Android phone is a piece of shit

[mirlox]

Considering his dilemma alone about how to back up data and his disdain for integrating email [paranoia is more precise], I'd suggest he shouldn't go for cyanogen. I have cyanogen on my phone and love it but if you have a fear of Google's tentacles, I'd suggest dumping Android altogether and go drink the koolaid at Apple.

Google is moving towards "integration" anyway where you won't be able to use Google Maps w/o a Google account.

Well, Cyanogen is still better than all the Samsung's OEM apps and shitty android modifications. Nevertheless, I didn't really consider changing from Android as I don't know if it is a possibility by his part but between the other 2 options (Windows phone or iOS), I'd go with the Apple

 

[Kulindahr]

If you download MCBackUp in your old phone, and in your new phone, you can transfer your contacts over to your Android phone.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.globile.mycontactbackup&hl=en_GB

When I first bought my Samsung Ace2, the shop assistant did it for me. She downloaded this app first onto my old iPhone 3GS made a backup (you need a gmail account I recall) then she downloaded the app onto the new Ace2, and used it to upload the contacts to the new phone.

Oh, my old contacts got transferred over just fine. But then they started showing people's email addresses, and even people's real addresses, and some people's pictures -- none of which I asked for!

And when I tried to clean it up to just what I wanted on my phone, when I next went to do gmail my contacts there had gotten al screwed up!

They hooked together -- again, without asking -- all the information I have online that google could get its hands on, and then all sorts of information about my contacts that it could get its hands on.

It's supposed to be a PHONE. I want a list of phone numbers, not pictures and email and birthdays and shit -- just phone numbers. But the shit google is doing here has got me looking to abandon gmail and stay very, very far away from it.

 

[Kulindahr]

SIM contacts are the contacts saved on your SIM(subscriber identification module) card; the chip thing that carries your number and your carrier details.

ROM contacts are the contacts saved in the ROM partition in the phone's memory, imagine the ROM as the Windows folder on your Windows OS.

Why should there be anything in read-only memory on my phone? especially, why should there be any that I wasn't even asked if I wanted? The only thing that should be read-only would be phone operating system, so I can't mess with it. But any information that's mine belongs where I can do with it what I want.

But why is it telling me that I can't edit some things because they're on SIM, but when I ask to view SIM contacts there's nothing there? Frak, why are there different places to store my information in the first place, and why don't I get to choose where to store the information?

It's like I didn't even buy the phone at all; they just charged me a ridiculous fee to let me carry it while they still run it however they please and with little regard for me.

Ok, that is a mistake and please allow me to clarify this.

It is not a Google phone, it only has a OS developed by Google. Now, what's the difference? The difference is that between the Google and you receiving your phone, there's a company in the middle that LOVES to fornicate with the system and add just as much useless things you can imagine, that is called OEM. Samsung bought the license to use the Android and added a bunch of APPs that are shipped WITH the OS to you, different smartphones will have different OEM apps. Take the Nexus smartphones, those almost don't have OEM apps that are shipped to the enduser. Also, Google does not approves the abuse of OEM apps as they usually slow down considerably the Android OS and kinda destroys the purpose of the Android; being a open, fully customisable and fast OS

So why did it go dashing off and drag all my google stuff in without asking? That's about as polite as starting a compost heap with human manure included in my hot tub without asking! They may think it's great, but this is supposed to be MY phone.

 

[mirlox]

Oh, my old contacts got transferred over just fine. But then they started showing people's email addresses, and even people's real addresses, and some people's pictures -- none of which I asked for!

And when I tried to clean it up to just what I wanted on my phone, when I next went to do gmail my contacts there had gotten al screwed up!

They hooked together -- again, without asking -- all the information I have online that google could get its hands on, and then all sorts of information about my contacts that it could get its hands on.

It's supposed to be a PHONE. I want a list of phone numbers, not pictures and email and birthdays and shit -- just phone numbers. But the shit google is doing here has got me looking to abandon gmail and stay very, very far away from it.

You could try installing Cyanogenmod, a friend of mine had the same problem with his last phone and then with his S4 and doing it stopped both phones from grabbing contact information from both Facebook and Gmail

 

[zombiekiller]

I've found that most of the problems relating to smartphones are caused by what's between the floor and the smartphone.

 

[mirlox]

Why should there be anything in read-only memory on my phone? especially, why should there be any that I wasn't even asked if I wanted? The only thing that should be read-only would be phone operating system, so I can't mess with it. But any information that's mine belongs where I can do with it what I want.

But why is it telling me that I can't edit some things because they're on SIM, but when I ask to view SIM contacts there's nothing there? Frak, why are there different places to store my information in the first place, and why don't I get to choose where to store the information?

It's like I didn't even buy the phone at all; they just charged me a ridiculous fee to let me carry it while they still run it however they please and with little regard for me.

The reason as of why there are different contacts is because of being more practical, you can have contacts saved on the SIM and change the SIM between phones as you need, it definitely is awkward to have contacts saved on a read only partition, must be something related to the carrier. It also is REALLY awkward that you can't pick where to save it. Must be Samsung's or the carrier tinkering.

Do you have contacts in the SIM at all? like, If you put it in another phone, can you see them?

So why did it go dashing off and drag all my google stuff in without asking? That's about as polite as starting a compost heap with human manure included in my hot tub without asking! They may think it's great, but this is supposed to be MY phone.

Because that is what the companies do nowadays, they want you to spend less time getting things done and more time buying apps and calling/sending messages/browsing. Samsung gets loads of money for dumping apps and apps inside your phone for the sake of it.

 

[Agent Provocateur]

Call your carrier or go into your local store. They'll sort out every single problem you currently are experiencing.

The reason your Gmail contacts got synced to your phone is because when you set up a Google account on your phone, which is used for email, the Play Store, call list, SMS, contacts and almost everything else on the phone (including a wide array of third-party apps), it automatically put all your email contacts on your phone for convenience. I understand you'd rather put your contacts manually into the memory on your SIM card, but doing it that way is extremely limited in terms of both feature set and total number of contacts. I think it's possible to unsync your contact list, though as I've always used Google's auto contact sync because I reformat so often, I'm not fully sure. SIM card contacts are also not as versatile as Google's account contacts and also won't be synced to your new phone when you upgrade unless you use the same SIM card, meaning you'll have to manually put in every single contact in again instead of having it synced automatically from the (secure) Google server.

Again, your carrier and local store will be able to sort out every issue you currently have. Enjoy the S4; I'm still with the S3 and while I love it I get phone envy whenever I see an S4.

P.S. Google doesn't often provide direct support as the call volume from unhappy Android owners would be absolutely massive, as they control the lion's share of the current smartphone market. I hope that sheds a little light into that frustration!

 

[mirlox]

Again, your carrier and local store will be able to sort out every issue you currently have. Enjoy the S4; I'm still with the S3 and while I love it I get phone envy whenever I see an S4.

I'm still using a Iphone 3G, this bad boy is a great pocket watch!

 

[blackbeltninja]

Call your carrier or go into your local store. They'll sort out every single problem you currently are experiencing.

The reason your Gmail contacts got synced to your phone is because when you set up a Google account on your phone, which is used for email, the Play Store, call list, SMS, contacts and almost everything else on the phone (including a wide array of third-party apps), it automatically put all your email contacts on your phone for convenience. I understand you'd rather put your contacts manually into the memory on your SIM card, but doing it that way is extremely limited in terms of both feature set and total number of contacts. I think it's possible to unsync your contact list, though as I've always used Google's auto contact sync because I reformat so often, I'm not fully sure. SIM card contacts are also not as versatile as Google's account contacts and also won't be synced to your new phone when you upgrade unless you use the same SIM card, meaning you'll have to manually put in every single contact in again instead of having it synced automatically from the (secure) Google server.

Again, your carrier and local store will be able to sort out every issue you currently have. Enjoy the S4; I'm still with the S3 and while I love it I get phone envy whenever I see an S4.

P.S. Google doesn't often provide direct support as the call volume from unhappy Android owners would be absolutely massive, as they control the lion's share of the current smartphone market. I hope that sheds a little light into that frustration!

This.

Go to Accounts and select Gmail from there. Unsync Gmail's calendar and contacts and personal details and whatever else you're worried the government will use to track you.

Done.

-d-

 

[Agent Provocateur]

This.

Go to Accounts and select Gmail from there. Unsync Gmail's calendar and contacts and personal details and whatever else you're worried the government will use to track you.

Done.

-d-

Wonderful advice. As I've never had to deal with this issue before, I wasn't aware of how to disable it. Thanks, -d-.

 

[Kulindahr]

I've found that most of the problems relating to smartphones are caused by what's between the floor and the smartphone.

The carpet, my slippers, my foot, and my hand?

Every problem I've had has come built in. Having to learn things isn't a problem; that's a challenge -- maybe a pain, but still just a challenge.

Although my difficulty with scrolling may be due to callouses on fingertips, or trying to use the phone while wearing gloves -- but those are problems with the phone.

 

[Kulindahr]

Because that is what the companies do nowadays, they want you to spend less time getting things done and more time buying apps and calling/sending messages/browsing. Samsung gets loads of money for dumping apps and apps inside your phone for the sake of it.

Well, I've spent more time trying to just get the phone to behave so I can call, send messages, and take pictures. I have a computer for browsing, so I'd throw that capacity off, too, except the connection to the app store.

I'd be more likely to get new apps if there wasn't such a monstrous heap of them already in the way.

 

[Agent Provocateur]

Well, I've spent more time trying to just get the phone to behave so I can call, send messages, and take pictures. I have a computer for browsing, so I'd throw that capacity off, too, except the connection to the app store.

I'd be more likely to get new apps if there wasn't such a monstrous heap of them already in the way.

Shoot me a PM. If you give me clear directions, I'll point you in the direction of the best apps for each purpose you need. I've been an Android user since '09. I'm a hundred percent willing to help; I think Android is the best option out there and want everyone to have the best experience with it.

 

[mirlox]

Well, I've spent more time trying to just get the phone to behave so I can call, send messages, and take pictures. I have a computer for browsing, so I'd throw that capacity off, too, except the connection to the app store.

I'd be more likely to get new apps if there wasn't such a monstrous heap of them already in the way.

Yeah, you won't get rid of those 50 apps without rooting the OS with Cyanogenmod or any other software of the sorts.

 

[Kulindahr]

Call your carrier or go into your local store. They'll sort out every single problem you currently are experiencing.

The reason your Gmail contacts got synced to your phone is because when you set up a Google account on your phone, which is used for email, the Play Store, call list, SMS, contacts and almost everything else on the phone (including a wide array of third-party apps), it automatically put all your email contacts on your phone for convenience. I understand you'd rather put your contacts manually into the memory on your SIM card, but doing it that way is extremely limited in terms of both feature set and total number of contacts. I think it's possible to unsync your contact list, though as I've always used Google's auto contact sync because I reformat so often, I'm not fully sure. SIM card contacts are also not as versatile as Google's account contacts and also won't be synced to your new phone when you upgrade unless you use the same SIM card, meaning you'll have to manually put in every single contact in again instead of having it synced automatically from the (secure) Google server.

Again, your carrier and local store will be able to sort out every issue you currently have. Enjoy the S4; I'm still with the S3 and while I love it I get phone envy whenever I see an S4.

P.S. Google doesn't often provide direct support as the call volume from unhappy Android owners would be absolutely massive, as they control the lion's share of the current smartphone market. I hope that sheds a little light into that frustration!

I didn't ask for a google account on my phone -- it was already set up when the phone got turned over to me at purchase, just from them having my email address on the purchase form. My first great struggle with the phone was to remove gmail and all email ability I could. Now if I could just find an option that said, "NO EMAIL ZONE", I'd be thrilled.

I don't know what you mean by "feature sets" for my contact list. The only feature set I want is a name (nickname, actually; I use very few real names on my phone) and the number that goes with it. I don't need to see a picture, I don't want their email or address or birthday or anything else.

As for syncing with the google server, until I learned how to turn that off I had to spend extra time wading through manually and getting rid of information I didn't want on my phone, only to find that by eliminating it there I'd removed it from my google account, too! Linking them that way destroys all usefulness as a backup, because it's merely maintaining a single data set, whereas a backup is an entirely separate data set from which you restore when things get screwed up -- what they built was a way to guarantee that if I make a mistake in one place, the same mistake is propagated universally!

Besides, I use Backup Assistant, where I could go online, look at all my contacts, do any editing I wanted, and then either "save" or "save and save to phone", which made my phone contact list look just the way I wanted it because I'd just polished it into shape on my computer. But Verizon has messed even that beautiful deal up, because it only changes certain things instead of sending all the changes to my phone -- which means that there's no point in the system where I can arrange my information in the best possible way for me to use it; I'm forced to conform to some programmer's fart-dream of how I should like to do it.

Google not providing support indicates that they are evil -- and the reason you give that they don't do it shows even more that they're evil; anyone not evil would be willing to face the music resulting from their product. What you're really saying is that they don't want to operate in a free market where they get feedback from their users, they just want to be able to dish out what they think their users ought to be doing and tell the users to conform.

p.s. -- my "local store" is about an hour and a half away . . .on a good driving day.

 

[Agent Provocateur]

Yeah, you won't get rid of those 50 apps without rooting the OS with Cyanogenmod or any other software of the sorts.

This is an excellent suggestion. Kulandahr, if you want that crappy-ass bloatware gone, find a geek friend to root it and install Cyanogenmod. If you have no geek friends, PM me and I could probably work out a solution for you.

 

[Kulindahr]

This.

Go to Accounts and select Gmail from there. Unsync Gmail's calendar and contacts and personal details and whatever else you're worried the government will use to track you.

Done.

-d-

"Government"?

I haven't even brought that into consideration -- I just want my phone to be a phone, and to do things in a way that helps me instead of slowing me down and getting in my way.

Though as far as "tracking", I'm more worried about all the apps that want total access to my call log, app list, contact list in all its details, and even one that wanted to see what ring tones and music I have plus be able to look at my pictures and memos! An app that shows me local tides only needs to know what time it is and where I am, nothing else.

Oh -- I turned off gmail and all other email apps, and turned off sync for all things google. That made my phone much more simple and pleasant to use. I also reset my "advertising ID' to a new random one, and turned off information-gathering for ads; that only makes sense because the only thing I ever buy with my phone is . . . . nothing.

 

[Kulindahr]

Yeah, you won't get rid of those 50 apps without rooting the OS with Cyanogenmod or any other software of the sorts.

Heh -- I haven't even finished figuring out what they're all FOR. And then I have to choose between redundant ones; for example, I can see wanting to take some tunes along on the phone, for inspiration when sweating over conservation work, but there are like three or more music apps on the silly thing.

I read about Cyanogenmod, and it looks like an option. What I haven't found is how much it will change the way the phone works. If it will allow the phone to work the way it does, or change to ways more suitable for me, while just turning off crap that I have no interest in, that would be superb!

Shoot me a PM. If you give me clear directions, I'll point you in the direction of the best apps for each purpose you need. I've been an Android user since '09. I'm a hundred percent willing to help; I think Android is the best option out there and want everyone to have the best experience with it.

Awesome!

It may take me a bit -- tomorrow I go over the mountains to see a doc about my hips, a pre-surgery appointment. Between that and other craziness, it will be a day or two before I'm ready to tackle the phone thing again.

BTW, the only real tattoo I've been actually serious about getting would be a pheonix rising.

 

[Kulindahr]

This is an excellent suggestion. Kulandahr, if you want that crappy-ass bloatware gone, find a geek friend to root it and install Cyanogenmod. If you have no geek friends, PM me and I could probably work out a solution for you.

I have a semi-geek friend who could probably do it with your guidance.

Crap, I used to be a geek, but I stopped staying current about the time things moved on from C++.

 

[mirlox]

Google not providing support indicates that they are evil -- and the reason you give that they don't do it shows even more that they're evil; anyone not evil would be willing to face the music resulting from their product. What you're really saying is that they don't want to operate in a free market where they get feedback from their users, they just want to be able to dish out what they think their users ought to be doing and tell the users to conform.

The problem is the way that the phone market works today: You can buy a phone but you can't change it OS. It is not like a computer where you can have Windows today and tomorrow change to Unix based OS. When you buy an iPhone, they throw you the iOS, when you buy a phone with Android, you are bound to use Android with it(sometimes not even receiving huge updates, like between Jelly Bean and Kit Kat versions).

Android is open source and Google offers support related to its frame(which you can't really access taking in consideration the amount of shit that Samsung places on the way), Google can not be blamed if Samsung or Verizon decides to trim Android's functionality to a scope that is best for them and that does not pleases you. You can be upset for Google not imposing 'restrictions' to where the Android frame can be trimmed by those companies, but that would also go against the Open Source part. So yeah, they DO want to operate in a free market and allow the phone manufacturers to dig their own graves. You can blame the manufacturers and the carriers for not wanting a free market, it is not good for them

I read about Cyanogenmod, and it looks like an option. What I haven't found is how much it will change the way the phone works. If it will allow the phone to work the way it does, or change to ways more suitable for me, while just turning off crap that I have no interest in, that would be superb!

Cyanogen would basically remove all the gimmicks that Samsung and Verizon placed in your phone. Again, the GIMMICKS, not vital working things. It would be the best option if you don't want to get Samsung/Verizon/Google shackles on your ankles.

Crap, I used to be a geek, but I stopped staying current about the time things moved on from C++.

I understand you, I'm 18 and I find it quite hard to be in touch with everything, C# just isn't my thing, C++ <3