Android |OT| Now in 120hz

[Rewrite]

Still loving the shit out of my 6T. Had it since launch and it's been treating me very well. Still rocking the OnePlus launcher as those animations when you're using gestures are so good. Battery life is still excellent. The only shitty thing is the vibration motor.

 

[Rand a. Thor]

https://m.gsmarena.com/realme_3_pro_is_official_with_snapdragon_710-news-36677.php

Plastic Build and Micro USB aside, Realme is starting to become the next Value for Money king. I wish the phones also came to Europe, 200€ for that spec sheet is ludicrous.

 

[whatsinaname]

Pixel 3 XL down to $450 with activation on Fi.

 

[TheDoctor]

https://m.gsmarena.com/realme_3_pro_is_official_with_snapdragon_710-news-36677.php

Plastic Build and Micro USB aside, Realme is starting to become the next Value for Money king. I wish the phones also came to Europe, 200€ for that spec sheet is ludicrous.

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Realme has plans to open a London office later this year.

Company is doing some interesting things, taking the Oneplus business model and applying it to the low/midrange segment. Still a terrible brand name though.

 

[Rand a. Thor]

Realme has plans to open a London office later this year.

Company is doing some interesting things, taking the Oneplus business model and applying it to the low/midrange segment. Still a terrible brand name though.

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That has been the general business model for the Top 3 Chinabrands these last 6 months actually, its kinda interesting watching this happen. Both Redmi and Honor have been spun off entirely into their own brands and companies, but I can't remember jf Honor was before or after Oppo decided to make Realme the OnePlus of budget phones. What is really interesting however is how badly Samsung is countering this new Value for Money ultra-budget brands. They created the M Line alongside the A Line to have 2 simple lines of affordable yet decent and slightly more expensive but worth it phones, but so far the M series has been far too overpriced, and for some reason the A Line has a phone for every 10 digits. And now they are introducing lite versions of those subrands, like the S10e. Too many variants with little to no reason, its worse than the Galaxy Core years.

 

[Selbran]

Received an email from OnePlus for the "OnePlus 7 Pro" launch event on May 14th in NYC. It'll be interesting to see the value the standard OnePlus 7/7 Pro will offer against the Pixel 3A since they seem to be releasing around the same period.

 

[kyle mechlachlan]

I'm expecting the base OP7 will be the same price as normal but the OP7Pro will be 100 bucks more. I wonder though, will there be a OP7T? A OP7ProT?

 

[Sagitario]

Note8 user here and I'm so sick of Android Pie.
The battery life is a mess, even when the phone is asleep/screen is off. I have to charge the phone at least 4 times during the day.
And the memory management is extremely aggressive. In Oreo, I could have apps open/not reloading for weeks, but in Pie, it's constantly closing apps and I'm losing info/tabs/work. I already disabled sleeping apps, adaptive battery, optimizing settings (I mean, if battery life is poor anyway, at least don't close/reload my apps) and it's still happening. It's very tiring.
I wish I could go back to Oreo, even though I like the One UI and its improvements (despite being laggy/slower, which I don't ind that much).

 

[GoldenCat]

Note8 user here and I'm so sick of Android Pie.
The battery life is a mess, even when the phone is asleep/screen is off. I have to charge the phone at least 4 times during the day.
And the memory management is extremely aggressive. In Oreo, I could have apps open/not reloading for weeks, but in Pie, it's constantly closing apps and I'm losing info/tabs/work. I already disabled sleeping apps, adaptive battery, optimizing settings (I mean, if battery life is poor anyway, at least don't close/reload my apps) and it's still happening. It's very tiring.
I wish I could go back to Oreo, even though I like the One UI and its improvements (despite being laggy/slower, which I don't ind that much).

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Sounds like a factory reset is in order

 

[Sanjuro]

It might be just me, or I've never noticed it. Anyone using Android Messages get the "copy/paste" box every time you first go to type?

I don't remember it ever doing this before. Just started using it over Textra.

 

[rhindle]

I'm expecting the base OP7 will be the same price as normal but the OP7Pro will be 100 bucks more. I wonder though, will there be a OP7T? A OP7ProT?

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If the rumored Pro specs pan out (5G support, 90hz QHD screen) it's going to be pushing $800.

 

[reKon]

Lol the Snapdragon 855 + 8GB of ram still beating all competition on the PhoneBuff speed test (it's in the Galaxy S10)

Fully expecting the OnePlus 7 to come through and take the crown until maybe the new iPhone .

 

[Aiii]

Click to shrink...

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Samsung+Galaxy+Fold+Teardown/122600

Yeah, this thing is never coming out.

 

[reKon]

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Samsung+Galaxy+Fold+Teardown/122600

Yeah, this thing is never coming out.

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Whew

 

[Sagitario]

Is there any way to backup app data without root? Does your Google backup include the app data? What about Samsung's Smart Switch or Cloud?

 

[Hasney]

Oh hey I'm back.

The Shield tablet rumours having a keyboard have me excited. I could finally replace my Pixel C if they finally make a keyboard like that again.

 

[Aarglefarg]

If I had Do Not Disturb on, and someone tried to call, a missed call should show up in the Recents tab of the phone app, right? On Pie.

I mean, it would be absurd if it didn't but just making sure.

 

[Hasney]

If I had Do Not Disturb on, and someone tried to call, a missed call should show up in the Recents tab of the phone app, right? On Pie.

I mean, it would be absurd if it didn't but just making sure.

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Yes

 

[Rand a. Thor]

https://m.gsmarena.com/renders_leak_of_huaweis_first_smartphone_with_a_popup_camera-news-36772.php

210€ for a pop up camera phone, with a neat glass back and some decent specs like the Kirin 710. Huawei is finally being cool for me again.

 

[Aarglefarg]

Yes

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Thank you. :)

 

[AYZON]

Does anyone know of a good way to quickly share files/images/text from my clipboard in windows with my android smartphone?
Windows new screenshot tool kinda does what I want since it puts the screenshot directly into my clipboard and lets me share it via a button press.
Unfortunately it seems the share button doesnt do much more then letting you send it via mail a little bit quicker.

 

[Rodney McKay]

I haven't used a new android for a while (or maybe a newer Samsung more specifically), but I just noticed that my S10e's notification badges aren't working like I'm used to.

Like for apps like Gmail, I like the badge to show how many unread emails I have. But I just noticed today that the badges only show the number of NEW notification. So everytime I swipe the notification away in the top menu, it resets the badges. I do that a lot so sometimes I don't realize when I have 11 unread emails all of a sudden.

Looked online and thankfully teslaunread still makes badges work how I like in Nova Launcher. But Google took Teslaunread off of the Play Store so you have to download the apk from the dev, ugh.

 

[Deleted member 8860]

I haven't used a new android for a while (or maybe a newer Samsung more specifically), but I just noticed that my S10e's notification badges aren't working like I'm used to.

Like for apps like Gmail, I like the badge to show how many unread emails I have. But I just noticed today that the badges only show the number of NEW notification. So everytime I swipe the notification away in the top menu, it resets the badges. I do that a lot so sometimes I don't realize when I have 11 unread emails all of a sudden.

Looked online and thankfully teslaunread still makes badges work how I like in Nova Launcher. But Google took Teslaunread off of the Play Store so you have to download the apk from the dev, ugh.

Click to shrink...

Are you using the newest version of Nova? There's a numeric dots setting that doesn't seem dependent on notification status.

 

[Kinggroin]

Soooooo this site has been splitting their reviews up into one positive and one negative for each phone. Interesting.

It's a bit cathartic for a part-time hater to watch videos likes these:

 

[Deleted member 15428]

What are some must-have apps for Android, besides Nova Launcher?

 

[Deleted member 8860]

What are some must-have apps for Android, besides Nova Launcher?

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Streaming media/podcast apps, Android Auto, Firefox (Fenix)/Opera Touch

Whatever other apps that are useful for your bank or local stores.

 

[Rand a. Thor]

Soooooo this site has been splitting their reviews up into one positive and one negative for each phone. Interesting.

It's a bit cathartic for a part-time hater to watch videos likes these:

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It's good, but it only covers flagships. Damir Franc is still going despite losing tons of viewers when he went to the States last year, and his reviews tend to be pretty balanced when it comes to pros and cons. If he hates a device, he just goes all in and you can tell he does keep subjectivity on the down low.

What are some must-have apps for Android, besides Nova Launcher?

Click to shrink...

Whatever you are into I guess, there is no real must have beyond banking and media, as said above. Like if you want random trivia download Quora, memes Reddit/9GAG/IMGUR, Face and Twitter usually exist by default on phones these days dunno about Instagram, so yeah you can see where I am going with this.

 

[Rodney McKay]

Very happy with my S10e over the last few weeks. Been using it for the last 2 weeks after using an iPhone since last fall (got sick of Face ID mainly, and I can sell my XS Max for a decent amount).
I tried the S10 regular, but I didn't like the curved screen and the in-screen fingerprint sensor sucked for me (but I heard a recent update made it better).

But the S10e has been just about perfect. Price is great for the specs and features, 128gb is perfect (haven't even put in an SD card yet), size is just right (nice having a smallish phone again, but it's screen in still large enough for me).

Ideally this will be the last phone I buy for a few years. I got in a bad habit of getting new phones too often over the last year. Just wasn't finding exactly the right phone I wanted, either it had a mediocre camera (Moto Z Play), was too big and heavy (S9+), expensive with occasionally irritating Face ID (XS Max).

Are you using the newest version of Nova? There's a numeric dots setting that doesn't seem dependent on notification status.

Click to shrink...

I am, but notification badges still went away when I swiped away the notification instead of actually reading the text/email etc.

Either way, downloading the Teslaunread apk put things back to the way I like them.

 

[Deleted member 46103]

Very happy with my S10e over the last few weeks. Been using it for the last 2 weeks after using an iPhone since last fall (got sick of Face ID mainly, and I can sell my XS Max for a decent amount).
I tried the S10 regular, but I didn't like the curved screen and the in-screen fingerprint sensor sucked for me (but I heard a recent update made it better).

But the S10e has been just about perfect. Price is great for the specs and features, 128gb is perfect (haven't even put in an SD card yet), size is just right (nice having a smallish phone again, but it's screen in still large enough for me).

Ideally this will be the last phone I buy for a few years. I got in a bad habit of getting new phones too often over the last year. Just wasn't finding exactly the right phone I wanted, either it had a mediocre camera (Moto Z Play), was too big and heavy (S9+), expensive with occasionally irritating Face ID (XS Max).

I am, but notification badges still went away when I swiped away the notification instead of actually reading the text/email etc.

Either way, downloading the Teslaunread apk put things back to the way I like them.

Click to shrink...

Do you mind elaborating on your face Id complaints? I've always been jealous of face id as an Android user but never tried it.

 

[Rodney McKay]

Do you mind elaborating on your face Id complaints? I've always been jealous of face id as an Android user but never tried it.

Click to shrink...

I just found more situations where it doesn't work, or work as well as a fingerprint sensor.

Waking up in the morning and having my face be all smushed and squinty would make it not register.

I also like to keep my phone sitting on a desk or counter and just open it with my finger rather than having to awkwardly stand over it so it can see my face, or pick it up and point it at myself.

And when Face ID fails to register, it's harder to know why exactly compared to a fingerprint sensor. With a fingerprint you either have gunk or water in your finger, or you didn't put your finger on just right. Whatever the reason, all you have to do to fix it is try tapping again which is pretty much immediate.
With Face ID you can have too dramatic of an expression (yawning, smushed in the morning, etc) or you can have the phone at the wrong angle. These issues just take a little too long to try to fix, you have to move your head or phone around to get it to register just right, which takes longer than just quickly retalpjng a fingerprint sensor.

I also wish Apple gave an option for it to unlock and go straight to the home screen, instead of swiping every time.
I actually like the S10's face unlock because it does have that option and it makes it feel a lot faster (I know it's less secure than Face ID, but who is going to steal my phone AND make a printout of my face?). Only issue I have with the S10's is that it doesn't work as well when I have sunglasses on.

I am making Face ID sound worse than it is, though. It is really cool when it works and it makes putting in passwords super easy.
Most of these complaints are pretty nitpicky, but I just found that at least once a day I couldn't get the phone to unlock with Face ID and had to punch in a code. When I have a 4 digit code it's not bad, but if I have my phone synced with my work they require a 6 digit one which is more time consuming to type in.
I just wish Apple had the option for a fingerprint reader too. Hopefully when in-screen ones get good enough they'll start having that as an option too.

 

[Deleted member 46103]

I just found more situations where it doesn't work, or work as well as a fingerprint sensor.

Waking up in the morning and having my face be all smushed and squinty would make it not register.

I also like to keep my phone sitting on a desk or counter and just open it with my finger rather than having to awkwardly stand over it so it can see my face, or pick it up and point it at myself.

And when Face ID fails to register, it's harder to know why exactly compared to a fingerprint sensor. With a fingerprint you either have gunk or water in your finger, or you didn't put your finger on just right. Whatever the reason, all you have to do to fix it is try tapping again which is pretty much immediate.
With Face ID you can have too dramatic of an expression (yawning, smushed in the morning, etc) or you can have the phone at the wrong angle. These issues just take a little too long to try to fix, you have to move your head or phone around to get it to register just right, which takes longer than just quickly retalpjng a fingerprint sensor.

I also wish Apple gave an option for it to unlock and go straight to the home screen, instead of swiping every time.
I actually like the S10's face unlock because it does have that option and it makes it feel a lot faster (I know it's less secure than Face ID, but who is going to steal my phone AND make a printout of my face?). Only issue I have with the S10's is that it doesn't work as well when I have sunglasses on.

I am making Face ID sound worse than it is, though. It is really cool when it works and it makes putting in passwords super easy.
Most of these complaints are pretty nitpicky, but I just found that at least once a day I couldn't get the phone to unlock with Face ID and had to punch in a code. When I have a 4 digit code it's not bad, but if I have my phone synced with my work they require a 6 digit one which is more time consuming to type in.
I just wish Apple had the option for a fingerprint reader too. Hopefully when in-screen ones get good enough they'll start having that as an option too.

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Thanks! All of that makes a lot of sense.

I'm a Pixel user and am worried Google is going to drop the reader for the Pixel 4 since face unlock is coming to native Android.
https://www.xda-developers.com/android-q-face-id-rumor/

Hopefully it has both.

 

[Jeff ChickenDig]

Man I want something new but nothing is that interesting now fold is delayed and seems like a pain to have at the shop all the time like a used land rover.

Guess the next thing is the note 10. Not sure I want to pay premium for a op7 pro.

 

[Rodney McKay]

Thanks! All of that makes a lot of sense.

I'm a Pixel user and am worried Google is going to drop the reader for the Pixel 4 since face unlock is coming to native Android.
https://www.xda-developers.com/android-q-face-id-rumor/

Hopefully it has both.

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When they give you the option of a fingerprint reader AND Face Unlock it's really great. Best of both worlds.

I turned it off because there seems to be a bug on the S10 that makes it wake up in your pocket (which caused my notification pane to open and bluetooth to turn off, flashlight to come on, airplane mode activated, etc.), but once that's fixed I'll turn it back on. It's nice how fast it is at unlocking.

It's not as secure on Android yet (especially if you turn the faster mode on), but like I said I'm really not scared of anyone going to the trouble of breaking into it with a photo or whatever.

 

[Deleted member 46103]

not as secure on Android yet

Click to shrink...

That's just a Samsung implementation. Not an Android one FYI. Each OEM is going to have their own solution until the native solution drops soon.

 

[derFeef]

It's somehow baffling how bad the OP6 camera is compared to my girlfriends S7's.
I can't take sharp/good pictures with it. Not even with the google app.
I guess the S7 camera was a really good one back then.

 

[Smash-It Stan]

So I upgraded my phone, Oneplus One to a Oneplus 5T. Old phone was starting to die on me and the planned obsolescence was getting too heavy.

Since all new phones are as long as airstrips, is there an option for me to black out the bottom portion and have it be psuedo buttons? I remember seeing that as an option on my OpO, and I wanna customize what these buttons do. I've gotten it pretty close to how everything felt and look on my old phone.

One thing I can't figure out though is, I use google play music as my music player with my own music on there. Before if the screen was black, I could hold up on the volume button to skip to the next song, or hold down to replay/go back a song. How do I get that to work again?

Also how do I set updates to happen only when the phone is plugged in and charging?

 

[gr0w]

One thing I can't figure out though is, I use google play music as my music player with my own music on there. Before if the screen was black, I could hold up on the volume button to skip to the next song, or hold down to replay/go back a song. How do I get that to work again?

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The 5T has guesture controls, check out the settings menue. You can make a pause play sign " with 2 fingers, or paint an arrow > for next or < previous song and so on, really handy.

 

[Deleted member 46103]

It's somehow baffling how bad the OP6 camera is compared to my girlfriends S7's.
I can't take sharp/good pictures with it. Not even with the google app.
I guess the S7 camera was a really good one back then.

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No the OnePlus camera is just that terrible.

 

[Sems4arsenal]

The 6T's camera with Gcam is fine enough.
The 6T has a pretty significant inconvenience. In any messaging app when swiping up from the bottom (they keyboard will be open) a letter will be typed so I always appear as typing. Very annoying.

Question though, what is the best android airdrop like app? I'm surprised we don't have a built in solution yet

 

[Selbran]

Latest Pixel 3A/Pixel 3A XL rumors for those interested. The source is AndroidPolice although they're sourcing TechToday.

Pixel 3A
Snapdragon 670/710
4GB RAM
64/128GB Storage
5.6" 1080x2220 OLED (Rumored to be LG Panel)
3000mAh Battery
150g Plastic Build
Headphone Jack
$400

Pixel 3A XL
Snapdragon 670/710
4GB RAM
64/128GB Storage
6" 1080x2220 OLED (Rumored to be LG Panel)
3700mAh Battery
170g Plastic Build
Headphone Jack
$480

 

[Shaneus]

I'm still not quite up with what dictates how good specs are for Android phones, but isn't 4GB RAM a little low these days? My S10e has 6GB.

 

[leng jai]

Anyone have the Samsung S5E tab? Seems like there is finally a decent Android alternative to the iPad, that screen looks insane.

 

[UnpopularBlargh]

Latest Pixel 3A/Pixel 3A XL rumors for those interested. The source is AndroidPolice although they're sourcing TechToday.

Pixel 3A
Snapdragon 670/710
4GB RAM
64/128GB Storage
5.6" 1080x2220 OLED (Rumored to be LG Panel)
3000mAh Battery
150g Plastic Build
Headphone Jack
$400

Pixel 3A XL
Snapdragon 670/710
4GB RAM
64/128GB Storage
6" 1080x2220 OLED (Rumored to be LG Panel)
3700mAh Battery
170g Plastic Build
Headphone Jack
$480

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Needs more ram.

 

[Deleted member 8901]

Pixel 3a is another incoming flop

 

[Massa]

Pixel 3a is another incoming flop

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"another"?

 

[Selbran]

Honestly, I think it could do really well. The Pixel brand name has been steadily getting noticed more and I think a lot of people are going to be interested in a solid "budget" flagship. If the rumors about T-Mobile support are true the Pixel 3a could do really well at carrier stores. The chipset is mid-tier and the RAM is kind of low, but your average consumer is going to care more about things like price, camera quality, and display and all of those bars are being checked off.

It could have the same consumer mindshare as the iPhone XR/S10E whereas people are going to think it is similar to those two "budget" devices except this one costs a lot less. Honestly, I'll consider getting one depending on what my iPhone 7 fetches.

 

[Deleted member 8901]

Pixel 3a is more like a Galaxy A8 than an S10e. With all the carrier deals and trade-in promos on the S10 line, I don't know why anyone would even consider a Pixel 3a over an S10e.

 

[Aiii]

Yeah. The 3a isn't like the S10e and XR at all. Not in price. Not in intended audience either I don't think. The 2012 design shows as much.

The former two are flagship phones at a reduced price with a very slightly lower feature set (camera, screen). The 3a is very much a budget phone for markets like India, where it will compete with phones like the Nokia 7 Plus and such.

 

[Deleted member 8860]

Yeah. The 3a isn't like the S10e and XR at all. Not in price. Not in intended audience either I don't think. The 2012 design shows as much.

The former two are flagship phones at a reduced price with a very slightly lower feature set (camera, screen). The 3a is very much a budget phone for markets like India, where it will compete with phones like the Nokia 7 Plus and such.

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At $400-$480, it's going to get hammered by Samsung and the Chinese brands (especially Xiaomi) in India. The Pixel 3a's superior camera isn't going to overcome its substantial price, styling, and performance handicaps.

 

[vanmardigan]

Upcoming Moto getting the headphone jack again. Pixel 3a bringing it back to the Google phones. The next Era Android thread needs to be called "The Resurrection of 3.5mm"