[Q] Is Captivate/Android Experience for Me? - Captivate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

All,
I am new here and to SmartPhones. I like Captivate because it has low radiation.
I am impressed with the activities I see here and on CyanogenMod. However, these give me cause for concern regarding the energy level required to accomplish them. Linux is good but I am returning to graduate school in the fall so I am concerned regarding the requirement of these phones and OS's. I would appreciate it if some of you could explain why so much work occurs with Android. Is much of this activity born out of the decision of carriers to control OS releases to specific phones? I see this as a major factor presently.
With that said, it does appear Samsung blew it with regard to v2.2 and the Galaxy S phones. I am nearly embarrassed to inform you that I own two Samsung LCD monitors after learning of this negative experience.
Clearly, I void the warranty if I embrace the activities here but this just rationalizes the choice of a refurbished phone!
Please attempt to characterize the time requirement for becoming involved with these Samsung Galaxy phones and Android. I know I am not the type of person to be interested in continually working with my phone to make it better. However, I also know my limited perspective can be biasing reality with this OS and these SmartPhones unnecessarily negative.
Oddly, my wife is considering the Focus because it would give her the MS support she needs with work. Regardless, it does appear we have found a few excellent Internet resources for these choices...I just want to ensure I am not getting in over my head.
Thanks,
Rick

by radiation I assume you mean the head tumors

RAVC1 said:
All,
I am new here and to SmartPhones. I like Captivate because it has low radiation.
I am impressed with the activities I see here and on CyanogenMod. However, these give me cause for concern regarding the energy level required to accomplish them. Linux is good but I am returning to graduate school in the fall so I am concerned regarding the requirement of these phones and OS's. I would appreciate it if some of you could explain why so much work occurs with Android. Is much of this activity born out of the decision of carriers to control OS releases to specific phones? I see this as a major factor presently.
With that said, it does appear Samsung blew it with regard to v2.2 and the Galaxy S phones. I am nearly embarrassed to inform you that I own two Samsung LCD monitors after learning of this negative experience.
Clearly, I void the warranty if I embrace the activities here but this just rationalizes the choice of a refurbished phone!
Please attempt to characterize the time requirement for becoming involved with these Samsung Galaxy phones and Android. I know I am not the type of person to be interested in continually working with my phone to make it better. However, I also know my limited perspective can be biasing reality with this OS and these SmartPhones unnecessarily negative.
Oddly, my wife is considering the Focus because it would give her the MS support she needs with work. Regardless, it does appear we have found a few excellent Internet resources for these choices...I just want to ensure I am not getting in over my head.
Thanks,
Rick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Rick,
To answer your question - why so much work occurs with Android, I would like to take the liberty of rephrasing the question - why so much work occurs with Android phones? There isnt one correct answer for this.
You are correct in saying that carriers and service providers like to cripple the phone before they hand it over to the consumer. So when you buy the phone you really are not using these wonderful pieces of technology to their fullest extent. Thanks to our developers here at XDA because of whom we can in reality free the phones that we paid much moolah for, so that we maybe able to use all of the fones features that have been designed to work in conjunction with the wonderful Android OS.
Secondly, the reason why so much work goes into the phones and development to improve the functionality of the phone is because that is what Android has been designed for. Consumer can customize the phone to their liking and does not have to get stuck with the proprietary, grid like systems like the ones iphone has. Phone manufacturers, and not just Samsung, obviously design the phones software in such a way so that there is always room for improvement. They bet their dollar on the fact that an average consumer will eventually buy a newer product when its released and marketed in the future. There is always something lacking in the product that is in the market right now and that is where all this work comes into play.
Now, whether you shud buy a samsung captivate or not and what the time requirement is, is totally dependent on what you want to use the phone for and what kind of functionality you would like to get out of it.
From what you said that ur not a person who wud like to spend a lot of time modifying or playing around with your phone, you wud still like the captivate. Samsung Captivate is a very nice phone overall. Its got almost everything that you cud want in a phone. In regards to apps included with the phone, you've got a decent selection along with loads of bloatware.... If there is anything missing you can easily find it on the android market.
If you're expecting that your GPS would work right out of the box, then the answer is, maybe - maybe not. and its not android's fault, its a samsung issue. There are multiple fixes for the GPS that you can find on the forum, that being said, if you plan on utilizing those fixes, like you said not only will you void your warranty but you alone will be venturing into that experiment on your phone and dev will not be responsible for any damage that may or may not happen to your phone. But then again no guts, no glory.
So all in all, if you do end up getting the captivate, i dont think you'll be utterly disappointed, but at the same time i dont think you'll be able to sit back either when you see all these new developments posted here.
Hopefully i helped you a little and if i said too much then i apologize.
I welcome any senior member of the forum to correct me if im wrong and/or make any additions to what ive said above..
happy forumming....

My brother has a Samsung focus. It's buggy as hell, completely counter intuitive, and incomplete. Theres also no apps at all. He has like 3 different crappy youtube apps and sound boards.
And there's no CM7 to one day fix it.
Sent from my Captivate.

anandsamuel,
An excellent response; truly what I was looking for to understand the issues involved regarding Android and SmartPhones. You did not say too much.
I guess I need to start reading so I understand how to root a Captivate!
Rick

Also, that font is irritating to read.

RAVC1 said:
All,
I am new here and to SmartPhones. I like Captivate because it has low radiation.
I am impressed with the activities I see here and on CyanogenMod. However, these give me cause for concern regarding the energy level required to accomplish them. Linux is good but I am returning to graduate school in the fall so I am concerned regarding the requirement of these phones and OS's. I would appreciate it if some of you could explain why so much work occurs with Android. Is much of this activity born out of the decision of carriers to control OS releases to specific phones? I see this as a major factor presently.
With that said, it does appear Samsung blew it with regard to v2.2 and the Galaxy S phones. I am nearly embarrassed to inform you that I own two Samsung LCD monitors after learning of this negative experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok lets slow you down there. first android is linux BASED not linux. there is no need to worry about OS/ device compatibility. the most interaction between the phone and PC are just file copying like through a usb thumb drive.
the next part regarding carriers/updates/samsung. you answered yourself, kinda, and backwards. Samsung didnt blow it.
Google android updates as much as any software does - to make things better.
they release to manufacturers so they can make it work with their hardware.
Samsung released on time, BUT TO THE CARRIERS.
the carriers then take what samsung gave them and add their carrier specific settings (APN ect) and applications (bloatware).
ATT blew the update timeline.
Sometimes manufacturers release their finished product as "source code" untouched by carriers.
the long process is necessary in each step to (attempt) to make a perfect software package that will work with each phone/carrier out of the box for the end user. so it is unfair to say "born out of the decision of carriers to control OS releases to specific phones"
XDA works off of source codes and carrier releases to make our custom updates.
Clearly, I void the warranty if I embrace the activities here but this just rationalizes the choice of a refurbished phone!
Please attempt to characterize the time requirement for becoming involved with these Samsung Galaxy phones and Android. I know I am not the type of person to be interested in continually working with my phone to make it better. However, I also know my limited perspective can be biasing reality with this OS and these SmartPhones unnecessarily negative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there are ways to return your phone without them knowing what you did. dont worry too much about your "voided" warranty.
before i felt comfortable flashing I took about 3 days reading my A$$ off! and currently im off on workers comp. so that was 3 FULL days. even then i had issues and mistakes and my phone was out of service a few nights! but that is part of the fun.
you do not need to be the type of person to constantly update your phone to buy it. tens of thousands of people have this phone on stock firmware and it fully works. the extra effort and time that we here at XDA and cyanogenMOD do is more out of fun, and customization. Many would argue function as well, as we do sometimes fix things *better* than google/samsung/carriers. but things willl *usually* still function on stock even if on a basic level.
you only need to put in as much as you want to get out of it
so timeline,
flashing custom roms/themes PROPERLY - under a week
cutting and pasting roms frankenROMS - under a month or 2
creating - vast back knowlege of programming, ect YEAR(S)
regarding wanting to update often, not every update on XDA to your rom is necessary unles it fixes something you didnt have.
Each Android/Carrier update, would be recomended (or the XDA counterpart) as each new android version (not rom) contains the most updates/fixes. so if you were running a 2.2 (custom or stock) rom it WOULD be worth upgrading to 2.3 when available (custom or stock). but you dont NEED to update your custom rom every couple weeks when they put out their minor update on the same base rom (2.2 for eg.)
Oddly, my wife is considering the Focus because it would give her the MS support she needs with work. Regardless, it does appear we have found a few excellent Internet resources for these choices...I just want to ensure I am not getting in over my head.
Thanks,
Rick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no comment. best regards

Trusselo,
Excellent, thoughtful response; it helped characterize this activity further for me. My concern is now recognized (and conveyed to others...) as not wanting to be required to become a developer to make my involvement with a SmartPhone constructive. Samsung, Android, XDA looks very good to me. As you mentioned, my reading has begun.
Yes, something is not right with my traditional Comic Sans Serif font here; it seems to compress it horizontally, but my aging eyes typically need this font.

Related

Nexus Regrets?

I just read two similar postings to this, but I felt like I needed to give my opinions anyways. It's not exactly the same anyways.
Nexus One was Google's grand experiment. Some have considered it a failure due to sales numbers, some a success due to lack of marketing, some have lots to say about changing distribution channels, and the plusses and negatives.
But we are the test subjects here. And I'll tell you, coming from WinMo and a TP2, I was at first surprised and happy with my decision to impulse buy an experiment on a new OS. Speed, just-worksness, etc. My only negative was missing Sense. And then Modaco ported the Desire ROM, which I have to say isn't perfect but is 10x more stable than my old TP2 roms. I loved my phone.
However... being a test subject has worn on me. One: the first loved then panned screen, which I've heard everything from inferior coloring to last generation hardware on multitouch, none of which has bothered me, to the infuriating reception, which I have definitely been party to. Worst of all is the world class hardware HTC made to match the Iphone's style... matches it's weakness. I'm on my third N1. One broken digitizer, one broken LCD. Third one no problems so far. The LCD ridiculously while in my pocket.
And finally, the development community. One guy posted about the lack of comparitive stuff he could add from rooting. Any smartphone can add tethering. Porting Sense completed the phone for me, as I missed my smart dialing and weather clock. He got flamed for being demanding of devs, which I can understand on a dev community board... but I agree. The N1 was supposed to be the XDA's dream phone. Fastest updates, superior hardware... you could do anything with this phone. So we have a modified stock rom with additional features and RAM, Apps2SD, and ported Sense. Modaco is off for two weeks, and actually was hammering releases out daily for a while. But on my inferior TP2 they ported HD2 Roms, non HTC Roms, every new feature on any winmo phone... xda did that. They ported Android and convinced me to buy the n1! I am in no way complain about devs. Especially Cyanogen, Modaco, and that guy who has ported both Motoblur and Espresso and is now working on X10 Rom. I patiently await what they do. But all in all, developer response to N1 has been slow coming it would seem.
So to end my giant book post: how do you feel as an n1 user about your experience? The first legit google experience? I am not won over like an iphone fanboy. I am very dissappointed in customer service, and some hardware stuff. But overall I'm happy I made the Android jump. My only conclusion is that my next phone will not be from google dot come slash phone. It will be carrier branded. Rooting means I'll get updates fast anyways, and sales will be so much higher I expect that development will be more active. How do you all feel?
What exactly do you want to be developed? Do you want us Android users to port the lackluster Windows Mobile over to our devices? Is this what you expect?
MOTO Blur can't be correctly ported because of key mapping, and even so the resolution would be off without any current Android devices having MOTO Blur on a big screen, same goes for Espresso. X10 is in the making, as it also has button matching issues. Which are now being figured out.
You seem to be an intelligent person, someone who is smart enough to notice that this phone has been out for less that 4 months - which obviously means there is much to be left discovered. Your post, and this thread, are both pathetic. You act as if developing takes a small flick of the wrist, and as if the developers are not actually "trying" or pushing out more things that tickle your fancy fast enough - exactly what are you expecting? Also, please note that Windows has the ability to boot both Linux and itself, which im sure is a little relevant.
Why don't you wait a little while and see how things play out before making these little rant threads that are not needed..
What else do u want to do that hasn't been done or worked on?
Sent from my Nexus One using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
I love my Nexus one.
If you buy a phone for what MIGHT come, you've bought the wrong phone.
[QUOTE=trevorwhopkins;6187241 I am very dissappointed in customer service, and some hardware stuffl?[/QUOTE
You had to know you'd be flamed for your thoughts (although all valid opinions), but I can't see how you point out customer service as an issue when you're on your third (I assume free replacement) N1.
Regarding the community and development: I think this time around the community and devs knew what was needed based on prior android custom roms. Things like tethering, multitouch, rotating homescreen, launncher with an extra column, A2SD etc. were all released within a very reasonable timeframe. Then there were things like custom notification colors which didn't take much time to come out, either.
The phone is not perfect, and 99% of my frustrations seem to he simply a design flaw (aka hardware issue) where the normal/comfortable position to hold it creates a false/unintended pressz of the touchscreen resulting in random presses - which many blame software on while never realizing they simply need to adjust how they hold the phone. I learned to adjust, which I think everyone has to do for every phone (learn its quirks and adjust accordingly).
Disappointed? Not at all...overpriced? Maybe...glad I'm still the only one I know who has it? Hell yeah!
Fair post but good luck suggesting to many people at xda that their phone isn't the be-all end-all of mobile device development, its like telling a parent their kid is ugly, there's no reason or objectivity involved so youll be made to look soulless. : )
I personally couldn't care less about xda participation. However I am a little disappointed every time a new bug comes up and it turns out its regarding outdated hardware, in that department I did expect a little more. It's disappointing that we have an old screen and what not, surely Google didn't think users wouldn't discover and discuss the copious problems with the phone...
And I do feel like a beta tester. It does feel like the phone was rushed to the public. But this software is still awesome and ultimately we do have some solid hardware to work with and if Google wants to they can make this phone as stable and pleasurable as they advertised it to be. I am so incredibly curious to know what android has been doing lately, the folks there are historically bad at keeping secrets (thankfully) so they have either tightened security or they have been staring at the wall. I'm guessing the former and I can't wait. For a while after the bugs and shortcomings for this phone began to mount I turned my attention to the iPhone, lucky for android the iPhone OS 4.0 is not impressive. As long as the hardware isn't either, android can string me along for a good while.
I really don't know what to think. Google is making no effort to advertise the phone (for good reason at this point), and they are silent to all of the problems that have come up. I'm starting to think Google wishes the nexus would go away so they could try again...
about nexous one
Let me tell you after owning every phone out there the nexous one is the best and fastest phone i have ever owned period
8525
curve
tour
storm 1
storm 2 both on tmobile
g1
mytouch 3g
iphone 3g
iphone 3gs
HD2
after owning all of those phone i will never go back i love my n1
Look at the g1 its the first android phone and there is hella roms for it just wait and there will be more roms and google will give out more updated witch will make the phone better and better
If you like sinse just get the HD2
YAWN...
You didn't add anything new to what was posted before. It's just a bunch of empty thoughts.
What is it that you want????
As I said before, we have the most up-to-date version of Android already, we can't anything new if we don't fully understand the changes.
This is just about as open a platform as we will ever see, learn to fix/add what you want.
Here is what I ask? At the time the Nexus came out, what phone was better? Iphone... uhm no. Touchpro2... not a chance. Moto Droid? Inferior hardware. The bottom line is, even with a few problems the Nexus has, it is still a top 5 phone, if not the best phone there is. I can honestly say, for T-Mobile, there is not a single phone offered that I would rather have. I can think of ONE other phone I'd consider getting outside T-Mobile and thats a phone that isn't out yet (Evo 4g). Come on man, do you want the phone to mow your lawn for you? It's an incredible device.
Oh and judging the quality of a phone based on sales figures is retarded. I don't care if it only sold one phone, if its a great phone its a great phone.
evilkorn said:
What is it that you want????
As I said before, we have the most up-to-date version of Android already, we can't anything new if we don't fully understand the changes.
This is just about as open a platform as we will ever see, learn to fix/add what you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you. Unlike the G1, we aren't trying to backport 2.1 features or build ROMs with as many things working in 2.1 as we can.
People like Sense, good for them. Personally, I don't care for it in the least. I like a few of the visuals of the status bar from it, which is why I kanged them, but I don't really care at all for the rest of it.
I'm running stock right know.. you know why? Because 2.1 is already the best Android experience! Like Eclair said, I don't get what you want right now.. Yes, the G1 and Magic have alot more ROMS out there but most of them are just 2.1 port attempts! They're trying to get what we already have on our phones. Just to further echo some common sentiments, the phone has only been out for a few months whereas the G1 has been out for a year and a half.. Don't worry, the development will come.. You should feel assured in the fact that many of the top G1/Magic devs switched over to the N1, it was one of the reasons I chose the Nexus over waiting for phones like the Desire.
All that said, I definitely am disappointed with a few things: The various hardware issues that have been popping up amongst different users (I personally have the purple tint issue), and the lagginess of the homescreen swiping. While the 2.1 is very fast in terms of app to app switching or web browsing, it lacks the polish that I hoped 2.1 would have (ie. like the iPhone). Yea, I know things like smooth scrolling on the iPhone are just eye candy, but it matters. It's what appeals to the masses.
An example, I have a non-techie friend who has played around with my Magic before (The Magic was running CursorSense). When he first played around with the N1 his first response was "How come this phone is slower than your Magic, I thought you payed $600 for it?".. He was referring to the scrolling. Of course after I showed him a few neat things (live walls, 3d launcher and gallery etc) he changed his mind but the point remains, the N1 doesn't leave the best first impression.
Overall I am happy with it although I feel it is definitely over priced. But the hardware is built for the future so I'm know that the software updates and future xda development will make it an investment that was worth taking!
Obviously the marketing (lack of) cant have helped sales. Putting it out first on Tmo was a mistake because it severly limited its market even among those who knew about it due to the lack of coverage. I think a traditional carrier launch on either AT&T or Verizon would have moved a lot of handsets. I think Google isnt stupid and they knew these things going in so they had their reasons.
Im not getting the slow development complaints. Its been 4 months. None of the other devices I had saw development that was faster in their intial months of release. At least not as I could notice, I freely admit I wasnt counting roms/apps and logging them in a database.
Personally I dont feel qualified to comment in great detail on a phone I picked up yesterday but I can say I dont regret it at all now that I have hardware in hand. It pretty much rocks as is and I for one am confident that good things are coming and its going to get better.
I will be returning my Nexus One to HTC for repair/replacement due to a faulty power button.
My only real gripe with the phone itself is that the power button is used to sleep & wake the device by default. There is no single button more important than the power button, imho, and it was a poor choice for HTC to design it so.
I take that back, the other huge gripe I have about the phone is HTC's decision to embed the radio antenna at the base of the phone where it is covered by the meaty part of the hand while holding the phone to your ear. Maybe they just assumed everyone would use the headset or bluetooth, but I don't. It is annoying to see it drop a bar of signal because I'm holding the phone naturally in the palm of my hand.
Once I get my replacement phone, I will not be unlocking or rooting it. I will be keeping it intact (and possibly sealed) until this summer, when I can see the next gen iPhone in action, and possibly as late as November, as Windows Phone 7 is already shaping up to be pretty slick.
Here are the things I want in my phone:
1. Just works. Most important thing. Dialer, Contacts, Bluetooth, etc. These things should just be a flick of the finger away.
2. Feature-rich. Integrated search, multi-touch browsing and maps, GPS nav, Native Internet Tethering (bugs the **** out of me that Android doesn't offer this OOB still).
3. Business AND pleasure - don't make me choose between personal email and contacts and enterprise features. HTC has saved Google's ass on this one with their amazing Sense framework from the Desire ROM. Exchange with ActiveSync is a MUST. Also where's the love for Blackberry mail server?? I guess Android is not for law firms? /shrug
4. When something says "Full web browsing", if it doesn't include Flash, HTML5, or Silverlight support, that's false advertising.
Other stuff:
I'm starting to write my apps for Windows Phone 7 SDK, I have been writing apps for the iPhone OS (now looking at iPhone OS 4 beta SDK), and I have written a few for Android.
The Windows Phone 7 SDK using Visual Studio 2010 is bread and butter for me -- its perfect. Working with Xcode on the iPhone SDK always felt clunky, and inefficient. Working with Eclipse on the Android SDK has come a *long* way since I started two years ago, and is much easier now than then.
But VS 2010 makes writing apps for WinPhone7 dead simple. I've already ported across my apps from the iPhone and Android platforms without any 3rd party cross-compilers, and it took a very short period of time.
These days it is the ecosystem that drives the market for handheld devices. iTunes made iPod what it is. The iPhone App store with 180,000+ apps made the iPhone platform what it is (we all know it certainly was nice hardware when it was released, but is definitely dated now). The Android Market has been a blessing and a curse for Android. Many solid apps, but no unified Android platform to develop for (to be addressed in Froyo -- or so they say). No single set of hardware to develop for. It's literally like shooting at a moving target. And developing with open source tools is fun for a while, but gets tiresome when there is so much more effort involved in some of the simplest things.
So that's basically where I am personally at. I love my N1. I will be getting it replaced due to hardware failure. I may not use the replacement, and may sell it instead to finance a Windows Phone 7, or possibly (but not likely) an iPhone over the course of the summer.
And before anyone calls me a hater on any grounds: I have used WinMo in the past, I am using Android now, I have good friends who use iPhones and I hold nothing against them for that. I develop my code on a Windows 7 machine, and I am typing this message on my Mac, which boots Win7, OSX, and Ubuntu.
Lastly, I will say this. There is a sad saying in business that "good enough beats best." This means that despite the technology or ability out there to produce unquestionably excellent goods and services, those which are "good enough" and produce a higher profit margin will win. We will likely always feel like we are being forced to accept mediocrity, but fortunately, the devices we have today will still be outshined, outclassed, and outdone by nearly everything to come in the future.
I would say the negative responses I got here are unappreciated and pointless, but then again they were expected and matter as much as my opinion does.
As for customer service... no. I didn't get anything free. My first n1's lcd broke inside my pocket in a restauraunt. The glass and case was perfect. There were tiny cracks in the lcd. I didn't drop it or anything. I really liked the phone, so I bought another. Google and HTC both gave me a runaround about covering it. Twenty minutes into a conversation, 3 steps up the corporate ladder, and and they finally said send it in, charge 500 dollars, and if your lucky we will give it back. The second time, my wife dropped it, which was her fault. As opposed to my TP2, Palm Pre, my sister's G1, which carriers were glad to replace free immediately if they even looked funny.
My point wasnt to repeat the other guys, only to explain my point about us being beta testers and ask how others felt. I expected some of you to defend it all, and some to complain. I was only explaining the things that made me think about it. And I feel that it is pointless for people to jump all over any person that posts a opinionated comment. If your not trolling or begging or complaining to devs, there's nothing wrong with having an opinion.
I didn't want to end up defending WM at all, only pointing out that their community is insanely creative. I have plenty of respect for how hard devs work. It's not the devs work I questioned, but the amount and interest of the dev community in this phone. If I wanted a WM phone I'ld have gotten the HD2. I like Android just fine, although I'ld be happy to jump on a GSM Droid with 1ghz, as I like my keyboards and hate the glare under the sun of OLED.
Also, all I meant to say about the sales numbers was that is just statistics. Chances are the phone with the most users has the most development, as theaudience is the biggest.
I see all of your points, and didnt mean to complain. The point of my post was this:
How do YOU ALL feel about your experience so far?
Thats why I explained overall how I felt with all the stuff we all have seen positive and negative.
love the phone.. but the touchscreen issues are really pissing me off. and the power button is starting to ***** out on me.
I don't regret at all the $$ I paid for Nexus One. It's an amazing phone with a great OS, it has some negatives like any other phone in the universe (battery,ringtones volume and sunlight visibility) but it has so many positives
My ex-SE phones (that I totally loved) look like an old nintendo NES compared to an XboX360
Other than the **** battery, I'm perfectly happy with my N1.
plain and simple... give me a multi-touch screen that actually works the way it should and I would be 100% satisfied with my phone...
I was hoping that the gaming experience on the phone would be much more pleasurable but with how quirky the touch screen is its nearly impossible to have a great experience...
I would say I am about 80% pleased with the experience so far and I came from a t-mobile dash so the tech on the N1 was leaps and bounds ahead of my old phone but given that I had to shell out all that money for the phone means I should have a 100% sexy piece of hardware instead of 80% of one... with a phone that has no physical keyboard, the touch screen should be much higher quality than it is....
my 2 cents...
Trevor, I agree with you.
Face it people, the phone is a disappointment.
Battery= sucks
touchscreen= sucks
can't save apps to sd= sucks
sloppy slow interface = sucks
3g = sucks
2g = sucks
trackball = sucks
hotmail = sucks
still no flash/html5 = sucks
pink blob im my photos = sucks
no gdocs app = sucks
force closing = sucks
no native profile choice = sucks
silent mode still allows sounds = sucks
slow googles response to the above issues = sucks
bunch of N1 fanboys who can't admit that thier N1 sucks = sucks

[Q] Would you still buy an Android phone?

Because I am quite disappointed with Samsung Galaxy S, I will sell it and buy another phone soon.
I am very fond of HTC Desire HD but is it worth to buy another Android phone or is better to give a try to iOS, Symbian ^3 or maybe Windows Mobile 7.
What are your suggestions?
From personal experience, I doubt the iOS beats android in any way. Symbian is too simple and plain for my taste. However, I don't know much about the latest symbian, but the N8 works on a much slower CPU than the SGS. As for windows mobile 7, since it's new, it might be worth a try but we can never really know till reviews start flooding the net... Personally, I think you're being a bit hasty with throwing away the SGS. With froyo just around the corner, it would really improve the phone overall, and would certainly be comparable with the Desire HD. After having done my own research, I concluded and opted for an android phone by choice, for IMHO it IS currently the best upcoming mobile phone OS. Ultimately, you just have to be patient with new technology, so irrespective of the OS or the manufacturer, there's really no point rushing. You will NEVER find 'The Perfect Phone'.... Just my two cents.
Hold out for Meego if Symbian ends up on top of your list, but that'll be 2011. If you want something with everything laid out for you and a good app store, iOS is a fine option, but it definitely depends on what your problem is with SGS and how much of that is Android/Samsung based. iOS has high satisfaction rates, but most people who get in there have stuck along, knew what they were getting into or don't know any better. Android, some people who aren't technical enough or like tinkering and having options just bought in because it's popular and they hear enough about it, but they didn't know what they were getting into. Still, as far as I know, Android has the second highest customer satisfaction, so if you need a decision for the here and now, go with Android or iOS. If you can wait until WP7, read up after the devices launch, it's not ready to compete with all things either platform can offer, but it does have long-term potential, particularly with gaming/MS integrations, but thus far from what I know I wouldn't buy it in the first 12 months of it's launch even if they start with the best hardware.
My advice is wait until Froyo.. The reason why you are disappointed is probably because it feels sometimes like Samsung aren't doing anything. This is because there aren't many leaks.
You may also be disappointed because many people here at XDA are jumping to incredibly uninformed conclusions. We have morons running around saying that Samsung will never release updates, people saying the lag can't be fixed in RFS (whilst Samsung might not have integrated a few performance patches) and newbies saying "the GPS problem is hardware" without ANY proof whatsobloodyever.
Also, whilst those who defend this phone regularly get called fanboy's, there are certainly a lot of HTC fanboys here too (which seems to be finally getting revealed now that many ex-HTC users are calling some of their ex-products worse).
Froyo might be a completely different ballgame (I wouldn't underestimate Samsung). But either way, a lot of people coming from other platforms are saying their SGS is better than their other phones anyway.
I wouldn't touch WM7 because:
1) Windows Mobile seems to be a dying platform. Unfortunately, Microsoft took too long to release it.
2) So this means they wont get many developers and users on-board.
3) Windows Mobile is closed source, and development isn't easy (You probably require Windows).
Why I wouldn't touch the iPhone:
1) For starters, Steve Jobs stood on stage and lied about the antenna. Rather than fix the problem, he called other mobiles rubbish (despite their antenna problems often being VERY difficult to replicate in real life). I have very little respect for that.
2) Development is difficult, you really need OSX. The OS is closed source too.
3) Many users NEED to jailbreak, because of restrictions in the store.
4) Apple products often have weird design issues, which people seem to ignore, but which exists.
5) Huge app store
6) iTunes.. Enough said..
Symbian
1) Symbian is open source, which is great...
2) But these days, only Nokia sells them. Symbian's marketshare will likely only decrease.
WebOS/Palm
1) Forget about WebOS. In most countries you can't find ANY webOS phones, so audience is VERY limited
Meego/Maemo
1) The Nokia N900 is the only phone that uses it.
2) But it probably runs faster than Android because it's compiled code.
3) But limited exposure. I'd consider it, if the hardware wasn't so sucky...
Android.
1) Apps might run slower, because it's bytecode
2) But, HUGE range of mobiles
3) Huge range of apps (Not as much as iPhone though)
4) Open source OS.
5) Evolving quickly, reliable vendor (Google know what they are doing)
6) The SGS seems to be the only laggy Android phone out there (probably due to a few bugs that need fixing in RFS, which might already be fixed in head/trunk).
I'd say hold off until Froyo. I have the feeling Samsung will surprise us. Remember, the leaks only show SOME integrated code, and even JPK could have been missing a whole lot of patches. A lot of claims made by users isn't true either.
The reason why some things haven't been fixed yet may also be because they are integrating the fixes directly into Froyo.
There is a VERY good reason why Android is quickly growing though. In fact, I'd be surprised if Android isn't #1 by next year. But I'd honestly have no problems buying another Android handset

[Q] Have you used iPhone and any Android phone?

This is more of an opinion question.
If you weren't into flashing roms, theming, bricking your phones, would you rather own an iPhone or any particular Android phone (please name phone)?
I've never owned an iPhone and I own a Fascinate. Samsung has really pissed me off with the late updates. Verizon has also pissed me off in the bloatware forced on users as well as late updates.
If Verizon put out a Nexus series phone I'd own that to hopefully fix both issues. Unfortunately, no matter how great the devs are on this site, they are not paid to do this and it takes a lot of time and frustration to get out the latest builds based on the latest Android.
However, with iPhone much of this is fixed as Apple has full control over the process. For better or worse.
So, I'm curious that if I wanted a no hassle smart phone, should I consider a different Android phone (as I love Google and its services) or should I just grab the eventual next iPhone?
What's your opinion? (I know this might be a biased location to find opinions.)
P.S. I'm also very interested in the upcoming Xperia Play and Playstation Suite.
Depends. The iPhone is awesome for people who want a generally no-nonsense phone with beautiful and (mostly) well-written and well-controlled applications with wide mainstream support. Android is getting there, but is still a bit behind in that regard. However, it got to that point by having a super-tight ecosystem that is very unfriendly for customisations, at least to the degree you get with Android.
If you jailbreak it, you'll be playing the same waiting game since you'll have to wait for the iPhone Dev Team to release tools to exploit vulnerabilities. If you unlock the phone, upgrading before waiting could even be dangerous, as baseband developments normally take much longer.
Give it a try, see if you like it. If you don't, trade or re-sell; they don't lose value that quickly.
cnunez1987 said:
Depends. The iPhone is awesome for people who want a generally no-nonsense phone with beautiful and (mostly) well-written and well-controlled applications with wide mainstream support. Android is getting there, but is still a bit behind in that regard. However, it got to that point by having a super-tight ecosystem that is very unfriendly for customisations, at least to the degree you get with Android.
If you jailbreak it, you'll be playing the same waiting game since you'll have to wait for the iPhone Dev Team to release tools to exploit vulnerabilities. If you unlock the phone, upgrading before waiting could even be dangerous, as baseband developments normally take much longer.
Give it a try, see if you like it. If you don't, trade or re-sell; they don't lose value that quickly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite opposite, really. For most Android users, being rooted means having the latest update, while for iPhoneys, it means you are well behind. And look, they have to wait 'til iOS 4.3 to get a slight modicum of notification right.

Ideapad K1 Source Code Released!

As per the title says, just so happen to check the Lenovo forums today after reading here they released TPT source yesterday and sure enough the K1 source was released this morning!
Direct Link
http://download.lenovo.com/lenovo/content/sm/IdeaPadTablet-K1.zip
Link to the Thread
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/IdeaPad-Slate-Tablets/Android-Source-Code/td-p/610273/page/5
Hopefully our humble and dedicated developers can tear this apart and start on some custom ROMS, maybe even kernels?? (I have high hopes clearly!)
On a side note, might not be worth mentioning, but I did notice that the source for the K1 was roughly 72mb in size while the TPT source was in upwards of 202mb?? Same compression for both, food for thought...
Robert
Great news ....the building blocks have arrived
Sent from my HTC Evo 3D with Beats Audio X515m using XDA App
Now hoping for some love, the stock android is pretty slow and painful.....
Will be nice once the custom kernels come.. hopefully they will..
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Thats awesome news, man!!!!!!! I didnt think lenovo would do it but wow, its a start.
Hopefully we can get some sweet roms and kernels on this bad boy (k1).
Just based on this news alone, I have ordered for one..
Sent from my HTC Vision
rezapatel said:
Just based on this news alone, I have ordered for one..
Sent from my HTC Vision
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bad choice, hardly any support and current android 3.2.1 on it is buggy for the two that we own, stutters a lot.
Be Prepared for this lengthy response!
twe69 said:
Bad choice, hardly any support and current android 3.2.1 on it is buggy for the two that we own, stutters a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree even with the latest update, there are still bugs in the OS Lenovo loads on this tablet but this should not be a driving force with not buying one. Every tablet I've owned (K1 and the GTablet) or had the chance to tinker with (Xoom, Prime, etc...) have had their flaws, but I also feel this is also based on the user and their personal preferences with using their tablet. Not to mention, what that user would be using the device for (as a toy, or daily driver) has a huge amount to do with it.
What's important here is that they are all running on some form of an Android OS, and if you are willing to tinker and sometimes even experiment with your tablet, you will be able to get to some middle ground (depending on the device, its release date, the community following it has, and when/if the source code is released) based on what you are trying to get out of that particular device to where there are little to no issues.
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/13407-alpha-ideapad-k1-cwm-stock-rooted-rom-120109-build/
For me, I'm currently running the Alpha 3 CWM rom from rootzwiki (link above) and besides I think 1-2 FC's (ONLY happened upon uninstalling pre-loaded apps) it's ran smooth as silk! Granted, I use my K1 as mainly a 'toy' for experimenting with Android SDK, flashing ROM's and general tinkering but still...
Now, you could just drop the $400-$600 on an iPad and not have to worry about FC's and other bugs but then you're left with not only an extremely restricted device but a restricted device that you paid way more for when compared to the K1 for example. Don't get me wrong, after getting my first tablet (GTablet) I quickly realized the quality of the products Apple releases to the consumer public, and if you are a member of that 90%+ percentile of the public that just wants a device to work and doesn't plan on doing anything else to it (and possibly not being as computer savvy as that 5-10% percentile) Apple is the way to go. However atleast from my experiences with the iPad/iPhone, if you plan on doing any modifications remotely resembling base mod's that can be done on an Android device, you're either threatening your warranty or simply SOL.
In short, when I buy an Android phone/tablet I will never expect it to run flawlessly out of the box because A. I'm personally anal/picky/OCD with my hardware and B. I bought it for that initial time investment in order to have a device strictly tuned to my lifestyle and means of use. For this reason alone, an Apple product will never satisfy me (again nothing against anyone who does use Apple, just my 0.02).
I'd rather have a device that is cheaper to buy with arguably the same hardware specs or comparable and is finicky (to say the least at times), but has the potential to run whatever I can throw at it smoothly and most importantly to personalize it on levels that Apple would never allow on their products simply for fear of creating instabilities.
For the K1 however, Lenovo releasing the source is the 1st step towards achieving your own perfectly tuned and personalized device however long it might take. Afterall, one crucial characteristic of an Android user that majority of the members on this forum share is patience! It's what separates us from the rest!
Sorry for the long post, I just felt like expressing my opinion and I was in the typing mood.
Dueces99 said:
I agree even with the latest update, there are still bugs in the OS Lenovo loads on this tablet but this should not be a driving force with not buying one. Every tablet I've owned (K1 and the GTablet) or had the chance to tinker with (Xoom, Prime, etc...) have had their flaws, but I also feel this is also based on the user and their personal preferences with using their tablet. Not to mention, what that user would be using the device for (as a toy, or daily driver) has a huge amount to do with it.
What's important here is that they are all running on some form of an Android OS, and if you are willing to tinker and sometimes even experiment with your tablet, you will be able to get to some middle ground (depending on the device, its release date, the community following it has, and when/if the source code is released) based on what you are trying to get out of that particular device to where there are little to no issues.
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/13407-alpha-ideapad-k1-cwm-stock-rooted-rom-120109-build/
For me, I'm currently running the Alpha 3 CWM rom from rootzwiki (link above) and besides I think 1-2 FC's (ONLY happened upon uninstalling pre-loaded apps) it's ran smooth as silk! Granted, I use my K1 as mainly a 'toy' for experimenting with Android SDK, flashing ROM's and general tinkering but still...
Now, you could just drop the $400-$600 on an iPad and not have to worry about FC's and other bugs but then you're left with not only an extremely restricted device but a restricted device that you paid way more for when compared to the K1 for example. Don't get me wrong, after getting my first tablet (GTablet) I quickly realized the quality of the products Apple releases to the consumer public, and if you are a member of that 90%+ percentile of the public that just wants a device to work and doesn't plan on doing anything else to it (and possibly not being as computer savvy as that 5-10% percentile) Apple is the way to go. However atleast from my experiences with the iPad/iPhone, if you plan on doing any modifications remotely resembling base mod's that can be done on an Android device, you're either threatening your warranty or simply SOL.
In short, when I buy an Android phone/tablet I will never expect it to run flawlessly out of the box because A. I'm personally anal/picky/OCD with my hardware and B. I bought it for that initial time investment in order to have a device strictly tuned to my lifestyle and means of use. For this reason alone, an Apple product will never satisfy me (again nothing against anyone who does use Apple, just my 0.02).
I'd rather have a device that is cheaper to buy with arguably the same hardware specs or comparable and is finicky (to say the least at times), but has the potential to run whatever I can throw at it smoothly and most importantly to personalize it on levels that Apple would never allow on their products simply for fear of creating instabilities.
For the K1 however, Lenovo releasing the source is the 1st step towards achieving your own perfectly tuned and personalized device however long it might take. Afterall, one crucial characteristic of an Android user that majority of the members on this forum share is patience! It's what separates us from the rest!
Sorry for the long post, I just felt like expressing my opinion and I was in the typing mood.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
great read excellent points
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Dueces99 I shall check out that rom, will see if its possible for me since I am on the latest official version....
I did have a Blackberry Playbook with the original OS in December and that was much better for web browsing etc. Just hoping that Android 4 will have less issues on the tablet since I will be keeping the Lenovo....
Oh and I have been with Android for over 2 years since Android 1.5 and about 5 android phones..... So yeh I am patient
Will definitely pay attention to the next iteration of Windows Mobile though when I upgrade at the end of the year since I like the responsiveness of Windows Mobile 7/7.5.....
this is great news.. really think of selling mine for 300 or so.... if it still worth that ( 32 gb model) .. i might hold on to it now that the source is release and ( cross fingers) someone ports CM9 to it...
we can only wish...
lenovo said they will release ics for k1
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/IdeaPad...m-Sandwich-for-Ideapad-K1/td-p/638437/page/17
Apologies for the radio silence on this... we have been in discussion with our product teams and shared all the interest and feedback received here.
I believe the current outlook is that a plain version (sounds like it will not include the Lenovo customizations ) of ICS will be made available for download sometime in June. This is a bit later than the original May schedule and will not be pushed as an OTA (over the air update).
I appreciate everyone's patience - I know you have been waiting a while for an update on this.
Thanks
Mark

[Q] Are you satisfied with the S6's performance?

Poll
I've been impressed with everything other than the performance, to be honest. Coming from the Nexus 5 and M8, lag in Chrome, the Play Store, etc., make this phone feel like a downgrade.
This is launch software and the chipset in the S6 is insanely powerful so we should see smooth performance after some updates, but until then: help me, what are your thoughts?
I put together a poor man's guide to improving the S6's performance here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/att-galaxy-s6/general/how-managed-to-reduce-lag-t3077844
If you're disappointed, then return it, don't start 2 or 3 threads about the topic.
TechSavvy2 said:
If you're disappointed, then return it, don't start 2 or 3 threads about the topic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I said I've been impressed with everything other than the performance, why would I return it?
You voted "Very satisfied". Why am I not surprised?
It's an important topic. Maybe it hurts to hear your new phone has lag but it's better to gauge opinions and create solutions than to cry on XDA and cover up the issue.
Unfortunately, this is just the lag everyone associates with TouchWiz. The nexus 5 probably has a tenth the amount of services running out of the box than the s6. This would get better with root, but that may never happen with the AT&T derivative. (See AT&T note 4 forums as an example.. )
Like TechSavy mentioned, I'd probably return the phone. Not because it's not a bad device, but because your already accustomed to vanilla android. =/
Goronok said:
Unfortunately, this is just the lag everyone associates with TouchWiz. The nexus 5 probably has a tenth the amount of services running out of the box than the s6. This would get better with root, but that may never happen with the AT&T derivative. (See AT&T note 4 forums as an example.. )
Like TechSavy mentioned, I'd probably return the phone. Not because it's not a bad device, but because your already accustomed to vanilla android. =/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the S3 and S4 so I've experienced the worst of Touchwiz. Maybe I expected too much out of the S6.
Definitely not returning it. It's not like the performance is bad, just not as good as advertised.
Hippoman13 said:
I said I've been impressed with everything other than the performance, why would I return it?
You voted "Very satisfied". Why am I not surprised?
It's an important topic. Maybe it hurts to hear your new phone has lag but it's better to gauge opinions and create solutions than to cry on XDA and cover up the issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your threads are not even remotely creating solutions, you're suggesting people turn off 75% of the features of the phone just to try and bump performance by a negligible amount.
Read your bold statement and think about what you just said....YOU ARE actually crying about performance on XDA on both the threads you started, and created the other thread specifically to cover up the issue......
Irony.
Yes, I did vote very satisfied. You know why? Because I tested/used the phone before I accepted it as a keeper. I also realize its just a phone. Yes I use it a LOT, so I'd like it to perform well. But you act as if a slight twitch when swiping from one screen to the next is causing you to have to start new threads on online forums on how to help people "deal with the current situation of the device". Seriously?
I'm actually the opposite of a fanboy in this instance, I simply realize my phone doesn't play any detrimental part in my day to day activities of life. I'm pretty sure people will survive with the phone performing exactly as it currently does.
PS my rant on your threads is not directed necessarily towards you, but more towards the idea that with every new device I get (about once per month or two) there are always ten or twenty new threads in that particular devices threads raging on how the "performance of the device sucks, I'm taking this POS back, seriously dissappointed in (enter your favorite manufacturer here)". Blah Blah Blah..... I feel like its almost half the threads on XDA these days.
.
Whatever, man. You're right about most things but I'm not like you. I'm an enthusiast who will do anything to make my phone as efficient as possible. A lot of people are like this, especially with Samsung/
You keep assuming I think people should cripple their phone and turn everything off. You're still not understanding what I wrote. Honestly, I don't care though. The Bloatware is the biggest problem. The other points, like I KEEP saying, are for people who have no idea how many sensors/features are in this phone because they're new. I just have higher standards than you in performance. In my mind the "it's Touchwiz not Stock" argument falls off when it has an Octacore A57-53, DDR4 Ram, and Android 5.0+. I think: "Scrolling is STILL choppy?". And Samsung advertised themselves it would perform like stock.. I've been through a ton of Android phones and the S6 feels like a downgrade in this area and this area only.
Don't think I or the people who started the other threads are freaking out about the phone, we are just merely trying to overcome the cripple that AT&T applied to the S6.
Maybe you spend too much time in the General/Q&A sections of XDA. If you get tired of people complaining about your new device, you have to ignore them. You say they're everywhere, so they're probably not leaving anytime soon.
You have a strong point, it's a great phone. And the performance is really nice. Let's just agree to wait for some updates. I remember they improved the S3 and S4 so much within just a few months, and the S6 should be no different.
Take care.
I don't yet own the device. I'll have mine next week. But I will say that in general Samsung has been losing ground. The S6 is honestly the last hope for Samsung (basically the Android iPhone now imo).
I've been a Samsung fanboy for years, but they really need to go back to basics. They make phones that try too hard, push the envelope too much. Almost every Samsung release has come with major bugs. And the lack of developer attention from Samsung is truly saddening. They've pioneered so much technology it amazes me that they can't understand that most people want very simple things from their phone.
I come from a sales background and customers want A better battery life, B less glitches/bugs and C more simplicity.
Also, they need to fire their entire QA department. The bugs I've experienced on Samsung devices is embarrassing. Things need to be seamless and reliable. That's what people want.
IMHO
Agree
chronicaust said:
I don't yet own the device. I'll have mine next week. But I will say that in general Samsung has been losing ground. The S6 is honestly the last hope for Samsung (basically the Android iPhone now imo).
I've been a Samsung fanboy for years, but they really need to go back to basics. They make phones that try too hard, push the envelope too much. Almost every Samsung release has come with major bugs. And the lack of developer attention from Samsung is truly saddening. They've pioneered so much technology it amazes me that they can't understand that most people want very simple things from their phone.
I come from a sales background and customers want A better battery life, B less glitches/bugs and C more simplicity.
Also, they need to fire their entire QA department. The bugs I've experienced on Samsung devices is embarrassing. Things need to be seamless and reliable. That's what people want.
IMHO
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well said, I agree 100%.
CC
I guess I must be lucky, I received the only S6 made with no lag? Well I take that back when I was setting everything up and installing like 30 apps at once it lagged a bit. But not once since then.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

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