Android OS

Original post by yoyo462001

Apart from a full on nuclear reactor powering the iPhone 5, I can say with 100% certainty that I won't even consider buying it, whilst the Sensation and Galaxy S II remain on the market.

They're really that good? :curious:

Reply 5583

yoyo462001

16

Original post by Doughnuts!!

They're really that good? :curious:

I've only ysed the GSII in real life and yep it was amazing. The screen :coma:

. I can only imagine how good the Sensation is since I'm using a very customised Desire HD, which atm performs very well.

Reply 5584

cz100

14

How long roughly does it take for an app to start downloading on your phone after purchase from the Android market on the computer?

Reply 5585

cz100

14

Original post by G8D

Like a second maximum.

Ok I waited about half an hour but got it in the end. Now how do you change the crop proportion of a photo? It used to be a portrait rectangle the right proportion for the screen but now it's changed into more of a square and my wallpaper is horribly stretched

Reply 5586

cz100

14

Original post by G8D

Uh.............. what?

You can adjust the crop while cropping?

No the crop box used to be a rectangle matching the screen but now it's wider than it's tall and I can't pull it any longer vertically because it's sides are touching the edge of the screen so I can only crop about half of a photo. I don't know what happened

Reply 5587

I've all but decided that I'm getting a GS2, but I fear that something (not necessarily the iPhone 5) will overtake the GS2 as the best phone out ATM.

Thoughts?

Reply 5588

Original post by G8D

The next wave of Phones will certainly out-power it.

Hmmm, but how long do you think it'll take for those phones to come out?

Reply 5589

Original post by G8D

End of summer for the announcements then a couple weeks/months after that? idk.

OK, I'm just going to get a SGS2 now and be content with it for a year or so. That is my final decision.

Now, the question that I've been asking everybody: SIM free or contract? :beard:

Reply 5590

Tucking Fypo

I'm having trouble connecting to 3G on the GSII. The red/green arrows that should appear next to the signal bars aren't there either. Any ideas on how to fix this? I'm basically screwed in areas without wifi. Can't use whatsapp, nothing. :angry:

Reply 5591

alex_hk90

19

Original post by Doughnuts!!

Now, the question that I've been asking everybody: SIM free or contract? :beard:

I decide this by calculating the expected cost over the expected lifetime of the phone (typically the duration of the contract). So if it's a 24 month contract, the cost for the contract is [24 * monthly cost + expected overage + net handset cost for contract], and for SIM free is [24 * expected monthly top-ups + net handset cost for SIM free]. It's net handset cost as you should be able to sell the phone at the end to a recycling website.

Reply 5592

username234673

OP

17

Original post by cz100

Ok I waited about half an hour but got it in the end.

Check time and date on your phone - that can cause market issues if it's wrong.

Reply 5593

Original post by Doughnuts!!

LAWL

I don't even own one and I can tell that it's a stupid review.

Also, I'm *this* close to going out and buying a Samsung Galaxy SII but I'm ever so slightly hesitant as the iPhone 5 is most likely coming out in September. :erm:

it may not be. I was talking to a phone rep and he said the iphone5 probably won't be out until next summer, on the basis that the white iphone4 was this year's release and Apple won't jeopardise its sales.

Considering the fact that the iPhone 5 is delayed because of problems with the chip, i'd be surprised if it came out next month, which would be 4-6 weeks away, especially as Apple haven't even mentioned it. When a company can't release a phone in another colour, it doesn't bode well when it's a more serious issue.

Reply 5594

Also, for people worrying about something being outdone, why? Yes, everything will be outdone but if you keep waiting you'll never purchase anything. Sure, the SGS2 may have a 1.2GHz dual core processor, but a single core processor with a lower speed is still decent. So long as a phone is snappy and does what you need it really doesn't matter about other phones. Besides, the SGS2 is great for sure, but the battery life leaves a lot to be desired and the next phone to 'overtake' it won't be able to leave the charging supply.

Reply 5595

Original post by Doughnuts!!

LAWL

I don't even own one and I can tell that it's a stupid review.

Also, I'm *this* close to going out and buying a Samsung Galaxy SII but I'm ever so slightly hesitant as the iPhone 5 is most likely coming out in September. :erm:

That's because Charles Arthur is an absolute idiot. I've had dealings with him in the past and he certainly isn't worth his position as technology editor. Just a quick look through the opening list of things the SGS2 doesn't do sums it all up: it does do them. Ok sure there's no widget to turn 3G off like the HTC, but that's because long-pressing the power key gives the option to turn it off, along with airplane mode (something else he complained about). And apparently there's no unified inbox when there actually is.

put a widget on a home screen to turn off 3G. You can definitely do this with Sense+2.2; couldn't find any way to do it on the S II. Like i said, power button, very convenient and saves scrolling around and saves space

• put a widget on the screen to switch Airplane mode on or off at a touch. You can't get this in the settings bar thing either. as above

• get a unified inbox view if you have multiple mailboxes. If you use email much this is something of a problem. There is a unified inbox, it sits right above the individual inboxes.

• select text in, say, a tweet by pressing and waiting for a context menu or other menu to come up. I spent a lot of time being rude at the phone over this. no, instead you simply tap the word and a blue icon appears, tap it and you can 'select word' or 'select all' then copy and paste. Very easy.

• type without being driven utterly mad by the keyboard system. This is a big and enduring problem with Gingerbread, which I'll deal with in a moment. Android has multiple keyboards built-in, inc Gingerbread, Samsung and Swype. You can download others, including iPhone, in the marketplace

The "context" button (a soft key, on the left of the home button) gives you more actions that you can do - so on an email, you might be able to mark it unread, or delete it. Often you can get the same, or a similar, context menu by pressing and holding on the item (such as email) on the screen. Sometimes though the menu is different. This isn't good. it is good. It all depends on what you're doing - in email and SMS it's more efficient to long-press, because the soft key is touch to stretch to one-handed, but in other areas there's no obvious place to long press. It's quite intuitive and not a big deal at all.

Charles knows very little and his attitude is "hey, Samsung put it in a different place to HTC so it must not be there or if it is it should be where i'm used to it". I got the SGS2 after years of Nokias, and it was an easy transition. That's Charles all over though - he's incredibly ignorant and then spouts about how something isn't there because he hasn't looked for it.

Take this:

"It's not just me; other S II owners I've spoken to say the same - love the hardware, maddened by the software and particularly the keyboard and typing experience. I found it a frustrating experience despite the lovely hardware."

The hardware build-wise is worrying, seriously if you have it in your back pocket and sit down i think it'd break. The software though is great, and the keyboard, who would use it when swype is built in? It's a breeze to type.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 5596

username234673

OP

17

Original post by richwhite

put a widget on a home screen to turn off 3G. You can definitely do this with Sense+2.2; couldn't find any way to do it on the S II. Like i said, power button, very convenient and saves scrolling around and saves space

• put a widget on the screen to switch Airplane mode on or off at a touch. You can't get this in the settings bar thing either. as above

As an FYI for those with SGSIIs (or any other phone), the app "Extended Controls" will do both of these plus much, much more.

Reply 5597