All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion

The MicroSD debate is really stupid against iPhone, Apple mobile devices never had it to begin with, so it's not like it's a huge minus. And as it's been stated before, most flagship phones are not coming with MicroSD card slots. I bought an iPhone even knowing well of the lack of MicroSD, and guess what? It didn't bother me, my Nexus 4 16 GB didn't come with a MicroSD, you just get used to it.

 

FYI just because it never had it doesn't mean that's acceptable or not a negative. Plenty of things have lacked features since day one and it's still a negative.

Android/apple phones with small batteries? You can't hold it against the phone since they all have had 1300mah batteries. BS! Now all phones pretty much have 2500-3500mah.

I want microSD cards period and i wont buy a phone without it period. I have like 40GB used on my 32GB one max with a 32 GB micro SD. I could use less if i forced myself to have a revolving door of programs but i rather not. Also i don't even have music or movies on this thing....i would if it wasn't for Pandora and Netflix but those 2 companies have made my "sailing the high seas" days mostly or completely not worth while. I now since pandora and netflix exist do i think do i not need a microSD card...hell no. Why would i give up a feature for no valid reason? There is not one reason to not have microSD cards besides user lockin and profit margins. Space and cost are not an issue here period.

If android wasn't such a piece of crap operating system i would use far far far more space too but its a jock out an operating system....the day i can run real windows or an equivalent on my phone will be the day....oh and windows sucks too but its at least usable.

If windows only throw in a few of the hundred of billions of dollars to make their OS actually good.

 

Now that the iPhone comes in 128GB variants, you don't have to deal with "Android crap".

 

Anyone got any advice on how to possibly correct an expanding dead spot on the top of my screen? A factory reset did not correct it.

 

Two methods I have seen online and I have tried...it worked for me but not sure if it was the method or lucked out....correction it was a stuck pixel.

apply gently pressure and the other was apply gentle pressure and move counter or clockwise over the spot but this was for stuck not dead so it may due nothing or make it worse. your mileage may vary

 

I doesn't look like the screen pixels are stuck. More like just a dead spot in the digitizer.

 

That kind of blanket statement is why fanboys ruin everything. Why Nexus devices have no SD card | Android Central

This sums up why Google wants to move away from MicroSD.

 

fanboys? hardly. There is no reason to not include a feature like expandable storage. That "reason" is a lot of crap.

 

If what you said is true, then nobody would be buying phones without MicroSD card slots. Yet the iPhone is on it's 8th iteration, and not slowing down anytime soon. So clearly people don't exactly value MicroSD as the primary dealbreaker. If it is for you, great don't buy a phone without a MicroSD, but flagship phones with a MicroSD slot are disappearing and FAST.

 

i never said people as a whole...you made that up. I said there is no reason to not include the feature...cost is not an issue...it costs nearly nothing in the grand scheme of things so on a 600 dollar phone it doesn't count anything.

 

At a cost of an arm and a leg...

 

Sure it does. It's what you buy into and get used to. Most Apple users I know wouldn't know what to do with a MicroSD card if I gave them one... nor do they care. Also, space is indeed an issue. Try adding a mSD slot into an iPhone design... just not enough room. Take apart an iPhone if you don't believe me.

On the contrary, if your OS isn't built around showing the user any part of the filesystem, then yes, there is a reason not to include it. It all comes down to what you want to buy. There will always be the phone out there for everyone. The iPhone was build for purpose, and they didn't want expandable storage.

 

I wouldn't pretend that buying a Galaxy S 5 or a Note 4 off contract pricing is cheap either.

 

the point was if a phone is 500 for a 16 GB its 600 for a 32GB which is absurb considered its cheaper, slower, and crappier flash. I can get 64 GB for half that and it be several times faster. Not including expandable storage is a shame to ra.pe consumers of money

 

Right but most consumers tend to buy phones on contract, and the price differential doesn't bother alot of people. Sure value conscious people will buy the smaller 16 GB phone and get a 64 GB MicroSD, there's nothing wrong with that. Again if you want MicroSD, then buy a phone with MicroSD. But the general trend is elimination of MicroSD, so we won't even be having this conversation in 2-3 years.

 

It's a general assumption.
I personally prefer to have a smaller built in storage and a slot for expandable storage.

 

So, no one had any advice on trying to fix this ever growing dead spot on the top of the touch-screen on my M8?

 

Did you try a hammer?
It's a new phone, you still have warranty. Use it!

 

Have you tried bending it out? I hear the M8 is bendy.

 

Tried sitting on it. No change.

Tried rubbing it against my nipple. Didn't help either.

 

Rub it haaarder, man.

 

All's that did was make my nipples sore. Dead spots still present.

 

That Nexus 6/9 announcements. Do we know the price of the 6 and the 9? One leak said 569 for the Nexus 6...which loses alot of its value.

 

The Nexus 6 is $649 for a 6" QHD phone with a Snapdragon 805, 32 gb onboard storage (64 gb model also available), front-facing stereo speakers, water resistance, and a camera with OIS. It's cheaper than what Apple or Samsung are charging for their phablets, but it's no longer a "half the price of the big dogs" value proposition. I suspect (but can't prove) that Google agreed to not undercut Android OEMS quite so much this time around, in exchange for concessions with them about lighter skins and faster updates.

EDIT: Apparently the Nexus 6 will be available subsidized through US Cellular, a CDMA carrier (as well as through the four major US carriers). That sentence would have been crazy in multiple respects a year or so ago. Anyway, nearly enough to make me regret getting the Moto X, but I think I'd prefer 5.2" to 5.9".

The Nexus 9 starts at $399 and looks like a very serious competitor to the iPad for people who prefer Android. The aspect ratio is more square than most other Android tablets, and it has a keyboard folio case for Surface-esque shenanigans, which should help with the "tablets for productivity" crowd if not the "media watching" crowd. But the latter weren't buying many high-end Android tablets anyway...

 

Something that I vehemently protest. Nexus devices don't belong on CDMA, because they won't be open. They'll have to ship with the proprietary CDMA radio stack. The only way a Nexus device needs to be near Verizon, or any CDMA carrier, is if it's VoLTE.

The Nexus 9 is what I've been looking for. EXACTLY. (Well except for Tegra) 4:3 aspect ratio, BoomSound speakers, beautiful build quality...

 

I will be the first to admit the K1 impressed me. My step cousin got the Nvidia Shield in August and I got to play around on it a bit. Damn those graphics were smooth. Had me eating my words on this Tegra SOC being just a cheap and useless as the previous version.

 

GPU has never been Tegra's problem. With T2/3 it was the super-ultimately-horrible CPU performance and implementation. T2 didn't even have NEON extensions, and T3 was just shoddily put together with the whole slave core thing. They've all had respectable GPU's for their generations though. Another negative is the dependence on NVIDIA for kernel source. (A BIG reason I'm scared about purchasing the Nexus 9)

 

Then don't buy the CDMA version for yourself. But in rural Oregon we have good CDMA coverage but bad GSM coverage. And I'd rather have a Nexus option on my carrier than no Nexus option.

It's not like the Nexus 6 is ONLY on CDMA carriers, so I don't see what the problem is with giving this option for those of us in place like rural Oregon.

 

The slave core thing was just a half-assd attempt at Intel's Hyper-threading.

Not sure about the whole Nvidia-kernel thing. Nvidia has always been excellent when it comes to their GPU driver development. Why they would take a dump with kernel & firmware dev. is beyond me.

 

Same here! I plan to dump my Nexus7 (2012) and move up to the 9. The keyboard should be interesting with it being NFC. I wonder how responsive it will be.

 

How was your experience with the shield over all? Mine will show up tomorrow but seeing as my deer hunt starts saturday morning I'm not sure if I will have time to mess with it when I get it.

 

I really liked it. But, I only had a couple hours total to play with it. Plus, my step cousin loaded his own self-baked AOSP ROM which probably made it that much more faster. Still, great experience overall. I swear there was 0 lag time between screen actions and app launchings.

 

It was positive as a gaming unit... like I said GPU has never been a problem for Tegra. Plus they integrated the controller functions nicely.

I'm not saying it's yours, or rural Oregon for that matter, problem. CDMA isn't an open standard like GSM. There should never be a CDMA Nexus.

If you want a Nexus option, I wouldn't be asking when is it coming to my CDMA carrier. I would be asking what the reason is for a GSM/LTE carrier to not be in your area. Rural Alabama and Mississippi have HSPA/LTE. There's no reason Oregon can't. There's politics there, which is what the REAL problem is. Buying into a locked and closed wireless standard is part of what's wrong with wireless in this country. Buying a phone on VZW or any CDMA carrier is capitulating the ethos that closed/locked/controlled is good... it's not, and I will not support it in any way.

That isn't a shot at you, or rural Oregon , but I mean every word.

 

Does anyone know if they had CM 10.2 for the Samsung Galaxy S 5? My Samsung Galaxy S Captivate (original galaxy) is having a hard time running programs such these days. It gets frustratingly slow. So I'm trying to decide between the S4 or S5. Maybe even S3. If I get the S5 it will be on contract. If I go with anything else it'll be off contract.

What ever I get, I'll probably flash CM 10.2 on it as soon as I get it.



Sent from my XT912 using Tapatalk

 

Well I finally replaced my aging Samsung Galaxy S Captivate. Got a Galaxy S4. Man, what a difference! Lol. I was able to root it, disable OTA updates, and now enjoying stock rooted 4.3

I disabled all the bloat. Definately nice to not having all my programs freezing and lagging.

I also managed to install safestrap as that's the only recovery I could install. Bricked the phone once, used Odin to unbrick, finally got it all setup, and learned a lot

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

I just ordered my fiance the Moto G 1st gen LTE 8 GB. Apparently the 2nd gen doesn't have an LTE radio and initial reports of quality control is middling.

 

Like the first-gen Moto G, there's a model without LTE and a model with it (with a slightly higher price). The big selling point for me with the second-gen model is the microSD expansion, which the first lacked.

I played around with the second-gen Moto G and, at least with the model that my store had on display, I thought the build quality was just fine for the price point. Sure, it doesn't feel "solid" or "premium" like an iPhone 5S or 6, but it didn't feel worse-put-together than my Galaxy S3, and it's a third of the price of the Galaxy S3 when new.

 

If you live in an area without GSM coverage, buying from a GSM carrier will not encourage them to improve GSM networks in your area. It'll just convince them that "bad" is "good enough" because they're getting your dollars either way. If everyone in areas without good GSM coverage buy from CDMA carriers, the GSM carriers will have a self-interest to improve the GSM network in those areas to win back some of those sales. So even if you think CDMA is evil, the best thing people in places like rural Oregon can do is buy from CDMA carriers.

All things equal, I'd rather have a GSM phone, but it doesn't make sense for me to buy a GSM phone, either in terms of my own selfish needs (a phone with coverage) and in terms of incentivizing GSM carriers to improve their GSM network where I live.

 

Hrm well from what I'm reading there is no LTE variant of the 2nd gen (at least on sale yet). Plus it's difficult finding cases for the 2nd gen as it just came out. Honestly the 2nd generation doesn't offered much but a bigger screen. All the LTE models are 8 GB so they come with Micro SD support. Maybe the quality control issues are just the pre-production models sent off to all the Android reviews, but then you would expect them to send the best built ones..

 

You're right; they're not currently offering a 4G version, but rumor is it's on it's way:

The first is that the handset is not 4G enabled – this follows the pattern of the original Moto G which launched with 3G as the fastest cellular option (4G LTE variants were available later in the product’s life cycle)...And if Motorola follow last year’s playbook, the 4G version for the US and European markets should be along soon enough.

Motorola Moto G Vs Everything Else: There's No Competition, This Is The Number One Smartphone - Forbes

 

I probably would've gone with the 2nd gen because of the much improved camera.

 

The Moto G does offer alot. It's shortcomings are honestly little quibbles, and one where budget minded people might not complain about. The initial complaint of the non-LTE, is the lack of LTE. Honestly the older "4G" speeds were enough, my old Nexus 4 on T-Mobile's 4G had plenty of speed. That and the newer 4G LTE variant came out for 20 bucks more. The second is the average camera. Sure maybe I'm spoiled by my iPhone one, but honestly the camera is okay for the price point. But in the other departments, you get a Qualcomm quad core CPU, decent GPU, pretty good LCD panel, good battery life, vanilla Android, and I'm sure Google will keep the Moto G update for quite sometime. Quite the bargain.

I think for my fiance, she'd give up the camera quality for the LTE radio. She did like the bigger 5" screen though, but guess you can't have it all...yet.

 

Samsung Galaxy handsets with KNOX now secure enough to carry classified information

Gotta hand it to Sammy. They are positioning themselves to take half of the remaining business away from crackberry.

 

That's really interesting. I'm sure it poses a whole new set of challenges in respect to safeguarding classified information.

-Sent from my Galaxy S4-

 

So finally got the Moto G in. It didn't even come with a wall USB brick, only a 3 foot USB cable. At first the back cover was a bit hard to pry off, but the more you take it off, the easier it gets. Get LTE from T-Mobile, works like a charm. I'm really surprised this phone is like 199 unlocked, it seems even smoother than my old Nexus 4, and it only has half the RAM. Battery life is pretty good so far, average 18-19 hours usage puts it down to 40-50%.

 

Anyone out there got any live wallpapers they particularly like? I prefer my wallpapers to be live--I like the how the motion creates a sense of depth under the icons and widgets, plus, iPhones can't do it--but I'm getting a little tired of my long-time go-to of phase beam. And many of the live wallpapers on Play are junk and/or sketchy.

 

I spent the $4.99 and got the Asteroid Pack live wallpaper.

It has been by far, the best one I've ever seen.

 

Anyone know of a good case for the original Nexus 7? I was looking at this one on eBay. I saw somewhere that the Timbuk works with the Nexus, but the seller didn't know anything. I just need something basic to prop the Nexus up when using it. Thanks for any help.

 

Official Premium Stand Smart Genuine Case Cover for Google Asus Nexus 7 II 2013 | eBay

What about the original OEM case? I know you can't officially get it from Google anymore but plenty of sellers abound. Guaranteed to fit.

 

Thanks TH. I think that's what I'm looking to get. I picked up a blue one. The shipping is a bit slow, but the price is right.