Database Develop

Surprised by great gaming performance

I didn't think the nook color would play higher end games, but so far I'm really impressed. I have the following running quite well so far:
Raging Thunder 2
Asphalt 5
N.O.V.A.
Dungeon Hunter
Dungeon Defenders
Krazy Kart Racing
Pool Break Pro
Oh, and the graphically intense Angry Birds and Angry Birds seasons...

It also runs the Snesoid/Gensoid/Nesoid emulators perfectly. I wasn't expecting that just looking at the clockspeed (800mhz)

I'm not surprised because I know that the NC contains the same PowerVR GPU that the Mid-Range Droid X / Droid 2 devices do. I've run "Dungeon Defenders" (first game powered by Unreal Engine and more graphically intense than Angry Birds) and it runs fairly smooth. The high end devices like those of the Galaxy S family have even more powerful PowerVR GPU and run it better of course. The PowerVR GPU model in Apple's products is between the NC and the SGS family if anyone is interested.

epakrat75 said:
I'm not surprised because I know that the NC contains the same PowerVR GPU that the Mid-Range Droid X / Droid 2 devices do. I've run "Dungeon Defenders" (first game powered by Unreal Engine and more graphically intense than Angry Birds) and it runs fairly smooth. The high end devices like those of the Galaxy S family have even more powerful PowerVR GPU and run it better of course. The PowerVR GPU model in Apple's products is between the NC and the SGS family if anyone is interested.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The latest generation of Apple products actually use virtually the same processor as the Hummingbird found in the Samsung products. They use the same PowerVR SGX540 GPU.
But Apple seems to set mystery clocks on their A4 chips that appear to vary depending on the device. So the iPad's CPU/GPU appear to be clocked higher than the iPhone's. The iPhone may or may not dynamically clock up though based on what I've read.
An iPad should have identical performance to a Galaxy Tab though as far as raw hardware power goes. Any differences are likely purely in software.

pfcwintergreen said:
It also runs the Snesoid/Gensoid/Nesoid emulators perfectly. I wasn't expecting that just looking at the clockspeed (800mhz)
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Click to collapse
Id be mad if it couldnt handle those, my old 200mhz Wing managed that.

tekdemon said:
The latest generation of Apple products actually use virtually the same processor as the Hummingbird found in the Samsung products. They use the same PowerVR SGX540 GPU.
An iPad should have identical performance to a Galaxy Tab though as far as raw hardware power goes. Any differences are likely purely in software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite true, the A4 iOS line is still using a SGX535 (same as the 3GS). Capable GPU, bit better than the 530 on the Nook Color (and Moto Droid line) but not up to par with the 540 on the Galaxy Hummingbird in terms of specs (it's about half as fast as the 540).
But, unlike the 540, the 535 is actually being used for UI acceleration on the iOS devices, giving them that trademark smoothness in everyday use, making iOS devices feel much faster than Android.

Croak said:
Not quite true, the A4 iOS line is still using a SGX535 (same as the 3GS). Capable GPU, bit better than the 530 on the Nook Color (and Moto Droid line) but not up to par with the 540 on the Galaxy Hummingbird in terms of specs (it's about half as fast as the 540).
But, unlike the 540, the 535 is actually being used for UI acceleration on the iOS devices, giving them that trademark smoothness in everyday use, making iOS devices feel much faster than Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I could find it's only slightly better than the 530 and merely amounts to a slight clock freq increase... the 540 was PowerVR's big perf change.
Anyways, I'm not surprised that these games run OK given that this is likely the level of hw that they were targeted at. Next year might bring some problems as more games will be targeted at Tegra 2.

game performance of NC is great, but I hate the poor video playback capabilities, I admire Samsung galaxy can play 720p mkv files without any problem because most of my movies are 720p mkv files.
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using XDA App

ctos said:
game performance of NC is great, but I hate the poor video playback capabilities, I admire Samsung galaxy can play 720p mkv files without any problem because most of my movies are 720p mkv files.
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I broke down and picked one up yesterday, but it's going back since I'm finding it way too hard to insert the mini-USB and couldn't manage it at all this morning. Anyways, NC is nowhere near as fast as Tegra 2. It's not bad, definitely better than ARM11, but still... not even close to Tegra 2...
...going to give B&N one more shot at not trying to sell sh!t quality for $250...

pfcwintergreen said:
It also runs the Snesoid/Gensoid/Nesoid emulators perfectly. I wasn't expecting that just looking at the clockspeed (800mhz)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where can I get the emulators?

bassrebel said:
Where can I get the emulators?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Either get market going, or find them elsewhere online... IIRC they're paid apps, but there might be some free ones for Genesis, SNES, & gb...
(Got a replacement NC. Idiot guy in the store was trying to tell no, thats as far as it goes, it's OK... so I asked got power? Yep. Plug it in. See no nice shiny LED lighting up on the cable... tries their store charger same deal as my cable, tries the demo unit and in it goes...
I tried the new one's cable BEFORE I left the store this time, but when I got home and started it charging I find that I have one with the SUPER sensitive touch screen...)

I haven't been too happy with gaming performance on this. Mostly because many of my games look like this...
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
They don't play full screen and look bad. That screenshot was from Raging Thunder 2 Lite.

Wonder if the Spare Parts trick we used for the Galaxy Tab will work on the NC.
I'm not rooted* and don't plan to be or I'd test it.
But basically, you install Spare Parts from the Market, fire it up, check Compatibility mode if it is unchecked, or uncheck it if it checked, reboot the device, then un-check or check Compatibility mode one more time, reboot again, and it will start stretching apps to full screen.
*Not rooting because I already have the far more capable, faster, lighter/smaller Galaxy Tab for full-on tablet duties. The dirt cheap Nook Color is probably going to be my dedicated bathroom device (replacing my Kindle WiFi) for throne and tub reading. I won't miss the eInk at all indoors, so the Kindle will now be just for camping trips thanks to its incredible battery life and outdoor-friendly display.

camwinnn said:
Id be mad if it couldnt handle those, my old 200mhz Wing managed that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
only reason im suprised it runs the "oid" emulators so well is because they run pitifully slow on my android phone running at 600mhz. naturally i concluded that the app required alot of juice to run properly. maybe its a software problem on my phone

Ravynmagi said:
I haven't been too happy with gaming performance on this. Mostly because many of my games look like this...
They don't play full screen and look bad. That screenshot was from Raging Thunder 2 Lite.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, spare parts & the compatibility setting gets you full screen, or at least in everything that I've tried on various devices so far, and no incompatibilities yet either.

Ravynmagi said:
I haven't been too happy with gaming performance on this. Mostly because many of my games look like this...
They don't play full screen and look bad. That screenshot was from Raging Thunder 2 Lite.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, you need to do the Spare Parts fix (that's what I did). All of the games I listed play fullscreen (Raging Thunder 2 included) and are the HD versions. They actually look and play great.

cutterjohn said:
I broke down and picked one up yesterday, but it's going back since I'm finding it way too hard to insert the mini-USB.
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Click to collapse
LOL! That's probably because it's a Micro-USB rather than Mini-USB. They're similar connectors but are certainly different enough that you won't succeed in inserting one into the other. I certainly wouldn't fault B&N or the NC for that.
cutterjohn said:
Anyways, NC is nowhere near as fast as Tegra 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was never advertised as such or intended to be. It's common knowledge (especially here) that the NC only sports a PowerVR 530 (unlike the 535 in the iPad). The Tegra 2 is even faster than the 540. Of course the NC wouldn't be anywhere near as fast. LOL! Perhaps, you should return just return the NC and purchase an actual tablet like the ViewSonic G-Tablet with it's awful screen for much more $$$ instead of an E-Reader if you have such high expectations.

epakrat75 said:
Perhaps, you should return just return the NC and purchase an actual tablet like the ViewSonic G-Tablet with it's awful screen for much more $$$ instead of an E-Reader if you have such high expectations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
God, I couldn't believe how bad the G-Tablet screen was. Bought one from Office Depot when visiting my family for Christmas, because my Dad fell in love with my Galaxy Tab, and I thought it would make a nice gift for him. The display unit was locked down to the kiosk tight, so I was always looking at it from above in landscape mode.
Lucky for me, I decided to play with it and get it set up for him before wrapping it. Made me sick how bad it was off-angle, not to mention the blizzard of force closes on the very first boot up. Took it back and got him an Acer 10" netbook instead, which he does love.
I'm positive B&N is losing money on the NC, based on what they had to have spent on the display alone. Somebody there bought a clue or two when they opted for high-end parts and farmed out the industrial design to a real design firm. I imagine they've sold thousands upon thousands of these things just on the look and feel, functionality be damned. I know that's why I impulse bought one even though I already own and love a Galaxy Tab.

What is the fix? I am wanting to get magic gem to play full screen. I downloaded spare parts from the market but didn't see any option that would help.
sent from nook color

ethion said:
What is the fix? I am wanting to get magic gem to play full screen. I downloaded spare parts from the market but didn't see any option that would help.
sent from nook color
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10224035&postcount=13

[Q] Is anyone able to compare the ipad1 to the nook?

If anyone has both or had both, would you be able to answer a few questions?
I got a brand new ipad 1 for $280 and ended up selling it a few weeks ago because it really didnt meet my expectations for performance. I like Android OS better because of user customization ability and the widgets, which I use all the time. I dont like choosing between a million apps. I was very disappointed with the browser experience of the ipad 1. It was good for viewin 2-3 pages but after that, it would checker-board and also because of the limited ram (256mb) it would constantly refresh. Browsng on the ipad 1, was very minimal browsing, nothing that I can replace a netbook with. I think the Nook has 512mb ram which is the same as the ipad2....Also the ipad1 lacked multitasking (Even simple ones like chatting with someone on gchat and going back to my browser page) and notifications.
1) How does the browsing experience for the Nook compare to the ipad1?
2) With the new mods and tweaks, what about responsiveness?
I plan to use the tablet for watching movies, netflix when it comes out, browsing, gchat and multi-tasking all around with email and stuff. The ipad severely underperformed in that aspect and in the notification aspect. Basically, if it can do everything my stock mytouch4g phone can do (1ghz, 786mb ram), I will be happy.
3) Is the nook a legitimate replacement for an android tablet like the xoom? I mean considering the price + mods and tweaks, to someone who doesnt have one, it LOOKS good on youtube. BUt you never know how itll work out until soemone who used it tells you the truth.

kettlecorn said:
1) How does the browsing experience for the Nook compare to the ipad1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The biggest problem I have run into browsing involves sites automatically redirecting to the mobile versions although the NC is generally better off, at least in my opinion, with full versions. That is easily fixed with a few tweaks however. I have many times had 5-6 tabs open in Opera while listening to Pandora or an audio book in Mort Player and notice no slowdown.
kettlecorn said:
2) With the new mods and tweaks, what about responsiveness?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything short of Dungeon Defenders runs with no apparent slowdown after proper setup, and it is only going to get faster as Dalingrin and others continue working on it. I can whip back and forth between all my pages of apps without seeing any hesitation or stuttering with 5 widgets on my main page and 10+ apps on every page.
kettlecorn said:
3) Is the nook a legitimate replacement for an android tablet like the xoom? I mean considering the price + mods and tweaks, to someone who doesnt have one, it LOOKS good on youtube. BUt you never know how itll work out until soemone who used it tells you the truth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To me, it definitely is. I frequently use my Nook for a few main tasks, all of which it handles perfectly in my experience.
1) RDP (I use Remote Desktop Client by Xtralogic)
2) Streaming video (UPNPlay + RockPlayer)
3) Audio books (Mort Player)
4) Web Browsing (Opera)
5) Remote control of media on my PC (MPC-HC Remote/VLC Remote)
6) Playing games (Angry Bird+Seasons+Rio, Stupid Zombies, Fruit Ninja, Words With Friends, Speed 3D FX, NES/SNES/GBA/GameGear/Genesis/PSX emulators)
7) lulz (FML, Cheezeburger, joke apps)
On an important note though, lacking 4G and GPS really annoys me, but I am planning on getting a Bionic whenever they finally release which tethering to should cover me for both of those.

I never had that many problems with the internet on the ipad. But I do not have a lot installed. I use the apps that came with it for most all my stuff. When I try to use other apps to copy files to it that’s when the problems started. after removing the files every thing is good. I have Angry Birds and other games running with no issues. The battery life is the same as the NC running CM7 off sdcard. All in all the nook color is very impressive for the price.

Awesome, thanks for the reply. It looks like with the overclock and some mods itll run just fine. I'm also looking into the archos tablets but I don't think they are as good as the nook in terms of support or getting honeycomb.

In all honesty I am a fan of android, and not a fanboy of apple...that being said...
I enjoy using my girlfriend's iPad, and if they weren't $500+ I would have bought one. After spending alittle over $250 on my nook color, I am VERY pleased with it.
I think my girlfriend is a little jealous too, especially when she sees me playing flash off the internet. I think the screen size is just perfect, and with the progress the developers have made on CM7 so far, it is working great. I think the main benefit of Android over apple is that you have more choices on which software to run on the device.
There are some very lightweight and fast web browsers out for Android, and I think you will find one to suit your needs.
Very pleased with my nook color and I recommend them to many friends.

I have both iPad and a CM7 nook. This is my take:
- iPad is huge! It does not fit any pocket. In fact is so big, that you have to carry a bag if you want to take it along (and if you take a bag, you might as well take a notebook). This is a magor plus for the nook. 7" seems to be just fine for me.
- iPad has a very low resolution screen. The screen density on the iPad is much lower then any phone's. This is relay frustrating for me. The nook has much better screen density.
- 4:3 vs. 16:10. I prefer the widescreen. 4:3 is probably better for magazines, but when it comes to video a lot of the 4:3 screen is wasted.
- when it comes to performance - the nook is much faster (using CM7 with the OC kernel), unfortunately battery life on the nook is not that great.
So, I guess it's more of a choice of form factor. For me, 10" 4:3 screen is not a good choice at all. I can't comfortably hold it in one hand. The plus is that the iPad has a bit of a WOW-factor over here (in Bulgaria).

I actually own both. Here's my take:
iPad:
- More responsive screen (huge perk for me)
- Appstore is so superior to Market. It's not even a contest.
- Bigger screen = more enjoyable browsing from the couch.
Nook Color (Phiremod 5.3 @ 1.1ghz):
- More portable
- More enjoyable reading ebooks (which is my primary use for it atm)
- more "fun" with the moding community and openness of Android
- Much easier to sideload apps and books. Huge plus.
All in all, I have an iPhone 4 and the iPad is a glorified iPhone. So I bought the iPad for the fiance and she absolutely loves the simplicity of it as she can relate to it because she has an iPhone as well.
I bought the Nook initially and learning Android was not as intuitive as learning iOS was for her. So the nook simply frustrates her.
Each has it's purpose. It's really all about what you're going to do with each device.
EDIT: Also, I paid $200 for my Nook (new) and $300 for her iPad (new). At these price points, if I could have just ONE device, I'd choose the iPad (jailbroken) over the Nook Color (CM7). If it were between the NC and the iPad2 @ $500, NC, no question. But that's just me.

Got both.
Ipad has netflix. NC will never get netflix, ever. Netflix requires qualcom chip DRM.
That is a big plus for ipad/phone, a single killer app.
Flash support if you ROM the nook.
I feel flash beats netflix, or at least ballances the scale.
Form factor of NC is ideal, 7 inch will win the tablet form factor wars for obvious reasons.
Ipad is wifi only, so not much diff there.
Ipad apps, seems like most I ever used (read: free) were upscaled iphone apps. Pixel doubling fail. Suppose android has same issue to a much lesser extent, and somwhoe it never bothers. Could be a bias, but really the ios apps seem to have more profound issue with native tablet apps or making apps scale to larger screen.
Multitasking. Ipad came out around the time of mutitasking ios apps, but seems to not share the feature with iphone.
I love the nook color over ipad. Ipad is dead in the eyes of apple.
Deliver by Epic 4G xda app

snives said:
The biggest problem I have run into browsing involves sites automatically redirecting to the mobile versions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can easily change your userAgent with dolphin... sorry if its been mentioned in the thread, I didnt look

kettlecorn said:
If anyone has both or had both, would you be able to answer a few questions?
I got a brand new ipad 1 for $280 and ended up selling it a few weeks ago because it really didnt meet my expectations for performance. I like Android OS better because of user customization ability and the widgets, which I use all the time. I dont like choosing between a million apps. I was very disappointed with the browser experience of the ipad 1. It was good for viewin 2-3 pages but after that, it would checker-board and also because of the limited ram (256mb) it would constantly refresh. Browsng on the ipad 1, was very minimal browsing, nothing that I can replace a netbook with. I think the Nook has 512mb ram which is the same as the ipad2....Also the ipad1 lacked multitasking (Even simple ones like chatting with someone on gchat and going back to my browser page) and notifications.
1) How does the browsing experience for the Nook compare to the ipad1?
2) With the new mods and tweaks, what about responsiveness?
I plan to use the tablet for watching movies, netflix when it comes out, browsing, gchat and multi-tasking all around with email and stuff. The ipad severely underperformed in that aspect and in the notification aspect. Basically, if it can do everything my stock mytouch4g phone can do (1ghz, 786mb ram), I will be happy.
3) Is the nook a legitimate replacement for an android tablet like the xoom? I mean considering the price + mods and tweaks, to someone who doesnt have one, it LOOKS good on youtube. BUt you never know how itll work out until soemone who used it tells you the truth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My experience with the ipad 1 mimics yours, though I will say for one or two page browsing the ipad is superior. However, I can open 7 or 8 tabs at once in DolphinHD (whatever the maximum number it lets you open) on the NC without any slowdown when scrolling through pages which makes it vastly superior for me as I always have at least 3 or 4 tabs open when browsing. If you want to do anything like drawing or note taking, the screen is more sensitive on the ipad to allow that, though you can also do it on the NC, just not as well.
In terms of tablet useability, it is as usable if not more so than my Fascinate. You can easily multitask and it performs well. Mail, gchat etc. all run at the same time without issue. Movie watching is high quality if you convert the movies or use VLC convert and stream to encode on the fly to the proper format. I prefer the form factor as it's more portable and you can use it one-handed which is not really possible with the ipad. It absolutely can be used as an everyday tablet.

Probably no sense in repeating everything everyone has said so I'll say that I pick the NC up more often than the iPad because having Flash is important to me and the size is so much nicer, especially when reading. The iPad is just overly huge.

parasense said:
Got both.
Ipad has netflix. NC will never get netflix, ever. Netflix requires qualcom chip DRM.
That is a big plus for ipad/phone, a single killer app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll make a lier out of you yet
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=995759
It was working for some time, but they caught on to us. It's close to coming out, though...

What about the NC screen brightness, contrast, viewing angles, color reproduction, flickering?
I've used an Ipad 1 in a bright store and it suffers a lot from glare, even at highest brightness setting.
Couldn't find a Nook Color in my country to try it out.

I have both an ipad 1 and the nc. In the past I have had a Cruz tablet, gtab, and Augen tablet. There are three things I have to have in a tablet: speed, portability, and a good screen. Out of all those tablets only one meets all those criteria and its the nc.
The screen is superb. Its has great viewing angles, and it's bright and crisp. The speed once rooted and overclocked is good, there are faster tablets but not at this price point. Finally, this is truly a portable device. You can't just toss an ipad or grab in your pocket. Plus have you ever tried to hold those larger tablets in one hand for any period of time?
I would say for now if you want a nice, zippy, portable tablet this is the clear cut winner.

parasense said:
Ipad has netflix. NC will never get netflix, ever. Netflix requires qualcom chip DRM.
That is a big plus for ipad/phone, a single killer app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm... ever? To quote Marge Gunderson, "Not so sure about your detective work there, Lou"
"Ever" is a mighty strong statement.

playon lets you access netflix via your home PC - so while technically I don't have direct access, i can access netflix from anywhere using my nook color using playon
Jgrimoldy said:
Hmmm... ever? To quote Marge Gunderson, "Not so sure about your detective work there, Lou"
"Ever" is a mighty strong statement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Screen dust?

Ive noticed i have a small fleck of dust (which i find very very irritating). Anyone else got similar? Its most likely a dust flake between the digitizer and the screen as it moves relative to the image underneath. Sure it wasnt there when i bought it.

I've had mine since November and there is no dust under my screen unlike my iPhone 3G that I cleaned only a couple of months ago!

In the daylight i can see its a very white fleck under the digitiser. Very disappointed with this tab so far, slow, buggy and badly built. Such a shame as i love my Galaxy S2.

rovex said:
In the daylight i can see its a very white fleck under the digitiser. Very disappointed with this tab so far, slow, buggy and badly built. Such a shame as i love my Galaxy S2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Half the stuff i've seen you moan about I do not have any issue with at all.
I would suggest you stick to your phone or just go buy an ipad as nothing will keep you satisfied.
No doubt you would have lot's to moan about with them as well.
My brother has 2 ipads and I still prefer my Tab 8.9 over them.
I'm running stock with Go Launcher and no problems here from my side. It runs as I would expect it too and it is an addition to my phone and pc, not a replacement of either.

Hate to say it, but choccy31 is right. You make 8.9 appear a lot worse than it is. It's not slow or buggy, with the latest CM9 ICS it's smooth enough and without problems. It's not badly built, you having dust under the screen does not mean we all have it. If you don't like it, you can always sell it, why keep it when everything is wrong with it?

choccy31 said:
Half the stuff i've seen you moan about I do not have any issue with at all.
I would suggest you stick to your phone or just go buy an ipad as nothing will keep you satisfied.
No doubt you would have lot's to moan about with them as well.
My brother has 2 ipads and I still prefer my Tab 8.9 over them.
I'm running stock with Go Launcher and no problems here from my side. It runs as I would expect it too and it is an addition to my phone and pc, not a replacement of either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad someone else agrees..
Sent from my Incredible 2 using xda premium

Im sooo sorry i have upset you all, but the thing is rubbish. Its the worst Android device i have used by some way and ive used a lot. Im not the only one complaining about its speed it IS slow, fact there is no debate. Poor video that surprised me even knowing the Tegra limitations. Micro-stutter, lag, jerking. Maybe ill put up some comparison videos between the tab and the S2 and you will see what i mean. If it was cheap it wouldnt be so bad, but Sammy wanted £400 for this?? glad i didnt pay that.
I wont be getting an 'iPad' because its Apple and automatically fails, but i may well sell this on, swallow the loss and get something better. I should have gone with the Zoom, which is getting good support and is much smoother.

So go and sell it already. I dunno what Tab meets your requirements though, I guess the Transformer Prime is probably the closest you can get to the iPad in build and performance. Can't really think of any others that perform particularly better than this one, or that I can guarantee won't get dust (oh sh-------ttttt!!!!) under the screen.
its Apple and automatically fails
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Click to collapse
Credibility = gone.

Why credibility gone? I hate the look of iOS which i think is very dull and I find Apple a horrible company. I buy Samsung to support free trade and as a protest to the way apple thinks it can limit choice by suing everyone over idiotic patents it should never have been granted.
The TF prime is better, but its not about raw power, its about optimization. There is no reason this tab needs to be so slow when the xoom isnt or even the Advent Vega!
Im going to wait for a real ICS ROM and see, by that time i may have got over the dust disappointment, but if it doesnt speed up its going.
You seem to think im asking to much for a tab to be able to actually function without stuttering, well i dont think i am. Im used to the slight Android stutter, but this is WAY beyond that. If i drag my finger slowly from screen to screen its smooth until it gets to about 40% of the way across, at which point it starts to stutter, however slowly i swipe. My S2 doesnt do that, even my Desire didnt, even my friends Wildfire doesnt and that has a 600mhz single core CPU.

rovex said:
Why credibility gone? I hate the look of iOS which i think is very dull and I find Apple a horrible company. I buy Samsung to support free trade and as a protest to the way apple thinks it can limit choice by suing everyone over idiotic patents it should never have been granted.
The TF prime is better, but its not about raw power, its about optimization. There is no reason this tab needs to be so slow when the xoom isnt or even the Advent Vega!
Im going to wait for a real ICS ROM and see, by that time i may have got over the dust disappointment, but if it doesnt speed up its going.
You seem to think im asking to much for a tab to be able to actually function without stuttering, well i dont think i am. Im used to the slight Android stutter, but this is WAY beyond that. If i drag my finger slowly from screen to screen its smooth until it gets to about 40% of the way across, at which point it starts to stutter, however slowly i swipe. My S2 doesnt do that, even my Desire didnt, even my friends Wildfire doesnt and that has a 600mhz single core CPU.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your Desire didn't? Hmm....as for being markedly worse than the Xoom with TW removed to make the OS more equivalent the performance is the same.
In any case it's hardly fair to compare the 8.9 to the S2 when the latter runs at a lower sub-HD resolution and isn't capable of displaying multiple large widgets. The 8.9 is quite up to HD video play back but then how is that worse than the S2?
I don't think anyone is saying that it's too much to ask for it to function without stuttering but it seems most, including myself, do not see the level of problems you appear to see. The example you give of stuttering at 40% swipe, I really don't see my home screens pause for fractions of a second as I swipe between them; it continues to move smoothly all the way in line with my finger movement.

Its smooth without widgets, but not with them. The more i use, the slower it gets. My S2 is running 6 full screen scrollable widgets, its has no slow down whatsoever. Sure WVGA makes life easier, but the Galaxy note is also smooth with ICS, that is HD and has the same CPU (in most markets). Tablet widgets are no bigger than phone ones., and even if they were the Tab struggles with the same ones my S2 has no issues with, even if they are smaller!
Ive given up using widgets now and it makes the device much nicer to use, but it seems like a waste of the larger screen.
For what its worth i have no issues with gaming.
The Note and S2 will both decode full rate 1080P blu-ray files, the tegra struggles with heavily reduced rate 720P. I have a copy of 'Drive' in 720P on my Laptop, S2 and Tab, the tab stutters and pauses, the others are smooth as silk.

You seem to be forgetting that the CPU and GPU in SGS 2 are more powerful than the Tegra 2 solution. Include also that more powerful device is running on a lower resolution screen, add the a lot more optimized ICS version for SGS 2, and you can clearly see the end result.
Is 8.9 perfectly smooth at this point? No, maybe it will never be, even with official ICS. I doubt we will see the improvement with buggy TouchWiz slapped on it, but at least devs will get some good stuff from it, like camera drivers and kernel. You can just hope for the best, or sell the tablet and purchase another more powerful model, something with Tegra 3 perhaps. We all know what's wrong with this model, we don't need someone to point it out.
High profile 720p and 1080p are just not doable on Tegra 2 solutions, it was like that from the start, there is nothing we can do to make it play nice without stuttering. I do get a decent framerate with DicePlayer on 1.4 GHz with some 720p movies, but not for long, on certain scenes it just becomes choppy. It's choppiest when you start the movie, but if you leave that tablet like that, and not swipe around, it gets better and better, only to be choppy again when more demanding scene comes up.
It is a shame, great screen going to waste, but if i sell it now, i don't know what tablet i would get to replace it. Transformer Prime is not cheap, i would need to add more money to get it, but i just love the form factor on this one. It's a difficult decision, and when the Tegra 3 tablets get their prices slashed, this thing will be even harder to sell.

Im not forgetting anything. My point is that if Tegra is so bad, it should never have been used in a top end device. I only paid £279 for mine, but if i paid the full £399 launch price i would be very upset.
The TF Prime still uses Tegra, the '3' isnt much better, as far as i can see its still broken, they are just throwing more broken cores at the problem in an attempt to fix it.
Its acceptable for now, but i still dont see why it should stutter with hardware acceleration enabled.

rovex said:
Its smooth without widgets, but not with them. The more i use, the slower it gets. My S2 is running 6 full screen scrollable widgets, its has no slow down whatsoever. Sure WVGA makes life easier, but the Galaxy note is also smooth with ICS, that is HD and has the same CPU (in most markets). Tablet widgets are no bigger than phone ones., and even if they were the Tab struggles with the same ones my S2 has no issues with, even if they are smaller!
Ive given up using widgets now and it makes the device much nicer to use, but it seems like a waste of the larger screen.
For what its worth i have no issues with gaming.
The Note and S2 will both decode full rate 1080P blu-ray files, the tegra struggles with heavily reduced rate 720P. I have a copy of 'Drive' in 720P on my Laptop, S2 and Tab, the tab stutters and pauses, the others are smooth as silk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Widgets are the same size? 1 full screen widget on the 8.9 carries over twice as much information as 1 full screen widget on the S2.
How does Dual-core 1.4 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 in the Note equate to Dual-core 1GHz Cortex-A9 in the 8.9?
As for decoding, I would say that the almost double resolution on the 8.9 vs the S2 is a factor aside from CPU difference.
You say the Note is fine and is that from your own experience?

rovex said:
Why credibility gone? I hate the look of iOS which i think is very dull and I find Apple a horrible company. I buy Samsung to support free trade and as a protest to the way apple thinks it can limit choice by suing everyone over idiotic patents it should never have been granted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because it means you aren't judging something objectively... Samsung have been attempting these crazy law suits too, and they did get their name in the smartphone/tablet market by being as close to Apple as possible... TouchWiz for Android 2 is basically Android hacked to look and act more like iOS and the phones up until S2 were all designed to look like iPhone alternatives (look how the Galaxy S is the iPhone 3GS and then the Galaxy Ace is the iPhone 4...), and the people who design the devices and the legal departments are completely unrelated, it's not like each company is some dude who makes every decision.
rovex said:
or even the Advent Vega!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had an Advent Vega... Doesn't even begin to compare to this thing... Was fun for modding but to actually use it was a POS... I mean come on, if you're into modding you can put an unfinished homebrew HoneyComb/ICS on it which doesn't support the camera (lol, the nasty VGA thing) or if not you can run the ridiculous stock ROM with inch-thick navigation bar... The accelerometer doesn't even work right. I think I can put up with choppy homescreen transitions...
You seem to think im asking to much for a tab to be able to actually function without stuttering, well i dont think i am.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not at all, we just can't understand why you don't rid yourself of it and get something else if it makes you so mad. We want you to be happy with whatever device you get but at the same time we don't want to be shouted about at how crappy stuff that we like supposedly is.
Im used to the slight Android stutter, but this is WAY beyond that. If i drag my finger slowly from screen to screen its smooth until it gets to about 40% of the way across, at which point it starts to stutter, however slowly i swipe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah yes, I know what you mean. The homescreens move with my finger but they do lose framerate. Never been important to me as homescreens are, erm, they're just to get you into the apps, and you only swipe between them when you want to see your other widgets/icons, it's not like a frequent thing. I find it stutters a LOT worse when using some live wallpapers, make sure you don't use one of them. A lot of the Honeycomb devices I've used do this though. There aren't many I've seen to run the homescreens smoothly without modding. I mean, for me, it's one of the best Android tablets I've used, the form factor, performance (for the size & weight), screen, etc. all come together really nicely. It's only the homescreen that doesn't seem smooth for me...
Have you tried overclocking? I've heard that can fix the issue. I read somewhere that the homescreens don't use hardware acceleration on this tab.
It's HoneyComb's silly 3D screens thing, the way swiping between them has that unnecessary 3D effect, I mean seriously, what is the practical use of that, it uses way more resources and also affects the intuitiveness of using a touch screen (when you keep things "flat", it creates the feeling of sliding something under your fingers, when the 3D comes in it separates it and feels more like minority report 'gestures'), it seems to be pointless showing off and causes a lot of the stuttering on Android tabs.
Also, have you considered giving the Galaxy Tab 10.1 a try? I've read that it runs better and is more compatible. For me no tabs compare to the Samsung ones in design, weight, etc., the performance isn't perfect but it's the kind of sacrifice you make to get something impossibly thin and light.
My S2 doesnt do that, even my Desire didnt, even my friends Wildfire doesnt and that has a 600mhz single core CPU.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but these are all Android 2 devices which run at 800x480...

I never claimed to be objective, i despise Apple, and im very happy to say why. The galaxys look like an evolution of older Sammy phones and the Tabs look like large versions of them. They didnt copy Apple, call it 'convergent evolution' if you must. Apple are being patent trolls, they started it, the others need to finish it.
I love the look of the 8.9, its lovely, i just want the excessive stutter gone. homescreens are important to Android, its not just about the apps.
I know the Vega is rubbish, but it still manages to be smoother than the Tab.. Thats really sad.
Lower res phones should be smoother yes, but the Galaxy Note is smoother as well, that has the same res. The Xoom is smoother, in fact the 8.9 is the worst T2 powered tab ive used. What i want is ICS with Apex launcher than is smooth and jitter free. A pause or 2 i can handle, but not the gritty jerky laggy mess it currently is. It makes it feel so cheap and low end.
As for the dust, i used a statically charged plastic rod, and managed to make the fleck 'jump' off screen, behind the bezel i guess. It may return but its gone or now.

rovex said:
I never claimed to be objective, i despise Apple, and im very happy to say why. The galaxys look like an evolution of older Sammy phones and the Tabs look like large versions of them. They didnt copy Apple, call it 'convergent evolution' if you must. Apple are being patent trolls, they started it, the others need to finish it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it's not even worth getting into here, but it's still just a company, no need to take it personally, they all do these same things and our tablets wouldn't exist if iPad didn't, and wouldn't be half as great if they weren't competing with it.
homescreens are important to Android, its not just about the apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But why? What can you actually do on a homescreen?
I know the Vega is rubbish, but it still manages to be smoother than the Tab.. Thats really sad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, only if you mod the crap out of it, and I'm sure you can mod this tab to run better if you overclock it and use the right ROMs and stuff...
Lower res phones should be smoother yes, but the Galaxy Note is smoother as well, that has the same res.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And it's running Gingerbread.
The Xoom is smoother
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And bigger, and heavier.
As for the dust, i used a statically charged plastic rod, and managed to make the fleck 'jump' off screen, behind the bezel i guess. It may return but its gone or now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good idea! If it comes back you can just do it again. Great thinking though.

Android has widgets, iOS doesnt. iOS's interface is just a basic list of apps. Android has so much more, yes widgets are apps in a sense i suppose, but they are interactive. If their performance is very poor it ruins the experience. Most apps perform ok in themselves, but the homescreen is the face of the device and it must be smooth.
Yes the Vega must be modded to be smooth, but i standby what i said. A Stock Vega is better than a stock 8.9, and ive done everything i can to make this smooth (ROMs, kernels, overclocks, tweaks), its still slower than a modded Vega.
The Note has ICS now and it destroys the 8.9 with ICS builds. The 8.9 feels like a 500mhz single core unit next to a Note. The Note running GB previously doesnt explain why its faster, it should mean its slower!
The Xoom might be heavier but it has no 'performance enhancing' extras that the 8.9 doesnt have, in fact the 8.9 has faster RAM, or at least a better implemented memory subsystem. Its still manages to be slower.
I simply dont accept the answer 'Blame Honeycomb'. If ICS fixes the issues then i believe Samsung must have changed something else, some limitation or previous decision that was hindering the unit.

Tegra2 for whatever reason is a horrible CPU. I've used a few omap4 tablets and they just seem way smoother than tegra2. I mean a tegra 3 is finally smooth but nvidias cpus seem to be "on paper" good but real world bad each generation. Seem like they come out first with a spec set but poorly implemented once competitors are out. I mean the snapdragon s4 quad will probably destroy tegra 3

The S4 duals beat the T3!
I knew Tegra was old and slow, but i did think that maybe Samsung would have made the best of the bad CPU, it seems they have made the worst of it.

The Most Honest and Unbiased Review of the Nexus 4

I've had a chance to play around with the Nexus 4 for about a week now and I'm ready to give my full review on it.
Display:
The Nexus 4 has one of, if not the most, beautiful displays on any device I have every used. I know the word "retina" is thrown around a lot, but seriously this display is absolutely gorgeous, especially on full brightness. The viewing angles are the highest of any device i have ever used. Text is crisp on any app you use and I have still not seen any pixels. I have read that the One X's display is better, but since I have never used it, I cannot say if it is or not. But anyway, this screen is so bright and vivid and the colors really do pop. I wish the navigation bar buttons did not take up so much room or if the entire bezel was used for the screen, because, in my opinion, they take up too much space.
Design:
I believe this phone has the best design out of any phone in existence, The front is very flush and when the screen is off, you cannot even tell where it ends and where the screen begins. The rubber like band around the phone makes it very grippy and does not slip out of the hand. The back is absolutely gorgeous with the flush glass and the pixelated design really is beautiful. It is one of those things you have to see in person. Although there is a plastic banding in front of the rubber banding that is prone to nicks and scratches, like the T-Mobile Galaxy S II I had previously. There are reports of peoples phones getting very hot, the screen turning yellow, some rattlings from the camera housing, and some other problems with the hardware. This is expected for first round devices. My phones only problem is I too hear the rattling if I shake my phone, but I only hear it if I try to hear it. Another problem is the phone SLIDES OFF OF EVERYTHING. Seriously I bet my of the people that break this thing will be because it slid off of something. A case prevents this though.
Performance:
Stock Android 4.2 Jelly Bean has one of the smoothest UI's of any device. It even tops my iPad 3. There is absolutely no lag in the OS whatsoever. This is because "Project Butter." When you touch the screen, the CPU gets fired up and is ready to go instantly. You can see this if you go into SetCpu and watch how the amount of CPU speed increases the exact moment you tap the screen. All of the stock apps run perfectly. (Except theres no December in the Peoples app ) The app switcher is just amazing and fast. It is so much better than any other app switcher available and it is great to have a dedicated button for it. The Nexus 4 is great at running graphics and performance intensive games like dead trigger, cod zombies, shadow gun, mini motor racing etc. all of these games have no lag whatsoever, because of the 1.5ghz quad core processor and 2 gigs of ram this thing is packing. Also, Google Now is amazing and completely integrated into your life. You will fall in love with all of its features like weather, traffic updates, sports, flights, translations, appointments, and regular search. But all of this amazing performance and features come at a price...
Battery Life...
I wish I could say this 2100mAh battery keeps this thing alive all day but alas, it does not. If you are a heavy user, which I am guessing most XDA users are, it will not last you throughout the day. On low brightness, sync off, and location services off, I find myself having to fully charge it again before the day is over. Now if you are a moderate user, you will not experience this as much. But let me give you an example of what happened today: I was at a restaurant with family for Thanksgiving. I left the house at 5:50 PM with 95% battery. At dinner I used the phone for a little over an hour and a half just browsing the web like looking at laptops on tiger direct, reading gizmodo, endgadget, cracked, etc, and when I got home at around 8:30 I had 46% battery left. I s**t you not. So heavy users beware. I hate using cases, especially for a phone this beautiful, but I might have to find a battery case to get myself through the day.
Storage:
This phone not having an SD Card slot like most android phones is a real killer, especially because it only has 8gb and 16gb. I unfortunately got the 8gb. I knew I was not gonna get the full 8gb, on my iPod touch 8gb I had roughly 7gb of usable space, but on the Nexus 4 you get barely over 5gb of usable space, and that just sucks for most people. Using the cloud to save pictures and music does help, but you can not get as many high graphics games because of this low storage. Which sucks because the Nexus 4 is great when playing high performance games. Again, I would highly recommend getting the 16gb. It is only $50 more. Im most likely gonna sell my Nexus for as much as I can and pay the difference for the 16gb when more are in stock. Hopefully Google does what they did with the Nexus 7 and makes the 16gb the same price as the 8gb and makes a 32gb model.
Camera:
This phone has a great camera. When you are outside, it takes some of the best pictures for a phone. Even the front camera does. And little things like how you tap the screen to access the many camera settings and the new photospehre, you will just fall in love with them. All of my photosphere pictures stitched perfectly. This device is not very good in low light situations, though. This is helped with the devices on board flash though. You can also easily edit your photos through the stock gallery app, and there are plenty of editing options for all of you instagrammers out there. They are mostly all very nice and work well. There is one problem I did have with the camera though. The HDR setting did take better photos, but I could rarely get them to focus, even when I focused manually. Maybe a software problem? Hopefully this is fixed in future updates.
Mobile Stuff/Miscellaneous:
Call quality on this phone is great and I have not got any dropped calls or any complaints from people on the other end. Text messages and picture messages send quickly. The new keyboard with its swype like feature is very good and accurate. I get great speeds on HSPA+. I am in Chicago and can get 25mbps download and 5mbps upload, which is great. You can also get it to connect to LTE if your network uses band 4 for it, like T-Mobile's will later this year, which is great for us Nexus 4 users on T-Mobile. The voice to text is absolutely amazing and almost always gets what you say. I have used Siri and voice dictation on iOS and it just does not even compare. I love how it types what you say as you say it.
Conclusion :
The Nexus 4 right now, in my opinion, is the best android phone out there. And maybe the best phone overall. It is a great phone at a great starting price. This thing has an amazing screen and has no lag in whatever you are doing. Really the only thing that kills it is the storage. If this had a micro SD slot is would just be so much better than it already is. The camera is great when outdoors and when you have sufficient light, flash helps a lot in low light, and the many camera and gallery features are great. The battery life is sub par, but when you're at home or work, you can almost always give it a quick charge when you need it, but you can not just add more storage when you need it. (Except if you use OTG devices.) I would highly recommend this phone to anyone out there looking for a great device. It is not complicated at all and it very noob friendly.
If you have any questions or want me to add anything please just comment or PM me and I will try to help as much as I can! I will add more to this thread if I have more to say later on.

great review!

tuffballa said:
great review!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!

Yeah pretty good review. I find battery life to be very good on the N4 believe it or not. I reach almost 5 hours on screen time with 15 hours off charge. Thats with heavy use. My brightness is on auto, i browse the web switching from cellular to wifi depending on where im at, sync is off and i turn it on during the day to check my emails, stuff like that. Do a lot of tapatalk, few calls, lots of texting and little youtubing. I use it normally, not to fool myself and try to reach 2 days just to be satisfied. Oh yeah lol, since last night im using a custom kernel.

Great, unbiased review! This review made me want the Nexus 4 even more! Hopefully I can get one soon. :fingers-crossed:

barondebxl said:
Yeah pretty good review. I find battery life to be very good on the N4 believe it or not. I reach almost 5 hours on screen time with 15 hours off charge. Thats with heavy use. My brightness is on auto, i browse the web switching from cellular to wifi depending on where im at, sync is off and i turn it on during the day to check my emails, stuff like that. Do a lot of tapatalk, few calls, lots of texting and little youtubing. I use it normally, not to fool myself and try to reach 2 days just to be satisfied. Oh yeah lol, since last night im using a custom kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please share with us the custom kernel you are using. Thx.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Out with the family for thanksgiving for 2ish hours and using the phone for 1 and a half of those... The true spirit of thanksgiving!
Nice review though
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

llustig said:
Please share with us the custom kernel you are using. Thx.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=34480134
And this is me
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Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

cyberkid2002 said:
Out with the family for thanksgiving for 2ish hours and using the phone for 1 and a half of those... The true spirit of thanksgiving!
Nice review though
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I knew that was gonna look bad but I had to say it. Anyway my family can be dull at times
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

barondebxl said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=34480134
And this is me
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's impressive :good:

ctowne said:
That's impressive :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw you post it before which is great, but I cannot go through the day with service sync off. To me that just defeats the whole point of the phone. Perhaps with an incremental update battery life will get better. Seems maybe too much stuff is syncing in the background and is keeping the CPU from sleeping. 5 hours is good though... I'd like more but that's really all I need.

ctowne said:
That's impressive :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And I was using it heavy, like there was no tomorrow
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
---------- Post added at 05:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:20 PM ----------
Jayrod1980 said:
I saw you post it before which is great, but I cannot go through the day with service sync off. To me that just defeats the whole point of the phone. Perhaps with an incremental update battery life will get better. Seems maybe too much stuff is syncing in the background and is keeping the CPU from sleeping. 5 hours is good though... I'd like more but that's really all I need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I turn on sync every hour or so. Just don't need it on all the time unless I'm expecting an important email or something. But people should use their phones as they normally do, not just to reach a certain amount of screen time cause that's just ridiculous. So yeah, if you need sync on then just leave it on, personally I don't need it on all the time.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

barondebxl said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=34480134
And this is me
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why isn't your phone awake when the screen is on? I can't really remember but I think that on every Android i've had, when the screen is on, the phone is Awake

Picked up my N4 today and have been getting to grips with it, initial impressions are. It's fast though have had slow down. Gets very hot during anything using GPS or when playing games. Camera is average and when using the flash images are washed out. It's a bit early to say much about the battery life but after 1hr38mins, its down to 73%. build quality seems good. I thought it would be a bigger leap up from my old phone but am a little disappointed currently. I will continue but if it doesn't impress further it will go back. Do love jelly bean!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

raul90 said:
Why isn't your phone awake when the screen is on? I can't really remember but I think that on every Android i've had, when the screen is on, the phone is Awake
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good question, I have no clue. I just checked my current stats as I'm writing this comment, I'm 9 hours off charge with 2h 15 min on screen time and no awake time
I checked my battery stats when I had the note 2 and the line is all blue when the screen is on. I don't know....
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

you used your phone for an hour and a half at family thanksgiving dinner??

Share your Experience

hi. i see many here who have bought this gorgeous tablet. im in the planning of buying it. i honestly dont want the exynos version cause of my past experience with this chipset being hot and no so stable. and sadly its the only one available here.
im TOO much convinced to get iPad Air 2 because it wipes the floor with these 2 tablets. but i really dont like Apple at all. so much so, i HATE apple! but the S-Lag is pushing me more towards Apple more than ever before... lag on a 2014 Flagship tablet is PLAIN UNACCEPTABLE!
anyways, lets come to the point. WHATS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THIS TABLET? whats the best thing about it? what did u find so-so in this tablet? and what is the worst thing according to YOU in your tablet? pls mention ur model (10.5 or 8.4 and also share the chipset, Snapdragon 800 or Exynos 5420 and also Wi-Fi only or Lte one)
(its only gonna take 3 mins to type and reply to this thread, so pls share ur experience. might be very helpful for some!)

You lost me as soon as you said that the iPad wipes the floor against this tablet. Lol
Sent from my SM-T800 using XDA Premium HD app

I have zero lag with my Exynos Galaxy Tab S 10.5 WiFi running stock NK1 firmware and debloated and all graphic intensive games play smooth and it multitasks faster then my Note 4. The screen is in a league of its own and my jaw drops every time I look at it. Battery life is awesome at around 8-9 screen on hours and tablet runs cool to the touch at all times and it scores around 40,000-41,000 in Antutu which isn't too shabby considering it only uses the the 4 x 1.9ghz cores during the test. Well worth the $399 @ Best Buy and development is decent for it with CM 11 being stable and Lollipop coming in a month or so. I bought three of them instead of the Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2 because it's LCD looked crappy just like IPad Air 2.

Worst thing is scrolling in many apps like tapatalk and even play store is jerky not smooth, both in stock and cm port. Best thing is the screen. If it weren't for the screen I wouldn't get it

guys, 3 days and only 2 people shared their experience? come one dont just view the thread, share what you think to help others buy it.

Not clear to me what the point of this thread is. Much of the discussion on the entire forum is about peoples' experience with the tablet. Maybe if you ask a more specific question, you'll get more of a response.

I'm using this tablet for 4 days now I came from the iPad retina. The screen is so beautiful comparing with the iPad but it has its downsides.
Pro's
-screen
-android (can stream mkv to this device)
-battery life
Con's
-sometimes lag (hopefully the lollipop update will kill the lag)
-design (it's not bad, but the iPad feels more high quality)
Conclusion
I'm using the tablet for watching series and movies in my bed, for this purpose it's the best tablet I've ever been acrossed. Hopefully the lollipop update kills the lag and activate full 64 bit (I've heard the cpu works I'm 32 it mode at the moment)

Model: T800 WiFi (10.5)
Processor: Exynos 5420
I got my tab 2 weeks now and I'm really impressed by it.
I have to say that I've debloated it and trying to get more out of it because I'm not really happy with the amount of RAM used. Out of almost 3GB it uses 60-70% on idle, with no running apps.
I believe this is due to TouchWiz and (I think) some other Samsung stuff.
As for the screen: It's absolutely amazing! Big and Amazing! But, a battery drainer for sure, especially with full brightness.
About the battery life: Reasonable. I don't really watch movies on it and use it more for work, 3rd monitor, reading. Basically everything except watching movies. And still I find that the battery performance could be better. It's not bad, but I find myself plugging it in way too often then I would like. (But I guess that's the sacrifice you make for getting a big awesome screen).
I've also tried the latest CM11 ROM for it, and performance wise it got better.
Faster, smoother and way less RAM used (700MB instead of almost 2GB), but I found that it's missing a lot of Samsung features the stock ROM has to offer (which in turn made it useless IMO, unless you don't need them.)
And I'm also sure that the Lollipop update will do a lot of good things for it, and let's not forget the custom roms that will probably be made once Lollipop is available for this tablet. Things can only get better!
I wouldn't change my Tab S for anything else, although it may sound like I'm a bit negative about it, I absolutely love it.
My experiences so far, hope it helps you decide.

GeorgeP said:
Not clear to me what the point of this thread is. Much of the discussion on the entire forum is about peoples' experience with the tablet. Maybe if you ask a more specific question, you'll get more of a response.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have said that in the 1st post man . simply state Pros and Cons you found out in this tablet. what do u use it for mostly and how long does it run (battery life)?

Test
---------- Post added at 10:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:45 PM ----------
DUHAsianSKILLZ said:
Test
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can finallt post on here! Anyway I have the Galaxy tab s 10.5 with exynos chipset.
I have had this since lauch and no problems so far.
Display, The display is awesome event in direct sunlight you can still see it. Heck its even bright at night. It can rung videos up to 1440p and its way better then lcd. But there is one thing to look out for. Since its amoled, you may get burnt or stuck pixles. I have only one as of now. I have no idea how it happened but its really really tiny to see it. To aviod this problem is to not use applications such as facebook for 6 hours straight. Then you should be fine if you watch movies.
Speakers, great treble and some bass. The quality of it is clear and plays most music perfectly. Depending on some movies they may be quiet but for most its really loud. There are one speaker on the left and right on each side which is a good placement for a thin tablet.
Vibration. Oddly enough this tablet has vibration for nonfications and even when you type! Its not the best like most phones but works well.
Hardwarebuttons/keys. There is a backlight when you press the back or recent apps buttons. They light up which is a plus for me and the home button works well. The home button fingerprint scanner is ok.. But the Ipad air 2 scanner is better. This is due that samsungs home button is oval or the software has been made perfectly like the ipads. But it works most of the times.
Wifi, signal on this tablet rocks! It can detect my neighbors wifi signal and still have 3 bars. It works well on most routers and downloads are faster and more stable since its wifi antenna is really strong.
Battery, I get about 8 hours of screen on time which is really good. I wish i could get more but this is better than the ipads.
UI, samsungs Ui may be laggy but can be fixed by installing nova launcher and disabling knox / some system apps. The multitasking feature works well but not all apps are supported. You would need root to use all apps for multitaking. Also, Samsung lacked of getting updates to this tablet. There has ony been 2 or 3 updates since launch. After the first week I rooted and later install cm11. Its been blazing fast so far with no stutters. There is also custom roms for both the 8.4 and 10.5 inch tablet.
Build quality, very fragile. One drop and there goes your tablet. I would recommend getting a case or somesort to protect this tablet. The screen does pretty well in scratches too. Camera is good for outdoor use and has a great flash. The back has a good cover to put your hands on and prevent slipping. Altougb it has vert thin bezels in which it can be hard to hold in one hand.
Customization, more than the ipad and you can also fox the lag but doing a few things. Rooting can get you way more things like backing up your whole rom in case of a bootloop in which you can restore too. You can also flash custom roms and get tons of features. You can also add sd card for more storage.
App support for this tablet is ok. Most apps work well and some intensive games lag because it isnt optimised for this tablet. I only get lag at the loading screen.
Overall, this tablet is a great one with tons of customozation and features, but its fragile like the ipad air 2. But alteast its a bit thick then the ipad air. If you are a video watcher/ streamer, this tablet is good for you as it had great battery life,screen quality, and also different modes of color ehanments to choose from. Heck this is also my tv remote as it can change channels do other stuff with the ir sensor.

I've had my 8.4 WiFi Tab S for about a month now, here are my thoughts:
1) The stock ROM is laggy, and really betrays the specs of this tablet. Even installing Nova launcher and debloating as much as I can did little to speed it up. This was my biggest disappointment out of the box, and continued to frustrate me until I finally rooted it and installed CM11...more on that later
2) RAM usage/allocation is not good on the stock ROM. Dolphin browser for example will crash when more than a few tabs are open, where on my other devices this is not an issue.
3) The screen is gorgeous - it really is a class leader. Nothing comes close to Samsungs SAMOLED displays, this one has a 1600 x 2560 360ppi dazzler. It's really that good.
4) Most stock Samsung apps are gimmicky and useless. They just take up memory and shouldn't be there, or at least be optional to install.
5) This is XDA, so it's likely if you're reading this you're thinking about rooting the tablet. My advice? In the case of the Tab S 8.4 - DO IT. Do it NOW. CM11 in particular washes away my concerns above, and the tablet performs as it's specs suggest - super quick, minimal lag and powerful. It's like having a new tablet all over again, and things will only bet better once Lollipop comes out.

aami.aami said:
hi. i see many here who have bought this gorgeous tablet. im in the planning of buying it. i honestly dont want the exynos version cause of my past experience with this chipset being hot and no so stable. and sadly its the only one available here.
im TOO much convinced to get iPad Air 2 because it wipes the floor with these 2 tablets. but i really dont like Apple at all. so much so, i HATE apple! but the S-Lag is pushing me more towards Apple more than ever before... lag on a 2014 Flagship tablet is PLAIN UNACCEPTABLE!
anyways, lets come to the point. WHATS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THIS TABLET? whats the best thing about it? what did u find so-so in this tablet? and what is the worst thing according to YOU in your tablet? pls mention ur model (10.5 or 8.4 and also share the chipset, Snapdragon 800 or Exynos 5420 and also Wi-Fi only or Lte one)
(its only gonna take 3 mins to type and reply to this thread, so pls share ur experience. might be very helpful for some!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iOS is a much better OS than Samsung's Android. Let's be honest, the software really lags. But I'm buying the specs, and putting in CM. So with CM, and the specs... it works very well for me. No complaints. Depends on what kind of user you are and what you plan on doing with the tablet. I like a customized ROM, great battery for watching movies and surf the web and do very little gaming... Tab S 10.5 is perfect for me.
---------- Post added at 11:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:46 AM ----------
interfreak said:
I've had my 8.4 WiFi Tab S for about a month now, here are my thoughts:
1) The stock ROM is laggy, and really betrays the specs of this tablet. Even installing Nova launcher and debloating as much as I can did little to speed it up. This was my biggest disappointment out of the box, and continued to frustrate me until I finally rooted it and installed CM11...more on that later
2) RAM usage/allocation is not good on the stock ROM. Dolphin browser for example will crash when more than a few tabs are open, where on my other devices this is not an issue.
3) The screen is gorgeous - it really is a class leader. Nothing comes close to Samsungs SAMOLED displays, this one has a 1600 x 2560 360ppi dazzler. It's really that good.
4) Most stock Samsung apps are gimmicky and useless. They just take up memory and shouldn't be there, or at least be optional to install.
5) This is XDA, so it's likely if you're reading this you're thinking about rooting the tablet. My advice? In the case of the Tab S 8.4 - DO IT. Do it NOW. CM11 in particular washes away my concerns above, and the tablet performs as it's specs suggest - super quick, minimal lag and powerful. It's like having a new tablet all over again, and things will only bet better once Lollipop comes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This guy's response is dead on. :good::good::good::good::good::good:

Running CM11 and I have nothing to complain. Just onhe thing annoys me, the hardware button on the bottom (in landscape). I would like to press iut with my thumb, but that's too far away. Especially when I am browsing lying in bed, pad on my chest/belly.

I have a tab s 8.4 LTE Exynos for about a month now.
Hardware build is fine but could be better. Tablet is very delicate, you have to be careful with it. Feeling in the hand is great, especially the soft back.
Display is absolutely amazing, but you already know that. Really bright, it can also go insanely dark if you want, and sharp as a knife. Colors can punch your face in, or be more natural, depending which mode you want and choose. One thing is for sure, expect screen orgasm all day every day with tab s
Software is mixed bag. There are great software additions for productivity etc but the best option is to put different launcher on it (Nova is great, but I found that smart launcher works even better).
Performance is good but with a different launcher it becomes much better. You have to keep in mind, this display has an insane number of pixels, runs what is probably the most heaviest android skin in existence (TouchWiz), and has note 3 procesor inside. With all this in mind, I was actually surprised with the performance, with multitasking and games as well.
Games run perfectly with some lag here and there on more demanding titles. I love how you can play GTA:San Andreas for example, then go multitask do a ton of other things, and then just hop back to GTA and it will not reload the game, you can just continue playing where you left of.
Speaker is good, lacks more bass, but loud and clear, I have no problem with it.
Battery is good, about 7h average of screen time. I use it heavily with 50% brightness, reading articles, browsing, games and a ton of movies and youtube. With power saving mode, or if you root the tablet and debloat you can go even further with battery.
Also I'm not rooted, yet.
Should you buy this tablet? For me, answer is yes. Kudos to all other great tablets out there, but I wouldn't trade this display for anything in the world.

very unsatisfied
Very unsatisfied. Would return immediately if possible . The screen is just too large and too wide, also the text is very small, and color temperature should be warmer .
Also not possible to hold it in one hand .
Very very unstasfied for reading and browsing . Very bad buy for me .
For watching movies it would be OK i guess .

I am using the 8.4 Wifi Tab S. I have it rooted and debloated a large number of system apps by using Titanium Backup. Using a stock ROM with Nova Launcher makes this thing fly. Also using CM11's latest build from 12/2/14 and everything is working fine so far. I highly recommend using Nova Launcher even if you are not rooted.

peterf81 said:
Very unsatisfied. Would return immediately if possible . The screen is just too large and too wide, also the text is very small, and color temperature should be warmer .
Also not possible to hold it in one hand .
Very very unstasfied for reading and browsing . Very bad buy for me .
For watching movies it would be OK i guess .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing wrong with the tablet, but with your decision to buy it.
So you are the one to blame, not the tablet.
Buy phone for elderly. It has a small screen with big fonts. Perfect.
---------- Post added at 03:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:01 PM ----------
I have a tablet for one day, so I can't really post a long experience essay, yet, but so far i am totally impressed and love it from the inside out.
From software perspective it is Android as android (tried at least hundred custom roms in last 4 years or so, from phones to tablets), nothing to blow my mind there. I have to mention i came to TabS from Asus Infinity and it is like i am discovering a whole new world. TabS really is that better. The one thing that ruined the Asus tablet, which was perfectly fine from specs perspective, was the cheap internal storage, which was so slow that sometimes I had to wait more than 30s or a minute for screen orientation to change. I won't go into details, but it was a 700€ tablet which i almost threw into the wall because of all the frustration it caused me. So, maybe i am not looking objectively here, but TabS is faaaar superior.
There are some hiccups now and then, but i don't really think it is due to Samsung apps or HW.
From experience i think it is just the android that has problems. CM is just so heavily tweaked to overcome it, but put AOSP rom on the device, and i bet after few days you'll get the same problems as with any vendor built roms. Not as much, but still. I could be wrong though.
Anyway, from a day of playing with the tablet, i am impressed.
It is responsive, the screen is gorgeous and currently there is nothing to complain about.
I did root it, but didn't debloat it yet, because i don't see a reason to do it, yet.
If it comes to that, there are still other options - like CM and so on.
So far, very happy.

I recieved mine yesterday and a couple of quick thoughts:
-Screen is incredible, my <480P videos look terrible and pixelated almost because the screen is too good. Not the screens fault.
- TouchWiz is annoying and crappy. Nova Launcher helps but i hate the pull down menu. I wish CM offically supported this but it looks like you XDA guys <3 have done a solid job porting CM11 over. If i decide to keep it , I will root and flash CM on here.
-Alot of cool free gifts with the tab, NY Times. Marvel, etc.
-Fingerprint scanner is not bad. Alittle bit finicky though.
-love the MicroSD Card,
-the back is a bit slimy and annoying to hold up.
-Seems like there is some lag switching between apps. I wish this had a better CPU.
All in all, I am unsure what to do. I like the tablet but I think a N9 would be great also. I have 2 weeks to decide, if I see a good deal on a N9 I might switch to that. I would be worried in a year or so the Tab S will be quite laggy...
thoughts?

This cursed tablet is causing me depressions . It is so cold and big, not cozy and warm . It is the devils work . Unusable in landscape and even more in portrait . I warn you !!! Dont buy this piece of crap, buy something smaller with lower resolution what u can hold in one hand .
---------- Post added at 05:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:55 PM ----------
But I cannot return it because I bought it from internet from china . I want to change DPI in android so text is larger and even this is not possible . Total unreadable microscopic text . Hate it 1!!!!!!!

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https://www.dropbox.com/sc/2biqnw9ujjfe5h3/AACRNBe-RzFe4F_qKrqiemy0a
So that you see the difference between my nice EIZO monitor in "text" setting, which is perfect for browsing and office work, I can work non-stop with this monitor.
And the Tab S 10.5 in "Basic" display setting - which is the warmest (but there is not much difference in white temperatuer between the 3 settings).
After 20 minutes of browsing on this tablet my eyes are crying "WTF are u doing to us". Add headache to this and then u know how it is to work with this tablet .
If I would see this comparrison earlier I would not buy, but the reviews are not reviewing this most important stuff as thorough as they should . I BLAME THE REVIEWERS FOR THIS !! may the rot in hell .