Be Excellent To Each Other

I'm not privvy to any internal details, but having read that page I can see a few reasons off the top of my head;

1) so the app can do something different if the permission hasn't been granted to handle that case gracefully
2) so the app can control exactly when the "please give me this permission" dialog appears -- maybe it makes sense to do some of them at first load, maybe at first use, maybe some other time
3) so the app can display some additional context to the user before requesting the permission, eg. "I need access to your contact in order to BLAH"

It's just as well I was considering wiping my phone this weekend anyway as the Marshmallow update is fucked. Twice now it's popped up to tell me it's available and spent ages downloading the thing but, on both occasions, as soon as I tell it to do the install it tries and actually fails to simply reboot the phone. The entire phone hangs and I then need to force a reboot at which point the option to upgrade disappears completely. Even more bizarrely, if I force a check it comes back claiming there are no updates available and I need to wait a random amount of time before it once again realises there's an update to completely re-download from scratch. Good going Google.

Bluetooth audio output on my phone be quiet. Anyone know of a volume increaser that actually increases the maximum signal output, rather than simply turning up my fucking volume like the eight "volume maximisers" I have tried!

Absolute tossbags, none of the new Nexus phones support wireless charging, which is hands down one my favourite things about my Nexus 5.

That's a dealbreaker right there.

(I have two wireless charging pads, one on my desk at work, and one on my desk at home - totally ace things they are.)

Wireless charging is nice, but there's a good reason it's not in either phone, and cabled turbo charging is much better than wireless anyway.

I'm sure the new turbo charging is splendid, but it still involves having a cable trailing from a plug or other device to a point on a desk where I can connect my phone to it, and faffing about with said cable to plug it in or pull it out.

How that's an improvement on just plopping my phone onto a charging disc I really don't know. The time taken to charge is irrelevant to me as if I'm not out and about somewhere with my phone, it's sat on a charging disc, so when I pick it up it's basically always at 100% charge.

It's definitely enough to make me consider switching from a Nexus to something like an S6 when my contract comes up next July.

Turbo charging is fucking awesome. With the official charger I can charge my Nexus 6 from 'near dead' to 'more than enough to see me through the day' just while I get showered and dressed in the morning which has been a lifesaver on a number of occasions. Obviously it would be better if someone properly solved the battery problem but, until then, being able to shove a load of juice into a device in a very short amount of time is a really good work around. Wireless charging is a very, very minor convenience and not something that would ever make or break a device for me.

Well why can't we have both then? Why take wireless charging out of the new phones? However good the new SUPER TURBO CHARGING is, it's still functionality that's been removed.

It's also a bummer for folks like me who've splashed out on two charging discs.

Presumably because it requires a physical component which adds bulk and cost to the handset, if enough people used it then they'd probably leave it in.

Here's Google's official statement on the matter:

Also don't you get cases that will add wireless charging functionality to a phone that doesn't already have it? You could just get one of them whenever they come out for the new Nexuses.

Because everything costs money and adds weight and thickness, and you need to balance that cost against what it adds and how many people use it. Also the 6P has an all-metal case, which doesn't play nicely with wireless charging (although Qualcomm now have something very new which claims to do it.)

I'll add z (thickness) to Google's lip for depriving me of space-age wireless charging technology in favour of a slightly better cable than we had years ago.

My Nokia 5110 had a 'reversible' charging cable. In 1999. What it didn't have is wireless charging.

Basically, I'm very upset about all this.

Oh man, I just love this one:



Thickness = z- (vertical) axis, presumably, but quite possibly the most pretentious way of saying it.
Pseuds Corner, anyone?

Also this: Plug in your fecking fone Choppers, you lazy arse, you can use your "charging discs" as fancy, hi-tech coasters.
I think I'm done here, I thank you.

So it seems I've forgotten how three dimensional co-ordinates are plotted since last doing it at school. In my head the X and Y components carried on representing horizontal and vertical as they do in 2D graphing with Z being added in for depth, but looking at examples on Wikipedia it's actually Z and Y doing vertical and horizontal with X carrying the depth component. Huh.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... m_CA_0.svg

I also learned that the forum doesn't support embedding of SVG images.

If I remember my 3D modelling days, it's because the XY plain represents the ground and the Z axis is 'height'.

I'm going to defend this, slightly.

The quote was taken from a Reddit Ask-Me-Anything, which is a realtime event where a company rep or a celebrity field hundreds of questions a minute for an hour or two. Faced with that sort of time pressure, it's not unusual to drift into the most compact jargon you can find -- and "adding z" is not uncommon jargon in gadget industrial design. Furthermore, the audience was almost entirely hardcore phone nerds, so (a) they understood what it meant and (b) actually appreciated being talked to in this dense argot that respected that they would understand it. There were other questions about all sorts of detailed internal specs of the new Nexuses, which were equally answered with detailed technical responses, and they liked that.

This wasn't a considered, redrafted piece of communication -- it was an off the cuff remark delivered to a technical audience.

No excuses. Hang me out to dry.

Meh, no, sorry Doc, gonna have to disagree here mate!

I know I'm a simple, hairy-arsed soul who thinks 'finesse' is a brand of washing up liquid or something similar, but by crikey, saying "adds z" instead of "makes it thicker" just seems hilariously obfuscatory and pretentious to me IMO, even if your audience does know what you mean (being understood does not preclude sounding like a dick). Still, no worries though, as it did raise quite a smile this end, love it.

OT

Also, may I just go for broke on the "clueless old tosser" scale, I also just love the names these people give their OS, software or whatever these days...

I mean seriously, "I'm updating my Marshmallow" surely can't be said with a straight face? WTF is "Marshmallow" anyway (aside from the obvious ), and why is a mere update - for a phone - 400MB? (shit, that's a lot of REM statements in the code ). Or alternatively, perhaps I should start perusing a Saga Holidays brochure...

Each major release of Android has an alphabetical codename. It's just a more convenient way to say it than a flat version number, and allows some cutsey marketing, but it's just a version name at the end of the day.

Cupcake
Donut
Eclair
Froyo
Gingerbread
Honeycomb
Ice Cream Sandwich
Jelly Bean
KitKat
Lollipop
Marshmallow

400 MB isn't very much. And your phone is very likely the most complicated electronic device you own. The iOS 8 update was a little under 1 GB compressed, but expanded to 3-5 GB during the install process.

You're such a Google apologist.

Ah right, nice one Doc.

I suppose it's a lot more fun than "Version 2.1.1" or similar, and "Marshmallow" sounds better than "COBOL"


But seriously, cheers for the heads-up to the (painfully) uninitiated.

So's your face.

If you love Google so much why don't you fucking marry it

To cut a long story short, I've updated my play music sub to use my Google play credit as the payment method, stupidly thinking it would use whatever was in there and make up the shortfall with one of the many other payment methods attached to my account. Apparently, this isn't the case and not enough credit = no payment.

My only option at the moment is to get them to try and take the payment again from my play credit, but as there doesn't appear to be a way to top that up other than a physical card, I still don't have enough credit.

I've changed the default payment method for the sub to my credit card, but when they automatically try the payment again later tonight, will they take it from the credit card or will they still try to take it from my play credit? Anyone know?

I asked in the new phone thread, but I guess I will ask here again because this thread is more active.

I'm thinking of getting this phone. What do you reckon?

http://www.dx.com/p/lenovo-p1-5-5-fhd-a ... nfc-408171

I'm a little limited in where I can buy a phone from, most places won't ship one to me, but that seems to tick most of my boxes.

I know it's a little on the bulkier side, but that's because it's got a huge battery, there's some phones in a similar category with half the battery capacity. Looks like it should get 2 days of fairly heavy usage, and I think having it be a little heavier is a worthwhile compromise for that.

I can't see any proper reviews posted online yet, so I'll probably wait for that before taking the plunge, but can anyone see any glaring issues with it? On paper it seems solid to me, and it's a great price.

Oh, my 6P arrived. It's very good.

Does it bend?

Nope.

I bet it has wireless charging, being the latest flagship Google phone and all that.

Ha! Right?

Still, I'll just fit it with a wireless-charge-capable battery, then I can use all my wireless stuff.

Oh.

You're making it up.

Apparently they will keep trying to take it from my play credit, and then cancel my sub. I can't help but feel that's a bit stupid. Oh well.

Anyone know how to block an incoming number in the Marshmallow dialler? All the instructions I can find online must be for older versions because I'm not getting the option at the point they think I should.

So that's why you're not answering

I didn't realise you'd moved to Jersey.

I was there during 9/11 and I didn't see any Muslims cheering

There doesn't seem to be a built-in way. There will be apps that do it, but that's not exactly perfect

Well, shit. I wonder why in the hell they'd remove that feature? It seems like it would be useful and relatively trivial to implement.

Like playing a cd in a PS4.

At least they can fix that - that absurdly low 0.34V headphone output is probably something that isn't going to be changed with an update

I can't check this, I don't have an M phone with me right now but I think: add the caller to a contact, under the contact settings overflow (three dots) menu select All Calls To Voicemail. Yes, this is not pretty

That option has vanished.

Progress!

They'll be removing wireless charging next.

What the fuck are they playing at

Of course they won't - we've all bought wireless chargers.

I'm still cross about it.

My next phone will have wireless charging, even if I have to get an end-of-line S6 Edge or something when my contract comes up next May. (Technically speaking it's up in July but Manx Telecom always very generously offer you a GREAT OFFER to renew early, which ever so slightly offsets the fact that they charge six gazillion pounds more for phones than anyone else. Having said that their 4G is pretty damn good so swings and roundabouts and all that.)

Any (popular) phone with a removable battery can be fitted with a wireless charge system.