Overall a real nice device. 4.5" wvga 1.5ghz dual core s4 1gb ram. Anyone have any plans to develop or find a root method? Thanks
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I437 using xda app-developers app
Just got it, great phone with a great price for people on 2 year contracts(30 dollars) I sent a request for a new sub-forum for it, support will come. Right now it's just a waiting game, MSM8960 S4 ftw!
I got two of them before Christmas, they seem to be very solid. Ours were 2 for $100 w/ 2yr. contract. My wife loves hers except for the battery life. I went back to my skyrocket until a root is available.
I just got this phone... I really like it.. can't wait for a new forum and be able to root.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I437 using xda premium
2000mah battery and super amoled the battery life is great for me and I am playing ps1 games on it with epsxe. I just want root and rom development to connect ps3 controller to the phone and overclock among other things like better battery life, my advice is to install apex launcher and disable every bloatware app you can .
A root method that actually works is on unlockroot.com it will install some spam toolbar crap but if you have a brain you can figure out how to remove it.
I just got one of these earlier today, brand spankin' new, not a mark on it (not even fingerprints, I swear) and did the unlock procedure which worked without a hitch, and I've been trying to hit the AT&T servers (even though I'm connected with T-Mobile) to force the Jelly Bean update and it just started a few minutes ago so we'll see what happens soon enough.
Snappy, fast, responsive, feels good in the hand, and since Samsung posted the source code I gotta wonder why there doesn't seem to be much if any interest in this device at all. It's like a dual core S3 from the specs, pretty damned close to it (and better than the S3 mini by far).
I wish I had a clue about ROM and kernel development 'cause if I did I'd get to work on it but, I suppose at some point maybe someone will create something more useful for us.
Seems like it would have just a bit more support here for some reason: a search for "samsung galaxy express" turns up only 6 threads, and this is one of them.
Maybe the bigger more talented developers just don't find such a "consumer" class device worth messing around with, I don't know, but I'd be grateful if anyone could do something in terms of a ROM, even a pure AOSP one would be worlds better than the stock AT&T bloatware.
It's rebooting and doing the Android upgrade at this moment, 83 apps to go... now to figure out a potential root.
So this device has working Jelly Bean? I was thinking of upgrading to this or a Pantech Discover, same price, nearly same specs, but I know Samsung in general has better support.
Jelly Bean 4.1.2 is available as an OTA for the Galaxy Express, mine updated yesterday and it works fine but I've noticed an issue with GPS fixing - with ICS 4.0.4 on it (factory stock AT&T ROM) the GPS would pull in like 22 satellites and that's from inside my apartment which is on the top/3rd floor of my apartment building here in downtown Las Vegas, and get a solid fix in under 3-5 seconds almost always.
Now with JB on it, I'm lucky to get 2 or 3 satellites in the first minute alone, and a fix takes a very long time so, again, I sure wish there was someone that cared about this phone. It's got what appears to be decent hardware, it's pretty damned fast, but it's all but ignored here and anywhere else that I've searched for info at.
Was hoping someone would find a way to do a backup of the pure factory stock 4.0.4 so I could roll back to that but now that's just not possible, and since this phone was given to me by a friend (at an AT&T store, even) I'm not sure if I take it in and complain that they'd replace it or flash it back to ICS if they're even capable.
But I like the phone, I really do, I just wish someone would put some interest in it. I know the source code for ICS is available but someone mentioned some parts were missing, not sure about how accurate that is, and I'm not a developer of any kind whatsoever. More than likely if I made some feeble attempt to get the SDK and then compile the source code Samsung has provided I'd just brick the thing and then be really pissed - even if I did get it for free.
So I'll just hang on to it for the moment, hoping someone decides to spend some time with it (would love to roll back to ICS, honestly, the GPS matters to me and right now not getting a fix in < 5 minutes is damned irritating.
I installed a system monitor app (nice one called - go figure - System Monitor, more info at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cgollner.systemmonitor) and was pleasantly surprised to see it offers a cool overlay ala S3 style CPU monitor gadget (not a widget, it floats above everything else) and I started up a video with MX Player and noted that one of the CPU cores stayed offline for the entire time but the one active core never downclocked lower than 1.1 GHz.
I then cleared everything from RAM and closed all apps with Task Manager (hold Home, etc) and then ran just the System Monitor with no other apps running and just watched it for 5 minutes straight - that one active core never ever went below 1.1 GHz even though the app plainly shows 384 MHz min/1.5GHz max which is correct for the stock kernel and the Snapdragon CPU (if rooted getting 228 MHz or something might be possible, I don't know).
But 5 solid minutes I watched it and it never downclocked under 1.1 GHz, could be the reason why the battery life ain't all it should be I suppose. I disabled airplane mode for the screenshot, I don't even have service right now (getting it tomorrow on the 1st of the month) but the T-Mobile microSIM is activated and will connect to their Yahoo summary page, and it's pretty snappy but I can't run any speedtest yet.
/me hopes someone will take an interest in this rather solid device...
If it turns out to have some funky new Samsung lockdown on it or partitioning scheme, so be it, but it would be great to see what this thing can really do considering it's got real LTE support from the gitgo (and it works with T-Mobile 4G LTE here in Vegas too).
Here's to hoping... :fingers-crossed:
I was looking at the Samsung Galaxy Express i8730 as a replacement for my old Galaxy Note I (yeah, a downgrade, but since I got a new tablet, I decided my phone would mostly be that--a phone). But the lack of dev support turned me away. No ROMs built just for it, just a couple of ways to root. No ROMs, no deal. I was surprised the lower-spec'd Samsung Galaxy Grand i9080/82 had a dedicated section all its own.
I'm gonna pin the blame on Samsung for this one—made too many phones of similar ilk, fragmenting the already dizzying mid-end smartphone segment. Of course devs would likely just hack for the most popular phones; see no point in developing ROMs for each and every phone.
br0adband said:
Jelly Bean 4.1.2 is available as an OTA for the Galaxy Express, mine updated yesterday and it works fine but I've noticed an issue with GPS fixing - with ICS 4.0.4 on it (factory stock AT&T ROM) the GPS would pull in like 22 satellites and that's from inside my apartment which is on the top/3rd floor of my apartment building here in downtown Las Vegas, and get a solid fix in under 3-5 seconds almost always.
Now with JB on it, I'm lucky to get 2 or 3 satellites in the first minute alone, and a fix takes a very long time so, again, I sure wish there was someone that cared about this phone. It's got what appears to be decent hardware, it's pretty damned fast, but it's all but ignored here and anywhere else that I've searched for info at.
Was hoping someone would find a way to do a backup of the pure factory stock 4.0.4 so I could roll back to that but now that's just not possible, and since this phone was given to me by a friend (at an AT&T store, even) I'm not sure if I take it in and complain that they'd replace it or flash it back to ICS if they're even capable.
But I like the phone, I really do, I just wish someone would put some interest in it. I know the source code for ICS is available but someone mentioned some parts were missing, not sure about how accurate that is, and I'm not a developer of any kind whatsoever. More than likely if I made some feeble attempt to get the SDK and then compile the source code Samsung has provided I'd just brick the thing and then be really pissed - even if I did get it for free.
So I'll just hang on to it for the moment, hoping someone decides to spend some time with it (would love to roll back to ICS, honestly, the GPS matters to me and right now not getting a fix in < 5 minutes is damned irritating.
I installed a system monitor app (nice one called - go figure - System Monitor, more info at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cgollner.systemmonitor) and was pleasantly surprised to see it offers a cool overlay ala S3 style CPU monitor gadget (not a widget, it floats above everything else) and I started up a video with MX Player and noted that one of the CPU cores stayed offline for the entire time but the one active core never downclocked lower than 1.1 GHz.
I then cleared everything from RAM and closed all apps with Task Manager (hold Home, etc) and then ran just the System Monitor with no other apps running and just watched it for 5 minutes straight - that one active core never ever went below 1.1 GHz even though the app plainly shows 384 MHz min/1.5GHz max which is correct for the stock kernel and the Snapdragon CPU (if rooted getting 228 MHz or something might be possible, I don't know).
But 5 solid minutes I watched it and it never downclocked under 1.1 GHz, could be the reason why the battery life ain't all it should be I suppose. I disabled airplane mode for the screenshot, I don't even have service right now (getting it tomorrow on the 1st of the month) but the T-Mobile microSIM is activated and will connect to their Yahoo summary page, and it's pretty snappy but I can't run any speedtest yet.
/me hopes someone will take an interest in this rather solid device...
If it turns out to have some funky new Samsung lockdown on it or partitioning scheme, so be it, but it would be great to see what this thing can really do considering it's got real LTE support from the gitgo (and it works with T-Mobile 4G LTE here in Vegas too).
Here's to hoping... :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good for you, you got to experience ICS. Mine was JB straight out of the box.
My Express can't even lock onto a single sat while indoors. It just sits there seeing 23 or 24 satellites. But while outdoors, it locks onto eighteen of them in under five minutes.
Sent from my rooted GT-I8730 using xda-developers
Related
so my contract will be up in May 4th.
after my horrid experience with the Backflip, im kind of on the iffy side about the atrix since its running motoblur.
the atrix seems like a good candidate. espcialy because of the lapdock. as im going to college and wanted a android tablet. but the atrix seems way better ATM and i can get it for around 450 at radio shack.
but first of all. i would want some general feed back from owners as you all.
pros and cons basically.
Atrix is a great phone to upgrade too. I myself came from a Backflip (CM6 installed). BLUR shouldn't be an issue since the phone is so powerful...but use LP or ADW etc as your launcher
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
rjayflo said:
Atrix is a great phone to upgrade too. I myself came from a Backflip (CM6 installed). BLUR shouldn't be an issue since the phone is so powerful...but use LP or ADW etc as your launcher
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
backflip, was a good attempt at a design of a phone unique, but with that they equipped it just sucked. i moved on to a HTC HD2 which is what i have right now. but i want my 3G back and 4G as my area will be available for 4G.
thanks for the tip on the launchers.
This phone is very well built especially in an otterbox case. It just feels like a sturdy phone. The camera is really good. I just upgraded from an Xperia X10 with loads of tweaks. I thought that was running really fast, and this manages to run even faster at stock. You can literally click almost anything and it will open immediately. Cons: I really like motoblur actually, but I wish there were more settings for syncing.
i keep on viewing more videos on youtube regarding the phone. called att today in the morning. i want it. but they are slapping a 45 tethering fee to my plan, becuase of the lapdock. i dont want to go over 200 bucks a month as its what we are paying right now right around 170ish 80ish.
but i want it.
but hen again, it makes me think about the whole motoblur thing. on the backflip, it was laggy and useless. i ended up putting a deblured rom on it.
by any chance does anybody know if you need to have a tethering plan?
You can get past the need for the tethering plan, I don't know personally because in Canada there are no tethering charges (except for the iPhone) but there are threads on bypassing it in the Dev forum. As for your original question, take a good look at the screen in a store or somewhere before you buy it. For a screen that is 960x540 the PenTile effect completely ruins it for me, and the color saturation is terrible. If it doesn't bother you than that its a great phone.
ill look that up. as for the screen. PenTile? imma hit google up. lol. but ill take a good look and compare to my HD2. screen doesnt really bug me. unless its low quality. then yes we have an issue. but other than that. were fine. thanks for the tip.
Silent8Strike said:
You can get past the need for the tethering plan, I don't know personally because in Canada there are no tethering charges (except for the iPhone) but there are threads on bypassing it in the Dev forum. As for your original question, take a good look at the screen in a store or somewhere before you buy it. For a screen that is 960x540 the PenTile effect completely ruins it for me, and the color saturation is terrible. If it doesn't bother you than that its a great phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely disagree. The screen looks very good, albet a little pixilated when displaying solid colors. My friend's droid x's screen looks washed out and low quality in comparison.
Pros
Most powerful phone. It is more powerful than most android phones coming out even the SGS2 can't touch it. Look at some benchmarking threads the Atrix gets in the 2900 with android 2.2 the SGS2 has 3000 but it is android 2.3 and does not push out as many pixels.
Great Battery life
1080p will be coming soon
4G coming soon
Very good build and very slim as well
Cons
Locked bootloader (Not a problem unless you like custom roms)
A bit laggy with a couple bugs (Could be fixed soon)
- AT&T
RacecarBMW said:
Pros
Most powerful phone. It is more powerful than most android phones coming out even the SGS2 can't touch it. Look at some benchmarking threads the Atrix gets in the 2900 with android 2.2 the SGS2 has 3000 but it is android 2.3 and does not push out as many pixels.
Great Battery life
1080p will be coming soon
4G coming soon
Very good build and very slim as well
Cons
Locked bootloader (Not a problem unless you like custom roms)
A bit laggy with a couple bugs (Could be fixed soon)
- AT&T
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
like i said screen isnt really a big issue. as long it looks okay and a bit on the HD side im good.
ive been reading review alot lately (dont wanna **** up liek i did with the backflip) i hear battery is a drag. that it dies quickly because of the dual core processor. the 4G has to come eventually as its has 4G slapped on to its name
AT&T is not really a big issue. ha i got service where i live. not one single dropped call.
now here are two noobish questions.
1) what exactly is a locked bootloader? and is it good or bad?
2) can someone explain the whole dual core thing? i have heard and read two different things. i read that it is a 1 GHz processor thats it. i have heard from video reviews that its a processor with 2 1Ghz chips, that making it 2 Ghz. jsut wondering.
How are you getting it for 450 from radio shack? If you don't mind me asking.
I returned mine for the zoom and will prolly grab it again for that price.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
i visted my local radio shack about 3 days ago.
Phone 150
lapdock 329.99
so correction about 479.99
Atrix & lapdock deal @ radioshack
Oh with an upgrade? Damn that's a pretty good prove. I paid for it in full, 650 is crazy for a phone...
Alex2x3 said:
Oh with an upgrade? Damn that's a pretty good prove. I paid for it in full, 650 is crazy for a phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah. 600 for the phone is whack! i got a HD2 currently got it off cragislist for 150 guy needed the money.
best buy has the phone for 99.99 and the dock for 399.99. a total of about 500+
radio shack seems the best option. around 480 not bad 20 bucks is 20 bucks i can buy a case or something.
You guys are lucky you don't live in Australia, to buy any decent phone will set you back 800ish, Atrix 4G online in an Australian store (MobiCity.com.au) will set you back $1000 its stupid.
As for the question, I like my Atrix, its heaps better than my HTC 7 Trophy and faster than my iPhone 4 in some cases. The locked bootloader basically stops you flashing custom ROMs onto the phone entirely, only fake ROMs that are essentially very well built themes. Considering this is my first android though, I have yet to care about custom ROMs. The screen is good unless you're viewing solid colors which is when it goes pixelated and motoblur did annoy me as soon as I saw it, which is the reason I shoved GingerBlur on it as soon as I could.
- DarkRyoushii
sal2708 said:
now here are two noobish questions.
1) what exactly is a locked bootloader? and is it good or bad?
2) can someone explain the whole dual core thing? i have heard and read two different things. i read that it is a 1 GHz processor thats it. i have heard from video reviews that its a processor with 2 1Ghz chips, that making it 2 Ghz. jsut wondering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) In simplified terms, a Bootloader is low-level piece of software that loads the main OS (Android in this case). It's roughly equivalent of the PC BIOS.
Being locked means that its going to be very difficult to replace it.
You'd want to replace it in order to replace the Android OS with a newer version. The Manufactures and carriers are terribly slow to release new versions. The version of android on the atrix is version out of date (2.2) and almost a year old. It also means you can easily remove the extra 'value' crap motorola and the carriers like to add (like motoblur).
2) The chip runs at 1Ghz, but it's two cores on the chip which means it can 'theoretically' do twice as much per hertz. In practise, Android isn't that dual-core aware. It's likely Ice-Cream will bring more optimizations for dual-cores. Which we think is due late this year.
But Motorola would rather sell you a new phone than update it, hence why a locked bootloader is a pain. Consumers provide far better support than the manufactures or carriers
I see. I wonder if they will skip 2.3 and just go ahead to ice cream since ice cream is for dual core phones.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
There is a thread like this one on the forum of the Samsung Galaxy s 2 but almost all the guys talk about the SGS2 and i want it to share it here, to all the Atrix ppl.
The original thread is here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1083964
now... to the topic, i own the motorola atrix and i think its a great device, fast and fun, i can do whatever i want, but i dont like some stuff, like the wake up lag (i think it can be fixed only unmounting the SD card), the fact that it reboot randomly and the locked bootloader, now, i knoe that there r some guys trying to unlock it and i think someone posted a way to flash full roms but didnt understud how to do it.
Now i can get the SGS2 really cheap, but i havent seen it on the street to test it or anything, dont know the problems that it have and dont know which phone will be better running the same rom (lets say CM7).
so i have that problem, what do you think?
I think you are not asking how we like the MB860/Atrix as your title suggests, but rather asking us if you should buy the SGS2!
That's honestly what I think after reading your post!
If you are looking for justification of owning both devices, I say do it! My friends ask me why I need more than one phone and I laugh at them. My reply is always, "Why not?". Then I proceed to show the differences between devices, pros and cons of each. Its just fun, and a hobby. Is that what you were fishing for?
Side note: NO more random reboots for me! Ever since I uninstalled the horrible horrible LP+, I haven't seen a reboot (or graphical shell crash, whichever it is) in 10+ days. Ditch the LauncherPro! It sucks on the Atrix! Maybe I should find more threads and inform them of my experience.?.
Edit: Ive also never experienced wake up lag. Ever.
I think it's quite good
The only gripe is the locked bootloader, so there hasn't been an explosion of kernels and roms for it, which is a shame
I do like to customise my stuff to suit my needs
I've also played with a i9100, and it is very nice, and I would be torn between the two
The fingerprint reader I use all the time and probably couldn't do without it once I've had it.
Its a very powerful device, and the Full Ubuntu customization makes it so it can replace netbooks for a lot of people. Since I like almost everything in it, lets say what I dont:
Its looks.
It appears ordinary. TOO Ordinary. I'm on the subway, holding a phone more powerful than all others in the train combined, but if anyone looks at it, it just screams "mid-end".
Its back cover.
It's extremelly slippery. Of all the phones I've owned in 8 years, this one I let slip and fall to the floor more times in two months than any other during the one year I've owned each. That's about 20 falls now and counting.
And, of course, the locked bootloarder.
Motoblur isn't as bad to me as most others, as I like the contacts integration and the phone location without the need to download third party apps. But unlocking the webtop was a MAJOR headache for someone who knew NOTHING of Linux.
Now, on comparison, the SG2 has a bigger screen, a better contrast, a more powerful core, and a different look that may appeal to many people. However, it doesnt have the Lapdock, which can matter a lot or absolutely nothing, depending on what you think of it. And it has a different UI which you may like better or not. Also, It's pixel density is much lower.
There is a comparison thread here.
I have a love hate relationship with it. Its my first android. I gave my i4 to my wife. I love the size/form factor. Battery, call quality, web surfing are good. I think the gps, combined with cardock and vlingo in car is superb.
Id give the screen an A-
Text and sites look pretty good, but pixelation is evident on homescreen wallpapers and widgets. The 5mp camera blows. The video recording is great IF you have good lighting.
I have been able to achieve 7.19 mb down in certain parts of houston. Other places are random 3g.
Pretty pissed moto hasn't released GB.
Accessories are fatally overpriced.
I've played with a lapdock. Great build quality, crappy performance. Webtop mod on tv is cool, but gimicky.
Biggest gripe though is my battery cover creaks a lot. I had to put tapw on the inside to make it feel solid and sound quiet.
However through updates/future mods/and using a case all of my complaints are easily erased. The atrix was released way too early. Maybe att pushed moto. If the phone had landed in late July with everything working and updated, I think it would have had the launch it deserves.
Not sure it will survive the HTC holiday and Lead. And the Droid Bionic and some new sprint phone appear to be atrix rev 2 with everything good to go at launch.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App
I love my Atrix. Yes, it's buggy at times, but it doesn't give me a fraction of the frustration that my old iPhone gave me.
Once I get to college, I'll be right in Atlanta's HSPA+ coverage area, so I'll expect some awesome data speeds there. We should have Gingerbread by then as well.
i like the atrix, its a challenge at the moment with us having 2nd init and trying to make custom roms keeps me entertain for hours
I owned both the Atrix and SGS2. I kept the Atrix. SGS2 was a dissappointment. Actually im not sure why people make such a fuss about it. Ateix has better sound, better sprakerphone, better resolutipn etc. Worst part is the battery lfe on SGS2 . Absolutely awful. Often lasted less than 6 hours. Sure its powerful but what's the point id you can't use that power or have tobfreeze most of the Apps in order to get through the day. I just didn't feel I could rely on it.
Atrix isn't perfect (yet). But its overall combination is great.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
I love my Atrix. The only flaws with it are the bootloader (which has been mostly worked around thanks to 2nd init, now we just wait for someone to develop a CM7 rom for it) and the fact that the screen cant show gradients well. The battery life is outstanding, text is crisp, nothing slows it down (...except live wallpapers, but I suspect Motoblur at work there, so moot point after roms) and the call quality is great.
As for the rebooting, its either something you installed or you got a faulty device and need to exchange it.
I cant say anything about the Galaxy S, but there's nothing I've seen that would justify changing phones from the Atrix.
To me is love and hate on the Atrix 4G. I got so used to running multi-OS on a custom rom HTC HD2. Kinda missing the HTC Sense on both Android and WinMo.
Here is what I do love about the Atrix:
* Better Screen Res.
* Dual Core CPU
* Fingerprint Reader
* HDMI output
* Webtop function
What I hated on the Atrix + Motorola
* No International Warrenty
* Lockdown of Bootloader
* Poor or no language display support within Webtop
* Overly expensive hardwares
Overall, The Atrix is a pretty slick device only If you don't use lot of interactive widget on the screen. I might just keep it for a little more time untill I can find a NextG version of HTC Sensation aka Pyramid.
I hate my atrix. One min its fast and responsive, the next its like running windows 95 on a 486 with 24mb of ram. My data connection randomly times out and the screen is crap.
I want to like this phone, especially after seeing 2.3 on the X and how responsive it is but I have a feeling im going to get let down. Im tired of waiting endlessly for the next version of android that's supposed to magically make everything better, or hope the community will pick up the slack.
I just hope I can convince my wife to give up her pink pantech dumbphone for the atrix so I can get an iphone 5 when its released.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App
sammm said:
To me is love and hate on the Atrix 4G. I got so used to running multi-OS on a custom rom HTC HD2. Kinda missing the HTC Sense on both Android and WinMo.
Here is what I do love about the Atrix:
* Better Screen Res.
* Dual Core CPU
* Fingerprint Reader
* HDMI output
* Webtop function
What I hated on the Atrix + Motorola
* No International Warrenty
* Lockdown of Bootloader
* Poor or no language display support within Webtop
* Overly expensive hardwares
Overall, The Atrix is a pretty slick device only If you don't use lot of interactive widget on the screen. I might just keep it for a little more time untill I can find a NextG version of HTC Sensation aka Pyramid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I miss winmo sense on the hd2 as well! I thought it was the best version of sense. I didn't have to do anything to it except mYbe one mid to add extra icons tobthe home screen. I ovetflashed my hd2 and eventually the battery points broke don removing ; replacing batteries so often when flashing! So I can't even get it to work anymite just to play with it to see how it used to look.
Anyone out there figured out how to Make WINMO sense for android?
(Just looked back at my spelling. Man the Atrix keyboard is awful!)
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
IT is a great phone best I've had so far,but find out for yourself.The hardware is top notch and the software is catching up.I think its a pretty good device that slowly goign to improve.
wow, really? That's my launcher of choice and my atrix has NOT ONCE did a random reboot. It feels faster with launcher pro plus than with any other launcher.
I mostly like the atrix. Only have a few issues with mine. The hard lock button wears out really quick. Mine has pretty much lost all of its spring. I dont know if its the phone or the market, but google market wont connect intermittently. For "4g" it really feels like 3g. The form factor is boring. Lastly the locked bootloader.
I was actually looking at the xperia arc. That thing looks slick. Not dual core but honestly til the OS is optimized for dual cores, its not that important. My nexus one is as fast if not faster then my atrix. i really like how SE altered the UI.
i doo love my atrix, its a great phone and i think ill keep it until gingerbread and see how it works, but as soon as Entel (my carrier) get stock on the SGS2 ill buy it cos it will cost me like $60 and i can sell it for like $800 if it is unlocked for all companies
maybe there i will test it to see how it works
the only problem i have with the atrix is the locked bootloader, and the wake up lag, nothing more, games, apps, and all the stuff run smooth as butter
I love mine. I bought it March 3rd and I have yet to put it down. I love tinkering and changing things. Yes, the bootloader is locked, but devs are working on ways around that as I type. I am running Gingerblur 4.5 and never have/had any of the issues you describe. My buddy has the SGII that he paid like 800 for. Got it from the UK. I played with it...and I wasn't too impressed. It was right out of the box and he has since changed a lot. Atrix feels just right to me. As soon as we can bypass BL and GB is officially OTA'd it will get even better.
ok... now i have the SGS2, but dont know what to do >.<, sell the atrix or the SGS2 (i need money).
both are great phones, and i really dont know what to do... >.<
I have an option of going with the Skyrocket or stick with the Atrix but I'm leaning toward the skyrocket since it has a better camera,larger screen size, TRUE LTE, faster cpu/gpu. What do you guys think?
Whatever one that will have better software support. Which will probably be the Skyrocket. Im a sucker for phones that are still supported for a while.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA
I mean the only reason why I'm considering the skyrocket is because of the screen size and I have big hands/fingers so the atrix feels like a toy to me.
I just left my Atrix for a Galaxy SII, so I have some good things to share...
I say forget both the Atrix (riddled with issues) or the Skyrocket (too pricey) - just get yourself the regular Galaxy SII (non skyrocket).
I get 10mb/s speeds (3mb/s upload) here in Chicago. LTE HSPA+ is plenty fast, and it's $100 cheaper than the Skyrocket.
But, honestly, Skyrocket aside, I used the Atrix for a while, and while it's a decent Android, it always had reset issues, and would constantly hang when loading apps. The SII is like day and night vs. the Atrix. Amazing. I too just wanted good battery life, stability, and camera...you'll get it ALL with the SII...
Ben
Benchernif said:
I just left my Atrix for a Galaxy SII, so I have some good things to share...
I say forget both the Atrix (riddled with issues) or the Skyrocket (too pricey) - just get yourself the regular Galaxy SII (non skyrocket).
I get 10mb/s speeds (3mb/s upload) here in Chicago. LTE HSPA+ is plenty fast, and it's $100 cheaper than the Skyrocket.
But, honestly, Skyrocket aside, I used the Atrix for a while, and while it's a decent Android, it always had reset issues, and would constantly hang when loading apps. The SII is like day and night vs. the Atrix. Amazing. I too just wanted good battery life, stability, and camera...you'll get it ALL with the SII...
Ben
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. How does the speed of the phone compare to the Atrix when browsing and watching HD videos/playing games? Also, If I'm not mistaken, the SGS2 has the official ICS out already, right? If so, how does it feel compared to android/CM7 and is there a CM9 for the SGS2?
Thanks again.
I don't know if i got lucky or anything, but my Atrix have only had one random reset, one time, and i was doing some pretty intensive tasks on it at that time, and never again. I have read lots of people complaining about it, but thats not an issue with me, and im a flash addict, i flash lots of customs roms, and i like to try every rom that pops up on the development section.
About your desicion, i would probably go for the S2, even though the screen have a smaller resolution, but the AMOLED looks pretty dam nice. I had a SGS, and thats the only thing i miss from my phone. Also, the S2 have already leaked official ICS leaked roms, which is a sign that its getting the update to 4.0 soon.
Also, might have screwed yourself with your username if you get another phone.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA
Benchernif said:
and it's $100 cheaper than the Skyrocket.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
$20 for a refurbished Skyrocket on AT&T right now. Was thinking of using my sons upgrade to get one myself until the SGS III or Sony Ion release. (Yes, I know, refurbished, but hey for $20! This also seems like they are clearing out ready for the SGS III release).
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-details/?device=Samsung+Galaxy+S+(TM)+II+Skyrocket+(TM)+-+Black+(Refurbished)&q_sku=sku5740283#
I am using them both right now. The Atrix to type this on the lapdock. The Sky as my phone. I bought the Sky last week because I finally had it with Motoblur. Loading the noattach rom screwed up my phone (caused something to go wrong where I couldn't use CWM to restore) and I couldn't get the email to work properly even after reflashing the 2.3.6 sbf. Finally got it to work after I setup a new Motoblur account (new email address) after I had previously tried a number of resets (and after trying to get Motoblur to clear the data on the old email address was futile). Enough whining
Sky screen is gorgeous and it is very fast (both as to response and data down) even in non LTE areas. (you have to use a special sim, don't know why) It seems lighter even though it is bigger. I like the phone much better (the screen is huge and much more responsive). The only downsides are (in descending order) battery life sucks when the screen is on, some bloat cannot be removed (not rooted yet) and there is no notification led (there is an app that works to replace this, though called noled)
After I wrote this I worked out and used the Atrix to stream Slacker (since I had been using it in the lapdock) Btooth in the house. It also made me realize how much better the Sky plays with Btooth devices (especially my F150 with Sync), there is no need for the 30 step volume mod and the music just seems to be higher quality (wider dynamic range).
imho
CaelanT said:
$20 for a refurbished Skyrocket on AT&T right now. Was thinking of using my sons upgrade to get one myself until the SGS III or Sony Ion release. (Yes, I know, refurbished, but hey for $20! This also seems like they are clearing out ready for the SGS III release).
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-details/?device=Samsung+Galaxy+S+(TM)+II+Skyrocket+(TM)+-+Black+(Refurbished)&q_sku=sku5740283#
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's out of stock.
rpolansky said:
I am using them both right now. The Atrix to type this on the lapdock. The Sky as my phone. I bought the Sky last week because I finally had it with Motoblur. Loading the noattach rom screwed up my phone (caused something to go wrong where I couldn't use CWM to restore) and I couldn't get the email to work properly even after reflashing the 2.3.6 sbf. Finally got it to work after I setup a new Motoblur account (new email address) after I had previously tried a number of resets (and after trying to get Motoblur to clear the data on the old email address was futile). Enough whining
Sky screen is gorgeous and it is very fast (both as to response and data down) even in non LTE areas. (you have to use a special sim, don't know why) It seems lighter even though it is bigger. I like the phone much better (the screen is huge and much more responsive). The only downsides are (in descending order) battery life sucks when the screen is on, some bloat cannot be removed (not rooted yet) and there is no notification led (there is an app that works to replace this, though called noled)
After I wrote this I worked out and used the Atrix to stream Slacker (since I had been using it in the lapdock) Btooth in the house. It also made me realize how much better the Sky plays with Btooth devices (especially my F150 with Sync), there is no need for the 30 step volume mod and the music just seems to be higher quality (wider dynamic range).
imho
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So my current SIM won't work with the skyrocket? I don't understand, why would it need a different type of SIM? Also, I'm hearing a lot of people complain about the battery life for skyrocket and it's understandably since it has a 1.5ghz dual core cpu. But I'd rather have a great battery life than a have a fast cpu which makes me think of getting the regular SGS2 instead of the skyrocket.
I have both....Atrix with Neutrino 2.6 is like scrolling through glass on water...with lots of reboots. Samsung (all three that I have had) are rock solid with a screen that burns holes in my retina....
SGS2 for my use-lasted twice as long as my Atrix...
Galaxy Note
If you are on the grandfathered unlimited data plan with AT&T, the skyrocket and LTE ups your data throttling cap from 3GB to 5GB...
I am still within the window of returning my G Note (which i love except for a few things) and possibly getting a SGS3.
I really like the GNote and the massive screen, the extra real state is really nice! I am on AT&T and really like the idea of the HSPA network backup to the not yet present LTE here in South Florida. I am getting avg between 4-6 mbps DL.
NOTE (AT&T):
Likes:
* HSPA Network on AT&T
* Screen Size
* S-Pen (I actually use the thing)
Dislikes:
* LAG!!! It's minimized using TW, but any other launcher seems to slow it down. Over all it sometimes does not feel as responsive as expected from the specs.
* No OC on ICS (might be wrong here)
* Potential for less Dev support once SGS3 comes out.
SGS3 (VZW):
Likes:
* Camera...I have toddler at home and a quick camera would be great (this is my biggest factor for considering this phone)
* Power...this things seems like a beast!!!
* form factor
* ICS, although I am not as concerned about software bcs it's a matter of porting by one these great devs in XDA.
Dislike:
* Smaller Screen
* Slow 3G speeds when not on LTE area about 50% of time!
Any thoughts that might help me rationalize this decision is greatly appreciate it!
Thank you!
Crey23 said:
Dislikes:
* LAG!!! It's minimized using TW, but any other launcher seems to slow it down. Over all it sometimes does not feel as responsive as expected from the specs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is lag only in the launchers? If so, try Launcher Pro. No perceptible lag for me.
Good luck figuring this out, it's a tight race between these 2 devices.
davaj said:
Is lag only in the launchers? If so, try Launcher Pro. No perceptible lag for me.
Good luck figuring this out, it's a tight race between these 2 devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it's not limited to Launchers, but they do affect normal navigation. I had ran GO, ADW EX, and Holo....and Holo being the "fastest". I just installed Go Ex and it's really fast. I think it more to do with one the widgets that I was running.
But lag can be seen while unlocking, but I hear that the SGS3 is the same...something to do with deep sleep that Samsung uses. It can also be seen while playing some games like Angry Birds. It ran kind of choppy on my old htc Vision(G2) Oc'd @ 1.2 Ghz, but the Note sometimes shows that choppiness too.
One thing that also concerns me is that the RAM is ually running at 65%-75% capacity anyone else?
I can't decide either. My problem is that I have would have to return my note before ever seeing the gs3. I sold my international note for the one x and didn't like that phone so I would probably regret trading for the gs3 as well. Once you get used to the screen on the note its hard to downgrade. Believe me when I say that the note's screen looks way better than the one x, even the guy at Walmart's at&t store agreed with me. Hopefully when we get a kernel source it will speed up our notes, although my note isn't that bad now.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
First and foremost determine what you need in a phone, do you need the Horsepower of a quad core? Most apps aren't designed to work with the quad cores and I would believe that the support of them in ICS is kind of like windows, yes they will use them, but will it use them effectively? Do you want the screen or the camera more? I know for my needs I prefer the screen and the camera is plenty quick enough for what I do, but I don't have kids. As for lag, if it's really that bad, I'd exchange it for another. I only saw lag on my phone after I had launched 20 or 25 apps, running tons of widgets and hadn't shut my phone down in 3 weeks.
So in the end, the trade off is what will you utilize more and what would be best for you. I for one wouldn't trade my note for anything, but again I came from a streak and make full use of my very large screen and not the camera so much. Not to mention, you could wait to get the S3, get it, and in a year they'll probably release a phone that has 3.2GHz quad cores with brand new LTE system that's 10x faster than what we have now.
Technology has always grown faster than we can keep up with, the real question is, how long will you wait to get the latest and greatest? That's the reason why I haven't upgraded my home PC. There's always a new CPU coming out with a new form factor, or the next best graphics card is going to be released in a month or two. My current logic with it now is, hey it works, it works well, I'll keep it until it doesn't suit my needs anymore.
Just my thoughts on it.
Apex launcher is the best launcher for the note no lag on my end. I couldn't see myself going to a smaller screen. My hands fit the phone perfect.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
I will share my views with my days with the ATT Note. If you are running stock ROM..it was a HORRIBLE experience. I had my Captivate at the time and it was super smooth compared to the ATT Note stock.
If you are cool changing ROMS, which I think you are since you are here, I would expect it to be a lot better.
As for the dev on the ATT one dying after the GS3 comes out...well , unless you are buying an international GS3, I wont expect the dev for it to be that huge either compared to the international version but this is just a guess.
davaj said:
If so, try Launcher Pro. No perceptible lag for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this.
lyall29 said:
I can't decide either. My problem is that I have would have to return my note before ever seeing the gs3....
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is exactly my concern.....Yes it might be all that, as the hox was when it came out, but after I played with it for a bit I was not convinced and actually opted for the GNote instead despite the additional $70 that it cost me.
I guess I like to be a s bleeding edge as possible, being that at the speed of industry... in two years, by the time my contract is over, there will be 6.8Ghz eight core, 0.5 TB solid state drive phones with 21MP cameras that wipe my butt too.... But reality is that it might be overkill.
The other thing that attracts me to the SGS# is that finally an Android phone will have as many accessories as an iPhone given the number of pre-sales, and the fact that it will be the flag-ship device for the 5 major carriers in the US/Canada. I am tired of walking into a best buy and see 90 different cases for the iPhone and, if I'm lucky, finding the $hitty Speck case for my Note lol.
Lastly, my other concer is that in order to get the SGS3 I would have to go from AT&T to VZW, and I am not convinced at all of going from lightning fast VZW LTE to crawling speed 3g EV-DO signal. It is reliable in the area, but LTE does not reach 50% of my territory.
I guess I'm going to keep the GNote, root it and wait for a kernel to break 2.0 Ghz blazing fast phone. I have read a few reviews that measure web processing throughput and the Note beats the SGS3 in the benchmark. Also some of the ROMs available have been tweaked to improve DL perfromance quite drastically.
The camera is pretty snappy too....It seems to take long, but when the picture is revealed it look amazing!
Alrighty, a couple of things to keep in mind.
1. While most apps arent designed to utilize quad cores, this isnt likely to stay that way for long. Since quadcores are fairly new and Android app developers can actually update their apps without some sort of approval process, expect support to happen fairly quickly.
2. The SG3 has a stylus too.
3. ICS will be available for the Note probably in the next month or so. The latest rumour is July 13th. It was delayed 2 weeks because Samsung was fixing a kernel bug that caused the international Note to hard brick when flashing ICS roms.
4. The stock apps are interchangeable. The apps on the Note are available for the SG3 and the SG3 apps are available to put on the Note (this will become easier once ICS is official on the Note).
5. While yes, the Note is bigger, it isnt by much.
Now that Ive addressed those points, I want to talk about ram usage and lag.
The very first thing I am going to recommend is a simple factory reset. Strange as it may be, my Note had nothing but problems first day I had it. I should interject here, my Note was brand new, NOT a refurb. I had only installed a few of my own apps (Audible, BeyondPod, Go Launcher, Beautiful Widgets, and Widget Locker) and had NOT (and still havent in fact) rooted it. I also updated as many of the stock apps manually from the market as I could find since I noticed the stock apps were not linked to the market. And apps began force closing left and right, battery was dead within 6 hours of just streaming audio over bluetooth (hardly any screen time), poor performance, etc. Before I returned it, I did a factory reset and it has been running great since (on probably month 3 now of having it, I bought it very shortly after it came out in the states).
Strangely enough, my brothers Samsung GNexus had poor network performance out of the box, we did a factory reset WHILE driving home with his brand new phone (we drove 2.5 hours to pick up his phone so we had the time) and since then, it has been working fine since.
Ram usage is normal for it to be in the 75% range. Android works a bit differently than Windows and their is no negative to high ram usage TO A POINT. Ram usage exceeding at or exceeding 90% however would be troubling and actually cause poor, laggy performance but under 90% is fine. I dont want to go into the details here but a quick Google search, difference between windows and linux ram usage, might be beneficial.
Finally, my raw opinion, the SG3 is the better phone. The screen is better (albeit smaller), slightly faster, etc. Software differences are a moot point since all of that will be changed in a month when ICS is official for the Note and you can just install software from the phone you DONT have on the phone you DO have. Source code has been released for the Note and the SG3 so we may actually begin seeing some decent rom development begin to happen here in the coming weeks for both phones. What I would say is this, if you want a better quality screen and a slightly faster phone spec wise, go with the SG3. If you want the bigger screen, stick with the Note. Personally, I prefer the screen size and since I spent money on an extended battery for the Note (the Mugen 5400 mah), I wont be switching phones any time soon.
I guess the only thing that bugs me with the at&t note is opening apps. When I had the international note it was twice as fast at opening apps and the international gs2 was even faster. The app I use the most is cash flow for my check register. It takes almost 5 seconds to open with the at&t note and like 1.5 seconds with the gs2. I know I'm being picky but I like things to be fast. The HTC one x to me, was even slower than my gs2. Maybe because of the sense UI, but that's what scares me about the gs3 seeing how it has the same processor as the one x. Maybe I need to be content with what I have and quit wanting all the latest and greatest. After all this worrying I'll probably still get the gs3.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
littlewierdo said:
Alrighty, a couple of things to keep in mind.
1. While most apps arent designed to utilize quad cores, this isnt likely to stay that way for long. Since quadcores are fairly new and Android app developers can actually update their apps without some sort of approval process, expect support to happen fairly quickly.
2. The SG3 has a stylus too.
3. ICS will be available for the Note probably in the next month or so. The latest rumour is July 13th. It was delayed 2 weeks because Samsung was fixing a kernel bug that caused the international Note to hard brick when flashing ICS roms.
4. The stock apps are interchangeable. The apps on the Note are available for the SG3 and the SG3 apps are available to put on the Note (this will become easier once ICS is official on the Note).
5. While yes, the Note is bigger, it isnt by much.
Now that Ive addressed those points, I want to talk about ram usage and lag.
The very first thing I am going to recommend is a simple factory reset. Strange as it may be, my Note had nothing but problems first day I had it. I should interject here, my Note was brand new, NOT a refurb. I had only installed a few of my own apps (Audible, BeyondPod, Go Launcher, Beautiful Widgets, and Widget Locker) and had NOT (and still havent in fact) rooted it. I also updated as many of the stock apps manually from the market as I could find since I noticed the stock apps were not linked to the market. And apps began force closing left and right, battery was dead within 6 hours of just streaming audio over bluetooth (hardly any screen time), poor performance, etc. Before I returned it, I did a factory reset and it has been running great since (on probably month 3 now of having it, I bought it very shortly after it came out in the states).
Strangely enough, my brothers Samsung GNexus had poor network performance out of the box, we did a factory reset WHILE driving home with his brand new phone (we drove 2.5 hours to pick up his phone so we had the time) and since then, it has been working fine since.
Ram usage is normal for it to be in the 75% range. Android works a bit differently than Windows and their is no negative to high ram usage TO A POINT. Ram usage exceeding at or exceeding 90% however would be troubling and actually cause poor, laggy performance but under 90% is fine. I dont want to go into the details here but a quick Google search, difference between windows and linux ram usage, might be beneficial.
Finally, my raw opinion, the SG3 is the better phone. The screen is better (albeit smaller), slightly faster, etc. Software differences are a moot point since all of that will be changed in a month when ICS is official for the Note and you can just install software from the phone you DONT have on the phone you DO have. Source code has been released for the Note and the SG3 so we may actually begin seeing some decent rom development begin to happen here in the coming weeks for both phones. What I would say is this, if you want a better quality screen and a slightly faster phone spec wise, go with the SG3. If you want the bigger screen, stick with the Note. Personally, I prefer the screen size and since I spent money on an extended battery for the Note (the Mugen 5400 mah), I wont be switching phones any time soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Littleweirdo ...thanks for the explanation and opinion. I share much of what you are saying regarding the SGS3, and I think dollar for dollar the SGS3 is far more powerful than the Note. I looked at our bill, and with the new plans that VZW is pushing out on June 28th, we would actually save about $32 a month from our phone bill (which allone is an enticing reason to change). My concern is the LTE to 3G connectivity of the VZW network...not sure if that is a strong enough argument not to change to VZW. Something can be said about the quality of the VZW network that does, in a way, outweigh sheer DL speeds.
lyall29 said:
I guess the only thing that bugs me with the at&t note is opening apps. When I had the international note it was twice as fast at opening apps and the international gs2 was even faster. The app I use the most is cash flow for my check register. It takes almost 5 seconds to open with the at&t note and like 1.5 seconds with the gs2. I know I'm being picky but I like things to be fast. The HTC one x to me, was even slower than my gs2. Maybe because of the sense UI, but that's what scares me about the gs3 seeing how it has the same processor as the one x. Maybe I need to be content with what I have and quit wanting all the latest and greatest. After all this worrying I'll probably still get the gs3.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My concern with dropping my Note for the SGS3 sight-unseen is that the SGS3 will not meet my expectations based on the hype.
This is the most annoying cellular phone decision (purchase) I have ever done!! LOL!
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions &
Read the Forum Rules Ref Posting
Thanks ✟
Moving to Q&A
lufc said:
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions &
Read the Forum Rules Ref Posting
Thanks ✟
Moving to Q&A
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks lufc, hadn't realized that I wasn't in Q&A. :
Well I bit the bullet..... I switched to VZW. Specs wise the sgs3 seems to be superior, but push come to shove, a $35 a month savings with unlimited voice and text and 4gb gigs once the new pricing plans kick in at the end of the month.
I will miss the huge screen and te s- pen. And I might regret it, but I had to do it from a logical perspective.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
Crey23 said:
Littleweirdo ...thanks for the explanation and opinion. I share much of what you are saying regarding the SGS3, and I think dollar for dollar the SGS3 is far more powerful than the Note. I looked at our bill, and with the new plans that VZW is pushing out on June 28th, we would actually save about $32 a month from our phone bill (which allone is an enticing reason to change). My concern is the LTE to 3G connectivity of the VZW network...not sure if that is a strong enough argument not to change to VZW. Something can be said about the quality of the VZW network that does, in a way, outweigh sheer DL speeds.
My concern with dropping my Note for the SGS3 sight-unseen is that the SGS3 will not meet my expectations based on the hype.
This is the most annoying cellular phone decision (purchase) I have ever done!! LOL!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, Im not a fanboy by any stretch of the imagination. BUT, Samsung hasnt created a crappy phone since prior to the Galaxy S line of phones - I cant speak to anything prior to that because I never owned a Samsung phone prior to the Captivate. They have proven that they are ready to play with the big boys, they are even taking on a certain fruit company in court.
Why WOULDNT the Galaxy S3 not live up to all the hype? All the tech enthusiasts love it, ask anyone who has it outside of the US, they all love it as well. I think its a fantastic device and other than a smaller screen, its an upgrade from the Note in EVERY aspect, including a much higher quality screen.
If I wasnt invested in the Note already (ie a contract & a $100 extended battery), Id be looking very seriously at the S3 because the Note is older tech. Honestly, Id be laughing at the Note's screen size (I did originally before I decided to just see if I could live with it) because hell, its big.
If Im GOING to buy a phone, Im going to get the latest tech because I know that living with a phone for two years is going to be painful during the last 6 months of the contract.
Although I dont see myself wanting to upgrade my phone after two years due to the limited things I actually USE my phone for (podcasts, audiobooks from Audible, driving directions and checking for app updates for the 15 or so apps I have installed), my Note is plenty adequate. Hell, I would still be using the Captivate if it hadnt died on me. It did everything the Note does for me (that I use it for that is) and it even had a MUCH better sound processor (the Note's sound processing is TERRIBLE).
I'm still curious why people talk about the sgs3 like it's a pentium 4 to the notes pentium 2. The us note is a 1.5ghz dual core, the us sgs3 is a 1.5ghz dual core. The sgs3 has more ram, which means very little when appropriate customizations can create a silky smooth experience on either device. And to top it all off, with the right optimizations in the rom and kernel, a 1ghz tegra 2 is just as smooth as these 1.5 ghz chips. My atrix was buttery smooth on cm9, my note is buttery smooth on cm9, and I'm sure the sgs3 will be buttery smooth on cm9. In my opinion, it comes down to aesthetics and screen, because everything else is a variable if you plan to flash.
SGH-i717 mesosphere
littlewierdo said:
Ok, Im not a fanboy by any stretch of the imagination. BUT, Samsung hasnt created a crappy phone since prior to the Galaxy S line of phones - I cant speak to anything prior to that because I never owned a Samsung phone prior to the Captivate. They have proven that they are ready to play with the big boys, they are even taking on a certain fruit company in court.
Why WOULDNT the Galaxy S3 not live up to all the hype? All the tech enthusiasts love it, ask anyone who has it outside of the US, they all love it as well. I think its a fantastic device and other than a smaller screen, its an upgrade from the Note in EVERY aspect, including a much higher quality screen.
If I wasnt invested in the Note already (ie a contract & a $100 extended battery), Id be looking very seriously at the S3 because the Note is older tech. Honestly, Id be laughing at the Note's screen size (I did originally before I decided to just see if I could live with it) because hell, its big.
If Im GOING to buy a phone, Im going to get the latest tech because I know that living with a phone for two years is going to be painful during the last 6 months of the contract.
Although I dont see myself wanting to upgrade my phone after two years due to the limited things I actually USE my phone for (podcasts, audiobooks from Audible, driving directions and checking for app updates for the 15 or so apps I have installed), my Note is plenty adequate. Hell, I would still be using the Captivate if it hadnt died on me. It did everything the Note does for me (that I use it for that is) and it even had a MUCH better sound processor (the Note's sound processing is TERRIBLE).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I hear ya.....I have seen multiple videos on the the SGS3 and it seems like an incredibly fluid device. I have to say the screen real state i will miss, but since I am returning my Note today, and will get the SGS3 in early July I am back on an Blackberry Pearl 8130...the screen size is about 1/4 of the Note's....maybe less LOL. So I think by the time i get the G3 it will seem like a huge screen!
I will miss the S-Pen....I did use it quite a bit. I stopped taking my notebook to meetings bcs all I needed was my note.
pyro254750 said:
I'm still curious why people talk about the sgs3 like it's a pentium 4 to the notes pentium 2. The us note is a 1.5ghz dual core, the us sgs3 is a 1.5ghz dual core. The sgs3 has more ram, which means very little when appropriate customizations can create a silky smooth experience on either device. And to top it all off, with the right optimizations in the rom and kernel, a 1ghz tegra 2 is just as smooth as these 1.5 ghz chips. My atrix was buttery smooth on cm9, my note is buttery smooth on cm9, and I'm sure the sgs3 will be buttery smooth on cm9. In my opinion, it comes down to aesthetics and screen, because everything else is a variable if you plan to flash.
SGH-i717 mesosphere
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right in the sence that many phones just need to be optimized in order to get them smooth. I did that with my htc Vision/G2 once I rooted, swaped kernels, flashed a "few" ROM's including ICS and had it OC'd to nearly 2x it's rated processor speed. BUT, and you know a but was coming....
There is something to be said of the posibilities of a device being launched nearly simultaneously on all 5 major carriers in the US...no other device has ever done that (at least under the same name, and never in so close proximity of one from the other).
The other thing impressive about the G3 is the hardware, it's got 2GB of ram, and incredible camera, a very good processor (though not the latest), and note like beautiful screen. For me the camera alone draws my attention, and the fact that the spec are as close to bleeding edge as we can get in a production device, makes me pretty happy to know that I can pull of 2 years of no upgrades.
In fact, when I purchased the htc G2 on T-Mobile nearly 2 yrs ago, it was the only phone on 4G network, and it was the best phone out there for a while, and I found no reason to envy any other devices. I switched from it bcs I got tired of the poor data strength of T-mobile in my area, and the fact that sitting at my office, getting signal was a hit/miss situation, but the device itself it's still kicking....it's my toddler's mini tablet at the moment.
littlewierdo said:
my raw opinion, the SG3 is the better phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amazes me that people make statements like this without ever seeing, touching, or using a phone..
wase4711 said:
Amazes me that people make statements like this without ever seeing, touching, or using a phone..
Click to expand...
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Ive seen it first hand (the international version). The screen is probably the biggest thing about the SG3, its a better quality screen than the Note.
Samsung has NAILED every phone. Would people be buying it otherwise? Look at the world wide sales, look at the tech reviews, there is hardly anything negative to say about it.
In fact, the only negative is that it doesnt have the latest processor, big whoop in my opinion. Oh, and maybe touchwiz, but touchwiz is decent now, nothing like the pile of poo it was on the Captivate.
Hi everyone.
As you can see, very new to these forums but looks to be a friendly community and I look forward to settling in.
Any who, onto why I made this thread. I received my Galaxy S3 last Friday from AT&T, I paid $573 for no commitment because I'm canceling service with them and using Straight Talk. It started off all good, booted up the phone and had no problems with set up.
However, this soon changed after I got over the initial joy of having a new phone and started to look at it more closely. The home screens stutter when sliding them across, and the app drawer is really not a whole lot better. I'm not talking like freezing lag, but definitely not something you'd want to see on a sub $600 phone...
I ran a few benchmarks and my fears were confirmed.
Antutu: Highest - 5543 on a fresh wipe, 4900 on average. My girlfriend gets 6300 on her SGS2 Looks like the SGS3 should be around 8-10k.
Quadrant Standard - 3273 on mine with a fresh wipe, girlfriend getting 3900 on her S2. Looks like it should be getting about 5000 on average.
So obviously something is wrong with my phone, as even temple run stutters every now and then. I blame bloatware, and AT&T, may not be AT&Ts fault but I hate them. If it matters my CPU seems to be the only thing that isn't scoring as it should, usually it says it is clocked around .9-1.1GHZ, no where near the 1.5 it should. I've tried factory resetting, wiping the cache, soft resetting, and trying to use no sim card at all to see if it made a difference.
Anyway, I'm sorry if you're still reading this, but I'm frustrated, so I'll just ask my questions..
Should I return it, or is there someway I can fix this besides what I've tried?
Is the international version better suited for me because I won't even be using LTE on Straight Talk?
Would the international version have firmware updates a lot quicker than the AT&T version?
Thanks everyone!
TL;DR - I think my AT&T SGS3 is a lemon, and wont be using LTE anyway, should I return it and buy a international version for the updates and quad core?
Sounds like your device has some issues. You should be having a very smooth experience. I would return it for another LTE version, and wouldn't worry about the International version. The S4 dual core is a beast. The extra gb of ram makes the choice for me a no brainer. To each his own though.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
that sounds off- the phone performs good will mostly get over 5000 each time on quadrant- did u check to see if your phone setting may have the power performance cap on? this caps cpu at 1ghz to help conserve battery. if not your phone may be defective.
Thanks for the replies, and no power saving mode is off.
I called AT&T today earlier and they just acted like I was stupid, even though they had no idea what they were talking about.
I guess I'll have to return then, just don't know whether to go for a refund or a replacement..
I'm kinda feel the same way as the op. After a few days in I thought this phone should scream along the screens and I'm getting a lot of stutter. I've used apex and nova launchers and they both display the same stuttering. Somehow I feel cheated that I want to trade for and international version even though giving up on ram, and no LTE. I'm hoping Jelly Bean can bring about butter smoothness as its been of the features of JB. But when will we actually play with JB on our phones, not for some time and even longer without sources. I would love to play with the international just to see which one I like better
I think the international version is a tad faster, and it's definitely faster wwith getting updates which is the main reason I am considering it.
Coming from exynos based sgs2 I'm also pretty disappointed with user interface lag and stutter. Even with nova launcher, it doesn't help. I turned off animations and transitions just so that I'll see less of the lag. Would I get the international version (assuming I had enough money)? No, because I'm utterly blown away by LTE speeds and browser/chrome is running beautifully, and that's more important for me.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2
I have had the AT&T (Qualcomm) version for a week now, and have not detected a single instance of lag or stutter. Smooth as "butter". Could be some ill-behaving apps causing your issues... for instance, I know that the official Facebook app is especially bad. I dumped it in favor of something called "Friendcaster" on my old Captivate, and lag pretty much went away.
I have the white AT&T SGS3 and I can honestly say this phone is "butter" smooth.
international has a lot more root and dev support but as for your phone's performance, it looks like they shipped you a defect. i can get 4700 on quadrant with facebook and browser in background. the rest depends on you. if you are a heavy phone user, you should get another lte version as you likely got a defective phone. that or you could root and install the latest redrum rom as its removes bloat if that's your problem. i still beleive you should get the at&t lte as the american version should be still crazy fast so its hardware or bloatware that's troubling you. quad cores isnt that necessary as of right now. hope i helped
Try a Factory reset and see if that helps.
Old galaxy s II using Exynos processor with Mali 400.
Which is faster and optimized then Snapdragon (Adreno 225) in your galaxy s III.
The benchmarking results telling you the trues.
Lets test it:
Click your browser open youtube and play in "desktop mod" FULL 1080p high definition video. (Adreno 225 can't handle this)
This phone is not able to do that.
Now take your girlfriend galaxy s II phone and do samething....
Phone will play full 1080p video in desktop mod so smooth.
Conclusion:
Go get Galaxy s II (with Exynos mali 400) or buy "God like" Galaxy s III international version. Which is currently the world's fastest phone.
Best regards.
Old guy
Thanks everyone. You've all been really helpful.
Since I'm not even going to be using the LTE network anyway with straight talk, I decided to return my LTE phone to AT&T and I bought an international unlocked one from eBay. I'm pretty excited to get it and see the difference in speed, especially since I had a defective unit...
Again, thanks for your opinions and suggestions, you helped me come to a decision.
It could've been that you were on power saver mode
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
I have the Internation Version as im in the UK and I also notice lag but i think this is just the Android OS itself. Jelly Bean will fix that assuming that it somes out for the SG3. Gaming however had been a little dissapointing, Riptide runs blisteringly fast but still Drops framerate especially when all of the jets are on screen at the same time. I am new to Android but seriously didnt expect this on a quad core phone! im hoping it has something to do with poor optimisation. Nova 3 isnt too great either, I reckon its running between 30- 50 FPS is it just my device? or does any GS3 Int version run at 60 FPS. perhaps i have expected to much from arguably the worlds fastest phone? Modern Comabt 3 runs quite well very smooth, looks like its running at 60fps.
americasteam said:
Sounds like your device has some issues. You should be having a very smooth experience. I would return it for another LTE version, and wouldn't worry about the International version. The S4 dual core is a beast. The extra gb of ram makes the choice for me a no brainer. To each his own though.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
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agreed...i rather have the 2gb of ram, than a quad cpu that isn't even fully utilizable yet.