4G Android phone megathread

Omar's Wacky Neighbor

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Leaving in a bit to the studio :)
I guess now my question is whether I wander into a store from one of the other carriers today just to see the S3, or if I just wait the three damn weeks that VZW is going to take to get it out. (although I guess now it looks like pre-orders are going to consume all of the inventory for at least the next week, so stores won't have the phone for another week or two).
Just left a VZW store: no idea when even the dummy Siii's are coming in.
 

glennhoffmania

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And Sprint and T-Mobile are now saying they'll have delays for getting it in the store, but you can still order it online in the meantime.
 

Bucknahs Bum Ankle

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Anybody have any thoughts/experience with the LG Spectrum. I'm close to pulling the trigger on it as my first smart phone. Only real negatives I'm seeing based on on-line reviews are about battery life, but that seems like a common complaint for pretty much all smart phones. I assume you need to actively manage which applications are running in the background (as I'm already used to doing with my rooted nook color) to help conserve battery life.
 

OldeBeanTowne

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So much for getting my hands on a demo SIII today. None of the carriers that advertised the 21st as an in-store date have any units. I would really like the opportunity to mess around with one of these before making a decision. At least, I might be able to decide which color I prefer.
 

smastroyin

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One thing that I read today is that after a software update the VZW will be able to be used as a worldphone if you throw in a local SIM card. Whether that actually comes true or not is another story of course.
 

glennhoffmania

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I really don't understand this idea that you're supposed to buy a phone online that you've never had a chance to check out in person. I know lots of people do it but this whole situation with the SIII has been maddening for me. And I desperately need a new phone so each delay is killing me.
 

Bucknahs Bum Ankle

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Anybody have any thoughts/experience with the LG Spectrum. I'm close to pulling the trigger on it as my first smart phone. Only real negatives I'm seeing based on on-line reviews are about battery life, but that seems like a common complaint for pretty much all smart phones. I assume you need to actively manage which applications are running in the background (as I'm already used to doing with my rooted nook color) to help conserve battery life.
Let me rephrase this. As a first time smart phone user who isn't necessarily looking for a whole lot of bells and whistles (anticipate still using my tablet much more than the phone for most apps the vast majority of the time), is there any reason good reason I should wait a couple of weeks and drop an extra $100 on an S3 over something that appears to be slightly less awesome like the Spectrum?
 

FL4WL3SS

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There is no good reason - it's personal preference, you need to decide that.

People always want to come in here and have other people tell them what phone to buy. Do a little research, go demo the phones you like in the store and decide for yourself. Nobody is going to be able to tell you what phone is going to work for you.

The S3 is bleeding edge, if bleeding edge isn't important to you then the Spectrum will probably do just fine.
 

Bucknahs Bum Ankle

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Thanks, I have been reseaching and have demo'd a few phones. Bleeding edge isn't important to me. The Spectrum seemed like the most bang for the buck. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be missing something particularly awesome by not waiting for the S3.
 

hunter05

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Just got the S3. First impressions from someone who has been using the iPhone 4 & 4s, this thing is sick. No idea why the reviews complained about the screen as I think it looks gorgeous. I have the pebble blue on AT&T, and I like it, the physical button is a blue/purple color but I have no problem with it. My data speeds have jumped as well, normally I get 3-4 mbps down, I just got 9 with speed test. I'll post some more thoughts ad I get more time to mess with it, but so far I'm happy.
 

gtg807y

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Has anyone with a RAZR received the upgrade to ICS yet? I guess I could be prompted for it at any time and am curious about what to expect.
 

Fratboy

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I haven't. I'm checking like every hour to see when it will kick in. I think there's a video or two on the Moto and VZW websites detailing the UI changes.
 

glennhoffmania

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When you switch phones, how do you transfer not only your apps but your user data? A rep at a Sprint store said you can't but I read on some message boards that you can. What's the easiest way to do this, and can you do it if you turn in your old phone or do you need to keep it to do the transfer?
 

FL4WL3SS

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The ICS update for the Galaxy S2 has been pretty meh. The look and feel of the phone is identical to what it was before, just some more crisper UI elements. The phone seems smoother in all areas throughout the UI and the performance seems improved which is a huge plus. I'm not sure about battery life yet, but I'll report back on that.

The most annoying thing was having to recreate all of my screens with the widgets/apps that I want just to have it look the same way it did before. It gave me a chance to do some cleanup, but I was expecting a different look/feel and it really doesn't. Maybe I was expecting too much, but maybe Samsung did it on purpose so as not to confuse people.

I love this phone unconditionally, but I will be going to check out the SIII just to tease myself.
 

FL4WL3SS

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Alright, I'm gonna change my review from 'meh' to pretty awesome. The email app updates and improved keyboard input make the update pretty awesome on their own. But the entire UI experience is so much smoother and crisper and the scrolling is a lot smoother. The phone is a lot snappier too, which was hard to do since it was already pretty snappy.

I'm sure I'll discover more, but this is def in the win column. Still not sure about battery life,but I've been playing around a lot and it seems much better.
 

Huntington Avenue Grounds

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Has anyone with a RAZR received the upgrade to ICS yet? I guess I could be prompted for it at any time and am curious about what to expect.
Got it Saturday morning on the Maxx, been playing with it all weekend and have to say I like it a lot. Agree with FL4WL3SS on all points and will add that the camera is quicker (quality might be better, but might just be what I want to believe) and it seems the battery charge is faster (again, might be me). Face recognition is a cute feature, but is only working 30-40% of the time, still prefer the Dolphin browser to the upgraded stock one, and the entire phone call experience has changed, for the better IMO. Overall you should see a quicker, sleeker and snazzier phone interface, get it when you can and I think you will love it.
 

Fratboy

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I want my ice cream sandwich. I've been a good boy. I deserve it.

For the phone call experience, can you set up quick dials? That was one of my dealbreakers with the Nexus. I couldn't do it.
 

Fratboy

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Thanks, I have been reseaching and have demo'd a few phones. Bleeding edge isn't important to me. The Spectrum seemed like the most bang for the buck. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be missing something particularly awesome by not waiting for the S3.
I see you lurking, so here's my $0.02:

Much like with laptops, you don't really want to go cheap if you're gonna be getting a smartphone. And by cheap, I mean with outdated specs. The Spectrum is okay, but it's bleeding edge of about a year ago. Remember that you'll be locked into that phone for 2 years, upgrades window probably 20 months from now unless they've pushed that out too. Ask yourself, is this a phone I am going to enjoy using two years from now? Being new to the smartphone experience, you may not know the answer to this question. I liked LG dumbphones years ago, but from what I've seen, their smartphones aren't really wowwing anybody. I'm a Moto fan, personally. I like what they do, and they're a great fit for me. I know the tweakers are less enamored, and are more interested in the Galaxy Nexus for the pure unadulterated as-designed-by-Google experience.

It all really depends on what you want your phone to do for you. If you can wait, play with the S3 somewhere and see what you think. But most importantly, get the phone that's going to be the right fit for you now and into 2014.
 

glennhoffmania

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When you switch phones, how do you transfer not only your apps but your user data? A rep at a Sprint store said you can't but I read on some message boards that you can. What's the easiest way to do this, and can you do it if you turn in your old phone or do you need to keep it to do the transfer?
Anyone? I need to do this in a couple of days and I could use some guidance.
 

smastroyin

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Which user data? Like settings for the apps? Photos? Contacts?

- Apps and contacts will update with your new phone assuming you use the same google account on it. This doesn't include Facebook contacts because of the Google/Facebook hissyfit.

- Settings for apps I would not bother with. You will want to reconfigure to your new phone anyway. You will also have to log into all of them again.

- Photos and other data that you want to keep I would just move on the SD card. If you don't have a removable card then just hook up your USB cable and shoot them into a directory somewhere.

If you are turning in the phone I would wipe it of as much data as possible and remove your google account from it.
 

glennhoffmania

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Which user data? Like settings for the apps? Photos? Contacts?

- Apps and contacts will update with your new phone assuming you use the same google account on it. This doesn't include Facebook contacts because of the Google/Facebook hissyfit.

- Settings for apps I would not bother with. You will want to reconfigure to your new phone anyway. You will also have to log into all of them again.

- Photos and other data that you want to keep I would just move on the SD card. If you don't have a removable card then just hook up your USB cable and shoot them into a directory somewhere.

If you are turning in the phone I would wipe it of as much data as possible and remove your google account from it.
Honestly, most of it is stupid shit, like games the ette and I play and we don't want to have to start from scratch. I'm not worried about the apps and contacts since we'll be using the same google account. Pictures and stuff I'll back up on the computer anyway. I wasn't planning on turning in the phone until Sprint told me that I'd get $130 back if I turn them in.

Titanium Backup is one way to do it. Do both phones (new and old) have SD card slots?
Yeah the two olds ones are Evos and the new ones will be a new Evo and probably either an S3 or a Nexus. So how do I do this with Titanium Backup? Do I need to keep the old phones and download the app onto the old and new ones?
 

smastroyin

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Most of the social games (Words with Friends, etc.) store your data remotely anyway.

For local games you could move them all to the SD card (they should each have this option). I assume when that happens they take their data with them. Or you can rifle though the file system to find all of their data and move it manually.
 

EddieYost

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The free version of Titanium Backup will handle this fairly easily. Step 1 is install it on the old phone. When you get that far ping me and I will hold your hand through it if necessarily. It's pretty straightforward.
 

glennhoffmania

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Thanks, guys. And Eddie, just because you're being so helpful I won't make a joke about your wife for at least a week.
 

FL4WL3SS

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Got it Saturday morning on the Maxx, been playing with it all weekend and have to say I like it a lot. Agree with FL4WL3SS on all points and will add that the camera is quicker (quality might be better, but might just be what I want to believe) and it seems the battery charge is faster (again, might be me). Face recognition is a cute feature, but is only working 30-40% of the time, still prefer the Dolphin browser to the upgraded stock one, and the entire phone call experience has changed, for the better IMO. Overall you should see a quicker, sleeker and snazzier phone interface, get it when you can and I think you will love it.
I also love the fact that when I delete emails now, they stay deleted and don't pop back up into my mailbox. This happened constantly before and hasn't happened once since I upgraded. (Used to happen all the time when I had an iPhone 3G too).
 

SumnerH

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Much like with laptops, you don't really want to go cheap if you're gonna be getting a smartphone. And by cheap, I mean with outdated specs. The Spectrum is okay, but it's bleeding edge of about a year ago. Remember that you'll be locked into that phone for 2 years, upgrades window probably 20 months from now unless they've pushed that out too. Ask yourself, is this a phone I am going to enjoy using two years from now? Being new to the smartphone experience, you may not know the answer to this question. I liked LG dumbphones years ago, but from what I've seen, their smartphones aren't really wowwing anybody. I'm a Moto fan, personally. I like what they do, and they're a great fit for me. I know the tweakers are less enamored, and are more interested in the Galaxy Nexus for the pure unadulterated as-designed-by-Google experience.

It all really depends on what you want your phone to do for you. If you can wait, play with the S3 somewhere and see what you think. But most importantly, get the phone that's going to be the right fit for you now and into 2014.
That also depends a little on your personality and usage types. I switched from an iPhone 3GS to a Motorola Atrix a year and a half ago, and while the Atrix is a much newer, more featureful phone, I would've been just about as happy if my 3GS hadn't died and were still using it (or an older Android phone).

For all that the features on the edges have expanded and it was cool to see a bunch of new stuff and have some whizzbangs to show off, 97% of what I do is essentially similar between the two--heck, the fingerprint scanner's probably actually the biggest real upgrade in terms of something I use and appreciate a lot.

If I drove a lot more, the navigation upgrade would be a huge deal. But at some point you may want to stop and figure out whether you're paying for stuff you'll actually use and benefit from, and how much new bells and whistles are actually going to matter to you--which may be "quite a lot", but for some people being a couple of years out of date isn't a huge deal.
 

OldeBeanTowne

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I just ordered the white SIII as well. Just wish I could have held it and compared it with the blue beforehand, but I'm sure I'll like it just fine.
 

smastroyin

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Ordered the SIII in white so Smas and I don't swap phones and all of the sudden Tom Jones plays while he's at work.
That happens when your girlfriend calls me anyway.

Or URI.
 

Orange Julia

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I am up for a new phone on Tmobile and i'm leaning toward the Samsung Galaxy III (in white) but is there any difference in price between marching into the store and having them transfer over my goodies, or ordering it online and doing it myself? I just swap out the sim card right? I have made a habit of saving all my contact info to my google account so i shouldn't lose any of that stuff. I try not to save anything besides the app info to the actual phone. So, order online or get it in person?
 

Murderer's Crow

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I am up for a new phone on Tmobile and i'm leaning toward the Samsung Galaxy III (in white) but is there any difference in price between marching into the store and having them transfer over my goodies, or ordering it online and doing it myself? I just swap out the sim card right? I have made a habit of saving all my contact info to my google account so i shouldn't lose any of that stuff. I try not to save anything besides the app info to the actual phone. So, order online or get it in person?
Go to the store, so long as they're not completely dumb, you should be in and out in a hour....However, supplies might be tight so call ahead.
 

glennhoffmania

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This is kind of what I was asking yesterday and the reason I asked was because the rep at the Sprint store said they could NOT transfer the data over for me. Maybe she was just completely dumb.

But by the way (and this may be more evidence of her dumbness) she said that Sprint now doesn't simply give you a small discount when you buy a new phone when eligible. She said I'd get the new activation price. So the new Evo or an iPhone 16 GB would be $200 for me, minus $65 if I turn in my old one. The web site says it's $400. Has anyone else heard this from Sprint?
 

Murderer's Crow

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This is kind of what I was asking yesterday and the reason I asked was because the rep at the Sprint store said they could NOT transfer the data over for me. Maybe she was just completely dumb.

But by the way (and this may be more evidence of her dumbness) she said that Sprint now doesn't simply give you a small discount when you buy a new phone when eligible. She said I'd get the new activation price. So the new Evo or an iPhone 16 GB would be $200 for me, minus $65 if I turn in my old one. The web site says it's $400. Has anyone else heard this from Sprint?
I think it depends. If you go to a "Sprint Store" they may not be able to but usually the third party handlers have the tools and can probably do it for a couple bucks.

However, I was operating on the assumption that OJ knew they could do it because it was presented as an option. That's my fault if they cannot.

Edit: I just called a random sprint store (718) 277-6600). Her answer was that it depends on the model of your old sprint phone and the new sprint phone that you buy. If they have the cable and the software, they can do it. So call with the model and they can tell you.