# New Phone Annoyances **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 11, 2018, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-phone-annoyances/822801 "2018-10-11T13:44:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2018, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-phone-annoyances/822801/21 "2018-10-13T20:59:41Z")
Wow that’s really helpful. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-phone-annoyances/822801/22 "2018-10-14T00:23:30Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > The most annoying thing about the iPhone is that I can’t connect it to my MacBook as a device so that I can download pictures that way. Have you tried AirDrop? My mom’s iPhone and MacBook are connected with iCloud, but AirDrop is great for moving various files (including pictures) in a hurry. I also just checked the settings on my Pixel…it doesn’t have a separate volume control for notifications and ringtones either. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-phone-annoyances/822801/23 "2018-10-14T01:19:14Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Ended up getting a new phone recently because my old one died unexpectedly. I am liking it but a few things about it annoy me. The main one is on my old phone the volume controls allowed separate volumes for the ring vs. notifications. Apparently at some point Google removed it from the OS (although Samsung phones still have it) and on this phone the ringer volume controls both. That is stupid. It’s a pet peeve of mine, but I feel a lot of designers treat users as children. They remove perfectly useful UI features. (I wish I knew the term for this.) There was no need to remove that feature, but someone probably thought that’s an extra icon, or takes up 10 KB of RAM, so that’s “not allowed” and had to go. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-phone-annoyances/822801/24 "2018-10-14T01:26:00Z")
I appreciate the suggestions but Motorola, Google and a few other Android makers took the volume option away with KitKat. Other Android phones such as Samsung still have it so that is why you see it on your phone. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-phone-annoyances/822801/25 "2018-10-14T02:31:02Z")
> [@Kimera757](#): > > It’s a pet peeve of mine, but I feel a lot of designers treat users as children. They remove perfectly useful UI features. (I wish I knew the term for this.) There was no need to remove that feature, but someone probably thought that’s an extra icon, or takes up 10 KB of RAM, so that’s “not allowed” and had to go. In my last phone, I could do a file name search in folders, then select some or all of those files to move or delete. In my new phone, you can still do a search, but the files are merely listed, you can’t select them. So now I have to use ES File Explorer for that. On a similar note, you can’t set app associations for any given file type with the built-in file manager–for instance, it knows what programs can open .jpg or .htm files but considers .epub and .cbr files to be unknown formats and won’t let me associate them with Moon Reader Pro and ComiCat, respectively. Yet I know that the OS passes along that data because 3rd party file managers do recognize the file associations. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-phone-annoyances/822801/26 "2018-10-14T10:36:06Z")
Totally off-topic, but has ES File Explorer gone back to being a decent app? I uninstalled it from all of my devices years ago after becoming suspicious of the app’s repeated attempts to contact a foreign server; since then, judging by reviews, the developers have apparently added lots of unwanted extensions and intrusive ads. ---
**Author:** ![Morelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Morelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morelin)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-phone-annoyances/822801/27 "2018-10-14T13:31:40Z")
My old Samsung, I could get ‘private’ notifications, that is a notification that I got a message, but no what the message itself was. Great option for having the phone out with young, curious children. The new S9 seems to have done away with that, so now I have to be wary of PDA popping up while my phone is visible. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-phone-annoyances/822801/28 "2018-10-14T14:31:50Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > Totally off-topic, but has ES File Explorer gone back to being a decent app? I uninstalled it from all of my devices years ago after becoming suspicious of the app’s repeated attempts to contact a foreign server; since then, judging by reviews, the developers have apparently added lots of unwanted extensions and intrusive ads. Can’t say that I’ve especially noticed ads in it, so that they must not be too intrusive (I’ve had apps that periodicly open a full-screen video ad with blaring audio that can’t be closed for 15 seconds, so that is my calibration on “intrusive”.) It has lots of extensions, but “unwanted” is in the eye of the beholder–I’ve used the image viewer, but there are things like a text editor, a download manager, tools for wirelessly connecting to PCs or other Android devices, the ability to stream media to a wireless streaming capable TV, various other stuff I haven’t really looked at because I just use it as a file manager. Uses only 47 MB for the app, plus whatever data is stored (13 MB for me at the moment) so that’s no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-phone-annoyances/822801/29 "2018-10-14T15:59:30Z")
Not a ‘New Phone Annoyance’, but it’s happening as I have a new phone. Coverage has never been stellar where we live. When I first moved here, and had a different provider, I had to go out to the street to make a call. The last several days, it’s almost been that bad again. I contacted my current provider Friday and received this presponse: > [@](#): > > Upon reviewing the coverage around your address on file, we noticed that we are experiencing an outage at your area with ticket number [#######], which is impacting the quality of our service. Our Specialists are working really hard in order to get this issue resolved as soon as possible. Yesterday I received this: > [@](#): > > Our records indicate that the tower maintenance that was in your area, was completed today (10/13/2018). However, it usually takes a few days for the service to be up and running. The problem is that Mrs. L.A. is an RN and she is on call this weekend. Last night she had to sleep on the floor in the living room so that she could be near her phone, which was in the only place in the house where it gets a signal bar. This is _not_ a good weekend that is convenient for poor coverage! :mad: As for my new phone, it can receive a signal near the couch. I have it plugged into my computer. instead of into the charger in the kitchen. I’ve discovered that it does not charge when my MacBook is closed. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-phone-annoyances/822801/30 "2018-10-14T16:36:17Z")
I was mildly criticized in another thread for saying smartphones don’t come with file managers. I guess I should have said “proper” file managers instead. > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > In my last phone, I could do a file name search in folders, then select some or all of those files to move or delete. In my new phone, you can still do a search, but the files are merely listed, you can’t select them. So now I have to use ES File Explorer for that. On a similar note, you can’t set app associations for any given file type with the built-in file manager–for instance, it knows what programs can open .jpg or .htm files but considers .epub and .cbr files to be unknown formats and won’t let me associate them with Moon Reader Pro and ComiCat, respectively. Yet I know that the OS passes along that data because 3rd party file managers do recognize the file associations. What do we call this? Tech-nannying? Lazy interface programming? Streamlining? Can a computer programmer answer this? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-phone-annoyances/822801/31 "2018-10-14T19:25:23Z")
> [@Kimera757](#): > > What do we call this? Tech-nannying? Lazy interface programming? Streamlining? Can a computer programmer answer this? They probably call it “saving money on tech support.” You don’t have to walk people through on various configurations if you don’t _have_ various conigurations. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-phone-annoyances/822801/32 "2018-10-16T15:49:48Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I appreciate the suggestions but Motorola, Google and a few other Android makers took the volume option away with KitKat. Other Android phones such as Samsung still have it so that is why you see it on your phone. That’s interesting, I have a volume control app called Llama that can set your volumes based on the time/place you are. When I’m configuring a profile it keeps warning me that Android no longer supports different volume levels for ringtone/notification/etc. But I tap “Use volumes anyway” and it works, must be because I have a Samsung. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-phone-annoyances/822801.md?page=1)