Android phones: Tips, tricks?

[BingBangBop]

My point is that the data device will never give out its phone number, only an Email address. So what difference will it make that it accesses the cell phone provider using a different phone number. Unless you tell someone the phone number of the data device or call some one using the data device, no one will know of it and so no one will call you on it. Everyone will just assume it is all coming from the same device which is the phone phone because it is the only phone number they ever see via caller ID and the only phone number you give out or call from. The data phone's number becomes irrelevant.

 

[time]

One of the most annoying things about the S^MSUNG phone is that I can't find a good case for it.

Garbage. After the iPhone 4/4S, the Galaxy II S is the most popular smartphone on the market. There are heaps of cases for it.

Now the "cases" for the new phones are mere shells that offer zero frontr protection and cannot be easily removed to swap out the battery.

You don't need frontal protection for a modern touchscreen phone with Gorilla Glass or equivalent material - the front is the toughest part. It's the corners and edges that are vulnerable, which is why 'bumpers' are so popular, particularly for the iPhone 4/4S.

You need to rethink what you're trying to achieve with a case. And it's certainly possible to find one that's easy enough to remove for access to the battery etc.

 

[Handruin]

So, I have the best camera cell phone on the market. But, when I want to use it, I can't, since the system shuts it off. Same with the flash light.

Wait, what? Where did you come up with this conclusion that your cell phone has the best camera on the market? :erm:

 

[LunarMist]

Best is relative I guess. The lens apertures are smaller than a drop of water and have practically infinite DOF. :monkey:

 

[LunarMist]

Garbage. After the iPhone 4/4S, the Galaxy II S is the most popular smartphone on the market. There are heaps of cases for it.


You don't need frontal protection for a modern touchscreen phone with Gorilla Glass or equivalent material - the front is the toughest part. It's the corners and edges that are vulnerable, which is why 'bumpers' are so popular, particularly for the iPhone 4/4S.

You need to rethink what you're trying to achieve with a case. And it's certainly possible to find one that's easy enough to remove for access to the battery etc.

Thanks. I'm new to the whole smartphone deal. It seems like there are 3-4 physically different versions of the SII depending on the carrier. The .T..Mobile one is larger than some. The case I have has a front rim that snaps into the back polymer-coated cover. The case is sturdy, but it is clearly not made for frequent removal. If I understand correctly a fully rubberized (softer) case would be more easily removable to gain battery access. What I would really like is a leather case with a belt clip like the Blackberry had. I could remove the phone with only my left hand.

I'm pretty satisfied with the device overall. The display has a very good viewing angle and color, almost like IPS. It does receive 4G at home (all bars) and at work (3 bars), though the data rate is faster at work for some reason. It is not so great as a phone since the device is too large to comfortably hold for long periods of time. Also the volume is not very loud at max and the (undersized) driver for the speakerphone is at the bottom. I wish it had no camera and used the space for better speakers. Fortunately I'm not traveling to secure sites as much lately. Since the smartphone will be temporarily confiscated in that case, I'll be keeping the traditional folding form factor pay-as-you-go phone. It is better for talking and fits in the front pocket.

 

[LunarMist]

Operation of phones in CA is legal so long as you aren't handling the phone. Steering wheel controls and voice recognition are still legal, as is looking at the phone if it is mounted to the car in some way.

Of course. Perhaps I should not have assumed that the calendar and e-mail require handling the phone. I've only used the hands-free feature for making calls.

 

[LunarMist]

The solution I settled on is to have a charger at home (next to the bed and next to the computer), at the office, and in the car. It would be better if my phone supported an induction charging system of some kind, but it works fine for me.

I have a couple at home and it is plugged it at work as well. It is a nuisance.

 

[Santilli]

Handurin:
That's one of the selling points of the 4G Slide. Reviews suggest it's an excellent camera as well. It's ok as a phone.

 

[Santilli]

"PCWorld Rating
4.0
4.0 / 5 - PCWorld, Oct 28, 2010
7 User Reviews Add Your Review »

Pros

Very speedy performance
Excellent front-facing and back-facing cameras

Cons

HSPA+ isn't available everywhere
Camcorder microphone is very sensitive to wind

Bottom Line

The powerful myTouch 4G delivers when it comes to multimedia and performance, but make sure you live in an HSPA+-supported area before purchasing it. "

 

[LunarMist]

That was over a year ago. What are the criteria for excellent?

 

[MaxBurn]

Criteria: There is no such thing as an excellent mobile phone?

Pick your tradeoffs basically. On the corp side: Bullshit

 

[Santilli]

Hasn't really changed much in a year. Processors aren't taking a huge leap, unless that 2.5 comes out. Yes, the Samsung is faster. Would I notice it? Probably not, since the phone would have to be turned off a lot thanks to the battery not being able to keep up with it.

T-Mobile® myTouch™ 4G Slide - Black
Overall Average Rating
4.2 / 5 (97 reviews)
Capture the moment with the most advanced camera of any smartphone.

• Improved low-light performance: with a backside illuminated sensor and a wide aperture lens (f/2.2)
• Zero shutter lag: innovative software features allow for an instantaneous shot at that precise moment
• Digital camera features: SweepShot™ panorama, ClearShot™ HDR, BurstShot™

Learn more at the myTouch 4G Slide home

Anyone know if these phones are like athletic shoes(made in one giant factory, using the same components, but putting different names on them? Where are HTC phones made?)

Seems that the 8mb pixel camera they are talking about has the same specs as the one used on the new Samsung Nexus phones.

One thing I did notice is one of the Samsung phones soon to be released is claiming a 2500
battery. That would be a big jump from the current 1500-1800 range. Of course the Samsungs have that huge screen to power.

 

[Mercutio]

ARM CPUs have made tremendous leaps in the last year, actually. We've gone from 1 or 1.2GHz single core CPUs to 2.5GHz dual and quad core processors in the space of perhaps 18 months. It's debatable that we actually need that kind of horsepower right now, but given the way that mobile platforms are evolving I don't think there's any doubt that we'll find an application for it somewhere or other.

And even given complaints about Android device battery life, it's nothing short of miraculous that anybody is making quad-core handheld devices that will run for hours on batteries not much bigger than a few credit cards stacked atop one another.

 

[Handruin]

Handurin:
That's one of the selling points of the 4G Slide. Reviews suggest it's an excellent camera as well. It's ok as a phone.

That was over a year ago. What are the criteria for excellent?

Criteria: There is no such thing as an excellent mobile phone?

Pick your tradeoffs basically. On the corp side: Bullshit

Exactly. Santilli, the camera may be of OK quality on your phone, but it's not the best on the market for a mobile phone as you claimed. That's what I was commenting on. I don't know where you got that information, but if it's coming from an article that's over a year old...that's ancient in terms of the mobile phone market.

 

[Santilli]

I stand corrected.
http://reviews.cnet.com/2300-6452_7-10008658.html?tag=mncol;rvwBody
Still, it's a pretty decent phone:

Updated December 22, 2011 9:24 AM PST)

http://reviews.cnet.com/best-camera-phones/

I do wonder if part of the stuff they are describing isn't hardware, but sucky software?

I wonder if rooting the phone, and installing Ice Cream might solve a bit of it?

Not enough data yet on that, and success. I'm not real hot on being the cutting edge on rooting my phone.

 

[LunarMist]

Exactly. Santilli, the camera may be of OK quality on your phone, but it's not the best on the market for a mobile phone as you claimed. That's what I was commenting on. I don't know where you got that information, but if it's coming from an article that's over a year old...that's ancient in terms of the mobile phone market.

But you know Greg always has some rationale for preferring equipment from the old days. Look how long he held onto the SCSI. Now my smartphone was manufactured in October and will be obsolete soon, but I'm not going to pretend it is best at anything.

In any case the camera is absolute crap. I have an S90 and it is pretty weak too, so I'm not expecting much from a phone.

 

[Mercutio]

Moving to ICS won't fix anything. Just like installing a new version of Windows, you're basically going to get a new set of features that are predicated on the fact that systems running ICS will be on current hardware. The end result would be much like installing Windows 7 on a computer made in 2005. It will run but it's probably not the best choice for that hardware.

I'll probably make the move myself, but that's more in the interest in keep up to date with the platform than anything else.

 

[Handruin]

But you know Greg always has some rationale for preferring equipment from the old days. Look how long he held onto the SCSI. Now my smartphone was manufactured in October and will be obsolete soon, but I'm not going to pretend it is best at anything.

In any case the camera is absolute crap. I have an S90 and it is pretty weak too, so I'm not expecting much from a phone.

Like you said, it's all relative. I was comparing mobile phone to mobile phone, not to a point and shoot or DSLR. I typically have my phone with me anywhere I go, so it's nice having a camera that's capable of taking basic images that are usable and easily sharable to friends and family vs taking a picture with something else. There's only so much that can be done with a tictac-sized lens...but they're making it happen.

 

[Mercutio]

The lens isn't really the problem. The pinprick-size CMOS sensor is.

 

[LunarMist]

The lens isn't really the problem. The pinprick-size CMOS sensor is.

They are both part of the problem, but the size of the lens is indicative of the size of the sensor.

 

[LunarMist]

Moving to ICS won't fix anything. Just like installing a new version of Windows, you're basically going to get a new set of features that are predicated on the fact that systems running ICS will be on current hardware. The end result would be much like installing Windows 7 on a computer made in 2005. It will run but it's probably not the best choice for that hardware.

I'll probably make the move myself, but that's more in the interest in keep up to date with the platform than anything else.

What is the ICS? Does my phone have it?

 

[Mercutio]

What is the ICS? Does my phone have it?

Ice Cream Sandwich. It's the most current revision of Android and it's basically not available for anything except the Google reference Handset. Samsung has publicly said they have no desire to update their currently shipping products to that revision, which may be because of their legal wrangling with Apple, or because Google bought Motorola's handset business unit, or because they feel that Android is generally too exposed to IP Litigation.

There are handsets with 8 and 12MP cameras, in spite of the fact that they have teeny-tiny lenses and hole-in-spacetime-size sensors.

Oddly enough, I was illustrating to my ex what shitty cameras "high end" smartphones are with pictures and EXIF data from Reddit Gone Wild just last night.

 

[LunarMist]

Oh I see. What is with the Androids developers and the version names? Are they hungry all the time or what.

 

[Santilli]

You have no idea how sad, but true LM's comments are. I just got done trying to setup a SCSI drive for downloading files onto, then moving to another disk. The problem is, for some reason, the transfer rates between my SATA drives is slower then data between my two computers using cat 6, by about 4 times.

Problem is, with the onboard scsi, it ALWAYS looks for a boot drive off the motherboard chipset, no matter what I do. Since the boot SSD drives are on a PCI card, I can't figure out how to boot from the card, vs. the onboard scsi stuff.

While the onboard would be faster, scsi vs. SSD is not much competition.

I just got done slow formatting my scsi drives, and, I'm ebaying all of it right now.

I really wonder why no one has a SCSI 80 pin SCA SSD. All it would take is one, and I could boot from it. However, it's not really worth the money on this system to buy the drive, or the hassle of reinstalling.

 

[Mercutio]

I really wonder why no one has a SCSI 80 pin SCA SSD.

Because SCSI is a legacy interface. No one makes modern graphics hardware to plug in to EISA slots any more either, and all the systems in the world with a reasonably valid reason to use SCSI were retired two server upgrades ago and replaced with SAS.

LM, Android versions are named after desserts. Intel CPU iterations are named after towns and bodies of water near their production facilities. Ubuntu names are alliterative references to animals. It's just a bit of fun for the developers.

 

[Santilli]

http://galaxy-s.t-mobile.com/samsun...zygt*VAygtzlw*VyBpAgf+mA55Byf*VyBpAgf+mA55Byf
LM has a phone that is upgradeable to Ice Cream, and I thought it was being advertized
as the only phone with Ice Cream already installed?

 

[Mercutio]

Stuff changes. Last I heard, Samsung was backing away from ICS in part due to the fact that it interferes with some Touchwiz (Samsung's custom Android setup) features and partly due to my previously mentioned legal matters.

 

[Santilli]

At this point, I'd just be happy being able to easily root my phone back into a clean version of 2.34 Gingerbread.

 

[Mercutio]

You'd probably be most interested in CyanogenMod then.

 

[LunarMist]

Cyanogen is a very nasty gas to handle. :rambo:

 

[Santilli]

It also doesn't seem to go well on the 4G slide, screwing up some of the very features I wanted, like Wifi.

It's not exactly like rooting newer phones is an exact science. Kind of reminds me of trying to get Linux to work on a box that didn't have all the components picked for compatibility.

 

[DrunkenBastard]

Stuff changes. Last I heard, Samsung was backing away from ICS in part due to the fact that it interferes with some Touchwiz (Samsung's custom Android setup) features and partly due to my previously mentioned legal matters.

Samsung Galaxy S II is getting the upgrade to ICS (prob sometime in Q1 2012), the potential upgrade to ICS for the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab remain up in the air (apparently some potential issues with TouchWiz).

All of Sony-Ericsson's 2011 phones are also getting ICS sometime in 2012.

 

[LunarMist]

The lens isn't really the problem. The pinprick-size CMOS sensor is.

I have solved the camera problem with black gaffer tape. At least they cannot video spy on me with the phone.

 

[LunarMist]

The spellchecker runs amok. Is there a way to disengage the damned thing?

 

[DrunkenBastard]

The spellchecker runs amok. Is there a way to disengage the damned thing?

Home button->Menu button->Settings->Language and keyboard->Touch input->Text input.

You can turn off prediction, spell checking and auto complete there. This is also where they hid the toggle to turn off vibrate/haptic feedback when you hit a character on the keyboard (was driving me crazy).

 

[mubs]

Using the phone in 3G mode drains the battery a lot quicker than using it in 2G.

I keep my phone in 2G mode unless I want to look something up on the net. It takes a few seconds to switch it to 3G, do my data thing, and switch it back to 2G. Email sync with Exchange works just fine with 2G.

 

[Santilli]

How do you set android to 2g?

 

[mubs]

No idea. It's usually in your phone set up options. If it's a GSM phone, under the "Network Mode" option, you'll see an option to use GSM or UMTS. GSM is 2G, UMTS is 3G.

 

[Mercutio]

I checked my Evo and also a Verizon Droid 2. Neither appears to have that option.

 

[Howell]

iPs have the option but it is usually only a problem when on the edge of 3G space.