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

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Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Android 5.0.2 spotting

# ¿ Dec 19, 2014 22:46

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# ¿ Apr 23, 2024 23:51

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

tekz posted:

I got a Sony Xperia recently and I really dislike the UI. Is there a way to get stock android on to the phone?

There's no way that isn't going to be an incredibly huge pain with lots of rough edges.

Best thing to do is switch to Now Launcher as your home screen, disable every Sony app you can, and live with the rest.

# ¿ Dec 24, 2014 15:11

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

The secret is to do an OTA sideload. There is zero difference between a sideload OTA and an OTA the phone grabbed on its own.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2015 14:59

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Not to mention the weird motion actions.

# ¿ Jan 5, 2015 21:39

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

robodex posted:

What are you guys doing on your phones to not have any memory issues with Lollipop?

I have to restart my N5 pretty much every single day since after a day of use things start to go to poo poo. Homescreen redraws, apps running out of memory, crashing--it's definitely not flawless.

For some reason the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 devices seem to be hit worse by the Lollipop memory issues. They are marked as fixed in the next version (probably to be numbered 5.0.3) which is expected any day now.

On my Moto X 2014 lollipop is really great, on my Nexus 9 it's good, and on my Nexus 7 2012 it's no good at all.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2015 18:41

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

treizebee posted:

I now have an android (droid turbo) for the first time.
Is there any first things to do off the bat, settings to tinker with, stuff to turn off/on etc...?

The only thing I was made aware of by other android toting professionals is that apparently Motorola phones will be updating to a new redone OS version soon.

The Lollipop update will look and act slightly differently yeah, but it's still weeks away. Don't worry about it, despite the issues discussed in this thread.

There are several "so you just got a new Android phone" guides on the internet:
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3

But as others said, the main thing is to just sign into a Google account and make sure your contacts etc. are syncing with that.

Oh and don't listen to anyone who tells you that you need an antivirus on your Android phone. That's only for people who pirate games from shady sites, not normal people who use the Play store. Or a task killer, you don't need one of those either.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2015 05:07

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

bryn987 posted:

Having an issue with Priority Interuptions in lollipop and hoping someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

I have it turned on for events, calls and messages
Calls/Messages - set for starred contacts only
Have it set for 7 days a week, 10PM - 3PM the next day.

The problem is, I'm not getting any audible alerts for my starred contacts when they message me, even when I get a message after 3PM.

Any ideas?

...is your notifications volume turned up? Have a notification sound selected in your messaging app of choice?

# ¿ Jan 10, 2015 23:48

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Oh no, conflicting personal subjective opinions!

I'm also in the "Nexus 6 is too goddamn big" camp. Fortunately I have a Moto X 2014 for my Lollipop needs. It's a little on the big side, but at least manageable.

# ¿ Jan 12, 2015 22:46

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Daily Forecast posted:

Contacts and stuff, sure, whatever, but I'm talking about storage. When you're in an area where you have no service (happens to me often because I have a lot of family that lives in bumfuck nowhere) suddenly you can't access any of your... anything. Sounds very convenient. Call me a luddite, but I'd rather actually have everything that I want to have.

You are a luddite. Modern :yaycloud:

services make use of local caching. Christ, even a Chromebook is useful offline these days.

I mean by all means have an offline backup stashed somewhere, but this viewpoint that you have to carry all your stuff with you at all times... come on; you're a human, not a hermit crab.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2015 04:13

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Endless Mike posted:

Nothing is more crippling than Touchwiz.

Unsubstantiated rumor: introduction of the Galaxy S6 to include "a vastly simplified TouchWiz".

# ¿ Jan 13, 2015 16:20

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

dissss posted:

Yep Facebook and Google are engaged in some sort of dispute about how sync should be handled so nothing Facebook related syncs at all on Nexus devices.

To explain: Google believes that sync should work how you would expect sync to work.

Facebook believes that the owner of the data being shared should continue to have control over it even after making it public. So for example if that person removes a phone number from his/her shared profile, it should immediately disappear from the contacts of everyone it was shared with.

You can make arguments in defense of either position, but unfortunately they remain very different positions and unlikely to ever see eye-to-eye.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2015 14:50

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

I had trouble with my "work" location, apparently because it included the company name. Once I changed it to only the street address it started working.

You have your GPS set to "accurate" mode?

# ¿ Jan 18, 2015 16:42

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

I bought my Moto X (2nd Gen) outright and think it's well worth it, so yes, it is a good choice for free.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2015 22:55

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

It's perfectly fine to not take the update, several flagship phones have not even begun their lollipop rollout yet.

Just know that once your phone has received an OTA push, it's going to be annoying about wanting to apply it.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2015 05:16

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Kaiju Cage Match posted:

I have an iPhone 4s and I want to switch over to an Android phone, and I narrowed my choices to:

- Moto X 2014

- Galaxy S5

You maybe didn't know this coming from the iPhone world but what you really needed to mention / start a fistfight over is whether you want a "stock" experience or a "Samsung" experience. Goons (myself included) generally prefer the "stock" experience and therefore would pick the Moto X (2014) from those two choices.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2015 01:05

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Heads up: Motorola will be doing another run of promo codes for Valentine's day.

Edit: Also, $48 off Nexus 6 at T-Mobile.

Rastor fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Jan 27, 2015

# ¿ Jan 27, 2015 20:52

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Yes, the "from $399.99 no-contract" reflects a $100 discount on Republic Wireless. Configure something not on Republic Wireless (or other carrier subsidy/discount) and the price will be higher.

To avoid confusion, click the "Buy" button, select the Pure edition, and then click "Continue Designing".

# ¿ Jan 27, 2015 22:57

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Guillermus posted:

The notification panel is nice when the phone is locked as it fully expands with a single pull, when it's not locked and need two, i hate it. And the whole volume thing is completely poo poo. Lollipop has some good things but I liked more kitkat+xposed.

To fully expand with a single pull, use two fingers.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2015 18:33

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Sulla-Marius 88 posted:

Is the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini (dual sim) any good?

My girlfriend has a certain amount of credit on Groupon to be used for SOMETHING; otherwise it will expire. She can't find anything on it that she wants/needs, but they are selling a Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini Dual Sim (link at bottom of post), model # I9192, for pretty much the exact price for the credit she has. I currently have a lovely 4 year old Samsung Google Nexus S or whatever it is called - model i9023. I won't otherwise have the money to replace it for a good long while.

So your budget is �0 and your only choices are whatever is on the Groupon Italy site for �200 or less? That's pretty tough. I guess the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini is kind of OK for �0... kind of...

Sulla-Marius 88 posted:

Really? I've heard good things about the Moto G, but is the S4 mini seriously that bad? The toss-up is:

S4 mini dual-sim (valued at 200 E on Groupon.. only other phones are iphones, which I refuse to buy, and a Samsung Galaxy Alpha SM G850 which would cost me 200E credit plus 200E more)

or

We use the 200 E credit to buy random junk like a portable hard drive, lovely restaurant vouchers etc, and then I cough up 160 E out of pocket to pay for a Moto G at some point

Is random junk really better than a free(ish) S4 mini? I don't mean that sarcastically I'm just surprised. My girlfriend has the 4g version and it doesn't seem too bad.

Groupon deals come and go, when does the credit expire?

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini is running Android 4.2 and unlikely to get any updates; it's an underpowered, outdated phone the day it comes fresh out of the box.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2015 22:00

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Cojawfee posted:

What's this?

It looks to me like OnePlus is referencing Breaking Bad (for unknown reasons) to say things aren't going so well with Cyanogen and in the future they're going to build their own rom, presumably based on AOSP and without Cyanogen's added features.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2015 18:59

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

No. Cyanogen Inc. is a software company developing Cyanogenmod. OnePlus is a hardware company with some kind of link to OPPO, and which inked a deal to use Cyanogenmod as the software on the OnePlus One.

In other news: new rumors again claiming Samsung has plans to address the complaints about TouchWiz.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2015 19:05

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

LastInLine posted:

To be fair, all Cyanogen since CM6 has been Google-less Cyanogen; it's just been ROM flashers have added Google apps and services on their own after the fact.

That isn't 100% true, because the Cyanogen on the OnePlus One went through the CTS / acceptance process to ship with the Google apps and services.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2015 03:43

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Rastor posted:

It looks to me like OnePlus is referencing Breaking Bad (for unknown reasons) to say things aren't going so well with Cyanogen and in the future they're going to build their own rom, presumably based on AOSP and without Cyanogen's added features.

Apparently OnePlus will call their new build OxygenOS

# ¿ Jan 30, 2015 05:04

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

MaxDuo posted:

Alright goons, I'm sick of my god drat loving piece of poo poo Droid 4. It barely runs anymore, despite not even being a couple of years old. I desperately want a physical keyboard, but Apple has convicned everyone that the inability to physically do anything other than touch a screen is like cosmic sex.

What would be a good phone to replace my Droid 4? I'd like something that won't vomit and poo poo itself to death in 3-4 months but isn't any smaller or a lot larger than the Droid 4 itself. Also did we ever manage to have decent blue tooth keyboards, or are they all horrible pieces of poo poo still? If possible, I'd like to get some kind of keyboard + case thing.... otherwise I guess I'll have to adapt to slowly typing on a non physical keyboard because that's for dumb slow business Microsoft nerds apparently.

I'm just so loving pissed at this piece of poo poo that I'm about to throw it out the god drat window right now. Clearing the cache doesn't do anything and even a full factory reset changes nothing performance-wise on it by now.

Welcome to the "I miss physical keyboards" club, friend.

I stuck with them as long as I possibly could (Motorola Photon Q and then LG Optimus F3Q) but they just plain don't make them with anything but the shittiest possible internals nowadays. Clip-on bluetooth keyboards are all horrible pieces of poo poo still.

DON'T try to find one that's the same size as the Droid 4. Instead get the absolute largest phone you think you can possibly stand / fit in your pockets. The larger space to work with will make the onscreen keyboard slightly more bearable.

I like my Moto X (2014) overall. I still miss the physical keyboards every time I write something, but using letter swiping on the onscreen keyboard I'm at least not too much slower, even though it doesn't feel as natural. And I admit it, once again having a phone with powerful hardware and current software goes a long ways to make up for the loss. Motorola is going to be having a sale starting on Monday.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2015 05:42

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Godinster posted:

I've got Lollipop on my Note 4 if anyone cares to know anything about it. I think I can answer most anything without getting in any poo poo, aside from showing you my IMEI.

Does the amount of TouchWiz-ness seem reduced or about the same?

# ¿ Jan 31, 2015 13:17

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

cyberia posted:

I've got a Nexus 4 that is just about at the end of its useful lifespan. Since updating to Lollipop it's super slow and laggy and barely has enough memory space for the apps I use so I figure I should update. I'd like to get something roughly the same size (4.7" screen) so I can keep it in my pocket and preferably as close to a pure Android OS as possible. A good camera and decent storage size (or the option to stick an SD card in to increase storage) wouldn't go astray either.

So with those criteria what are the current best phones on the market? Is the Nexus 5 any good or is there something better out there?

The Moto X (2014) is also good. The display is on the large side at 5.2", but the phone has small bezels and tapers thin toward the edges, which helps it still be manageable.

Phonearena.com has a phone size comparison tool.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2015 02:33

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

cyberia posted:

They both look pretty good but, dang, there's a big price jump from the Nexus 5 to either of those phones. I might have to find a store and try them out before I pick one. Thanks, goons.

Keep in mind, the Moto X is discounted $100 until Valentine's day. If it's anything like the last Moto promotion, and you wait until Saturday the 14th, there will be codes worth an additional $40 off floating around the internet.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2015 04:37

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Doctor Butts posted:

I lost the link since it was on my phone, but some site stated that the Moto X 2013 Lollipop update is still in the works but is delayed because apparently they're having trouble keeping it snappy.

I saw that up on iTechTriad.

# ¿ Feb 11, 2015 21:44

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

GTJustin posted:

I hope this is the right thread, I'm having problems getting Google Authenticator set-up on my phone, I had already set it up on my phone but did a fresh Lollipop install, and now I'm stuck getting 2-step verification to complete.

1. Open Google Authenticator on phone, Begin setup
2. Available google accounts -> mygmail@gmail.com gives "Continue on a computer, To enable 2-step verification for your Google Account, please visit accounts.google.com/security on a computer."
3. Go to accounts.google.com/security which redirects to https://myaccount.google.com/, 2-step verification is enabled, I go through the Security checkup and everything is set up.
4. Go back to Google Authenticator and hit Begin setup, same lovely message to enable 2-step verificaiton for your Google Account.

I turned my phone off, uninstalled Google Authenticator, took off 2-step verification. I'm out of ideas here, please help

The app is saying you can't use the guided setup (tapping on the available google account inside the app). Instead, on your computer go to myaccount.google.com and click on 2-step authentication (direct link: https://accounts.google.com/b/0/SmsAuthSettings) and from there choose switch device (or set up device, if you don't have one set up) and from there it will present a barcode. Then in the app you choose the scan a barcode option.

I think maybe what was tripping you up is that on myaccount.google.com it isn't obvious that you can click on the 2-step section to go into 2-step settings.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2015 04:19

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

IuniusBrutus posted:

My Moto X (2013) headphone jack appears to be borked - it seems to be missing a channel. Plays fine over bluetooth. There is nothing lodged in it. Is this something common? Is there a mono setting somewhere that I'm missing?

In related news, is it getting a bit late in the life span of the Moto X (2014) to make sense ordering one? I have this Motorola discount code, and I like Android, but to be honest an iphone is getting more and more appealing.

For Android 2015 is the year of migration to 64-bit. So if you stick with Android the question to ask yourself is are you a bleeding-edge type person who wants one of the first 64-bit experiments, or do you want one of the absolute best of the 32-bit era?

Note that 32-bit / 64-bit doesn't actually matter for app compatibility etc., it's all about spec sheet bragging.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2015 14:13

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

VodeAndreas posted:

I finally got my N6 turbo charger in the mail (Australian version), will this have a non-zero percent chance of making my QI pad explode if I plug it in via the USB port on it?

Or should it be fine.

It will be fine, the turbo chargers only deliver full power when a phone asks for it.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2015 14:20

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Z3 Compact is an interesting recommendation for someone considering a OnePlus One...

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/size#/phones/size/Sony-Xperia-Z3-Compact,OnePlus-One/phones/8744,8603

# ¿ Feb 19, 2015 16:27

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Guys, I'm not saying the Z3 Compact is bad. I'm just saying: be aware that it's, well, compact.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2015 17:16

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

SlayVus posted:

So I know probably no one is interested. But TracFone has started doing 4G LTE service for phones now. If you're not big into using a lot of data it's really cheap. I've spent like $180 so far on my phone's service($100 for 1yr, $80 in data) since February of last year.

Captain Yossarian posted:

Thanks for the help everyone! Probably going to pick up a new Moto X 2013 off eBay tomorrow. Now for the service. I've seen a couple people recommend Cricket and some stuff online mention Straight Talk... Any opinions there?

There is a Prepaid Smartphone Thread where getting your smartphone onto cheap plans is discussed. The current prevailing opinion there is Cricket good, Straight Talk / Net10 bad.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2015 18:00

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

DrBouvenstein posted:

I don't know if this is better sutied here or the app thread:

My Google Now is half-broken.

If I go to Google Now, my cards are all there and working fine, but I can't get Google Now (or I guess Google Search?) to do anything. Typing in or giving a voice command does nothing. It just sits there with the command/search term entered, but not giving any results/doing any action.

Sounds like something may be up with your "Google" app. Try clearing its settings, reverting app updates, etc.

See also: How to change the default search engine in Android

# ¿ Feb 23, 2015 19:50

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

The existing Google Wallet already works with a wide variety of credit cards. It works with all of mine, anyway.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2015 20:50

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Three Olives posted:

This is dumb, people don't use Google Wallet because it doesn't work with their credit cards/debit cards, period. And no, that Google pre-paid card does not count, it's a retarded workaround.

Hello. Please cite an example of a major (Visa / MasterCard / Discover / American Express) credit/debit card, issued in the USA, that does not work with Google Wallet.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2015 16:13

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Three Olives posted:

Name a gas station that doesn't accept Bitcoin if you turn it into a Visa gift card first?

sleepwalkers posted:

Do you really think the layperson knows or cares if their card is technically going through a prepaid Google Mastercard? People don't use Google Wallet because they don't know it exists, or that it works with their phone, or that it works with their card (and it does, even if it's a workaround on Google's part; people pay, it comes out of their checking account, fin).

I don't know what Google Wallet you all have been using, but the one I'm using on my Moto X lets me add any major US credit card to my account, and when I tap my phone that credit card gets charged. There is no prepaid Google Mastercard, there is no checking account, it -- pardon the expression -- just works.

quote:

http://www.zdnet.com/pictures/apple-pay-vs-google-wallet-hands-on-experiences-at-mcdonalds/

Google Wallet setup is basically the same as Apple Pay with the ability to scan or capture a photo of your card. I have my debit card, American Express card, and bank account set up with Google Wallet.

I'm genuinely confused what you guys are talking about.

Speaking of things working / not working in Android land, the newest Android 5.1 rumors indicate the priority/none notification modes will be made slightly less stupid.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2015 17:38

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

Star War Sex Parrot posted:

This isn't just their Android ethos

See: Wave, Buzz, Health, etc...really anything on this giant list. Must be fun to work there and be able to just constantly throw poo poo at the wall and see what sticks, though.

A shitload of stuff on that list was replaced by or merged with something else.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2015 19:02

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# ¿ Apr 23, 2024 23:51

Rastor: Jun 2, 2001

bull3964 posted:

Except that's not the way it works.

Your Google account gets charged and then Google charges your credit card. That's fine if you are just buying can of pop out of the vending machine. That's not fine if you get vendor specific perks or want to you ANY of the protections your credit card offers you.

Good luck disputing a charge that gets passed through wallet at the credit card level. "I'm sorry sir, that charge is from Google, not the store you said wronged you. We can't do anything about it." Say good buy to extended warranty coverage or 90 day theft/breakage protection. "You broke your phone after only 10 days. Well, your receipt says you bought it from Best Buy but I see no charges from Best Buy on your account, I only see charges from Google. We can't help you."

Wallet is just a curiosity until native charges get posted to your account rather than a proxy payment through Google.

I'm not saying the system is flawless, I'm saying it works. I'm saying the statement "people don't use Google Wallet because it doesn't work with their credit cards/debit cards, period." makes no sense. It does work with credit cards/debit cards, and I use it all the time for small purchases.

Do you frequently dispute charges for cans of pop?

# ¿ Feb 24, 2015 20:02

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