Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with smartphone Questions tagged with 'smartphone' at Ask MetaFilter. Thu, 25 Dec 2014 20:19:46 -0800 Thu, 25 Dec 2014 20:19:46 -0800 en-us 60 Which prepaid smartphone should I get for international travel? I'm planning my first (and hopefully not last) international vacation and I'd like to get a smartphone for traveling that can be used on a prepaid basis for both voice and data. When not traveling it will not be used as a phone, although I'd still like it to perform double duty as a mp3/move player at home. Home is the united states and travel will be to Iceland (and beyond). Primary criteria are:<br> - Android platform<br> - Support for cellular networks available in Iceland<br> - Support for a variety of carriers (to minimize cost)<br> <br> Secondary criteria are:<br> - Decent performance when used as an mp3 player or a streaming movie player over WiFi<br> - Support for as many cellular networks as possible worldwide (for future travel)<br> - A price point under $200 (less would be much much better!)<br> <br> Please, dear hive mind, steer me in the right direction.,2014:site.273504 Thu, 25 Dec 2014 20:19:46 -0800 waxboy Looking for iPhone games that will get me out into the real world I recently installed <a href="">Ingress</a>, a massively multiplayer augmented reality game for smartphones, which involves walking around in the real world to find and capture virtual "portals". I thought it was a neat idea, until I realized that it's a thinly disguised Google data mining project. Boo! Are there similar games which aren't (or at least don't <em>appear</em> to be) creepware? I briefly played around with a very similar game named Shadow Cities a couple of years ago, but it seems to be defunct now.<br> <br> I have an iPhone, so suggestions should run on iOS. Thanks!,2014:site.273392 Mon, 22 Dec 2014 13:56:46 -0800 escape from the potato planet Datafilter Help maximize my small data allowance! I have 3GB a month for my prepaid smartphone (IPhone 4, Verizon). Before I upgrade and plan to pay more, how can I get the best out of this limited data plan? I'm looking for websites with lots of information but low data per page, e.g., no images or ads. Of course, there's MeFi, but I would like to hear of other sites (besides reddit). Any text message based info service or game is good too as the plan has unlimited text.,2014:site.272229 Sat, 29 Nov 2014 11:57:07 -0800 bad grammar Protected text messages randomly disappeared from my RAZR droid I regularly delete my messages from my droid. I have a bunch of protected messages that I have locked and they always stay there when I delete all of the thread. I just went to look for one of those messages and they are all gone!!!!!!!!!! Is there any way to retrieve these? I see a bunch of threads on the net, but can't find anything that works HELP!!!!!!!!,2014:site.272026 Mon, 24 Nov 2014 12:00:42 -0800 kbbbo Using a Verizon or T-Mobile iPhone 6 on LTE in the UK My google-fu has failed me, and I sheepishly turn to you. Need help trying to figure out if the non-Sprint US iPhone 6 will work on LTE in the UK. I'm moving to the UK for a year, and I would like to buy a new phone using a family member's upgrade to use abroad. The websites I have found only feature suppositions that it may work or similar questions without definite answers.<br> <br> There are two iPhone 6 models for the US: A1549 for the mainstream carriers T-Mobile/Verizon/etc, which comes unlocked, and A1586, for Sprint, which is locked. According to the official <a href="">Apple LTE page</a>, only the A1586 is supported in the UK even though A1549 appears to have the necessary LTE bands. Does A1549 have a software limitation preventing its usage over LTE on UK carriers? Does anyone know whether the Verizon or Tmobile variants will get LTE on the UK carriers? If it only works on a subset of 3, EE, O2 (including Giffgaff), and Vodafone, that would be helpful information as well. Thanks!,2014:site.271689 Mon, 17 Nov 2014 22:07:48 -0800 palionex Smartphone durability during daily life? Can I jam an iphone in my tight side jeans pocket, with a bunch of other crap, sit down, etc., and not have it be destroyed? I've owned flip phones and candybar phones since forever. I love that they're like $10 on some plans but I like more that I don't care if they get destroyed. I don't have to think about it, ever.<br> <br> I'm sort of thinking that an iphone or another smart phone would improve the quality of my life a little bit.<br> <br> How much do I have to babysit a smartphone? Can I slam it into a side pocket with pens and coins, do a full squat without thinking about it, and not have it be destroyed? Or would I have to start being careful and restricted about how I use my body and what I keep in my pockets?<br> <br> (*Related: I never drop anything, if that comes up.),2014:site.271660 Mon, 17 Nov 2014 11:50:52 -0800 zeek321 Phablet / Smartphone help, Holiday 2014 edition I am contemplating replacing my flip-phone with a phablet, or even a 10-inch tablet. Fashion dorkiness aside, is this a viable phone for me? For several years, I have been carrying an Android smartphone for work stuff and an old-school flip-phone for personal stuff. My Android gave up the ghost and my office replaced it with an iPhone 4s. This makes me sad.<br> <br> For several months, I have also been carrying around a shiny new wifi-only 10-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 4. I find myself using it a lot, and I often find myself turning on my iPhone hotspot to get the tablet online. But carrying around three devices is a bit much.<br> <br> I am debating "upgrading" my personal phone line to the 4G version of the tablet, or a comparable phablet-size device, but I'm cautious about the logistics of making calls. A lot of my calls on my flip-phone are done via Bluetooth, but I *do* use the handset by itself quite a bit.<br> <br> I'm not as concerned about the fact that I need a huge purse to lug it around, and I'm ok with relying solely on the work phone if I need to limit myself to a small purse. I'm most concerned about whether it's really viable to use the enormophone as a phone for day-to-day stuff.,2014:site.271506 Thu, 13 Nov 2014 20:26:55 -0800 QuantumMeruit Optimistically, a mobile device fresh start. My iPad 2 recently <a href="">bit the dust</a>. Before then, I had been using the iPad for entertainment + school, as well as a droid smartphone for typical smartphone things. My droid is also on its last legs, and I'm considering changing my technology situation to an iPad Mini with mobile data + a dumb phone (just talk and text). Questions ensue. Most broadly -- have you or anyone you know done this? I've read some accounts via Google search, but I'm interested in your experiences.<br> <br> Maybe most critically -- is there any way to see and respond to SMS messages that I receive to my cellphone number on my iPad? (ie, if someone sends me an SMS text to my phone number, is there a way to have it sent to my iPad as well as or instead of to my dumb phone?)<br> <br> From what I can tell, the only difference between iPad Mini 2 and iPad Mini 3 is the fingerprint sensor and $100. What gives??<br> <br> What will I be losing by not having my apps on the same device as my calls/texts?<br> <br> Does an iPad Mini do what my big iPad and tiny smartphone do just as well? (I mainly use my phone for texting, photos, calendar, Facebook, maps, web browsing, and email. I use my iPad for all of those things plus Netflix, note-taking, and viewing documents.)<br> <br> I haven't used a dumb phone in.... 8 years. Will I find the call quality really problematic? Will I still be able to send and receive picture messages and group messages (MMS)?,2014:site.271334 Mon, 10 Nov 2014 17:43:17 -0800 i_am_a_fiesta Which smartphone? Which smartphone will serve my needs best: the Samsung Galaxy S4, or the Nexus 4/5? My LG Optimus V (bought in 2011) is dying in new and exciting ways every day. I'm in the market for a new smartphone, and am experiencing decision paralysis. I'm on Virgin Mobile, so unlocked is necessary. The Galaxy S4 (S5 is a bit pricey still) and the Nexus 4 or 5 seem to be my best choices, so I'm looking for advice and experiences with those phones, as well as other suggestions. Android only, and I'd like to keep the cost down as much as possible while still getting a fully-featured phone. <br> <br> The phone will mainly be used for apps, photos, and texting, not so much with the voice calls, though that's an important part as well.,2014:site.271011 Tue, 04 Nov 2014 07:54:41 -0800 altopower Has my phone been hacked? What next? My (never rooted) Samsung Galaxy S4 has been exhibiting some strange behavior. How can I tell if I have a virus or if there's a more innocuous explanation? Two nights ago, I plugged my phone in and turned it on airplane mode. I then laid my phone upside down on top of my (metal) laptop, which was off and unplugged. The next morning, while still half asleep, I thought I heard a voice on speakerphone coming from the phone, but I dismissed the thought. A few minutes later, I was fully awakened by the light on the phone randomly turning on. I went over and got the phone, pressed the button to wake the phone's screen, and swiped to unlock as usual. I don't have any kind of password at the moment. The phone opened to the home screen, as usual, and I turned off the flashlight the way I normally do, by pressing the widget controller on my home screen. <br> <br> Then, I glanced at the status bar at the top of the screen and saw an icon that meant that the phone's default "Voice Recorder" app was on. It was recording, and had been for 30 seconds. I stopped the recording and listened to the file: it was mostly just the normal noise of the fan in my room, but about 15 seconds in, I can hear the 1-second vibration my phone makes when it finishes charging and it's on silent mode. I rarely hear this noise unless I'm listening for it, so it doesn't surprise me that I missed it. However, my phone doesn't lose battery while plugged in unless a bunch of stuff is running. There was also another 2-second recording from 6 minutes earlier. It's just fan noise. Both the Voice Recorder app and the Flashlight widget are on my home screen.<br> <br> Also, my wifi was on, even though it normally goes off when I active airplane mode unless I specifically turn it back on. I wouldn't have turned it back on last night, though, because I unplugged my wifi long before I went to bed. Unfortunately, I didn't check to see if it was connected to some other network at the time, but I don't have any network names I don't recognize in my list of remembered networks, at least.<br> <br> So... what the??? Was I hacked? Was my laptop conducting electricity to my phone somehow? Do I have a ghost?<br> <br> Ultimately, I just want to know if I should be concerned. I have Lookout, but it detected nothing. I also got 360 Security after this happened and ran a scan and it didn't detect anything either. Could someone have accessed my phone remotely when it was in airplane mode? Could some rogue program have been lurking on my phone? Is something still lurking? What can I do to secure my phone? Why would apps randomly be opening and running? Is there a scheduler of some kind that might be responsible for this?<br> <br> Oh my gosh you guys, do I have a ghost?,2014:site.270825 Fri, 31 Oct 2014 08:18:44 -0800 lesli212 Is my iPhone possessed? I typically carry my iPhone in my pants pocket and not infrequently take it out to find that it has successfully bypassed the four digit lock code needed to wake it up, activated an app, and successfully given itself several meaningless - but potentially consequential - commands. I can think of at least two reasons why this should not be possible, but it happens on average a couple times a week. What the hell is going on? Once it tried to initiate a face-time call with the husband of a business associate. The word "Ron" has entered our family's personal culture as meaning more or less "I acknowledge your last text but have nothing to add" because it once took it upon itself to reply with that word to an incoming text from my wife. And yesterday I opened it up to find it ready to send an email (which I quote here in it's entirety: "Rud x") to <em>my entire company e-mail list</em> and, for good measure, one and only one randomly selected friend from film school. There have been dozens of less interesting examples - gibberish texts that haven't sent, dialogs asking for confirmation that I want to delete something that I really don't want deleted, etc.<br> <br> In other words, the phone appears to be able to treat whatever happens to it while bouncing around in my pocket as deliberate input and reacts to it. My understanding was that the iPhone screen doesn't react to simple pressure but to the electrical capacitance of your fingertips. This is why they have to make those special gloves with iPhone capable pads. It should not respond at all to some contact created by my movements while the phone is wrapped in fabric and not being touched.<br> <br> But let's give it that one. Even if it could sense my skin through my clothing or something and accept movements as random inputs, to activate the phone I have to swipe to the right and then enter a four digit passcode to get to the home screen before I can do anything at all. It's inconceivable to me that random inputs would be able to match that sequence of strokes. Repeatedly. So what the hell is going on? It's just a matter of time before this does something with embarrassing or maybe even serious consequences, and I'd really like it to stop.,2014:site.270258 Mon, 20 Oct 2014 07:31:27 -0800 Naberius Wi-Fi calling Republic vs. T-mobile I want to get a pre-paid android phone asap (for a trip), but I also want to be able to use it at home and my house is at the bottom of a hill and has no to poor coverage. I'm thinking that wi-fi calling may be a solution. My coverage at home is: none for T-moble or Tracphone, no bars but calls kind of possible for AT&amp;T, one bar for Verison). I currently use an antique T-mobile pre-paid, which doesn't work till I'm 100 yards from my house. I'd like a phone that works well with wi-fi, that way I can use the phone at home. What I want to do with the phone:<br> 1. Have GPS and camera (so I can carry less things on trips).<br> 2. Have data to look up the location of things like gas stations that carry diesel, etc. on trips.<br> 3. Work at my house (probably through wi-fi).<br> 4. Make less than 10 minutes of calls per month, never text.<br> 5. Be pre-paid and like a little bird - cheap, cheap, cheap.<br> I'm trying to decide between T-mobile (<a href="">will supply a wi-fi optimized router</a>) or Republic wireless whose phones are optimized for wi-fi. So my question is which carrier, and which phone.,2014:site.269558 Mon, 06 Oct 2014 07:45:40 -0800 445supermag One USB wall charger to charge them all I am looking for a wall charger to keep here at work to plug in my devices when they're low on juice. List of devices behind the fold. <ul><br> <li>iPad (2nd Generation)</li><br> <li>Samsung Galaxy s5</li><br> <li>Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0</li><br> </ul><br> <br> I know the best practice is to use the charger it came with - and that's what I do at home. I'm looking for a one-fits-all solution for work. I'm less concerned about the cables then I am the actual wall charger part. Third party is fine. I don't think I'll ever need to charge more then one of these devices at a time.<br> <br> Extra points if you know of a decent one-fits-all solution for a car charger too!,2014:site.268604 Wed, 17 Sep 2014 07:19:15 -0800 royalsong Is it acceptable to use a smart phone in a public talk? I went to a talk by a well-known author yesterday in an auditorium. The lights were somewhat dimmed, but definitely not dark. The person in front of me spent about half of the talk live-tweeting bits from the talk. The lights were sufficiently dim that the (5-6") cell phone of the person in front of me was quite distracting to me, since it shined directly at me (<small><small>the user actually turned the phone away from them a bit, which I wonder was due to the brightness of the screen.</small></small>). However, I am somewhat more sensitive to bright light than other people. Has smart phone usage reached sufficient social acceptance to allow usage in a non-darkened auditorium? I'm perfectly comfortable with asking people to change their behavior in public. In this particular case, though, I wasn't sure how far in/out of socially accepted behavior the person in question was. For instance, I'd consider it quite appropriate to use a laptop at an academic talk in a fully lit auditorium. I'd consider it quite inappropriate to use any device in any darkened venue.,2014:site.268232 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 06:52:53 -0800 saeculorum Problems with storage on an older Android phone I have a Samsung <a href="">I200</a>. I like it well enough, but it doesn't have much on-board storage (4 gigs). I recently put a 16GB card into it to increase storage. However, I'm still running into problems with having enough space. Even after moving all of my pictures over to the card, and clearing out unwanted programs, the phone is nearly full. Right now Miscellaneous Files is taking up the lion's share, with 2.3 gigs. However, when I look through the list of stored items, I'm not seeing what accounts for all of that space.<br> <br> Is there a way to clear out unwanted gunk in the phone, like one might do with C-Cleaner on a PC? And if so, is there any way to make the phone default to using the card for its primary storage instead of constantly making me manage stuff on it?,2014:site.267900 Thu, 04 Sep 2014 12:09:11 -0800 codacorolla Need to replace lost cell phone I lost my cell phone over the weekend. I'm 8 months away from an upgrade (AT&amp;T 2-year contract). I don't want to pay AT&amp;T's exorbitant prices for a new phone that I'll get a good deal on in April. What are my cost-effective options in the interim? I use my phone mostly for web browsing, streaming music, and (ironically) only occasional texting and talking. The phone I lost was a Samsung S3. I would like to be able to do all of those things, but don't want to spend a bunch of money since I'm not going to use it for years.<br> <br> Suggestions on phones that I can use with the remainder of my AT&amp;T contract? Suggestions on where to buy a phone (Android)? Amazon? Walmart? I'm wary of eBay and Craigslist.,2014:site.267762 Tue, 02 Sep 2014 12:00:28 -0800 mudpuppie Figuring out what "System Data" is and how to reduce it on Android 4.0.4 How do I figure out what "system data" is in my system memory and how do I reduce the size for android 4.0.4? Hey how's it going guys? I have an LG Lucid with total memory of 8 GB(4GB System memory, 4GB Internal memory). Of my 4GB system memory, 2.83GB is "system data", 608MB is apps and 586 is available. I can't really find out anywhere about what exactly this system data is or how to go about figuring out what it is/how to reduce the size. I've already moved many apps to my Internal memory and cleared the caches for my browser and virtually all of the apps that exist both on my system memory and internal memory. The reason I'm asking is because my phone is unbearably slow sometimes and I feel like the high "system data" could very well be the culprit. Can anyone help me out with this? Much appreciated in advance.,2014:site.267605 Fri, 29 Aug 2014 17:17:32 -0800 I received a piece of technology I didn't pay for! I pre-ordered a smartphone on announcement day back in March. Shortly after, I decided this particular smartphone wasn't going to be for me, and I cancelled my order and was promptly refunded. The phone just now became available and problem is, I received the phone on Monday. I haven't opened the phone yet, thinking the company would realize their error and charge my card again, in which case I'd just return it. But that hasn't happened yet and I'm starting to doubt the possibility of that. I'm smartphone-less and was just planning on buying the new iPhone when I move abroad shortly, as I definitely need a smartphone rather than the basic phone I have now.<br> <br> What should I do? I don't think it's immoral to keep the phone and use it, as it seems they really screwed up and haven't realized it. Is there a possible reason this could have happened? My order number for my original purchase was included on my initial shipping information from UPS. Is it possible their different departments didn't communicate or something?<br> <br> It just seems very strange. I should add that this phone is GSM unlocked, so it's not like it's a Verizon model where the phone maker could just have it blocked already.,2014:site.266446 Thu, 07 Aug 2014 21:10:30 -0800 signondiego Teach me to use my phone. I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Are there structured courses that will teach me about all of my phone's features? I'm very happy with this phone, but I know for a fact that I don't use it to its full potential, and just looking at a list of "50 hidden Note 3 Features" seems unstructured and difficult to retain. So, I'm wondering if there exists anything with more structure that can make me a Note 3 expert user.,2014:site.266425 Thu, 07 Aug 2014 12:42:40 -0800 cmoj Smartphone game to play as a family (adults)? I am around 50 years old and my kids are around 30. Is there one really cool smartphone game we could play together? We live miles apart. I've heard about this game Ingress. I was going to ask them about that but I thought I'd ask you folks first. The idea that we could all three fight for the resistance from our respective cities appeals to me. But if a 30 year old would not think Ingress is cool then it is out. What do you think?,2014:site.265844 Sun, 27 Jul 2014 19:55:10 -0800 cda Should I ask Ting Inc. for a new phone? I just got a refurbished Nexus S from Ting (I would link to the phone, but they're not selling it right now). Honestly, it's been great, except that twice now the phone just turned off and wouldn't turn back on. Then, in a few hours (like 12-16 hours), it does turn on and pretends like nothing happened. This causes me anxiety. I'm still under warranty for another week or so; should I ask for a new phone? I did try a few things, which are listed below. Apparently there is a "take it apart and put it back together again trick"; I tried the trick the second time the phone turned off, but nothing happened. Then, a few hours later, the phone did its whole starting again just fine thing.<br> <br> I also tried to charge the phone while it was off, thinking maybe it ran out of juice, but the phone didn't even react to being plugged in (which it usually does, even when it's off). And I had it plugged in for hours.<br> <br> OK I didn't try that many things but those are the two things I did. Advice?,2014:site.265570 Tue, 22 Jul 2014 21:22:41 -0800 middlethird More power! The battery life on my Samsung Galaxy S3 has become bad and unpredictable, and I'm looking for either a larger battery or some kind of extended battery case. What are the best options? If I ration my wifi/internet use, turn off location services, and close all apps frequently, I get reasonable battery life. But I'm sick of having to do that, and also of having my phone die around 3pm more often than not.<br> <br> I have already tried buying an extra battery and swapping them. But it's a pain to remember to charge them both, to constantly be carrying another thing in my pockets, and also to have to reboot when I change them out.<br> <br> I know there are enormous batteries that require you replace the back of the phone. This is acceptable to me, but since they all seem to be sold by shady Amazon resellers, I'm wondering if there's an option that will guarantee quality and reliability.<br> <br> I would also be okay with a case, even a fairly large one, that charges my phone. I'm aware of a case made by Powerskin but Amazon reviews seem mixed.<br> <br> I know this isn't a niche problem. Apparently fixing battery life is the big engineering push for the next Android version. And the GS3 was a really popular phone. It seems like there ought to be a well-regarded extended battery of some kind.,2014:site.264954 Thu, 10 Jul 2014 23:45:06 -0800 vogon_poet Best plan for unlocked Moto G? I have an unlocked Moto G phone and I'm looking for a good prepaid plan, for only voice and text, preferably 100 minutes and 100 texts and very cheap. I should have probably researched this before buying the phone! I assumed I'll just look at the basic plans from major carriers and pick the cheapest talk-only plan -- but I can't even figure out which ones offer talk-only prepaid, and which ones will accept unlocked Moto G. It's amazing how hard they make it for you to give them money in exchange for service, oy. Bonus if I could just go to a store in Manhattan and activate this quickly and easily.,2014:site.264254 Fri, 27 Jun 2014 07:30:15 -0800 rainy Taking my iPhone to Canada -- how to not get burned by fees I am confused about my options for using voice/data/texting on my Verizon iPhone 5 while on a trip to Canada. In August, my band is going on tour. We are going to be playing (I think) 4 dates in Canada -- two in Toronto, one in Ottawa, one in Montreal, in addition to some dates in the midwest and east coast of the US. (We are based in Baltimore, if that matters.) I would like to be able to use my phone while in Canada but I'm spooked by stories of people getting hit by insane data roaming charges.<br> <br> Here are my specific questions:<br> 1. Is my only option buying this <a href="">$25 for 100MB thing from verizon</a>? That seems awfully steep! And $0.89 per minute for voice calls!! <br> 2. Should I turn off iMessage so that I don't use my data plan for texts by accident?<br> 3. Are there any apps I can install on my phone that will monitor how much data is being used (and by what apps) over a period of time (so I can judge just how far 100MB is likely to get me)<br> 4. Is there any way to pre-download maps of certain areas (in Google Maps or Apple Maps or some other app) so that using the GPS won't suck up too much data? <br> 5. If I had stuck with AT&amp;T, would I be able to just pop in a Canadian SIM card and be done with it? (grrr)<br> 6. Is there another solution I'm not thinking of?<br> <br> Since I won't be doing any driving, I tend to amuse myself on the long van drives by listening to spotify, browsing the web, social media, etc., and I'd like to be able to still do some of that if possible without it costing eight gajillion dollars if possible.,2014:site.264164 Wed, 25 Jun 2014 11:28:12 -0800 capnsue To update or not update my OS: Verizon iPhone4 I've got an old Verizon iPhone I would dearly love to keep as long as possible, because once I give it up for a newer one I lose my unlimited data plan. (Grumble! Rant!). I'm finding that more and more apps won't update or install though, because I've been skipping OS updates due to worries that I'll brick my phone or it somehow won't be able to handle it.<br> <br> I've got an original Verizon iPhone 4, 16GB, with 6.3 GB currently available. I'm currently running 5.1.1. Mr. Arkham is currently running something even older, I'm not sure what. Neither of us use our phones for music or back up/sync with iTunes very often (or ever).<br> <br> Thoughts?,2014:site.263900 Fri, 20 Jun 2014 06:20:08 -0800 JoanArkham