iPhone 4 to Galaxy S3: Unimpressed so far

[Volt9000]

Hi all,

First of all, this thread is not meant to start a flame war or anything. I am just giving my opinion on my observations of having used both iPhone 4 and Galaxy S3. These are my opinions, and I'm a bit of stickler for certain things, so please take this with a grain of salt.

Second, I am not an Apple fanboy by any means. In fact, I don't like Apple as a company and disagree with most of their policies, however I will admit they have a very nice product in the form of iPhone 4, which I've been using for the past ~2 years.

Finally, I would like to specify that I'm a power user. I'm not the typical "ooh, new iPhone, shiny" user that buys the device because it's got a specific logo on it. I jailbroke my iPhone, tinkered around with it, and was quite pleased with it overall. It did 95% of what I wanted to do with it out-of-the-box, and with the help of some apps put it up to 99%.

Now, on with the rant.

I got my Galaxy S3 a week ago. I've been playing around with it and experimenting, and I must say that so far I'm quite unimpressed. I've always wanted an Android phone, and the idea of being freed from Apple's walled garden sounded very appealing. So, due to a matter of recent circumstances, I got a GS3, with my iPhone 4 going to my wife. I'm finding, however, that the phone is causing me many more headaches than I expected.

1) Battery drain.
When I got the phone, it suffered from horrific battery drain in standby. I was experiencing around 6.6%/hr battery drain WHILE THE PHONE WAS IN STANDBY. This is absolutely terrible, and when compared to my iPhone 4 in the same conditions, the difference was clear: my phone battery lever after several hours of standby was ~66%, while my iPhone 4 was ~99%. Luckily, I solved the battery drain issue thanks to a lot of helpful people in this thread, but the mere fact that I had to do this in the first place is rather pathetic. Why should I have to start disabling specific (unnecessary) services in my phone in the first place, just to get a decent battery life? This is pretty indicative that Samsung doesn't do very good QAQC, because they should have realized *their own* services are causing battery drain, rather than leaving it up to us, the users, to figure it out on our own. Shame on Samsung.

2) Bluetooth call volume.
Apparently, this is a known issue that has been around since at least the Galaxy S2. Some people, for whatever reason (it's not clear because it happens to certain phones and not others) experience low volume when their phone is paired to their car via Bluetooth; the person on the other end of the phone is very quiet. For some people it's worse than others. In my case, it's not terrible, but I do notice that when I talk to my wife through my car's Bluetooth, she sounds quiet, and I really have to crank up my car's volume. I should point out that she can hear me fine, and that when I had my iPhone 4, this was *never* an issue.

3) Audio modes/profiles.
This is really annoying for me, but remember I'm a stickler. On my iPhone, it had a very convenient switch at the side that I could slide to put the phone into silent/vibrate mode. What I really liked about this was that the *entire* phone would be silent: ringer, notifications, and all system sounds. So imagine my surprise when on my GS3, I pull down the notifications tray, turn on Vibrate, and then shortly after my notification sounds and in-app sounds are still at full volume. After a quick check I realized that each type of sound has a different controllable volume level, and the silent toggle is for the ringer *only*. To me, this makes NO SENSE. If I want to silence the phone, I want EVERYTHING silenced, not just the ringer. So now, in order to get the same effect, I have to install a third-party app to manage sound profiles. What used to be a simple flick of a switch has now turned into a whole process of unlocking the phone, starting the app, selecting the appropriate sound profile (several clicks) then re-locking my phone. This is all very tedious. In addition, because of the location of the power button (right side of the phone) I may accidentally hit the volume rocker, which now BRINGS THE RINGER VOLUME BACK UP. So now I have to unlock the phone again, and either go through the whole process again or just manually lower the volume. Very stupid.

4) Automatic playing over Bluetooth in car.
With my old iPhone, I would sit in my car, iPhone would sync up, and immediately resume playing from where I previously left off. I listen to podcasts on my way to work, so this worked perfectly. With the GS3, this also happens, but sometimes it will continue my podcast, and sometimes it will invoke the stock audio player and start playing whatever music is there. Why can't the bloody thing just resume the last music playing app that was available? I've checked, and there is *no* default app set for "Audio" or "Audio Streaming". So why the hell is the stock player automatically starting sometimes, and not my podcast app? (For the record I'm using BeyondPod.)

5) S Voice is useless while driving.
I've already started a thread about this one. S Voice, which is supposed to give me voice control over the phone, would be incredibly useful if I could do something with it while it's paired to my car's Bluetooth. But I can't. It doesn't even register my voice. It works fine when it's NOT paired, so why does it not work when it is paired? Its primary function IS COMPLETELY USELESS.

6) Video resize and trim.
One thing I like about the iPhone was that when I recorded a video that was too big to send over WhatsApp, I was asked to trim it. I would then trim it and send the trimmed video. No problem. With this phone, if a video is too big, I'm just told it can't be sent. There seems to be no built-in trimming or resizing ability, so I'm completely SOL. My two options at this point are:
1) Download the file to my computer, resize/trim it there, upload it back to the phone and send it
2) Get an app on the phone that can trim and/or resize the video

Option 1 is obviously not feasible, for obvious reasons. Option 2 also somewhat feasible, but so far I've only found two apps (free) that can trim videos, but I have not yet found a free app that can resize videos. So I can't even take advantage of my phone's full HD video recording capability, because if I want to send a video to someone over WhatsApp (which currently is my primary method of sharing videos) I need to trim the video down to something like 3 seconds.

7) Random disappearing notifications.
A few times now, I've caught my GS3 randomly deleting notifications. For example, I'll get a notification that someone sent me a WhatsApp message, so I pull down the notifications tray and get a brief glimpse of the notification before it disappears. I certainly did NOT swipe it away; I'm very careful with that. I've noticed this happen several times, and I really hate it.

8) Software bloat.
I despise that this phone came with all this unnecessary software on it that I don't want or need. In fact, some of the software was causing my battery drain issues (see point #1.) I haven't rooted my phone so unfortunately some of the crap has to stay, and all I can do is disable it.


However, the phone is not all bad. It's got some very nice features which I really like.

9) Screen size.
The huge Super AMOLED display is beautiful. Browsing the web is a real joy with this phone, and the fact that I can get Chrome makes it that much better.

10) Automatic sync with my Google account.
Again, another amazing feature. I love the fact that I can go to my Gmail, edit my contacts' info, and the updates will be pushed to my phone automatically and nearly instantly. Much easier than editing contacts on the phone. Also makes backing up my contacts a hell of a lot easier; I had nothing but problems backing up my contacts with my iPhone 4 (especially the contact photos.)

11) App installation through Google Play.
I love how I can go to Google Play from my web browser, click a button and the app will be automatically pushed to my phone. Works beautifully, and is very convenient.

12) Freedom from iTunes!
This is a big one for me. I despise iTunes with every ounce of my being. It is one of the most horrible desktop applications ever, and I loathed the fact that I had to use it to sync my music (one-way only, mind you!) to my phone. The fact that I no longer need iTunes for anything is a huge joy.

13) Access to filesystem.
Another big one for me. The fact that I can connect the phone to any computer, using a STANDARD micro-USB cable, and browse the file structure as if the phone were a mass storage device is wonderful. I can put on or take off files as I please, without the need for messy synchronization or third-party apps.

14) Customizability
The fact that I can customize the shit out of this phone without the need for a jailbreak is great. I'm glad I can change launchers, wallpapers, lock screens, and just about anything else (within the confines of a rooted phone) without voiding warranty by jealbreaking the phone.


That being said, I'd rather stick with Android than go back to iOS. My biggest concern is that the latest iOS is not yet jailbreakable, and in fact the outlook is quite grim. The jailbreak war, which has been raging since the original iPhone, may be over, and it looks like Apple won. This, coupled with the disappointing iPhone 5, makes me want to stay away from iPhone in general now. However, I'm still not sold on the GS3.

If anyone can help me with the issues I've listed above, I would be very grateful. I love the idea of having an Android phone, but it's causing me more problems than solving.

 

[Pappy35]

I completely agree with pretty much every word you said. Have you tried Swype yet? I've had the phone for three weeks now and couldn't live without it!

Anyways, most of your observations are due to Samsung's meddling. If you can try a nexus 4 when they finally become available.

 

[andrejhoward]

For the podcast issue.

I use Pod Kicker and I haven't had any issues on play resuming (I am using a car dock (aux port)

I feel your pain though I had the 4S and it always worked flawlessly with Pandora, Podcasts, ESPN radio etc ... and they could all be paused from the lock screen.


But I'm with you no way I am going back to iOS i use every bit of customization and try to use all the features the phone offers.

Oh btw I use NFC tags in the car which helped my volume issues as my car mode NFC tag sets it just perfect.

 

[jkane001]

For making my phone behave like I want it to in certain situations, I use Locale, other people use Tasker, but I don't find that to be a user-friendly interface. Locale (especially with it's latest version) is very nice to the battery on the S3, and lets you change settings like volume automatically. You can get plugins that let you create volume profiles (for ALL volumes) and set them active when you are at work, for instance.

Another nice plugin I've used since getting the S3 is "Volume Locker," which is a bit tedious to setup, but it makes you confirm changes made by the volume button - since the volume rocker on the S3 is placed in such a way that accidentally hitting it is rather easy, I've made good use of this app, and it works well!

And yes, Locale is one of the more expensive apps you can buy (I think around $9), but for me, it is also one of the more useful apps, and well worth the money to me. I buy lunches that cost more than that on a fairly regular basis, and this app does more for me than lunch sometimes .

Yeah, Android (and the S3) has some rough edges still, but honestly, I love playing with it. I enjoy the things you can do with it, and I don't think I'd ever feel the same about an iOS device.

 

[Harper77]

For the S3 battery issue - I have been told there is other batteries on the market that give extended life.

I have the S2 with the stock battery and it royally sucks. Apparently the S2 is known for this issue. I thought Samsung would have corrected it but I guess not.

Embarrassing when my wife who has the Iphone 4S gets better battery life than me using my S2

 

[WAWood8]

At the outset, need to tell you that I am NOT a fan of the GS3 -- I've had major problems with it since the beginning and have had TWO fail on me. My third one is starting to fail, as well.

But ... to respond to your concerns ...

1) Battery drain.

Not encountering this. Phone battery was low initially, but I charge it every night and not seeing any unusual drain. Do need to watch out for stuff like WiFi being left ON, and Live wallpapers, though.

2) Bluetooth call volume.

Use BT several times a day in the car, and not having this problem.

3) Audio modes/profiles.

I use the volume switch on the phone to silence the ringer, but I actually LIKE that the notifications come through.

4) Automatic playing over Bluetooth in car.

Had similar problems until I bought a car dock (iBolt) and installed Car Home Ultra. Mine now pairs automatically and resumes music play where it left off the day before. Not using Podcasts, sorry.

5) S Voice is useless while driving.

Yeah, known problem.

6) Video resize and trim.

Don't send videos; instead, use NFC to transfer them to other phones (like in the commercial).

7) Random disappearing notifications.

Others are reporting this, but I've not experienced it.

8) Software bloat.

I disabled (not rooted, so can't remove) the bloatware and don't have the battery drain problem.

However, the phone is not all bad. It's got some very nice features which I really like.

9) Screen size.

Should look at the Note 2 -- really big screen. I thought it would be way too big, when when I compared my GS3 to one in Best Buy, it's not so big that it can't be used as a phone.

10) Automatic sync with my Google account.

Only have GMail because it's required to download apps. Backup my contacts using MyBackupPro.

11) App installation through Google Play.

Actually, if you browse Android app sites, the apps generally have a feature to scan a code on the page, and that will automatically send the app to your phone. So, you aren't limited to Google Play.

12) Freedom from iTunes!

True ... but then you get into the endless "which is the best music app" debates.

13) Access to filesystem.

You can browse this way because you ROOTED your phone -- a requirement that is INSANE in a day and age where file transfer is routine! The rest of us are stuck using this stupid, limited, media device to transfer stuff.

14) Customizability

Agree ... and with rooting, you have even more flexibility.

... I love the idea of having an Android phone, but it's causing me more problems than solving.

Then just wait until JB gets pushed to your phone! The forums are full of NEW problems that folks have encountered since upgrading to JB.

 

[Rigmaster]

Phones are not unlike computers now. Usually the very basic functions and simple software work just fine. Start adding games, tweaks, peripherals, and all sorts of customizations and it does the same thing - freezes, stutters, corrupts files, etc.

That said, computers don't take nearly the complaint beating that smartphones do.

Since I've switched to Android, I generally think it takes quite a while to get it just perfect and now just see it as part of the learning experience. Gingerbread took a while to get to the point where I really liked it, and by then Ice Cream S-wich had come out.

These phones are designed to be always on, always gathering and giving information. They're literally pocket computers. Now, in comparison to a computer, smartphones like the GS3 really are amazing.

Your points are still valid. I'm not trying to say they aren't. I'm just trying to say those of us who've lived through cell phones that used to have car battery sized chargers just to make calls feel the pain but realize it's not worth getting too amped up about.

If a phone adds to your stress, get one that doesn't. But beware, all smartphones will add to the stress when you consider they will likely all have some faults and quirks that keep them from being perfect.

Oh, on your item 6 - size trim's not a phone issue. Carriers limit the size of files sent via mms/sms. That is one reason why there are so few app options. There's no point in making an app that can't deliver what's wanted. Then people will just complain about the app.

 

[kingjavs]

I too come from an Iphone 4S( had an Iphone 3gs and 4), made the switch about 2 months ago.(like you I also jailbroke my phone, and was pretty happy with the results) But After trying android, it is a completely different story, now back to your point

Battery life.

Like someone else said you can an extended battery on amazon, I got mine for 20 bucks, and I can use my phone for 3 days without charging it. I am not a super heavy user, but I use it when I need to, facebook,email,browsing, the occasional game or 2, scorecenter, news, downloading apps.
It does add bulk to the phone, which Im not ok with, so on work days I use the regular battery, on weekends that I spend with friends and gf, I go with the extended battery and can last me all weekend of texting,calling, games, movies etc...

I have no experienced any bt problems, I have bt in my car and I have used it without issues. I even paired my ps3 controller view bt so I can any game I want.( this gave me some issues, but after I was done pairing, 30 mins tops, they sync with no problem now)
Bloatware, I am rooted so no issues there either.

audio profile, If you root your phone you can make any key work as any function you want( have not experimented with this, but I know it can be done)
For me it makes perfect sense to have different settings for volume, and I find it quite handy. IE Im watching a movie at 11pm, if I get a text or a call, I dont want to answer it, I want to keep listening to my movie without a disturbance. IE when I play games same thing, I dont want sound on my games, but I want to be notified when I get a text or an important email. No problem there for me.

S voice, I never used siri on my 4s, so I never use S voice. I drive and I drive, I dont do anything else.

Never had a problem with notifications disappearing.

Overall, like a lot of people will say, there is always gonna be things that IOS can do better than android, and vice versa, for me personally adroid tweaks and tricks outweight IOS by a lot, so I dont see myself ever going back to IOS at least not in the direction they are heading.

 

[Harper77]

If a phone adds to your stress, get one that doesn't. But beware, all smartphones will add to the stress when you consider they will likely all have some faults and quirks that keep them from being perfect.
.

Very well put!

I personally think I suffer from being a perfectionist, coupled with obsessive compulsion and my Android has, at times, kept me awake at night with me lying in bed just thinking of how I can make it perfect both visually and performance wise!

 

[arparaspolo]

Sounds like the iPhone 4 does things for you. Whereas with Android, you actually have to do things to make things happen. iPhone 4 = Slave master while Android = Free spirited thinker. Some people like that there is only one look and one way to do things. That things are done for your. And those people choose Apple. They are great at what they do. Others like to test the waters and do what they please. Explore their environments and change things they don't like. Those people choose Android. I choose Android. I am rooted and stock ICS. I have all the bloatware frozen. I have my NFC tags everywhere that change my settings with a swype of my phone. You can multitask the apps(which iPhone 4 cannot do which is why battery life is better on it and also the tiny screen) I have widgets and live wallpaper and bells and whistles. I don't hate on those that choose Apple over Android. I just pity them. Haha. Ignorance is bliss I guess. My cousins all have i5's and they love them. But I will tell you, they all wipe drool off the corners of their mouths when they have my GS3 side by side with their cute dainty little phone. Just my opinions.

 

[phil75231]

Sounds like the iPhone 4 does things for you. Whereas with Android, you actually have to do things to make things happen. iPhone 4 = Slave master while Android = Free spirited thinker. Some people like that there is only one look and one way to do things. That things are done for your. And those people choose Apple. They are great at what they do. Others like to test the waters and do what they please. Explore their environments and change things they don't like. Those people choose Android. I choose Android. I am rooted and stock ICS. I have all the bloatware frozen. I have my NFC tags everywhere that change my settings with a swype of my phone. You can multitask the apps(which iPhone 4 cannot do which is why battery life is better on it and also the tiny screen) I have widgets and live wallpaper and bells and whistles. I don't hate on those that choose Apple over Android. I just pity them. Haha. Ignorance is bliss I guess. My cousins all have i5's and they love them. But I will tell you, they all wipe drool off the corners of their mouths when they have my GS3 side by side with their cute dainty little phone. Just my opinions.

Exactly this.

I love the looks of shock that I get when I tell young people (I'm 43) that I have never owned an Apple product of any kind in my life and have no intention of doing so. Why people use iTunes on purpose is beyond me, from all that I have read about it.

 

[Rigmaster]

Exactly this.

I love the looks of shock that I get when I tell young people (I'm 43) that I have never owned an Apple product of any kind in my life and have no intention of doing so. Why people use iTunes on purpose is beyond me, from all that I have read about it.

I'm a few moon cycles older than you but still not AARP-eligible. I have Nanos, shuffles, and iPod Touches. One thing iTunes does very well for me is allow me to set up and sync across all these music-first devices with no problem. Never had a crash, and I get most of my music as gift (CDs from the relatives who aren't tech-savvy) and Amazon mP3. I've always skipped at least 1-2 generations (no iPT1, bought a iPT2, skipped 3-4, bought a new iPT5, will skip 6-7, etc.) and never had concerns about compatibility. Got an iPad2 - not getting another until something truly unique happens - screen and processor isn't enough for what's basically a couch-surfing, couch-gaming tablet.

The trouble with non-Apple/iTunes products is that they're here one year and gone the next. Zune? Sony? Where's the 64GB Samsung player option? And some are just downright child-like (Creative Zen, Cube, etc.). Also would not have been able to easily skip any generations of some of these products because few even had successive generations leaving older models software-compatible.

Never consider Apple computers because they just don't have the biz community support. Never considered iPhones because I refuse to settle for small screen, lack of personalization, and Apple-controlled storage limitation. I'd reconsider that if Apple allowed SD storage/use and had larger screens.

Also, consider Apple really made headway with the older sets because of it's simplicity. That's shifted dramatically to the younger set. They care more about being a part of the Apple club than what the phone actually does.

 

[Stuntman]

1) Battery drain.
When I got the phone, it suffered from horrific battery drain in standby. I was experiencing around 6.6%/hr battery drain WHILE THE PHONE WAS IN STANDBY. This is absolutely terrible, and when compared to my iPhone 4 in the same conditions, the difference was clear: my phone battery lever after several hours of standby was ~66%, while my iPhone 4 was ~99%. Luckily, I solved the battery drain issue thanks to a lot of helpful people in this thread, but the mere fact that I had to do this in the first place is rather pathetic. Why should I have to start disabling specific (unnecessary) services in my phone in the first place, just to get a decent battery life? This is pretty indicative that Samsung doesn't do very good QAQC, because they should have realized *their own* services are causing battery drain, rather than leaving it up to us, the users, to figure it out on our own. Shame on Samsung.

I've noticed that this seems to be somewhat inconsistent. I did get the JB update last week and the first thing I noticed was that the battery drain while on stand-by has diminished greatly.

2) Bluetooth call volume.
Apparently, this is a known issue that has been around since at least the Galaxy S2. Some people, for whatever reason (it's not clear because it happens to certain phones and not others) experience low volume when their phone is paired to their car via Bluetooth; the person on the other end of the phone is very quiet. For some people it's worse than others. In my case, it's not terrible, but I do notice that when I talk to my wife through my car's Bluetooth, she sounds quiet, and I really have to crank up my car's volume. I should point out that she can hear me fine, and that when I had my iPhone 4, this was *never* an issue.

I'm thinking this has to do with sound profiles which I will get to below.

3) Audio modes/profiles.
This is really annoying for me, but remember I'm a stickler. On my iPhone, it had a very convenient switch at the side that I could slide to put the phone into silent/vibrate mode. What I really liked about this was that the *entire* phone would be silent: ringer, notifications, and all system sounds. So imagine my surprise when on my GS3, I pull down the notifications tray, turn on Vibrate, and then shortly after my notification sounds and in-app sounds are still at full volume. After a quick check I realized that each type of sound has a different controllable volume level, and the silent toggle is for the ringer *only*. To me, this makes NO SENSE. If I want to silence the phone, I want EVERYTHING silenced, not just the ringer. So now, in order to get the same effect, I have to install a third-party app to manage sound profiles. What used to be a simple flick of a switch has now turned into a whole process of unlocking the phone, starting the app, selecting the appropriate sound profile (several clicks) then re-locking my phone. This is all very tedious. In addition, because of the location of the power button (right side of the phone) I may accidentally hit the volume rocker, which now BRINGS THE RINGER VOLUME BACK UP. So now I have to unlock the phone again, and either go through the whole process again or just manually lower the volume. Very stupid.

This is actually a feature I really like about Android. There are different volume settings for ringer, phone calls, media, notifications, etc. I take advantage of this finer granularity with regard to different volume levels. For instance, when I go to bed, I want all notification sounds to be silenced while I still want the ringer to sound (at a lower volume) as well as my alarm. When I am indoors, I have a lower volume for various sounds and when outdoors, I have them at max.

Now, it may seem inconvenient to have to set multiple sound levels for each type of sound, but Android has apps to do this. More specifically, I use a widget to control the various sound profiles. There is a widget called Volume Widget that allows you to set 3 different sound profiles and allow you to activate each one with a single tap. I set my sleep profile to have low volume on most settings and notification sounds off. I also set my indoor and outdoor profiles accordingly. When I go to bed, I just tap on "Sleep" on the widget and all my notifications are off. When I wake up, I just tap on "Indoors" or "Outdoors" on the widget and all of the sounds are set accordingly. You can also relabel the three profiles as you like.

5) S Voice is useless while driving.
I've already started a thread about this one. S Voice, which is supposed to give me voice control over the phone, would be incredibly useful if I could do something with it while it's paired to my car's Bluetooth. But I can't. It doesn't even register my voice. It works fine when it's NOT paired, so why does it not work when it is paired? Its primary function IS COMPLETELY USELESS.

I agree. I think this has to do with the BT connection and device. On my old phone and old car, the car did not have BT. I used a BT headset. I had an HTC Desire Z at the time that had its own voice reco app. When I press the button on my BT headset, it would invoke the voice reco app and I can say, "call John Doe mobile" and it would call John Doe's cell.

My new car has BT, but it has its own voice reco app. If I activate the hands free mode, my car does not automatically pass through to the voice reco app on my phone (S-Voice on my SGS3). Instead, it activates the car's voice reco app. I have to use the voice reco app on the car to call a number. Then the car will instruct my phone via BT to call that number. This is annoying as I would much prefer to use my phone's voice reco app as it can do so much more than my car's. I have not investigated how to bypass the car's voice reco app and go directly to S-Voice.

7) Random disappearing notifications.
A few times now, I've caught my GS3 randomly deleting notifications. For example, I'll get a notification that someone sent me a WhatsApp message, so I pull down the notifications tray and get a brief glimpse of the notification before it disappears. I certainly did NOT swipe it away; I'm very careful with that. I've noticed this happen several times, and I really hate it.

This has never happened to me. I do use WhatsApp and a bunch of other apps with notifications.

8) Software bloat.
I despise that this phone came with all this unnecessary software on it that I don't want or need. In fact, some of the software was causing my battery drain issues (see point #1.) I haven't rooted my phone so unfortunately some of the crap has to stay, and all I can do is disable it.

If it's not on my home screen, I don't notice it. I never had any issues with battery drain with any of those apps that I don't use. You can also use alternate launchers to hide them if you think they are unsightly even if only in the app drawer.

14) Customizability
The fact that I can customize the shit out of this phone without the need for a jailbreak is great. I'm glad I can change launchers, wallpapers, lock screens, and just about anything else (within the confines of a rooted phone) without voiding warranty by jealbreaking the phone.

Don't forget widgets. There are some very useful ones out there. The Volume Widget is one of the most useful ones I have seen.

 

[Cellmate]

Point to ponder on original post

When someone says they are a power user, then says they are very unhappy with the device compared to the one they came from. I always wonder "We're you a Power Reviewer". A power reviewer being someone who researches all the issues on a device they are contemplating compared to what they are leaving behind.

Example: I just made a decision to get an iPad W/Retina. I am a Wintell slave and already own several Android devices including a year old Kindle Fire. I knew what I needed my next tablet to do and all of them shouted out in their ads that they did it. But by researching what they didn't do or did do poorly I was able to make a decision based on the needs I had as opposed to the bells and whistles noise.

Did I make the best decision? Time will tell as next month someone could come out with the next best thing, but I made the best decision I could based on the research I did and because I did, I have no gripes that make me think I should have gone with a different tablet. That's not to say my shinny new iPad is perfect, because its not. But I knew that going in and am not disappointed in my choice.

Just saying.

 

[Webwbr]

I think the OP is spot on with a lot of observations. I want a phone that is a blend of the best Android and iPhone have to offer. Seems not to exist.

I haven't yet encountered all the issues of the OP (only have my S3 for one week, I'm coming from a 4S), and have not have I tried some of the fixed (battery drain!). But what kills me is in-line spell check. When I type a word wrong I don't get a red dotted or squiggly line underneath the word to know it is not recognized. This is a basic and fundamental feature. Not having this is as absurd as the original iPhones not having a copy/paste feature.

I'll keep playing with this. NFC brought me to Android, but it may not be enough to keep me.

OP, thanks for writing this post.

 

[Harper77]

Exactly this.

I love the looks of shock that I get when I tell young people (I'm 43) that I have never owned an Apple product of any kind in my life and have no intention of doing so. Why people use iTunes on purpose is beyond me, from all that I have read about it.

OMG U sound like me! I cannot stand Apple. Every time I think Apple all I think of some rich, snobbish hipster and that entire personna. Trust me, I have a couple of nieces that match that to the extreme and, of course, use Iphones. :stupid:

I own 1 Apple product and that is an Ipod Classic 160G. My wife got it for me for anniversary as I have an extensive music collection and wanted dispose of all cd's and didn't want to store it on my phone.

As far as I know there isn't a dependable music storage device with that capacity but might be wrong on that.

 

[rcsrich]

Notice how it's now the 14th and not a peep from the OP? How about a few kind words for all the feedback?

I also feel like someone who has so many fundamental issues with a particular phone/OS should just take advantage of the return policy (assuming there is one) & return to what they're comfortable with, in this case purchase a new iPhone 4S or 5.

I'm sure the 5 will be jailbroken before too long...

 

[sherlock5545]

Well, not everyone has the time to be online and comment threads everyday. He might eventually reply.

 

[rcsrich]

Well, not everyone has the time to be online and comment threads everyday. He might eventually reply.

True-

 

[Volt9000]

Thank you for all the feedback, everyone. I certainly have not abandoned this thread. I've just been busy with some personal stuff.

I completely agree with pretty much every word you said. Have you tried Swype yet? I've had the phone for three weeks now and couldn't live without it!

I'm using Swype 3 Beta now, and I do plan to buy it. It's pretty sweet, and makes typing on a touch surface MUCH faster.

Anyways, most of your observations are due to Samsung's meddling. If you can try a nexus 4 when they finally become available.

Thanks for the advice, but unfortunately the problem with Google phones is that they only come in 16GB flavours and have no expandable memory. This is a dealbreaker for me because I need to carry around my entire music collection, which is 12GB.

For the podcast issue.

I use Pod Kicker and I haven't had any issues on play resuming (I am using a car dock (aux port)

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out.

I feel your pain though I had the 4S and it always worked flawlessly with Pandora, Podcasts, ESPN radio etc ... and they could all be paused from the lock screen.


But I'm with you no way I am going back to iOS i use every bit of customization and try to use all the features the phone offers.

Oh btw I use NFC tags in the car which helped my volume issues as my car mode NFC tag sets it just perfect.

I again raise the issue: why should I have to spend money on something as ridiculous as an NFC tag when my previous phone, which one could argue is not nearly as advanced as the GS3, could do this out-of-the-box? Not to mention the problem doesn't appear to be related to changing the volume, because cranking the volume to maximum didn't help.

For making my phone behave like I want it to in certain situations, I use Locale, other people use Tasker, but I don't find that to be a user-friendly interface. Locale (especially with it's latest version) is very nice to the battery on the S3, and lets you change settings like volume automatically. You can get plugins that let you create volume profiles (for ALL volumes) and set them active when you are at work, for instance.

Interesting. I've heard of Tasker; this just looks like the same. Not sure it's worth the price tag though.

Another nice plugin I've used since getting the S3 is "Volume Locker," which is a bit tedious to setup, but it makes you confirm changes made by the volume button - since the volume rocker on the S3 is placed in such a way that accidentally hitting it is rather easy, I've made good use of this app, and it works well!

Sounds interesting, I'll check it out.

And yes, Locale is one of the more expensive apps you can buy (I think around $9), but for me, it is also one of the more useful apps, and well worth the money to me. I buy lunches that cost more than that on a fairly regular basis, and this app does more for me than lunch sometimes .

Looks like it's $4.99 CAD.

Yeah, Android (and the S3) has some rough edges still, but honestly, I love playing with it. I enjoy the things you can do with it, and I don't think I'd ever feel the same about an iOS device.

Yes, this is true. I enjoy the customizability that Android offers.

For the S3 battery issue - I have been told there is other batteries on the market that give extended life.

I have the S2 with the stock battery and it royally sucks. Apparently the S2 is known for this issue. I thought Samsung would have corrected it but I guess not.

Embarrassing when my wife who has the Iphone 4S gets better battery life than me using my S2

Yes, the horrible battery life on the GS2 is the main reason I passed it up. I was very close to getting it, but I'm glad I waited for the GS3.
I've looked into the extended battery, but it's expensive as hell, and makes the phone significantly bulkier. I'm gonna pass. My current battery with the services I've disabled works well. If I can get a full day's usage without needing charge throughout the day (I charge every night anyways) I'm happy.

At the outset, need to tell you that I am NOT a fan of the GS3 -- I've had major problems with it since the beginning and have had TWO fail on me. My third one is starting to fail, as well.

But ... to respond to your concerns ...


Not encountering this. Phone battery was low initially, but I charge it every night and not seeing any unusual drain. Do need to watch out for stuff like WiFi being left ON, and Live wallpapers, though.

As I stated, wifi is off during standby and I'm using a static wallpaper.

Use BT several times a day in the car, and not having this problem.

Strangely enough, I haven't had it happen to me recently.

I use the volume switch on the phone to silence the ringer, but I actually LIKE that the notifications come through.

To each their own.

Had similar problems until I bought a car dock (iBolt) and installed Car Home Ultra. Mine now pairs automatically and resumes music play where it left off the day before. Not using Podcasts, sorry.

I solved this problem by uninstalling the music player I was using (Rocket Player.) So far, so good.

Yeah, known problem.

That is a total cop-out. Not by you, by Samsung. Why the hell would they include a feature, and even tout it as a major competitor to Siri, if it DOESN'T DO WHAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO DO?! Big fail, Samsung.

Don't send videos; instead, use NFC to transfer them to other phones (like in the commercial).

That's ridiculous. First of all, this will only work if others have GS3s (which they don't) and if we happen to be standing in the same room. In 99.9% of cases, I need to send the video to someone who is in a different part of the city. NFC is currently a useless feature for me.

Others are reporting this, but I've not experienced it.

I haven't noticed any disappearing notifications lately, but I'm still keeping my eye out.

I disabled (not rooted, so can't remove) the bloatware and don't have the battery drain problem.

I'm considering rooting.

You can browse this way because you ROOTED your phone -- a requirement that is INSANE in a day and age where file transfer is routine! The rest of us are stuck using this stupid, limited, media device to transfer stuff.

Not at all. My phone is running stock ICS 4.0.4 and I can browse the filesystem without a root. This is one of the biggest advantages of Android, IMO.

Then just wait until JB gets pushed to your phone! The forums are full of NEW problems that folks have encountered since upgrading to JB.

This is why I've hesitated upgrading. I got the notification several days ago, but I'm afraid to upgrade.

Phones are not unlike computers now. Usually the very basic functions and simple software work just fine. Start adding games, tweaks, peripherals, and all sorts of customizations and it does the same thing - freezes, stutters, corrupts files, etc.

Oh believe you me, I completely understand that. But to be quite honest, iOS seems a helluva lot more polished than Android.

Since I've switched to Android, I generally think it takes quite a while to get it just perfect and now just see it as part of the learning experience. Gingerbread took a while to get to the point where I really liked it, and by then Ice Cream S-wich had come out.

These phones are designed to be always on, always gathering and giving information. They're literally pocket computers. Now, in comparison to a computer, smartphones like the GS3 really are amazing.

Agreed.

Your points are still valid. I'm not trying to say they aren't. I'm just trying to say those of us who've lived through cell phones that used to have car battery sized chargers just to make calls feel the pain but realize it's not worth getting too amped up about.

If a phone adds to your stress, get one that doesn't. But beware, all smartphones will add to the stress when you consider they will likely all have some faults and quirks that keep them from being perfect.

Yeah, and that's exactly the thing--if I go back to iOS, or-- perish the thought, Windows Phone 7/8-- I'm gonna find another set of issues that cause me to gripe.

Oh, on your item 6 - size trim's not a phone issue. Carriers limit the size of files sent via mms/sms. That is one reason why there are so few app options. There's no point in making an app that can't deliver what's wanted. Then people will just complain about the app.

Actually it's a limitation of WhatsApp. But I liked that iOS had a stock video trimmer. I found some free trimmers, but still no free resizers. Which really sucks, because now if I want to send a video to someone, I'm going to have to record in a much lower resolution so it can be trimmed down enough to send over WA.

I too come from an Iphone 4S( had an Iphone 3gs and 4), made the switch about 2 months ago.(like you I also jailbroke my phone, and was pretty happy with the results) But After trying android, it is a completely different story, now back to your point

Battery life.

Like someone else said you can an extended battery on amazon, I got mine for 20 bucks, and I can use my phone for 3 days without charging it. I am not a super heavy user, but I use it when I need to, facebook,email,browsing, the occasional game or 2, scorecenter, news, downloading apps.
It does add bulk to the phone, which Im not ok with, so on work days I use the regular battery, on weekends that I spend with friends and gf, I go with the extended battery and can last me all weekend of texting,calling, games, movies etc...

Can you please provide a link to the battery in question? The only one I heard about is like $100. I'm just afraid it's not available in my country (Canada.) You see, as a Canadian, we always get the ol' finger in the ass when it comes to buying things online, especially from places like Amazon.

I have no experienced any bt problems, I have bt in my car and I have used it without issues. I even paired my ps3 controller view bt so I can any game I want.( this gave me some issues, but after I was done pairing, 30 mins tops, they sync with no problem now)

Lucky you.

Bloatware, I am rooted so no issues there either.

Would you suggest rooting? I've been mulling it over, but I'm afraid something might eff up (read: I might eff something up. )

audio profile, If you root your phone you can make any key work as any function you want( have not experimented with this, but I know it can be done)
For me it makes perfect sense to have different settings for volume, and I find it quite handy. IE Im watching a movie at 11pm, if I get a text or a call, I dont want to answer it, I want to keep listening to my movie without a disturbance. IE when I play games same thing, I dont want sound on my games, but I want to be notified when I get a text or an important email. No problem there for me.

Interesting. Rooting is starting to sound more and more useful.
For me, it doesn't make sense having different sounds. Maybe it's just because I'm used to the iPhone methodology of just having all or nothing, and I liked that approach.

S voice, I never used siri on my 4s, so I never use S voice. I drive and I drive, I dont do anything else.

I never had Siri, but the idea of sending a text or setting up an appointment while I'm driving intrigued me, so I wanted to give it a shot.

Never had a problem with notifications disappearing.

Do you use WhatsApp?

Overall, like a lot of people will say, there is always gonna be things that IOS can do better than android, and vice versa, for me personally adroid tweaks and tricks outweight IOS by a lot, so I dont see myself ever going back to IOS at least not in the direction they are heading.

Thanks for the input.

I personally think I suffer from being a perfectionist, coupled with obsessive compulsion and my Android has, at times, kept me awake at night with me lying in bed just thinking of how I can make it perfect both visually and performance wise!

A fellow anal-retentive pedantic perfectionist: a man after my own heart.

Sounds like the iPhone 4 does things for you. Whereas with Android, you actually have to do things to make things happen. iPhone 4 = Slave master while Android = Free spirited thinker. Some people like that there is only one look and one way to do things. That things are done for your. And those people choose Apple. They are great at what they do. Others like to test the waters and do what they please. Explore their environments and change things they don't like. Those people choose Android. I choose Android. I am rooted and stock ICS. I have all the bloatware frozen. I have my NFC tags everywhere that change my settings with a swype of my phone. You can multitask the apps(which iPhone 4 cannot do which is why battery life is better on it and also the tiny screen) I have widgets and live wallpaper and bells and whistles. I don't hate on those that choose Apple over Android. I just pity them. Haha. Ignorance is bliss I guess. My cousins all have i5's and they love them. But I will tell you, they all wipe drool off the corners of their mouths when they have my GS3 side by side with their cute dainty little phone. Just my opinions.

Yeah I suppose you're right about that. Apple's phone is definitely nice without any customization but I do like the idea of being able to customize exactly as I want.

I'm a few moon cycles older than you but still not AARP-eligible. I have Nanos, shuffles, and iPod Touches. One thing iTunes does very well for me is allow me to set up and sync across all these music-first devices with no problem. Never had a crash, and I get most of my music as gift (CDs from the relatives who aren't tech-savvy) and Amazon mP3. I've always skipped at least 1-2 generations (no iPT1, bought a iPT2, skipped 3-4, bought a new iPT5, will skip 6-7, etc.) and never had concerns about compatibility. Got an iPad2 - not getting another until something truly unique happens - screen and processor isn't enough for what's basically a couch-surfing, couch-gaming tablet.

The trouble with non-Apple/iTunes products is that they're here one year and gone the next. Zune? Sony? Where's the 64GB Samsung player option? And some are just downright child-like (Creative Zen, Cube, etc.). Also would not have been able to easily skip any generations of some of these products because few even had successive generations leaving older models software-compatible.

Never consider Apple computers because they just don't have the biz community support. Never considered iPhones because I refuse to settle for small screen, lack of personalization, and Apple-controlled storage limitation. I'd reconsider that if Apple allowed SD storage/use and had larger screens.

Also, consider Apple really made headway with the older sets because of it's simplicity. That's shifted dramatically to the younger set. They care more about being a part of the Apple club than what the phone actually does.

I've used several Apple devices over the years, and I must say they've been quite pleasant to use, for the most part. However, what I really can't stand is being locked in to Apple's ecosystem.
For example: a while back I purchased a WD Live TV Plus. It's basically an Apple TV, but it plays any format you throw at it. Problem is, firmware sucks huge donkey balls. It's a total crapshoot whether it will connect to my wifi or not (which BTW it does not have built-in; I needed to buy an external adapter) and it keeps forgetting that I set the output to 1080p; it keeps reverting back to 720p. When it does work, it works well. Then I got a chance to try a jailbroken Apple TV, and it works SO MUCH BETTER. The problem is, it has to be jailbroken! Without a jailbreak, I'm stuck waching only MP4s and requiring iTunes, one of the biggest pieces of shit ever to grace computerdom.

I've noticed that this seems to be somewhat inconsistent. I did get the JB update last week and the first thing I noticed was that the battery drain while on stand-by has diminished greatly.

Better standby battery life with Jelly Bean? That's good to know.

This is actually a feature I really like about Android. There are different volume settings for ringer, phone calls, media, notifications, etc. I take advantage of this finer granularity with regard to different volume levels. For instance, when I go to bed, I want all notification sounds to be silenced while I still want the ringer to sound (at a lower volume) as well as my alarm. When I am indoors, I have a lower volume for various sounds and when outdoors, I have them at max.

Now, it may seem inconvenient to have to set multiple sound levels for each type of sound, but Android has apps to do this. More specifically, I use a widget to control the various sound profiles. There is a widget called Volume Widget that allows you to set 3 different sound profiles and allow you to activate each one with a single tap. I set my sleep profile to have low volume on most settings and notification sounds off. I also set my indoor and outdoor profiles accordingly. When I go to bed, I just tap on "Sleep" on the widget and all my notifications are off. When I wake up, I just tap on "Indoors" or "Outdoors" on the widget and all of the sounds are set accordingly. You can also relabel the three profiles as you like.

Sounds pretty good, I'll check out the widget, thanks!

I agree. I think this has to do with the BT connection and device. On my old phone and old car, the car did not have BT. I used a BT headset. I had an HTC Desire Z at the time that had its own voice reco app. When I press the button on my BT headset, it would invoke the voice reco app and I can say, "call John Doe mobile" and it would call John Doe's cell.

My new car has BT, but it has its own voice reco app. If I activate the hands free mode, my car does not automatically pass through to the voice reco app on my phone (S-Voice on my SGS3). Instead, it activates the car's voice reco app. I have to use the voice reco app on the car to call a number. Then the car will instruct my phone via BT to call that number. This is annoying as I would much prefer to use my phone's voice reco app as it can do so much more than my car's. I have not investigated how to bypass the car's voice reco app and go directly to S-Voice.

My car does the same thing. I would also prefer to just use my car as a pass-through to my phone, but it won't let me; it will just ask me for the number to dial and then tell my phone to do it.

Don't forget widgets. There are some very useful ones out there. The Volume Widget is one of the most useful ones I have seen.

Can you recommend any others?

Point to ponder on original post

When someone says they are a power user, then says they are very unhappy with the device compared to the one they came from. I always wonder "We're you a Power Reviewer". A power reviewer being someone who researches all the issues on a device they are contemplating compared to what they are leaving behind.

Example: I just made a decision to get an iPad W/Retina. I am a Wintell slave and already own several Android devices including a year old Kindle Fire. I knew what I needed my next tablet to do and all of them shouted out in their ads that they did it. But by researching what they didn't do or did do poorly I was able to make a decision based on the needs I had as opposed to the bells and whistles noise.

Did I make the best decision? Time will tell as next month someone could come out with the next best thing, but I made the best decision I could based on the research I did and because I did, I have no gripes that make me think I should have gone with a different tablet. That's not to say my shinny new iPad is perfect, because its not. But I knew that going in and am not disappointed in my choice.

Just saying.

I totally understand what you're saying.

I guess my biggest gripe is that I didn't expect to find so many little things that annoy me, and especially after so many revisions of the OS, to find so many unpolished/untested/known issues.

I think the OP is spot on with a lot of observations. I want a phone that is a blend of the best Android and iPhone have to offer. Seems not to exist.

I haven't yet encountered all the issues of the OP (only have my S3 for one week, I'm coming from a 4S), and have not have I tried some of the fixed (battery drain!). But what kills me is in-line spell check. When I type a word wrong I don't get a red dotted or squiggly line underneath the word to know it is not recognized. This is a basic and fundamental feature. Not having this is as absurd as the original iPhones not having a copy/paste feature.

I'll keep playing with this. NFC brought me to Android, but it may not be enough to keep me.

OP, thanks for writing this post.

Thanks for reading.
If you have a problem with spellcheck, get the Swype 3 keyboard. Right now it's in beta so it's free, and it's AMAZING. It's text prediction is something like 95% for me so I never make any spelling mistakes. In fact, I can type pretty damn fast and it will still capture exactly what I wanted to type (95% of the time.) I plan to buy it when it comes out.

Notice how it's now the 14th and not a peep from the OP? How about a few kind words for all the feedback?

I very heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who took the time to read my bitching and reply.

I also feel like someone who has so many fundamental issues with a particular phone/OS should just take advantage of the return policy (assuming there is one) & return to what they're comfortable with, in this case purchase a new iPhone 4S or 5.

I'm sure the 5 will be jailbroken before too long...

I've considered going back to my 4, but there is no untethered jailbreak for iOS 6.0.1, and based on what I've read, there won't be; Dev Team and the rest are waiting for next iOS version.

That being said, after using the GS3 for a bit longer, I'm starting to get the hang of it. Unfortunately I don't really have much recourse in the way of returns; I'm already well past the 15-minute/15-day usage policy set forth by my carrier (Rogers in Canada.) Believe it or not, our carriers up in the Great White North are even worse than the Americans'.

 

[Stuntman]

Widgets are rather a personal choice. I'll tell you the ones that I personally like.

I personally like some full screen widgets. I use the Android Pro Widget for Twitter. It take practically the entire screen. It has the Twitter feeds and is scrollable without having to open the app. I also have the full screen calendar widget that lists all of my appointments.

For weather, I use The Weather Network. The widget I use is 2x1 and displays the current conditions and temperature.

For sports scores, I use ScoreMobile. I really like the widget. It is 4x2 and shows the current scores. You tap on the up or down arrow on the widget and it advances through all of the scores.

I need to know the time to the second, so I use Analog Clock with Second Hand. When I tap on the widget, it takes me to the clock app.

I use a widget to turn on the LED flash on my phone to use it as a flash light.

I use a widget to toggle my WiFi hotspot. Saves time so I don't have to go into the settings which take multiple taps.

That's pretty much it. There are a lot of widgets and it really depends on your taste and what you find useful. I find that like apps, there are a lot of what I would consider to be useless widgets. I feel that many developers make a widget for their app just for the sake of making a widget. Just my opinion, but I find many such widgets to serve no real useful purpose.

When deciding if you need or want a widget, you have to decide if you want something pretty or something useful or something that can save you some taps. It mostly depends on what you do on your phone and if you want to do some things faster. If there is something more specific you would like, I can perhaps make some better recommendations that suit you.

 

[MicroNix]

Locale +1
CarHome Ultra +1

http://www.applatter.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/car-home-ultra-for-android-screenshot.jpg

iBolt car dock +1

S Voice? Why use it when there's Google Now?

 

[kingjavs]

Here is for the battery, this is the one I bought. Even tho stock life is pretty good, 3-4 hours of onscreen time(after tweaks of course) and 13-15 hours stand by.

Anyways, this battery should double that.

Amazon.com: Hyperion Samsung Galaxy SIII 4200mAh Extended Battery + White Back Cover (Compatible with Samsung Galaxy S III GT-i9300, AT&T Samsung Galaxy S3 Samsung i747, Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3 Samsung i535, T-mobile Samsung Galaxy S3 Samsung T999,

I bought for 20, and I have heard people get for 25 sometimes, not sure why it fluctuates +-10 dollars, but knowing what I know now, I would still by it for 30. hell even 40 dollars would be a price that I would pay for the battery. The white cover fits perfectly on my white ATT S3, not sure about the other colors.

I rooted my first GS3 a couple of months ago, it was pretty easy I would say, just made sure I had the right rom for my phone. I played around with different roms, but I just didnt like them very much so I switched back to TW.

I would suggest rooting, because it gives me the flexibility of doing whatever I want whenever I want. Also like I said, I have a stock base rom so you cant really tell im rooted, except for all the extra options. I would do it just because of the back up option(Titanium back up). That alone is worth the rooting in IMO. The debloating is also another reason why rooting was an option for me. Lastly playing games like modern combat 4, and emulators (I enjoy megaman, and FF) with my ps3 controller . I dont really do much with my SU(super user/root) options other than the ones I just mentioned, every once in a while I would do some other things but not very often.



I use whatsapp, and go sms pro
Anything else you might need let me know

 

[Volt9000]

Widgets are rather a personal choice. I'll tell you the ones that I personally like.
*snip*

Thanks for your list!

Locale +1
CarHome Ultra +1

http://www.applatter.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/car-home-ultra-for-android-screenshot.jpg

iBolt car dock +1

S Voice? Why use it when there's Google Now?

I can't find Google Now anywhere in the Play Store. Is it something built-in to newer versions of Android? I'm running stock 4.0.4 ICS.

Here is for the battery, this is the one I bought. Even tho stock life is pretty good, 3-4 hours of onscreen time(after tweaks of course) and 13-15 hours stand by.

Anyways, this battery should double that.

Amazon.com: Hyperion Samsung Galaxy SIII 4200mAh Extended Battery + White Back Cover (Compatible with Samsung Galaxy S III GT-i9300, AT&T Samsung Galaxy S3 Samsung i747, Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3 Samsung i535, T-mobile Samsung Galaxy S3 Samsung T999,

I bought for 20, and I have heard people get for 25 sometimes, not sure why it fluctuates +-10 dollars, but knowing what I know now, I would still by it for 30. hell even 40 dollars would be a price that I would pay for the battery. The white cover fits perfectly on my white ATT S3, not sure about the other colors.

Thanks for the link. Looks like Canadian Amazon has it too, for $30 as well, but regular price is $60. All reviews on both American and Canadian sites seem to be generally good.

But don't you find it to be too bulky? And can you even get a case for it anymore with the added bulk?

I rooted my first GS3 a couple of months ago, it was pretty easy I would say, just made sure I had the right rom for my phone. I played around with different roms, but I just didnt like them very much so I switched back to TW.

I would suggest rooting, because it gives me the flexibility of doing whatever I want whenever I want. Also like I said, I have a stock base rom so you cant really tell im rooted, except for all the extra options. I would do it just because of the back up option(Titanium back up). That alone is worth the rooting in IMO. The debloating is also another reason why rooting was an option for me. Lastly playing games like modern combat 4, and emulators (I enjoy megaman, and FF) with my ps3 controller . I dont really do much with my SU(super user/root) options other than the ones I just mentioned, every once in a while I would do some other things but not very often.



I use whatsapp, and go sms pro
Anything else you might need let me know

Wow, it sounds like rooting is definitely the way to go.
However I'm a bit confused about rooting. Is it the same as jailbreaking an iPhone?
Also, what exactly happens? Do I need to install a custom firmware, or can I still keep my current? What are my options vis-a-vis firmware? I've heard of CyanogenMod, which seems to be the most popular. Do I have other options?

I guess I should find a thread on rooting.

 

[Covart]

To the OP, Volt9000.

You claim to be a "power-user" but did no research before buying an Android phone to replace your iPhone 4. This is like buying your first Mac and then complaining because it isn't exactly like Windows and can't do things exactly the same way as the Windows PC you have used for the last 2 years.

Every single gripe you listed is more user related, than phone related. (Look up what A2DP is and an app called BeyondPod. Will solve half your gripes.) I switched to Android this year, after using nothing but iPhones since the first Motorola Razr flip-phone, which was my phone prior to the first iPhone. I did a lot of research before and after my purchase before asking questions like "What is rooting?" People that complain about a product without actually knowing anything about the product are posting because they want to start a flame war.

And I did love your bloatware comment. A simple Google search could have told you to go into App Manager and click "disable". Done.
On iOS, you get all that crap bloatware, like Newstand, and there is nothing you can do about it, unless you want to jailbreak and if you have a phone on iOS6, you can't even do that.

So, do a little research. Learn the basics like "rooting", "flashing", what a "ROM" is, knowing what Google Now is and so on. You will look less like a troll trying to start a flame war. And I would have told you to go to the XDA forum to look up info about ROMs, but if a simple Google search is to difficult for you, the XDA forums will be way too complicated for you and you should stay away from rooting and custom ROMs and/or kernels.