The Smartphone & associated apps discussion thread

[Loki]

Not a chance, unless you like iTunes.

 

My niece recently got an Android phone, and from what I can tell, its PC interface is easily as annoying as iTunes. At least you can do everything from one program with iTunes.

 

They should rename it though. It's not just tunes any more, it's practically half the OS.

[dangerously420]

Virgin Media have some amazing tariff deals on for customers of their home phone, Internet and TV service. Alas rubbish phone choice but if your not bothered about the phone you get and more bothered on the price of the package then give them a look.

[thefallenangel]

I got an S3 and it's a lot easier to use than iphones. And orange swappables giving me sky sports + espn for a tidy price without being ripped for the

[Arch Stanton]

What's the deal with all the weird permissions you have to accept when downloading or updating apps on Google Play? I have the ESPN Goals app, which was fucking brilliant throughout last season, but now it requires an update and one of the permissions that I have to accept reads 'Directly call phone numbers'. Why the fuck does the application require permission to do that? I am sure that ESPN is a fully trustworthy provider, but I just get very nervous when you have to allow these apps to have access to your phone like that.

 

Anybody shed any light on this? ESPN Goals isn't the only app that I have seen that requires all these permissions. I want to get the most out of my phone, but don't want to open myself up to any malicious applications that will steal personal information or cause me to rack up an unexpected bill.

[BigJag]

Got an HTC DesireHD. When posting on here the window jumps off screen if I use the phone horizontally. Don't have the same problem when using it conventionally/portrait. Anyone know why it jumps of screen? Strangely as I'm typing this it has decided to behave. May need to try starting in portrait and then changing to horizontal.

[Steve Justice]

Finally got round to unlocking my Nokia N8, so hopefully that will increase it's value. Finally getting round to selling it now (cheap plug) to fund my Sony Xperia S, which has jumped up on down in price on Amazon between

[BigJag]

Another issue I have with my HTC DesireHD. Is the screen not blanking off during a call. I've finished a call and found that my wallpaper has changed because of this. During a call it can cut out or decide to call someone else. A little research had found that it seems to be an issue with the proximity sensor requiring calibration.I've downloaded an app to do this. However it won't run. I get the message "Kernal not supported" "- ps_polling_ignore not found"Anyone know a solution? I'm on Orange running Android version 2.3.5.

[Steve Justice]

Finally got my Sony Xperia S. I fucking love it. Big screen with fantastic picture quality. I was watching football on there last night on TVCatchup and it was crystal clear. Photo and video capture is great as expected with a 12mp camera and 1080p video.

 

Whilst I did like my N8, the OS was pretty poor. You could still get some of the popular apps and games, but now I'm comparing it with Android I can see how limited it was. I'm constantly looking for and downloading all the apps and games I've missed out on. That's another great thing about it, downloading an app essentially takes the same amount of time as the N8, but installing is almost instantaneous and actually does it in the background.

 

I'd say the only faults I can find with it at the moment is it doesn't seem to be drag and drop like I was hoping (for adding music and video) but the software it comes with isn't exactly mind boggling so I'm sure I'll get used to that. The SatNav doesn't seem to work too well with plotting a route without the aid of an internet connection, so I'm looking for a decent alternative app. Ovi Maps on the N8 was pretty great to be honest, could hardly fault it.

[Steve Justice]

Is there an app or summink that when you play your music on your phone you can skip tracks using voice commands? It would come in handy when driving.

[Joey Joe Joe Jr]

Not sure if this belongs here, but can anyone recommend somewhere good to get insurance on my smartphone?

[ukfan11]

Old thread I know, but has anyone rooted their android phone that is on a contract?

Edited April 2, 2013 by ukfan11

[King Coconut]

Yep.

[The Four Horsemen]

Yep and if you do not unroot it or relock your bootloader then you would have a very hard time in getting anyone from HTC, Sony etc to honour the warranty for you.

 

Just picked up my Xperia Z a week last Saturday and have to say that I love it so far, but just had a review handset of a HTC One for my site so will be using that for the next week or so.

[SpursRiot2012]

Let us know how you get on with the Xperia. I always liked Sony phones pre-iPhone/Android. Actually, I like HTC phones a lot as well.

[The Four Horsemen]

Let us know how you get on with the Xperia. I always liked Sony phones pre-iPhone/Android. Actually, I like HTC phones a lot as well.

 

First thing I have noticed today is that if you enable the "Stamina Mode" on the Z, therefore prolonging the battery you dont get even a notification light flashing wether its one normal settings or silent. But on the other hand if you don't have the "Stamina Mode" enabled then the battery does drain alot and quickly. I unplugged the phone at 7am this morning and it has about 30% left of battery.

 

One thing I will say on a positive after reading numerous sites about the display and it appearing washed-out is that IMO the screen is fantastic, the Sony Bravia Engine 2 really does the phone proud.

 

I reckon with a bit of training on the battery this phone could be awesome. Have it connected to Wifi when possible, check once every 30 mins for email and have mid brightness and it should do very nicely indeed thank you.

 

I'll keep you updated each day mate as best I can.