Android phones: Tips, tricks?

[mubs]

Thanks mubs. I'm glad someone appreciate the small amount of humor in the ridiculous naming conventions of Android phones.

The cornucopia of choice in the modern age is out of control. Look at the rate at which new phones are released. Each model is sold for 4, perhaps 6 months before the next "new & improved" one is out. Most of the time, it's incremental improvements that are not worth it. There is also the serious question of whether these transient models are repairable; most likely throw away and buy the next greatest thing. With new products coming out fast and furious, of course the names are going to get nonsensical.

Mankind needs to take a deep breath and chill for a while to figure out where we are rushing headlong at such blinding speed.

 

[MaxBurn]

Damn straight, slow down and support the things for a while. Especially recognize people are locked into a device for two years.

Back of the current costco flyer I got is a tmo my touch4g, att galaxyS2, and a verizon stratosphere. I only recognize the name of the middle one.

 

[Santilli]

Just bought the Tmobile Slider Khaki:
www.costco.com/Browse/Productgroup....=1&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1
61.02

I called TMobile loyalty, and told them Costco offered the phone for 79.00. I asked them if they could price match.
The girl was really nice, and came back with 61.02

Next to a data plan, required by the phone. I had unlimited data for 10 dollars.
That is no longer offered. They use this structure:

She added an unlimited Data Plan for 20 dollars. We'll see which of the "Unlimited" Data
plans I actually get for that.

Puts me at the same bill, with a working current phone, and same phone bill.

Also was much easier then going through Costco, and cheaper.

What do you think of 8 dollars a month for phone insurance?

Haven't lost a phone yet, but, as I get older, always a first time.

 

[timwhit]

Is there a deductible on the insurance?

 

[Santilli]

Passed on the insurance. Have two weeks to think about it.
Don't know if it has a deductible, but, it has failure insurance.

 

[Santilli]

Got a text today that I'm being charged 30 dollars for 5 GB data at 4G a month.
I called, and had it changed to 200MB for 10 dollars. Start with that. Apparently
after 190MB it slows to 2G speeds, but still allows web access, so, of sorts, it is 'unlimited'.

Apparently the data plan I was offered by the Loyalty department was not compatible
with my phone. I now have a 200 dollar credit on my account that I didn't ask for, or know about.
Don't know how that happened, but I'm delighted.

 

[Santilli]

"For unlimited data plans, full speeds available up to monthly data allotment; after allotment used, speeds slowed to up to 2G speeds for remainder of billing cycle. For 200MB plan, overage of $0.10/MB charged to postpaid customers after monthly data allotment is used; "
From useage agreement.

 

[Striker]

I really hope you don't go over 200MB.
If it were me, I certainly would be springing for the 5GB plan and tracking my usage for a couple months.
Use that $200 credit to pay for it.

 

[Santilli]

They have a tracking number you can use. Currently .0000 MB. May have reset when the plan changed. I've hardly ever used the web, but, it will come in handy in crisis situations. Mainly I need a WIFI phone that doesn't charge, which TMobile does advertize. Even that is kind of moot, since I now have a google voice number that is toll free to my girlfriend. Google voice doesn't work all the time, but, it's a free alternative.

 

[Santilli]

So far, I really like the phone, the camera, the operating system, the fact that my sim card works, easy transition from one to the other, and very low download usage.
Where I at 10MB was tethering the phone to my laptop.

 

[Handruin]

I'll be curious how many times you'll have to pull the battery out to free if from being in a locked up state. I hear that's common with multiple different Android phones from multiple sources.

 

[Santilli]

Don't know about that. The dual core processor is scary fast for a phone, and, it seems to be very fast when tethered.

 

[Santilli]

Getting 10 mbps download, 3.65 up, using the phone and Wifi connection.
Normal connection is about 4mbps down.

 

[ddrueding]

I'll be curious how many times you'll have to pull the battery out to free if from being in a locked up state. I hear that's common with multiple different Android phones from multiple sources.

Never even heard of this, and I have plenty of exposure to Android phones.

 

[Mercutio]

I've never had my android phone lock up. I've seen some cheapass Android phones (e.g. the HTC Aria, most early Samsung phones) such that it wouldn't shock me that it might be a problem with some hardware.

 

[Handruin]

Don't know about that. The dual core processor is scary fast for a phone, and, it seems to be very fast when tethered.

lol...guess you haven't tried an iPhone 4S despite what you claimed in the other thread. If you think the myTouch Slide is scary fast, the Galaxy S II and iPhone 4S would run circles around it. I'm not saying it's a slouch, but the others are faster phones.

 

[Handruin]

Never even heard of this, and I have plenty of exposure to Android phones.

I've never had my android phone lock up. I've seen some cheapass Android phones (e.g. the HTC Aria, most early Samsung phones) such that it wouldn't shock me that it might be a problem with some hardware.

I'm surprised you've never heard of this. I've heard of it from several Android users, some of which I work with, some are friends, and other random comments if you look for them (but I wouldn't bother wasting time doing so). Some people are lucky to have no issues. It may just be with certain phones or generations of phones running android, but I've certainly known of people who have had to pull the battery because of hard lockups.

 

[Handruin]

Getting 10 mbps download, 3.65 up, using the phone and Wifi connection.
Normal connection is about 4mbps down.

I'm only pointing this out because you went on and on about how the iPhone 4S was so slow even when on WiFi.

Well, here it is:
22.52 Mbps download
18.9 Mbps upload

 

[Mercutio]

I'm surprised you've never heard of this.

I've seen people whine about issues that they blame on Android but not anyone whose opinion I'd consider remotely credible and usually in the context of advocacy for some other mobile OS.

Which, honestly, is largely pretty stupid. I have a philosophical disagreement with Apple's closed development infrastructure not the capabilities of its hardware or operating system.

 

[ddrueding]

I use and maintain a couple dozen of what is undoubtedly the crappiest Android phone out there (Motorola i1) and have never had one crash or lock up. And this is with really unfortunate users who will install just about anything off the Android market. I have no idea what you would have to do to make one crash.

 

[Mercutio]

At a guess, run it out of RAM with animated wallpapers and widgets and crap?

 

[Striker]

I'll be curious how many times you'll have to pull the battery out to free if from being in a locked up state. I hear that's common with multiple different Android phones from multiple sources.

I've had android phones since éclair and I haven't had to do it since froyo.

 

[Santilli]

After I posted that, I ran it again and got 25 mbps down and about 7 up.
Ran it again and got 33037kbps, and 6471kbps up.

 

[Santilli]

Kind of curious how a slightly higher clock speed, 1.2 vs 1.5 equals WAY faster?

 

[Handruin]

Or like in the case of the A5 processor, ~800 MHz is faster than your 1.2 GHz in terms of raw performance. It's not just about base clock speed.

 

[time]

I've had android phones since éclair and I haven't had to do it since froyo.

I think I had to do it once with Donut (1.6), or possibly an early build of Eclair (2.1). My own phone is now 100% stable on Eclair, confirming there was never anything wrong with the hardware.

Zero problems with our other 3 Android phones (all different models); 1 on Froyo and 2 on Gingerbread (2.3).

I'll quote Mercutio: I've seen people whine about issues that they blame on Android but not anyone whose opinion I'd consider remotely credible and usually in the context of advocacy for some other mobile OS.

 

[time]

Or like in the case of the A5 processor, ~800 MHz is faster than your 1.2 GHz in terms of raw performance.

Do you have a source for that? I know the A5 has a far more powerful GPU, but I didn't realize there was a 50% advantage to Apple's variant of the Cortex-A9 CPU.

AFAIK, Apple's performance advantage has far more to do with their faster software runtime environment.

 

[Stereodude]

The A5 is a dual core ARM Cortex-A9 SOC just like the rest of the contemporary phone SOC's. If you were comparing it to a Tegra 2 it would have a leg up since Nvidia for some reason decided to omit the NEON SIMD engine from the Tegra 2.

 

[Santilli]

I don't care if Appl put a 427 Chevy in their iphone. NEVER again.

 

[Handruin]

Do you have a source for that? I know the A5 has a far more powerful GPU, but I didn't realize there was a 50% advantage to Apple's variant of the Cortex-A9 CPU.

AFAIK, Apple's performance advantage has far more to do with their faster software runtime environment.

I was comparing it to the chip in Greg's phone, not the one in the galaxy S II. Ill dig up the performance marks on anandtech when I have a chance a little later.

 

[ddrueding]

All my phones are still v1.5 (Cupcake) with no upgrade path in sight.

 

[Santilli]

Odd, but this set of tests make the iphone look REAL bad, sometimes, and close to my phone others.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4686/samsung-galaxy-s-2-international-review-the-best-redefined/14

Here's the review of my phone:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4559/tmobile-mytouch-4g-slide-review-photographers-wanted

Reading it a little late, but, really no other choices for me.

 

[Striker]

You realize that's the Iphone 4 and not the 4S?

 

[Santilli]

Don't really care. My experience with the 4s is that it's about the same, speedwise, or slower.
My phone is fast enough, does what I want it to do. I will admit it would be nice to start with a clean slate, without the junk that TMobile put on it.

My roommate bought a 4S, and I was clearly underwhelmed. I actually considered one, until I tried it for 5 minutes. It's nice having 4G, a REAL 4G speeds, and not a phone that has a name that makes it sound like it's 4G.

 

[Striker]

If you don't care then why post benchmarks?
I really don't like Apple either and am annoyed that I'm defending them right now but the fact is that it's a fine phone and your experience with the 4S isn't at all typical.
The 4S has a much faster processor and is now dual core as compared to the 4.
To show benchmarks for the older version compared to your phone only serves to highlight your very apparent bias and inability to be rational when it comes to Apple products.

 

[Handruin]

You realize that's the Iphone 4 and not the 4S?

Of course not. The version numbers of 4 and 4S even confused him that the phone was 4G-capable when there was never even a claim of such. Even showing benchmarks and real-world numbers of proof make no difference. He has it set in his mind the phone is bad and slow despite what every review or benchmark (or even first hand experience) may say otherwise.

I wouldn't touch T-Mobile with 10-foot pole. That junk they put on the phones (like the touchwhiz with the samsung galaxy S II) is more annoying than being in my walled garden of an apple iPhone.

 

[Handruin]

If you don't care then why post benchmarks?
I really don't like Apple either and am annoyed that I'm defending them right now but the fact is that it's a fine phone and your experience with the 4S isn't at all typical.
The 4S has a much faster processor and is now dual core as compared to the 4.
To show benchmarks for the older version compared to your phone only serves to highlight your very apparent bias and inability to be rational when it comes to Apple products.

I'm fine and appreciate that people (including yourself) don't care for or even in many cases hate Apple and their products. I'm happy you've said clearly what I've been trying to point out with comparative data and first-hand experience with a device that Greg seems to have such great experience with. I have two iPhone 4Ss in my house, one on AT&T and the other on Sprint. Neither are even a fraction as bad as Santilli claims with the exception that the Sprint network is hella-slow (as said by an AT&T customer). The actual performance of the phone on Wifi...is fantastic.

You said it best with: "To show benchmarks for the older version compared to your phone only serves to highlight your very apparent bias and inability to be rational when it comes to Apple products."

 

[Santilli]

They are both phones. I went for a current, dual core processor. I didn't go for the fastest, since I was looking for a compromise of power vs. power consumption. I didn't want the biggest screen, because that eats battery.

I just found the iphone 4s counterintuitive, for me. Considering the phone I'm coming from, an archaic Nokia, that's not a shock.

I think they call these things Supersmart phones. My friend is delighted, while he's using my Astound connection, expensive router, and wifi. Likewise TMobile has conflicting advertizing on wifi. Some of it said it didn't count against minutes, some say it does.
That issue, along with the crap they put on my phone that I can't take off are issues I'm addressing tomorrow.

Anyone know if 'rooting' the phone will get rid of the crap T Mobile puts on it?

One in particular is some crappy 'anti virus' software, that downloads, and installs some virus, then charges you to get rid of it. It says 'Mobile Manager' but it's malware made by
NetQin.

 

[Handruin]

Anyone know if 'rooting' the phone will get rid of the crap T Mobile puts on it?

One in particular is some crappy 'anti virus' software, that downloads, and installs some virus, then charges you to get rid of it. It says 'Mobile Manager' but it's malware made by
NetQin.

...and people bitch about Apple's walled garden. Yes, rooting your phone will remove the crap put on by T-Mobile, but you'll need to do the work yourself. You may just want to see if you can run CyanogenMod.

Anti-virus software on your phone? Does Android really need this crap? Good luck.

 

[Striker]

Even with the walled garden there has been malware so you can't use that as a bragging point.
I highly doubt Tmobile installed a virus on his phone. It would be all over the tech sites and probably mainstream news if that was the case.
Greg if you root the phone you can get rid of whatever you want but you're taking a risk doing so.
You can do damage just as easy as you can fix things. It's best if you do your own research so that you can find specific instructions for your phone.
A good place to start is www.androidcentral.com