Smartphones

Vaclav · Sep 3, 2016

Crone said:
Wonder what determines what device you got. Mine doesn't get hot at all.

I guess it's just about expectations. My wife has the iPhone 6s, and no problems with it, but I came form a Note 5, and the Note 7 is for sure a big improvement over that. Battery is better, the phone fits better in my hand, etc. Really happy that I upgraded after just a year with the Note 5.

From the article I'd read - there was two different battery manufacturers that supplied batteries for Samsung on the Note 7 - one of the two battery suppliers has the flaw.

i.e. something that would've been a simple enough fix if it had a removable battery - but with it being fixed.... oops.

Gator · Sep 3, 2016

Interesting article for Google Fi users Project Fi has a powerful bonus feature hidden in plain sight

Short story for us Google Fi users. Buy a data only sim (its free) and put it into an old smartphone and use google hangouts to add a phone # to the phone. Now you have a free extra cellphone that has no monthly cost and only uses your data. Could be a great idea for a kid phone, back up, work out phone, business phone, etc.

Intrinsic · Sep 3, 2016

My Nexus 5X had started to irritate me while driving around town and streaming podcasts. I'll stop at a red light (or if traffic is backed up) and it'll switch to some wifi network at the McDonald's with shit signal, podcast will stutter, then the light will change and it'll flip back to LTE and another stutter. This can happen multiple times on my commute and I have started just turning off wifi as I drive around.

Crone · Sep 4, 2016

Never have seen it before, but I just got the notice on my phone about Opting in for the "Ok Google" to work from any screen, even the lock screen. This is like what was so cool about the Moto X phone or something, wasn't it?

Anyway, quite convenient, and glad that after using the Ok Google feature from just long pressing the home button it asked if I wanted it to be available from everywhere. This is on my new Note 7.

jooka · Sep 4, 2016

Intrinsic said:
My Nexus 5X had started to irritate me while driving around town and streaming podcasts. I'll stop at a red light (or if traffic is backed up) and it'll switch to some wifi network at the McDonald's with shit signal, podcast will stutter, then the light will change and it'll flip back to LTE and another stutter. This can happen multiple times on my commute and I have started just turning off wifi as I drive around.

Set WiFi Assistant to off, I think this should stop it connecting to random wifi:

Turn off Wi-Fi Assistant

Open your device's Settings app

.

Tap Google.

Tap Networking.

Next to "Wi-Fi Assistant," tap the On/Off switch.

Intrinsic · Sep 5, 2016

I was looking at this and don't think it'll fix what I'm looking for. The random wifi connect is okay, works great when I'm at a bar or the mall etc and it doesn't use my data up. Just wish there was a little more fiddling with the algorithm, if there is one, rather than just an all or nothing 'hey there's an open wifi!'

Ultimately though it is hard to find something to complain about with Fi. Service has been great. Funny seeing the data refund at the end of the month still.

jooka · Sep 5, 2016

I think it will ask if you want to connect to spots still just won't automatically do it

Void · Sep 6, 2016

Just got my first bill from Fi and got $9.38 credit for my unused data (since I'm on wifi almost constantly). Feels good man.

Araxen · Sep 7, 2016

Void said:
Just got my first bill from Fi and got $9.38 credit for my unused data (since I'm on wifi almost constantly). Feels good man.

My bill ended up being for this month $33 since I only used .82gb of data. Beats the fuck out of my Verizon bill which was $77 with my 17% work discount. Fi is the best if you can reign in your data usage.

Joeboo · Sep 8, 2016

Google Fi is awesome

signed my dad up last month, just the 1GB data plan + voice for $30 per month

Well, he only used .12 GB of data, so he got a $8.80 credit on this months bill, so this month was only $21.20.

I had no idea they pro-rated the data down to the MB basically, I just figured they always rounded off to the nearest GB/$10 increment, but they pro-rate all the way down.

Mist · Sep 8, 2016

Wow, that's really good.

fred sanford · Sep 8, 2016

My wife and I switched to Fi earlier in the year. The pricing beats the hell out of our AT&T account. We were paying $160 a month and now we're about $66 for the both of us (including monthly financing for phone). Thank you AT&T for getting rid of your free upgrades every two years and making us do your new retarded plans. The new plans were cheaper than our old by about $20 but the Fi pricing is 3x less.

Only gripes I have about Fi is occasional signal issues when I'm not on WiFi but I doesn't happen often. I use Signal Spy as well to manually switch between networks if my current carrier has a decent enough signal but the other is actually higher.

Denamian · Sep 8, 2016

The pro-rated data is the reason I'm willing to give Fi a shot. T-Mobile is ass here and Sprint isn't a lot better. Unsure about US Cellular. Once the new Nexus (or Pixel according to rumors) is released I'll be trying it. Hopefully it is good enough, as I rarely use more than 2GB of data, so it would save me some money over straight talk.

Araxen · Sep 8, 2016

Ting has the same pro-rate policy too and they have a lot more devices available for it but they only use Sprint, iirc. They just lowered the rates to be more in line with Fi too. They are worth checking out if you don't want to get a Nexus device.

Denamian · Sep 8, 2016

Oh I definitely want a Nexus (Pixel) as I want up to date vanilla android if I decide no to root it along with support for all carriers. I had Sprint in the past (EVO 4G, Galaxy Nexus) and a friend uses Ting, but the network isn't good enough where I live to rely on Sprint alone. If my coverage with Fi isn't good enough I plan on going back to Straight Talk but on Verizon instead of AT&T.

Bullock · Sep 9, 2016

Crone said:
Never have seen it before, but I just got the notice on my phone about Opting in for the "Ok Google" to work from any screen, even the lock screen. This is like what was so cool about the Moto X phone or something, wasn't it?

Anyway, quite convenient, and glad that after using the Ok Google feature from just long pressing the home button it asked if I wanted it to be available from everywhere. This is on my new Note 7.

Isn't this just your phone listening always to everything it can hear? And then sending that back to Google.

Everything.

Or am I being paranoid?

Denamian · Sep 9, 2016

Bullock said:
Isn't this just your phone listening always to everything it can hear? And then sending that back to Google.

Everything.

Or am I being paranoid?

It's listening for you to say "OK Google", then it sends everything it hears to Google. You can actually go to your Google account and listen to what it has recorded.

Intrinsic · Sep 10, 2016

I'm wondering what, if any, upgrade incentives Fi users will have for the Pixel.

Heylel · Sep 12, 2016

Sprint tells me that replacement Note 7s should be in stores this week. Otherwise, I've got to get an S7 Edge until they fix the battery problem. I'm giving them until Thursday and then I'll figure out what to do. So annoying, especially with the flight prohibitions in place.

Inque · Sep 14, 2016

I'll be shocked if Sprint receives any Note 7, no major carrier has received an announcement on inventory. I am receiving calls daily about expected arrival dates and there are zero. Samsung is really pushing to have all those Note 7 brought back to the stores and exchanged for a different device because their 'expected' re-stock is not anticipated until mid October, November in which case I have to redo all those exchange devices AGAIN back to a Note 7.

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