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I am in the process of buying an Android phone. Samsung Captivate or HTC Desire Z. Any suggestions? I am new to Android and I am new xda.
I feel like I'm trapped in a time warp here that I just can't escape.
First, welcome to XDA.
Second, you obviously have access to the internet or you wouldn't be on here.
With that said, GOOGLE and YOUTUBE could provide you with more information that you can handle on these two phones. Google can give you specs, reviews, pictures and other things like prices and best places to buy. Youtube can provide you all of that same information is some cases along with a video review and actually being able to see the phones in action. Of course you can then compare the two phones based on the videos, specs and reviews and make a pretty good decision on which one is right for YOU.
I'm not really sure what else to say here dude. I mean, I could give you my opinion but at the end of the day what I have to say about the phones doesn't matter. YOU are going to be using the phone, not me. You know what you will use it for, where you will use it and what you want on it. Just research both phones (I dont mean ask people questions about it, get FACTS about the phones), opinions do not really matter most of the time when it comes to a PERSONAL device.
Or you can do like 80% of the people do these days and buy something just because "everyone else is doing it".
I have seen some threads for kids apps. I am interested in finding/building a kids ROM.
My child has a prepaid SIM card and RAZR to be used for certain situations. I would want to be able to let my child carry the phone all the time but restrict what numbers could be called.
So my idea, which can't be an original one, is leverage Android power to install a rooted ROM but run in user mode when I give it to my child. User mode could restrict calling to the phone book only or restrict wi-fi/data access; basically anything that you wanted to restrict or remove. Maybe there could be a ROM builder.
I have many scenarios in mind but maybe they could all be solved by software apps instead of getting into a custom ROM? I'm tech savvy, but haven't ever done a ROM. If the answer is to develop a custom ROM, what device should I choose that would get the most community support? I figure it would be a low end phone, since the point is to make a children's rom.
May I ask how old is your child?
[Sig] dId you know? If you Insert a Coin on your Desire, then it levels up to HD, Z or S :[/Sig]
i was thinking of my son when you mentioned this, it is a great i dea, and i also thought if the original att kid's phone that was out a few years back. it was revamped and it sucked. but good luck on either building one or have some one make one ( put a bounty on it?)
Phones and ROMs
My child is 8 years old. I figure in a few years that it would be fine, but it seems like there would be more of a market for this.
I would put up a bounty for it but I'd prefer to make this a community effort too.
So I will change tack here and ask what the best ROM might be for me to start with and what phones might be recommended? I'm figuring that CM would be easiest to start with, generically?
Thoughts?
I think that is a very good idea.
A good part of that could be accoimplished with a kids theme on an existing ROM.
im sorry but the RAZR is a dumb-phone! it doesnt support 3rd party modding. im afraid you are mistaking the word 'ROM' and actually don't know what it means! You will have no luck finding such ROM for the RAZR... A bootloader of any sort does not exist!
You need a smartphone if you want such a job done, but it requires a investment into a smartphone which are generally more expensive and not intended for 'kids'
I understand...
@olyloh6696: Thanks for looking in on the thread!
You misunderstood what I was explaining. She _currently_ has a RAZR. I want to figure out what the best GSM _android_ phone would be to do the project I'm describing would be. I would of course have to get the new phone; I do understand that the RAZR does not support android (dumbphone).
Any thoughts on phone model or something out there like this already?
rykerwilliams said:
@olyloh6696: Thanks for looking in on the thread!
You misunderstood what I was explaining. She _currently_ has a RAZR. I want to figure out what the best GSM _android_ phone would be to do the project I'm describing would be. I would of course have to get the new phone; I do understand that the RAZR does not support android (dumbphone).
Any thoughts on phone model or something out there like this already?
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hi
well i guess the best option for a relatively cheap phone (that has android) is the zte blade (in my sig) it is a british phone, but gsm, so i think it should work in the us. if you read reviews for it, it has specs of the desire, nexus one, etc in a cheap budget range. read some revies on it! it also cost £100. Not sure what your budget is though. before you set out to buy the phone, you may need to look up a rom that supports the requirements you want, or you could request one/build your own.
good luck
Unrelated, but the RAZR does support modding lol. Back in the day, pre-Android, I used to hack the hell out of my Razr. There's even a hidden feature called Club Lights that uses the phone's microphone to detect music and make the lights on the phone go with the beat. Youtube it.
That's a great idea... it would be great on a tablet too.
I'm always worried that my son is going to click around in the market and download tons of apps without know it.
Remove Dialer.app, replace with custom Dialer.app
Is the source for the Dialer.app known, i.e. part of the main trunk of the Android sources? I was just thinking that it might not be too hard to just modify that original source to limit it only to the "contacts" tab, that way you can only call the contacts tab.
Another feature I thought of is using some kind of Dynamic DNS client to be able to dial in to the phone.
I was thinking that there could be a "phone home" app that would call home and report the currently used minutes and GPS coordinates, or similar.
Just trying to get the features set worked out and find out if there is existing apps that do this stuff.
2018, quick google search for Kids Custom ROM.... dead thread no progress. There is definitely a market for this, since it's easy to shove a phone into an OtterBox like case and let them have at it with safe guards. My kid has had an Ipad since age 2 without issue. Now she asks for my phone on occasion (years later). It would be easier to just take a custom ROM shove it on a cheap device and give it to her.
Sure, I am a minority, definitely but I can't consider myself the only person who would want to do this.
This is what I'm looking for my child. I'm a software engeneer but I've never works on Android. I think it's not a great works for an Android developer.
I'll follow this post for news.
digging this one up again. anyway to take something like at Nexux 5x and put a totally stripped down version of android on it to achieve something like the lightphone?
nvrpunk said:
2018, quick google search for Kids Custom ROM.... dead thread no progress. There is definitely a market for this, since it's easy to shove a phone into an OtterBox like case and let them have at it with safe guards. My kid has had an Ipad since age 2 without issue. Now she asks for my phone on occasion (years later). It would be easier to just take a custom ROM shove it on a cheap device and give it to her.
Sure, I am a minority, definitely but I can't consider myself the only person who would want to do this.
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Per capita, there are very few people that actually root or flash custom ROMs, the number of kids that could/would use such a ROM is even less than that, this means it is not worth a developers time and hard work to build a ROM for this purpose, especially considering the plethora of different devices out there in the world. There would not be enough kids using "this" or "that" device with "this" or "that" custom ROM. To be as convenient for kids as what you are asking about, there would have to be a "kids ROM" for a large number of devices. This is not a reasonable expectation by any standard.
Add to that, the fact that rooting devices and flashing ROMs can quickly go bad if the user is not familiar with certain aspects of using a device that is rooted or flashed with a custom ROM, this makes for some rather difficult issues to solve due to user error, ignorance and inexperience of the user.
If you want a "safe" or "basic" ROM for a device, you'll have to learn how to build it yourself because I can promise you that no developer is willing to put that much time and effort into building ROMs that will only be used by a small number of users.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
Reading the other forums for similar HTC devices, ie incredible s, sensation and evo 3d makes me realise how lucky we are. Those devices and therefore forums may be more popular than this one.
But, I find it quite surprising how many of those people that bother to respond to threads on the other device forums, respond with attitude and negativity. Without intentionally bashing other members, by comparison we seen a more considerate bunch, with less "know it alls". Lets keep it that way.
I think that we are very lucky in that sense and should endeavour to continue the good spirit and sense of community.
on the same note do remember that there is a search button which should always be used prior to posting new threads, also remember that when creating a new thread if the tags added aren't any good then it will never be found by others when searching.
As another member says....peace and lets try to carry on the good attitude
Swyped from HTC Desire S using XDA Premium
DITTO. Other phones might have more ROMs, but no support. The sensation forum has so many posts, that one's question would be buried behind 50 others rather than 1 reply
I think it probably has a lot to do with the desire s not being a stand out when it comes to features, but what it does offer is a high quality handset with very reasonable performance.
But I will agree with the quality of posts in other forums, although this isn't an overly active forum, what it lacks in activeness it gains in quality.
I wouldn't worry about a lack of support as we have some great users (proxuser?) porting ROMs almost non stop, LBC for his fantasic ROM and the Virtuous team for their more in depth multi handset ROM.
I really have to agree here. This part of the forum is awsome. Every member gives a hand when needed, developers are close to users, and there is no extra off topic that drives me crazy.
I congratulate me everyday for picking this phone instead of Nexus S !
That, and the nexus s is basically a phone made of happy meal toy plastic ;-) as I have been saying to the three black sheep that are at school with me who all got one in a matter of a week .
zeekiz said:
I wouldn't worry about a lack of support as we have some great users (proxuser?) porting ROMs almost non stop, LBC for his fantasic ROM and the Virtuous team for their more in depth multi handset ROM.
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we mustn't forget superkid who seemed to start our ROM porting gold rush! madmax without whose super recovery EXT4 we would have very sore fingers and damaged volume buttoins along with everyone else Marylandcookie and many more I can't remember right now!!
yeah, superkid, proxuser, LBC, Virtuous Team, and others like ben_pyett (who has provided non-stop support in the genreal section) have made this forum what it is
I have a Desire S. My loyalty was tested when my sister recently gave me the Incredible S for my birthday. It was so tempting and I HEAVILY contemplated migrating to it. I went on youtube watching reviews, read reviews, checked out the development community over at xda. After a long struggle of choosing between the two, I gave away the Inc S. I had a choice, and at the end of the day my loyalty stays strong to the Desire S. I couldn't get away from its robustness and slender design. Aren't you all proud?
My point is what kept me clinging was this community of developers. To put it simply, I didn't wanna leave you guys for the very same reasons stated by ben. The Inc S had more ROMs but most of them were abandoned. I stuck around because I am a fan of LBC and have great hopes and belief for it.
And Ben, you're one of the most active members on this development I've seen so the props go to you mate.
Seriously, this device is so underrated. The Inc S may be bigger and slightly better but I feel most comfortable with the DS. It's so adequate, perfect and extremely well designed. I just love the look and feel of it in my hand. Everything is just the right amount.
In terms of size, 3.7" is perfect for me. 4" is tolerable. But 4.3", Jesus Christ. Who else is not diggin' the new trend for smartphones getting bigger and bigger? Not me. Unless its gonna do my laundry for me, I don't a mini tablet as a phone.
"Who else is not diggin' the new trend for smartphones getting bigger and bigger? Not me. Unless its gonna do my laundry for me, I don't a mini tablet as a phone."
Totally agree mate and yeah Ben deserves major Kudos ,he helped me a lot at the start when I thought I had bricked my Desire S and getting the LBC rom
THANKS
Many Thanks gentlemen, but, stop it you're making me blush.
Honestly I didn't create this thread for praise, just simply to point out the differnce between this and the majority of previously listed forums attitudes, just try reading some of the posts from the other forums for yourselves and you'll see exactly what I mean.
I try to put in as much as I can, as I too am only a beginner, this being my first Android device and I figure sooner or later I'll need some real help. I also benefit from the time and effort that's put in by the various ROM cooks and figure that this is the only way that I can give back.
Not escaping the fact that I'm ultimately a bit of a geek who likes this stuff and is always keen to learn (Even at my ripe old age).
shrome99 said:
yeah, superkid, proxuser, LBC, Virtuous Team, and others like ben_pyett (who has provided non-stop support in the genreal section) have made this forum what it is
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+1,i totally agree
this forum & all the members are really great
& the community is also getting really big now,thanks to all the hard work of the devs
& also a BIG thanks to Ben for spending so much time here on the forum, helping all of us
edit:
ben_pyett said:
I try to put in as much as I can
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that is what we are thanking you for
This really is a live and warm forum ....
Thank you very much ben_pyett
Indeed this really is a live and warm forum
I got responses and advises here and there throughout the threads within.
Thank you all and keep it rolling
The phone (I call it a Disaster S now) is one of the worst I have ever experienced. I won't bore you with the details, just that I'm with all those who moan some of its even basic features are unpredictable and unreliable at best.
So I too like this forum. I just come here for therapy now ;-)
WibblyW said:
The phone (I call it a Disaster S now) is one of the worst I have ever experienced. I won't bore you with the details, just that I'm with all those who moan some of its even basic features are unpredictable and unreliable at best.
So I too like this forum. I just come here for therapy now ;-)
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LOL
<cut n paste from our other thread>
I believe that either you have a massive dud unit, or it's about time that you took the chance and moved to a custom ROM!
I've has this phone since April and have the exact opposite opinion! I've used LBC Mod since it was first available after I S-OFF'd and rooted my phone, I have tried the other ROMS all of which offer different things, depending on what you're looking for, but, for me coming from a WM Sense background I'm very happy with a "working" close to stock ROM that's stable reliable and ideal for daily use.
I'm also on T-mobile UK. Happy to point you in the right direction - if needed.
Well, I don't want to brick my phone (even reports of frying internals just by removal/reinsertion of battery!) or have warranty problems. Already had motherboard replaced once...
Let me count the ways... Some are these things may be Android platform related, some the Disaster S (hardware), some the stock firmware, or network incompatibility.
- Before the motherboard was replaced, phone would spontaneously reboot seeming triggered by being in poor reception areas when it was going in/out of coverage. It also managed to crash my car radio (and itself) when connected to the car radio via Bluetooth (no other phone has done that)
- Now it randomly fails to tell me about market updates, randomly stops notifying of incoming SMSs properly, some settings in some (standard/built in) apps seem to revert for no reason, it occasionally refuses accept an incoming call when there's indicated coverage. I recently had random emails delayed by over an hour (but I wasn't told by the market there was a GMail update)... yada yada
My all-time record up time before doing a restart to (temporarily) fix one thing or another is about 10 days. Normally it's 5 or less. The worst thing is it's unpredictable. I never know when something's going to break and I'll miss calls, emails or txts, or it will get stuck in a syncing loop draining battery (Exchange contacts sync in the HTC Email app gets turned on somehow, even though I keep deselecting it).
It's just a toy really. Something to show your mates down the pub. Not really fit for purpose. And I'm fed up of looking for workarounds or apps to replace in-built functionality that's supposed to work. Blackberry may not be so pretty, but in my experience they tend to do 'exactly what they say on the tin'. I will prob be back to RIM when I can...
wrong thread.
WibblyW said:
Well, I don't want to brick my phone (even reports of frying internals just by removal/reinsertion of battery!) or have warranty problems. Already had motherboard replaced once...
Let me count the ways... Some are these things may be Android platform related, some the Disaster S (hardware), some the stock firmware, or network incompatibility.
- Before the motherboard was replaced, phone would spontaneously reboot seeming triggered by being in poor reception areas when it was going in/out of coverage. It also managed to crash my car radio (and itself) when connected to the car radio via Bluetooth (no other phone has done that)
- Now it randomly fails to tell me about market updates, randomly stops notifying of incoming SMSs properly, some settings in some (standard/built in) apps seem to revert for no reason, it occasionally refuses accept an incoming call when there's indicated coverage. I recently had random emails delayed by over an hour (but I wasn't told by the market there was a GMail update)... yada yada
My all-time record up time before doing a restart to (temporarily) fix one thing or another is about 10 days. Normally it's 5 or less. The worst thing is it's unpredictable. I never know when something's going to break and I'll miss calls, emails or txts, it will get stuck in a syncing loop draining battery (Exchange contact sync in the HTC Email app gets turned on somehow, even though I keep deselecting it).
It's just a toy really. Something to show your mates down the pub. Not really fit for purpose. And I'm fed up of looking for workarounds or apps to replace in-built functionality that's supposed to work. Blackberry may not be so pretty, but in my experience they tend to do 'exactly what they say on the tin'. I will prob be back to RIM when I can...
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Ouch...I feel your pain, although that sounds like you should get a replacement unit under warranty, or move back to something that you'll be happier with.
ben_pyett said:
Ouch...I feel your pain, although that sounds like you should get a replacement unit under warranty, or move back to something that you'll be happier with.
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Indeed. Hence my comment about RIM. Ironic that my main reason for going Android was the tighter integration with all things in the Google cloud, but in real world terms I've found RIM do that more reliably. Go figure?!?
I don't actually think it's a hardware problem with the Disaster insofar as the nature of the probs makes me think it's firmware and the way I use it. For example I use Exchange, 802.1x wireless authentication, 4 Google apps accounts, etc. I'm sure others do too but maybe not in the same combination. Whatever. Sadly I frequently seem to find what become confirmed bugs in products that others don't.
zeekiz said:
wrong thread.
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Yeah, sorry. Maybe we need a 'therapy' forum anyway lol. Or a new topic "Unlucky to have the Disaster S, lucky to have this forum"
Not everybody is lucky.
I really think that you've got a bad/defective unit. Everybody around here enjoys this phone and squeezes every bit of performance and eyecandy out of it.
Just wanting to see when/if xda-developers plans on creating a sub-forum for the Motorola Admiral. I know the phone isn't immensely popular (it should be though; this is a sweet device!), but I know several people who would love some custom ROMs for it as well as a place besides the Motorola support forums to get bug fixes and whatnot.
If the mediocre Droid Pro gets its own sub-forum, why no love for us Admiral folks?
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
I'll second this. I'm glad that it's been rooted, but I'd love to see a custom ROM or two.
The Admiral is a nice device, but it is going to suffer in the marketplace as it is targeting a much smaller and (presumably) less mod-happy crowd. If you are buying this, you are most likely looking for a Blackberry-ish device or you want Direct Connect. Those two demographic groups aren't necessarily going to have as much desire as most.
Present company EXCLUDED. I rooted mine withing two hours of activation and am considering an attempt at building CWMR and replacing the built-in recovery.
Maybe move this to Android General?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1424
Best regards,
-boggsie
boggsie said:
The Admiral is a nice device, but it is going to suffer in the marketplace as it is targeting a much smaller and (presumably) less mod-happy crowd. If you are buying this, you are most likely looking for a Blackberry-ish device or you want Direct Connect. Those two demographic groups aren't necessarily going to have as much desire as most.
Present company EXCLUDED. I rooted mine withing two hours of activation and am considering an attempt at building CWMR and replacing the built-in recovery.
Maybe move this to Android General?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1424
Best regards,
-boggsie
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I have the Admiral rooted and I got "trigger" happy when deleting some of the stock apps from my phone and now I cannot add, edit, or view my contacts. Could someone help me get all the necessary stock apps in order to have it fully functional again?
Hello! First off, thanks for having an awesome website like this, and forums full of help!
So as the thread title states, I'm looking for someone to video chat with so I can ask a bunch of questions. I am a slow reader, and have some eye strain issues, so I tend to avoid reading like the plague; so looking through lots of forum threads for each piece of information isn't a great option for me. The other reason why a vid-Q&A session would help me is because I really am pretty ignorant on most of this fancy cell-phone type of stuff, and may have a huge range of questions, from basic definitions, to device-specific possibilities, to program choices, etc. I don't do well learning stuff from reading, and am much more of a discussion-learner. Also, typing back-and-forth is also very time consuming, so I'm not huge on that sort q&a either (though obviously, if someone's willing to spend time helping me out, I'm appreciative of whatever way they help). Finally, the big crunch factor is time. I have 6 days to return this device, and I think I'll need more time than that (due to my schedule) to figure everything out on my own forum-searching. So I'm humbly asking if someone is available and willing to spend their time to make my work easier. I'd be greatly appreciative!
I need someone who speaks English. I'm in the Eastern time zone (US East coast). Please PM me if you're able to help!
Some of my question topics:
I bought a 'new' T-Mobile Galaxy S3 T999. But I'm seeing indications that the device is rooted or something. True?
Is my device disabled from downloading any updates, or just an issue with Samsung holding the current update?
The Root Explorer app shows all options in some oriental language. Is there a way to change that?
***When dialing to make a call, my older phone would allow me to search by name (so I'd hit 5646 and anyone named John, and other possible names would show up as options). My new phone doesn't do this, and I don't see an option anywhere for it. Is there a simple way to change this? (This is the question which started my search in the first place, bringing me here).
All Galaxy S3s are basically the same hardware? The only difference really in how things play out is the programming/OS?
My device has 4.1.2 T999UVDMD5. I read (here: ___support.t-mobile___.com/thread/44716___) that this OS is pretty crappy, and he's happy with the one he replaced it with. I need help figuring out whether switching up my OS is right for me, or no. I do see some lag in performance, and a bit of quick battery eating. Also not so happy with minor changes to the keyboard.
Where can I find layman's definitions of terms that people are throwing around? Like ROM, Firmware, Flashing, Odin, Kernel, etc. I assume that if I'm going to mess with my phone, I should know these things.
If all phones are created equal, and can be stripped down and dressed back up to function as desired, would it make more sense to return my $350 new S3 (non-contract), and buy a used one in good condition from Swappa for $200-300, and rework it?
Is buying from swappa safe? Seems kinda sketchy to me, in terms of reliability for returning a product if needed.
Like I said, lots of questions all over the place. Thanks in advance for reading and any help you can give! (especially to any tech guru's who aren't camera shy.