I'm kinda frustrated with Android and my Smartphone.

[Alan Q]

Hello there.

I bought my first smartphone this week and after using it a little I'm kinda frustrated.

The first problem I've immediately noticed is that the Android shipped with my phone isn't the stock Android (4.0.4) but instead a very customized one, the manufacturer (Samsung) and the carrier shipped a whole lot of applications with it, and you can't uninstall the applications nor 'disable' (some of) them without losing the warranty (rooting). Okay. After that I discovered that I won't (99.9% certain) get any updates for it and will have to live with 4.0.4 until the day I decide to root and flash a custom unofficial rom. I've Googled for it and stumbled on various pages talking about this unsolvable "fragmentation" problem. Okay. Next time I'm buying a Nexus or going with another OS.

Second problem is battery life. I used to charge my previous featurephone once every 1-2 weeks, depending on the usage, I thought the battery life problem was something in the past, but this smartphone is a true hog and I have to charge it everyday otherwise there's a chance I'll run outta battery during the workday. This was a huge 'downgrade'. And it isn't a problem of my model as I've googled and the battery life is average, and even the Android smartphone with the best battery life doesn't compare to my featurephone. Yes, I keep all the features turned off (Wifi, 3G, Data, GPS, etc. when I'm not using them, the screen turns off after 15 secs, and I only use full brightness when needed).

A minor annoyance is that you have to pay for an 'offline' GPS navigation system, the good ones are really expensive and Google Maps is not an option because I only use GPS when i'm going outta town where there's no data connectivity (sometimes not even 2G), I know there's a way to download maps for offline use, but the functionality is much limited - almost useless imho. I thought I would be able to use Google Maps .

Another bad thing is what I posted on the other topic, there's no 'universal' way to quit every app, as the 'back' button can very well be disabled and if you use the 'home' button there's a chance the app will keep running on the background, playing sounds and hogging resources.

Also, sometimes the desktop gets sluggish and it also takes some time to open the dial pad sometimes. And even when you manage to open it, sometimes it isn't on the dialing tab, so, you need some 'fair' amount of interaction only to dial a number, what is supposed to be easy imho.

I know smartphones are the future, but this 'upgrade' was more of a downgrade in terms of usability as a phone, battery life, reliability, and even some minor features. The upgrade was in terms of having a 'real' OS running on it and having access to a bucketful of apps. Some are really good, but most either lacks quality, have permissions I don't agree, or simply sucks .

What was the problem with the good ole featurephones? I know they weren't the most high-tech thing, but they had Java, were responsive and reliable as hell, you could actually close java apps by holding the back button, some have offline GPS navigation, battery life was awesome, it was easy to make and receive calls.

If each manufacturer have its own Android "distro" and 'locks' each phone to one version, that is outdated since the release date, the biggest advantage of having a 'unified' OS just falls apart. Android itself had a very 'bumpy' start if you ask me, things like 'permissions', desktop communication and basic productivity apps could use more planning and thinking imho.
Also, imho, to have some features that are 'basic' (imho) considering you have a full-featured smartphone, you have to pay for third-party apps in the appstore, features that should be built-in imho, like a way to manage your phone (like airdroid) using your PC, my featurephone has something like that.

Please, note that I'm not being (or trying to be) rude or something, I'm just sharing my disappointment.

Best Regards.

 

[Stannis the Mannis]

Which phone do you have?

 

[bubkusjones]

There is no way to "kill" the apps because the OS simply doesn't need it. Android is really efficient at managing it's memory and will "kill" apps that haven't been used for a while to make room in RAM for the ones you're using now.

In fact, most "app killer" apps do more harm than good. Because of the way the OS is designed, you'll actually use more resources and drain your battery by killing apps yourself because any time you need to use them the app has to load completely.

And yes, the battery life is going to be noticably shorter than old "feature"/dumbphones. The hardware really is more powerful. Besides, is putting your phone on to charge at night really that bad? How often, really, are you away from a plug or a computer?

Outside from Google's Nexus line or the odd manufacturer, every Android phone manufacturer is going to add their own customizations to their phones. It's A) part of what makes Android Android (the customizability) and B) helps the manufacturers make their phones different rather than the only differences being the hardware.

That being said, you can change the UI any time you want by installing any number of Launcher replacements in Google Play, and they all come with dozens if not hundreds of themes. You can make your phone look like anything really. I'm even sure there are themes that mimic the look/feel of the stock Android UI, too (just with more features). You could make it look like iOS, Blackberry, Windows 8, like something from Star Trek, or some sort of steam-punk gadget.

You can store maps for offline use. It's only in a piece-by-piece section, so you'll need to prepare it before you go out of network range, but it can be done (at least on the most recent version). I'm in Southern Ontario and I can save a map that covers everything from St. Catharines to Hamilton to North York and everything inbetween for about 50 megs. Just hit the menu button, "Save For Offline Use" and zoom in/out and pan to the area you want. If you want anything more substantial, yes, you'll have to pay for it. For the vast majority of people what Google offers is more than sufficient.


And where are you looking for info about updates to your phone? I know that Samsung has 4.2 available for the Galaxy S2 (my sister's phone), so, if there is a hold on any update, it's with your provider. An OS update release has to go through Android, then the phone manufacturer (Samsung, in your case) and then your provider. Since 4.2 exists, and is available for Samsung phones even a couple years old (like my sisters GS2), the bottleneck is with your provider.

What model phone do you have, specifically, and what provider are you with?

Those will help us figure out answers much easier.

 

[nokiahate]

my android phone can last like about 6hrs using wifi watching video on youtube ect and can last like a week with little use and its only a $60 alcatel

 

[chanchan05]

1. No you aren't stuck with 4.0.4 unless you root. Samsung releases updates. For example the Galaxy S2 was released with 2.3, but there is now an official Samsung 4.1 update for that phone.

2. You honestly can't expect a smartphone running like 1Ghz processor to have the same battery life as a feature phone running a processor with like less than 100Mhz power. That's like expecting an i7 running laptop to have the same battery life as a Netbook that has an Atom processor. Atom powered netbooks average 8-12hrs, while i5/i7 laptops average 5-7hrs on bigger batteries. Same thing, feature phones have battery lives running from 2x-4x the battery life of a smartphone.

Honestly, from what you are saying, you don't need a smartphone, so why did you buy one? They're not really for everybody.

 

[Alan Q]

Thank you guys. I don't think it's a good idea to tell you the exact model because this forum is open and would not be fair with Samsung imho, because the product actually works as advertised.

1. No you aren't stuck with 4.0.4 unless you root. Samsung releases updates. For example the Galaxy S2 was released with 2.3, but there is now an official Samsung 4.1 update for that phone.

2. You honestly can't expect a smartphone running like 1Ghz processor to have the same battery life as a feature phone running a processor with like less than 100Mhz power. That's like expecting an i7 running laptop to have the same battery life as a Netbook that has an Atom processor. Atom powered netbooks average 8-12hrs, while i5/i7 laptops average 5-7hrs on bigger batteries. Same thing, feature phones have battery lives running from 2x-4x the battery life of a smartphone.

Honestly, from what you are saying, you don't need a smartphone, so why did you buy one? They're not really for everybody.

1- My phone isn't flagship, Samsung almost never release updates for mid-end smartphones.

2- Well... I was expecting batteries to get better. But you're right, I didn't know batteries didn't get any better and actually the battery of my smartphone has less capacity than my featurephone.
I thought smartphones were a replacement for featurephones. And yes, they're not that useful to me because I have a laptop for work so I don't need the 'extra' features that the smartphone offers me (like reading documents, etc.).
I bought one because I thought they were better than a featurephone in every aspect.

Maybe I was being too much optimistic expecting technology to get better in every aspect. My featurephone has internet, email, offline maps, video and music players, and even supports java apps. I can't see the real advantage of having a smartphone besides the avalanche of free programs, but most of them aren't important to me.

Also, I agree it would be an advantage that the manufacturers can customize android, but imho, they should keep the basic system intact and install their launchers and stuff on the phone and set them as default, and should allow you to disable them and end up with a stock android install.
My smartphone feels like a featurephone. You're 'locked' with that Samsung system, and you're not 'free' at all, unless you void the warranty. So, at the moment, android (in 95% of the cases) is just like iOS or Windows imho, you have a little bit more freedom to install custom launchers, dialers, etc. but at the end of the day you're locked with that system from your manufacturer, which is worse than the vanilla android imho.

What's the (real) advantage of having a smartphone compared to a high-end featurephone? I can only say the play store, and some very superficial features, even the high-end smartphones have features I really don't care and wouldn't pay 1 cent for them, like pausing a video when you're not looking at the screen, scrolling pages with your head and 'off screen' gestures, I was about to buy a phone with all these features, but I'd happily ditch them all AND pay more only for better battery life.

I'm thinking about returning this smartphone and buying a new featurephone...

Thank you for your help guys.

 

[Mostly Harmless]

Thank you guys. I don't think it's a good idea to tell you the exact model because this forum is open and would not be fair with Samsung imho, because the product actually works as advertised.

1- My phone isn't flagship, Samsung almost never release updates for mid-end smartphones.

2- Well... I was expecting batteries to get better. But you're right, I didn't know batteries didn't get any better and actually the battery of my smartphone has less capacity than my featurephone.
I thought smartphones were a replacement for featurephones. And yes, they're not that useful to me because I have a laptop for work so I don't need the 'extra' features that the smartphone offers me (like reading documents, etc.).
I bought one because I thought they were better than a featurephone in every aspect.

Maybe I was being too much optimistic expecting technology to get better in every aspect. My featurephone has internet, email, offline maps, video and music players, and even supports java apps. I can't see the real advantage of having a smartphone besides the avalanche of free programs, but most of them aren't important to me.

Also, I agree it would be an advantage that the manufacturers can customize android, but imho, they should keep the basic system intact and install their launchers and stuff on the phone and set them as default, and should allow you to disable them and end up with a stock android install.
My smartphone feels like a featurephone. You're 'locked' with that Samsung system, and you're not 'free' at all, unless you void the warranty. So, at the moment, android (in 95% of the cases) is just like iOS or Windows imho, you have a little bit more freedom to install custom launchers, dialers, etc. but at the end of the day you're locked with that system from your manufacturer, which is worse than the vanilla android imho.

What's the (real) advantage of having a smartphone compared to a high-end featurephone? I can only say the play store, and some very superficial features, even the high-end smartphones have features I really don't care and wouldn't pay 1 cent for them, like pausing a video when you're not looking at the screen, scrolling pages with your head and 'off screen' gestures, I was about to buy a phone with all these features, but I'd happily ditch them all AND pay more only for better battery life.

I'm thinking about returning this smartphone and buying a new featurephone...

Thank you for your help guys.

No seriously, if you want help you need to provide us the Model and your carrier or else this seems like one big troll.

Bloggers, reviewers, websites, television shows rate and rip apart phones from every manufacture (Samsung, HTC, Apple etc...), I am pretty sure Samsung won't mind if one individual provides a community that is dedicated to helping people make the most out of there Android experience with a model. In fact, look all over this site and you will see people complaining with much biggest/smaller issues giving out at least what model they have.

 

[Stuntman]

The first problem I've immediately noticed is that the Android shipped with my phone isn't the stock Android (4.0.4) but instead a very customized one, the manufacturer (Samsung) and the carrier shipped a whole lot of applications with it, and you can't uninstall the applications nor 'disable' (some of) them without losing the warranty (rooting). Okay. After that I discovered that I won't (99.9% certain) get any updates for it and will have to live with 4.0.4 until the day I decide to root and flash a custom unofficial rom. I've Googled for it and stumbled on various pages talking about this unsolvable "fragmentation" problem. Okay. Next time I'm buying a Nexus or going with another OS.

Generally, the flagship phones for each manufacturer will have the the updated version of Android in a timely manner. Non-flagship devices generally will not be as well supported.

Second problem is battery life. I used to charge my previous featurephone once every 1-2 weeks, depending on the usage, I thought the battery life problem was something in the past, but this smartphone is a true hog and I have to charge it everyday otherwise there's a chance I'll run outta battery during the workday. This was a huge 'downgrade'. And it isn't a problem of my model as I've googled and the battery life is average, and even the Android smartphone with the best battery life doesn't compare to my featurephone. Yes, I keep all the features turned off (Wifi, 3G, Data, GPS, etc. when I'm not using them, the screen turns off after 15 secs, and I only use full brightness when needed).

This is an issue with smartphones in general. Everyone complains about it. I think the Motorola Razr Maxx is the only phone that tries to one up other smartphones in terms of battery life. You'll have to get used to charging it every day. Phone manufacturers feel that consumers will prefer thinness, screen and features more so than battery life. I think that it is just much easier to make someone want to by a thin phone than buy a phone that is as thick as a dictionary, but only needs to be charged once a week.

A minor annoyance is that you have to pay for an 'offline' GPS navigation system, the good ones are really expensive and Google Maps is not an option because I only use GPS when i'm going outta town where there's no data connectivity (sometimes not even 2G), I know there's a way to download maps for offline use, but the functionality is much limited - almost useless imho. I thought I would be able to use Google Maps .

I recommend NavFree. It is an adequate offline navigation app that is free. If you are outside of North America, use the International version. Otherwise, use the USA version.

Another bad thing is what I posted on the other topic, there's no 'universal' way to quit every app, as the 'back' button can very well be disabled and if you use the 'home' button there's a chance the app will keep running on the background, playing sounds and hogging resources.

Generally, apps that don't do any useful function in the background does not run. If it is email, it would have to because of notifications. For such apps, it is possible to disable the notifications, but the battery life you save is negligible. Android apps are designed to be dormant when not in the foreground if they have nothing useful to do in the background. Android is designed so that the user does not need to worry about shutting apps down. Android will manage them and will close them down if resources are needed for other active apps.

Also, sometimes the desktop gets sluggish and it also takes some time to open the dial pad sometimes. And even when you manage to open it, sometimes it isn't on the dialing tab, so, you need some 'fair' amount of interaction only to dial a number, what is supposed to be easy imho.

You didn't indicate what model phone you use. It could be an older or lower end model and just doesn't have the power to make everything as smooth as a high end model.

I know smartphones are the future, but this 'upgrade' was more of a downgrade in terms of usability as a phone, battery life, reliability, and even some minor features. The upgrade was in terms of having a 'real' OS running on it and having access to a bucketful of apps. Some are really good, but most either lacks quality, have permissions I don't agree, or simply sucks .

I covered battery life. As for apps, they are like phones. Some suck and some are awesome and many are in between. You have to shop around and try them out to determine which ones work best for you.

What was the problem with the good ole featurephones? I know they weren't the most high-tech thing, but they had Java, were responsive and reliable as hell, you could actually close java apps by holding the back button, some have offline GPS navigation, battery life was awesome, it was easy to make and receive calls.

Feature phones lack the coolness factor. I find that I often use my smartphone just for the sake of using it because it is so cool. I have never used my old feature phone just for the sake of using it.

If each manufacturer have its own Android "distro" and 'locks' each phone to one version, that is outdated since the release date, the biggest advantage of having a 'unified' OS just falls apart. Android itself had a very 'bumpy' start if you ask me, things like 'permissions', desktop communication and basic productivity apps could use more planning and thinking imho.
Also, imho, to have some features that are 'basic' (imho) considering you have a full-featured smartphone, you have to pay for third-party apps in the appstore, features that should be built-in imho, like a way to manage your phone (like airdroid) using your PC, my featurephone has something like that.

No everyone will agree on what should be included in a smartphone. You found a number of apps you don't want. I'm sure others will feel that some of the apps/features you feel should be included are unwanted by others.

Thank you guys. I don't think it's a good idea to tell you the exact model because this forum is open and would not be fair with Samsung imho, because the product actually works as advertised.

There are device specific forums here. I would suggest you ask some questions there if you do not find satisfactory answers here. Even if you are disappointed that your phone actually works as advertised, telling us what model phone you have will enable us to provide better solutions to the issues you are having. It's not like Samsung is going to sue you for libel. I'm sure there are others who also share some of your disappointments.

2- Well... I was expecting batteries to get better. But you're right, I didn't know batteries didn't get any better and actually the battery of my smartphone has less capacity than my featurephone.
I thought smartphones were a replacement for featurephones. And yes, they're not that useful to me because I have a laptop for work so I don't need the 'extra' features that the smartphone offers me (like reading documents, etc.).
I bought one because I thought they were better than a featurephone in every aspect.

Every time someone comes out with better battery technology that makes the battery last twice as long, the manufacturers use a battery that is half the size to make the phone smaller.

I bought a smartphone because it has capabilities that my old feature phone did not have. I got what I asked for. My first smartphone did everything I wanted it to do. Unfortunately, it also sucked at a lot of other things that I didn't realise I wanted. As this is your first ever smartphone, I understand your feeling. Unfortunately, my only solution is you have to live with the changes or get a new phone. I ended up getting a better smartphone shortly after my first one because I had enough with the many deficiencies. It was a learning experience for me as a first time smartphone user. My subsequent smartphones were much better at doing what I need it to do as I learned more about smartphones after getting my first one.

Maybe I was being too much optimistic expecting technology to get better in every aspect. My featurephone has internet, email, offline maps, video and music players, and even supports java apps. I can't see the real advantage of having a smartphone besides the avalanche of free programs, but most of them aren't important to me.

I found that I liked being "connected". Before, if I want to find out something, I needed to get home first. Now, I am well conntected to the world via my smartphone. You'll have to decide if your current phone is what you really want or need.

Also, I agree it would be an advantage that the manufacturers can customize android, but imho, they should keep the basic system intact and install their launchers and stuff on the phone and set them as default, and should allow you to disable them and end up with a stock android install.

My smartphone feels like a featurephone. You're 'locked' with that Samsung system, and you're not 'free' at all, unless you void the warranty. So, at the moment, android (in 95% of the cases) is just like iOS or Windows imho, you have a little bit more freedom to install custom launchers, dialers, etc. but at the end of the day you're locked with that system from your manufacturer, which is worse than the vanilla android imho.

There are multiple manufacturers that make Android compatable phones. In order to compete with one another, they need to give the customer something extra that is not available on other phones. They also want to tie the customer into these exclusive features. I do find that there is some value in these manufacturer's skins. I like some features on Samsung TouchWiz and HTC Sense. If you want stock Android, you will have to go with the Nexus devices. I don't feel that offering stock Android will be in the manufacturer's best interest. The HTC First allows you to switch back to stock Android and it is not selling well at all.

What's the (real) advantage of having a smartphone compared to a high-end featurephone? I can only say the play store, and some very superficial features, even the high-end smartphones have features I really don't care and wouldn't pay 1 cent for them, like pausing a video when you're not looking at the screen, scrolling pages with your head and 'off screen' gestures, I was about to buy a phone with all these features, but I'd happily ditch them all AND pay more only for better battery life.

I'm thinking about returning this smartphone and buying a new featurephone...

Thank you for your help guys.

If you feel that a feature phone is best for you, then I suggest you go for it. If you do have the option to do that, it sounds like that it is the best thing for you.

 

[PrinceCorwin]

@Alan Q... I think perhaps what you're experiencing is something I went through (and still am to some extent) upon getting my first smartphone about 10 months ago... GROWING PAINS!

Practically all of your complaints/concerns are reasonable... most of us would agree with that. I mean, I hate the fact that my smartphone cannot pickup local radio waves like my feature phone could. But I've gotten used to it (thanks to Pandora!).

There are DEFINITELY some reasons to be disappointed but after you fiddle and tinker with it enough, you actually might start to LIKE the constant tinkering and customization options. I'd say to give it a couple months and if, at the end of that, you feel that a smartphone just isn't contributing anything to your cell phone experience, then grab yourself a good feature phone and be happy knowing you made the right choice for you based on experience and not just simply frustration.

Hope everything works out.

BTW, If you have any specific Android questions, feel free to PM me. Like I said, I'm still going through the growing pains myself but have gotten most of my questions answered here on AF. If I can't answer it, I can probably direct you to the answer.

 

[chanchan05]

1. Actually Samsung does give updates to "some" midrange phones. Galaxy S Advance just got 4.1, and its not even close to the flagship.

2. Actually, batteries did get better. a 2000mah battery now fits the same size as the 1000mah batteries of older featurephone days. The thing is, hardware also got more power hungry.

3. You aren't "locked" into the Samsung system. In fact the launchers HTC and Samsung and other manufacturers are in fact more feature-rich and has additional functionality over stock Android. If there's anything you don't like about the Samsung TouchWiz system, its very easily replaceable without the need for rooting/voiding warranty. Just install a different launcher, a different SMS app, or dialer app, or even different browser.

4. The real advantage of a "smartphone" over a "featurephone"? Because its more than a communications device. Its a small computer. Java apps are severely limited in itself. The only limitation of apps on a smartphone is the hardware. To make a simple example in discrepancies, Angry Birds uses a realistic physics engine for the falling bricks that is all but impossible to do on Java apps. A feature phone can call, SMS, MMS, send emails, take pictures, browse the internet and play music, with a few Java apps. Things a smartphone can do as well. But what can a smartphone do that a feature phone can't? Open and edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations and ebook (PDF, epub, mobi, etc) files. They also have photo editing tools that can go to the level of annotations, color edits, and other stuff (not photoshop level but way more than feature phones can do). It can do video edits, crops, splices and productions. You can send SMS, pictures, or even make calls over the internet connection so you don't use credits. You can access your PC's contents over your home WiFi connection even if you are in the other room. You can even see, read and reply to the SMS you received on your phone from your PC or tablet even if you left your phone in the car on in another room. Pictures you take can be set to automatically appear in your PC's hard drive a few seconds after taking the picture, even if you are on the other side of the world, without even having to click anything (in my case, I snap a picture and as soon as my phone saves the picture in gallery, it is also saved in my PC's My Pictures folder automatically).

Basically, smartphones are mini-computers, much more than just phones, and they can make things more convenient. However not everyone needs one. You can have the best of both worlds you know. Get a feature phone then a small 7inch tablet, like a Samsung Tab 2. Or an iPod. You still got your feature phone communications device with your long battery life, and still have the advantages of a smartphone.

 

[Ssscrudddy]

I feel your pain & totally get where you're coming from (same for me a year ago).
Try to stick with it, you will probably find that you end up liking a lot of the new features.

The biggest thing for me is battery. Get yourself an external battery, I would personally recommend an Anker Astro III. Or else take every opportunity to plug in when you can.

Re the maps, I had no problem with using google maps (not wanting to pay for navigation) & you can download to use offline a certain amount of area before you set off (if you are not going to be able to get data)

My old HTC One V was budget (& I ended up hating it), but I did stop carrying around my laptop as a result of what it could do (a laptop was a bit too much for what I needed).

If you dont like the manufacturers customised version of Android you could always get a Nexus direct from Google. (my phone died Saturday too much rain, & I hope to be ordering a Nexus 4 today)

 

[rkelsen]

The first problem I've immediately noticed is that the Android shipped with my phone isn't the stock Android (4.0.4) but instead a very customized one, the manufacturer (Samsung) and the carrier shipped a whole lot of applications with it, and you can't uninstall the applications nor 'disable' (some of) them without losing the warranty (rooting).

The act of 'rooting' is nothing more than installing a single binary file on the phone. The issue is how to get it there. There are many ways of doing this, and some are quite risky which is probably why the manufacturers will not honour the warranty on rooted phones. There are other ways which are not risky at all.

A minor annoyance is that you have to pay for an 'offline' GPS navigation system

Umm, well, I just bought a Galaxy Ace [which isn't quite bottom of the line these days, but... almost]. It came with Navigon by Garmin (packaged especially for Samsung). I don't have to pay anything to use it, and there are 2 years' worth of free updates, and you can use it with Packet Data (3G) switched off. It is a proper offline GPS. There were 500Mb worth of maps pre-installed on the SD card. Note that this is on a phone which came with Android 2.3.5 installed on it.

features that should be built-in imho, like a way to manage your phone (like airdroid) using your PC, my featurephone has something like that.

Have you not found Samsung Kies Air?

 

[chanchan05]

Samsung has Kies Air. Also Kies for PC/Mac is essentially the Samsung version of Nokia's PC/Ovi Suite. Just download it.

 

[Alan Q]

Wow! Thank you very much guys!

I gave the phone another chance, with less expectations , and I'm actually kinda loving it. It isn't that much an upgrade in terms of work, because for work I really need a laptop (I need AutoCAD Electrical, Revit Structure, Revit MEP and Robot), and although most of features I also had on my featurephone, this smartphone is much more straightforward and the browsers are way better. That soft keyboard alone is a huge step forward. Also, there are some cool stuff like 'smart tools' ($) and 'gps essentials'. None of them make that difference, mostly because for work I really don't need anything other than email, internet, navigation and oldschool features (calls & sms), but it's always good to be up-to-date.

The battery is a problem. I noticed however that the GPS really burn up a fair amount of energy, I think not only because of the receiver, but the software also push the little device a lot with 3d graphics, vehicle interpolation and some fancy stuff. The solution was to buy a vehicular charger. Also, I bought 5 extra chargers for places I usually spend some time and one to always take with me.

I think the problem with the desktop was because I had too much widgets on it and 5 pages full of stuff. I disabled most widgets though, disabled all the live wallpapers, and that made the thing smooth like a dream, but I went ahead and installed another launcher, now it's quite awesome . I also installed another calendar, messaging app, calculator, music & video players, gallery viewer, dialer (with contacts). I figured out that all of these Samsung programs really sucks. Not to talk about the carrier programs. The Samsung keyboard is kinda good though. I'd like to be able to disable more stuff though.

Anyway...

After getting used to it a little bit I'm not that disappointed any longer. I'd really love a better battery life (like, 5 times better) but you can't have everything . My phone is X531S, and I plan to upgrade only if the next one has vanilla android (or at least a popular model that have custom roms readily available), removable batt, external SD, small size (seriously, 4.5" is too much for me) and at least 3 times more battery life. Until then, this one is kinda okay.

So, the only noticeable 'downgrade' now is battery life, but it's okay because I should've read the specs more carefully. The only complain is the level of customization of Android... a custom launcher, dialer, appdrawer, lockscreen, keyboard, appstore, calendar and gallery would be okay if they were "disableable". That amount of bloatware both from Samsung and the carrier are just too much. When you turn on the phone they're already taking like 400MB of RAM. It seems they cranked up as much bloatware as they could, until the phone kinda stopped working correctly.

 

[Slug]

GROWING PAINS!

^^this. We've all been there.... anyone who denies it is telling porkies.

Hang in there, ask plenty of questions and remember, Android is designed to be customised to suit the user's needs. You don't have to stick with "stock" if you don't like it.

I also second the advice to visit the specific sub-section for your device. I'll guarantee you'll be pleasantly surprised at how sympathetic other owners can be to rational complaints (rather than illogical rants!). AF is, for the most part, pleasantly free of the "fanboy mentality".

edit: I see you've already got past para 2 above. You're now seeing what we prize above all with Android.... choice.

 

[davidchsw]

How many updates did your feature phone get?

 

[Stuntman]

Wow! Thank you very much guys!

I gave the phone another chance, with less expectations , and I'm actually kinda loving it. It isn't that much an upgrade in terms of work, because for work I really need a laptop (I need AutoCAD Electrical, Revit Structure, Revit MEP and Robot), and although most of features I also had on my featurephone, this smartphone is much more straightforward and the browsers are way better. That soft keyboard alone is a huge step forward. Also, there are some cool stuff like 'smart tools' ($) and 'gps essentials'. None of them make that difference, mostly because for work I really don't need anything other than email, internet, navigation and oldschool features (calls & sms), but it's always good to be up-to-date.

If you think that keyboard is cool, wait 'til you try SwiftKey or Swype.

The battery is a problem. I noticed however that the GPS really burn up a fair amount of energy, I think not only because of the receiver, but the software also push the little device a lot with 3d graphics, vehicle interpolation and some fancy stuff. The solution was to buy a vehicular charger. Also, I bought 5 extra chargers for places I usually spend some time and one to always take with me.

Every smartphone I have ever use will not last long using the GPS. I estimate that my SGS3 will last only 2.5 hours using driving navigation. That is why I have a car charger. I also have other chargers from various phones I have owned in the past. The nice thing is that most modern smartphones use micro-USB chargers, so you should be able to find a charger almost anywhere except in places where they only use Apple products. I got burned when I was at a friend's place. He has an iPhone which does not use standard cables.

I think the problem with the desktop was because I had too much widgets on it and 5 pages full of stuff. I disabled most widgets though, disabled all the live wallpapers, and that made the thing smooth like a dream, but I went ahead and installed another launcher, now it's quite awesome . I also installed another calendar, messaging app, calculator, music & video players, gallery viewer, dialer (with contacts). I figured out that all of these Samsung programs really sucks. Not to talk about the carrier programs. The Samsung keyboard is kinda good though. I'd like to be able to disable more stuff though.

I never got into live wallpapers. Widgets are cool, but there are only some that you will find useful depending on what you need. You can get overboard with widgets, but at least for me, I find that a lot of them are more eye candy than actually being useful. There are some really useful widgets that I do put on my home screens, but I mostly have shortcuts to apps. There are also some widgets that are shortcuts to functions in apps. For instance, I have a SoundHound widget that is a shortcut to ID a song. When I launch SoundHound, I normally launch it to ID a song. The widget allows me to get to that function with a single tap instead of having to launch the app first and then tap to ID a song. Such widgets are useful and do not slow your phone down because they are not actually updating your screen.

Anyway...

After getting used to it a little bit I'm not that disappointed any longer. I'd really love a better battery life (like, 5 times better) but you can't have everything . My phone is X531S, and I plan to upgrade only if the next one has vanilla android (or at least a popular model that have custom roms readily available), removable batt, external SD, small size (seriously, 4.5" is too much for me) and at least 3 times more battery life. Until then, this one is kinda okay.

I'm glad you are finally enjoying your phone. I guess there is a bit of growing pain and culture shock moving from a feature phone to a smartphone.

Just FYI, only the Nexus devices will have vanilla Android out of the box. The latest Nexus device does not have a removable battery or SD slot. There only an 8GB and 16GB version. Nothing with larger storage.

Currently, Samsung sells the most popular Android phone. The SGS4 does have an SD slot and a removable battery. It does not have vanilla Android. It comes with TouchWiz which is Samsung's version of Android.

Another high end model is the HTC One. This phone comes with Sense UI. It does not have a removable battery though. Not sure about the SD slot, but I don't think it comes with one.

So, the only noticeable 'downgrade' now is battery life, but it's okay because I should've read the specs more carefully. The only complain is the level of customization of Android... a custom launcher, dialer, appdrawer, lockscreen, keyboard, appstore, calendar and gallery would be okay if they were "disableable". That amount of bloatware both from Samsung and the carrier are just too much. When you turn on the phone they're already taking like 400MB of RAM. It seems they cranked up as much bloatware as they could, until the phone kinda stopped working correctly.

Just a word of warning. The way Android uses hardware resources on your phone is going to be new to you. If there is free RAM, Android will actually use that RAM. It will anticipate what apps you may want to use in the future and preload them when your phone is idle. That way, when you actually go and launch those apps, they will start faster. Don't think that your phone will perform better with more free RAM. It will likely perform worse. Also, don't use task killers. They will likely confuse Android and cause it to make poorer choices about what apps to load into free RAM. Then your phone will perform worse.

 

[SkyJackpot]

If you think that keyboard is cool, wait 'til you try SwiftKey or Swype.

Here's a small SwiftKey demonstration

 

[PrinceCorwin]

Ditto on the above statements about Swiftkey and task killers.