Two Weeks With The Galaxy S III.

[siiip5]

chrome for android sucks. The stock browser is much better.

Why does it suck? I use it without issue and like the fact that it autosyncs all my bookmarks, so regardless of any device I use, my bookmarks are always there and in the same order. Doesn't matter if I am on a Mac, PC, tablet, phone, whatever.

Is it the fastest browser? I don't know? It's fast enough for me not to notice or care.

I also like the fact that it maintains the desktop look and feel on my phone and tablet. Tabs stay at the top of the screen and don't disappear as you scroll down the screen (like some browsers) and that I am not limited to 4 or less open tabs.

And I have used every browser out there. Maxthon is by backup browser.

 

[Dave.UK]

I used the stock browser for about 10 minutes and became frustrated with it.

I then used Dophin browser until someone recommend Chrome. I now use Chrome and fine it stable and fast and a great browser to use.

 

[Timzer]

If you dont want to root:-

Download and install "SwiftKey" - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.touchtype.swiftkey#?

You get a free one month trial to see whether you like it. I purchased the full version within a day as it was so good!

Im not a huge fan of Touchwiz - Mainly because I like my app draw to scroll up and down, not left to right.

Actually Touchwiz gives you 3 views for your app drawer. Alphabetical, Custom, and List (meaning up and down)
I for one love Touchwiz a lot more than stock Android. It has more features and very useful ones at that.

 

[Dave.UK]

Actually Touchwiz gives you 3 views for your app drawer. Alphabetical, Custom, and List (meaning up and down)
I for one love Touchwiz a lot more than stock Android. It has more features and very useful ones at that.

Correct, but it lists the apps on the draw rather then showing a grid that you can scroll up and down.

 

[Timzer]

Correct, but it lists the apps on the draw rather then showing a grid that you can scroll up and down.

Got it. Know what you mean.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

chrome for android sucks. The stock browser is much better.

Yeah I say it is the other way around. I find chrome a hell of a lot better of a design.

 

[N0ddie]

I to have just moved to a Samsung GS3 from iPhone 5. Really enjoying the move so far (except for dreadful battery life).

It's mention in here to "disable" apps that you don't use in the App manager. There's a pretty big list of ones that I don't know what they'd do if I were to disable them.

A few examples:

Allshare cast
Allshare controller
Allshare play
Allshare service
BroadcomMEMsService
Bubbles
ChatOn
ChocoEUKor
CSC
DirectShareManager
Personalised EQ
Trim

 

[TheHateMachine]

Holo Launcher HD will get you that AOSP feel to your phone's home screen and app drawer (minus the notification bar) as well as giving you some cool extra features and being super fast.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobint.hololauncher.hd&hl=en

There are other "Holo" themed default application replacements out there too. Some are free and some are paid. All require zero hacking... just an installation.

 

[blackhand1001]

Yeah I say it is the other way around. I find chrome a hell of a lot better of a design.

Maybe compared to the touchwiz browser but not compared to the stock browser that ships on the galaxy nexus and other stock android devices. Most people agree that the nexus 7/10/4 should have shipped with the stock AOSP rather than only chrome.

 

[Stuntman06]

Just curious, why do people despise TouchWiz so much? I've tried using an S3 before, and it's quite ok... Is it because of the comparison to the stock Android UI in Nexus devices? Does it hinder usability in any way?

Just want to know more about the reason why people don't like it that much.

There seems to be a lot of hatred for anything non-stock. For me, I cannot exactly tell what is TW and what is not. I use Nova and I think there are still some things in TW that show through. I personally like Nova for its ability to get rid of the dock and add more rows of icons.

If you don't like the Samsung keyboard, the small investment in Swiftkey is well worth it. Swiftkey is like the iPhone keyboard but much better.

I'm going to put in a plug for Thumb Keyboard. I tried SwiftKey, but I don't like the fact that you cannot turn off auto-spacing completely. Thumb also provides multiple keyboard layouts for you to choose from.

 

[sarcosis]

Maybe compared to the touchwiz browser but not compared to the stock browser that ships on the galaxy nexus and other stock android devices. Most people agree that the nexus 7/10/4 should have shipped with the stock AOSP rather than only chrome.

That would have been nice. I love my N4, and chrome is much better on it than other places with it's S4 Pro goodness, but the Touchwiz browser on my S3 is still smoother and just ask quick even though it's on a Dual Core processor. If they could do a mashup of the Chrome UI and perfomrance of the stock browser, that would be amazing.

On a side note, after flashing a bunch of different Roms (both stock, ASOP, AOKP, Paranoid, etc.) on my Gnote, I can tell the differences between the various versions of Android and have settled that Touchwiz isn't too bad. There isn't one experience I would say trumps everything if you don't root and flash a custom Rom. There's a give an take with each. ASOP is cool, but two big things bug me and i don't know why ASOP doesn't incorpate it: 1.) Custom Wallpaper on lock screen and 2.) Restart button. I can shut down on my N4, but restart, nope!

 

[3bs]

That would have been nice. I love my N4, and chrome is much better on it than other places with it's S4 Pro goodness, but the Touchwiz browser on my S3 is still smoother and just ask quick even though it's on a Dual Core processor. If they could do a mashup of the Chrome UI and perfomrance of the stock browser, that would be amazing.

On a side note, after flashing a bunch of different Roms (both stock, ASOP, AOKP, Paranoid, etc.) on my Gnote, I can tell the differences between the various versions of Android and have settled that Touchwiz isn't too bad. There isn't one experience I would say trumps everything if you don't root and flash a custom Rom. There's a give an take with each. ASOP is cool, but two big things bug me and i don't know why ASOP doesn't incorpate it: 1.) Custom Wallpaper on lock screen and 2.) Restart button. I can shut down on my N4, but restart, nope!

It's AOSP not ASOP (Android Open Source Project) Anyway there are a bunch of AOSP ROMs and most if not all the ones for the Nexus 4 have restart (reboot, download mode, recovery mode). Not all have custom wallpapers for lock screen and home screen but I'm sure it will be added soon since it's a popular feature.

Screenshots of CM10.1 on my Nexus 4 with a TouchWiz theme:

 

[Stooby Mcdoobie]

And this might be a bit of an annoying workaround, but you can always reboot manually (if you're rooted) via the terminal emulator app.

$ su
# reboot

 

[cynics]

Maybe compared to the touchwiz browser but not compared to the stock browser that ships on the galaxy nexus and other stock android devices. Most people agree that the nexus 7/10/4 should have shipped with the stock AOSP rather than only chrome.

I don't mind chrome on my nexus 10. Only thing I don't like about chrome is lack of flash support so I've been using boat browser if I need flash.

If you have an android device try chrome beta. I'm using it now, its much faster then chrome that is shipped on nexus devices or the standard version in the market.

You'll need to follow this link I took from another thread.

http://play.google.com/store/apps/de...om.chrome.beta

 

[Sounds Good]

Which Android browsers have Flash support?

 

[cynics]

Which Android browsers have Flash support?

Boat, Firefox, some versions of Dolphin and I'm sure many more. Chrome used to be the only browser that didn't support it then I saw a version of dolphin that didn't. You'll still need to download flash player for it to work in a browser that supports it.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Maybe compared to the touchwiz browser but not compared to the stock browser that ships on the galaxy nexus and other stock android devices. Most people agree that the nexus 7/10/4 should have shipped with the stock AOSP rather than only chrome.

ummm touchwize stock browser is the same as stock GNexus.

Also I really doubt that most prefer stock over chrome. Big time when every android review site points to chrome as the better browser. This leads me to believe you are making crap up.

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Which Android browsers have Flash support?

now days it will be none. Adobe does not make Flash avalible for download any more and it is flacky at best if it works for 4.1 and above.

 

[blackhand1001]

ummm touchwize stock browser is the same as stock GNexus.

Also I really doubt that most prefer stock over chrome. Big time when every android review site points to chrome as the better browser. This leads me to believe you are making crap up.

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now days it will be none. Adobe does not make Flash avalible for download any more and it is flacky at best if it works for 4.1 and above.

The touchwiz browser is not the same. Samsung changed a lot. Flash an aosp rom on any of the new nexus devices and you'll see how far behind chrome is. Or just try a galaxy nexus which has it preinstalled. The true aosp browser like the one aosp roms for the new nexus devices and the one that ships on the galaxy nexus has full google bookmark syncing just like chrome, more UI options than chrome, benchmarks faster, and is much smoother than chrome.

 

[HarryFoley]

Well, I've never used any android device as yet.

Currently using iPhone 5, upgraded from iPhone 4S.

But my sister recently bought Samsung Galaxy SIII, so I got a chance to use android for the first time, and it was quite good. It was a good experience using android too, and I was impressed with the quality of SGS III and android.

Now I'm also planning to get some android device (may be tablet, coz I already have iPhone). May be Note II (which is a Phablet I guess).

 

[SlCKB0Y]

Most people agree that the nexus 7/10/4 should have shipped with the stock AOSP rather than only chrome.

I don't, what's your source?

Granted, until that update a month or so ago Chrome was a lot slower but that's pretty much sorted now.

The only thing I now want is fullscreen.

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benchmarks faster, and is much smoother than chrome.

This guy simply hasn't used Chrome in a while.

 

[blackhand1001]

I don't, what's your source?

Granted, until that update a month or so ago Chrome was a lot slower but that's pretty much sorted now.

The only thing I now want is fullscreen.

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This guy simply hasn't used Chrome in a while.

Considering I have a galaxy nexus, nexus 7, and had a nexus 10 (loved it but preferred the size of the 7) for a few weeks I can tell you that I have used it extensively.

 

[iMichael!]

I'm glad you think it's a fantastic phone. However i'll stick to iPhone's.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

Considering I have a galaxy nexus, nexus 7, and had a nexus 10 (loved it but preferred the size of the 7) for a few weeks I can tell you that I have used it extensively.

Well then I'm not sure how you can make blanket statements about its current speed. Especially given the current beta outperforms both the stock browser and safari on iOS on a bunch of benchmarks.

 

[louis.b]

funny how today a customer came in our store and said she's disappointed w the s3 and thought her 4s executed tasks faster than it. But I guess she's just another dumb clueless female consumer who doesnt think the S3 sucks.

 

[tmoney82]

funny how today a customer came in our store and said she's disappointed w the s3 and thought her 4s executed tasks faster than it. But I guess she's just another dumb clueless female consumer who doesnt think the S3 sucks.

She probably doesn't know anything about phones!