Google Android catch-all

r013nt0 wrote:

Huh. I mean, that's why the manufacturers were saying that they were removing headphone jacks and whatnot when that was the latest trend, so I assumed it was the same.

Both the SD card and the SIM card sit in the same little caddy that you pop out with the SIM tool. Looking at a vid on the S21, the caddy opening hole seems identical to my phone. I assume now the caddy just will have the SIM slot instead of previously having a slot for both.

Boy, that's a frustrating thing to remove. All they're doing is making it cheaper to build and less useful for customers.

If we're listing things we're frustrated that have been removed as an almost standard, while not something I used daily, I liked the luxury of having an FM radio in my phone that worked with the wired headphones. When the headphone jack went away, so did the FM antenna (headphone cord).

I used to like the listen to the radio at UT football games to get player info and play details over the crowd noise. No way you can stream the feed over 4G in a stadium of over 100,000 people.

I will now just carry a little MP3 player/FM radio combo instead. But it was nice not to have to have an extra device.

Are there no apps for that? I Heart Radio or something?

r013nt0 wrote:

Are there no apps for that? I Heart Radio or something?

See my comment on streaming in a crowd of 100,000 people. I updated.

My S8+ had the FM chip in it. That avoided the overloaded network. No way I could stream over IP.

Oh damn, yeah.

r013nt0 wrote:

Oh damn, yeah.

I apparently like living in the edge cases.

There must have been a huge internal debate at Samsung, on the S9 design, when the data showed that Manish and one other guy still used the FM radio

Malor wrote:

Boy, that's a frustrating thing to remove. All they're doing is making it cheaper to build and less useful for customers.

I was just looking and it pretty much makes it impossible for me to upgrade with my current usage. They don't offer the S21 in anything more than 256GB storage. Right now I'm using more space with pictures, video, games, and audiobooks. I know Mannish is probably in the same position.

EvilDead wrote:

There must have been a huge internal debate at Samsung, on the S9 design, when the data showed that Manish and one other guy still used the FM radio ;)

IIRC my S8+ didn't come with the NextRadio app pre-installed like my previous LG and Samsung phones had. So they were trying to force me out all along.

And yes, I just crossed the 200GB threshold on my SD card recently. And that's not counting what's in internal storage. I was down to my last 5GB free on the SD when I found a sale for a 500GB card and upgraded.

Honestly, I could curate the audiobooks I keep on my phone and stop auto-downloading podcasts, but that requires more thought and prep work to have the content I want when I want it. So while I could get under the threshold of what they're selling, I don't want to. And as a person who's decided to not buy when phones come out any more and to instead wait a bit for deals to start popping up, there are rarely deals on the higher than standard storage phone SKU's.

Sucks.

Maybe the Note will stay around with a higher res screen and SD card? I can hope.

I just don't want anything bigger than the S20. It is already on the slightly too big size when working out and going on runs.

EvilDead wrote:

I just don't want anything bigger than the S20. It is already on the slightly too big size when working out and going on runs.

I've adapted to the + models, they're pretty close to the Notes. But I can definitely see that concern.

EDIT: I remember where I was very concerned about the size of the HTC EVO 4G when it came out. My first smart phone. The phone I carry today dwarfs that thing.

So what are the flagship alternatives right now that have SD card slots and headphone jacks? My S8+ is getting long in the tooth.

HTC's Desire 21 Pro 5G has both a 3.5mm jack AND memory slot
So does Motorola's One 5G Ace
and Nokia's 5.4
And Xiamoi's Mi 10i 5G

MannishBoy wrote:
EvilDead wrote:

I just don't want anything bigger than the S20. It is already on the slightly too big size when working out and going on runs.

I've adapted to the + models, they're pretty close to the Notes. But I can definitely see that concern.

EDIT: I remember where I was very concerned about the size of the HTC EVO 4G when it came out. My first smart phone. The phone I carry today dwarfs that thing.

When running it's not only the size but the weight too. The heavier phones just bounce around more which messes with my cadence.

In terms of headphone jack and SD card: Bluetooth has come a long way and I've learned to live without the jack. Until phones start coming with 512GB storage standard the SD card is a must. Video just takes up so much space these days. having a camera that can take 4k video on a 128GB phone is a cruel joke. Especially so when travelling.

Chairman_Mao wrote:

Thanks Lou! So it turns out 5g is not actually available yet in my area, so I ended up with a 4g lte modem instead. Boo.

That said, it does support IPv6 and I have not had any trouble connecting to my corporate VPN, and it hasn't choked yet with three of us having video conferencing going at once.

That said, when it comes to twitchy gaming, so far it has been awful. Packet loss is through the roof. Rocket League is barely playable, COD MW remastered on PS4 survives the NAT hell that game can cause, but it's a stutter fest when things get busy.

I may end up keeping it because Xfinity dies in the video conferencing scenario, and work/school is by far the majority of our internet usage these days.

Just to update here. Ended up giving the heave to Xfinity. T Mobile has actually been performing better than when we got it. There was a tower that lost power in a bad windstorm, but since it is up again connection has been pretty steady when the three of us are on during the work/school day. Rocket League has been more stable but still get some latency spikes and packet loss. Ping is around 80-100 instead of 30-60 when connecting to west coast servers, so not great but still playable. It's also really nice not having to have the modem wired up to a cable line.

Anybody have any issues with Android 11 not respecting ".nomedia" files? All my book covers are showing up in any photo app or app that accesses photos. Samsung's Gallery app, Google Photos, Google Messenger, etc.

If you're not aware, if you put an empty file called ".nomedia" in a folder, that folder and all it's sub folders are not supposed to have media show up in media apps, whether they be video, photos, audio, etc.

This is on my S20+. And it's annoying.

So, I have an old Pixel 2. The final security update was in October 2020. This morning, I woke up to find google chrome had like 18 tabs open. Most of them had a "congratulations, you've been selected to fill out this survey about a PS5". Others had a present icon. One had something about "your pixel 2 has been compromised and has a virus".

I haven't installed an application on it in forever. I just used it yesterday like usual browsing gwj, politico, npr, and that's about it. Definitely not visiting any sketchy websites on it. I very will could have accidentally clicked on some ad on one of those websites given how those things work.

I'm not sure what to do. I haven't experienced anything like this since the 90s on Windows.

Advice?

Edit: I closed out all the tabs and checked the security settings to find that the last security update was in October 2020 and turned the phone off. Once everything was closed, the phone seemed normal.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

So, I have an old Pixel 2. The final security update was in October 2020. This morning, I woke up to find google chrome had like 18 tabs open. Most of them had a "congratulations, you've been selected to fill out this survey about a PS5". Others had a present icon. One had something about "your pixel 2 has been compromised and has a virus".

I haven't installed an application on it in forever. I just used it yesterday like usual browsing gwj, politico, npr, and that's about it. Definitely not visiting any sketchy websites on it. I very will could have accidentally clicked on some ad on one of those websites given how those things work.

I'm not sure what to do. I haven't experienced anything like this since the 90s on Windows.

Advice?

Edit: I closed out all the tabs and checked the security settings to find that the last security update was in October 2020 and turned the phone off. Once everything was closed, the phone seemed normal.

Do you have it account tied to a computer or something? I use the tab sharing sometimes.

You guys I keep eyeing the Blackberry Key2 because I want that physical keyboard and the lease on my Note 10+ is up but I know I should wait for what Blackberry announces this year but I want a new toy but I know I should wait but uuuggghhh.

Veloxi wrote:

Blackberry

new toy

whatyearisit.jpg

*Legion* wrote:
Veloxi wrote:

Blackberry

new toy

whatyearisit.jpg

Hurrr dee hurrrr

Phone definitely has malware on it trying to get you to buy some antivirus software. Trying a factory reset and restoring from a backup for starters. Not sure if they give you options to restore from a certain backup. I would like to restore to something before yesterday.

Well, this is a royal pain. I wiped the phone but can't sign in with my gmail because of the 2-factor authentication. This is why I'll never 2 factor my main email and use a super strong password for it. I'm able to access the store by using a junk gmail account and download the Republic Wireless app, so I think I can get this eventually. I'm able to get texts to the phone now which should let me sign into the phone with my other account.

The google backup of the phone is worthless because there is only one and it's from... this morning. Bleck.

Welp, this looks to be what hit me with malware:

https://arstechnica.com/information-...

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Welp, this looks to be what hit me with malware:

https://arstechnica.com/information-...

Wow, at one time I had the other app of the same name, mentioned in the article. I forget why but it didn't work with something I tried it on maybe, so I uninstalled it a while ago. That sounded familiar and I was worried for a minute...

At least now you know.

What do people use for messaging apps these days? I have been using Textra for years but am getting fed up with their lack of support for HEIC image rotation. Every image just sends as landscape no matter what.

Signal

EvilDead wrote:

What do people use for messaging apps these days? I have been using Textra for years but am getting fed up with their lack of support for HEIC image rotation. Every image just sends as landscape no matter what.

A mix of default Messages and Signal. I still have WhatsApp but barely use it.

I finally switched to default messages from Hangouts after they killed more features last year.