All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion

3 days?! Wow. I think you're getting normal battery life now... lmao. Really 3 days?

 

Yes Why? Was it lower, in general?

In fact, that was the reason I was worrying a bit about the battery now (with the ICS upgrade), since it was lower than before, with the same settings/usage.

Btw, I saw the Samsung Genuine Extended Battery Kit and it is the real deal.. there are quiet a few on EBay as well as in other places... Guess its for real! Samsung did release an extended battery, it seems.

I want to check here in Helsinki (there are quiet a few top electronics store) and see if they have them..

 

3 days of use out of a 1650mAh battery is quite frankly astonishing. The RAZR MAXX has a 3300mAh battery and it lasts about that long, with weaker hardware than the GS2's Exynos.

Whatever you were doing, or whatever unicorn blood you harvested to get that kind of battery life, is something I'd pay dearly for. My phones usually don't last though a day. The Captivate gets a hare better with each OS update, and it's just now gotten to over a day. My Atrix can get 3 days of battery life though............ if I remove the SIM and don't touch it until it says "plug me in".

 

It's really neat in a slightly-pointless, nerdy way.


My Nexus is at 57% remaining and it's been 60-and-a-bit hours since it was last charged.
I haven't been using it a colossal amount, though that does include an hour of screen-on time, which isn't bad given that most people get ~4 hours screen-on time and their battery is dead in 12 hours...

 

Man, and I feel like I can drain my Captivate battery in a matter of hours browsing the web on my phone sitting on the couch while my wife watches chick flicks.

 

Quick question, On my stock ROM, I had office or what ever the productivity app was. Now that I am on ICS, I don't have it, and need it for some of the email files I deal with. Do I need to pay the $15 to get it from the market? If I need to, I don't mind, as for my use it'll be worth it, Just wonder. Thanks guys!

Also, How would I go about viewing folders that I've downloaded to? I remember being able to do soon and see the directories on froyo. Not sure how to on ICS. Been poking around.

 

Try Documents To Go, it isnt that expensive. And check for alternatives, I'm sure there are free ones.

For viewing folders you need a file viewer. Astro is a popular one, I've been using OI File Manager. Just check for them in the market.

 

I've had luck using kingsoft office. it's free in the market.

 

I may can pull the package from a Samsung ROM for you... I'll see if it's possible.

 

That would be awesome if you can.

 

I've been on ICS for about 8 hours now....some thoughts:

Not enjoying the fact that long press has been deprecated...what would normally take only a few seconds to do is now a multi step affair. (EX: deleting a contact, seeing options for individual numbers in the call log)

There doesn't seem to be a way to "only show contacts with phone numbers" in the Contacts app. Again, feature removal. Also, even though Facebook is installed and is synced, contact images aren't filled. Annoying.

When music is playing, I no longer see a clock on the lock screen. I'll have to check the settings in the music app as it's a CM9 ROM.

The ever present "search bar" in the launcher was annoying, it was the first thing I disabled in Trebuchet. Overall, space appears to be used rather inefficiently. There's less space for widgets and icons because the "Remove/Uninstall" long press action takes up space that could be used. So even with the bar gone, there's an expanse of space. Wonderful. /sarcasm

The new multitasking UI is indeed slower to display than gingerbread's. It is pretty though.

I will say that the UI is smooth and responsive overall, and there's some nice touches throughout the OS, but I feel like it's not the huge sea change that the press seems to make it out to be.

I know I can change some of those things like the launcher, but I was trying to give my thoughts without messing with the stock setup too much.

 

On a side note, do you know how to get a screenshot? I have tried different combinations of keys, as seen on the web, but nothing works.. Please let me know if you know..

@HAL9000

Regarding the battery: I checked again, and 100% to 21% took 1 day, 9 hours, 50 m, 39s - and the usage was as follows:
WiFi continuously turned on ~ 8 hours
Phone calls ~ 45 mins
Couple of text msgs
Playing Wordfeud almost all the time
Google services in sync ~10 hours
messing around with the settings like wallpaper, etc for a while
Push notifications and all, enabled always
Browsing ~ 4.5 hours
Music ~ 5 hours

Not bad isn't it? I guess it's normal?

 

Weren't Samsung supposed to be holding a PR event today?

 

I'm still working on that... been really super busy today.

@booboo... you don't get this on your lock screen?

Spoiler

As for the sea of change, it would have to be because you're still using Motorola's kernel. There's a VERY big difference in using their kernel and using a source built community kernel... HUGE. The Atrix is like night and day with a custom kernel.

@FoundueKid... Samsung has striped that feature out... it should be Vol- + Power. Note though, that you have to press them pretty much simultaneously, then wait a sec. You should hear a camera shutter.

 

I do have that lock screen, but I'm used to having a large clock always present on the lockscreen when music is playing,

Sent from my XT862 using Tapatalk

 

Yes, now I got it Thanks a lot once again.. (though I don't hear the camera shutter - because I have it on silent mode?) Not a big deal though.. at least now I get the screenshot working

 

Vol - + Power got me to a Kernel Forced Upload mode...

 

Which makes me wonder, if these shortcut buttons are specific to the OS or the smartphone models / manufacturers?? How does it work? Isnt there a common universal button combination for certain functions?

 

They're universal to the OS and the Model. We both have ICS and we both have GT-I9100 model. Maybe I just pressed wrong or something, because I was very confus and surprised when that weird screen came onto me!

But I still don't have screenshots... I'll go with CM9 as soon as they fix video recording. Can't wait for CM9...

 

Yeah, probably. (Volume -) + power, gives me a screenshot, fine and well...

Anyway.

 

Just flashed XXLPQ and Vertumus' ICS theme : just like CM9

 

I disagree with this statement. While the core experience is very similar to old versions, in that it has a notification bar, widgets, app drawer etc-- there is not one piece of the UI that has not been re-created and re-worked to be more cohesive. Google touched literally every single part of the OS, and made it consistent. Android did not need a revamp of the UI like iOS does. It just needed a consistent and smooth feel.

Not only that, but all of the core-apps were reworked, menus are now contextual within the app and no longer reliant on the menu key, swiping across screens within apps is now supported across all the core apps etc. ICS is a massive, massive update, the only way it could have gone further is if they completely rethought the core of Android, which wouldnt make sense.

 

Behind the scenes they practically did. The whole UI rendering model was trashed and a new one was designed... that's where that fluidity comes from. Hardware accelerated UI is a beautiful thing...

Also, driver models completely changed...

 

Definitely agree here, what I meant was the core Android UI experience (app drawer, notification bar, homescreen with widgets etc ). But I do agree with you, and appreciate that you always come in with the technical details to support my broad sweeping claims

 

I think the only thing holding them back there was that it had to have some resemblance to the older UI, since some phones were going straight from GB to ICS.

I think as Android's UI matures, GB will look arcane in comparison. I'll give it 2-3 more revisions, since holo is already so deeply ingrained.

 

I agree. It is pretty amazing how quickly Android is maturing, and I can't wait to see what it looks like post key lime pie ... lol

 

Indeed. I think you won't be able to tell it was Android if you place it side by side with GB. The notification bar, while super useful, could still use some major work. It was Android's notification bar that everyone copied, now Google needs to make it their own again. That'll be a MAJOR design shift... and I see it coming.

 

Well, I've been using XXLPQ for the past hours (And HAL, that panick kinda IM was because I got into a bootloop with no recovery mode for the 4th time ), so I can say this :

1. Touch response has been very improved from XXLPB, no more lag at all (with the *#0*# test)
2. Phone boots faster than XXLPB, and around 2x faster than Gingerbread, aswell as it shut downs much quicker
3. No FC's until now (had TWLauncher FC on XXLPB. Lots of them)
4. Sound seems to have been improved
5. Screen mode "Dynamic" now works without washing out the colors of the screen and making text blurry
6. Scrolling much, much better, aswell as Internet Browsng
7. Chrome works much better now, with only some rendering issues
8. Swiping Call or Message over a Contact is now fully flawless (was jaggy before)
9. There is no more lag on the multi task part (swiping programs doesn't lag anymore)
10. RAM management has again improved
11. Deep Sleep works
12. "Can't install to SD Card" bug has been fixed (currently uing CF Root v5.4 kernel)
13. I can change lock screen and home screen without crashing
14. Back and Menu buttons are super quick

I'll test LP7 as soon as it releases in a XXLP7 (OXXLP7/OXALP7/XEULP7/XEOLP7 CSC) form, because I don't want an Indonesian ROM atm

 

Oh, that's a GOOD one! I wonder how Android would look with those... I need to do a 'shop job.

 

True, perhaps I should look at it as more of a transitionary product: It'll provide people a less jarring change as Google's design ID evolves.

I do like the swiping across screens (although Windows Mobile 6.x has that ) and other features like the slide to dismiss notifications. I also appreciate the smoothness of the UI experience.

The phone appears to perform better given the same system resources that it's always had: I use a Reddit app called BaconReader. On Gingerbread and in a Reddit post reading the comments, when i'd switch away from the app to do something else, about 60% of the time i'd end up having to wait for the comments to load again and I'd end up back at the top of the page.

On ICS, the phone's remembered right where I left off with no issue, the app's up instantly as well when i switch back.

I'm just a little bummed that features that made a big difference were removed or deprecated. The "only show phone numbers" was useful since I have Google contacts that don't have phone numbers. Proper Facebook sync was nice because it ensured that most of the contacts had photos: The added emphasis on contact photos throughout ICS makes this omission even more annoying.

I also think that there needs to be even more consistency...why can i long press in some places like messaging, yet can't at all anymore in the dialer or contacts app?

Finally, I wish that their out of the box widget selection was more compelling. The clock widget has always been consistently disappointing. (at least give me a digital clock option Google)

I like the notification bar, just curious, what would you like to see them do for Jelly Bean?

 

What are Samsung up to?
The wait for whatever their next flagship handset will be is infuriating.

 

This'll be a nice treat for you Step :

BREAKING: I present to you the Galaxy S3 ! | SamMobile

 

Thanks but I've seen that picture already.

If that's the final design, I have to say I'm a little disappointed.
It's not terrible but it's no looker either.

 

The notification bar was one thing Android got right from the beginning, but of course, there's always room for improvement.

Apple, having copied Android, added in their own tweak in that the notifications were categorized. Now, if Google really wanted to, I'm sure they could copy that. But I personally don't see too much of a point. I think that categorizing the notifications would take up more space, and add very little functionality- never have I had so many notifications that I felt the need to categorize them. In fact, I'm not sure if anyone noticed, but Ice Cream Sandwich actually removed categorization that was present in previous version of Android. Whereas Android used to separate and label Ongoing processes (such as eBuddy messenger, Advanced Task Killer, or the GTA III return to game prompt) and normal Notifications. Now, Ongoing processes simply show up on top, and normal notifications show up below any ongoing processes.

As for me personally, I see a few tweaks that could improve the notification panel.

1. Prioritized Notifications
-More important notifications appear on top of the list (sort of like the new Gmail Important label). Also, allow the user to decide what shows up on top, and in what order (and where) Ongoing notifications are shown.

2. Stackable, expandable, or multiple notifications for one program
-Let's say you get a new Gmail message. You ignore. Then you get another Gmail message. Currently, what would happen is that Gmail notification would change from having a message preview, to showing "2 unread messages." Not exactly helpful, since you can't preview anything, so you're practically forced to go into the app. Allow either to expand previews for multiple notifications of the same type in the notification bar, have them show up as individual notifications, or have them stack on top of each other, revealing the next preview as the one above is dismissed via swiping (like webOS).

3. Quick toggles or other small notification widgets
-AOKP, CM, and many other ROMs has had this forever, as well as TouchWiz. Care must be taken however, to prevent cluttering of the notification panel.

 

The S and SII aren't all that great looking either. IMO the Nexus is where it's at.

 

Yeah, ICS is a whole 'nother world from GB. In a good way from every angle. Google and Manufacturers just needs to get their act together to push the updates out faster and to more phones.

I've seen firsthand many people who are running Eclair and Froyo and have a bad experience with Android. Both performance and looks. They remember *that* as "Android" and want an iPhone The common person doesnt know there are major differences between versions, and you cant judge Android as a whole by using an LG Optimus running Eclair Both Google and manufacturers need to push out updates faster to keep people happy. When Apple releases a new iOS, it's available to all iPhones. Google needs to get closer to that.

 

The Captivate is still my favorite Samsung design. Sleek, unique, and with the metal battery door... It has a true premium feel to it. As far as any other Samsung design, it stands alone.

@Booboo... I'm on my Playbook ATM, but I'm working on some mock designs of what I think could be done with notifications...

 

Force 2D GPU Rendering/Hardware Acceleration , yay or nay?

 

Some say it breaks some apps, but I've yet to come across one like that yet. I enable it.

On a sidenote, if any of you guys use Twitter and have ICS... give Boid a go. Best Twitter app I've seen that has a cohesive look and feel and still functions perfectly.

 

Im going to give the Nod to the Omnia 7 for best samsung hardware design

 

Definitely yay. Doesn't drain the battery a lot, and it does increase framerate and performance becomes flawless

 

Yay, if this is the design, I consider this very sexy

Alleged Samsung Employee Allegedly Leaks Photo Of The Galaxy S III - The Plot Thickens

 

It's impossible to say whether that;s nice or not from one blurry photo of one face of the handset.
But my initial impression isn't hugely positive.

Samsung need to branch out, design something that stands out and use that as the basis for their future designs.
A bit like, God help me for saying this, Nokia have done.

 

Enable it, and if none of your apps break, keep it.

Broke 2 apps for me, a bus schedule app, and the SlickDeals.net app. Seems to be list based apps that break.

 

Ahh.. ok. See, I also disable scrolling caches.

 

Those are great ideas. I didn't notice the loss of categories in the shade at all and it would be nice to have someway of seeing what was ongoing vs. Temporary at a glance.
The quick toggles would be great too.

I'll have to nominate the Samsung Strat... oh wait.

The Omnia 7 is a nice design, the Note's not bad either.

Hah, no problem. :thumbup:

 

I want that in an article, 9 am on my desk tomorrow.


I kid I kid. But we (looking at the other two as well) put together an article just based on this conversation.

 

Every Samsung handset since the i8510 has been a disappointment - the i8910 in particular.

And there's one particular reason why they've all been disappointments:

(Click to embiggen)​

 

Maybe I'm missing something... what am I supposed to be looking at? If you're talking about the battery cover latch, my Captivate is just like it and I think it's a brilliant design.

LOL.

It is, I agree. The Omnia 7 is a beautifully designed device. It's a strong, premium design that still oozes class. It's still my absolute favorite WP7 device. If only it had MSM8255 or later...

Aye...



Really though, it WOULD make a good article wouldn't it?!