Related
Let me start by saying I really like android and think it is the best mobile OS around. That doesn't mean it cannot improve. Since getting my N1 I've found some features are unbelievably missing:
No folders for browser bookmarks. Seriously? I have almost 500 bookmarks, it's impossible to scroll though all that.
No bookmarks syncing.
No google docs app. And I though google really wanted us in the cloud.
Music player cannot sort by genre. How do they expect to rival ipods? Also, gestures control would be nice.
Calendar in Month view doesn't show all day events. If an event lasts all day it sure must be important, I want to see it! In fact, i think the calendar needs a major overhaul.
Awful task (to do list) management. Why can't I set repeating tasks? How embarrassing is it that windows mobile could do it over 5 years ago and android still cant?
Too few built-in widgets. Third party developers somewhat make up for it, but in the end I have a bunch of widget with very different aesthetics, makes android seem not very polished. No wow factor. That's why HTC, Samsung, etc, feel they have to create their own shells which slow down updates. No one wins.
Market needs some sort of moderation. We all hate Apple's closed model and it is definitely not what I want, but there are way too many spammers in the market, making it hard to find what you are actually looking for, that's why there are market alternatives cropping up. Either block spammers or let me forever hide some publishers. Also, the market application as a whole needs improvement, it is slow and the search is really bad (Yes, I said it! Google somehow screwed up on a search feature!)
Some of these problems are in one way or another solved by 3rd party app developers, but it is never as seamless as if it was part of the OS. Please post your opinion and you own personal gripes. This could help give good ideas to app developers, or even better, maybe Eric or Sergey stumble upon this thread and decide to solve all of our problems!
Numbers would help
The workarounds:
MusicMod takes care of music.
Astrid for tasks.
Dolphin HD for bookmarks etc.
Generally - I agree, these are indeed some good points. Most are visual, application-related points, and somehow I have a feeling Gingerbread is going to concentrate on that, which might address those points.
I agree with the calendar specifically, it's pretty poor.
As far as widgets go, I wish there were built-in options for changing the color schemes of some widgets.
-Stock music player and all music player sucks...
-Market sucks no way to find good apps
-Nexus one multitouch
-Some choppyness
I'm using the music mod but it doesn't do enough. I'm used to cowon's good music players so android in my eyes is really lacking.
It has bookmark syncing to a degree. Mine always reappear after a wipe.
In month view, the calendar does show all day events, just not very well. If you have a bold date with no coloured time block, its an all dayer.
I agree with most points here. I'm having issues with my phone freezing more often and having to do a battery pull for it to respond to me pressing the power button.
1. Copy and paste in email
2. Downloading ALL attachments/internet downloads
3. Sending ALL attachments
4. To-do list sync with exchange
5. Google Docs? (Hello? A smartphone that doesn't have any doc, excel, ppt view/editor?)
oh and:
0. Fix reception issues on the N1
Froyo brings copy and paste to email
Rellikzephyr
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
QUICK! Bury this thread so the ifans cant use these things against us!!!
Blueman101 said:
QUICK! Bury this thread so the ifans cant use these things against us!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
worse thread ever.
This probably represents the most reasonable set of criticisms I have seen to date.
- 500 bookmarks is excessive to me but I think even users with far fewer bookmarks could use organization so valid complaint
- I want to say bookmark syncing was announced at Google I/O 2010 but I am not certain.
- Repeating tasks is missing from google tasks. Until it gets added there it won't be available on android. (Pocket Informant is coming for Android though, I really liked his stuff on WM so maybe they will work some magic.)
- IRT too few built in widgets. HTC, Motorola, and others would do their own thing regardless of what Google provides. It is part of their branding and value add for the platform do distinguish themselves from the competition.
- Agreed on getting the market some moderation, the question is how and how much. My vote is for letting me blacklist developers from my account. I think that would be sufficient to clear out a lot of the chaff.
Blueman101 said:
QUICK! Bury this thread so the ifans cant use these things against us!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, it needs to at least be cloked!
Gdocs is free and it works very well for viewing and editing google documents. Or do you mean it should have a native app? I think all smart phones should have native office suites, its almost offensive that they don't. And there aren't many third party options although I do like docs 2 go fairly well and its supposed to have a major update coming...sorry I veered a bit there
stock music app SUCKS. seriously, i can't view all songs??
contact management is really difficult. can't edit/manage contact groups. can't even set a default group...
My bookmarks sync back when I wipe my phone. They always have I believe, or it could be a froyo addition.
I'd love for Google to fix up and optimize some code of the UI elements that are choppy. Most are smooth as butter, but a few certain things are choppy.
And don't we get word and excel viewer out of the box? Those files work on my phone, just not listed in the app drawer.
blablum said:
Let me start by saying I really like android and think it is the best mobile OS around. That doesn't mean it cannot improve. Since getting my N1 I've found some features are unbelievably missing:
No folders for browser bookmarks. Seriously? I have almost 500 bookmarks, it's impossible to scroll though all that.
No bookmarks syncing.
No google docs app. And I though google really wanted us in the cloud.
Music player cannot sort by genre. How do they expect to rival ipods? Also, gestures control would be nice.
Calendar in Month view doesn't show all day events. If an event lasts all day it sure must be important, I want to see it! In fact, i think the calendar needs a major overhaul.
Awful task (to do list) management. Why can't I set repeating tasks? How embarrassing is it that windows mobile could do it over 5 years ago and android still cant?
Too few built-in widgets. Third party developers somewhat make up for it, but in the end I have a bunch of widget with very different aesthetics, makes android seem not very polished. No wow factor. That's why HTC, Samsung, etc, feel they have to create their own shells which slow down updates. No one wins.
Market needs some sort of moderation. We all hate Apple's closed model and it is definitely not what I want, but there are way too many spammers in the market, making it hard to find what you are actually looking for, that's why there are market alternatives cropping up. Either block spammers or let me forever hide some publishers. Also, the market application as a whole needs improvement, it is slow and the search is really bad (Yes, I said it! Google somehow screwed up on a search feature!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything you've listed there are app issues, and have nothing to do with Android OS itself.
Pro tip: Vanilla android is garbage.
It's a starting point for other companies to build on.
Pointing out the problems of android wont make it better anytime soon. How about we have a thread with all the good things about it. I am sure it would far out rival the problems
hansmrtn said:
Pointing out the problems of android wont make it better anytime soon. How about we have a thread with all the good things about it. I am sure it would far out rival the problems
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disagree. A circle-jerk won't accomplish anything. If you need an example just look at Apple forums that are full of rabid iZombies praising everything Steve. Pointing out actual defects, flaws and shortcomings in form of constructive criticism on the other hand, will help the open source community plug the holes left open by Google.
I would like to see improvements to the stock browser. smoother zooming for one thing, get rid of the magnify glass in the bottom right corner (gets in the way when trying to click links), and passing the acid 3 test .
What changes would you like to see?
If it could make waffles, preferably Belgian style, and be more like iOS.
bacon flavoring
Android is still in its infancy compared to its rivals in the same market. This year should be big for our beloved OS so I want to see what changes are made before answering that question lol.
Web browser fixes is on the list though
Sexy Vibrant featuring Nero V3 w/Voodoo, and FFC installed
masterotaku said:
bacon flavoring
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PLEASE! Lol
Sexy Vibrant featuring Nero V3 w/Voodoo, and FFC installed
- decent calendar
- syncing with Outlook
- email that is reliable
- more efficient OS
More fluid UI, smoother animations ie: pinch to zoom browsing, maps etc could be smoother. Basically make it so good that I don't need to root in the first place.
A usable Google Talk Client (think BBM). The current one is worse than using SMS/MMS, IMO.
Hardware accellerated UI.
Better Exchange support and stock (non-Gmail) mail/Calendar client.
Make an exit option for most stock apps (i.e. Browser, music player, etc.).
Memory optimizations to reduce the footprint of stock applications in RAM.
Better third party developers. Most of them are amatuers and put out utter crap.
Decent market policing. Tired of sifting through so much junk just to try to find useful apps.
The rest doesn't matter since I'm sure the OEMs will rip it out to put their skins in.
N8ter said:
Make an exit option for most stock apps (i.e. Browser, music player, etc.).
Memory optimizations to reduce the footprint of stock applications in RAM.
Better third party developers. Most of them are amatuers and put out utter crap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An exit option is the thing google DOES NOT want in their UI. It is pointless. It is NOT how Android runs and it does NOT help. The OS does this for the user. Why not just ask for a task killer that kills everything every 5 minutes, lol.
what stock apps are killing ram? Do you mean when they are in the BACKground?
dude, don't knock on developers... I think if the "fragmentation problem" was not a "problem" then we would have a tremendous load of great apps. Some are just afraid to take the plunge into developing for android, and some probably are afraid to break ties with apple. That said, there are a LOT of really good developers for Android, and some ONLY for android (levelup studios)
to answer the OP question, I would say a more common sense UI. Which I believe is on the way with the new hires. I had to teach several people how to use their new apple/android products, and regretfully, the ones with apple picked it up a lot faster.
s15274n said:
An exit option is the thing google DOES NOT want in their UI. It is pointless. It is NOT how Android runs and it does NOT help. The OS does this for the user. Why not just ask for a task killer that kills everything every 5 minutes, lol.
what stock apps are killing ram? Do you mean when they are in the BACKground?
dude, don't knock on developers... I think if the "fragmentation problem" was not a "problem" then we would have a tremendous load of great apps. Some are just afraid to take the plunge into developing for android, and some probably are afraid to break ties with apple. That said, there are a LOT of really good developers for Android, and some ONLY for android (levelup studios)
to answer the OP question, I would say a more common sense UI. Which I believe is on the way with the new hires. I had to teach several people how to use their new apple/android products, and regretfully, the ones with apple picked it up a lot faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some people just fail to understand that memory management on the linux based OS's is completely different from the counterparts from different OS's.
What would I change about the OS? My needs are more than satisfied with the current affairs, smoother scrolling and zooming in the browser will def make the UI even more pleasant to use.
EDIT: Oh yeah, and make every currently releasing phones true google phones, allow the carrier put bloatware on it, but make it easy to remove it - that is wishful thinking btw, otherwise how the carriers are supposed to make money off the subsidized hardware; at least make it an option for off the contract purchases.
I would like if the notification bar pop-up ("toast"?) for a new Gmail displayed the sender/subject line and first few words of the msg, rather than just say "New Gmail" (in other words, for it to behave like the notification for new SMS, etc.)
I really think that the 3rd party UIs should be available as a paid market download only. That way you have a choice as to whether you want to use it or not. All Google Android phones should come as just a Google Android phone. Make it easier to receive updates and cut down on this fragmentation. You can even let the user decide to download the enhanced UIs during the initial setup.
I'd personally like to see more polish - smoother web scrolling, etc. - and codec support for stock Android. I think we'll see this in Honeycomb. For game makers, i'd like to see less device specific coding in C. We are lucky that virtually every game works on the Vibrant, but other high end phones don't get the same love. Finally, it would be nice to see Google get on oems to release updates in a timely manner. Don't think it'll happen but you can always dream.
Sent from my frozen yogurt powered Vibrant
atoz350 said:
I really think that the 3rd party UIs should be available as a paid market download only. That was the you have a choice as to whether you want to use it or not. All Google Android phones should come as just a Google Android phone. Make it easier to receive updates and cut down on this fragmentation. You can even let the user decide to download the enhanced UIs during the initial setup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like the idea. Also, if companies want "value added" widgets, launchers, etc. they could make them drm protected and not able to be installed on competitors phones without having to bog down their devices with a crappy UI
Sent from my frozen yogurt powered Vibrant
Basically what the title has said. I'm looking for a rom that has stock honeycomb on it. I'm not really a fan of touchwiz never really was. I know that I could of search for it. I got distracted about reading about the Newton rings. Apparently there on my tablet. If someone can help me I would appreciate it. Thanks.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium
But without touchwiz you will lose important hardware features of the tablet. Stock honeycomb is a highly incomplete OS and touchwiz fills in many of the gaps.
5thElement said:
But without touchwiz you will lose important hardware features of the tablet. Stock honeycomb is a highly incomplete OS and touchwiz fills in many of the gaps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So basically there's no hope in me getting a non honeycomb rom?
Alopez_45 said:
So basically there's no hope in me getting a non honeycomb rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume you're rooted. Maybe if someone had a nandroid of the virgin HC rom for you to download?
BTW, I assume you mean "non-TouchWiz"
Alopez_45 said:
Basically what the title has said. I'm looking for a rom that has stock honeycomb on it. I'm not really a fan of touchwiz never really was. I know that I could of search for it. I got distracted about reading about the Newton rings. Apparently there on my tablet. If someone can help me I would appreciate it. Thanks.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a sticky bigger than me:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1171089
It helps if you visit the dev forum...
Phantom Hacker is working on a vanilla 3.2 port as we speak
Sent from your mothers house.
5thElement said:
But without touchwiz you will lose important hardware features of the tablet. Stock honeycomb is a highly incomplete OS and touchwiz fills in many of the gaps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like what exactly? That doesn't even make sense.. Are you forgetting the 10.1 shipped with stock 3.1?
PhantomHacker said:
Like what exactly? That doesn't even make sense.. Are you forgetting the 10.1 shipped with stock 3.1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't bother PH, you don't know what you are getting into.
5thElement said:
But without touchwiz you will lose important hardware features of the tablet. Stock honeycomb is a highly incomplete OS and touchwiz fills in many of the gaps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would also like to know what exactly Touchwiz adds (besides cartoonish icons, widgets and a few new bugs that vanilla HC didn't have)?
BTW I know what i'm getting into
Alopez_45 said:
Basically what the title has said. I'm looking for a rom that has stock honeycomb on it. I'm not really a fan of touchwiz never really was. I know that I could of search for it. I got distracted about reading about the Newton rings. Apparently there on my tablet. If someone can help me I would appreciate it. Thanks.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I run the Blazar non-TW ROM:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1200387&highlight=blazar
Not a single problem, and managed to watch video for pretty much all of a 10.5 hour flight the other week.
poisike said:
I would also like to know what exactly Touchwiz adds (besides cartoonish icons, widgets and a few new bugs that vanilla HC didn't have)?
BTW I know what i'm getting into
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You get the all important screenshot button right next to the most used button on the status bar, so whenever you accidentally hit it instead of the button you wanted you get a pointless image added to your gallery.
Tee Hee that made me laugh.
I am disappointed at the lack of dev activity though. I too prefer AOSP to TW and was hoping for a huge dev scene.
Im honestly amazed at how little education people here have about TouchWiz.
TouchWiz is by far the most advanced software you currently can get on a tablet. The user experience it provides is light years ahead of anything else out there, even Honeycomb 3.2.
Not only that but TouchWiz gives you access to specific hardware you cant access without it. The ability to change color temperature of the screen is a HUGE feature you can only have with toucwiz.
Here are just a few of the features you get from TouchWiz that you cant get anywhere else :
1. REAL multitasking just like in Windows. You can have TWO apps open at once on the same screen and not have to switch back and forth. There is nothing like this available in the market or in 3.2. HUGE props to Samsung for doing this.
2. Ability to change color temperature of the screen.
3. One touch wifi file access to tablet from PC <-- AWESOME
4. Sluggish menu scrolling in vanilla Honeycomb are gone! It looks like
Samsung devs used video hardware acceleration for scrolling which creates a smooth experience compared to Vanilla honeycombs laggy jumpy scrolling in may menus.
5. Awesomenew notification/settings popup menu. FAR superior to stock Honeycomb.
6. One touch screen capture button in the task bar takes a snap shot of the screen and automatically saves to a folder.
7. Lots of cool QUALITY widgets not like the junk you find in the market.
8. Motion gestures
9. Superior App Manager/ RAM manager which can run ON TOP of any app you are running.
10. BEST Music app and runs super smooth. Much better than stock H.C. or anything in the market
11. BEST Ebook reader app you can get.
12. Your tablet will run FASTEST with touchwiz. Samsung is using hardware acceleration for menus like Apple. Stock HC uses software rendering which is why its so slow and laggy. You cant get hardware acceleration if you dont have TouchWiz. No the Devs here will not be able to add it as its beyond their capabilities.
The list goes on and on. TouchWiz is simply a superior experience than stock HC. I would even dream of using my tab without it. Your tablet is incomplete and missing features to access hardware if you dont have TouchWiz.
Really? I guess it's a personal thing then. I used TW for a week before deciding I COULD do without out LOL.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought TW was JUST a GUI and nothing else! It shouldn't offer superior app management and ram management... and as for the apps you mention, well we all have choices via the android market.
5thElement said:
Im honestly amazed at how little education people here have about TouchWiz.
TouchWiz is by far the most advanced software you currently can get on a tablet. The user experience it provides is light years ahead of anything else out there, even Honeycomb 3.2.
Not only that but TouchWiz gives you access to specific hardware you cant access without it. The ability to change color temperature of the screen is a HUGE feature you can only have with toucwiz.
Here are just a few of the features you get from TouchWiz that you cant get anywhere else :
1. REAL multitasking just like in Windows. You can have TWO apps open at once on the same screen and not have to switch back and forth. There is nothing like this available in the market or in 3.2. HUGE props to Samsung for doing this.
2. Ability to change color temperature of the screen.
3. One touch wifi file access to tablet from PC <-- AWESOME
4. Sluggish menu scrolling in vanilla Honeycomb are gone! It looks like
Samsung devs used video hardware acceleration for scrolling which creates a smooth experience compared to Vanilla honeycombs laggy jumpy scrolling in may menus.
5. Awesomenew notification/settings popup menu. FAR superior to stock Honeycomb.
6. One touch screen capture button in the task bar takes a snap shot of the screen and automatically saves to a folder.
7. Lots of cool QUALITY widgets not like the junk you find in the market.
8. Motion gestures
9. Superior App Manager/ RAM manager which can run ON TOP of any app you are running.
10. BEST Music app and runs super smooth. Much better than stock H.C. or anything in the market
11. BEST Ebook reader app you can get.
12. Your tablet will run FASTEST with touchwiz. Samsung is using hardware acceleration for menus like Apple. Stock HC uses software rendering which is why its so slow and laggy. You cant get hardware acceleration if you dont have TouchWiz. No the Devs here will not be able to add it as its beyond their capabilities.
The list goes on and on. TouchWiz is simply a superior experience than stock HC. I would even dream of using my tab without it. Your tablet is incomplete and missing features to access hardware if you dont have TouchWiz.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. 6 predefined apps, you call this REAL multitasking!? I have no use for these apps, except maybe calculator that i have used once.
2. I have no need for that. And i think there are apps in Market that can do this?
3. How? Has this something to do with that thing called Kies? I refuse to use this ****.
4. The menu scrolling has never been sluggish on my Xoom, so i don't know what you are talking about.
5. Awesomenew notification/settings popup menu? Yeah, design is little different.
6. I have accidentally used that screen capture button a few times, other then that i have no use for this. There are lot of apps in Market that can make screenshots.
7. I really tried to use those "cool QUALITY widgets" just to give Samsung and Touchwiz a fair chance. I couldn't stand them for longer then a week. Then i downloaded the same widgets i used on my Xoom.
8. Motion gestures... yes, this feature bugged me also until i chose "never ask again".
9. I have never used or needed a App Manager/ RAM manager on Xoom. Why would i want to use this on GT10.1?
10. I must admit, i have never tried the BEST Music app. I use Google Music.
11. I have never used the BEST Ebook reader app either, so i can't comment on this.
12. Your tablet will run FASTEST with touchwiz? Maybe my GT10.1 has a hardware problem, but i don't see that it runs faster then my Xoom.
So i don't really see what touchwiz added, besides that gray bottom bar, which really bothers me the most. If i could get a vanilla 3.2 ROM, i would be very happy.
Of course this is my personal opinion and i'm not saying that GT10.1 isn't a good tablet.
poisike said:
So i don't really see what touchwiz added, besides that gray bottom bar, which really bothers me the most. If i could get a vanilla 3.2 ROM, i would be very happy.
Of course this is my personal opinion and i'm not saying that GT10.1 isn't a good tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is recommended to read the white papers on TouchWiz to understand why its so important if you have a Tab 10. Lag of hardware acceleration without it is one feature alone that should have everyone on board with TouchWiz. Not only that but samsung is releasing an api to allow you to add any app into the mini launch bar.
steve664npc said:
Really? I guess it's a personal thing then. I used TW for a week before deciding I COULD do without out LOL.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought TW was JUST a GUI and nothing else! It shouldn't offer superior app management and ram management... and as for the apps you mention, well we all have choices via the android market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you do without touchwiz? Sure if you only use your unit to check email and view a webpage but then why did you buy a tab 10? Also you are wrong on many account...
There are no apps in the android market that will give you true multitasking like touchwiz.
There are no apps in the market that will allow you to change the color temps of the screen.
There are no apps that will allow you to obtain a superior notification menu
There are no apps in the market that will allow you to add hardware acceleration to the GUI.
There are no apps in the market that will allow you to do a at LEAST a dozen more important Tab 10 related features.
5thElement said:
Not only that but samsung is releasing an api to allow you to add any app into the mini launch bar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be great, but I would like to see proof of this statement.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using xda premium
5thElement said:
Im honestly amazed at how little education people here have about TouchWiz.
TouchWiz is by far the most advanced software you currently can get on a tablet. The user experience it provides is light years ahead of anything else out there, even Honeycomb 3.2.
Not only that but TouchWiz gives you access to specific hardware you cant access without it. The ability to change color temperature of the screen is a HUGE feature you can only have with toucwiz.
Here are just a few of the features you get from TouchWiz that you cant get anywhere else :
1. REAL multitasking just like in Windows. You can have TWO apps open at once on the same screen and not have to switch back and forth. There is nothing like this available in the market or in 3.2. HUGE props to Samsung for doing this.
2. Ability to change color temperature of the screen.
3. One touch wifi file access to tablet from PC <-- AWESOME
4. Sluggish menu scrolling in vanilla Honeycomb are gone! It looks like
Samsung devs used video hardware acceleration for scrolling which creates a smooth experience compared to Vanilla honeycombs laggy jumpy scrolling in may menus.
5. Awesomenew notification/settings popup menu. FAR superior to stock Honeycomb.
6. One touch screen capture button in the task bar takes a snap shot of the screen and automatically saves to a folder.
7. Lots of cool QUALITY widgets not like the junk you find in the market.
8. Motion gestures
9. Superior App Manager/ RAM manager which can run ON TOP of any app you are running.
10. BEST Music app and runs super smooth. Much better than stock H.C. or anything in the market
11. BEST Ebook reader app you can get.
12. Your tablet will run FASTEST with touchwiz. Samsung is using hardware acceleration for menus like Apple. Stock HC uses software rendering which is why its so slow and laggy. You cant get hardware acceleration if you dont have TouchWiz. No the Devs here will not be able to add it as its beyond their capabilities.
The list goes on and on. TouchWiz is simply a superior experience than stock HC. I would even dream of using my tab without it. Your tablet is incomplete and missing features to access hardware if you dont have TouchWiz.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you work for Samsung, or did you grow up at a time when they still used lead paint on childrens' toys?
5thElement said:
Im honestly amazed at how little education people here have about TouchWiz.
TouchWiz is by far the most advanced software you currently can get on a tablet. The user experience it provides is light years ahead of anything else out there, even Honeycomb 3.2.
Not only that but TouchWiz gives you access to specific hardware you cant access without it. The ability to change color temperature of the screen is a HUGE feature you can only have with toucwiz.
Here are just a few of the features you get from TouchWiz that you cant get anywhere else :
1. REAL multitasking just like in Windows. You can have TWO apps open at once on the same screen and not have to switch back and forth. There is nothing like this available in the market or in 3.2. HUGE props to Samsung for doing this.
2. Ability to change color temperature of the screen.
3. One touch wifi file access to tablet from PC <-- AWESOME
4. Sluggish menu scrolling in vanilla Honeycomb are gone! It looks like
Samsung devs used video hardware acceleration for scrolling which creates a smooth experience compared to Vanilla honeycombs laggy jumpy scrolling in may menus.
5. Awesomenew notification/settings popup menu. FAR superior to stock Honeycomb.
6. One touch screen capture button in the task bar takes a snap shot of the screen and automatically saves to a folder.
7. Lots of cool QUALITY widgets not like the junk you find in the market.
8. Motion gestures
9. Superior App Manager/ RAM manager which can run ON TOP of any app you are running.
10. BEST Music app and runs super smooth. Much better than stock H.C. or anything in the market
11. BEST Ebook reader app you can get.
12. Your tablet will run FASTEST with touchwiz. Samsung is using hardware acceleration for menus like Apple. Stock HC uses software rendering which is why its so slow and laggy. You cant get hardware acceleration if you dont have TouchWiz. No the Devs here will not be able to add it as its beyond their capabilities.
The list goes on and on. TouchWiz is simply a superior experience than stock HC. I would even dream of using my tab without it. Your tablet is incomplete and missing features to access hardware if you dont have TouchWiz.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I'm sorry, but TW doesn't improve my experience.
As a matter of fact, TW seems to have been designed by Samsung to lock users in to their proprietary ecosystem. Unfortunately, I do not believe software development--on the scale that Apple and Google, and allegedly Amazon is building out--is a part of their core competency. I am not sure Samsung has what it takes to build an ecosystem that provides the user experience on the level that Google already provides--so I do not want Samsung's Social Widgets, Music Hub, or whatever other service they are trying to push on me.
The only reason I purchased the Galaxt Tab 10.1 is because of the superior hardware design and quality with respects to other Android Tablet manufacturers, and quite frankly, their TW software just gets in the way. I really dislike having their proprietary software forced down my throat.
If their interface and software bundle is so great, why doesn't Samsung let users choose to install their software via the market or some other option?
--my two cents.
I've patiently been waiting and flashing the alpha/beta ICS ROMs onto my phone as and when they come (thanks devs!).
What I am wondering is, why am I distinctly unimpressed with ICS?
Sure it looks pretty, but when you get down to the nuts and bolts of it, it seems to be form over function. The launcher now takes several swipes to access an app which I could previously have got to in one flick. The task switcher which used to be just long-press on home button then bam, touch your desired app, is now a case of long-press then swiping through a long list of pretty windows to find the one you need. Don't get me wrong, the changes to the built-in apps are good (and necessary - having to press menu to get to the draft new email button was ridiculously bad UI) - but I'm just left unimpressed overall.
And still we have the poor choppy scrolling performance that iOS and WP users laugh at instead of the ultra-smooth buttery goodness they enjoy (although it is better than it used to be I admit).
I know the ICS ROMs are a work in progress still, and I've not spent any time using a Galaxy Nexus - perhaps it all makes sense on a superphone with dual-cores and a massive screen, and these are non-issues for those people. But I am in no position to get a new phone (need a hardware keyboard and there aren't any better ones around) and hence I don't see much compelling reason to get ICS over GB - except for the apps maybe.
Am I the only person feeling this way?
Take into consideration these are ALPHA and BETA stages..cameras still don't even work. Just be patient
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium
Hm, I'd have to agree with you about the Task Switcher. There is little to no functionality to it. May I add widget grouping in the Drawer would also be a great addition. Otherwise, I liked most of the changes.
Although, I have two questions. What ICS ROM did/are you test(ing)? And did you try Overclocking? I'm currently running Virtuous Quattro (Beta 8) and have an overclock of up to 1,6GHz, and I can tell everything is running smooth as silk. Of course you don't have to OC to upto 1,6, but 1,2-1,3 would definitely suffice.
Edit: As spastic909 said, there will be a LOT of changes in the upcoming updates, this is only a preview of what we're soon going to get.
As a test I just overclocked to 1.8GHz on performance governor, and rebooted to ensure minimal running processes. This is on a fresh install of Andromadus Alpha v8, no apps installed except GAPPS - scrolling is still really choppy when going through lists, such as my GMail inbox and my contacts list. This is just a fact of life on Android, it doesn't matter what ROM you have, and I've been through a lot in the 14mths that I've had this phone
If iOS and WP can scroll smoothly EVERYWHERE on hardware much older/worse than my phone then there is something seriously wrong with Android at a deep functional level. I think Google needs to sort that out now they've "prettyfied" Android. Lipstick on a pig springs to mind. I love Android, and as it stands I would never consider iOS or WP. But I am jealous of the performance they get.
setspeed said:
As a test I just overclocked to 1.8GHz on performance governor, and rebooted to ensure minimal running processes. This is on a fresh install of Andromadus Alpha v8, no apps installed except GAPPS - scrolling is still really choppy when going through lists, such as my GMail inbox and my contacts list. This is just a fact of life on Android, it doesn't matter what ROM you have, and I've been through a lot in the 14mths that I've had this phone
If iOS and WP can scroll smoothly EVERYWHERE on hardware much older/worse than my phone then there is something seriously wrong with Android at a deep functional level. I think Google needs to sort that out now they've "prettyfied" Android. Lipstick on a pig springs to mind. I love Android, and as it stands I would never consider iOS or WP. But I am jealous of the performance they get.
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So the addition of hardware acceleration for moving UI elements doesn't function in CPU realtime like the iPhone or Windows Phones? I'm still running Virtuous G-Lite here, haven't flashed any ICS roms yet as they are all in beta.
setspeed said:
Am I the only person feeling this way?
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I feel exactly the same way especially in regards to the app list and recently used apps. I think those are steps backward which is keeping me on GB. However ICS does have some improvements in other areas of the OS which I wish I could enjoy.
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk
setspeed said:
As a test I just overclocked to 1.8GHz on performance governor, and rebooted to ensure minimal running processes. This is on a fresh install of Andromadus Alpha v8, no apps installed except GAPPS - scrolling is still really choppy when going through lists, such as my GMail inbox and my contacts list. This is just a fact of life on Android, it doesn't matter what ROM you have, and I've been through a lot in the 14mths that I've had this phone
If iOS and WP can scroll smoothly EVERYWHERE on hardware much older/worse than my phone then there is something seriously wrong with Android at a deep functional level. I think Google needs to sort that out now they've "prettyfied" Android. Lipstick on a pig springs to mind. I love Android, and as it stands I would never consider iOS or WP. But I am jealous of the performance they get.
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Fast real-time UI scrolling has very little to do with actual performance. From what I loosely understand, Android is fundamentally more ambitious. Rather than being flawed compared to her competitors. iOS and WP7(Not 100% sure about this.) has the UI on some kind of urgent priority line to render scrolling at 60fps. Android on the other hand, won't forsake any other tasks for the UI scrolling. In essence, Android is closer to a true computer.
That said, I'm guessing the only way to stamp out Android's inherent lagginess is to brute force it with increasingly advanced hardware. Or in my case, using MIUI bulletproof w/ that Charger V6 script thingie gives it a comparable homescreen scrolling speed to the iPhone 3GS.
setspeed said:
As a test I just overclocked to 1.8GHz on performance governor, and rebooted to ensure minimal running processes. This is on a fresh install of Andromadus Alpha v8, no apps installed except GAPPS - scrolling is still really choppy when going through lists, such as my GMail inbox and my contacts list. This is just a fact of life on Android, it doesn't matter what ROM you have, and I've been through a lot in the 14mths that I've had this phone
If iOS and WP can scroll smoothly EVERYWHERE on hardware much older/worse than my phone then there is something seriously wrong with Android at a deep functional level. I think Google needs to sort that out now they've "prettyfied" Android. Lipstick on a pig springs to mind. I love Android, and as it stands I would never consider iOS or WP. But I am jealous of the performance they get.
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There was a very good explanation to why you would be seeing this that I unfortunately don't remember where I found it, but it was a google employee explaining why android will never LOOK as smooth as iOs (despite both being almost the same) what it is, is that with iOS it prioritizes interaction above everything else, including rendering, in that, if you were to load a page on safari or whatever and while its loading start moving the page around, all rendering will stop, whereas with android it will try to do both simultaneous thereby resulting in what appears to be a choppier experience. As for google fixing this, they cannot (or rather will not) because it would literally require an overhaul of everything that is android to fix, yes it's do-able, but it would result in everything that we know to be android restarting practically from scratch (with some trial and error already done for us IE we know what works so we can implement it from the beginning) Hope this answers your concerns!
noneabove said:
iOS it prioritizes interaction above everything else, including rendering, in that, if you were to load a page on safari or whatever and while its loading start moving the page around, all rendering will stop, whereas with android it will try to do both simultaneous thereby resulting in what appears to be a choppier experience.
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Hmm.. I'd read about it somewhere. And I'd also read elsewhere that the google devs wanted to find a decent middle ground to reduce this "choppiness" as well.
This the article others are referring to - https://plus.google.com/105051985738280261832/posts/2FXDCz8x93s
Also, another one from the same source (a senior Google/Android engineer) - https://plus.google.com/105051985738280261832/posts/XAZ4CeVP6DC
Sent from my Desire Z running CM7.
Yeah I was already aware of those posts by Dianne Hackborn and others. It also seems that NO-ONE including Hackborn herself can give a definitive answer (which doesn't then get refuted by someone) as to why iOS can achieve 60fps animation pretty much everywhere, and Android just fails spectacularly at it.
The technical issues are way above my head, and I have no real interest in changing that - I'm just a normal end-user (albeit one who likes to meddle, hence why I have an XDA account). What I would like to hear is that Google has a plan for fixing Android, whether that be through a rewrite or whatever, to nail this final issue of stuttery, laggy performance compared to the competition.
I think the original point of my post was that ICS doesn't seem to offer me much in the way of actual advantages over GB (except for apps). The launcher appears smoother (at the cost of now having to make mutliple swipes - a choice made to get around the abysmal list-scrolling performance). The task manager is prettier but less functional. It just seems like it's been tarted up, with none of the actual underlying issues fixed. That's how it is from my perspective.
I wish there was a viable alternative, as I am truly starting to get itchy feet. I know that I won't go anywhere at the moment, but one phone that really interested me was the Nokia N9. I never got the chance to actually use it, but all the reviews said that the Meego interface was a joy (despite a couple of minor performance issues and the fact Nokia killed it before it was born).
I think I'm starting to question whether in fact I need the advantages that Android offers at all. On a daily basis there is only one root app that I use and that is Adfree Android. Could I live without it - probably.
And although I love flashing new ROMs on my phone, and the choice that brings, ultimately I'm only trying to fix deficiencies with the software my phone came with. This DZ was dead slow when I first got it - overclocking and a new ROM fixed that. But when the competition is fast and smooth, would I feel the need for any of that? I suspect the answer is probably "Yes, I would miss it like anything". But the fact I'm asking myself these questions tells me I'm not perfectly happy with Android the way it is. iPhone users don't have that feeling. I know they expect less of a computer and more of an appliance, but when they have an amazing experience day after day, and I'm being frustrated day after day, I ask myself who really is the smarter one?
setspeed said:
I'm being frustrated day after day, I ask myself who really is the smarter one?
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No one is smarter than anyone for choosing one particular brand over another. Its just a preference in the end.
While it's short sighted of you to equate UI scrolling to actual performance, you're quite entitled to love smooth scrolling.
And if 60 fps scrolling is your thing and if the lag bothers you that much. Then it would be wise to move to the iPhone or Windows. Especially if you believe it to be the smarter choice.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
Smarter as in "not spending a lot of time babying my phone". Is it possible to make the transition from phone tweaker to just phone user, and enjoy those benefits (scrolling performance, better quality of apps) instead of enjoying total control and customisation?? Who knows, but when my contract's up and if there isn't a decent qwerty Android on the market (highly likely) then maybe I should try a change!
The scrolling lag of Android is a software design "flaw" if you can call it that. Someone wrote a nice article on G+ about it. Essentially, Android spawns a thread for the UI and lets it do its thing. That's why when you scroll down, not only does the existing content move, but new content is also added on the fly. And this happens across the OS - when you are updating an app, the phone also is trying to address your latest command of swiping homescreens. The author went on to show how in iOS this is not the case, that when a webpage is loading and the user begins to scroll, the page stops loading and full processor power is dedicated to the scrolling, thus resulting in a smoother performance. Apparently, it is baked too deep into the kernel and changing that is not a trivial issue. thus, the only solution now is to throw more HP at it, which is why the latest crop of phones don't stutter too much.
I think I'm a victim of my own anticipation. Like most people here I check Android news on a daily basis. When a major version revision like 4.0 is announced I buy into all the hype and by the time it gets to release I'm ready for the second coming of Jesus. When that doesn't happen then I've set myself up for a major fall. ICS brings some welcome (and some not so welcome) changes, but there's nothing earth shattering here, it feels like an incremental improvement.
I'm setting myself up for some major flaming here, but I would like Google to pull out the big guns and wow us with something. Something like Siri.
Before you all lambast me, let me state my position - I don't think Siri will set the world on fire like Apple hopes it will, we're just not ready for it yet. And I know all us jaded tech types can sneer and say "I could do all this ages ago with Tasker and Voice Search and Vlingo etc etc". But what Apple has done is wrap it all up into a nice useable package that anyone can easily access, without having to think about it, or search the Market for apps. There is nothing wrong in spotting something that you think is great and adding it to your OS. And if you try and deny that this will how we will interact with our phones in 20yrs time (or perhaps via mind control!) then you are kidding yourself.
I know Apple bought it from an iOS dev, but equally they've polished it into something that is talked about by everyone - everyone has an opinion on it when they become aware of it. What does Android do (for the average user, who doesn't root/flash custom ROMs) that's anywhere near the same level of impressive? Widgets and nice Maps? I admit voice nav is a great selling point, but seriously, I think Google needs to step up it's game and start bringing out the big guns to compete with iOS which, although limiting in lots of ways, clearly has the most polished apps, the best user interaction in the mobile world when it comes to scrolling and smoothness, and they bring futuristic stuff like Siri to the party as a part of their standard OS. It's not about bragging rights, or showing off or anything like that - it's about being the best OS around, and at the moment, aside from the fact Android is very customisable even without root, I can't say it's 100% the best OS. It is for me, at the moment, and probably for you too if you're on this site, but for the rest of the general population I can see why Android doesn't really hold a candle to iOS in the layman's eyes.
Rant over!
The one major thing you're missing is that ICS was designed mainly to integrate functionality between both tablets and phones. Google made a decision and then decided they weren't to keep on developing Honeycomb nor likely wanted current tablets running cropped versions of GB when it was solely made as a phone OS.
So there was a notion to make a unification with devices running Gingerbread/Froyo along with tablets running GB/HC, thus ICS was formed.
ashwinmudigonda said:
The scrolling lag of Android is a software design "flaw" if you can call it that. Someone wrote a nice article on G+ about it. Essentially, Android spawns a thread for the UI and lets it do its thing.
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If you're referring to the post from a guy who used to be an intern at Google, then that second article link I posted (from Dianne Hackborn) is basically pointing out how that guy posted some incorrect stuff.
Sent from my Desire Z running CM7.
steviewevie said:
If you're referring to the post from a guy who used to be an intern at Google, then that second article link I posted (from Dianne Hackborn) is basically pointing out how that guy posted some incorrect stuff.
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Doesn't matter if the guy posted incorrect stuff.
The empirical evidence and summary is that Android does not prioritize UI and UI animations (nor sound threads), and never will this point forward, so far.
Dianne also pointed out a deficiency in the kernel for high-priority/foreground threads which they gave up on fixing since Android 1.6.
I notice this every day but I'm a tech if it ain't broken i don't want it...
I'm just throwing my thoughts around here, please correct me if I'm wrong and flame me if you must, I'm kind of just interested in this topic.
I've had an ipod touch. I've played with the iphone 3gs. I've seen the iphone 4g. I've even been offered to try siri for a few weeks. The 3gs actually wasn't a huge leap from an ipod touch. They pretty much slapped a phone on it, right? There was nothing I could do on a 3gs that I couldn't do on an itouch connected to wifi. Literally nothing. The change from 3gs to 4g was just that. 3g changed to 4g. Beyond that, the user experience was identical. Nothing had changed. The addition of siri added 100 bucks of value to the 4g though? Yeah, that kinda didn't make sense to me, as there are literally free apps that did the same thing. But behind siri was the same phone. Ios hasn't changed drastically since the first time we saw it. Granted it's ALREADY such a great phone.
But look at android. Younger, and from the g1 to the nexus s, HUGE improvements, and for pennies to the dollar cheaper. Android WILL improve. There's no question of that. At this point, my phone has literally replaced my desktop; and from a phone that has already reached EOL, that's quite an accomplishment. the next gen phones have way more muscle to swing out at the graphical glitches that plague us, and the OS just keeps improving.
ICS is merely a stepping stone into something bigger. And android, being as customizable as it is, offers ui similar to ios through miui (soon miuiv4). You can't put off the changes made between cupcake, eclair, froyo and gingerbread. How you can put off the changes yet to be made, however, is quite staggering.
Both from a factual view and a personal preference view what do you guys think is the better browser of the two?
I found with the jb update the Stock browser began to load faster than chrome although the keyboards generally still worked badly in forums, swype being worst.
With chromes new update I find it to be about equal. I've tried running the ms fish HTML test on both and it doesn't run well on either so I didn't find that a good test to give any solid facts but right now I prefer chorine purely based on using it to write in forums but other than that they seem to perform roughly equal as far add I can tell. What do you guys think?
To be honest I have not found any better than stock. I don't care for gestures, synch or any fancy features, all I want I a fast browser that doesn't lag while reading and rendering pages. Stock is awesome, chrome not so much. Flash seems to work on stock and if it didn't video and mx player do a good job.
I'd like, however, that it would organize pages as opera mobile does. Opera's brilliant in this. Sadly is rather buggy in other departments. That's the only thing I'm missing. Other than that, stock is just about perfect and that's what I use.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using XDA Premium App
Some good points well made, since Google make both browsers its strange that they should be so different though maybe stock is optimised to each device and chrome is one size fits all.
I love a lot of things about chrome but for raw speed as far as I can tell like you say, stock is the Best in that department. Difficult to Test without 2 phones
stock browser all the day
its faster smoother have more feature like full screen mode
but chrome has cool feature too but its suck :silly:
The stock app is awful, I have Firefox, Chrome and Skyfire installed on my S3
None. I don't like the stock browser's messy menu configuration. Chrome is just... odd. I rather enjoy Dolphin, but I've been using Boat Browser for a while now, and I've grown fond of it...
dodgebizkit said:
Both from a factual view and a personal preference view what do you guys think is the better browser of the two?
I found with the jb update the Stock browser began to load faster than chrome although the keyboards generally still worked badly in forums, swype being worst.
With chromes new update I find it to be about equal. I've tried running the ms fish HTML test on both and it doesn't run well on either so I didn't find that a good test to give any solid facts but right now I prefer chorine purely based on using it to write in forums but other than that they seem to perform roughly equal as far add I can tell. What do you guys think?
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Chrome causes S3's running Jelly Bean to reboot when you use cut and paste, so I'd have to vote for the stock browser, or dolphin, or firefox, or any other browser.
Seriously, try it. Load up Chrome (on your GT-I9300 Galaxy S3) and long-press on an area of text, select some text and then either press on the selected text or press the copy icon (two overlapping rectangles). Do this between 1 and 20 times and your phone will reboot. It's great!
after so many months, the chrome browser sucks, i admit it looks nice, cool features, but its so laggy, even scrolling mobile sites, its a joke, i feel sorry for the nexus 4 owners
Nothing beats the fluidity of the stock browser. Sure, it might not be fully compatible with all the websites but it is miles better than having frustration over laggy scrolling found in Chrome.
Moreover, the browsing convenience and speed using Quick Controls is unmatched.
I don't know why Google doesn't implement these things in Chrome.
Stock is noticeably smooth in scrolling.
i think stock is better but chrome has better sync abilities with desktop
Back before I was an android user (and therefore didn't pay much attention) I'm sure I read that they intend to eventually replace stock with chrome as default browser in android... Is there any truth to this? I hope not, while I love having chrome I like to have the choice, and the different things that stock browser has.
I really want to like chrome... I really do. I keep giving it a chance for a few days every time they push an update out. The deal breaker for me is the lack of full screen mode and the relatively choppy scrolling in general - emphasis on 'relative' ! I guess if the stock browser wasn't so smooth (and very fast to use with quick controls) I would be perfectly happy with chrome.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
The new JellyBean stock browser seems very nice, has some features from ICS Browser+, this is from my limited time playing with it at least. Which of them all probably would make this one my favorite browser, but of course it could be because it is new.
thaBuzzed said:
I really want to like chrome... I really do. I keep giving it a chance for a few days every time they push an update out. The deal breaker for me is the lack of full screen mode and the relatively choppy scrolling in general - emphasis on 'relative' ! I guess if the stock browser wasn't so smooth (and very fast to use with quick controls) I would be perfectly happy with chrome.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
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Couldn't put it better myself. I also "give it a chance" every now and then... but get annoyed about the same things as well as lack of flash support.
When referring to "stock" browser, I feel the cm10 stock browser is also far superior to stock Samsung however...
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
kickassdave said:
Couldn't put it better myself. I also "give it a chance" every now and then... but get annoyed about the same things as well as lack of flash support.
When referring to "stock" browser, I feel the cm10 stock browser is also far superior to stock Samsung however...
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
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+1, totally agree. Though since I am making UCCW theme's, I kind off have to link my widgets to Chrome for universal support
Still use the Stock CM10 browser more though. Chrome sometimes feels slow and not so smooth when scrolling.