Getting Android Galaxy S7 Tomorrow

[bikeman25]

Hi All

 

Getting Galaxy S7 Tomorrow thru Sprint I'm pretty sure on that, anyways right now I use Avast mobile security on Current Galaxy Grand Prime, its a little slow at times, but works, new phone should be more powerful, so think gonna stick with Avast as far as I know, unless there isn't a good idea?    

 

I know Desktop machines got Option of WIndows Defender,not sure on the phone side though

 

[Draconian Guppy]

Anti virus on phones do more harm than protect.

 

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/104827-android-antivirus-apps-are-useless-heres-what-to-do-instead

 

https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/do-you-need-antivirus-on-android/

[PGHammer]

If I go with AV on phones at all, it's BitDefender; however, I typically don't (on either phones OR tablets) - instead, I stick to avoiding shady apps (old-fashioned common-sense) or sites.

 

I just added an S7 (a customer actually dropping his S7 - which was his second phone) in favor of going with just a single phone (Apple iPhone - which was his primary phone).  Right now, I'm running it in SIMless/tablet mode - giving him the opportunity to have surrender remorse - he was, after all, running MM; I've updated it to the May release of N.  I have a Samsung GNex as my daily driver.

[PGHammer]

FOLLOWUP - It's still here (in fact, I got surprise confirmation (in person - and in front of my mom) that he does NOT want the S7 back - which puts me in a pickle.

 

Cucumber #1 - This particular model is normally exclusive to VZW - which means it has a roadblocked IMEI (and thus is very difficult-to-nearly-impossible to take to another carrier - and especially a VZW MVNO, such as Tracfone).

Cucumber #2 - While the Gear VR 2016 is now on sale for a rather cuckoo price tag (per the announcement on Neowin's own front page today), I've not tried VR since the very early pre-Oculus days - is Best Buy still the most likely place to see Gear VR demos?

Cucumber #3 - Is anyone actually using that tag-team (S7/Gear VR 2016) today?

[Steven P. Administrators]

2 minutes ago, PGHammer said:

Cucumber #1 - This particular model is normally exclusive to VZW - which means it has a roadblocked IMEI (and thus is very difficult-to-nearly-impossible to take to another carrier - and especially a VZW MVNO, such as Tracfone).

Without rooting an unlock for it, there are a few services online that will give an unlock code for not too much money, but I would recommend researching this first on XDA developers, to find one that is trustworthy (if you don't have a SIM unlock store you can walk into, here in Holland they are all over the place).

 

I have an S6edge+ from T-Mobile US, but since T-Mobile already offer a device SIM unlock app, I can use it here in The Netherlands on KPN. You sure Verizon won't give an unlock code, if it is more than a year old/refurbish/on sale? 

[xendrome]

23 minutes ago, PGHammer said:

Cucumber #1 - This particular model is normally exclusive to VZW - which means it has a roadblocked IMEI (and thus is very difficult-to-nearly-impossible to take to another carrier - and especially a VZW MVNO, such as Tracfone).

 

Isn't that illegal now?

[PGHammer]

2 hours ago, Steven P. said:

Without rooting an unlock for it, there are a few services online that will give an unlock code for not too much money, but I would recommend researching this first on XDA developers, to find one that is trustworthy (if you don't have a SIM unlock store you can walk into, here in Holland they are all over the place).

 

I have an S6edge+ from T-Mobile US, but since T-Mobile already offer a device SIM unlock app, I can use it here in The Netherlands on KPN. You sure Verizon won't give an unlock code, if it is more than a year old/refurbish/on sale? 

In Europe, they ARE all over the place - however, in the US (not Canada, as the CRTC has outlawed locked handsets altogether), *flagship* handsets (and the S7 - in fact, the S-series as a whole - have mostly been that), have that one-year or two-year (in the case of most carriers) "exclusivity period" - the sort of thing that gives those that have economic reasons for turning one loose heartburn.  In my case, my original plan was to replace my GNex with the S7 (by porting the number to my existing MVNO (Tracfone, which a dual-carrier MVNO) but sticking to the VZW half (because of signal-strength issues with LTE band 13 from where I live south - and T-Mo has them WORSE than VZW - I ported the number from a feature phone covered by the lifeline-coverage side of Tracfone - which uses T-Mo's towers.  However, that "exclusivity period" has me by the short-and-curlies.  The S7 DOES make a surprisingly-strong tablet alternative (the only real failing compared to the smallest "pure" tablets is screen size), and the Snapdragon SoC found in every S7 sold in North America chews through the porkiest games and apps like so many Reese's Pieces - and it's still running basically VZW-stock N (the ONLY change I made from VZW stock N is swapping Action Launcher Pixel Edition in to replace TouchWiz Home - I literally did nothing else - I even left in all the "Official VZW Bloatware").  That is the REALLY scary part about the Snapdragon SoC - how much better is the SoC in the S8?

[PGHammer]

2 hours ago, xendrome said:

Isn't that illegal now?

Illegal in Canada (which I pointed to earlier) - but not in the US.  Even the CRTC has a "grandmother" clause - handsets that were locked down when the regulation went into effect can remain locked down for the rest of that exclusivity period (typically the same length as US carriers still have - one to two years).

[TAZMINATOR]

In USA, most phone providers offer free unlock code and/or service for decent phones.  Which means they can give you the code that you unlock it yourself or they will unlock it for you. No charge. All you do is ask for it. If they have unlock website, then they will tell you where it is.

 

They may stop offering the unlock codes for old phones that aren't worth anymore.

[bikeman25]

Followup after months of use, Still using Avast on Phone, but maybe i'll try free Bitdefender again, and then when Fall Creators update comes out if I choose to not use Avast on Desktop PC's, maybe i'll use Defender and stick with it for a change,  I keep switching Desktops back to Avast, as I feel I don't know how to explain it, weird with Avast on phone, and Defender running on Desktops, like dude use the same program.   

 

Battery lifes ok, not the best, but works