nexus 5 and galaxy note 3, mainly

im trying to decide if i'm even going to stay with verizon though. having grandfathered unlimited data is really the only reason, so if that goes away i might go t-mobile or at&t so I can actually get new phones when they come out

8/20/2013 9:41:58 AM

I'm not up for an upgrade (got the GN2 when it came out) but I may try and get the GN3 after selling my 2.

8/20/2013 11:01:21 AM

Assuming the nexus 5 is going to be on Verizon...

8/20/2013 9:12:43 PM

I mentioned this a few weeks ago but if anyone can get ebay to bring up accessories for the new Droid Maxx and could PM me a link, that woudl be great. The new Droid Maxx search pulls up the Razr in ebay. Of course they have all the new Ultra stuff out there.

8/21/2013 3:05:38 PM

Can't you just search for

Quote :

"Droid Maxx -Razr"

8/21/2013 3:09:48 PM

I don't want the Droid Razr Maxx, I want the Droid Maxx. The problem is that "Droid Maxx" is in "Droid Razr Maxx" and I can't search ebay

8/21/2013 3:58:53 PM

the minus means to exclude results with that word

8/21/2013 4:39:34 PM

http://pages.ebay.com/help/search/about-results.html

8/21/2013 5:01:51 PM

Furthermore, is the device even out? How you expecting to find shit in eBay already?

8/21/2013 5:57:30 PM

I'm available for an upgrade now through Verizon...

Can someone tell me why I shouldn't get the LG G2 when it comes on on the 12th of September, considering I'm cool with the non-removable battery and don't need an SD card?

The Note is too big for personally, and while I would love to wait around for KLP, it isn't apparent how long of a wait that will be. The G2 would certainly pick up KLP at some point right? I guess it's just a matter of how long Verizon would make me wait. I also think I would prefer to have a vanilla android device again the wait and potential higher cost of the Nexus 5 are driving me towards the G2. Guess I'll keep an eye out for the next couple weeks and see if any Nexus 5 or KLP news surfaces.

[Edited on August 26, 2013 at 3:57 PM. Reason : [/rambleing]]

8/26/2013 3:52:49 PM

From what I've heard late October is the target for the next android release(or announcement?). With that in mind, usually device hype has started about 6 weeks prior. If you could wait until the end of September, I think the landscape for year end devices will be clearer (or I probably should say muddier )

8/26/2013 6:45:23 PM

Played with the Galaxy Mega today. Holy crap that fucker is big.

8/27/2013 9:14:15 PM

http://www.droid-life.com/2013/08/27/nexus-4-price-drops-by-100-for-both-8gb-and-16gb-variants-now-199-and-249/

Nexus 4 dropped to $199 and $250. That's a damn good deal.

8/28/2013 7:01:12 AM

not bad at all for a non-contract, non-LTE phone

8/28/2013 8:26:33 AM

This is kind of cool, but the Band of Brothers music is pretty lame...



http://phandroid.com/2013/08/28/lg-g2-13mp-camera-video/

8/29/2013 10:18:01 AM

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/09/lg-g2-review/

9/3/2013 1:48:04 PM

Hahahaha, gg Nestle.

Android KITKAT 4.4 -- The future of confectionery
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OKOrkLxOBoY







Official details on the secret deal between Google and Nestle/Kitkat:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23926938

Quote :

"Google told the BBC that it had come up with the idea and that neither side was paying the other. "This is not a money-changing-hands kind of deal," John Lagerling, director of Android global partnerships, told the BBC. Instead, he said, the idea was to do something "fun and unexpected". [...] Although the developers had referred to the forthcoming version as KLP in internal documents, Mr Lagerling said the team decided late last year to opt instead for the chocolate bar. "We realised that very few people actually know the taste of a key lime pie," he explained. "One of the snacks that we keep in our kitchen for late-night coding are KitKats. And someone said: 'Hey, why don't we call the release KitKat?' [...] Mr Lagerling said he had made a "cold call" to the switchboard of Nestle's UK advertising agency at the end of November to propose the tie-up. The next day, the Swiss firm invited him to take part in a conference call. Nestle confirmed the deal just 24 hours later."

And Google, I approve ... this time.

But next release go back to generic dessert so you don't end up with something like Lady Fingers, Laffy Taffy, Lemonheads/drops, or Lifesavers (please, no) ... kthx.

9/3/2013 4:21:29 PM

The fact that its 4.4 makes me wonder what we are getting. I'm guessing there won't be much by way of redoing the ui. I'm hoping for more contextual awareness built into the system, a la Motorola.

9/3/2013 6:01:55 PM

So this means KLP isn't coming anytime soon right?

9/3/2013 6:20:20 PM

Its never coming.

Key lime pie is the internal working code name for kit Kat.

Quote :

""We kept calling the name Key Lime Pie internally and even when we referred to it with partners," revealed Mr Lagerling. "If we had said, 'The K release is, by the way, secret', then people would have racked their minds trying to work out what it was going to be.""

This release was not changed in anyway, other than the name.

[Edited on September 3, 2013 at 6:28 PM. Reason : if youre talking about 5.0 that was always speculation]

[Edited on September 3, 2013 at 6:28 PM. Reason : if youre talking about 5.0 that was always speculation]

9/3/2013 6:25:24 PM

Also what does everyone think of this Verizon Edge/AT&T Next nonsense? The only way it makes sense to pay all that money is if you want to upgrade sooner than 2 years...but it seems like you're paying a hell of a cost for that convenience.

Consider getting a Moto Maxx, the current charge from Verizon is $27/month. So if after a year you want to upgrade, you'll have paid $324 for the phone, and you just hand it back to them without receiving any money back, only to be saddled with another $25/month bill on your next phone.

I like the idea of being able to upgrade every year, and I'm willing to pay for that convenience, but I ain't paying that much.

9/3/2013 6:32:52 PM

Its a guaranteed sale at half price, basically. Except none of your phones are subsidized.

I would do it if they let unlimited people do it. Because for 650$ youd get two phones over the two years and not have to worry about selling.

But they only allow on contract. I'd pay the 300 for a subsidized. After 1 year sell the subsidized for 300, and buy new at 600... And after year two sell that one... and buy subsidized. For two devices over two years, youre Out $300-400 over the two years, depending how decent of a sale price and subsidized price you received.

[Edited on September 3, 2013 at 6:47 PM. Reason : .]

9/3/2013 6:46:30 PM

Sup new nexus phone

9/3/2013 7:24:36 PM

the problem with Verizon Edge/AT&T Next is that they are not lowering the prices of their plans. plans already have device subsidy pricing in them, so you are basically paying the phone subsidy twice. its a great scam by verizon/att.

also, i'm ok with kitkat being 4.4. i like the look of ics/jb, so i'm ok with the incremental updates that just refine things. i dont need a total redesign at this point.

9/4/2013 8:42:49 AM

Quote :

"Also what does everyone think of this Verizon Edge/AT&T Next nonsense?"

this is what i posted in the vzw thread:

Quote :

"So here's the math for the $650 Galaxy S4, based on widely held industry estimates of a $20 / month subsidy built into Verizon's standard plans. Under Edge, you'll pay $27 a month for a new GS4 on top of whatever plan you already have. That means at six months, Verizon will have collected $282 towards the price of that phone: $162 in Edge payments, and $120 in subsidies from your plan. But Verizon doesn't count the subsidy towards the retail cost of the phone, so if you want to upgrade at six months, you'll have to pay another $163, since you can only upgrade when 50 percent of the phone is paid off. That means Verizon will collect a total of $445 towards a $650 phone if you trade in that GS4 after six months, and it'll get to resell that phone and start the cycle all over again. The math tilts even more favorably in Verizon's favor if you don't trade in your phone every six months. At 12 months, Verizon will have collected $565 towards that $650 phone: $325 in Edge payments and $240 in plan subsidies — and you still have to trade in the phone. By month 18, Verizon has collected $846: $486 in Edge payments, and $360 in device subsidies. That's $196 in pure profit — money that would have otherwise gone to subsidize the cost of the phone."

http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/18/4535068/verizons-edge-phone-upgrade-plan-same-bad-ripoff-as-att-next

[Edited on September 4, 2013 at 11:38 AM. Reason : link]

9/4/2013 11:37:46 AM

^ thx, i figured it was a rip off but damn

9/4/2013 12:41:34 PM

it's ludicrous how much better the nexus's voice recognition is than siri

also i like how it turns off like a tv screen

[Edited on September 5, 2013 at 7:41 PM. Reason : .]

9/5/2013 7:29:06 PM

I have AT&T Next and just bought the Galaxy S4 at $540, financed over a 20-month period. It costs me an extra $27/month (27*20 = 540) but once the financed amount is paid off, my bill returns to being what it was without the payments. I'm not locked into a contract and have the flexibility to upgrade phones whenever I want. I think it works if you're planning on selling the phone anyway, I'd imagine that a year from now I should be able to get $300+ for the phone when I try to sell it.

9/5/2013 8:00:29 PM

But after 12 months, you will still owe at&t $216 for your phone. These upgrade whenever programs seem to prey on people who aren't good with math.

9/5/2013 9:39:37 PM

^^i guess you are on one of the prepaid plans if you dont have a contract? i didnt think you could use att next if you are on the prepaid plans.

9/5/2013 10:28:49 PM

Quote :

"I have AT&T Next and just bought the Galaxy S4 at $540, financed over a 20-month period. It costs me an extra $27/month (27*20 = 540) but once the financed amount is paid off, my bill returns to being what it was without the payments. I'm not locked into a contract and have the flexibility to upgrade phones whenever I want. I think it works if you're planning on selling the phone anyway, I'd imagine that a year from now I should be able to get $300+ for the phone when I try to sell it."

I'm sorry but none of this makes any sense. Why pay $540 "financed" for a phone you can pay $200 cash/credit for now? Who cares if you have a contract or not, you're going to be paying someone for cell service anyway, right? And you can't sell that phone on AT&T Next or Verizon Edge from what I understand...you just give it back to them to upgrade to your next one and pick up a new monthly payment. And you're not going to be able to get $300 for a GS4 in 12 months, even if you are allowed to sell it.

9/6/2013 1:28:17 AM

If you pay your phone off (as I plan to do), then you can keep your phone and do whatever you want with it. It makes more sense for me since I find myself walking into AT&T stores every year and having to pay for "early upgrade pricing". If you can wait 2 years before changing phones, then more power to you, you don't need to be on Next.

9/6/2013 10:12:06 AM

Quote :

"If you pay your phone off (as I plan to do)"

Quote :

"I find myself walking into AT&T stores every year and having to pay for "early upgrade pricing"."

So you're going to have that phone for 20 months and "pay it off," or you're planning on upgrading in 12 months? I'm confused...

9/6/2013 10:17:18 AM

I don't see whats so confusing about it. Are the concepts of a financing, loans, and principals really that foreign to you?

9/6/2013 11:08:45 AM

You're saying you're going to keep the phone for 20 months.

Then you say you upgrade phones every 12 months.

Which is it?

[Edited on September 6, 2013 at 12:12 PM. Reason : you're going to be paying for two phones at once?]

9/6/2013 12:05:43 PM

Man, this shit is discombobulating

9/6/2013 12:21:49 PM

I keep looking through all my posts and I just don't see where I said I was keeping the phone for 20 months. You do realize, just like with a mortgage/car loan/basically anything you finance, you can pay something off early? Are you still confused?

9/6/2013 12:23:24 PM

Quote :

"Are you still confused?"

Now that you've stated you're planning on paying it off early, no.

So the numbers aren't quite as bad (for AT&T at least) if you do pay it off early and sell (as opposed to giving it back for nothing), but I guess the question is what will you be able to get for a GS4 in 12 months. Looks like they're around $400 now...worst case might be $250, in which you're only out $290 for the years usage, but then you're immediately beginning the payments again. Nice thing is when you pay off the $216ish after 12 months you're about the get that money back plus some...

Quote :

"And you can't sell that phone on AT&T Next or Verizon Edge from what I understand...you just give it back to them to upgrade to your next one and pick up a new monthly payment"

This was my misconception in the beginning...didn't know paying 100% of the payments and keeping the phone was an option, seemed like the program was only a way of upgrading early by swapping phones.

What was AT&T charging you for "early upgrade pricing?"

9/6/2013 12:38:29 PM

$540 for another 2-year, $650 for no-commitment. hence why it seems like a no-brainer for me.

9/6/2013 12:45:22 PM

Can anyone recommend a good text-to-speech app? I'd prefer one that would install kind of as a plugin so that you could use it in other apps

The only thing I'm really interested in it for is to be able to have an email I receive while I'm driving read audibly for me. A couple of the apps I've tried so far require you to copy and paste the email text into the TTS app

9/6/2013 1:13:33 PM

Swiftkey works pretty well

9/6/2013 1:55:25 PM

Really? I have used Swiftkey to speak into the phone and have it turn speech into text, but I'm looking for something that will read text out loud. Swiftkey will do that too?

9/6/2013 2:24:26 PM

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.noinnion.android.voicereading&hl=en ?

[Edited on September 6, 2013 at 2:32 PM. Reason : also, MY DREAM STILL LIVES http://www.androidauthority.com/nokia-android-phone-newkia-264160/]

9/6/2013 2:29:43 PM

Quote :

"$540 for another 2-year, $650 for no-commitment. hence why it seems like a no-brainer for me."

So you've paid $650ish before to upgrade early?

9/6/2013 6:57:52 PM

Another G2 review: http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/09/lg-g2-review/

9/9/2013 1:26:34 PM

My iphone 4 is still going strong after 2.5 years and I am due for an upgrade. Thinking of hopping ship to android since iphone 5s is not impressing. Looking at LG G2 or Galaxy S4. Anything else that I should be looking at for new top of the line stuff, preferably between 4.7-5.2"?

Also, someone care to explain what Nexus is exactly and why it is special?

[Edited on September 12, 2013 at 12:11 AM. Reason : .]

9/12/2013 12:08:19 AM

Nexus is basically a phone that is directly supported by Google. It gets the operating system updates first and is the "cleanest" Android experience (lacks bloatware). I have a 2013 Nexus 7 and love it, but also have a Galaxy S3 and like some of the Samsung features it has (multi app support) are great. All in all it is basically user preference at end of day as Android is pretty powerful/customizable that different phones can have similar features. That said part of me would wait to see what Nexus 5 looks like (whenever it is scheduled to come out as I thought one was spotted in the wild recently) as the Nexus devices are always pretty high end too.

9/12/2013 1:04:36 AM

So I'm getting the LG G2 today. With a discount code [VERIZON30] the phone is $140 with a 2 year contract. Or I can get Verizon Edge for $25/month, with a total price of $600. So after a year I'll have paid $300 off the $600, and I could probably sell the phone for $300 and give that money directly to Verizon to pay off the $300 balance, then start over again. So in this case selling it or "edging up" to upgrade is probably the same end result: essentially leasing the phone for a year at a cost of $300, to have the ability to upgrade after 12 months instead of 24...

I think I'll pass on the Edge. My current GNex has been solid over the last 18+ months of ownership, and I could easily go another 6 with it if needed. I'm thinking the hardware/software for Android has improved to the point where I don't feel the need to upgrade every year...but I guess we'll see.

9/12/2013 10:00:24 AM

Just so I know for sure, the Nexus 5 will not be subsidized by any carrier right? It'll probably be $350-$400 from the Google Play store only? What options would I have for insurance in that case?

9/12/2013 11:17:00 AM

^ squaretrade, maybe?

9/12/2013 1:41:57 PM