Tried Android again and was burned again

[Steven P Jobs]

When I was on stock GB my phone got HORRIBLE battery life. Then I did some diggin around and realized that most apps that sync were set to do so every 15 minutes lol. So I had facebook, twitter, weather, email and who knows what else trying to sync every friggin 5 seconds which was using the 3g and just chewing my battery down. I dont know why all the apps decide such low time defaults for sync but I shouldnt have to manually change it from 15 to an hour or whatever I feel is necessary. Its amazing how much 3g eats your battery. I ended up buying juice defender which just turns off your 3g completely when your phone is sleeping and you can set it to turn on for a few minutes every hour (or whatever you set it to) and sync up with everything. That alone gave me an extra 5 hours of battery on average.

A friend from work just got the new droid 4 and was wondering why his battery life wasnt all that great. I looked at his phone for him and saw that by default, it always looks for a 4g signal. What the crap is that And viola! better battery life.

Just my .02 from experience. I even carry an extra battery in my wallet (its small enough without being annoying) just in case i really need it. Ive only used it twice.

The user shouldn't have to worry about any of that.

[Nabby]

The user shouldn't have to worry about any of that.

And that is a fundamental issue with android handsets. There is so much choice that the user experience can vary greatly from handset to handset. I keep trying but end up running back to my iPhone every time.

ICS is changing my mind though, if HTC doesn't screw it up too bad with their custom UI my new device may be a One X or Evo 4G LTE.

[Steven P Jobs]

Yeah, that's really the main issue. There are quality devices and quality software on the Android side, but there is also so much garbage. Most consumers don't want to filter through all that garbage to find the one device/software combo that works, so they just end up buying an iPhone because you can go to a store and buy the current model and know that it's an iPhone like all the other ones out there that are all working just fine.

[Squirrel Meat]

The user shouldn't have to worry about any of that.

That was kinda what I was getting at. Your absolutely right. The user really shouldnt have to worry about anything like that. But its kind of a catch 22- Have more options with more choices and have issues like that where not all users will make full use or have less options and choices and restrict the user. Yes, android has some fault here, but I would have to put some blame on the devs/companies for putting those defaults there in the first place. Its just careless imho.

[Squirrel Meat]

And that is a fundamental issue with android handsets. There is so much choice that the user experience can vary greatly from handset to handset. I keep trying but end up running back to my iPhone every time.

ICS is changing my mind though, if HTC doesn't screw it up too bad with their custom UI my new device may be a One X or Evo 4G LTE.

Yeah, ICS is a HUGE upgrade over GB. Even on my old phone (OG EVO 4G) its so much faster and snappier and hwa is just awesome and about time it got hwa love. Its even better on a tablet, really makes it feel like its more than just a novelty. I dunno why but it does lol.

[Nabby]

Yeah, ICS is a HUGE upgrade over GB. Even on my old phone (OG EVO 4G) its so much faster and snappier and hwa is just awesome and about time it got hwa love. Its even better on a tablet, really makes it feel like its more than just a novelty. I dunno why but it does lol.

So you have an Evo? On Sprint I assume, if so, how is the speed/service overall? They are trying to get our business but I found their 3G in our area a bit lacking at times. WiMax was very fast whenever I was able to get it.

[Squirrel Meat]

So you have an Evo? On Sprint I assume, if so, how is the speed/service overall? They are trying to get our business but I found their 3G in our area a bit lacking at times. WiMax was very fast whenever I was able to get it.

yup evo on sprint. service is okay. I had verizon before and they have much better service in my area but it is too expensive. I never drop calls or anything, its just that I rarely have full signal in most places. I rarely get 4g anywhere up here but when I do its pretty fast. The 3g speeds are not very good but enough for most things.

As far as company service....not very good. Considering none of them are very good to begin with but I guess it has to do with experience. Ive never had a problem with them before until I tried to get my lady a new phone and it was a disaster. If you really want the whole story ill give it lol, but the short version is it was a bunch of horse poo poo. Ive been royally screwed by verizon as well. So it just depends. If its your buisness im sure they will treat you much better Just go check the coverage maps and see which ones have more 3g and 4g towers in your area.

[Steven P Jobs]

I agree, 4.0 is where Android turned from a usable OS to a pretty good one. Performance increased so immensely in the move to 4.0, they finally figured out that poorly written software is a problem you can't solve by throwing more MHz and cores at it. Google still needs to work on making it more intuitive and cohesive but it seems like that's exactly what Google brought Matias Duarte on board for.

[Squirrel Meat]

I agree, 4.0 is where Android turned from a usable OS to a pretty good one. Performance increased so immensely in the move to 4.0, they finally figured out that poorly written software is a problem you can't solve by throwing more MHz and cores at it. Google still needs to work on making it more intuitive and cohesive but it seems like that's exactly what Google brought Matias Duarte on board for.

Yeah, I cant argue with that. I personally think that was a big reason why the Galaxy S2 was so popular or at least part of the reason: it was so smooth and fast. But the only reason it was so smooth and fast on GB is because the proc is so fast and its brute forcing its way through all that crappy useless java code. ICS runs buttery smooth even on an old phone like mine (1 gig single core). Its a huge step in the right direction. Even the memory management is leaps and bounds better than GB.

Im back on a GB rom right now unfortunately. Its a really nice one but still not ICS...Had to go back because all the roms for my phone still need quite a bit of work and have no working camcorder. Ive been flashing alpha roms for the last 5 months and just need something where everything works. I think its time for a new phone lol.

[Steven P Jobs]

I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S (the first one) with some prerelease build of CyanogenMod 9. Performance is perfectly fine, unlike when I had 2.3-based Cyanogen on it. It's just barely daily driver-worthy, the 3G radio turns off about once a week and there's a few other hangups that would make me never ever recommend this setup to a 'normal' person, but it beats running 2.3. I'm probably gonna ditch it when the next iPhone comes out.

[Trunks]

I've been using my SGS2 since AT&T launched it (not the skyrocket), and the only issue I ever ran in to was when I flashed to 2.3.6. Battery life was HORRIBLE. Flashed to CM9 and I couldn't be happier.

I'm just waiting on AT&T to release their official ICS so I can go back to TouchWiz. I'm one of the few who miss it That and Swype. I need my Swype!

[Nabby]

Sprint has finally gotten around to shipping my 4G LTE Evo. I'll be testing it for a about a week and decide if I want to keep it.

I have replaced 2 iPhone 4s phones. The first one had stability issues with applications/data/GPS. Second one would overheat and stop working. Third one has been perfectly fine thus far.

[Nick_B]

That and Swype. I need my Swype!

I'm pretty sure I just installed the Swype beta from beta.swype.com on a CM9 phone and it worked. Have you given it a shot?

If not, I know I've moved Swype from a 2.3 ROM to an ICS one using Titanium backup.

You ought to be able to get Swype on there...

[Trunks]

I'm pretty sure I just installed the Swype beta from beta.swype.com on a CM9 phone and it worked. Have you given it a shot?

If not, I know I've moved Swype from a 2.3 ROM to an ICS one using Titanium backup.

You ought to be able to get Swype on there...

You're awesome! Thanks! Their installer kept giving me parsing errors, but I found a direct apk download browsing their forums. I missed it!

[Nabby]

Currently trying the EVO 4G LTE on sprints network. Awesome device, not so awesome network. The device is great and now that I've customized everything it works very well. The insanely slow network is driving me away. The average streaming service takes substantially longer to buffer and start and I have experienced dropped data signals at times. However, I have not dropped a call yet. If the HTC 4G LTE was available on ATT I would consider buying one. I know the One X is basically the same phone but the lack of micro sd the appeal drops off a lot.

I still believe IOS has the best mail application around. Google still has some work to do on that one. Tried k9 and the default HTC mail application are both but not as great.