[Tricks]

FieryVulpine FieryVulpine:

bootlegga bootlegga:

That's one reason why I have no desire to switch to an Apple environment - once you do, you're trapped on the neverending hamster wheel of buying new hardware every couple years.

Are not all consumer electronics designed with planned obsolescence in mind? One has to constantly buy new hardware for PCs with they want to keep up the the latest games (though I heard rumors that PC gaming is in decline.)

Though I admit I have a Samsung Galaxy Ace Q and the most basic plan I could buy because I did not want to pay full price or the minimum $50/month plan for an iPhone. I do not have much use for bells and whistles.

That's not planned obsolescence, that's just technology getting better and software developers making use of the increased performance. If hardware didn't get any better, there would be nothing else for software devs to work with.

And can we really be upset with companies making better products?

[Dragon-Dancer]

I'm just happy I don't have to make the choice since the only cell I have is company issue and the company pays for it. Sure it's a Blackberry but that isn't a big deal since I rarely use it for more than making calls or reviewing email anyway. For toys I have an iPad, I love it but again it was a gift so I didn't put money into it. From what I can see the new iPhone doesn't offer much more than old ones did.

[saturn_656]

FieryVulpine FieryVulpine:

One has to constantly buy new hardware for PCs with they want to keep up the the latest games.

Don't buy a Walmart special and you should be able to go four years between major upgrades.

$1:

(though I heard rumors that PC gaming is in decline.)

So say the console-weenies.

[desertdude]

For the snApple iCrap loyal people

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/j ... depressing

[Curtman]

Tricks Tricks:

FieryVulpine FieryVulpine:

bootlegga bootlegga:

That's one reason why I have no desire to switch to an Apple environment - once you do, you're trapped on the neverending hamster wheel of buying new hardware every couple years.

Are not all consumer electronics designed with planned obsolescence in mind? One has to constantly buy new hardware for PCs with they want to keep up the the latest games (though I heard rumors that PC gaming is in decline.)

Though I admit I have a Samsung Galaxy Ace Q and the most basic plan I could buy because I did not want to pay full price or the minimum $50/month plan for an iPhone. I do not have much use for bells and whistles.

That's not planned obsolescence, that's just technology getting better and software developers making use of the increased performance. If hardware didn't get any better, there would be nothing else for software devs to work with.

And can we really be upset with companies making better products?

No we can't. But we can get pretty pissed off when they refuse to let us roll back a firmware update to a previous one that worked great. I'll only use an Android phone with the Nexus brand because they have no locks on them. Its my phone, I'll do whatever I want with it.

[Brenda]

Curtman Curtman:

I'll only use an Android phone with the Nexus brand because they have no locks on them. Its my phone, I'll do whatever I want with it.

You mean a lock to a carrier? (That's the right word, right? I mean like Telus, or Bell or something)

[Curtman]

Brenda Brenda:

Curtman Curtman:

I'll only use an Android phone with the Nexus brand because they have no locks on them. Its my phone, I'll do whatever I want with it.

You mean a lock to a carrier? (That's the right word, right? I mean like Telus, or Bell or something)

That too, but what Apple and most non-Nexus devices do is lock the boot loader, so you are forced to use whatever firmware your carrier pushes to you. With a nexus phone you can put any version of Android on it. You can even use Ubuntu or any other non-android software that will run on it.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Nexus

The first one was made by HTC, the next two by Samsung. They are designed by Google as a reference platform for upcoming versions of android.

[Brenda]

Curtman Curtman:

Brenda Brenda:

Curtman Curtman:

I'll only use an Android phone with the Nexus brand because they have no locks on them. Its my phone, I'll do whatever I want with it.

You mean a lock to a carrier? (That's the right word, right? I mean like Telus, or Bell or something)

That too, but what Apple and most non-Nexus devices do is lock the boot loader, so you are forced to use whatever firmware your carrier pushes to you. With a nexus phone you can put any version of Android on it. You can even use Ubuntu or any other non-android software that will run on it.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Nexus

The first one was made by HTC, the next two by Samsung. They are designed by Google as a reference platform for upcoming versions of android.

Ah, ok. Thanks

I'm on my first smartphone, and I am damned proud of myself that I unlocked it (as in from my carrier )

[BigKeithO]

Curtman Curtman:

That too, but what Apple and most non-Nexus devices do is lock the boot loader, so you are forced to use whatever firmware your carrier pushes to you. With a nexus phone you can put any version of Android on it. You can even use Ubuntu or any other non-android software that will run on it.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Nexus

The first one was made by HTC, the next two by Samsung. They are designed by Google as a reference platform for upcoming versions of android.

Ummm... That isn't really 100% true. The Nexus lines of phones don't have any manufacturer lock-in. As Google releases new versions of Android (Froyo, Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, etc) the updates are pushed out from Google directly to the Nexus handsets. This update process is very similar to how Apple handles updates on the iPhone.

Now handsets made by Samsung, HTC, Motorola, etc are handled differently. As Google updates Android these manufacturers take the source code and change it to work on their handsets. They also put their own custom launchers on top of Android at this time. Have you ever noticed how Android on a Samsung phone looks different than Android on an HTC phone? Samsung's launcher is called TouchWiz and HTC's is called Sense. This is why these phones don't seem to ever be running the most current version of Android and leads to fragmentation, Apple fans love to talk about Android fragmentation.

What I think Curtman is talking about is rooting your phone. This is simlar to "Jail Breaking" an iPhone. Android is built on Linux, rooting means to grant yourself "root user access" to the file system. Basically running your phone in admin mode. Once your phone is rooted you can swap out whatever version of Android you are using for any of the custom versions (called ROMs) out there. One of the most popular is called Cyanogen Mod. You can root any Android phone and load software outside of the manufacturers control.

[FieryVulpine]

saturn_656 saturn_656:

So say the console-weenies.

Thems fighting words, Pilgrim.

Not really, the only console I bother with these days is my (nearly) twenty-year-old Sega Genesis. The only reason to bother with a PC is for console emulation. Preferably third and fourth generation consoles.

[Public_Domain]

Curtman Curtman:

Brenda Brenda:

Curtman Curtman:

I'll only use an Android phone with the Nexus brand because they have no locks on them. Its my phone, I'll do whatever I want with it.

You mean a lock to a carrier? (That's the right word, right? I mean like Telus, or Bell or something)

That too, but what Apple and most non-Nexus devices do is lock the boot loader, so you are forced to use whatever firmware your carrier pushes to you. With a nexus phone you can put any version of Android on it. You can even use Ubuntu or any other non-android software that will run on it.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Nexus

The first one was made by HTC, the next two by Samsung. They are designed by Google as a reference platform for upcoming versions of android.

Rooting is fun

[Curtman]

BigKeithO BigKeithO:

Curtman Curtman:

That too, but what Apple and most non-Nexus devices do is lock the boot loader, so you are forced to use whatever firmware your carrier pushes to you. With a nexus phone you can put any version of Android on it. You can even use Ubuntu or any other non-android software that will run on it.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Nexus

The first one was made by HTC, the next two by Samsung. They are designed by Google as a reference platform for upcoming versions of android.

Ummm... That isn't really 100% true. The Nexus lines of phones don't have any manufacturer lock-in. As Google releases new versions of Android (Froyo, Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, etc) the updates are pushed out from Google directly to the Nexus handsets. This update process is very similar to how Apple handles updates on the iPhone.

Now handsets made by Samsung, HTC, Motorola, etc are handled differently. As Google updates Android these manufacturers take the source code and change it to work on their handsets. They also put their own custom launchers on top of Android at this time. Have you ever noticed how Android on a Samsung phone looks different than Android on an HTC phone? Samsung's launcher is called TouchWiz and HTC's is called Sense. This is why these phones don't seem to ever be running the most current version of Android and leads to fragmentation, Apple fans love to talk about Android fragmentation.

What I think Curtman is talking about is rooting your phone. This is simlar to "Jail Breaking" an iPhone. Android is built on Linux, rooting means to grant yourself "root user access" to the file system. Basically running your phone in admin mode. Once your phone is rooted you can swap out whatever version of Android you are using for any of the custom versions (called ROMs) out there. One of the most popular is called Cyanogen Mod. You can root any Android phone and load software outside of the manufacturers control.

The difference is with a Nexus phone you don't need to use the firmware from Google. You can install any of a multitude of different versions from 3rd parties. Cyanogenmod ( http://www.cyanogenmod.com ) is the most popular I think. There's MIUI ( http://miuiandroid.com/community/ ) etc, catering to diffent users demands. Cyanogenmod 9 is a good choice for people with say a Nexus S phone which isn't quite beefy enough to run Jellybean. You can keep a legacy firmware and still get security updates and back ported features. Its a great feature of open source that 3rd parties can provide support for phones long after Google stops supporting them.

You need to root your phone as well but you also need an unlocked boot loader to put the new boot loader on that let's you select 3rd party ROMs. You can have root with a locked boot loader and it will let you install 3rd party apps but your still stuck with Googles firmware and what they push to you.

[BigKeithO]

Curtman Curtman:

The difference is with a Nexus phone you don't need to use the firmware from Google. You can install any of a multitude of different versions from 3rd parties. Cyanogenmod ( http://www.cyanogenmod.com ) is the most popular I think. There's MIUI ( http://miuiandroid.com/community/ ) etc, catering to diffent users demands. Cyanogenmod 9 is a good choice for people with say a Nexus S phone which isn't quite beefy enough to run Jellybean. You can keep a legacy firmware and still get security updates and back ported features. Its a great feature of open source that 3rd parties can provide support for phones long after Google stops supporting them.

You need to root your phone as well but you also need an unlocked boot loader to put the new boot loader on that let's you select 3rd party ROMs. You can have root with a locked boot loader and it will let you install 3rd party apps but your still stuck with Googles firmware and what they push to you.

I understand that, I just disagree with you. I'm running Cyanogen10 on my rooted HTC Desire HD right now. You don't need a Nexus phone to load 3rd party ROMs. I believe the only manufacturer with completely unlockable (I made up a word!) bootloaders are Motorola's.

My wife is running Cyanogen11 (Jellybean) on her Samsung Galaxy S2 right now as well. Having a Nexus phone is not a prerequisite for loading a ROM. I know because I've rooted and loaded ROMs onto these phones myself.

[CanadianJeff]

I picked up a galaxy 2 shortly before the galaxy 3 launch (let's be honest it's almost the same damn phone) and I've been highly pleased with it. It cost less then half of what the iphone 4 did at the time and it does pretty much everything I've ever asked of it.

I have to wonder though if anyone bought one because of the lawsuit with apple.

[Curtman]

BigKeithO BigKeithO:

Curtman Curtman:

The difference is with a Nexus phone you don't need to use the firmware from Google. You can install any of a multitude of different versions from 3rd parties. Cyanogenmod ( http://www.cyanogenmod.com ) is the most popular I think. There's MIUI ( http://miuiandroid.com/community/ ) etc, catering to diffent users demands. Cyanogenmod 9 is a good choice for people with say a Nexus S phone which isn't quite beefy enough to run Jellybean. You can keep a legacy firmware and still get security updates and back ported features. Its a great feature of open source that 3rd parties can provide support for phones long after Google stops supporting them.

You need to root your phone as well but you also need an unlocked boot loader to put the new boot loader on that let's you select 3rd party ROMs. You can have root with a locked boot loader and it will let you install 3rd party apps but your still stuck with Googles firmware and what they push to you.

I understand that, I just disagree with you. I'm running Cyanogen10 on my rooted HTC Desire HD right now. You don't need a Nexus phone to load 3rd party ROMs. I believe the only manufacturer with completely unlockable (I made up a word!) bootloaders are Motorola's.


My wife is running Cyanogen11 (Jellybean) on her Samsung Galaxy S2 right now as well. Having a Nexus phone is not a prerequisite for loading a ROM. I know because I've rooted and loaded ROMs onto these phones myself.

Some of them are trickier than others. Corinne has a Sony Xperia MK-16a, and it wasn't easy at all. With a nexus phone there is an option in the settings to root, and one in the boot loader (hold volume and power when its off) to unlock the way it should be. You can also download schematics and data sheets for the components. Its ironically like the Apple in its woz years where the schematics came in the box.