Related
Thinking about picking up a tab as soon as ATT launches, I love my captivate but dont really need two identical (hardware) devices. I was thinking about picking up a Aria throwing cyanogenmod and overclocking to 800mhz, i wouldn't mind a smaller phone in the pocket.
Anyone come from a Aria to the captivate and have any knowledge to drop?
ty!
I had an Aria prior to the Captivate and found it to be a little too small for use. The real issue I had that caused me to swap it out was the screen was so dim you couldn't see it in sunlight; that is definitely not a problem with the Captivate.
thanks for the reply, lucky here in the pacific NW the sun shouldn't be a issue. So the smaller resolution kinda sucked? hrmmm.
Started with the Aria, still use it. Have a Captivate also. To be honest, overall I like the Captivate the most. BUT the Aria has adavantages, quick snappy response, GPS WORKS, and does most what the captivate can do. Smaller screen, kind of bugged me, but can get over it. Though the captivates screen is OH SO NICE.... Gaming much better on the captivate also!
^ with a tab (hopefully) on the way the screen size should be welcome for the smaller form factor, the pocket legends beta is making me think twice now haha, looks so nice on the samoled.
gandalf21502 said:
Started with the Aria, still use it. Have a Captivate also. To be honest, overall I like the Captivate the most. BUT the Aria has adavantages, quick snappy response, GPS WORKS, and does most what the captivate can do. Smaller screen, kind of bugged me, but can get over it. Though the captivates screen is OH SO NICE.... Gaming much better on the captivate also!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was debating on if I should go to Aria or Captivate when I was getting a new phone. I picked the Captivate because of this too. I love the bigger brighter screen and very glad I went with it. I am very happy with my Captivate. GPS is good enough for me (outdoors), no random shutdowns or any other major problems.
Don't do it. I drove 30 miles to replace my Aria.
The only advantage is GPS. You'll be sacrificing a lot of performance for a smaller footprint. Aria's actually slightly thicker. Just about every spec is worse. Know that it's a mid-range phone that will feel obsolete quickly. You really feel it when loading large webpages/images and playing games.
I loved the Aria it was very responsive although it had a small scree it was really easy to browse through text on the web, GPS was good, it size is an advantage when traveling on business. Basically if you don't need a large screen this is a good phone.
I originally had an Aria that I exchanged for the Captivate. It's a neat little phone, though you won't be able to get some apps that require the arm v7 instruction set (google earth, for example), and live wallpapers run a bit slow sometimes (super mario), but all in all, it's an awesome little phone that I wouldn't mind using as my daily driver.
I ended up exchanging it for the Captivate simply because it seemed more future-proof and because the subsidized price difference was so small that it was hard to justify keeping the Aria.
With the leaks of the Nexus S today, I can see that I made the correct choice. If it turns out that the Nexus S hardware is very similar to the rest of the Galaxy S line (which will most likely be the case, considering the model number), we are basically guaranteed updates direct from google (with a little hacking to get it running on our Captivates) for a long time to come.
Update: Oh yeah, forgot to mention the speaker. The speaker is absolutely terrible. It sounds tinny and buzzy, and you'll be instantly infuriated anytime your phone rings. Watching videos on it is unbearable unless you use headphones. This is another reason I exchanged it for the Captivate.
Aria advantages are fm radio, better browser that makes text readable on the smaller screen. 2.1 os with flash that works, snappy feel do to the smaller screen needing less processing power. Small size.
Dis advantages are poor out door readability especially with screen protectors, poor battery life, I find the captivate to be better, gps didn't work any better than the captivate, actually I think the captivate is better but I seem to be a minority in that my gps works, hard to type on small screen and I'm not one to complain about touch screens, I actually prefer touch screens for typing but 3.2 inches is just to small, non multi touch keyboard. Significantly thicker than captivate, it doesn't look it but it is. call quality not as good, ringer/speakerphone not as loud, camera not as good, captivate camera has many options only winphone7 compares imho but win phone 7 is good for different reasons, also aria camera takes time to adjust to the light, apparent in videos. Stock headphones not as good as samsung stock headphones. Internal storage couldn't hold enough apps.
All in all I did have buyers remorse when I got the aria because I couldn't read the screen in day light and because the internal storage was limited but was otherwise satiated, then when I traded up for the captive I had buyers remorse because missed the fm radio, the browser and the flash player, but it all went away when I started making phone calls, and got a taste of the stock headphones for music, every bit as good as $40 v-moda ones that I had recently broken, and better than the $50 treble heavy skull candies I bought to use with the aria.
The aria was almost a good phone and if you have an sd card and don't use 100 apps and you can deal with the screen there is nothing wrong with it but for the money it might not make sense unless they have dropped the price or the whole required store credit/rebate thing. But I feel the captivate is better for more reasons than the obvious even with it's shortcomings.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897
I miss my aria's gps. It worked flawlessly.
The Aria is...
...one bada$$ little phone! I was so very opposed to going to a full-touchscreen phone. I've always had keyboards on all my HTC Smartphones and PDA's. The fact that i got turned on to a full touch screen phone via the Aria is pretty impressive in my book.
Yes it is small. But that is one of the benefits of the phone itself, considering how big all the phones are getting. At this rate it looks like we're almost headed back to the "motorola-in-a-brief-case-Nino-Brown-era". hahaha! Sure, if you have huge fingers it will be a bit of a pain to type on no doubt. But I'm a 5'11" athletic black man and I had not too many issues.
Its just about as snappy as most other "high-end" considered phones in most categories. The speaker does suck pretty bad, but i'm always using bluetooth headsets and BT stereo headphones anyway. I loved that little phone. And now my wife loves it.
I have the Captivate now. I never wanted to get anything but HTC, but I'm on AT&T and the HTC Surround looks like a joke - not to mention I do not want a first generation WP7 anyway. So to the tune of $69 (AT&T matched the Wirefly.com price) I couldn't pass it up. Aside from not having a flash I LOVE this phone and it feels about the same weight as the Aria!
All that to say...YES, the Aria is a solid phone and great switch up from the current popular trend in phone sizes.
Before I ask, I know there have been many threads about this topic, but my question is a little more specific than the rest. I get to upgrade my phone sometime in the next few weeks and one of these will be my first android phone. As a young artist, I am mostly looking for a phone which will take quality photos for good reference and preferably one which has video auto focus. I'm also a heavy internet user (about 5 hours a day on iPod Touch) but coming from iOS, I long for flash player. I also like to game a lot so the dual core cpu performance has to be somewhat decent with good speeds (better than my 4th gen touch at least lol). Lastly I'm a big media person with music a videos so I'm looking for a quality screen, support for multiple media formats (specifically mkv), decent speakers, and if possible, support for in-line headphones with volume, FF and RR (optional to come in the box, but if there are alternative working ones, please post below as I haven't found a solution with android devices and working in-line headphones). I've played around with my cousins EVO a lot so I've grown a liking to HTC Sense but I would also like to try out stock android sometime. And after a lot of time reading reviews and comments, I've taken a liking to the Galaxy S II's screen but I'm not a fan of TouchWiz. As previously stated, coming from an iOS user, I'm hoping one of these phones can either match or have greater quality with the screen in terms of brightness and contrast (not so much with resolution but mostly with colors, hue, and saturation). I'm hoping this narrows down the margin between these 3 phones.
P.S. I'm also hoping for one of these to have great dev support since I love to customize and test new tweaks.
EDITED - Also as an additional post, can you explain the batter life of the 3 as best as you can (even considering not having much info about the sensation)
I would say the G2X after LG fixes the Bleeding screen, restarts, and battery life issue. Both the GS2 and Sensatoin both have skins over android to which I've never been a fan of. 1st GS2 Engaget did a review and called it the best smart phone on the planet (the week before g2x was lol) but its made of plastic and its really thin so if the unthinkable happens and you drop the phone changes are its going to get jacked up and touchwiz. 2. Sensation Ive never been a fan of sense its a power hungry beast that needs to be removed. Just look at the battery life of the thunderbolt its really bad.
I had the G2X for a week and I loved it, its solid like my Nexus One it feels like a phone. I dropped it twice once on my tile floor and there were no marks and once on my naked foot to which brought me great pain. (lol) The G2X will have CM7 the galaxy s phones don't have CM support so why do you think that GS2 will? I plan on getting anothe G2x I'm just waiting until the 2nd line of them.
It honestly sounds like the Galaxy S II is just right for you. I know you say you dont like touchwiz (believe me I hate it) but the TW 4.0 or whatever its called looks really nice. From what I have seen it looks better than sense ui. Anyways, there have been battles between the G2X and the Galaxy S II and hardware wise the GSII always has the upper hand with camera, performance, screen, colors, etc.. However there are many things to consider. Do we even know what US carrier (if any) will receive the GSII? Also coming from the vibrant I swore up and down I wouild never buy a samsung phone again. Their lack of software support was just unacceptable. Im not even talking upgrades, just basic bug fixes. Development for this phone NEVER gave us a fully functioning stock android or AOSP ROM. Sure CM7 made a lot of headway and may still come to the galaxy s with all the fixes but right now it still has bugs and some things just dont work.
To make a long story short, I got the G2X because I wanted a stock android experience with a lot of developer backing (specifically cyanogenmod) and the specs of the phone are pretty amazing. Now it sounds to me like media and camera are more important to you so you may feel more welcome by the Galaxy S II if you dont care about aftermarket roms and such.
get 2x
coming from a vibrant, i can say that screen on the g2x is actually better and it being a stock android updates come faster and custom roms will also. I can't wait for the cyanogen mod either. I had battery issues but after resetting my phone the battery works just fine. they all have similar processors but the g2x being stock will get you better performance. I am a photographer also and am creating a photo journal with the g2x and it does the job well. good luck
i say go for SGS2, it works quite good out of the box and it has a great screen and you will absolutely appreciate the larger screen. Though im not really a fan of touchwiz.
I have g2x and going to return it today for SGS2.
There is no doubt in my mind that the dev support will be there for the sgs2 but it will be greater on the g2x just b/c of all the vanillaness.
The weight of the galaxy line is extremely light but believe me when I say that it is extremely durable. My old cliq felt like a brick but the second time I dropped that it stopped working completely so weight and feel have nothing to do with durability.
My vibrant has pretty much been through the equivalent of back to back fights with Manny Pacquiao and Anderson Silva only to come out as the new peoples champ. If you can wait, I would say try to see what all 3 of them are like and whether or not they come to your carrier. Its what I'm gonna do b/c I would hate to be stuck in another 2 year contract and not have the phone that I'm gonna own for atleast half of that time.
I have the same question, but new phones will probably come out because my next upgrade is in September. I really hate big phones and it seems phones are getting bigger and bigger. I really like the nexus s design (A lot!) And I like stock android, so I think I might wait until the nexus s2 comes out. Hopefully it stays a bit close to the design of the nexus s.
Sense isn't that power hungry the reason why the thunderbolt sucks on battery life is because of the lte network. A custom sense rom usually has no data drops. Like the aosp roms do.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA Premium App
Killbynature said:
Sense isn't that power hungry the reason why the thunderbolt sucks on battery life is because of the lte network. A custom sense rom usually has no data drops. Like the aosp roms do.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Each one of my friends who had a sense phone who switched to a custom rom w/o sense batter life increased alot.
jrharvey said:
It honestly sounds like the Galaxy S II is just right for you. I know you say you dont like touchwiz (believe me I hate it) but the TW 4.0 or whatever its called looks really nice. From what I have seen it looks better than sense ui. Anyways, there have been battles between the G2X and the Galaxy S II and hardware wise the GSII always has the upper hand with camera, performance, screen, colors, etc.. However there are many things to consider. Do we even know what US carrier (if any) will receive the GSII? Also coming from the vibrant I swore up and down I wouild never buy a samsung phone again. Their lack of software support was just unacceptable. Im not even talking upgrades, just basic bug fixes. Development for this phone NEVER gave us a fully functioning stock android or AOSP ROM. Sure CM7 made a lot of headway and may still come to the galaxy s with all the fixes but right now it still has bugs and some things just dont work.
To make a long story short, I got the G2X because I wanted a stock android experience with a lot of developer backing (specifically cyanogenmod) and the specs of the phone are pretty amazing. Now it sounds to me like media and camera are more important to you so you may feel more welcome by the Galaxy S II if you dont care about aftermarket roms and such.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your input. Also as a CFW PSP user and a Jailbroken iOS user, I like to have a combination of both dev support and media features, so I wouldn't want to leave that out. I'm surprised that only one person gave consideration to the sensation when I stated how it was the only UI I've ever used so far on android, and I read how it had an HRD camera with auto focus video so I thought most would assume that as the better choice, but my only problem with it is how its rumored to not have an unlocked bootloader. I think atm I will go with the g2x but I hope to hear about some alternatives to getting inline music controls to work.
g2xnerd said:
coming from a vibrant, i can say that screen on the g2x is actually better and it being a stock android updates come faster and custom roms will also. I can't wait for the cyanogen mod either. I had battery issues but after resetting my phone the battery works just fine. they all have similar processors but the g2x being stock will get you better performance. I am a photographer also and am creating a photo journal with the g2x and it does the job well. good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much! when I saw still photos on the G2X compared to the S II, I thought it looked inferior, but being able to make a photo journal out of it seems to counter that argument. BTW is it possible for the camera to get an update for auto focus video recording like the Galaxy S Vibrant did? For camera usage, that is the only thing pushing me back from the G2X as well as the support for multiple video formats (which I hear the Galaxy S II will have based on the Exynos processor). Hope to receive some additional feedback.
If you go bluetooth you can get inline music control. I personally have and like the plantronics backbeats and the sweatproof motorola S-10 HDs. The backbeats are more flexible and easier to wear, while the S-10s are must haves for working out and sports.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
Infos3c said:
If you go bluetooth you can get inline music control. I personally have and like the plantronics backbeats and the sweatproof motorola S-10 HDs. The backbeats are more flexible and easier to wear, while the S-10s are must haves for working out and sports.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i hear a lot of mixed things about bluetooth headphones. even though the sound quality is great and the music controls work, I cannot always depend on headphones which need charging. Having to charge one device already is enough so i am more suited for wired inline in ear headphones.
jree said:
There is no doubt in my mind that the dev support will be there for the sgs2 but it will be greater on the g2x just b/c of all the vanillaness.
The weight of the galaxy line is extremely light but believe me when I say that it is extremely durable. My old cliq felt like a brick but the second time I dropped that it stopped working completely so weight and feel have nothing to do with durability.
My vibrant has pretty much been through the equivalent of back to back fights with Manny Pacquiao and Anderson Silva only to come out as the new peoples champ. If you can wait, I would say try to see what all 3 of them are like and whether or not they come to your carrier. Its what I'm gonna do b/c I would hate to be stuck in another 2 year contract and not have the phone that I'm gonna own for atleast half of that time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well not voting for the SGS2 here but I don't think Vanilla has any bearings on Dev Support, directly. Granted, I prefer vanilla and thus may contribute to its popularity, which, indirectly, popularity = dev support.
The only thing that matters is that the bootloader is unlocked and it is easily rootable and flashable. I mean once you get a CM rom on there, they all work the same.
I think Vanilla roms are more open to other variants like MIUI and the likes because they typically share the same partition structure. I know the G2x has a different structure and I think it is safe to say the SGS2 does too. Good thing that we are able to format and change the partitions to work across multiple roms.
The SGS2 was recently rooted and I think they found the bootloader to be unlocked. So it should be able to be flashed pretty easily.
One big factor that more people don't think about is the screen size. I have small hands (vs huge sausages) and the 4" screen of the G2x pushes my comfort zone. I think 4.3" would be too much and I would be fumbling it while trying to do one handed operations.
Having bought a G2x from a N1... I can say I'm extremely happy. I've been reading the SGS2 forums trying to stir up some internal buyers remorse... but I can honestly say that I would still pick my G2x over the SGS2 again. To me Tegra>Orion justifies AMOLED>LCD. I think NVidia will really push some developers to create some great games and I don't want to be stuck on the sidelines wishing I could get in on the action. Unable to play some of the newer "HD" (Only for Tegra) games are really making some of the SGS2 owners unhappy.
Nothing like buying a new toy and finding that it doesn't work with the latest HD games.
DMan1993 said:
that is the only thing pushing me back from the G2X as well as the support for multiple video formats (which I hear the Galaxy S II will have based on the Exynos processor). Hope to receive some additional feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as multiple video formats, I don't think this has much to do with physical hardware as it does software. While I am most certainly not an expert, I have played a range of videos on my phones. Wouldn't all you need is a Video app that has the correct codecs and support for such file types?
I mean, really, not picking one device over another based on media format is just insane to me and defies all logic. I mean how easy is it to convert between formats, come on. I'd say that if you using a less common format or one that isn't widely available, you are only asking for trouble anyway. Most of the video I find online are either MP4 or avi and have no problem playing them on my device. If you are ripping it yourself, just save it in a format you can use.
This is a very good player, plays many formats
http://market.android.com/details?id=net.thefluxstudio.implayer
Player911:
Having bought a G2x from a N1... I can say I'm extremely happy. I've been reading the SGS2 forums trying to stir up some internal buyers remorse... but I can honestly say that I would still pick my G2x over the SGS2 again. To me Tegra>Orion justifies AMOLED>LCD. I think NVidia will really push some developers to create some great games and I don't want to be stuck on the sidelines wishing I could get in on the action. Unable to play some of the newer "HD" (Only for Tegra) games are really making some of the SGS2 owners unhappy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm quite surprised that the SGS2 folks have a buyers remorse, especially after reading your post. I was having remorse with the G2x since it just has 512MB ram and the GS2 kicks the G2x to the curb on every bullet point except Value for money/cost (I'm buying off contract). I'm also very surprised when you implicitly state that Orion cannot run Tegra games even though it's way faster than tegra.
ski_power said:
I'm quite surprised that the SGS2 folks have a buyers remorse, especially after reading your post. I was having remorse with the G2x since it just has 512MB ram and the GS2 kicks the G2x to the curb on every bullet point except Value for money/cost (I'm buying off contract). I'm also very surprised when you implicitly state that Orion cannot run Tegra games even though it's way faster than tegra.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont just look at numbers (1ghz dual core vs 1.2 dual core) RAM numbers, etc.
It has been said the 1ghz Tegra 2 is a better processor overall, and you really dont need more than 512mb of RAM since Android closes apps on its own when memory gets low. You wont see much if any performance increase from merely more RAM.
Lets not forget Samsung's recent past with its Galaxy S line having broken GPS, wonky file systems that slowed down phones, and bootloaders locked.
I wouldnt just yet say the SGS2 is a better device because how it looks on paper.
>It has been said the 1ghz Tegra 2 is a better processor overall, and you really dont need more than 512mb of RAM since Android closes apps on its own when memory gets low. You wont see much if any performance increase from merely more RAM.
I'm not sure about that. Both use dual Cortex A9s. The difference in hardware between the two is the GPU. We all know Tegra 2 uses GeForce ULP but I'm not sure what the Exynos uses(SGX or Adreno).
I concede my point to your statement about the RAM, since I only recently learnt about memory management in Android (this is my first Android). I'm pretty sure Sammy must have fixed the GPS issues, since if they don't I'd lose all respect for them.
Oh OP, one thing you might want to consider is that the Galaxy S2 does not have an HDMI out port. They say it's got some USB-HDMI cable though.
Also, it depends on your hands. The G2x itself is a pretty big device in my opinion, and seeing that the SGS2 has a 4.3" screen it's going to be much bigger.
Definitely sgs2
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
player911 said:
Well not voting for the SGS2 here but I don't think Vanilla has any bearings on Dev Support, directly. Granted, I prefer vanilla and thus may contribute to its popularity, which, indirectly, popularity = dev support.
The only thing that matters is that the bootloader is unlocked and it is easily rootable and flashable. I mean once you get a CM rom on there, they all work the same.
I think Vanilla roms are more open to other variants like MIUI and the likes because they typically share the same partition structure. I know the G2x has a different structure and I think it is safe to say the SGS2 does too. Good thing that we are able to format and change the partitions to work across multiple roms.
The SGS2 was recently rooted and I think they found the bootloader to be unlocked. So it should be able to be flashed pretty easily.
One big factor that more people don't think about is the screen size. I have small hands (vs huge sausages) and the 4" screen of the G2x pushes my comfort zone. I think 4.3" would be too much and I would be fumbling it while trying to do one handed operations.
Having bought a G2x from a N1... I can say I'm extremely happy. I've been reading the SGS2 forums trying to stir up some internal buyers remorse... but I can honestly say that I would still pick my G2x over the SGS2 again. To me Tegra>Orion justifies AMOLED>LCD. I think NVidia will really push some developers to create some great games and I don't want to be stuck on the sidelines wishing I could get in on the action. Unable to play some of the newer "HD" (Only for Tegra) games are really making some of the SGS2 owners unhappy.
Nothing like buying a new toy and finding that it doesn't work with the latest HD games.
As far as multiple video formats, I don't think this has much to do with physical hardware as it does software. While I am most certainly not an expert, I have played a range of videos on my phones. Wouldn't all you need is a Video app that has the correct codecs and support for such file types?
I mean, really, not picking one device over another based on media format is just insane to me and defies all logic. I mean how easy is it to convert between formats, come on. I'd say that if you using a less common format or one that isn't widely available, you are only asking for trouble anyway. Most of the video I find online are either MP4 or avi and have no problem playing them on my device. If you are ripping it yourself, just save it in a format you can use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Coming from iOS, I am tired of having to convert all of my videos to mp4 format and having little knowledge of android from not having owned one just increases my curiosity on the matter since the SGSII specs list stated that the Exynos processor has more support for video formats than tegra 2. Being able to directly download and play any format is one thing I am looking for in one of these phones so that is why I asked the question. Some of the videos I download are dual audio and subbed mkv's and having to download multiple programs to get the subtitles and audio working on a mobile device is very time consuming so having support for multiple codecs would make things a whole lot easier.
Was out today and thought I'd stop by and check out the infuse...
I spent about 5 minutes goin over it...
The screen looks awesome....
Touchwiz looks cheap...
GPS could not lock on my location..but the Atrix and the Inspire on display had no trouble at all..
I may be a little jealous if the display and battery size of the infuse...otherwise I'm stickin with the inspire...
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
good there really isn't a plus from other galaxy s phones. Sure there's a better camera, bigger screen, ffc, and a better screen but what's hardware without software?
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App
I messed with one for five minutes as well. Salesman was really hyping it up how it was the best phone on at&t right now. I agree the screen is nice but I still prefer the inspire.
I feel just like that whenever I look at my wife’s Galaxy Captivate’s bright screen, until I try to navigate that damn Touchwiz. Grass will always be greener on the other side when it comes to technical toys. But with all the things I can do with my Inspire 4G, I can do without the faster CPU, front facing camera, and the extra .2 inches of high def screen until next Inspire (something comparable to) comes out.
newter55 said:
I messed with one for five minutes as well. Salesman was really hyping it up how it was the best phone on at&t right now. I agree the screen is nice but I still prefer the inspire.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if we sell enough of them, samsung gives us goodies, we win points that we can redeem for electronics and such...
so you're damn right its the best phone we have at AT&T right now..
(i still use my inspire and i think its way better than both infuse and atrix, much more solid built etc)
but yea.. when the next phone comes out that gives us salesmen something good in return, guess what.. it's gonna be the best phone you can buy for your money!! i guarantee it!! *wink*
The Infuse looks very interesting to me.
I checked out a non-working demo unit at Costco and it's about the same size as the Inspire and the screen was noticeably bigger. Bravo Samsung for coming out with a 4.5" screen phone and using as much real estate on the front of the phone as possible.
The GPS lock problem... hmmm... gee Samsung... haven't you learned?
As far as the UI: Come on... most of us hate TouchWiz. That's a given. Just replace it with LauncherPro or ADWLauncher. I bet half of the Inspire users here don't use Sense (though I do and actually like Sense).
Would I trade in my Inspire for the Infuse (I bought from Costco): No. I'm still pissed off at Samsung over the Captivate GPS issues... but if the Infuse turns out to have 100% working hardware and features as advertised it'd be a step in the right direction winning me back. I would recommend it to non-phone obsessed friends who don't care about quick OS updates.
We'll be hearing about any defects or problems within a week if there are any.
I played with one too. Reminded me of my captivate just bigger. kinda cool, but eh. I still prefer my Inspire!
secretasianman said:
The Infuse looks very interesting to me.
I checked out a non-working demo unit at Costco and it's about the same size as the Inspire and the screen was noticeably bigger. Bravo Samsung for coming out with a 4.5" screen phone and using as much real estate on the front of the phone as possible.
The GPS lock problem... hmmm... gee Samsung... haven't you learned?
As far as the UI: Come on... most of us hate TouchWiz. That's a given. Just replace it with LauncherPro or ADWLauncher. I bet half of the Inspire users here don't use Sense (though I do and actually like Sense).
Would I trade in my Inspire for the Infuse (I bought from Costco): No. I'm still pissed off at Samsung over the Captivate GPS issues... but if the Infuse turns out to have 100% working hardware and features as advertised it'd be a step in the right direction winning me back. I would recommend it to non-phone obsessed friends who don't care about quick OS updates.
We'll be hearing about any defects or problems within a week if there are any.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love sense, and when I had my captivated, everything about it was HTC. notification bar, battery meter, signal meter, app icons, etc. I wasn't phone obsessed as far as updates until I got into Android. So that may change for them.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App
Samsung's hardware is tempting, but I'll never forget the garbage I (we) went through with the Captivate. Dying earpiece and external speakers (both happened to me on different handsets), sleep death, no GPS, the OTA update that bricked stock phones...all of this and more, and the phone hasn't even been out for a year.
Not only that, but Samsung insulted us by releasing a GPS "fix" app in the market that "restored the GPS to factory settings"...you know, the ones that didn't work in the first place?
I'm not a fanboy and won't spend my money buying products from a company that is all to happy to ass-rape me for giving them business. Apple has the luxury for rabid fanboyism, so no matter what they do, people will still buy their products. Samsung doesn't have that, they just think they do for some reason.
The good side of the Infuse is his unlocked bootloader.
My wife has a Inspire and I have a captivate, I have to say the captivate is really easier to unlock. But I agree with most of you about the captivate, a stock captivate is really not perfect, but I'm running my cappy with Contiuuum 5.4.1 (Android 2.3.3) and I can say bye bye to all the problems, my gps is a dream and my battery time is amazing.
I have a SE Xperia X10 and I'm in the market for a new phone, so I went to my local AT&T store for the Sunday release of the Infuse. I played with it, and with the Inspire, for about an hour.
I came away from the experience thinking my next phone will be an HTC...now if I can only hold out for the upcoming "Holiday." hee hee. Here's why-
1. I have owned Samsungs before, including a brief stint with the Captivate, and I'm unimpressed with the company as far as updates and support.
2. The HTC aluminum unibody case just says "build quality" to me. The infuse felt just like the Captivate in the hand - like flimsy, cheap plastic that should not be used for high-end phones. I know some people want light weight, but come on - few extra grams won't kill ya and it just might save your phone if you're a little rough with it.
3. The Infuse's screen was way too color over-saturated for me. It's bright and clear, but looks surreal to me. I would tire of that in hurry.
4. I could detect no speed or smoothness advantage for the Infuse. Heck, I could load up a custom rom on the Inspire, overclock it conservatively and just beat the snot out of the Infuse... which leads me to....
5. There seems to be a whole lot more developer time and interest in the HTC devices, which means loads more fun for me.
I have both phones with me right now and here are my quick observations between the two phones (Inspire running current version of LeeDroid 2.3.3):
Web browsing: Inspire – Seems to load pages faster and better scrolling.
Camera: Infuse – For some reason the pictures from my Inspire produce a redish look and are too soft, almost out of focus.
Build quality: Inspire – HTC = solid. I don’t notice much difference when carrying them in my pocket as the Infuse is lighter.
Screen: Infuse - However the Inspire is not bad. I could live with both. After looking at the Infuse I do notice a little bit of softness to the Inspire’s text.
Call quality/Handset speaker: Infuse – I have always had an issue with the call quality of HTC devices for my taste. I have to say that the Infuse has one of the best sounding speakers. I would rate it on par with the iPhone 4 or better.
GPS: Infuse – I get a lock in about 10 seconds. Inspire takes about 1 minute with current ROM/Radio.
Battery life: Infuse – But not by much (10 to 15% better).
Speedtests: Infuse – Speed tests seam consistently higher using Speedtest.net (between 4-5 download and 1.5-2 upload).
Battery charging: Inspire – for some reason the Infuse (and most Samsung phones) take forever to fully charge.
Reception: Still need a few more days with the phone but did have an issue with it the very first call. Called AT&T to make a change to my account and dropped the call five times. The lady at AT&T apologized and said that her land line has been dropping a lot of calls lately (WTF?!?!). I should have a conclusion within the next few days.
I’m not going to get into Touchwiz vs. Sense as there are several write-ups on this but based upon the above, I’m leaning towards the Infuse. Call quality is fantastic on my side as well as the other side. I travel a lot so being in airports and cars this is very important for me. The other item is camera quality. Images may be a little oversaturated by they look sharp and I’m no longer to grabbing my wife’s iPhone 4 to take pictures or videos.
Hope this helps anyone looking at both of these devices and let me know if you have any questions.
I may have to reconsider. I spent another day playing with the phones at the ATT shop. I loaded up speedtest on the Inspire, Attrix and Infuse and ran it on each phone about five times. The Infuse consistently beat the others on download and upload. It was close with the Attrix, but the Inspire got its clock cleaned every time.
The screen on the Infuse started to grow on me when I got out of the start screen and its surreal, over the top background and icon colors. When you look at web pages, movies and snapped pictures, it looks amazingly good. The blacks are so very black, even way off axis.
I also played around with the cameras and I have to say that the Infuse is outstanding. Very fast focus and snap and consistently better looking shots...well, could have been the better screen making them appear to be better.
With all the apps coming out now that utilize video chat with the front camera, I don't know if I could go another year or so without one and of course the Infuse has a nice one.
The only down side I had with the Infuse was the build quality. Now that I think about it, it was really the "feel" and the super light weight. Then it dawned on me...duh!...I'm going to put a case on it, so that can be easily corrected.
So now the only thing that I have left to quibble about is the lack of notification lights on the Infuse.....and yet, something tells me that there will be an app or fix that converts some of those other front lights to message notifications. And then of course there's the relative lack of developer input on Samsung devices.
Ok, so do you think I am talking myself into the Infuse?....maybe, just maybe.
Lmao u diss the infuse then come back and suddenly its way better? Little lost in denial
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Every Samsung phone I have seen / had my hands on felt poorly made and cheap. Felt like if I touched it the wrong way I would break it! Plus it doesn't have a dual core CPU so I am not seeing the benefit to switching to it and paying $100 more than the Inspire.
Yes indeed. This inspire has fallen off the back of the car and bounced and slid a goodways before realizing that on this narrow road here in mesquite. I picked it up after backtracking and had dust on the screen that's it. And even had it.upstairs and my nephew dropped the phone 1.5 stories and not one crack nor scratch. Btw had a platinum series casing on the whole time.
NO INSPIRES WERE HURT THRU THESE HORRID TIMES
UberEgo said:
Every Samsung phone I have seen / had my hands on felt poorly made and cheap. Felt like if I touched it the wrong way I would break it! Plus it doesn't have a dual core CPU so I am not seeing the benefit to switching to it and paying $100 more than the Inspire.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
If I wanted a Captivate, I would buy a Captivate. The Infuse is just a stupid phone in my opinion. It's not bad, I'm sure, but it doesn't make sense to buy one with the Holiday and Ma Bell's version of the Galaxy S II right around the corner.
Coredroid Inspire 4G
Hi
Just was wondering if there is a real, noticeable difference between the Infuse with its single-core and the Galaxy S-II with its Dual-core.
By "Real World", i mean for those of us who don't game on their phones
Thanks
Engadget just did a great piece on whether dual core is needed for a particular user. If you're a casual user (music browser phone text pics) then a single core phone is fine. Considering the infuse has the same shooter as the s2 and a bigger screen and gb soon, I think it's a better value but depending on the s2 pricing when it's stateside.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997R using XDA App
yes! huge different! i mean the screen!
galaxy s2 with 4.27" looks like 4 inches!
i also have sony x10 with 4" inches, huge screen different on infuse 4.5"
The Infuse isn't in the same galaxy as the SGS II.
No matter how you slice it.
I had a dual core phone and I don't see a need for it until ice cream. I'm not a gamer I use my phone for web, email, text, music and Netflix. All of which run flawlessly on my Infuse. I can't see myself going smaller than a 4.5" screen again. The only thing I miss from my G2x is the HDMI mirroring. Granted the development base for the S2 is mind boggling, its not enough to persuade me to switch.
Sent from my Infuse. It is what it isn't.
Isnt the infuse just a captivate oc'ed to 1.2 and a bigger screen?
Sent from my Apex Blue JVR Samsung Captivate.
topiratiko said:
Isnt the infuse just a captivate oc'ed to 1.2 and a bigger screen?
Sent from my Apex Blue JVR Samsung Captivate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just
screen is super amoled PLUS.
camera 8mp+flash
SIZE DOES MATTER
topiratiko said:
Isnt the infuse just a captivate oc'ed to 1.2 and a bigger screen?
Sent from my Apex Blue JVR Samsung Captivate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's an OC Captivate with a bigger screen, slightly better camera/ffc, more RAM and slightly better battery life. Can't forget pretend-4G either.
If Captivate is 1/10, and SGS II is 10/10, then Infuse is at best a 4/10.
MikeyMike01 said:
It's an OC Captivate with a bigger screen, slightly better camera/ffc, more RAM and slightly better battery life. Can't forget pretend-4G either.
If Captivate is 1/10, and SGS II is 10/10, then Infuse is at best a 4/10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which really means what if they are both running googles laggy buggy fractured os and samsungs bad drivers?
yes the gs2 is a remarkable piece of hardware but im not super thrilled about anything right now. maybe i'll get a nexus or an hd2 and put meego on it. forget new hardware and gaming/hd playback. there was nothing wrong with the old hardware, the problems are in the software.
apple with ios5 would look attractive if steve jobs wasn't the devil.
Dani897 said:
apple with ios5 would look attractive if steve jobs wasn't the devil.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He heard that and he knows where you sleep!!!
With a little development we can get it to a 6. If be plenty happy with that.
MikeyMike01 said:
It's an OC Captivate with a bigger screen, slightly better camera/ffc, more RAM and slightly better battery life. Can't forget pretend-4G either.
If Captivate is 1/10, and SGS II is 10/10, then Infuse is at best a 4/10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App
evostevo1 said:
With a little development we can get it to a 6. If be plenty happy with that.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True.
In two weeks I shed my 40 hour a week job for no more than 20 hours a week of school. Then the fun can begin. Hopefully just in time for official GB.
The S2 against any phone currently is a big difference
...but I do like my big screen.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App
Looking forward to that! I believe this phone has a reasonable amount of potential even if it is an over clocked captivate. Lol.
MikeyMike01 said:
True.
In two weeks I shed my 40 hour a week job for no more than 20 hours a week of school. Then the fun can begin. Hopefully just in time for official GB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App
Dani897 said:
apple with ios5 would look attractive if steve jobs wasn't the devil.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iOS 5 makes it hard to hate on the iPhone anymore.
If Apple would open up just a little, tiny, bit... add Flash, and some other minor things, they could wipe out Android.
One thing is certain, the Nexus Prime better be a home run, or Android/Google is in trouble.
From my experience so far (I have both currently) I really enjoy both phones, but they are completely different. The 4.27 seems like a mile when the 4.5 Infuse is held next to it and since I do photography it's hard for me to put the Infuse down. I get MUCH better service in my area (middle of nowhere) drop fewer calls, people hear me better and I hear them better than the SGSII. I need to really push that because its important to me my Infuse doesn't just get slightly better service I can't convey enough how much better it is. In an area that At&t people do not have service (my captivate had none, my sgsII has none, other phones have none) the Infuse has 1 maybe even 2 bars it may not be 3G but enough to make a pleasantly clear call.
The SGSII is fast when I open up 5 or 6 tabs on dolphin browser with flash involved, switch over to Youtube and watch a video, pull my email and check one or two, shoot someone a text then switch back over to the browser.....but I get this busy on my phone maybe once a month. I then quickly realize what I'm doing is about to require a computer OR that a computer would just make things easier any way at that point.
Quick Compare:
Infuse has no issues that stand out to me, camera, speed (faster than my modded captivate when I ran Infused 2.0) screen quality colors a little washed I think because of resolution of a larger screen but difference was really negligible, microphone quality, speaker quality (phone and external) very smooth, Touchwiz 3 is boring: Touchwiz 4 would be amazing on a larger screen like the Infuse.
SGSII - Screen at 4.27 seems a mile away from 4.5 - Through daily regular "normal" use I notice NO difference between a dual core and a bump in RAM. Simple use of browser, email, phone, text etc. I see no speed advantage. I do not feel the OS or apps have been fully optimized to take full advantage of both cores. An extra 512mb and you may notice a difference in daily use but otherwise the rest would again be negligible. My microphone suffers from the clarity issue as others, NOT one single person understands a word out of my mouth on the S2 and I have tried every single fix. Because of this I have almost thrown this phone just like my captivate I stop only because I have much more invested and I intend to get my money back. I am quite frankly upset with the overall product. Part of my reason for picking it up was the development and how much it has already got designed for it, but when I have done everything possible to fix it with no luck its a hardware issue and I am not the only one that has suffered this. I do have a pink spot on the camera, this can only be seen on a white wall in the correct light, since I don't photograph white walls in medium light....this doesn't concern me. For the slightly yellow left side of the screen...I have that to - I never noticed it until I read about it. The microphone kills me and highly annoys anyone else on the phone. Search for the other posts on this if you want, but I assure you I will never spend almost $700 on another Samsung phone again that's for certain. I will be keeping my Infuse and enjoying its massive screen with great call quality and reception. Slower or not it's basic phone functionality is still intact for a price that is less than half as much as the SGSII.
MikeyMike01 said:
It's an OC Captivate with a bigger screen, slightly better camera/ffc, more RAM and slightly better battery life. Can't forget pretend-4G either.
If Captivate is 1/10, and SGS II is 10/10, then Infuse is at best a 4/10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is SGSII has the same screen resolution as Infuse?
Nexus Prime or gtfo
Sent from my Infuse. It is what it isn't.
Infiniti350GT said:
From my experience so far (I have both currently) I really enjoy both phones, but they are completely different. The 4.27 seems like a mile when the 4.5 Infuse is held next to it and since I do photography it's hard for me to put the Infuse down. I get MUCH better service in my area (middle of nowhere) drop fewer calls, people hear me better and I hear them better than the SGSII. I need to really push that because its important to me my Infuse doesn't just get slightly better service I can't convey enough how much better it is. In an area that At&t people do not have service (my captivate had none, my sgsII has none, other phones have none) the Infuse has 1 maybe even 2 bars it may not be 3G but enough to make a pleasantly clear call.
The SGSII is fast when I open up 5 or 6 tabs on dolphin browser with flash involved, switch over to Youtube and watch a video, pull my email and check one or two, shoot someone a text then switch back over to the browser.....but I get this busy on my phone maybe once a month. I then quickly realize what I'm doing is about to require a computer OR that a computer would just make things easier any way at that point.
Quick Compare:
Infuse has no issues that stand out to me, camera, speed (faster than my modded captivate when I ran Infused 2.0) screen quality colors a little washed I think because of resolution of a larger screen but difference was really negligible, microphone quality, speaker quality (phone and external) very smooth, Touchwiz 3 is boring: Touchwiz 4 would be amazing on a larger screen like the Infuse.
SGSII - Screen at 4.27 seems a mile away from 4.5 - Through daily regular "normal" use I notice NO difference between a dual core and a bump in RAM. Simple use of browser, email, phone, text etc. I see no speed advantage. I do not feel the OS or apps have been fully optimized to take full advantage of both cores. An extra 512mb and you may notice a difference in daily use but otherwise the rest would again be negligible. My microphone suffers from the clarity issue as others, NOT one single person understands a word out of my mouth on the S2 and I have tried every single fix. Because of this I have almost thrown this phone just like my captivate I stop only because I have much more invested and I intend to get my money back. I am quite frankly upset with the overall product. Part of my reason for picking it up was the development and how much it has already got designed for it, but when I have done everything possible to fix it with no luck its a hardware issue and I am not the only one that has suffered this. I do have a pink spot on the camera, this can only be seen on a white wall in the correct light, since I don't photograph white walls in medium light....this doesn't concern me. For the slightly yellow left side of the screen...I have that to - I never noticed it until I read about it. The microphone kills me and highly annoys anyone else on the phone. Search for the other posts on this if you want, but I assure you I will never spend almost $700 on another Samsung phone again that's for certain. I will be keeping my Infuse and enjoying its massive screen with great call quality and reception. Slower or not it's basic phone functionality is still intact for a price that is less than half as much as the SGSII.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agree as sg s2 is easily available in my country(India).
The screen size & quality of infuse is killer.
Really Kudos to Gtg that he has given Gingerbread to us.
I have observed no lag with this device.
I feel no need for S2
Is SGSII has the same screen resolution as Infuse?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YES
Infiniti350GT said:
From my experience so far (I have both currently) I really enjoy both phones, but they are completely different. The 4.27 seems like a mile when the 4.5 Infuse is held next to it and since I do photography it's hard for me to put the Infuse down. I get MUCH better service in my area (middle of nowhere) drop fewer calls, people hear me better and I hear them better than the SGSII. I need to really push that because its important to me my Infuse doesn't just get slightly better service I can't convey enough how much better it is. In an area that At&t people do not have service (my captivate had none, my sgsII has none, other phones have none) the Infuse has 1 maybe even 2 bars it may not be 3G but enough to make a pleasantly clear call.
The SGSII is fast when I open up 5 or 6 tabs on dolphin browser with flash involved, switch over to Youtube and watch a video, pull my email and check one or two, shoot someone a text then switch back over to the browser.....but I get this busy on my phone maybe once a month. I then quickly realize what I'm doing is about to require a computer OR that a computer would just make things easier any way at that point.
Quick Compare:
Infuse has no issues that stand out to me, camera, speed (faster than my modded captivate when I ran Infused 2.0) screen quality colors a little washed I think because of resolution of a larger screen but difference was really negligible, microphone quality, speaker quality (phone and external) very smooth, Touchwiz 3 is boring: Touchwiz 4 would be amazing on a larger screen like the Infuse.
SGSII - Screen at 4.27 seems a mile away from 4.5 - Through daily regular "normal" use I notice NO difference between a dual core and a bump in RAM. Simple use of browser, email, phone, text etc. I see no speed advantage. I do not feel the OS or apps have been fully optimized to take full advantage of both cores. An extra 512mb and you may notice a difference in daily use but otherwise the rest would again be negligible. My microphone suffers from the clarity issue as others, NOT one single person understands a word out of my mouth on the S2 and I have tried every single fix. Because of this I have almost thrown this phone just like my captivate I stop only because I have much more invested and I intend to get my money back. I am quite frankly upset with the overall product. Part of my reason for picking it up was the development and how much it has already got designed for it, but when I have done everything possible to fix it with no luck its a hardware issue and I am not the only one that has suffered this. I do have a pink spot on the camera, this can only be seen on a white wall in the correct light, since I don't photograph white walls in medium light....this doesn't concern me. For the slightly yellow left side of the screen...I have that to - I never noticed it until I read about it. The microphone kills me and highly annoys anyone else on the phone. Search for the other posts on this if you want, but I assure you I will never spend almost $700 on another Samsung phone again that's for certain. I will be keeping my Infuse and enjoying its massive screen with great call quality and reception. Slower or not it's basic phone functionality is still intact for a price that is less than half as much as the SGSII.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After my few hours with Both the US SGS2 and the infuse side by side I can't disagree more...and that is saying much. Previously I honestly thought the differences would be minimal
web Pages and apps just simply load faster, the screen definitely looks better, more vivid and less "breakage" (i guess response is the work I am looking for there)
It seemed much more capable of multitasking in comparison to the infuse. It didn't bog down and lag like my infuse does.
Gps locked immediately..battery life was unchanged during my testing (however this could be misleading..I noticed the stock rom on the infuse drops in 15% increments)
I almost say, yeah, I will be picking one up and rotating our phones down to the kids...but I want to know more about what HTC has planned for release in the coming months...and am curious to know more about the prime that we keep hearing about....though from everything I have been told...Verizon will be getting that one first.
Keep in mind that I will never...and I mean NEVER pay more than $200 for a phone haha.. I purchase every phone we buy on contract for the contract price. So I could definitely say that I would never pay $700 for a phone.
I've got this MT4GS with a recently replaced screen giving me all sorts of problems, Tmo doesn't have any more of them in-stock for an actual replacement. So lately I've been lurking around the ApexQ forums here, considering whether I take Tmo up on their offer to replace the MT4GS with a Relay. Is this it? Is this the end of the line for higher end sliders?
I get so annoyed when I walk into a Tmo shop and they give me the stink eye over my physical keyboard.
"You should really try Swype"
"Keyboards are going away"
"No one really uses those"
"Just try the S4 out, you'll love it"
Try to swype out a thousand words, then do it with a physical keyboard. I'm a bit of a writer, it might be a tine platform for me to write from, but it works great. Sliders are niche preference, will the entire market really give that up? I'm waiting for Google IO before I make any decisions (because it's coming up pretty soon) but haven't heard any rumors of a high end slider coming down the line. Am I the only one holding my breath here?
Also, I've seen a couple of you post on these forums that have had the MT4GS, I think I would miss the 8MP camera the most. Any thoughts on switching over?
I don't have the relay but I follow it and have played with one. It feels similar in many ways to the MT4Gslide (I have this) but you can really feel the improvements in speed as well as a five row keyboard is just awesome. Being its part of the galaxy s line there should be a fair amount of updates, speculation of course as Samsung hasnt been the best at supporting hardware keyboard phones.
You will miss the camera, not that this one is horrible its just that the MT4Gslide has one of the best ever made. I'm not a huge sense fan but it is better than touchwiz (in my opinion) but more of a resource hog. It is possible to port it over to Sammy phones and has been done before, but I doubt anyone would bother on this phone.
Overall if its a free upgrade I would take it, being I refuse to buy phones from carriers this one would cost me full price and I haven't decided if that's worth it yet.
Good luck on your decision!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
i got both. here are the differences with the relay:
- relay's screen is super amoled pentile... colors are great, resolution sucks big time, pixels can be seen and the red ones are very tiny and the matrix will be very noticeable in some cases
- relay's camera is 5 mp vs 8 of the doubleshot. it is just inferior in both quality and resolution, not much else to say.
- relay keyboard is nicer imho but lacks replicated alt, shift, home, back, menu keys
- battery lasts much longer than the famous 1900mah anker for doubleshot
- the cpu is so much faster, ~2.5x from my findings, also, it heats a lot less
- it is noticeably ligher but more plasticy and flimsy
- stock ics and jb. more development going on
all in all, it is a sidegrade... you lose on some aspects and gain in some others... anyway the high end qwerty era is over since the desire-z/droid 2 period...
I've owned just about every GSM QWERTY device made for android over the past 2 years. I can safely say the Relay is one of the better phones that I've owned for a while.
The G2 was the best phone I've ever had.
The camera is not amazing. It will do in a pinch, but I would take a better keyboard over a better camera any day. The 4G Slide keyboard was horrid. One of the worst I've ever used. I use the keyboard much more than the camera, so my decision was simple. It's based on your preferences, really.
But just remember you don't have many options.
I've been using my relay for about 4 months now and overall I like it a lot.
Some good thoughts first:
The keys are very very good. I find they're slightly less conducive to touch typing than my Sidekick 4G was, but still one of the best small keyboards I've ever used. I can't imagine using a purely touchscreen phone, Swype or not. There's just no competition.
The phone is very quick. I've never once thought to myself "Man, I wish this would happen faster." The OS isn't quite 100% seamless, but it's close enough that I can't find anything to complain about. And things like videos, emulated games, etc are all full speed. The only times I've ever had to wait for something was when I was accessing files, and that's due to my bargain basement SD card.
The battery life has been great. I have no problem getting through my day without carrying a charger with me. Now, I'm not as active a user as some (I don't use facebook, for instance,) but I'm often looking things up on my phone while working, and even using the flashlight, and I always have between a half and a third of my battery when I get home.
The screen and the camera both fall under the category of "It's a phone for chrissakes, what are you expecting??" for me.
The screen is bright, vibrant, sharp. It looks great indoors and passable outside. There's enough room for what it needs to do. If you complain that you can't watch a 1080p movie on your phone, the problem is with your head and not your device. I guess if you offered me a higher resolution I'd take it, but I really don't feel like it needs more. And I wouldn't want the screen to be any bigger. If I wanted a massive screen in my pocket I'd buy an iPad. And then kill myself.
The camera is a dog, but so is every other phone camera in the world. Yes, this one is worse than many. But if you care about what your pictures look like, a $40 digital camera bought used off craigslist will take pictures which are 10 times better than the best cell phone camera on the market. And it's easier to carry a separate phone and camera than it is to have a separate phone and keyboard. So why everybody focuses on the sub-par camera is beyond me.
There's only one thing about the phone which I actually feel is bad, and that's the shape. Coming from a Sidekick 4G, the ergonomics of the phone are a big step down. The Sidekick was a fantastic phone to hold in the hands, both closed an open. The Relay is about as nice to hold as a brick. There's a small lip all around the phone that presses awkwardly against your ear, and it's got a certain awkwardness when open as well. No surprise there, the Galaxy S line has always looked like a knockoff of the iPhone 3G. Why would they start making something comfortable now? </curmudgeon.>
So, yeah. I like it and there's nothing else on the market which comes close to being as good as it. I'd buy one again. I'd suggest it to other people. But I'd also hope that this isn't the last QWERTY Android phone for my network, as there's still room for improvements.
i've came down the g1 (htc dream), g2 (htc desire z), relay lane.
i have my relay now for like 4 weeks. and there's really nothing i can seriously complain about. the cpu and gpu are fast and still come with some reserve. the memory is plenty. the qwerty is a big step up from the dz with the additional row. and battery life is just sweet the dz had the better display when you were outside. the relay's go the far better once you get out of the sunlight.
usually, when i got a new phone, i also got a better cam. but seriously: 5mp is enough for every day use. and as some already stated: it's a cell phone. if you want to have high-end-images, you don't get around buying a dedicated camera. and seriously.. it's the same with the screen resolution. 800x480 is enough for text, websites and pictures to be displayed properly and sharp on the small display. what's the use of a 4" full hd display? besides showing off? again... it's a cell phone. if you want high resolution, get a tablet.
*if* somebody asks me for a cell with a hardware keyboard there really - from my pov - is no reason not to recommend the relay.
and i think it's really a pitty it's not available here in europe and quite hard (and expensive) to get.
i really hope there will be new qwertys that will be available here as well. (the most recent here on sale is the dz).
admittedly the hardware keyboard phones are a niche, but those who want them will be willing to spend a lil more to get them.
Sent from my SGH-T699 using xda app-developers app
I have also used many qwerty phones over the years and have been using the relay for about 5 months now. Previously I have used lg shine xenon, lg shine plus (last lg phone I will ever buy) Sony xperia pro, samsung captivate glide and now the relay. The xperia pro keyboard was the best I have ever used. Too bad it had such low on board memory and only a single core processor.
I hear you on the death of qwerties I can now type quite well with SwiftKey but still love a qwerty for messaging, emails etc. I get the same look from sales staff when I have asked about qwerty sliders.
The relay is the fastest qwerty I have used, bit more than the glides 2x core tegra 2, I also found the keys on the glide to be too flat and there were only 4 rows. Good tactile feedback on the relay, keys are spaced out well and travel is easy. However as mentioned the build quality is not the best and mine has a noticeable wobble when typing. Updates seem good so far although will probably not get past 4.2. I actually went out and bought a q10 last week, loved the new OS but the keyboard was simply too small for me, and for the build quality and screen size the q10 is waaaay over priced, so decided to return it.
On a side note I did a little bit of cosmetic altering the my galaxy s3 stock 2100mah batteries and got them to fit in the relay.. As I live in canada the relay isn't even sold here, and I place battery life pretty much at the top of my list. Need that spare battery and a charger. Anyways good luck with your relay if you get it.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium
I'm sure samsung will release a follow up to the Relay, as they seem to be the only manufacturer big enough to support this niche market.
Just give them some more time. They definitely need som enew phones and fresh designs to break up all the slab phones that are coming all the time.
Well, I got the Relay. And with it I end a 8 year HTC only stint which started with the Blue Angel. Fun times...
I just got it today so not much of a chance to play with it. At the moment doing the update. Afterwards will see what else I can do. I find it a bit useless at the moment to try any other ROMs. A bit too early...
I've had 3 previous Android sliders before getting this one - the original G1, Motorola Milestone (which I gave to my husband because it was too big and heavy for me) and the HTC Desire Z. Aside from the Desire Z's incredibly stupid flipping hinge mechanism which I'm convinced was responsible for the display cable dying, it is my favourite of the four (it developed this problem where the screen would die every time I opened the keyboard - I actually disassembled it to see if I could fix it but couldn't)
This phone's not bad and I don't mind it feeling "plasticky" since it's light, while the hinge mechanism seems a lot more solid than HTC's ridiculous designs for the G1 and Desire Z, but the keyboard is LOUD. You have to press the keys really hard and I'm convinced people can hear me typing, which is really not what you want for a mobile device. If you're tweeting under the table during a boring company meeting, you better be good at pretending you're taking minutes!
I also have this weird problem, specific to the Facebook Android app, where it will jump to the top of the page randomly while I'm in the middle of typing a comment. I thought I was pressing something by accident but I've tried typing really carefully and that seem to not be the issue.
I do really miss having a trackball or optical joystick from the HTC devices. It's fine to have arrow keys on the physical kb, but when you have the phone closed sometimes you still want to be able to navigate around and click.
Really happy to have found this thread, has anybody looked at or tried the Motorola Droid 4 ??
It boasts 8MP camera and high definition display, looks like battery lasts a while.. says its splash proof and also has the 4 row keyboard.
I enjoy my glide, but they keyboard with the press on them hasn't ever given me much of an ability to type without looking at the keys..
On my blackberry after a while I was able to roll my fingers across without hardly looking at the keyboard, on computer i type 100wpm so pretty important for me to have a fast typing keyboard. even software app keyboards can't keep up and screw swipe.. without feeling where to rocker my fingers to form words im doomed to choose from autocorrect.