Gingerbread Impressions/Complaints

So far I have been really impressed. I really enjoy all the tweaks they have done. The interface looks really awesome (black notification bar, phone menu, battery usage menu etc...) The keyboard with the arrows is also really nice. My N1 seems to be running really smooth (don't know if that's GB or if it's because I just installed a new update). Also like the tweaks they did to the manage application area.

Also the old school TV off effect when you shut off the phone.

I like the improvements so far too. I use Launcher Pro and Swype though, so I don't really notice some of the graphical improvements and the new keyboard.

Loving Gingerbread! The whole interface is so much sleeker now. But it sucks that the keyboard isn't multitouch. Smart Keyboard Pro remains the only keyboard I can find for the N1 that actually has multitouch.

My complaint is this:



It's caused by having the language set to UK English, if I pretend to be a yank it shows the correct text.

I'm also getting grief from the USB debugging notification... I had it enabled in that screen-shot, yet where is it? If I enable it with the USB cable plugged in, I don't get a notification. If I enable it then plug the USB cable in, I get the notification, but it wont go away when I turn debugging off, only when I pull the cable.

CM7 had none of these issues.

actually CM7 has the same issue ...i have build 6 full and it's the same as you say up there... but i know that the guys over at CM will get rid of that

p.s. : in cm7 build6 you can press the back arrow and it will go away

Yes I can get rid of it just fine, but I would like it to show the correct words when I want to use it

i'm glad to hear that gb is an improvement. i remember the more technical folks with n1's saying, "gb is only aesthetic, froyo was much better in terms of the changes it brought" and this was months before it was released.

i was in the other group, i'm not super technical, and i thought that froyo was kind of a disappointment. aesthetic changes, even though they are minor gives it a new feel in my opinion and i'm actually more excited for gb than froyo

They're right though, the advances Froyo brought to the phone were much greater than Gingerbreads (ie. A2SD, JIT & the v8 javascript engine).

That's not to say GB is turd though.

i understand that, but me not being very technical, all that stuff was behind the scenes stuff.

only things i can think of that froyo brought were flash and faster loading time on stock browser and app2sd. while those things are great, everything else was pretty much the same or behind the scenes, so i didnt really notice much. not saying i'm ungrateful, and i know it's made android better, but out of sight, out of mind

I like it so far! the UI looks much cleaner. My only gripe is that I'll have to reinstall Swype again (doesn't work after the update). Also, I noticed that my OS took up 65% of battery life, but I don't know if that was due to the manual install.

lunatic59 said:

That's just the Swype registration. You have to reinstall it even after minor system updates ... anything that changes the OS version number. Agreed it's a pain, but I'm too used to Swype now to ever go back to a stock keyboard.

I did the manual install off battery power and it barely used 10%. You might want to reset your battery stats.

Click to expand...

I did reinstall it when I upgraded to 2.2.2 previously...just griping just because I gotta do it again. You're right, even with the keyboard enhancements, I still like Swype too much to NOT have it. Will reset the battery stats.

Try moving apps back to the phone then to the SD card again. Flash now takes up 60kb for me!

I was prepared to think "no big deal" because I heard it was only a few aesthetic tweaks, but was pleasantly surprised to see how much I liked it. It definitely has a sleeker look now and I have to say I really am liking the changes. I found a new book app under applications that I guess goes with the new Chrome books page.

I did find that if I try to use the 3D animation app drawer in Launcher Pro it doesn't work. I had to uncheck that option in order to use my app drawer. Sad to see that go, but I'm sure it will be updated soon. Out of all the other apps I use, and there are many, only my mobile banking app seems to not agree with the update. It won't open. Fortunately, I installed it on my Tab and it works there (it uses Froyo).

Overall, I very much like the update.

Anyone finding it snappier and smoother? Hard to tell for sure but I think it is.

Good thing I like the color green.. should be a way to customize the color theme at some point.

I love the black that comes with Gingerbread!!

So awesome, loving the update!!

Thanks so much Google!!!!

It's been working great for me so far, however, my Dolphin Browser HD has been acting up.

Whenver a site asks for my location, like Google.com, Dolphin will ALWAYS ask to allow access, regardless of preferences.

Besides that things are peachy

I like it quite a bit


- love the darker theme with the black notification bar. Not only is it aesthetically nicer, its easier to read and see.
My initial reaction to some of the squared and simplified look of things like the phones dial pad wasn't all that warm but I'm sure I'll get used it and forget about it fast.

- love the old school tube tv effect when we turn it off(would be nice if the audible click was synchronized with it but its no biggie. Must be an OCD thing)

- It seems to be snappier. Could be my head, could be because of the update but the overall feel of the phone and some of the apps I've used so far feel a little quicker

- I seem to have more space available.....

Hopefully, it stays this way but I seem to have gained some internal memory. Don't know how or why but its gonna spoil me...for a short time at least

- I really like the security patterns green glowing circles when you swipe the pattern.

- The glow that shows you that you have reached the end of the scroll is really nice.

- The Download app seems interesting, haven't really had a chance to look at it much but it seems handy.

- The GB upgrade I was looking forward to the most, improved copy and paste, ie, being able to copy web page texts, is a minor disappointment. Its definitely an improvement for sure as we couldn't do it at all before but I was sad to see that the copy and paste function off of web pages only works in the stock browser. It doesn't seem to work in the Dolphin browser which is what I usually use I guess I'll give the stock browser a chance again Edit: I have no idea if it existed before GB but Dolphin has a copy text feature thats in the Menu. Menu>More>Select Text. Once you select that, go to your desired text on the web page and the GB style pointed orange cursors appears to allow your text selection.

- Like Maris mentioned, Launcher Pro's 3D app drawer doesn't work right and needs to be set back to the normal drawer. I'm sure LP will upgrade in due time. Come to think of it, I guess they'll be a lot of updates on various apps this coming week.

- I noticed it uploaded the newest Google Maps automatically. I haven't updated certain apps in months and maps was one of it. It also loaded Google Books or something automatically. As long as you don't open it or install the updates, it doesn't seem to take up space if any. Install the update and it'll reach 4MB! I can't imagine ever reading say, a Charles Dickens novel on a phone but hey, we can if we want too! Edit:Argh, it won't allow me to deselect "Automatic Updates". Why does Google have to push a book app?

- The new native battery usage chart/graph is cool.

-Love the Google Voice widget, especially the shortcut to compose a new sms msg. I could now simply click once on the widget instead of having to open GV>menu>compose msg. I always thought it was a bit tedious.

- Swype's multi word choice pop up doesn't work as it won't allow you to choose a word. It highlights the keyboard and makes an error sound or something when you try to

Thats about what I could think of so far. Its definitely made me appreciate the N1 a bit more today, thats for sure

I'm happy with everything I've seen so far. I'm not sure how many people use the car dock, but I noticed that Gingerbread finally supports adding custom shortcuts to the "Car Home" screen. No more exiting car mode to start Pandora!

Car Home was updated in the Market about a month ago with that feature... you must be behind the times

lunatic59 said:

Nuisance or problem?

After the update, my battery went from 84% to 16% overnight. The main juice user was the Android OS at a whopping 61% followed by the display at only 7%.

Click to expand...

Not here. OS 6%, Display 61%, battery life fine.