Hey Guys,
I'm a long time blackberry user and I've gone through at least a half dozen over the years.
I'm currently using the Blackberry Bold 9900, which I suppose is the current flagship model.
I bought the Playbook tablet long ago, unfortunately even after the '2.0 update' it's basically a paperweight and almost useless. In my frustration I bought a kindle fire, and was very impressed. There's a very active dev community, and in no time I had it rooted and was testing out different mods and kernels. Lots of fun.
This got me thinking about getting a more competent android device, the fire is good but I'd be interested to see what a serious device could do. I've been waiting forever to get a tablet with a decent digitizer/stylus and was immediately interested by the Galaxy Note (and later the Galaxy Note 10.1).
I've been seriously considering getting the Galaxy Note as a second phone and giving it a go. However, I still don't understand why I would want or need such a large and powerful device.
Typing on a touchscreen is pretty terrible. Yeah everyone says you get used to it, but I could bang out 50wpm in the dark with my hands behind my back on my blackberry.
I had the iPhone 3GS and I hated it so much I threw it out of the window on the highway. What a nightmare.
Secondly, I only ever use my bb to: email, bbm, twitter, and occasionally make calls.
So I suppose my question is.. Other than the fun that is hacking up the phone/tablet and customizing it. What's the point? Why does one need a device like this? What do you do with it to justify having it? What apps do you need/use on a daily basis that need two cores and a HD screen?
As a consumer, I want one. But as a rational person I don't know what I would use it for. I only use my kindle fire to play crappy time killer games on the treadmill. What's the point?
Thanks for your time.
Android has the ability to customize everything to such an extent that basic, you made the phone. That's what everyone loves about it. You can the look, feel, and functionality all to your liking.
Also, you have the option of the three main android version which are: Stock (can be seen on the galaxy nexus) HTC Sense (can be seen on all HTC phones) and MIUI (a custom rom that extends the customization ability even further with has themes for EVERY aspect e.x. The dialer, messaging app, notification bar, lock screen, etc)
You should go your local bestbuy and play with the phones. Android is a great experience.
In reference to your apps that you like, there are many email and twitter apps, all with different levels of functionality, and being that you're social, you'll enjoy widgets that allow you to send a tweet quickly, right from your home screen. When you finally leave BBM, you'll realize that it's not so important. There is an app called Talk, it's just like BBM, only for android. Texting is also just as good.
I hope I helped in your decision and enlightened your image of Android.
Good luck!
I asked myself these very same questions before purchasing a true smartphone, and sadly it turns out to be a life eater. You can do almost anything on the phone. I use mine mainly for music, news reading, and playing games. But everyone always finds different things useful in their phone. I can almost guarantee you won't regret getting the Note. That is if you can deal with that massively beautiful screen.
Thank you kindly for the responses KayxGee1 and JustinUhhh.
I think I will take the leap, and try it out for at least one month.
I went from BB OS to Android and could not be happier. Give it a try, the positives will likely outweigh any negatives for you.
It all depends on what you do. If you want to be able to play high end games, be able to have the latest software for a good while and be able to keep up with the rest for another year then you should get the note. If none of the above matter then any simple android device should do.
$1 gets you a reply
Overall Android just gives you an experience that is designed for you, couldn't be happier with it.
Honestly I see Blackberrys at the end of the smart phone train. I love Android cause it is sleek and fun to use!
Android can be a portable office, a portable arcade, or a portable jukebox. For geeks the customizability is an attraction in itself. If you travel a lot you really can't beat it as a mobile commumication center. It's really whatever you make of it.
Made the jump, and one week later.. It's going great! The xda community is fantastic, and the hardware is unreal. Cheers guys!
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
KayxGee1 said:
Also, you have the option of the three main android version which are: Stock (can be seen on the galaxy nexus) HTC Sense (can be seen on all HTC phones) and MIUI (a custom rom that extends the customization ability even further with has themes for EVERY aspect e.x. The dialer, messaging app, notification bar, lock screen, etc)
You should go your local bestbuy and play with the phones. Android is a great experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Miui isn't a main Android version. But touchwiz on Samsung phones and motoblur on Motorola phones is.
- this sig is just so I don't have to write 10char when on my phone -
Here we have:
- MotoBlur
- Sense
- Xperia
- LG UI
- TouchWiz
- Tap n' Tap UI
- Google Nexus AOSP Devices (Android)
That's all I remember now
Sent using XDA Premium HD from my ICS Powered tablet
juggies said:
Made the jump, and one week later.. It's going great! The xda community is fantastic, and the hardware is unreal. Cheers guys!
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
glad u did bc u went from a stone wheel to a space shuttle
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium
The Galaxy Note 2 is an excellent smartphone. For me the best to the current time.
But Windows Phone 8 is the best system for me, so I would very much install it on my Note 2.
Someone he has info about this?
This is a serious matter, not troll please.
Currently, there is no way to do this. Maybe in the future when we finish cracking the WP8 kernel.
As far as I understand this will never be possible. The main reason is because Windows Phone 8 is not open source and any released rom will get a cease and desist order from Microsoft. It would be the equivalent of you posting your Windows 7 on the internet for others to install. Then you would have to deal with the drivers and getting them to work.
From what I know, Samsung has excellent resale value. Why don't you sell your Note 2 and get an Ativ S.
I just my wife a 720 and am already having plans of selling away my 2 month old NeXus.
Also, apart from the kernels, the hardware poses a problem so porting isnt exactly a good idea. My two cents.
Sent from my Π Σ Χ U S 4.
This won't happen and not just due to cease and desist orders from MS, from what I can gather WP8 devices have a TPM chip inside them as a secure boot requirement so porting to other phones can't be done.
Should be featured in the funniest posts thread but I'd rather stay put as others might not find this as amusing as I did for i own a wp
There are wp8 and wp7 launchers available on android.
Launcher 8 has been running on my gn2 for awhile. It allows for numerous tile sizes and transparent or textured tiles.
Very cool. Doesn't have landscape mode. Launcher 7 does allow for landscape mode but has no alternate sized tiles and
doesn't handle widgets nearly as well.
I just got a lumia 920 to compare with my gn2 and launcher 8.
I am a musician from Germany, have been all Sailfish for years. That phone broke just months, before I'll get my new one, so I bought a used galaxy s8. For the first time I was on a branded phone, before the Sailfish device it were Nokia devices (N8 with Symbian and Lumina 1020 on WP).
Horrified, how many things Google asked me about and Samsung and so on, I trie to find a solution for this device. It will be my sons first own smartphone, so I want to prepare it to be reasonable "degoogled". On the other hand, he mostly likes camera-features, so I'll stick to modified stock-rom.
This is a worthwhile learning experience for me, because next I'll get a PlanetComputers Astro. Wich is a dual boot device with nice keyboard wich will mostly run on Android. So I hope to get used to the Android world before my next phone comes.
So I'll be not much of help, but I am great in asking stupid questions...
See you.
Hello, XDA!
I'm Steve, and I have referred to information here for years, and am finally joining.
I programmed for a while, mostly in UNIX environments....with dabblings in others.
Now I am keeping an older Dell Inspiron going w/WinXP (having trouble getting the platform-tools's adb to run on it...), while waiting for the newer Purism laptop to be available w/a smaller battery (to get greater storage).
I'm interested not only in Android development, but in getting tons of manufacturer-/provider-mandated crap off of my Android phones (Samsung Galaxy S8 and the step DOWN--memory-wise--to the S21...argh). Trying to move my S8 info to the S21, running into problems on both ends which would be fixed quite neatly by going back in time and making some different choices; you don't happen to have "an app for that"? ;-)
LSJU-Steve said:
Hello, XDA!
I'm Steve, and I have referred to information here for years, and am finally joining.
I programmed for a while, mostly in UNIX environments....with dabblings in others.
Now I am keeping an older Dell Inspiron going w/WinXP (having trouble getting the platform-tools's adb to run on it...), while waiting for the newer Purism laptop to be available w/a smaller battery (to get greater storage).
I'm interested not only in Android development, but in getting tons of manufacturer-/provider-mandated crap off of my Android phones (Samsung Galaxy S8 and the step DOWN--memory-wise--to the S21...argh). Trying to move my S8 info to the S21, running into problems on both ends which would be fixed quite neatly by going back in time and making some different choices; you don't happen to have "an app for that"? ;-)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you finally registered. Welcome!
I don't have a heavy technical background but I am a huge open source fan who also likes to thinker with (older) (Android) devices.
Like trying to give them a new lease on life. Also in general an upcycle/recycle fan and an heavy vintage audio & hifi fan (I repair and restore).
I've allready put custom roms on old Samsung tablets. The oldest (and smallest) one is now used to control my raspi dacs with Moode Audio (connected to vintage audio gear/setups off course...). Before that I used like an old eee pc with linux for that purpose...
My first visits and searches on XDA were for an Chinese smartphone (Umi Z1) which served me well and an crappy Chinese tablet (BMXC YS900) but until this day I didn't find any way to root them (nor custom roms) to like revive or repurpose. I should do a new search here...
Very recently I also bought and installed an Chinese android head unit in my car and I would like to tweak it a little to my personal flavour. So again, it led me to XDA . And I allready found some info on codes here...
Greetings from Belgium on a cold saturday night. Winter is almost at the door I think...
Great introduction! Welcome to XDA and continue to enjoy the forums!
Keep warm! Cheers