Related
Ok so right off the bat I'm not a professional phone reviewer. This is just me talking about a phone I'm excited about... I didn't post any pictures as I didn't take any yet, but I'm very pleased with the look and you can find plenty online.
So I've spent the last two weeks researching and looking for a good dual sim phone, with dual standby capability. Before I start, without a dual standby capability a dual sim phone doesn't let you take a call from one number, while you are talking on your other number.
This phone is the international version and is a triband 900/1800/1900 - as always be sure your service provider runs on the band before you buy a phone. It also has to separate IMIE numbers as well.
[This next paragraph is for entertainment only, so feel free to skip to the next one if you're not interested in a very good prank.]
I ordered this phone from Amazon and chose overnight shipping. Needless to say I've not been excited about a phone for a very long time, but this time I was. Unfortunately the last update was that it was checked into Memphis, which has all flights grounded. So, the 2nd day I check the tracking and I see that it's out for delivery, I hop in my car and start the 40 minute drive to my office to pick it up. 3 minutes out my manager calls me and tells me "it just arrived"... I arrive and I open my shipping box, upset that it's late but happy it's here. I pull out the phone box and open it up... only to see some piece of crap prepaid ancient mini brick phone. I instantly flip my lid, and for a split second I considered just snapping this piece of crap in half. I then dump the box contents on the floor, and then realize there is a group of people in tears laughing. Turns out my best friend cut the packing box open (from the bottom as not to damage the label) and put his crap phone in it. Anyways, on to my thoughts...
[Appearance] So, when I pull the phone out it's really quite nice looking. It has the shape and appearance of an Iphone, but it has the 4 hard buttons at the bottom. One nice thing comparing it again to the Iphone is that not everyone and their dog has one of these. Very slim form and smaller overall than the Iphone. I have not taken pictures yet, and have not completely tested it overall but I have already decided that it was well worth the $260 ($230 from another seller, but I paid the extra $30 for piece of mind).
The first thing I do is pair it with my windows mobile Smartphone and I then beam over all of my contacts. The windows mobile phone just sends them all, but I had to hit accept for every single file. Tedious, but much easier than actually re-entering them in by hand. After that I had to enter into the file explorer and choose reload for about 90% of them (one by one again). In the end they all transferred over, with attached photos. The only thing that didn't transfer was the ringtone assignments.
[Call Quality] Once I was able to get outside of work hours I placed both my personal and work sims inside the phone. I've tested it like crazy just on calls alone. First, the speaker phone is WAY louder and much more clear than my HTC Fuze (Raphael). In addition the call quality when not on speaker phone is quite nice as well. There were times when I thought I dropped the call because there wasn't that light hiss in the background. Next I tried calling out on the sim. When you dial a number, just to the right there are a couple of boxes and you just touch the sim you want and whalla, you're calling out on that sim. It also had no problem taking calls from one line while on the other. It's just like call waiting. The only negative to it is that the icon which identifies the sim is very small and in the top left of the incoming call, so it's somewhat hard to tell which line is ringing. Although I predict I will get quite used to it.
The touch screen is very responsive and is actually fairly easy to negotiate around with just using your fingers. The speed of the phone is nearly instant in everything you do, outside of accessing memory to change a ringtone or something (super slow). Granted I have a crapload of photos and ringtones on my microSD card.
[Features] It has some pretty cool features within the simple operating system. There are 4 hard buttons on the bottom, and 4 soft buttons at the bottom of the touch screen. The hard buttons are useful and make sense. The screen buttons are also good. There is one button on the bottom right that opens up a new menu on the right side of the screen. This menu has 4 long buttons that let you easily access everything you need within the phone. In addition there is a little rounded tab at the right side of the screen when you are in idle mode. The first tab allows you to access your "widgets" You can just drag them and drop them right onto the desktop, or drag them right back in. Out of the box the widgets are as follows: FM radio, round old school clock, Calendar, music, photos, world time, memo notes, missed calls, messages, and schedule. Really neat in that you can just place them where you want, and they all come out small but expand into the full featured widget. At the idle screen you can also slide your finger either right or left, and it makes the screen flip as if it was a cube. Your widget menu has not been replaced by a speed dial menu. Press any icon from 2-9 (1 reserved for Vmail) and it lets you choose a contact to associate. You can then drag that icon right onto the desktop of the phone as well. Overall very cool features so far.
The locking mechanism is quite nice as well. You can either unlock with a short hold on a key on the screen, or the lock key on the right side of the phone. About the only negative so far is that there isn't a slide to unlock, and you press the hard keys to answer or decline. I know at some point I will accidentally answer or decline someone while pulling the phone out of a full pocket.
Next onto the camera. 5M camera with a crapload of image settings. While the quality isn't nearly as good as my high end digital camera, it shares many of the same features. It has an LED flash, and you can really play around with the settings (assuming you are a camera buff, otherwise most will just confuse you). It lets you take quick action photos in sets of 3, 6, or 9 in fast succession too. it also has a video camera, but I didn't test it as of yet.
It has an FM radio which needs to have the dual earphone wired headset hooked up to it to use (typical). The headset of course has a microphone also for those of you who think talking on Bluetooth was invented by the "debil". (That's some high quality H20).
The PC suite that comes with it is pretty nice so far also. When you connect the phone you can choose between 4 options. One can be a music sync for all the music lovers out there, but my presumed favorite is that you can use the phone as a modem with the provided software (not tested yet). You can connect to your PC via USB or Bluetooth. I only wish my work computer would allow for me to install software! Oh well...
Text messaging and MMS is nice as well. You can choose most of the typical entry methods, but I've been having fun with the handwriting entry. Don't leave any gaps when you spell any letters, but it's cool to just write on the screen and have it put it right into a text. It's slower than using the on screen key pad, but a fun novelty for now. It doesn’t appear to have a full touch screen qwerty, but I also didn’t rotate it to landscape during testing so it could be there.
I did have one issue with my voicemail recognizing one number at AT&T, but after a long hold time they just reset my voicemail and both numbers worked like a charm in accessing vmail. One negative, and a fairly big one is that when I called both of my lines and left voicemails it still only put one voicemail notification at the top. It's not possible, or at least I've not figured out how to discern which line has the voicemail on it. Although when unlocking it puts a nice big box on the screen stating the calls I missed. In addition the missed call widget is nice to show missed calls as well.
About the only issue I am having so far is getting the internet to work. I want to test it just so I can verify it will work, and to mess around with the browser some. I intend to drop my dataplan as I only used it for my GPS previously, and since Santa brought me a full on GPS I know it's a wasted $30 a month.
[G-sensor] It also has what I think is called the G-sensor, or at least the thing that rotates the screen when you do. Also when you drag the widgets or speed dials onto the screen you can shake it to “snap them into place”. Personally I prefer to place them in the locations I want though.
So, in closing I love this phone so far. The last phone I was this happy with was the original Razr back when no one else but me and a select few had it (only a few other dummies willing to pay the $500 for it back in the day). I presume that I have missed a fair amount of things people may be interested in, so please feel free to ask for additional information and I will see if I can discern it from messing around with the phone. My HTC Fuze and Crap dual sim Chinese phones are officially retired. I’m sure I’ll snag another smartphone at some point so I can load up all of the tweaks from here, but for now it’s nice to have a phone that isn’t slow to respond and accomplishes my personal goals.
But no windowsmobile, right?
HI, thats a long review. Think a lot people are happy about it, cause it is a good phone i suppose.
But it's not windowsmobile,isnt it?
I need "dual sim" "dual standby", and find no windowsmobile phone that supports this. I have two china phones, which both drive me mad, more than windowsmobile ever did, so I finally want to find a solution.
Don't think this is the right thread to post my topic,so I'll search now for the right place here in xda-developers.
Cheers
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THIS THREAD (in thread tools above) TO KEEP UP MOMENTUM! LET'S GET THIS DONE!
I had a PM from the user aelsharawi recently, who asked me to update the ‘locate my phone’ profile on the Tasker wiki. Never one to step away from a challenge, I started pondering and then pondered a little further and decided that this is something I really need community input on to plan and construct.
Losing your device feels like losing a limb or a close family member and instead of sitting by the home phone (if anyone still uses one!) waiting for the police to call to say they have recovered it, wouldn’t it be better to know that you can still control it remotely and in the mean time it’s working hard to return itself to you, like a little, lost, soft, cuddly puppy… Ok then…
Even if you don’t yet use Tasker, please do contribute and tell me what you would like your device to do! Grab your free trial from here
Continue to read for my initial ideas and the up-to-date community input!
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Whilst pondering, I realised that should you be separated from your device, you may not always want to take the same action.
For example, if you know you’ve just left it on your seat on the train that is chugging out of the station, requesting Tasker to wipe all of your data and massively overclock the CPU so much that it sets on fire, probably isn’t what you’re after. Alerting a nearby passenger that it’s been left and a small reward is on offer for its safe return, would perhaps increase your chances of seeing it again.
Alternatively, if you’re pretty sure your device has just been swiped, a polite message of pretty please return me, hoping to play on the conscience of a thief, may not do the trick. A sleuth mode would be more appropriate here, where the device starts to mimic being asleep/off whilst all the time updating you of its location amongst other things.
Different eventualities such as the above made me realise I would need more than one profile for this, perhaps even a precautionary profile, so if I knew I was going out to get completely wasted, I could set the device to check it was still in my possession at regular intervals!
Anyway, you get the general idea… on to my list of what Tasker could theoretically do to help:
1) Play very loud music
2) Display a message of death threats
3) Display a nice message
4) Display a reward message
5) Display a current location message
6) Speak instructed text
7) Email/text location
8) Lock
9) Wipe
10) Encrypt
11) Mimic being off/dead
12) Partially disable
13) Disable all buttons
14) Brick
15) Change splash Screen (I think?)
16) Change Boot animation
17) Shine torch
18) Take a picture
19) Text/email that picture
20) Display that picture (!)
21) Bluetooth the picture to nearby devices
22) Bluetooth a file/message to nearby devices
23) Send call logs
24) Block calls
25) Send text logs
26) Make it call the local police station and then speak!
27) Turn on a nearby TV
28) Show pornography
So, the above are a load of possible things that popped into my head (and you can see I was running out of ideas near the end). I’m sure you can help me think of plenty more…?
Sadly, the one thing that isn’t possible is to make the device boot if it is off… Yes I know everyone’s Nokia could do this back in 1982, but sadly not our dear Androids…
Over to you folks, let me know your thoughts!
Please respect the forum rules and belittle other people’s ideas and opinions as much as possible. It’s so much more fun that way…
Just kidding!
Your ideas
29) Send voice recording
30) Video Call
31) Activate Mic (sleuth make/answer call)
32) Disable USB/recovery/fastboot (unlikely) - Anyone know if these can be disabled by deleting certain system files?
33) Request thief's personal info! (see #39)
34) React to movement
35) Set to speaker phone and make call
36) Request to insert charger!
37) Auto-dial a fake contact of very HOT girl and then activate forward facing camera!
38) Notify of new number is SIM is changed!
39) Fake 'initial Set-up' mini program, that Tasker will send out the input from <-- Volunteer to write this?!
40) Gestures active to tell when phone is tilted to take picture with rear camera (not a problem for front facing)
41) Mute camera sound and disable flash for sleuth mode
42) Everyone start posting pictures of HOT girls that we can use as the fake contact! (don't pretend you have real ones)
Example profile added to post #3 for ideas!
Sherlock droid!
Thanks for all of your encouragement and feedback so far, please keep it coming, it's the only way to get this right. The best ideas are often the most simple, so please do not be afraid to post. If anyone flames you, they'll be struck off my 'Tasker help list'!
V1 BETA Set-up (Of course completely open to change by your input)
There will be four contexts for you to activate:
SherlockGreen
Situation Example: Device left moments ago on a train or in a restaurant. Drastic action is not required. Hopeful of good and honest Samaritan retrieving device.
SherlockAmber
Situation Example: Honestly, I'm not sure! You tell me....
SherlockRed
Situation Example: Device has definitely been stolen. Voluntary recovery unlikely. Ultra sleuth recovery mode and potential device wipe/brick.
DrWatson
Situation Example: You've woken up still drunk. Can't remember anything (apart from your 'Sherlock Codes'!). Can't find your phone. It could just be under the sofa. Perform single adhoc actions such as manual loud tones and vibrates etc etc.
Work in Progress
Preparation
* Make sure GPS and Wifi are checked in Menu/Settings/Location & Security (Google tells us that in Gingerbread no additional resource is used)
* Download SherlockGreen.zip from post #3
* Create a folder: /sdcard/Tasker/Sherlock
* Use the tone in the .zip and drag into the /Sherlock folder or use and rename your own SherlockGreen.ogg (if using .mp3 change action #13 & #16 in the task SherlockGreen
* Copy any picture into the /Sherlock folder and rename SG-ContactWallpaper.jpg (adjust in above task, action #9 if necessary)
* For testing, enter your own number in:
SherlockGreen - Action #1, #7
SG-FoundOk - Action #4, #7
SG-FoundNo - Action #3
* For full testing, set networks to 2g only and data connection and wireless off.
Don't forget to run (by pressing 'test') SherlockVarClear first and then after each test you run.
Either press 'test' in SherlockGreen , press done and apply and return to the home screen or text yourself sherlockgreen123
SherlockGreen V1 BETA Explained
SherlockGreen V1
SherlockGreen
* Kicked off by received text from any number with content 'sherlockgreen123'
* First priority to alert your Sherlock contact(s) that you've lost your device and they need to be ready to let you know what information they receive.
* Switches on 3g preferred and data connection (if they were off) and uses them and GPS to get a location.
* Sends location via text to Sherlock Contact. Time out set to three minutes in case of no fix.
* Wallpaper changed to show number 'Samaritan' is to dial.
* Screen time out increased.
* Display Brightness increased.
* Alert sound kicks off x 2
* Speech alerts Samaritan to pick up your phone x 2
SG-FoundMenu
* Activated during the above
* Screen prompt to 'PRESS HERE'
* If pressed, SG-FoundOk kicked off
* If not pressed, SG-FoundNo kicked off
SG-FoundOk
* Stops alert and speech to prevent being off-putting!
* Sends SMS to confirm manual interaction with screen at SG-FoundMenu (Battery level added in V2)
* Speech thanking Samaritan
* Another GPS location sent by SMS
* Screen alert asking them to enter their number if they'd prefer.
* Wait task ticks down...
* If no Samaritan contact perform task XXXXX <-- next stage
SG-FoundNo
* Instructs to restart SherlockGreen
* IF created loop variable %SHERG is less than 4 (to limit repeats)
* Another GPS location sent by SMS (SherlockGreen will have already sent 3)
* Perform task XXXXX <--- Next stage
SherlockVarClear
* To clear the created variables for testing purposes.
Testing thoughts and requests
* A low resolution SG-ContactWallpaper.jpg is needed that fits above and below the menu task and is easy for us all to edit in basic 'paintshop' and the menu background too VOLUNTEER NEEDED!
* Should SherlockGreen allow the device to be unlocked and load up the dialler if Samaritan screen interaction is made in SG-foundMenu??
* Need the most alerting alert of alert tones evar! Upload your suggested tone in a .zip!
Sherlock Green V2?
(* Battery level added in V2
* Should the SMS volume be muted and notification switched off to avoid alerting 'thief'?)
Dr Watson V1 BETA
Preparation
* Make sure GPS and Wifi are checked in Menu/Settings/Location & Security (Google tells us that in Gingerbread no additional resource is used)
* Download DrWatson.zip from post #3
* Create a folder: /sdcard/Tasker/Watson
* Use the tone in the .zip and drag into the /Watson folder or use and rename your own drwalert.ogg (if using .mp3 change action #4 in the task DrWAlert
* For testing, enter your own number in:
DrWLocation - Action #6
* For full testing, set networks to 2g only and data connection and wireless off.
DrWatson V1 BETA Explained
DrW-PopUp
* Purpose - display received text content as a pop-up on the screen
* Activated by the receipt of an SMS (from any sender) containing the text 'drwpop'.
* Note: In the context it states 'drwpop*'. The '*' is a wild card, so Tasker will allow further body text to be included in the same SMS.
* SMS body text (%SMSRB) is split at '###' until '###'
* Your SMS must therefore be 'drwpop ###THIS WILL DISPLAY ON THE SCREEN###'
DrW-Alert
* Purpose - Vibrate, torch and sound for localised searching.
* Activated by the receipt of an SMS (from any sender) containing the text 'drwalert'.
* If Tasker is handing your notification sounds, a 5 second wait is required in action #1 to prevent the alert sound being killed.
DrW-Location
* Purpose - Adhoc location request
* Activated by the receipt of an SMS (from any sender) containing the text 'drwlocation'.
* GPS & NET locations sent with accuracy [V2 Google maps link with pointer sent for both].
* Battery status included.
DrW-Tasker
* Purpose - Populate the created variable %DRWVAR
* Activated by the receipt of an SMS (from any sender) containing the text 'drwtasker'.
* SMS body text (%SMSRB) is split at '###' until '###'
* Your SMS must therefore be 'drwtasker ###1###'
DrW-Var
* Purpose - Triggered when %DRWVAR is set to '1' to perform actions.
* Note: Actions are up to you. Examples included are to set profile status 'XX' to off and set profile status 'XX' to on. These actions could be to turn on battery saving profiles you have or to turn off battery intensive profiles or profiles you consider may conflict with future actions such as notification control or to cease data connectivity under certain conditions. Turning off the sms preview in the notification bar and silencing the sms notification would be an obvious choice.
Testing thoughts and requests
As a reminder, 'Dr Watson' is supposed to be when you're not certain where your device is and are not overly concerned. That said, the ad hoc functions may well be useful under 'Sherlock circumstances'.
It is theoretically possible (a statement used when I haven't quite fathomed out how yet!) using a combination of DrW-Tasker & DrWVar that you can request Tasker to SMS/e-mail you any requested variable. For example, if you populate a created variable %DRWVAR-REQUEST with the body text of '###%UPS###' - you could then request that another created variable is set to %DRWVAR-REQUEST (= %UPS) and an SMS is sent containing %DRWVAR-REQUEST-POPULATED which is %UPS! You therefore receive a text with 'up time in seconds...' You with me....
I'm starting to forget my 'codes' already!
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Over to you for a while now folks. Please test and provide your complete feedback. All I've done so far can be deleted if you think it's heading in the wrong direction and I won't be bothered - let's get this right...
To help by searching this thread PLEASE ADD A TITLE TO YOUR POSTS detailing the task or context you are referring to - otherwise 'general suggestion' etc etc.
Please clearly document/explain any changes you suggest to the tasks/contexts in your posts using the 'copy to clipboard' in Tasker and then pasting here, with a .zip for good measure!
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I WANT TO GET INVOLVED!! BUT WHAT SHALL I DO??? >>CLICK HERE<<
SEE THE 'HOW DO I BRICK MY PHONE?' THREAD >>HERE<<
Please feel free to post your ideas below!
Yes, we all know Seek Droid is an absolute bargain at $0.99 in the mean time...
SherlockGreen Installation Instructions
In menu options/profile data 'Import One Task':
SG-FoundMenu.tsk.xml
SG-FoundOk.tsk.xml
SG-FoundNo.tsk.xml
SherlockVarClear.tsk.xml
In menu options/profile data 'Import One Profile':
Sherlock-Green.prf.xml
Dr Watson Installation Instructions
In menu options/profile data 'Import One Profile':
DrW-Alert.prf.xml
DrW-PopUp.prf.xml
DrW-Location.prf.xml
DrW-Tasker.prf.xml
DrW-Var.prf.xml
The thanks meter lets me know I'm appreciated
I would enjoy having something like this that works reliably, definitely the things that have to be perfected are the locate, encrypt, backup, wipe, alert, custom message and lock-out features.. Everything else is just a great added bonus.
Maybe see if you can somehow activate the microphone to listen to nearby conversation, or cameras to see anything thats going on (hopefully its not just a pocket shot lol)
Sent from my rooted G2X
DrowsyMalice said:
I would enjoy having something like this that works reliably, definitely the things that have to be perfected are the locate, encrypt, backup, wipe, alert, custom message and lock-out features.. Everything else is just a great added bonus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The basics could definitely be perfected...
Maybe see if you can somehow activate the microphone to listen to nearby conversation, or cameras to see anything thats going on (hopefully its not just a pocket shot lol)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like it - start voice recorder for ten seconds - zip it up and email it... or just dial-out of course...
A pocket shot would be a little disappointing!
Keep the ideas coming....
Those are some pretty good bonuses. I think it would be cool to have the phone fake being bricked. Fully functional for the owner with remote password. However, phone will run a program in background for "brick" mode.
Display will be nothing but static, all buttons are disabled whilst sending its location, video and voice recordings to your pc.
Pulling the battery, trying to reboot into recovery or fast boot, or connection with usb will not work. All settings are initiated upon boot. Phone is "bricked" until you send the password via your pc.
I don't know if this would be possible, just a thought.
Rooted G2
lncoln said:
Those are some pretty good bonuses. I think it would be cool to have the phone fake being bricked. Fully functional for the owner with remote password. However, phone will run a program in background for "brick" mode.
Display will be nothing but static, all buttons are disabled whilst sending its location, video and voice recordings to your pc.
Pulling the battery, trying to reboot into recovery or fast boot, or connection with usb will not work. All settings are initiated upon boot. Phone is "bricked" until you send the password via your pc.
I don't know if this would be possible, just a thought.
Rooted G2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure we could achieve most of it with pooled knowledge...
'Brick mode' is really essential to allow the phone to keep communicating. Would need a silent, black splash and boot animation so if the device was rebooted it would still appear off... or perhaps a fake one that appears to show errors and say's 'powering off'...?
Recovery and Fastboot are completely separate - to my knowledge they can't be tampered with from the OS - Although maybe there are some essential system files they use that Tasker could delete? I'm really not knowledgeable enough about that...
How about preventing itself from being uninstalled. Perhaps by needing a password (or some other means) to continue with the uninstall.
Would it be possible to take a picture when movement is detected? and send this picture by email?
How about it setting itself to speaker phone and calling a selected contact who can instruct them on how to get the phone back to you.
...insert witty signature here.
And if that fails within a # of tries, emails location to you periodically.
...insert witty signature here.
baboonsRus said:
And if that fails within a # of tries, emails location to you periodically.
...insert witty signature here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A fake brick option would be the best, coupled with sensor awareness for recovery.
For the fake brick, it think it would be best if the screen gets stuck at a battery low/please plugin your charger, so that the perp will always charge your phone for you if they wanna use it.
For the sensor awareness, taking a recording, as well as taking occasional videos would be nice, as well as GPS location data.
Tasker and other apps can't enable/disable GPS since 2.3.3, Google change the security restrictions, also Radio on/off is not possible. And yes, this sucks.
Still works on CM7 though
Found this thread through a post I made on another forum.
That's an awesome list, will have a go at implementing some of these to my setup.
edit: maybe after reboot (if a security flag has been activated) the 'lockscreen' can ask the guy to input his info (name/email..password?? lol) in order to use the phone, then obviously send those out.
suggestion:
- enable Taskers PW-protection
feedback:
- don't like: 2-5 (maybe display a sms-provided msg instead?), 27, 28
- like: 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 23
BTW: any good alarm sounds you guys can recommend? Looking for a nice loud one that'll be easy to hear when nearby
rjg0691 said:
How about preventing itself from being uninstalled. Perhaps by needing a password (or some other means) to continue with the uninstall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're talking about Tasker itself, then it can already be password protected.
AntAreS24 said:
Would it be possible to take a picture when movement is detected?
and send this picture by email?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure how to tap into the sensor controls, but enabling a number of Tasker gesture alerts that basically activate for any movement would do it. Tasker would only react to these gestures if it knew it was in 'slueth mode'.
baboonsRus said:
How about it setting itself to speaker phone and calling a selected contact who can instruct them on how to get the phone back to you. And if that fails within a # of tries, emails location to you periodically.
...insert witty signature here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both could work. If you've left it on a train for example, it would first text your chosen emergency contact telling him/her it's about to call them and to get ready to shout loud to see if someone hears...
sakai4eva said:
A fake brick option would be the best, coupled with sensor awareness for recovery.
For the fake brick, it think it would be best if the screen gets stuck at a battery low/please plugin your charger, so that the perp will always charge your phone for you if they wanna use it.
For the sensor awareness, taking a recording, as well as taking occasional videos would be nice, as well as GPS location data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ultimate goal would be to make the perp leave the phone 'awake' for as long as possile whilst fooling them into doing something like looking for a charger (that would be great if they kept charging it up!!) or following long winded instructions that they think will give them full use of the device, all the time keeping them unaware that they are being hunted down!
Furzbirre said:
Tasker and other apps can't enable/disable GPS since 2.3.3, Google change the security restrictions, also Radio on/off is not possible. And yes, this sucks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lifelikelife said:
Still works on CM7 though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM have indeed hacked this.
For other custom ROMs, Google will tell you that under settings/location and secuirty wifi and GPS should always be ticked and will use no extra resource until required. Alternatively, most Gingerbread ROMs have the the status bar power widget. I'm pretty sure this is controlled by a simple system file that Tasker could overwrite - further investigation needed.
lifelikelife said:
Found this thread through a post I made on another forum.
That's an awesome list, will have a go at implementing some of these to my setup.
edit: maybe after reboot (if a security flag has been activated) the 'lockscreen' can ask the guy to input his info (name/email..password?? lol) in order to use the phone, then obviously send those out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha! We know there are some very dumb criminals around. It could be worth a shot!
XlAfbk said:
suggestion:
- enable Taskers PW-protection
feedback:
- don't like: 2-5 (maybe display a sms-provided msg instead?), 27, 28
- like: 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 23
BTW: any good alarm sounds you guys can recommend? Looking for a nice loud one that'll be
easy to hear when nearby
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We'll make sure that these profiles are fully configurable for individual tastes - so if one users likes one idea and not another, they can easily adjust. I'm sure we'll get some volunteers on XDA to make us the custom bootanimations, splash screens, black wallpaper, fake wallpaper (with instructions on), images we can show on the screen (with fake instructions on) and sounds etc etc etc.
i think a good option would be to initate a fake phone call (activate ringer, stock Call Screen with picture of a really attractive girl) and have the caller name be something like, "the best hookup ever" so as the Thief looks at it--the Front Facing Camera option is enabled & takes a picture of the Thief.
this picture then gets automatically sent to a designated email.
just a thought.
project.in.process said:
i think a good option would be to initate a fake phone call (activate ringer, stock Call Screen with picture of a really attractive girl) and have the caller name be something like, "the best hookup ever" so as the Thief looks at it--the Front Facing Camera option is enabled & takes a picture of the Thief.
this picture then gets automatically sent to a designated email.
just a thought.
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Ha! Classic... Love it If only I already had such a 'contact' in my phone...
I could do with a device with a forward facing camera too...
Whew god, first suggestion, kill that signature. Wow.
Anywho. I wrote something like this myself a while back, but it's not quite in good shape to share I don't think, I'd have to evaluate it.
Anywho, it watches for SMS or Email with keywords and does some action based on those keywords. Primary keyword is to send information, such as location, last call in, last call out, last sms in, last sms out, phone number, battery info, some misc other stuff I think, had to keep it at 140 for sms.
Also if the phone number changes, it sends the same info every 5 minutes to a predesignated SMS.
For email I had to write my own http mail relay since I could not figure out a way to send mail without some intermediate steps showing on the screen or needing to hit the Send button.. kinda defeats the purpose. So it just does a POST to my web server and it sends the email.
If nothing is written here yet and anyone is interested, I can do some clean up and post it. Although I'm pretty bad about getting it done, I still need to post some GPS Tracking tasks I wrote a while back for "TrackMe".. ahem.
Can we get it to mimic the initial android phone setup, the welcome to android screen, make them touch the android, then they input their info?
Sent from my VM670 using XDA App
Hi,
First I want to tell you, that I'm from Poland, so You will propably find large numbers of errors in this.
Please, imagine this situation written below:
One day Jaccob was on city centre with their friend. There were no signs of such an accident. Suddenly one of his friends fell to the ground. He hit hardly head and not only lost unconscious, but he stopped to breath. Jacob was panicked. He was remembering sth from first aid course lessons from his school, but he have trouble to do anything. He decided to call emergency - and what? He took his phone and was trying to call, but when he touched the telephone app, the phone freezed, and few seconds later he saw the booting screen. And second was passing. In about a 3 minutes he was able to do call. For luck, someone else called emergency earlier and friend of Jacob was saved by paramedics.
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Click to collapse
It's only a story, not true at all, but some day it can happen.
It's my big petition for all developers of phones and systems: Together - let's create a special mode, to able turn on the phone and make emergency call in shortest time.
For example: a special key sequence that will trigger emergency call menu on any phone and a special menu item in Recovery.
Sorry for my bad English. I believe that You will understand me.
The problem is that special mode or not the phone software has to be operating properly for the phone to make any sort of call - if it fails and has to restart when you want to make a call then you have to wait until the restart is completed - end of story (especially for friend of Jacob)..
Many modern phones already allow an emergency call to a pre-progammed number even if the phone is locked just by holding down a single key.
Jaccob could also have a heart attack when he's trying to make the call - or get hit by lightening - or fall into a sink hole.
Even a "dumb" phone can potentially fail.
What if Jaccob had been playing Angry Birds all day and drained his battery and found out his phone had no charge when he went to place a call ?
What if he dropped the phone and it broke or fell in a puddle ?
My phone reboots in less than 1 minute, it can make an emergency call from the lock screen, and I have never had it freeze. I don't think this is an issue. It's possible, sure (I've had other Android devices freeze - so I'm sure a phone could, too).
I'm not sure how much faster it could really be, even with some kind of stripped-down OS. Android is such a light system already. And who would develop and make sure this emergency OS worked for all phones, and make them compatible with so many ? How would the phone know to trigger it ?
Lots of modern phones don't even have full key-pads any more. The fastest way for me to get to the dialer would be to just hit the wake button and tap the "emergency call" button on the screen. Even if I had to unlock it, I would just put in my pattern and tap once the "phone" app's button. I tried it and even with having to close out of an app I had open, it took me five seconds to do all of that.
Other people have different phones, but all Android phones are fairly similar in those functions from what I know. I think they've done all they can to make it fast and easy to make a phone call in an emergency.
Heck, what if Jaccob was born in the 1920s and he didn't have a cell phone at all ? When I was a kid, cell-phones weren't yet completely common - we had to run inside to make an emergency call, or to the nearest open business or even pay-phone. It's great that cell-phones can connect people in times of need, and I think it's good to see how much they already do even if they're not infallible.
Honestly, in the situation described the "solution" for any day and age would be better CPR and emergency aid classes (although Hollywood movies are doing a decent job with this - they're not always right in their techniques, but people have saved lives because they imitated what they knew from watching CPR performed in countless films). You can't always rely on technology or someone coming to save you. What if they were somewhere with no phone reception to even make an emergency call ? Yes, the technology should be as reliable as possible and make emergency functions accessible, but there is only so much you can do. Electronic devices can and do fail. Systems crash, batteries die.
it already exists, its called 999. but if your phone is switched off or out of battery well then your out of luck. It would be easier to convice everyone to carry a back-up phone than do this kind of mod
Okay so its been a while since the release of the first Android Wear devices, whats Changed ? Is it Worth It ? Was star trek onto something ?
Android Wear is still in its infancy, and clearly has a LONG way to come.
If your still undecided about getting android wear before the holiday period let me help you make your decision.
I have used both the Moto 360 & Lg's G Watch, so Im ignoring device Specific additions because thats not really anything to do with Android Wear its to do with the supplied hardware so don't expect to hear me talking about screen quality this is SOFTWARE ONLY !
After a summers use of Android Wear i have come to a conclusion that many may find hard to swallow and ill go through my reasons and thoughts lets start with what it does well.
From Now on Android Wear will be : AW
Driving :
It works perfectly in theory for driving, you can "Okay Google" and send a SMS or place a call ( provided it is safe to do so, or via BT in car audio ) Great ! you think but now the problems of reality occur.
If your Travelling to and from work / home e.c.t you may need to send a SMS or place a call to Standard numbers ( Home / Work / Mum / Dad e.c.t ) however asking to call " Joe Blogs *Insert work place name here* " is not always picked up correctly and AW.
The Screen will show a turning loading / thinking icon and do one of two things ( 1 ) Finally work it out but by this time you've given up or have tried again : (2) Sits there thinking and just times out and forces the watch to disconnect from your paired device.
Then you hit the issue of no phone signal and whilst driving you don't have time to check the tiny screen to see if the microphone icon shows that its ready and connected to accept your voice task again your sat there talking to your watch like an idiot.
Now android Wear has no way of telling you without looking that you have signal / Connection / ready to accept a command, so you may aswell have your phone hooked up Via BT audio in your dock and do it all via the stock Google now because its faster and easier to tell if you have reception.
As a Pedestrian :
This is a massive sticking point, you can glance at your watch to see the time ( and there should be a better option for the Date for all watch faces ) and the weather and that's about acceptable in society.
Talking to your watch to send an SMS e.c.t get you some funny looks and personal space, also you don't want the general public to know / hear about whats for dinner and your plans for the working week(end).
This can all be done from your phone and you won't look like you got beamed down by a passing space ship.
However Turn by Turn Navigation on your watch is great ! no longer glued to your phone screen burning up battery time trying to do a 15min walk you have never done before, AW handles this perfectly turn by turn !
Searching :
Google Android Wear , asking your watch to give you the 5 day forecast for your next holiday destination next week is a no go, your presented with a unreadable card crammed with search results and a swipe option to open it on your phone !? this bemuses me the whole point was to show us fast easy information.
This kind of task is better done on your phone and so are many other common searches like show me the nearest cash machine / Mc Donalds / Navagate to " Cinema e.c.t " this totally renders AW useless !
Asking for weather and time in other places or in your current region is fine as it seems to do these automatically as long as location reporting is activated on your handset.
Asking for anything beyond this well you may as well have used your phone or asked a passer by.
Alarms / Notes / Fitness Tracking :
These Functions work as advertised and as you'd expect on your phone and some even work offline ( Alarms / reminders / notes ), provided your hardware supports fitness tracking you can grab data using 3rd party apps or the soon to be released google FIT, however lots of phones already do this via a pedometer and there for this function is rendered useless because you end up with two sets of data that are quite different from each other ( I have logged 15,000 steps on my watch to find around 8,000 on my handset.
Phone Tasks :
Calling ( apart from the niggles described in the Driving section ) well here is a mess, accepting / declining a call is partly pointless accepting a call forces you to grab your phone and answer, so this option should be removed so you can only decline or view whos calling, I can hear my phone ringing from my pocket so i'll take it out to look if I can.
There is no option to answer a call and force it to be taken via speaker phone so if your doing a two handed task with your phone near by and some one calls you still have to stop, otherwise in situations like driving the accept call function is fine provided you can pass the phone to a passanger or are hooked up via BT audio.
Final Thoughts :
It works great In car provided you have signal and can shout at your wrist simple names and messages, and you don't already have a in car phone cradle set up where you have voice activation enabled - All of this will be super seeded by android auto so having AW for this reason alone is totally negated and you may aswell wait for Android Auto or carry on with your BT set up.
As of above the rest of AW is pretty useless because using AW is best in a car or doing two handed things where you can't stop and answer the phone, basic function is great and it looks nice but well though out functions are lacking and the actual deployment scenarios where its is applicable are far and few between for several reason stated.
Personally its a gimmick, and even for the G Watch's cheap price its still not worth it and i can't see it ever being.
Google's own voice actions on phones far surpasses AW's usefulness.
Possibly in developing markets I can see it being worth an investment for under $80 to pair with an android one device.
With my BT car stereo / Nexus 5 / Nexus 7 / PC computer its a nice luxury but thats about it, it doe snot let me achieve day to day tasks any faster than just having my phone around its just an annoyance.
I have a G watch and today it is pretty useless. I preferred my old Sony Smartwatch 2, it had better apps, I was able to check twitter, facebook, Whatsapp, call registry, whole sms emails in my phone. With android wear, by now I cannot.
I find it troubling that it has as much power under the hood as a low end smartphone but can't do nearly as much. If I was extremely busy and had bad memory I would use it more but for now it is just a fancy watch to me. I want to be able to actually open an app like Google music. Scroll through albums/tracks/etc. like I do the Google now cards. Use it as a remote for chromecast instead of pulling out my phone. I dunno. I can think of lots of cool things it COULD do but doesn't or won't ever do. Hopefully it is like chromecast and gets some updates and more features in the future. My Sony smartwatch 2 also had more function than the new aw.
Edit: I have read that the new sw3 will allow you to sync music to it and use it seperately from the phone as a music player. I will probably switch to that device simply for that feature alone. G watch is currently in its cradle collecting dust.
---------- Post added at 03:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:21 PM ----------
One more thing. This is silly, I'm sure its some kind of disorder, but I don't like to talk much. I prefer text or email when people contact me or I contact someone else. I don't like to use the voice commands in Google now or on wear. I just don't like to talk much at all unless I am in a real conversation with real people in person. That makes it hard for me to utilize this tech in its current state. If they just add more touch functionality I would be grateful.
I find that accepting calls is actually very helpful when walking or riding a bike.
I usually have a headset on, a quick glance at my watch shows me who's calling and I can decide whether it's appropriate to take the call while in traffic, noisier surroundings etc.
Having the option to accept calls with speakerphone would be nice though.
From my experience the main use case for Wear watches is quick access to notifications w/out reaching into one's pocket. As of now it's only a small usability improvement but the platform has more potential.
Thanks for the overview of your experience. I tend to agree with most of your observations. I have had the Sony, Galaxy Gear, Qualcomm Toq, and now the LG. All have their pros/cons. Everyone wants something different/specific out of their smart device. I am enjoying the AW experience but miss several capabilities I had with the other platforms. I want some ability to look at history of email/messages/etc.. that I lose after I swipe a card. Battery life is manageable but needs to improve if they expect the masses to embrace (Toq with low energy Mirsol screen 5 days continuous use).
I question who Google uses to test their software. They need to use others from outside their company to beta test this. Get a wide variety of testers (XDA Developers/College kids/Business professionals) to slap on a beta watch/software and listen to what they say. I know the Google developers have a vision of how they want the software, but quite frankly the Google Now experience is not my favorite.
AW 2.0 is due out soon. I don't expect a radical departure from the current approach. I do hope that the development kit will open up more so 3rd party developers can put in some of the capabilities myself and others like.
I am still a smartwatch geek and genuinely enjoy my AW watch. I think by next year we will have hardware and software that can accommodate the vast variety of different things we all want out of our devices.
I would use the navigation on my AW watch a lot more if when google maps navigation started up on the phone it could have an option to not unlock the screen. My phone is always in my pocket and screen always pointing inward to protect the screen if I walk into a table. If I set AW navigation, the phone screen will wake up and my phone often will register screen swipes through my pocket material next to my leg and do random things.
I feel that kicking off AW navigation, then having to take out the phone and switch off the screen and put back in my pocket makes the AW part a bit redundant.
Likewise with making calls if I am using a Bluetooth speaker or headset with phone in pocket.
I would much prefer Waze had android wear function than google maps anyway.
Also i find of I go to do a Google command on my watch about a third of the time the dumb options list with 'drink a glass of water' comes up and the watch stops listening. Then if I have my hands full I end up having to swipe the screen downwards with my damn nose to resolve the situation. I use mini launcher & would love a way to stop the stock app drawer from coming up at all.
That said I do have a really busy work life and find the reminder feature really useful & I use it for everything.
However, the alarm function which I thought would be useful is rendered pointless by it's insistence to only set any alarm to go off every day at that time, rather than a one off. The few times I have used it I end up at the same time the next day having to go into the menu & deleting the alarm once it has gone off pointlessly the next day as well.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Free mobile app
I can't help but agree with all the points the OP makes, my G Watch is currently gathering dust and awaiting the new update but I am not expecting much. Just like ruben46 I found my old Sony SW2 to be a much more useful device despite the superior hardware of the G Watch.
good thread.
i mostly agree with what's been posted, but much like when Quicktime 1.0 came out (160x120 video playing at 3-5 fps) AW has alot of growing up to do.
i'm a little depressed with the lack of activity in the watch & AW forums on here..there's not the kind of volume forums like the N4 and N5 enjoy..but that's to be expected with less than a dozen watches on the market that nobody is rushing out to purchase.
i'm excited about 2.0 and also the refresh (when it happens).
one thing not mentioned on here is the 'tinycam' webcam app. i have a webcam purchased for baby watching and when i get it set up, i think the webcam app could be useful anytime we're downstairs or something to get a notification if the baby is moving. same for using it as a security device.
i should point out i also bought a pebble for my brother but not sure if he really took advantage of it..i sure had fun setting it up for him.
so yeah..AW is very 'meh' so far but i think once the devs start digging in it will start to ramp up with new possibilities.
i'm holding onto the G and we'll see how it goes.
Ok as some of the members of this forum may know I got off to a shaky start with my Android wear watch (a Sony SW3).
I've now had it about four weeks and have over come the major problems I initially had, so I thought I would start a tread highlighting the things I love and the things I hate so others can assess if a smart watch is for them.
Firstly, what I love:
- Reading messages from Text, Email, Whatsapp and Messenger
It's so simply to just quickly look at my wrist see if I'm interested, if not I delete, if I am, may read further on the watch or if the message is to long, find my phone and continue there.
- Voice control
A really unexpected plus for me. I thought 'OK Google' was a bit of a gimmick at first, but how wrong could I have been. It's fantastic (OK, I feel a bit of a nerd saying OK Google to get it started, but that's a tiny problem). Driving and going to be late, OK google, Send text message to XXXX, then speak your message eg ' Sorry running late will be with you in 30 minutes. The translation is actually pretty accurate and it's done, you don't have to take your eyes off the road!
- It's an accurate watch, not sure where it gets it's time from but I guess it comes from the phone which in turn gets the time from the network which means no more setting, not running fast or slow. Not sure how it works when you change time zone though but I'll find that out soon enough.
- It's waterproof. Don;t forget to turn the touch screen off, but I've now been swimming with it, I regularly shower with it. Not a hint of a problem.
- Control you music system. I use Sonos around my home and I can turn the volume up and down, change track. Ok it's limited but it still an unexpected benefit.
- Control Bluetooth music with Spotify. Really a feature best used in the car. There's an app that will fire up Spotify on your phone which in turn will use the blue tooth audio to connect to your car. No more digging around to find you phone, unlock it, fire up spotify, find your play list etc etc etc.
- Incoming calls. Nice feature as I can decide if I want to take the call without having to find my phone to see who's calling.
What I hate (ok hate is a bit strong, but)
- The UI I think is not properly thought through You have al these options, tilt to wake, tilt to scroll through cards. Clumsy at best and a battery drain at worst (tilt to wake particularly) Even the touch screen to wake is not that cleaver as it can be operated but a lot of things touching the screen not just me, eg a sleeve, particularly one that is damp
- Voice control Ok I know I've said above that voice control is fantastic but it has one major down side, it needs internet connectivity. If it doesn't have it, it just doesn't work! Wish it would use the processing power of my phone to process voice.
- Wifi, ok I accept this is probably a bug, but wifi doesn't currently work properly, for some reason it will drain all the all the battery for no apparent reason and it does it very fast. I've now turned it off and only turn it on on the occasions because it's great to have full functionality
- Screen, the screen is fine, but that's damming it with faint praise. I would really like to see a higher quality screen and a little bit bigger would be nice.
- Incoming calls. When rejecting a call, it would be good to be offered a 'rejection message' that is sent via text giving a reason for the rejection.
When rejecting calls you can slide up instead of left por right swipe ano it will show up predefined messages that it will automaticly send to The caller.
::enviado do meu oneplus one via tapatalk::
My complaints (1 month usage) is the app tray feels bloated. Not every app needs to be displayed. Not every app has options set through the watch. Also the layout feels cramped to me. I would prefer some options (icons only, 1x2, list mode, 1x1 mode, text/no text, recent shortcuts at top on/off, etc.)
2. Embedded speaker for taking quick calls without digging for your phone last minute. 1 problem a watch introduces is that your phone starts to be left behind. I now leave my phone on the counter while I buzz around my home. Phone rings, its a mad dash down stairs to find my phone.
3. Some sort of keyboard. I'll take the old school T9 input. Just let me type a few things.
player911 said:
My complaints (1 month usage) is the app tray feels bloated. Not every app needs to be displayed. Not every app has options set through the watch. Also the layout feels cramped to me. I would prefer some options (icons only, 1x2, list mode, 1x1 mode, text/no text, recent shortcuts at top on/off, etc.)
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Click to collapse
Download wear mini launcher from the playstore. It's a brilliant replacement that let's you customise the watch to how you want it.
I totally agree with you. I also use Android wear for
Reading messages from Text, Email, Whatsapp and Messenger
Voice control
Agree with some points according to my experience with my old android wear.
Hope my new one will work better.
My most of my complaints are solved with the Asus ZenWatch2. It is a solid upgrade to the LG G Watch. Once Marshmallow drops, we'll get a new app tray and speaker support (Zenwatch2 and Huawei) for calls.
I tried the alt launchers and it doesnt replace the stock launcher but runs over top of it. So it just adds to the chaos. However after the nostalgia wore off, I dont really use apps thus dont need to go into the app drawer.
Keyboard: try FlickKey
player911 said:
3. Some sort of keyboard. I'll take the old school T9 input. Just let me type a few things.
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Try FlickKey Keyboard for Wear. It adds a keyboard to any app that wants to call it. Right now, that is limited to Wear Messenger, Coffee for Wear, and K-9 for Wear - you need one of those messaging apps to be able to use it. BTE, FlickKey is not a T9 style keyboard - it works better than that.
I have tried various keyboards. What I was referring to was an option, by default, in Android wear to have a keyboard input. I don't use any of those apps, thus having a keyboard right now would be irrelevant.
What apps would you like to use a keyboard with?
player911 said:
I have tried various keyboards. What I was referring to was an option, by default, in Android wear to have a keyboard input. I don't use any of those apps, thus having a keyboard right now would be irrelevant.
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I certainly agree that users should be able to decide for themselves if they want to use a keyboard or not, and which one they want on their smartwatch. What apps would you like to use a keyboard with? FlickKey can be added to any app with just about 15 lines of code. So message the dev who makes the app you want FlickKey in and let them know they can easily add it for free.
I find Android Wear to be very useful - when it works. Performance on my original 360 hasn't been very consistent either but I'm sure the S400 watches fare much better. Seriously though - every Android OEM needs to switch to AMOLED as soon as possible since it's much more suitable for smartwatch use.
I have installed AW on a Samsung Gear 2 (ported to the watch by @biktor_gj) and it runs really great !
Much much better than the default Tizen where it comes with normally.
Since I am using AW, I'm really hooked on it.
I love to be able to navigate with my watch and/or get notifications (from Google Maps) about any traffic jams or hold ups on my route.
I love to be able to use my voice to respond to whatsapp messages or even use my voice to make a new message without even holding my phone.
Really looking forward to the upcoming version (Marshmellow?), which suppose to have speaker support, because the Gear 2 has a build-in speaker.
So that means I can make calls too again from my watch (which is now only possible in Tizen, but not AW).
Hangouts and Messenger and Email (I know there are email clients that support wear and flickkey). I doubt Hangouts or Messanger will get it support.