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My Detailed Story: iPhone to SGS2

I used to be a iPhone fanboy and somewhere along the way I thought I'd give Android a try and I got myself a Samsung SGS2. There must be a lot of people out there in the fruit cult wanting to be brought to the green robot cult or vice versa. Here's my complete NON-BIASED story that might help you out with consideration of both the user experience and the technical side of things.
WARNING: This is a looooooong story. So if you're not into a good long thread, please skip.
NOTE: The iPhone being discussed is a jailbroken, fully utilized iPhone. A non-jailbroken iPhone cannot come even close to the SGS2.
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APPS:
Surprisingly, the Android Market and the Apple AppStore are not created to be equal. Although most of the popular apps like Facebook, eBay, Google apps are available on both stores, the Apple equivalent apps are usually several versions ahead (i.e. Navigon, Tunein Radio, etc.) except for the Google-centric apps and/or other apps that I don't typically use. The apps simply look / feel better on an iPhone. But for sure they run faster on the SGS2 hands down. There's IXX0XX on the iPhone for the *free* apps. The Android-equivalent AXX, BXX, 4XX, etc simply cannot compete against it. Although it's much easier to find *free* Android apps from all over the place, IXX0XX, as a centralized place to go, has all of the popular high-quality paid apps/games, up-to-date version.
RESOLUTION / SCREEN SIZE
I don't know why people always want a 4.3", 4.5" or even bigger screen on a phone. For me, as long as the same amount of information can be displayed on a screen, that's what counts. The SGS2 screen is huge compared to the iPhone, and certainly things do appear bigger and easier to read. However, the iPhone resolution is just much higher. If you look very closely on an iPhone 4 screen, you simply cannot see the pixels, whereas for the SGS2 (non-HD version), it's just like every other smartphone, you can see the pixels (but not so bad). Why does this matter? Say, you open a webpage in overview on an iPhone, it's almost like the letters that are too small to see is because my sight is not good enough to read it. But with the SGS2, the letters that are too small to see is because the screen doesn't have a good-enough resolution to display it. This is the best way I can put it. The text does appear much sharper on the iPhone.
PHONE QUALITY / FEEL
This is really a personal preference. The SGS2 has a huge screen, so it is bigger. Both look very slick. I like the weight of the SGS2 because it feels much lighter so if I ever drop it, it *should not* be destroyed. The iPhone is a little too heavy. Heavier = Better Quality? I don't think so. Some people complain that the back cover of the SGS2 is just soft plastic. It feels quite good though. The textured surface prevents fingerprints. The iPhone is only good in terms of its size. I can do one-handed operation where my thumb can pretty much reach both sides of the screen. The SGS2 is slightly too big where it's not too comfortable to use it single-handedly over a long period of time.
ROOTING V.S. JAILBREAKING
Android ROOTING = iPhone JAILBREAKING. It is so much easier for the Android to be freed. You simply flash a rooted kernel, then you're "jailbroken" no matter what firmware version you have. Everytime an iOS version comes out, we have to wait for the Dev team to find a new security loophole in the firmware in order to get a jailbreak. Note that Apple appears to be hiring these bright guys one by one. Even if you can get a tethered jailbreak, it is still not acceptable. If your iOS ever crashes, you need to plug in your computer to properly boot the phone. What I really like about Android is that you can do everything without a computer (once rooted). You can flash new kernels, new ROMs, complete restore (nandroid), all without a computer. With an iPhone, if you want to reflash your firmware to newer/lower version, you need to be beside a computer, even for restoring apps / app settings.
BACKUP / RESTORE
On an iPhone, you cannot do a true "complete backup" because everytime you want to install a firmware to the phone, the firmware needs to be signed by Apple (or Tinyumbrella with your SHSH). And naturally, your saved data cannot be integrated to this "firmware". With the SGS2, there's a system partition and a user partition. And you can do a "nandroid" backup, which is a complete image of your system (think Norton Ghost or Acronis Home Image), saved on your sdcard partition or EMMC (external sdcard). On the iPhone, you need PkgBackup to backup your Cydia apps (as a list, now with settings as well), and Chronus to backup your AppStore apps. After the backup, you must copy the backup files (at least for Chronus) to the computer because you only have a single partition on the iPhone. A wipe will take your backup with it. On the SGS2, we can use CWM to do a complete system image as mentioned above, or use TitaniumBackup for individual apps (this includes both the app itself and the settings). If you use CWM, once restored, your phone is EXACTLY the way you left it. With TitaniumBackup, it's even a greater concept because you can constantly backup updated apps individually whereas with CWM you have to do a system image everytime. So this means the apps become like "modules" that you can put on different ROMs for instance.
LATEST PHONE??
The good thing about Apple is that once you get the iPhone of the year, you know you have the latest and greatest of that year because of the steady annual release. As for Android, once you buy one, another manufacturer might come up with a better (if not better, a slightly different hardware offering) phone that makes you wonder if you should've waited. This brings us to fragmentation. There are so many Android phones with all kinds of hardware combination and you just don't know which one is the best. As of this writing, the SGS2 is the best available phone IMHO, the SGS2HD is the even better one yet to come. But if you want a balance of specs and price, there are too many to choose from.
FRAGMENTATION / NOKIA
Why the heck would I mention Nokia here? In my opinion, I think one of the reasons why Nokia failed is that it tries come create so many differnt phones to suit the different needs of everybody whereas Apple created a phone that is good for all. Even worse, Nokia will create two phones with similar specs, and one phone will have a need-to-have feature while lacking one need-to-have feature, which appears on the other phone, which is itself not perfect. This is crap. They have the power to give you everything you want but they don't. With Apple, the user experience is the same for everybody. With an Android, I am hoping it doesn't get to the level of how Nokia played the game. Think of iPhone as a PS3 while the Android is a PC. A PC is all powerful, you can have different amount of RAM, different video cards, etc. Every PC user will tell you how they tweak their machine to achieve a certain benchmark score and you wonder why you can't or if the score posted is a fake. But with PS3, everybody playing the same game experience the same thing. That being said, there are too many firmwares (ROMs) to choose from for Android, each offering something different, suited for phones with different hardware. I think this model will be improved once Ice Cream Sandwich comes along where phones with different hardware can share just one firmware.
BACKGROUNDING / MULTITASKING
Android users keep saying that iPhone doesn't do true multitasking, which is somewhat true. But now that Android does full multitasking, everybody complains about battery life and everybody is looking for the "best task killer", which is not supposed to be required for a UNIX kernel. True, iPhone does not do true multiasking. But the iPhone "semi-multitasking" is very well implemented. Whenever you quit an app, the OS stores the last state of the app. So technically it has stopped running. But when you go back, you are at where you left it. This is great for most of the apps like games, readers, etc., where they don't really need to be running in the background. But for Nav apps like Navigon, Tomtom, or even Install0us while downloading an app, these apps do run in the background. With Backgrounder, you can set the behavior of how each app implement multitasking. With Android, every app can run in the background and there is no quick kill button. Although the kernel will kill the app automatically when the memory is low, some apps can misbehave. Try to have Dolphin HD Browser open a page with Flash content and go back to the home screen. The app simply keeps playing the flash content in the background all day long, draining your battery. Thankfully, there's Watchdog Task Manager, which does not blindly kill apps but use CPU threshold to determine what apps are misbehaving. To summarize, with Android, get Watchdog and Wave Launcher, then Multitasking works great. With iPhone, get Backgrounder and use Activate to set up a good gesture to bring up the multitasking bar.
BATTERY / PUSH
All smartphones drain battery fairly quickly, including the iPhone. But Android (SGS2, specifically), drains battery even quicker. On the SGS2, there's this Android OS Bug (Google AOS Bug), which can take off out of nowhere, and drain your battery within half a day without you even touch the phone. But it has been fixed now with Siyahkernal 1.8. But even then, the SGS2 does eat much more battery than an iPhone. One big reason I believe is due to how each phone (or app, actually) manages data. With Android, you have Background Data and Sync to transmit data in the background. But the problem is app developers don't need to follow this API. They can write any app the way they want. Some may keep transmitting data in the background with you knowing unless you use Droidfirewall to block it. With iPhone, we have PUSH notification, which every app follows for transmitting data in the background. I have only now come to really appreciate it. Although for some reason, PUSH email chews a lot more battery out of the iPhone (for Android too) compared to the regular PUSH notification. But the way PUSH is implemented on the iPhone, it IS superior. Android users, due to the battery drainage, have become paranoid about their data toggles. Everything must be toggled off (data/wifi/etc.) when the screen goes off (using Juice Defender or the like). So you are missing out being able to get real-time messages while out and about. With the iPhone, even with PUSH notification on 3G you hardly notice any battery drain when idle and screen off. This is a big plus for Apple. The iPhone has VERY LOW consumption when idle even with PUSH/3G/WIFI all turned on. The SGS2 has a constent ~1.5%/hr drain even when everything is turned off. But of course, if you are on a naked ROM with absolutely no other apps installed, the standby is somewhat better. That's why I think the fact that app developers can program any way they want is not always a good idea. Once you install some apps that do things in the background, your idle battery drain increases.
HARDWARE BUTTONS
Why, Apple, why only one button?? I really like the SGS2 with back and especially the menu buttons. All settings can be accessed in the app instead of going through "settings". Maybe because I'm used to PC's. I still don't like having only one mouse button on a MAC. Having BACK button makes multitasking that much easier. Although the iPhone home button can be assigned different tasks (double click / single click, using Activator), the way SGS2 implements buttons is much better. That being said, I don't like the other variants of Android phones with 4 to 5 buttons. If the function can be consolidated, I'd like that better (i.e. Menu + long pressed = Search).
TV OUT + BLUETOOTH MOUTH/KEYBOARD
If you have a SGS2, you have a fully functional computer in your living room. With the HML cable and bluetooth keyboard/mouse, you can surf the web, watch movies, and do just about everything else on your HDTV. With a BT mouse you can actually have a cursor on your screen (only a BT keyboard works on the iPhone). Although the control is not perfect, but it is certainly usable. Note, the videos (or Youtube videos) are in HD when you watch it on the big screen via SGS2. I am very very impressed. The only downside is that "sometimes" the phone drains the battery instead of getting charged. This goes the same with using SatNav apps while on car charger. The kernel has a 650mA limit on charging while using GPS and a bright screen, the usage might go over 650mA, this might explain why. With Siyahkernel and an inid.d script, you can change the charging limit to 1000mA, but it makes no difference for me. But my theory is that the battery charges slower when the phone temperature is higher in order to protect the battery. Becuase when it's nice and cool, the phone does get charged even when using GPS.
PHONE / MSG APPS
Android comes with a pretty good set of apps by default. The phone app, for instance, I cannot live without being able to search a contact by T9. (i.e. find Richard by typing 7424). With the iPhone, you need to go to Contacts and search by scrolling, which is very inconvenient. But with the jailbroken app iSmartDialer, it solves the issue. The Message app is about the same for both phones. But with the jailbroken app Tlert, or iRealSMS or etc, the experience is even better. You can set up a gesture to bring up the non-intrusive messaging box to type and send. But in general, the Android has a much better notification delivery system through the drop down menu (which has the toggles too). iPhone has SBSettings for the toggles but it doesn't looks as nice. Notification-wise, the iPhone is very intrusive. Without the special SMS jailbroken apps above, when an SMS comes in, you either HAVE TO reply to it, or you have to dismiss it (and possibly forget about it). The Android notification drop down stores all the notifications very nicely.
LOCKSCREEN
iPhone + LockInfo = great. But with Android + JKAY V11, although we don't get notifications right in the lock screen, we can have different ways of launching apps quickly. With Android you can kinda get lockscreen notifications through widgets and WidgetLocker.
BROWSER
Coming from a Nokia N85/N86, the iPhone stock browser is a big upgrade. Although there's no flash support, most sites are formatted quite well on the iPhone. But going from iOS to Android, it is at least 10 times better. Even the stock browser loads pages really fast. When you scroll up and down through a very long page you no longer see the "squares" (where page is not loaded properly). I use both the Dolphin HD for full webpages and Opera Mobile for everyday use. The Opera Mobile is REALLY FAST. And Flash support is just great. You finally get the real desktop browsing experience that you cannot find on an iPhone. I don't like the idea of Apple restricting the way developers write their browsers. Every browser on the AppStore simply runs the default iOS browser as its base and add visual tweaks to it. This is true even for the iPhone version of Skyfire. Back in the Symbian days, the Skyfire is truely revolutionary (for the Nokia phones) where contents are compressed on the server side and streamed to the phone. However, Skyfire is a little too slow waiting either for the webpage or the video. The Android browser is so much so much faster. And tabbed browsing interface is good on both phones.
CAMERA
SGS2 camera beats the crap out of an iPhone 4 camera. It is true that the iPhone 4 can take a pretty decent photo when you are "absolutely still". SGS2 camera is simply better with more options. The night mode actually takes very good pictures even without flash. The iPhone 4, if you move at all during the picture taking, the photo becomes blurred. The iPhone camera is only good under very well lit condition and that you're absolutely still.
SYNCING
With SGS2, you can forget about iTunes. If you have a picture, drag it in because your phone shows up as a USB drive. If you have music, pictures, or whatever, create your own folder, drag them into anywhere you want. The iPhone depends on iTunes too much. Although with PWNTunes you can make the iPhone into a USB drive and drag music in there. But everytime you drag something new in there, the scanning for the new content takes a while. Also, SGS2 is truely integrated with Google services. I keep a copy of my Contacts on the Gmail server and that's all I need. The iPhone with Gmail exchange server set up, it can do the same, but the battery drain does apply for the iPhone (i.e. battery drain with exchange email described previously).
MULTIMEDIA
SGS2 can play all kinds of file formats, which pretty much eliminates the need for a computer. The iPhone requires VLC player or alike. It does work, but for one, you cannot organize your files by folders.
VOIP
SGS2 has a fairly sufficient VOIP client built in. And you can get a modded phone app to do call recording. This is not as easy on the iPhone. I use Acrobits as my VOIP client on the iPhone and I can only do call recording on VOIP calls but not regular GSM calls. The VOIP incoming calls rely on PUSH notification, which is a bit inconvenient because once you get the notification, you have to consider the delay of opening the respective VOIP app to properly receive the call. By the time everything is opened, the caller might've given up. On Android, the client itself is constantly listening for incoming calls at the cost of battery. But it does responds like the regular calls.
GPS
The actual GPS performance when a signal is locked is pretty much identical for both phones practically. However, when you depend on AGPS for a triangulation, the iPhone works much faster and accurately. For instance, the Camera geotagging works more reliably with the iPhone because it will record your location nearest to the cell tower you are connected to. But with Android, many apps apparently do not use this information and try to wait for a full GPS signal. The result is, if you take a picture, the location recorded can be way off.
ACCESSORIES
When I went to Best Buy / Future Shop to find a car holder for my beloved SGS2, I was totally pissed by the fact that every (+95%) accessories in the store are for the iPhone!!?? Ebay is probably the only other good place to look for accessories. The good thing is that the iPhone headphone with mic and control does work on the SGS2. Note the microphone jack pins changed from the Galaxy S to the S2. S2 follows the iPhone (i.e. headphone works, mic works, call button works, but not the volume buttons). For the Galaxy S, two of the pins are reversed like the Nokia phones. So I'm glad that SGS2 is more "future-proof" in this regard. At least it accepts iPhone headphones (which is the trend??)
WARRANTY
I haven't had to deal with this yet for my SGS2. But when my iPhone broke the last time (home button stopped working), I just unjailbreak it (new flash) and took it to the nearest Apple Store (not the one I bought the phone from), and a brand new iPhone was given to me no questions asked (they only checked for any sign of water damage by looking at the special stickers in the headphone jack and charger port). But I am pretty sure the Samsund warranty cannot be as good as the Apple warranty. For one, I got the international version from Expansys.ca. So if it breaks, I guess I would need to buy a new one.
SELLING THE PHONE
The iPhone retains its value very very well. My iPhone 4, I bought at about $6xx, I sold for $540 after one year. My iPhone 3GS, which I bought locked, I sold it much higher than my buying price. I think the SGS2 is more like a car, once you drive it, the price is at least halved.
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I'm so tired of typing, I'll type some more some other time. Feel free to ask me questions though.

I also just switched from the iPhone to the S2. I have had a iPhone since THE iPhone so this was a big decision for me.
For the most part, there is no comparison. The S2 is so much better.
But...and there always is one isn't there?
I am now thinking about switching back. The one big hold up I have right now is sending videos via MMS. With the iPhone, ANY video I shot could be sent. No matter the size, the duration or the settings. I always shot video at the highest quality and could send them any time later.
Can't do that with the S2. 1000k limit. That sucks.

Bloody hell thats one long long story...Some parts i agree with you some i dont.
Apps yes hands down appstore is the best..If i was you i would not be posting about Installous and about the same for android cause its against the rules here my friend.
Display i have to say the S2 beats the retina anyday...Sorry i had iphone 4 and although i loved it for me the S2 is perfect you cant beat AMOLED..But again thats my opinion.
Jailbreaking and rooting...il be honest i find jailbreaking alot more easier and simple to do than rooting....Regarding downgrading to a previous version on the iphone that was pretty easy to but sometimes right painful...Just factory reset the phone and you got as it was out of the box.....Well i always managed to find a way just incase i messed up..
Anyway im happy with the S2 it does what i want and most of the apps i manage to live with...I cant see myself without it and only as time will come we will see more quality apps coming in the market..
Next upgrade for me..Galaxy S3...Be sure to find out that will be a world beater my friend...Nice post though very good reading

MuddyPaws1 said:
I also just switched from the iPhone to the S2. I have had a iPhone since THE iPhone so this was a big decision for me.
For the most part, there is no comparison. The S2 is so much better.
But...and there always is one isn't there?
I am now thinking about switching back. The one big hold up I have right now is sending videos via MMS. With the iPhone, ANY video I shot could be sent. No matter the size, the duration or the settings. I always shot video at the highest quality and could send them any time later.
Can't do that with the S2. 1000k limit. That sucks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the limit is usaully set by the network not the phone (its usaully 300kb for mms)
unless your talking about sharing online via youtube or facebook etc ???
there is no way you sent a hd video longer then 10-20 seconds via mms on the iphone

I too have been an iPhone owner since it's inception. I toyed around with an Android phone I bought from Craigslist earlier in the year just to see what all the fuss was about. It was an HTC something or another on AT&T. I REALLY wanted to like the Android OS, but I hated that phone. I had to charge it every 3-4 hours, even WITH Juice Defender running. I promptly sold it on Craigslist for more money than I paid for it, so that was a lose/win.
I went back to my iPhone 4, which was tried and true. Then one day, I dropped it on it's face, and spiderwebbed the screen. My entire life was on that phone. Thankfully, I have a no-questions asked warranty from Squaretrade, and they fixed it for $50. (Would have cost me $150 from local iRepairman). I needed a phone to use while it was on vacation, so I bought the Galaxy S brand new on Craigslist for $200 cash. Again, I decided to try to give the Android OS another chance. (I also have a Xoom, and make love to it every day. It KILLS my iPad, but thats another write.)
My iPhone4 came back fixed after a week, but I have yet to reactivate it. I continued to woo the Galaxy S.
When the Galaxy S2 was released. I had a dilemma. Wait for the iPhone 5 and hope it went to the 4.5" screen, (which would have been THE selling point for me), or buy the Samsung Galaxy S2. As soon as the iPhone4S was announced, it was decided. I went straight to the ATT store and upgraded to my Galaxy S2.
I have had it for a week now, and I can say, this IS a fantastic device, if not the best I have ever owned. While I can agree with most of the OP's remarks, the iPhone is a dummies phone. It is no-frills out-of-the-box, and it just works. To also mention, I had a PhoneSuit on it, which gave me 2-3 days battery life without a recharge. The PhoneSuit is amazing. I would only hope they would make one for the S2. The Android phones take some tweaking to get them to work like you want. I expect to see a flood of accessories before x-mas.
I will leave the verdict out on which brand I like better. I enjoyed the no-frills of the iPhone, but I love the Android phone too. It is a true nerds phone.

buxz777 said:
the limit is usaully set by the network not the phone (its usaully 300kb for mms)
unless your talking about sharing online via youtube or facebook etc ???
there is no way you sent a hd video longer then 10-20 seconds via mms on the iphone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it was for sure better resolution than the "record for mms" setting on the S2. And the iPhone did the conversion on the fly. So you could take the video in HD today, and a week from now send it to someone via MMS. You can't do that with the S2. You have to know you are going to send it via MMS and record it in that setting. Which means you can't also use that video to send to youtube or use on your computer because the quality is terrible.

MuddyPaws1 said:
I also just switched from the iPhone to the S2. I have had a iPhone since THE iPhone so this was a big decision for me.
For the most part, there is no comparison. The S2 is so much better.
But...and there always is one isn't there?
I am now thinking about switching back. The one big hold up I have right now is sending videos via MMS. With the iPhone, ANY video I shot could be sent. No matter the size, the duration or the settings. I always shot video at the highest quality and could send them any time later.
Can't do that with the S2. 1000k limit. That sucks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
think you should just switch over mate..you sound like an iphone boy through and through...be honest if the 4s was a tad bigger i would of gone for it as well but like i said im happy with what i got now

MuddyPaws1 said:
Well it was for sure better resolution than the "record for mms" setting on the S2. And the iPhone did the conversion on the fly. So you could take the video in HD today, and a week from now send it to someone via MMS. You can't do that with the S2. You have to know you are going to send it via MMS and record it in that setting. Which means you can't also use that video to send to youtube or use on your computer because the quality is terrible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iam sorry but through mms the limit is set by the network which is 300kb - 600kb
if i take a video and add it to my sms , the sms turns into a mms , it then converts the picture/video small enough if it can ie it wont be able to ahrink a 30min hd video into 300kb
i dont have to take the video in mms settings the sgs2 can convert things on the fly and does , what it doesnt do is make the impossible happen and shrink a 30mb file into 300kb
the iphone wouldnt either i have owned one (the iphone4) it cant magically make a video shrink from 30mb-300mb into 300kb , as you say the quality would be horrendous even on a small video taken in mms mode , so a longish clip shot in hd would look just as bad if not worse
the iphone works on exactly the same principal so i dont understand your post and your problem isnt even a problem?? try adding an 8mp photo to your sms , its over 1mb and hus to be shrunk , everytime i do this my sgs2 says converting .... then adds the picture
seriously mate the sgs2 does convert media but it cant do the impossible and make the alps fit in your car garage at home

King Shady said:
Cool story bro
... I didn't read it :/
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was JUST asking myself, did King Shady read this? I hope he tells us or I won't have a decent sleep tonight!

Exidrion said:
I was JUST asking myself, did King Shady read this? I hope he tells us or I won't have a decent sleep tonight!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you'll sleep tight tonight. . Anyways I don't understand how some people can write this much for an online forum - where we don't even know each other!

i love reading these write up before buying a phone. thank you! I pretty much agree with you on most points.

buxz777 said:
iam sorry but through mms the limit is set by the network which is 300kb - 600kb
if i take a video and add it to my sms , the sms turns into a mms , it then converts the picture/video small enough if it can ie it wont be able to ahrink a 30min hd video into 300kb
i dont have to take the video in mms settings the sgs2 can convert things on the fly and does , what it doesnt do is make the impossible happen and shrink a 30mb file into 300kb
the iphone wouldnt either i have owned one (the iphone4) it cant magically make a video shrink from 30mb-300mb into 300kb , as you say the quality would be horrendous even on a small video taken in mms mode , so a longish clip shot in hd would look just as bad if not worse
the iphone works on exactly the same principal so i dont understand your post and your problem isnt even a problem?? try adding an 8mp photo to your sms , its over 1mb and hus to be shrunk , everytime i do this my sgs2 says converting .... then adds the picture
seriously mate the sgs2 does convert media but it cant do the impossible and make the alps fit in your car garage at home
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The S2 does not convert on the fly. I have a 20 second video I shot on the S2 and it will not send it...tried with many MMS apps and it always says file too big.
I have sent 3 minute videos from the iPhone and it just goes through.

King Shady said:
Cool story bro
... I didn't read it :/
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What a numpty! Most pointless post I've read on XDA to date. Go back to GameFAQs. (why am I even bothering?)
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Good write. I have decided to sell my Galaxy SII and get an iPhone 4S

Sgs2 is class for iphone 4s .Pleas go buy iphone and leave this forum wee hawe job.what kind of smartphone dhont hawe flasplayer?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

I like the luxury of having flash but never use. Not a good case anymore. Try watching a half hour video and tell me how much battery you have left...

Thank you dikai_yang and taking time writing and for posting.
As for many others commenting Ipone vs. SGS2 you seems to have good insight and have taken time to write in a educational way that many of us could learn a bit from.
If you later take your time writing about your experiences I would definitely read it.

blunted09 said:
I like the luxury of having flash but never use. Not a good case anymore. Try watching a half hour video and tell me how much battery you have left...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On Saturday I went to an artist Showcase (half wanted to go, half forced by the queen), and watched three quarters of the Auburn-Arkansas game. I would say Flash is pretty useful indeed.

Currykiev said:
What a numpty! Most pointless post I've read on XDA to date. Go back to GameFAQs. (why am I even bothering?)
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its funny because your post was just as useless as mine . We both troll!!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

The only point I do not agree with or am knowledgeable enough to disagree is Rooting vs Jail breaking. Firstly root for me means being able to do anything with your device. Meaning the ability change roms, kernels and aspects of the system.
Now rooting in some phones do not or did not have such a privilege. Phones like droid 2, x10, droid x. These phones you could "root", meaning say the ability to use titanium backup or root explorer. In other words gain superuser access. What you could not do was change kernels, which is the heart of a rom.
So the point you are making about rooting on Android being easier isn't entirely true since some phones do not actually have "true root".

What do you think about the new tablet UI of 4.2 (Nexus 7 style phablet mode)?

Starting with Jelly Bean 4.2 Google unified there UI for both tablets and phones by using the Nexus 7 phablet UI for tablets, splitting the navbar and the notification area in two bars.
What's your opinion on this? I think the usability is way worse without having any payoff what's so ever. Not only does the new UI waste allot more screen realestate, it is also less ergonomic. Since Google aligned the navbar buttons at the center, it is virtually impossible to reach the home button with your thumb in landscape and it is still harder than before in portrait orientation, especially on bigger tablets.
I really hope Samsung and other OEM as well as custom rom cooks just ignore this really dumb decision.

I like it a lot more. I mean it's better at least from a point of view of developers to have a unified interface.
Regarding the centered buttons, I think there will be a posibility to move them in the left. Personally I would like them to be in the left as well.

It seems awfully inefficient. I understand their motives but I'd prefer the older UI.
Sent from my iPhone

Idc as long as its customizable, my tablet is an iPad anyways(actually i dont like it anymore)

A bit weird, but after all, everyone will get used...

timotei21 said:
I like it a lot more. I mean it's better at least from a point of view of developers to have a unified interface.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought about that and I actually fail to see it. The developers already need to support multiple screen sizes and resolutions, so there apps must be ppi independent anyway. So the can't develop for a fixed resolution no matter if there are one or two bars outside the application window. And other than that the app shouldn't care about UI-elements that are -again- outside of its window.
timotei21 said:
Regarding the centered buttons, I think there will be a posibility to move them in the left. Personally I would like them to be in the left as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is none on the Nexus 7 (running 4.12) so I assume there will be none on other 4.2 devices. Also none of the bloggers who reviewed the new Nexus devices mentioned anything, nor where there any screenshots or videos about it.
P.S.
As the idiot that I be I accidentally clicked on "I like the new interface":silly:

IIRC the switching between "honeycomb ui" "normal/phone ui" and "nexus 7 ui" was done purely based on DPI and resolution (specifically width IIRC) reported by the system. And the fact is, with the extremely high resolution of the 10" tablet this would mean that they might have to completely change the way that switching works? I'm curious to know if there will still be a DPI for any device that is the boundary to switch into the honeycomb mode and that despite it's size the fact that it has such a high resolution means that it just goes into n7 mode per the calculation anyway...?
But either way, I think i'm starting to like the n7 mode for my nexus 7 at least, but I like the really low dpi of 160, so I am hoping that the above is not true and that they have completely removed "honeycomb style status bar"...it'll take some getting used to ofc, but I like it (sometimes)...

It is inefficient and uncomfy. I hope they get back to the previous UI.

I like the new Tablet UI. I don't like not being able to switch to landscape mode, though.

I think the idea of new notification bar is ok but need improvement (e.g. both menu down at same time)
Sent from my GT-S5300 using xda app-developers app

I like the new Tablet UI it is more interesting.

I like it a lot more

TheGoD said:
Starting with Jelly Bean 4.2 Google unified there UI for both tablets and phones by using the Nexus 7 phablet UI for tablets, splitting the navbar and the notification area in two bars.
What's your opinion on this? I think the usability is way worse without having any payoff what's so ever. Not only does the new UI waste allot more screen realestate, it is also less ergonomic. Since Google aligned the navbar buttons at the center, it is virtually impossible to reach the home button with your thumb in landscape and it is still harder than before in portrait orientation, especially on bigger tablets.
I really hope Samsung and other OEM as well as custom rom cooks just ignore this really dumb decision.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think its dumb. it is weird and im not use to it lol

cool, awesome, amazing, but I preffer the old one.

An android developer's first contact with iOS

Hi long time xda fellows. Just wanted to share with you some of my thoughts
Brief Intro
This is just my personal thoughts and it only may apply to me so please don't feel offended by this article. Well, I am developing android apps for a few years now, doing this for a living. Developing various project for my clients most of the time I came across projects which involved "Make it work on android as it works on iOS" and I ended up with the same thing "I need to get an iPhone for testing". I finally took the step 4 months ago and purchased a used iPhone 5 16 GB. The reason was for getting an older version were pretty obvios: I did not wanted to spent too much money on a device which will be used primarily for testing. Iphone 5s was too expensive and 5C was basically an 5 with plastic body.
I am very picky when it comes to my daily driver device. I have owned in the past many devices, my first acceptable device was Galaxy S1 (oh, the lag of android 2.3), then went for Galaxy Nexus (which was quite a good device and I still own it and runs pretty acceptable), Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 3, LG G2. Given the fact that I have small hands, I found G2 to be quite impressive: such small bezels, pretty acceptable firmware, good camera, great form factor and battery life... until I noticed the slippery back which was the main reason to get rid of it. I can't really understand why producers tend to get this shiny plastic as back-cover which offers zero grip. All the time I had the impression it will slip from my hands. I love the back material on black Nexus 5 and I hope they'll continue to use it on the next model. The Note 3 was quote a near perfect phone, contrary to many, I liked the fake leather back as it gave me good enough grip, the touchwiz isn't that bad, stylus was working very good but, after trying to get used to its form factor for 2 months I had to give up. It was simply to uncomfortable for me use, most of the time I found myself needing to use it with one hand and couldn't. Just try to put the shopping list on it and hold the note in one hand and the grocery basket in the other and then check what you buy. But this really comes to personal preference since I gave it to my wife and she says she'll never want a smaller device.
So back to main idea, I purchased a used iPhone 5 for around 350$ while iPhone 5s it is being sold in my country for around 900$. Since I got rid of Note 3, I told myself that if I paid for it, I should use it, so I started using iPhone 5 as a daily device. This means two gmail accounts, calls, skype and instagram.
First impressions:
Where is my notification light ? After years of getting used to it I find it a bit hard to live without. Many say it is not needed but to be frankly I prefer to look at the phone on my table to see if I missed something rather than waking the screen up. Not to mention that I recently released JeFeel app on Google Play and I receive a lot of Instagram notifications. For each of them my iPhone's screen wakes up.Not great for battery life I suppose. Let be honest, how much would a blinking led cost for production ? one cent? Not to mention the other cool things like RGB LEDs on most of the android devices which can be configured to know exactly what notification you received by the color it shows.
What's with this small text size ? Went to Settings to make it bigger and it seems that the Dynamic Font size only works on some of Apple's apps and the rest simply ignore it. I have good eye view and I really find it too small to comfortable read it. Might be because of only 4 inch of diagonal or something. It was a small relief to find the Bold setting which makes things a bit better. Not to mention browsing reddit funny pictures was not that fun.
After being spoiled for years with SwiftKey keyboard, with multiple language support, swipe, fantastic auto correct, I found to iOS keyboard horrible. The auto correct gives me more trouble than helping me so in the end I disabled it. Also to press 2-3 keys to get to things like comma "," or numbers/symbols I find it far from ergonomic. Basically these were my main three things I did not like, coming from android
After three months of usage
Well, believe it or not I got used to the small text size and now I find it acceptable. Still, the screen size is too small to do serious browsing or email answering. I find the keyboard to be still a pain to use. However, I noticed a lot of other things: * I like the notification center and how notification are shown on lock-screen. Swiping a notification opens the app to which it belongs to without the need to unlock. I like how when I read an email on my computer, the notification from lockscreen gets dismissed. Quite cool.
Control center is handy and I use it mostly to toggle auto rotate lock and media volume. Is great that I can access it from anywhere but sometimes I simply open it by mistake when browsing a webpage in landscape orientation
I like how auto brightness works and it really is pleasant for my eyes.
I like the fact that there is a physical button on front, I am definitely not a fan of using the Power button. On android I specially developed StandBy Touch Advanced app to deal with putting the phone to sleep without reaching the Power key. I took a look at iOS SDK and couldn't find a way to do it so I suppose this is not allowed. I have to say inhere that many Android offered quite a nice way of waking the phone from standy by: LG has KnowckOn, HTC has something similar, OnePlus one has it, if I recall well Sony too... Double tap to wake is way more convenient than searching for power key, especially on tall devices. i5 is not the case since it is easy to reach, but I use the Home key a lot to wake the device.
I am not a big fan of metal and I never use cases, I find it slippery and cold, however given the size of the iPhone, it is easy to hold it and never had the feeling that I drop it.
Battery life is not so great, I charge it every day.However it seems to be dropping constantly and I haven't noticed any battery drain (GooglePlay services drain rings a bell on android ?) I am 95% of the time in WiFi coverage and I did a test: I disabled the Cellular data, since WiFi is always on and have found that the battery life has improved a lot. So even if data is not used, I suppose that the cell module is active, most likely waiting to do a quick switch if WiFi turns to be poor. I would have preferred an option to keep it disabled until actually leaving the WiFi area. This things make me miss tools like Tasker on Android.
I like the screen and color reproduction. There is no back-light bleed and colors look real enough for me. Best LCD screen I had. Also the resolution is more than enough for 4" and I don't miss 1080p from android
iOS feel more smooth, I remember not resetting the phone for about 2 months and it was as smooth as in day one. Transitions are smoother, rotate is smoother, app switching is smoother. I like it, I feel that it's more polished than android and even the screen seems more responsive to touches.
some apps seem better on iOS, with more attention to details. My last app JeFeel relies a lot on instagram so I am using it quite a lot to check followers and pictures. Instagram for iOS is easier to use, easier to reload, I don't know, it just feels better. I also like TapaTalk more and some other apps like Reddit pics browser, skype, dolphin browser and so on. I sure miss FireFox since is my browser on PC and I would have loved to have bookmarks sync but since I don't to that much browsing, I'm ok with Dolphin/Safari. A special mention goes to Safari for reading mode (or how it is called) when it renders the text from the page at big size, making it easier to read. Great feature.
As android developer I rely on Google services: Maps, GMail, Google+, Drive and some apps are working ok, some are bad. The biggest disappointment is the Gmail app which is more ergonomic and nicer on Android. No contact pictures, no swipe to delete, I miss these features. Also the rendered text in emails is quite small, so it's good enough for email checking if you don't have many emails.
I haven't changed my ringtone yet because from what I saw I need iTunes for that... well that sucks.
Ah the camera, I don't think I made so many pictures with a phone. I know the camera is not top of the chart, but the form factor of the phone actually made it easier for me to take it out and grab a quick picture. Note 3 had a great camera but getting it out of the pocket, 2 hands needed to use it... You know where I'm going to.
I also like the silent toggle on the left size, very convenient but I would have preferred a visual notification on status bar, that is on, like on android.
As for widgets and stuff, on my android I initially did all sort of customizations and widgets but in the end I started to install more apps, drag shortcuts around and it became a mess. Basically I ended up with a grid of icons, just as the iOS launcher is. So for me, the lack of widgets is not a negative point
I don't like the dialer, seems so... I don't know... limited. No contacts photos on Recents/Contacts list makes it look boring. I also have like a 1-2 seconds delay between the moment I pick up and the moment the caller hears me, that is annoying and does not happen with same SIM on other phones
Unfortunately after 4 months of usage my iPhone's camera started to fail. Sometimes it worked sometimes it just shown black screen. After a few more days I have realized that the screen glass on top of the phone was raised 1-2 milliliters above the frame. I went to a service center (since no warranty) and they glued it somehow back, and now the screen is ok, but the camera still does not work. One nice addition was discovering that I can disable the whole camera feature, so I did and it disappeared from apps and Control Center. I guess that is the only customization of Control center hehe.
Since the camera is not working and I don't want to put any more money on this iPhone, I don't know how long I will be using it, probably until Nexus X or Moto X+1 is released. Or why not, IPhone 6. But overall I can say that the experience with iOS was not as bad as expected. Probably it has to do with me not using so many widgets and apps. I don't remember how many times I have flashed android phones with so many custom ROMs in order to achieve a better phone. Indeed on android you get more freedom, you install custom ROMs and kernels and you squeeze some more performance but this sometimes comes with the cost of bugs and instability. This is the beauty of android, you can customize it, want a toggle of auto rotate, you have it on a custom ROM, want different screen calibration, want to hide on screen buttons, want... you get the point. On iOS you are limited, you can't customize too much and after a while I guess you just get used to it. Unfortunately Android OEM's have started to implement various techniques that will detect rooting/bootloader unlock and will void warranty. We all know the famous Knox trigger on Samsung devices, so installing a custom ROM is starting to get harder and harder without voiding warranty.
Another point I'd like the mention is updates. On android things are starting to catch up, but still with updates through carriers and all the delays, after an android version is released you need to wait for 3-6-never months for an update. Of course this is not available for nexus line. The updates are primarily for flagship devices as previous year devices will take even longer to receive an update. This really forces me to look for a nexus when I get an android device and I sure hope they will get it right this time and not make cuts on screen quality or battery size as on previous models. Motorola seems to be doing quite a good job on updates and I hope they will continue to do so in the future. Android L seems like a really big change and I think it will start to catch up on next year's flagships, so mostly on Q2 2014 but given the skinning of frameworks like TouchWiz/Optimus/and others I somehow doubt the user will see too much material changes. I hope performance will improve since I can see small lag here and there even on latest models. As for iOS8 it seems promising, the new keyboard support will allow fixing one of my major annoyances, also battery statistics will offer more info on apps battery usage. I am curious to see how widgets on Notification center will be received but seeing Apple opening is a good thing. I am also keeping an eye on their Swift language and might start learn it since ObjectiveC was never ever on my taste. I really like the swipe on screens to go back, that is implemented on some apps and I am really curious to see how on bigger screen sizes, reaching the top left of the screen for Back option will fell file. I sometimes feel the need of a Back button. I fear that on 4.7 and 5.5" iPhone one handed usage will be hurt by having hard times to reach Back within an app.
So in the end, is iOS that bad ? It depends, for me, when I use the OS for a few seconds to launch apps that I am using, it does not matter so much what OS it is, as long as its fast and reliable. I find iphone 5 to be fast and smooth and it's a device 2 years old. I bet Iphone 5s with his TouchId and 64bits would have a bigger impact on me and to be honest I am starting to see phones with screen bigger than 4"... too big. It would be interesting to find myself buying iPhone 5S as my next phone.
Thanks for reading and sorry for the long post, hope I haven't bored you too much.

New slider coming out

This has been rumored for a while now, but this seems to be more concrete:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015...android-phone-the-priv-will-launch-this-year/
BTW, this place has been completely dead for a few weeks now, and the last nightly is dated Sept 6. I tried several months back to start building my own ROM images, but before I got all the way there, someone else stepped up. Before you vanish completely, I might like to try this again, especially if someone can help me get started. I remember one file in particular that I don't know if I did correctly, perhaps it was "local.manifest", or something like that. If I can get running, with a bit of assistance, I can start putting up nightlies, if not nightly, at least at some interval.

I dunno, I kinda don't like the way the keyboard is. The keys seems too small. I'd like a keyboard in landscape mode.
Also, being by blackberry means rooting won't be as easy.

I couldn't agree more with you tpmjb about wanting a landscape keyboard phone, but i think this a big move for blackberry and warrants our support if we ever want to see another qwerty android device ever. The priv is getting allot of press and i think allot of people are excited about it. I also believe that the capacitative thingy for s6 was made because they heard about it ahead of time.

chuckiev79 said:
I couldn't agree more with you tpmjb about wanting a landscape keyboard phone, but i think this a big move for blackberry and warrants our support if we ever want to see another qwerty android device ever. The priv is getting allot of press and i think allot of people are excited about it. I also believe that the capacitative thingy for s6 was made because they heard about it ahead of time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I changed my mind, I'm buying the Blackberry Priv. I figure it will be rooted before too long, and I'll probably get used to the keyboard. Also, this phone has severe problems with GPS, which I use to get around everywhere.

At $700, very few people will be purchasing a Priv. There will be no development community for the device.
There are plenty of people that want a keyboard, but that desire will not make hundreds of additional dollars magically materialize.
Furthermore, a $700 device should have 4GB and an 810 under the hood. The Priv forces compromise with 3 gigs and an 808.
QWERTY is dead.

No designated number row.... the main reason I chose the Relay over the Glide... well, that and lack of bluetooth phone calls in jb4.1+
I've been following the blackberry for a while and the rumors of them going android, really hoping somebody comes out with a horizontal slider.

Rumors say it has dual boot os. Android and bbos10

orange808 said:
At $700, very few people will be purchasing a Priv. There will be no development community for the device.
There are plenty of people that want a keyboard, but that desire will not make hundreds of additional dollars magically materialize.
Furthermore, a $700 device should have 4GB and an 810 under the hood. The Priv forces compromise with 3 gigs and an 808.
QWERTY is dead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you buy a Samsung Galaxy S6, you can take advantage of certain economies of massive scale. If you choose a Priv, the economies of scale aren't the same. And so you won't get the same value for money.
Still, the price of the Priv will fall over time.
Plus, I suspect that, six months or a year after its release, it'll be possible to buy a used or refurbished Priv for far less than $700. Then you can use your Priv with a deep-discount carrier — a carrier which doesn't offer handset subsidies, but which offers ultra-cheap plans.
Alternatively, if you're with a carrier which offers handset subsidies, you may be able to sign a long-term contract and buy a heavily-discounted Priv. You can then pay your carrier back over time.

Looks cool but its t9 not qwerty
http://m.gsmarena.com/samsung_w2016_highend_clamshell_gets_official_in_china-news-15129.php

orange808 said:
At $700, very few people will be purchasing a Priv. There will be no development community for the device.
There are plenty of people that want a keyboard, but that desire will not make hundreds of additional dollars magically materialize.
Furthermore, a $700 device should have 4GB and an 810 under the hood. The Priv forces compromise with 3 gigs and an 808.
QWERTY is dead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually SD808 is atleast as good as SD810 or even better. SD810 is thorttling too much and it is not stable in every day use. Take a look at here: Thermal Throttling – Which SOC’s are the Worst Offenders.
Qwerty sliders are dying but you have to be creative. I modded my own qwerty slider from Xiaomi Mi4C and iPhone 6 bluetooth keyboard case: Qwerty Keyboard Slider [DIY]

phred14 said:
This has been rumored for a while now, but this seems to be more concrete:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015...android-phone-the-priv-will-launch-this-year/
BTW, this place has been completely dead for a few weeks now, and the last nightly is dated Sept 6. I tried several months back to start building my own ROM images, but before I got all the way there, someone else stepped up. Before you vanish completely, I might like to try this again, especially if someone can help me get started. I remember one file in particular that I don't know if I did correctly, perhaps it was "local.manifest", or something like that. If I can get running, with a bit of assistance, I can start putting up nightlies, if not nightly, at least at some interval.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know why they even came out with Priv cause there was already Q5 & Q10...and on top of that most big shot Companies think people (Or everyone is a Text-Crazed Teenager) only use phones for texting and emails... ... ...those are pretty much the same and most simplistic things people will do with a phone besides Facebook... BLACKBERRY, MOTOROLA, SAMSUNG...I use my Relay at one point to replace my Computer (Dell D800 which start to run at 600MHz and 1GB RAM)...Stop with this Marketing Target business.
We the customer aren't Programmers or Teenagers, we don't need an iPhone or Phones that match with what we wear (Motorola)...we need Convenience...hence why you -blackberry- lost the market cause you keep pushing out small screen -but bigger than Nokia- phones that didn't really improve much (NO NUMROW, worst is the Sony Xperia sk17 (Mini Pro, 3") and sk16 (Pro, 3.7"), both have the exact same keyboard...3.7" and they didn't put Numrow or Okay Button). Had they had the size of a S3 or a 4" screen-phone-size with the Keyboard or not make the mistake like Symbian -Nokia E6, Touch with Buttons on Screen design for DPAD- they couldn't lose there market, but Priv is show us how Blackberry needs to let go or improve its model, not make more nostalgia (I don't know if that is right) while thinking its the big screen that everyone loves (If iPod had a Stylus instead of Touch, people would look at that like its a Color Palm Pilot...as where touch is better based how you control it).
Me when I saw Passport and Priv, I laughed my butt off, only Trenders will buy. I was even thinking Blackberry was going to actually come out with a Landscape Slider at one point and make a video with the Song "I want to know that, want to know that, will you Love me Again" playing...but snap Blackberry, Storm (My Twin Sister first Bought it, I wasn't even into Phones until 2012...born 1992 and got a Relay in 2015...made in 2012) was fail for me cause of putting 1 clicker in the Center of phone instead of 9-13 or 16-20 (Top/Mid/Bottom+Left/Center/Right to Between Center/Corner=4 or to Quarter of Size or to Fifth of Size or even put more at the bottom for the keyboard)...you guys should have built a fake plastic prototype of that feature (1 Hard Clicker to 13 Mid-Soft Clickers unless the 1 made it seem hard) cause had it not failed it would have been like iPhone 6 pressure screen...
Blackberry thinks that only 1 Phone is the Best, but Truly they Grew when you went from Pearl to Bold, etc and bold to Q5/10 (Had they made Torch like that), but Priv or Private -as I call it if it becomes Landscape Slider then Lieutenant and Colonel- is why Blackberry shouldn't design Hardware Form.
They are 100% correct about software cause I can Play PSP and Edit Word Docs on my Android and Hackers figured out a way to play all PS1 on PSP, but Sony's Devs couldn't (Embarrassing).
The only reason I have a PC is literally cause I'm doing online schooling and the website needs Internet Explorer or Google Chrome or else the interaction might slip up on a Mobile Device...other than that the only reason I bought a Vostro 14 is because it can play PS3 equivalent games (Skyrim, Saints Row, etc)...so I don't need a PC or the Lastest Android (GingerBread was my World and now JellyBean, in fact an LG Ahola has a keyboard with Prediction, where as my Relay doesn't...Relay is 4.1.2 and LG Ahola is 2.1 with 600Mhz CPU & 256MB RAM...it really depends on how you design it...even Motorola Defy Pro had it too...also Relay doesn't have a OKAY Button so if I highlight/select text (Shift+Left/Right) with Keyboard and touch to use Copy/Cut, the selected text disappears)
And funny thing today -Octo-core is 2xQuad-core CPU with 4 low & 4 high power- same thing I said ever since I got my first Phone -A Nokia 5000-6000series- I need something for note taking and I'm pretty sure that doesn't require a very fast Computer or computer at all (Cause now Tech is getting better)...if anyone is smart they stop with Big Screens and go to built-in Project-on-to-screen-like-a-flashlight or Project-to-a-screen-via-cable...cause I once saw a Phone design as Processor that goes into a Tablet...
There are so many things and ways of doing any thing, but Blackberry choose Portrait Slider...over Landscape and no alternative...when they've been using Landscape the Whole time (I know this contradicts before, but not increasing the Screen Size is what was Blackberry's Downfall)...In fact I just realize when has Portrait been used in an electronic besides Reading Text Material (Like on actual Paper) cause Televisions and Computers don't have Portrait Screens, I would use Word Doc and Landscape Shaped Window even if page is Portrait and the thing I see most people use big scr.een phones for is Videos...in Landscape...I read my Comics in Landscape (Cause Portrait is small).
Portrait is for the Quick and Easy or Simple Stuff (1-Hand)...Landscape is for 2 Handers and yet people who design for Portrait still put the things you need to Touch at the Top of the Screen...I only need Time at Top if I need to see it at the Lock Screen not when I am using the Phone.
Sorry for variety of errors of Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling, Sentence Structure, dotting my i's and crossing my t's (Joking on the last part). I didn't proofread much.
Best Keyboard was Motorola Droid 3 and LG C710 Aloha, but sadly there Hardware wasn't good.

Flash-A-Holic said:
Actually SD808 is atleast as good as SD810 or even better. SD810 is thorttling too much and it is not stable in every day use. Take a look at here: Thermal Throttling – Which SOC’s are the Worst Offenders.
Qwerty sliders are dying but you have to be creative. I modded my own qwerty slider from Xiaomi Mi4C and iPhone 6 bluetooth keyboard case: Qwerty Keyboard Slider [DIY]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate those keys, though. That's the same bluetooth case available on every modern phone. They change the brands a million times on Amazon, but it's the same case. Price varies wildly too.
Keys are wayyyyyy too close together. It's somehow faster to type each letter on a touch screen.

TPMJB said:
I hate those keys, though. That's the same bluetooth case available on every modern phone. They change the brands a million times on Amazon, but it's the same case. Price varies wildly too.
Keys are wayyyyyy too close together. It's somehow faster to type each letter on a touch screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not that bad. There is shaped buttons for better touch in my keyboard. I have seen different keyboard which are worse.

Flash-A-Holic said:
It is not that bad. There is shaped buttons for better touch in my keyboard. I have seen different keyboard which are worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh weird, where'd you get a 5 row case? I thought it was the ****ty 4 row case that's on Amazon, from the thumbnail on your video. I might just check it out
Edit: Wow, it looks exactly like my relay keyboard! I'm definitely interested! Every Amazon link I see is that awful 4 row keyboard.
...but not for $72 eee gad

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2016/12/blackberry-dtek70-mercury-leaked/
It looks like BB is about to release another QWERTY phone. But the times of slider keyboards are gone.

Guys... prepare your butts, the holy grail:
https://www.computerbase.de/2017-01/graalphone-4-in-1-notebook-smartphone-tablet-3d-kamera/
The GraalPhone!!! Next year in Europe and USA!!

Had my hopes up then...but look at the size of it! It's massive

Question Do you recommend mix fold 2 ?

Hello brother i have mi 11 ultra
And wanna new fold
Do you recommend fold mix 2 ?
And what you like and what you don't?

Why no answer?

Definitely yes if you like miui

Only if you don't have problems with chinese rom, bc mi fold doens't have global rom yet

I answered some of your questions on the other post but I will make my summary here.
1. Either:
a) you must not use Android Auto/ Google Assistant or
b) you must be willing to wait out the 7 days and comfortable rooting your device (with all the issues with banking apps that brings).
2. You must be prepared to suffer compromises on audio quality (very big difference) and camera quality (low light and stabilisation difference) compared to a similar priced candybar flagship.
3. You must be someone who babies their phone a little bit. I'm sure if I dropped this phone it would shatter into a million pieces (as with any foldable).
4. Compared to Fold 4:
a) it lies flat on the table without that stupid shape where the hinge is
b) fold is much less visible in my opinion
c) you would hope that Samsung has the fold technology "safer" given its the forth iteration. That said, haven't heard of any issues from Xiaomi owners thus far.
d) one handed operation is so much better on the xiaomi because of the front screen size and thinness
5. MIUI is a pain in the ass sometimes (10s lockout to enable third party apps for example) and there is a lot of fiddling around to allow apps to run in the background and turn off battery optimisation (prevents notifications from showing properly)

I have been using the Mix Fold 2 for over couple months now and it's awesome from a hardware perspective, with great in hand feeling and the cover screen is usable just like a normal phone, IMHO its definitely better than Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, 3 & 4!
However my biggest gripe is the OTT battery management of MIUI 13 it is a pain, sometimes there is a 10s lockout to enable third party apps for accessibility etc... Even when you have enabled this after while MIUI will randomly disable it in the background so you have to go through the whole process again so frustrating!!!!!
Maybe because it's a Chinese ROM that's its so aggressive either way for that reason alone I will not be buying a another Xiaomi phone in the future.
My next fold phone will most likely be a Honor Magic VS which is definitely getting a global release so the software should be be better optimised for western market, also very keen on the Google Pxel Fold due ETA May 23

The hardware itself is amazing - thin, light, the cover screen has an aspect ratio allowing to use it as your main screen if you wish; doesn't feel cramped like the Z Fold 3/4. You can feel the difference with a 8.02" screen; no other foldable gives you such an experience.
The crease is annoying though, especially if you happen to slide your finger across it when scrolling documents, websites, or playing. Despite the aforementioned, it hasn't been a deal breaker yet for me.
Camera - it's not flagship material, but I'm not a photo junkie, so I don't care.
Wireless charging - it's not present; quite convenient, but you can learn to live without it.
Expandable storage - not there, but same as above.
Audio is good enough; 99% of the time I stream my audio via bluetooth anyway, so I don't really care how it sounds on-device.
Battery - once you configure your device, disable some of the apps, it's exceptionally good, especially with such a big screen. I easily manage 6h+ of SOT while gaming.
Apps - it's a minefield of bloatware - one of the first things you need to do is uninstall them. Some can be removed via the app manager, others need to be deleted from profile 0 via adb.
Connectivity - OK for that generation; better than my SD888 devices.
WiFi is fast; As for cellular reception, I live in an area with terrible cell rception & can comfortably hold conversations on my Fold 2, compared to my other devices where the network often dropping or cutting me off in the middle of sentences.
Software - it's awful; the amount of tinkering to make it remotely acceptable for use is amazing.
Worse - some of the settings, like customization to the profile of each app's battery usage gets reset on reboot. You're forced to register/sign in to Xiaomi if you want to unlock some of the deeper customization features - example: USB Debugging (Security) split into 2 parts.
Some features are locked for use with Xiaomi apps - example: you can't change the launcher. Even if you do, you can't use fullscreen gestures.
After upgrading to MIUI 14/Android 13, my company apps stopped working, although I presume that's going to be affecting a small portion of users only.
It doesn't seem you can flash/boot a GSI (like phh's) yet. I'll hang on to this device for the time being, but if a more compelling offering comes out, I'll probably switch. I was hoping the Pixel Fold would be that device, but I wouldn't go for a gen1 from Google.
In summary - good hardware albeit with some compromises, horrific software experience.
Score - 4/7

adwinp said:
The hardware itself is amazing - thin, light, the cover screen has an aspect ratio allowing to use it as your main screen if you wish; doesn't feel cramped like the Z Fold 3/4. You can feel the difference with a 8.02" screen; no other foldable gives you such an experience.
The crease is annoying though, especially if you happen to slide your finger across it when scrolling documents, websites, or playing. Despite the aforementioned, it hasn't been a deal breaker yet for me.
Camera - it's not flagship material, but I'm not a photo junkie, so I don't care.
Wireless charging - it's not present; quite convenient, but you can learn to live without it.
Expandable storage - not there, but same as above.
Audio is good enough; 99% of the time I stream my audio via bluetooth anyway, so I don't really care how it sounds on-device.
Battery - once you configure your device, disable some of the apps, it's exceptionally good, especially with such a big screen. I easily manage 6h+ of SOT while gaming.
Apps - it's a minefield of bloatware - one of the first things you need to do is uninstall them. Some can be removed via the app manager, others need to be deleted from profile 0 via adb.
Connectivity - OK for that generation; better than my SD888 devices.
WiFi is fast; As for cellular reception, I live in an area with terrible cell rception & can comfortably hold conversations on my Fold 2, compared to my other devices where the network often dropping or cutting me off in the middle of sentences.
Software - it's awful; the amount of tinkering to make it remotely acceptable for use is amazing.
Worse - some of the settings, like customization to the profile of each app's battery usage gets reset on reboot. You're forced to register/sign in to Xiaomi if you want to unlock some of the deeper customization features - example: USB Debugging (Security) split into 2 parts.
Some features are locked for use with Xiaomi apps - example: you can't change the launcher. Even if you do, you can't use fullscreen gestures.
After upgrading to MIUI 14/Android 13, my company apps stopped working, although I presume that's going to be affecting a small portion of users only.
It doesn't seem you can flash/boot a GSI (like phh's) yet. I'll hang on to this device for the time being, but if a more compelling offering comes out, I'll probably switch. I was hoping the Pixel Fold would be that device, but I wouldn't go for a gen1 from Google.
In summary - good hardware albeit with some compromises, horrific software experience.
Score - 4/7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
all of these problems/complaints you have are easily solved by unlocking and rooting. anyone not willing to do that probably shouldn't get this phone.

knives of ice said:
all of these problems/complaints you have are easily solved by unlocking and rooting. anyone not willing to do that probably shouldn't get this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As probably should every user of every major flagship device.
Sarcasm aside, there are reasons why one such as myself, hasn't resorted to that alternative.
Apart from that, a large number of the issues can be solved via adb; no need to root.
ADB, knowledge, time.

..and here I am, a gorgeous, tactile experience, really monolite-like and premium materials.
finally the MIX brand shines again after years of tarnishing. I'm really excited about the aesthetics.
when unfolded is one of the nicest foldable experiences I had, a large display light to handle.
The crease to me is almost invisible, no problems at all.
Some doubts come from the software, chinese rom only, in social networks (for example whatsapp) messages do not always arrive on time (80% ok), which creates some problems.
usual things that Xiaomi NEVER solves..

I've been very impressed with the Mix fold 2. I came from the Fold 4, and was concerned it wouldn't feel as polished as the Samsung device. It's actually worked out the other way, the Mix Fold 2 feels generation's ahead design wise, closed, it feels like a normal smart phone, and whne open, its an an ultra thin tablet. Even in its 4th generation, the Fold 4 still didn't feel right.
My main concern with the Mix fold 2 was the software, being a Chinese phone. Thanks to the help on here, I have everything I need working just as I want, mainly my banking app, and notifications. For me, it feels smoother, and the animations are better than on the Fold 4. From various reviews, I read the camera wasn't as good as others. I must admit, I've been very impressed with the images produced.

jamesbilluk said:
I've been very impressed with the Mix fold 2. I came from the Fold 4, and was concerned it wouldn't feel as polished as the Samsung device. It's actually worked out the other way, the Mix Fold 2 feels generation's ahead design wise, closed, it feels like a normal smart phone, and whne open, its an an ultra thin tablet. Even in its 4th generation, the Fold 4 still didn't feel right.
My main concern with the Mix fold 2 was the software, being a Chinese phone. Thanks to the help on here, I have everything I need working just as I want, mainly my banking app, and notifications. For me, it feels smoother, and the animations are better than on the Fold 4. From various reviews, I read the camera wasn't as good as others. I must admit, I've been very impressed with the images produced.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. Got my Mix Fold 2 one week ago. Feels great to use. Do not think I ever will go back to a normal phone again. I am very impressed with the battery life. Screen on time when using the large screen is actually the same as on my Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro. According to Accubattery both phones consume 13% per hour when the screen is on.
The only important thing missing for me now is a virtual keyboard adapted to foldables in order to make typing on the large screen more comfortable. Microsoft SwiftKey has this functionality, however if I apply this setting the same keyboard is used on the smaller screen.

flipp0 said:
I agree. Got my Mix Fold 2 one week ago. Feels great to use. Do not think I ever will go back to a normal phone again. I am very impressed with the battery life. Screen on time when using the large screen is actually the same as on my Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro. According to Accubattery both phones consume 13% per hour when the screen is on.
The only important thing missing for me now is a virtual keyboard adapted to foldables in order to make typing on the large screen more comfortable. Microsoft SwiftKey has this functionality, however if I apply this setting the same keyboard is used on the smaller screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery life is really impressive. We're on holiday at the moment, there's been quite a few times where the super quick charging has come in very useful too! I'll use that more than the wireless charging of the Fold 4.
I'm the same, after experiencing this, I don't think I would go back to a normal phone again.
I agree with regards to the keyboard. I'm using SwiftKey, it would be great to have the split on the larger screen, and smaller on the outer screen.

The phone is really nice and with a lot of tinkering, you can have almost everything working on the Chinese ROM.
However, I'd suggest waiting a little bit until the end of the month when the HONOR Magic Vs will be officially released in Europe with Google-friendly software.

The exclusivity of this device is in the lightness combined with the reduced thickness. This makes you forget the fact that it is a bit too high and thus makes it usable.

adwinp said:
The hardware itself is amazing - thin, light, the cover screen has an aspect ratio allowing to use it as your main screen if you wish; doesn't feel cramped like the Z Fold 3/4. You can feel the difference with a 8.02" screen; no other foldable gives you such an experience.
The crease is annoying though, especially if you happen to slide your finger across it when scrolling documents, websites, or playing. Despite the aforementioned, it hasn't been a deal breaker yet for me.
Camera - it's not flagship material, but I'm not a photo junkie, so I don't care.
Wireless charging - it's not present; quite convenient, but you can learn to live without it.
Expandable storage - not there, but same as above.
Audio is good enough; 99% of the time I stream my audio via bluetooth anyway, so I don't really care how it sounds on-device.
Battery - once you configure your device, disable some of the apps, it's exceptionally good, especially with such a big screen. I easily manage 6h+ of SOT while gaming.
Apps - it's a minefield of bloatware - one of the first things you need to do is uninstall them. Some can be removed via the app manager, others need to be deleted from profile 0 via adb.
Connectivity - OK for that generation; better than my SD888 devices.
WiFi is fast; As for cellular reception, I live in an area with terrible cell rception & can comfortably hold conversations on my Fold 2, compared to my other devices where the network often dropping or cutting me off in the middle of sentences.
Software - it's awful; the amount of tinkering to make it remotely acceptable for use is amazing.
Worse - some of the settings, like customization to the profile of each app's battery usage gets reset on reboot. You're forced to register/sign in to Xiaomi if you want to unlock some of the deeper customization features - example: USB Debugging (Security) split into 2 parts.
Some features are locked for use with Xiaomi apps - example: you can't change the launcher. Even if you do, you can't use fullscreen gestures.
After upgrading to MIUI 14/Android 13, my company apps stopped working, although I presume that's going to be affecting a small portion of users only.
It doesn't seem you can flash/boot a GSI (like phh's) yet. I'll hang on to this device for the time being, but if a more compelling offering comes out, I'll probably switch. I was hoping the Pixel Fold would be that device, but I wouldn't go for a gen1 from Google.
In summary - good hardware albeit with some compromises, horrific software experience.
Score - 4/7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, Nova Launcher wouldn't work on this device ?
What about AoD Notify ?!

nex_t said:
So, Nova Launcher wouldn't work on this device ?
What about AoD Notify ?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will work with a workaround I mentioned in my debloat thread. You need to install the securitycenter, install the 3rd party launcher & reinstall the securitycenter.
Quickstep will not be working.

Thank you
I've read, there are some issues with the whatsapp notification
Is there a fix for this ? Could you please give more details about ?
I don't think I'd like to open the phone manually, to check if I have a message
Does the Nova Launcher works ? Aod Notify ? Youtube Vanced ?
And the last question : would it be possible to add another software button ( volume ) to the navigation bar ?
As the Good Lock for Samsung
Thanks, again

Well, bummed out about the Magic VS launch. Not coming to UK before July, and no release dates for other EU countries? Rly? It’ll be almost a year old when it finally arrives, not much cheaper than Fold4, and not long before Fold5 will be announced. Pointless.
Guess it’ll be a Mix Fold 2 for me anyway. Was going to get it close to 2 months ago but decided to wait for the VS…