Smartphones

Denamian_sl said:

That's correct. As long as the WiFi calling app you use isn't dependent on your carrier you're good. You could use the Hangouts dialer for WiFi calls if you want. The phone will keep functioning just fine, it just won't have any access to the cellular network.

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How would I port the number if I cared to keep it for WiFi calling? And when compared to cancelling the service?

Ringto or google voice are services that are free, work with wifi programs or Obi box if you want more of a home phone experience and work wonderfully.

Kedwyn was it you that said you were worried about the whole Obi/Google Voice/etc thing when switching over to Fi. Do you use a wireless telephone with Obi or whatever at your house through Voice? Why not just use a headset and accept calls through Gmail (which comes from Fi)?

For instance, on Fi now when I receive a call on my cell phone it rings my computer if I have Gmail open and I can just take there and talk through my headset, which is pretty much how Google Voice worked when people rang my G-Voice number when I didn't have Fi.

That is probably confusing... I dunno if you have questions just ask. I do like Fi still. I just wish T-Mobile/Sprint had as much coverage as Verizon does but I haven't had *too* many crappy areas.

Google charged my credit-card today, which means my phones have shipped out.

I don't know anything about google voice so maybe someone can help me out. Does it allow you to forward calling to another phone and does it allow it to be switched on/off easily?

If not, anyone else got any ideas? I have two phones. A smart phone tied to my regular number and a flip phone with no camera I have to carry into some installations. Would be nice if I could just switch the forwarding to that phone when needed so I don't have to give out two numbers and have them call both to see which is available at the time.

Denamian_sl said:

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.

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Thank you thank you thank you! That worked. I will still argue it's fucking stupid I have to use some custom launcher and then edit the settings to leverage such a basic feature, but whatever...seems to be working now.

Also, I found out I have to CALL my voicemail number like it's fucking 1980 to listen to my voicemails. I did, once again, find an app called YouMail, which apparently lets me listen to them on my phone like the iPhone does, but I have yet to test it as I've been pretty busy. I can confirm it must only work with NEW messages(or I need to go in and edit some settings) because I do have at least one saved voicemail that doesn't show up there.

Honestly I am just not that impressed with Android. I can see how if you are a computer geek or savvy linux master this phone gives you the power to do anything you want, but for someone who just wants to pick up a phone and use it in a basic way it actually sucks. Nothing is default smooth or easy to figure out. I'm sure now that I have it all setup it will grow on me and in 2 years I won't even remember this hassle, but whatever. Jimmies rustled.

EDIT: Just confirmed already received messages will not show because it uses a call forwarding technique to gather new messages. It does work on new calls I ignore/don't answer at least.

I do not have that battery settings menu either. ----> NVM Wow found the setting finally buried deep down! I can choose between picture of a battery, circle, % number or nothing. Thanks!

I ordered a Nexus 5X with Project Fi and it was shipped yesterday! It should be here by late Thursday.

My wife's 5x came in today. My 6P will be here Friday.

First impressions with the 5x is even as a power user I'd be perfectly happy with it. This is a nice little device, screen is very good, the DPI is perfect, snappy, no issues with the 2gb, screen size is on the bottom end of what I'd find useable but perfectly fine even coming from other phablets. I'm not seeing micro lag like I did with the Moto Pure in the limited time I've spent with it.

Can't wait for my 6p to get here.

jeydax_sl said:

Kedwyn was it you that said you were worried about the whole Obi/Google Voice/etc thing when switching over to Fi. Do you use a wireless telephone with Obi or whatever at your house through Voice? Why not just use a headset and accept calls through Gmail (which comes from Fi)?

For instance, on Fi now when I receive a call on my cell phone it rings my computer if I have Gmail open and I can just take there and talk through my headset, which is pretty much how Google Voice worked when people rang my G-Voice number when I didn't have Fi.

That is probably confusing... I dunno if you have questions just ask. I do like Fi still. I just wish T-Mobile/Sprint had as much coverage as Verizon does but I haven't had *too* many crappy areas.

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I've got my primary number through Google Voice. I use that as a home and mobile number. So I forward that to my current cellphone number which is irrelevant and just a dumb pipe and my obi box so that regardless if I have my cell on me or not I can answer the phone. I can also call out on my obi using a traditional wireless phone which I find more comfortable to hold when talking. Don't really use headsets nor do I want to fumble around for one when trying to answer the phone.

If I port to FI my issue is:

I lose the ability to block calls. This is clutch in election season
I lose the ability to use Obi. can work around this via hangouts but it isn't really ideal to me
I can't go back to GV with that number if FI doesn't work out. This is a big deal because FI may or may not be ok for me.
I can't forward that FI number nearly as easily as there is no web interface anymore

Since I've been setup this way for a long time it gives me pause to change my setup. If I do go to FI I'll probably port to ringto, get a new number from Google and hope that it all works out or bite the bullet and do a number change at some point if ringto doesn't work out.

Still on the fence.

Now that Cricket has opened up data roaming in canada and mexico I'm tempted to go with them over FI. Better coverage, $35 includes tax and you can swap plans for travel. 2.5 gb is a great deal at that price.

I still can't move my lines until I get my brother in law off them which is a work in progress.

My wife's 5X arrived last night. How someone can see a shiny new phone box and not tear into it immediately is beyond me. She just kept facebooking and instagraming on her old phone while making dinner. Hopefully will get some hands on with it soon.

I nearly broke down and ordered a 6P for myself a few days ago. Fortunately (?) it is back ordered and I joined the wait list.

Rangoth_sl said:

Also, I found out I have to CALL my voicemail number like it's fucking 1980 to listen to my voicemails.

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Yo, go to your Phone app, Call History (from top right menu), and the Voicemail is found on that page. Really fucking stupid how they have it setup but imo better than calling your voicemail number.

Ameraves_sl said:

I am really annoyed with myself that I waited so long to order the 6p. I really don't want to wait until late November, early December to get it.

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I got one I haven;t even opened to use with project fi lol.

Rangoth_sl said:

Thank you thank you thank you! That worked. I will still argue it's fucking stupid I have to use some custom launcher and then edit the settings to leverage such a basic feature, but whatever...seems to be working now.

Also, I found out I have to CALL my voicemail number like it's fucking 1980 to listen to my voicemails. I did, once again, find an app called YouMail, which apparently lets me listen to them on my phone like the iPhone does, but I have yet to test it as I've been pretty busy. I can confirm it must only work with NEW messages(or I need to go in and edit some settings) because I do have at least one saved voicemail that doesn't show up there.

Honestly I am just not that impressed with Android. I can see how if you are a computer geek or savvy linux master this phone gives you the power to do anything you want, but for someone who just wants to pick up a phone and use it in a basic way it actually sucks. Nothing is default smooth or easy to figure out. I'm sure now that I have it all setup it will grow on me and in 2 years I won't even remember this hassle, but whatever. Jimmies rustled.

EDIT: Just confirmed already received messages will not show because it uses a call forwarding technique to gather new messages. It does work on new calls I ignore/don't answer at least.

I do not have that battery settings menu either. ----> NVM Wow found the setting finally buried deep down! I can choose between picture of a battery, circle, % number or nothing. Thanks!

Click to expand...

Lol. I just switched from iPhone 5s to Note 5. It's amazing being back on Android and none of the problems you explained happened for me on the Note 5. Although it doesn't surprise me as that phone, imo, was always for the people who like to fiddle.

My only complaint isn't phone specific, but has to do with the phone hanging on to a WiFi signal far too long. The iPhone was great at recognizing when a better connection was available, and switching. Now, it won't switch networks unless I'm completely out of range.

Crone_sl said:

Lol. I just switched from iPhone 5s to Note 5. It's amazing being back on Android and none of the problems you explained happened for me on the Note 5. Although it doesn't surprise me as that phone, imo, was always for the people who like to fiddle.

My only complaint isn't phone specific, but has to do with the phone hanging on to a WiFi signal far too long. The iPhone was great at recognizing when a better connection was available, and switching. Now, it won't switch networks unless I'm completely out of range.

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My Note 3 and my wife's S5 are the same way. I have to just turn off my wifi if I'm outside of my home working in the yard or something, because the phones will hold on until the last 1% of wifi signal strength, even though switching over to cell data would be much better performance well before that point.

Anyone got any ideas on how to spend my $50 Google Playstore credit? I do all my books through Amazon and generally when I buy music I get the physical media cause I'm weird/oldschool like that...