Samsung Galaxy S3

[Rib]

Luke. said:

Rib said:

AmitG said:

Thanks gibbo37 and ZesPak

I have ordered a Galaxy Note 2, it should be arriving soon

I got mine yesterday, it is an absolute BEAST! I love it!

What did you make the move from? Toying with the idea too.

Desire HD, taking a bit of getting use to from the HTC but after playing with it for half an hour then going back to my HD whilst the number was still transfers suddenly made it seem very old!

[robsa]

Jelly bean has massively improved things for me. And Google Now seems pretty good, even if it does still misunderstand me soemtimes (perhaps this will get better with useage). Co Pilot is deffo a great nav app.

I had a Galaxy Note for a bit and loved it, I would seriously love a Note 2 now!

Regarding what apps, I love swype and couldn't be without it now, and I love Flipboard too. And TV Catchup for watching live TV.

ETA: Google Chrome apparently has some bad code in it regarding navigating and editing - using it with Swype is a nightmare.

[Kermit power]

robsa said:

Regarding what apps, I love swype and couldn't be without it now, and I love Flipboard too. And TV Catchup for watching live TV.

ETA: Google Chrome apparently has some bad code in it regarding navigating and editing - using it with Swype is a nightmare.

Is Swype one of the keyboard options where (as the name implies) you just swipe your finger over the letters rather than tapping individual keys?

Assuming it is then I'd agree, although I use something called Go Keyboard, that this is an essential piece of functionality to have. It takes a bit of getting used to, and the predictive type sometimes comes up with same really weird choices, but since I started using it, my typing has gone from being maybe 70% of what it users to be on my old blackberry to being twice as quick.

[tenohfive]

Kermit power said:

Is Swype one of the keyboard options where (as the name implies) you just swipe your finger over the letters rather than tapping individual keys?

Assuming it is then I'd agree, although I use something called Go Keyboard, that this is an essential piece of functionality to have. It takes a bit of getting used to, and the predictive type sometimes comes up with same really weird choices, but since I started using it, my typing has gone from being maybe 70% of what it users to be on my old blackberry to being twice as quick.

I binned Swype for Swiftkey X a long time ago and have never looked back. The main reason being that it's guesses are pretty spot on, and it reads old messages etc to work out phrases you've used before. Works really well, even when you miss just about every letter you're aiming for.

[FUBAR]

I couldn't get on with Swiftkey. Went back to Swype (well Samsung's version of it) although I dont think it as good as the old version I had on my Xperia. I've said it before on here, if writing something longer than a quick text, and have a decent data connection, the Google voice input really is excellent.

WRT nav, I've got CoPilot. Used it in the US and across Europe and its a great bit of software. Recommended

[ZesPak]

I'm a fan of Swype, takes some getting used to but I think it's pretty good. Swiftkey was ok but swype just suited me better.

[ridds]

Fletch79 said:

Well my NFC arrived today and started using tasker and nfc tasker

Very cool what you can do with them

Ps anybody else having problems on pistonheads with chrome? My cursor jumps all over and the spell correction does wierd things

Yep, I have this a lot. Seems to happen when typing fast strangely. Do you use swiftkey keyboard?

Also, Chrome has stopped accessing the mobile site on here altogether on my phone. Same error message as I got with Dolphin HD broswer.

[Fletch79]

ridds said:

Yep, I have this a lot. Seems to happen when typing fast strangely. Do you use swiftkey keyboard?

Also, Chrome has stopped accessing the mobile site on here altogether on my phone. Same error message as I got with Dolphin HD broswer.

Yeah i use swift key ... had it happen on another input box aswell not just pistonheads

Maybe worth adding a comment here
https://www.facebook.com/SwiftKey/posts/2942708240...

Edited by Fletch79 on Saturday 20th October 05:29

[AmitG]

I've had my Galaxy Note 2 for 3 days now and I thought I would post some first impressions. I'll try and keep it to stuff that hasn't been covered extensively already (I'm sure you all know it has a big screen...)

I bought it on Tottenham Court Road, from the same man who has sold me virtually all of my phones and PDAs since 1997. He wasn't the cheapest - I probably could have saved a tenner or so online - but he did me a good deal on a Galaxy Note 2 plus 64GB memory card. I get the goods there and then, I can check it in the shop and if I hit a problem I can just go back and discuss it with him, without the pain of RMAs, return postage, chasing credit card refunds etc. Bricks and mortar shops are the future

I was upgrading from a HTC Sensation XL so Android was familiar to me but JellyBean and TouchWiz were not.

The device is just brilliant to use. I am very happy with it so far. At first I thought it was too big, and seriously thought about returning it. But I quickly got used to it and now I can't imagine going back. Email, maps and web browsing are magnificent on the big screen and a joy to use.

Battery life appears to be excellent. With my HTC I generally got about 3 days out of a charge. With the Note 2, it's been nearly 3 days and I still have 50% charge left.

Call quality and signal reception are also excellent. Calls are very clear. Within the house, I get better reception - both voice and 3G data - than I did with the HTC, which sometimes dropped out mid call.

Gripes:

• The packaging is a bit cheap. It's barely bigger than the phone. I guess that these days people just buy online, so the packaging makes no difference. Needs more theatre.
• No manual; all you get is a very basic "getting started" guide and a suggestion that you download the full manual from the Samsung website. Come on guys, this is a 530 GBP phone. I want a printed manual in the box. Nearly all of the hundreds of menu options, shortcuts and "magic" key combinations are undocumented based on what you get in the box. And the online manual isn't much good.
• Inserting the SD card is a pain in the arse. Good job you only have to do it once.
• The power button is directly opposite the volume controls. It's too easy to press the volume controls by accident.
• Performance is not as good as I had been led to expect. When I wake it up it takes a good second for the lock screen to appear, where my HTC was practically instant. I still see delays when navigating menus or hanging up a call. I don't really see the superior performance compared to my HTC.
• I would like better use made of the big screen. For example, in Contacts, use the bigger screen and higher resolution to show me more contacts on the screen. When calling, show me a longer call history. Don't just show me the same amount of information but in bigger font.

I installed SwiftKey 3 and highly recommend it; it is IMHO miles better than the standard keyboard. Its main selling point seems to be that its predictive text is based not just on the characters you type, but on the context of the words; it has some notion of which words tend to follow each other in the English language and it uses that information to improve its predictive text guesses. I can type approx 50% faster with it.

The other thing I installed was Zooper Widget Pro. This provides fully customisable homescreen widgets which can display a huge range of information in pretty much any layout you can imagine. I removed the standard Samsung clock widget and created a Zooper widget with a large clock, the date, the times of sunrise and sunset, outside temperature and battery charge, all displayed exactly how I like it. Highly recommended.

I'm happy to answer any questions from prospective owners.

[Zato]

I had the original note and loved it. I will be ordering the note 2 in a weeks time but am waiting for the n7105 version with LTE. Thanks for your comments

[Asterix]

Found something I hate about my GS3!

I can't stop polishing the screen! The finger marks etc... drive me mad

Anyways - finally tracked down an Otterbox Commuter case in black. I like how it makes the phone look a bit more chunky and it's a well engineered bit of kit. Fits very well, while the side buttons need you need to press a bit harder, it's actually better than before because with normal pressure, you can't push them by mistake - the fit around the screen is good and the 'windows' for the rear mic, camera and LED are exactly spot on.

[pulliptears]

Updated to Jellybean this weekend and am much happier Nice to have basic features back such as actually having an update firmware option (thanks T Mobile for removing this and other features from the standard software!)

Not keen on the official 'flip case' though. Quality isn't brilliant and it has a major flaw in the fact you need to hold the cover out of the way while using the camera :/

[FUBAR]

Yup, I Jellybeaned up this morning. Not had chance to play with it to see what's different yet.

[Kermit power]

FUBAR said:

Yup, I Jellybeaned up this morning. Not had chance to play with it to see what's different yet.

How come others are getting the Jellybean release and I'm not?

I'm on an unlocked phone, so would've thought I'd get the release as soon as Samsung UK let it out, rather than having to wait for Vodafone to arse around with it?

Do I need to get it some way other than OTA? Will I get a Vodafone-crippled version if I do eventually upgrade OTA?

[DoctorX]

Kermit power said:

How come others are getting the Jellybean release and I'm not?

I'm on an unlocked phone, so would've thought I'd get the release as soon as Samsung UK let it out, rather than having to wait for Vodafone to arse around with it?

Do I need to get it some way other than OTA? Will I get a Vodafone-crippled version if I do eventually upgrade OTA?

I think my Vodafone S3 is trying to upgrade at the moment. Haven't got a data connection though, but it was due today I've read.

[Kermit power]

DoctorX said:

I think my Vodafone S3 is trying to upgrade at the moment. Haven't got a data connection though, but it was due today I've read.

Cheers. Now I just need to understand how I get a carrier-unadulterated version for my phone rather than risk Vodafone sticking their bloatware on it?

[FUBAR]

The update message was just sitting on the phone when I came downstairs this morning. I'm guessing mine has the VF 'bloatware' but TBH I wouldn't know any difference as thats all I've ever had. Apart from the VF music/travel etc apps I'm not sure what else is bloatware?

[Asterix]

I had an update on Saturday night but it wasn't for JB - is there anyway of looking at an update historically?

[Kermit power]

FUBAR said:

The update message was just sitting on the phone when I came downstairs this morning. I'm guessing mine has the VF 'bloatware' but TBH I wouldn't know any difference as thats all I've ever had. Apart from the VF music/travel etc apps I'm not sure what else is bloatware?

I can't remember exactly what was on my old HTC, but there were a number of apps which I couldn't delete, as well as having Vodafone logos on startup and the like.

It's nothing which couldn't be worked around in day to day use, but I'd imagine it would reduce the value if I ever come to sell it, plus I really don't want to have Vodafone logos all over it!

[Crafty_]

My VF phone updated this morning.

Samsung haven't released the unbranded firmware OTA yet. Keep an eye here, as they are posting all firmwares as they are released: http://www.sammobile.com/