Related
This should make all the sgs2 owners out there feel good since atrix was the main competition. Let me break down exactly what I liked about the Atrix (which *was* a great phone except for one major problem, more on that later)
Atrix
Pros:
- high resolution was great
- had a nice weighty feel in your hands
- tegra2 games were awesome (i'm looking at you galaxyOnFire2 HD)
- games in general ran amazingly well
- you can unlock the bootloader
Cons:
- took a while for the bootloader unlock to come through (was a great day when it did)
- comparing it to my friends nexus s i got the feeling that the colours on my screen were much less vibrant (colours on sgs2 are even better than nexus s)
- live wallpaper's made the whole UI choppy, no matter what rom or launcher I was running, strange because the tegra2 was so good with games, yet eveything lagged up from a simple LWP.
- HERE IS THE MAJOR ONE: after about 4 months of using the atrix, the touch functionality started to deteriorate. Nothing helped it, I flashed new roms, followed guides to wipe partitions, NOTHING worked. Basically, there was a 1/4 inch section about 3/4 inches away from the top of the screen that didnt respond to touch input.
AND later on a similar section on the bottom developed, this is ultimately why I decided to sell the phone on ebay (fully disclosing the issues with it of course)
the issue I'm talking about has been reported by a number of Atrix users, some were able to fix it with certain apps from the market and wiping partitions or caches, I was not one of those ones.
SGS2
Pros:
- bigger screen (depends on person, pro IMO)
- the colours are absolutely phenomenal. I have friends pick up my phone and go 'woah' once they see the colours
- fast as hell, right out of the box. the UI is like butter
- easy to flash new firmware versions, KI3 gave me an extra 20% battery life per day at minimum, and android 2.3.5 == awesome
- i quite like touchwiz 4. i didn't think I would, but it's nice to use and very smooth
-thin thin thin thin
Cons:
-i have 1 always green pixel, but to be honest i only ever would notice it using a dead pixel test app from the market and even then only when the screen is on red, can't see it on any other colour.
- resolution wasn't as good as the atrix! i know they used different methods to count total pixels, but at the end of the day, side by side, you could tell the atrix had more pixels and was 'sharper'
- almost would've liked a little more weight to the phone. though unlike certain reviews i definitely don't feel that it feels plasticy or cheap. it's just light.
- not the same support for games, GoF2 would be nice to play on this thing.
(i'm aware of chainfire3d, I tried to get it to work but GoF2 would load up *properly* except all the textures would be white, no idea why)
If it wasn't for the issue I had with the atrix I'd still have it (and 600 bucks in my pocket). The end result was I sold the atrix on ebay for around 300 (pretty good for not fully working, though the condition of the phone was mint).
However, I have to say that this is the greatest phone I have had the pleasure of using to date. I've been fiddling with it for a week, rooted it, flashed stuff with odin, played with CWM, upgraded firmwares/modems/radios and all that ****.
It's been awesome. Looking forward to spending some more time with this thing, checking out new UI's when I get bored of touchwiz, and all the awesome stuff that XDA has to offer. Keep up the great work guys.
**Note: I was unable to return my atrix because it was not under warranty, I live in canada and bought it on ebay (from the states) before it was released in canada, I called motorola and complained but they weren't having it.
I couldn't stand my atrix. The feel of it was great but the lag was out of this world. Trying to scroll through homescreens with no icons or widgets was even laggy. I blame that tegra chip. SGS2 is buttery smooth
Nice switch I guess. I still oogle over the lappy dock. Wish I was skilled enough in code to make the lappy dock and sgs 2 be able to work but hey, just a early student, know nothing on driver coding. xD
In the past, i was also hesitating between Atrix and SGS2.
But when I see that Motorola is already announcing (and prepared to sell) the Atrix 2, this means there were too many things to improve in this phone.
I think I have made the best choice : SGS2 !
Atrix and that poor excuse moto backflip was the 2 worst devices I had in my possession within the last year. I had nothing but lag with that device, and even worst when I tried to theme/change launchers. Only pro for me was the mini hdmi on the side. SGS2 was the best 750(release day) Ive ever spent.
Ill have the sgs2 until I can buy a galaxy note.
imo, right now samoled+ is enough to prefer sgs2 over any other phone out there...
I came from Atrix to i9100. stock motoblur was garbage but after BL unlock and flashing some 2.3.4 ROMs it actually ran pretty nice! I liked that you could define long press behaviour (ie long press of home opened SMS app) - that's about the only thing I miss.
Hello guys,
This post is not meant to wine or get results, it's a general chat post, I'm sharing my thoughts and opinions, if you disagree and feel like sharing, go ahead, if you are here to troll, make a U turn and go away please!
Iv'e been using the Note for almost 2 months now, I love it - It's pretty fast, (Rocket V17 OCed to 1.7GHz), Battery holds up nicely, Screen is great.
But still it has some odd feel to it, like it's not perfect.
The Galaxy S II I had before the note, felt pretty perfect with the latest firmwares and some mods, but also, something was still lacking, for example, playing Glow Hockey 2 proved an annoying delay between the finger and the puck movement.
I always thought it was the game, but when I tried it on the iPhone 4 it was perfect.
Yesterday, I had a chance to touch'n'fell a Galaxy Nexus.
It was the first time I felt everything was right on an android phone. (Excluding the small screen compared to the note... I'm doomed on that part...)
Everything was ticking perfect. Smooth, Good looking, UI was perfect, no stutters, no FPS drops, no delays.
BTW, I was never an iPhone fan, but I can appreciate many things on iPhone/iOS, none the less, i'll never be an iProduct owner.
So what I wanted to share is that I hope that when Samsung release ICS for our note, the CM team will be able to use it to give us the experience that is going on with the Galaxy Nexus.
Me,
Out.
eitama said:
So what I wanted to share is that I hope that when Samsung release ICS for our note, the CM team will be able to use it to give us the experience that is going on with the Galaxy Nexus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recently upgraded my HTC Sensation with a leaked ICS build (including Sense). It definitely made that phone much smoother and snappier than it was running Gingerbread - it really did transform the device!
I won't be swapping back to the Sensation over the Note, as overall I still prefer the larger screen of the Note, even though the Sensation running ICS feels faster than the Note.
Given that the Note with Gingerbread is definitely much smoother than my Sensation with Gingerbread/Sense, it certainly bodes well for the upcoming upgrade to ICS, and I fully expect an ICS Note to excel!
Regards,
Dave
I have same feels like you.. I have note 3 weeks and many things is not perfect.. When i open QnA section in galaxy nexus forum, there is no problems and when i open galaxy noge QnA its full of problems with display,scratches etc. But what is killing me is that nexus have only 5 mpx camera and 1.2 ghz processor :/ what you think i have to do? i have many problems with display,sound, many things lags, inaccurate display and s-pen, banding... With 3 or more issues i can refund and i dont know if i buy galaxy nexus or not :/
Hi eitama,
I was between the Nexus and the Note, and was tired of waiting for updates for my X10, it's screen is unusable with sweaty hands and the display on my SII had uneven brightness, forcing me to replace it 2 times in 1 month, receiving 2 faulty devices as a replacement.
Long story short, i wouldn't buy another Samsung device, but the need to have a fully functional phone led me to buy the Note, and i 'll tell you why.
First of all, the stock battery on the note is unmatched. 2500mAh is the best of the best right now. No need to double the size of the phone just to get that extra hour. Nexus has a 1750mAh as stock battery. It may last the same as the Note now, but it runs ICS. Our Note will only get better with it's dual core optimization.
Secondly, the screen. I can't see myself going to a phone having less than 5 inch screen. I couldn't be more happy with the display performance. Even though the colors might not be that accurate, i have faith in the dev community here fixing the issue. If i am not mistaken, Supercurio has been working on a fix. Nexus's ppi is higher sure, but do you really need to pinch to zoom to read something every time?
S-pen. It has replaced pen and paper for me. Nexus doesn't have something similar coming out of the box and it doesn't have the hardware space to facilitate a pen inside it. I am not sure if it has a dual digitizer screen also. Our Note's screen is both pressure sensitive and capasitive.
About the need to have the latest software update available. I used to have that, then i took a Note in my pocket. Joking aside, i've been browsing the Nexus sub-forums and i have seen the "Once the ICS's wowness ware out, it's just another phone" type of threads. I can't say the same about you, but if people are bothered enough to post about it, i am sure that would happen to me as well. Besides, ICS will come to the Note too. It's not like we are wondering if we will get the update, like other devices.
Camera. Again, you will see countless thread over the Nexus forums complaining about it. Quality aside, I 'll ask you this. Do you really find yourself in a situation where you have to take 10 pictures in 12 seconds?
Expandable storage.
If you check the development section here, you will see many stock roms that have been leaked that improve smoothness, touch sensitivity, battery life. Grab one of these babes if having a smooth device is a must. I am tempted to flash one of them, but being on stock KK5 unrooted is more than i could ask. I 'll wait to see ICS come via KIES, then root this beast. Happy days.
In the end, it's your call. I was just posting my point of view.
Sramie said:
I have same feels like you.. I have note 3 weeks and many things is not perfect.. When i open QnA section in galaxy nexus forum, there is no problems and when i open galaxy noge QnA its full of problems with display,scratches etc. But what is killing me is that nexus have only 5 mpx camera and 1.2 ghz processor :/ what you think i have to do? i have many problems with display,sound, many things lags, inaccurate display and s-pen, banding... With 3 or more issues i can refund and i dont know if i buy galaxy nexus or not :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion, if you don't take too many pictures, you will get used to the camera, no matter the quality, and I doubt it's bad. 5mp is enough.
If you don't mind the smaller screen size, I think the Galaxy Nexus is a win phone.
I'm thinking about this issue myself. I'm kind of tires of being late at receiving firmware. And tired of samsung crapware, even though they do have some nice additions, all of these can be added to aosp.
Lets be honest, how many times did you remove the external sdcard from the phone? How many times were 16gb not enough?
The flaws of the Nexus can be tolerated, where as some flaws inserted by Samsung just keep annoying you.
ICS could be what u r looking for
@Bassarnis,
Thanks for you great reply, It was a pleasure to read.
I know the Note is amazing, I also enjoy using it, and the more people ram me for having such a large phone "Q:does it fit in your pocket? ; A:Where do you think it was up until now?" The more I enjoy having it.
But, I remember the first time I touched an iPhone 3gs, the experience was great, for about 20 minutes I was sure it's the best phone ever, then I started finding out all the limitation is annoyances and it got off the list, Still, the first 20 minutes were amazing.
With the Galaxy Nexus, I really had those 20 minutes all over again, they only ended by the dude owning the phone having to go home
The note, with custom kernel, all the fixes in the world, still lags!?
Believe me I know how to trace those problems, been having and hacking android for a long time. I know all about freezing all the right apps, running top, running logcat, disabling logs, OC, BetterBatteryStats, tweaking the live wallpaper, removing unwanted services - Still the note just lags.
BTW, Full wipe everytime I switch rom.
I don't even keeps my photos/vids/mp3s on the phone cause I want to start over clean. Only thing I leave behind is SMS/Contacts via google account/Whatsapp backup/Where's my water backup
I am just not sure the ICS Nexus like smoothness will be kept with samsung "baked" roms. (even if they are baked by samsung themselves)...
:0
I can stand software issues.. But not hardware.. This phone is crapped by samsung. I seen many peoples that replaced their note 37582 times and always got defect device... I have 16 gb external cor movies and often take pictures.. This is why i choosed Gnote... But i have on my device about 5 issues.. Hardware... So i will replace my gnote for new one.. If somethinv goes wrong, hail galaxy nexus!
eitama said:
In my opinion, if you don't take too many pictures, you will get used to the camera, no matter the quality, and I doubt it's bad. 5mp is enough.
If you don't mind the smaller screen size, I think the Galaxy Nexus is a win phone.
I'm thinking about this issue myself. I'm kind of tires of being late at receiving firmware. And tired of samsung crapware, even though they do have some nice additions, all of these can be added to aosp.
Lets be honest, how many times did you remove the external sdcard from the phone? How many times were 16gb not enough?
The flaws of the Nexus can be tolerated, where as some flaws inserted by Samsung just keep annoying you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
16 gb is a joke for a super phone. I have a 32gb card in my note and still not enough. I see you don't keep videos on your phone or a good song collection and photos. Don't tell me about cloud storage- that requires a data connection. A 5 mg camera on a superphone again is a joke. No removable storage on a super phone is also a joke. The processor on the Nexus doesn't bother me though that also could he better.
graphic is also old.. but is more useable as Gnote
I was gunning for the nexus as well, but the hardware was not impressive enough.
And I wen't for the Note, because I knew I would be running ICS eventually.
I come from an HTC Incredible S so for me this is a huge step up from what I had.
But I'm absolutely sure CM9 would give an even better user experience.
eitama said:
Lets be honest, how many times did you remove the external sdcard from the phone? How many times were 16gb not enough?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have over 20gb of movies on my SD card, and my internal memory is nearly full with GPS maps, music, and games.
16gb unexpandable is a definite deal breaker for me.
Regards,
Dave
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
eitama said:
Lets be honest, how many times did you remove the external sdcard from the phone? How many times were 16gb not enough?
The flaws of the Nexus can be tolerated, where as some flaws inserted by Samsung just keep annoying you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never really replace the SD card, but I do use it quite frequently.
Today rocket rom V18 was released, and i backed up everything getting ready for a full wipe, so i decided to try cm9 by maui, just to see how it runs, and it's a lot better then I thought.
I'll use it for a few days, and if we can run Nova/Trebuchet on samsung stock ICS, maybe the note will fullfill me after all.
I will not buy a Note 2 and proceed with a Nexus device.
Be it from LG, HTC or Samsung.
The Original Note has already frustrated me to a point I can't bear no longer.
Let me explain why before you Note 2 worshippers come and attack me.
Original Note Frustrations:
1. ICS Update for GT-N7000
- Gingerbread theme on an ICS based ROM. I mean comeon how lazy are you Samsung really?
- Even the Gallery is not updated. It's stock Gallery from Gingerbread (Fixed in latest half-assed S3 lookalike update)
2. Midway ICS transition to JB Update for GT-N7000
- Improves the situation abit but still very gingerbread-ish.
- Finally the launcher lags no more. I mean after 10 months after launch? SERIOUSLY SAMSUNG?!
- New Gallery from Note 2. I applaud this. A great improvement from your Gingerbread Gallery.
3. Waiting for Updates.
4. S-Pen, no matter how much you worship this Samsung innovation, it does not feel native to the core OS.
5. Super AMOLED HD is a pain in the ass.
- Screen degrades too quickly. It takes 6 months only for the whites in my Note to go YELLOW. 6 freaking months.
- Try to view a full screen white image when you are using your S-AMOLED HD phone. Its completely uneven.
- I mean, really? Left is pure white. Right is yellow? What sorcery is this?!
- Pentile but solved in Note 2 but quick degration is probably still present.
- I swear the Note 1 which has higher pixel density is more blurr-ish than my iPad 3 which has a lower pixel density.
- Black Clipping. A serious problem still not solved from Day 1. Frustrating.
6. Aspect Ratio.
- To me is a downgrade. Less resolution.
- 16:10 allows me to have wider portrait viewing.
7. Samsung Exynos
- A real benchmarking powerhouse but still sucks anyway.
- Why it sucks? Documentation and source support. We Note 1 owners still don't get no Project Butter thanks to Samsung.
8. Samsung TouchWiz
- TouchWiz is clunky and unfinished. (They almost solved it in TouchWiz Nature)
- Too many gimmicks unless I mention are useful ones.
- Direct Call is useful.
- AllShare sucks compared to AirPlay. I can't AllShare my YouTube. But I can AirPlay my YouTube on iPad.
- Same thing for Pop Up Video. Why can't I Pop Up my YouTube? As I explained earlier, not built into Core OS.
- AirView (Note 2 specific feature) Completely unrealistic. Apple developed a way superior "pinch-a-little" to view photos. Who the hell wants to take out the S-Pen just so you can preview some photos which might not be photos you want to see even. Might as well click the album and view all right? AirView on Video Player is the same thing. You can just hold the seekbar right? Why use a pen?
But these are things I love about the original Note.
1. Battery is huge. I mean can really last two days long!
2. Screen size. I swear its perfect for my hands.
3. Video support is amazing!
I know Note 2 solved many of this problems but you know what. The future is still bleak with its Exynos processor.
The brick bug? Comeon. Samsung seriously? You still haven't fix it in months?!
Imagine another Project like Project Ultra Mega Buttery Smooth in Android 5.0 and then devs realised drivers are incompatible
with Note 2 and must wait for Samsung to release the drivers which could take months!
Note 2 is a good phone if only you don't see its flaws.
I learnt the hard way that hardware is not everything.
Software is important too with the dev support.
Note forums is practically dead until Samsung releases JB sources for the OG Note.
I expect a half-assed update whatever the next version of Android is when S4 comes out for Note 2. Trust me on that.
Your future with the Note 2 will be bleak with frustrations.
Ask any dev using Note 1 including me.
Frustration awaits.
Have a good day.
Yours truly
OG Note user from Launch Day.
I still want it. Anyone else still going to get it?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
Cool. Will read again.
Oh, good luck with lg. They are so reliable with software updates
Sent from my GT-P3100 using xda premium
Avatar said:
I still want it. Anyone else still going to get it?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
got it. in one word this phablet is 'marvellous' it outshines other recent phones in every department from speed to display. no matter what the hardware is, but this giant is fast.
Anyone else think that this thread is unnecessary?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 06:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:15 PM ----------
schiwa said:
got it. in one word this phablet is 'marvellous' it outshines other recent phones in every department from speed to display. no matter what the hardware is, but this giant is fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bet it does. Can't wait till it comes out for sprint. Nothing can beat this beast.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
Ok thank you for letting us know, this is a very useful thread.
Also, every phone is a good phone if you don't see their flaws, what's your point?
stoney73 said:
Oh, good luck with lg. They are so reliable with software updates
Sent from my GT-P3100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The point of Nexus is Google handles the updates.
Livebyte said:
The point of Nexus is Google handles the updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why the Verizon galaxy nexus got its Jelly Bean update so quickly then I guess.
D3_ said:
That's why the Verizon galaxy nexus got its Jelly Bean update so quickly then I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have to worry about that. I don't come from the West. All the devices here on contract or not is unlocked by law.
Avatar said:
Anyone else think that this thread is unnecessary? I
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was refreshing this page waiting for reply exactly like this lol..
Livebyte said:
After all the frustrations with the Note 1.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=32144030&postcount=117
Funny how you were saying how you were so glad to have switched to the OG Note less than 2 weeks ago....
And didn't you supposedly have an N7105 too?
You're entitled to your opinion and I'm not trying to take that away. But being an owner of a Note 2 for about 4+ days now, I couldn't disagree with you more with virtually every bullet point.
Jelly Bean and S-Pen apps are revolutionary upgrade over the Note 1. Pull out the pen, and the device unlocks locks automatically and you're ready to write. Push it back in, and you're back to the home screen. The AirView works amazing, and it adds a whole new level of useful UI that is similar to hovering with a mouse but maybe even better. It is a feature that I am sure Apple is falling over themselves running to the conference room to see how they can get something like AirView. S-Pen functionally is heavily baked into the OS. And it feels refined. They seriously put a lot of focus here, so I am surprised that you say that anything is half baked.
I agree with you that TouchWiz for Gingerbread and ICS is seriously ugly. The Note 2 comes with TouchWiz UX (heavily modified for S-Pen), and it is a beautiful UI, better than any launcher available on the market (just my opinion. Some of TW UX is only clunky because they had to remove UI improvements due to Apple patent infringements. Minor annoyances really.
TouchWiz was made ugly on purpose by Samsung because they are in the business of controlling OS updates to sell more phones. And no, just because it is Exynos, it doesn't have anything to do with not getting OS updates. You're not going to do any better with updates with a Samsung that has a Snapdragon processor. If the Note 1 ever gets Jelly Bean, it will be TouchWiz again and uglified. So why are you sticking with the Note 1 again?
I agree that the new RGB screen is not anything special. It is pretty much performs identical to the Galaxy S3 screen except when examined under the microscope. It is not any brighter, at least mine is not.
You sound like you enjoy watching videos on the Note. Most HD videos are in 16:9 ratios these days, so that on a 16:10 screen, you get black bars on top and bottom. Thus you are only using 5.15" of your 5.3" screen on the Note 1. And the Galaxy Note having a 5.55" screen means you get a .4" upgrade from the Note. Whether you think an extra .4" for video is up to you.
Note 2 has a great battery. If you probably leave it alone and not use it, it would probably go for much longer than 2 days. It is that no one with a Note 2 has been letting it sit there for days and monitoring the battery just yet. It will happen, and the numbers can only be great. I was on it pretty heavily today tethering it, streaming videos, putting it through stress tests, speed tests, benchmarks, and I managed to go nearly 18 hours.
I guess what I'm saying is, in my opinion, your perspective on the Note 2 is completely off. And the reason I say that is what you are saying is polar opposite compared to all the people that have owned it for a few days and have reviewed it (myself included).
But hey, you're entitled to your opinion.
+1 to all that written above..
And 2 updates in 2 weeks..!!!
Samsung is really stepped on the pedal & its not gonna get any better then this on any OEM..
And good luck with the boring aosp experience..
Now someone close the thread..
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
foxmeister said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=32144030&postcount=117
Funny how you were saying how you were so glad to have switched to the OG Note less than 2 weeks ago....
And didn't you supposedly have an N7105 too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Liarbytes post:
Livebyte said:
A complete joke I know. I will never buy a HTC device again. I'm glad I made the switch to the OG Note from Sensation.
Oooo. Running TouchWiz 5 now stock on Note! :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont let the door hit your ass on the way out.
someone's just upset that the phone is beyond amazing and they can't handle it haha
Lucidmike said:
You're entitled to your opinion and I'm not trying to take that away. But being an owner of a Note 2 for about 4+ days now, I couldn't disagree with you more with virtually every bullet point.
Jelly Bean and S-Pen apps are revolutionary upgrade over the Note 1. Pull out the pen, and the device unlocks locks automatically and you're ready to write. Push it back in, and you're back to the home screen. The AirView works amazing, and it adds a whole new level of useful UI that is similar to hovering with a mouse but maybe even better. It is a feature that I am sure Apple is falling over themselves running to the conference room to see how they can get something like AirView. S-Pen functionally is heavily baked into the OS. And it feels refined. They seriously put a lot of focus here, so I am surprised that you say that anything is half baked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, but S-Pen as I said will never feel native in the OS. But the minor improvements are definitely welcome.
AirView is useful to a certain extent. I don't imagine anyone wants to take out the S-Pen to view a preview of their photos or videos.
when they can just tap and see the actual image or video. Plus for AirView in Gallery, Apple did a much smarter way. Pinching a little to see a preview. That's smarter than taking out a pen to view.
I wasn't saying about Note 2. I was saying about how Note 1 is completely half-baked. I've tried Note 2. Its an improvement but not a major one.
One more time, I will say it again. It won't feel native to the OS.
I agree with you that TouchWiz for Gingerbread and ICS is seriously ugly. The Note 2 comes with TouchWiz UX (heavily modified for S-Pen), and it is a beautiful UI, better than any launcher available on the market (just my opinion. Some of TW UX is only clunky because they had to remove UI improvements due to Apple patent infringements. Minor annoyances really.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A major improvement I agree, but this causes the update dilemma. A serious problem no matter how much you love TouchWiz.
I love TouchWiz but I would give anything for a better update schedule near the iOS level.
TouchWiz was made ugly on purpose by Samsung because they are in the business of controlling OS updates to sell more phones. And no, just because it is Exynos, it doesn't have anything to do with not getting OS updates. You're not going to do any better with updates with a Samsung that has a Snapdragon processor. If the Note 1 ever gets Jelly Bean, it will be TouchWiz again and uglified. So why are you sticking with the Note 1 again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the main reason Note 1 is still stuck with an unfinished JB is because of Exynos.
Not essentially true, I recall Exynos 4210 devices are the only powerhouses left that doesn't have hwcomposer fixed properly yet.
I agree that the new RGB screen is not anything special. It is pretty much performs identical to the Galaxy S3 screen except when examined under the microscope. It is not any brighter, at least mine is not.
You sound like you enjoy watching videos on the Note. Most HD videos are in 16:9 ratios these days, so that on a 16:10 screen, you get black bars on top and bottom. Thus you are only using 5.15" of your 5.3" screen on the Note 1. And the Galaxy Note having a 5.55" screen means you get a .4" upgrade from the Note. Whether you think an extra .4" for video is up to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AMOLED screens degrade very quickly. Brightness is not that important if the screens degrade so quickly compared to an LCD.
Note 2 has a great battery. If you probably leave it alone and not use it, it would probably go for much longer than 2 days. It is that no one with a Note 2 has been letting it sit there for days and monitoring the battery just yet. It will happen, and the numbers can only be great. I was on it pretty heavily today tethering it, streaming videos, putting it through stress tests, speed tests, benchmarks, and I managed to go nearly 18 hours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally agree with you.
I guess what I'm saying is, in my opinion, your perspective on the Note 2 is completely off. And the reason I say that is what you are saying is polar opposite compared to all the people that have owned it for a few days and have reviewed it (myself included).
But hey, you're entitled to your opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't say much about Note 2. I was saying alot of the original Note.
A frustration but nonetheless an excellent device.
Well I'm just here to give an opinion.
Note 2 is amazing device. If you can live with the flaws, it's the best phone yet.
Galaxy Nexus and OG Note came out near the same time.
And now, the Nexus is way much superior to the Note because of the software.
I hope you get my point. I'm talking about the future here.
Not the current state of the device now which is amazing.
Livebyte said:
After all the frustrations with the Note 1.
- Half-assed ICS update. I mean comeon a gingerbread theme in ICS? Really?
- Then they decided to update halfway to half-baked S3 UI and still looks clunky.
- Tired of waiting for updates.
- S-Pen no matter what you think of it, doesn't feel native as in baked into the Android subsystem.
- S-AMOLED. I don't like it. The screen degrades too quickly. Now my whites are super yellow. Its frustrating! Best part the notification bar area is whiter then the other areas with a distinctive line. Disappointing.
- Pentile. (But they solved it with Note 2!) My eyes are never the same after seeing iPad 3's screen and looking at Note 1 is just blurry. Best part is iPad 3 has a lower pixel density than Note 1.
- Change of aspect ratio. I bought Note 1 because of 16:10. And it's gone. Don't tell me about the advantages about 16:9 because I like 16:10.
- Samsung source support. Seriously? Note 1 still doesn't have buttery smooth JB. Unbelievable. I will never buy an Exynos device ever again.
- TouchWiz. I love some aspects of it but I hate most of it. It's seriously ugly but somewhat useful in some ways. The newest iteration seems just fine, but not sparkling.
But these are things I love about the original Note.
- Battery is huge. I mean can really last two days long!
- Screen size. I swear its perfect for my hands.
- Video support is amazing!
I know Note 2 solved many of this problems but you know what. The future is still bleak with its Exynos processor.
The brick bug? Comeon. Samsung seriously? You still haven't fix it in months?!
Imagine another Project like Project Ultra Mega Buttery Smooth in Android 5.0 and then devs realised drivers are incompatible
with Note 2 and must wait for Samsung to release the drivers which could take months!
Note 2 is a good phone if only you don't see its flaws.
I learnt the hard way that hardware is not everything.
Software is important too with the dev support.
Note forums is practically dead until Samsung releases JB sources for the OG Note.
After seeing the LG Nexus, I don't feel like buying Note 2 even though I had an eye for Note 2 even before it came out.
I expect a half-assed update whatever the next version of Android is when S4 comes out for Note 2. Trust me on that.
Good day to all Note 2 current and future owners.
Your future with the Note 2 will be bleak with frustrations.
Have a good day.
Yours truly
OG Note user from Launch Day.
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Click to collapse
1. You clearly prefer stock firmware/updates. In which case, why are you even here? Most users on xda prefer their devices rooted and running custom firmware, or at the very least, stock but processed (rooted, deodexed, zipaligned, the works...).
2. Don't like your UI? You don't even necessarily need root. There are plenty of launchers on play store alone to allow some sort of customization (Apex launcher is my personal favourite for example). If you want more than that, you'll most likely need to root.
3. I don't know what kind of miracles you expect doing with the S-Pen, but it IS in fact integrated to Samsung's firmware. Be it code, or simply drivers.
4. I have no clue what's wrong with your screen, but mine is crystal clear. Beautiful colours and very smooth.
5. True, no official Jellybean update as of yet. But, that's why we have a community of amazing devs here that bring it to us, whether it's in the form of a leak, or cyanogen based ports. Either way, they work on it hard to give us as stable releases as possible. Hence the name of this website, if you haven't noticed... xda-DEVELOPERS.
6. The Exynos processor on the GT-I9100 (Galaxy SII), still even now, pulls some of the best benchmarks on the market.
7. If the device is ugly, in your opinion, why bother even getting one in the first place?
8. Although I do agree the Note forums aren't as lively as other devices, there are some seriously stable rom options there, with MANY cool features.
9. "Note 2 is a good phone if only you don't see its flaws"?! This makes no sense. No general consumer market tech is flawless out of the box. I owned 2 LG devices.... Never again. You just cant compare the build quality between Samsung and LG.
Bottom line, if you don't know how to use your device properly, or to its fullest potential, don't complain about it.
This thread should be locked in my opinion.
Can't believe I wasted my time commenting about this. I just had to... LOL
Well I did buy the Note 2 and have been using it for 5 days now. But I can say one of the main reasons I bought it was that there were not really any acceptable alternatives for me. I was using an S3 and actually waited until the IPhone 5 was released to take a look but it was still too small.
I have a couple of complaints similar to the op's, and the first one is Amoled. The sad fact is that for the most part if you use a Samsung phone these days you have to deal with an unrealistic color representation and other display issues. If someone could make a 5 inch phone with the IPad 3 display quality they could have all my money. Now the Note 2 has maybe the best Amoled I have seen, but it is still not quite ready.
The other things are the various little problems with design. And here is an example that has me pissed off: If you are using your phone as a music player and used the long press on the headphone button to adjust volume well that will not work any more with 4.1.1. Instead it brings up the ridiculous Google voice search. So if you want to adjust the volume you have to take the phone out of your pocket and hit the button. And this is 2012. I have to wonder if the engineers who design these things actually use them. Did they ever take them home for a weekend or try to use them in day to day life? Usability problems like this make me nuts, and are why I nearly went back to the IPhone after using 3 different Samsung phones.
AlonB. said:
1. You clearly prefer stock firmware/updates. In which case, why are you even here? Most users on xda prefer their devices rooted and running custom firmware, or at the very least, stock but processed (rooted, deodexed, zipaligned, the works...).
2. Don't like your UI? You don't even necessarily need root. There are plenty of launchers on play store alone to allow some sort of customization (Apex launcher is my personal favourite for example). If you want more than that, you'll most likely need to root.
3. I don't know what kind of miracles you expect doing with the S-Pen, but it IS in fact integrated to Samsung's firmware. Be it code, or simply drivers.
4. I have no clue what's wrong with your screen, but mine is crystal clear. Beautiful colours and very smooth.
5. True, no official Jellybean update as of yet. But, that's why we have a community of amazing devs here that bring it to us, whether it's in the form of a leak, or cyanogen based ports. Either way, they work on it hard to give us as stable releases as possible. Hence the name of this website, if you haven't noticed... xda-DEVELOPERS.
6. The Exynos processor on the GT-I9100 (Galaxy SII), still even now, pulls some of the best benchmarks on the market.
7. If the device is ugly, in your opinion, why bother even getting one in the first place?
8. Although I do agree the Note forums aren't as lively as other devices, there are some seriously stable rom options there, with MANY cool features.
9. "Note 2 is a good phone if only you don't see its flaws"?! This makes no sense. No general consumer market tech is flawless out of the box. I owned 2 LG devices.... Never again. You just cant compare the build quality between Samsung and LG.
Bottom line, if you don't know how to use your device properly, or to its fullest potential, don't complain about it.
This thread should be locked in my opinion.
Can't believe I wasted my time commenting about this. I just had to... LOL
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Click to collapse
You didn't read what I said. Do I have to repeat again? OMG.
Root or not, with dev or no dev.
It's nearly impossible to provide a STABLE JB-based ROM with hwcomposer working (aka Project Butter component) if the manufacturer doesn't provide the drivers for JB.
Yeah for now the screen is amazing, wait just maybe 6 months.
Enjoy your pathetic yellowish degraded screen.
I never even said the device is ugly. Seriously? Do you even read?
Pulls the best benchmarks with no stable JB hooray
while a TI-based phone which produces lower benchmarks has stable JB. I'm so happy.
I agree with you on the last point.
It's a wait and see approach. But the original Note is going to be my last Samsung device ever. Too many flaws.
After 2 years of faithfully sticking with me, my G2 died yesterday. It was a long time coming at this point so I had been preparing for the worst. My G2 was extremely resilient, surviving countless soft bricks, drops, months of 20k texts average, and even a bit of water damage. The ribbon cable connecting my screen gave out, and while fixing it was an option, I have retired it in favor of getting a Note 2. After about 12 hours of usage I thought I'd drop in here and share my thoughts about the transition, in case any of you are on T-Mobile and are thinking about making the jump.
For starters the Note is about the same width as a G2 with the keyboard open. The Note is about an inch taller as well. The phones feel almost even on weight, though the Note may feel a bit lighter because the weight is more distributed. As a heavy texter, the phone fits my hands pretty comfortably.
The first noticeable thing is the massive increase in screen real estate. I was intimidated at first but soon fell in love. There is room for endless widgets, apps, shortcuts, etc. The next thing I picked up on was the difference in screen brightness. Even at its lowest setting the Note has a vibrant and easily readable screen.
Next up is the massive initial charge of the battery. The Note has a 3100mAh battery! The capacity is almost 2.5 times bigger. Coming from the store the phone had about 50% battery. It took about 5 hours to get the charge full. In that time I preformed the OTA, and gently did some feature testing.
Multi-Window is neat, I've put it to good use already. I wish we could use any app with it, but that's an adventure for another day when I root the phone. Pop-up-browser is nifty. The S-Pen is useful in so many ways. From typing with it, to drawing with it, even the pre-made gestures. It really helps compensate with the massive screen. You can hold the phone one handed and use the other to complete navigate with the S-Pen.
Coming from AOSP based roms to TouchWiz is a bit weird. I pretty much followed CM / Andromadus development work religiously. Even on most of the other phones I have around, they were rooted and flashed within hours. I'm giving it a try for a change. While I do miss some things shuch as long press back button app kill, most of the things are quickly forgotten. I don't like how pushy the Samsung based apps are, (make a Samsung account, use is app store thing, etc....) but it's easily overlooked.
Overall it's miles better than any experience past CM7.2 provided over the G2. While the ICS & JB experience was not bad, the aged hardware really showed it's age when side by side. Even with all the tweaks and tricks we had, it is nothing compared to the responsiveness of the Note. The Exynos 4412 absolutely destroys anything thrown at it. The 2GiBs of RAM also help it out.
All in all the transition is going well. If any of you are looking to make the jump any time soon, it's a substantial and immediately noticeable upgrade. It's definitely money well spent. Hope to see some of you around the Note 2 forums!
Sent from my SGH-T889
Off topic
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.