Would you still choose this phone? What would you be missing out on? Do you trust Samsung to give you ICS soon? What things do you not like about the stock ROM? Ect, ect. I want to hear your thoughts.
Yumunum said:
Would you still choose this phone? What would you be missing out on? Do you trust Samsung to give you ICS soon? What things do you not like about the stock ROM? Ect, ect. I want to hear your thoughts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.) I would still choose this phone(its a beast, even stock)
2.)You'd be missing out on a lot.....better battery life, themes, custom kernels, smoother/better performance of the OS/UI, improved functionality(apps that require root, i.e TiBu, BLN, SetCpu, etc)
3.) The better question is, Do you Trust ATT to give us ICS soon? Honestly, NO, which is more of an incentive to root(where you can get ICS before ATT gets off their lazy ass)
Yumunum said:
Would you still choose this phone? What would you be missing out on? Do you trust Samsung to give you ICS soon? What things do you not like about the stock ROM? Ect, ect. I want to hear your thoughts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be frank, I'm not sure I'd stick with this phone if I wasn't rooted. At the time I bought it, I planned to root this thing and put something faster on, but as of now, I'd get a GNex or even an iPhone -- something that works super fast without needing mods.
With that said, I'm happy I have this phone and even stock it's perfectly fine. In my opinion, for a stock experience you COULD do better than Android, with WP7 for instance.
im an hardcore rom flasher, tweaker, modder, etc. i have had probably dozens of androids and have rooted and flashed them all...... cept this one.
Honestly i dont need a custom rom on this one, i just have it rooted. all im waiting for is a stable ICS build and im good. Its just that damn good even at stock. which honestly i never thought id say that about any android. so yea... if rooting isnt ur thing SGS2 is also your best choice
sEnT fRoM mY ExYnOs PoWeReD MoNsTeR
S2 is a very good phone, but if I had to stay stock, it'd be a tough choice between this one and an iPhone 4S. iPhone is more polished out of the box, and I must admit, I prefer iPhone's retina display over the one on S2, the pixel density just makes it a more appealing screen. On S2, I couldn't get good battery life on stock without rooting, that's main problem with it.
I'm relatively new to Android myself, after having owned a first generation iPhone and several BB Bolds, it's Android's sheer range of choices in ROMs, mods and other flexibilities that put S2 over the others. I upgraded to S2 with the intention to root and flash custom ROMs but the whole process has been made very easy thanks to a lot of friendly people on this and other Android forums.
Overall though, I'd be more conflicted about choosing S2 over others if it weren't for the awesome customization.
I've done the iPhone thing. I jailbroke my iPhone to try some customization, but when I got a warranty replacement I stayed stock for 6 months until I got a Captivate. Similar thing happened with my captivate, I was on stock for a while after replacement.
If I had to get a replacent on my Galaxy S II, I'm sure I would stay on stock for a while. This phone is exactly what I wanted. On stock I was unable to open enough apps to get this phone to feel performance loss. I want to run ICS on this phone, but other than that the only reason I don't run stock is themes. I could easily use this phone just rooted.
My wife has an iPhone 4, and while the screen is nice in that its crisp, its tiny. I would worry about the glass, and breaking it. When ever I have to do something on her phone its laggy and sluggish compared to mine. Even after a reboot, the task manager is somehow filled automatically with all the crap that was running before. I have to sit there and close all the apps before I see acceptable performance from her phone. Steve Jobs was the one to say if you have a task manager you failed. Well the iPhone has one, and proved Steve right (but without the task manager the iPhone would be epic fail instead of just fail). I never feel the need to open or use the application manager on my phone.
The ONLY phone I would use other than this one is the Galaxy Nexus. But, until ATT has a subsidized version, that isn't a temptation I have to worry about.
Sent from my Galaxy S II (i777)
quarlow said:
The ONLY phone I would use other than this one is the Galaxy Nexus. But, until ATT has a subsidized version, that isn't a temptation I have to worry about.
Sent from my Galaxy S II (i777)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Note tempts me - but it will also not be available subsidized. (Unless you count the ****rocket-like Crapdragon abomination AT&T is rumored to be getting.)
Plus the GS2 is more than good enough to last me until next January which is my next upgrade eligibility. The GS2 is the first unsubsidized upgrade I've done since the Treo 650. The Infuse frustrated me THAT much...
I would still get the SGS2 just for the SoC.
Related
Hey guys, I'm new to the forum and this is my first post. I've been lurking around for the past 2 months learning everything I can about android and the Atrix. Prior to this, I've never given much thought about smartphones.
I passed up the iphone 4 in janurary cause it was too late into it's life cycle so I've decided to go with Android. I want a phone that will last till the end of my contract (3 years). The Atrix caught my eye with its Tegra 2 duel core (Big Nvidia fan) which I naturally thought would be a perfect candidate.
I was really set on buying this phone up until today when My dad visited a Bell store. It turns out that particular store didn't even get one sale. It's in a decent location too (Missisauga, beside Toronto).
My guess is that if the phone is not selling then Motorola probably won't support it for long. And with the locked bootloader, I'd be safer getting an Iphone which will probably get more updates that this for sure. I don't know if I can last 3 years with the locked bootloader and Moto's lack of updates. Probly a big gamble to whether it'll get 2.4. It's a real shame considering this phone is a major leap over all the other ones out right now.
What do you think guys? Asking this in a Atrix forum probably isn't the best idea but I'm sure some of you went through this too before you shelled out all that cash.
Keep in mind I live in Canada and only have access to a limited amount of high end phones. If I decide not to get this, then it's the Iphone 5 or galaxy s2 for me.
It's a flagship phone, of course it'll get updated...
Tennis11 said:
It's a flagship phone, of course it'll get updated...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly! Just like the sgs phones....oh..wait...nvm.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
Hardware wise its an amazing phone. Software wise it blows. Well, that is until you root it, and freeze the bloat and install a different launcher. After that then its super snappy and tears through tegra games and movies. However if you like to tinker with roms and such then I can't recommend it. It's the reason why mine is going back in exactly 8 days. No dev support for it due to it having a locked boot loader and its gonna be crickets in this forum soon. Locked boot loader means that if moto decides not to upgrade the Atrix soon or at all then you have no way of updating it yourself. So thats the reason mine is going back. Remember if you could care less about custom roms and could care less about being stuck on 2.2 for who knows how long then yes you will probably like the Atrix. I'm moving on to more "open" waters.
Tennis11 said:
It's a flagship phone, of course it'll get updated...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, we'll get 2.3 maybe even 2.4, but what about a third one...? I doubt it.
2.4 is coming out in a few month and that'll be barely into the 3 year's of death I have to sign.
Hows it selling in the U.S? Does anyone know?
smurfit said:
Hey guys, I'm new to the forum and this is my first post. I've been lurking around for the past 2 months learning everything I can about android and the Atrix. Prior to this, I've never given much thought about smartphones.
I passed up the iphone 4 in janurary cause it was too late into it's life cycle so I've decided to go with Android. I want a phone that will last till the end of my contract (3 years). The Atrix caught my eye with its Tegra 2 duel core (Big Nvidia fan) which I naturally thought would be a perfect candidate.
I was really set on buying this phone up until today when My dad visited a Bell store. It turns out that particular store didn't even get one sale. It's in a decent location too (Missisauga, beside Toronto).
My guess is that if the phone is not selling then Motorola probably won't support it for long. And with the locked bootloader, I'd be safer getting an Iphone which will probably get more updates that this for sure. I don't know if I can last 3 years with the locked bootloader and Moto's lack of updates. Probly a big gamble to whether it'll get 2.4. It's a real shame considering this phone is a major leap over all the other ones out right now.
What do you think guys? Asking this in a Atrix forum probably isn't the best idea but I'm sure some of you went through this too before you shelled out all that cash.
Keep in mind I live in Canada and only have access to a limited amount of high end phones. If I decide not to get this, then it's the Iphone 5 or galaxy s2 for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get the Canadian Atrix.
Bought it, LOVED it. Had to unlock it, it worked and now I'm using it on FIDO.
All this stuff about the bloat, I will say I've had the phone since the 17th of march, and have played with it these last 4 days and I tried all launchers major launchers, all this talk of "bloat" rang very untrue to me, at least with the Bell version of the phone..
The smoothest one yet is the stock one. LauncherPro was great but the moment you turn on a Live Wallpaper that thing lags up like nothing else.
Buy it. You will not regret it. ESP the battery life. 4 days and counting, only have charged it 2 times with HEAVY heavy usage. Very good stuff.
The reason why it lagged so bad is because you're supposed to freeze blur from running in the background while you run another launcher at the same time. But Im sure you already knew that.. I agree with battery life though. Its great but thats still part of my hardware argument.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
Namuh said:
The reason why it lagged so bad is because you're supposed to freeze blur from running in the background while you run another launcher at the same time. But Im sure you already knew that.. I agree with battery life though. Its great but thats still part of my hardware argument.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, even after having frozen stuff.. Motoblur home is still the smoothest when using a live wallpaper.
Having said that, do you really want a live wallpaper? (maybe yes, maybe no..) either way. All this talk about bloat, makes a TINY impact on performance. This phone is a beast, and it handles like so.
The HDMI/Webtop features are ridiculous. Very nice.
Well I'm getting a Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G soon from my carrier, Rogers. I have absolutely no experience with Android so this will all be new to me. I am curious about a couple of things.
I heard that it'll come pre-installed with TouchWiz. How could I change it so that I have the pure Honeycomb experience (custom ROM?) while maintaining the ability to connect to my carrier (Rogers)?
I'm aware of how to root it after reading this thread,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1239185
Is there any difference in rooting a device from Rogers and what should I look out for?
I was also told that the tablet has a flash counter that would allow Samsung to know if I rooted my tablet voiding my warranty. Is there any way to bypass it?
Do you have suggestions for apps to install?
Any other general tips?
Thanks!
Honestly touhwiz is not that bad on honecomb. Try it out.
But only way to get a pure android is experience with honeycomb experience is rooting, but that i am aware im not to sure if there is a pure honeycomb rom out there. They're mainly based on the samsung updates.
Like i said try touchwiz out, if you don't like wait until cm9 comes out and try ics.
Yep; dont worry about Touchwizz; it is far form being as much intrusive as most other UI; it is really light.
In fact, it is barely like 3-4 homescreen-disposable widgets plus 6 more embedded in the system bar that you wont probably ever trigger (or remember) after the first couple of days..
Rogers GTab10.1 "faux-G" ; after a couple days of use; it is really great. It never let me down nor gave me any "force close" of any kind.
Now, if you can live with only 16gb, not expendable, and you dont mind 'bout HDMI-Out either (adapters exists, but are expensive), it is really a good choice.
Regarding battery life; it is a tank.
And 3/3.5/faux-G speed is more than enough;
Unless you plan to rely on this for your next Battlefield 3 tournament, LTE is a luxury you can afford to skip.
im also wondering about the flash counter...
where and how can you check it to see if its more than 0?
what will make it go up to 1, is it flashing anything other than samsung files through Odin? or can you still flash anything through odin such as ROM's and needed files to get root but as long as they are based on stock kernel the flash counter wont go up to 1?
Surprised myself and after two weeks of ownership I am still on the I717 Note's stock ROM. This was after constantly ROM flashing on my prior Android Samsung Infuse and iPhone4 & 3G (Jailbreak of course).
Stock battery life is decent and launchers like GO, ADW, etc. give plenty of ability to change icons, UI behavior, etc.
So far I haven't found any annoying problems that would require me to fix via rooting.
I HAD to root my prior Samsung Infuse because it had software bugs that required root to fix BUT I am real PROUD of my Note's ability to run strong and solid as a stock ROM. I haven't been forced to reboot yet in 2 weeks of ownership! Yeha!
For myself the KEY is to make myself to NOT TO LOOK AT Applications:Running Services...it makes me sick to see all those unnecessary apps loaded up.
I simply wanted to see how the Note behaved out-of-the box...and so far real impressed.
Will I ever ROOT - Probably, just to get rid of bloatware AND I will need to tether occasionally once I start traveling again.
Will I ever replace the ROM? Not sure, depends on features but definitely not interested in ROMs that just change icons, startup screens and colors.
anyway, this is just post to say how satisfied, thus far, with the Note's performance...as is.
Anything I'm missing that needs root to fix?
andrawer said:
Surprised myself and after two weeks of ownership I am still on the I717 Note's stock ROM. This was after constantly ROM flashing on my prior Android Samsung Infuse and iPhone4 & 3G (Jailbreak of course).
Stock battery life is decent and launchers like GO, ADW, etc. give plenty of ability to change icons, UI behavior, etc.
So far I haven't found any annoying problems that would require me to fix via rooting.
I HAD to root my prior Samsung Infuse because it had software bugs that required root to fix BUT I am real PROUD of my Note's ability to run strong and solid as a stock ROM. I haven't been forced to reboot yet in 2 weeks of ownership! Yeha!
For myself the KEY is to make myself to NOT TO LOOK AT Applications:Running Services...it makes me sick to see all those unnecessary apps loaded up.
I simply wanted to see how the Note behaved out-of-the box...and so far real impressed.
Will I ever ROOT - Probably, just to get rid of bloatware AND I will need to tether occasionally once I start traveling again.
Will I ever replace the ROM? Not sure, depends on features but definitely not interested in ROMs that just change icons, startup screens and colors.
anyway, this is just post to say how satisfied, thus far, with the Note's performance...as is.
Anything I'm missing that needs root to fix?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can stop those with Autostarts (free in the market), and requires root. It prevents them from opening at all. If you end up checking it out, use the "after startup" disable option.
- Root required apps (there a lot of really good ones - this alone would be enough for me to root).
If you're not interested in theming, or a lot of modifications, then stock is cool. Features, changes, and modifications from custom roms can be patched to stock roms; the only advantage of using custom ones is that they're baked in for you.
I am sticking on stock rom for now, just going to root so I can restore a lot of my old apps, nothing more.
I've already flashed Da_G's root/over clock kernel, which got rid of the lag I was seeing. As soon as cwm comes out of beta I'm going to check out saurom. The Note's out of the box experience is one of the best I've seen, but there is just too much improvement to be had to stay stock, IMHO.
Synner12 said:
I've already flashed Da_G's root/over clock kernel, which got rid of the lag I was seeing. As soon as cwm comes out of beta I'm going to check out saurom. The Note's out of the box experience is one of the best I've seen, but there is just too much improvement to be had to stay stock, IMHO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CMW b3 seems to be flawless so far!
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA
I think it is a good idea to stay all stock until ics update comes out and we apply it. (I expect them to want us to be all stock when applying the ics update that is why)
Underground_XI said:
I think it is a good idea to stay all stock until ics update comes out and we apply it. (I expect them to want us to be all stock when applying the ics update that is why)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough but there will be several ICS Roms months before official AT&T. (I am typing from my ICS Captivate right now for example). Plus you can always flash back to stock.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA
I was stock from best buy to my house and that's it and I can't wait till I can get a sub 100mb ROM onto here. The bloat is sickening and even after removing down to mid 100 it's still not performing to it's non touchwiz potential.
Just to throw in my two-cents, I am fairly impressed as well with the Touchwiz 4.0 interface. Coming from an Atrix (blur) and Inspire (sense), touchwiz is a big step up imo. It feels like gingerbread done right to me. Although it isn't without a few issues, like the slight but noticable lag (to be fair all stock roms seem to stutter a bit occasionally), the no wallpaper scrolling and no landscape mode for the touchwiz launcher.
I think it will be interesting to see what devs or even Samsung/AT&T come up with to merge Touchwiz and ICS. It's gonna be a good year in the ROM community on this phone I can feel it.
Both my notes are on stock. I have no need for a rom.
Sarius24 said:
Both my notes are on stock. I have no need for a rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but... stock IS a ROM, too.
I think it is a great thing that this phone is so good that we can use it stock. Haven't got mine yet but I only plan to Root it and use stock for a few weeks, at least.
So far yes
Right now there really aren't that many roms for the galaxy note lte so I'm going to wait until ICS comes out play with that for a while then I'll be flashing away!
I think people obsess over nothing rather than actually use their devices. That said, I'm not bothering to flash anyone's cooked ROM until there's an ICS update from Samsung.
burhanistan said:
I think people obsess over nothing rather than actually use their devices. That said, I'm not bothering to flash anyone's cooked ROM until there's an ICS update from Samsung.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^That, less the o/c kernel. The performance boost isn't exacted necessary, but you WILL notice it.
I was going to try and stick with the stock ROM as long as possible. However, my addiction got the best of me, and im now laying in bed at the end of my first full day with my Note, and I'm running TPC2 with Da_G's OC kernel. Go figure. Haha.
Not that I was having troubles with the stock ROM, as it was actually really smooth and lag free for the most part. On the other hand, now my Note is an absolute beast. The Note is definitely the first Android I've been happy with out of the box, but I would still rather be running a custom ROM, if not just so I can tell people it's running custom software when I show them my phone.
Samsung really hit it out of the park with this phone. I will never look at a smaller phone the same way again. Forever ruined! And I find the SPen to be really comfy for just navigating my phone and precision of selection. Swyping is fun with it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
I think it's not necessary for me to do anything yet. But don't get me wrong, I will root the phone eventually. I have a real problem with ATT telling me that I "have" to suffer software I don't want on MY phone. That in its self encourages me to root. But, I am waiting to see if ICS is really going to be available soon.
I wonder though if Rooting would affect the upgrade process--perhaps someone could answer this for me. If not, I would be tempted to root my Note after the thirty days (window of time for return) is up.
I flashed roms daily on my Inspire, but I am stock now and planning on staying that way forever or at least until If leaks. the only thing I've done is root to disable ads and remove bloatware.
I'm still stock. I've rooted and jailbrake-ed other phones. I really like this one the way it is. The bloatware etc don't bother me much. I may root after ICS. For now, my Note rocks pretty hard just the way it is.
Roger_15 said:
But, I am waiting to see if ICS is really going to be available soon.
I wonder though if Rooting would effect the upgrade process--perhaps someone could answer this for me. If not, I would be tempted to root my Note after the thirty days is up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you asking if root will affect upgrading to ICS? The answer to that is no. If you flash a custom ROM then that answer is yes. You would need to go back to stock ROM for the ICS update from ATT. However, there will be ICS ROMs here well before ATT releases it.
What's the 30 days thing? Not getting that part. What happens in 30 days? Maybe you mean the window to return your Note. I agree you might want to wait for that to expire before root. But you can also un-root if you want.
I'm on stock rom and don't plan to root anytime soon for both of my devices the note and gnex!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
After many months of a friendly rivalry, a coworker and I have decided to swap phones for a week. (We're both on AT&T, so I assume we can just switch sim cards?)
If it were you, what ROM would you put on the phone to allow for the best experience for someone who has never used android before?
I was thinking CM9, but since it has problems with certain games (Temple Run comes to mind, which we both play all the time), that's probably not a good idea. Moreover, the in-call echo would probably leave a bad impression. Then again, I guess I could flash some other modems on my own and see if that solves it.
So, in your opinion: which rom best shows off the advantages of Android compared to iOS?
blackplague1347 said:
After many months of a friendly rivalry, a coworker and I have decided to swap phones for a week. (We're both on AT&T, so I assume we can just switch sim cards?)
If it were you, what ROM would you put on the phone to allow for the best experience for someone who has never used android before?
I was thinking CM9, but since it has problems with certain games (Temple Run comes to mind, which we both play all the time), that's probably not a good idea. Moreover, the in-call echo would probably leave a bad impression. Then again, I guess I could flash some other modems on my own and see if that solves it.
So, in your opinion: which rom best shows off the advantages of Android compared to iOS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ICS of some sort without a doubt... Maybe XWLP7?
Perhaps set it up to be Nandroidable between CM9 and a TW ICS firmware - "Here's the way it comes from Samsung, it's almost all working but there are Samsungisms people don't like - and here's CM9 - it's still in development but it's a mostly pure Android 4.0 experience".
How are you guys going to work out the sim/microsim difference?
I wonder if it would work to just swap phones as is, then forward each phone number to the other number.
iPhones use microsim. Completely forgot. Hmm.... I guess that throws a bit of a wrench into our plans.
My wife uses a 4S and I just bought my Galaxy last week. Right now I am using tasks AOKP ICS, but I have to say:
So far i like the UCPLC5 Official ATT "Leak". It has ICS, and the Samsung stuff, and its quite nice. It just feels like more of a polished product than the stock android. If its a real rivalry, don't forget about the brands. I also have a samsung point and shoot camera, and lcd tv, laptop, toaster and ... blah blah...
Have had no issues with games with that rom, only my Amiga emulator. Temple Run, shadowgun, angry birds space, all work great.
blackplague1347 said:
After many months of a friendly rivalry, a coworker and I have decided to swap phones for a week. (We're both on AT&T, so I assume we can just switch sim cards?)
If it were you, what ROM would you put on the phone to allow for the best experience for someone who has never used android before?
I was thinking CM9, but since it has problems with certain games (Temple Run comes to mind, which we both play all the time), that's probably not a good idea. Moreover, the in-call echo would probably leave a bad impression. Then again, I guess I could flash some other modems on my own and see if that solves it.
So, in your opinion: which rom best shows off the advantages of Android compared to iOS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SHOstock2 v1.3
Interesting question!
Just don't put MIUI on it. It will confirm any suspicions he may already have that Android is an iOS wannabe.
You can get a microSIM adapter for about $5, or make a DIY adapter that should last a week. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJFPh2oc8hM)
EDIT: Entropy's idea is a good one. Being able to swap via nandroid is in itself a great thing to show off!
There's also a dual boot kernel
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA
Dual boot and nandroid backup might not be such a good idea, just saying. I would think twice about letting your coworker, who own an iPhone, mess around in cwm. Nothing against iPhone users.
Bowsa2511 said:
There's also a dual boot kernel
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's highly experimental.
+1 for SHOstock. Shoman just posted v2, with lots of improvements.
Depending on the user I would also hesitate going overboard with dual boot stuff. Its really cool feature to have but might be too much for someone's first android experience.
AOKP is really nice too, but I feel there are a few visual inconsistencies that may make it feel incomplete to an outsider. Like the progress bars, the best off hand example is CPU Spy. I think SHOstock gives the best of both. You get the good things about TW and shoman has done a great job themeing it. The one thing isn't intuitive to a first timer is the quick panel settings. You may want to set that up first, or at least make an effort to show your friend what it is referring to.
I'd be instested to hear the results of the swap.
Sent from my Galaxy S II (i777)
Entropy512 said:
That's highly experimental.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't seen problems with it. Have it set up with CM9 as primary and LC5 as secondary.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium
Hey Guys,
I know there are probably tons of threads such as this but I would like some concrete feedback from previous S2 owners and new S3 owners as to why the S3 really stands out. I saw a few threads and did enough searching to find out many reasons as to whether the S3 is truly a worthwhile upgrade or not. I'll be honest with you all, I love Android and I love my SGS2. Have had it ever since the launch date and I still don't see any phone out there that has quite truly been this staggering in terms of performance, user customizability and dependability. Sure it has had few hiccups and I have had a few bad ROMS installed before (particularly on Gingerbread) but I haven't had trouble with any ICS roms that I have used so far and I love how this phone handles so well even though I have put it through some extreme loads.
I have seen the S3 being sold in huge numbers within Toronto, even more than the S2 already and I am surprised because I think the 4S is truly a magnificent phone on its own. I'd appreciate your opinions and mostly would welcome previous S2 owners who upgraded this year to the S3 as to why they did so. I'll keep the S2 most probably even if I get the S3 because I truly adore this phone so I am not sure whether the S3 really would cancel the use of my S2 or not. I need good battery life and 2100mAH is a huge improvement and I hear the new phone can go the whole day even with extreme browsing, not sure if its true or not.
I don't play games, I browse, email and perform some normal trades, so it has to be a good premium phone to replace my S2. I don't see any phone out there other than the 4S and SGS3 that competes well against my S2. I'll be okay with stock roms for now, will root for sure but don't necessarily need a custom ROM already. I know the community and its ROMs will grow everyday and finally with Jelly Bean, someone nail it and get us the perfect ROM for the S3 so I'd be okay if there aren't many options on the list of custom roms at this moment.
Yes.
I would honestly just stick with the S2 and wait for the S4 whenever it comes out. Your phone is only a year old, take some more time to enjoy it. Unless you play games, really demand a larger screen or just simply have money to blow, then there's no reason to upgrade so fast.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
The 2GB's RAM is more than enough to make you jump ships. As a former S2 owner, I would definitely do it. Dev support for the S3 has picked up really fast. With CM10 previews being available now, i can only imagine how far this phone will go. Consider that the JB source code has only been out for what...a week or two? This phone will really go far.
Having owned (and still own) both, I'd say you're fine with the GS2 if you have no complaints.
For me, I had 'upgraded' (downgraded) to the GSM Galaxy Nexus, and gave my GS2 to the wifey... and regretted it so much that I bought the GS3 as soon as it came out.
The first thing I said was "ahhh thank God, feels like I have my phone back"
It's nice to have the latest and greatest, don't get me wrong - but I saw no short comings on the GS2, and the few new features of the GS3 are cool, but nothing to lose sleep over.
I'd say wait it out, if you don't have money to blow. If you do, then get it! The GS3 is every bit as good as the GS2 and then of course there is the extra RAM, slightly more internal memory, new features, etc.
but it's a toss up, honestly.
Also I should mention that I prefer the build quality on the GS2, the back cover and design was perfect IMO. Plus capacitive buttons are better than physical (and software buttons IMO)
This is not to take away from the GS3 AT ALL, the truth is the GS2 was simply the best phone ever made prior to the GS3.
Which is just another testament to the amazing GS2.
Sent from the current Heavy Weight champ GALAXY SIII
Thanks everyone for the awesome replies. I'll wait and look out for more suggestions in this thread. I am keen on the S3 and while I can afford it, I also am aware that having two phones of almost the same calibre is a waste so will have to get rid of the S2 if I do get the S3. The only things I am mostly fond of in the S3 is the new development behind all the ROMs and how everyone's making such a great effort into getting the best package out there to all S3 owners. I don't like too big of a phone and the S2 is just as big as it can do for me. I remember S2X and other LTE phones based on S2 came out after a few months of the I-9100 launch date so maybe I can get the second variant come fall/winter time.
auto_freak said:
Thanks everyone for the awesome replies. I'll wait and look out for more suggestions in this thread. I am keen on the S3 and while I can afford it, I also am aware that having two phones of almost the same calibre is a waste so will have to get rid of the S2 if I do get the S3. The only things I am mostly fond of in the S3 is the new development behind all the ROMs and how everyone's making such a great effort into getting the best package out there to all S3 owners. I don't like too big of a phone and the S2 is just as big as it can do for me. I remember S2X and other LTE phones based on S2 came out after a few months of the I-9100 launch date so maybe I can get the second variant come fall/winter time.
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The battery life improvement alone is almost worth it for me. Beyond that, the improvement is incremental. If you're not desperate for the HD screen and you are ok with the battery life on the GS2, I don't think you'll be blown away by the GS3
If you like the s2 as is, keep it. I think its sleeker, nicer to hold, and plenty fast.
Honestly if I were to do it again I wouldn't have bothered with the s3.
Sure its a bit faster, has lte and has a bigger screen, but it really isn't that big of an upgrade.
neubauej said:
If you like the s2 as is, keep it. I think its sleeker, nicer to hold, and plenty fast.
Honestly if I were to do it again I wouldn't have bothered with the s3.
Sure its a bit faster, has lte and has a bigger screen, but it really isn't that big of an upgrade.
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This is about as spot on as spot on gets!
I'm in the same boat and was set to return mine but work sent me out of town and I missed my window. :crying:
Other than that after my ICS update on the SGS2 a battery calibration kicked my battery life into overdrive and is giving me great usage.
Another thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the lack of Mass Storage on the SGS3. Its my biggest gripe and I really miss it. MTP can suck eggs till the chickens come home to roost. I use my phones alot for everything (play - work [office/field environment]) so its a real problem when I can't preview my pics on the phone through my computer when connected with my SGS3. I have to copy everything over to the PC first then filter through everything deciding on what I am/not going to keep/rename/edit. Also some people have reported having issues when trying to copy a large amount of files and/or large file sizes timing out when trying to transfer to the SGS3. I get that alot of the younger teens/early 20somethings don't care about this but I want my phone to do for me not work against me.
Sorry for my diatribe there...I could tell you how I really feel.
In short you are not missing out on anything if you don't get the SGS3. Don't worry about Jellybean either, the SGS2 WILL get it. Heck most likely even the HTC HD2 is getting Jellybean.
i would stick with the s2
Honestly its a minor upgrade. Would I go back to the S2 though? Hell No!
Sent from my SGS3!
ubigred said:
Honestly its a minor upgrade. Would I go back to the S2 though? Hell No!
Sent from my SGS3!
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This.
The Gs2 was an amazing phone for its time. Almost perfect. The gs3 is an incremental step above that. But it's hard to improve on perfection
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
rosedog said:
This is about as spot on as spot on gets!
I'm in the same boat and was set to return mine but work sent me out of town and I missed my window. :crying:
Other than that after my ICS update on the SGS2 a battery calibration kicked my battery life into overdrive and is giving me great usage.
Another thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the lack of Mass Storage on the SGS3. Its my biggest gripe and I really miss it. MTP can suck eggs till the chickens come home to roost. I use my phones alot for everything (play - work [office/field environment]) so its a real problem when I can't preview my pics on the phone through my computer when connected with my SGS3. I have to copy everything over to the PC first then filter through everything deciding on what I am/not going to keep/rename/edit. Also some people have reported having issues when trying to copy a large amount of files and/or large file sizes timing out when trying to transfer to the SGS3. I get that alot of the younger teens/early 20somethings don't care about this but I want my phone to do for me not work against me.
Sorry for my diatribe there...I could tell you how I really feel.
In short you are not missing out on anything if you don't get the SGS3. Don't worry about Jellybean either, the SGS2 WILL get it. Heck most likely even the HTC HD2 is getting Jellybean.
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The HD2 already has Jelly Bean bro !
man, tough decision even after its been debated 1000 times.
For me, the s2(epic touch 4g) was THE BEST PHONE I EVER HAD. Everything about that phone was just perfect. The display, even at 800x480 was amazing. Amazing camera, fast as hell, GREAT for gaming, great speaker. Even given its so so reception. Still the best phone ever to me.
I went ahead and took the plunge and upgraded to the s3. It is indeed a great phone. Its fast as hell, gets INSANE battery life, has a higher res screen which looks awesome (though because of the pentile arrangement viewing angles are not as good as the s2). Its got a great speaker and some real slick software features.
Heres what I miss about the s2. I miss the camera more than anything. The camera on the s3, while not a bad camera, to ME leaves something to be desired. The camera on the s2 was awesome.
I also miss gaming. its not as strong on the US s3 as it is on the s2. Mostly because of the increase in resolution. I feel like the s2 exynos was more than powerful enough to push the display on the s2. I dont feel the same way with the s4(krait) core and the s3. It just does not seem to perform as well. But that could be due to a number of things.
My opinion? If you got the money, then do it. If not, the s2 is STILL one of the best phones out there.
Im happy with my purchase for the most part. The s2 was a epic phone, the s3 is a minor improvement in my opinion
seoulstyle said:
I would honestly just stick with the S2 and wait for the S4 whenever it comes out. Your phone is only a year old, take some more time to enjoy it. Unless you play games, really demand a larger screen or just simply have money to blow, then there's no reason to upgrade so fast.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
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I would have to agree with seoulstyle on this one. Really the only thing I have noticed is biggerscreen, clairity of screen and battery life. I find it really difficult to type on the g3 vs my skyrocket in landscape mode. I had the s2, skyrocket and now s3. So if you have the cash to fork out do it, otherwise just wait. I haven't found the s3 usefull enough to say "man I glad I spent the money to upgrade to the s3" :-(
Dont get me wrong I really like the phone, but I paid the no commit price so its harder on the wallet.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
If you got the money and more than one line with upgrades than do it.
It's a very nice phone, it not a huge upgrade, but an upgrade indeed.
If you really think about it from here on out how much better can a phone get. It's always gonna be small upgrades moving forward.
Well at least that's how I see it.
This phone is a beast and I personally like everything about it, so much that I haven't even had the urge to root and flash anything.
Maybe when JB is stable enough, but I'm actually happy stock.
Only real problem I've had is signal drops here and there, but I'm sure that will get fixed with a different modem or something.
Powered by the SGSIII
Thanks for all the replies guys, really appreciate all your efforts into helping me decide. So far I'm inclined to stick with the GS2 since its quite frankly one of the top 3 phones out there and I am so used to it too. I just wanted to experience Rogers LTE since I do have 6 gigs of data to play with. I also would welcome the longer battery life since the GS2 is a thirsty model with every single ROM/Kernel out there. I am going for the 2000mAH extended battery to see if there is a huge improvement or anything and if there is, then I'll stick with the phone till a new version of S3 comes out or better yet next year's S4.
Well, I really like the S3, it's a very smooth device. But, I think I'd wait on the developer community a little longer before deciding whether to upgrade.
Sent from my LOCKED (Verizon, you suck), SCH-I535.
KillaHurtz said:
The HD2 already has Jelly Bean bro !
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:highfive: