Hardware

#1      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
Be it about hammers, drones, iPhones, exploding Samsung devices, etc., it belongs here.
 
#2      
Just switched from an HTC One M8 to a LG G5 (and networks from AT&T to Verizon).

The HTC had a Windows operating system, which was actually quite impressive, but the quality of apps was horrendous. Still getting used the Android system, but it is very user friendly.
 
#3      

Shane Walsh

aka "Captain Oblivious"
Cynthiana, Kentucky
Just switched from an HTC One M8 to a LG G5 (and networks from AT&T to Verizon).

The HTC had a Windows operating system, which was actually quite impressive, but the quality of apps was horrendous. Still getting used the Android system, but it is very user friendly.

I love my Androids. Switched from iPhone years ago and have never looked back. Main downside? Bloatware, no doubt. There is too much crap on my phone that I cannot uninstall.
 
#4      

Ransom Stoddard

Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
I love my Androids. Switched from iPhone years ago and have never looked back. Main downside? Bloatware, no doubt. There is too much crap on my phone that I cannot uninstall.

I've never done it myself, but I have colleagues who root their phones and load a clean image that removes all of the carrier's bloatware and other nonsense.

And I agree, I love Android. I missed having an easy interface like iTunes for a while, until I realized just how free I was of Apple's infrastructure and limitations.
 
#5      

KBLEE

Montgomery, IL
I had rooted each of my last 4 Android phones, but eventually it just became a pain. I've had an S6 Edge for 14 months now, and it still works as good as the day I bought it. If you don't use a custom launcher, you should give it a try. Nova is by far my favorite.
 
#6      
I had rooted each of my last 4 Android phones, but eventually it just became a pain. I've had an S6 Edge for 14 months now, and it still works as good as the day I bought it. If you don't use a custom launcher, you should give it a try. Nova is by far my favorite.

I've had multiple androids that drove me crazy because after about 6 months to a year they would get super slow, lag, crash and freeze ETC. I had a colleague who said "oh yeah I just reformat mine like once a month." I tried it a couple times and it seemed to work better. But then I realized I should not have to do that. I've been Apple ever since. The only apple device that now gives me problems is a 5-6 year old iPad. It has finally started to give me the problems the android gave me after 6 months. My sister has unapologetically an android person, and her phone is less than a year old, and every time she has one of the aforementioned problems, I just drop a #androidproblems on her.

Are you guys telling me there's a way to keep an android smooth and fast for more than 6 months? Cause in my experience, that's not fathomable.
 
#7      

Shane Walsh

aka "Captain Oblivious"
Cynthiana, Kentucky
Are you guys telling me there's a way to keep an android smooth and fast for more than 6 months? Cause in my experience, that's not fathomable.

I have had my Galaxy s5 for almost 2 years now. Before that I had an s3 for almost as long. I might still be using that s3 had the s5's not been on sale for $0.01. The main issue I run into with my s5 is the ram. It has a total of 1.67 gb and the basic background ram usage hovers around 1 gb. I end up having to use the task manager a lot to shut down programs that are no longer being used or else it does bog down a bit. I imagine that being able to remove a bunch of bloatware would solve that problem, but am unwilling/unable to root.
 
#8      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
Anyone use this eero system? https://eero.com/

The reviews I read have been overall pretty positive but it's expensive as well. Was wondering if anyone has any hands-on experience with it.
 
#9      

Joel Goodson

respect my decision™
LED light bulbs slay CFLs! ComEd subsidizing LED bulbs has brought the cost down to ~$1/bulb. Not a fan of ComEd, but this move earns a fair amount of goodwill.
 
#11      

Ransom Stoddard

Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
Anyone use this eero system? https://eero.com/

The reviews I read have been overall pretty positive but it's expensive as well. Was wondering if anyone has any hands-on experience with it.

I included Eero in my research for a new wi-fi setup at home. I've got a 10 year old AT&T modem that handles the IP traffic just fine, but the wireless coverage is poor and getting poorer and I've never been happy with the features on the router.

I looked at Eero, Almond, and a few others, with Eero being the most expensive of the bunch by a longshot. I liked Eero's features, but found that those features just weren't worth the extra cost and weren't must-have requirements for me.

I wound up getting a set of 2 Almond 2015 routers, using one as the primary (straight into the AT&T modem) and the other as an extender. I've only had it up and running for a couple of days, but it was easy to configure, has pretty good security, and can integrate directly both with Almond's own home automation stuff, as well as other brands that follow the same standard. My coverage in the house (~3000 sf over 3 floors) is great, and I haven't found any dead spots so far.
 
#12      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
I included Eero in my research for a new wi-fi setup at home. I've got a 10 year old AT&T modem that handles the IP traffic just fine, but the wireless coverage is poor and getting poorer and I've never been happy with the features on the router.

I looked at Eero, Almond, and a few others, with Eero being the most expensive of the bunch by a longshot. I liked Eero's features, but found that those features just weren't worth the extra cost and weren't must-have requirements for me.

I wound up getting a set of 2 Almond 2015 routers, using one as the primary (straight into the AT&T modem) and the other as an extender. I've only had it up and running for a couple of days, but it was easy to configure, has pretty good security, and can integrate directly both with Almond's own home automation stuff, as well as other brands that follow the same standard. My coverage in the house (~3000 sf over 3 floors) is great, and I haven't found any dead spots so far.

Cool, thanks for this info. I'm moving into a 3000 sq. ft. house in about four weeks and was looking for something provide good coverage. Almond 2015 seems to be a good option. I think my system will already be a smart system (not sure what the builder uses, but everything is run through an app) but it's good to know that Almond connects with smart devices.
 
#13      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
I included Eero in my research for a new wi-fi setup at home. I've got a 10 year old AT&T modem that handles the IP traffic just fine, but the wireless coverage is poor and getting poorer and I've never been happy with the features on the router.

I looked at Eero, Almond, and a few others, with Eero being the most expensive of the bunch by a longshot. I liked Eero's features, but found that those features just weren't worth the extra cost and weren't must-have requirements for me.

I wound up getting a set of 2 Almond 2015 routers, using one as the primary (straight into the AT&T modem) and the other as an extender. I've only had it up and running for a couple of days, but it was easy to configure, has pretty good security, and can integrate directly both with Almond's own home automation stuff, as well as other brands that follow the same standard. My coverage in the house (~3000 sf over 3 floors) is great, and I haven't found any dead spots so far.

I pulled the trigger on two of those Almond 2015s as well. Will put one upstairs and one downstairs. Probably will have the router upstairs and will extend the downstairs.
 
#14      

icengineer

Southern Illinois
Okay so I've just bought myself an Amazon Fire TV box. Which Kodi build should I use? I'm looking to watch sports and movies mostly. I see there are several youtube videos, and websites with various downloads but I don't have a clue which to choose from. Can I get some recommendations/links? I am not super comp savvy, but I can get by if the instructions are good.
 
#16      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
Anyone have a control4 system in their house, hooked up to a C4-THERM-WH thermostat? I have had issues with one of my two thermostats in that the program I have doesn't run properly. It turns on too early with a message "Recovery Active" on the thermostat panel. An internet search doesn't turn up anything.

Anyone potentially know what the cause could be?