All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion

Any truth to this?

 

Looks right to me, except Blackberry is higher than I expected.

As for the best-selling model, that doesn't surprise me at all. The numerous variants and models from Android manufacturers dilute their total sales among different models, so if you look for a best-selling single model, they're never it. Same reason that for a number of years, GM outsold Toyota, but the Toyota Camry outsold any one single GM sedan (since GM had several sedans that competed with the Camry).

 

Infographic shows the most popular smartphones in North America – Toronto keeps BlackBerry alive

 

I'm a bit surprised by this - the US has generally been the only place left where Apple were number 1.
I guess it depends exactly which group of countries are included in this.

 

SwiftKey is free for Android, as predictive keyboard competition grows - News - Macworld UK

If anybody has not bought it already.

John.

 

And if you already own it, you can download a theme pack that costs new users $5. I still prefer Swype, myself, but Swiftkey is my second favorite keyboard.

 

Second that. I prefer Swype over Swiftkey. I found it is far quicker for a finger doodler such as myself.

 

I find Swype interprets my doodles more accurately, and this may sound trivial, but it gets under my skin...Swiftkey automatically enters a space and a capital letter after every ellipsis. And it can't be turned off. Swype doesn't. For anyone who ever uses ellipses mid-sentence and is a little OCDish, Swiftkey can cause hysteria. True story.

 

Ellipsis are one thing. But Swype has always been able to learn new words from me far more easily than swiftkey. Don't get me wrong, swiftkey can learn new words. But it never really incorporates them into my style of syntax. So if I try and swype the new word it just learned, swiftkey won't ever come up with that new word, and will always keep that new word at the end of the suggestions. Whereas Swype analyzes my word usage and tries to pick out the word I use more frequently, even if it's that new word it just learned. The living language feature on Swype seems to work better in general.

 

More bad news for the LG G3:



LG G3 review: A great phone with way too many pixels | Ars Technica

I was so psyched for this phone, and between this and the "not all apps in the Google Play Store show up as compatible due to the resolution" issue, I'm not remotely interested.

 

What they don't show is the G2 that beats all of them. :/

 

Seriously???

This makes me feel so much better about choosing the M8 over waiting for the G3.

 

Again it shows there aren't really any merits above 720p unless all you do is surf the interwebs on your phone. I think 1080p is honestly the max for "power" users while 99% of the population could make do with a 720p screen.

 

BlackBerry surprises with small profit - The Wall Street Journal - MarketWatch

 

It's not such a surprise after they've trimmed everything down to see sales remaining OK but stable - It's amazing how many holdouts for it I see. Thing is, these guys will retire soon - or the 5.5" iPhone will finally feature an elderly*-thumb-friendly touch keyboard and then all reasons to own a BB will go away.

Plus, I'm bombarded every single day by some 'get x free' offer from Blackberry. If I were to install BES now I could basically do it just for the cost of the handsets - everything else, which I'd have had to pay hundreds a year per handset for previously, is free. The only catch is that we'd need to install BES which doesn't interest me (or more importantly my IT guys) now - though I do like the granularity / security of the BES features, as complicated they are to access. But even if we did, then it means going forwards the only source of revenue for BB would be the handsets since they've just given everything else away - and like Tsunade says below I don't see them selling in volumes.

*i.e. people my age, or basically a decade or so above the prematurely-aged HT

 

Won't reverse the trend. And all our Blackberry phones are the Bold from like 2011, nobody wants the new Blackberry phones.

 

Did you read the article about how RIM is now selling the 2010/11 Bold again? I will have to find that article...

 

On the plus side, Blackberry's probably going to look downright popular compared to Amazon's Fire Phone. Top-tier pricing; midrange specs; bottom-tier app selection, UI polish/execution, and OEM reputation for supporting devices, and it's key "feature," Firefly (which allows you to scan any item you see and have an option to one-click-buy it on Amazon.com) is more about benefitting Amazon itself than benefiting the end user?

This is probably a worse phone than Facebook's HTC First. At least that was priced like the midrange device it was and gave you access to multiple Android app stores, including the Play Store.

 

Yeah, that was my reaction when I saw the hands-on for the Fire Phone. Can't imagine why 99% of consumers would even consider the device.

On another note, my contract is almost up for my GS3. Now there's nothing wrong with my phone and I'm actually very happy with it, but still considering my upgrade options:

- Samsung Galaxy S5: The most logical upgrade option, I think. Solid specs, with one of the best screens on the market now (I've very partial to AMOLED displays) and probably the best Android camera. But the TouchWiz interface and same old design is rather boring, and I'm hesitant to stick with more of the same for two more years.
- HTC One M8: Looks great, and has the best skinned Android experience available at the moment. But its camera is lackluster to say the least, and it's just so huge for the screen size.
- LG G3: Solid specs and fantastic use of available space on the phone. Not so sure about LG's Android skin, and again, a rather plastic-y design.

Now if there were actually a Galaxy S5 Prime with a metal build, I'd probably be all over it...

 

I'm betting the S5 Prime is much like the Korean-market S5 LTE-A, which has upgraded internals and upgraded resolution but the same plastic back as the regular S5. Samsung Confirms Galaxy S5 LTE-A Won’t See US Release

And don't forget that the Moto X+1 is coming. I suspect it'll have a plastic build like the X, but the X had one of the most solid, ergonomic plastic cases I've ever felt; nothing like my Galaxy S3. Also, despite Lenovo's ownership, they're sticking with the minimalist skin of the Moto X, but this time with a 5.2" 1080p screen and Snapdragon 800. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/moto-x1-leaked-new-video-runs-snapdragon-800-soc-has-1080p-screen-1453474

 

Sony Z2?

 

I was going to say--where does the Z2 fit in here?

 

One month with my M8 and the only real complaint I have is the camera ( cameras?). It down right sucks. And I am still having growing pains getting used to Sense 6. I would like to have my menu button all the time. But I was able to find a flipcase for it. And HAL was right, the audio through the headphones Jack is something magical.

If Samsung had fixed Touchwiz to not look so runny, I would have stuck with it, KNOX flag be damned. But as such, Sammy is more concerned with preventing users from getting root than actually fixing the UI.

 

As far as the US is concerned, it is as mythical as the unicorn. We know it exists, we know it's magnificent, but will probably never see it in our lifetime.

 

You can buy the Z2 unlocked, it just costs 600+ dollars.

 

I'm on contract (grandfathered into a very low-priced AT&T family plan), so it makes no sense for me to buy the Z2 unlocked--it's out of the running unless AT&T gets it.

I saw that announcement, I'm hoping there's another version coming later on. We'll have to see, I guess.

Moto X+1 doesn't sound bad, but again, if it's only available unlocked, it may not make sense for me to get one when I can get a subsidized upgrade. The X1's camera wasn't great either, so I'll be looking forward to see if it's gotten any significant upgrades with the X+1.

Right, those are basically my thoughts. If HTC had put a half-decent camera in there, the decision would've been much easier.

Thanks for the input, all.

 

I don't see the Moto X+1 as being an unlocked-only phone. The X was available subsidized on the five largest carriers in the US, if I remember correctly. It certainly was available subsidized on US Cellular.

The camera quality is my main reservation about the X+1 as well; my wife's Moto X's camera is adequate, but not NEARLY as nice as my Galaxy S3's.

 

Hey guys, haven't really spent much time here in a while, to put it lightly.

Anyway, my Galaxy Nexus is being real screwy when it comes to mobile data. Long story short, the data works fine on WiFi and any time I have the "H" above my signal bars, which I assume means 4G. Unfortunately, while I get 4G coverage pretty reliably at home (where I already have WiFi), the place I tend to rely on my phone the most (at work) is not so well covered, and so 90% of the time the "H" becomes "3G". Also unfortunately, my phone has absolutely zero data connection of any sort while it's in 3G mode. Like, literally no data of any sort will go in or out, including internet data, texts, and calls. This means my phone is useless for the vast majority of the large part of every day I spend at work. If I go to Settings > About Phone > Status, it still says my Service State is In Service, it identifies my network as T-Mobile, and lists a signal strength (I have no idea what the numbers mean, but they don't seem vastly different from what they are when I do have "H" coverage). Everything looks normal, it just...doesn't work. On very rare occasions, the "3G" will drop to "E", which I believe means 2G. Every now and then I get some data through in E mode (texts will send, websites will load, though it takes a good 10 minutes). Also, sometimes the bars will read "3G", but when I try to use any data, like opening Facebook, it will change to "H", and everything will load just fine.

In addition to this, virtually every time I try to get some data through in 3G mode (try to open Facebook, send a text or anything), within a few minutes, the "3G" will drop from my signal bars entirely and the bars themselves will change from blue to gray. Now, another strange symptom: if I shut my phone completely off or remove the battery and power it back on, it almost always comes on in "H" mode, but it lasts literally about 30 seconds before dropping back to 3G and losing all ability to send or receive anything. Frankly, it's getting pretty infuriating. My phone is a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, bought a couple years ago directly from the Google Play store (about a week before they announced it was getting replaced by the Nexus 4 for the same price, just my luck), and my service is with T-Mobile. Unfortunately, T-Mobile won't help me with this because my phone was not bought through them and it's not a model that they sell, so I'm relying on you guys.

If any of you can offer any insight as to what my issue is and how I might go about resolving it, I would really appreciate it.

 

Just to rule out any software issues, yesterday I did a complete factory restore. No difference Halp!

 

Dial *#*#4636#*#*
Tap Phone Info
Select WCDMA Only under the options menu.

See what that does for you. When you lose data connectivity from moving to 3G (HSDPA) from H (HSPA) it's usually an APN issue.

 

I dialed that in but nothing happened. Tried hitting Send, and it just said the call could not be completed.

 

You shouldn't have to hit send with one of those dialer codes. If it doesn't work once you enter the full exact code, try this app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kei5rio.secretcode&hl=en

Then follow the steps HAL posted.

 

Google's Android L: 'One of the most comprehensive releases we have done' | Technology | theguardian.com

John

 

Samsung and Google team up to integrate KNOX into Android’s next major release | SamMobile

If all of Android gets locked up by that f-ing KNOX bootloader, I am GOING TO BLOW GOOGLE TO SMITHEREENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I doubt all of Android would incorporate that. That goes against what Nexus has really stood for.

 

"Android for Work" sounds a lot like Knox to me. Android for Work

So what do people think of the new "Material Design UI"? I like it, but I also liked Metro, which basically kicked off this flat-design craze: Google's new 'Material Design' UI coming to Android, Chrome OS and the web

 

It hits all the pretentious designer notes for sure. Will appeal to iOS developers looking to cross-platform.

Still prefer the purity of Metro, but designers on Win platforms aren't really exploring it a lot as unfortunately one might expect.

 

It looks too much like Chrome, hate it.

 

Alright, I got into that hidden test menu and changed that setting. No difference. :/

 

Overall, I like it, and I like Metro as well. I do think there's a bit too much "wasted space" here and there, but I'll wait until I start using it to make final judgment.

Agreed. We've seen far more UI innovation and good design on iOS and Android apps, not so much with Windows. There's only a handful of apps that I think use Metro very well.

Anyone else excited about Android Wear? Specifically the Moto 360? Even out in the real world, the Moto 360 looks fantastic. I think there's a lot of potential for Android Wear, and I'm definitely thinking hard about getting the 360 when it comes out.

 

gotta have a more premium band for it, but it doesn't look bad. The case diameter will probably be the killing factor for me and my tiny girl wrists

 

What other people call "wasted space," I call "negative space," and think it's useful to avoid information overload, particularly on a smartphone screen. That's one of the things I really liked about the design of Windows Phone 7, even though it had a number of technical drawbacks. Android sometimes takes a more-is-better approach to information density, and I think that can be a mistake.

I think the Moto 360 looks great, but I wonder how many Android Wear apps will work well without a square screen, and I wonder just how big it is in real life. A lot of these smartwatches appear to be ginormous.

 

I am excited about the Moto 360. That is one smart watch I wouldn't mind wearing. But like Hizzaah, I want more than some plain leather band. I actually like the band they used in the mockup rendering. It complements the 360 better than any leather band ever will.

And I don't have girly wrists...

 

With a face that large and thick, you NEED a chunky metal band for aesthetic balance. I wasn't as impressed with yesterday's display of the Moto 360 as I was the original unveil, and I didn't put my finger on why until radji's post: they showed the watch yesterday with a leather band instead of a chunky metal one.

Hopefully, that's an easy issue to fix (through purchase options or third-party bands), and this isn't some proprietary band situation like the Galaxy Gear.

 

I dunno. I would prefer having a square face as a less compromised piece of technology. Also these giant dial watches... I actually tried a U-Boat on my wrist not so long ago and it was only then I totally understood why they're regarded as watches for [feminine hygiene product]s.

 

Vogelbung must have girly wrists.

 

I've found several articles stating that US Cellular rolled out its 4.4.2 update for the Galaxy S3 OTA about a month ago. These articles all state that if your device doesn't pick up the upgrade automatically, you can make the phone upgrade by "plugging it into a computer." Can someone explain in a little more detail what exactly I need to be doing? I've plugged my phone into my computer (microUSB to USB connection), and still nothing's happening in terms of an update.

Here's an example:

U.S. Cellular Samsung Galaxy S3 gets KitKat update | Android Central

 

You need to use Samsung's desktop manger software - Kies.

If you're updating to 4.4, I'm assuming you're on 4.3 already? If so, you need to use Kies 3.0.
3.0 only works with devices running 4.3 and later but because it drops legacy support ( Kies 2.6 supports all pre-4.3 Android devices, Bada, Symbian and maybe even WinMo handsets plus I think some non-smartphones) it's much less bloated and much more stable/reliable than older versions of Kies which, rightly, have a really poor reputation.

 

US Cellular just told me that Samsung recalled the 4.4 update for the Galaxy S3 due to it breaking wifi. So that mystery is solved.

 

Oh god please don't use Kies to do OTA updates, it has a high potential of screwing it up. Last time I used Kies to update my Blaze 4G from 2.3 to 4.0, I had to restore to factory settings because it was so messed up.