Database Users

Thouhts about my first android phone

Hi,
I would like to post my feelings about my first experience with an android phone.
I bought the Samsung Galaxy S 4 days ago and I spent a decent time to play with it.
My background : I had the HTC P3600 and then HTC Diamond, HTC HD Mini and Iphone 3GS
As you can see I am a fan of HTC and I switched to iphone just because my company gave it to me.
I used to flash my winphone often in order to get the last update and some customisation.
My iphone had the same treatment
Now regarding the Samsung I must confess I bought this one and not the HTC desire because it was not available on Optus. That's the main reason
And I must confess that for the moment I am higghly disapointed by Samsung and/or android but maybe you could help me to change that
Of course the screen is awesome and the possibility to put easily a divx file and watch is really nice ( I never watched anything with my iphone I prefered to use my archos5)
But the following issues are for me quite annyoing and also I must confess surprising to me :
* the amount of lag. It is not smooth at all for instance when you scroll the app page ( not as smooth as the iphone). I have plenty of delay when I open a mail, when I open facebook, when I open the market, when I use the "go back" button ...
Fortunately this is a 1Ghz cpu !! What would be the result with a slower one ???
* The mail app is not working at all and that's the main issue for me !!! I never had any issue with my mail on windows mobile or iphone. My company is using exchange 2003 and I can't get my mail most of the time. Sometime it works and in this case you can be sure that switching from wifi to 3g or the opposite is going to screw the sync. So I have to reboot, swithc off the wifi ... or even to remove my account and recreate it.
I tested touchdown application so I am sure that the problem comes from the default mail app ( is it samsung or android ?? I don't know)
For the moment I have not been able to get my appointment on the calendar ( I get the one from facebook or gmail but not from exchange)
* Samsung kies ... works only on some desktop / OS ?? I can make it work on my home PC ( vista 64 ) but not at my office ( vista 32) because of a MTP failed error. Looks like it is a godd replacement for itunes .... same crap .. .even worst maybe
*the battery is a joke. I am not using GPS, bluetooth, push, smart backlight ( it is at the minimum) and I try to switch on the wifi as often as possible and it doesn't last a business day ( meaning 8-10 hours).
With the iphonhe or the HTC HD Mini I never had this kind of issue.
Ok I took the phone with one of the biggest screen ... but it is also one of the biggest so the battery could be well sized don't you think ??
The worst thing is when I switch off everything except 3G during the night ... I used to do that with my iphone and lose only 5-10% of battery overnight. With the samsung it is more around 30-40% !! So if I forget one day my plug ... I can forget about using my phone
* minor issues : facebook is crap compared to iphone ( i tested both the samsung app and the android one)
The lack of app is quite annoying. I didn't find anything similar for the moment to FSteam or Sydney Tripview which were 2 of the most used app for me ( tripview is the one I used everyday)
Now I want to keep on trying and thinking that Android could be good.
I have started to download some app like touchdown to back up the flaw of the samsung OS but seriously ... paying 20$ just to get my mail is something I don't get. Funny thing ... I wouldn't mind to pay 20$ for touchdown is the default mail app was working fine just because it add a lot of nice feature. But in this case i would first pay just to be able to see my mail ...
Anyway ... I will keep on digging and trying to fine tune the phone.
I have already flashed twice the phone ( JG1 and JFF) which fix some issues ( but not all the lag ...)
I have already charged my phone completely 4 or 5 times ( in 4 days ...) so the battery should be at its maximum now ... I will see if it's better
Am I the only one who feel that way ?
I really want to conclude at the end that android is better than the iphone but for the moment I must confess I can't and it makes me sad
cheers
Nicolas

I've had my sgs for only about a week but I think i can comment on some of these points.
I thought the lag issue with touchwiz was fixed by the latest firmware? For now just changing to launcher pro and using an auto-kill feature with a taskmanager will fix the issue. It is pathetic imo and the phone shouldn't have been released this way.
Yes kies is a bit unstable and just connecting to a new pc in any way can be a pain sometimes, hopefully samsung will fix this.
My phone says it's been unplugged for 9:28hrs and I'm at 90% battery. It was idling with wifi on. That's pretty good, I use a static wallpaper and use a taskmanager with autokill feature since I was ending up with waaay to many open apps. People keep saying android manages that automatically but my phone gets laggy and low on memory.
The samsung facebook app is crap but what's wrong with the one from the market?
It could be a great phone but right now it's definitely still an unfinished product, but I believe it can and will be fixed in the coming weeks or months.

Well, I am kind of like you: I had an HTC Trinity and an iPhone 3G and 3Gs.
I liked the iPhone, but wanted Flash and got fed up with Steve Jobs' arrogance.
So I paid almost $800 for the 16gb Galaxy S.
Android has come a long way, but 2.1 is definitely not as elegant or as smooth as iOS.
The devil (and Jobs) is in the detail, and the Apple product is almost perfect, and very user friendly. My wife took one look at my Android screen and declared it ugly. And, sadly, the design of the icons, the visual continuity between screens, and the smooth operation of iOS, are just not in Android. Yet, hopefully.
Similarly with of the apps in the Market. Many are poorly designed, compared to the majority of what's in the App Store.
Having said that, I am actually enjoying my Galaxy S. It has a really gorgeous screen. It has much better integration with both Google Voice, and with Phone.com (which I use)
For email, I installed the open source k-9 email client, which, while lacking some visual finesse, is more functional than the regular email client. Get it from here: http://handheld.softpedia.com/get/Internet-Utilities/Email/K9-Android-71552.shtml (it's newer version than in the Market).
I expect Android 3.0 to be on par, and hopefully better, than iOS.

For the battery I will do a precise test tonight and see what happens after one night idle but your experience ( 90% after 9hours) would be good to me !!
Finger crossed
I will try app like autokiller but I think I have to root my phone ?? As I said I am a newbie for android andI don;t know yet how to do ( it looks like it can be done through odin)
For K-9 I already had a look at it but I think it's only ofr IMAP and POP3 and not for microsoft exchange ??
The default mail app is actually working fine for my hotmail account. I only have problem with the exchange account
This afternoon again I amanged to received 2-3 and when I go the notification I went directly to the app to sync .... " impossible to connect to the server "
EDIT : an other drawback compared to all my other phone : how to correct a typo on a text without a trackball or arrows in the keyboard ?? Answer : by touching the screen 10 times until you reach the correct position ... Nicely done
I was the first one to say that the iphone was crap , that it couldn't handle flash or mms ... but android can't even get my mail !!!
Regarding Touchdown I thought it was the perfect app and I just got an example where the iphone works better. When you forward an HTML mail with an array it is either as an attachment ( crap !!) or you can edit in line and have it in ther mail but you lose the format of the array ... I can tell you that my boss ( a real apple fanboy) was very glad to show me this
For Facebook ... I must confess I spent more time this afternoon on the default one and it's OK. The issue with the Samsung one is that it is continously loading data. When you switch from Home to profille and back to home for instance.
I really think too that this phone could be really good but it is clearly for the geek only. If you take it out of the box it is a real crap.

nicoloco said:
I will try app like autokiller but I think I have to root my phone ??...........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need to root, just use Task Manager from the market it has an autokill feature.

task manager installed ... there are heaps of task manager
I took the one released by apollo software and I might test also the one released by rhythm software ...

I'm not going to troll, so please dont feel bad about my opinion, but for me it looks like you just didnt read enough before you bought your phone, to get to know your upcoming gadget, everyone have to put a lot more effort in gathering intel.
I'd say the prevention of this problem is quite simple: think before you spend your money, so you can spare a lot of tears and painful hours for yourself. I switched from iPhone 3G to Galaxy S and I am definitely happy with it. Lags gone with the update, all the functions I use are good to me - only thing I had to do is rooting cuz hungary doesnt have the full Android Market either, like Finland.

I see what you mean but I have read a lot of reviews before I bought it and honestly when you look at the phones I had there were always bad comments on the reviews but I used to be able to workaround it. Maybe I will be also able to do the same here
Now as I said my main issues are the problem with exchange, the connection from my work desktop to kies or WM11
I am not sure I could have read somewhere that kies would work for my home desktop but not my work desktop ?
Or that the default mail app would not work with exchange and that I would have to pay 20$ just to get mails. And espcially the fact that the connection would be random.
The battery when you read the review is the same for all the smartphone, something like : not great battery but can last 1 day. It was the same for the iphone or all my other phone. But in my case it far from lasting one day even with everything switched off
For the lag, I knew that the out of the box Rom was not working fine but I expected better from the last Rom. It's better but not as good as an other phone with slower cpu
The only thing that I didn't know when I bought the samsung and that I could have known is the lack of trackball to correct a typo. I found this information only yesterday in a review.
but one more time I see what you means ... and I must confess I have been quite motivated by my frustration of apple ( and itune) and my colleague who has a desire working fine

I use the default mail app for exchange and imap. Works wonderfully for me. I get my contacts / calendar / mail from exchange and a few more email acc on imap servers.
To move the cursor you can press and hold the 123 button in the normal keyboard to get arrows to move the cursor (not found a way to do that with the swype keyboard)

For swype... Just swipe between the swype key and the symbol key for arrows, home/end, select/copy/paste etc. works well and is pretty quick.
Do you have the correct admin privileges at work?
Crabby

To the OP, It's ok to be critical, fanboys do nothing but make companies lazy, just look at Apple for example. I say ***** until it's as good as it could possibly be. In the end it's good for everyone
And thanks for the 'Hold the 123 button' trick! One more annoyance solved.

nicoloco said:
task manager installed ... there are heaps of task manager
I took the one released by apollo software and I might test also the one released by rhythm software ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The one from rhythm software looks nicer and is easier to use imo.

About the lags- Flashing to a new firmware reduces the problem, and there's already a solution my MoDaCo.
I just hope samsung implements it in the next firmware.
Either way, the lag problem is not here to stay, we're going to get rid of it soon.
About the battery-
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=716197
After doing some charges/discharges and starting regular use with it, i have to say the battery life is better than any smartphone i had.

About the battery drainage, make sure you go to "About Phone" in the settings menu and check the "Battery use". It will show you what has been using the most battery, and time since you unplugged the phone. My phone drains about 2% overnight in about 8 hours, and when I'm using it it's only really the display and the cell tower that's drawing power, applications shouldn't be consuming huge amounts of power, say above 8-10% unless you really use it a lot. The other day I noticed my phone had drained more battery than usual for some reason and it showed browser at 25% although I hadn't used it much. Make sure you don't have hung applications draining power! The Task Killer should help a lot here

Honestly. As a T-mobile G1 owner, a long time Android user, an Apple hater and someone who is considering purchasing the T-Mobile USA version of this phone soon, I have to admit that I can see where nicoloco is coming from. You expect some things to just work. Although I can understand the need to root my old G1 and use hacks and task managers to enhance its performance, it seem ridiculous that someone need to hack and use task managers to make a state of the art phone with a 1GH processor and 512MB of system memory work without a lag. This means that something is truly wrong! The fact that you need to keep killing processes to make sure you won't drain your battery is a huge problem of Android. You know what, perhaps Apple knows what it's doing with it's solution to multitasking.
I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too.

You DO understand it's a 2.5 week old phone and still has some "childhood problems", right?
Even the Nexus one was a bit of a troublemaker at the start, untill google took care of the various problems that popped up.
Give it a month or so, i bet you'll see those slips disappearing one by one.

nicoloco said:
Hi,
* The mail app is not working at all and that's the main issue for me !!! I never had any issue with my mail on windows mobile or iphone. My company is using exchange 2003 and I can't get my mail most of the time. Sometime it works and in this case you can be sure that switching from wifi to 3g or the opposite is going to screw the sync. So I have to reboot, swithc off the wifi ... or even to remove my account and recreate it.
I tested touchdown application so I am sure that the problem comes from the default mail app ( is it samsung or android ?? I don't know)
For the moment I have not been able to get my appointment on the calendar ( I get the one from facebook or gmail but not from exchange)
cheers
Nicolas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why sync is working in the Windows Mobile phones but not in the Android phones?
The reason might be licensing. The Exchange mail protocol is propietary by Microsoft. If you like to sync, you have to pay for it. WinMo and iPhone in these days are used by corporate users, those phones include the Exchange license.
There are fewer Android users which need Exchange sync, why to pay, if you don't use? If you need it, you buy the software for syncing.

WOW, I have the Nexus One and my phone is blazing fast, I'm kinda worried about getting the Samsung Vibrant now.
The Facebook app is not the same as the stock Nexus One ? I know most of the Countries outside the US do not have most of the apps the US does and I'm thinking maybe that's why you can't get a good facebook app.
Sorry but pretty UI's and cute transition screens are for girls lol I'll take function any day .
How many time have you charged the phone so far ? your not going to get full performance untill after 4 or so charges.
You also have to remember THIS IS NOT APPLE, Android is an open source platform, any Tom **** or Harry can publish an app, 1 badly written app can kill you battery in 3 hours, you have to make sure you only download highly rated apps and also read the comments, some apps work on some phones better than others.
Thy to press the back button instead of the home button, the back button is more likely to close an app and the home button is more likely to keep the app open.
Turn off "sync data in background" this sync's data like weather, Market place, GPS and things like that, if your not using it turn it off.
Download a 2G/3G switch turn off 3G if your not on the net or downloading something, that's the 2nd biggest battery drainer, especially if you have a weak 3G signal.
Doing all this should gain you at least 8 hours more
Not doing this on my Nexus One running 2.2 I get 10 hours.
Doing this I get 20-28 hours.

For swype... Just swipe between the swype key and the symbol key for arrows, home/end, select/copy/paste etc. works well and is pretty quick.
Do you have the correct admin privileges at work?
Crabby
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure to understand ? What is the symobl key for arrows ?
On my side I have read more carefully the tutorial for the swype and have found some good tip I didn't know ( like double tap on a word to change it). It's definitely a very fast way to write a text or even a long mail.
Yes I have all the privilege at work. I can install whatever I wnat ( even wow ) and do almost anything.
For the classic keyboard .. .thamks for the tip of 123 !!! it's actually the same that what I had on my HTC HD Mini and works well
I use the default mail app for exchange and imap. Works wonderfully for me. I get my contacts / calendar / mail from exchange and a few more email acc on imap servers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lucky you !! Maybe not the same exchange server model ( 2003 ? 2007 ?)
Yesterday I got some mail coming again from the exchange server. I think it's when I was connected to the plug before I select the kind of usb connection I wanted !!
Anyway I have 30 days ( touchdown trial) to find a way to make it work fine
The one from rhythm software looks nicer and is easier to use imo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will try this one as I didn't like the one from apollo. I wonder why it shows me so many open app like video player, feeds and updates, navigation .... I never open them since the last reboot. Is there some automatic start for such app ??
WinMo and iPhone in these days are used by corporate users
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear Elisa ... I guess this is a troll ?? I remember not so long time ago where everybody said that winmo and blackberry are for corporate and iphone for girls and fanboy. Iphone is clearly not designed at the beginning for the corporate user. Especially for the first version of iphone. And yet the synchronisation always worked fine for me
In my company we are 1000 and I can tell you that only the syndey office ( 10 people) got the iphone as we are quite isolated and we can do what things differently. The rest are using only BB or Windows mobile.
Anyway, some people manage to get the sync working with android without paying so your point is not very solid.
As as I said, touchdown is so much nicer than the default app that I wouldn't care to buy it. But right now I am just asking for the basic feature ... just get my mail.
By the way, I didn;t find a way to ask the default app to sync the inbox and some other subfolder ?? Something that I used to do with the winphone, the iphone and can be done with touchdown. Do you know if this is possible ?
One last thing ... how the developper who did this app could have done such a crappy way to handle the inbox tree ??? It transfomed my tree of folder in a flat list ordered alphabetically. How dumb it is !!! So the subfolder of one folder ar e not next to each other ... I will have to change the naming ( put 1,2,3 at the beginning of the folder I guess)
Now for the battery ...
As I said I already did 4/5 full recharge of the battery ( it's kind of quick with a phone which last only few hours )
This morning I have a full battery, no wifi, no push, minimum backlight, no crappy app ....
My phone is unplugged for 2h20 now and it has 80% of battery with 55% coming from the screen (screen switched on 39mn)
Is it the kind of consumption that you have ??
Then 12% from the cell phone and 11%(2h20) from the music (14mn)
I guess I can save some battergy by switching off the 3G
I will see in few battery cycle how it evolves
To conclude on my feeling, if I could have the mail working perfectly , the connection to my computer wokring and the battery lasting a little bit longer I would be already quite happy with my phone.

nicoloco said:
Dear Elisa ... I guess this is a troll ?? I remember not so long time ago where everybody said that winmo and blackberry are for corporate and iphone for girls and fanboy. Iphone is clearly not designed at the beginning for the corporate user. Especially for the first version of iphone. And yet the synchronisation always worked fine for me
In my company we are 1000 and I can tell you that only the syndey office ( 10 people) got the iphone as we are quite isolated and we can do what things differently. The rest are using only BB or Windows mobile.
Anyway, some people manage to get the sync working with android without paying so your point is not very solid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The situation varies through the Globe. Here in Finland where the Nokia has been the biggest in many companies, but in these days many companies uses iPhone (it is easy). We have almost 50 000 employees worldwide and the iPhone is now permitted in our Exchange server,too. WinMo has been allowed in years, but it is... Because of the Android 2.1 and earlier doesn't complete all the security issues in the Exchange, so it is rejected and no one can connect Android's to our Exchange server. This is the real life in the bigger companies.
The Froyo will upgrade this:
- Improved security with the addition of numeric pin or alpha-numeric password options to unlock device. Exchange administrators can enforce password policy across devices.
- Remote wipe: Exchange administrators can remotely reset the device to factory defaults to secure data in case device is lost or stolen.
- Exchange Calendars are now supported in the Calendar application.
- Auto-discovery: you just need to know your user-name and password to easily set up and sync an Exchange account (available for Exchange 2007 and higher).
- Global Address Lists look-up is now available in the Email application, enabling users to auto-complete recipient names from the directory.

[Q] Thinking of getting a focus

Hi, I wanted to know what you guys think of the Focus and is it a worth getting?
What are the ups and downs of windows phone 7?
Is there any major hardware issues that I should consider before getting one?
Thanks in advance

I bought the phone outright from Rogers for $630.00 and I don't have a single regret! I think WP7 is gonna be a VERY strong competitor against ios and android by the end of the year. Microsoft needs a few updates to give the devs more control to create better apps, it needs some more user customization, and as most complaints would be it doesn't have copy & paste (which I dont care about at all)
All these are coming in updates soon and once the ball really starts rollin' I think WP7 will be a major success.
Is it worth buying the Focus? ABSOLUTELY! I love the phone, its so fast, fluid, and feels great.
I have new hopes for MS now, and I think Im currently leaning towards WP7 more than android and ios.
just my opinion,,,,hope this helps.

Sweet! You won't regret it IMHO.
My top 5 tips for the Focus (extra important for someone like me outside US warranty cover):
1. TAKE TREMENDOUS care clipping on/off the rear plate-phone back. It is plastic, with a couple of tiny plastic clips holding it in. Break these.....replacment back plate or blu-tac required!
2. Think long and hard over a case (I got a body glove - review on this site). This can be a slippery little sucker once the back plate gets some natural body oils / sweat / humidity etc on it. It has such a small form factor – cases do not weight it down too much in my opinion.
3. Add expandable memory at your own risk until MS offer a certified list / approved card process. If you do – load up the phone above the 8GB limit ASAP to test stability over a week or so. If you add heaps of apps and custom info and then need to hard reset, you've wasted a decent amount of time.
4. Use the Samsung Profile app (marketplace) to move the MMS capability over to your preferred carrier if outside US (eg Telstra Australia = worked for me).
5. Remove the AT&T bloat/software if outside US App support.
From one very happy Aussie Focus owner.

Thanks guys I'm see about getting one in a few weeks.
So no custom roms for this device yet, no ones working with this or any of the WP7 phones?

Think again
Noz85 said:
Thanks guys I'm see about getting one in a few weeks.
So no custom roms for this device yet, no ones working with this or any of the WP7 phones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are, like me, a former WM 6.5 guy who liked to flash custom ROMs and are thinking about a WP7 device, you are on the wrong path my friend. Custom ROMs on a WP7 device? Have you not read anything in these threads? I went to the Focus from a FUZE with a 6.5.5 Energy ROM, and tweaked and upgraded constantly, including my apps. I did this becuase I wanted to and thought I needed to. It was insanity and I realize this now that I have the Focus. I no longer need to do that, and no longer want to do that. My apps update on their own, the OS will too, and I would like to see some OS updates but don't need them. If what you want to do is tweak, customize and burn new custom ROMs, look elsewhere than WP7.

While we're on topic, how is the call quality?

Call quality
mcorrie1121 said:
While we're on topic, how is the call quality?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best of any smartphone I've ever used - Kaiser, Rhodium, iPhone 1st gen and 3GS. It REALLY sounds good. MUCH better radio than any of the other mentioned phones, as well, in terms of reception and coverage on AT&T in my location.

wspaw said:
The best of any smartphone I've ever used - Kaiser, Rhodium, iPhone 1st gen and 3GS. It REALLY sounds good. MUCH better radio than any of the other mentioned phones, as well, in terms of reception and coverage on AT&T in my location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
that I can definitely agree with! Excellent call quality!

Samsung Focus WP7 pros and cons
Check Youtube video: "The Dark Side of the Samsung Focus"
I am hearing some a mono tone noise in the background while using my Bluetooth headset, such as Jawbone Icon, Sound ID5 etc.
The App store is still at its infancy. The interface is sometimes sluggish and crash without response especially on 3rd party apps. There is no VOIP applications yet because MS hasn't released the API. The screen of the Focus is sometimes way too sensitive that I have to do a factory reset or complete shut down of the phone.
CONS:
- Bluetooth + 3G call interfere with WiFi signal.
- Camera Settings are Not Saved after usage. I have to re-set 720P for video everytime!
- No video upload to social network nor Youtube yet.
- No dedicate Youtube app beside the mobile web interface. I really like the latest Youtube app in Android where you can have full screen in landscape and a small video still running on top with comments and related links at the bottom.... too bad it's only limited to Froyo or above version.
- Bluetooth Remote Control Protocol (No track change, No Volume Control)
- No Hidden WiFi SSID
- No native multilingual input support such as Chinese text and voice input yet.
- Voice control sometimes forces you to quite to the home page and need to press and hold the Windows Button again.
- No HTML5, Text rendering engine is sometimes very slow which results in unreadable pixelated form when zoomed in.
- Lacking confirmation before shut down when press and hold the power/sleep button. Both iOS and Android prompt for shut down not WP7.
- Charging time is very long. Sometimes it takes 8 Hours to charge from 0 % to 100%.
- Volume Button sometimes gets stuck depending on the surrounding temperature such as too cold at around 56ºF.
- Capacitive Buttons at the bottom are sometimes too sensitive which causes quitting a game and need to be restarted all over again.
- No Multitask or limited multi-task yet.
- A lot of games need to start from the beginning instead of pausing the state when quitting the app accidentally.
- No free turn-by-turn Navigation system.
- No Skype, fring, not even official Windows Live Messenger client yet (Zune HD has Windows Live Messenger already).
- No Front Facing Camera for video call
- Cannot change theme by default (without jailbreaking)
- Only Vibrate twice then ringtone instead of vibrating and ringtone simultaneously.
- No Threaded email
- Hard to manage tons of apps if MS still keep the same Metro UI without implementing some kind of folder system.
- Apps only sorted in Alphabetic order
- Text Message does not show nor highlight the phone number of the contact. I often get confused on which number did the caller call from, Google Voice, Mobile, Office, or Home??
- Cannot SMS to pager, home, and other category number except Mobile. Unless you type it in manually or go through the contact list.
- SMS doesn't use two colors or styles to distinguish you or the person you are trying to SMS to.
Pros:
- (Just Discovered) Able to record HD video with voice during any phone calls! No other Operating System can do that well and smooth. iPhone blocks the video capture during phone call, Symbian doesn't allow voice but video, Android camera is totally disabled, while the iOS allows you to take picture at least but not video.
- Thinnest and lightest WP7 phone
- 4" Super AMOLED screen
- Nice and loud speaker
- Chrome bezel and back cover.
- in-line and in-ear headphone with mic and volume control included
- Pin Apps, Songs, Website, People, etc to Home screen
- Large icons for touch
- Fast loading for MS's native interface
- Great Start for version 1.0 of the WP7. There are plenty of improvement and I'm sure MS will tackle the above issues in future updates.

Nice review, squarejp - thanks for sharing that.
User experience on the Focus is somewhat varied, I would say. Some prefer the plain glass "feel" versus having a third party screen protector like Zagg's InvisibleShield (my preference) on it, for example.
My experience with the Focus is that is an awesome phone. WP7 has some challenges ahead but I am optimistic (even if naively so) that most, if not all, of the issues will get hashed out over time. I'm very pleased with this phone and can't wait to see what the future holds for it!

Thanks guys looks like a solid device. I wasn't really looking to mod it just figured I'd ask. I got the aria for Modding anyways.
sent from my HTC Intruder

squarejp:
Some of Your cons seem to be a matter of personal preference, not an actual limitation of the phone. two colour sms? c'mon, if you can't tell that the bubble on the right is you and the bubble on the left is your sms partner, then Metro is obviously lost on you.
The best thing about this phone is what JamesAllen has said. it just works, you don't have to dicker around with it (that is unless of course you're taking it from one network to another).
If you want something to enable you to use the features most people expect in a smartphone while being able to enjoy an unlimited data plan, this is definitely a great phone.

Check out the Real CONS on Youtube.
Search "The Dark Side of The Samsung Focus"
Bluetooth + 3G interfere with WiFi signal.

Highly recommend this device and OS.
Put my nightmare X10 right back in the box.

can I chime in
the ONE thing that drives me crazy about the phone is the small landscape keyboard. I can live with almost all of the other nuances. My captivate keyboard spread accross the bottom of the screen and was really easy to type on. the landscape keyboard on WP7 is just too small.

[Q] Captivate Vs. Focus

I currently have an Atrix but I've been having many problems with it. I just came from a captivate that I really enjoyed but had grown bored with.
What I want to know is if anyone has experience with both the Focus and Captivate. If you came from one to the other are you happy with the change? I think a lot of my problem with the captivate was that I was just bored with android. WP7 looks very nice and it would almost be a relief to not feel the need to customize /root /upgrade /flash a new ROM every other day.
Any Android to WP7 converts who regret the change?

I actually just got a cheap Samsung Focus. I still have my captivate and was in the same boat as you. I was just sick of looking for froyo etc. I found a deal on one and really really enjoy it. I love the games on it as they are more cohesive than Android. Also, it just works. There aren't as many apps etc but the freakin GPS works spot on and quickly. It takes a little adjustment coming from Android to WP7 but I am almost completely swapped over. I will be using my captivate more like an ipod touch for the foreseeable future. I don't like bing as much as google but that has been my biggest problem so far.

I did make that leap. I got tired of a couple specific issues with the Capitivate. The GPS was terrible and took forever to lock on. The Focus is almost instant. The email updates on the Capitivate was eratic and would most times not automatically update. The email on the Focus has been great compared to that.
tanneji hit it -- there are more apps on Android, but I'm not missing any (well, besides Angry Birds, for now). The rest of the OS for WP7 is much better for me than Android. I sold my old phone and am not looking back.

My 2 cents
Being a previous Captivate owner from Aug'10 through Dec'10, here is a short list of pros/cons after making the change to the Focus:
Pro's:
*Flash for camera, and camera has side button to press instead of touching screen.
Con's:
*Univeral Volume. On captivate you can specify Ringtone/Music/Notifications/Etc
*No High Quality mode when watch youTube via 3G network... so the quality is terrible... better make sure you have wifi hooked up.
*No personal ring tones
*SD card is permenantly attached to phone when installed. No removing and putting into laptop for quick click 'n dragging.
Both:
*Both phones have promised updates that will never arrive.
*Battery life was the same for each, just make sure you plug it in at work.
I personally liked both phones, but I'm thinking I would have been very pleased with the new 4G HTC Inspire. It comes loaded w/Froyo (Gingerbread promised, if it ever happens).

Hey ... this is pretty interesting... I just bought a Captivate. I will say I do really like the Focus but the "update" is slow in coming. The captivate is nice phone and Android pretty much reminds me of iPhone with the individual icons on the screen. The set up is a bit more flexible (volume controls) and I do like the WIFI Hotspot feature of Android. The battery is aweful (same as Focus) but at least I can swap them out (same battery for both phones). iphone didn't allow easy battery swapping.
I've only had my Captivate for a week. A good phone but not a great phone. Nothing terrible about it except battery usage.

LS1Jabroni said:
Being a previous Captivate owner from Aug'10 through Dec'10, here is a short list of pros/cons after making the change to the Focus:
Pro's:
*Flash for camera, and camera has side button to press instead of touching screen.
Con's:
*Univeral Volume. On captivate you can specify Ringtone/Music/Notifications/Etc
*No High Quality mode when watch youTube via 3G network... so the quality is terrible... better make sure you have wifi hooked up.
*No personal ring tones
*SD card is permenantly attached to phone when installed. No removing and putting into laptop for quick click 'n dragging.
Both:
*Both phones have promised updates that will never arrive.
*Battery life was the same for each, just make sure you plug it in at work.
I personally liked both phones, but I'm thinking I would have been very pleased with the new 4G HTC Inspire. It comes loaded w/Froyo (Gingerbread promised, if it ever happens).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol official 2.2 did come out for captivate
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I have iPhone, Captivate, and Focus so I'm very objective.
As the operator said, Android is a disaster. Flashing new ROM in search of a better UI and feature has been annoying while iPhone just works perfectly for backup. The reason I went for Rooting and Updating Froyo and Cognition ROM and now back to Official UCKB7 Froyo ROM is because I just want Skype to work, able to use Titanium Backup to backup app data just like the iPhone.
WP7 still does not have backup feature to backup apps....... everything seems to be cloud base may be easy for normal people but it DOES NOT BACKUP MY APPS DATA nor APPS.... it's annoying when I want to upgrade the SD card to 32GB and figure I have to wipe everything away and re-download and reconfigure everything ... It's just makes me really really annoyed...
WP7's multitasking is weak so far... I'm still waiting for the WebOS task switching UI that Microsoft has promised to release soon. But I'm having buggy issues in WP7 like the screen being too sensitive sometimes, lacking VOIP and turn-by-turn GPS navigation app sucks.....
Damn I think I will go back to iPhone. **** Android's fragmentation!! The OS is not stable at all! Skype, Tango, and other apps always crash and slow. iPhone just works smoothly, same thing as WP7.
WP7 still has a lot to catch up.

I have both.
Captivate:
* Google's vast collection of cloud services, Google Maps, Google Navigation, Places, Translate, Google Voice and SkyMaps etc. All of them are severly lacking on WP7 side.
* Poor GPS
* Easily hackable to have wi-fi tethering and custom ROMs.
* No matter what I do, the phone is always sluggish on home screens.
* UI reminds me of old WM. Lack of innovations. The Android OS is basically a nature evolution of WM OS in many aspects.
* OS Updates are slow to come. Samsung is notorious for this.
* microSD card works
Focus:
* Very nice UI.
* Very fluid home screen
* Never used GPS (no useful Navigation apps) so can't say how much better it is (anything is better than Captivate's GPS).
* No easy tethering. No, I don't want dial-up modem type of tethering. I want wi-fi AP type of tethering or at least USB tethering without install or configure anything on the PC side.
* MS cloud services are very lacking.
* API is limited so useful apps are lacking.
* MS in charge of OS updates, not Samsung. Regardless of recent issues with update (which is still caused by Samsung), I'd expect phone Updates should be faster and better than Samsung ever can be.
* microSD doesn't work with majority of the card out there. So the storage capacity of the phone is lacking (8GB vs (16GB + microSD) on Captivate).
* WP7 is an OS heading the right direction.

Oh... -1 for Android. I just found out it doesn't play .WAV files ? (2.2) Off I go to find a fix. This is a total blunder on Googles part. I mean .WAV files are very common with voice mail to email messages. Sigh..... off I go...

PaullikesWINMO said:
Oh... -1 for Android. I just found out it doesn't play .WAV files ? (2.2) Off I go to find a fix. This is a total blunder on Googles part. I mean .WAV files are very common with voice mail to email messages. Sigh..... off I go...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It plays wav file just fine for me. It does not recognize it as music file hence won't show up in music library but if you use file explorer to open it, it will play without any problem.

How do you file explorer on an attachment in an email ?

I have a Captivate, Focus and an iPhone. I'd rank them Focus, Captivate, iPhone.
Focus
- More Stable
- Awesome UI
- Netflix
- Turns on in less than 7 minutes
- GPS Works
- Updates come from MS and not Samsung
- Xbox Live
Captivate
- Google Voice
- Multitask
- Been using Android for the last year, so it's what I'm used to
iPhone
- Visual Voicemail
- Pretty UI
So blah blah blah, what everyone else has already said. The Focus is awesome, but the Captivate has it's pros too.

LS1Jabroni said:
Being a previous Captivate owner from Aug'10 through Dec'10, here is a short list of pros/cons after making the change to the Focus:
Pro's:
*Flash for camera, and camera has side button to press instead of touching screen.
Con's:
*Univeral Volume. On captivate you can specify Ringtone/Music/Notifications/Etc
*No High Quality mode when watch youTube via 3G network... so the quality is terrible... better make sure you have wifi hooked up.
*No personal ring tones
*SD card is permenantly attached to phone when installed. No removing and putting into laptop for quick click 'n dragging.
Both:
*Both phones have promised updates that will never arrive.
*Battery life was the same for each, just make sure you plug it in at work.
I personally liked both phones, but I'm thinking I would have been very pleased with the new 4G HTC Inspire. It comes loaded w/Froyo (Gingerbread promised, if it ever happens).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
App Realtube allows high quality over 3g.

Landmine said:
iPhone
- Visual Voicemail
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I was told (I don't have iPhone), Android's Google Voice voicemail imlementation (ability to transcribe voice into text) is way better than Visual Voicemail on iPhone.

Google Voice mail is awesome. I love it more than iPhone visual voicemail. It is practically the same thing however it also emails you the message and a transcription. The transcription is not that great but it will be quite awesome when they are able to understand accents a little better haha.

I used to have an HTC magic & captivate (used them for 2 years) but currently have the Iphone and use the Focus as my main phone.
Android had some very exciting features. I used to love being able to download a music album, then unzip it on the phone and play it right there and then. Having a file explorer was also amazing. Fragmentation between user experience varying from device to device is what killed it for me for the android platform..as well as the whole update limited by the carier fiasco.
WP7 in it's early stage is a better OS imo than Android was. It's IOS smooth and fluid and in the time I've used it, i've yet to have stability issues with the OS. With my Android phones, restarting the device was common to recover from force closes and lock ups.
I like the fact MSFT is taking the Apple route in the sense of 1 update for all. And I do think they will support their phones for a while to come, the way Apple till this day pushes out updates even for older hardware..3G/GS(albiet the real old stuff is no longer supported). Zune is the only thing I think is lagging with WP7. Itunes has alot more polish than Zune..but since Wp7 & zune are still relatively young.. i think they will still get there. More udpates, more APIs, more fun!

Review of SGS 2 - really bad sms-software

Hey.
I'm not used to publish anything here, but i have ordered a SGS 2, and while it is on the way - i'm looking on a great danish site for reviewing mobile phones, as they are reviewing it right now, with a section covering parts of the phone every day. So far, it has been VERY promising - but today, they have found something really annoying on the phone... the SMS- and MMS-software on the phone.
It is (and i just repeat there words) like this...
"The SMS- and MMS-software works, but there really is things that should be made better next time. As this function is one of the basic parts of a phone, it is crucial to make this part really flying, in terms of usability - unfortunately it really doesn't feel like this works in reality on this phone."
"The keyboard is really precise, and is very fast. But for example is smileys inserted as text, and not converted to graphic smileys like on other phones - only first when the message is sent, it is converted, which seems odd. And it is not described anywhere, that the symbol "." calls the available smileys on, and is a very limited collection by the way."
"Another BIG minus is that the symbol "," is gone from the main keyboard, and it seems idiotic to remove one of the most used symbols from the main screen."
"The word dictionary works fine, but has a tendency to make the textbox above jump up and down, which makes you crazy over period of time."
"The mobile also supports delivery reports for the sent text messages, but these works just crazy. The phone shows a "message is sent", but if you want to see if the message is received, you have to choose details of the message. This is just not good enough, as other phones has much better ways to show this." (the SE Arc is mentioned here as a much better way to show this)
"The MMS-part is just catastrophic. When a picture is received, its not possible to zoom the picture, without saving it in gallery first. And is goes completely wrong, when a picture is sent from the phone - it is very violently pixelated at the receiver. Why, when the camera is so good????. We have tested the mobile up against others, and it clearly sends pictures as MMS, in the lowest quality. Most of the other phones is very clearly superior, compared to the SGS 2."
"Verdict!!... clearly not good enough. We recommend getting the application Handcent, which handles SMS'es MUCH better then the original program on the SGS 2. But its just not good enough, that a user has to get thirdpart-programs to get the most out of this phone, which is branded as a high-end phone. It seems like Samsung just has forgotten that this is a basic function of a phone, and it has to work. So this part of the otherwise very good phone only gets 1 out of 6 stars. It still gets a star, as it CAN receive and send SMS text messages, but thats basically it..."
A very harsh verdict from a magazine, which is otherwise very happy about the new SGS 2, and Android-phones in general. As of that, I'm not in any doubt, that they really mean this - they hate this function in the phone. Happily i'm not using this function much, so my order stays where it is - just wanted to show you other this...
If you can read any danish, it is on mobilsiden.dk

I guess they never worked out that you can download new keyboards, and that the awesome swype keyboard comes pre-installed?

To be honest
I am one of those people who don't use SMS/MMS on the newer smartphones as I dont feel the need to as I connect with my friends on facebook or just chat with the google talk or msn messenger in real time.
To me SMS/MMS is a bit outdated with mobile phones pulling your emails and social networking is a breeze
Just a thought

You dont need to read finish. Get chrome to translate for you.

Seems to me that it is more of and issue of software bugs than anything will can easily be fixed. The keyboard issues is irrelevant and there are plently of keyboard replacements on the market that will fix (smart keyboard pro, thumb keyboard, swype). And I never use stock messaging apps either as Go SMS and handcent are vastly superior. The mms bug is a little weird and should be easily fixed with software tweak.
Sent from my Xoom

Ive always used handcent anyway so no worrys

Go SMS Pro is another option, I prefer it to Handcent SMS.

AS usual one magazines review cannot be taken as the de facto standard .
jje

These guys don't have a clue about Android.

Sorry pals but you miss the point here.
I need a unbiased review on the installed software not what I can download or install later.
Please just have a look at sense it's awesome with facebook, keyboard contacts and SMS mms function . So what can do Samsung? Just take care to upgrade the firmware because it's just not acceptable to customize a brand new phone before it can be used properly!
Take care.

bzpwhx2 said:
Sorry pals but you miss the point here.
I need a unbiased review on the installed software not what I can download or install later.
Please just have a look at sense it's awesome with facebook, keyboard contacts and SMS mms function . So what can do Samsung? Just take care to upgrade the firmware because it's just not acceptable to customize a brand new phone before it can be used properly!
Take care.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But would you go and ask for a review on an iPhone, but refuse to listen to anything they said about the app store? One of the key features of Android is that it's open and you get choice...
If you want a different SMS app, go to the market, search for "SMS", and take your pick. You'll probably like one more than what was installed, as that's the wonder of choice... Same for dialer apps.
Android isn't just what you get out the box. Treat it as a canvas, and start making it your own
Heck, I'll be removing touchwiz when mine appears, as I prefer the customisation offered by launcher pro

Just wanted to add that I think their review is just bad:
On a completely stock SGS2, here are the reasons I think the messaging app is pretty good:
1. Swype comes pre-installed, just hold down on the text box, select input method, select swype, and off it goes. So it's not 3rd party software, it comes with the device. As far as keyboards go, the swype keyboard is generally MUCH faster for writing messages to friends than most keyboards could ever hope to be - and the dictionary is top class.
2. When you get an SMS, the nice lockscreen notification and Android top-bar notification systems beat the hell out of the annoying "pop-up, disturb what you're doing" systems in most non-Android phones. As far as other Android phones go, it's much the same.
3. The speed of the device makes jumping into the SMS app and browsing around much nicer than most phones.
4. MMS - do people really use this more than once a month?
This is all just personal opinion - but then, so is the review. Zero facts involved in any of this - I don't see them having completed any sort of study on SMS productivity here...

I do agree that the samsung messaging app is not as good as the stock android one . Now all we need are some talented devs to put out a vanilla android build for this beast.

RyanZA said:
Just wanted to add that I think their review is just bad:
On a completely stock SGS2, here are the reasons I think the messaging app is pretty good:
1. Swype comes pre-installed, just hold down on the text box, select input method, select swype, and off it goes. So it's not 3rd party software, it comes with the device. As far as keyboards go, the swype keyboard is generally MUCH faster for writing messages to friends than most keyboards could ever hope to be - and the dictionary is top class.
2. When you get an SMS, the nice lockscreen notification and Android top-bar notification systems beat the hell out of the annoying "pop-up, disturb what you're doing" systems in most non-Android phones. As far as other Android phones go, it's much the same.
3. The speed of the device makes jumping into the SMS app and browsing around much nicer than most phones.
4. MMS - do people really use this more than once a month?
This is all just personal opinion - but then, so is the review. Zero facts involved in any of this - I don't see them having completed any sort of study on SMS productivity here...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once a month for MMS? Wow that's often I've only sent 3 MMS messages in a large number of years... (more than I care to recall)

darkninja157 said:
I do agree that the samsung messaging app is not as good as the stock android one . Now all we need are some talented devs to put out a vanilla android build for this beast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or to get the stock messaging app running as an "installable" app?

pulser_g2 said:
Once a month for MMS? Wow that's often I've only sent 3 MMS messages in a large number of years... (more than I care to recall)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was referring to hardcore power users of MMS when I said 1 MMS per month - I've personally only sent 1 MMS ever. I don't even know if my SGS1 can even send an MMS, and I used that phone daily for a year.

I need a unbiased review on the installed software not what I can download or install later.
But i repeat one bad review is not worth a cent three or four yes .,
So what about the other reviews of the phone .
like
Again, we're giving the Samsung Galaxy S2 a big tick for its messaging capabilities – there's a plethora of options here, and it's very easy indeed to stay connected through pretty much any method you can think of.
jje

Not to make this a beat down or anything, but does ANYONE who uses sites like this and own an Android phone remain with manufacturer standard software without any form of customisation?? (unless of course your happy with it!)
i know a couple of girls with Android phones who don't really have a clue about its true potential in this sense, and certainly don't look on forums such as this, and use their phones as they come 'out the box'... but surely any user here could not care less about such a silly issue, as they would understand that all that was needed was a couple of clicks and POW! you've got YOUR phone the way YOU like it...
just sayin', rant over
Dickie

The stock app is pretty good i think. I was an iphone user until u broke my phone and used a cheap wildfire until my contract expired. The stock app on the wildfire was terrible. I switched to go sms and didn't like it either. But as another poster said, the beauty of these phones are their ability to be completely customized. One galaxy s2 issue i have is the keyboard. Swype is ok but i can't.get used.to it.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

I think the stock messaging app is freaking AWESOME. TRY LANDSCAPE MODE
Its like the galaxy tab email app. Loving it. And even thinking of porting it over to the original SGS

Buyers guide (Galaxy S2 review vs iPhone4)

Hi guys,
I thought i share my thoughts and experience with people who have not decided which phone to buy. Maybe my input will make the decision easier (or maybe it will confuse you even more hehe).
Also I am hoping people with Android experience maybe can assist me with some of my negative bullets. I'm very new to Android so i apologies for my mistakes in my so called review/comparison.
And lastly i dont want to start any fanboy android vs iOS. This is just my personal view of the two phones/OS'es. Its maybe a bit unfair since i been using iPhone for the last 3 years and Android for only a week but still some of the bullets are independent of that. Any how lets dig into it, First i take the negative side of SGII and next the positive sides.
(maybe my topic is a bit misleading but below some of the items are compared against iPhone but i wont write all the plus/negative for iPhone since the SGII list is already pretty big and i want to focus on SGII which i hope can replace my iPhone)
- When i exit USB mode (where i can access the SD card) i cant find a way to reconnect it without cable unplug->plug. Is there a way i missed?
- Browser doesnt word wrap the text/column so good on table tab. I had a side by side comparison with my iPhone4. On iphone the whole article including images are resized and the text is fully readable. On Galaxy S2 images are not resized and text is readable but just barely. So the whole screen real-state is not fully utilized with the lower resolution and bad browser formatting.I have tested Opera also but the whole word wrapping experience left a very bad taste in my mouth. It was the worst experience ever, the article jump up and down every 5 sec or so, i think the browser got confused for some reason and couldnt decide how to format the page (this was when double tapping).
- Default browser crashes (go to qj.net where i usually visit to read about games).
- Text selection is a pain sometimes. First problem is that in every app it behaves differently. Second problem is that the process to select a text isnt so smooth.
- Confused about task and background proceses that start magically! When using taskmanager i can see mostly 2-3 tasks there and this makes sense. Now using other task killers suddenly they show 10-15 tasks. I understand these are background task but its beyond me why some of them suddenly are there. Like Kies, this should never be started unless i am using Kies. I can see now why my battery goes dows so fast (well compared to iPhone again). Why is there so many tasks started and why cant i control them from vanila Android. This should be a must. I dont want to root my phone to do the basic settings.
- Pretty much all application is downloaded can only be installed on phone memory. Why doesnt Google enforce developers to adapt to new versions of Android is beyond me.
- I havent found a way to backup everything on the phone (including applications and their save data) to my pc/mac. Without this i dont like to experiment rooting and other shizzles.
- Apps are not as smooth and functional on GS2 compared to iPhone4. Ex: Tunein Radio, i cant skip to next song. Ex2: ign app (iphone) allow for daily videos while the Android version is very poorly done and dont have any videos. Feels like Everything works just a little better on iPhone compared to Android phones.This is something most people cant understand if they havent had iPhone for a long time i think.
- Slow battery charging. I usually start charing at around 20% battery left. In one hour GS2 reaches around 40-50% while iPhone goes to 80%
- Headset lacks volume + next/back track when playing music.
- Creating folder through Kies Air not possible. for ex in media make a folder called movies.
- Drag&Drop in Kies air missing.
- When uploading a file through Kies Air there should be a progress bar, now it just looks busy and you dont know if its uploading or it hangs.
Ok now to some good sides on the Galaxy S2:
+ Brilliant screen (even if i think resolution could be better)
+ Flexibility and open market for every sort of application. Much like windows here you can add more functionality and make the phone very personal.
+ Excellent codec support. It plays pretty much everything i through at it. Well done Samsung.
+ Very good camera (even better then iPhone i admit)
+ Very good video recording (also better then iPhone)
+ Very light
+ Feels pretty good in your hand (even though i’m afraid one day the backvocer will break, i had a Nokia N95 and one day the smal plastic edges broke when i was opening the cover. Same thing will happen ti GS2 i’m sure)
+ Expandibale uSD.
+ Very cool fearure called Kies Air where i can access most studd through browser. (this can also be added to minus since it doenst work perfectly everytime i tested but the potential is there)
+ Nice features like pinch effect for desktop + many nice widgets.
+ I think you can make proper call recording on SGII (CallRecorder) but havent confirmed myself yet.
Lastly i like to say SGII is a wonderful phone and i really really want to use it as my primary phone. The one thing i hope Samsung fixes that will make me more loyal to Android is the default browser. The text wrapping must be improved and the browser more stable. I like the smoothness of the default browser and this is the most used part of the phone and so far my iPhone is better but i hope 2.3.4 update maybe can improve this.
Any input, tips, tricks are welcome. I really appreciate your help.

Hopefully this will help you, at least in some areas (i numbered them in the order that you have used):
1) using developer mode at least (i prefer it as its faster and more compatible than samsung's stuff) you can mount/umount at will the card on the pc via the phone without unplugging
2) You may want to try Opera Mobile, it seems to do a very good job at this. I'd like to see this in the stock browser too, but hey, this is Android, you have the choice to change the browser if you like ;-)
3) Well, same thing I guess. 2.3.4 may improve stability but the rest, I don't know, I wouldn't bet on it. I like Firefox quite a bit as well, but text wrapping is odd on it.
4) Android issue =/
5) I wouldn't use any task killer. Check the active apps and uninstall any app that doesn't behave (keep only the ones you REALLY need that still do stuff in the background, like email etc, but not too many). Seems to work a zillion time better for battery life. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a decent way to enforce such a policy.
Regular background tasks are not necessarily ever active. It just means they're frozen in the background and do nothing. As long as they do nothing it's fine, it's just faster to start them again (instant, in fact). The issue is really when they're activating every XX minutes while in the background.
6)Doesn't matter, the recent samsung phones such as the SGS2 have a HUGE internal memory compared to other phones, you'll never have space issues for that imo.
7)Install a kernel with CWM and then, boot in recovery and run a nandroid backup. It will create the backups on your sdcard. Copy them to your PC. Also, copy /efs using tools or manually..
You can restore using a CWM kernel later on and nandroid restore.
You can also use stuff like TitaniumBackup, but it's not nearly as thorough as nandroid backup (which is doing basically disk images, while Titanium and other such apps just copy app/settings)
8)Trollish subject. Some apps are superior on Android, some are superior on iOS. Heh SGS2's browser speed eats my IP4 for breakfast for example. If the same Android app doesnt have the feature of the iOS app, complain to the dev or find another app.
9) it's true it's like that, nothing you can do about it (technically, something could be done but that's probably not wise at all)
10) Use another music player, such as PowerAmp if you like. There's (many, many) other possibilities as well. It also let you boost the volume higher than the stock max volume (although I find stock to be loud enough)
11) Don't use KIES air to do that then ;-)
12) Likewise. There are apps like KIES air, you might want to try them btw. Make a little search, I dont have the name in mind, but they do exist, others will probably point them out
13) I do get a progress bar that moves, maybe a browser issue. Anyway, see point 12)

Cheers for the answers and help. I write the comments inline below.
bilboa1 said:
Hopefully this will help you, at least in some areas (i numbered them in the order that you have used):
1) using developer mode at least (i prefer it as its faster and more compatible than samsung's stuff) you can mount/umount at will the card on the pc via the phone without unplugging
A: i did test this mode but it asked me to unplug the cable also, same thing for MTP. Dont you get that?
2) You may want to try Opera Mobile, it seems to do a very good job at this. I'd like to see this in the stock browser too, but hey, this is Android, you have the choice to change the browser if you like ;-)
A: As mentioned i already tested this. Opera does some things better and some things worse. For instance visiting one of my favorite sites like Engadget.com the whole page jump up and down when i zoom in a little. To be honest the stock + Opera feel very bad compared to iPhones browser. I hope Opera or Samsung improve on this area. This is the most used feature for me.
3) Well, same thing I guess. 2.3.4 may improve stability but the rest, I don't know, I wouldn't bet on it. I like Firefox quite a bit as well, but text wrapping is odd on it.
A: Lets hope so
4) Android issue =/
A:
5) I wouldn't use any task killer. Check the active apps and uninstall any app that doesn't behave (keep only the ones you REALLY need that still do stuff in the background, like email etc, but not too many). Seems to work a zillion time better for battery life. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a decent way to enforce such a policy.
Regular background tasks are not necessarily ever active. It just means they're frozen in the background and do nothing. As long as they do nothing it's fine, it's just faster to start them again (instant, in fact). The issue is really when they're activating every XX minutes while in the background.
A: Yes true, i think Android just shows to much info for regular user. I have to see past the background tasks perhaps. Also some appz you can not remove like the hubs and such. Sure i can root and hack but i'm not so interested to do so just yet. Maybe when i'm a bit more user and understand Android better
6)Doesn't matter, the recent samsung phones such as the SGS2 have a HUGE internal memory compared to other phones, you'll never have space issues for that imo.
A: Actually i got over 12Gig of Appz on my iPhone so 16Gig (or actually 12Gig which is free) isnt all to much when you have navigator (3,5Gig) and games and blogs and such. But sure its enought for a time to come. The bottom line is Google must be tougher with the market otherwise the fragmentation will just grow.
7)Install a kernel with CWM and then, boot in recovery and run a nandroid backup. It will create the backups on your sdcard. Copy them to your PC. Also, copy /efs using tools or manually..
You can restore using a CWM kernel later on and nandroid restore.
You can also use stuff like TitaniumBackup, but it's not nearly as thorough as nandroid backup (which is doing basically disk images, while Titanium and other such apps just copy app/settings)
A: Thanks for the tips, i will write it down. As said i dont dare yet to mess with hacking but soon i was actually considering using the TitaniumB , hear its easy to use.
8)Trollish subject. Some apps are superior on Android, some are superior on iOS. Heh SGS2's browser speed eats my IP4 for breakfast for example. If the same Android app doesnt have the feature of the iOS app, complain to the dev or find another app.
A: I'm noob on what is there on the market so i'm sure there are many awesome apps on Android but when comparing the same app on Android vs iOS the Android was inferior. That was what i was comparing.
Another thing i dont really experience is the speed. To be honest i dont see such a huge speed difference when using my Wlan at home. But maybe you are right
9) it's true it's like that, nothing you can do about it (technically, something could be done but that's probably not wise at all)
A: I guess your right. On the other hand it could be possible a fw update could adjust some values for the current input, this could be a software limitation also i think. Lets hope
10) Use another music player, such as PowerAmp if you like. There's (many, many) other possibilities as well. It also let you boost the volume higher than the stock max volume (although I find stock to be loud enough)
A:Thanks for the tips will test this. Actually this is same thing as the copy/paste issue. I expect the behaviour to be the same no matter application (coming from iOS) but here it seems its application to application. This offer more freedom to developers for sure but it will also generate crapy software and result in a bad user experience. It would be so much better if there were a set of rules that all developers should follow on certain areas (this one is one such area).
11) Don't use KIES air to do that then ;-)
A: hehe true but this is the official way so i thought it should have been well tested and all
12) Likewise. There are apps like KIES air, you might want to try them btw.
Make a little search, I dont have the name in mind, but they do exist, others will probably point them out
A: Will do.
13) I do get a progress bar that moves, maybe a browser issue. Anyway, see point 12)
A: Strange, have to test again on IE which i hate, i use Firefox only. Also tested Safari on my mac.
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Thanks again for your input mate. Back to play more with my GSII

Applications can also be installed on the external sd card.
Applications and I also believe their user data are backed up on google server. So if you factory reset the phone and sync with google, it will download all previous apps.
About the slow charging - are you on old firmware version or do you charge over USB?
Creating a folder through kies air is not possible, that is correct. To be honest I am happy that there is even an app which allows to copy media etc. over wifi, you know there are phones which don't have that, for example the iPhone.
All apps I am using are working fine. If an app is not stable it's developer's fault, not the phone.

Ios is from 2007.. android 09.. 1-2 years between them. just think how far android have gone the last year.. give it 2 years and then compare it to iphone 4 in it current state.. well yes i know android is older.. but the initial realse was around 08-09 and IOS june - 07.
and yes.. so far iphone fits those who just want it to work better.. that means ppl not that used to computers etc.
and currently i dont own an iphone but i got a first generation ipod touch.. and yes even that stoneage IOS thing does alot of things better then my S2..
bah but this iphone vs android is getting old its a subject that can go on forever and ever..
well ill stick with my laggy android.. well i've been told by my iphony friends that its laggy.. i just dont see it

vampyren said:
Hi guys,
Any input, tips, tricks are welcome. I really appreciate your help.
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Nice overview.
IMO S2 is the best phone on the market now. But due to appl's hype, n matter what hardware specs they release, the iphone will always be superior to ANY phone. They could release an iphone with 1st gen hardware, and it will still make more sales than sgs2.
But, slowly more and more ppl are moving towards androi, and apple are losing sales. they even copied bb and android in ios 5..

Also coming from an iPhone 4 to the GS2 I can safely say that I don't miss the iPhone at all which I thought I would.
Having owned a Nexus S in the past and feeling a bit bewildered as there was a lot of stuff within the OS which felt unpolished and unfinished and now 2.3.3 is like night and day for that and it feels much more like a complete OS to me.
@OP give it time there will be a lot of things you can do with your new phone which would require rooting on your iPhone 4
The world of apps and widgets and customization is at your finger tips so jump right in and enjoy
My phone is running ADW Launcher EX with 90% icon dock size, 5x5 grid for homescreen, transparent drawer and miui weather

The only thing you might miss is the app store and iTunes integration (if you use it), other than that the Galaxy S II has it beaten quite comfortably.

@zxz0O0:
OOH that is cool , i think some option about it but didnt think it was what i thought it was nice to have it confirmed. Then this is pretty much what Apple is adding into iOS now with the cloud thing. Pretty cool Android has it already. By the way why do people use program like TitaniumBackup when there is google sync ? is there any limitation to the cloud backup? will all games data, programs data, settings be backed up or just Android OS stuff?
About FW i use the latest i think KE7 i think its called but i read there is a new one coming out next week so hoping for better battery life.
And your last point is something we can debate about for a long time but my view is that if you dont have strict rules developers do what ever they want and can let their app go without update. On the other hand if Google enforce some guideline like having option to install to SD card developers must go by that or their application is removed from market. In the end users will benefit and the platform will grow. But this is my view alone.
@olyloh6696:
I dont think its just hype really. I mean we are comparing a year old phone to SGII here and they are pretty much head to head in most scenarios i tested. But i see your point and i do agree that Android has a charm about it. I love the moving background, i love the whole flexibility to do what you want with the interface. Specially SGII's support for codecs so i dont have to spend 2 day re-encoding all my movies etc. So there are definatley benefits with Android but iOS has the benefit to be easy and working perfectly with the functions it offers from the get go. I think its a matter of preference and more advanced users will move to Android (a bit like me).
@daleski75:
Yupp i think i just need to play with it more and get used to the eco system
I think i will harass Opera developers to fix the formatting thing on the webpages now
Thanks for your input guys, gonna go out and take a walk now, later.

There are also many other good browsers, xscope, miren and dolphin hd to name a few, they all have their own way to format the page and all are pretty good many have different options too for formatting and text wrapping (I believe the default samsung browser also has some options)
also I believe google sync doesnt save all app data (eg angry birds progress is not saved)

That is correct...Google Sync doesn't backup app data (like your Angry Birds scores). This is where Titanium Backup (commonly abbreviated to as TiBu) comes in. It "sort of" does cloud backup (via Dropbox), but its strength really shows when you start installing/changing/updating custom ROMs. Typically, it's used to backup your apps and their data to a folder on your SD card. I can also do some pretty advanced stuff that you probably wouldn't use much (if at all). In my view, the strength is it's ability to deal with batch jobs. For example, before installing a new ROM, I backup all user installed applications (non-protected ones, anyway) with only a couple clicks. Restoring is just as easy, provided you have the paid version (it allows for hands-off batch restore of your apps). Another cool feature it has is "freezing" apps. Say you root your phone and may want to clean some carrier crapware off of it, but aren't *totally* sure. You can freeze those apps...they stay installed and can be defrosted at any time, but they won't be available for use until you do.
Also, I agree with you that a lot of iOS apps are much better than their Android counterparts. I believe this is the case for one main reason: there are tons of people using Android and tons of people on iPhones...you can essentially count on one hand the number of iOS phones Apple has to support, and they are all sold by Apple. Now, look at the number of Android phones and devices and their individual specifications...that makes developing apps for Android pretty complicated. Devs have to take into account different CPUs, memory limitations, and the biggie--SCREEN DIFFERENCES! However, I like being able to run an app developed for a phone on my Honeycomb tablet. Yeah, it may be ugly (not necessarily), but it almost always works! I have a network tool I use that only shows up on about 1/6th the screen of my tab, but I don't care...it still does the job.
Don't forget another important aspect of the Android vs. Apple thing...Apple has control of their devices and their operating systems, and the cell phone carriers don't have control over when Apple releases an update. On the Android side, you have some manufacturers that are prompt with getting an update ready, and those who abandon their devices after they leave the store shelf. Not only that, but those who do release updates, and most do, have to deal with the likes of AT&T and Verizon and everyone else here in the US. Each company wants a ROM customized only for them, and sometimes the manufacturers actually have to pay the cell companies to push out updates. This is what causes the splintering of Android, but openness is what gives it its strengths.
As a general rule, I find that the more "techy" people like the Android OS, since you can customize it and tweak it like crazy. Those who aren't quite as savvy will probably like iOS more (there's less to screw up and they all look the same). Please don't flame me for saying that...it's just a general observation that has many exceptions.
Well that's my two cents. Maybe it will be helpful in some way? <*schrugs*>
Brad
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA Premium App

There is no practical comparison possible between the mentioned phones.

Appreciate the explanation brad, TB is a nice tool indeed
Just one point, In regard to customization i can pretty do anything also when i jailbreak the iphone which is even simpler then rooting Android and what all techies do anyway with their Android phones
But i agree Android has its charm with the more open eco system.
The 2 area i wish to have before it gets perfect is the browsing and more resolution for the big ass screen (4.3)