Welp, high time for a smartphone.

[animagic4u]

I personally wouldn't go with a data package with less than 1GB or 2GB, but that's just me.  I eat through 300MB really quickly.

Second this. What's the point of having a smartphone unless you're using its capabilities of connecting to the Internet?

[DeviantProtagonist]

All the more to help me out, guise.

[altuixde]

Okay, here are some questions I had about my Xperia:

In order to select text, sometimes tap and hold works, sometimes a double tap works; in what situations should I use which method? Sometimes I have to try many times in order to get a double tap to select text, and while I'm trying I have to avoid hitting the Paste button that appears.

What's a good RPN calculator for Android?

What's a good dictionary (US English) for Android?

If I tap and hold the home icon, two shortcuts appear. Can I change which ones appear? Because I don't anticipate using one of them very often.

Is it possible to get "slide to unlock" in addition to a password? I don't want my phone unlocking in my pocket with an accidental press of the power button, but I also don't want to enter my password every time I wake it up. Ideally my phone would require a simple touch screen gesture (that would not likely be input by chance while in my pocket) if the password lock hasn't been activated yet. My current solution is to open a weather app before sleeping my phone, so if it does unlock in my pocket any random inputs will probably be restricted to that app.

[Scotty]

Okay, here are some questions I had about my Xperia:

In order to select text, sometimes tap and hold works, sometimes a double tap works; in what situations should I use which method? Sometimes I have to try many times in order to get a double tap to select text, and while I'm trying I have to avoid hitting the Paste button that appears.

What's a good RPN calculator for Android?

What's a good dictionary (US English) for Android?

If I tap and hold the home icon, two shortcuts appear. Can I change which ones appear? Because I don't anticipate using one of them very often.

Is it possible to get "slide to unlock" in addition to a password? I don't want my phone unlocking in my pocket with an accidental press of the power button, but I also don't want to enter my password every time I wake it up. Ideally my phone would require a simple touch screen gesture (that would not likely be input by chance while in my pocket) if the password lock hasn't been activated yet. My current solution is to open a weather app before sleeping my phone, so if it does unlock in my pocket any random inputs will probably be restricted to that app.

Keep in mind that I'm running stock Android, and I'm not familiar with the Xperia UI.
I double tap for urls and long press for anything within the browser. No buttons ever get in the way of me doing those. As for app recommendations, I don't use RPN calcs, so I can't give you one out of confidence. Same with dictionary, I simply ask Google Now for the definition of a word when I need it.

Your home shortcuts are def. something Xperia specific, so I can't help you there. You COULD download a different launcher that would let you change what your home button can do. I always recommend Nova Launcher. Finally, in regards to your unlocking problems, if you're running 5.0, perhaps try some smart locks? On Body detection could be your answer. Again, this is assuming Xperia UI has the same stock features as Vanilla Android.

[altuixde]

Thanks for those tips, Scotty! And thanks for pointing me to the XDA forums. I'm signing up for an account there right now. I haven't installed 5.0 yet because people have been reporting various problems with it and the Z1 compact. However a few people having problems doesn't necessarily mean that it's not a good update for the phone (if everything is working fine then there's little reason to post something). Is there a way to go back to 4.4.4 if I do run into problems with 5.0?

[Scotty]

Thanks for those tips, Scotty! And thanks for pointing me to the XDA forums. I'm signing up for an account there right now. I haven't installed 5.0 yet because people have been reporting various problems with it and the Z1 compact. However a few people having problems doesn't necessarily mean that it's not a good update for the phone (if everything is working fine then there's little reason to post something). Is there a way to go back to 4.4.4 if I do run into problems with 5.0?

I think Sony is pretty good at making their images of previous versions available for everyone. It's definitely MUCH easier to go to a previous version on Android than on iOS by a landslide. If things get TOO technical, stick with the XDA forums. 

[Accoun]

Speaking of, I assume for superbudget phones the answer is "Just go for Moto E"? Especially since I've been seeing it used for a bit under $70. What I have is ancient, but I don't remember when my contract ends, so I'm pretty much whatifing now since the smartphone topic came up.

I've read that Android had a hidden feature called "App ops" that granted users privacy controls similar to what iOS users have, but that feature has been removed; hopefully Google will bring it back in the future.

It should be still available in some custom ROMs. Not sure about Lolipop, but Paranoid Android has it as part of system settings on Jelly Bean/KitKat, under "App Privacy".

@up: Well, Sony is pretty much mod-friendly. At least the current one - I have an old Sony Tablet S I got for free and they locked the bootloader (IIRC) in one of the system updates. After some time their phones and tablets got moved from one division to another and they decided that they will go as open as possible, but not the old devices. :-(

[Scotty]

Moto E is a great budget phone.

[altuixde]

It should be still available in some custom ROMs. Not sure about Lolipop, but Paranoid Android has it as part of system settings on Jelly Bean/KitKat, under "App Privacy".

I'll look into learning how to use custom ROMs. This is gonna take some effort because there are a lot of terms that people on the XDA forums are using which I'm not familiar with.

[Scotty]

I'll look into learning how to use custom ROMs. This is gonna take some effort because there are a lot of terms that people on the XDA forums are using which I'm not familiar with.

You'll learn. It's what makes Android fun. On a related note: Sony seems to be doing well in regards to Custom ROMs.

I used to flash Custom ROMs weekly years ago. I kinda burned out on it, and Stock Android has everything I need, to be honest. But they can extend the life of old forgotten phones, for sure.

[Accoun]

Well, my contract it's ending so I don't think I'll be buying a new phone outside of it. They've said there are 4 phones on renewal:
- Sony Xperia M2
- Samsung Galaxy Ace 4
- HTC Desire D510
- LG Leon

All if them total budget, I guess. Is any of them non-sucky? Or which one would be the "best".

[altuixde]

Food for thought: I believe that Sony has not committed to releasing Android 5.0 for the Xperia M2. However, a quick search yields results that say it is possible to upgrade the M2 to 5.0 using custom ROMs.

[Accoun]

Quoting myself from somewhere else, looking for suggestions everywhere:

I'm kinda conflicted. I went to my carrier and talked to the salesman about contract renewal. The phones he offered were different than what I've been told on the phone: Sony Xperia T3, LG G3S and some Samsung phone I sadly don't remember. Xperia looked like it was the best from those. For reasons beyond my control, we couldn't complete the transaction and we'll be trying again at Monday.

And here's the thing - my carrier apparently locks the bootloader for Sony phones.

Not sure what to do: take it and live with it or look at the phones offered to me again? I might ask about the HTC Desire 620 (on the other hand I've been told by a friend of mine that he "avoids them like plague" and another one agreed, although without any specifics so I dunno what to think of it) they have offered me during the phone call, but they moved to a shitty system where the phone has to be paid fully as a part of your monthly payments (previously you paid a part of it upfront), so I don't know if it would change the price. :-/

[altuixde]

After a little searching, I think that the Xperia T3 is more likely to get an update to Android 5.0 from Sony than the Xperia M2. However, it's still not a sure thing.

[chikorita157]

I have to admit that I don't care about getting the latest phone since I had a iPhone 4s since December 2011 and it served me well for three years. The only thing is that the battery life isn't as great since I use it mostly to surf the internet when I'm on the go, music player and as a Japanese electronic dictionary. Yes, I also have a grandfathered Unlimited Data on AT&T, which I would rather have since the capped plans suck, and apparently, they will no longer throttle the connections due to the FCC ruling.

To me, while I like my Surface Pro 2 since it's a lot more flexible and can run desktop applications as my tablet (and it handles fansubs well with CCCP installed), although it has some shortcomings, I don't care much for Android and still prefer iPhone. Since I already have a job offer (which I accepted and waiting for them to finish the background check) and will probably start working in a few months after relocating, I decided to upgrade my phone. So yes, I got into another 2 year contract and got a iPhone 6 64GB. I could of waited for the 6s, but since AT&T is forcing the AT&T Next bullcrap and force you to change to mobile share plans, I decided to upgrade now. Then again, the 6s is probably not going to be a substantial upgrade and I'll probably use this phone for another 3 years. Then again, it's just my choice.