mykeyb Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 Tried the voice search on Google Noe today and it worked flawlessly. Much much better than the Voice app on the S2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 I've never seen the point of voice stuff, but I do find Google Voice to be really useful for setting reminders and alarms. I do that a lot. Someone asks me to remember something or to do something and I just say 'remind me to bring this in at 7 tomorrow morning' and it does it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 Voice stuff is absolutely the future. I dont think we are too far away from where it is reliable enough to, well, rely on. Of course there will always be a place for a keyboard but when I can dictate SMS messages and search engine queries every time then I will. I'm starting to do it quite a bit already. In other news, how the **** do you update an S2 over the air? My sister asked me to update here (currently on Gingerbread) earlier and I couldnt figure it out. I checked for updates in the phone settings and it couldnt find any. I cleared all the date information on the phone and tried it again (this worked on my 4.0 > 4.1 update) but still nothing. Bear in mind when I do this I have a small window of time and will almost certainly have a couple of very young kids climbing all over me. I'll be **** if I am going to figure out how to use Kies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted August 5, 2012 Administrator Share Posted August 5, 2012 To do an OTA upgrade of an S2. Go to Settings->About phone/device->Software Update->Updates. If it says their isn't one, and you know there is, you'll have to talk to whoever sold you the broken phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 I'm fairly sure Samsung only push certain updates via OTA. I've used quite a few where there haven't been OTAs available but Kies has an update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted August 5, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted August 5, 2012 I'm really unsure about voice commands. It's one of those things that in a few scenarios is useful, but the first time you use it and it doesn't work/makes a mistake, you never use it again. At this moment in time in particular (and I believe for a while yet, in all honesty), it's just easier and more convenient to use buttons for whatever task you require. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted August 5, 2012 Administrator Share Posted August 5, 2012 I'm fairly sure Samsung only push certain updates via OTA. I've used quite a few where there haven't been OTAs available but Kies has an update. I've never got Kies to work and have owned a variety of Samsung devices. All received multiple updates OTA, but it is possible I missed some. The_rev doesn't say what update he's expecting, but I'm assuming the 2.3 -> 4.0 update; that happened OTA for all the S2 owners I've asked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 I'm really unsure about voice commands. It's one of those things that in a few scenarios is useful, but the first time you use it and it doesn't work/makes a mistake, you never use it again. At this moment in time in particular (and I believe for a while yet, in all honesty), it's just easier and more convenient to use buttons for whatever task you require. Agree totally. Google voice is so far completely useless. But I do believe the future will be voice control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Surely its what they do that counts If they do to the same level then yes. But I tested out the Smart Stay Ex and it doesn't work near as well as the version on the S3. Having features embedded in the OS is far better than installing 3rd party apps. I use the majority of pre installed apps where possible as they are developed specifically for that device. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted August 5, 2012 Administrator Share Posted August 5, 2012 Having features embedded in the OS is far better than installing 3rd party apps. I use the majority of pre installed apps where possible as they are developed specifically for that device. and you you advocate Windows where you can't do anything without installing apps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 I'm fairly sure Samsung only push certain updates via OTA. I've used quite a few where there haven't been OTAs available but Kies has an update. I've never got Kies to work and have owned a variety of Samsung devices. All received multiple updates OTA, but it is possible I missed some. The_rev doesn't say what update he's expecting, but I'm assuming the 2.3 -> 4.0 update; that happened OTA for all the S2 owners I've asked. It's 2.3 > 4.0 It's my sisters phone too. I might only see her once a week/fortnight so whether she has had the prompt in the past, dismissed it because she didnt know what it was and now its gone forever. The phone cant see the update when I look for the update OTA. I doubt my sister cares that much, but its shit like this which gives people ammo to throw at Android. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 You can level that criticism at the Nexus devices as well though. Google should be able to cope with all of a particular model of Nexus phones getting an update at the same time. Apple can manage it with iOS updates so Google certainly should be able to. People shouldn't have to do the clear data from Google Services Framework trick to get an OTA as soon as it's released. I also think they could do better with releasing all updates for their own phones (Nexus) at the same time, so when KLP or whatever it is comes out, the Nexus S, GN, N7 all get it at the same time. There's absolutely no reason why not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Oh, I absolutely agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Surely its what they do that counts Having features embedded in the OS is far better than installing 3rd party apps. So you dont use a third party launcher or messaging client then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Google understand this though and you'd assume they are trying to remedy the update lags for many handsets. That's why they are giving their partners 3 months early access to the next version of Android to try get the updates down to weeks for top handsets rather than 2 to 3 months. Hopefully with more incremental updates now there will be tangible reduction in update waits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Surely its what they do that counts Having features embedded in the OS is far better than installing 3rd party apps. So you dont use a third party launcher or messaging client then. I use a 3rd party launcher. I love Touchwiz messaging client. In fact nova launcher is the only thing I use instead of the Samsung option. Now that the auto pause has returned to the default music player with the recent updates. What I mean is loading up a phone with loads of 3rd party aping apps that are all running at the same time will not be to the same quality as the original features embedded and shipped with the custom skin. The features are not apps, they are embedded into the OS which makes them better. The aping apps are not the same, they feel inferior and I've loaded plenty onto my Nexus to try get it up to the same standard as Touchwiz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 This is where you and I fundamently disagree. I would much rather a pure stripped down OS without added bloatware for me to add the apps I need. In most cases these apps will be of a far higher quality and offer more features than those offered as part of Sense or Touchwiz purely because they need to be to survive on the Play Store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Well I speak from experience in saying the apps that add similar functionality to touchwiz are inferior. I have them installed on my nexus. But I do understand you a bit better when I realised you're talking about S2 touchwiz and not the glorious S3 version which you have not used. Then I can only imagine that the next iteration of touchwiz will be even better. So when combined with the best hardware it's such a simple choice choice in sticking with S phones over nexus versions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 How would I go about checking if there is an update for my S3 please people? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Conor glad you like your S3........ Anybody done any "playing around" with NFC Tags. I might get a cheap pack of ebay and see what can be achieved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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