Help Minor quibbles I'm hoping to iron out

[Asterra]

First off, love the phone for all the reasons that I abandoned my old iPhone. Those reasons basically boil down to: iTunes. Though the tiny screen was starting to become a bore.

Basically hoping to find solutions for things which have been disappointments. The list:

1) Video playback. I assumed this phone would have no troubles with anything except perhaps 1080p60, but to my disdain, a humble 720p24 mkv (in MX Player) gave me a stuttery playback. I'd say it drops 30-50% of the frames. Beyond rendering my HDMI-out plans forfeit, this outright makes the phone useless for HD video playback of any sort. Basically hoping I've overlooked something important (I did toy with MX Player's various settings). Ideally, would like to get the phone to give me solid 60fps playback, one way or another.

2) Laggy initial response. I bring up the phone keypad and dial numbers, it sort of waits a moment before catching up and quickly accepting the first few keys in rapid succession. Same thing often happens when I'm fixing to type something in on a browser (native or Firefox), and the keyboard itself takes half a second to pop up. All of this fails to occur at a smooth 60fps - often it looks like 10fps. (Just in the first couple of seconds I start messing with it; after that, it seems to have awakened more fully.) Even my ringtone (custom-made .wav) initially starts out playing at like 1/10th volume, for about a full second, before kicking in at full. None of this was at all a problem on the POS iPhone 3G I upgraded from, so it is a bit jarring.

3) Bluetooth streaming audio. Yes, I know this is unavoidably crap (see #4). But the problem I'd like to solve is the fact that the first ~0.3 seconds of a new track always fails to play. This may be the phone's fault or the car's fault. I don't care. I'd like to force it to insert ~0.3 seconds of silence before playing a new track, so this cutoff problem doesn't happen.

4) Ah, yes. If my old iPhone has one distinct advantage over this Note 2, it's the fact that I can hook it up via USB and the car will find the dang music with no fuss. Considering how open Android is supposed to be, the fact that there doesn't seem to be a way of enabling this basic functionality with the top of the line Android phone is, to me, utterly inexplicable. I won't ask for a solution because I understand there isn't one.

 

[evohicks]

Not going to go into all the questions but my video and audio are fine, audio streaming via bluetooth to my car is the best I have had up to now, is there a network restriction issue or something, or phone restriction?

 

[Asterra]

Nope. This is 100% vanilla Note 2, factory reset, nothing installed (except MX Player). Android 4.1.1.

 

[Asterra]

I've since done some experimentation with videos. Encoded a 640x480 59.94fps video at various bitrates. 7000, 5000, 3000, 1500kbps. Ultimately, all four of these bitrates gave identical results: Although the video plays at the correct speed, 60fps is never achieved. Some frames are being dropped, preventing that silky-smoothness of a 60fps video or when scrolling around menus. (Video compositing is a hobby of mine, so I know it when I see it.)

Is 60fps video playback on the Note 2 literally impossible?

 

[Caloy]

Could it be that the problem with video playback is with the app? I remembered when I had the same issue with my old phone using one app, then I downloaded Vplayer after a little research (browsing the forums), it proved to be quite smooth on my old phone. Haven't used it on my new phone, because I don't have any complaints on all my movies. Because when I transferred it to my phone, it asked me if I wan't to re-code it to something that would be accepted with the stock player (MP4).

 

[ankitrihal]

Ur DP is superb

 

[Asterra]

Toyed around with it a bit more. Evidently, at least part of the problem is hardware decoding. It stinks. (Even with something mundane like a sub-DVD resolution video.) Forced software decoding and most of the frameskipping disappeared. It is still not smooth, regardless of how taxing the video actually happens to be to the CPU. I'll resign myself to the fact that Android just can't do smooth video playback.

Would be keen to know about item #2 in my original post. Stuff like entering text/numbers or the first moment a ringtone plays, the device seems to take quite a moment (up to a full second) to kick into gear. Contrasts very badly with the responsiveness of my ostensibly very slow iPhone 3.

 

[Bonez]

Laggy initial response.

If you're talking about waking the phone up from sleep by hitting the power or home button to produce the lock screen. Mine takes about a full second from the time I push a button until the screen comes on. Numerous people are complaining about this, but there's nothing we can do at the moment.

the keyboard itself takes half a second to pop up

Or a little less than half a second. Mine has some delay, but not enough to complain about.

All of this fails to occur at a smooth 60fps - often it looks like 10fps.

No issues like that on my end.

Even my ringtone (custom-made .wav) initially starts out playing at like 1/10th volume, for about a full second, before kicking in at full.

That's a feature and there are multiple threads on the subject. Here's one:

http://androidforums.com/samsung-ga...-im-getting-call-ringer-low-then-goes-up.html


And they recommend using this app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shumoapp.disableincreasingring

Bluetooth streaming audio. Yes, I know this is unavoidably crap

Not on my phone. My phone plays Bluetooth internet streaming music, and my mp3's from the SD card perfectly fine, and sounding very good.

 

[Asterra]

If you're talking about waking the phone up from sleep by hitting the power or home button to produce the lock screen. Mine takes about a full second from the time I push a button until the screen comes on. Numerous people are complaining about this, but there's nothing we can do at the moment.

Well, there is that, and yeah, I reckon it's emblematic of what seems to be an Android design philosophy of not really caring about how smooth the interface is, but that's not really what I'm talking about. Since the ringtone issue appears to be unrelated, I'll try to describe the phenomenon in clearer detail:

Say, I just clicked the numpad button and brought up the phone's numpad. It jerks into view at about 10fps (nothing at all like the smooth 60fps swiping left/right on the main desktop). I begin typing immediately. Sometimes (it is unpredictable and will not happen every time) the button presses all register, but not right away. They wait a bit. Half a second, perhaps. Then the two or three buttons I'd pressed in that interim all click (and flash) one after the other in a quick, short sequence. The phenomenon is very much like when a task is being forced to wait on another task, or when a file has been accessed on a sleeping hard drive and it needs to first spin up.

Not on my phone. My phone plays Bluetooth internet streaming music, and my mp3's from the SD card perfectly fine, and sounding very good.

Eh. The specs for standardized bluetooth audio streaming (what you'd expect to find by default in a modern car, for example) are rather depressing. I would gauge the quality to be roughly on par with what an MP2 could deliver, if you can remember that format. Even a 96Kbps MP3 sounds better. The key is minimal distortion, and you sure don't get it with bluetooth streaming. That's why it would be nice if the Note 2 would make its onboard music visible to a typical USB-reading audio player.

 

[Gfplux]

I have also moved to a SGN2 from an iphone4 two months ago.
I am still happy I made the switch as ip5 was not for me as I was looking for a bigger screen. Further confirmed as when I now look at my wife's iPhone it looks sooooo small.
However I am a little disappointed with Android or is it Samsung. I don't really know who to blame.
1) There is no question my iPhone was much quicker to respond to commands of all types.
2) I have a BMW X5 two years old with a factory fitted iPod player system that connected to my phone with a y connector allowing me to play and change my music, audio books and podcasts from my steering wheel. I am amazed and very disappointed that there is no easy solution to connect my SGN2 other than simple audio connector meaning stop/start is only from the phones screen. (Not road safe) yes I have to add I did not pay for a Bluetooth connection when I ordered the car as the iPod interface was going to do that job.
3) Now this is so simple but really get me upset. I have always had a 4 digit code to protect my phone. On the iPhone tap 4 numbers the phone opens. On the Samsung tap 4 numbers and........... Then tap OK. on a laggy Android or is it Samsung why add that extra step.
As I type this (on my iPad!) I must say android/Samsung are not building my confidence so that I can recommend others to switch.

 

[zombdroid]

First off, love the phone for all the reasons that I abandoned my old iPhone. Those reasons basically boil down to: iTunes. Though the tiny screen was starting to become a bore.

Basically hoping to find solutions for things which have been disappointments. The list:

1) Video playback.
2) Laggy initial response.
3) Bluetooth streaming audio.
4) USB to Car

I have none of the issues that you are describing.

1) Video Playback - I have taken quite a few videos in 1080p mode and the playback with the default player just great, I see not frame rate loss.

2. Laggy response? I tried to duplicate what you described, but my Note 2 is lightning fast while in the dialer and everywhere else you interact with apps, menus...etc.

3. I just purchased a 2013 Sonata and the streaming quality is fantastic. The quality is every bit as good as a hard wired phone to audio.

4. Though my car has usb, I don't see a practical purpose of attaching my phone via a cable when Bluetooth works just fine. I just use a 128GB stick in my car when I want to listen to Music I don't have on my phone.

Except the dialer issue, all of your issues describe your GN2 interfacing with 3rd party hardware/software.

Sometimes I think when people are comparing an iPhone to an Android device, they don't fully understand the OS mechanics. Android is a true multitasking OS. As you can clearly see, the Note 2 is leaps and bounds ahead of what Apple has done in the innovation department.

I am happy some people still love the iPhone. Competition in this matter is great for consumers. Without it, we would not have the Note 2 and all of its advanced feature. You can really see the difference in innovation between a closed ecosystem like Apple compared to Androids open environment.

Good luck with your Note 2.

 

[zombdroid]

2) I have a BMW X5 two years old with a factory fitted iPod player system that connected to my phone with a y connector allowing me to play and change my music, audio books and podcasts from my steering wheel. I am amazed and very disappointed that there is no easy solution to connect my SGN2 other than simple audio connector meaning stop/start is only from the phones screen. (Not road safe) yes I have to add I did not pay for a Bluetooth connection when I ordered the car as the iPod interface was going to do that job.

I have a 2013 Hyundai Sonata and I can control all of my Note 2 audio features from the buttons on the factory stereo and steering wheel buttons via Bluetooth. The mappings are preset and they simply work. Example, my Tuner button will stop and start a music track. Also, it works with the Google Music player.

Your issue does not sound like a Note 2 issue, but a factory stereo issue.

 

[keyan333]

Haven't had any of the issues you've just stated. MX player pro is fantastic. I've played pretty much every video format, either 720p or 1080p from my class 10 micro sd card. It's buttery smooth and I notice no lag or stutter, ever. Are these videos you have on a slow micro sd card? Class 2 or 4?

The phone app is lightning fast, I get no lags there either.

Check this video out on how to speed up your note 2 - makes a massive difference

How to Speed Up the Galaxy Note 2, Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Speed - YouTube

I've tried the phone when connecting it to a 2012 Volvo XC60 r-design with the media pack- plugged in via usb and it works fine, in fact, works better than with a horrid iPhone. I guess it just doesn't work well with old cars.

The ringtone issue, It starts off quieter so it doesn't startle you when it initially plays. I like it very much. Bluetooth music playback? People still do that?

I'd also recommend dice player, sometimes when that rare type of encoding isn't supported in MX player, I use it instead.

Keyboard also pops up instantly for me - I use swiftkey 3. Thoroughly recommend!

 

[dylane]

I'm not very knowledgeable in this area, but is the stuttering in the video you are seeing because of the frame rate your video is in? I thought most video is in the range of 24-30fps, with the new Hobbit movie being an exception because of being at 48fps? Again, I don't know very much about this, so it is quite possible I'm missing a distinction here, and 60fps is actually common, but my guess is that the people who don't have this issue are viewing video files at more standard frame rates.

 

[ren857]

Going back to your iPhone is always an option people...

 

[BleedingPurist]

First off, love the phone for all the reasons that I abandoned my old iPhone. Those reasons basically boil down to: iTunes. Though the tiny screen was starting to become a bore.

Basically hoping to find solutions for things which have been disappointments. The list:

1) Video playback. I assumed this phone would have no troubles with anything except perhaps 1080p60, but to my disdain, a humble 720p24 mkv (in MX Player) gave me a stuttery playback. I'd say it drops 30-50% of the frames. Beyond rendering my HDMI-out plans forfeit, this outright makes the phone useless for HD video playback of any sort. Basically hoping I've overlooked something important (I did toy with MX Player's various settings). Ideally, would like to get the phone to give me solid 60fps playback, one way or another.

2) Laggy initial response. I bring up the phone keypad and dial numbers, it sort of waits a moment before catching up and quickly accepting the first few keys in rapid succession. Same thing often happens when I'm fixing to type something in on a browser (native or Firefox), and the keyboard itself takes half a second to pop up. All of this fails to occur at a smooth 60fps - often it looks like 10fps. (Just in the first couple of seconds I start messing with it; after that, it seems to have awakened more fully.) Even my ringtone (custom-made .wav) initially starts out playing at like 1/10th volume, for about a full second, before kicking in at full. None of this was at all a problem on the POS iPhone 3G I upgraded from, so it is a bit jarring.

3) Bluetooth streaming audio. Yes, I know this is unavoidably crap (see #4). But the problem I'd like to solve is the fact that the first ~0.3 seconds of a new track always fails to play. This may be the phone's fault or the car's fault. I don't care. I'd like to force it to insert ~0.3 seconds of silence before playing a new track, so this cutoff problem doesn't happen.

4) Ah, yes. If my old iPhone has one distinct advantage over this Note 2, it's the fact that I can hook it up via USB and the car will find the dang music with no fuss. Considering how open Android is supposed to be, the fact that there doesn't seem to be a way of enabling this basic functionality with the top of the line Android phone is, to me, utterly inexplicable. I won't ask for a solution because I understand there isn't one.

I haven't had any of these issues with my Note II. It sounds like you have a faulty device that needs to be exchanged. Video playback has been very smooth... definitely nothing approaching the 10 fps that you are observing. I just finished watching a 1080 .ts video at 50 fps on my Note II using Dice Player without any issues.

Bluetooth audio playback is excellent both through my AV Receiver and in my car.. there is no cutting off of audio at the start of the track and frankly that doesn't even make sense. Bluetooth Media Audio will stream exactly what you hear on the phone constantly.. it's not like it's DLNA (which I should add also works flawlessly without any of the buffering on 1080 videos I've observed with a Galaxy S III on my TV) where it begins streaming when you start the track. Bluetooth is streaming audio before you hear anything at all.

The only issue that lines up is the use of USB in your car. That does suck for those that use it. I just use Bluetooth. Hopefully they get it fixed somehow.

 

[Asterra]

I haven't had any of these issues with my Note II. It sounds like you have a faulty device that needs to be exchanged.

Shrug. We got myself and the other fellow who agrees that the phone is a bit unresponsive compared to an iPhone, and we have people who don't have those issues. It reminds me of the great 60fps "debate" where people cling to the idea that the human eye can't see above 30. I will settle for the fact that I'm not imagining what I see, and I speak from the perspective of one who edits audio and video regularly. I suppose for the typical user, these differences between the iPhone and what I assume is a typical Android experience would be really mostly subconscious, but I would say not unimportant. This is a problem that isn't fixed by the elimination of animations, and also could not be truly fixed if the touchscreen itself had a sub-10ms response time (which obviously neither Samsung nor Apple can currently boast). It seems ironic that Jelly Bean was supposed to specifically address this very issue, yet said Android revision, on the most powerful phone there is, still ended up forcing me to ask why such a failure is evident.

Bluetooth audio playback is excellent both through my AV Receiver and in my car.. there is no cutting off of audio at the start of the track and frankly that doesn't even make sense. Bluetooth Media Audio will stream exactly what you hear on the phone constantly..

That's the theory, isn't it? And that fact pretty much pegs the Note 2's pre-bluetooth media player as the culprit. I'll have to see if there's a way to force the use of an alternative media player.

The only issue that lines up is the use of USB in your car. That does suck for those that use it.

Anyone interested in the quality of their audio would use USB by preference, even if their car's media player doesn't support a lossless format (as mine doesn't), because the fact of the matter is that bluetooth's primary spec for streaming audio (ie, not BT3 or better) is a double problem. First, it is an extra encode. Second, the codec itself is poor. It's not easy to move from Sennheiser 650s to what I get from bluetooth.

 

[Caloy]

Coming from an iPhone, it's nice you're open to change, and decided to try out another device/OS. One thing though, (rephrasing) nothing can please everyone. There will always be compromises. The fact that you have tried an Android device means that you're looking for something that you can't find on the iPhone, and given your experience with the iPhone, you have noticed things that quite frankly I do not notice (ignorance is bliss - as they say) in mine. Hence, you are the only one who can really say which device is better for you.

We'll be happy to try and help you out solve your issue, or at least deal with them in the best way possible. But ultimately you will have to decide for yourself which phone will be the best compromise for you.

 

[ScandaLeX]

If you're having so many issues you find so troubling, why not exchange the phone?
Not saying any phone is perfect; not even the iPhone but everything you described as a problem I've yet to experience and if I did, this puppy would get exchanged.

 

[Dumbo53]

On your mx player video problem, try pinching screen to 99%. I had the same thing.

 

[Asterra]

But ultimately you will have to decide for yourself which phone will be the best compromise for you.

Certainly, folks here have given exactly the advice I was looking for, and that's part of the idea, with the other part being that there will be other people asking the same questions down the road and they're likely to find this thread. But I have simultaneously learned that some of the quibbles mentioned in the first post are in fact inherently non-correctable. The poor responsiveness is supposedly in the process of being addressed (maybe with 4.2?), and the inability to use any onboard storage in a USB Mass Storage capacity is, like the responsiveness issue, just another OS design shortcoming which I feel will be addressed once Samsung et al feel greater pressure to implement common and expected functionality. Unreliable video playback is perplexing. I feel like I've just built my own PC and am running into driver issues, which is of course impossible; my Note 2 is 100% identical to everyone else's.

As for choosing between iPhone and what I have now? I covered that in the first post. iPhone is too small - something I am confident they will correct within a year. It also forces the use of the execrable iTunes, which they will never correct, and which is The Dealbreaker. The only way I will ever move back to an iPhone is if suddenly I am forced to use something similar with my non-iPhone.

 

[BufordTJustice]

I also just moved from the iphone 4 and you are right on some stuff, Android does make you take alot of extra steps like the 4 number pass code thing. And it's not nearly as refined but that should be expected when the operating system has to run on a million different kinds of phones. But it sounds like your phone has some odd issues.
My keyboard instantly pops up and when I go back and use my iphone 4 it seems like that phones keyboard is slow as balls, and it is undoubtedly faster than your iphone 3g keyboard was.

All the audio issues seem to be happening when trying to connect with the X5 so it might just be that the two don't talk well. The unrefinedness of Android mixed with the scatterbrained BMW idrive might just be a bad combo.

You will figure it out eventually, I did. You will have to make compromises for sure but you will find cool new stuff too.

 

[ScandaLeX]

Something most new users aren't aware of is factory resetting their device BEFORE use. Even now you can do that if it helps to solve some of the issues you are having like the framerate issue you're having but most aren't.

The ascending ringtone can be circumvented by using "Disable Increasing Ringtone" from the play store. I don't know if the ringtone thing is in line with Samsung's whole back to nature or not but at least you know you're not stuck with it. As I'm sure you've read a lot around here, the beauty of Android is customization.

Bluetooth can be hit or miss with any device. There is no guarantee just because it had BT it's going to work with everything you throw at it.

 

[Caloy]

Something most new users aren't aware of is factory resetting their device BEFORE use. Even now you can do that if it helps to solve some of the issues you are having like the framerate issue you're having but most aren't.

I'm gonna do that when my replacement arrives.

 

[ScandaLeX]

I just FR mine about 5 min ago. Last wknd I woke up to my 3 yr old chillin' with my phone and it's been running flaky ever since. This lil monster loves phones and tablets so there's no telling what he did or even if he did anything at all; but just the fact he had my phone meant it was time to go home to his mom.

For all I know it could've been a funky app cause I started getting what I can best describe as screen flickering.
Each time I go to a different home screen, the previous screen would flash underneath the current one. Never saw that on a phone before and since resetting, it's not doing it now.