Time to upgrade(?) mobile phone

[jrw]

Say the 'B' word to my comms people and you'd better start running.

Yes it does certified secure messaging to scary standards (IL3 I think) but IT hate 'em and the users hate 'em

I am 'IT', I have a work one, I support them and i Hate them!

How the hell do you guys cope with charging every day??? OK I don't have a 'true' smart phone so probably don't know what I'm missing but I couldn;t be doing with charging every day - haven't done that since I was on site with a brick with a red LED display years ago!

Plug it in everyday when you go to bed....not that much of a difficult routine to get into....especially if you use your phone as an alarm too.

[Evening Star]

I have an SGS2, I bought the extended battery for it + a 64Gb SDXC card, so I have a phone with around about 72Gb of memory when it's empty, however it's now about 45-49% full at the moment, I made the mistake of upgrading my phones OS from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich and have been beset by bugs & gremlins ever since.

The SGS2 is a great phone don't get me wrong, just don't do the "upgrade".

As for the SGS3, completely underwhelmed by the specifications of it, unless you're prepared to wait for the 32 or 64Gb versions, the case is plastic which doesn't bode well for longevity!

The HTC One X is meant to be very good, however you have no expansion capability whatsoever, you can't upgrade the memory with a card or even change the battery.

You may want to consider waiting until the autumn for the forthcoming Iphone 5 (or whatever Apple call it!) however you can bet that Bluetooth usability will be restricted (no swapping of music or files!) & lack of memory expansion or additional batteries.

[domhnall]

Rooting is the process whereby you get administration rights on the phone (apple speak is jailbreaking). I upgraded my s2 to ics before it was released by vodafone but then installed the official ICS release once vodafone published it last month. By rooting the phone you can install apps like setcpu which allows you to control how fast and slow the processor runs. Battery life is hugely improved as a result.

Sent from my MZ601 using Tapatalk 2

[Raf_]

Rooting also invalidates your warranty, hence I won't do it lol

[jrw]

Rooting also invalidates your warranty, hence I won't do it lol

To put simply, it doesn't.

[monkeykler]

+1 u can get a USB jig that removes the root any way for about a £1 off eBay if you ever need to RMA it

[Raf_]

Really? So I can root my phone without any consequences? Anyone able to pm me details on how to do it and what's the best stuff to use etc?

[monkeykler]

I'll send some details over when I'm on my laptop next if some one else doesn't do it first, its not illegal by the way I thought it was originally...

[Raf_]

I'll send some details over when I'm on my laptop next if some one else doesn't do it first, its not illegal by the way I thought it was originally...

thanks m8 really appreciated

[Evening Star]

If you want to root your phone you can use Odin (Google it) and if you look at xda-developers site you can find the firmwares for most variants, you don't need any special tools to root your phone.

[Raf_]

I would rather get advice from someone who's done it and knows what they're doing, love my phone too much to try what so called internet experts say and kill my baby lol

[Evening Star]

I have done it.

[RainbowFire]

I've used advice and software from XDA-developers with no issues. (HTC Raphael related stuff, AKA O2 Serra) There was some in-depth geeky nerdy stuff in there, but also plain-english too

[Grainne O']

So, is the S2 worth looking at?

Hell yes!

Does it have navigation on-board? (with safety-spot stuff?)

Yes / with an extra app(here in Ireland) works really well. Even in Ireland. Which says something. You get maps/location and navigation with or without voice

Does it have voice-dialling / does it work properly?

Yes. Haven't tried it. The voice to text thingie does not understand irish accents that's all I can say. But you're english I presume, and voice dialling is a much simpler thing. You'll have to ask someone else. The actual software looks solid and seems to work

What are the problems with S2?

Absolutely none, and it's hard as nails and unusually resistant so far. Well ok, you can't use your alarm with the phone switched off.

Has anyone got one with Ice-Cream Sandwich on?

I have gingerbread, and feel no need to upgrade it. It's lightning fast and not buggy. Haven't heard any ICS feedback tbh

What's the real-life battery usage like?

Phone calls only? forever. Since you will be playing with it ALL the time...you could look at twice a day, and the gps thingie just eats battery. Normal call usage with internet on, 10 to 12 hours.

The actual problem with it is it's impossible to put it down so that the battery tends to go

Are there any worthy alternatives?

Wouldn't think so.

Being Android btw, whatever is not in the phone can just get downloaded. It's powerful enough to correctly display facebook with firefox in desktop mode for example (which is a nightmare as you know) and handles nearly every flash out there except the very latest (like embedded youtube type of stuff, in desktop mode)

Everything is lightning fast, there is no lag whatsoever; the camera is really, really good and videos are very decent.

I've never owned anything like it and I have no wish to ever change it

[RainbowFire]

Does it have voice-dialling / does it work properly?

Yes. Haven't tried it. The voice to text thingie does not understand irish accents that's all I can say. But you're english I presume, and voice dialling is a much simpler thing. You'll have to ask someone else. The actual software looks solid and seems to work

Thanks for the input :)

Lol, don't feel so bad about the Irish accent though, the iPhone's Siri doesn't like the Scots! Now, all we need is a phone that doesn't like the Welsh........... ;)

(Although having seen some of the mess that text-to-speech does, not sure I'd ever use it..................certainly not whilst driving anyway!)

[RainbowFire]

Thanks for the input everyone. :thumbup: :happy:

Certainly looks like I'll be heading in that direction. Looks like the S3 is due to hit the streets at the end of May, so will see what deals the D'oh2 staff are willing to do to shift the old stock.

I have to admit, having read back through this thread: whilst people are passionate about their choice of phone and o/s on it, everyone has a reasoned argument for their choice. Makes for good reading beyond "Yeah, get one, will be the best thing you ever did!" type of response. (yup waiting for the next posting now :p :p )

Again, Thanks Everyone :)

Edited 9 May, 2012 by RainbowFore

[Evening Star]

If you have a Samsung Galaxy S2 and it is running Gingerbread as it's OS (2.3.4) then LEAVE IT THERE.

DO NOT do the so called upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich, it's highly bug ridden, loads of people are having problems with its implementation.

I lost Bluetooth connectivity between my PC & phone, only getting it back by buying a new dongle & buying BlueSoleil 8 software, it took ages to get it to connect to the cars BT system, Wi-Fi is temperamental sometimes switching on when its not wanted, sometimes it won't switch on at all without a reboot.

The browsers are patchy at best, battery life even with the official Samsung extended battery is disgraceful, whereas with Gingerbread it would last all day & ¼ of the next, now I struggle to be left with 33% during the day, it's regularly less.

I get regular lock ups/freezes when changing screens, regular SD card scans & the list of problems goes on & on.

[jrw]

If you have a Samsung Galaxy S2 and it is running Gingerbread as it's OS (2.3.4) then LEAVE IT THERE.

DO NOT do the so called upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich, it's highly bug ridden, loads of people are having problems with its implementation.

I lost Bluetooth connectivity between my PC & phone, only getting it back by buying a new dongle & buying BlueSoleil 8 software, it took ages to get it to connect to the cars BT system, Wi-Fi is temperamental sometimes switching on when its not wanted, sometimes it won't switch on at all without a reboot.

The browsers are patchy at best, battery life even with the official Samsung extended battery is disgraceful, whereas with Gingerbread it would last all day & ¼ of the next, now I struggle to be left with 33% during the day, it's regularly less.

I get regular lock ups/freezes when changing screens, regular SD card scans & the list of problems goes on & on.

Don't you also loose RSAP when upgrading to ICS? A key feature to my phone with the BT kit in my car.

[jonny boy]

If you have a Samsung Galaxy S2 and it is running Gingerbread as it's OS (2.3.4) then LEAVE IT THERE.

DO NOT do the so called upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich, it's highly bug ridden, loads of people are having problems with its implementation.

I lost Bluetooth connectivity between my PC & phone, only getting it back by buying a new dongle & buying BlueSoleil 8 software, it took ages to get it to connect to the cars BT system, Wi-Fi is temperamental sometimes switching on when its not wanted, sometimes it won't switch on at all without a reboot.

The browsers are patchy at best, battery life even with the official Samsung extended battery is disgraceful, whereas with Gingerbread it would last all day & ¼ of the next, now I struggle to be left with 33% during the day, it's regularly less.

I get regular lock ups/freezes when changing screens, regular SD card scans & the list of problems goes on & on.

Absolutely agree.

The S2 with Gingerbread is absolutely awesome. Fluid, seamless, great to multi-task, it has everything.

[Evening Star]

Thanks for the input everyone. :thumbup: :happy:

Certainly looks like I'll be heading in that direction. Looks like the S3 is due to hit the streets at the end of May, so will see what deals the D'oh2 staff are willing to do to shift the old stock.

I have to admit, having read back through this thread: whilst people are passionate about their choice of phone and o/s on it, everyone has a reasoned argument for their choice. Makes for good reading beyond "Yeah, get one, will be the best thing you ever did!" type of response. (yup waiting for the next posting now :p :p )

Again, Thanks Everyone :)

I think you do. The amount of complaints about this so called upgrade is growing all of the time. Seriously unhappy!

[Grainne O']

My phone is rooted but I didn't bother upgrading it. Why fix what isn't broke? I can't think of a single thing that is b0rked on gingerbread so it can stay where it is.

I also don't know about other S2 owners but 9 months later I still get great pleasure in looking down on all the Iphone users and letting them know, just because I actually can

[ScoobyChris]

I get regular lock ups/freezes when changing screens, regular SD card scans & the list of problems goes on & on.

Did you do a factory reset of the phone before upgrading?

Chris

[Evening Star]

Been there done that. It's still doing it and I simply cannot be ar$€d to keep reinstalling all of my apps, all 60 of them.

[PhilP1903]

I have just got an LG E900 windows 7 phone with Mango 7.5 , 5mb camera with flash, 16gb internal memory.battery life is same as most major smartphones needs recharging most days. I find it very slick and an excellent phone.

[gadgetman]

I think you do. The amount of complaints about this so called upgrade is growing all of the time. Seriously unhappy!

Which is I'll never buy a SG2, 3 or anything else they make. Their support is awful, especially once the next phone is launched They've done the ICS upgrade and that'll be the end of any more SG2 updates - whether it works on not based on their history in software upgrades.