Android!

[Rendakor]

Is that an app for Android, or a program for my PC?

[MahrinSkel]

Is that an app for Android, or a program for my PC?

It's an Android app. Once you have the APK, you can transfer it between phones however (email, through your PC, via GDrive or Dropbox), then load it up on the new phone (assuming it's not completely incompatible, but if you're moving up Android versions it should work).

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.metago.astro&hl=en

--Dave

[TheWalrus]

I am still super happy that I backed my phone down to 4.4. That 5 was just such a shitty update. Ate battery, crashed some apps, and deleted some functionality the phone arrived with. Turrible.

[MrHat]

Has anyone successfully flashed out a Fire Phone to stock Android?

I've been seeing some deals last couple weeks for the 64GB Fire Phone for like $150-170 and it includes a full year of prime (essentially $80 for great hardware).  But fuck if I can use the Fire OS.

[KallDrexx]

I've read the CM11 is extremely buggy on it :-/

[eldaec]

Browsers!

I have a new G4, and generally I like it. But for some reason Chrome just nukes its battery. Eats 1% a minute.

So I need a browser. Been using Dolphin this afternoon, which I'm not altogether convinced by, any suggestions for a better browser?

[Rendakor]

I use Opera on my Note 3.

[01101010]

I use Opera on my Note 3.

You monster!! Do you divide by zero too? 

[Rendakor]

Um...no? Is there something wrong with it? The stock android browser wasn't doing text wrap when the phone came out, and it does so that's why I switched.

[eldaec]

After a few hours more messing around, Opera is edging it over firefox.

Mostly looking for speed and minimum number of obvious rendering errors.

[Torinak]

After a few hours more messing around, Opera is edging it over firefox.

Mostly looking for speed and minimum number of obvious rendering errors.

Is the mobile Opera browser still breaking SSL by intercepting all traffic and (partially) rendering it on their servers? As far as I can tell from their FAQ, they still are.

[eldaec]

Where are you seeing that?

My vague recolection of the fuss about this was that it turned out to be a bullshit assumption being made about the turbo compression function which is turned off by default and anyway doesn't run on TLS or SSL connections (and anyway if you are still using SSL you have bigger problems).

[Torinak]

Where are you seeing that?

My vague recolection of the fuss about this was that it turned out to be a bullshit assumption being made about the turbo compression function which is turned off by default and anyway doesn't run on TLS or SSL connections (and anyway if you are still using SSL you have bigger problems).

Opera Mini still bypasses end-to-end encryption entirely by rendering all data remotely according to the Opera Mini FAQ. I can't tell if Opera Mobile does the same thing (or does so anymore), but they may have stopped enabling it by default. "Opera Turbo" doesn't seem to be usable anymore with HTTPS, which is good.

Even if it's possible to use an Opera browser without any requests going through Opera servers, I'd be leery of any browser company whose privacy policy says "we may also use personal data to send users information regarding update downloading, upgrades, enhancements, surveys, or advertisements." It looks like there's also deep integration with both Google's and Facebook's ad-tracking systems unless explicitly opted-out by the user.

[Rendakor]

I have never been served an ad from Opera mobile.

[MahrinSkel]

So, I just ordered one of these 17 inch tablets, which is a discontinued product from HP. Essentially, it's a moderately wimpy all-in-one with a 17 inch screen running Android KitKat. But 'moderately wimpy' for an all-in-one is quite powerful for a tablet (Celeron N2807, 2gb ram, 32gb flash, 1080P, 7.5 hour battery). Even if I rarely use it as a tablet, it will also function as an external display for my 17 inch laptop (with its own battery power yet), so it's worth having in any event.

What I'm wondering is if there's a known way to load Lollipop on it (it should be more than capable). I've tried to poke around the usual places, some say that the bootloader won't let you, others say that problem was solved but don't explain how. Anyone here have any ideas?



Not really a fan of the yellow, but the stocks are bottoming out and the white now costs another hundred bucks.

--Dave

[eldaec]

Email clients!

Outlook has gone from basically ok to completely unusable in recent weeks. Can anyone recommend a replacement mail app?

[Chimpy]

Thunderbird is ok if you just need POP/IMAP.

[01101010]

Default android email app no good?

[Yegolev]

I'm using the gmail app (Galaxy S5) and I find it tolerable.

[eldaec]

Tried Gmail, but it eats my G4's battery.

[Rendakor]

Anyone know of a parental control app that can disable sound? Ideally just sounds from games, but if it mutes the phone completely and the kids can't unmute it, that will work.

[Lucas]

My Huawei Honor 7 just arrived from Amazon; it's actually my first, "real" smartphone (after a very brief and bad experience 2-3 years ago with a Samsung Galaxy Next turbo); very happy about the purchase so far, considering the specs (especially the 3GB RAM) and the price (€ 350)

[Tale]

Tried Gmail, but it eats my G4's battery.

It doesn't eat my G4's battery.

[apocrypha]

My venerable Nexus 4's battery has started to die. It lasts 3-4 hours on a full charge no with no use at all. Really don't want to have to get a new phone, I love the Nexus 4, it's just the right size for me and the unfuckedwith Android is lovely.

Ordered a replacement battery, hopefully that'll get me a few more years of use out of it :)

[NowhereMan]

I will say the 5, after about 30 minutes of use, didn't feel that much bigger to me. The 5X might actually be worth considering if you do need to upgrade. I was actually kind of bummed when I thought Google was stuck on some upwards trend with screen sizes, 4-5 seems to be about the sweet spot for me for phone size.

[schild]

The Nexus 6p has been exceptional.

[apocrypha]

The 5X and 6X/P are both pretty expensive though. £350-£500, which is more than double what the 4 cost me. I could cope with the size increase, but the move to flagship prices puts them beyond me.

If I do need to replace the 4 then it'll probably be a Moto or a Xiaomi.

[Quinton]

I really like my Nexus 5X, a worthy replacement for my Nexus 5.  I was surprised at how much I like the fingerprint reader unlock (I was expecting it to be pretty gimmicky, but it works well and is well integrated).

I've heard really good things about the newest Sony and Moto stuff (much less crapware and "value added" cruft, nice solid devices).

[Yegolev]

My ears perk at "less crapware".  I do like the Galaxy S5 a lot but it's very Samsung'ed and Verizon'ed.  I think I might like a Nexus more.

[Bungee]

The 5X and 6X/P are both pretty expensive though. £350-£500, which is more than double what the 4 cost me. I could cope with the size increase, but the move to flagship prices puts them beyond me.

If I do need to replace the 4 then it'll probably be a Moto or a Xiaomi.

5X and 6P on sale.

[Viin]

Thanks for the heads up! Time to pick up a 5X.. (just for testing, I can't stand the Android UI).

[apocrypha]

Still £300 in the UK. 

Replaced the battery in my Nexus 4 and it seems to be OK now. Here's hoping it'll last a few more years until I can afford a replacement!

[Yegolev]

It's almost time.  Has anyone tried either the Galaxy S7 or the Nexus 6P?  The Fi plan looks very attractive to me, but I'm keenly interested in the network capability in the real world.

[schild]

I have the 6P and Fi is great.

[Yegolev]

Awesome.  I'm probably going to wait for summer.