HoFo Blog

From The Web:

Report: New Apple Watch coming in third quarter of 2017, main focus on better battery life

ZenWatch 3 receives a major update, security fixes for ZenWatch 2

Casio's new rugged Android Wear watch will launch in April with Wear 2.0

The loss of net neutrality: Say goodbye to a free and open internet

2017 predictions: Wireless bills skyrocket

From The Forums:

Verizon 2 year contracts ending 01/05/2017

4G LTE vs LTE

has anyone had tracfone TAKE AWAY minutes/days/gigs after having it, for any reason?

Free GV port in

Regain lost phone number - is it possible?

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From The Web:

Here’s Why Super Mario Run Failed to Hit the Mark

OnePlus starts rolling out Android Nougat OTA to OnePlus 3 and OP3T

Lineage OS, formerly CyanogenMod, kicks off 2017 with a new logo

Shaw, Rogers, BCE and Telus executives make list of 100 highest paid CEOs in Canada

Chinese social media went a-flutter at this photo of an apparent App Store clickfarmer

From The Forums:

What's a good signal strength?

Upgrading a Net10 LG 840g phone to a ....?

Heading West on T-Mobile

3G only phones on Mobile Share plans?

Omni says that Verizon is sending letters to 8200 UDP people who are using over 200gb

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Most Android users turn to custom ROMs when their device is no longer updated by the manufacturer. I've done things a little differently, flashing a ROM on my OnePlus 3 to avoid an update. That ROM is Sultanxda's spin of CyanogenMod 13, and so far it's pretty great.

OnePlus promised owners of its 3 and 3T models an update to Android 7 (Nougat) before the end of 2016 and, to their credit, a notification of said update appeared on my phone late last week. The only problem is, I'm not especially thrilled about Nougat—I tried the stock Android 7 ROM on my Nexus 9 tablet last September and was surprised to find that I couldn't change the hosts file with AdAway. That issue might well have been fixed by now, or it could have been a one-off problem specific to that installation; even so, I don't currently desire any of the features that Nougat has to offer.

I could have just stuck it out with the Marshmallow version of Oxygen, which for the past six months has served me very well. But instead I took the opportunity to flash Sultan's ROM, and I'm glad that I did.

For starters, the ROM seems somehow quicker than Oxygen OS, and Oxygen is certainly no slouch when it comes to performance. Then there's the added value of CyanogenMod extras—a file manager, screen recorder, audio equalizer... and what I've missed more than anything else: The CyanogenMod Theme Engine. Oxygen's dark mode is better than nothing, but it's no match for the ability to theme select apps and your system's UI. To get you started, the ROM includes Cyanogen's HexoLibre Theme, pictured above.

There are, of course, a few minor headaches associated with the installation of any custom ROM. You'll have to flash a Google apps package separately, which will include at least a few AOSP packages that you're likely to never use (they can at least be "frozen" with Titanium Backup). In the case of Sultan's ROM I also had to flash a custom firmware before the actual ROM would take.

Even with all that, plus the added annoyance of having to reset two Android Wear smartwatches, it was worth it. I now hold in my hands what feels like an entirely new phone, along with a reminder of just how powerful and flexible Android can be. If you're interested in this excellent custom ROM, links from XDA are immediately below.

Links: Sultan's ROM for the OnePlus 3 / OnePlus 3T

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From The Web:

2017 Shaping Up to Be a Big Year For Apple

Samsung concludes Note 7 investigation, will share its findings this month

Asus Zenfone AR is a Google Tango phone with Snapdragon 821 (leaked a bit early)

ZTE Axon 7 Mini only $199 ($100 off) at Newegg and Best Buy

The Kissenger simulates kissing your long-distance lover

From The Forums:

Verizon 4G LTE Speedtest New Thread. Post Here!

Did you have a problem with texting on New Year's eve?

Less than 30 days left to get the GTA LTE promo

Can't change phone number

callingmart ???

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From The Web:

25 Apple Stores in Canada Have AirPods, Worldwide Locations Sold Out

Apple Advances the Concept of the Apple Watch's Digital Crown Coming to all iDevices eventually

Moto X (2017) leaked renders and video

​CyanogenMod is dead. Long live LineageOS

'Smartphone toilet paper' at Tokyo airport

From The Forums:

Voicemail now mandantory with tracfone smartphones!

wifi calling/sms on a airplane

Mexico Roaming Experience - AT&T / Movistar

Freedom and LTE

Porting From Verizon to Cricket

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My final submission for 2016 will not be an arbitrary list of top 5 or top 10 devices, but instead a consideration of hardware trends I've observed over the past year. It's by no means complete, just the things that spring immediately to mind.

The Endangered Audio Jack

The good news, for Apple's stockholders at least, is that iPhone 7 owners seem perfectly willing to go without the standard audio jack that remains on almost every other phone currently on the market—the Moto Z is also missing the 3.5mm plug, but I've honestly never seen one in use outside of a Motorola boardroom.

There are rumours that next year's Galaxy S8 won't have an audio jack, either. But why? The only justification I can think of is the continuing obsession with impossibly-thin phones that nobody asked for.

Dual Cameras

Smartphone OEMs have at least innovated their way around the dilemma of putting a zoom lens on an impossibly-thin phone. What started on the LG G5 was ultimately brought to the masses on the iPhone 7 Plus. Huawei's P9 also has two cameras, but for a different purpose—the two sensors capture different colour information to produce a more vivid result.

Anyway, the trend of dual-camera smartphones is something I expected to continue into 2017. But there's actually another way to put a zoom lens on an impossibly-thin phone: slap an actual optical zoom onto the back, and throw in a Hasselblad logo for good measure.

Modularity

Modular phones were also a trend in 2016, but I'm not yet convinced that it's going to stick. A pair of new Moto mods were announced earlier this month, but LG's Friends have expanded to include a slew of decidedly non-modular accessories. Even more telling is that leaked renders of next year's LG G6 show no signs of any modularity whatsoever.

And let's not forget that Google's own modularity experiment, Project Ara, is dead.

Catching Up

I'll close off by mentioning an innovation from last year that I didn't get to enjoy until 2016. Dual SIM support made an early appearance on the ASUS ZenFone 2, and was also a feature on 2015's OnePlus 2. This infrequent world traveller got to use it on his OnePlus 3 over the summer, and as a fan of cheap local SIMs I can safely say it's a feature that I'll no longer be able to do without.

Feel free to add your favourite smartphone innovations of 2016 below!

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From The Web:

Year in Review: Wireless carriers embrace zero-rated data

T-Mobile's 'One' mobile plan is not the simple, unified plan that was promised

CRTC reviews, rulings in 2017 that could affect your phone, TV and internet bills

Android Wear 2.0 update list exclusion affirms Samsung’s focus on Tizen

Here’s North Korea’s Totalitarian Android Tablet

From The Forums:

Need some help from someone who understands UMTS/WCDMA/etc

How do you get to TF's support chat?

T-Mobile Boasts of 979 Mbps Tests On LTE Network, Mobile 5G Tests Reaching 1.8 Gbps

got a new SIM and forwarding to Google Voice voicemail stopped working with AT&T SIM

How long to port into Tracfone?

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Our year-end retrospective continues with a look back at the notable carrier-related stories of 2016. Note the strong bias towards the Canadian market in what follows, as that's where I happen to live. Sorry, eh?

CANADA

Bell Acquires MTS

Our biggest story of the year had to be Bell's takeover of Manitoba Telecom Services, a deal that was recently approved by the CRTC. This regional carrier was at least partly responsible for one of the most popular Canadian plans on Howard Forums, the $55 (now $48) Manitoba/Saskatchewan (now just MB) plan from Koodo. Some links:

BCE Buys MTS: Some Notable Quotes

Winseck and Klass Weigh in on BCE and MTS

How The Colony Could Learn from The Empire

Competition

Wireless plans in Canada continue to mimic gas prices; the guy on one corner continues to raise or lower prices (mostly raise them) to match the guy on the opposite corner. The one bit of good news: WIND—I mean, Freedom Mobile now supports LTE data, albeit on only two devices.

This is What Wireless Competition Looks Like in Canada

Egregious New Data Overages Coming to Fido; Other Carriers to Follow?

Freedom Mobile’s LTE Network Now Live in Toronto and Vancouver

S**t Guy Laurence Says

Notable Plans

Queuing for SIM cards? Only in Canada.

USA

Zero-Rated Data

In studying the U.S. wireless market from afar it seems to me that this was the most contentious issue of the year. I myself am a strong believer in net neutrality; zero-rated services are awesome if you're subscribed to the carrier that offers them, and awful if you're not... which is kind of the point.

The Dangers of Zero-Rated Data

Netflix Video Throttled on AT&T and Verizon

Ars Technica Profiles FCC Chair Tom Wheeler

Notable Plans

How to get Unlimited Internet on Sprint for $500/year (tax-deductible)

If there are any big carrier-related stories that I've missed—particularly from the United States—feel free to add them below!

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From The Web:

Why It’s Time for Apple to Come Clean About the iPhone Battery

Some Google Pixel devices shutting down at 30% battery

In 2017, smartwatches need a 'less is more' approach

Living with the AirPods: How Apple's first smart earbuds stack up to rival hearables

Renders of the LG G6 appear, no Friends modules to be found

From The Forums:

How to get the Koodo MB/QC plan anywhere in Canada

Needing just 10 straight days of call/text service every year. Seeking suggestions.

Thinking of giving up my unlimited plan, what are my options?

"no SIM card" or "emergency calls only"

Nano sim card??

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I'm using a year-end retrospective post on Wareable as the inspiration for my own year-end retrospective on smartwatches. But this isn't just a reblog—I think there's at least one big story missing in that post, which I'll tell you about at the end of this one.

Apple Watch Series 2

I do agree that the second-generation Apple Watch is a big deal, but probably not for the same reasons as most people think. With its refocus on fitness tracking we suddenly saw a $500 USD (on average) luxury item chasing a $100 USD Fitbit. For me, there was no better indication that smartwatches had lost the plot.

The Death of Pebble

The smartwatch pioneer also doubled down on fitness in 2016, but it was too little, too late. If you were interested, there's one more factor that likely contributed to the company's demise: Japan Display, Inc., the supplier of Pebble's e-paper screen, is having its own financial woes.

The Rise of The Hybrid

Fossil Group reportedly began 2016 with a promise to launch 100 wearables by year's end. Unfortunately their Android Wear products all include Motorola's contentious flat tire as a standard design aesthetic. But they've also popularized an entirely new class of smartwatch: the hybrid. These devices are light on smartwatch features—basically a vibration motor and, if you're lucky, a programmable light or subdial to track your steps—but big on battery life and traditional watch movements. Nokia also got in on this nascent product category with its acquisition of Withings.

Android Wear

2016 ended without the release of Android Wear 2.0, but what everybody seems to have missed is a major tipping point in the platform. Android-powered smartwatches are now available from no less than four traditional watch companies—Casio, Fossil, Nixon and even Tag Heuer. I still expect Android Wear to eventually capture the bulk of the smartwatch market, just like Windows did with personal computers in the 1990s.

Hopefully along the way we'll find something more useful for them to do than show notifications on our wrists and track steps.

Source: Wareable

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Now here's someone who knows how to take care of his phones...!

From The Web:

Leaked files reveal how phone cracking tech can steal your secrets

Authorities Trying to Unlock the iPhone of Russian Ambassador’s Killer

Canadians still suffering from cellphone 'bill shock,' says CRTC survey

Google will launch two flagship smartwatches early next year

What Smartwatches Lost With The Death Of Pebble

From The Forums:

Alcatel Smartphone

Who Has Some Good Christmas Deals On Smartphones For Verizon Right Now?

Consumer Cellular broke FCC Rules

Looking for a new phone for ~$80

Christmas Day new Phone Activation - Just in case..

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If your smartphone takes a tumble this holiday season just remember, it could be much worse—it could be in the hands of this guy.

With the contentious results of a Nexus 6P bend test as his first claim to fame, "Jerry" of JerryRigEverything has continued to make a name for himself tearing down and tearing apart the most sought-after smartphones on the market.

And those poor phones... Want to see a utility knife applied to the back of an HTC 10, or the camera glass of an iPhone 7? To be honest, me neither, but here we are. There is at least something instructive amidst all the destruction—the most and least repairable phones of the year are also discussed in the video.

For those who can't bear to watch, here's a shortlist of winners and losers for 2016:

Most Durable: HTC 10
Honorable Mention: OnePlus 3
Least Durable: NextBit Robin

Most Repairable: Google Pixel
Honorable Mention: LG V20
Least Repairable: HTC 10

Most Innovative: Xiaomi Mi Mix
Lease Innovative: iPhone 7

LG G5: Advertising Fail
Note 7: A series of unfortunate events.

Sorry that I don't have a more heartwarming holiday post, but with a glut of year-end retrospectives due next week I thought I should get the most gruesome one out of the way. Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday, and ditto for your phones. Yours truly will be back on duty on Wednesday, December 28th.

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From The Web:

Smartphone patent wars redux: Nokia sues Apple, big time

Tim Cook confirms: tech met with Trump to ask for billions in tax breaks

Locked iPhone 4s recovered from man who killed Russian ambassador in Turkey

China Bans all 'User Generated' Video

Encrypted messengers: Why Riot (and not Signal) is the future

From The Forums:

Verizon Iphone SE issue

Sprint reception: is 50% (3 circles) good?

T-Mobile ONE Plus Now Starts at $15 Per Month Extra

Will an old flip phone still work on T-Mobile prepaid?

Placing your phone face down on a table

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You're not alone.

There is a growing number of reports by users on reddit about some sort of bug in the Huawei-made Nexus 6P, causing devices to shut down prematurely before their batteries are fully drained. The exact cause of the bug remains unclear, even to the clever folks at XDA:

If you were wondering, Google has set the status of the issue to "assigned" but its priority to "small", which isn't exactly encouraging.

Though they're no longer sold by Google directly there are still new, unlocked 6Ps on the market; if you were thinking of purchasing one you might want to hold off.

And if you're stuck with an affected model this might be a good opportunity to delve into the wonderful world of Android modding—if nothing else, rolling back to Marshmallow might help.

Sources: AOSP Issue Tracker, reddit, XDA

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From The Web:

U.S. wearables market is doing much worse than expected

Where smartwatches are going wrong

Android Wear by the numbers

Bell-MTS deal moves forward with CRTC broadcasting approval

T-Mobile has become America's most consumer-unfriendly carrier

From The Forums:

Need a New Phone for Mom, she's never used a Smart Phone...

Digital Compass is it needed for Google Maps? Or is GPS enough?

Loyalty plan offers not follow through.

Bands/Frequencies For T-Mo Using Moto G (1st) XT1032 vs (4th) XT1607

Are MVNO T-Mobile users eligible for a free cellspot with a $25 deposit?

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Here's Michael Fisher with his video review of Samsung's Gear S3, Frontier Edition. If my YouTube feed is any indication, this is the most sought-after smartwatch of the holiday season. It's also a great time to buy, with both Amazon.com and Best Buy Canada currently selling the Frontier Edition of the watch at discounted prices—$299 USD and $400 CAD, respectively.

A standout among the Gear S3's tricks (and there are a lot of them) is the ability to tap and pay with your watch, even when paired to a non-Samsung phone and even at an olde-tyme magnetic stripe terminal. And here's where I've got some bad news for you: If you're in Canada and want to use a Gear S3 for wrist-based payments you'd better have one of the select few CIBC credit cards currently supported by Samsung Pay.

Samsung phone owners with root will already know that Samsung Pay doesn't work anywhere—at least that's what I gather from this Change.org petition. What's not so clear to me is whether or not Samsung Pay will work on a Samsung watch that's paired to a rooted phone; I guess it would depend if the Samsung Gear Manager app has the ability to detect root.

Are there any Gear owners with rooted phones able to weigh in on this?

Links: Amazon.com, Best Buy Canada, Change.org, Samsung Canada

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From The Web:

Apple AirPods review: wireless that wows, earbuds that don't

Apple’s AirPods Get iFixit Teardown, Garner 0/10 Repairability Score

Not dead yet: Report says number of in-use Galaxy Note7s still vastly exceeds all LG V20s

The sad reality of Canadian cellphone prices in one chart

2016 Year in Review: The Worst Year for Your Privacy, ever.

From The Forums:

Finally! Added minutes from feature phone to smartphone

Looking for suggestions

Better Radio and modem

PPC automatic plan renewal not working for the 3rd time this year

Is Verizon just America's version of Vodafone?

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