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Android Phone?

 
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Hairyloon



Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
PostPosted: Wed Dec 09, 15 8:28 pm    Post subject: Android Phone? Reply with quote
    

I'm thinking to get the daughter a phone for Xmas. I was looking at one for about £50 in Asda t'other day, but of course it's one that isn't on their website for easy comparison. Looked OK for the money, but I can't remember details other than that it was made by LG.
Any comments or recommendations in that kind of price bracket?

alison
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Wed Dec 09, 15 10:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

How old is she? What type of contract are you going for, or is it PAYG.

vegplot



Joined: 19 Apr 2007
Posts: 21301
Location: Bethesda, Gwynedd
PostPosted: Wed Dec 09, 15 10:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

WYPIWYG

Hairyloon



Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
PostPosted: Wed Dec 09, 15 10:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

vegplot wrote:
WYPIWYG

True enough, but what more you you get for more and why would we want it?

alison wrote:
How old is she? What type of contract are you going for, or is it PAYG.

13 and PAYG.

NorthernMonkeyGirl



Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4584
Location: Peeping over your shoulder
PostPosted: Thu Dec 10, 15 8:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Little samsungs are pretty sturdy BUT they are full of samsung's added software, which eats up memory that could be used for apps and such. So if she dabbles in instagram / snapchat / facebook / etc she'll need some more built in memory (yes you can add a memory card, but apps will NOT save to that without a hell of a lot of tinkering). Look for something with as close to "stock android" as you can to avoid this issue.

Hairyloon



Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
PostPosted: Thu Dec 10, 15 10:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Thanks. I was looking at a little Samsung just yesterday...

SteveP



Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Posts: 155
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Fri Dec 11, 15 9:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

NorthernMonkeyGirl wrote:
Little samsungs are pretty sturdy BUT they are full of samsung's added software, which eats up memory that could be used for apps and such.


Agreed. I had to root my Xcover2 and remove the bloat to get any of the larger apps I actually wanted installed. Nice phones but virtually unusable.

Hairyloon



Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
PostPosted: Fri Dec 11, 15 10:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

SteveP wrote:
I had to root my Xcover2 and remove the bloat to get any of the larger apps I actually wanted installed. Nice phones but virtually unusable.

Is that as complex as it sounds?

I had another chat yesterday and one issue with her current phone is that it is too small... Of course, I cannot remember what model it is that she has.

SteveP



Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Posts: 155
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Fri Dec 11, 15 1:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

It took a lot of searching and planning. The process wasn't that difficult but I can't remember how to do it again. The info on the web gives warnings about bricking it but I go so fed up with the lack of resources I was prepared to risk it.

Even after rooting the Samsung the phone won't run apps off the SD card because of the way they ship it with the main memory partitioned.

I wouldn't buy another one if they bloat the device like the Xcover.

Also, if you root the device you can route everything through the tor network so you get privacy from prying phone networks.

NorthernMonkeyGirl



Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4584
Location: Peeping over your shoulder
PostPosted: Fri Dec 11, 15 11:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Hairyloon wrote:
SteveP wrote:
I had to root my Xcover2 and remove the bloat to get any of the larger apps I actually wanted installed. Nice phones but virtually unusable.

Is that as complex as it sounds?

I had another chat yesterday and one issue with her current phone is that it is too small... Of course, I cannot remember what model it is that she has.


Mmm. You'd want to look at the XDA forums. Mine was rooted but because it was such a piddly phone, no-one had really bothered doing it, so I cobbled a process together from something similar.

Hairyloon



Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
PostPosted: Sat Dec 12, 15 12:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

NorthernMonkeyGirl wrote:
Mmm. You'd want to look at the XDA forums...

I doubt that I'd want to, but it sounds like I might need to... not tonight though.

Hairyloon



Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
PostPosted: Tue Dec 15, 15 1:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The phone we seek to replace has locked up, and after a long discussion with their young Iram, I'm not likely to buy Samsung again: "your phone needs to be seen my a Samsung engineer..." (who will want to charge you more than the phone is worth).
Perhaps it is an engineer only repair, but far more likely is that it just needs reformatting...

SteveP



Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Posts: 155
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Tue Dec 15, 15 2:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

So, you have nothing to lose by trying to fix it yourself. It is already a brick.

I re-found the site I used to root mine.

https://androidpixel.com/category/how-to-root-android/

There are probably others.

Hairyloon



Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
PostPosted: Tue Dec 15, 15 3:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

SteveP wrote:
So, you have nothing to lose by trying to fix it yourself. It is already a brick.

I kind of figured that, but I seem to have managed to make it worse...
Tried what it said on the site you suggest and it made no difference and the xda forums seem to be a hotbed of viruses, so the Windows machine is now pretty messed up as well.

It's failing to mount /data so I am guessing that it wants the internal SSD reformatted, but I've not found how to do that yet...

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