All things related to Android phones & tablets

dejongj said:
To be honest, they aren't that cheap either. Well not if you want a version that is loosely compatible, you are then also talking serious money. Ofcourse if you are happy to give up on certain features and compromise there is a lot of choice available.
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I never asked for cheap, if i wanted something for cheap I would expect to lose something over a flagship phone from a premium brand of course.

I use a Nexus P9, which is basically a Huawei P9. I can't think of any features that it lacks, or any that it has but does not do well. Battery life is over a day, that's with a couple of hours of tv watching, playing music, odd bit of gaming, wifi, bluetooth, bright screen etc, longer if I were to make some attempt to preserve battery life, yet also charges to 80% in just 45 minutes. Build quality is up there with the best of them.

All for less than £400.

Still serious money, but not silly money. Silly money would be paying more with nothing to show for it.
 
bass_junkie83 said:
I never asked for cheap, if i wanted something for cheap I would expect to lose something over a flagship phone from a premium brand of course.

I use a Nexus P9, which is basically a Huawei P9. I can't think of any features that it lacks, or any that it has but does not do well. Battery life is over a day, that's with a couple of hours of tv watching, playing music, odd bit of gaming, wifi, bluetooth, bright screen etc, longer if I were to make some attempt to preserve battery life, yet also charges to 80% in just 45 minutes. Build quality is up there with the best of them.

All for less than £400.

Still serious money, but not silly money. Silly money would be paying more with nothing to show for it.
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Nexus P9?
 
bass_junkie83 said:
Nexus 6P sorry.
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And that is where the price shot up with Google already. There were some great deals going on, but full list price I thought was just too much. However I only say that based on past experience and what their flagship phones cost then. As such it seemed expensive, but isn't actually that bad :) The new one (Pixel) is just directly comparable to Samsung and Apple. I wonder how long before Huawei and Xoami follow.
 
If you can wait a year you can get all those gimmicks for a lot less. But you'll have to survive with last year's gimmicks until then.

It'll be aimed at companies who can treat their staff to the top of the range, without examining the value too closely.
 
Poor Samsung, I'm seeing more reports of the "fixed" Note 7 still catching fire :(

One new replacement exploded on a Plane. Really not good.
 
dejongj said:
Poor Samsung, I'm seeing more reports of the "fixed" Note 7 still catching fire :(

One new replacement exploded on a Plane. Really not good.
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Agreed. This will be far more damaging than a patent war with Apple.

I went out to briefly try a couple of new budget mobes yesterday, my RAZRi having suddenly suffered the intermittent battery fault (charge goes up & down, 10%>90%>25%>2% etc, then shut down) that some had in the early days. There's no 'fix' (issue is software it seems) other than rooting it, and as the phone is nearly 4 years old I'm looking for a replacement. I'm amazed at how fluid a modern android budget phone (i.e. Moto E3) can be, but screen sized have got OTT now and a 5" phone is just an enormous slab compared to my 4.3" model - forget about a pocket!

Currently using my almost 6YO HTC Desire, rooted and flashed with cyanogen Mildwild - it's so small & rounded that I hardly know it's in my pocket.
 
dejongj said:
Poor Samsung, I'm seeing more reports of the "fixed" Note 7 still catching fire :(

One new replacement exploded on a Plane. Really not good.
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Galaxy Note 7 both original and replacement are now permanently discontinued.

It seems the original story about a bad batch of batteries from the supplier was actually a cover story for a design fault where the battery was too big for the design of the battery compartment and pressure caused damage to the contacts and thermal runaway followed.

Samsung told regulators the phone’s battery was slightly too big for its compartment and the tight space pinched the battery, causing it to short circuit, Kaye said.

A comprehensive report hasn’t yet been released on the battery issue. Samsung previously told a Korean government agency that there was an error in production that pressured the plates within the battery cells and brought opposing poles into contact, which triggered the excessive heat. The company sent a separate report to China’s inspection agency asserting that the problem came from separators sitting between the electrodes that could thin out and cause short-circuiting.

“The dimensions of the materials they put into the pouch were a little bigger than the pouch itself,” Kaye said. “By putting that all together and squeezing it into the compartment, it caused some pinching.”

That has, in turn, led to short circuits within the batteries. In some cases, it prompted a phenomenon known as “thermal runway,” in which the battery creates so much heat that it ultimately burns or explodes, he said.
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http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-ODJPO96VDKHV01-3EQI3MJ68LK6GV47LGE6CD0OK9
 
Oh dear. I noticed it wiped $17Bn of their valuation. Yikes. Such a shame as it was reviewed as a brilliant device. I hope they can pick themselves up from this and get over it. Competition is good in the market.
 
That has to be the quickest product discontinued going.
I wonder where Samsung go from here!
 
dejongj said:
Oh dear. I noticed it wiped $17Bn of their valuation. Yikes. Such a shame as it was reviewed as a brilliant device. I hope they can pick themselves up from this and get over it. Competition is good in the market.
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Well Samsung are a big dominant player. It'll be good if some of the other brands can take up some of the slack.
 
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ianp5a said:
Well Samsung are a big dominant player. It'll be good if some of the other brands can take up some of the slack.
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Google has definitely stepped into that space already ;) I'm sure others will start to increase their prices as well </sarcasm>
 
Any thoughts on a decent budget phone with similar power to a Oneplus one.. mine is over two years old and screen has several cracks, although I'm just finding it too big with a 5.5inch screen and would like something slightly smaller. I had been looking a Xiaomi Redme 3, but there are that many versions I'm not sure what to get.. My wishlist is as follows

4.5" - 5" screen
Finger print scanner - purely for fast unlocking as I need to have a code to allow my work email to work
micro SD slot or else 64gb memory

Any other suggestions?
 
technics100 said:
Any thoughts on a decent budget phone with similar power to a Oneplus one.. mine is over two years old and screen has several cracks, although I'm just finding it too big with a 5.5inch screen and would like something slightly smaller. I had been looking a Xiaomi Redme 3, but there are that many versions I'm not sure what to get.. My wishlist is as follows

4.5" - 5" screen
Finger print scanner - purely for fast unlocking as I need to have a code to allow my work email to work
micro SD slot or else 64gb memory

Any other suggestions?
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This was kind of what I wanted (except for the finger print scanner). It's been odd trying to find something with a 4.5" screen and not finding anything one would want bar an iPhone.

I've ended up actually ordering a Lumia 640 (2015 budget phone, but £70 new on PAYG from O2) to seeif I can get on with Windows, and if I like it then I'll consider the Lumia 950 (presently £249 sim-free from Microsoft).
 
Hmm, not sure on windows as I like my android stuff.. My wife has a oneplus X, but it doesn't like to work with the bluetooth in our 2016 Skoda Yeti
 
technics100 said:
Hmm, not sure on windows as I like my android stuff.. My wife has a oneplus X, but it doesn't like to work with the bluetooth in our 2016 Skoda Yeti
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My RAZRi was really clunky with bluetooth and our minis - it would connect, but it never seemed easy and the results seemed unpredictable. I don't know if it's the bluetooth implementation in Android or just that phone, but Apple devices seem to work reasonably well.
 
My oneplus one works great, has favourites to call, will read me txts etc, but the oneplus X just about connects.. strange.. it's been back to skoda, but they say it's just the phone compatibility..
 
640 arrived, giffgaff sim works fine. Call quality is BRILLIANT (like a landline) compared to both my previous phones (HTC, Motorola) calling from inside my house in a rural setting, where normally I have to walk out of the front door. If you live in a city then it probably doesn't matter, but for me it's a really big deal.

WinPho will take some getting used to, but *hopefully* all will be well. And I'll be keeping both Androids just in case.
 
I don't print out much at home, but printing from Android is easy with the app PrintBot.
image.png

If you have a router with USB, plug in the printer. And look up its IP address.
Install PrintBot on the android device and connect to the wifi network. Then you are ready to print. No Internet or PCs are required.

The app is free for up to 3 prints a month. It looks like it's worth paying 3€ for the unlimited Pro version if you print more. Other apps may be just as good though.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.jsecurity.printbot
 
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SWMBO wants a new phone. She has an iPhone4. She doesn't like the small screen and I don't like the Apple way of doing things. As I'm the one to sort out problems I have some influence!
We're both on O2 and I've been on their website this morning using the phone selector. They have come up with a Samsung Galaxy S6. This is probably a better phone than my Note 3 but that's progress!

Price quoted is about right for a 24m contract. Presumably they are trying to shift these before the S7 replacement comes along.

Is there anything to be aware of if we go down this route? Basically is this a decent phone? She mainly does texts, browsing and some calls. Most of her usage is on WiFi so monthly data allowance can be lowish.

Any thoughts please?
 
mickledore said:
SWMBO wants a new phone. She has an iPhone4. She doesn't like the small screen and I don't like the Apple way of doing things. As I'm the one to sort out problems I have some influence!
We're both on O2 and I've been on their website this morning using the phone selector. They have come up with a Samsung Galaxy S6. This is probably a better phone than my Note 3 but that's progress!

Price quoted is about right for a 24m contract. Presumably they are trying to shift these before the S7 replacement comes along.

Is there anything to be aware of if we go down this route? Basically is this a decent phone? She mainly does texts, browsing and some calls. Most of her usage is on WiFi so monthly data allowance can be lowish.

Any thoughts please?
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For her intended use it will be more than sufficient. Most of the current Samsung range is decent, even the newer versions of the A3 and A5 are good with their metal clad bodies. I think you will be just fine.
 
stevewestern said:
Anyone know anything about the Xiaomi Mi5 pro ?

http://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_5-6948.php

As someone who is not a geek should I play safe and go for something more mainstream to replace my Sony Z3 compact ?
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Xiaomi is a big brand in the far east who are renowned for high spec low price phones.


If you can get one from a UK/EU seller like gearbest then i would say go for it if that would give you the reassurance you need.
If not then i would stick with what you know and are comfortable with.
 
stupar said:
Xiaomi is a big brand in the far east who are renowned for high spec low price phones.


If you can get one from a UK/EU seller like gearbest then i would say go for it if that would give you the reassurance you need.
If not then i would stick with what you know and are comfortable with.
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Thanks Stu - I may go for one but think I should do a little more research - meanwhile if anyone actually owns one it would be good to hear what you think of it !
 
mickledore said:
SWMBO wants a new phone. She has an iPhone4. She doesn't like the small screen and I don't like the Apple way of doing things. As I'm the one to sort out problems I have some influence!
We're both on O2 and I've been on their website this morning using the phone selector. They have come up with a Samsung Galaxy S6. This is probably a better phone than my Note 3 but that's progress!

Price quoted is about right for a 24m contract. Presumably they are trying to shift these before the S7 replacement comes along.

Is there anything to be aware of if we go down this route? Basically is this a decent phone? She mainly does texts, browsing and some calls. Most of her usage is on WiFi so monthly data allowance can be lowish.

Any thoughts please?
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Chap I work with has an S6 Edge, and absolutely loves it after his previous Motorola. 18 months on, it's still a great smartphone, and has resisted all his attempts to break it as well as still being fluid and fun to use.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Chap I work with has an S6 Edge, and absolutely loves it after his previous Motorola. 18 months on, it's still a great smartphone, and has resisted all his attempts to break it as well as still being fluid and fun to use.
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Likewise. I'm just over a year into my 2 year contract and it's going strong as ever. Has such a premium feel to it and has been dropped numerous times through my own clumsiness and held out extremely well.

I'd get a case for it but it'd ruin how lovely it looks!
 
OK boys. Wife now has a brand new S6.
As ever I have to set it up. Big problem so help please.

There is the home screen with an icon in bottom rh corner for more apps. When I go there I can't do anything. Searching on line it indicates that I should either pinch the screen (presumably that means drawing two fingers together) or hold my finger still on the icon that I want to move. I do that and nothing at all happens. Zilch.

So what am I doing wrong? How do I get apps from the storage space onto the home pages?
 
Press and hold the icon of the app you want to move onto the home screen,
 
mickledore said:
Yes, I've done that, and nothing happens.
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I'll go and pull out my Samsung and check, I'm pretty sure that's how I did it but I haven't used the Samsung Touchwiz launcher for years, there are much better launchers available like Nova Launcher,
 
I rang the shop back and the girl there said the same thing. It's difficult over the phone but I get the impression she thinks the set is faulty.
 
mickledore said:
I rang the shop back and the girl there said the same thing. It's difficult over the phone but I get the impression she thinks the set is faulty.
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Certainly doesn't bode well. That's exactly how I do it. Is the firmware up to date?
 
mickledore said:
I rang the shop back and the girl there said the same thing. It's difficult over the phone but I get the impression she thinks the set is faulty.
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Seems a strange fault, but it definitely works as I described, from the Home screen (press the home button to get there) press the "Apps" button on the bottom row and the Apps drawer opens, and should populate with all the phone apps, go to the app you want on the home screen and press and hold on it and the home screen pops up on the screen with other actions across the top starting with "create folder". Without lifting your finger slide the app icon to where you want it to be on the home screen and then lift your finger to release it.
 
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