From iPhone 5 to Note 2

[jrswizzle]

I am sure they can figure it out, but I don't think they will ever go thicker again with the iphone. With that being said if they add things like NFC, notification light, or some kind of Apple widget thing you are talking about some battery drain even in standby. I think the IGZO screen could help, but then adding the features could pull it back down again. Like I said Apple is smart with this kind of thing, but these are reasons I don't think we will see anything like these festures in the iphone this year maybe not even next year. I know the battery technology is growing all the time but I don't see a great change in the coming year.

From what I've read, IGZO will be a great battery saver - and Apple's implementation of such features wouldn't be the same as Androids. Apple has a much tighter reign on the optimization of software and hardware since they control both. They would likely only implement these features if they can keep the battery life high and efficient.

Maybe this year, maybe next. Maybe something totally unexpected. Who knows? Exciting to think about though.

 

[bmac4]

From what I've read, IGZO will be a great battery saver - and Apple's implementation of such features wouldn't be the same as Androids. Apple has a much tighter reign on the optimization of software and hardware since they control both. They would likely only implement these features if they can keep the battery life high and efficient.

Maybe this year, maybe next. Maybe something totally unexpected. Who knows? Exciting to think about though.

It took them longer to add LTE so I think this will be the same. Get everything right before they even try it. With android sure some of the apps are not under strick control by Google, but the things that I am talking about with notification lights, and nfc the OMEs control and do a good job. The widget part is what can hurt battery life. I think I is what may be the longest shot is seeing Apple add to the iphone.

 

[bmac4]

At this point if I am completely honest to pull me back to iOS would take a lot from Apple. One they would need to add a lot of features that we have discussed before like notification light, nfc, some kind of Apple widget thing, and bigger screen. With widgets I don't want something like what Apple did with notification center. To me that was a disaster and was trying not to look like android but in doing that they did kind of. Did not work for me at all. If they do widget or whatever they want to call it do something different.

I feel like Apple is more focused on battery life right now. That is one advantage I think they think they have. I for one thought the battery life on the iphone 5 was not really that good. With phones like the note 2 were you can used the phone a lot and still make it through the day. Apple is going to conserve battery somewhere. Sure the note 2 is a different kind of phone or whatever, but this phone is becoming more and more popular, and Apple has to keep that in mind. To add features like these without losing battery life they are going to need a better battery.

I think Apple can pull something like this off, but I think we are more than a year away from that. Look we all know they are going to release an iphone 5s and that is great. At some point they are going to have to add some new features to the phone to keep people interested, and with each feature come more battery drain. The problem now is batteries are too big to fit into a phone like the iphone 5. Now I have heard that technology is going for smaller batteries with bigger capacity, but still that is in the future. I don't see Apple making the iphone any thicker right now. So does not mean change is really not going to happen for another 2 years? I think so.

 

[macrem]

Not cool. Please don't deny me a useful function in order to save battery life. I can babysit my own battery if needed, thanks.

Some users will open a gazillion tabs, then wonder why their battery is dead in less than a day and everything is so jittery. It's a logical trade off. How useful is it to have 20 tabs open on a smartphone? The thing that makes this difficult is we're talking about the Note. Maybe it does make sense on the Note's screen size but on an iPhone I don't think it's very useful, so I get why it was implemented this way & never felt limited by it. Mind you I switch to a tablet when I'm going to spend a lot of time surfing. The Note is more like a 2-in-1 smartphone/tablet, but I don't want to always carry around a tablet sized device, nor to hold such a big device up to my head for calls. I switch between a bigger than Note tablet & smaller than Note smartphone & like it like that.

In any case, the way tabs work in general on Chrome is the biggest reason why I choose this browser over Safari. I love being able to do a Google search, then open several search results on new tabs to compare them, and be able to swipe between them without that extra tap to come out to the multi page view on Safari.

Do you mean tap & hold a link in search results to open in a new tab? On Chrome on my Nexus 7, I can tap & hold a link in search results to open it in a new tab (same as Safari). I'd probably like what you're describing. Currently I prefer in Safari on iPhone the ability to flick through an overview of entire pages compared to multiple tabs, some of which tabs on the same website look identical to each other.

Also I prefer the all-tabs view on Chrome, which lets you see all of them at once and be able to close those you want with a side-swipe.

Does this exist on all Android devices? I have the latest version of Chrome on a Nexus 7 and can't find it.

This is far from always true - because so many mobile versions of sites are terrible.[...]

Could you give a concrete example (URL)? In my real world usage, I am finding the mobile versions are much better & often the app is better than the website. Just to give an example, the layout and user interaction of yahoo.com using Safari on an iPhone is much better, IMO, than on any other device. You can flick laterally between images/stories & it's buttery smooth.

I never feel like I'm missing something. If the full website is better on a mobile device than the mobile version, it's probably not a website I'm interested in to begin with. On the app side, take for instance AlienBlue to visit reddit. That I find is a brilliant app. I'd like to see that layout on the mobile website itself.

Btw, on all mobile OSes I find it a bit of a mess that we have to keep switching between the browser and apps to get the best experience.

 

[daneoni]

What?

You opinion is that Safari isn't the best...many others would disagree.

 

[Oohara]

Some users will open a gazillion tabs, then wonder why their battery is dead in less than a day and everything is so jittery. It's a logical trade off. How useful is it to have 20 tabs open on a smartphone? The thing that makes this difficult is we're talking about the Note. Maybe it does make sense on the Note's screen size but on an iPhone I don't think it's very useful, so I get why it was implemented this way & never felt limited by it. Mind you I switch to a tablet when I'm going to spend a lot of time surfing. The Note is more like a 2-in-1 smartphone/tablet, but I don't want to always carry around a tablet sized device, nor to hold such a big device up to my head for calls. I switch between a bigger than Note tablet & smaller than Note smartphone & like it like that.

Agreed, unlimited tabs are more important on the Note. Personally I prefer carrying a phablet around over carrying a phone + tablet, and I base my observations on phablet use so I can see why we're coming to different base conclusions

Do you mean tap & hold a link in search results to open in a new tab? On Chrome on my Nexus 7, I can tap & hold a link in search results to open it in a new tab (same as Safari). I'd probably like what you're describing. Currently I prefer in Safari on iPhone the ability to flick through an overview of entire pages compared to multiple tabs, some of which tabs on the same website look identical to each other.

Yes, the tap & hold you can of course do in Safari as well, but the nice thing I like about Chrome is that you can swipe from the edge of the screen to go immediately to your next tab, without having to take one step out to a multi-view first.

Does this exist on all Android devices? I have the latest version of Chrome on a Nexus 7 and can't find it.

Not sure about all Android devices, but this is what I'm talking about:

Could you give a concrete example (URL)? In my real world usage, I am finding the mobile versions are much better & often the app is better than the website. Just to give an example, the layout and user interaction of yahoo.com using Safari on an iPhone is much better, IMO, than on any other device. You can flick laterally between images/stories & it's buttery smooth.

I never feel like I'm missing something. If the full website is better on a mobile device than the mobile version, it's probably not a website I'm interested in to begin with. On the app side, take for instance AlienBlue to visit reddit. That I find is a brilliant app. I'd like to see that layout on the mobile website itself.

Actually this very page would be one example. Earlier today I wanted to see more posts by a user - on the mobile site this means first clicking the name and loading a new page, then expand "statistics", then click to see all posts. On the desktop version, I just click the name and select "see more posts" from the drop-down menu. Of course - again - this is more commonly useful with a larger screen such as the Note's. But I tend to use it quite a bit on my iPhone as well.

Btw, on all mobile OSes I find it a bit of a mess that we have to keep switching between the browser and apps to get the best experience.

Agreed. But it seems that mobile sites are generally getting better and more complete. The national rail site here in Sweden was recently updated so that you can easily buy tickets etc. on the mobile version, whereas their app has been a disaster from the start. But - in general the need for going to apps instead of using the desktop site is more of a non-issue on the Note

 

[Tinmania]

Some users will open a gazillion tabs, then wonder why their battery is dead in less than a day and everything is so jittery.

And some users blindly parrot myths. Like this one. Yea, those open tabs are all actively running in the background.




Michael

 

[sentinelsx]

Ehh, I guess for those times where checking the phone isn't a option (meetings and such) I simply don't look at my phone period lol....

I know people love this notification light....it just seems like a relatively small issue.....I wouldn't care one way or another if Apple implemented one, so why not let em.

As long as they don't get crazy with all the gimmicky features. Another forum go-er here had the brilliant idea of letting the Apple glow much like the MacBooks do....I could definitely get behind that if done correctly.

A nicer implementation could be that the home button has a background glow and it supports different colors which can be assigned to any event by a user.

 

[jrswizzle]

A nicer implementation could be that the home button has a background glow and it supports different colors which can be assigned to any event by a user.

Agreed - they could pack some killer features in that physical home button to keep it around.

 

[bmac4]

I have had the note 2 for a little over 2 weeks now. I just want to give an update after coming from the iphone 5. I know a lot of you have seen me posting asking about buying the nexus 4 that is not because I don't like the note. I just want something to go along with it that has pure Google. I have mostly only have had nexus devices, so this is a change for me.

So first off the size just does not bother me at all. It never really did from the beginning, but now that I have had more time with it. I feel like Samsung did a great job of making it feel good in hand. Sure it is big, and much different that any other smart phone. It just seems to work. I would not say that other phones feel to small now just that the note 2 feels like the right size. I still have my iphone 5 and use it for music and when I pick it up it still feels fine. If you are worried about the phone being to big just try it out. You will get use to it.

Next the features that Samsung added to the phone. Almost all of them are amazing. My favorite one is the phone staying on while you are looking at it. I don't know how many times on other smartphones I would be reading an article and have to worry about the screen going black. I also really like the feature that let's you put the phone up to your ear when you are on contact page and it will call them. It is just the small things Samsung has adding to the phone that make it great.

Now on to the battery. I don't know of a phone that has done a better job on battery than this one. It is almost impossible to kill this thing. I am doing the same amount of stuff I was on the iphone 5 and the iphone 5 would die. The note 2 still has 30% battery left. This is one of my favorite parts about the phone. If you are a heavy user this is the phone for you.

There are a few things I don't like about the phone.touchwiz is not my favorite thing in the world. I use Nova launcher to make it the way I want it. The icon in touchwiz just look to cartoon like for me. I know this is a big phone and typing with one hand is going to be hard. I just think they could have done a better job with the one handed keyboard thing. I wish it could tell when you were holding it with one hand and switch to that keyboard. Instead you either have it on all the time or not at all. I just leave it off. Having SwiftKey helps because you can turn on flow and one handed typing becoming just fine.

Now I am not saying this phone is for everyone, but I really do believe this might be the best phone I have ever owned. There is not too much this phone can't do. Watching YouTube videos is a joy on the note 2. Reading articles on the browser is great. If you like android this phone will not disappoint. Anyone who ask whether they should get this phone I have no issues telling them to get it.

 

[F123D]

Wasn't a fan of the touchwiz icons as well. Installed Nova Prime launcher and replaced them all with JB icons. 100x easier to replace icons on here than it was on my iPhone.

 

[bmac4]

Wasn't a fan of the touchwiz icons as well. Installed Nova Prime launcher and replaced them all with JB icons. 100x easier to replace icons on here than it was on my iPhone.

So I don't have nova launcher prime I just have the free version. Does the prime one offer the ability to change the app drawer icon like you did? I like the nexus colors that outline it.

 

[bmac4]

Agreed - they could pack some killer features in that physical home button to keep it around.

I know this has nothing to do with what I am quoting you on, but I had a question about your nexus 4. Which size did you get? I am looking into getting one, but I want to keep the price down. Seeing as how I have note 2 already and just looking for a phone to use sometimes I am thinking the 8gb would be enough. Just wanted your thoughts.

 

[mattopotamus]

I know this has nothing to do with what I am quoting you on, but I had a question about your nexus 4. Which size did you get? I am looking into getting one, but I want to keep the price down. Seeing as how I have note 2 already and just looking for a phone to use sometimes I am thinking the 8gb would be enough. Just wanted your thoughts.

I know you didn't ask me, but I have an 8gb with about 20 apps and still have 5gb free. If you don't store movies and music, you will have plenty of room!

 

[jrswizzle]

I know this has nothing to do with what I am quoting you on, but I had a question about your nexus 4. Which size did you get? I am looking into getting one, but I want to keep the price down. Seeing as how I have note 2 already and just looking for a phone to use sometimes I am thinking the 8gb would be enough. Just wanted your thoughts.

I bought the 16 gb because i felt 8 wouldn't be enough.....

I haven't used anywhere near the 16

 

[bmac4]

I bought the 16 gb because i felt 8 wouldn't be enough.....

I haven't used anywhere near the 16

Ok Yea I think the 8gb will do. I am going to keep all my music and stuff on my note 2. There is not way I will have 5 gigs in photos and apps. Thanks for the help. Oh also just curious about what size iphone you have? Do feel that up more than the nexus 4?

 

[Tinmania]

I bought the 16 gb because i felt 8 wouldn't be enough.....

I haven't used anywhere near the 16

I bought the 8GB Nexus 4 only because that was all I could order (on the first day of availability). When they started taking orders again, a week or two later, I quickly ordered a 16GB.

But by the time it came I realized I was only using a little more than half the space on the 8GB. Never even opened the 16GB--sold it still in the box.

Between using the cloud for just about everything, and the smaller size of Android apps, I was using much less than I had imagined.




Michael

 

[nick_elt]

So I don't have nova launcher prime I just have the free version. Does the prime one offer the ability to change the app drawer icon like you did? I like the nexus colors that outline it.

just check before you buy, i think its just an icon pack that can be added. I use apex and I can just add icon packs.

 

[sectime]

Work-arounds for one thing, and the classic "you are doing it wrong for" for another. Arrogance aside that is just silly.

The memory nonsense? Ridiculous. The original iPhone had one eighth the amount of RAM and a fraction of the processing power in the iPhone 5. If the iPhone 5 can only handle 8 tabs the original iPhone should have (barely) been able to handle 1. Then there is this: The iPad 2 has half the memory of the iPhone 5 and yet its Safari can have 4 times the number of open tabs. Let's stop with the absurd "memory" claims.

An "open" tab need only be a string in a plist or other file.

As for this being a non-issue? I agree with the author of "10 Reasons You Should Switch To Chrome For IPad," who listed this first:
Image
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/google-chrome-for-ipad/


Michael

First off to get worked up over a feature that a small percentage would notice,use, or care about says more about you than the feature. You want more than 8 tabs ok. The fact that Iphone doesn't offer it doesn't make the IPhone anything except not for you. It is however working find for me, and a few others

 

[bmac4]

just check before you buy, i think its just an icon pack that can be added. I use apex and I can just add icon packs.

Yea I found the image on Internet and was able to put it into the free nova launcher. It worked great.

 

[jrswizzle]

Wasn't a fan of the touchwiz icons as well. Installed Nova Prime launcher and replaced them all with JB icons. 100x easier to replace icons on here than it was on my iPhone.

Can you give me some tips on the unread counts? I couldn't ever get mine to work through Nova....whats the setup?

 

[wgr73]

Then you just answered your own question. If battery life is more important than stock Android, that is. Want even better battery life on your Note 2? Pick up a Gold 4200mAh battery (same physical size as stock so no change in back cover needed) Link

Be careful with eBay batteries. A lot of those batteries have a fake tape over them that says "4200mAh" but really when you peel the tape off it's the stock size or smaller.

Remember, you can only fit so much into the same shell size/dimensions...which a lot of times = stock battery with fake sticker on the front

 

[Tinmania]

First off to get worked up over a feature that a small percentage would notice,use, or care about says more about you than the feature. You want more than 8 tabs ok. The fact that Iphone doesn't offer it doesn't make the IPhone anything except not for you. It is however working find for me, and a few others

Was there a point amongst all that jibberish?

"Says more about" me lol.... this place is a riot. Yes I am crazy that I like to save tabs so I can read them later, possibly on my iPad or mac.



Michael

 

[wgr73]

Can you give me some tips on the unread counts??

I'd like to know this too!

 

[Tinmania]

Be careful with eBay batteries. A lot of those batteries have a fake tape over them that says "4200mAh" but really when you peel the tape off it's the stock size or smaller.

Remember, you can only fit so much into the same shell size/dimensions...which a lot of times = stock battery with fake sticker on the front

While that is true I believe that 4200mAh one is legit.

What was not legit? The two "3500mAh" batteries that I got on Amazon. They are only 3100 yet seem to be only last 75% of the OEM. But they were only $10 for the two of them so oh well.

Then I got a 3100mAh battery from a more reliable and to my surprise it seems a little better than OEM--even though the same mAh. Go figure.



Michael