Android phones, apps and tablets

I've tried: Cable, backup and being close (bluetooth? ) nothing seems to get everything.

I only realised/recalled that i'd been using Lawnchair launcher when I went to tidy my Pixel5

Not really a call for help, just wanted to bare my frustration.
Later edit.... After a restart, all the apps are there and some of my settings. Happier now.
That's all.

Now it is beyond doubt that people are being listened to

Is it really?

Any appetite for a two year old Pixel 6a black 128gb always used with a case and screensaver £100? Can deliver in London

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Q: daughter broke phone beyond economical repair. I've put her SIM in my old tablet and it is recognised so i'm setting it up. Trying to setup WhatsApp (her primary school friends stay in touch this way as they've all gone to different secondary schools) but it prompts me to scan a qr code with the old 'primary' phone. This is impossible. There is no obvious option to overrride this.

Has anyone here managed to solve similar?

^ Even if I buy a new phone we will have same problem it seems

Edit tried registering it as a new account and it says ot can't send sms code to that number, despite me being able to from my mobile

I think, although not 100%, that it views tablets as secondary devices so requires that setup but doesn't for phones.

It asked me that when I set it up on a tablet recently but not on a new phone. (Although it wasn't a tablet with a SIM.)

Ta. Hopefully I can bypass it with new phone.

Has anyone had any experience with the Motorola Edge 50 neo? Looks quite a good package on paper

Dropped + smashed my 6 pro so bought a 9 pro. Yeah it's a bit smaller but basically the same.

I've just picked up a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter as my headphones jack is playing up. However I don't get any audio through the adapter - is there an Android setting I need to 'activate'?

You might need to turn on USB OTG or USB debug (more likely the former).

Search in settings for USB and you'll see some likely options.

I haven't been able to get my adaptor to work on Android for ages, it's so weird. Almost like Google just turned that functionality off, it made me go out and buy Bluetooth headphones even tho' I have two perfectly good pairs of Google wired ear buds.

@aggi Never heard of USB OTG, where is that in settings? Can't find it.

Hmm, it was in my Pixel 6 settings but isn't in my Samsung options.

Best thing is to turn on developer options and then search for USB and you'll find a few possibles to toggle on and off.

I had no doubts when I read his book and how he had himself done it. OK, he could have made it all up, but I was convinced.

What are the reasons not to believe him?

Isn't the distinction between nation states or other sophisticated agencies using malware to target specific individuals (re Snowden), vs. a wholesale collection of audio (which I'm still inclined to believe isn't really possible - if nothing else I would assume the footprint would show up in data usage statistics)

It may not be wholesale. Configuration errors on the part of the company's with the tech and/or those of the users. User-initiated recordings that capture other stuff.

I vaguely remember something about a German guy getting other people's Alexa recordings by mistake somehow. When looking for the article I found this:
https://www.datenschutz-notizen.de/german-court-calls-alexa-to-the-stand-2028997/

Malicious app developers...
https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/24/23736180/irecorder-android-google-play-spying-security-risk

Ah, it was this one:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gear/a25646014/amazon-alexa-sends-man-1700-recordings-from-a-strangers-house/

Is Someone Listening?: Audio-Related Privacy Perceptions and Design Recommendations from Guardians, Pragmatists, and Cynics
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3478091

If I wanted to be full-on conspiracy, I would suggest that the push for on device assistants and AI would help to make this more feasible, because you could process all the audio recordings in real time on the device and then just have to get the synthesised data off the device

If there's a way to monetise it... it'll happen.

If I wanted to be full-on conspiracy, I would suggest that the push for on device assistants and AI would help to make this more feasible

I think the hard sell of AI features is not for spying per se, but for getting people to train AIs. 94 pages deep in the EULA will be a clause stating that if you use an AI feature, you are allowing the provider to capture and use your data.

Hello me again. Apologies for repeatedly asking the same question in slightly different ways; topic has become urgent now as I've promised to give my current Pixel 6a to Kid A as my old Pixel 4 that he has is on its last legs with shattered screen too.

My usual plan is just to get the next Pixel that's within budget. But I've been put off by various reports of reliability issues and also getting a 7 (refurb - as new) for Kid B which lasted all of a week before going black screen. What I'm after is:

*Not huge
*Excellent camera
*Ideally full range of audio codecs
*Does not self destruct
*Ideally not a load of extra crap on top of Android OS

At the moment its between a galaxy S23 or S24 and a Pixel 8 or 9.

I'm struggling a bit to make up my mind.

Due to the Nothing earphones that were for sale on this forum, I'm now pondering a Nothing phone should my 2+ year old, unremarkable Pixel 6a fail in some way.

Thanks, will look at Nothing too.

I forgot that I did have a specific question which is whether the reliability of Pixel 8 and 9 is as bad as 7; any views?

I recently got an S24+ after a Pixel 6.

Generally like the software tweaks from Samsung, some bug me but more positive than negative and not particularly noticeable after I turned the various gesture stuff off.

I got it with a fair bit of money off with various trade-ins and discounts, look a bit pricey if you are paying the full price but there often seem to be offers avaialable.

Anecdata, my Pixel 8a has been reliable and unobtrusively excellent.

I'm on my third Pixel 8 since this time last year, dead pixel out of the box then the screen shit its pants a couple of months ago on the first replacement. This one is going okay for now.