Database Users

IF Samsung is listening -- Get your act together NOW !

I'm just venting my frustration (and such appologies to the forum moderators) but I do hope someone is listening.
I've had my SGS for about 2 weeks now. For the first time since I'm using _any_ sort of smartphone (many, many moons) these two weeks were constant tinkering, tweaking, lagfixing, trying leaked beta software etc. -- a LOT of frustration, with very little improvement.
So I came to this conclusion: You just cannot polish a turd
So, dear Samsung let me say it straight:
SGS is a POS. Get your act together, you are losing customers in drones. There is a good reason you are far behind HTC -- YOU SUCK
The irony of it all ? It's all in the SW -- the HW platform seems solid, with a good foundation. However, the horrible, horrible things they've done to the OS and -- not the least that HORRID TouchWhiz simply make me cringe. Personally, I would fire the project manager responsible for this abomination with a geostationary rocket.
In my personal case I've got this phone from work -- there is no chance in hell I would have handed out my hard earned cash for this POS. If, in a moment of insanity, I would have ever done so, not later than the day after I would be prompt back at my local Samsung rep and told them to stick that phone somewhere special and ask for a full refund then and there.
(Again, sincere appologies to the forum moderators -- I hope I am not breaching forum posting rules. At least not too many )

Not quite sure where your happy or content place is with your sgs but mine is with JH2 and the OCLF V2. Providing it doesn't blow up on me I think I could deal with this for a while. I feel your frustration though, the quest for perfection can certainly be less than gratifying.
Sent from my GT-I9000M using XDA App

HTC also have their problems as well.

There is no perfect phone.
I owned TONS of smartphones, most by HTC: the ALL had issues.
In fact i moved away from HTC after the EVO Fiasco if the bad hardware build, 30fps cap after trying the N1 which that CHEAP screen!
There is no perfect phone. deal with it.

iphone is perfect except for restrictions on it by apple

hatin it how samsung keeps moving froyo release date

TS has a point
The topic starter has a point. Coming from a HTC Desire, you clearly experience the poor software. The HTC Desire works far better out of the box. I got my hands on a SGS through swapping providers, otherwise i would have stuck with HTC Desire.
On the other hand, its starting to grow on me, and i expect the Froyo update to make it much better (as it did to the Desire also i must admit).

salmanslick said:
iphone is perfect except for restrictions on it by apple
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then is it not perfect

So go tell Samsung directly if you want them to hear.. There are enough threads with people whinging, so if anything, this is a dupe.
Also, losing customers in drones? Really?? HAHAHAHAHA. Have you got any evidence for that claim? The only customers being lost seem to be at XDA, and some of them are overanalysing, such as the people who were whinging about GPS, have been saying "the iphone wouldn't have that problem", and yet, people have produced tracks which suggests it does. And "lag" is apparently no worse than previous generation devices, it certainly doesn't make the device "unusable" as many exaggerators have claimed
There are problems with every device... The question, is how much the user tries to train themselves to be annoyed by a problem.. On OSX for instance, I'd notice when a program crashed, users don't care.. But on Windows, people almost throw their keyboard

dial to get latest news on froyo from samsung:
1-800-ef-kay-samsung

FlorianO said:
In my personal case I've got this phone from work -- there is no chance in hell I would have handed out my hard earned cash for this POS. If, in a moment of insanity, I would have ever done so, not later than the day after I would be prompt back at my local Samsung rep and told them to stick that phone somewhere special and ask for a full refund then and there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lucky you... I was one of those who did hand out hard earned for this POS... and its going to cost me even more to rectify my problem and do what I should have done in the first place: chose the iphone.
If it wasn't for this forum, I probably would have dropped it down the toilet.

Touchwiz is easily replaced with better options from the Market. There's not a single Android device sold today that have a better Launcher than a couple of the ones on the Market IMO, and it's easy to replace the stock one. + for Android.
In my mind there is only 1 huge problem with this phone, and that is the RFS filesystem that causes lag.
GPS is an issue as well, but nothing major. It works well enough for most people.
Other than these 2 issues, this phone is awesome.

This is the best phone I have ever bought. If it was stolen, I would but another one for sure. I an not sure why you are going nuts about it, but I am sure that types like you whiners would go crazy about a "prefect" iphone (lol) as well!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

My mates with Iphones do not have the same gps problems as I do. If I geocache with them my gps jumps wildly and cannot in many cases get me close enough to find something. The iphones haven't had any problems, though appear to have worse accuracy "in general". I think when the gps is fixed it will be heaps more accurate, but it's fluctuation now makes it virtually useless.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

salmanslick said:
iphone is perfect except for restrictions on it by apple
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Click to collapse
Not really http://discussions.info.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1139

I've spent the last 4 months looking for a good phone after having an iphone 3G which once jailbroken was superb but I got bored of it in the end and the battery life was terrible.
I had the Dell Streak which I got rid of because I didnt like Dells silence over the 2.1 update or the US launch and in all honesty its a bit big.
I sold the streak and got a cheap sony x10 mini pro which was a really nice little phone even though it was on 1.6 with no definate date for upgrade and when someone on here wanted to trade his HTC Desire for it I jumped at the chance.
The Desire was really good solid build stock 2.2 was very good but sense annoyed me and slowed the phone down. Multi touch was terrible. the desire cant even do 2 point touch properly let alone five like the SGS. This made playing games impossible and the HTC bluetooth stack is borked so it doesnt support wiiremotes unless you flash opendesire.
So I sold that and got an SGS for £9 more off ebay and I like it
I've had my SGS for 2 days now. It was on 2.1 JF3 when I got it so I rooted it and put on the lag fix. It was still under performing so I put the newest build of 2.2 on the JPK thing. installed launcher pro which is the closest to stock 2.2 I've found.
Although its still an early version it flies. I think people have to keep the faith a bit. Companies are terrible at shipping devices to market too early just to beat the competition. I think thats happened alot this year.
There isnt a single perfect Android device out there right now and if your after perfection you really shouldnt consider android. Its great for geeks like me who like to tinker. If thats not you then go get a nokia or an iphone.

I even registered for this
I own a SGS my wife owns an iPhone4. I feel my phone is significantly better, despite my wife's phone costing significantly more.
The iphone is not perfect...things I dont like
1. They do not yet have a free satnav app.
2. You cannot email more than one photo at the same time.
3. Does not have swype
4. Smaller screen
5. No back button (top left corner of screen always has to have a back button)
6. You have to pay extra for everything (ring tones etc.)
7. SGS is much more resistant to drop based damage
8. No customisable home screen for regularly used functions which occasionally are multi-level deep in an iPhone
9. No removable storage
10. No chance of a flash browser...
Do not get me wrong the iPhone 4 is an exceptionally good phone, but the SGS IMO is better and cheaper!
Additionally I have noticed my battery lasts a day longer than my wife's (completely unscientific testing though).
For balance I will point out the things on my wife's phone that are superior to SGS
1. Camera has a flash (the flash is not great, but it is better than nothing).
2. The text rendering is superior
3. The safari touch screen movement is superior (difficult to explain why you need to use both to appreciate what I mean)
My wife's iPhone 4 regularly (approx twice weekly) asks her to re-enter the wifi security code for our house, that bug to me is far more annoying than anything I have experienced on my phone so far.

Great!
Tesmond said:
I own a SGS my wife owns an iPhone4. I feel my phone is significantly better, despite my wife's phone costing significantly more.
The iphone is not perfect...things I dont like
1. They do not yet have a free satnav app.
2. You cannot email more than one photo at the same time.
3. Does not have swype
4. Smaller screen
5. No back button (top left corner of screen always has to have a back button)
6. You have to pay extra for everything (ring tones etc.)
7. SGS is much more resistant to drop based damage
8. No customisable home screen for regularly used functions which occasionally are multi-level deep in an iPhone
9. No removable storage
10. No chance of a flash browser...
Do not get me wrong the iPhone 4 is an exceptionally good phone, but the SGS IMO is better and cheaper!
Additionally I have noticed my battery lasts a day longer than my wife's (completely unscientific testing though).
For balance I will point out the things on my wife's phone that are superior to SGS
1. Camera has a flash (the flash is not great, but it is better than nothing).
2. The text rendering is superior
3. The safari touch screen movement is superior (difficult to explain why you need to use both to appreciate what I mean)
My wife's iPhone 4 regularly (approx twice weekly) asks her to re-enter the wifi security code for our house, that bug to me is far more annoying than anything I have experienced on my phone so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to the community.
Excelent post.
Congratulations and thank you for the analysis.

nCoder said:
Welcome to the community.
Excelent post.
Congratulations and thank you for the analysis.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
music on iphone sounds way better than sgs.

Tesmond said:
1. They do not yet have a free satnav app.
2. You cannot email more than one photo at the same time.
3. Does not have swype
4. Smaller screen
5. No back button (top left corner of screen always has to have a back button)
6. You have to pay extra for everything (ring tones etc.)
7. SGS is much more resistant to drop based damage
8. No customisable home screen for regularly used functions which occasionally are multi-level deep in an iPhone
9. No removable storage
10. No chance of a flash browser...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. True, but there are cheap ones. Google navigation works terribly for me, so the SGS may as well not have one TBH. I've got no doubt its the phone not the program thats causing this. Clearly other people dont have this problem though.
2. No big deal for me or most people for that matter, but fair point.
3. True - I'll miss swype when I go back to the iphone. That said swype isnt perfect either - its often putting the wrong word in for me and i'm having to go back correcting the errors.
4. True... but its sharper and not pentile. I think the screens are a draw for me.
5. True, but it doesn't really need one IMO.
6. True - but not bothered.
7. I can imagine.
8. Yes, but then its rare you need to. Main thing I'd like to see is a button for airplane mode and to keep the screen on, but I can live with it.
9. True but it does have a lot of storage built in. Not a big deal for me.
10. To be honest the importance of this is overstated - when I've witnessed flash running on a phone it often slows to a crawl anyway.
Tesmond said:
Do not get me wrong the iPhone 4 is an exceptionally good phone, but the SGS IMO is better and cheaper!
Additionally I have noticed my battery lasts a day longer than my wife's (completely unscientific testing though).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wouldnt say the SGS is better. It lags, is full of bugs and the GPS doesn't work at all for many people. The build quality is questionable (though I dont mind).
However, you really have to be joking about the battery? My mate has an iphone 4, and the battery life is not just slightly better on his, it is STAGGERINGLY better. We are both heavy users, and his is easily double what mine can do on the battery. If your partners iphone 4 battery does not last longer than your SGS, I'd say hers is faulty, TBH.
Tesmond said:
For balance I will point out the things on my wife's phone that are superior to SGS
1. Camera has a flash (the flash is not great, but it is better than nothing).
2. The text rendering is superior
3. The safari touch screen movement is superior (difficult to explain why you need to use both to appreciate what I mean)
My wife's iPhone 4 regularly (approx twice weekly) asks her to re-enter the wifi security code for our house, that bug to me is far more annoying than anything I have experienced on my phone so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Not only does it have a flash, it is also FAR superior in terms of picture quality. Again, first hand experience. The SGS camera is acceptable, nothing more. The iphone camera has better sensors etc, and is actually almost as good as a compact dedicated camera from a few years ago.
2. Agreed
3. Again, agreed - even the original iphone moves around the screen better than the SGS (or any Android phone).
Now a few you forgot...
4. It runs faster - a LOT faster. Even if you lag fix an SGS, it STILL doesn't run as fast. Then again even a 1 year old Nexus One outperforms the SGS (but again, not the iphone 4).
5. Less buggy - this surely cannot be denied.
6. MUCH better apps
7. GPS actually works
8. Looks nicer
9. Far, FAR better battery life - I don't know how anyone can really say otherwise.
10. Updating it doesn't result in you having to spend an hour reinstalling apps without the aid of a (paid) backup app.
11. Resale value, come the day, will be FAR superior. In the UK, we have phone recycling sites (which no doubt, so will you)... and already the maximum price you can get for the SGS is around £115. That is APPALLING. You can STILL get £190 for a 2 year old iphone 3G. Big deal, you may think, but for me, this more than offsets the extra cost of the phone. In actual fact, a 16Gb SGS was £550 when it came out in the UK, £50 MORE than the iphone. Yet, in a years time, when you want to sell it, you'll still get £350 for the iphone, but you'll probably be lucky to get much more than £100 for the SGS, so TCO the iphone is actually significantly cheaper.
As for your wifi bug, again, I'd say that was a faulty phone - I certainly never had that problem with my 3G.
Also, if your iphone gets faulty, then Apple will replace it there and then. I wouldn't like to imagine what would happen if I sent it to Samsung given their dire customer service in this country.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no iphone fanboy, if I was, there would only have been one choice for me, but you're pushing it saying the SGS is better and cheaper, because frankly, it's only better on paper. In reality, its very different.

Pre > Epic > Evo > back to Epic

For anyone trying to decide between the Evo and Epic, here is my take after having each for at least 2 weeks as my primary phone. These are just my opinions as everyone has different tastes
I must be an exception to the rule...I switched from a Palm Pre to the Epic for a couple weeks. I liked swype so much I decided to drop the epic for the evo.
After using an Evo for two weeks I traded it back for an Epic and I like the Epic much better for a few reasons.
First I didn't care for HTC Sense. I like the gallery, email, music player, calendar, and various apps included with the Epic better than HTC's versions. Also, HTC doesn't ship a file browser or task manager whereas Samsung does. Some people will say "just install one from the market" but those typically all have ads. I realize you can remove the ads with a host file, but that’s beside the point. These are basic OS functions that should be included.
Second the Epic feels much faster. Scrolling is smoother and games run better. Froyo or not, it’s faster.
Third…contrary to what you may believe it is MUCH easier to root an Epic. With the Epic you can essentially take the long way or the shortcut 1-click method but the Evo HW0004 currently there is only a long somewhat difficult root process.
Fourth, everyone complains that the dev community is so much better for the Evo. I would argue that this community is really top notch and has been extremely helpful and understanding to new users such as myself. I saw a lot more flaming going on in Evo forums.
Finally the hardware: Something overlooked by many, the Epic is way more comfortable to hold. Turns out rounded corners are round for a reason. After browsing the web & xda for about 30 min on the Evo I noticed the center of my palm, right where the bottom corner rests was a tad sore, almost felt bruised. This is not a problem with the Epic with its nicely rounded body and curved back. Also the earpiece is much better on the Epic, its louder clearer and is more comfortable up to the ear. And yes, the samoled screen is worth the 0.3” loss in size.
I wouldn't even consider the Evo Shift at this point. I'm shocked to see so many people recommending it over the Epic which to me is well worth the higher price.

If they fix the keyboard issues, GPS issues, and battery life issues I would agree with you that the Epic 4G is definitely the best phone on Sprint. If a Droid or the iPhone had even one of these issues, all of the media outlets would be up in arms and there would be mass returns. They are all MAJOR issues. For some reason, Samsung is allowed to get away with it on the Galaxy S devices. People are not really returning their devices in large numbers (as far as I know), and all of the reviewers gave the Galaxy S devices very high scores.
The reality is this is essentially a device with alpha or beta quality software on it, that is not getting fixed until at least six months after release. I am not buying Samsung again for mobile phones.

I have to agree with op. Best phone i ever had, and i have had quite a few smartphones. even before official froyo, it runs much smoothr than the few evos i played with. Gps, keyboard is perfect for me. And the screen is amazing.....
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Stock Evo vs. Epic battery life is within 5% I would say. I couldn't tell any difference in my usage. Probably because I am almost always within Wi-fi range which makes a big difference.
Keyboard on the Epic doesn't impress, I'll agree with you. Thats probably why I use swype most of the time. It is very handy to punch in passwords though.
GPS is better on the Evo. If you are a road warrior I would avoid the Galexy S line. That said, if you enable GPS & wireless networks it will place you on the map within 30 seconds, but it is definitely not as accurate as the Evo. Supposedly Samsung is working on improvements.
Thanks for bringing up some points I didn't include!

thechicgeak said:
If they fix the keyboard issues, GPS issues, and battery life issues I would agree with you that the Epic 4G is definitely the best phone on Sprint. If a Droid or the iPhone had even one of these issues, all of the media outlets would be up in arms and there would be mass returns. They are all MAJOR issues. For some reason, Samsung is allowed to get away with it on the Galaxy S devices. People are not really returning their devices in large numbers (as far as I know), and all of the reviewers gave the Galaxy S devices very high scores.
The reality is this is essentially a device with alpha or beta quality software on it, that is not getting fixed until at least six months after release. I am not buying Samsung again for mobile phones.
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Click to collapse
A. The keyboard is the only legitimate argument you have here.
B. Most users who buy the epic(and yes, the users who root and are members of this forum are the minority) do not see a GPS problem. I didn't even notice one till I started reading this forum and trying to replicate the problem. I have two friends with Epics, and they have never complained of the GPS not working.
C. The battery is no worse than the Evo, and that is a fact. Read on both forums and you will see that everyone gets VERY comparable operating times. Unfortunately with screen this big and clear, you aren't going to get the battery life of other phones. Have you seen the screens on Evo and Epic compared to iphone and droid? They are night and day difference, and the product of that is battery life.
If you go to the Droid forums you will see complaints as well, however because 80% of the public does not have the same demand as the users of forums like this, the complaints are not escalated as highly. The high end techies complain about everything that is not perfect, cause techies are never satisfied, I should know, I am in that boat. However, that does not mean we are holding a inferior piece of hardware/software. Outside of this forum, I have never met a normal person dissatisfied with their Epic or Evo.

I was in a sprint store last week getting a replacement Epic so while waiting i did about 15 seperate 4g bandwidth tests with the floor demo and my replacement Epic comparing it it side to side with the Evo. I'm disappointed to say not only did the Evo best the Epic every time in some instances it nearly doubled the speed. It regularly was 1-3 megabits a second faster and the fastest speed for a Epic was 7.2 megs and the Evo was 10 megs. I also noticed that even though we were in a full coverage area the Epic would go from full to no bars for some unknown reason. The Evo must have a better antenna or the Epic has some reception issues. Has anyone else tested this out?

swanysto said:
...C. The battery is no worse than the Evo, and that is a fact. Read on both forums and you will see that everyone gets VERY comparable operating times. Unfortunately with screen this big and clear, you aren't going to get the battery life of other phones. Have you seen the screens on Evo and Epic compared to iphone and droid? They are night and day difference, and the product of that is battery life...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to chime in here and state that the Epic's 45-nm S5PC110 is ~20% more power efficient than the EVO's 65-nm QSD8650. The SAMOLED on the Epic does eat more juice than the EVO's LCD when cranked all the way up or when displaying lots of white pages, but when displaying dark colors and blacks it can sip less energy.

swanysto said:
A. The keyboard is the only legitimate argument you have here.
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Click to collapse
Agreed, the keyboard is junk on this device. I am not sure if it is software, hardware, or both that causes the missed keys. Hopefully it is just software issues...
swanysto said:
B. Most users who buy the epic(and yes, the users who root and are members of this forum are the minority) do not see a GPS problem. I didn't even notice one till I started reading this forum and trying to replicate the problem. I have two friends with Epics, and they have never complained of the GPS not working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can see how for some people, the GPS issues are not a big deal, but it is for people who do not want to do any sort of hacking whatsoever to help decrease the long lock times. Not the end of the world, I'll grant you that, but my point is that this would not be accepted on any other major mobile phone, so why is it so accepted on the Galaxy S devices? Look at how up in arms people were about the iPhone 4's relatively minor "death grip" problem.
swanysto said:
C. The battery is no worse than the Evo, and that is a fact. Read on both forums and you will see that everyone gets VERY comparable operating times. Unfortunately with screen this big and clear, you aren't going to get the battery life of other phones. Have you seen the screens on Evo and Epic compared to iphone and droid? They are night and day difference, and the product of that is battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When it works as it should, it can have great battery life (mine under DK28 works great and I get around 20 to 30 hours on a charge with moderate usage). That being said, there are problems in the software that, on some phones under certain conditions, cause absurdly bad battery life (10% battery drain or more per hour while idle, which is how mine was until I upgraded to DK28 and how my friends' Fascinates are) and cause the phone to heat up considerably while idle. I have only ever heard of this happening with Galaxy S phones. Either way, frequent updates from Samsung and getting the latest Android release reasonably fast would mitigate this complaint for me, but that doesn't happen, so it is a legitimate complaint.
swanysto said:
If you go to the Droid forums you will see complaints as well, however because 80% of the public does not have the same demand as the users of forums like this, the complaints are not escalated as highly. The high end techies complain about everything that is not perfect, cause techies are never satisfied, I should know, I am in that boat. However, that does not mean we are holding a inferior piece of hardware/software. Outside of this forum, I have never met a normal person dissatisfied with their Epic or Evo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will agree that many people expect too much out of their smart phones. 20 to 30 hours is not enough for many people. That being said, 10 hour battery life doing absolutely nothing with the phone is completely ridiculous, and it is a legitimate software problem with the Galaxy S devices.
EDIT: Some grammar changes

I believe every phone's capabilities have to do with their "abuse" levels. Higher the abuse, lower the satisfaction. And, with higher abuse there will be more frequent visits to the Sprint store than usual.
I got my Epic on the day it came out (8/30/2010) and I have to admit this is a very beautiful phone with nice features. And the custom roms just spice it up even more (with less abuse of course)

If you have 10% drain an hour then you have app issues or something running in the background. On eclair I was getting 60 - 80 hours with no problem. On froyo it has been 20 - 30 hours now with ext 4 its up to 55 hours
Our stock standby time is 300 hours evo is like 200.
Epic 4g Quantum Rom Ext 4

Since im replying from my phone and I don't feel like editing a quote I'll just say that the gps is a MAJOR issue as I was never able to use it until I started having my phone. Considering gps is such a basic feature nowadays that is unacceptable.
Sent from my ext4 Epic 4G running Bonsai4all 1.1.3!

so far so good
I'm always tempted by the path not chosen, but so far the Epic has done everything I've needed it to do.
I drive for a living, and while the GPS does take time to lock, it does lock. Otherwise I can find myself on the map and plot my route on the map to at least start my travels until it does lock. I consider this to be standard GPS protocol :/
I could really care less about the keyboard, but for some reason Sprint has designated the slider as their form factor of choice since the PPC-6700. It misses keys, and I thought it was just me, but I'll just have to factor that in and type more carefully. But only the form factor and the OS have been real temptations for me.
I was in the market to replace my Flip camera, and when i saw the video comparisons between the Evo and the Epic, I knew I would be very disappointed with the Evo. And while it may not matter to some, I appreciate the dedicated 2 step camera button.
I'm also feel I'm in the minority when I say that I really like plug location. I leave the phone plugged in while I drive, and it's nice to not have to stow the phone upside down and have to hold it around the plug. This has been a plus with every Samsung phone I have had, the ability to charge it in the upright position. And I cannot tell you how much I adore the slide cover of the plug.
The screen looks great from any angle even in bright light I can see it better than I could ever see the screen on my TP2.
Now, is the phone light and cheap feeling? Possibly. But I would rather drop a light phone than a heavy phone. Think about it. I already dropped it once trying to take a picture of something on the floor. Wood floor, no harm, lesson learned. But the phone seems well put together, and it should last at least the year before I can upgrade to, whatever.
4G, eh, whatever. I play with it in Chicago, and it's iffy at best. They basically tacked on an extra radio, and I mostly pretend it's not there. However, it does grant the ability to do simultaneous voice and data, which will be a plus if this network ever expands and takes hold.
So even though I am sick to death of waiting for Froyo since I'm checking on it every day, I still know I made the right choice as far as what Sprint has to offer.

docdg said:
I also noticed that even though we were in a full coverage area the Epic would go from full to no bars for some unknown reason.
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Click to collapse
This happens to me all the time. Months ago there were some posts postulating that this problem may be because the Epic's network defaults to "WCDMA preferred" under the advanced network settings, and WCDMA, despite its name, is actually a protocol for GSM phones, not CDMA phones. The thought is that it preferentially periodically goes looking for these networks it cannot connect to.
I have found that switching this setting to "CDMA auto" causes my "time without signal" to drop from ~50% to about 4%, so there's probably something to that argument. Unfortunately the phone seems to change itself back, especially when it reboots, and in any case I still get the bars dropping away quite often, even after changing this.

Phreddo said:
I'm also feel I'm in the minority when I say that I really like plug location. I leave the phone plugged in while I drive, and it's nice to not have to stow the phone upside down and have to hold it around the plug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also like the plug where it is, though I didn't think I would when I got it. It is so much nicer than a bottom or side plug, not only when plugged into the car, but also when plugged in anywhere else, especially at the computer.

I really like my Epic over the Evo. My cuz has an Evo and it looks and feels so big and square, I really don't think I'd like carrying that thing in my pocket, like I carry my Evo. And for me, Evo's screen is actually larger than needed. I lived without a keyboard for two years with my HTC Touch and now, I can't go without a keyboard. I personally find Swype to be inaccurate and I constantly had to make adjustments. I use the android keyboard when not typing on the keyboard.

edonnelly said:
This happens to me all the time. Months ago there were some posts postulating that this problem may be because the Epic's network defaults to "WCDMA preferred" under the advanced network settings, and WCDMA, despite its name, is actually a protocol for GSM phones, not CDMA phones. The thought is that it preferentially periodically goes looking for these networks it cannot connect to.
I have found that switching this setting to "CDMA auto" causes my "time without signal" to drop from ~50% to about 4%, so there's probably something to that argument. Unfortunately the phone seems to change itself back, especially when it reboots, and in any case I still get the bars dropping away quite often, even after changing this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too noticed that in the settings. When I switch to CDMA auto, the bars were almost always full or close to full even when I was in areas that historically gave me a bad signal. Unfortunately, the phone swtiches back to WCDMA and I go back to my normal, high-and-low signal.

One final note as I am actually switching to an evo today. On the topic of task killers the one included with the epic is crap. It does not show programs samsung does not want you ending and so I've always used advanced task killer. To me GPS that works and manufacturer support far outweigh the need for a manufacturer supplied task killer.
Sent from my ext4 Epic 4G running Bonsai4all 1.1.3!

kenvan19 said:
One final note as I am actually switching to an evo today. On the topic of task killers the one included with the epic is crap. It does not show programs samsung does not want you ending and so I've always used advanced task killer. To me GPS that works and manufacturer support far outweigh the need for a manufacturer supplied task killer.
Sent from my ext4 Epic 4G running Bonsai4all 1.1.3!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I'm switching to the Epic but I haven't considered the GPS issue. I just assume I'll get a good one. lol. To me, the screen, the still and video camera are reasons to switch. Though the dev community doesn't seem as robust for Epic and the manufacturer support clearly isn't there as well.

dwd3885 said:
I think I'm switching to the Epic but I haven't considered the GPS issue. I just assume I'll get a good one. lol. To me, the screen, the still and video camera are reasons to switch. Though the dev community doesn't seem as robust for Epic and the manufacturer support clearly isn't there as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can get GPS working you just have to be on DK28. If you like the phone by all means get it. It comes down to opinions and my opinion is that there really isn't anything I like about the Epic. Its got great graphics and a good camera but I have a 42" flatscreen+a PS3 for gaming and I have a 12mp camera for pictures, I don't need my phone to do those things. Sure, having a hardware keyboard is great but considering I have to slow my typing speed down so I don't miss letters and how much I've come to love swype I don't really want/need it anymore. I've said this in the Evo Shift vs Epic thread and I'll say it here: Go try both phones. If you like one more than the other, buy it. Manufacturers and Carriers are always going to skew their descriptions and spec sheets to get you to buy something, so just go with what you want.

jbadboy2007 said:
If you have 10% drain an hour then you have app issues or something running in the background. On eclair I was getting 60 - 80 hours with no problem. On froyo it has been 20 - 30 hours now with ext 4 its up to 55 hours
Our stock standby time is 300 hours evo is like 200.
Epic 4g Quantum Rom Ext 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not quite sure exactly what it is, but it seems to be restricted to Galaxy S phones. I spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out what was causing it on my phone, and while I have heard of people like you who got good battery life in 2.1, everyone I know who has a Galaxy S device has this issue. Judging by the fact that for me and others, 2.2 has cleared up the issue, I am guessing there is a fix specifically for this in that update.
For the record, I once ran logcat to see if I could pinpoint the issue. It seemed that Google Sync was querying Google's servers CONSTANTLY even though I had configured to push in GMail, so it could be an issue with Android or the GMail app itself, but why it seems to manifest on Galaxy S devices with alarming frequency is beyond me.

Anyone else here wishing ATT will release another Dual core phone?

I have 27 more days to exchange...If not, I'm going back to WP7 which by the way is wayyyyyyy smoother.

xs2k said:
I have 27 more days to exchange...If not, I'm going back to WP7 which by the way is wayyyyyyy smoother.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its not android's fault
.....its motoblur's fault...and the fact its running froyo

What exactly are you looking for or expecting in a different dual core phone? When you say smoother... do you mean in design or actual function?

CC Lemon said:
What exactly are you looking for or expecting in a different dual core phone? When you say smoother... do you mean in design or actual function?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Judging from the video reviews of the LG 2X, the browser and overall phone seem much more fluid on the 2X. Try loading up engadget or pocketnow.com and it's annoyingly slow to browse on the Atrix. Even my 1.5 year old Ipod touch browses better than this phone. I tried Firefox, and it's a little bit better, but not my much.
Another issue: The phone freezes up sometimes opening text messages. I'm also getting error messages like "the message must contain valid recipients and content" even though I'm immediately "replying" to a message...lol
Overall feel = too much plastic.

The experience with this phone seems to vary a lot...
I've had almost no issues and everything seems to run exceptionally smooth to me. I'm coming from an iPhone 3GS and browsing is without a doubt better on the Atrix. I can scroll entire pages like engadget without it hesitating to load while my iphone is constantly having to pause for a second to make the page viewable if I scroll beyond a crawl. I've used my friends iphone 4 quite a bit as well and I'd have to say that I think the atrix works better for browsing than that as well. Definitely closer than my 3GS, but the atrix seems to handle it just a little bit better.
Texts have worked fine for me... nothing spectacular but not worse than other smartphones I've used.
Build quality definitely doesn't seem to be the same as my 3GS, but I like the design of the atrix a bit more. It's hard to beat the "solid" feel of the iphone though. I'd say the atrix is at least on par with the average smartphone, but definitely not the best.

Webtop access kit - Blurry HDMI Output
I am having a very hard time deciding to keep this phone. There are things it does so well and others are a clear miss.
The HD dock kit (with the keyboard/mouse) brings up a massive limitation on this phone when connected to a HDMI monitor. Out of 4 HDMI monitors and TVs I own, there is not one that is an exact native resolution mode that is supported by this phone. The 720p modes come close to my 720p monitors but there is no support at all for 1080 modes.
This makes the video out look like crap on these monitors, like using S-video in or something. Most of the video modes seem to be from the old VGA output connector days like 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 etc. Why?
The output quality is no where even close to what you are used to on your PC because of this. If you were lucky enough to have a monitor with a supported native resolution then mabey it would look correct. As it is, the text is painfully blurry to look at in todays crisp digital era.
Now that the desktop mode is unusable because of crappy video out mode support, major functions of this Atrix are gone.
Anyone else notice this? I thought I should post this to give others a heads up on these accessories.

I'm curious how many people having issues have rooted their device. I rooted mine the day I got it, but reversed the root after seeing some issues others are having. Root access doesn't mean much to me anyway.

CC Lemon said:
The experience with this phone seems to vary a lot...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, very much so. I haven't had the best experience with mine. Specifically, screen responsiveness. I find that when I try to move quickly through a task or throughout the phone, it misses registered touches. I have no problem moving about exactly the same way on my Inspire, Captivate, or my previous iPhone. And then again, I saw a thread asking about screen responsiveness and everyone said it was great, with one person saying it was the best. Which was the exact opposite of my experience. I'm back using my inspire, trying to decide if I want to exchange (could've gotten a bad unit) or just return it.
*ps - the screen leaves a lot to be desired. Feels like I'm using a "dumbphone" from years ago. I just don't think it looks any good and there are apps that look distorted because of the new resolution.

mrdlpatterson said:
Yes, very much so. I haven't had the best experience with mine. Specifically, screen responsiveness. I find that when I try to move quickly through a task or throughout the phone, it misses registered touches. I have no problem moving about exactly the same way on my Inspire, Captivate, or my previous iPhone. And then again, I saw a thread asking about screen responsiveness and everyone said it was great, with one person saying it was the best. Which was the exact opposite of my experience. I'm back using my inspire, trying to decide if I want to exchange (could've gotten a bad unit) or just return it.
*ps - the screen leaves a lot to be desired. Feels like I'm using a "dumbphone" from years ago. I just don't think it looks any good and there are apps that look distorted because of the new resolution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went from using the captivate and i can hardly tell a difference between the two screens. The screen is the least of this phones problems anyhow.

"First on the block syndrome"
Some are happy or don't want to admit their early rush may have been too early.
Others read the specs and expectations are not met.
Still others are happy with their choice and understand being the first release may not be perfect and have the patience to wait for the inevitable upgrades and ROMS.
As for my I am usually last on the block and am rarely disappointed (except with iphone)
A hotrodded Captivate will likely be slicker than a first release Atrix despite the specs

The Atrix browses the web so much smoother than my overclocked Captivate.
When I loaded up a page on the Captivate, it wouldn't let me scroll at all until it was almost completely loaded. And when I did, it would show me some grid of blank space where there should have been website, and I would have to wait for it to load before I could see what part of the page I was on.
On the Atrix, it loads the whole webpage much better and there's hardly any lag at all with browsing and scrolling. I think your expectations are too high. Tone it down a notch and take a step away from the hardware sheet, then make your judgements.

Coming from a captivate my only complaints are the lack of the s amoled screen. At first i thought this phone had lag but now that ive been using it for awhile i notice that its the refresh rate of the display. Anytime the screen moves it gets slightly distorted. Opening apps and transitioning from screen to screen are snappy. Out of the box this phone blows the pants off my captivate. Everything just works so far.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

mrdlpatterson said:
Yes, very much so. I haven't had the best experience with mine. Specifically, screen responsiveness. I find that when I try to move quickly through a task or throughout the phone, it misses registered touches. I have no problem moving about exactly the same way on my Inspire, Captivate, or my previous iPhone. And then again, I saw a thread asking about screen responsiveness and everyone said it was great, with one person saying it was the best. Which was the exact opposite of my experience. I'm back using my inspire, trying to decide if I want to exchange (could've gotten a bad unit) or just return it.
*ps - the screen leaves a lot to be desired. Feels like I'm using a "dumbphone" from years ago. I just don't think it looks any good and there are apps that look distorted because of the new resolution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had problems with screen responsiveness when I switched to launcher pro, but after switching back to motoblur the problems went away.
I swapped my HTC Inspire for this phone, and my initial reaction was to return the Atrix. Yes the screen does feel like a dumbphone compared to my Captivate and the Inspire, but if you dig deeper you'll find it's mainly the color yellow that throws it off. It feels like a television that needs to be calibrated badly.
Voodoo sound and color helped the Captivate, maybe someone will do the same for the Atrix, before I slam it into a wall hopefully.

If you guys arent happy now then you never will be. I suggest you return your Atrix immediately and go back to whatever phone was so great before you went with the Atrix. Complaining on talk forums never accomplishes anything except to make the poster look like a whiny little *****.

I own two Captivates that are both faster than the new Atrix 4g that I just got. The Atrix is still an Awesome phone and the Dev's here are working hard to make it better for all of us. I have seen all kinds of complaints and critisism here most of which are not at all constructive.
Personally I think there are numerus places and sites for this type critisism. The name of this site is xda-developers! It is where we all come if we have a problem or need assistance or simply want to learn about a device. I enjoy coming here and interacting with everyone and having an opportunity to learn. Education is a comodity that is cherished throughout the world! The hate and critisism distract and sway people from the task at hand with developing this new product. The Mods closed down the last thread that went in this direction (and rightfully so) and suspect the same will come of this.
Sorry to offend anyone and will probably get flamed royaly but it is just my two cents worth......

mrdlpatterson said:
Yes, very much so. I haven't had the best experience with mine. Specifically, screen responsiveness. I find that when I try to move quickly through a task or throughout the phone, it misses registered touches. I have no problem moving about exactly the same way on my Inspire, Captivate, or my previous iPhone. And then again, I saw a thread asking about screen responsiveness and everyone said it was great, with one person saying it was the best. Which was the exact opposite of my experience. I'm back using my inspire, trying to decide if I want to exchange (could've gotten a bad unit) or just return it.
*ps - the screen leaves a lot to be desired. Feels like I'm using a "dumbphone" from years ago. I just don't think it looks any good and there are apps that look distorted because of the new resolution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I get this once in a while. When pressing "settings" or any of the buttons in menu screen, the touch would not register until the 2nd or 3rd try. Very annoying.

Exador said:
If you guys arent happy now then you never will be. I suggest you return your Atrix immediately and go back to whatever phone was so great before you went with the Atrix. Complaining on talk forums never accomplishes anything except to make the poster look like a whiny little *****.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, we all put a gun to your head and made you read this. We also strapped your fingers to the mouse button for you to open these threads. These are feedbacks and I'm sure Moto is taking notes. Maybe other members here have solutions to some of the problem they're willing to share. You coming in here complaining about the complainers make you look like a little ***** also. lol. I bet the guy trolling about the nexus S is your best friend.

A hotrodded Captivate isn't nearly as slick as the Atrix. I have both and there is no comparison.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

the only thing that might be interesting is the samsuck galaxy s2
but i dont like samsung, its personal

Exador said:
If you guys arent happy now then you never will be. I suggest you return your Atrix immediately and go back to whatever phone was so great before you went with the Atrix. Complaining on talk forums never accomplishes anything except to make the poster look like a whiny little *****.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for being so rude. This is called feedback, and these posts have shown that others have had similar problems. I found it helpful.

Post reasons why you like the Atrix!

All these hater threads being posted about "I'm returning the Atrix" , "The Atrix Screen is horrible" and "The Atrix doesn't do this..." I decided to show this device some love. We all know it's an electronic device/phone first and sometimes things are broken or just not working right...I get that! However, let's not let the VERY FEW bad things out weigh the MANY GOOD things about the Atrix. Let's enjoy our new toy and give props when props is due.
So I wanted to start this thread for people like myself to post reasons why you bought the Atrix, what you like about it and why you might decide to keep it past your 3o day return period.
I'll go first:
What I like about the Atrix is the sleekness of it. The light weight feel in the hand. and The snappiness of it. One of the reasons I think I may keep the Atrix past my 30 day period is because I feel that if Motorola does allow the bootloader to be unlocked the devs will make this phone one of the most powerful devices out if used to the best of it's ability. And if they don't release the bootloader, I'll still be happy with it and still keep it.

I like that I don't have to have a charger at my desk, car, home desk, couch, night stand, etc. the battery life is great for me.
I like that the screen practically fills the face. I like the resolution and crispness.
I love the form factor. I like how it fits in my hand, the placement of the fingerprint sensor works perfect for me.I like that it's light but doesn't feel cheap or fragile.
I like that it's not tied to a pc like my iphone.
I love how fast it is, I have no issues with lag or un responsiveness.
I love that it isn't an iphone. I like iphones..I love my atrix
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

Ill join in.
I love the weight of this phone, its not heavy like most other phones. Its more like what you expect it to be like.
The phone fits your hand VERY well. The finger print reader is positioned so that if you cradle the phone correctly, your index finger is resting on the finger print reader a good portion of the time.
I have yet to have any problems of this phone slowing down.
The battery life is AMAZING! Now I might not be the uber smartphone user that has the phone in front of his/her face 24/7 (driving/walking down halls running into people) but I still use this phone a lot and it easily lasts a full day on 1 charge.
The screen is perfect, everyone saying that the screen sucks need to wait till software comes out that utilizes this resolution. A good 90% of the stuff on the market right now was not made for the resolution on this phone. Also the real estate of this screen is amazing. They utilized all the screen space they could on this phone.
I will also be keeping this phone past the 30 day return period since I feel that the phone flat out works right out of the box. Yea a custom rom would be cool but this phone does everything I need it to do and more without breaking a sweat.
+1 for the Atrix

I really love the battery life. I got home from work tonight at 6:30 and still had 50% and I used it a ton today.
Speed. Silly speed for days. I've not seen any of the lag I hear about and it never locks up on me.
Games are insanely good, especially Tegrazone approved games. Samurai 2 and Dungeon Defenders is sick.
I dig the size and weight. It doesn't feel like a brick in my pocket.
Love the fingerprint reader as unlock.
The screen is fantastic and realistic.
Camcorder has taken some really great videos for me. I recorded almost an entire live concert with it from the send row and it looks and sounds fantastic. I recorded from the car dock to test it and at 45mph the video was crisp and didnt' stutter.
The car dock owns.
This one even surprises me: I don't hate blur. Yes, I said it.
I like the blur widget options along with the standard Android widgets. I find that with the power of the phone that blur doesn't offer any slow down. I wouldn't like it with a 528mhz processor, but it screams on the Atrix so I'm good with it.

Wow, it is nice to see a thread in which people want to say positive things!
Just to add to what everyone has already said (I'm a big fan).
I already love the device. If the bootloader is ever unlocked... holy 'smokes'... it will just be like another christmas - in the middle of the year.

no dropped calls
better signal (probably helps the no dropped calls stat too)
much better battery life
good hi def screen
great speaker
fast as hell

The Bishop said:
no dropped calls
better signal (probably helps the no dropped calls stat too)
much better battery life
good hi def screen
great speaker
fast as hell
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like having alerts, ringtones, and battery life as proficient as blackberrys.

acPIZZA said:
Wow, it is nice to see a thread in which people want to say positive things
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know right....I got tired of seeing all these negative threads about people returning the phone, they expected certain features that's not here so they're gonna return the phone etc. It was getting crazy.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

I love how i dont have to root it to to get rid of the lag isues tht other phones have.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

This is my first smart phone, so I have no prior experience to compare my Atrix experience to. Because of my lack of experience with such devices, I know I am not taxing it, putting it through the rigorous paces that others do, or even utilizing much of its potential. But I like it, and I'm pleased with it.
It is very light, easy to pocket, and it fits my hands well. Sheathed in the Body Glove Mirage TPU case, it is secure in my grasp.
It has a great screen. Even small text in web pages is crisp and readable.
I love having an internet browser with me all the time. I used it today in my garden to look up information on soil preparation.
Texting on this phone is a dream. It has a great virtual keyboard. The screen is wonderfully sensitive to a quick and light touch, which makes typing very fast and accurate.
The phone is fast and delightfully responsive. There is virtually no latency when accessing menus and apps.
The battery life is excellent. I can use it all day without running it down completely. Recharging overnight is all that's needed.

LOVE my Atrix
FAST, absolutely no lag, 1 gig of RAM, great quality construction, GREAT screen despite what others think (just look at a hi res video), a pleasure to play with!!

The phone is great out of the box compared to how the Captivate was. This phone is a smartphone on steroids. Plenty of power, RAM, and internal storage for applications for daily use. The fingerprint lockscreen is pretty nifty. 4in is the perfect size in my opinion and the phone is nice and loud.
The drawbacks are the screen isn't as good as SAMOLED, Motoblur is kind of a bummer, and white notification bar is annoying. I am really nitpicking but there isn't too much to complain about the phone.

ok honestly, i just got mine yesterday and didn't see any of the complaints that people are making about it that would make somebody wanna return it, either u got a defective device or u just complain entirely too much(easy fix, return it for another one that works duh). they talking about speed test this and that compared to the iphone/inspire/evo/etc. but no phone is perfect and honestly this phone is better then all of them. Yea it's running motorola Blur, but motorola blur isn't bad at all, the phone that made it look bad was that weak backflip that had sooooo many bugs, i kno cause my sis has it. Another thing, people are complaining about the bootloader, the devs are currently working hard to crack it, and very soon will from looking at their thread. Just wait til this thing is rooted, it's gonna shock a lot of people that returned it for these future phones that come out, so please(not everybody) stop complaining so much and making people seem like this phone is horrible just because u don't like it and it's not 2 seconds faster then your ROOTED device or inspire, u may just have a defective device......
sorri about the rant but after playing with this phone for a day it kinda frustrated me seeing people giving up on this phone soooo quickly, but i like everything about the phone nothing has disappointed me yet

Coming from a (stock) Nexus One that was the best phone I EVER used, this phone is:
- sexier
- faster
- lasting longer
- much nicer to watch videos on
- impossible to fill up with apps (!!!)
It is in general an awesome phone! Sure, glitches here & there, however nothing that will not be fixed in an imminent update.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App

G1-8701 said:
sorri about the rant but after playing with this phone for a day it kinda frustrated me seeing people giving up on this phone soooo quickly, but i like everything about the phone nothing has disappointed me yet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1; I understand Motorola has a history of locking down their phones, and the Xoom is a different device entirely...but the fact they're giving that the option of a lockable/unlockable bootloader gives me some hope.
It took some time for the Captivate development to take off, but once people were able to utilize i9000 ROMs/kernels, there were a ton of ROM/kernel options, and almost all of those piggybacked i9000 development from people outside of the United States. So I'm planning on sticking with this phone for a while, unless the Atrix part of the XDA forums here becomes a desolate wasteland and the phone gets abandoned. As somebody mentioned in another thread, once this phone comes out on different carriers in different countries, there should be a lot more people plugging away on the development side.
That said, I love the hardware portions of this phone; it feels solid, the battery cover looks nice, the camera is fantastic, the GPS works great, the screen is solid (if not spectacular, yet), I missed having a flash on my camera and LED notifications, and even with the Motoblur bloat still there...it's snappy.

battery life, battery life, battery life. and did i mention battery life?
over 40 hours on my last charge. im pressed.
i was thinking about returning due to locked bootloader......but the fact of the matter is, i can still do far more customization to this phone with a locked bootloader than i could on a jailbroken iphone (what i came from). i loved the roms/kernels for the captivate that i had for 3 weeks, but even with that phone supercustomized and overclocked, it still didnt perform as well as the atrix.

I like when chicks see me with this badass phone. I usually get laid. This phone is a chick magnet.

D1rk said:
I like when chicks see me with this badass phone. I usually get laid. This phone is a chick magnet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny as hell...lmao...Good Post!

I'd like to second everyones opinions about the phone. Coming from a iphone 3g ill never go back. I believe when froyo catches up with better apps to support the atrix's dual cores's and att finally upgrades there cell towers' and the phone has only been out for a little more then 2 weeks I'm sure the devs here need more time to play around with the phone. As I'm not rooting yet ill wait for the gingerbread update and att to upgrade there cell towers before I start rooting. But anyway back to subject I am very pleased with the phone as I agree with all comments that members have posted about the positive things.
Ps. I am pleased to live beside a att cell tower mainantance worker and he has said that middle-eastern southern U.S. towers will be updated to the LTE network no later than this years 2nd quarter and he also made a comment about att working with verizon getting everything going?? But he couldn't provided any hard prof.
Now my fingers hurt thanks swype.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App

First of all, I've never used a phone that some people didn't hate. The Atrix is the best Android phone. It beats the Nexus S and it beats the oversized, overhyped Desire HD. It beats all the plastic Samsungs. The form factor is perfect. The weight and balance are perfect. The screen is excellent. Call quality is excellent. I like it. I write about smartphones and I use them all. This beats all Androids as far as I'm concerned. And like all Androids, it isn't a boring iPhone, and let's face it that is a boring device.

Nexus 6 Thoughts and Review from a former Note II User

I have noticed quite a few Galaxy Note II users online that are close to pulling the trigger on a new phone. I have been in that camp for a few months and finally did. I really don't have and major complaints about the Galaxy Note II but rather small quibbles about the device. So you have a basic idea of where I am coming from I'll let you know what I like and dislike about the Galaxy Note II.
GNOTE II Pros:
Good Specs - The phone has specs that are still considered above mid level and should still be a viable phone for at least a couple more years if properly updated...if.
Camera - I get pretty fair image clarity from the phone and when I need something better I'll break out a DSLR or my Galaxy Camera.
Voice - Very clear and loud.
S-Pen - Oh how I'll miss thee.
Capacitive Buttons/Physical Buttons - Well thought out for one-handed use.
Weight Its a bit heavy but I actually like the weight of this phone and could probably use it as a throwing-star analog to get the drop on somebody if I hit them square in the temple. But that really is not a concern for most people.
Hardware - Its well made and very resistant to drops with a simple TPU case.
GNOTE II Cons:
Updates - I'm on T-Mobile which has taken any chance it has to kill the possibility of future updates. Occasionally an errant voice on a messageboard out of T-Mobile Customer Support stating they have seen this in the works wafts across my screen but I have yet to see it come to fruition.
Samsung Ideology - Samsung products are good for a year then they release a new one as if you really need a new product from them. Samsung makes great products but rarely do they fix glaringly obvious mistakes after a year past its original creation. I currently am working on a Samsung monitor with a color calibration issue that has been reported and known by the company for years but never fixed but they fixed it on the new model of this monitor. My Galaxy Camera, while nice, suffers from insane Touchwiz lag and could use an update on fixing that but we won't see it because they released the Galaxy Camera 2. I am in the game for technology to last a minimum of 3 years running well. I realize the market is bleeding edge but the edge has gotten far less bloody than the G1 days. I shop for phones like I do TV's or computers now.
S-Pen Manufacturing - I've been through four S-Pens. I use it a lot for taking notes throughout the day as it feels more natural than typing on a computer screen. The S-Pen tends to randomly stop working without provocation. Then if you order a "100% OEM Samsung Factory S-Pen" most likely its a Chinese knock-off. I can't find true S-pens anymore which is a concern for owning a new Note.
Lack of Stable ROMS - Nearly everything I have tried causes issues with NFC or Bluetooth. I use bluetooth all the time for music to various speakers, headphones, or my car.
Knox - It does its stinking job too well. SU can run but it can't hide. I have lost SU so many times on this stupid phone it is ridiculous. Let alone the every 10 minutes my phone lets me know that Triangle Away is being activated. I don't do a lot of coding or tinkering but I do like finding ROM's with good utilitarian purposes. I remember swapcache back in the G1 days and enjoyed finding the next cool thing to do with my phone! We are past that time now, honestly, but if it isn't Samsung branded then Samsung doesn't want you to do it.
Samsung Services - "You have started S-Voice" NO I DIDN'T. "Saving contact to Samsung Contacts" Bad Samsung, stop it! I insanely dislike...nay..HATE how Samsung will not let you get rid of its version of things. My contact list was a thing of beauty running in the 100's with every person I needed to work with (I'm a teacher that does coordination work and administrative work for a school of 600+), their room numbers, email addresses, and everything you could think of until I bought a Samsung product. I have some names with 20 duplicates due to the way this beast handles contacts. I eventually just had executive function overload and decided to give up on being organized. I might bring that back to life soon.
Now that you have an idea of where I'm coming from this is what I think of the Nexus 6....
I like it!
The first thing I really enjoyed about this phone was the speed. I'm running it Stock, Rooted, and Encrypted (for now...maybe forever...I work at a school where my kids know how to build robots and get linux running on projectors so I wouldn't mind encryption on my devices) and loving the heck out of it. I was so impressed by simple things at first such as animations from opening folders as soon as my finger touched the screen whereas my Note II would lag for a good time without animations. In fact, turning on the device is so overwhelmingly stupidly simple to turn on. I can check the time by just pulling it out of my pocket without touching buttons where if I wanted to check the time on my Note I would have to wait 5 - 10 seconds after pressing the power button while pondering the ever present question, "Did I press that button?" which inevitably leads to "#$&(*, I pressed it again and turned it off!"
The next thing I noticed was the size and weight. It is a bit harder to use than my Galaxy Note II with one hand. I think if they reversed the capacitive Back button it would be a lot easier to use for us right handers. I may look in to figuring that out. Honestly, I almost feel like this thing is too thin and light. It feels well built and solid. Even with the SUPCASE I bought it still feels a little odd in my hands but that may be due to the weight being very centered in the deep area of the curve opposed to being consistently weighted. As a personal aside this is the first phone I have ever put a screen protector on WITHOUT BUBBLES....I..AM...A ....GOD!!! Well..maybe demigod. Needless to say, Spigen makes a fine screen protector.
Unlocking and rooting this thing was a breeze. Once I get paid in a couple of weeks I plan on donating to @WugFresh for at least a case of beer for his amazing Toolkit that will even walk you through setting up Windows 8 drivers! You can find that at http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/development/toolkit-wugs-nexus-root-toolkit-v1-9-8-t2947452
The camera is better than my Note II by simply being clearer which I'm assuming is to the better camera sensor. I haven't messed with it that much.
The screen and adaptive lighting are by far my favorite thing on this phone. I am probably in the minority on this but adaptive lighting is brilliant. I have seen a lot of people talking about how AMOLED is causing the reddish/purple/yellowish hues to blacks and grays at low light levels. I do not believe that is the fact. It seems like they are using some sort of blue light filtering for this in low light. As an insomniac I tend to send the wee hours of morning which I consider night perusing XDA, Twitter, and various other odds and ends of the internets and am so happy the screen actually gets dark. My Gnote II on the lowest setting was annoyingly bright. I thought I was a genius one day when I thought to use a blue screen filter and made it darker but lo and behold the backlit capacitive buttons attached directly to the stinking hardware on the Gnote II. Its like having someone flash their brights at you when you use one of those programs on the Note. Its annoying. The Nexus 6 takes no part in this and I would 100% recommend it for fellow insomniacs. It has helped me to get sleep a little bit quicker over the last couple days which is a nice benefit. Lets see if that keeps up though. I'm pretty immune to sleep.
Also the screen is really nice quality and reproduces blacks amazingly well. I'm an art teacher and art history buff so I usually check out different high quality images on my phone to see how good it looks. It seems to work very well at recreating the color and light of some of the paintings. My favorite to use for this test is Van Gogh's Starry Night Over Rhone. Eventually my phone gets used in the classroom when a student needs to look up an image and put on an easel (or kickstand case but haven't seen one I like yet) to display when my tablet or laptop is in use.
Battery life and charger! Its great. 'Nuff said.
I think the biggest negative so far is the volume of calls. My wife said I sound quieter than usual. I also can't hear people as loudly as I used to. The speakerphone does not travel as far as the Note when it absolutely should seeing as the speakers are fairly decent for a cell phone. I could see someone fixing this pretty easily in a ROM.
The other negative is the lack of some multitasking programs that Samsung had and of course the lack of S-Pen. I use a Huion H610 Pro at home for digital art and graphic design so I loved the fact that Samsung phones used similar tech but I absolutely abhor using capacitive styluses (styli?). I'll have to figure out something I can carry with me that will work like that with a similar feel.
Anyway, as of right now I'm extremely happy with this phone. I have had no issues as of yet and luckily no burn in however I do not like my phone to cause sunspots when I look away from it so I'm not expecting to have a huge problem with it. If you have some similar issues with the Galaxy Note II (which T-Mobile amplifies) then I would suggest jumping ship especially if you have crackflashing tendencies because there is no Samsung product without a Nexus name attached to it that will be as easy to deal with as this.
-Travis

Let me go ahead and apologize for the poor grammar and lengthy sentences. I'm sitting home from work sick today (XDA fun time does not happen between the hours of 7am to 5pm at work normally) with bronchitis. The medicine(s) I'm on must really like run-on sentences after I re-read that wall of text. I hope it helps someone after deciphering it, haha.

From one educator to another (I'm a school administrator and former classroom teacher), let me say 'well done!'. Before the Nexus 6, I was a proud Note owner for the last three years - Note 1 and Note 3 to be exact. After finding out that the Note 4 would be even more locked down than the 3, and deciding that I was getting really really tired of TouchWiz and truly loved what Lollipop's UI brought to the table, I made the jump. And I am just as pleased with my choice as you are. No more crazy contacts lists or S-Voice intrusions, amen. ......I do miss my old S-Pen though....

I'm using the Note 2 atm and I "really want" the Nexus 6 (64gb infact, hard to come by in Australia otherwise I probably would have one by now).
Using SlimKat now because the stock ROM was absolutely dreadful!! (Laaag!) The S-pen does not work out of the box on the current rom and I'm not missing it either... I'm ready for the Nexus and looking forward to using "modern speakers" on a phone.

PerthSGS2 said:
I'm using the Note 2 atm and I "really want" the Nexus 6 (64gb infact, hard to come by in Australia otherwise I probably would have one by now).
Using SlimKat now because the stock ROM was absolutely dreadful!! (Laaag!) The S-pen does not work out of the box on the current rom and I'm not missing it either... I'm ready for the Nexus and looking forward to using "modern speakers" on a phone.
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I also came from the note2 on tmobile and like the OP said, there was a lack of ROMs for the phone.
i ended up pulling the trigger on a white 32gb nexus 6 (i was looking for a 64gb but they were hard to find) the other day and like it very much. I think i rooted and unlocked the bootloader within 30mins of having the phone.
just trying to enable tethering on it right now is the only obstacle for me.

simplyTravis said:
Let me go ahead and apologize for the poor grammar and lengthy sentences. I'm sitting home from work sick today (XDA fun time does not happen between the hours of 7am to 5pm at work normally) with bronchitis. The medicine(s) I'm on must really like run-on sentences after I re-read that wall of text. I hope it helps someone after deciphering it, haha.
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I had a Note 4 from T-Mobile for a few days and I didn't care for it at all & I was coming from a S4 before getting the Note 4, So I decided to return it and got the Nexus 6 which is way better. I'll also be paying less then I would of been with the Note 4.

How does the screen brightness compare between the two?

How's the focusing speed compared to the note 2?
I'm trying to decide between this and the HTC m8. I have small kids so I need something with a quick focus and overall good durability. (I'm not really concerned with megapixel count.)
Thanks!

lschuman said:
From one educator to another (I'm a school administrator and former classroom teacher), let me say 'well done!'. Before the Nexus 6, I was a proud Note owner for the last three years - Note 1 and Note 3 to be exact. After finding out that the Note 4 would be even more locked down than the 3, and deciding that I was getting really really tired of TouchWiz and truly loved what Lollipop's UI brought to the table, I made the jump. And I am just as pleased with my choice as you are. No more crazy contacts lists or S-Voice intrusions, amen. ......I do miss my old S-Pen though....
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I plan on getting things back to normal now thankfully. My contacts are so much easier to get through now. Right now I'm in the midst of dealing with starting up after school programs for our school and will be editing Google Docs with this thing next week so I'll get a real test of how it works. I work at a charter school (part of the biggest charter school system in Texas: Harmony Public Schools) and since we don't have a bus system our after school clubs tend to be in the hundreds daily. I run around circles making sure everything is going right and people are in the right place so its helpful to be able to pull up a list on a decent size screen to find information on the go. Our school has been around 7 years and I've been there 6 years of that with only 2 people there longer than me so I tend to be the guy to ask about anything.
Tubgirl said:
How does the screen brightness compare between the two?
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With adaptive brightness off the Nexus 6 is noticeably brighter with better black levels and a warmer tone (not yellowish.) I keep it on most of the time and haven't had any problems seeing things. It has been raining here in South East Texas since I've owned the phone so if it ever clears up I'll let you know how it compares outside but I'm assuming it will be a bit better than the Note II.
anrkee said:
How's the focusing speed compared to the note 2?
I'm trying to decide between this and the HTC m8. I have small kids so I need something with a quick focus and overall good durability. (I'm not really concerned with megapixel count.)
Thanks!
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Ok, I did a couple of tests. First from picking it up off of a black countertop and letting it autofocus on its own in a decently lit room. The Nexus 6 won by like less than half a second to a second.
The next test was when I would tap the screen to set white balance and autofocus in a decently lit room. From the tap the Note II won by less than half a second.
The last test was in a dark room looking then picking it up to focus on a computer screen to test white balance setting and autofocus. The Nexus 6 won this hands down by a bit over a second. I think it simply achieves much quicker white balance but autofocus is slightly slower. I'll try to do some comparison shots tomorrow when I get home from work if you want.

Thanks for that. No need for test shots. You answered my question perfectly.

Totally off-topic from the Nexus 6: if you enjoy the extra duties in addition to your classroom, please consider administration! Keep up the good work for our kids.