The Glade 4.0

I don't know of any carriers who shove their own stuff onto iPhones. Now, mind you, the iPhone is only available on two carriers.

I use an iPad on various wifi networks. I've never found any reason to use a mobile carrier.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Three now. AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint.

Fragmentation is the flip side of the coin that is hardware selection (choices). Yes, Android runs on a lot of different things, and not every single app is supported on all of them... It's a challenge for app developers.. but at least consumers have a choice between a $400 top of the line S3, a mid-range $100 phone, or a basic phone that is free with contract. You also have a choice between a sliders, flips, qwerty or touch screen, or both..

DS, your compliant isn't with Android, it's with the service providers and hardware vendors. Straight android, like I have on my Galaxy Nexus, is a beautiful thing. The skins and overlays and additional uninstallable apps, and the missing features, are the responsibility of your provider and/or the hardware developers, who want to try to control how you use the device, in order to drive you towards their value added services (sorta like Apple does with.. well just about everything).

I've noticed a change in some of the higher end devices. I think the vendors are starting to get the message. The Verizon and AT&T versions of the GNex were actually pretty decent, and are getting updates soon too (at least that's what I've been hearing).

Midgen,

I agree it is the service providers, but with Apple their lockdown prevents it. Google has no such stranglehold on their product. and it shows.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

Darksiege, what you describe is why Nexus-branded devices are a thing. Stock Android loads, no (if you buy it off the Play Store) or minimal (if you buy it in-store.. and all of them are uninstallable, AFAICT) carrier-specific or manufacturer-specific crap.

My Galaxy Nexus on TMO and my boss's Galaxy Nexus on AT&T came exactly the same. My friend's Verizon Galaxy Nexus had, I think, a voicemail app preloaded, but was otherwise identical.

Even better, coming in the next quarter or so, Google will be sponsoring multiple Nexus devices which will compete on hardware featureset.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Well, the difference is that Apple's stranglehold is to enforce THEIR app pre-load. It just happens to e the same app pre-load (and funnelling towards their own store/services) on every provider because that's what the provider has to concede to in order to receive the privilege of selling an Apple product.

That's why the Nexus devices are a good analogue -- they are similarly (though not quite as stringently) restricted to just Google's choices.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I was kidding, but apparently Apple is once again telling it's users they are holding the phone wrong.

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Oh, wow. That's pretty damning considering how many iPhone users seem to consider themselves avid photographers. I bet we'll finally see some of the more popular iOS only photography apps migrate over to Android, now.

Also, there's a bug in the iPhone 5 that's causing excessive data overages on Verizon and possibly AT&T because the phone continues to use 4G even when it's connected to WiFi. Verizon's come out and said users affected won't be charged for the buggy overages, but wow.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

If instagramming your breakfast makes you an avid photographer...

I'm a Race Car Driver, pro gamer, hollywood director, and solo porn star

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Holy shitsnacks!

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

It won't open for me

Is it the stupid one about how the iPhone 1-4S violated common-sense?

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No, just making fun of how Apple doesn't understand how width, height, depth and density work in regards to their "How can a phone get bigger... and smaller‽" ad.

Oh, I like the one where they describe how the iPhone 5's screen size is "just common sense!" implying it took Apple 5 iterations to figure out common sense.

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I hate that ad.

You have a thumb, and it goes from here to here.

Really? And we all have mittens on that prevent us from moving the rest of our hand to use a phone? All of our hands are the same size?

God Apple. Way to be handsizeist.

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Holy shitsnacks!

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Dream as if you'll live forever...
...Live as if you'll die tomorrow

Vivere Senza Rimpianti

"Lice ARE BEST!"

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Holy shitsnacks!

Traditional sarcastic dance! Also, they totally missed the opportunity to complain about American Reality Television...

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Friend returned his iPhone 5 yesterday, AT&T said that the was the first person to do so and took his picture. Nokia rep also happened to be there dropping off the Lumia 920's and, well, let's just say he couldn't be happier that he returned the iPhone.

I ended up getting that Commando you guys recommended a few pages back. It seems pretty durable, at least as much as is possible for a reasonably priced mobile piece of electronics. It also has some nice field features like a compass, weather, a pedometer.

However, after having had it less than 2 hours I'm already contemplating hitting it with a sledgehammer. STOP AUTOCORRECTING! I can't even find a setting to turn that crap off. It tried to get me to install some Tapatalk or whatever crap just to look at the Glade.

At least I found something where I could turn off some of the **** it runs in the background for no apparent reason. A FLASHLIGHT? REALLY? I already carry 2 of the **** in the field; why do I want to waste precious power on having the phone do it?!? Push-to-talk? Guess what, assholes? I have a **** radio for that! Why is it automatically turned on? What is this "cloud" crap? There's other stuff in there I haven't turned off yet, but I'm tempted to do it just so most of the **** on there won't work. I need to find a way to delete about 75% of what's on the menu.

I don't think I can express the depths of rage smartphones bring to me. *grumble* I need to go work on my train so I can use a sabre saw. At least that thing just does what I want instead of trying to "help".

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Um..tapatalk is a free app that makes reading (some) message boards a lot easier..

I'm generally annoyed when people try to foist their crap on me when I'm not looking to change.... in this case it's really the glade message board giving you a friendly note letting you know there is a better alternative to read the site on your small screen.

Regarding the other stuff, give yourself some time to adjust to the new toys before you dismiss them.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

LOL, seriously. Most people don't walk around with flashlights or walkie talkies, DE. Also, the "cloud" is generally awesome, regardless of which platform you use it with.

Also, you can turn off auto correct. It's in your settings.

Sorry, I usually take out the tapatalk popup, but I've been lazy.

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See that thing at the bottom of your message about how it was sent with Tapatalk? I refuse to have that.

I also don't want to get used to new toys. I want no toys. I want this thing to be clean. The way it should be distributed is nothing more than the basic OS, just like when I ordered this computer. That's one reason I ordered from an online site; I got a completely clean OS with no vendor software whatsoever; just the stuff that comes with Windows (event hat's too much but...)

I do not need some "Slacker" music app. I'm going to delete this stuff even if it means the only thing this phone does is ring.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

No worries Mook, some people might like it. My annoyance is that the phone asks me if I want it. If I want it, I'll ask. The phone should just sit there and shut up until I tell it to do something. It should never try to help, make things easier, or anything like that until specifically instructed to do so. It;s as bad as Microsoft Word; any time I use it on a new computer I spend a good 10 minutes just shutting off all the idiotic auto-format stuff that butchers your documents.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

I looked in settings, it's not there. And if there's an option for a flashlight or PTT, it should ask my permission before activating them, not turn them on automatically and then make me turn them off.

Oh, by the way? Most people don't select a hpone for its physical durability. People likely to have the Commando are certainly quite likely to have a much more powerful flashlight than this thing can put out.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."