All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion

Has anyone gotten Android 5.0 pushed to their Nexus or Motorola devices yet? My 2014 Nexus 7 and my fiance's Moto G don't have anything yet..

 

2013 nexus 7 u mean, there was no new nexus 7 in 2014

 

nothing yet on my 2012 nexus7.

 

Nope 10char

 

Yay! You can now root Android 5.0 Lollipop on all Nexus devices!

John.

 

Not to my M8 (not that I will update anyway).

 

Yup I just got the download for 5.0 on my Nexus 7 and it's installing now.

 

Be sure to list all the bugs BEFORE the annoyances.

 

I just got a 3.29.118.9 pushed to my phone, 147MB update!

 

I'm still on 2.16.651.4. And I don't plan on updating for a while.

 

Why not? This new update brought pretty nice fixes and the phone feels substantially faster!

 

Honestly I haven't noticed any "bugs" just annoyances. I'm used to the lockscreen going right, now it's swipe up. Menus have changed, the notification bar has a longer pull down menu, but there's also a short pull down. The wifi signal strength bar kinda changed. Just small changes. I haven't noticed a change on speed, but I will test out battery life.

 

I have faith in HTC, but given how badly Sammy screwed up their Galazy line with what they did to Touchwiz on 4.4, I am VERY apprehensive to update any ROM until I see what the UI looks like afterwards, and see what bugs people are experiencing. My M8 runs just fine on KitKat, and I don't want to do anything to upset that balance.

 

Nokia lives: company launches iPad rival - Telegraph

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30096603

John.

 

Good to see good ol' Nokia back in business. Never was a fan of that MS takeover. I wish 'em luck!

 

HTC was pretty bad back in the day (untimely with updates, locked bootloader), but honestly you have the short end of the stick because you have a CDMA variant, and like Verizon customers, typically you guys get screwed for updates. I'm pretty sure the carrier has to approve the updates too, unless you want to root and flash on a custom rom.

 

My updates were always on time. I'm pretty happy with the performance and the quickness of the updates by htc

 

Glad to see they're getting back in the game, but I tried beta-testing their "Z-launcher," and it's TERRIBLE. A UI based entirely around a recent-apps list and looking apps up by hand-writing their name one letter at a time on your homescreen. Probably the worst launcher from a company big enough to know better since Facebook Home.

EDIT: Also, the hardware design is painfully derivative. Same aspect ratio, screen size, and resolution as the iPad Mini; same button placement; same rounded-edge aluminum design as the iPhone 6.

 

Sprint hasn't been too horrible with its updates as of late. And the HTC updates come from HTC anyway, even if Sprint does have to approve them. So I don't have to worry about Sprint pushing anything as slow as a 3-legged donkey.

But until I see how the 5.0 update affects other users, I don't want to risk polluting my phone with a bad UI.

 

The hardware design is derivative because most of the people behind the hardware that people loved from Nokia are with Microsoft Mobile now. This new device is Nokia in name, but it is Foxconn produced, hence the iPad-like design.People saying "Nokia is back" are missing the point, because Nokia is with Microsoft now, what is left is a brand name.

 

In that case MS should have paid a few billion more just to get the Nokia name. MS Lumia just doesn't sound right...

 

Here's how 2014's flagships fare against each other with normalized battery life

John.

 

HTC impresses me once more. The M8 shames devices with MUCH larger batteries, including the Droid Turbo with it's 3900mAh battery. And here's the humble little M8 with a 2600mAh battery.

Also, I have several Inbox invites I've been sitting on for a while if anyone wants one. Just PM me.

 

^^^Invites for what?

Two things on that list which surprise me:

1. The iPhone has such a small battery, and still has a decent Normalized battery life.

2. The LG G3 has a 3000mAh battery but only gets 6 hours of battery life??? Really?!?!?!

 

That "normalized battery life" test basically rewards phones with low resolutions. Why else do you think that the 1440p phones like the G3 and Droid Turbo got spanked and there's such a large discrepancy between the 750p iPhone 6 and the 1080p iPhone 6 Plus?

 

With modern SoC's, resolution doesn't matter near as much as people think. The difference in the power consumption isn't because of resolution, it's because of size. Larger screen size means a much more potent backlight is needed for LCD's, and ramp a giant AMOLED up on bright apps/white backgrounds and you're going to get MAJOR power draw. The Droid Turbo or the N6 using Chrome is going to use a LOT of power. The G3 is just an oddity, because LG is using so many software algorithms to sharpen and make the screen look "sharper" that it's probably a combination of backlight and software.

The power draw from dense screens doesn't come from having the GPU ramp up all the time to meet demand. It's because with density comes obfuscation, which means that there's just more pixels to push light through for LCD's. With AMOLED it's the light colors that kill battery life. Even then, though, for LCD's it's not that bad.

The M8 is about the perfect compromise between size, brightness, and power consumption.

 

Well I guess I won't be buying bigger then Xperia's 5.2". Realistically any size bigger than that is approaching phablet size anyway.

 

If FutureSupplier's leak is credible, then the purported screen size of 5.5" for the Z4 is a rumour that's been shot down. Then again, that digitizer looks an awful lot like the Z3v, just with a reversed ambient light sensor and front-facing camera placement. It may just as well be headed to another Z3 variant.

I'm very curious to see what kind of device Sony's IMX189AEG APCS sensor will spawn. There's not much doubt that the Z4 will recieve the more moderately sized RS IMX230. In actuality, I suppose it's better to lean back and watch how it all pans out than go rumour hunting.

 

The Droid Turbo and the Moto X both have 5.2" screens and similar software, but the Droid Turbo is 1440p and the Moto X is 1080p. The Droid Turbo has a 77% larger battery but doesn't get anywhere near 77% longer battery life. The resolution is the only factor I can point to to explain that.

EDIT: I take that back; some reviews had said the Droid Turbo didn't last as long as they expected, but when I found places that tested both it and the Moto X with the same methodology, it did last nearly twice as long as the Moto X. For example:



http://bgr.com/2014/10/31/droid-turbo-battery-life-test/droid-turbo-battery-life-1/

 

Jesus Christ I just went to that site. What a flame-grilled joke mess

 

I have a question for you fellas. My Z3 takes a split second to load wallpapers- apparently due to Sony's power management killing the app when the phone is asleep. So is there any way to not have it do that without rooting?

 

I stopped there.

BGR is a nope.

If you want to try Nova Launcher, there is an aggressive caching option in the settings that will place the launcher at a lower OOM value and keep it in memory longer.

 

I have always used Nova. So it works out well haha. I just enabled that setting. Guess we will see if that fixes it. Will report back. Thanks, Hal!

Edit: Yeah...that didn't work. Thanks for the help though. I don't know if I can fix it without root. I should also mention that I am using 500 firepaper to set my wallpaper I guess your tip wouldn't work anyway. Sony kills any wallpaper app when the phone goes to sleep.

 

I have also had it take a second for the wallpaper to wake up when exiting an app on my Moto X (2014) with Nova Launcher Prime. I don't think it's a Sony-specific issue, but instead a Nova-specific issue (it doesn't happen when I'm using Google Now Launcher). This happens with even the simplest of third-party wallpaper apps (such as HarshSinghvi's Material Wallpapers, just a collection of Material Design static images), but not with the bundled wallpapers, including live wallpapers (phase beam, bubbles, etc).

 

So what's all this I read about Android Silver? Is it supposed to replace their Nexus line or what? Seems from the description it's kind of the same...

 

I wish it was just a Nova issue. It happens with all launchers. It is definitely a Sony-specific issue. You can google it and find many threads on the internet dating back to the original Xperia Z if I am not mistaken. Just a minor annoyance for me. Thanks again for everyones help. If anyone else has suggestions throw them my way. I will test them.

 

That graph is a total load of CRAP!

My M8 charges from 25% to full in 90 minutes..


(207 minutes my fat, white...)

 

Anyone know a good android dev? I need someone to put a good rom on the new Kindle Fire HD6 for me. I've got a project that requires a 6" tablet, I tried to make the 2nd gen Nexus 7 work but its simply to large. Other than an extremely expensive phone the Fire HD6 is the best tablet of the size.

 

Too new a device. It hasn't even been rooted yet or have its own section on XDA Developers. Generally, Kindles aren't that great for custom ROMs anyway.

 

Yeah it wasn't my first choice by any means. Maybe I'll poke around XDA and if its physical size fits my needs I will buy a few for some devs to bribe them for ROMs.

 

I'm surprised you can't get your hands on a ~6" phone without breaking the bank.
I'm sure Huawei, Alcatel and other more budget-oriented manufacturers make devices of that size.

 

I have three OnePlus One invites if anyone is still interested. They expire in 5 days.

 

Even a ZTE ZMAX, which is darned cheap for a phablet ($252), costs nearly three times what the 6" Kindle Fire does.

 

Corning debuts Gorilla Glass 4 to save your smartphone | PCWorld

http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/20/gorilla-glass-4/

John.

 

^^^A 1 meter drop to the ground of the glass panel ONLY does not equal the G-force of flinging your phone (which weighs way more than just the "shatterproof" glass) out of your hand (by accident ) 6-10 ft against the corner edge which is the most vulnerable.

Yes Corning. I agree that lab test show Gorilla Glass 4 to be indestructible.

Then again, lab tests also showed the same results for your previous three formulations.

 

Indeed, it's an OEM specific issue. Doesn't happen on my M8, and I'm running the same LWP.

Android Silver is a entry level device program aimed at developing countries.

But to all the people complaining about battery life, check this out... this is a GPE M8 with stock 4.4.4 and root.

 

Nope, that's Android One. Android Silver was basically a new name for the "Google Play Edition" phones. Or more specifically, Android Silver was going to be Google Play Editions of the best of the best from various OEMs, subsidized by carriers, and with big nice displays in carriers' retail stores. The program is currently on hold. On the other hand, with the Nexus 6 being available subsidized on all five major US carriers, and at a price point (and case materials and specs) in line with other high-end phones like the 6 Plus and the Note 4 instead of a bang-for-the-buck unlocked device like the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5, it looks to me like the Nexus 6 is the first Android Silver phone in everything but name.

 

That's super impressive. What's your brightness setting? I know it's hard to compare brightness across phones, just curious. I've been regularly getting 6.5hrs sot with my Note 4, with roughly an hour each day at max brightness and 50% brightness the rest of the time. Do you use anything like greenify or other battery aids? The fast charging is really impressive on my Note. I planned on buying extra Anker batteries to simply swap out on the fly, but it seems like I make it to bed with a few percent left most days. If not, 15 minutes on the charger gives me a 20-30% boost.

 

So, what are your thoughts on smart watches?

I'm considering one partly because...hell, they're just cool. But it would also be a practical matter; where I work we're allowed to have personal music players, but phones aren't even allowed on the production floor. Now, I use my G3 as my media player because I don't want to shell out extra money for a crappy redundant MP3 player, but that means I have to be real sneaky about it and only change songs when nobody important is looking, and of course I can have my phone seized and held by my boss if I ever get caught. A smart watch would let me control music without ever having to physically expose my phone.

Anyway, I'm really partial to the look of round-faced models like the Moto 360 or LG G Watch R, but those are both pretty expensive. There's also the much more basic and cheap Pebble. What do you guys think?

 

Any thoughts on rooting the Kindle fire 7" HDX? I might be able to get it for 90 eur (16GB version). Unfortunately, to use it, I will have to install android.