CGFebTSX04

A lot of people on XDA are doing just that. Pretty much rent the Rezound or RAZR until the Nexus arrives with the extended return policy. Verizon sucks for delaying this phone considering this is their first Nexus phone. With the way they're handling it, I wouldn't be surprised if its the last. lol.

CGFebTSX04

White T-Mobile Galaxy S II:



Not bad.

FiftyFive

That Hitler thing was hilarious. I'd gladly go rent one of the others for $35 but am deathly afraid of not being able to return it when the Nexus releases for some reason.

CCColtsicehockey

Yeah not pleased about them staggering it at all. It is not as much of an upgrade for me as I have a Thunderbolt. I just want that awesome resolution and hopefully a bit better battery life cause taking a charger with me everywhere is starting to get old now after 6 months.

SaaBaaDoo

I was waiting to go for the Rezound to stay within a 14 day window in case the Nexus came out, but since they have that extended return policy, I'm definitely going to get it.

CCColtsicehockey

I just wish it had a 4.5in screen instead of 4.3.

Doom878

white S II hawtness

CGFebTSX04

Wasn't sure whether to post this here on in the Funny Thread. lol.

http://youtu.be/6h5JSojJN3Y

"If it looks the same how will people know I upgraded?"

"I can never get a Samsung, I'm creative. You're a barista."


Someone from Reddit created this:

mdkxtreme

*Phew*, I'm glad you didn't post it in the iPhone thread, bwahaha

CGFebTSX04

It crossed my mind...Haha.

Costco

I'm incredibly tempted to put that in the funny pics/videos/gifs thread

mdkxtreme

Funny pic thread is fine. But if you want a riot, iPhone thread.

Costco

Posting a tongue in cheek ad poking at iPhone users would result in them bashing Android/Samsung in any way possible. You guys are on the right track, not worth it

speedemon90

that was hilarious!
I'm gonna put it in the iphone thread assuming you guys didnt

Costco

you dun goofed!

The flood gates have opened!!!

CGFebTSX04

So apparently the earlier alpha builds of ICS for the Galaxy S didn't have full HW acceleration. Only 3D acceleration was working. Today they got 2D acceleration to work and wow what a difference! I thought it was fast with 3D acceleration. Now its butter. If you guys haven't tried ICS yet I suggest you do so. The Nexus S actually has a pretty stable build right now and the one for the Galaxy S isn't that bad.

#1 STUNNA

I might give a shit about that phone when it gets ice cream sandwich and loses that unnecessary UI skin.

I think one of the best things google has ever done is snatch up Matias Duarte! That dude is bad ass. I knew android was going to get a lot better once they got him and ICS is looking pretty good, lets hope the OEMs and Carriers don't screw it up for them. I'll change my mind about Android if that happens.....

CGFebTSX04

TouchWiz 4 really isn't bad. Not sure if you've actually used it...It brings a lot more functionality than the others and has some really intuitive gestures not found in stock Android or CyanogenMod which actually took some functions from TouchWiz. Most people think TouchWiz is just a launcher but it goes beyond that. The swiping left or right in contacts to call or text is nice; integration of Twitter/Facebook into your contact pictures/calendar events that show up when people call you; adjusting brightness in the notification bar with a swipe; quick access to most used toggles in the notification bar such as WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and plenty other little tweaks Samsung made. On top of all those things, it brought Hardware Acceleration in Gingerbread. Samsung's phones are the only ones that have Hardware Acceleration in Gingerbread and hence the reason why the S II just hauls in comparison to other Android phones. I do find the icon scheme to be tacky but that's easily replaced with a third party launcher such as LauncherPro or ADW. And yeah, the S II will be getting ICS in January officially. Right now, the XDA guys have it already available. Its not complete but it can be used as a daily if you wanted to.

CGFebTSX04

For the people who still haven't tried ICS. Google added some extra features in the Developer settings:

http://youtu.be/51jIZaZNooc

You can practically make ICS act like iOS by killing every app after exiting them and turning off multitasking all together. I guess this is for the people who love using task killers. Some other cool stuff in there.



And here's the new Accessibility settings for people who need them:

http://youtu.be/3DeprwFkl3U

SaaBaaDoo

Picked up a rezound last night! Android is taking a bit of getting used to, but I'm really liking it so far. Phone is amazing and I'll probably just keep it vs. exchanging.

1StGenCL

Just bought a Droid Razr on Verizon last night because they didn't have any 4S's in stock and convinced me this was better. Cool looking and I like the screen but I find it hard to hold onto since it is so big and I can't figure out shit. Will I get used to it or should I quickly return? I have had numerous iPhones since 2007

Thanks

SaaBaaDoo

I'm kind of in the same situation from iPhones. I played with both the Razr and Rezound for about an hour and the Rezound just felt a lot better to me. There's definitely a bit of a learning curve coming from ios! For me it's mainly where the hell to find some of the settings

CGFebTSX04

You'll get used to it. There's always some kind of learning curve moving from one platform to another. Just don't expect everything to be the same like the apps. There's usually an alternative free app in the Android Market that does the same function of an app you're looking for. You'll probably learn something new that you didn't know your phone could do each day. Besides I think you have til January to return right?

CGFebTSX04

Heads up, Muffin Knight is the free app of the day at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Angry-Mob-Game.../dp/B005V20JKI


The game is addicting.

CGFebTSX04

Google is renting their top 12 movies at $0.99 in the market for the next two weeks:

https://market.android.com/details?i...MzU3MDkwNDIiXQ..



Remember if you're rooted you have to rename su to something else or Google Videos will not allow you to watch. Use this app for that:

https://market.android.com/details?i...GVvcy5yb290Il0.

^Oh just looking at one of the reviews, it does work on rooted Kindle Fires like I thought it would. I guess Amazon is using the same Widevine DRM Google is using.

GIBSON6594

Why does everyone who has an iPhone say they can't figure Android out? I mean WTF, it's pretty simple. These people can personalize their PC but not Android?

SaaBaaDoo

I'm figuring it out, it's just different.

Doom878

BB is having a Dell Streak 7 sale for $160 I think per slickdeals. I think it starts tomorrow but details are sketchy.

mcflyguy24

You think radioshack will let me upgrade to the galaxy s2 tomorrow even though my contract isn't eligible until 12/7? I mean it's right around the corner...

1StGenCL

Because we are very used to apple's simple and easy to use os. I am loving the widgets and such, I just hope the battery lasts a bit longer then it appears to after a few charges. Especially because the charger port is on the top of the phone, making it very hard to charge and talk in the car.

speedemon90

Uncle just bought a SGII or tmobile's variant.

Gonna see it later tonight. Lol he wants me to show him how to use it. First time android user.

CGFebTSX04

So I started using ICS Alpha 7 for my Galaxy S as my daily driver. Its not running 100% in terms of speed but it is stable and haven't had any random reboots yet. Games play great and browser experience is awesome. Battery life is comparable to early builds of CyanogenMod but it does make it through a day which is good enough for me.

The dev was able to fix the camera and YouTube so there's a few more things not working and being optimized. Tried Face Unlock and I got it to work with a picture from my spare Galaxy S. lol. Strangely enough, it wouldn't work on my real face cause the FFC ratio is not correct so the proportions look wrong. Otherwise, ICS has been awesome so far. What's weird is that the bootlegged Camera software in ICS is definitely better than it is in CM7. The Galaxy S had a good sensor back in the day and the CM7 camera app just sucks in comparison to TouchWiz and MIUI. Glad that ICS has a good one. Panorama mode is pretty cool too. I hope CM9 comes out soon. So far they said everything is working great. They just need the Nexus S drop to make it 100% optimized.

CGFebTSX04

Here's another review of the Galaxy Nexus which focuses on the performance aspect of the phone:

http://youtu.be/U6qLpEFfJhQ

I think I might be picking one up in the next few days. Will definitely update if I do. hehe.

CGFebTSX04

CM9 Alphas for International Galaxy S and Captivate are up:

i9000: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1363593

Captivate: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1363760


The Vibrant, Fascinate and Epic 4G should work with the proper kernels. Someone has to make the kernels so that the button and touchscreen works.

speedemon90

I need to root my phone

With finals/GRE/college apps all happening within the same weeks I have no time!!!Ahhhh

CGFebTSX04

Lol. CM9 still has some lag due to the HW acceleration not being 100% but it is pretty awesome and very usable. I also noticed that my reception went up by 1 bar. Not sure why because I'm using the same modem and I really doubt AT&T set up new towers recently but I'm not gonna complain. Here it is in action on the i9000:

http://youtu.be/hx8_1ggjvIM

Its gonna be my daily as its pretty stable already. Haven't had anything crash yet. Made some tweaks to enable Voice dictation and to allow GTalk video chat. Voodoo sound and Pawitp colors (based on Voodoo Color) are already working too which is nice.

1StGenCL

Ok, liking the Android more and more but the battery is terrible. With little use, I am at 15% battery by noon to 1 with a full overnight charge till 7:30 AM.

Rooting, is it like Jailbreaking? Everything I have read makes it seem like it way more dangerous in terms of bricking but I really would like a free tether and increase battery life.

CGFebTSX04

Rooting allows you to customize the phone a lot more and install custom ROMs, kernels (if the bootloader is open which unfortunately Motorola locks down) to Overclock/Undervolt the phone, user made Themes. You can also run Backup apps that can backup anything on the phone, change a lot of System related files such as the hosts file to block ads, change fonts and whatever you can think of. Anything can be changed at that point with root access. If you're going to return or exchange the phone, you can always unroot to return back to stock. Also, NEVER apply a manufacturer's update while rooted. It can mess up your install and you'd have to factory reset.

How to Root RAZR:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1341578

How to UnRoot RAZR:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1350307

I always tell members here to search YouTube on how to do these things as people do tutorials for them. The method above seems pretty simple though. Just have the drivers installed, Turn on USB Debugging in the Settings --> Application --> Development, then run the script to root. Can't get any simpler really.

CGFebTSX04

As far as battery goes, certain Kernels and custom ROMs can help with that aspect. Unfortunately, if your bootloader is locked, custom Kernels are hard to come by until the devs can unlock them. For my suggestions on how to extend battery life, just do the following:

- Turn off 4G when you're not using it even if you're not in a 4G area. This is the biggest battery killer at the moment as it will continuously search for 4G signal even though you don't have it. Install a Widget app if you have to for easy switching on your homescreen.
- Try to use WiFi if you can as it uses less battery. Also turn off WiFi, and Bluetooth when not in range. GPS you can leave on as it only turns on when apps need them. WiFi and Bluetooth will continuously scan even if you're not around a known network or device unless you get an app to monitor this.
- If you really need to squeeze every ounce of battery then switch to 2G.
- To squeeze even more, turn of background data and autosync in the Accounts settings. (You won't receive your emails, app updates immediately doing this though and you'll have to manually pull to get this info)
- Do NOT use a task killer. Android manages its own memory. If you mess with it, you'll have other issues and actually lower your battery life. Only use it to kill a badly programmed app that won't close.
- Check your Settings --> About --> Battery Stats to get an idea of what is eating your battery the most. You'll see which app/system process is killing your battery. Try to tweak it until only the Display is the top most battery user.
- For AMOLED screens such as the one found in the RAZR, use dark colors, preferably black. Black = little to no power usage in AMOLED screens. So yes, use dark backgrounds, try to use the dark themes, etc. Also reduces burn in.
- For apps that pull data every X minutes. Try to increase the interval to around 30 minutes and up. That way it doesn't ping the servers as often and reduces battery usage.

zguy95135

IIRC Google recently changed it so root users can still rent movies from Google. I haven't tried it on my Epic but on my rooted Transformer it works great.

Btw, props to all the Transformer devs. I have a B70 model (was unrootable before) but it's super easy now, just run one app for root, and another for CWM recovery. It ran great stock but on the new rom I'm using it's fantastic, I'm seriously blown away.