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Help first samsung..few questions

JimKnuckles

Android Enthusiast
Jul 20, 2010
559
209
Hello all

I just got my first samsung. I swapped from the one to the s4 before my 14 days ran out. the one was a really great phone but I didnt get the camera performance I needed in day light for landscape shots etc... anyways

WHere is the autocorrect? The sense keyboard is much better as far as space is concerned. I see predictive text...but how do I turn on auto correct?

You cant place a period after a double space?

This little multitasking bar on the right ...it says edit. I can take apps out...but how do I add apps. Instagram , evernote for example.

Can you not set a song as a ringtone and trim to the part you want?
 
Hello all

I just got my first samsung. I swapped from the one to the s4 before my 14 days ran out. the one was a really great phone but I didnt get the camera performance I needed in day light for landscape shots etc... anyways

WHere is the autocorrect? The sense keyboard is much better as far as space is concerned. I see predictive text...but how do I turn on auto correct?

You cant place a period after a double space?

This little multitasking bar on the right ...it says edit. I can take apps out...but how do I add apps. Instagram , evernote for example.

Can you not set a song as a ringtone and trim to the part you want?

Wow nobody had an answer to any of those questions? Lol

Nevermind the questions. I brought the galaxy back to sprint and they were nice enough to give me the One back.

I absolutely hated it. The keys are small and I had to type super slower than usual because it just couldnt keep up with me, and no autocorrect. I did like that the numbers were laid out at the top though.

I couldn't believe how poor the voice recognition is on the galaxy. I mean, it's just bad. Even on WiFi. I tried while driving to say one simple sentence and it just couldn't do it. Not even close. It got funny actually.. When I got home we said multiple sentences on WiFi and I think out of 15 tries, one was correct.

The performance overall was noticeably slower than on the One, or even my evo lte. Especially multitasking. But as for the reason that I swapped for it, the camera, I was very pleased. It takes very good photos.

With that being my one Samsung experience, I can't believe how popular that phone is. As I noted in my initial post, I wasn't extremely pleased with landscape shots in bright daylight on the One. I will gladly deal with that.

It just goes to show that when a company spends the big bucks on clever advertising, people will eat it up. Congrats HTC, you have the worst marketing team in the world. Because your product is FAR superior and you are being crushed.
 
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Hello all

Hello!

WHere is the autocorrect? The sense keyboard is much better as far as space is concerned. I see predictive text...but how do I turn on auto correct?

You cant place a period after a double space?

Why are you bothering with stock keyboards? Get Swiftkey and be happy with your keyboard whatever Android device you have.

This little multitasking bar on the right ...it says edit. I can take apps out...but how do I add apps. Instagram , evernote for example.

You can only add apps if the developer has made use of the multiwindow API from Samsung (unless you Root etc).

Can you not set a song as a ringtone and trim to the part you want?

Hmmm, don't actually know, since that isn't part of my use. There are apps to trim songs for this purpose.
 
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I absolutely hated it. The keys are small and I had to type super slower than usual because it just couldnt keep up with me, and no autocorrect. I did like that the numbers were laid out at the top though.

Honestly, get Swiftkey. It runs rings around any of the manufacturers stock keyboards, including the Sense keyboard. I'm just wondering are you fairly new to Android? I just ask since things like this are easily fixed by simply grabbing an app, and for many stock apps there are better third party alternatives.

I couldn't believe how poor the voice recognition is on the galaxy. I mean, it's just bad. Even on WiFi. I tried while driving to say one simple sentence and it just couldn't do it. Not even close. It got funny actually.. When I got home we said multiple sentences on WiFi and I think out of 15 tries, one was correct.

Was this using S-Voice? You can just use Googles voice software, will be basically identical to the performance on the One (the One has better microphones, so may be a little better, but not the kind of magnitude of difference you're talking about).

The performance overall was noticeably slower than on the One, or even my evo lte. Especially multitasking.

I've had no particular problems with multitasking, but certainly the S4 had a lot more micro lags, hitches and jank compared to the One. Would expect that to improve over a couple of firmware updates in the next 4-8 weeks or so, as it did with the S3 within a short period after release.

But as for the reason that I swapped for it, the camera, I was very pleased. It takes very good photos.

Agreed, the S4 camera is nice, although the One beats it in some settings (low light being chief amongst them of course).

With that being my one Samsung experience, I can't believe how popular that phone is.

It just goes to show that when a company spends the big bucks on clever advertising, people will eat it up. Congrats HTC, you have the worst marketing team in the world. Because your product is FAR superior and you are being crushed.

This phone is popular because the S2 and S3 were popular, they were popular for easily being the best Android flagships the last two years (excluding the Notes from that statement given that they aren't really in the same market segment). It isn't all about the failure of HTCs marketing department. In relation to the One, I love mine, I also love my S4. I don't rate the One "FAR superior" to the S4, I find them quite evenly balanced overall, with each forcing me to compromise on some areas in terms of my own personal use. I'm still wrestling with deciding which I keep (or whether I end up keeping the also great Padfone Infinity).

I think if anything your experience illustrates how much better the OOTB experience is on the One, the S4 is a bit obtuse in terms of lots of things taking too much digging to find your way around.
 
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I second that last statement. I too am having a struggle as to which one to keep. I love the simplicity of the one , but the features of the s4 I have yet to fully discover. I am coming from an Iphone 4 and either of these two phones blows it away. Is there any way when looking at texts in web sites etc.. where the s4 can be zoomed in and wrap or stay within the margins as the one does or is it a part of sense software? Is there an app I can download to the s4 to achieve this? That would close the gap a little more as I am leaning towards keeping the one and returning the s4 right now.
 
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I second that last statement. I too am having a struggle as to which one to keep. I love the simplicity of the one , but the features of the s4 I have yet to fully discover. I am coming from an Iphone 4 and either of these two phones blows it away. Is there any way when looking at texts in web sites etc.. where the s4 can be zoomed in and wrap or stay within the margins as the one does or is it a part of sense software? Is there an app I can download to the s4 to achieve this? That would close the gap a little more as I am leaning towards keeping the one and returning the s4 right now.

If you use a third party browser like Opera Mobile you have have dynamic text reflow like on the HTC.
 
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I second that last statement. I too am having a struggle as to which one to keep. I love the simplicity of the one , but the features of the s4 I have yet to fully discover. I am coming from an Iphone 4 and either of these two phones blows it away. Is there any way when looking at texts in web sites etc.. where the s4 can be zoomed in and wrap or stay within the margins as the one does or is it a part of sense software? Is there an app I can download to the s4 to achieve this? That would close the gap a little more as I am leaning towards keeping the one and returning the s4 right now.

with the one you don't need to download a 3rd party app to replace everything. Keyboards, browser's, widgets. HTC's stock features are excellent.

My guess is that the new motion features are enticing to you. Other than kids, I highly doubt most will be using that. Why would you want to hover your finger for a second rather than just push it? Or adjust your head upward or downward to scroll, rather than use your finger? Lol it's cool and innovative...but cmon it's all fluff
 
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with the one you don't need to download a 3rd party app to replace everything. Keyboards, browser's, widgets. HTC's stock features are excellent.

My guess is that the new motion features are enticing to you. Other than kids, I highly doubt most will be using that. Why would you want to hover your finger for a second rather than just push it? Or adjust your head upward or downward to scroll, rather than use your finger? Lol it's cool and innovative...but cmon it's all fluff

Your right it does seem like fluff. Ability to change out the battery and the memory is nice though. I am still leaning towards the ONE though. I have till wed. to decide. Wife and I upgraded with ATT and got the one and s4 to see which we liked better.
 
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Your right it does seem like fluff. Ability to change out the battery and the memory is nice though. I am still leaning towards the ONE though. I have till wed. to decide. Wife and I upgraded with ATT and got the one and s4 to see which we liked better.

Yea the ability to swap a battery is comforting. I never thought I'd own a phone that didn't have that option. I'm not out to bash Samsung, but in all honesty it felt like a step backwards. Just my opinion.
 
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Yea the ability to swap a battery is comforting. I never thought I'd own a phone that didn't have that option. I'm not out to bash Samsung, but in all honesty it felt like a step backwards. Just my opinion.

It is a comforting thought , but my iphone 4 lasted 3 years and the battery performance is as good today as it was back then. So I guess I shouldnt worry about the battery thing. The s4 does feel somewhat cheesy in its build and quality , like the camera shutter sound, the ONE just feels and sounds better.
 
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Personally I cant imagine not using swype which is free and hugely faster for text input. I have the pay version of swiftkey as well and use that for more technical typing because its a little faster there than swype. Either way its faster than either of the stock keyboards for Samsung or HTC. Same goes for the browser, neither stock browser is one I would use compared to Opera. I can go on and on in the same vein. Doesn't matter which one I would get in terms of stock software, I wouldn't be using much of either.

Not sure on S-voice, I don't use it and in fact already have it frozen with Ti. Didn't use siri either once the novelty wore off.

The performance of the phone is troubling though, it clearly stutters in the launcher and at odd times most everywhere. The S3 did this as well as already pointed out and IMO this is likely to get fixed in firmware soon but in the S3s case it was much less. My impression from reading what people have gleaned from the kernal and the devices performance is they pushed the S4 out the door early in response to the HTC and Sony devices which are real competitors to the S4 and would have soaked up a lot of buyers. That of course is a guess on my part but I believe it to be true. The S3 had no real competitor of the caliber the S4 faces now and I think its more solid firmware out the door has to do with the fact that they had more time to sort it out.

Regardless the one does not have expandable storage and for me thats the end of it since 32 gigs will not carry my payload even if it was all available. I'm unconcerned about fixing the firmware as I fully believe it will happen and soon. My S3 was absolutely without the slightest lag or stutter anywhere in its UI and I fully expect the S4 to get there as well.

In the end I'm glad of the competition heating up because it was starting to look like a two horse race between Apple and Samsung. This year I think Sony came up just slightly short but they did come close this time and got the phone out while it mattered instead of 6 months after its hardware was dated by flagship standards. HTC seems to me to have hit a very comparable offering. Lack of storage makes it a non starter for me and I also avoid devices without a removable battery but other than that it might have been a buy. Things are getting more interesting for shoppers again.
 
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with the one you don't need to download a 3rd party app to replace everything. Keyboards, browser's, widgets. HTC's stock features are excellent.

That certainly isn't true for me. It's stock keyboard is good, certainly I'll grant that, but still not on a par with the best third party offerings. Similarly I replaced the stock SMS app because no rich notifications is a serious no-go for me. Music player also needs replacing. OOTB I definitely think less needs replacing on the One, but there are still lots of things where third party apps are offering more.
 
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