New phone

[MaddAussie]

I've got the Gen 1 4G Moto G and love it, I got it for £129 quid from Amazon and although I've looked at other phones since buying it Icant see the point in upgrading, it does everything I need and didn't cost the earth.

[peterb]

I've got the Gen 1 4G Moto G and love it, I got it for £129 quid from Amazon and although I've looked at other phones since buying it Icant see the point in upgrading, it does everything I need and didn't cost the earth.

Oh yes, lovely phone, shame about the operating system!

[DanceswithUnix]

Oh yes, lovely phone, shame about the operating system!

I hope the "designed by a 5 year old" feel of Android 5 is a short fad, but with some effort the custom roms out there allow you to do pretty much do anything you want. Heck, if something is that bad you have most of the source code.

[peterb]

I hope the "designed by a 5 year old" feel of Android 5 is a short fad, but with some effort the custom roms out there allow you to do pretty much do anything you want. Heck, if something is that bad you have most of the source code.

Yes, but I bought a phone, not a d-i-y coding and programming tool! I have a desktop computer for that. I expect a phone to work out of the box with minimal customisation, other than downloading specific jobs, not download applications to get the phone to work as I want it to!!! 24 hours and I almost have something useable!

I agree with you about the user interface though, it does look as if it was designed (or scribbled) by 5 year olds for five year olds.

However, it's good enough for now, although my attempts to cut down the SIM card have borked it, but I should get a replacement SIM tomorrow. (I think the card twisted during cutting - l knew the chain saw was a mistake)

But big thanks to all who contributed and kept me sane.

[Biscuit]

I hope the "designed by a 5 year old" feel of Android 5 is a short fad

I agree with you about the user interface though, it does look as if it was designed (or scribbled) by 5 year olds for five year olds.

Ouch! My tongue appears to be bleeding now...

[peterb]

Ouch! My tongue appears to be bleeding now...

Well, I've pretty much decided to keep it. So that's sorted until the next upgrade, when no doubt I'll be looking at iPhone 11 in around 2020 or 2021 (and those designers will be 10 or 11 years old!)

[DanceswithUnix]

Well from what my son says if you have any tricky problems ask a boy that has recently started secondary school, they all live and breathe Android phones and most have Moto E or Moto G. Don't ask a girl, they all have iPhones, and scarily not the old cheapish ones either!

[peterb]

Well from what my son says if you have any tricky problems ask a boy that has recently started secondary school, they all live and breathe Android phones and most have Moto E or Moto G. Don't ask a girl, they all have iPhones, and scarily not the old cheapish ones either!

Yes, that makes sense, boys want to show off the latest apps and how clever they are at modding them (and I bet 90% have been rooted).

The girls want something that works immediately, that doesn't need messing with, and that they can use to talk/message their friends!

And the boys think that showing the girls their latest rooted, can't-do-without-app, and wonder why the girls aren't that bothered!

[DanceswithUnix]

Yes, that makes sense, boys want to show off the latest apps and how clever they are at modding them (and I bet 90% have been rooted).

The girls want something that works immediately, that doesn't need messing with, and that they can use to talk/message their friends!

And the boys think that showing the girls their latest rooted, can't-do-without-app, and wonder why the girls aren't that bothered!

My son is in the first year of secondary, so the boys and girls don't talk to each other much.

I suspect it is more that the parents of the boys don't expect their phones to last more than a month before getting lost or broken, so they buy as cheap as they can get away with

[peterb]

Just using both my iPad (mini) and the phone this morning, and the iOS experience feels better than the Android. Just feels more sophisticated. That said, I used my HP touchpad with some previous version 4.0?) and that felt so much better! Maybe it's the screen size. And at least the three soft button shapes mean something.

Hoe do you close apps without going to the square button (sounds like play school, let's use the round button!) or is that the only way?

Guess I'll end up carrying two devices, the phone for calls, tethering and text, the iPad mini for everything else. Smoothsync is pretty good, but although touted as two way, entries made on the phone don't appear in my ICloud calendar.

[DanceswithUnix]

Generally you don't bother closing apps, just let them persist in the background so they come up faster if you need them again. Pressing the square soft button is the usual way, though I am still on Kitkat so I get something that looks like stacked rectangles to bring up my running apps list. I also get a little picture of a house which seems far more sensible for the home screen, and an arrow that doubles backs on itself for going back. I found Lollipop fine to use I think because I was already used to where things were, so I am pretty much driving the phone by muscle memory.

Perhaps Android 6 will be designed by a 6 year old. By the time we get to Android 7, the icons will be a Unicorn, a slice of pizza and an explosion.

Not really selling it here am I OFC there is lots of talk that Lollipop and Android M are trying to aim more at business users, so perhaps it is aimed at pointy haired people rather than infants. A lot of people are saying they thought KitKat was the high point of Android so far.

If you are finding the running apps list getting cluttered with web pages, ISTR there is an option in the web browser to present itself as one app rather than one for every page you visit.

[peterb]

Came within an ace of sending it back again yesterday, but gradually getting used to its foibles.

One thing I miss is being able to set custom text message alerts per contact. It can set ring tones, but not message tones.

Still waiting on the SIM card so I can see how it performs its primary function though!

[DanceswithUnix]

I have ended up using Google Hangouts for my text messages, and that seems to allow a sound to be set for a hangout. As a person sending you a message will tend to end up in their specific hangout that should be much the same, unless they send a message into a group discussion where the alert tone for that group discussion will be used.

I am still not totally sold on Hangouts as I occasionally see the same text appear to be delivered twice which is mildly annoying, but integrating with a Google+ group has been a bit useful in the past.

[peterb]

I do have a google hangouts (another idiotic name imnsho) somwhere, but I found it to be completely pointless. I can't remember the last time I used it.

But I'm surprised the basic Android messenger doesn't allow it. Looking round the web, it seems it was possible prior to the latest release, and is possible with some mfrs inclusions.

I suppose I can live without it.

[DanceswithUnix]

I think that is part of Google's push to get more stuff updated on the play store, and the basic functionality of the base OS marginalised.

[peterb]

The SIM card arrived and it is functioning, and I am warming to it! As a phone it works well. The messaging app is OK, and I have now got two way sync working on the calendar - I say got working, I think it was operator error earlier. I m still not quite sure what is happening with contacts. I imported them using Bluetooth from my old phone, but that now seems to be google contacts, but it has picked up my iCloud contacts, so that needs to be manually merged.

So big plus for smoothsync, £5 well spent.

Will I ever accept this as being more than a second best solution? Maybe not, but it is slowly growing on me. There have been 20 or so app updates in the last week as well, which may have smoothed of the edges. Just need to drop the 'got it' phrase and improve the icons!

But Big thanks to those you did some virtual hand holding over the last few days!