Android

[Conan The Barbarian]

Ill be getting one.

[blassster]

The guy who does some of the reviews on Anandtech has been discretely tweeting about some of his experiences with it.

www.twitter.com/nerdtalker

[Harry Seaward]

Just got a blue Galaxy S3 on Verizon about a week ago. It's my first ever real cellphone/contract. I've already rooted and flashed CM10. I'm in love.

[blassster]

Just got a blue Galaxy S3 on Verizon about a week ago. It's my first ever real cellphone/contract. I've already rooted and flashed CM10. I'm in love.

"Welcome... to the real world."

[Iran_Ed]

Updated my Galaxy S3 to Jelly Bean yesterday. This is what made me pass up an iPhone.

[blassster]

Updated my Galaxy S3 to Jelly Bean yesterday. This is what made me pass up an iPhone.

I was never a fan of iDevices, or Apple's philosophy. The final nail in the coffin for me was Steve Jobs telling people that they were holding their phone wrong (antennagate). Android has so much to offer, especially post ICS 4.0, people turned off by version 2.x need to revisit it. Jelly Bean on the SIII must be nice.


Is there anyone here from Canada that has ordered something from the Play store? Like a Nexus 7 for example. I'm wondering about bullshit customs charges for my potential Nexus 4 order...

[Iran_Ed]

I was never a fan of iDevices, or Apple's philosophy. The final nail in the coffin for me was Steve Jobs telling people that they were holding their phone wrong because of antennagate. Android has so much to offer, especially post ICS 4.0, people turned off by version 2.x need to revisit it. Jelly Bean on the SIII must be nice.

Nice yes, but I have Sprint. 4G is nonexistent where I live. I went to see Godspeed You! Black Emperor in Baltimore last month where Sprint has 4G towers. The speed was amazing up there. Plus I'm known to run Linux on my PC, so Android just feels right to me.

[xmd 5a]

I'm loving the Galaxy SIII. It's my first ever smartphone so I've got nothing to compare it to, but I know I made the right choice.

[Iran_Ed]

I'm loving the Galaxy SIII. It's my first ever smartphone so I've got nothing to compare it to, but I know I made the right choice.

The S3 is my third smartphone. My first was a Blackberry which was nice when I got it , but I quickly realized just how behind RIM were. They're almost nonexistent now. My second was a HTC Hero which I got late in the model's lifetime. Near the end of my time with the phone it was really dragging, but it was an awesome little device. I don't hate Apple, besides the iPhone I wish I had a lot of their products. I just find them overpriced and their fanboys annoying. I don't really have company loyalty I just want what best for me. In the end for me it came down to the HTC EVO 4G LTE and the S3. I wanted Jelly Bean and the EVO is a Sprint exclusive phone like my last phone was. Meaning Sprint and HTC will update it when they feel like it, whereas the S3 is on multiple carriers. On Sprint all firmware updates must go through and be approved them! The fact that AT&T and Verizon also have the S3 to me meant that Sprint had better make sure our Jelly Bean update had better not lag too far behind theirs. I thinkl I made the right decision.

[Harry Seaward]

The S3 is my third smartphone. My first was a Blackberry which was nice when I got it , but I quickly realized just how behind RIM were. They're almost nonexistent now. My second was a HTC Hero which I got late in the model's lifetime. Near the end of my time with the phone it was really dragging, but it was an awesome little device. I don't hate Apple, besides the iPhone I wish I had a lot of their products. I just find them overpriced and their fanboys annoying. I don't really have company loyalty I just want what best for me. In the end for me it came down to the HTC EVO 4G LTE and the S3. I wanted Jelly Bean and the EVO is a Sprint exclusive phone like my last phone was. Meaning Sprint and HTC will update it when they feel like it, whereas the S3 is on multiple carriers. On Sprint all firmware updates must go through and be approved them! The fact that AT&T and Verizon also have the S3 to me meant that Sprint had better make sure our Jelly Bean update had better not lag too far behind theirs. I thinkl I made the right decision.

Funny enough, I'm pretty sure Sprint pushed the S3 JB update before any other carriers.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Just got my Galaxy SIII and dammmmm is it a beautiful, fast, user friendly phone. I have to play with it some more though to give a full review.

[dpeters]

How does the SIII compare to an iPhone 4?

I'm thinking about upgrading--despite losing so many apps in Apple's ecosystem.

Specifically, how do the following compare:
Camera?
Battery life?

[nemesiswontdie]

I've been wanting a SIII. I love my current phone, HTC G2. It's definitely the best phone I've had so far, but I think it's time to move on to better things.

[blassster]

How does the SIII compare to an iPhone 4?

I'm thinking about upgrading--despite losing so many apps in Apple's ecosystem.

Specifically, how do the following compare:
Camera?
Battery life?

The iPhone 4 came out in 2010, the s3 came out this year and would be a much better choice.

Check out www.anandtech.com for numbers in the s3 review. For battery, they seem to beat each other in certain situations, but remember that the S3 is driving more pixels to a larger screen, has true multitasking and has LTE. I don't think iPhone 4 has LTE.

[NotoriousTIMP]

If camera and battery life are important, get the iPhone 4.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Had a quick question about rooting my galaxy S3. What are the major risks for rooting it? I really want to be able to connect my ps3 controller and get rid of some apps since you cannot save you apps to your sd card out of the box (so stupid). I have the guide on how to do it, just need some reassurance.

[Kodiak33]

My S3 gets great battery life on LTE. I'm running Jellybean on Verizon (through a leaked Jellybean release). Fantastic phone!

I play games on my iPad (since they seem to have more), so I would prefer to keep that as a tablet. I like having customization options for my phone (assistant), so I prefer Android for the phone and iOS for a tablet.

[blassster]

So I got my Nexus 4 and it's amazing. I came from a Motorola Milestone (aka original Droid) that I got in 2010, and was stuck on 2.1 until now. Needless to say there's a huge difference, but this new device is much better than I expected. I just wish the 360 panoramas were in the full resolution once put onto Google+ (unless I'm mistaken and they are).


Also, here's a Dragon Tattoo wallpaper I edited to fit the Nexus 4 native wallpaper size:





This is what it looks like when applied. Scrolling to the sides will reveal more of the image, as you probably know:







Edit: here is the PSD file for this, which also has the screen panel guides visible in Photoshop. If you open it, there is a text box in the bottom right corner (floating near the back of the chair) where you can place contact info if someone is nice enough to return it if lost. It shows up nicely in the lock screen, as long as you keep the text box where it is, and I find it looks better than the "owner info" text that's built in. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12965440/Dra...o_template.psd

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

I am having some trouble getting the image to move with the screens on my S3. I never had a problem with my other phones... gr this is frustrating me. Love that picture though.

EDIT: Figured it out, Youtube is your friend

[DVYDRNS]

Thinking of snagging a nexus 7 so I can install Ubuntu on it.

[blassster]

I am having some trouble getting the image to move with the screens on my S3. I never had a problem with my other phones... gr this is frustrating me. Love that picture though.

I heard about this today, my nephew told me about this same issue. Doesn't look like there is a way to change it in the menus, but there might be a launcher/home screen replacement out there that enables wallpaper scrolling.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

I heard about this today, my nephew told me about this same issue. Doesn't look like there is a way to change it in the menus, but there might be a launcher/home screen replacement out there that enables wallpaper scrolling.

I read on an android forum that samsung got rid of it. I had to download an app to make it scroll but it is still not the same as my other past phones. When I scrolled on my other phones the picture would always keep the same position on whatever screen it was on, when I scroll with the app the picture constantly changes.. it works but it is flawed. I just went with the still

[Conan The Barbarian]

To answer your question SDP,

Rooting your phone is the way to go to get freedom. Go to the XDA forums and go through all the available ROMS and decide which is best for you. Just remember that some are buggy and such so you will expierience some hiccups here and there.

Also rooting will help fix your screen situation. Or get ADW ( or AWD) launcher.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/

[Conan The Barbarian]

Got my nexus 4 today. So pretty.

[blassster]

So 4.2.2 is out, but when I manually check for updates it doesn't show up for me on my N4. Is it just me/Canada, or does anyone have this running on their N4 via OTA automatic update?

It can be installed on a rooted phone manually, but I don't really want to do that.

Edit: oh, there's a non-root installation method.

[blassster]

If you're on Android 4.2 or above, I *highly* recommend this lock screen widget: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...oman.dashclock

[Conan The Barbarian]

Is there a way to make the main lock screen the actual app? Its kind of lame to scroll the lock screens.

[blassster]

Is there a way to make the main lock screen the actual app? Its kind of lame to scroll the lock screens.

Yep, just hold it down and drag as far as possible to the right

[PooPooMeowChow]

I received a Samsung Galaxy S3 for xmas and its my first smart phone too.
It's awesome but it's slowed down a lot after the first update. Any tips how to speed it up?
& do I need any kind of anti-virus? suggestions?

[blassster]

I received a Samsung Galaxy S3 for xmas and its my first smart phone too.
It's awesome but it's slowed down a lot after the first update. Any tips how to speed it up?
& do I need any kind of anti-virus? suggestions?

Did you update to 4.1? 4.1 (and 4.2) is supposed to be faster, not slower. Strange, if so. Do you know if you installed a lot of apps that might run in the background? The xda forums (or Google) might have some information if you are still unsure. An anti virus would probably make it slower, personally I don't plan on using one for mine.