More evidence that task killers are crap: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/244067/taskkiller_apps_will_they_help_or_hurt_your_battery_life.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.pcworld.com/article/244067/t ... _life.html</a> At best, a tiny improvement, at worst, it's detrimental - and given such an essentially uncontrolled test, differences may well be chalked up to variances in testing. So, yeah. Don't bother. In RE: the Samsung Galaxy S II LTE, I don't know about the LTE version, but three of my coworkers picked up the S II on my recommendation (HSDPA+ version, not LTE) and they all love them. All three were previously iPhone users, and one was previously an pretty hardcore Apple advocate. Definitely a nice phone.
It's been a month since I have abandoned using a Task Killer on my HTC Evo. My battery life is the same, if not longer. The phone's processing speed appears to be doing fine. I don't notice a lot of lag in opening/using apps. I've adjusted my phone habits that have helped the battery and processor. First, wear a wristwatch. I don't know about other people, but I would look at my phone a lot to check the time. Wear a watch, save yourself a bit of battery. Plus it is much more subtle to check your watch than your phone if someone is boring you. I also make it a point to not visit any site or download any apps or files that might contain malware. Easy enough. Entirely anecdotal and unscientific, but it at least seems to be working for me.
Phone contract has run its course, and now in the market for a new handset. I have shortlisted it down to several options based on reviews from Gadget sites and phones within my budget. (I have removed the IPhone 4S as in the UK contracts are like £60 a month for a half decent plan). 1) Samsung Galaxy SII 2) Nokia Lumia 800 3) SE Xperia Ray White My requirements: -GPS/Maps: Moving to London so will need to find things. -Music Player: Ipod died a year ago, and my shuffle sucks for podcasts etc. -Watching stuff on so decent quality and fast browsing. -Battery: (I am aware most phones suck when it comes down to battery) Focus: Out of these what would people recommend or is there another model I should consider? Cheers
Out of those 3, definitely the Galaxy S2. A mate of mine has the Lumia 800 and while it's a decent phone, the software is kind of lacking (it runs Win7.5) in that the app selection isn't nearly as good as on Android. The S2 is just overall a better phone than the Xperia Ray (better screen, better battery life, way more internal storage etc).
There's a holiday sale going on in the Android Market. They seem to be changing daily and there's some great stuff up for 10 cents.
In response to a rep, but public so everyone can see feedback: Yes, I picked one up. Some random thoughts so far: Very nice form factor. Pleasing size, all rounded edges, good grippy back. It doesn't feel quite as well built as my Droid X since it's all plastic, but it's extremely solid with no creaks or flex, so it still feels good in the hand. The notification LED is awesome. I liked the notification LED on my DX so much that I would probably not have bought the Nexus if it didn't have one. Screen is very good. Not perfect, but very good. Colors are very saturated but don't have that ridiculously cartoon-like saturation that AMOLED is frequently associated with. It's Pentile, but it's tough to tell - and I'm extremely put off by Pentile displays, so that's saying something. There is some banding on solid gray backgrounds, and it is worse at lower brightness. So far, ICS (Android 4.0.2 is installed on the phone) is very nice. It took me a couple minutes to get used to the button locations since home and back are swapped on my DX, but the soft buttons are easy to use. The settings menu is vastly improved and cleaned up, the new Gmail app is great, and I'm pleasantly surprised by the stock browser - I may even stick with it. Frankly, I don't have a lot to say that hasn't been said by most of the reviews - it's a really high quality upgrade to Android. It feels cohesive, polished and attractive. I wholeheartedly disagree with the (IMO) ridiculous assertions that it is somehow a steep learning curve coming from other versions. Yes, some things are relocated, but anyone with an IQ higher than your local wino should be able to adapt with minimal effort. The only thing that I keep reaching for is the long press on the desktop to add a widget. The occasional stutter is odd. It's not that the OS pauses, but every once in a while a UI animation will be jerky and it's hard to figure out why because everything is so fluid. Strictly cosmetic issue, but it is weird to have everything flying around so fast and then one of the long press animations drops a few of its frames. Haven't used it enough to judge battery life or reception. Those are deal breakers and I have no problem returning the phone if they turn out to be poor.
I recently got a HTC Incredible S for "free" by going on a 24month capped contract with my Carrier. So far I have been fairly happy with the phone but my major gripe would be that it is too easy to call people by mistake.
Just picked up the Galaxy SII LTE a few days ago. First Impressions - 8mp camera is nice - It is big but not that heavy (my old phone was a small little bar type Samsung A886) didn't think i could get used to it but i have - Will have to end up getting a case for it, the back plastic panel is already showing some buff marks from the little pocket time it has seen - Love the screen, very nice for watching video's - Comes with a decent music player - Battery Life sucks, have to charge it every day, and i don't use it that much, but i have only had it for a few days, might take some tweaking to get it to acceptable - Fairly easy to use, my first smart phone, but my wife has an iphone
[quote="wexton"- Battery Life sucks, have to charge it every day, and i don't use it that much, but i have only had it for a few days, might take some tweaking to get it to acceptable[/quote] There aren't any smartphones around right now (possible exception of the RAZR Maxx, depends on how testing comes out) that you don't have to charge every day. That's just the battery life you should expect out of it - if you can unplug in the morning and not have to plug back in before bed, you're doing well. iPhones, Android phones, Windows phones... they're all the same. If you don't have to charge them every day, it's because you're not using it.
There aren't any smartphones around right now (possible exception of the RAZR Maxx, depends on how testing comes out) that you don't have to charge every day. That's just the battery life you should expect out of it - if you can unplug in the morning and not have to plug back in before bed, you're doing well. iPhones, Android phones, Windows phones... they're all the same. If you don't have to charge them every day, it's because you're not using it.[/quote] This is maybe the only area where Blackberry is still a good choice - I have to plug mine in every 2-3 days depending on whether I remember to turn bluetooth off or not
Thinking of picking up a new phone in the next few days. Switching from my iPhone to an android system. (probably the Galaxy SII Skyrocket like Wexton) Couple of random questions: 1) Does anyone know about when Android ICS will be available, current system is running Gingerbread. 2) Does anyone recommend a free (or really cheap) password manager that will work with Android and my PC?
Samsung had indicated that the Galaxy S2 would be getting ICS in the first quarter of 2012. I don't use a password manager so I can't help you there.
Picked up a Galaxy S II Skyrocket today. So far, so good. I'm liking the big screen. As a new Android user, I'm interested in what apps people really like.
Unfortunately, many of the extended batteries - even from reputable companies like Seidio - significantly over-rate their batteries. Seidio just released a 3800 mAh battery, but every single battery they've released that has been tested has shown to be over-rated by about 20%. Worst of all, Seidio is one of the better ones. So if that's a Seidio you ordered, you can count on it being only about 3000 mAh. I decided that wasn't worth it, because the Samsung extended battery is 2100 mAh, so I just bought a second one. 3000 mAh is still a good bump, mind you, but it's huge.
My wife decided to send her Iphone 3GS through the washing machine and I'm wondering what the chances of it coming back to life are. Once it was discovered we didn't turn it on and put it in a ziplock bag filled with rice. I'm going to let it sit for a few days to see if it dries out - if not she will be getting a new phone this weekend. Is there anything else I should be doing?
Not much you can do. It probably wasn't off when it went into the washing machine so there's a better-than-even chance that it's cooked. If you feel industrious, you can go to a site like ifixit.com and take the thing apart. The problem with the washing machine was it was soaked for a long period of time, as well as agitated, so lots of time for the water to really work its way into the depths of the device - which means leaving it in rice for a few days might not fix it. Unfortunately, you won't really know if you have to take it apart until you try to turn it on, and you may ruin it by turning it on if there's still water inside... I'd chalk it up to an oh-shit moment, be happy if the rice fixes it, and if not, buy a new one and maybe you've got a little project that you can take apart and see what's inside.
That's pretty much what I figured - the thing is 3 years old so she is do for a new one anyway. My son is a bit of a tech geek so if it doesn't work, I'll give it to him to try and resurrect. Thanks for the input.
OK, I googled this and didn't see any answers that were helpful, so I figured I'd ask you guys: My music player on my android has a "playlist" option. How do I create playlists? It doesn't seem like I can build it in the phone, is there something I'm missing?
I just looked on my Evo Design, and when I opened the music player I just selected the Menu key, and then tapped Add to Playlist. There was then a + sign that allowed me to create a new playlist, and add songs to it. I don't know how well I explained how to do it, but hopefully it helped somewhat.