Ask Android

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Moonrise2473 , in Google Pay alternative?

the alternatives are worse

i'd rather go back to barter than using paypal, for example

Blaze , in An pdf to epub converter
@Blaze@lemmy.zip avatar

Not an Android, but calibre is a good solution if you have a computer at hand

nudnyekscentryk ,
@nudnyekscentryk@szmer.info avatar

It's infuriating how fast we went from "if you have a computer because you can afford one at all" to "if you have a computer because you even bother to use one in the age of smartphones"

Blaze ,
@Blaze@lemmy.zip avatar

I see where you come from, but mobile phones are much better devices than computers for most of the people:

  • always on you
  • easier to use
  • more "real life" applications (camera, mobile music player etc)

On Lemmy most of the people are desktop enthusiasts running Linux, but it makes sense that other people moved on

richieadler ,

Moving on doesn't make sense to me. Just use both.

glimse ,

After my sister's college laptop died, she only had a phone for over a decade and got by just fine.

richieadler ,

I work in IT and I enjoy programming. No way I can live without a computer (a desktop computer, in particular).

MicrowavedTea ,

I get the computer part but why a desktop in particular? Especially for programming it shouldn't make a difference.

richieadler ,

You obviously are not a touch typist. I am.

Laptop keyboards are, as someone said, like running barefoot on cement: you can do it for short periods, but if you do it for a long time you start feeling the effects. I need to use a full width keyboard to be confortable programming. And not any full width keyboard; I need the ones where the keys are sculpted and their curvature varies (like the inside of a sphere) depending of the position of the keyboard. That way I can have a good feedback of the position of my fingers, again, without needing to watch the keyboard. If I'm going to connect a full keyboard to a laptop, I may well get a full desktop computer.

Why a desktop:

  • if something craps out, is easier to change individual components in a desktop.
  • my current desk is overcrowded and also is not designed to house a laptop and an additional monitor
  • I despise using laptops for gaming and for anything that doesn't require mobility. My serious computing is static, not mobile. My work provides me a laptop, but I can easily work from home, and also they don't provide desktops. For my own machine, my choice is desktop, period.
MicrowavedTea ,

I am a touch typist and laptop keyboards are fine. I haven't tried keyboards with weird curvatures but most desktop keyboards are too wide if you don't have big hands.

I can see the first point about repairability but it's not really something you can't do without and is the price to pay for mobility (which is something that could be considered essential). If you use a laptop with full peripherals, it can act as a desktop when there is no space but you can't do the opposite :p

richieadler ,

I am a touch typist and laptop keyboards are fine.

Were in violent disagreement, then.

repairability [...] it's not really something you can't do without

Being able to disregard e-waste and discarding a whole machine when something fails is a privilege that not everyone has. If you leave in a wasteful country whose society benefits from the wealth produced by destroying other countries, I can understand the mental blindness.

is the price to pay for mobility (which is something that could be considered essential)

For whom? For me it's certainly not.

If you use a laptop with full peripherals, it can act as a desktop when there is no space

A laptop with many peripherals tends to occupy nor horizontal space, not less. And the fragile hubs needed for expansion are a frequent point of breakage.

umbrella ,
@umbrella@lemmy.ml avatar

in my case is repairability and lower cost

Dymonika ,

easier to use

Let me introduce you to spreadsheets, video-editing (advanced, not just simple), music notation, and many other forms...

nudnyekscentryk ,
@nudnyekscentryk@szmer.info avatar

@Blaze is right, that most people's personal computer scope of usage doesn't reach far beyond scrolling through Facebook and paying bills once a month. A phone is perfectly well fit for that. Tech-savvy nerds of Lemmy such as myself or you have more requirements and scenarios where they need a more comfortable, powerful and capable device.

Blaze ,
@Blaze@lemmy.zip avatar

I use Linux as my main OS.

I still see that people around me use their phones for almost everything.

The tasks mentioned above make sense on a work computer, but most people leave the work computer at work and use their phones on their free time.

nudnyekscentryk , in flashing ROM, is it that easy?
@nudnyekscentryk@szmer.info avatar

If you're only interested in flashing the European version of MIUI/HyperOS then yes, it's very much straightforward and I can see this device is supported.

If you however want to install a custom rom (LineageOS based) then it's bit more complicated.

DavidGarcia , in flashing ROM, is it that easy?

Xiaomi is one of the most annoying to unlock. you need to create an account with them and wait like two weeks or more.

xep , in flashing ROM, is it that easy?

With Xiaomi, you're looking at a two week or more wait to unlock the bootloader. I wouldn't recommend it.

Tippon ,

Plus, part of unlocking is setting up a Mi account, accepting third party cookies, and syncing your data to their servers. Xiaomi are a shitshow

deweydecibel , in flashing ROM, is it that easy?

If it allows you to unlock the bootloader, flashing isn't really that difficult anymore. What really matters is how well the device in question is supported by the custom ROM and the community. If you can find one that's officially supported by lineageOS, for example, they have good documentation and guides to walk you through it. If the ROM is less popular, you might end up in Telegram channels asking for assistance.

The most important thing you can do is research what you're planning to flash. Check XDA, find Telegram, Matrix, or Discord channels (which I know is extremely annoying), look for other people that have attempted to do this and note what issues they seem to have had.

Alien_Mortice , in An pdf to epub converter
@Alien_Mortice@lemmy.world avatar

Try this: To ePub

Successful_Try543 , in Looking for an app that lists my apps' last updates

SD Maid SE has the option to list apps in the order of their last update.

squirrel OP ,

Thank you. That's exactly what I was looking for.

over_clox , in Looking for an app that lists my apps' last updates

I don't have a proper answer for that thought, but I do have a thought...

Yes, update your browsers, but watch out for updated apps that request more permissions than old versions.

I have an older drone app that only requires permissions you'd expect, but the update wants access to my fucking phone and contacts and shit?!

Sometimes it's very valuable to keep up with the older version apps...

Amir , in A music converter app
@Amir@lemmy.ml avatar

termux with ffmpeg

UI

oh

ladfrombrad Mod ,
@ladfrombrad@lemdro.id avatar

See the thing is, I'm pretty sure Tasker can do that and we ain't gonna let this meme die?

Make a Tasker widget that invokes said Termux script and we have nice UI too?

sabreW4K3 OP ,
@sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al avatar

For anyone interested, the terminal command is ffmpeg -i input_file output_file so ffmpeg -i awesome_sauce.flac awesome_sauce.mp3

otter , in Any way to use Samsung Galaxy Fit 3 with sleep as android?
@otter@lemmy.ca avatar

While I didn't see anything promising from my quick search, you might be able to try something with Gadgetbridge and a custom entry. I found older posts talking about it, but I didn't search well enough to see if there's been progress

limerod OP ,

I did try bangle.js gadgetbridge from play store and it showed the fit 3 as incompatible.

otter ,
@otter@lemmy.ca avatar

I think it might still be incompatible (I see a request to add it), but the play store version is a separate app based on the actual app one. The actual app isn't on the PlayStore

https://gadgetbridge.org/

limerod OP ,

Bummer. Thanks for helping, anyway.

Successful_Try543 , in A music converter app

If you are looking for a FOSS app, phiola should do the trick.

sabreW4K3 OP ,
@sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al avatar

Thanks for the suggestion, sadly it doesn't meet the UI requirements.

valid , in A music converter app
user224 , in A music converter app
@user224@lemmy.sdf.org avatar
sabreW4K3 OP ,
@sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al avatar

Thanks, that does the job perfectly.

aluminium , in Is Android increasingly inconsistent?

Yeah with permissions there is this stupid feature in Android and Google Play protect that keeps revoking permissions if you don't use an App for some time.

Also they are still constantly trying new ways to "figure out" what Apps should run in the background instead of giving the user any controll. I.m.o. there should just be a "Allow up to run background" permission you can turn on and off and which logs exactly when a app was running the background.

Teknikal ,
@Teknikal@lemm.ee avatar

That drives me mad I manually went through every single app turning this off, it still does it anyway.

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