Database Users

Buyers guide (Galaxy S2 review vs iPhone4)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There is no practical comparison possible between the mentioned phones.

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

List all the new features in 3.1

I'm downloading it right now. So all who have updated it, please say something about the new features in 3.1.... Trust me, it will help a lot of people.

It now has exchange email setup!

Youtube 720p video playback has greatly improved. Using the test video prior to 3.1 I was getting around 9-12 fps, now I'm getting 29-32 fps.

USB mouse works now;
Two new readers (Kobo and Zinio)... Extra bloatware... Awesome! :s
In the browser options, you can switch between tablet or desktop mode (I don't know if this was in 3.0 or not, but I didn't see it)
Also, in the browser, if you use quick control, you now have more options, including switching tabs right from the quick control, and closing tabs from the quick control) You can also choose to enable/disable google instant through the labs option.
** also, the list of open apps is bigger now.... not just the last 4 open apps show up

bangali bhai -
a quite notable feature is that now the widgets are resizable

ps3 controller support
new keyboard sounds
GPS fix locks in 10 sec without wifi

Many Changes
List of changes below
Wifi shows upload download
Additional support for other video formats
speed and performance is improved
lots of bugs cleared
auto reboot and shutdown bug not there atleast from the last 12 HRs.
Settings - Storage shows more in depth info
Browser improvised
Movie Studio added
Kobo Reader and Zinio Reader added
No Lags while Scrolling from other than standard landscape mode
Social Jogger widget and Nemo player Widget added
Wallpaper picker updated and setting wallpaper shows landscape and portrait optimization

Not sure if there is an actual measurable difference, but the whole tablet feels 'snappier' and more responsive, at least in my informal testing. We'll see if this is just me feeling optimistic and wanting to see things improved or if there's a legitimate boost in performance, though.
I just really hope that Acer managed to handle the issues I was having with frequent hanging with the screen on (but on the lock screen) when charging, and with the tablet powering down completely (rather than the usual 'sleep') when left to charge overnight. Having a device I can just pick up and use without waiting for a boot sequence is the bulk of why I went for a tablet in the first place...
They seem to have been pretty good about addressing issues with updates, it's just the question of when said updates show up.

Also, Android Movie Studio (think iMovie or something- very basic at first glance, but seems quite functional so far) and Videos are new to the app list.

Also got my update just in the last hour. Overall device seems snappier and USB mouse support is nice. I can also confirm that the Youtube Video Rental app comes with the update.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App

Small point I know but it now appears that if you update apps in Market, once they are updated you now have option to uninstall the update.

The official new features list for Honeycomb 3.1 (outside of Acer updates)...
http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-3.1-highlights.html#UserFeatures

I still cant see a safe way of removing from USB other than powering down?

Differences/Improvements I noticed.
1. When you are in Market and you enter an app to download or view and you go back to previous page you go back to were you were in app selection instead of the top of the app page (which sucked ass in 3.01)
2. UI transitions obviously, but except from vertical lag it is also pretty 'laggy' when you turn it upside down.
3. Faster startup of albums thumbnails and zoom and double tap is lightning fast.
4. Website scrolling and 2 pressure point zooming is lightning fast.
5. GPS locks faster
6. Emails come instantly, dunno if anybody noticed but in 3.01 the emails would not appear as fast they did in example hotmail tray.
7. Youtube plays videos flawlessly, 720p smooth as **** thru a goose.
8. 720p MP4 can be played but not VERY smooth, MKV can be played too but with no sound. The other HD videos that I usually play I encode with Handbrake using zoom setting but it sux ass to have to convert 720p movies that should play smooth.
9. I may be dreaming but sound seems better, louder and clearer. May be my imagination.
Then there is all the obvious changed of course. I'll add more when I remember more.
Cheers!

WMA's play in the stock player!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Couple of Differences in 3.1 Update
Got the update this evening in the UK
Couple of things I've noticed:
Acer Lumiread application has improved interface. This may be considered bloatware by the masses but I really like this compared to the alternatives.
As well as this the Landscape mode now allows 2 page reading something similar to ipad Also seems a lot smoother which actually is a massive improvement. There were a few bugs with this with the leaked chinese build that came out last week but these all seem to have been remedied in this version 4 build.
Improvement in GPS lock speed. I didn't really have a massive issue but now seem to be able to find around 10 sats vs 8 indoors with 3.01 stock and leaked build. .
Desktop Mode on Browser settings. Is it just me or does this actually do anything?
I've only tested it on the bbc website but it's still recognising my device as a mobile device even when desktop mode is set or when UAString is changed. All this mode seems to do is break bbc iplayer . Anyone else in the UK notice this?
Market shows incompatible apps: I've noticed quite a few gameloft games now showing up in the app which upon trying to purchase I get a "your device is incompatible" message. Previously i wasn't shown applications and games that were incompatible.
web browsing is a lot smoother. no fc so far (fingers crossed)

Pictures are much sharper in Picture Frame widgets !

Thank God they took out Cell Standby My Battery Last Longer.
Sent from my SCH-R910 using XDA Premium App

Johnny0906 said:
9. I may be dreaming but sound seems better, louder and clearer. May be my imagination.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. Much less distortion at the highest volume setting.

saeba said:
I agree. Much less distortion at the highest volume setting.
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Click to collapse
Then I wasnt dreaming, awesome!
The sound is better yup yup!

honeycomb has too many bugs..waiting for ICS eagerly..

I see some people saying that they want ics on their phone way more and they are fine with honeycomb, and I just can't undersrand them.
I am waiting for the ics eagerly so the following bugs will be gone and more:
Portrait lag (choppiness). Its not just the home screen, but the whole system is not smooth when in portrait orientation.
Keyboard typing lag in the web browser. I know everyones aware of it, and very annoyed by it. But you want to keep honeycomb?? Dolphin doesn't fix the issue btw, at least for my case.
Music stop playibg when screen is off. I want to use the stock music player as its the original, and its easy to use also. And it looks good too. However, I just can't use it because of this issue. Why should I have to buy another music player app when there is already an app for that? I really hope this issue is gone in ics.
Horrible Lag when going back to the home screen after running heavy tasks. This is the most annoying problem for me with honeycomb, or maybe android itself (its been a while I had a froyo tabket, so I don't really remember).
With all these issues, which competing products with other OS don't have, do you still think honeycombs is fine? I certainly can't wait for ICS to be delivered to our Iconia.
EDIT: I forgot to mention about tge "more" part.
Ics is mostly update for unite between tablet and apps mostly for developing more apps for tablets and phones at the same time. If you are still stuck on honeycomb, we will be stuck with very few amount of apps that present for honeycomb right now. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Anyway, I know that its confirmed that we are getting ICS, but just wanted to say my opinion on honeycomb, ics, and people who are fine with honeycomb on their iconia tab.
Thanks for listening to my rant

sw6lee said:
I see some people saying that they want ics on their phone way more and they are fine with honeycomb, and I just can't undersrand them.
I am waiting for the ics eagerly so the following bugs will be gone and more:
Portrait lag (choppiness). Its not just the home screen, but the whole system is not smooth when in portrait orientation.
Keyboard typing lag in the web browser. I know everyones aware of it, and very annoyed by it. But you want to keep honeycomb?? Dolphin doesn't fix the issue btw, at least for my case.
Music stop playibg when screen is off. I want to use the stock music player as its the original, and its easy to use also. And it looks good too. However, I just can't use it because of this issue. Why should I have to buy another music player app when there is already an app for that? I really hope this issue is gone in ics.
Horrible Lag when going back to the home screen after running heavy tasks. This is the most annoying problem for me with honeycomb, or maybe android itself (its been a while I had a froyo tabket, so I don't really remember).
With all these issues, which competing products with other OS don't have, do you still think honeycombs is fine? I certainly can't wait for ICS to be delivered to our Iconia.
EDIT: I forgot to mention about tge "more" part.
Ics is mostly update for unite between tablet and apps mostly for developing more apps for tablets and phones at the same time. If you are still stuck on honeycomb, we will be stuck with very few amount of apps that present for honeycomb right now. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Anyway, I know that its confirmed that we are getting ICS, but just wanted to say my opinion on honeycomb, ics, and people who are fine with honeycomb on their iconia tab.
Thanks for listening to my rant
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Click to collapse
i dont have any of these issues. im running taboony 2.2 with richards 3.7 kernel (oc'd 1.5) and i use opera and maxthon browser.
Im guessing youre stock. But dont get your hopes up ics wont necessarily fix your bugs. it may just bring new more annoying ones along.

I don't have most of these issues myself and I'm running Kekinash's rather stock 3.2 ROM with the HoneyVillain 3.4 kernel. I'm not doing any over-clocking with the kernel either.
The only isssue i was having was the Music app problem, but resolved it by using the Music Player for Pad app, which is just night and day superior to the stock app. I would be using MPP whether I had a problem with the stock app or not.
Other than that, I'm still loving the A500 (with Honeycomb). Of course I'm interested in ICS, too, but I expect it to cause more problems than it will solve.

Can't say I've had any of these issues with mine (portrait doesn't seem as smooth, but I very very rarely use it in portrait mode anyway [only when an app forces me to] so can't really comment there..). Running latest lightspeed rom + thor's kernel, oc'd to ~1.4ghz.
Personally I'm loving honeycomb so far..
-Dave

Same here all works well.Op there is a chance you could have some rogue apps lurking in background on you

sw6lee said:
Keyboard typing lag in the web browser. I know everyones aware of it, and very annoyed by it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, not everyone: I ain't noticing such.
Anyway, I know that its confirmed that we are getting ICS, but just wanted to say my opinion on honeycomb, ics, and people who are fine with honeycomb on their iconia tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No one really cares, so yeah... I too just replied because I'm bored and can't sleep.

ICS is basically Honeycomb for phones, not much more man..

jon-.- said:
i dont have any of these issues. im running taboony 2.2 with richards 3.7 kernel (oc'd 1.5) and i use opera and maxthon browser.
Im guessing youre stock. But dont get your hopes up ics wont necessarily fix your bugs. it may just bring new more annoying ones along.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Opera and maxthon aren't as smooth when scrolling as stock or dolphin for pad. I tried them both. Opera is laggy especially when zooming in and out, and maxthos is just so annoying to use because of its choppiness when scrolling.

autom8r said:
ICS is basically Honeycomb for phones, not much more man..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you guys are saying that google will just keep the bugs as it is? I can't guarantee of course, but if google will do that, then I certainly have no faith in google anymore. Why would people buy an android device? What the hell. To root it and void warranty to use it properly or dig through the market to make the device finally usable where there are original apps wasted, or can't even get issues solved, like portrait lag, and just live with it?? Don't tell me to buy an ipad, because I already purchased this, and I don't want to sell it cheaper, and buy another device.
Anyway, someone mentioned music player for pad. I am using it also, but it has a lot of other bugs as well. The stock music player stops playing when screen is off. This app? It just stops suddenly while playing. Not often, but sometimes. And sometimes after I stop the music and later start it again, the sound doesnt come out, so I have to find my earphone, plug it it, and out again, to let the sound work. This is the apps problem. And its pretty glictchy when keep using. I don't want to buy Hive player, which is the only other alternate honeycomb music player, as far as I know, and Don't want to pay for apps (I just don't spend money on apps, and don't have too many apps either).
And I dont have that many apps that may cause the system to make my tablet lag after going to home scren after running heavy task. And I know its not just my problem. I have seen other people talking about it too.
If they still didn't fix these issues, google should just quit the android business. Yea I know, they won't quit, cause they are making tons of money out of it. But they can't even make it right. They dont have experience? Then they should recruit senior employees from apple or microsoft to make a better OS.
I'm never going to recommend android to any of my friends any more, because now i realize that there is nothing to recommend about it. Open source? Better working closed OS is much better in my opinion. Anyway, I have no reason to write this to people here but I hope google guys see this post somehow.

sw6lee said:
I'm never going to recommend android to any of my friends any more, because now i realize that there is nothing to recommend about it. Open source? Better working closed OS is much better in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dang. Perhaps a different rom, I dig my stock 3.2 rooted by ezterry. I do have a little lag, but I have no less than 9 widgets. If they're running maybe kill a widget or 3. Same for the live wallpapers. I'm certain that there are quite a few other things that you can do to improve performance.
I don't have an iAnything. Never will. And I have to say that you're right about the smoothness. Those suckers are pretty sweet. But I'll take my widgets, customization, live wallpapers, usb, hdmi, Flash, sdcard, and so on/so forth over that any day. And if I change my mind I'll remove those things that are slowing things down. I've tried it and the tab is like butter.
Sooo...
I wish you the very best on your (possible) upcoming iAdventure. Hate to see anyone go, and holler when you get back!

sw6lee said:
I am waiting for the ics eagerly so the following bugs will be gone and more:
Portrait lag (choppiness). Its not just the home screen, but the whole system is not smooth when in portrait orientation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cant say about others here. But personally i am very seldom in portrait mode. Reading manga probably the only time i am in that mode, feel pretty smooth on stock browser. The only time i see any lag, is when system is switching mode. But that is to be expected, given the processor/ram and the resolution; it will take time to adjust but its barely a second.
I have dual 24" IPS monitor form dell with very high resolution, on a system running at 4Ghz/12gig ram with high end dual GFX. When i switch those monitor in portrait, even they take few sec to adjust and populate the icon on screen.
sw6lee said:
Keyboard typing lag in the web browser. I know everyones aware of it, and very annoyed by it. But you want to keep honeycomb?? Dolphin doesn't fix the issue btw, at least for my case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been a while i used stock keyboard. I am using Thumb Keyboard 4, it has a little lag, but only because its show possible suggestion of what you typing. And usually its just a few words behind my speed of typing. I use Dolphin browser, but i have had no problem. Also use Stock browser too. I leave link and multiple tab open on dolphin browser so i can get to them later when i have time, never had any issue so far.
sw6lee said:
Music stop playibg when screen is off. I want to use the stock music player as its the original, and its easy to use also. And it looks good too. However, I just can't use it because of this issue. Why should I have to buy another music player app when there is already an app for that? I really hope this issue is gone in ics.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had the same problem. Got the Music Folder Player (free), problem solved. And since i use headphone to listen to music, i dont really care if i can see album art and stuff. Other wise i would use stock player since the screen be on because i wanted to see album art and stuff LOL. Also got the Donate version of Folder Player, since i wanted to support the DEV.
sw6lee said:
Horrible Lag when going back to the home screen after running heavy tasks. This is the most annoying problem for me with honeycomb, or maybe android itself (its been a while I had a froyo tabket, so I don't really remember).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure what kind of heavy task you referring to. But i can run CF-bench, then switch to home when its done and have no lag at all... Or you can give some example of Heavy task you running, so i can test it on my system too.
I am running Stock 3.2 just modified for Root (Kekinash), with Thor's 3.7 Kernel. OC set to interactive 1504Max/608min. I didnt write the reply to prove OP issue wrong, just simply suggesting that there are answer to most of the problems just take time to find them, and the best part, you learn alot of new things as you try to find the solution of a particular problem.
That's one of the best part of Android you can make the OS work for you (some time and experience), compare to other Tablet OS that go out of there way to try to restrict you from manipulating OS to your advantage.

Not had any of these issues either with Stock 3.1, 3.2, Taboonay 2.2 or the latest Thor. Have had a little lag in the stock browser only in Facebook, but that's the page because it does it in every mobile browser except Opera.

sw6lee said:
Anyway, someone mentioned music player for pad. I am using it also, but it has a lot of other bugs as well. The stock music player stops playing when screen is off. This app? It just stops suddenly while playing. Not often, but sometimes. And sometimes after I stop the music and later start it again, the sound doesnt come out, so I have to find my earphone, plug it it, and out again, to let the sound work. This is the apps problem. And its pretty glictchy when keep using. I don't want to buy Hive player, which is the only other alternate honeycomb music player, as far as I know, and Don't want to pay for apps (I just don't spend money on apps, and don't have too many apps either).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you kidding me? You have looked at market, and Hive is the *ONLY* music player you can find? I reckon I could find dozens in a matter of minutes.. Personally, I'm using MixZing and it's working well for me.. I don't recall having any issues with the stock music app shutting off when the screen goes off either so I'm guessing that's a setting you've tinkered with somewhere (funny how when you change settings, the behaviour of things changes hey?)
Also, who cares if the stock app isn't exactly what you want? I'm pretty sure you select what programs suit *YOUR* needs to play music/movies/edit documents/browse the web/scratch yourself etc on your PC, and if you had an iPad I'm sure you would select the apps that suit *YOU* on there too - so what difference does it make? NO manufacturer is going to ship a device with exactly the applications you want, thats the whole reason that we are able to go out and buy/download those which suit our needs!
If they still didn't fix these issues, google should just quit the android business. Yea I know, they won't quit, cause they are making tons of money out of it. But they can't even make it right. They dont have experience? Then they should recruit senior employees from apple or microsoft to make a better OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What exactly isn't right about it? I have a Motorola Atrix, I love the android implementation (because let's remember, thats what each of these devices ships with - another company's implementation of the android OS, not the bog stock "android os" from google) on there - straight out of the box without any modification it worked perfectly well.. And then I started tinkering and WOW! I could change damned near anything I wanted! FANTASTIC! But if that didn't interest me? NO problem, it shipped with a perfectly acceptable functioning system which well exceeded the performance of my wife's iPhone 4...
Almost every "bug" i read about, is nothing to do with android - it's do with someone's rom, or an error within an application - Windows applications crash, iOS applications crash, hell - even my old linux box used to crash from time to time when I started messing with things or running other people's software..
I'm never going to recommend android to any of my friends any more, because now i realize that there is nothing to recommend about it. Open source? Better working closed OS is much better in my opinion. Anyway, I have no reason to write this to people here but I hope google guys see this post somehow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is it that you and your friends ARE looking for in an OS? Because honestly, if what you want is something that *never* crashes, regardless of what you try to mess with, or that doesn't have *any* applications that are buggy or poorly implemented.. then I don't know, perhaps you'd best start looking for someone to port you a rom based on my old Nokia 5110?
/rant!

I found a solution to the OP's problems Here!
Guaranteed to fix his problems!

sw6lee said:
So you guys are saying that google will just keep the bugs as it is? I can't guarantee of course, but if google will do that, then I certainly have no faith in google anymore. Why would people buy an android device? What the hell. To root it and void warranty to use it properly or dig through the market to make the device finally usable where there are original apps wasted, or can't even get issues solved, like portrait lag, and just live with it?? Don't tell me to buy an ipad, because I already purchased this, and I don't want to sell it cheaper, and buy another device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An Android device is no different than any other electronic device or computer -- it's going to behave differently with different people. This is because of how each individual configures it, what apps they run, how they use it, even the environment (hot, cold, dusty, etc.) they use it in. No one here can say that you're not encountering the problems you say you are, but I can guarantee you that I won't be the last to tell you that I haven't encountered those problems.
I know you don't want to hear it, but if you want a turnkey system that minimizes the chance of encountering ANY problems, then you're going to have to go Apple. BUT keep in mind that you're going to have to accept some consolations with that decision, because Apple OS'es are very locked down so don't expect to be able to do much tweaking, personalizing, or customizing.
sw6lee said:
Anyway, someone mentioned music player for pad. I am using it also, but it has a lot of other bugs as well. The stock music player stops playing when screen is off. This app? It just stops suddenly while playing. Not often, but sometimes. And sometimes after I stop the music and later start it again, the sound doesnt come out, so I have to find my earphone, plug it it, and out again, to let the sound work. This is the apps problem. And its pretty glictchy when keep using. I don't want to buy Hive player, which is the only other alternate honeycomb music player, as far as I know, and Don't want to pay for apps (I just don't spend money on apps, and don't have too many apps either).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, I don't have extensive problems with the stock Music app, but I have had ZERO problems with Music Player for Pad -- whether I'm running things from the widget or the full app. It's been flawless. Not disputing that you're encountering problems -- just saying that I am not and looking at the market rating for that app it doesn't appear that a large percentage of the app's users are encountering problems.
sw6lee said:
And I dont have that many apps that may cause the system to make my tablet lag after going to home scren after running heavy task. And I know its not just my problem. I have seen other people talking about it too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure, but what percentage? You have to understand, people aren't going to come to technical forums like this and others and post,
"Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm having a perfect experience with my Android tablet and Android in general! LOVE IT! Thanks, Google!"
People come here to post about problems they're having. Even if 30 people post to a thread having the same problems you are, that doesn't address the millions of other users who are apparently not having this issue.
sw6lee said:
If they still didn't fix these issues, google should just quit the android business. Yea I know, they won't quit, cause they are making tons of money out of it. But they can't even make it right. They dont have experience? Then they should recruit senior employees from apple or microsoft to make a better OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, first of all, the way to a better operating system is not through Apple and definitely not through Microsoft. Both of those companies have had their share of stinker OS'es in the past (and present). I know it's difficult to look beyond your own experiences and needs, but the reason why Android isn't going to "quit the business" is because they are extremely successful and they are extremely successful because the vast majority of their users are very happy with the OS. Android is currently the most popular phone OS -- why do you think that should translate to them that they should "quit the business"?
sw6lee said:
I'm never going to recommend android to any of my friends any more, because now i realize that there is nothing to recommend about it. Open source? Better working closed OS is much better in my opinion. Anyway, I have no reason to write this to people here but I hope google guys see this post somehow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, I know you said that you didn't want to hear it, but I think you've suggested your own best solution -- you need to go iOS. And if you're using a Windows based desktop or notebook PC, I would recommend getting rid of that and going with Apple, too. That's not meant to be an insult in any way -- you just don't seem happy using Android, and what most of us consider to be a huge benefit of the OS (open source, tweakable, customizable, etc.), you consider to be negative or undesirable. Why keep a device that makes you so unhappy? Take a loss, and buy a device you can be happy using. Life's too short.

shin lucifer said:
Cant say about others here. But personally i am very seldom in portrait mode. Reading manga probably the only time i am in that mode, feel pretty smooth on stock browser. The only time i see any lag, is when system is switching mode. But that is to be expected, given the processor/ram and the resolution; it will take time to adjust but its barely a second.
I have dual 24" IPS monitor form dell with very high resolution, on a system running at 4Ghz/12gig ram with high end dual GFX. When i switch those monitor in portrait, even they take few sec to adjust and populate the icon on screen.
Been a while i used stock keyboard. I am using Thumb Keyboard 4, it has a little lag, but only because its show possible suggestion of what you typing. And usually its just a few words behind my speed of typing. I use Dolphin browser, but i have had no problem. Also use Stock browser too. I leave link and multiple tab open on dolphin browser so i can get to them later when i have time, never had any issue so far.
Had the same problem. Got the Music Folder Player (free), problem solved. And since i use headphone to listen to music, i dont really care if i can see album art and stuff. Other wise i would use stock player since the screen be on because i wanted to see album art and stuff LOL. Also got the Donate version of Folder Player, since i wanted to support the DEV.
Not sure what kind of heavy task you referring to. But i can run CF-bench, then switch to home when its done and have no lag at all... Or you can give some example of Heavy task you running, so i can test it on my system too.
I am running Stock 3.2 just modified for Root (Kekinash), with Thor's 3.7 Kernel. OC set to interactive 1504Max/608min. I didnt write the reply to prove OP issue wrong, just simply suggesting that there are answer to most of the problems just take time to find them, and the best part, you learn alot of new things as you try to find the solution of a particular problem.
That's one of the best part of Android you can make the OS work for you (some time and experience), compare to other Tablet OS that go out of there way to try to restrict you from manipulating OS to your advantage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I meant heavy task, say web browsing for a few hours, and when I go to home screen, it reloads the widgets, icons and everything again for maybe 3 seconds, and when I try to do something then, like open app drawer or scroll desktop or open another app, it is insanely laggy. Of course, it's only for 3-4 seconds, but it happens often, and it's very annoying.

WarbyD said:
Are you kidding me? You have looked at market, and Hive is the *ONLY* music player you can find? I reckon I could find dozens in a matter of minutes.. Personally, I'm using MixZing and it's working well for me.. I don't recall having any issues with the stock music app shutting off when the screen goes off either so I'm guessing that's a setting you've tinkered with somewhere (funny how when you change settings, the behaviour of things changes hey?)
Also, who cares if the stock app isn't exactly what you want? I'm pretty sure you select what programs suit *YOUR* needs to play music/movies/edit documents/browse the web/scratch yourself etc on your PC, and if you had an iPad I'm sure you would select the apps that suit *YOU* on there too - so what difference does it make? NO manufacturer is going to ship a device with exactly the applications you want, thats the whole reason that we are able to go out and buy/download those which suit our needs!
What exactly isn't right about it? I have a Motorola Atrix, I love the android implementation (because let's remember, thats what each of these devices ships with - another company's implementation of the android OS, not the bog stock "android os" from google) on there - straight out of the box without any modification it worked perfectly well.. And then I started tinkering and WOW! I could change damned near anything I wanted! FANTASTIC! But if that didn't interest me? NO problem, it shipped with a perfectly acceptable functioning system which well exceeded the performance of my wife's iPhone 4...
Almost every "bug" i read about, is nothing to do with android - it's do with someone's rom, or an error within an application - Windows applications crash, iOS applications crash, hell - even my old linux box used to crash from time to time when I started messing with things or running other people's software..
What is it that you and your friends ARE looking for in an OS? Because honestly, if what you want is something that *never* crashes, regardless of what you try to mess with, or that doesn't have *any* applications that are buggy or poorly implemented.. then I don't know, perhaps you'd best start looking for someone to port you a rom based on my old Nokia 5110?
/rant!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I meant music player for honeycomb. These have controls in the notification bar, but other phone optimized music players don't have that, and while in an app, and you want to turn music off, you need to GO to the music app and pause it, and go back to the previous app you were in. This is why I don't use phone optimized music app on my iconia.
And the bugs I listed in my first post is all over the internet, so don't deny it. Maybe some few people don't have problem with it because they are running a custom rom, or using alternative apps.
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=17353
http://www.thriveforums.org/forum/t...ic-will-not-continuously-play-sleep-mode.html
-Also, read description of Music Player for Pad and Hive Player on Market. They mention that their music player don't stop playing even when screen is off. They say that they changed a code or something.
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=15958
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jbm8QAS3DI
The bugs are all over the internet. You are saying that only very few people are having the problems I mentioned or any problems, and it's probably because of what they have done to the tablet. If you can't believe me, see the links I posted.

sw6lee said:
And the bugs I listed in my first post is all over the internet, so don't deny it. Maybe some few people don't have problem with it because they are running a custom rom, or using alternative apps.
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=17353
http://www.thriveforums.org/forum/t...ic-will-not-continuously-play-sleep-mode.html
-Also, read description of Music Player for Pad and Hive Player on Market. They mention that their music player don't stop playing even when screen is off. They say that they changed a code or something.
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=15958
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jbm8QAS3DI
The bugs are all over the internet. You are saying that only very few people are having the problems I mentioned or any problems, and it's probably because of what they have done to the tablet. If you can't believe me, see the links I posted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
180 complaints across two threads = "all over the internet"?
Even if you count all 180 as being definite problems with Honeycomb, when you consider the number of Honeycombs devices out there and in use, 180 problems is statistically insignificant. As of October 19, a total of 3.8 million Honeycomb tablets have been sold. That's not even a percentage figure I can post here without using scientific notation. Statistically, it's WAY below 0.00%.
In skimming through the posts that you linked to, I did notice that most of the posts are about Honeycomb 3.0 and 3.1, with only a few posts at the bottom of each thread being recent and/or about 3.2. How many of the problems reported with 3.0 and 3.1 were fixed with the subsequent updates?
You also need to realize that Google is not responsible for the hardware -- it's the hardware manufacturer's job to make sure their hardware works with Honeycomb. It's like blaming Microsoft for your Dell PC running slow. That's not Microsoft's fault.
And you basically say that most people reporting no issues have likely solved the problems themselves by what they've done to the tablet? Well...do that as well and then you and the whopping 180 people won't have any problems, no?
I'm not saying that you're not encountering any problems with Honeycomb -- I'm sure you are. However, you're an insignificant statistic to Google, and there are soooooooo many people running the same hardware/OS who are not seeing any problems that it is highly likely that your problems are
1. A configuration issue.
2. Caused by a 3rd-party app.
3. Easily fixable by way of tweaking the configuration and/or using an alternate app.
Again, not saying that you're not encountering problems, but these problems are FAR from being as common as you claim. I would advise trying to figure out tweaks to solve your (apparently rare) problems, or you should resell the tablet and move on, and just consider Honeycomb to not be the OS for you.

sw6lee said:
I meant heavy task, say web browsing for a few hours, and when I go to home screen, it reloads the widgets, icons and everything again for maybe 3 seconds, and when I try to do something then, like open app drawer or scroll desktop or open another app, it is insanely laggy. Of course, it's only for 3-4 seconds, but it happens often, and it's very annoying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can completely understand few seconds here and there over time can lead to frustration, especially now that our tech are so fast and we not so use to waiting on every commands.
My only suggestion will be, and i dont know if you have already tried this. Try to get Rooted Stock 3.2 with diff Kernels. Personally i was surprise how much smoother thing ran compare to 3.1. I mean i didnt have any problems with 3.1, but after Rooted Stock 3.2 i started to see difference in response time on small thing and it was fast.

I am one of the silent millions, One hundred % happy with stock Three.two. No problems except sleep, but that will fixed. I just turn off. Hope you get working.

[Q] Phone Setup Suggestions

Everyone should be getting their phone in the next few days. I am coming from iOS so I am not 100% sure about all of androids apps and features. I have spent a lot of time in the last month learning as much as I could about switching over but I would like to get some opinions from everyone. I hope this will also help any other novice users get the most out of the note 3.
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
2. What apps will make using the note more enjoyable/easier?
3. What apps can I wow people with a demo of?
4. Any other general app recommendations?
5. What general settings should I initially use? or disable?
6. Anything I missed for a first time android user?

1) NEXT Launcher 3D
2) NEXT Launcher 3D
3) NEXT Launcher 3D's "Swing with Scroll" feature

Impuls3101 said:
Everyone should be getting their phone in the next few days. I am coming from iOS so I am not 100% sure about all of androids apps and features. I have spent a lot of time in the last month learning as much as I could about switching over but I would like to get some opinions from everyone. I hope this will also help any other novice users get the most out of the note 3.
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
2. What apps will make using the note more enjoyable/easier?
3. What apps can I wow people with a demo of?
4. Any other general app recommendations?
5. What general settings should I initially use? or disable?
6. Anything I missed for a first time android user?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome aboard! Here's the first thing you'll have to deal with: Size. The Note 3 (I have a Note 2) will seem huge and you may get buyer's remorse. Most of us do. It wears off in a couple of days, though and then you'll wonder how you dealt with such a small phone.
1. I use Apex launcher. Why do I use a launcher? Because I like to change the number of rows/columns from the standard setting. I also like to eliminate the Google search bar. And, I like using gestures to go to apps. I use swipe-up for Google Now and swipe-down for notification shade. Why do I use Apex instead of others? No particular reason but it seemed to have the most available features for a free version at the time. I have since paid for it.
2, There are a bazillion apps. But, coming from the iPhone I would first experiment with keyboard replacements. Why? Because you can and the iphone users can't. Try Swype or Swiftkey. Swiftkey is amazing at guessing what your next word will be. Most of all, get used to swiping instead of typing. Once you get good at it it's MUCH faster than typing. Then show that off to your iPhone buddies and say, "Take that!"
3. If you really want to dazzle people with your new phone find a high def YouTube video (the Vevo ones are good). Playing a beautiful video on a large screen has some really powerful WOW! factor.
4. Some apps I use a lot:
Color Note - A great note and checklist app that syncs via the cloud.
Chrome Beta
Flixter for getting movie times and watching trailers
Gas Buddy to find cheap gasoline
Amazon App store. A free app every day. You have to side load it, it's not in the Play Store.
Droid of the Day - A new app suggestion every day
Timely - One of the most beautiful alarm clock apps. It also syncs with all your devices
The usual apps: Netflix, Pandora, Watch ESPN, HBO Go, Dropbox, et al.
5. I turn off Auto display brightness. I leave my Note 2 at full brightness all the time. The battery can handle this just fine.
I leave GPS, Wifi, and NFC on all the time.
Make sure you setup Google+ to automatically upload your photos
6. Don't go too crazy downloading apps. You may find your battery suddenly draining too fast. If you don't like or use an app delete it immediately so it won't eat battery.
Good luck and have fun.

Impuls3101 said:
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nova Prime because it is better than TW in every way.

Ok I will answer some of my own questions from using the device the last 10 or so hours I hope this helps someone else. Please add suggestions because I am still getting used to everything.
1. Nova launcher seems to be easier to use because it takes all ur tw settings and imports them. It makes it easy to switch between the two. I like the tw weather widget better though
2. -I still need to find a good email client that syncs the few accounts that I have together. I haven't looked into this yet.
-Equalizer is a really good app to put more bass or customize the sound of your music.
-Adblock plus is really nice to have while browsing the internet .. I always hated that I couldn't use it on the iphone.
-The adapt sound settings helped make my headphones sound a little better. I use an aux in on my car so it kind of sucks that they don't have profiles for different sources.
3. -Next Launcher is really nice to show people but I don't know if I could use it everyday and its 3x the price of other launchers.
-Real Racing 3 is a nice demo game but good old angry birds star wars 2 probably looks the best and it has a note 3 achievement
-slow mo camera is really nice but anything less than 1/2 speed and the image starts to look very grainy .. 4k really has a wow factor even on the 1080p screen.
4. Sketchbook for Galaxy is a lot of fun to draw in with the s-pen.
5. -I followed this guide for disabling some of the bloatware: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2478448
-I also disabled most of the air hover features because they are nice for demoing the device to someone but I probably won't use them. Plus I wear glasses and it doesn't seem to detect my eyes very well.
-People are reporting poor wifi and one of the settings suggested is to turn off network auto connect.. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2472779 .. I experienced the problem but reset my router and it seems fine now.. not sure if its a software glitch or what.
6. -Here is a useful guide on how to transfer your contacts : http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/transfer-iphone-contact-to-android/
-The only thing I am missing from iOS are the nice lock screen notifications. If anyone has a suggestion please let me know

Impuls3101 said:
Everyone should be getting their phone in the next few days. I am coming from iOS so I am not 100% sure about all of androids apps and features. I have spent a lot of time in the last month learning as much as I could about switching over but I would like to get some opinions from everyone. I hope this will also help any other novice users get the most out of the note 3.
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
2. What apps will make using the note more enjoyable/easier?
3. What apps can I wow people with a demo of?
4. Any other general app recommendations?
5. What general settings should I initially use? or disable?
6. Anything I missed for a first time android user?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I have been using Nova for a while on my Galaxy Nexus, and use it on my N3 now too. It's not too bloated, allows custom number of icons per row/column, gestures, and resize all widgets. I used to use Apex, and that was really good too, but I switched a while ago to Nova because there was some feature Apex didn't have, though honestly I don't remember what now, and they may very well have added it.
2. SketchBook Mobile by Autodesk (makers of AutoCAD and Inventor, among many other engineering-oriented programs) is kind of cool, it's a sketch program that you can do a lot with, and works well with the stylus. Not the most useful app, per se, but a fun "proof of concept" if you will, and it's free. I believe there's more options than the built in equivalent, though I haven't used either a ton yet.
3. Any high def media will look awesome. Show them Netflix streaming, or as someone else said, HD Youtube, or any other HD video. Even pictures taken with the camera look great, simply because of the huge high res screen. Pictures taken with the phone probably would look even better on the screen than ones taken with another phone with a better camera but worse screen, because it's still small enough to cover up minor imperfections, but big and crisp enough to really look amazing.
4. For a music player, I like PowerAmp. It's got a really good equalizer, and a ton of settings to play with. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of the interface, but it's not awful. You can also customize the widget as much as you want, in terms of colors, fonts, transparency, buttons, size, what's displayed, etc.
I also use UberSync for Facebook, which lets you use sync HD pictures from facebook as contact photos. You can also import birthdays into your calendar, if you want, and some other info from people's profiles. You can choose what resolution to use, how often to sync, and only use wi-fi if you want.
5. I turned off all of the Smart features and that kind of thing. I don't want to control my phone with my eyes or hand gestures, I want to use it with my hands or S Pen. Of course that's fully a matter of preference. Also I noticed that the setting to alert you if you walk away without putting the S Pen back in is disabled by default, so I enabled that. I still worry I'm going to lose it sometime, but that's just because I'm forgetful.

Impuls3101 said:
-Adblock plus is really nice to have while browsing the internet .. I always hated that I couldn't use it on the iphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How are you using Adblock without root??

jmorton10 said:
How are you using Adblock without root??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Firefox with the adblock plugin and its working great. Firefox now flies on this phone.:good:

Multitasking/RAM

You're busy and don't have time to wait, which is why you need to stop reading this thread and get back to organizing your Pogs. Rate this thread to express how the Google Pixel 3 XL performs when multitasking. A higher rating indicates that the Google Pixel 3 XL keeps many apps in memory so that they don't need to reload, and that when moving between apps, transitions are smooth and performance is excellent.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

Does a poor job of memory management. Apps to be reloaded. I am quite surprised this is occurring.

Chrome pages rarely stay in memory even when jumping to one or two other apps for a short bit. Even the messaging app dumps out frequently. These are Google's own apps too, what's their excuse?
Slightly off topic but I love how safari on iOS devices keeps the last page stored so hitting the back button to the last webpage is instant vs chrome having to reload a page

Seems quite good to me. I loaded Spotify, messages, Viber, what's app, chrome and nest and no reloading. Seem to normally have about 750mb free

I haven't seen much reloading. I do mostly use apps that start each time I open them (like games like Clash Royale, etc), so I'm sure that has something to do with it, but for my most used normal apps I can open Gmail, Chrome, Instagram, YouTube, G+, and some others, and rarely will an app need to pause to reload. They mostly open right where I left off. Maybe if I cycle eight or so apps is when I see a pause/reload.

Seems great to me. I can swap between Discord/Camera/Snapseed/Twitter/YouTube music with no reloading. Taking pictures or videos doesn't pause or completely stop YouTube music like I've seen some YouTubers/reviews comment. I even bumped it up to about as stressful as I could - HDR on, highest mp, take raw, nothing I could do would get the music in the BG to close
I will experience redrawing when I open a game such as FGO or Dragalia Lost, but that shouldn't be shocking, in my opinion

I've tried both streaming apps and local playback of a downloaded podcast and have gotten process kills for every situation. How is it some people have no issue and others don't if it's just a software issue?

Only thing I've noticed is aggressively closing Pandora is I've been out of my car a few minutes. It's a little annoying but doesn't really bother me. Spotify and slacker stay open.
Other than that I haven't had the other issues reported like the camera closing Spotify etcetera

could this be related to the SWAP thats being used aggresively? if someone has root maybe they can test disabling swap, and changing the swappiness value should make things perform better.

Zenoran said:
I've tried both streaming apps and local playback of a downloaded podcast and have gotten process kills for every situation. How is it some people have no issue and others don't if it's just a software issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've found it to be due to Adaptive battery. Turn the adaptive battery setting for the app off.

virtyx said:
could this be related to the SWAP thats being used aggresively? if someone has root maybe they can test disabling swap, and changing the swappiness value should make things perform better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is SWAP adjusted with root?

Battery management seems to be the culprit. I have turned it off as it makes my phone almost unusable; it allows me to use two apps, MOST of the time, but it constantly closes everything else, even when I have told it NOT to optimize specific programs. This is a terrible user experience. TERRIBLE. I hope they make the program less aggressive with a future software update.
As an aside, this was not how things were with Oreo on the Pixel 2 XL, and things weren't this way with the first release of Pie on the XL 2, either. However, I started seeing this after an update to Pie on the XL 2, and it has been constant on the XL 3.

rohmbd said:
How is SWAP adjusted with root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there should be a magisk module
'torpedo' something i think its called
you can also change swappiness to 0 (i think its in /proc/sys/vm )
if you have root you can try swapoff -a in terminal with su
report back on your finding please

RAM management is worse than phones from 2016
So I just got my pixel last week and one of the biggest issues is the RAM.
Sometimes I'll only have THREE things open, Chrome, Podcast Addict, and YouTube for isntance. And the pixel will kill off the podcast (while I'm listening to it still).
The same thing happens when I'm browsing the web, and want to take a picture, boom, kills the music I'm listening too.
It's a BIG issue, happens daily for me.

virtyx said:
there should be a magisk module
'torpedo' something i think its called
you can also change swappiness to 0 (i think its in /proc/sys/vm )
if you have root you can try swapoff -a in terminal with su
report back on your finding please
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did that last night - swap is off and, while I'm still getting reloads of Chrome tabs (really the only negative thing I noticed before), the phone *is* a bit more responsive. I've switched back and forth between swap and no swap, and there's definitely a non-placebo difference. I'd give it a shot if you're rooted (I used the Torpedo module in Magisk).

Roll3r said:
I did that last night - swap is off and, while I'm still getting reloads of Chrome tabs (really the only negative thing I noticed before), the phone *is* a bit more responsive. I've switched back and forth between swap and no swap, and there's definitely a non-placebo difference. I'd give it a shot if you're rooted (I used the Torpedo module in Magisk).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats great news!
how many chrome tabs are you using? is it only in chrome tabs that the reloading happens? how about recent apps?
im sure there are a few settings in /proc/sys/vm that can be adjusted to get better ram management

virtyx said:
thats great news!
how many chrome tabs are you using? is it only in chrome tabs that the reloading happens? how about recent apps?
im sure there are a few settings in /proc/sys/vm that can be adjusted to get better ram management
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't kept track of *any* of that. The phone just feels a bit (hate this adjective) snappier. And from what I understand (don't have the links in front of me) adjusting the LMK settings is going to be difficult.

I keep getting low memory warnings while playing wgt golf. Sucks

is this issue too bad on pixel 3?
i use a pixel 1 xl now and wants to buy a new phone.
getting really concerned and thinking if i should just buy a note 9 or not.
what do you guys suggest?

wtharp2 said:
Battery management seems to be the culprit. I have turned it off as it makes my phone almost unusable; it allows me to use two apps, MOST of the time, but it constantly closes everything else, even when I have told it NOT to optimize specific programs. This is a terrible user experience. TERRIBLE. I hope they make the program less aggressive with a future software update.
As an aside, this was not how things were with Oreo on the Pixel 2 XL, and things weren't this way with the first release of Pie on the XL 2, either. However, I started seeing this after an update to Pie on the XL 2, and it has been constant on the XL 3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You turned off the adaptive battery feature?