Android Help Sunday Rant/Rage (Jul 29 2018) - Your weekly complaint thread! |
- Sunday Rant/Rage (Jul 29 2018) - Your weekly complaint thread!
- Samsung's Ultrasonic based Fingerprint Scanner for under a Smartphone Display was confirmed in a Patent this week
- White Pixel 3 XL leaked photos
- Roland Quandt on Twitter: "Looks like Qualcomm's SDM855 has been in mass production since at least early June."
- Fortnite Mobile on Android may not be available on the Google Play Store
- Will Snapchat ever run well on Android?
- Gmail v8.7.15 prepares to add email scheduling
- Why does stock android allows shutting down your device from lock screen without verifying password?
- Closer photo of the Pixel 3 XL's notch
- These smartphones will support Fortnite Mobile on Android
- Notches, 18:9 dsiplays, Glass backs and Dual Camera: Limited usefulness if not done right
- Asus ZenFone 5Z Pre-Order Available at Asus Store, Newegg, and B&H
- Unjustifiable carrier fees will stifle LTE smartwatch adoption
- Loving the HTC U11+
- $40 Android Phone, no Chinese bloatware? Kenxinda V5 Review
| Sunday Rant/Rage (Jul 29 2018) - Your weekly complaint thread! Posted: 29 Jul 2018 04:10 AM PDT Note 1. Join our Discord, IRC, and Telegram chat-rooms! Please see our wiki for instructions. This weekly Sunday thread is for you to let off some steam and speak out about whatever complaint you might have about:
Rules 1) Please do not target any individuals or try to name/shame any individual. If you hate Google/Samsung/HTC etc. for one thing that is fine, but do not be rude to an individual app developer. 2) If you have a suggestion to solve another user's issue, please leave a comment but be sure it's constructive! We do not want any flame-wars. 3) Be respectful of other's opinions. Even if you feel that somebody is "wrong" you don't have to go out of your way to prove them wrong. Disagree politely, and move on. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 29 Jul 2018 07:01 AM PDT
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| White Pixel 3 XL leaked photos Posted: 29 Jul 2018 08:53 AM PDT | ||
| Posted: 29 Jul 2018 06:33 PM PDT
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| Fortnite Mobile on Android may not be available on the Google Play Store Posted: 29 Jul 2018 09:21 PM PDT
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| Will Snapchat ever run well on Android? Posted: 29 Jul 2018 09:14 AM PDT Most people I know own iPhones and Snapchat runs smooth as butter... I know this first hand as I owned an SE prior to buying my LG G6 last year. I use Snapchat more than any other app, which is unfortunate since it runs worse than literal dog shit. The app lags, crashes and freezes at least 10 times per day for me. The camera quality is grainy and low resolution, to the point where friends using iOS instantly say "your camera sucks" and I have one of those "hold my beer" moments and whip out the Wide Angle camera using the phones built in camera app. I've read that the Snapchat CEO is a complete nerd who has bias towards Apple, and he or someone high up in Snapchat has said it's only for "rich people"... wtf is that supposed to mean? I guess by that logic only the Huawei Mate RS, iPhone X and those other handful of mega expensive ANDROID devices can run Snapchat. Apologies for what appears to be a rant, it was either this, or boomerang my G6 out of the window in anger. But really, will it ever run as it's supposed to on Android? [link] [comments]  | ||
| Gmail v8.7.15 prepares to add email scheduling Posted: 29 Jul 2018 06:46 AM PDT
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| Why does stock android allows shutting down your device from lock screen without verifying password? Posted: 29 Jul 2018 10:10 AM PDT I've been using android for more than 5 years and this thing bugs the hell out of me. If my smartphone gets stolen, the guy can easily shutdown the device. I won't be able to locate my device. There is almost negligible advantage of keeping my mobile data and location on if the guy can just shutdown the device just with in few secs. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Closer photo of the Pixel 3 XL's notch Posted: 29 Jul 2018 12:42 PM PDT
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| These smartphones will support Fortnite Mobile on Android Posted: 29 Jul 2018 09:02 PM PDT
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| Notches, 18:9 dsiplays, Glass backs and Dual Camera: Limited usefulness if not done right Posted: 29 Jul 2018 11:01 AM PDT What do all of these features listed in the title have in common? They are all features that are relatively easy or cheap to implement, but implemented without reason they can be useless, or even worse create a bad user experience. Ever since the dawn of time, device makers have been in a race to include the latest and greatest features, be it wireless charging, ingress protection, bigger( I will try to explain why I believe that the features in the title are useless unless implemented properly and with thought into the device. I am not saying that those features are always useless, just that they should be incorporated with care and thought, not just to have another marketing bullet point. 18/18.5/19:9 DisplaysDevice makers have tried to reduce the bezels of smartphones ever since forever, but it started to pick-up pace in 2017 after Samsung released the Galaxy S8, sporting a new Infinity Display that is using a taller aspect ratio. The idea is that trimming the bezels while also keeping the phone at 16:9 makes the phone uncomfortable to use in the hand. I am not sure that I fully agree with that, since devices like the Huawei Mate 10 manage to use a 16:9 display while also having bezels that are smaller than average. Also most video content we watch these days is 16:9, and apps need 18:9 optimisation to work properly. But my beef isn't related to 18:9 displays in general. That would be ridiculous since many people do preffer the current footprint of phones, and 18:9 allows for more usable screen space using the same form factor. No, but poorly implemented taller aspect ratios bring no real value. These are phones that use 18:9 displays yet also have a huge bezel on top and bottom that hasn't been reduced enough. This causes numerous side effects, one of them being that you now have an uncomfortably tall phone because of the 18:9 screen. If you take a phone with a 16:9 screen, make it 18:9 without trimming any of the bezels, you have essentially created something that not only is uncomfortably tall, but provides no increase to usable screen space. This is why 18:9 should always be accompanied by bezel trimming to make sense. Just implementing an 18:9 display because it's cheap and easy to market makes no sense. Below are some bad examples and some good examples(for good measure) of 18:9 displays. Good examples: Galaxy S8; Mate 10 pro; LG V30 and many many others. Bad examples: Nokia 3.1- 69% stb; Galaxy J6; Nokia 5.1 and Huawei Y6 2018-9162.php) Notches(See paragraph 1 from displays for context about bezels) In order to provide an even greater screen to body ratio,some device makers use notches.Notches are display cut-outs on the top of the phone that house things like the earpiece speaker, proximity sensor and the front facing camera . Basically, the ideal situation is that you have this hopefully non-intrusive cut-out at the top of the phone. The front facing camera is especially hard to get rid of, though Vivo and Oppo have managed to get rid of notch by using a motorized pop-up camera mechanism. My beef with the notch stems from the fact that moving everything into the notch's sides means that notifications are a lot harder to read since there's much fewer that can fit in the status bar. In addition, major software optimisation is required in order to avoid visual glitches caused by apps and the system not working well with the notch. Also, I'd argue that notches aren't really necessary, given that there a lot of devices without the notch that have a better screen to body ratio than devices that do have the notch. Most device makers have simply included the notch design to look more like the Apple iPhone X, which I am also not a fan of. It just feels like a half-assed solution to a problem that didn't need solving. I would rather have slim bezel 18:9 screens until we find a way to put the camera under the display. Good examples: tbh I can't think of any good notch designs since I don't agree with the design decision. If I had to pick the best notch design though, that would likely be the Essential PH-1 since the notch is so small that you still have notification space. Bad examples: oh boy where do we start. The Mi 8 and Mi 8 SE have unnecessarily large notches that look just like the iphone X. Nokia X5, X6 and Redmi 6 pro. Why bother with a notch if the whole screen to body ratio isn't that good anyway? Also what the fuck is going on here. Glass BacksPhones in the past used to be made of cheap, poorly made-plastic like what you'd find on an S2 I have no beef with metal since it's sturdy and durable. My problem is with manufacturers ditching is using glass on the back of the phone while also not including any sort of wireless charging.. Here's the thing, glass is fragile and brittle but more scratch resistant. It makes sense to use it for the screen but no sense to use it on the back compared metal. I am fine if they include wireless charging, since metal does not allow for wireless charging. However just using glass without including wireless charging makes no sense and makes the device more susceptible to cracking. It is also slippery and a fingerprint magnet. Glass has to be incorporated properly and with care into the phone body, otherwise if it doesn't provide any structural integrity, the phone might just snap. Also how many times have you seen people walking around with cracked glass backs? Probably lots of times. "Good examples": I am guessing that good mean wireless charging included. LG V30, Galaxy S9, Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S. Bad Examples: The HTC U11 can snap in half because the glass provides no structural support, despite its predecessor not having the same issues with a metal back; Oneplus 6(wireless Carl Pei, otherwise you're not getting peid); Most of the huawei/nova mid-rangers with glass backs; Mi note 3/Mi 6/Mi 8. Dual/Triple CamerasDual camera solutions are used when the sensor needs to do something a bit more specialised. One of these could be a better optical zoom lens(telephoto), another one might be a wide angle camera to capture more more of the surroundings into the photo and maybe even a black-and-white sensor. It's beef time. The main problem arises when you have mid-rangers (or even flagships at times) with a secondary sensor that is simply identical to the main one, but it's used for depth-information/edge detection/subject separation for those fake blurred background/bokeh portrait shots that people seem to like. Thing is that with a decent main camera sensor(read pixel 2) you can do edge detection really well all in the software, without the need for a second camera. Besides, mid-rangers up till now have had atrocious edge detection even with dual cameras, so what's the point of adding another sensor if it's not going the achieve the desired effect? Dual camera solutions have to be implemented with care, not just to tick another item on the marketing list. You can save money and use it for something else that is critical in a mid ranger, like the chipset. Good examples:Wide-Angle(LG G6;V30;G7 Thinq); Telephoto(iPhone X, Galaxy S9+, Huawei P20 Pro) Bad examples: Huawei Y6, Honor 7s, Redmi S2(great phone otherwise), Nokia X6, and many more ConclusionThe purpose of this opinion piece was to differentiate between useful features and features that need to be implemented with reason, otherwise they make no sense. Too many times have I heard in reviews:"The phone sports the trendy 18:9 aspect ratio, dual cameras and a premium glass black".GSMarena is guilty of this especially, though thank god that I barely see stuff like this on the subreddit. And you look at the phone and it's that's a low-end HD+ screen with low ppi, thick bezels and useless secondary camera. It's important to look for features that actually matter in mid-rangers and low-end devices. What makes sense for a flagship doesn't always make sense for a budget device, and sometimes not even for flagships. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Asus ZenFone 5Z Pre-Order Available at Asus Store, Newegg, and B&H Posted: 29 Jul 2018 11:01 AM PDT
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| Unjustifiable carrier fees will stifle LTE smartwatch adoption Posted: 28 Jul 2018 11:49 PM PDT
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| Posted: 29 Jul 2018 06:50 AM PDT So, I'm a pretty lazy person so I really love being able to squeeze the side of the phone and gain quick access to certain settings. Such as start voice recordings (without others knowing) and start video recordings (same concept). I also think the quick access to things without viewing my phone screen may help me if I am in any trouble. I hope HTC doesn't remove this component. [link] [comments]  | ||
| $40 Android Phone, no Chinese bloatware? Kenxinda V5 Review Posted: 29 Jul 2018 02:27 AM PDT Hi there my Unique Frogs, today I'm presenting you a review of one of the most affordable Chinese smartphones available. You may have heard of it, so if you were wondering whether you should buy it, here you go my mates. Specifications, expectations?When I was going around the Chinese websites, I came across many phones, but I really wasn't looking for a flagship or a phone that can compete with flagships. I wanted to get an affordable phone which would suit needs of young and old people, not something for hardcore users. After some time, I came across a $40 phone which seemed too good to be true, as you can barely get a dumb phone for that price. Now let's take a look at specifications. DesignPhone doesn't seem that bad, when you look at it. It is fully build out of plastic, which kind of sucks. There are nearly no bezels on the sides, but on the other hand top and bottom bezels are so thick, that they take nearly 45% of phone's body. This design reminds me of what Sony does, and I have to say that I actually like it. It is only 8.9 millimeters thick, which makes it look like a bit too thick, but if you like a feeling of holding something in your hand, than it is not much of a deal. It has about 120 grams of weight with battery inside, which makes it quite light. It includes a TF card slot, as well as a headphone jack which makes it kind of better than your iPhone, despite all the weaknesses. Overall it feels quite cheap and looks a bit thick, but those are sacrifices you have to make to get a $40 phone. DisplayDisplay feels plastic, just like whole body. It has a 480p resolution, which is a lot below 2018 standards, but at the same time is acceptable for a 4.00 inch phone. Most of the apps look fine, but some games looked really smudgy and blurry because of the low resolution display. Color reproduction on this thing is simply awful. It just isn't capable of showing results which look nearly as good as Adobe RGB. The colors look a little like a wonderland, red seems to be brownish, pink purplish, yellow greenish etc. The panel itself is a TFT one, which isn't what you're expecting in 2016, 2017 or 2018. Saturation isn't quite there, just like the colors, brightness etc. Viewing angles, just like on any other TFT display aren't good, color loss isn't acceptable at all. After rotating a few centimeters you can already tell the difference. Screen doesn't get that bright, so using it at the swimming pool or in the park will be more than a pain. It doesn't get that bright even in a dark room, but if you are using phone at night mostly, it may do the job. CameraManufacturer claims both cameras to be 2 megapixels, but no they aren't. Both cameras, are actually 0.4 megapixels with interpolated resolution of 2 megapixels. This is already a big minus, so this already told me what the results will be like. Simply, better than a dumb-phone, worse than any other smartphone. None of our super cool cameras are capable of shooting in HD. We have a single flash on the back of the phone and that's it. Photos are bad, taking good shot is nearly impossible. There is some kind of filter which for some reason sometime does some beauty stuff and sometimes not, something you could find on LG phones (except it's even worse). On the other hand, taking photos of text, books etc. isn't going to be bad. Camera lacks focusing options, both auto focus and manual focus, which means that everything is either blurred or clean, so taking multiple shots may come handy. Sound & MicrophoneWe shouldn't expect much from a $40 phone, again. But let's see if we are going to be able to listen to our favorite music on Spotify or make acceptable phone calls. Sound gets reasonably loud, but not too loud. You could expect better results than with more expensive LG or Samsung phones such as Samsung J3 or LG K8. The quality of sound isn't quite there. The bass is there, but it is just above not having any bass. Highs definitely aren't there and from what I could hear, mids are the only acceptable frequencies. Listening to YouTube video is OK, but don't expect listening to your favorite songs at high quality. Not to mention that there is only one speaker, and after you take the volume up, quality loss is even bigger. Microphone on the other hand is great for the price. Sound is clear and loud, so you get results similar to $10-12 earphones. SoftwareSoftware experience is quite surprising. If you have ever looked for $40 phone, you would usually find a phone with dated software, dated design etc. The situation here is a bit different. You are getting the Android 7.0 which at the time of release was the latest available. Experience is quite different to explain. Unlike many other Chinese phones, this one doesn't pack lots of Chinese bloatware. You get just what you need out of the box including Google apps, which is great. Even the bigger guys will not ship their products without sponsored games or apps, but here the installation is clean. Now that you've heard stuff about close to stock experience, get ready for bad part. We are getting a single screen navigation launcher, without app drawer. This one really disappointed me, as I personally prefer stock android experience to iOS one. This one is not much of a deal, you can get used to it if you've been using Huawei or Xiaomi for years or you can download custom launcher. I actually can't complain much about software as it is delivered almost like your Google Pixel would be. PerformanceWhen it comes to the performance, it really differs between groups of people. This phone is perfect for casual gamers who will play light games, produced by companies such as Ketchapp or games with a bit better games such as Unity ones. Another targeted group of people are Twitter and Reddit users, this is because you won't need a good camera or a speaker, everything should run fluidly. Now, if you are a heavy gamer don't expect any game to work smoothly. This is because of under-powered hardware. If you are a guy who likes multitasking, this is not a phone for you. This is because of lack of RAM. Android 7 is already heavy on RAM and this phone packs only 1GB of RAM. Now that you know this, I'll meet you with the Antutu benchmark result which was only 16,692 at 480p. BatteryBattery life isn't impressive, considering it is low powered phone. I was able to get one day and a few hours of battery life by playing YouTube videos, listening to Spotify and playing some lighter games all the time. This means, that if you are going to be using this phone lighter, it can last up to day and the half or even two days. The problem with battery is charge time. Using the stock charger which came in the box, I was able to charge it in a bit more than 2 hours, meaning it is really slow. This aspect may be frustrating, but considering long battery life, you could adapt to it in no time. ConclusionKenxinda V5 is totally worth the money if you are able to make some sacrifices. With its long lasting battery, quality microphone and nearly stock android experience it is the perfect choice for older people or people who don't use their phone much. This phone is definitely not made for the people who spend all their time using Instagram or for those who love good photos. Some other bad aspects include display and build quality, which should be considered before buying. [link] [comments]  |
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