GF Offered to buy me S3 for xmas, questions...

[gregrose]

First, I will be coming from an iPhone 4 (jailbroken), a few questions I have before switching, I am familiar with android I have a Nexus 7.

1. I have read there are a ton of issues with 4.1.1, is that true? I am not the one to deal with bugs, so is it just overblown, or are there a lot of issues?

2. Is text messaging maxed at 160 word limit? With iphone you can type as much as you want, what happens on android s3 after you go over the 160 limit?

3. Is there still an issue receiving picture messages as a short video, and the picture showing up tiny small? And is it true you cant really send videos in MMS like on iphones it automatically compresses the video to send.

4. Is it easy to Group text (like on iphone) with GO SMS Pro? Or are there issues not able to group text?

5. Is the battery life better than the iphone 4?

6. Should I wait a few extra months for the Galaxy S4? I dont mind waiting if its rumored to be coming out.

thank you all very much! happy new year

 

[TheHateMachine]

First, I will be coming from an iPhone 4 (jailbroken), a few questions I have before switching, I am familiar with android I have a Nexus 7.

1. I have read there are a ton of issues with 4.1.1, is that true? I am not the one to deal with bugs, so is it just overblown, or are there a lot of issues?

2. Is text messaging maxed at 160 word limit? With iphone you can type as much as you want, what happens on android s3 after you go over the 160 limit?

3. Is there still an issue receiving picture messages as a short video, and the picture showing up tiny small? And is it true you cant really send videos in MMS like on iphones it automatically compresses the video to send.

4. Is it easy to Group text (like on iphone) with GO SMS Pro? Or are there issues not able to group text?

5. Is the battery life better than the iphone 4?

6. Should I wait a few extra months for the Galaxy S4? I dont mind waiting if its rumored to be coming out.

thank you all very much! happy new year

1. I have not really come across any bugs on 4.1.1 outside of Smartkeyboard doing this weird graphical bug where when i hit a letter and it popups it moves to the center of my screen and disappears. That is probably related to the app more than anything.

2. Once you hit 160 characters it creates a second text message. This is something that 3rd party SMS apps can change I believe. Carriers also put limitations in Android for this.

3. I've never had this issue of short videos displaying tiny pictures on either of my Android devices when one of my iOS friends sends me something. You can send video MMS but the limit on the video is ridiculous. This is another thing being limited by the carrier in your phones stock ROM as you can change these settings in your phone via hacking. The other option is to record video and use the "limit to MMS" setting in the video recorder app.

4. Group texting is available. It creates a separate entry in your sms log with all the people you texted as a group text. Any text sent back will appear in its own seperate sms thread for that person. Not too great but not horrible.

5. Cannot comment on the iPhone 4's battery as I have not used anything beyond the 3GS but I get a days worth with some heavy use. Usually leaves the charger at 6am and is back on the charger at 10pm when I get ready to go to bed. Seems adequate.

6. Probably, the S4 sounds pretty good but I have doubts on the legitimacy of the March release rumor.

 

[gregrose]

Thank you so much for the response!! Other opinions are welcomed too!

 

[2298754]

First, I will be coming from an iPhone 4 (jailbroken), a few questions I have before switching, I am familiar with android I have a Nexus 7.

1. I have read there are a ton of issues with 4.1.1, is that true? I am not the one to deal with bugs, so is it just overblown, or are there a lot of issues?

overblown. If you think it is buggy, root it, and get another ROM

2. Is text messaging maxed at 160 word limit? With iphone you can type as much as you want, what happens on android s3 after you go over the 160 limit?

It will break it up like iOS

3. Is there still an issue receiving picture messages as a short video, and the picture showing up tiny small? And is it true you cant really send videos in MMS like on iphones it automatically compresses the video to send.

Not sure, sorry.

4. Is it easy to Group text (like on iphone) with GO SMS Pro? Or are there issues not able to group text?

Doesn't work as well as iOS

5. Is the battery life better than the iphone 4?

I would say about equal.

6. Should I wait a few extra months for the Galaxy S4? I dont mind waiting if its rumored to be coming out.

thank you all very much! happy new year

If you can wait, by all means, wait. The S4 is supposed to have a quad core processor and 1080p screen. I have my upgrade waiting for this phone

 

[gregrose]

When has been the release month of the last galaxy's?

 

[2298754]

When has been the release month of the last galaxy's?

Shown May 2011

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/03/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-is-official/

AT&T had it in their stores around early-to-mid June 2011. I got it around that time.

All the rumors are pointing to an even earlier launch of the S4 because HTC is supposed to show their flagship for 2013 at CES in a few weeks.

I need them to hurry up. I'm itching for a new phone (and I refuse to buy an HTC product)

 

[Eddie Bombay]

1. I have read there are a ton of issues with 4.1.1, is that true? I am not the one to deal with bugs, so is it just overblown, or are there a lot of issues?

Overblown.

2. Is text messaging maxed at 160 word limit? With iphone you can type as much as you want, what happens on android s3 after you go over the 160 limit?

Converts to mms automatically so you can type as much as you want.

3. Is there still an issue receiving picture messages as a short video, and the picture showing up tiny small? And is it true you cant really send videos in MMS like on iphones it automatically compresses the video to send.

Not sure, everyone I know uses Tango for anything video.

4. Is it easy to Group text (like on iphone) with GO SMS Pro? Or are there issues not able to group text?

You probably need to install Handcent for group texting.

5. Is the battery life better than the iphone 4?

It is, especially if you install Go Power Master or something.

6. Should I wait a few extra months for the Galaxy S4? I dont mind waiting if its rumored to be coming out.

Nah

 

[aced411]

Is there still an issue receiving picture messages as a short video, and the picture showing up tiny small? And is it true you cant really send videos in MMS like on iphones it automatically compresses the video to send.

Not a lot of people realize this is an issue, but from us previous iphone owners it is extremely annoying having multiple pictures rolled into a slideshow. I can say with confidence that YES, THIS ISSUE STILL EXISTS. Try all the 3rd party apps you want it will still behave funky. I am not going back to android until that's fixed. Seems petty to some, but my wife and I send pictures back and forth a lot of our kids and stuff.

 

[blackhand1001]

Not a lot of people realize this is an issue, but from us previous iphone owners it is extremely annoying having multiple pictures rolled into a slideshow. I can say with confidence that YES, THIS ISSUE STILL EXISTS. Try all the 3rd party apps you want it will still behave funky. I am not going back to android until that's fixed. Seems petty to some, but my wife and I send pictures back and forth a lot of our kids and stuff.

I've never had this issue with my galaxy nexus.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

2. Once you hit 160 characters it creates a second text message. This is something that 3rd party SMS apps can change I believe. Carriers also put limitations in Android for this.

It is not the carriers that put in that limitation. That is the max SMS can handle end of story.

No third party app is required. What the stock apps and dumb phones have been doing for years is it breaks it up into multiple messages. It will put a counter on the screen telling you how many.

For example on my Galaxy Nexus (GSM so Zero carrier limitation) will do is when I approuch 160 it will put on my screen 10..9....8...7...0 .... 159/2....158/2 and so on. It keeps track and will tell you when you have gone over in case you want to get things down to 1.

but point is that it is not a carrier limitations. I find iOS converts stuff to MMS way to often and easily as MMS is flaky at times in how other phones receive them.

----------

I've never had this issue with my galaxy nexus.

same here on my GNex or on my Atrix 4G. Never was an issue. Go SMS handled it just fine and generally speaking I could just have it dump the stuff into the galary. Now I have found the iPhone likes to convert pictures to video slide show when it sends stuff but if it is coming from another phone not an issue. Seem to be an iOS only issue.

 

[aced411]

It is not the carriers that put in that limitation. That is the max SMS can handle end of story.

No third party app is required. What the stock apps and dumb phones have been doing for years is it breaks it up into multiple messages. It will put a counter on the screen telling you how many.

For example on my Galaxy Nexus (GSM so Zero carrier limitation) will do is when I approuch 160 it will put on my screen 10..9....8...7...0 .... 159/2....158/2 and so on. It keeps track and will tell you when you have gone over in case you want to get things down to 1.

but point is that it is not a carrier limitations. I find iOS converts stuff to MMS way to often and easily as MMS is flaky at times in how other phones receive them.

----------



same here on my GNex or on my Atrix 4G. Never was an issue. Go SMS handled it just fine and generally speaking I could just have it dump the stuff into the galary. Now I have found the iPhone likes to convert pictures to video slide show when it sends stuff but if it is coming from another phone not an issue. Seem to be an iOS only issue.

Perhaps it's only an iOS issue, but when 80% of the people I keep in touch with are on iOS (family and close friends)...it tends to influence what I consider important. Windows phone handles sms with iPhone very well...including native support for emoji without having to use a clunky battery sucking 3rd party sms app (another thing I refuse to do in android. Sorry goSMS might be the best but I still thought it sucked)

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Perhaps it's only an iOS issue, but when 80% of the people I keep in touch with are on iOS (family and close friends)...it tends to influence what I consider important. Windows phone handles sms with iPhone very well...including native support for emoji without having to use a clunky battery sucking 3rd party sms app (another thing I refuse to do in android. Sorry goSMS might be the best but I still thought it sucked)

I have not used GoSMS for a while. The stock app on the Gnex and Atrix handled it just fine.

It seems to be iOS doing the compression to video thing only. Apple has a long history of not following standards at all. It is rather sad that work arounds have to be made to deal with Apple just like web sites used to have to make IE only sites and work arounds.

Point is it is not an android issue but iOS and what makes it worse is iOS is flaky at how it will send stuff.

 

[gregrose]

Not a lot of people realize this is an issue, but from us previous iphone owners it is extremely annoying having multiple pictures rolled into a slideshow. I can say with confidence that YES, THIS ISSUE STILL EXISTS. Try all the 3rd party apps you want it will still behave funky. I am not going back to android until that's fixed. Seems petty to some, but my wife and I send pictures back and forth a lot of our kids and stuff.

Blah......So there really is no way around this? not even 3rd party SMS apps handle this better?

 

[F123D]

If you're planning on get a Galaxy S phone, I'd probably continue using my i4 and wait for the S4.

 

[aced411]

I've never had this issue with my galaxy nexus.

Listen homie, I had a Galaxy Nexus. It DOES have the issue. Have someone send you a single photo over SMS, the have them a photo with text or two photos. How can you not notice that it makes a slideshow? There's a slider bar and play button.

 

[gregrose]

Listen homie, I had a Galaxy Nexus. It DOES have the issue. Have someone send you a single photo over SMS, the have them a photo with text or two photos. How can you not notice that it makes a slideshow? There's a slider bar and play button.

Does 3rd party sms apps fix that issue? It's retarded that happens

 

[Vegastouch]

First, I will be coming from an iPhone 4 (jailbroken), a few questions I have before switching, I am familiar with android I have a Nexus 7.

1. I have read there are a ton of issues with 4.1.1, is that true? I am not the one to deal with bugs, so is it just overblown, or are there a lot of issues?

2. Is text messaging maxed at 160 word limit? With iphone you can type as much as you want, what happens on android s3 after you go over the 160 limit?

3. Is there still an issue receiving picture messages as a short video, and the picture showing up tiny small? And is it true you cant really send videos in MMS like on iphones it automatically compresses the video to send.

4. Is it easy to Group text (like on iphone) with GO SMS Pro? Or are there issues not able to group text?

5. Is the battery life better than the iphone 4?

6. Should I wait a few extra months for the Galaxy S4? I dont mind waiting if its rumored to be coming out.

thank you all very much! happy new year

Ill give my experience with it. Had mine since July 1st.

1.I have T-Mobile and i havent had any issues with 4.1.1. Been very smooth in fact.

2. I use Handcent SMS and there is no limit but you can set it to one if you. Dont see why you would though.

3. Hmm, i didnt realize there was that issue. I never tried it so i dont know.

4.I dont use it often but group text works whe i have. Not sure how the iPhones works to compare.

5.Never had a ip4 but have heard it is.

6. The GS4 id guess wont be here till summer (June-July) in the USA. Korea and the UK will get it first.

 

[aced411]

Does 3rd party sms apps fix that issue? It's retarded that happens

I recall one that allowed you to open up the contents of the slideshow from within the text message, so it was a little improved. I never liked using 3rd party SMS apps. They always seem to suck more battery and not work as smooth...but I know some swear by GoSMS or handcent. That's where android loses me. I don't want to have to hunt for a replacement app for a core function like SMS. Maybe if I had found one that was fast, slick and didn't increase battery drainage

 

[gregrose]

does go sms really cause a battery drain? and you can group text in go sms as well? similar to how iphones do it?