Android phones, apps and tablets

I have a Moto X Play upgraded from a Nexus 5 and the OS on that is barely distinguishable from stock.

Camera app is different (you can install the Google one but I can't be bothered).

Voice control is a bit different with the moto app sometimes doing things itself and sometimes passing on to the google app but that appears to be an improvement (and I rarely use voice control).

Those are the only differences I can think of.

Updates are a bit slow. Still waiting for Marshmallow even though it's been released for the Canadian version.

Lil help from those in the know: found my mrs' old Galaxy S (1st gen) in a drawer, in pretty much perfect nick. Want to give it to my mum so she can stream music to the Sonos my old man has littered every room with. She can't remember the swipe access, or the backup email/ password, hence I am locked out. Any way to reset at home? Fanks!

http://www.trickyways.com/2011/01/how-to-reset-samsung-galaxy-s-to-factory-settings/

Remove the phone battery and place it again in the Samsung Galaxy S phone
Hold the “Volume down” button, press and release the “Power” button
Following system menu will display:
– Fastbook
– Recovery
– Blear Storage
– Simlock
To navigate use “Volume Down” button and select “Clear Storage” option by pressing “Power” / “Home” button.
Confirm by pressing Volume Up button (YES) or Volume Down (NO)
Your Galaxy S phone will reboot and reset to factory settings.

?

Has anybody got a Sony Xperia M4 aqua? I'm concerned about it only having 8gb although it can take an SD card. Will I notice much difference moving apps to there? I vaguely remember this not working great before.

Update the OS while you're at it:

https://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_galaxysmtd

Right, so my Nexus 5 (running latest marshmallow) has gone into a boot loop - it doesn't come on without the power cable attached, and when the cable's in it boots as far as the Google screen (first screen) and then crashes. If I try to get into the root menu by pressing Vol- and Power it crashes from there before I can select any options.

My suspicion is that the power switch on the motherboard is stuck, so I'm going to dismantle it and take a look when I'm home from work, but in the meantime does anyone have any suggestions? At this point I'm just keen to be able to recover my recent photos etc that hadn't backed up yet.

my mom has the Aqua, she is happy.

with regard to all this camera shit.... it's often actually the screen.

@Spxtz I have a Nexus 5 that does that. I'd be interested in what you find out. Internet seems to think it is either the result of firmware upgrade, or a hardware problem with the power button.

Last night I dismantled the phone and took out the motherboard, soaked the power switch in isopropyl alcohol and operated it til it clicked properly, let it dry, dusted the whole thing and reassembled - and it still didn't work.

So I hit it on the table a few times, aiming for the back panel between the camera lens and the power button, then plugged in the charger and mashed the power button like I was playing Metal Gear Solid*, for about 3 minutes. This was successful! I'm writing this reply on my N5. I can only think that it was a combination of the cleaning and bashing that did it...

*The bit where Snake needs to survive torture. Both of these steps are proposed as solutions by commenters on various threads on android product forums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doPuXkQTGbc

just ordered Sony Xperia Z5 - coming from Z2 which is now getting long in the tooth - anyone have one?

Thanks Spxtz. I ordered a new power switch from ebay (Euro 2.50)... probably don't have a fine enough soldering iron... we'll see...

Good luck! I'd probably give up before it came to actually dismantling the board... have you already tried cleaning it?

@Spxtz I have had the problem with my first Nexus 5. Later it turned to a brick and was exchanged by Google for a second one, then a third, all of them because of this problem. It is a hardware failure of the power button. You can try to smack it on the side quite hard...
In the end after 4 Nexus 5 between August and now, Google has decided to refund me completely - so I have 400€ back to spend on a new phone. I'm almost decided for Moto X Style, but I like the 5X too. Opinions?

Caved and bought a wileyfox swift. I like it so far

So if it's still covered (here in France it's 2 years so should be OK), just call Google and ask for a new one. They exchanged it three times for me because of that, now they don't even discuss and send a new one right away.

Android dictation... When I say question mark, it types question mark, what I want is "?"
Ditto with all other puncuation marks, it can be a little frustrating - lol
OnePlusX phone running the latest OS etc.
Any help greatly appreciated.... before I jump on the fucking thing Grrrrrrr.

Maybe you're not pausing long enough after the sentence before saying 'question mark' ?

Thanks, but that's not it.

.

"Full stop" works as expected. I've never figured out question mark.

I may Google it.

Maybe.

I googled: it said it should work.

I tried again with the sentence "Great. What time?" and it worked fine.

YMMV

If someone needed x4 tablets to use as data capture tools, recording measurements in a table/Google sheet/survey monkey or similar, which 4 budget tablets should they buy?

WiFi only probably.

And, are there any alternatives to survey monkey for data collection?

Simple yes /no and scales of 1-10 and maybe options from a list.

I use select survey at work, but this isn't my work.

Hi @dan - how are you getting on with the 5x so far? First impressions? Have you found any lag?