ddrueding
Fixture
It is my default browser on my phone. I like it because I can sync bookmarks and the like with my desktops (all of them sync using the built-in tool).
This is the thread for the discussion of interesting apps.
- Thread starter Mercutio
- Start date
It is my default browser on my phone. I like it because I can sync bookmarks and the like with my desktops (all of them sync using the built-in tool).
ddrueding
Fixture
Sorry, I should clarify. I've made Firefox my default browser. It was not like that from the factory.
Stereodude
Not really a
FWIW, I've found Chrome to be faster than Firefox on my Nexus 7 (2013). Firefox seems a little sluggish.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Chrome starts a little faster than Firefox. Chrome also uses more CPU time and RAM. I use mobile Firefox for most but not all of my browsing because of ad-blocking, but because I sometimes need multiple logins on the same site, it's not uncommon for me to be using several browsers at the same time on the same device.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Is anyone using/bothering with phone encryption?
ddrueding
Fixture
Not here. Not that I don't like the theory, but most of the options are commercial packages that end with "trust us...until there is a warrant" which frankly isn't good enough to bother with these days.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I have an end user freaking the fuck out over a missing (personal) smartphone right now. I'm told that there are some pictures of a (cough cough) "personal nature" on it. We all know full well that law enforcement has ways on to our devices but I bet most of us with smartphones have a few fun things we'd prefer not to share with anyone who happened to pick up our phone.
Stereodude
Not really a
Don't they have a find my phone option? The iCraps have that capability.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
On Android, it's a case of "It depends." Samsung phones have it built in to the Samsung account portal but many phones have some kind of opt-in or require users to pick an app on their own. It's one of those things people don't think about until they need it. Google Apps admins can remote wipe phones or yank Apps account data off associated devices but there's no universal service for doing it.
I haven't seen evidence yet that the device you may be referencing is worthy of calling crap. Keep riding your uninformed high horse though if it makes you feel superior.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
I have my iCrap set to autowipe with too many login attempts. And I don't hand my phone to too many people. Almost all of the data is sync'd off on a continual basis so I'm not too worked about losing stuff. I just don't want others to get to it.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Points in Apple's favor:
1. General UI consistency vs. dozens of Android launchers
2. Perfectly responsive OS for a given generation of hardware vs. cheap/imperfectly implemented devices
3. Single monolithic online service for doing everything vs. pick-and-choose media, storage and security providers
4. User base with incredible willingness to buy applications vs. User base that largely doesn't give a crap about applications
5. Approximately two major revisions of OS updates vs. who-the-hell-knows?
6. Ecosystem of hardware exists to support specific devices (that might not work because we felt like changing the data connector) vs. generic USB support
7. Airplay vs. mishmash of things that kinda-sorta-might-do-something-that's-almost-like-Airplay.
Points in Android's favor:
1. Incredible customization vs. almost no ability to even change default settings
2. Wide variety of form factors and price points vs. "We have expensive small, expensive medium and expensive large."
3. Additional default buttons (Back, Options) mean richer and more coherent on-screen UIs vs. "One button, goes to home screen and we hope you're good at guessing what those weird icons do"
4. Support for storage expansion vs. "Next time you'll buy more space."
4a. /storage expansion/removable batteries
5. Straightforward application development process vs. "You'd better have a Mac and $100 to put this in the app store."
6. Generic USB support vs. ecosystem of hardware that exists to support specific devices
7. Consistent options for sharing data between applications vs. "You can't do that because the developer didn't think to add that option."
8. Widely available support for communication with networked devices (DLNA, SMB, FTP et al) vs. Kneel Before iTunes and learn to love Dropbox.
That's the fairest assessment I can make.
1. General UI consistency vs. dozens of Android launchers
2. Perfectly responsive OS for a given generation of hardware vs. cheap/imperfectly implemented devices
3. Single monolithic online service for doing everything vs. pick-and-choose media, storage and security providers
4. User base with incredible willingness to buy applications vs. User base that largely doesn't give a crap about applications
5. Approximately two major revisions of OS updates vs. who-the-hell-knows?
6. Ecosystem of hardware exists to support specific devices (that might not work because we felt like changing the data connector) vs. generic USB support
7. Airplay vs. mishmash of things that kinda-sorta-might-do-something-that's-almost-like-Airplay.
Points in Android's favor:
1. Incredible customization vs. almost no ability to even change default settings
2. Wide variety of form factors and price points vs. "We have expensive small, expensive medium and expensive large."
3. Additional default buttons (Back, Options) mean richer and more coherent on-screen UIs vs. "One button, goes to home screen and we hope you're good at guessing what those weird icons do"
4. Support for storage expansion vs. "Next time you'll buy more space."
4a. /storage expansion/removable batteries
5. Straightforward application development process vs. "You'd better have a Mac and $100 to put this in the app store."
6. Generic USB support vs. ecosystem of hardware that exists to support specific devices
7. Consistent options for sharing data between applications vs. "You can't do that because the developer didn't think to add that option."
8. Widely available support for communication with networked devices (DLNA, SMB, FTP et al) vs. Kneel Before iTunes and learn to love Dropbox.
That's the fairest assessment I can make.
Some of those seem fair/reasonable assessments. That doesn't make an iphone crap just because it's not exactly what you want.
Apple #4 isn't clear to me or maybe I don't understand your point. Are you suggesting Android users typically don't buy apps or simply doesn't use any kind of app?
Android #4 also plagues several key mobile and tablet Android devices as does #4a. There are options that offer those features but they still have the same issue in several pieces of hardware.
Android #5 is misleading to say the least. The upkeep of maintaining and developing apps for various versions and releases of android caused (and likely still causes) large fragmentation issues in both hardware and software. If anything there is something to be said with Apple's simplistic releases of only one basic mobile device and tablet. Apple is no where near perfect, but it's misguided to suggest Android has a better solution.
Android #7 doesn't make sense? Bluetooth and wifi have been possible since the beginning for iPhone. NFC isn't there but how often do people use it?
I feel the same is true if you have an Android phone you may buy an android tablet.
Perhaps you could use this app?
http://lifehacker.com/android-lost-controls-your-stolen-phone-even-after-you-511903024
http://lifehacker.com/android-lost-controls-your-stolen-phone-even-after-you-511903024
Stereodude
Not really a
The sarcasm, it's lost on you.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Yes actually I am. Very often Android device owners are looking for the base feature set of the device (web browsing, email, navigation etc) and tend to install far fewer apps, even when those apps are - by the nature of Google's revenue model - free. iOS definitely has less of a free software culture and also encourages users to find iOS-specific viewers for various web sites, often sites that are otherwise less than wholly functional in a standard desktop version due to limitations such as Flash support or just readability. The end result is that iOS users will go looking for apps and are far more likely to pay for them when they find one.
Yes, but users have the choice to purchase devices that do not suffer from those particular defects.
Android development: Write code in Java, something CS students have been learning in their 100-level classes for the last dozen years or so. Build an .APK, copy it on a device and run it, or publish it in one of a number of online app stores free of charge. Yes, there are questions about screen resolution and which OS version to target but developers can also specify the degree to which their programs are compatible with devices if they feel they need to.
iOS development: Write code in Objective C, Apple's pet language that is widely used for pretty much nothing else. Publish to the iTunes store using a computer running OS X and pay $100/year for the privilege of having it there. The latter two requirements represent barriers to entry for a lot of people.
Apple's bluetooth implementation is notorious for sub-par range and audio quality issues that are not present when BT devices are paired with other hardware. I wasn't even going to bring that up, but even setting that aside, you're not attaching an iOS device to an SMB file share without rooting your device and every single DLNA client for iOS that I've found is apparently broken, at least for video support. And again, because of Apple's security model, you can't download an arbitrary file and store it on your device even if it's just a completely inert collection of bits as far as the device is concerned, no matter what software you might be using. Apple's way is the only way that is allowed or tolerated.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Android Device Manager was released today. It's a web app that hooks in to your Google account. It can ring your device and/or remote wipe, though you have to do a factory reset before the wipe feature is enabled.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
I attempted to enable this on my GS3 but the option doesn't exist.
Stereodude
Not really a
What media player (video) apps is everyone using on Android? I tried out MX Player and it seems okay, but maybe there's something better...
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I use WinAmp, Beyondpod and Doubletwist for audio and VLC for video, plus Plex.
I have different players to maintain my place in different playlists.
I have different players to maintain my place in different playlists.
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
MX Player for video (since it can take advantage of hardware acceleration from my phone/tablets) and just the stock music player that comes with the HTC Desire X. (Don't play music on the tablets, so no recommendations there).
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
Is there an app that tells me what is using mobile data and battery power, and how much? On my Galaxy Grand Duos, I've got GPS, WI-Fi and BT off. I left mobile data on, and the battery depletes really fast (full charge gone in a day) without me using 3G/2G data explicitly. If I turn mobile data off, battery life is ~ 2.5 times as long. I don't use the phone to surf, do email and any other data activity. I occasionally will want to access Google and Google Maps. There is a convenient toggle for Wi-Fi, GPS, BT, Mobile Data, etc., but it appears if I turn mobile data on, I have to reboot the phone or it still thinks the mobile data feature is turned off. Probably a bug.
I'd at least like to know what the hell is sneaking out behind my back and munching battery power.
TIA.
I'd at least like to know what the hell is sneaking out behind my back and munching battery power.
TIA.
Stereodude
Not really a
Which one? There are a lot of returned results when you search the Play store for VLC. The "official" beta isn't even one of them.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Stereodude
Not really a
I didn't even get an image on the screen with mpeg-2 or H.264 files. I got audio, but no picture with SW or HW decoding. So far MX Player has HW accelerated every H.264 file I've thrown at it. Even full blown Blu-Ray spec video streams and randomly encoded things I've downloaded.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I don't have much video on my mobile devices because Plex. What I do have is basically .MP4s I get from Youtube or Vimeo and those play without any hassle at all.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Stereodude
Not really a
Anyone know of an Android audio playback app that can control playback speed and leave pitch alone? On the PC I use foobar2k with a plugin.
ddrueding
Fixture
Fieldrunners 2 was a great game, but I think I've maxed it out.
Stereodude
Not really a
I found the JetAudio player which can so it.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
Updated Google Maps is available for Android. Why the heck does it need access to your contacts list?
Why does WebMD need access to your call list?
Sheesh, this totally negates the advantages of these apps. The invasion and rape of privacy is reaching epic proportions.
Why does WebMD need access to your call list?
Sheesh, this totally negates the advantages of these apps. The invasion and rape of privacy is reaching epic proportions.
Stereodude
Not really a
On a phone I realize it's an issue. On my tablet I just don't keep personal information on it. I don't need to keep contacts on my tablet. There is no call history to mine.