Smartphone advice

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Rorschach
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Rorschach »

I hadn't planned to get one only because I don't like flip cases, I could see it starting to annoy me after a while.

Edit - Few people here obviously have the One already but my impressions:

Positives -

The One is build solid. Probably the most solidly built phone I have ever handled.
Screen size. Only slightly taller than my Razr but almost half as thin, awesome.
Duo Camera. Again, using the Razr as a point of reference, the camera takes good shots. The ability to post-focus is pretty cool. Not sure how often I'll use it but after two years of the worse mobile camera I've ever used the Duo Camera is great. That and it takes shots instantaneously (the Razr always lagged taking shots, it was really annoying).
SD card slot. So glad they included out, just makes it so much easier to move media around.
HTC Sense. Hated it on the Desire but love the minimalist look they've gone for now. Not sure how I will feel about it in a year but first impressions are good.
Boomsound. Holy shit, how good are the speakers?

Average -

The screen. It is fantastic but I miss OLED. The one thing the Razr did well was true black.

No negatives as yet. Each new phone I get tends to be better than the last. Hopefully the One sees me through two top years without any hassles.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by jizzlobber »

Can't believe it, but I just bought the htc one m8... The Lumia 1020 has been freezing especially when charging which is a problem as the alarm doesn't work, plus its very annoying.

Now that Microsoft services are on android I decided to switch, the app situation will never get better on windows phone, if it ever does I might go back as I love the os otherwise.

Geez the m8 feels nice, big sexy thing
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by flipswitch »

What store did you buy it from? I was thinking of buying it online at HN then picking it up from the store. Still searching for the best price, but I do prefer buying it from a retailer than say eBay.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by jizzlobber »

In store at Harvey Norman, screw eBay I want a proper warranty this time

On another note, what is the best way to view forums?
My Windows phones resize and rewrap the font/text to a size layout so you can read it without zooming, and you scroll down only... This is pretty hard to read.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by unfnknblvbl »

Tapatalk
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by pilonv1 »

Tapatalk on WP8 is pretty good.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Rorschach »

After not giving a shit I gave rooting my old Motorola another try. Success! I made every mistake in the book and it took about 5 hours but got there in the end. Surprisingly easy process which was poorly explained by most people on the interwebs. I tried a KitKat ROM but it wasn't liking it so I went for the last stable release of Cyanogenmod, CM 10.1.3 which provides JB 4.2.2. Holy cow, like a different phone completely.

Not sure if I will flash the M8 anytime soon because I like the functionality at the moment but glad to know I can do it know without a hassle. Can post instructions for anyone with a Razr (I think I was the only one).
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by jizzlobber »

Ok installed tapatalk and it's much easier to read, but it isn't ideal.

For starter not all forums are supported, so I usually navigate between games ranch and neogaf at the same time or back to back, to do this now I'd have to open another app.

Also, games ranch loses its identity in tapatalk, it's a sterile experience which doesn't have that homely feeling... Sound silly but it's not the same.

Also, I must be doing something wrong, but it didn't ask me to stay sighed in... And I had to sign in again when re-visiting GR.

The wrapping is perfect at neogaf, as was GR on Windows phone, might try another browser.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by jizzlobber »

This is what this page looks like on my nokia
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by jizzlobber »

And the HTC one
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Madmya »

Mmm this is how it is for me on the M8. Make sure you check settings.

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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by jizzlobber »

I tried to resize text, GR mostly ignores that.

What browser are you using? Tried both chrome and Firefox.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Madmya »

I'm using the standard browser. That's chrome isn't it? It doesn't really make a fuss of the name of it sorry. I just hit internet on the home screen.

Maybe it's my default zoom set to medium and having auto-fit pages checked that does it. You can change that under settings -> advanced within the browser.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by jizzlobber »

Cool hadn't tried that browser before, much better after messing with settings... Makes the forums display look weird but at least I can read now without scrolling every direction.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Rorschach »

Impressions after a few days:

- Love the ability to wake the phone by tapping on the screen and then putting it back to sleep. Very handy in the car.
- Blinkfeed is surprisingly awesome. So good in fact I don't see the need to install Flipboard.
- Boomsound. Just incredible, I can't imagine every going back to a rear or bottom mounted speaker.
- HTC Sense. It is a great skin, very minimalistic and easy to use. Not nearly as obtrusive at it has previously.
- Battery life. Easily powers through a day with moderate to heavy use. Lowest I have been is 40% at 11pm at night.
- Buttery smooth. This will change in time no doubt but not having to wait for actions to be registered is great. One thing Apple gets right that Android is only now starting to nail.

Overall I am very happy with the phone, the most complete package I've ever had.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by jizzlobber »

My main gripe is the camera, some nice software but the camera itself isn't too good, I was taking a zoe of my daughter and it was constantly trying to adjust contrast, so the sky was changing colour to light blue to dark blue repeatedly.
And it really lacks detail, yeah my Nokia has arguably the best camera of all phones so I'm used to super high res, but this camera really should be better, like the s5 camera.

I'd also like an app similar to the people hub on wp8 so I can view both Twitter and Facebook on the same timeline, the pre-8.1 had the best social media intergration I've seen.

If there isn't an app for this someone could make some coin by making one.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Madmya »

jizzlobber wrote:My main gripe is the camera, some nice software but the camera itself isn't too good, I was taking a zoe of my daughter and it was constantly trying to adjust contrast, so the sky was changing colour to light blue to dark blue repeatedly.
And it really lacks detail, yeah my Nokia has arguably the best camera of all phones so I'm used to super high res, but this camera really should be better, like the s5 camera.

I'd also like an app similar to the people hub on wp8 so I can view both Twitter and Facebook on the same timeline, the pre-8.1 had the best social media intergration I've seen.

If there isn't an app for this someone could make some coin by making one.
I thought the s5 and M8 camera were practically the same. With regards to the 'people hub', isn't that just what the blinkfeed is when you swipe to the left from the home screen? It defaults to highlights, but I think you can change that to recent. I don't really use it (don't have Facebook and I prefer the Twitter app) so I'm only stabbing here.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Rorschach »

Yeah, you can use Blinkfeed as RSS reader or a social hub or both. I tend to use it as an RSS only because I prefer news but I have Flickr, Facebook and Instagram linked into it. Nice if you are into that kind of thing. The Duo Camera surely isn't leader in its class but coming down from a Nokia camera is going to be a massive downgrade regardless of the phone you choose.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by jizzlobber »

It's a bit messy though, I don't have a super busy Facebook or Twitter time line but the layout isn't right, needs to be a simple timeline list.
Also can you have fecebook and Twitter show at the end time? I could only get highights to kind of do it or select the individual app in the menu, and then the Times were out of order.

Dunno, I'm sounding like a whinger here but this was done so well on wp8 before they fucked it, but even now it's easy to view your accounts in order.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Rorschach »

Best thing about Android is that there will be something in the Play Store that does exactly what you want if you look hard enough.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Cletus »

10 months on Android and so far what I have to say is this.
I deleted the email. Delete must mean something else to team Google. When I delete something I want it gone and not appearing again undeleted 5 minutes later. I swear I deletw most emails 2 or 3 times before they fuck off. What is that?
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by jizzlobber »

I gotta say, the OS isn't as tight as I was expecting, considering the user base and time it's been around.

none of the browsers are as good as IE on Windows phones imo, plus you have multiple apps doing similar jobs... music for example, buy something on Google play and it isn't playable in the same app as the rest of my collection in the music app.
And there are 2 browsers pre-installed which is odd, whenever I open a link I have to choose which browser to use, I press the button to always use the selection but it forgets.
the Facebook doesn't list in most recent order unless I tell it to every time, and like I said before there is no way to merge social media content, can't find an app which does this.

some of this could be user error, otherwise I'm surprised this stuff hasn't been addressed to make the experience easier.

there's a lot to like mind you, no buyers remorse just need to adjust.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by mech »

Time to switch to iPhone jizz. It's like Windows Phone with apps.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by Seraph »

They're certainly flexible.
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Re: Smartphone advice

Post by edgecrusher »

I got a new phone today. HTC M8. Havent had much time to play with it as yet but if its anything like my HTC one then I'll like it.

The salesperson showed me his new iphone, flexible indeed.
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