Would you recommend a galaxy S? - Galaxy S I9000 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello guys,
My brother is going to get his first smartphone. Initially they offered him a galaxy ace, but now (the phone operator) gave him the offer for an S. Would you go for it?
What i recall from this phone was that it was rather cool and powerful, but with an infernal gps. Did it get fixed eventually? How is it? Any remark?
Thank you very much!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Hi,
I have been using SGS GT-I9000 for a year and half, and frankly, it has been the worst smartphone purchase I've made over the years.
It:
1. Hangs up for no apparent reason, even when it is sitting idle.
2. Crashes or reboots at its own every now and then
3. Performance gets extremely sluggish to a point where it becomes Royal Pain in ....... (you know what).
4. Doesn't want to connect with PC except in 'Storage Mode'. Hence I am stuck with Froyo since there is no other way of updating the OS.
Now I have sent this unit to Samsung twice but they say it is 'in perfect' condition. Anyway, long and the short of it I am poised to jump the ship and buy Lumia 800, making SGS as my first and last droid.

Megneto said:
Hi,
I have been using SGS GT-I9000 for a year and half, and frankly, it has been the worst smartphone purchase I've made over the years.
It:
1. Hangs up for no apparent reason, even when it is sitting idle.
2. Crashes or reboots at its own every now and then
3. Performance gets extremely sluggish to a point where it becomes Royal Pain in ....... (you know what).
4. Doesn't want to connect with PC except in 'Storage Mode'. Hence I am stuck with Froyo since there is no other way of updating the OS.
Now I have sent this unit to Samsung twice but they say it is 'in perfect' condition. Anyway, long and the short of it I am poised to jump the ship and buy Lumia 800, making SGS as my first and last droid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Never had that problem.
2. Never had that problem with proper ROMs.
3. Lag fix, custom ROMs like CM7 and MIUI.
4. Again, never had that problem, pretty sure you never bothered to install the Samsung drivers for the phone.
Jump ship, Android doesn't sound like it's for you anyway, but don't go telling people about how you struggled with the phone without even flashing any new firmware when that's what Android is all about.

Megneto said:
Hi,
I have been using SGS GT-I9000 for a year and half, and frankly, it has been the worst smartphone purchase I've made over the years.
It:
1. Hangs up for no apparent reason, even when it is sitting idle.
2. Crashes or reboots at its own every now and then
3. Performance gets extremely sluggish to a point where it becomes Royal Pain in ....... (you know what).
4. Doesn't want to connect with PC except in 'Storage Mode'. Hence I am stuck with Froyo since there is no other way of updating the OS.
Now I have sent this unit to Samsung twice but they say it is 'in perfect' condition. Anyway, long and the short of it I am poised to jump the ship and buy Lumia 800, making SGS as my first and last droid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Never had that problem either
2) Never had that problem either
3) As already stated add a simple lagfix.
4) Install the correct drivers onto your PC and install Kies or use odin to flash new firmware.
Adslee is 100% correct. Android isnt for you. dont tell people horror stories about this device just because you dont knowe what your doing...
Now back to the OP.
Even though the Galaxy S is over year old now it is still a good device on the market and for the price you can pick them up on contract these days i would say they are well worth buyng still.
The XDA custom rom support for this device has been amazing and there are tons of custom roms out there to choose from if you wish to flash custom firmware, such as several MIUI version; several CM7 versions and a ton of samsung based custom roms.
There are now even a couple of active ports of ICS from the galaxy nexus for the galaxy s.
Samsung have surpassed many people expectations with the support and updates they have brought to this device.
My GPS has always worked absoloutley perfect. I believe it was just the early models that had a problem witht he GPS. Even with that said, it was found that if your GPS was poor, all you had to do was fold a piece of paper up and put it in the top corner of the phone where the GPS antenna was and put the cover back on. This added pressure on the the antenna and made the GPS better for some strange reason lol.
The galaxy s started on eclair and we are now on 2.3.6 gingerbread.
This phone still has everything the new devices have and can still handle everything very well.
Dont forget the super amoled display that this device uses aswel which is amazing.
For a first smartphone it is a good start.
That being said though if you want to spend a bit more cash you can get a more updated phone like the galaxy s 2 or maybe even a galaxy nexus if your brother really wants to splash out, and likes the look of pure android without the likes of touchwiz or HTC's sense layerd over the top.

timonoj said:
Hello guys,
My brother is going to get his first smartphone. Initially they offered him a galaxy ace, but now (the phone operator) gave him the offer for an S. Would you go for it?
What i recall from this phone was that it was rather cool and powerful, but with an infernal gps. Did it get fixed eventually? How is it? Any remark?
Thank you very much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first couple of version of the OS were a little buggy for the Galaxy S, but the latest one is solid, no issues with it very fast and stable. The GPS issue was fixed.
If your brother is into modding and hacking his phone he would love the Galaxy S. Mine started with Android 2.1, and now I'm running a port of Android 4.0. Just be aware that most likely this phone will not get an official upgrade from Samsung to the Android 4.0

Related

thinking of going from G1 to Behold 2 tomorrow....questions first!

So I just recently (a few months ago) figured out what rooting was and what you were capable of after doing so, and I have a new found love for my G1. However, I still want something new, because device-wise, I want something thinner. The G1 just isn't cutting it for me anymore.
I am looking into the Behold 2 and thinking about getting it tomorrow. Does anyone know if this phone is going to be an easy phone to root? I don't like what Samsung did to the UI (i.e., the "cube" and the QuickAccess buttons along the bottom that are ALWAYS there, taking up screen space) and figured, it would be an awesome phone if I was able to root it and put a new ROM on there.
Any info back on this would be greatly appreciated guys!
Thank you!
um no. The behold runs it's own OS. No way to ever put anything android on it, let alone "root" it. I don't even think samsung does updates on their own OSs. What you get is what you're going to have until you switch to a far superior phone.. like say the G1 also Android has some pretty slim phone coming out in the near future, are you under some sort of time restraint?
http://theunlockr.com/2009/11/18/how-to-root-your-samsung-behold-2-samsung-galaxy-in-one-click/
You might want to search more up on rooting the behold 2, I just googled that and it was the first thing i found.
sonikamd said:
um no. The behold runs it's own OS. No way to ever put anything android on it, let alone "root" it. I don't even think samsung does updates on their own OSs. What you get is what you're going to have until you switch to a far superior phone.. like say the G1 also Android has some pretty slim phone coming out in the near future, are you under some sort of time restraint?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Behold II is running Android, it's just customized like the Sense UI on the Hero.
dam it's going to be hard to get this shoe out of my mouth lol :O you know it's getting late when you fail @ google
nice save Anartic.
edit: and some of the "other" devices i spoke of pdadb.net / android 1.6 devices and of course the behold II is listed heh
If I were you, I would try and hold off a bit... lots of good ones coming out/already out that will be more customizable than that. Stick to HTC devices, since in turn you will have this community. As well, you will have far superior quality and reliability in the long run. Samsung makes some good phones, but you lose this community.
i know next year there will probably be some good devices coming out, but i don't want to wait. that's the problem. and even so, i have many friends who work in t-mobile retail stores so i always get the discount even if i'm not eligible.
it all depends on how much i can get the behold 2 for tomorrow. my friend already told me he would get me the mytouch for 149.99. if i was to get the behold 2 i'm thinking it would be the 199.99 price that current tmobile customers are eligible for. if its the 229.99 price, then i most likely wont get it and will get the mytouch.
but overall, i like the look of the behold 2 more than any of the current offerings from tmobile. my g1 runs good with cyans 4.2.5 rom.. its the fastest yet and getting better all the time. but the battery life is just damn awful and i can't deal with that anymore. and not to mention the behold 2 has a 5mp cam with flash. and that's something drawing me towards that phone. and also the 320MB RAM
I've never been a fan of samsungs.. all that graphical jazz gets in the way of usability imo.
Quite apart from that, I would be lost without my familiar bootloader/recovery system. It would be like losing a limb after all these years.
i have the behold 2 and the UI is terrible, really hurts usability. i'll write more details later, but i'll be flashing to stock android first opportunity i get.
Your basically exchanging a 1rst generation android phone, for another 1rst generation android phone that is running 1.5 (maybe 1.6, I can't recall). I would just wait man.... I really dont think a camera on a phone is more important. Why not wait a few months and get a stellar phone with a bigger processor and android 2.0. I really think it's a bad move on your part.
I took back the Behold II today and exchanged it for a myTouch. I had it for one day. Which shows you what I think about it.
Don't do it. I was in the same situation as you, I had the g1 since day one and got tired of it (and it's bulkiness), except that I switched to the Pre (which was good, but not Android) and gave my G1 away. I was with a dumbphone for a couple of months. So even though I plan on getting the Xperia X10, I couldn't live without a smartphone any longer..
But the Behold II is not a good phone. The UI changes are MAJOR. I know that they don't look major, before I got the phone I thought that the "touchwiz interface" was just the stupid cube. Don't use the cube, it's that simple right? Wrong. The entire screen is from the perspective that you are "inside the cube". So when you change screens, there is an animation of the cube moving. And it's not a simple "camera trick", because you can see your widgets moving as if they are on a 3D surface. It's kinda sorta cool, but it VERY LAGGY too....
This is the laggiest phone I've ever owned. You know how sometimes your G1 will be a little laggy when you bring up the app drawer? Well the Behold II does this every time. That's the worst thing, and why if I was Samsung I wouldn't have released the phone. Quite frankly, for the engineers it is embarrassing. I would be embarrassed to release this phone.
I'm cool with Android skinning... but they do more than just skin it. They have replaced most of the major applications (contacts, music, photos) with their own.... and what's crazy is that they are all worse than the android apps. Contacts can only be searched by first name... the music player is just awful, you can't get back to the main screen by bringing up the menu...
On all of the apps, when you bring up the menu, the buttons don't have icons. That doesn't hurt usability but it does show that Samsung didn't even want to pay designers to draw icons. It shows how little effort they put into this phone. It seems obvious that they didn't want to pay google for their apps so they made bad alternatives.
What this has done for me is open my eyes and make me realize how much I like stock android UI. It's really quite lovely once you're accustomed to it. I got the myTouch (which i'm loving so far) with the plan of still getting the Xperia X10... but I might not now. Not because the myTouch is so awesome, it is a 1gen phone after all.. but because I don't know if I want to leave stock android again.
Anyways, if you want another 1st gen android device, they are many good choices but the Behold II is not one of them. It'll will make me think twice about buying a Samsung product in the future because they obviously put no effort into this device other than to put their branding into it.
s15274n said:
Your basically exchanging a 1rst generation android phone, for another 1rst generation android phone that is running 1.5 (maybe 1.6, I can't recall). I would just wait man.... I really dont think a camera on a phone is more important. Why not wait a few months and get a stellar phone with a bigger processor and android 2.0. I really think it's a bad move on your part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's 1.5 and won't get 1.6 even. samsung has no intent to upgrade this phone, ever.
And the camera, in my limited time, wasn't as great as advertised. Well, there are many reviewers out there who are more experts than I when it comes to camera, so I will take their word... but when I took pictures I had the same "shacky camera" problem that is typical of cell phone pictures.
mateo2 said:
it's 1.5 and won't get 1.6 even. samsung has no intent to upgrade this phone, ever.
And the camera, in my limited time, wasn't as great as advertised. Well, there are many reviewers out there who are more experts than I when it comes to camera, so I will take their word... but when I took pictures I had the same "shacky camera" problem that is typical of cell phone pictures.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
gotta agree here, im a long time samsung instinct owner(origional&S30) both were awful including the custom Ui.Upgrades always made other features broken, but now im a proud G1 owner w/cyan mod.
Just thought of a couple of others things. I buy my music from lala.com (great great service, highly recommended) and when I put my mp3s on the Behold II they all came up as "unknown" artist. I assumed there was something wrong with the mp3 tags and thought of maybe contacting lala and asking why they have bad tags... but then when I exchanged the Behold II and got the myTouch, the tags are just fine on the same mp3 files. So the Samsung mp3 player doesn't recognize these artist tags for some reason, who knows why. Terrible.
Also, the home screen UI doesn't "snap" in place. So you can literally stack widgets/icons on top of each other. For a neat freak like me, getting everything "in line" is annoyingly difficult.
Not everything is bad. The virtual keyboard was pretty good, maybe even better than stock android. But overall the phone is flat-out embarrassing. I will never buy another Samsung phone, ever.
Also, the GPS is awful. I only had it for a day, but Maps was never able to locate me. Ever. After I got the myTouch, it locked me in on the drive home.
mateo2 said:
it's 1.5 and won't get 1.6 even. samsung has no intent to upgrade this phone, ever.
And the camera, in my limited time, wasn't as great as advertised. Well, there are many reviewers out there who are more experts than I when it comes to camera, so I will take their word... but when I took pictures I had the same "shacky camera" problem that is typical of cell phone pictures.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
umm actually you're wrong. they have stated that it will be upgraded to 2.0
Hey, I'm new here, and also new to smartphones. I was told to read up on this site to learn more about them. I bought a Behold II a couple days ago and its awesome. Now I realize its my first smartphone, so its probably in actuality not as awesome as I think it is, however I have spent plenty of time playing around with my friend's G1, and also a lot of time with the Cliq. So while this is this is the first I've ever owned, its not my first smartphone experience.
As for mateo2, its unfortunate that you had all those problems with the phone, but I've had it for about 5 days now and have not experienced all the problems you did. For instance, the app drawer has yet to lag in the 5 days that I've owned the phone. The home screens however do lag for about the first 5 seconds after you wake the phone up. This can be an annoyance to some, but it really is only about 5 seconds or so, and then its gone. I mean I can live with it.
Also, I disagree about the music player, I think it is much nicer than stock Android, the only problem is that the cover art doesn't transfer. It does on some, but on most it doesn't. So, hopefully there will be an update soon to fix that. I'm not quite sure what you're talking about with not being able to get back to the main screen by pressing menu. If you mean the home screen of the phone just hit home. If you mean the main screen of the music player you just swipe left or right.
Also, as someone else has said you are misinformed about the update, it will get updated to 2.0. Samsung has the update ready and is waiting on Tmobile to release it. It is mentioned in passing in the review or preview by Cnet I believe.
Contacts can only be searched by first name which may be an annoyance to some, but not really to me.
Also, the keyboard is much better than the stock Android's I have used. Some people have reported a lag that can be fixed by turning off the vibration feedback, I haven't had it lag noticeably yet though. The keyboard IS difficult to use in portrait mode however, so someone might want to get a keyboard replacement because of that. I only find that its difficult when I'm trying to do other things at the same time, like drive, so I'm going to keep the keyboard so I don't text and drive anymore lol.
The camera is the best I've seen on a phone. Better than the Behold my girlfriend has, better picture than the iPhone that my friend has (although not as quick), better than the Droid (from the short time I had with it, and also from reviews that I've seen of it). The flash can be too bright at times, but some time with the camera and you figure out how to work it properly and the pictures are really quite amazing for a phone.
If anyone has any questions I'd be happy to answer them the best I can. Like I said earlier, I'm not as smart as you guys when it comes to these devices so you might ask me something that I have no idea how to answer haha. But, I plan on reading around this forum over the next couple of weeks to expand my knowledge. Hopefully it works, and I can root the thing without breaking it
Candiria92 said:
Hey, I'm new here, and also new to smartphones. I was told to read up on this site to learn more about them. I bought a Behold II a couple days ago and its awesome. Now I realize its my first smartphone, so its probably in actuality not as awesome as I think it is, however I have spent plenty of time playing around with my friend's G1, and also a lot of time with the Cliq. So while this is this is the first I've ever owned, its not my first smartphone experience.
As for mateo2, its unfortunate that you had all those problems with the phone, but I've had it for about 5 days now and have not experienced all the problems you did. For instance, the app drawer has yet to lag in the 5 days that I've owned the phone. The home screens however do lag for about the first 5 seconds after you wake the phone up. This can be an annoyance to some, but it really is only about 5 seconds or so, and then its gone. I mean I can live with it.
Also, I disagree about the music player, I think it is much nicer than stock Android, the only problem is that the cover art doesn't transfer. It does on some, but on most it doesn't. So, hopefully there will be an update soon to fix that. I'm not quite sure what you're talking about with not being able to get back to the main screen by pressing menu. If you mean the home screen of the phone just hit home. If you mean the main screen of the music player you just swipe left or right.
Also, as someone else has said you are misinformed about the update, it will get updated to 2.0. Samsung has the update ready and is waiting on Tmobile to release it. It is mentioned in passing in the review or preview by Cnet I believe.
Contacts can only be searched by first name which may be an annoyance to some, but not really to me.
Also, the keyboard is much better than the stock Android's I have used. Some people have reported a lag that can be fixed by turning off the vibration feedback, I haven't had it lag noticeably yet though. The keyboard IS difficult to use in portrait mode however, so someone might want to get a keyboard replacement because of that. I only find that its difficult when I'm trying to do other things at the same time, like drive, so I'm going to keep the keyboard so I don't text and drive anymore lol.
The camera is the best I've seen on a phone. Better than the Behold my girlfriend has, better picture than the iPhone that my friend has (although not as quick), better than the Droid (from the short time I had with it, and also from reviews that I've seen of it). The flash can be too bright at times, but some time with the camera and you figure out how to work it properly and the pictures are really quite amazing for a phone.
If anyone has any questions I'd be happy to answer them the best I can. Like I said earlier, I'm not as smart as you guys when it comes to these devices so you might ask me something that I have no idea how to answer haha. But, I plan on reading around this forum over the next couple of weeks to expand my knowledge. Hopefully it works, and I can root the thing without breaking it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well put man. i've had this phone since the day it came out, so, i guess a week now. and i'm liking it. it has taken some getting use to after having a G1 for over a year, but i am very glad i made this purchase and not the mytouch. the mytouch is great, but its missing things that this phone doesn't have. one of these days, hopefully soon, there will be a hack to where we can root this phone without it getting rid of the root at startup, because as of right now, that is what is happening. samsung has put a pretty tough security lock on this phone. hopefully someone can crack it soon.

Poll: With no penalty, would you return your Galaxy S i9000?

I've just upgraded from a Topaz to the Galaxy S I9000, and it's been great so far. "So far" being less than 12 hours. However, after reading the forums here, I have my doubts about its performance in the long term.
I understand that the forum will be biased; This is a place for folks who like to hack and tinker with their devices, and those who seek a resolution to a problem that the manufacturer won't resolve, so I expect to see a lot of issues posted on the forum. However, when the issue involves features I use frequently (GPS predominantly) I get concerned. Further, there's the issue with an Android 2.2 release date; I see posts saying it's ready, posts saying it's not, posts saying Samsung are fixing bugs, and more worryingly posts saying Samsung make phones for people to buy, then abandon them!
So, my question is:
"You have the option of being released from your contract without penalty, or have an unlimited term money-back guarantee from your supplier, covering issues stemming from the build quality of the device itself, or Samsung support being useless. If you like, an unlimited warranty offering you money back. Would you, knowing what you do now, return your Galaxy S I9000 and acquire a different model of phone?"
If you answer "Yes" could you put a short note on here saying why?
Thanks for your time.
Short answer, no.
Gps can be an issue sure, but I've found it better with the updates, I use it every day to track my bike to work and its very good.
But lets be honest, this is a phone, one of it's other functions is GPS, I wouldn't expect the camera to perform at the same level as a stand alone camera, so I think some of the complaints that the GPS takes time to lock isnt fair, if you want something as fast as a standalone GPS buy a GPS unit.
As for samsung updates again I think the general feeling is somewhat over the top.
It would be understandable if there was no news, no betas and no hope, how ever there have been updates, many many betas and we know it's coming, this to me shows that unlike older sammy phones we will get the updates (2.2)
I'm not a sammy fanboi, I came from mapple 2/3g 3gs,
I've had my phone since launch and I still love the many good things about it, I brought this sim free and im due an upgrade in 3 months, but unless the samsung beam is out here ill be sticking to my sgs untill late next year and the sgs2.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Yes I would but ill be getting the same model again, I just want my IMEI fixed.. it was rude of samsung to put a bomb on JPC.
EarlZ said:
Yes I would but ill be getting the same model again, I just want my IMEI fixed.. it was rude of samsung to put a bomb on JPC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't call it rude.. It's your own fault for messing with leaked pre-releases...
But I would, but only to buy a new one again (because the casing is getting a bit rough). I guess I might also consider the Desire HD too (since it apparently has more RAM, a product of evolution), but realistically, I'm happy with the SGS now.
Sipdroid seems to have released 1.6beta too, which supposedly targets the I9000 compatibility issue, so if it works, then when my skype credits expire, I'll be even happier.
Personally, I think the lag is mostly overrated still..
Thanks for your input so far folks.
Just to point you to the last line of my question; Would you swap out for a different model of handset or refund? This isn't about replacing it for another Galaxy S; I want to know who's happy with it, who isn't happy with it, and why.
I wouldnt mind to change the phone mostly cause of bad manufacture... the frame make so much noises on top ( at the usb gate).
Wont even mention gps cause its a known problem
tbh i am thinking of taking the phone for repairs if they dont fix the gps and claim a refund or a new phone
Personally I would change the phone.
After the dissapointment of having a phone which in reality only half works and thats with hacks/fixes, I wished I had waited a bit longer for a Desire HD,etc.
The only plus point of this phone now to me is the screen size and quality.
If the desire HD, etc can match the screen then i would swap in a heart beat.
In hindsight i should of known samsung would **** it all up and never actually fix the problem,i thought they would being android with the system using android. Looks like i was wrong.
Oh, heck no...
this phone is too good to be replaced anytime soon.
there is nothing better out in the market yet, specially nothing with a SAMOLED screen
hmm.... in simple words samsung galaxy s is the most advanced and looks better than any other android phone , it has the biggest screen and is very light weight , yet a very powerfull device .. so all these features makes it the best available phone in the market today..
so now coming back to your question..
"Would you return your Galaxy S I9000 and acquire a different model of phone?"
there is no choice right now.. all the other handsets like htc desire, lg optimus, wildfire, etc etc... do not match up to samsung galaxy
and i think the only better phone than samsung galaxy s right now would be
htc desire hd.. and i m sure it might be surely atleast 25% more expensive than the galaxy s.. so there is no competition between the two..
so the bottom line is that .. samsung galaxy s is the best in the class right now
^^ I concur!
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000 using Tapatalk Pro
and Desire HD does not come with SAMOLED screen
what can i say... SAMOLED screen is like better than any other high you can get on the market, you get the taste of it once, and you keep coming back wanting more
anything less will just not give you the same high....
devabhishek said:
hmm.... in simple words samsung galaxy s is the most advanced and looks better than any other android phone , it has the biggest screen and is very light weight , yet a very powerfull device .. so all these features makes it the best available phone in the market today..
so now coming back to your question..
"Would you return your Galaxy S I9000 and acquire a different model of phone?"
there is no choice right now.. all the other handsets like htc desire, lg optimus, wildfire, etc etc... do not match up to samsung galaxy
and i think the only better phone than samsung galaxy s right now would be
htc desire hd.. and i m sure it might be surely atleast 25% more expensive than the galaxy s.. so there is no competition between the two..
so the bottom line is that .. samsung galaxy s is the best in the class right now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally, I don't think there is enough information yet to judge if the new Desire is better...
Realistically, the devices are mostly the same (if the GPS is in fact fixed), and on both of them, I'd probably end up installing Cyanogenmod anyway. I purchased my phone as a tool, and the last few days have truly made it more useful (with Skype being released officially, and Sipdroid being apparently fixed in 1.6beta).
Obviously though, if newer devices with better hardware are released, obviously changing phone makes sense.
andrewluecke said:
Obviously though, if newer devices with better hardware are released, obviously changing phone makes sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.............+ 1
AllGamer said:
and Desire HD does not come with SAMOLED screen
what can i say... SAMOLED screen is like better than any other high you can get on the market, you get the taste of it once, and you keep coming back wanting more
anything less will just not give you the same high....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yup... thats true
I've cheated slightly, and not posted that I've used an HTC Desire for the past few months, and I really liked that phone. Sense UI is phenomenal, the phone itself is wonderfully capable and I know it has Froyo out on all the UK carriers now.
Saying that, I've not had the GPS problem (slight deviation on the way home yesterday, but nothing serious), and as everyone says the screen is divine. Still, I can't help but think that the serious lag issues (which are noticeable even when performing simple tasks like moving between sections in Android Market) is just one more example of how Samsung roll; Release great hardware, cripple it with buggy software, forget about it while you work on the new shiny-shiny.
I'll see how it fairs over the weekend, and check up more on the Desire HD, and hopefully between the two I'll have a wicked phone I enjoy for the next couple of years!
Thanks for all of your input, it's genuinely appreciated

[Q] Buying an i9000M, but would you recommend this?

Hello.
Directly to the question: Is the current state of the (Bell) i9000 Galaxy S completely working? (Lag, GPS issues, 2.2, etc)?
A little bit of background:
I own a Galaxy Tab, and it's absolutely the best mobile device I've ever had and seen. I've had nothing but good experience with no issues at all.
My dad wanted to jump the smartphone bandwagon and started to inquire about the iPhone, naturally I was like lolwut? Hellz no! Android + 4" screen + Google Maps Navigation baby!
Because the P1000 and the i9000 models are world class devices (multiple region specific firmwares and support, such as Arabic) I thought the i9000 would be the best choice for him since he already likes what my phone/tablet does.
Then I came here to the forums just to see what's up... and BAM! ...greeted with problems being reported left and right like no tomorrow! Flashing issues, updates bricking, GPS issues, lag and all sorts of issues. Now i'm hesitating and and having second thoughts about buying one at this point. But what is the alternative? Are the minority just having these issues or bad luck?
But man seriously, it's hard to ignore the awesome features this phone has, and the rather great experience I'm having with the Samsung Tab, I'm dying to know whether its safe to buy this now or wait.
Alternatively, what would be an equivalent device with features like a front facing camera, 4"+ screen, huge internal app storage, global support (arabic, europien), etc)?
You're advise is highly appreciated, I have two 1.5 months to decide!
If you've got 1.5-2 months, I say wait for the Nexus S.
Pretty much the same phone, but with all issues addressed and no Samsung B.S.
If you want one before that, then yes: go for the i9000m. I had to swap mine during the DOA period (30 days), but aslong as you upgrade via CWM and not ODIN or Kies AND make sure you have one of the new batch, you won't have any issues.
Honetly, the only "real" issue is the GPS
I got a SGS since october and I don't use lagfix or whatever and it's a pretty good device.
Only GPS can be, sometimes, kind of "all over the place". I've had "some" issue (not all the time) with it but that's about it.
And since the new Nexus S is almost the same hardware (but SGS has better options, IMO) we'll surelly get an even more optimised Gingerbread!

[Q] Is SGS worth buying?

Hey guys, hope ur all good. I am considering buying the SGS cuz they put it on sale (333€ is it a good price?) for a brand new SGS. I have a few question thou.
- Is the GPS fixed in the newer SGS? i want to use the GPS like navigator in my car with navigon or copilot or will the SGS give me problem as a navigator in the car?
- I really wanted a led-flash on the camera but the SGS doesnt provide it, is there another way to use the phone like a flashlight? does the screen work like a flashlight?
-Kies...the software program of hell...from what ive been told and reading is that Kies is piece of crap, and i dont intend to root my phone yet i want it all stock (2.3.3) to begin with, can i upgrade my phone via OTA or is it only KIES ?
i want good call quality, playing some 3d-games, messaging, browsing and checking email and so on..
i can get it for 333€ here where i live in sweden so do u think SGS is worth picking up? I have been watching reviews all the day and i still dont know if i should pick it up or not? whats ur thoughts about this?
Don't buy it. The GPS is so flaky. Ill never buy another Samsung phone.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
ok that was not much for an answer, from what ive been reading is that the newer SGS have fixed GPS, can anyone confirm this?
if you are in the states just wait for the SGS2, if you are in europe, go buy the SGS2.
SGS1 has horrible gps performance, and If I hadn't bought this phone would easily pass it for the SGS2
romdroid. said:
Hey guys, hope ur all good. I am considering buying the SGS cuz they put it on sale (333€ is it a good price?) for a brand new SGS. I have a few question thou.
- Is the GPS fixed in the newer SGS? i want to use the GPS like navigator in my car with navigon or copilot or will the SGS give me problem as a navigator in the car?
- I really wanted a led-flash on the camera but the SGS doesnt provide it, is there another way to use the phone like a flashlight? does the screen work like a flashlight?
-Kies...the software program of hell...from what ive been told and reading is that Kies is piece of crap, and i dont intend to root my phone yet i want it all stock (2.3.3) to begin with, can i upgrade my phone via OTA or is it only KIES ?
i want good call quality, playing some 3d-games, messaging, browsing and checking email and so on..
i can get it for 333€ here where i live in sweden so do u think SGS is worth picking up? I have been watching reviews all the day and i still dont know if i should pick it up or not? whats ur thoughts about this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
€333? Prepay I'm assuming? If so it's a good price, costs closer to €470 here.
GPS is working fine in mine, I'm on 2.3.3 (JVB), get's a lock on 8-9 satellites in 5- 8 seconds. I don't really use it much but my brother in law reckons it's great for navigating around Ireland.
You can use the screen as a flashlight but it will never match an LED flash, used to use my X10 mini as a torch, came in very handy.
Kies is a piece of crap, you're going to have to root and use Odin or Heimdall to get the best out of the phone but it's easy to get the hang of, and there's plenty of help to be found on this site. Having said that, you're in Sweden so you can try Kies if you want, JVH (XEE) is available in your region now.
Call quality for me is fine, only problem I have is with my provider, networks been dire lately. Messaging and email are very user friendly and browsing is great ( I use Dolphin HD, but the stock browser's fine if you don't need multiple tabs open).
Plenty of decent 3D games to be had at decent prices, try Gameloft, haven't paid more than €3 for a game and I've gotton some for €2 and got to pick another for free.
In the end you're the one who has to live with the phone so I'd go to a shop and have a play around with one, see what you think.
One thing to keep in mind though, with the SGS 2 coming the original may drop even further in price. I have friends that work in a mobile shop and they were talking to the Samsung rep recently. He told them that Samsung are going to be releasing a 1.4Ghz single core version of the original alongside the SGS 2. Don't quote me, I'm only repeating what I was told, but if it's true then it's bound to drive the price of the original SGS down even further.
So i am back. I bought a standalone gps from navigon so i dont care about the gps anymore, and now they have SGS for 270€ brand new without contract. should i go for it? How is the call quality?
call quality is good, also TONS of ROMs and Kernels for you to choose from, as you can see there are a lot of support for this phone.
basically you will never get bored of it, as there is always something new for you to suit your needs
I have both the SGS and S2 and both have very good GPS for navigation.
Sgs. Is an azing cell phone, I can do a lot without even rooting it and that includes installing android 2.3.4 and I live in India and have installed European 2.3.4 earlier and gps worked very gud also if you want to root your phone their are tons of amazing. Roms which can get Every little Drop out of your sgs. Now if you don't want to root your phone and really need a flash for camera then you can go for htc incredible see but you will get a super lcd and not a super amoled screen in incredible s! I bought a sgs 1 month ago for 22000 Indian rupees (convert the currency yourself) and I pretty Happy that I bought a sgs and not a incredible s coz after rooting I can play THD games. Also you'll get 16gb internal. Sd card in sgs! Your decision. Make it right!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
SGS is a great phone. Tons of mods and custom roms to choose and excellent support here in XDA.
SGS or SGS II is up to you.
I never had any probs with GPS. Mine locks on in 15 seconds INSIDE MY HOME!!! HONEST! I am on Juwes 5.2 Smart edition/Semaphore 1.5
SGS II is to expensive imo, but if i want to stick with stock rom 2.3 is it laggy?
it was only the first few releases of USA versions that seemed to have lot of GPS issues
i never had problem with mine
anything that was made after August 2010 had the GPS issue fixed already
Everyphone can lag on any,rom either it is stock or custom it jist,depends how you use it ! A pretty low user will not face lags on 2.1 and heavy users can even lag stock2.3.4 or cm7
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
Ya my has pretty,awesome gps !
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
thx for ur answers guys. is it hard to root and put in cm7 for an example? is cm7 stable? overclocking possible to how much?
do you think samsung will still support it or will it become "old hardware" now when SGS II is released and soon to come SGS III
also is 269€ priceworthy for SGS today? brand new ofc.
romdroid. said:
thx for ur answers guys. is it hard to root and put in cm7 for an example? is cm7 stable? overclocking possible to how much?
do you think samsung will still support it or will it become "old hardware" now when SGS II is released and soon to come SGS III
also is 269€ priceworthy for SGS today? brand new ofc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its very easy to get cm7 and yes it is stable now so you can use it daily.
Depending on the kernel you can over clock up to 1700 mhz
What's a signature?
I've had my SGS since day one. Only had to send it in for repair once because the antenna had been damaged by some dirt that managed to get in my phone (likely from work); the repair was finished and returned to me (through Bell Canada) within 2 weeks, no questions asked.
I've never had a single problem since... GPS locks in under 10 seconds, wifi is perfect, call quality is perfect, display is amazing. Love my SGS.
I DO plan on getting a Moto Atrix or SGSII someday however.
Had before a ZTE Blade and now since 3 months a SGS. I wanted a good and actual Android device for at least ~ 320 EUR, a Galaxy S2 is too expensive. Never regret this buy and bought a 2nd one for my wife 4 weeks ago ;-)
Cpt.Peppy said:
Had before a ZTE Blade and now since 3 months a SGS. I wanted a good and actual Android device for at least ~ 320 EUR, a Galaxy S2 is too expensive. Never regret this buy and bought a 2nd one for my wife 4 weeks ago ;-)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ye i sold my blade yesterday, great phone for the price but i feelt like upgrading
the choise just got harder. Xiaomi Phone or SGS?

[Q] Too get S5 or not?

Currently, I am still using my S2(i777). Even though I know the S5 is a more than worthy upgrade, I am wondering if at this point I should hold out until the Nexus 6 or something else comes out? I currently run CM on my S2 and from I have read I cannot run that on the S5. How does every one else like the Stock based ROMs coming from CM?
I would love to get an S5 (or a Note 3) but won't until the bootloader is unlocked and I can load roms like Cyanogen or Slim. It is a real shame that I have had 4.4.4 for almost two months on my two year old Note 2 and cannot get a new AT&T Samsung phone with it.
I'm there now as well. I have a couple of Skyrockets (i727) that are still going strong. One had to have a power button worked on, but both are still solid. I'm running a build of CM11 with a custom kernel, putting KitKat 4.4.4 on both, and they are running great. However, great is a relative term - music still skips sometimes when I get an email or text message, and a lot of apps are getting pokey on them. I also wonder how much longer root will even be achievable, and I'd like to get some modern hardware before the gate is completely closed.
I'm torn between the Galaxy S5, which has the features I like, but will probably never be bootloader unlocked (and thus stuck on whatever Android kernel is present when Samsung gets tired of it) and the HTC One M8, which can be bootloader unlocked immediately, but which has a low-res camera, non-removable battery, and seems to have questionable quality assurance (despite the snazzy metal case)
I might could live with the locked bootloader, as it appears there are some work-arounds, but cyanogenmod definitely added a significant amount of life to my current phone. The Galaxy SII Skyrocket started with Gingerbread...
I just don't know.
It's a great phone. Unlocked or not. We got root so that's big. Knox is intact as well. It's your call. I'm coming from HTC m7 and this phone is so much better. The camera, waterproof (legit- I have run in a downpour on purpose) beautiful screen, sdcard, and it's fast. I really love it.
I do miss unlocked and cyanogenmod but the best device for that is a Nexus IMO. I'll look for that. But Samsung did well with the s5.

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