The Android Thread - He;pl - The Something Awful Forums

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > The Android Thread - He;pl

kitten smoothie: Dec 29, 2001

Trammel posted:

That's really interesting. With the mobile phone OS market effectively being a duopoly, I'm wondering if iOS has similar tables, and similar functionality? Or maybe Apple simply says, "screw you," to the carriers "we want our users to actually have a decent experience", and simply ignore issues about Entitlement checks and tethering dun requirements?

iOS has basically done this same thing forever.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 06:21

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# ? May 22, 2024 07:38

Chimp_On_Stilts: Aug 31, 2004; Holy Hell.

Trammel posted:

That's really interesting. With the mobile phone OS market effectively being a duopoly, I'm wondering if iOS has similar tables, and similar functionality? Or maybe Apple simply says, "screw you," to the carriers "we want our users to actually have a decent experience", and simply ignore issues about Entitlement checks and tethering dun requirements?

iOS definitely does these checks; I was surprised (and happy) when I jumped to Android and found that the check was not present on the Nexus 5. I guess it was a fluke -- here I thought it was intentional.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 06:25

Skarsnik: Oct 21, 2008; I...AM...RUUUDE!

Humerus posted:

I have a Hangouts question/problem. It won't use my default notification sound for SMS. When I'm texting my wife (the only person I know that uses Hangouts), it does. Otherwise, I get the Hangouts notification sound. I've gone through my Hangouts options- under SMS and the option for my gmail account I made sure to change the notification sound to "Default Ringtone (...)" and still every time someone else texts me, the drat Hangouts sound plays.

Is there a setting I'm missing?

The last couple of hangouts updates have been kind of screwy with notifications. I had this problem a week or two ago

I switched to using light flow for the sound and vibrate instead of just the light

However I switched it back to hangouts yesterday on a whim and its apparently working again now. I haven't noticed a hangouts update recently though :iiam:

# ? Nov 12, 2015 08:16

SebAndSeb: Apr 23, 2007; hello

I really need a new phone, this HTC One X is in its 4th year.

I think I eventually want a new moto x or nexus, but with the current combination of price/availability/carrier exclusivity in Australia atm I'm thinking I might just get a Moto G 2015 (the 2gb version) for now and reconsider next year.

It looks like The Good Guys have them for $339 this weekend. Any reason not to go get one?

# ? Nov 12, 2015 09:00

TraderStav: May 19, 2006; It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down

kitten smoothie posted:

Because there is a set of configuration tables in the AOSP build for the 5x that specify which SIM cards should trigger entitlement checks with the carrier. For instance, if you have an AT&T SIM in your device, it'll use this table.
code:

    <string-array translatable="false" name="config_mobile_hotspot_provision_app">
        <item>com.lge.entitlement</item>
        <item>com.lge.entitlement.EntitlementDialogActivity</item>
    </string-array>
You'll notice that the Nexus 5 table for the same MCC/MNC combination does not include the entitlement check.

This stuff started with the Nexus 6 last year.

If you want to tether without restriction, and use the native app, you will need to root and put
code:
net.tethering.noprovisioning=true
at the end of your /system/build.prop.

As someone who has never rooted what impacts should I expect if all I did was this change. Any issues with stability or updates?

# ? Nov 12, 2015 13:07

Vykk.Draygo: Jan 17, 2004; I say salesmen and women of the world unite!

TraderStav posted:

As someone who has never rooted what impacts should I expect if all I did was this change. Any issues with stability or updates?

Yeah, you'll stop getting system updates as soon as you touch the /system partition.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 13:20

hooah: Feb 6, 2006; WTF?

I used to be able to click through to the mobile YouTube site (in Firefox) and when I hit the play button, the YouTube app would open up. This stopped happening sometime recently. Does anyone have any idea why?

Also, hooray for nav button burn-in on my ~7-month old 2014 Moto X.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 13:25

TraderStav: May 19, 2006; It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down

Vykk.Draygo posted:

Yeah, you'll stop getting system updates as soon as you touch the /system partition.

Aside from that is there a potential for instability or other unexpected issues? Or is rooting not the same thing as jailbreaking an iPhone which requires some weird hacker fiddling underneath the hood?

# ? Nov 12, 2015 13:31

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

The 2015 Moto X Pure doesn't seem to give a gently caress about entitlement checks for tethering. I can do it with an unlimited Verizon account right out of the box.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 13:57

Skarsnik: Oct 21, 2008; I...AM...RUUUDE!

TraderStav posted:

Aside from that is there a potential for instability or other unexpected issues? Or is rooting not the same thing as jailbreaking an iPhone which requires some weird hacker fiddling underneath the hood?

Instability? No not really, but with monthly updates coming out for the nexus you'd need to get comfortable with flashing a system image every 4/5 weeks

That doesn't involve a wipe, and only takes 5/10 mins but it's more than a lot are willing to deal with. There's also the possibility of a bit of a delay as chainfire makes a compatible boot.img available each time

Also you should be aware if you haven't unlocked your bootloader, that will require a full wipe the first time, and you get a grumpy message every time you restart :mad:

You should take that discussion to the root thread though

# ? Nov 12, 2015 14:18

TraderStav: May 19, 2006; It feels like I was standing my entire life and I just sat down

Skarsnik posted:

Instability? No not really, but with monthly updates coming out for the nexus you'd need to get comfortable with flashing a system image every 4/5 weeks

That doesn't involve a wipe, and only takes 5/10 mins but it's more than a lot are willing to deal with. There's also the possibility of a bit of a delay as chainfire makes a compatible boot.img available each time

Also you should be aware if you haven't unlocked your bootloader, that will require a full wipe the first time, and you get a grumpy message every time you restart

You should take that discussion to the root thread though

Thanks for the input. I'll pop over that for any more detail. Thought it was still appropriate as we are discussing the fringes of it all.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 14:24

ClassActionFursuit: Mar 15, 2006

Trammel posted:

I agree completely. Contact Google support and try and get it fixed. Or continue uselessly pissing away your time by ineffectually complaining on a forum for a comedy website.

Yes, contact them and inform them that their OS is functioning exactly as they intended.

What chocolateTHUNDER said is wrong, we've known this is how the Nexus 6 worked since it launched. Anyone who has been to the factory images page knew that there were different builds for different carriers and that it was inserting the SIM that determined the path your Nexus was on. And guess what? Older Nexuses also had the same carrier delineations, they just weren't determined by the SIM but rather by where you purchased the phone. Not only is this not new, it's how it's always been. Sorry the world sucks.

Trammel posted:

That's really interesting. With the mobile phone OS market effectively being a duopoly, I'm wondering if iOS has similar tables, and similar functionality? Or maybe Apple simply says, "screw you," to the carriers "we want our users to actually have a decent experience", and simply ignore issues about Entitlement checks and tethering dun requirements?

iOS does have similar restrictions. It's weird how the carriers don't want devices on their infrastructure with the capability of skirting payment for their services. I wonder if they had anything to do with OEMs including such things in their products.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 14:29

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

hooah posted:

I used to be able to click through to the mobile YouTube site (in Firefox) and when I hit the play button, the YouTube app would open up. This stopped happening sometime recently. Does anyone have any idea why?

Also, hooray for nav button burn-in on my ~7-month old 2014 Moto X.

You could try clearing Firefox's associated filetypes or whatever it's called. It might be set to open that particular URL type

It can depend on the site too - if it's sending data in a different way (different URL structure, different MIME type, some other data) it might not be caught by the YouTube app's associations. Sometimes it can vary from page to page and resource to resource, one might have a particular 'fingerprint' that's associated with Firefox, one might have a different one that's associated with YouTube... sometimes you'll get different apps offering to handle what looks to you like the same thing, because they have different fingerprints and some apps are only registered for one of them. That kind of garbage

# ? Nov 12, 2015 14:59

TenaciousTomato: Jul 17, 2007; Interworld and the New Innocence

Scooped an aluminum 64 6p to replace my two year old Maxx which suffered a fall on tile floor the other night. Going to activate it on Cricket most likely and give Verizon a giant flip of the bird

:woop:

# ? Nov 12, 2015 15:17

Desk Lamp: Jun 30, 2014

MrBond posted:

Even that's kind of debatable - Project Fi is an MVNO running on top of TMo US and Sprint. Short of owning its own spectrum it's never going to be able to actually undercut the carriers because it's already beholden to what they'll let an MVNO do.

Also it's very counter intuitive that a Google-bought Nexus would have a different update schedule purely because of the carrier. I would've thought that was the main benefit to buying a Nexus.

Oh I know, I see Fi as more of an attempt to shake things up rather than any sort of attempt at revolutionizing the market. My post was aimed more at people who thought the Nexus line was intended to do that.

As LastInLine said, and anybody who owned a Verizon Galaxy Nexus knows, it's always been this way any time the Nexus is sold through carriers. People seem to be split between thinking it's evil Google screwing them out of their update and thinking it's AT&T being dicks to them. The reality is it's both doing business as usual.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 15:37

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Crackberry.com thinks this will be the followup to the BlackBerry Venice/Priv, the BlackBerry Vienna:

For those who felt the Priv didn't embrace the physical keyboard enough.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 16:24

Merv Burger: Jan 3, 2008

Rastor posted:

For those who felt the Priv didn't embrace the physical keyboard enough.

Because now it looks like there are physical navigation buttons :wtc:

# ? Nov 12, 2015 16:28

Nondescript Van: May 2, 2007; Gats N Party Hats

Rastor posted:

Crackberry.com thinks this will be the followup to the BlackBerry Venice/Priv, the BlackBerry Vienna:

For those who felt the Priv didn't embrace the physical keyboard enough.

You know what everybody hates about these big phones with big screens? The screens are too big! They love the size, everybody wants a phone that is too big for a toddler to put in their mouth or accidentally flushed down a toilet, but the screen! So many pixels! I'll tell you what, lets take all of that great phone size, and make all those fake buttons real buttons. People love buttons on poo poo. You ever been in a Ferrari? loving buttons everywhere! It's like a space shuttle.

We will make the space shuttle of phones.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 16:41

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

Getting a trojan horse vibe from all this

# ? Nov 12, 2015 16:47

ClassActionFursuit: Mar 15, 2006

Desk Lamp posted:

Oh I know, I see Fi as more of an attempt to shake things up rather than any sort of attempt at revolutionizing the market. My post was aimed more at people who thought the Nexus line was intended to do that.

As LastInLine said, and anybody who owned a Verizon Galaxy Nexus knows, it's always been this way any time the Nexus is sold through carriers. People seem to be split between thinking it's evil Google screwing them out of their update and thinking it's AT&T being dicks to them. The reality is it's both doing business as usual.

You didn't even have to have Verizon's Galaxy Nexus, there were about 13 variants of the GSM Nexus from takju and yakju Google variants to a shitload of regional variants. Doesn't anyone remember the Galaxy Nexus Official Update Checker app which allowed you to see if your Galaxy Nexus was blessed by Google to receive updates or whether it consigned by Samsung and regional carriers to the depths of hell? (Personally I had a yakjuxs)

# ? Nov 12, 2015 16:49

kitten smoothie: Dec 29, 2001

Rastor posted:

Crackberry.com thinks this will be the followup to the BlackBerry Venice/Priv, the BlackBerry Vienna:

For those who felt the Priv didn't embrace the physical keyboard enough.

That thing takes the "candy bar phone" model and extends it:

# ? Nov 12, 2015 16:52

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Merv Burger posted:

Because now it looks like there are physical navigation buttons

Physical navigation buttons are better than capacitive ones, at least.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 17:02

UnfortunateSexFart: May 18, 2008; ð» ððð« ð·ððð·
ð ð ð ð« ð®ð ð¾ð ð ð¡ððð

I'll delete this if not allowed but I thought some people would be interested in a like new Nexus 6 with Diztronic case and Tylt Vu wireless charger. Asking $280 but flexible on price. SA Mart link: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3751105

# ? Nov 12, 2015 17:32

ulvir: Jan 2, 2005

is it normal for the fingerprint scanner on the N5x (or any phone) to get warmer than the rest of the backside when the phone is using the CPU a bunch (like installing and upgrading and so on)?

# ? Nov 12, 2015 17:46

repiv: Aug 13, 2009

I'd imagine so, the fingerprint sensor sits directly on top of the processor.

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Nexus+5X+Teardown/51318

# ? Nov 12, 2015 17:51

MrBond: Feb 19, 2004; FYI, Cheese NIPS are not the same as Cheez ITS

Desk Lamp posted:

Oh I know, I see Fi as more of an attempt to shake things up rather than any sort of attempt at revolutionizing the market. My post was aimed more at people who thought the Nexus line was intended to do that.

As LastInLine said, and anybody who owned a Verizon Galaxy Nexus knows, it's always been this way any time the Nexus is sold through carriers. People seem to be split between thinking it's evil Google screwing them out of their update and thinking it's AT&T being dicks to them. The reality is it's both doing business as usual.

Isn't the difference this time that it applies to Google-sold Nexus phones too? I get that a Nexus 6 sold via AT&T, VZW, etc. is probably going to have been tweaked with in some way. If I buy one from the google play store though, my expectation is that updates come direct via google there.

The confusion here is that people that don't pay attention to factory images didn't know that it's updates from Google* (*except if you have an AT&T SIM regardless of purchase origin). The Nexus might be the flagship developer phone, but given its placement in the play store and recent marketing it's not exclusively a dev phone.

edit: I do remember the VZW GNex - that was surprising at first and then "oh yeah that makes sense since this thing is a special snowflake." That was a bit confusing since IIRC Verizon had the GNex first and then the GSM one came out later? It wasn't initially clear that the VZW would be different from how Nexus phones generally worked.

MrBond fucked around with this message at 18:38 on Nov 12, 2015

# ? Nov 12, 2015 18:35

ClassActionFursuit: Mar 15, 2006

MrBond posted:

Isn't the difference this time that it applies to Google-sold Nexus phones too? I get that a Nexus 6 sold via AT&T, VZW, etc. is probably going to have been tweaked with in some way. If I buy one from the google play store though, my expectation is that updates come direct via google there.

The confusion here is that people that don't pay attention to factory images didn't know that it's updates from Google* (*except if you have an AT&T SIM regardless of purchase origin). The Nexus might be the flagship developer phone, but given its placement in the play store and recent marketing it's not exclusively a dev phone.

edit: I do remember the VZW GNex - that was surprising at first and then "oh yeah that makes sense since this thing is a special snowflake." That was a bit confusing since IIRC Verizon had the GNex first and then the GSM one came out later? It wasn't initially clear that the VZW would be different from how Nexus phones generally worked.

Kind of, not really? I guess it's not outwardly obvious but it should be when you think about it: It's way better for all parties if there's but one SKU but still ways to treat each carrier and regional variant differently. The only difference is that the path is defined by the SIM when it's first powered on instead of the software being preinstalled on the device. You can see how this makes inventory and moving unsold devices so much easier.

We're not talking about it but T-Mobile also has its own snowflake build on the Nexus 6 to enable wifi calling and so does Project Fi devices (under Lollipop, they were merged back into one software build for Marshmallow). This was the easiest, best way to deal with carrier demands and still service the developer community with factory images and that still hasn't changed because if you're unhappy with the way your carrier fucks with you Google actively provides you a way to escape it whereas before in the era of different devices for different carriers this simply wasn't an option.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 19:12

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

bull3964 posted:

The 2015 Moto X Pure doesn't seem to give a gently caress about entitlement checks for tethering. I can do it with an unlimited Verizon account right out of the box.

I can't tether on Cricket with my Pure.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 20:32

TollTheHounds: Mar 23, 2006; He died for your sins...

FogHelmut posted:

Google Now has had for a few years the ability for you to say "what am I watching" or "what am I listening to," and it will tell you what TV show or movie or song is playing. Does it listen all the time without me asking? Will I be served ads based on my viewing habits?

Nobody addressed this but I think it's only "always listening" for you to say "OK Google", until that happens it doesn't actively listen to anything in order to say, pre-fetch a search or ad for you.

I hope... :tinfoil:

# ? Nov 12, 2015 20:50

Digital Jedi: May 28, 2007; Fallen Rib

I setup my Nexus 6P and everything from my Maxx transferred over fine. I have all my Wifi passwords which is what I was worried about

# ? Nov 12, 2015 20:59

Brodeurs Nanny: Nov 2, 2006

Guys, I have an upgrade. I look most for battery life, camera, and sleek design. Recommendations? The Turbo seems like a good deal.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 21:26

ClassActionFursuit: Mar 15, 2006

TollTheHounds posted:

Nobody addressed this but I think it's only "always listening" for you to say "OK Google", until that happens it doesn't actively listen to anything in order to say, pre-fetch a search or ad for you.

I hope...

Obviously it has to be listening to and processing everything you say in order for it to determine when you've said, "Okay Google." There simply couldn't be any other way for it to work.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 21:31

hooah: Feb 6, 2006; WTF?

LastInLine posted:

Obviously it has to be listening to and processing everything you say in order for it to determine when you've said, "Okay Google." There simply couldn't be any other way for it to work.

Conceivably they could put the hotword detection on hardware, then once that's detected, send the rest to their servers.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 21:48

FAUXTON: Jun 2, 2005; spero che tu stia bene

hooah posted:

Conceivably they could put the hotword detection on hardware, then once that's detected, send the rest to their servers.

Fairly sure that's what they do, it gives me a long wait specifically for processing the voice command (as in, the words don't show up on the screen for what I said - if it was just waiting for search results the words will be there) when I'm in a place with poo poo signal like the parking garage at work, and I have a Moto X Pure.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 21:53

Desk Lamp: Jun 30, 2014

Brodeurs Nanny posted:

Guys, I have an upgrade. I look most for battery life, camera, and sleek design. Recommendations? The Turbo seems like a good deal.

I'd say the Droid Turbo 2, the Nexus 6P, and the Note 5 tick those boxes. The Nexus will cost the least, the Note will have the best camera, and the Turbo will have the best battery life. They're all pretty big but the Turbo is the smallest. I'd say look at those three and pick your favorite.

If it matters, the Turbo is the only one of the three with sd card support and the 6p is the only one of the three that doesn't do wireless charging.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 21:58

Brodeurs Nanny: Nov 2, 2006

Desk Lamp posted:

I'd say the Droid Turbo 2, the Nexus 6P, and the Note 5 tick those boxes. The Nexus will cost the least, the Note will have the best camera, and the Turbo will have the best battery life. They're all pretty big but the Turbo is the smallest. I'd say look at those three and pick your favorite.

If it matters, the Turbo is the only one of the three with sd card support and the 6p is the only one of the three that doesn't do wireless charging.

The Note looks beautiful, but do I have to use the pen?

# ? Nov 12, 2015 22:10

George Kansas: Sep 1, 2008; preface all my posts with this

Brodeurs Nanny posted:

The Note looks beautiful, but do I have to use the pen?

I almost never use the pen except for when people give me their numbers. The note 5 does what all stylus phones should do, when you yank the pen out with the screen off it puts on a blank note where you can scribble numbers or email addresses or w/e and then link them to actions (say, contacts) later. It's the only proprietary feature I use on the phone, really.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 22:14

Brodeurs Nanny: Nov 2, 2006

BottleKnight posted:

I almost never use the pen except for when people give me their numbers. The note 5 does what all stylus phones should do, when you yank the pen out with the screen off it puts on a blank note where you can scribble numbers or email addresses or w/e and then link them to actions (say, contacts) later. It's the only proprietary feature I use on the phone, really.

That's cool, I just think walking around with a pen on my phone might be annoying.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 22:16

CLAM DOWN: Feb 13, 2007

Brodeurs Nanny posted:

That's cool, I just think walking around with a pen on my phone might be annoying.

I forget it has a pen half the time, the slot for it is completely inconspicuous.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 22:21

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# ? May 22, 2024 07:38

Syrinxx: Mar 28, 2002; Death is whimsical today

Brodeurs Nanny posted:

The Note looks beautiful, but do I have to use the pen?

In 2 years of owning a Note the only time I pulled out the pen was to show people that it had a pen.

# ? Nov 12, 2015 22:24

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