All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion

Now we've just got to get him to give up the gold iPhone.

Launcher: Sense 6.0 (It's starting to grow on me)
Keyboard: Swype
Camera: Stock App (will have to try Procapture 2.0)
Calendar: TouchFree Calendar
Device Music Player: Poweramp
Media/Video Player: MX Player
Browser: Dolphin Browser

 

It's brilliant on my Galaxy S3, but it doesn't take better photos than the stock app on my wife's Moto X. It's effect on quality seems to be highly device-specific.

 

Customizability for every workflow is the main reason I like Android, much more so than either Windows Phone (although I like WP's overall aesthetic) or iPhone. I can set it up to be very efficient, which was a big reason why my first smartphone was a BlackBerry. Another major reason is great integration with Google services, particularly GMail + GCal.

And since we've gotten started listing these apps...

Launcher: Nova Launcher Prime (in CyanogenMod 11)
Keyboard: SwiftKey/Google Chinese
Camera: Stock CyanogenMod Camera App (it works, but definitely not as good as the stock Samsung camera app)
Calendar: AOSP Calendar (basically Google Calendar) + Event Flow Calendar Widget + Calendar Widget
Music Player: Google Play Music
Browser: AOSP Browser + Firefox

 

Finally got around to doing a little S5/G3 comparison at Target.. It's hard to get a feel for form factor when they have the anti-theft brackets on them, but I liked the buttons on the back of the G3. That being said, I was hoping the slimmer bezels on the G3 would make the 5.5" screen a lot easier to maneuver with one hand than on my Note 2, I just didn't feel like it made that much of a difference. Beyond that, the screen on the S5 was great. Sure, the G3 has higher res, but the difference isn't incredibly noticeable with the two different screen sizes (sure, there was something different, but the colors on the S5 really grabbed me more than the res on the G3). Plus, my Note 2 is 720p so the 1080p on the S5 would still be big jump. The S5 was relased 4 months ago, so I think I'll see what's around the corner (namely the Nexus 6 and Moto X+1). This is the longest I've held on to the same phone in very long time

 

And don't forget that Samsung has the Note 4 coming out on September 3rd and the Galaxy Alpha coming out in the immediate future as well.

 

Is there any way to get recent text messages off my S3 SCH-i535 without using my screen. The LCD and digitizer broke on my phone and I need the phone number of someone who texted me the day before. I'm not sure if USB debugging is on or off, and the phone isn't rooted. I can't wait until a new screen shows up, I need the numbers ASAP.

 

Are you a Google Voice user by any chance?

https://support.google.com/chat/answer/187933

 

I just disabled LTE on my Galaxy S3. Settings > more networks > mobile networks > network mode. The effect on battery life is AMAZING. It's been disconnected from the charger for 5.5 hours so far of light-to-moderate use and my battery is still at 89%. And there's no effect on usability; I generally only watch streaming video in places where I have wifi anyways, and nothing else seems uncomfortably slow. Anyone else done this?

 

Found that out when I took my flights to Seattle and back. Watching movies in airplane mode for 4 hours only sucked down 9% of the battery.

If you don't have fastboot or adb, you will need to call your carrier to see if they keep a record of the texts.

 

This is probably the best way, carriers usually keep a record of what numbers you texted/received texts from. For AT&T, you can easily look it up in your wireless account on their website.

 

Last time I tried this they swore up and down they didn't have them. Guess I'm going to have to call the NSA.

 

Spint, SoftBank to Sell Sony Xperia Phone (Phone Scoop)

Damn! If this is true, maybe I should've waited for a few months before upgrading.

 

Here's why you shouldn't text and drive

Warning! This is a bit GRAPHIC!

 

Imagination adds new 64-bit MIPS CPU to line up | News | TechRadar

John

 

So in the past 48 hours, we've seen the Note 4, the Note Edge, the Z3, the Z3 Compact, the 2014 Moto X, and the 2014 Moto G. What's your favorite new model and why?

In terms of tech demos advancing the possibilities of what smartphones can be, I love the Note Edge. I would love to see a persistent launcher or open-app manager on that edge (which, being slanted away, wouldn't be accidentally hit by my finger while interacting with the open app). Think of it as being the Android equivalent of the Windows Taskbar. I could see that hardware format opening up all sorts of options if other models adopt it and developers start catering to it. But I see it as a tech demo or a public beta--I see potential but it could also end up going nowhere.

But in terms of a phone I'd want to buy tomorrow (not hypothetical because I'm eligible for a subsidized upgrade with US Cellular right now), the 2014 Moto X is seriously compelling. $99 on-contract price for a 5.2" 1080p screen, Snapdragon 801, seriously-upgraded camera, near-Nexus software experience, aluminum rim, and optional wood or real-leather backs. Yummy!

 

^^^Most people right now are lining up for the new iWatch...which I expect to initially cost $1000 and not be able to tell the time without purchasing a separate app from the App store. Unless of course you were to buy the Rolex-edition iWatch for a quarter of a million dollars. Then you'd get the clock app for free along with a swanky pair of headphones.



But I digress...the Z3 is the most appealing to me. Kudos to Sony for not following the fad of ridiculously high screen resolutions on a 5" screen. I'm gonna have to disagree with Tsuname though in that sometimes its better to have more megapixels than bigger megapixels. Case in point, the camera on the Z3 looks sharp...the camera on my M8 sucks all to hell.

 

Mysterious Phony Cell Towers Could Be Intercepting Your Calls | Popular Science

 

Welp, so much for a smart watch...

 

Follow the articles to the source. The only evidence that fake cellphone towers exist is because ESD America has detected them with their so-called CryptoPhone. The only known protection from these "fake towers" is...to buy a CryptoPhone from ESD America for $3,500 (roughly ten times the cost of the Galaxy S3 that ESD America's "CryptoPhone" is based on). Basically, it's a snake-oil sales pitch from ESD America that inadvertently got picked up by the mainstream media.

 

New Moto X is tempting... They better have vastly improved the camera though. Replaceable battery and micro SD slot are on my must have list now. Also, the quick charge feature scares me. Doesn't rapid charging usually come with adverse affects on battery life? I'd be game if the battery was easily replaceable..

 

I've got a friend with the Moto X and he says he loves it. Out of all the new phones I've looked at I actually like it the most. I'm currently using a razr M and I think it runs circles around my old Samsung S3.

 

I'm pretty sure I'm going to ditch my Nexus 5 for the new Moto X. After waiting for reviews of course, particularly around signal strength/antenna quality.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

ArsTechnica has some sample photos with the new Moto X here:

Hands-on: Moto G and Moto X get big screen updates—but not new names | Ars Technica

Better than the 2013 Moto X, but still trailing Samsung/Sony/Nokia/Apple by a wide margin.

 

Moto360's already sold out.

Nor do they have the metal wrist band available for it yet.

Motorola, you're 2 strikes out on your 360...don't get another.

 

crazy problems with my Note 2.. It was working fine all morning, went to grab lunch and I was using bt to stream to my radio. Then the music started cutting out, the bt would disconnect and then reconnect a few seconds later. I caught the tail end of some kind of memory error popup that said fatal error. After I got home I started trying to mess with it and realized it no longer had a Settings icon. I opened Titanium Backup and it said the the Device ID had changed..? I tried to power down the phone and all the options on the pop up menu said "error" so I just pulled the battery.

Took a while to boot again but when it did I popped up with an Android Updating screen for a few seconds and then loaded. I appears all my settings have changed yet all my apps remain. It no longer recognizes pressing the home button, but the soft keys still work. It seems like I'm not booting completely into my rom or somthing. On the pop up power menu I only have the option to power off and reboot whereas before I had many more options.

Any ideas? I hope it's not a hardware issue.. I assume I'm going to have to re-flash?

Edit: wipe and new rom fixed the issue..

 

Nope. Shouldn't have. The M8 is literally the best phone on the market currently, and when you bought it. Why have regrets? If you like the new Xperia, just buy it when it comes out.

Rapid charge is a feature supported by Li-Po batteries, the PMIC on Snapdragon, and in the newer USB ports on phones. You shouldn't have a single problem with longevity.

It runs circles because it's OS is ~95% more lean than TouchWiz, and Motorola uses some very specific Dalvik optimizations that no other OEM's are using.

/data was corrupted by an errant app. Look at what apps you have installed because it'll do it again.

 

You're right. I do love my M8. I feel good about getting it over a Galaxy S4/5. I do like the new Xperia. Especially those little rubber bumpers Sony put on the corners (given that is where I tend to drop my phone on). I also give praise to Sony for not pushing hard ahead with a 2K or 4K screen on a 5" screen size (Why, I ask... WHY???). Plus, Sony has always been good on sticking with a UI that doesn't slow down Android overall. Not that my S3 was slow with Touchwiz.

I worry about the rapid charge feature as well. Knowing what happens with normal rechargeable batteries when charged too fast, I will reserve judgement until after Moto X users try such a feature.

 

I've been using manually enabled rapid charge in my kernels since the Note2/S3 and I've had no problems. It's a blessing on the G2 because it takes forever to charge otherwise. HTC enables it by default on the M8 when you're not using it. If you're using it, it switches to a lower charging voltage so it doesn't heat up as bad.

 

Doesn't take much of an overcharge or overdischarge to cause thermal runaway.

 

Anyone else have issues with micro usb chargers? My wife has seriously gone through have a dozen in the last 3 months. I swear she does something with them. It's aggregating because she always grabs mine... I'm rapidly depleting my micro usb cord stash. Now I have to use one cord for my portable headphone amp, two phones, wireless mouse.

Anyone else have this problem? I haven't seem to broke any, had the same charger for years till my wife used it last month. I have no idea what she's doing but my wife is chewing through them like crazy.

Tomorrow I'm going to go buy a bunch of them. Or just purchase them on Amazon.

/rant

Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk

 

Maybe her brick is shorting the USB cables?

 

I think she must pull it out at an angle. She killed a charger I had for years that had no brink. Just straight wall charger. That was just one of many. I ended up ordering another 4 cords on Amazon

Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk

 

What is Type-C USB 3.1? Faster charging, quicker data, smaller mobiles and the death of AC laptop chargers - Pocket-lint

 

So, after months of having zero luck fixing either my phone or my service, I'm settled on ditching T-Mobile and my Galaxy Nexus. I'm planning on getting AT&T because they're the only carrier that consistently has coverage in all the places I spend time, while T-Mobile gets me great reception at home and not much else. The phone itself still keeps dropping all signal as soon as it enters 3G mode, giving me an average of 5 minutes of usable time when I reboot the phone before it drops again.

Right now I'm paying $50 per month with no contract for unlimited calls and messages, and 1GB of data at 4G, throttling down to 2G if I go beyond that. Granted, it's mostly because I simply CAN'T use any data on this phone the vast majority of the time outside of WiFi, but my average data use hovers between 50 and 100MB per month. If the way I'm reading AT&T's pricing is correct, I'd pay $20 per month for an unlimited call/text and 1GB data plan, plus $40 per month to have a smartphone, minus $15 per month if I don't get a contract for a data plan under 10GB, for a grand total of $55 per month for basically the same plan. As for a phone, I'm mostly looking at four options: the Nexus 5, Galaxy S5, LG G3, and HTC One M8. The Nexus 5 I would have to get from Google directly, and it's much cheaper overall than the other options, but after the crap I've had to deal with from this Galaxy Nexus, I'm a bit wary of going for the cheaper option. The other three are all way too expensive for me to buy outright, but I could buy it via AT&T Next and pay it off for about $25 per month for two years.

So, what would you guys recommend?

Is your wife a rabbit? My bun makes short work of any sort of cable she manages to get to.

 

Mastershroom, have you looked at Straight Talk? AT&T coverage for $45 plus fees. I've been on ST for over a year without any issues.

 

I did look at that, but that doesn't have the option for a payment plan on the phone itself.

 

You could get an older SIM card phone?

 

True. A first gen Moto G can be had for a little over $100, and a second gen for $179.

 

Yeah, I know I could get something older and cheaper. But I'm actually kinda set on getting something closer to high-end this time; I've always gone from budget phone to budget phone, and paid the price. My current Galaxy Nexus at $350 is the best phone I've ever had, and even when it was new it wasn't top of the line.

 

If you take a liking to the new Moto X, Motorola offers 18 month no interest. Not exactly T-Mobile EIP, but close.

 

A friend has a Nexus 5, and I've played around with it and it seems quite quality. Colors aren't quite as vibrant on, say, my wife's Moto X, but they're nevertheless pretty good. And he seems to adore the phone and it was quite speedy when I played with it.

If you can live with a mediocre camera, the first-gen Moto X is downright superb otherwise and can be had for a song now that the second-gen model is coming out. My wife's had hers for a year or so without a single hiccup--and she typically projects a magic field that breaks electronics. And it's blazing-fast and lag-free in day-to-day use. Yes, it's only 720p, but with that screen size you're not going to see individual pixels even with 720p.

 

If I want to buy the Sony Xperia Z3, Should I go ahead and purchase it from a UK website and have it imported or wait for Sony to eventually release it? Thoughts?

 

I'd wait for an official US-market release, in case yours is defective and you need to make a warranty claim (this can happen with any brand, any model; I'm not singling out Sony or the Z3 here).

 

Thanks man. Appreciate the advice.

 

I might be able to help you out as well. The Z3 and Z3 Compact is expected to be available from Norwegian retailers on the 30th of September. Some of them are bundling the phone with Sony's MDR-10RC headphones at no additional charge.

 

I actually prefer the Z2 look (less curvy) over the Z3. Honestly the 801 isn't a huge deal breaker for me.

 

It depends on what's important to you when you choose a smartphone. S801-based devices will be more than adequate for day-to-day tasks, both now and for a long time to come. I'm just not the kind of person that's able to settle for such a justification, knowing just how big a performance leap the Adreno 420 in the S805 is, nevermind actually using the extra power. At least the upcoming SoC will provide a longer battery life and better Android L optimizations, which is something everyone's able to appreciate.

 

You going to be buying this phone convel?

 

I'm not discontent with my current phone, so I'll hold off until an S805 contender joins the arena. I have a feeling Sony or LG will get my money this time around. Maybe HTC if they choose to depart from their UltraPixel camera strategy.