Google Android OS

[Beefy]

That is certainly at odds with my experiences. But then again, I did a factory reset after the update......

[Nebby]

Factory reset after a major update is definitely worth doing, though having a rooted phone with titanium backup makes the backup process much smoother.

Did you try resetting the phone, Shelly?

Edited April 13, 2012 by Nebby

[shellylh]

No I haven't tried a factory reset. I'll try that when I get a bit more free time.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

[blessingx]

Looks like Google is back to selling phones directly. Pretty good deal for an unlocked phone: http://j.mp/JDfBxo

[n_maher]

That link doesn't work for me (but could be my fault...).

[Beefy]

Try this: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/24/google-galaxy-nexus-unlocked-on-sale-gsm-hspa/

[n_maher]

Thanks guys. Unfortunately it's AT&T/T-Mo only, both of which have crap service in my neck of the woods. I'm due for an upgrade on Verizon but don't really want to be beholden to them for the next two years with the specter of the iPhone 5 still something that I'd consider if they correct what I don't like about the 4s (tiny screen). That said my Droid X is having increasing difficulty getting a GPS signal lock so I'm ready to do something, just not sure what yet...

[Tyll Hertsens]

Just got a Galaxy nexus. Still figuring shit out, but I like the bigger screen than my Incredible.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[manaox2]

Jellybean, Android 4.1 is out for a few devices currently and several more in July. Adobe has announced that it will not support or release an official Flash for it. In fact, they went one step further and announced that come August 15th, only users who have pre-installed flash from the play store will be supported and they will no longer be available in the play store for any new or non-installed Google accounts on android.

http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplayer/2012/06/flash-player-and-android-update.html

[Dusty Chalk]

I'll read their blog post later, but...is this Adobe saying (makes stomping on the ground motions) to a large target market (mobile players), or have they already been rendered largely moot?

[grawk]

They basically couldn't make it work efficiently and the market moved on to html5

[morphsci]

Flash sucks and Adobe sucks more.

[manaox2]

Flash sucks, but its the only way I can access the full features of a number of sites currently on my mobile. No use defending it when its main redemption is that its not uncommon to be the only option.

I definitely see this as a white flag.

[manaox2]

A lot of people seem to be getting the Samsung Galaxy S III here. How are you all liking it so far?

Since I have the crippled Verizon version, some good news tonight is that the boot loader has been unlocked which basically opens up the entire device like I had hoped when I pre-ordered. I am looking forward to moving away from touchwiz myself.

[n_maher]

A lot of people seem to be getting the Samsung Galaxy S III here. How are you all liking it so far?

Since I have the crippled Verizon version, some good news tonight is that the boot loader has been unlocked which basically opens up the entire device like I had hoped when I pre-ordered. I am looking forward to moving away from touchwiz myself.

I like my S III a lot with a few exceptions. There are parts of touchwiz that seems an unnecessary departure from standard Android protocol. Example - press and hold on any screen to add an app shortcut has been replaced with an action that I can't figure out. Instead, in 'wiz, you go into the app directory and press and hold the app you want to add. It works, but why make it different? I also don't get smooth playback of videos that I've recorded which seems really odd for a phone with as much horsepower as the SIII is supposed to have. But ultimately, like you, I intended to root and ROM the phone eventually.

[Nebby]

Did a press and hold at the home screen bring you to a wallpaper prompt? If so, I think that's an actual change in Android, because my Nexus 7 has the same behavior. I'm still wondering why they did that on the Nexus 7...

Edited August 16, 2012 by Nebby

[manaox2]

Yep, that's a standard feature in Ice Cream Sandwich in stock android. You can drag and drop shortcuts for apps and widgets from your app drawer directly onto the screen now or into a folder. TouchWiz did make it so that you cannot create a group or folder just by dragging apps on top of each other, rather you have to use the menu button now on the home screen and select "new folder".

Things I have issues with currently:

Wifi is off, would you like to turn it on? or there are wireless networks available notifications. I have them disabled when opening a high data app with mobile data enabled, they still popup and are super annoying. There is a hack I need to try for this.

The MTP mount for media transfer to your SD card. It requires special drivers and makes it difficult to transport many files at once to or from and does not allow it to mount UMS (universal mass storage) which previously was the standard to work with car radios, dvd players, etc. I have a hack in place using a script now that allows me to mount UMS for my external SDCard, but is still an annoyance.

If you use a 32GB or greater sdcard, it has to be formatted by the phone or in windows to extfat32, which is an enhanced version of the FAT32 file system allowing for greater than 4GB files and a less heavy table of contents using more processing. This would be great except its Microsoft proprietary and because Samsung doesn't have the full specs on it, it loses and corrupts files on the card quickly when you start using it. Also, ROMS cannot support it, it was designed by MS to be hazardous to open source and GNU licensing. There are tools you can download to format FAT32, which I have had to do.

S Voice, it kind of blows. I miss my quick button press to open google voice command which is roughly 5x better, now S Voice is opened when I double tap home and I have to unlock my phone and go to the google widget and hit the mic to call on google voice which lowers the convenience of voice commands drastically.

The Samsung internet browser is lacking. It does not resize text to fit the screen on double tap properly and makes it more difficult despite the large screen. It keeps webpages loaded in memory even after reboot unless you close them in the window manager which you have to scroll to the top of the page and click a button instead of being in the menu button menu. It opens a new window often when I click on links....

The modem and radios are weak and unstable at times. I am constantly dropping my data connection in known good areas and with wifi. To top it off, I get the damn wifi notification to connect to a network when that happens.

It has an overactive screen auto brightness which makes pics I view look like crap when they are actually not too bad if the screen wasn't on minimum brightness.

Samsung has way too many unnecessary notifications of its own cluttering the notification screen. I get four from just plugging in headphones. Wireless notification is always there by default.

Boot time can be much faster, its actually internally boot looping in order to check authenticity of system files to void warranty claims if custom. The new unlocked boot loader boots in at least half the time, maybe less. Don't like the 4G LTE boot logo or loud unnecessary noise on boot either.

Verizon is dumbing down the search in the next OTA update and all phones from mid-July already are updated because of the apple patent lawsuit that disallows searching of local content on a mobile device on devices not running iOS!? I know I'm not taking that update.

Thank you thank you thank you for the unlocked bootloader leak now.

Things I like:

This list would be long, but I'm just going to say it is an amazing device for media consumption with its screen and features, battery life is impressive, the cameras are great, its fairly smooth and fast in navigation, and it just looks great now that I've got a case on it. Makes iPhones look fat and stubby. I have been having a blast with NFC tags, put one on my chest freezer to automatically open up the drink up page on untappd for checkins when I grab a beer. Soon I'll be making a few pages online that I can edit so that I can program NFC tags with the links and remotely manage the content they bring up.

[Nebby]

What is this hack to implement UMS that you speak of? I'm going to guess it's probably not usable for jelly bean

[Iron_Dreamer]

I used a friend's Verizon S3 a few days ago, and it is one lovely piece of hardware. The screen is definitely another step up from that of my Galaxy Nexus. Still 'tis a pity that they crippled it in the US with no quad-core. I'm glad to hear the bootloader is unlocked. Hopefully the S3 will get a taste of CM10 quickly. I've been running it for a while on the G-Nex, and it is quite amazing how much smoother and more fluid the phone operates as compared to CM9/ICS.

[manaox2]

What is this hack to implement UMS that you speak of? I'm going to guess it's probably not usable for jelly bean

It works for few people on jellybean, system structure is different in cm10 room. Still, it works for some. I use gscript lite with root and two scripts for switching back and forth between UMS and MTP. I'll have to find the link to directions and scripts again on xda.

EDIT: Here are the instructions to enable and disable mass storage. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=29063080

Also, here is how to enable the Samsung 50GB dropbox storage for two years offer that Verizon blocked. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=30238829

Edited August 16, 2012 by manaox2

[deepak]

You S3 guys, how is the sound quality with the headphone out? And comparisons to 4/4s if possible? Thanks

[ujamerstand]

To help keep you mildly entertained during long flights, here's a bundle of games for android devices: http://www.humblebundle.com/

[Edwood]

I'm really overdue for a smart phone upgrade.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Phablet is calling to me.

Although it would be redundant with my Note 10.1 Tablet.

[MexicanDragon]

Then get a Galaxy Note 2.

**BRENT**

[ujamerstand]

Been playing with the Nexus 7 for a couple of days now. I like it very much. They really polished it with jelly bean. I'm typing this out on the tablet right now. The only minor issue I can think of at this moment is the position of the space button, it's right above the home button and I've pressed it by mistake several times already. Switching to the Swype keyboard helps somewhat.