Database Users

Epic 4g Review Floodgates

Pretty obvious that the phone was intended for an August 20th release date considering all the sites just got allowed to post their reviews. And boy are there tons of reviews. Glad to tell you kind folks, it looks like this is going to be one killer phone!
http //gizmodo com/5613501/sprint-epic-4g-review-the-best-4g-phone
http //www slashgear com/sprint-epic-4g-review-1597717/
http //www pcmag com/article2/0,2817,2367811,00.asp
http //www laptopmag com/review/cell-phones/samsung-epic-4g.aspx
http //www engadget com/2010/08/16/epic-4g-review/
http //reviews cnet com/cell-phones/samsung-epic-4g-sprint/4505-6454_7-34129371.html
http //gear.ign com/articles/111/1116069p1.html
MobileBurn Video Review
http //www youtube com/watch?v=mb7rXruVU-M
http //www youtube com/watch?v=ezNUJx-Lq_M
Now I'm curious what caused Sprint to push it back to the 31st. Ooooooh, that date cannot come soon enough

thanks for the list!

Here is that list but with links.
http://www.gizmodo.com/5613501/sprint-epic-4g-review-the-best-4g-phone
http://www.slashgear.com/sprint-epic-4g-review-1597717/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2367811,00.asp
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/cell-phones/samsung-epic-4g.aspx
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/16/epic-4g-review/
http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/samsung-epic-4g-sprint/4505-6454_7-34129371.html

Thanks for the list, seems to have the GPS issue.(confirmed in the engadget review) Can't wait for the Fix in September!!!

Great list of reviews! I was actually reading the Gizmodo review and rushed here to post it but looks like you beat me to the punch. The phone looks great and the reviews are mostly positive but I'm going to stick with my Evo.

Actually, Engadget is the only one reporting that there is still an issue with the GPS.

From Engadget review:
You also get an SD-to-microSD converter that you'll be able to use with the 16GB microSD card that comes pre-installed underneath the phone's back cover (though you don't need to remove the battery to get at it, which is nice). Why 16GB when AT&T's and T-Mobile's versions only include 2GB? Good question: turns out the Epic only has a little over 400MB of app storage internally -- not the capacious 16GB of the others -- so Sprint compensates by throwing in a beefy card. Though that'll work just fine for 95 percent of users, it's important to note that this means you can't get it up to 48GB of available storage by picking up a 32GB card. Since it's obvious Sprint tried to make this phone as "epic" as possible, it's unclear why they left out that internal capacity; the only thing we can think of is that they simply ran out of room with all of the phone's modifications over the standard Galaxy S like the slider mechanism, the LED flash, and the WiMAX circuitry. Hard to say.
that sucks. I guess with Froyo the 400MB becomes a non issue but after abusing my Captivate with the amount of stuff I already installed seems to just be a bother. Internal storage should of been 2-4g mininum imo. Still looks like it's the best phone of the year.

Update from Engadget
[Update: We just spoke with Samsung, who told us that Google is now requiring that the "use wireless networks" setting for location-based services be turned off by default in Android devices -- in other words, no AGPS unless you manually enable it. Sure enough, we went into Settings, found that it was disabled on the Epic, turned it on, and we were good to go. No GPS bug!]
Weird. I guess that's a "fix", but what if we are in the middle of no where (no cell towers near) we still need real GPS.

willthebill said:
From Engadget review:
turns out the Epic only has a little over 400MB of app storage internally
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's actually 1GB but I'm not sure how much of that you'll get to use.

It also means the Lag Fix used on the Vibrant/Captivate won't work here. it changes the I/O to write more efficiently by using the same logic used by Motorola. Unfortunately, you need space to do that (1.5 gigs in the Captivate) and it won't happen here. Making this phone the slowest of the bunch.

orateam said:
It also means the Lag Fix used on the Vibrant/Captivate won't work here. it changes the I/O to write more efficiently by using the same logic used by Motorola. Unfortunately, you need space to do that (1.5 gigs in the Captivate) and it won't happen here. Making this phone the slowest of the bunch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Epic 4G reviews didn't mention any speed/lag issues..
The reason for the lag fix in the first place is b/c the Vibrant/Captivate went with a cheaper internal-SD card solution, rather than an on-board NAND solution. link
Does anyone know if the the 1GB ROM on the Epic is an internal-SD or did they hopefully go with NAND?

All Samsung's will most likely use the proprietary file system (RFS), so it's likely the EPIC will have it as well. The thing is that the EPIC may end up the slowest of the bunch because of Sprint's decision to penalize the internal storage.
From a Samsung Site on the Captivate...
"Remember, most phones so far have only had 512mb or 1gb to date for all that stuff anyways, so you've got all that, plus room to spare still on the ROM. That's one thing Samsung did right on this phone hardware-wise, give us that generous 2gb." All except the Epic.
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orateam said:
All Samsung's will most likely use the proprietary file system (RFS), so it's likely the EPIC will have it as well. The thing is that the EPIC may end up the slowest of the bunch because of Sprint's decision to penalize the internal storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, none of the reviews mention any slowness whatsoever. The link I sent in the previous post correlates the Vibrant/Captivate lag with the internal-SD, not the file-system. The jury is still out whether the Epic uses NAND or internal-SD for the 1GB.

Found this is the review so perhaps they did include all NAND with the smaller memory
From slash gear review
Happily, while use of the Galaxy S series was punctuated with freezes and pauses, anecdotally blamed upon the handsets’ use of an internal microSD card for their onboard storage, the Epic 4G seems generally free of such lag.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The slowness is from the Vibrant and other devices with the larger storage using the slower SD card space to store the data there instead of nand. You can move this with root and su.
Will this happen with the sprint version? No telling but it might be better to only have the 1gb if its all nand and that is the only place the device has to store apps out of the box as opposed to a class 2 POS SD card that was pre installed.
400mb is about what the evo has, that or a little less and with apps to sd its enough.
Also, touchwiz is a terribly coded UI and that is causing a lot of the lag as well. Disabling it and removing it from the device and using a well coded launcher like ADW or launcher pro fixes any lag.
I'm not even going to consider buying this until it has root. Then I'll consider it. Nice that all the reviews are out early though.

I guess it depends on the review you read. Engadget wasn't so nice. They said the GPS issues weren't fixed as much as disabled via software. Also, they ran into performance issues and blamed it on the added bloat of software to handle the front camera, LED flash, and keyboard, using up the internal SD.
"We did, however, notice an occasional hiccup with the phone's many window transition animations where they'd flash or stutter; it was hard to tell whether this was a performance issue or simply a bug"
Also, after being at 97% battery, and using it for only 15 minutes, the battery died in 3 hours while in 4G. making 4G really only good for plug in use.
Overall, this review was more in line with the truth to me since the slash gear one was a little overly loving. I'll wait for a more in-depth review with benchmarks before i decide one way or the other. If they cannot fix the stutter/lag issues because they used up all the internal memory, i wont' get it.

orateam said:
Also, after being at 97% battery, and using it for only 15 minutes, the battery died in 3 hours while in 4G. making 4G really only good for plug in use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow... I like how you quoted the review for some parts, but not this one. You wanted to leave out a key piece of information.
I'll quote the actual review.
"Speaking of battery power, we got 3 hours and 43 minutes of use from 97 percent power to shutdown with the phone in 4G hotspot mode while occasionally interacting with the handset..."
That's right, they ran it in 4G WITH WIFI HOTSPOT TURNED on. The wifi hotspot feature kills the battery on the EVO just as fast, if not faster.

My mistake, I meant 4G hotspot. Geesh, calm down. The point is the same, but i'll elaborate, using the 4G internet, specifically for access via a laptop, is nearly useless unless you're plugged in. I personally don't see 4G as useful for anything else because for surfing the net on my phone, sprint's 3G always seemed fast enough. I don't do anything on my handheld phone that requires massive amounts of throughput. the only use for 4G when I had my EVO was to run it's 20mb speeds to my Ipad when i had it out on travels.

The actual usefulness of 4G speeds or greater is another topic altogether. I only turn it on if I want to pull up a youtube video really quick, or when I'm about to download 9 updates for my apps. Most of the time, 3G is good enough with good signal.

i will add this, sprints normal internet speeds (3G) are the fastest and most stable of all the carriers i've had.
I would rank it like this:
1)sprint
2)Verizon
3)tmobile
4)ATT

orateam said:
"We did, however, notice an occasional hiccup with the phone's many window transition animations where they'd flash or stutter; it was hard to tell whether this was a performance issue or simply a bug"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(my emphasis added)
"The device seems faster, doesn’t hang up or balk when navigating around quickly, and is much, much more fun to use. When we first started to use the EPIC we had to go back to the Captivate to make sure we weren’t losing it –seriously — because the 4G device felt so much quicker. Surprisingly, it’s true. Even the on-screen keyboard on the EPIC feels more responsive. We tried and failed to get the EPIC to stutter like we could (almost effortlessly) with the Captivate; the EPIC even boots faster."
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/08/17/sprint-epic-4g-first-impressions/

Sold my streak :)

Sold my streak
Used my streak for about 6 months before I finally decided to sell it. A big thank you to dj_steve and all the users who wrote guides and helped make streak the amazing device it was. Unfortunately the more I used my streak, the more I realized it just wasn't the ideal device for me. There were just too many small quips that I had with the streak that killed the user experience for me.
Here's a few:
Screen size and weight- The 5" screen was great for gps and web browsing, but I could never get used to texting even with the thumb keyboard app. Due to its weight, I found it difficult to hold the streak in one hand for long periods of time. This usually happend when I used the kindle app so I found myself having to either sit up or lay the streak down to read.
Battery Life - For the life of me, I couldn't get more than 24 hours on a single charge (even with juice defender). I only left wifi and the cellular radio on and would make sure to keep gps and bluetooth off . I'm sure I was doing something wrong since many of you faired much better but could never figure it out (I recently read dj_steve posting that he got 4+ days on his streak).
Market update - A few months ago the update to the android market made it incredibly difficult to find new apps. Before you could use the middle key (menu) and could easily select search but with the update that option went away. Instead you now had to click the small search icon in the upper right corner to find anything (And I hated the new tile layout in the market, the old list version was much better)
Charging - With the otterbox commuter case, I always had problems plugging the dell sync cable into the charging port. The frustration was similar to plugging a flash the drive in the wrong way
Music - I couldn't use the streak as a dedicated mp3 player due to its size and couldn't get a music app that didn't catalog every audio file on the streak. Instead I would always find myself carrying my ipod touch everywhere alongside my streak
SD card - I never liked using the unorganized folder layout whenever I connected my streak. I would always find empty folders in the root directory and was never sure if they were the remnants of a deleted app
Gameplay - When I bought my streak, I knew it wasn't made as a gaming device. But I never could get popular games like planets vs zombies to even run on my streak. Games would always crash even after re-installing and closing all apps that were currently running in the background.
All in all, the streak has been a great gadget to play with but wasn't the device I needed. Again, a big thanks to everyone on this forum who helped make it great

ahmadh007 said:
Sold my streak
. . . . .
Due to its weight, I found it difficult to hold the streak in one hand for long periods of time. This usually happend when I used the kindle app so I found myself having to either sit up or lay the streak down to read.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reading e-books is actually one of the things that I believe the Streak does very well.
ahmadh007 said:
Battery Life - For the life of me, I couldn't get more than 24 hours on a single charge (even with juice defender). I only left wifi and the cellular radio on and would make sure to keep gps and bluetooth off . I'm sure I was doing something wrong since many of you faired much better but could never figure it out (I recently read dj_steve posting that he got 4+ days on his streak).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
24 hours is probably typical. I charge my phone every night.
ahmadh007 said:
Market update - A few months ago the update to the android market made it incredibly difficult to find new apps. Before you could use the middle key (menu) and could easily select search but with the update that option went away. Instead you now had to click the small search icon in the upper right corner to find anything (And I hated the new tile layout in the market, the old list version was much better)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can freeze the market updater to prevent the new market from installing. This really isn't a Streak issue - it's a Google issue.
ahmadh007 said:
Charging - With the otterbox commuter case, I always had problems plugging the dell sync cable into the charging port. The frustration was similar to plugging a flash the drive in the wrong way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I solved my issue with the Commuter case by cutting the port covers off. I felt they were more in the way than useful. Also not a Streak issue, it's a case design issue.
ahmadh007 said:
Music - I couldn't use the streak as a dedicated mp3 player due to its size and couldn't get a music app that didn't catalog every audio file on the streak. Instead I would always find myself carrying my ipod touch everywhere alongside my streak
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use my Streak for music almost every day. PowerAmp works great and lets you choose which folders to catalog.
ahmadh007 said:
SD card - I never liked using the unorganized folder layout whenever I connected my streak. I would always find empty folders in the root directory and was never sure if they were the remnants of a deleted app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is also not a Streak issue - it is an Android issue.
I am also moving from the Streak to a smaller phone. My issue with the Streak is also one of it's best features, it's size. I just want something smaller that is easier to carry every day. Just as I pointed out solutions that work for me to the issues you raised I am sure others will say that they have no problems with carrying the Streak every day.
In the end you have to use a phone that suits your needs.

Agreed, the majority of my problems came from using the android os. As much I wanted to like it, I couldn't make it work. The big selling point behind the steak was it's screen and I didn't use it enough to justify it's size

i bought a cheap 10" tablet 4 months ago so my streak just get used as a phone now
my streak broke a couple a weeks ago (stuck on dell logo & no recovery) so i dug out my o2 xda guide & i really enjoyed using a smaller phone
but now i got my new streak back the other day & i cant wait till march until i get a small phone again i just dont need a 5" phone anymore

Sound like it's not the Streak that's not for you, it's Android that's not for you. Hope you enjoy your Iphone

marvin02 said:
Reading e-books is actually one of the things that I believe the Streak does very well.
24 hours is probably typical. I charge my phone every night.
You can freeze the market updater to prevent the new market from installing. This really isn't a Streak issue - it's a Google issue.
I solved my issue with the Commuter case by cutting the port covers off. I felt they were more in the way than useful. Also not a Streak issue, it's a case design issue.
I use my Streak for music almost every day. PowerAmp works great and lets you choose which folders to catalog.
This is also not a Streak issue - it is an Android issue.
I am also moving from the Streak to a smaller phone. My issue with the Streak is also one of it's best features, it's size. I just want something smaller that is easier to carry every day. Just as I pointed out solutions that work for me to the issues you raised I am sure others will say that they have no problems with carrying the Streak every day.
In the end you have to use a phone that suits your needs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree on each of the highlighted points from Marvin... I wish I could have bought your Streak!
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dell streak at his size and his specs is a great device, i use one more than 6 months and i don't think i will sell it or change it soon because streak have everything i want from a device: big screen for navigation, reading, writing, 2 micro sd slots for memory card (maxim 64gb) (i use now 8gb for system and 16gb for apps, multimedia ...), nice design, speed and many more .

deejayviral said:
dell streak at his size and his specs is a great device, i use one more than 6 months and i don't think i will sell it or change it soon because streak have everything i want from a device: big screen for navigation, reading, writing, 2 micro sd slots for memory card (maxim 64gb) (i use now 8gb for system and 16gb for apps, multimedia ...), nice design, speed and many more .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These days i reckon you could have a maximum of 128gb using 2 64GB MicroSDXC cards formatted to FAT32, crazy amount of storage.

ok i am a little confused. where is the 2nd sd card slot? is it hidden some where?

I'm a DELL Streak 5 owner as well... for nearly a year.
I love it so much but I really have to say, when I compare it to my friend's Samsung GALAXY Note... the weight of my streak is a big big difference...

delete the post. sorry..

Compare to Galaxy Note, the design in Dell Streak is better. Also Galaxy Note looks like a Chick-phone, which it is because samsung advertise it targetting for secretary/Office Lady who like to take a note alot.
I am still waiting for better phone to replace my Streak, probably the one that comes with Quad Core Tegra 3 processor, and 720p display that is "not an AMOLED", and better design than Galaxy Note.

im loving this phone

Hi all,
I use to own a apple 3gs, and then about a few weeks ago i got the galaxy s2.
I was looking for apps etc and i cam across the xda forum and started reading.
before i knew it my phone was rooted, i used the guide from galaxys2root.com.
I stayed with a rooted phone with the clockwork mod, titanium pro on standard rom for abit and then i started to read abit more baout different roms. a friend of mine i have learnt is on the forum as well and he helpted me out alot with things like making back ups in cwm, titanium and saving contacts etc to sd card.
my first rom was the villainrom 3.0, i only had this for a day or so, but i wanted to try another. i have just loaded on foxhound and first thoughts is that it is very nice. im going to try this one out for abit to see how i get on.
to be honist i am taking back by the amount of info and guides on this site, and i loved the vid when joining up!
the galaxy s2 is light years ahead of my old 3gs and you can do sooooo much more with it.
anyway, thak you for all the information and help
ian

Ian we'll see you about and enjoy your handset.. I see you have Tesco moble loads of date I take it LOL..
Take care and welcome..

yes i got it as a tesco pay as you go.
i put in a older tesco sim card that i had, i get 500 any net/time mins, unlimited txt, unlimited data for £10 and it is on a one month rolling contract

Ian Jones said:
yes i got it as a tesco pay as you go.
i put in a older tesco sim card that i had, i get 500 any net/time mins, unlimited txt, unlimited data for £10 and it is on a one month rolling contract
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some how I know this package ..
If you have not get yourself a case to protect your SGS2 FLIP case do a damn good job to protect all the phone.

i got a otterbox case, as i liked the idea of the covers to go over the charging port and headphone jack. the screen protector went on very well with only a couple of micro specs under it.
i have put in a sumsung 8gb class 10 sd card and a samsung car charger.
the only problem im having at the mo is getting my yahoo.co.uk email to work, but im hunting through the search as we speak

I have managed to get my yahoo.co.uk email to work.
i tried all the different ways i found on here about using different port numbers etc, but with no luck.
I removed the access from yahoo on my pc, and then set it up again on my phone, the auto way and it went through fine and is fully working.
the only problem is that i not have two yahoo.co.uk email accounts now. both the same, but one of them works (the one i just set up) and the old one (i think this cam over from when i did titanium restore) and this one does not work at all, i can not go into settings on it, and it will not delete.
any ideas?
thanks again
ian

Refreshing to see someone coming from iPhone new on here who appreciates the SGSII for the superb phone it is, generally you have people on here who might be coming from an iPhone moaning saying such and such doesn't do it as well as the iPhone did it, i ask myself why even bother getting this phone if you are just gonna come onto the SGSII forums to complain,before you purchase a phone especially an expensive one like this you really should do some research and reading up.
Anyway sorry for going off topic, glad your enjoying your SGSII

Ian Jones said:
the only problem is that i not have two yahoo.co.uk email accounts now. both the same, but one of them works (the one i just set up) and the old one (i think this cam over from when i did titanium restore) and this one does not work at all, i can not go into settings on it, and it will not delete.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
welcome and nice to hear someone new that takes the time to read before asking stupid questions that are already answered infinite times =)
now to your problem, my first guess would be to delete the app-data of the app you use to access the mail-accounts. this would of course delete the already setup mail account data too, so you would need to configure both of them from scratch (but you know how to do it now, don't ya )
you can delete app-data by going to settings->applications->manage applications->choose the application->delete data (right next to "move to SD card" .. not UNINSTALL)

I love my I9100 too, best Android around bar none

Another ex iPhone 3gs user here
Finally a phone that can do everything without the annoying & idiotic limitations of apple
Only problem I have is the battery which can't stand a day but nobody is perfect
I like Android so much that I m thinking to start developing apps a I have an IT degree and backround.
Any ideas / pointing fingers where I should start from?
Send from my smarty-pants phone

Another EX Iphone 4 user here, difficult to get bored of this phone, you can flash a new rom, use a different launcher, play around with themes, pretty much do what ever you like with it, freedom of choice as opposed to swipe to the left, swipe to the right, launch an app...is that it Phone

I still own an iPhone 4 as a second phone. Its is jailbroken on ios 5 with every crack and app thinkable. But it is just so boring.
I've only had the s2 for just over a month now, but even when I had the S1 I still couldn't use the iPhone. I used to be the biggest apple fanboy until I played with the S1 for a couple of days.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

awesome phone
i don;t know why people pick other android phones that cost almost the same price. super amoled plus screen, best android camera, most internal memory compared to competition, unlocked bootloader, highest benchmarkings by far, best reviews.
HtC, motorola are releasing faster versions of their summer releases and i still wouldn't change
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was bracing myself for the iphone 4s camera to destroy galaxy s2 but some reviews said it didnt...better in some departments but samsung still narrowly beat it in a few others

same here...been an iphone user for the last 3 years...honestly thought that it was the best out there...but honestly...i would not swap my galaxy for nothing...(maybe the S3) welcome aboard fella...any help you need just give me a message

v1rtu4l said:
welcome and nice to hear someone new that takes the time to read before asking stupid questions that are already answered infinite times =)
now to your problem, my first guess would be to delete the app-data of the app you use to access the mail-accounts. this would of course delete the already setup mail account data too, so you would need to configure both of them from scratch (but you know how to do it now, don't ya )
you can delete app-data by going to settings->applications->manage applications->choose the application->delete data (right next to "move to SD card" .. not UNINSTALL)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i re installed foxhound and it was gone, but as soon as i reinstalled the back up on titanium, it was back, and i could not delete it. so i went into titanium to the email app, and erased data. and that got rid of it. im putting them back on now

The only problem I find with this phone is, leaving it alone, little bit too addictive, my eyes are Samsung Galaxy s2 shaped

incase anyone lese needs this info, this is the settings etc on my emails that i used to get them to work.
yahoo.co.uk
incoming
IMAP server. android.imap.mail.yahoo.com
port. 993
outgoing
SMTP server. android.smtp.mail.yahoo.com
port. 465
Ntl.com
incoming
POP3 server. pop.ntlworld.com
Port. 110
outgoing
SMTP server. smtp.ntlworld.com
port. 25

I could be wrong, but with this foxhound rom, im sure the battery is lasting longer.
on the standard rom after a normal day like today im sure the % was alot lower.
i have just taken this screen shot pic (foxhound rom) i have my emails to chect every 15 mins, and wifi on most of the time
in this time as well, i have re installed the foxhound rom with the cwm and re installed apps etc with titanium, and set up my emails accounts.
i have run quadrant and linpack a few times to.
what do you think?
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aye, sure is a top phone..agree with all things said but I will add that I got my device on day of release and in nearly 8 months it doesn't look a day old.
I've not been overly careful, have no screen protector, just the official standard case.
apart from a few micro scratches on the screen that you can only see when the screen is off and in direct light at angles, you'd think it was brand new...
has been dropped about 10 times to albeit only from a couple of feet, from sofa, or from top of pc tower.
it may be plasticy to some but it's kept it's premium look all this time.

snelz said:
it may be plasticy to some but it's kept it's premium look all this time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is something that i don't understand. People moan like hell about how the phone feels "delicate in your hands", yet I'm a powerlifter and it seems fine to me. To be honest, i think that the lightweight and streamline attributes of this phone are huge perks.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Why I think no removable batter/MicroSD is a good thing.

Lets talk about the MicroSD first
Like everyone I love to have a phone with MicroSD feature. It makes it easier to swap between my phones as well as to transfer data to my PC. I myself won't mind spending lots of money on a fast microSD card but I have yet to find one that is both FAST and LARGE in capacity. On my Note 4, i'm using Sandisk Extreme and my fastest bench mark test was 70mb Read and 39 Write. Now these numbers are decent but In my opinion MicroSD cards are not keeping up with the speed of phones these days which is cause bottleneck issue and is one of the reasons behind all the lag that people complain about.
Now with the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0 which has 350Mb/s Read and 150Mb/s, you can rest assure it will not cause any lag from viewing pictures and videos as well as swapping from app to app. Not to mention you can always plug in your OTG cable with flash usb and do all your backups there titanium backup or simply copying your data there which is what i'm doing currently.
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Samsung has ultra fast 128GB UFS 2.0 ready for smartphones
As for the Battery,
While having a removable battery is a plus, from my personal experience I have yet to use it when I want too. I have extra battery and charger for my Note 4 but i always find my self plugging it in rather than taking the cover off and restart my phone. Now with all the new features to charge wirelessily and fastcharge 2.0, I don't think anyone would have any issue. Iphone users as well as other brands from nexus 5,6 and htc didn't complain about their battery then why should we when are ahead of the game in many ways?
With all the features we are getting on the GS6, I think i can easily sacrifice on these too.

I generally agree with you. But after 8 months or so my phone batteries are noticeably less able to hold a charge as much. My note 3 (loved that phone) went from 8-9 hours screen on time to not even 6 hours. Big difference. Changed the bettery and back to normal. This is what I want to be able to do especially if I keep the phone 2 years!
Most people are complaining about choice being taken away

lawtq said:
I generally agree with you. But after 8 months or so my phone batteries are noticeably less able to hold a charge as much. My note 3 (loved that phone) went from 8-9 hours screen on time to not even 6 hours. Big difference. Changed the bettery and back to normal. This is what I want to be able to do especially if I keep the phone 2 years!
Most people are complaining about choice being taken away
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Most batteries have a life cycle of 500 charges. But then having non removable back doesn't mean the battery is not replaceable. You can always heat up the back with air dryer and pull the back off and i'm sure you will see many people doing a tutorial on that but we have to wait and see if it easy to do so or hard.

There's just no good reason to remove microSD support and no real argument to support the decision. Literally every reason you mentioned for supporting the decision could have been done without microSD support being removed. It's that simple. Use of microSD was an -option- that nobody would have been forced to use. Removal of options is rarely a good thing, and this isn't one of those rare exceptions.
Lack of a removable battery has only two good sides in most any situation, and one of them was left out of the picture here. Non-removable battery brings two benefits, and two benefits only.
1. Unibody design (Usually means slimmer, which at this point, it's highly debatable whether or not that's even a good thing)
2. Waterproofing (Omitted)
Personally, the 128GB of (hopefully) UFS will be enough for me and I STILL disagree with the decision. Why? Again, removal of options is rarely a good thing, and this isn't one of those cases. I can take or leave the removable battery. Simple fact of the matter is that I havn't had nor used a device where I couldn't change the battery when I felt like it regardless of whether or not it being removable was part of a spec sheet or not. With that said, I'm not a daily battery swapper, so I certainly see why people are concerned there.
Regardless, what should have happened is that there should have been a 128GB UFS option WITH support for a microSD utilizing up to 128GBs, period. I suspect that their reasoning (other than the obvious incredibly mild cost savings) will be for the sake of trying to do the impossible and "fix stupid." By fixing stupid, I mean you'll always have people who won't be able to comprehend that all flash storage isn't just any ole flash storage, and will whine and complain that their $10 Wal-mart microSD isn't as fast as the on-board storage. Which will lead to them saying the device is slow when in actuality they're just too "slow" to realize what the issue is. While I understand the concept thanks to my personal field of expertise, I've already realized the truth in that matter:
When you try to fix stupid, you piss off smart, and stupid stays stupid; just in some other manner of being stupid.
And of course there's the greed aspect; wherein all of a sudden, a would-be 32GB buyer becomes a 64GB buyer and a 64GB buyer becomes a 128GB buyer due to the lack of a microSD slot.

For how I use my SD cards (and it seems that I'm far from alone in this), the speed makes no real difference at all. I keep my cards loaded up with my most commonly used FLAC files and rarely make any changes to them. On my S4 I see no difference in opening music or video files compared to the internal storage. Copying new files to the phone via USB is certainly slower on SD, but that's the only situation where the speed difference is even noticeable.
For the OS and apps, the built-in storage speed is the only way to fly, but having more onboard storage is always better for me, even if it's relatively slow SD added to 128GB of super fast UFS. I've used OTG and it's completely annoying and clunky having wires & USB drives hanging off the phone, and the OTG route isn't nearly as compact as carrying an extra MicroSD card (or three).
Battery is less of an issue for me in everyday use, but I travel a lot for work and having spare internal batteries means I can sit in airports and on planes without having to have an external device hanging off of my phone to keep it running. What if you are running low on battery AND the files you need are on OTG? I don't think you can do both at the same time, something that would never be a problem on a phone with SD and removable battery.

As I mentioned in another tread, I don't think the battery issue is a big deal any more just because those portable battery chargers are cheaper than an extra battery. I just put the phone in my pocket with one of those and I am charged up in no time. I haven't bought a spare battery since my SGS3 for this reason.
As far as the SD card does though, I HATE that it's gone. It's not even a space issue, it's a functionality issue. I think 64gig is more than enough for me. I haven't filled up my 64gig card. However, when I go from one phone to another, I just put my microsd card in and I'm done. If my phone breaks, gets wet, doesn't turn on any more... I didn't lose anything, my titanium backup is on my SD card, I pull that out and put it into my replacement phone, and I'm good to go.
The process now to get a new phone up and running is now much harder and the risk of losing everything if your phone breaks is much higher. Yes, yes... there is a cloud. But without unlimited data, I don't want to back up to my cloud... plus I don't want my pictures being uploaded to the cloud anyway.

Yathani said:
Lets talk about the MicroSD first
Like everyone I love to have a phone with MicroSD feature. It makes it easier to swap between my phones as well as to transfer data to my PC. I myself won't mind spending lots of money on a fast microSD card but I have yet to find one that is both FAST and LARGE in capacity. On my Note 4, i'm using Sandisk Extreme and my fastest bench mark test was 70mb Read and 39 Write. Now these numbers are decent but In my opinion MicroSD cards are not keeping up with the speed of phones these days which is cause bottleneck issue and is one of the reasons behind all the lag that people complain about.
Now with the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0 which has 350Mb/s Read and 150Mb/s, you can rest assure it will not cause any lag from viewing pictures and videos as well as swapping from app to app. Not to mention you can always plug in your OTG cable with flash usb and do all your backups there titanium backup or simply copying your data there which is what i'm doing currently.
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The entire basis for your argument is stupid.
External cards are mostly used for storing media files where speed is not a concern

vortexmak said:
The entire basis for your argument is stupid.
External cards are mostly used for storing media files where speed is not a concern
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Click to collapse
And your entire reply basis is ignorant and does not show respect to other opinion.

Yathani said:
And your entire reply basis is ignorant and does not show respect to other opinion.
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No **** Sherlock!!

Yathani said:
And your entire reply basis is ignorant and does not show respect to other opinion.
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Click to collapse
You are entitled to your opinion for sure but you are certainly not entitled to respect for that opinion...your arguments are without merit and though I wouldn't call them stupid simply out of politeness I am sure others would not be as polite.....
Fact is they could have kept the microsd and ufs.
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My Samsung Galaxy Nexus runs the sane nearly 3 1/2 years later, in terms of the battery, as it did on day 1. I've never had to replace the battery, and in my opinion, the whole "batteries degrade in less than a year" argument is a sham.
Also, let's face reality, the average consumer isn't a techno nerd on a phone forum or a tech blogger. The average person looks at the phones in their local carrier store and picks what they like (if they aren't already set on an iPhone of course). The S6 stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of display, design, and the "edge". This phone will sell well, despite not having a removable back or SD card slot. 99% (yes...I made that up) of people out there aren't walking around with a spare battery in their pocket, or trying to carry 10,000 songs, and multi-gig videos on their phones.

If your phone were to suddenly die or break for some reason, good luck retrieving photos, videos, etc. from it. With a MicroSD storage, you can just remove it and be on your way.
I like to store movies and archive photos, videos, etc. and having expandable storage is extremely crucial. Would you buy a PC without a removable PSU or removable hard drives? Didn't think so.
The only logical explanation for Samsung to go this route, regardless of what's been touted in the news, is that they deliberately want a drop in sales and stocks and company image. Then the S7 will bring it back and they'll give the impression of it being a new breathtaking device for the people. Either that, or the S7 will be a flip phone.
I'm a Note user, and if the Note 5 goes this backwards route, then I will never consider Samsung as a brand again.

Well I think they would cut the SD card slot out mostly to save a few bucks and to get people to buy the larger versions of their phone. I do understand that if people move things like apps to their SD card they will miss the whole speed point of the phone. The only think I have ever put on my SD card are pictures and music... maybe a video now and then.... and if that moves any faster the music tempo will be off
I appreciate the fact that their new memory is much faster but people never do well with a feature being taken away.

SirWise23 said:
Well I think they would cut the SD card slot out mostly to save a few bucks and to get people to buy the larger versions of their phone. I do understand that if people move things like apps to their SD card they will miss the whole speed point of the phone. The only think I have ever put on my SD card are pictures and music... maybe a video now and then.... and if that moves any faster the music tempo will be off
I appreciate the fact that their new memory is much faster but people never do well with a feature being taken away.
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They could have done with a simple warning.
The point of the SD is that you can move all your media to it, leaving the faster internal storage free for apps

I think its more of a personal preference. I used to be a person that was so "pro-removable battery", but when I had my S5, I wasnt even changing my batteries as often. Now that I have a Z3, which has no removable battery, I don't even think about battery because the phone lasts long. I charge my battery every night before I sleep anyways and it lasts me through the day. So long as the S6 does the same I will be happy.

Well said

ThaiM said:
If your phone were to suddenly die or break for some reason, good luck retrieving photos, videos, etc. from it. With a MicroSD storage, you can just remove it and be on your way.
I like to store movies and archive photos, videos, etc. and having expandable storage is extremely crucial. Would you buy a PC without a removable PSU or removable hard drives? Didn't think so.
The only logical explanation for Samsung to go this route, regardless of what's been touted in the news, is that they deliberately want a drop in sales and stocks and company image. Then the S7 will bring it back and they'll give the impression of it being a new breathtaking device for the people. Either that, or the S7 will be a flip phone.
I'm a Note user, and if the Note 5 goes this backwards route, then I will never consider Samsung as a brand again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats why you back up your stuff...its not wise to keep everything you own on a MicroSD, because it can crash and break just like internal memory can

smooth4lyfe said:
Thats why you back up your stuff...its not wise to keep everything you own on a MicroSD, because it can crash and break just like internal memory can
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Click to collapse
You can backup and still have archives on your MicroSD for viewing.
And another instance, if you're on vacation and want to take many videos and photos with your device. You CAN with removable external storage. Backing up onto the cloud during vacations is not practical. Unless you're a millionaire with an endless cashflow for data. Look how much space a single 2 minute 4K video clip takes up. That'll fill up your entire device in no time. And then backing up gigs and gigs of data to the cloud? And then retrieving? Not practical. The cloud is not a compromise.

I am inclined to agree with the OP. The new nand is going to make the phone fly, and will help the phone capture great photos. I'm just finally glad they ditched the 16GB option. That should have disappeared with the S3.
I look forward to the head to head reviews with the M9. If the camera doesn't perform well, I'll most likely get the S6.

ThaiM said:
You can backup and still have archives on your MicroSD for viewing.
And another instance, if you're on vacation and want to take many videos and photos with your device. You CAN with removable external storage. Backing up onto the cloud during vacations is not practical. Unless you're a millionaire with an endless cashflow for data. Look how much space a single 2 minute 4K video clip takes up. That'll fill up your entire device in no time. And then backing up gigs and gigs of data to the cloud? And then retrieving? Not practical. The cloud is not a compromise.
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Click to collapse
Do you plan on taking many 4K videos?
I have 60GB of Dropbox free (from a Samsung promotion) and I save all my pics on there, its not that bad. The only con about using cloud storage is safety of files. If you make a Box Cloud account, you get 20GB free. You can also retrieve them anytime (so long as u have a data connection, which could be a con in some cases).
I do agree that having a MicroSD card is more convenient, but I don't see it as a major dealbreaker

Who uses xperia play as the main gadget?

Good, I wanted to know who of us continues or has in use the sony xperia play as gadget and main mobile in use, even having spent 6 years since leaving, still doing very well, I hope your comments

I use it for Playing Classic Games while on the go but my Main Phones are the Galaxy A3 (2015) and my A5 (2017)
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to me it's nearly impossible to use it as main driver, but i have been until 2015...i have a moto g2 now, i'm just using it as emulator device, it wouldn't keep up with all the apps i use (whatsapp, messenger, banking account, all the ebays-amazon-aliexpress and another couple of online stores, all the booking apps i use for travel, trains timing and tickets, plane timing and tickets, Google maps...) i miss the days when i had to carry only 1 device and had phone and gaming all in 1...now it's just like having to carry a psp, and i can't do it all the time...

I've actually been thinking about going back to mine.
I fired mine up the other day and was shocked that it STILL operates smoothly after all these years. Played some Blood of Calamity on it and... man... the magic has not left!

My Xperia Play became an alarm clock....
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After I dropped my Xperia play in water and the backlight went out, I switched to the much i5
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And when that broke from dropping it I bought the 78p01
Both fine devices, but the software and support was kind of lacking, and I also dropped the 78p01 in the toilet full of peepee and broke it.
If I wasn't such a spaz, I probably would still be using one of them.
Right now I use the cheapest smartphone I could find, and am saving up for the Moto Z2 and gaming moto mod when they are released.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Dilemina said:
After I dropped my Xperia play in water and the backlight went out, I switched to the much i5
And when that broke from dropping it I bought the 78p01
Both fine devices, but the software and support was kind of lacking, and I also dropped the 78p01 in the toilet full of peepee and broke it.
If I wasn't such a spaz, I probably would still be using one of them.
Right now I use the cheapest smartphone I could find, and am saving up for the Moto Z2 and gaming moto mod when they are released.
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Hi Dilemina. Long time no see. Nice to see some of the 'oldies' still come here hehe. I really liked the much i5. I felt that it was much better quality that the price would have you believe. I kept mine in a PS Vita case and it was immaculate when I sold it. I tried to buy another a year or so ago but they're really rare now.
I was tempted by the 78P01 but stuck with the XP instead. I was a little put off by the low internal storage. I had a Shield Portable for a while and it only has 12gb usable internal and I filled that in no time. Im on stock rom with doomkernel overclocked to 1.8ghz, debloated, link2sd moving all my apps, including many of the system apps. The phone is still very usable today. A little slow, but definitely still good.
I use a Xiaomi Redmi Pro for my main phone and a GPD XD for android gaming, but for emulation and casual android I still use the XP. PS1 is perfect on it. I use the PSXperia way to convert games and it works really well. And the XP is the only device I can get Asphalt 6 on, which is the best in the series in my opinion.

Cool dude. I haven't played any good games since I broke all of my stuff. But hopefully the moto z and moto gamepad can be a good successor.
Also the 78p01 is cheep now if you buy it from snails official retailer at tmall.com https://world.tmall.com/item/456871...u_properties=5919063:57445706;122216431:27772
And you can use a mini sd card for storage.
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I bought my XperiaPlay 6 months back, just because i wanted one badly, from a long time. Recently my BB Q5 got damaged and i had to make XperiaPlay my primary device. It's pretty much good as main phone, apart from the fact that, i can't play games anymore.
Soon i'll get my NOKIA 6 and make Play my gaming device.
Cheers!

I sold all three of mine long ago, and probably gone through 20+ phones since. But now I just bought a Moto Z Play, just for that gamepad mod, which seems like it's going to be $80 and released in very late summer. Pricey, but should be totally worth it, unless they screw up the dpad.

I was thinking about making RedRom for this device too, but i don:t have the phone..

I still run an r800x and have a spare unit already flashed with the custom ROM I spent over a year developing for it sitting in a drawer for when this one dies.
Aside from having to use a swap file to make multi-tab usage in Palemoon feasible I have no issues with it.

i have my hands on xperia play for over two years now and using it as my main phone since after optimizing. it is with stock rom, i use whatsapp, instagram (works without stories which i dont care about btw) and fblite (this version faster hold about 1 mb space and doesn't need messenger you can send and receive messages from the app). i have no major complaints about performance as i have disabled google services. using 64 gb sd card with link2sd i have tons of games, music and books (scientific articles and literature also). it pretty well runs most needed apps for anything if you ask me, i even use as metronome, guitar tab reader, sound recorder and hiit exercise helper and so on...
in my opinion biggest downside of the device that damn flex cable, causes most of the problems. so i stocked about 10 flex cables and a handful of batteries, planning to use this little devil for a long time

so you are all on GB stock? what emulator do you use? have you tried retroarch?

i was using fine until i inserted am empty MICRO SIMCARD SHELL to Normal SIM Size Converter.. when i pulled it out.. it broke my SIM CARD connectors....and after that i was not able to fix my beloved phone ever again.. just lying in my drawer now. any ideaS ?

vetnuvit said:
i have my hands on xperia play for over two years now and using it as my main phone since after optimizing. it is with stock rom, i use whatsapp, instagram (works without stories which i dont care about btw) and fblite (this version faster hold about 1 mb space and doesn't need messenger you can send and receive messages from the app). i have no major complaints about performance as i have disabled google services. using 64 gb sd card with link2sd i have tons of games, music and books (scientific articles and literature also). it pretty well runs most needed apps for anything if you ask me, i even use as metronome, guitar tab reader, sound recorder and hiit exercise helper and so on...
in my opinion biggest downside of the device that damn flex cable, causes most of the problems. so i stocked about 10 flex cables and a handful of batteries, planning to use this little devil for a long time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a few questions, as a new user for this phone, aha.
First, how did you go about optimizing your's? Thank you for the heads up about fblite, as well. In regards to Google services, that disables the Play Store and Maps, correct? How would I go about disabling Google Services and use a GPS app still?
Also, unrelated, but what are some of these science articles and books? Sorry for all of the questions, I just like to learn, and I really want to make use of my XP, lol. Thanks. :cyclops:

donteatsoap7 said:
I have a few questions, as a new user for this phone, aha.
First, how did you go about optimizing your's? Thank you for the heads up about fblite, as well. In regards to Google services, that disables the Play Store and Maps, correct? How would I go about disabling Google Services and use a GPS app still?
Also, unrelated, but what are some of these science articles and books? Sorry for all of the questions, I just like to learn, and I really want to make use of my XP, lol. Thanks. :cyclops:
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Click to collapse
first of all i use stock rom gb 2.3.4. i rooted the phone and use link2sd to save space on internal memory of the phone. i even deleted some of the software included in the stock rom (there is a debloat thread in xda forum i dont exactly remember, but there you can find which software you can safely remove). it is essential what you dont link (using link2sd) to external sd card as this decides the main perfomance of the phone. i did not link fblite, whatsapp, main messaging and phone apps. these apps make access to sd card so often if you link them, when they all try to acces the sd card you will experience huuugee slowdowns.
This is where google services comes to mind, now here's the thing : you have to link this because it takes a lot of space in internal memory. and when i linked play services my phone was unbelievably slow (may be related to access speed of my sd card i dont know). so i had to freeze (with link2sd) it to gain performance. there are some disadvantages to this but they are all manageable. first google play store works just fine you can download and install apps without problem (buying and in app purchases work fine as well). gps should work fine too, may be mine is faulty but gps of xperia play is not receiving much signal. it is really really bad that i dont even try to use it (not much of a help there sorry). i use maps (stock version not updated as it takes much space) to find addresses without problem. main problem of freezing services is when backing up your data (ie. whatsapp message backup). to overcome this i manually back up my own data after unfreezing services, then i freeze it again.
bonus: whatsapp mentions that we will not be able to use whatsapp after feb 2020 as they will not support android 2.3.7 and earlier. (may be begging for a stable version that will work can be provided we have about 2 years to flood their mails... we need to form an alliance to constantly mail them.) i dont get the reasons actually it is a simple messaging service and we are just texting even old nokias should be able to do that...
regarding to my reading preferences i use google play books,(in my library there are free books like sherlock holmes and purchased books mostly about martial arts), FBreader for epubs, and ezPDF reader for articles on virology which is my profession as i can underline or highlight when i am working. reading performance is quite good with all apps as reading is indispensible part of my job. i mostly read classics like 1984, tale of two cities etc. when i have spare time in the lab. or if i am not in the mood i fight the s..t out in street fighter arcade.
---------- Post added at 09:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:49 AM ----------
inaroom said:
so you are all on GB stock? what emulator do you use? have you tried retroarch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i am on stock rom i tried retroarch did not like it (because it kept freezing). i use seperate emulators (namely mame4droid, myboy, ppsspp gold, drastic, scummvm, c64emu, epsxe, n64oid, snes9x ex).

vetnuvit said:
first of all i use stock rom gb 2.3.4. i rooted the phone and use link2sd to save space on internal memory of the phone. i even deleted some of the software included in the stock rom (there is a debloat thread in xda forum i dont exactly remember, but there you can find which software you can safely remove). it is essential what you dont link (using link2sd) to external sd card as this decides the main perfomance of the phone. i did not link fblite, whatsapp, main messaging and phone apps. these apps make access to sd card so often if you link them, when they all try to acces the sd card you will experience huuugee slowdowns.
This is where google services comes to mind, now here's the thing : you have to link this because it takes a lot of space in internal memory. and when i linked play services my phone was unbelievably slow (may be related to access speed of my sd card i dont know). so i had to freeze (with link2sd) it to gain performance. there are some disadvantages to this but they are all manageable. first google play store works just fine you can download and install apps without problem (buying and in app purchases work fine as well). gps should work fine too, may be mine is faulty but gps of xperia play is not receiving much signal. it is really really bad that i dont even try to use it (not much of a help there sorry). i use maps (stock version not updated as it takes much space) to find addresses without problem. main problem of freezing services is when backing up your data (ie. whatsapp message backup). to overcome this i manually back up my own data after unfreezing services, then i freeze it again.
bonus: whatsapp mentions that we will not be able to use whatsapp after feb 2020 as they will not support android 2.3.7 and earlier. (may be begging for a stable version that will work can be provided we have about 2 years to flood their mails... we need to form an alliance to constantly mail them.) i dont get the reasons actually it is a simple messaging service and we are just texting even old nokias should be able to do that...
regarding to my reading preferences i use google play books,(in my library there are free books like sherlock holmes and purchased books mostly about martial arts), FBreader for epubs, and ezPDF reader for articles on virology which is my profession as i can underline or highlight when i am working. reading performance is quite good with all apps as reading is indispensible part of my job. i mostly read classics like 1984, tale of two cities etc. when i have spare time in the lab. or if i am not in the mood i fight the s..t out in street fighter arcade.
---------- Post added at 09:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:49 AM ----------
i am on stock rom i tried retroarch did not like it (because it kept freezing). i use seperate emulators (namely mame4droid, myboy, ppsspp gold, drastic, scummvm, c64emu, epsxe, n64oid, snes9x ex).
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Awesome, thanks a ton! I already have Link2SD and I love it! I'll look into freezing Google Services, especially if Maps works (somewhat, lol). Also, I'm unable to unlock my bootloader, so I'm pretty sure that I cannot change the ROM. Could I debloat it without a new ROM? (I'll search for the thread). I really want to start reading and I like sci-fi stuff, plus I have some epubs on my PC I've never used, lol. It seems like I neveer really focus on reading, even comics, but I want to at least try it sometime. Thank you for all of the information, it is greatly appreciated!
Also, about the emulators, I've been using MyBoy and MyOldBoy for GBA and GBC and they are amazing! I just installed PPSSPP and Persona 3 runs beautifully!