CVByrne Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 It's only just dawned on me. By grabbing market share with cheap android handsets, and given there is not only huge loyalty to smartphone handset brands, products this will also translate to platform loyalty. When all these kids grow up they will have grown up with Android. Google win. It may take tens of billions of dollars in the end. But victory is invaluable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted July 12, 2012 Administrator Share Posted July 12, 2012 Skype is gone from S3, Samsung has its own rubbish aping version. Had to go SwiftKey I downloaded it from xda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Here's a random list of observations I've had about my new phone: It's big. I actually can't reach the top of my phone with my thumb when I hold it. This is both awesome and also mildy irrtating. My iPhone looks tiny now That is a problem I noticed when I got my Galaxy Nexus. The Nexus S was just about a perfect thumb swipe from the top to bring the notification bar down, and the 4.65" screen is just a big too big to use swiftly in the same way. But.. the advantages of the bigger screen more than make up for it. And you do get used to it. In a way it's sturdier than my iPhone. Sure it's made of plastic, but if I drop this, I'd be confiendt it'll survive, where as the iPhone would just smash, being glass and all. Again this has positives and negatives It's always been a myth that the Galaxy phones are flimsy because they're light. They're light because you want as little weight as possible for it be as practical as possible. But due to them being light, they're actually very hardy, whereas the iPhone 4 is heavy and brittle. See here: My battery has been nailed today. Hopefully it was just down to the factory reset I had to do this morning and then downloading a couple of apps subsequent to that. But I've done little else with it and it's down to 40% and was fully charged at 7am The phone does have to learn the battery charge and discharge rates so it may well get better. I don't think you can expect more than a day out of any smartphone these days. Also a big killer is if in you're in a marginal signal location where it's trying to negotiate 3G all the time. S-Voice basically just doesn't work. But I wouldn't use it anyway so no big deal. Smart stay, as above. Hopefully when JB comes to the S3, they'll leave Google Voice Search in there and not replace it with S-Voice because it's incredible and wipes the floor with Siri. The sheer amount of (at first glance) crap apps (crapps?) that it comes with is annoying The camera is excellent I get the impression that the sheer level of customisation and potential in this phone is mindblowing Personally, in the absence of a fully working 3rd party ICS ROM, I would: Install the ICS Android keyboard from the market. Samsung default keyboard is awful https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=inputmethod.latin.ported Install another launcher such as Nova Launcher and get rid of TouchWiz https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher Just remember that the things you'll find which don't work quite right, or are a bit inconsistent won't be necessarily due to Android, more Samsung's interpretation. ahem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Just a little follow up to the JellyBean stuff I posted a few days ago. Butter is fantastic. Every animation is beautifully smooth, every swipe, every movement is positive, it just makes using it a joy. I've seen iPhones and iPads stutter now and again, but the GN with JB just stays smooth. Google Voice Search is just wow. They've switched on the UK extra actions today and I can't stop speaking to it We had a Voice-off at work today with a Nokia Lumia 800, iPhone 4s and my GN. The Lumia was embarrassing, couldn't do anything. Siri didn't understand or didn't know what to do with half of what we asked it, but the Google Voice Search was nigh on perfect, instant and really useful. Finally, Now is getting more and more useful. Some things are a bit irrelevant, but most of the time it's popping up telling me what time I have to leave my house to be at Football practice 10 miles away because it's in my calendar, and telling me what the traffic is like to get to a pub that I was looking at earlier. These things are seriously useful and I don't care who says it's creepy Overall, JellyBean is the most significant release of Android so far. It pushes the platform way out in front of Apple and fills in so many gaps that it's difficult to level any criticisms at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted July 13, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted July 13, 2012 Also a big killer is if in you're in a marginal signal location where it's trying to negotiate 3G all the time. I think this is my problem. There's not much signal where I work. There's been a problem with the mast(s) here recently. My signal with O2 had dropped right down to nearly nothing (and this was before the big O2 problems this week), so remains to be seen if my lack of signal with T Mobile will be permanent or not. But yeah, that's probably why the battery is going down a bit quick. As long as it lasts a day I'm not too bothered to be honest. Got some work to do to familiarise myself with all this Android stuff. All this talk of launchers and keyboards etc etc I hadn't even thought about. Oh, and Conor, how DO you personalise the lock screen? I can't find anywhere where I can change the shortcuts I have on there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted July 13, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted July 13, 2012 This may have something to do with it as well, as my "Cell Standby" value is extremely high. Looks like it isn't a big deal though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Lots of people use Juice defender which can help with 3G standby issues, or tasker where you could set it to automatically go 2G only when you're in that cell/locality. In all honesty, it's a good job you chose a Samsung. An HTC probably wouldn't last a day with that kind of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted July 13, 2012 Administrator Share Posted July 13, 2012 Oh, and Conor, how DO you personalise the lock screen? I can't find anywhere where I can change the shortcuts I have on there. Settings->Security->Lock screen options->shortcuts (tap the word shortcuts) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Got my S3 today. Stunning piece of equipment. But then again I am coming from the S1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted July 14, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted July 14, 2012 Oh, and Conor, how DO you personalise the lock screen? I can't find anywhere where I can change the shortcuts I have on there. Settings->Security->Lock screen options->shortcuts (tap the word shortcuts) thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 Is it worth the jump from ios Steve? I'm not techy so I don't want to dick about with custom roms etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted July 14, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted July 14, 2012 still haven't done much with it as I've had a busy weekend so far. Also still trying to get over a bit of unfamiliarity issues. but so far I really like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted July 15, 2012 Administrator Share Posted July 15, 2012 Is it worth the jump from ios Steve? I'm not techy so I don't want to dick about with custom roms etc... I am techy and have never run my main phone with a custom ROM. I don't know where you heard you'd need to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted July 15, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted July 15, 2012 I don't even know what a custom ROM is, so safe to say whatever it is, you don't need it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted July 15, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted July 15, 2012 Custom ROMs are pretty awesome to be fair and do hugely improve your phone. Though, if you're happy with the way your phone is then no need to change it. XBMC is coming to Android too!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 Is it worth the jump from ios Steve? I'm not techy so I don't want to dick about with custom roms etc... I am techy and have never run my main phone with a custom ROM. I don't know where you heard you'd need to do that. Just read about them elsewhere with lots of people banging on about how flashing and custom roms are so much better than stock. Tbh it all won't over my head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted July 15, 2012 Administrator Share Posted July 15, 2012 XBMC is coming to Android too!!!! Combine that with this. XBMC on a tiny portable device for under $100. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted July 15, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted July 15, 2012 XBMC is coming to Android too!!!! Combine that with this. XBMC on a tiny portable device for under $100. That does look rather good. I've recently built a HTPC for the main purpose of running XBMC in my lounge. This little device with XBMC running would be extremely good for that purpose. I'm going to try and compile XBMC for android tomorrow, will report back on how good/bad it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted July 15, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted July 15, 2012 Is there a decent app for searching for, downloading and subscribing to podcasts? I've tried a couple but none really seem up to the job. Obviously I can find the podcasts on the net individually, but would be nice to have them all in the same place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted July 15, 2012 Share Posted July 15, 2012 I use Doggcatcher. 'Tis excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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