Guys can somebody help me out? I've flashed the very latest 3.32 firmware package from this thread (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1412618) and I've tried out both DarkForest and the very latest Elegancia ROMs. On each, the browser is absolutely awful, Xda for example takes forever to fully load before you are able to double tap to zoom and then scale the page up. And then when you do, the text goes unfocused for a second and then finally scales up appropriately. Also panning around the page tends to get a bit 'sticky'.
This is driving me nuts, the browser in Gingerbread was MUCH more fluid and text scaling was instantaneous. I've tried searching but no one seems to be reporting this issue. Please don't tell me that this is by design? It's really awful, I mainly use my phone for web browsing and ICS has ruined for me a previously enjoyable experience.
Does anyone have this same issue as me?
use google chrome
Browser is super smooth and is loading web pages fast. Perhaps you have high standards.
The only issue I have is, that if I click on a link within a different app, say gmail, it won't take me to the link, but rather the last page I had opened.
ccs16rocks said:
Browser is super smooth and is loading web pages fast. Perhaps you have high standards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You didn't answer my question; are you seeing the weird unfocused and then scale up issue when you double tap?
Well, for me in Gingerbread, that NEVER happened, it was much much faster. And I shouldn't have to use Google Chrome, the point is HTC have broken something.
Hgaara said:
The only issue I have is, that if I click on a link within a different app, say gmail, it won't take me to the link, but rather the last page I had opened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, it's a bug with the stock Browser.
Also, can people say exactly which firmware version they are using? Maybe there is a problem with the latest one? I want to try every possible permutation to help get rid of this issue.
Also I found this thread; http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1550841
Seems like I'm not the only one to have seen this issue.
I have absolutely no issues with the ICS stock browser. Since I've tried it, it's the only one I use. I don't like HTC's take on it though.
sshede said:
I have absolutely no issues with the ICS stock browser. Since I've tried it, it's the only one I use. I don't like HTC's take on it though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you saying that when you double tap to zoom, the text DOES NOT got fuzzy for you for a split second, before properly scaling up and into focus?
If it absolutely doesn't then I'd be very interested to know which firmware and rom you are using.
On Gingerbread you see, this fuzziness 'middle step' never occurred, it when straight into scale.
use a different browser, stock everything is lame I use a different launcher GO SMS for messaging and chrome for web
ICS Browser+
Try ICS Browser+ in the Play Store. I prefer using it over the stock one only because of the added functionality and features. Expanded Quick Controls and Gestures are awesome!
dLeTe said:
Try ICS Browser+ in the Play Store. I prefer using it over the stock one only because of the added functionality and features. Expanded Quick Controls and Gestures are awesome!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But does that fix the fuzziness on double tap zoom? I don't care about extra features really, I care about the rendering and the speed.
I haven't had any of the probs you mentioned. I've been using the ARHD 6.5.1 ROM for ICS. However, are you using the stock HTC Browser or the AOSP one? Its easy to confuse the two. The HTC Browser is 'stock' for an HTC phone but its NOT the real ICS browser that Google makes. Once I figured out how to get the AOSP one in my ROM over the HTC one, I've switched to that every time I loaded a new ROM. I feel that its better than the HTC one and I think its hardware accelerated too, but I could be wrong. There's another thread somewhere on how to switch the browser.apk files that I've posted in before. Maybe that could resolve your issue? Also it could be possible that those ROMs removed something or did a tweak that could be causing your prob too.
vgpclife said:
I haven't had any of the probs you mentioned. I've been using the ARHD 6.5.1 ROM for ICS. However, are you using the stock HTC Browser or the AOSP one? Its easy to confuse the two. The HTC Browser is 'stock' for an HTC phone but its NOT the real ICS browser that Google makes. Once I figured out how to get the AOSP one in my ROM over the HTC one, I've switched to that every time I loaded a new ROM. I feel that its better than the HTC one and I think its hardware accelerated too, but I could be wrong. There's another thread somewhere on how to switch the browser.apk files that I've posted in before. Maybe that could resolve your issue? Also it could be possible that those ROMs removed something or did a tweak that could be causing your prob too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I've just flashed LeeDroid, and it does exactly the same thing, so that's 3 roms now all with the same issue. I tried ICS Browser+ just now which I believe is pretty much the stock ICS AOSP browser, and it was the same deal. I also earlier found a flashable zip file which installs the AOSP Browser and I gave that a try, I still got the split second fuzziness on double tap or pinch to zoom.
I'm wondering if I might have had a bad firmware flash and it's broken something; I've tried re-flashing the latest ICS firmware but nothing improved. I think I'd like to go back to Gingerbread and start again, but I have no idea where the Gingerbread firmware can be found.
One other thing, do you use the 'fomat to fit screen / text reflow' option? I've noticed that turning it off speeds things up a bit, although there is still a slight moment of fuzziness during the zoom after double tap.
I've also got ICS installed on my HTC Desire and it does not have that issue, but it mentions in the changelog that a fix was applied. This leads me to thinking that it is a problem with the ICS version of WebKit. But, you say you don't have any issues, which is baffling. Which version of the ICS Firmware are you using?
What you're seeing is normal for ICS. The reason it does that is because it is rendering the page into an array of images - this is called a backing store. It is much easier to scale and transform an image than it is to redraw the page for every frame of a scroll or zoom animation. This makes for better frame rates during scrolling and zooming, at the cost of that momentary pixelation when you zoom in. A lot of people whined about the non-smooth scrolling in older versions so I guess they decided to go this route with ICS (which, by the way, is what Apple does in iOS, and if you've ever used an iWhatever you'll see the same thing when zooming in).
More information here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5310/samsung-galaxy-nexus-ice-cream-sandwich-review/5
And here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4686/samsung-galaxy-s-2-international-review-the-best-redefined/4
This is not unique to Sense ROMs either, I'm on a de-Sensed ROM at the moment and even then the browser does the same thing. In any case, personally I find the scrolling much smoother than before, and I think it's a worthwhile tradeoff.
I don't know if it works on Sense 3.6 ROMs, but try typing "about:debug" in the address bar, hit enter, then go to Settings>Debug and then uncheck "Enable OpenGL Rendering". Then you get no pixelation on zooming in, but the scrolling will be slower.
jedininja666 said:
Are you saying that when you double tap to zoom, the text DOES NOT got fuzzy for you for a split second, before properly scaling up and into focus?
If it absolutely doesn't then I'd be very interested to know which firmware and rom you are using.
On Gingerbread you see, this fuzziness 'middle step' never occurred, it when straight into scale.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do see what you're talking about, but the pixelation is only for like 2 milliseoconds, so who cares.
Nick L said:
What you're seeing is normal for ICS. The reason it does that is because it is rendering the page into an array of images - this is called a backing store. It is much easier to scale and transform an image than it is to redraw the page for every frame of a scroll or zoom animation. This makes for better frame rates during scrolling and zooming, at the cost of that momentary pixelation when you zoom in. A lot of people whined about the non-smooth scrolling in older versions so I guess they decided to go this route with ICS (which, by the way, is what Apple does in iOS, and if you've ever used an iWhatever you'll see the same thing when zooming in).
More information here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5310/samsung-galaxy-nexus-ice-cream-sandwich-review/5
And here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4686/samsung-galaxy-s-2-international-review-the-best-redefined/4
This is not unique to Sense ROMs either, I'm on a de-Sensed ROM at the moment and even then the browser does the same thing. In any case, personally I find the scrolling much smoother than before, and I think it's a worthwhile tradeoff.
I don't know if it works on Sense 3.6 ROMs, but try typing "about:debug" in the address bar, hit enter, then go to Settings>Debug and then uncheck "Enable OpenGL Rendering". Then you get no pixelation on zooming in, but the scrolling will be slower.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you SO MUCH! This is exactly what I was looking for, I searched around but had you not said this, I would never have known.
I can live with the slightly jerkier scrolling, in fact I don't really notice it. What I did notice was the slow zooming and rendering, but thanks to you that's now fixed. Cheers!
this is why i don't use custom ROMS. to many bugs/issues and no matter how much someone that makes a roms and tests it, they will never have a perfect product. Let me ask a few questions that may get your attention. One big issue for me is that how do you know that the folks that make these things aren't embedding malicious software in there? How many people pay bills or access their bank accounts with their phones and how do you know that the ROM isn't sending your data back to it's creator?
No worth the risk for me.
jhowle9475 said:
this is why i don't use custom ROMS. to many bugs/issues and no matter how much someone that makes a roms and tests it, they will never have a perfect product. Let me ask a few questions that may get your attention. One big issue for me is that how do you know that the folks that make these things aren't embedding malicious software in there? How many people pay bills or access their bank accounts with their phones and how do you know that the ROM isn't sending your data back to it's creator?
No worth the risk for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The risk is just about nothing, and you think carriers or manufacturers make a perfect product?
Related
Just to start off the problem I am having is prevalent in all 2.1 stock sense hero roms. There is so much keyboard lag in the sense messaging app that it is pretty much useless. You really can't type the way you want too. Considering I use my phone pretty much for text messaging and music, this has destroyed my opinion of the phone. Sprint was so excited about this phone and gave up on it within 7 months. Considering all contracts last for 2 years (if you want the good upgrade prices), don't you think it would be the ethical thing to do to keep a phone updated for at least that duration. This is a $500 dollar phone that can't text message correctly.
Alright after my ranting now down to the problem. I feel like the #/160 character counter right above the send button is the issue causing the terrible keyboard lag. I rarely do texts over 160 characters so I really don't need this. I remember back in the day of my touch diamond, there was an .xml mod you could do to eliminate the character counter which sped up the texting perfectly. I have no idea how to go through all the .xml's and .pngs of the apks but I figured someone in here could help. Basically I want the character counter to be removed to see if this is the problem. I do have only prediction on, no vibrate or sound, and it still lags out of control. It happens on every sense rom I've tried (and trust me I've tried them all). This does not happen in any of the AOSP based roms such as Cyanogen and Aospmod with the stock android Mms.apk, where there is no character counter. I tried pushing that to my phone an I like it but it just doesn't match up with the rest of the sense, plus it doesn't have the message counter option on the icon which i really like. I pretty much came to this conclusion when i used both of Zen's ports, Aria and MT3G, and I had absolutely no lag when texting. Both roms have different framework i understand which doesn't allow me to push either of the MMs.apk's from either of these roms to my hero stock 2.1. I am using IcedHoneyBun with Zens' any rom Kernel right now but it happened in NfinitiFX's rom too. ONCE AGAIN I NEVER USE VIBRATE OR SOUND so please don't mention that as a fix.
I am posting the Mms.apk below. If somebody can help me I would be glad to donate.
you might want to post this on android central, Beezy420 build icedhoneybun, and he might be able to fix it for you. Although i blieve hes mostly developing for EVO now, he is still around. Post in his honeybun thread.
The Mac said:
you might want to post this on android central, Beezy420 build icedhoneybun, and he might be able to fix it for you. Although i blieve hes mostly developing for EVO now, he is still around. Post in his honeybun thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know beezy built it but it has nothing to do with the rom. It has everything to do with the stock sense Mms.apk. More hero users use xda than any other site thats why i posted it here.
I *highly* doubt that a simple character counter is causing the delay. First of all, that only makes sense if the keyboard is *completely* lag-free in all other "known-good" apps.
Handcent's text messaging app also has a character count... have you tried that app?
Can you type without any lag in a basic notepad application? Make sure you have all of the same auto-correction and spelling options enabled.
HTC MMS is laggy as hell!!! This isn't "the fix" but it should help somewhat. Turn off ur notifications and auto-retrieve in stock MMS then go into your stock app manager under settings~~>manage apps and force stop Messaging. Now download either Handcent or Chomp from the market cuz they r pretty much the same. Then remove the stock messaging shortcut from your desktop if u have one just so it's outta your way. A good portion of the lag should be gone. Clocking ur cpu higher if u use a clockable kernel will help reduce keyboard lag too.
x99percent said:
I *highly* doubt that a simple character counter is causing the delay. First of all, that only makes sense if the keyboard is *completely* lag-free in all other "known-good" apps.
Handcent's text messaging app also has a character count... have you tried that app?
Can you type without any lag in a basic notepad application? Make sure you have all of the same auto-correction and spelling options enabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean my keyboard is lag free in any other application except ones that require per letter searching such as google search. I just feel like getting rid of the character counter would help a great deal just because you are absorbing a but of memory after ever letter you type. I really don't know what is the cause. I don't like chomp or handcent i've tried them both. Not as much lag but there is still some lag. I just wanted to see if this was the problem and then go from there.
I would love for someone to pull the counter out of the HTC mms app. I will also gladly donate.
...still willing to donate...
Not possible. I'm using a GSM port of the Legend 2.1 build, and there is no 160 count at all, and it runs no better/worse than the older one. (The only reason it loads faster is because I'm using Zen's Any Kernel)
anything is possible and we wont know until it happens
tailsthecat3 said:
anything is possible and we wont know until it happens
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except, this doesn't make much sense. MMaybe I haven't used a CDMA ROM in a while, but I distinctly remember the HTC Messaging app always being a bit sluggish.
You should try swype its great and quick as hell! =]
Has nothing to do with what you are saying. My brother has a Droid Eris with the same messaging app and its flawless. Maybe ours will get fixed in the update rolling out
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App
Anyway to fix these by ediiting the prop build and anyway to adjust the red level in the screen.
These are killing me and driving me nuts!
browser lag is most likely Flash 10.1, install the latest flash or do what I did. Change flash to On-Demand in plugin settings for browser.
and I'm sure there is screen changing things you can do, but I don't do them so can't help ya.
It's not browser lag with flash its in scrolling text btw I have flash 10.2
ianandamy said:
Anyway to fix these by ediiting the prop build and anyway to adjust the red level in the screen.
These are killing me and driving me nuts!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed the red tint today also when my friend was comparing my G2x to his Nexus S...
The page moves quicker if you just move your thumb top to bottom then if you try to fling the page that's what I'm talking about(
Just did browser tests on my galaxy s running team whiskey versus g2x and I am convinced that this browser is not using both cores of the processor
ianandamy said:
Just did browser tests on my galaxy s running team whiskey versus g2x and I am convinced that this browser is not using both cores of the processor
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
obviously since dual-core is not supported on the OS level, it's like having a dual-core processor on windows 95 machine
WHY are you using default browser??
Use xscope or miren browser! They work much better.
I'm not experiencing either of these issues. No red tint, and the stock browser is smooth as silk.
xguntherc said:
browser lag is most likely Flash 10.1, install the latest flash or do what I did. Change flash to On-Demand in plugin settings for browser.
and I'm sure there is screen changing things you can do, but I don't do them so can't help ya.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No.
I was just coming here to post about the browser lag. Noticeable lag, BTW.
I went into the T-Mobile store earlier today, factory reset the display G2X (I always do that now, since people like to say "phone prolly was runnign 20 apps from all the other people that played with it") and put Flash to On-Demand. Go to WMPowerUser.com (there are MANY others where this happens), open a blog post and scroll. It's choppy as ****. The Vibrant has the exact same issues (slightly worse). It happens on tons of sites, and I don't think Flash has anything to do with it.
I don't know what the issue is, but I'm about to start looking at the HTML coming to the browser (user agent spoofing on a desktop) to see if it is choking on on some specific elements.
I also noticed the data speeds were simply terrible, slower than my Vibrant (had both my Vibrant and HD7 on me).
Google needs to realize that the overall user experience matters more than how many milliseconds advantage your browser engine has over the competition...
JasjarMan said:
WHY are you using default browser??
Use xscope or miren browser! They work much better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because there are applications/features that tie into the stock browser and using a third party browser just breaks the overall cohesiveness of the user experience.
I've never heard of XScope and didn't think Miren still existed, though, so thanks for that info.
Opera Mobile 11 is better than both of them, and supports Flash...
BOTH browsers are great. MIREN has an option to adjust brightness within the browser which I like to use at night. Xscope has a great developer and has nice features as well. Try both than pick one and un-install the other. Than when an app requires stock browser you will be prompt to select which browser you want to use as default, choose miren or xscope and its that easy!
N8ter said:
Because there are applications/features that tie into the stock browser and using a third party browser just breaks the overall cohesiveness of the user experience.
I've never heard of XScope and didn't think Miren still existed, though, so thanks for that info.
Opera Mobile 11 is better than both of them, and supports Flash...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like the stock browser my vibrant with bionix 1.3.1 does not do this at all really thinking of takin her back and waiting it out for the Galaxy 2 s
JasjarMan said:
BOTH browsers are great. MIREN has an option to adjust brightness within the browser which I like to use at night. Xscope has a great developer and has nice features as well. Try both than pick one and un-install the other. Than when an app requires stock browser you will be prompt to select which browser you want to use as default, choose miren or xscope and its that easy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Samsung stock browser has independent browser controls, and does stuff like chrome to phone work with those third party browsers?
I already use opera as a secondary. The others are useless to me.
The constant pops to choose an app front every app with links is county. I like to avoid that situation.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
N8ter said:
No.
I was just coming here to post about the browser lag. Noticeable lag, BTW.
I went into the T-Mobile store earlier today, factory reset the display G2X (I always do that now, since people like to say "phone prolly was runnign 20 apps from all the other people that played with it") and put Flash to On-Demand. Go to WMPowerUser.com (there are MANY others where this happens), open a blog post and scroll. It's choppy as ****. The Vibrant has the exact same issues (slightly worse). It happens on tons of sites, and I don't think Flash has anything to do with it.
I don't know what the issue is, but I'm about to start looking at the HTML coming to the browser (user agent spoofing on a desktop) to see if it is choking on on some specific elements.
I also noticed the data speeds were simply terrible, slower than my Vibrant (had both my Vibrant and HD7 on me).
Google needs to realize that the overall user experience matters more than how many milliseconds advantage your browser engine has over the competition...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can change your user-agent setup in the LG hidden menu. Try that and see if it works better.
Look at a logcat when you are browsing around. Absolutely not surprised that it is lagging.
DebauchedSloth said:
Look at a logcat when you are browsing around. Absolutely not surprised that it is lagging.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why what did you see
also what will the hidden menu thing do are you saying that tmobile is throttling the g2x?
omarsalmin said:
I noticed the red tint today also when my friend was comparing my G2x to his Nexus S...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought it had a lot of red tint at first, too. Actually your friend's NS is the problem. The colors on the G2x are accurate.
I also have significant lag in the browse as well. Really annoying to say the least.
N8ter said:
Go to WMPowerUser.com (there are MANY others where this happens), open a blog post and scroll. It's choppy as ****. The Vibrant has the exact same issues (slightly worse). It happens on tons of sites, and I don't think Flash has anything to do with it.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WMPowerUser is completely smooth for me. Actual blog posts included. I wont presume to know whats causing you guys issues, but I haven't ran into choppy scrolling on a single site yet. Maybe its your connection...
dont mean to be crude but it really sucks compared to old stock gingerbread sense browser. what can i do to get a smooth browser experience with no flickers and slow rendering after pinch and zoom? i tried maxthon but even that is a bit slow in rendering after pinch and zoom. i flashed the downgrade fix but that still sucks. in gingerbread everything was smooth. any help? thanks
walkinhotdog said:
dont mean to be crude but it really sucks compared to old stock gingerbread sense browser. what can i do to get a smooth browser experience with no flickers and slow rendering after pinch and zoom? i tried maxthon but even that is a bit slow in rendering after pinch and zoom. i flashed the downgrade fix but that still sucks. in gingerbread everything was smooth. any help? thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
G'day champ,
I understand what you're saying, I also had these problems. I don't tend to like Maxthon, Firefox is also still in what feels like an early beta stage.
I've moved towards Dolphin Browser HD, and I haven't had any problems with it at all. I'd provide more info, but I'm in a rush.
But let me know how it goes for you, as I'd love to hear your feedback on it.
Are we not liking Chrome, either?
yeah agree , before it was good but now i use chrome beta!
I got ics but I don't have any problems with my browser .
There's nothing wrong with the ics browser on my phone, and I think it's better because it has more functions.
ICS browser works fine for me on my nosense VI rom.
i tried chrome too. not really my cup of tea. im ok with dolphin though. you guys probably forgot what the gingerbread stock browser was like. I jus moved from gingerbread to ice cream sandwich and the difference is huge. i mean this new browser is ok, but i just wish it were more responsive and smooth with the rendering and pinch and zoom
I'm sure it'll be better after official release guys... And chrome is decent but I'm holding untill its released from beta
Sent from my insertcoined Sensation 4G with Beats Audio
I hate that link don't open up to the page I want, when I'm in a third party app.
Finally I am not crazy!!!
Hgaara said:
I hate that link don't open up to the page I want, when I'm in a third party app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes thank you I have been having this problem too. I have only noticed it in Yahoo! Mail though. I have uninstalled it yahoo mail though. I have a full release version of ICS too. You would think they would check that with such popular programs as Yahoo Mail.
Thanks for the info. I've flashed a few ics roms & every1 of them has an unpleasant browsing experience compared to stock GB, especially on the desktop of utube. Does dolphin HD scroll & pinch to zoom smoothly on the desktop utube? I'd like to know b4 I reflash again for the 20th time. Thanx in advance
enserio said:
Are we not liking Chrome, either?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Chrome Beta, and has so many bugs. I use Opera 11.62 for my computer's browser, but Opera on mobile doesn't like HTML 5. So, I still use Chrome even though it kind of sucks.
Yes it does.
Though this may work better in devices with hardware buttons such as the Sensation (I wonder if it does):
There's no standard menu button and you have to hunt for it in each application, as in all of ICS
The menu "...." icon, in Google's finest new style, is unintuitive and most often hidden
Can't search the page or perform a menu action withotu abandoning my current scroll position
But I've had even worse issues:
I can't find where can I change my User-Agent so that I don't get the crappy "mobile" sites from everybody; I haven't paid 500 € on a large screen phone to get crippled versions
I can't find where can I add custom search engines
Screen estate is often wasted with yet another obnoxious toolbar made of obnoxious Google style icons (i.e. ugly, monochrome, abstract and unintuitive)
And that's just from 5 minutes of use. Back to Opera Mobile — I suggest you do the same; it's faster, has better features and a much better UI (well, anything has a much better UI compared to Google's stuff since Google+).
I've choosen for myself "ICS Browser+".
Went from a G2 to this One S yesterday. I'm not too impressed.
No dedicated menu button
There is enough room for one on the bottom but they only put 3.
What happens now is that Android (or Sense or something) detects when there are menu options and puts a button on the screen for it taking away real estate from the application.
No trackball
I used this a lot on my G2 especially on web pages with small links that I didn't want to missclick. I already miss it. I also used the trackball wake feature in CM on my G2. Now there is only one way to turn the screen on and its a little hard to do one handed. The trackball was in a very natural position to turn on with your thumb. Now without it, it is very awkward to power on with your thumb, you have to hold it very high and I'm affraid of dropping it. Alternatively I could turn it on with my index finger but it spreads my hand way out and still feels weird.
No folders
I'm not sure if this is an ICS thing or a Sense thing (because this phone is an unholy bastardization), but I can't figure out a way to create folders on my home screens. I'm not talking about the Sense folders for applications either. In normal Android builds you can add shortcuts, widgets, folders. The Pandora application shipped with a folder called "My Stations" or something like that. I used this because it only took up 1x1 on a homescreen and let me choose which station was opened. Without it, you need to open the application and it immediately starts playing the last radio station. This is annoying.
Resolution
The DPI isn't any better than my G2, its just a bigger screen. This is pretty disappointing. I would like a crisper display in a flagship device.
Bloat
Its pretty bad. I know most users want Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, etc... but how about you let us select what we want during the phone setup.
Misc
This is my first Sense device and my first ICS device so again, not sure where this crap is coming from.... When you install an application it creates a shortcut for it on one of your home screens. Putting a shortcut is the simplist thing you can do in Android, why not leave it for the use to do if they want to do it.
On my way to work I was listening to I Heart Radio and while the live streams were okay when I went to the "pandora"-like functionality it would only play one song and then stop. This never happened on my G2. Don't know whats going on here.
I don't care for the browser (which they stupidly call "internet").
I don't care for all of the account options. I went to share a page in the browser, I wanted to email it to myself. So when I went to share page it let me select how to share it. I got "Facebook for HTC Sense", "Mail", "Twitter for HTC Sense", and "Dropbox". I did set up Facebook, but I did not set up mail, twitter, or dropbox. What I wanted was GMail which I had to select "See all..." Then I saw a plethora of garbage bloat that they bundle with the phone and had to scroll down to get to GMail. After I went though this experience I went to share another page to see if GMail showed up at the top... it didn't.
I'm sure I'll have more complaints the more I use it. I used my fiance's upgrade for this one but I get an upgrade in 3 months. If CM9 isn't out by then she'll be using this phone and I'll upgrade to a SGSIII or that yet to be named quad-core LG phone.
Summary
CM9 can't come fast enough.
EDIT
I'll add some good things here.
Good things
Again, this is coming from a G2 so in 2 years things should be better anyways....
It is very thin, and very light.
It has a front facing camera which my G2 did not.
The flashlight, though not as bright as the "High Brightness" Cyanogenmod setting on the G2, is still pretty bright.
The speaker seems to put out a lot of sound. Can't attest to the quality yet but the volume is there.
EDIT #2
Some more good and bad....
Skype Useless
... probably related to Wifi crackling. One of the things I was looking forward to with this phone was the ability to make video calls via Skype. My fiance has an iPad2, my in-laws each have a G2X, and my brother has a SGSII. Skype is useless on this device. There is echoing / cracking and video lag even when on Wifi. I called my brother with this One S and it was useless. I then called him on an iPad2 and it was great. I'm wondering if the problem has to do with Beats Audio. We'll have to wait for an AOSP ROM without Beats to find out.
So I unlocked/rooted/ROM'd ...
I am now running Black Dragon 4.0. I LOVE the menu hack to get rid of the stupid 3 dot menu on all the screens. I like that they kept the ability to longpress home to get the default behavior as well. The launcher seems nice though I haven't played with it too much (which is a good thing, means they have good defaults).
Can't wait for the kernel sources to be released so we can make some more CM9 progress. I really miss the buttons in the dropdown for wifi, brightness, bluetooth, etc. Now I have to dropdown, click settings, scroll down and find brighness.
How's the battery life? My G2 has some HORRENDOUS battery... like it can drain 20% an hour... I go to school for like 6/7 hours and I can leave with like a <20% battery life. Currently using MIUI because that seems to be the best battery life.
Edit: As for a menu button, Google is trying to get rid of that. I read a post about it a couple of months ago. They say it was useless. I completely disagree because I use it quite a lot. I use it way more than the search button which I have literally probably used less than 30 times and I've been on an Android device since the G1 came out.
For everything you just said mostly there are workarounds.
The deidcated menu button now exists through roms...the three button thing on screen is removed. Change of dpi works fine on no sense roms I'm set on 195 on sense not as good. Play market you can stop adding apps onto screens
Bloat just remove yourself root explorer..
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA Premium App
Battery lifes good also...
As I said workarounds exist
Also get a different launcher and ditch sense or just get Nova or apex
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA Premium App
Love this. G2 FOORRREEEVVVAAAAHHHH
.ili.music.ili. said:
How's the battery life? My G2 has some HORRENDOUS battery... like it can drain 20% an hour... I go to school for like 6/7 hours and I can leave with like a <20% battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm the wrong person to ask about battery life (at least during the week). I work in one of these new fancy energy efficient "Green" buildings. We have coating on our windows that block UV with the side effect of also blocking cellular signals. Everyone that works here puts their phones on airplane mode to save battery because we have 0 signal and the phone search all day.
I'll know better this weekend about battery life.
arknailed7754 said:
For everything you just said mostly there are workarounds.
The deidcated menu button now exists through roms...the three button thing on screen is removed. Change of dpi works fine on no sense roms I'm set on 195 on sense not as good. Play market you can stop adding apps onto screens
Bloat just remove yourself root explorer..
Battery lifes good also...
As I said workarounds exist
Also get a different launcher and ditch sense or just get Nova or apex
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did they implement the dedicated menu button?
How do I ditch Sense?... what is Nova / apex?
Do I need root to install another launcher?
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FunkyELF said:
How did they implement the dedicated menu button?
How do I ditch Sense?... what is Nova / apex?
Do I need root to install another launcher?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no you can install launchers without root..from market just look for them
to ditch sense though you will need root..and to change dpi you will need root..my advice root lol
by ditching sense i mean install a non sense rom like black dragon or untouchables that strip sense away so the majority is ice cream sandwich without the bloatfest. some apps will be kept in but just use root explorer to rid the rom of it.
the dedicated menu button and ridding the screen of the three dots at the bottom is also because its been taken away and remapped by devs..so again..you need root
most of all..development will kick in soon..so better to root..or if not just use a different launcher but you dont really accomplish what your setting out to do
leedroid should be here soon with a rom,and will do away with most of the bloat anyway...so youll keep sense and most things you complained about will be sorted..
the main thing here is..root..worth it..yes..without..pointless and youll be stuck with htcs crap stock rom..pretty poor for me..but coming from another phone with loads of development..probably biased of how it should be
No Folders?
Just long-tap on the icon and drag it to another icon. THe folder will creat automaticly.
FunkyELF said:
Went from a G2 to this One S yesterday. I'm not too impressed.
No dedicated menu button
Root and ROM it. People are remapping the multitask key as the menu button, and hold-home now does the multitask. You're on XDA, so I assume you're enthused enough to root and ROM it.
No trackball
Seriously. Please find me an Android device with a trackball nowadays. It's gone...you're just gonna have to deal with it.
Resolution
This display seems pretty crisp. We're working with phones with relatively small displays. There's only so many pixels you can pack into until it doesn't even matter. 720p is about as far as we need to go on phone screens. The qHD screen on this phone has vivid colors and all the qualities of Super AMOLED. The resolution seems plenty high to me. Are you starting 1inch away from the phone and observing pixels?
Bloat
Welcome to flagship carrier devices. Again, you're on XDA, and fully capable of rooting it and removing all that crap. The G2 was a 1-off device that had pretty much stock Android. Consider it a Nexus device, more or less. With a flagship phone, you're going to get bloatware.
Misc
This is my first Sense device and my first ICS device so again, not sure where this crap is coming from.... When you install an application it creates a shortcut for it on one of your home screens. Putting a shortcut is the simplist thing you can do in Android, why not leave it for the use to do if they want to do it.
Sense has nothing to do with this. The new Google Play Store now by default places new apps' icons on the homescreen. It's as easy as going to the prefs in Play Store and disabling. Blame Google if you're going to blame someone.
On my way to work I was listening to I Heart Radio and while the live streams were okay when I went to the "pandora"-like functionality it would only play one song and then stop. This never happened on my G2. Don't know whats going on here.
Don't know what to tell you, but it's obvious that you're describing some sort of software issue, not a hardware issue. If it worked fine on the live streams, then your data connection worked. Talk to iHeartRadio.
I don't care for the browser (which they stupidly call "internet").
So install a new one! ICS Browser+ is exactly like the stock browser. There's also Chrome and Opera. Cmon...
I don't care for all of the account options. I went to share a page in the browser, I wanted to email it to myself. So when I went to share page it let me select how to share it. I got "Facebook for HTC Sense", "Mail", "Twitter for HTC Sense", and "Dropbox". I did set up Facebook, but I did not set up mail, twitter, or dropbox. What I wanted was GMail which I had to select "See all..." Then I saw a plethora of garbage bloat that they bundle with the phone and had to scroll down to get to GMail. After I went though this experience I went to share another page to see if GMail showed up at the top... it didn't.
This is the one thing I disliked and will agree with you on, although once again, rooting and ROMing can take care of it. That or removing bloatware.
I'm sure I'll have more complaints the more I use it. I used my fiance's upgrade for this one but I get an upgrade in 3 months. If CM9 isn't out by then she'll be using this phone and I'll upgrade to a SGSIII or that yet to be named quad-core LG phone.
Suit yourself. 4.7 inches is just too big, and at these speeds, you're at the mercy of your data connection, not the processor.
Summary
CM9 can't come fast enough.
AMEN
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think nearly all of your points are moot. A lot of your review seems to be based on your lack of willingness to change some preferences and MANAGE your device. If you were on a G2, then you never had to manage stuff like this. Consider it a new experience. If you wanted stock Android, you should've gotten a Galaxy Nexus. I just upgraded from a Nexus S and while I screamed at first at all the Sense crap, I quickly had it rooted, debloated, de-Sensed, and up and running with a nice, fast ROM (Black Magic 4.0).
Give it time. The phone JUST came out.
nickmv said:
I think nearly all of your points are moot. A lot of your review seems to be based on your lack of willingness to change some preferences and MANAGE your device. If you were on a G2, then you never had to manage stuff like this. Consider it a new experience. If you wanted stock Android, you should've gotten a Galaxy Nexus. I just upgraded from a Nexus S and while I screamed at first at all the Sense crap, I quickly had it rooted, debloated, de-Sensed, and up and running with a nice, fast ROM (Black Magic 4.0).
Give it time. The phone JUST came out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i agree with you there,its all about learning curves..no sense roms are fairly close to stock..its just the settings that are different now..he_stheone has already added certain elements of stock android..so its fairly close..just the settings..that are the main difference now.
jacakowal said:
No Folders?
Just long-tap on the icon and drag it to another icon. THe folder will creat automaticly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those aren't the folders I'm talking about. I think what I'm talking about are called live folders. In AOSP builds of Android when you long press on an empty space on one of your screens you can choose widgets, folders, shortcuts, contacts, and other things I can't remember.
With Sense you only get widgets and shortcuts.... no folders, no contacts, etc... just widgets and shortcuts.
Isn't that minor thing?
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA Premium App
nickmv said:
I just upgraded from a Nexus S and while I screamed at first at all the Sense crap, I quickly had it rooted, debloated, de-Sensed, and up and running with a nice, fast ROM (Black Magic 4.0).
Give it time. The phone JUST came out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't see this one listed in the ALL ROMS post here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1584163
Where is the info on that ROM?
Dude its in development section
Black dragon 4.0
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA Premium App
nickmv said:
I think nearly all of your points are moot. A lot of your review seems to be based on your lack of willingness to change some preferences and MANAGE your device. If you were on a G2, then you never had to manage stuff like this. Consider it a new experience. If you wanted stock Android, you should've gotten a Galaxy Nexus. I just upgraded from a Nexus S and while I screamed at first at all the Sense crap, I quickly had it rooted, debloated, de-Sensed, and up and running with a nice, fast ROM (Black Magic 4.0).
Give it time. The phone JUST came out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Going to have to side with you on this one. This phone is definitly a great device, give it some time, dig in a little bit. Much better than my Tmo-SGS2.
most of things you mentioned isnt a "bad thing" just you dont know how to operate the phone, or its just different (opinion at that point).
Also you didnt like things which are for all devices, not just one S
FunkyELF said:
Those aren't the folders I'm talking about. I think what I'm talking about are called live folders. In AOSP builds of Android when you long press on an empty space on one of your screens you can choose widgets, folders, shortcuts, contacts, and other things I can't remember.
With Sense you only get widgets and shortcuts.... no folders, no contacts, etc... just widgets and shortcuts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The long press, dragging and combining of icons together is AOSP folders in Ice Cream Sandwich. The long press on the desktop to add folder is long gone and is not coming back.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
arknailed7754 said:
Dude its in development section
Black dragon 4.0
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry... you said Black Magic, not Black dragon.
I'll give it a try in a couple weeks. I like to use my phone a bit before rooting to make sure I didn't get a lemon.
Does the camera work on this one?
Just got the phone and here are my negatives:
1. With lowest brightness setting the screen is horrible (but if you increase it a bit, its ok)
2. No switches in pulldown menu ? I though Sense always had that.....
3. Bottom plastic is not 100% flush at one corner (maybe will exchange, maybe not)
4. In navigation I just couldnt find "setting" button anywhere.....whats up with that ?
gonna go to Verizon and compare to Nexus....I still need Tmo SIM and stores are in same place anyway....I am not a phone freak not wasting time here
Its also very true that until you have 2 devices in hand you cant really compare screen quality...I though my G2x IPS panel for super great, but compared to One S its very warm colored and whites have red tint. Its also hard to use in lowest brightness even in dark room....but with G2x case its because screen is simply too dark, with One S its bright but disgusting to look at due to some "noise"
This is a minor concern for me but I'm surprised at this user functionality and hopefully someone can shed some light on this.
I just got a verizon s3 SCH-I535 and I'm pretty annoyed that when using the browser, if you pinch to zoom in or out, you then have to remove your fingers from the screen and then re-touch it to pan/swipe around. I've been using these phones for so long that I'm in the habit of being able to zoom and pan around while in constant contact with the screen and transitioning gestures. It's much faster and fluid that way.
Transitioning from a zoom to a pan while in constant contact with the screen = DOESN'T WORK
Transitioning from a pan to a zoom while in constant contact with the screen = WORKS
I'm guessing it a samsung firmware bug but I was hoping...
a.) Someone can verify their phone does this too on stock rom so I know it's not just mine.
b.) Maybe someone is using a custom rom that this works the way I want it to.
Basically I just want to be able to zoom and pan while keeping at least one finger in constant contact with the screen. It's annoying to have to pick up and re-touch after every zoom gesture.
Thanks for any insight.
Could someone at least please verify that their phone behaves the same way? Zoom in on a web page and then, keeping one of the two fingers you zoomed with on the screen, attempt to swipe around the screen. Doesn't work for me but I have noticed it works on photos in the gallery. I even tried downloading several different browsers with no luck.
I can confirm.
Just got mine for xmas, was using sgh-t959. I dont know if you could do it on the vibrant or not. I dont think I ever tried before.
What you don't know could fill a book.
Looks like the Samsung stock browser to me. They modded the Android browser. Works correctly on Chrome and Dolphin.
prdog1 said:
Looks like the Samsung stock browser to me. They modded the Android browser. Works correctly on Chrome and Dolphin.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I tired a couple other browsers including Dolphin with no change, but I just downloaded Chrome and it behaves the way I would like it to. :good: