Android phones, apps and tablets

So the kerenal I installed was that just for the battery?

The kernel is the whole shebang that talks to all the hardware, it's not an individual thing just for the battery or CPU or whatever. Whoever wrote/tweaked the kernel may have designed it around battery life though

Mint is built on Ubuntu which is built on Debian.

So everything you're used to still works great, and you can still follow Ubuntu guides for doing stuff ("sudo apt-get" still works, and everything is where you expect it to be).

However, Mint focuses not on Unity as a desktop manager, but on having Gnome 2 & 3 work side by side so you get the best of both worlds. In comparison to Ubuntu and Unity I've found Mint to be exceptionally nice and very productive to use.

Mint also has a rolling release update system, so you're never more than 15 minutes behind the current stable branch. Which in turn means that you can just forget about those scary updates every 6 months or a year... you're already up to date.

The details are all here: http://linuxmint.com/

Mint is good, if you are a Ubuntu fan you will find it technically no different as David said. Mint 13 will have a new desktop which is based on Gnome 3, but looks like 2. Personally I have been using xubuntu for years and generally found XFCE to be better for me. I starting hating Nautalus and Evolution way before it was cool to hate on them! If you are a Ubuntu user and you can't stand Unity - do a 'apt-get install xubuntu-desktop' and give XFCE a try before you jump to Mint.

Coming back to the Motorola Altrix 3 and its Ubuntu support - really I don't see this as a major thing. The Altrix 2 was using Splashtop Linux on a second bank of flash. So technically all they are doing is increasing that storage area and sticking Ubuntu on it. I would argue still that Ubuntu is still too big in foot print terms to use like this.

Anybody else finding the weather dropped off on their phone (i've an HTC Desire)?

It used to update all the time and show me at whatever location, London Borough, Lambeth, Lewisham etc.. Now I'm lucky to get London or just United Kingdom

For me the weather still works, but it always says London, I've also lost the Borough info.

Theres a new Strava 2.02 release which might fix some of your probs dammit or at least tell you whats wrong

What's in this version:

• version 2.0.2:
  
• Fix crash in activity and segment detail screens
  
• Show advice message for older devices with GPS issues
  
• Enable app installation on Samsung Galaxy S, HTC Thunderbolt, HTC Desire devices
  

my gmail has stopped auto syncing. I've got the box ticked and all that but I have to click refresh to get new emails. How was this solved in the past?

Uninstall, reinstall...

can't

Uncheck everything. Force closed in app killing. Turn on wifi. Open and tick then sync. If that works, turn off wifi and try again.
Might have to do the same for your calender.

Uninstall updates then really install

It seems to have fixed itself now.
Next question, as my contacts sync with Google. Can I edit them on my computer and have them automatically updated on my phone?

Yes.

Google Contacts

has anyone rooted a desire z?

I looked into it (i've done bits and pieces like it before) but got tripped up on the first couple of hurdles, its pretty hard to follow the guide on XDA.

Same rom as my desire go for it!

^^^ I had the same problem with gmail. It seemed to fix itsself after I went into setting and deleted all the app data associated with it.

Uninstall, reinstall... And so on... Has worked every time for me...

It's a long shot but does anyone have a spare android phone (unlocked or vodafone), that I could borrow for a couple of weeks?

I need to get my sensation repaired which apparently takes two weeks, depite the fact they are just going to throw it in a bin and give me a new one.

They will give me a courtesy phone, but it'll be a very basic nokia or so, and I'm going to struggle without gmail and a few other apps.

HTC One X. Has it been discussed yet?

looks nice, think I'd miss an SAMOLED screen though, waiting for a galaxy s3 I think

Don't know anything about the HTC one - I've always liked HTC phones though, does it bring anything new to the table?

one x is quad core fanciness, there is a one s and one v as well

Tegra 3 processor (one in the Transformer Prime)

"Super LCD2" screen

F2.0 on the 8MP camera which is a massive aperture (tiny F number) for a phone camera.

They've re-designed the Beats Audio so it works with any audio, not just through a specific player.

25GB FREE dropbox storage

720p video chat

Not a huge amount of new stuff, but seems useful.

Add a QWERTY keyboard and I'd get it.

For me, the interesting Android phones, upcoming or shown at the MWC so far are the:

LG Optimus 4X HD [http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_optimus_4x_hd-4563.php],
HTC One X [http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_one_x-4320.php],
Huawei Ascend D XL [http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_ascend_d_quad_xl-4569.php],
Sony Xperia Ion http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_ion-4412.php,
Samsung Galaxy S III http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9300_galaxy_s_iii-4238.php

I don't think so much of the Panasonic Eluga [http://www.gsmarena.com/panasonic_unveils_eluga_power_beefier_than_the_eluga-news-3907.php], or the LG Vu [http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_optimus_vu-4554.php], being good with OS updates, and now feel even better about haviing got the Galaxy Note.

The Huawei looks promising and probably very good value for money. I won't be going back to 4 or 4.3 inch phones, as the Note is so brilliant to look at for extended periods, that I will only get large phones or phablets from now on.

Is the Optimus the same size as the Note? It looks fucking huge in that pic. Bad angle I think.

4.7 inch screen, so not quite as big.

As if I wasn't confused enough before about phones.

Hopefully the S3 will be released which means I can pick up a cheap S2 - on contract. Root the bugger and be done with it.

Either that or I'll stick with my rooted HTC desire which is still impressing me since I've rooted it.