Guys I might have to change everyone's mind (including mine) about getting Android devices. During my recent trip overseas, I met with a software maker that we use, who also created apps for their software, for BBs, iPhones and lastly Android devices. Their software team commented about a whole bunch of "unidentifiable" services that appeared to be running under the core Android OS that they believed was transmitting data back to Google. Moreover, when they tried to disable the services, it rendered the OS inoperable.

I pride my privacy as much as the next person and this is definitely not something that sat well with me. It's also one of the key reasons I won't use Chrome, you just dont know how much data they're mining about you and your smartphone is the epic collection of your private info.

Buyer be warned.

Re: It's here fellas...

Humm...I bet if it was seriously technically looked into it is a lot less scary than it sounds. Did you hear about the huge uproar earlier this year about the iPhone uploading your coordinates or tracking some kind of data about your location that everyone assumed was apple spying on you? It was was a database it was keeping up to date of cellphone tower locations to help the software properly triangulate cell tower handoffs or something such.

A lot of this suspicious stuff from the outsider can look scary, but it is just code doing specific functions, you have to really spend some serious time with someone who knows their shit and also the code to know whats going on.

Also FWIW most of the Android ecosystem is open source vs iOS and BB...so technically this should lead to less bad stuffz, as anyone can peer review the code, vs a set of developers working behind a curtain.

Just my .02c though ;)

Re: It's here fellas...

Valid points, but these guys are great programmers and for their lead programmer to mention it was unnerving.

Re: It's here fellas...

^^ I have to agree with this. One of my pet peeves when it came to my Samsung Galaxy was those damn processes running in the background eating my battery life.

Re: It's here fellas...

This has got to be a heck of a deal. S2 black Friday deal for $0.96 ay Sams club

[url]http://www.samsclub.com/sams/pagedetails/content.jsp?pageName=date&iid=CRSJ291[/url]

Re: It's here fellas...

Huggie, I finally did it. I finally got the S2. I took the flyer to an Att store and got the phone for $1. So in love with this device.

Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

So instead of hijacking the iPhone thread, thought I'll start a new thread for the Sammy. Got it yesterday for $1 at a local ATT shop (showed them the Black Friday flyer from Sams club and they matched it). So far I'm absolutely LOVING the device. The screen turns SO BLACK in the black areas, its like the darkness of space. Brief overview from the last 12 hours

[B]Pluses[/B]

• Battery life is GREAT. Much better than my rooted HTC Desire HD
• Amazing Screen
• Fast (the dual core processor REALLY REALLY shines)
• Light (weight)
• Comes with 16 gb of onboard space, with my 32 gig card added, I have a ton of room now

[B]Minuses[/B]

• Screen does not stay on when the device is plugged in
• No night clock
• The default music player on HTC was a lot better and sounded a whole lot nicer than on the Sammy

I'll post more in time but so far, I've had mixed emotions about the purchase. I wanted a connected device which I have got, I just hope it lives up to itself over time.

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

Free hack to unlock the S2, provided the device has been rooted

[url]https://market.android.com/details?id=eu.chainfire.sgs2simunlockcode[/url]

Re: It's here fellas...

^^^ Glad to hear that you're loving it K.

However all I can say is once bitten twice shy.... don't think I'll ever get a Samsung device again!

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

[QUOTE=Kamal;1004106]Free hack to unlock the S2, provided the device has been rooted

[URL]https://market.android.com/details?id=eu.chainfire.sgs2simunlockcode[/URL][/QUOTE]

Now that's a bonus :D

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

totally bizarre - I got mine today! however with sprint - due to the unlimited download.

SO FAR (only a few hours) reception is almost non existent at my house! - will have to see what tis all about.

"Screen does not stay on when the device is plugged in" - I know! WTF is that all about?

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

$1 up front without a contract? Damn I should've tried getting that :lol:

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

[QUOTE=Huggie Smiles;1004221]"Screen does not stay on when the device is plugged in" - I know! WTF is that all about?[/QUOTE]

Huggie get the app "screen on". You can select which apps, when running, will leave the screen on. But I read that because of burn-ins on the super Amoled displays, it's not recommended to keep the screen on all the time. Another major negative.

[QUOTE=feather;1004238]$1 up front without a contract? Damn I should've tried getting that :lol:[/QUOTE]

Naa it was a two year contract.

New negative. Typing on this thing officially sucks. Was 10,000 times easier on my HTC.

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

I like the samsung keyboard but just dont like where a few keys are placed down the bottom so i downloaded the gingerbread keyboard which is a lot better.

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

I had made my above post from my phone and didn't realize how many typos I had mad (just fixed them). I found a new pain in the ass reason to hate the keyboard, each time you type a word and it's spelt incorrectly or auto-corrected incorrectly, if you delete just a part of that word and re-type it, the system only takes the new part of the word as an independent word and saves it to the dictionary. WTF.

This means it's going to have a bunch of new obscure words and auto-correct is going to go insane by 10x.

Granted speed, battery-life, screen size, and having bridged the gap with it's iphone-esque surfing are all major pats on the back, but the above negatives (for me) are nibbling away at those benefits.

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

[QUOTE=Kamal;1004299]each time you type a word and it's spelt incorrectly or auto-corrected incorrectly, if you delete just a part of that word and re-type it, the system only takes the new part of the word as an independent word and saves it to the dictionary. WTF.

[/QUOTE]

WTF indeed :lol:

Re: It's here fellas...

moved the S2 posts from the iPhone thread over.

[QUOTE=dusk;1004117]^^^ Glad to hear that you're loving it K.

However all I can say is once bitten twice shy.... don't think I'll ever get a Samsung device again![/QUOTE]

What happened?

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

[url]http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/17/2568348/galaxy-nexus-review[/url]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

It's got a little bit of fail on the hardware end.

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

I don't need my phone to drive my car honestly. phone/sms/web and a few apps is about it. I don't really need that much horsepower for how i use my phone day to day.

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

You're a senior admin, I can't believe you're typing that too much horsepower for toys in unnecessary. Are you finding a way to justify buyer's remorse ? :lol:

Installed go keyboard now and it's by far the best I've used, similar to an iPhone keyboard and very customisable

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Re: It's here fellas...

[QUOTE=Kamal;1004307]moved the S2 posts from the iPhone thread over.

What happened?[/QUOTE]

Just a really buggy device the original Samsung galaxy that is... did not flow like butter as I was used to the iPhone before plus the battery life sucked as well as apps would force close on me... just bizarre... had the device sent back for repair, apparently nothing was wrong with it... aggravating piece of junk.

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

rest assured, the s2 is NOTHING like it, granted it doesn't have a great battery life but with most smart phones these days, which one does? I don't think it's much diff than the iPhone (the s2 that is).

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

[QUOTE=poults;1004737]Installed go keyboard now and it's by far the best I've used, similar to an iPhone keyboard and very customisable

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

have you tried this one?

[url]http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/18/swiftkey-x-2-2-arrives-for-smartphones-and-tablets-with-support/[/url]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

I'm sure you saw this but...................[url]http://lifehacker.com/5861374/get-the-ice-cream-sandwich-keyboard-on-any-android-phone[/url]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

did it work for you? didn't work for me. already tried it but it doesnt come up.

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

On second thoughts... like the Go keyboard but it seems to be causing high battery drain so im getting rid. I havent tried that swiftkey, i usually just use the gingerbread kb but am going to give the ICS one a go.

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

WOOT my FAVORITE weather App (effin PRO version) is now free on getjar. grab it quick before it goes. I just installed mine. need to figure out how to grab screenshots.

[url]http://www.getjar.com/mobile/248959/beweather-pro-for-samsung-sgh-i777-galaxy-s-ii/?ref=0&lvt=1321969812&sid=6b7k8rc4xz6glvds&c=6hh15h32v4hg0w9d13&lang=en[/url]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

so in the past 7 days - i have had to restart my phone (remove battery, put back in) - as it would NOT pick up or send calls, or texts.

Am i doing something wrong (ie what might cause this) or do i have a dud phone?

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

I haven't experienced any of that. It's automatically sending texts? Have you got a lot of shit on it? Try doing a reset on the phone (or check for software updates).

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

-oops i missed a key word NOT

it would not send texts and NOT pick up calls

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

Huggie, did you get your problem resolved? Did you try a reset?

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

Huggie- sounds like you have a reject to be honest. Got ICS keyboard installed and its great, no silly spell check problems, nice layout and looks nice and simple too. What problems did you have with it Kamal?

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

I couldn't get it to load first but now it works fine, though I hate the fact that the comma isn't on the main layout and it's on the numerical layout, that for me is a major fail. They don't use long-press for alternate keys (unless I haven't enabled it somewhere)

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

If you turn off the voice input if you dont use it then it puts the comma on the main keyboard.

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

I intermittently use voice. but i find swype so much nicer, its much easier to use one-handed and is way more intuitive on guessing the words than I really imagined.

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

poults, have you rooted your device, I've just read through this thread and I've got a bit of a digital stiffy at this point

[url]http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1367800[/url]

I cant WAIT to flash this kernel

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

Yes i am rooted but i only used the siyah kernel when it was in early stages of development and it caused high battery drain so i went back to hellcats. I have thought about using it but it has so much stuff that i dont really need or know about (undervolting/overclocking etc) that i dont really know if its worth it. No harm in a flash i suppose.

Re: Samsung Galaxy S2 (ATT)

So I did the unimaginable and managed to shatter the screen on my Sammy. Luckily the store was nice enough to exchange out for a new one but insisted I get insurance this time which I did....