The Android Thread - He;pl - The Something Awful Forums

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CoolRanch: Apr 5, 2019

Quick S21 Ultra (SD888) update.
It's basically last year's model but fixed in just about every way. The S20+ was much more comfortable to hold, however a thin case and screen protector keeps the bulk down.
The screen is like last year's, fantastic. I bumped up the resolution and frankly my vision is lovely enough to not notice the difference.
The finger print reader is faster as well.

# ? Feb 2, 2021 19:44

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 18:12

Kia Soul Enthusias: May 9, 2004; zoom-zoom; Toilet Rascal

Magnetic North posted:

Could not find a phone tech support thread.

I bought a Nokia 5.3 in September when my old phone was starting to die, which was suggested by the recommendation thread. In the last month or two, I have been having periodic trouble using wifi and bluetooth at the same time. It's fine if I stream media (Pandora/YouTube) with the built-in speakers or Bluetooth with something that isn't streaming such as a podcast. Initially, I was having in-apartment wifi problems on all devices, so it wasn't clear this was an independent problem, though now I'm more confident something is wrong. I never had this problem with my old Samsung whatever it is. The wireless headset I use works fine when paired with my main PC, so I don't think it's that. If it's based on simultaneous usage, such as other people in the apartment, it's hard to tell but I kinda doubt it. Sometimes it works when it's just me and my work laptop, and sometimes it doesn't.

I looked up ways to fix it but the only relevant advice I found didn't help much, since the phone can't see the 5hz wifi (and neither can my main computer), so I can't switch them over. Most of the other tips I found have to do with things about computers, not phones. Some rando thinks it might have been a security update in early November but I don't see anything else corroborating that. I do indeed have that security update, and it is checking for updates on its own.

At some point I did drop it hard enough to crack the screen protector, but I don't recall the timeline to guess if it could be related. Also, all the dates and timeframes I'm giving could be wrong because of the time soup we all live in now; maybe it just always sucked?

Any thoughts on what I should do to diagnose or correct this issue? I don't think I will want to tolerate it for another 18 months or whatever. There's no contract; I own the phone outright. I could replace it if I had to, but that's a nonzero cash outlay and a fairly big bit of e-waste on my part.

Did you get this figured out? I was looking at a Nokia 5.3 as a replacement for a 6.1 (it still works, but it's year 3 and I think it might stop getting security updates). I saw a review of broken Wifi on B&H Photo and thought maybe they have problems.

# ? Feb 2, 2021 21:29

Magnetic North: Dec 15, 2008; Beware the Forest's Mushrooms

Charles posted:

Did you get this figured out? I was looking at a Nokia 5.3 as a replacement for a 6.1 (it still works, but it's year 3 and I think it might stop getting security updates). I saw a review of broken Wifi on B&H Photo and thought maybe they have problems.

No, sorry.

I was thinking of taking my retired cellphone out of mothballs and seeing if I can listen to a day of Pandora or whatever without issue with the same headset which should prove it's the phone and not something that fundamentally changed with my in-home wifi or something.

If I find anything, I will let you know.

# ? Feb 2, 2021 21:41

Endymion FRS MK1: Oct 29, 2011; I don't know what this thing is, and I don't care. I'm just tired of seeing your stupid newbie av from 2011.

Why is Snapchat using tons of background battery despite being set to "restricted" in battery optimization?

# ? Feb 3, 2021 03:19

Soul Glo: Aug 27, 2003; Just let it shine through

CoolRanch posted:

Quick S21 Ultra (SD888) update.
It's basically last year's model but fixed in just about every way. The S20+ was much more comfortable to hold, however a thin case and screen protector keeps the bulk down.
The screen is like last year's, fantastic. I bumped up the resolution and frankly my vision is lovely enough to not notice the difference.
The finger print reader is faster as well.

The fingerprint reader is so much better than it was on the S10+, which of course it would be, but still nice. Never had the 20.

# ? Feb 3, 2021 03:57

UnfortunateSexFart: May 18, 2008; ð» ððð« ð·ððð·
ð ð ð ð« ð®ð ð¾ð ð ð¡ððð

Soul Glo posted:

The fingerprint reader is so much better than it was on the S10+, which of course it would be, but still nice. Never had the 20.

It's better than the s20 too

# ? Feb 3, 2021 07:18

sharkytm: Oct 9, 2003; Ba

By

Sharkytm doot doo do doot do doo; Fallen Rib

Endymion FRS MK1 posted:

Snapchat

Found the problem.
Snapchat is a garbage app, doubly so on Android. You can try clearing the data and signing back in, but it's still a terrible app.

# ? Feb 3, 2021 13:39

Endymion FRS MK1: Oct 29, 2011; I don't know what this thing is, and I don't care. I'm just tired of seeing your stupid newbie av from 2011.

sharkytm posted:

Found the problem.
Snapchat is a garbage app, doubly so on Android. You can try clearing the data and signing back in, but it's still a terrible app.

I know it is, but I have a few friends who prefer to communicate there

# ? Feb 3, 2021 15:12

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

e: nevermind, the problem literally resolved itself as I was typing this. How weird.

# ? Feb 3, 2021 18:56

Vykk.Draygo: Jan 17, 2004; I say salesmen and women of the world unite!

Speaking of Snapchat, this has been bugging me for a while. Does anybody else find it really difficult to tap on the Snapchat notification? Like, it's the same size as all other notifications, but it seems like 80% of the time I tap on it, it acts like nothing happened.

# ? Feb 3, 2021 19:16

Soul Glo: Aug 27, 2003; Just let it shine through

So on my new S21 I'm having an annoying "feature" keep cropping up. I drive for work and use maps and listen to podcasts on a bluetooth speaker and somehow the phone is hearing the podcast and interpreting voice commands.

I'll be driving and suddenly the phone is defining a word it just heard. Or suddenly searching, and failing, to find a nearby movie theater.

How the gently caress do I turn this crap off? I already turned Google Assistant off and it's still happening. Not seeing anything when I search voice in options.

I don't want my phone using my microphone at all unless I'm on a call or recording a video, basically.

e: just found the Permission Manager and revoked the Google app's permission to the microphone. Hopefully that works. So frustrating.

# ? Feb 3, 2021 19:40

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

You can set up the Google Assistent to recognize your voice and react only when it hears you specifically say something. There's a training option in the settings for that. Even if you don't want to use it at all, it wouldn't hurt to do that anyway, simply to avoid situations like this.

Turning off the "hey Google" always-on functionality might also work, you possibly enabled that at some point without realizing it.

# ? Feb 3, 2021 19:48

Kia Soul Enthusias: May 9, 2004; zoom-zoom; Toilet Rascal

Soul Glo posted:

e: just found the Permission Manager and revoked the Google app's permission to the microphone. Hopefully that works. So frustrating.

That's the only way I've gotten Android devices to stop listening to "Hey Google" no matter how many times I tell it I don't want it on. :tinfoil:

# ? Feb 3, 2021 19:49

nimper: Jun 19, 2003; livin' in a hopium den

Soul Glo posted:

So on my new S21 I'm having an annoying "feature" keep cropping up. I drive for work and use maps and listen to podcasts on a bluetooth speaker and somehow the phone is hearing the podcast and interpreting voice commands.

I'll be driving and suddenly the phone is defining a word it just heard. Or suddenly searching, and failing, to find a nearby movie theater.

How the gently caress do I turn this crap off? I already turned Google Assistant off and it's still happening. Not seeing anything when I search voice in options.

I don't want my phone using my microphone at all unless I'm on a call or recording a video, basically.

e: just found the Permission Manager and revoked the Google app's permission to the microphone. Hopefully that works. So frustrating.

Are you sure it's not Bixby?

# ? Feb 3, 2021 21:17

Soul Glo: Aug 27, 2003; Just let it shine through

nimper posted:

Are you sure it's not Bixby?

100%. It was doing it while my phone was out of my hand, displaying Google Maps while playing a podcast in the background through Spotify. I could yell Google at it and make the microphone turn on in the app despite having turned off Google Assistant days ago.

It didn't do it again after revoking Google app's access to the microphone though, fwiw.

# ? Feb 4, 2021 02:42

hooah: Feb 6, 2006; WTF?

Any idea why my Pixel 3's speaker volume will be set to maximum after I disconnect my Bluetooth headphones?

# ? Feb 4, 2021 03:38

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

February's update for the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G includes 5G SA support on T-Mobile.

https://9to5google.com/2021/02/03/pixel-5-standalone-sa-5g-support/

# ? Feb 4, 2021 07:17

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering. I did do the stupid. I hadn't sold off my Pixel 4xl yet and Samsung was offering more than resale so....yeah, picked up the S21 Ultra after the glowing reviews.

And.....I think I agree with them. This has been, without a doubt, the most cohesive Samsung product I've owned. A lot of that is down to One UI 3.1 which cleans up some stuff and FINALLY allows you to use google feed. Home Up changes the folders to popup as well instead of the full screen top justified they are as default.

Finally WQHD at full refresh rate. I certainly see it compared to the Note 20 Ultra. The dumb bloatware is gone from the dialer app and for some reason google dialer also shows up as compatible in the Play Store.

The fingerprint sensor is vastly improved to the point where it's actually usable most of the time. I still have a higher level of rejections than the Pixel 5 or in screen optical of the OP8P, but they are usually minimized to when my fingers are really dried out.

The camera system is legit good. No gimmicks finally. The 3x and 10x dedicated lenses make it very versatile and the quality is good. The 2nd gen 108mp sensor cleaned up a lot of the problems with the one in the S20 Ultra and Note 20 Ultra. Pictures are a lot more natural and have much better dynamic range (especially in low light). The iPhone 12 Pro Max still beats it on overall detail in night mode, but the iPhone crushes the shadows which flattens the overall dynamic range. Pixel 5 still splits the difference.

They did some smart stuff in software. The complaint with such a large sensor is the shallow depth of field at close range. Now they included dual pixel autofocus on the ultrawide angle and if you get close the phone will automatically switch to the ultra wide so you have more depth of field (you can override it easily though if you want the main camera). This also allows the ultra wide to do macro shots that rival what the OP8P can do. It's all very cohesive and feels quite complete.

I don't know if my SIM will spend that much time in the device once I can start being mobile again (2nd vaccine dose on the 26th!) since the phone is SUCH a chonker, but I will certainly switch to it if I'm going somewhere or doing something where I'm going to be taking a lot of pictures or if I'm going to be spending a prolonged time away from home. I'm also using it at home for couch browsing more than the Pixel 5 at this point.

Good job Samsung. I would still like some software crap cleaned up (just kill Bixby, end the partnership with mcafee) but I think things are heading in the right direction.

# ? Feb 4, 2021 19:02

codo27: Apr 21, 2008

I hate that it seems to be good because my S20 5G is horse poo poo. Camera is poo poo, battery is poo poo, fingerprint is poo poo, I hate it. And I'm stuck with it

# ? Feb 4, 2021 19:06

UnfortunateSexFart: May 18, 2008; ð» ððð« ð·ððð·
ð ð ð ð« ð®ð ð¾ð ð ð¡ððð

bull3964 posted:

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering. I did do the stupid. I hadn't sold off my Pixel 4xl yet and Samsung was offering more than resale so....yeah, picked up the S21 Ultra after the glowing reviews.

And.....I think I agree with them. This has been, without a doubt, the most cohesive Samsung product I've owned.

Glad to hear you agree. It was a bit frustrating how you were making GBS threads on good phones because of how their phones were like 5 years ago. Basically everything since the s8 has been good, post one ui update.

I like Pixels too but Samsung is killing it right now.

# ? Feb 4, 2021 22:09

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

UnfortunateSexFart posted:

Glad to hear you agree. It was a bit frustrating how you were making GBS threads on good phones because of how their phones were like 5 years ago. Basically everything since the s8 has been good, post one ui update.

I like Pixels too but Samsung is killing it right now.

I've had the Note 10+, S20 Ultra, and Note 20 Ultra and I do NOT have the same feelings of "good" product from those phones as I do the S21 Ultra. I've owned recent samsung phones. I was making GBS threads on recent samsung phones because I've owned them and found them lovely. Each one got progressively less lovely, but the S21 Ultra is the first that's really poked it's head above water.

One UI 3.1 is distinctly better than 3.0 and everything below it (though 3.0 was most of the way there, I just didn't play around with it much since the Note 20 Ultra hasn't had it long).

For example. With the One UI Samsung shipped the Note 20 Ultra with, there was all those bullshit power modes under device care that was just extra cruft and pointless min maxing that probably didn't amount to more than a 2% change in battery consumption. All that junk went away with One UI 3.0.

Another thing I noted is the Places tab is gone from the dialer on the S21 Ultra. Elimination of those 3rd party services from system apps is very welcome.

All that stuff adds up to make it feel a lot more cohesive. Before OneUI 3.0, it still felt like throwing the kitchen barf of pointless options.

bull3964 fucked around with this message at 22:40 on Feb 4, 2021

# ? Feb 4, 2021 22:18

Old Man Pants: Nov 22, 2010; Strippers are people too!

So I finally got a case for my s21 5G, the official Samsung protective one. Can anybody tell me what this annoying loop on the bottom of the case is for? Cell phone charms? Attaching your bigass phone to your keys? Wearing it on a lanyard? Is there an official reason for it?

# ? Feb 5, 2021 08:18

Mister Facetious: Apr 21, 2007; I think I died and woke up in L.A.,
I don't know how I wound up in this place...

Old Man Pants posted:

Cell phone charms? Wearing it on a lanyard?

Mainly these. You can also add a Wii-style wrist strap if you're worried about dropping it instead of one of those pop-it things.

Get a sick wallet chain bruh; time for a 90's comeback! :pcgaming:

# ? Feb 5, 2021 08:53

codo27: Apr 21, 2008

Yes because if you put your stupid brick into a $50 case you definitely need a loving lanyard on the thing too. Any time your phone is damaged in any way while using a $25+ case the case maker should be bound by law to give you $20,000,000

# ? Feb 5, 2021 12:34

FunOne: Aug 20, 2000; I am a slimey vat of concentrated stupidity; Fun Shoe

I've seen plenty of people wearing their big rear end phone on a neck lanyard in China. Put a clock on it and rock it like flavor flav.

# ? Feb 5, 2021 13:18

Mister Facetious: Apr 21, 2007; I think I died and woke up in L.A.,
I don't know how I wound up in this place...

FunOne posted:

I've seen plenty of people wearing their big rear end phone on a neck lanyard in China. Put a clock on it and rock it like flavor flav.

My phone charm is a full size Beanie Baby™.

# ? Feb 5, 2021 14:12

Lowen SoDium: Jun 5, 2003; Highen Fiber; Clapping Larry

Mister Facetious posted:

My phone charm is a full size Beanie Baby™.

My phone charm is another phone.

# ? Feb 5, 2021 14:38

cage-free egghead: Mar 8, 2004

Lowen SoDium posted:

My phone charm is another phone.

Oh, someone did buy the Palm Phone after all!

# ? Feb 5, 2021 14:47

Chumbawumba4ever97: Dec 31, 2000; by Fluffdaddy

Endymion FRS MK1 posted:

Why is Snapchat using tons of background battery despite being set to "restricted" in battery optimization?

I actually removed Snapchat because it was literally the only app I've ever had that ignored the "don't turn my screen on" settings no matter what I did. I hate when a notification turns my screen on, so I leave that off. But Snapchat somehow got around that and did it anyway. gently caress that lovely app.

# ? Feb 5, 2021 14:54

Old Man Pants: Nov 22, 2010; Strippers are people too!

codo27 posted:

Yes because if you put your stupid brick into a $50 case you definitely need a loving lanyard on the thing too. Any time your phone is damaged in any way while using a $25+ case the case maker should be bound by law to give you $20,000,000

Maybe I'll get one of those ID lanyard retractors and just leave it swinging from my hip then. Thanks for the replies, this loop is exactly as stupid as I thought it was going to be. For the record I didn't buy it outright, I just snagged it as part of the $200 in pre-order credit deal since I wanted to have a case right away.

# ? Feb 5, 2021 15:22

fishing with the fam: Feb 29, 2008; Durr

drat. My Pixel 4 XL has started randomly turning off and won't turn back on for 15-30 minutes. 3 times now in the last day. I've only had the phone for 14 months. I'm kinda pissed.

# ? Feb 5, 2021 15:40

CoolRanch: Apr 5, 2019

bull3964 posted:

I've had the Note 10+, S20 Ultra, and Note 20 Ultra and I do NOT have the same feelings of "good" product from those phones as I do the S21 Ultra. I've owned recent samsung phones. I was making GBS threads on recent samsung phones because I've owned them and found them lovely. Each one got progressively less lovely, but the S21 Ultra is the first that's really poked it's head above water.

One UI 3.1 is distinctly better than 3.0 and everything below it (though 3.0 was most of the way there, I just didn't play around with it much since the Note 20 Ultra hasn't had it long).

For example. With the One UI Samsung shipped the Note 20 Ultra with, there was all those bullshit power modes under device care that was just extra cruft and pointless min maxing that probably didn't amount to more than a 2% change in battery consumption. All that junk went away with One UI 3.0.

Another thing I noted is the Places tab is gone from the dialer on the S21 Ultra. Elimination of those 3rd party services from system apps is very welcome.

All that stuff adds up to make it feel a lot more cohesive. Before OneUI 3.0, it still felt like throwing the kitchen barf of pointless options.

Right on. I respect your posts since you actually buy and use the drat things.

Decently designed cases on Ebay FYI!

# ? Feb 6, 2021 02:30

BabyFur Denny: Mar 18, 2003

can't wait to have a smartphone that is all screen, no holes. https://blog.mi.com/en/2021/02/05/xiaomi-debuts-its-first-quad-curved-waterfall-display-concept-smartphone/

# ? Feb 6, 2021 09:01

CLAM DOWN: Feb 13, 2007

BabyFur Denny posted:

can't wait to have a smartphone that is all screen, no holes. https://blog.mi.com/en/2021/02/05/xiaomi-debuts-its-first-quad-curved-waterfall-display-concept-smartphone/

i demand holes

# ? Feb 6, 2021 09:34

Soul Glo: Aug 27, 2003; Just let it shine through

CLAM DOWN posted:

i demand holes

i just want one

ok maybe two

# ? Feb 6, 2021 15:17

Corin Tucker's Stalker: May 27, 2001; One bullet. One gun. Six Chambers. These are my friends.

Rand Brittain posted:

I just got my Nord N100, hoping to fulfill my desire for "a very basic phone with stock Android that runs apps and things but is otherwise simple and has great battery life."

This phone fills that order in spades. Once I turn it down from 90Hz to 60Hz, it runs beautifully, goes from 100% to 77% at the end of a day of use, and has a microSD card slot that lets me keep all my music and audiobooks locally. I cannot believe I got a phone this good for $150.

I was thinking about picking this up and setting it to 60Hz as well, since literally the only thing I use outside of calls/texts is a podcast app. Are you at all worried about the relatively limited OS updates? That seems like the only potential drawback, as the battery and memory are better than the Nokias I've been looking at around the same price range.

# ? Feb 6, 2021 17:56

YggiDee: Sep 12, 2007; WASP CREW

Okay, so I have a Samsung S10e, it's a few years old, it's been working fine for the most part, but this morning all of the MP3 in the Music folder on my microSD card are gone. Just the ones in the Music folder. Last night I got the update to OneUI 3.0, and it seems absurd to blame a firmware update for eating my files but gently caress if I know what else could have done it!!

# ? Feb 6, 2021 20:07

Cardiovorax: Jun 5, 2011; I mean, if you're a successful actress and you go out of the house in a skirt and without underwear, knowing that paparazzi are just waiting for opportunities like this and that it has happened many times before, then there's really nobody you can blame for it but yourself.

I guess it wouldn't be impossible for that update to have done something to the file system that makes this folder impossible to display anymore. What do the patch notes say about that?

# ? Feb 6, 2021 20:23

ClassActionFursuit: Mar 15, 2006

YggiDee posted:

Okay, so I have a Samsung S10e, it's a few years old, it's been working fine for the most part, but this morning all of the MP3 in the Music folder on my microSD card are gone. Just the ones in the Music folder. Last night I got the update to OneUI 3.0, and it seems absurd to blame a firmware update for eating my files but gently caress if I know what else could have done it!!

Check for a .nomedia file

# ? Feb 6, 2021 21:06

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 18:12

Severedseven: Jun 6, 2007; Heavy and light

I'm thinking about upgrading my Pixel 2 soon. I think it's done getting updates and battery is draining pretty fast now days. I was looking at getting the Pixel 4a 5g but wasn't sure if this would be considered a side grade. Will the 4a preform better or just the same as my 2 (and if so should I try to make my 2 last until there is a 5a)?

# ? Feb 6, 2021 22:25

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > The Android Thread - He;pl

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