HoFo Blog

From The Web:

Nokia sales grew throughout 2017, reached a total of 8.45 million units

Motorola will knock $150 off the Moto Z2 Play, starting February 4

The Size of iPhone’s Top Apps Has Increased by 1,000% in Four Years

Lawyers Faced With Emojis and Emoticons Are All ¯\\(ツ)\/¯

Pebble is dead and hardware buttons are going with it

From The Forums:

AT&T iPhone 7 Plus - do I need to get it unlocked?

AT&T notches 329K postpaid phone net adds in Q4

Does anybody know what IR means on the device info section?

Thoughts On Marcelo's Comments?

Rogers visual voicemail up to $7 from $5?!?

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Some folks over at XDA examined the code for an unreleased Oreo Beta for the Note8, and within it found an XML file with a list of all upcoming Galaxy phones and tablets for 2018. And without any further ado, here is that list:

astarqlte (Samsung Galaxy S9 Active)
c10lte (Samsung Galaxy C10)
c10plte (Samsung Galaxy C10 Plus)
crown (Samsung Galaxy Note 9)
degasy18wifi
grandppirislte
gtaxlad
gta2xl (Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 2018)
gtesy18lte (Samsung Galaxy Tab E 2018)
gts4llte (Samsung Galaxy Tab S4)
j2y18lte (Samsung Galaxy J2 2018)
j3neolte (Samsung Galaxy J3 Neo)
j3topelte
j4lte (Samsung Galaxy J4)
j6lte (Samsung Galaxy J6)
j7topelte
j7toplte
j8lte (Samsung Galaxy J8)
jackpotlte
jackpotqlte
jackpot2lte
jackpot2qlte
kellylte
lugelte
star (Samsung Galaxy S9)
star2 (Samsung Galaxy S9+)

Most intriguing among the entries here is the "jackpot" series, which may or may not turn out to be the rumoured, foldable Samsung Galaxy X. For more on the list and to see how XDA found it see the three links immediately below.

Sources: XDA (1) (2) (3)

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From The Web:

The iPhone X notch clones are coming

The latest Android One phone looks like an updated iPhone 5C

Telegram removed from Apple’s App Store due to ‘inappropriate content’

U.S. Cellular drops its unlimited data prepaid plan to $55/month

Rogers increases international Roam Like Home service fee to $12 per day

From The Forums:

All my hotspot devices prefer a no signal/ low bar band (pics listed) Why?

RLH going up to $12/day internationally

Activating non-verizon branded phone on verizon mvno

Verizon PP Moto G4 Play unlocked GSM

Rumors of an affordable iPhone

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You can click the image above to see a video message from an attorney at Girard Gibbs, an American law firm that launched a class action suit against LG for boot loop issues related to the G4, G5, Nexus 5X, V10 and V20. Android Police reported yesterday that the firm had reached a settlement with LG, one with a fairly generous payout for affected users: $425 USD cash or a $700 credit towards a new LG device.

Some time after the Android Police report was published Girard Gibbs' LG arbitration site went offline. On that site was a link to a SurveyMonkey form, and an indication that LG owners could still join the class action suit up until February 12th. So why did the site suddenly go dark? Here's a commenter on AP:

If you're a U.S. citizen and an owner of one of the aforementioned LG devices, you might want to bookmark that Girard Gibbs page, or at least keep an eye on this r/Android reddit thread. Good luck!

Source: Android Police via r/Android

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From The Web:

Telus introduces Canada-China Your Choice rate plan

Verizon, AT&T drop Huawei, manufacturer stands by strong Canadian carrier relationships

Everything You Need to Know About a Nationalized 5G Wireless Network

U.S. government reportedly investigating Apple over iPhone slow-down controversy

Apple: We would never degrade the iPhone experience to get users to buy new phones

From The Forums:

Please help - why is my phone's Verizon so unreliable?

RLH going up to $12/day internationally

Shaw/Freedom Expects to Cut 650+ Jobs Through Buy-Out Offer

T-Mobile "Iphone Buy One Get One", Only if port from 3 Carriers.

Iphone 6: Worth keeping?

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Scumbag Samsung is at it again...

If you're financing your ultra-premium Samsung flagship through your carrier, as most folks in North America do, it's entirely understandable that you'd want to de-bloat your phone—see this post from 2013 for some examples of Canadian carrier bloat on a Galaxy S4. One of the easier ways to do this has been to flash a different firmware onto your device; though Samsung phones are region-locked it's been possible to flash an in-region but non-carrier version of your device's firmware using tools and guides from XDA.

Until now, that is: XDA reported yesterday that the January security update for the S8, S8+ and Note8 also includes a new bootloader, one that prevents the flashing of unlocked firmware on carrier-branded phones. If you try to change the firmware on your carrier-branded device you will hard-brick that device. Unlocked hardware purchased from Samsung or third parties seems unaffected.

Though not explicitly stated by anyone on XDA or the cross-post to r/Android, it sounds to me like this "update" would also prevent users from flashing custom ROMs onto late model carrier-branded Samsungs.

Remember that time when Samsung gave free phones to the CyanogenMod team? Those days are clearly gone.

Source: XDA via r/Android

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From The Web:

Report: Apple to Delay Some New Features in iOS Until Next Year to Focus on Performance and Quality Issues

Verizon won’t sell Huawei phones due to US government pressure, report says

Trump Administration Idea for Nationalized 5G Falls Flat

Bell, Rogers Media among coalition urging CRTC for anti-piracy system

Are We Going To See The “$10 iPhone” in 2020? No, the clone of 2010 superphones will probably cost around $20 in 2020

From The Forums:

iPhone 6S now on Cricket

T-Mobile vows to use renewable electricity to cover 100% of energy needs

Grandfather Plan forced migrated fraudulently!Any recourse?

smashed iphone7 plus that ive owned for less than a year, no insurance

Freedom Pop sim and Tethering/Hotspot

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Something rather interesting is happening in Canada's westernmost province. While Uber and Lyft await the green light to begin operations there, a slew of homegrown alternatives has popped up from seemingly out of nowhere to fill in the gap. I've read mention of no less than eight available services—four of which I was able to find sites and app store listings for:

GoKabu - (uses WeChat) / website
Longmao Club - Android / iOS / website
Poparide - Android / iOS / website
Udi Kuaiche - Android / iOS / website

And another four for which I could not:

AO Rideshare
Dingdang Carpool
RaccoonGo
U Drop

As you can probably surmise, at least half of these apps cater to the local Chinese-Canadian community. GoKabu was the one that, in a Global News report, was accused of refusing to accept non-Chinese fares; the $1,150 CAD fines for drivers accepting rides using these currently illegal apps might have something to do with that.

Has anyone here used one of these BC ridesharing apps?

Links: Global News, Mobile Syrup

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From The Web:

The unbearable slowness of Samsung's updates

Vivo Xplay7 may be first smartphone with 10GB of RAM

Verizon, Apple Continue to Lobby Against Your 'Right to Repair'

Trump administration is considering nationalizing 5G mobile network

FCC chairman Ajit Pai is opposed to a government-run 5G network

From The Forums:

What’s more reliable/better/do people like more: Google Voice or Talkatone?

Looking for Inexpensive Plan for Two Factor Authentication

Axios: Trump administration is considering nationalizing 5G mobile network

AT&T in Israel?

Cellular Connectivity Issues

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What we're looking at here is an unannounced Acer tablet—photographed, tweeted, then deleted by an attendee at a London trade show. What makes this particular tablet different than all the other Android tablets currently on the market is that its actually not running Android at all, but instead a touch-friendly version of Chrome OS.

According to Liliputing's Brad Linder, a Chrome OS-powered tablet (or "Chromepad") offers a number of advantages over a similar form factor running Android:

All this plus full support for Android apps, just like the Android tablet you're using/not using now.

Unfortunately it's entirely unknown if Acer is actually planning on bringing this device to market, or if it's just a one-off proof of concept for internal use. Whatever the case, it's certainly an intriguing idea.

Source: Liliputing (1) (2)

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From The Web:

Alleged image of Galaxy S9 and S9+ leaks ahead of February announcement

'iPhone SE 2' With Wireless Charging Said to Launch in May or June

Statement from OnePlus on the latest clipboard data controversy

Popular Android apps are stealing users' email addresses

Shaw joins 5G Americas board of governors as sole Canadian representative

From The Forums:

Unlock Codes while under Next / 2 Year Contract

Unlimited Plus on GoPhone?

which one??

Stream Saver is Annoying

Rogers Now Has 20mhz lte B43 and B42 In Vancouver

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Security researcher Elliot Alderson seems to have uncovered a new privacy breach in OxygenOS, the default ROM on OnePlus devices. The good news is that it only applies to the latest Oreo beta for the OnePlus 5T. The bad news? Well, just about everything else.

The changelog for OxygenOS Open Beta 2 lists a new clipboard application, which is apparently the source of the suspicious activity. Alderson's first tweet, in the screen grab above, notes what appears to be a keyword logger, and is connected to a zip file which appears to phone home to TeddyMobile, a Chinese analytics company that also does business with OnePlus's sister brands Oppo and Vivo. One of the services offered by TeddyMobile is "number verification", and according to Alderson this clipboard app is sending your phone number and device IMEI directly to TeddyMobile—along with your text messages, even bank account numbers.

OnePlus has yet to publicly respond to any of this. Until they do it's safe to say that you should not install the latest Oreo beta on your OnePlus 5T. In fact, now would be a great time to look into flashing a custom ROM instead.

Source: Twitter via r/Android

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From The Web:

Xiaomi beats Samsung to the top in Indian smartphone market

This Is Ajit Pai's Official Calendar for the Months Leading Up to the Net Neutrality Repeal

Rogers CEO says board has ‘zero concern’ about Freedom Mobile

Are smartphones making teens unhappy?

Demonized Smartphones Are Just Our Latest Technological Scapegoat

From The Forums:

Can someone else confirm Verizon to stop activation of non HD voice devices 7/1/18 ?

NO 3G/non Hd Voice lte device activation after 7/1/18? Any confirm?

iPhone 8 plus issues: lost data/Away doesn't work

Why TMobile over Metro

FreedomPop Double Data offer

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In a press release yesterday Samsung confirmed that their next flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S9, will be revealed on Sunday, February 25th to kick off the 2018 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

As the teaser suggests, an improved camera system will be a marquee feature of the new devices—that is, the S9 and S9+. According to a reputable leaker on Twitter the big deal this year will be a variable aperture on the rear facing camera lenses:

If you were hoping for a better placement of the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor this year, here's a video of an alleged S9 dummy unit:



Ok, I guess that's slightly better...

Other unsubstantiated rumours include a front camera with a 3D sensor (whatever that is), and stereo speakers (finally). Any other juicy leaks will be reported on here; stay tuned!

Sources: SamMobile, Samsung, Twitter

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From The Web:

Vivo X20 Plus UD Announced: First Phone with an In-Display Fingerprint Scanner

Vivo's in-display fingerprint reader won't play nice with screen protectors

Fitbit slaps expiration date on Pebble smartwatch support

B.C. to Get Emergency LTE Text Push Notifications in April 2018

Montana Just Showed Every Other State How to Protect the Open Internet

From The Forums:

Hotspot Carrier Aggregation

Cricket still the best single line At&t plan???

Cheapest smartphone that can be activated on Verizon mvno?

Net10 Verizon apn

Cheap 2 week prepay

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It's been over a year since Pebble went bust. Fitbit, who bought the company's technical assets and absorbed some of the team, pledged to keep Pebble's servers running until the end of 2017. We're now well past that expiry date, and the day may soon come when Fitbit decides to turn out the lights, leaving users with no access to weather data, voice replies or an app store.

At that point Pebblers will have three options: make do with what they've got, regain the ability to sideload apps and watchfaces with GadgetBridge or install Rebble, an entirely new OS, on their watch.

Progress on Rebble has been slow—as you can probably imagine, building a custom smartwatch operating system from scratch is no small feat. But this week the team posted a rare update, one that immediately shot to the top of r/Pebble. Here's a summary of their progress thus far:

• New splash screen (see above);
  
• Rebble can now be run in an emulator;
  
• Bluetooth is now working;
  
• Preliminary support for Pebble apps and watchfaces.

With such slow progress you might be asking, why even bother? The Rebble team has an answer for that:

While GadgetBridge will probably remain my go-to solution, what this community of developers is trying to accomplish is certainly admirable. If you want to get involved see the first link directly below.

Source: Rebble via r/Pebble

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From The Web:

It’s Time to Stop Buying Phones from OnePlus

RED Hydrogen One Specs: Snapdragon 835, 4500 mAh Battery, and Headphone Jack Confirmed

New leak pretty much shows the Nokia 10's Penta-lens camera design

Thanks Competition: Unlimited Data Adoption Soars

Bell Canada Hacked Again, New Data Breach Affects Up to 100,000 Customers

From The Forums:

Data changes in the Terms and Conditions

Excessive band 2 power levels

Help W/ Flashed Verizon Mifi: how do I get an active account again?

4 lines of Unlimited for $100 a month is back

Which US carrier has the cheapest unlimited wifi hotspot, through phone or device?

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UK-based Integral Memory has somehow managed to cram half a terabyte onto a tiny microSD card, beating the previous record for diminutive storage of 400GB set by Sandisk last year. Integral's Smartphone and Tablet microSDHC/XC Class 10 UHS-I U1 goes on sale next month. Don't expect it to be cheap.

It's actually not quite as fast as the previous record-holder; while the Sandisk is capable of 100MB/s transfers Integral's new card can only do up to 90MB/s. However, its Class 10 and UHS-I U1 specification guarantees a minimum write speed of 10MB/s, so direct capture of Full HD video from your smartphone's camera won't be a problem.

For more information see the press release and product listing immediately below.

Links: Business Wire, Integral

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From The Web:

The iPhone is Dead

If iPhone X demand is less than expected, analyst expects it to be 'end of life' when replacements ship

Verizon’s Go Unlimited plan now works in Canada

The City of Vancouver partnered with Shaw to expand free public Wi-Fi

Quebec teen says smartphone rules are too tough in letter to school board

From The Forums:

Finally getting deprioritised or something like that

Global SIM Service Update

FreedomPop Friends Request

Tracfone Voicemail

Rural tmobile service but no area code or porting availability.

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