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rozay

Banned
White EAGLE headed to big yellow?

portin_phonewall_700x150.jpg
The guy who leaked that qwerty Motorola device recently also mentioned that the white EVO LTE existed, so looks like he was a legit tipster after all.
 

Al-ibn Kermit

Junior Member
Is it possible to route two phone numbers to one phone using Google Voice? My friend needs to get a new phone number but wants to keep his old phone number active so he doesn't have to tell everybody the new number.
 

kehs

Banned
Is it possible to route two phone numbers to one phone using Google Voice? My friend needs to get a new phone number but wants to keep his old phone number active so he doesn't have to tell everybody the new number.

Don't think you can do what you want.

If you register one a number with one account, you have to release it before you can register it with another account.

If your friend going to continue paying for the old number? If he is, he can just forward all the calls to whatever number.
 

tino

Banned
Is it possible to route two phone numbers to one phone using Google Voice? My friend needs to get a new phone number but wants to keep his old phone number active so he doesn't have to tell everybody the new number.

If you port the 2nd number to google, you shoule be able to "retire" the first number as a call out number but you can still receive call from it. 15 bux I think.
 

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Is it possible to route two phone numbers to one phone using Google Voice? My friend needs to get a new phone number but wants to keep his old phone number active so he doesn't have to tell everybody the new number.
Yes, it's possible. It just costs like $20.
 

Loxley

Member
Would any of you happen to be using the EVO 4G LTE on Sprint by any chance? I'm considering it as an option for my upgrade next month. There's a chance I'll be unable to secure a Galaxy S3 since I'll be getting mine through retail, and who the hell knows if Sprint will have any available when I go in to upgrade given the "supply and demand" shortages they've been talking about. So I've had to look at possible alternatives should they not have any in stock, mainly the EVO 4G LTE and the Galaxy Nexus.

This will be my first smartphone, so I'm sure I'll be blown away by whatever I end up getting, but I have been trying to do research so I know what to look for when I go in.
 

rozay

Banned
Would any of you happen to be using the EVO 4G LTE on Sprint by any chance? I'm considering it as an option for my upgrade next month. There's a chance I'll be unable to secure a Galaxy S3 since I'll be getting mine through retail, and who the hell knows if Sprint will have any available when I go in to upgrade given the "supply and demand" shortages they've been talking about. So I've had to look at possible alternatives should they not have any in stock, mainly the EVO 4G LTE and the Galaxy Nexus.

This will be my first smartphone, so I'm sure I'll be blown away buy whatever I end up getting, but I have been trying to do research so I know what to look for when I go in.
The EVO has a larger battery and a microsd slot, removing two advantages the GS3 has over the EVO's non-sprint cousins.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6022/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-review-att-and-tmobile-usa-variants/3 You can see some of the battery life and performance benchmark tests here, but they are compared to the at&t and t-mobile galaxy S3 and not the sprint S3. Regardless, what we can see from that is the performance and battery life will likely be very very similar as they use the exact same chipset. The GS3 has an extra gig of ram which is a big plus for longitevity and will help with multitasking.

Both will likely have good development communities though the S3 has the advantage of all american variants of the phone running the same chipset, but this only really matters if you're interested in flashing roms and rooting your phone. The only factors other than this that you should decide on are whether you like HTC's Sense interface or Samsung's Touchwiz more, which screen you like better, and which design you prefer. I don't think you will run into limitations with the 1GB ram on the EVO, but a year or two down the road things may be different.

tl;dr you're not going to make a wrong decision with either phone, they're both the best smartphones on the market right now
 

TheTowel

Member
Would any of you happen to be using the EVO 4G LTE on Sprint by any chance? I'm considering it as an option for my upgrade next month. There's a chance I'll be unable to secure a Galaxy S3 since I'll be getting mine through retail, and who the hell knows if Sprint will have any available when I go in to upgrade given the "supply and demand" shortages they've been talking about. So I've had to look at possible alternatives should they not have any in stock, mainly the EVO 4G LTE and the Galaxy Nexus.

This will be my first smartphone, so I'm sure I'll be blown away by whatever I end up getting, but I have been trying to do research so I know what to look for when I go in.

You know, they're both great phones. I doubt you'll notice a performance difference in the two. Storage and battery are pretty similar. Screens are both good in their own right.

I picked up the evo last week and its something else. Like you, this was my first real smartphone and to see the options and capabilities these devices have is amazing.

You'll be happy with whatever phone you get. The evo has great quality, an excellent screen, and a nice camera. Sense software seem bloated but I've adjusted to it. Can't beat that camera software on this thing.
 
ICS for Xperia S review by XDA user Ambroos:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1724777


Ambroos said:
Tip to read this review:

All links are screenshots that open in a new window, so feel free to click them to see what I'm talking about.

To make reading more comfortable I recommend you make your window much, much more narrow.


A SHORT INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE REVIEWER (THAT'S ME)

Hello fellow Neowinians! First I'd like to introduce myself. I've been a long time Sony (Ericsson) fan. I've never had any other phones, and after quite a long history I've arrived at the Xperia S. I've had it since launch date. I'm currently studying applied IT (which is a University College course including loads of Java, a bit of SQL, webdesign and assembler).

On holidays I work at The Phone House, the ex-Belgian branch of the UK-basec Carphone Warehouse, now part of a Belgian ISP. My job there isn't selling mobiles, it's selling the right mobiles for the right customer. I'm one of the only store employees not under commission, so I sell what people need, not what the sales team wants to sell. I try not to be biased in this, you'll find me recommending a Nokia Lumia as well as a Samsung Galaxy Mini or a HTC One X just as easy as a Sony device. I do try to keep customers away from LG, I think everyone understands why.

ICS ON THE SONY XPERIA S

On the 21st of June 2012, an otherwise unremarkable day, Sony started the rollout of the long-awaited (but never delayed) ICS update for the Xperia S. As some regions got it before others and I absolutely couldn't wait, I flashed my phone with a Swiss software build to get the update from the first minute. Since it was only available on rapidshare I uploaded it to my own webserver, which got me a serious warning from my webhost since I managed to get over 2TB of traffic in under an hour.

Sony has been surprisingly quiet about the update. Where the devices from 2011 received two betas and a ton of information along the development process, Sony was completely silent about the Xperia S update. Just today we got the first bits of information from Sony, and they were quite minimal. After a few hours of thorough experimenting with the update I've found a lot of interesting things to show to you, things Sony chose not to brag with (even though they have a lot to brag about).

What's new in ICS for the Xperia S - Sony video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i189IkIvJc0

BENCHMARKS, JUST TO GET THEM OUT OF THE WAY

I don't care much about benchmarks, and you shouldn't either, but you can't call something like this a review anymore without benchmarks. I've compared the scores with the review on GSMArena.

All benchmarks were done on a device with all my regular apps installed. No taskkillers were used, no root, no tweaks, and a ton of background syncs enabled.

BenchmarkPi

Lower is better.
Score on 2.3.7: 536ms.
Score on 4.0.4: 541ms - no difference
LinPack

Higher is better.
Score on 2.3.7: 86.7.
Score on 4.0.4: 78.8 - a bit less good

NenaMark 2

Higher is better.
Score on 2.3.7: 37.5 FPS.
Score on 4.0.4: 36.7 FPS - no difference

SunSpider

Stock browser, lower is better.
Score on 2.3.7: 2587.
Score on 4.0.4: 1822 - major improvement (beats Galaxy Nexus)!

BrowserMark

Stock browser, Higher is better.
Score on 2.3.7: 74990.
Score on 4.0.4: 91391 - good improvement

AnTuTu

Many people (including me) don't like this benchmark, but I decided to include it for completeness. The score under 2.3.7 was taken from the Dutch Tweakers.net-review.
Score on 2.3.7: 6266
Score on 4.0.4: 6749 - minor improvement.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: LOCKSCREEN + LAUNCHER

The two only things on your phone you'll probably see every day are a very important part of the software. An annoying lockscreen or launcher can ruin your entire experience. Sony didn't change much, but not all changes were for the better.

On the lockscreen the only change you'll notice right away is that where there used to be an unlock slider and a silent mode slider, the silent mode slider is now replaced with a camera slider. While I can understand a fast way to access the camera for devices without physical camera button, it feels completely out of place. It was nice to be able to quickly turn off sound in class. I don't get why Sony decided to make this change. Of course all the other good stuff is still there. Another change for the worse are the music controls. While on 2.3.7 they still showed a (static) seek bar you're now stuck with just three buttons. It also no longer shows the artist but is now limited to the song title.

LF5VYl.png


Another new thing is the ability to swipe open the notification pane from the lockscreen. You still get Facebook notifications and missed calls on the lockscreen and can swipe directly into a text you received. Of course the mandatory useless Face Unlock gimmick is present too, aside all the usual unlock methods.



The launcher didn't change much either. The only real ICS feature it introduced is the ability to resize widgets (which works better than I expected). There are some other changes. Tapping or long-pressing empty space now gives you a subtle bar at the top which allows you to either change the theme or wallpaper, or lets you add a widget. The widgetpicker does do a very good job in my opinion, I consider this a better approach than just adding widgets to the app tray. You still can't add or remove homescreens, you're stuck with the default amount of 5.

nt5FSl.png


The app tray received a minor facelift too. As it's supposed to with the ICS style guidelines most controls have been moved to the top of the display. The home button to return to the homescreens has been removed, you'll now have to use the hardware back or home buttons to do that. You can still rearrange apps as you wish or sort them alphabetically, by install date or by most used first. As long as you don't have too many widgets operation is generally very smooth, better than it was on Gingerbread.

VsTX3l.png



WALKMAN - WHAT'S IN A NAME

As an early sign of what's going to happen now Sony Ericsson dropped the Ericsson the Music app has been rebranded to Walkman. Might be a good way to get people familiar with the brand again after the iPod years. The app itself didn't change all too much. The theme got a bit more Holo (no more edges, aside the album art). Don't get me wrong though, it's by far the best looking and most functional music app I've used on any smartphone, including the iPhone.

5wi58l.png


It's the first time I've found a proper way to manage the play queue on any portable device, something I've always found extremely important. You can save your play queue as a playlist just as easily. Another rare thing is a built-in tag editor, including an automatic album art downloader (powered by Gracenote). You can even let the built-in Gracenote thingy download album art and artist images automatically, which will then fill your library artist views with nice photos, almost Zune-style. It is extremely slow though, it'll probably take about 4 hours for it to download images for all my 1300 songs, even over WiFi. Something I'll leave running overnight (will update thread with images).

BPSejl.png


Another good thing about the music player is the customization. You can add shortcuts to artists and albums to the library view to find your favourite songs even faster, or you can just use the excellent built-in search. If you prefer your sound more bassy or with more treble you can use the 5-band equalizer (plus Clear Bass, a Sony technology that works really, really well) to tune everything the way you want it to. Sony's VPT surround widens the stereo a little, but not everyone likes those things. I find the Studio setting to be quite pleasant.

The Walkman app is an excellent music player. While it isn't perfect it's easily the best I've tried. It can be extended with plugins, unfortunately plugins from 2.3.7 (like the Last.fm scrobbler) seem broken. It's a shame Sony couldn't preserve plugin compatibility.

ALBUM, SIMPLY THE BEST

It might be a bit early to draw a conclusion so fast, but I'm quite confident about this. The Album app is terrific. It's extremely fast, has full geotagging support, a good editor, proper DLNA, very good integration with online photos and a great interface.

7E8sal.jpg


By default you browse your photos by date. You can also view photos with geotags directly on a map, or browse by folder. With a simple swipe to the left or right you can adjust the thumbnail size, and you see everything rearrange itself with wonderfully fluid animations. The editing tools include a full array of Instagram-like filters (lighting, effectsand color filters) that will make any hipster happier than a hipster is allowed to be. You can even give people a "Face glow" or "Face tan", whatever those might be.

Everything is extremely fast and works very well, this is probably the best new app in the whole update, and it's something other manufacturers should take a very, very good look at.


FILMS - A BEAUTIFUL BUT PICKY MISTRESS

The Films app good and not good at the same time. While it's a good thing Sony decided to split up the Album and Films, it's a shame it still doesn't play all popular formats. Okay, I have to admit, it's not that bad. h264 or XviD video with AAC or MP3 audio plays fine, usually even in MKV containers, but aside that everything acts weird. MKV's with an AC3 audio track play without audio, but some MKV's don't play at all. It's a shame the app doesn't offer you to play them with DicePlayer instead, like the Gallery on 2.3.7 used to suggest.

But like I said, there are good things. It's very nice how it manages to recognize files in some magic way and fill it with nice images. Your Inception movie gets a proper image, description and list of actors, and your Mad Men episodes get grouped up nicely under a picture of Don and Joan, and upon tapping the series you get a clear episode list. No more renaming files or reading The.Walking.Dead.S01.E02.x264.obviouslypiratedcopy.[releasegroup].720p.mkv, since even those things are properly decoded into something like "The Walking Dead S01 E02", which is quite readable. It just works. Very nicely done!



Another good thing is that all videos that play with hardware acceleration can benefit from the Bravia Engine. It doesn't do very much, but it gives videos that little bit of extra contrast, saturation and sharpness. It's useless for 720p, but works nicely for things in a lower resolution. And oh yeah, the app remembers how far along you were in each file.



And that brings us to another issue, this time with the Xperia S in general. The internal memory is formatted in FAT32. That wouldn't be so bad if FAT32 didn't have a 4GB file size limit. A one-hour TV episode in 720p will fit fine, but don't think about watching full movies in 720p on your Xperia S or using HDMI. They just don't fit. I can understand FAT32 if you chose to allow mass storage, but since the Xperia S only lets you access the memory through MTP, Sony could've easily formatted the internal memory in a more flexible filesystem, ext3 for example.

Conclusion: a decent app with some very good ideas, but more supported file formats are really needed. A fix for the 4GB file size limit would be nice too. In general, nothing worse than you get on another phone, but it doesn't come close to the versatility of third-party offerings.


HOLO FOR EVERYONE

Sony did a great thing here. They were the very first "big" manufacturer to properly embrace Holo. HTC decided to go with their usual horrible color scheme and terrible icons (and decided to leave use hardware buttons but leave out a menu key), Samsung just does whatever it wants with the cheap-looking TouchWiz as usual, and LG, well, I'm not going to bother with LG. Did they actually show a working ICS yet?



Sony did much, much better, and they wanted to. Their new devices (GX and SX) have on-screen keys, and all their apps in ICS (for the 2012 range) is fully optimized for ICS. The menu key has been retired, or is at least ready to be replaced by a menu button in the (already present) app bar, almost everything fits nicely to the style guidelines. Button bars and tab sections have been moved to the top of the screen and have been given a touch of Holo, for example in the Alarms app. The contacts and dialer app had a smaller but still fitting adjustment. The Calendar app has been given a reskin with some new app bar buttons and the built-in email app looks better than ever, still sporting the lovely landscape preview pane. I really like the light color scheme for work apps (mail, calendar, ...), it feels very natural in a way.


BACK UP AND RESTORE FOUND IT'S WAY BACK



It was available on the X10, then it wasn't anymore, then it was sort-of implemented in PC Companion, but now it's finally back. A proper back up and restore application that doesn't require you rooting your phone. I haven't tested the functionality yet, but it sure looks like it is fully capable of backing up all third-party applications, along with contacts, messages, settings, alarms, notes, ... You can even save the backup directly to a USB device connected through USB on-the-go. I might finally not have to re-do all Angry Birds levels every three months when I wipe my phone!


A PLEASANT SURPRISE...

When I first started up the phone, I was surprised to see this little magic wand pop up on the keyboard when I wanted to enter my WiFi password. I was even more surprised to see what functionality hid behind the magic wand! The Xperia Keyboard received many more customization options. You now have three keyboard modes: phonepad (T9 mode), Full Keyboard or the newly introduced Full Keyboard Extra (with numbers and symbols on long-press). You can choose to disable or enable the full stop (.) and comma keys, and you can disable the smiley shortcut if you're not that kind of person, all to make room for a nice and wide spacebar. There are now three color themes (white, the default two-toneand black) to choose from too, another new addition.



But that's not the best thing. Let me remind you of how awful it usually is to switch languages on a phone keyboard. If you're lucky you can just tap a button to switch, if you're not you have to go into a menu and scroll through a list. Especially for people like me who switch between Dutch and English in almost every sentence this was usually horrible. Sony came up with a great solution. You can now select a secondary language. This means you get spelling corrections for both languages at the same time. It's something I've really, really enjoyed these past few hours, not having to worry about what language my keyboard was set to, but just being able to type in my usual mix of Dutch and English words the way I want. This is something I won't be able to live without anymore, I think, and I'm sure many more people will really enjoy this.


NOTES, PARTIALLY BY EVERNOTE



Another new addition is the Notes app, made by Evernote (and syncing with your Evernote account). It's quite basic, but doesn't really need more. It can do regular text notes, you can attach audio fragments to it, you can draw 'doodles' and you can easily share notes. You do have to be careful, because only the notes you actually put in your "accountname" folder get synced with Evernote. And you can't just move a note to another account. It's a nice addition though, something that had indeed been missing from the Xperia's.

THE USUAL ICS IMPROVEMENTS

Of course this isn't everything, but I've chosen not to show all standard ICS features to keep the review to a reasonable length. Everything else (aside the standard ICS camera app) is included as well, and everything runs very smoothly. Android Beam works fine, the new Calendar and Gmail widgets are useful additions. I was surprised to see the difference in speed was actually this obvious.

IT KEEPS GETTING BETTER

Sony seems to be really determined to succeed this time around. With every new software update they add a ton of features, and unlike other manufacturers they actually provide already released devices with tons of new features too. If you compare the capabilities of the Xperia Arc in february 2011 with what you can do with it now, you'll notice how huge the difference is. The first months it was lacking any sort of proper timer or stopwatch, the music application was horrible, there wasn't a way to take notes, the calendar was limited and hard to use, there was no smart dialing, no panorama photos, no DLNA - want me to go on? If you see how far Sony got right now, and what they managed to add again with one single updates only three months after the release of the phone you can't do anything but be impressed. Add the extreme openness to developers (unlockable bootloaders, extra sources, loaning/gifting devices for development, clear communication, ...) and you should realize they're not as bad as some people think they are.

I hope Sony sticks with this strategy, and remains as committed to bringing updates to already released devices as they are now. It's working great so far and it could really help them get back to what they were in their 'golden years'.




MY PERSONAL VERDICT

I really like this update. It feels like I have a new phone that can do things no other phone can. And the best thing about that is that it's true. The Xperia S right now does things no other phone does. Sure, it doesn't have a (fake) Siri and still lacks some other things, but I personally prefer the things Sony did. They delivered a coherent OS, sticking to the ICS style guidelines, and improving on it. It's actually the only version of ICS I'd prefer over the standard ROM. Why? Because it doesn't detract anything from the core ICS experience, it only improves upon it. Nothing got worse, everything got better. Not perfect, but better. All is well.

If there are any questions about Sony's ICS update at all, please, feel free to ask!
- Ambroos



Feel free to use any material/screenshot in this review, or just the complete review. You can post it on your own website, blog, whatever, as long as you don't modify anything and give credit to @AmbroosV, including the Twitter link.

He seems to love it.
 
You know, they're both great phones. I doubt you'll notice a performance difference in the two. Storage and battery are pretty similar. Screens are both good in their own right.

I picked up the evo last week and its something else. Like you, this was my first real smartphone and to see the options and capabilities these devices have is amazing.

You'll be happy with whatever phone you get. The evo has great quality, an excellent screen, and a nice camera. Sense software seem bloated but I've adjusted to it. Can't beat that camera software on this thing.

I'm in the same boat. Although I sorta enough my rom'd droidx2 (I'm lying, I hate it) I won't be able to acquire the S3 just yet cause you know the mortgage takes priority. That said I've been eying the Galaxy Nexus and I need to get a new phone prior to June 28th or Verizon takes away my unlimited data.

Really want that S3 but I suppose the Nexus will have to do until supply kicks in and the I'll try and return it in that 14 day window.
 
Really cool review. Please keep it up, Sony. And hopefully you're making a next Nexus, too.

I don't think Sony will make a Nexus device for the same reason they won't make a WP8 device. There is no chance of differentiation and it leads to commoditisation of the market. Where's the sense in releasing a phone with identical hardware and software to four other OEMs who will likely be able to produce them for less money?

The only way Sony compete is for them to differentiate their products and services.
 

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
Updated my Xperia S to ICS this morning - it's incredibly slick, and so much smoother than 2.3 or whatever it had before. The "Sony" layer over ICS feels really unobtrusive too. I love this phone <3
 

kharma45

Member
Sounds like Sony has done a really great job with ICS on the Xperia S.

Could've been challenging the S3 and One X for best Android phone if they'd put in a better SoC (and made the capacitive buttons less erratic, but hopefully this update has solved that).
 

M.D

Member
Sony Mobile strategy confuses me.
Why do they release so many different models with similar looks and specs? Why do some of their cheaper phones have better features that the Xperia S lacks? Where the hell is the LT29i? Will they even release the "Mint" (Was that the name for the LT30i?) this year? If so, they'll put out 3 different flagship phones in one year.

I haven't been following their ICS releases, but why the hell is Xperia S getting an update just now, and some of their older phones already got an update? And they still intended to release phones with Gingerbread
 

gcubed

Member
I don't think Sony will make a Nexus device for the same reason they won't make a WP8 device. There is no chance of differentiation and it leads to commoditisation of the market. Where's the sense in releasing a phone with identical hardware and software to four other OEMs who will likely be able to produce them for less money?

The only way Sony compete is for them to differentiate their products and services.
If the rumor is true it would be nice. All a nexus device is anymore is pure Android controlled by Google. No reason they can't have the same exact device running their skin as well.
 

Blackhead

Redarse
ICS for Xperia S review by XDA user Ambroos:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1724777




He seems to love it.
:)
On the lockscreen the only change you'll notice right away is that where there used to be an unlock slider and a silent mode slider, the silent mode slider is now replaced with a camera slider. While I can understand a fast way to access the camera for devices without physical camera button, it feels completely out of place. It was nice to be able to quickly turn off sound in class. I don't get why Sony decided to make this change.
in power menu
 
Sounds like Sony has done a really great job with ICS on the Xperia S.

Could've been challenging the S3 and One X for best Android phone if they'd put in a better SoC (and made the capacitive buttons less erratic, but hopefully this update has solved that).

The One X had a lot of initial buzz, but I think the Xperia S has been stronger over a long period of time. I know more people with the S than with the One X. Sony and Samsung are the only Android OEMs to see YoY growth for Q1 2012 and the same looks to be true for Q2 with Sony and Samsung outperforming the rest of the OEMs. This year will see Sony become the clear number two Android manufacturer with around 45m handsets shipped, and while that is nowhere near the scale of Apple/Samsung, it is a good base to work from for next year when the "true" Sony devices come out.

Sony Mobile strategy confuses me.
Why do they release so many different models with similar looks and specs? Why do some of their cheaper phones have better features that the Xperia S lacks? Where the hell is the LT29i? Will they even release the "Mint" (Was that the name for the LT30i?) this year? If so, they'll put out 3 different flagship phones in one year.

I haven't been following their ICS releases, but why the hell is Xperia S getting an update just now, and some of their older phones already got an update? And they still intended to release phones with Gingerbread

Xperia S was released in Q1 2012 before any non-Nexus ICS phone was released. Sony have updated 13 phones and 2 tablets from GB to ICS, more than any other OEM and the final phones, X-P/U/Sola, will get their ICS updates before the end of July according to their roadmap. By the end of August the only Sony (Ericsson) phones not running ICS will be the 2010 devices and the Xperia Play, there is no other manufacturer which has made the same commitment to keeping legacy devices updated.

On their other strategy, well the Mint/Hayabusa are supposed to come in August/September with MSM8960 and a 13MP camera with their proprietary CMOS stacking for HDR photography on mobiles. The announcement for these devices will probably come at some point in July.

If the rumor is true it would be nice. All a nexus device is anymore is pure Android controlled by Google. No reason they can't have the same exact device running their skin as well.

In the long term it is in the interest of the high end manufacturers to keep Google out of the manufacturing business as their interest is not in OEM profits but in wider adoption of Android. I think Sony (and eventually Samsung) will bow out of Nexus manufacturing after this round. They have seen what has happened to TV profit margins because of commoditisation and they will be very wary of the same happening in smartphones. They don't want it so that Apple are the only company able to profit from smartphones.
 
So people, thinking of getting an Android for my next phone. Few questions

1. Whats the process to install a new firmware on your phone without waiting months for your carrier to approve it?
2. What are your recommendations for my next Android purchase?
3. How simple is it to 'root' and customise the appearance of the OS or home screen
 
So people, thinking of getting an Android for my next phone. Few questions

1. Whats the process to install a new firmware on your phone without waiting months for your carrier to approve it?
2. What are your recommendations for my next Android purchase?
3. How simple is it to 'root' and customise the appearance of the OS or home screen

Get a Nexus or a Sony.
 

ep85

Member
So people, thinking of getting an Android for my next phone. Few questions

1. Whats the process to install a new firmware on your phone without waiting months for your carrier to approve it?
2. What are your recommendations for my next Android purchase?
3. How simple is it to 'root' and customise the appearance of the OS or home screen

I would browse XDA forums (http://forum.xda-developers.com/) for specific phones you are interested in to see the community for that phone and if it is feasible to customize what you want and how you want.

You do not necessarily need to root or install new roms to customize though. You can install custom launchers that add a ton of functionality/customization options without root.
If you get a gingerbread phone check out LauncherPro or ADW launcher.
If you get an ICS phone check out Apex Launcher or Nova Launcher.

As for phone recommendations there are the big 3 Galaxy Nexus, Samsung GS3 and the HTC One X. If you have specific things you want in a phone list them out and we can give you a better recommendation.
 

gcubed

Member
In the long term it is in the interest of the high end manufacturers to keep Google out of the manufacturing business as their interest is not in OEM profits but in wider adoption of Android. I think Sony (and eventually Samsung) will bow out of Nexus manufacturing after this round. They have seen what has happened to TV profit margins because of commoditisation and they will be very wary of the same happening in smartphones. They don't want it so that Apple are the only company able to profit from smartphones.

If they bow out of the nexus line then there would be clear incentive for Google to release its own flagship phone, controlling its hardware, price, software and distribution. I would think this scares Samsung/Sony more then giving a phone with no skin on it.
 
If they bow out of the nexus line then there would be clear incentive for Google to release its own flagship phone, controlling its hardware, price, software and distribution. I would think this scares Samsung/Sony more then giving a phone with no skin on it.

Indeed, why do you think Samsung have kept Tizen and Bada OS running on the backburner, and Sony have stepped up development of VitaOS into a full fledged mobile OS for smartphones and tablets as well as Vita.

Neither of the major Android players truly trust Google enough to go all in and will keep their own development running just in case. If Samsung and Sony leave the Android playground it would be a huge loss for Google and that means Google will do whatever they need to do to keep both of them involved. I think Google will give up any pretence of hardware development if Samsung and Sony ever threaten to leave the ecosystem. They will wave goodbye to the Nexus line before they let Samsung and Sony leave.
 

gcubed

Member
Indeed, why do you think Samsung have kept Tizen and Bada OS running on the backburner, and Sony have stepped up development of VitaOS into a full fledged mobile OS for smartphones and tablets as well as Vita.

Neither of the major Android players truly trust Google enough to go all in and will keep their own development running just in case. If Samsung and Sony leave the Android playground it would be a huge loss for Google and that means Google will do whatever they need to do to keep both of them involved. I think Google will give up any pretence of hardware development if Samsung and Sony ever threaten to leave the ecosystem. They will wave goodbye to the Nexus line before they let Samsung and Sony leave.

Those companies would then bow out of the smartphone market within a year trying to keep existing sales with their own OS. There is simply no place for them to go.
 
Those companies would then bow out of the smartphone market within a year trying to keep existing sales with their own OS. There is simply no place for them to go.

I wouldn't be so sure about Samsung. They would be able to aggressively go after Google with pricing and development sweeteners. Sony could leverage VitaOS to run alongside Android, while using PS-Mobile to get apps onto the ecosystem. It wouldn't be as easy as letting Google do all of the work for them in terms of feature development and innovation, but it would allow both manufacturers to differentiate themselves from Nexus phones.

Not that it matters, Google would drop the Nexus line before Samsung and Sony leave Android. It would be too damaging for Google to deal with as they would lose Samsung's sheer volume and distribution power while losing Sony would lose them the number one non-Google AOSP contributor. Neither of these are worth losing over selling 10-12m Nexus phones annually.
 

gcubed

Member
I wouldn't be so sure about Samsung. They would be able to aggressively go after Google with pricing and development sweeteners. Sony could leverage VitaOS to run alongside Android, while using PS-Mobile to get apps onto the ecosystem. It wouldn't be as easy as letting Google do all of the work for them in terms of feature development and innovation, but it would allow both manufacturers to differentiate themselves from Nexus phones.

Not that it matters, Google would drop the Nexus line before Samsung and Sony leave Android. It would be too damaging for Google to deal with as they would lose Samsung's sheer volume and distribution power while losing Sony would lose them the number one non-Google AOSP contributor. Neither of these are worth losing over selling 10-12m Nexus phones annually.

If Microsoft couldnt make inroads into development without utilizing a hundreds of millions install base to push them to at least half parity with existing platforms Bada and VitaOS, which would be stillborn in the US at the very least, unsure on the rest of the world, would be laughably bad.

Not sure any of it will come true, but IMO in about 1-2 years Samsung and Sony will need Google more then Google will need them (allowing for Motorola business clean up... google will be doing a lot of selling of Moto departments to other companies, keeping the mobile business)
 

kehs

Banned
It feels like the new guy in charge of MOTO is laying down the hammer, seems like there's been more moto updates getting pushed since he got the job than moto has sent out the entirety of last year.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
I wouldn't be so sure about Samsung. They would be able to aggressively go after Google with pricing and development sweeteners. Sony could leverage VitaOS to run alongside Android, while using PS-Mobile to get apps onto the ecosystem. It wouldn't be as easy as letting Google do all of the work for them in terms of feature development and innovation, but it would allow both manufacturers to differentiate themselves from Nexus phones.

Not that it matters, Google would drop the Nexus line before Samsung and Sony leave Android. It would be too damaging for Google to deal with as they would lose Samsung's sheer volume and distribution power while losing Sony would lose them the number one non-Google AOSP contributor. Neither of these are worth losing over selling 10-12m Nexus phones annually.

Google will probably never get rid of the Nexus line. There's always going to be some company out there that will love the free PR and advertising. If Samsung and Sony don't want to put out a Nexus phone, then I'm sure Asus or HTC will.

Google will always have "someone" to partner with.
 
Google will probably never get rid of the Nexus line. There's always going to be some company out there that will love the free PR and advertising. If Samsung and Sony don't want to put out a Nexus phone, then I'm sure Asus or HTC will.

Google will always have "someone" to partner with.

If Samsung and Sony threatened to leave the Android ecosystem unless Google gave up their hardware ambitions and stopped damaging the OEM hardware ecosystem to drive their software I don't see how Google can keep it going. Sure there are other manufacturers, but to lose the top two would kill Android.

Not only that but HTC have already proved themselves to be highly unreliable and don't have a large enough supply line or distribution network to support a large launch. Take a look at the recent withdrawal of HTC from Brazil (a part of the world that has a fast growing consumer market), Samsung and Sony are both present in Brazil with a full product line up.
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
So people, thinking of getting an Android for my next phone. Few questions

1. Whats the process to install a new firmware on your phone without waiting months for your carrier to approve it?
2. What are your recommendations for my next Android purchase?
3. How simple is it to 'root' and customise the appearance of the OS or home screen

Two words: Galaxy. Nexus.

Jellybean is rumored to released for it in the next 2-3 weeks. Can't beat that.
 
So people, thinking of getting an Android for my next phone. Few questions

1. Whats the process to install a new firmware on your phone without waiting months for your carrier to approve it?
2. What are your recommendations for my next Android purchase?
3. How simple is it to 'root' and customise the appearance of the OS or home screen

If you will root, go with the gs3, one x, newer Sony's or the next nexus. No point getting the galaxy nexus.

Pretty much all the current phone does everything better than the galaxy nexus when using customs roms.

What's your provider?
 

Al-ibn Kermit

Junior Member

rozay

Banned
Two words: Galaxy. Nexus.

Jellybean is rumored to released for it in the next 2-3 weeks. Can't beat that.
He's still going to have to wait months to get whatever version of android releases with the next batch of nexus phones, considering how long it took for rollout of 2.3 on the N1 and 4.0 on the NS (not to mention they both had serious battery drain issues). It's a great phone for a good stock experience, but I would hesitate before telling people they will get updates immediately.

Being a nexus one owner when 2.2 was announced then leaked months before any other phone got it was the good life, though. I don't think it's possible for 4.1 to be as important of an update as 2.2 was, but we'll see next week. I will applaud google if it gets pushed to takju phones before the middle of July.
 

Doopliss

Member
If Samsung and Sony threatened to leave the Android ecosystem unless Google gave up their hardware ambitions and stopped damaging the OEM hardware ecosystem to drive their software I don't see how Google can keep it going. Sure there are other manufacturers, but to lose the top two would kill Android.

Not only that but HTC have already proved themselves to be highly unreliable and don't have a large enough supply line or distribution network to support a large launch. Take a look at the recent withdrawal of HTC from Brazil (a part of the world that has a fast growing consumer market), Samsung and Sony are both present in Brazil with a full product line up.
No one is going to dump Android (Bada/Vita OS is just crazy talk), but if a manufacturer got popular enough they might try replacing the Google apps with their own stuff.
 
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