07-02-2020 09:49 PM - edited 07-02-2020 09:50 PM
So I'm torn between a couple phones.
1. Samsung S10+ with Samsung Pay that automatically flips in/out of NFC to make the payment. That and an SD card slot and headphone jack. But a lot of money.
2. Motorola One Hyper being pure Android without the bloatware and that neato pop-up front camera not taking screen real estate. Same with the SD card slot and headphone jack. Unfortunately Google Pay doesn't do that nifty auto-NFC. But a lot less money.
What to do what to do.
Anybody with real world experience yet with the new Hyper? Anybody with a way to turn on NFC automatically without giving up all kinds of private information permissions (don't want to get into rooting either) to run macros?
07-17-2020 10:13 AM
@sheytoon wrote:Yes, pretty much all outdoor macro sites are sectorized. Most sites are 3 sectors. This particular site is 4 sectors. Sector 1 is pointing almost exactly north, 2 is east, 3 is south, 4 is west.
There's 5 MHz of LTE B5 there, and I assume there's also another 5 MHz for 3G.
The data comes from ISED, but it's difficult to search.
Thanks again @sheytoon . I'm finding some phones with 5 and 7 LTE. So there seems to be some use of those bands in Telus. That would be the same for PM right? PM doesn't trim band usage do they?
07-17-2020 10:09 AM
Yes, pretty much all outdoor macro sites are sectorized. Most sites are 3 sectors. This particular site is 4 sectors. Sector 1 is pointing almost exactly north, 2 is east, 3 is south, 4 is west.
There's 5 MHz of LTE B5 there, and I assume there's also another 5 MHz for 3G.
The data comes from ISED, but it's difficult to search.
07-17-2020 09:43 AM
@sheytoon wrote:Oh I see. Send me the tower coordinates and I will look it up. 3G 850 and LTE 850 are both 5 MHz, so it's hard to tell from ertyu.
Thanks for staying with it @sheytoon.
N49.8913 W119.4976
Downtown west end of Kelowna.
cellmapper.net suggests it's LTE. They also show shapes that suggest a pie-beam coverage. Is this how these things work? Directional like that?
Do you have a preferred public (not PM 🙂 ) reference?
07-17-2020 07:14 AM
Oh I see. Send me the tower coordinates and I will look it up. 3G 850 and LTE 850 are both 5 MHz, so it's hard to tell from ertyu.
07-16-2020 10:31 PM - edited 07-16-2020 10:31 PM
Thanks for responding @sheytoon.
I was wondering about ertyu.org where they say frequencies but I don't know if they mean 4G or 3G with the list. The phone I'm wondering about has LTE band 5 850. A tower in my area has 850. But it doesn't say whether it's 4G or 3G.
On another note...I found what appears to be a great reference about the different variations of phones.
phonemore.com
07-16-2020 09:06 PM
@Anonymous I didn't catch your question. Can you elaborate?
07-16-2020 06:58 PM
I'm guessing the lack of NFC or WiFi or BT or certain bands basically boils down to local licensing issues - FCC in America, CRTC in Canada - any device which can transmit must obtain certification through testing and third-party testing and money and delay and bureaucracy. Maybe manufacturers sometimes take an existing model and disable those features so they can enter the market cheaper and faster than usual.
07-16-2020 01:33 PM
NFC: it's that other variations of the same model phone have it.
I got the A315G. There's a A315F on ebay that has NFC. So wth. Why would they not have it for some regions. This kinda nonsense drives me bananas.
But you can't everything alas...that A315F only has Band 5 LTE in common with here. Sigh.
Maybe @sheytoon can shed light on that. ertyu.org in my area shows the 850 frequency but not if it's LTE.
07-16-2020 01:19 PM
@Anonymous yes, with dual standby, if your active data sim is sim 1 and you have a call on sim 2 (or vice-versa), you will have no access to data during the call. And you're right, dual active dual sim is pretty rare. I suspect it's much more complicated and costly to do, as you'd likely need additional antennae and controllers, etc.
NFC unfortunately is one of those features that does get sacrificed on budget-focused models, even though by all accounts it's very inexpensive to add. (Carl Pei of OnePlus recently told MKBHD during a YouTube interview that it's about $4USD per device). It's a shame.
07-16-2020 11:31 AM
So got the phone. 2 days shipping. Seems to be all Spanish. International phone apparently. Oh well. I can choose English. Lovely phone. Charged it. Transferred from my other Samsung S7. Then started looking at apps and setting up. Was severely disappointed to notice that it did NOT come with NFC. Dang it all to heck. Specs did conflict around but I just assumed that a phone sold in Canada would be fine. Why would other variations for other regions not have this feature? Is there some law in some countries? And do you know how hard it is to try to find specifics on a specific model? Jeez.
Dual SIM works great. If on a call there's no data. Hmm. What if you want to look something up while talking. I guess that's what dual active means which are rather harder to find.
So without NFC I'm not sure I'll keep this version. There IS an A31 version that mentions NFC that I might get after all this and after what if anything the seller might do.
I've also started looking at Chinese phones but they seem to be more money. This one Samsung I have is in its own league price-wise.
07-12-2020 10:04 AM - edited 07-12-2020 10:05 AM
@cellphoneuser1 wrote:@Anonymous How much did you pay? I'm not sure about the CPU in the Galaxy A31. Is it Mediatek?
It's a mid-range. The low-range units are Android Go or One. They both have limitations here and there. The top-range units are well over a thousand and more. I don't expect top-range features and specs for a mid-range price.
I'm not much interested in the Chinese brands. And some don't offer all the Google services in the US (is that the same as here?).
All the specs are on gsmarena. I got it off Amazon.
07-12-2020 09:55 AM - edited 07-12-2020 09:58 AM
@Anonymous How much did you pay? I'm not sure about the CPU in the Galaxy A31. Is it Mediatek?
07-12-2020 09:36 AM - edited 07-12-2020 09:37 AM
Thanks @Korth. I doubt I would root the new A31. Maybe I'll dabble with all that with my older S7.
I experimented with rooting before on an older LG phone where I brought it up to 4.4 from 2.3. I didn't like that the Play store stopped working and indeed I use the phone for all the small purchases with Koho. Having to find a reputable source and download and install apk's was all just more cumbersome than I preferred.
Really helpful with the guides though. It was a lot of fiddling and trying things to get the LG rooted. On several occasions I thought I had bricked it but it came through in the end. Then I mangled the SIM slot and I tossed it anyway. 😞
I know I know you would have duck taped and soldered on a new one...not interested in component level soldering. 🙂
07-12-2020 03:27 AM - edited 07-12-2020 03:32 AM
Samsung A31 is a popular device so default bloatware isn't much of a problem if you don't want it to be:
https://safeboxguide.com/root-samsung-galaxy-a31/
https://www.recovery-mode.com/android/unlock-bootloader-samsung-galaxy-a31-and-hard-reset.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_custom_Android_distributions
(Just be sure you understand the one-way "cost" of fully unlocking it. And save a backup image of the factory ROM - just in case - before you proceed with anything else.)
07-11-2020 10:17 PM
Y'know...I really want to try to support local bricks & mortar but to not find low to mid-range phones in stock is really frustrating. Lots of low range. Lots of top range. Hit and miss to buy outright.
So I bit the bullet and succumbed to delivery. Dang I hate waiting for delivery.
I settled on a Samsung A31 from Amazon. Mid-range, some bloatware, not pure Android, I already have some familiarity with Samsung so there will be some familiarity, dual-SIM so I'll finally be able to dabble with that and give a solution to my dual-SIM thread...if you read this, don't touch it yet there Luddite 🙂 ... but it'll probably be popping.
I just couldn't justify the Zenfone due to being a year old model. The V60 was interesting but I could barely-to-not find it anywhere online or in-store to buy outright.
So I wait.
07-07-2020 01:16 AM
Jeez...analysis paralysis...now I'm looking at the new LG V60. Some bloatware though.
07-03-2020 10:57 PM
Alrighty then...Tasker works. So a feature that I liked about Samsung Pay is now equaled.
Samsung Pay says they can work somehow even for non-tap but I haven't had any success. I get all excited that I can test it out when a vendor says they don't do tap only to become disappointed that it didn't work. So that's kind of a wash.
While I had been looking for a pure Android or Android One phone...I'm now kinda likin' that Zenfone 6.
07-03-2020 08:11 PM
@Anonymous wrote:Got a pic? Do you sand down all the sharp edges of all the doodads you have hanging off your phone?
What doodads? The only things I ever attach to my phone are the case, headphones, USB charge or sync.
I can do pics of my S61 when I get home (can't use it to take a selfie of the side, lol). Though I admit it does look a little ghetto, I was more concerned about function than style at the time and just used the first spare part which could be made to fit.
Although I've been looking at my own "choices choices" lately ... I need a new RUGGED phone, one which will last a couple years and is not worse than my existing phone. One which can be rooted or will support aftermarket OS/bootloader/firmware - because I'm sick of the forced Android 9 lock-in. I've been haphazardly looking around for the "perfect" little DIP switch (correct size and mount factor, glossy black plastics, fancy little LED indicators) and waiting for some takeaparts to appear online so I can sort of spec out what I'll be working with. A phone mod I'd be proud to post online, lol.
07-03-2020 07:49 PM
@Korth wrote:lol, the switch bank gets dremelled into the side of the case, somewhere, wired and soldered into severed component traces. Software can't be really trusted to behave, it does whatever the programmers want instead of what you want, but hardware can't ever do anything you don't want it to do when it has no power and no circuit path.
Got a pic? Do you sand down all the sharp edges of all the doodads you have hanging off your phone? 🙂
07-03-2020 07:43 PM
lol, the switch bank gets dremelled into the side of the case, somewhere, wired and soldered into severed component traces. Software can't be really trusted to behave, it does whatever the programmers want instead of what you want, but hardware can't ever do anything you don't want it to do when it has no power and no circuit path.
07-03-2020 03:45 PM - edited 07-03-2020 03:47 PM
@Korth wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:As it is I have a little vinyl sticker that covers the front camera.
You actually bought a set of pretty little vinyl stickers?
I sometimes use a much cheaper approach. Alas, it tends to peel off after a while. And leave a sticky residue.
But - if it's a phone I intend to use until it dies - I fix the self-cam (along with a few other things like the mic, radio antennae, battery, SIM slots, whatever) with this approach instead.
Pretty? Just black. They also offer "pretty" coloured ones. Admittedly there can be some residue as well but not nearly as much as electrical tape.
That switch...do you glue it on top of the lens? 🙂
I've also stumbled across the Zenfone 6 with a swing-up camera. Nifty. Apparently a fairly clean Android. Some rumours suggest the Motorola Hyper isn't really Android One.
07-03-2020 03:34 PM - edited 07-03-2020 03:42 PM
@Anonymous wrote:As it is I have a little vinyl sticker that covers the front camera.
You actually bought a set of pretty little vinyl stickers?
I sometimes use a much cheaper approach. Alas, it tends to peel off after a while. And leave a sticky residue.
But - if it's a phone I intend to use until it dies - I fix the self-cam (along with a few other things like the mic, radio antennae, battery, SIM slots, whatever) with this approach instead.
07-03-2020 11:21 AM
@Karnbot13 wrote:Android Police had the article about Samsung ads. It wasn't limited to the cheap devices which was rubbing people the wrong way
Oh I see yes...I have them along the top of Samsung Pay. I had imagined it more as self-promotion than paid ads like say kellogs or something. But I can't say as I've kept track. I suppose something subliminal happens but I don't really "see" the ads.
I had a look and they seem to be Samsung related or cross-promotions with Samsung. Not just a stand-alone ad.
But then hey...Google is all about monetization of our every digital movement.
07-03-2020 11:11 AM
Android Police had the article about Samsung ads. It wasn't limited to the cheap devices which was rubbing people the wrong way
07-03-2020 09:49 AM - edited 07-03-2020 09:54 AM
I guess you're referring to the pop-up camera...I agree. But I don't do selfies. So to not have it if and when it breaks it won't be missed. And it likely won't get broken due to over-use. As it is I have a little vinyl sticker that covers the front camera. But on my S7 it's not on the display area. Just the outer black area. The Hyper then gives the whole front to the display.
07-03-2020 09:34 AM - edited 07-03-2020 09:36 AM
I don't have experience with either of those devices.
But folding, flipping, sliding, popping, moving, springing parts tend to have high failure rates over time. Repeated use gradually fatigues the teeny tiny signal traces in the connecting data ribbons.
The questions are whether the manufacturer used a flimsy (cheap) approach or a more robust (costly) connection method, whether the ultimate failure of this moving part will occur before or after some other hardware failure makes the device frustrating the use, and how much replacement parts (or related labour) will cost when needed.
Other Motorola devices are generally known for good build quality. But this thing is slim and tiny, it has no mechanical bulk, and it's packed into a very tech-dense machine. I haven't seen any takeaparts. It could go either way.
07-03-2020 02:59 AM
Certainly don't like ads. I wonder if their upper flagship phones don't?
So I'm dabbling with Tasker. I'm going to try to figure out if it can turn on NFC when Google Pay is launched. And then off on exit. Bit of a learning curve. But I'm up for it. It would seem to me after some fiddling and watching some videos that it's probably doable.
The specs of that Hyper certainly pale in comparison to the S10+ so I wonder about other high performing pure Android phones too.
07-02-2020 11:25 PM
I heard some newer Samsung phones have advertisements enbedded. Not sure which phones, but it might be worth looking into.