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Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15464
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 15 8:28 pm Post subject: Android Phone?
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

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 15 10:01 pm Post subject:
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

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 15 10:11 pm Post subject:
WYPIWYG

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15464
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 15 10:47 pm Post subject:

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: 4646
Location: Peeping over your shoulder

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 15 8:55 pm Post subject:

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: 15464
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 15 10:07 pm Post subject:
Thanks. I was looking at a little Samsung just yesterday...

SteveP

Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Posts: 155
Location: North Devon

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 15 9:11 am Post subject:

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: 15464
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 15 10:51 am Post subject:

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

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 15 1:35 pm Post subject:

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: 4646
Location: Peeping over your shoulder

Posted: Fri Dec 11, 15 11:12 pm Post subject:

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: 15464
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Sat Dec 12, 15 12:14 am Post subject:

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: 15464
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 15 1:55 pm Post subject:
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

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 15 2:09 pm Post subject:
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: 15464
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Tue Dec 15, 15 3:13 pm Post subject:

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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