Google Android catch-all

Stele wrote:

Ack my phone was delivered early and is apparently sitting on my porch. Guess I should have had it shipped to work.

That's the worst. Not kidding, it gives me major anxiety!

EvilDead wrote:
Stele wrote:

Ack my phone was delivered early and is apparently sitting on my porch. Guess I should have had it shipped to work.

That's the worst. Not kidding, it gives me major anxiety!

It is worse when you have a video doorbell and every time someone walks by your place you get an alert. And even if they do try to take your package, there is nothing you can do about it. The latest Mayhem video jokes about it.

kazar wrote:
EvilDead wrote:
Stele wrote:

Ack my phone was delivered early and is apparently sitting on my porch. Guess I should have had it shipped to work.

That's the worst. Not kidding, it gives me major anxiety!

It is worse when you have a video doorbell and every time someone walks by your place you get an alert. And even if they do try to take your package, there is nothing you can do about it. The latest Mayhem video jokes about it.

You might want to adjust your notifications for your blood pressures sake.

Phone was waiting at home. Whew.

E-sim thing is nice. Data transferred, phone working.

Still trying to figure out if there's a way to transfer Hangouts to Messages, but there appears not to be for Fi users. One roundabout way is to do a backup and run some custom python to reformat and then import. But doesn't work for group messages and seems like a pain. Guess I'll keep using Hangouts until they pry it from my cold dead hands.

Really regretting that I convinced myself to splurge for once and get the Pixel 3 at launch. Not only did they consistently discount the price by hundreds a few weeks after I got it, now they release the 3a that's basically everything I need and half the price (plus another hundred bucks off because I'm on Fi already). The worst part is that between all that, I can't even sell the thing because according to ebay, Pixel 3s are only selling in the four to five hundred dollar range. I'm pretty sure I still owe more than that.

The moral of the story is I should never pay full price for a phone again, and definitely no more than four hundred bucks. I feel like such a chump.

The new Pixel 3As are being sold by Amazon, not some 3rd party sellers. Apparently they and Google are patching things up.

Stele wrote:

The new Pixel 3As are being sold by Amazon, not some 3rd party sellers. Apparently they and Google are patching things up.

Good. Now fix all the app interoperability.

lunchbox12682 wrote:
Stele wrote:

The new Pixel 3As are being sold by Amazon, not some 3rd party sellers. Apparently they and Google are patching things up.

Good. Now fix all the app interoperability.

The Verge article mentioned they made up recently:

YouTube will return to Fire TV later this year, and Amazon will add Chromecast support to its Prime Video mobile app.

The One Plus 7 Pro has me tempted, but my One Plus 5t is still going strong. I have no reason to update aside from just wanting too. I've gotta stop watching so much tech YT.

Stele wrote:
lunchbox12682 wrote:
Stele wrote:

The new Pixel 3As are being sold by Amazon, not some 3rd party sellers. Apparently they and Google are patching things up.

Good. Now fix all the app interoperability.

The Verge article mentioned they made up recently:

YouTube will return to Fire TV later this year, and Amazon will add Chromecast support to its Prime Video mobile app.

Finally. Number one reason for me to hack my kindle was to get youtube on it.

Stele wrote:
lunchbox12682 wrote:
Stele wrote:

The new Pixel 3As are being sold by Amazon, not some 3rd party sellers. Apparently they and Google are patching things up.

Good. Now fix all the app interoperability.

The Verge article mentioned they made up recently:

YouTube will return to Fire TV later this year, and Amazon will add Chromecast support to its Prime Video mobile app.

*Celebration gif"

Now kith.

My daughter's Nexus 5X was getting long in the tooth so, with a potential price rise coming on phones thanks to a complete idiot pushing tariffs, I ordered her a 3a. Feels very solid, and, as it's going in a case anyways, don't really care about plastic vs. metal. The return of the headphone jack is what sold it; I wish my 2 XL had one.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

My daughter's Nexus 5X was getting long in the tooth so, with a potential price rise coming on phones thanks to a complete idiot pushing tariffs, I ordered her a 3a. Feels very solid, and, as it's going in a case anyways, don't really care about plastic vs. metal. The return of the headphone jack is what sold it; I wish my 2 XL had one.

I was thinking about getting a 3a and then upgrading again in a few years but with the tariffs coming down the pipe, I am probably going to get an S10 and try to push it out to five years or so.

My wife's first-gen Pixel is now apparently incapable of reliably making calls. She will dial and it will seemingly connect, or she will pick up when someone calls her, and neither she nor the other person can hear anything, and then sometimes the phone app will crash (as in the Android "unfortunately your app has stopped" message except the app is the damn phone app), and she has to restart the phone. So I'm pretty sure we're going to have to buy her a new 3a.

My OG Pixel XL is still holding up pretty well and I don't care about having the latest devices like I once did. But my only complaint is it seems like the USB-C port has gotten a little worn out or something so cables don't quite stay in like they're supposed to? I wake up in the morning and discover that the cat has, like, slightly brushed against the cable while my phone sits on my nightstand and thus it hasn't charged at all. It really makes me wish I had a phone with wireless charging but I'm not willing to shell out for anything that has it unless maybe one of the refurbed Galaxy S9's Amazon sells.

That sounds awfully similar to the defect with the og Pixel. Crack in the sound card or whatever that has a class action suit. That's the behavior mine was exhibiting before I got it replaced back in early 2017.

Even out of warranty it might still get replaced because of that issue? I don't know.

Middcore wrote:

My OG Pixel XL is still holding up pretty well and I don't care about having the latest devices like I once did. But my only complaint is it seems like the USB-C port has gotten a little worn out or something so cables don't quite stay in like they're supposed to? I wake up in the morning and discover that the cat has, like, slightly brushed against the cable while my phone sits on my nightstand and thus it hasn't charged at all. It really makes me wish I had a phone with wireless charging but I'm not willing to shell out for anything that has it unless maybe one of the refurbed Galaxy S9's Amazon sells.

I had a similar issue with my USB-C port on my S8, and it turns out there was a tiny bit of debris in there (pocket lint or something). I cleaned it out with a toothpick and it was almost as good as new.

Similar issue on the USB-C port. I cut a coffee stirrer in a 45 angle and cleaned out some junk (including some blades of grass from yard mowing), and it was fine.

I'll third that. I had the same issue when plugging into my car and the connection would by flaky. I cleaned out the connector with a paper clip (probably not the best tool) and now it fits perfectly again.

Fourthed, though I used a SIM card popper tool I had handy. So much dirt and crud came out. Probably from having it in my pocket doing yard work. I should see if I can find a plug or something for when I'm doing that.

Any adblocking apps that work well for Android? I am on a Galaxy S10 and the garbage ads are driving me bonkers.

Reaper81 wrote:

Any adblocking apps that work well for Android? I am on a Galaxy S10 and the garbage ads are driving me bonkers.

Global ad blocking is tricky without root. But for web browsing, use Firefox with uBlock Origin.

Reaper81 wrote:

Any adblocking apps that work well for Android? I am on a Galaxy S10 and the garbage ads are driving me bonkers.

I use the Brave browser, which is built on Chromium. It has built in ad blocking that is per site opt out. Seems to work pretty well for me.

*Legion* wrote:
Reaper81 wrote:

Any adblocking apps that work well for Android? I am on a Galaxy S10 and the garbage ads are driving me bonkers.

Global ad blocking is tricky without root. But for web browsing, use Firefox with uBlock Origin.

Thank you so much. Dear god, this is a lifesaver.

So the wife and I are likely gonna go to a Sprint store soon and see about upgrades, since her iPhone temporarily bricked the other day. I love my Essential, but as all older phones, the battery life is not what it once was. Thankfully Sprint now has the Pixel 3! The Samsung Note 9 also looks great. Anyone here use either and can comment on how much you do or don't like them, please and thank you?

I have to say they since updating my s8 plus to Pie and getting the screen fixed, this phone does almost everything I could want a phone to do pretty darn seamlessly. Apps still have issues but Samsung's updated UI is pretty much perfect for my use case. Thought about getting the s10, but as long as the battery stays good I don't think I'll need another phone for a while.

Veloxi wrote:

So the wife and I are likely gonna go to a Sprint store soon and see about upgrades, since her iPhone temporarily bricked the other day. I love my Essential, but as all older phones, the battery life is not what it once was. Thankfully Sprint now has the Pixel 3! The Samsung Note 9 also looks great. Anyone here use either and can comment on how much you do or don't like them, please and thank you?

Pixel 3 is okay. Google's slightly behind the curve in terms of innards. Real shame they didn't keep the Pixel line a true premium phone because I'd have loved an extra couple of gigs of ram and faster cpu.

But it's good, the wireless charging is nice to have back, as is the unlimited cloud storage from Google. That's a true savings for me.

Pixel 3 camera is dope. Seriously amazing stuff, but S10 and Note 9 are up there.

I feel like the S10 line came out and jumped the Pixel 3 by a decent margin in terms of horsepower and battery. The Note 9 has the same CPU, but larger battery and ram than Pixel 3. Frankly, I think the S10 line is a better buy right now, unless cost is factored in since the S10 is brand new.

We got my wife's Pixel 3 XL at a discount and I wish we had waited when we got mine because a $600 price tag feels more appropriate for what you get than the $800 or whatever it cost at launch.

Edit: I should note we have two kids, one of them quite young, so we take a lot of pics and videos, so the Pixel continues to be our go to, but my father-in-law just got a new phone and he went Samsung because of the higher specs. I can't blame him. Especially on the battery life front.

Excellent, thank you.

Chairman_Mao wrote:
Reaper81 wrote:

Any adblocking apps that work well for Android? I am on a Galaxy S10 and the garbage ads are driving me bonkers.

I use the Brave browser, which is built on Chromium. It has built in ad blocking that is per site opt out. Seems to work pretty well for me.

Brave is alright too, but I really want to implore people to not let web browsers become a Chrome (and derivatives) monoculture. Firefox's entire mission is being a browser that protects the user instead of monetizing the user.

We don't want to find out how Google might leverage Chrome (and perhaps undermine those more open derivatives) if the alternatives atrophy and fall by the wayside. We all lived through one browser monoculture, and it was a sh*tty time.

I know not everyone will listen to me, and that's fine, but I say it to everyone I can:

USE.

FIREFOX.

Firefox is good.
Multi account containers on desktop is dope.