Opinions on this phone?

[craZDude]

Hey guys, I'm looking into switching to T-Mobile and I like that this phone would actually fit in my pocket, so what do you guys think? do you like it, any problems, etc.?

 

[finalEpic]

I like it, I've had it for about 2 days. Screen has a nice dpi, the high res on the smaller screen makes it much more superior to the SGII especially since its not flawed. Walked out of the mall when I bought it and on speedtest.net (app by OOKLA) i had 6.7Mb/s download and 1.8Mb/s upload. Things a beast but probably has about 300MB of bloatware on it out of the box and rooting is a pita at the moment. No complaints about it so far. Battery life is really good espcially in "Low power mode".

 

[Crimson Fog]

I love it so far. I've owned all the T-Mobile android devices and waited for this one because of the radio modem.

This phone fits better in your hand than the iPhone. Great build quality, nice sexy feel and amazing battery life.

Still waiting on root access, but so far, its a keeper for sure.

 

[vanderlej]

Could there be a problem when using this phone on 3G network?
Thank you!
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Odgovor nekog iz Hrvatske bi bio po

 

[nimblfingrs]

3 days, sfsgood, but I can't seem to sync it to my laptop to xfer stuff. HP Pavilion, Win7,
and I'm a bit of a noob at this.

Any thoughts? I tried w/ and w/o usb cable...

THX,
PB

 

[nimblfingrs]

Ok, so cycling power on Blaze, it detected PC, and all is well...

 

[as439726]

Congrats!!

 

[CirkDroid]

I bought this a few days ago, after using a Nexus One for a bit over 2 years.

My experience so far is pretty good. One thing for sure, is if you are going to use this phone, use a launcher that can remove applications from the app tray (such as launcher pro) that you don't plan on ever loading.

That's because this phone has a TON of apps in it, that are redundant, and some of them suck. Basically, if it's not an app made by Android, you don't need to ever try it out.

That being said, I'm very impressed with how much faster the phone is. I'm not talking network speed (My nexus one was the ATT version, and yes I was on ATT's network when using it and while it was good about a year ago, ATT's network speed got so horrible in 2011), I'm talking the phone itself. It's pretty much like butter.

The main reason why I went with this phone is because I wanted to leave ATT, and didn't want to go to Verizon or Sprint. The Galaxy S2 is just too big, so I went with this.

I have not really seen any detriments so far, with the exception of the built in sending a contact to voice mail. This worked perfectly on my N1, my phone wouldn't even ring, all I had to do is just store the unwanted number in my contact list somewhere, and set that contact to automatically send to voice mail.

With this rom, the option is "auto reject caller".

What happens is while my phone won't ring, my bluetooth headset will ring, the entire time. This leads me to believe all it's doing is supressing the phone app's ability to answer the call.

So far, the best workaround I've found is changing my google voice settings for that number to not ring the phone so if they call the google voice number it won't ring, but if they call my real cell #, it would still ring of course. I'm presently using the Mr. Number app as it has an option to "send calls from a contact to voicemail" that I'm hoping will work. Most call blocking apps tend to only offer to pick up the phone and hang up. I suppose if a person was spamming their voice mail they would want this......

But yeah, the reason why I liked the call blocking feature of my N1 over the Blaze is because, yes I'm dodging a medical bill at the moment that my insurance company is pretty much taking their own sweet time to paying for. Sucks!

Anyways, the screen is great, and the only thing I'd really change about the phone is the power button REALLY needs to not be on the side. It's directly opposite the volume buttons, so it's really easy to basically hit both, when you are only trying to hit one.

Maybe I'm just so used to the layout of my last phone, with the power button on the top, and volume on the side. But hey, it works!

When I was in the store I noticed the back is "textured". It's not a hard plastic, it's almost like a half plastic feel, half rubber. You might think this would make it a little less slippery, but it still is. Me and my butter-fingers will be picking up some kind of silicon back cover, for no other reason than they help prevent a phone from flying out of my hands.

Oh yeah.....I'm really finding that not having an LED trackball is ANNOYING. Even a real basic LED that would just be like, a dot, would be an improvement.

This phone has NOTHING. Ugh

If you're considering this phone and you want to ask me a specific question, feel free to ask!

 

[Xcapegoat]

I just got this phone and love it!

I chose the Blaze over the S II because of the size difference and although it has a lot of bloatware, really nice phone all in all.

Perfect size screen, Fast processor, tons of storage, loud speaker, great battery life.

The power button on the side is a little troublesome, but tolerable.

 

[Ubizmo]

I'm also considering this phone. I haven't had good luck with Android phones in the past, mainly due to battery life issues. But this one has a pretty powerful OEM battery, so I'm hoping it'll last from getting up in the morning to going to bed at night, with moderate usage. Any comments on that?

How's the speaker quality? I use Audible and listen to podcasts a lot, without headphones, so this is important.

 

[CirkDroid]

I'm also considering this phone. I haven't had good luck with Android phones in the past, mainly due to battery life issues. But this one has a pretty powerful OEM battery, so I'm hoping it'll last from getting up in the morning to going to bed at night, with moderate usage. Any comments on that?

How's the speaker quality? I use Audible and listen to podcasts a lot, without headphones, so this is important.

If you're using audible a fair amount, you're going to need to charge your phone.

Just bring a charger with you to work. I'm sure you have tons of them by now.

 

[Ubizmo]

If you're using audible a fair amount, you're going to need to charge your phone.

Just bring a charger with you to work. I'm sure you have tons of them by now.

The BB Audible app lets you choose between download and streaming the books. I assume the Android app does the same. I usually download when in wifi and then just playback. Playback shouldn't chew up the battery too much. At least, it doesn't on my BB 9900, which has only a 1230 mAh battery. So we'll see. I typically listen about a half hour to an hour a day.

I'm not sure about this move, but I'm thinking ahead. I think BB10 is going to be good, but I have a feeling Amazon isn't going to make apps for it, so I'll be SOL with Kindle and Audible, and these are apps that I don't want to do without. That's why I'm looking at Android.

I'll need to go into a store and have a look. The Blaze is a lower res screen than the 9900. I have to see how noticeable that difference is. The Blaze is 235 ppi, I think; the 9900 is 286.

 

[JaeWeb]

Could there be a problem when using this phone on 3G network?
Thank you!
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Odgovor nekog iz Hrvatske bi bio poželjan.
Hvala!

Not at all. Your download speeds won't be as fast but it will run fine on 3G.

 

[thaistick]

Ive had mine a few months. I spent last weekend rooting it and adding a few different operating systems on it. Easy to work on and it works well with clockwork. Ive actually got 3 different OS's in it right now and can switch back and forth between rooted ICS, non rooted T Mobile ICS and CM10 jelly bean 4.1.2 on the fly without plugging into a computer. Its a pretty versatile phone as well. The main selling point for me was the Tmobile wifi calling feature since I have almost no real cell reception at work and I can use the wife router in my office without having to use a 3rd party system like skype.

I wasnt all that impressed with it when it had the gingerbread OS but with after the T mobile ICS upgrade I've changed my tune on this phone. The voice recognition is so good I hardly ever use the keys any more .

 

[cdavie89]

I've had my phone since closer to the beginning of the year. I did love it then started to hate it but today after screwing it up then fixing it, rooting it and using CM10, I'm so happy with it now. I'd recommend rooting and getting CM10. Makes the phone a lot better

 

[death2verizon]

Not at all. Your download speeds won't be as fast but it will run fine on 3G.

what i want to know is can i use this phone on att's network... i tried using an att atrix on tmobiles network, and it worked, but i forgot about the different frequencies and was stuck with 2g speeds.
tmobile coverage is SO bad tho, i would really liketo know if a tmobile phone will get 4g on att (essentially the reverse of what i tried before)

as far as the phone itself, heres a review after spending 6 months hacking and rooting and basically abusing it in every conceivable way possible

tmobile speeds suck. the best i get on the mobile 4g/H+ net is between 2-4 megabits/sec. and thats only if i have a perfect signal. the ping times to towers have obscene lag times, and when they throttle yer data they dont just slow u down, they knock your speed down to 35 kb/s , essentially makin the phone unusable. the bigger problem is, tmobile reception is as bad as ever, maybe even worse. and i have had problems in two major metropolitan areas get anything more the 2g data speeds, and that is when i hava a signal at all, my phone drops cell service constantly.

the phone itself is superb tho. super fast, great battery life if you keep the screen bimmed, its not so big like the galaxy 2 and 3, and xda-developers has great roms for it. i recommend the pacman rom (cyanogen10/aokp mixed rom) , super easy to root , and i luv that you can take the micro sdcard out from a port on the side, instead of having to remove the battery cover.

its light weight, but not too light weight, and the backing has a textured, sorta rubber feel that makes it easier to hold compared to something like the atrix.

as far as i know there is no tv-out thru the usb port (even using one of those usb to hdmi adapters) but i could be mistaken. the internal storage SUCKS, it says 4 gigs, but its split in two, and effectively becomes a little under 1.5 gigs twice (half for internal storage, half for the fake internal "sdcard"

the 32 GB external sdcard is nice, but u have to fiddle with it to get the phone to treat it as its internal "sdcard". ntfs support and/or encrypted external sdcard also require a custom rom, so if you need file or encrypted file containers bigger then 4 gigs, you will need to deal with that as well.

it is do-able tho. eds-lite app is compatable with truecrypt on a pc, which is great, and ntfs mounting can be achieved a number of ways, the paragon app is the one that works best on 4.1.2

also, it is possible to get flashplayer working on the browser, just use the one for ICS and the 4.2 gapps work good too, especially the new swype enabled keyboard.

this is all regarding a cyanogen based rom tho, if you stick with the stock touchwiz/samsung rom, 4.0.4 is the highest upgrade i believe, with is not nearly as capable. plus you are limited to mass storage mode for usb connectivity, versus cm10's media transfer capabilities, (similar to htc sync) which allows you to connect by usb without un-mounting the sdcard on the phone.

ALSO:

it does have gorrilla glass

the power and volumes buttons are on the wrong sides,(power on the right, volume on the left, and this is INCREDIBLY annoying) the person who thought to do that should be fired. its THAT much of a nuisance.

it has wifi-n, but only 2,4 ghz, no 5 ghz, but the wifi does work pretty good and is as fast as any laptop. easily getting upwrds of 10 mb/s download on wifi

the accesories for it are seriously lacking, i still cant find a decent case with a kickstand for it, the galaxy s3 is completely overshadowing it, but considering the s3 is practically twice the size, i guess overshadowing the blaze is to be expected, lol. (at least the blaze fits in my pocket)

in case anyone wants to know more check the galaxy blaze section on xda-developers.com

 

[tirebiter]

It's my first smartphone and after doing some homework (yup, did that backwards) I think I was lucky. My only real complaint is the native memory is lacking but adding a 32G SD card saves the day. The "fake" 4G is actually pretty good in my area (I get up to 14Mbps down), the processor is fast, screen is decent, size is compact, and like most Samsungs you can swap batteries. To top it off I got it on a pretty good special ($250 w/no contract) and am on TM's $30/mo plan so it's easy on the wallet as well.

 

[lordmegatron]

i have the blaze it's a good little phone.. look for t mobile hotspot turn it on
accept all devices to connect good luck

 

[jjfad]

I really wanted to like the phone. I used it for a trial period. Rooted it, debloated it, and i liked pretty much everything about it except for the camera. A 1-2 second shutter lag is really too long as it does not permit candids. I couldnt find a camera app that would change this. Perhaps others have -- would be eager to hear about this experiences because IMHO that is the only thing wrong with his phone....