All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion

Ahh... I forgot to add that part to my question... so you get 8-10hrs with 4G on?

Since I don't get good 4G coverage in my area, I plan to turn it off and only use it if I need it and if there is 4G available... that should help with my battery life as I hear 4G loves electricity.

I have chargers everywhere too but that really just makes "mobile phone" an oxymoron. I have a co-worker with a phone that he has plugged in most of the day... he said he only gets 4 hours if he doesn't keep it charged.

The days are long gone when you didn't have to charge your phone until 3 or 4 days (but then again... no apps or web on your phone back then).

 

Honestly not sure off the top of my head.
I haven't messed around with ROMs much on my Tab and I can't really be bothered doing so when CM9 is just around the corner.

I disagree, the icons look lazy IMO - like they were just thrown together, no attempt to try and make them fit a common theme.

An SDK would've been neat but not letting you just add any old shortcut... it's like they hate their customers.

 

I've got my replacement phone early.

So far, so good. The phone feels smoother in daily operation than the Stratosphere. It was smooth but the teeny stutters one would sometimes see when switching between homescreens and such is gone on the Droid 3. Screen looks pretty nice too. PenTile isn't too noticeable which is nice. I do wish that the screen was as brilliant as the Super AMOLED panel on the Stratosphere but oh well.

The MAP enhancements aren't bad either. While TouchWiz remains my favorite (i like colors ok? ) the launcher motorola uses and overall device theme are good: resizable widgets are especially awesome. The animations are pretty cool too and all of them are fluid, especially the quick contacts pulldown widget. I do wish there were more homescreens though, feels like I'll run out of space, we'll see.

Physically, I wish the keyboard was as tactile as the Stratosphere's.

Ok got a force close popup from the homescreen. If this keeps up, I sense myself ditching the motorola launcher in the immediate future.

 

32GB SD card is awesome I can now fit all my music in mostly 256-320kbps mp3.

 

Told you

 

Damn, nandroid backups take forever.

Yeah

 

Anyone have a Galaxy S2? I'm due a upgrade with AT&T and I am trying to decide between that and a iPhone 4S. Both are $199.99 Does that big of a screen make it bulky?

 

Well, it all depends to your preferences. If your hand is mid-big sized, then Galaxy S 2 is for you. If your hand is small, the 4S is for you.

But of course, it also all comes down to OS preferences, if you like Android or iOS. I would def. recommend you a Android phone, specially the Nexus or the GS2, since they have a huge dev base and androids are super cutomizable.

Also, the GSII is nearly unbrickable if a flash goes wrong

 

Guys...someone has offered a straight trade his Galaxy Note for my Galaxy Nexus. I'm tempted because of the app incompatibility with ICS and the low loudspeaker volume on the Nexus. Any opinions?

The Note's size doesn't concern me because I have a large carrying case and I use a bluetooth headset.

 

You'd be getting a better processor, larger battery and stylus.
You'd be losing ICS.

Really down to personal preference, though personally I'd always be wary of second-hand phones.
Also, it begs the question why he wants to swap.

 

Thanks. He's one of my colleagues and really like the ICS GUI. I'm avoiding LTE handsets until they can integrate the chipset into more SoCs. The rumor that AT&T's Note might be stuck with a Qualcomm SoC kind of want me to get the International version.

 

Still, I wouldn't swap any of my phones for anything belonging to any of the people I work with - I just don't trust any of them to have looked after them adequately.

If it's in good condition then you're probably getting the better deal out of it - especially since ICS will find it's way onto the Note soon enough.

 

I have the Galaxy S2 Skyrocket also on AT&T. Its slightly larger than the S2 and I have small girly hands but I can use it one handed fine and the big screen is great for texting and web stuff. The Galaxy S2 feels smaller but actually a little bit heavier for some reason. Both are a bit large for jean pocket though, I carry my phone in my bag all the time.

 

The Skyrocket is bigger than the S2 at AT&T... but I would get the Skyrocket since it alos supports 4G LTE which AT&T has just started rolling out.

 

Unless you live in a major metropolitan area, LTE on AT&T is fairly useless ATM. Also, the Skyrocket sports a Snapdragon S3 SoC which while fast enough is nowhere near as fast as the Exynos S2 version.

It's a tradeoff. If you must have LTE, get the Skyrocket. Otherwise the regular HSPA+ Galaxy S II is the best phone they sell aside from the iPhones.

 

I thought the Skyrocket does both HSPA+ and LTE.

 

The extra screen space is great I have a 4.52" Galaxy S II, basically the Skyrocket (but on Sprint)

 

It does. But what I'm saying is either a Snapdragon/LTE combo or an Exynos/HSPA+ combo.

If AT&T neuters the Note with a Snapdragon SoC just so they can get LTE in it...

Right now Qualcomm has virtually a monopoly over LTE basebands. It sucks because since they make the LTE basebands they can bundle their basebands with their SoC's and "get away with it". I'll patiently wait for Intel to ship their X-Gold XMM 7060 multimode LTE baseband before I buy anything Qualcomm.

 

I agree with the extra screen size, its totally worth it. I wish the HTC Titan ran Android. I almost want bigger lol. The Skyrocket runs in both H+ and LTE, its fully backward compatible and you could probably say future proof if your looking at another two years with AT&T. I dunno where you are though, if your in the boonies LTE may never happen. Its plenty fast hardware wise. I don't notice a difference with the regular Galaxy SII moving between stuff in the menu and gaming. Its completely geeky and weird I know but I use my phone alot for my railfanning hobby. I often have remote desktop, scannerbuddy, several browser windows, music, and a game all running at once when waiting to snap a pic of the train. My Skyrocket doesn't slow down. Totally beats carrying a 14" laptop, my old cellphone, my mp3 player, and a scanner.

 

@Metaphorical... are you one of the tinkering types? Would you try the CM release that's out for the Skyrocket?

Also, if you could, could you run CF-Bench? I'm interested in the results. I'm still thinking about picking one up, just for the fact that Snapdragon is easy to work with and Samsung has unlocked bootloaders.

 

Invited him to come watch some college football yesterday and we agreed on simply switching our phones for a day to see if we wanted to commit. Three hours later we decide to make it a permanent trade. His Note is in mint condition and the OS/Bootloader hasn't even been tampered with.

We both got what we wanted out of this; I can use my Exchange email client, have a huge screen estate and a louder speakerphone, and he got a smaller phone with ICS on it.

Once Samsung commits to an official update to ICS and maintain the ability to use the Holo theme, this is the phone to have if you don't mind the sheer size. My hands are not that big and I do just fine holding it one handed or using it as a phone.

 

I'm getting a Galaxy Nexus.

 

Congrats.

 

Thanks

It cost me the same as my Atrix

 

Now that's an interesting tidbit. How'd you manage that?

 

Same as I did with the Atrix, I won it

 

You're a lucky little sob.

 

He he

It's the only good thing about my job

 

It appears the U.S. Galaxy Note is giving up the Exynos SoC for LTE after all...

Samsung GALAXY Note LTE specs

I'd rather stick with the Exynos than have LTE, just because of the GPU. The Mali-400 will eat the Adreno 220 alive especially with ICS.

 

Technically they're wrong, it's an APQ8060, but that solidifies it as a NO-BUY for me. 480x800 is an ok resolution for the Adreno 220, and 540x960 is pushing it. 1280x800 is a downright no.

This whole LTE/Qualcomm thing needs to end, and it needs to end now. If people are smart, they'll just pay for the real Note with Exynos.

EDIT: At Booboo... this would make me angry. Didn't you just get the Droid 3?!

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/09/motorola-droid-4-hands-on/

 

So AT&T must really love the Galaxy IIS... another version coming out for them:

Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD coming to AT&T: 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, LTE, 'razor-thin' -- Engadget

Next up... Skyrocket HD Plus!

 

That's the same S-AMOLED panel as the Galaxy Nexus. 4.65". And the same Snapdragon S3 SoC that's in the Note, regular Skyrocket, and the LG Nitro HD. Ugh.

AT&T is really starting to get on my nerves.

 

So considering my other contract with AT&T is up in a few months... should I get that or wait for the iPhone 5 or the Galaxy S III Superskyrocket HD Ultra Plus Deluxe Edition?

 

So many phones. :lol: Does D4 make me angry...hmm. Not really. I knew it was coming out but also knew it was out of my college kid budget. I like being able to remove the battery as well if I want to get the extended battery pack one of these days, and I'm happy with the phone so far save for a few niggles like the camera software (samsung kicks moto's butt here).

The D4's keyboard looks great, but i've gotten used to the Droid 3's which is no slouch either, save for perhaps being a bit less tactile than the best Android QWERTY's like the Stratosphere/Epic 4G, Merge, and G2.

Besides, IIRC (and correct me per usual! ) even though the D4 has 1 GB of RAM, I thought Motorola had decided to allocate 512 of that to WebTop on devices with the functionality. If so, then I really am not missing out on much performance wise beyond a probably faster processor.

I'd wait to see what MWC in February brings to the table. That's usually when Samsung announces the next generation of Galaxy S handsets.

 

Not really bothered there is a new Skyrocket and the Galaxy Note is coming to AT&T. Nothing to get excited or angry about. Its just the way technology moves. More devices my customers can get frustrated at trying to work.

 

Well, that's one way of looking at it.

Plus since the Note and the Skyrocket HD are basically the same as what you have just with a different screen panel.

 

parislemon • Why I Hate Android

 

It appears the second hand market has responded to this information already. Used Exynos powered Notes on eBay and Craigslist in the U.S. is going for almost the same price as a new unit. I haven't seen any price lower than $650.

 

Thanks for posting the dumbest link I've ever read. Apparently somehow Apple is a champion of the common man and peoples' choice even though they locked their one phone to the same carrier for 4 years.

 

Is anyone interested in creating a sticky similar to The Ever-Growing Free Windows Software List, but for Android (can even have a paid section)? With my new GNex, I'm looking to update my software list I've put down what programs I use currently based on the categories from the above thread, but I'd definitely like to hear if there are better ones to try:

Internet - Opera Mini
Communication - Skype, Viber, Whatsapp, Go SMS Go
Media - Mixzing Basic
System Tools - JuiceDefender, ES File Explorer, WiFi Manager
Productivity - Astrid Tasks, Evernote, Sleep, Wikidroid

 

So the Nexus *is* coming to Sprint... hmm... makes my decision harder.

Having two carriers gives me flexibility but I don't know if I want to carry two Android phones as having one or the other be a Fruit gadget keeps me spying on the "enemy".

I was considering flipping and going with iPhone 5 on Sprint (if it comes out) and a Galaxy SII on AT&T but the Nexus siren is hard to ignore.

At least for now I can try the SII via warranty replacement on Sprint and then in the summer when both my contracts are up I can explore options.

 

I can't create a sticky for that as is. If I did then there would have to be an iphone version and a windows phone version for something like that. That's to much clutter and besides that people don't read stickies. Maybe its about time a cellular subforum was added to OT.

 

Considering this thread is 505 pages and there are quite a bit of threads on phones (even a Windows phone discussion), a subforum would definitely be useful IMO. Hey, they have a Windows and Mac software, nothing wrong with a dedicated Android, iPhone, and Windows phone software thread.

 

They won't do it because of Brighthand - just like they won't re-open the desktop section because of DTR, even though it's dead and there's more demand for a desktop section on NBR than a separate forum.

 

You have my vote for a cellular subforum.

 

S0ny (Not S0ny Ericsson) Unveils the Xperia Ion | xda-developers (Sorry for the 0's, I had to bypass the filters so the link would be undamaged)

Meh, Qualcomm with Adreno 22 0...

It'll struggle on a Motion-blur filled UI on a 720p res... Fortunately it has 1GB RAM and 16GB memory + SD card slot...

 

A "Mobile Devices" subforum would be nice. I'm in for that one! Even though it's likely to get shot down...

 

Yeah your probably right. I forgot about the Brighthand issue. We can still make a cellphone apps thread. I could sticky that and see where it goes.

 

I understand them wanting traffic to go the the "right" place, but if there's demand here I think it should be here. If all of tech target were integrated, that might be a touch different, but as it stands, it's not.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk

 

AnandTech - Intel's Medfield & Atom Z2460 Arrive for Smartphones: It's Finally Here

dont know if this has been post yet. really really cool in my opinion.