The Real Bev wrote:
> On 11/08/2014 12:11 AM, Ron Hunter wrote:
>> On 11/7/2014 10:49 PM, Dennis wrote:
>>> The Real Bev wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I'm getting bummed about Android/Google.
>>>>
>>>> 1. One of the 4.4.2 updates deleted the ability to write to the
>>>> external sd card with 3rd party apps. There has been a monumental
>>>> uproar about this, so apparently they're going to remove this
>>>> restriction in 5.0. Are they also going to provide an update for the
>>>> 4.4.2 people who have been damaged severely by this limitation?
>>>
>>> My phone is running version 4.1.2.
>>> I rooted my phone because I didn't like how everything was locked down.
>>> The next phone I get (in a year or two will be a developer model of
>>> probably a Motorola phone or maybe a Nexus, purchased from the
>>> manufacturer). Gonna be pricey but I'll have complete control. Then I
>>> can do whatever I want to it including running custom roms. The biggest
>>> reason I rooted my phone was because Verizon wanted me to pay extra for
>>> the 'convenience' of enabling the hotspot built into my phone. At the
>>> time it didn't include any extra data so I would have been paying more
>>> per month and getting nothing extra except the 'convenience'. Now it
>>> costs nothing extra to use the hotspot and the pricing is actually lower
>>> than it was two years ago AND they "encourage" sharing data amongst
>>> devices!!!
>
> My BLU phone is running 4.2.1, but Allen has Samsung tablets running
> 4.4.whatever. The BLU's GPS is pretty damn flakey so I was thinking of
> relplacing it with a Samsung when I stop feeling guilty about replacing
> something that isn't broken. Now I'm not so sure.
>
>>>> 2. Might be a Samsung-only problem, but the last kernel update runs the
>>>> battery down twice as fast as it can be recharged -- apparently by doing
>>>> some sort of indexing (too bad if you have a lot of files) that can't be
>>>> stopped. Heats up the tablet too. This has been complained about in
>>>> one form or another for over a year.
>>>
>>> If it is 'root-able' I would root it, back out the updates. Go back to
>>> what works. Or get a custom rom and quit fussing about it.
>
> He's thinking of that when the warranty is up. The oldest one was
> bought in March this year, though...
My Droid Razr Maxx was less than two weeks old when I rooted it. The
Verizon price on the phone was $800.00 at the time. (I got the upgrade
discount with the 2 year contract for a lot less than $800.00) I could
have bought a developer's model direct from Motorola for about $550.00.
I didn't care about warrantee, I wanted my phone to work how I wanted.
And at the time (probably still is) there was a fella on one of the
droid forums that said he could walk you through un-'bricking' the Razr
Maxx. He had several testimonials from people that thought their phones
were 'hard bricked' that he had helped them recover so I went for it.
And, had no problems rooting.
My phone works *extremely* well with most of the Motorola and Verizon
bloat removed/disabled/hidden.
I'm sure your tech will check first, there is a LOT of info around about
rooting and 'bricking' a wide selection of phones. Rooting is not the
problem, un-'bricking' is the important part. If you follow the
instructions it won't brick, normally, but it is always good to have a
bail-out plan.
>
>>>> 3. For the second time Play Store has decided I don't have enough
>>>> space, although I do. I really do. Only recourse is a ractory reset,
>>>> which took at least a day to recover from, and now several weeks later
>>>> it's happening again. Google says "Tough shit if you didn't buy a
>>>> Nexus, whine to your manufacturer" about any android problems you might
>>>> have.
>
> It was OK after a while, and then it failed again. I think it wants to
> see at least 100 MB of open space in the "internal storage"
> partition/whatever. I defaulted the download directory to 'phone', but
> some apps seem to ignore that. More flakeyness.
>
>>> Is your phone 'root-able'? This might be another case where it might be
>>> beneficial to be rooted.
>
> Probably not unless somebody actually knows more than "Run this
> program...". Not popular enough for somebody to spend effort on it.
> Somebody has a simple rooting thingy for SOME models of BLU phones, but
> not mine.
I didn't have a script for mine either. It was all done manually while
connected to my laptop. Then the *exciting* , *breath* *holding* ,
*spine* *tingling* 'special button holding' reboot of the phone!!!
..... Ahhh, success!
>
> OTOH, if I wreck it I can replace it...
That's the spirit!!
>
>>>> 4. I want different gmail accounts for different purposes. Google
>>>> doesn't want you to do that. You can only be logged in to ONE gmail
>>>> account at a time. "Tough shit if that's not the way you want it, how
>>>> much did it cost you?"
>>>
>>> I have my own email and wouldn't use gmail if it wasn't almost essential
>>> for certain things on the phone. Can't you set up an additional email
>>> client, like 'K-9 Mail' (I like it on my phone), to check additional
>>> gmail accounts?
>
> I don't do a lot of email on the phone, and the original 'email' program
> is a lot nicer to use than the included 'gmail' program. The phone is a
> lot nicer than the computer at logging into the proper account, but I
> mostly want to use the different google functions on my computer.
Can't help you there, I avoid 'most' of google. The biggest reason I
have a gmail account is it is unavoidable if you want to purchase an app
on your phone using the Play Store. I didn't have a gmail account until
I had to. And it is never used except for a very rare notification of
some sort.
>
>>> Soooo, you gonna buy a windows phone? ;-) Android/Google isn't as bad as
>>> Windows/Microsoft or I-anything/Apple ... yet.
>
> Sure. Black Friday is coming up, right? Best Buy has a cute little 11"
> laptop for $99 32GB SSD, windows 8. I wish I could think of a reason to
> buy it...
I was going to say you could blow out windows and test Firefox OS. Maybe
you still could but I don't know if it would install on that laptop. I
went to the Firefox OS website and it looks like they only support a
small number of smart phones at the moment. Oh, BTW, the Firefox OS
website is a terrible, terrible place to go. I found the site very hard
to read, slow, and extremely cluttered, especially for a (assumed)
predominately mobile site!
So the only viable alternative is to blow out windows and install your
favorite linux distro! ;-)
>
>> Nice to hear you guys talking about how great Android is. Grin.
>> I did manage to fix, at least for now, the problem with no space for
>> updating by deleting some unused, large apps. Now it updates fine, so
>> far. Something is seriously wrong with the 4.x release memory
>> management process.
Android is "great", once you get past the vendor and carrier garbage.
You might be able to get around all the garbage on windows or apple but
I'm just not interested in getting involved with either.
>
> It used to be "Do No Evil." Now "A Little Bit of Evil Is OK."
That is the path to a bottomless pit of misery!! And you know it! ;-)
Dennis