All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion

I easily stay under my 2 GB soft cap

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

For the first time I'm getting text message ! Failed response when I send, but still can receive texts. Multiple failures with different contacts. A quick internet search offered no quick solutions. Any ideas?

Edit: System outage. It's back up.

 

Great news today:

Unlocking Cell Phones Is Once Again Legal (Phone Scoop)

 

Google Now Launcher is now available in the Play Store for all Android devices 4.1 and higher, not just Nexus devices. I've got it on my phone. It has a similar overall feel to Nova, though a bit less customizeable but a bit more refined-looking. In terms of smoothness on my GS3, it's a step back from Nova but still two steps forward from Touchwiz Home. "Okay Google" functionality doesn't seem to work.

EDIT: "Okay Google" functionality isn't working on my GS3, and there's no unread counts like TeslaUnread offers for Nova. Boo.

On the other hand, being able to go left from the main home screen straight into Google Now is useful for anyone who uses Google Now.

 

I don't really see anything in Google Now Launcher that I can't already get in Nova Launcher. I do use Google Now, but I think I can live with using a gesture or long-pressing the menu button to open it. It's nice to see it released for all phones though. I never really understood why Google restricted it to just the Nexus 5/other Nexus devices.

 

I'm getting around 2 days. Depends on if I have the screen on all the time or timed-out-complete-screen-off. I usually get around a day and a half.

 

The only thing I've discovered in Google Now Launcher that I can't do with Nova is swipe left to get into Google Now. And like you said, there are other single-action ways to launch Google Now from Nova (put an icon in the dock, for example).

However, one big advantage of Google Now Launcher isn't for super-competent power users, but the general public. Nova Settings is a labyrinth of settings that can really mess up your user experience if someone sets them wrong. Google Now Launcher is a huge step up user-experience-wise from TouchWiz Home, but is far more approachable (and far more idiot-proof) for your average lay user than Nova is.

 

I think my dad got the TMO version of the M8... My CID is T-MOB009. Is that a bad thing? I'm in Portugal where T mobile doesn't even exist, is there any way to flash it/turn it into an European model? My phone is unlocked and unbranded.

 

If it's unlocked, then it shouldn't matter. The carrier variant only signifies what frequencies the radio is capable of broadcasting on.

 

Aren't most flagship phones quad band? It should work in most parts of the world unless it's got firmware that locks down the other bands.

 

In that case, can I make my M8 into an European? They have more updated fw (4.4.3) and the Rom version is also a step higher.

Like here : [GUIDE] Return your European M8 to 100% Stoc… | HTC One (M8) | XDA Forum

 

The firmware is definitely not the same as the radio hardware is not all the same.

HTC One (M8) specs

Down at the bottom of the page, it does list the T-Mobile variant as having a different radio, but that's it.

Still, be cautious flashing a firmware that's a different carrier than what your phone's manufactured for.

 

One thing I know it could affect, Phistachio, are the updates. Different regions (Europe, Asia, etc.), different carriers (T-Mobile, O2, etc), etc. can get different release dates/changes/etc. However it really depends on how HTC does it.

 

That's why I don't have LTE in France...

Should I return it?

Edit : Actually I think it's ok.. I mean, the phone is working wonderfil, I don't think I need this!

 

I thought i'd post and see if anyone could explain why my Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 8.0 would suddenly appear to lag and stutter throughout the UI? It started yesterday after I did an "erase all reset". Stuttering is present with or without "Power Saving Mode" enabled.

If I go into settings or change the wallpaper or go into the Play Store the UI just skips and stutters. I even went so far as to perform another erase all reset followed by a hardware reset and clearing out the partition cache. Still the same.

I got a better response by using the Google Now Launcher. It's smoother with that launcher than TouchWiz. Is there something i'm missing or perhaps try? Is there a way to launch TRIM on the tablet to try and help the performance?

 

Depends on where you will be traveling with your M8. The T-Mobile variant is gsm based, so getting it to work on your network is a snap, obviously. The really important question is what frequencies will your LTE be on in France, Brussels, Madeira, etc.

 

Touchwiz Home is an evil launcher that introduces lag and stutters randomly and without rhyme or reason. I have that issue on my Galaxy S3 as well. Swapping out the Touchwiz Home launcher for either Nova Launcher Prime or Google Now Launcher makes all those stutters magically disappear; no need to flash a ROM to get rid of the rest of Touchwiz.

 

Agreed re: Touchwiz and just like that the stuttering has settled down. I tried Apex, Nova and Google Now. I actually prefer to stay with Touchwiz as there are a few features I really like. One of which is multi-window.

Of the three launchers, Google Now is more integrated with Android for obvious reasons and Nova offers the most flash and eye candy. You are right that using a different launcher other than Touchwiz smooths out the UI.

 

Multiwindow is not part of the Touchwiz Home launcher. You can use multi-window on Samsung devices regardless of whether you're using Touchwiz Home, Google Now Launcher, or Nova as your launcher.

 

It's interesting, apparently I have the TMO Poland M8, but according to PA I only have LTE Bands 4 and 17, and in Poland 3 and 38 are the ones used. Does it mean I still have the European M8 but with TMO CID? My carrier in Portugal (MEO) uses 3/20 and I get LTE.


Both Belgium and France use Band 3, just like Portugal.

Also, besides numbers, are there any software differences between TMO and European ROMs?

 

That's all convoluted.

I can't say for sure what your M8 will do if you flash a radio meant for a different carrier.

HTC One (M8) (GSM) Specs, Features (Phone Scoop)

Phonescoop lists 2 hardware specific variants. A GSM one, and a CDMA one. I know for a fact there is a third meant for Asia because it has a different CPU.

France is purported to use LTE at 800 (band 20), 1800 (band 3), and 2600 (band 7). If the TMO Poland M8 only uses 1800 (band 3), then that would be a radio firmware restriction. One would think you could S-off and flash an international radio, but I just don't know for sure. I am sure, though, because you have a GSM version, you can flash another GSM radio that would open up the LTE bands you need.

I know you will have to have S-Off and SUPERCID set to 111111 to flash the international radio.

[RADIO] HTC One M8 Radio collection for diff… | HTC One (M8) | XDA Forum

 

I want to go pick up a new sim card that supports Isis. Do I have to unroot before they'll give me one? I know I have to unroot or figure out the loophole before Isis will work, but I wanted to get this new sim before i go on my trip. Will they check or care when I go into the store to ask for one?

 

I honestly don't want to do that just yet, it's way too new haha Is there a way to check from the phone what LTE bands I can use?

Also, if there are no differences between EU and TMO version of the ROM, then I think I won't be changing anything. If I see that LTE doesn't work in Belgium with a Belgian SIM card, then I will.

 

Only by checking which modem firmware you have. There may not be any difference between the TMO and EU Roms, but there is a major difference between the modem firmwares. Different modem firmware versions disable different LTE bands on the device.

 

Blackphone gets rooted in under 5 minutes at BlackHat security conference

 

I've only been using Android for a couple of days, but I'm already finding it to be a pain in the butt.

Half the time when I press "shift", it functions as caps lock, the other time it functions as shift. I have no way of knowing what it's going to do.

I tried to type "What? Blasphemy!" as a response to someone and I could not get that B capitalized, no matter what. Arggh...

 

Ichy???

Android?!?!

Blasphemy!!!

Change your keyboard over to Swype. Your will be much happier in the long run.

BTW - what Android device did you get?

 

Cool, I will check out Swype

And I ended up getting the Sony Xperia Z2. It was either that or a Samsung Galaxy Tab, but I just liked the Sony better.

 

SwiftKey master race checking in.

 

I found swiftkey to be both tedious and less accurate than Swype.

 

I don't know which keyboard you're using, but generally, a single-tap sets it to shift; a double-tap sets it to caps lock. Look for a line under the up-arrow; the line designates that caps lock is on.

Also remember that Android keyboards, unlike iOS keyboards, display the case of letters you're about to type. If the letters are displaying as capital letters, it's already set to input your next character as a capital letter (such as when starting a new sentence, when many keyboards will auto-capitalize), so you don't have to hit shift to capitalize. In fact, doing so can inadvertently put you into caps lock mode.

Like radji, my favorite keyboard is Swype. Swiftkey and Google Keyboard are both decent as well (I personally prefer Swype to Swiftkey, but those two are generally regarded as the best). Samsung's stock keyboard, not so much. Never tried Sony's stock keyboard.

 

I dunno what keyboard is default on a Sony Android device. (and forgive my crude language) Sony's Android keyboard can't be any worse than the retarded speak and spell that is the Gnusmas Droid keyboard.

I think I know where Ichy's coming from. Sometimes I have gremlin issues with Swype on sites that use HTML code in their text boxes. Forums are notorious and NBR is no exception. Sometimes what you type into the keyboard is not what appears on the screen. Sometimes I type in a capital letter and it reverts back to lower case. It only happens in browser and on certain pages.

 

Awesome! I expect a full review of the Z2 at some point

 

Don't hold your breath. He's notorious for returning his lappys. I expect no less than 3 tablet returns from him this time around.

 

SwiftKey is my keyboard of choice on Android. With the recent efficiency/speed upgrades and the move to a free/in-app purchases model, it's even more compelling than before. Plus, the default theme is no longer butt-ugly.

 

I like google keyboard. I've tried Swiftkey several times but the auto correct is very aggressive.

It'll correct something it shouldn't but unlike Google keyboard it won't let me fix a few letters in the "correction" by deleting. It then becomes a frustrating game of typing the same word over again in hopes it gets it right.

Swype and other "sliding keyboards" don't do it for me...I can't "trust" the process with those. And having to think about where my sliding thumb is going takes too much brain power

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Yeah I think the problem was that it was already set to capitals (like @Mitlov said about it displaying capital letters already--I'm an iOS user, so I wasn't accustomed to that) and I was pressing it again and putting it on Caps Lock. I still downloaded the other keyboard though.

So far I'm really liking this tablet. The Samsung's faster processor was enticing, but meh...this one seems fast enough and I just prefer the Sony software.

Also, what is your guys' preferred browser for Android? I'm finding I don't really like Chrome much. I couldn't get adblock to install (whereas it works on Firefox) and some websites weren't displaying well on Chrome (whereas they were displaying fine on Firefox). Although I find Firefox to be a tad slow. Nonetheless I haven't been using the browser that much anyhow.

 

I use Dolphin browser. It syncs my bookmarks and tabs/pages from Firefox.

 

I mainly use the AOSP browser in CyanogenMod. Back when I was on the stock Samsung firmware, though, I used the FireFox browser. Not the fastest, but has all the features I need and syncs well with my desktop browser.

 

I used Firefox for a while and thought it was pretty good. I know a lot of people like Dolphin, but it's been unstable for me. I'm currently using Chrome, but I'm not excessively loyal to it.

 

Thanks guys I've downloaded several, but I do seem to be using Firefox the most.

Also, I was pretty disappointed in OneNote for Android until today when they came out with an update that vastly improved it. It's kind of funny--they basically changed everything I was thinking of...

 

I've had a OnePlus One for about two weeks now and this is a really good phone...

I'm really shocked at the premium quality and at a non-premium price...

If you get the opportunity to buy one I strongly recommend getting it...

 

I've now realized that while dolphin browser rocks, dolphin jetpack is nuthin but a dried up piece o s***! Everything runs so much better with jetpack turned off.

 

Waiting for an invite/public release. I find my nexus 5 just a little too small.

I tried dolphin browser once a long while ago. I've stick to Chrome mobile since then. Might give it another try.

 

There's another contest...
https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/summer-shots-contest-invites-and-t-shirts-inside.94526/

 

So my M8 just got the update pushed and is now on 2.23.118.3. I guess I won't be doing no SuperCID, OTA updates seem fast enough!

 

You should still check and see what lte band it tends to use.

Signal lite told me that Sprint's tri-band lte has not hit our area yet.

 

I'm in Portugal and my carrier uses band 3, just like the rest of Europe and I get LTE coverage everywhere I go. I guess Nice just didn't have LTE coverage. I'm going to Brussels next week and I ordered a Belgian SIM card from Mobile Vikings carrier which uses Base's network, and they use Band 3.

I actually was mistaken - all of Europe uses the HTC One M8 EU version. The T-Mobile HTC One is only in America as it uses bands 4 & 17, exactly what TMO US uses.

 

I just decided to bite the bullet and apply the OTA on my M8.

And what do I get for my troubles?

 

And we have another Android convert! Because this is how it starts. The best thing IMO about Android isn't Google Now baked in or anything like that. It's that, for everything you do, there's a multitude of software options, and if you experiment, you can find the one that you like best and go with that. It might not be the same as the next person over with the same phone. But that's okay. The OS is flexible like that and can accommodate a bunch of individual tastes.

For me, it's:
Launcher: Nova Launcher Prime
Keyboard: Swype
Camera: ProCapture 2.0
Calendar: Business Calendar Pro
Locally-stored-music player: PlayerPro
Browser: Chrome (which is not the factory default browser on Samsung devices)

Etc...