to fit controller grips. It's not going to feel good in your hand. So, if you're buying this, you're you're probably not in that, you know, I need all the performance I can get category. So, why not just drop the price? Now, again, this ignores the sale prices because you might as well just get the Razer Ultra if it's $800 for a terabyte with headphone with earbuds. And by the way, I just out of curiosity, I was like, if what if you had a 256 GB Pixel 8 Pro, what
could you get it for? And I'm not saying this trade in value is great, but uh it would bring the price down 200 bucks. Again, you get THIS CODE FOR I'M not tempted by it. I love mine. I still have mine. I bought mine. The Moto didn't send me mine. I use it every time I'm not reviewing something. My sim goes back into the Razer Ultra because I just absolutely love what Motorola is doing. And that's somebody. So, I write about this all day long. I do videos on this all day long. And I'm somebody that I'm telling you, you know
what? I don't care about I love the what Material 3 Expressive is. I love what Google's done there with their software. One UI is in a good spot. I think it just comes down to that form factor, the user experience. You know, Moto's awful on updates. All probably the worst one out of all of them. And that's going to be in the piece of so that's a great transition point, right? So my well and first of all, that's my other argument for just buying this year's Razer Ultra is like yes, the software support has already diminished compared to if you buy a new one, it's not worth doubling the price. you will not get your value back from Motorola on those updates. So, so
I guess to that end that kind of brings me to my bigger picture look at this look at 2026 phones in general. Why should anybody who has a device from, you know, look, I don't think anybody is trying to upgrade from 2025, but even 2024, right? Like if you're if you have a 2024 device, there is nothing on display this year in my opinion that would convince you to upgrade. Even with a good tradein value, unless you know you're getting the phone for a new, you know, S26 Ultra for $200 after all your discounts, that's fine. But largely speaking, not only do I think those shoppers should not upgrade, I mean, that's nothing new, but I almost think if you're coming from a 2020 1, 22, 23 device, right,
it's not an awful idea to see if you can find, you know, a refurb or anything from 2024, 100% 2025 models because a lot of those phones, especially if you're buying in the US and you're probably picking between Samsung and Google, anything from 2024 and beyond is going to have seven years of OS upgrades and security support. So, you know, go buy an S24 right now. You're still set for five years. And if you can get a good deal on that 500 bucks, you can get promise. 500 bucks right now. You like I could not, you know, I cannot tell off the top of my head what you will lose out on not picking up the S26.
Brief and you probably get that anyway. But well, but yeah, it's it's it's mostly software on Samsung's side these days. On the hardware side, it's like certainly has a larger battery. I you know I don't think the camera sensors are if they're different faster charging difference. I think the battery is still charging but it's faster charging but not well uh actually I think if we're talking base model I think the base model is still 25 watt. You know you're not getting chi 2. Not really. You're not getting real G2. Um, it's like it's never really been a better time to look at older hardware and trust that you're going to you're you're not just like buying a band-aid anymore.
Like if you go buy a device from 2024, you are set through 2031 basically. Like as long as it doesn't break or anything. You nailed it. I mean, think about think back a few years ago. I would never have recommended a year or two old Galaxy S21 Ultra. The chipsets weren't where they need to be. The S23 came out and I was like, don't even bother with the S22 because the processor difference between the Oh god, here we go again. Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. No, yes, Snapdragon 8.
Gen one and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with the plus in the middle was good. the middle one was rocky in terms of thermals and efficiency. Um it was a Samsung foundry chip and then they moved to TSMC with the 8 plus gen one. Uh and they've been there ever since. And so that made sense, but it's like now that we've got these seven-year upgrade things and it's like Samsung has raised prices without much to show for it. Motorola has raised prices without much to show for it. Who knows what Google's going to do with the Pixel 11 this year? But I can tell you from the leaks, there's not I'm not seeing, you know, where a $100 price hike is going to, you know, really factor
into play compared to me just telling people to go buy a Pixel 10. And so, and that extends to Google, too. I don't care what people complain about Tensor all they want. From the G3 on, Google relatively had it under control. Okay. So, if you get a Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro you can get for $300 right now. Phenomenal phone. It's it's the first phone for that money. That's the first the 8 and the 8 Pro are the first tensor devices that I would say I can go back to safely wholeheartedly recommend. Yeah, I look if you go back and read my Pixel 7 Pro review, it's glowing. It's also too long. It needs an edit. That was the first like big review I wrote for Android. Please don't do that. Um but
but Tensor G2, you know, I reviewed that phone in the fall. The problems with Tensor G2 became really apparent when it heated up modem stuff, too. I mean, and let me tell you something. Coming from the Pixel 6, yeah, the Pixel 7 looked great, my fingerprint sensor worked, uh, my Wi-Fi worked, Bluetooth worked, you're like, "Oh, boy. This is like a day in the sun. This is fantastic." And then you're like, "The lens flare issue was gone." Like, there were there were a lot of It was easy to be like, they fixed so much of what was wrong with the Pixel 6. And then it only became, especially once the 7A and the in the Pixel Fold launch where it became apparent of like,
oh, this chip is bad. But um the Pixel I mean to talk about software support the Pixel Fold the original one is a phenomenal example of how software can turn a phone around. Google went to work on that. The support mattered on a material 3 expressive. Right now it's actually running fairly well. I don't get like 4 minutes of battery life like I got on launch. Good. It's a decent enough experience now. So you can turn around support on these older devices matters and doing it well matters.
Really does. Right. Well, and so and that's why it's so hard for me to look to take that's why it's so hard for me to take this Motorola announcement seriously is because I look at these phones and I know they've they've technically improved their policy. It is now three OS upgrades and 5 years of security of bimonthly security patches which are often tronthly. They slip on occasion. Well, that's the problem. So, so here's here's what I wrote about buying last year's and then we can extend that to everything. But I wrote even the argument that could usually win out here upgrades doesn't exactly apply to
Motorola's hardware. Both the 2025 and 26 Razer Ultras will get three major OS upgrades with last year's model getting four years of bimonthly security patches and its successor getting five. But that doesn't really make a if you're buying these phones now, yes, you will only get Android 18 on this $800 Razer Ultra versus Android 19 on this year's $1,500 Razer Ultra. I would argue that additional OS upgrade and even that one or that I guess technically now two uh you know yeah two so it would be security support through 2029 versus 31 even still not worth the money in part because of what you're saying about and it's when you get like don't set your watch like you got Android 16 on your Pixel devices in what
August I think Motorola just got I mean if you're ever waiting it's Yeah. Well, no, exactly. I mean, like it's not that companies like even Google sometimes is like, well, we've, you know, there have been times where they've pushed the source code, we're still waiting a month for the Pixel to actually get the update or something, right? Like those things happen, but it's night and day compared to being like, oh, Android 17's out. I can't wait to see this on my Moto Razor next year. Like, it's frustrating. And it's not like they're doing anything overly impressive. Exactly what I was about to say. There's there's nothing to show and the skin is like all like there's what are you doing? At least with Samsung you're like I and
and Samsung's pretty quick these days but at least you know give or take a 1 UI 8. Which one was really seven? One of them last year. Yeah. But like seven it was seven. Yeah. The overhaul. Right. Give or take a 1 UI 7. Samsung is like very speedy these days. Um, and usually if it's clear something's gone like kind of not wrong, but maybe upside down behind the scenes, but at least Samsung, you look and you're like, well, you did I mean, this is a completely different experience from what you, you know, see on a Pixel. So, at least I can look and see you did things something for the homework. The homework's late, but you know what? It's still pretty good. So, we're going to
give you a pass on that. So, so if you take this and you expand it to every phone, it's like, well, you're kind of buying in part in large part because these hardware upgrades are so either slim or insignificant depending on the device and it's not like there we don't see hardware upgrades that matter. I don't think I would have told unless you got a an awesome deal. I don't think I would have told anybody to buy a Fold 6 after the Fold 7 came out, right? Like there are moments like that, right? But largely speaking, we are in a time of very iterative upgrades when it comes to this hardware. And so you're kind of just buying the software support that comes with this phone. And to that end,
you're better off spending this money if Motorola is going to start asking for $1,500 for the Razer Ultra. It's like, well, man, like, I'm sorry, but I can't justify $1,500 when this phone is out of OS upgrades in 3 years, right? But I can justify 1500 a little bit easier on the S26 Ultra cuz at least it's going to go until Android. Okay. Shipped on 16 23 roughly, give or take. Um, that's night and day, right? That's that's I'm sorry. You that's what you're paying for now. And I think there's a couple things that you hit on there. Well, first thing is I thought I heard rumblings from overseas that some of these companies were considering not doing a flagship version this year or another flagship version. You heard
Nvidia say that possibly the 5000 series supers wouldn't come out this year. I think that's more difficult in the United States. And why I think you keep seeing these iterative upgrades is because we so many people finance their phones through carriers. And I think there's some sort of psychological thing of just walking in and hey, this is the new one. Like, oh, that came out last year. Like, I don't It's cars. I've been saying this since last year, but it's it's much leasing. Well, it's not just Yes, you're you are leasing, but it's not just that you're leasing. you're it's that the Chevy Equinox or the Toyota RAV 4 is not changed every year. It's changed every four to six years and then every
but there are new models every year that you know the 2024 RAV 4 didn't come standard with leather seats but the 2025 does. I'm obviously making these up, but you get the idea of like those are the very like yes, there are slim differences that to some people make a difference to me when I cuz I do lease my vehicles. I don't drive enough to own. So, I'm on my third lease. I'm very happy leasing. I go in and I go, "What deals do you have on last year's model?" I don't like there's not enough here for me to pay an additional $75 to $100 a month on my lease for 98% the same vehicle. That's how I feel about these phones, which is like
no better time to look. If you are due for an upgrade, if you are rocking a Pixel 6, Pixel 7, S21, S22, you're due for an upgrade. Last year's hardware, 2024's hardware, yeah, has aged like wine. It has aged so well because it's essentially as powerful as the new phones coming out, but you're going to get it half price. And look, this is it's this is nothing new in terms of buying older hardware is cheaper. What is new is that you are no longer again, it's not a compromises aren't as bad. The compromise is gone. you were still going to get 5 years out of that S24. That was barely true a few years ago for the new flagship.
No, Samsung used to do quarterly updates and it was four years if you got that and you were waiting whatever. It was a mess. And that's 24 Ultra. I'm sorry. If I didn't use foldables and I didn't do this for a living, I'd still be on that one because quite frankly, I like that one better. I have a battery in my Bluetooth. I don't like the privacy display. The privacy display I'm one of the people that the Pixel thing makes me a little nauseous. Yeah. I don't like the privacy display at all. I don't think it does enough to warrant the uh the price that you pay on the viewing angles and other stuff like that. I personally think that the S24 Ultra is a phenomenal device today and
if I didn't do this for a living, if I didn't use everyone that came out, I'd probably be on that one. Well, and to add one more thing onto it, and maybe we can move on to talking about some other stuff, but the complaints I had about the S24 Ultra, you know, I remember were primarily around the camera. Sure. I wouldn't say the S25 or 26 fixed my complaints. So, it's not even like the main thing I didn't like about that phone, which was some shutter speed issues. I mean, yes, the S25 and I have not I've I've used the S26, not the Ultra. the base model. Um, but yes, those phones have improved the shutter speed. It's not quite as much of an issue as it was on the S24.
Sure. I still don't think like again when you're talking about hundreds of dollars of difference. It just doesn't it doesn't add up. And so I wonder how that's going to affect and look, maybe this doesn't matter. We've seen um Samsung's S26 series is a massive hit this It's out selling the S25. Yeah. And that's the thing like it's it's you know maybe this is you and I yelling at a cloud together. Could be. But to me it's it's like in a time where we are watching as we've talked about previously on this show hardware prices jump four five $600 overnight in some cases depending on what you're looking at. Looking to try
to maximize the deals you're going to get. like they're out there and you don't have to look super hard or even compromise super hard to save money, right? But beyond that, it also, you know, that's great for the consumer. It's like what I want to do is turn my attention to the manufacturers and be like, what are you guys like? It's a weird time, right? But you need like these are you're going to start getting bad press. Like I can't recommend these. I have not used them and I can't recommend these razors to anybody at full price. I'm not even sure I would recommend them. If this year's Razer Ultra was also $800 right now, I still would tell you to buy this terabyte model from last year because it doubles your storage.
You get headphones with it. Like I don't know. I guess I'm just frustrated. No. And there's no right answer. Unfortunately, I think what you're learning is there isn't a right answer. There's no separate planet that these companies can resource parts from. So, I really don't see a way out. It's just every manufacturer is going to have to make a decision based on their consumer base. That's why I really like listen for all the flack that the 10A gets, I do applaud Google for at least having the awareness to see, okay, what's the most important thing about our 10A? It's the price. And we got to keep that the same.
We'll keep the performance relatively the same. All the rest of it, we have to hit that number. And every one of these companies has to say, okay, is it about upgrades for our consumers? Is it about the price point? Is it whatever? And Samsung's got a whole list of I hated that the A57 got a price increase and the 372. Those phones should not be anywhere near what they're costing. Uh so it's it's a it's an ugly situation and no one's really figured out a way to do it right, do it cleanly. And I think that's because I don't think there is an answer. Yeah. You know that's interesting. For as much flack as people gave the 10A and I'm on board with you. I my review of that phone was basically
like look unless you're I unless you're a Google shareholder like this is I don't understand why people are upset about this other than but now that we've we were two almost two months removed from this device. I think you know we've watched as you said the a Samsung has raised prices on the A series across the board despite no improvements. Motorola has raised prices on their G series phones like by a $100 across the board and it's suddenly like you know sure you wanted to complain about that Tensor G4 still in there but at less if anything it's it's now because of the actions taken by its competitors a better deal than it was even two months ago. Like it's and you're going to
still see those Pixel uh deals I'm sure. And also I as I said um in my review I'm not telling everybody to this is really and we can end here but um on this topic but this is really the takeaway is that more than ever you have to shop around like sure that's always been true but you now need to factor in last year's hardware 2024's hardware. If you're looking at the Pixel 10A and you see the 9a for 350 yeah man buy it. If you're shopping for the Pixel 10a and you see the Pixel 10 for $50 more, for 550, 600, go for it. Like 100%. But that doesn't make the 10A bad. It doesn't even these prices don't necessarily make the Razor bad. They just make them bad deals. And so more than ever, ooh, this is the takeaway I'm realizing now. More than
ever, you are not shopping for a new phone. You are shopping for the best like bang for your buck. the because they're all good. There's no bad phones anymore. Very hard to make a bad phone. We talked about that last time. I think it's very hard to make a bad Exactly. It's unless you're shopping at the you know, and I was going to say 200, but that's kind of dead. But the $200 to $300 range, those phones can be dicey. I think that's to be expected. But if you are spending I would say, you know, let's set the floor at 500. If you're spending 500 or more on a smartphone, pretty much anything you buy is going to be like at least dependable and do the things
you want it to do. It's just a matter of figuring out the what differentiates one model for your personal needs above another. That's obvious. But now you also need to maybe even more so than features or specs. Factor in like, well, the package I'm getting here is $300 less than I can get anywhere else. Like that's a bargain. I'm going to go that way. And people should re-evaluate. This is a great opportunity to re-evaluate what you actually do on your phone. Yes. Are you sitting there, you're editing 4K video on your phone, right? I'm not telling everybody that they need to, you know, oh, make do with worse. No, I'm not saying that.
It's more just like, yeah, man. I don't do anything intensive on my phone really. Like I don't like it's exactly the argument for buying the base razor is that was the you know when I reviewed the 2020 No I did I reviewed last year's base model for Android please and I or no I reviewed the Ultra I reviewed the base model two years ago and I never even really liked the I the base model two years ago and then I think I tried the base model last year as well but didn't review it. had better battery life, ran cooler. Y um you know, the cameras were a downgrade, but not a massive downgrade because the Ultra's cameras aren't like exceptional.
You know, I um I didn't see like for all of that put together and you know, the outer screen's a little smaller, but I actually find it more comfortable to hold because of that bar. Um yeah, all especially when the phone's open, too. I much prefer having that extra little space to rest my fingers as opposed to always touching the screen. Um, all of that put together made the base model like a better experience for me. And despite the like, you know, slower storage and slower processor, it was just I never felt like true slowdown because I'm not gaming on it. I'm not to your point rendering 4K video. So, it's um yeah, it's it's it's a it's both a complicated time to be
shopping for a phone and kind of an easy one because it really is just like shop for a deal more than anything else unless you were really married to Samsung or Google or whatever. And even then, still shop for a deal. Look at that older hardware. Um because even beyond the RAM shortage, don't you don't have to like support these price hikes. Like you don't have to like just throw in the towel, you know? Like I don't know. Be pro consumer. Be pro yourself. Pro yourself. Pro your wallet. Listen, this is your show. But I have a question for you. Go for it. Because my our friend uh Daniel Bader has a hatred friend. Let's be clear. Our friend and the listener's friend has a hatred for the phone I'm about to
lift up and show to the listeners at home. Okay. Uh, what are your thoughts on the Galaxy Z Trifold? I haven't used one. Okay. But what the like the con like the I love it. It would be my main device if I had. Yeah. We So, it's it's funny for a phone that lasted like four weeks. I know. Lot of uh we've had I want to say I've had three different people on to talk about it. I've certainly had, you know, we had Dean Dailyaly on at the end of last year, right?
We had Allison, I want to say I did I talk about it with maybe Dom Preston. I've talked about it with someone else. And I think I'll let me say why. And we don't have to talk about it long, but here's why I think my thought on it is it finally gives us an excuse to use some of that power that we talked about that we don't use elsewhere. I think the 16 by11, yes, with the price gives you the ability to have desktop class applications. some things that make sense because I've used it with a keyboard and mouse before. I've used it for real work, not just whatever like I writing like I've done it with editing and formatting. I've used it for things that I wouldn't use my regular phone for and it has the potential to replace
three devices in my pock in my everyday carry. I guess my big thing so it's it's difficult to talk about because it's it's not a product anymore but right well I think they will have a second one next year. They'll do another one. My take at the time, my take at launch was you can spend your $3,000 a lot better. You can take half of that. I mean, like today, and I think I made this point on a different podcast, but I was like I mean, you could go out and take $1,500 and buy a MacBook Neo. I did hear that when you said the MacBook. Yes. Yeah. A MacBook. It was like a MacBook Neo, a Pixel 10a, and I added something else. Oh, I remember your com Steam Deck
or Switch 2 and it's like that's that's $1,500 and you have a great gaming experience with the Switch 2. You have a great like basic laptop experience with that is you know still probably going to let you do more than I mean look the the trifold is I'm sure great when you plug a mouse and a keyboard into it but you're not running your or Photoshop on it. I wouldn't recommen it would replace a Chromebook experience. It would not replace a like ThinkPad or something. Yeah. And then the Pixel 10a obviously, but like that's the kind of like a great combination of things for people. And it's how you're you're paying for the convenience now.
Yeah. Portability. That all said, I'm really excited for the wide fold, whatever Samsung ends up calling it. I Which by the way, who what are they going to call that thing? Like you can't do don't go full Qualcomm and give us a Zfold 8 wide or something like that. I mean they got but what else do they call it? Like I don't want that stocky. Zfold stocky. I don't know what like what could you I don't know what I don't know. Uh the Galaxy Yeah. The Samsung Galaxy Zfold short king I think. Yeah. 100% 100%. extra. Um, listen, listen. He's 5'4, but he owns it.
Listen, a lot of support. You're never going to be let down. Reliable, you know, reliable. I just think about how good you're going to look in heels next to him. That's all I'm saying. Um, anyway, u I agree with you though cuz I think I always like the one thing Google got almost everything wrong at launch on the original Pixel Fold. The one thing I loved and that's why I love the Microsoft Duo, the design. And this will be an even wider panel because it won't have the same bezel layout as the original Pixel Fold. Maybe it'll actually flat. Maybe it'll Well, I have confidence in that Samsung will make one that lies flat. Um God, I forgot about that. God, that it's like you're reading a book. It's great. It's like a little like
it's just not very good. Um, I'm really excited for that for kind of the reason you're talking about, which is that I think that aspect ratio, even on a obviously much smaller screen than what the trifold offers, will fit into my life better, both on a me certainly on a media side, but even on a getting work done side, I just think it will be more comfortable to use a browser on a either 43 or six or I guess it would be would it be 34? No, I think they're doing Yeah, or 16 or 1610. I yeah, I at one point did the math on one of those like leaked animated uh renders that people get from the schematics people get from 1 UI and it was like exactly if you did the math
on it the what they showed is exactly 1610. That's not proof obviously because those can be imper imperfect. I was it was interesting that it was like exactly 16:10, but who knows? I think either the other rumor is 43. Those are very similar uh aspect ratios. So, I think the experience will be relatively similar either way. Um the only other thing that made me think 1610 is that's what Samsung uses on their Galaxy Tabs. And I thought they would probably want to follow suit with that, but who knows? Well, and the other thing I like that's coming up too is Android 17. Now developers will be forced in a way to have the app scale better for a wider uh a larger screen form factor. So that
should help because that was always a big problem. The either you'd have to come up with your own it was this should be a lot nicer time to be a foldable owner coming up this year. I think so. Um okay. So I promised uh we would use the end of the show to let you promote because you've got a new podcast. We do with the affforementioned Daniel Bader. So, yes, we do. We're going to do a mini run of your podcast mini run of this. Uh, it's old school. So, we kind of marry the new stuff. You can find it on iTunes and all or that's the name. You're not just saying that it's an old school podcast.
Old school. Uh, because we're and I we made it perfectly clear. It's not because of our relative ages. Yes. But, um, this sounds like an SEO nightmare, by the way. I just want to say Listen, I that's perfect. That's that's that's perfectly Yeah, that is true. Um, but we kind of marry the new stuff that's happening with stuff that happened historically. I am wearing one of the watches that we'll talk about at some point. This is a Casio Vivcell. It's a VCL 120 from 1998. And this was essentially a smartwatch before there was Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. So Casio wanted a way for you to get alerts that your phone was ringing or you were getting a call, but it was an amp signal. Like the old cell phones were
amps. They were it was a advanced mobile phone system, which is basically a really super glorified walkie-talkie. It's way more complicated than that, but you'd essentially be assigned a channel and then you'd communicate with the cell tower that would then connect you to whoever you were calling. So what this watch would do, there's a mini radio receiver in here. When it was turned on, it would detect when the handshake was happening between the tower and your phone and buzz. Now, without Bluetooth or Wi-Fi or any way to marry it to your number or even your individual phone, it's just detecting something on the 800 meghertz spectrum in your general vicinity.
Sure. So, you can imagine as cell phones became more prevalent, then there was some difficulties with maybe picking up some rogue signals here and there. I'm sure it works great if you are the one cell phone owner in your neighborhood or whatever, but the second you are the second cell phone owner in your random car going off. And the one thing is what's great is today I could turn on the radio receiver mode and it'll still buzz if I'm using my phone or like if it detects an 800 MHz signal in the area, it'll still buzz. But I think it was interesting what they came up with. I had another one I did an article on months ago was a Seiko uh Seiko message watch which was uh would actually link into radio towers in
the area uh and send you sports scores, stock information, weather, whatever. Now it's not interactive. You just kind of got it and read it on your little display. I had one of those in 1998 and boy that was the coolest thing ever when you could. That's why that was the last time I actually enjoyed these watches when they made them just smart enough. You could be connected, but you weren't uh obligated is the way I put it. You were connected to the world, but you weren't obligated to the world. You didn't have to respond to everybody and you have to do anything. That's the that was the peak of what that was the great thing about growing up when I did in the mid to late 80s and then going on through today is
I've experienced both. And to me, the peak was when you could when you were logged on, you were on. And when you were off, you were off. And that was something that we'll never have again. And that certainly is what these things remind me of. It's and oh man I have okay I have two points to make. First of all, quicker point. It is interesting that like the a lot of the technology that you're both explaining here and then you're going to explore on future episodes of your podcast is we're I mean, we're still trying to do that, right? I mean not that we have done it but that is the point of like every smartwatch is like main selling point or one of the three or four main selling
points is that like you get notific you'll know exactly what's happening right on your wrist without having to go to your phone exactly what you're explaining here um your ticker watch that you're explaining is that not what people basically want smart like that's what current gen smart glasses with displays are now that those are going to evolve over time but that's we've That's sort of where we've been since Google Glass. And we're almost Oh my god. We're almost 15 years ahead of that. Oh my god. Wow. Which is Yeah. I always thought Google Glass was exciting, but then, you know, Well, I thought it was exciting at the time and then it just went didn't You can't be walking around with goggles on here. We're getting to
the point now where they could fit the battery into the frame of the glasses and I could just wear it regularly and have a heads-up display. That's all I'd ever want. I don't need AR. I don't need uh I don't need AR. getting AR. Yeah, I know. I just need a little heads up display that when I look at a restaurant, it shows, hey, 4.8 out of five, here's the phone number. Would you like me to call? That's 100%. Um, and that honestly is not that far off from the ticker watch you're explaining. Like, if you think about it. Yeah. Um, yeah. So, I mean I don't know.
It's very interesting. And then the second point I want to make is about being connected and being disconnected. Um, I'm a little younger than you. Not like a lot younger because I was born so I grew up in the in mid well I was born in the mid 90s so late 90s into the being my childhood right like I'm I'm 13 when Obama is elected. Okay. To put a t time stamp on it. Yeah. Right. So I the first basically up until 12 or 13 like my entire computing experience is like dial up Windows 95. We got every time every leap we took in technology was based on me either getting something new or trying to do something and not us not
having the power. So, the move to Windows XP, uh, which happened like right before Vista came out in 2005 or 6, okay, was because I got my first iPod Nano, which did not support Windows 95. Uh, the move to uh from dialup to cable internet was because I think probably not that long, like that Christmas maybe I got an iTunes gift card for that iPod. Couldn't download anything from the store. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um, you know, same with when we got Wi-Fi. It was because I was getting a my first laptop at again probably around 13, so on and so forth. And basically since then, since that
transition from me using the family computer in the computer room into I have my own laptop up through like now, right, has been I've chased every tech thing. I've been I've I've I've loved every announcement or at least been so interested, right? like especially, you know, through the late 2000s into the 2010s, kind of the heyday for this era of gadgets of early to, you know, early smartphones basically. And it's only the last year or two where I've started to be like I've spent half my life like all I got my first smartphone at 15. I spent half my life I'm 30. Half my life always connected, always connected, like always reachable. And I am the type of person, if you can't tell, listener from my the personality I put on
podcast, I am the type of person who is going to answer you immediately. I don't think that will surprise anybody. I feel an obligation to like I feel bad I have gotten better at being like I will answer this text when I have time. Um, you know, at night I've gotten a lot better about putting my phone in like do not disturb or even just like in another room. I'm getting better at it and can honestly it's very refreshing. It is it has not created any issues with work or anything really. Like any texts I've missed that have been important around this job or any of the other things I do um I usually catch within an hour or two. There's been once or twice where there was something
important that I like was late to because I was you know again either trying to you know enjoy some downtime or out at the movies or whatever. But largely speaking like ignore your phone. NO, IT'S REAL. I KNOW THAT'S OBVIOUS, but is it like in our everybody listening to this has a smartwatch, you know, obviously is interested in Android and smartphones and whatever. It's a it's it's it's okay to start disc like there's nothing there that has is keeping me tethered anymore. I will talk to people when I want to talk to them, but it has been really refreshing kind of putting my phone down and I've
I've I've It's been I don't know. It's been nice. I got to try that because I tell you what I it has definitely the last 20 years or so has definitely well not that long but right around there like you said when you got the first smartphone it has definitely rewired at least my brain because I used to Daniel you and I used to talk about books all the time on the old podcast and all this stuff and someday we will spin up the book club podcast we talked about spinning up I guess a calendar a year ago now we've both been busy but it will happen I can't read him Hey, I can't read anymore. And that's quite the sound bite. But I don't have the mental quiet anymore to sit down with a book and say, you know what? I'm going to
not look at my phone. I'm not react to every buzz and bop that I hear. I'm going to not check my email. I'm not going to hear anything and just sit down and read text for an hour at a time. I just can't do it anymore. And it's it's part of this. I have not I've not rebuilt that skill because I used to read a lot. I read a lot as a kid and I Yeah, same here. I don't read a lot as an adult. I have not rebuilt that skill yet. However, we're getting there because I've I was already good at putting my phone down for movies. That's always been kind of easy for me unless something's really losing my attention or I've seen it a 100 times or whatever.
Sure. Um although that said, you know, you put Oceans 11 on and I am listen. So you are you right in that it's it's 11 13 12. Is that how you that's how you go, right? That's how you have to go as far as the quality. I'm a big 12 defender. So, my ranking is 12. Get out of here. Oh, no. I rewatched it. They made it free. Five four and a half is my They made it free on uh YouTube films or whatever they call it. You can go on and watch it with ads. So, I went back and rewatched 12. I rewatched them all. I will I will say this. 12 is Cilantro. You either It's my fiance's favorite of the three. It's so either like it or you don't. I was going to say that I give it more I look on it more favorably like the uh Star Wars prequels. I look on it
more favorably now than I did the time, but I don't know about fa favorite is strong. I love there. I could point out 10 things about Oceans 12 I love right now that and some of them people hate. I love the Julia Roberts Bruce Willis stuff. I know some people hate that. I didn't mind. Some people hate it. Um the scene in which uh Clooney and Pit bring Matt Damon to the negotiations and they're talking and Matt Damon tries to do a riddle and then like almost gets like beat up. Hilarious. The amount of every honestly everything with Brad Pitt in that movie there's the there is a uh is it Katherine Zeta Jones? Right.
Yes. Is the Yeah. Katherine Zeta Jones shows up uh at the hotel room that they're all in like making these heist plans. obviously old flame of Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt is like caught off guard by this and while she's like talking to him for a few minutes which he doesn't realize that she steals this is how many times I've seen this movie. She's she's stolen his phone and when he realizes it there's this like it gets me every time it freeze frames on this like a shucks face Brad Pit makes. It gets me every time. The fake out with Damon's uh is it his mom or his dad in the second movie? It's whichever one it Yeah, you're right. Cuz in 13 it's his dad. Yeah,
it's it's Yeah. Um cuz it's uh God. Who plays his dad? Oh, I uh he died. Um yeah, I was going to say it's curb your enthusiasm. Funkhouser. Um the guy who play I know the character name. I don't know, but yes, Bob Einstein. There you go. Einstein. I don't know. But that's who it was. Yes. Um because he's also uh he's got I the first time I ever saw him was Arrested Development. Um Yes. Cuz he's got I think he's like a I think he's like the fill-in when George Senior is in prison for the like fourth time or whatever. He's like the
guy who's walking around with the video camera like him. He's like Yes. He's He's pretending to Yeah. He goes to like events as him. Oh man. What? Rest in peace. Um, oh, I know. Great show. Yeah. Okay. Uh, but yeah, I don't know. I'm a huge 12 defender. I am aware that people have their differences with that movie. I think it's I think it's a little cilantro. You either love it or I mean I do think the temperature has rose on it a little bit where I don't see as much like outright hatred on it anymore. I see a lot of what you're saying, which is it's my least favorite. But for me, 13 is a great time. It's a little slow
a little bit. I really like the opening because I love Elliot Gold in these movies and that would be one of the other issues with 13 is that he's sort of bedridden the whole time. But you get that opening uh with him and Pacino, which I think is great. And then the next like 20 minutes, 25 minutes sags a little bit. Every time I put it on, like there's a 50% chance I'm going to walk away. I'm going to get distracted and go do an and be like, "Oh, I got busy." If I make it past, it's not bad. It's just a little slower than the other two. And then if I make it past that, I think everything I just think I like how Pacino played the character. I think he did a good job. I think he played it right.
He's awesome in that movie. He's, you know, you got um Casey Affleck doing the whole uh I'm going to start a strike in Mexico plotline, which I think is hilarious brother goes down to like get him. And then they call uh they call it's Scott Khan. They call Scott Khan and Scott Khan's like, "We're this close to getting management." and they're like, "Oh my god, like it's great." Um, I love all three. They're Oceans 11 is one of my favorite movies of all time. Uh, and I love all three and I'm skeptical about 14, right? But you can go back one way too many times. You can go back one too many times.
It look, if Soderberg was directing, I' i'd be It's just It's those movies aren't going to I saw Oceans 8. I don't like Oceans 8. It's a perfectly It's I think it's got a great cast that it basically wastes and then so you're watching it and it's like a perfectly fine 6 out of 10 for most of its runtime. It's fine. And then the last half an hour shifts at spoiler alert for Oceans 8. I guess shifts uh perspective to the detective played by James Cordon. And if we're talking cilantro, James Cordon is my cilantro. Like and I'm I know I'm not alone in this. I can't hand Yes. I cannot deal with him. I don't think he's good in that movie. And I think it sucks that it shifts perspectives to him cuz it I just doesn't work. It should just stick with
Anne Hathaway, but sure. This isn't a movie podcast. Or maybe it is. I don't know. Oh my. Um, okay. Old tech. Yes. Old school. Go listen um wherever you get your Apple podcast or whatever. Exactly. Yeah. I am boy. Any anything else you want to uh to promote on your No, YouTube. Steveicious Tech. Uh that's where you'll find me. Uh as for the writing to be announced uh or to be announced on the determined uh I will be back. But you will Yeah. But yeah. No, I listen a thrill as always. I always love talking to you about this stuff. We don't get to enough. It's not the same when you're working with somebody every day. You know, I get I used to get this every day. Uh which these back and forths uh
just pop. Yeah, we had a lot of Slack. I mean, and those are lost to time. Yeah, they're lost time. Slack conversations. Lost time. That's it. Um yeah, follow Steve everywhere if you don't already. Um, I'll put links in the show notes, but uh that new podcast, I mean, you and Daniel are such a fun hang together. And uh I'm a big fan of both of you and also uh I call both of you friends. I mean, Daniel and I just got uh he was just in Buffalo uh like two now. Yeah. He came down for there was a concert that he came down for. So, uh, you know, we the two of us and then our respective partners got dinner together
and hang out a little bit. It was, it was lovely. It was a lovely little hang. I got to, uh, to take them to a classic, uh, this is going to sound awful. We ate at like a classic dive bar, but like the food's good, so it's very Also, also this was on a Tuesday and I guess I just never go out to dinner on Tuesdays in Buffalo and apparently no one else does because genuinely every one of my like favorite I was like closed on Tuesdays. Closed on Tuesdays like okay well I guess I can't like I got to think a little outside the box here. Yeah. Um you know I guess I just I've never noticed cuz apparently I'm one of those people who doesn't go out to eat going on Tuesdays. Uh Steve, this has been uh you bring such a different
energy to the show. You get me you are a fast talker and you get me talking fast. It's I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I got used to it for YouTube. It's a good thing. I get called out on it a lot like let me No, no, I was like I listen that's just how my brain works. You've got a I love your energy. I think you bring a fun energy to this and uh people should listen to you wherever you are. Again, old school uh YouTube and writing tba. But are you active on social anywhere?
Uh yeah, X and threads uh tech on threads, you know, I'll talk. Yeah. So that'll be uh when you land your new gig, that'll be where you find it. Um awesome. Thank you. Thank you that Oh, you almost tried it. Thank you so much, Steve. And that'll do it for this week's sideloadad. Thank you again to Steve for joining me. You can check out his podcast by looking for the link in the show notes. Uh and also go over to Android Authority because starting tomorrow, as of when this podcast is coming out, um Steve's going to be writing at Android Authority. So, uh go see what his first feature is over there. But as always, you can find, rate, and review us on the podcast
platform of your choice, now including uh Amazon. We are now on Amazon as is pixelated or that should be you know give it 24 hours or so but that's happening. Uh if you enjoyed the show please share it with a friend. Subscribe to 95 Google on YouTube where you can find full video versions of every episode of the sideload plus all of the excellent work being done by Damian and Jordan. As always the best place to reach me is will995mmac.com. And that is pretty much how these shows got on Amazon music was enough people uh reaching out to me. So please do that. Uh feedback is always welcome. as our guest suggestions. Uh, and if you haven't, go check out 9to5's other podcast, uh, Pixelated, where Damen
Abner and I chat about the week's news, the Google, and Pixel friendly lens. Maybe someday I'll change the copy on that, but I'm just going to keep it as it is. But that's it for this week. Next week, Nick Gray of Fandroid joins the program to talk about OPPO, Vivo, uh, his camera comparisons on YouTube, and much more. Until then, go sabers, and we'll see you in the next one. Bye. Heat.
