u/The_Techiedude

Smoking pork ribs this Saturday for enjoyment at 1p.

Any suggestions?

I've got three full racks, and open to a different flavor for each as far as rub, etc.

Lay it on me 👍😎

Two SoD DLC are included in the current Xbox sale: "Lifeline" and "Breakdown" (as is the base game with all DLC, YOSE). Obviously they're a bit dated ("beautifully remastered in 1080p), but curious if anyone has played/enjoyed them 🤔

I see posts of people using their points to pre-order games. I can't recall the last time I bought a game Day One or even pre-ordered, but that may change with Wolverine 🤣😂🤣

In that case, would use points to get Amazon gift cards and buy it using those. Using M$FT to buy competitor's product yet again 🤣

Commence the down votes 😜

More often than not, people will use forums/subreds to rant - it's not often that people will take the time to use the interwebs to wax poetically about a good experience.

Thought I'd give it a shot :)

All in all, I thought OnePlus was *very* fast with their service and turnaround time. In my specific case, it was to replace the exterior screen protector - I guess not all that difficult or expensive - woo-hoo!!

Here's the breakdown of the timeline:
6/29: initiated an online chat with OnePlus support
6/29: received emails confirming support request and shipping information
7/1: shipped via prepaid FedEx label from OnePlus
7/6: received at repair center (I'm in FL, the repair center is in TX)
7/6: received repair estimate email (415pm $38.98)
7/6: replied to/consented to/paid for repair estimate
7/7: received email that repair is complete and phone is preparing to ship (1125am EST)
7/7: received email with FedEx tracking number (449pm EST) and estimate for delivery (Friday, July 10th)
7/8: received email (1208am EST) of phone shipping and confirmation of delivery for Friday, July 10th
7/10: delivery delayed until Saturday, July 11th
7/11: phone received via FedEx at 1043am EST

Ten days from the start of my support request to receiving a fixed phone - not bad at all. If OnePlus would continue to sell foldables in North America, I'd be inclined to get another based on this experience with their support services :/

Thank you, OnePlus, for standing by your products and providing excellent customer service!

Well, my OnePlus Open didn't take long to fix and return (about a week actually), so here's my experience of living with my SD2 for a week:

Keep in mind, the Surface Duo 2 turns five years old this Fall (Sept/Oct) and manufacturer support for it ended almost three years ago. With that understanding, Panos and team built us a mighty nice piece of hardware.
 
Pros of SD2:
> The split screen; the SD2 excels at multi-tasking across screens
> Form factor; absolutely love the size and form factor of the SD2 when compared with other foldables
> Actually supports 5G on my network provider (AT&T); color me surprised O_O
> No external-facing screen; I actually enjoy not being bothered by notifications on an external screen (but…)

Cons of SD2:
> Five-year-old hardware (other than the split-screen foldable element of the phone, most of the other tech wasn’t cutting edge when it was released)
> OS and Security updates; nuff said
> Camera; your pix will never be mistaken as something taken by John Muir
> No external-facing screen; would be nice to not have to open the SD2 every time I need to check something (if there was an SD3 with an external screen, I probably would have bought it)
> The split screen; while multitasking excels on an SD2, media consumption is not as enjoyable on a physically split screen
> Android Auto has its issues that likely won’t get addressed any time soon on a device (and OS level) of this age.
> Apps/App compat; it’s only a matter of time before some (eventually all) apps will no longer be supported because the OS is so out of date. I had multiple instances where I launched an app and was greeted with a “Force Stop”.
> Charging; while it supports 23W fast charging, because of its age and battery technology (and OS AND software level), it will never charge as fast as a newer phone. One time, I left it to charge overnight at 23% - seven hours later it had only gotten to 76% o_O
> Dust and water IP rating; there isn’t one - so dust and water protection are negligible
> Accessory support; bad enough that M$FT dropped “all-up” support as soon as they could for the SD line, but finding accessories for one is next to laughable. It’s the poster child for the definition of a niche phone.

Experience in day-to-day use:

> Texts and calls work fine; voice quality is acceptable - at times (more dependent on the carrier’s cell tower location/availability than the phone though).

> Something really weird: photo editing; something as easy as manually cropping a screenshot is flaky as hell - like WTHeck?!? Why can't I easily crop a screenshot?!?!

> Not having an external screen makes regular daily use a bit more tedious, but I’m also less likely to check my phone as often - so there’s a trade-off.

> Apps that support multi-screen are a joy to use (OneNote, Outlook). Also, using two apps on two screens is effortless - and being able to move between them as-needed is smooth. Really haven’t had the same multi-screen app experience on my OPO.

> For its time, the fingerprint sensor was sooo easy and smooth. Hadn’t experienced that level of fingerprint sensor capability until the SD2. At the time, most other phones were still easier to use a passkey/PIN than their fingerprint sensors. Still works flawlessly.

> Until it no longer works or is no longer supported, Microsoft SwiftKey still works – to an extent. While the keyboard swiping works fine, its ability to sync with PhoneLink is a bit hindered: I’m unable to copy/paste pictures from my desktop to an SMS I’m composing on the SD2 (works just fine with my OpenPlus Open).

&gt; Speaking of PhoneLink: when I reply to a text using the PhoneLink app on my laptop, sometimes it creates a brand-new text thread instead of using the one I’m replying from. No idea why, but definitely annoying <smh>

&gt; Bluetooth/app support is okay but can be flaky – definitely not equal to newer phones. I use a Withings ScanWatch for workouts/training. If I open the app on my OnePlus Open and set it to Run or Walk, the watch will track in real-time (and display) my miles, pace, etc. When using the SD2, sometimes it connects, sometimes it doesn’t - and when it doesn’t, those fields are “--” on the watch until I *end* the workout session - so I don’t know how long I’ve been running, my current distance, or my pace o_O

&gt; Some apps launch and immediately request a Force Stop. Sometimes they successfully re-launch after the Force Stop – sometimes they don’t :/

&gt; Due to its inability to get OS updates and security patches, you may not be able to use it for your work phone if you have an employer with endpoint management.

&gt; Even though I’m mainly texting, browsing, and emailing (very little social media), the battery does not last as long as on newer phones. I can finish a day with the OnePlus Open near 65%; the SD2 is routinely below 30%. Exa: I recently completed a ½ marathon (2hrs 43mins) and the SD2 went from 100% to 64% (with only the Withings app and Spotify running). A two-hour workout session went from 100% to 81% (with only Spotify running). My OnePlus Open would routinely be about 80% for that length of run and close to 90% for that length of gym workout.

&gt; I don’t really use the SD2 for gaming, so I can’t speak to that - sorry ☹

With all that said, I’ll be somewhat sad to go back to the OPO. Even in doing so, I’ll likely continue to use the SD2 for my gym workouts. Its split-screen for OneNote (set/rep/weight tracking) and Spotify has been really seamless and enjoyable.

Ironically, deciding to use an SD2 as a daily driver comes down to the decision most of had to make when M$FT decided to walk (run?) away from Windows Phone/Windows Mobile: you could continue using it, hobble along as best you can, put up with hardware and software idiosyncrasies, app issues that will only get worse over time...but do you really need to? I loved my SD2 for the 2-3 years it gave me as my daily driver. Five years later, it's being relegated to my gym tracker. Such is life of technology that ages :/

https://tech4gamers.com/xbox-game-pass-suspends-games/

While the article specifically states 3rd party, if MSFT/Xbox leadership is reviewing Gamepass' feasibility, they might also reconsider Day One drops for 1st party IP and instead use GP as a "library of games" similar to Sony so they still have Day One sales and don't cannabalize sales as they've been doing.

Thoughts? Would this affect your GP membership or how you play SoD3?

I missed Dopey registration by probably 8 seconds this year: I was in the virtual queue, then transferred to the registration page, saw the races that had already sold out (did not include the Dopey yet!), quickly scrolled down...and told to choose another race to register <smh>.

I've seen quite a few people mention that Disney has partially refunded registrations on a case-by-case basis - so I'm wondering if these partially refunded registrations are offered for sale again via runDisney? Anyone experienced with finding/getting a late registration?