Sigh, I miss iOS sometimes...

[kokhean]

I've tried using the Galaxy Note before. My mother prefers her iPhone 5 for some reason and the Galaxy Note is left at home as her spare phone, so I would occasionally borrow it to try the Android experience.

The screen is nice. The operating system's ability to customise without rooting is also nice. Quick settings are also more convenient.

Every time I try using it, I would be like "Android's so much better" but when I pick up my jailbroken iPhone 4S, I always find that the iPhone has a much better user experience. I don't know how to personally explain it, but I enjoy using my iPhone 4S better than the Galaxy Note.

Here's why. The battery life, although much bigger than the one on the iPhone 4S, leaves a lot to be desired. I browse the web for maybe 2 minutes on cellular data and the battery can drain up to 5%. This has already happened when the phone was still on Jelly Bean. I believe that this is not that specific phone's issue, because I've also experienced the same thing on two other Galaxy Notes.

Smoothness is also horrible. Sure, you can argue that Jelly Bean's Project Butter makes it a lot better, and I can agree with that, but it doesn't help much TBH. I've recently updated it to Jelly Bean and it became slower and app crashes were more frequent.

I also thought of rooting it but there were too many warnings on the threads.

Unlocking the bootloader will void warranty

This is when things start to get scary. If you are a beginner Odin person, then you must follow these steps very carefully, or you might brick your phone.

On iOS, if the devices messes up, all I need is a DFU restore.

I am currently eyeing the upcoming Galaxy S4. I've already saved up enough money and it will be the first Android phone that I will try using as a daily driver. I hope that this is the right choice as the iPhone 5S is also coming as well.

 

[alex2792]

Yeah the navigation not auto muting during calls is really annoying, but I would still never go back to ios from my S3, the screen size and no SwiftKey is a deal breaker.

 

[strausd]

Yeah the navigation not auto muting during calls is really annoying, but I would still never go back to ios from my S3, the screen size and no SwiftKey is a deal breaker.

That is exactly why I'm staying with my Nexus 4. Plus I love having the ability to change launchers whenever I want.

 

[spinedoc77]

Add Bluetooth headset functionality to the list of grievances, its utterly terrible. Press the talk button and the awful S voice comes up, although of course I can't blame Google for that. Disabling S voice and now it brings up something weird called Google Voice Dialer or something, this is even worse than awful in functionality. So every time I want to make a call I have to manually choose my contact taking away half the utility of a headset. Even though I think Google Now kind of sucks I wish there was a way to have it come up with the Bluetooth headset, anyone know?? Of course having a Bluetooth headset only magnifies the issue of navigation not muting during a call.

This is a great example of how Siri was much more intuitive, it just seemed to work, and it knew what you were asking for. Google just seems like a very fractured confused system, add to that Samsung and its that much more fractured and confused.

I gotta say, I love the screen on my Note, but if Apple ever came out with a phablet I think I would switch back in a second.

 

[mib1800]

Here's why. The battery life, although much bigger than the one on the iPhone 4S, leaves a lot to be desired. I browse the web for maybe 2 minutes on cellular data and the battery can drain up to 5%. This has already happened when the phone was still on Jelly Bean. I believe that this is not that specific phone's issue, because I've also experienced the same thing on two other Galaxy Notes.

There is no way this can be true unless all the Note "you tried" are faulty.
I never see Android supporters in such desperation to say ridiculous things about iphone like "use 2 minutes dropped 5%".

Smoothness is also horrible. Sure, you can argue that Jelly Bean's Project Butter makes it a lot better, and I can agree with that, but it doesn't help much TBH. I've recently updated it to Jelly Bean and it became slower and app crashes were more frequent.

I also thought of rooting it but there were too many warnings on the threads.

Really? I suggest you go and try a real phone first then comment.

On iOS, if the devices messes up, all I need is a DFU restore.

I am currently eyeing the upcoming Galaxy S4. I've already saved up enough money and it will be the first Android phone that I will try using as a daily driver. I hope that this is the right choice as the iPhone 5S is also coming as well.

You won't like the S4.

 

[Paradoxally]

On iOS, if the devices messes up, all I need is a DFU restore.

I am currently eyeing the upcoming Galaxy S4. I've already saved up enough money and it will be the first Android phone that I will try using as a daily driver. I hope that this is the right choice as the iPhone 5S is also coming as well.

Galaxy S4? Don't. First impressions says it's laggy as heck. Go for the iPhone 5S when it comes out, at least iOS was never laggy its last 3-4 iterations.

 

[mattopotamus]

Galaxy S4? Don't. First impressions says it's laggy as heck. Go for the iPhone 5S when it comes out, at least iOS was never laggy its last 3-4 iterations.

those were unfinished version of the phones being reviewed.

 

[roxxette]

Galaxy S4? Don't. First impressions says it's laggy as heck. Go for the iPhone 5S when it comes out, at least iOS was never laggy its last 3-4 iterations.

laggy as heck ? first videos show some lag but i saw a new one couple of days ago that looked pretty stable; i think its the one from "phonearena".

 

[Paradoxally]

I just don't get why people would get the S4 over the Nexus 4. N4 is pure Android, S4 is crappy touchwiz (I've used a S3 and I can tell you the Nexus destroys it). Sure you can root and such, but I'm all for a out of the box experience like the iPhone. Plus, updates.

 

[Tinmania]

I just don't get why people would get the S4 over the Nexus 4. N4 is pure Android, S4 is crappy touchwiz (I've used a S3 and I can tell you the Nexus destroys it). Sure you can root and such, but I'm all for a out of the box experience like the iPhone. Plus, updates.

I find "pure Android" boring. I'll take TW over it. I doubt I'm alone.

I would never get a Nexus 4 over the S4--wouldn't even consider it (and I bought a N4 the day it was available for ordering). Now perhaps the Nexus 5 but I will have to see what that is like come fall.


Michael

 

[Vegastouch]

Add Bluetooth headset functionality to the list of grievances, its utterly terrible. Press the talk button and the awful S voice comes up, although of course I can't blame Google for that. Disabling S voice and now it brings up something weird called Google Voice Dialer or something, this is even worse than awful in functionality. So every time I want to make a call I have to manually choose my contact taking away half the utility of a headset. Even though I think Google Now kind of sucks I wish there was a way to have it come up with the Bluetooth headset, anyone know?? Of course having a Bluetooth headset only magnifies the issue of navigation not muting during a call.

This is a great example of how Siri was much more intuitive, it just seemed to work, and it knew what you were asking for. Google just seems like a very fractured confused system, add to that Samsung and its that much more fractured and confused.

I gotta say, I love the screen on my Note, but if Apple ever came out with a phablet I think I would switch back in a second.

You can make the bluetooth device your default you know. I use a bluetooth visor clip in my car(Motorola Roadster) and with it the app My Motospeak from the Playstore. I just make those my default and everytime i want to use bluetooth and make a call or send a text handsfree, the bluetooth device and app are what is used by default.

Not sure why your having that issue. You be able to pick what you want to use as default.

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I just don't get why people would get the S4 over the Nexus 4. N4 is pure Android, S4 is crappy touchwiz (I've used a S3 and I can tell you the Nexus destroys it). Sure you can root and such, but I'm all for a out of the box experience like the iPhone. Plus, updates.

For me, i didnt like the glass back. Also didnt like the batterylife the N4 was getting. I dont use TouchWiz for my launcher. I use Apex or Nova which are IMO far better but i do like the TouchWiz dialer better and all the other things they added as opposed to the plain Android ones.

I do have a N7 and i like it a lot. Even better than the Mini. The do think the Nexus 4 is a nice phone but that glass back...i dont want no part of having it crack with the slightest drop.
Does it destroy the GS3? Not in my opinion it doesnt and id call the GS3 more durable as well. Ive dropped it a couple times that im sure would of cracked the back glass on the N4.

Im not going to get the S4 right away. Ill be waiting 3 to 6 months so by then we should know what the Nexus 5 store for us. should have in

 

[spinedoc77]

You can make the bluetooth device your default you know. I use a bluetooth visor clip in my car(Motorola Roadster) and with it the app My Motospeak from the Playstore. I just make those my default and everytime i want to use bluetooth and make a call or send a text handsfree, the bluetooth device and app are what is used by default.

Not sure why your having that issue. You be able to pick what you want to use as default.

----------



For me, i didnt like the glass back. Also didnt like the batterylife the N4 was getting. I dont use TouchWiz for my launcher. I use Apex or Nova which are IMO far better but i do like the TouchWiz dialer better and all the other things they added as opposed to the plain Android ones.

I do have a N7 and i like it a lot. Even better than the Mini. The do think the Nexus 4 is a nice phone but that glass back...i dont want no part of having it crack with the slightest drop.
Does it destroy the GS3? Not in my opinion it doesnt and id call the GS3 more durable as well. Ive dropped it a couple times that im sure would of cracked the back glass on the N4.

Im not going to get the S4 right away. Ill be waiting 3 to 6 months so by then we should know what the Nexus 5 store for us. should have in

Hmm, so you are saying I can make Google now the default for when I press my Bluetooth button? If true that would be awesome, but I can't figure out where I would change that setting.

 

[Vegastouch]

Hmm, so you are saying I can make Google now the default for when I press my Bluetooth button? If true that would be awesome, but I can't figure out where I would change that setting.

No, not saying that. I assume you have a bluetooth device you use such as a ear piece or a car visor device like i have or it is built inside the car.

What im saying is that you pair whatever it is you are using and when you go to use it...as in my case since my visor device uses a app to work with it, it will bring up a couple different ways to use it...such as with the Motospeak app or voice or S Voice....i just choose Motospeak as default and it goes to that automatically everytime.

It should bring up a choice to choose.

If you just push the talk button on Google Now, that isnt going to give you bluetooth functuality. If your bluetooth device is paired and activated, the phone will dial thru Google Now using bluetooth though.

 

[Tinmania]

No, not saying that. I assume you have a bluetooth device you use such as a ear piece or a car visor device like i have or it is built inside the car.

What im saying is that you pair whatever it is you are using and when you go to use it...as in my case since my visor device uses a app to work with it, it will bring up a couple different ways to use it...such as with the Motospeak app or voice or S Voice....i just choose Motospeak as default and it goes to that automatically everytime.

It should bring up a choice to choose.

If you just push the talk button on Google Now, that isnt going to give you bluetooth functuality. What it will do is you can say "Call Bob" for example (need a last name if more than one) and it will call Bob. If your bluetooth device is paired and activated, the phone will dial thru it after it dials though.

I think you only saw it asking to choose because you installed that app, which seems to be for motorola bt devices only. I never got a prompt on my Note 2. It just uses S Voice.

I don't think your reply applies to him, unless he happens to have a motorola bt device. However, it is nice to know that other voice control apps can be installed and made the default.

In my case I don't have an issue making calls with S Voice. I am not very good sending texts with it but no worse, give or take, than with Siri.




Michael

 

[Vegastouch]

I think you only saw it asking to choose because you installed that app, which seems to be for motorola bt devices only. I never got a prompt on my Note 2. It just uses S Voice.

I don't think your reply applies to him, unless he happens to have a motorola bt device. However, it is nice to know that other voice control apps can be installed and made the default.

In my case I don't have an issue making calls with S Voice. I am not very good sending texts with it but no worse, give or take, than with Siri.




Michael

Its been a awhile but i do believe it asked for which one to use when using bluetooth commands and it was the Moto app and i think it was Google Voice and i jjust picked the Moto app as my default. I've had S Voice disabled for a while now. It's awful.

However , if he wants to use Google Now, he can with his bluetooth device turned on. If i use Google Now i just tell it who to call and it works thru the bluetooth device.

My car doesnt have bluetooth built in it so thats why i have the visor device. I hate those ear pieces. I actually love the Motorola Roadster. Turns on and off automatically and just push a button and tell it what to do.

 

[Tinmania]

Its been a awhile but i do believe it asked for which one to use when using bluetooth commands and it was the Moto app and i think it was Google Voice and i jjust picked the Moto app as my default. I've had S Voice disabled for a while now. It's awful.

However , if he wants to use Google Now, he can with his bluetooth device turned on. If i use Google Now i just tell it who to call and it works thru the bluetooth device.

My car doesnt have bluetooth built in it so thats why i have the visor device. I hate those ear pieces. I actually love the Motorola Roadster. Turns on and off automatically and just push a button and tell it what to do.

I never got the prompt to use Google now on either my Note 2 or Nexus 4 when using bluetooth.

I don't think you can use Google Now by bluetooth like you can S Voice or that moto app. You can use google voice search but that is a bit different than Google Now, and is what spinedoc was referring to earlier.



Michael

 

[Vegastouch]

I never got the prompt to use Google now on either my Note 2 or Nexus 4 when using bluetooth.

I don't think you can use Google Now by bluetooth like you can S Voice or that moto app. You can use google voice search but that is a bit different than Google Now, and is what spinedoc was referring to earlier.



Michael

No not GN, it was the Google Voice app i set up. In anycase.....i ony tried S Voice a few times and it was awful so i dont recall how it worked, since it didnt work very well but if you use GN and tell it to call "Bob" for instance and your bluetooth is on, it will call Bob and it will work thru your speaker or headset. Does for me anyways.

 

[torana355]

I find "pure Android" boring. I'll take TW over it. I doubt I'm alone.

I would never get a Nexus 4 over the S4--wouldn't even consider it (and I bought a N4 the day it was available for ordering). Now perhaps the Nexus 5 but I will have to see what that is like come fall.


Michael

Most people don't know any better as they come from an iPhone to a Samsung android phone and assume Touchwiz is how all android phones are. All the guys that i know that have S3's and have decent knowledge of Android are running custom roms to get rid Touchwiz. Not only does it slow the phone down but but the carriers bloatware is baked right into it. Most people would kill for an S3 or even the new S4 with vanilla android from factory. I think IOS has "boring" pretty much nailed down.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Most people don't know any better as they come from an iPhone to a Samsung android phone and assume Touchwiz is how all android phones are. All the guys that i know that have S3's and have decent knowledge of Android are running custom roms to get rid Touchwiz. Not only does it slow the phone down but but the carriers bloatware is baked right into it. Most people would kill for an S3 or even the new S4 with vanilla android from factory. I think IOS has "boring" pretty much nailed down.

I actually like touchwiz on the S3 and rarely experience any lag on stock or the touchwiz custom rom I'm using. I tried all kinds of custom roms and always come back to using a touchwiz based one. I really didn't experience any better smoothness of non touchwiz roms.

 

[spinedoc77]

No, not saying that. I assume you have a bluetooth device you use such as a ear piece or a car visor device like i have or it is built inside the car.

What im saying is that you pair whatever it is you are using and when you go to use it...as in my case since my visor device uses a app to work with it, it will bring up a couple different ways to use it...such as with the Motospeak app or voice or S Voice....i just choose Motospeak as default and it goes to that automatically everytime.

It should bring up a choice to choose.

If you just push the talk button on Google Now, that isnt going to give you bluetooth functuality. If your bluetooth device is paired and activated, the phone will dial thru Google Now using bluetooth though.

No it doesn't use Google now, that's how I'd like it to work. With s voice disabled it uses some funky half baked dialer called Google Dialer.

I'm not asking how to connect or use my Bluetooth headset, I know how to do that, I'm just asking to choose which app/dialer comes up when I press the Bluetooth button on my headset.

----------

I never got the prompt to use Google now on either my Note 2 or Nexus 4 when using bluetooth.

I don't think you can use Google Now by bluetooth like you can S Voice or that moto app. You can use google voice search but that is a bit different than Google Now, and is what spinedoc was referring to earlier.



Michael

Yes exactly.

 

[torana355]

I actually like touchwiz on the S3 and rarely experience any lag on stock or the touchwiz custom rom I'm using. I tried all kinds of custom roms and always come back to using a touchwiz based one. I really didn't experience any better smoothness of non touchwiz roms.

What custom roms have you tried? Also what kernel? Roms with cpu optimizations for the S3 are the ones you want to try. Stock TW is laggy on every S3 ive seen especially when coming from a Nexus 4 with RBJ rom and Trinity kernel.

 

[Tinmania]

Most people don't know any better as they come from an iPhone to a Samsung android phone and assume Touchwiz is how all android phones are. All the guys that i know that have S3's and have decent knowledge of Android are running custom roms to get rid Touchwiz. Not only does it slow the phone down but but the carriers bloatware is baked right into it. Most people would kill for an S3 or even the new S4 with vanilla android from factory. I think IOS has "boring" pretty much nailed down.

I think I know exactly what I am talking about when I say I find plain Android boring. I bought a Nexus 4 the day it came out. It was ok but didn't seem to excel at anything. Screen didn't seem to pop, speaker wasn't all that loud, camera was sub-par, and I really hated the on-screen nav buttons stealing screen-estate (nor did I like the work-arounds to use them when running a mod or rom to remove them).

The Note 2, on the other hand, I really like--and have since I got it back in January. I have no such issues like you describe with Touchwiz. Very smooth for me. Seems to me a lot of people like and recommend CleanROM and that not only has Touchwiz, it has all of its features available (whereas my AT&T Note 2 did not). Currently I run CleanROM ACE.




Michael

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

What custom roms have you tried? Also what kernel? Roms with cpu optimizations for the S3 are the ones you want to try. Stock TW is laggy on every S3 ive seen especially when coming from a Nexus 4 with RBJ rom and Trinity kernel.

Right now I'm using DevilsReject TW rom and before that I was using DrewGaren's TW JB rom

DevilsReject has been the best I've tried so far. Very stable, better batt life, and note2 keyborad.

I'm thinking about giving SynergyROM a try.

All other roms I've tried were not TW based. And I've tried damn near all of them in XDA, even if it was just for an hour usage. I like using ktoonsez kernel. For some weird reason, I couldn't never get that kernal to work on TW roms even though others have no problem.

 

[jrswizzle]

I think I know exactly what I am talking about when I say I find plain Android boring. I bought a Nexus 4 the day it came out. It was ok but didn't seem to excel at anything. Screen didn't seem to pop, speaker wasn't all that loud, camera was sub-par, and I really hated the on-screen nav buttons stealing screen-estate (nor did I like the work-arounds to use them when running a mod or rom to remove them).

The Note 2, on the other hand, I really like--and have since I got it back in January. I have no such issues like you describe with Touchwiz. Very smooth for me. Seems to me a lot of people like and recommend CleanROM and that not only has Touchwiz, it has all of its features available (whereas my AT&T Note 2 did not). Currently I run CleanROM ACE.




Michael

The Nexus 4 cost $299 off contract versus the, what, $800+ the Note 2 costs?? Can we stop putting unrealistic expectations on the Nexus 4 - its a budget, high-end vanilla Android line....

Certainly unrealistic to expect the same types of performance and features when the price difference is more than double what the Nexus 4 costs.

 

[Tinmania]

The Nexus 4 cost $299 off contract versus the, what, $800+ the Note 2 costs?? Can we stop putting unrealistic expectations on the Nexus 4 - its a budget, high-end vanilla Android line...

Huh? What does price have to do with me liking the Note 2 more than the Nexus 4. The price of the Nexus 4 is not going to suddenly make me like it more.

But what really makes your reply seem odd is that I originally replied to this:

I just don't get why people would get the S4 over the Nexus 4. N4 is pure Android, S4 is crappy touchwiz (I've used a S3 and I can tell you the Nexus destroys it). Sure you can root and such, but I'm all for a out of the box experience like the iPhone. Plus, updates.

I didn't see you chime in on that post about how it was impossible that such a cheap phone could be better than one that costs twice as much.




Michael