Smartphones

  • 495 replies
  • 131427 views
Re: Smartphones
« Reply #90 on: January 31, 2012, 04:16:53 AM »
That sounds a bit alarming Old. I'm finding this sort of thing increasingly spooky, the thought that everything I've ever done online is immediately accessible to somebody in an office somehwere in Conneticut.

@Calach -

the info I've got is:

PDA I9100ZCKH2

PHONE I9100ZCKH2

CSC I9100oZHKH2

for what it's worth. I'll keep looking into it. I've got 2 weeks holiday, and this is going to be my pet project. Oh, that and studying for my MA, supposedly.
两只老外, 两只老外,跑得快,跑得快,
一个是老酒鬼,一个是老色鬼,真奇怪, 真奇怪

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #91 on: January 31, 2012, 05:01:59 AM »
PDA I9100ZCKH2

PHONE I9100ZCKH2

CSC I9100oZHKH2

I *THINK* what that means is, well, you can flash any firmware you like if you choose from the i9100 collection (excluding the Frankenstein Firmwares, which are NOT official), but it's a good idea to choose ??KH2 or higher. Variation in ?? is variation in localisation, but changing KH2 up or down changes the (particular iteration of the) Android version up or down. You could if you wished even go up to 2.3.6.

NOTE: it's clear that some of those firmwares will wipe your device (because the notes say so), but not clear that they all do. You may flash a firmware and find the previous stuff still present. There is presumably ways to cause a wipe on demand and perhaps should be looked into.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

*

old34

  • *
  • 2509
Re: Smartphones
« Reply #92 on: January 31, 2012, 05:11:22 AM »
That sounds a bit alarming Old. I'm finding this sort of thing increasingly spooky, the thought that everything I've ever done online is immediately accessible to somebody in an office somehwere in Conneticut.

Didn't mean to alarm, I just asked.
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 #93 on: January 31, 2012, 06:39:37 PM »
How will Google's recently announced NEW [anti] Privacy Policy, from which there is reportedly no opt-out, affect Android phone users? Will all your devices-computer, laptop, phone-with which you use signed-in Google services (Google Mail, Google Search, Google+, Youtube, Picassa, Android Apps, etc.) be aggregated to a profile of everything you do and what devices you do it from?

Probably.

I recall reading a relatively persuasive piece of paranoia on why Google would make Android available at all. Essentially, if they offer the lowest cost OS ever, then other phone (and eventually computer) manufacturers have that much less incentive to go on investing in their own OSes or paying other companies like Microsoft for theirs. And if other operating systems get less market share, almost automatically their associated search engine services, like Bing, also get less market share. Booyah competitive strategy.

So if Google is now allowing itself to collect device, location, unique application, and log in information along with browsing habits, it'll be for some competitive purpose. At the very least they can track usage of Android itself and provide it with development direction. (And also provide Samsung with some direction for development of their Nexus brand.)

One might expect something a bit bigger though. Personally I think the merger of cloud computing and social networking and the consuming of stuff is still too irritating to take part in. It's still plagued by device inadequacies, literal time lags because even the fastest networks are technically sluggish compared to the hypothetical instantaneous, tiresome location requirements, fraud, boring products etc etc. So if Google is setting up that new world order, that could be okay, but I'll buy in later.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

*

old34

  • *
  • 2509
Re: Smartphones
« Reply #94 on: January 31, 2012, 08:59:53 PM »
Comes now an article precisely on the issue of Google's new policy change's effect on Android users:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2017355684_btgoogle30.html

The money quote:
Quote
For owners of Android devices, which include about half of the smartphone market, Google's privacy policy shift means that the company will be tracking much of what users do on the phone and combine that data with what the company knows about the users from Google's websites.
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 #95 on: January 31, 2012, 10:25:22 PM »
In theory it's a good thing. The days of mass produced products are over, the text books keep telling me. These days the deal is making relationships with customers over time and tailoring products to them. Which you can't do without knowing quite a lot about what those people do.

Let's start by noting that web advertising doesn't work. (He says, without stats to hand.) Most assuredly banner advertising doesn't work. Pop-ups piss people off (except the Chinese, it would seem, unless pop-ups are explained by Chinese webmasters really, really not being the marketing geniuses we've come to expect from third world, upstart, fairly clueless etc etc). And broadly speaking, the only other way to make money from the internet is to have people buy things. But how do you do that without advertising?

Etc and so on. It's all really, really crude, in my opinion. As relationship marketing or database marketing, it includes masses of useless data that probably doesn't mean anything to the collectors even as it annoys the collectees.

But it's the beginning...

Wait for the day when this stuff actually works. When people have implants and cities have universal, near-instantaneous network access. Then all this kind of information collection will be useful and actually make money in solid ways. (Which is the only thing that stops it being draconian overlord stuff...)

I dunno, I'm just making all this up. I believe however that smartphones, or their next gen analog, will be devices we use for all sorts of things in the future and there's some change coming... something that adequately coordinates people requirements and their devices.

Pffft, it was good in my head before I spelt it out.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #96 on: January 31, 2012, 10:37:45 PM »
That's to say, what companies like Google are supposed to do in return for all this information they "collect" is provide some kind of trade object in return--maybe a quality experience, maybe some specialised product, maybe some extra feature, or maybe something better than any of those, something that can't be otherwise bought.

And I put "collect" in quotes because if the above paragraph contains, or perhaps just nods at, some truth, then your information is not something someone can collect without offering something in return. They should "pay" for what they take. That's the new capitalist deal, maybe.

(Except, oddly enough, I think perhaps the commies might be better at this kind of thing--consider how easily our students take up really very invasive tech!)


/riffing
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #97 on: February 01, 2012, 03:00:38 AM »
@Calach

so, I've rooted succesfully (according to Odin) and then flashed with a Hong Kong Rom taken from the list, and, nothing has changed!

I chose Hone Kong, cos, well I thought it would keep the Chinese input things that I like.

So, I'm going to go and try somewhere more far flung, see what changes.

I just need to be able to register the phone on android market, an ability that chinese phones don't got.

here we go again!
两只老外, 两只老外,跑得快,跑得快,
一个是老酒鬼,一个是老色鬼,真奇怪, 真奇怪

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #98 on: February 01, 2012, 04:11:27 AM »
ach, I give up, this is way too much of a headache.

at this stage I HATE THIS PHONE. I think I've half ruined it now by messing with it - it can't access kies anymore, and by rooting it I've voided the warranty...

*heading to bed... thoroughly miserable*

cautionary tale: buy an IPHONE
两只老外, 两只老外,跑得快,跑得快,
一个是老酒鬼,一个是老色鬼,真奇怪, 真奇怪

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #99 on: February 01, 2012, 04:33:21 AM »
First of all, WOO! Congrats! A root 'n' a flash. And all on the first date!
 
Oh wait, just saw you're last post... yeah, rooting and romming is disheartening...:(

Chin up, homie!

(1) What looks like the Kies answer: http://samsunggalaxysforums.com/showthread.php/6847-Lose-Kies-desktop-after-root

(2) HK rom is not necessary.  It's not the localisation that lets you use Chinese, it's the Android itself. You can use the US localisation even and download Google Pinyin (or Sogou Input) to get Chinese. (I did.)

(3) if all told the basic thing you can't do is register your phone with Gmail because somehow the Vigorous Pounding Nightly you give to your phone doesn't work, then.... update your Vigor? When was the last time you checked in with the company? Ask them if they know what's up.


Rootin' ( bibibibibi llllllllll) for ya.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #100 on: February 01, 2012, 04:54:54 AM »
ps. just to make sure... you sound like you're using your home wifi for your phone data connection, so your Volatile Political Namesake... [stand by for a dumb question...] it's set up on your PC or on your phone?

For it to work on the phone, it has to be set up on the phone:

Menu > Settings > Wireless & networks > [ABC] Settings > Add [ABC] > [stuff]

The [stuff] is a puzzle and you'll probably need to look it up on your ABC provider's website.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #101 on: February 01, 2012, 03:34:20 PM »
Ha ha,

thanks for the pep talk Calach. I'm a new man this morning  bfbfbfbfbf.

So, last night I managed to fix the kies issue, and used it to update my official firmware. So now at least I have a working version of the firmware the phone came with. To me this means I haven't ruined the phone, and I can live with this.

The problem being, though, is that in order to use android market, you have to register your phone with your gmail , which I can't do, and I don't think it's a VPN issue. I've seen videos of other android formats on the same phone and the first thing they ask you to do is to input your gmail address and from there you can freely download apps. My phone just doesn't have that function.

Now, I'm quite happy to go around with my China phone if I can just download a few apps that I like and be done with it.

How can I do this?

Is there a way to register a phone on my laptop? Or a way to work around it with my VPN on? (my VPN hasn't been working since I updated, but I'm sure I'll be able to get it going)

Is there a way to download apps onto my laptop and from there transfer to my phone?

If it comes down to it, I will root again, but I'm loathe to do it as it seems hit-and-miss, and many of the links to firmware that are provided by sites have been closed... the question is root to what? I just don't know. I don't understand enough.

If anybody (I DO appreciate your help thusfar Calach, I really do  akakakakak) know of a simple way to reach my simple goals of downloading apps onto my Sinofied phone, then please enlighten me. 

两只老外, 两只老外,跑得快,跑得快,
一个是老酒鬼,一个是老色鬼,真奇怪, 真奇怪

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #102 on: February 01, 2012, 03:40:37 PM »
I shall look into amazon app store and alternative app sites soon, but it seems like Android market is the only way to go for things like pleco, and chinese pod etc...

the 'rival' samsung market that's provided on my phone would be laughable if it wasn't so depressing.
两只老外, 两只老外,跑得快,跑得快,
一个是老酒鬼,一个是老色鬼,真奇怪, 真奇怪

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #103 on: February 01, 2012, 04:06:47 PM »
The problem being, though, is that in order to use android market, you have to register your phone with your gmail , which I can't do, and I don't think it's a Very Passable Nicety issue. I've seen videos of other android formats on the same phone and the first thing they ask you to do is to input your gmail address and from there you can freely download apps. My phone just doesn't have that function.

Like this?

Menu > Settings > Accounts & sync > Add account > Google

and then the phone will give you detailed prompts on what to do, including how to both create and sign in to a Google account?

Quote
Now, I'm quite happy to go around with my China phone if I can just download a few apps that I like and be done with it.

How can I do this?

The whole deal since Apple ruined the world is Markets. My experience has been that a diminishingly small number of developers make their software available for direct download outside the market, but that crackers do. To avoid saying the name of one of the bigger cracker sites too often, it's up in earlier posts and starts with Mobilism.

To install software outside of market download you need first to find a way to install a file manager. I did it using the Android sdk (which all happened in a blur and I'm no longer sure how it worked). However...

Installing APKs without the Market

The installation processes described in the link are needed only once: to install the file manager. After you have a file manager onboard, installing is as simple as copying the apk to your phone and selecting it with the file manager. Astro is a good file manager.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Smartphones
« Reply #104 on: February 01, 2012, 04:21:08 PM »
Like this?

Menu > Settings > Accounts & sync > Add account > Google

and then the phone will give you detailed prompts on what to do, including how to both create and sign in to a Google account?


see, my phone don't have a google option there, just a Microsoft Outlook Option - now, there is a way to sneak a google address into this option, which I have done, but so far it's only let me access my email on the phone, nothing for android markets.

I shall look into the other stuff later. Cheers Calach.  bfbfbfbfbf

两只老外, 两只老外,跑得快,跑得快,
一个是老酒鬼,一个是老色鬼,真奇怪, 真奇怪