Finding switch to Android SGS2 difficult. Advice? - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Ok, so I sold my iPhone 4 in anticipation of the 5. While looking around came across the SGS2. Looked very nice so I got one. My first mistake was buying from pictures and not holding the device in my hand. From the moment I took the battery cover off, it's not been good. This thing feels like it should have cost £50 on ebay, it's just soo plastic and so thin, I'm afraid that when at work (i'm an engineer so lots of bending, squatting, laying etc) it's going to snap in two in my pocket. It's just "laggy" and "buggy" the keyboard is unresponsive, it feels like a resistive device, I have to knock it into and out of flight mode every few hours as it seems to lose it's data connection, touchwiz is just butt ugly, apps are butt ugly.
I love the "openness" of android, I love the "geekiness" and customisability of it. I love the fact I have 48GB of storage (even if the phone refuses to use the extra 32GB in any decent way)
I have had this phone for about 4-5 days and already I find myself picking it up to play with and throwing it back down again without unlocking the screen.
So, I have come here for some decent advice. I couldn't ask this question in an iPhone forum because the responses would be very biased, but, I have found on this forum, you generally get people's honest, unbiased opinion.
Should I get rid of this phone and wait for the iPhone 5? the one thing I miss about the iPhone is although it didn't necessarily do everything, what it did do worked, the apps I used looked good, the device felt well built and was always responsive. Am I expecting too much from the SGS2? will I get used to it? will I grow to love it?
feedback especially welcome from anyone that has came from an iPhone 4 to a SGS2 and can see my point of view?!
ta

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From what I read, it looks like you are a real iPhone user. As a friend speaking, I would recommend you to go buy your phone as you will never be happy with another non-Apple device. Is the same like telling a BMW lover that Audi is better, he will still dream of the next M3 model. Asking advice here will not get you unbiased responses as we all love the S2, as well Android.
For example, I don't think at all the S2 feels like a cheap device. In fact, it contains top technology that blows any current phone on the market. Personally, I believe that Samsung hardware is better than iPhone and even if iPhone 5 is released it will not beat the current S2 at any level. Not to mention that Samsung will release another model that will make iPhone 5 look like a cheap toy.
What matters most is your opinion, not ours. Who cares if we like better the S2, what matters is what you like to use on a daily basis. If the iPhone makes you happier, go for it.
Cheers

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jmpmjmpm said:
Ok, so I sold my iPhone 4 in anticipation of the 5. While looking around came across the SGS2. Looked very nice so I got one. My first mistake was buying from pictures and not holding the device in my hand. From the moment I took the battery cover off, it's not been good. This thing feels like it should have cost £50 on ebay, it's just soo plastic and so thin,
I am of the opposite view .
I'm afraid that when at work (i'm an engineer so lots of bending, squatting, laying etc) it's going to snap in two in my pocket.
Tests have shown thats unlikely .
It's just "laggy" and "buggy" the keyboard is unresponsive, it feels like a resistive device,
Not on mine maybe you have a fault .
Really you should not keep a phone you dont like or feel is wrong for you .
Thats why i dont own IPhone as i feel its inferior .
You feel the SGS2 is inferior sell it buy a cheap phone and wait for IPhone 5 is what i would do in your shoes .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

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should have known i would get a severely biased response
i have no loyalty to either, i buy the best, if its a pos I bin it, i have no probs doing that but before I make a decision, I would have liked some objective responses
[edit]
cheers JJegan, thats the type of opinion I am after (either way)
"From what I read, it looks like you are a real iPhone user"
Just wanted to add my recent device history is, htc hero>htc desire>iPhone 3gs (binned it and went back to desire)>iPhone 4>SGS2
so if anything, I've spend a LOT longer on android that ios I'm not a "real" iPhone user, I'm a "realist" be that on android or ios

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Sell the SII, buy the Iphone 5. It's obvious you won't feel happy with Samsung. Replies are not biased at all, we just read your comment and saw you gave no plus for SII, so why would you keep it, when, based on your description, SII is a crap phone ?

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Clearly iAddicted, you should stay with apple and never test something else
For a Sammy GS2 you need to be a FlashAholic and be able to handle the user freedom of modding and stuff (this part makes the GS2 for me the place to be and never go for a iphone).
On topic, that backplate is very solid though it look fragile, seen some tests on youtube with tons of extreme bending and folding, it was still in perfect afterwards.

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In fairness this poster doesn't seem like your average Apple fanboy who appear on these forums from time to time talking crap i do believe this poster is genuine.
Coming from an iPhone to Android is a bit like having sex for the first time a very new experience and for some it's excellent and for others it's not been as good.
What former iPhone users who have just "graduated" to Android have to understand is that it is a very different concept, not everything is spick and span and ready to go, you do have to take a bit of time out and customize your phone and apply various tweaks,etc,etc,etc, eventually your Galaxy S2 will be absolutely amazing,read up on here extensively, for a start i highly recommend downloading Titanium Backup PRO and freezing all Samsung Apps your battery life will increase ten fold, it goes without saying you should root your phone and apply a custom ROM, there are many good ROM's personally the best ive ever had is the one in my signature, there can be no denying that the Galaxy S2 blows any other smartphone out of the water but don't just take my view for it or people on these forums one only has to read the countless reviews from trusted Tech websites online to tell you this,Android is the way forward why do you think they are continually outselling iPhones, people are finally realising that open source and being able to flash custom ROM's and customize your phone is the way to go rather than be locked down to whatever Apple tell you.
To conclude - OP take a lot of time to read what is on these forums, i spent 3 weeks reading up here before i even had a Galaxy S2 so id would be more clued up and know what to do to make your phone even more amazing.

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lol at people *****ing at the OP. Have you actually read his post or just seen the iphone mentioned and jumped on the bandwagon of abusing the guy.
OP, all the faults you mention, (apart from the feeling plastic bit which is subjective and took me a little while to get used to how light and thin this phone is), are not generally in most peoples phones. Where did you buy it from as it sounds more likely that you have a faulty one to me. You could try factory resetting it and seeing if that helps but if you bought it new id get it swapped asap if i were you.
If you dont like the keyboard, download a different one. I use smart keyboard pro and that has a iphone style keypad that works perfectly well. Not sure what you mean by the apps are butt ugly though. Do you mean just the icons or you cant find apps you like? As for touchwiz, use a different launcher. I like launcher pro but a lot of people prefer GOlauncher.
The beauty of android is you customise it how you wish to, not how apple wishes you to.
But first things first you need to sort out the laggy and buggy aspect as that shouldnt be there.

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i was like yourself. sold my iphone 4 which i loved to death and i pimped it up through jailbreaking it and was looking for which phone to go next...The S2 was the one for me. Picked it up when it first came and my first thoughts were what a piece of plastic ****....
But i have grown to love it. with a good case it feels solid in your hands and the size of the screen is just about right. funnily enough i even swapped it in the start for a htc sensation but because i could not customise it with roms i wanted this bad boy back straight away.. now i have it i cant live with out it.
So many new phones are coming out now but i will eagerly await when the S3 comes out. The handset does what i want it to do, it has HD recording and plenty of space in the memory department..
So my advice give it time and you will grow to love it...But if you feel that its not right for you then sell it and get the iphone when it comes out...I for one turned from the darkside to the light

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jonny68 said:
What former iPhone users who have just "graduated" to Android have to understand is that it is a very different concept, not everything is spick and span and ready to go, you do have to take a bit of time out and customize your phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I run the latest KI3 2.3.5 stock firmware and there is a difference from day and night, compared to KG2 that my phone came with. Android evolves so fast and with every new release is so much better that is hard to even keep up with it. Hell, other companies would of probably label that version 2.4.0, not just a minor bug release.
I wish every company would dedicate their efforts in perfecting software like Google does. Let's look at performance differences between 2.3.4 and 2.3.5, is incomparable. Quadrant pushes at 4200+ on S2, the phone is smooth as silk and super responsive while the battery life is further improved. What more could I ask for?
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hey [OP] you clearly hate the device... no probs.. just ship it to me.. i will thank your OP..

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Congrats op, you just described my exact feelings about every Samsung phone I've ever looked at. A little advice: get a HTC phone, root it, and flash miui. You'll never go back to apple.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using Tapatalk

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fellas, thanks for some really good feedback. The jury is still out on the phone. I'm hoping as I become more "in tune" with android again, I will realise that it's a good device. I also plan on flashing a new rom, to get away from the stock. It may well be what is responsible for the "buggy" experience I'm having (especially seeing as several of you say this isn't normal )
On that subject, is there a favourite rom I can try? I've had a look around and am a little confused, i.e. different kernels, kernels separate from rom's, cyanogen, miui??? I rooted the phone with cf's root, but then that isn't compatible with rom manager? litening rom looks quite good?!
when I had my desire I dont remember having kernels separate from rom's, or having to check compatibility. Anyone know of a good re-introduction type thread or blog etc which explains all this stuff?
cheers

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jmpmjmpm said:
fellas, thanks for some really good feedback. The jury is still out on the phone. I'm hoping as I become more "in tune" with android again, I will realise that it's a good device. I also plan on flashing a new rom, to get away from the stock. It may well be what is responsible for the "buggy" experience I'm having (especially seeing as several of you say this isn't normal )
On that subject, is there a favourite rom I can try? I've had a look around and am a little confused, i.e. different kernels, kernels separate from rom's, cyanogen, miui??? I rooted the phone with cf's root, but then that isn't compatible with rom manager? litening rom looks quite good?!
when I had my desire I dont remember having kernels separate from rom's, or having to check compatibility. Anyone know of a good re-introduction type thread or blog etc which explains all this stuff?
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you check on each roms thread in the first page it has all the answers to the questions you have regarding installing the rom on their buddy. have a look and do a bit of research and you be good to go...no point me saying which rom is best and how you install it go into the development sections and go on to the rom you fancy and read through the first pages

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just a quick update guys, I installed litening rom and only been using it for 10 mins but the difference if like night and day, now the phone is fast and responsive. I can type a quickly and accurately as with the my ole iphone.
so... seems maybe a lot of the issues were a fault with my carrier branded stock rom. Thanks for identifying this for me guys. I also bought a nice lil case from amazon, it's nothing supreme but built well, with a built in flip out stand so, now the phone feels a lot better in the hand.
Quite a bit happier now, I really appreciate the time a lot of you took to help what probably seemed like (to use a linuxism) YAIFT (yet another iphone fanboi troll)
cheers

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jmpmjmpm said:
just a quick update guys, I installed litening rom and only been using it for 10 mins but the difference if like night and day, now the phone is fast and responsive. I can type a quickly and accurately as with the my ole iphone.
so... seems maybe a lot of the issues were a fault with my carrier branded stock rom. Thanks for identifying this for me guys. I also bought a nice lil case from amazon, it's nothing supreme but built well, with a built in flip out stand so, now the phone feels a lot better in the hand.
Quite a bit happier now, I really appreciate the time a lot of you took to help what probably seemed like (to use a linuxism) YAIFT (yet another iphone fanboi troll)
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol... I used iPhone for a year, I understand what you're going through, but the freedom is amazing here with android. It's your device, do what you feel like with it, change complete os, launchers, lockscreens, skies the limit
You should give miui a shot as well, I love it and highly recommend it.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using Tapatalk