Smartphones

Heh, he might be talking from eons ago then. I can guarantee 10 yrs ago was a different story.

Flipmode_sl said:

You said you've lived in AZ and I can tell you for a fact that even though Verizon has good coverage here, their network is over saturated and ATT speeds and coverage are better to me than when I had verizon. I have lte everywhere in Phoenix I go all the way down I-10 and into Tucson.

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I don't live in Phoenix though, I live in the tri-state area. Completely different ballpark here. Comparing it to the biggest city in Arizona is kind of silly =x

Got a feeling this is some of the stuff that Tarrant was implying earlier, how he was talking about "Framily" with no phone subsidies is something that Sprint is going to be focusing on rather than the old model of handling them anymore. I got the distinct impression that was because T-Mobile's new methodology is kicking tons of ass and frankly if the other carriers don't adapt to the new model, they're going to die. [Of which Sprint seems to be following closest to me - AT&T has a hard time matching rates and has potential for data overage that Sprint does not]

I'm definitely happy to see them doing well, honestly if I didn't have to worry about hosing the in-laws on the Framily rate going back up when we left, I'd have be running over to them anyhow. They're actually supposed to be the best reception provider for where we'll be moving to anyhow. (Sprint in #2 and VZW as worst major carrier) Assuming we were new to the wireless game we'd be going with them for 100% sure, just family baggage keeping us tied to Sprint for now. [Note: Her idiot parents actually managed to run themselves into bankruptcy and constantly beg us to help with their mortgage across the state... and are begging for us to buy a place in Florida with a guest house they can rent from us... so last thing we need is them to be $20/mo down that they can easily blame on us - heh...]

just bought the m8. my last phone prior to it was an iphone4. jesus, does it feel fast

I've been using my Galaxy S3 since release (I think about a year and a half now) and so I started looking at the phones recently released. Found out about the HTC M8, watched a bunch of videos and read your guys's discussions in here about and got super excited...only to find out HTC pulled out of Korea. Entirely. lol. Sucks cuz I think the style/form factor is by far the coolest on the market.

Looks like the top contenders/newest releases here in Korea are the Galaxy S5, LG G2 Pro, and the Sony Z2. I didn't see the Z2 in person yet (I came across it online after going to the store yesterday) but I think it's gonna be my choice. The Galaxy S5 feels almost like a 'safety school' because even though the insides are streets ahead of my S3, it still feels/looks like phone I've had in my pocket for the past year and a half. Takes away some of the allure! And the G2 Pro is just gigantic. I don't have experience with phablets (that is the de facto term right, I'm not being douchey?) but some of the reviewers I watched did mention that they started out thinking 'wow this is huge' but before long became totally accustomed to the size and normal phones then felt small. But I am a big one-handed typer so I worry about gettin my thumb all the way over there.

And just for conversation, I'll tell you guys about the prices over here. The plan I've been using is 2gb data, maybe like 200 minutes and 200 texts (literally 99% of my communication is over 4g/wifi chat app and I've never broken the 2gb limit) and it costs 42,000 won, or about $40. Cheap as balls, right? But the phones are how they getcha. The LG G2 Pro is 999,900 won ($960) and the Galaxy S5 is 860,000 (~$825). And I'm on a student visa now, so instead of the usual divide-into-your-bill-over-two-years, they require payment, in cash, at sign up!

Weird - wonder if it's an oversight that Verizon modified into the software or something else. My notifications light on the Sprint HTC One (M8) absolutely stay on forever. Either that or there's an option I tinkered with that kept it, I do tinker with settings alot - but I don't recall a Notification Timeout being on the list. (Note: Assuming not in Extreme Power Saving Mode - not really messed with it since they activated the option on it [was a Day 2-3 update for it on Sprint])

Maybe it was part of the EPS Mode patch then? Don't recall if it was ever long-term before I got it pushed.

And it's a slow rollout on EPS clearly since Laura got her update like 36 hrs after mine which was activated 5 min earlier.

Sprints HTC One M8 may secretly be a Harman/Kardon special edition | Pocketnow

Seems like Sprint might have HTC One M8 - Definitive Edition.

Vaclav_sl said:

Sprints HTC One M8 may secretly be a Harman/Kardon special edition | Pocketnow

Seems like Sprint might have HTC One M8 - Definitive Edition.

Click to expand...

Too bad their service is anything but definitive in AZ.

From the looks of their expansion maps they and TMo are putting towers up in the Midwest areas next couple years. Definitely a very ignored area overall though.

Installing now.

Windows Phone 8.1 review: A magnificent smartphone platform | Ars Technica

Edit - Windows phone just got real

Looks like Windows is getting us 1 step closer to where I see mobile computing going in the future. I still think we'll eventually get to the point where you just purchase 1 "master" device, a phone that houses whatever CPU/GPU/RAM that you choose. Then at that point, you can use your phone to power various larger "shells" in the form of your tablet, laptop, etc. It would be a more economical solution as you could get your new CPU/OS upgrade every year or two, and just plug them into cheaper shells (8" screen to make a tablet, 15" screen + keyboard for your full laptop, etc). Maybe the laptop shell not only has the keyboard and 15" screen, but also your optical drive and more storage(Hard drive).

Once phones are powerful enough to drive displays of those sizes (we're pretty much there), it would be stupid to buy a $600 phone, a $600 tablet, and a $1000 laptop that all do basically the same thing, just in varying sizes. That's a lot for your average consumer to shell out every couple of years. I'd much rather buy a $600 phone every other year if I knew I could plug it into my same 8" tablet screen and 15" laptop case that I already have. And upgrading those every once in a while would be cheap, since it's basically just a screen, you don't have to re-purchase a CPU/GPU/etc.

You could even use that model all the way up to desktop PCs, even though those might also still have a dedicated GPU+PSU, you'd still save money not having to buy a motherboard/CPU for your desktop.

Not to mention all the convenience of all of your programs + data being on one device, and 100% usable across all of your devices.

No but phones are powerful enough to run an operating system, which you can then plug in to a "desktop station" or something similar that provides the horsepower. The Motorola Atrix is an example of this, but Android is a garbage desktop OS.