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I've had the SGSII for about a week now after moving from a Nexus One running CM7, and wow I am impressed.
I know that in the grand scheme of things it's an incremental upgrade - the main reason I left it a while to move - however the SGII has in my view made a significant leap.
The main thing is that the UI is now as smooth and as refined as the iOS devices. I don't know what Samsung did that nobody else in the Android market has managed, but they've finally managed to make things as smooth as the iPhone.
I finally get that delicious feeling of having the UI elements "stick" to my finger as I move them around, rather than chase behind.
While we all know this is a superficial thing and adds little to the actual functionality, I believe this has finally closed the gap in terms of delight in using the device. I hate to use the sickening Apple term, but surely the average user will find just as much "magic" in using the SGSII as any iOS device.
Web browsing is now super smooth (hardware accelerated?) as are the home screens. Going back to my N1 I really feel the difference.
The SGSII is even more buttery smooth than my Asus Transformer running honeycomb.
Hopefully whatever Samsung have done, whether it be related to the chips in the phone or software tweaks, will be copied by all Android devices, and we can put the nagging sense of UI inferiority behind us (and I know the lack of smoothness bugged you no matter how hard you denied it).
Let's hope Android has put stuttering and lagging behind it forever. Well done Samsung.
P.S.
I haven't used the HTC Sensation so I don't know if they too have achieved this, but this is based on my observations of the hardware at my disposal.
About the same as my view of the phone thats why i find it hard to understand the this is a crap phone posts can i have sense on it is their an IOS4 rom for it etc . A if i thought the phone was crap i would have returned it B if i wanted sense i would have bought sense phone .
But yes with Android customers have choice across a broad range of phones and that is why its winning the sales drive .
Looking forward to more Android improvements as this is only really year two of development .
jje
Dont get your point.
I find the IP4 laggy compared to the SGS2 . The i9100 is by far smoother in my opinion
I haven't used or seen a better smartphone. My sgs2 is borderline biblical!
austinchimp said:
The main thing is that the UI is now as smooth and as refined as the iOS devices. I don't know what Samsung did that nobody else in the Android market has managed, but they've finally managed to make things as smooth as the iPhone.
I finally get that delicious feeling of having the UI elements "stick" to my finger as I move them around, rather than chase behind.
While we all know this is a superficial thing and adds little to the actual functionality, I believe this has finally closed the gap in terms of delight in using the device. I hate to use the sickening Apple term, but surely the average user will find just as much "magic" in using the SGSII as any iOS device.
Web browsing is now super smooth (hardware accelerated?) as are the home screens. Going back to my N1 I really feel the difference.
The SGSII is even more buttery smooth than my Asus Transformer running honeycomb.
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Click to collapse
u could not have said it any better
what u explained is the MAIN reason i bought this phone
there is no " lag " its just wonderful
what would make this phone perfect is a ROM based of AOSP
which im still waiting for team hacksung to finish its version of CM7
austinchimp said:
The main thing is that the UI is now as smooth and as refined as the iOS devices. I don't know what Samsung did that nobody else in the Android market has managed, but they've finally managed to make things as smooth as the iPhone.
Web browsing is now super smooth (hardware accelerated?) as are the home screens. Going back to my N1 I really feel the difference.
The SGSII is even more buttery smooth than my Asus Transformer running honeycomb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
samsung has hardware accelerated many parts of the UI. the web browser for example is hardware accelerated, as well as a few other places.
this is why i blast google. they should have been using hardware acceleration from day 1 to give the same smooth UI experience as the iphone. the SGS2 is not doing anything special, its not the dual core making it so smooth. its simply because samsung took the time to optimize the SGS2 with graphics chip, rather than putting the burden on the CPU 100% of the time.
the nexus one would be just as smooth. look at WP7 devices. they all use the same hardware as the n1, but use hardware acceleration and proper drivers, and are the smoothest devices in the world right now.
Well that was my point - How come it's taken so long, and a few generations of Android devices for this to be done? I honestly didn't think it was possible for an Android 2.3 device to be so smooth, I thought there was something fundamental in the architecture that was going to always mean a little lag.
I'd given up any of this generation of Android phones achieving true smooth motion, and here Samsung have done it without this development even being publicised that much.
I totally agree Android should have been like this - it just blows my mind that it's taken so long, and I can see no excuse for any top tier device from any other manufacturer not to match what Samsung have done.
Also, if it is just a case of tuning the software, why haven't/didn't Samsung do it with the SGS I ?
The "this is a crap phone" posts probably mostly come from people who don't own this. ...I know that might sound a little odd but trust me, even in Android communities there are fan-boys, and some actually go that far...
yup. time to throw my htc legend. i play the pinball game. the ball look like teleporting...
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
I went from a Nexus One to an iPhone 4, and then to this amazing device. All I have to say is that its been the best experience yet. I actually had lag on my iPhone 4... And very little to none on the SG2. I agree that most people bashing this phone probably don't even own one. I'll definitely be buying an SGS3. Goodbye HTC and to their ****ty voice/speaker quality and locked bootloaders. And hello Samsung.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
Its hard to understand why people love this device soo much unless you actually ownit. This phone seems to give the feeling that android should have been this fluid from the beginning. There is no device (including the sensation) that operates as smoothly as the sgs2. I love this phone.
gstar_raw said:
I went from a Nexus One to an iPhone 4, and then to this amazing device. All I have to say is that its been the best experience yet. I actually had lag on my iPhone 4... And very little to none on the SG2. I agree that most people bashing this phone probably don't even own one. I'll definitely be buying an SGS3. Goodbye HTC and to their ****ty voice/speaker quality and locked bootloaders. And hello Samsung.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
GS3! Wow...the rumours, are TOO GOOD. Anything Apple pull out of the bag, even next year would simple pale in comparison to the GS3.
Posts like these makes me anxious to get mine. Still waiting on UPS!
If Samsung did some hardware/driver acceleration magic, I wonder if CM7 and the other AOSP ROM project will be able to take advantage of this as well. I don't want the stock ROM to be the only super smooth and slick ROM available.
austinchimp said:
Well that was my point - How come it's taken so long, and a few generations of Android devices for this to be done? I honestly didn't think it was possible for an Android 2.3 device to be so smooth, I thought there was something fundamental in the architecture that was going to always mean a little lag.
I'd given up any of this generation of Android phones achieving true smooth motion, and here Samsung have done it without this development even being publicised that much.
I totally agree Android should have been like this - it just blows my mind that it's taken so long, and I can see no excuse for any top tier device from any other manufacturer not to match what Samsung have done.
Also, if it is just a case of tuning the software, why haven't/didn't Samsung do it with the SGS I ?
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Click to collapse
it hasnt taken too long. the original galaxy s also had hardware acceleration in the browser for example. only the international version, but it was lightening fast and smooth as butter. it only is because samsung took the initiative and did a custom job. google certainly hasnt implemented it yet, and in ice cream sandwich they claim it will come.
i'm right there with you, manufacturers should have been pushing for a UI experience that matches apple's.
since the op is sharing thoughts about the device, i'll share mine too. i FINALLY received it in the mail today. opened the box, the device is bigger than it looks in the online review (coming from a nexus s 4g). the thin factor is impressive, but not as impressive as i was expecting. the smoothness is there as expected, but the "S" boot image is freakishly laggy--no big deal.
camera-really good
screen-what can i say? super amoled plus looks great,
hardware finish/quality-pretty good...but i prefer the smooth back over the textured back--no big deal
touchwiz 4.0-hmm, this is tough, i need to play with it some more. samsung obviously put a lot to this UI, but so far it doesnt seem as refined as other skins...for example, the default lock screen is kind of laggy, and is a pain sometimes to fully move the lockscreen so that it unlocks. numerical battery percentage would be nice without having to go into settings...other than these minor gripes, i love the touchwiz widgets.
obviously samsung has really tried to outdo itself and competitors, and the sgs II is perhaps the best android phone out there. but as of right now, it doesn't really give me that "wow" factor despite all its features. but i've only had it for one day and haven't gotten to test out the dual core, dlna, and other features.
Hi all, I know its down to personal preference, but, I have a SGS1 with 16GB internal memory running 2.3.3. stock, so getting a SGS2 would not improve any of that, do you think its worth getting the SGS2? what would you all do and what would be the improvement i would see?
Thanks for your thoughts
Been playing with one this weekend, they are very fast, have lots of memory and white ones look great.
The downside, everyone has one, sound is worse than SGS1, nexus prime out soon. I would personally get the nexus or wait for the SGS3 etc, surely you want something a bit different, the 2 is just a little bigger and a little faster
Sent using TCP/IP
kezgez said:
Hi all, I know its down to personal preference, but, I have a SGS1 with 16GB internal memory running 2.3.3. stock, so getting a SGS2 would not improve any of that, do you think its worth getting the SGS2? what would you all do and what would be the improvement i would see?
Thanks for your thoughts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
16 GB and 2.3.3... nope, you're right. There would be no improvement whatsoever. (Seriously? )
gsw5700 said:
Been playing with one this weekend, they are very fast, have lots of memory and white ones look great.
The downside, everyone has one, sound is worse than SGS1, nexus prime out soon. I would personally get the nexus or wait for the SGS3 etc, surely you want something a bit different, the 2 is just a little bigger and a little faster
Sent using TCP/IP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This, by far. +1
My wife picked one up a week ago, so I can truly compare mine to it side by side and I would say, I like it a lot.
1. Much, much faster.
2. There doesn't appear to be any Lag involved
3. Battery doesn't seem to last very long, but as I tested that part of it early on, it may need a few cycled charges to really say how good/bad it is.
4. GPS is way better than the SGS.
Now, having said all that, the phone is perfect for my wife (she bought the white one). She, having been a long-time blackberry user til her 9700 screen crapped out has been getting used to it, but she's starting to like this phone much better than her blackberry.
Like I said though.. its perfect for my wife. She doesn't know Gingerbread from Shortbread when it comes to this phone, and I intend to keep it that way. Yes this phone runs 2.3.3, but it doesn't seem to bad compared to my SGS with stock 2.3.3 as well. My phone is rooted, but I don't have intentions of rooting hers.
Long story short, its blazing fast, but I wouldn't buy one for myself. Samsung is just too slow on firmware updates to make it worth it for me. In fact any carrier specific phone would be. They are Androids, but they are kind of like Androids bastardized cousin. For me, my next phone is a nexus. I want it to grow as Android grows, and that only happens with Google.
Should wait for SGS 3, far better specs this phone will be awesom
http://phandroid.com/2011/10/10/is-...rther-details-leak-on-samsungs-next-flagship/
My Mrs has a black sgs2 and comparing it to my original sgs is tough.
On the plus side the screen and speed of the sgs2 are really nice. However for everyday use i find it just that little bit too big, also the handset doesn't feel as strong as the original. Im reasonably confident i could drop my phone and survive to tell the tale, but with the 2 i find myself being really careful.
Sound on the 2 really isn't anywhere near the standard of original, i like to hear my music, although I've not seen if supercurio has made much progress on the 2.
Sent From My Android Shizzle!
franklin01 said:
Should wait for SGS 3, far better specs this phone will be awesom
http://phandroid.com/2011/10/10/is-...rther-details-leak-on-samsungs-next-flagship/
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Click to collapse
I agree, those are awesome specs. But then again, so are the SGII's... definitely not comparable, but awesome nonetheless.
My whole point in this is, specs are just that... specs. The SGS II that my wife has is amazing specs wise. Its head over heals better specs wise than my SGS1.
Here's the problem though... aside from flashier graphics, a bigger screen, and a flash for the camera, its still 2.3.3. So its not a great leap for me to go to it.... its essentially the same phone if you think about it. Sure, the SGS2 will most likely get the upgrade to ICS, but when? After Jello or whatever 'J' is comes out?
The SGS3 will suffer the same fate. It will be up to Samsung to update it, not google.
The SGS3 will be a great phone, but you'll have to wait for a developer to harness its true power. Just like the SG2 and SGS1.
Whereas any nexus incarnation will have google behind it, and updated accordingly.
franklin01 said:
Should wait for SGS 3, far better specs this phone will be awesom
http://phandroid.com/2011/10/10/is-...rther-details-leak-on-samsungs-next-flagship/
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Click to collapse
1.8 GHz dual core, 2GB RAM and samoled plus HD (read: RGB, not pentile)...daaaamn. I'm dropping cash on that the day it comes out unless I get a Nexus Prime instead. The rounded shape makes it look pretty big though.
Could be total BS though, there are two mistakes on the slide: copying is spelt wrong and the SGS doesn't have exynos cpu it has hummingbird. It's also weird that the "copying or reproduction is not allowed" is located like that, usually it would be along the bottom of each slide in a presentation so as not to interfere with any of the content. The way it is kind of screams "single fake slide".
For the record, Samsung renamed all their SoC to Exynos xxxx, even humingbird. I find this stupid, but that's how it is.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda premium
ok, thanks guys, lots to think about.
greeced said:
My whole point in this is, specs are just that... specs. The SGS II that my wife has is amazing specs wise. Its head over heals better specs wise than my SGS1.
Here's the problem though... aside from flashier graphics, a bigger screen, and a flash for the camera, its still 2.3.3. So its not a great leap for me to go to it.... its essentially the same phone if you think about it. Sure, the SGS2 will most likely get the upgrade to ICS, but when? After Jello or whatever 'J' is comes out?
The SGS3 will suffer the same fate. It will be up to Samsung to update it, not google.
The SGS3 will be a great phone, but you'll have to wait for a developer to harness its true power. Just like the SG2 and SGS1.
Whereas any nexus incarnation will have google behind it, and updated accordingly.
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Click to collapse
I have no problem running stock AOSP Android on any SGS, so what exactly are you waiting for? You say we have to wait for Samsung, then we have to wait for a developer... but in reality, ICS will be on the SGS2 with practically no wait at all.
Please wait a few months to nexus prime. You wont regret!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
seen the specs for the galaxy nexus think the SGS II looks better
upichie said:
I have no problem running stock AOSP Android on any SGS, so what exactly are you waiting for? You say we have to wait for Samsung, then we have to wait for a developer... but in reality, ICS will be on the SGS2 with practically no wait at all.
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Click to collapse
"Official Samsung Firmwares" are never instantaneous, at least not here in Canada they aren't.
I mean think about it. The original SGS was the flagship phone, and we had to wait a long to go to Froyo when it first came out to the rest of the world... then while the rest of the world was enjoying bug fixes inside 2.2.1, we in Canada never received a 2.2.1 update at all.
Then go over to Gingerbread. Took forever for Canada to yet again see 2.3.3. But that is where Canada is at right now.. INCLUDING THE CURRENT FLAGSHIP SGS2. The rest of the world is either enjoying 2.3.4 or 2.3.5 or 2.3.6.
Lets not even mention the blatant, "reproduceable for anyone" bugs that are in 2.3.3 but not 2.3.4 for our I9000M's... namely swype speech button not working at all on the SGS.
AOSP? You'd have to fill me in on where you're getting your roms that don't void warranty for using them. Thats not a point I care about, but many others out there do.
The SGS2 (My wifes) was released AFTER 2.3.4 came out... yet they put 2.3.3 on it. That make any sense to anyone?
Sure it makes sense.. Carrier branded or "Locked" phones get in the way of quick releases for obvious reasons, and beyond that, samsung has 10 billion different incarnations of the same device that may need tweaking here or there to the rom. Hence slowdowns.
Having said all this, Google Phones don't have that problem.... The Nexus Prime will be what? the 3rd or 4th phone released under the Nexus name? Easy to code for, find bugs and release an update.
All these specs we are seeing for the SGS 3 may or may not be real. Same goes for the Nexus Prime. We'll have to wait and see.... but to me, quick support and updates mean everything.
please correct me if im wrong but the galaxy nexus is made by samsung so wont we have the same software update waits that we get with the SGS1 and 2
No the nexus s is also Samsung but nexus phones get software straight from google.
I have had a Galaxy S for 6 months and I upgraded to a Galaxy S2 a couple of weeks ago.
On the SG1 sound over the earphones is better, battery lasts longer and... that's all.
Everything else is better on the SG2 but the true big reason to upgrade, for me, was the SG2'S 1Gb RAM. I multitask a lot and even with bigmem firmwares and GalaxyTuner task-killer tuning I had apps having to reload almost every time I switched back to them (especially when one of the ones open in the background was the browser, which was very often).
That's the big single reason to upgrade, for me, and I am VERY happy with the SG2 in this regard. This phone is a multitasking king.
Having said all of that, unless you have similar needs I wouldn't advise upgrading. Everything is better on the SG2 but not enough, IMO, to make the upgrade worth it. Wait for something which is a bigger improvement over the SG1, like the Note (not for everyone, I know, but going to be my next smartphone in 6 months or so) or the SG3.
BTW, I see the Galaxy Nexus mentioned a lot, to me it's inferior to my SG2 (NO SD CARD SLOT!?!) apart obviously from ICS, which the SG2 is going to get.
I had a play around on an SGS2, had the opportunity to upgrade from my i9000 relatively cheaply and even though I thought it was great, would have appreciated the additional RAM and more powerful CPU I didn't go for it. The audio quality was just crap compared to my SGS and half the time I listen to music on it whilst working or on the bus or whatever so music's important to me and in that sense it would have been a downgrade.
Also as a matter of personal taste I thought it was a little too big. You could get used to it but the way I see it even with my giant head and giant hands I just about get away with a 4 inch handset (which I find the ideal sort of size) and anything larger just seems a little ostentatious. Unfortunately there currently seems to be a trend towards giant phones which I'm hoping will die out soon because when I do get round to upgrading I don't want to feel like I have to walk around with some Trigger Happy TVesque giant.
Anyways, like the bloke above I think the RAM would be the biggest upgrade, multitasking and all that. I don't really see anything that really needs the dual core processor and GPU wise the SGX540 in the SGS is alright, and seeing as we don't currently get the games you do on iOS it's not like it's really getting pushed that much anyway.
Bottomline I'd say if music is important to you, stick to the SGS. If not and you're a multitasking fiend it's probably worth the upgrade if you can get a good deal.
Considering getting the Skyrocket on AT&T ... looking for experts opinions on the best Android device currently available or soon to be available for AT&T.
I had my choice of all of them, and the Skyrocket was by far the best.
The LG Nitro is an LG, plain and simple. Gorgeous but unresponsive screen, laggy, no dev support, gets blisteringly hot.
The Vivid's dev was stunted due to an originally locked bootloader (they couldnt even get root permanently), and in my opinion it has a really heavy, clunky frame.
The Skyrocket has some screen issues so make sure you get a good one, but it's the easy choice (to me). The Nokia Ace (WP7.5) is coming soon, as is the Sony Xperia super-phone. I'm looking to the Xperia in February, but if you don't want to wait that long...
Thanks going to go with the White Skyrocket and see what comes next.
Someone said that there was a way to get CM9 to work with the Skyrocket.
Wait a week and see what comes out of CES
entropism said:
The LG Nitro is an LG, plain and simple. Gorgeous but unresponsive screen, laggy, no dev support, gets blisteringly hot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unresponsive screen? You're crazy, I have NEVER experienced whatever it is you call an unresponsive screen.
Lag? The "lag" on my nitro is so minimal I only notice it in extreme circumstances. Once we get hardware acceleration from ICS, I expect that to dissapear for the most part.
No dev support? The ball is rolling, my guess is that we are days away from CWM. We had perma-root on day 1.
Blistering hot? This phone gets no hotter than any other high-spec smartphone I've seen as of late, mine has never gotten too hot to handle. The hottest I've ever noticed is when playing Homerun Battle 3d while plugged in with setcpu set to always stay at full speed.
The biggest drawback is battery life. But it seems that all 720p phone(including the GN) are having this issue. With tweaks I get from 8am to 10pm EASILY with medium usage. I also carry a spare battery in my wallet.
The thing is, you don't see me or any other Nitro user bashing on other AT&T phones just to satisfy some urge to feel I am superior. Head on over to the Nitro HD forum and have a look.
Yeah no need to bash on other Android phones. Now bashing on Apple phones, well....
Ha, true that...
Sorry for the rant, I just reread that post and it does have some unnecessary 'tude. I will say that I really have no opinion or allegiance to LG, Samsung or whatever, a corp is a corp.
After all, it wasn't so long ago that people said about Samsung Android phones ", The Samsung is a Samsung, plain and simple."
I'm gonna edit out the first line.
red_solo_cup said:
Unresponsive screen? You're crazy, I have NEVER experienced whatever it is you call an unresponsive screen.
Lag? The "lag" on my nitro is so minimal I only notice it in extreme circumstances. Once we get hardware acceleration from ICS, I expect that to dissapear for the most part.
No dev support? The ball is rolling, my guess is that we are days away from CWM. We had perma-root on day 1.
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Click to collapse
OK, so... the complaints of unresponsive screens and lag that are all over the Nitro forums are what, exactly? If you go to a store and demo the phone, you experience it as well, and I'm NOT talking about the phones on the wall that are running the demo software. The same issues were there with the Thrill, though the Nitro improves on it a bit. As for getting hot, I've held a few while charging/in use, and it got HOT. Hotter than comfortable, and far hotter than other phones.
As for dev support: You've had root since day one, great. There's pretty much nothing else, after a month of release. It's not selling well in stores, and there are no major devs even giving this a try. At least when the Thrill came out, you had one of the CM team and gtg465x plugging away at some form of progress. Seems like this is going even slower than the Vivid, and that had a locked Bootloader hindering its progress.
I'm not sure why you're getting so upset, to be honest. It's a phone, with major flaws, made by a company RENOWNED for putting out phones with major flaws. It's also a company RENOWNED for nonexistant software updates, so I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for ICS. Just ask the Thrill people who were promised GB a month after release, and I'm pretty sure they're STILL waiting for the update. So yeah, still not sure why you're getting so upset.
Touchwiz sucks. Go for the vivid, sense is silky smooth with the increased RAM and has a lot more polish and features than touchwiz. Plus, the skyrocket has tons of screen issues.
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium
Honestly, I dont like any of the current LTE selection ATM mainly because I hate Qualcomm Snapdragon CPUs on android (most underperforming of any dual core in real world use)
But the least crappy of the three would be the Skyrocket imo
My advice dont get any att phone specially lg you wont have any dev support and you wont get any updates att the worst provider ever
Sent from my LG-P925 using XDA App
I'm actually waiting for the Sony Ion since I do not like any of At & t's offering for their LTE phones as of current moment.
i'll go for the Samsung NOTES LTE if i were crazy enough to use AT&T
.
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If you want 720p, get the LG Nitro HD. Using a different launcher removes lag. I use SPB Shell 3D and I haven't really had any lag since I downloaded it. Only lag comes from zooming on the internet but it isn't horrible. It does get kind of hot, but I use a case, and it's not burning or anything. Just noticeable. The battery life starts out awful but strangely over a month or so ends up going all the way up to above average. I get 6AM to 11PM easy, with a good amount left over. The only problems are lack of dev support, temperature, messed up compass, and the stock launcher.
If you don't care about resolution I'd get the HTC Vivid, but the Skyrocket is fine too. Sense is great, the phone looks and feels better, and the resolution is higher.
The Galaxy Note comes out this week so you go just wait for that. Skyrocket is an awesome phone too though. Got to compare the too along with the Galaxy Nexus at CES this year and you really couldn't go wrong with either of the three. Although, I like the Galaxy Note the most because of it's size. Looks like you are holding a tablet up to your face when you are on the phone.
Willanhanyard said:
The Galaxy Note comes out this week so you go just wait for that. Skyrocket is an awesome phone too though. Got to compare the too along with the Galaxy Nexus at CES this year and you really couldn't go wrong with either of the three. Although, I like the Galaxy Note the most because of it's size. Looks like you are holding a tablet up to your face when you are on the phone.
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Click to collapse
me too. i love my note. feels awesome holding this 5.3 inch slab of gorilla glass on my face!!
I still think the Skyrocket.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW
Well for half the price of the Skyrocket II, the Vivid still is a great competitor. It isn't as fast but like one of the guys said above me, Sense is silky smooth. It's pretty thin but still huge to carry around. Personally, since I have big hands this bodes well for me. The display is really clear and, no pun intended, vivid. The battery seems to last me through the day, and that is with quite a bit of browsing, texting, and using a somewhat bright setting. That's with the stock battery. I have had no problems with the touchscreen so for me this is a fantastic phone. Comes with Gingerbread 2.3.4
Speed: 8/10
Display: 10/10
Battery: 8/10
Durability: 9/10
Camera: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
Every time I ran speed test on Skyrocket and Vivid, side by side at local at&t stores here in Austin, the Vivid was significantly faster.
Hi all,
I'm advising a close friend on a phone purchase (she is not tech savvy). She currently has a Droid RAZR and wants to upgrade. I personally have a Galaxy Nexus and love it, but am a bit concerned about getting her a phone that is outdated hardware wise compared to the G3.
On the flip side of things, I've been running a 100% smooth version of JB for months now. It's a pretty awesome operating system. I looked through the development forums for the Galaxy S3, but couldn't tell if there is a really reliable, fully functional version of Jelly Bean for this phone yet.
How far along is development? Does the phone have a locked bootloader?
I'll be playing tech support for this phone so I want to make sure it is as trouble-free as possible, while still serving as a significant upgrade from her current RAZR.
Thanks so much!
I haven't had a Nexus, but I looked at it when I was looking for a phone. Two things I can say - the S3 is the best phone out there I could find as of 1 month back. My wife had a Note and I was going to get one also until I got an extra good deal on the S3 from Kogan. The S3 was always the choice but for price, so getting $120 off the price made the choice.
I chose based on memory, screen and expansion slot. The only other phones that got considered didn't have the screen (I'm getting on a bit and little screens give me the irrits) or didn't have the card slot. Why they bother with phones with no card slot I don't know - do they think we all want to return home all the time to connect to our PC's to get data/music etc? I can carry 100+GB of what I want in a small case designed for an SD card and have it in the phone in 30 seconds - it's not rocket science.
I don't think you can make the choice based on having a rock solid JB out there - BTW I think you have a typo in your post - I'm betting the Nexus didn't get a rock solid set up from day 1 either. On the other hand there are plenty of developers who love the S3 who are working hard to make a perfect (for them) ROM, so it should be possible, even now, to choose a ROM that is stable and fast and has the bells and whistles she wants.
DLI5 has been leaked and seems pretty good - the official release can't be far off and then you will have stock JB for her.
cheers...
Plain old AOSP Jelly Bean is not ready and not truly usable on the S3 yet. Once Samsung release the source for their Jelly Bean ROM after it is released, things should progress nicely and we should see some stable Jelly Bean ROMs pretty quickly.
How much can she spend? If the device is being used for typical browsing, email, etc. the GNex will suffice, though battery life is poorer. Storage again is self explanatory. Intensive, graphically demanding games will of course be poor on the GNex, but for casual gamers it will be fine. I'd start by looking at what she requires then going from there, rather than working out the differences between the two devices.
I had the Nexus when it first came out, and the note. The S3 is by far the superior choice, specifically against the nexus.
Aside from the 'pure android experience' and quick updates, there isn't much going for it! The camera sucks!! The only thing I can think of that she might not like about the sg3 is the size.. depends if she has butch hands or small petite hands! :victory:
I would suggest to take a look at this...
http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Samsung-Galaxy-S-3-vs-Samsung-Galaxy-Nexus_id3040
But as an S3 user the phone is superb!Get it!
It's much better for me than the nexus...
Had a nexus for a while, great phone. but when I bought the s3 I have never regretted it...it has a far better screen, seems more sensitive and has more sharpness and beatiful colors. Hardware wise its far more superior than nexus.
2nd The s3 scene is much bigger than the nexus one, more roms nd more updates, great custom kernels with almost daily updates.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
I dont have the dough to buy a Nexus 4 but two things I was curious about since my cousin bought one.
1. How's the battery life and how do you like the screen? Which phone is crispier, oversatured, brighter , more colored, warmer?
2. My cousin who is crazy about rooting was like it comes as plain as google makes it and didn't want to even root it. That's amazing, but don't you guys miss the custom roms and the independence and development of settings they give you? One thing I've doubted has been google's ability to follow up great product releases with good updates like independent developers do, does google really roll out good updates to make it a comparison between indie roms and their OS?
One thing I've doubted has been google's ability to follow up great product releases with good updates like independent developers do, does google really roll out good updates to make it a comparison between indie roms and their OS?
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Dafuq you talking about?
zetsui said:
I dont have the dough to buy a Nexus 4 but two things I was curious about since my cousin bought one.
1. How's the battery life and how do you like the screen? Which phone is crispier, oversatured, brighter , more colored, warmer?
2. My cousin who is crazy about rooting was like it comes as plain as google makes it and didn't want to even root it. That's amazing, but don't you guys miss the custom roms and the independence and development of settings they give you? One thing I've doubted has been google's ability to follow up great product releases with good updates like independent developers do, does google really roll out good updates to make it a comparison between indie roms and their OS?
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Click to collapse
Bought the Nexus 4 coming from the S3, GT-I9300 Model. When I got the N4 I sold my S3 without thinking twice, and I even had money to spare! In terms of the build quality, the S3 felt like a piece of cheap plastic that I can break with my hands, on the other hand, the N4's build quality is excellent and premium.
Before I got the N4 I had an S2 and an S3, which both sported a Super Amoled screen. Now, when it comes to the argument between LCD and Amoled, it all comes down to your opinion, it took me half an hour to get used to the N4's screen and when I looked at the S3 again, I hated it's over saturated look. The thing I do miss a little from Amoled are the blacks, the N4 blacks aren't as dark.
In terms of software, I am free from Touch-wiz!!! Wow, what a relief, finally android at it's best. The N4 is miles faster than the S3, it is smoother, snappier and project butter clearly has a major effect on smoothness (Samsung basically canceled project butter in their JB updates...).
I rooted my N4 and flashed CM 10.1 on it and I am happier with that than stock, but the need to root and flash ROMs on the N4 is only for people who like doing it for fun, because stock android is very close to perfect already. When Android Key Lime Pie is released, I am sure it will be a great update and the N4 will receive it right away.
Last thing - battery. The S3's and the N4's battery life are pretty much the same so I'm not going to go into that much. Just like in the S3, if you want to improve battery life, you UC and UV using a custom kernel or you disable some apps and etc...
To sum up, I believe there is no reason for anyone who has an S3 to keep it, they can sell it, buy the N4, and still have money to spare! Besides, the N4 is definitely the superior handset.
Coming from the S3 and Note 2 and now enjoying the Nexus 4 for a week i must say it is a magnificent device. It is smooth, responsive and i xperience no lags at all. Running CM10.1 nightlies with Franco kernel. And finaly software without a manufacturers shell (Touchwizz).
Realy happy with the device so far, and will keep this one till something better comes along ( Oppo Find5 i hope).
Coming from the sgs3 I'm really enjoying my nexus. Idk to me the performance is pretty much on par (slight edge to nexus). Idk about performance on games since I'm not really into that. But I do miss having the external SD and some tw features.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
I love my nexus.
The physical phone itself is definitely much nicer than the galaxy, which I am now looking to sell. It looks sexy and feels solid, the galaxy looks and feels cheap and plastic.
I used to like the screen on the s3 but after using the Nexus for a week, the AMOLED screen is definitely less crisp (due to the pentile matrix I suspect) and the colours do look a little over saturated.
Speed wise stock android 4.2 on the Nexus is noticeably faster than the S3 running Android 4.1.2 with the Touchwiz overlay. The S3 is still a very quick phone, it's just not as quick as the N4. Also switching between apps is faster on the N4 thanks to the extra RAM.
There are pros to the S3 though. It has better battery life for some unknown reason, more storage capacity and a removable battery. If I wanted to use my phone for a lot of multimedia functions such as playing and watching music and videos, I would have kept the S3. I don't though so I'm selling it.
Apart from getting the updates first, the Nexus is the first to get fully functional versions of custom aosp roms like Cyanogenmod and AOKP. On other phones such as the S3 they usually have a lot of bugs at first.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
I had an S3 before purchasing the Nexus 4. When i received my Nexus 4, i compared both phones side by side (browser, UI, benchmarks and more)... The nexus 4 came out ahead of Samsung in almost every aspect except the picture quality of the Camera app. S3 still has the upper edge with pics.
However, the nexus 4 UI was more fluid(no lag at all) and the screen was way brighter than that of the S3
The Nexus 4 is the best and fastest device i have ever owned and the 2gb ram included is more optimized for the device than the Galaxy s3
What dothese updates look like or mean since I flashed my gs3 the day I got it
Sent from my SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
You don't have to worry about lack of development for this phone. There are plenty of Roms to choose from for this phone. Hell, I flash between 5 different Roms daily and they are all very stable. Also I don't see how you can be doubting Google in updating their nexus line. Nexus 4 will be one of the first to get the next iteration of android, key lime pie if that does end up being its name.
m3lover1 said:
You don't have to worry about lack of development for this phone. There are plenty of Roms to choose from for this phone. Hell, I flash between 5 different Roms daily and they are all very stable. Also I don't see how you can be doubting Google in updating their nexus line. Nexus 4 will be one of the first to get the next iteration of android, key lime pie if that does end up being its name.
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And is a AOSP supported device. Therefore, you'll be ensured that custom ROMs will be highly stable as everything would be working out of the box. No bugs such as loss of functionality in WiFi, Bluetooth, Cellular data etc whereas other phones will have problems and will need to be fixed.
Development shouldn't even be a issue.
zephiK said:
And is a AOSP supported device. Therefore, you'll be ensured that custom ROMs will be highly stable as everything would be working out of the box. No bugs such as loss of functionality in WiFi, Bluetooth, Cellular data etc whereas other phones will have problems and will need to be fixed.
Development shouldn't even be a issue.
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Definitely. Development on this phone is heaven. I used CM back when I had the evo 4g lte and it was very buggy. Given over time it did become pretty darn stable, credit to the devs there. But with this phone which is already aosp development is much quicker and bug free