I do hate shopping, mostly.

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My old phone works well enough.  But it is about time to trade it in.  Well, actually, I never trade it in.  Why?  Dunno.  Perhaps it is because I don't trust their wipe process.  Perhaps just they offer too little.  Perhaps just because so hush.  As I mentioned, I don't like shopping.  Mostly.  With tech, I do like browsing.  I enjoy comparing.  I enjoy laughing at spokesmen who don't have a f'ing clue what they are talking about, extolling it for what they don't understand.  War has a reason.  It isn't just political attrition, it isn't just this, that, or the other thing.  It also, purposefully or not, gets stupid people to shut up, somehow.  We need a war, a real one, a big one, a galactic one.  Way too many stupid people.  Sellers and buyers.

Anyway.  So I went looking.  I sort of had an idea, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One have been... drifting through the air from little birdies as the big guns to compare, consider.  Each has advantages and problems, all do, will.  Few reviewers are independent, so they tell you how beautiful and fast and handy each is, supporting your right to purchase it.  Even when they compare, it usually comes down to "I think", or "I prefer".  Very little is based on what is or isn't.  Still, it is what I have to work with, if I will spend extra time finding the bomb throwers.  My kind of folk, anyway.

After a few days of comparing, I hit upon the Galaxy Note 3.  It's not yet out, it is spendy, but it is a decent compromise between a phone and a tablet, a phablet I think the idiot talking head class are calling them.  Never mind.  For me, size matters.  Most smart phones are... tiny.  Like tiny little fish babies, and slick.  Further, since I have mongo hands, why not fill that hand with prime viewing property?  While I have zero difficulty viewing the smaller screens, what is to be hated about having a 5.5" screen compared to a 4.7"-5" screen?  My bad, it actually has a 5.7".  Plus, I believe it jumps to 1080p.  With a large starting battery, pushed to the edges, it lasts fairly well.  Add in that you can buy an extra battery, or two, for backup, unlike some sealed phones, and power isn't an issue.  One more damned detail to tend, but life is about negotiating and compromising, with some things.

Yeah.  It isn't out for at least a couple of weeks though.  So, no hurry.  Let the first retail, and pre-order buyers, take the first volley, I say.  It is pricey.  Is it worth it?  Of course not.  In my opinion it is the best out there, from where I am standing and given my wants and dislikes.  But it is just another in a long line of phones I have purchased and dumped, some of which I still have including my first cellphone (not a smartphone, mind you).  I got it the day they put it out for public purchase, or very close to it.  They all have problems.  There are many promises.  Actually that first phone was far more secure, if only because people where ignorant of how to hack the call, mostly.  Security has not increased.  At best it is about the same.  In truth?  Security has lost and will never win, especially with companies actively collaborating with at least our government to hack their own security protocols and defenses.

However, you don't get to pick what you want, you get to choose from what is offered.  What is offered isn't advertised honestly, doesn't work as intended or wanted, isn't secure, and isn't even being sold for your purposes.  At this time in history, everything is done to line someone's pockets, to "guide" you to surrender any power you might have, or to conceal what else is going on.  If you understand this, you pick that which you think you desire, and what will work for what you do and how you live and... hope they are wrong and will burn in hell for even trying to mess with you.  *smile*

Anyway, that is probably the kit I would prefer to be kitted out with.  I don't mind waiting, as I said, and seeing if the first responders are also targets of economic madmen or if this is actually functional tech.  Hey, I don't mind running into fire, I just won't do it because "they say to and because they say it's okay, they've got our backs".  Yeah... good luck with that.  I'll only do it if I have to, for reasons I abide, and I might even tinkertrain it then.  And I don't abide the reasons in this case.  I do wish them luck storming the tech castle.