Time to upgrade(?) mobile phone

[ScoobyChris]

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.

Reading the advice on the forums, it seems to be that a factory reset is needed before doing the ICS upgrade to prevent any software conflicts. Time will tell - apparently the NFC version will be available by the end of this week. About bloody time

Chris

[ScoobyChris]

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.

Are other manufacturers any better?!

Chris

[DaKKs_152]

Meh, I don't get this performance rush. I imported my Leo back in december 2009, and its still going strong. I'm just ****ed that HTC told me that it wasn't salvageable when the issue was a loose flat cable. I could've fixed it years ago... Imbeciles...

Edited 10 May, 2012 by DaKKs_152

[gadgetman]

Are other manufacturers any better?!

Chris

Generally not really, but Samsung take this to a whole new level. Most of the older Android handsets have only ever had one update. That broke SWMBO's Spica, and Samsung never released any more updates. So I traded it into one of these phone sites. They did the same on the original Galaxy I later read on several forums, and have done it since on some Android handsets - only seeming interested in selling a new version.

HTC released an update for the original Desire only the other week. It's over 2 years old now.

[ScoobyChris]

I suppose it's a change of culture. Before, you bought a phone and it was developed and tested by the manufacturer and then there were no updates available/needed so it just carried on until it died (or was replaced). Now we're adopting more of a computer culture where people want latest and greatest software on non-current hardware ... for free ... and as a result manufacturers have to divert dev/test effort from the money-spinning next generation handsets, which I'm guessing a fair proportion of people will be upgrading to when their contract expires anyway. An interesting balancing act!

Chris

[The Skud]

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

Absolutely, RSAP is a great feature and one of the reasons I went for the S2, its a brilliant phone, very easy to use and very powerful.....no bugs, drop outs FC's or anything.....until you downgrade to ICS...hence I've not done it, nor will I.

[RainbowFire]

I take it that you can stop the ICS upgrade, without then continually being nagged about it?

[ScoobyChris]

I take it that you can stop the ICS upgrade, without then continually being nagged about it?

As Samsung don't seem to use FOTA upgrades, their preferred method of distribution is through Kies. If you use this regularly, you can just set it to remember that you're not interested in the update when it offers it and it won't bother you until the next update is available (which may be never ). If you don't use Kies, you'll never be nagged about it.

Chris

[domhnall]

Android voice recognition works really well with my Edinburgh accent, have used it for directing the free on board sat nav and the free better one I downloaded. Just got an upgrade offer in for the galaxy s3 which should be even more awesome. Due here at the end of the month.

Sent from my MZ601 using Tapatalk 2

[domhnall]

Oh and I got my ics update installed with no issues whatsoever

Sent from my MZ601 using Tapatalk 2

[Grainne O']

I take it that you can stop the ICS upgrade, without then continually being nagged about it?

Actually I didn't even know Samsung offered the upgrade until I read this thread. Since I only ever use Windows copy/paste when I want a photo off the phone I haven't even opened Kies more than once.

[Raf_]

Actually I didn't even know Samsung offered the upgrade until I read this thread. Since I only ever use Windows copy/paste when I want a photo off the phone I haven't even opened Kies more than once.

I've got it too but never use it just upload stuff using photobucket app, my phone is never connected to the lap top, except when will be rooting it if someone tells me how to do it using simple language lol

[DaKKs_152]

Finally some proper hardware acceleration in ICS. I dunno why I even bother. By the time I had partial hwa, they managed to get full.

[RainbowFire]

Am now the owner of an S2. We'll see how things go from here. So far so good though....I'll find some instructions at some point

Thanks for the input guys :)

[ScoobyChris]

As a slight update to this, O2 kindly released the ICS update for my S2 NFC yesterday and I went through the upgrade process last night. Fairly quick and painless with a couple of minor niggles with Kies not restoring ring tone preferences and losing my saved game scores. On the whole, the phone seems to be running faster, battery life appears unchanged (maybe a slight improvement if anything) and all my apps migrated and work, including Torque which I was concerned about with the comments about Bluetooth above. Early days still, but I'm very pleased with it.

Face recognition to unlock the phone is also fairly good, although we'll see how long before the novelty wears off and I go back to just using the pattern

Chris

[domhnall]

Tok me a few hours before I got bored of the face unlock feature. :-)

Sent from my MZ601 using Tapatalk 2

[jonny boy]

Am now the owner of an S2. We'll see how things go from here. So far so good though....I'll find some instructions at some point

Thanks for the input guys :)

Great choice. Without doubt the best smartphone for your £

[Grainne O']

Am now the owner of an S2. We'll see how things go from here. So far so good though....I'll find some instructions at some point

Thanks for the input guys :)

There are so many tips and tricks to it. Starting with tap, long tap, press, long press, double tap ... it's endless

Do you love your screen yet?

must-read to start with.

http://thehandheldbl...s2-tips-tricks/

couple more http://www.androidpi...Tips-and-Tricks

then there's other stuff like long press the home button to get the task manager, press the home button to snooze instead of the volume one, press the home button to take pictures instead of the dedicated screen area.

Bottom left area usually a settings/menu one (think right-click, with all the goodies that always come with it). Short tap there from home screen takes you to settings/edit/wallpaper etc, long tap takes you to the stock browser and the google page; long press on the bottom of the top side-right button (the power one) takes you to different modes, data on or off, plane mode, etc; short press of the same button shuts down the screen; pinching in the homescreen lets you add pages for new apps; bringing down the notification curtain shows shortcuts for wi fi bluetooth gps sound and rotation (all big battery eaters), as well as the weather or other stuff you might want to download and that needs to notify you

it's endless really, and I haven't got to the bottom of it yet

Edited 12 May, 2012 by Grainne O'

[RainbowFire]

RIght, a few days in, and, well...........not bad, but..........

The voice control sucks. Seems to need an internet connection to work (and even then, not always)

Driving mode, well, that kinda sucks too! It'll ring the phone through the car-kit, and announce the caller through the phone. Plus it would be a cracking idea if it sussed it on it's own too: connected to carkit = on, disconnected = off. (The last couple of Nokia's did)

If there's a PIN, voice control won't work when on the carkit.

And the navigation doesn't want to go through the carkit either.

(Most of the 'problems' are related to the carkit)

Getting used to everything else though. Got a couple of apps on there (Facebook, Skype, eBay), will look at some more once am more adept with the phone. Did see an OBDII bluetooth app though.

Started off by running it completely flat on saturday and then charging overnight and doing the same on sunday. Today have only used 25% of the battery.

When handed over by O2, sim was installed in the shop. When the transfer took place, the phone only wanted to do pay-and-go, regardless of switching on and off. I had to do a factory reset as I seriously messed up the data connection (wouldn't connect at all). On reset I was given the pay-monthly option, which is what I'm on. A couple of the icons in the top strip changed too.

I'll get round to reading the linke Grainee sent too, at some point. (Manual? What manual?)

Plan to get a car charger sorted into the top-box next.

Edited 15 May, 2012 by RainbowFore

[ScoobyChris]

An update after a week of running ICS on my S2 (NFC) using the O2 firmware. Phone still seems to be running faster and slicker and now I'm learning a few of the ICS shortcuts, I miss them when I switch to my other half's Galaxy Note running Gingerbread. Battery life seems better too and it needs charging every other day with me spending 2-3 hours playing games/surfing/listening to music each day.

Still have the face recognition unlock enabled too

Chris

[Raf_]

The face unlock is awesome lol

[RainbowFire]

Right, updated the phone to ICS as I've had some customer inquiries about it.

Backed everything up (although it didn't need it)

Reset to factory (seems to be the recommended thing to do)

put in google and samsung account details

Connected to Kies

Update firmware

Made tea

greeted with new OS

Put all the details back in (Exchange etc)

Rock and roll.

So far the battery appears to have lasted longer, but that could easily be down to software. (like apple did with the signal meter on the iphone). Things seem smoother too. Play Store doesn't freeze on scrolling any more. Got some books and some tunes on there now. Everything seems hunky dory.

The only issue I had was I couldn't update at the office, even though Kies did everything, it kept bombing with an error. Once at home on the VMedia connection, all ran fine first time.

[Grainne O']

What do you think of the phone in general now you've had time to run it a bit?

[RainbowFire]

What do you think of the phone in general now you've had time to run it a bit?

If I could get the car-kit/voice control to work, I don't think I'd think about another phone for some considerable time to come. (maybe I'll consider looking into app-writing for that one)

Car/voice issues aside.............my E71 is sitting in a drawer, keeping the iPhone company.Not even thought about going back. Just got to get the residual data off then maybe put the redundant phones on the bay.

All in all, very happy.

OOOOO just looked....after six hours off the charger.....I've lost the nobby-bit on the battery icon.

Next thing is to get a car-charger and a cover.

Edited 22 May, 2012 by RainbowFore

[Grainne O']

Well I suppose the simple fact you're keeping it even after the two *crucial* things you needed don't work right is an answer in itself