Do you guys ever get a small "want" for an Android phone?

[BiggAW]

There is a reason why the Galaxy Note has a huge screen. Because it's a tablet and a phone.

Yeah, but you still have to use it as your phone. Reminds me of those videos of the guy with the 4-foot long brick phone that yells "HAAALLLOOOO" in a British accent and annoys everyone around him. You'd look absurd talking on one in public. An iPhone looks pretty normal.

AT&T decided to go out on a limb because they probably saw the original Notes showing up on the network, and figured they could nab a niche market, and cash in on the tablet over-hype.

That would be competing now wouldnt it?

You keep saying one thing and then turning back to something else. So what if Samsung makes a bunch of different devices. If Apple had more than one, they certainly would sell more of them.
I really dont see why your rambling on about that. Its like you just care that Apple is #1. If your preference isnt a bigger screen, great. More want a bigger screen than not and Samsung gives variety and different things to choose from. Freak show or not, people are buying the Note and seem to really like them.
I dont see anything wrong with that, but then, i dont care if Apple is #1 or not. They make great stuff too, just not enough variety.

I really don't care if Apple is #1. Frankly, I'd like to see strong competition from Android to keep the market honest, and offer smart devices to people who don't want a big contract or a a big carrier.

You clearly didn't comprehend my post. I said that Apple wouldn't compete with the freak show (5.3"). I said they might be forced to go up to 4 or 4.3" for the LTE and battery, but that's on the large end of things, not anywhere close to freak show category like the Note. Good for Samsung I guess, it doesn't make that device any less of an absurdly freakish device.

I have the Skyrocket.
4.52" screen that fits my hand perfectly.

I'm surprised you can stretch the battery life out all day. You must be a very, very large-boned person. I'm a big guy, and 4.3" is pushing it in my hands.

Oh I didn't mean physical keys, just the predictive power of the keyboard. I don't have a physical keyboard on my android. The swiftkey app is what makes the difference.

Oh gotcha, ability to install 3rd party keyboards. Yeah, that is a big advantage on Android. I honestly found that the stock Android board was the easiest to use, but if you're willing to go through the learning curve/ period for Swiftkey or Swype, they could easily be faster.

Who cares about Android.Droid is sooooo last year I have a hankering to try out WP7 the Lumia phones look beautiful

Have fun with all 5 apps that are on WM7.

 

[rjohnstone]

I'm surprised you can stretch the battery life out all day. You must be a very, very large-boned person. I'm a big guy, and 4.3" is pushing it in my hands.

Sorry to burst your excuse bubble again... normal bone structure here.
Perhaps you just have more feminine hands than most.

As for the battery... nothing to stretch. I forgot to plug in the charger on more than one occasion over nite and still had 15-20% battery in the morning.
The phone has fantastic power management capabilities.

AT&T's LTE network is better thought out than Verizon's LTE network.
The phone doesn't spend half the day flipping back and forth between 3G and LTE like Verizon LTE phones do.

I've only seen the phone lose the LTE signal twice since I've purchased it.
One time I was fishing... I was out in the middle of nowhere. Phone calls still worked... no data.
The other was in the basement of our data center. It's RF shielded.
We only have repeaters for voice service in there, no data.

Hunting for a signal kills a cell battery faster than most other activities.

Have fun with all 5 apps that are on WM7.

A quick check shows 50,000 apps and growing daily.

Just embrace you Apple fanboism and admit you are under the influence of the RDF.
It's a lot better than making baseless arguments that are easily dispelled.

 

[EngageWithRage]

Nope, never been a fan of the Droid OS...any features that come with Android that I would want on my iPhone are now there due to the Jailbreak.

 

[rjohnstone]

Here is my Skyrocket and my 3GS.
Little size comparison if you will.

Not that huge of a difference in ones hand.
The Skyrocket is thinner but marginally wider.
The biggest difference is the height, but even that isn't significant.

Sorry for the picture quality... it was taken with my Samsung Focus. Not the greatest camera, but sufficient.

 

[BiggAW]

Sorry to burst your excuse bubble again... normal bone structure here.
Perhaps you just have more feminine hands than most.

As for the battery... nothing to stretch. I forgot to plug in the charger on more than one occasion over nite and still had 15-20% battery in the morning.
The phone has fantastic power management capabilities.

AT&T's LTE network is better thought out than Verizon's LTE network.
The phone doesn't spend half the day flipping back and forth between 3G and LTE like Verizon LTE phones do.

I've only seen the phone lose the LTE signal twice since I've purchased it.
One time I was fishing... I was out in the middle of nowhere. Phone calls still worked... no data.
The other was in the basement of our data center. It's RF shielded.
We only have repeaters for voice service in there, no data.

Hunting for a signal kills a cell battery faster than most other activities.



A quick check shows 50,000 apps and growing daily.

Just embrace you Apple fanboism and admit you are under the influence of the RDF.
It's a lot better than making baseless arguments that are easily dispelled.

Actually, my hands are bigger than average. I've never heard of Verizon LTE phones flipping around. Of course, it's not an issue with AT&T, since their LTE covers almost nowhere yet.

You can't only have voice repeaters, if they are 850 or 1900mhz, they would carry HSPA+.

A lot of apps still are only on Android and iOS.

I'm not a rabid fanboy. I am an ex Android user who hardcore trashed the iPhone for years. As the tech geek among my friends, I currently recommend the iPhone to users who are heavily invested in the Mac ecosystem, but I recommend more Android. My current recommendation for Verizon is the DROID RAZR MAXX. I haven't had to do an AT&T Android recommendation lately, I'm honestly not sure what I would recommend, as their Android lineup sucks. Verizon is way ahead. Probably iPhone on AT&T, only for lack of good Android devices. The Atrix 2 is a nice phone, but it's quite dated at this point. If I was on Verizon, I would still be on Android.

 

[rjohnstone]

Actually, my hands are bigger than average. I've never heard of Verizon LTE phones flipping around. Of course, it's not an issue with AT&T, since their LTE covers almost nowhere yet.

The Thunderbolt was notorious for doing this. It was always searching for an LTE signal, so many users simply turned LTE off.
As for coverage... AT&T's LTE is everywhere I need it to be, so not an issue.

You can't only have voice repeaters, if they are 850 or 1900mhz, they would carry HSPA+.

Yes, you can. It's called a GSM repeater. 850/1900 dual band GSM with no EDGE, UMTS, or (WCDMA)HSPA support.

Every carrier offers them for secure installations.
I'll snap a pic of the repeater tomorrow when I'm at work.
This particular model is not a device you or I could purchase.

My 3GS is used for work (it only does voice and SMS, no MMS). We have secure (heavily filtered and monitored) WiFi in house for any data needs.
You can use an iPhone on an AT&T contract with no data plan when you have as many contract phones as we do.

A lot of apps still are only on Android and iOS.

I'm not a rabid fanboy. I am an ex Android user who hardcore trashed the iPhone for years. As the tech geek among my friends, I currently recommend the iPhone to users who are heavily invested in the Mac ecosystem, but I recommend more Android. My current recommendation for Verizon is the DROID RAZR MAXX. I haven't had to do an AT&T Android recommendation lately, I'm honestly not sure what I would recommend, as their Android lineup sucks. Verizon is way ahead. Probably iPhone on AT&T, only for lack of good Android devices. The Atrix 2 is a nice phone, but it's quite dated at this point. If I was on Verizon, I would still be on Android.

God no... not the Atrix 2. It was a downgrade from the original. It was dated the day it was released.
I sold my Atrix 4G and Lapdock when I got the Skyrocket.

 

[BiggAW]

Oh, the repeater is carrier supported. I was thinking like Wilson electronics. What they don't want data going in or out of the datacenter except through their pipes? How did they manage to strip EDGE out of GSM? Or is it actually a small cell tower inside your facility that just doesn't have data channels? What stops someone from bringing in the good old sneaker net? And you can take pictures, but no data connectivity? That's just odd. My work won't allow cameraphones (you have to paint over the camera), but you can stream Pandora all day at your desk (DoD contractor).

I'm not surprised you could get one without data. I'm assuming data block so you don't rack up huge charges?

That's my point. It's a ho-hum device. AT&T's Android lineup is big, but there's still nothing good on it. If I really wanted Android, I'd probably switch for the RAZR MAXX. The i777 has a ridiculous number of ROMs for it, but it's not a particularly exciting device in and of itself. I can't even think of any good NAM unlocked devices to bring onto AT&T that would be that exciting. The Nexus S sort of just for stock ICS and a great form factor, but the hardware is downright elderly. That's how I ended up with an iPhone. I'm very happy with it. If I wasn't open to the iPhone, I'd be rather unhappy with AT&T right now. I am very happy with AT&T with the iPhone.

Verizon's Android lineup also has the allure of 4G LTE in some places, which AT&T doesn't have in any meaningful way.

 

[rjohnstone]

Oh, the repeater is carrier supported. I was thinking like Wilson electronics. What they don't want data going in or out of the datacenter except through their pipes? How did they manage to strip EDGE out of GSM? Or is it actually a small cell tower inside your facility that just doesn't have data channels? What stops someone from bringing in the good old sneaker net? And you can take pictures, but no data connectivity? That's just odd. My work won't allow cameraphones (you have to paint over the camera), but you can stream Pandora all day at your desk (DoD contractor).

All data leaving that facility is monitored/filtered. (financial services industry)
There is no WiFi access when you're in the data center itself.
Sensitive areas are monitored via cameras and security staff.
No cameras are allowed in the actual data center either.
If your phone has a camera, security puts it in a locker before you can go inside. Many of us carry cheap paygo type dumb phones when we have to go there. Just swap SIM cards.
The one repeater I can photograph is just outside the doors, so photographing it is not an issue.

 

[Hastings101]

Not really lol, it just looks like iOS to me but with more customization options.

Windows Phone is what I get a "want" for, too bad the hardware it's on is under-powered and outdated.

 

[sharpycl]

I know in the end the iPhone for me is the better choice, but at times I see phones from Samsung like the Galaxy SII, and I sort of want one just to mess around with. Also it has LTE so yeah.

What about you guys?

The only phone I would like to try is the Galaxy Note particularly because of the screen size. However if the next iPhone gets a larger screen than current than the current phones do I won't ever want an Android phone afterwards. Reason why? Future support for devices, and I've never had an iPhone that broke/stopped working/or got glitchy. I don't think I would ever switch from iPhone unless another OS/Manufacturer can achieve the same level of quality in their products that apple has.

 

[ugahairydawgs]

The only phone I would like to try is the Galaxy Note particularly because of the screen size. However if the next iPhone gets a larger screen than current than the current phones do I won't ever want an Android phone afterwards. Reason why? Future support for devices, and I've never had an iPhone that broke/stopped working/or got glitchy. I don't think I would ever switch from iPhone unless another OS/Manufacturer can achieve the same level of quality in their products that apple has.

I have been trying out the Galaxy Note. Some of my observations from my first time really taking a hard look at Android. All of what I am saying below is taking into account that I have no interest in rooting the device or loading up custom roms.

1.) Carrier and vendor bloatware is just pathetic. The number of crappy programs on there that you can't get rid of is mind numbing and since it has been a few years since I have had something other than an iPhone it was pretty strange seeing so much bloatware.

2.) More bells and whistles if you are deeply ingrained in the Google ecosystem. The Gmail app is nice (although somewhat offset by the fact that it now exists for iOS as well). The stock Samsung mail app (and I cannot emphasize this enough) sucks scissors. About as un-intuitive as a company could possibly design an app. Oh....and you're stuck with it in the launcher.

3.) The extra screen real estate is great. I never really realized just how cramped the iPhone screen is until I tried something larger for more than just the few minutes I have looked at other devices at various stores. I think 5.3" is pushing it for some people, but something that size with a retina screen running iOS or stock ICS would be pretty great. I still think the mass market sweet spot is somewhere in between 4.3" - 4.5", but if you have bigger mitts the 4.7" and 5.3" devices are really useful. Only downside to the phone is that some of the angles at which you have to hold it make it really easy to inadvertently hit one of the capacitive buttons.

4.) Widgets are cool. Apple needs to figure out a way to integrate them in iOS. Not sure how great they would be on a 3.5" screen, but 4.5" would suit them just fine. Having them on the iPad seems like it would be a no-brainer.

5.) Android (or at least the version of Gingerbread running on the Note) is....quirky. Couple of examples. First, I was coming to this site and logging in with my User ID and password. Started typing in my user name and as soon as I got to ugah and auto-corrected to Uganda. If I kept typing it would eventually let me choose the correct user name from the list, but when it entered it into the field it would leave out the a (i.e., ughairydawgs), so I had to go back and manually enter it. Did it several times in a row...never could figure that out. Second, in the contacts app on the Note it comes with a bunch of generic contact groups pre-loaded (Family, Friends, Co-workers, etc). If you add contacts that are synced with your Google account to those contact groups it does not sync back with your contacts online. If you already have a Family contact group in your Google account it will sync onto the device, but will do so with Unknown as the contact group (since Family is already pre-loaded). You cannot edit or delete those pre-loaded contact groups or merge them with your existing groups.

All in all after a couple of days my experience has been "eh" so far. I had to go back to the AT&T Store last night bto re-activate my iPhone. Need to get the software working right for me before I let it be my daily driver again. Trying to be as open minded with it as possible though. A little tougher than I thought integrating it with all of my other devices, which are all Apple made.

 

[rjohnstone]

I have been trying out the Galaxy Note. Some of my observations from my first time really taking a hard look at Android. All of what I am saying below is taking into account that I have no interest in rooting the device or loading up custom roms.

1.) Carrier and vendor bloatware is just pathetic. The number of crappy programs on there that you can't get rid of is mind numbing and since it has been a few years since I have had something other than an iPhone it was pretty strange seeing so much bloatware.

2.) More bells and whistles if you are deeply ingrained in the Google ecosystem. The Gmail app is nice (although somewhat offset by the fact that it now exists for iOS as well). The stock Samsung mail app (and I cannot emphasize this enough) sucks scissors. About as un-intuitive as a company could possibly design an app. Oh....and you're stuck with it in the launcher.

3.) The extra screen real estate is great. I never really realized just how cramped the iPhone screen is until I tried something larger for more than just the few minutes I have looked at other devices at various stores. I think 5.3" is pushing it for some people, but something that size with a retina screen running iOS or stock ICS would be pretty great. I still think the mass market sweet spot is somewhere in between 4.3" - 4.5", but if you have bigger mitts the 4.7" and 5.3" devices are really useful. Only downside to the phone is that some of the angles at which you have to hold it make it really easy to inadvertently hit one of the capacitive buttons.

4.) Widgets are cool. Apple needs to figure out a way to integrate them in iOS. Not sure how great they would be on a 3.5" screen, but 4.5" would suit them just fine. Having them on the iPad seems like it would be a no-brainer.

5.) Android (or at least the version of Gingerbread running on the Note) is....quirky. Couple of examples. First, I was coming to this site and logging in with my User ID and password. Started typing in my user name and as soon as I got to ugah and auto-corrected to Uganda. If I kept typing it would eventually let me choose the correct user name from the list, but when it entered it into the field it would leave out the a (i.e., ughairydawgs), so I had to go back and manually enter it. Did it several times in a row...never could figure that out. Second, in the contacts app on the Note it comes with a bunch of generic contact groups pre-loaded (Family, Friends, Co-workers, etc). If you add contacts that are synced with your Google account to those contact groups it does not sync back with your contacts online. If you already have a Family contact group in your Google account it will sync onto the device, but will do so with Unknown as the contact group (since Family is already pre-loaded). You cannot edit or delete those pre-loaded contact groups or merge them with your existing groups.

All in all after a couple of days my experience has been "eh" so far. I had to go back to the AT&T Store last night bto re-activate my iPhone. Need to get the software working right for me before I let it be my daily driver again. Trying to be as open minded with it as possible though. A little tougher than I thought integrating it with all of my other devices, which are all Apple made.

Yeah.. how will you ever deal with all 5 pieces of AT&T software.

As for auto-correct... I hate Samsungs keyboard for this very reason... too intrusive.
You can turn it off or switch to the stock keyboard. You have three to choose from right out of the box.

 

[ugahairydawgs]

Yeah.. how will you ever deal with all 5 pieces of AT&T software.

As for auto-correct... I hate Samsungs keyboard for this very reason... too intrusive.
You can turn it off or switch to the stock keyboard. You have three to choose from right out of the box.

Before you roll your eyes too far, here's the list of stuff that is thrown on there..

1 All Share
2. Amazon Kindle (Removable)
3. AT&T Code Scanner (Removable)
4. AT&T Family Map (Removable)
5. AT&T Navigator
6. AT&T Ready2Go
7. Crayon physics
8. Featured Apps
9. Kies air
10. YPmobile
11. Live TV (Removable)
12. Messages (AT&T) (Removable)
13. Mini Diary
14. MyAT&T (Removable)
15. Polaris Office
16. Qik Lite (Removable)
17. Samsung Apps
18. Social Hub

And to me it doesn't matter if it is 5 or 50. I don't want a bunch of add-ons from the carrier or vendor (not factoring in the stuff I don't want that Google puts in there too since Apple makes some apps inherent in iOS as well).

 

[walie]

Before you roll your eyes too far, here's the list of stuff that is thrown on there..

1 All Share
2. Amazon Kindle (Removable)
3. AT&T Code Scanner (Removable)
4. AT&T Family Map (Removable)
5. AT&T Navigator
6. AT&T Ready2Go
7. Crayon physics
8. Featured Apps
9. Kies air
10. YPmobile
11. Live TV (Removable)
12. Messages (AT&T) (Removable)
13. Mini Diary
14. MyAT&T (Removable)
15. Polaris Office
16. Qik Lite (Removable)
17. Samsung Apps
18. Social Hub

And to me it doesn't matter if it is 5 or 50. I don't want a bunch of add-ons from the carrier or vendor (not factoring in the stuff I don't want that Google puts in there too since Apple makes some apps inherent in iOS as well).

to note, allshare and kies air are amazing apps, not bloatware at all

 

[ugahairydawgs]

to note, allshare and kies air are amazing apps, not bloatware at all

Never said they were bad, just don't appreciate AT&T or Samsung loading them on there for me and making it so they can't be taken off.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

2.) More bells and whistles if you are deeply ingrained in the Google ecosystem. The Gmail app is nice (although somewhat offset by the fact that it now exists for iOS as well). The stock Samsung mail app (and I cannot emphasize this enough) sucks scissors. About as un-intuitive as a company could possibly design an app. Oh....and you're stuck with it in the launcher.

5.) Android (or at least the version of Gingerbread running on the Note) is....quirky. Couple of examples. First, I was coming to this site and logging in with my User ID and password. Started typing in my user name and as soon as I got to ugah and auto-corrected to Uganda. If I kept typing it would eventually let me choose the correct user name from the list, but when it entered it into the field it would leave out the a (i.e., ughairydawgs), so I had to go back and manually enter it. Did it several times in a row...never could figure that out. Second, in the contacts app on the Note it comes with a bunch of generic contact groups pre-loaded (Family, Friends, Co-workers, etc). If you add contacts that are synced with your Google account to those contact groups it does not sync back with your contacts online. If you already have a Family contact group in your Google account it will sync onto the device, but will do so with Unknown as the contact group (since Family is already pre-loaded). You cannot edit or delete those pre-loaded contact groups or merge them with your existing groups.

All in all after a couple of days my experience has been "eh" so far. I had to go back to the AT&T Store last night bto re-activate my iPhone. Need to get the software working right for me before I let it be my daily driver again. Trying to be as open minded with it as possible though. A little tougher than I thought integrating it with all of my other devices, which are all Apple made.

Just figure I would respond to these 3 points of yours.

Your point 2.) The stock Android Email app is eh at best and honestly the manufacture ones are better than the stock Android email app. There are several 3rd party ones. Also you can remove it from the dock on Touchwize. Just it is not as simple as drag and drop. I did it for my brother on his phone but can not remember exactly how I did it. My phone is the Atrix 4G so I have a different stock launcher. You can always go with one of the many 3rd party launchers out there. I personally use ADW EX for my phone.
Also the iOS gmail app is crap compared to the Gmail app for Android.

5) I am going to point out that is a keyboard issue and honestly the stock gingerbread keyboard sucks and Samsungs stock keyboard while a little better still sucks. Swype which the Note has is pretty good. As for some free keyboards that are good the Go Keyboard is not bad. I personally am a huge Swiftkey fan but that is a paid keyboard but well worth its cost.

Your returning it part it seems you had not gotten over the learning curve of Android yet as it was just to different from what you were used.

 

[ugahairydawgs]

Just figure I would respond to these 3 points of yours.

Your point 2.) The stock Android Email app is eh at best and honestly the manufacture ones are better than the stock Android email app. There are several 3rd party ones. Also you can remove it from the dock on Touchwize. Just it is not as simple as drag and drop. I did it for my brother on his phone but can not remember exactly how I did it. My phone is the Atrix 4G so I have a different stock launcher. You can always go with one of the many 3rd party launchers out there. I personally use ADW EX for my phone.
Also the iOS gmail app is crap compared to the Gmail app for Android.

5) I am going to point out that is a keyboard issue and honestly the stock gingerbread keyboard sucks and Samsungs stock keyboard while a little better still sucks. Swype which the Note has is pretty good. As for some free keyboards that are good the Go Keyboard is not bad. I personally am a huge Swiftkey fan but that is a paid keyboard but well worth its cost.

Your returning it part it seems you had not gotten over the learning curve of Android yet as it was just to different from what you were used.

Thanks for the tips....I'll try those out. Still have the Note, just working to get the software like I want it and get comfortable with using it before I have it re-activated. Have about 27 days left to see if I can make it work before my return window runs out.

 

[walie]

Never said they were bad, just don't appreciate AT&T or Samsung loading them on there for me and making it so they can't be taken off.

i could say the same for Apple and their Stocks, weather, calculator, and all their other stock apps

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Thanks for the tips....I'll try those out. Still have the Note, just working to get the software like I want it and get comfortable with using it before I have it re-activated. Have about 27 days left to see if I can make it work before my return window runs out.

I know one of the more popular 3rd party email apps is K9. I have played with it but my primary email is gmail so I just went with the Gmail app. I use the stock Motoblur one for my school email as I can tie it into to the schools exchange server pretty easily. I have not tried it with K9 as I removed that off my phone long before I set up my school email address and the school email is pretty limited use. Mostly because a few teachers only send out emails to it.

As for some other launchers to check you there is both the go launcher and ADW as both are free. ADW EX is a paid launcher I can not remember how much it is off the top of my head as I got it during the 10 cent sell from Google.


If you buy the swiftkey keyboard (which I believe is 50 cents right now) there is a good chance you will hate iOS's keyboard afterwards. Big time once it has had time to learn your style of writing and what type of common errors you make. You can speed up its learning your style of writing with having it learn from your email, sms, twitter and facebook but the error learning just takes time.

 

[ugahairydawgs]

i could say the same for Apple and their Stocks, weather, calculator, and all their other stock apps

Right...and the same can be said for Google and the apps they load on there, which I said I was leaving off the list since Apple does preload some of their own apps.

The only thing I am talking about here are those put on by either the carrier (AT&T) or the vendor (Samsung).

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Right...and the same can be said for Google and the apps they load on there, which I said I was leaving off the list since Apple does preload some of their own apps.

The only thing I am talking about here are those put on by either the carrier (AT&T) or the vendor (Samsung).

to be fair you can uninstall Google's App including the marketplay if you wanted to.
Kies I would not exactly call bloatware in your list as sadly it is kind of needed to connect with a computer (Not that I am a fan of Kies). Air is just another part of it.

 

[Frazzle]

Nah

The hardware looks really great sometimes. But when you get to hold one, it usually feels plasticky and lo-fi.

Just yesterday my neighbor asked me to do the network setup for a Galaxy. Already a tell-tale sign that the UI isn't simple enough for non-techies.

I played with the device for a while. Sure enough, it's a nice phone. But you can simply tell that it's a generic OS running on generic hardware. Doesn't feel like a wholly great experience. That, and the fact that you get all of the other 'generic' hassles like manufacturers using 'skins' that hinder core OS updates and users therefore having to wait months for bugs to be fixed (if ever).

The whole experience made me realize how important this 'integration' stuff really is. What use is great hardware if the software doesn't know how to use its capabilities? For me, that's the whole Nokia N97 disaster all over again.

Jobs wasn't lying or RDF'ing when he spoke about that. The Mac has always been proof of this and so are the iOS devices.

 

[rjohnstone]

Before you roll your eyes too far, here's the list of stuff that is thrown on there..

1 All Share
2. Amazon Kindle (Removable)
3. AT&T Code Scanner (Removable)
4. AT&T Family Map (Removable)
5. AT&T Navigator
6. AT&T Ready2Go
7. Crayon physics
8. Featured Apps
9. Kies air
10. YPmobile
11. Live TV (Removable)
12. Messages (AT&T) (Removable)
13. Mini Diary
14. MyAT&T (Removable)
15. Polaris Office
16. Qik Lite (Removable)
17. Samsung Apps
18. Social Hub

And to me it doesn't matter if it is 5 or 50. I don't want a bunch of add-ons from the carrier or vendor (not factoring in the stuff I don't want that Google puts in there too since Apple makes some apps inherent in iOS as well).

Only 5 of those apps were loaded by AT&T and 3 of the 5 can easily be removed.
The remainder are from Samsung.

All Share is DLNA. Why on earth would you want to remove that?
Kies Air is your sync software. (Think iTunes backup)

The rest can be removed very easily since Samsung doesn't lock their boot loaders.
30 seconds to drop root on the phone and then nuke 'em. Problem solved.

 

[cynics]

I have been trying out the Galaxy Note. Some of my observations from my first time really taking a hard look at Android. All of what I am saying below is taking into account that I have no interest in rooting the device or loading up custom roms.

1.) Carrier and vendor bloatware is just pathetic. The number of crappy programs on there that you can't get rid of is mind numbing and since it has been a few years since I have had something other than an iPhone it was pretty strange seeing so much bloatware.

2.) More bells and whistles if you are deeply ingrained in the Google ecosystem. The Gmail app is nice (although somewhat offset by the fact that it now exists for iOS as well). The stock Samsung mail app (and I cannot emphasize this enough) sucks scissors. About as un-intuitive as a company could possibly design an app. Oh....and you're stuck with it in the launcher.

3.) The extra screen real estate is great. I never really realized just how cramped the iPhone screen is until I tried something larger for more than just the few minutes I have looked at other devices at various stores. I think 5.3" is pushing it for some people, but something that size with a retina screen running iOS or stock ICS would be pretty great. I still think the mass market sweet spot is somewhere in between 4.3" - 4.5", but if you have bigger mitts the 4.7" and 5.3" devices are really useful. Only downside to the phone is that some of the angles at which you have to hold it make it really easy to inadvertently hit one of the capacitive buttons.

4.) Widgets are cool. Apple needs to figure out a way to integrate them in iOS. Not sure how great they would be on a 3.5" screen, but 4.5" would suit them just fine. Having them on the iPad seems like it would be a no-brainer.

5.) Android (or at least the version of Gingerbread running on the Note) is....quirky. Couple of examples. First, I was coming to this site and logging in with my User ID and password. Started typing in my user name and as soon as I got to ugah and auto-corrected to Uganda. If I kept typing it would eventually let me choose the correct user name from the list, but when it entered it into the field it would leave out the a (i.e., ughairydawgs), so I had to go back and manually enter it. Did it several times in a row...never could figure that out. Second, in the contacts app on the Note it comes with a bunch of generic contact groups pre-loaded (Family, Friends, Co-workers, etc). If you add contacts that are synced with your Google account to those contact groups it does not sync back with your contacts online. If you already have a Family contact group in your Google account it will sync onto the device, but will do so with Unknown as the contact group (since Family is already pre-loaded). You cannot edit or delete those pre-loaded contact groups or merge them with your existing groups.

All in all after a couple of days my experience has been "eh" so far. I had to go back to the AT&T Store last night bto re-activate my iPhone. Need to get the software working right for me before I let it be my daily driver again. Trying to be as open minded with it as possible though. A little tougher than I thought integrating it with all of my other devices, which are all Apple made.

I have to touch on your point 5. I've never had an issue with androids autocorrect. My normal screen name is CynicX however when I registered to this forum iOS preferred cynics. Now mostly my fault for not checking to make sure all my data is correct. Never had that issue with Samsung android or vanilla android.

The rest of what you mentioned I agree with.

 

[cynics]

to be fair you can uninstall Google's App including the marketplay if you wanted to.
Kies I would not exactly call bloatware in your list as sadly it is kind of needed to connect with a computer (Not that I am a fan of Kies). Air is just another part of it.

Sure about that? I have vanilla honeycomb, Motorola gingerbread and vanilla ics and google apps like video and the marketplace cannot be removed. I can with rooting though.

Unless you meant with rooting but we are responding to someone that said w/o root.