Develop Bugs

Still Worth It?

So now after a few months on the market. Is this phone still worth purchasing or is there something significantly better coming along within 3 months that will blow this out of the water. If the products that are coming out are comparable I still see this as a viable option for an upgrade from the Thunderbolt (or am I insane?).
Anyways, hope to get some feedback regarding this to assist. Thanks!

Kind of hard to answer since most new phones are announced at mobile world congress which is next month. As of this second on Verizon there is nothing better. You can argue the rezound is equal with each having pros and cons but nothing is in the pipeline yet.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

staticx57 said:
Kind of hard to answer since most new phones are announced at mobile world congress which is next month. As of this second on Verizon there is nothing better. You can argue the rezound is equal with each having pros and cons but nothing is in the pipeline yet.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
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This Mobile world congress convention that you mentioned. The phones that are going to be announced here will still have release dates that are months away from the actual event right? So best case those 'new' phones will be coming out ~5-6 months from now or are they actually being released to the public at this event?
If the resound is the only comparable phone, the Verizon Galaxy Nexus does indeed still sound way better (for me at least).

it depends on what your looking for, better hardware specs, pure android with great support with updates, or themed android with a lack of updates. Not saying those phones announced at CES are crappy, but if you want a phone that is guaranteed dev support/android updates then i'd recommend the Nexus. Yea they may have other phones that may beat it in hardware specs, but will those phones get the updates and the support that the nexus is and will be getting??? I seriously doubt it, not saying that they won't get support at all, but if u want the best experience of android, i'd recommend the nexus, i had the Epic 4g Touch(Galaxy S II) and i liked it, but i LOVE my nexus, it does everything i need it to, no complaints here, and the battery is great i get right at 2 days on one charge, u should get it, u won't regret it

G1-8701 said:
it depends on what your looking for, better hardware specs, pure android with great support with updates, or themed android with a lack of updates. Not saying those phones announced at CES are crappy, but if you want a phone that is guaranteed dev support/android updates then i'd recommend the Nexus. Yea they may have other phones that may beat it in hardware specs, but will those phones get the updates and the support that the nexus is and will be getting??? I seriously doubt it, not saying that they won't get support at all, but if u want the best experience of android, i'd recommend the nexus, i had the Epic 4g Touch(Galaxy S II) and i liked it, but i LOVE my nexus, it does everything i need it to, no complaints here, and the battery is great i get right at 2 days on one charge, u should get it, u won't regret it
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I am on the verge of pulling the pin and just getting it. Is the amount of development activity similar to what it was with the Nexus One (my last nexus phone)? I remember crack flashing nightly with all the goodies that were available. I took a looksey in the development forum (I will be with Verizon if I get it) and saw a few good things in there.
Are any of you guys currently running a custom ROM and if so, has the custom ROM development still in its infancy or is there some decent work being put out by all the developers (donations to custom developers are a part of the cost of the phone in my book )?

Chopes said:
Are any of you guys currently running a custom ROM and if so, has the custom ROM development still in its infancy or is there some decent work being put out by all the developers (donations to custom developers are a part of the cost of the phone in my book )?
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Well the difference between stock 4.0.1 and AOKP+Franco was just ridiculous.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

The Galaxy S III will probably blow the Nexus away, but who knows how long until it's released after it's announced at MWC. I don't really know the timeframes for that sort of thing.

case0 said:
The Galaxy S III will probably blow the Nexus away, but who knows how long until it's released after it's announced at MWC. I don't really know the timeframes for that sort of thing.
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If I was going to buy a phone today I would still get the Galaxy Nexus. 6 Months to a year from now will of course be a different story. If you live in the United States we always seem to wait forever for the best stuff. EU seems to be ahead of us when it comes to the latest and greatest phones.
Good Luck!

case0 said:
The Galaxy S III will probably blow the Nexus away, but who knows how long until it's released after it's announced at MWC. I don't really know the timeframes for that sort of thing.
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Sure, for about 9 months. Then the GN gets Jellybean, or Jello, or whatever. Meanwhile the GS3 gets a "Value Pack" which is subsequently pulled before it's even done because Samsung wants to sell the GS4 to you. Vote with your wallet, and vote for hardware which will get 2 years of support. Even if you flash, having up-to-date drivers makes it a lot easier to build custom ROM's.

case0 said:
The Galaxy S III will probably blow the Nexus away, but who knows how long until it's released after it's announced at MWC. I don't really know the timeframes for that sort of thing.
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Click to collapse
Since you aren't living in the United States. MWC will announce Galaxy S3 and the U.S. will get it like 8 months later because each carrier wants something to "woo" their customers with exclusive features and all these small little variants of the Galaxy S3.
By the time that all comes out, it'll be launched with a old OS and Nexus 4 will be announced.
I stay committed to only Nexus devices simply because they will last longer. Especially with a great development community.
Sometimes, the community makes the phone.

[Q] Why A Nexus? Advantages of an OPEN DEVICE??

Hi guys, I have been on this forums for quite a while even though I don't own a Nexus myself. I have been browsing through the development section every day and looking at all the ROMs etc..
I know that everything is open on the Nexus, all the sources, drivers, etc. I know that the advantages of having a Nexus is stock experience, with faster updates directly from Google. But what is the advantage of having an open phone as a user? I don't find much difference between the ROMs for Galaxy S II and the ROMs for the Galaxy Nexus. In fact the Siyah kernel, i think, has many many more features than the most popular kernel on this forums, the Franco kernel.
I am not trying to spark up anything over here. I just want to know what is the benefit of having such an open phone?

Difference between being in a wheelchair in a jail cell, even a jail cell with a window and open field sunny day with your legs running however fast you can. Its like that.
let it be.

@rbiter said:
Difference between being in a wheelchair in a jail cell, even a jail cell with a window and open field sunny day with your legs running however fast you can. Its like that.
let it be.
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I would think that, but I can't see that translating to development. I mean, I must be blind to not be able to see the differences, but I really can't. I don't see any major improvements in the ROMs on the Galaxy Nexus

darkgoon3r96 said:
I know that the advantages of having a Nexus is stock experience, with faster updates directly from Google.
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You answered your own question.

I already had 2 not Nexus Samsung phones and I will never make this mistake again. The lack of updates, the crappy skin that tries to look as the iPhone, etc.
In my experience, the builds from Google are much more stable, fast and reliable. And nothing in TouchWiz add anything that matters to me. To me Android is Nexus, I dont think I will build anything that is not Nexus again (but I really hope that HTC build the next one, I love the build quality of their phones).

martonikaj said:
You answered your own question.
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Haha, that wasn't my question. I am not asking why the Nexus is a better device. I am asking how does opening up the sources and drivers improve on the development...

darkgoon3r96 said:
I would think that, but I can't see that translating to development. I mean, I must be blind to not be able to see the differences, but I really can't. I don't see any major improvements in the ROMs on the Galaxy Nexus
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Sorry man, but in my opinion the stock ICS on the GNexus is miles ahead of any build from the SII.

martonikaj said:
You answered your own question.
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The difference is some stuff on aosp
Roms still don't work on galaxy s2 but everything works on aosp roms on nexus because it's open and drivers and everything is available...
bottom line aokp cm9 etc will give u a better user experience on nexus fewer bugs
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

darkgoon3r96 said:
Haha, that wasn't my question. I am not asking why the Nexus is a better device. I am asking how does opening up the sources and drivers improve on the development...
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Because your Galaxy Nexus comes with stock ICS out of the box. Sorry, but a custom ROM will never be as smooth and nice as the native out of the box OS.

juliano_q said:
Sorry man, but in my opinion the stock ICS on the GNexus is miles ahead of any build from the SII.
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I still don't get why you guys think the Stock is so much better than AOKP? I mean, isn't that very similar to stock?

OK, let me see if I can answer it. I'm not a developer, so take it with a grain of salt.
The phone I had before this was the Samsung Captivate. I bought it August 2010. At the time, it was one of the more advanced phones on the market. However, within about an hour of using it, I realized that the AT&T bloatware was a problem. Though the device had a lot of memory available, the app drawer was harder to navigate because of 15 different AT&T apps on the phone, most of which charged a monthly fee to do what Google's equivalent apps did for free. So, I had to root it.
Things were fine for a couple weeks, but then I noticed that there were several apps that I couldn't download because everyone was on Froyo and I was stuck on Eclair. There was no word when either samsung or AT&T was going to provide me with an update, so I had to take matters into my own hands and get a ROM from someone else. I'm not saying the devs didn't do a good job, but they were hamstrung by both AT&T and Sammy who were not giving them the tools they needed to do the job right the first time.
I should also point out that a lot of these problems were caused by AT&T's insistence that they have their own version of the Galaxy S that was different from everyone else's. Thankfully, all the carriers learned from that mistake.
Over the course of a year and 8 months, I tried at least a dozen different ROMs on my phone to either try to keep up with the changes in the market, or just to keep it from freezing. Even stock Gingerbread had problems, likely because it was rushed out. I finally found a stable build in a ROM that used ICS (ironically, ported from the GNex). So that meant, if not for the great work of Team ICSSGS, my Captivate would NEVER have been a stable phone. All those commercials about being a smartphone beta tester seemed to be designed with the Captivate in mind.
The point of all this: When it came time for me to get a new phone, I was considering waiting for the GSIII, but then Google offered the GNex off contract for $400, a not unreasonable price for the hardware at all, but what I was really paying for was getting off the treadmill. Now granted, at this point I've only had the phone for about a week, but it performs every function I need it to, and AT&T has no say in it. Samsung only had a say in the hardware. And that's how it should be, and honestly why I think Apple had such a marketing edge for such a long time. Apple told AT&T exactly where they can shove their customizations, and now we have Google doing the same, but not publicizing it enough.
TL;DR: Google experience and faster updates. But those are more valuable than you think.

darkgoon3r96 said:
I still don't get why you guys think the Stock is so much better than AOKP? I mean, isn't that very similar to stock?
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You just answered yourself... great roms/builds like aokp would not be possible without the Android Open Source Project. Even after saying that the quality on aosp devices running aokp like the gnex and ns are miles ahead of say the sensation or something along those lines due to the very face the the nexus phones have open source readily available.
Sent from my Maguro Yakju

The open let's you literally change ans re-code any part of the device you want. A touch wiz phone cannot do this cause the code is closed.
Custom roms on other devices are not the same though you may think they are. Most of the time something doesn't work cause it relies on a closed touch wiz framework function that has to be reverse engineered or hacked, or usually never works at all..
You need the kernel source code to really make any legit custom rom, and often have to wait months foe it to be released.
With an open device, you literally can implement anything your imagination can cone up with. No bugs or work a rounds.

In my opinion, there are two major differences:
1. On a Nexus device, you are guaranteed a large developer community. The SGSII may have a large developer community, but that's because it's pretty much of the most popular phones. If you buy something like the Samsung Galaxy Infuse (which several of my friends have) then you won't have nearly as big a developer community as the one for the Galaxy Nexus.
2. It's much much easier to root/customize/flash a Nexus device than any other device. All you need is "fastboot oem unlock" and the phone opens up for you. No need for bootloader downgrading/rooting exploits/HTCDev/manufacturer restrictions. This phone is designed to be a developer device. Also, when you screw up a Nexus, it is much easier to solve problems. Phone not booting? Use CWM. Recovery borked? Fastboot. Fastboot not working? ODIN flash. Lots of fail-safes.

Thanks a lot guys for taking the time just to help me out

I got my gnex last wednesday. No regrets at all, it's an amazing phone. My next phone will definitely be another nexus.

Advantage of having a Nexus?
It is like Burger King, you can have it your own way.

Galaxy Nexus Popularity

Just curious why a lot of people seem to prefer these devices over devices like Motorola Razr, etc? Is because these devices are updated more frequently than most? I've read that somewhere, but don't remember where. Thanks.

ti-force said:
Just curious why a lot of people seem to prefer these devices over devices like Motorola Razr, etc? Is because these devices are updated more frequently than most? I've read that somewhere, but don't remember where. Thanks.
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Nexus devices are bloat free (no motoblur, touchwiz, sense skins on top - just pure Android)
They (like you said) are the first to get updates to new Android releases
They are much simpler to unlock/root/theme/modify etc than others
The development of roms, kernels mods etc is the largest of any other Android phone probably and is always evolving
Pretty much why I chose a Nexus - I knew I would be able to get pretty comprehensive help with any aspect of it on these and other forums

Guiding.God said:
Nexus devices are bloat free (no motoblur, touchwiz, sense skins on top - just pure Android)
They (like you said) are the first to get updates to new Android releases
They are much simpler to unlock/root/theme/modify etc than others
The development of roms, kernels mods etc is the largest of any other Android phone probably and is always evolving
Pretty much why I chose a Nexus - I knew I would be able to get pretty comprehensive help with any aspect of it on these and other forums
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Click to collapse
Thanks for your response; it's much appreciated. Since I've only ever used Moto Android devices, I'm not very familiar with the offerings by Nexus. Does Samsung actually make the Nexus, but Google owns Nexus?
Thanks again.

ti-force said:
Thanks for your response; it's much appreciated. Since I've only ever used Moto Android devices, I'm not very familiar with the offerings by Nexus. Does Samsung actually make the Nexus, but Google owns Nexus?
Thanks again.
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Google owns the Nexus brand and uses it to showcase their latest software offerings as well as to set a general trend of direction it envisions for Android as a whole - It contracts out the actual hardware manufacture to it's partners like HTC (Nexus One), Samsung (Nexus S & GNex) and ASUS (Nexus 7 tablet) etc.
Seeing as this particular forum is for the Galaxy Nexus specifically, you can find some more info here http://pocketnow.com/2012/07/20/whats-next-for-googles-nexus-brand-of-devices/ and ofcourse even more by using Google's no.1 product - Google Search

Carrier freedom.
Dev support.
Peer support.
Price.
Hardware good enough.
Pure android.
Serious geek toy.
(The gnex is Google brand, but manufactured by Samsung.)

Okay thanks, guys. It's all more clear to me now. So basically any Nexus device will be updated before any other device, correct? Say even before the Samsung Galaxy S111?
Thanks again.

ti-force said:
Okay thanks, guys. It's all more clear to me now. So basically any Nexus device will be updated before any other device, correct? Say even before the Samsung Galaxy S111?
Thanks again.
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No not any Nexus device. The GSM Nexus that you can buy from Google directly gets updates before any other device. The carrier locked (CDMA) Verizon and Sprint Nexi got the latest updates 2-3 months after the GSM model did, still they are ahead of most phones for updates.

stelv said:
No not any Nexus device. The GSM Nexus that you can buy from Google directly gets updates before any other device. The carrier locked (CDMA) Verizon and Sprint Nexi got the latest updates 2-3 months after the GSM model did, still they are ahead of most phones for updates.
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Ah, okay. Thank you much.

ti-force said:
Just curious why a lot of people seem to prefer these devices over devices like Motorola Razr, etc? Is because these devices are updated more frequently than most? I've read that somewhere, but don't remember where. Thanks.
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Updated frequently, for longer, with great stock software.
If you're into rooting, its trivially easy.
If you're into ROMs, it'll be one of (if not the) best supported device for a long time to come.
Unlocked straight from Google.
Pentaband.

Honestly, I was a huge HTC fanatic up until I first played with the Gnex. After an hour of playing with my new Gnex I was hooked, after a week of tweaking it I decided I will not own any other device but a Nexus branded one from this point on. I hated samsung because of how plastic and toylike their phones seemed to be but after owning my Gnex I changed my mind. My last phone (Inc2) had scratches on the screen within a week and dust under the screen within a month. I'm going on 3 months with my Gnex and keep it naked in the same pocked as my car keys sometimes with not a single tiny cosmetic ding.
Anyway, got a little off the subject, honestly the only way I will ever hesitate in the future from buying a nexus device is if crappy motorola is making it. I still love HTC and I definitely have a newfound love for Samsung after owning my Gnex and playing with the Note 2 and the GS3.
Bottomline, once you own a google flagship phone nothing else really compares.

dankblaze said:
Bottomline, once you own a google flagship phone nothing else really compares.
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i've never been so close to freedom.
sent from my i9250

Thanks for your opinions, guys. I'm currently in the process of trying to purchase a GNexus online. If it all works out, hopefully I'll be able to experience first hand some of the great things that you guys have experienced.

ti-force said:
Thanks for your opinions, guys. I'm currently in the process of trying to purchase a GNexus online. If it all works out, hopefully I'll be able to experience first hand some of the great things that you guys have experienced.
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You can get it for a dollar through best buy currently. At least for verizon.

dankblaze said:
You can get it for a dollar through best buy currently. At least for verizon.
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I'll check into that. Thanks! Probably requires an upgrade, though. Right? I can't upgrade for 4 more months....

ti-force said:
I'll check into that. Thanks! Probably requires an upgrade, though. Right? I can't upgrade for 4 more months....
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Yes that requires a new 2-year contract...

ti-force said:
I'll check into that. Thanks! Probably requires an upgrade, though. Right? I can't upgrade for 4 more months....
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If you want an upgrade, ditch the carrier with an unlocked phone! :good:

I choose this phone because it will be vastly developed on even two years from now.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Jelly Bean update! But not for us! :(

So the International unlocked version got their Jelly Bean update today. Man! Why doesn't Sammy hire some of these devs on here to speed up the freaking process!!
Edit: Sorry Sammy its not your fault its the freaking carriers!! Bastards!!! thanks Andy!
Edit again: OK Sammy im putting you back in the crap house!!! bastards!!! thanks intub8!
White Hot! GS3.

blame the carriers.

andy2na said:
blame the carriers.
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Its not Sammy...definitely the money grubbing carriers in the US...its pathetic

Oh I see thanks for sharing! Will change OP freaking carriers!!!! Lol.....
White Hot! GS3.

andy2na said:
blame the carriers.
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Samsung is not innocent. Blame them also. Samsung can easily say no to the major carriers and push the update to us through kies. We will not get the update until 30-60 days after the next flagship device from att. All of the iphone update come directly from apple. The carriers have no say.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

Intub8 said:
Samsung is not innocent. Blame them also. Samsung can easily say no to the major carriers and push the update to us through kies. We will not get the update until 30-60 days after the next flagship device from att. All of the iphone update come directly from apple. The carriers have no say.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
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Ditto. Another post that was moved to the Q&A section mentioned that there are already three AT&T leaks in existence. AT&T is probably too busy ensuring that their bloatware is compatible with the ROMs, I mean, testing them.
I honestly don't understand how Samsung, the biggest mobile phone producer in the world, allows carriers to call the shots. As you've mentioned, Apple doesn't allow the carriers to have any input in OS updates. Samsung has just as much clout - what's stopping them from doing the same?

kgbkny said:
Ditto. Another post that was moved to the Q&A section mentioned that there are already three AT&T leaks in existence. AT&T is probably too busy ensuring that their bloatware is compatible with the ROMs, I mean, testing them.
I honestly don't understand how Samsung, the biggest mobile phone producer in the world, allows carriers to call the shots. As you've mentioned, Apple doesn't allow the carriers to have any input in OS updates. Samsung has just as much clout - what's stopping them from doing the same?
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All Samsung cares about is profit margins. Where as Apple is also really strict with what goes into their phones. Flame away, but that's the truth.

kgbkny said:
Ditto. Another post that was moved to the Q&A section mentioned that there are already three AT&T leaks in existence. AT&T is probably too busy ensuring that their bloatware is compatible with the ROMs, I mean, testing them.
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Three leaks? I haven't seen them for download anywhere.
This is getting ridiculous.

just use a custom rom!

scorpion667 said:
All Samsung cares about is profit margins. Where as Apple is also really strict with what goes into their phones. Flame away, but that's the truth.
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And I suppose Apple doesn't care about profit margins?
In all honesty, I can't say I disagree. Apple pretty much gave the carriers the finger by strictly controlling what's included in the updates and their release timeline. My biggest frustration with Android is the complete lack of uniformity when it comes to keeping it up to date. With that being said, I would sooner switch to Windows than iOS.
With regards to custom ROMs....not really my thing anymore. There is always something that doesn't function properly, which is why I'd rather have the official release. I used to be a flashaholic when I had the Vibrant and the MT4G, even the Sensation (to some extent). Nowadays, I tend to favor the official releases, even if it's a leak.

scorpion667 said:
All Samsung cares about is profit margins. Where as Apple is also really strict with what goes into their phones. Flame away, but that's the truth.
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Click to collapse
Wut? Samsung has slimmer margins than Apple does. By a LONG shot.
Also, Apple doesn't let carriers control updates, but the carriers do significantly control what is going in to each update (primarily in terms of what features are enabled for use when). They still don't have a gold paved road.
That being said, I do wish Samsung would force the carriers to a better update schedule. I wouldn't care if it was consistently a month after the international version. That would be better than what we have now.

andy2na said:
blame the carriers.
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I spoke to an ATT rep on chat and they said that they were the ones holding up the release. Doesn't seem like they care what with the disabling of google wallet as well.

kgbkny said:
With regards to custom ROMs....not really my thing anymore. There is always something that doesn't function properly, which is why I'd rather have the official release. I used to be a flashaholic when I had the Vibrant and the MT4G, even the Sensation (to some extent). Nowadays, I tend to favor the official releases, even if it's a leak.
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I kinda agree as I did the same with my S1 i9000 : flashed ROMs and kernels onto it on a weekly basis for nearly 1½ year.
Now that I have my S3, I just don't feel like that anymore as I :
- Appreciate the quality and stability of Samsung's releases
- Enjoy using the best camera app there is
- Know that the phone will eventually be updated to an even better release
However, the day I'll be told by Samsung that my S3 will no longer be elligible to upgrades, just watch me go back to my custom ROMs flashing habits! héhéhé
As for the bloatware ... root and any decent file explorer can help you get rid of it!

I thought most people knew by now that only Official Google devices get (somewhat) prompt updates. I didn't buy my SIII based on what it was going to get, I bought it based on what it already had. IMO as long as they update the phone in a relatively timely manner (within 6 months I'd say) then I am content - even then I wouldn't be too upset. I would just flash something myself.

I do the same. Take official firmware and basically make my own custom rom.
That way I have control about what is and isnt done.
I root it..
remove bloatware myself with root explorer (after copying everything I am about to remove to my external sd for safe keeping)
keep copies of the build.prop, framework-res systemui etc.
I modify the systemui for my own icons etc.
Install other modes etc.
As for leaks the only leak I know off on AT&T based is LH1 which I am running.
I am not running the latest lh9 as lh1 has everything that lh9 has but doesnt have nfc screwed up so wallet still works with it.
I am running the lh9 modem.

By the time the S3 will become ineligible for updates, I will have moved on to my next phone. Back in 2011, Google set up an Android update alliance, where many manufacturers and U.S.-based carriers promised that new Android phones would receive timely OS updates for 18 months after launch. The only timely thing about this promise was the death of this alliance. After Jellybean, I give the S3 one more update before Samsung declares it non-upgradeable. It's unfortunate, but that's just the nature of the beast.
I'm well aware that only official Google devices (Nexus) get timely updates. This is the only reason why I held on to my Galaxy Nexus after buying the S3. I was well aware that it'll be a loooooooooong time before the S3 sees an update, so I kept the Nexus to satisfy my cravings for latest Android versions.

http://phandroid.com/2012/10/24/sprints-samsung-galaxy-s3-jelly-bean-rollout-starts-october-25th/
Funny how I left Sprint and my S3 to come to AT&T and get an S3. Surely we won't be too much further behind if Sprint is releasing it? Maybe? Bueller?

jmacdonald19 said:
http://phandroid.com/2012/10/24/sprints-samsung-galaxy-s3-jelly-bean-rollout-starts-october-25th/
Funny how I left Sprint and my S3 to come to AT&T and get an S3. Surely we won't be too much further behind if Sprint is releasing it? Maybe? Bueller?
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Good find! When the initial Samsung statement regarding the U.S. S3 variants being updated to Jellybean "in the coming months" was issued, it specifically mentioned "all carriers except for Sprint". Although the arrival of the Sprint update may signal that ours are just around the corner, I'm not holding my breath.

I just want to point out that Apple doesn't play by the same ruleset as Android OEM's do when it comes to releasing updates. Part of the original contract with AT&T was to prevent AT&T from having any say in Apple's updates and it kind of just kept going with the other carriers since they wanted the phone to sell so dearly.
Android OEM's have no such stipulation, Nexus devices not counting of course.

Saw on another site that AT&T wont see an update till January.
Of course that is just word of mouth, so take it for what you will.

While I was away...

Hi all.
I'd like to welcome myself back to the Android community after taking a 1.5yr hiatus. I switched to Blackberry for a couple of personal reasons, but I went into it knowing I would be back here eventually
So I picked up my Galaxy S6 from Sprint today, and the first thoughts that entered my mind after I turned my phone on were "Root, Roms, Kernels, Themes...I've missed all of it so much!"
I used to be a heavy flasher, and even dabbled in some modding back in my Android days. It's going to take me a short while to get back into the swing of it - but I am still plenty confident to start flashing away.
So I hopped on our XDA Sprint S6 forum here ready to be punched in the face with the overwhelming amount of content, and I was absolutely shocked to see how little development is happening with this device. Actually, shocked is an understatement. I remember XDA development forums always being absolutely littered with Roms and kernels (it was up to you to sift through the crap, of course) - there was never any shortage of flashing/modding material. So, especially with a flagship device like this, you could say that I am a tad bewildered.
Since I've been away from the community for a considerable amount of time, I wanted to ask if there's any particular reason for this? Is there something about the phone's hardware that is holding things back? Something to do with the Sprint variant? Have all the devs moved to a new forum? What gives?
Anyway, it's still nice to be back. Smell ya later, Blackberry :good:

The main issue is lack of dev support for the Exynos processor, which is basically only used by Samsung and isn't as well-documented as the Qualcomm processors most other Android phones have. We get the sh*t end of the stick even more with Sprint, both because it's a CDMA carrier while the majority are GSM so that's what most of the devs make kernels for, and the partition layout is different for Sprint devices, so it takes a bit of work to port stuff. That said, I'm not entirely sure why more of the ROMs/kernels for other S6 variants aren't available for the Sprint version, it doesn't seem to me like it would be too difficult to make it work for us. If anyone else has any insight on that I'd love to hear it.

Another thing killing development on Samsung devices is the 2 largest US carriers have locked down the bootloader making any non-stock ROM or kernel impossible to flash. So many developers gave up on Samsung. There will be less support for Sprint devices as it needs CDMA device support. T-Mobile will be able to use international ROMs, but not Sprint.

Saafir said:
I have read that Samsung won't be going back to Qualcomm processors. So with them pushing forward with their Exynos, it's just a matter of time.
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They actually are for the S7 so whatever you read is wrong!

Saafir said:
Being that it is MONTH's away, we shall see. The only documentation I find saying that for S. Korean models anywho
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http://www.sammobile.com/2015/09/07/samsung-reportedly-the-first-oem-to-test-snapdragon-820/

Saafir said:
"rumored" doesn't mean they WILL use it
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I'm willing to bet anything that they do use it. Especially if it's as good as they say.

I think this every time I click into this forum. Things aren't lively in the Samsung camp and I've belonged to this camp since the Epic. It's sad how dead it is.
At least for myself I can say, with the more freedom and performance these days, I don't have need to root.
Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

Saafir said:
Been with Sammy a long time myself. First device was the Galaxy Captivate. This has been by far the slimest range of development I've ever seen lol
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Technically my first Samsung was the Instinct, but we won't elaborate on that lol. Best times in the threads was the S1-S3. But I agree, hell the G3 had way more attention. I don't even have this phone anymore but I hang in here more cause the other subforum is useless.
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hayabusa1300cc said:
Technically my first Samsung was the Instinct, but we won't elaborate on that lol. Best times in the threads was the S1-S3. But I agree, hell the G3 had way more attention. I don't even have this phone anymore but I hang in here more cause the other subforum is useless.
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I had that phone too! For about 8 days. That thing froze up worse than Buffalo in a blizzard. They pushed that out way too fast.
Sent from my SM-G925P using XDA Free mobile app

My hayday of flashing was epic 4g touch (aka s2), I flashed something every day on that device, then a little bit less on s4, then even less on s5, and now I'm completely stock on s6. I really wish there would be a way to get stock on latest ota without tripping Knox
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