RazoRock wrote: I can't stand that Samsung takes so long to update the Android OS, that really bugs me.
This is a huge issue with Android. Manufacturers and Carriers all want to put their dirty fingers into Android, software skins, bloatware/crapware, you name it, so updates don't get rolled out at the same time (if at all). Steve Jobs managed to get the carriers to keep their grubby hands off iOS/iPhone and stop them from putting their awful logos on the hardware. When Apple update, the updates are available instantly and support hardware going back three years. When Google does an Android update you either wait and grow old, or wait upgrade your phone in 6-12 months. Or mess about with custom ROMs.
I agree, that's why the S2X is going the the Nexus is being put into use.
That said... there is no real big reason to upgrade the OS, I'm just someone who likes to try the newest and latest... personal flaw I guess.
Seamaster wrote:It doesn't matter how you cut it, there's iPhone and there's the rest.
iPhone's are great, no arguing there... but they are more expensive and and more limiting... you basically have to use your phone like they tell you... I guess i just always sucked at living by other people's rules. I play with my brother iPhone 5 all the time and it's a slick piece of hardware.
well the no lte stopped the 4 purchase for me when it came out, but afterwards i was sorry about not placing an oder. On the other hand i have the gnex which is currently running 4.2 anyway, so not much of a biggie other than the radio update.
s3 has already started to see jelly bean updates and samsung seems very committed to keeping their newer products updated.
Im a big fan of roms and xda is my weekness, but even so with the note 2 there is really no reason or need to fiddle around......its simply an amazing device
clive
p.s. screw stick golf....play cricket doodz
p.p.s. went on a few dates a while back, instead of talking we were texting each other hahahaaha
I just ordered the S3 as Bell has recently announced the availability of Jelly Bean w/Butter -- which is just perfect for me.
The Bell deal for IBMers at the moment is that we get 50GB of added space on our current dropbox account -- so that's a big deal for me in the end, and I couldn't not do it. Besides, the phone itself was free -- how can that be a bad thing?
My daughter is all excited -- she is replacing her very old and tired hand-me-down iPhone 3 which her brother gave her earlier this year with a phone that works properly (the iPhone was showing its age -- no wifi, phone reception sketchy, etc.).
I'll report back once I have the new phone up and running.
enjoy and use in good health.......they just upgraded to split screen recently....you are really going to pat yourself on the back for being such a wise consumer
p.s.......s4 rumours are flying right now, but if just the physical phone is true to rendered pics on www, i'm buying one. Having used the galaxy nexus I'm a huge fan of soft keys which stopped me from buying the s3 but which the s4 has....yipppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Because I can upgrade every year without penalty, I am less worried about waiting for the latest and greatest. Also -- because I tend to wait 6 months into new models, I get them with the latest and greatest OS updates as well as the benefit of having all the kinks ironed out with firmware updates.
As a side note -- yesterday, I noticed that the recent ICS update for my SII has corrected that annoying voice command disablement when an Android phone is locked with a password (required by my employer). I discovered quite by accident that I can use voice command via my bluetooth headset just the way I used to be able to do with my old Blackberries. Glad that was fixed, because it was very annoying and reduced the amount of work I could do while traveling (unlocking the phone before making calls was always annoying, time consuming, and often simply downright inconvenient).
Oh the joys of the Android OS -- can hardly wait to see what Jelly Bean and Project Butter will be like with the new SIII handset. Woot!
My SIII arrived earlier this week, and I spent time with it setting it up for our corporate network, Note Traveler, etc. Initial observations vs the SII.
Excellent form-factor. I feels very comfortable in my hand -- unlike the Note II which just feels huge and is not a one-hand phone. Not much different feeling to be honest, than my SII.
Great screen -- colours are fabulous, brilliant and easy to read even in bright light and outside.
Call quality is slightly superior.
Very pocketable (again, unlike the NoteII)
S-voice not as responsive as the older version and doesn't seem to start up from my bluetooth when the phone is pw locked (part of corporate policy for us --- ) . Now that is a tad annoying.
50GB free DropBox, but I can't figure out how to unlock it .... all messed up on that front.
Greatly improved battery life although End Point Manager is still my biggest batter drain throughout the day.
Jelly Bean with Project Butter hasn't come to me automatically over the air waves yet so I am being a patient boy on that front.
Can't move apps over to microSD card -- that is a bit of a boner as I only got the 16GB model -- guess I should have investigated that one thing.
To be honest, it's only new in the past 48 hours, so I still have a lot to discover. Android is still a great OS for me, and I really like the way I can do so much with it. And to be honest, I can't complain when I got it for free with no term obligation (another deal our company has with good ol' Ma Bell here in the Great White North).
jww wrote:My SIII arrived earlier this week, and I spent time with it setting it up for our corporate network, Note Traveler, etc. Initial observations vs the SII.
Excellent form-factor. I feels very comfortable in my hand -- unlike the Note II which just feels huge and is not a one-hand phone. Not much different feeling to be honest, than my SII.
Great screen -- colours are fabulous, brilliant and easy to read even in bright light and outside.
Call quality is slightly superior.
Very pocketable (again, unlike the NoteII)
S-voice not as responsive as the older version and doesn't seem to start up from my bluetooth when the phone is pw locked (part of corporate policy for us --- ) . Now that is a tad annoying.
50GB free DropBox, but I can't figure out how to unlock it .... all messed up on that front.
Greatly improved battery life although End Point Manager is still my biggest batter drain throughout the day.
Jelly Bean with Project Butter hasn't come to me automatically over the air waves yet so I am being a patient boy on that front.
Can't move apps over to microSD card -- that is a bit of a boner as I only got the 16GB model -- guess I should have investigated that one thing.
To be honest, it's only new in the past 48 hours, so I still have a lot to discover. Android is still a great OS for me, and I really like the way I can do so much with it. And to be honest, I can't complain when I got it for free with no term obligation (another deal our company has with good ol' Ma Bell here in the Great White North).
Wendell,
I have an SG3 and love it too. The S Voice which is a clone of the iPhone Siri is not really great yet but I am sure that Samsung is working on that.
As for the external XD card. I have 16GB on the phone itself and then I have a 16GB external card. You can buy a 32GB external card and just put it in your phone. If you have no external card in the phone now, perhaps you only need to buy a 16GB external card.
This is a great phone and Samsung would not make it so that the storage space would be so low for a phone in its class.
Bryce -- I forgot to mention in my post that I have a 32gb microSD card already installed. The SII had a feature under Settings. Applications to move some applications and their data to the card entirely. That option no longer exists for the apps that I did that with on the SII. I am thinking either it's an issue with Samsung or my carrier locking the phone from doing that. I can't see that being a feature of the OS .... very annoying, but I can live with it.
when your phone gets upgraded to jb....shocked that it hasnt already......you will have google now. google now blows siri svoice etc etc etc out of the water.......you will not believe how brilliant google now is until you start using it
I just checked and low and behold, Android v 4.1.1 is on the phone -- and I have no clue when this happened, other than I noticed a bit of a battery drain mid-day yesterday and so the over-air update could have come across then. No matter, you are correct Clive -- Google Now is pretty hip -- and I have only looked at it and not really done anything with it.
I can't help you then. I do not have any apps on my SD card. Of course I do not have loads and loads of apps either. Only game is Solitaire.
As for Google Now, it does look interesting. Googled it and saw what it does in a short video from Google. Going to bring my phone upstairs to my office after supper and see what it might do for me.
But my real problem with S-Voice is with making calls with my Bluetooth headset. On my old HTC Rezound when I made a call that way the phone always gave me a verbal response telling me who I was calling. But with S-Voice I get no verbal response just beeps and stuff. Don't know if I am calling the right person or not. Now if I had my phone in plain view I can tell but I use it mostly in the car while driving and it is against the law in Pa to mess with a phone while driving unless it is hands free.
I did talk to Verizon Wireless after getting the phone and they said it was something with their programming or whatever and that an update was coming out soon that would fix it. That was back in September, now it is January. Go figure, Verizon Wireless screws its customers again.
Edit: Took a flyer and gave VZW a call. Nice gal name Leann helped me out and I now get the audio with S-Voice. Seems that there is a "button" to the left of the S-Voice command button that turns on the S-Voice audio. That button was in off position. Just touched the button and the S-Voice audio is now working. Guys it is "hell" being a Sr Citizen and bald. Thanks to you two guys I would have never got it figured out. Thanks
The voice feedback is still limited in S Voice on the SIII. I found the voice activation better with my SII, as well as SWYPE --- both were significantly better.
jww wrote:The voice feedback is still limited in S Voice on the SIII. I found the voice activation better with my SII, as well as SWYPE --- both were significantly better.
Haven't tried the S-Voice since I turned on the audio part with my bluetooth headset yet. Will do this morning on way to church.
As for Swype, I don't use it. Tried it with my old HTC Incredible and couldn't really get used to it. Solved that problem by downloading an app called Graffiti that uses the same entry method I learned with my original Palm Pilot and several successor devices. So much easier for me to write on the SIII with that. Kinda like learning to ride a bicycle. You never really forget how, you just have to build back up your proficiency. Only took about a week.
Here is advice to anyone looking for a new phone. Besides checking out all the latest and greatest technology, be sure to ask questions on the warranty and return policies!
I bought a Samsung Galaxy 3S on a seemingly great Costco/Bell promotion. After 3 months, my phone started to overheat. The "Wireless Etc." store in Costco mentioned I needed to call Bell for repair. Bell mentioned I needed to go to the local Bell store. The local Bell store won't warranty Costco/Wireless Etc. phones. Bell Corporate sends me out a box and a courier slip to send to an outsourced repair shop on the other side of Canada with a 1-2 month wait time. As I did not buy an extended warranty, the standard 1 year warranty does not include a transition/replacement phone. Bell sent me a cheap Samsung Gio without a memory card for $20+/month.
Going through "phone repair hot potato" has been frustrating. Although most retailers do not repair phones in-house, I feel they should be obliged to accept warranty returns in-house if they are an authorized dealer.
My wife just upgraded to the HTC DNA - very nice phone. Call quality is great and the screen and features work great. She is very non-technical and she tried the Galaxy IIIS, Iphone5, and the Razor HD. I think her choice of the DNA was a great pick. (yes I am jealous!)
Last edited by nteeman on Thu Jan 24, 2013 7:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
) . Now that is a tad annoying.
Thanks to you two guys I would have never got it figured out. Thanks
