Touchwiz is better than stock Android.. YEAH I SAID IT!

Touchwiz is better than stock Android.. YEAH I SAID IT! - Samsung Galaxy Nexus

After jumping from the Galaxy Nexus to the Note 2, I realize that there are so many improvements that Touchwiz brings on top of stock Android that heavily outweighs being a version "behind". I used to visit the GNex forum almost exclusively, still I decided to move to the note for the bigger screen, awesome battery life and SD card slot "despite" it having Touchwiz, I thought I would bite the bullet and live with the horror of an OEM skin.. now I realize that the phone is much better off with it on top of Android.
Pros:
- Camera is way better with a lot more options, notably burst mode and widescreen.. why does stock force you to take 4:3 pictures? this isn't 1998 anymore, all monitors/TVs are widescreen
- Gallery is much improved with different view types, video previews, play on hover, etc..
- FB contact integration out of the box, no need to mess around with Haxsync or other apps
- Multi-window, that alone trumps stock
- T9 Dialer
- Smart stay: When reading long text I got used to touching my screen every 30 seconds to keep it from turning off, never again
- Smart rotate: call this a "gimmick" all you want, but it's really nice to be able to lie down and read something without first disabling auto-rotate
- Contact list: smoothly integrated with the Phone app, no more ugly white theme that's oddly out of place with the rest of the UI
- S-Beam is much faster and more practical than Android Beam (you have both in Touchwiz anyway)
- Not counting all the s-pen apps since those are specific to the Note 2
- Overall feel of the OS feels less segmented and more cohesive
- Loads of small improvement all across the OS, things that make you say "oh nice, I don't need 4-5 steps to do that anymore"
* I know that "there's an app for that" for some of these features, but they will never work as seamlessly as on a single unified framework.
Cons:
- The TW launcher is smooth but limited (so is the stock JB launcher), running Nova lets you customize it as you like while keeping all the TW advantages.
- Some features are more gimmicky like "pan to zoom" or "double tap to top of list" but you can just ignore them and use the normal way of doing things.
Nexus fans (I was one of them) keep braggin about how their phones run "pure, untouched, sweet, [...] unadulterated, vanilla Android" as if it was a huge advantage, claiming Touchwiz is ball-and-chain bloatware that slows down the phone.. well if you call the Note 2 slow then you need to get your head checked. I'm aware that it's got twice the processing power of the current Nexus, but my point is that Touchwiz does not slow it down one bit.
Read this on another forum:
"Samsung gets a lot of hate for TouchWiz, and so they should - its bad, unbelievably bad, colossally bad. Its as far away from Android as can be in terms of looks.
On the Note 2, however, TouchWiz is fantastic, Samsung made the improvements where it counts for the device’s tablet aspects. The S-Pen is really useful, as is the software Samsung developed for it. The multi-tasking is so good, you wouldn’t think Samsung had it in them to do it. I just recently got the software update over the air for the dual window multi-tasking and tested it out this morning - it’s just great and I cannot fault it one little bit. I hate to say it but I don’t even feel like wanting an AOSP ROM for this device because I stand to lose so many features in regards to the S-Pen."
I don't care about not getting 4.2 or whatever 4.n+1 will be right away, Samsung has done a wonderful job with Touchwiz on the Note 2 and I'd rather have them take their time to build on top of what they have right now then release something quick and dirty.
Are there any advantages to stock Android besides having faster access to the latest AOSP version? Please don't reply with "this is what Google intended it to be" or "the hardware is made for the software" (as if the Note 2 isn't made for TW), I'm talking about features, performance, reliability.
btw, before buying the GNex I had a Galaxy S1, so I was extremely biased against TW before buying the Note 2.. the latest version is much less in your face and just feels like an extra coat of polish on top of stock rather than a hostile takover.

Stock JB Touchwiz here
_ There's a notable lag in the widget drawer.
_there's a notable lag in the contact startup .
_ the design of the TW is ridiculous, what is with all the green and orange colors ? compared to the dark blue of the stock it looks like ass ..
_ it is nowhere near as smooth in JB since obviously samsung knows nothing about project butter and how to implement it, and in ICS TW we have the infinitely annoying redraw issue ...

Defaq? What is the point of this thread?
Seriously ? If you like touchwiz, then go and buy s3 or note 2 or any other Samsung phone.

Fatelord said:
Stock JB Touchwiz here
_ There's a notable lag in the widget drawer.
_there's a notable lag in the contact startup .
_ the design of the TW is ridiculous, what is with all the green and orange colors ? compared to the dark blue of the stock it looks like ass ..
_ it is nowhere near as smooth in JB since obviously samsung knows nothing about project butter and how to implement it, and in ICS TW we have the infinitely annoying redraw issue ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange.. my experience and all the reviews I've read show that the UI is practically lag free, are you using the Note 2 or the S3?

question
I also don't understand why you started this topic here.... it's okey if you like it better than stock android, but why start a topic...

Who the hell takes pictures in 16:9 aspect? 4:3 is and always will be the standard for frames and photos...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

You're entitled to your opinion, as is anybody else. I will politely disagree with it however. TouchWiz, in my opinion, is just ugly.
The biggest perk to AOSP is that it's made to be built on while TouchWiz and other OEM flavors are designed to be an "end product." Nexus devices are intended to be tinkered with, which is a big draw for some people.
The skins never feel like they age well either. All of my non-AOSP devices seem to get sluggish and just feel outdated much earlier in their lifespan. Meanwhile, AOSP seems to manage to keep devices moving, even into their golden years. My old Eris has Jellybean (with some flaws but it's there!), but would be extremely unlikely to be capable running a modern Sense.

mvn01 said:
I also don't understand why you started this topic here.... it's okey if you like it better than stock android, but why start a topic...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why join xda just to make this post?
But seriously, nothing wrong with starting a topic to discuss the pros and cons of both ROMs.. Also it is relevant to start it here since my experience with stock was mainly on the Nexus platform. If some people prefer stock that's great, and I'm open to hearing their reasons.

akira02rex said:
Who the hell takes pictures in 16:9 aspect? 4:3 is and always will be the standard for frames and photos...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, that's why you should have the option to choose which ratio you prefer.. isn't the point of Android to give you the choice? so why is stock locking you down to one ratio?

http://blog.wtfconcept.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/yao-noob-*****.jpg

Is this a troll or is he serious? Go and post in the note 2 section.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

ITT: Trolls trolling trolls trolling trolls.

Related

What makes the Nexus better than the iPhone?

You guys are dropping some serious cash on the Nexus, and for serious cash, I expect there must be serious reasons. What makes the Nexus better than the 4S, for you? I don't just want to hear blanket statements like "more customizability," I'm looking for specific things that effect how you use your phone day-to-day, in a positive way. (hey, it rhymes)
I don't own a GN, but here's some reasons I can think of switching:
-I can turn off annoying animations
-hi-res screen, shows more content
-bigger screen
-no physical buttons
-I can turn off the lock screen
-loads webpages faster
-slightly better browser tabs
-widgets. They'd be slightly helpful
-Flash, for when I need it
-file system. This is kinda crippled now, but whatever.
-better YouTube app
-better Gmail support
-better Google maps
I figure I'll mention the cons, too...
-worse camera
-not as smooth
-no 100% reliable, native syncing for my photos and music
-no comparable suite to iWorks
-less app selection
-bad battery life
-no good solution for security if I lose my phone. Find My iPhone is pretty sweet.
What about you? I'm hoping to hear about some things I didn't think about. Part of me really wants to get the Nexus.

because it's not apple. Setting up apps and.screen is lot better over the good old setup. Hw acceleration finally. Bigger screen. Not apple. Higher res. Better sound. And I get great battery life. What you talking about Willis?
And the no. 1 reason is dev support. They pick up where Google and Samsung don't and then some. And some more. Thanks devs without you guys we'd eat more apples.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

I haven't had an issue with battery life ever since phone started coming with micro usb. One of the reasons I didn't buy an iPhone is the proprietary usb, with GN (or any other android phone) everywhere you go has a charger.
That and it's a phone with a large screen, I'm not going to quibble over a few hours difference in battery life. It either lasts a month on 1 charge or I need a charger everywhere I go....
My main beef with iPhone is the connectivity, I need iTunes and not just on any computer but an authorised one. I use a lot of computers so that's out...
Apps, camera, OS, battery life its all the same more or less. Like comparing Mercedes to BMW.
The other feature I can't live without is Google Navigation, even though you can download an app on iPhone that does the same, having it fully integrated with Google Map is very useful. I use Google Maps like Yellow Pages now....
The search is also a lot more useful with ICS (wont be GN only feature soon) as it combines searching for apps/music/files on your phone with google search.
All this will be on any ICS phone/tablet, not just GN. So it's not really GN vs iPhone, its ICS vs iOS5.
Oh and another nice feature is having multiple accounts in Market. So if you want your wife/girlfriend to have the same purchased app/game you don't have to buy it twice.

I won't go into a device comparison, but here's what I like about the Nexus/Android:
- Super Amoled HD Screen
- Pentaband & Unlocked
- Widgets and customizability
- Scrolling and/or Live Wallpaper
- Replaceable Battery
- Faster data speeds on AT&T (For my location)
- The best web browsing experience on a mobile device...PERIOD. If you goto Settings->Labs and select Quick Controls and Fullscreen...it's a whole different experience. Full HD screen is used to browse and it's buttery smooth
- I prefer ICS's Task Manager MUCH MUCH better than iOS. It's quick to hit a button and swipe on the android vs. double table, hit small x's and scroll.
- Voice Guided Directions via Google Maps (Improved over previous versions)
- Face Unlock
- Better youtube
- Camera isn't as good as the iPhone, but IMO the app and shutter speed make up for it.
- Syncs beautifully with iTunes with iSyncr app!
- People always bring up selection of apps, or lack thereof as a bad thing. While there are some titles missing from the market, there are apps available that you would never be able to download on the app store. For example mp3 downloads, bit torrent remotes, etc.
- Type as you speak voice recognition
- I find the battery life equal, if not better than the iPhone 4S
- Free mobile hotspot (Don't abuse her)
- NFC
- Built in data usage tracker and limiter. Perfect for those on data caps. Also displays what apps are hogging
- Notice a killer app on the Market only to find out it's garbage after the purchase? 15 min refund window!
Don't like compared to the iPhone...
- Build quality is good but the quality of materials could be better
- Speaker sucks
- Front facing camera may have more pixels, but looks like crap compared to the 4s
- I miss iTunes Match, iCloud and Photostream
Don't get me wrong, the 4S is a sweet device and I've used a ton of Android phones in the past, but the Nexus w/ICS is a whole different ballgame. My Nexus and iPad 2 are a match made in heaven.

I switched from an iPhone 4S to a Galaxy Nexus (and a Galaxy Note between).
First of all I like Apple products, I use an iMac and a MacBook Air for work and have owned iPhones, iPods and iPads. They are usually well designed and do the job at least as well as competitors and yes there is a premium to pay for that and I have always thought that worth paying extra for.
But for me the iPhone 4S was a major disappointment. I had seen some of the renderings of possible designs and they looked exciting but what we got was a revamp of the iPhone 4 with new notifications and Siri.
I still bought one as I like to have the latest tech but after you realise that Siri is a gimmick that last 10 minutes and is then redundant and the pull down notification system has been perfected by Android 100 phones ago, then the same old IOS niggles surfaced.
For me the first time I used the Galaxy Nexus I thought 'this is better'. ICS is smooth and runs quickly on the Nexus out of the box. I have owned virtually all the top smartphones and my one gripe about Android is that to get the very best out of the phone I have to visit XDA and start updating and tweaking.
My main reasons for switching away from the iPhone were lack of Flash support and screen size. So I bought a Galaxy Note and was blown away but the size was just a little too large and when I read up about the Nexus I just had to have one. I can wait a month or so for Flash but otherwise I don't think I have ever been happier with a phone.

Yumunum said:
You guys are dropping some serious cash on the Nexus, and for serious cash, I expect there must be serious reasons. What makes the Nexus better than the 4S, for you? I don't just want to hear blanket statements like "more customizability," I'm looking for specific things that effect how you use your phone day-to-day, in a positive way. (hey, it rhymes)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep in mind that not everyone here is buying it outright for $600+, and keep in mind that a lot of people here wouldn't even consider an iPhone instead of Android in general. This post sounds a bit like flame bait, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
My personal reasons are as follows:
Screen: Not just quality (AMOLED), but size. Ever since I had my Samsung Captivate, holding an iPhone has just felt wrong. Everything feels tiny on the iPhone, watching movies is a significantly worse experience etc.
OS: In a nutshell, I prefer Android to iOS. The notification system is better, the multitasking is better (especially in ICS), the OS gives me more options and doesn't hold my hand telling me I'll break my phone if I'm given any more freedoms.
Widgets: Falls in line with OS, but deserves its own category. Why the hell does iOS not have widgets yet? Why don't I have glanceable data on my homescreens such as weather, calendar, and RSS feeds? This is the killer app for me as far as Android is concerned. iOS simply does not compare.
iTunes: I hate it. Especially on PC. I don't like Apple's music format, I don't like being forced to sync content as opposed to drag and drop, and I don't like how iTunes on PC is so badly coded that it completely freezes up and becomes unresponsive while syncing. Something like iTunes should be optional at best.
TV out: the iPhone simply doesn't have it. Connecting my phone to my TV to output youtube videos, emulated SNES, PS1 etc. games, and pictures is a huge boon for the GN. Yes there are alternatives, no they are not as simple as "connect a cable and the picture literally pops up the next second".
General freedom: No emulators or inappropriate content on the iOS market. Yeah, I don't put porn on my phone, but the next guy may want to and he should be able to do so freely without a company scrutinizing his morals. The Android market allows virtually anything as long as it's legal.
Programming freedom: In the same vein as the above, iOS is extremely locked down. There are no custom ROMs, there's no system level tweaking.
As far as drawbacks go:
Camera: Let's face it. The iPhone 4S' camera is best in class. Yes the GN's is faster, but for sheer quality iPhone simply wins hands down.
Touch response: This one may be a bit subjective, but every time I pick up an iPhone I marvel a bit at how smooth it is. Yes ICS is smooth, but I don't feel that it's quite at the same level.
Applications: For sheer quantity, Android is getting there. Quality however, is just now starting to pick up. More triple A developers are starting to realize that Android is a force to be reckoned with, so this is one that will fix itself in time. For the time being however iOS' app selection is simply better.
GPS: Every iPhone I've tried locks instantaneously indoors to a 10-15 meter radius. Every Android phone takes 5 seconds to forever to do the same. It's a minor gripe at best since the GN's GPS is pretty good but it's still technically worse.
That's about all I've got. Also OP, you'll be pleased to know that Android also has a variation of "Find my iPhone". "Where's my Droid" does basically the same thing.

I thought of getting an iPhone but then I took an arrow to the knee
I don't own a GN, but here's some reasons I can think of switching:
-I can turn off annoying animations
-hi-res screen, shows more content
-bigger screen
-no physical buttons
-I can turn off the lock screen
-loads webpages faster
-slightly better browser tabs
-widgets. They'd be slightly helpful
-Flash, for when I need it
-file system. This is kinda crippled now, but whatever.
-better YouTube app
-better Gmail support
-better Google maps
I figure I'll mention the cons, too...
-worse camera
-not as smooth
-no 100% reliable, native syncing for my photos and music
-no comparable suite to iWorks
-less app selection
-bad battery life
-no good solution for security if I lose my phone. Find My iPhone is pretty sweet.
First off, I'll say that I don't own a G_Nex... yet. I have also thought long and hard about making the jump to the iphone and the other side but a few things have kept me back. And this is my experience with a Droid Incredible which came out early last year so It's based off of an old device with outdated software.
First, I hate iTunes, with a passion. If you like it, cool but I have had such a hard time moving all my media from windows media to itunes I finally gave my ipod away. I'm sure it's a much less stressful endeavor with a Mac but I don't have one of those either so... It just seems way easier to use windows media for me
As far as the camera. I haven't seen it in my hand but there are a few iPhone4s/G-Nex picture comparison and from what I can tell it doesn't look very different. I say that the SGN does have some advantages over the iPhone with the no-lag feature and panoramic photos but that is just opinion. my camera is outdated but like everyone says your not gonna blow up an 8mp photo to put on your wall, it just doesn't make sense.
I don't use it personally but HTC sense has an onlive service similar to Find My iPhone, but without an HTC device your options are limited to apps like Lookout Mobile Security which you can disable everything except for the GPS service so you don't have annoying popups everytime you download an app. I believe they are also apps that can wipe your phone remotely in case your worried about your personal info.
Although I feel like Sense on HTC is just as smooth as an iPhone I've seen the lag and jerkiness of other devices. that said, I think if you check out some YouTube vids of the G-Nex you'll see that there is nothing but smooth butter on 4.0
I agree as far as the battery life goes. sometimes I can go 6hrs before my phone dies but I've settled on the idea that I will need a charger with me everywhere I go work/home/school. But there is a big reason for this: Android does so many other things in the background compared to iPhone. widgets, live wallpapers, etc... look at the animations on a new HTC device with the 3D widgets. it takes a ton of battery to keep all that running and running smooth. Also with the introduction of 4G the battery technology just hasn't caught up with it yet. but give it time.
One thing I will say about iPhone is the quality of apps are way better than Android, but it will not be that way forever. app developers are wanting to make money and if they can expand to another platform they will. There are only a very few app devs that are brand loyal and there are more and more devs porting there apps to Android every day.
To me, Apple did a great job in making a great phone and marketing it to the masses when it first came out. However, there are still a ton of flaws in their ideals. they want to make things simpler but unless you already have a Mac you will struggle. And they don't want to change it because they know most people will get frustrated and just go buy a Mac which makes them more money. and that is something I can't get with.
last but not least I will ask, who's idea was it to design a phone incased in glass anyway? I mean the only way you could've made it anymore fragile is if you made all the componets inside the out of glass as well. I mean really?!

Bad battery life...it is really bad. and also bad reception.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

native syncing for my photos and music - The camera app on the GN can auto matically sync your photos to google+ if you want it to. Also google music can sync your music from the cloud thus meaning you dont have gig's and gig's of storage taken up on your phone.

First of all, generally speaking the main reason that pulled me away from Apple (I had a 3GS) and towards Android was widgets. It might be a minor thing for most people, but I really really love having them on my screen. It just makes things so much easier and faster to accomplish.
Now, focussing on the Galaxy Nexus specifically, the biggest plusses for me where those two:
- The combination of a large AMOLED-screen and the top-notch resolution which takes care of all the "Pentile"-drama that was going on.
- Direct updates through Google (I know, it's the same with Apple, but no other current Android handset offers this, and since your question aimed at why we spend so much money on the GN: This is the main reason why I picked the GN over a Moto or an HTC)
And that's basically it. Mind you, I was almost going to buy the Moto RAZR instead of the Nexus, because I am not a fan of handsets made entirely of plastic shells. But in the end I dismissed the Razr, mainly because of the "Software Update"-reason mentioned above. I could have lived with the lower-res display.
Of course, there are dozens of other reasons why I pick Android over iOS (open platform, costumizability, direct filesystem-access, etc. etc. blah blah), but you probably know them already anyway, so I'm not gonna repeat here once again
Both Android and iOS have their advantages and disadavantages, my take on this is that you should first decide which ECOSYSTEM is better suited for your personal needs and usecases, and after that decide on the actual hardware you're going to buy. Getting a new phone is quickly done, making everything run after an OS transition is much more of a headache (starting with the money one spent on all the apps that become rendered useless the moment you change sides)

only things I miss from my iphone 4 so far are
battery life
quick gps locking
HBO GO!

Screen is beautifull. I just got mine and i Love IT!!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

Yumunum said:
I figure I'll mention the cons, too...
-worse camera - Want a better camera, by a SLR, its a phone remember...
-not as smooth - No i find it smooother
-no 100% reliable, native syncing for my photos and musicPersonal preference, i find the syncing very good for mail, photos, contacts, music. The Music sync infact is amazing. I can access my music collection on ANY flash enable browser!
-no comparable suite to iWorks Really, your going to work on the 4.6" screen on documents, spreadsheets? buy a galaxy note, galaxy 10.1 or if you want iWorks, buy an Ipad or Mac!
-less app selection But also the app market is managed by the apple sheep so you actually have access to more apps which are banned on the apple store on the android market
-bad battery life Manage it better then! Its because you can customize everything on an android battery can drain so quickly, if you could do the same on an iphone as you can on an android im sure the iphone wouldnt last 10 hours!
-no good solution for security if I lose my phone. Find My iPhone is pretty sweet. Google an alternative.... like https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mango.findmyphone&hl=en. Also you can encrypt your phone, which is stronger than any solution done by apple at the moment
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Come on, really its down to personal preference. Every pro can be argued with a con, and vice versa
A big plus for me is accessing the app store in a browser!

I'm unclear why the OP said we were dropping serious cash for the nexus, and then proceeded to ask why it's better than the 4S, they are the same price, so what gives?

I'll be the odd one out, this is why I sold my Galaxy Nexus and kept my iPhone 4S:
- I find iOS notifications to be better. Sure, swap to discard is a lot better than the tiny "Clear" button on iOS, but being able to see pending notifications on the lockscreen is a lot better than having to reach up and pull down the list. I never managed to find a working solution to get the same function on ICS. Also iOS categorizes them per app, which I like. I also love push notifications and there's really just one twitter app that does it on Android, and its just not a very good app.
- Browsing. Sorry, but I find the ICS browser to not be very good. Sure, it's fast, but Google still treats pages like a desktop browser and text is TINY when zoomed out. iOS picks up what text is important and increases its size so it's readable on most websites without having to zoom in. Also, double tapping to zoom on Android zooms to the general area you want, but will usually cut off text or images. iOS somehow manages to fit the window exactly to the paragraph you want.
- Battery life. Yes, the 4S is famous for not lasting very long, but at least I don't have to worry about what colors im displaying on it because white will burn the battery out faster than black. With SAMOLED (I've had a Galaxy S, Galaxy S 2 and the Nexus) I always found myself worrying about using apps with mostly a black background.
- Screen. I want to lick the Galaxy Nexus screen, really, it looks amazing. Except when I look at slight dark pictures, where the extreme contrast and black levels will degrade and oversaturate colors. Also PenTile, while less noticeable is still there and makes text look horrible at small sizes. Watching HD video on it was an orgasmic experience, but I honestly never watch movies or series on my phone so I just wouldn't have taken advantage of it.
- Speaker. Its bad, really bad, and positioned in a place where setting the phone on a sofa or any other soft surface will muffle it. Volume+ on the market fixes the problem mostly, but still sounds like a low quality speaker.
- Apps. I love the ICS UI, I love how the google apps look on the GNexus, but I HATE how most third party apps look and function on ICS. Yes, I realize this will change in time, but just picking the iPhone and opening Tweetbot or Whatsapp and seeing how much smoother they were compared to similar apps on ICS made me angry.
- Camera. Photos look pretty good in daylight, but it breaks apart easily when light is low. Mushy colors, no sharpness. I love the 4S camera.
- Size. This one I guess is more personal than the others. I found it to be slighty larger than I like and had to flex my hand too much to use it one handed most of the time.
- Smoothness. ICS has hardware acceleration, fine, and it works most of the time, sure, but it's really noticeable when it's not there and really inconsistent to have it be completely smooth in some areas and really stuttery in others. I guess this will get better over time, but I like having this work "out of the box". iOS is smooth 95% of the time.
I'm not dissing the GNexus, I find it to be the best android phone to date and I really love most of what Google has done to android. However, after more than a year owning several android handsets and then buying the 4S I remembered how pain-free the iOS experience is, and I realized I spent more time changing ROMs and customizing android than I did enjoying it and using apps.
I never had a need for a real filesystem, I have no issues with iTunes and I don't feel limited by iOS' restrictions, though I understand if most of you do. I'll probably go back to android with the Galaxy S3 or whatever, and I guess everything will be more mature by then, but right now I'm happy with my 4S and it suits my needs better than the Gnex did.

For some reason when you own an iphone you start wearing turtlenecks and people start calling you a pretentious douche.

-Flash, for when I need it // Nexus Doesn't support flash...yet
-file system. This is kinda crippled now, but whatever. //Why? Works just like it has on my other Androids?
-worse camera // It's as good as the person using it.. my iPhone wasn't that great.
-not as smooth // Depends on what you have running unlike the iPhone that just randomly shuts apps off.
-no 100% reliable, native syncing for my photos and music //This is why I quit iPhones Itunes is a joke takes fooooorever to sync the it duplicates and deletes... just drag and drop...simple.
-no comparable suite to iWorks // There are many office apps most are the same ones in the app store.
-less app selection // seems like both stores have pretty much the same ones and the billion junk apps
-bad battery life // If you run the screen and skype and video... guess what iPhone or android the battery drains.....The iphone will win not because it has better battery life but because it will quit skype force the screen off and stop the video because it knows what you want better than you do.
I have had every IOS device except the 4S... so I don't dislike them but I do dislike lists like this... Because you really should try out Android (especially ICS) and formulate your opinion. Because its not just about the hardware its about changing from my phone knows best I just expect the battery to last.... To taking the time to set it to do exactly what you want it to....and yes if you have 50 apps running the battery WILL die a quick death...lol

The difference and what makes it better is easy. I am in no way bashing the iPhone. I own it and love all apple products. Here are the facts iPhone is a place that houses all your apps the SN is a OS with apps.

Is galaxy nexus worth buying?

Im standing in a delimma rught now. Im about to choose between galaxy nexus and iphone 4s.
I dont want to hear which phone is better i want to hear about the galaxy nexus, how it feels in your hand, smoothnes etc etc.
This is not another which phone is better thread.
Thabk you
Best regards
Elinho
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

GSM? The phone feels great in the hand because it is light for how big it is. It is kind of slick and will take getting used to if you have never had a phone this big but it shouldn't be too much of a problem.. the screen is good for most people when above 20% brightness. Some people lag on the stock rom but most don't have any problems on custom roms or the latest stock rom. Also battery life for the most part is great.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Size wise I feel the Nexus is small, and no way too big at all. But I had the Epic 4G Touch with 4.5" screen, the Nexus feels smaller.
Build quality is very high, the metal band around it feels solid, and the dark gray color makes it look like a stealth fighter jet. Does not feel like cheap plastic on the Galaxy SII.
High Res screen is on par with "Retina" but with a million times better color.
ICS software is a huge leap forward for Android, makes it more mature and polished and better design over last year Androids.
iPhone LOL 3.5" screen
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

I have been an iphone user for years and after spending some time using the Nexus I sold my iphone 4s to buy the Nexus. You will not be unhappy with either but the Nexus is hands down a more up to date and distinguished device for me.

Play with them both and see which appeals more to you. I was an iPhone user for 4 years until I got my Galaxy Nexus and I couldn't go back. That said, the 4S is still a very good phone and definitely has a place. It gets better battery life and has a nicer app selection, but the screen is small, you're much more limited in terms of modification/customization/app and service integration, and I feel like iOS is starting to show it's age.
I love the Nexus' huge screen, I think the design of the phone itself is nicer, and I like ICS way more than iOS.

Zorachus said:
Size wise I feel the Nexus is small, and no way too big at all. But I had the Epic 4G Touch with 4.5" screen, the Nexus feels smaller.
Build quality is very high, the metal band around it feels solid, and the dark gray color makes it look like a stealth fighter jet. Does not feel like cheap plastic on the Galaxy SII.
High Res screen is on par with "Retina" but with a million times better color.
ICS software is a huge leap forward for Android, makes it more mature and polished and better design over last year Androids.
iPhone LOL 3.5" screen
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no metal band..... that said it still feels like a good quality phone.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Ex-wife has iPhone 4S and I, the GNexus. No comparison. I feel bad for the ex, with that 3.5" LOL display, and no me. ;-)
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

Thank you for the replys!
The galaxy nexus here in sweden is expensive. But im considering getting galaxy
Edit: i forgott, the ics dont have autocorrect for swedish lang :/
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

Without a case, it's great in the hands. Even with a case it's fine depending on which one though.
But holding it raw is wonderful. The screen is absolutely amazing. Text is so crisp I almost sometimes prefer using it over my tablet! The keyboard is amazing in portrait, because of the size I can type REALLY fast and get almost no errors.
Everything is smooth too. My friend who has had an Evo 4g for a while was amazed at how smooth animations and everything else are compared to his phone.
I have unlimited 4g from Verizon and it is blazing too.

elinho said:
Im standing in a delimma rught now. Im about to choose between galaxy nexus and iphone 4s.
I dont want to hear which phone is better i want to hear about the galaxy nexus, how it feels in your hand, smoothnes etc etc.
This is not another which phone is better thread.
Thabk you
Best regards
Elinho
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have used both. I keep changing my phones regularly. Generally every 3 months. I always have 2 phones regardless.
Now...
Sometimes as my Prof kept saying,
it all comes down to what you are used to the most.
If you are a busy man and just want to get things done and you are used to the iOS platform then go for the iPhone 4s, it really surprises me how consistent they have kept their platform from over 5 years.
But there is a price you pay. For ex when you compare the maps and email/Gmail apps; the iOS apps feel archaic.
Ics is a complete overhaul. There is a significant amount of learning curve. Not much if you are coming from iOS. But to be on the record, it is completely rewarding no matter what platform you come from (keep in mind it takes about a week)
One of the gripes that I have with iOS is that it is not Rewarding to the power user. The speed at which you do things the first time is pretty much as fast as yo can ever be.
Let me address a few issues with galaxy nexus
Size:
Mammoth like if you are coming from iOS
Little big if you are coming from the almost standard 4 inch androids.
But the feel in hand is really good. It is lighter than the iPhone 4s. After a week you wont notice the size but will really appreciate the 720p screen, the real estate that it gives you. I can't go back to the iPhone like screen size after using galaxy nexus, it is like what the first iPhone did to the typical smartphone users back then (who were mainly on windows mobile and palm/blackberry on their 2.4-2.8 inch devices)
Smoothness:
I'm on AOKP rom with Francisco Franco s Kernel and it is the smoothest Android experience.
IOS introduces a lot of delays to keep the os feeling smooth. Just try opening an app as soon as you hit the home button.
And it still lags everytime when you go to the spotlight search by swiping left on the homescreen.
Right now they have just 3 hardware platforms and then can test the heck out of it for delivering 60fps (also known as butter smooth performance) albeit making actual performance sacrifices (though I've heard from internal sources that it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so on 3gs)
The point I'm trying to make is that iOS has engineered smoothness at the cost of performance, you will have to decide for yourself if this is OK with you.
IOS vs ICS
I feel that ics and Android in general gives app developers a lot more freedom and versatility in app design (clearly demonstrated by the mlo app which is still in beta on Android but much better than the iOS app).
But app developers go by the penetration and clearly iOS has more than android (again demonstrated by the Mlo app which is still in beta on Android)
And as far as the stock apps are concerned there is no match for ics, just check the iPhone vs galaxy nexus sunspider and browesermark benchmarks on the browser which probably is the top most used app on the smartphone os (tip don't compare the iPad 2 with galaxy nexus as iPad 2 is clocked at 25% more than iPhone 4s, and there are quad core options available in android ics tablets (friend just got pics pushed to his transformer prime ))
And the Gmail app.(
ICS has a lot of potential If you are not porting over your apps from iOS , a lesson for you speed test.net)
Now to conclude I've not gone back to iPhone 4(couldn't stand iPhone 4s as it didn't have a jailbreak and hence my favourite jailbreak app swipenav which avoids the most inhumanly possible HCI design of tapping the left most corner to go back (which is probably the second most used function from going to home screen )
Pradeep.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premiu
m

trincisor said:
have used both. I keep changing my phones regularly. Generally every 3 months. I always have 2 phones regardless.
Now...
Sometimes as my Prof kept saying,
it all comes down to what you are used to the most.
If you are a busy man and just want to get things done and you are used to the iOS platform then go for the iPhone 4s, it really surprises me how consistent they have kept their platform from over 5 years.
But there is a price you pay. For ex when you compare the maps and email/Gmail apps; the iOS apps feel archaic.
Ics is a complete overhaul. There is a significant amount of learning curve. Not much if you are coming from iOS. But to be on the record, it is completely rewarding no matter what platform you come from (keep in mind it takes about a week)
One of the gripes that I have with iOS is that it is not Rewarding to the power user. The speed at which you do things the first time is pretty much as fast as yo can ever be.
Let me address a few issues with galaxy nexus
Size:
Mammoth like if you are coming from iOS
Little big if you are coming from the almost standard 4 inch androids.
But the feel in hand is really good. It is lighter than the iPhone 4s. After a week you wont notice the size but will really appreciate the 720p screen, the real estate that it gives you. I can't go back to the iPhone like screen size after using galaxy nexus, it is like what the first iPhone did to the typical smartphone users back then (who were mainly on windows mobile and palm/blackberry on their 2.4-2.8 inch devices)
Smoothness:
I'm on AOKP rom with Francisco Franco s Kernel and it is the smoothest Android experience.
IOS introduces a lot of delays to keep the os feeling smooth. Just try opening an app as soon as you hit the home button.
And it still lags everytime when you go to the spotlight search by swiping left on the homescreen.
Right now they have just 3 hardware platforms and then can test the heck out of it for delivering 60fps (also known as butter smooth performance) albeit making actual performance sacrifices (though I've heard from internal sources that it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so on 3gs)
The point I'm trying to make is that iOS has engineered smoothness at the cost of performance, you will have to decide for yourself if this is OK with you.
IOS vs ICS
I feel that ics and Android in general gives app developers a lot more freedom and versatility in app design (clearly demonstrated by the mlo app which is still in beta on Android but much better than the iOS app).
But app developers go by the penetration and clearly iOS has more than android (again demonstrated by the Mlo app which is still in beta on Android)
And as far as the stock apps are concerned there is no match for ics, just check the iPhone vs galaxy nexus sunspider and browesermark benchmarks on the browser which probably is the top most used app on the smartphone os (tip don't compare the iPad 2 with galaxy nexus as iPad 2 is clocked at 25% more than iPhone 4s, and there are quad core options available in android ics tablets (friend just got pics pushed to his transformer prime ))
And the Gmail app.(
ICS has a lot of potential If you are not porting over your apps from iOS , a lesson for you speed test.net)
Now to conclude I've not gone back to iPhone 4(couldn't stand iPhone 4s as it didn't have a jailbreak and hence my favourite jailbreak app swipenav which avoids the most inhumanly possible HCI design of tapping the left most corner to go back (which is probably the second most used function from going to home screen )
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premiu
m
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your time and effort!
Im considering buying galaxy nexus due the screen, but i like the siri function in iphone and their smoothnes in the games due.
But overall the Gnex is above all much better then iphone.
But as i said erlier the gnex is much more expensive here in sweden :/

Siri is a worthless bum.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

I'l give you an honest overview : the phone is SINCERELY NOT THERE to compete as a completely functional device to be honest.
And let me also tell you that I'm an Android fan boy, and I completely ABHOR apple and everything to do with them.
BUT YET. Samsung Galaxy Nexus is NOT EVEN a complete functional device yet, and paying 530 £ or so (in the UK) for such a phone - IS WASTE OF MONEY.
There are MANY glitches that makes the whole experience very unsavoury. To the point that it definitely DOES NOT LOOK LIKE A FINISHED phone to me at all.
All the gloss of ICS apart, I have seen stability issues with this phone that just totally kills every thing. And mind you this is only on 4.0.1 GSM version UK (I've others here who have the same issue)
I'm a pretty heavy user. I've had a HTC Desire and worked out the ins and outs of the system and that device was EXTREMELY usable over the years.
This phone has so many problems -
1. The LED light does not even support missed calls by default. If you had a missed call you would not know till you turn the screen on (It is a basic feature was available 2 years back on HTC desire) I dont want to install a complicated APP like Light Flow to do it. This is basic stuff that should come out of the box
2. The phone in landscape mode does not type properly, this is just hilarious. Shame on google. The typing works perfect when you keep your phone straight, but the same phone, same stuff if you type in landscape it is incredibly jittery, you dont see what you wrote for good couple of seconds! This is just SHODDY work. how can screen orientation screw up your typing so badly - i have no idea. Just shameful from google.
3. The SMS dont go many times, and I've seen many threads about the same. Apparently you can screw up the message center settings? I dont know how but I'vent done that still had SMS problems a few times. And I had to restart my phone or send multiple times to make it work.
4. The call quality is the WORST I have seen on ANY phone in my entire life. I've been using the phone in exactly the same locations as I was using my HTC desire, and the call drops so much more often that it is just unbelievable! and needless to say incredibly frustrating. If the call doesnt drop the sound, sometimes (& often), is really pathetic and many a times it is inaudible to either party on the call. Is this a phone?
5. The phone is crashing randomly, this happens every 2 days or so (lately every single day now) and I'm a pretty heavy user. People say it is because I'm still on 4.0.1 - well I dont buy that because if 4.0.3 (the latest version) was fixing so many stability issues, then there is NO reason for Google to delay the release of that version on here in the UK for such a long time. Then some people say it is because I've some app installed, well I uninstalled most of my apps - but this problem doesnt go. And the phone becoming unresponsive due to an APP sounds like a serious piece of cr*pware to me. My settings page becomes unresponsive!! How can that happen? It has NEVER happened on android 2.3.7 with my HTC desire. If an APP is buggy, your home and menu screen buttons work perfectly! your android system doesnt become unstable because a stupid APP is incompatible or buggy! but here the WHOLE PHONE BECOMES UNUSABLE!!
And there's more! The latest of the glitches, yesterday - after the usual while typing the phone crashed, and then on reboot - all widgets on my screen - were all scrambled. No widget was displaying any text but jumbled ASCII characters, when you move the widgets the text would show but not without. I rebooted and it has been okay since.
but how horrible is that to put in so much of your money to get a piece of sht phone that doesnt even work and does basic functions correctly?
6. The phone also starts lagging, and is jerky ... especially with live wallpaper. That was really frustrating to see if you bought the phone to be on the cutting edge of mobile technology!! Samsung galaxy s2 scores much higher even on CPU benchmark tests I downloaded. Galaxy nexus fails to score any more than 1700 on the tests while Galaxy S2 (almost the same hardware) notches up to 3200+ scores!!! and these are basic tests that check cpu performance and your animation rendering capabilities. You cant mess with that really.
Now this could really be because of the high resolution of the screen... which brings me to the only two GOOD points of this phone :
1. Really crisp resolution. It is really just a class apart from older generation phones. Your icons, text, everything looks extremely good!
2. ICS - as everyone already mentioned it is a huge step up in terms of usability, and looks great deal polished. The phone feels good to navigate through, and ICS brings in some other features that make it a good OS. Others can cover on that more.
But anyway, I find those two points as largely ineffective in my choice to buy a phone (but i have unfortunately bought it and got rid of my desire and have been regretting the decision......it has been about 21 days on the galaxy nexus now)
Honestly, STAY AWAY FROM GALAXY NEXUS. The device is not worth it, and ICS evolution (especially bug fixes) and the hardware upgrades later this year would make for a really good and a competitive phone that you can buy!
cheers
Dhruv

Dhruv,
Try Romain's AOKP rom
See if that fixes most of your problems
About performance I think you are comparing quadrant scores. Quadrant is not a good benchmark
Try individual performance like
multi threaded linpack
Mflops scores
Sunspider
Browsermark
Ics has been vastly optimized for performance.
Pradeep.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

dhruvraj said:
I'l give you an honest overview : the phone is SINCERELY NOT THERE to compete as a completely functional device to be honest.
And let me also tell you that I'm an Android fan boy, and I completely ABHOR apple and everything to do with them.
BUT YET. Samsung Galaxy Nexus is NOT EVEN a complete functional device yet, and paying 530 £ or so (in the UK) for such a phone - IS WASTE OF MONEY.
There are MANY glitches that makes the whole experience very unsavoury. To the point that it definitely DOES NOT LOOK LIKE A FINISHED phone to me at all.
All the gloss of ICS apart, I have seen stability issues with this phone that just totally kills every thing. And mind you this is only on 4.0.1 GSM version UK (I've others here who have the same issue)
I'm a pretty heavy user. I've had a HTC Desire and worked out the ins and outs of the system and that device was EXTREMELY usable over the years.
This phone has so many problems -
1. The LED light does not even support missed calls by default. If you had a missed call you would not know till you turn the screen on (It is a basic feature was available 2 years back on HTC desire) I dont want to install a complicated APP like Light Flow to do it. This is basic stuff that should come out of the box
2. The phone in landscape mode does not type properly, this is just hilarious. Shame on google. The typing works perfect when you keep your phone straight, but the same phone, same stuff if you type in landscape it is incredibly jittery, you dont see what you wrote for good couple of seconds! This is just SHODDY work. how can screen orientation screw up your typing so badly - i have no idea. Just shameful from google.
3. The SMS dont go many times, and I've seen many threads about the same. Apparently you can screw up the message center settings? I dont know how but I'vent done that still had SMS problems a few times. And I had to restart my phone or send multiple times to make it work.
4. The call quality is the WORST I have seen on ANY phone in my entire life. I've been using the phone in exactly the same locations as I was using my HTC desire, and the call drops so much more often that it is just unbelievable! and needless to say incredibly frustrating. If the call doesnt drop the sound, sometimes (& often), is really pathetic and many a times it is inaudible to either party on the call. Is this a phone?
5. The phone is crashing randomly, this happens every 2 days or so (lately every single day now) and I'm a pretty heavy user. People say it is because I'm still on 4.0.1 - well I dont buy that because if 4.0.3 (the latest version) was fixing so many stability issues, then there is NO reason for Google to delay the release of that version on here in the UK for such a long time. Then some people say it is because I've some app installed, well I uninstalled most of my apps - but this problem doesnt go. And the phone becoming unresponsive due to an APP sounds like a serious piece of cr*pware to me. My settings page becomes unresponsive!! How can that happen? It has NEVER happened on android 2.3.7 with my HTC desire. If an APP is buggy, your home and menu screen buttons work perfectly! your android system doesnt become unstable because a stupid APP is incompatible or buggy! but here the WHOLE PHONE BECOMES UNUSABLE!!
And there's more! The latest of the glitches, yesterday - after the usual while typing the phone crashed, and then on reboot - all widgets on my screen - were all scrambled. No widget was displaying any text but jumbled ASCII characters, when you move the widgets the text would show but not without. I rebooted and it has been okay since.
but how horrible is that to put in so much of your money to get a piece of sht phone that doesnt even work and does basic functions correctly?
6. The phone also starts lagging, and is jerky ... especially with live wallpaper. That was really frustrating to see if you bought the phone to be on the cutting edge of mobile technology!! Samsung galaxy s2 scores much higher even on CPU benchmark tests I downloaded. Galaxy nexus fails to score any more than 1700 on the tests while Galaxy S2 (almost the same hardware) notches up to 3200+ scores!!! and these are basic tests that check cpu performance and your animation rendering capabilities. You cant mess with that really.
Now this could really be because of the high resolution of the screen... which brings me to the only two GOOD points of this phone :
1. Really crisp resolution. It is really just a class apart from older generation phones. Your icons, text, everything looks extremely good!
2. ICS - as everyone already mentioned it is a huge step up in terms of usability, and looks great deal polished. The phone feels good to navigate through, and ICS brings in some other features that make it a good OS. Others can cover on that more.
But anyway, I find those two points as largely ineffective in my choice to buy a phone (but i have unfortunately bought it and got rid of my desire and have been regretting the decision......it has been about 21 days on the galaxy nexus now)
Honestly, STAY AWAY FROM GALAXY NEXUS. The device is not worth it, and ICS evolution (especially bug fixes) and the hardware upgrades later this year would make for a really good and a competitive phone that you can buy!
cheers
Dhruv
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why don't you sell it while it's still "fresh"..? You could easily get a desire for 200£, if not less actually!

dhruvraj said:
I'l give you an honest overview : the phone is SINCERELY NOT THERE to compete as a completely functional device to be honest.
And let me also tell you that I'm an Android fan boy, and I completely ABHOR apple and everything to do with them.
BUT YET. Samsung Galaxy Nexus is NOT EVEN a complete functional device yet, and paying 530 £ or so (in the UK) for such a phone - IS WASTE OF MONEY.
There are MANY glitches that makes the whole experience very unsavoury. To the point that it definitely DOES NOT LOOK LIKE A FINISHED phone to me at all.
All the gloss of ICS apart, I have seen stability issues with this phone that just totally kills every thing. And mind you this is only on 4.0.1 GSM version UK (I've others here who have the same issue)
I'm a pretty heavy user. I've had a HTC Desire and worked out the ins and outs of the system and that device was EXTREMELY usable over the years.
This phone has so many problems -
1. The LED light does not even support missed calls by default. If you had a missed call you would not know till you turn the screen on (It is a basic feature was available 2 years back on HTC desire) I dont want to install a complicated APP like Light Flow to do it. This is basic stuff that should come out of the box
2. The phone in landscape mode does not type properly, this is just hilarious. Shame on google. The typing works perfect when you keep your phone straight, but the same phone, same stuff if you type in landscape it is incredibly jittery, you dont see what you wrote for good couple of seconds! This is just SHODDY work. how can screen orientation screw up your typing so badly - i have no idea. Just shameful from google.
3. The SMS dont go many times, and I've seen many threads about the same. Apparently you can screw up the message center settings? I dont know how but I'vent done that still had SMS problems a few times. And I had to restart my phone or send multiple times to make it work.
4. The call quality is the WORST I have seen on ANY phone in my entire life. I've been using the phone in exactly the same locations as I was using my HTC desire, and the call drops so much more often that it is just unbelievable! and needless to say incredibly frustrating. If the call doesnt drop the sound, sometimes (& often), is really pathetic and many a times it is inaudible to either party on the call. Is this a phone?
5. The phone is crashing randomly, this happens every 2 days or so (lately every single day now) and I'm a pretty heavy user. People say it is because I'm still on 4.0.1 - well I dont buy that because if 4.0.3 (the latest version) was fixing so many stability issues, then there is NO reason for Google to delay the release of that version on here in the UK for such a long time. Then some people say it is because I've some app installed, well I uninstalled most of my apps - but this problem doesnt go. And the phone becoming unresponsive due to an APP sounds like a serious piece of cr*pware to me. My settings page becomes unresponsive!! How can that happen? It has NEVER happened on android 2.3.7 with my HTC desire. If an APP is buggy, your home and menu screen buttons work perfectly! your android system doesnt become unstable because a stupid APP is incompatible or buggy! but here the WHOLE PHONE BECOMES UNUSABLE!!
And there's more! The latest of the glitches, yesterday - after the usual while typing the phone crashed, and then on reboot - all widgets on my screen - were all scrambled. No widget was displaying any text but jumbled ASCII characters, when you move the widgets the text would show but not without. I rebooted and it has been okay since.
but how horrible is that to put in so much of your money to get a piece of sht phone that doesnt even work and does basic functions correctly?
6. The phone also starts lagging, and is jerky ... especially with live wallpaper. That was really frustrating to see if you bought the phone to be on the cutting edge of mobile technology!! Samsung galaxy s2 scores much higher even on CPU benchmark tests I downloaded. Galaxy nexus fails to score any more than 1700 on the tests while Galaxy S2 (almost the same hardware) notches up to 3200+ scores!!! and these are basic tests that check cpu performance and your animation rendering capabilities. You cant mess with that really.
Now this could really be because of the high resolution of the screen... which brings me to the only two GOOD points of this phone :
1. Really crisp resolution. It is really just a class apart from older generation phones. Your icons, text, everything looks extremely good!
2. ICS - as everyone already mentioned it is a huge step up in terms of usability, and looks great deal polished. The phone feels good to navigate through, and ICS brings in some other features that make it a good OS. Others can cover on that more.
But anyway, I find those two points as largely ineffective in my choice to buy a phone (but i have unfortunately bought it and got rid of my desire and have been regretting the decision......it has been about 21 days on the galaxy nexus now)
Honestly, STAY AWAY FROM GALAXY NEXUS. The device is not worth it, and ICS evolution (especially bug fixes) and the hardware upgrades later this year would make for a really good and a competitive phone that you can buy!
cheers
Dhruv
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No idea which galaxy nexus u are using man , but had mine for just about a month now running aokp with franco kernel , And no i didnt use the stock i rooted and slapped a rom on after 2 days if i wanted to use what they gave me i wouldnt buy a nexus device .
this phone is SMOOOTH i mean FLUIIID is keyword here.
ive had 1 crash on phone in a months time , 0 lag
Seriously wtf are u about when it comes to call quality this is one of the best devices ive used when it comes to call quality ive had many other 3 other droids before this .

if only you read, you dimwit you wouldnt open your mouth
GSM 4.0.1 UK, unrooted stock (I dont want to flash with a new kernel I expect Google to do a good job to begin with)
and I've others on here who have same issues. dont chest thump your way up here, this phone is NOT a finished product and you've no clue what you are talking about
here stock kernel 4.0.1 - i'm attaching screenshots.
1. xda not responding
2. then SETTINGS not responding!!! :: native "settings" not responding (I've never seen that on any android before)
3. how my home screen looks
4. how my home screen looked after a crash and a reboot!! (the one i mentioned in the point above as widgets got screwed!)

dhruvraj said:
if only you read, you dimwit you wouldnt open your mouth
GSM 4.0.1 UK, unrooted stock (I dont want to flash with a new kernel I expect Google to do a good job to begin with)
and I've others on here who have same issues. dont chest thump your way up here, this phone is NOT a finished product and you've no clue what you are talking about
here stock kernel 4.0.1 - i'm attaching screenshots.
1. xda not responding
2. then SETTINGS not responding!!! :: native "settings" not responding (I've never seen that on any android before)
3. how my home screen looks
4. how my home screen looked after a crash and a reboot!! (the one i mentioned in the point above as widgets got screwed!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your an idiot nexus is purely aimed to be a developer device.
and all the nexus devices run the latest OS which means some might have issues thats the whole reason they get updates quickly and 4.01 is suppose to be buggy thats why all the good roms are on 4.02 or 4.03 and like how 2.3.3 was the base for all gingerbread roms 4.03 will be the base for all the ICS phones.
People like u should just buy an iphone or a SG2 or some other phones which are tried and tested before they are launched not a nexus device.

just read this thread to see how many problems they have with this phone :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1367807&page=11
and many others about SMS not going, jerky rendering... its all mentioned all over these forums
developers play with custom ROMS which this phone makes easier for you to do, that is not an excuse to dole out a phone riddled with bugs in basic functionalities, just so it looks glossy and cool! that is pathetic
---------- Post added at 05:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:17 PM ----------
and here's for the call quality http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1421232
stop your chest thumping around here for a piece of junk phone

Dont fight guys thank you for your answers!
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

[Q] Moving from iPhone to Note 2, advice please!

Evening all,
I am a long time lurker on this forum, and I have noticed that a lot of you have got Android phones so I was after a bit of advice.
Currently, I have had the pleasure of using an iPhone 4 for the last two and a bit years. It has been a spectacular phone and with the combination of iTunes for management, it had made everything a lot easier. However, with the launch of the iPhone 5 I personally feel that the ‘enhancements’ made do not warrant the extra expenditure, so I am looking for a change.
My next phone of choice is probably going to be the Samsung Galaxy note 2; which, I have read a number of reviews and watched a variety of different YouTube videos showing its features and functionality. I was looking at buying this on a 24 month contract with 3UK but there are a few little things stopping me.
First, from the management side of things, is there anything like iTunes for the Android platform, secondly is Android as fluid as iOS as I know a few early adopters who used Android and it was one of my primary decisions to go to iOS and lastly what is the build quality like on the Samsung devices?
Thanks in advance!

Do yourself a favour and get Tunesync. It syncs your iTunes library perfectly over wifi - to this day it's the only way I know to get iTunes libraries to your phone without the album art etc screwing up.
Saying that, there's always Spotify too!
In terms of build quality, the Note 2 is a mile ahead of the S3 and has a far better screen, although the sheer size difference may make your head spin. Android runs great provided you get a custom ROM, Android revolution HD is my favourite as it's a very fine tuned version of the ROM it comes with. In fact, after the hideous iOS 6 update to my ipad 3 I'd say my Android is smoother.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

I have been offered the note 2 on three with £30 discount.
I love the way the iPhone works, but I want something that is a little different. What about app synchronisation? How is this done with android?

I'll make this short and sweet.
In terms of build quality, iphone much is better.
It terms of anything else, note 2 is better.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

MohJee said:
I'll make this short and sweet.
In terms of build quality, iphone much is better.
It terms of anything else, note 2 is better.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In what way is the note 2 better?

MohJee said:
I'll make this short and sweet.
In terms of build quality, iphone much is better.
It terms of anything else, note 2 is better.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally agree you pay much more for the build quality, thats why iphones are expensive.
I have been very disappointed by the quality of the note2, let's start with the usb cable not working out of the box, a small scratch on the screen out of the box too, and a little bit deformed back cover (camera hole didn't fit perfectly).
Otherwise, I think it is a real smartphone, not a tinny cute Iphone.
How the note 2 is better? It is a computer like not a normal phone, you throw any media file in it and play it, you can use the stylus for working by writing notes on pdf files, highlighting sentences, signing docs, making plans... The extra real estate screen fot browsing Web and i mean, real browsing, not playing it cool with a 4inch toy, you can even use the stylus the way you use the mouse. And finally usb otg, just stick a usb drive and copy, cut, create docs or files or whatever you want.
I can't keep on, but as I said, you will use a smart phone for the first time in your life (if you are coming from iphones as you said) windows smartphones where very cool, but android is taking over.
Sent from my GT-N7100

RokkaMan said:
Android runs great provided you get a custom ROM, Android revolution HD is my favourite as it's a very fine tuned version of the ROM it comes with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disagree, most new Android phones with ics and above run great as stock without using a new rom.
Sent from my Samsung Note II.

Tomo1971 said:
I disagree, most new Android phones with ics and above run great as stock without using a new rom.
Sent from my Samsung Note II.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+10
I don't use any custom roms. I love stock Samsung Note 2

Dylanlewis2000 said:
In what way is the note 2 better?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-Screen size. Speaks for itself.
-Battery life. Probably the second best battery life on a smart phone, second only to RAZR MAXX.
-S-Pen(which comes with a whole set of features far too long for me to list here.)
-A lot of cool and useful features (multi Window, smart stay, smart rotation, direct call, pop up video player, pop up browser, swipe to screen shot and much more)
-Jelly bean (4.1.1) out of the box, official 4.1.2 coming soon.
-Quad core 1.6GHz processor, which is faster than iphone 5 dual core A6 processor.
-2GB ram.
- Feature rich camera. (best shot, best faces, low light, hdr, burst mode, panorama, face detection, share shot, smile detection, timer, anti shake + 12 effects + set exposure value +auto focus & macro focus etc...)
-micro sd card. Enough said. Allows you to add up to 64gb of additional storage. (64gb SanDisk card cost 40 or 50 dollars in amazon, or somewhere around that).
-removable battery, should for whatever reason the 3100mah be not enough for you, you can buy a spare one. Although you probably won't need one because like I said the battery life in this phone is amazing.
On top of my head, these things . I still haven't gone into the tens of dozens things what android can do that IOS simply can't, and I really don't want to since that'll take a lot of typing, and you can Google this stuff.
Also I strongly disagree with above who said that you NEED a custom rom. In my opinion, the stock experience in this phone is excellent and touchwiz is hugely improved than what it was before. You can get custom rom if that's you're thing, but you certainly don't need them. Only thing I'd advise anyone to do is to root their phone.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

You can mention thousand points why Note 2 is better, but the point is how many points are actually applicable in real life usage.
Anyway, replying to OP's query, well in short, NO, Android is NOT smoother or as smooth as iOS 6, in fact it is not smooth like the previous iOS, and I am talking about Jelly Bean 4.1. Well I am using both iPhone and Android/Samsung flagships for over three years now. I have never ditched my iPhone 4S for anything, but I just sold it for iPhone 5. I purchased Note 2 because I loved the S-Pen idea, the screen size. But being said that, when I scroll through my contacts, or some apps, my iPhone 5 is LOT smoother than my Note 2. Jelly Bean might have a name like 'Project butter' but iOS has the real butter.
Also, keep in mind that Android applications (Play Store) are NO MATCH for App Store. Yes, there are several crap in App Store, but more in Play Store, and the overall quality is pretty bad.
I love both my devices for several different reasons, so can't ditch either of them. And another thing about Android users you will see is their pathetic fanboys. They don't even mind a laggy, buggy, crappy device, they just want openness, now I never found out what is openness, the craze of CM ROM's maybe?
Now build quality, well boy, what can say but plastic? Well, Note 2 has all plastic. So I will not comment on it's build quality. Some kids will say glass will break easy, well lets drop both iP5 and Note 2, then see.
So, IMO, if optimization, fluidity and smoothness of OS matters to you big time then stick with iPhone 5, for all the other reasons go with Note 2, and if you have spare money to burn, then have both.
Now you see I have skipped all the cons about iOS, why? Because you know them already.
I am NOT a fanboy of either iOS or Android, I hate them.

I am used to prime-evil OSs, as over the last few years I have had a variety of devices ranging from Symbian os to windows mobile 3,4 and 5. All have their advantages and disadvantages, I loved windows mobile As it had fantastic email client support and a lot of apps (2003-2005 era) and I like Symbian for its simplicity and the devices Nokia created like the E90’ But since transitioning to the iPhone I have found a fantastic yet restrictive user experience.
The restrictiveness with apple is one of the main reasons they have created a fantastic App Store, whereas the Nokia and wimo stores back in the day were utter gash.
Do you get many problems with android apps? Do the fill the screen? I remember reading early reports that android apps were not filling the screen on some devices and on others refuse to run. This is something that would annoy me.

Tomo1971 said:
I disagree, most new Android phones with ics and above run great as stock without using a new rom.
Sent from my Samsung Note II.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh, let's just say in my experience compared to my other android phones, that hasn't been the case yet.
And for the record, Android revolution HD is just the stock rom that's been tweaked, just to counter the "custom rom" misinformation in this thread.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

Dylanlewis2000 said:
The restrictiveness with apple is one of the main reasons they have created a fantastic App Store
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well this is so simple to understand but some so called 'power users' are too dumb too get it
Dylanlewis2000 said:
Do you get many problems with android apps? Do the fill the screen? I remember reading early reports that android apps were not filling the screen on some devices and on others refuse to run. This is something that would annoy me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They fit the screen. At least the one I use, and I don't install anything I see. I first see if it's labeled as 'Top developer' or 'Editors choice', then I see the users rating. Just for an example, a good sports app, Score Mobile, labeled as Top developer, available in Play Store. I already was used to this app from my iPhone 4S. It was so smooth, so fluid in iOS, but when I use it on my Note, oh boy, I have never seen an app could lag/stutter like that. Now if this is an app labeled as 'Top Developer' then imagine the apps which are not labeled in anything.

I was an I phone user for 2 years then switched to galaxy s2 and now note 2. The I phone is idiot proof and everything just works but android is catching up. The apps are all full screen any phone and just as good as ios. The real beauty of android is if you don't like something rhen just change it. You can change anything from keyboard to launcher and widgets are a godsend. Got to say I'm really impressed with google now its spookily good, its like it can read my mind
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app

I switched from iPhone 4 to Note 2 in this week.
I'm very satisfied. The only problems that i have noticed are:
- Bad email clients (even those from the market. iOS Mail is much better to use)
- Bad space management (it's impossible, i have a giant 5.5" screen and Messages app is impossible to read decently with the keyboard open)
- Best app quality in iOS (Whatsapp messenger for iOS has more options, like custom ringtones for every single contact)
- Bad display quality if you not see it directly in front of you (iPhone has IPS, which is the best display for view angles)
- Some strange response when i receive a notification. If that is a SMS the phone rings, display turns on etc, if that is a mail, i receive only a notification sound, no display on. And seems that is no way to change this.
- Apps like Facebook Messenger, that has a unique notification tone on iOS, doesnt' have that particular ringtone here, but they use a default tone chosen by the user. And that is the default tone for ALL the application that doesn't permit to personalise it.
I know that there will be solutions for a lot of this things, they will be hidden somewhere but hey, it is a huge waste of time.
Besides, it is a great phone. Great sound quality, great battery, great screen and it has so powerful hardware that it results more smooth than iPhone 4. And it's Android, which means infinite personalization and possibility to use custom roms for reaching better battery life (i suppose), better personalization, better user experience.
Sorry for my english, i'm an italian user. :fingers-crossed:

Music sync can be done with either double twist and tunesync, they both mirror itunes libraries and playlists etc.
I've been a user of the iphone 4 for 2 years and the note 2 is a HUGE improvement. People that say ios never lagged are just lying lol. iOS lagged and apps crashed on my iphone several times.
From the opinion of someone thats been on both sides, I honestly could not go back to an iphone. Mainly because of the screen size of the note 2 makes iphone screens seem too small for me to use anymore. But to each his own. Its about what suits you.
Stock rom on the note 2 is fine. I only get a lag when opening the S-Note app and a slight delay when opening the contacts app. Other than that everything has run smooth even with 3 browser windows open at once and a video playing at the same time.
As for app syncing, why? lol. I never understood the point of it on iOS and always disabled it.
app quality is definitely more refined in iOS. But improving slowly on android finally.
edit: @ the guy above my post: you can change most notification tones in the individual app settings. Facebook -> menu -> settings -> notification tone
In what way is the stock email client bad? :S I find it miles ahead of the iOS email client because you can actually attach multiple files at once. Plus for me, it is easier to use. I find the iOS mail client to be garbage. But again, thats my opinion

If iOS email client is garbage then I see fanboyism again here? And no one said iOS never lagged.
Anyway, I don't wanna argue.

jujuburi said:
If iOS email client is garbage then I see fanboyism again here? And no one said iOS never lagged.
Anyway, I don't wanna argue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol no fanboyism here. Just my opinion. I used the iphone for 2 years and the app honestly annoyed me because it felt so limited. I actually do find the stock android one better. I dont count it as fanboyism as I genuinely used both and gave both a try instead of blindly bashing one without experience.
As for the lagging. My bad, I misread one of the earlier posts. But in general I do find my friends claiming that ios never lags.
All good bro, im not looking to argue either
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

@Note 2 might be too big specially if ur coming from an iPhone
3.5→5.5
I even felt the difference between s2 and s3
4.3→4.8
2 inches more straight away ! You gonna take some time for adjusting for sure !
sent from my gs3 GT i 9300
----------------------------------
---------- Post added at 07:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:20 PM ----------
I would say go for nexus 4 instead it has best software and is better than iPhone 5 in terms of fluidity also it has s4 pro processor faster quad core processor presently for mobile.
Only problem is space if it doesn't bother then go for it I used nexus 4 yesterday and it is awesome a bit better than s3 overall I feel , note 2 was too big for me when I used.
I think nexus 4 was the only phone I have used and is way fluid than iPhone, note 2,galaxy s3
sent from my gs3 GT i 9300
----------------------------------

I see that the discussion took a turn to android vs. ios. I guess this is inevitable in these kind of topics. Anyways, here's my take, and I've used both operating systems.
-IOS has the advantage in a number of things. For one, there are way fewer devices to worry about. After all, the IOS is exclusive to Apple devices, which you can count on your finger tips. Android, on the other hand, runs on literally hundreds of devices (a side-effect of being open-source). Naturally, this has it's advantages and disadvantages. For instance, app developers for the IOS, for instance, can make sure that their apps work flawlessly in the Iphone, with all its models, and the Ipad, with all its models, before pushing that app into the market. An advantage of using an open source OS would be that manufacturers don't have to pay for using it in their devices, and as such can offer their devices at lower prices due to lower costs. Another advantage of being open source is that each one can manipulate the system however they like to make it unique than the others and add to it whatever they want (eg: Samsung's Touchwiz, HTC's sensation).
-Google and Apple have completely different philosophies. Apple believes in a "walled garden" approach. Meaning that they'll reject any app unless it fits to their criteria. Of course, what works for Apple in this case can't work for Google. If Google rejected any app that doesn't work perfectly with all android devices, their market would be a ghost town. Consequently, an app developer in android can release an app even if it doesn't play nice with all devices. Most of them will then update it to make it as perfect as possible (at least for the popular android devices) taking into consideration user feedback. Having said that, you'll be hard pressed to find an app that doesn't run on an android device, unless that device is old/obsolete/runs on a very old version of android. To put things in perspective, I still haven't run into an app or a game that don't work well in my note 2 or doesn't fill the entire screen, the same app would work perfect in my old Galaxy S2 before I sold it, which has a much smaller screen and used to run on Android v. 2.3 (this brings me to my next point, read below).
- Largely because it is open sourced, Android is a much more flexible OS. What do I mean by this? Well, take for example the jump from 3.5" Iphones to the now new screen size 4" in the Iphone 5. Most apps in the apple store would get letterboxed until the developers update them to support the new screen size, even though the increase in screen size is only 0.5". I've yet to run into a game or an app that doesn't fill my 5.5" screen in the note 2. If there are any, and probably there are, they would be rare.
- It's difficult to go wrong with IOS because it's a bare-boned operating system (all you really have is an app drawer.. i.e: a bunch of icons on the screen). For the most, the iOS now looks exactly how it did back in 2007. Even the notification slider (which was copied from android) is nowhere as good as it is in android. If that's all you'll ever need or want, then by all means, stay with the Iphone, because you're going to get much more than that moving to Android. It hard to go wrong when you don't actually add anything major. Of course, that's not to say Apple doesn't add things. They are masters in the art of adding things (say for example, the notification slider, rejecting a call with a message, or Panorama mode in the camera) and then calling it revolutionary, notwithstanding the fact that such things existed in other OS's for years.
Like I said this could go on for pages, and it really doesn't have to. Once you understand the concept of a 'closed' system vs. an 'open' system, you'll understand the major advantages and disadvantages of each. Having understood that, you decide for yourself which one is the best one for you. For me personally, I'd rather have device that runs Froyo than one that runs the on the latest iOS 6.

cm10 vs Touchwiz. Loss of features.

Cm10 is my favorite rom on the market and I feel its the fastest and smoothest thing you can get as well as adding some very functional features. With any other phone, I would without a doubt be doing everything in my power to install cm10. The note is in a different category however. The note 2 has added functionality in its touchwiz rom that allows for running multiple applications on the screen at the same tine, as well as s pen features such as taking a screen shot and then drawing right onto it.
For those of you that have installed cm10 or other non touchwiz rom, do you miss any of the touchwiz features?

Of course they do.........
but everyone is different the features that they miss still may not be enough to drop CM10 its light and fast and def has its advantages......
i personally on the note will only use TW based roms, i like the features added in it this time around.

I am curious about this. 4.2 has new features I'm excited about, so I'm curious how CM10.1 will turn out. I know the nightly is still fairly new, but I'd like to hear what people say about it, and I'm especially curious if it's possible to port (I'm not sure if I'm using the right term) over that Samsung's TouchWiz has, such as S Note and the ability to trigger it to open when the S Pen is removed.

I can never go back to a touchwiz ROM. I never use the s pen, never use multi window, and I despise the capacitive buttons since my palm always triggers them in landscape. The customizable navbar and spell check are my main reasons for using cm10

simonxliu said:
I can never go back to a touchwiz ROM. I never use the s pen, never use multi window, and I despise the capacitive buttons since my palm always triggers them in landscape. The customizable navbar and spell check are my main reasons for using cm10
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you never use the S-Pen or multi-window, what was the reason you got the Note II versus other phablet-style devices?

raduque said:
If you never use the S-Pen or multi-window, what was the reason you got the Note II version other phablet-style devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1+ very interesting question......
Sent From An Incognegro Galaxy Note 2

raduque said:
If you never use the S-Pen or multi-window, what was the reason you got the Note II versus other phablet-style devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What phones are you referring to? The phone is pretty much the top of the line as far as hardware is concerned and if your locked into a carrier your options are even more limited.

\/icious said:
What phones are you referring to? The phone is pretty much the top of the line as far as hardware is concerned and if your locked into a carrier your options are even more limited.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's the Droid DNA, the Spectrum II, the Optimus, even the Nexus 4 and S3. These are all 4.7+ high-resolution (720p or FullHD) devices that I consider competition with the Note II. The main draw and defining feature of the Note II is the S-Pen. If it wasn't for the S-Pen combined with the 5.5" display and Touchwiz software, I probably would not have considered it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phablet

5.5 inch screen and the quad Samsung processors and very nice screen is some very good reasons to go to note 2 versus any of the other phones even if you don't use spen.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda premium

sabre31 said:
5.5 inch screen and the quad Samsung processors and very nice screen is some very good reasons to go to note 2 versus any of the other phones even if you don't use spen.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. I don't get how someone else tell u why u should like your phone. Huh?

esincho said:
Exactly. I don't get how someone else tell you why you should like your phone. Huh?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nobody was telling anybody how they should like their phone. I was simply wondering why somebody would buy the Note II and not use (or even be interested in) it's defining feature.
To me, that's like buying a convertible and never putting the top down, or buying a Boss 302 Mustang and not tracking it. Just doesn't make sense to me.
PS: I fixed your spelling mistakes.

raduque said:
Nobody was telling anybody how they should like their phone. I was simply wondering why somebody would buy the Note II and not use (or even be interested in) it's defining feature.
To me, that's like buying a convertible and never putting the top down, or buying a Boss 302 Mustang and not tracking it. Just doesn't make sense to me.
PS: I fixed your spelling mistakes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I purchased the Note 2 for the screen size, 2GB of RAM, and Quad Core Exynos. The S-Pen is interesting but I almost never use it and didn't factor it in when making my purchase.

ishmael2 said:
I purchased the Note 2 for the screen size, 2GB of RAM, and Quad Core Exynos. The S-Pen is interesting but I almost never use it and didn't factor it in when making my purchase.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. The S-pen comes in handy for certain things, especially notes, but I don't use it as much as I thought I would.
I had a Treo 750 (came with a stylus) some years ago, the beginning of smartphones. Just having the stylus made things easier. The stylus didn't make the phone it just complemented it IMO. Same with this one only its way advanced and almost part of the phone, again a great thing but not necessary.
I would like to see some type of CM10/TW Hybrid or something that will keep the "cool" features of TW and the S-pen. Maybe someday lol

The DROID dna has some nice hardware but the lack of an sd card slot is a huge turnoff for me. With games coming out being 2+gb its totally unacceptable to be stuck with only 16gb of storage. This also kills the nexus 4 for me. The spectrum 2 SoC sports a weaker gpu and has a smaller screen so that's no competition in my eyes. The Optimus G is competition and S4 with the Adreno 320 gpu seems to edge out the notes 2's SoC but I'm in favor the 5.5 screen and have not had the the best experience with LG phones. The note 2's battery life beats the Optimus G and the Note 2 takes better video if you care about that sort of thing. As far as pictures are concerned the LG has a higher mp rear camera but it doesn't seem to produce better quality images and the front facing camera on the LG is a lower mp camera. The Spen is a nice feature but I like having CM 10/ASOP so that I can have pdroid. If your not familiar with pdroid look it up as it is a great app.

I chose the Note II over the S III for the S-Pen. And, at the time, the multi-view. I want the big screen and big battery and the best performance. But I also want the TouchWiz features. Smart stay, smart alert, pop up play, multi-view, S beam, AllShare Cast, none of that will work on CM10, or AOKP (at least not at the performance TouchWiz will give). I wanted the best Android hardware, and (IMO) the best Android software. If I wanted AOKP more than I wanted TouchWiz I would have a nexus 4, or Galaxy nexus. After the One X I don't plan on buying another HTC device, and the Thrill turned me off LG. Samsung is the only Android OEM I trust for solid hardware and software support after the device ships.
I use the S-Pen just about every time I use my device. I thought after a while the novelty would wear off and I would stop using it. But, I find I enjoy it quite a bit. The only reason I rooted and flashed another ROM was to get multi view. As an added benefit I get to keep all the TouchWiz features I use constantly, and I get to resolve my only two complaints with TouchWiz: more icons on the stock launcher (and keep page buddy), and to choose and re-order the Notification toggles. I can think of many reasons to stay on TouchWiz, but I can't think of a single reason to go on an AOSP based ROM. For me, I don't plan on even trying CM10 or AOKP on this device, even though I couldn't stand running anything else on my One X or S II.
Sent from my Note ][

Ironically for me, I bought the Note 2 for the screen and hardware. I knew spen, multi window, and some other features for me would be gimmicks. The ironic part is, that although I rarely use them, for some reason that is why I'm staying on Tw instead of CM10. I rarely use the spen, but I love having those options. I just don't really see how the spen makes anything easier or more efficient. That being said, I love that stupid thing anyway. I considered Nexus 4 but liked removable battery and bigger screen much better.
G●Note~2 {Jedi X5}

raduque said:
Nobody was telling anybody how they should like their phone. I was simply wondering why somebody would buy the Note II and not use (or even be interested in) it's defining feature.
To me, that's like buying a convertible and never putting the top down, or buying a Boss 302 Mustang and not tracking it. Just doesn't make sense to me.
PS: I fixed your spelling mistakes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're so smart. And not at the same time...

esincho said:
Exactly. I don't get how someone else tell u why u should like your phone. Huh?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
now a days, people need someone to tell them how to wipe their own arses, so, its not surprising when ridiculous questions like this get asked all over this site...
What makes it ever worse, is the fact they don't even post them in the correct (Q&A) section...

Maybe everyone should relax...
I think raduque has a bit of a point. Some people, such as myself, like some of the features TW has associated with the S Pen. Some can care less, as many have you stated. For you guys who don't care about the S Pen features, CM10 the way it is now might work out for you. For those of us who do want some of the S Pen features, hopefully it's something as simple as copying some of the APKs containing those features and porting them over. (I wouldn't know the process yet. I haven't even rooted my phone as of yet.) I can personally care less about the TW launcher, itself, since I use and really like Go Launcher EX, but that said, I'd still like to be able to use the S Pen features, like S Notes, Air View, etc.
But then there's features that I'm not sure whether or not comes from TW that I like, such as Quick Glance, Direct Call, Smart Alert, Turn Over to Mute/Pause, Palm Swiping to Screenshot, Palm Touch to Mute/Pause, etc...

BlackPhantomX said:
But then there's features that I'm not sure whether or not comes from TW that I like, such as Quick Glance, Direct Call, Smart Alert, Turn Over to Mute/Pause, Palm Swiping to Screenshot, Palm Touch to Mute/Pause, etc...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All these features are built into the core Touchwiz UX. They could be put in AOSP/AOKP, but so far nobody seems to be interested in coding in those features.
I use most of those features daily, and I'm always scribbling something down in Snote.
Not to mention I find the default Google-stock Android theme to be flat and boring.

Anyone coming from gnex (Samsung galaxy nexus)?

Hi there,
Anyone coming from gnex (Samsung galaxy nexus)?
Just need some feedback on software support, size handling and personal impression.
Thank you

The Note 2 is better at everything, screen, battery, and if you like aosp, there are a lot of those roms for you. The only thing we are missing from a nexus, as far as I can tell, is photoshpere. The devs for this phone are fantastic, so many roms to choose from. The size of the phone should not bother you. Oh yeah, the camera on the Note 2 blows away the Galaxy Nexus. I've had the Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus 4, and the Note 2 when running an aosp rom is just as smooth as the Nexus 4, IMO.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

Touchwiz is bearable on the gnote2 because most of the features are actually useful AND work. Great all around phone. Reception, form factor is great for its size, put your own launcher like nova to get the aosp launcher feel, volume is great on ear speaker and loudspeaker and the 720p screen is beautiful even when compared to 1080p. And the SD card slot and removable battery are bonus. Oh yeah, can't forget battery life. Battery just doesn't stop. Expect 6+ hours of screen time easily. Only the most demanding of games will put a hurt on it and even then it still does great. All that and you can get this phone for less than $550 currently and it should still hold nicely for at least another year and I wouldn't be surprised if it holds it down another 2. Don't forget to get a wireless receiver to put inside the battery compartment and a compatible wireless charger.
Sent from my GT-N7100

It's definitely worth upgrading. This phone is better in every respect - sure we only have Android 4.1 officially but unless you really need the multi user feature then you actually gain quite a bit from TouchWiz. The launcher itself blows but the rest is great - things like multi window and driving mode. I don't even run custom roms anymore it's that good - rooted stock is all you need on this bad boy.
Sent from the mighty Note II

lyall29 said:
The Note 2 is better at everything, screen, battery, and if you like aosp, there are a lot of those roms for you. The only thing we are missing from a nexus, as far as I can tell, is photoshpere. The devs for this phone are fantastic, so many roms to choose from. The size of the phone should not bother you. Oh yeah, the camera on the Note 2 blows away the Galaxy Nexus. I've had the Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus 4, and the Note 2 when running an aosp rom is just as smooth as the Nexus 4, IMO.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what rom you are running ?

Bn Waheed said:
what rom you are running ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am what you would call a flashaholic. At the moment I'm running Hawkish rom with Perseus kernel. On the days I want aosp I either use Sentinel rom or ParanoidAndroid.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

My friend has a Gnex, He definitely likes the ability to change screentone but didn't feel huge difference between the two screens, He is quite happy with the gaming performance where he said even games like vector would sometimes have framedrop on the gnex, But he is soooo annoyed that we don't have 4.2 yet, he knows it's not an important update but the feeling that he actually needs to "wait" for the update is really annoying him, that alone is making him consider the Nexus 4

Hell Guardian said:
My friend has a Gnex, He definitely likes the ability to change screentone but didn't feel huge difference between the two screens, He is quite happy with the gaming performance where he said even games like vector would sometimes had framedrop on the gnex, But he is soooo annoyed that we don't have 4.2 yet, he knows it's not an important update but the feeling that he actually needs to "wait" for the update is really annoying him, that alone is making him considering the Nexus 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is my main fear! !

albsat said:
That is my main fear! !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Touchwiz hurts my eyes but at least you have the "choice", my advice to you is to go for it at least you can install CM and switch back to TW,Just don't get it new, the Note 3 is on the horizon get a cheap note 2 for now, good luck buddy

Hell Guardian said:
Touchwiz hurts my eyes but at least you have the "choice", my advice to you is to go for it at least you can install CM and switch back to TW,Just don't get it new, the Note 3 is on the horizon get a cheap note 2 for now, good luck buddy
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Touchwiz isn't so bad on gnote2. Put nova launcher to get rid of the eyesore on the home screens and the rest is OK.
Sent from my GT-N7100

@rbiter said:
Touchwiz isn't so bad on gnote2. Put nova launcher to get rid of the eyesore on the home screens and the rest is OK.
Sent from my GT-N7100
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Coming from a Galaxy Nexus I personally couldn't stand Touchwiz for long. However AOSP roms are pretty much stable by now and almost everything is working correctly. That said the Note 2 is one of the best phones I've ever owned so I highly suggest it or waiting for the Note 3

albsat said:
That is my main fear! !
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Have no fear my friend. Like I said, I came from a nexus 4 running Paranoid Android. My note 2 running PA ROM is just as smooth and has every feature that the nexus 4 has minus photosphere. The devs that are working with the note 2 will most likely keep working on new ROMs for at least another year or 2, probably longer. You will not be dissatisfied with either the Nexus 4 or a Note 2. My personal opinion would be get the Note 2.
Sent from my Galaxy Note II using xda premium

Have come over to Note 2 from galaxy nexus..I really liked the gnex but couldn't stand the horrible camera and battery life.
I would say the better camera and brilliant battery life on the Note2 should be reason enough. Plus there is some great development work for Note 2 . So no fears. Using the Project AOSP v1.4 ROM by modstorm .. And this makes the Note2 almost perfect.:laugh:

i came over from the gnex too and the battery was terrible. The note 2 is pretty much better in everything. Only thing i preferred on the gnex was the position of the led notification

We may not be on the cutting edge when it comes to Android versions but we do gain several enhancements over stock. Better camera software, driving mode, voice control of apps, and multi window are my favourites. Smart stay and motion gestures seem more gimmicky to me although others my get value from them. Also I prefer having my toggles at the top of the notification window rather than in a separate box.
Oh then there is the micro sd slot, battery life, removable battery, and s-pen.
I don't miss my Nexus 4 one bit.
Sent from the mighty Note II

my impressions after 1-2 weeks with note2 (vs gnex):
better:
- samsung-only (proprietary) features
- battery life
- reading PDFs in landscape possible at last (fonts at least for me in gnex were too small)
- FM radio!!! (last phone from sammy that supports this? such moron assumption that everybody now has/will have limitless data plans)
- much nicer for watching videos
- supernice camera, actually anything better than camera in gnex is supernice
- micro sd
- spen (sam ROM only, yeah i know about apps for aosp...still)
- removable battery (the same actually, just want to stress the fact it is there)
worse:
- samsung-only (proprietary) features, i.e they will never-ever be available for AOSP ROM (BIG ONE for me, means I have to stay on samsung ROM) or suffer tons of features in AOSP simply not there
- btw. camera because of this somehow reported to work a lot better in samsung ROM than AOSP
- touchwiz is a bit painful to use after AOSP, miss the flexibility/configurability of cyanogen...
- shape/size of gnex is ideal for my hand, this one is a bit too much, not a big deal though and apparently getting used to (BUT i will never use armor case, makes it simply far too big)
- unstable WIFI (lots of disconnects) in 4.1.2 by samsung, some fixes available currently testing one to revert 4.1.1 wifi stack (rooted phone needed)
- a bit more gimmicky rooting/custom recovery - not a big deal
- not worse but dont like: handwriting seems to work only with samsung keyboard app? sort of eliminates slide-it,swype etc... need to find some workaround...
- pockets: yeah defo a challenge to fit in shirt's pocket, barely fits in trousers' pockets

@yogi
Thanks man. This was exactly the necessary info needed before taking a decision.

albsat said:
@yogi
Thanks man. This was exactly the necessary info needed before taking a decision.
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thanks, happy to hear...actually I just noticed note2 has also non-AOSP custom ROMs, which after gnex is kind of new category for me. What this seems to mean I will have the chance to get the combined samsung ROM + AOSP-type extra customization, one example seems Hawkish mentioned earlier on this thread -> sounds interesting, I will give it a try in next 1-2 weeks and can report here if you are interested?

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