Droid related stuff (problems/solutions tips, tricks, apps)

[caddymac]

He can do it any time he wants!

[nippletwister]

Maybe he needs to reflash his phone.

[daoist]

No, I said he needs to reflash his phone.

[daoist]

No, I said he needs to reflash his phone.

[Uncle Sherm]

I like mine so far, but it eats battery like crazy if you use wi-fi instead of the network.

[caddymac]

Picked the wife up a used Droid Pro of eBay. I think it has a plastic touchscreen and no moving parts, so it should take twice as long for her to destroy.

Remember a few pages back when I said we would become a BlackBerry household? I may have said that before pretty much every app maker more or less abandonded the platform (Gmail client, everything else out there I never thought I wanted until I started playing with the wife's old Droid 2 on Wifi). I'm not unhappy with my BlackBerry, but BB is doing nothing to keep me from jumping its sinking ship.

[PaulMuaDib]

advice needed. my droid 1 is slowly crapping out. laggy everything, random crashes/shutdowns, etc etc. anyway, i get a bit of upgrade help now, much better help in february. what's the phone to get? reqs are simple, 4g, big screen, fast proc. i'm on verizon and have been happy with it, so yeah. things coming out i need to keep an eye on? super awesome not that old phones i need to know about? trying to limp through until feb, but not sure i'll make it.

[Jobu]

The Thunderbolt is a pretty good 4g phone that's been dropped to $150. The new galaxy phones are out now, so everything else is getting price cut.

[daoist]

advice needed. my droid 1 is slowly crapping out. laggy everything, random crashes/shutdowns, etc etc. anyway, i get a bit of upgrade help now, much better help in february. what's the phone to get? reqs are simple, 4g, big screen, fast proc. i'm on verizon and have been happy with it, so yeah. things coming out i need to keep an eye on? super awesome not that old phones i need to know about? trying to limp through until feb, but not sure i'll make it.

If you can make it another week, you probably want a droid 4.

[caddymac]

But if he waits until February, what are the odds that they'll have the Droid 5?


In all seriousness, I just sold the wife's old broken Droid 2 on eBay. It only brought $15. I can't imagine working ones sell for too much more than that amount.

[Toilet of Sadness]

well, yeah, when a "top of the line" phone shows up on amazon for a penny after 2 or 3 months and obselete soon after that's what happens.

[MarcusAurelius]

yeah, better to release a phone that's obsolete when it hits the market (aka each iphone) relative to the data network standards of the time.

[Gretyl]

If it causes you to have the best-selling handset quarter after quarter? I'd agree.

[MarcusAurelius]

i don't think operating on the shittiest data network and a generation behind data tech caused huge iphone sales. more like despite all that.

[Talenos]

People would rather have the refined reliable tech than bleeding edge. Nothing wrong with that.

[MarcusAurelius]

there was nothing unrefined or unreliable about 3G at the time of iphone1's release.

everyone wants fast data transfer.

[WrenchHead]

If 3G worked worth a shit around here it'd seem like it was blazing fast. Sitting at work I'm getting 1.25 mbps up and 0.84 mbps down over the air with all five bars for a signal on Verizon 3G. That's a far cry better than I get when sitting at home with one or two bars of signal.

Meanwhile on wi-fi I'm getting 18.63 mbps up and 20.05 mbps down.

Not sure what the theoretical max of 3G is, but I'd like to consistently see that. As long as I can stream youtube or whatever without breaking up, I'm content. I don't care if you call it 3G, 4G or whatever.

Most of my time spent using the phone is at work, home, or while driving on the interstate. All three are places I get decent data speed either from wi-fi or proximity to towers.

[Nate]

I got a droid tablet for Christmas. Is there a good way to remote desktop to my PC from this thing that someone could walk me though installing? More importantly, can I use remote desktop with just Vista home premium, or do I need business or ultimate?

[caddymac]

You'll need Business or Ultimate to use Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

You could install a VNC server of some sort - TightVNC for instance.

Not sure about Droid, but I have Mocha RDP and Mocha VNC on my iPhone and it works a treat for my needs.

[nithos]

I have been using Splashtop for my remote desktop needs. Picked it up when it was free on Amazon Apps of the Day.

[Nate]

What is vnc?

Also, is there any app that will block ads across all/most apps?

[Toilet of Sadness]

What is vnc?

A different remoting protocol. It'd be extra software you'd have to install on your desktop...or you could upgrade your windows OS version as caddymac pointed out.

[DTower5]

You'll need Business or Ultimate to use Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

You could install a VNC server of some sort - TightVNC for instance.

Not sure about Droid, but I have Mocha RDP and Mocha VNC on my iPhone and it works a treat for my needs.

I user Wyse PocketCloud on my Droid for both RDP and VNC connections - one of the few apps that was worth more than what it cost. Are you looking for a secure setup with an SSH connection to VNC, or just something to get in and check your desktop with?

[Nate]

I just want to be able to view things on my desktop. I don't think it would have to be secure in any way.

[DTower5]

Honestly - then VNC is your best option.

I use - http://3www.uvnc.com/home.html - which would be the server on your desktop -

Forward ports 5800 and 5900 to your desktop (depends on your router)

Then use something like Pocket Cloud to connect from your tablet https://market.android.com/details?id=c ... rch_result - you get one stored connection with the free version

[Nate]

Ok, I've got pocketcloud on my droid and their server on my machine, but its not connecting. It has you log in on both with your google username/password and that works fine, and the droid sees my PC as an available connection, but it never gets connected. I forwarded port 5900 like I was supposed to. I just tried taking off the password and that didn't do anything to help me.

[Nate]

Ok, I'm not sure what was wrong, but doing it manually, I got it to work. This is awkward, but awesome. Now i need a bigger tablet.

[nithos]

Yeah, takes a little time to get use to interfacing with a non-touch optimized OS via touchscreen. But for quick and dirty stuff, it comes in handy.

[daoist]

I got a droid tablet for Christmas. Is there a good way to remote desktop to my PC from this thing that someone could walk me though installing? More importantly, can I use remote desktop with just Vista home premium, or do I need business or ultimate?

Which tablet? If it happens to be an Asus Transformer, it came with Splashtop remote.

[Nate]

Its a Herotab C8. I think. It took me awhile to find anything out about it, its not labeled on the outside. I think its a chinese knock-off attempt at the iPad or something. Its just right for what I want to do though, decent entry level tablet or MID or whatever it is. It just doesn't play well with the android market which sucks.

[Gretyl]

pictured: Apple's 4-year-old design, still sold in the form of the iPhone 3GS free w/contract; Samsung's new Galaxy Ace Plus, to be sold as an entry-level Android phone

this is pretty shameless

[nippletwister]

The android is rounder. Duh.

[Gretyl]

therein lies the shame

[PaulMuaDib]

so still pondering my next phone but i'm getting closer. Curious about the droid razor and galaxy s II mostly. they seem the biggest and fastest, but i worry specifically about battery life on a 4g network with the razor. plus i'm not sure what makes the galaxy s II that much different than the other big samsung phones. plus they're both semi-new and i don't want there to be a problem that hasn't shown up yet. advice? i know daoist recently got something new and i'm curious about that and his experience thus far.

[nithos]

The android is rounder. Duh.

Isn't "rounded corners" one of the thing Samsung got nailed on for their iPad knockoff?

[nippletwister]

Sarcasm is sarcasm. Duh.

[PaulMuaDib]

so, about 2 weeks away from upgrade day for me. pretty sure i'm going to get the nexus with an upgraded battery. reasons why i shouldn't?

[floor punching mummy]

because nobody needs more battery than the standard one. steve jobs said so.

[Gretyl]

on the flip side, why don't they ship with an extended battery in the first place? esp. since they know 4G gonna suck more juice

[Reagraham Lincool]

because nobody needs more battery than the standard one. steve jobs said so.

Yeah, and now he's dead. So that's where listening to Steve Jobs gets you.

[Fuzzy]

troof

[PaulMuaDib]

on the flip side, why don't they ship with an extended battery in the first place? esp. since they know 4G gonna suck more juice

they are with the droid razr maxx, and the nexus has better life than the regular razr, but better batteries are physically larger of course and that makes phones thicker, and people don't like that, and lots of people spend all day at a desk where they can charge their phone. i don't, but i also don't use my phone *that* much during the day. so yeah, probably try it out with the stock battery and likely upgrade in short order. i like having a case on my phone though, and i'm not sure anyone makes a case for a fatter nexus. at least not yet. the bigger batteries do come with an appropriate cover, but still, might try it caseless.

[Gretyl]

that makes phones thicker, and people don't like that

thank you

[PaulMuaDib]

my thought is, if it still fits in my pocket i'm good to go. i'm buying and using smart phones like tablets/netbooks/laptop replacements. especially something like the nexus with a 4.6 inch screen, it has to be kinda big to start with and i'd like to not have to charge it every 4 hours. i saw somewhere that some company is making a battery that's literally 2x as potent with associated upticks in run time and size. it costs $70 or something like that and lacks NFC, which probably isn't a big deal now but might be later. plus verizon themselves has an upgraded batter that's 40% better or thereabouts.

[Talenos]

that makes phones thicker, and people don't like that

thank you

The peoples want choice on the thickness of their pants bulge.

[stick]

that makes phones thicker, and people don't like that

thank you

The peoples want choice on the thickness of their pants bulge.

Yes, nobody likes having an unwanted pants bulge, just makes things awkward for everyone.

[daoist]

so, about 2 weeks away from upgrade day for me. pretty sure i'm going to get the nexus with an upgraded battery. reasons why i shouldn't?

For starters, the LG Spectrum is better in almost every way.

[jesriedl]

damn and you had me kinda sold on the ICS. time to go play with them

[PaulMuaDib]

so, about 2 weeks away from upgrade day for me. pretty sure i'm going to get the nexus with an upgraded battery. reasons why i shouldn't?

For starters, the LG Spectrum is better in almost every way.

go on. i mean i'm gonna look into it, but anything extra special/non-obvious?

edit: better battery and camera are all i'm really seeing. non-ice cream sandwich, no nfc, (not that either of those facts is a huge deal, but wondering why the love for the spectrum)

[daoist]

It's $100 cheaper, better battery, better camera, better screen.


The only selling points of the Gal Nex are, as you say, ICS and NFC.

I don't think ICS is enough of a selling point at this particular point in time. Now, don't get me wrong, ICS is freaking sweet. It's pretty much the best thing ever. Ever.

However, every other phone released within the past few months will soon be on ICS. So it's a pretty time-limited selling point.

That leaves NFC.

Have you ever seen a NFC-enabled cash register while out shopping in the midwest? Have you seen another human being with an NFC-enabled phone?

Neither have I.

In a year or two NFC will be all the rage, I bet. Sure, if you buy a phone without NFC now, you may be kicking yourself in 18 months. But then again, you get that 18 months of having a great phone.

[Toilet of Sadness]

Have you ever seen a NFC-enabled cash register while out shopping in the midwest? Have you seen another human being with an NFC-enabled phone?

Neither have I.

In a year or two NFC will be all the rage, I bet. Sure, if you buy a phone without NFC now, you may be kicking yourself in 18 months. But then again, you get that 18 months of having a great phone.

Well, with Verizon, you upgrade at 20 months, anyway...so no big deal there.

[PaulMuaDib]

Also I've been reading somereviews and people. Aren't liking LG 's horrible skin

[MarcusAurelius]

i've gotten a couple emails from the university regarding my MS activesync email address:

Please modify your ActiveSync device settings for your Motorola MB 860 device, to lower the frequency of your active sync requests. Once you have done so, please reply to this message.

It is sync'ing at a very high frequency compared to other users.

Your device had almost 97,000 hits in the past 30 days. Most users are less than 20,000 hits.

the email setting was on "push". what does that even mean? i changed it to check every 15 minutes, will that fix it?

[Santa]

I think it means your university hires too many anal nerds.

[MarcusAurelius]

android phones and ipads are still banned on the campus wifi due to dhcp issues too, i believe

[Santa]

Terrible.

[floor punching mummy]

so sprint can handle millions of phones doing 97k requests a month over a cell network, but the network at a world class research university can't?

whatever princeton is spending that endowment money on, it isn't an IT department apparently.

[MarcusAurelius]

they did make slashdot!

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/04/ ... us-network

"A major bug in the Android DHCP implementation has forced network administrators to (effectively) ban the use of such devices on the Princeton campus. In the last few months, Princeton has had to kick more than 400 Android devices off the campus network for using IP addresses well beyond the allotted DHCP lease (to the detriment of other users), sending invalid DHCPREQUEST messages after lease expiration, and a variety of other wacky behaviors. The link provides a clearly documented explanation of the buggy behavior, as does this largely neglected bug report. Without doubt, this buggy behavior is affecting other, less vigilant networks, and disrupting Wi-Fi traffic for Android and non-Android devices alike."

[Santa]

Yeah, for having the most dickish network administrators.

[J-Dogg]

As an administrator of an enterprise DHCP server, that makes me shudder. A device keeping it's IP after lease expiration is not trivial.

[Gretyl]

[PaulMuaDib]

getting kinda annoyed with how the keyboard, more specifically the dictionary, for my LG Spectrum is working. it doesn't learn (at least not quickly) and there's not a quick way to add any words to it. there are a few other minor problems, but does anyone have a keyboard that works better? the market (now google play, stupid name change) is full of options. looking for free and similar to the keyboard on my old droid1

[nippletwister]

same

[Wargazm]

There's a lot of people who swear by SwiftKey. Personally, I use Swype and can't imagine using anything else.

[Fuzzy]

I like swype for the most part, but there are some small things about it that annoy me. If it had an editable dictionary it would be 100% better.