Android phones: Tips, tricks?

[MaxBurn]

Comments on this are pretty funny. You shouldn't read this page on a Samsung device though.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/25/3403928/samsung-touchwiz-reset-vulnerability

 

[Howell]

Random Galaxy s3 on Sprint question: for what reason would the ability to configure it for connection to exchange be missing. Other S3s are connected fine be on this one the "Corporate" button is missing.

 

[MaxBurn]

I don't have a "corporate" button on my note with 4.0.4. Stock mail app has POP3, IMAP, and Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. That last one what you don't have?

 

[ddrueding]

Well if this is true maybe it will put the boot up Samsung to get that jellybean update that is in the pipe out a little early?

Wow....tempted to play with that, but it would be too much work to put it back together.

 

[Howell]

I tried to follow these instructions but failed at step 5:
http://www.knowyourcell.com/samsung...exchange_email_on_your_samsung_galaxy_s3.html

The weirdest thing is other Sprint S3s are working.

 

[MaxBurn]

Mine doesn't have corporate either, does have "Exchange Active Sync" listed. Do you have that? Maybe just a little mixup in their instructions.

Should be able to do the same thing by going into the stock email app, adding an account and choosing manual setup. That shows the Exchange Active Sync option for me too.

 

[time]

Comments on this are pretty funny. You shouldn't read this page on a Samsung device though.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/25/3403928/samsung-touchwiz-reset-vulnerability

Epic Fail by The Verge: it's nothing to do with Samsung, let alone TouchWiz.

You can test your phone safely at http://dylanreeve.com/phone.php which will display the IMEI if the vulnerability is active.

Fixed as a bug in Android on June 27, but presumably some telco builds have unraveled the fix. My S3 on 4.04 is fine.

 

[MaxBurn]

News agencies do seem to have a real problem figuring out what bit of the software on the device has the problem, they always just say device tested X confirmed to be a problem. I don't really see it as a big deal, people know what device they have, not what bit of software they have. Only the geeks pay attention later when they find out where exactly the problem is.

According to that site my note with 4.0.4 is vulnerable. I checked the page source on my laptop first to see which code it was sending, there are lots of pranksters around now.

 

[timwhit]

My Sprint S3 is also vulnerable. This is a really simple hack, it really shouldn't be that hard to fix this.

 

[time]

Just change the dialer.

 

[timwhit]

Just change the dialer.

I meant for Samsung/carriers.

 

[MaxBurn]

That reminds me a real problem I see with android is once you change the dialer, default browser, home screen app etc there is no entry in settings to change them back. You have to rely on some other thing to change the setting.

 

[timwhit]

That reminds me a real problem I see with android is once you change the dialer, default browser, home screen app etc there is no entry in settings to change them back. You have to rely on some other thing to change the setting.

It's possible to reset the default in the applications menu under settings.

 

[MaxBurn]

It's possible to reset the default in the applications menu under settings.

What application defaults do I wipe to get the choice for default browser? Home screen? I had to add an app to switch home screens.

 

[timwhit]

What application defaults do I wipe to get the choice for default browser? Home screen? I had to add an app to switch home screens.

You go to whatever the current default application is and you tap "Clear Defaults." I just tried it for my browser and it worked fine.

http://www.androidcentral.com/changing-your-launcher-clearing-app-defaults

 

[MaxBurn]

Thanks, that's good to file away.

 

[MaxBurn]

A Note 2 review. I had lots of trouble believing some of their conclusions based on data presented but they have pictures.

http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-II-Review_id3134#1-

Screen appears to be closer to white than pentile screens but not as good as decent LCD. I know someone that crappy black levels bother but now I think I understand it dealing with screens that have bad white levels. Light blue or gray is not white.

 

[MaxBurn]

Well it gets a little worse. Apparently the same vulnerability can be used to trigger the PUK function four times and lock you out of your SIM too.

http://www.techhive.com/article/2010867/samsung-android-hole-also-leaves-sim-cards-vulnerable.html

They seem to be dragging their feet on non flagship models:

Samsung has already fixed the USSD/MMI code execution issue for Galaxy S III devices. "We would like to assure customers that the recent security issue affecting the Galaxy S III has already been addressed in a software update," Samsung said Tuesday in a statement via e-mail. "We believe this issue was isolated to early production devices, and devices currently available are not affected by this issue. To ensure customers are fully protected, Samsung advises checking for software updates through the 'Settings: About device: Software update' menu. We are in the process of evaluating other Galaxy models."

Check this out

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mulliner.telstop

This is a quick fix for the TEL attacks described here [2].
TelStop publishes a TEL handler and will be invoked on every phone call the originates from a TEL URL. TelStop will only show itself if it sees a problem with the URL. You will only see the WARNING screen if the URL looks fishy.

 

[Mercutio]

Wow. That is the complete opposite of hilarious.

 

[Mercutio]

My fun new game: Swype lottery. I email my friend a stupid/inappropriate picture and draw a squiggle in swype to pick the subject line. She does the same.

Best random word wins.

Today's winner: Cthonic

 

[MaxBurn]

That's just bragging.

 

[Mercutio]

It is actually kind of neat to see some of the weird stuff in the dictionary. Cthulhu is in it, but so is "Jay-Z", whom I understand is a rapper.

Anyway, it's good fun.

 

[CityK]

Cthulhu is in it

I had no idea what Cthulhu was until Cartman joined forces with him and together they smote Justin Beiber

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEg2VSsKtek

 

[Mercutio]

The work of HP Lovecraft is basic cultural literary at this point.

 

[LunarMist]

I doubt that most of the newer generation read him. Most likely the youth may intractable derivative works like comical or video games.

 

[Mercutio]

It's not so much reading as the vast, vast quantity of works that reference, name-check or derive from his work in comics, movies and video games. In his life, Lovecraft connected his work to Robert (Conan/Tarzan) Howard and Lord Dunsany's, and a whole host of early science fiction authors took up the ideas of his shared reality, which leads us to latter-day literary connections as diverse as Game of Thrones (the Ironborn worship a dead god beneath the sea, associated with a Kraken), random books by Stephen King, the Evil Dead films, Futurama, and Castlevania video games.

 

[Santilli]

Anyone used Waze? Trying to figure out how to combine it with a radar detector.
New car is a bit faster then the Toyota.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waze
http://www.waze.com/

So far not really sold on the free GPS. Last night it wanted to turn a 45 minute drive to another route, 1 hour 15 minutes.

 

[Santilli]

Sorry. Wrong thread.

 

[Mercutio]

Trading on Google halted over early release of earnings report after shares fell 10% in minutes.
I think it's fair to say that the doofus who is responsible for making billions of dollars evaporate can safely be called a doofus for the rest of his natural life.

 

[ddrueding]

Trading on Google halted over early release of earnings report after shares fell 10% in minutes.
I think it's fair to say that the doofus who is responsible for making billions of dollars evaporate can safely be called a doofus for the rest of his natural life.

Link to an article that doesn't require a sub...

 

[Mercutio]

That's weird. It comes right up for me.

 

[Mercutio]

S3 owners: Are you guys noticing any particular sluggishness with the Google Calendar app?

 

[ddrueding]

S3 owners: Are you guys noticing any particular sluggishness with the Google Calendar app?

Nope. And I have a bunch of calendars running and haven't visited the app since last reboot.

 

[Mercutio]

Do anyone know of a sure-fire way to figure out how to make Android devices use contacts and info on Google accounts rather than saving it to a Manufacturer app or phone-exclusive contact? I just spent an hour looking at three different unfamiliar phones and they all handle contacts completely differently. This is a pretty big deficiency.

 

[ddrueding]

Most of the phones I've used ask once during the setup phase. I'd love to know where that setting is. Also how to actually merge contacts instead of just "link" them (limit to 10 linked accounts).

 

[Mercutio]

I just re-set my S4 to check and... nope, it did not ask me that.

 

[LiamC]

O.K. Was rocking a HTC Incredible S for two years, and then upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy S4, primarily for the bigger screen - I read books and PDF's a lot. The SGS4 is much better for web browsing as well.

After a few weeks, I thought "hey, this phone doesn't feel much faster than the Inc S". So I pulled out the Incredible S and just started playing with it. Not so. The Incredible S felt really laggy after using the SGS4. The Inc S was on Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 with HTCs Sense 3.6.

Sense 3.6 was toned down compared to 3 that shipped with the Inc S. I understand that 4 is even better in that regard. IMO, Sense is way better than Touchwiz - sorry Samsung. It could be familiarity, but I don't think so.

Realising this, and wanting the "buttery smoothness" of Jellybean compared to ICS, I installed an unofficial Cyanogen mod ROM on the Inc S - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1996570 . At the risk of sounding like Rona from Archer: Movie Star (http://www.tv.com/shows/archer/movie-star-1371177/) - "Amazing!". If your phone can run Ice Cream Sandwich, it can most likely run Jellybean. The incremental improvements add up to a whole lot better user experience. If it wasn't for the bigger screen, I'd be quite happy running the Incredible S with Jellybean. If you feel more comfortable with a smaller handset, then an older handset with a new ROM might make better sense than forking out the dollars.

 

[Mercutio]

Sense is really the best of the Android overlay launchers. It's heavy but very well tuned.

I've gotten a lot of mileage lately out of APK Share and Backup. It's amazingly helpful for people with devices lacking Play access or Android 2.x devices that just can't load software for no particularly good reason. It doesn't require root and it does work with purchased apps.

Amazon seems to be marking a lot of formerly compatible apps incompatible with the original Kindle Fire. These include Plex and Quickoffice Pro, both of which I know to work just fine. I'm not sure if they're doing it to guide people to the more expensive devices, but it's pretty lame either way.

 

[LiamC]

One nice thing about Cyanogen is the stock performance utilities were you can do things like overclock your phone. The Snapdragon S2 is specced for clocks up to 1.4 GHz, which makes the 1 GHz clock in the Incredible S seem rather conservative. I've been running the clock @ 1.2 GHz for the last week or so, but notice that a 20% clock boost gives ~ a 20% decrease in battery life. Still, three days of light use isn't too bad. I wish I had a Galaxy S2 or HTC One S to play with, I think Cyanogen 10.1 + either of those phones would make a nice daily driver. And the more I use a ROM close to stock Android, the less I like overlays.

Don't get me wrong, I do like the SGS 4, but with a cover, it really is a large handset.

 

[ddrueding]

I've been tempted to put Cyanogen 10.1 on my Galaxy S4 (Verizon) but have hesitated to make such major changes to such an expensive and necessary piece of my life without first knowing anyone else that has done it successfully. Anyone here take the plunge?