LG G4 boot loop.

[The Duke]

My daughter couldn’t wait for the new £150 Nokia, so I got her the Moto g4 like her younger brother. The Moto G(4) though more expensive than the origanal, which I loved, I think this year they have got back to having a solid phone at a great price.

There maybe a couple of similar spec devices for a tad cheaper, but i have had many cheap moto G v1 (x2), had 2x moto E (4g)2015 and recommend  to 3 others, and we had one (untill today) moto g4, all have been excellent bare bones stock performers.

The G4 is the first to feel a touch premium too.

I thought versions moto g v2 up until the G4 lost its way, wasnt good enough for its spec, at the price they was asking. So I truly thought the Moto E 2015 4g variant at £75 was a true successor to the origanal G. Well the original WF swift, at £120 is what moto should of made, but they made a similar phone and wanted about £160-180 at a time when the 1+1 was £199 (the +2 was just released) so you could recommend the G v2 and 3, over the 1+1.

Today the 1+3t is £399 and worth every penny, it’s closest competitor is the pixal and in 128gb spec it’s £800. So the Moto -G4 again sits in a nice price pocket. The G4 plus just doesn’t offer enough to warrant the price bump and the moto G4 play, seems decent for every day folk, but it’s called 4play! What was they thinking.

The name only dawned on me, when last night I asked my 19 daughter did she want the 4 play or the 4, which she laughed and I went red. Thanks Moto!

[Richard]

It is ‘sort of’ important to write is as 4G play and no other way!

I had a mild, passing interest in getting something new to possibly work with with the car, but I am struggling to justify such a cost for ‘just a phone’ as I know that most of the features will never get used. I now understand that one thing I would essentially require would normally come either as a pre-installed package or as a download and that is Bluetooth calling, either via the headset or the  car. While having WiFi access to the map function to pick up congestion details sounds great in theory, I am fraying at the edge of interest if it is going to be hard work and involve some expensive package to establish. Having said that, I am sure that there are better SIM only deals that could replace my current package, which has been left in place for far too long.

Why are there so few useful guides that set out clearly what to do and how to do it?

Most instruction books (it does not matter what they are for, it is not just one thing) appear to have been written by a brain dead zombie who has never seen the item in question, let alone ever tried to do something specific or useful with the thing.

[The Duke]

The G4 play may be a good option for you,

In regards to bluetooth, it’s very straight forward to do. You car will always be butting out its BT transmission, all you need to to is enter the BT settings, with choice is as easy as holding the BT icon on the phone, the you will see that the phone already sees the car, as well as the will be listed, all you go is hit conect. These days hardly anything has a password. But if it asks for one, it’s usually 8 zeros, or1234, a quick Google would find the answer.

Then when you phone receives a call it will dim the radio and the call automatically comes through the car speakers.

Once this was a very expensive retrofit if your didn’t have BT option ticked. My 2004 laguna was a rep car before me, (3 years old with 46k on for £3800, steal), but being a rep car they had fitted a parrot system, they are expensive and still are. Bit I just brought a very capable BT system for £12 on Amazon.

The march of progress, and the never ending capitalist race to the bottom. The system works great though.

Also a feature you may like, once you have BT set up, you can listen to audio books instead of the crap the radio pumps out, or somthing with is for more useful if not as entertaining, the phones sat nav, will dim the radio/audio book/etc and give you clear direction through the car speakers.

I know you don’t like smartphones or the idea of them, but ask Bob, he was in your shoes, and the device won him over very quickly once he got one.

What you must not do is buy a cheap crap phone, as it will make you hate them before you get to know them. It’s harder to by a crap phone today. But the entry level phone I recomend is the Moto E 4g 2015, that is £75 but is getting quite old and has limited storage, even though it has an sd slot.

So today as an entry device for someone that is a normal person, I’d say the entry level moto G4 at £120, would give you a good phone that will last a long time, and is berebones stock android no bloat, and will get 2 years os support, and a further 2 critical support.

If you don’t want to use Google’s mapping, you can use Here Maps. I mention this as my MiL, isn’t great with tech, and she has had issues not getting Google maps to work, for silly reasons of her own doing, like disabled data, etc,  but something she can’t work out how to fix, so the sat nave lets her down.

Here Maps is downloaded to your device (I recommend to download to sd), and will just work everytime. It’s normal person friendly. The whole of the UK is about 3gb in size.

I downloaded uk France and Spain as a fall back, which was lucky as 3s EU roaming is which is great, doesnt include Andora, as small as it is, the data towers switched me to a Andora, way before we got into the pace on the Spanish side, in the hills, and didn’t return untill way in to francs, so Here Maps Filled in nicely.

[Richard]

Thank you Steve, I have been doing some digging and it appears that a change of package from my old T-mobile account to one with some data allowance could interwork with the car system as all EE packages now allow tethering. To be honest the SatNav in the car appears better than I expected. It can always locate the car normally it is in the garage and it appears to be able to find where we when we go out, are just as well as I can, though having not yet driven more than about 10 miles from home the test has not been too challenging for either it or me. I had a course of injections into my cervical spine on Saturday and so far I am impressed at the reduction in pain and the gain in movement that I have obtained. My wife is hoping that things will continue to be good. I have been warned that the anaesthetic wears off after two to three days and that the steroids can take three weeks to work, if they work at all.  If the present improvement is maintained this will allow us to travel to outlaw territory (as in my outlaws SWIMBO relations). As it was, pulling out of some junctions was a real pain, (in the physical sense) as I had to rotate most of my body to view the situation. Perhaps that is why I have averaged less than 300 miles per month so far in the new car, (almost all of that taking others to medical appointments, – though not to my Saturday session).

I was surprised that the Bluetooth would even lock onto a very old Nokia, though I did not try to use it with the spare PAYG phone as it has almost no credit left and I could not remember its number at the time.

These days I am rarely in the car on my own for more than a few minutes, so my entertainment needs are few and far between. Getting everyone to listen to the same thing is ‘challenging’. Younger daughter cannot stand anything that might be misinterpreted by her as in anyway relating to what she feels she cannot do and SWIMBO has her own tastes that do not really match with anyone else’s. Previous journeys used to be ICE free with only TA bulletins allowed. Still it is always better to gain options that lose them. A good day is one that ends with more useful options than you had at the start.

Apparently the car navigation system can pick up TomTom traffic updates via a tethered link, which might give the passengers something to watch. It all feels a little like tying up navigating with a string of sausages.

I am certainly too old these days for overseas driving other issues mean that our last proper holiday was in 2009, since then it  has been funerals in lieu of holidays.

[Richard]

Well I finally threw my hat into the ring and went for the Moto G$ Play which arrived this morning. I have had a SIM less play while it has been mains connected to ensure a full charge. I managed to get logged onto the router via WiFi so it has done all of its updates, but it has been an uphill process getting it all set up. Maybe tomorrow I shall try to sort out a new SIM to fit. Though first I shall try to see the quack about another abnormality in my neck, a rather solid, unfamiliar lump.

No doubt I shall find the phone a new hill of user effort to climb.

I’m not sure I can transfer all my details from the old SIM to a new one, but maybe the local service provider’s (preventer’s?) shop has something to do that process.

[The Duke]

Hope your neck is hexes out clear first of all.

Regarding your contacts no now keeps them on sims, I don’t actually thing new Micro sims have the ability. They may but then I have my doubts that android reads sims for numbers anymore. I remember a time when the android asked you if you want to save a contact to sim or to your actual contacts. Bit I don’t recall seeing that for a long long time.

Anyhow, you shouldn’t save contacts to sims, it’s the worst place for them. You could but them all in the Gmail contacts  account that you used to sign in to your new phone.

And by far the easiest way to do that is to sit at your pc/laptop, and input them on a real keyboard. As quick as you input them onto the pc they will simply appear on the phone. Much faster than doing it manually on the phone.

If I recall Motorola has an app on the phone for importing contacts, SMS and call logs off a previous phone, but that intended for migration from another smart phone.

The simplest way is on a pc, and once its done, you’ll never have to do it again. As your Gmail is then your contacts directly.

Also Google make it very easy to migrate your contacts out of the google ecosystem if you ever want to. I think they use the simple open csv method.

Again good look at the docs.

 

[Richard]

Thank you for that Steve,I spoke the pharmacist on Saturday about the neck and was given strict instructions to visit the building across the green where the docs hang out on Monday morning. It is probably nothing but I guess you cannot be too careful.

I have set up the synchronisation for the new phone but for the moment all the contacts are on the SIM and the old phone. I have looked at the Nokia software – and even updated it but while I can back up the old phone data crowbarring it out of the old set up into a form that others can read is proving a slight issue. Nokia use their own format that others do not read… Several slightly dodgy sites offer to read or convert the files so that is a bit of homework for me to continue with for the moment. If I can get it onto the PC or further up the chain then what will be a result. I will let you know the result if I can get a good one.

[The Duke]

What I use to do in the old pre smart phone days is give my phone to my wife and let her copy all the numbers from one device to another. Luckily after the first jump to a smart phone in 2008, my contacts have just followed me around.

By for the splat way is to just sit at your PC and type them in to Gmail one by one. Take the opportunity to clean your contact lists up, and put everyone addresses etc in there neatly with Email info etc.

[Richard]

I’ve done it, Nokia did manage to make a copy of the data in a number of v-card files one per name/number and store them on the PC. Using e-mail I sent them to the  gmail account which got them across to the new phone via WiFi then after the rigid application of enough dumb ignorance they appear to be sat in the new phone. Do not under rate the level of dumb ignorance that was applied, the first number went in fine, the rest took at least half an hour before anything moved from the mail to contacts…

That is enough battling for the moment, I am knackered, I was not helped by a very disturbed night.

[JayCeeDee]

I had the same problem when I got my Sony Xperia Z3 Compact as my next phone after my old Nokia N8. If memory serves I transferred them either by Bluetooth, or by THIS method, can’t remember now:(.

[Tippon]

A bit late now, but as long as the SIM card fits in the new phone, you can transfer contacts straight from the SIM. Open the Contacts app, go into Settings, then Import/Export and you’ll see the options. Same with SMS messages saved to the SIM (likely with an old phone). Put the SIM in, open the default messaging app and go to settings, and near the bottom is the option to manage messages on the SIM  :good:

[The Duke]

@tippon, I didn’t now them setting, was still kicking about. Once they was very in your face, in a pop up box everyone you wanted to save a contact, probably bas they expected people still to be coming from feature phones and/or in the habit of saving to sim. But they stopped that about 7 years ago.

I don’t think I’ve had to venture into the contacted options since my G1 days, when your contacts are with in Gmail, it just all works.

Glad you got it sorted Richard.

Last week my FiL who now has a motorola razor, I don’t know if it’s knew or 10 years old bit it’s in mint condition, anyway he asked me could I turn predict off. I failed, and what was worse, in between me tweaking a setting, Id have to have him wrote a sentence on it as I just couldn’t do it. It felt so foreign, it’s amazing how you can just forget. It may of course be even ten years since I used a keyboard like that, but I’d been using then for over ten years prior. But my mind just blanked fingers froze, and mouth said “err…. Can you type something and see if it’s fixed”

 

[Tippon]

I remembered it being there when I first got the 1+, as I had an old SIM with some info on, but I had to look for it now. Like you say, it’s not something that’s needed much any more.

[The Duke]

It may just show if you have contacts already on there, something  I’ve not had for 10 years, so I’ve not seen it.

Though I thought the nano, and maybe micro sims didn’t have the ability to save stuff to. Have you seen how much metal you can cut off a mini sim, when trimming down to fit in a micro or nano slot. I thought all that metal was the access memory you cut off, as the sim will still function .

It actually really hard I kill a sim. In the past I’ve delamination a sim, then layered it back together and it’s worked.

[Author]

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