HoFo Blog

In case you didn't hear the news, Nokia is indeed bringing their mid-range Android-powered 6 to the USA. It will sell through Amazon.com starting July 10th. Amazon will even deliver to Canada—with extra shipping and import fees, of course. Here's the rundown in case you're not familiar with the device:

Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor
5.5 inch FHD display (LCD)
16 MP rear-facing and 8 MP front-facing cameras
32 GB of storage, expandable to 128 GB via microSD
3 GB of RAM
Android 7.1 Nougat

A quick glance at the specs on Nokia.com shows support for LTE bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38 and 40. According to Amazon their unlocked version is compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile at the very least, but there's no band 66 support for Freedom Mobile in Canada.

It will sell for a pretty reasonable $299.99 USD, with a special Prime version—that is, Amazon apps and lock screen ads—coming later this summer. The Prime version should pique the interest of Android modders. I imagine that the XDA crowd would eagerly apply their mad skillz to liberate the phone of its Amazon cruft. Unfortunately things don't look too promising on that front; Nokia has yet to release the kernel source for the 6, and overseas versions seem to have a locked bootloader.

I really hope that isn't the case with what Amazon ends up selling on the 10th. Nokia would do very well to follow the path of Nexus and OnePlus, to embrace the Android modding community with their first American Android release. I think it would pave the way for even more interest in their flagship model 8, at least among early adopters and enthusiasts. Root access on a device with Nokia's legendary build quality and camera tech would be a pretty killer combo.

Come on, Nokia... I WANT TO BELIEVE!

Links: Amazon, Nokia, XDA

---------

From The Web:

Happy 10th anniversary to the iPhone, ‘a revolutionary product that changes everything’

'Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak:' A poor man's guide to the first iPhone

How the iPhone won over Japan and gave the world emoji

Love in the Time of iMessage

Because Of Steve Jobs’s First Public iPhone Call, Starbucks Still Gets Orders For 4,000 Lattes

From The Forums:

Cricket Experience?

Let's start an old AT&T/Cingular phone thread!

Cancun coverage?

Need help with phone upgrade

VoLTE working for some on other TracFone MVNOs

---------

Ten years ago today the first-generation iPhone went on sale in the USA, changing smartphones forever. However... As this post will end up being the 3,390th front page entry on these forums, the undying Nokia fanboy within me must insist on observing this auspicious number with an excerpt from a fantastic book about the Finnish phone-maker, and how it all went wrong for them.

Nokia had little to worry about in the summer of 2007; their N95 was a triumph, and their roster of Eseries and Nseries smartphones was deep. Anecdotally, yours truly imported an E61i in July of that year, and stuck with S60 until switching to Android in late 2010. That's where we pick up the story, with Stephen Elop newly-installed as Nokia's CEO, and the growing realization that Symbian, Nokia's smartphone OS, is doomed. Something had to be done, and soon...

The infamous Burning Platform Memo would be published a few months later.

Nokia's fear of Samsung, however justified it may have been, demonstrates that they had already lost the fight. They ended 2010 with a 37.6% share of the worldwide smartphone market, but as we all know, that wouldn't last long.

Source: The Decline and Fall of Nokia

---------

From The Web:

Never Settle: OnePlus dodges questions on the company's Reddit AMA

OnePlus 5 Indian Variant is Made by OPPO

T-Mobile Launches Faster LTE-U Service in Six Markets

Android Pay now supports American Express cards in Canada

The Life, Death, and Legacy of iPhone Jailbreaking

From The Forums:

GoPhone name change?

New Smartphone code, 53629, adds 1 GB data bonus to smartphone plans

"Stream More" not working?

Call Quality Complaint

Shaw's Q3 2017

---------

Remember the OnePlus 5 that got delivered to me a week ago? I finally got around to unboxing it over the weekend, and on Monday sent it back.

Follow the arrow in the image above and you'll hopefully see the long scratch along the bottom of the camera lens assembly. And while the photo doesn't really show it, I'm fairly certain that the lens assembly itself is misaligned, like it was jammed into place by someone who had neither the time nor inclination to do it properly. I went straight for a refund instead of a repair, as I honestly can't remember ever buying a phone with such an obvious manufacturing defect out of the box.

Apparently I'm not the only affected user; there are at least two separate threads on the OnePlus reddit filled with details of similar defects. To be fair, there are a number of redditors mistaking the NFC antenna itself for a scratch—the antenna is a small groove extending upwards from the top of the lens assembly to the antenna bands along the top of the device. But there are other reports of scratches around the camera, on the SIM card tray cover and other places where they clearly should not be.

Here's the big one: a number of users are experiencing a strange, jelly-like effect when scrolling through their app drawer, a website, etc. Apparently this is because the screens on some OnePlus 5s have been installed upside down.

It's a big change from the OnePlus 3; I ordered a pair of those on launch day and both units were flawless. I can even remember watching Carl Pei in interviews boasting about their manufacturing process. Hopefully the company hasn't diverted funds from quality control to Bollywood star endorsements, but if you're thinking of ordering a OnePlus 5 you might want to hold off until they get these issues sorted out.

Links: reddit (1) (2) (3)

---------

From The Web:

EU fines Google record $2.7 billion in first antitrust case

Galaxy Note8 gets revealed from all angles in render form, sports dual rear cameras and a 6.3" display

Samsung’s UI fluidity problem needs fixing

What I Learned By Talking to 201 iPhone Case Factories

We review CNET's original iPhone review

From The Forums:

need instruction activating Total Wireless Iphone SE on Tracfone

What's the best "deal" for moving from AT&T to T-Mobile?

Blocking a Specific Number from Voicemail

AT&T Launches Fixed Wireless Internet in Rural and Underserved Areas in 8 More States

MVNO for Puerto Rico

---------

Here's a fan render of the forthcoming Galaxy Note 8 from Samsung. Evan Blass reports in VentureBeat that it will be the Korean conglomerate's first dual-camera smartphone, with a Snapdragon 835 processor (or Exynos equivalent), a generous 6 GB of RAM and a 6.3 inch AMOLED edge-to-edge screen, at an 18.5:9 aspect ratio.

It will also retail for a thousand Euros. So in that regard, it will share the same problem as other 2017 flagships: they're all just too expensive.

This troubling trend first came to my attention with the Google Pixel late last year, and has continued with the Galaxy S8/S8 Plus and Andy Rubin's Essential Phone. Even OnePlus is hopping on-board—the deluxe $539 USD OnePlus 5 is only a bargain when you compare it to everything else at the high end of the market.

It also doesn't help that most people in North America are still getting their hardware financed or subsidized by their carrier. I have a friend with a teenage daughter who's been begging for more data, but when I told him about a decent prepaid offer he couldn't take it, because she's locked into a contract until the end of the year. In other words, she (more likely her dad) is trading years of affordable service for a one-time discount on an overpriced phone.

This "kill the bezel" trend is at least part of the problem, enough so that it's interfering with what I still believe is the inevitable commoditization of smartphone hardware. Maybe it's time to stop chasing specs and start putting value above all else.

Sources: BGR, VentureBeat

---------

From The Web:

Nokia 6 coming to the United States in early July for $229

Some specs for the Google Pixel 2 may have leaked, point to 5" and 6" displays

Apple’s AR is closer to reality than Google’s

Virgin, Fido, Koodo and Vidéotron compete on 6GB and 8GB promo plans in Quebec

Shaw Go WiFi Hotspots Now Free Until July 3 for Canada 150 Celebrations

From The Forums:

Speed Cap

Corporate stores now charge for sim cards!?

QVC Todays Special Value Samsung Galaxy J7 -$139

Cutting SIM Card A Risk?

Blocking a Specific Number from Voicemail

Problem with Chat?

---------

... Vivo?!!

It's true, a little-known Chinese Android OEM is expected to succeed where Samsung failed, and beat Apple to market with the world's first optical fingerprint sensor. The teaser above was tweeted from Vivo India last week, and this YouTube upload is currently blowing up over on r/Android. Don't blink or you'll miss it:



According to Gizmochina the video was originally uploaded to Weibo about two weeks ago, and is a prototype device looking similar to the Vivo X9 Plus. This might not even be the first time Vivo has been first to market with new mobile phone innovations; Gizmochina also claims that the X9 and XPlay 6 Dual were the world's first "Hi-Fi" smartphones, though the late-2016 release date of those two devices don't exactly jibe with earlier audiophile efforts from the likes of LG.

The Shanghai edition of Mobile World Congress is set to kick off Wednesday, so we won't have too long a wait to see if Vivo makes good on their promise. Funny thing is, Vivo is a subsidiary of BBK Electronics, who also run Oppo and OnePlus. Can you imagine the #HYPE if it was the OnePlus 5 that brought an embedded fingerprint sensor to its worldwide audience of rabid fans?

Links: @Vivo_India, Gizmochina, MWC Shanghai, reddit, ZDNet

---------

From The Web:

T-Mobile customers have a tough day as the network goes down in 12 states and D.C.

The US Government Wants to Permanently Legalize the Right to Repair

Foxconn narrowed US factory locations to seven states, will decide next month

Samsung Preparing to Launch The Galaxy Note 8 in September for €999

Unicode 10 Officially Released with 56 New Emojis and a Host of New Characters

From The Forums:

FreedomPop account renewal snag?

South Florida Issues?

Cricket now selling iPhone SE 16GB $169 and iPhone SE 64GB for $229

Does T-Mobile Need TV to Compete!?

Sprint MVNO data SIM / plan. Galaxy Tab S. Freedom Pop or Tello?

---------

Taking a break from the OnePlus hype, here's something completely different: a post mortem by a developer for Ubuntu Phone listing their reasons for why that platform failed. Of course you could argue that it was doomed from the start; if BlackBerry and Windows Phone couldn't compete against Android and iOS, what chance could a smartphone version of Ubuntu possibly have?

It turns out that Canonical, Inc. only ever wanted 1% of the mobile market, and obviously failed to even capture that. Here are some explanations:

1. It didn’t target a profitable niche.

It started with the promise of a super-phone but the reality ended up being a couple of cheap handsets and tablets from a Spanish OEM. Pretty hard for Linux nerds to get excited about that.

2. Bad user experience and skewed priorities.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: nobody really cares about plugging their smartphone into a desktop monitor and keyboard.

3. The devices were too hard to get.

I can attest to this. I once inquired about Ubuntu Phone at Sincere House, the mall in Hong Kong devoted entirely to mobile phones. No one there had the slightest idea what I was talking about.

4. Focusing on irrelevant tech.

See #2 above.

5. Life as an app developer was too hard.

Ubuntu Phone had its own SDK, with no abilities to cross-compile from Android, iOS, Windows, even X11. Oh, and apparently it also broke frequently when updated, sometimes for weeks on end.

If you're a desktop Linux user like myself, or just want some dirt on the smartphone OS that never was, you can read the full story below.

Source: LIEBERBIBER

---------

From The Web:

Report: LG to Unveil its Next Flagship, V30, at IFA 2017

Confirmed: Rugged Galaxy S8 Active Is Official, Samsung Accidentally Reveals

OnePlus Releases the Device Trees and Kernel Sources for the OnePlus 5

Nokia 9 price, release date and specs: FCC listing 'confirms' 6GB and 8GB models

Apple's Indoor Maps for Airports and Shopping Malls in iOS 11 Slowly Rolling Out

From The Forums:

TracFone website is not letting me buy anything

Suggestions for a name for new Sprint-T-mobile entity?

Adding 1 Year HSN Bundle to Expiring 1 Year Bundle

Getting conflicting answers when using the chat. Re: Straight Talk

Screen Protectors Still Needed?

---------

Pro tip: If you're thinking of ordering a OnePlus 5 (and haven't already), do it when they go on sale at midnight next Tuesday, June 27th. You'll likely experience the same impossibly-quick delivery that I did with their early drop this week.

What you're looking at above is a screen grab from an Android app called ParcelTrack, showing my phone's journey from Los Angeles to Cincinnati and then on to its final destination in Toronto. I placed my order Tuesday at 12:43pm Eastern (I'm a keener that way); less than 8 hours later the order was dispatched, and less than 24 hours after that I had the phone in my hands.

For this to happen OnePlus had to have stock already shipped from Shenzhen to LA, along with other tactical ports near key markets. I would expect the same for the phone's official launch next week.

The buying experience has certainly come a long way since the dreaded invite system for the OnePlus One, and the added headache of import fees for those of us who had that device delivered to Canada. The only negative part of my OnePlus 5 experience so far is that cases for the phone are not yet available. I wonder how well a case for an iPhone 7 Plus would fit...?

Links: OnePlus 5, ParcelTrack on Google Play

---------

Some NSFW language but, more importantly, a different perspective on #hype.

From The Web:

Here's Why Smartphones Are Getting Taller and Slimmer

OnePlus price evolution has made its smartphones less competitive

iPhone 8 creating worldwide shortage of DRAM & NAND chips, says report

German News Outlet Says T-Mobile Finalizing Sprint Merger Plan

Google Glass is apparently back from the dead, starts getting software updates

From The Forums:

PC Mag: Fastest Mobile Network 2017

Virgin Mobile 12months Unlimited Everything for $1

How to stop "Just a quick reminder! Your monthly Auto Pay payment for account" texts?

Free 1 Year Sprint user thoughts and experience thread

Band 12 usage on device with no VoLTE

---------

Though officially announced only yesterday, a select few of the tech press have had a OnePlus 5 in their possession for a few weeks now. One of them is the UK's Safwan Ahmedmia—aka SuperSaf—who is ready to answer the big question on everyone's minds: How good is the camera?

To find out, he pits the OnePlus 5 against the device it most closely resembles, the iPhone 7 Plus. Here's a specs comparison from each company's website:


iPhone 7 Plus

12MP wide angle and telephoto cameras
Wide-angle: ƒ/1.8 aperture
Telephoto: ƒ/2.8 aperture
Optical zoom at 2x; digital zoom up to 10x

FaceTime HD Camera
7-megapixel photos
1080p HD video recording
Retina Flash
ƒ/2.2 aperture

OnePlus 5

Rear Camera Wide-angle
16 megapixel Sony IMX 398 sensor
f/1.7 aperture
DCAF autofocus, EIS
Pixel Size: 1.12 µm

Rear Camera Telephoto
20 megapixel Sony IMX 350 sensor
f/2.6 aperture
PDAF autofocus
Pixel Size: 1.0 µm

Front Camera
16 megapixel Sony IMX 371 sensor
f/2.0 aperture
Fixed focus, EIS
Pixel Size: 1.0 µm

Watch the video above to see how they did; if you're pressed for time, here are the results:

Front Cameras

Outdoors: iPhone wins on colour, OnePlus 5 on sharpness
Low light: OnePlus 5
Low light with flash: draw
Video: OnePlus wins on stabilization

Rear Cameras

Outdoor wide angle: OnePlus 5 has slightly better colour, contrast
Outdoor telephoto: OnePlus 5 wins on higher resolution
Outdoor macro: OnePlus 5 wins on sharpness, colour
Outdoor bokeh: OnePlus loses on edge artifacts
Outdoor low light: iPhone 7 Plus wins on exposure
Indoor low light: OnePlus 5 wins on exposure
Indoor with flash: OnePlus 5 wins on exposure
Video: iPhone wins with stabilization at 4K , OnePlus wins at 1080p

Keep in mind that the iPhone has the added bonus of Live Photos, while the OnePlus is $330 USD cheaper with the same storage and more RAM.

---------

dbrand sucks

From The Web:

OnePlus 5 review: Proof that OnePlus is here to stay

Do NOT Trust OnePlus 5 Benchmarks in Reviews

OnePlus 5 is compatible with Freedom Mobile’s Band 66 LTE network

Samsung could unveil the Galaxy Note 8 on August 26 at an event in New York

Leaked recording: Inside Apple’s global war on leakers

From The Forums:

Has anybody gone data only (Not VoLTE).

AT&T 3G signal in most parts of my town has disappeared, can't make voice calls on TF

Weekly data passes on $3 / mo. paygo?

Incoming calls don't ring, but caller hears rings and then goes to voicemail.

Using an iphone on TF

---------

The sixth phone from boutique Android smartphone OEM OnePlus launches today at noon Eastern; the global launch will be livestreamed on their YouTube channel (see above). If you want to see the phone for yourself OnePlus is also hosting pop-up events in New York London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Here are the details for the NYC event:

June 20th @ 7pm
Magnum New York
875 Washington Street
New York, NY 10014
Special Guests: Carl Pei, Marques Brownlee

At this point almost everything about the phone is known except for its price; check out the specs in last week's post here, but note that the listed starting price of $479 USD has yet to be confirmed. There will apparently be two trim levels and three colors—silver (or gunmetal) and soft gold will be available with 6 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, while black will be exclusive to the upgraded model with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB of storage.

When its price is finally revealed I think it will be important to keep the competition in mind. A 5.5 inch Google Pixel XL with 128 GB of storage currently lists for $869 USD, as does a 5.5 inch, 128 GB iPhone 7 Plus. And the iPhone doesn't even run Android!

Anyone purchasing a OnePlus 5 will at least be able to save some money on accessories using any one of the referral links in this helpful reddit thread.

Feel free to add your thoughts on the phone and/or launch event below. If the price is right I'll probably end up ordering one.

Links: OnePlus, reddit

---------

From The Web:

OnePlus focuses on the next frontier

HTC announces Solar Red U11, sale on multiple phones starts at midnight EST

LG G6+ with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage is now official in Korea

Moto Z2 Play will launch in Canada on July 5 for $800 at Bell, Freedom and SaskTel

Number of Mobile Subscribers Worldwide Hits 5 Billion: GMSA

From The Forums:

Using T-mo to port a number to another service.

MAJOR ISSUE when activating a new phone on Tracfone.

SIM for Canada

So, when is the relaunch? Really.

Sprint MVNO for very low use?

---------

GSMArena posted an interesting feature over the weekend, listing the three most popular phones on their site, by year, for the last decade. The results may be surprising until you consider the global reach of this domain, which at the very least includes English-reading audiences in the UK and Europe. Anyway, here are the results, with bonus links to each device's listing:

2006
1st Place - Nokia N73
2nd Place - Sony Ericsson K800
3rd Place - Nokia N80

2007
1st Place - Nokia N95
2nd Place - Apple iPhone
3rd Place - Nokia 6300

2008
1st Place - Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
2nd Place - Nokia E71
3rd Place - Apple iPhone 3G

2009
1st Place - Apple iPhone 3GS
2nd Place - Nokia N97
3rd Place - BlackBerry Curve 8520

2010
1st Place - Nokia N8
2nd Place - Apple iPhone 4
3rd Place - Samsung I9000 Galaxy S

2011
1st Place - Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II
2nd Place - Apple iPhone 4s
3rd Place - Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830

2012
1st Place - Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
2nd Place - Apple iPhone 5
3rd Place - Samsung Galaxy S Duos S7562

2013
1st Place - Samsung I9500 Galaxy S4
2nd Place - Samsung Galaxy Note 3
3rd Place - Apple iPhone 5s

2014
1st Place - Samsung Galaxy S5
2nd Place - Apple iPhone 6
3rd Place - Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime

2015
1st Place - Samsung Galaxy S6
2nd Place - Samsung Galaxy J7
3rd Place - Samsung Galaxy J5

2016
1st Place - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3
2nd Place - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3rd Place - Samsung Galaxy S7

I can attest to the popularity of the Nokia N8 in 2010; I so desperately wanted it that when WOM World wouldn't lend me one I bought a Nexus One instead almost purely out of spite. Best decision ever—Nokia's complete absence in the listings thereafter shows how their switch to Windows Phone went down with their loyal customers...

Source: GSMArena

---------