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My $20 mistake... (trying Android)

A

ap3604

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 11, 2011
1,929
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I thought I was missing something in my smartphone arsenal. Android seemingly had all of the benefits and none of the drawbacks.
- 4.3 inch screen
- SuperAMOLED plus display
- Google maps navigation
- Android openness
- Replaceable battery
- etc

So I go on craigslist and buy a Galaxy S II for $320 thinking maybe I would switch since I couldn't see any drawback to Android atm. Turns out I was wrong.
- The screen is not my thing, it's ok but pixelated
- SuperAMOLED plus is harder to read outside
- Google maps navigation was nice but eventually I need an app w/ on board maps that doesn't use data (in case I'm in a rural area)
- I actually don't have a problem w/ apples sandbox. I have an app for everything I need
- Battery life was worse and took FOREVER to charge. Sometimes I wake up and forget to charge my iPhone and can plug it in on the way to work and charge it up from 20% -> 70% in an hour and be good. W/ the galaxy s II if you plug it in for an hour it would go from 20% -> 32%
- Being OCD I hated the fact that Android uses a bunch of random sized icons, I like how everything is uniform and clean on the iPhone
- The Galaxy S II lagged, not terribly and probably the fastest android I've ever had (w/ dual core exnyos processor) but still it had occasional hiccups you def don't see on the iPhone.

I'm selling this Galaxy S II as we speak and am happy it only costed me $20 to learn my lesson... Stick w/ the iPhone ;)
 
ap3604 said:
- The Galaxy S II lagged, not terribly and probably the fastest android I've ever had (w/ dual core exnyos processor) but still it had occasional hiccups you def don't see on the iPhone.
Click to expand...

It's amazing in this day and age, with all that top of the line hardware, they still can't get a smooth scrolling screen. :D
 
I love my iPhone but I'm not going to pretend like my iPhone doesn't have the occasional hiccup too. I prefer my iPhone but I'm not delusional enough to act like it's perfect. Our phone has flaws just like any other phone does.
 
ap3604 said:
- The Galaxy S II lagged, not terribly and probably the fastest android I've ever had (w/ dual core exnyos processor) but still it had occasional hiccups you def don't see on the iPhone.
Click to expand...
You paid how much for a first gen GS2?
AT&T is practically giving those away now.
Samsung ditched the Exnyos SOC for a Qualcomm setup on the newer GS2 phones.
The new version SGH-I727 (a.k.a. Skyrocket) has a 4.5" screen and a 1.5Ghz dual core Qualcomm SOC. Same setup as the Note.
Kills the original GS2. And no screen lag. ;)
Another cool feature of the I727, it works on both AT&T's LTE/HSPA+ and T-Mobile's HSPA+ networks. Pentaband radios are awesome.
T-Mobile sells the exact same phone but they changed the model number to the SGH-T989 and disabled the LTE radio. Easily turned back on btw.

As for seeing the screen outside, turn off the auto brightness control... it sucks. I've have yet to see a phone with great auto brightness control... iPhone included.
 
ap3604 said:
I thought I was missing something in my smartphone arsenal. Android seemingly had all of the benefits and none of the drawbacks.
- 4.3 inch screen
- SuperAMOLED plus display
- Google maps navigation
- Android openness
- Replaceable battery
- etc

So I go on craigslist and buy a Galaxy S II for $320 thinking maybe I would switch since I couldn't see any drawback to Android atm. Turns out I was wrong.
- The screen is not my thing, it's ok but pixelated
- SuperAMOLED plus is harder to read outside
- Google maps navigation was nice but eventually I need an app w/ on board maps that doesn't use data (in case I'm in a rural area)
- I actually don't have a problem w/ apples sandbox. I have an app for everything I need
- Battery life was worse and took FOREVER to charge. Sometimes I wake up and forget to charge my iPhone and can plug it in on the way to work and charge it up from 20% -> 70% in an hour and be good. W/ the galaxy s II if you plug it in for an hour it would go from 20% -> 32%
- Being OCD I hated the fact that Android uses a bunch of random sized icons, I like how everything is uniform and clean on the iPhone
- The Galaxy S II lagged, not terribly and probably the fastest android I've ever had (w/ dual core exnyos processor) but still it had occasional hiccups you def don't see on the iPhone.

I'm selling this Galaxy S II as we speak and am happy it only costed me $20 to learn my lesson... Stick w/ the iPhone ;)
Click to expand...

Question: You said it was $320 on Craigslist, but you only paid $20?? I'm assuming you're selling to for 300?
 
rjohnstone said:
You paid how much for a first gen GS2?
AT&T is practically giving those away now.
Click to expand...

I figured for $320 for an unsubsized phone that just came out in Sept/Oct that I had a cushion to sell it back easily on craigslist for no loss (ended up losing $20). Still a good deal though for an unsubsized phone less than 6 months old imo.

rjohnstone said:
Samsung ditched the Exnyos SOC for a Qualcomm setup on the newer GS2 phones.
The new version SGH-I727 (a.k.a. Skyrocket) has a 4.5" screen and a 1.5Ghz dual core Qualcomm SOC. Same setup as the Note.
Kills the original GS2. And no screen lag. ;)
Click to expand...

From the Xda forums the ATT note with the qualcomm chip has lag problems as well, even more so than the exnyos due to the qualcomm having a worse gpu? That was a main reason I went with the Galaxy S II for the processor to avoid any lag (or so I thought)

rjohnstone said:
Another cool feature of the I727, it works on both AT&T's LTE/HSPA+ and T-Mobile's HSPA+ networks. Pentaband radios are awesome.
T-Mobile sells the exact same phone but they changed the model number to the SGH-T989 and disabled the LTE radio. Easily turned back on btw.
Click to expand...

I didn't live in an LTE area so I didn't want the battery drain with the phone constantly looking for an LTE signal the way Verizon LTE phones get destroyed on battery life. Still was bad battery life though :(

I didn't know about the skyrocket having pentaband radio though. Thanks rjohnstone for the info... learn something new everyday :)

rjohnstone said:
As for seeing the screen outside, turn off the auto brightness control... it sucks. I've have yet to see a phone with great auto brightness control... iPhone included.
Click to expand...

It was a night and day difference for me personally, I had both on 100% brightness while outside and the Galaxy S II was washed out for me personally. Not sure for everyone but the iPhones screen was definitely easier to read both brightness wise and pixilation wise.

AppleFanatic10 said:
Question: You said it was $320 on Craigslist, but you only paid $20?? I'm assuming you're selling to for 300?
Click to expand...

I bought it for $320 and ended up selling it 30 min ago to a guy off craigslist for $300 ($20 loss, sorry for my confusing wording...)
 
LSUtigers03 said:
AT&T charges more than what he paid if you buy off contract.
Click to expand...
He's shopping on the wrong sites... go over to XDA if you want to buy phones.
Best deals on the planet for used phones.
For an extra $30 he could have purchased a newer Skyrocket.

Craigslist blows.
 
rjohnstone said:
He's shopping on the wrong sites... go over to XDA if you want to buy phones.
Best deals on the planet for used phones.
For an extra $30 he could have purchased a newer Skyrocket.

Craigslist blows.
Click to expand...

I found a guy on Craigslist that sold me a Skyrocket for $250 which is what AT&T charged with a 2 year contract at that time. But yeah most of the time Craigslist does blow.
 
ap3604 said:
From the Xda forums the ATT note with the qualcomm chip has lag problems as well, even more so than the exnyos due to the qualcomm having a worse gpu? That was a main reason I went with the Galaxy S II for the processor to avoid any lag (or so I thought)
Click to expand...
I own a Skyrocket and I'm on XDA a lot... same username there as here.
Never had any issue with lag on mine.

ap3604 said:
I didn't live in an LTE area so I didn't want the battery drain with the phone constantly looking for an LTE signal the way Verizon LTE phones get destroyed on battery life. Still was bad battery life though :(

I didn't know about the skyrocket having pentaband radio though. Thanks rjohnstone for the info... learn something new everyday :)
Click to expand...
You can turn off/disable LTE to save battery if you're in an area without LTE coverage.
Does require root access to do it, but that takes a whole whopping 30 seconds to do.

ap3604 said:
It was a night and day difference for me personally, I had both on 100% brightness while outside and the Galaxy S II was washed out for me personally. Not sure for everyone but the iPhones screen was definitely easier to read both brightness wise and pixilation wise.
Click to expand...
I have old eyes. The screen looks great to me. :p
That was one of my issues with the iPhone... screens too darn small.
Got headaches trying to read them.
FYI... never put a SAMOLED display of any kind to 100% brightness. It gets washed out big time with that much back light.
Between 25% and 40% seems to be the sweet spot for these types of displays.

LSUtigers03 said:
I found a guy on Craigslist that sold me a Skyrocket for $250 which is what AT&T charged with a 2 year contract at that time. But yeah most of the time Craigslist does blow.
Click to expand...
My contract was up, so I qualified for the cheap upgrade.
I went to Best Buy and between their price matching policy (something AT&T won't do) and the $50 Reward Zone credit I had, I got the phone for $80.
Too good to pass up on.
 
To the OP,
Sorry you didn't like it. At least you gave it a try, which is more than I think most Android bashers can say. Interestingly, I don't share your experience with lag on the SGS2. Still use an iPhone though for a lot of things myself. :)
 
Did we really require another troll thread on this topic? My only issue with Apple's sandbox is that they can remove developers or deny an app for any reason they wish. There isn't much neutrality there.
 
ap3604 said:
I thought I was missing something in my smartphone arsenal. Android seemingly had all of the benefits and none of the drawbacks.
- 4.3 inch screen
- SuperAMOLED plus display
- Google maps navigation
- Android openness
- Replaceable battery
- etc

So I go on craigslist and buy a Galaxy S II for $320 thinking maybe I would switch since I couldn't see any drawback to Android atm. Turns out I was wrong.
- The screen is not my thing, it's ok but pixelated
-somehow mine isn't pixelated and love the vibrant pop over my 4S screen, only time there's even a very slight difference as far as "sharpness" is if zoomed as far out or in as possible where the retina is just slightly better, but then again who reads or does that anyway lol. I have better then perfect vision at 20/15 and still have to double tap on retina to zoom in closer generally, same as with Dolphin HD which zooms and wraps text to nice level better than Safari usually

- SuperAMOLED plus is harder to read outside
I see no difference, both have glare that can wash out the screen but I've noticed at different angles. GSII seems to be affected more at a 90 degree like my car dock which is adjustable but has to sit at that angle usually b/c of the shifter in the truck, and 4S more at an angled stance like looking down at the screen while holding it. But either way both are easy to read outside, so maybe your brightness was down too low or too high? These screens like to stay around mid level or slightly lower, even at night the lowest setting is so bright while relaxing in bed lol

- Google maps navigation was nice but eventually I need an app w/ on board maps that doesn't use data (in case I'm in a rural area)Maps actually uses very little data as it's uses vector graphics, but the maps are downloadable too for off-line use if your driving through a poor area or spotty coverage etc, just go to labs section in settings and it's there to use google maps with gps offline. I travel all over and never had a problem even in middle of no where areas passing though. I have Navigon and some others on the iPhones from over the years, love Google Maps integration.

- I actually don't have a problem w/ apples sandbox. I have an app for everything I need
not sure what you meant here or what it implied as far as Android? Was more of an issue for jb'd devices causing glitches but that's fixed now. But could be more of an issue if they really start bs'ing around with developers in the app store more down the road, or them deleting an app for no reason that maybe others want even if you don't. Not a big issue though imo.

- Battery life was worse and took FOREVER to charge. Sometimes I wake up and forget to charge my iPhone and can plug it in on the way to work and charge it up from 20% -> 70% in an hour and be good. W/ the galaxy s II if you plug it in for an hour it would go from 20% -> 32%
My GSII last longer then our 4S. Charging does take longer then the iPhones but not a big difference and not an hour to go from 20-32% like you said. My 4 and 4S both take about 2 hours to full charge, the GSII about 3 hours for full charge as it has a slightly bigger battery and the charge unit uses lower amps (for some reason all Android chargers are capped like this). We use our phones fairly heavily and our 4 still only last a little longer the GSII, but both last longer then our 4S. A lot with Android is how the phone is setup, mine last pretty great for heavy use and that's on the current AT&T update that seemed to lower battery life a bit.

- Being OCD I hated the fact that Android uses a bunch of random sized icons, I like how everything is uniform and clean on the iPhone
easy fix, there are Launchers (similar to jb'ing and cydia themes), I use a free one Go Launcher Ex which includes a scrolling dock and ton's of other customizations, where you can download tons of themes and just use the icons or there are icon packages as well. I'm using a combo of some and love the setup this phone has sharp clean look (scrolling dock is awesome for that), especially getting rid of stuff like that ugly Pandora P for example that I hate on both iOS and Android lol. All my icons are uniform as well. I personally hate the boring same look the icons on iOS have had all these years, I generally used Buff or Mac osx 10.7 as there are HD themed icons on cydia that look so much better then stock iOS.

- The Galaxy S II lagged, not terribly and probably the fastest android I've ever had (w/ dual core exnyos processor) but still it had occasional hiccups you def don't see on the iPhone.No lag or glitches here. Maybe a slight stutter once in awhile I notice, but guess what every iPhone I've had has done that as well including the 4S so their not immune either, seem to happen more on iOS5 then before. Hence why I mentioned it's every bit as smooth as iOS. It's actually been more stable then our 4S, no app crashes or anything, whereas the 4S has had that happen and safari has frozen and crashed quite a few times even on a new restore. I can honestly say this phone has so far been smoother then my 4 or 4S

I'm selling this Galaxy S II as we speak and am happy it only costed me $20 to learn my lesson... Stick w/ the iPhone ;)sucks that you didn't have a good experience, either phone is great imo
Click to expand...
I own an 4S and AT&T GSII, and pretty much disagree, my answers in red. But sorry you didn't have a good experience with it, mines completely opposite of your experience. Both are great phones. With owning both I always look at it from both sides when seeing post like this. This is my first Android device too as didn't care for them before.
 
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thekev said:
Did we really require another troll thread on this topic? My only issue with Apple's sandbox is that they can remove developers or deny an app for any reason they wish. There isn't much neutrality there.
Click to expand...

Google do exactly the same thing!
 
OP, maybe try a Windows Phone. They have most of the benefits you listed with smoothness and polish to rival iOS, with a unique and beautiful UI.
 
thekev said:
Did we really require another troll thread on this topic?
Click to expand...

Def not a troll thread, I want Android, iOS, and WP7 to all succeed in order to keep each other honest which is better for all of us consumers... just wanted to let others know my experience with the Galaxy S II vs the iPhone and how Android didn't measure up at this very moment (although in the future this could change perhaps?)

I had a Nexus One for a long time and will probably try the Galaxy Note as well in the future (hopefully the Super AMOLED HD screen is better than the Super AMOLED PLUS).

Also another thing that bugged me about Android was the fact that the top browsers didn't seem to have something as simple as an ad-blocking option :(

Dolphin has an add-on but you have to scour the web for it and sideload it yourself + its out of date so alot of ads still show up anyways even if you get it.

For the iPhone you simply download Atomic Browser and flick ad-block to "on", simple :)
 
ap3604 said:
So I go on craigslist and buy a Galaxy S II for $320 thinking maybe I would switch since I couldn't see any drawback to Android atm. Turns out I was wrong.
- The screen is not my thing, it's ok but pixelated
- SuperAMOLED plus is harder to read outside
- Google maps navigation was nice but eventually I need an app w/ on board maps that doesn't use data (in case I'm in a rural area)
- I actually don't have a problem w/ apples sandbox. I have an app for everything I need
- Battery life was worse and took FOREVER to charge. Sometimes I wake up and forget to charge my iPhone and can plug it in on the way to work and charge it up from 20% -> 70% in an hour and be good. W/ the galaxy s II if you plug it in for an hour it would go from 20% -> 32%
- Being OCD I hated the fact that Android uses a bunch of random sized icons, I like how everything is uniform and clean on the iPhone
- The Galaxy S II lagged, not terribly and probably the fastest android I've ever had (w/ dual core exnyos processor) but still it had occasional hiccups you def don't see on the iPhone.
Click to expand...


This isn't anything new IMO. My friend recently got the Galaxy Nexus and it's just as cruddy as his Droid X. Slow, laggy, same "feel". Yeah it looks nicer when you aren't touching it and are just looking at the home screen or pics of it online, but when you get to actually using it ... SSDD
 
Superbbrr said:
It's amazing in this day and age, with all that top of the line hardware, they still can't get a smooth scrolling screen. :D
Click to expand...

The tablets suffer from this too...Laggy scrolling, pixeleated screens. I have nothing against Android, it's just not for me..A neighbour has a Iconia they he got for Christmas..Opinion FWIW? A nice device ruined by it's OS.
 
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