Smart Phone Help

[DynamiteRave]

Did you call the fire department after this picture? I think Fido could use a hand in that tree.

[los panda]

Originally Posted by DynamiteRave

Did you call the fire department after this picture? I think Fido could use a hand in that tree.

i couldn't fit it into the frame, but he's got a whole tree house up there. he rarely comes down anymore, they only make him come down when the santa ana winds act up.

now you see why it's so much fun to record his pets?

[Daseal]

WTF. That dudes dogs have something I always wanted as a kid. LAME!

[los panda]

Originally Posted by Daseal

WTF. That dudes dogs have something I always wanted as a kid. LAME!

me too, i wanted one that had a zip line down, how awesome would that be?!?

[mooby]

I'm going to copy and paste what I wrote on FB here in regards to my queries for getting a new phone, and if anyone could help that would be awesome:

I need some advice. Planning on getting a new phone sometime in the next couple months, and I'm undecided between Verizon/ATT/Sprint. I currently have the Iphone 4 with an unlimited plan with Verizon, but if I upgrade they're going to make me pay $10 more for a 2gb plan instead of unlimited data. I'm not happy about paying more for less, but I'll manage.

I do have an upgrade credit if I stay with Verizon, but I checked out their website and it didn't change the price for anything (it said 200 for a Galaxy S3 with a new 2 year plan, and the price didn't change even after I applied the credit, so I'm not entirely sure what that's good for). Also I'm torn between waiting for the latest and greatest (i.e. the Sony Xperia Z that probably won't be out for 3-4 months, and not sure what carriers yet, or the next Iphone) or just buying an older model phone that works fine, like an Iphone 5 or the Galaxy S3. Anyways, any of my techie friends wanna weigh in? I've always had Verizon so I'm not sure how much different the main two competitors (ATT or Sprint) are in terms of network, plans, charges, etc. If I do switch it'll be to either of those two.

[BDBohnzie]

Originally Posted by mooby

I'm going to copy and paste what I wrote on FB here in regards to my queries for getting a new phone, and if anyone could help that would be awesome:

I need some advice. Planning on getting a new phone sometime in the next couple months, and I'm undecided between Verizon/ATT/Sprint. I currently have the Iphone 4 with an unlimited plan with Verizon, but if I upgrade they're going to make me pay $10 more for a 2gb plan instead of unlimited data. I'm not happy about paying more for less, but I'll manage.

I do have an upgrade credit if I stay with Verizon, but I checked out their website and it didn't change the price for anything (it said 200 for a Galaxy S3 with a new 2 year plan, and the price didn't change even after I applied the credit, so I'm not entirely sure what that's good for). Also I'm torn between waiting for the latest and greatest (i.e. the Sony Xperia Z that probably won't be out for 3-4 months, and not sure what carriers yet, or the next Iphone) or just buying an older model phone that works fine, like an Iphone 5 or the Galaxy S3. Anyways, any of my techie friends wanna weigh in? I've always had Verizon so I'm not sure how much different the main two competitors (ATT or Sprint) are in terms of network, plans, charges, etc. If I do switch it'll be to either of those two.

Before making the switch, get the Sensorly app and compare the different carriers near where you'll be.

Verizon seems to still have the upper hand on LTE in the DC Area. Sprint might have unlimited data, but their coverage is the weakest of the 3 you mentioned. I've never been a big fan of AT&T, but then again I've been a Verizon customer since 2000.

The thing about phones is as soon as you buy one, it's obsolete. So it's a matter of being able to live with what you buy for 2 years. I'm seriously contemplating jumping from iPhone to Android this fall when I'm eligible to upgrade. I love my iPhone, but I'm getting more into Android development and would be nice to be able to use what I'm building.

[los panda]

Originally Posted by BDBohnzie

Before making the switch, get the Sensorly app and compare the different carriers near where you'll be.

Verizon seems to still have the upper hand on LTE in the DC Area. Sprint might have unlimited data, but their coverage is the weakest of the 3 you mentioned. I've never been a big fan of AT&T, but then again I've been a Verizon customer since 2000.

The thing about phones is as soon as you buy one, it's obsolete. So it's a matter of being able to live with what you buy for 2 years. I'm seriously contemplating jumping from iPhone to Android this fall when I'm eligible to upgrade. I love my iPhone, but I'm getting more into Android development and would be nice to be able to use what I'm building.

what kind of things are you cooking?

[BDBohnzie]

Originally Posted by los panda

what kind of things are you cooking?

Proprietary stuff for my company thus far. I'm still very green. Trying to get my feet wet learning Java first before jumping into Android development.

[los panda]

wish i could offer some good advice, sorry moobs.

all i can say is that i rarely use mobile data, i use wifi at home, and wifi at work. i use mobile data in my commute for waze, that's pretty much the extent of it.

if you're able to use wifi at home and at work, don't sweat the 2 gb limit too hard.

[DynamiteRave]

As someone who is phone crazy. I've used about 500mbs of data in almost a month.

As Los said, anywhere that has wifi, USE IT. This is from someone who checks facebook religiously, posts pictures, uses instagram, surfs the web in bed (since I don't have a laptop), I was afraid that 2 gigs wouldn't be enough. But so far it looks like I may not even make 1 gig before the end of my cycle.

As long as you don't live on your phone outside of places that don't have wifi, 2 gigs is plenty.

[los panda]

i should add that my current cycle started on 12/23/12, i've used 180 mb mobile data so far.
it would normally be higher than that but i didn't use it much while i was back in maryland for just over a week. still, multiply it by 5 and it's still not even 1 gb.
wifi is a shitton faster anyways

[RedskinRat]

The Most Ridiculous Law of 2013 (So Far): It Is Now a Crime to Unlock Your Smartphone

Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in 1998 to outlaw technologies that bypass copyright protections. This sounds like a great idea, but in practice it has terrible, and widely acknowledged, negative consequences that affect consumers and new innovation. The DMCA leaves it up to the Librarian of Congress (LOC) to issue exemptions from the law, exceptions that were recognized to be necessary given the broad language of the statute that swept a number of ordinary acts and technologies as potential DMCA circumvention violations.

Every three years groups like the American Foundation for the Blind have to lobby Congress to protect an exception for the blind allowing for books to be read aloud. Can you imagine a more ridiculous regulation than one that requires a lobby group for the blind to come to Capitol Hill every three years to explain that the blind still can't read books on their own and therefore need this exception?

Until recently it was illegal to jailbreak your own iPhone, and after Saturday it will be illegal to unlock a new smartphone, thereby allowing it to switch carriers. This is a result of the exception to the DMCA lapsing. It was not a mistake, but rather an intentional choice by the Librarian of Congress, that this was no longer fair use and acceptable. The Electronic Frontier Foundation among other groups has detailed the many failings of the DMCA Triennial Rulemaking process, which in this case led to this exception lapsing.

[CRedskinsRule]

Originally Posted by RedskinRat

The Most Ridiculous Law of 2013 (So Far): It Is Now a Crime to Unlock Your Smartphone

Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in 1998 to outlaw technologies that bypass copyright protections. This sounds like a great idea, but in practice it has terrible, and widely acknowledged, negative consequences that affect consumers and new innovation. The DMCA leaves it up to the Librarian of Congress (LOC) to issue exemptions from the law, exceptions that were recognized to be necessary given the broad language of the statute that swept a number of ordinary acts and technologies as potential DMCA circumvention violations.

Every three years groups like the American Foundation for the Blind have to lobby Congress to protect an exception for the blind allowing for books to be read aloud. Can you imagine a more ridiculous regulation than one that requires a lobby group for the blind to come to Capitol Hill every three years to explain that the blind still can't read books on their own and therefore need this exception?

Until recently it was illegal to jailbreak your own iPhone, and after Saturday it will be illegal to unlock a new smartphone, thereby allowing it to switch carriers. This is a result of the exception to the DMCA lapsing. It was not a mistake, but rather an intentional choice by the Librarian of Congress, that this was no longer fair use and acceptable. The Electronic Frontier Foundation among other groups has detailed the many failings of the DMCA Triennial Rulemaking process, which in this case led to this exception lapsing.

It's my understanding that the actual law is that you can't unlock a phone which you bought on a contract at a reduced price. If you paid full price for your phone, and/or have satisfied any contractual obligations (ie at the end of the 2yr contract) that you accepted as part of receiving the phone at a reduced price, or pay the early termination fee associated with breaking your contract, then you are free to unlock the phone.

Not saying it makes much more sense, but it's basically a contractual issue between wireless providers and cellphone users

another good article on it:
Unlocking Cellphones Becomes Illegal Saturday | LiveScience

[los panda]

i unlocked (and rooted) my phone. i mainly did this so i could use a task manager that would actually work.

it drove me crazy when a window would pop up telling me "x app is misbehaving, click ok to stop it". i would tell it to stop only to see the same window pop up 30 seconds later.