HoFo Blog

From The Web:

Google will always do evil

Facebook and Google hit with $8.8 billion in lawsuits on day one of GDPR

Experts Say Canadians Will Also Benefit from Europe’s New Data Privacy Laws

Internal Documents Show Apple Knew the iPhone 6 Would Bend

Nokia teases May 29 event with 'some new stuff to share'

From The Forums:

T-Mobile/Sprint Combined Coverage Map May 2018

replacement for Motorola flip phone

Google voice issues

Visible "BETA" testing with three months of service for free!

How Many AT&T Sites are Still on T-1's?

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If you're a fan of Android and software freedom I've got some bad news for you this morning.

The first is that Essential has apparently cancelled their second-generation smartphone. Bloomberg broke the story yesterday afternoon, going so far as to say that the entire company might soon be up for sale. CEO (and father of Android) Andy Rubin quickly took to Twitter for damage control:



I can't say that I was a fan of the Essential phone—I had a brief hands-on at a Telus-sponsored event last August—but I certainly appreciated its unlockable bootloader. Whatever Essential's future plans may be, for the moment they don't seem to include modder-friendly phones.

Speaking of unlockable bootloaders, here's some more bad news from Twitter:



If you weren't aware, Mr. O'Brien is a UK-based Android developer responsible for the once-popular MoDaCo ROM. Sadly, his news is true: one of the world's top 3 smartphone OEMs will no longer give its users the keys to take control of their devices.

And the war on general-purpose computing continues...

Sources: Bloomberg, Twitter (1) (2)

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From The Web:

Europe's New Data Protections Will Affect You Too. Here's How.

New YouTube Music starts rolling out today, will eventually have more Play Music features

Moto Z3 Play Specs and Software Features Leaked – Moto Experiences, Cinemagraphs and More

Senators Say FCC Boss Ajit Pai Being 'Evasive' on Net Neutrality

Canada’s House of Commons adopts motion to formally enshrine net neutrality into law

From The Forums:

FreedomPop Unreal Mobile

T-Mobile USA Leading IPv6 Deployments with 94% Deployed

Moto G5 international dual SIM - not always working on data

what a good replacement phone

Rogers double the data plans in Manitoba

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For Moto fans, the wait is over. Kinda.

First leaked back in January, the G6 family—that is, the G6, G6 Play and G6 Plus—were finally made official last month. But no one in North America has been able to buy one. Until today.

The G6 is now available from Verizon, for $240 USD or $10/month.
The G6 Play is now available from Boost Mobile, for $129.99 USD.

As for other U.S. carriers, the G6 is coming soon to Tracfone, while the G6 Play will eventually be offered by AT&T, Cricket and Virgin Mobile—the Cricket version will be re-branded the G6 Forge for some reason. Ting and Republic Wireless will carry both the G6 and G6 Play, as will the usual big box electronics retailers that sell unlocked phones. Apparently Walmart will only carry the G6 Play.

In Canada a carrier-branded G6 will only be available from Vidéotron, but you'll be able to score a G6 Play from Bell, Freedom Mobile, SaskTel, Virgin Mobile and Vidéotron as well. Unlocked Moto devices have traditionally been harder to find in this country, but come 2020 I'm sure there will be some refurbs available at your local Staples.

Happy hunting!

Sources: Android Central, Android Police

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From The Web:

HTC U12+ hands-on: Bigger, better, and just a bit weirder

OnePlus 6 scores a 5 out of 10 for repairability in iFixit's teardown

Qualcomm is able to release the Snapdragon 845 source code in 6 weeks

Starbucks Mobile Payment Service Beating out Apple Pay in Market Share

Freedom Mobile customers now have wireless in Vancouver’s SkyTrain Dunsmuir Tunnel

From The Forums:

NAD recommends T-Mobile stop “Best Unlimited Network” ad claim

Help me pick an iphone on ebay

Cheapest way to get the most amount of 4G w/o LTE hotspot

Texting issues

25% off for life - Big Gig $50 plans or higher... Free Codes

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You can guess by the graphic above how that went.

A recent update to my Amazfit Bip added an option for wrist-based payments with Alipay. Here in Canada the Chinese m-commerce giant is becoming an increasingly common option at the payment terminals that I see.

Some quick facts about Alipay, via this stats site:

520 million registered users as of May, 2018;
150 million active monthly mobile users as of May, 2018;
100 million active daily users as of December, 2016;
175 million daily transactions as of August, 2016;
42.3 billion total transactions as of December, 2014;
$519 billion USD in total payments as of May, 2014.

Being the self-professed tap-and-pay geek that I am, I looked into hooking myself up with an Alipay account. According to this site you need the following to register for an account:

A valid passport;
a Chinese phone number;
a Chinese bank account.

Despite not having the second or third thing I went ahead and downloaded the official Alipay Android app from Google Play. I entered a junk Canadian passport number (same combination of letters and numbers) and was able to verify my Canadian mobile number, but could not enter my Canadian VISA card as a method of payment. So much for mobile first.

I then tried to get an account via my desktop PC. Clicking on the global Alipay site redirected me to AliExpress; I signed up for an account there, and adding a payment card seemed to give me an Alipay account. BUT... when I went back to the app and used my credentials to log in I was told that my account "did not exist".

I've looked a bit further into the Alipay account created on my PC and discovered that it's actually registered to a Alipay's Singapore operation. On the Play Store there's a separate app specific to Hong Kong, but nothing for Singapore. Even if there was I likely wouldn't be able to register my Canadian credit card on it. So yeah, the last two days I've spent on this have basically been for nothing. Hopefully this post will prevent someone out there from wasting their time as well.

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From The Web:

A big step closer to the perfect smartphone

OnePlus quietly drops Dash Charge branding after trademark challenged by Amazon

Hands-on with the RED Hydrogen One, a wildly ambitious smartphone

FCC is hurting consumers to help corporations, Mignon Clyburn says on exit

Tech firms can't keep our data forever: we need a Digital Expiry Date

From The Forums:

thinking about leaveing verzion

Merger reality or just trying to sell the Kool-aid (Merger topic)

Samsung Galaxy S5..can't make or receive calls suddenly

365 days of service add-on?

Is VoLTE possible on my phone and how many use it?

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Not a sponsored post, just a new in-house app from my other favourite Android site.

Navigation Gestures by XDA does what it says on the tin, bringing iPhone X-style gestures to almost any Android phone or tablet. In fact, the only devices that it won't work with are those running the latest beta of Android P. No big deal, really, as Google already has its own navigation gestures for that.



As you can see in the screen grab above, the app replaces the standard navigation buttons with a single bar or "pill". The configurable actions in the initial release include the following:

Taps - single, double, long press
Swipes - left, right, down, up, up and hold

A premium add-on to the app—currently $1.29 CAD on the Play Store—provides the user with some additional options.

The app doesn't require root access to run, but to use it without root you'll need to grant some additional permissions via adb on your desktop PC. Somewhat paradoxically, the type of user most familiar with adb commands would likely be the one who's already rooted their device.

And finally, a word of caution: if you decide that you're not a fan of gesture navigation after all make sure to disable gestures before uninstalling the app!

Links: Navigation Gestures on Google Play via XDA

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From The Web

There’s still no easy way to simultaneously charge and listen on Android phones without headphone jacks

Nokia X6 to go global after all

House committee doubles down on ZTE sanctions despite Trump support

Xi Jinping says ‘China can come out of trade war in better shape than US’

How and when Rogers, Telus and Bell sell your location to third-party companies

From The Forums:

Verizon’s Visible review

OnePlus 6 on Verizon Network???

Safelink sub-MVNO - Does it have access to all T-Mo bands, including the new Band 71?

new TM customer disappointed in network

Sprint 5G will be 15 times faster and T-Mobile merger will slash prices

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HTC has a new flagship on the way, and thanks to master leaker Evan Blass we've got an early look. The trio of images above are apparently official press renders, which Blass tweeted yesterday along with a three-page spec sheet. Some highlights:

6 inch 18:9 2880 x 1440 pixel LCD display
Snapdragon 845 Processor
6 GB RAM / 64 or 128 GB of storage + microSD
12 MP wide angle + 16 MP telephoto OIS rear cameras
Dual 8 MP selfie cams
3,500 mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0
Android 8.0 Oreo with HTC Sense
HTC Edge Sense 2 (squeezable frame)

The leaked documents indicate that the device will be made official next Wednesday, May 23rd, so HTC fans won't have long to wait!

Source: @evleaks via GSM Arena

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From The Web:

The OnePlus 6 is the best Android phone with a notched screen yet

The OnePlus 6 has an Avengers edition, and it's dope

OnePlus Bullets Wireless Mini-Review: Good Audio, Comfortable Design, Great Price, and Not Much Else

BlackBerry only accounted for 3% of Canadian smartphones last year, firm says

I asked Apple for all my data. Here's what was sent back

From The Forums:

Why is there no Band 7 in the US?

Voicemail notification issue

Prepaid plan advice for short term visitors

IMESSAGE or just the carrier texting?

Total Wireless Slow Data At Home

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The OnePlus 6 was officially revealed yesterday. There's a video from Michael Fisher—aka Mr. Mobile—in yesterday's news round-up, along with some other links. Basically we're looking at an incremental upgrade from late 2017's OnePlus 5T. Major specs are as follows:

Snapdragon 845 processor
6.28 AMOLED display (with notch)
6 or 8 GB of RAM / 64, 128 or 256 GB of storage
16 MP OIS and 20 MP rear cameras
16 MP selfie cam with EIS
3,300 mAh battery with Dash Charge
3.5 mm audio jack (!)
OxygenOS (Android Oreo 8.1)
Colours: Midnight Black, Mirror Black and Silk White
Starting Price: $529 USD / $699 CAD

Now if you'll indulge this current OnePlus user for a few moments, I'd like to offer my perspective on the latest from Carl Pei and company.

The Price

I certainly agree with Michael Fisher that OnePlus isn't the bargain that it used to be. Here in Canada a fully-loaded 6 will set you back a whopping $839 CAD, perilously close to the current $899 sticker price of a Pixel 2 from Google. You lose the tall screen and headphone jack, but you gain what everybody seems to agree is the best smartphone camera currently on the market.

I think a better comparison would be against the iPhone X. With a similar 256 GB of storage one of those would set you back an egregious $1,529 CAD, making the OnePlus 6 seem a bit more reasonable.

The Notch

2018's biggest fad will be yesterday's news as soon as OEMs figure out how to put fingerprint sensors underneath their displays. Had OnePlus gone the route of Samsung the 6 would age far more gracefully, I think, but at least its notch can be hidden with a software toggle. I'm not sure how well that's going to work, but given the AMOLED screen at least the pixels won't be lit.

The Camera

The return of optical image stabilization is most welcome, but what's up with that other lens on the back? Carl Pei barely mentioned it in his presentation, and I can't help but think there would have been significant cost savings with one decent camera rather than two mediocre ones.

Should You Upgrade?

At this point I think the smartphone market has matured enough that everyone has found an OEM to call their own. If you're on Team Samsung or Team Pixel then OnePlus has really only its low cost of entry to lure you away. If, however, you're thinking of upgrading from an earlier OnePlus phone I believe I can offer some advice...

I'm currently using a 5T and don't see enough reasons to upgrade. If the 6's glass back supported fast wireless charging it might be a different story, but I'm perfectly happy with my current phone. But if you're coming from a OnePlus 5 or below then I'd say the 6 is a worthy upgrade—it's tall screen, especially with gesture navigation enabled, makes any 16:9 smartphone seem ancient by comparison.

... Or you could just hold out another six months for the inevitable OnePlus 6T

Here are the OnePlus 6 online stores for Canada and the USA.

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From The Web:

OnePlus 6 is official: Snapdragon 845, 6.28" notched display, and glass back - starts at $529

OnePlus 6 Hands-On: Redefined Speed and a Premium Design that Reflects 2018’s Smartphone Trends

Here’s the first Nokia phone with a notch, the X6

Evolution of Android Homescreen and Navigation

Opinion: Google, please make Pixel 3 stand out from these notched abominations

From The Forums:

AT&T’s Donovan on T-Mobile/Sprint merger: We won’t contest it

AT&T: LTE speeds will double thanks to FirstNet

New SIM card won't work in an old Razr?

G6

GO Unlimited Family plan throttling question

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Freedom beards and tinkerers rejoice! AsteroidOS, a custom ROM built entirely on GNU/Linux libraries, has just reached its first stable release. You can install it right now on the following devices:

Asus Zenwatch 1
Asus Zenwatch 2
Asus Zenwatch 3
LG G Watch
LG G Watch Urbane
LG G Watch R
Sony Smartwatch 3

Support for other older Android Wear watches is on the way—including the Texas Instruments-powered first-gen Moto 360. Sadly, a large swath of the current Wear OS ecosystem will never get AsteroidOS; their lack of charging pins prevent hardware probing, testing and support.

I'm calling AsteroidOS a custom ROM because flashing it is a procedure akin to putting something like LineageOS on an Android phone: first you unlock your watch's bootloader with the same fastboot oem unlock command, then you use adb to flash a new bootloader and the AsteroidOS image. If you're not ready to commit you can also use fastboot to boot into the image temporarily, just like on Android.

You won't need to flash a gapps package, but you will need a phone app to connect your new watch OS to your Android phone. It's called AsteroidOS Sync (makes sense) and can be found on F-Droid right here.

If you end up trying it out please report back and let us know what you think!

Source: AsteroidOS via Android Police

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From The Web:

Lenovo teases what might be the first true ‘all screen’ phone

iPad Pro and iPhone X Win 'Displays of the Year' Awards

Ontario’s first emergency text alert gets a mixed reception

Wireless Carriers Again Under Fire for Lax Location Data Privacy

How to Watch the OnePlus 6 Launch Live

From The Forums:

5G is a gimmick.....

How often miss calls?

International roaming on nettalk, a Tmobile mvno.

How is the AT&T signal in SW Suburbs of Chicago

What kind of poster are you?

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Here's a deal you don't see every day: if you're in the market for a new high-powered Android device, LG Canada is offering a free 43 inch 4K Smart TV if you pre-order their new G7 between May 18th and May 31st.

A quick reminder about the G7: LG's 2018 flagship features a dedicated Google Assistant button, a speaker that uses the phone's innards as a resonance chamber, a rare second wide-angle camera lens and also a display notch. I don't know anything about the TV, but what do you care? It's free.

A few caveats about this deal: In North America LG sells its smartphones only through carriers, not directly to consumers. So you'll have to purchase your G7, possibly with a service commitment, from either Bell, Bell MTS, Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile, Fido, Freedom Mobile, Koodo Mobile, Mobile Shop, Rogers, SaskTel, T-Booth Wireless, Telus, Virgin Mobile, Visions Electronics, Walmart, Wireless Etc, Wireless Wave or WOW! Mobile.

The other thing you should probably know is that, despite being the OEM behind the legendary Nexus 5, more recent LG devices have been known to experience boot-loop issues. Not every device, but enough of them to be a concern.

Let us know if you grab this deal!

Source: LG Canada Promotions via r/Android

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From The Web:

OnePlus 6 leaks in full

Xiaomi's European market share explodes in the first quarter of 2018

Blu settles with FTC over allegations of lax user data security

Trump wants to save Chinese smartphone maker ZTE now that he killed it

Ontario just received its first emergency text alert

From The Forums:

Stay or Go?

Tracfone Rebel 3 GSM phone

Prevalence of small cell sites?

Koodo iPhone VoLTE users

Will a Tracfone BYOP sim work in a Tracfone branded phone?

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This Canadian won't pretend for a moment to be an expert on U.S. politics, yet I feel obliged to report on the latest bizarre twist in the story of the growing American ban on Chinese smartphones.

A quick refresher: This past January, AT&T abruptly pulled out of an agreement to be the exclusive American carrier for the Huawei Mate 10 Pro; Verizon also announced that it would no longer carry Huawei products. In February, the heads of six U.S. intelligence agencies expressed "deep concerns" about Chinese-made telecom products to the Senate. In March, Best Buy halted all sales and any future orders of Huawei hardware. In April, the Department of Commerce banned U.S. companies from exporting components to ZTE for seven years. As a result, ZTE ceased its main business operations earlier this month.

And then yesterday, President Trump suddenly and unexpectedly tweeted that he was working President Xi Jinping of China to get ZTE "back in business". But why?

I believe the answer lies within the nature of the ZTE ban. First there are the specifics: the ban was initiated because ZTE failed to punish employees who violated trade controls against other nations. Second are the political stakes: The New York Times reports that China is acting as an intermediary in talks between North Korea and the USA. Reversing policy on ZTE might help secure China's continued involvement.

But here's what's most telling to me: According to Reuters, ZTE paid over $2 billion to U.S. exporters last year, including $100 million each to Qualcomm, Broadcom, Intel and Texas Instruments. So banning ZTE would adversely affect not only Chinese jobs, but jobs in the USA as well. Huawei, on the other hand, has its own Kirin chipsets, and is therefore far less reliant on Qualcomm, at least.

Which makes me wonder whether this whole China scare is less about security and more about trade. What do you think?

Sources: New York Times, President Trump on Twitter, Reuters

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From The Web:

Google now says controversial AI voice calling system will identify itself to humans

How Android P gestures compare to the iPhone X

With Android P's new gestures, how long until the back button is a thing of the past?

Not So Fast: Digging into MEI’s Report on the State of Canadian Wireless Services

Cops Can Find the Location of Any Phone in the Country in Seconds, and a Senator Wants to Know Why

From The Forums:

Verizon has launched a new MVNO

What's keeps you with cricket or what's your favorite feature etc?

About a month in. A review.

Red Pocket Taxes and Fees

Will an unlocked AT&T iPhone 5 work on T Mobiles 700 LTE?

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