Android Phones - Defend Your Purchase - The Something Awful Forums

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fuseshock: Aug 7, 2010

Thought about getting the OnePlus One but don't understand why they're charging tax on the transaction, and the shipping time of 4-5 weeks is way too long. Probably will just get a LG G3 from eBay.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 17:11

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# ? Jun 10, 2024 16:57

CLAM DOWN: Feb 13, 2007

nerve posted:

Off the charger for 3 hours, little over an hour of screen time and I'm down to 63% battery on my N5. Got me dying for a Droid Turbo.

My example is extreme because I don't get a very strong signal in this building, but man the N5 is a terrific phone with a poo poo battery.

The Nexus 5 seems to be very negatively affected by poor signal, in terms of battery life. When I'm at work during the day where the cell signal is poo poo, it just sucks up the battery. Otherwise, if I'm out somewhere with good signal, it seems to last forever. Anecdotal though.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 17:12

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

fuseshock posted:

Thought about getting the OnePlus One but don't understand why they're charging tax on the transaction, and the shipping time of 4-5 weeks is way too long. Probably will just get a LG G3 from eBay.

LG announced that the G3 will receive Android 5.0 before year's end so that is probably a good idea.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 17:30

nimper: Jun 19, 2003; livin' in a hopium den

CLAM DOWN posted:

The Nexus 5 seems to be very negatively affected by poor signal, in terms of battery life. When I'm at work during the day where the cell signal is poo poo, it just sucks up the battery. Otherwise, if I'm out somewhere with good signal, it seems to last forever. Anecdotal though.

If the radios have to run at full power to maintain a signal it's going to quickly drain any phone's battery. Your anecdotal experience is actually very typical of bad signal vs. good signal environments.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 17:37

Big Bowie Bonanza: Dec 30, 2007; please tell me where i can date this cute boy

I got impatient for the Nexus 6 and bought a Note 4 and I am already not super impressed by it. It handles Bluetooth audio/calling so horribly I had to disable Bluetooth phone calling.

edit: Also, I really miss Active Notifications and my screen turning on automatically when I pull my phone out of my pocket.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 17:39

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Bluetooth in anything Android past 4.2 sucks eternal rear end and is borderline unusable.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 17:41

Civil: Apr 21, 2003; Do you see this? This means "Have a nice day".

bull3964 posted:

Bluetooth in anything Android past 4.2 sucks eternal rear end and is borderline unusable.

I'm not sure what you're talking about specifically, but I've had no issues. The only bluetooth bug I had was when I'd first got a Nexus 5 at launch, and it has a volume bug, but it was patched up within a couple weeks. My 4.3 Galaxy S3 had no issues, and my 4.4 G2 is perfect. I listen to bluetooth audio for several hours a day, both in my car, and on 2 sets of bt headphones.

If the Note 4 is having bluetooth issues, that's probably Samsung's fault.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 18:04

CLAM DOWN: Feb 13, 2007

bull3964 posted:

Bluetooth in anything Android past 4.2 sucks eternal rear end and is borderline unusable.

What's this? I have zero issues with Bluetooth on my Nexus 5. I don't know anything about BT but it seems to be extremely power efficient too.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 18:07

Big Bowie Bonanza: Dec 30, 2007; please tell me where i can date this cute boy

Bluetooth worked perfectly on my Droid Maxx so :iiam:

# ? Oct 27, 2014 18:10

r0ck0: Sep 12, 2004; r0ck0s p0zt m0d3rn lyf

CLAM DOWN posted:

What's this? I have zero issues with Bluetooth on my Nexus 5. I don't know anything about BT but it seems to be extremely power efficient too.

I concur. My N5 and BT talky ear thing works fine. Sounds great, always connects quickly.

Edit: Whos gonna let me know when the N5 factory images for lollipop are released? Thanks.

r0ck0 fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Oct 27, 2014

# ? Oct 27, 2014 18:14

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Nexus 7 (both) Nexus 10, Droid MAXX, Droid RAZR HD MAXX all have varying issues. Chief among the tablets is the Wi-Fi throughput tanks if Bluetooth audio is connected to the point where video streaming is pretty much impossible. It happens even if the tablets are forced to 5ghz only, so it's not an interference issue. Been like this every since they changed Bluetooth stacks.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 18:24

AnonymousNarcotics: Aug 6, 2012; we will go far into the sea
you will take me
onto your back
never look back
never look back

EbolaIvory posted:

Don't really see the point in trying to flip iPhone this go around. No profit to be had.

I'm not trying to make a profit. Basically my question is should I get the phone through ATT or off contract directly from google?

# ? Oct 27, 2014 18:24

DrBouvenstein: Feb 28, 2007; I think I'm a doctor, but that doesn't make me a doctor. This fancy avatar does.

AnonymousNarcotics posted:

I'm not trying to make a profit. Basically my question is should I get the phone through ATT or off contract directly from google?

There's no reason not to do it through AT&T Next.

You pay literally the same price, only it's divided into 12 or 18 monthly installment, interest free. You also pay less for the phone line itself (only $15 per line instead of $40.)

And it's also not considered "on contract," so at anytime you can pay off the balance of the phone and switch carriers or change your plan.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 18:39

Thermopyle: Jul 1, 2003; ...the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. �Bertrand Russell

DrBouvenstein posted:

There's no reason not to do it through AT&T Next.

You pay literally the same price, only it's divided into 12 or 18 monthly installment, interest free. You also pay less for the phone line itself (only $15 per line instead of $40.)

And it's also not considered "on contract," so at anytime you can pay off the balance of the phone and switch carriers or change your plan.

If you get it through AT&T who services the warranty?

# ? Oct 27, 2014 18:40

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; Ok then

DrBouvenstein posted:

There's no reason not to do it through AT&T Next.

You pay literally the same price, only it's divided into 12 or 18 monthly installment, interest free. You also pay less for the phone line itself (only $15 per line instead of $40.)

And it's also not considered "on contract," so at anytime you can pay off the balance of the phone and switch carriers or change your plan.

I thought att and vzw do their payment plan options on contract. I know verizon does (because gently caress consumers) but I thought att did that too.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 18:43

Super Dude: Jan 23, 2005; Do the Jew

bull3964 posted:

Nexus 7 (both) Nexus 10, Droid MAXX, Droid RAZR HD MAXX all have varying issues. Chief among the tablets is the Wi-Fi throughput tanks if Bluetooth audio is connected to the point where video streaming is pretty much impossible. It happens even if the tablets are forced to 5ghz only, so it's not an interference issue. Been like this every since they changed Bluetooth stacks.

I'm not sure how widespread that problem really is. I use bluetooth on my Nexus 7 (2013) every day, my mom uses it on her N7 (2012) nearly every day. My friend (Droid Maxx) and girlfriend (RAZR HD MAXX) both use BT for their commutes. None of us have issues at all with BT.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 18:44

Doomsday Jesus: Oct 8, 2004; Doomsday Jesus we need you now.

ilkhan posted:

I thought att and vzw do their payment plan options on contract. I know verizon does (because gently caress consumers) but I thought att did that too.

It is a no contract price with ATT.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 18:46

XIII: Feb 11, 2009

FordPRefectLL posted:

edit: Also, I really miss Active Notifications and my screen turning on automatically when I pull my phone out of my pocket.

I know this isn't the App Thread, but ACDisplay (or Dynamic Notifications) plus Gravity Screen could replicate these things pretty well. I haven't noticed a noteworthy decrease in battery life with either of them. I don't use Gravity Screen anymore (just due to preference), but still use and enjoy ACDisplay.

(not as much as I'm going to enjoy the real things once the Turbo releases though!)

# ? Oct 27, 2014 18:47

Clint Howard: Jul 16, 2006; by zen death robot

DrBouvenstein posted:

There's no reason not to do it through AT&T Next.

You pay literally the same price, only it's divided into 12 or 18 monthly installment, interest free. You also pay less for the phone line itself (only $15 per line instead of $40.)

And it's also not considered "on contract," so at anytime you can pay off the balance of the phone and switch carriers or change your plan.

So, the Nexus 6 doesn't come with any carrier installed crap when you buy from a carrier? Do we know when the Nexus 6 is going to be available from carriers? Will it be much later than the 29th release date direct from Google?

# ? Oct 27, 2014 18:50

FISHMANPET: Mar 3, 2007; Sweet 'N Sour
Can't
Melt
Steel Beams

Any recomedneations for Qi chargers that aren't the $50 Google one? Things I'm seeing by reading Amazon reviews:

Orientation on the charging pad sometimes matters
I know the Google charger has magnets to properly align the phone, but do others (where orientation matters) have magnets?
The cheap ones don't seem to come with power bricks, which potentially adds $5-$10 to the cost and also means I have to track down and vet a good power brick

I ordered the Google charger and a magnetic car dock, since apparently the Google charger will stick to a magnet, so I can just have some unholy abomination of magnets to hold my phone in my car. I perpetually work in low signal areas so I need a couple Qi chargers to keep at my desks, and I'm not ready to drop hundreds on the Google charger to spread them around my life.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 19:01

Decius: Oct 14, 2005; Ramrod XTreme

FISHMANPET posted:

Any recomedneations for Qi chargers that aren't the $50 Google one?

The best: http://www.amazon.com/TYLT-Wireless-Charger-all-Phones/dp/B00DG8NUC8/ref=sr_1_8?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1414432971&sr=1-8&keywords=qi+charger
Pretty good if you like the pillow look: http://www.amazon.com/Nokia-DT-901-...+charger+fatboy

# ? Oct 27, 2014 19:04

BoyBlunder: Sep 17, 2008

Are there any (leather) slipcase/sleeve recommendations for the Nexus 5? I have the Diztronic case, but am looking for some sort of scratch protection when it's in my pocket, and I don't want to take away from the aesthetics of the phone.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 19:06

FISHMANPET: Mar 3, 2007; Sweet 'N Sour
Can't
Melt
Steel Beams

Decius posted:

The best: http://www.amazon.com/TYLT-Wireless-Charger-all-Phones/dp/B00DG8NUC8/ref=sr_1_8?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1414432971&sr=1-8&keywords=qi+charger
Pretty good if you like the pillow look: http://www.amazon.com/Nokia-DT-901-...+charger+fatboy

Those are both more than the Google charger, totally negating my reason to not just get 5 of the Google Charger.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 19:08

butt dickus: Jul 7, 2007; top ten juiced up coaches
and the top ten juiced up players

FISHMANPET posted:

I ordered the Google charger and a magnetic car dock, since apparently the Google charger will stick to a magnet

The magnets are in the charger on the charging side and match what's the the Nexus 5 and 7. There's no magnets for the charger itself to stick to other things, but there's a sticky pad at the bottom that will vehemently adhere to any flat surface.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 19:10

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Super Dude posted:

I'm not sure how widespread that problem really is.

Do a search on Google's product forums. It is fairly widely reported.

I don't have as many issues with my phone and can usually stream music in the car fairly reliably, but I do get dropouts in both of my cars (different systems in both) and the dropouts usually occur when I'm in the same location along my commute. So, my theory is that wifi scanning is causing those dropouts when I get in range of certain wifi networks.

When I get close enough to my house for wifi to connect when driving home, I then start getting tons of dropouts in the audio and sometimes disconnections.

Before they changed out the bluetooth stack, everything was completely fine. These issues didn't pop up until after.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 19:15

Luchadork: Feb 18, 2010; Take a look at the masked man
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
Chris Benoit killed his family

bull3964 posted:

Do a search on Google's product forums. It is fairly widely reported.

I don't have as many issues with my phone and can usually stream music in the car fairly reliably, but I do get dropouts in both of my cars (different systems in both) and the dropouts usually occur when I'm in the same location along my commute. So, my theory is that wifi scanning is causing those dropouts when I get in range of certain wifi networks.

When I get close enough to my house for wifi to connect when driving home, I then start getting tons of dropouts in the audio and sometimes disconnections.

Before they changed out the bluetooth stack, everything was completely fine. These issues didn't pop up until after.

I get the same exact thing with my Razr HD, but I use Llama to turn off wifi when connected to my car, and I leave 'scan for wifi when wifi is off' option unchecked as well, and I still get the drop-outs. I get them far less, but I do still get them and often in the same spots. It all started after the KitKat update too.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 19:38

Shadowgate: May 6, 2007; Soiled Meat

Require More Fire posted:

I get the same exact thing with my Razr HD, but I use Llama to turn off wifi when connected to my car, and I leave 'scan for wifi when wifi is off' option unchecked as well, and I still get the drop-outs. I get them far less, but I do still get them and often in the same spots. It all started after the KitKat update too.

Same, my car started dropping the bluetooth connection randomly int he last few months, on multiple phones: Moto X, Nexus 4. We'll see if I have the same problem on the Nexus 5.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 19:42

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE: Aug 1, 2004; whoa, what just happened here?; College Slice

I had bluetooth dropouts on 4.4.2 but they're gone on 4.4.4. WRT Samsungs the Galaxy S5 has not been updated to .4 and had BT drop constantly and the Note 4 does not have this issue. I remember this as being a specific bug they fixed in stock Android, so did not ding the S5 on it in my gripe sessions upthread.

e: ERA by Jawbone headset (the new one) and factory bluetooth kits for Honda Civic hybrid 2009 and Lexus IS250 2011. Have yet to try it with a portable BT speaker but eh, don't anticipate any issues.

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Oct 27, 2014

# ? Oct 27, 2014 19:43

a retard: Jan 7, 2013; by Lowtax

So one of my apps (Stitcher) just started crashing repeatedly on startup and when i try to uninstall it the phone reboots and says it's upgrading Android but it's only upgrading the one app. Is there a way to fix this that doesn't involve rooting? I have a Moto G.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 19:46

VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE: Aug 1, 2004; whoa, what just happened here?; College Slice

This doesn't necessarily fit into the Apps thread, but for anyone who's on the latest Lollipop preview on Nexus 5--has your Maps navigation started just killing itself whenever you switch away from Google Maps?

# ? Oct 27, 2014 19:52

Big Bowie Bonanza: Dec 30, 2007; please tell me where i can date this cute boy

ilkhan posted:

I thought att and vzw do their payment plan options on contract. I know verizon does (because gently caress consumers) but I thought att did that too.

Neither does their payment plans on contracts.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 19:53

FISHMANPET: Mar 3, 2007; Sweet 'N Sour
Can't
Melt
Steel Beams

FISHMANPET posted:

Any recomedneations for Qi chargers that aren't the $50 Google one? Things I'm seeing by reading Amazon reviews:

Orientation on the charging pad sometimes matters

I know the Google charger has magnets to properly align the phone, but do others (where orientation matters) have magnets?

The cheap ones don't seem to come with power bricks, which potentially adds $5-$10 to the cost and also means I have to track down and vet a good power brick

I ordered the Google charger and a magnetic car dock, since apparently the Google charger will stick to a magnet, so I can just have some unholy abomination of magnets to hold my phone in my car. I perpetually work in low signal areas so I need a couple Qi chargers to keep at my desks, and I'm not ready to drop hundreds on the Google charger to spread them around my life.

Screw it, rolled the dice and added this to my order, the reviews seem pretty decent, if it's not awful I'll get some more.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 19:56

nimper: Jun 19, 2003; livin' in a hopium den

FordPRefectLL posted:

Neither does their payment plans on contracts.

I would consider a payment plan to be a contract.

What, pray tell, is the difference to the consumer? It's still an obligation that you have to fulfill.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 19:58

Big Bowie Bonanza: Dec 30, 2007; please tell me where i can date this cute boy

nimper posted:

I would consider a payment plan to be a contract.

What, pray tell, is the difference to the consumer? It's still an obligation that you have to fulfill.

It doesn't matter what you consider to be anything, that's the difference. :allears:

# ? Oct 27, 2014 20:02

FISHMANPET: Mar 3, 2007; Sweet 'N Sour
Can't
Melt
Steel Beams

A contract has a preset length of time, with an additional fee to break out of that contract early. Which is different from just paying off the rest of your phone subsidy and walking away.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 20:04

DrBouvenstein: Feb 28, 2007; I think I'm a doctor, but that doesn't make me a doctor. This fancy avatar does.

nimper posted:

I would consider a payment plan to be a contract.

What, pray tell, is the difference to the consumer? It's still an obligation that you have to fulfill.

On the "payment plan" you can just pay off the balance of the phone's retail price whenever you want and then ditch the provider and take the phone somewhere else.

If you don't want any "obligation to fulfill" than buy a phone at full retail when you buy it.

But bear in mind, there is essentially no difference to you. Either you can pay the full price all up front at once and then you're "no contract," or you can pay it in 12 monthly installments, with the option to pay off the balance anytime, at which point you are then off contract and can ditch the provider and take the phone somewhere else.

You aren't FORCED to stay with them for 12 or 18 months while you pay it off, so there's very little difference.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 20:04

baka kaba: Jul 19, 2003; PLEASE ASK ME, THE SELF-PROFESSED NO #1 PAUL CATTERMOLE FAN IN THE SOMETHING AWFUL S-CLUB 7 MEGATHREAD, TO NAME A SINGLE SONG BY HIS EXCELLENT NU-METAL SIDE PROJECT, SKUA, AND IF I CAN'T PLEASE TELL ME TO
EAT SHIT

a retard posted:

So one of my apps (Stitcher) just started crashing repeatedly on startup and when i try to uninstall it the phone reboots and says it's upgrading Android but it's only upgrading the one app. Is there a way to fix this that doesn't involve rooting? I have a Moto G.

You could try going into Safe Mode (hold down the power button, then long press the Power Off option in the menu) and see if you can wrangle it in there

# ? Oct 27, 2014 20:11

nimper: Jun 19, 2003; livin' in a hopium den

DrBouvenstein posted:

On the "payment plan" you can just pay off the balance of the phone's retail price whenever you want and then ditch the provider and take the phone somewhere else.

If you don't want any "obligation to fulfill" than buy a phone at full retail when you buy it.

But bear in mind, there is essentially no difference to you. Either you can pay the full price all up front at once and then you're "no contract," or you can pay it in 12 monthly installments, with the option to pay off the balance anytime, at which point you are then off contract and can ditch the provider and take the phone somewhere else.

You aren't FORCED to stay with them for 12 or 18 months while you pay it off, so there's very little difference.

Well, you also aren't forced to stay on a contract either, you can pay the ETF and leave whenever you like.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 20:13

kri kri: Jul 18, 2007

FISHMANPET posted:

Screw it, rolled the dice and added this to my order, the reviews seem pretty decent, if it's not awful I'll get some more.

I have used or tried all of the different types of qi chargers. The puck ones are pretty awful for my use case since my nexus 4 and nexus 7 has to be placed correctly on the puck and I have to look on the screen to see if its charging since I mute my devices at night. I have tried the LG pick one, the google one, the energized one and a random $10 amazon one. I finally got fed up and got the tylt vu.

Overall, I wouldn't even consider anything but the tylt vu. Not having to play a game to charge my nexus 4 on my nightstand is worth it to me. I guess it depends how much poo poo you are willing to put up with.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 20:19

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# ? Jun 10, 2024 16:57

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

nimper posted:

Well, you also aren't forced to stay on a contract either, you can pay the ETF and leave whenever you like.

Payment plan is buying a phone and spreading out payments (or not, you can pay it off whenever). A phone contract is a commitment to stick with the carrier/your plan for x months, under penalty of an ETF if you break it. They are not at all the same thing. You don't pay anything extra for your phone no matter when you decide to pay it off. If there was a fee for paying off your phone early, you would have a case.

# ? Oct 27, 2014 20:19

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