Android Thread

[Nathan]

Got a Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 from best buy for $199.  It's going to get CyanogenMod tomorrow

[Kevrock]

I a loaner of the Tab S through work, the OS is terrible. Samsung version of 4.2.2, ugh.

Love CyanogenMod but they are on my craplist currently. Great mod has turned into an awfully shady company.

[Nathan]

This is on 4.4.2 surprisingly.

[GburgNatsFan]

I a loaner of the Tab S through work, the OS is terrible. Samsung version of 4.2.2, ugh.

Love CyanogenMod but they are on my craplist currently. Great mod has turned into an awfully shady company.

Not sure what you mean... they're shady now? I didn't even know they were a "company", per se. (I'm very out of touch.)

[Nathan]

My guess is he's talking about the commercialization of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CyanogenMod#Cyanogen_Inc.

I assume they're going to try to go the route of something like Canonical (company behind Ubuntu) and try to start offering services for business users and things like that, while still having the software available freely for those that don't need the support.

[Kevrock]

Sorry, my Tab is on 4.4.2. Or at least Samsungs version of it. Awful.

[Nathan]

Got mine running on CM11 M12.  Might play with the CM12 (Lollipop) alpha on XDA tonight and see how it's working too.

[Kevrock]

My guess is he's talking about the commercialization of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CyanogenMod#Cyanogen_Inc.

I assume they're going to try to go the route of something like Canonical (company behind Ubuntu) and try to start offering services for business users and things like that, while still having the software available freely for those that don't need the support.

Cyanogen has incorporated and has been pretty crappy since. They acted shady to independent developers as they were incorporating and they completely screwed OnePlus (their first hardware partner ever) this past week in India by giving exclusive rights to Micromax right before the OPO launch.

Here's some stories if you interested:

http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/28/cyanogen-oneplus-one-india-betrayal/
https://plus.google.com/+GuillaumeLesniak/posts/L8FJkrcahPs

[HalfSmokes]

Feel bad for people who bought the one plus one based on software, reading that, it looks like the deal with cyanogen could expire after a year

[Kevrock]

Well, one year is the break-even point compared to flagship phones.

But yeah it's being debated how long the two years of guaranteed support runs out. Can always throw another ROM on there but it's nice having a nice OS running natively.

[Nathan]

"To clarify misinformation out there, the OnePlus One will get OTA firmware updates for all global devices, including global devices for our users in India."

https://cyngn.com/blog/2014/12/commitment-to-our-users/

[Kevrock]

That statement is the murkiest yet, it doesn't clarify anything.

This morning Cyanogen (which until now) had been quiet on the subject released a statement. In today’s release, Cyanogen noted that all global OnePlus One’s will receive OTA’s and will continue to receive support including global devices in India. This is good news on the face of it. Although there is a couple of points to note. OnePlus have announced their intention to run their own stock android and the use of the phrasing ‘global devices’ by both Cyanogen and OnePlus has been repeated throughout their statements. This reference is in regards to what is best thought of as the ‘standard worldwide device’. If regional variants of the device are sold, then there is (presumably) no guarantee that these devices will run on CyanogenOS. Not all versions of the OnePlus One are ‘global versions’. We already know the OnePlus One in China is not the so-called global version, but instead a Chinese version and this comes running with ColorOS. Similarly, in the OnePlus announcement, they did state that they would ship the global One in India. Although there was an interesting caveat to that statement “We will ship the Global version of the One in India. The version will depend as per the production batch”. Reading between the lines, this could mean that the initial (already produced) One’s will come with CyanogenOS and receive OTA’s as they are global devices. However, the statement does imply that production (at some point) will switch to an alternate or Indian version like we have in China. So the Cyanogen statement today does provide clarity from Cyanogen’s point of view and if you own a global device. Although if you are based in India and planning on purchasing the One you might find (depending on when you buy the device) you might not be buying a ‘global device’.

http://www.androidheadlines.com/2014/12/cyanogen-confirm-global-oneplus-ones-will-recieve-support.html

[Nathan]

It's all based on AOSP, if CM becomes "bad" another one will show up to replace it and the community will form behind it.

[Kevrock]

Sure. There's other options like Paranoid or just Vanilla Android. I do really like CM though and it's nice to have it native on a phone instead of having to flash it.

[Mattionals]

So I officially am an iOS convert, well at least on my phone.  My two lines are now Nexus 6 and Droid Turbo.  The Nexus is now rooted and running Nova Launcher with the stock Lollipop theme.  As an iOS user for many years and my only real Android experiences since Eclair was TouchWiz (not a fan) I was taken aback at how much I fell for stock (close enough in the Turbo) for Android.

[Slateman]

Samsung released details on their new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.

Curved screen is a gimmick.

No more removable battery pack.

No more expandable storage.

Look like I'm going to examine the HTC One M9 and the LG3 G3

[HalfSmokes]

Samsung pay looks like it'll be nice if it works

[dracnal]

I'm guessing it's another NFC payment system?


I'm pretty much gung ho when it comes to tech, but I'm really expecting there to be a huge shoe drop caused by NFC payments.

[HalfSmokes]

Nope, NFC but also works on magnetic terminals so it should work pretty much anywhere

[imref]

for the cyanogen fans:

https://gigaom.com/2015/03/02/new-qualcomm-deal-opens-the-door-for-more-cyanogen-powered-phones/

[Kevrock]

They're a bunch of tools.

[Kevrock]

Still my favorite OS at this point, though.

[Kevrock]

Samsung released details on their new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.

Curved screen is a gimmick.

No more removable battery pack.

No more expandable storage.

Look like I'm going to examine the HTC One M9 and the LG3 G3

Why is internal battery bad? If Samsung keeps up with other phones, battery life is now a day plus, so you shouldn't need to swap batteries.

I'd be more worried about their awful bloatware and interface.

[HalfSmokes]

Internal battery is bad if you want to keep you phone for longer than the battery can still efficiently hold a charge, i.e. ~3 years.

[axman]

I got the G3 with a recent upgrade (free at Verizon). Satisfied so far, but still getting used to it.  I have a Samsung tablet and the bloatware on that really put me off on them. C-net gives both the G3 and HTC One great marks.