Android!

[Draegan]

I just can't wait for my S3 to be here.  Watching a few reviews and it's just amazing for a phone.

[Jimbo]

Just upgraded to the Droid Razr Maxx, and it is very nice so far.  The amount of money is insane on the price jumps lately.  My upgrade was only $50 now, and the damn store charges $30 to upgrade, cutting it down to $20, then on top of that they charge like $260 a phone!!!!!!

I'm one of the old accounts that has unlimited data/text/pics on my plan, so at least I know I'm driving Verizon nuts since they can't charge me for data use like the new accounts.  Fucking cunts that run the companies now, they want to charge by the use like the old time when they charged you per call.  OMG they are charging you now for verizon navigation now too!  Thank goodness google is still free!!

I'm bitiching, but it is better than my friends iphones 

Anyway, a couple of questions:

1.  Any thoughts on cases?  I'm thinking of using something like Otterbox, Trident, Body Glove, or something along that line.  Needs to be decent so if I drop it won't destroy it.

2.  How about car mounts to use the built in gps/navigator system?  My system is looking crazy, phone for music, hands free head set, and navigation, all suction cupped to my window, and I have 2 jeeps so I like to move it back and forth I guess.

3.  The big question, what application to use to bypass Verizon and use my phone as a 4g tether to my lap top at my mom and dad's farm?  Verizon wants to charge me $30 a month and limit to 2 Gb of data use on the tether/hotspot threw them.  No way in hell I will use that.  PdaNet has a nice system it seems, EasyTether seems to be another one, hopefully I can figure out the setting to not get caught doing it.

Thanks in advance

[01101010]

Just upgraded to the Droid Razr Maxx, and it is very nice so far.  The amount of money is insane on the price jumps lately.  My upgrade was only $50 now, and the damn store charges $30 to upgrade, cutting it down to $20, then on top of that they charge like $260 a phone!!!!!!

I'm one of the old accounts that has unlimited data/text/pics on my plan, so at least I know I'm driving Verizon nuts since they can't charge me for data use like the new accounts.  Fucking cunts that run the companies now, they want to charge by the use like the old time when they charged you per call.  OMG they are charging you now for verizon navigation now too!  Thank goodness google is still free!!

I'm bitiching, but it is better than my friends iphones 

Anyway, a couple of questions:

1.  Any thoughts on cases?  I'm thinking of using something like Otterbox, Trident, Body Glove, or something along that line.  Needs to be decent so if I drop it won't destroy it.

2.  How about car mounts to use the built in gps/navigator system?  My system is looking crazy, phone for music, hands free head set, and navigation, all suction cupped to my window, and I have 2 jeeps so I like to move it back and forth I guess.

3.  The big question, what application to use to bypass Verizon and use my phone as a 4g tether to my lap top at my mom and dad's farm?  Verizon wants to charge me $30 a month and limit to 2 Gb of data use on the tether/hotspot threw them.  No way in hell I will use that.  PdaNet has a nice system it seems, EasyTether seems to be another one, hopefully I can figure out the setting to not get caught doing it.

Thanks in advance

You can get around all the Verizon ball and chains by rooting your phone... if you are so willing.

[MuffinMan]

You might not get caught tethering but I'm sure Verizon will start throttling your data if you use too much, depending on what their policy is for that. "Unlimited" is somewhat of a misnomer anymore.

[Segoris]

Last thing I read stated that the unlimited is unlimited to all buy those in the top 5% or something, and those people are throttled.

I know I've used over 6gb and didn't notice any slow downs at all, so it has been good for that much at least (this was just in Mar or Apr that I used that much data, so not some distant history)

[MuffinMan]

I probably use around 2gb/month but I'm sure I'd get throttled if I attached it to a desktop or laptop. We'll see next month when I move, I don't plan to have the Internet hooked up right away.

[Jimbo]

Just found out my son has been downloading movies before we upgraded on his phone, ya netflixs, so I doubt we would raise much attention.   I've been reading up on rooting my phone, which sounds awesome, but i'm not that tech savy.  Easy Tether says it hides the ability that you are tethering, just don't do something stupid like be tethering on your phone, then log into verizon homepage.  Both claim he could even play xbox live threw the phone on the 4 G, and I was goofing around at my parents farm and was able to get 4 g there too. 

We were on 3 G, so I'm not sure if we were throttled or not, as it was slow to down load and lost connection a lot in my area.  I was on the old plan from 2004, which had unlimited data/text/pictures and 700 minutes of talk time. 

[Amarr HM]

Need to root a phone in work. Any good resources/tutorials out there? it's a 'Samsung Galaxy S' running 2.3.4.

[luckton]

Need to root a phone in work. Any good resources/tutorials out there? it's a 'Samsung Galaxy S' running 2.3.4.

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S:_Full_Update_Guide

[eldaec]

Note to Google, 16Gb and no card slot on a tablet, are you fucking serious?

[luckton]

Note to Google, 16Gb and no card slot on a tablet, are you fucking serious?

But, the Cloud, man!  Think about the Cloud!   

[rattran]

Seems like they're copying the wrong parts  of the fire.

Also, I've dumped my smartphone for a small tablet, using grooveip and Google voice as a no-phone workaround is not great, but works. 7-8" is so much better for the web.

[KallDrexx]

I personally find 7" awkward.  It's not small enough for me to carry around as much as I do with my phone, so I'd rather just have a 10" screen for browsing and doing stuff.

[JWIV]

Went ahead and slapped the jellybean update on my Galaxy Nexus this morning.  It's been solid and very nice.

[Yegolev]

VZW gave me Ice Cream Sammich this morning.  Blah blah blah, the most important thing is the improved performance.  The rest of it is nice, also.

[luckton]

Waiting for the Incredible 3 to drop this fall.  Still holding on to my original Inc, now with the new CyanogenMod 7.2 update  

[MahrinSkel]

I personally find 7" awkward.  It's not small enough for me to carry around as much as I do with my phone, so I'd rather just have a 10" screen for browsing and doing stuff.

The only merit in a 7" is that for media consumption, it's barely small enough for a tablet and case to go into a back jeans pocket (which is nice for those "hurry up and wait" scenarios where you sit most of the time but may have to move quickly).  But it's not big enough to websurf without constantly futzing around with text size, zooming, and panning around the page.

--Dave

[Quinton]

I *love* the 7" form factor.  I've always found 10" tablets to large/heavy/klunky to hold comfortably for reading, and awkward to try to hold and use at the same time (typing, gaming, etc).  The 7" form factor nails that.  Once I'm holding something as awkward as a 10" tablet I might as well just grab my laptop, which doesn't need a stand to be readable without holding it, has a nice keyboard, and a slightly larger display.

I use the web far more on the Nexus 7 than I have on previous tablets I've owned.  I was massively disappointed with the Fire (underpowered, crapped up OS, no updates to newer OS versions, low density and muddy display, lacking hard volume buttons, bluetooth, gyro, etc).  One other nice thing about Nexus 7 is the T30 (Tegra 3) is very snappy both CPU and GPU-wise.  1280x800 at 7"/216ppi looks much nicer to me than 1280x800 at 10"/160ppi.  The device is anything but underpowered for its size or price.

Some decent reviews:
http://www.theverge.com/products/compare/5831/2506/3767/5147/
http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/28/nexus-7-review/
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6054/google-nexus-7-mini-review

Official page (features, specs, ordering, etc):
http://www.google.com/nexus/#/7

If you absolutely want a 10" device, it's not for you, but I'd say it's hands-down the best 7" tablet out there, and pretty competitive with larger and pricier devices. 

[Salamok]

Quinton needs to throw in an "In my unbiased opinion" for the lulz.

[Engels]

So, no more flash support either.

[luckton]

So, no more flash support either.

I'm not terribly upset about this.  I kinda hate Flash as it on my Incredible.

[Pezzle]

Tempted to cancel my S3 preorder and just pick up a Nexus.  I do not care about the phone knowing I look at it and who cares about touchwiz?  Save myself the money and keep my unlimited data plan.  Not sure there is a massive enough advantage for me in the S3 to justify the cost.

[Quinton]

Quinton needs to throw in an "In my unbiased opinion" for the lulz.

I don't think I've ever been unclear about my biases in this space.  Apologies if so. ^^

[eldaec]

Tempted to cancel my S3 preorder and just pick up a Nexus.  I do not care about the phone knowing I look at it and who cares about touchwiz?  Save myself the money and keep my unlimited data plan.  Not sure there is a massive enough advantage for me in the S3 to justify the cost.

Touchwiz is a minor negative, especially when you factor in delayed updates. The significant plus the s3 has is storage. It really all comes down to how much shit you keep on your phone, if you can live inside 16Gb I'd stick to the nexus.

[Pezzle]

My other issue is, do I risk changing carriers?  Verizon has been rock solid and works in some pretty remote locations.  My fear is the real fisting approaches soon.  My grandfather data plan will only get me through to the next phone (if that!).  I could go to sprint and get more services for equal or less money.  The trouble is, I know their coverage is a bit lackluster.  I do not care about omg 4GLTE etc .  Maybe I will talk to some reps today.

[Yegolev]

Sprint is a colander full of shit.  In Georgia, at least.

[Segoris]

Touchwiz is a minor negative, especially when you factor in delayed updates. The significant plus the s3 has is storage. It really all comes down to how much shit you keep on your phone, if you can live inside 16Gb I'd stick to the nexus.

Only on non-LTE providers, so since Pezzle is on VZW the Nexus will have 32gb (LTE versions have more memory, never understood why. Maybe that is the lube for VZW's future pricing plans). Still, for most, that is more than enough (even 16gb is usually more than enough for most).

As for unlimited plans and what not - I'm curious if using/abusing insurance claims will work (at least the first time), otherwise Buy new and sell your old one on Ebay and it won't be as bad. Hell, the original Moto Droid is still selling for ~$100 on ebay and it's 2.5yrs old. I'm not saying it's a good solution, but if you need unlimited than it may turn out cheaper than paying shitloads for higher tier costs if other providers still suck ass next time you need to upgrade

[Salamok]

I doubt you will be getting $100 for a used a855, http://www.ebay.com/ctg/109883331?_imid=290736406478 or better yet if you know anyone willing to pay $100 for an old droid I have 2 of em for sale ;)

[Pezzle]

Leaning towards sticking with VZW for now.  That will all change if and when they mess with the data plan.  It is not that I OMG NEED the unlimited data, there are times where I am at 500M and times where I am at 5GB.  The key is not having to be concerned.  Bleh!

[ffc]

Went ahead and slapped the jellybean update on my Galaxy Nexus this morning.  It's been solid and very nice.

In case you didn't root, you can use SuperSU which is what I used. If anybody else has a Galaxy Nexus, to get Jelly Bean I basically followed Method 2 but I used the GNex Toolkit to temporarily boot into CWM to install the zip, only took a couple minutes.  This should receive OTA updates since it's stock.  

So far so good, and now the recent apps button has no lag!  If this newfangled Google Now automatically pops up traffic cards based on predicting when I will need them my head will explode.  The quick controls for the stock browser (dragging finger on side) got all crazy, looks good.  Oh and I noticed a stock Sound widget to identify songs and drag you into the Play store.

I had a chance to check out the HTC One X.  Prior to Jelly Bean it made my phone feel like a slug.  Now, not so much.

[Segoris]

I doubt you will be getting $100 for a used a855, http://www.ebay.com/ctg/109883331?_imid=290736406478 or better yet if you know anyone willing to pay $100 for an old droid I have 2 of em for sale ;)

That link directly shows auctions with people having placed bids betwen $79 and $100 (not unheard of to be fake bidders, but on an old droid I can't imagine that being too huge of a factor, maybe changing price from $75 to $100 on a 2.5yr old phone). The point being that selling your phone can help minimize the out of pocket cost of a new phone

[Stewie]

Just picked up a nexus 7 for the GF yesterday. I gotta say its really really nice.
I was worried that the 7" size might be a bit to small but after playing with it for a while I had no problems at all and find myself in full aggrement with Quinton's

I *love* the 7" form factor.

statement.

I already have a motorola xoom but am thinking of selling and buying a nexus 7 for myself. I may wait to see how jellybean works on the Xoom before i make that switch though.

But yeah the 7" size is great, it is smooth, fast and the the jellybean ui is just so much better than previous android versions. I love the feel of it in my hand etc etc.

Part of me wishes it had a memory card slot (mostly because I want it all :P )  but the logical part of me points out that I really don't use it much on my Xoom. Maybe occasionally throw a few tv shows on when I travel. but for the most part I almost never need that and am almost always near wifi or I can tether to my galaxy note.

Over all a great offering by Google and Asus though

[schild]

I by mistake threw my phone in the trash compacter this morning with 5 bags of trash. I uhm. Yea, don't call.

[Bunk]

I already have a motorola xoom but am thinking of selling and buying a nexus 7 for myself. I may wait to see how jellybean works on the Xoom before i make that switch though.

Dude, you have a 5.3" Note as your phone, and you are considering forking out for a 7" tablet. WTF?

Schild - I feel for you. If we were to call, would the block of garbage make pathetic little ring tone sounds from within?

[Stewie]

I cant use my note at the d&d table its too small for critter stat blocks etc. the nexus would work better. and its waaaay smoother and less cumbersome then my xoom.
I'd also only get it if I could sell my xoom.