Smartphones

BrutulTM · Feb 7, 2017

It's retarded that they can't get updates out, but are you really missing anything by being behind? It doesn't seem like there has been many major features or changes in recent updates but I'm on a Nexus. The split-screen thing is neat, but I use it maybe once every couple of months.

Robert Scoble was on TWiT this week claiming that the next iPhone might be a translucent piece of glass that can go opaque for normal phone functions or become transparent so you can hold it up and look through it or put it in a headset for AR with just an electronics package at the bottom. Scoble is overly enthusiastic sometimes but he swears it's going to happen. Seems unlikely to me, but that would be pretty crazy.

Adebisi · Feb 7, 2017

Are all Google phones still unlocked no matter which provider you buy them from?

Deathwing · Feb 7, 2017

BrutulTM said:
It's retarded that they can't get updates out, but are you really missing anything by being behind? It doesn't seem like there has been many major features or changes in recent updates but I'm on a Nexus. The split-screen thing is neat, but I use it maybe once every couple of months.

Robert Scoble was on TWiT this week claiming that the next iPhone might be a translucent piece of glass that can go opaque for normal phone functions or become transparent so you can hold it up and look through it or put it in a headset for AR with just an electronics package at the bottom. Scoble is overly enthusiastic sometimes but he swears it's going to happen. Seems unlikely to me, but that would be pretty crazy.

Sounds pretty unrealistic. Batteries are at least 66% of a phone and for good reason. Making that smaller so you can shove out of the way? Not going to happen.

kegkilla · Feb 7, 2017

BrutulTM said:
It's retarded that they can't get updates out, but are you really missing anything by being behind? It doesn't seem like there has been many major features or changes in recent updates but I'm on a Nexus. The split-screen thing is neat, but I use it maybe once every couple of months.

it's mostly about the increases in performance and battery life that the new updates provide.

Intrinsic · Feb 7, 2017

My 5X the past couple of weeks has been hard locking and rebooting itself, it always seems like it did it during the transition from WiFi to Cellular. Like moving out of my office / house to the road it'd just lock up. Well this morning it did it and has constantly been stuck in a boot loop. Went in to recovery, wiped cache, did a factory reset, same problem.

Fi Support Chat took about 15 minutes to step through the troubleshooting, they agreed it was not recoverable, and 1.5 years later with no protection plan or insurance are overnighting me a new 5X. Pretty happy with that, would have seriously sucked to wake up and be surprised with a $600 phone purchase this morning. Too bad it isn't a Pixel upgrade or replacement! But the 5X is great and don't really need a different phone anyways.

BrutulTM · Feb 7, 2017

Deathwing said:
Sounds pretty unrealistic. Batteries are at least 66% of a phone and for good reason. Making that smaller so you can shove out of the way? Not going to happen.

Yeah, I thought about the battery issue too. The technology does exist though, multiple companies had it at CES.

Noodleface · Feb 7, 2017

Intrinsic said:
My 5X the past couple of weeks has been hard locking and rebooting itself, it always seems like it did it during the transition from WiFi to Cellular. Like moving out of my office / house to the road it'd just lock up. Well this morning it did it and has constantly been stuck in a boot loop. Went in to recovery, wiped cache, did a factory reset, same problem.

Fi Support Chat took about 15 minutes to step through the troubleshooting, they agreed it was not recoverable, and 1.5 years later with no protection plan or insurance are overnighting me a new 5X. Pretty happy with that, would have seriously sucked to wake up and be surprised with a $600 phone purchase this morning. Too bad it isn't a Pixel upgrade or replacement! But the 5X is great and don't really need a different phone anyways.

When we were shopping for phones we read hat the 5x has a boot loop issue that could just occur randomly and it was unfixable

Jysin · Feb 7, 2017

Deathwing said:
Sounds pretty unrealistic. Batteries are at least 66% of a phone and for good reason. Making that smaller so you can shove out of the way? Not going to happen.

BrutulTM said:
Yeah, I thought about the battery issue too. The technology does exist though, multiple companies had it at CES.

Yea, fuck a translucent phone. Give me superior battery life!

Lenas · Feb 7, 2017

What we really need is transparent batteries

Denamian · Feb 7, 2017

BrutulTM said:
It's retarded that they can't get updates out, but are you really missing anything by being behind? It doesn't seem like there has been many major features or changes in recent updates but I'm on a Nexus. The split-screen thing is neat, but I use it maybe once every couple of months.

Robert Scoble was on TWiT this week claiming that the next iPhone might be a translucent piece of glass that can go opaque for normal phone functions or become transparent so you can hold it up and look through it or put it in a headset for AR with just an electronics package at the bottom. Scoble is overly enthusiastic sometimes but he swears it's going to happen. Seems unlikely to me, but that would be pretty crazy.

Security updates are the big thing. Google implementing the security patches that are independent from OS updates was good, but many phones still lag behind on that.

I listened to that TWiT just the other day. Scoble was fucking obnoxious on that episode. The AR glasses he kept saying Apple is going to release seemed especially unbelievable.

Jysin said:
Yea, fuck a translucent phone. Give me superior battery life!

Yep. Fuck super thin phones and shit like that. Give me as much battery life as possible so I never have to charge it during the day. Once we have that solved, then add all the other half baked features that don't really add much usefulness to the phone.

Noodleface · Feb 7, 2017

Denamian said:
Security updates are the big thing. Google implementing the security patches that are independent from OS updates was good, but many phones still lag behind on that.

I listened to that TWiT just the other day. Scoble was fucking obnoxious on that episode. The AR glasses he kept saying Apple is going to release seemed especially unbelievable.

Yep. Fuck super thin phones and shit like that. Give me as much battery life as possible so I never have to charge it during the day. Once we have that solved, then add all the other half baked features that don't really add much usefulness to the phone.

I feel like the 6p is pretty good on battery life. My Moto x was a piece of fecal matter

Denamian · Feb 7, 2017

Noodleface said:
I feel like the 6p is pretty good on battery life. My Moto x was a piece of fecal matter

Yeah, my Pixel XL has better battery life than any phone I've owed, but I still want more. I want to never have to consider it on a daily basis. Essentially a phone with close to 2 day battery life.

Captain Suave · Feb 8, 2017

Intrinsic said:
My 5X the past couple of weeks has been hard locking and rebooting itself, it always seems like it did it during the transition from WiFi to Cellular. Like moving out of my office / house to the road it'd just lock up. Well this morning it did it and has constantly been stuck in a boot loop. Went in to recovery, wiped cache, did a factory reset, same problem.

Fi Support Chat took about 15 minutes to step through the troubleshooting, they agreed it was not recoverable, and 1.5 years later with no protection plan or insurance are overnighting me a new 5X. Pretty happy with that, would have seriously sucked to wake up and be surprised with a $600 phone purchase this morning. Too bad it isn't a Pixel upgrade or replacement! But the 5X is great and don't really need a different phone anyways.

I had the same problem. It's a known hardware issue with certain batches of the 5x that updating to android 7.0 bricked them. Google gave me a new one out of warranty as well.

Mr. K · Feb 9, 2017

My Bluetooth is borked on my 6P due to the 7.1.1 update, I'm going to be happy to get away from the ultra fast updates, Android quality control isn't there.

I wish the MiMix was a US phone

Destiny's Paw · Feb 9, 2017

Currently using Moto E (1st Gen. 4.4.4 Kitkat w/2.17 GB internal & 32 GB removable external) and have an option to use a Samsung S3 (4.?) [not Mini] both are Straight Talk

Maybe I can rectify my stability/speed issues, in the Moto E, by cleaning/resetting ie Factory Data Reset.

I realize these are vintage models and I am fine with that.
Usage: Mediocre social media and heavy web search user.
Opinions of your experience with both, welcome.
Note: Not looking for a new phone but the better of the two. Thanks.

BrutulTM · Feb 9, 2017

Man, I don't know shit about the Moto E but I have a galaxy nexus which was identical to an S3 and I don't see how that thing is still useable. I plugged it in to get some GPS waypoints off of it a while back and I was shocked at how horrible the screen looks compared to what is out now. Why not buy a used phone for $50 on ebay vs. using those dinosaurs?

Destiny's Paw · Feb 9, 2017

BrutulTM said:
Man, I don't know shit about the Moto E but I have a galaxy nexus which was identical to an S3 and I don't see how that thing is still useable. I plugged it in to get some GPS waypoints off of it a while back and I was shocked at how horrible the screen looks compared to what is out now. Why not buy a used phone for $50 on ebay vs. using those dinosaurs?

If I had the option to take a chance on a used phone I would. The Moto E that I use has been dropping battery charge from 20-25% to shutting down instantly. Afraid it will short out all together, so that might be a viable option in the near future but can't afford it right now. I've thought about asking friends to use an old phone they have laying around and came up with the S3 that way.

Denamian · Feb 9, 2017

BrutulTM said:
Man, I don't know shit about the Moto E but I have a galaxy nexus which was identical to an S3 and I don't see how that thing is still useable. I plugged it in to get some GPS waypoints off of it a while back and I was shocked at how horrible the screen looks compared to what is out now. Why not buy a used phone for $50 on ebay vs. using those dinosaurs?

The S3 was similar in style to the Galaxy Nexus, but the guts were different. The S3 had a Snapdragon S4, which is a decent step up from the TI OMAP in the GNexus.

Destiny's Paw said:
If I had the option to take a chance on a used phone I would. The Moto E that I use has been dropping battery charge from 20-25% to shutting down instantly. Afraid it will short out all together, so that might be a viable option in the near future but can't afford it right now. I've thought about asking friends to use an old phone they have laying around and came up with the S3 that way.

The S3 may be a marginal improvement over your Moto E, but not much. Have tried upgrading the E to Lolipop? Even if you choose to go to the S3, you definitely want to factory reset the E and maybe keep it around as an emergency backup.

Siliconemelons · Feb 10, 2017

Denamian said:
Security updates are the big thing. Google implementing the security patches that are independent from OS updates was good, but many phones still lag behind on that.

Yeah me again to state - Black Berry Android phones I believe still have the best record for monthly security updates - I think one month last year they even beat Nexus line release. Heck they are even fairly consistent and timely on VERIZON - that's a damn achievement right there lol. They released a release date comparison to show their timeliness in security patches

BlackBerry its self is now done with hardware in terms of phones - they have 2 licenses with two companies, one an India based phone company to make "BlackBerry" phones for India - the other is with TCL who they partnered with for the DTEK 50/60 phones - so now TCL basically is in the control of the future of "BlackBerry Phones" and BB made a division to deal with the partnerships etc. called Black Berry Mobile.

This month at MWC? TCL will officially announce the "Mercury" that will be their first fully TCL BlackBerry phone released under the new licensing and designed and built by TCL - the "Hardened" Android OS and patches, software etc. still come out from BlackBerry as BlackBerry Mobile.

Both the DTEK phones were full slab - this Mercury is a always there keyboard, while the Priv was a slide out hidden keyboard.

Deathwing · Feb 10, 2017

Hardware AND software buttons?

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Smartphones

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.

Adebisi

Clump of Cells

Deathwing

kegkilla

The Big Mod

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick

Jysin

Ahn'Qiraj Raider

Lenas

Trump's Staff

Denamian

Night Janitor

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick

Denamian

Night Janitor

Captain Suave

Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.

Mr. K

Molten Core Raider

Destiny's Paw

Golden Squire

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.

Destiny's Paw

Golden Squire

Denamian

Night Janitor

Siliconemelons

Avatar of War Slayer

Deathwing