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Smartphone

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  Smartphone Chris Newman <cvjazz@waitrose.com> - 2011-12-23 23:32 +0000
    Re: Smartphone Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> - 2011-12-24 06:31 +0100
      Re: Smartphone Chris Newman <cvjazz@waitrose.com> - 2011-12-24 17:15 +0000
        Re: Smartphone Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> - 2011-12-24 20:53 +0100
          Re: Smartphone Chris Newman <cvjazz@waitrose.com> - 2011-12-26 16:02 +0000
            Re: Smartphone Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> - 2011-12-27 01:32 +0100
              Re: Smartphone Chris Newman <cvjazz@waitrose.com> - 2011-12-31 00:35 +0000
                Re: Smartphone Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> - 2011-12-31 05:45 +0100
                  Re: Smartphone druck <news@druck.org.uk> - 2011-12-31 11:01 +0000
                    Re: Smartphone Tim Hill <tim@invalid.org.uk> - 2011-12-31 18:01 +0000
                      Re: Smartphone Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-01 06:44 +0100
                      Re: Smartphone Chris Newman <cvjazz@waitrose.com> - 2012-01-03 21:20 +0000
                        Re: Smartphone cferris@freeRemoveuk.com.invalid - 2012-01-04 09:44 +0000
                          Re: Smartphone Chris Newman <cvjazz@waitrose.com> - 2012-01-06 14:44 +0000
                  Re: Smartphone Chris Newman <cvjazz@waitrose.com> - 2012-01-03 21:38 +0000
                    Re: Smartphone Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-04 14:23 +0100
                      Re: Smartphone Chris Newman <cvjazz@waitrose.com> - 2012-01-07 14:57 +0000
                        Re: Smartphone Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-08 17:34 +0100
                          Re: Smartphone Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-09 20:02 +0100
                            Re: Smartphone Chris Newman <cvjazz@waitrose.com> - 2012-01-10 17:40 +0000
                              Re: Smartphone Chris Newman <cvjazz@waitrose.com> - 2012-01-12 16:23 +0000
                            Re: Smartphone Chris Newman <cvjazz@waitrose.com> - 2012-01-12 16:11 +0000
        Re: Smartphone Matthew Phillips <spam2011m@yahoo.co.uk> - 2011-12-30 21:08 +0000
          Re: Smartphone "John Williams (News)" <UCEbin@tiscali.co.uk> - 2011-12-31 00:14 +0100
          Re: Smartphone Chris Newman <cvjazz@waitrose.com> - 2011-12-31 00:56 +0000
            Re: Smartphone Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> - 2011-12-31 06:48 +0100
          Re: Smartphone Tim Hill <tim@invalid.org.uk> - 2011-12-31 18:01 +0000
            Re: Smartphone Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-06 08:07 +0100
              Re: Smartphone Tim Hill <tim@invalid.org.uk> - 2012-01-08 12:02 +0000
                Re: Smartphone Russell Hafter News <see.sig@walkingingermany.invalid> - 2012-01-08 14:16 +0000
                  Re: Smartphone Tim Hill <tim@invalid.org.uk> - 2012-01-08 16:12 +0000
                    Re: Smartphone Russell Hafter News <see.sig@walkingingermany.invalid> - 2012-01-08 16:59 +0000
                      Re: Smartphone Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-08 18:19 +0100
                      Re: Smartphone Tim Hill <tim@invalid.org.uk> - 2012-01-08 18:00 +0000
                    Re: Smartphone Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-08 18:17 +0100
                  Re: Smartphone Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-08 17:39 +0100
              Re: Smartphone Theo Markettos <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2012-01-08 20:13 +0000
                Re: Smartphone druck <news@druck.org.uk> - 2012-01-08 21:22 +0000
              Re: Smartphone Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> - 2012-01-10 20:17 +0100

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#3295

In article <524f7854a9cvjazz@waitrose.com>,
   Chris Newman <cvjazz@waitrose.com> wrote:
> In article <4f0b39bd$0$5705$ba4acef3@reader.news.orange.fr>,
>    Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> > On 08/01/2012 17:34, Rick Murray wrote:


> Thanks for all the help from you and the others.
> I've got Google calendar up & running & synced with !Organizer via iCal
> Export/Import. I'm pretty busy over the next couple of days so will inwardly
> digest your posts later and get back to you in a while.

> Thanks once again,

Following up my own post.........

The iCal export from !Organizer worked splendidly in that my Google calendar
in the clouds is now perfect in sync with !Organizer.. However, I connected
by the phone's Wi-Fi to my router, opened the Calendar app & the info from
the calendar in the cloud appeared to come down to my phone. However, some
entries that were monthly, now appear weekly so something was garbled in the
delivery. 
I've gone back to the Google website & put in my phone number to allow
syncing with my phone. I think it said it would do it daily at 5 am but that
went past so fast I wasn't sure. I left the phone on all night but the
calendar is the same as I left it so I don't think any syncing has taken
place. Does it do it by Wi-Fi or the 3G network I ask? 
Looking back at the Google calendar webpage, I can't find out how to change
the syncing times. I'm obviously misunderstanding something. (No change there
then!).
I have a "syncing" feeling about all this.  ;-)
Any thoughts gratefull received

-- 
Chris Newman

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#3294

In article <4f0b39bd$0$5705$ba4acef3@reader.news.orange.fr>,
   Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> On 08/01/2012 17:34, Rick Murray wrote:

> > Email hides behind an icon called "Messaging". In there is "Universal
> > inbox", "Text messaging"... and the rest may be blank for you. I have
> > eight other email accounts.

> Just to follow-up, I could not find any useful images online, so I took 
> some of my own. This is for Android 2.1, later versions might apply some 
> additional gloss. ;-)
> I *think* this is standard stuff, and not a Motorola revision.

> First, my home screen with "Messaging" highlighted:
>    http://www.heyrick.co.uk/random/message1.png

> Tap on that to enter. The "Universal inbox" is everything all rolled 
> together. The rest are individual accounts, plus text messaging. I've 
> greyed out stuff as some are referred to by email address.
>    http://www.heyrick.co.uk/random/message2.png
>    [ you can see I've been busy on ARMwiki ;-) ]

> Into Beeb list, the list of messages:
>    http://www.heyrick.co.uk/random/message3.png

> And reading a randomly picked message:
>    http://www.heyrick.co.uk/random/message4.png

> Back to the Messaging window, tapping [Menu] brings up one allowing you 
> to manage the accounts.
>    http://www.heyrick.co.uk/random/message5.png

> Skipping over the accounts list (most would be blanked out as it shows 
> associated email addresses...), going into the Beeb mailing list entry, 
> here's the setup:
>    http://www.heyrick.co.uk/random/message6.png

My icons & menu structure quite diferrent but having got to ....
Mail -> my name(Gmail) -> I have to use the menu key to get to account
settings -> Account settings ... then I get hoices such as .. Time Limit,
message Size Limit Sigantures etc. Nothing about Ports or whether to leave
mail on server etc. ie there seems to be no way of configuring incoming
server. Bah! methinks I deed a different mail app. Any suggestions

> And configuring the incoming mail server:
>    http://www.heyrick.co.uk/random/message7.png

Can;t get to anything like this. I think the mail app I have is an Orange
concoction. 

Regards,

-- 
Chris Newman

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#3165

In message <5246b4c858cvjazz@waitrose.com>
 on 24 Dec 2011 Chris Newman  wrote:

> I'm hoping my Windows machine will see the micro SD card as a mass storage
> device.

...

> My new phone is a San francisco II. Available from Orange only. Bought it
> outright SIM free for £89. Brilliant phone for the price. There is a nice
> little man in our local market who unlocks phones for a tenner. (I believe
> you can find the necessary codes on-line & do it yourself but I'm a little
> nervous of messing things up).

We got one of these recently.  It's quite easy to upgrade to a more recent
Android and ditch the Orange apps.  We used instructions on the web to
upgrade to a ROM called "Swedish Spring" and it works very nicely.  We used a
Linux machine to copy the image across to the phone, but actually I suspect
that the Iyonix would have been all we needed.

When we plug the phone into the Iyomix via USB, the phone allows us to switch
it to USB mass storage mode, and the phone's SD card appears on the RISC OS
iconbar as a drive.  Works very nicely indeed!

It would be nice to set up file sharing to allow the phone to access the
Iyonix's hard drive over NFS, using Moonfish as the NFS server at the RISC OS
end, but we haven't grappled with that yet.

-- 
Matthew Phillips
Durham

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#3166

In article <d92ae14952.Matthew@sinenomine.freeserve.co.uk>,
   Matthew Phillips <spam2011m@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> When we plug the phone into the Iyomix via USB

Is that the version with the improved audio handling?

;-)

John

-- 
John Williams, Brittany, Northern France - no attachments to these addresses!
Non-RISC OS posters change user to johnrwilliams or put 'risc' in subject!
Who is John Williams? http://petit.four.free.fr/picindex/author/

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#3168

In article <d92ae14952.Matthew@sinenomine.freeserve.co.uk>, Matthew Phillips
<spam2011m@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> In message <5246b4c858cvjazz@waitrose.com> on 24 Dec 2011 Chris Newman 
>  wrote:

> > I'm hoping my Windows machine will see the micro SD card as a mass
> > storage device.

> ...

> > My new phone is a San francisco II. Available from Orange only. Bought it
> > outright SIM free for £89. Brilliant phone for the price. There is a nice
> > little man in our local market who unlocks phones for a tenner. (I
> > believe you can find the necessary codes on-line & do it yourself but I'm
> > a little nervous of messing things up).

> We got one of these recently.  It's quite easy to upgrade to a more recent
> Android and ditch the Orange apps. 

Sounds good. Most of the Orange apps are a pain.

The Orange website reports that my San Francisco II should already be
sporting 2.3 Gingerbread. However, in the About phone menu on my set it
reports Firmware version 2.1 update 1 - don't know if that refers to the
version of Android.

> We used instructions on the web to upgrade to a ROM called "Swedish Spring"
> and it works very nicely.  We used a Linux machine to copy the image across
> to the phone, but actually I suspect that the Iyonix would have been all we
> needed.

Neither the Symtec card nor the Castle card will see the phone fully on the
RiscPC. They know there is something there but I can't get at the files.
However, my Widows machine recognises it OK as a mass storage device

Thanks for the info.

-- 
Chris Newman

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#3171

On 31/12/2011 01:56, Chris Newman wrote:

> Sounds good. Most of the Orange apps are a pain.

Half of them don't work correctly! :-/ The video-on-demand, for 
instance, *only* works with GPRS. Give up while you're ahead if you 
think you'll settle down to some relaxing programming through your 
Livebox, it won't do it. Period. So instead, I'd need to stand in the 
middle of the field (where I can catch a decent 3G signal) and burn 
through my data allocation. I'm sure Orange know where they can shove 
that idea...


> The Orange website reports that my San Francisco II should already be
> sporting 2.3 Gingerbread.

So does the CNET:UK review, just looked it up.


> However, in the About phone menu on my set it reports Firmware version 2.1 update 1

Same as my Motorola Defy. I'm supposed to be running Android 2.2 
(Froyo?) but it's 2.1 update 1. There's an Orange France build of 2.2, 
but the piece of crap installer needs some recent version of .Net and I 
uninstalled most of that because I couldn't justify three *large* 
installs that did the same thing... on a 4Gb SSD. What with all those 
Windows patches through time, the C: drive doesn't have much space, 
certainly not enough to waste on something I use once in a blue moon.

I tried an off-the-air update, and it said I was up to date.

This is something I *REALLY* *H**A**T**E* about Android. Google chucks 
up a version. The carrier must pick it up and bastardise it to fit their 
phone and their habitual quirks. Then the carrier mucks with it even 
more. So us running Gingerbread relies either upon hacking the phone and 
putting on cyanogenmod, or all of the manufacturers and carriers 
providing support. Thing is, most don't. They're off flogging the latest 
greatest phone and don't care about you once you've laid down the cash.

Ditto the stock apps. Why can't YouTube / Browser / Email (etc) be 
updateable on the fly like all the other apps?


> - don't know if that refers to the version of Android.

As far as I can work out, 2.1-update-1 is a mucked with version of 
Android 2.1 that brings a number of 2.2 functions to it. Certainly some 
of the stuff my phone can do is supposed to be only available in 2.2. 
Exactly what probably depends upon the manufacturer...


Best wishes,

Rick.

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#3177

In article <d92ae14952.Matthew@sinenomine.freeserve.co.uk>, Matthew
Phillips <spam2011m@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> It would be nice to set up file sharing to allow the phone to access
> the Iyonix's hard drive over NFS, using Moonfish as the NFS server at
> the RISC OS end, but we haven't grappled with that yet.

I use my Android phone to access SMB shares on a NAS.  

<Tests>  Sharing with !smbserver from Iyonix (5.16) seems to work with
Windows and my phone: you may have to fiddle with settings to get it
working though. NT1 seems to work okay.

On Android I use Astro and its SMB module. It works well.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.metago.astro

-- 
Tim Hill of timil.com . . .
* supports TFT & shares in cheaper ethical telecoms http://tjrh.eu/phone
* has a genuine & spam-proof address for Usenet http://www.invalid.org.uk/
* accepts incoming email: substitute postmaster@ for tim@

... "Let never day nor night unhallowed pass, but still remember what the Lord hath done" Henry VI, Act ii, Sc.1

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#3235

On 31/12/2011 19:01, Tim Hill wrote:

> I use my Android phone [...]

I am running to the end of my current year long contract. I plan to jack 
in the contract and take up a new one. No quibbles with Orange, just 
fancy going for a new phone. An Android phone. Looking to spend between 
€1 and around €65 on contract subsidy, so no iPhones, tablets, or 
double-core jaw-dropping things.

I would like:
   * Somebody who keeps up with firmware releases, I'll probably get
     Android 2.3, but I'd like a shot at a manufacturer who might make
     v4 available. [sorry, Motorola, you stuck to 2.1-with-patches]

   * Something that can be expected to play H.264 in 720p HD MKV files.
     My Defy coped with HD DivX (to an 854x480 display, ho ho) but with
     an 800MHz ARM, it really struggled with H.264. [yes, this is for
     animé]

   * Decent camera - at least 5mpix, and able to record video at 720p.
     [my Defy's camera wasn't bad, but it suffered from trying to focus
      and photo in a second, there was no focus lock, so unless the image
      was high contrast, there was a 50-50 chance of it screwing up and
      photoing fuzziness; and the video wasn't bad for a phone (quite a
      few of my blog videos were recorded with it), but only 480p, and
      not 16:9]

   * Reasonable storage spec (like the internal drive having ~1Gb free),
     plus SD/microSD expansion.

   * IMPORTANT: Can be switched to airplane mode, and then WiFi turned on
     separately afterwards. I don't use the phone as a phone while at
     home.

   * GPS, radio, accelerometers, compass, blah blah all that stuff...

Any suggestions? I'm looking to the Samsung... Wave II? Galaxy II? I 
don't remember (it's bookmarked somewhere, can't find it!). The site 
orange.fr lists the current phones and their contract prices. I will 
prob. go for Origami Style 1H. In the time I've used this phone, the 
non-freebie calls I can list on one hand - a premium rate number called 
by mistake when trying to find out who called me (€1,34 for a *ONE* 
second call, now if somebody doesn't leave a message, I ignore the 
call!) and one SMS to the UK. Seriously, that's *it*. In a *year*. I 
guess that makes me, like, the saddest person that ever lived, or 
something. ;-)


Anyway - suggestions welcome. I quite liked my Defy but the firmware was 
old. I'd like a capable phone, not top of the line, with a newer 
Android. Help!


Best wishes,

Rick.

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#3250

In article <4f069dbb$0$2511$ba4acef3@reader.news.orange.fr>, Rick Murray
<heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Anyway - suggestions welcome. I quite liked my Defy but the firmware
> was old. I'd like a capable phone, not top of the line, with a newer
> Android. Help!

I have a full hTC Desire but would try another brand next time (memory
full problems, ICS upgrade? support: nul points) but not Sony (Ericsson)
as their entry smartphone wasn't one. Too small, too slow, and had a
fault with its wired connectivity which I was told would be cured by
re-installing the OS which I couldn't because it had a fault...duh! 

Go for lots and lots of system memory. A large capacity SD card is nice,
but big non-MicroSD memory is a must; you can always buy bigger MicroSD
card but you are stuck with the other.

Personally, I would like to have a 'real' Google phone. Nexus or whatever.

-- 
Tim Hill of timil.com . . .
* supports TFT & shares in cheaper ethical telecoms http://tjrh.eu/phone
* has a genuine & spam-proof address for Usenet http://www.invalid.org.uk/
* accepts incoming email: substitute postmaster@ for tim@

... "I am not of that feather, to shake off my friend when he must need  me" Tim of Ath, Act i, Sc.1

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#3251

In article <524e51b84dtim@invalid.org.uk>, Tim Hill
<tim@invalid.org.uk> wrote:
> In article
> <4f069dbb$0$2511$ba4acef3@reader.news.orange.fr>, Rick
> Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> > Anyway - suggestions welcome. I quite liked my Defy but
> > the firmware was old. I'd like a capable phone, not top
> > of the line, with a newer Android. Help!

> I have a full hTC Desire but would try another brand next
> time (memory full problems, ICS upgrade? support: nul
> points) but not Sony (Ericsson) as their entry smartphone
> wasn't one. Too small, too slow, and had a fault with its
> wired connectivity which I was told would be cured by
> re-installing the OS which I couldn't because it had a
> fault...duh! 

> Go for lots and lots of system memory. A large capacity
> SD card is nice, but big non-MicroSD memory is a must;
> you can always buy bigger MicroSD card but you are stuck
> with the other.

As a matter of curiosity, what is all this memory actually
used for?

Is it something like windows which seems to run faster if
there is more RAM, even if there is no apparent reason for
that?

I take it that SD card memory is more akin to the hard
drive? I have never rellay been sure what that id for
either; I have a couple of phones that came with SD cards,
but there is so much main memory free that they seem
pointless to me.

-- 
Russell
http://www.russell-hafter-holidays.co.uk
Russell Hafter Holidays         E-mail to enquiries at our domain
Need a hotel? <http://www.hrs.com/?client=en__blue&customerId=416873103>

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#3254

In article <524e5dff0asee.sig@walkingingermany.invalid>,
   Russell Hafter News <see.sig@walkingingermany.invalid> wrote:

[snip Android]

> As a matter of curiosity, what is all this memory actually
> used for?

> Is it something like windows which seems to run faster if
> there is more RAM, even if there is no apparent reason for
> that?

Not so much. It's that some applications and bits of others are running
all the time and therefore need to be in Active Memory (AM). When this
goes below about 15MB the phone reports low memory and some functions -
like downloading new apps and email - stop working. Though some apps can
be stored on the microSD card instead, this is not a total solution when
AM on this hTC Desire starts out at 'only' 150MB . If I was to install
all the upgrades to the system apps which have to be in AM (Maps,
facebook, Twitter, Market, and flash player) alongside all the debris
left by apps moved to SD, I would have a constant memory problem and not
of the senior variety I am more used to.

Flash can go **** itself - its mostly used by adverts - so I don't
upgrade that. This save a huge chunk of my phone's memory and my life:
some readers will know how often the Market wants to update Flash.

> I take it that SD card memory is more akin to the hard
> drive? I have never rellay been sure what that id for
> either; I have a couple of phones that came with SD cards,
> but there is so much main memory free that they seem
> pointless to me.

By the time you have taken a few hundred photos and videos and have
downloaded your music collection, you may wish it had a much bigger
microSD card than the 4GB here. I have transferred only a handful of mp3
music  albums and have only 1.61GB left.

The only partial cure to the memory low problem I have discovered seems
to be to uninstall and reinstall every app. 

As a consequence, I am not impressed by Android's memory management, nor
the bloat of its apps. I didn't know Android would be that tedious but
still prefer it to the iPhone, as does a friend who has both: he loves
his Desire and hates his company iPhone.

T

-- 
Tim Hill of timil.com . . .
* supports TFT & shares in cheaper ethical telecoms http://tjrh.eu/phone
* has a genuine & spam-proof address for Usenet http://www.invalid.org.uk/
* accepts incoming email: substitute postmaster@ for tim@

... "Sacred and sweet was all I saw in her" T of the S, Act i, Sc.1

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#3257

In article <524e689d92tim@invalid.org.uk>, Tim Hill
<tim@invalid.org.uk> wrote:

> > I take it that SD card memory is more akin to the hard
> > drive? I have never rellay been sure what that id for
> > either; I have a couple of phones that came with SD
> > cards, but there is so much main memory free that they
> > seem pointless to me.

> By the time you have taken a few hundred photos and
> videos and have downloaded your music collection, you may
> wish it had a much bigger microSD card than the 4GB here.
> I have transferred only a handful of mp3 music  albums
> and have only 1.61GB left.

Ah, that is what it is for! I have more or less stopped
taking photos, do not have any mp3 files (apart from any
ring tones in that format) and as for videos - having had to
go to a large digital TV years ago (we were the first in the
country to drop analogue TV) the thought of trying to watch
video on anything as small as my old TV (17" I think) is
painful. Even my current 23" (I think) monitor seems tiny
when forced to use it for BBC I-Player catch ups.

So any pocket device is just not going to work for me.

-- 
Russell
http://www.russell-hafter-holidays.co.uk
Russell Hafter Holidays         E-mail to enquiries at our domain
Need a hotel? <http://www.hrs.com/?client=en__blue&customerId=416873103>

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#3259

On 08/01/2012 17:59, Russell Hafter News wrote:

> So any pocket device is just not going to work for me.

I woke up at 5am this morning. Didn't feel like getting the computer up, 
so I plugged in my headphones and rested the phone propped up on my 
duvet, and watched a film. Then I went back to sleep...


Best wishes,

Rick.

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#3260

In article <524e6ce872see.sig@walkingingermany.invalid>,
   Russell Hafter News <see.sig@walkingingermany.invalid> wrote:
[snip]
> Ah, that is what it is for! I have more or less stopped
> taking photos, do not have any mp3 files (apart from any
> ring tones in that format) and as for videos - having had to
> go to a large digital TV years ago (we were the first in the
> country to drop analogue TV) the thought of trying to watch
> video on anything as small as my old TV (17" I think) is
> painful. Even my current 23" (I think) monitor seems tiny
> when forced to use it for BBC I-Player catch ups.

The resolution of my phone is HD Ready, 720p. Because I hold it in my
hand it can be apparently smaller, the same, or bigger than any screen I
sit in front of in a normal way to watch TV. As a general rule, people
tend to sit closer to smaller screens. This moving backwards means that
the relative size of any screen we adjust to 'comfortable' by moving.
Where would you choose to sit in a cinema, relative to the screen? Just
sit at the front at the cinema or too close to a 55" domestic telly and
see how uncomfortable may you get, and feel the desire to move further
away! or sit at the back... .

My phone easily has a resolution to match several screens in this house
and betters some, so I only need to hold the phone close to me for
exactly the same apparently-sized picture. (I can hear it then too: my
main issue - the tinny speaker!) I require reading glasses, though,
because of its proximity. Slightly stronger glasses, and it can be really
big!!!!!

The iPlayer is superb. Shame it needs WiFi though.

> So any pocket device is just not going to work for me.

Your arms are the length they are for a reason. You don't watch TV on a
smartphone by propping it up on the desk in front of you: it's a
one-person experience. You hold it as if you are reading a book. Or a
Kindle. Maybe closer. Just don't go cross-eyed by holding it too close. 
;-)

T

-- 
Tim Hill of timil.com . . .
* supports TFT & shares in cheaper ethical telecoms http://tjrh.eu/phone
* has a genuine & spam-proof address for Usenet http://www.invalid.org.uk/
* accepts incoming email: substitute postmaster@ for tim@

... "Thy eternal summer shall not fade" Sonnet 18

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#3258

On 08/01/2012 17:12, Tim Hill wrote:

> Not so much. It's that some applications and bits of others are running
> all the time and therefore need to be in Active Memory (AM).

I think we also should make a distinction between RAM and internal 
storage (Flash).


> Flash can go **** itself - its mostly used by adverts

I only have Flate Lite v9.something. Apparently I could watch NHK World 
if I had Flash 10, but while I have an apk for Flash 10, I can't get my 
phone to pick up on it. It installs, but my browser proceeds to continue 
with the old Flash. Meh.


> some readers will know how often the Market wants to update Flash.

Thankfully my market doesn't notify me of updates until I check myself. 
I like it that way - unlike Firefox that is *always* telling me 
something or other needs to be updated.


> microSD card than the 4GB here. I have transferred only a handful of mp3
> music albums and have only 1.61GB left.

Music (mp3), about 542Mb.
Deezer (music), about 484Mb.
Downloads (PDFs etc), about 396Mb.
Photos, about 989MbGb.
Manga scanlations, about 2.26Gb + 183Mb.
Language course (Japanese), about 493Mb + 577Mb.
Datasheet PDFs, about 60Mb.
Videos, about 519Mb.

All in all, 7.39Gb total, 7Mb free. I'll need to tidy it up a little...


> I didn't know Android would be that tedious but

I have not had *any* issues other that filling up my SD. While Android 
seems incapable of quitting apps by itself, my internal has 811Mb free 
after a year of use, plus current memory commit is 261Mb used, 214Mb 
free, though this is managed well enough that stuff doesn't randomly die 
due to running out of memory.

> still prefer it to the iPhone, as does a friend who has both: he loves
> his Desire and hates his company iPhone.

I suspect a lot is down to the build/design of the phone. I've seen some 
phones with a rather lame specification - isn't there one with a 320x240 
display? Okay, there's "budget", but 320x240!?

I guess I picked a good spec one for my first Android. ;-) Let's see if 
I can do likewise for the next one!


Best wishes,

Rick.

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#3256

On 08/01/2012 15:16, Russell Hafter News wrote:

> As a matter of curiosity, what is all this memory actually
> used for?

[...]

> either; I have a couple of phones that came with SD cards,
> but there is so much main memory free that they seem
> pointless to me.

In a nutshell - internal storage is used for:

   * Apps (those not moved to SD, on low-memory machines)
   * Settings
   * Internal data (emails, browser cache, etc)

SD cards are for:

   * Photos
   * Video
   * Music
   * Blah blah.


Essentially, the internal storage is for the phone, the SD is for you.


Best wishes,

Rick.

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#3261

Rick Murray <heyrickmail-usenet@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> I would like:
>    * Somebody who keeps up with firmware releases, I'll probably get
>      Android 2.3, but I'd like a shot at a manufacturer who might make
>      v4 available. [sorry, Motorola, you stuck to 2.1-with-patches]

I would get something well-supported by CyanogenMod.  That way, if the
manufacturer loses interest you still have a rescue plan.  Also have a look
at other forums (xda-developers, modaco) to see if there are other popular
ROM projects supporting your phone.

If you're buying from Orange, make sure you can switch to the manufacturer's
'stock' firmware if need be (ie you aren't stuck waiting for Orange to
produce their own mangled version filled with bloatware).

>    * Something that can be expected to play H.264 in 720p HD MKV files.
>      My Defy coped with HD DivX (to an 854x480 display, ho ho) but with
>      an 800MHz ARM, it really struggled with H.264. [yes, this is for
>      animé]

Make sure you get ARMv7, else some apps (eg Flash) won't work.  I think
increasingly native (NDK) apps will be targeting exclusively ARMv7 (eg
Ubuntu are).

>    * Decent camera - at least 5mpix, and able to record video at 720p.
>      [my Defy's camera wasn't bad, but it suffered from trying to focus
>       and photo in a second, there was no focus lock, so unless the image
>       was high contrast, there was a 50-50 chance of it screwing up and
>       photoing fuzziness; and the video wasn't bad for a phone (quite a
>       few of my blog videos were recorded with it), but only 480p, and
>       not 16:9]

Android phone fail: my San Fran I (slightly remixed firmware, but think the
original camera app) makes the photo-taking-noise, then takes the picture
afterwards.  So you get a blurry picture as you start moving the phone
thinking it's done.  You want to avoid this (a better camera app, probably).

>    * Reasonable storage spec (like the internal drive having ~1Gb free),
>      plus SD/microSD expansion.
> 
>    * IMPORTANT: Can be switched to airplane mode, and then WiFi turned on
>      separately afterwards. I don't use the phone as a phone while at
>      home.

That's just firmware, I think.

Theo

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#3262

On 08/01/2012 20:13, Theo Markettos wrote:
> Android phone fail: my San Fran I (slightly remixed firmware, but think the
> original camera app) makes the photo-taking-noise, then takes the picture
> afterwards.  So you get a blurry picture as you start moving the phone
> thinking it's done.  You want to avoid this (a better camera app, probably).

It only does it in case you are a pervert - so you can't take photos 
silently, although you can usually mute the sound elsewhere.

---druck

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#3272

Hi,

Just been browsing the lists. Decent phones (with 24 month contract 
~€40) run in at €150-300. France is *SO* expensive!

Anyway, I've narrowed it down to:

   Sony-Ericsson Xperia Arc S

   Motorola Atrix


Pluses:
   Arc S - lovely display spec

   Motorola - insane on-board memory (Gbs!)


Minuses:
   Arc S - with the Bravia engine, how good is third-party codec support?
   Watching videos is an important thing for me, will the likes of
   Moboplayer work? "Officially", videos need conversion to an MP4 format
   the Arc S likes. Unofficially, can I watch MKVs?

   Motorola - still lingering with OS v2.2...


I *might* go for the Arc S just to try a totally different Android 
experience. Either way, both phones (weighing in at ~€150) have decent 
grunt power.


Thoughts? Anybody here got an Arc S?


Best wishes,

Rick.

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