Smartphones

Frenzied Wombat · Sep 10, 2014

I can't see anybody who owns a nice watch tossing it in their night table drawer in favor of a watch that looks like it came off the set of Spaceballs. Who in their right mind is going to shelf their Breitling for this ugly POS?

Araxen · Sep 10, 2014

I wonder what Apple's reason is for not going with wireless charging. Of course it took them ages to finally accept NFC. They are about as fast as Microsoft now when it comes to company nimbleness now.

I'm very curious to see how many buy the Apple Watch. IMHO, it's $150 too much but the sheep are strong with Apple. They can get away with charging $500 if they wanted too.

a_skeleton_03 · Sep 10, 2014

Northerner_sl said:
I know that all the major players desperately *want* smart watches to be the next big thing but I still don't see it.

I'm both a watch guy and a gadget lover and I can't imagine ever getting one. It's a shitty-looking watch (yes, watches essentially are guy jewellery but I'm fine with that) and a piss-poor gadget that doesn't do anything my phone can't already do.

The point isn't for it do something new but to do what your phone does but on your wrist.

Think of it as your phone without having to actually get your phone out of your pocket. The only reason it is a "watch" is it because it goes on your wrist and it's default display is always on and showing time.

Mist · Sep 10, 2014

I kinda want a second gen Moto G, thing seems insane for the price.

Luthair · Sep 11, 2014

Ritley_sl said:
Looks awesome bro. To be fair though I have no intention of getting either, watches are pretty useless

The metal strap one looks far better, though iirc isn't available yet. Not my style but the just announced Asus watch may actually be the best looking.

Araxen_sl said:
I wonder what Apple's reason is for not going with wireless charging. Of course it took them ages to finally accept NFC

They've always tried to ration out the features so they have a "legitimate" reason for a yearly release cycle.

Personally I don't understand the hype for phones as payment systems, you're never going to leave the house without a CC/cash as well - we've all run out of power (e.g. travelling), found lost phones, seen broken ones, etc. while your CC will always work. That said its surprising that Microsoft & Google haven't focused more on non-US markets for NFC payments, lots of countries have had the technology deployed at registers for years.

Antarius · Sep 11, 2014

When I can replace my phone in a watch form factor with 1 full day battery life, that is when I'll get one. There is just no way to power those cell antennas for very long on batteries with 20% of the capacity of a phone battery.

If the watch just became a tool for accessing all the features of my phone, like a dumb terminal, that might actually be useful too. I don't mind carrying my phone, but I wouldn't be upset if I never needed to remove it from my pocket except to web surf on a bigger screen.

But it doesn't seem like these first gen smart watches do any of that. Instead they're glorified fitness bands.

Oldbased · Sep 11, 2014

MIO Drive + Petite Heart Rate Monitor Watch
Especially when you can buy those things for $10 to read heart rate.
Meh btw for anyone who used to follow Woot is the same people who ran it prior to Amazon buying them out 4ish years ago.

Damn just noticed on my Tmobile site they added a new plan. Unlimted talk/text and now 2 gbs data for $45.
Plan details : $45 Simple Starter Plan
Unlimited Nationwide Voice - Unlimited Nationwide Messaging - 2GB of high-speed Data (Data service suspended after 2 GB) - Smartphone Mobile HotSpot (tethering) included at no extra charge - Rate Plan Charge excluding features: $45.00 per month

Alkorin · Sep 11, 2014

Araxen_sl said:
I'm very curious to see how many buy the Apple Watch. IMHO, it's $150 too much but the sheep are strong with Apple. They can get away with charging $500 if they wanted too.

I am admittedly fairly sheep-like when it comes to Apple gadgets, but I'm on the fence about this one (just as I was on the fence about Apple TV, and didn't end up getting one). I already have a Pebble that I rarely do anything smart-like with.

Unless this watch is somehow the second coming of Jobs, I don't see the point in spending that much on something that offers me almost nothing more than the "dumb" watch I already have (and looks no better than the Pebble that I already have). Oh, and sub-1 day battery life? Just no.

Siliconemelons · Sep 11, 2014

Where did that hybrid mechanical with transparent oled display go? that was the only smart watch I would go for... its function of "smart" is secondary to it being an actual watch. Smart watches are easy notification managers - very little content should be consumed etc. there.

Ameraves · Sep 11, 2014

T-Mobile: Free WiFi Calls on Your iPhone and Your Own Personal Cell Tower

Well shit, this immediately fixes my need for wifi calling. Go T-Mobile.

I tried the Hangouts calling yesterday but didn't have time to fiddle with it. I do know that it shows up as Unknown Caller when I was calling out, so I am guessing I need to fix my settings somewhere

Abefroman · Sep 11, 2014

Araxen_sl said:
I wonder what Apple's reason is for not going with wireless charging. Of course it took them ages to finally accept NFC. They are about as fast as Microsoft now when it comes to company nimbleness now.

I'm very curious to see how many buy the Apple Watch. IMHO, it's $150 too much but the sheep are strong with Apple. They can get away with charging $500 if they wanted too.

Because they want people to keep paying a premium for their stupid proprietary cables. I have no doubt they are developing a system that won't infringe on other patents, it just isn't obviously ready yet.

Duppin_sl · Sep 11, 2014

I'm kicking around the idea of a Windows phone, but I'd be reluctant to give up the guitar apps on my iPhone.

Does anyone know if Windows phones have the inherent latency issues that prevent stuff like that from working on Android?

Kirun · Sep 11, 2014

Duppin_sl said:
I'm kicking around the idea of a Windows phone, but I'd be reluctant to give up the guitar apps on my iPhone.

Does anyone know if Windows phones have the inherent latency issues that prevent stuff like that from working on Android?

Apps? On a Windows Phone? LOL.

That said, I just updated my Lumia 920 to 8.1. Almost nothing changed except for them finally adding a "swipe down" to access all of your notifications, settings, etc. You know, the feature that Android has had for years. They also added the ability to customize your background and "live" tiles, but "live" tiles are the most worthless thing ever. If you actually leave them fully functional, you'd have to charge your phone every 3-4 hours. I have to leave my phone in power saver mode in order to get it to last an entire day, which completely negates the purpose of live tiles.

I can't wait for my contract to end in December, grab a Nexus 6, and not only get the hell away from the Windows shitty eco system, but also ditch AT&T. It's so unfortunate that Nokia hitched themselves to Windows Phone, because their hardware is absolutely phenomenal. I love the Lumia 920, I just can't stand the software portion of the device.

Duppin_sl · Sep 11, 2014

That's all fine, but I'm still wondering about the answer to my question.

From what I understand, iOS is the only phone OS that processes music data rapidly enough to allow things like guitar rig emulation to work. I'm assuming that Windows phone won't do it either but I'm not sure. It's a bit of a niche question and Googling hasn't been productive.

Nester · Sep 11, 2014

iphone 6 is nice and shiny and I could use a replacement for my 4s. however can I play my Ps4???? =D

Lenas · Sep 11, 2014

One of the recent developer updates to WP added a load time to mylock screen. 5 seconds just to check what fucking time it is.

Duppin_sl · Sep 11, 2014

I think my question is too niche-y, so I'll ask a broader question:

What's the best Android phone right now on Verizon? I'd prefer something a little smaller since I'm short so I have smaller pockets, but it's not the end of the world if a larger device is clearly the best. I don't want to fuck around with rooting or anything, I want a phone that works well out of the box.

Lenas · Sep 11, 2014

I can't even find an app for Windows Phone that does what I think you want to do. You wanna plug the guitar into the phone, right? Good fucking luck.

Crone · Sep 11, 2014

I'm sorry to not be able to answer your question directly Duppin, but the iPhone's processor isn't earth shattering, and Android phones have more RAM and processor specs. Wonder what makes the iPhone the only one that can handle it?

Right now the best Android phone on Verizon is probably the Samsung S5? Note 3? LG G3?

Duppin_sl · Sep 11, 2014

I don't understand it fully myself; as it's been explained to me, iOS processes the guitar signal in a way that eliminates latency that Android (or Windows Phone as far as I'm aware) can't. I can confirm that there aren't any such apps for Android, as far as I can find.

It wouldn't be the hugest deal in the world to lose that functionality, since I have other ways to practice with headphones. Just something I'm curious about.

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