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

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Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

I, too, buy a smartphone and turn everything off so it can only make phone calls.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2015 17:51

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 01:58

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Turn off the radios. That will vastly increase your battery life.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2015 18:16

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Have you considered a flip phone might fit your needs, OP?

# ¿ Mar 25, 2015 18:31

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

DrBouvenstein posted:

It's been a long time since I've had to be on a plane without being able to tune out all the poo poo around me...and the headphones I did have had a microphone in them, so I couldn't even plug them into the plane's TV and music system.

Wait what? I've used my headphones with a mic on a plane and never had a problem.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2015 01:26

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Email all the app developers and tell them to change their bars to black!

# ¿ Mar 31, 2015 17:17

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

actionjackson posted:

drat, a week after I got one that sucks

Call them and see if they'll refund you the difference. Or, if you bought from your carrier, return it and buy from Moto.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2015 16:35

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

AlexDeGruven posted:

poo poo, I'm still laughing about their fantastic NFC implementation that ONLY enables Apple Pay and none of the other 1,000 awesome uses.

That's just software, though. There's no reason they couldn't open it up in future versions of iOS.

# ¿ Apr 4, 2015 02:11

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

LastInLine posted:

Also if I'm not mistaken the Note Edge was announced prior to the iPhone 6 reveal and was your usual mess of plastic, removable batteries, and TouchWiz bullshit whereas the Galaxy S6's huge innovation was removing 40% of the "features" in TouchWiz and blatantly copying the iPhone. So one's a plastic pile of poo poo and the other looks and feels like a premium product which seems to line up with all the reviews. I do find it amusing that all of the reviews also have a line in there to the effect that TouchWiz is better, worse than stock Android but better than it was. Meaning that Samsung had the choice of doing absolutely nothing which was free or doing anything else and making things worse and it's no surprise which choice they made.

TBF, it's not *really* free since they rolled their own SoC, so some work is going to have to go into getting it to work unless porting from the Nexus 10 version is super straightforward, and being Samsung, I really doubt that to be the case.

# ¿ Apr 4, 2015 21:29

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

LastInLine posted:

If you want to take a guess about what material makes up "faux-leather type things" I can wait. I will give you two hints and tell you that it's not metal and not organic.

Ummmmmmmm

Also, didn't Samsung outright state that the Note Edge and S6 Edge aren't compatible?

# ¿ Apr 5, 2015 01:40

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

I hope we get lots of editorials about how Google/LG/Samsung/Motorola/Whoever are releasing updates to INTENTIONALLY obsolete their phones by making them slower like Apple gets every time there's an update and some writer's 4 year old phone suddenly stops working great.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2015 14:58

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Mogomra posted:

I was rockin' Kitkat on my Nexus One before I upgraded.

It worked surprisingly well for what it was.

Better or worse than Nexus S with Jellybean levels of bad?

# ¿ Apr 7, 2015 15:43

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Mnemosyne posted:

I don't think it's so much that people want 24-48 hours of idle time, it's just that they know that if it can last 48 hours on idle, it can probably last through a full 8 hours of me watching videos or playing games when I've been called for jury duty. And still have enough power left that I can get home without it dying. (Living in Baltimore means that you WILL get called for jury duty every 18 months.)

So buy an external battery pack for that one time every 18 months that this is an issue? This it is like the edgest of edge cases.

Like, if you're on Verizon, sure, get a Droid Turbo since there's really no better Android phones there, but importing a variant from Puerto Rico or whatever just because of something that will happen literally once in the lifespan of your phone seems pretty crazy to me.

# ¿ Apr 11, 2015 06:45

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Sir Unimaginative posted:

Because cheap poo poo sells and a lot of people need a phone to function in society and can't afford a good one, because that is the nature of unopposed global capitalism.

Also ^ ^ ^ yeah that. It DOES look like whatever metallic coating was on the rim of the phone got deposited on the face of it.

People who "need a phone to function" aren't buying the newest, latest phone at launch.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2015 02:52

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Sir Unimaginative posted:

Even the iPhone with just the apps Apple gives you can end up with not enough room for firmware upgrades on the 16GB model.

This is completely untrue. A 16 GB iPhone has around 12 GB of free space out of the box. The iOS 8.0 update was the biggest they've ever released at something like 2 GB, which, even with space needed to unpack, is not going to fill an additional 10 GB of space. Even the 8 GB models have enough out of the box, though once you start installing anything, yeah, it gets tight. And there's always the option of connecting to iTunes and doing it that way, which Android doesn't give except on Nexus phones and maybe Samsungs if Keis is still a thing.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2015 14:50

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

rndmnmbr posted:

Didn't see a better thread to ask this in.

When I'm playing music, it will stop a minute or two after my screen locks. I googled the hell out of this, and the consensus seems to be excluding both the music player and the gallery app from your task killer. I did so, and it didn't help. In frustration, I excluded every app from the task killer, and it still didn't help. I'd just uninstall the task killer, but it's a system app and my phone isn't rooted (yet, waiting on bootloader unlock code). The only other advice out there is to turn off screen lock, but that kills my battery pretty quick so it's a no-go. This is really frustrating, it basically ruins half the reasons I bought this phone (make phone calls and listen to music at work).

My phone is an AT&T Go Phone, a Huawei Y536A1. Does anyone have any advice?

e. Music is located on my SD card. Maybe the phone is putting the SD card into some kind of standby mode on screen lock? If it is, is there a way to disable that?

Can't you disable the task killer, at least?

# ¿ Apr 15, 2015 01:05

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

"d[-.- posted:

b" post="444233781"]
Z4c?

The Z3c is slightly bigger than an iPhone 5/5s. I doubt the Z4c will be notably smaller.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2015 03:51

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

nimper posted:

Folks, this is why we tell you not to buy a Samsung.

No but THIS time it'll be better. Really.

# ¿ Apr 23, 2015 16:45

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

MycroftXXX posted:

Sorry I'm kinda dumb but since this is unlocked, does it mean it works with T-Mobile?

If this is accurate:

quote:

UMTS/HSPA+ (850, 900, 1700 (AWS), 1900, 2100 MHz)
4G LTE (2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 17)

Then yes.

# ¿ Apr 23, 2015 17:31

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

this_is_hard posted:

the X has a pretty subpar battery life compared to nearly every other 2014 flagship, but otherwise its a very solid phone. the turbo is identical to the X software wise

Except that the X has Lollipop and the Turbo doesn't, identical!

# ¿ Apr 26, 2015 16:30

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

TraderStav posted:

With all the phones being announced right now being relatively lackluster I have a feeling that I'm going to be holding on to my Z3c for a while like a Normal. I want to change every six months damnit.

I'm glad you admit to being on the spectrum, at least.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2015 18:25

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

RZA Encryption posted:

Neat pictures. It shouldn't surprise anyone that Samsung actually cares very little about their products, though. They will do the bare minimum to convince people they're "as good as iphone" and buy them. The hardware is poorly made and their software is user-hostile. I totally get why the general population buys them, but I'll never understand why posters here would recommend or even list them as considerations.

Death to Samsung.

Because really THIS one will be good! Really!

# ¿ Apr 28, 2015 18:42

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Lblitzer posted:

Not really. They're usually ridiculously easy to install and I've seen so many that crack when dropped by the OEM glass remains mint. That and they usually provide a smoother feel to it and don't leave finger prints (make sure you get one with oleophobic coating).

You can't really prove that the OEM glass would have broken in the same drop. Something tells me that glass screen protectors aren't really using the same quality glass as OEMs. But they're probably a better idea than lovely plastic film ones.

When I sold my G2x ages ago, I felt bad for the guy I sold it to. I can't believe anyone would willingly spend money on one in 2015.

# ¿ May 4, 2015 16:45

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

this_is_hard posted:

3280mh battery, nice.

A battery that lasts 3.28 hours is exceedingly unimpressive.

# ¿ May 6, 2015 02:28

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

hooah posted:

Holy poo poo, the 2200mAh battery in my 2014 Moto X isn't really lasting me through the day???

Reread what he wrote.

# ¿ May 6, 2015 02:41

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

ThermoPhysical posted:

http://www.droid-life.com/2015/05/08/huawei-made-nexus-reportedly-features-5-7-qhd-display-snapdragon-810-processor/

This'll be hilarious if it's true.

A Nexus with the Snapdragon 810..would anyone actually buy it?

No one buys Nexuses, anyway, so there wouldn't really be a noticeable change.

# ¿ May 8, 2015 19:56

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

TraderStav posted:

I thought you could run it on GSM as well. Won't get LTE on T-mobile though.

It supports Bands 2 and 4 so it should.

# ¿ May 10, 2015 20:16

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Quandary posted:

My internet searches have failed, so I'll ask here, hopefully it's the right place.

About a week back my Turbo started being incapable of receiving or sending calls. When I recieve a call, I get the notification and attempt to answer, but instead of answering the icon that you swipe simply returns to the center of the screen and continues that until the call stops ringing. When I try to send outgoing calls, all my data immediately drops and it tries to send for a few minutes before the call gives me a network error and tells me it wasn't connected. The weirdest thing is that whoever I'm trying to call gets the call and can answer it, I just can't talk to them or tell they got it. Everything else on the phone works great, so I have no idea what's going on. Anyone seen this before or have any ideas of what I could try to fix it?

Your phone is broken and you should take it back to Verizon for a replacement.

# ¿ May 12, 2015 17:17

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Yeah, that's what you get when you don't have to bother supporting users at any time and you're using a barely-supported SoC you get for free for buying from the same vendor you use for other parts of your business.

# ¿ May 18, 2015 19:05

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

My favorite thing was having menu button-hidden menus inside the settings menu.

# ¿ May 18, 2015 21:28

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Kawabata posted:

Maybe I didn't phrase it well, but they do.

Some people buy the OnePlusOne thinking they "tricked the market" or something because they got an amazing phone for 200-300$ less than the equivalent flagship Samsung/LG/HTC model would cost and then they also expect OnePlus to give a gently caress about their warranty. Most buyers think that a meticulously built product will have a reliable company behind it and it's not always the case.

This is a cool straw man you've built here.

# ¿ May 27, 2015 16:36

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Cozmosis posted:

The G4 has an excellent camera and will likely be rooted/rommable shortly if past history is any indication with LG.

The S6 has a fantastic camera but no root as of yet as far as I know.

N6 camera is only ok. Low light sucks. But it has the Nexus experience in spades.

Don't buy phones intending to completely replace or break the software first thing.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2015 19:03

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Animal posted:

Project Fi owns balls. I've used it for four days in Georgia and it was constant LTE on T-Mobile. Today I am in Panama City and while my T-Mobile iPhone has no reception, my Fi Nexus 6 has 4 bars of 3g on Spring's network. Tomorrow I'll try it in Virginia and the day after in Toronto.

3G on Sprint may as well be no reception, honestly.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2015 18:24

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Didn't someone post how running a Linux VM to janitor their Android was easier than Window?

# ¿ Jun 9, 2015 21:43

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

bull3964 posted:

The dev driver situation for nexus devices in Windows is the ultimate example of Google being google.

It's not surprising. Last I heard, Google doesn't let workers use Windows unless they absolutely have to.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2015 22:01

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

bull3964 posted:

They're one of the largest software companies in the world and they are actively encouraging people to flash previews of their software to help them bug hunt.

The very least they could do is provide a zip file with all of the drivers needed per device.

Even if you are you are using the developer angle, it hurts their cause since I'm sure there are active windows shops out there writing apps for their devices. The last thing they want to do is make it harder on people to test different versions of their OS on devices.

They're encouraging DEVELOPERS to flash previews of their software to both bug hunt and so their apps can be updated to the new software. No normal consumer should be flashing preview software to their personal phones. No normal consumer should ever NEED to install ADB at all. That they do is a massive failing of Google's approach to Android.

# ¿ Jun 10, 2015 14:37

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

kitten smoothie posted:

What consumers do install ADB? If you're someone who isn't a poster in this thread, if your phone flakes out you're going to RMA it or take it to the carrier shop where you bought it, not go chase a bunch of drivers and try to flash stuff on your phone.

And I'd say it's at least even money that the N5 issue in question is due to the flash memory going bad, anyway. If a partition goes altogether unmountable that sounds like just as likely, if not more so, to be a hardware failure over anything else.

The only people buying Nexus phones are ones in this thread (and XDA), so the overlap of people using ADB and people who install ADB is pretty big.

# ¿ Jun 10, 2015 15:50

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Thufir posted:

So I ordered a 1st gen Moto X from this listing http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OTZUUP2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=od_aui_detailpages00 which was supposed the be factory unlocked GSM. The phone that arrived is a Verizon branded XT1060. Is this going to not work on GSM networks or otherwise be lovely?

If you're planning on using it in the US, it will be lacking LTE Band 2, which is important on both AT&T and T-Mobile (though it supports Band 4, which they both use), and it's missing the AWS band for T-Mobile GSM.

# ¿ Jun 11, 2015 16:00

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Bandire posted:

Edit: \/\/\/\/ It's poo poo like that that led to me buying this phone. I'd much rather have a functional but out of date phone than deal with Cyanogen garbage again.

You know it's perfectly possible to own phones that are both up to date and not running Cyanogenmod, right?

# ¿ Jun 12, 2015 19:56

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Non Serviam posted:

I have a rooted Samsung Galaxy Note 3. I want to update the Android version, but the automatic update won't work because it says the system has been modified. How does one go about updating rooted phone?

Step 1: Post in the rooted thread

# ¿ Jun 15, 2015 02:26

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 01:58

Endless Mike: Aug 13, 2003

Three Olives posted:

So I unfortunately found myself at someone else's house at about 5 AM with dead phone and a Samsung Galaxy S5 USB 3.0 phone charger. Can someone please explain to me how that retarded cable came to exist? Who is transferring so much stuff to their phone over USB that they need a 3.0 cable and why is the micro USB connector like the dumbest designed thing I have ever seen, it's a micro USB plug with an extra retarded number of pins grafted onto it in a separate but attached plug.

This is dumb Samsung, stop it right now.

It's very easy to see how it came to exist: the USB consortium, when designing micro USB3 prioritized backward compatibility of the port over every other consideration rather than just saying "gently caress it guys, let's make a port that doesn't suck and not worry about people having to buy new $5 cables!"

dissss posted:

Dumb on a phone sure, but what is wrong with that connector?

It lets you plug a normal micro USB cable into the device if you for some reason you don't have that cable with you.

That's the only reason it exists! It's "micro" but barely smaller than the USB plug on the other side of the cable.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2015 01:01

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

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