Database Info

[Q] [ICS] Where did the stopwatch/timer/sleep timer go in ICS?

Where did these features go in ICS? They used to be under the Clock app in Froyo/GB. Any help appreciated
I am on Kwiboo's ICS ROM v2

Hmm, i haven't seen those in the clock app except on sense. I always just downloaded the stopwatch & timer app from the market.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G running CM7/franco.Kernel

Well that would explain. It. I came over from the EVO4g a few weeks ago and today was the first time I needed a countdown timer.
Off to the market I go!

Wow... I'm exactly like you. Coming from the incredible, I feel like this Nexus is a piece of crap. Clock app sucks compared to sense, as does the dialer. And dont even get me started on Android widgets vs sense ones. Nothing replaces that sense news widget...

gerodive said:
Wow... I'm exactly like you. Coming from the incredible, I feel like this Nexus is a piece of crap. Clock app sucks compared to sense, as does the dialer. And dont even get me started on Android widgets vs sense ones. Nothing replaces that sense news widget...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing replace the amount of RAM Sense is taking neither ;-)
Stock Android lead the way !

kooskoos1814 said:
Nothing replace the amount of RAM Sense is taking neither ;-)
Stock Android lead the way !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TOTALLY worth it IMO. I find new things I can't do in stock that I was taking for granted with my Sense DInc almost every day. Plus phones today come with so much absurd ROM and processing power that the chunk sense takes is virtually meaningless.

gerodive said:
TOTALLY worth it IMO. I find new things I can't do in stock that I was taking for granted with my Sense DInc almost every day. Plus phones today come with so much absurd ROM and processing power that the chunk sense takes is virtually meaningless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sense, and others like it, are the reason phones need that much rom, procesing power. Pure android is way better then all that other crapp.
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

p.pavljasevic said:
Sense, and others like it, are the reason phones need that much rom, procesing power. Pure android is way better then all that other crapp.
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What you said makes no sense (no pun intended). You admit phones now come with adequate ROM and processing power to handle Sense (yes, perhaps because of the strenuous requirements of it), but then claim stock is better anyway? So I'm assuming you believe it's better to run Windows 95 instead of Windows 7 on a modern computer because even though the tech is up to handling the better stuff, sparing system resources is the only thing that counts?

gerodive said:
What you said makes no sense (no pun intended). You admit phones now come with adequate ROM and processing power to handle Sense (yes, perhaps because of the strenuous requirements of it), but then claim stock is better anyway? So I'm assuming you believe it's better to run Windows 95 instead of Windows 7 on a modern computer because even though the tech is up to handling the better stuff, sparing system resources is the only thing that counts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you look at the talk about the samsung galaxy not being updated to ics because of not having sufficient memory while the ns already got it altough the two phones are almost identical....well it speaks for it self that all that bloatware kills off a good phone.
Nowhere in my comment did i mention stock i reffered to pure android as it comes from google and since i dont like rooting ( read have company software installed on my phone) i am stuck to stock.
I like to have some hardware to spare instead of running on the edge.
But Micro$oft, come on......
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

Coming from the HTC Desire Z, which in Dec 2010 was a new and high-end device, ive gotta say my Galaxy Nexus (really wish I could say Nexus Prime) definitely blows it away. I know the RAM and cpu differences are huge, but even so. The thing struggled to run sense without slowing to a crawl after getting to around 30 apps installed. Switching to GOLauncher helped for a while but that was just a bandaid solution. I love the phone but HTC really needs to streamline things. Also, I do miss the clock app, which is how i stumbled upon this . Having it be oem and not third party pleased me.

How did a "where is the timer?" thread turn into a "sense vs stock" thread?
Sense is nice. If a phone can run it smoothly, then why not have it? It's really just a matter of preference and OPINION.
Though granted, my opinion is that I like stock Android better =p but hey, the option is nice.

One of the reasons that vanilla Android is feature light is to promote growth in the Market. If Android were released with every function that you can imagine, and they were all perfect, there would be little need for a Market and devs would go elsewhere.
I've always preferred a 'lite' ROM that you can then add to as you see fit. Want a Stopwatch/Timer? Choose from any one of dozens found on the market today. You have so much choice that you can find one you prefer and use that, rather than having to use one that you had no choice in, and can't get rid of because it was on the phone when you bought it. It's easier to add what you want than it is to remove the bloat that you don't.

[Q] Questions about Sense and Android 4.0

Hello guys,
I've just recently got the One S on contract from Netcom and coming from a Samsung phone this really has been a new experience for me all together. But I have a problem. The phone itself works flawlessly and lags nothing compared to the HTC One X - but I really, really, really HATE SENSE.
I just can't seem to get used to it and since I've pretty much done custom flashing on my old Galaxy S since the very start, I just can't wait to replace SENSE as soon as possible - in the mean time, would it be possible to just unlock the device and put a STOCK version of ICS on it? Like one for the One S so that I get to keep stuff such as the HTC browser and maybe the custom Alt+Tab kind of thingy they put on?
Personally would like to build my own custom ROM with some mixed ingredienses but I wouldn't know where to start.
Any ideas? Or do I just have to wait and stick to this in the mean time?

As a stop-gap measure, you could install another launcher. I did this on the HTC Sensation for awhile before we started having either the non-sense options or true AOSP builds like we have now. From my limited experience, this is a flagship device and developers and users and documentarians will show up. The Sensation has a pretty rich community of both sense and AOSP builds now. One cautionary note though. On my Sensation running a modified version of CM9 there are things still being fixed. You may find early versions of ICS will have a variety of issues as developers get things solved. Its particularly hard before source gets released though. Its like peddling a bicycle backwards in a dark tunnel when its raining.

As mentioned above, install Nova launcher for now.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1389071
Sent from my HTC One S using xda premium

ok thanks guys. will have to settle with it for now I guess.
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA

Au Contraire!
I am going with the One S because it runs Sense 4 ( best android overlay)
I was going to go with Samsung Galaxy S2 but my friend showed me his, everything about TouchWiz was unappealing from the large text the stale interface.

AndroidBlizzard said:
Au Contraire!
I am going with the One S because it runs Sense 4 ( best android overlay)
I was going to go with Samsung Galaxy S2 but my friend showed me his, everything about TouchWiz was unappealing from the large text the stale interface.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess each one has it's own taste
My gripe with sense is just what you describe as appealing.. the small black text on white background in most of the interface is killing my eye-sight at night. Guess I have been used to the Android 2.3 experience for too long and as much as Sense 4 works wonders - it just not my cup of tea. This could of course be fixed if there was a "black" skin that could be applied. Preferably with as little bright colors as possible (I know, may sound boring but will eventually save a few hours of battery in the long run due to the AMOLED display running "less hot" )

I'm in the same situation as the OP, really enjoyed ICS on my Desire until the display broke (got slammed display first into table... IKEA > HTC)
Anyways here's hoping that I understand these nuggets correctly: "MoDaCo Custom ROMs are based on official ROMs - either shipping or leaked."
"Stock style and Vanilla (ICS) style prebakes will be available as the ROM takes shape."
Source: first post in [ROM] 11 Apr - MoDaCo Custom ROM for the HTC One S - Sense and Vanilla styles in the One S Development forum http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1592126
So hopefully Paulobrien just removes Sense etc from an official ROM. Not sure whats up with the cooking lingo though, maybe there is a dev-chef-lingo dictionary somewhere on XDA!
Also I second your request for where to start learning to build your own ROM! Should post a Q in the noob-friendly thread here.

aureleuz said:
I guess each one has it's own taste
My gripe with sense is just what you describe as appealing.. the small black text on white background in most of the interface is killing my eye-sight at night. Guess I have been used to the Android 2.3 experience for too long and as much as Sense 4 works wonders - it just not my cup of tea. This could of course be fixed if there was a "black" skin that could be applied. Preferably with as little bright colors as possible (I know, may sound boring but will eventually save a few hours of battery in the long run due to the AMOLED display running "less hot" )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps you are right
Looking at sense 3.0 interface , the black blackground is weird, sense 4 with white background for settings seems much more natural. I have spent quite some time around my friends who have EVO 3D and Sensation, and I have to admit I will miss the eye catching animations and the easy access carousel function. Of course this is will be my first HTC phone so I can see how people hate the white look of settings. Coming from an iPhone with white settings too, it will be a similar transition for me. Sense just seems to have so much depth and much to explore compared to other Android Overlays. Having ICS along with it just makes the experience much smoother and sweeter.(Pun partially intended )

So... can anybody tell me if the Stock ROMs that have been cooked for the One S recently work good enough to run for production (i.e. HTC camera, launcher, weather widget)
I really would like to feel that AOSP experience again just like on my old Galaxy S. But I don't want to loose any functionality

aureleuz said:
So... can anybody tell me if the Stock ROMs that have been cooked for the One S recently work good enough to run for production (i.e. HTC camera, launcher, weather widget)
I really would like to feel that AOSP experience again just like on my old Galaxy S. But I don't want to loose any functionality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Black Dragon 3.8 Rom. Very stable and keeps all functions working.

LikeaG2root said:
Try Black Dragon 3.8 Rom. Very stable and keeps all functions working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kthx.
Does that include the HTC ImageSense chip-drivers? I really like the way the camera snaps those pics in a fraction of a second!

HTC comments on Jelly Bean for the One Series

http://ausdroid.net/2012/06/29/htc-comments-on-jelly-bean-for-the-one-series/

"We are excited about Android Jelly Bean and are planning to support it across a variety of our devices. We are reviewing the software to determine our upgrade plans and schedule, so please stay tuned for more updates on specific device upgrade plans.”
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They say basically nothing.

We'll obviously get jelly bean.. In fall..

karan1203 said:
We'll obviously get jelly bean.. In fall..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2014

Who cares when we get "official" JB? We'll get it long before HTC gives it to us. And honestly I could care less if we ever get it at all. My phone is quite literally perfect the way it is and will do just fine for me until HTC's quad core S4 phone comes out.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

I love how htc spins its wheels regarding every issue...
I understand from a big business point of view of wanting to balance sounding good while not giving any definitive answers, but honestly its getting a little old now...
Sent from my iphone 7s using Tapatalk 2

How awesome would it be if htc let's us run plain android ala nexus on the one x .
I think it would make this phone even better than it already is.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

one thing I really dont understand is the reason manufacturers put their own ui on top of android phones. Its not like they are gonna get any extra money from it. It seems like they are just too ignorant to realize that paying software engineers to create Sense UI and making their customers butthurt while using it is a complete waste when all we want is an unobtrusive android experience. I would gladly take a delayed kernel source if that meant that phones shipped with vanilla android.

ethantarheels123 said:
one thing I really dont understand is the reason manufacturers put their own ui on top of android phones. Its not like they are gonna get any extra money from it. It seems like they are just too ignorant to realize that paying software engineers to create Sense UI and making their customers butthurt while using it is a complete waste when all we want is an unobtrusive android experience. I would gladly take a delayed kernel source if that meant that phones shipped with vanilla android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The custom ui's draw some people in, the buy the phone because the love sense, or touchwiz. Many people run custom launchera, but some but phones specifically because the want that custom ui.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

gunnyman said:
2014
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From AT&T ya... if at all. HTC will prolly push it out around September/October.

Red5 said:
From AT&T ya... if at all. HTC will prolly push it out around September/October.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed
As soon as we have source builds will start so maybe July/August

They are probably working on it now. They might be one of the few oems that got the pdk a bit early that Google announced. So hopefully updates will roll out faster
Sent from my HTC One XL using xda premium

ethantarheels123 said:
one thing I really dont understand is the reason manufacturers put their own ui on top of android phones. Its not like they are gonna get any extra money from it. It seems like they are just too ignorant to realize that paying software engineers to create Sense UI and making their customers butthurt while using it is a complete waste when all we want is an unobtrusive android experience. I would gladly take a delayed kernel source if that meant that phones shipped with vanilla android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sense 4 is not bad and better than stock ics in some ways.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

ethantarheels123 said:
one thing I really dont understand is the reason manufacturers put their own ui on top of android phones. Its not like they are gonna get any extra money from it. It seems like they are just too ignorant to realize that paying software engineers to create Sense UI and making their customers butthurt while using it is a complete waste when all we want is an unobtrusive android experience. I would gladly take a delayed kernel source if that meant that phones shipped with vanilla android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They do this to help differentiate a saturated market. And believe it or not, I know quite a few people who dig sense, or tw. I myself prefer vanilla. But you have to remember there is a lot of little handy things sense does, like fb integration, that stock vanilla android does not do, and most users couldn't be bothered to play with it and mod it to work. I am just against manufacturer overlays as the next Xda user(the minority), but I'm just trying to enlighten you as to why these overlays exist, mainly to stand out from one another.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

corythug said:
They do this to help differentiate a saturated market. And believe it or not, I know quite a few people who dig sense, or tw. I myself prefer vanilla. But you have to remember there is a lot of little handy things sense does, like fb integration, that stock vanilla android does not do, and most users couldn't be bothered to play with it and mod it to work. I am just against manufacturer overlays as the next Xda user(the minority), but I'm just trying to enlighten you as to why these overlays exist, mainly to stand out from one another.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the ONLY reason I use a sense based rom is due to facebook syncing contact pictures. Its very handy. I know of haxsync, but I don't want to pay for something that should be/is free.

Everyone is entitled to there own opinion. I for one really like sence and would never bash someone for liking aosp. If I'm not mistaken I believe the manufactures are required to mask the ui of stock android. Except for the nexus series which is marketed as a google device.
Sent from my HTC One™ X, an WCX Illuminati 4G LTE smartphone

jayv81 said:
Everyone is entitled to there own opinion. I for one really like sence and would never bash someone for liking aosp. If I'm not mistaken I believe the manufactures are required to mask the ui of stock android. Except for the nexus series which is marketed as a google device.
Sent from my HTC One™ X, an WCX Illuminati 4G LTE smartphone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true at all. It's the opposite. They like adding their own stuff because they think that's what sells. Go look at any "cheap" Android phone. They're actually lucky enough to get stock Android.
I've been wishing they could just make it the customers choice. It can't be hard to make a vanilla rom on top of their Sense or TW. At initial setup let us choose whether or not it installs Sense or whatever.

rquinn19 said:
Not true at all. It's the opposite. They like adding their own stuff because they think that's what sells. Go look at any "cheap" Android phone. They're actually lucky enough to get stock Android.
I've been wishing they could just make it the customers choice. It can't be hard to make a vanilla rom on top of their Sense or TW. At initial setup let us choose whether or not it installs Sense or whatever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rquinn I have to believe Google wants the same thing.
Google puts a lot of work into the Stock Android experience. ICS is by a huge margin better from a UI standpoint than any version that has come before it.
Trouble is, unless you're a phone geek, you won't see it.
I can only think of one or two devices besides the Nexus that DON'T skin Android.
I want to try a Huwai device for this reason. I've decided that after I'm done with this device, I'm buying a Pure Google one. If the release of the Nexus 7 and the Galaxy Nexus to the play store is any indication, Google is going into the hardware business full time, and I can't wait to see what they do.
Skins can be great, but they should be an option that you can enable or disable with a button click.

I personally love Sense, but it's what works for you, obviously. HTC's Mail app has the best Exchange support I've ever seen in Android. Granted I've never used Samsung's mail client, so maybe it's comparable, but everything else is either really flaky, incomplete, or ugly. I actually wish they would bring back the My Shelf application that was on a few phones (like the DHD.) Of all the eReaders I've tried, it's been my favourite. I also haven't seen any calendar app/widget combination that has, IMO, come close to the HTC one in terms of fluidity and completeness.
But, on the topic of Jellybean: As someone else mentioned, I'm in no rush. This phone's damn near perfect. It's almost always buttery smooth, so I don't think Project Butter will improve it a whole lot. Google Now and the improved notifications would be nice though, I guess.

craig0r said:
I personally love Sense, but it's what works for you, obviously. HTC's Mail app has the best Exchange support I've ever seen in Android. Granted I've never used Samsung's mail client, so maybe it's comparable, but everything else is either really flaky, incomplete, or ugly. I actually wish they would bring back the My Shelf application that was on a few phones (like the DHD.) Of all the eReaders I've tried, it's been my favourite. I also haven't seen any calendar app/widget combination that has, IMO, come close to the HTC one in terms of fluidity and completeness.
But, on the topic of Jellybean: As someone else mentioned, I'm in no rush. This phone's damn near perfect. It's almost always buttery smooth, so I don't think Project Butter will improve it a whole lot. Google Now and the improved notifications would be nice though, I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Project butter will, think of it like a tune up to a car, but a tune up to the Android code, probably a copy of linaro code on cm9.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Why do people choose pure stock Google over other UIs?

I have been wondering about this for awhile now and can't seem to understand why so many people are crazy about stock android on their devices. I do understand why people buy nexus devices only due to timely updates n all. I guess not just for updates but I'm pretty sure that's one of the main reasons. My main question is why do so many people prefer it even on their devices that aren't running stock? I look at Sense' UI and to me personally, I like their setup of how fast and easy it is to add apps or widgets to a home screen. Or how good the camera is, far better then any nexus device IMO. And a couple other things. Or touchwiz. I still haven't owned a device that had touchwiz but I've played around with the Note 2 and GS3 and tbh, I'm not really crazy about their UI. But the features, holy smokes they are awesome! And then there is just plain ol stock. I have a Galaxy Nexus and when I first bought it I was super happy and excited. I'm running a 4.2.2 ROM on it and its OK n all. But to me, it just feels naked and kinda boring now. Sure, I can flash all sorts of added features and what not but still I'm just like shmeh. I feel the skins over stock makes it so much better IMO. With so many more options to choose from when it comes to features. I look at all the features the Note 2 has and people buy it, root it, then bam CM10 is now running on the device with less features then what the phone comes with. Anyways that's my rant for today. And by no means am I doggin on pure stock or hate it. Just sharing my opinions about what I think is better but don't understand why so many people choose it on their devices that have a skin on top. I would love to see some feedback on this. Thanks
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

I have an s3 and if you've used touchwiz for an extended period of time, you'd see how bad it is. Sure the camera features are awesome, but it's a really heavy firmware with a lot of bugs, lag, and bloatware. Your phone will easily average 1 gb of ram with touchwiz. As for why I switched to stock Android (cm 10.1), I guess it was one of the more popular and well known custom roms when I decided to flash. I wouldn't be opposed to trying an AOKP ROM because all the extra options, but I'm not sure if I need it. What I'm trying to say is less is never a bad thing. Well this is my opinion at least. Hope it helps.
Sent from my GT-P3110 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Because stock android is beautiful and clean while overlays like sense clog it up and slow it down
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

Personally, I like AOSP, but it's not a deciding factor for me. I prefer an S3 and especially my Note 2 over any Nexus device. Why?
1. Touchwiz adds useful features.
2. S-Pen and huge screen are more than enough to win me over.
3. In the case of the Nexus 4, I like the huge REMOVABLE battery in the Note 2 and expandable storage (yes, they're a big deal to me).
4. I can flash AOSP if I want. Yes, on a lot of devices, there are usually more bugs running CM/AOKP/PA than if you just bought a Nexus device, but it's still an option.
5. Samsung releases quick updates. Quicker than any other OEM, besides Nexus devices. Hell, there's even a leaked 4.2.2 (or .1, I forget) update floating around.
6. Alternative launchers and mods for stock ROMs can remove ugly OEM themeing. Look up Jelly Bean Domination for the Galaxy S3 i9300. It looks EXACTLY like AOSP. Here's a screenshot of JBD running on my retired Galaxy S3. This is Touchwiz. Also look up JKay mod; it's a framework mod with an app that lets you change SO many features, it's like being on a Nexus device: https://www.dropbox.com/s/o7r0xpl0zdm03x8/2013-04-01 21.11.03.png
7. For me at least, I don't like on-screen buttons unless you have a Note 2-sized device, because it takes up screen real-estate. I'm aware of PIE-menu for CyanogenMod, but I find it impractical because it requires more button presses than just hitting a button.
8. Ridiculous battery life, even with heavy usage. After 3 hours of screen-on time and data usage pretty much every time the screen is on, I still have 65% battery life after 8 hours off the charger. That's with the stock 3100 mAh battery and the 5.5 inch screen. On top of that, I have the LTE radio on at all times because you can't turn it off on the AT&T model (the modem is locked by AT&T). And at any time I can replace the battery with another one or use an extended one.
To me the hardware comes first, because it can't be changed after the fact. The software...Well that's why we're all on XDA. Because we want to and we can change it. I'm not saying that Nexus devices are inferior or vice versa; I'm saying that having tried a Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4, I wasn't completely satisfied with them. For most people they're perfect. But I demand more, and that's why I love my Galaxy Note 2.

Thanks for the responses everyone See I personally am getting sick and tired of my galaxy nexus especially the battery. I have an extended battery that's a 2100 mah. I know its not a whole lot more, but its still horrible. I don't want a bulky ext battery. I guess I'm kind of a heavy user. Kinda Lol I don't play games a whole lot other than scramble with friends words with friends. Games like that. I do calls, messages, Facebook, and YouTube but gosh the battery is just terrible on the nexus I don't care what anyone says. I want the Note 2 so bad. I want a bigger screen, a big battery that can easily last me throughout my day no matter how much I use it. SD slot is always nice too. I'm really not a huge fan of touchwiz but you're right. I can use launchers to cover it up and yet still keep the awesome features the Note 2 has to offer. My phone is starting to get a bit sluggish on me lately. I click on an app, it take 2 to 3 seconds to open it up. Drives me NUTS Lol. When I played with the note 2 it was so fast and smooth and, amazing. Again thanks for the responses guys I appreciate it
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

npainter7 said:
Thanks for the responses everyone See I personally am getting sick and tired of my galaxy nexus especially the battery. I have an extended battery that's a 2100 mah. I know its not a whole lot more, but its still horrible. I don't want a bulky ext battery. I guess I'm kind of a heavy user. Kinda Lol I don't play games a whole lot other than scramble with friends words with friends. Games like that. I do calls, messages, Facebook, and YouTube but gosh the battery is just terrible on the nexus I don't care what anyone says. I want the Note 2 so bad. I want a bigger screen, a big battery that can easily last me throughout my day no matter how much I use it. SD slot is always nice too. I'm really not a huge fan of touchwiz but you're right. I can use launchers to cover it up and yet still keep the awesome features the Note 2 has to offer. My phone is starting to get a bit sluggish on me lately. I click on an app, it take 2 to 3 seconds to open it up. Drives me NUTS Lol. When I played with the note 2 it was so fast and smooth and, amazing. Again thanks for the responses guys I appreciate it
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As another ex-Galaxy Nexus user (though my last phone was the S3), get the Note 2. It's like living a dream. Touchwiz on the Note 2 adds so many features, and the launcher is the only crappy part. I'm using Nova launcher on mine. The notification bar is actually nice with the toggles on top. The S-Pen is crazy in terms of features it adds. It's not a regular stylus. The digitizer and stylus are made by Wacom; you can for example scroll with the stylus just hovering it above the screen. And in terms of battery life, this thing will get you through OVER a day. It's crazy. Get one, you won't regret it. I think this is the best phone I've EVER owned.

Ya I really really want the note 2. I just wish it didn't cost so freaking much. I'm due for an upgrade on Verizon. But I really don't wanna give up my unlimited. Although I'm not to worried about it of I lose it. But I can get the phone off amazonwireless.com for 200. Which is great. I might end up doing that. I too dislike the on-screen buttons. Sometimes they don't work like they should. I love the s-pen on the note 2. I think I'm gonna get it Lol I want to right now
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

npainter7 said:
Ya I really really want the note 2. I just wish it didn't cost so freaking much. I'm due for an upgrade on Verizon. But I really don't wanna give up my unlimited. Although I'm not to worried about it of I lose it. But I can get the phone off amazonwireless.com for 200. Which is great. I might end up doing that. I too dislike the on-screen buttons. Sometimes they don't work like they should. I love the s-pen on the note 2. I think I'm gonna get it Lol I want to right now
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait for the Galaxy S4 to come out this month or early next month, the price should go down substantially. The thing is, the Note 2 is super powerful and super smooth, so even when the S4 is out, the Note 2 is still worthwhile.

Product F(RED) said:
Wait for the Galaxy S4 to come out this month or early next month, the price should go down substantially. The thing is, the Note 2 is super powerful and super smooth, so even when the S4 is out, the Note 2 is still worthwhile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if I can wait another month Lol. But I'm gonna have to probably. And of course the Note 3 will be out later this year and that is gonna be freakin sweet.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

npainter7 said:
I don't know if I can wait another month Lol. But I'm gonna have to probably. And of course the Note 3 will be out later this year and that is gonna be freakin sweet.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still have a Samsung galaxy s1 lol
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

Well for me it is a matter of developement. I have had every galaxy device and currently own an s3 9300 (until I can sell it for a nexus.)
Wayne Tech S-III

I prefere htc sense over every UI
My very first android device was the htc g2/vision/desire z (call it what you want xD) and it still is alive, but I run CM10.1, cus the RAM there is way too little for sense 4 (and that's imo the best sense ui ever) and now I got the htc mytouch 4G slide (yeees I'm a hw keyboard lover) and here sense 4 is very smooth
Had a galaxy s between but bricked it anyway...but there the first thing I looked for was a sense port
There was one but the devs kinda stopped (guess cus of RAM or sth)
Now I'm on my mytouch 4G slide on a CM10.1 ROM again, cus the sense ROMs lag too much, and the devs are mostly gone, but I themed it with widgetlocker and CM themes as close to sense as possible
Greets Vauvenal7
Sent from my myTouch 4G Slide

Vauvenal7 said:
I prefere htc sense over every UI
My very first android device was the htc g2/vision/desire z (call it what you want xD) and it still is alive, but I run CM10.1, cus the RAM there is way too little for sense 4 (and that's imo the best sense ui ever) and now I got the htc mytouch 4G slide (yeees I'm a hw keyboard lover) and here sense 4 is very smooth
Had a galaxy s between but bricked it anyway...but there the first thing I looked for was a sense port
There was one but the devs kinda stopped (guess cus of RAM or sth)
Now I'm on my mytouch 4G slide on a CM10.1 ROM again, cus the sense ROMs lag too much, and the devs are mostly gone, but I themed it with widgetlocker and CM themes as close to sense as possible
Greets Vauvenal7
Sent from my myTouch 4G Slide
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to love Sense before it hit android but what HTC did to it on android is just really sad.

zelendel said:
I used to love Sense before it hit android but what HTC did to it on android is just really sad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TouchFlo 3D made WinMo 6.5 great. Sense 3.5 and below is sort of justifiable since GB wasn't exactly great but it was still slow and heavy. Sense 4 was by far the worst for me, it was very slow and added little functionality over ICS. Sense 4+ was alright but didn't add much to Android; at least it wasn't slow. The new sense seems to be very good to me, since it's light and looks good but I don't like Blinkfeed much at all.
TouchWiz - it went from ugly to uglier to unbearably ugly. I personally can live without the features because most of them are gimmicky to me and the few useful ones don't justify the ugliness.
All other UXes don't add anything to Android.
Basically from that I choose AOSP over everything else any day. I love the Holo UI, it's smooth, it's clean, it's fast and it's stable.

Nigeldg said:
TouchFlo 3D made WinMo 6.5 great. Sense 3.5 and below is sort of justifiable since GB wasn't exactly great but it was still slow and heavy. Sense 4 was by far the worst for me, it was very slow and added little functionality over ICS. Sense 4+ was alright but didn't add much to Android; at least it wasn't slow. The new sense seems to be very good to me, since it's light and looks good but I don't like Blinkfeed much at all.
TouchWiz - it went from ugly to uglier to unbearably ugly. I personally can live without the features because most of them are gimmicky to me and the few useful ones don't justify the ugliness.
All other UXes don't add anything to Android.
Basically from that I choose AOSP over everything else any day. I love the Holo UI, it's smooth, it's clean, it's fast and it's stable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I am sure it is good if you like the sense look but the color skemes to me are just ugly as all get out. Then you get into themeing it and notice that HTC frameworks are a huge bunch of redundent images and coding that slows sense down alot. If they used the android framework for instead of having 6 of the same images for a button on top of the ones in the android framework then it gets crazy. I have not used Sense in a long time or any custom version of android like TW in a long time. I swear they could double the speed of the UI if they just stopped bloating it.

Nigeldg said:
TouchFlo 3D made WinMo 6.5 great. Sense 3.5 and below is sort of justifiable since GB wasn't exactly great but it was still slow and heavy. Sense 4 was by far the worst for me, it was very slow and added little functionality over ICS. Sense 4+ was alright but didn't add much to Android; at least it wasn't slow. The new sense seems to be very good to me, since it's light and looks good but I don't like Blinkfeed much at all.
TouchWiz - it went from ugly to uglier to unbearably ugly. I personally can live without the features because most of them are gimmicky to me and the few useful ones don't justify the ugliness.
All other UXes don't add anything to Android.
Basically from that I choose AOSP over everything else any day. I love the Holo UI, it's smooth, it's clean, it's fast and it's stable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like touchwiz lol...
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

The thing is that the android experience given to us by TouchWiz(Though I've never used touchwiz, but the launcher looks crap to me) and Sense UIs have been researched by expert marketing people and psychologists. These people find what an average person is comfortable with. If you're an average person, though no one is an average on xdadevelopers cuz they might never be here if they didn't want a change, then you're comfortable with what those devs over HTC and Samsung give you. They make something that is comfortable to use. Frankly, I used to be a huge fan of Sense in my HTC Desire a few months back. That stopped when I started noticing all the theming sections here on this site, and people's screen shots. That's when I found that there is huge world of change looming here. Now that people are here, including you, my friend, we have started appreciating the change, innovativeness, and uniqueness of Android. Then only we have started theming our phones with so many themes, ROMs, widgets, and what-not. A cousin of mine has a galaxy S2, and he is still using the default wallpaper on his S2, just because he's an average user. When people join xda, they are thinking of a revolution, a change.

alicarbovader said:
The thing is that the android experience given to us by TouchWiz(Though I've never used touchwiz, but the launcher looks crap to me) and Sense UIs have been researched by expert marketing people and psychologists. These people find what an average person is comfortable with. If you're an average person, though no one is an average on xdadevelopers cuz they might never be here if they didn't want a change, then you're comfortable with what those devs over HTC and Samsung give you. They make something that is comfortable to use. Frankly, I used to be a huge fan of Sense in my HTC Desire a few months back. That stopped when I started noticing all the theming sections here on this site, and people's screen shots. That's when I found that there is huge world of change looming here. Now that people are here, including you, my friend, we have started appreciating the change, innovativeness, and uniqueness of Android. Then only we have started theming our phones with so many themes, ROMs, widgets, and what-not. A cousin of mine has a galaxy S2, and he is still using the default wallpaper on his S2, just because he's an average user. When people join xda, they are thinking of a revolution, a change.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I'm no average user in fact I even build aokp and I'm running CyanogenMod 10.1 but touchwi just seems fluid to me idk why
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

I think it all comes down to what people prefer personally. That's why I love android and all the options to choose from. But honestly, hardly any main consumers out there that don't know about rooting n all that, don't really care or know perhaps, about theming ect ect. They just want what either everyone else has, (IPhone) and now the s3 or Note 2 or big screen and oh awesome it can do this and that. Not much do people wonder about processors this 1080ppi that Lol. There is a lot more people that don't care about that stuff then there are people who are here on XDA. I wish I was sorta like them cuz I wouldn't be so crazy about flashing ROMS and/or wanting the latest and greatest phone Lol. But I'm proud to be a bit of a nerd and knowing what I have and how good(or bad) my device is.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

npainter7 said:
I think it all comes down to what people prefer personally. That's why I love android and all the options to choose from. But honestly, hardly any main consumers out there that don't know about rooting n all that, don't really care or know perhaps, about theming ect ect. They just want what either everyone else has, (IPhone) and now the s3 or Note 2 or big screen and oh awesome it can do this and that. Not much do people wonder about processors this 1080ppi that Lol. There is a lot more people that don't care about that stuff then there are people who are here on XDA. I wish I was sorta like them cuz I wouldn't be so crazy about flashing ROMS and/or wanting the latest and greatest phone Lol. But I'm proud to be a bit of a nerd and knowing what I have and how good(or bad) my device is.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right. We here make up less then 1% of the people that use android. Just have to wait for the hype to die down and then people will go back to their iphones soon enough.

[Q] How good is this phone from an AOSP perspective?

Quick back story: I'm an Android lover for many years who recently finally went Nexus 4 on T-Mobile and I'm very, very happy. To the point where, for the first time ever, I'm running my phone WITHOUT root. Insane, right? But it just works well enough for me that I don't need it. My last phone, a Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, was utterly awful on custom ROMs, and at least at the point where I gave up on it, CM builds were still buggy and, most importantly, had horrible battery life.
Current situation: My girlfriend has an iPhone 3GS that she had on AT&T, but just switched to Straight Talk with (using the AT&T SIM that came in my starter pack; I just left them for T-Mobile directly, but she can't do that until she gets a phone compatible with their 3G). She's sick of it and ready to go Android. But she hates, hates, hates the trend of large-screen phones, and isn't interested in spending money on something just to try to get used to it. She's played with my 4.7" screen and finds it absurdly large. Yes, yes, I know, if she uses it for a while she'll surely get used to it, right? She claims no, and I'm not about to be a patronizing ass by trying to tell her she's wrong about her own opinions. So whatever the case, it looks like probably the smallest screen that exists on any phones that aren't crap is 4.3". And it looks like the last good 4.3" phone to hit the US with T-Mobile compatibility is the HTC One S. The Mini currently looks as though it's headed only to AT&T, so that's out.
Now I know the One S is locked forever in 4.1 as far as HTC is concerned. And I know 4.1 really isn't that bad, all said and done. And I know some people like Sense. But I also know I never truly LOVED an Android phone until I got the real stock experience. And I'd love her to have that pure Android experience as well. Or an augmented, improved version of it in CM or AOKP or whatever. But point is, I'd like to make sure that if we get her this phone, it might be possible to switch her to an AOSP experience that's going to be at least as solid as the phone's own stock build.
So here's the question: How, honestly, is the HTC One S fairing in this regard? How good are the AOSP-based ROMs for it as far as stability and especially battery life? My girlfriend really derided the battery life of my SGSII, but has been impressed with my Nexus 4. And while she's not a technophobe by any means, I don't want her to have to constantly tinker and monkey with it like we do. I just want it to work for her. Are any AOSP-based, or AOSP-equivalent ROMs going to provide that on this phone?
Thanks.

AOSP is plenty. Team Cyanogen are also working on Jelly Bean v3 as well for it. There is well over ten different AOSP ROMs, most of them made by $droyd$. I recommend Illusions over all other ROMs on here, or if she fancies Sense 5, she should try my ROM it's called CharmanDroid, it really takes advantage of the deep contracts and rich colours on this screen.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium

kylepont said:
AOSP is plenty. Team Cyanogen are also working on Jelly Bean v3 as well for it. There is well over ten different AOSP ROMs, most of them made by $droyd$. I recommend Illusions over all other ROMs on here, or if she fancies Sense 5, she should try my ROM it's called CharmanDroid, it really takes advantage of the deep contracts and rich colours on this screen.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really love that last sentence :
really takes advantage of the deep contracts and rich colours on this screen.
Our screen is so crap lol! It's something like 960*540 no such thing as rich colours on this display lol... Terrible pentile blue tint
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app

The camera in aosp is just not usable. Tried 4.3 cam. Its just rediculously Bad. Just try it. Makes my daily a sense Rom..... Sadly
If you don't need the camera, aosp is okay, very clean, fast, smooth and with 4.3 nightlys somewhat stable.
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app

k1llacanon said:
Really love that last sentence :
really takes advantage of the deep contracts and rich colours on this screen.
Our screen is so crap lol! It's something like 960*540 no such thing as rich colours on this display lol... Terrible pentile blue tint
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The greens are good on it, but you know, all salesmen will make their product sound better than it actually is. Despite the fact this is HTC's fault and not mine. :silly:
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium

I am very happy with the phone hardware & form factor. I am also very happy with the usability and stability of CM 10.2. Currently using a stripped down/modified version of it called Codename Lungo. I would recommend CM 10.2 as a daily driver.

as a music lover, i can tell you: the earphone-audio performance on every aosp based rom is crap, not even close to the performance on sense-based roms.

I've always liked aosp better on every phone I've had, but on this one the camera and music sound quality on headphones is so much worse on aosp that I'm probably staying on sense.
Not only that I can't stand the lock screen delay on all the aosp roms since the 3.4 kernel.
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app

This is good feedback overall. I really appreciate it, guys. The last two, in particular, tell me AOSP likely won't be for her, as she does want to use it for music a lot.
So how tolerable, really, is stock? And I'm asking this especially of anyone who prefers AOSP/CM10. I'm not in the mood to put her through all the aches and pains of custom ROMs, so for me it was pretty much going to be stock Sense (stuck at 4.1, although at least it's Jelly Bean) or a really solid AOSP ROM. We're all a different breed; we enjoy tinkering, and get a thrill from updated ROM versions, bug testing, and tweaking. But most people who don't build their own computers and watch Google's press conferences livestreamed over their phones and surreptitiously patched through their Bluetooth headsets so people can't see they're not working, just want something that works. And especially since this'll be her first Android phone, I want the experience to be one that doesn't have her bringing me the phone to troubleshoot every few days.

AOSP audio is greatly improved using CM DSP Manager. Stock camera is much better than AOSP. Sense is quite tolerable and a must if you want essentially zero issues. With stock you just may want to disable a lot of the bloatware that is installed by default.

Dsp manager still didn't give me audio quality that was good enough for me.
Stock for me would have been fine except that I wanted to change the looks. Now I use Source which is a stock based rom with audio quality tweaks and apps and no bloatware. I have an inverted theme so now it looks the way I want and is stable and fast enough.
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app

350Rocket said:
Dsp manager still didn't give me audio quality that was good enough for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
even with dsp manager or "ultimate one sound" the performance was not even close to stock.

Well personally I would point out another perspective. I am a person always after best price/performance devices either on mobile side and computer side. And I was also looking for a device which can be usable with one hand. HTC One S was the device that struck me with price/performance (S4 variant of course) build quality etc. it really worth every single franks I paid for it. But there is an issue. If your girlfriend wants a mobil which she can use with one hand, although HOS seems best bet you can get it's fairly hard to use with only one hand. most of the time you need the help of other hand. And if you already had to use two hands why to narrow your selection? Another thing: It's really hard to use it without a case which provides a firm grip. otherwise our phone is as slippery as a fish.