T-Mobile, the lying cheats

[Jeemie]

Bit: That screen you "helpfully" gave me a link to does not appear anywhere on an Alcatel OneTouch pop7.


I didn't purchase an Apple product because, in addition to being very expensive (you get way better quality photos & sound but I can't afford the expense at present) they don't let you log onto to 2 diff e-mail addresses. At least not easily, very possibly not at all. Apple salespeople could not set this up for my sister on her I-pad.


Kindle, proud progenitor of another group of products that don't allow more than one e-mail address, used to tell its customers "so buy a separate Kindle for your kid/spouse/2nd identity". Their bottom-line products are around $100.00, so that "works" for the kid/spouse. Not so much for the 2nd identity. In my case the 2 separate e-mails were originally "work vs music interests". These days, the Kindle Fire line allows 2nd logins, with a lot of work to be done to set them up, though. Ostensibly so kids can use parents' tablets, but with restrictions on the kids' access.


Some defects Android products have that I didn't know about in advance is that they don't handle midi files (a kind of sound file I frequently get sent to) or, even worse, Adobe Flash. There is supposedly an app for midi files; it isn't supported by Google Play Store, I downloaded it anyway & it not only doesn't work, it invites all kinds bad stuff onto your tablet. I uninstalled it quickly. There are work-arounds for Adobe Flash, which at least is a non-buggy, legit product, but I haven't gotten around to following the many steps to install. And some of the steps may require screens the Alcatel doesn't provide (other Android devices do).


I can, in fact, turn off data-roaming, & have. That's what my post was about. I find I can turn off "data period" in one place only but am afraid I won't get it back.


I cannot restrict my wifi, not on the Alcatel. I'd recommend you don't recommend things you haven't personally tried out on the product in question.


I can keep turning off wifi, but its a whack-a-mole activity. With the emphasis on "keep turning off".


Why are you so sure things can be done on a product & system you don't own & haven't used?

You can sign up or as many e-mails as you want on Apple products.

And if you want to play Adobe Flash, install Firefox as your browser (maybe Chrome too- I can't remember).

Midi I can't help you with but I can't remember the last time I needed to access midi files.

[Jeemie]

Looked it up myself; according to dummies.com, its only easy if you have gmail, AOL, Yahoo. Buckeye Cablevision is none of the above. If you have an iMAP or pop3 account, you need a server name from your provider. Getting this is not always as easy as dummies.com has it sound. I believe sister may have tried. You also may need outgoing server name.

So use Yahoo, gmail, AOL, etc

[BackInTex]

Oh, you contacted Buckeye Cablevision, the same company that a few years ago trashed valued accounts on their own cable connection, & got the relevant servername for my sister? How generous of you. Could you cough it up please?

Its in the document. Read it yourself. If it is wrong because the cable company can't properly document for their customers, then blame the damn cable company and not the hardware.

Or go all out and buy this tablet.



Though I'll wager you may even find some technical issues with this one.

[ghostjmf]

jeemie:

My sister is trying to access an existing account. To get info sent to her by the company that owns the account, & is her home cable & internet provider, as well as mail sent there by entities that only have that account for her.


Fortunately, on a real computer she still has access.


On to Adobe Flash on Android devices: Its not a browser problem, its an "Android doesn't support" problem. Though there is a recomended fix I haven't yet tried (lotsa steps). I do have Chrome, a Google
-Universe thing, on this Android device, of course, but it doesn't include Flash here.


I do play midi files. For one, Mudcat, for folkies, has a complete library of ballad tunes only in midi. So can't play them on tab.

[ghostjmf]

BiT:

Unless you live in a diff universe than do I, which I strongly suspect you do, there's no "in the document" on the dummies.com website that contains the servername in question.

[BackInTex]

BiT:

Unless you live in a diff universe than do I, which I strongly suspect you do, there's no "in the document" on the dummies.com website that contains the servername in question.

Notice how the "Yeah, that was pretty tough." is a different color? Indicating it is a hyperlink? Click it. It's like magic. It is safe for work, even.

[ghostjmf]

BiT:

Next time just send an address. www.etc. No, I didn't notice it was a link. All it looked like to me was snarky comment. I guess I am not myself in the universe where I know blue always means a link.


Can't easily do links, or quotes to signify which comment I'm responding to, for that matter, on this tab, though theoretically it can be done. Which is why I've been putting addressee's name at top of my responses.

[Estonut]

BiT:

Unless you live in a diff universe than do I, which I strongly suspect you do, there's no "in the document" on the dummies.com website that contains the servername in question.

Notice how the "Yeah, that was pretty tough." is a different color? Indicating it is a hyperlink? Click it. It's like magic. It is safe for work, even.

Good luck with that:

http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 3F#p143848

http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 3F#p143918

http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 3F#p143942

[Jeemie]

On to Adobe Flash on Android devices: Its not a browser problem, its an "Android doesn't support" problem. Though there is a recomended fix I haven't yet tried (lotsa steps). I do have Chrome, a Google
-Universe thing, on this Android device, of course, but it doesn't include Flash here.

Flash works in Firefox on an Android device.

I know it will because I have done it.

Download Firefox.

[Jeemie]

BiT:

Next time just send an address. http://www.etc. No, I didn't notice it was a link. All it looked like to me was snarky comment. I guess I am not myself in the universe where I know blue always means a link.


Can't easily do links, or quotes to signify which comment I'm responding to, for that matter, on this tab, though theoretically it can be done. Which is why I've been putting addressee's name at top of my responses.

No offense Ghost, but people have been turning parts of their posts into links for some time now.

When you see an underlined word/phrase or a differently-colored word/phrase, odds are it's a hyperlink.

And you can easily tell by hovering your cursor over it. Your cursor will change from an arrow to a hand with a pointing finger.

I have to admit, sometimes the word/phrase that's the link doesn't stand out as well as it should, so I usually add some more formatting to make it stand out some more, like I did in this post.

But it isn't posting rocket science.

[ghostjmf]

Jeemie says:

When you see an underlined word/phrase or a differently-colored word/phrase, odds are it's a hyperlink. And you can easily tell by hovering your cursor over it. Your cursor will change from an arrow to a hand with a pointing finger.

I don't get the arrows/hand imagery on the tablet. And there's no hovering of cursor on a tablet either. There's a frustrating attempt to get the cursor placed where you want it at all, even after enlarging the area of the screen you want to go to. Everything is so much easier on a real computer, but I made my choice.


Obviously, I'm at a real machine now, so I can cut & paste, then highlight what I've pasted to quote people per board custom. This is theoretically possible on the tablet, but the only time I seem to be able to get the copy or cut working is when I don't want it. And forget about paste working. If other people find cut/copy/paste to be a breeze on their tablet, I believe them. But I don't have their tablet. I could have gone the real keyboard & even real mouse route with this, but at great expense. And, of course, carry-around weight. Maybe some day I will have a real laptop but still be too lazy to take all the "make it really real" tools (mouse, real keyboard with weighted keys that have concave tops & are far enough apart to really type on) out each time I use it.


Just for the record, I actually like the Android keyboard on the Alcatel better than the keyboard on my sister's I-Pad. You get to toggle between basic keyboard but with some symbols missing, same with caps, a keyboard that supplies the missing symbols, & another keyboard that has even more symbols & Greek letters. I think. Gotta check. Maybe only the Greek letters used in science.


Whereas the I-Pad has I think 2 keyboards available at the toggle.


Another thing Android does somewhat better than Apple, but not perfectly, is when it reproduces a screen that on a real computer has stuff down the sides. Android puts that side-stuff at the bottom. Doesn't always; I'd say that depends on how the source screen is constructed. But Apple, in my experience, tries to replicate the real-screen appearance, but sometimes you wind up with the side-stuff just out of reach. Horizontal scrolling does not get to it.


Another thing about tablets, as you probably all know by now, is that sometimes you tap something you know to be a link, & nuthin' happens. Several times over, nuthin' happens. That's tab-world.

jeemie says:

Flash works in Firefox on an Android device.

I know it will because I have done it.

Download Firefox.

1st, though, I believe I have to download Flash. Unless you are saying Flash is incorporated into Firefox. Which may well be what you are saying. The fix I've looked up, though, gives instructions on how to beat a program labeled "other" by Android into working on Android, with some bugs, & says after you do it should be good to go via Chrome, which I already have per Alcatel on the tablet. None of the fixes say "just get Firefox". I have nothing against Firefox, I use it all the time on real machines, but I'm a little leary of downloading something as big as a whole 'nother browser when the tablet already has 3 that don't eat into my storage space.


Strangely enough, the Alcatel has Adobe Acrobat for reading files that want it. There was some political/computer-structural reason they divorced Adobe Flash specifically that I'll have to read up on again. Some comparable technology they believed everybody was going to abandon Flash for, but everybody hasn't.

[Jeemie]

You're right- you do have to manually install Flash. I had forgotten this. But it's not that hard to do. Google Flash Android Firefox and you'll find links that show you how to do it.

You're downloading an archived copy from Adobe's website, so unless you're real worried it's been compromised (and it wasn't when I did this) it's OK to allow the "unknown sources" option in Security.

And if you've got what you feel are too many browsers, dump one if you can make Flash work.

[jarnon]

Ghostmjf, I think you can relate to the guy who did this:

Spoiler

[Bob78164]

I just bought my first tablet about a month ago. How does one control the select, cut, and paste functionalities? --Bob

[Jeemie]

I just bought my first tablet about a month ago. How does one control the select, cut, and paste functionalities? --Bob

Copy and paste on an iPad:



Copy and paste on an Android device:

[ghostjmf]

For me, only the part about web sites is relevant since on tablet I don't get text msgs. Also, on Alcatel tab, I don't get a written menu. I do get icons for copy, cut at top right of screen. But very rarely do I actually get intended area highlit. And forget about getting paste to work. And while I do have a Notepad app that came with device, it doesn't involve itself w/ this task as clipboard in demo does.

I'd say this guy has a diff brand tablet than Alcatel.


His tutorial *is* useful. All stroking the screen does is of course get screen to scroll, but specfically stroking those arrows does, it turn out, highlight increased areas of text. So I'm closer to getting it working.

[Estonut]

His tutorial *is* useful. All stroking the screen does is of course get screen to scroll, but specfically stroking those arrows does, it turn out, highlight increased areas of text. So I'm closer to getting it working.

Don't know how long your fingernails are, but, if not too long, try using the nails rather than the fingertips. When I borrowed an iPad last year, it seemed to prefer the click of a nail over the tip of a finger.

[ghostjmf]

Estonut says:

Don't know how long your fingernails are, but, if not too long, try using the nails rather than the fingertips. When I borrowed an iPad last year, it seemed to prefer the click of a nail over the tip of a finger.

Mine are a respectable (i.e. unbitten) length until they break off, that is. But I don't think they're long enough that it will be easy to use them for this.


I was given some invaluable info when I 1st bought the tab by the store person who said I was touching the screen "too hard". Just a light tap was all it needed. I'd found with my sister's I-Pad that it I pretty much had to slug it to get a response. Sometimes several times. Probably a light tap would have been better with that too. I'll try to remember to test that next time I visit her.


Sometimes, though, on this site, I can't get a screen to scroll at all for editing purposes. So I have to wait to fix errors until I get to a real computer during a time I'm allowed to use it for extracurricular things.


The problem I'm currently trying to solve with the Alcatel tab is that while I can copy stuff into the Notepad (it doesn't go there automatically, as it goes to Clipboard on the guy's demo; you have to open Notepad & tap inside it to get your stuff to paste there) I can't get it to paste into gmail (to be sent to myself; how I usually test things 1st). Last time I tried it with this board, paste from the Alcatel didn't work here either.


There are some web addresses that are long enough that the only way I'd get them entire is with cut & paste; taking pen notes while scrolling horizontally through the address should work, but doesn't, as you inevitably lose part of the long address, the window closes, etc.

[ghostjmf]

I was pretty sure my sister had already tried to follow the "add account" instructions on her I-pad, & she had. At my request she tried again, & "add account" on her I-pad appears greyed out, i.e. unusable as an option, & if she taps it anyway won't open. Apple store people need to fix this, if its fixable.

[Bob78164]

I just bought my first tablet about a month ago. How does one control the select, cut, and paste functionalities? --Bob

Copy and paste on an iPad:



Copy and paste on an Android device:

I didn't miss this. I've just been too busy so far to give it a try and I wanted to do that before conveying my thanks for finding and linking these. --Bob