Android!

[RhyssaFireheart]

lol hotmail.

People really still use that?

Yes, is there some reason not to?

It's primarily my spam email I give out when someone wants an email address, but since I've been using it for so long now, there are several news letters and such that I still get at that email and I'm too lazy to bother changing them.  *shrug*  It's free and they're doing their best to copy some gmail stuff like storage and whatnot.  My primary email is my Gmail one since I refuse to use my ISP email for pretty much anything.

[MahrinSkel]

I know plenty of parents that let their toddler play with their iPad.

Insert joke about apple products being pre-dumbed down here.

Do they hand over their $500 shiny for the toddler to do whatever with?  At $105 (plus a case and SD card) I don't feel like it's too expensive for a pre-schooler to have full control of.  The LeapPad and VTech pre-schooler tablets run about $80 (plus $20 for anything to actually run on them), so I'd say that <$99 is the wince level for most parents.  Plus, with the degree of control Android lets me have over the system, it was easy for me to simplify the tablet to the point where I didn't feel it would confuse her (or let her brick it by hitting buttons at random), but I can still put the functionality back in it later, there's no reason she can't keep using it until she's ready for a "real" desktop/laptop computer (and even then, it may just be an updated tablet with a docking station or plug-in keyboard).

--Dave

[eldaec]

Pretty sure iPad will confuse you or I before it confuses a 3 year old. But I do take your point about cost. People do it nonetheless.

While I'm in this thread, someone at Google responsible for the SMS app needs to be punched in the face until they realise that having no carriage return on the keyboard is fucking idiotic. Taunting us with a pointless 'smilie' button instead just makes it worse.

[NowhereMan]

Carriage return on an SMS? I thought that would just take up the character account, don't think I've ever seen paragraphs or line spaces in a text. And it sounds like your problem is with the Android keyboard rather than the app. Have you tried any of the other ones available?

[eldaec]

The CR key is app dependent on the stock keyboard. Though as you suggest you can either replace the keyboard or the app to fix the problem.

Line spacing absolutely comes through on text messages.

[MahrinSkel]

Okay, is there a way to make Android chrome stop opening things in a new window when you use a touch to open a link?  I'm typing this on a USB keyboard plugged into my new Coby 10", and it seems that as soon as you plug in the keyboard, it's expecting mouseclicks instead of touches.  No touchpad on this keyboard.

--Dave

[Engels]

Latest update seems to have broken the GF's exchange email account setup. Any word on that? Also, it seems to be draining the battery badly.

[jlwilli5]

 hmm I just discovered http://flipboard.com/
Judging by the downloads on google play I am very late to the party, 5mil+ downloads. Great app that Id probably never used on my droid phone but it becomes super amazing awesome on my tablet. I was able to junk my news feed app twitter app etc. Oh and its free.

[JWIV]

hmm I just discovered http://flipboard.com/
Judging by the downloads on google play I am very late to the party, 5mil+ downloads. Great app that Id probably never used on my droid phone but it becomes super amazing awesome on my tablet. I was able to junk my news feed app twitter app etc. Oh and its free.

Flipboard isn't bad, though I find myself using Currents more often.

[eldaec]

Suddenly everyone and his dog seems to be reporting a rumour of a new nexus phone arriving this month. Also web servers reporting android 4.2 sightings.

[NowhereMan]

Well there's meant to 4-5 new models launching this year and the general guess is November for announcement. I'm just hoping there's one that's a 4" screen.

[eldaec]

Also Japanese people reporting 32gb nexus 7s.

[apocrypha]

Despite Google cancelling their reveal event due to a spot of bad weather ( ) the 32Gb Nexus 7 is now available from several places including the Play store. I ordered one yesterday, was £200 in the UK and I think it's $249 in the States.

They've also got 32Gb Nexus 7 HSPA version and Nexus 10 shown, listed as coming soon.

[Rendakor]

The 16Gb Nexus 7 was retailing at $250 here; wonder if that means a price drop/discontinue for it or if we'll be paying more for the 32Gb. I really wish they'd just release one with an SD card slot, but 32Gb might be big enough to get me to pull the trigger.

[eldaec]

Very tempted to push the button on the nexus 10. No expansion slot is the only real irritation.

[luckton]

I was hoping for LTE.  Guess the Mrs. and I will have to settle for Samsung for our bi-yearly upgrade coming up.

[MuffinMan]

Unless reviews reveal something terrible, I'll be picking up the Nexus 4. It may not be LTE but I just can't pass it up at $300 for an unlocked phone. My WiFi only experiment with my Nexus S was going pretty well until my work complained that I'm hard to reach.

[luckton]

You have a point.  Query: I've never had an unlocked phone before; if one were to get one of these Nexus 4s, how do I go about getting service?

[eldaec]

Order sim from network. Place sim inside handset.

[MuffinMan]

Specifically, order sim from T-Mobile for 100 minutes, unlimited data for $30 prepaid.

[apocrypha]

The 16Gb Nexus 7 was retailing at $250 here; wonder if that means a price drop/discontinue for it or if we'll be paying more for the 32Gb. I really wish they'd just release one with an SD card slot, but 32Gb might be big enough to get me to pull the trigger.

Price drop for sure, the $249 for the 32Gb one is a price I've seen on US websites, and $199 for the 16Gb.

[schild]

Am I reading this right? The Nexus 4 isn't 4G compatible at all. It's a 3G phone with the 4 attached to the name?

[schild]

Oh, HSPA+ on T-Mobile. So I'll get their pseudo crappy 4G. Good enough.

[Quinton]

Specifically, order sim from T-Mobile for 100 minutes, unlimited data for $30 prepaid.

You do want a micro sim for the N4, not the larger size.  I believe most carriers will offer both these days.

[MuffinMan]

Yea I just checked T-Mobile's site last night. They do offer a micro-sim on there.

[apocrypha]

Nexus 7 arrived yesterday, loving it. Really nice, solid bit of kit, great screen, lovely and fast and JellyBean is very usable. Glad I held out for the 32Gb one, it's enough capacity for all of my entire photo portfolios, about 1/4 of my music collection and a whole bunch of high res movies & TV shows. Oh and all the ebooks you could ever want.

Sound quality is a bit naff though, going to invest in a small bluetooth speaker for travel purposes, and a case of some kind is probably necessary.

[Quinton]

Am I reading this right? The Nexus 4 isn't 4G compatible at all. It's a 3G phone with the 4 attached to the name?

The naming reflects the product category now (Nexus 4 -> phone,  Nexus 7 -> small tablet,  Nexus 10 -> large tablet), which is nice.  I'm glad we got away from sticking the manufacturer's brand in the product name (Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus were unfortunate names).

[eldaec]

I'm seeing the products listed as 'LG Nexus 4', 'Asus Nexus 7' etc but at least it has a structure to it.

It'll be interesting to see how the nexus brand develops from here. OEMs do love their bloatware 'differentiation', and the market leaders really don't gain from the Google association like they used to. I can't see Samsung making a nexus that beats their current galaxy for instance. I assume the N10 happened because Samsung recognised that their tabs are struggling.

So Google can either accept second tier kit from market leaders, work with second tier OEMs, start working in house and risk pissing everyone off, or turn nexus into an open standard and allow anyone to use the brand on bloat free devices (which I don't think would be as straightforward as many seem to believe).

I have no idea which of those would work.

[Engels]

FYI, the Google Search App for the iPhone is 100% awesome. Works with the 3GS too. The voice they use make Siri seem stupid. Only shame is that of course, there's no integration with the native calendar for iPhone so you still have to do stuff manually there if you're in a pre-Siri phone, but still, I'm finding more and more reasons to delay my new phone purchase. Still on the fence between a Nexus and the iPhone 5.

Hearing that the Nexus 4 can't do 4G is worrisome. Is that a hardware limitation, or will it be capable when AT&T gets its own version?

[eldaec]

 4g needs a different (or additional) radio that isn't in the current model. That doesn't mean it would be the hardest thing in the world to build a version that swaps the 3g radio out and put a 4g in there. If it is a straight swap it might give you roaming issues and mean you can't drop to 3g in areas that don't have 4g coverage of course.

[Trippy]

Google wanted the new Nexus 4 to not be tied to any particular carrier but with LTE in the US that's not possible right now. The Nexus 4 is GSM-only cause that's much more common globally but that excludes CDMA carriers like Verizon and Sprint which means no Verizon LTE, which is the best LTE network in the US right now. AT&T has a fledgling LTE network but it's using non-standard frequencies so the phone would effectively be AT&T-only for LTE, which doesn't fit Google's goals either. You could of course cram a bazillion different radios into the device to try and make it work everywhere but that increases the size of the device. LTE is also a battery hog so that would require a bigger battery if you wanted comparable battery life times.

[Engels]

Thanks for the info. Sounds like AT&T won't have a Nexus 4 variant for a while then.

Looking at some benchmarks on the web, the battery life on the iPhone 5 with AT&T LTE doesn't seem as hard on it as the Verizon version. Advertised as 5 hours continual data, it seems to do about 4 hours in 'real life' according to various tests I found on the Internets. Seems ok to me. Not great, but would be fine.

However, I would like to have bluetooth on all the time, as I have on my 3GS phone, and just doing a google search for 'iphone bluetooth battery life' provides so many apple discussion board postings its kinda scary. Without exception, every one says that to conserve battery life with the iPhone you have to turn off bluetooth. Fuck that.

Its still perpetually sold out every morning so till that shit calms down its not even a question for me yet.

[apocrypha]

This Google Now thing doesn't seem to work, at all. Any searches entered into it never complete. Maybe a UK thing, dunno.

[Quinton]

Looking at some benchmarks on the web, the battery life on the iPhone 5 with AT&T LTE doesn't seem as hard on it as the Verizon version. Advertised as 5 hours continual data, it seems to do about 4 hours in 'real life' according to various tests I found on the Internets. Seems ok to me. Not great, but would be fine.

AT&T's LTE network does not require you to have a second (CDMA) radio active to cover voice, unlike Verizon.  Until Verizon deploys VoLTE (voice over LTE), the requirement for the two radio hybrid solution needed to support their network makes power efficiency pretty rough.

The N4 is pentaband GSM/GPRS/UMTS/HSPA+ so it should be fine on AT&T (though you won't get LTE speeds), TMO, and just about any other GSM/UMTS carrier in Europe, Asia, etc.

Also, Android-related, this just seems nuts (involves estimates, apply grains of salt, etc, but wow nonetheless):
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57544131-94/android-beats-ios-5-to-1-in-q3-smartphone-market-share/

[Engels]

Not too surprised there, considering Apple can't seem to make the 5 fast enough and Android is an OS with many devices, while IOS has, what, 4 relevant pieces of hardware?