Phones & Apps | allankintz.com

Wrapping Up the T-Mobile Test Drive
By ack154 / in Phones & Apps / February 9, 2015

The wife and I drove up to Syracuse to return the iPhone 5S that T-Mobile sent me for my Test Drive on Sunday. There was a Winter Storm Warning... but... Subaru.

On Saturday we drove around a bit through Elmira and some of the usual spots first. My brother's house doesn't have any service (maybe 1 bar of roaming). But that's OK when you have wifi calling. They're really just on the edge of service from Elmira - so as it all expands a bit more, they might get lucky anyway.

Also no service inside Target. This is likely a band issue though. As T-Mobile's service improves, that will probably change and improve as well. I'm not sure which band would be needed to reach a bit deeper inside the building but I'm led to believe band 12 will fix all the things!

I have to say that overall I think TMo has come a LONG way from just 6 months ago. There was previously zero coverage around here (OK, so maybe they had actual 2G/Edge service... but come on, that doesn't count these days) and now there's LTE nearly everywhere. Still lots of room for improvement (and a few places to light up coverage) but it's coming. And the results are there so far.

Another interesting difference is just in support. TMo's social media team is relentless - they're even surprisingly active on Google+. Hopefully these people are well paid because they seem to be pretty good at their job. As I told my wife, they appear to actually give a shit. Try to find anyone at Verizon or AT&T that seems to give a shit about their customers... I can't recall anything that would illustrate that.

If in the whole process there was one thing that put me off a little bit, it was the in-store experience. When I went to drop the phone off (because you must physically return the phone to an actual TMo store), there were 3 employees working and they were each helping someone when I walked in. We waited 25 minutes before someone could finally help us. I don't know if these 3 customers in front of us had the most complicated processes ever - but it felt like forever for what I thought (based on nothing at all) should be fairly simple transactions. I guess not.

Another thing I'd consider odd about the return process - at least given all of my interaction with them thus far - was that even though I was returning their Test Drive device, no one even asked me how it was. Nothing about what I thought of the service or the device... or least of all if I wanted to sign up for service! I had no intention of signing up that day (network isn't ready yet around here) but it was surprising to me that they didn't even ask. Isn't that what the Test Drive is for??

Oh well. I don't intend on having to visit any TMo store even if we do sign up for service. It's far easier to do most business online.

One of the things we will still have to figure out is what to do about the switch. All 4 lines are under contract and thus will have ETFs. I'm not sure yet if it would be worth trading in our devices to get TMo to pay the ETFs. It seems to me that it might work out better if we sell each of our devices outright to cover the ETFs - as I'm pretty sure we'll get more money that way to help cover the cost of new devices. Why new devices if all of ours will work on TMo out of the box? Wifi calling.
Testing T-Mobile’s Test Drive
By ack154 / in Phones & Apps / February 4, 2015

UPDATE: Brought the 5S they sent with me to work to test wifi calling (this will be an important feature in my case). Once I found the WiFi Calls option under Phone in the Settings menu, it worked as advertised! Before you can activate it though, you have to enter in an E911 address for emergency services since they won't be tracking you via cell towers in that case.

I hadn't mentioned it here yet but T-Mobile vastly improved their coverage of upstate NY some time recently. I figurd this was a great time to start seriously considering switching away from AT&T. Luckily, TMo has a program setup for exactly this kind of thing. It's their Test Drive. And they'll send you a phone to use on their network for a full week, for free. So I got my iPhone 5S in the mail last night for my free 7 day Test Drive...

AT&T vs T-Mobile Speed Test at Home

Pretty easily forwarded my AT&T number calls, swapped the TMo SIM into my Z3 Compact, updated APN settings, and was on my way with my own phone for the Test Drive. Service at home was decent. Only had one or sometimes 2 bars in the house - but this isn't really that different from my usual AT&T service. Speed test was a bit slower than AT&T but still acceptable.

Today is more of a real test. According to their map, once I get outside of Montour/Watkins area and head towards work, I'd pretty much lose service and have to deal with it. I expected this for the Test Drive. Surely I wouldn't bother actually switching carriers if both work and home were not covered. Elmira/Horseheads area appears to be covered well (according to their coverage map anyway) but I'll verify this tonight when I head that way to get a haircut.

I was kind of hoping that their map may just not be updated yet for the Corning area and I'd have regular service. Nope.

Once I got a few miles down 414 away from home, I lost LTE completely and it switched over to Roaming. Wasn't quite sure what to expect in this area, but it turns out that it was connected to AT&T's HSPA+ network - which is not awful around here.

It stayed in Roaming until somewhere on 86 in Corning or heading up the hill to work - where it changed back to TMo's network but only Edge (2G) coverage. This is fine if you want to make calls and such... but don't count on anything other than maybe some emails or something for data.

The start of my morning commute with T-Mobile, with their map.

And really, I'd say their map is fairly accurate - if you consider where I lost LTE and the colors on the map. It likely dropped a little earlier than when I spotted it on my phone, but it's still pretty close.

Really though, 414 should be covered before I make the switch as well. I need it at home and work for sure, but if I'm going to take advantage of their Music Freedom arrangement (streaming music doesn't count against your data), it cannot be Roaming. Has to be using the TMo network for that. And pretty much the only thing I listen to in the car is streaming music from Google Play Music - I subscribe to their All Access service for $10/mo.

As I said, tonight I venture more towards Elmira/Horseheads area and check out by the mall. According to the map, all of this should be covered, so I have fairly high expectations. All I'm really doing though is leaving Waze running for maps/navigation so that I can watch my signal along the way. I'll try to remember to do a speed test when I get out there to maybe compare later.

So far so good...
Nike and Jawbone Just Don’t Want My Money
By ack154 / in Phones & Apps / November 13, 2013

Here I am with an old Fitbit Ultra looking to replace it and move up in the fitness tracking game... And there appear to be many players on the field these days. Nike just released its new FuelBand SE. Fitbit has both the Flex and the Force now. And then today, Jawbone announces the UP24, their first wirelessly syncing fitness tracker (yes, both previous versions of the UP band required a physical connection to your phone to sync their data).

So what's a guy to do?

Jawbone UP24

Well, as an Android user, two options are already out the window. Both Nike's FuelBand and the Jawbone's new UP are iOS only. Yes, you read that right... the mobile OS with 80% global market share is flat out not supported by two of the largest players in the fitness tracker market.

But WHY? Nike basically says "because fragmentation." Well, essentially they're blaming the lack of broad Bluetooth 4.0 LE support among Android devices and software. And at first glance that makes some sense... I mean Android as an OS didn't event support it until version 4.3. And many devices are yet to receive an update to 4.3. Then there's also the fact that a lot of the hardware doesn't support it yet.

But let's look at the hardware that DOES support it and either already has Android 4.3+ or is going to be getting it VERY soon... Samsung Galaxy S3, S3 Mini, S4, S4 Mini, Note 2, Note 3... as well as the last two Nexus devices (and their sister LG devices, the Optimus G and G2) and HTC's latest flagships, the One, One Mini and One Max. And let's not forget the new DROID line as well as the Moto X.

Nike FuelBand SE

That's just a handful of devices in the Android world... so why would anyone make a product just for those? Let's look at some numbers... even just the Samsung devices. The S3 has sold over 50 million units and is shortly to receive it's 4.3 update. The S4 has already sold over 40 million units and many of the variants already have updated to 4.3. The Galaxy Note 2 has sold over 30 million devices and should again be receiving it's 4.3 update soon. The Note 3 actually shipped with Android 4.3 and while I don't have up-to-date sales, it did sell over 5 million in just its first MONTH. So just with 4 models, in one brand, we're looking at a potential 125 million units.

Sure, a large majority of those people probably don't care about a fitness tracker - but take a look at most of the models that do support BT LE... they're all flagship models, ie, not cheap. If anyone is going to be buying your fitness tracking products, it's going to be the people getting new flagship phones on a regular basis (I'm on my 4th phone in 2 years!).

My point is... you can't ignore hundreds of millions of potential customers for too much longer. Jawbone today has said they expect their Android app some time in 2014, but Nike hasn't really said too much either way. I find this fucking absurd. Two years ago, OK, I get it. Android wasn't ready. Last year? Eh, a few devices were kind of there but it might be still a bit early. In late 2013? Android 4.4 coming out? Every flagship (and lower) device supporting BT LE?

No excuses.

So to go back to my original question... what do I do? Do I settle for one of the Fitbit products (which actually aren't bad) that already support Andoird? Do I suck it up and buy one of the other products and sync with my work iPhone hoping that eventually I'll be able to switch it over to my personal phone if an Android app is ever released? I don't know. Nike and Jawbone's current positions on Android actually make me want to not give them money, so it's a tough one. Maybe by Christmas this will work itself out and I'll know what I want... until then I guess I'll just wait for my Ultra to die or get lost or something.
Pure Greed, Because They Can
By ack154 / in Phones & Apps / July 17, 2013
If you've been paying attention to the mobile industry in the last couple weeks, there are a slew of new announcements coming out. Mostly to do with upgrades - and the mobile carriers coming out with plans that let their customers upgrade sooner to have the latest and greatest more often. Which, I find somewhat amusing simply based on the fact that most of them just changed their contract upgrade policies to make people wait longer (from 20 to 24 months now, on AT&T).

These new plans though are made to look as if you're getting a good deal on upgrading to a new device and being able to do so more often. For the purpose of this writing, I’m going to refer mostly to AT&T's new Next program (but Verizon's plan will be very similar, if not worse with their $2/mo financing fee shit).

Right now, if you want a new phone, you pay a something like $200 out the door and AT&T appears to eat the rest of the phone cost so you don't have to pay full retail up front. The rest of that phone cost though is actually rolled into what I like to call a "subsidy fee." You won't see this on your bill, but you're paying for it every month, whether you have a new phone or not. That's how they can charge you so little for a phone ($200 vs $650+ for a new device at retail) and still make money. It's just how the system works here.

But anyway, everyone pays this subsidy fee. Even if you've gone 24 months and your contract has ended, you're still paying this fee (notice your phone bill never went down after your contract was up?). Your phone is, in a sense, completely paid for at this point and yours free and clear - but your bill never goes down and that "subsidy fee" never goes away.

How is this new plan different?

With AT&T Next, there is no more up front $200 cost. The full retail price of the phone is broken up into 20 monthly installments (based on the cost of the phone) and added to your bill. So if you want the new Galaxy S4, you can pick that up for zero cost up front but add on another $32/mo to your regular bill. Not a bad deal right? Stick with me though.

After 12 months on this payment plan, you can choose to upgrade to a new device if you want - but you have to trade in that Galaxy S4 to do so. Your remaining payments on the Galaxy S4 go away and you basically choose another phone and start over again. If you decide to keep the Galaxy S4 longer and pay it off in 20 months, the phone is then yours and you can decide to upgrade again or do whatever you want. After the 20 months though, that $32 payment goes away. Still sounds pretty nice, right?

Remember that "subsidy fee" I mentioned? You're still paying that too. If you're in the Next program, your bill never goes down from the previous plans. So if you pick up a new phone on the Next plan, you're paying that hidden subsidy fee AND then also paying $32 (or however much) per month for your new phone on top of the original bill. They're double charging you for your phone. And happy to do so.

Like I said, this is very similar to the details that Verizon will soon announce – so if you think you can switch from one to the other and get away from these shenanigans, you can’t. Your only options are to switch to either Sprint or TMobile – who are both at least slightly more customer friendly.

I just wish I could pay a company that I didn’t think sat down each week and thought “how can we screw our customers out of more money but look like we’re being generous?”.

How can you avoid getting screwed by these types of programs? Oh, that’s the best part… you can’t. If you’re on AT&T or Verizon, you’re getting screwed either way. And that’s not going to change. You just have to figure out what plan or program screws you less or you can put up with the most. Even buying new phones outright from someone other than the carrier (like I do) isn’t the best solution. Really it just means I’m giving AT&T SOME less money than I would have.

And that’s… OK.

Here's some math if you're curious... assuming $100/mo phone bill, over 4 years.

Current Plan w/ 2 Year Upgrade Cycle:
- $200 for new device up front.
- Sell old phone after 2 years is up for $300.
- $100/mo x 48 months + $200 x 2 new phones - $300 sale of first phone.
- Total spent over 4 years: $4900 - with another phone to sell if you choose at the end of the 4th year.
NEXT Plan w/ 2 Year Upgrade Cycle:
- $0 up front but $30/mo for new phone.
- Phone is paid off after 20 months. Keep for another 4 months and then sell for $300.
- $130/mo x 40 months + $100/mo x 8 months - $300 sale of first phone.
- Total spent over 4 years: $5700 - and a phone to sell at the end of the 4th year.
NEXT Plan w 1 Year Upgrade Cycle (what they want you to do):
- $0 up front but still $30/mo for new phone.
- Upgrade each year, so no phone to sell - it is traded back in to AT&T.
- $130/mo x 48 months.
- Total spent over 4 years: $6240 - and no phones to sell after the 4th year.
To summarize, if you continue to upgrade every 2 years like you probably are now, you'd pay roughly another $800 over 4 years for this new program compared to the current system (consider this how much you'd be double paying in addition to the "subsidy fee" I mentioned). If you want to take advantage of the yearly upgrade on NEXT, you're now paying another $1340 over 4 years compared to upgrading every 2 years now.

So... what are you going to do?
That New Android Device, Remix
By ack154 / in Phones & Apps / August 2, 2012

Turns out the Atrix HD has an absolutely horrendous battery. Do. Not. Buy.

After just 2 days with her Atrix, Jen decided to ditch it for something else. Her battery would be dead around lunch or just after with minimal use on the phone. The battery stats would show the display as the main culprit - despite barely touching it.

We went through a lot of the usual battery saving things, brightness, sync intervals, refresh rates, widgets, etc on Tuesday. Still crap. And we could have squeaked out a few more % by turning off GPS and Sync completely - but if you have to do that just to get through HALF of the day, why bother with the phone?

So last night was a trip back to Best Buy... which taught us something. Never. Ever. Ever buy a phone from Best Buy.

The first probably was more or less limited to our Best Buy (or any smaller store) where there is only ONE person working the Mobile center (and not even a space for a 2nd one, there's only 1 terminal). So we had to wait about a half hour just to do ANYTHING with it because the girl was helping someone else. Aside from the actual time waited, the worst part was there was no seating area, no chairs, nothing. So we just had to stand there for 30 minutes and wait. We couldn't wander off and look around because there were other people hovering around too, waiting to get their turn. And if we would have not been there, we would have been passed over and had to wait longer.

Anyway... the idea was simple. Return the Atrix and get a new device still on contract price. Well the return part went fine. Then Jen picked out the Galaxy S III in white. This is the part where the BB rep calls AT&T and asks that the upgrade (from 2 days ago) be reversed so that she can enter a new one. Makes some sense, I thought. Nope. Can't do it. Even the rep is surprised - she says they normally just do it right away. This time was going to be 24 hours. Er, what?

I tried calling the actual AT&T store to see if they could do anything faster (since our actual return was completed) and they said no. The system Best Buy uses is so different from their own that they can't even do anything to reverse the account without Best Buy doing it.

So after waiting another 15 minutes for a manger to come over (during which time the Mobile rep started helping someone else) - they voided out the Atrix return so that they could do anexchangeof the devices instead of a return and a purchse. After the return was voided the rep finally started helping us again. Well then somehow she rebooted her whole terminal. Which was another 20 minutes. Thankfully she could actually process the Samsung purchase after that - but then the credit card terminal was not working. Another call to the manager, another 10 minutes - still not working. We ended up having to go over to the customer service desk so that we could actually pay for the phone.

All said and done, TWO HOURS we were in that store. Just to return a phone and buy a new one. Never. Again.

In the end, Jen has her new phone (again) and we're done with Best Buy.
Yet Another Android Device
By ack154 / in Phones & Apps / July 31, 2012

Just very recently I upgraded both of my devices (phone and tablet) to newer ones from Google. I got an unlocked Galaxy Nexus and a new Nexus 7 tablet. And of course this allowed me to sell off my Galaxy S2 and my Galaxy Tab 2 (which were both pretty nice devices). Well fast forward a couple weeks and someone else wants to get in on the upgrading!

Jen has had my hand-me-down iPhone 4 for probably around a year and has been patiently waiting for the next iPhone to come out to use her available upgrade. Well, I showed her some potential photos of the new iPhone 5 (or whatever they're going to call it) and she wasn't impressed. The general thought being ... "it's just a taller iPhone 4." And she's pretty much right. I think there was some disappointment there - so we started talking upgrade options.

Naturally Android is the only other choice (if you say Windows Phone or BlackBerry, I'm going to pretend you no longer exist). So based on her usage (some games, some email, nothing major) I figured just about any Android device would be fine for her. She doesn't need to root or do anything like that (and won't let me anyway). But if she's going to use her upgrade to get a new phone, why not make it a good one.

I picked out the HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy S III, and the Motorola Atrix HD. I'd say these are the top 3 Android phones at this moment. The Samsung seems like it is the clear favorite here with a large screen and the 2GB of RAM... with the Atrix being kind of the budget option but still really nice. But back to her usage, any of these would be a really good phone for her - so the specs don't really matter too much. Off to AT&T we went.

She was able to try out each of the phones and I told her it was up to her to decide... it really just came down to whichever one she liked best as far as the look and feel go. There was something "plain" about the One X in person that didn't really appeal to her (or me). The Samsung is nice... but the color choices are a bit odd. She liked the white, but wondered why there wasn't a black. She did like the white Atrix HD also... and eventually decided on that. She liked that there were no physical/separate buttons - it had a cleaner look to it. Like my Galaxy Nexus, the Home/Back/Tasks buttons are part of the actual display - not separate from it.

Turns out Best Buy was selling the Atrix for $50 with upgrade ($100 at AT&T). So we went over there to get one. Unfortunately they don't offer the white version. Only the black... but she was OK with that since she's going to put a case on anyway. Just a few minutes with the BB rep and we were done. She spent the next many hours playing and learning. I think she likes it... but we'll wait a bit to get her real reaction.

And the reality is that at any time, either her or I would be perfectly comfortable going back to Apple if a future iPhone seems worth it - but right now I think we're both happy enough on the other side of the fence. There are plenty of options to choose from and things are constantly changing.

The iPhone 4 will be sold off (assuming she's happy with the Atrix for sure). And thankfully I was able to have AT&T unlock it last night for me (since it was past it's initial 2 yr contract period and my account is in good standing). That took about 2 minutes. So now I can get a few more $$ for it when we sell it off!

Which reminds me, if you're looking for an unlocked 32GB iPhone 4 in black - we'll have one to sell here very soon. Current eBay prices look like it'll be somewhere between $300-$400 still!
So What’s Next?
By ack154 / in Phones & Apps / May 24, 2012

Being able to upgrade my phone at the "upgrade" price every year is kind of nice. It does mean I spend more $ on phones than most people do - but I like having something awesome.

My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S II. It's pretty awesome, if I can say so. I love just about everything about it. The design is just right for me (I even got bold and installed a white i9100 back on it to make it different) and the software options are great (thanks to XDA). Of course the speaker location is the one thing I'll always come back to as annoying. But that's a minor thing.

The problem I'm having now is looking forward... what do I get next? There's obviously nothing that says that I have to upgrade every year - but if something nice were to come along, I'd sure give it a look. I'm just stuck right now though - I kind of expected something to grab my attention by now. The next generation of my phone just doesn't seem to do it for me. Rather than saying "buy me" it says "wtf did you do to my design?!"

I guess I'd say the Galaxy S III is too "organic." I like a bit more industrial design. That was one of the things I liked best about the iPhone 4. And some of that feeling carried over to the GSII. There are a couple new phones from HTC that are getting a lot of buzz (the One S and One X) but to be honest, they don't really seem like massive improvements over my current phone. I'd be better off just sticking with what I have.

Speaking of the iPhone though - the next generation version will be an option. Even though I'm on Android now, it doesn't mean I hate Apple or their products (just like I never hated on Android stuff when I had my iPhone). It might turn out that the next gen iPhone is amazing and I cross that bridge again back to the other side. But without knowing anything at all about it yet, I really have no idea what to think.

So what do you think? Anything coming out in the next 3-6 months that you'll just HAVE to own? Did Samsung totally screw up the GSIII (despite what the "preorder" numbers say)? I guess for now I'll just have to be happy enough with a custom ROM and modified case on a pretty nice phone already.

BTW, this is probably appropriate: #firstworldproblems
My Android Data Problem
By ack154 / in Phones & Apps / October 18, 2011

Overall I'd still say I'm more than satisfied with my Galaxy S II. The device itself is fantastic. It's thin, light, powerful, has a gorgeous screen, and decent battery life. I really cannot find any faults with the hardware. Some of the software, on the other hand, I take issue with.

Android as a whole is nice. But there are some things that either don't make sense to me, or I don't care about.

The font sizes for one. For having such a large screen, it feels like everything is HUGE on it. Like I just bought a 24" LCD and set it to 800x600 resolution or something. WHY? One of the first things I've done in almost any app is look for text size options and make them as small as possible. I realize some things need to be larger to make for a better touch-based experience... but come on.

GPS is SLOOOOOW. My iPhone 4 would lock on GPS and let me check into foursquare REALLY fast. It feels like it takes the SGS2 a lifetime to get a GPS lock and load the correct venues. Apparently there are worse devices out there - but comparison-wise this feels like a lifetime.

Pre-loaded apps, aka: bloatware. AT&T and Samsung can shove these things up their asses for all I care. There's no reason to put so much crap on a device and then NOT allow someone to remove it. And in my case not allow me to turn it off and make it stop working.

I'm specifically referring to the AP Mobile news widget. I added the widget once to see what it would look like - hated it immediately - and proceeded to go into the settings to make it go away. There is a scroll setting and a refresh setting. I set both to None - thinking this would kill it. Then I removed the widget from my home screen. This was when I first got the phone weeks ago...

Fast forward to this weekend and I was reviewing my AT&T data for the billing period and decided to install a data manager app on my phone to see what uses data. Mostly out of curiosity. Turns out... AP Mobile is a data-hogging bitch. Even when not in use. Remember me turning it off before? Ya, it was still off. I added the widget back to my home screen and verified the setting was still set to refresh of None. It was.

I then set it to refresh of an hour, removed the widget, added the widget back, set it to none, and removed it again. Still using data. And when I say this thing is using data, it uses 3-4 MB every 10 minutes or so. Add that up over a month and that's a LOT of data. Unacceptable. Next step was to Force Stop the application in the Settings menu. This worked... for a while. It decided to start itself up again and use more data. And since it's a pre-loaded app, there is no uninstall option. Awesome.

To AT&T support we go. This was the first of 3 chat sessions where I try to figure out what to do about this.

info: Welcome to AT&T Chat. My name is 'Vicki Clay' and I’ll be happy to assist you today.
Vicki Clay: I apologize for the inconvenience caused by the app using so much data Mr. Kintz. Thank you for completing the pre chat survey. We're happy to have you as part of our AT&T family and I will be happy to assist you today. It is my priority to resolve any issues and respond to any other questions or concerns that you may have.
Allan Kintz: so is there any way to remove this app or stop it's data usage without rooting the device? i'd like to avoid that if i could
Vicki Clay: I'm checking the tutorial on how to remove applications on your device. I'll send you a link to what I find.
Allan Kintz: well i do know how to uninstall applications - but this one does not have that option
Allan Kintz: and like i said, i'm not even using the widget and have set it to not refresh for data - but it continues to do so
Vicki Clay: I'm sorry but I do not find any tutorial on the device you are using. Is it an AT&T phone?
Allan Kintz: yes... Samsung Galaxy S II.
Vicki Clay: Did this application come embedded in the phone?
Allan Kintz: yes
Vicki Clay: I apologize, but you will not be able to remove an application that is embedded into the software of the phone. I can suggest contacting the manufacturer to see how to manage the software if you like.
Allan Kintz: but doesn't at&t decide what applications go on the device? i'm confused.
Allan Kintz: thing is though that i dont even need to remove it - i just want it to stop using data when i'm not using the app or widget
Vicki Clay: The number for Samsung is 1-888-987-4357. They are open Monday - Friday: 9am - 8pm EST and Saturday: 10am - 7pm EST. The web address is http://www.samsungusa.com.
Vicki Clay: Is there something else I can help you with Mr. Kintz?
info: Your chat transcript will be sent to akintz@gmail.com at the end of your chat.

So... they punted it to Samsung. At least she gave their contact info.....

Keep in mind, at this point I've seen enough on the internet to know that I'm not the only one with this problem. Lot of others have run into this and there's always the same answer. Root it. I'm sorry but that is not a solution. That is a "work around." It does not solve the problem of the app I'm not using eating up my data. Anyway... Samsung was next. I'd like to find an actual answer...

Phillips: Hi, thank you for contacting Samsung Technical Support. How may I help you today?
Visitor: Hi, I have a Galaxy S II on AT&T and have a problem with one of the apps. The AP Mobile app continues to use data - even though I am not using the widget for it, and have set the widget refresh to None. There is no way that I can find to uninstall the app and if I Force Stop it, it starts up again. I have talked to AT&T and they decided it was a Samsung problem.
Visitor: This specific app has used over 10 MB of data just this morning already. I'd like to either make sure it is dead - or completely remove it. And I'd like to avoid rooting my device if I can - because that is an option.
Phillips: I understand that you are experiencing data consumption issue with AP Mobile app on your Samsung SGH-I777 device and would like to uninstall the app. Am I correct?
Visitor: Yes.
Phillips: Thank you for the confirmation.
Phillips: I will assist you with the required information.
Phillips: Let me confirm if you have downloaded the app for Android market.
Visitor: No, it was pre-installed on the device.
Phillips: Thank you for the information.
Phillips: I am sorry, we can not uninstall the preloaded apps on the device. They come with Android Operating System.
Phillips: However, let me check if there are any settings for the app.
Visitor: There are settings for the widget. There are 2 refresh settings, I have set them both to None. In fact, I added the widget, set the refresh to 1 hour. Removed the widget. Added the widget back, set the refresh back to None and removed the widget again and it still uses data.
Phillips: Thank you for the information.
Phillips: Would you mind holding 3 minutes while I gather the required information on your request?
Visitor: sure
Phillips: Thank you.
Phillips: Thank you for holding.
Phillips: I have checked with the information and found that the app uses more data to check for updates. As you have set the refresh time to none and still find the data is consumed.
Phillips: I suggest you to remove the widget and check if the issue persist.
Visitor: But I have removed the widget......
Phillips: I apologize for the inconvenience this might have caused to you.
Phillips: Did you try removing and re-inserting the battery on the device after deleting the app?
Phillips: This refreshes the circuit on the device and brings the settings to normal.
Visitor: I have not pulled the battery since removing the widget, no. I suppose I can try that.
Phillips: Sure, please go ahead. This should fix the issue.
Visitor: It is coming back up now. I'll keep an eye on the data throughout the day and see if it is better. Thanks.
Phillips: You are welcome.

So... that did not help. At all. Took about 10 minutes to figure that out so I went back into yet another chat...

Sierra: Hi, thank you for contacting Samsung Technical Support. How may I help you today?
Visitor: I was actually just in a chat a few minutes ago with someone named "Phillips" ... and the problem is not resolved... here's the short summary:
Sierra: Okay, please go ahead.
Visitor: New Samsung Galaxy S II on AT&T (new being bought 10/4). The AP Mobile app that came pre-installed on the device continues to use up many MBs of my data - even though I'm not using it. I have set the refresh setting of the AP Mobile widget to "none" and removed the widget and it does not help. The previous person I talked to "Phillips" suggested pulling the battery since I had not done so after removing the widget. I have done that and the app has used another MB of data in just the last 15 minutes. Need a better solution.
Visitor: I have the option of rooting the device if I want to - but I shouldn't have to do that just to remove an app or get it to stop using my data. Already talked to AT&T and they said it was a Samsung issue. Feel like I'm getting the run-around.
Sierra: I understand that you area experiencing issue with the AP mobile application on your SGH-I777 mobile device. Am I correct?
Visitor: yes
Sierra: Thank you for the confirmation.
Sierra: May I know from how long you have been experiencing this issue?
Visitor: Likely since I got the device - but just noticed it last night when I installed a data tracking app to see what was using my data.
Sierra: I am sorry for the inconvenience caused to you.
Visitor: I was checking my AT&T bill and noticed my data usage this month was abnormally high. That's what prompted me to install an app to check on it.
Sierra: Let us troubleshoot the issue.
Sierra: Please let me know if you have removed the widget from the phone.
Visitor: Yes.
Visitor: I have also added the widget, set the refresh to 1 hour. Removed the widget. Added the widget again and set the refresh to none. Then removed again.
Sierra: I am sorry to hear that.
Sierra: I have gone through your previous chat correspondence with Philips. As you have removed the widget and still facing the issue, the issue might be with the device.
Sierra: Let us perform a hard reset on the device.
Visitor: Is that anything like pulling the battery?
Sierra: You may lose the data when you perform the hard reset.
Sierra: No, hard reset is restoring the device to its factory settings.
Visitor: Ah...
Sierra: I will provide you with the steps.
Sierra: Please follow the below steps to Hard reset the Captivate Phone :

1. Turn the power off. Pull the battery out and replace it if the Power button doesn’t work.
2. Press and hold the Volume Down and Power buttons.
3. Release the Power button while continuing the hold Volume Down until a menu appears prompting you to select Fastboot, Recovery, Clear Storage, and Simlock.
4. Select Delete all user data using the Volume Down button.
5. Press the release Power button.
6. Select Volume Up for Yes.

Sierra: Please let me know once you are done.
Visitor: So will I get any of my apps/data back after this? I realize it'll wipe everything at first, but how much of that is backed up?
Sierra: You may lose all the third party applications installed on the device when you perform hard reset.
Sierra: All the pre-installed applications will be there as it is on the device.
Visitor: I'm going to have to take some time before I do this. I need to back some stuff up and move some things to my SD card. I will save the instructions and try this later today when I get a chance.
Sierra: Okay, you can try with the above steps after backing up the data. If the issue still persists, you can contact us again through chat. We are available 24x7.
Sierra: Do you have any other questions for me?
Visitor: Not at the moment, no. Thanks.
Sierra: You are welcome.

1) I don't have a Captivate... as I mentioned already. I just ignored that part. But the instructions weren't exactly the same anyway. 2) Don't any of these people read what is right in front of them? Like the 2nd chat above where the guy asks if I've removed the widget yet. Yes, I did. Like I mentioned to him twice already at that point.

But as hesitant as I was to do the reset, I did follow through and try it. It was annoying, but I did it. I actually thought this fixed it too... for a while. Then it started up again. AGAIN! This time I decided to swing by the AT&T store on my way back from lunch and see what they say. Absolutely no help there... but my main reason for stopping was to make them aware of my data issues and if I couldn't get this app fixed or removed and I went over my 2GB limit, I wasn't paying for it.

I have yet to go into another chat with Samsung... not because I don't want to find the answer but because I'm sick of having to explain the same damn thing to different people every time I try to get help and still getting no solution. I rooted it (if you saw my previous post, you already know this). I'm actually bothered that this was the "answer" to my problem. It shouldn't be. I should be able to remove this crap if I don't want it or worse yet, it causes problems. The fact that I cannot is annoying.

Ya, my iPhone had apps that I couldn't delete either (Stocks, Calculator, etc) but they didn't chew up my data just sitting there.

I'm still pretty frustrated about it... but I'm still trying to give this a fair shot.
Root Your AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II with a Mac, Easily
By ack154 / in Phones & Apps / October 17, 2011
So I've come to a situation with my phone (to be explained later) that has all but required me to root it. Well, basically it HAS required me to root it because I have yet to find an actual solution that doesn't involve rooting. Anyway...

I've been reading root info and stuff for the last few weeks and all I can say is that the way these people write these things, it doesn't seem as easy as they make it out to be. I have yet to find clear, explicit instructions for someone like me who knows very little about it. Don't get me wrong, I can learn this stuff pretty easily - but I think it's more of a problem with terminology than anything else. Not sure.

Anyway, there are a few helpful threads on XDA that you'd want to read through. To start with there's the Easily Root Your SGS2 thread. It's a good read - but to me became pretty confusing - especially when my patience was at a minimum already thanks to the days' frustrations. And then there's another problem... I have a Mac. It looks to me like most of that info is for Windows users.

Ya, go figure. The Apple user wants to root an Android device.

Luckily I found some help in that thread above... and it pointed me to another thread. It was time to get down to business... except for one thing: I AM IN NO WAY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING YOU DO TO YOUR PHONE OR ANY OTHER DEVICE. YOU FOLLOW ANY OF THESE STEPS AT YOUR OWN RISK AND ASSUME ALL RESPONSIBILITY. I only have to say that because people are dumb. Keep that in mind...

Also worth noting, if you currently are not rooted and have the stock software from AT&T/Samsung, these specific instructions and files will basically be exactly the same - but with root privileges. All of your data and apps should remain intact. But again, not responsible, your own risk... blah blah blah. If you somehow manage to lose everything, it's just not my problem.

So, if you have a Mac and want to root your AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II, here we go:

1. Download:
- Heimdall 1.3.1 Command Line (OS X 10.4+)
- EZ 7z for Mac
- Rooted Stock Kernel for AT&T SGS2
2. Install on your Mac:
- Install Heimdall
- Install EZ 7z for Mac
3. Extract:
- Extract PDA.tar from UCKH7_stock_odin.7z using EZ 7z
- Extract zImage & factoryfs.img from PDA.tar using the Mac's built-in Archive Utility
4. Move Files:
- Move zImage and factoryfs.img to an easily accessible folder (Desktop?)
5. Prepare Phone:
- Power Off your phone (pull battery if needed)
- Connect USB cable from your computer to the phone
- While holding Vol Up AND Vol Down, turn on the phone
- Press Vol Up button to Accept custom OS notice
- It should now show the Android guy and say "downloading" (don't worry, it's not downloading anything yet)
6. Root Phone:
- Open a Terminal window
- Change the directory to where you moved zImage/factoryfs.img
- Type the following command in the Terminal window, press Enter and wait (you should see a status bar start moving on your phone after running it):
heimdall flash --kernel zImage --factoryfs factoryfs.img

Let the phone reboot when completed. You're done. Well, more done when it finishes booting and you click Allow on the superuser access request.

This is exactly how I did it just a few short hours ago. Now you can go download Titanium Backup or whatever other SuperUser app you want to use. And in my case, immediately go into Titantium and Freeze the AP Mobile app. POS that one is...

So just to be clear - I can't take any credit for this. Any of it. I've really just put it all together and ordered it in such a way that for me, made it extremely easy (yes, even easier than it was explained on the forum). I like things simple and straightforward... I just didn't feel like I was feeling that from the other threads and didn't want to clog them up with even more questions.

In any case, all of the thanks goes to those guys on XDA for their hard work and providing the necessary information. Seriously, go thank them.
I Have a New Phone
By ack154 / in Phones & Apps / October 7, 2011

I wouldn't say that I was "disappointed" with the iPhone 4S. Any rational thought would have said there was basically zero REAL evidence of the iPhone 5 being announced that day - as all of the tech blogs were eager to point out the morning of the announcement. You know... just days after they continued to run story after story of iPhone 5 rumors. Derp.

Anyway... the one thing to manage in these situations is your expectations. I didn't expect my dream phone to be announced. I expected them to update the iPhone 4. Now what I had HOPED for was completely different. I had HOPED they would give it a larger screen, maybe a little more power, and some OS tweaks that I'd like to see. I got 1 out of 3 (we already knew what iOS5 was going to bring anyway).

I could have put an iPhone 4 photo here and you wouldn't know the difference.

So when they announced the 4S, I got what I expected but not what I hoped for. Leading up to that day I was debating what to do. Would I get a new iPhone? I certainly wanted to. Jen was waiting for an upgrade too. Her 3GS was getting quite... old. I wanted something more though. I didn't want to feel like I was just buying another iPhone 4 with a faster processor and a "better" camera.

Suddenly, a challenger appeared...

Now there are Apple fanboys and Android fanboys... and most of them are annoying as fuck and talk trash about the other for really no reason other than they're complete morons. There are some times when I could be classified as an Apple fanboy... but I have always respected Android. Not only for what it has brought to the table in terms of competition - but for actually being a worthy alternative. I've said many times that if I had money to throw away (hahaha) I would add another line to my plan and get some sort of Android device so that I could have one of each and learn from both.

GalaxyS2

Well... I didn't really get to that part of my plan... but let's just get to the point: iPhone 4 is gone (now Jen's) and I bought a Samsung Galaxy S II. It's running Android 2.3.4, is ridiculous thin, crazy light, and has a huge, gorgeous (AMOLED) screen. It's pretty awesome.

Truth be told, those are basically the (hardware) options I was HOPING for with a new iPhone. Ah well... maybe next time. No, seriously... if they announce a new iPhone next year as usual and it turns out to be brilliant, I'll probably be getting that and get rid of the GalaxyS2. Nothing against the awesome Samsung... but I'm hoping for something big... again.

So far, so good. I like to think I'm adjusting to my new OS world quite well. I have run into one or two "issues" so far though. Most notably with the bluetooth. My WRX's OEM radio has built-in BT and has always worked brilliantly with the iPhone. I expected the same for the Galaxy. Apparently not. I am able to pair it without issue - but when I get back in the car with my phone, it does not automatically connect again. Ever. If I want it connected, I have to do it manually. Ever. Time. Not exactly happy about that.

My other problem was today... with my data connection... well, my lack of a data connection I guess. Was running some errands and grabbing lunch downtown and basically had no connection. Maybe once every 15 minutes a notification might pop up - but neither the built-in web browser or Firefox would load. Foursquare would not find any venues and Twitter would not find any tweets. I was not happy. I tried to reboot the phone, twice. I togged airplane mode a couple times. Still nothing. Decided to swing by the AT&T store on the way back to work - his suggestion: pull the battery and the SIM card.

My response? "So... just like I have to do every week with my BlackBerry at work?"

Seriously, that will NOT be acceptable if it were to turn into a regular issue. Time will tell though, I'm only in day 3 of Android life.

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