HoFo Blog

From The Web:

North drops the price of its Focals smart glasses by nearly half

North Focals smart glasses now start at $799 CAD

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active, Galaxy Fit and Galaxy Buds names confirmed

The T-Mobile-Sprint merger is a dizzying deal for regulators

Insurance Giant Allstate Buys Independent Phone Repair Company, Joins Right to Repair Movement

From The Forums:

What keeps you with Verizon? Is it simply the coverage?

S7 Edge w/att firmware no VOLTE even though supposedly enabled on account

$10 2GB Data Plan

Samsung Sky Videos

Issues with the iphone 7 battery

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(Spoiler alert above...)

Redditors on r/Android seem to be collectively freaking out over an Android Authority observation that NFC support is waning on devices from certain brands—specifically Alcatel, LG, Oppo and Xiaomi. As someone who boycotted the OnePlus 2 over its lack of NFC but also trialed LINE Pay while in Taiwan last month I can absolutely understand why.

Two words: QR codes.

Alipay (which I'm expecting to be crowned the new king of mobile payments any minute now) relies on QR codes, as does WeChat Pay and LINE Pay. My personal experience in Taiwan was that smaller vendors who would otherwise only accept cash were usually set up for LINE Pay as well, since LINE is the island nation's most popular messaging platform.

Are QR codes less secure than NFC? Probably—although LINE Pay at least generates a one-time code per transaction that's only valid for five minutes. But I'm of the opinion that on-device security takes a back seat to your credit card company, who should be on the hook to cover you for any fraudulent charges to your account, whether made through a mobile app or otherwise.

My big test for LINE Pay will come this April when I try it out in its home market, the notoriously credit-card-averse country of Japan. I'll have to get back to you on how that goes...

Source: Android Authority via reddit

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From The Web:

Google Canada offering buy one, get one 50 percent off on Pixel 3 and 3 XL

Report: Wear OS makes up less than 12% of smartwatch sales in the US

Galaxy S6 continues to get security updates, almost four years later

This could be the LG G8 ThinQ smartphone

WWDC 2019 Dates Confirmed: June 3-7 in San Jose

From The Forums:

T-Mobile's Legere: We Are the Un-Cable, Too

S9 Pie update is out!!

Any chance of HD voice with other carriers?

iPhone XS consistently slower than Pixel 3

TracFone Annual Report Subscribers Down, Revenue Up

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Almost a year ago I reblogged a feature from Computerworld that graded smartphone OEMs on how fast they updated their top tier hardware to the latest version of Android. Back then it was 8.0 Oreo; let's see how the usual suspects fared with late 2018's Android 9.0 Pie:

Google: A (same as last year)
Current flagship upgraded in 0 days (60/60 points)
Previous flagship upgraded in 0 days (30/30 points)
Excellent communication (10/10 points)

OnePlus: C (up from a 'D' last year)
Current flagship upgraded in 47 days (53/60 points)
Previous flagship upgraded in 142 days (21/30 points)
Poor communication (0/10 points)

Samsung: F (same as last year)
Current flagship upgraded in 177 days (37/60 points)
Still waiting for upgrade to previous flagship (0/30 points)
Poor communication (0/10 points)

Motorola: F (same as last year)
Still waiting for upgrade to current flagship (0/60 points)
Still waiting for upgrade to previous flagship (0/30 points)
Poor communication (3/10 points)

LG: F (same as last year)
Still waiting for upgrade to current flagship (0/60 points)
Still waiting for upgrade to previous flagship (0/30 points)
Poor communication (0/10 points)

Keep in mind that these scores do not reflect critical security updates, but entire OS upgrades to the latest and greatest version of Android. If that's important to you, stick with a Pixel—or to a lesser extent, OnePlus.

Source: Computerworld

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From The Web:

You can reserve your Galaxy S10 or S10+ now and save up to $600

Xiaomi will announce the Mi 9 on the same day as the Samsung Galaxy S10

Amazfit Bip 2 revealed thanks to new leaks

T-Mobile’s merger pitch to Congress is about China beating America on 5G

Trudeau Silent on Huawei Controversies Ahead of Meeting with Telus Execs

From The Forums:

Does AT&T Still block VoLTE and wifi calling on unlocked Android devices?

Cheapest plan just for Uber?

Tracfone BYOD IPHONE 6s data issues

2 years ago today, Verizon announced it was bringing UDP back

No voicemail notification

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What, this confusing banner graphic from a random foreign-language YouTube video doesn't make things abundantly clear for you? Fine... It seems that the music streaming service Spotify updated its Terms of Service recently, and eagle-eyed tech bloggers noticed this clause:

Unfortunately the headlines that resulted—like The Verge's "Spotify bans ad blockers in updated Terms of Service"—are more than a little misleading. Over the weekend I watched as a bunch of confused redditors tried to figure this out in a thread on r/Android.

Eventually they did, and it boils down to this: Spotify's warning is meant for users running modded APKs that filter out audio ads from the free version of their service. if you're running Spotify on a device with a system-wide ad-blocker like AdAway or Blockada, you almost certainly have nothing to worry about.

You can Google "hacked Spotify apk" if you like to get an idea of what's out there, just don't bother downloading anything from the results—or your free account might be terminated, remember?

As a paying subscriber I honestly have no idea if there are visual ads in the app; if there were then sure, AdAway would probably block them, thereby violating the ToS. But then again, I can't imagine Spotify being impacted by this, as someone streaming music through their phone isn't likely to be staring at the album art for any significant length of time.

Sources: Spotify, The Verge via r/Android

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From The Web:

2019 iPhone reported to stick to Lightning port and same 5W USB-A charger in box

Google and Apple under fire for hosting Saudi app for tracking women

Nokia 9 specifications revealed through Android Enterprise Recommended Catalog

What to expect from Mobile World Congress 2019

Enough of the 5G Hype

From The Forums:

change phone # on TF

Android Pie for Galaxy S9/S9+ is now rolling out on T-Mobile

Is this a record ?

Anything I can do with old Hotspots?

Which Total Wireless Phones are Unlocked?

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Dear Verizon victims who lurk these parts: Your friends here on HoFo have told you... for what 4 years now... that Verizon is for old ladies who pay too much for flip phones and pay for groceries with checks...kidding.... We get it and understand the pain/embarrassment.



Chin up to those of you currently disenfranchised with the Big Red death grip and currently on the fence to switch to Magenta! Word on the street from sources familiar with the matter claim that T-Mobile wants to focus on National Break Up With Your Carrier Day on February 13th.

The Uncarrier decided to offer Verizon customers a bit more flexibility as part of its #GetOutOfTheRed campaign which gives a $650 in existing equipment installment plan balances per line using your existing compatible smartphone.

A few new models will be supported starting February 13th. Here’s the full list with the new models in bold:

• iPhone SE
• iPhone 6s
• iPhone 6s Plus
• iPhone 7
• iPhone 7 Plus
• iPhone 8
• iPhone 8 Plus
• iPhone X
• iPhone XR
• iPhone XS
• iPhone XS Max
• Pixel
• Pixel XL
• Pixel 2
• Pixel 2 XL
• Pixel 3
• Pixel 3 XL
• Galaxy S8
• Galaxy S8+
• Galaxy Note 8
• Galaxy S9
• Galaxy S9+

Don't have Verizon but still pining to switch to Magenta? Well there still is the $650 in EIP coverage with Carrier Freedom program that you could use but that requires that you turn in your old phone and purchase a new one.

https://pocketnow.com/t-mobile-expan...izon-swtiching

Statista is back with yet another infographic about smartphones around the world—or in this particular case, the lack thereof. Here's what you need to know about what they're calling The Mobile Disconnect:

The infographic shows that a full thirty-four percent of Canadians didn't own a smartphone in 2018. You might not think that's so bad—Japan has the same percentage, and they're a fairly tech-savvy nation, right?

Right, and that's why you need to look specifically at the numbers for "mobile but not smartphone" (green) versus "no mobile at all" (blue-green). Remember that Japan was already enjoying the world's first successful mobile Internet at the dawn of this century, and with fast data speeds, mobile payments and the like, even their dumb phones are pretty damn smart.

As for Canada, well... in terms of mobile penetration we're doing slightly better than Indonesia. So, yay for us?

Source: Statista via Alan Cross

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From The Web:

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 Review – Proof That Xiaomi Can Do Premium, Too

Nokia 3.1 Plus for Cricket review: Returning to US carriers with a decent budget option

Bell, Rogers and TELUS to Raise Prices of 10GB/$60 Plans

How did Apple’s AirPods go from mockery to millennial status symbol?

Fossil Sport review: Finally, a great Wear OS watch

From The Forums:

G6 Plus VZW prepaid.

At&t Moto Z2 Force for $130.00

Combine/merge glitch

Problems checking voice mail on my TracFone from a landline

Freedompop account suspended

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Ditto for Abercrombie & Fitch, Hotels.com and Singapore Airlines. All of these apps—on both Android and iOS as far as I can tell—use a customer experience analytics firm called Glassbox. Here's how they themselves describe their own tech:

The obvious security risk here is that each of the apps in question holds sensitive user information, not only email and physical addresses but credit card numbers as well. Glassbox gives app developers tools to mask this data (quite literally, with black boxes) but guess what? They don't always work. Check out this screencast from The App Analyst:



Since the story broke, Air Canada reached out to TechCrunch with this official statement:

Way to miss the point there, AC.

Apple too, has responded to the situation, threatening immediate action for any app recording screens without explicit user consent. Nothing from Google yet...

Sources: TechCrunch (1) (2) via The App Analyst

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From The Web:

Motorola launches Moto G7 smartphone family for $199 and up

Indian smartphone market shows highest global growth, with Xiaomi in top spot

Apple releasing iOS 12.1.4 to fix FaceTime eavesdropping bug later today

Telus to Increase Price of $60/10GB Promo Plan by $10 Starting in April

Sprint is suing AT&T over ‘5G E’ lies

From The Forums:

MVNO Throttling

Att prepaid refill

When CDMA shuts down, will CDMA roaming go with it immediately?

Calling an AT&T prepaid phone in Mexico from US?

Changing 5 line 5mb plan to 5 llne unlimited ?

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Statista has published a pair of infographics ranking late model smartphones based on how much radiation they emit. The means for quantifying this is what's called the specific absorption rate, or SAR, measured in watts per kilogram.

The data was gathered from the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection; according to them anything below 0.6 watts per kilogram can be considered safe.



If you're viewing this on your phone here's the list in text form, in descending order from the highest SAR:

Xiaomi Mi A1 - 1.75 watts per kilogram
OnePlus 5T - 1.68
Xiaomi Mi Max 3 - 1.58
OnePlus 6T - 1.55
HTC U12 life - 1.48
Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 - 1.45
Google Pixel 3 XL - 1.39
OnePlus 5 - 1.39
iPhone 7 - 1.38
Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact - 1.36
HTC Desire 12 / 12+ - 1.34
Google Pixel 3 - 1.33
OnePlus 6 - 1.33
iPhone 8 - 1.32
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 - 1.29
ZTE Axon 7 mini - 1.29

Chinese brands are among the worst emitters here but surprisingly, the latest Pixels—plus a pair of late-model iPhones—also make the list.



And here are the phones with the lowest SAR, rearranged to match the order of the previous list:

ZTE Blade V9 - 0.32 watts per kilogram
Samsung Galaxy J4+ - 0.32
Samsung Galaxy S8 - 0.32
Samsung Galaxy J6+ - 0.31
ZTE Blade A610 - 0.31
Motorola Moto G5 Plus - 0.30
Motorola Moto Z - 0.30
Samsung Galaxy S9+ - 0.29
HTC U11 life - 0.28
LG Q6 / Q6+ - 0.28
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge - 0.26
Samsung Galaxy S8+ - 0.26
LG G7 - 0.24
Samsung Galaxy A8 - 0.24
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 - 0.17
ZTE Axon Elite - 0.17

It makes sense to see legacy OEMs like LG, Moto and Samsung here, as all of them were making mobiles back when they were primarily used for making phone calls.

Keep in mind too, that exposure to radiation during calls can be minimized with a decent headset.

Source: Statista (1) (2)

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From The Web:

Touch ID that spans the entire iPhone display in the works at Apple

Samsung considers putting a camera in a stylus

OnePlus sends invites for a MWC event

Freedom Mobile comes to Red Deer, Victoria with 10GB data promo for $27.50 per month

5G can’t fix America’s broadband problems

From The Forums:

Firstnet and Roaming

Moto Z2 Force unlock issue

MVNO Monthly Billing

Three UK Sim From Italy Calling To US

Cricket Android choices / port in

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For this week, here's something a little different... WatchTime has a new feature tracking the progress of the non-smart wristwatch over the course of the 20th century. They go much further back than that of course—according to Wikipedia the first recorded wristwatch was a gift to Elizabeth I, in 1571!

Pocket watches were more the thing for men, at least until the onset of the First World War:

The piece goes on to feature the progress of wristwatches over the decades, including the first quartz models with digital LED displays, and the rise of Swatch through the 1980s. Conspicuously absent, however, is any mention of the disastrous misstep otherwise known as Swatch Internet Time, wherein the company thought it would be a good idea to redivide a 24 hour day into 1,000 beats.

More at the link immediately below!

Source: WatchTime

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From The Web:

Apple celebrates Chinese New Year with iMessage effect

Apple Watch Series 3 on sale for as low as $299 CAD at Staples for Valentine’s Day

This may be the Fitbit Versa 2, coming in four gorgeous colors

Samsung Galaxy Sport leak shows a sleek bezel-less smartwatch

TicWatch S2 Review

From The Forums:

Sprint Merger: T-Mobile promises not to raise prices for 3 years

Will prepaid get 5G e?

New T-Mobile pledges same or better rates for T-Mo and Sprint customers for 3 Years

Activate old Verizon flip phone (non LTE)

Nokia 3.1 Plus

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I saw this Bloomberg video when it went live a couple of weeks ago, and in honour of Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year, Spring Festival, or whatever you want to call it, I wanted to share it with you. Here's the brief:

And here's some perspective on this that you might not have considered: As dystopian as China's Internet seems to be, at least it's transparent—that is, everyone there knows the deal, that their government is surveilling them at all times. Can the same be said for us here in the west?

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From The Web:

Samsung Galaxy S10 to make reverse wireless charging useful?

AT&T's fake 5G icon is now infesting iPhones too

Apple exec met with teenager who found FaceTime bug at his Arizona home, will be eligible for bug bounty program

Google Maps can help users find Black History Month events in Toronto

What we learned from net neutrality’s big day in court

From The Forums:

at&t Dead LAST at the Super Bowl

Tracfone Data Overpriced

Galaxy S9 Pie update, when?

Suggestions, for MINIMAL usage, please.

Which T-Mobile MVNO Has Unlimited Hotspot Data?

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So apparently we're just now discovering that Canadian Internet traffic was diverted from Ottawa to a server in China over a six-month period during 2016. The Toronto Star explains:

Okay, so I guess we have to imagine because we have no actual facts...? It's especially odd, because this somewhat contradictory sound bite from the same researcher is buried at the bottom of the piece:

With Canada set to inevitably follow its Five Eyes partners in banning Huawei from our wireless networks, I couldn't tell you how much of this Canadian Press story is spin; I can only verify that Professor Shavitt does at least seem to be a real person.

Source: Toronto Star

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