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With the new entries into the at&t android scene, will the captivate be left behind by the devs? A couple have already picked up new devices, is there cause for concern?
There will be others who step in, and given that you can run vibrant and i9000 roms there will be new stuff going on. The i9000 forum is really where the action is anyway. If hardcore and supercurio move on then I would say you have seen the end of what can be done with the sgs.
Porting vibrant roms, simple kernel/modem swap? Can it be done before and after flash?
Hope not.
@mccord
Yep, I usually boot the rom then flash the kernel and modem. Sometimes it wont work simply swapping them first.
It already has been abandoned. Jump ship while you still can.
newter55 said:
@mccord
Yep, I usually boot the rom then flash the kernel and modem. Sometimes it wont work simply swapping them first.
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Solid info, any recommendations? ;p
My point in the thread is this, were will development be in a month, what are our options. I9000 and vibrant ports are solid options. I don't think many understand how easy it is to do on their own
It will carry on no matter what. Browse around. Heck there is still stuff going on with devices that are 5 years old and older. So no it will not ever "end"
mcord11758 said:
With the new entries into the at&t android scene, will the captivate be left behind by the devs? A couple have already picked up new devices, is there cause for concern?
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Click to collapse
The new entries that is rolling out now, IMO, doesn't have the "wow" factor for anyone to upgrade and renew for another 2 years or even 1, yes opinion. I just returned my Inspire cause of it.
The Atrix, we will see. Accessories, accessories, accessories...reach deep in the pocket for it. Not worth it, ....we are just talking about a phone.
Samsung Infuse...oh yea... Neveragain.
I predict 3rd quarter, then "man overboard"
Development for these phone are easy for these devs, as long as leaked firmwares keep on popping up, and they have been. We all should be safe for awhile.
Sorry for the rambling...morning java...strong.
But yea, what newter55 said
I don't know if this indicative of how many people actually OWN a captivate, let alone DEVING...but I often find that next to Android development section of the captivate the number of viewing is usually around 300. There's still lots of captivaters, and I don't think everyone is in a position/able to jump ship.
I don't see why people are so worried, I'm looking into getting a Captivate myself. I know it's no Inspire 4G etc etc. But it's still a relatively new device. I know when I started in the WM6 days, people were still making WM5 roms etc for old devices. You will see people still working on them.
mbudden said:
I don't see why people are so worried, I'm looking into getting a Captivate myself. I know it's no Inspire 4G etc etc. But it's still a relatively new device. I know when I started in the WM6 days, people were still making WM5 roms etc for old devices. You will see people still working on them.
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Not worried, there has been a general distaste towards samsung on this section. A couple major devs have already started work on other devices. They will be back fillef I am sure. Just curious to see what direction things go
mcord11758 said:
Not worried, there has been a general distaste towards samsung on this section. A couple major devs have already started work on other devices. They well be back fillef I am sure. Just curious to see what direction things go
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Oh of course. I have been away for a long while. The last device I owned was a HTC Kaiser. Been with Blackberry since then. The Rhodium in my sig is my mothers that I tweaked for her.
Why do devs not like the Captivate? I've been looking into getting one to be able to learn Android and be as helpful as I was back in my older device days.
gps, no official froyo, quality control issues,rfs file system
mcord11758 said:
gps, no official froyo, quality control issues,rfs file system
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Interesting. Funny that you mention Quality control, my brothers brand new Captivate's screen went out under a month of getting it. It's like the screen decided not to turn on one day.
I've wondered this myself. I feel like if development will continue after the next 6 months its going to be on cyanogen... but hey. I'm relatively new to android so take what i say with several grains of salt
If the atrix lives up to the hype ill be abandoning my captivate....unlocked bootloader and its over
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I feel that the amount of work the devs are putting into this phone are making it a great device. I switched to an LG Quantum recently (and love it) But thanks to the joys of owning a sim card, I switch to my captivate at least twice a week. Go to the LG Quantum forum, and you'll see why. There isn't much to do. Not much hacking, no OC's, no UC's, just questions like "What case looks prettiest on my phone?" =/
This even applies to the majority of Motorola android phones, especially MOTOBLUR devices. There just isn't that much to do with them. As for the Captivate, there will always be some random, somewhat useless feature we're all going to go gaga over. ("OMG I CAN TAKE PANORAMA SHOTS.... MUST SHARE WITH XDA...") It's just the spirit of the Captivate forum. We're all in the same poorly navigated, highly customizable boat.
*group hug* xP
Well the origianal droid is about as customizable as the galaxy s it has gingerbread already...and honestly up until recently most of the "custom" roms were just bloatware free versions of vibrant or i9000 versions of TW. Andromeda and serendipity and supernova all are themed giving a feeling of something new and fresh....if we could get some aosp builds then this phone would really be great and we would see some true custom roms.....the devs are what's keeping the galaxy s alive.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
*wonders to self how some people ever figure out how to get dressed in the morning*
Hi all,
I need a bit of advice. My wife and I have had the Captivate since this time last year. We came over from the iPhone 3G to the Captivate and loved the amount of tweaking you could do. From the beginning, I went through 4 phones in the first month with the random shut down issue, but my Wife's was fine for the first six months she had it. She is on her second Captivate now and is having problem after problem. Alarms not going off, random shut downs, wi-fi not turning on/off, phone won't dial a number and won't hang up when you try to end the call, phone takes for ever to start up on a reboot, drops network and won't reconnect without re-starting and so on. Needless to say she is pretty frustrated with it and wants to get something different and is leaning back to the iPhone. I am having some issues with mine all similar to what she is having, but not nearly as often. We are both running the stock Froyo, but rooted.
I have a few questions:
1. Would you suspect this to be a problem with the hardware or something maybe a ROM could fix? If a ROM could fix it, any suggestions for a reliable ROM? (I've flashed ROM's in the past to mess around, but haven't kept up with them in over a year.)
2. Is this a common problem with Android (i.e. not reliable)?
3. If it isn't a common problem of Android not being reliable, what other new Android phones from AT&T are good.
Sorry for all of the questions, and thanks for any input.
Dave
I've been on custom ROMs for a long time now, and I've noticed that they are often faster, have better battery life and depending on the ROM you choose, can be more reliable than stock. I'd give it a try, since worst case, you can go back to stock or trade the phone in anyway.
I'm currently using the Illuminance ROM and it is very good. Pretty reliable, fast and excellent battery life.
Other older roms that I've used are Pinnacle and Cognition. All 3 of these offer a smooth stock experience that's not too flashy with radical themes or anything.
Good luck!
1. ask yourself this questions do u like tweaking stuff, if so go with android. else apple or windows
2. i have captivate for about 15 months now, i have never had random shutdown issues, so random shutdown could be mostly software related. I'm running cyanogen7 and its like new phone altogether. pure android experience
3. new android phones that are coming out are much stable than the older phones, bcoz phones like captivate have been rushed to market to survive the Apples rally.
if u want pure android experience go the Galaxy nexus (the latest android from Google). with google phones u can be assured that your os will upgraded as soon as Google releases latest OS. i have heard pretty good reviews about Ice Cream sandwich
What's Froyo?
A clean install of a hot new ROM will give it new life. It shouldn't be unstable though. Maybe it's all the bloatware and apps installed or some files got corrupted. Backup first but try not to reinstall as much as possible if you go with a new ROM. No system data should be restored on a different version anyway.
If your due an upgrade do so and do some research on new phones as far as fixing problems the cappys always have had minor issues a new rom with a clean install works cm7 or cognition
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
Cm7's battery life is garbage. The cm team themselves will admit that. It doesn't contain the proper hardware drivers from Samsung. you guys might want to mention that before suggesting that to a noob...
op Sounds those problems sound all software related. I would flash a leaked gingerbread stock firmware as a baseline, then if all is good you could stick with that or flash a custom gingerbread ROM over that if you wanted a more tweaked experience.
Agree with what the others have said... try upgrading to a Gingerbread ROM. There are several out there, most all of the JVT ones are very mature and stable. The latest KK4 ones are pretty nice as well but just being released so maybe not the best 1st choice.
I somewhat disagree..I found all the gb Rome to be less than stable, maybe cuz they use so much ram. That being said I put a custom froyo on mine before I donated it to my father-in-law and he hasn't had any trouble out of it. Also, att's policy is if you have went through 3 phones during your warranty period you can get it replaced with another model..you may have to ask.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
rflnc1 said:
I somewhat disagree..I found all the gb Rome to be less than stable, maybe cuz they use so much ram. That being said I put a custom froyo on mine before I donated it to my father-in-law and he hasn't had any trouble out of it. Also, att's policy is if you have went through 3 phones during your warranty period you can get it replaced with another model..you may have to ask.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
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I have to say, the GB roms lack of stability is directly related to the lack of source code for the captivate gingerbread rom.
If you are looking for a stable Froyo experience go with Andromeda3. Ive been on it for months now and really have enjoyed it.
First, thanks to all of you for the input and advice, I appreciate it.
I did end up flashing I897UCKK1 Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread from the Stock ROMs sticky over the weekend. So far so good. It seems to be working well and the phone seems much more responsive, to the point that I'm thinking of doing the same with my phone as well. I'm going to test it out on the wife's phone for a month or so, but I hope this fixes all of her issues and saves me from having to get her something new.
Thanks again,
Dave
If you like the stock GB ROM, you'll love Illuminance 3.0--very fast, great battery life, and smooth.
Or try pinnacle 1.3 close to stock, fast, and great battery life.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using xda premium
Agreed about Pinnacle--very reliable and a favorite of many.
You might also want to give a try with cyanogenmod 7, I liked it more than other roms. But it may depend on your choice. Thats the beauty of android, you have choices and most of them won't let you down.
Thread closed.
dbs179 said:
First, thanks to all of you for the input and advice, I appreciate it.
I did end up flashing I897UCKK1 Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread from the Stock ROMs sticky over the weekend. So far so good. It seems to be working well and the phone seems much more responsive, to the point that I'm thinking of doing the same with my phone as well. I'm going to test it out on the wife's phone for a month or so, but I hope this fixes all of her issues and saves me from having to get her something new.
Thanks again,
Dave
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Click to collapse
Great, happy you've found your answer.
Bought this phone soon after release, the phone and data plan seemed like a worthwhile effort to swap the carriers. Previously I owned HD2 (android-stock sense) on T-mobile. While the phone wasn't the perfect one, I'd still prefer HD2 over Triumph if it wasn't for carrier lock. The first problem was the touch screen, it's unresponsiveness to be exact. I was busy during the time so the 30 days flew in a moment and when I found the time to deal with phone, it was too late to return it. To my relief, the development started to pick up and I was hoping for improved ROM i could flash. Around this time I started to notice other problems; GPS, slow unlock and terrible sound capabilities to name few. While the Roms were a great achievement and I give big thanks to all the devs who have the time and patience for development, most of the problems didn't go away. In addition major bug with video driver was found. This phone isn't the worst out of bunch, and it's not unusable at all, just looking at other phones, considering how much I paid initially leaves wishing for a better device without such apparent bugs.
P.S. Since I'm stuck with this device which Rom would be better, Latest CM gingerbread or modded stock firmware?
CM7 Reloaded for sure. Check it out here
http://androidforums.com/triumph-all-things-root/470282-rom-cm7-tg-reloaded-latest-01-14-a.html
Choosing which rom is best depends on what you use and like... If you use hdmi out regularly then I would suggest a stock based rom, if you use wifi and bluetooth at the same time a lot, then a stock based or cm7-tg-reloaded, if you like easy custimizability with lots of options then I would suggest Miui... What I would do is just flash different roms and maybe use them for a day or so each and see what you like best... Also you can find more help and faster on android forums for the MT. I think a lot more people are more active over there than on XDA...
Hello first time posting here and need info on the s3 for verizon. This will be my first android phone and i've been reading that the verizon phone sucks because it's bootloader locked. So for someone who doesn't know anything about that, but interested in learning about flashing roms and etc.. would it bother me at all that its locked or am i gonna not notice anything different?
The Verizon GS3 has been rooted and custom bootloaders can be flashed. Their are already several roms that can be flashed. There is also work arounds that allow non-touchwiz based roms like Cyanogenmod and AOKP. The phone has been released less than a month and we've already seen tremendous progress.
Personally, I think the GS3 is a great phone. Verizon's coverage in my area far surpasses the other carriers, so I'm sticking with them. I don't think you would be disappointed with this phone.
This is the first Android phone that I have had with no interest in modifying, rooting, etc.. (I've had a Moto Droid, Droid X, X2, Bionic, and Rezound) because it works great. I've had no issues whatsoever. Only thing I have done is install GoLauncherEx for its diversity, but I could have lived with TouchWiz (the stock launcher). Easily the best phone I have ever owned.
My main purpose for rooting was for WiFi Tether, but now, Verizon includes Mobile Hotspot in the new plans (they had to, I guess) so I'm great being on stock. I'm not a "super-data-user"... maybe 4-5GB a month so the new data plans really don't affect me, and actually save me about $40/mo.
The only thing the locked bootloader will do is make it slightly more involved when flashing AOSP roms or roms that have their own kernal. Everything else will be substantially the same.
Of course, the locking is a PITA for devs, so we may see slightly fewer roms for this phone than we would have otherwise, but I think the massive popularity and awesome hardware will more than make up for the few who jumped ship. Mostly, the lock is just causing a ton of complaints and makes it possible to permanently brick your device (which is still very easy to avoid).
I agree with second poster. This phone really doesn't NEED rooted and flashed. Works great the way it is.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
I also agree that this phone, with its speed, huge screen, and TW interface, does not even need to be flashed with a custom ROM (but I did root and put a stock rooted ROM on just to have it).The TW interface is like a custom ROM - and a great one! I love this phone - it is the best cell phone i ever owned.
It is a great phone! I have had Droid X and Thunderbolt. I rooted and installed roms on both of them. All I have done is install Apex on this phone and that is all I have wanted or needed to do. This thing is SMOKING FAST!!! The only negative thing I can say is that the reception isn't as good on this phone as my other phones were. I am hopeful that a couple of software updates will fix that.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
thnx for input everyone upgrading to s3 probably tomorrow. I guess everyone was over exaggerating over the phone being locked.
Greetings fellow current and former S3 owners.
Get ready, as Oggie said my posts are rather long and rambling. I've got a few questions mainly for opinions and your experiences.
I tried activating my old DX2 on BYOP tracfone because I don't really use a lot of minutes etc and because they rollover for at least 3 months. After investing a lot of time and money, I found out the hard way that the BYOP android tracfones won't roam on non-verizon towers. And as far as I know, neither do net10, regular Andy tracfones you buy from a store or online, or even prepaid verizon phones. This is a load of BS. So there's my background now for the meat and potatoes of this post.
I've since decided to go with selectel since they do roam but only Voice and text, not data, which is fine with me. Another reason I really wanted to use my S3 is the continued development and the development done on it thus far. I couldn't run Kitkat or even ICS on the DX2 without some kind of issues. Although I give the devs credit for trying. That phone just didn't get the love my old DX got and certainly not the love my S3 gets.
Since I'm in a low signal area I've been wondering if I should use a stock based rom to get an extra few DB/m of signal strength. I can't afford a repeater at the moment. I've looked at putting foil behind the battery and on the back of the battery cover on the inside to supposedly prevent the battery from interferring with the signal from the internal antenna. I've looked at holding it differently. I've looked that using a piece of wire or an actual plug to try an external antenna but I've read many posts on many sites including a very detailed one on XDA that says it works but could damage something inside that could disable the internal antenna permanently without taking the phone apart to fix it. I'd like to avoid that too. But many have done it with excellent results.
1. Has anyone used an external antenna or any other tricks to reliably increase signal strength without buying a repeater which again, I can't afford at the moment. If so, what did you do or could you provide a link to the method.
2. I prefer AOSP or CM based rom's 10 to 1 over TW based roms. Don't get me wrong. I like the TW based roms, Alliance, MOAR, Wicked, and Scott's roms are all excellent TW based roms that are very customizable. But they still use a lot of what I would consider un-necessary stuff from verizon. They are customizable to the point that I'm fairly satisfied with that aspect of those roms even without using Xposed to get the additional features I want. and I'd like to avoid Xposed even though I've found that it works really well. I just think the AOSP roms's seem to operate smoother and there are more kitkat's to choose from. I like most of them but I prefer Nameless since it includes all of what I want without a bunch of stuff I don't use like AOKP, Carbon, and others. I do like slim, as it used to be my DD for a long time. I like Beanstalk until it started including a lot of stuff I don't sue. Don't get me wrong I am not trying to start a war of the rom world. I appreciate them all. Without the development of all those roms, we wouldn't have some of the features and have the lovely roms we have today. So, again, I've used and appreciate them all. That's what's so great about Android. You can choose what works for you. So, Please don't think I'm putting those roms down just because I prefer one over another. I'm using Liquid on my DX. Liquid Kitkat at that. and it works great for me.
I guess my question is do you guys think I'd gain enough DB/m to make it worth using a TW based rom? I know the RIL's aren't perfect but they're pretty damn cloase. Again, living in an area with bad signal to begin with every few DB/m helps. So should i use a TW rom for better signal? I've tried measuring the DB/m but I can't honestly tell a huge difference in signal between the TW and AOSP based roms even though the TW roms should get better signal.
Are there any secret settings I can access in a TW or AOSP rom that I could change to get better signal?
My S3 thanks to the work of many dev's is still an awesome device but I don't believe it gets as good a signal as did my DX and the DX2 according to the DB/m measurements. It may just be that they're measured differently in the device. I don't know.
Could someone shed some light on this and or give me some recommendations.
I also don't want to lose the settings for selectel, I've done an NVbackup in the terminal, as well as made a nandroid of my working nameless rom in case something goes arry.
Any advice will be appreciated. I'd like to try out the new Lollipop roms but I think I'll wait until it's more ready with features to use as my DD. mastamoon's may already be there but I haven't tried it yet. I'm sure they'll all get there eventually. At least I hope so.
Thanks in advance for any input on these questions. Sorry for my long rambling post. Anyone who knows me know's I go into way too much detail.
I''m using the latest firmware with the latest NE1 modem. If that helps.
Thanks one more time for taking the time to read this extra extra long post. And thanks again to the remaing dev's and past dev's for making this phone what it is today. I'd love to buy a note two or three but can't afford that now. I'd also like to hae the Razor Maxx since the battery life on those is ridiculus. I don't know if I'll ever buy another samsung just because the signal doesn't seem to be on par with some of the other brands especially Moto. At lesat the old Moto's. i don't know how well they are now that google as acquired the mobile division of moto's phones.
Did I mention I'd especially love to own a Nexus 6, I just don't know if I could use it on a CDMA network and they have the best coverage out here in the boonies where I live.
Thanks again, and have a gerat new year to all XDA members
Figured this one out the hard way. It doesn't really matter at least in my area which modem or rom. The S3 or at least my sch-i535 sucks compared to the dx2 I'm using now. I miss my s3 but Damm the signal is weak. I've heard it's better with the note 2.
Sent from my MB870 using Tapatalk 2
griz.droidx said:
Figured this one out the hard way. It doesn't really matter at least in my area which modem or rom. The S3 or at least my sch-i535 sucks compared to the dx2 I'm using now. I miss my s3 but Damm the signal is weak. I've heard it's better with the note 2.
Sent from my MB870 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
I don't know what you tried of course, but FYI the reception on a Touchwiz ROM on the S3 is always going to be better than an AOSP ROM because Samsung never released the RIL for this phone. All AOSP ROMs run a reverse engineered RIL that isn't quite as good as the Samsung one, and you can only get the Samsung one if you are on a Touchwiz ROM. So if you never tested a Touchwiz ROM, you were never seeing the better signal. However, "the S3 signal is weak" is a legitimate complaint about this phone. In my experience, even with a TW ROM its reception is below average compared to other phones of its day.
Jacquestrapp said:
I don't know what you tried of course, but FYI the reception on a Touchwiz ROM on the S3 is always going to be better than an AOSP ROM because Samsung never released the RIL for this phone. All AOSP ROMs run a reverse engineered RIL that isn't quite as good as the Samsung one, and you can only get the Samsung one if you are on a Touchwiz ROM. So if you never tested a Touchwiz ROM, you were never seeing the better signal. However, "the S3 signal is weak" is a legitimate complaint about this phone. In my experience, even with a TW ROM its reception is below average compared to other phones of its day.
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No matter the rom on my old S3 I never had a signal issue. It didn't matter if it was TouchWiz or not
Sent from my Nexus 6
ShapesBlue said:
No matter the rom on my old S3 I never had a signal issue. It didn't matter if it was TouchWiz or not
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Click to collapse
The AOSP RIL was pretty good, some people never noticed the difference but others (like me) did, I guess it depended on the tower coverage or maybe some phones just weren't as good as others. For me, it was mainly an issue inside buildings. In a few stores I frequent, if I was on a TW ROM, I'd get dropped down to 3G or even 1XRTT sometimes, while on AOSP I'd get no signal at all.
I had totally forgot about this post until going through some of the posts I'd made in the list of participated posts.. Thanks for the info, but I am well aware that the RIL was one of those deals where the dev's did the best they could with what they had. In fact, I couldn't really tell much difference if any between the TW based ROMs and the AOSP baased ones. A testament to the quality of dev's we have around here.
I am certainly very grateful for the work they've done for this phone. I was always blaming the signal loss on a lack of towers in my very rural and mountainous home. Not to mention the fact that we'd installed a metal roof on the house, and put up a metal shed to part a couple cars under. I was thinking both of those probably acted kind of like shielding of sorts. Like shielding in an electric guitar (bass in my case), or shielding in different types of wiring. I could be wrong about that but it just seemed like after that my signal went downhill whether on a TW rom or AOSP. And I was on an AOSP rom like SLIMROMS, AOKP, Liquid, Nameless (which became one of my favorites), and later on AICP, another favorite of mine with active development during the time mine was working.
I've read that the note 2's signal was much better than that of the S3. I don't know about any of the newer "S" or "Note" models. I loved my S3, it was put through the wringer. I sometimes cut weeds with it without a case, getting bits of weed and dirt all over it There were a lot of really awesome TW roms out there, but I always used something AOSP based.
Have said all that, it was a good phone for about 3.5 years. And performed very well, probably due to the 2GB of built in ram. I even dropped my phone in the shower once with no case. The back came off the battery came out, and it got wet. It was actually underwater for a few seconds. Not wanting to wait long, I can't remember if I took it apart and blowed it dry with a hair dryer which would have be the smart thing to do, or if I just put the battery back in and after wiping it off rebooted it. Either way, it survived that and lasted another couple years before the digitizer died. A very nice member on here named Master Cylinder sent several PM's with ideas on how to possibly get it going after the digiitizer died. The screen remained flawless, even after I ran out of screen protectors, and as I said I used it while mowing grass, and cutting copious amounts of weeds around the house. It'd get weeds stuck to it, but again, I'd take a damp rag and wipe it off. To this day I can't believe the digitizer failed. considering the phone worked very well up until that happened.
I'd owned a DX as my first android phone, but wanted the s3 because of the following it had. Many members who'd I'd got to know on forums went with the S3 and I followed because I felt as if I knew the dev's and how good they were. When I buy a phone, that's one of the main deciding factors in my purchase; whether or not development is strong for the device.
But once it died and I activated the DX2 that I bought for 20 dollarss mainly to use as a remote for my XBMC/Kodi computer hooked up to my TV, (before the raspberry pi's came along) and for the 16 GB sd card it contained, I decided to use it instead of my DX because of the Tegra dual core, and my love for Nvidia products. I really it could have been developed half as much as what my DX and S3 were but no such luck.
I don't know if the newer motorolas have signal receeption as good as my old DX and DX2 but I just don't like the fact that many new phones can't accept SD cards, and many do not have replaceable batteries.
In a nutshell, And I know I'm way off topic, but for those members who know my they know I'm long winded anyway. I still wish the very best to all who still own their s3, but in my low signal area, it's just a night and day difference between the S3's reception and the moto's I've owned.
I'll close by saying a BIG THANK YOU to all dev's and the commmunity who made the S3 the device I loved. I just wish it had better reception, and I wish I could fix it cheaper than it would cost me to buy one from swappa. The digitizer alone costs as much as a mint/good condition S3 on swappa. But it is old now. If I'd lived in an area with better reception maybe I'd never noticed the difference. But I don't and the difference is rreadily apparent. Shutting up now, I've rambled enough. I'd have no problem buying another samsung if and only if receptoin is at least comparable to the old moto's I own.
Again, Not *****ing, just a surprising observation to me once I started used the DX2. What sucks is this device while CM10 and CM9 are available, many have reported that they are much less reliable and stable as CM7 and Blur based GB roms. Mainly from what I understand due to either Moto's or Nvidia's lack of support which is a friggin shame.
Going back to my tags again, I personally could tell no difference signal wise from between ROMs. I think it's great that development is continuing somewhat on the S3. A testtament to the love of the phone. I miss it all the time. Except when I have to make a call that is. And isn't that why we buy cell phones. Maybe not as much as it once was, My whole reasoning in getting a smart phone in the first place was that I didn't own a MP3 player, A tablet, a Navigaion system, or e-reader.
Good luck guys and sorry I've got so far off topic. Enjoy your phones. Above all have fun. And if possible support the dev's. At least let them know how much they're appreciated. I know I don't have to tell many of you this. But, I for one (being laid off due to the closure of my engineering firrm) can't afford to even buy a beer for someone (or pop/soda). As far as appreciate goes though, I can guarantee the dev's and community won't find someone who appreciated them more. They make our devices the extra awesome that they can be. To use a phrase from one of the Armed Forces of the US, The Dev's and community who support the Dev's and us mortals, They make sure the device can be all they can be.
Cheers everyone and have fun. Can't wait until I can afford a new (probably used) phone. But as i mentioned I've shopped around mainly on swappa, and I don't even know what I'd buy, I'd like another moto unless the reception is better with the "Note" line. Again, I don't own a tablet, so a 5.5 inch to 6 inch phone is what I'll be looking for as long as it supports a SD Card, and has a removable battery. Battery Tech as came a long way, and maybe it's not the big deal it used to be, but I just think it's crazy that you can't add storage and buy a replacement battery for a phone you buy. I like the Nexus 6 and the multiple notes, but again, I don't believe you can replace the battery in the nexus nor is there expansion available in the form of an SD slot for things like Gigabytes worth of music, books, TIBU backups, and entire sets of maps for use offline. If you're readiing this and own an S3 do just like everyone recommends, don't be afraid to experiment with both ROMs and Modems, because as long as you do some reading you can always fix things back. So far I haven't hardbricked anything due to the help and hard work of the Dev's and Community at large who take time out of their life to do write ups / how to's and are usually more than willing to help.
If there's anything I can help anyone with. Just let me know. But keep in mind just like mechanic work, cooking, or computer/networking work. No one knows it all. But with enough opinions you can make educated choices. Reallly, I know some awesome mechanics who can't paint worth a nickel, and body / paint people who can't do much when it comes to hard core mechanic work. I'm in IT / GIS/ Permit Tech by trade, and while I'm pretty good at fixing things, I tell people who seem to think I know it all, that no one knows everything.
As for my recommendations, on JB I liked SLIM, KK I liked Nameless, and for POP/MM AICP. For TW Allicance, MOAR, and Wicked Sensations, not to mention Scotts work and the work of Old N Slow. This small list is not all inclusive. I've tried almost every rom out there for the S3.
I know Too Long will probably never be read.
griz.droidx said:
Greetings fellow current and former S3 owners.
Get ready, as Oggie said my posts are rather long and rambling. I've got a few questions mainly for opinions and your experiences.
I tried activating my old DX2 on BYOP tracfone because I don't really use a lot of minutes etc and because they rollover for at least 3 months. After investing a lot of time and money, I found out the hard way that the BYOP android tracfones won't roam on non-verizon towers. And as far as I know, neither do net10, regular Andy tracfones you buy from a store or online, or even prepaid verizon phones. This is a load of BS. So there's my background now for the meat and potatoes of this post.
I've since decided to go with selectel since they do roam but only Voice and text, not data, which is fine with me. Another reason I really wanted to use my S3 is the continued development and the development done on it thus far. I couldn't run Kitkat or even ICS on the DX2 without some kind of issues. Although I give the devs credit for trying. That phone just didn't get the love my old DX got and certainly not the love my S3 gets.
Since I'm in a low signal area I've been wondering if I should use a stock based rom to get an extra few DB/m of signal strength. I can't afford a repeater at the moment. I've looked at putting foil behind the battery and on the back of the battery cover on the inside to supposedly prevent the battery from interferring with the signal from the internal antenna. I've looked at holding it differently. I've looked that using a piece of wire or an actual plug to try an external antenna but I've read many posts on many sites including a very detailed one on XDA that says it works but could damage something inside that could disable the internal antenna permanently without taking the phone apart to fix it. I'd like to avoid that too. But many have done it with excellent results.
1. Has anyone used an external antenna or any other tricks to reliably increase signal strength without buying a repeater which again, I can't afford at the moment. If so, what did you do or could you provide a link to the method.
2. I prefer AOSP or CM based rom's 10 to 1 over TW based roms. Don't get me wrong. I like the TW based roms, Alliance, MOAR, Wicked, and Scott's roms are all excellent TW based roms that are very customizable. But they still use a lot of what I would consider un-necessary stuff from verizon. They are customizable to the point that I'm fairly satisfied with that aspect of those roms even without using Xposed to get the additional features I want. and I'd like to avoid Xposed even though I've found that it works really well. I just think the AOSP roms's seem to operate smoother and there are more kitkat's to choose from. I like most of them but I prefer Nameless since it includes all of what I want without a bunch of stuff I don't use like AOKP, Carbon, and others. I do like slim, as it used to be my DD for a long time. I like Beanstalk until it started including a lot of stuff I don't sue. Don't get me wrong I am not trying to start a war of the rom world. I appreciate them all. Without the development of all those roms, we wouldn't have some of the features and have the lovely roms we have today. So, again, I've used and appreciate them all. That's what's so great about Android. You can choose what works for you. So, Please don't think I'm putting those roms down just because I prefer one over another. I'm using Liquid on my DX. Liquid Kitkat at that. and it works great for me.
I guess my question is do you guys think I'd gain enough DB/m to make it worth using a TW based rom? I know the RIL's aren't perfect but they're pretty damn cloase. Again, living in an area with bad signal to begin with every few DB/m helps. So should i use a TW rom for better signal? I've tried measuring the DB/m but I can't honestly tell a huge difference in signal between the TW and AOSP based roms even though the TW roms should get better signal.
Are there any secret settings I can access in a TW or AOSP rom that I could change to get better signal?
My S3 thanks to the work of many dev's is still an awesome device but I don't believe it gets as good a signal as did my DX and the DX2 according to the DB/m measurements. It may just be that they're measured differently in the device. I don't know.
Could someone shed some light on this and or give me some recommendations.
I also don't want to lose the settings for selectel, I've done an NVbackup in the terminal, as well as made a nandroid of my working nameless rom in case something goes arry.
Any advice will be appreciated. I'd like to try out the new Lollipop roms but I think I'll wait until it's more ready with features to use as my DD. mastamoon's may already be there but I haven't tried it yet. I'm sure they'll all get there eventually. At least I hope so.
Thanks in advance for any input on these questions. Sorry for my long rambling post. Anyone who knows me know's I go into way too much detail.
I''m using the latest firmware with the latest NE1 modem. If that helps.
Thanks one more time for taking the time to read this extra extra long post. And thanks again to the remaing dev's and past dev's for making this phone what it is today. I'd love to buy a note two or three but can't afford that now. I'd also like to hae the Razor Maxx since the battery life on those is ridiculus. I don't know if I'll ever buy another samsung just because the signal doesn't seem to be on par with some of the other brands especially Moto. At lesat the old Moto's. i don't know how well they are now that google as acquired the mobile division of moto's phones.
Did I mention I'd especially love to own a Nexus 6, I just don't know if I could use it on a CDMA network and they have the best coverage out here in the boonies where I live.
Thanks again, and have a gerat new year to all XDA members
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Don't think that no one read this in its entirety because I did. I want to say thank you for posting this. I'm glad to see posts like this because too often we post something very short and to the point and it gets kind of mundane after awhile.
I thankfully don't live in a tin can (just being funny) and I'm not rural by any means but I've been in many places where there is no signal or non existent. I've still got my S3 laying around and by far to date it's been my favorite phone to mess around with and change roms, kernels and so forth. While I love my Nexus 5 and 6 I miss the external storage badly.
Thanks again man for just being a member and for your post it is much appreciated