The Official Android thread.

Well, Netflix has always been a pain in the ass with Android regarding DRM. The old "we would, but it's not secure enough" bullshit excuse. The Incredible has a Snapdragon CPU. There's no reason it shouldn't support Netflix. The problem is most likely HTC (and other manufactuers) wanting people buying their newer phones (like the Thunderbolt) and demanding that carriers and Netflix comply so they can have a nice bullet point on the new phone's specs.

I work with a guy that has a Droid phone that doesn't do shit. I send him app links and he can't even download them (like PowerAmp). It's all a scam to make a new phone worthless before you can even qualify for a new one. Even if that phone is fully capable of running the same apps.
 
just got a droid x on the low low
its annoying how many stupid apps are installed like bb and amazon kindle i try to uninstall them but i cant
any cool apps i should get?
 
Yeah, it sucks you can't uninstall some of them.

As for apps, get PowerAmp for sure. Especially if you have a car CD player you can interface with. Lets you use PowerAmp as a touchscreen music controller, basically. Lot of slick skin options too. Jorte is great as a calendar replacement. Kindle is good. JustPictures! is a nice gallery replacement. Beautiful Widgets kicks the standard clock/weather's ass. Other than that: Parcels, Mobisle Notes, Folder Organizer, and Yellowbook are some of my favs.
 
Anyone know of any free image hosting sites that also have an android app? I realized yesterday how much of a pain it can be taking a pic with a phone and realizing you have no where to upload it to. Ended up uploading it to dropbox and then downloading it on my PC to edit, but I'd like to be able to use an image host that can auto re-size as it's uploaded, but that also has an app rather than having to use the web browser.
 
[quote name='Clak']Anyone know of any free image hosting sites that also have an android app? I realized yesterday how much of a pain it can be taking a pic with a phone and realizing you have no where to upload it to. Ended up uploading it to dropbox and then downloading it on my PC to edit, but I'd like to be able to use an image host that can auto re-size as it's uploaded, but that also has an app rather than having to use the web browser.[/QUOTE]

I had a friend that used the photobucket app and highly recommended it, but I don't know that it does auto-resizing on upload.
 
[quote name='Gden']I keep hearing that we're going to get netflix on android phones, but then it keeps dropping off. WTH[/QUOTE]

One of the major reasons I am considering joining the iOS crowd. I don't care so much for my phone, but I think it would be awesome for a tablet. If Google wants to move Android forward they need to get these things taken care of.
 
[quote name='GrilledWitOnions']I had a friend that used the photobucket app and highly recommended it, but I don't know that it does auto-resizing on upload.[/QUOTE]
I'll check it out, thanks.
 
sorry but this is just a rant so if your not up for reading it please skip over:

i got an incredible last july, had to wait 3 weeks to actually get it but not that big of a deal. in january i started having an issue where it said i had no memory space left on my phone when i should have had plenty. took it to verizon, they said there was nothing they could do but replace the phone. an inconvenience but not the end of the world as long as i get a phone that works like it should.

so my replacement comes in towards the end of january and all is well and good until the middle of february when i start having the same memory issues and then one night it decides to reset itself. reseting itself is odd and especially annoying at 3am when it screams "DROID" upon start up but not that big of a deal.... until it does it 5 times in a row until i get out of bed and pull the effin battery out! i try to start my phone up the next morning and all i get is "DROID!" and a reset. so i take my phone in for yet another replacement let verizon know i'm not pleased and wait a couple days for a phone that works at all.

so i got my replacement 2 - 3 weeks ago and that leads us to now. early this week i went to take a photo for work and when i start the camera all i get is a fuzzy image. when i snap a shot thinking it would turn out okay, it's obviously just the fuzzy image. i give it a tap on the side and it begins to work okay. 2 days ago i try to use the camera again with basically the same result except when i tap it to get it to work i now get a black screen. (so yeah, maybe i shouldn't have gotten phyical with it, but my thoughts at this point are i would have gotten a fuzzy screen without anyway so why not try to get it to work.)

so here i am again, ready to take my phone in to verizon yet again tomorrow and i plan to make a huge stink of it. i was very happy with my dinc for the for the 1st 6 months and have been really happy with it when it works properly but i'm very tired of getting replacements that don't work more than a few weeks. i'm going to ask for either a new dinc as a replacement, a different phone or release from my contract knowing full well i probably get none of the above but i'm very frustrated with htc and verizon at this point and ready for a change.

sorry for the long rant but i just wanted to warn others that may be looking at an htc phone or verizon service what they could possibly be in for.
 
I like that other then the first gen galaxy tabs (which are honestly horrible in quality, especially the touch screens), everything is a dual core. I told everyone i know interested in a ipad to wait a little while because android tabs are really going to get cheap for amazing hardware quickly, and honeycomb is an amazing OS. Def keeping my eye on that Asus pad. 400 is a deal.
 
[quote name='blitz6speed']I like that other then the first gen galaxy tabs (which are honestly horrible in quality, especially the touch screens), everything is a dual core. I told everyone i know interested in a ipad to wait a little while because android tabs are really going to get cheap for amazing hardware quickly, and honeycomb is an amazing OS. Def keeping my eye on that Asus pad. 400 is a deal.[/QUOTE]

They've done some benchmarking, though, and the Android tablet TEGRA GPUs don't hold a candle to whatever the shit the iPad2s have on board. I don't have a link on hand, but google that mess and you'll hit on something reliable.

Some people take the hardware comparison as evidence that the tablet market is settled until tablet manufacturers develop tablets with hardware can match Apple's buck for buck. IMO your other points (OS and price) are where Android can overcome the hardware gap.
 
I think it's marketing more than anything, most people don't even know wtf a GPU is. Yet the manufacturers can advertise the dual core CPU all day. I mean the Galaxy S phones still wipe the floor with a lot of phones in the graphics department because of the better GPU.
 
Just thought I'd throw this out here (I'm not sure if this would be allowed in the Video Game trading forum) but I'm selling a brand new 3G xoom if anyone's interested for 650 + shipping.

I originally bought it but my hours at work were cut dramatically and I'm sort of strapped for cash :/ pm me if you're interested.
 
Yeah, I like the idea of docking tablets. They'll hopefully eventually get to the point of being close enough to a laptop to allow me to just take them on a business trip instead of my heavy laptop (need a full sized and powered one to work at home, and don't travel enough to buy a second, smaller one for travel use as I'd never use it around the house).

All I'd really need is MS Office (or something fully compatible unlike current options like Docs to Go etc.) and a USB port so I can do things like work on a Powerpoint and then move it to a thumb drive to load on the PC in the conference room.

MS is working on a tablet OS apparently, so I'll likely just stick with my iPad 2 and wait and see what they come up with as they're probably not going to be a tablet version of Office on Android or iOS if they're working on their own platform.
 
The transformer is interesting to me because it's going to be way cheaper than the Xoom. The keyboard will probably be extra, but I can live with that.
 
Just wanted to throw out that I'm selling a Brand New 3G Xoom for a pretty low price, if anyones interested PM me.
 
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Xooms should be hitting clearance bins any time now. iPad2 announcement was timed well, totally killed whatever momentum Motorola might've gotten out of the Xoom release.
 
[quote name='dothog']Xooms should be hitting clearance bins any time now. iPad2 announcement was timed well, totally killed whatever momentum Motorola might've gotten out of the Xoom release.[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately I think Xoom timed their release to be just before the iPad2. However it went down, it went down badly. I'm still surprised the iPad2 got such praise... just doesn't seem like enough of a jump from iPad 1 to give it more than just a pass. I think (hope) Samsung and Acer will really market their stuff well, and grab some of this market. I know I'll be getting one of their tablets... probably.
 
[quote name='dothog']Xooms should be hitting clearance bins any time now. iPad2 announcement was timed well, totally killed whatever momentum Motorola might've gotten out of the Xoom release.[/QUOTE]

That along with making the Xoom a pain in the ass initially since you have to sign up for Verizon services. Yeah the Xoom is a nice tablet but I simply don't want to fuck around with Verizon just to buy a damn tablet.
 
[quote name='GrilledWitOnions']Unfortunately I think Xoom timed their release to be just before the iPad2. However it went down, it went down badly. I'm still surprised the iPad2 got such praise... just doesn't seem like enough of a jump from iPad 1 to give it more than just a pass. I think (hope) Samsung and Acer will really market their stuff well, and grab some of this market. I know I'll be getting one of their tablets... probably.[/QUOTE]

I dunno, with all of this info about Honeycomb coming out, I've lost a lot of confidence that anything substantial is going to happen for Android in the tablet market in 2011 (in the same way that it did for Android on phones in 2009-10).

Even if there's competitive hardware available (competitive either in terms of price or performance), who knows what the shit flavor of Android it'll be running. I liked the Honeycomb theme, the bee logo looked cool, it felt really slick and marketable. But apparently the code is buggy, so now everyone's saying "Wait 'til Ice Cream!" I dunno. It just seems to me that they had a "moment" in between the iPad and iPad2 and they missed the boat entirely, but then I'm just a dude reading tech blogs, I'm just along for the ride.
 
Screw Ice Cream I'm waiting for Pie or Sundae. /Sarcasm.

I feel like everyone is talking about Ice Cream way too far in advance, all the coolness of Ice Cream will have melted before it even comes out. Puns intended.
 
[quote name='GrilledWitOnions']I'm still surprised the iPad2 got such praise... just doesn't seem like enough of a jump from iPad 1 to give it more than just a pass.[/QUOTE]

:gasp: A CrApple product get anything other than Praise!? Nevar!
 
Noteworthy phone coming out for Tmobile in the next couple weeks; LG's GX2 (Us version of the Optimus 2x):

http://blogs.computerworld.com/18025/t_mobile_g2x

I could upgrade at any point right now, but I've been waiting for a qwerty slide-out dual core, which hasn't dropped yet.

Spec wise, The GX2 is a bit low on RAM - the Droid 3 is rumored to have 1 gig of RAM... but the vanilla OS is a huge plus to me... so I'm a little bit tempted.

In any event, it's coming out April 15th online, April 20th in stores:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20051666-251.html
 
Yeah the 2X looks good. I really doubt I'll get another Samsung phone, the lack of updates is just pissing me off. By the time most phones have 2.3 I'll still be on 2.1.
 
[quote name='BattleChicken']Noteworthy phone coming out for Tmobile in the next couple weeks; LG's GX2 (Us version of the Optimus 2x):

http://blogs.computerworld.com/18025/t_mobile_g2x

I could upgrade at any point right now, but I've been waiting for a qwerty slide-out dual core, which hasn't dropped yet.

Spec wise, The GX2 is a bit low on RAM - the Droid 3 is rumored to have 1 gig of RAM... but the vanilla OS is a huge plus to me... so I'm a little bit tempted.

In any event, it's coming out April 15th online, April 20th in stores:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20051666-251.html[/QUOTE]

I dont like that even with vanilla Froyo, its still froyo and you still have to wait for LG and T-Mobile to push out an update...if they feel like it.
 
Damn, my Incredible is force closing EVERYTHING now. I ran out of battery (down to zero) and when i turned it on next nothing worked. I was using a Seido 1750mah battery at the time...i guess i have to do a factory reset or something?
 
Does anyone have a timestamp problem with their txt messaging app... ? Mine is @#$%ing driving me insane... it won't put the the right timestamp on text so I have to hunt for the newest one instead of it posting at the end...
 
[quote name='hhhdx4']I dont like that even with vanilla Froyo, its still froyo and you still have to wait for LG and T-Mobile to push out an update...if they feel like it.[/QUOTE]
That's true of every Android device. We're always at the mercy of the carriers/OEMs for updates.
 
[quote name='Clak']That's true of every Android device. We're always at the mercy of the carriers/OEMs for updates.[/QUOTE]

Except for Google released Nexus phones (although I think even the Nexus 1, although second to receive Gingerbread, took months after it was released).
 
[quote name='Clak']That's true of every Android device. We're always at the mercy of the carriers/OEMs for updates.[/QUOTE]

Unless you _____ (rhymes with boot).

Samsung isn't in a hurry to release froyo for the Fascinate (only galaxy phone on 2.1). They don't want to confuse their consumers so they are waiting to release the Samsung Stealth (4g phone), then after it does good in sales they might release 2.1. I also don't think it helps that they're requiring Bing integration which could be another reason it isn't released.
 
That isn't Samsung's doing, it's Verizon's. They're the ones with the Bing deal. I really do think it's the carriers more than the OEMs that hold up updates.
 
[quote name='Clak']That isn't Samsung's doing, it's Verizon's. They're the ones with the Bing deal. I really do think it's the carriers more than the OEMs that hold up updates.[/QUOTE]


Could be worse. You could be like those of us who have Epic 4G's and our CDMA locks up after charging. :/
 
Nobody mentioned this yet but might be relevant to some (even if its not specifically android related):
http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/08/verizon-wireless-killing-one-year-contracts-on-april-17th-assum/

On a somewhat related note , reading the comments from that news story did make me think of two things that I feel really stupid for even having to ask about.
1. If you sign up for a 2 year plan with a specific phone and then at some point (before contract is up) buy a new phone on your own how does one get the phone recognized as your new primary phone (or do you just not?).
2. How does one go "contract-less"? Isn't a contract necessary to use the phones services?

Sorry if the above posts/questions aren't very clear.
 
^Answers to your questions

1. If you buy a new phone on your own and pay retail it does not affect your contract. The point of 2 year contracts is the carrier picks up a chunk of the retail price making the phone discounted since they know you'll be a customer for 2 years. They are getting rid of it because they'd rather have you get a discount or no discount; with a 1 year its in-between.

2. To go without a contract you buy your own phone (craigslist or ebay) or (retailer at full price) and tell the carrier you want wireless service but have your own phones which are compatible. Another way to go contract-less is to sign a 1 yr or 2 yr agreement then don't renew when the agreement expires and you'll effectively be on a month-to-month.

With the price of new smartphones it pays to sign a 2 year contract, if you don't mind an older/used one then go with a 1 year.
 
I vote for Bloo ! XD

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So I just finished flashing CM7 (i.e. Gingerbread) to the wife's Nook Color. She previously was booting the preview build of Honeycomb off a uSD card. She misses her Honeycomb and the ability to boot to stock every now and again, but man alive is CM7 snappy. And the video! And the bluetooth! It's an awesome little tablet now, an amazing deal given what else is out there.
 
been using CM7 as well... My Evo zips along nicely.. I do miss some small cosmetics of Sense though.. Nice to see the 2.3 Sense rom leak out though..
 
[quote name='dothog']So I just finished flashing CM7 (i.e. Gingerbread) to the wife's Nook Color. She previously was booting the preview build of Honeycomb off a uSD card. She misses her Honeycomb and the ability to boot to stock every now and again, but man alive is CM7 snappy. And the video! And the bluetooth! It's an awesome little tablet now, an amazing deal given what else is out there.[/QUOTE]
You could have installed CM7 to the SD card as well.
 
[quote name='Clak']You could have installed CM7 to the SD card as well.[/QUOTE]

I just decided to go for it. I can always flash back to stock. I wanted the 5-10% performance gain, especially given that it's seeing use for videos, I figured that 5-10% would be tangible there.

The video performance is really something given the NC's resolution. The wife is sold now, we've jumped up to a 16 GB uSD so she can put full seasons of Gilmore Girls (for her) and Shaun the Sheep (for the kids) on there. With the Nook ereader for the wife's books, comic view for classic kids' books, web/email for the wife's work, and movies as mentioned above, the thing is seeing a lot of use.

Well worth the $200, anybody with $200 (250 if you can't find a deal) and an interest in playing with tablets should pick up the NC.
 
If I knew the original Galaxy Tab would get Honeycomb I'd get one now that the prices are lower, but I know that isn't happening.
 
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