The Official Cell Phone Junkies Thread - Part 1

[Benstamania]

So...That google play store update was automatic?

 

[Lily Adler]

Jolla finally unveiled their very first Sailfish OS device, the phone has a very unique feature called the 'Other Half' which allows the theme of the OS to change to the color of the colored shell for the device. Also the Sailfish UI looks stunning. The device itself looks like an ice cream sandwich, but that maybe of the mint chocolate chip green. I'm hungry now.

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Joll...ports-snap-on-design-and-Android-apps_id43211

 

[Spidey-Bat]

I wanted to get a tablet so I went to the Verizon store to check them out. My decision was between the Note 10.1 and Tab 2 10.1 (7" versions just seemed to small). I went with the Note 10.1 because I felt that the S-Pen made it more than just a bigger smartphone (with no data option).

I also was looking at phones. The Windows ones are kinda nice but I don't want to switch. Plus using IE? Ugh, I wish I could purge it from my computer. But I looked at the Razr M and I loved it. The small size was great, the screen was vibrant, loved Jelly Bean on it. The only issue I had was the buttons, I like that they're on-screen but I'm used to Menu-Home-Back-Search whereas this setup was Back-Home-Recent Apps. Of course I assume that can be changed, especially after rooting. But yeah, I love it and must have it.

 

[the dmg]

I wanted to get a tablet so I went to the Verizon store to check them out. My decision was between the Note 10.1 and Tab 2 10.1 (7" versions just seemed to small). I went with the Note 10.1 because I felt that the S-Pen made it more than just a bigger smartphone (with no data option).

Good choice. I would go without data as well if I was in the market for a tablet. I just haven't found a reason for owning one just yet.

I also was looking at phones. The Windows ones are kinda nice but I don't want to switch. Plus using IE? Ugh, I wish I could purge it from my computer.

Not only that, but with WP being a very tiny market itself, it's not a wise decision to make the switch. My friend went from WP7 device to the GSIII and doesn't regret doing so. There's just so many more options with Android and what you can do with the phone.

But I looked at the Razr M and I loved it. The small size was great, the screen was vibrant, loved Jelly Bean on it. The only issue I had was the buttons, I like that they're on-screen but I'm used to Menu-Home-Back-Search whereas this setup was Back-Home-Recent Apps. Of course I assume that can be changed, especially after rooting. But yeah, I love it and must have it.

Razr M is nice, but wait until Moto's Google X phone or whatever it's called since it will be a better spec'ed M from what I've read.

 

[Benstamania]

Not sure how many of you guys actually buy games on your phone...But I just nabbed Aliens vs Predator for .99 cents on Google Play and it's VERY good. May be the best cellphone action game I've played.

 

[the dmg]

Not sure how many of you guys actually buy games on your phone...But I just nabbed Aliens vs Predator for .99 cents on Google Play and it's VERY good. May be the best cellphone action game I've played.

If it's a port of the arcade game, then it should be incredible.

 

[Just_Human]

My 1st - and current - Android phone is the HTC One S
(switched from iPhone 4 last year)


Since HTC is amazingly slow with OS updates, I had to root it and flash and AOSP ROM

Currently running Illusion ROM with JB 4.2.2

I do miss the Sense Camera and Beats Audio

I'm looking into the newest Sense based ROM, which runs Sense 5.
Unfortunately it's "only" JB 4.1.2 (not the dev's fault, but HTC's)

Anyway, gladI rooted it

 

[the dmg]

My 1st - and current - Android phone is the HTC One S
(switched from iPhone 4 last year)


Since HTC is amazingly slow with OS updates, I had to root it and flash and AOSP ROM

Currently running Illusion ROM with JB 4.2.2

I do miss the Sense Camera and Beats Audio

I'm looking into the newest Sense based ROM, which runs Sense 5.
Unfortunately it's "only" JB 4.1.2 (not the dev's fault, but HTC's)

Anyway, gladI rooted it

HTC will getting better with updates (they actually used to be the best when it came to updates, but released way too many phones) now that they cut down on the amount of phone models per quarter.

Glad you like the phone!

 

[Just_Human]

HTC will getting better with updates (they actually used to be the best when it came to updates, but released way too many phones) now that they cut down on the amount of phone models per quarter.

Glad you like the phone!

thanks t:


Yeah, I heard they release phones less frequently, which is gonna help with OS updates

 

[the dmg]

http://www.gsmarena.com/verizon_makes_the_droid_ultra_and_droid_maxx_official-news-6446.php

Verizon makes Motorola DROID Ultra and DROID Maxx official

Just as expected, Verizon and Motorola have just announced their latest collaboration with the updated DROID family of phones. Let's get you acquainted with the new DROID Ultra and DROID Maxx .
As per tradition, the Motorola DROID Ultra and Motorola DROID Maxx feature an improved Kevlar body, which makes them stronger yet thinner than their last-gen DROID counterparts. They also feature a water-repellent nano-coating that should keep them dry.
Motorola has built an entirely new system-on-a-chip called the Motorola X8 Mobile Computing System. It packs a dual-core 1.7GHz CPU, quad graphics cores and, more interestingly, a contextual computing core alongside a core for processing natural language. The company didn't disclose any further details regarding the CPU and GPU, but they did reveal that the processor is 24% punchier than the previous generation DROID phones and the graphics - twice as fast. There's also 2GB of RAM onboard as well.
At the back, both phones pack a 10 MP camera with f/2.4 lens and LED flash. They also share the same screen - a 5" OLED (no PenTile here) display of 720p resolution. There's also 32GB of on-board memory and 4G LTE, complete with NFC connectivity.
Anyway, the Motorola DROID Maxx 48 hours of battery life is the phone's key feature. The company says users should be able to squeeze this kind of battery life with "normal usage", whatever that is. The battery itself is larger than the RAZR MAXX HD's (3,300mAh) and boasts a capacity of 3,500mAh.

Motorola DROID Maxx
Happily, the DROID Maxx is thinner than its predecessor and measures a waistline of 8.5mm, compared to the DROID RAZR MAXX HD, which is 9.3mm thick. There's also wireless charging as well. The DROID Ultra is much tinner, at 7.18mm and Verizon dubs it "the thinnest 4G LTE smartphone."

Motorola DROID Ultra in red
Both phones run Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and it's pretty much stock with some custom widgets and cool software features. There's Touchless control, which looks like a medley between Google Now's voice search and the Siri personal assistant. Saying "OK, Google Now" will wake up the phone, which will await your command. Motorola hasn't yet announced what those commands would be, but some of them include contact calling and finding directions.
The Active display feature makes use of the OLED screen and brings a snippet of information (the time, new messages and voicemail) on a blank black screen. Think of it as an Android version of Nokia's Glance Screen feature.

The Motorola DROID Ultra sports a $199 price tag, while the DROID Maxx will cost $299. All members of the new 2013 DROID line-up are now available for pre-order and will start shipping on August 20.

Fuuuu....technically Quad Core phone while not really being quad core. Very much better than I expected spec wise for what was the Moto X.

TLDR: Three moto DROIDs (Ultra, Maxx, Mini).

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Hopefully the Droid Mini brings the price down on the Razr M. That's what I want to replace my Bionic, but it's around $200 used now.

 

[the dmg]

Hopefully the Droid Mini brings the price down on the Razr M. That's what I want to replace my Bionic, but it's around $200 used now.

Contract price for the Mini is going to be $99. Unless you're talking about buying at full price?

 

[the dmg]

Just wanted to add that Phonearena is saying the processor is technically 8-core for the new Moto DROIDs.

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Moto...he-first-true-mobile-computing-system_id45632

A mobile computing system powers the new Motorola devices, as opposed to a standard application processor chip found in every smartphone. This involves eight tightly integrated processors, special algorithms, and sensors. No one except Motorola could create this system. The result is a consumer experience like no other. Below is what it entails and see the next section for what it enables:

• Four powerful graphics processors each running at 400 MHz delivering 3.2 million pixel fill rate,16 shader units, 512kb dedicated cached memory and running the Egypt performance benchmark at a blazing 155 frames per second (FPS). Fully compliant with Android Project Butter.
• Two ultra fast application processors each running at 1.7 GHz, 28nm low-*power technology, high‐speed dual-*channel DDR RAM running at 533 MHz.
• One local natural language processor (L‐NLP). Motorola proprietary low‐power specialized processor with audio sensors, noise estimators, noise cancellation, and speech recognition technology to enable always-on voice based user interaction without sacrificing battery life.
• One contextual computing processor (CCP). Motorola proprietary low-power specialized processor that computes contextual data from sensors enabling intelligent mobile computing and always-on display mode.

Our main chipset has two CPUs and quad GPUs. We have added two additional low*‐power processors (Contextual Processor, Natural Language Processor) in our system design. So we are not saying we have an octa-*core chip, but we have an octa-*core Mobile Computing System. Silicon vendors only like to talk about dual versus quad core main CPUs because that is how they are priced. We have to brand and market our system as opposed to a chip.

Our approach is completely different. We have built a custom system around the application processor. For example, the new Motorola devices do not use the battery hungry application processor to do always on audio or display. We have custom designed our system to deliver great experiences without killing the battery. We have built the first true mobile computing system.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Contract price for the Mini is going to be $99. Unless you're talking about buying at full price?

What I meant was I want the Mini to come out so people with the Razr M sell theirs to upgrade. That way there will be more used Razr Ms on the used market to buy

I still have unlimited data which I want to keep, so I have to buy a phone off-contract or used. $100 for the Mini isn't a bad deal, but I don't want to lose unlimited data or re-up on my contract.

 

[the dmg]

What I meant was I want the Mini to come out so people with the Razr M sell theirs to upgrade. That way there will be more used Razr Ms on the used market to buy

I still have unlimited data which I want to keep, so I have to buy a phone off-contract or used. $100 for the Mini isn't a bad deal, but I don't want to lose unlimited data or re-up on my contract.

Oh...I understand now. It's rumored that the Mini will be around $350 off-contract, but that's speculation at best.

I want to keep unlimited as well, but I can sacrfice it if I need to. I just don't want to.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

The Moto X was finally revealed. It'll be on the 4 major networks for $200 with a 2-year contract. Honestly, it looks like a Nexus 4 but you can customize the colors. Nice, but nothing incredibly impressive.

 

[gohei_]

Fuuuu....technically Quad Core phone while not really being quad core. Very much better than I expected spec wise for what was the Moto X.

TLDR: Three moto DROIDs (Ultra, Maxx, Mini).

I think it's funny that 4,3 inch counts as Mini these days. I think that my Razr Maxx is big as hell.

 

[the dmg]

The Moto X was finally revealed. It'll be on the 4 major networks for $200 with a 2-year contract. Honestly, it looks like a Nexus 4 but you can customize the colors. Nice, but nothing incredibly impressive.

Spec-wise I'm not that impressed after sifting through the fluff. It's a regular dual-core main processor with two separate low cores added to it, and they're grouping the GPU (it has four sub-cores) as part of the eight-core. It's definitely a good idea that they're utilizing each core for better efficiency, but it's exactly as Moto and Google stated the phone would be in terms of specs; a mid-range offering focusing more on the experience rather than tech.

My main concern with it though is what I've seen from XBO and how Kinect 2.0 will always be listening. I'm the paranoid type that hopes the feature can be such off if I decide to get the phone, but now there is a whole core that will not be used because it's not part of the main CPU.

The only real advantage I see myself utilizing the feature would be having a true hands free driving experience.

I think it's funny that 4,3 inch counts as Mini these days. I think that my Razr Maxx is big as hell.

I think Samsung is to thank for that.

 

[Hotwire]

Can anyone recommend a reputable place to buy inexpensive replacement batteries for smart phones? Specifically, the Droid Bionic.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Amazon has the OEM Bionic battery for $9. They have a good return policy, so check 1 star reviews for issues others have had.

http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SNN5...8&qid=1376156294&sr=8-4&keywords=droid+bionic

 

[Hotwire]

Amazon has the OEM Bionic battery for $9. They have a good return policy, so check 1 star reviews for issues others have had.

http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SNN5...8&qid=1376156294&sr=8-4&keywords=droid+bionic

Wow! Far too many 1 star reviews of batteries holding even less charge than the ones they were replacing.

 

[the dmg]

Can anyone recommend a reputable place to buy inexpensive replacement batteries for smart phones? Specifically, the Droid Bionic.

http://www.amazon.com/BW8X-Motorola-Extended-Battery-2760mah/dp/B005MUQAEI

 

[dodong27]

Currently I have the Galaxy Note II, can't wait to see what's the Note III will bring to the table!
I've owned iPhones previous to the Note II, and I never looked back!

 

[the dmg]

Currently I have the Galaxy Note II, can't wait to see what's the Note III will bring to the table!
I've owned iPhones previous to the Note II, and I never looked back!

The phablets are too big for my tastes, but I'm really curious if the US version of the Note III will have the octa-core.

 

[Lily Adler]

So The Verge claims Nokia will be entering the phablet race with the a 6-incher Lumia. Supposedly made from andonized aluminum body similar to the one on the N8 or the frame of the Lumia 925, the Nokia phablet will also feature at least a 20 megapixel rear camera with Pureview technology, OIS, and Xenon flash.