Android phones: Tips, tricks?

LunarMist said:
What is this Google Play BS? It keeps crashing. :(
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I had to Google it ;)

Looks like the Google is going after iTunes, Netflix, and everybody else. I wonder if they appreciate how many enemies they just made.

Considering it is days old, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a big buggy.
 
I don't need any of the Play nonsense. Why on earth does the Google need to ruin the basic Androids app? They could maintain both links. Now I have to go to the web part and that does not shows the apps I have installed.
 
Dear Sirs:
Here are my issues with this phone.
The speaker phone is neither loud enough, or does the microphone pick up from far enough away.
Volume is an issue. I end up with the phone on maximum too much.
Wifi has a lot of static, and doesn’t work well.
Battery life is really poor. Perhaps a defective battery?
I’m also concerned that the software loaded on the phone is affecting the hardware efficiency. After
Reloading the software, the above issues became better, but not good. This suggests something in the TMobile software load affected the hardware.
The phone needs to have unnecessary programs stripped off it, so I can keep the battery charged.
The programs that need to be removed are:
Bejeweled 2
DT sync
Friend Stream
KidZone
Netflix
Polaris Office
TMobile mall and TV
Video Chat
Weather
Talk
Zinio Reader
And Youtube
Also the keyboard keys are too far down, and hard to hit with your thumbs.
Thank you for your consideration
 
You have thirty days from the day you purchase a phone to discover issues similar to many of the ones you mention. Phone volume problems certainly should have been an issue you would notice right away.

The other stuff is basically either environmental (poor 802.11) or an issue with carrier mandated software that HTC won't actually remove either; most of that crap (Bejeweled, Netflix, Polaris Office, Kidzone, Youtube, Zinio Reader, no idea about the rest) doesn't run all the time or have any impact on performance unless you've invoked it in the first place.

So anyway, I doubt you're going to get any satisfaction from HTC or Tmobile at this point.

Also, what the hell is wifi static?
 
I use Wifi calling at home. It's free on Tmobile, but, you get somewhat what you pay for. Dropped words, noise, etc.
It should be better.
I have a warranty on the phone for a year, so I figure they can take a shot at fixing it. Might be faulty hardware.

I suspect you are correct, but, it's worth a try.

GS
 
Santilli said:
I use Wifi calling at home. It's free on Tmobile, but, you get somewhat what you pay for. Dropped words, noise, etc.
It should be better.
I have a warranty on the phone for a year, so I figure they can take a shot at fixing it. Might be faulty hardware.

I suspect you are correct, but, it's worth a try.

GS
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Is it just on your WiFi network?
 
I get static, echo on the other end, dropped words.
Speaker phone doesn't appear to work properly all the time on the Wifi network, either. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.
Works better on TMobile's 4G then it does on my Wifi.
I should go down to Peet's and try it, and see if it works there.
 
Santilli said:
I get static, echo on the other end, dropped words.
Speaker phone doesn't appear to work properly all the time on the Wifi network, either. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.
Works better on TMobile's 4G then it does on my Wifi.
Click to expand...

Then get an unlimited plan like most people.
 
Samsung promises Galaxy S II ICS upgrade for March 10th, then denies it (updated).

http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/8/28...s-ii-ice-cream-sandwich-release-date-official

http://skp.samsungcsportal.com/integrated/popup/FaqDetailPopup.jsp?seq=422548&cdsite=ph

a number of predictable feature additions like Face Unlock and Android Beam as well as the mobile data usage tracker, all standard ICS features. The update to ICS will also drop support for Flash content, so bear that in mind if you're a big mobile Flash user. Samsung warns that some apps will have their settings reset and your homescreen layout will be lost, but otherwise most of your data will remain intact.

An over-the-air update will also be distributed, however the Kies option will obviously be the most immediate way to get your Android 4.0 fix. It's worth noting, as ever, that this refers to the international Galaxy S II model and US owners of the device may find themselves having to wait longer while their carrier validates the new software.

Thanks, MoccoLFC!

Update: Samsung's official Twitter account has gone back on the words written on its official website. Samsung says that the March 10th date was a mistake posted by its Philippine website and that the actual upgrade date has not yet been established. Once again, Samsung asks us to wait for an update via its Twitter feed.
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Smooth rollout.
 
I'm confused. Is the ICS really that good or necessary? I read somewhere that it doesn't support the Flash.
 
I don't think that's Samsung's fault. I maintain that Google is incapable of releasing quality software - the OTA update for the Nexus S is still suspended after 3 months, with no word whatsoever on when it will resume. If Google can't even get it right for their own phone, there's not much that a third party like Samsung can do.
 
time said:
I maintain that Google is incapable of releasing quality software.
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Couldn't be said that most companies now have issues with releasing quality software? IMHO, most rely on the release-now, patch-later paradigm a little too much these days, with that paradigm now infecting products environments in which patching firmware was unheard of even as little as 2 yrs ago. (Mobile phones are especially guility of this).

A few years ago it was unheard to have firmware updates on your TV, yet now anything that is 'net connected has the ability to get firmware updates, and companies over use that ability IMHO.

(Think back to the days of PlayStation 1, and N64 with it's cartridges, there were no patches to game software, yet modern games on PS3 and XBOX360 all seem have multi-GB patches...)
 
Will the new ICS really be better to begin with? Patches are one thing, but I am concerned that a completely new OS will have more bugs than the current ones.
 
A couple of my devices have had ICS updates. From an end-user standpoint, the differences are generally minor and cosmetic.
 
Linking to this so Maxburn doesn't have to: Score card for device manufacturers and Android update availability.
Basically, Acer and Asus are good (that is a string of characters I never thought I'd type), HTC is "not too bad" and everyone is kinda crappy at best.

Apparently the reason my Xoom is running ICS is that it updates straight from Google, like a Nexus. Hm. Learn something every day.
 
So it doesn't appear that it's any better if you just consider tablets? You could debate if it is "fair" to include phones in that list where the carriers are involved, but I don't think the customers care.
 
You can't expect consumers to know. And from the carriers' perspectives, they're used to consumers not caring. How long did Verizon get away with replacing the default UI on feature phones with whatever retarded Verizon UI (to the non-US people: our biggest carrier would actually ship modified phone firmware so that any phone with an LCD would conform to its UI specs regardless of manufacturer. This would strip away hardware functions the phones might have otherwise supported so that the carrier could charge to add the feature back. Yes really.)?

I still think the open Android experience is vastly superior to the locked down ithing one.
 
Mercutio said:
I still think the open Android experience is vastly superior to the locked down ithing one.
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Is that a skin? I have never had one but the more I dig the more people I find that like the basic ICS experience over the sense, touch wiz whatever experiences, for those that actually tried both. I don't like the idea of a skin getting in the way and confusing things anyway.
 
Vanilla Android is vanilla Android. The UI extensions various manufacturers use are of dubious value. I'm not a huge fan of Touchwiz, at least the collection of stuff that makes up SenseUI is useful.

Someone who just knew one interface or the other might have problems with a different interface, but they're all far more alike than they are different.
 
I wind up using both Winamp for Android of better format support, and Google Music, because it supports playback control on the lock screen and for times when I don't want to disturb my Winamp playlist just to listen to some music.
 
Seems like the galaxy Nexis phones are starting to show up on eBay in quantity, should be fairly easy to pick one up for under 300 I think. More than a few are mentioning jellybean already installed.
 
I have been trolling eBay and as usual the people on there don't realize the phone sells for $350 in the play store and the auctions have been ending well over that and the buy it nows are in the $400-800 range. Also it appears that injunction had some teeth and the phone is now listed as coming soon in the play store. Verge noted that there is a software patch coming soon that will hopefully get around the injunction.
 
They are back for sale on play now, I ordered one. Then Amex declined my charge, first time that happened in five years with this card. I updated it on play but still days charge declined, maybe i have to delete and readd the card?
 
Did we discuss somewhere how to keep Outlook contacts synchronized with Google contacts?
 
I found this, it worked pretty well but any error messages tended to be so detailed that they were useless. I found some corrupt contacts that have been in my copy of Outlook for about forever, and I even found one that was corrupt on the exchange server. After I fixed the contacts it works just fine, goes both ways, sits in the system tray and runs every hour and a half by default.

http://syncdroid.net/go-contact-sync

This is a pretty good site comparing sync apps and what they do.

http://syncdroid.net/
 
Just had to reboot my wifes HTC Wildfire (w/ Froyo) due to some weird software fault with battery usage (it would drain the battery in 8-12 hours)... it had 7200 hours uptime... After the reboot, problem fixed...
 
One of my stripper pals showed me something odd today: a 320x200 Android 2.3 phone with a TOTAL of 175MB(?) RAM and 256MB internal storage, and so many carrier-loaded apps that it was not possible to update basic preloaded software.

I couldn't see who made it (strip clubs be dark, yo), but that's the weirdest memory layout and presumably stock Android install I've ever seen.
 
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