The All-Inclusive Android Thread - Page 38

 

Let me tell you, it was damn near impossible.  I wound up having to throw away the first one I tried to put on because it was like a dust/cat hair magnet while I was trying to put it on.

 

Has anyone else had issues since the last Jellybean update?  I find my Nexus runs a bit slower, and at random times it just restarts on it's own.

There's been some reports of this issue since the update to 4.2. Check this link
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/11/26/google-currents-to-blame-for-nexus-7-lag-after-update-to-android-4-2/

I just updated my Galaxy S3 to Jelly Bean. I've already noticed a much smoother and quicker response time for everything. Swipeing between pages is faster/smoother, when I clear the RAM the icons reappear instantly. Some apps that took some time to load up before are quicker to load now.

I do have to say that the battery usage on my Nexus 4 has definitely stabilized. Today with it on stand-by all day it's still at 87% battery life (and that's after getting unplugged 9 hours ago). Weirdly it's saying that Google Maps is one of the bigger battery users and I haven't used it at all today (and I can't see it open anywhere). I must have had an app open that uses the Maps API or something.

The improved ability to kill/switch running apps is definitely something I'm liking since the switch from my Atrix running Moto's 2.3 build. And I really am finding that with the larger screen and decent OS, I don't grab for the iPad nearly as much.

A bunch of apps just updated, and now Chrome won't open links in background tabs when I hold them. Nothing happens when I hold the link down, it used to pop up a context menu.

Never mind. Reboot did the trick.

Bought a book for work and figured out how to get it to my Nexus 7 as a Kindle book, which is kinda cool.  One of my options to get the ebook version was MOBI, so I got that, then downloaded Amazon's "Send to Kindle" program on my PC and then "sent" the book to the Kindle and then marked it as "Send to my device" and then sync'd the N7 and pulled it down.  A bit drawn out more than just copying it to the device directly, but it's there now, which is awesome.

 

There is a kindle app for Android where you I am pretty sure you can avoid the entire hullabaloo.

I didnt buy the book thru Amazon so i had to jump thru hoops to get it there.

ok, brain trust...

 

I have a Droid Charge through VZN...my contract ends in july but thanks to my wife leaving me to pay for three lines myself, I can't afford to stick around for that.

 

So what can I do? I'm not going to be able to pay for two lines of early termination on top of my regular bill. So should I take the Charge to another dealer to see if I can use a month to month? See if I can start my own contract with VZN since the other one was in my wife's name (bonus--she gets the bad bill on her credit, not me.)

 

Or should I get another phone at a cheaper provider? I do mostly chat on line and surf with it, so minutes aren't as pressing as data. I do prefer the droid phones....

 

I love that screen, but what can you do? Oh, and if I do have to get a new phone, should I try to sell the Droid Charge online or something?

 

Thanks, gurus!

Persistent rumors are indicating the 16GB Nexus 7 drops to $99 in Q1 or Q2 of 2013.

 

So next week maybe.

 

Or the 8GB model gets reintroduced at that pricepoint.

 

Sorry, I'm late seeing this. I think you should try to sell the Dodge Charge to offset any costs you will have from the termination fees. If your contract is up in July, the ETFs should not be that much, since they are prorated. I know that Sprint has a bunch of prepaid services they own (Boost Mobile, Virgin) where you could get the phone up and running on the prepaid network, but I'm honestly not sure about Verizon. Regardless, I would say that if you're trying to save money, staying with Verizon is absolutely not the company you should stick with. You can buy a phone with equal or even better specs as the Droid Charge, go to TMo, and get a more affordable plan. 

If you can't afford to pay the ETF, plus coming up with cash for a new phone, then you will probably have to wait for some great deals on high end phones for little or no money down, on contract. Again, TMobile or Sprint would give you the most bang for your buck, but Sprint's network speeds are not that great. You should have no trouble getting a fairly kickass phone for free on contract. 

Also, (I mentioned this in another thread), T-Mobile is doing away with subsidized phones so that you're not locked into a 2 year contract.  They even will let you "finance" the non-subsidized phone for a couple of months on your bills.

The financing is a really great thing about T-Mobile. They've been doing that for awhile if I'm not mistaken. I actually almost switched to them before I bought my One X. Speaking of the One X, the AT&T version is STILL waiting for Jelly Bean. The international One X and the One X in Canada have received their updates. At this point I'm just going to root and unlock the bootloader to flash a custom ROM. I was trying to wait for the update but I'm done waiting.

Question, all you guys with phones that have NFC, what do you use it for? I can't use Google Wallet. AT&T has locked that out of the phone because of their ISIS Mobile payment thing.

And I went ahead and rooted and unlocked my One X yesterday. Happily running Android Open Kang Project's Android 4.1.2 ROM. 

Updated to the newest chrome version on my nexus 7, and now previously readable text looks blurry. Just a chrome problem at the moment.

Figure it's worth popping in here again to say how happy I am with my Nexus 4. It's everything my Atrix wasn't. And the best part is that my cell phone bill is an even $30 a month. No taxes, no extra random charges, nothing. So nice. The downside is that T-Mo coverage still isn't great. Still, totally worth it to get a cutting edge phone that isn't carrier locked.

I love my One X, especially for the penny I paid for it. BUT, I do wish I had a Nexus 4 and could be rid of AT&T and the 90 dollars a month I pay for service. Next time I wont make the mistake.

Still loving my Galaxy Nexus. Even though it is somewhat crippled on Verizon, it is still the best phone I've used, and not having bloatware or looking at stupid apps I hate in the Play store and running in the background is worth it.

 

TMobile is expected to make a huge announcement in the upcoming days about new pricing plans and contracts, and I'm counting the days until I can leave Verizon and make the switch to TMo and freedom. Google's Nexus experiment is going well, and this Nexus has outsold all previous Nexus devices. If TMo releases a new Nexus in the fall, it's mine. But I wouldn't care buying the LG Nexus a year after the fact either, if that's not the case. 

 

 

I love my Galaxy Nexus still. My only complaint is a lack of a good dock. I use mine as an alarm clock and music player, and would love a dock, but have yet to find one. 

 

I don't come up for an upgrade till September, but I am eying a Galaxy Note. I don't have a need for a full fledged tablet, but I love the idea of one. I basically want a tablet phone anyway.

Rumor has it that the Galaxy Note 3 will be announced in September at IFA Berlin.

I love my Nexus 7 still.  :)  Plus, it's giving me the opportunity to wean myself eventually off the iPhone and on to possibly an Android phone when the ol' contract is up next year.  And my wife has a S3, which she loves.

 

And even if I don't switch from iOS, having the Nexus 7 in addition to the iPhone gives me the best of both worlds, essentially.  And it's amazing how many places now have WiFi...and also the places that DON'T have wifi (like the bowling alley where I bowl on my Monday night league).

Yes, wean yourself off of iOS and on to an Android phone. The sooner the better. If you love your N7 and are used to the "vanilla"/unskinned Android on that thing, definitely stick with Google's Nexus devices when you do get an Android phone.

So, did anyone get the new Play Store update yet? Just came through today for me. And while I definitely miss the dark theme of the previous version, it's good to see the Play Store coming in line with the Holo design rules.

 

Just found out that The Room came out on Android a couple days ago. Finally I'll get to play one of the best games my dad has on his iPad. It's in the Play Store for $1.99 and is definitely worth it if you're into puzzlers.

So I ordered the S4, but Verizon isn't shipping it until next month.  Sigh.

That's what happens when you sell as many phones as Apple.  There is no way to meet the demand.

 

I'm still rocking the Nexus 4 and loving it.  I wouldn't have minded giving Facebook Home a spin but they haven not made a Nexus compatible version yet (and I'd assume Google would do stuff to break that).

 

I do have to say that I'm sick of all the stupid Google+ apps that I don't use always updating.  Give up Google.  I don't even like Facebook, I certainly don't need another one of the things.

I'm curious. If the HTC One was available on Verizon, would you still have chosen the S4? I went and played with both the One and the S4 at the AT&T store today. I was shocked by how cheap the S4 felt in my hand. It felt like it would break at any moment. The One on the other hand, felt like a solid, well built, insanely beautiful piece of technology. I didn't really care for all the software gimmicks on the S4 either. I wouldn't use half of the stuff they put on the phone. I might end up buying an unlocked (direct from HTC) One in the next few months.

I gave it a good bit of thought weighing all the pros and cons.  I think when it came down to it, my current phone is an HTC (Thunderbolt) and I wanted to give the Samsung world a try.  I have friends with either the S3 or the Note II and they are all generally pleased.  The last big software update for the Thunderbolt did not do it any favors and soured me a bit on HTC.

TouchWiz is probably just as bad though.  Stock 4.2 is so good.  I can't imagine why you'd want other junk on top of it.

The Thunderbolt is widely considered to be the worst Android device ever made.

 

That includes Data's brother B4 and Chip from Disney's Not Quite Human. The Thunderbolt is the worst.

I'd say it's definitely the worst. 

 

So, it seems that AT&T is about to discontinue the HTC First (Facebook Phone)...after a month. That has to be the quickest discontinue of a device...especially one that actually isn't that bad of a device, specs wise. It obviously just shows how bad Facebook Home is and how much of a disaster the whole idea was from the beginning.

Thought I'd throw out a little problem I'm having to see if anyone's encountered the same: I got a Galaxy Note 2 a couple of weeks ago - love the phone, but it's suddenly decided to stop picking up wi-fi. It'll say it's connected to the modem, the data indicator shows it's receiving data but nothing actually loads. It's no crisis as I only use wi-fi at home (And everything else works as normal), but I do use it for updates. Anyone on Samsung devices had this?

I have a couple of friends with GNotes, and they haven't mention having any issues with WiFi. I'm assuming you went through all of the steps of shutting everything down and starting fresh?

 

I have wifi issues sometimes, and what I do is to first "forget" whatever wifi it is connected to. Next, turn off the WiFi and then reboot your device. After the device has rebooted, go back in, turn on wifi and reconnect to the network. Also, if this is a home wifi issue, you might want to reboot the modem also.

 

 

In Google I/O news, we will officially have a cloud based game center! It will be cross device as well as cross platform.

 

This is excellent news for our household, as my son is tired of his iPad and wants his own Nexus 7 tablet. Now we can bring him into the Android fold, and not have to worry about him losing his progress on all of his games:

 

http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/15/4327880/google-announces-android-game-center-competitor

I'm interested to see how it turns out for Google.  Maybe it will help motivate Apple to actually fix its Game Center stuff.  Pretty much the only game I'm playing on my phone right now is Candy Crush Saga which syncs with Facebook (and updates my progress from my Nexus 4 to my iPad).  Anyone got any good Android free-to-play games that are bite sized?

I've had goofy violent fun with Major Mayhem.

I must say that I've been very hesitant investing in gaming on Android precisely because it sucks and hurts to have to start all over, in case you need to do something even as simple as wiping your device. Not everyone is rooted and even if you are, you might not always be able to get that progress back if something happens to your phone or tablet before you have the opportunity to back it up. I finally gave up on Angry Birds and similar games precisely for that reason. 

 

Developers are aware of this also, and I think many more of them will now develop gaming for Android, now that users can invest longterm into the product.

 

As of now, I'm only playing Candy Crush Saga and The Simpsons Tapped out, because those were already cross platform/devices. 

 

And in other Android news, Google hastily announced a Nexus/Google approved Galaxy S4, running stock Android and getting all of the perks (updates included) of regular Nexus devices. The downside, it is only offered on AT&T and TMobile, and you can only buy it unlocked on Google's site for $649.

 

http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/15/google-samung-galaxy-s-4-running-stock-android/

 

A lot of people are complaining, but I think this is brilliant and really shows that Goog is serious about choice. You basically have a Nexus device with an SD card, removable battery, and clever Samsung branding, which means you'll get all of the aftermarket accessory support, and having GS4 bragging rights. 

 

I wish HTC had jumped in on this. If they don't make the next Nexus device, then this S4 is definitely my next phone. 

They're not aiming this phone at the standard Android user. They're specifically gearing this towards the Android geek with a ton of money burning a hole in his/her wallet. This phone is going to sell horribly. Which is unfortunate. If Google was smart, they would have offered this as a phone that could be subsidized on contract. 650 dollars is a lot of money for someone to just drop like that. Want to know how bad it's going to sell? Just go back and watch the announcement...it went something like this...Google S4 Version *crowd yes yes yes this sounds cool* It will be available through Google Play Store * Crowd cheers* Google S4 will be constantly updated like a true Nexus Experience *Crowd gets ecstatic* The price will be 649$ *crickets* Thank you very much *crowd, puzzled, it's not the Nexus experience the price is not the same!*

 

Overall, I have to say that this keynote was entirely disappointing. No new version announcement, no new hardware announcements (not including the GS4). Really no big Android news whatsoever. All we saw were software and website announcements, including Hangouts (which is pretty damn cool I'll say), some updates to Google+, Google Play Music, and Maps.

 

Google Hangouts is available here for download: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.talk

I don't think they were supposed to announce any hardware announcements--the next device and OS update is in July. I don't know why they would release it now.

 

I think they know that this S4 is not going to be flying off shelves, they've done the Google experiment before. I don't suspect they'll make many of them, but it's not like Samsung will take a loss. Whatever phones with stock that won't sell can just be sent back to the factory, enabled with standard TouchWiz and sent back out to retailers. Yes, this phone is aimed towards hardcore users like me, who's just completely over skinned Android devices and can afford to buy a phone off contract.

 

Besides, it won't be $649 forever. It will be slashed heavily within a couple of months, just like all Android phones.