Galaxy S2 (and maybe android) cons - actual users only

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southafricanrob

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Hi there,
Time for me to depart the world of blackberry...I recently got an iPad which has shown me the incredible strength of apps, despite the tight controls of ios I have been able to solve every issue with an app, paid or free. I like to tinker hence the attraction to android and the galaxy s2 sounds like a good place to start.

So, I now have first hand experience of ios through the iPad and know what bugs me, to me this is almost more important that what I like as these are the little gripes we have to live with day to day....so any actual galaxy/ android users out there who can give me a list of the little gripes - not the pros - I am well aware of them...would be great..

Only thing drawing me to the iPhone is the huge amounts of apps and that they all work well, and are quick. I have no allegiance to any platform so please no religious crap ratings, only first hand honest issues!!!

I would love opinions of ppl who've genuinely used both iOS and android rather than the usual comments from fans/detractors...
Thanks...
 
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The battery life isn't great, although expected with the big screen.

The gallery takes forever to load sometimes. Anyone else get this problem?

Having had an iPhone 4 and GS2, I prefer the GS2 by miles, although the build quality of the iPhone is awesome, I wish Samsung would use less plastic. The iPhone feels too closed, on Android I can change my lockscreen, live backgrounds, widgets.. on the iPhone the OS is just a wallpaper with apps.
 
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The battery life could be better, other than that i have no complaints that i can think of right now.

Have owned and iphone and currently own an ipad2 and they are good devices but the closed nature of ios bothers me, i love the customization and options offered by android, its not just superficial stuff either. I have found that generally iphone apps tend to be higher quality on average than android apps but its a double edged sword as you will only have access to the apps apple wants you to have, unless you jb obviously.
 
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Personally I hate the lack of games if you compare it to the iOS platform. Sure there are plenty of options and the main titles/developers like Gameloft do target both platforms, but there still is a hell of a gap between the two. I dont notice any shortcomings when it come to any other type of applications, well except for design issues, but a quick flash of MIUI rom fixed that for me.

Also Android is normally not as smooth as my iPhone. Most will not notice it and its not really a problem for me, but after 3 years on iOS I do see frames drop.

When installing new applications you also have to do a lot more homework, like reading access rights and make sure you agree with it before installing. Best is to only install by recommendations or reviews or else run an Anti virus like Lookout or AVG.
 
Rosaudio said:
The gallery takes forever to load sometimes. Anyone else get this problem?
Click to expand...

Put a blank file called .nomedia in the your folder that you want to exclude from media scans and not show in Gallery. Sorts that out.

I have an iPad 2 after first owning the iPad 1 but generally use my Galaxy S2 for everything except reading eMagazines and eBooks. I much prefer Android and the S2 to iOS 5. Browsing, forums and gaming on the S2 is great. The screen size is ideal. The Phone's 3.5" is a big let down despite the awesome retina display.
 
What Rosaudio said. The ios is just very very basic. Some people like it like that but from your OP, it seems you'll be very happy with the Galaxy. As a drawback, some of the custom UI's that Android phone makers use does slow it down a bit. Not nearly as bad as the iPhags will tell you, but it is sometimes noticeable. The solution is to just flash a stock Android build if you really are bothered by it. Although the latest Galaxy has such power it shouldn't be an issue anymore really.. Also like Elimentals mentioned, games aren't really plentiful. It doesn't bother me since the only games I ever want to play on my phone are text adventures, Star Traders, Angry Birds, or old Sierra/Lucasarts games and they work through ScummVM.
 
Just get an iPhone, jailbreak it, and tinker to your heart's content, while having the best apps/screen/battery on the market. I fail to see how an Android device offers more "necessary tinkering" than this, so if you like iPad then iPhone is the sensible winner.

The pro about iPhone is that JB does not void warranty. Rooting Android, which you will most likely do in order to tinker, does.
 
I have a SG S2 and an iPad 2 and I am more than happy with both of them. For me, the iPad suits my tab needs, but the iPhone screen is too small to be a decent computer on the move so the S2 aces the phone needs.

If it's tinkering you are after, it has to be Android. I remember jailbreaking my old iPhone and wondering what's the point.

So just my opinion and for my needs, s2 is The phone, and iPad 2 is The tab. So yeah, It doesn't have to be one or the other OS, have both ;)
 
PostmanPot said:
Just get an iPhone, jailbreak it, and tinker to your heart's content, while having the best apps/screen/battery on the market. I fail to see how an Android device offers more "necessary tinkering" than this, so if you like iPad then iPhone is the sensible winner.

The pro about iPhone is that JB does not void warranty. Rooting Android, which you will most likely do in order to tinker, does.
Click to expand...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86a3zN4iJMs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x2587d7Y0Q

I rest my case.
 
I have had both but I must say I only picked up my galaxy s2 4 days ago so the novelty factor hasn't worn off yet and I was coming from an iphone 3g which was really ancient and sooo slow. A lot of people are saying the battery life is better on the iphone but I must say my experience has been the opposite the battery life on my galaxy is better than I ever imagined from all the complaints android users give, after one full discharge and recharge I have now been using the phone for 2 days 8 hours and it's still on 22%. I turn mobile packet data off through except when I need something, also in regards the iphone batteries they seem to be experiencing some problems with the new IOS Link: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9221329/iPhone_4S_owners_report_dramatic_battery_drain

The apple eco-system is much nicer and as pointed out has much much more games, I am not a fan of itunes {and most people I know arn't either} but if you can get around that the experience is quite pleasant. Some people say the UI lags but I personally have not noticed it and I am running stock, updates are an issue with android but a simple google search on android fragmentation will tell you all you need to know about that and with it you get the ability to install custom roms MUIU looks awesome very much like IOS. Apparently the galaxy s2 will be getting ice cream sandwich Link: http://phandroid.com/2011/10/28/sam...cream-sandwich-for-note-s-ii-and-tab-in-2012/ which is nice. Also ice cream sandwich will possibly have hardware acceleration http://phandroid.com/2011/10/19/android-4-0-ice-cream-sandwich-has-hardware-acceleration/ but I will believe this when I see it.

I am quite big and must say I reeeaalllly appreciate the extra screen real estate typing is so much easier in portrait mode on the phone the 1.2" makes a huge difference and mine came pre-installed with swype which makes typing a breeze. The phone while beautiful does feel a bit cheap it's made entirely of plastic and it feels like I could quite easily snap it in half, the phone also feels way to light in the hand or maybe I just havn't gotten used to it yet.

Otherwise the screen on the galaxy is beautiful but then again I have also heard the retina display is great, I am all for the freedom android offers it just feels like there is so much to do but if you don't want to tinker around with your phone give the iphone a look I don't think you will be dissapointed.
 
PostmanPot said:
Just get an iPhone, jailbreak it, and tinker to your heart's content, while having the best apps/screen/battery on the market. I fail to see how an Android device offers more "necessary tinkering" than this, so if you like iPad then iPhone is the sensible winner.

The pro about iPhone is that JB does not void warranty. Rooting Android, which you will most likely do in order to tinker, does.
Click to expand...

You do know that you can un-root a device and it is once again locked, you can even download the stock ROM or use a backup you made if you need to send it back in. They will never know.

The argument about the number of apps isn't really valid anymore. Yes, Apple might have more apps, but does 200 talking Cat or talking Dog apps make it cool? If there is an iOS app, I bet top dollar the equivalent is in Android and you will be able to customise it.

I have a Nexus S and the past weekend I rooted, made a backup and then installed CyanogenMod. The amount of customisation now available to me is just beyond. It's linux after all, you can even write your own ROMs or make changes to a kernel, help out with the dev on another ROM, what ever. My phone with stock Android is awesome and I loved it, the only reason I went the custom ROM route was just to try it out and see what the guys out there are doing. To see what is on offer.

Yes iOS is more polished and a bit smoother I will agree with that but you are comparing something that is 5 years old to something that is 3 years old. So much of the stuff in iOS 5 that is bragged about was already in Android when I got my Nexus in January.

You really have to play around with both and then make your decision.
 
android is awesome, I have had a desire for almost 2 years now and I love it. Battery life is the biggest issue, and as of recent i've noticde my display is actually alot dimmer than the iphone4, I still think the retina display trumps most others. I havent yet played with the newer sexier phones, like the gs2 and the gs1 for that matter, so i may be wrong.
Android is customisable beyond all bounds, iOS WM7 etc aren't. I mean you could have a metro style UI or even an iOS ui and it wont cost you a cent.
 
PostmanPot said:
Just get an iPhone, jailbreak it, and tinker to your heart's content, while having the best apps/screen/battery on the market. I fail to see how an Android device offers more "necessary tinkering" than this, so if you like iPad then iPhone is the sensible winner.

The pro about iPhone is that JB does not void warranty. Rooting Android, which you will most likely do in order to tinker, does.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression jailbreaking did void warranty?? Perhaps I am wrong...

Link: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/apples_last_ditch_effort_jailbreaking_will_void_wa.php
http://hothardware.com/News/Jailbreaking-Voids-Your-Warranty-If-You-Are-Caught-Apple/
 
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Thanks to (all most) all for refreshingly unbiased feedback. I guess if I can ask a follow up question it would be: what specific tweaking in android do you really enjoy benefit from in real, everyday use ? What I mean is that whilst the idea of uncontrolled customization is awesome , how much is actually necessary ?

i.e. I was tempted to jailbreak my iPad so I could tweak but in reality I have been able to solve almost all the gripes through 3rd party apps. I know it sounds like I'm iOS biased but I'm just trying to weed out actual pros and cons versus the very common perceived ones.

Thanks again for the info so far, have picked up more useful and practical stuff here than from hours of online reading ...
 
What are you looking for in the device? What functions are trying to do?
 
Visit mycolorscreen.com and have a look at some of the screenshots. They are good examples of how you can VISUALLY tinker with android.

Thats just the visual aspect of android customisation. You can also change roms, kernels etc..

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
 
Android/SGS2 Pro's

Just to name a few:
  • Samba, Share your phone as if its a PC on your WiFi network.
  • PPPOE, can connect to your ADSL directly from your phone.
  • Hardware, Can connect HDMI + WII and use it as a game console on your TV with full emulator support.
  • Customization, Can change the look of your phone to fit your needs from widgets to full launcher changers and dont forget Swipe.
  • Data Management, from Alerts and monitors to Per app firewalls and more, you get to decide what data your phone can or can not use and when.
  • Flash, You can decide to turn flash on or off, not someone else.
  • Navigation, can use Free turn by turn voice navigation. I know Android/iPhone both have access to commercial applications but I never need to get one as Google nav is good enough.
  • Market access, no need to use fake/false details to buy vouchers to get games or other applications.
  • Security Software Applications like WifiKill, Anti and Faceniff that you will never find in the iPhone world.


Just one thing to add about Jailbreak comments:
In order to use Jailbreak you have to stay on Old versions of iOS, if you do go for the latest you can only use this tethered, that means you have to be close to a PC when your phone reboots else your stuffed. Some applications have problems when you stay on old version of the OS and refuse to work.

So if you Jailbreak, Pray your phone dont reboot when you leave your house, and YES it did happen to me.
 
I don't know what is in iOS 5 and how it works but I do know how Android works.

Because everything is stored in Google's cloud, there is no need to backup contacts, calendar, documents, emails, settings (e.g. WIFI settings), etc. When you add a contact or calendar event on your phone, PC or tablet - it is almost immediately available on every other device that uses that same google account. Add a contact in Gmail on your PC and it will be on your phone within seconds.

So if you loose you phone or install a custom ROM, all of that stuff is automatically sync'ed to your device the next time you set it up. When I installed a custom ROM to mess around with, within a few minutes, all my apps from the market started to auto download again. (The contacts, calendar, settings, etc were already restored to the phone by this time). I didn't have to connect my phone to any PC or piece of software to sync or restore anything.

To me that is a big deal.
 
I use both iPod tough 4g (iOS 5)and the Galaxy S2. Both use wifi at home and both get my emails. The ipod i mainly use for media, like remote control over itunes music playback and gaming, it's pretty cool. But I find iOS very basic in control, it's minimalistic to me and a little slow. As i understand the Iphone4 and Ipod touch have the same CPU and memory abilities so that a little dissapointing compared to the Galaxy S2 which is so nippy. Its smooth and uber quick. To me it's two very different devices, hard to compare.

I've used 3rd party navigation softare apps like the garmin one before and I think the google nav app on the S2 is so much better. Even if i havent figured out how to save locations on it yet :S And just the vast amount of customization apps available on the android market makes it worthwhile compared to itunes. I find Kies (Itunes for the S2) works good enough when it comes to copying music and videos.
 
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