Samsung Galaxy S3

[durbster]

bodhi said:

Check out the Sony Xperias in that case, my Xperia S is built like a brick outhouse, feels pretty good in the hand too. It's also survived a few drops onto solid surfaces with barely a mark. Judging by reviews the new Xperia T is along the same lines.

I had a play with an Xperia the other day and it's an excellent device. Feels much nicer and seems more solid than my S2, and its' far more comfortable to use than the iPhone 4S (not played with an iPhone 5 yet).

I once had a Sony Ericsson phone and hated the interface on it so much that I vowed never to buy one again. That was about eight years ago so I may consider lifting my sanctions when I feel like a new phone

[FUBAR]

I came from an Xperia S. Moved more for due to the poor performance (slow and kept locking up), wasnt sure Id get on the the 'big' SGS3. I couldnt go back now.

[Kermit power]

The Beaver King said:

If Apple do eventually decide to increase the screen to a similar size and Android haven't streamlined their software, then I have no doubt I would move back to Apple.

What do you mean by "streamlined the software"?

I'm on a train with a colleague at the moment who has just showed me delightedly how it is so much easier to mute his phone since his iOS update. This seemed to involve about 3 different actions to get to a "do not disturb" slider. Apparently there's a button on the side which mutes it, but this automatically turns on vibrate as well, so it still kept buzzing annoyingly in meetings. Prior to this update, he apparently had to dive in to settings and things to make the change.

I showed him my S3. Hold down the power button to bring up the choice of silent, vibrate or ring and you're done. He was amazed!

Not sure it's Android who need to streamline?

[Targarama]

OK, it's happened too many times to be the network, I'm getting dropped calls, usually after 5-10 minutes on the phone. The phone locks itself too after dropping (i.e. need to enter PIN as if just turned phone on). Any ideas? (same network and call location as my iPhone 3G which never dropped calls).

[abbotsmike]

Trommel said:

Why not just use a tablet? Where do you draw the line?

The size of the iPhone is far more convenient to carry (perhaps the Android people always wear combat trousers or something).

I thought the s3 would be way too big in my pocket, right up until I got one. It lives in a Sena Ultraslim case (which adds minimal bulk), and fits in all my trouser pockets. For work that means smart/suit trousers, and most of the rest of the time I'm in jeans of varying cuts. It's so slim and rounded (unlike an ibrickphone)that it's just not an issue!

[onlynik]

Just bought one to replace my broken Nexus, and I'm really disappointed with it.

The Samsung ste on top of Android has ruined it. HTC sense was OK, but I liked my Nexus and the way it was set up, I liked that I could have a normal ring tone.

Hopefully someone will find a way of putting the Nexus JB rom on to an S3, so I can have a nice phone with no fluffy ste.

[Kermit power]

onlynik said:

Just bought one to replace my broken Nexus, and I'm really disappointed with it.

The Samsung ste on top of Android has ruined it. HTC sense was OK, but I liked my Nexus and the way it was set up, I liked that I could have a normal ring tone.

Hopefully someone will find a way of putting the Nexus JB rom on to an S3, so I can have a nice phone with no fluffy ste.

What is the fluffy ste?

I've gone from a Vodafone HTC Sensation to a direct purchase S3, so I've just been delighted at the lack of horrible Vodafone bloatware.

I don't suppose that Vodafone are any worse than any other network, but what sort of things do Samsung make me suffer that a clean Android would not?

[Crafty_]

he means touchwizz.

To a point I can understand, Samsung do add a bunch of apps that I don't ever use, but just disable them and forget about it.

On the other hand TW adds a whole bunch of functionality I find useful, for example adding a app/widget to a homescreen is pretty easy, on my nexus 7 I find it slower to do and quite frankly wonder why it doesn't work like TW. Gesture control stuff in TW useful also.

You can put a plain ROM on the phone if you want to, go look on XDA, someone there will of done it I'm sure.

If you think TW is bad try Sense on ICS, just horrible imho.

At the end of the day if you want plain android only the Nexus phones are going to satisfy you.

[Johnny]

Kermit power said:

Apparently there's a button on the side which mutes it, but this automatically turns on vibrate as well, so it still kept buzzing annoyingly in meetings

I'd politely tell him to learn how to use his phone TBH.

Turning off vibrate when on silent is fairly easy

[onlynik]

Kermit power said:

What is the fluffy ste?

I've gone from a Vodafone HTC Sensation to a direct purchase S3, so I've just been delighted at the lack of horrible Vodafone bloatware.

I don't suppose that Vodafone are any worse than any other network, but what sort of things do Samsung make me suffer that a clean Android would not?

I buy sim free phones, so I never get teh operator installs, however, Samsung have taken it upon themselves to install their own software

S update
S Planner
S memo
Chat on
S Suggest.

Plus the oppurtunity to setup a Samsung account when I switch the phone on. No thanks, I've got a google account which holds all the info I need.

Seriously a horrible amount of nasty apps on the phone.

[Crafty_]

As per my previous post..

Can't help but think you are going a bit over the top at five, small apps ?
just disable them and forget all about it.

[wiffmaster]

onlynik said:

Just bought one to replace my broken Nexus, and I'm really disappointed with it.

The Samsung ste on top of Android has ruined it. HTC sense was OK, but I liked my Nexus and the way it was set up, I liked that I could have a normal ring tone.

Hopefully someone will find a way of putting the Nexus JB rom on to an S3, so I can have a nice phone with no fluffy ste.

Easy to fix.

Install Nova Launcher to get rid of the ugly Touchwiz. Use Home Manager to switch between Touchwiz and Nova.

Nova Launcher gives it a much more stock feel, yet is still very customisable. It takes all the nice pretty bits of stock Android, gets rid of all the crap from Touchwiz and then allows you to customise it until it's perfect.

The worst thing Samsung did was get rid of the wonderful stock calandar and replace it with the abortion that is 'S-Planner'. Thankfully, this will solve all your problems.

Some screenshots showing how much nicer it can look when you've done the above...

[onlynik]

wiffmaster said:

Easy to fix.

Thanks, will look at that when I've time.

[Kermit power]

onlynik said:

Kermit power said:

What is the fluffy ste?

I've gone from a Vodafone HTC Sensation to a direct purchase S3, so I've just been delighted at the lack of horrible Vodafone bloatware.

I don't suppose that Vodafone are any worse than any other network, but what sort of things do Samsung make me suffer that a clean Android would not?

I buy sim free phones, so I never get teh operator installs, however, Samsung have taken it upon themselves to install their own software

S update
S Planner
S memo
Chat on
S Suggest.

Plus the oppurtunity to setup a Samsung account when I switch the phone on. No thanks, I've got a google account which holds all the info I need.

Seriously a horrible amount of nasty apps on the phone.

Blimey. I didn't even know I had those things on my phone! I've just checked, and I do, although I've never even noticed them, let alone used them or have them foist themselves upon me.

It seems a little "Princess and the pea" to get wound up by it?

[onlynik]

Kermit power said:

Blimey. I didn't even know I had those things on my phone! I've just checked, and I do, although I've never even noticed them, let alone used them or have them foist themselves upon me.

It seems a little "Princess and the pea" to get wound up by it?

Not really, I've used android for many years now, and have a stock bunch of apps I like, and like to use, there are other things too, touchwiz just isn't nice. I really don't like the UI, I don't like the different helpful tips that bug me and I have to click on them individually to stop coming up.

I don't like that Jelly Bean isn't officially released.

But most of all I'm annoyed with myself for not researching enough to find out all this before hand, I'm probably just going to get my Galaxy Nexus fixed so I can have a usable phone again.

[Jaldi]

onlynik said:

Hopefully someone will find a way of putting the Nexus JB rom on to an S3, so I can have a nice phone with no fluffy ste.

I thought like that at first. I really didn't like TouchWiz and the extra included apps.

I reckon the CM10 (Jellybean) and CM9 (ICS) ROMs should be right up ypur street mate:
CyanogenMod 10

Or, as mentioned above, you can easily and quickly ditch TouchWiz with a different launcher, eg NovaLauncher.

Personally, I've gotten used to TouchWiz now although I still like CM10 a lot.

Oh, and it's very simple to remove any Samsung apps that you don't like. Any that don't want to be uninstalled can be gotten rid of with Titanium Backup

Edited by Jaldi on Wednesday 26th September 21:23

[Crafty_]

Samsung JB update will be very soon.. check here every once and a while: http://www.sammobile.com/

[Kermit power]

onlynik said:

I don't like the different helpful tips that bug me and I have to click on them individually to stop coming up.

I think you've got a different build to me or something. The only place I've had "helpful tips" is in the camera.

[onlynik]

Thanks to everyone who has put up with my moaning and suugested fixes for it. I'll have a look at it over the next few days. I'm also likeing the phone more now. Maybe I'm just not good with change

[Targarama]

Anyone found a decent 4x1 weather widget? I like the generic Samsung widget which comes on the home page, but I want it to be smaller.