Elmas Xantia V6 and Musical Stuff

[elma]

I'm considering reformatting this one to Linux. Android I do like but this phones a Samsung android and all the extra crap samsung put on make it a far worse phone. My last was a Google nexus 4 and it's simplicity made it amazing. I had it 4 years and still would if I hadn't dropped it down the toilet.

[myglaren]

I have an Android phone that is only ever used for texting.
While I don't like touch screens I do find that the list of suggested words quite useful and it learns too.
Fortunately it doesn't do predictive text as such.

[elma]

I totally agree and liked it on my old one.

This new one tries to hard and doesn't learn.
Wondering if I can uninstall samsung keyboard and activate the far better Google one.

[Zelandeth]

Yep, the on screen keyboard was definitely one thing that I did not miss when I moved from the Samsung to the Huawei phone.

The Samsung on screen keyboard used to drive me around the bend on a regular basis.

[elma]

I'm rapidly growing a hatred of Samsung.
The google keyboard is installed as well as Samsungs own.
However it's locked down and I cannot change to the one I like.

There's loads of wasted space as it has Samsungs rubbish version of everything, browser for example, that cannot be deleted.
The phones so locked down it's either getting rooted or Linuxed before it gets thrown at something solid.
I cannot tolerate it with this lame excuse for a keyboard or the stupid noises it decides to make that cannot be switched off.

The 3 best phones I ever had were a Sony J5, a Samsung SGH-x820 and the Nexus 4 I bog washed.
In fact I still have them all but don't use the old ones as the replacement batteries you can buy are NOS and never work properly.
How have they managed to go from amazing and simple to complicated and frustrating? Actually and weak, the J5 and the old Samsung both went through the washing machine a few times and never complained.
From now on I'm only buying in house phones, i.e. nexus or pixel on android or an iPhone, this 3rd party rubbish has no place in my life.
Thankfully work have an iPhone for me, I just keep forgetting to collect it.

Bet you said Huray a few times when you got rid of yours Zel.

[CitroJim]

I'm disturbed by all this phone nonsense James and I'm soon looking to replace my old faithful Windows phone which I still love and find it does me just the job. Trouble is, the ting is rapidly getting obsolete and support for the few apps it does still run is likely to end...

I just don't know what to replace it with. I don't really want to go Apple as I hate their attitude and you have turned me right off anything Android and I was never a fan anyway...

Is there still any others out there? Never heard of this Google thing? Is it still available or is it now obsolescent like the Windows phone?

Or is it now a straight rock and hard place choice between Apple and Android?

Any advice gratefully received...

[elma]

Google is android Jim, it's actually really good in its pure form.
The problem is Android, unlike Apple, is an os that anyone can put onto their phone or tablet.
Hence the extra crap you don't need that doesn't integrate well.
Most manufacturers don't lock down the phone like Samsung and you can swap the boot loader to the standard android one which is good and removes all the 3rd party nonsense.
Samsung as far as I've experienced are quite unique in this respect and the phone is totally locked to their own boot loader unless rooted (equivalent to jail breaking an iPhone)
The difference is easily demonstrated on your huddle. Changing the boot loader (doesn't lose any of your data and can be installed simultaneously with the telco one) to a standard one will get rid of the Tesco shopping menu you have when you swipe left and all the nonsense tesco stuff you cannot uninstall.

Nexus and Pixel are Android phones and tablets that were commissioned by Google. They are manufactured by various companies such as Lg and Huwai on googles behalf but have a totally standard Android install. For this reason I have found them more reliable and easier to get on with than other companies Android offerings.

They suffer 2 pitfalls, firstly they never include an sd card slot so storage is limited. Secondly the more recent Nexus (5 and 6) suffer from boot loop problems frequently and are perhaps not a wise investment. They also have shoddy power buttons and the usb connectors are renowned for coming unsoldered. The pixels I am unfamiliar with, far too expensive for my taste.

The best one was the Nexus 4 which is 4-5 years old and probably has to small a screen for you. They are very easy to take apart and fix other than the digitiser/screen which is impossible and costs more than the phone is worth anyway. I will be replacing the Samsung with one eventually, they come up on ebay for between £35 and £60 for a 16gb version.

iPhone wise my friends lead me to believe that from the 6 onwards they are actually very good. I am an apple user but I actually don't like iOS at all myself. I bought an iPhone 4s brand new some time ago and took it back a few days later as it was rubbish. I'll be quite interested to see if they have improved when I get my work one. My big gripe with it was it was a terrible phone with poor signal and sound quality. As a gadget it was actually very good but I bought it to make phone calls and living rurally it just couldn't manage them.

[CitroJim]

Thanks James That's very valuable indeed!

[xantia_v6]

In my experience, (which only gets as modern as a Galaxy S5), Samsung phones are not locked down more, just differently. You can replace the recovery boot loader and android OS with one of your choice, the limitation is that you have to replace the lot, you cant easily install a hybrid version based on the Samsung code.

I have been running my S5 for a couple of weeks on LineageOS Nougat 7.1, which is virtually stock Android. It is a little flakey, and not nearly as slick as the old Samsung firmware, but it is slimmed-down and quite usable.

[elma]

Mines a j3 and apparently I have to either root it or use Crom to change bootloader.
Crom I'm not familiar with as usually I just download the bootloader I want and select it.
On this phone it downloads but greys out and I can't swap to it.
If I have to root the phone I'm putting it on Linux, just out of interest as I've no idea if it's any good.

[Zelandeth]

I didn't really realise how much the S4Mini was annoying me until I switched to the Huawei. It's just overall (both physically and logically speaking) so much more of a professional feeling product. It feels much more like it was designed rather than just happens because a cat happened to walk over the designer's keyboard.

I've so far never felt any need to look at alternatives to the stock software on here.

Yes, there are a bunch of factory apps I'll never use, but the thing has an order of magnitude more storage than I need (whereas I was struggling from day one on the Samsung), so I'm really not worried. It also runs lightning quick, so I'm not perpetually looking for things to shut down to save resources.

Camera is also leagues ahead of that in either of my Samsung's or the iPhone 6S a friend has. Happy to share a few snaps I've got with it if folks want.

You're more than welcome to take a look at this one if you're considering looking for a new phone at some point Jim. I'd never have considered this "weird Chinese phone" if a friend who happens to be an electronic design engineer had mentioned that he'd just been upgraded to one by his carrier and of course being an engineer immediately took it to bits - and had really nothing but praise for it.

It's astonishing how many people scrunch their faces up in disgust when I tell them what brand of phone I have - but immediately go "ooh, that's nice isn't it..." The second I hand it to them to look at!

[CitroJim]

Thanks Zel As I need all the advice and guidance I can get I'd really appreciate that...

I don't care what the phone is called or how 'cool' it is as long as it does what I want without causing me any stress

[myglaren]

Mine is an Huawei too, but a very cheap and quite limited one - £25 end of range from Asda a couple of years ago.
It is only small and unimpressive but does all I need and more.
Seems quite tough too, considering how often it is dropped - three times yesterday

[RichardW]

My phone is just that - not one of these new fangled pocket computer thingies

SWMBO has got a Moto G4 - which is available relatively cheaply. Seems to do the job without too much frustration.

I sometimes wonder if even the Apple Execs can believe that their business model is still working! "Yeah, we're going to make things that are not much different to the opposition, except we are going to control everything they do, and charge about 3 times the going rate. Then, every few months, we'll make something just a bit shinier, and people will queue round the block to give us even more of their money." "Sounds like a demon plan, let's go for it"

Can you imagine a bank lending you money against that as a business plan???

[elma]

I also have a £10 Nokia as my personal phone which I favour. If I didn't need access to email and Internet for work I would not suffer a "smart" phone.

Was planning on changing some spheres on the car today but the last 2 weeks have caught up with me and I'm ill. I think I'll just manage to water the plants then I'm going back to bed.