Played with Thrill and the GS2 running android VM's at Vmworld tonight... - LG Optimus 3D

Overall I was more than Thrilled with the Thrill 4g, the 3d was fabulous, the menus were very fluid and the overall build was quite impressive and VM (coming soon to android show phones) was great switching between two different android 2.2 phone VM's. The GS2 was great as well - thin, very fluid, outstanding screen, and very smooth running multiple phone VM's as well, and they had four instances of 2.2 running on it along with the base 2.3.4. Tough decision the Thrill is great but with that 500mb of Ram I can see this becoming an issue if VM phone edition takes off, but by themselves and only considering the present its a very capable hands phone! Just need to decide if I can live with the Thrill for a year...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

In case you no one else knows what I'm talking about with the VM here's an article on it:
http://m.engadget.com/default/artic...ization-hands-on/&category=classic&postPage=1
Supposedly it was a project between LG and VMWare but I guess it blossomed off, great to have VM on a phone though!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Easy decision to make actually.
Since you've narrowed down the problem to the amount of ram.
Most of us don't mind the size of ram because its sufficient enough for current use.
Personally, I don't forsee myself requiring more ram with the way I use my phone.
However, since the question is about you, do you forsee yourself requiring more ram? Just think about how you plan to use your phone and if you would require 1gb of ram instead of half of that. I believe the answer is between preference and requirement. If you require 1gb of ram most of the time, then there shouldn't be any doubt. But if you only prefer 1gb then go see how important that preference is to you.
I had to decide between the Optimus 3D and Galaxy S2 before and I chose the 3D. It was a simple decision after I found out that I actually spent a lot of time worrying about the difference in ram that I never considered whether or not I'll really need it.
Hope this helps.

This sounds like it would be awesome. You are right though, its that one thing that would rewuire a ton of ram.
Sent from my LG-P920 using XDA Premium App

Right, It's the RAM that's the kicker for me which is quite a pity for such a nice phone, everything else is great about this phone but with the 512mb its not really future proof past ICS and that's if LG ever officially puts ICS out for it, Sure it'll get gingerbread but beyond that I don't see ATT or LG really pushing to get it out it for a phone that's going to retail for $99 or less leaning more on the less side with stores such as Costco already pimping it out for $30 with free accessories. At the moment 512mb of RAM seems plenty but in another six months especially if this phone gets ICS I can see it being a bottleneck when trying to run multiple apps and on top of that using multiple VM's running multiple apps in each VM which I could see people using quite a bit once it takes off. Fast dual channel RAM or not, 512mb is 512mb and once you hit that limit it will become the Achilles heel of a great phone. At this stage of the game this phone came out too late in the US to be a big contender and most technical people don't want a quick "Thrill" they want something that's gonna be able to keep up for a good year or so with official updates and then be able to flash some ROM's on it and with so many new phones coming out in the next two months I don't see the support staying strong for this one.

Related

[Q] Is 768mb RAM ok or worrysome??

Hello. Im considering picking up a Sensation 4G, but the only thing im worried about is the amount of RAM available compared to its closest competitors. The SGS2, Atrix and EVO 3D which is its almost twin brother and it has 1gb RAM as opposed to the S4G. Is this enough to easily handle day to day use?? Because from what i read, it gets around 158mb free on a fresh boot as oposed to its compatitors which may get 300+ to handle the load
The QHD and Sense 3.0 are plenty reasons IMO to have at least 1gb RAM to handle it and im a bit bummed to hear that the mytouch 4g has the same amount and nowhere as near as much workload to handle.
I may be exaggerating when i say this, but i just got a HTC Mogul flashback lol
Am i crazy for being a bit concerned as if i have nothing to worry about, or does anyone feel the same way??
Sorry to ramble so much
Cheers
i've had the sensation for 5 days now, and from all indications, it runs extremely fast and flawless. but the whole 768MB ram is a serious letdown for me. i'm still contemplating whether i should keep it or return it. i love the device, and i think in all honesty the ram shouldnt be an issue at all. however, i have seen where if you open the browser, then some other apps, then go back to the browser, it reloads the page, meaning it shut the browser down to reclaim memory. thus the reloading takes a lil time to fetch it again from the network. a lilttle annoying.
On a fresh boot with all of my apps installed it shows over 275mg of memory available. I think it's fine.
jrwingate6 said:
On a fresh boot with all of my apps installed it shows over 275mg of memory available. I think it's fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
really?? hmmm i asked Aaron from phonedog . com and he told me about 160. i might feel a lot better if 275 seems to be closer to the actual number since i bet once the bootloader is unlocked, it will be much better. ill check it out tomorrow and see. Any clue on why people say that the evo 3d is noticibly faster??? my first guess would be the ram unless im missing something
ps: are you using Sense launcher or 3rd party?? thanx
mike21pr said:
really?? hmmm i asked Aaron from phonedog . com and he told me about 160. i might feel a lot better if 275 seems to be closer to the actual number since i bet once the bootloader is unlocked, it will be much better. ill check it out tomorrow and see. Any clue on why people say that the evo 3d is noticibly faster??? my first guess would be the ram unless im missing something
ps: are you using Sense launcher or 3rd party?? thanx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Sense. If a picture will make you feel better I can take one. I have all of the animations turned off along with the animated weather and it runs very smooth. I also don't fill up 7 pages worth of widgets so that could be another contributing factor.
For everyday tasks I'm not worried at all. However I noticed that Dungeon Defenders uses about 122mb of ram and it caused the entire phone to crash because all the ram got depleted. How are you gonna tell me that a freaking smartphone game needs that much ram?
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
My sensation displays different values for available RAM in different places. Right now, the quick settings menu is displaying only 118mb free which sounds bad. However, the running applications tab in the settings menu displays 310 MB RAM available (even with xda app running in the background while I type this post). There is probably some caching of the file system going on which is released to running applications on demand (similarly to how Windows Vista and 7 fill all available memory with file system caching).
I'm really not too concerned with the 768 MB of RAM on sensation, I think it is adequate to future-proof the phone for a couple of years.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App
I have come from the Desire HD and the improvement is worth the switch, however i am concearned the the availible RAM shown in the task manager is only 558mb not 768mb.
Is anybody else showing this?
Unless im missing something.................. Nobody else seems to be talking about this differance in RAM.
Having said that i am VERY happy with its performance......
I don't know what the Task Manager shows, i have a feeling it's not correct.
On my Sensation i always have over 300MB free (in Settings menu).
I also had DHD before, i did compare them and i didn't see much difference in memory usage with same apps installed on both phones.
About not all 768mb shown in memory, this is because some of it is reserved for GPU, this is normal.
jrwingate6 said:
I have all of the animations turned off along with the animated weather and it runs very smooth. I also don't fill up 7 pages worth of widgets so that could be another contributing factor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shouldn't be needed with a powerhouse like this.
Point is that stuff isn't optimized, which is partly android's fault too.
But if the evo can have 1g, why not the sensation...
Give root + sense with lockscreen and clock only.
MartijnMM said:
Shouldn't be needed with a powerhouse like this.
Point is that stuff isn't optimized, which is partly android's fault too.
But if the evo can have 1g, why not the sensation...
Give root + sense with lockscreen and clock only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not androids, HTCs fault. Mind you as someone already said, android is not optimized for 2x core, hopefully 2.4 update will be. (hopefully we will get it)
MartijnMM said:
Shouldn't be needed with a powerhouse like this.
Point is that stuff isn't optimized, which is partly android's fault too.
But if the evo can have 1g, why not the sensation...
Give root + sense with lockscreen and clock only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I heard as well. It has a graphics chip swell so but not sure if that's being used. I read that Its taking out reserve memory so it's not using all 350mb but that's what I've read.
Once we get a build that has sense stripped we will be fine.
I don't believe RAM will affect performance much if at all.. the only concern is the phone shutting down essential background applications.
There's already a thread about people reporting Sense itself restarting quite often.
If HTC at least gave us similar RAM of competition people wont blame them for this dumb spec choice.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
It is ok i think.....
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App
On a fresh boot you will get lots of ram but soon as things start kicking in you will end up with around 150 mark free which is a slight worry and soon as you run program or install things that soon goes down, I have had mine under 100 so far.
I was watching a review of the Evo 3D and forgetting the 3d side of it the phone is pretty much a Sensation but I notice they have upped that too 1gb of ram and that phone is smooth as butter, sense is super smooth unlike the Sensation so I have been thinking did the make a mistake with the amount of ram on this and put it right on the Evo.
I have until next friday to decide if I want to keep this and I think the lack of ram could be the deal breaker for me as I have a GS2 also and I tend to use Launcher pro on that, the GS2 makes this thing look laggy and slow but i do like the Sensation.
HTC need to optimize Sense 3.0........ it's a hog.
it's been showing around 130-150 mb consistently with everything killed.
but so far pretty smooth even with multiple apps open.
I do wish they had put in 1gb... who knows what hoggish apps are coming out in the future.
but considering LG 2x and Xperia Play both only have 512mb and they are more or less made for gaming, I guess 768 is ok, though both of them don't have hog Sense 3.0 running.
It certainly does suck it up Sense, on the GS2 I am using 398 of 837mb available with lots of background things running and when I free the memory I am using 244 of 837, like sense some of the ram is taken up with the gpu I guess.
If they had put that extra in to make 1gb total and around 837 I guess like the GS2 would be available we would be fine on the ram front.
Jabbypants said:
On a fresh boot you will get lots of ram but soon as things start kicking in you will end up with around 150 mark free which is a slight worry and soon as you run program or install things that soon goes down, I have had mine under 100 so far.
I was watching a review of the Evo 3D and forgetting the 3d side of it the phone is pretty much a Sensation but I notice they have upped that too 1gb of ram and that phone is smooth as butter, sense is super smooth unlike the Sensation so I have been thinking did the make a mistake with the amount of ram on this and put it right on the Evo.
I have until next friday to decide if I want to keep this and I think the lack of ram could be the deal breaker for me as I have a GS2 also and I tend to use Launcher pro on that, the GS2 makes this thing look laggy and slow but i do like the Sensation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can thank all of that pre-installed bloatware. I can't wait until we get root so I can delete it all.
I'm just hoping 768 MB will be enough to run Ice Cream Sandwich when it's released.

[Q] Thinking of buying HTC desire S

guys i'm to get my new phone probably htc desire s.
But i have a few question from you guys that:
1.Is 768 MB of RAM is enough for you?
2. is there any lag when playing games or by apps?
3. is it future proof?
alpha47 said:
guys i'm to get my new phone probably htc desire s.
But i have a few question from you guys that:
1.Is 768 MB of RAM is enough for you?
2. is there any lag when playing games or by apps?
3. is it future proof?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@1. yes think so. the new sensation xe got the same amount of ram
@2. did not notice any bad lag yet but havent try anything out there and ive just used the branded stock rom
@3. compared to the sensation xe: it just got a singlecore cpu with 1ghz compared to a dualcore with 1,5ghz and a adreno 205 as gpu vs a adreno 220 at the sensation xe. since im no geek i cant tell whether its future proof or not, but the desire s is not that old, prolly up to one year now. imo youre quite good with it atleast i am
hope this helps
Its an adreno 205 and this phone is not futureproof. I wouldn't consider any phone to be futureproof. But I think 768mb ram is enough and games are pretty smooth
Sent from my HTC Desire S using xda premium
alpha47 said:
guys i'm to get my new phone probably htc desire s.
But i have a few question from you guys that:
1.Is 768 MB of RAM is enough for you?
2. is there any lag when playing games or by apps?
3. is it future proof?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Yes, I always have about 100MB free with about 150 installed apps and a lot of widgets.
2. Only the really heavy 3D ones (like some games from gameloft); 2D games should be fine. (Look for reviews of the Adreno 205 GPU). Apps generally never lag on this phone.
3. A little. 1GHz is fast, but most new phones have dual core and higher clock rates. Also, I'm not sure if there will be an official Android 4.0 release from HTC, but if you are willing to install custom ROM's that shouldn't be a problem.
BeSeanB said:
@3. compared to the sensation xe: it just got a singlecore cpu with 1ghz compared to a dualcore with 1,5ghz and a adreno 200 as gpu vs a adreno 220 at the sensation xe. since im no geek i cant tell whether its future proof or not, but the desire s is not that old, prolly up to one year now. imo youre quite good with it atleast i am
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Our Desire S has an Adreno 205 and not the slower 200. However, the 205 still isn't all that fast.
xIntenso said:
1. Yes, I always have about 100MB free with about 150 installed apps and a lot of widgets.
2. Only the really heavy 3D ones (like some games from gameloft); 2D games should be fine. (Look for reviews of the Adreno 205 GPU). Apps generally never lag on this phone.
3. A little. 1GHz is fast, but most new phones have dual core and higher clock rates. Also, I'm not sure if there will be an official Android 4.0 release from HTC, but if you are willing to install custom ROM's that shouldn't be a problem.
Our Desire S has an Adreno 205 and not the slower 200. However, the 205 still isn't all that fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh yeh my fault. the side where i checked it got it wrong
-1: its enough! depending on the rom the launcher works fast and smooth.
-2: i noticed a few lags when playing hd games! but only at the first minutes or when you are downloading other apps in the background.
-3: if we speak of smartphones or electronical devices in general, one can never speak of future proofness. i installed ics from virtous. as a future android version it runs smooth, too.
pls excuse my bad english : )
i hope you get what i wanted to say.
1. It has proved to be plenty of RAM for me. A sign it was not enough would be the Sense launcher re-loading occasionally after exiting a memory-intensive app. Even on a stock ROM this didn’t happen.
2. Have not experienced any lag on the games I play. OK they are not generally the 3D type, and I have not tried GTA3, but Speedx3D runs smooth and that is quite a fast 3D game. Google Navigation, youtube, Netflix, 720p video recording and playback, all run smoothly.
3. No phone is future proof. You’d need to be able to upgrade hardware like a PC for that. Hell these days even PC’s are out-of-date before the cooling fan has had chance to get dusty. What is important is that even after nearly a year of this phone’s availability, development for the DS on XDA is actually speeding up! Not slowing down at all! Seems to be a new ROM each week to try out. There should already be enough for you to play with for your time with this phone. It’s getting some serious love from the ICS devs too, something I’m sure HTC had no intention of officially giving us.
I know several people with dual-core phones, and aside from showing off in benchmark tests, I have yet to meet someone who actually really benefits from having that extra core or can show me something useful that it provides. The only benefit I can think of is improved battery life (the SGS II battery life is excellent), but that is more down to improved chip architecture (plus a bigger battery) not extra processing power.
Personally I also don’t like the 4.7 inch screens as I only have small girl-like hands which includes a 2.5 inch thumb! The DS screen size is perfect for me. The SGS II is painful and frequently see people in my office needing two hands to operate it! Also the build quality on the DS (in my opinion) makes the SGS II look like it came out of a Kinder Surprise.
I have been contemplating what to upgrade to in the summer, and even though MWC has yet to announce all the contenders, even the available ones don’t appeal. They all tout a screen too large to be comfortable, and processing power I simply don’t need. I think I’ll be sticking with my DS until someone puts a phone out there that focuses on battery life improvements and decent camera optics instead of getting blinkered by cramming more and more processing power in. It’s the best phone I’ve ever had and this is the best section on XDA that I have experienced.
Hope I’ve helped.
wnp_79 said:
Personally I also don’t like the 4.7 inch screens as I only have small girl-like hands which includes a 2.5 inch thumb! The DS screen size is perfect for me. The SGS II is painful and frequently see people in my office needing two hands to operate it! Also the build quality on the DS (in my opinion) makes the SGS II look like it came out of a Kinder Surprise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i thing the screen size is the only thing to conciser. in fact is a matter of taste.
otherwise there is no speed or smoothness problem at all. i personally have been using this phone for almost a year now with no complains at all.
plus with the virtuous quattro running so smooth at that stage i cant imagine how good it will be.
You've come to the bakery to ask if buns are nice my friend.
Nickamina said:
You've come to the bakery to ask if buns are nice my friend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL! that was a good one! i felt just like that when i read through this thread!
wnp_79 made good points, too! i think that was the most useful post here.
wnp_79 said:
1. It has proved to be plenty of RAM for me. A sign it was not enough would be the Sense launcher re-loading occasionally after exiting a memory-intensive app. Even on a stock ROM this didn’t happen.
2. Have not experienced any lag on the games I play. OK they are not generally the 3D type, and I have not tried GTA3, but Speedx3D runs smooth and that is quite a fast 3D game. Google Navigation, youtube, Netflix, 720p video recording and playback, all run smoothly.
3. No phone is future proof. You’d need to be able to upgrade hardware like a PC for that. Hell these days even PC’s are out-of-date before the cooling fan has had chance to get dusty. What is important is that even after nearly a year of this phone’s availability, development for the DS on XDA is actually speeding up! Not slowing down at all! Seems to be a new ROM each week to try out. There should already be enough for you to play with for your time with this phone. It’s getting some serious love from the ICS devs too, something I’m sure HTC had no intention of officially giving us.
I know several people with dual-core phones, and aside from showing off in benchmark tests, I have yet to meet someone who actually really benefits from having that extra core or can show me something useful that it provides. The only benefit I can think of is improved battery life (the SGS II battery life is excellent), but that is more down to improved chip architecture (plus a bigger battery) not extra processing power.
Personally I also don’t like the 4.7 inch screens as I only have small girl-like hands which includes a 2.5 inch thumb! The DS screen size is perfect for me. The SGS II is painful and frequently see people in my office needing two hands to operate it! Also the build quality on the DS (in my opinion) makes the SGS II look like it came out of a Kinder Surprise.
I have been contemplating what to upgrade to in the summer, and even though MWC has yet to announce all the contenders, even the available ones don’t appeal. They all tout a screen too large to be comfortable, and processing power I simply don’t need. I think I’ll be sticking with my DS until someone puts a phone out there that focuses on battery life improvements and decent camera optics instead of getting blinkered by cramming more and more processing power in. It’s the best phone I’ve ever had and this is the best section on XDA that I have experienced.
Hope I’ve helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love you for this post man!! (all platonic, of course )
This was an amazing insight into our device, and phones in general...what did me in was your closing sentence...
" It’s the best phone I’ve ever had and this is the best section on XDA that I have experienced. " - I have to say you echo my thoughts verbatim! Was looking for an upgrade too, and had almost decided to jump in for the Galaxy Note (I know it's not exactly a phone - that was kinda the point, but i digress...) but i just can't come to terms with having to give up this phone.
And do you know what the primary cause for that is? It's this community and all of you guys. I wouldn't be able to give it all up and move away...I know some of you so well, it's almost like family...or old school friends (they know who they are). Hell, i miss zeekiz since he's moved off to the Galaxy Nexus !
I love this phone and i love this community, and no Quad core is going to make me sell this phone. I will always keep this device...if only to stay on these pages.....
Thank you enigmaamit! Yes I'll also feel sad when the day comes to move to another device. I may even break with my tradition of selling my old phone on eBay, and keep the DS so I can still test for people, and pop back to say hi every now and then. That'll be months away though.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using xda premium
Group hug guys...
But seriously, I really hope that HTC haven't forgot about Desire line. Same form factor, dual core (make it quad) anyone?
Oh yeah... I am keeping mine as well. Everyone needs a trusty backup phone.
bronx said:
Group hug guys...
But seriously, I really hope that HTC haven't forgot about Desire line. Same form factor, dual core (make it quad) anyone?
Oh yeah... I am keeping mine as well. Everyone needs a trusty backup phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same form factor and with half an inch bigger display squeezed in, what about that?
Naaah... My thumb is too short for additional 1/2 inch.
I read something earlier about a forthcoming phone that's called (at the moment) the HTC primo, dual core, 3.7" screen but only 512mb ram,ics sense 4.0. It was on the stufftv website I think. Is this the replacement for the desire s?
Sent from my HTC Desire S
I have a hunch that it is rather wildfire s successor... I bloody hope so...
Hello Happy Helpful People
I'm currently still using the original HTC Desire and I think it's time for me to retire it. It still works great but have been running low on memory for last 6 months and it's got the to point where I use all my apps and don't want to delete anymore.
Been researching around and considered the Sensation and Galaxy s2 but having had a play on both today they're too big for my tiny hands. So the research continues and I think I may have found my next phone in the form of the DS! I do have a question though - is there actually 1.1gb of space for apps or is less than that after taking into account the memory needed for UI/processor? Sorry I don't know that much about the techy side of things so excuse my lack of knowledge in my quest of finding my next phone I've also been making notes of new apps I can download!
I know this phone is now almost a year old and not that much of a leap from the Desire but that's also part of its charm. Plus the pricing is about right.
Thanks for your help
who_me said:
Hello Happy Helpful People
I'm currently still using the original HTC Desire and I think it's time for me to retire it. It still works great but have been running low on memory for last 6 months and it's got the to point where I use all my apps and don't want to delete anymore.
Been researching around and considered the Sensation and Galaxy s2 but having had a play on both today they're too big for my tiny hands. So the research continues and I think I may have found my next phone in the form of the DS! I do have a question though - is there actually 1.1gb of space for apps or is less than that after taking into account the memory needed for UI/processor? Sorry I don't know that much about the techy side of things so excuse my lack of knowledge in my quest of finding my next phone I've also been making notes of new apps I can download!
I know this phone is now almost a year old and not that much of a leap from the Desire but that's also part of its charm. Plus the pricing is about right.
Thanks for your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i think we get the full 1.1 gb ,not sure though
the extra 256mb helps
the adreno 205 is a huge improvement from the adreno 200(especially after the new drivers in ICS)
but having said that there will be better dualcore phones at a similar price point soon
Well if you can wait until the end of month, you might wanna see what HTC has in store this year.
There's the rumoured HTC Primo (3.7" WVGA) which i think is somewhat the Desire S successor with less RAM.
And then there's the HTC Ville (4.3" qHD) & Edge (4.7" HD).
But if you're getting it now, you can get it at a much cheaper price than we got when it came out last year.

This phone is still being sold?

Anyone have any idea why they are still producing this phone? It just seems strange they would still be making new ones when most early adopts are already up for an upgrade.. and the hardware itself is getting old(while still running ICS thanks to our great community, it raises the question how much farther will the phone be able to be updated..)
a cheaper alternative maybe? or its just that good..
That's exactly what manufacturers wants to hear from consumers. Why buy phones that have lasting dollar values and gets frequent software updates when you can buy a new expensive one every year that doesn't have great built quality and with zero to almost no software update?
Android can use a bit cleaning up on the performance side, even the Galaxy Note stock rom have hiccups because of the bloatness, with quadcore phones they'll have more excuss to bloat and put animations in. Windows Phone 7 seems to do fine with single core. It's not like my Galaxy S is struggling with any of the new games at 800x480 resolution.
Well we already know Samsung said "Nope, ain't gonna happen" for ICS on the Captivate even in spite of builds being made available by the talented folk here at XDA and at other places online. The excuse that "the hardware isn't capable of running ICS adequately" is always a crock because I'm running Doc's Master v8 right now, ICS 4.0.3 based, and I get higher benchmarks with this ROM than the stock KK4 AT&T Gingerbread 2.3.5 ROM with:
- Quadrant
- Antutu
- Vellamo (with Vellamo I actually get slightly higher scores than a Galaxy Nexus, unbelievable)
and several others I've tried recently. So much for being "inadequate" or an underpowered device...
So, Samsung, stop whining and making excuses and just give us some ICS source so people can make a pure ROM I suppose.
Doc's v9 is nice since it's currently a beta and completely unthemed, but a lot of stuff won't install properly on it from Play (although I can install them from the APKs if I remember to manually save them in between ROM swaps).
It's a great phone, it has a beautiful design overall (one of my all time favorites, with the HD2 still being the king of all smartphones to me), USB and headphone connections on the top - I hate it when they're on the sides or bottom, and the main draw being the Super AMOLED display.
People still buy 'em, so Samsung keeps making 'em and AT&T keeps selling 'em.
Works for me.
Snow_fox said:
Anyone have any idea why they are still producing this phone? It just seems strange they would still be making new ones when most early adopts are already up for an upgrade.. and the hardware itself is getting old(while still running ICS thanks to our great community, it raises the question how much farther will the phone be able to be updated..)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The R&D and tooling have long been paid for and there are still people buying. It's practically free money for them. The longer they're made, the cheaper they can get. The cheaper they can get, the more they're sold.
I sought this phone out actively because I liked my Epic and knew how to root & fix it easily. I didn't want a contract and for $250 brand new vs $600 for a Note it was a no-brainer.
Snow_fox said:
Anyone have any idea why they are still producing this phone? It just seems strange they would still be making new ones when most early adopts are already up for an upgrade..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simple, it sells. And with it running 2.3.5, it's very much up to date OS wise. It's not ICS, but at this point what is?
The early adopters are a rather small crowd of people that seems large to us because they are the tech obsesses folks that make xda what it is. They count for next to nothing compared to the "average user."
This phone is exactly what Samsung aimed for it to be, a Flagship. It was way a head of the curve when it first came out, and is still a great phone. It's been muddied by the early releases but, the fact that Samsung still won out (and is the top selling android manufacturer) means it really was an excellent device (and family of devices).
It's time is almost up though, because ICS really is beyond its abilities.
br0adband said:
The excuse that "the hardware isn't capable of running ICS adequately" is always a crock because I'm running Doc's Master v8 right now, ICS 4.0.3 based
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But it can't. We don't even have half the features, almost everything new to ICS has been stripped out because we don't have the hardware for it. Sure, the core OS can be made to run on our phone, but even at that we can't run it properly. The things your comparing against are to that of 2.2, ICS is not some dinky internal tweaks. It's a whole new OS, it's 4.0 not 2.4. Now I'll admit that most of the new parts to ICS are little more then shiny buttons that don't serve us much good. But it's rather easy to dismiss things you've never been able to do before. Once you get your hands on a phone actually built for ICS, that is then made future-proof like the ours was, you'll look back at the cappy and laugh at it.
DaNaRkI said:
Once you get your hands on a phone actually built for ICS, that is then made future-proof like the ours was, you'll look back at the cappy and laugh at it.
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Click to collapse
Had a Galaxy Nexus - the flagship Android 4.0 device - and couldn't stand it so I returned it and decided to wait on something better. Then the Galaxy Note came out and I can't wait to see what ICS can really do on that device, but since I can't actually afford one I guess that won't matter anyway.
Found this Captivate on craigslist for $60 and it's been fantastic since the moment I bought it. I swear the SGS feels more responsive and stable running a "hack" ROM of the same OS than the Nexus did/does. Yes it could just be some placebo effect, I suppose. A benchmark using Vellamo puts this SGS running an ICS ROM (at 1.2 GHz) outpacing the Nexus, go figure - a single core device running an unofficial hack of an OS besting the dual core flagship device for that very OS... ain't it cool?
There may be some aspects of ICS that the SGS can't do (NFC, etc) but they just so happen to be features I don't give a damn about, either so... it all works out in the end.
phone is sold
as long as ppl buy it.
u can get iPhone3gs u know - @ great price.
br0adband said:
Had a Galaxy Nexus - the flagship Android 4.0 device - and couldn't stand it so I returned it and decided to wait on something better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Galaxy Nexus is not a flagship, just like the Nexus S was not. It's a debut phone and like the other Nexus phones, a developers phone. It's mean to showcase the abilities of ICS, not push the limits of a phone. Our phone came out before the Nexus S, yet that phone has a lot of the exact same internals. Why? ours was made future-proofed, nothing better was needed for GB. The Galaxy Nexus was also not top of the line at it's release, just compare it to an SGS2. Future proof would have meant that LTE was designed into the phone at start, not added later.
But you do bring up a very good point that I already admitted to, most of the new abilities are rather unnecessary for a phone. But I don't doubt that once a good ICS phone comes out we'll find ways to work them into our daily life. Just like we have for all the unnecessary things that the Cappy can do now.
The Captivate is a pretty solid phone still. I still have mine kicking around that I use now for playing music since my Galaxy Nexus doesnt have external memory (and apps are getting bigger and bigger in size so I need all the space I can get) so this phone does quite well for that.
I think I would still be using this phone if it had a bigger screen (I got big hands) and if Samsung was continuing to update this.
i use my spare captivate as a skype phone (between rom tests).
and where is the phone still being sold?

New G2x user, have some questions before getting the phone

I'm going to buy a g2x from eBay, as far as development is concerned.. how is it ? What's the progress for cm9/ics/aokp? I've got a LG Optimus T and well its an older device with Armv6 so we need openmax drivers... is this phone slated for official ICS release or is LG being stupid even for high end models? What can I expect with this phone and would anyone recommend this phone.. what are the pros and cons, battery and performance, Overclocking options, undervolting options
Sent from my LG-P500 using xda premium
Jrhodes85 said:
I'm going to buy a g2x from eBay, as far as development is concerned.. how is it ? What's the progress for cm9/ics/aokp? I've got a LG Optimus T and well its an older device with Armv6 so we need openmax drivers... is this phone slated for official ICS release or is LG being stupid even for high end models? What can I expect with this phone and would anyone recommend this phone.. what are the pros and cons, battery and performance, Overclocking options, undervolting options
Sent from my LG-P500 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
Most is stable with CM9/ICS/AOKP, we still need drivers though so that we can get a handle on full hardware acceleration and probably just little things that would help out.
The G2x most likely won't get an ICS update, but the O2x(overseas brother) is slated for Q3 this year. We'll pick apart the update for them and adjust it to work for us.
Since for some reason a good deal of our phones are different, you'll have to find the ROM that works for you. I have a good time with ROMs from the Eaglesblood team, but I've tried a few like Weapon and my phone just doesn't agree. Could be the kernel, undervolting, Over clocking or... well, who knows. Like I said, you have to experiment. Most phones can OC to about 1.5(a lot of kernels are 1.4 these days, I think) I'm not too sure on the thresholds of UV.
Pros? It's a beast. It can handle tasks quickly. Dual Core really helped android out. It's 4G so if you're with a service that provides it and in an area with it... you'll be zoomin'! We've got a selection of ROMs too. 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 4.0... You'll have to search a bit, but I'm sure you'd find something that fits you. The IPS screen is really nice too. You can get a pretty wide viewing angle and the colors are great.
Cons? 4G is kind of a battery killer, if you use something like Juice Defender, or just switch your data off whenever you really don't need it, you should be fine. Some ROMs have the option built in. I can usually get through the day just fine if I'm doing some web browsing, or texting, or a few YouTube vids. With ICS its a little bit harder. The phone's working a bit more to provide, lol. Our RAM is only 512mb so... While it works just fine, 1 gig would have been a bit better. Programs wouldn't have to get killed as much and I think it would ease up on the slowdown.
I hope this helps and that my information is on-point. It's a good phone and with the right after-market "love", it's a fantastic device, in my opinion.
How much are you getting your G2x for?
Yeah that's a LG problem..we need openmax drivers for optimus t phones but doubt will get em... its an Armv6 device
Sent from my LG-P500 using xda premium

Worth it for ~$250?

I was originally thinking about getting an international Galaxy Tablet, but as much as I'd like a tablet as a phone...I know it's not the ideal solution for multiple reasons (lack of warranty, primarily).
Anyway, a friend can get me one brand-new for $250, and it'd be a decent upgrade from my HTC G2. I know development for it isn't the best, and ICS probably won't arrive at least for another month (and it'll suck going back to Gingerbread after having used ICS for a bit on my G2), but I don't want my G2 to completely crap out and have to buy a new phone on a whim like that (and it'd be nice to have the G2 available as a backup).
Not interested in the Galaxy II (I get that it has better features, but it just looks/feels so cheap to me), and the Galaxy III is a nice phone, but I won't use half the features/power and it'd be an extra $100 or so. Nothing else on T-Mobile really appeals to me.
That being said, other than the previously-mentioned lack of development, are there any issues with the Blaze that I should know about? Or any major reason (other than development) that I should go with the GS3 instead?
If you've only ever used a AOSP style CM capable device (like me) you may regret going to something that only runs TouchWiz. Sure, you can change the launcher, uninstall swype and install the better version, and root it to uninstall a bunch of apps you don't want/need... but there are other things you can't change.
The lock screen, phone call screen(s) and some other things are remarkably slow and unresponsive, and is this ridiculous attempt to bring ICS looks and features to a poor gingerbread implementation. I don't understand how a company can make a phone with dual 1.5Ghz cores perform some things so slowly when my 1Ghz MT4G was responsive as hell. The phone feels "nicer" in the hand than some other samsungs I've held but that's about all it has going for it. Oh, and it supports T-Mobile's WiFi calling.
And yeah, the development is going REALLY slow and will likely remain so, even with the generous help of the guys that are making moves on this phone now.
If I had the choice again, I wouldn't. I will never again purchase a phone that isn't already supported by some AOSP style ROM. I thought root was enough and I'd get by with it, but I was wrong.
But that's just me.
dr4stic said:
If you've only ever used a AOSP style CM capable device (like me) you may regret going to something that only runs TouchWiz. Sure, you can change the launcher, uninstall swype and install the better version, and root it to uninstall a bunch of apps you don't want/need... but there are other things you can't change.
The lock screen, phone call screen(s) and some other things are remarkably slow and unresponsive, and is this ridiculous attempt to bring ICS looks and features to a poor gingerbread implementation. I don't understand how a company can make a phone with dual 1.5Ghz cores perform some things so slowly when my 1Ghz MT4G was responsive as hell. The phone feels "nicer" in the hand than some other samsungs I've held but that's about all it has going for it. Oh, and it supports T-Mobile's WiFi calling.
And yeah, the development is going REALLY slow and will likely remain so, even with the generous help of the guys that are making moves on this phone now.
If I had the choice again, I wouldn't. I will never again purchase a phone that isn't already supported by some AOSP style ROM. I thought root was enough and I'd get by with it, but I was wrong.
But that's just me.
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Click to collapse
Well then, wasn't exactly expecting to hear that on this of all boards - it's definitely good to hear, though, as I didn't realize how serious reviews were about the device being bloated like that.
My only other choice I'd be remotely interested in would be the HTC Amaze, and not that I don't like HTC, but I've read the battery life isn't the best, and there's issues like backlight bleeding and whatnot. I guess I'll just wait to get the GS3 and hope there aren't any major issues.
Yeah, sorry
For the price, if the community were more active, I'd say it's a great deal. But if it isn't active now, the sad truth is that it won't get more active down the road. And I wouldn't wait for the likes of me to actually succeed in getting CM9 running on this thing...
As a comparison, the HTC One S has been around half as long and has like 10x the interest and activity. Just walk around their XDA Android Dev subforums and you'll see what I mean. Mind you, the 1S has the same CPU, memory, and other misc. features. The storage and battery are fixed, but that's the only downside. It's got a slimmer package and more accessories available. The blaze is dead in comparison.
TouchWiz just irritates me, but I make do with the phone, and maybe I'm being picky. Ask if you can test drive the thing... insert your sim and make/answer some calls... do some basic things and just know that's pretty much how the device will always be. If you could live with that, then so be it.
For a T-Mobile compatible phone, I'd just get a new Galaxy Nexus, or a 1S. The Galaxy Nexus will be the first to run Jelly Bean, and you'll also have support for a fairly long time from the likes of the CM team and AOKP, et al. It has some great features too. Just food for though
dr4stic said:
Yeah, sorry
For the price, if the community were more active, I'd say it's a great deal. But if it isn't active now, the sad truth is that it won't get more active down the road. And I wouldn't wait for the likes of me to actually succeed in getting CM9 running on this thing...
As a comparison, the HTC One S has been around half as long and has like 10x the interest and activity. Just walk around their XDA Android Dev subforums and you'll see what I mean. Mind you, the 1S has the same CPU, memory, and other misc. features. The storage and battery are fixed, but that's the only downside. It's got a slimmer package and more accessories available. The blaze is dead in comparison.
TouchWiz just irritates me, but I make do with the phone, and maybe I'm being picky. Ask if you can test drive the thing... insert your sim and make/answer some calls... do some basic things and just know that's pretty much how the device will always be. If you could live with that, then so be it.
For a T-Mobile compatible phone, I'd just get a new Galaxy Nexus, or a 1S. The Galaxy Nexus will be the first to run Jelly Bean, and you'll also have support for a fairly long time from the likes of the CM team and AOKP, et al. It has some great features too. Just food for though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I'll try and look into the Blaze in person more before I totally dismiss it, then. After hearing numerous issues with the 1S (between random reboots, screens failing, really hot temperatures, data/service issues, and even stuff as weird as the capacitive buttons being completely unresponsive - all reasons people have returned it, according to a friend at T-Mobile), I'm staying away from it, at least for the moment; I like everything else about the phone, however, and don't care about lack of expandable storage or removable battery. Not a fan of the lack official accessories (and accessory choice in general), however, compared to most Samsung phones.
And nothing against the Nexus but...it just doesn't appeal to me. I can understand any of the numerous reasons to go for one, but it just doesn't stand out to me in any way; I'd much sooner get the Galaxy S 3 for the better specs and camera alone.
magus57 said:
I guess I'll try and look into the Blaze in person more before I totally dismiss it, then. After hearing numerous issues with the 1S (between random reboots, screens failing, really hot temperatures, data/service issues, and even stuff as weird as the capacitive buttons being completely unresponsive - all reasons people have returned it, according to a friend at T-Mobile), I'm staying away from it, at least for the moment; I like everything else about the phone, however, and don't care about lack of expandable storage or removable battery. Not a fan of the lack official accessories (and accessory choice in general), however, compared to most Samsung phones.
And nothing against the Nexus but...it just doesn't appeal to me. I can understand any of the numerous reasons to go for one, but it just doesn't stand out to me in any way; I'd much sooner get the Galaxy S 3 for the better specs and camera alone.
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Click to collapse
I believe the Nexus also has various issues. I honestly don't understand where are all the pessimism is coming from. We are getting the official ICS update, so CM9 is likely to get to us. We are also funding a developer to help him buy a Blaze and improve his ROM. I'll admit the development is slow, but that's to be expected for a carrier specific device that got no advertising. Descent due development will come in time I think.
Sent from my SGH-T769 using xda premium
dr4stic said:
If you've only ever used a AOSP style CM capable device (like me) you may regret going to something that only runs TouchWiz. Sure, you can change the launcher, uninstall swype and install the better version, and root it to uninstall a bunch of apps you don't want/need... but there are other things you can't change.
The lock screen, phone call screen(s) and some other things are remarkably slow and unresponsive, and is this ridiculous attempt to bring ICS looks and features to a poor gingerbread implementation. I don't understand how a company can make a phone with dual 1.5Ghz cores perform some things so slowly when my 1Ghz MT4G was responsive as hell. The phone feels "nicer" in the hand than some other samsungs I've held but that's about all it has going for it. Oh, and it supports T-Mobile's WiFi calling.
And yeah, the development is going REALLY slow and will likely remain so, even with the generous help of the guys that are making moves on this phone now.
If I had the choice again, I wouldn't. I will never again purchase a phone that isn't already supported by some AOSP style ROM. I thought root was enough and I'd get by with it, but I was wrong.
But that's just me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's funny, but that's exactly how I feel about my Blaze. I thought rooting it to get rid of all the bloat would be enough, but I want more, and there just isn't more out there, despite the efforts of our lovable and hard working dev's. And you're right - the call screen sometimes just isn't responsive at all and I wind up being unable to answer calls, especially if it's coming from an app I'm already running, such as a game. So from now on I'm coming to XDA and doing developmental research before getting a phone. Right now I'm leaning towards a Galaxy S2 (even though the S3 is a faster phone and all - it just does not feel right IMO).
While the lack of development is discouraging to "early" adopters, I really love the form factor (can't stand the 4.3" screens or bigger) and the build quality is surprisingly nice.
Having used CM before on another device, it is weird not having it on here. The lack of customizability is a bit frustrating. But I'm patient. I really think the price point, performance potential, and friendly size will make this a winner once ICS and the appropriate sources/information are released.
So I got a chance to play with one a little bit (basically brand-new, just factory reset)...I'm not seeing the sluggishness/delay you guys are talking about, particularly with the phone calls (receiving or placing). Maybe I'm just used to the delay/sluggishness on my G2 that I don't notice it, but I'd imagine removing all that bloat (and removing stuff like built-in ringtones) would help a decent amount...
magus57 said:
So I got a chance to play with one a little bit (basically brand-new, just factory reset)...I'm not seeing the sluggishness/delay you guys are talking about, particularly with the phone calls (receiving or placing). Maybe I'm just used to the delay/sluggishness on my G2 that I don't notice it, but I'd imagine removing all that bloat (and removing stuff like built-in ringtones) would help a decent amount...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I have none of the sluggishness issues either. Stock may be bloated but its pretty damn snappy. I've used a MT4G with CM7 and my Blaze is much more responsive overall, it even handles flash without breaking a sweat.
I'm really happy with this phone despite not having much rom support. Coming from a defy there are two things that I don't miss: battery pulls and random reboots. Never happens on this device. For me that makes it worth giving up AOSP...at least for now.
Sent from my SGH-T769 using Tapatalk 2
Just out of curiosity - I've heard that internally there are many similarities between a Blaze and a Galaxy S2. Has anyone ever tried throwing an S2 ROM on their Blaze and, if so, what were the results? Just curious.
Sent from my SGH-T769 using xda premium
sparkie6point0 said:
Just out of curiosity - I've heard that internally there are many similarities between a Blaze and a Galaxy S2. Has anyone ever tried throwing an S2 ROM on their Blaze and, if so, what were the results? Just curious.
Sent from my SGH-T769 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
they are similars but don't recommend something like that iif you don't know what might happen. Because flashing wrong kernel/rom can brick peoples phone.
sent from my batcave
sparkie6point0 said:
Just out of curiosity - I've heard that internally there are many similarities between a Blaze and a Galaxy S2. Has anyone ever tried throwing an S2 ROM on their Blaze and, if so, what were the results? Just curious.
Sent from my SGH-T769 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The B4G is specifically very much like the T-Mobile GS2 (The T989). They are both based on the msm8660_surf board, with the same CPU, GPU and many of the same sensors. There are differences, specifically with the panel (display) and a few of the sensors. The differences are enough that it doesn't quite work on our device. Yeah, I've tried ;-)
What I've been doing is specifically trying to port a number of the things for our device into the ICS kernel available for the T989. My goal is to come up with a bootable ICS kernel for our device. I think that's gonna be the biggest stepping stone to a working CM9 or AOKP build for our phone.
The B4G has nothing other than specs in common with the other SGS2 phones on the market, save for maybe the AT&T SkyRocket. They all use different CPU's and GPU's on a different platform all built by Samsung... and thus different sensors.
I've had a lot of phones starting with the Nexus One (actually the Eris but I try to forget). So far the only issue I see is the ability to "crack flash". IMO sooner or later you'll have a phone that just won't have every developer swooning over it. if for no other reason than there are so many phone out there. (remember the threads when the Nexus came out?)
I bought this phone because it met all of my needs and had good specs. I had the G2x and the Sensation (sold on gave another to my son) but ths phone is better. The extra Ram is noticeable difference IMO and the size of the phone is right for me.
We could have all opted for the Galaxy SII and I'm sure everybody looked at the threads and saw what was going on so........participate........and relax a little.........the phone works very well.

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