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

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

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Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

LastInLine posted:

Play Store gives you a shortcut to My Apps which I use all the time.

Yeah this is the best thing, I actually replaced my Play Store shortcut with it.

# ¿ Dec 23, 2017 21:34

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 17:02

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

spincube posted:

Who knows - either way Android Police is serving bad ads, which is a shame as they're like the only Android blog that regularly go deeper than 'here is an entire press release copy-pasted verbatim, this is certainly an interesting press release, please click the below affiliate links so we keep getting free stuff to lavish praise upon'.

Why don't you email AP about it? They are not a garbage tier website and I'm sure they will remove this kind of lovely advertising if it has been unintentionally added to their ad rotations. I have never seen that kind of ad on their site and I check it daily so it's either a regional thing or some other app is causing it.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2018 13:23

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

Alpha Mayo posted:

I am thinking about rooting

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3358561

# ¿ Feb 20, 2018 10:21

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

Tiny Tubesteak Tom posted:

Google Assistant is really handy, but I don't like that I have to unlock the phone to do any voice-based "OK Google" stuff. I really appreciate that they focused on security over usability and features, but it kinda defeats the whole purpose if I have to say "OK Google" and then pick up my phone and unlock it with my hand just to get it to do anything. I thought the whole point was supposed to be using voice at times when you either don't have your phone in your hand, or when you can't use it (say, like while driving for example)

You can have it unlock whenever it matches you against your saved voice model but obviously you accept something of a security hit it you turn that on.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2018 01:26

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

I always enjoy using ~~Android~~ Google Pay to buy things that are over the limit for a contactless card and having the employee smugly tell me it won't work and then pulling out an even bigger smug face when it goes through just fine.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2018 15:22

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

Godinster posted:

Doing it with Samsung Pay at Walmart or another place that doesn't even take tap is even more nerdsmug.

My country stopped using magnets to make payments a decade ago :smug:

# ¿ Mar 14, 2018 17:25

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

Godinster posted:

Canada in general did too but Walmart, Home Depot, Banana Republic and a few others still don't support tap. In Walmart's case I doubt they ever will.

Not even talking about contactless, just Chip & PIN. Using the magnetic strip on a card and signing for a payment is now considered so archaic that if you ever have to do it (because the payment provider has a problem or something) the cashier will basically spend the entire time apologising to you for making you sign for your purchase like a caveman while they also try to remember how the hell they even do a signature based transaction. This has happened to me no more than three or four times in the last ten years. One time I realised I'd actually been carrying around an unsigned card for the last year because it's basically a pointless feature of the back of the card now.

Twerk from Home posted:

The ALDIs here have chip-enabled card readers, and have physically blocked all of the chip readers because it's slower. They'd rather have faster swipes and eat the loss to fraud than slow down checkout by having a chip read.

I'm guessing this is that dumb Chip & Sign system though? Proper Chip & PIN is extremely fast and easy. America is just bad at this poo poo.

Sorry, getting a bit off topic I guess.

So, Android P, anyone tried it?

# ¿ Mar 14, 2018 18:19

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

FunOne posted:

That and it is far more common for Americans to have several cards.

You can just set all the PINs to the same thing if this is really somehow a problem.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2018 09:31

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

LastInLine posted:

Well that's not very secure, is it?

Do you have a different signature on every card?

Android and payment related: since it got rebranded to Google Pay the app keeps putting payments through on a particular card even though I have a different one is set to default. This used to happen if the app was in the background viewing another card but now it's doing it even when I'm on the main screen of the app. I have to specifically open the card that I want to use every time. This is extremely annoying! I've also changed the default and changed it back to try to reset the behaviour but it didn't help. Anyone else had this?

# ¿ Mar 15, 2018 13:32

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

dont be mean to me posted:

That's modern web ads for you.

No, it isn't.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2018 08:02

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

I'm looking for a basic e-reader that has Google Play Books support. And I mean proper support, I don't want to have to export stuff to some DRM strippings service and upload them elsewhere, and I want Play Books' cross-device syncing to work. And it isn't for me so no hacking or loving around, just buy a book, read a book. Also needs to be available in the UK.

Does this exist? Basically I just want an Android tablet with an e-ink display.

# ¿ Mar 23, 2018 12:12

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

hotsauce posted:

Pixel 2XL here. I get this screen upon unlocking, almost every time.

What is this and why does it show a picture of an iPhone? How does one trace down what app may be causing this? My connections, wifi and LTE, are fine. How do I track down the app that's giving this cryptic error? Or if this is the OS itself, please tell me Google isn't using an iPhone in an error screen...

If you hit Task Switch (square) when this is up, does it show up as an app?

# ¿ Mar 28, 2018 23:33

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

KICK BAMA KICK posted:

Just got one of those 2-factor verification code texts and noticed for the first time it parsed that's what the message was and there's a button to copy the code to the clipboard on both the notification popup and in the Messages app. Is that new?

Yep, was added a week or so ago.

# ¿ May 20, 2018 00:46

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

PerrineClostermann posted:

I don't know how I can get this through your thick skull, but I guess I can repeat it. Apps being aggressively purged from memory is a thing I encounter with all apps on this phone. With simple things like Twitter, the startup time is usually about a second or two, and thus I live with it. Unfortunately, games take longer to load, and thus this is becoming more of an issue. From those I've spoken with and know, other phones do not exhibit this behavior, even with less ram and less powerful chipsets, which is why I've decided to ask about it.

Just because you can use Google to find a forum post about this issue on a Samsung doesn't make this not a problem on the Pixel, nor does your anecdotal experience discount the Pixel from criticism.

If you don't know a way to fix it, that's fine, but the Google (tm) Pixel XL (R) Powered By Android (c) doesn't need defending from renowned Internet Comedy Forum Something Awful poster "butt dickus" and friends.

That post is correct though. The exact opposite is generally considered to be the case. Other devices generally have more aggressive memory management than the Pixel. People have even made video comparisons of this. So it's not about defending Google, it's about saying that there's just something weird with your device.

You haven't enabled anything odd in Developer Options?

# ¿ May 23, 2018 19:31

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

Caganer posted:

Is there a way to force horizonal (NOT lock in vertical) in Android?

What app? It's up to the app how this works.

# ¿ Jul 7, 2018 23:31

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

FAUXTON posted:

Oh, I must be out of date on the name since I was assuming that's the stock launcher. Is it just all called the Pixel Launcher now or something?

There is no stock launcher as such. The Pixel phones have the Pixel launcher which updates via Play but isn't installable on other devices:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.nexuslauncher&rdid=com.google.android.apps.nexuslauncher

# ¿ Jul 12, 2018 15:21

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

BIG HEADLINE posted:

you have to keep trying to get into the bootloader screen

What exactly do you mean by this? What happens if you just boot it normally instead of into the bootloader? And what do you do once you get it into the bootloader that avoids this problem?

# ¿ Jul 16, 2018 10:26

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

EdEddnEddy posted:

Question as I haven't researched into the topic. What is the big problem with your OS coming with bundled software (such as Chrome, or back in the Windows AntiTrust days, IE)?

There are companies who make competing software who don't want it to.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2018 18:13

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

Google News / Pixel launcher feed / Chrome feed are all pretty good at recommending articles that I'm actually interested in, at least once I turned off the Daily Express, Daily Mail and Daily Star. It wasn't actually making bad suggestions with these, it's just that I don't ever want to read their opinions about video games, technology, football or - god help us - Brexit. I read about all of those things, but not there.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2018 20:57

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

LastInLine posted:

Just to experiment I'm going to try leaving my phone off the charger overnight tonight because I feel there's no way losing 15% in eight hours with no activity is normal. If it's anything more than 5% I'd consider that to be terrible.

With wi-fi off (and data on) 15% doesn't sound unreasonable at all. I'd say it's pretty decent.

Mu Zeta posted:

You should leave the wifi on. LTE takes more battery.

Also worth noting that disabling wi-fi doesn't actually turn the wi-fi radio off these days. It just stops it connecting to networks. It'll still passively scan and use wi-fi to improve location accuracy. This is because the battery life impact of doing this is so small as to be irrelevant.

Tunga fucked around with this message at 11:30 on Jul 30, 2018

# ¿ Jul 30, 2018 11:28

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

LastInLine posted:

Well I went from 100% to 95% which is way more reasonable and about what I've come to expect. My Nexus 5 was about the same level of efficiency when idle (though it got worse with time). 15% over eight hours doing nothing is not good at all and certainly not for a new phone with a new battery. With Doze as aggressive as it is now I don't even see how it's possible.

Is this on wi-fi or mobile data?

# ¿ Jul 30, 2018 15:36

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

LastInLine posted:

Whatever standard behavior is for a Pixel. I think it drops wifi fairly aggressively? Wifi was definitely turned on (along with Bluetooth and everything else) but being that I can't tell you much.

Only activity overnight was getting another survey but I didn't touch the phone until the eight hours had passed.

My point is that the author of the original post who asked the question that started the whole debate was disabling wi-fi. If you force a phone to sit on mobile data it will use more battery than sitting on wi-fi because all the background data has to go via the mobile radio which uses more battery than the wi-fi radio. This is normal. I remember always leaving my N7 3G/4G models in aeroplane mode with wi-fi re-enabled because that way they could sit around for over a week without charging but if I didn't they would die in 2-3 days. For some stupid reason these devices that were incapable of receiving calls or SMS would still maintain a mobile signal even when they were on wi-fi because Google couldn't be bothered to customise the drat OS to make sense for tablets (some things never change, hey).

So 5% over night on wi-fi sounds entirely reasonable, yes. But 15% overnight on mobile data seems equally normal, unless things have changed a lot recently. It's possible that Dose makes this effect less impactful.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2018 17:46

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 17:02

Tunga: May 7, 2004; Grimey Drawer

LastInLine posted:

My understanding is the opposite, that phones aggressively switch to mobile data when idle on wifi because that's preferable. It's certain that it works that way at least, as you can't even use connection to wifi as a reliable presence indicator for home automation as they drop off wifi constantly. I know my Pixel does for a fact and I'd suspect it's the same for any other device.

I've never had this happen and I'm not aware that it's a thing at all. My device is always on the wi-fi network whenever I put it on wi-fi and it uses zero mobile data during those times. All my home automation works constantly and reliably. I also frequently put devices at work on a proxy when testing our app and it never drops to mobile data unless it thinks it has no internet at all on the wi-fi (and when it does do that you get the little "x" symbol on the wi-fi network).

I'm not saying this doesn't exist but it makes zero sense to me if it does. Wi-fi uses less power to run, responds faster, and is free for the user. Why would I ever want my phone to switch back to mobile data on its own?

# ¿ Jul 31, 2018 15:53

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

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