Mobile phones - advice?

[ahinton]

Whilst I often display a distinct antipathy towards telephones as such (probably a result of a lifelong employment in business) I can well see their value in certain circumstances ... medical and other emergencies and speaking directly to far-flung and dearly-loved relatives at Christmastide, for example.

E-mail is surely a more civilised form of communication where the sender has time to think before very likely putting his/her foot in it, or forgetting to mention the only thing of any real importance, and the recipient can choose a convenient time to respond, if indeed at all.

Accordingly, I have a Nexus 7-2 Google Android tablet rather than a 'smartfone' and it is of Japanese design, manufactured in Hong Kong, and this despite WWII atrocities and Tiananmen Square (not to mention rather more recent events).

Mr Grew might be interested in the following article which, noting the year it was produced, may be now itself somewhat of an under-estimation ...

https://www.techinasia.com/vietnam-1...mobile-phones/

Don't forget, however, that Sydney Grew would by ample evidence of his own admissions almost certainly avoid purchasing or indeed having anything else to do with anything American in view of his almot exclusively negative attitude towards whatever emanates from the United States...

[Don Petter]

Don't forget, however, that Sydney Grew would by ample evidence of his own admissions almost certainly avoid purchasing or indeed having anything else to do with anything American in view of his almot exclusively negative attitude towards whatever emanates from the United States...

In this world of multinationals and complicated ownership relations it must be quite difficult.

I hope he is still getting around all right in his C5 ...

[ahinton]

In this world of multinationals and complicated ownership relations it must be quite difficult.

I'm as sure that it is so as I am that any attempts to ensure consistency of approach here presuppose the requirement to turn quite a few blind eyes to the realities of commercial globalism!

I hope he is still getting around all right in his C5 ...

Did anyone ever do that?

[Dave2002]

(In regard to "Apple" and "Motorola")
I never use American-made equipment. I have been boycotting them since the Viet-Nam wars of the sixties of the last century. I would encourage other right-thinking members to do likewise. What horrors!

Ignoring the obvious that most "American" kit is in fact made in places like China, South Korea and Vietnam.

[MrGongGong]

Ignoring the obvious that most "American" kit is in fact made in places like China, South Korea and Vietnam.

Indeed

I really am looking forward to the day when we can read the novel(?) that features the character we know as Sid

[Dave2002]

Follow up to msg 24.

I am struggling with my Sony Xperia e3 Android phone, and wonder how on earth this was designed (!!! !!!).
Now I've managed to download a few "songs" to it into device memory from the Amazon cloud, and the memory is all but filled up.

The stupid thing is that the files really should go to the SD card, but they don't.

Now apparently one solution is to download and install an app such as ES File Explorer, but guess what!?
This app is seemingly able to move the files to the SD card, but there's now not enough space to download it!

Even deleting the "songs" from the device doesn't seem to work to create enough space to download the supposedly useful app.

I assume that iPhones will be similar to iPads, and will not have this kind of absolute nonsense re memory - though they do have their nonsense of absolutely bonkers association of apps with data, and a lack of any sort of sensible file system which is accessible to users. What amazes me about the iOS "file system" is that apparently some naive users find it easy to use, compared with a proper structured file system, so now "proper" computers are being designed to include features from iOS.

[Dave2002]

I have made some progress with my Sony Xperia E3, and can now watch one or two downloaded videos, via VLC. Since I use Macs almost exclusively, I had to download a tool called Android File Transfer (AFT), to the Macs, and use that to link to the phone. On the phone itself there are several approaches - but first enough space has to be cleared to allow video files to be downloaded. Without that it's not possible - unless the SD card is taken out and loaded up outside the phone. Some space can be cleared by moving as many Apps as possible to the SD card, and moving or deleting data - if that's possible - which is not always the case. Some files won't delete easily - though using the Android File Transfer tool this should be possible. There's also a file Manager program on the phone which can do some of this.

Once space is available, the the AFT program can be used to download the video files to the phone - maybe one at a time as space may still be very restricted, then the file Manager on the phone can be used to move them to the SD card. This can be done by Copy then Paste, or by Cut and Paste. If Cut and Paste is used, then the original file in the main phone store should then be deleted. This can be repeated for each video file.

Some other Android phones may be less restricted than mine. Phone owners who still use Windows may find things just a tad simpler, as the phones should be recognised by the OS if connected to a computer, but the basic issues will remain.

The same approach does not work for BBC iPlayer, for a combination of technical and licensing reasons.

Music files can also be moved around in the same way, though that may necessitate a change in player on the phone. I was using the Amazon music player, as it's convenient, but sometimes this does not play files which have been moved to the SD card. However, the Walkman App will play the files, so essentially the required functionality is still available.

Apple's "walled garden" approach, which has been criticised on occasions here, is probably very much simpler, and requires less faffing about, but comes at a price - since the i-devices (phones, iPads etc.) tend to cost a lot more. All the manufacturers are playing the same game really, as many problems could disappear for most people with the addition of (say) 16 Gbytes of main memory - which would perhaps cost them £10 at most, but add £00s to the selling price of the phones - . Just a variant of what car manufacturers have been doing for years. The price of cars with simple "luxury" add ins goes up by factors of 100s or even 1000 times the cost of the add in bits.

[teamsaint]

Anybody fancy a nice new iphone x at just over £110 a month ?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/27/three-slammed-113-iphone-x-phone-contract-expensive-ever/

[VodkaDilc]

I have, this afternoon, had the experience of changing from the contract I've had for over a decade to a 'pay as you go' system - while wanting to keep my ancient phone. Those who operate the nameless phone company's customer service line were incapable of this feat, even after several hours of my calls being passed around the globe. Eventually a visit to the local shop has paid dividends. I have my old phone, equipped with a new SIM card and number. To my surprise, the youthful staff, slightly older than my phone, but not much, did not show the scorn for my phone which I had anticipated. In fact they seemed impressed, as if handling an ancient relic. One could recall "his Mum having a phone like that"; another said he'd never seen a phone where the battery was part of the cover to the SIM compartment. They admitted that its indestructabilty was not matched by the new plastic ones. My faith in the firm whose name begins with V has been restored - but no credit to those who operate the phone lines.

Just for the record, my Samsung phone, which must now be at least sixteen years old, is still going strong and does everything I need it to do. Most of the time it's switched off and in my car, but it's there in emergencies.