How many of you unlock your phone with a fingerprint?
 

I did not set up this with my first Galaxy S6, but I forgot why when I got my second. It was funny how many times I went to put in my PIN, but it was already unlocked from my fingerprint.

There is something wrong with my second S6, the keyboard keeps disappearing when I type. I have used this phone for about a year, I got my money's worth, and now I am having difficulty with the Wi-Fi.

I figured that it was time for something else.

Linus Tech Tips has a video comparing a five-year-old iPhone and an Android that came out at the same time. They chose an LG G3 because it had a replaceable battery, but since the OS was out-of-date they unlocked it and installed Lineage OS. They said the LG was very competitive, but half the price even with a replacement battery.

I thought I would see for myself, except with car problems, two jobs, and other commitments I have not taken the time to set up the LG.

I just turned it on and did the basic setup. The first thing that stood out to me was that it does not have a fingerprint scanner.

I can unlock my Samsung and check my messages in four seconds, but it takes a couple of seconds longer to use the PIN. With two jobs, I check for messages dozens of times a day, although that may only add up to a minute or two.

However, the buttons are on the back, so I need to pick it up to unlock it. Woe is me!

Apparently the LG G3 came out before the Galaxy S6 and people compared the G3 to the S5, which still had a removable battery, but they said the fingerprint reader was terrible. They said the G3 had something better, "knock," which is like a PIN, but you only have four buttons, which was absolutely the best thing ever, except for when it locks your phone on your pocket, you need to use the PIN, and then reset your knock.

Other people complain that the S6 has an inadequate battery, while the reviews says the G3 had a surprisingly good one--except mine very well may be worn out. I have been using a battery case for over a year, which is great, except the case itself is fragile.

Who thought that was a good idea?!

When I shopped for replacement batteries I found an extended one, case, and replacement backplate for much less than normal batteries.

That seems better than a battery case.

Anyway, I do not have any idea how popular fingerprint unlocking is nowadays. I am sure that some just slide to unlock, but that is not an option with confidential information on my phone.

What do you guys do?

First!

I don't have a pocketable phone, but I did get a dashcam. A $20 Sharper Image product with a $12 32Mb SD card.

It's like being part of the Space Age.

I use fingerprint scanning with a fairly simple pattern as the backup (I think patterns are quicker/easier to do correctly quickly than a PIN).

As far as what phone to get, this is what I think: Spending $600+ is pretty ridiculous and more than most people should really be spending on a phone. Either get a new unlocked flagship phone from a couple years ago for $200-300 or spend $150-200 on a current low-mid end phone like the Moto g-series. That gets you a good chunk of the latest features, enough performance that a system update won't bring it to a crawl, a reasonable chance of getting said updates (particularly security) for the next few years, and a new phone with a new battery. Refurbished isn't a bad option for getting an older high end phone, but I would try to make sure the battery was replaced as part of the refurbishment or factor that in.

If you try to go with something used that's 3+ years old, you'll probably end up spending $20-50 to replace the battery, performance will be lacking for all but the most basic of tasks, and you'll likely be looking for another phone far sooner than if you started with something newer. There are some exceptions, like very high end phones, but unfortunately there's a good amount of planned obsolescence built into phones.

I have a Moto x4 that I bought unlocked from Best Buy for $150 at the beginning of this year. It was a higher end phone when it came out in 2017 and had some features I didn't want to be without for the next few years (water resistance and USB-C for example) vs the current Moto g (I believe it was the g6 and the g7 was released a few months later) model that was about the same price.

If you're like most people and use your phone frequently, it's where you should be spending your money. Something I rely on daily needs to be reliable and well-featured. That isn't to say you necessarily need to spend hundreds on a phone, but you can pick up darn good new phones for about $150. The Moto G7 was $149 through Google Fi.

You'll end up spending more on phone service than the phone itself though, so that's the first consideration. What are the terms of your service currently, and is it meeting your usage needs?

I've got my wife and parents on the same Google Fi plan. $20/mo for the first phone, and $15/month for the others for unlimited voice/text. $1 per 100MB data, which is steep, but my family is on wifi almost all the time. They aren't watching Youtube videos on the bus or anything (don't buses have wifi now?). My wife likes large screens, so I pick up the Pixel XL used for ~$90 on Ebay.

That counts as security? Anyone who can take your phone from you can get your PIN from you or touch your thumb to the screen.

I had to add a PIN a few months ago because my work email began to demand it- it wouldn't let me in unless my phone had security. It's annoying. My phone is with me and therefore secure, and if I am ever incapacitated they can have the damn thing.

Uh... Unlock my phone???

I prefer to use fingerprint than the face unlock system.

Just slide to unlock, lol. If someone wants to go trough my phone, joke's on them. There's hideous material and bad pun-memes everywhere. :D

A few friends of mine use fingerprint-unlocking and they all have trouble with it.

I need to lock my phone because it has sensitive client information. The fingerprint scanner works well. Unlocking with my face would take longer--because I would need to put in my PIN with my nose.