All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion

Why have I not heard about this?

https://play.google.com/store/devic...wiZGV2aWNlLW5leHVzXzRfOGdiX3doaXRlX3Byb21vIl0.

 

It's a Nexus 4 with a white back cover, no major change. I'll admit I do like it over the standard all-black version though.

 

True. I guess I'll just order a white housing kit here in a month or two, when they become available.

 

Has LG/Google done anything regarding the thermal shutdown issue with this phone? I know some of the newer ones have some 'bumps' on the back to keep the speaker from being muffled.

 

You mean other than making it white?

 

The bumps are actually a little dual purpose... they keep the speaker from being muffled and they also lift the phone so that the glass face isn't in contact with the sitting surface (if it's flat). A lot of the Nexus backplates were cracking because of thermal stress on the glass from the heat on the inside of the phone to the cold surface the phone is sitting on (like granite or tile).

About the overheating... I've never had a problem, aside from the usual throttling.

 

Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active Revealed for AT&T - TheUnlockr

Teal, huh...

I'd be curious how well the Mega 6.3 will do in the U.S. on AT&T and Sprint. That's a big phone.

 

Aren't you using a Note8 as a phone right now?

 

Yes, I just survived a week's worth of employee hazing with it. My boss is going to buy it though, she bought the WiFi version a week ago but would like mobile data connectivity so the WiFi one's going back to Best Buy.

Great device overall, Samsung could have done without the 10.1 and just stuck with the 8.0. The smaller dimension makes it that much more portable as far as a tablet can be and not sacrifice S-Pen functionality. The firmware is a mix between the Note II and S4's; you see most of the apps and features of the Note II but some of the good stuff from the S4 such as the Briefing Alarm and Basic/Easy mode is here as well.

With that said, I still think the Tab 7.7 is my favorite phone tablet. Two nags that I have with the Note 8.0 is the capacitive buttons and the battery life. I wish Samsung would have stuck with the Note 10.1's design for this device and have the front facing speakers with no buttons on the bezel. When holding the device in landscape orientation, I would accidentally hit the menu or back button intermittently and it can be annoying. The battery life is this tablet isn't that good either. I recalled being able to get two to three days out of my Tab 7.7 consistently (About 7-8 hours of screen time), but this tablet will be running on empty by the end of every day with only 4-5 hours of screen time. I think the Note 10.1 actually even outlast the 8.0 on a charge.

And if anyone is curious, yes, you can hold the tablet against your face and use it just like a phone at the expense of looking like a complete tool in the eyes of your peers.

 

I've never had a thermal shutdown issue with my Nexus 4, running stock 4.2.2, never even bothered with a custom ROM. I've had movies and games running for hours and hours.

 

Do we know whether the Google Galaxy S4 will support AWS bands for HSPA/WCDMA? The Google HTC One won't.

 

Maybe, pending on what the AOSP firmware allows you to do. The hardware is supposed to be based on AT&T's S 4.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2291589

 

Why do so many people, in the US in particular, seem to think Easy Mode was a new feature on the S4?
It was already on the S3, Note2 and S3 Mini.

I prefer the capacitive buttons, to be honest.
I don't think they'd work on a 10" tablet but at 7-8", where portrait use is more prevalent, it makes much more sense IMO.

As for the speakers, I agree that stereo front-facing speakers would be preferable but I'm not sure how they could've been worked into the design of the Note8 - you wouldn't have them down the longer-sides of the screen and once you have the capacitive buttons down one end, how do you fit the speaker in as well?

The 3G version of the Tab3 7" will be the same too.

 

To be fair, it was only added to the S3 with the Jelly Bean update. It did launch on the Note 2, though.

 

Yeah, I know.
The point still stands that it's not new or exclusive to the S4 yet so many reviews, particularly from US tech sites, go on about it.

 

Let me know how that works out for you when you get yours. Capacitive buttons on smaller devices work because you prop the device in your hands with your palms, but on something larger such as a 7" tablet that you can't quite cup your hands around the entire sides of the device, you have to actually hold it. When you hold the device and attempt to use your thumbs to interact with the screen, the base of your thumb is right over those back and menu capacitive buttons.

The front speakers would actually go hand-in-hand with the absence of the ear speaker and capacitive home buttons. When I mean Samsung should have stuck with the Note 10.1's case design, I literally mean it -- make it a shrunken version of the Note 10.1. For a company that had designed and sold so many different tablet based products, I really am dumbfounded on whose idea it is to apply design principles from a phone directly to a tablet. As mentioned before, I still think the Tab 7.7 is Samsung's best tablet, hardware specifications not withstanding. They could have literally kept the design exactly the way it was and replaced the Exynos 4210 SoC with the 5250, and I would have picked it over the Note 8.0 easily. The battery life on it was amazing for what it was.

 

Another company that I wished they try to get a stronger presence in the U.S. market.

Asus Fonepad Note FHD 6 throws its hat in the big-screen ring, does stylus fencing with an Intel CPU

 

Intel Atom....I wonder if anybody has bought it. Some Snapdragon processors on Passmark have caught up to x86 performance.

 

Yeah I don't think the performance is going to blow anything away, but the Atom is great in terms of battery endurance. The RAZR i that used the original Medfield single core Atom managed to get Note II-ish battery life with a 2000 mAh battery. This new Atom is a lower clocked dual core with a significantly stronger GPU, so I'm quite intrigued on how good the battery life this phone/tablet will get.

The biggest obstacle with having a x86 based phone is that app compatibility would suffer though, a lot of apps are not compiled for MIPS.

 

Minimalism:

Spoiler

 

Best wallpaper ever. Seems to be from a SonyEricsson device.

https://www.box.com/s/y4pr0orqcelvjg7nwbv3

 

Nice, probably one of the few good things that came from the Xperia S.

LOL.

 

Moving apps to the SD card without having to root? Nice.

Galaxy S 4 software update enables moving apps to SD card, HDR video recording and more

 

I honestly didn't expect this to be "the solution" to the S4's storage concerns. (Founded or not)

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

 

It just further cements the fact that 32GB should be the absolute minimum for storage capacity on a high-end device.

 

S4 Zoom is real.
Should get to play with one (along with the S4 Mini, S4 Active and both Galaxy Megas) next week.

 

I've been out of the Android loop for awhile now (as you all can probably guess from my lack of posts in here )

What storage concerns are these you speak of? I'm looking at getting my S4 in under a month and am trying to get back into the swing of things.

 

^ because your username causes replies to fail (at least on tapatalk)

http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/6/6...y-s4-update-storage-improvements-sd-card-apps

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

 

I am a Galaxy S3 owner. I will not upgrade without the carrier subsidy. I have had the GalaxyS1, S2, and S3 currently. I am sad this might be the first round I sit out. But I must say I am cool with it. When I get the S5 and you guys are tied into the S4 and contract. I have never paid more than $100 for these.

OK I will miss the 1080? 720 is beyond my eyes. Quad core? I would like but my dual really does fine. I do not find myself encoding video much. Camera? It works, OK maybe not as good but good enough.

I do hate to sit out this round but the cost is really too much.

 

100% agreed, doing the same thing and patiently waiting for the Note 4, but I think, if Sony's Togari comes out as a beast I'll choose them or HTC, I want something new...

 

'Google Edition' Sony Xperia Z coming soon | Android Central

 

Will that pave the way for non flagship Android phones to have stock Android?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

And when you're paying $100 for your S5, I'll be returning my free S4 and getting a free S5 - not to mention the free Note3.

Unlikely.

The Google Edition handsets won't be pushed by the manufacturers, they won't use their ties with networks and retailers to get them into customers' hands.
Without that, the only channel is selling them directly through Google and, premium handsets aside, it's unlikely that people will wish to buy SIM-free.

 

Interesting, I wonder if the problem goes away once its rooted and running AOSP. I assume all that storage is being taken up by Touchwiz.

I'll probably get the 16GB version because of the price. I have a 32GB SD card that I use for all my music (although I havent used my phone for music in ages). Not sure if it's worth it to spend the extra cash to get the 32GB.

 

Unfortunately no, even if you flash an AOSP ROM, you're still out of a lot of space because the partition tables are untouched. My 32 GB had 23 GB free out of the box, putting CyanogenMod on it did not yield any additional free space. The Google Edition should have 12-13 GB of free internal storage.

 

Is that only because of the stock image? My 16 GB Nexus 4 had 12.9 GB free with stock Android. Still using the stock image.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

Correct. There are ways to modify the HBOOT partition table to resize the partitions as you see fit, but it's very risky and can result in a permanent brick.

So I came across this thing earlier on Engadget. Really Samsung?

Purported Galaxy S 4 Zoom flaunts its profile in multiple leaks



This device makes the Nokia EOS and Pureview look anorexic.

 

Mine takes better pictures...

Spoiler

 

If it doesn't have Instagram, then it's not worth using

 

I just [finally] installed CyanogenMod 10.1 on my SGS3, it's pretty nice!
Sadly I also dropped my phone on the floor, which sucks. It now has a crack on the top, by chance it is not in the screen.

 

Finally glad I got my iPhone! Now who wants to buy my N4?

 

How much you selling it for?

Also, iPhone, seriously?

 

I hope to get like 250-280 for it. Just some light use to it. I gave Android a try for a year, I still prefer iOS. I'm not into customization so 99% reason to buy Android is gone. Limited capacity and proprietary connectors doesn't really bother me, Lightning connector will be here awhile. I liked my Nexus 4 but I kept it stock, never rooted it nor unlocked the boot loader. I dare say Android was too complicated compared to iOS.

Also I switched back to my parents line on Verizon, which IMO limits the choices. I don't like the S3/S4, Note 2. Refuse to buy HTC anything.

 

Too complicated? It's brain dead simple, hence all the customization for "power users". I really wish there was gnu/linux os for phones...

 

Why do you refuse getting HTC? The HTC1, build quality wise is MUCH better than the iPhone 5, and it uses the same materials as the H1.

Complicated? What is complicated in Android? Lol, as Gdansk said, it's brain dead simple, actually I would say easier and more practical in many cases (Google Now + Gmail + Maps) and alike, or choosing the keyboard, having a proper notification drawer and not some rip off...

 

iPhone, brought to you by Fisher Price.

 

It's brain dead to power users, but who of the majority purchases Android because I can tell you it isn't power users. And I did prefer iOS but even having vanilla Android didn't really impress me. I just use the phone normally, email, Facebook, GPS. I was sick of flashing different roms on. Why should one have to root a phone, and unlock the boot loader to get the optimum experience? And now that I used Android on a daily basis, I still prefer iOS.

 

I thought you said you kept it stock? I'm confused.

 

I modded my old phone, Galaxy S Blaze 4G as it had real performance issues with stock 2.3 and a stock 4.0 rom didn't fix the issue.

 

Ah damn, might have to get the 32GB version then...