Android phones, apps and tablets

It was a phone shop that destroyed the phone so no fucking way I'm going to another one. If you know where I can buy those phone shop magic boxes maybe I'll have a crack but I figure I'm going to just be smashing this phone to pieces and binning it.

Well, technically speaking it is a data transfer technique. It just outputs in photons.

Your a photon

Gah, wife killed her Moto X 2nd gen by smashing the screen.

What's good out there for a not shocking price? I'm liking the look of the Sony XZ1, but only at the techinthebasket price,and I'm not sure about them. Any suggestions?

I still like my little Sony Z3 Compact even though I'm using the Samsung XCover 4 now (got it while the Sony was being repaired - I tore the back off it then chewed it once too often).

https://www.androidcentral.com/google-pixel-2-xl-screen-burn

Looks like LG shat the bed with this screen.

I've used Techinthebasket and phone was fine (although with an EU charger) and a friend used it with no problems too. I agree it looks like a dubious website though, I assume they're probably selling grey imports and lower prices are probably from exploiting FX differences.

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I have a new Sony Xperia XA or summat. The All4 app does not appear on Google Play. Locating the app by search engine finds one, but the download page states that app is not compatible with my device. The device is not rooted. Any ideas?

Pulled the trigger on a Sony ZX1 compact from TechintheBasket...

Now to wait and see, @aggi what was your delivery time like? I assume that whatever it was you got came all nicely unlocked and everything?

We Ship from UK to British and European doorsteps, we strongly believe we are gather global electronic products to you with wide range

Seems legit.

Service was a bit weird. No order acknowledgment from TechintheBasket, the first thing I received was a notification from DPD, the couriers, with a tracking number.

Can't remember exactly how long it took but delivery was pretty quick. 3 days or something I think.

I got a Oneplus from them so they're unlocked as standard.

They seem to have upped their game a little them, I got an order acknowledgement fairly quickly, and then confirmation that payment had been received, and then another with a tracking number that they warned might not be active for a day or two.

Hopefully it'll be here shortly, as the S2 is a little long in the tooth really.

Android 8.1 now on Beta for Pixel and Nexus 5X and 6P.

I like the dark theme. I always have a black background so it now matches as opposed to the light grey it used to be.

I do not like the greying out of the nav bar buttons after a bit of time. Looks like the are inactive. Which is odd.

So replacement Google 2 XL arrived. And yup, dead pixel on the screen (different location). 1.5 hours on a chat to RMA the thing.

I honestly don't care that much about continuously doing RMAs, EXCEPT that I have 2 factor auth accounts that I keep needing to re-key every damn time. I wish more companies would support yubikey so I don't have to install some stupid app instead

Authy is the solution here

Yeah, I'm moving over to Authy as redoing all Google Auth shit was a pain.

@aggi @hippy is there a security risk having it centrally stored like that ? It would make life a lot easier that's for sure

If someone is sophisticated enough to use the Authy timecodes AND compromise my passwords then they're welcome to my account. I'm definitely more paranoid than a 'normal' person but I'm no Snowden.

So long as you use a sufficiently strong backup password then I can't see the issue.

@Velocio uses it and he's way more paranoid about online security than the average man on the street.

I have only 2 super strength passwords that I know: LastPass and Authy.

Both store credentials encrypted and centrally, and there is theorhetical risk there. But it really depends on who you are defending against. It's unlikely to be a state actor, because if you are in that category you are using hardware tokens, signing up to nothing, given API access to nothing in Google, etc? Only a small number of people need that level paranoia.

I consider that I'm defending against lazy hackers, the kind who purchase dumps of compromised sites and will brute force all permutations against multiple other sites.

For those, the best defences are:

1. A password manager like LastPass, One Pass, KeePass, etc
   
2. Software 2FA like Authy, Google Authenticator, etc (even if they get your password it's still useless to them)
   
   

Combining those with 2FA methods is good enough for the vast majority of people. It being far better that those two are routinely used for everything that they can be used for... over shooting for an unattainable level of security that isn't used or ever gets disabled.

Google Authenticator is in the inconvenient class, forces disabling and using backup codes. As the code can only be in one instance of their app, and if you lose your phone you have to use a backup code, disable 2FA and start over.

LastPass + Authy is, for me, the right balance between paranoid level security and the convenience to use them always.

Anyone interested in a 32gb Nexus 5x? Unfortunately, has a crack on the inside glass in the screen. Have bought a replacement screen which you can have gratis - never got round to swapping it over (would be roughly 35 mins job if the same swap on the 4 is anything to go by) .
Also, have a BNIB battery to go into it that I will throw in too.
Does £80 sound reasonable?

Genuinely can't tell that much difference between 5x and Pixel 2 - other than the slightly better battery, bit less lag and those moving photo things.

and those moving photo things.

We call that a 'video'...