4G Android phone megathread

[Dollar]

When I record a video, how can I upload it to youtube or facebook?

Find the video in the gallery (click on the little icon in the bottom left corner when the camera's open), and click the Facebook icon above the video. As long as your Facebook account is open on your phone, it should open it up as a new post on your wall with the video embedded.

 

[smastroyin]

It's a shame, he won't give me his number.

Serious question, are people liking the home button? I happen to like the 4 haptic buttons on my SII from AT&T. Looks like the SIII has 2 of them (one for menu and the other for back) and took away the search button (I'm assuming because of S-Voice?).

I like the home button. I like the short press and the long press. I like the new task manager. I like the swiping away apps you want to close. I stayed away from specific ICS comments as much as a I could because I think almost everyone is going to get ICS or newer now. I also like the actual feel of the button, if that's more along the lines of what you are asking.

Regarding 4G, I finally got some good 4G signal for a good while today and saw the difference. It was especially evidence in maps/driving directions. I think I'm just not getting the signal enough. Hope I don't have a lemon antenna.

Also, the front facing camera has definitely improved my junk pictures.

 

[glennhoffmania]

Why can't the Evo get 4G while we wait for LTE? In general I haven't had issues with the speed, but the one thing I've noticed is that downloading email attachments takes much longer.

 

[Murderer's Crow]

Why can't the Evo get 4G while we wait for LTE? In general I haven't had issues with the speed, but the one thing I've noticed is that downloading email attachments takes much longer.

The Irritating Mystery of Sprint LTE
For now, the EVO 4G LTE runs solely on Sprint's nationwide CDMA EVDO 3G network, which is a lot like driving a 365hp Ford Taurus SHO solely on narrow side-roads with traffic. According to our Fastest Mobile Networks 2011 report, Sprint had the slowest nationwide 3G network, with average download speeds of 480kbps. If it helps, I got consistently faster 3G speeds on the EVO than on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the same location, though none of them were worth trumpeting about.
This is called the EVO 4G LTE, right? Sprint has so far only announced six cities for LTE service: Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and San Antonio. The carrier has also said it will cover 120 million Americans with LTE by the end of 2012, but steadfastly refuses to say which 120 million Americans.
So if you pick up a Sprint LTE phone now, you might be speeding along on fast 4G LTE soon. You might have to wait until 2013. Until then, it's a good thing this has Wi-Fi, supporting 802.11 b/g/n networks, excitingly including the faster and less crowded 5GHz band.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404418,00.asp

 

[glennhoffmania]

Maybe I'm just an idiot, but what I'm asking is, why can't I use regular 4G (like I did on the old Evo) until LTE is available? Is the phone only able to do one or the other?

 

[Monbo Jumbo]

Maybe I'm just an idiot, but what I'm asking is, why can't I use regular 4G (like I did on the old Evo) until LTE is available? Is the phone only able to do one or the other?

There is no 'regular' 4g. The old evo used a wimax for it's 4g. The phones would need to support both wimax and LTE for that to work. They're not going to add yesterday's tech to the phone and boost it's cost.

I should check whether sprint has turned on LTE in Atlanta yet.

Edit - supposedly it was turned on in Atlanta three days ago.

double edit - lots of posts on the net complaining that the LTE doesn't work yet, despite sprint saying it's on.

 

[glennhoffmania]

Thanks, that's what I was trying to understand.

 

[LogansDad]

So my wife and I picked up Samsung Galaxy S II's last week on a BOGO through Sprint, with the truly unlimited data plan. I am loving my phone after suffering with a dumb phone for the last couple years, but my wife's is having an issue with connecting to the internet when not on our home Wifi. It make calls and texts just fine so I don't think its a matter of the network, it just won't do anything data related (internet, app store, etc.). Anyone have any ideas of what might cause this?

 

[jayhoz]

I could be wrong, but I believe data and voice calls are handled differently. Voice is CDMA while data is 3G/4G. It sounds like the wifi and CDMA are working, but the 3G/4G isn't. This could be a software thing (radio) or hardware related (chip).

Call Sprint.

 

[jayhoz]

So my SIII is due here today or tomorrow. I know that virtually everything I have will automatically be synced to my new phone through google and the various app stores. Media such as pictures and videos will come over with the SD card.

I have read that the newest versions of Android do not allow you to save apps to the SD card. My current card has some apps and data associated with those apps. So my question is, if I just pop my current SD card into the SIII won't there be a ton of garbage that the new phone won't be able to access? If so, how do I know what is safe to delete and what is not on the SD card?

 

[Foulkey Reese]

Are you rooted Jayhoz?

 

[jayhoz]

On my Thunderbolt I am, but don't plan to root my SIII for a while.

 

[Foulkey Reese]

Ah ok there is a backup utility that you can use but I think both phones would have to be rooted. So nevermind.

Edit: I like starting fresh with new phones so personally I don't even copy stuff over. I just let all the apps re-download from the market. But that's just me.

 

[smastroyin]

I'm not going to pull the trigger quite yet, but there is already a 4600 mAh battery on the market for the S3.

Battery power definitely a disappointment. I've said it three times now. No better than the X, maybe a bit worse actually. Going to have to be a lot more active in killing processes.

 

[Foulkey Reese]

Going to have to be a lot more active in killing processes.

From what I've read, ICS and Jelly Bean both handle that behind the scenes. The closing processes button/tab is mostly for closing out of misbehaving apps. Swiping all of your apps closed all of the time isn't going to make a difference.

 

[jayhoz]

Ah ok there is a backup utility that you can use but I think both phones would have to be rooted. So nevermind.

Edit: I like starting fresh with new phones so personally I don't even copy stuff over. I just let all the apps re-download from the market. But that's just me.

I think I am going to save the contents of the SD card to my hard drive, format the SD card, and then see what if anything I miss/need.

 

[jayhoz]

I'm not going to pull the trigger quite yet, but there is already a 4600 mAh battery on the market for the S3.

Battery power definitely a disappointment. I've said it three times now. No better than the X, maybe a bit worse actually. Going to have to be a lot more active in killing processes.

Careful, I believe the NFC chip lives in the battery on the SIII

 

[smastroyin]

Yeah, it's kind of lame.

I understand that I am a heavy user of my phone. But here's an example. Last week I ran a 5K. I unplugged from my car charger with the battery at 75ish percent.

I took a few photos, coordinated with my friends (text and talk), that was about a half hour's use. Then I ran the 5k - running CardioTrainer (with GPS) and Spotify. I'm slow but a 5k is still only half an hour.

At the end of the 5k, I had 28% battery.

Reading the internet, though, it seems I may have ended up with a lemon. There are a few people complaining of similar issues, almost all have had it go away with an exchange. I may try a factory reset and see what happens, not that I feel like loading everything again, but whatever.

 

[bsj]

Does anyone have any idea what may be on the horizon as far as high end smartphones? Sprint specifically, buy anything generally...

Have been due for an upgrade for couple months now. I LIKE the SIII, but I dont LOVE the SIII, and I am still toting a good old original EVO. It's time has come, but I still like it enough that I am willing to wait for something awesome if it is on the horizon.

Oh, and have an iPhone for work so looking to stay Android for these purposes.

 

[TallerThanPedroia]

I'm scratching for every scrap of Razr HD news. Here's the latest, including the disappointing news that it won't have the Maxx's awesomely big battery (though it'll still be pretty big):

http://www.droid-life.com/2012/07/23/motorola-xt926-cruises-through-fcc-that-would-be-the-droid-razr-hd/
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/07/25/according-to-fcc-filing-droid-razr-hd-will-have-a-2530mah-battery-inside/

 

[glennhoffmania]

Does anyone have any idea what may be on the horizon as far as high end smartphones? Sprint specifically, buy anything generally...

Have been due for an upgrade for couple months now. I LIKE the SIII, but I dont LOVE the SIII, and I am still toting a good old original EVO. It's time has come, but I still like it enough that I am willing to wait for something awesome if it is on the horizon.

Oh, and have an iPhone for work so looking to stay Android for these purposes.

I really like the new Evo. I'm not a tech junkie so I don't keep track of what's coming up but I'm really happy I bought this. I can't think of anything that was better on the old Evo. The battery life is awesome, which was my biggest issue.

 

[Caspir]

Does anyone have any idea what may be on the horizon as far as high end smartphones? Sprint specifically, buy anything generally...

Have been due for an upgrade for couple months now. I LIKE the SIII, but I dont LOVE the SIII, and I am still toting a good old original EVO. It's time has come, but I still like it enough that I am willing to wait for something awesome if it is on the horizon.

Oh, and have an iPhone for work so looking to stay Android for these purposes.

I'd grab the Evo 4G without thinking twice about it. It's just awesome in every respect, and it will hold up well to whatever Sprint puts out in the next few months.

 

[glennhoffmania]

I found one issue with the Evo that's annoying me. When I hold it normally, my thumb is right over the volume buttons and I hit them by mistake sometimes making my ring volume go to zero. There should be a way to lock the volume controls if you want to avoid this. Or maybe there is and I can't find it. I'm sure Eddie will help me out though.

 

[Caspir]

Get Volume Control + from the market. It's free, and you can lock the volume so that the only way to change it is through the app itself as opposed to the volume rocker. It has a widget to enable or disable, so it's simple to use.

 

[glennhoffmania]

Thanks. Does it also lock media volume or can you pick and choose? I want to lock ring and notification volume but be able to easily change media volume, which I do through my earphones.

 

[EddieYost]

I found one issue with the Evo that's annoying me. When I hold it normally, my thumb is right over the volume buttons and I hit them by mistake sometimes making my ring volume go to zero. There should be a way to lock the volume controls if you want to avoid this. Or maybe there is and I can't find it. I'm sure Eddie will help me out though.

I'm going on strike until you give me a pay raise.

 

[glennhoffmania]

That's fair. I'll give you a 10% raise.

 

[EddieYost]

That's fair. I'll give you a 10% raise.

OK, for that I can offer you this advice:

I don't think you are qualified to own a smartphone.

 

[glennhoffmania]

I agree. I'm asking on behalf of a friend.

 

[Trlicek's Whip]

I can't be the only one that's noticed this purely by accident, but if you press your Home and Power buttons together it'll take a screenshot. This only has happened to me while the phone has been jostling in my pocket, so not by choice.

The other method is to activate "Palm Swipe to take screenshot" under Settings > Motion.

Does anyone know if activating the palm swipe feature disables the "Home + Power" double press?

 

[jayhoz]

It does not disable it according to my scientific testing.

unrelated....why the fuck can't I use google wallet on my S3 on vzw? What good is NFC if I can't make payments? I don't see anyone sharing contacts or pictures this way.

 

[Blacken]

I'll play. Who is more interested in the Atrix HD than the SGS3? I haven't looked closely, but it looks comparably-specced* and is coming in at $100. I'm not a Moto fan, but...

* EDIT - Okay, a small step down, but at $150-200 less

I just bought one. It's a piece of shit. Locked and signed bootloader and unrootable. I'm taking it back right now.

 

[SumnerH]

I have an original Atrix. I'm looking to upgrade soon. The killer feature-that I didn't think would matter at all when I bought it-is the fingerprint swipe. Does the current Atrix still have it? What other phones do, and is it as usable and easy? It's even less painless than the (no security at all) iphone slider to unlock.

 

[glennhoffmania]

I got a system update notification on my Evo (1.22.651.3) and I have no clue what it's for. The last time I got an update on my old Evo I was told after the fact that I shouldn't have installed it because he caused some glitches. Anyone know what this update does and if it should be installed?

 

[Monbo Jumbo]

I got a system update notification on my Evo (1.22.651.3) and I have no clue what it's for. The last time I got an update on my old Evo I was told after the fact that I shouldn't have installed it because he caused some glitches. Anyone know what this update does and if it should be installed?

There are some problems with the phones connecting to LTE - this is supposed to address those.

 

[glennhoffmania]

So if you aren't in an area with LTE yet, no point in installing? I've read in a couple of places that it created some issues with Flash.

 

[Hextall]

Is there anyone out there on Verizon deciding between the SIII and the Nexus? I'm debating back and forth, and change my mind almost daily. I've briefly played with each (coworker's and father in law's), and love the SIII... but can't get over the locked bootloader (I rooted and modified a ton on my Incredible) and Samsung's slow update history.

The big advantage of the nexus is the theory it's supposed to be updated asap, but JB has to filter through Verizon anyway, and I still think it's not updated (while other carrier's Nexi are, right?). I can update myself no problem, but have lost a little bit of the enthusiasm to do it myself. I also can't decide how much stock to put into the Nexus being a few months older than the SIII and how this will affect me in about 2 years or so when I go through this again (I prefer buying a new phone every 2 years).

How are other people going through their decision?

 

[smastroyin]

I picked S3 because:

- Music playing is important to me and so I like having 64 GB. (32 on board, 32 sdhc)
- Camera is very important to me and the reviews are right, this camera is probably the best on the market next to iPhone 4S (with each having different strengths)
- I think it feels generally better in the hand. I really wanted to like the GNex but I just don't. Although with a case on it it's probably irrelevant.
- even though it has not been my experience, the world of reviews says the battery is much better.

I don't think you can really go wrong with the GNex though. Although I would strongly consider buying unlocked and switching carriers.

 

[jayhoz]

The SIII has been rooted so that should make your decisions easier harder.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1762709

 

[Blacken]

The S3 is a better phone in pretty much every way, but I won't get a locked phone again and the S3 isn't $300 better than the $349 Galaxy Nexus.

 

[dwhogan]

http://www.droidforu...ation-easy.html

S3s can now be unlocked.

 

[dwhogan]

Annd....just saw jayhoz's post.

 

[PC Drunken Friar]

Love my S3...buuuut....I was forced out of my unlimited data plan. Buddy at verizon said in the past six months the most data i used was 700 MB...just got a text today that said I am over 50% of my data for the month...and my cycle ends on August 23rd. WTF?!?!

 

[Zomp]

Ok so I did something and now when I hit my back and option buttons on the front of my S3 it doesn't vibrate. Anyway to remedy this?

 

[jayhoz]

Menu button - settings - sounds - haptic feedback

 

[Zomp]

Fanks.

 

[Blacken]

"Your carrier has requested that we disallow the downloading of this app." (FoxFi)

well, that's a really effective way of oh wait let me download it on my tablet over here and move it over because I have greater technical capabilities than your average walnut

 

[jayhoz]

Jellybean "ready" for the SIII (and SII)?

 

[rembrat]

I stopped by a TMobile shop during the weekend and man is that SG3 pretty as hell.

My SG1 is old as hell now but I'm not going to upgrade until this thing falls apart. Should be any day now since it freezes at least once a day. Hooray.

 

[smastroyin]

How are others feeling about their s3?

How many people have them now?

Also, I predict it will take 6 months from the date that JellyBean releases in other parts of the world for it to make it to VZW s3's.