New phones are both a joy and a pain in the ass
So the week started out reasonably well, and then Thursday morning my phone bricked itself.
It was a thing where I was in the middle of doing something (jumping back and forth between Docs and Kindle, taking notes on what I was reading) when the screen suddenly went black. I tapped the screen, tapped the power button -- held down the power button hoping to make it restart, but nothing. I put it in my pocket and went about my morning -- but later when I tried it again and couldn't get it to start back up (even plugged into the charger, in case the battery had run down) I got on the desktop and googled for people asking tech forums how to solve my problem.
So turns out the unresponsive black screen is a thing that LGs do on occasion, and the recommendations were A) hold down the power button -- for a longassed time, maybe a full minute -- or maybe the power button and one of the volume buttons simultaneously, B) plug it in and come back tomorrow, see if it magically comes back on after recharging overnight (which is a thing that sometimes happens), C) pull the battery and replace it (which looked really complicated and required a few tools I don't have (though my mother might) since it's not actually meant to be removed by the user), or D) stick the phone somewhere cold for a bit to cool whatever may be overheating (though one techie type strongly advised against exposing electronics to moisture and sharp temperature changes). If none of the above works, the phone is declared definitively bricked -- and in need of replacement.
Accordingly, I left the phone plugged in, spent a chunk of Thursday afternoon getting the Nexus tablet ready for use as an emergency podcast-player at work that night, and came home the next day to attempt to get the phone turned back on. No response to holding the power button down for a longassed time, and yoinking the battery was beyond me, so I did in fact resort to sticking the phone in the freezer for a bit. And wonder of wonders, when I pulled it out and hit the power button, the LG logo came on screen and then the LED started blinking.
But then it just wouldn't boot up -- and I foolishly tried hitting the power button again. The LED stopped blinking and that was that.
So I went to the T-Mobile store down the street and laid the situation out. The good news is the phone was paid off -- months ago -- so I was merely rueful at the inconvenience of needing a new phone right now when I'd been ignoring the signs of impending electronic senescence. The part that had me really stressing was not having a backup file more recent than February 2016. That was why I was struggling to get a dead phone to boot up one. last. time... -- to hook it up to the desktop and get at what I needed.
Here is the great thing about having an Android -- so much of it is linked to my Google account, that when I just logged into my Gmail on the brand-new phone it started downloading apps. Just about all the apps I'd had on my old phone, in fact -- there were maybe a couple I spotted in my library in the Play store that I needed to tell it to go ahead and bring across. And all my contacts were right there immediately -- even a number I'd added to my address book less than a week ago.
Pictures and music weren't automatically included in the process -- which is why I have a couple of folders on my desktop to keep backups of what I have on the phone. The Pictures folder I'm good at keeping up-to-date -- I pull the week's photos and downloads off the phone on Tuesdays, and if I keep an image in my phone's Gallery I add it to the backup folder.
Music was trickier, since I hadn't been staying on top of new additions to my phone's music library -- but most of those were Amazon purchases available for immediate redownloading. (I've just been tweaking my Music backup folder, having ported the whole thing to my phone hours ago and now having noticed some obvious omissions. I need to start making a habit of remembering that folder exists and duplicating any changes I make that involve physical file transfer. Or possibly just every-so-often re-backing-up that folder off my phone.) The major inconvenience there is going to be creating new playlists.
The two forms of data that I was specifically most upset about losing were the financial data in my mobile checkbook app -- and the various checklists in my GTO app. Specifically, the Budget, the Groceries, and the To Do list that helps me maintain a pretense of responsible adulthood.
Both of these were my own damned fault, of course. The checkbook app has a backup/restore function -- which creates handy little files that I could have been copying to my computer along with the weekly photos, had I ever taken a moment to wonder how I'd get to last week's backup file if my phone were lost or completely borked. (So I'm going to be making a habit of copying it over with my pictures, now.)
The checklists were supposed to be a part of the Google account, too. The problem is that the GTO app stopped synching with the Google Tasks function -- possibly back in October 2015, according to the note on the developer's website regarding the program updates that supposedly fix it -- and I knew this, had discovered it when I got the Nexus tablet and was trying to convince my "To Do" list to work on it. So I had ample time to test-drive other checklist apps and if necessarily retype list items from the old, borked app to the new one. But, no, that was too much trouble, and I never got around to it. So.
That was the task that filled me with horror -- and yet, I think I've about licked it. The weekly stuff is such routine by now I could indeed recreate it from memory, and the groceries list involved memory and a bit of checking the fridge and bathroom for if anything was running low. I'm annoyed I've lost my fertilizer schedule for the garden -- the various packages advise how often to dose my plants with, but without knowing when the last dose was given, I'm basically guessing at when to schedule the next round of rosebush all-in-one and blueberry soil acidifier. I've even gotten the budget mostly licked -- and I'm about to get into my online bank account to get balances and recent transactions for the three accounts I need information for. I'm going to look back through the checking account transactions for at least a month or two back to make sure I haven't missed anything recurring...
Okay, done with sorting out my money. I hope. I'm going to be paying close attention to the daily text from the bank giving my checking account balance, but I scrolled back through several months and I think I got all the recurring transactions.
Also, the podcasts... I had too damned many of them, and last time I switched phones the downloaded eps were all gone but at least my subscriptions were passed along intact. This time I'm having to remember them from scratch -- and some of them I had suscribed to (generally on the recommendation of others) but hadn't yet gotten around to listening to. Which means there's no way I'm going to remember their titles now... (I scrolled back through a friend's journal looking for the post in which she asked for podcast recs. Not only did I get a couple of shows from that set of comments back when I read them, but I had mentioned some of my faves -- and two of them I hadn't remembered to resubscribe to today.)
But, okay. Here I am with just a couple of hours left to sleep in before I need to get ready for work -- but the new phone is up and running!
Though I have to order a protective case for it -- and a screen protector -- and a new freaking set of power cords or adapters or some such, because after I'd had a few lovely years to be used to my two main electronic toys -- Kindle and phone -- both being on micro-USB chargers, the new phone demands USB-C. And I have micro-USB chargers in my purse and in my car, in my bedroom and in the compartment under the coffee table and on a shelf in my cubicle at work. Needing a whole new set of everything would be a pain -- and expensive -- and can I get away with just a few USB-C to micro-USB adaptors, or do I need a set of special USB-C charging cables instead? There were warranty-voiding threats made about using the wrong kind of charging equipment...
Hmm, okay, the top review I saw of the pair of adapters was a lengthy discussion of testing the specs of the plugs that impressed me with its geekery. I'm willing to accept the premise that I can get away with a couple of plug adapters (plus the cord-and-charger combo that came with the phone) and keep using my existing charging supplies for the next little while... Okay, placing the order -- and getting offline now!
Crossposted from Dreamwidth with
comments made.
It was a thing where I was in the middle of doing something (jumping back and forth between Docs and Kindle, taking notes on what I was reading) when the screen suddenly went black. I tapped the screen, tapped the power button -- held down the power button hoping to make it restart, but nothing. I put it in my pocket and went about my morning -- but later when I tried it again and couldn't get it to start back up (even plugged into the charger, in case the battery had run down) I got on the desktop and googled for people asking tech forums how to solve my problem.
So turns out the unresponsive black screen is a thing that LGs do on occasion, and the recommendations were A) hold down the power button -- for a longassed time, maybe a full minute -- or maybe the power button and one of the volume buttons simultaneously, B) plug it in and come back tomorrow, see if it magically comes back on after recharging overnight (which is a thing that sometimes happens), C) pull the battery and replace it (which looked really complicated and required a few tools I don't have (though my mother might) since it's not actually meant to be removed by the user), or D) stick the phone somewhere cold for a bit to cool whatever may be overheating (though one techie type strongly advised against exposing electronics to moisture and sharp temperature changes). If none of the above works, the phone is declared definitively bricked -- and in need of replacement.
Accordingly, I left the phone plugged in, spent a chunk of Thursday afternoon getting the Nexus tablet ready for use as an emergency podcast-player at work that night, and came home the next day to attempt to get the phone turned back on. No response to holding the power button down for a longassed time, and yoinking the battery was beyond me, so I did in fact resort to sticking the phone in the freezer for a bit. And wonder of wonders, when I pulled it out and hit the power button, the LG logo came on screen and then the LED started blinking.
But then it just wouldn't boot up -- and I foolishly tried hitting the power button again. The LED stopped blinking and that was that.
So I went to the T-Mobile store down the street and laid the situation out. The good news is the phone was paid off -- months ago -- so I was merely rueful at the inconvenience of needing a new phone right now when I'd been ignoring the signs of impending electronic senescence. The part that had me really stressing was not having a backup file more recent than February 2016. That was why I was struggling to get a dead phone to boot up one. last. time... -- to hook it up to the desktop and get at what I needed.
Here is the great thing about having an Android -- so much of it is linked to my Google account, that when I just logged into my Gmail on the brand-new phone it started downloading apps. Just about all the apps I'd had on my old phone, in fact -- there were maybe a couple I spotted in my library in the Play store that I needed to tell it to go ahead and bring across. And all my contacts were right there immediately -- even a number I'd added to my address book less than a week ago.
Pictures and music weren't automatically included in the process -- which is why I have a couple of folders on my desktop to keep backups of what I have on the phone. The Pictures folder I'm good at keeping up-to-date -- I pull the week's photos and downloads off the phone on Tuesdays, and if I keep an image in my phone's Gallery I add it to the backup folder.
Music was trickier, since I hadn't been staying on top of new additions to my phone's music library -- but most of those were Amazon purchases available for immediate redownloading. (I've just been tweaking my Music backup folder, having ported the whole thing to my phone hours ago and now having noticed some obvious omissions. I need to start making a habit of remembering that folder exists and duplicating any changes I make that involve physical file transfer. Or possibly just every-so-often re-backing-up that folder off my phone.) The major inconvenience there is going to be creating new playlists.
The two forms of data that I was specifically most upset about losing were the financial data in my mobile checkbook app -- and the various checklists in my GTO app. Specifically, the Budget, the Groceries, and the To Do list that helps me maintain a pretense of responsible adulthood.
Both of these were my own damned fault, of course. The checkbook app has a backup/restore function -- which creates handy little files that I could have been copying to my computer along with the weekly photos, had I ever taken a moment to wonder how I'd get to last week's backup file if my phone were lost or completely borked. (So I'm going to be making a habit of copying it over with my pictures, now.)
The checklists were supposed to be a part of the Google account, too. The problem is that the GTO app stopped synching with the Google Tasks function -- possibly back in October 2015, according to the note on the developer's website regarding the program updates that supposedly fix it -- and I knew this, had discovered it when I got the Nexus tablet and was trying to convince my "To Do" list to work on it. So I had ample time to test-drive other checklist apps and if necessarily retype list items from the old, borked app to the new one. But, no, that was too much trouble, and I never got around to it. So.
That was the task that filled me with horror -- and yet, I think I've about licked it. The weekly stuff is such routine by now I could indeed recreate it from memory, and the groceries list involved memory and a bit of checking the fridge and bathroom for if anything was running low. I'm annoyed I've lost my fertilizer schedule for the garden -- the various packages advise how often to dose my plants with, but without knowing when the last dose was given, I'm basically guessing at when to schedule the next round of rosebush all-in-one and blueberry soil acidifier. I've even gotten the budget mostly licked -- and I'm about to get into my online bank account to get balances and recent transactions for the three accounts I need information for. I'm going to look back through the checking account transactions for at least a month or two back to make sure I haven't missed anything recurring...
Okay, done with sorting out my money. I hope. I'm going to be paying close attention to the daily text from the bank giving my checking account balance, but I scrolled back through several months and I think I got all the recurring transactions.
Also, the podcasts... I had too damned many of them, and last time I switched phones the downloaded eps were all gone but at least my subscriptions were passed along intact. This time I'm having to remember them from scratch -- and some of them I had suscribed to (generally on the recommendation of others) but hadn't yet gotten around to listening to. Which means there's no way I'm going to remember their titles now... (I scrolled back through a friend's journal looking for the post in which she asked for podcast recs. Not only did I get a couple of shows from that set of comments back when I read them, but I had mentioned some of my faves -- and two of them I hadn't remembered to resubscribe to today.)
But, okay. Here I am with just a couple of hours left to sleep in before I need to get ready for work -- but the new phone is up and running!
Though I have to order a protective case for it -- and a screen protector -- and a new freaking set of power cords or adapters or some such, because after I'd had a few lovely years to be used to my two main electronic toys -- Kindle and phone -- both being on micro-USB chargers, the new phone demands USB-C. And I have micro-USB chargers in my purse and in my car, in my bedroom and in the compartment under the coffee table and on a shelf in my cubicle at work. Needing a whole new set of everything would be a pain -- and expensive -- and can I get away with just a few USB-C to micro-USB adaptors, or do I need a set of special USB-C charging cables instead? There were warranty-voiding threats made about using the wrong kind of charging equipment...
Hmm, okay, the top review I saw of the pair of adapters was a lengthy discussion of testing the specs of the plugs that impressed me with its geekery. I'm willing to accept the premise that I can get away with a couple of plug adapters (plus the cord-and-charger combo that came with the phone) and keep using my existing charging supplies for the next little while... Okay, placing the order -- and getting offline now!
Crossposted from Dreamwidth with
comments made.