[Q] Which phone to purchase - Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]

Hey guys,
I've been following xda-developers for last few months and it totally rocks.
Now I've been using Sony ericsson w950i (unlocked) until now.
Been thinking of moving to smart phone.
Now I'm confused, I don't care about carrier (though using ATT for now)
Here r choices: 1. Evo 2. DroidX 3. xperia X10
I don't want an iphone and I can't purchase Nexus One (which I would have if I had enough money :-/)
Anyway so here are criteria for phone:
1. Can be rooted, I like cynogenmod and I may hardly use original android
Here r few of my assumptions (PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong)
I can't use proprietary UIs if I put cynogen (it doesn't matter but I wanna confirm)
Evo is my ultimate choice but heard battery sucks (what about spare battery solution ?), How severe is battery issue?
Please feel free to provide ur opinion about other phones as well. I may eventually end up purchasing Evo still I want some experienced opinions
Thanks

Evo is a great phone. It IS starting to get old. Perhaps wait till christmas to see what new phones HTC brings out?
THe X10 is outdated and will most likely only ever see android 2.1 so Id steer clear of it. In fact, I dont intend on buying any more SE phones but thats just me. .
The droid x seems amazing, can be rooted but its quite big in hand (but i suppose youre looking at the EVO so thats similar )
Have you considered the Samsung Galaxy S phones? including the AT&T captivate?
They can be rooted, unlocked, will certainly see cyanogen mod development and because there are sooo many of them around now both locally and internationally (unlike droid x and evo), there will be lots of development for them. Specs wise, they are the top gun.
Personally, id wait a bit and see what comes around the corner. If you still want what youve listed here, youll get a better deal seeing as many will flock to the new devices
Cheers!

I love the Evo. It's my mini tiny PC. Battery wise, well it does juice it up quite much...but then again I am constantly on my fone so I got Ian charges, dock for home, n extra battery as well.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Thanks guys,
As ozy pointed out waiting till Christmas/new year would be best possible option even for me, however don't want to renew my contract with ATT for one year just for that (will certainly look for something though)
And about Samsung phones I'm bit skeptic (fragile and get heated -- well thats 5-6 years back experience, never used it again so I'm not saying they r bad however I'm just being doubtful, though amoled screens r worth checking out)
And thanks anani exactly thats how I'm planning to use (though its on internet forever than on phone) I would appreciate if u can point out battery accessories links

lengthy bump..

If you are happy with AT&T I would get the Captivate. I have an Evo, love it, but my wife gets her phone through work so is stuck with AT&T. She recently upgraded from the Iphone, which she always hated, to the Samsung captivate. I have rooted it (simple compared to the Evo) and done a few mods, got rid of AT&T's market censorship, enabled side loading, and got rid of all the AT&T bloatware, and replaced most of the supplied apps with better ones from the market.
Running it side by side with my Evo I have to say, while I like the Evo better, but it has some advantages. The screen is much better looking, it has slightly more responsive touch input than the Evo, and Touchwiz is a less bloated UI than Sense. On the downside, the only two things I can find to complain about with it is that the bottom buttons are not as responsive as the Evo's, and the GPS on it takes a long time to lock and isn't as sensitive as the Evo's is. I am working on improving the GPS now though with some success. It will also be getting Froyo within the next few weeks, and rumor is the button issue may be addressed with the update.
Overall though, I like the captivate, especially since the phone call quality is really good, it is light weight and seems to be built very well. Also the screen fps isn't capped at 30 fps like the Evo is. If I was on AT&T that is what I would get.

You don't even need to think about it
HTC Desire with OLED mon ...

Thanks wfrandy and seals,
I'm kinda annoyed with at&t network at my place, most of the time I've had complains from friends saying "I tried your phone for whole day" and etc plus I'm not really in for data usage cap. Thats the main reason I'm hanging on my old phone else I could have renewed my contract by now.
But yea Captivate seems nice and Samsung strategy to make phones as open as possible is also tempting.
And about Desire - is it available with any carrier? I thought desire is not available in US market

hmm,
So I've a deal for htc droid incredible, verizon is giving it for free.
What are your reviews? I liked phone the only downside to the phones we were comparing seems to be 3.7" screen and no 4g connectivity
Please let me know if anyone have used the phone
Thanks

Related

[Q] how is it, Mytouch 4g owners? tell me please. :)

Hey guys!!!
I'm just wondering what you all think of the mytouch. I played with the g2, and I like it. I like the keyboard, and the screen looks better to me IMO.
However, with gingerbread proally coming out soon (PROBABLY) , that'll slow updates, for the MT right, because of mySense?
I LOVE THE MT4G. LOVELOVE.
I use facebook a lot
I text a lot
I like more customization
i'll probably root, overclock, and flash a custom rom when a lot of them become available.
mySense seems allright!
i consider myself an intermediate to advanced smartphone junky.
What phone should I get, and how do you like it?
I'm also worried that it's been a few months since the g2 came out, and its not even at the front at my TMO store anymore. I don't want to sign a contract and want another one before 3 months.
but the mt4g is! ideally, i wish they would add that g2 keyboard to the mytouch 4g and keep that z-hinge, it seems cool to me.
thanks!
so, should i get it? hows your experiences!? thanks.
its really important, i need a new phone before monday .
cmon guys please. 12 views, noone replies?
i just am deciding if i like mysense, and if its worth losing that amazing keyboard the g2 has. though the screen is only .1 inch bigger, the mytouch screen seems way bigger! i like it in my hand.
Well I have no experience with the MT4G yet as I am gonna get it today. My first decision was to get the G2 but after doing countless research (youtube reviews!) and comparisons of the two, I fell in love with the myTouch over the G2. The hard keyboard of the G2 doesn't really matter to me, the onscreen keyboard is good if not better with Swype. I prefer vanilla android over other UIs but mySense seems to have a lot of interesting tweaks and features that I might enjoy having. If we don't like it then there's rooting of course as I'm sure there will be plenty of roms available soon. The updates are the only thing that have me a bit worried but like I said, rooting the phone might ease the pain of dragging updates by flashing 2.3 roms if available.
Not sure if this might help but its worth noting i think.
Good luck on choosing your next phone!
I've had both the G2 & the MT4G and I'm a lot happier with the MT4G.
The G2 seemed too bricky for my tastes and I really didn't use the hard keyboard to compensate. MySense is not as good as full fledged sense but it's not a huge difference.
I know not too long after gingerbread comes out we'll probably have a Rom to flash it on our phones so updates don't worry me so much.
I think it really comes down to if you want a hard keyboard or a front facing camera. I chose the front facing camera & less bulkiness
rockstarar said:
cmon guys please. 12 views, noone replies?
i just am deciding if i like mysense, and if its worth losing that amazing keyboard the g2 has. though the screen is only .1 inch bigger, the mytouch screen seems way bigger! i like it in my hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe because this is the 15th "how do you like your mytouch" "is it better then the g2" thread.
people need to learn how to read before they start typing
I have had the G2 and now the MT4G and although the G2 is a very very good phone I must say that I believe the MT4G is the best all around phone I have ever owned, I also have a Vibrant and a Nexus One at this time but I am going to sell the Nexus One. All of these are Great phones IMO but the G2(hinge issues, connection issues,radio issues)and the Nexus One( touch screen issues at times,signal issues) and the Vibrant(virtually no GPS until just a short time ago, lags etc.signal issues) do not seem to compare with the all stability of the MT4G of which the only issue I have found was a slight glitch in MMS messaging which is now covered. All of this is obviously just my opinions but if I had to go with just 1 phone right now it would be the MT4G
The MT4G is T-Mobiles top phone for a reason....
DADDYDC650 said:
The MT4G is T-Mobiles top phone for a reason....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BOO-YA.
I gave up my mint N1 for the MT4G. I know there aren't many ROM's for it yet, and God knows how long it will take to get Amon_RA, but it took a good month before there were ROM's to flash for the N1. With Android 2.3 so close to being released it's just a matter of time before we get a vanilla gingerbread ROM for this device.
The Mytouch is a great handset but after using it for a couple of days I'm not that impressed....I will be selling or trading mine soon...
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
I just got mine hours ago and am loving it. I got it because I've always wanted a Sense device, and the hardware is second to none (for now)...2nd gen Snapdragon and an outstanding 768MB RAM!
cam_hamlin said:
The Mytouch is a great handset but after using it for a couple of days I'm not that impressed....I will be selling or trading mine soon...
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm with ya... Came over from an Evo and just can't get used to the hard keys at the bottom instead of the touch-keys. Also experiencing some automatic re-boots (3 in three days) and some text sending problems (I already turned of the Teklia). If the Evo had been a GSM phone, I would have brought it to TMO (sprint really sucks in this town). I'm looking for a GSM Evo-clone! My only other choice will be ATT in about a month when they come to town, but they don't have any decent androids yet (sorry, the samsung captivate just doesn't do it for me... the touch screen is terrible)
cam_hamlin said:
The Mytouch is a great handset but after using it for a couple of days I'm not that impressed....I will be selling or trading mine soon...
Out of curiosity, what is the disappointing part of it for you?
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Nexus One owner who absolutely loves the My Touch 4G. Will always keep the N1 for the almost instant upgrades but the hardware on this My Touch is 2nd to none. This phone has it all and it all works. I'm getting use to this non vanilla Android for lack of a better word but using Launcher Pro this thing is dynamite. Best phone to date besides the Nexus One of course. Seriously the My Touch 4G is probably the best phone I have ever owned. The Nexus One will always be my go to phone, I'm just always drawned to that thing.
PS
The HSPA+ was just flipped on in my town. Live in a suburb outside Boston and getting between 3.5 to 5.5 Mbps on download and 1.5 on upload. I was usually getting around 900-950 kbps on the download. What a major diifference and these speeds are in my town and most surrounding towns. T-Mobile is killing this area with their great network. I am in freaken heaven. Thank You T-Mobile.
Those speeds are on my Nexus One. My Touch 4G is higher.
I had the EVO for almost a month (trial period). While I agree the bigger screen is great, it seems a little more washed out, maybe due to the fact that the same resolution is now scretched to accomedate a 4.3'' screen. The capacitive buttons on the bottom was a wash for me. I find myself accidently hitting them sometimes. I much prefer the physical keys. Battery life on the MT4G is much better. I could never manage to squeeze 10 hours from the EVO (moderate use). So, I chose the MT4G over the EVO. The only thing I did like about the EVO was the original SENSEUI on it, Tmobile's version is a little sloppy. Just my experience and opinion.
Your device is clearly defective, get a warranty exchange. That, or your lying.
lonlawrence said:
I'm with ya... Came over from an Evo and just can't get used to the hard keys at the bottom instead of the touch-keys. Also experiencing some automatic re-boots (3 in three days) and some text sending problems (I already turned of the Teklia). If the Evo had been a GSM phone, I would have brought it to TMO (sprint really sucks in this town). I'm looking for a GSM Evo-clone! My only other choice will be ATT in about a month when they come to town, but they don't have any decent androids yet (sorry, the samsung captivate just doesn't do it for me... the touch screen is terrible)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rockstarar said:
Hey guys!!!
I'm just wondering what you all think of the mytouch. I played with the g2, and I like it. I like the keyboard, and the screen looks better to me IMO.
However, with gingerbread proally coming out soon (PROBABLY) , that'll slow updates, for the MT right, because of mySense?
I LOVE THE MT4G. LOVELOVE.
I use facebook a lot
I text a lot
I like more customization
i'll probably root, overclock, and flash a custom rom when a lot of them become available.
mySense seems allright!
i consider myself an intermediate to advanced smartphone junky.
What phone should I get, and how do you like it?
I'm also worried that it's been a few months since the g2 came out, and its not even at the front at my TMO store anymore. I don't want to sign a contract and want another one before 3 months.
but the mt4g is! ideally, i wish they would add that g2 keyboard to the mytouch 4g and keep that z-hinge, it seems cool to me.
thanks!
so, should i get it? hows your experiences!? thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOVE the hardware, but don't like Sense. Waiting for CM6 to come out. You could always pick up a used Nexus or Vibrant for $300 or so. Or buy this one from T-mo for $450 ish without contract and then trade up later if you really want...

[Q] Time to Upgrade: Need Information on Various Phones, and respective problems

As it comes time to upgrade once again, I find myself confronted my many options. The phones I am looking at are the Infuse 4g, Inspire 4g, Atrix 4g, Focus and iPhone 4. I am very partial to the Android devices and was hoping to end up with one. I currently have an iPhone 3g but want to trade up due to performance and battery life issues.
I would greatly appreciate some discussion and information on these various devices and the problems and plus's of each. I like the Atrix due to its power, battery and potential if the bootloader is ever unlocked. The Inspire is interesting due to the wide amount of development but I have sever concerns about the power in comeing years, battery life, despite ROM's and the speaker. I like the Infuse's screen, power, and, due to unlocked bootloader, development potential.
I have had Samsung "dumb" phones in the past, the SMS flawed Impression and the sub-par Solstice, so i have some concerns about Samsung phones. I like HTC but dislike them putting tiny batteries in their high end phones. Motorola is generally OK but I understand support is a bit lacking. iPhone is super reliable but I believe the OS is stale and boring. Also, i worry about the 4's future with the advent of the iPhone 5 in the coming months and, like I said, I like Androids.
Lets get some discussion going!
This is posted in the General's of all 3 phones. Excluding the Focus.
Hi there! i have had my Inspire for 2 and a half months. The first thing I must say is, I am unsure of how battery life was on the Iphone, but battery on the Inspire could be better. As any smartphone, the screen consumes A LOT of power. Only twice, however, has my battery not lasted me through the day. On average, I consumed 5% battery per hour on moderate use (25-30 texts per hour, fiddling with a few widgets, looking at stocks, etc) when unrooted on the stock ROM. On heavy usage (screen on especially if playing games, etc), expect to consume at least twice that. I have later rooted and upgraded to the Inspired Ace ROM and done a few battery calibrations and my battery has seemed to sustain much better.
Battery aside, this phone ROCKS! First impressions may be lacking as the battery cover was very difficult to remove on mine, even left scratches where a screwdriver was needed to pry it. The case covers that up though. The phone seems to be very fast and powerful. I have never had any major problems with this phone. It is by far the best phone I have every had. The only problems I have had were when this phone was stock and unrooted. I have more apps than any one person needs (>100) and the built in Froyo application manager does not seem to handle this number well. You have to exit the Manage Applications app then go back to it to load them all sometimes. This problem was fixed with the installation of a Gingerbread ROM, however.
Root was painless with bubby's simple root. (I was almost disappointed at the small amount of user input required! )
The HTC Sense ui makes the phone very user friendly, as it includes many custom widgets for things like mail, stocks, news, and other things. The SRS Enhancement included with Sense ROMs makes music sound amazing.
I have included the high parts here. If there are any more questions you have, please ask. I will be happy to answer any questions you have, as I would HIGHLY recommend this device.
hey will! im thinking about getting a inspire, but a user at the store todl me the phone freezes alot. is that true for all inspires or probably happened to him because he bough a faulty or defected device?
ThroughHymn said:
hey will! im thinking about getting a inspire, but a user at the store todl me the phone freezes alot. is that true for all inspires or probably happened to him because he bough a faulty or defected device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not true for my phone.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA Premium App
thank you! and also, i saw the inspire in the store, and the picture and just the quality of the screen and colors was BEAUTIFUL, i thought it was the exact if not better than the iphones visual quality. But i saw somewehre that the iphones resolution is better? how!!!
It has to do with the inspire being superlcd whilest the iPhone has a retina display which in essence is a very high res lcd to the best of my understandings. Keep in mind, however that the inspire's screen is much larger. (take that, Mr. Jobs!) As for the freezes, the guy at the ATT store must be a fan of another phone he is trying to push (blackberry perhaps? Sure...) Or has a total lemon. Mine has never truly frozen. The app manager lagging due to so many apps in froyo and one time out of a thousand in a text message the keyboard would not type when unlocking the phone straight to messaging were the only "freezes" I found and like I said, hitting back and re entering solved instantly.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App
ThroughHymn said:
thank you! and also, i saw the inspire in the store, and the picture and just the quality of the screen and colors was BEAUTIFUL, i thought it was the exact if not better than the iphones visual quality. But i saw somewehre that the iphones resolution is better? how!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The iPhone is somewhat nice...But considering it is Apple I must hate it naturally, retina is wonderful, but side by side with an inspire I do not see much of a difference.
Also the 3.5 inch screen is such a huge turn off for me...having a nice 4.3 inch screen to type messages and play games on beats the iphone right there...
(I just noticed im going against the iPhone alot)...Lets attack the Focus! I also considered this phone, I enjoy windows and all, but a mobile OS that is still new to the game didnt interest me much...4 inch screen was okay, I found it a little too small for my taste and I know most of you are saying "whoah .3 inches! Huge deal!" it actually is a really big difference, have you ever compared an inspire side-by-side with a focus? Plus its Samsung, every samsung takes forever to charge, and they are not the highest of quality.
The atrix is a nice competitor, but yet not one at the same time. Cool it has a dual core, so what? My inspire blows it out of the water overclocked at 1900Ghz(of course not constantly running). I can run my inspire at 500Mhz and it is still extremely fast and it surprised me. Also as many know the locked bootloader on the Atrix is also a big turn-off, not custom kernels and plus no ability to remove motoblur? jeez just the fact it runs motoblur makes me cringe, and also the fact that it is made by motorola.
Now moving onto the infuse, finally. This is the best competitor to the Inspire, although I had a choice of getting it I purchased the Inspire, here is why. A 4.5 inch screen was just to large for my hand, I would rather be using an actual tablet than using a half phone half tablet. Also the fact that it is Samsung also scares me, not the best quality device. Touchwiz is not my thing either! Although once rooted that all can change, I still dont like how it is the native OS. If you are really banking on buying an Infuse, you should really just wait for the Galaxy S2 to come to the US, that phone will be a beast. If you read this whole post then kudos to you, I apologize ahead of time for all of the grammatical mistakes and comma splices, but you cant blame me, just got out of school, time for summer .
Yeah I have not used and Samsung Android phones, but my last phone (well last 3 due to warranty replacements) was a Samsung Jack. Between WinMo and Samsung, I'm definitely a lifetime customer of any of its competitors. Plus HTCs recent decision to stop locking bootloaders will be nice for future phones if you are going to mod. My last Samsung was more like samsuck. Just saying.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App
thank you both!! To me, HTC Sense is so well made that all the other operating systems? lol or whatever they are called in my opinion are just a more flexible edition of the IOS. I mean really, i look at the atrix, its widgets are boxes liek the iphone, it scrolls liek the iphone, and i find, well, i dont know if its the infuse or the atrix but the screen of one of them, may be both, is liek darkened? Its display isnt bright but its almost liek a gloomy type of brightness that the phone has. Im surprised no one else has commented or complained about it. But yea, i really want the Inspire, but ppl keep saying wait for a dual processor, but im only goign to get a dual processor phone that has HTC Sense the best in the business!
Not sure about the infuse, but I am pretty sure they do make sense based ROMs for non HTC devices. I know I have seen them for the galaxy s. So if you can get a non HTC dual core and want it to have sense, I'm sure you can find a ROM out there. However, from what I have read the second gen snapdragon (aka scorpion, according to HTC's specs) processor can hang with them fairly well especially with o/c kernels.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App
I would like to add, that the Infuse has 428 of RAM and the Inspire has 768, very noticeable difference. Yes, gsII is going to be a beast, but I still don't wanna touch a Samsung. After having one of their dumbphones for a year and a half before getting this phone at the end of Feb, and reading their mishaps with the last year concerning the gs line and the fact I can't stand douchefizz, I will no longer consider Crapsung. I'd rather wait longer to give up my Inspire. The only phone I will give my Inspire up for right now is the rumored HTC Holiday. This is my first smartphone, and I am very happy! Liked em since I first saw the Evo and Incredible last year. Now, since owning this phone, I am HTC 4 Life!
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App
ZeroRilix said:
I would like to add, that the Infuse has 428 of RAM and the Inspire has 768, very noticeable difference. ...
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am SO glad to see this. I had been jonesing an Infuse, but couldn't find a RAM spec. Jones now over. All I need is an overclockable kernel for Inspired Ace and even the 1200 MHz of the Infuse won't give me any envy.
I am very happy with the MDJ's v19 kernel on inspired ace. Overclock up to 1.6 GHz supported. I know some kernels will go up to 1.8 but I find this kernel good for battery life. I have leedroid on my sd card to try, but never have as I am happy with MDJ.
willwalk93 said:
I am very happy with the MDJ's v19 kernel on inspired ace. Overclock up to 1.6 GHz supported. I know some kernels will go up to 1.8 but I find this kernel good for battery life. I have leedroid on my sd card to try, but never have as I am happy with MDJ.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quick threadjack, been looking for an overclock kernel for IA!
The only d/l link I'm finding is for MDJ v22... any chance you can link me to v19?
I suppose I should keep up with the changing kernels a bit better! V22 is just the latest update. it should be as good or better that v19. Allows higher oc speed best I could tell by the changelog. I suppose I should update my kernel as well! Remeber to change the governor to smarta** for better battery life without the need to set screen off profiles with the ondemand governor. That is what I have read and seems to work, anyway.

Is this a Good Phone

Im looking into buying a nexus s and just wanna see what ppl on these forums have to say about it. Overall is it a good phone? how's the rooting process hard? Does rooting vastly improve it like it did my hero? General opinions on the phone?
Thanks for any input
Like you, I came from a HTC Hero. Rooting isn't necessary to squeeze more performance from the nexus s compared to the hero. Having said that, it is strongly recommended to root it because it allows you to do so much more on the nexus s. In terms of performance wise, rooting does not "vastly" improve the performance.
General opinions of the phone are its great! Go get it.
The rooting process is extremely simple. Go do a quick search on the forums.
Great phone. Fairly easy to root. The guides available are great as long as you follow it verbatim. The phone itself is fast as is and has large internal memory for apps. Rooting is worth it IMO. The extra overclock and undervolt keeps the phone always running fluid and increases battery life significantly.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Thanks for the input guys...REALLY looking forward to gettin this
Im getting another one this will be my 3rd. Its def a keeper. Vanilla and constant updates 1st
Sent from my Sensational Phone using XDA Premium App
Yeah hero is probably the worst effin phone ever made in the history of all phones so any upgrade is a blessing.
And yes, the hero sucked so many balls. The slowest laggiest POS ever.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App
fraspas said:
Yeah hero is probably the worst effin phone ever made in the history of all phones so any upgrade is a blessing.
And yes, the hero sucked so many balls. The slowest laggiest POS ever.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually thought Hero sent the trend on how Android devices should look and function.
Anyway, imo, nexus s is the best android phone, I just got one yesterday, samoled version (dislike slcd), I love everything about the phone. It even performs better than my brother's HTC Sensation even with its dual core.
my next phone will either be the next nexus or galaxy s3.
Please delete this post.
I have the galaxy s vibrant. Would you guys still recomend me to get the nexus s? I can get one at a very good price.. But im wondering if its worth the change. Any input is welcome
Edit: sorry for the thread highjack, thought of posting here rather than creating a new thread.
Sent from my GT-I9000M using Tapatalk
bimmerboii said:
I have the galaxy s vibrant. Would you guys still recomend me to get the nexus s? I can get one at a very good price.. But im wondering if its worth the change. Any input is welcome
Edit: sorry for the thread highjack, thought of posting here rather than creating a new thread.
Sent from my GT-I9000M using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love my Nexus S (coming from an HTC Magic), but if you already have a Galaxy S, I don't think it's worth the trouble: they have pretty much the same hardware inside. In addition, IIRC, Galaxy S has Gorilla glass, a SD card slot, FM radio and 720p recording.
The best thing about the Nexus S is that it's vanilla Android, constantly updated and officially supported by Google. It has NFC, which the Galaxy S doesn't have, and gets better support from app developers as well. I didn't need all those hardware features the Galaxy S had: I just wanted *the* Google phone :-D.
Basically, the Nexus line is much better supported than the Galaxy S line, but if you're in XDA, I guess you won't mind flashing a vanilla ROM to your Galaxy S.
Thanks for your reply. You made good points on my deciding factor. But even if im on xda, i hate having to flash my phone all the time (my sgs is stock). I just want the latest version of android.
Here's the thing.. Someone wants to buy my sgs for $300. I have credits on my account and could get the nexus s for $308 all in. Or i can just save my credits and let it accumulate over the next few months to buy a better phone. But im really itching for a stock vanilla android phone. Decisions decisions...
Sent from my GT-I9000M using Tapatalk
Stay with Galaxy S. As soon as you go to Nexus S, you will miss your Galaxy S. IMHO, Nexus S is a downgrade from Galaxy S. I did this mistake but within 2 weeks gladly came back to Galaxy S. But if you are too itchy, buy Nexus S and compare both head on head. Know the difference yourself and get rid of the one you find inferior compared to the other.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
rdbhalla said:
Stay with Galaxy S. As soon as you go to Nexus S, you will miss your Galaxy S. IMHO, Nexus S is a downgrade from Galaxy S. I did this mistake but within 2 weeks gladly came back to Galaxy S. But if you are too itchy, buy Nexus S and compare both head on head. Know the difference yourself and get rid of the one you find inferior compared to the other.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont think it is a downgrade, i think the point in android world is " you cant have everything"... sure, sgs has a lot of features that we dont have in nxs, but nxs also has some things over sgs... and you need to decide what you are looking for, what comes first for you...
I came from a desire hd, that in specs is worse of nxs, and i am pretty much satisfeid with it. I guess the point is: it's good to look specs, but it is only half part, the other half is about daily usage.
Back to the question, if i were you i would wait a little bit more, swap for a nealy phone, more than 6 months old... maybe you can get a sgs II or wait for the new nexus prime, i just dont know if it a good idea.. =o)
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
thiagodark said:
I dont think it is a downgrade, i think the point in android world is " you cant have everything"... sure, sgs has a lot of features that we dont have in nxs, but nxs also has some things over sgs... and you need to decide what you are looking for, what comes first for you...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the only additional thing Nexus S has is flash. I have my own reservations about the quality of HTC phones after using HTC Desire for few weeks. But if the choice is between SGS and NS, SGS clearly has an edge. But again, its individual's choice. Whatever works the best for you.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Absolutely disagree. I've had the vibrant for the last 9 months and thought it was awesome but then the lag gets unbearable because of the file system. I went in with my brother and dad and got a family plan and we got the nexus s since I thought that would be the best (hulu, Netflix, etc all came out first for it) and you get software updates first too from Google. And the phone is wicked fast. I thought I would miss touchwiz and all the quirks but you know what I did for like 3 days. And the battery life on this sucker is amazing. I think its a great buy especially for me. But each his own. People have different wants and needs and everybody needs to do their research before buying and investing in something so expensive.
rdbhalla said:
Stay with Galaxy S. As soon as you go to Nexus S, you will miss your Galaxy S. IMHO, Nexus S is a downgrade from Galaxy S. I did this mistake but within 2 weeks gladly came back to Galaxy S. But if you are too itchy, buy Nexus S and compare both head on head. Know the difference yourself and get rid of the one you find inferior compared to the other.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Well I do not disagree. Galaxy S does need a little bit of tweaking to get the full performance out of it. All I did with my SGS was to install JVO 2.3.4, root it and this changed it to a totally different phone. Yes, I use stock gingerbread launcher and keyboard instead of touchwiz or Samsung keyboard. All of this takes hardly 30 minutes.
Nexus S is definitely fast out of the box. But gorilla glass, FM radio, expandable memory slot, better video recording give SGS an edge over NS. SGS just needs half an hour more to reveal its potential.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I wrote a review to answer this first post.
Here is a review I put together as I had same initial questions. Hope it helps.
My first experience with android was rooting a Hero, since then I enjoyed a year with a rooted EVO, but after several boot-looping experiences which I was unable to correct, the phone had become unusable, and I was forced to choose a new phone a little more premature than I would have liked. I had my heart set on the specs of the Galaxy S II but after enjoying two HTC phones and how easily they were rooted I also leaned toward the EVO 3D. I will admit here, that I was a “flash-aholic” when it came to trying out new ROMs and kernels, and would probably continue to have been so if it weren’t for the boot-loop and force closing problem I was having.
I decided to go ahead and get a Sprint Nexus S 4G instead of waiting another ten days for the EVO 3D, knowing that if I didn’t have a good experience with the Nexus, I could return it within the 30 day trial period. The Sprint rep. was very helpful and honest with his assistance, he showed me that the Nexus even in the store was not picking up as good a signal as the EVO 4G, and I expressed concern about receiving signal at my residence, as frequently I had to step outside in the back yard to have a phone conversation using the EVO.
Initial setup of the Nexus was surprisingly easy, but just as suspected the signal at home was weak, though not any worse than the EVO. A call to Sprint tech support the next day helped when they offered to send me an Airave unit, which I received in only one week and found a dramatic improvement for not only my phone but my wife’s EVO as well. Thank you Sprint!
My next adventure was whether or not to root this phone, as I held off until I decided I was going to keep it. It was a little bit of a challenge for me to set up adb capabilities on my computer but worth the research. So I was now set up to make the root possible, however, reading up on the Nexus didn’t convince me that rooting was to my best advantage at this time, so I have held off. The signal problem had been resolved, my battery life has been great, my phone is extremely fast, and tethering works right out of the box, most importantly is everything works well without bugs or any other problems. This doesn’t mean I won’t root when I see a clear advantage in the future, and fortunately rooting the Nexus is as easy as it can get.
Instead I have used ADW EX customizations to optimize this phone for my best android experience, and it is this point convincing me to keep it. The Nexus S has none of the Sprint bloat-ware profligation, and none of the manufacturer skin-ware. Using ADW EX and android widgets, I was able to customize my Nexus to suit my needs perfectly. The best part of the experience is that I got to choose how my phone worked, and my phone now operates exactly how I want it to, I might also mention that Launcher Pro would work very well also. Ah, the beauty of android.
Later the next week I went into a local RadioShack to have hands-on time with the EVO 3D to make certain I had made the best choice. I did that Sense 3 twirl thing and the rep mentioned the limitations of Nexus screen scrolling, I showed him that my phone also had infinity scrolling. He was surprised and didn’t go any further.
Sure the latest summer phones have better specs, more powerful hardware, and unique features (3D), but for me at least, they don’t really make for a better android experience than a Nexus. Here is a list of widgets I have included on my screens.
Agenda widget keeps an excellent display of my appointments.
Springpad for notes and general organization uses.
Google+ widget, as well as android system widget for general phone info.
I use Jorte calendar to fill up one entire screen.
The control widget for quick access to phone controls.
The Starbuck coffee widget cause I gotta admit, I like my coffee.
Skype video calls work excellently and I use it frequently since most phone users still don’t have Google Talk video. I have combined Facebook with Twitter using Tweetdeck, and this app I keep in an easily accessible hidden dock which contains many of my frequently used apps, one of the best features of ADW EX and used by many ROMs such as Cyanogen.
The overall flow and performance of the phone is flawless, handling multi-functioning easily, Bluetooth works very well, wi-fi at home and at my local Starbucks is good, pictures are adequate and the general feel of the phone is sleek without giving up that much on size coming from an EVO slab phone user. The idea that updates get pushed out to Nexus phones before anyone else will keep me a happy user for some time to come as the Nexus is a developer’s phone hence new applications often come to this phone first, the recent case of Skype video calling is a great example.
What do I miss most, or wished improved? I must admit I do miss that EVO kickstand, which was a nice feature though I can’t help but think it would mess with the sleekness of the Nexus. The missing sd card hasn’t been an issue for me, but I suppose it could be for others. There are times I still miss the LED notification light, though that is minor thing. I have read others complain of the back being slick and a fingerprint magnet, but I stuck an Egrip strip with a cool image to help in handling the phone better and reduce the space for smudges.
Are there better phones out there this summer? Sure, if you go by hardware specs, so if photo quality is important to you with a better camera and more features such as 3D, or if you just can’t live without that LED notification light, the Nexus may not be for you. A dual core phone is slightly faster, but hardly noticeable and does 1 second or less really make that much difference? Do they make better use of the android system though? In my opinion this is where the Nexus excels and for me that is the true strength of this phone and why I suggest giving it a serious consideration.
I would probably keep the galaxy s in favor of the nexus s, mainly because of the browser-lag issue in the nexus. It is a great phone, but I don't think vanilla android brings to the table that much you should sell your galaxy. Hardware wise you would be gaining nothing.
You almost might as well wait for the next nexus that probably will come at the same time as ice-cream sandwich (Q4). Nexus is nice because you get the updates almost immediately, but Google has indicated that there will be no major updates before the launch of ICS. So why not wait for the phone that launches with ICS?
i just LOVE nexus s... Fast smooth amazing battery life, bought it two days ago and i completely fell in love with it. Coming from htc sense i thought vanilla would feel a little "vanilla" but no sir, the speed and the battery pays off sure if ur a guy who likes to use camera a lot then sgs might be a better option, but for all other things i believe sns is better. plus the curved screen is sexy
of course, most people here recognize this phone as good one. you know this phone even been to Space. how great.. haha

[Q] Should I trade my Shift for Nexus S?

Ok,Here me out I know this has been asked but I have a different situation and reall y need input as of right now I've read so many reviews and heard so many diff opinions I just want some help on here.
Ok so I bought the shift 11 days ago and realized while I have no problems with it I do want the most out of my upgrade, that being said I turned my attention towards the nexus S, also by the way I only wanted to spend 100 dollars no more than that or I would've gotten the Evo 3d or some other dual core awesome phone. Anyways, I know I would give up the hardware keyboard but feel this is inevitable and something I will eventually do. However the NS has a faster processor, better screen, bigger screen, no crap sprint apps you cant get rid of and a forward facing camera which is a big positive for me.
Heres the deal though I never go against reviews and all the stats say that the Shift wins by like a whole start on every review site. That being said a sprint tech said they have more returns on shifts than the NS and that he loves his NS. So I go in considering the trade and the salesman comforted me saying he wouldn't make the trade. I took his advice then got home and thought well of course the salesman said that it'd be cheaper and they'd have to refund me about 50 bucks and a hundred in the long run. Also I read it has bad wifi problems is that true? I'm sorry for the disorder of this post, I'm just extremely frustrated and don't have much time.
SO I know this has been long, but in eveyones opinion what would you do? i know the NS feels cheaper but I mean does that matter? With a nice case, a zag full body cover and insurance should that matter? Also, the 16gb no sd card thing doesn't bother me I don't think I'll ever and never have exceeded 4gb.
I only have 2 days to decide.
Thanks everyone in advance
Autumus said:
Ok,Here me out I know this has been asked but I have a different situation and reall y need input as of right now I've read so many reviews and heard so many diff opinions I just want some help on here.
Ok so I bought the shift 11 days ago and realized while I have no problems with it I do want the most out of my upgrade, that being said I turned my attention towards the nexus S, also by the way I only wanted to spend 100 dollars no more than that or I would've gotten the Evo 3d or some other dual core awesome phone. Anyways, I know I would give up the hardware keyboard but feel this is inevitable and something I will eventually do. However the NS has a faster processor, better screen, bigger screen, no crap sprint apps you cant get rid of and a forward facing camera which is a big positive for me.
Heres the deal though I never go against reviews and all the stats say that the Shift wins by like a whole start on every review site. That being said a sprint tech said they have more returns on shifts than the NS and that he loves his NS. So I go in considering the trade and the salesman comforted me saying he wouldn't make the trade. I took his advice then got home and thought well of course the salesman said that it'd be cheaper and they'd have to refund me about 50 bucks and a hundred in the long run. Also I read it has bad wifi problems is that true? I'm sorry for the disorder of this post, I'm just extremely frustrated and don't have much time.
SO I know this has been long, but in eveyones opinion what would you do? i know the NS feels cheaper but I mean does that matter? With a nice case, a zag full body cover and insurance should that matter? Also, the 16gb no sd card thing doesn't bother me I don't think I'll ever and never have exceeded 4gb.
I only have 2 days to decide.
Thanks everyone in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would have gone with the nexus s. But I am holding out for the prime
Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk
Yeah, I just read several times the forward cam is garbage do you know about this? I'm wondering all I want to use it for is skyping. Also another big selling point for me was the thought of Ice Cream Sandwich on it soon vs. the shift taking forever if ever getting it. I heard the NS ram is bad is this true?
Well i'm going to be bias in my opinion, but here goes. There's a reason thr Shift does better on almost every review you read. It's a better device ( IMO ) . Yes it doesn't have a foward facing camera. But if that's the only deciding factor, than just get an EVO4G. Way better than the Nexus S. Plus even though it's been put on EOL. It's still got a lot of life in it. I've had a lot of chances to use other devices, and compare them head to head with the Shift. In the end the Shift always wins. Just a better device than most out there, very underated. So I would say stick with the Shift. But what the Hell do I know .
I've owned a lot of phones and the Nexus is one of them. Few things of consideration..I'd say the WiFi on the Nexus bests the Shift, to answer that question. For me, the battery life on the Nexus is not as good as the Shift. Also, the radio in the Nexus has issues. Poor reception. At home, even roaming, I could barely send a text. This was my biggest reason to part with it and go back to HTC. Other than that I felt the Nexus was a nice phone. No issues with build quality and the Super Amoled kicks ass.
Also, if you are a big tweaker/flasher consider that there are a few rooted roms for the Nexus, but not much. And they are all plain AOSP so they are pretty much the same.
If the Nexus S was out when I got the shift I would have got the Nexus instead. Don't get me wrong I love the shift to death, but unless you want to keep the sense ui then get the Nexus. (I think they even ported HTC Sense to the Nexus S)
Yes the shift is fast-but the nexus is faster, has a better screen, and also a ffc.
Although if you stick with the shift its still an amazing phone
If you don't care about a physical keyboard, get the NS4G. I really want my next phone to have an AMOLED. Plus the support we get from HTC is non-existent for the shift.
Also, the Nexus phone should get the Ice Cream Sandwich update, where the Shift will need to go the AOSP/CM route (most likely, because of non-existent support mentioned above).
Tell ya what if you don't want to trade your shift for a nexus s then let me have the trade. you can have my shift all rooted and ready to go. I want that sleek curvy s in my hands.
Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk
Ill tell ya cuz I'm doing this right now. I'm selling my shift Sunday and getting the NS4G Tuesday. I love my shift to death but I want a new toy. But since you can get a shift for the same price on eBay as a ns4g than go for it!
Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk

Should I trade my One S for Galaxy S 3

Hi the title says it all I'm thinking of trading my One S in for a Galaxy S 3 I just want to hear peoples opinions and thoughts on this matter
Sent from my HTC One S using xda premium
Specs wise they're both beasts. Enough so that it doesn't matter which one wins which benchmarks.
The most important difference is the size/feel in your hand. If the SGS3 feels good to you, then sure, go ahead.
Personally I find it too large and too plasticky. And of course anyone whose taste and opinion are different than mine is a moron.
If you want bigger and sharper screen, more storage, better/larger developing community, better support from Samsung for updates, removable battery, better 1080P recording then yes, if you're aren't bothered by those areas then no.
Although I wouldn't buy anything now, when we have the LG nexus 4 and supposedly a HTC nexus 5 (specs may be the same as the HTC butterfly), which will be announced on the 29th October.
Out of the current phones, which are on the market, I would get the one XL and RAZR HD instead of the GS 3.
Well I like the idea of extra storage space and more dev support, the fact you don't need to unlock the bootloader is a plus for me
I did go down town today and held a GS3 and it felt comfortable in the hand the size wasn't really an issue so I guess that's the decider
Sent from my HTC One S using xda premium
If I had the offer to trade my HTC One S for a Galaxy S 3 I would do it in a heartbeat lol. I still haven't even opened my One S mainly from all the bad news I read about it here.
I came from the s3 to the one s. Don't miss it. Removable battery and more storage were the only plus Imo. I like the one s feel and build a lot better. I had to run an extended battery on my s3 because there's mysterious battery drain on every rom. My buddy has a Verizon s3 and even with lte his oem battery would last twice as long as mine. It's all about personal preference and if you want a bigger phone and more storage the s3 would be good. Performance wise the phones are pretty equal.
LibertyMonger said:
I still haven't even opened my One S mainly from all the bad news I read about it here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What bad news?
The chipping?
My black one S is still in perfect condition apart from the USB port area, had it since April.
The signal?
Never had an issue with it, signal has never been as consistent as what I would have liked, but since the last update, it is more consistent and mostly full bars instead of 3 bars and the voice reception has dramatically improved when I have H/3G data connection.
Touch button issue?
Never had that.
Only thing I am disappointed with is the support from HTC for updates, but then again there isn't much else they can improve apart from improving wifi and mobile reception even further and plus the support for the X isn't any better. The NLED sucks compared to the GS 3 NLED.
Remember just because people report problems, doesn't mean that it will apply to everyone, hardly anyone will ever come onto a forum to post the positive things, only if they have a problem, plus unfortunately there seems to be a lot of one S haters on this forum.
LibertyMonger said:
If I had the offer to trade my HTC One S for a Galaxy S 3 I would do it in a heartbeat lol. I still haven't even opened my One S mainly from all the bad news I read about it here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're letting the warranty go down without even using it. It would be better to find about the problem now when you still have your warranty instead of opening it two years later, finding a problem, and having to cover all the costs instead (i'm not implying it has a problem, but it could do)
Terminator19 said:
What bad news?
The chipping?
My black one S is still in perfect condition apart from the USB port area, had it since April.
The signal?
Never had an issue with it, signal has never been as consistent as what I would have liked, but since the last update, it is more consistent and mostly full bars instead of 3 bars and the voice reception has dramatically improved when I have H/3G data connection.
Touch button issue?
Never had that.
Only thing I am disappointed with is the support from HTC for updates, but then again there isn't much else they can improve apart from improving wifi and mobile reception even further and plus the support for the X isn't any better. The NLED sucks compared to the GS 3 NLED.
Remember just because people report problems, doesn't mean that it will apply to everyone, hardly anyone will ever come onto a forum to post the positive things, only if they have a problem, plus unfortunately there seems to be a lot of one S haters on this forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All of those haters will be gone once this phone get a little old, then the good people will stay and others will leave, and then this phone will get some good attention.
I plan on keeping this phone for a while, 2, 3 or 4 years.
Thanks Guy's very helpful info. I guess I was disappointed in the hboot issues and seeing how many are having issues after updating up to 1.14 and all. I'm used to flashing freely with my old nexus S and my new GNex and everything i read in here has been very disappointing. I just worried I made a big mistake since i got one of these for everyone in my family lol. Thanks again, I been thinking about saying the heck with it and keeping it, i just can't see the point in having 2 phones. It really is a wonderful phone for normal users. It doesn't seem to need root except for getting rid of the bloat, using root required apps, volume wake and theming. Thanks again guy's made me feel better lol.
usaff22 said:
All of those haters will be gone once this phone get a little old, then the good people will stay and others will leave, and then this phone will get some good attention.
I plan on keeping this phone for a while, 2, 3 or 4 years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I hope so!
Likewise, although not as long. I find 4.3" too small now and want bigger! Love the note II screen, but the device is just too big to carry in my pockets and comfortably use with one hand. Plus, I personally can't see HTC supporting this phone for long as it isn't very popular and they have released a ton of other android phones and will be releasing even more in the next few months, meaning the S will get even less attention. Hope to get 4.2, but I have a funny feeling we won't or if they do, it will take forever......
Root and flash ROMs is an option. I had a read through the guides last night, after reading that we won't get JB till December (although I probably won't see JB on my phone till January) but I really cba with doing that again and flashing a new ROM every other week and then encountering annoying niggles.
So yeah, I will see what the LG nexus 4 is like and possibly other nexus devices largely due to updates/support and bigger screen. Although I do prefer sense overall compared to stock android, but I want a phone, which has good support.
Unfortunately the build quality and looks won't be anywhere as good as the S
The RAZR HD looks like a great option as well:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/16/3513860/motorola-stock-android-customization-verizon
LibertyMonger said:
Thanks Guy's very helpful info. I guess I was disappointed in the hboot issues and seeing how many are having issues after updating up to 1.14 and all. I'm used to flashing freely with my old nexus S and my new GNex and everything i read in here has been very disappointing. I just worried I made a big mistake since i got one of these for everyone in my family lol. Thanks again, I been thinking about saying the heck with it and keeping it, i just can't see the point in having 2 phones. It really is a wonderful phone for normal users. It doesn't seem to need root except for getting rid of the bloat, using root required apps, volume wake and theming. Thanks again guy's made me feel better lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your entire family have one, then surely you know what to expect
BTW you can disable most of the bloat by going to settings>apps>click on app you want disabled and then click "disable" in the top right corner. Although you can't disable some stock sense apps like the launcher, browser, maps etc.

Categories

Resources