Smartphones

Thanks for the input today guys. We were both worried about 水货, but in the end she went for a Galaxy Note I (smuggled). Contracts would require a bit more research and thought and the GF was pretty desparate for a phone since her xiaomi cracked and gave up after being thrown at the floor. Wait to see how things go with this, really hope it's gonna be smooth. The size of the thing is absolutely fuckin' ridiculous though.

Hope she enjoys her new toy!

I agree about the size of the Note -- you end up looking like a total jackass holding that thing up to your ear as a phone. Hope your gf is cute otherwise!

Haha, yeah she seems to think so anyway ;-). Besides, she should be used to looking like a jackass by now.

Well two nights ago I lost my beloved Xperia Play. I was devistated, but replaced it with a galazy s3, which is seeing price drops now in anticipation for the s4

smooth phone, but nothing will ever match the Play

How much did you get it for?

Well two nights ago I lost my beloved Xperia Play. I was devistated, but replaced it with a galazy s3, which is seeing price drops now in anticipation for the s4

smooth phone, but nothing will ever match the Play

Why didn't you just get another Xperia Play?

You can get 'em on Taobao for only around 5-600RMB now.

Quote from: The Hiphoppopotomous on April 19, 2013, 10:38:40 PM

Well two nights ago I lost my beloved Xperia Play. I was devistated, but replaced it with a galazy s3, which is seeing price drops now in anticipation for the s4

smooth phone, but nothing will ever match the Play

Why didn't you just get another Xperia Play?

Because I had 100s of hours of game saves on that phone, none of which can be recovered. I feel like I losta pet, and getting another per of the same age would just bring back memories of my beloved pet. I think I was just overly sentimental to that phone

*ahem*

Is this thing on?

*cough*


Okay, so...

It's rumoured that Samsung will update the Galaxy S3 to Android 4.2.2 in June. It's rumoured also that Google will release Android 4.3 in July. So, Samsung, I don't think I'm buying your products anymore. You fuckers.

Android 4.2.2 on the Samsung Galaxy S3 is good. Screen performance is noticeably better than with 4.1.1. The upgrade is worth it. I know because I'm using a Samsung 4.2.2 test rom that was leaked a few weeks ago. I also know because I'd been experimenting with Cyanogen 10.1. I'd still be using Cyanogen if it didn't have major problems running the camera hardware.

See, Samsung doesn't tell the outside developers *something* about their hardware so these devs have to more or less guess code to make the hardware work. And with Cyanogenmod, they don't get the camera right. This is not too surprising since the camera hardware is one of the real innovations Samsung has produced in their phone. Samsung meanwhile take the Google code and make their hardware sing... and the user interface suck large brown balls. Samsung has a fascination for big, muddy coloured squares. The phone dialer they put over the top of Google's code is gross. The childish colouring balloons they did on the stock messaging app is offensive. I really do not understand why they ugly it up so. They can and do design great hardware, and they're like 12 year old kids when it comes to designing software.

By the way, Android 4.2 was released by Google in November, 2012. Six months for this diarrhea to reach my phone? And a month later it'll be out of date again? Thanks Samsung.

And now Samsung and HTC are offering Google editions of S4 and the One. Stock Android is great on a device for which that stock Android has drivers. Are Samsung and HTC going to include these drivers in the stock, and let their devices work the best they can?

Google design used to be ass. Now they're at 4.2+ on Android and have a few things worked out. I have no idea why the phone manufacturers are trying to brand the operating system when their brand names are already right there on the phone anyway and the only thing a buyer has to really do is check hardware--you know, like what a hardware manufacturer would make anyway.

It doesn't seem very likely that the next Motorola will be better than the next Samsung. The next Nexus might. I wonder if either of them will be available in China given how Googley they'll be.

Meanwhile, thanks for keeping me behind the times, Samsung. Appreciate it.

*cough*

probably I'm overreacting. I got cranky with the waiting. But I'm not getting the S4. And if there eventually will be an S5, I don't think I'll get that either. Might get a HTC One. The camera on that is already kinda crappy, and custom roms may not make it too much worse. Purchase decisions may turn on whether or not "Google Edition" Roms turn out to be (a) available, and (b) a good thing. Failing that, a Nexus 5 or a Moto X, whatever that turns out to be.

I wonder if one might not have to rethink one's technology strategy. Is Google is making the hardware manufacturers into bad guys or were they that way already?

But Uncy Calach, does this techno gadget tale has happy ending? When will technology free mankind instead of enslaving us to the next, obviously doled out and controlled-through-cartels disappointing version? Is this the free market, LOL, or the primrose path to digital addiction?

You'll notice that no one talks Chromebooks anymore. The future is manufacturer-branded Chrome phones. Moto Chrome X4.

You heard it here second.

I have no idea what you are specifically talking about, but as a former gear head and computer nerd I hear what you're saying.

I've been resisting a smart phone because I hate phones when the sound quality is poor, hate mobile phones because the sound quality is usually worse than poor, and hate being tracked and traced. However, being with people who used them properly shows they do offer some useful features so it looks like I'll be going that way sometime soon.

I would totally pay money for someone reliable to just get me a good phone and get it up to date with security and features because technology should save time. I just hate the initial learning curve. Once I'm up to speed, I can manage by myself.

Could never use an Apple phone any more than I could Microsoft (used to work for them), and Google/NSA *is* evil, but if their source code is open then at least there's something right about it. My first smart phone was a Motorola that was slow as molasses and locked into MS Outlook for any useful features. ugh.

Save me, Obi Wan Kenobi, save me GNU, save me from technotronic mind control, save me!! Aiieeeeeeeeee...

Actually, on the Chrome phone thing, I hope that's not true, but the thing about Android right now is Google is designing particularly the user interface better than the genuine crap the hardware manufacturers dollop on top of stock. The Touchwiz interface Samsung puts over Android 4.x qualitatively worsens the keyboard, the dialer, and the messaging app--the three things any user uses most. The Touchwiz home screen itself is average. The lockscreen, by contrast, is much more entertaining than stock. The ripple and light effects for unlocking the phone are fun. Why such a disparity? More importantly, why set yourself up for pissed off users? Drip feeding updates is exactly what Google does, but the manufacturers make us know that we are waiting for updates. When the originiator of the software keeps you waiting, everyone is waiting. If the intermediary keeps you waiting, only you are waiting. YOUR CUSTOMERS CAN SEE YOU FUCKING WITH THEM!

Right now I have a Touchwiz rom on my Samsung. I have cut out as many of the Samsung pieces as I can, including the actual Touchwiz, and replaced them with mods that mimic, or actually are, stock. I LIKE THIS! The phone looks like Android, runs like Android, and also uses the hardware as well as the hardware manufacturer can make it do.

This is what manufacturers should do. They fuck with stock Android on the grounds that Google should not be allowed to design the interface of their hardware, Google can't dictate how Samsung customers use Samsung hardware, right?! Which sounds like fine commercial reasoning except that Samsung is NOT MAKING BETTER SOFTWARE....



Re security and media... not to be shill, but Android 4.2 actually does for the first time offer sdcard security features, and the HTC One has Beats Audio... variants on Android like Cyanogen offer ways to block tracing... and of course Google clouds all your data anyway so your screwed. I don't know. I just want my toys.

"I don't know. I just want my toys."

Awesome!!