Related
Feedback based on Stock Tmo ROM
PROS
after spending more than 12 hours straight doing all kind of stuff to this phone, which would have normally killed it in the old Nexus S, the T989 has by far surpassed all the expectations i had with it.
super fluid, i can do more than 10 things at once without crashing, hanging, or freezing, and simply rebooting like it did on the Nexus S.
i can be copying things around withing the phone while doing or running other apps, or installing things, without feeling a bit of lag
those simple operations would have easily frozen the Nexus S until whatever was holding it is done doing whatever it was doing.
The network speed is amazing, areas where i had poor download speed, less than 1 Mbps, now i can get 3 Mbps, areas where it maxed out at 5 Mbps i can get 8~9 Mbps (these are all indoors tests), and this is all in the broadware riddle stock ROM from Tmo
Eager to run some outdoor test to see how much higher the speed goes
speed coping pasting stuff to and from the SD card to PC or SD card to from internal memory is super fast
screen is simply amazing, it's working properly as designed, it was expected of a SAMOLED+ display, no where near as bad as it was presented on the worry topics.
camera is great, and very responsive, no shooter lag at all, unlike the Nexus S
flash works fine
the build quality is the highest i've seen from Samsung
CONS
the only thing that does worry me is the back cover...
i'm afraid after a while those teeth that keeps the cover locked to the side might simply wear out after frequent usage, like changing battery packs, changing SD cards, etc.
the speaker volume for speaker phone/ring tone is kinda low, compared to the Nexus S
screen default auto brightness is waaaaaaay too low, lets just say it stays at Zero or 5% most of the time. (work around, disable auto, and manually adjust to your liking), this will get better once CM7 or 3rd party apps becomes available to auto adjust screen brightness level as we set it to the level we want.
hmm... i can't think of anything else at the moment
still too excited and having too much fun, flashing things, restoring backup, migrating stuff from old phone to new phone, and installing more crap load of stuff to my 32GB class 10 Adata, soon to be replaced with the sandisk 64GB when it arrives by mail so i'll be installing even more stuff, until the phone slows down to a crawl, then i'll hold back
I really want to go ahead and get it. I sold my sensation to get Galaxy nexus. But I am not going to pay over 600$ for a phone if it doesn't come to tmobile. I really liked the galaxy s 2
I'm not a big fan of the GSII looks are pretty standard build quality seems good but not premium. but where things change is once you hold the device and use it you get this damn rock solid device in every aspect. Camera looks Great more settings than stock 2.3, Screen looks great with vivid colors, performance is just blazing even after so many MEH reviews of not having a Exynos this thing flies. Made me say damn your not my favorite but you really know how to keep me happy LOL. for someone to say this phone is garbage or bad they must be out of their mind.
What are your thoughts on the radio? Do you lose signal often?
I wholeheartedly agree with your review of the GS2! AMAZING phone!
Sent from my SGH-T989D using xda premium
skadude66 said:
What are your thoughts on the radio? Do you lose signal often?
Sent from my SGH-T989D using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've not noticed anything weird on the radio, made several phone calls conversation walking/driving around just fine
i use 3G data a lot, and did not lose signal, unless i'm inside the elevator, or places deep inside the buildings like toilet, and basement places
the radio reception is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than the Nexus S
i still need to test inside Cotsco and Walmart super centres
those places i used to lose signal on the Nexus S
Coming from a Vibrant and G2x, I absolutely love this phone. The Vibrant was really what opened me up to Android while the G2x paved the way for rooting, recovery, and ROMs.
They both had their quirks and I feel like the SGSII is THE best phone out there. I see myself with this phone for a long time because of the great development and involvement of the Android community.
Sent from my EagleBlood-infused SGSII or my GTab 10.1 now "In Paris"
I have to be honest guys, initially I did not like the thought of having a 4.5" display on my hands, I went and got the HTC AMAZE the same night was experiencing a horrible screen bleed, then found out the battery only last around 4-5hrs, it was a horrible 24hr experience... So, I decided to give the Galaxy SII a chance... OMG!!!... The GSII is the best phone I have ever had, battery is awesome I've been using the phone like there is no tomorrow, Web, YouTube, Text msg, Talking for hours, I mean constant use all day long, and I still have 30% left the battery, love it!!!... The screen, the colors, the camera its great... Definitely a way better build phone than other phones out there... Enjoy!!
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk
I had a vibrant a while back and that phone just doesn't compare. The back cover on the GSII is flimsy but at least it feels premium while on the phone.
Sent using xda premium
AllGamer said:
Feedback based on Stock Tmo ROM
PROS
after spending more than 12 hours straight doing all kind of stuff to this phone, which would have normally killed it in the old Nexus S, the T989 has by far surpassed all the expectations i had with it.
super fluid, i can do more than 10 things at once without crashing, hanging, or freezing, and simply rebooting like it did on the Nexus S.
i can be copying things around withing the phone while doing or running other apps, or installing things, without feeling a bit of lag
those simple operations would have easily frozen the Nexus S until whatever was holding it is done doing whatever it was doing.
The network speed is amazing, areas where i had poor download speed, less than 1 Mbps, now i can get 3 Mbps, areas where it maxed out at 5 Mbps i can get 8~9 Mbps (these are all indoors tests), and this is all in the broadware riddle stock ROM from Tmo
Eager to run some outdoor test to see how much higher the speed goes
speed coping pasting stuff to and from the SD card to PC or SD card to from internal memory is super fast
screen is simply amazing, it's working properly as designed, it was expected of a SAMOLED+ display, no where near as bad as it was presented on the worry topics.
camera is great, and very responsive, no shooter lag at all, unlike the Nexus S
flash works fine
the build quality is the highest i've seen from Samsung
CONS
the only thing that does worry me is the back cover...
i'm afraid after a while those teeth that keeps the cover locked to the side might simply wear out after frequent usage, like changing battery packs, changing SD cards, etc.
the speaker volume for speaker phone/ring tone is kinda low, compared to the Nexus S
screen default auto brightness is waaaaaaay too low, lets just say it stays at Zero or 5% most of the time. (work around, disable auto, and manually adjust to your liking), this will get better once CM7 or 3rd party apps becomes available to auto adjust screen brightness level as we set it to the level we want.
hmm... i can't think of anything else at the moment
still too excited and having too much fun, flashing things, restoring backup, migrating stuff from old phone to new phone, and installing more crap load of stuff to my 32GB class 10 Adata, soon to be replaced with the sandisk 64GB when it arrives by mail so i'll be installing even more stuff, until the phone slows down to a crawl, then i'll hold back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too came from the Nexus S and share the same opinion on this phone as you. I also am quite happy with the current rom devs for this phone. I am running EagleBlood rom and am getting some crazy good battery life.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk
I have both the nexus s and the gs2. My gs2 spends more time in the box than it does being used. Don't get me wrong the phone is amazing but I like aosp(CM7). As soon as CM7 comes to the gs2 I wont look back. Gs2 ftw
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
I was gunna make a post to see who was actually happy with the phone but you have done it for me.
I Love this phone its the bestest.
i came from iphone and the battery life is nothing compare to iphone. my expectations for this phone was off the charts, but now im just ehh.
Welcome to SGS2 Club AllGamer! Yes this phone is a Beast! Glad you finally got it.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Loving my SGS2, don't really have any complaints. I also love all the devs that are popping out of nowhere to develop for this phone, not to mention Team Whiskey is also working on something.
If they made my Vibrant go from a POS to an awesome phone, I wonder what they are gonna do with this one. Can't wait!
Hercules Hercules!!
other than the battery, this phones features are crazy. and there are a lot of devs doing nice stuff to improve it too
I am a flashing maniac as well as a guy who gets bored with phones in a few weeks. I have had all the top devices, and the SGS2 has honestly exceeded all of my expectations X100!!! I don't even have the urge to Root it and flash ROMs because I am actually happy with it bone stock (a first for me). I think I have finally found my dream phone. When people show me their new iPhones I just giggle and smile. I want to marry this *****!!!!
Sent from my Galaxy S II using xda premium
This phone is definitely amazing, exynos or not. I actually love touchwiz 4.0, something I thought I would never say. HUGE improvement over previous versions of touchwiz. No wonder why all tech reviews give this phone lots of praises.
SoFaKiNgStOkeD said:
and the SGS2 has honestly exceeded all of my expectations X100!!! I don't even have the urge to Root it and flash ROMs because I am actually happy with it bone stock (a first for me).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here, of all the phones i've ever had, i was never happy with the stock ROM
this is a first, never seen such a snappier stock ROM ever
the crapware from Tmo are easy enough to remove once rooted.
now, if i flash ROM is just out of curiosity to check out what cool features the guys are adding
otherwise if i want a stable ROM, i'll just flash back to stock
i actually have a copy of the stock ROM in my SD card ready to be flash back, just in case any of the ROMs becomes unstable
I love this damn thing. Stock rom surprised the hell out of me with the features/responsiveness.
The only gripes I have are the lines at low brightness, the insane amount of bloatware, and no notification light.
Other than that, wow. I really can't believe how much I adore this phone. And the fact that I love to mod my phones (nexus one, g1 and hd2) says a lot for this one when I say I don't have any desire to root. Besides the bloat, but at least the app drawer lets me hide it.
Ok, I'm using eagleblood with go launcher... I'm in a constant love fest with the phone. Was that too overboard? Inappropriate? Awkward? I don't care. Well I came from a Droid Eris, so my ecstasy should be understandable. The Go Launcher is really solid BTW(tried a couple others that performed really sketchy) and I got it to get the desktop in landscape mode(whenever needed).and yeah, it's solid.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk
I know the screen, processor, etc is great...but i'm having doubts about all the radio issues (gps, signal, etc). I checked out the sprint forums and pretty much all of them were about gps and signal pretty much sucking. Are you guys having these issues with custom roms? Should i wait till the issues are cleared (or not)?
Signal is pretty good with custom roms
Idk about gps
I don't use it so often
But battery life is super amazing
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
globalninja said:
I know the screen, processor, etc is great...but i'm having doubts about all the radio issues (gps, signal, etc). I checked out the sprint forums and pretty much all of them were about gps and signal pretty much sucking. Are you guys having these issues with custom roms? Should i wait till the issues are cleared (or not)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
new (SGSIIE4GT) user here, and loving (and I mean LOVING) this phone.
i'm not having those issue on stock, OOTB, even. (meaning, I am rooted, but still on the stock ROM, out of the box. I've only upgraded the modem, and no GPS/signal issues at all)
ever since kern/modem EK02 those were (mostly) non issues.
from what I read, most of the custom ROMs either only improve, or cause no worse.
and yes, CPU/GPU, RAM and storage (internal), screen, lack of Sense, all worth it.
kingdazy said:
new (SGSIIE4GT) user here, and loving (and I mean LOVING) this phone.
i'm not having those issue on stock, OOTB, even. (meaning, I am rooted, but still on the stock ROM, out of the box. I've only upgraded the modem, and no GPS/signal issues at all)
ever since kern/modem EK02 those were (mostly) non issues.
from what I read, most of the custom ROMs either only improve, or cause no worse.
and yes, CPU/GPU, RAM and storage (internal), screen, lack of Sense, all worth it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I concur... This phone is SICK! Been through quite a few phones, and this one is bar none the best yet. Haven't had too many issues with the radio, but they are there. Roam control and the 1115 PRL pretty much fixed any issues that I was having though. The only reason I would maybe wait would be for the Galaxy Note, coming out relatively soon. But if you do decide to go with the E4GT you always have 14 days to return if you don't like it.
Phone is awesome. The signal issue is with sprint not the phone....imo. If you already have sprint and are happy you should be fine. Gps works great for me. I use it everyday.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
I thought they still had a 14 day period where you could try it out and still able to return without penalty? If so, why not try it for a week or 2 and see for yourself?
Phone is amazing and I am truly happy with what I have.
So, no one has problems with GPS and loss of signal?
the phone is worth it. I love mine hands down my #1 of phones right now even over the GNexus. I've got a few friends that wish they had early upgrades wanting this thing that are stuck on Evo's
Edit.
As for LOS/GPS I had LOS when the phone first came out here and there but with the newer updates it's been fine I've yet to see a LOS sign on my phone. GPs I've never really had an issue with but I do know others have I just have not run into it.
I got my phone 1 Dec and have never had a LOS once. I play "Life is Crime", multiple times a day, which requires GPS and have never had an issue.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
No GPS issues and no LoS here... great phone. Super fast and slick. Do the upgrade, you won't regret it.
Wait for the GSIII.
This phone will be surpassed soon. Also the Galaxy Note may come out for us.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
... the problem with waiting is you will get stuck in an endless loop of waiting. I agree this phone since the updates is now solid. at release it was iffy. but they were mainly software bugs.
Android300ZX said:
Wait for the GSIII.
This phone will be surpassed soon. Also the Galaxy Note may come out for us.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait (at least) 6+ months for possibly a new "better" device that will have almost no dev roms?
No thanks.
Sent from my calculator watch.
I'm loving this phone too! As you can see in my sig, I've owned many Android phones. This is the best one yet. No signal problems here. I haven't used GPS on it yet though since I got a stand alone one ...
No problems for me at all, for the past 4 months. (That's how long I've had it so far)
It was a transition from my former iPhone 4. I love it greatly. No LoS for me ever, but I do have problems with GPS here and there. Although, as of recent, it's been able to pinpoint where my location is and such.
Have been using Blazer ROM on it as well. I don't think I'd have it any other way. And with counterparts coming out (GSII Skyrocket/Note/etc.) I don't find myself WANTING those handsets. That's how awesome the phone has been to me, I just don't see a need to get anything else than this.
I've had NO problems with this phone. It's great, actually one problem and thats battery life. But thats because i use way too much (i just got an extended battery so that issue was solved). =D!!!! GET IT NOW!!!!
I decided on getting this phone. I had the Epic 4g so i am familiar with roms, kernels , and such. I actually would have stayed with the Epic if I wouldn't have dropped and broken it, but since I have an upgrade I might as well get an upgrade. I honestly thing a single core 1ghz proc was fast enough. A dual core 1.2ghz will last me years. Thanks for all the input!
globalninja said:
I decided on getting this phone. I had the Epic 4g so i am familiar with roms, kernels , and such. I actually would have stayed with the Epic if I wouldn't have dropped and broken it, but since I have an upgrade I might as well get an upgrade. I honestly thing a single core 1ghz proc was fast enough. A dual core 1.2ghz will last me years. Thanks for all the input!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome! Welcome to the family...
No GPS or LoS here.
Did have some low signal issues in my house but a free airave solved that.
If I were you, and depending on when the Nexus comes out for Sprint, I would wait for that. LTE support and more update support. Although the hardware on the Nexus apparently is lacking compared to this.
Regardless I'm very happy with this phone.
I've had this phone since the first day is was available and its pros far outweigh its negatives. 4G reception is great, but 3G is not as good as it was on my Optimus S. Battery life is fantastic.
It has been about 8 months since I've had a "modern" Android phone, I was really frustrated with the lackluster experience of my Tmo Sensation--it was a dual-core but it honestly didn't seem much better than my Mytouch4g, or my MT3G slide. Many times I would find myself with a laggy experience, which is why I am so hesitant with newer phones still...Well that and the level of development is normally a tadd sketchy and rough around the edges for T-Mobile devices.
1. Is there a high interest in development?
-I know this may sound like a silly question, however it's essential for me because I have had terrible experiences with Samsung dev support for the two Sammies I've owned(Sidekick 4G+Galaxy Player 5). I know the S3 is from may but I would really hate to spend all this money just to find out it's development will play out like the Sidekick 4G's did(never passed froyo, and the player never passed ginger).
2. Bleeding: Is screen bleeding a common issue, and if it is does it get worse over time?
3. How do you guys feel about the CPU/GPU? (can anyone tell me the "min" cpu value?)
4. How do you feel about the screen quality?(this will be my 1st AMOLED & 720P device)
5. Do you experience lag? (if enough people say there's lag that will really turn me away--it's one of those nitpicks that I will not lose...I mean I have a iP4 that's smoother than recent phones--which is saying a lot honestly. )
6. Can someone please explain the whole IMEI loss to me? ( I am willing to remain stock if it means Devs can find a solution--I've rooted, flashed, adb'd, and what not many times but the risks are higher with the S3)
7. If anyone of you are using a S3 in nyc, can you please tell me what kind of data speed it's tugging?
(my sensation had pretty bad 4G/HSPA+ #'s which is why I'm asking this now)
8. Is the 2GB RAM a superfluous feature, or does it partially future-proof the device for 4.x or 5.x?
I know I am asking a lot from you guys, though you have to understand that I don't want to get trapped in a renewed contract with a device that will be cut loose only a few months only after release. I am not into the whole scam of receiving 1 update(as in going from 1 android ver to another) and then never hearing of anything again.
Bump. Doesn't anyone have any input about this phone? -_-
Most if not all of your question are answered in other post, people just get tired and rewriting everything. So dont expect the same questions to get answered every time.
So your coming from some less desired devices, you will deff see dev support on a much higher level. I mean this is the Galaxy S 3 not some low end device.
My advice is make the jump or go try it for the 14 days and return if ya dont like it ( i bet you will like it).
Well good luck,
Trilaxx
trilaxx said:
So your coming from some less desired devices
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually the G1, Mytouch 4g, and sensation were really active with many projects. It's just that my experience with samsung phones is a bit shaky.
trilaxx said:
I mean this is the Galaxy S 3 not some low end device.
My advice is make the jump or go try it for the 14 days and return if ya dont like it ( i bet you will like it).
Well good luck,
Trilaxx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what people said about the Amaze 4G, Rezound, Galaxy SII(tmo), and Galaxy S Blaze...Those aren't low end but they never took off development wise. I am wondering whether or not Devs are scared away due to the S4 being in the Galaxy instead of the Exynos--so far I see about 20+ ROMs for the int'l S3 and 1-5 active ones for this S3. That is why I show great hesitation with new Android phones, their futures are always uncertain if the device isn't international or a Nexus. I tried this device briefly at a tmo store and I though it was really okay, but that's cause it was hooked up to a display stand so I couldn't get a real feel for it.
I came from the sensation to the S3 and am very happy.
It really all comes down to how you use your phone. I did like HTC sense, and sense 4.0 was nice through some of the custom roms available.
But the S3, in my opinion is way better. But its going to come down to your personal opinion.
I have not had any problems with the phone- granted I got it 2 weeks ago and not at release so I haven't had it too long. But still no problems.
THe screen is very nice, again in my opinion. There are some that say they don't like it and it could be better.
pytyper483 said:
I came from the sensation to the S3 and am very happy.
It really all comes down to how you use your phone. I did like HTC sense, and sense 4.0 was nice through some of the custom roms available.
But the S3, in my opinion is way better. But its going to come down to your personal opinion.
I have not had any problems with the phone- granted I got it 2 weeks ago and not at release so I haven't had it too long. But still no problems.
THe screen is very nice, again in my opinion. There are some that say they don't like it and it could be better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well since you've owed a Sensation, can you tell me if you notice a difference in performance. I mainly ditched the Sensation because it didn't seem very fast, it lagged very often but keep in mind this was before ICS was out for it. Honestly I have lost faith in Qualcomm's competence--they really threw me off when they made their S3's as a A8/A9 design.
Thats probably one of the main reasons I switched from the sensation... that and i couldn't seem to find one with a speaker phone I could actually hear...
I haven't noticied any lag at all on the S3. Not like the sensation. It was definitely noticeable, esp on the stock rom. I've only had S3 for about 2 weeks and love it. I haven't tried any custom roms yet, but have rooted and installed google wallet which works great. I still haven't tweeked it too much or loaded it up with apps and media.
Keep in mind, you have 14 days to decide if you like the phone.
Ace42 said:
Actually the G1, Mytouch 4g, and sensation were really active with many projects. It's just that my experience with samsung phones is a bit shaky.
That's what people said about the Amaze 4G, Rezound, Galaxy SII(tmo), and Galaxy S Blaze...Those aren't low end but they never took off development wise. I am wondering whether or not Devs are scared away due to the S4 being in the Galaxy instead of the Exynos--so far I see about 20+ ROMs for the int'l S3 and 1-5 active ones for this S3. That is why I show great hesitation with new Android phones, their futures are always uncertain if the device isn't international or a Nexus. I tried this device briefly at a tmo store and I though it was really okay, but that's cause it was hooked up to a display stand so I couldn't get a real feel for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im coming from the Mytouch 4g, followed by the HTC Sensation. Their is not a better device on the market then the s3.
My First thoughts were, its a little bigger than i hoped. But after a week worth of use, Anything smaller seems obsolete.
---------- Post added at 01:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:12 PM ----------
Ace42 said:
Well since you've owed a Sensation, can you tell me if you notice a difference in performance. I mainly ditched the Sensation because it didn't seem very fast, it lagged very often but keep in mind this was before ICS was out for it. Honestly I have lost faith in Qualcomm's competence--they really threw me off when they made their S3's as a A8/A9 design.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its a completely different animal. I can promise it will meet and exceed your expectations.
On another note. I average 18+ hours of pretty decent usage.
My sensation goes on the charger @ noon typically. Not this. I get home with 40% left..
1SiK1500 said:
Im coming from the Mytouch 4g, followed by the HTC Sensation. Their is not a better device on the market then the s3.
My First thoughts were, its a little bigger than i hoped. But after a week worth of use, Anything smaller seems obsolete.
Its a completely different animal. I can promise it will meet and exceed your expectations.
On another note. I average 18+ hours of pretty decent usage.
My sensation goes on the charger @ noon typically. Not this. I get home with 40% left..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that is very good news, I prefer to hear experiences from people who have at least owned similar or same phones as myself.
pytyper483 said:
Thats probably one of the main reasons I switched from the sensation... that and i couldn't seem to find one with a speaker phone I could actually hear...
I haven't noticied any lag at all on the S3. Not like the sensation. It was definitely noticeable, esp on the stock rom. I've only had S3 for about 2 weeks and love it. I haven't tried any custom roms yet, but have rooted and installed google wallet which works great. I still haven't tweeked it too much or loaded it up with apps and media.
Keep in mind, you have 14 days to decide if you like the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I am happy to hear that it's not a mess like the Sensation. It had a nice look to it, but speed wise it was a joke for a dualcore phone. If you say there's no lag on ICS, then I can only imagine what would happen if it got JB+project butter. I guess you have put my fear of lag to rest. However I will wait a little while longer to see if Dev support picks up, right now it seems to be where tmobile's SII+amaze were at in their early life(which was a bad place). Once I see at least 10 active aosp/aopk/CM10 ROMs I will definitely get one. Thanks for everything! :fingers-crossed:
Ace42 said:
It has been about 8 months since I've had a "modern" Android phone, I was really frustrated with the lackluster experience of my Tmo Sensation--it was a dual-core but it honestly didn't seem much better than my Mytouch4g, or my MT3G slide. Many times I would find myself with a laggy experience, which is why I am so hesitant with newer phones still...Well that and the level of development is normally a tadd sketchy and rough around the edges for T-Mobile devices.
1. Is there a high interest in development?
-I know this may sound like a silly question, however it's essential for me because I have had terrible experiences with Samsung dev support for the two Sammies I've owned(Sidekick 4G+Galaxy Player 5). I know the S3 is from may but I would really hate to spend all this money just to find out it's development will play out like the Sidekick 4G's did(never passed froyo, and the player never passed ginger).
2. Bleeding: Is screen bleeding a common issue, and if it is does it get worse over time?
3. How do you guys feel about the CPU/GPU? (can anyone tell me the "min" cpu value?)
4. How do you feel about the screen quality?(this will be my 1st AMOLED & 720P device)
5. Do you experience lag? (if enough people say there's lag that will really turn me away--it's one of those nitpicks that I will not lose...I mean I have a iP4 that's smoother than recent phones--which is saying a lot honestly. )
6. Can someone please explain the whole IMEI loss to me? ( I am willing to remain stock if it means Devs can find a solution--I've rooted, flashed, adb'd, and what not many times but the risks are higher with the S3)
7. If anyone of you are using a S3 in nyc, can you please tell me what kind of data speed it's tugging?
(my sensation had pretty bad 4G/HSPA+ #'s which is why I'm asking this now)
8. Is the 2GB RAM a superfluous feature, or does it partially future-proof the device for 4.x or 5.x?
I know I am asking a lot from you guys, though you have to understand that I don't want to get trapped in a renewed contract with a device that will be cut loose only a few months only after release. I am not into the whole scam of receiving 1 update(as in going from 1 android ver to another) and then never hearing of anything again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) The phone has been out for a month so development is merely getting started. It will pick up as time goes by and we will see major roms like cyanogen andothers here (CM9 already and cm10 preview available). Many custom made kernels out there that are amazing.
2) Haven't head of screen bleeding on this device and mine (2 days old) has none. Be warned if you have not heard about the black splotches look into it. When screen is on and completely black you may notice some black splotches around the screen (you wont notice on day to day use unless you try to look. Every device varies you might get one with minimal blotches. This is a side effect of the AMOLED.
3) I believe stock cpu was set at 1.4ghz and I'm not sure what min was. Currently have mine overclocked to 1.89ghz max and 385mhz min.I camefrom the HTC one S and they have the same cpu. The snapdragon S4 is a powerhouse bro you will love the fluidity and performance here,
4) I first compared my HTC One S HDLED screen to my friends samsung blaze and I fell in love with the AMOLED screen. It is just has more POP and vibrant colors. You will love it, idk how anyone can dislike this screen it is beautiful and blasphemy to those who use it on anything lower than max brightness.
5) Only time I have experienced lag has been when messing with the CPU clock and when my min profiles are set on setcput to anything lower than 1ghz
6) As far as I know the IMEI loss has been happening when flashing recoveries or flashing cyanogen using a recovery other than CWM. I Rooted and flashed CWM with no problem. Still havent flashed CM9 until it is more "complete" and I make sure the IMEI issue is not ROM flashing related. (again i have been browsing the forums for only 2 days so im still learning the issues here)
7) I live in the Bronx and work in Manhattan. The data speeds in my apartment suck compared to my HTC One S. I was getting 2-5mbps down and up on it but on the S3 I am rarely pulling past 1mbps down and up. This doesn't matter to me as I have wifi on 24/7 at home. At work (85th and Amsterdam I pull an amazing 15-20mbps down and 3-5mbps up in that area. I go giddy when doing speed tests at work.
8) No device is future proof but the 2gb will help keep the device more current as different Android versions are developed. It is also beneficial when dealing with many apps opening one after another multitasking and such. IF you are a power user it is beneficial. To most it's the same as 1gb
Hope I've helped.
elracing21 said:
1) The phone has been out for a month so development is merely getting started. It will pick up as time goes by and we will see major roms like cyanogen andothers here (CM9 already and cm10 preview available). Many custom made kernels out there that are amazing.
2) Haven't head of screen bleeding on this device and mine (2 days old) has none. Be warned if you have not heard about the black splotches look into it. When screen is on and completely black you may notice some black splotches around the screen (you wont notice on day to day use unless you try to look. Every device varies you might get one with minimal blotches. This is a side effect of the AMOLED.
3) I believe stock cpu was set at 1.4ghz and I'm not sure what min was. Currently have mine overclocked to 1.89ghz max and 385mhz min.I camefrom the HTC one S and they have the same cpu. The snapdragon S4 is a powerhouse bro you will love the fluidity and performance here,
4) I first compared my HTC One S HDLED screen to my friends samsung blaze and I fell in love with the AMOLED screen. It is just has more POP and vibrant colors. You will love it, idk how anyone can dislike this screen it is beautiful and blasphemy to those who use it on anything lower than max brightness.
5) Only time I have experienced lag has been when messing with the CPU clock and when my min profiles are set on setcput to anything lower than 1ghz
6) As far as I know the IMEI loss has been happening when flashing recoveries or flashing cyanogen using a recovery other than CWM. I Rooted and flashed CWM with no problem. Still havent flashed CM9 until it is more "complete" and I make sure the IMEI issue is not ROM flashing related. (again i have been browsing the forums for only 2 days so im still learning the issues here)
7) I live in the Bronx and work in Manhattan. The data speeds in my apartment suck compared to my HTC One S. I was getting 2-5mbps down and up on it but on the S3 I am rarely pulling past 1mbps down and up. This doesn't matter to me as I have wifi on 24/7 at home. At work (85th and Amsterdam I pull an amazing 15-20mbps down and 3-5mbps up in that area. I go giddy when doing speed tests at work.
8) No device is future proof but the 2gb will help keep the device more current as different Android versions are developed. It is also beneficial when dealing with many apps opening one after another multitasking and such. IF you are a power user it is beneficial. To most it's the same as 1gb
Hope I've helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for answering all of my questions. From all of the responses it sounds like I will be able to get the S3 without having to worry anymore. However I hope tmobile increases the 4G speeds in the bronx to match those of manhattan at least. :fingers-crossed:
Ace42 said:
Thanks for answering all of my questions. From all of the responses it sounds like I will be able to get the S3 without having to worry anymore. However I hope tmobile increases the 4G speeds in the bronx to match those of manhattan at least. :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are welcome bro. Don't get me wrong most of the Bronx does have terrible speed in comparison to Manhattan but there are a few areas where the speeds have surprised me. Like a train stop away from here I get great speeds. 10mbps on avg.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
the only problem i had and it happened with 3 from tmobile was the phone was getting very warm. so i got the note from t mobile and the performance difference is very noticable. the s3 is a power house fast internet load speeds smooth and the screen compared to the already beautiful screen on the note is sharper and brighter. I had the black crush issue with the note blacks were horrid so i received another s3 today i have them both in front of me and love em both but am gonna stick with the s3 because of the performance and the screen. If the new note has the inners of the s3 and a 5.3-5.5 inch screen the s3 will be history i love the size of the note..what im trying to say i would not buy a phone with anything less then the s4 snapdragon in .Plus if you want to upgrade the s3 will be desirable and hold its value for a while so you could sell in the future for the next best thing..
Ok i want to start off by giving much thanks to the few but proud devs we have left that are developing for our Nitro HD, and this little article is just my 2 cents and my general experience. By no means am I cutting down anybodys hard work for the Nitro HD.
Now onto the real story....
So for the last 2 months or so i have been a flashaholic junky and have tried every rom available for our dear Nitro HD. The multiple yet small selection of roms all have great perks and nice added features with lots of customization. Which in part each rom available for the Nitro HD is great but also each comes with its own negatives. I recently went through the unbrick guide and went back to the v20c ATT stock rom. And really to be honest its is very solid, and the battery life has been the best from any other rom i have tried. Ill keep this short and sweet. So my conclusion is that after probably 3 or more months "probably longer" of scouring XDA for anything new for the Nitro HD and after losing countless hours of staying up late to flash recoveries, roms, backup and recover data, and even a unbrick here and there, I can say that I am actually more satisfied with the Stock v20c rom. Although ATT bloatware is annoying and really not used the stability of v20c is honestly more satisfying than having reboots, and screen flickers, and jumbled pictures in multiple apps, and dead battery after 5 hours, and those are just a few bugs I have experienced on a day to day basis with custom roms.
Sent from my LG-P930 using xda premium
Honestly in my experience, the stock ICS firmware wasn't for me. I couldn't stand the default icons on the device and every launcher that I tried was laggy and annoying that I just ended up using the stock launcher. The stock launcher had some pretty nice scrolling animations though, that's probably what I miss most about the rom. That being said, I had tons of problems with it. I couldn't use the phone without it rebooting itself and this happened everyday. Also, there was this incredibly annoying bug that caused the screen to jitter around, lag and look distorted. Fixing this issue, you almost always had to reboot the phone, or at least force-close the launcher.
As for your issues, everyone experiences things differently. However, your complaints about screen flickers and artifacts can be consistent to running a non-stable rom. If you were to run CM9, I'm pretty sure that most of those problems wouldn't exist if you properly flashed the rom by clearing out your caches and wiping all data. As for your battery life, I believe that the Android operating system in general has a feature that can gradually see how you use your phone and eventually; say 2-3 weeks, your battery life will get better. I don't know how true this is, but it's something that I've read and maybe someone can confirm that it's true.
As for my current rom, I'm currently running CM10 M2 at the moment. I have a few problems like artifacts and this one annoying problem where my Alarm won't go off, but generally I'm happy. Especially considering that the rom is still in development. Generally, my battery-life consumption has been around 10-11 hours per day and I'm using the stock battery. I haven't even given the battery time to settle into this rom either, seeing how M2 was released on 10/11 and I flashed it 2 days later. Before, I was using cm9 and it was as stable as can be. I had a few resets within cm9, but those weren't even noticeable compared to the stock ICS restarts I was getting. As of now on CM10, I had one restart so far, with one complete crash. I'm still happy, since I know CM10 is in development and honestly, I was expecting it to be worse. Those crashes don't really bother me. What does bother me however, is that I can't get the pesky alarm application to work! On top of that, using swiftkey in landscape mode can be tedious because of the lag. It lagged before in ICS, but CM10 is much worse. I can't see myself using another keyboard, so hopefully performance improves. Other than that, I still prefer CM10 over stock any day.
The cm10 10/15 nightly is rock solid...this is someone coming from stock Bell ICS v20e. The artifacting issues are gone...and I haven't had any black screens or weird issues yet. Stock keyboard is fine...I have always found the android keyboard to be sluggish.
Sent from my LG-P930 using xda app-developers app
I'm like 90% satisfied with stock and that is what I'm running. My battery life has always stayed the same though, no matter what i'm running. I'm always getting a consistent ~10 hours of moderate use, and ~5-6 hours of heavier use.
This phone would be perfect if it had a battery that was just a it larger in capacity.
Victor B said:
I'm like 90% satisfied with stock and that is what I'm running. My battery life has always stayed the same though, no matter what i'm running. I'm always getting a consistent ~10 hours of moderate use, and ~5-6 hours of heavier use.
This phone would be perfect if it had a battery that was just a it larger in capacity.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I bought 2 extended batteries that I can get a full day of heavy use out of with brightness turned up. So I swap the batteries every other day, that way I only have to charge every 2 days.
The S2 was a good phone for it's time and the display is still pretty nice compared to many phones available now. But the battery life is really atrocious compared to the newer devices. I was using an Alcatel OneTouch Fierce before but I put it in my pocket with my keys and shattered the screen so I pulled the S2 out of a drawer and starting using it again. I loaded a couple of custom ROMs and currently have ParanoidAndroid 4.4 RC1.
What I have noticed is that both the screen and the GPS both take a ton of battery on the S2. On the Alcatel, the screen was down usually at the bottom of the list of things using battery. On the S2 it is always at the top of the list. I have the S2 screen turned down to minimum brightness, which is fine for indoor usage, and also set the screen timeout to 15 seconds, but still the consumption issues persist.
I do a lot of fitness logging and the most I have been able to log on the S2 is around 40 miles of bike riding until the battery runs out. This is from starting with the battery in the mid 90s percentage. With the Alcatel phone I had been able to data log over 200K/125miles before running out of battery.
Saturday I was out in the sticks riding my bike. I put it in airplane mode to save battery in case I needed to call home. After the 44 mile stop at a country store, I forgot to put it back in airplane mode and by the time we went another 30 miles to the next food stop (about 2 hours) the phone had drained from 70% to 14% percent. And I wasn't even using it, it was just riding along in my pocket as I pedaled.
Even with just web surfing on 4G data or WiFi takes a lot of battery. Seems like I can play with the phone for 30 minutes and the battery goes down at least 20%.
On top of this I've also been having problems with lockups. On the first ROM I tried, Liquid Smooth, it was getting android.systemui crashes pretty often. But if I waited a while, the system would right itself and I would be able to keep on going. When I first installed PA it was doing great but now I'm getting random lockups as well. On PA the lockups require a hard boot to fix. Perhaps a hardware issue, who knows. The S2 has not been dropped and is in excellent condition, but I suppose that's neither here nor there.
If it was just the battery consumption issues, I could try an extended battery and see how that went. But in the end I decided that I was going to bite the bullet and get a new phone. I thought about a refurb S4, or Nexus 4 which were both under $300, but in the end I went with the LG G2 as it was less than $400 new from T-Mobile direct.
Farewell Galaxy S2, your days are numbered.
:crying:
My wife has a s2 t989 running cm 10.1.3 with a new anker 2200 battery. Her phone flies, zero lag. And Her battery gets her through the day. This phone is a old little beast.
Lokke9191 said:
My wife has a s2 t989 running cm 10.1.3 with a new anker 2200 battery. Her phone flies, zero lag. And Her battery gets her through the day. This phone is a old little beast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it wasn't for the lockups, I might have tried a new or larger battery. The battery will last all day as is if you don't ask the phone to do anything and you have good signal. The screen and the GPS use so much power on this phone though. It's just older silicon.
I agree it's still a fast phone when you use a cm10 or cm11 ROM. It's just not meeting my needs.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA Free mobile app
brons2 said:
If it wasn't for the lockups, I might have tried a new or larger battery. The battery will last all day as is if you don't ask the phone to do anything and you have good signal. The screen and the GPS use so much power on this phone though. It's just older silicon.
I agree it's still a fast phone when you use a cm10 or cm11 ROM. It's just not meeting my needs.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get the M8
Rushing said:
Get the M8
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
too expensive!
I ordered an LG G2 for less than $400, and signed up for the payments divided over 2 years. So I'm trading a really old phone for a 1 year old phone
Funny thing is, the S2 has not locked up once since I ordered the new phone. Haha.
I can really relate to your frustration as I have had quite a bit trouble getting great performance out of this device in the 7 months I've had it. I've went through what seems a million ROMs and have had problems with every single one. To the point I believe it was just the phone and not the ROMs. The last month was really bad when CM made a lot of changes that seemed to adversely affect this device. Then I started trying JB ROMs that were even worse than KK ever was. I've had way over 2 years experience flashing ROMs and kernels so in nearly every case I wouldn't say user error was to blame either. That said, after nearly making a coaster out of this thing, PA RC1 really has come to the rescue along with the Wild kernel. Which is why I'm a bit surprised you are not even having good luck with that. The battery drain you describe is very extreme. At the worst my battery drains 3% an hour on standby. I always have everything on, such as Wifi, GPS and high accuracy location reporting too. Not to mention Viper audio mod with super quality driver which uses a chunk of battery as well.
Overall I can typically get 20 to 24 hours on an average weekday. If I use the screen for a couple hours, listen to music, browse the web and make a call or two, more like 10 to 16 hours. At any rate things are good enough I can live with this phone for while now, provided I do myself a favor and leave well enough alone.
i've had my s2 for almost 3 year, i believe, and i know the pain in the ass it can be. the screen issue happens to me, too, and there isn't a solution, so you learn to deal with it. seems like you may have a faulty battery? i still have the stock battery and it doesn't hold up well as it used to. i run carbonrom with wildkernel (testing) and it's not too bad. but it's a dated phone in techie age.
Yea PA RC1 was the best of the ROMs that I tried on the S2. But I've moved on and am super happy with my new phone. The LG G2 is the best phone I've ever had. 3000mAh stock battery, huge screen, blazing fast LTE and I love the volume buttons on the back!
Sent from my LG-D801 using XDA Free mobile app
The T989 may be difficult to deal with but with a few customizations (new battery and rom), it'll be faster.
HeadachePuppies said:
The T989 may be difficult to deal with but with a few customizations (new battery and rom), it'll be faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Too late, I already have the new phone and it is way better even with the stock rom. I might update the S2 again though just for kicks when PA goes stable. It probably does need a new battery also but there's no reason to go that route when I have another phone already.
Glad to see I'm not the only one that's having battery problems. It seems as if using Apollo for music and using Messenger to talk to a friend, the battery drains really quickly. Can't wait to upgrade in the near future.
Any custom ROM that i have tried are not to good for the battery life. I think the best ROM so far for battery life is SHADOW 1.5 ROM because it is based on Stock ROM and has the Power Saver feature.
Now i am using CM 11 and loving it, the features and speed are incredible. Thanks CM Team for your great work.:good:
The T989 is one of the best phones in his time. Now is almost obsolete, we grow ups, every months there are lots of new devices, sooner or late the time will come when we will let go the T989 and have a newer one. It's like a childhood girlfriend experience. I now have the Moto G LTE version, I keep my T989 in my archived electronic things, he is simple something not to forget.
I gave my old S2 to my wife after I got my Note 3. At the time all the Jellybean ROM's for it were unstable, so I put the Jedi ROM on it. For some reason it was ridiculously slow, despite being based on the stock ICS ROM. I had figured the phone's age was just showing and didn't think much about it.
Recently my wife asked me to upgrade the ROM on her tablet to KitKat, so I figured I would do her phone as well. To my surprise, KiKat runs amazingly smooth on the S2 - especially with Wild kernel (1.89GHz overclock + sio governor). Tried both SlimKat and Carbon. It's just liquid smooth and feels totally like a new phone.
Lorien_Silmaril said:
I gave my old S2 to my wife after I got my Note 3. At the time all the Jellybean ROM's for it were unstable, so I put the Jedi ROM on it. For some reason it was ridiculously slow, despite being based on the stock ICS ROM. I had figured the phone's age was just showing and didn't think much about it.
Recently my wife asked me to upgrade the ROM on her tablet to KitKat, so I figured I would do her phone as well. To my surprise, KiKat runs amazingly smooth on the S2 - especially with Wild kernel (1.89GHz overclock + sio governor). Tried both SlimKat and Carbon. It's just liquid smooth and feels totally like a new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is really surprising how kitkat can give new life to this old phones.. I've changed my T989 for a nexus 4 as a daily driver but still keep the S2 as a work phone, after using the AOSP of the nexus4 I tryied evervolv in a MyTouch 4G and really liked it then though of trying that on the S2 and wow that was an improvement. right know Im currently using Evervolv kitkat 4.4.4 with Cl3kerner on the T989 and I tell you is a really good combination if not perfect.
KB
I love this phone much like you guys but it's time for the sweet prince to nap!
One of the issues I had a few months ago is that my power button got stuck. My device kept rebooting every few minutes to the only option was to open up the phone and remove the power button entirely. This fixed my issue but now the only way to turn the phone on when it dies (or turns off due to crashes!!) is by plugging it via USB and going into download mode then cancelling. Talk about a hassle!
I also got some dust particles (I think?) on my camera lens so I have several black dots whenever I take a picture.
My battery life is also HORRIBLE. I can relate to OP. My phone can barely make it to lunch let alone get through a full day. If I want to get through a full day, brightness needs to be low, bluetooth/wifi/data/gps/screen rotate all need to be off and I can't expect much screen on time. Basically, I use my phone for communication (texting, calling, etc) and for listening to music. Nothing else really. I might also try flashing another CM rom. I've tried KitKat CM roms but they are all incredibly laggy, so I don't know. Perhaps a new battery could fix this but it's too late.
(By the way, if anyone can recommend a good KitKat rom [preferably CM based], I'd appreciate it. I plan on giving this away to someone who will mainly use it to listen to music, web browse, read. Nothing too major but I'd like to update it as much as possible before giving it away.)
Although there a number of problems, this phone has lasted me 2.5 years. I got it in May of 2012, about 6 months or so after launch. That couples with Cyanogenmod has given me one hell of an experience. This phone, without a doubt, has been one of the best phones I've owned. It just works, in spite of all odds. Heck, I've had it for several months with all of these issues and it can still go until the end of the year (or longer, who knows). But all good things must come to an end.
So good night sweet prince. You were amazing, will never forget! Also, thanks Cyanogenmod for supporting this device! Thank you devs and fellow T989 users for all the support!
As far as the future goes, I am putting all my eggs in one basket and hoping that the Nexus 6/X is solid. There are rumours that it is going to be nearly 6" which is just too big for me to use reasonably. I also considered the Note 4, but honestly, after almost 2 years of using Cyanogenmod, it's very difficult to go back to TouchWiz. The other phone I have considered is the Moto X (2014). If none of these work, I might settle for last year's Nexus 5. Who knows! All I know is that I'm getting a new phone soon!
Try also the new CM11 by Sultanxda:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...rom-kernel-unofficial-cyanogenmod-11-t2885259
Seems to give best battery life for this device.
tuxx1337 said:
Try also the new CM11 by Sultanxda:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...rom-kernel-unofficial-cyanogenmod-11-t2885259
Seems to give best battery life for this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely, I no longer feel anything like I did when I posted the previous comment in this thread. I'm not ashamed to own this device anymore, LOL. Sultan did things with his kernel that made CM11 stable & fully optimized for the Hercules.
tuxx1337 said:
Try also the new CM11 by Sultanxda:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...rom-kernel-unofficial-cyanogenmod-11-t2885259
Seems to give best battery life for this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the suggestion! i was thinking about changing the ROM for my Hercules and this seems like a really good choice..