Smartphones

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Re: Smartphones
« Reply #120 on: February 05, 2012, 11:26:35 PM »
So I tried out ICS (specifically, Android 4.0.3) on my Desire. Woohoo! But then again, meh. There's unstable, buggy, incomplete roms out there and I tried BCM b0.3.4, which is about as alpha a release as still works out. It's missing a few components and lacks for example the ability to modify too much of the screen flash so I was stuck with animated screen changes, pulsing menu selections, and a few other things I'd normally turn off to save speed, battery and distraction. Not a brisk user interface experience. Also, kinda chunky. The default screen seems to assume either a bigger screen or a higher resolution. And one or two apps I like didn't quite work, notably ADWlauncher (but I was trying 1.3.1 and the latest release is actually 1.3.6, I think) and are maybe not ICS ready.

Raises the question, I guess: buy a full on Galaxy Nexus or get an S2 and install ICS? The Nexus is technically a lesser phone than the Galaxy S2, seemingly by design since the S2 is still considered the best Android phone out there currently and keeps selling well. Don't want to undercut the main chance. Or wait for the S3 which it seems will ship with ICS.

Choices, choices.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #121 on: February 25, 2012, 05:38:31 PM »
Okay....I am getting the gf an iPhone4s and, seeing as I do not trust the local "authorized re-sellers" to be what they claim to be, I am buying from the official Apple online store, which means that the phone will not be unlocked or jail-broken or whatever the word is...does it matter? what does it matter if it is jail-broken or not?
"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

"It's all oojah cum spiffy". Bertie Wooster.
"The stars are God's daisy chain" Madeleine Bassett.

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Stil

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Re: Smartphones
« Reply #122 on: February 25, 2012, 08:00:52 PM »
If it's jailbroken, you can have more control over what applications you can use. You can tweak the interface in many different ways. You will be able to install pirated apps.

The downside is that it voids the warranty (can get around that sometimes), lack of security with  malicious software, a hit in performance and battery, and (maybe most annoying) you can't upgrade your software (free) until they've figured out how to jailbreak it again.

I use an iPhone 4s unjailbroken. I don't feel it's worth the hassle and I don't mind buying software. Previously there was no Apple App Store for China so it was necessary for Chinese people to Jailbreak. The Chinese Apple App Store is open now though.

There's really no need for the iPhone 4s for your GF other than status though. The big difference is Siri, the voice activation and it doesn't speak Chinese yet. The there is a slight speed increase and you can load more pages In the browser, but these are not noticeable if you haven't used both models. The battery life is also better on the iPhone 4. It looks exactly the same and cost significantly less.

China Telecom will begin selling the iPhone in a couple of weeks. You might want to check the 3G coverage in your area between them and Unicom. The China Mobile 3G doesn't work with the current iPhone.

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #123 on: February 25, 2012, 09:02:01 PM »
Well, she is fluent in English, so Siri will work fine...I know, I tried telling her that the 1000 yuan difference in price between the iPhone4 and the 4s is ridiculous for the, almost idiotic, small differences there are between the two phones...still, she declared that was her dearest wish and thus, so I quiten my arguments...I know better than to argue with Chinese girls when they have their mind set on something...In my experience, it would be easier to convince a Hells Angels member that, after you have deliberately keyed his Harley, you should solve the issue with rock-paper-scissors...

Why do phones have to be so complicated?? 3G??? Apps? What...dialling and receiving calls and text messaging...those I understand...oh well, I will buy the thing and let her have the headache...ok, so an unjailbroken one is fine... agagagagag
"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

"It's all oojah cum spiffy". Bertie Wooster.
"The stars are God's daisy chain" Madeleine Bassett.

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old34

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Re: Smartphones
« Reply #124 on: February 25, 2012, 10:18:56 PM »
Why do phones have to be so complicated??

The complication here isn't the phone, it's the girl. 
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. - B. O'Driscoll.
TIC is knowing that, in China, your fruit salad WILL come with cherry tomatoes AND all slathered in mayo. - old34.

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #125 on: February 25, 2012, 10:55:16 PM »
^ lol, yes.

Get her a China Mobile Ophone.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #126 on: February 25, 2012, 11:00:09 PM »
I beg to differ...she wants an iPhone, I get her one...it's the phone that is complicated...jailbreaking a phone to get apps that does what??? When you go to a phone store you are immediately assaulted by a plethora of telephones which, apparently, are made to function as computers, although the people will also try sell you a tablet, which is also a computer, there is even a cellphone which is as large as a tablet...Undoubtedly smart phones are very smart, but one cannot but feel somewhat cheated by the fact that whatever phone one purchases will, inevitably, be obsolete within a few months as the over-gorged market for phones is constantly being with even more phones, each of which desperately trying to be better than the other and, seeing as this is impossible, they all end up being equal in both standard and gimmickry which fosters yet another brood of techno-doodahs to be hatched....err...whoops...that was a long rant...ignore at your pleasure...
"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

"It's all oojah cum spiffy". Bertie Wooster.
"The stars are God's daisy chain" Madeleine Bassett.

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old34

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Re: Smartphones
« Reply #127 on: February 25, 2012, 11:05:32 PM »
Um, my comment was meant as a joke eric.

Seriously, go to one of the 3 Apple Stores in Shanghai. Most of the Geniuses (Apple's term for them) there can speak English and explain it all to you.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. - B. O'Driscoll.
TIC is knowing that, in China, your fruit salad WILL come with cherry tomatoes AND all slathered in mayo. - old34.

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #128 on: February 26, 2012, 01:06:19 AM »
[...]Undoubtedly smart phones are very smart, but one cannot but feel somewhat cheated by the fact that whatever phone one purchases will, inevitably, be obsolete within a few months as the over-gorged market for phones is constantly being with even more phones, [...]

Agreed, actually.  Or at least, I can sense that kind of feeling coming. I already get it with buying computers. But for now phones are a technology still in the sweet spot: past the awkward introduction phase, but not yet so well-established that the key technologies are boring. They're still cool toys. So every time it comes up in class I try finding out if anyone knows *why* Apple products are sooooooo hot in China. No one does. It'd be nice to think it's because China is sufficiently developed a technology market that whatever *they* want to acquire is the thing that's going to be big next.

So I re-iterate, oPhone! Or a MIUI phone. All the girls know it's the next thing.

(Technically, it could be--not. But the China market is splitting Android away from Google and making something else out of it, so.......)
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #129 on: February 26, 2012, 01:45:46 AM »
True...but it is, in most cases, all about the brand...I mean, people buy that iPhone just because there is a half-chewed fruit symbol on the back. Take this 4s thing...I saw lines on TV outside the Apple store eagerly clamouring to throw money at Apple for the pleasure of a phone which anyone with the good sense God gave a chicken can tell you will be replaced by an even spiffier one called iPhone 5 before 2012 is over...The gf wants one, so she gets one..my LG phone is crap and will be replaced with a smart one...though not Apple...I like HTC better and they come in cheaper kinds...a phone, which can easily be lifted out of the pocket by some rapscallion, should never cost as much as a small laptop...
"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

"It's all oojah cum spiffy". Bertie Wooster.
"The stars are God's daisy chain" Madeleine Bassett.

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #130 on: February 26, 2012, 02:00:28 AM »
Ah, for an insight into the mind of the acquirer... brand history is being made.

See, normal Apple-heads are all about how it's technology that works and also has superlative aesthetic qualities. They make it sound like they did something more than let the brand have an exclusive relationship with them. Do Apple people genuinely shop around? Maybe they do, I don't know. But here in China...

What does she want from the phone?

An honourable man of course asks this question, if at all, after he's placed the item in her dainty claws and let her play with it awhile. Still, it would be interesting to know what acquisition of the property means.



Come to think of it, better not ask. Forget I said anything.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

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jpd01

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Re: Smartphones
« Reply #131 on: February 26, 2012, 07:57:30 AM »
Personally I don't like the design of the iphone4 and didn't bother thinking about getting one. I'v had my HK iphone 3gs for a while now and it still works just fine.
I have a HTC tablet with android and will not upgrade to another apple product when my old iphone kicks the bucket.
I was thinking about a motorola razr as an upgrade eventually and seeing as though they have been doing better or the same in most side by side reviews as the iphone 4s I'll probably buy one for a few thousand cheaper than a 4s.
I've liked apple products for a while (from my old classic ipod to a touch and then iphone) but I'm just not liking it enough in comparison to the other stuff out there to shell out extra for something that isn't really wowing me these days.
My wife handles all our money so she doesn't ask me for anything, I have to ask her. She has the same model iphone as I do (16gb to my 32gb) She hates the iphone 4 and 4s because every second image grabbing idiot has one.
"I don't understand what I did wrong except live a life that everyone is jealous of." Charlie Sheen.

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Borkya

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Re: Smartphones
« Reply #132 on: February 26, 2012, 02:37:54 PM »
Why do phones have to be so complicated?? 3G??? Apps? What...dialling and receiving calls and text messaging...those I understand...oh well, I will buy the thing and let her have the headache...ok, so an unjailbroken one is fine... agagagagag

Hey ETR, in China (and actually now in America too if u pay full price) they can "unlock" the iphone at the apple store, so it's all officially done. It isn't jailbroken, you can't download paid apps for free, but when you unlock it, it means you can use any mobile phone service with it.

If I got an iphone that's what I would do. If you jailbreak it then you can't officially update it and when the new OS system came out a lot of my friends were really bothered trying to find a shop that had an update for jailbroken phones.

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #133 on: February 26, 2012, 03:53:44 PM »
I see...well, having had a looooooong chat with the gf, she seems to have changed her mind and would like a cheaper phone and then put money aside for a laptop...fine with me...considering she has had two phones stolen in the time I have been with her...She seems to favour HTC so we will go shopping for one of them...updates? downloads? New OS?....my first mobile phone weighed 5 kilos, most of that was a battery and it could just about call people, if you extended the little plastic antenna....phones makes me feel old...so old....
"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

"It's all oojah cum spiffy". Bertie Wooster.
"The stars are God's daisy chain" Madeleine Bassett.

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #134 on: February 26, 2012, 04:40:19 PM »
I'm a bit out of touch with the newest and greatest. There's a techradar list I find helpful in thinking these things through.

Nonetheless, my picks from that list would be:

HTC Desire S
Samsung Galaxy SII
Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S
Apple iPhone 4

I don't know anything about the Xperias but they're moving into the list and look good. And of all of these phones, assuming I was somehow going against my extremely cheap interpersonal nature and, lord help me, purchasing a phone for a grrrl with no consuming interest in tech herself, I'd choose.... well, I'd probably choose to give up. But the Desire S is a subtly cool phone with excellent actual phone-like properties including a lack of the gigantism other phones suffer. The Galaxy SII probably has the best bang for the buck. And the iphone trumps them all in simple, honest-to-goodness, better than you coolth.

I'd get a grrrl a Desire S and it would be so unobtrusively excellent she'd complain about how I'd cheated her. And then we'd by an iphone.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0