My wife wants to have her LG Optimus have different ringtones for different callers. My T-mobile Dash does it very easily, but I've been fucking around with her phone for about half an hour, doesn't look like it can do it. Is there an app you guys trust that can handle it?
Interesting article on new 4G cel phone and the effects of the arbitrary data caps that most carriers are imposing. Basically, you hit your monthly limit within 2 hours of use. I hate cel phone companies. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.publicknowledge.org/blog/arbitrary-data-limits-make-wireless-4g-waste" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.publicknowledge.org/blog/arb ... s-4g-waste</a>
So I'm trading in my wonderful Galaxy S for a.. less special Blackberry Curve 3G. Any "essential apps" that won't cripple the curve's 640-odd mhz processor and 256mb of ram? Really my only downloads at the moment are Ubersocial, Facebook, and a barcode scanner.
My dad dropped his iPhone 4 in the river last weekend, effectively killing it, and went and got another one. He gave me the broken one and told me to sell it on ebay, because he sees similarly damaged iPhone 4's going for around $125 a pop (I'm guessing people buy them broken, fix them, and resell the refurbished ones for profit). The only question I have is this: I can't turn the broken phone on to reset it to factory settings, thus erasing any personal info my dad might have on there. Is this something I should be worried about, or does the water damage pretty much just fry the board in these things, deleting everything anyway?
My girlfriends daughter ruined her Verizon phone so I'm looking to replace it for her. Something simple, no contract, that a 12 year old girl would like. Looking for something cheap-ish (less than $70) and without mobile web (this is a must.) Any advice/ recommendations are appreciates. Thanks.
My work email has just changed and now I can't get it set up on my phone (Droid Eris). It's an Exchange ActiveSync and if someone could give me some pointers that would be awesome*. *Our IT guys wouldn't help for my personal phone. Grrr.
My phone decided to shit the bed but it was a piece of shit anyways. I have two upgrades available on my Sprint Account that total $225. I was using a shitty phone and haven't even looked at phones for like 3 years. What kind of phones should I be looking at?
I got a new phone because Sprint thought there was something wrong with it because after two years it stopped working in and around my house one week ago (dropped calls, couldn't send text messages, couldn't call, etc). I got a new phone and the problems continue. I never had a problem in my house with the cell. Never even had static. Now I can't do anything with it 80% of the time. I step outside and the bars jump right up. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing it, it is driving me crazy.
iPhone announcement in 30 mins. Rumor is they're announcing iPhone 4S, NOT iPhone 5, and that the big news will be its availability on new carriers, primarily Sprint. I'm going with Engadget and Wired for liveblogs because it isn't being streamed online.
I've had my 3GS for more than two years now. Probably going to upgrade within the year. I'm leaning toward Android, because iPhone is not 4G.
Never mind take a look at the data plans for 4G... the vast majority cap out after about 15 minutes of use. Sure, it's technically "4G", but it's beyond useless in the real world for what people expect from 4G. $0.02
What do you mean? Isn't the ability to use apps just a selling point? Or are you saying that 4G isn't widespread, so it's useless anyway? In Ann Arbor Verizon has begun testing or rolling out 4G. I don't know what they're actually doing, but my coworker picks it up from time to time. I assume in the next three years (as long as I'll have my next phone) 4G will be much more widespread, like 3G currently is. As for what Nett says, I'll have to look at that. I can't imagine 15 minutes of use will be how the plans look in the near future, once it's more ubiquitous. (Is that even what you meant) Admittedly I haven't looked into it too much.
I just had my HTC Evo replaced today (with a brand new one of the same make/model) after having it for 16 months. The charging dock got separated from it somehow and I had to put the cord in there just right for it to charge. Anyway, once I am eligible for an upgrade in April, I will be taking advantage of it and most likely getting the iPhone 4S. First, 4G means nothing to me. I really don't download or stream that much, plus 4G in its current state just kills battery life. Additionally, the 4S download speeds are pretty awesome in their own right. Next, I was supremely unhappy with my phone's memory capabilities. Lots of people say Android phones have an advantage because they have removable SD cards. I disagree. I have a 16GB SD card on my phone, but am constantly running out of memory because the phone itself only has 500MB and there are a ton of apps and such that I can't transfer over to the SD card. This is only exacerbated by the fact that the phone came with a ton of pre-installed apps that I will never use (Blockbuster, Nascar, etc). It even came with TWO Facebook apps, that together took up 15% of my phone's memory. What use is a 16GB memory card if there's a ton of stuff you can't move onto it? Another complaint is that the HTC Evo doesn't (without rooting) support screen to TV HDMI. Yes, it has an HDMI output, but that basically only works for things in your gallery (i.e. saved movies, music and photographs). Perhaps it was presumptuous of me, but I was under the impression I would be able to do things like stream Netflix or HBOGo to my TV via the HDMI. Some positives about the iPhone 4S that caught my eye. First, it is CDMA and GSM. The camera quality is very good. 1080p video is pretty cool. I'm intrigued by the dual antennae. I also really liked the look and utility of iOS5. We'll see. The longer I have my Evo the more I see it hasn't lived up to my expectations or an issue arises that I feel would not occur (at least not as badly) with an iPhone.
That's a problem specifically with your phone. Most Android phones now are coming with large blocks of internal storage. My Droid X has 8gb internal storage and a 16gb card. The guy next to me just got a Samsung Galaxy S II, and he has 16gb of internal storage. The problem is one of licensing/DRM. Companies don't want you buying the streaming apps and using it to stream to your TV - they want you to buy the cable package, too. The hardware is capable of it, it's strictly a DRM/licensing limitation. Just FYI. Not trying to change your mind, everyone has different preferences - just clarifying a couple things.
That's not really a useful metric, though. Faster speeds are superior even for the exact same usage. When browsing the internet, 4G LTE phones display webpages almost as fast as my desktop - faster internet speeds, just the browser rendering can't keep up. Buffering music or YouTube or whatever all works faster. I can cache maps on a navigation session faster. So, yes, it is technically feasible to cap out your 4G plan easier than you can cap out your 3G plan. But it's not like the limited 3G plans are any prize - you can max them out in a couple hours of usage. What's the difference? You're talking about an entire month's usage - 15 minutes vs. 2 hours is almost irrelevant over that period of time.
No, the "4G" advertised by most phones is bullshit. 4G is a specific standard of speed which is fairly vaguely defined, however most phones labeled as such are just saying "Oh it's faster than 3G so it's 4G!" In their presser Apple pointed out they were faster than the competition's "so called 4G devices" as sort of a screw you to that marketing practice.
Hey, I'm pretty sure my Blackberry Storm has a short. I can see the backlight/receive calls/texts/emails, but I can't see anything on the screen. This makes receiving texts infinitely less useful. I'm going to take it to a repair shop, but is there anything they can do? I don't have an upgrade for a while, and I really don't want to pay a bunch for a new phone -- which is the suggestion they gave me at the Verizon store (It's not under warranty). Also, if it can be fixed, how much should I be looking to pay?
I think it depends on how far away you are from an upgrade and what all you need it for. If you primarily use it for texting and your upgrade is say 4 months away, then I would go on Ebay and try to find a decent Verizon phone for $30 or so. Something tells me there's going to be a lot of used iPhones hitting the market in the coming weeks as well as after Christmas, so you could also consider that. In short, if you feel like you need the functions of your current phone I wouldn't spend more than $60 or so. A quick Ebay search reveals used Storms starting at $80 and new ones around $150. Not to mention you could opt for one of the cheaper BB or Android devices on there if you have to have email and whatever else.
If you're feeling particularly industrious, you could snag a replacement LCD and replace it yourself: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Blackberry-Storm-Screen-touch-digitizer/dp/B003UVM2UC" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.amazon.com/Blackberry-Storm- ... B003UVM2UC</a> Of course, you could break the phone in the process or replace the LCD only to find out that it's a problem with the motherboard. There are some bad reviews there so maybe that's not the one to buy but there are others. I'd buy an inexpensive replacement phone, you might be able to get a few bucks for yours on eBay for parts, and wait it out until your upgrade is due. It's extremely unlikely that a shop will fix it for a worthwhile price.