All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion

Might want to drop Verizon first.

 

Did anyone download 4.2.2 for the Nexus 4? I found it yielded me better battery life, was there a firmware upgrade along with it?

 

4.2.2 is the firmware.

Do you mean the kernel?

 

Factory reset done and still only working with Google and no other websites. Looking on the internet I'm not seeing anyone with the same problem. Any ideas?

 

Would it be possible that the browser (assuming youa re using the stock Android one) is loading mobile web pages that in most cases, cannot be zoomed? I'd try the "Request desktop page" option. (menu key -> you'll see the check box).

The modem was upgraded (0.33 -> 0.48) which killed the LTE work around. Though I am more inclined to think it was software fixes that improved battery life. (if the update really did improve battery life).

 

Sure enough, you're right. However, it used to work on mobile sites before, or am I losing my mind?

Time to lose some of these holiday themed avy's no? Just sayin'. Hime too.

 

Unfortunately, that I am not sure. Since I have almost never used the stock browser. (Used Opera Mini/Mobile until the release of Chrome on Android).

 

Then Chrome it is, assuming I will be able to pinch and zoom on mobile sites. Thank you very much.

 

Even with Chrome, I don't think you can zoom on mobile sites.

 

You can, if you go to Settings > Accessibility > Force enable zoom.

 

Oh I know believe me....

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

 

Bleh. Opera Mini/Mobile, Chrome... just no good. Compared to the CM stock browser were you can configure just about anything. Plus it renders MUCH faster than Chrome.

 

PhoneHouse, the only European retailer apart from Expansys to offer the Xperia ZL for pre-order, cut the price of the ZL from 599,99 € to 549,99 €. For comparison's sake, the same site wants 649,99 € for the Xperia Z off contract. Interestingly, they also offer the ZL in its elusive red colour, which comes with a smooth back instead of the more familiar textured one. Sony's word on that colour:

Spoiler

The Xperia Z became available in Japan on the 9th of February. Albeit NTT docomo-branded, it can be had for a hefty $935,00 through eBay.

 

I thought there was no more Browser on 4.2? It changed to Chrome?

 

Nope, 4.2.2 and stock browser is still the best for me.

 

Bummer. I usually stick with the norm black or white colors, but the ZL really looks good in that shade of red.

Official AOSP image, you are correct. I believe the Browser was dropped in favor of Chrome as of 4.1 with the Nexus 7. CyanogenMod still has it, or you can always sideload it.

 

Imo Chrome is still not where it needs to be. Not smooth or stable enough.

 

By far the biggest problem with Chrome IMO is the lack of the 'Quick controls' that the normal browser has.

 

When I first got my Nexus 4, I didn't have "Browser" because that is what I was used to, it only had Chrome. Of course Nexus device being vanilla Android isn't the best sampling of what the rest of the market has. Kinda dumb how Android didn't have Chrome as it's official browser until recently (being Google).

 

Chrome was available to the public roughly the same time the very first Android device came out, and for the following two years it was not certain if the browser would be able to pass Internet Explorer, let alone Firefox for popularity. I agree with hockeymass though, Chrome is not quite as fluid as the old Browser, and many people still use Browser just because of its native support for Flash.

 

LG Optimus G Pro Heading To North America In Q2 2013 | Ubergizmo

...So not only did Qualcomm crashed nVidia's party at CES, their chipset is going to beat the Tegra 4 to the market. Nice.

If this LG gets released in April/May in the U.S., it could definitely do some damage to the Android phone market share and steal the Xperia Z/ZL's thunder. Not a good time for HTC's One either. The device looks pretty good, albeit a bit too much Note II cues up front and the One X in the back. Specifications are looking really nice, but I hope Qualcomm or LG has figured out how to keep this handset from throttling like the Optimus G or Nexus 4. It's nice to see them play with the big market players in terms of specifications, but they need to remember to continue supporting their older devices or not just keep pushing forward. The U.S. Optimus G's are still stuck on Ice Cream Sandwich and so is its predecessor, the 4X HD.

In other news, XDA saves the Snapdragon S4 powered HTC One X and HTC Droid DNA with software S-OFF:

http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/0...e-htc-one-xl-and-droid-dnaheres-how-to-do-it/

 

YES. This is what HTC should have done a year ago but biffed it. Exerting more control is just what they needed. Shame they couldn't pull Verizon but we all know how backwards and annoying they are...

HTC One reboots Sense and hopes for a comeback | Mobile - CNET News

*normally CNet wouldn't be a cite-able source due to their parent company's lack of journalistic integrity but this was too good to pass up.

 

I'll give it to HTC this time around, I was not expecting the Snapdragon 600 SoC. Bummer on the lack of a MicroSD card slot, but the 32 GB or 64 GB of internal storage pretty much makes that point less of a concern.

 

The 600 is only an OCed S4 Pro, it's not exactly a shocking revelation.
And especially with LG using it in the Optimus G Pro, anything less from HTC would've looked bad.

No microSD and no removable battery.
It's like they don't learn.

I reckon by this time next year, looking back the One will seem no more successful than the One X.

 

Recommend me a new Androidy thing.

- No bigger than One X
- high spec
- 32gb fast storage (Micro SD's are useless)
- If it has to be skinned, useful stuff - i.e. Every 'how do I' doesn't *need* to be suffixed with "if you root..."
- No multitasking shenanigans like Sense on the One X

Purchasing SIM-free in France or UK

 

Not quite sure how well the Tegra 3 One X did, but the Snapdragon iteration sells pretty well in the United States even though only AT&T offers it. A third of our BYOD Android user base at our workplace are One X owners and there's at least one or two of them on every Craigslist Cell Phone ad page.

The Snapdragon 600 is not meant to be revolutionary, but the software tweaks to the Adreno 320 and the transition to LP DDR3 and LP manufacturing process will be a welcome change for lowering heat and power consumption. Given how well the current S4 Pro performs, Qualcomm is doing the right changes for the time being while preserving the Snapdragon 800 for future competition. While pull out your Ace card so early when no one else has anything on the table at this moment? The current Exynos 4 is a great performing SoC and shows how well it was designed given that it's been out in the market for a year and half, but the Exynos 5 is what is going to be needed for driving those 1080p displays. No comment on nVidia for obvious reasons.

EDIT: GSMArena just got benchmark scores on the One's Snapdragon 600. The Benchmark Pi and Quadrant score it gets is ridiculous.

http://blog.gsmarena.com/htc-one-benchmark-scores-are-here-ready-to-blow-your-mind/

 

HTC are making almost no profit and their marketshare has plummeted.
That's how well their handsets have done lately.

As in people are selling them?

That's not the point I was making.
You expressed surprise that it was the 600 HTC used, what I was saying is that it's not a big surprise - the 800 would've been a surprise.

Of course.
It'll be interesting to see what Samsung do, on recent form, they're not a company that lets itself get out-gunned.

It's certainly impressive but the gains are marginal over the older S4 SoCs in some areas.

 

You made a point stating "...looking back the One will seem no more successful than the One X", which to someone that lives in the United States, seems to contradict whether or not you intend for it to be a criticism since the One X is a fairly popular handset here. That's why I inquired as to how well the Tegra version did.

Yes, which is not to be an indicator of the handset being good or bad. The site is littered with people trying to sell their iPhone 5's, Galaxy S III and Note 2's.

Your remark of the 600 being simply an 'OC'ed S4 Pro' insinuates to such conclusion. I don't expect the 600 to be a big leap either, but given the typical yearly generation cycle for mobile SoC, I do find it surprising the S4 Pro is already being phased out in favor for the 600 in such a short amount of time. The first S4 Pro device hit the market in November and if HTC's timeline follows through with retail availability in March, that only gave the S4 Pro a mere four months before being superseded. In comparison to how often the Tegra or Exynos gets refreshed, that's a very short period of time.

 

The 32 GB internal memory requirement is really narrowing your selection scope severely. Keeping true to all the listed points would limit you to the the 32 GB Galaxy S III. Going with 16 GB internal with/without a MicroSD card slot will open your choices up to a Xperia T, RAZR HD LTE, or a Nexus 4 if you want to push the size dimension a hair past the One X's size.

 

Agreed... and they wonder why Samsung Galaxy [whatever] sells so well.

 

No, it's a shame they didn't tell Verizon where they could put their device modifications. Apple has done it and Samsung has done it (to an extent, and lets just all block out the Galaxy Note home button fiasco). Otherwise, bending to every carriers will isn't a sound business plan today, especially in the volume the smartphone market is demanding ATM.

 

Interesting. At least in the UCLA community, I see very, very few people with a One X, while there are more Galaxy S3s floating around than iPhone 5s. Not one of my friends has a One X that I know of.

This huge disparity on such similar hardware is probably due to poor awareness of the One X's existence. Even non-techies know about the GS3, but unless you're talking to someone who's up-to-date on smartphone tech, they won't know about the One X.

 

Samsung has done well in advertising the S3 as an alternative to the iPhone... and being on every carrier (where the iPhone 5 is not) also helps.

Just like Apple had to cave in to making a smaller iPad, eventually, they will have to make a bigger iPhone... as Samsung has positioned themselves as the go-to company if you want a phone bigger than 4".

And while others say that microSD expandability isn't a factor... when you can spend $199 on a phone instead of $299 or $399 and add more memory for less later... that's something to consider.

 

iPhone 5 is on all major US carriers but T-Mobile, and since T-Mobile is changing bands, iPhone will soon follow suit.

 

The Galaxy SIII is on MetroPCS and other non-contract carriers (I think)... something that may take a while for the iPhone to do.

Saturation also helps with ubiquity.

 

It's all about money, I highly doubt Apple would shell out a huge contract to carriers that don't anywhere near the subscribers of the top 4 carriers in the US.

 

I'm glad you said "fairly", because I've only ever seen two of them in the wild. Ever.

The 600/800 series has CPU die level modifications... bumping up clockspeeds doesn't bring the kinds of improvements that Qualcomm is claiming. Also, Krait 800 is on a new process. 28NM HKMG with an emphasis of lower voltage at higher frequency steps. Then another thing is that Krait 800 allows full dual-channel 32-bit LP-DDR3. IMHO, Snapdragon 600/800 is what S4/S4 Pro should have been. Poly-Si was a cheap way out, and a quick remedy to a bad situation they were in with S3. Qualcomm is really coming into their own with 800, and it finally seems they understand their graphics architecture enough to build competent drivers. Adreno 320 is pretty damn strong, competition wise.

 

The iPhone 5 is available from Cricket Wireless, a small-time prepaid carrier. The iPhone 4S is avaiable from Virgin Mobile, another small-time prepaid carrier.

 

Also available from StraightTalk at Walmart. Apple could really care less who buys their devices that are unlocked. The StraightTalk devices are full-on unlocked... they just make you pay full retail for the phone and supply you with a SIM at purchase.

 

They're not as common as the Galaxy S III around here, but I would say every ten or fifteen people I come across, one of them will have one. One of my cell phone geek friends actually buy cheap One X's off of Craigslist and turn them around on eBay for $50-$100 average profit per unit. Oddly enough, he mentioned a lot of the handsets end up going to people in California and Florida. Just an odd observation.

Yep, Samsung really put the phones out there. As cheesy as the ads are with attacking Apple a few years back, they definitely seem to work. The last One X commercial I remember was the guy recording a goat kicking a bag over a cliff. I see AT&T is still selling the phone on-contract for $100, so I assume it's still selling well enough for them.

Good information. To be honest, the biggest competitor Qualcomm needs to be concerned with is Samsung. I think the Tegra 4 will be a good improvement over the Tegra 3, especially with the GPU, but I have a feeling it will be eclipsed by both competitors by the time the SoC hits retail in July.

I hope the rumors about the Galaxy S IV being announced in mid-March is true, I really want to see what the Exynos 5 can do. The Nexus 10 is running that sky high resolution and makes it really tough to directly compare with the current 720p/1080p smartphones with graphical performance.

 

Yea, especially seeing as how Samsung was and continues to be the only OEM shipping Cortex A15 (to consumers anyway). And IMO, that's what NVIDIA gets. They came to the market with two inferior, rushed products just to say they were first and this time they deserve to go home with their tail between their legs. The GPU was never the issue with Tegra... it's been execution resources and CPU features. The 4+1 that Tegra 3 offered was horrible in execution, and the NEON-less Tegra 2 was/is simply embarrassing. Tegra 2 can actually still keep up decently, framerate wise with current base offerings.

But yea, Qualcomm's competition is Samsung. NVIDIA needs to be worried about Intel. Intel pwns NVIDIA at single thread execution... by QUITE a large margin.

 

Picked up another One X+. This one's a bit beat up so I ended up getting it for $250; I'm going to tear it apart and replace the casing and screen assembly with the Evitare's red and black color scheme. I would like to see why the processor is running so hot too.

 

HTC One destroys Nexus 4 in benchmark test

 

Sense 5 UI videos:





This iteration of Sense looks much better, and borrows a lot of UI elements from Holo. I would get rid of BlinkFeed and be okay with everything else.

 

Is the HTC One a sealed battery phone???

EDIT : gsmarea says the battery is built in, i will not buy a captive battery phone

John.

 

What is wrong with sealed batteries? Sure you can't swap out the battery, but you aren't near a charger anytime of your day? I've let my Nexus 4 get down to 6% after like nearly 20 hours.

 

Jobs like field service technicians who are always on the move can't afford to sit down somewhere to let their phones recharge. It's much quicker to swap out batteries and keep on moving than having to force yourself to one spot or leaving the phone behind to let it charge. Portable batteries like the one HTC has for the new One would alleviate the issue somewhat, but you will now have to carry something about the size of an external 2.5" hard drive around.

 

Amazon.com: ViewSonic VSD220 22-Inch (21.5-Inch Vis) Full HD 1080p LED Touchscreen Smart Display and Android 4.0 ICS All-in-One: Computers & Accessories

just saw this on gold box sale....

ViewSonic VSD220 22-Inch (21.5-Inch Vis) Full HD 1080p LED Touchscreen Smart Display and Android 4.0 ICS All-in-On

lol wut?

 

Yep, it's real. Not sure how it "give you the ultimate Android gaming experience" though, that PowerVR SGX 540 driving a 1080p screen will result in pretty lethargic frame rate.

 

It wasn't exactly a cryptic comment - HTC's issues and the One series' (relative) lack of success are well documented.
And your comments are the first I've seen any claims of the One X(L) having sold particularly well in the US, so I don't think it was that unclear really.

I find it the complete opposite of surprising - it's not a massive change or a whole new architecture, it's basically the next model up in the S4 series. It would make sense to phase out production of the S4 Pro in favour of the 600 IMO.
And Qualcomm have a history of steadily upping the clock speed on their chips throughout their lifecycle, this is no different. It's just that normally they're not marketed as a whole new series of chip.

Both nVidia and Samsung have tweaked their clock speeds in the same way as this.
It may not happen as often but it's not exactly unheard of - the Exynos 4 Dual and Quad both saw their clock speeds increased, as has Tegra3.

That's one aspect but I think it's also the case that when two handsets are fairly well matched, the little differences become more important and Samsung have HTC well and truly beaten when it comes to that.

The only advert HTC ran for the One X over here was around launch.
The feature they pushed was the camera, especially the ability to take photos and record video simultaneously. The one selling point HTC could come up with was a stock ICS feature.

The advert disappeared around the time the S3 launched and that was it.