Develop Bugs

Honest review from a critical nerd (me)

I've has my Galaxy Nexus for a couple of days now, on the Three network in the UK.
I hate how most people in reviews rave about phones when they have just forked out for them, and fail to mention any real negatives - presumably because they refuse to accept that something they've spent £500 on might be less than perfect. When you buy one and it's missing features or isn't quite what you expected, it's very annoying.
Here are my thoughts so far. I consider myself a power-user, and have tested almost everything. Overall, people are right. This is the best phone I've touched. I think once devs start optimising their apps to work properly on ICS it'll be even better. Fingers crossed that Cyanogen will address lots of the annoyances below.
I hope this is useful for someone
The Good:
Feels much more complete and unified.
It's lightening fast.
Most of the best bits of Android have transferred.
Screen looks great.
Face unlock works much better than I thought. Even in low light.
I've only had one crash despite installing a tonne of apps and testing every feature. [EDIT: a few FCs today. Mainly from the pre-installed Google Earth).
Radio seems to work fine on Three UK, unlike the SGS II which has data issues due to fast dormancy. Data speeds are great.
Browser generally much better.
Text input much better, but editing is a little confusing and seems to vary depending on app. [EDIT: This is actually phenomenal. I've always had a hardware keyboard or Swype before so no practice on these keyboards. After only 48 hours, I can literally type without looking. It is very good at correcting mistakes.]
Screen size is great for me, as I use my phones as mini-tablets. Doesn't feel bulky in my pocket at all.
BLUETOOTH STEREO FINALLY DOESN'T DISTORT - I can hear hi-hats again instead of just distortion. There is a bit of constant crackling though.
Screen remains responsive when charging. I have had an issue where it wasn't registering touch properly when charging on my Milestone, Desire and SGSII so this is really nice.
The Bad:
EVEN THOUGH I'M SUPPOSEDLY IN AN UNAFFECTED BAND, IF MY PHONE DROPS TO 2G, AND SOMEONE WALKS NEAR ME MAKING A PHONECALL IT PUTS MY PHONE ON SILENT.
The 'menu' button is unpredictable. For example, in most apps it appears at the bottom with the softkeys. In Market it's up at the top, near the search button. In some apps, it has gone. Seems to vary and is confusing.
You're stuck with the Google search box on you home screen. I hate this.
Now the button has gone, if an app doesn't have a search icon, you've lost the ability to search.
Also means no long press search, so you have to go back to the home screen for voice commands. This also means that regardless of what launcher you use, if you want voice search, you NEED to have the Google search widget on your home screen.
No USB Mass Storage – they've opted for media device profile instead. My Xbox recognises it but can't play any content. It doesn't work with my car stereo. It doesn't work with my TV. My laptop will see it, but I can't see certain hidden folders. This has just removed a huge aspect of flexibility from Android. It's no longer universal, and more like an iPhone now in that respect.
Icons are as ugly in real life as everyone expected.
Blue theme clashes with everything except blue. Blue icons on blue background feels very bland.
There is a huge problem with speech to text, whereby it is very slow, and seems to just write a list of names out of my contacts directory rather than writing what I say! Video here: http://youtu.be/qHVptz2EtMk
No longer accepts certain file formats over Bluetooth.
Camera seems buggy when reviewing photos. It works confusingly.
Gallery is not very intuitive at all.
Browser doesn't display Javascript animations properly.
Dropped a few calls.
Wifi range isn't as good as my other Androids
Front facing camera doesn't aim inwards towards your face. It points straight forward at 90 degrees, but it's positioned on the right of the device, so your face isn't central unless you hold the phone at a bit of an angle facing away from you. [EDIT - this is getting very annoying now. You have to have the phone screen pointing almost away from you to video call]
Bluetooth calls don't seem to work. Caller can't hear what I'm saying. [EDIT - I'm told it works on newer kits. Mine is a Jabra stereo receiver]
Bluetooth music has a constant crackling behind it, but it's barely noticeable in loud music.
All albumart appears in the phone gallery.
Google Talk seems to sign out after a while. It's showing all of my contacts as away even though I know they're online. Signing out and in again fixes this temporarily, but I'm guessing I would miss video calls whilst offline.
Phone has gone to permanent sleep about 3 times in 2 and a half days now. Requires a battery pull to get it back on.
Apps - If you can't live without these, I'd recommend waiting to buy until they're fixed
No menu button is shown on Facebook, so there's no way to set it up to sync contacts or notifications. This means no contact photos for now.
Twitter on the other hand syncs all my contacts, despite me telling it not to.
Doesn't support Swype as yet.
Doesn't support MX Video Player.
iPlayer not available in the Market.
Grooveshark app doesn't work due to lack of flash player. You can use Dood's music streamer for a functional but unattractive alternative.

Thanks for the review and honesty. It would be nice if you kept this updated as either your opinion changes or things are fixed from either Google or app developers.

Is web browser as smooth (scrolling, pinch to zoom) as one on the galaxy s2?

I really beginning to wonder if Verizon is going to put these out there in two weeks without some fixes/improvements in place. I mean, if December 8 is real, these phones have got be in sealed boxes already. People will be returning them faster than they sell them.

hrcro said:
Is web browser as smooth (scrolling, pinch to zoom) as one on the galaxy s2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It feels a lot smoother than my Galaxy S II did.
I'm about to test the bluetooth quality, as crackling audio was my biggest pet hate from previous Android versions.

Can you resize the search widget? If we are stuck with it maybe something smaller will help minimize that particular drawback.

have you got an otg usb cable? can you hook up a thumb drive?
Sent from my Google Nexus S using Tapatalk

suomaf said:
have you got an otg usb cable? can you hook up a thumb drive?
Sent from my Google Nexus S using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, please test it. whole forum with owners GN but nobody had test this opportunity yet

I hope yopu don't mind but I am going to hijack this thread and also post a quick review from a similar nerd is maybe over critical. Saves starting a new thread.
The Good
ICS is very polished, much more so than any other version of android, it tries to stay consistent through the whole phone where as in previous versions it was one of my main annoyances.
The device looks fantastic.
The speed is very good, I wouldn't say it is any faster than a SGS2 with a custom rom IMO but it is a lot smother in animation etc. so it feels a lot faster.
The screen is very nice, playing videos when the screen is set up to an acceptable brightness are amazing with colours a lot more natural than the SGS2 or the yellow tint of the iphone 4.
Radio is very good also, getting full signal in my house where as before i would only receive 2-3 bars.
Text input is a lot better although i have found it is unable to keep up with my typing, although it is putting the letters down it almost seems like there is a little delay in the animation of them magnifying.
Notification light is back and I am glad, as I missed that feature on my SGS2.
Has everything, NFC, noise cancelling mic, 720p display and ICS. Its pretty much future proof (in terms of the next few years)
Zero shutter lag is a very good feature
Bad Points
The screen although very nice on full or half brightness is not very good on auto brightness. It is so much lower compared to all my other smart phones it is almost unusable I find so I have had to manually set the brightness.
Auto rotate as I have mentioned in another thread is very inconsistent, very fast in some apps nearly non existent in others.
Sound quality is quiet, not poor quality but very quiet. My SGS2 and iPhone 4 over power it when playing videos.
The browser is fast but it is not as fast as my SGS2 running Check Rom Revolution HD. It is deffo faster than the iPhone 4.
The camera is not great, its not bad but the quality feels like it is from a year old device. Quite grainy, not as good as the SGS2 or the iphone 4s unfortunately.
And lastly a few quirks which I am sure will be sorted out with an over the air update, occasional stutter when opening app draw, gallery doesn't seem terribly smooth when going through photos and the auto rotate is just annoying me.
Other than the above I don't want people to read this and think it is doom and gloom because it isn't. This is a very very good device, I am glad I purchased it because it is still the best phone on the market in my opinion.
Every phone has its niggles but that is why this forum is so great, I am looking forward to the community baked roms which always make a device go from very good to just awesome.
To answer some question, you can't resize the search bar. Its not really a widget its sort of like the controls at the bottom, permanently there.

when typing does it type well, what I mean is it off when typing and you keep getting bad letters up, I had that problem with the SGS2 someone mentioned it was a screen problem that it kept jumping
thanks

bmstrong said:
Can you resize the search widget? If we are stuck with it maybe something smaller will help minimize that particular drawback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, can't resize it. It's there permanently. You'd have to install another launcher.
Added a few more to the list, mainly to do with Bluetooth.

Is FM radio working with Spirit FM Radio app?

justabrake said:
when typing does it type well, what I mean is it off when typing and you keep getting bad letters up, I had that problem with the SGS2 someone mentioned it was a screen problem that it kept jumping
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it types really well, I don't think I have mistyped once on there and I type real fast.

Good lord. That's a lot of negatives. Thanks for the honest review for undecided minds like me. Just two questions. If you use a 3rd party launcher (for example adw) will the google search bar still be present? Secondly, how does the GPS perform in terms of fix time and accuracy? Does barometer really help GPS fix time? Thanks

luffyp said:
Secondly, how does the GPS perform in terms of fix time and accuracy? Does barometer really help GPS fix time? Thanks
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Click to collapse
The GPS fix for me is very fast, easily within a second or so. Much faster than my Desire was, that's for sure.

A lot of those negatives either will be resolved soon by Google or they won't be a problem for the majority of people
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

OP > when typing does it type well, what I mean is it off when typing and you keep getting bad letters up, I had that problem with the SGS2 someone mentioned it was a screen problem that it kept jumping
thanks

mike freegan said:
You're stuck with the Google search box on you home screen. I hate this.
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Click to collapse
Ugh.
This is going to be problematic with my live clock wallpaper that is displayed at the top of the screen. Anyone else use WP Clock?
Here's an example of the live wallpaper I'm talking about:

luffyp said:
Good lord. That's a lot of negatives. Thanks for the honest review for undecided minds like me. Just two questions. If you use a 3rd party launcher (for example adw) will the google search bar still be present? Secondly, how does the GPS perform in terms of fix time and accuracy? Does barometer really help GPS fix time? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you have to bare in mind that ICS is a big over haul, so if we were to list all the positives it would be a pretty big list. I am just venting my negatives of the device, but when you compare them to how good the device is they really are small and I would rather have this handset than any other. I forked out for both my SGS2 and the Galaxy Nexus sim free and i am not dissapointed with either. If you are undecided on whether to upgrade you have to look at the fact that this phone does have everything, is a developer phone and has ICS written specifically for it. I would say go for it.
If you use a 3rd party launcher the Google search will not be present, my GPS has been excellent, I have used it for a few car journeys and it is just as good as my SGS2 which was superb.

jms.flynn said:
Well you have to bare in mind that ICS is a big over haul, so if we were to list all the positives it would be a pretty big list. I am just venting my negatives of the device, but when you compare them to how good the device is they really are small and I would rather have this handset than any other. I forked out for both my SGS2 and the Galaxy Nexus sim free and i am not dissapointed with either. If you are undecided on whether to upgrade you have to look at the fact that this phone does have everything, is a developer phone and has ICS written specifically for it. I would say go for it.
If you use a 3rd party launcher the Google search will not be present, my GPS has been excellent, I have used it for a few car journeys and it is just as good as my SGS2 which was superb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep I know, ICS seems to be the biggest change among the previous Android versions. Together with Google & developers' support, it's why I want to jump ship to the Nexus line. At the moment I'm leaning towards it, just wanna read more reviews. Although the volume adjusting problem that many people are having is a bit of a concern. Hopefully it will be fixed by a software update.

ICS on LG G2X.

I installed the Bloodeagle ICS (4.0.3) ROM on my G2X yesterday. It went straight on without any hitches using the clockworkmod recovery/ROM manager. It's not bad. The important stuff all works (phone, data, wifi, camera etc..)
The biggest difference is battery life. It easily added about 3 hours for me, although since I tend to run a lot of background apps, the difference may really be that some of these don't work on ICS and weren't installed.
Some on the cons are...
Android market app doesn't work (I suspect it knows I have ICS 4.x and doesn't like it?)
Even though I have my contacts sync'd, text messages only show up with the phone number (no name) even though the people are in my contact list.
Both of the games I had installed (purchased) are now complaining that I need to purchase them (in order to play the full version).
Some of the non-standard directories I have on my external SD card aren't recognized. (It can find my camera photo's folder, and my QuickOffice documents) but not my Music (mp3) and Pictures directories.
I would say about 60% of my existing apps work OK. I tried to download the Chrome beta browser from the market (had to do it via PC, as the market app isn't working), it says my device is incompatible. (ICS is required, hmmm)
The haptic feedback feels different, smoother, more polished. I really like it.
- summit

Hellfire 1.4
I put Hellfire 1.4 on my G2X yesterday and it added probally 6 hours to my average life. All seems to work except for video recorder and wifi calling still a litte iffy. Highly Recommend.

LG O2X
Hey guys I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, i'm very new at this. And i'm looking for some guidance. I am also new with android phones. Mine is an LG O2X p9990. I did installed CM7 android version 2.3.7 bb 1035.21_20110725. Everything is working fine, phone, email, browser, camera and apps. Sometimes it does the apps crashes here and there but not big deal. But the only concern I don't really like is the call quality, people i call says that my voice is not very clear and they can hear a lot of the background noise. Some suggest to change the RIL. So here is where i need the help, which RIL to get, where to get it and how to change it.
Any suggestions that can lead me to do this in a clear and simple way?
Many thanks!

When I had ril issues I purchased getril and V21e is the right one. Hope you find this use full.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

musicafe thanks! I did download the getril and it does says that my RIL and bb doesn't match ...so looking through the options, i can not find V21e, the close i see are: 0823 (V21b [P990H], Canada) and 0824 (V21f, Europe) ...any suggestions?

what are ppl using to sync music now that UMS is gone? double twist doesnt work for me anymoe and MTB is so slow for copy music.

hectormcesar said:
musicafe thanks! I did download the getril and it does says that my RIL and bb doesn't match ...so looking through the options, i can not find V21e, the close i see are: 0823 (V21b [P990H], Canada) and 0824 (V21f, Europe) ...any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, It worked for me and I seen it work for others. Unfortunately that's all I got.
Sent from my HELLFIRE ICS BEAST.

I misread you original post V21e is for p999 sorry about that V21b probably is right

Thread moved

musicafe said:
I misread you original post V21e is for p999 sorry about that V21b probably is right
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks again for your help. But actually i did change the rom to NOVA HD+ and now the call quality is way much better... but there's some apps that are not stable at all:clock (alarm to be exact) camera, email from the notification bar and a couple others. Some times phone calls drops down but i'm not sure if is my phone doing that. So far i do like a lot ICS looks and feels very smooth. But how about MIUI do you think is more stable?

Lack of multi-tasking - Possible return

The hardware and design of this phone are top notch - most features work really well except anything in regards to multi-tasking. I am very disappointed that its missing basic functionality I thought should be pretty standard these days especially on a flagship device. Case in point - Usa today app, its always been really nice while traveling since I can sync it before flying and read all the articles while in-flight on my iPhone during airplane mode, with the One X any open browser page or related app becomes a useless blank page when airplane mode is switched on. Heck even the picture I had open in the gallery section closed and took me back to the main gallery (picture) folder and of course this does not need an internet connection.
It looks like Sense 4.0 has eliminated multi-tasking, as much as I like the device otherwise I just cant give up so much basic functionality that I have been enjoying for years on other phones... Will probably have to return and go back to my iphone 4 for now.. Bummer -
It does not appear that HTC recognizes this short-coming as a problem and considers this normal functionality so I cant just wait for an update/fix...
Anyone else feel this way ?

Srgsx said:
The hardware and design of this phone are top notch - most features work really well except anything in regards to multi-tasking. I am very disappointed that its missing basic functionality I thought should be pretty standard these days especially on a flagship device. Case in point - Usa today app, its always been really nice while traveling since I can sync it before flying and read all the articles while in-flight on my iPhone during airplane mode, with the One X any open browser page or related app becomes a useless blank page when airplane mode is switched on. Heck even the picture I had open in the gallery section closed and took me back to the main gallery (picture) folder and of course this does not need an internet connection.
It looks like Sense 4.0 has eliminated multi-tasking, as much as I like the device otherwise I just cant give up so much basic functionality that I have been enjoying for years on other phones... Will probably have to return and go back to my iphone 4 for now.. Bummer -
It does not appear that HTC recognizes this short-coming as a problem and considers this normal functionality so I cant just wait for an update/fix...
Anyone else feel this way ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
multitasking is a bit of a joke on this phone. I hope HTC addresses this in a future update.
sent from my HTC One X

Since Sense + OS alone consume most of the ram (> 80%) on the device, I suppose integrated Android task killer is configured in some paranoid mode and is killing backgroups apps like crazy.
If this bothers you, I would install one of senseless ROMs on your HD2 and be happy Possibly there is also a way to make task killer more civilized in custom Sense ROMs.
Sadly, Sense 4.0 is quit bloated and One-X should have at least 1.5GB of RAM to begin with.

Yup, I agree, multitasking is really bad... All my dolphin browser pages reload if I click the home button and try to go back.
Sent from my HTC One X on Leedroid's ROM v5.1.0.

It will addressed with uopdates after all you bought a quad cote for multi tasking, some of xda chefs are communicating with HTC dev and we reported the very aggressive memfree values, also if you are rooted you can control them with supercharger script

Srgsx said:
Case in point - Usa today app, its always been really nice while traveling since I can sync it before flying and read all the articles while in-flight on my iPhone during airplane mode, with the One X any open browser page or related app becomes a useless blank page when airplane mode is switched on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I change the wireless state on my i9100 the same thing happens so it's Android, not HTC or the One X. Even if the USA Today home page was retained clicking on any of the stories would result in an error because there's no wireless connection available. Get an app like Pocket that allows you to save articles from across the web for offline reading. The CNN app also gives you the option to save stories offline.

The multitasking on this phone sucks period. There is not justification. I should not be here looking for an answer. XDA devs should be enhancing the phone not trying to fix basic functionality. I hope HTC solves this problem before my trail period.

mgfjd said:
The multitasking on this phone sucks period. There is not justification. I should not be here looking for an answer. XDA devs should be enhancing the phone not trying to fix basic functionality. I hope HTC solves this problem before my trail period.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do any of you understand how multitasking in Android even works? Even if a task is killed by the OS, apps developed that follow the published standard will re-launch in their last state in less than a second. And the better XDA devs should know that. So while HTC's memory management may be aggressive, there's more to it if individual apps aren't behaving correctly.
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking-android-way.html

Srgsx said:
The hardware and design of this phone are top notch - most features work really well except anything in regards to multi-tasking. I am very disappointed that its missing basic functionality I thought should be pretty standard these days especially on a flagship device. Case in point - Usa today app, its always been really nice while traveling since I can sync it before flying and read all the articles while in-flight on my iPhone during airplane mode, with the One X any open browser page or related app becomes a useless blank page when airplane mode is switched on. Heck even the picture I had open in the gallery section closed and took me back to the main gallery (picture) folder and of course this does not need an internet connection.
It looks like Sense 4.0 has eliminated multi-tasking, as much as I like the device otherwise I just cant give up so much basic functionality that I have been enjoying for years on other phones... Will probably have to return and go back to my iphone 4 for now.. Bummer -
It does not appear that HTC recognizes this short-coming as a problem and considers this normal functionality so I cant just wait for an update/fix...
Anyone else feel this way ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're not happy w it, return it ASAP. Why do you have to care about what others think? It's your money, your experience.
Case closed. Meetings adjourned lol

louis.b said:
If you're not happy w it, return it ASAP. Why do you have to care about what others think? It's your money, your experience.
Case closed. Meetings adjourned lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its called a forum, in which I can and will reach out to others to get feedback on what I consider a situation with a very flawed segment of Sense which is making me contemplate returning an otherwise very nice device.
Look Apple has been doing this puesdo multi-tasking, app-pausing just fine since 4.0 what the heck is HTC thinking ? Browser tabs store just fine for days WITHOUT an internet connection. I geuss I am just expecting too much.
Sorry to interupt move along nothing to see here - lol

If you really want to pile-on, head over here. The XL'rs are far more up in arms than the X'rs.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1646409
I've asked the same questions of people that say the way multitasking is implemented is a real hardship but no one's answered. What's the harm? Of "X" hours a day using the phone, what percentage of your time is actually spent active in two (or more) apps simultaneously? And with a powerful processor it shouldn't matter whether a background app is in state or has to be restarted based on the way Android works (see below). I'm not trying to pick a fight I'm trying to understand the depth of the issue.
And since no one's read the article I linked to, here's the cruxt...
Once Android determines that it needs to remove a process, it does this brutally, simply force-killing it. The kernel can then immediately reclaim all resources needed by the process, without relying on that application being well written and responsive to a polite request to exit. Allowing the kernel to immediately reclaim application resources makes it a lot easier to avoid serious out of memory situations.
If a user later returns to an application that's been killed, Android needs a way to re-launch it in the same state as it was last seen, to preserve the "all applications are running all of the time" experience. This is done by keeping track of the parts of the application the user is aware of (the Activities), and re-starting them with information about the last state they were seen in. This last state is generated each time the user leaves that part of the application, not when it is killed, so that the kernel can later freely kill it without depending on the application to respond correctly at that point.
And based on this, the SGS3's handling memory managment just like the One X so there don't appear to be a lot of options for those with special multitasking needs.
greyhulk said:
The GS3 has the same multitasking "issue" as the One X. I have tested it. That's all the more reason why I don't expect HTC to fix it in an update. I believe it's how the manufacturers intend it to work, for better or worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Try to install Apex launcher free version and set it as default launcher. Reboot and see is situation get better. If works for you then it is sense problem.
It works like a charm on my X. No any problem for multitask.And it is so smooth.
Of course if you do want sense launcher then have to live with issue. But no harm to try Apex to see at least multitask can wrok or not

BarryH_GEG everything looks nice when you write it down like that but i remember SGS did better multitasking then my new double ram HTC One X, on daily basis it kills everything when i9000 never killed my GG chatting app or music player - both just should be ON all the time i was using them thats only 2 apps to handle

At a co-workers urging I installed Go-launcher today in hopes of a quick fix. yeah nothing, still re-renders everything fricken thing it touches.
Should I stil try Apex ?

Apex so far is best launcher for one X. I used it for 1 month. If it is not work for you I will post another solution which may help.

Apex- ok you might be on to something !
Can still hold app data while in airplane mode...

Srgsx said:
the One X any open browser page or related app becomes a useless blank page when airplane mode is switched on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your rooted then flash Jan's Advance Notification toggle to enable Airplane Mode it will retain the webpage because you're not going into a different app.

Srgsx said:
At a co-workers urging I installed Go-launcher today in hopes of a quick fix. yeah nothing, still re-renders everything fricken thing it touches.
Should I stil try Apex ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont think this is caused by sense taking up too much resources. Seems to be an ics inherent thing. The sgs3 was just reported to behave the same way.
Oh yes i tried the ipad3 the other day. The display was perfect but what surprises me is it multitasks amazingly well. I can have 5 - 6 apps open including youtube and browser with multiple tabs and it switches between them smoothly without once quiting the browser. Really sad to see android/ ics regressed to this state that ios significantly beat it.

if it is ics problem why I can use mutlitask on my one X?

Raider0001 said:
BarryH_GEG everything looks nice when you write it down like that but i remember SGS did better multitasking then my new double ram HTC One X, on daily basis it kills everything when i9000 never killed my GG chatting app or music player - both just should be ON all the time i was using them thats only 2 apps to handle
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I keep asking the question "what does it mean?" and everyone keeps replying "it shouldn't be this way." If a doctor says "there’s something wrong with your liver," there's a big difference between hepatitis A and stage 3 cancer. Other than the perceived loss of something you had how does the way that the One X handles multitasking affect what you do every day? And how often is it a problem?
I had a i9100 and in practical use I don't notice a difference. The exception being the browser that stupidly reloads itself every time it restarts but it does that regardless of whether launched from recent apps or directly from the app drawer or a shortcut.
And if this is true it doesn't really matter what a Desire, HD2, or SGS did.
greyhulk said:
The GS3 has the same multitasking "issue" as the One X. I have tested it. That's all the more reason why I don't expect HTC to fix it in an update. I believe it's how the manufacturers intend it to work, for better or worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Wishlist / can this be fixed without days/weeks of research or will I have to switch?

Okay, so I made the jump from iPhone 4S to SGS3 T-999 at the beginning of September this year and my experience has been less than fun. Disregarding all the hardware issues, as far as software is concerned, I've been spending hours every day trying to find software that works reliably. Here's my rant of the biggest problems right now, if you have any ideas, I'd really appreciate hearing back! I was looking forward to digging into mods/hacks, etc on Android later down the road but with these basic functions that I depend on daily in my phone not there yet, I'm starting to wonder if I need to just switch back to iOS until Android is more developed. I actually used be on Android in the days of the S2 for about 2 months, but had to ultimately switch back to iOS because I simply didn't always have the time to download 20-30 clock apps to find one that works decently or test out mods and hacks for basic functions. Sure, it's fun to test try out mods and such but when your phone feels like it's broken, that's no good.
>Stock camera app doesn't allow taking pictures/video/flash at a certain level of battery. wtf, why samsung?! I have yet to find a camera app that does video/photo as well as the stock camera app.
>Image compression & resize tool for when e-mailing photos/images quickly...like in iOS would be great, or even something that actually works would be better. Note to Samsung--most people don't want or need to get an e-mail of your 8mp picture taken on your cell phone.
>Audiobook player that saves my spot
>Least buggy PDF reader with search, annotations and highlighting
>Tethering that works (no luck so far with fox fi and a few others, I'm using T-mobile MyMonthly 4G)
>File transfer over USB on my Mac (Latest version of lion, macbook pro 2.4ghz c2d pre-unibody)
>Find my iPhone equivalent with a web interface as opposed to just text message operation
>iOS clock app equivalent. I have downloaded probably more than 2 dozen timer/clock/alarm apps and none of them do it all while staying on in the background and not randomly closing. Also would be great if I didn't lose my timer if the app or phone has to be restarted/killed.
>Make a complete backup on my Mac instead of backing it up to my SD card and then having to copy that to my computer.
This list used be a lot longer...but with much sweat I have found some solutions or learned to cope, but not for everything that is vital^...

salils said:
Okay, so I made the jump from iPhone 4S to SGS3 T-999 at the beginning of September this year and my experience has been less than fun. Disregarding all the hardware issues, as far as software is concerned, I've been spending hours every day trying to find software that works reliably. Here's my rant of the biggest problems right now, if you have any ideas, I'd really appreciate hearing back! I was looking forward to digging into mods/hacks, etc on Android later down the road but with these basic functions that I depend on daily in my phone not there yet, I'm starting to wonder if I need to just switch back to iOS until Android is more developed. I actually used be on Android in the days of the S2 for about 2 months, but had to ultimately switch back to iOS because I simply didn't always have the time to download 20-30 clock apps to find one that works decently or test out mods and hacks for basic functions. Sure, it's fun to test try out mods and such but when your phone feels like it's broken, that's no good.
>Stock camera app doesn't allow taking pictures/video/flash at a certain level of battery. wtf, why samsung?! I have yet to find a camera app that does video/photo as well as the stock camera app.
>Image compression & resize tool for when e-mailing photos/images quickly...like in iOS would be great, or even something that actually works would be better. Note to Samsung--most people don't want or need to get an e-mail of your 8mp picture taken on your cell phone.
>Audiobook player that saves my spot
>Least buggy PDF reader with search, annotations and highlighting
>Tethering that works (no luck so far with fox fi and a few others, I'm using T-mobile MyMonthly 4G)
>File transfer over USB on my Mac (Latest version of lion, macbook pro 2.4ghz c2d pre-unibody)
>Find my iPhone equivalent with a web interface as opposed to just text message operation
>iOS clock app equivalent. I have downloaded probably more than 2 dozen timer/clock/alarm apps and none of them do it all while staying on in the background and not randomly closing. Also would be great if I didn't lose my timer if the app or phone has to be restarted/killed.
>Make a complete backup on my Mac instead of backing it up to my SD card and then having to copy that to my computer.
This list used be a lot longer...but with much sweat I have found some solutions or learned to cope, but not for everything that is vital^...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand what "basic" functions you are having issues with? Other than the camera not working after a certain %, it's not like a PDF reader with annotations and highlighting is a "basic" function.. nor are rely any of the other things on your list except maybe image compression.
That being said, I don't know a camera solution for Touchwiz but on AOSP there are no restrictions to when you can take a picture with regards to battery.
Repligo Reader is a great PDF reader. I don't know about search but I can highlight and annotate.
You need to download the app Android File Transfer to transfer via USB on your Mac.
If you're in Monthly4G, tethering is not included. This is an issue with your plan. If you want to tether, root your phone.
There are plenty of "find my android" apps out there, that work exceptionally well. I use Avast!.
AOSP also has a timer and stopwatch built in, so maybe you should try that.
You cannot backup your phone directly to your computer.
I am more than happy to help you, as I am sure most people here are, but I think you need to lower your expectations on "basic" features..
Sent from my SGH-T999

joshnichols189 said:
You need to download the app Android File Transfer to transfer via USB on your Mac.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't be so sure. I spent an hour trying to get that to work when I first got my phone, gave up and used Airdroid but for the big stuff I have to use my PC.

psykhotic said:
Don't be so sure. I spent an hour trying to get that to work when I first got my phone, gave up and used Airdroid but for the big stuff I have to use my PC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well he didn't mention anything about it, so I figured he might not know about it.
Sent from my SGH-T999

psykhotic said:
Don't be so sure. I spent an hour trying to get that to work when I first got my phone, gave up and used Airdroid but for the big stuff I have to use my PC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I spent several hours trying to trouble shoot this and just decided it would be easier to use vmware and try to dig up a copy of windows xp i had lying around...ugh..
joshnichols189: Thank you for your help!
By basic, I guess I wasn't necessarily referring to all stock functions...but on the iPhone I found many apps on the App store that accomplished this task competently. Primarily I used Good reader, but there were others so it seemed like something that wouldn't be difficult to come across. I have found a few apps that provide such a function but end up missing others or are too buggy to use. I will have to check which apps specifically I tried with no success if that will help...will look into Repligo Reader, thanks!
As for tethering: I was able to get it to work on an S2 (i9100) running gingerbread using my MyMonthly4G plan using the native tethering feature. I've rooted my phone sucessfully but haven't gotten around looking into custom roms and such..still using stock (but rooted). If you or anyone here knows any especially good tethering solutions for rooted t-999 users running stock it'd be super helpful to hear.
I will have to do research on AOSP.

salils said:
Yeah, I spent several hours trying to trouble shoot this and just decided it would be easier to use vmware and try to dig up a copy of windows xp i had lying around...ugh..
joshnichols189: Thank you for your help!
By basic, I guess I wasn't necessarily referring to all stock functions...but on the iPhone I found many apps on the App store that accomplished this task competently. Primarily I used Good reader, but there were others so it seemed like something that wouldn't be difficult to come across. I have found a few apps that provide such a function but end up missing others or are too buggy to use. I will have to check which apps specifically I tried with no success if that will help...will look into Repligo Reader, thanks!
As for tethering: I was able to get it to work on an S2 (i9100) running gingerbread using my MyMonthly4G plan using the native tethering feature. I've rooted my phone sucessfully but haven't gotten around looking into custom roms and such..still using stock (but rooted). If you or anyone here knows any especially good tethering solutions for rooted t-999 users running stock it'd be super helpful to hear.
I will have to do research on AOSP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be sure to try Repligo, I believe they have a free/lite version! I wasn't able to tether when I was on Monthly4G so maybe it is different now. If you are rooted you should look at the WiFi Tether for Root app. I believe you can find it easily with a Google search. Also be sure to look into AOSP, you might like it more but if not you can always revert!
Sent from my SGH-T999

Just download wifi tether from play store and that will definitely tether anything you want.
Sent from my SGH-T999

The camera would need to be modded. Someone will likely do this at some point.
Theres a full office suite on sale for .25 that may take care of your pdfs and then some. OfficeSuite pro.
For file transfers, you can use SGS3 Easy UMS. It only works for external sdcard though. Many people have been trying to do the same for internal but no luck yet as far as I know. Search for it on xda.
Also on file transfering, have you looked at a wireless transfer solution? I use SwiFTP and love it. Gives me access to the entire file system on my phone, including /system.
There are quite a few find my phone types like youre looking for that get good reviews. Check cerebrus. Haven't used it on this phone but liked it in the past.
My favorite alarm clock app is Alarm Clock Plus. Been using it for a few years now. No stopwatch or timer but hoping the dev adds em in the future.
For the backup, are you talking about a nandroid type backup or apps and data? Nandroid, no backing up straight to computer. Im pretty sure there are apps thatll backup your data and apps like that though. Never used any though. (And theres always adb!)
Tip: when people see a thread with this many questions and youre not experiencing a critical problem, it can look a bit overwhelming and seems like you may be demanding answers without really looking for them yourself. (Not saying thats your case and not trying to be an ass). Additionally at first read/glance it looks like it could be a lot of work to help you for what many might consider to be simple problems. In the future dont wait so long and ask everything at once. Ask your questions as they come and you cant find the answers yourself.
I saw your thread when it was first posted but didnt reply because I knew it would take much longer than I could spend at that moment.
One last thing, if people perceive you to be threatening to leave for the iphone if you dont get what you want, you are much less likely to find help now or in the future.
Like I said, im not trying to be an ass or belittle or anything like that. Just telling you what some (many?) people may think when they just glance over your thread.
Sorry for the little rant, but I am trying to help you.
Btw, if you're having such bad hw issues you may have a defective device. Majority of people have no problems.
Good luck!
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

[Q] New to the GS3, and I have some questions

Hey, so I just got a GS3 after coming from an Evo 4G LTE, and so far I'm loving it. Plus, this is my first Samsung phone, my previous 3 have all been HTC. (The many versions of the EVO) Anyway I do have a few questions that maybe someone can help me with.
1. I noticed that there are different settings for the vibration. Now, when I receive a txt it seems to do the basic ring vibration. I saw that there's an option to create your own vibration, which is pretty cool, but it didn't set for my txt messaging, perhaps I'm doing it wrong?
2. This might be just me or perhaps I'm just used to the keyboard on sense, but I'm noticing I'm making a lot of mistakes while typing. Lol, it's probably just me.
3. I love how samsungs threw in a lot of neat (or gimmicky) features. However, if I'm concerned about battery are there any I should turn off (I know motion is one, but I kinda like it)
4. Out of curiosity, what rom is everyone using? I'm debating whether to stay stock rooted, although I might switch to AOKP. Lol unlike sense, touchwiz really doesn't have a lot of issue with it.
5. Now if I do switch to AOKP or AOSP how is the camera quality?
Thanks in advanced!

filmaker said:
Hey, so I just got a GS3 after coming from an Evo 4G LTE, and so far I'm loving it. Plus, this is my first Samsung phone, my previous 3 have all been HTC. (The many versions of the EVO) Anyway I do have a few questions that maybe someone can help me with.
1. I noticed that there are different settings for the vibration. Now, when I receive a txt it seems to do the basic ring vibration. I saw that there's an option to create your own vibration, which is pretty cool, but it didn't set for my txt messaging, perhaps I'm doing it wrong?
2. This might be just me or perhaps I'm just used to the keyboard on sense, but I'm noticing I'm making a lot of mistakes while typing. Lol, it's probably just me.
3. I love how samsungs threw in a lot of neat (or gimmicky) features. However, if I'm concerned about battery are there any I should turn off (I know motion is one, but I kinda like it)
4. Out of curiosity, what rom is everyone using? I'm debating whether to stay stock rooted, although I might switch to AOKP. Lol unlike sense, touchwiz really doesn't have a lot of issue with it.
5. Now if I do switch to AOKP or AOSP how is the camera quality?
Thanks in advanced!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. No idea I haven't been on touchwiz since i got my phone
2. I hate the Samsung keyboard I switch to a ICS keyboard that's available in the market
3. Not sure. The only motion I ever left on was the swipe your palm to screen shot and I didn't noticed a decrease in battery. As long as you clear stuff in the task manager you should be fine
4. I've been on Paranoid Android for awhile. Touchwiz isn't as bad as people make it seem just not my style. A lot of cool looking touchwiz roms
5. Camera quality should be exactly the same except you lose certain features that are only available on the touchwiz
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

filmaker said:
Hey, so I just got a GS3 after coming from an Evo 4G LTE, and so far I'm loving it. Plus, this is my first Samsung phone, my previous 3 have all been HTC. (The many versions of the EVO) Anyway I do have a few questions that maybe someone can help me with.
1. I noticed that there are different settings for the vibration. Now, when I receive a txt it seems to do the basic ring vibration. I saw that there's an option to create your own vibration, which is pretty cool, but it didn't set for my txt messaging, perhaps I'm doing it wrong?
2. This might be just me or perhaps I'm just used to the keyboard on sense, but I'm noticing I'm making a lot of mistakes while typing. Lol, it's probably just me.
3. I love how samsungs threw in a lot of neat (or gimmicky) features. However, if I'm concerned about battery are there any I should turn off (I know motion is one, but I kinda like it)
4. Out of curiosity, what rom is everyone using? I'm debating whether to stay stock rooted, although I might switch to AOKP. Lol unlike sense, touchwiz really doesn't have a lot of issue with it.
5. Now if I do switch to AOKP or AOSP how is the camera quality?
Thanks in advanced!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I am pretty sure the vibrate pattern is just for incoming calls not notifications even if you create a custom.
2. Yea lots of different keyboards mess around with a few find the one that fits you. I am using the new swiftkey flow and will not be looking back.
3. When on a TW rom I only use the swipe screenshots and hold phone to ear to call no battery issues for me. I delete S voice completely and disable other motion controls I dont need.
4. Currently running FreeGS3 3.0 really enjoying it. I spend most of my time on CM or other AOSP roms but if you are happy with TW for my phone anyways FreeGS3 has been very solid with the right amount of features and completely stable. The Aroma installer is easy and feature filled almost idiot proofs ROM installation.
5. As he said above the image quality will be fine just loose a few shiny du hickys in the camera ui

Thanks for both of your replies. I'm going to try CM and some other touchwiz roms.

Okay I have another question to. What is the purpose of the 0 folder inside of Scdard0. I noticed that some app data like Titanium Backup is defaulting there.

yeah im new to this phone as well and was wondering the same. The storage, extsd, and 0 thing throws me off sometimes. I'll get used to it though.

filmaker said:
Okay I have another question to. What is the purpose of the 0 folder inside of Scdard0. I noticed that some app data like Titanium Backup is defaulting there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From JB and up all app data is stored in that folder (if you wanna know why they did that, ask google lol)

CNexus said:
From JB and up all app data is stored in that folder (if you wanna know why they did that, ask google lol)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True! Actually I just found out some interesting information. Apparently the "0" folder holds all the information that was in the /sdcard folder before the jellybean update. Another user found it on their galaxy nexus. Oddly enough, most of the folders in mine were empty. Titanium Backup was the only one taking up space because for some reason it backed up there, I also had around 200mb in the android data folder, but I really had a hard time finding out where, so anyway I just ended up deleting it. So far no ill effects.

filmaker said:
True! Actually I just found out some interesting information. Apparently the "0" folder holds all the information that was in the /sdcard folder before the jellybean update. Another user found it on their galaxy nexus. Oddly enough, most of the folders in mine were empty. Titanium Backup was the only one taking up space because for some reason it backed up there, I also had around 200mb in the android data folder, but I really had a hard time finding out where, so anyway I just ended up deleting it. So far no ill effects.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I read this in another thread when a user couldn't find anything on their sdcard
Its weird why they would do that though, maybe to separate phone stuff from things that the user puts on their sdcard? Idk
By the way, just had to say this but I love your sig, the "life would be so much easier....." part
I love to code myself and I just found that really awesome lol

Haha thanks, it made me chuckle too when I first read it.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

To bad cm doesn't read external sd :/
Sent from my SCH-I800 using Tapatalk 2