HoFo Blog

From The Web:

Top 20 most popular phones in 2020

Top 10 trending phones of week 52

Here are the top Canadian telecom stories of 2020

MediaTek overtakes Qualcomm as biggest smartphone chipset vendor

How an obscure British PC maker invented ARM and changed the world

From The Forums:

Cellular Radio Off ???

Cheapest Unlimited plan on AT&T or Verizon

Data Sim Prepaid providers like Google Fi

Cricket "iPhones" and Unlock Policy-Procedure

T-Mobile CDMA Network Shutdown: 01/01/22

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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Wishing everyone reading this a very safe and happy holiday... Let's get this terrible year over with and out the door, amirite?

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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From The Web:

Budget smartphones don't suck anymore, and that's good news for everyone

Apple's New Privacy-Focused Tracking Prompt Begins Appearing for iOS 14 Users

Samsung’s deleting ads that mocked Apple for not including a charger in the box

Telegram announces monetization plans as it approaches 500 million active users

Christmas comes early: Nova Launcher Prime on sale for $0.99

From The Forums:

PC Mag Advises Verizon iPhone 12 Users to Disable 5G Now

Has ATT Already Closed the Network Gap with Verizon?

Does ATT have better service than Consumer Cellular (on ATT...)

Setting up the Ebay deal

Fix a Note 5 or get new budget phone for a kid?

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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From The Web:

Google Blames Gmail, YouTube Outage on Error in User ID System

These are all the devices T-Mobile says will stop working on its network next month

Verizon’s nationwide 5G can be slower than its LTE network, tests show

Exynos 2100 new benchmarks show multi-core lead over SD888

Best phones of 2020: The Winners

From The Forums:

Some devices will stop working on T-Mobile network in January 2021

Total Wireless Coverage In Alaska

Online CHAT-support - on the carriers' side

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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From The Web:

iPhone 12 is the world’s best-selling 5G phone – Counterpoint

Xiaomi’s Mi 11 launches December 28th as the first phone with the Snapdragon 888

The Pixel 4a is our 2020 Smartphone of the Year

The internet won't break on older Android devices in 2021, thanks to certificate authority's workaround

Is using Apple ProRAW worth it? We test it on the iPhone 12 Pro Max

From The Forums:

Question about upgrades/bill credits

LG Mobile Switch not working

Bought unlocked Verizon S10+ - cannot use data while on a phone call

AT&T Prepaid Unlimited Plus Plan with no 5G indicator

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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It's time for a new thread of the week, our way of recognizing forum members for promoting valuable discussion here.

Every weekday yours truly posts a morning briefing, including the most popular forum threads—that is, the posts with the most replies—for the previous 24 hour period. For reference, here are the briefings for the past seven days:

Your Morning Briefing for Monday, December 14th, 2020
Your Morning Briefing for Tuesday, December 15th, 2020
Your Morning Briefing for Wednesday, December 16th, 2020
Your Morning Briefing for Thursday, December 17th, 2020
Your Morning Briefing for Friday, December 18th, 2020

Remember that the Monday briefing includes forum posts from the prior Saturday and Sunday, so all weekend posts are similarly eligible.

In each briefing, forum posts are ranked by the number of replies (from highest to lowest). That's subject to change, of course, so I did a quick recount of replies for all forum posts in the briefings above. With 22 replies as of this posting the most popular thread started last week is:

problems moving existing number and balances to a new BYOP preloaded SIM

Congrats to dave940 for our fifty-fifth thread of the week! As a small token of our appreciation, please enjoy a month of Gold Membership on us!

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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From The Web:

ZTE Axon 20 5G with world's first under-display camera now on sale

OnePlus’ latest concept phone is a color-changing, motion-tracking 8T

OnePlus is helping Google improve Wear OS – and confirms smartwatch plans

Samsung vs OnePlus in 2020: One UI clones and stolen Buds

Top 10 trending phones of week 51

From The Forums:

Buying devices from prepaid MVNO carriers - advice for and against?

Porting from VZW to Tracfone using the same phone

Be Careful with SIM Swapping

"SIM card is required" when trying to activate Pixel 4a 5G

Hotspot Speeds?

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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From The Web:

Judge denies Apple’s motions to limit testimony from Tim Cook in Fortnite lawsuit

Latest antitrust lawsuit accuses Google of building an 'impenetrable moat around its kingdom'

Google’s Fitbit acquisition is cleared by EU with some conditions applied

Exclusive: Microsoft breached in suspected Russian hack using SolarWinds - sources

The year Instagram became Facebook

From The Forums:

Need to transfer existing PP balance to a new phone & want to stay on their PAYGO plan

Ebay Tracfone Deal 1yr, 3g, 1200 text, 1200 min. $19.99

Tracfone MyAccount Login proglems

AT&T prepaid retiree discount?

Where Can I Still Activate Boost 3G phones?

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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From The Web:

Check Out an Audiophile’s First Impressions of Apple’s New AirPods Max

Best Buy Canada just slashed prices on top-rated true wireless earbuds

Galaxy Note fans, rejoice: The Note lineup lives on in 2021

Future Snapdragon phones can get up to four years of security updates

A direct comparison: Tabulating 5G in the USA and China

From The Forums:

Is there a Way to Send Free Texts through WiFi?

VoLTE Provisioning Issues

Cheapest USA plan that also inlcudes use in Canada ?

CSpire's options now that Sprint's going away?

Verizon, Walgreens kick off massive in-store NaaS, 5G deployment

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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From The Web:

Samsung’s Galaxy Note series will reportedly still continue next year

Samsung Galaxy S21 5G appears in first official press image

Huawei begins its long-shot transition from Android with a Harmony OS beta for select smartphones and tablets

Cydia, the original app store, sues Apple on antitrust grounds

Google’s Fuchsia OS is an open source project that now accepts community code contributions

From The Forums:

problems moving existing number and balances to a new BYOP preloaded SIM

GV forward text to email no longer?

Need to change from old 3G to 4G phone, will this work?

Where Can I Buy A Boost CDMA SIM?

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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From The Web:

2020: bad year, good gadgets

Google discontinues the Google Home Max

Pixel 2 XL is the Best Pixel of All Time, Right?

Apple releases iOS 14.3 with ProRAW for iPhone 12 Pro, AirPods Max and Fitness+ support, more

iPhone 6s falls out of a plane and survives, with all the action recorded

From The Forums:

Transferring phone to new user

Prepaid Phone New is gone

WARNING - Red Pocket plans only good for 90 days until activatoin..

AT&T 55+ Unlimited Plan

How to move 1-Year TracFone Verizon(?) to BYOP AT&T?

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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It's time for a new thread of the week, our way of recognizing forum members for promoting valuable discussion here.

Every weekday yours truly posts a morning briefing, including the most popular forum threads—that is, the posts with the most replies—for the previous 24 hour period. For reference, here are the briefings for the past seven days:

Your Morning Briefing for Monday, December 7th, 2020
Your Morning Briefing for Tuesday, December 8th, 2020
Your Morning Briefing for Wednesday, December 9th, 2020
Your Morning Briefing for Thursday, December 10th, 2020
Your Morning Briefing for Friday, December 11th, 2020

Remember that the Monday briefing includes forum posts from the prior Saturday and Sunday, so all weekend posts are similarly eligible.

In each briefing, forum posts are ranked by the number of replies (from highest to lowest). That's subject to change, of course, so I did a quick recount of replies for all forum posts in the briefings above. With 26 replies as of this posting the most popular thread started last week is:

Teltik just had numbers turned off, mine included.

Congrats to jrdamien for our fifty-fourth thread of the week! As a small token of our appreciation, please enjoy a month of Gold Membership on us!

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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From The Web:

Gmail, YouTube, Google Docs, and other Google services hit by widespread outage

Norman Abramson, Pioneer Behind Wireless Networks, Dies at 88

Top 10 trending phones of week 50

Top 10 most popular reviews of 2020: Q1

Prototype Photos of the GSW-H1000 G-Shock Smartwatch

From The Forums:

Not seeing a charge for a new phone on my bill?

help with texting

How do I check my data balance on RedPocket CDMA (Verizon)?

Internet to >>> 4G or 5G hotspot in my house do they make it?

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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From The Web:

Apple AirPods Max first look: lots to prove

The best phone to buy right now

Samsung introduces Galaxy flagship rental program in Germany

Long-standing Pixel bug that breaks all on-device sensors spreads to Pixel 5

Canada 5G Median Download Speeds Rank Third Out of G7 Nations: Ookla

From The Forums:

$99.99/360 Days Sale - Net10 - UT&T&D, 1GB/30 Days LTE

Question: Is it easy to port a number out of TracFone?

any setup of service choices to avoid wrong number received calls & texts?

Spam messaging problems

Connect Plan Data Only

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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From The Web:

The US Government Says Facebook Needs To Sell Instagram And WhatsApp

U.S. in talks with Huawei CFO Meng on resolving criminal charges: source

Banning Huawei Won’t Protect Canada’s 5G Network: REPORT

Samsung’s Galaxy S21 will reportedly launch on January 14th

Apple now offers $120 Yoga mats so you can prepare for Fitness+ subscription launch

From The Forums:

Tmobile doesn't plan to fully shut down sprint network until 2022

Do All AT&T Towers Use Fiberoptic Cable?

Can't Text - Keypad is Missing Tracfone View 1 B100DL

Xfinity SIM Swap into Home Phone

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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From The Web:

Apple Announces AirPods Max Over-Ear Headphones With Noise Cancellation, Priced at $549

Here are Apple's promo videos for the AirPods Max

IDC: Wearables shipments reach 125 million in Q3 2020

Fitbit Versa 3 review: Fitbit's midrange watch is the one to get

Amazfit Neo review: delightfully retro, smart and cheap

From The Forums:

Just Unlocked Moto E5 on the last day of service

Warning - Chat Transcript Email Not Working

T-Mobile Outlines Sprint Network Shutdown Plans

Globalstar Unlimited $65

how is visible in Houston?

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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From The Web:

This is why iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max are almost impossible to find in stock

Samsung Galaxy S21 , S21+ and S21 Ultra appear in lovely, high quality renders

Google's December Pixel Feature Drop lands today with too many features to count

Google Pixel XE live images spotted with hole-punch camera and dual-SIM

Samsung plans to ditch power adapters just 3 months after mocking Apple over the same

From The Forums:

HPLMN is 310-280. Shouldn't it be 310-410?

Teltik just had numbers turned off, mine included.

What are the best ANNUAL prepaid plans with moderate data and sms

Will this work on Page Plus

FreeUp free plan apparently now has 100MB (or 200MB?) data again - EDIT: nope

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
---------

It's time for a new thread of the week, our way of recognizing forum members for promoting valuable discussion here.

Have we really been doing this for a year...?

Every weekday yours truly posts a morning briefing, including the most popular forum threads—that is, the posts with the most replies—for the previous 24 hour period. For reference, here are the briefings for the past seven days:

Your Morning Briefing for Monday, November 30th, 2020
Your Morning Briefing for Tuesday, December 1st, 2020
Your Morning Briefing for Wednesday, December 2nd, 2020
Your Morning Briefing for Thursday, December 3rd, 2020
Your Morning Briefing for Friday, December 4th, 2020

Remember that the Monday briefing includes forum posts from the prior Saturday and Sunday, so all weekend posts are similarly eligible.

In each briefing, forum posts are ranked by the number of replies (from highest to lowest). That's subject to change, of course, so I did a quick recount of replies for all forum posts in the briefings above. With 41 replies as of this posting the most popular thread started last week is:

Google voice DND schedule allow certain callers through

Congrats to GPz1100 for our fifty-third thread of the week! As a small token of our appreciation, please enjoy a month of Gold Membership on us!

---------
Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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From The Web:

Top 10 trending phones of week 49

Best smartphones of 2020: Preliminary round

Here’s the top Canadian mobile news from the past week

Spotify prepares to finally add local music playback support

Waze Integration With CarPlay Dashboard Goes Live

From The Forums:

Any call to Puerto Rico from the mainland instantly disconnect.

Update iOS to a specific version

Twigby offers $10/month for unlimited talk, text and 3 GB LTE data for 6 months

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Andrew Currie has been blogging about mobile phones since 2001, smartphones (depending on how you define them) since 2002 and smartwatches since 2014.
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