Some of the reasons I'm not sure changing from iphone to galaxy s was a good idea

Ghandee

Right, am prepared for a backlash here, but changed my iphone 3gs to a Samsung Galaxy S back in Aug/Sept of this year, and now, 9 weeks later beginning to wonder if I made the right choice.

Have listed a few cons I've noticed since changing.

1, Kies, this software must be the most poorly thrown together piece of crap I've ever had the misfortune to use, totally crap. Fact!
2, volume levels, I don't know about the rest of you lot, but my ring tones etc constantly seem to turn them selves WAY down seemingly at random, made me miss a few calls already.
3, battery life, typical scenario (for me anyway) is to leave the house around eight am with a fully charged phone, few hours later (midday our so) after a few calls and brief look at some sites battery level around 35 percent or so!
4, phone crashing, I doubt this is unique to me, but the amount of times this phone has went black, vibrates like a rabbit ;), while displaying message SOMETHING had forced close is ten times the amount of times my iphone did something similar.
5, apps. Say what you like folks, apple are miles ahead with range and quality of apps available.
6, rooted, non rooted, froyo malarky. do not get me started on the confusion this crap is creating folks!
7, lag, phone sometimes lags like a biatch, installed numerous lag fixes, but it still persists!


Of course theirs a lot of things this phone does WAY better than Iphones, better screen resolution, more freedom etc and I love the google maps and street views feature, and the text input by swype is the best I've ever used!

I'm in no way slaggin the phone, I like it, (prob prefer it to my old apple device) but think the aforementioned problems need to be addressed asap, anyone thinking of changing phones, I'd still recommend it, just be aware that the galaxy isn't flawless!

funnyclub

Hmm I am thinking of changing from a 3gs to a HTC desire hope I dont feel the same as you

evolutionqy7

thats what you get for choosing Samsung that never happens with htc :P

gingerbread sdk tools are coming out soon and Samsung only brought the official froyo not too long ago. now imagine how long will it take them to adapt to the next android version

theteal

1. Kies is pretty rubbish
2. First time I've heard a volume complaint
3. Sounds like you got a dud. I've been getting abuse from galaxy owning friends over my 1 day battery life on my desire - they all get 2 days apparently
4. Doesn't sound right. Happening since purchase?
5. Apps are getting a lot better - will be helped by a few additions of my own
6. I'm not sure if developer support is great for the galaxy, probably better sticking with stock - I could be wrong here
6. I've seen ATK fix lag issues



Sh!t damo lynch just got sent off! Wrong forum, I know

28064212

1. Kies - Why do people use Samsung's software as a stick to beat Android phones? What are people using Kies for? You don't need it for anything other than updating the OS
2. Ringtone volume - Haven't seen any similar complaints, impossible to diagnose without more info
3. battery life - fairly common complaint with all smartphones, make sure your WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS are all off, and don't use a task-killer
4. phone crashing - something not right there, could probably do with a factory reset*
5. apps - completely disagree. Games maybe, but in terms of actually useful apps
6. rooted, non rooted, froyo malarky - more than jailbroken/iOS etc? If you don't know what rooting is, you shouldn't be going near it. Not to mention the fact that there are virtually no reasons to root anymore, unlike jailbreaking
7. lag - sounds like that's related to number 4, a factory reset* would probably be a good idea. I have a much less powerful phone running stock android and there's virtually no lag

* don't factory reset without backing up all your info

Keano

funnyclub wrote: »

Hmm I am thinking of changing from a 3gs to a HTC desire hope I dont feel the same as you

You wont.

Ghandee

28064212 wrote: »

1. Kies - Why do people use Samsung's software as a stick to beat Android phones? What are people using Kies for? You don't need it for anything other than updating the OS
2. Ringtone volume - Haven't seen any similar complaints, impossible to diagnose without more info
3. battery life - fairly common complaint with all smartphones, make sure your WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS are all off, and don't use a task-killer
4. phone crashing - something not right there, could probably do with a factory reset*
5. apps - completely disagree. Games maybe, but in terms of actually useful apps
6. rooted, non rooted, froyo malarky - more than jailbroken/iOS etc? If you don't know what rooting is, you shouldn't be going near it. Not to mention the fact that there are virtually no reasons to root anymore, unlike jailbreaking
7. lag - sounds like that's related to number 4, a factory reset* would probably be a good idea. I have a much less powerful phone running stock android and there's virtually no lag

* don't factory reset without backing up all your info

Am gonna try this out right now.
My phone was rooted, will this 'unroot' it?

Seifer

28064212 wrote: »

battery life - fairly common complaint with all smartphones, make sure your WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS are all off, and don't use a task-killer

I would've suggested to get a task-killer as this extended my Nexus One's battery life immensely. Why do you say not to get one?

28064212

Gucky wrote: »

Am gonna try this out right now.
My phone was rooted, will this 'unroot' it?

Yes. It will be like it just came from the factory. So all your contacts, emails and calendar appointments will be gone, but so long as they're all synced up to your gmail account, that doesn't matter. You'll lose any apps you've installed since you got it as well, so write down the ones you need to reinstall. The info on your SD card won't be touched, although I'm not sure what happens to apps that are installed on the card

28064212

Seifer wrote: »

I would've suggested to get a task-killer as this extended my Nexus One's battery life immensely. Why do you say not to get one?

Have a read of this thread (all of it). Basically, task-killers mess up the standard app life-cycle. The Android system is set up so that apps are killed cleanly when memory is needed. Task-killers interrupt the cycle and they aren't exited cleanly.

Task-killers are only really ever needed in the case of an app that is misbehaving. You should definitely never run an auto-kill app that shuts down all apps periodically, that's a sure-fire way to run down the battery.

Zascar

I uninstalled my task killer and my battery went from not great, to absolutely horrific. I put it back on.

Seifer

28064212 wrote: »

Have a read of this thread (all of it). Basically, task-killers mess up the standard app life-cycle. The Android system is set up so that apps are killed cleanly when memory is needed. Task-killers interrupt the cycle and they aren't exited cleanly.

Task-killers are only really ever needed in the case of an app that is misbehaving. You should definitely never run an auto-kill app that shuts down all apps periodically, that's a sure-fire way to run down the battery.

Read the thread, not exactly conclusive one way or the other.
And it may kill an app when memory is needed but if no memory release is requested then a battery eating app can stay running.

I definitely think it's worth a shot OP. I usually only kill the tasks once a day when I put my phone in to airplane mode at night and it definitely lasts way longer than it did before I started doing that.

funnyclub

Keano A Legend wrote: »

You wont.

Its just a question of should I wait for the Desire HD to come out or just get the current desire.

Ghandee

I have factory reset using the settings method, and using the power off, press volume button, and using the dialing option, (can't remember the exact way, but it was *numbers*# option, and I still have my data on phone???


Do I have to format internal sd card?(don't have external one yet)

My phone was 3 Ireland branded, will it revert to this?

drunkmonkey

Gucky wrote: »

My phone was 3 Ireland branded, will it revert to this?

Hopefully!!

You've done a lot of unnecessary things to the poor phone, it's no wonder it's all over the place. :p

My Volume goes pretty high both on calls and ringing,
If yours is still iffy after the factory reset it needs to go to fonemenders. I think they have a same day turn around service in some area's.

If apps are force quitting phone functions uninstall them.

2.2 on the way and the ebb u10 is 24hrs from dropping on Play.com for 30 bob, good times ahead for the Galaxy S!!

evolutionqy7

i dont agree with people saying task killers are a bad thing. there has been many discussion over this but i just feel that certain tasks running in the background do drain your mobile phones battery immensely.

in my experience it improves battery life dramatically instead of having around 15 apps running in the background doing nothing but just waiting to be used and using up those extra resources

Bob the Builder

Remember the iPhone was crap when it was first released as well.

I have a HTC Desire. Battery life is pretty bad but hey, it's worth it for a good phone. I had a Nokia e71 before this and the battery life was terrific, but lets face it, the phone didn't do anything amazing at all.

A factory reset usually clears up all your problems. As a poster said above, just don't be a fool, use a backup tool (sorry, had to use a rhyme there).

And yes, these software issues happen. It's a fact of life. Nobody wanted apple's closed operating system on the iPhone because it stopped you from having freedom. But the upside was very few crashes and when it did crash, the solution was predictable and easy to fix. But android is an open operating system and much like Windows, is susceptible to bugs and crashes and all that sort of stuff.

I dont know about you but I'd rather an android than an iPhone any day. I cringe to see people paying €589 for an iphone simply because it looks good. And to see networks going out on a limb to advertise it, is worse. I work in a phone shop and Three recently promised us 20% off our line rental with Three for the duration of our contracts if we bought an iPhone on their network. Why couldn't I buy the HTC Desire instead? It all comes back to Apple's silly way of hyping things way over the top.

Keano

funnyclub wrote: »

Its just a question of should I wait for the Desire HD to come out or just get the current desire.

I think I would wait for the HD

Keano

Zascar wrote: »

I uninstalled my task killer and my battery went from not great, to absolutely horrific. I put it back on.

I use Juice Defender and get 2 days out of my phone.

Zascar

My battery was fully charged before I went to bed last night, and right now, it has less than half left. 50 battery drainage from 10 hours of standby - hmmmm, I think there must be something very very wrong...

Do I have any comeback? Can I get a new phone if I think there is something wrong with it?

angel01

I have the phone, I like most of it, I find if you listen to radio/youtube the volume is really poor and low. I don't use Kies that often but I have it working so no issue there. Not a major issue so I might buy an MP3 player when my funds improve.

Yes I find the battery is very poor, I hate that I can't really close apps, so I use a task killer, not too sure that task killers work either because it tells me I have things open (that I have not opened myself and not used ever), I think I shall try juice defender out next.

I have noticed a lot of "force closes" or errors with apps but I have ignored them.

I love the screen and the touchscreen is pretty special so I am hoping the phone shall improve when I get Froyo.

angel01

Zascar wrote: »

My battery was fully charged before I went to bed last night, and right now, it has less than half left. 50 battery drainage from 10 hours of standby - hmmmm, I think there must be something very very wrong...

Do I have any comeback? Can I get a new phone if I think there is something wrong with it?

Do you have anything syncing in the background? Is wifi off, any apps open?

Idleater

Zascar wrote: »

hmmmm, I think there must be something very very wrong...

Doesn't sound right, can you post the "battery usage statistics" ?
settings -> about phone -> battery -> battery use.

That'll tell you what has taken all the power.

angel01

I notice that display uses most of my battery, which I reckon is normal. Might see if I can turn down the brightness or something..

28064212

Gucky wrote: »

I have factory reset using the settings method, and using the power off, press volume button, and using the dialing option, (can't remember the exact way, but it was *numbers*# option, and I still have my data on phone???


Do I have to format internal sd card?(don't have external one yet)

My phone was 3 Ireland branded, will it revert to this?

Yes, it'll go back to being branded. What do you mean you still have data on the phone? There's no such thing as an external sd card (or at least, none you're actually going to get). There's internal storage (which isn't an sd card, and a factory reset wipes this) and there's an internal sd card (which isn't wiped). You can go ahead and wipe the sd card if there's no data you need on it

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

i dont agree with people saying task killers are a bad thing. there has been many discussion over this but i just feel that certain tasks running in the background do drain your mobile phones battery immensely.

in my experience it improves battery life dramatically instead of having around 15 apps running in the background doing nothing but just waiting to be used and using up those extra resources

There are apps that don't behave correctly. For example, a recent update to Layar on my phone has caused it to run in an active state every time the phone boots and it starts up the GPS. Having the GPS on all day would kill the battery. However, a task killer is not the best approach to it. In Layar's case, I just have to open the app and exit it again. Problem solved. Resources are released in a proper fashion. Now, if Layar was written incorrectly and failed to exit, then I would resort to a task killer. But that is only necessary in a tiny minority of apps.

Having an app in the background does not take up resources. They may have 'reserved' memory, but that is released on-demand. According to Advanced Task Killer, I have about 15 apps that are 'active'. I use maybe 5 of them on a day-to-day basis. I'll still get 3, maybe even 4 days battery out of my phone (Samsung Galaxy Spica). That's with mobile data and Bluetooth turned off, WiFi and GPS on only when I need it, brightness turned down and only widgets that I actually use on the homescreen. And no task-killer. If you're that worried about closing apps, use the back button to exit instead of the home button. The back button is more 'aggressive' about closing them

Keano

Zascar wrote: »

My battery was fully charged before I went to bed last night, and right now, it has less than half left. 50 battery drainage from 10 hours of standby - hmmmm, I think there must be something very very wrong...

Do I have any comeback? Can I get a new phone if I think there is something wrong with it?

I went to bed with 95% battery in my Desire. Wifi off and Juice defender on. This morning I updated my friends stream, weather and news. My battery is now at 80%.

There is something wrong with your phone. I'd be sending it back

Zascar

Ok I'll post my battery stats tomorrow, I've just plugged it in again so they get reset. I've just installed Juice Defender so maybe it will be different.

Actually one question: A lot of the time when I launch task killer, it says lot of apps are open - but I definitely did not open them myself, and I actually never even use them - like the radio for example. Is this normal?

Ghandee

28064212 wrote: »

Yes, it'll go back to being branded. What do you mean you still have data on the phone? There's no such thing as an external sd card (or at least, none you're actually going to get). There's internal storage (which isn't an sd card, and a factory reset wipes this) and there's an internal sd card (which isn't wiped). You can go ahead and wipe the sd card if there's no data you need on it


I mean that I still have photos, apps, even my contacts are still on my phone despite doing factory resets (my music has been wiped though)
Ref the sd card, I mean I havent bought a data card for the phone yet, as in one I can replace and take out (16gb or otherwise)
Could the fact that I rooted the phone have something to do with it not wanting to factory reset now?
Even when I look at my phone status, it still displays that I am running 2.2 (I rooted with the help of a fellow boards member)

Will I? have to unroot the phone to enable me to perform a factory reset do you think? If so, where does a man even begin?

Jaysus, I wish I hadnt of touched the bloody thing now!!!
Grrrrrrrrr

Battery status is at prsent:

38%

3 hrs 48 mins since unplugged
Voice calls 51%
Display 43%
Wi-Fi 3%
Cell standby 3%

Surely to God the battery was designed to be a bit more rebust than this?

Prob cant bring back to a three store either as I have 'tampered' with it!

28064212

Gucky wrote: »

I mean that I still have photos, apps, even my contacts are still on my phone despite doing factory resets (my music has been wiped though)

You would still have photos after a factory reset, and if you sync your gmail account, your contacts would come straight back. The only apps you should have would be the ones that came with the phone.

After a factory reset, you should be asked to re-enter your gmail account details, does that happen? To factory reset, you should be going to "Settings - Privacy - Factory Reset". What happens after you do that?

Gucky wrote: »

Ref the sd card, I mean I havent bought a data card for the phone yet, as in one I can replace and take out (16gb or otherwise)

My mistake, I assumed the Samsung S came with an SD card.

Ghandee

28064212 wrote: »

You would still have photos after a factory reset, and if you sync your gmail account, your contacts would come straight back. The only apps you should have would be the ones that came with the phone.

Na man, still have Angry birds, Hullo mail etc.

28064212 wrote: »

After a factory reset, you should be asked to re-enter your gmail account details, does that happen? To factory reset, you should be going to "Settings - Privacy - Factory Reset". What happens after you do that?

It asks me to enter a password, warns me this action in not reversable, the n reboots.
As soon as my phone repowers up, it still has all my contacts, can log into gmail without entering a password, and all in all, it seems to me that the reset didnt work at all!

Rowley Birkin QC

drunkmonkey wrote: »

2.2 on the way and the ebb u10 is 24hrs from dropping on Play.com for 30 bob, good times ahead for the Galaxy S!!

Yeah? Sweet! I just carry the USB cable around with me, I'm never too far from a PC or the car. It's a small price to pay for not having to get to a PC for the huge number of functions that the SGS has taken over from it.

28064212 wrote: »

2. battery life - fairly common complaint with all smartphones, make sure your WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS are all off, and don't use a task-killer

Just wondering if this is true? I see Zascar didn't get the desired results but what is your logic behind the suggestion?

28064212

Gucky wrote: »

It asks me to enter a password, warns me this action in not reversable, the n reboots.
As soon as my phone repowers up, it still has all my contacts, can log into gmail without entering a password, and all in all, it seems to me that the reset didnt work at all!

Strange, definitely doesn't seem to have worked so. It may be something to do with it being rooted so, which isn't something I've done, so you may need someone else to walk you through it so

Seifer

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

Just wondering if this is true? I see Zascar didn't get the desired results but what is your logic behind the suggestion?

Reading the thread would be a good start.

28064212

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

Just wondering if this is true? I see Zascar didn't get the desired results but what is your logic behind the suggestion?

Read my posts above, specifically here and here

Rowley Birkin QC

Sorry, had two threads open on separate tabs and thought I had read to the end of the wrong one. It was a late night.

angel01

28064212 wrote: »

Yes, it'll go back to being branded. What do you mean you still have data on the phone? There's no such thing as an external sd card (or at least, none you're actually going to get). There's internal storage (which isn't an sd card, and a factory reset wipes this) and there's an internal sd card (which isn't wiped). You can go ahead and wipe the sd card if there's no data you need on it


There are apps that don't behave correctly. For example, a recent update to Layar on my phone has caused it to run in an active state every time the phone boots and it starts up the GPS. Having the GPS on all day would kill the battery. However, a task killer is not the best approach to it. In Layar's case, I just have to open the app and exit it again. Problem solved. Resources are released in a proper fashion. Now, if Layar was written incorrectly and failed to exit, then I would resort to a task killer. But that is only necessary in a tiny minority of apps.

Having an app in the background does not take up resources. They may have 'reserved' memory, but that is released on-demand. According to Advanced Task Killer, I have about 15 apps that are 'active'. I use maybe 5 of them on a day-to-day basis. I'll still get 3, maybe even 4 days battery out of my phone (Samsung Galaxy Spica). That's with mobile data and Bluetooth turned off, WiFi and GPS on only when I need it, brightness turned down and only widgets that I actually use on the homescreen. And no task-killer. If you're that worried about closing apps, use the back button to exit instead of the home button. The back button is more 'aggressive' about closing them

I tried without a task killer using the back button but that is a nightmare with the internet browser as I could have open 20 websites that you spend 10 mins trying to keep going back to get out of the frigging thing.:mad:

28064212

angel01 wrote: »

I tried without a task killer using the back button but that is a nightmare with the internet browser as I could have open 20 websites that you spend 10 mins trying to keep going back to get out of the frigging thing.:mad:

I already answered that for you in the other thread.

Just press the menu button, select "Windows", close down any open windows, then press back

angel01

28064212 wrote: »

I already answered that for you in the other thread.

Just press the menu button, select "Windows", close down any open windows, then press back

I didn't see that, thank you

drunkmonkey

Zascar wrote: »

My battery was fully charged before I went to bed last night, and right now, it has less than half left

Do you not charge your phone while your asleep? Might be the best thing to do.

long_b

Folks, when it comes to battery life don't forget that your handset is still a phone - the strength of signal to the nearest cell tower may have a big effect too.

The poorer the signal the harder phone has to work to stay connected.

Also, consider using Tasker to switch your phone to airplane mode during the night to save energy if you don't mind being "off air" while you sleep.

angel01

The battery is utter pants

I charged to 100% at 4pm - after using phone on and off mobile internet for say 1 hour and 2 calls, I am now at 73%. I did turn the data off. Its rubbish. :(

evolutionqy7

lol what do ye expect ?

1ghz processor and a large screen.

only time my phone lasted 2 days was literally sweet feck all usage. other than that it last me a good day with some music and internet

Ghandee

(@GUCKY) has shared a Tweet with you:

"samsungukmobile: The Froyo upgrade will be available in the UK from early November and we expect all operator versions to be available by the end of November"
--

http://www.twitter.com/samsungukmobile/status/27957349174

Atomic Pineapple

Android is a multi tasking OS.

It controls the app life-cycle itself to achieve this, as in it decides when something should be fully killed, this allows you to push one app to the background and leave it in its saved stated, use any amount of other apps and come back to the app in the same state as you left it.

With a task killer your breaking this, most of the time this is fine but task killers abuse one of Androids API's to achieve this, not a good thing and its likely to be blocked in future versions. They do however work but they are not the correct answer to Androids problems.

From 2.2 onwards anyway Task killers are redundant as you can control the apps that are running yourself from manage applications in the settings menu.

To help with battery drain try these measures to prolong battery life:

Turn off back ground data when not needed - With this on your allowing apps to periodically connect through wifi or your data connection to look for updates.

Turn off wifi when not in a hotspot - if you leave wifi on when you dont need it or are not connected it will continually scan for access points.

Dim your screen - dim the screen when you dont need it to be at its full brightness, this will save loads of battery as the screen is a huge drain on the battery

With Froyo learn how to close long running services via the devices in built app management.

angel01

draffodx wrote: »

Android is a multi tasking OS.

It controls the app life-cycle itself to achieve this, as in it decides when something should be fully killed, this allows you to push one app to the background and leave it in its saved stated, use any amount of other apps and come back to the app in the same state as you left it.

With a task killer your breaking this, most of the time this is fine but task killers abuse one of Androids API's to achieve this, not a good thing and its likely to be blocked in future versions. They do however work but they are not the correct answer to Androids problems.

From 2.2 onwards anyway Task killers are redundant as you can control the apps that are running yourself from manage applications in the settings menu.

To help with battery drain try these measures to prolong battery life:

Turn off back ground data when not needed - With this on your allowing apps to periodically connect through wifi or your data connection to look for updates.

Turn off wifi when not in a hotspot - if you leave wifi on when you dont need it or are not connected it will continually scan for access points.

Dim your screen - dim the screen when you dont need it to be at its full brightness, this will save loads of battery as the screen is a huge drain on the battery

With Froyo learn how to close long running services via the devices in built app management.

I am already doing all of the above and the screen can't be any darker

Atomic Pineapple

angel01 wrote: »

I am already doing all of the above and the screen can't be any darker

And how long does it last?

I can get 2 -3 days easily out of my Nexus One without using a task killer and following those steps.

This includes heavy texting using the native SMS app, some light app usage of things like next train, barcode scanner and jaertel, and some medium usage of the browser.

mickoneill30

draffodx wrote: »

From 2.2 onwards anyway Task killers are redundant as you can control the apps that are running yourself from manage applications in the settings menu.

Every time you want to close the tasks. An Automatic Task Killer requires no interaction once it's set up.

I get your points about the task killers and it all sounds logical. I've been using an Automatic Task Killer since May (now I'm on 2.2) and my phone has been rock solid so I haven't seen any bad affects. I think a lot of the newer apps are written a bit better too now so that when you exit some they actually close rather than linger in the background.

When not using 3G mobile I can get 2 days from the phone (i.e. take off charge in the morning and charge at the end of the next day). When I use 3G it seems to need charging every night.

Atomic Pineapple

mickoneill30 wrote: »

Every time you want to close the tasks. An Automatic Task Killer requires no interaction once it's set up.

This in itself means that the task killer is a long running background service that will itself drain battery.

Ghandee

tried this turning mobile data malarky off, some fun when you need net access back on though! My galaxy requires rebooting to regain 3g/h signal nearly every time

Atomic Pineapple

Gucky wrote: »

tried this turning mobile data malarky off, some fun when you need net access back on though! My galaxy requires rebooting to regain 3g/h signal nearly every time

It shouldn't, sounds like you've bought a real lemon, bring it back and get it replaced.

boardswalker

I just checked the SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) levels for the Galaxy and I am surprised how low it is.

The Galaxy is showing as 0.238 W/kg.
My last phone a Blackberry Storm was 0.67. The apple iphone4 is 0.93.
I am very surprised that the Galaxy is so low (low is good) but the same number is showing on a number of sources.

Here's a good website.
http://www.sarshield.com/english/radiationchart.htm

I use the headset as much as I can but find it difficult to use it all the time. If I expect a long call I make a bigger effort to use it.