PhanMail Friday: Your Questions Answered [11/05/2010]

It’s Friday, November 5th and that means we’ve got a deep bag of mail to get through and a whole slew of questions to answer for you guys. It also just happens to be Android’s 3rd birthday, if you guys didn’t already know. (Cookie to anyone who can tell us when Phandroid’s third birthday is.) Anyway, we’ve got some mail to go through!

Is there any sign of a decent dock in the future that will support Android? In my case, a HTC Desire HD.

Docks are awesome, but unfortunately we’re at the mercy of manufacturers or carriers if we want official charging and media docks. Many high-end phones do make it to store shelves with an accompanying dock. In the case of your HTC Desire HD, it only comes with a car dock that’ll allow you to stick it to your window for use as a GPS device. As of yet, HTC has not announced plans to release an official desktop cradle, but there are some third party offerings on Amazon UK that can be had for decent prices.

As for everyone else, it’s best to first check with your manufacturer’s official website, then your carrier’s storefront or website to see if they’re offering anything. Just like for the Desire HD, if you can’t find a specific accessory for your particular phone, there are sure to be a number of third party vendors ready to do business with you on various websites.

I’m sure this has been asked before. I just haven’t seen it. When am I going to be able to get that 2.2 update for my samsung fascinate? I’m doing over here? Optional second question: is that super phone from motorola really coming out this year? Love you guys! If it wasn’t for you guys I probably wouldn’t check up on my facebook account. Found out today is my friends birthday! Oops!

Ah yes, Android 2.2. For Galaxy S phones, it’s been a bit of a mystery regarding Samsung’s upgrade and rollout schedule. Good news is that they have finally seemingly worked out all of the bugs for their base model – the GT i9000 – and has started pushing it out to everyone in the UK. This is good news because these phones are very similar at the core and differences in hardware, specs, and features are dismissive.

The bad news is that Samsung will likely have to brew up different versions of the update for different versions of the phone, and then must go through the carriers’ QA process before being approved for rollout. We’re hoping that Samsung and the carriers are able to get the ball rolling sooner rather than later.

As for your optional question? Your guess is just as good as ours. We’ve heard that same rumor time and time again, but there has yet to be any hard evidence to back the claims up. We wholly believe that a new Motorola superphone with a dual-core processor is on its way – the company’s CEO confirmed as much – but we just can’t say for sure what it will be and when it will be here.

I have a g1 and it doesn’t ring or vibrate…what should I do?

You should turn the ringer volume up and make sure your vibration features are turned on. Next!

Joking. But seriously, that should be your first course of action, as simple as it may sound. It’s likely that won’t be the issue, though. If your notification sounds come in just fine, then we know it’s not your hardware messing up. And a software issue preventing your phone from ringing doesn’t sound like it should be the issue. You might want to double check your settings (Menu > Settings from the homescreen) to make sure you’ve actually set up profiles and ringers for incoming cellular traffic. Failing that, the best option is to call T-Mobile and let them know about your issue as it’s a weird one that I’m sure they’ll be glad to help fix.

I have a Droid X and I am interested in the ultimate screen protector. I have done some homework and it looks like the top 3 is Skinomi, SGP and Zagg. I wanted to know which one do you guys recommend and why? P.S. I already purchased Zagg but the skin only protected the screen and not the whole glass face, which is what I am looking for. Thank you for your time.

I can’t personally speak for the quality of the other two protectors, but I have used and swear by Zagg. It sounds like that just won’t cut it for you. While I’d love to order and try out the other brands and give you my opinion on them, I think a much better option would be for you to head to AndroidForums.com and check out the Droid X accessories section. There is always something going on in there and those guys love talking about accessories. There’s bound to be a thread dedicated to screen protectors where users are giving their personal suggestions after weeks of use. I’ve even spotted some for you! Here, here, and here to get you started. (You’ll really want to dig into that last one. Judging by that review, I’d give SGP more than one look.)

As for everyone else there’s bound to be more of the same going on in the respective sections of the phone you own. Just be sure to sign up at AndroidForums.com to participate and don’t be afraid to ask questions!

What is with the current trend towards non user replaceable batteries? Amazon has gone there as has the Nook. Apple went there long ago. My Droid X of course is much more user friendly in that regard, but I am concerned it might pop up in the non apple tablets, especially the Motorola. Any input on this?

When Android was announced and the first “Google phone” – the T-Mobile G1 – was unveiled, one thing we loved laughing at our iPhone-owning brethren about was the fact that we had the option to swap out batteries and they didn’t. It’s something we take for granted, and when a manufacturer goes this route for their phones, it can throw more than just a few people off. (See: Xperia X10 Mini).

I’ve noticed it has become more common, but not to the point where you’ll see every manufacturer designing all of their phones this way. Everyone wants to be as successful as Apple and the iPhone, but they don’t need to mimic their every move. I would say expect this trend to pick up in the tablet race more than the smartphone sector, if anything.

Where can we buy Phandroid gear like that which you’re giving away?

You can’t unfortunately. We only provide it for giveaways, contests, at events, etc… if we had an easy way to ship them we might consider it but we’ve already got our hands full!

How can I purchase the full version of Robo Defence in Hong Kong?

It looks like Hong Kong still isn’t on the list of regions that Google supports for the paid sector of the Android market. They’ve been working to grow that list, but we’re not entirely sure when – or if – Hong Kong will be included.

For any of you in a region where you are unable to purchase paid apps, don’t lose hope just yet. Rumors have been suggesting that PayPal will be offered as an alternative to Google Checkout for buying applications in the Android market. If and when this does happen, that means Google will be able to flip the switch for your countries and you’ll be able to buy to your heart’s content. We know how frustrating it must be for not only users who want to support these developers, but developers who can’t offer ad-free versions of their apps because they develop applications in a non-supported country. Consider this our official plea to Google to make this happen sooner rather than later!

On your weekly contest where you must reply with a comment to enter. Does submitting multiple comments give you a better chance of winning? Because i have only been submitting one comment so far.

Sorry, but the answer is no. You can comment as many times as you’d like, but it absolutely won’t increase your chances of winning. Having said that, please don’t spam the Tuesday Phan Giveaway posts just because you can ;).

That’s it for this week, guys. You’ve sent in a ton of questions and we had a ton of fun answering them all. Don’t forget to keep sending them in using our PhanMail form over at the Contact Us page and check back each Friday to see if your question has been met with an answer!