Smartphones

Kedwyn · Oct 22, 2015

The Note 5 is a specs beast but gets hampered by Touchwiz and the bloat that samsung has installed. If you are dying for a stylus that might be your only option.

The 6p is very close on specs and is pure android, no wait for updates, longer update support and excellent development from XDA and other places. Also carrier unlocked which is huge and can be used on any carrier. More bands is always better as well. Can you use them? Depends on your carrier.

Honestly for me there is no comparison. No point in having a 4gb phone that can't really multi task properly because Samsung has the RAM management dialed down so tight you can't use it without seeing apps reload constantly. The bloat that has crept into Touchwiz and all the unnecessary programs that Samsung has for all their shit services no one uses is completely ridiculous. If they didn't lock the devices down you could root and remove all that garbage for good but Sammy hasn't been very friendly with that at all.

Still a good phone, I just have waived off Samsung now that they've gone all Apple. Android has never been about the walled garden concept.

I went with the 6P over the Note 5 without any doubts. I'd probably even go with the Moto pure over the Note 5 despite the Pures issues I'd rather support companies that know wtf people want in the market place than Samsung who is trying to win a beauty contest with a device that most people lock behind a case anyway.

Abefroman · Oct 22, 2015

I think my next phone is also going to be one of the new Nexus line. I have the S4 and I still don't have the 5.0 android update and the tons of stupid Samsung apps that I can't get rid of is annoying. The stock android plus updates is a huge factor of why I am going that route.

Siliconemelons · Oct 22, 2015

Hey all, what about this guy?

Joeboo · Oct 22, 2015

Kedwyn_sl said:
The Note 5 is a specs beast but gets hampered by Touchwiz and the bloat that samsung has installed. If you are dying for a stylus that might be your only option.

The 6p is very close on specs and is pure android, no wait for updates, longer update support and excellent development from XDA and other places. Also carrier unlocked which is huge and can be used on any carrier. More bands is always better as well. Can you use them? Depends on your carrier.

Honestly for me there is no comparison. No point in having a 4gb phone that can't really multi task properly because Samsung has the RAM management dialed down so tight you can't use it without seeing apps reload constantly. The bloat that has crept into Touchwiz and all the unnecessary programs that Samsung has for all their shit services no one uses is completely ridiculous. If they didn't lock the devices down you could root and remove all that garbage for good but Sammy hasn't been very friendly with that at all.

Still a good phone, I just have waived off Samsung now that they've gone all Apple. Android has never been about the walled garden concept.

I went with the 6P over the Note 5 without any doubts. I'd probably even go with the Moto pure over the Note 5 despite the Pures issues I'd rather support companies that know wtf people want in the market place than Samsung who is trying to win a beauty contest with a device that most people lock behind a case anyway.

Do you have your 6P yet? I'm curious as to the camera quality.

The one thing that keeps me going back to Samsung(I have a Note 3, Wife has a S5) is they seem to have the superior camera/image processing over just about every other android phone I've tried. I've had LG phones as well as HTC phones and I didn't think either could hold a candle to Samsung in picture quality(and with a small child, we take a lot of pictures)

I'm currently debating between the Note 5 and 6P, with camera being a major deciding factor.

opiate82 · Oct 22, 2015

joeboo_sl said:
Do you have your 6P yet? I'm curious as to the camera quality.

The one thing that keeps me going back to Samsung(I have a Note 3, Wife has a S5) is they seem to have the superior camera/image processing over just about every other android phone I've tried. I've had LG phones as well as HTV phones and I didn't think either could hold a candle to Samsung in picture quality(and with a small child, we take a lot of pictures)

I'm currently debating between the Note 5 and 6P, with camera being a major deciding factor.

I think the very first 6P orders are just starting to ship now. I ordered the day they announced and still haven't got a shipping notification yet.

I know of at least one reviewer who said the 6P camera is really good, but the Note 5 is better. Even though the 5x is built by LG and the 6P is built by Huawei, they both utilize a Sony-built sensor. Sony currently holds the rank of best smart-phone camera on the market over atDxOMarkwith the Sony Xperia Z5.

Kedwyn · Oct 22, 2015

joeboo_sl said:
Do you have your 6P yet? I'm curious as to the camera quality.

The one thing that keeps me going back to Samsung(I have a Note 3, Wife has a S5) is they seem to have the superior camera/image processing over just about every other android phone I've tried. I've had LG phones as well as HTV phones and I didn't think either could hold a candle to Samsung in picture quality(and with a small child, we take a lot of pictures)

I'm currently debating between the Note 5 and 6P, with camera being a major deciding factor.

Not yet, should have it in about 10 days. Maybe 14. My wife's 5x will be here Monday.

Camera looks to be excellent but slightly below the Note 5 or S6 cameras. I wouldn't stress about that as the real world difference seem pretty minimal. Previous versions of the nexus and other devices this was a big issue but the gap is closing to the point where it is not a big deal.

I'll let you know though when I get it in.

Joeboo · Oct 23, 2015

Ah hell, neither the new Nexus 5X or the 6P have micro SD card slots?

I hate this shit. That was one of the main reasons I was moving away from Samsung phones.

I refuse to pay $50-100 for each additional 32GB of storage on a phone. a 32GB SD card is like $10 nowadays.

Neki · Oct 23, 2015

How much storage do you actually need on a phone anyway?

I kind of think that 32GBs would be enough. I have all my mp3s and audio books backed up on Google cloud, photos are backed up onto Google photos, I don't store movies onto my phone to watch since I use Plex and even if I wanted to, it would be deleted after I've watched them. Even if for some reason I needed to do use large storage, I've got nexus media importer to save files onto an external OTG USB drive.

Soygen · Oct 23, 2015

Neki_sl said:
How much storage do you actually need on a phone anyway?

I kind of think that 32GBs would be enough. I have all my mp3s and audio books backed up on Google cloud, photos are backed up onto Google photos, I don't store movies onto my phone to watch since I use Plex and even if I wanted to, it would be deleted after I've watched them. Even if for some reason I needed to do use large storage, I've got nexus media importer to save files onto an external OTG USB drive.

Some people want some actual files on their phone for various reasons.

Kedwyn · Oct 23, 2015

64gb is enough for me. I have 6-10gb of music on my phone and the rest is for apps and photos. Now with google photo and unlimited storage those get uploaded every time I'm on wifi so all my videos and photos are there and once a week or so I remove them from the gallery because I don't have much need for duplication on my device.

That leaves 44gb or so for apps. That is a lot of fucking space.

opiate82 · Oct 23, 2015

I can see both sides of it. I've gotten by just fine with 8gbs on my Nexus 4, music is mostly in the cloud, photos automatically upload there, any work is done via dropbox, etc. On the other hand, I have something like 40gbs of music and would love to have access to my whole library even when out of cell range (road trips, etc.). I've learned to live with the limitations of the Nexus phones for a while now so it doesn't bother me too much.

I guess what don't understand is what is the purpose of NOT including an SD card slot? Just to force you into the cloud, selling the extra built in storage at a premium or what, I don't get it.

Deathwing · Oct 23, 2015

Is Google Photo unlimited? I thought it was restricted to your Google Drive size(15GB standard).

Intrinsic · Oct 23, 2015

Since I just went through the setup I'm pretty sure it is 'unlimited' for High Quality pictures and 15 gig for 'raw' photos. Something like that, can't remember the exact wording but there was an unlimited default option.

opiate82 · Oct 23, 2015

Google Photo gives you unlimited storage space if you are willing to limit photo resolution to 16 megapixels and video resolution to 1080p. You do have the option to store at higher resolutions, but the storage counts against your Google Drive quota.

I don't think any photos I take with my phone will ever brake that rule. My high-end photography photos would, but I have other storage options for those anyways.

Kedwyn · Oct 23, 2015

Yeah Google Photos is great. Highly recommend it. I only wish there was an option in the app to auto delete from your device once it is uploaded. I don't take video in higher than 1080p and don't expect to anytime soon nor do I take photos over 16 megapixels. I don't need to make 8ft posters from my photos.

calhoonjugganaut · Oct 25, 2015

Has anyone sold an old iphone recently? I just upgraded to an iphone 6s and I had a 5c. I sold the 5c last night for $20. The screen was really cracked but everything still works fine on it. I tok out my sim card and deleted my icloud and reset everything on the phone before I sold it. The person is now saying that they can't get it activated because when they call Sprint (we have the same provider) they say it is lost or stolen. However, I've talked with Sprint twice today and they assured me that they removed the phone from a lost or stolen list, even though it was never lost or stolen. I got the phone new and have been the only user. The only reason I ask is because my wife wants to sell her old iphone, which is not cracked and we don't want to run into the same roadblocks in the future. Any suggestions?

Harfle · Oct 25, 2015

CalhoonJugganaut_sl said:
Has anyone sold an old iphone recently? I just upgraded to an iphone 6s and I had a 5c. I sold the 5c last night for $20. The screen was really cracked but everything still works fine on it. I tok out my sim card and deleted my icloud and reset everything on the phone before I sold it. The person is now saying that they can't get it activated because when they call Sprint (we have the same provider) they say it is lost or stolen. However, I've talked with Sprint twice today and they assured me that they removed the phone from a lost or stolen list, even though it was never lost or stolen. I got the phone new and have been the only user. The only reason I ask is because my wife wants to sell her old iphone, which is not cracked and we don't want to run into the same roadblocks in the future. Any suggestions?

never had that problem shit I given away every old iphone I have had.

Alkorin · Oct 25, 2015

CalhoonJugganaut_sl said:
Has anyone sold an old iphone recently? I just upgraded to an iphone 6s and I had a 5c. I sold the 5c last night for $20. The screen was really cracked but everything still works fine on it. I tok out my sim card and deleted my icloud and reset everything on the phone before I sold it. The person is now saying that they can't get it activated because when they call Sprint (we have the same provider) they say it is lost or stolen. However, I've talked with Sprint twice today and they assured me that they removed the phone from a lost or stolen list, even though it was never lost or stolen. I got the phone new and have been the only user. The only reason I ask is because my wife wants to sell her old iphone, which is not cracked and we don't want to run into the same roadblocks in the future. Any suggestions?

You have to be sure to remove it from your iCloud account if you ever had it connected. It won't activate without your iCloud id otherwise, even if you reset everything on the phone itself. Log in to icloud.com, go into Find my iPhone, and make sure to delete the device there if you haven't. I just sold an old iPad and had to do the same.

Denamian · Oct 26, 2015

Rangoth_sl said:
Issue #2
-None of my fucking apps from original text/mail app to the ones I downloaded in an attempt to get better operation(BlueMail/Textra) show how many unread messages I have. The iphone had that little red circle with a number in it. Does that not fucking exist out of the box with android? Are you fucking kidding me? Is it just the phone I have or all android that lacks this feature? It may seem small but I find it insanely fucking annoying. I didn't realize how important I found that feature until it was gone. Ok whatever, android is like Linux right? I can find a fix? So I research a bit and find info online for something called Nova Launcher(5.00$) that will apparently do this. Again, whatever and fuck it. I'll pay 5.00$ for this feature. This is after I tried some free ones like "Notifyer", which by the way don't just work, they make you drag a widget in place of the app icon, which the widget is then supposed to display the red number thing, I couldn't get that working. So now I have this 5.00$ Nova Launcher thing, which if I understand correctly is basically a GUI layer over the UI that replaces home screens and some other basic shit. Well, I still can't get the unread count to work. Additional research says I don't just need NOVA Launcher, I need a Telsa Add-on. Get that too and still doesn't fucking work.
-Is the feature I am looking for even possible on an android? Does anyone have specific instructions that will turn this on? I don't care about paying for it, whatever it takes. I would like to avoid "rooting" my device since I don't really know what I am doing and don't want to break anything

Issue #4
-This one is more minor but I hate the fucking icons for battery/wifi/cellular. The battery one doesn't even show a %. So yet again I am forced to download some battery app thing from the store which WILL add a %/new icon for the battery BUT it's in ADDITION to the one on there and now it's on the left side of the status bar thing. So now I have two fucking battery icons just so I can see a % number. Admittedly small but fucking christ man.

Issue #5
-Am I backed up? I turned on the backup to google drive, but I have no idea if it is working. I'd rather backup on my computer, I know I'm fucking strange and old fashioned, but I can't figure that out either. Some website told me just to copy the entire phone contents like it were an SD card into whatever directory I want on my PC. Except when I select all and copy some shit doesnt copy for some reason. No fucking idea why. No error messages or "file in use shit"(Windows PC), just literally it seems to skip some directories. Is this because I am not "rooted"? Again fucking whatever and I download(and pay for) some Helium app which apparently links to my PC and the cloud to backup. Still not sure how to restore or if it is working but It says it is. It looks like it is just backing up apps though. I can't even tell if its backing up my settings and "home screens" layout of apps and widgets.
-How hard is it to just have some fucking android app on the pc so when your phone is plugged in you hit backup and it does it, like itunes/iphone?

If you've got Nova Launcher and TeslaUnread installed, make sure to turn on unread count badges in the Nova Launcher settings. In the upper right corner is a toggle that needs to be enabled for it to start working.

For battery %, go to Settings>Status Bar>Battery Status Style and change it.

Backing up the phone is still pretty shit on Android. Non root options are very limited, and the only one I have firsthand experience with is Helium, which is decent. If you root the phone, Titanium Backup is the gold standard. It's ugly and not terribly intuitive but it does the job. I does have some additional features that can fuck up your phone if you don't know what you're doing, like freezing/removing system apps. You can also use a custom recovery (like TWRP) to make a nandroid backup, which is essentially an image of the entire phone. One you do that you can offload the image to your PC for safekeeping. This doesn't require your phone to be rooted, but it does have to have the bootloader unlocked, which wiped the data on the phone.

Android 6.0 includes a backup feature that saves your apps to your Google Drive, but devs have to update their apps to target the Marshmallow APIs. Plus they can flag their app to not allow backups. The rooted backup methods and recovery level backups bypass this.

Vaclav · Oct 26, 2015

Curious of some stuff - debating what to do with my current primary line for me since it'll be 99% redundant in a few months as my business gets started (getting the line set up first for dealing with prep stuff in fact) - if I cancel service on the current phone it'll still work like a PDA/Tablet with WiFi regardless of service, correct?

And some stuff seems to imply even stuff like WiFi Calling will still be enabled after I'd cancel service as well?

Curious if anyone can give me a heads up on things with it - while I can afford $50/mo for a line I'll barely touch anymore (but would like for keeping track of data) - it seems silly to continue it in the near future.

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