Fitbit Sense Replacement

As you've previously read, I had problems with an 8-month old Fitbit Sense - it refused to restart and was stuck in a reboot loop where it would never progress beyond the Fitbit logo screen.

Fitbit, after spending 8-10 days evaluating the broken Sense that I'd sent back to them, sent a replacement.  The replacement arrived 2 days early, which is surprising since it took so long in being delivered from my address to Fitbit's return facility.

The replacement Sense appeared to be prepackaged in a plastic bag with standard Fitbit labeling.  I received nothing other than the pebble itself - no watchband, no charging cable or any other accessory.

It started without issue.  I immediately installed my third party metal band.  I then synched it to my phone using the Fitbit iPhone app.

It came with a 70% charge, but I wanted it topped off.  The charging cable that came with the original watch is not working properly, and I found that out during troubleshooting of the broken watch (this is a known issue - the spring-loaded pins on the charging cable loses it's "spring" the pins no longer make contact with the watch).  I'd ordered two new ones from Amazon.com a few months ago.  I used one of  them to charge the watch.  When I connected it, the watch black-screened.  My first thought was that this watch also died, as the first one die.  I watched it go to the Fitbit logo screen, thinking it would loop back - it started without issue.  I'm not sure why it crashed.  I'd just received it less than an hour prior to that.

This watch brand is very much untrustworthy in the extreme.  While I'm glad I've another Sense, I'm waiting for this one to stop working.  I do not want to go back to my Samsung Watch - while it is nice and it works, this Sense should also work (and stay working).

This Sense will soon be replaced.  I conducted some research the past few days and decided I do not want another Fitbit.  

At first, I was considering the new Sense 2 but Google appears to have severely nerfed it - whereas the Sense is a legit smartwatch, Google has removed a lot of the smart aspects of the Sense technology from the Sense 2, intentionally neutering it so that their new Google Pixel smartwatch can be better competitive.  That is sad as hell.  The biggest changes to the Sense 2 is that the watch is no longer capable of controlling music (which most folks use on Senses when working out) and they've disabled WiFi.

As well, the Google Pixel is not compatible with iPhones, so both the Sense 2 and the Pixel are not options for me.  One of the things I love about my Sense is that it's not locked to a specific OS. 

Garmin isn't an option, as it's fitness and health technology is the least robust in the smartwatch industry.  I want a versatile watch and Garmin appears to be tracking-centric.

Samsung isn't an option, as it's software is WearOS (Google and Samsung are joint developers of WearOS), which is not compatible with iPhones.

It appears I may be locked to Apple's Watch.  Apple Watch isn't a bad platform at all, but I'd prefer to not be locked to any particular platform - the industry is becoming silo'd and that's not a good thing for a consumer that wants options regardless of the phone brand he/she is using.

Of the Apple Watches, I want something that's supported and do not want to worry about Apple dropping hardware or software support any time soon.  That means I won't be getting any legacy Apple Watches.  I'll be focusing on either the Series 7 or 8.

In comparing the 7 and 8, the 8 may be newly released but it doesn't offer a lot more tech over the Series 7. The best thing about the Series 8 option is that I would have even longer support.  The con of the Series 8 in comparison to the 7 is that it'll cost more for not-so-much tech advantage.

I'm trying to keep costs low and I think I will look at refurbished Series 7 Watches.  

I looked at Best Buy's refurb Series 7s and their prices are high. As of 10/8/2022, the price for a certified used S7 45mm GPS Watch is $389!  They also offered taking trade-in watches, and I was curious so I checked what they'd give for a new Sense, but they only offer $25 for Senses - WTF.  This is what I hate about the technology world and why I keep everything that I have...all they're going to do is take your $25 trade-in and sell it to someone or sell it themselves for $100.  F that.

Amazon sells Series 7 re-certified Watches, but I've been told that Apple will sometimes not honor warranty claims on watches bought from Amazon.  The pricing on those phones weren't bad, though, so Amazon would've been a good option (while also buying 3rd party warranties through Amazon, which I should've done with the Sense when I bought it) if I hadn't have found an even cheaper option.

Note that I'm looking for a specific version of Series 7 Watch:  45mm, Space Gray, GPS variant.

I found that Apple carries Series 7s on their Certified Apple website.  I found what I wanted there and the cost is $313.  I don't have the money now, but I might have to do something soon because Series 7s are pretty much the rage at this point in time, as the public is now aware that the Series 8 has no huge advantage over the Series 7, and now folks with older than Series 7 Watches are now trying to buy Series 7 watches.

The plan is to get a 45mm GPS variant Series 7 within the next few months, whenever money comes in, but if I find that I can no longer find Series 7s on the Apple refurb website due to high demand, I'll just have to get the Series 8.

My Android Phone's Browser Was Hijacked!

Last week, I went to a website on my smartphone and something took over the native Samsung web browser.  In fact, it was affecting the Chrome web browser as well.  Rebooting the phone didn't solve the issue.  A factory reset would've worked but I wanted something less impacting than resetting my phone.  AV apps didn't detect the browser hijack, which is a pity...AV apps for PCs tend to discover such anomalies, but smartphone apps are quite behind in this regard.

I found a fix, though.  I had to clear the cache (of the browser app) and force stop the app.

Note that this was not a malicious compromise of the phone.  I clicked nothing when the browser was hijacked and was prompting for me to acknowledge that I had viruses on my phone.  If I had clicked the links the links the hijack attempt was trying to force me to click, chances are that the phone would've been compromised, though.  As it was, the prompting didn't go away until I cleared the app cache and force restarted the browser app.

This was the very first time I've ever experienced such an issue with an Android smartphone (or any smartphone).

Samsung Gear S Replaced; Samsung Galaxy Note Edge and Android 6.0.1

So, I received my replacement smartwatch.

What can I say, other than "it works"?  I thought I'd get one in a box with a new cradle.  Nope.  They gave me the watch replacement and that is all.  At least it works, though.  We'll see if it'll last a year.  I'm not so sure.  This whole owner experience was fine until the watch died and I got to see how Samsung handles warranty claims.  Although they did good, I've the feeling I'll be pissed 18 months from now when the replacement watch dies without warranty coverage.  I don't even know if the watch is new or refurbished.  I'll investigate whether the watch is new (or a refurb) and find out if a new watch has a full warranty (it should)....and, I'll also discover how well the warranty coverage is for a refurb.

I had to activate the new watch and pair it with my phone.  While that wasn't complicated, it wasn't as simple as it should be, either.  I'll admit, though...it was simpler than when I got the first watch...this one wasn't glitching like the first one.

I also upgraded my phone (Samsung Galaxy Note Edge) from v5.0.1 to v6.0.1 (Marshmallow).

The phone had issues from the onset when trying to install the new firmware.  I kept getting error code 404.  I must've tried like 4 times before clearing the cache (each time I tried, I had to redownload the damned firmware...it was a PITA).  Clearing the cache worked and Marshmallow finally installed.

v6.0 consumes a lot of power.  I've been finding myself having to recharge during the day.  I used to get by without having to charge the phone after letting it charge overnight.  Fast Charge doesn't seem as fast as it was when I was using v5.0 (yes, Fast Charge is enabled).

Yesterday, I was taking a picture of my dog and the phone locked up.  It would freeze at the Verizon screen during boot-up.  It did this 4 times (each time, I had to remove the battery to unfreeze it).  I couldn't get past the freeze.  I ended up doing a factory reset.  This was a PITA.  Yes, I had a recent backup (I did a full backup the night before, using the Verizon Cloud app), but restoring it was very slow (did it over a wifi connection).  I believe my initial upgrade attempt worked but something crucial became corrupt in the process (it took like 24 hours to manifest).

I'm still trying to get the phone back to normal.  I've not yet played with much of the features.  The interface is a bit different in some places.  I don't know of any of the major enhancements.  I suppose I could research them but all I really care about is that I've a functional phone.  If I could find out if there's a fix for the abnormal power consumption, I'd be happy.

UPDATE (6/24/16) - I've experienced no freezing or rebooting or reboot loops since the upgrade to v6.0.1.  This is good news, as my daughter was also experiencing freezing and reboots (I ended up having Asurion replace the unit).  My daughter is still using v5.0.1, though, so I'm wondering if she will eventually experience those issues again -- I'll ask her how her phone is doing...last I asked, I thought she said that the issue was still occurring but was less frequent.

Lollipop!

So, both of my phones (work and personal) got upgraded (OEM -- I don't root or try various ROMs on my phones...I need them to be dependable and as stock as possible) to Android 5.0 within the last seven days.

There are distinct differences in the UI between them, with the work phone being an HTC One M8 and the personal phone being a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (both Verizon phones).

I was underwhelmed with the One, but I also don't usually tinker with it since it's the work phone, so I can't really notice the new changes since I wasn't really familiar with the old options and features.

With the Note 3, there's a slew of UI changes, but I don't see much difference in the system options/configuration.  I've not yet noticed things such as excessive battery usage or bad phone reception.  I did notice that I had to re-enable some of the features I had selected prior to the Lollipop upgrade.  I also noticed an easter egg.  If you go to Settings/General/About Phone, click "Android version" multiple times, click the lollipop multiple times, then click/hold, you'll see a version of the Flappy Bird game and be able to play it!  There are some new features in the Security settings, too, like reactivation lock, "Send security reports" and "Security policy updates."

I'll report any anomalies or good stuff I discover.


UPDATE:  And I saw this article today, showing how much of a dramatic difference each Android 5.0 experience is per device.  It's good to know I wasn't the only one that noticed this.  A snippet:

This dive into Lollipop revealed something very clear to me: Manufactures are, in fact, doing Android no favors. I've already posted my take on bloatware, and I stand firm on that with Lollipop. But even minus what most would consider bloatware, manufacturers are robbing consumers of the true Android experience, and Lollipop is a perfect example of that.

Anyone who experiences the jump from KitKat to Lollipop should get the platform I had on the Nexus, rather than the HTC M8. After the very long wait for the Lollipop upgrade, some users are going to be disappointed--not because of what Google has done (because what Google has done is brilliant), but because of what the manufacturers have done to the latest iteration of Android.

I agree.

Smartphones - Maxing Out Your Storage Capacity?

Maxing Out Your Storage Capacity?  This article can help you regain storage space.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/08/01/no-more-storage-space-on-your-phone-heres-what-you-should-trash-first/

I skimmed over the article.  It appears sound as far as what it recommends.  It speaks in a way that people should understand, no matter what brand of phone you're using (it has screenshots of both Android and Apple smartphones).

Do I need this?  No.  I already know how to free up space when I've reached the storage limits (I usually back up everything on my SD card onto my PC, then place it on a dedicated storage drive).  But I'm sure this will be able to help people like my mother or wife or daughters.

Enjoy!

Doubletwist and More Phone Things

So, I finally finished importing my iTunes files to my Thunderbolt.  Only, now I've a ton of duplicates.  This is a known issue with Doubletwist, unfortunately.  Well, at least I've all my files imported now.  I'll have to go through the SD card and manually remove the duplicates.

I also went to Manassas today and was able to pick up a strong 4G signal...ran a quick speed test using the Speedtest.net app.  I got speeds greater than my home wifi.  Latency is higher, though.  Upload is lower, also.

See below:

Based on those screenshots, I can't wait to have 4G where I live, which is like 4-5 miles down the road from Manassas.  4G is JUST out of reach...AAARRGH!!

Also, we lit some fireworks last night and I tested the phone's camera and HD capability (@ 720p):

Non-HD video footage:

HTCing

A few things:

1.  I've installed Prey on my Thunderbolt.  I've run it on my Dell Mini but wasn't aware that they made it so that it can be used on Android phones (which is Linux at its core).  On a side note, they also now make versions for Macs and Windows.

2.  Noted that there's no Zinio for Android versions below v3.0.  That's a huge bummer.  I'd wanted to use it on this phone but this phone is using Android v2.2.1.  I might not ever see v3.0.  I don't even believe there are many phones using v3.0.  I've no idea why they didn't focus on what's being used broadly.  I guess I'll have to continue to use Zinio on my iPad and Macbook.

Some of the apps I've installed so far:

androidVNC
AutoKiller Memory
Delicious
doubleTwist
Dropbox
Facebook
JuiceDefender
Linode Android
Lookout
Motorcycle.com
mSecure
Prey
Speed Test
Tapatalk
Unit Converter
White Noise
Zedge

Some of these were suggested to me, but most of these I either used on my iPad or iPhone.  I haven't used them all yet.  I need to, because some of the UI on these apps have quite a different layout than their iPhone versions.

I also have gotten a taste of 4G LTE, but only at work, and even then it's sporadic, since where I work is at the fringes of coverage.

I've noticed I haven't dropped a call yet, and I've tested in the places where I used to constantly drop calls when I used the iPhone.  This is good!

I also got my 25% employee discount enabled on this phone's account...can't wait for that to kick in.

Tried the speaker phone today, also...I love it.  I do notice that the speaker sounds a bit muffled when the kickstand isn't pulled out, but the speaker is way louder than what I had on the iPhone.

It also feels GOOD to have REAL Bluetooth again!  :)

Got a New Phone!

Bought a new phone yesterday.

Yeah.  I went Verizon.  This is the first time in years that I'm not using an iPhone.  Since I've done a lot in the last 24 hours with the new phone, I've a bit to discuss.

The wife wouldn't let go of her vacation and stretched it to the limit yesterday.  She took the kids to the water park and I was positively done with vacationing, so I opted out.  I took the boy with me and decided to drive around Massanutten/Luray/Harrisburg in Virginia.  Then I got to thinking that maybe I should go look at phones at the closest Verizon Wireless center.  After driving around for a bit, I went to Harrisburg, looked around, and asked them if they had HTC Thunderbolts.  They did and I began to ask questions.  I looked at other 4G Verizon phones but had all issues with them.  The Droid X2 had a BIG screen but wasn't 4G.  The Revolution and Charge were OK but again, they weren't meeting my requirements, which I explained in my last post.

So, I ended up getting the Thunderbolt.

My 24-hour impressions are below.

1.  This phone is HEAVY.  When I say this, I'm comparing to my current iPhone 3GS.  My wife's Samsung Infuse makes the T-bolt seem like a boulder.  But I do like the solid feel.  I do like the heft, though...it doesn't seem fragile and is probably more durable than my iPhone.

2.  The screen is brighter than I thought.  It was blinding my wife when I was in bed reading.

3.  Voice clarity is incredible.  I called my mom and could hear everything going on in the background.

4.  Still getting used to the Android Market.  There's a LOT of junk apps...seriously.  I'm not used to that.  I was trying to find a free and GOOD free screenshot app but couldn't find one (and all want you to have a hacked phone (for root access).  I'm still looking for a good screenshot app, too.

5.  I had to find some critical apps that matched what I was using on my iPhone, such as mSecure.  They had mSecure for Android phones but it was a real pain to get a backed up copy imported onto my T-bolt.  At first, I mailed a backup to myself, but the phone wouldn't let me copy the encrypted backup (it was several pages long and the phone wouldn't let me copy AND scroll down).  So, I used mBackup and my Macbook to get a copy onto the T-bolt.

6.  I had a difficult time figuring out how to get my iPhone pictures onto my T-bolt.  Finally, I plugged my T-bolt into my Macbook with a USB cable, which mounted the phone as a drive.  Then I just copied the pictures onto the micro-SD card.

7.  I had to repurchase my highly desirable apps.  Apps such as Tapatalk and Motorcycle.com (as well as mSecure).  That was undesirable but unavoidable.  I found that I'd invested a bit into the iPhone, enough to where it was a bit painful for me to repurchase these apps.  I left alone such apps as Angry Bird, especially since I'd have to start all over with playing it (I don't believe Angry Bird saves game progress to the level that I can continue from the same place I'd left off on the iPhone).

8.  I love the speaker phone.  It is loud.  I love the fact that the speaker is big (it is behind the side stand).

9.  My bill should be the same as what I had with the iPhone, with the exception of the activation fee, which is $35 and will only show on the first bill.

10.  Data plan usage is NOT unlimited, but the salesperson swears that most people don't bump into the limit.  He insisted that 2GB is fine for most people.  We will see, as I do sometimes use data (at work when I can't reach the wifi hotspots).

11.  The voice plan I selected was the 450 plan.  Lately, with AT&T, I'd been bumping into my limit but what was saving me was the rollover minutes (I have a TON of them).  I'll have to watch my usage very closely.  No more speaking with mom for 1+ hours in the middle of the day!

12.  The seven (7) virtual screentops may not be enough for me.  Or, maybe I need to reconsider what I place on those screentops.  I'm used to the IOS's way of grouping screentop icons.

13.  The FriendStream app is NICE!  The wife also has it on her phone (but she doesn't use it...I'm going to push her to try it, as it is VERY cool.

14.  The front-facing camera on this phone is wicked.  It rivals my wife's Infuse (that statement would be scandalous to some).  The flash is bright, also.  The clarity is good.  The rear-facing camera is decent, also, but I would like to test it with apps such as Skype.  Sadly, Skype isn't ready for this phone yet.  Yahoo might work, though.

15.  I love the way I can kill running apps and have an app manage battery consumption.

16.  The micro-USB cable is a life-saver.  No more proprietary cabling.  I HATED the iPhone's cable and the fact that I couldn't do crap with it without iTunes.

17.  The 32-gb micro-SD card is a lifesaver...and it is rather large in storage capacity.  Too bad that you can only access it by removing the battery.

18.  This phone pretty much flies when asked to do something.  I rarely see it running slowly.

19.  I had a few large software updates waiting for me.  It's nice to have these loaded directly to the phone instead of relying on iTunes.  Word of advice, though, some updates can be large...it would be wise to use a wifi connection when updating.  Also, I preprogramed the phone to get the updates while I was sleeping (so it wouldn't interfere with me doing other things...plus, the phone gets hot when downloading large files).

It's going to take me awhile to get used to this phone, especially since I'm coming from an iPhone.  I'm ready for a change, but I'm not going to lie when I say that the iPhone is the phone to have if you just want crap to work.

Loving it so far!

EDIT:


Still need to import my iPhone contacts and music to my Thunderbolt.  I'm currently in the process of importing my contacts.  What I had to do was save all of my contacts in my address book on my Macbook into a vcard formated file.  I then placed this file on the micro-SD card, then I imported the file into my People app.  It looks like it worked fine.  The real test may be my music, especially my iTunes-purchased music.  :(


EDIT 2:


Tried using ITMW (itunemywalkman) to get my music into my Android but it was cumbersome, but I remember a phone salseman mentioning Doubletwist.  I installed that and my music appears to be synching.  It will be awhile, as I've 29GB of stuff to transfer.  I suppose I can do this a few hours every day for a few days.  Most of it is podcasts, I think, so I could maybe remove all the podcasts (I don't listen to them anymore anyways).  We'll see how it turns out.