All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion

Drink the kool-aid?

Get the M8 and turn it into a GPE device with a MicroSD card slot. Best thing out there right now, aside from the LG G2 or upcoming G3 (that actually comes with a MicroSD card slot).

 

Yeah. I'm a total sell out. I threw my upgrade away by getting an S4.

Didn't like the S5. HAL was totally right about Touchwiz and KitKat. Looks like something a child drew with finger-paints.

I spent a good hour playing with the M8. The Harmon-Kardon edition's external speaker sounds awesome. The earbuds that comes with it even better. But I've got a great set of Jays for music, so that was a moot point. I didn't like the settings menu of Sense 6. It's too difficult to get into without a dedicated (hard or soft) menu button. And the settings theme and graphics looked a bit...rudimentary, for lack of a better word.

I liked the LG G2. The rear power/volume button was a bit weird, but the rep showed me his G2 and how to properly work it. Wasn't so bad then. But it didn't have a microSD slot so no-go.

I was seriously tempted to go with an iPhone, but the prospect of having to load all me music onto iTunes was causing my paranoid schizophrenia to flare up. I almost had to PM KK1 to beat me back to my senses.

I toyed around with the Note 3 as well. Whilst I like the s-Pen concept and functionality, the two things that kept from the Note 3 were the size and that apocalyptic combo of TW & KitKat.

So I stay with the tried and true SGS line. I can't Frankenstein this phone like I did my SGS3. I want to make the concerted effort to not trip the 0x1 flag. I will just have to root it and find another way (like ADB push) to push my custom notification themes to the phone. And if worst comes to worst and I trip the flag, if I ever have to take it in to have it replaced via the insurance, I will brick the device beforehand so they won't be able to tell.

...Plus I have 14 days to decide to take it back and get another phone. So if I really want to try the M8, I can...but I'm too chicken.

 

Should have gone with the M8, instead of the last gen, higher voltage, battery draining, S600 powered S4. It kills me that people actually think the S4 has decent battery life. Between the AMOLED and S600, it goes pretty fast.

 

Trust me HAL, I am still seriously considering the M8 H/K edition. Mainly due to the better sound quality...those earbuds it comes with can match Beats ones in sound saturation.



But I have two major concerns. One, is the M8 locked down software wise like most of HTC's phones which need the bootloader unlocker downloaded directly from the HTC website (don't want to lose my insurance coverage over the device). Two, having an Aluminum frame, I question the signal integrity of the device. I remember my Mom's previous HTC had signal issues, and users over at XDA kept saying it was caused by interference from the Aluminum frame. Any truth to this?

 

I wasn't aware that Beats were the standard by which we compare headphones these days The HK stuff is pure software. I bet you could get similar results playing with an EQ app.. So, you'll pay $30 over the base M8 to get the headphones, which apparently retail for ~$80, and the odd black/gold color. So unless you are in need of some headphones..... The M8 is a really nice device overall though!

 

Yeah. I've been doing the research. And the HK M8 is the exact same hardware. Only difference is the HK bloatware. But at this point, I really do plan to make the switch to the M8. This damn KNOX flag thing has got me all rustled. I can probably theme an M8 to look very close to TW. It's a different story to try and get the menu button back. But since it's a softkey, there should be a way.

BTW: I do think Beats is overrated, but still very excellent in sound saturation (mostly in the bass). Sennheiser does outshine Beats, but both in quality and price.

 

Well, my view on that is that at least HTC lets you unlock your bootloader if you so choose. Samsung does not, for any reason. Also, since the One M7, signal interference hasn't been a problem. They redesigned their antennas, including some very complex diversity antennas, with the One and newer.

H/K stuff is software, but the amplifiers that HTC uses with Boomsound are excellent. They output a higher voltage at the headphone port, meaning you can drive almost any headphone, even the professional (high-impedance) cans. That's a thing that only Apple has had claim on. Only the iPhone 4S is able to match the One M7/M8 on output power from the jack.

You can load the H/K software on any One device if you have root, as well as other devices...

I still don't understand why you'd want to theme an HTC with TW. It's bad enough on a Samsung device.

 

Did someone summon me?
It's never too late! Should I get the 2x4?

 

Don't judge me...

Its ok now. HAL and hizzaah were here to bring me to my senses.

 

Well, I drank the Kool-Aid...

It will be some work to get Sense 6 themed to the way I want it. But overall, the M8 is awesome. No lag...ABSOLUTELY NO LAG!

I've never experienced a phone with zero lag before (other than my cousin's iPhone).

All in all, the M8 just feels better. Aluminum over plastic. The softkeys will take some getting used to, but I suppose it's better than having a hardware button which has the potential to fail. Signal strength seems good so far, 2-3 bars at my house. I still have my Airrave so if coverage takes a dive in the next week or so, I will hook it up.

 

Day 2 with the M8 has been a combo of good and bad. Signal and call clarity have been better than I expected. The bad? The M8 came loaded with Twitter and Facebook as system apps. I can't load my own modded version of FB and Twitter without uninstalling those system versions. And each time I uninstall, Sense just reinstalls it instantaneously. Oh, HTC! This is not going to end well, is it?

 

radji in like 2 days:

 

Wow, the LG G3 looks pretty damn good. I'm surprised. I might even reconsider my HTC purchase, the LG just looks too good.

 

It's extremely handsome, and the screen-size-to-physical-size ratio is unbelievable. Look at it next to the HTC One (M8), whose screen is a half-inch smaller.

 

I can't help thinking that upping the screen res but sticking with the 801 SoC won't prove to be the best decision.

Then again, maybe they figured they could cash in on being the first QHD handset to market and sell a load of units before the 805 SoCs hit the market, in which case it may be a very good decision.

 

The only thing I'm worried about is battery life.. 3000mah with that screen, Idk..... Of course there's the upcoming Note 4 and supposed S5 Prime as well.. Not to mention the One+One and Moto X+1 which are pretty intriguing as well.

 

Truer words were never spoken. That high rez a screen should never have been equipped to a phone. It will kill the SoC and the battery. And for what?? You won't be able to tell the difference between an HD and GHD resolution on a 5" screen.

 

Nope. Won't hurt the battery at all. LG uses panel self refresh technology, a more efficient touch layer, and Snapdragon 801. 801 is a more efficient revision of 800, which peaks at just 1.1v at it's highest frequency. 801 is just a better bin. The Adreno 330 should be more than capable of pushing 2560x1440, seeing as how the 801 pushes those pixels with aplomb on other Chinese smartphones with that same resolution already.

There's no reason that it's a bad idea to put that panel on a phone. It's just a better panel than before. I see no reason to berate it, or LG for pushing for better specs. If you want revisions of the same thing over and over and over, go with an iPhone.

I'm more interested in that beautiful auto-focus. LASER-IR!

 

Just for the record, I once thought the VAIO Z2's 13" 1080p panel was "overkill" and far more pixels than anyone really needs. Now I have a 1080p 11.6" laptop and I love it. I can't help but wonder if the G3 will be the same.

 

All this talk of the G3's GPU being too weak... My Atrix 2 could easily run content on a 1080P TV via HDMI.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Exactly, and that was a lowly (now) SGX540.

Adreno 330 is well more than capable.

 

I guess only time will tell how well the Adreno 330 runs the display. But I still think the QHD is way overkill.

 

Of course it's overkill.. This is the same conversation that everyone had when they moved to larger and 1080p screens.. I'm still buying one though

 

Stopped by the Sprint store to check out the G3. Felt a little too big in my hand. But so did the S5. I think that's where my problem lies. The HTC M8 is long, but somewhat slim width wise. So it feels easier to grip than the S5/G3. Putting the M8 and G3 side by side, I can't see a difference in screen clarity when the devices are held 12" away. Doesn't mean the G3 doesn't have better viewing clarity due to it's higher rez screen, I'm just saying it's not really noticeable against an FHD screen.

 

Your sprint store has a G3? I guess I need to see if any stores around me have a display model out

 

I doubt it. It's supposed to show up in June sometime. I was at the big San Diego Sprint store. They have a large repair center there. When I took my SGS 3 in to be repaired, one of the tech supervisors somehow had a G3. I "overheard" him talking about it with his underlings. I went back today and asked if I could compare it to my M8. He very graciously obliged. My M8 definitely felt heavier than the G3, but that may be because of the plastic vs Aluminum thing. Volume buttons on the G3 definitely didn't feel as good as the G2. They're recessed a bit on the G3.

 

I'm using an LG Optimus G from almost 2 years ago and it works great. It does everything I need it to do.

 

Of course it does! (Lolcat meme's don't take up much screen resolution or CPU power)

 

Good enough? Does everything I need it to do? Dammit, is this what we've come to? Dammit, we're geeks. Dual-GPU gaming laptops, multimonitor desktop setups, sub-2-lb ultraportable laptops, games that involve both parkour and jetpacks and giant robots...these are not things that arose because their predecessors were inadequate. These are things that arose because we made something awesomer than awesome, and then repeated the process a few times for good measure!

 

Only thing I didn't like about that device was the battery life. S4 Pro in it's quad configuration was a battery vampire, same goes for the Nexus 4.

 

What is the best browser to see the most usable screen for my android tablet 1280x800 , the stock browser wastes a load of room at the top of the screen and i am sick of scrolling.

Thanks

John.

 

I like Chrome or Chrome Beta

 

Chrome still has the notification bar at the to of the screen and the soft buttons bar at the bottom of the screen also, if i play a video say mx player it`s fullscreen until i touch the screen then the soft buttons show up, i use a bluetooth mouse when i am browsing it`s so much easier.

info and navigation bars are such a waste of screen space there must be a better way of doing it.

John.

 

Dolphin Browser in Fullscreen mode, that's what I use.

 

Dolphin fullscreen works great, the best so far, and it has flash built in so i can view youtube video`s in desktop mode.

Thanks Raji

John.

 

Fair point. I suppose chrome beta hides the nav bar until you start scrolling back up the page, but it definitely doesn't have soft buttons (perhaps determined by device). I haven't used Dolphin in ages, maybe I'll give that another shot.

 

I've been using Firefox for Android and I'm pretty happy with it.

 

Oddball - AOSP browser in immersive mode.

 

I like the AOSP too, but it won't sync to my firefox bookmarks. Dolphin will.

 

Sprint Agrees To Buy T-Mobile For $32 Billion

 

Sprint can finally leave CDMA?

 

What's a good alternative for a Z1 Compact if I've sworn off Samsung and Sony?

 

The Moto G isn't as sexy or as powerful as the Z1 compact, and it's camera is crap, but it's dirt-cheap, got a respectable HD screen, and a minimal skin that keeps things running smoothly. The HTC One Mini 2 has comparable specs to the Moto G except it's not nearly as cheap, it looks nicer, and it's got a 13-megapixel camera that ironically seems to take better pictures than the "ultrapixel" shooters in HTC's flagships. Those are the two I'd consider.

 

Y'know the LG G3's 2560x1440 screen? Here's a huge problem, at least in the short term, with the LG G3 discovered by Engadget:

LG G3 review: the company's best phone yet

I don't want to play Candy Crush Saga itself...but if an app that famous is "incompatible" and can't be installed, how many lesser-known apps that I would want to install are currently in the same situation? It surprises me that it won't just revert to 1280x720 (every four pixels operating as one pixel).

 

I did look at those and neither lit my world on fire. I dunno, maybe it's easier just to go fully back to Windows Phone and stick to Taskering on the Nexus.

 

What Windows Phone device sets your world on fire? WP has been following the 5"-and-larger trend of Android; the only flagship-spec devices are the Icon/929 and the Lumia 1520, which are as big as anything in the Android world.

I'm not anti-WP...particularly with the file manager and Swype-style typing it's getting in 8.1, I like the direction they're headed. I just don't see how they're better than Android on this particular issue (handset size).

 

Yeah, right. Fat chance this deal will survive the Whining Wheeler.

 

Sprint will have to leave CDMA anyway, just a bit after Verizon probably. Plus, since Sprint hasn't really spent any money on improving their CDMA network, it's probably going to be a write-off at some point in the very near future. Voice will switch to T-Mobile's HSPA network, they'll deactivate the Sprint CDMA network and refarm the spectrum, then probably re-allocate part of that for more future LTE capacity.

This is a BIG net gain for T-Mobile. If approval is given, this gives them a LOT of spectrum to play with.

It's a DPI issue. The G3 has an insanely high DPI setting, but it won't break apps. The Play Store just doesn't have that DPI level set as "compatible". You can raise or lower DPI settings at will through the build.prop and as long as you have the actual APK, it will install and run fine.

 

Z2 is like 700 dollars, I want one.