4G Android phone megathread

Cellar-Door

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SumnerH said:
They won't lose Android users, but they'll potentially lose sales of Google-branded Android phones to Samsung and others who do support SD cards. I suspect they'll go up somewhat in internal storage though; at 64GB internal, I'd grumble but it wouldn't be a huge deal.
I was referring to if they eventually phase out support for SD cards in the OS which it seems they would like to.
 

SumnerH

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Cellar-Door said:
I was referring to if they eventually phase out support for SD cards in the OS which it seems they would like to.
The kernel's all open source, it's not hard for Samsung to recompile it with SD card support (and the userland there is pretty easy).
 

Blacken

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Joe Sixpack said:
It's significantly more than that. There are really bad implementation details related to SD cards and Google wants them gone because it makes a lot of things that should be pretty easy much, much harder.
 
Flash capacity is growing to the point where this won't be a big deal; it'll just mean that manufacturers have to be slightly less dickish in terms of how much they put in.
 

sibpin

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Verizon's two QWERTY phones are the DROID 4 and Samsung Stratosphere 2. Neither has particularly spectacular specs, but both run Jelly Bean 4.1. Compared to the aforementioned Photon Q, some features are better, some are worse.
 

Marceline

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Blacken said:
It's significantly more than that. There are really bad implementation details related to SD cards and Google wants them gone because it makes a lot of things that should be pretty easy much, much harder.
 
Flash capacity is growing to the point where this won't be a big deal; it'll just mean that manufacturers have to be slightly less dickish in terms of how much they put in.
 
What do you mean by "really bad implementation details"?  
 

MetSox1

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My gf is ready for a new 2yr w Verizon (family plan w her fam) but is on a tight budget so wants a sub 100 buck to free phone.  Her family is all on iPhones and theyd like her to grab a 4, but she plays around with my Galaxy Nexus and likes the feel and OS better than of the iPhone.  She's not going to be any kind of power user, but will take pics, listen to music and use GPS quite a bit.  The three phones that are cheap and jumped out to me were, my Nexus, an iPhone 4s, or the GS3.  I might be able to push for the RAZR MAXX if we decide it's way better than what we could get from the other 3.
 

Foulkey Reese

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Does anybody else use the Facebook chat app for text messaging?
 
The Samsung texting app is horrific, and none of the alternatives in the playstore seem that great. The FB chat app actually does a decent job.
 

jayhoz

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MetSox1 said:
My gf is ready for a new 2yr w Verizon (family plan w her fam) but is on a tight budget so wants a sub 100 buck to free phone.  Her family is all on iPhones and theyd like her to grab a 4, but she plays around with my Galaxy Nexus and likes the feel and OS better than of the iPhone.  She's not going to be any kind of power user, but will take pics, listen to music and use GPS quite a bit.  The three phones that are cheap and jumped out to me were, my Nexus, an iPhone 4s, or the GS3.  I might be able to push for the RAZR MAXX if we decide it's way better than what we could get from the other 3.
 
Has she considered that it will be a bit of a PIA to break away from iTunes?  Assuming she uses iTunes.
 
You can't really go wrong with any of those phones.  I wouldn't bother with the MAXX since she isn't a power user.  The only real advantage it has is battery life.
 

Foulkey Reese

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MetSox1 said:
My gf is ready for a new 2yr w Verizon (family plan w her fam) but is on a tight budget so wants a sub 100 buck to free phone.  Her family is all on iPhones and theyd like her to grab a 4, but she plays around with my Galaxy Nexus and likes the feel and OS better than of the iPhone.  She's not going to be any kind of power user, but will take pics, listen to music and use GPS quite a bit.  The three phones that are cheap and jumped out to me were, my Nexus, an iPhone 4s, or the GS3.  I might be able to push for the RAZR MAXX if we decide it's way better than what we could get from the other 3.
GS3 is superior to the Nexus. I would go Razr Maxx for battery life and GS3 for performance.

GN is a great phone, but it's pretty aged at this point. 
 

teddykgb

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I think you'd be much better off waiting a month to see what Apple announces at their Sep 10th event.  The 4s is probably being phased out in favor of a more powerful "low end" device that might be exactly what she's looking for.  I can't imagine signing up for any of the phones you listed for 2 years aside from maybe the GS3, which should probably be fine.  But in the android world, you're not getting much, if any, support for these phones.  For the price of two years of contract, you're probably better off just spending the minimal additional money (s4 is like $150 on contract, isn't it?) for something that will be supported a little longer.
 

Blacken

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Every time I am forced to use TouchWiz (new phone for development work) I am amazed at how shit it is. I think I'd rather use iOS than put up with this shit day after day.
 

saintnick912

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I want to bite the bullet and put a 4.2.2 ROM on my HTC One X, but I like the Sense camera so much and the rest of Sense doesn't bother me enough to give it up.
 
Ironically my HP Touchpad now has 4.2.2 on it.
 

jayhoz

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saintnick912 said:
I want to bite the bullet and put a 4.2.2 ROM on my HTC One X, but I like the Sense camera so much and the rest of Sense doesn't bother me enough to give it up.
 
Ironically my HP Touchpad now has 4.2.2 on it.
Can you point me to the 4.2.2 ROM for the Touchpad?
 

saintnick912

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Blacken

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I want to love this phone so much. I can even get behind having a menu button that totally screws up the app I'm developing because now we need different instructions for the assholes using TouchWiz.
 
But those bloops and dripping noises are literally going to make me kill somebody. And, as it's a work device, I can't root the damn thing to change the sound files in /system. (Turning them off is only slightly better, because of the lack of touch feedback.)
 

jayhoz

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saintnick912 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2321397 I forget which zip I downloaded, but it had a downloadable update right after I install it.  Doesn't play video in Netflix, guess there is one file you have to swap and I've been too lazy.
 
edit: I think the updated one I did after installing was from http://goo.im/devs/jcsullins/cmtouchpad/testing/cm-10.1-20130808-EXPERIMENTAL-tenderloin-BLUETOOTH_TEST.zip
 
Thanks.  Do you know if Skype works?  I didn't see it referenced over at XDA.
 

Foulkey Reese

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Blacken said:
I want to love this phone so much. I can even get behind having a menu button that totally screws up the app I'm developing because now we need different instructions for the assholes using TouchWiz.
 
But those bloops and dripping noises are literally going to make me kill somebody. And, as it's a work device, I can't root the damn thing to change the sound files in /system. (Turning them off is only slightly better, because of the lack of touch feedback.)
A custom launcher like Nova makes it way more tolerable, but yea, TW sucks.
 
I'm very temped to root and install a S4 Play Store version ROM. 
 

scottyno

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My samsung exhibit 2 stopped working last night and I'm not sure it can be fixed so prob going to have a buy a new phone through tmobile.  I was looking at the galaxy s4 and s3 and saw a lot of people complaining about the screen cracking because of a design flaw, anyone here ever have any issues with that?  I was looking at the s2, which I know is somewhat old and out of date, but would still be a significant upgrade from what I have speed wise and half the price of the s3 or s4, any big problems with the s2 from experience?
 

Caspir

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I've had an S2 and currently have an S4. Aside from never having had an issue with the screen, I'd just point out that aside from the support/update issues, if you're grabbing a new phone, the S4 is on a completely different plane than the S2. It's really not even a question. I haven't had any drops with this phone yet, but everything works flawlessly, and it's the best device I've ever owned. I absolutely love this thing.
 

saintnick912

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Really the S2 isn't even in the discussion anymore.  If you're paying anything more than "free and no contract extension" as a stopgap.  Just leagues apart from the S3/S4, if the difference is $100/200 (contract price)  that's worth 1/2 years of being stuck for sure in terms of how much longer the newer models will be supported and run the new hotness in apps.
 

scottyno

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The s2 is like 300 with tmobile, the s4 is like 575 no contract, my main concern with the s4 was seeing a lot of people complain about the screen and samsung not doing anything to fix it unless you pay.  I was also a little concerned about the size of the s4 it seems pretty big compared to what I have now.  At least for now though my phone decided to let me do a full factory restore  after it wasn't for awhile and seems to be working again so I can put off my decision on a new one for at least a few months.  I guess I'm just a little paranoid about dropping 600 on a phone that could crack just sitting in my pocket at any time and then I have to shell out a few hundred to get it fixed.
 

jayhoz

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Have you found anything that Google Keep does better than Evernote?  I can't find any.
 

PortlandSoxFan

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I agree.  I've purchased 3 myself, and both my mother and stepfather have one.
 
I shattered the screen on mine last week, the phone works perfectly except you can't see anything.  Rings, etc (real pain in the ass to not be able to turn off the alarm).  Anyway, I ordered a new one because it would come quicker than the replacement screen.  When the screen gets here I was going to repair it and sell it on eBay...but if anyone here is interested, let me know.  Once I've fixed it I'll take pictures/video etc. to show it works fine.
 

bibajesus

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I was looking into buying an older nexus galaxy on swappa to replace my ancient original incredible. If I buy it pre rooted is it less secure? I do a lot of banking online through my phone and I am curious if all the access allows them to install spyware or other malware before they sell it.
 

milfordsoxfan

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Today I upgraded from the GNex to a Moto X.  I was forced off my unlimited data as a result.  I did sort of find a work-around that may be of interest to other people on Verizon, depending upon usage.
 
Previously I had 450 min with unlimited text and unlimited data, it cost me about $100 per month.  I found a plan that is not listed on the website (this was through chatting with someone at Verizon) where you can get 300 min, 1000 texts, and 5gb of data for $95/month.  After phone insurance I'm at about $104 or so, and even with unlimited data, I rarely went past 5gb.  
 
If you're like me, and don't really use your phone to talk, and you're going to be forced off unlimited if you don't want to pay full price for a phone, you may want to look into this.  It's a hell of a lot better than the price for 5gb per month that you'll find on their webpage.  I don't think this data is shareable, but that didn't matter to me.
 
Also, there is a 30% discount for online orders if you use the code VERIZON30.  No clue how long that is lasting for, however. 
 

Blacken

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Good fucking god, $100 for a phone plan? I mean I'm on the prepaid bandwagon by far so my bill is generally low, but what the fuck.
 
$199 for a "full price" Nexus 4 plus $45/month for unlimited-everything on AT&T via Straight Talk. WTF.
 

Cellar-Door

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Blacken said:
Good fucking god, $100 for a phone plan? I mean I'm on the prepaid bandwagon by far so my bill is generally low, but what the fuck.
 
$199 for a "full price" Nexus 4 plus $45/month for unlimited-everything on AT&T via Straight Talk. WTF.
If he uses 5 GB of data a month he isn't going to straight talk. They throttle the shit out of your data after 1.5GB (also they don't have LTE though that isn't an issue for everyone).
 

Marceline

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Cellar-Door said:
If he uses 5 GB of data a month he isn't going to straight talk. They throttle the shit out of your data after 1.5GB (also they don't have LTE though that isn't an issue for everyone).
 
What are people doing to even use 5gb in a month? 
 
Before I switched to Ting, when I was on unlimited data with Sprint the most I ever used in a month was a little over 1gb.  
 

SumnerH

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I pay more than I should to keep my grandfathered unlimited AT&T plan, which is dumb because I'm almost always around 200mb a month and have never broken 500. And I'm an uber techie who listens to tons of podcasts and stuff, it's just that almost all of the data comes from non-phone sources.

I can easily see blowing way past that if you're constantly on the road, but if you have wireless at home and at work and travel only a couple of times a month, it's amazing how little data you actually use. It's worth thinking about whether you really need big data amounts or not (which if definitely not to say that nobody does).
 

SumnerH

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Or to rephrase: would simply figuring out how to sync some stuff nightly at home and get on wifi at work and 2-3 friend's houses dramatically cut your usage without really changing how you use the phone? Not always possible, but worth considering.
 

NortheasternPJ

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Blacken said:
Good fucking god, $100 for a phone plan? I mean I'm on the prepaid bandwagon by far so my bill is generally low, but what the fuck.
 
$199 for a "full price" Nexus 4 plus $45/month for unlimited-everything on AT&T via Straight Talk. WTF.
I'm going to a work phone only and as a result ditching my AT&T family plan. I'm debating on throwing my wife on Straight talk. Any huge downsides? She doesn't have or need 4g. I looked at AT&T and their base plan is $90/month.
 

Jinhocho

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Straight talk works OK. Good friends uses it and outside some random interruptions of service and assholes for customer service it's good
 

Marceline

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If you can get on wifi most of the places you visit then it's very easy to adjust your habits to use very little 3g/4g data.

Since I've been on Ting I've only exceeded 100mb one time. My average usage is 55mb and my bill is usually in the $10-$13 range.
 

Blacken

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Depends on your usage patterns. I work over HSPA+ three to four days a week and rarely even hit 2GB a month.