Android thread V-garychencool finally rooted his phone and got ICS edition

[Comfy]

I want my nexus 7 ;_;

Ship faster dammit

[PyroCF]

Welp, a quick first impression after 5 minutes of playing with it:
-The thing rattles, I think it's the power switch
-The screen is so dull and lifeless, it's the opposite of the S3 in terms of bad cailbration, although whites are pretty nice!
-The screen also produces a lot of ghosting
-The infamous Android Lag is still here, using it side by side with an S3 and Lumia 920 you can see.
-New camera UI isn't very nice to use
-Animations and stuff are WAAAYYYY too fast, you go to scroll a tiny bit and it shoots off screen.

Again, I'll be doing a full review in a serperate thread tomorrow!

[ShaunOfTheLive]

I have six months of contract left on Fido, and Wireless Wave says they can absorb the cancellation fee if I sign with Bell. Awesome. (except for the whole contract part)

[Kaabii]

[QUOTE=PyroCF;38655020]Welp, a quick first impression after 5 minutes of playing with it:
-The thing rattles, I think it's the power switch
[B]I think I'd be more scared that the glass can shatter when you go from a hot place to a cold one. Be sure to not go outside in the winter when your house is warm![/B]
-The screen is so dull and lifeless, it's the opposite of the S3 in terms of bad calibration, although whites are pretty nice!
[B]So it's really under saturated? It must be pretty bad because even something like an iPad 2 doesn't look dull or lifeless. Probably a lot of factors[/B]
-The screen also produces a lot of ghosting
[B]I'd imagine at $300 you can't just throw meh quality panels away. Just put em in and hope the customer doesn't notice or is too lazy to return it[/B]
-The infamous Android Lag is still here, using it side by side with an S3 and Lumia 920 you can see.
[B]I'd honestly attribute it to the fact that the entirety of Android's animations are bland, mechanical, and downright horribly designed and don't feel fluid or natural at all. Google should just licence Apple's bounceback and shape morphing patents so they can make it feel a bit more fluid. Think of the Gingerbread launcher[/B]
-New camera UI isn't very nice to use
[B]I dunno. I don't mind it in custom 4.2 ROMs on my phones, but I never really expect much from a phone camera beyond hitting a button to take a photo[/B]
-Animations and stuff are WAAAYYYY too fast, you go to scroll a tiny bit and it shoots off screen.
[B]The best way to hide sluggishness and stutters is to get the animation over with as soon as possible[/B]

Again, I'll be doing a full review in a serperate thread tomorrow![/QUOTE]

I think I'm glad I didn't buy it. It's so depressing because it could have been a lot better than it is, even if I had to pay a bit of extra cash it would be worth it.

[editline]30th November 2012[/editline]

[QUOTE=ShaunOfTheLive;38655179]I have six months of contract left on Fido, and Wireless Wave says they can absorb the cancellation fee if I sign with Bell. Awesome. (except for the whole contract part)[/QUOTE]

Um, get that in writing from a manager, and record them saying it. That's unusual, although not impossible. I'm just taken back to a horror story from HoFo where a worker at the Source told someone Bell would buy out their contract and it turned out to be bullshit, and they got stuck with a $400 bill because it was his word vs the employee.

[garychencool]

[QUOTE=PyroCF;38654738]halp, i accidently fell and bought one.
[t]http://i50.tinypic.com/29p6syr.jpg[/t]
I will review it and tell you how bad it is![/QUOTE]

The Razer BlackWidow Ultimate, bad?

Preposterous!

[FPtje]

[QUOTE=Kaabii;38655184]I think I'm glad I didn't buy it. It's so depressing because it could have been a lot better than it is, even if I had to pay a bit of extra cash it would be worth it.
[/QUOTE]
Fuck LG.

Everyone was ecstatic about the Nexus 4 before it was released. Now people are way more negative. Glad to see my hate for LG justified.

[Kaabii]

People just assumed since the Nexus 7 was pretty good after the initial issues that Google had learned to actually do things right. But the Nexus 4 overall and the pairing of a WQXGA panel with a GPU just marginally better than the one in the 1024x768 iPad 2 from 2011 are just horrible failures of design, coordination, and execution.

[Ricenchicken]

So what are some nice wallpaper/lock screen app pictures/live wallpapers for the S3?

Just got it!

[iCole]

[QUOTE=Kaabii;38655184]Google should just licence Apple's bounceback[/QUOTE]
Is that the animation that allows you to scroll the whole menu away? So the menu doesn't just stop at the end but keeps scrolling (if you scrolled too fast) and then [I]bounces back[/I]?

That's the worst thing EVER.
/opinion

[lordcrypto]

[QUOTE=Oicani Gonzales;38655354]falcon pro is now out of beta and up on play

[img]http://d.pr/i/O5xL+[/img]

[url]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jv.falcon.pro[/url]

smooth as [I]fuck[/I]

i emailed him some suggestions (after he told me he'd prefer that over posting them on xda), will let you guys know what he says if you want[/QUOTE]
okay christ

thats exactly what i've been looking for

[garychencool]

[QUOTE=Ricenchicken;38655532]So what are some nice wallpaper/lock screen app pictures/live wallpapers for the S3?

Just got it![/QUOTE]

Wallpapers: [url]www.wallbase.cc[/url] - has everything you will ever need and more with wallpapers
Lockscreen: if you don't like the stock one, you can change it.
Live Wallpapers: it will kill your battery, if you want it there's a bunch of free one's that look amazing. There's also some stock ones too.

[Kaabii]

[QUOTE=iCole;38655592]Is that the animation that allows you to scroll the whole menu away? So the menu doesn't just stop at the end but keeps scrolling (if you scrolled too fast) and then [I]bounces back[/I]?

That's the worst thing EVER.
/opinion[/QUOTE]

Yup it's so bad that Windows Phone uses it, Android used it in 2.3 and the only company actually being successful in Android devices added it in themselves until they got sued.

[editline]30th November 2012[/editline]

Not trying to discount your opinion BTW, just saying that it doesn't look like many people hate it.

[iCole]

Well we all know why the only company actually being successful in Android devices added it.

Everybody likes something else, I just think that this is probably The most useless animation.

[Kaabii]

[QUOTE=iCole;38655727]Well we all know why the only company actually being successful in Android devices added it.

Everybody likes something else, I just think that this is probably The most useless animation.[/QUOTE]

It's not supposed to be useful in a practical sense. It's to add to the fluidity and natural feel of the interface. When you scroll left and right on iOS the image is slightly warped like a parallelogram so it's similar to if you pulled a cloth along a table. In WPX when you scroll too far it overscrolls and the stuff on screen is compressed in the direction you're scrolling. Those are things that Android will never have until Google starts plucking people from companies other than Palm. It's not just an issue of frame rates or response time, it's an issue of design.

[PyroCF]

Yeah, scrolling in menues feels really unnatural in AOSP.

[lordcrypto]

question: i cleared GSF data to force the 4.2.1 update on my n7, now it isn't showing in the play store as a device. Do I just wait?

[garychencool]

[QUOTE=Oicani Gonzales;38655865]to be really, [I]really[/I] honest i prefer android's approach

and i like nova launcher's even more

[t]http://i.imgur.com/MQLLj.png[/t][/QUOTE]

Wow I don't have this even though I turned it on under the Nova Settings > Drawer and I gave it root permissions...

[Kaabii]

[QUOTE=Oicani Gonzales;38655865]to be really, [I]really[/I] honest i prefer android's approach

and i like nova launcher's even more

[t]http://i.imgur.com/MQLLj.png[/t][/QUOTE]

Except that isn't the same thing because on Android it only happens when your purposely try to scroll when there's nothing next, opposed to it happening due to UI physics. Again, it's very mechanical.

[editline]30th November 2012[/editline]

Like you can like it better, that's great because everyone has their own opinions. But that doesn't at all debate what is essentially a fact that any sort of physics in the UI makes it feel more natural to use, like you're actually manipulating what's on the screen.

[Kaabii]

[QUOTE=Oicani Gonzales;38655992]ive seen it happen in the same scenarios where bounceback would in ios, i'm not sure this is aosp, but in mine it does
it isn't the huge flare that shows up when you keep trying to scroll but it does appear[/QUOTE]

Not in AOSP. The only thing you get is a harder swipe in drawers makes the stuff scroll over faster.

[editline]30th November 2012[/editline]

By the way I'm running an AOSP ROM on my old i9000 for fun and there is no perceivable difference from 4.1.1 in terms of speed. No reason the Nexus S couldn't have been updated apart from laziness. I wonder when the Gnex will get dropped.

[ShaunOfTheLive]

[QUOTE=Kaabii;38655184]I think I'm glad I didn't buy it. It's so depressing because it could have been a lot better than it is, even if I had to pay a bit of extra cash it would be worth it.

[editline]30th November 2012[/editline]

Um, get that in writing from a manager, and record them saying it. That's unusual, although not impossible. I'm just taken back to a horror story from HoFo where a worker at the Source told someone Bell would buy out their contract and it turned out to be bullshit, and they got stuck with a $400 bill because it was his word vs the employee.[/QUOTE]

Thank you Kaabii. I'll try to do that. I'm glad I didn't make an impulsive decision on the spot.

[Van-man]

Dammit Google, stop being a dick with Android, just because the average Joe & Jane doesn't mind :(
And both iOS and WP8 is locked down hard compared to Android, so they're out of the equation too.
Left is only some weird offshots that only works on a handful of devices, or alternatives that are even more horrible than Android's current direction.

[mblunk]

[QUOTE=PyroCF;38655020]Welp, a quick first impression after 5 minutes of playing with it:
-The thing rattles, I think it's the power switch
-The screen is so dull and lifeless, it's the opposite of the S3 in terms of bad cailbration, although whites are pretty nice!
-The screen also produces a lot of ghosting
-The infamous Android Lag is still here, using it side by side with an S3 and Lumia 920 you can see.
-New camera UI isn't very nice to use
-Animations and stuff are WAAAYYYY too fast, you go to scroll a tiny bit and it shoots off screen.

Again, I'll be doing a full review in a serperate thread tomorrow![/QUOTE]
I think the rattling has been established to be be the camera optics, mine still rattles when I hold the power button.
I've also noticed colors are somewhat muted, but it doesn't bother me.
I can't see any ghosting on mine?
Not sure what you mean by android lag, it feels just as responsive as the family iPhone 4S imo
I think the camera pie menu is a matter of preference, I love it over pecking the menu button in the corner
The scrolling fits my tastes fine, it was way too slow on my 2.3 triumph

In conclusion the only objective issues I agree with here are the rattling (which I don't notice unless I set it down on a hard surface, and even then, it's just a little rattle..) and the undersaturation.

[lordcrypto]

mblunk, does the n4 have the autobrightness issue that the n7 does? I like it to dim and stuff, but I can't really use autobright because my room is just at the edge of wifi so it flickers

[FlashFireSix]

I can't test nova launcher as it's incompatible with my phone

bah

[Van-man]

[QUOTE=FlashFireSix;38657400]I can't test nova launcher as it's incompatible with my phone

bah[/QUOTE]

It needs ICS and up.
Works fine on mine.

[editline]1st December 2012[/editline]

Although I'm not a big fan of it.
I [B]MUCH[/B] prefer GO Launcher Ex, but it's getting bloaty.

[Ricenchicken]

Is there a way to get text messages back after upgrading phones?

Also is there a way to get the numbers quicjer than holding the letter on an s3? I know swiftkeys lets you do it faster. Oike .06 seconds.

[mblunk]

[QUOTE=LordCrypto;38657197]mblunk, does the n4 have the autobrightness issue that the n7 does? I like it to dim and stuff, but I can't really use autobright because my room is just at the edge of wifi so it flickers[/QUOTE]

I keep my lights off so my room gets fairly dark at night, and I haven't seen any flickering - I just opened gmail for a white screen and watched for a minute or so and couldn't catch anything. It does flicker for a split second when the light level changes and it readjusts the backlight, but it's just the just the sudden stepping through a small number of intermediate levels which is the cause of the reported flicker issue from what I can tell. Are there any specific tests you want me to try?

[FlashFireSix]

[QUOTE=Van-man;38657428]It needs ICS and up.
Works fine on mine.

[editline]1st December 2012[/editline]

Although I'm not a big fan of it.
I [B]MUCH[/B] prefer GO Launcher Ex, but it's getting bloaty.[/QUOTE]

Yeah I guessed

gingerbread peasant race

I loved golauncher, but nova just seems simpler, and all I want is to be able to change my icons about

[editline]1st December 2012[/editline]

[QUOTE=Ricenchicken;38657472]Is there a way to get text messages back after upgrading phones?

Also is there a way to get the numbers quicjer than holding the letter on an s3? I know swiftkeys lets you do it faster. Oike .06 seconds.[/QUOTE]

Put your sim in your old phone, and save the messages you want to the sim card

(I dunno this was the first thing I thought of)

[roflcakes]

[QUOTE=Van-man;38657428]It needs ICS and up.
Works fine on mine.

[editline]1st December 2012[/editline]

Although I'm not a big fan of it.
I [B]MUCH[/B] prefer GO Launcher Ex, but it's getting bloaty.[/QUOTE]

I've used ADW Launcher EX since the sales but it's new menu handling is really super shit. For those unfamiliar: pressing menu in ADW launcher EX now opens a separate popup thing instead of a regular menu at the bottom.

[lordcrypto]

[QUOTE=mblunk;38657546]I keep my lights off so my room gets fairly dark at night, and I haven't seen any flickering - I just opened gmail for a white screen and watched for a minute or so and couldn't catch anything. It does flicker for a split second when the light level changes and it readjusts the backlight, but it's just the just the sudden stepping through a small number of intermediate levels which is the cause of the reported flicker issue from what I can tell. Are there any specific tests you want me to try?[/QUOTE]
get right at the edge of wifi range

open gmail, make it really dark in testing area to reduce backlight to below 30%, on the n7 it'll flicker because of the wifi antenna drawing too much power or something