HoFo News

From The Web:

Google’s biggest announcements at I/O 2022

Google unveils Pixel 6a with Tensor chipset for $449

Google’s new Pixel Buds Pro come with noise cancellation and long battery life

​Google teases Pixel Watch at I/O – launches this Fall

Google is making a Tensor-powered Android tablet, coming in 2023

From The Forums:

gUDP users can get C-band now? Tested 412 Mbps down.

New Developments in Nebraska?

Visible: Do iphones get faster hotspot speeds than Androids?

Orbic magic

Need quick Speed Test App for iPhone

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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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The Google I/O keynote just wrapped up with the expected announcement of a new a-series phone. But unlike the 5a, this new model will be available in many more markets — Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan and the UK, as well as the United States. Notable specs are as follows:

6.1 inch OLED display, 1080 x 2400 pixels @ 429 ppi
Google Tensor processor / Titan M2 security co-processor
6 GB RAM / 128 GB storage
12.2 MP wide & 12 MP ultrawide rear cameras
8 MP selfie cam
4,410 mAh battery with fast charge
Stereo speakers
Chalk, Charcoal & Sage colourways
$449 USD / $599 CAD
Available online July 21st and in stores July 28th

Source: Google Store

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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:

Sony's latest Android phone is exactly what you'd expect

Sony Xperia 1 IV review

How to watch the Google I/O 2022 keynote live

Google’s Pixel 6a has reportedly started production

Apple discontinues the iPod after 20 years

From The Forums:

How to make international calls while overseas?

which phone after unlock can be used overseas?

New Visible Party Plan Members

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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 Galaxy S22 depreciates nearly 3x more than iPhone 13 just two months after launch

Samsung US sale: Galaxy S22 Ultra gets a $250 discount, Z Fold3 up to $1,100 trade-in credit

TWRP officially adds support for Galaxy S20, Note 20 series, plus more

KDE Connect is Now Available for iPhone & iPad

What to expect from Google I/O on Wednesday

From The Forums:

Multiple accounts

Account Disconnected

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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 global chip shortage is forcing BMW to ship its vehicles without Android Auto and CarPlay

Mozilla's Thunderbird is going mobile, ten years too late

Competition Bureau Tells Rogers and Shaw it Will Oppose their $26 Billion Merger

Leaked Motorola Razr 3 images reveal an upgraded camera and a boxier design

Top 10 trending phones of week 18

From The Forums:

Move Tracfone service to new AT&T Prepaid phone?

5G UWB and Samsung Galaxy S20 plus

Does PagePlus now support Wifi Calling?

Looking for new US prepaid company

AT&T Motivate (Emblem Solutions LLC V341U)

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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, May 2nd, 2022
Your Morning Briefing for Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022
Your Morning Briefing for Wednesday, May 4th, 2022
Your Morning Briefing for Thursday, May 5th, 2022
Your Morning Briefing for Friday, May 6th, 2022

Remember that the Monday briefing includes forum posts from the prior Friday, 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 18 replies as of this posting the most popular thread started last week is:

How Do I Request Call Detail Records (CDRs)

Congrats to nellobird for starting our one hundred and twenty-fourth thread of the week! As a small token of our appreciation, please enjoy a monthlong Premium Membership on us. Benefits include ad-free browsing, increased private message count, access to a subscriber-only forum, extra attachment space, a referral/affiliate signature link, the ability to post referrals, and a custom avatar and user title!

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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:

Government tracked Canadians’ movement via smartphones amid the pandemic

Freedom Mobile user managed to get 30GB for $50 due to new ‘Spring Sale’

US Smartphone Sales Decline 6% YoY in Q1 2022 as Pandemic Demand Cools

Bose is reportedly laying off staff amid poor sales

Telegram ‘Premium’ subscription is showing up in beta builds of the app

From The Forums:

4 Prepaid Accounts Hijacked, "Account Disconnected."

Moto E4 on Tmobile and Verizon?

How Do I Request Call Detail Records (CDRs)

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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:

OnePlus Nord N20 5G review: a better budget phone

Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G (2022) review: stylus and substance

Foxconn Abruptly Halts Hiring at iPhone Factory Amid New Lockdown and iPhone 14 Delay Concerns

How QR codes work and what makes them dangerous – a computer scientist explains

Warning for ALL iPhone and Android users – signs your handset has been hacked

From The Forums:

How to refill no-plan TF feature phone?

Cannot remove photos/mystery 15g of space from Moto6

Cross-carrier hotspot device unlocking question – need help with this (ambitious) undertaking!

Is Google Fi service now cheaper than TM?

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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:

Garmin Instinct 2 Solar review: smartwatch promising unlimited battery life

Why Google's Pixel Watch has to be the Apple Watch of Android to succeed

Google’s Fitbit Ionic recall doesn’t go far enough, lawsuit says

Smartwatch prices prove to be a problem for underrepresented groups in medical research, study finds

Amazon Kindle E-Readers Will Now Convert EPUB to Kindle Format

From The Forums:

Recommend sub $100 unlocked 4g LTE smart phone.

Best Plan for around 2-3GB per month: T-Mobile or Verizon MVNO?

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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:

Unihertz Titan Slim packs a QWERTY keyboard but comes up short

Google pushes the May 2022 Android security update to Pixel phones

Google releasing one last Pixel 3a and 3a XL update, arriving 'by July'

Google I/O schedule hints at what to expect from this year's event

T-Mobile's new Price Lock guarantee is guaranteed to confuse everyone

From The Forums:

FreeUP: mobile 4g data even on free Talk/Text plan?

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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 hit with EU antitrust charge over mobile payments technology

Jony Ive's exit from Apple caused by company culture changes and growing frustration

Apple’s First In-House Designed Cellular Modems Expected in 2023

Samsung Galaxy S21 series is receiving May 2022 Android security patch

Top 10 trending phones of week 17

From The Forums:

Phone won't activate, page plus customer service unable to help

glitches in redeeming points?

Unlimited Voice, data, & text IN and TO Latin America with AT&T Elite Unlimited

pager service still available in United States?

Is https://www.paygonline.com/ Down?

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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.

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, April 25th, 2022
Your Morning Briefing for Tuesday, April 26th, 2022
Your Morning Briefing for Wednesday, April 27th, 2022
Your Morning Briefing for Thursday, April 28th, 2022
Your Morning Briefing for Friday, April 29th, 2022

Remember that the Monday briefing includes forum posts from the prior Friday, 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 27 replies as of this posting the most popular thread started last week is:

Net10 Network/SIM transfers and WiFi calling

Congrats to Slepy for starting our one hundred and twenty-third thread of the week! As a small token of our appreciation, please enjoy a monthlong Premium Membership on us. Benefits include ad-free browsing, increased private message count, access to a subscriber-only forum, extra attachment space, a referral/affiliate signature link, the ability to post referrals, and a custom avatar and user title!

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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’s ad-tracking overhaul continues with first developer preview of Privacy Sandbox on Android

Brave and DuckDuckGo are blocking Google AMP, putting another nail in its coffin

How Democracies Spy on Their Citizens

Rogers’ Freedom Mobile Sale Process Called ‘Non-Competitive Sham’ by Original Founder

It’s the Billionaires’ Internet, and We’re Just Posting on It

From The Forums:

Google Gmail app issue

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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:

Here’s everything new in Android 13 Beta 1 [Gallery]

LineageOS 19 based on Android 12 is now officially available

A year after LG left the smartphone business, Samsung is the big winner

Apple Begins Selling iPhone Repair Parts to Customers (Finally!)

The most advanced mobile hotspot yet has C-band 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, and 2.5Gbps ethernet

From The Forums:

Can't receive calls

US Mobile vs Visible

Question On New Line Of Service With Device Discount?

No cell sevice (unless I airplane)

Verizon LTE vs 5G Home Internet

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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:

New Vivosmart 5 puts Garmin back in the fitness tracker game

Fitbit Irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications will only be available in the US, and this is what they look like

Here’s somebody actually wearing the Pixel Watch and Google’s 20mm band [Gallery]

Nine ‘Pixel Watch’ photos leak — and one wacky story

Samsung getting rid of the rotating bezel would be a stupid, stupid, stupid idea

From The Forums:

Tracfone has incorrect/faulty IMEI info--is correction possible?

Total Wireless iphone unlock - 60 days or 60 days of service

What safeguards are available from TF from sim swap scams

Chat without getting text verification?

Roaming Deprioritization

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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:

It's official: Elon Musk just bought Twitter for $44 billion

Tesla Pulls Apple Move, Ditches Mobile Charger for New Cars

Apple hires anti-union lawyers in escalating union fight

5G is a joke and the iPhone is the well-timed punchline

The Pixel 6 isn't selling very well at carriers, even with high salesperson kickbacks

From The Forums:

the cheap and easy way to extend existing line (Verizon) is this, ~$90 ?

Possible to combine a TF phone with Verizon SIM with a BYOP AT&T SIM?

Phone not receiving calls.

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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:

Top 10 trending phones of week 15

Top 10 trending phones of week 16

The OnePlus 10 Pro Review: Lights, camera and not a lot of action

Lapsus$ hackers breached T-Mobile’s systems and stole its source code

Ottawa faces blowback for plan to regulate internet

From The Forums:

Just wanted to say some nice things about Tracfone!

Refilling 1 year 1200/1200/3GB on unlocked phone

Whoa, will this shortcut work?

Can i access UC or not?

Net10 Network/SIM transfers and WiFi calling

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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.

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, April 11th, 2022
Your Morning Briefing for Tuesday, April 12th, 2022
Your Morning Briefing for Wednesday, April 13th, 2022
Your Morning Briefing for Thursday, April 14th, 2022

Remember that the Monday briefing includes forum posts from the prior Friday, 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 27 replies as of this posting the most popular thread started last week is:

Help a Cranky Old Gal Out (Tracfone site issues)

Congrats to VexedOldHag for starting our one hundred and twenty-second thread of the week! As a small token of our appreciation, please enjoy a monthlong Premium Membership on us. Benefits include ad-free browsing, increased private message count, access to a subscriber-only forum, extra attachment space, a referral/affiliate signature link, the ability to post referrals, and a custom avatar and user title!

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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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FYI there won't be any new briefings from yours truly for the rest of this week and next; the girlfriend and I are taking a birthday trip to explore Alberta — specifcally Lake Louise, Jasper, and Banff.

Should be back to business as usual on Monday, April 25th. Happy Easter, everyone!

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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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