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I'm thinking of getting an i9000, but have a few questions. I'll be honest from the start: I'm not much into tech.
My main purposes for this phone will be: 1. reading e-books, 2. a secondary internet device at home, 3. making phone calls and sending text messages. What makes me even stranger is that I don't want a data plan or any 3G services. Most of what I plan to do will be WiFi at home (although the option is there to get a data plan should I change my mind or find some use for it). I know about the GPS problem, but I don't think I have use for a GPS anyway. Music is not important to me, so I doubt I'd have more than a handful of MP3s I'd ever want listen to; movies and TV shows are a must; games are of no interest to me; photos are more of a perk than a necessity. I love, Love, LOVE the Super AMOLED screen, which is why I'm leaning towards this one rather than the HTC Desire.
1. The 8GB version is 2,000TWD (approx. 60USD) cheaper, which is worth it to me. Given my intended usage and the extra cost, why should I realistically consider the 16GB version? I'll have to buy an SD card anyway, won't I?
2. I still don't understand that thread about the device not having or not being able to see the full 512MB of RAM. How does this impact the performance? How does Froyo address this issue? Am I likely to notice any impact given my intended usage?
3. What is Launcher Pro, and why do some people feel it is better than TouchWiz?
4. I'm in a geographic area that doesn't have access to paid apps (Taiwan). However, there is a workaround. Given my intended usage, what paid apps would you suggest?
5. I'll have to hook up wireless internet at home (I'm running Windows XP on my PC). Without going into too much detail, what equipment and services will I need to set this up for both my PC and phone to share?
I know this may be a lot to ask. Feel free to just address one question if you like. I appreciate any help you can give me.
Thanks.
the SD card is optional, but definitely wort it to have more storage, if you plan to have a large MP3 and Video collection on the road with you
then leave the internal 8 GB SD for application use.
if you ever install a GPS software, it will automatically eat up 2 GB in one shoty
the 8 GB is really 6 GB, because 2 GB is used for ROM software, the remaing is aprox 5 GB of usable space
if you load a GPS software that goes down to 3 GB of free space, and some games downloads a few Hundreds of a MB to play, so games require a full 1GB... anyways it adds up really quickly.
Thanks. GPS is not important for me, nor are MP3s. Any video I watch will most likely be uploaded, watched, and removed within hours. I'll be reading on it if I'm ever on the road.
Looks like I'll be leaning towards the money-saving 8GB one.
SlowRain said:
Thanks. GPS is not important for me, nor are MP3s. Any video I watch will most likely be uploaded, watched, and removed within hours. I'll be reading on it if I'm ever on the road.
Looks like I'll be leaning towards the money-saving 8GB one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I were you, I'd almost definitely go with the 8GB. I think the main reason is that, my plan would be to store my e-books on the external sd card, so if my battery or device died I could easily move them to my pc or next device.
Besides that, I'd suggest, as much as I love my device. Thinking about iPhone 4 or the Dell Streak (if you can get them wi-fi only) and/or a Kindle (not great for internet, #2 on your list, but you'd also save money). IPhone 4 will, probably, be a better reading experience, I can't be sure. Dell Streak has 25% more screen real estate, it also has gorilla glass. Downsides being it's not Super AMOLED, I don't think it's wirelss N, probably has less battery life and is currently stuck on 1.6, though I think 2.1 is imminent.
Not trying to convince you to get a different device, I wouldn't trade my phone for either of the two devices mentioned above.
To answer your other questions, I'd think about:
E-book software...I'm not sure if this is your first e-reader. Kindle, Aldiko might be the two most popular (doesn't mean best).
I'd get brut maps because it'll cache Google Maps pages to your SD card so you won't need data but can still use Google Navigation, My Tracks (I think? can't remember), and Google Maps if you ever have the need (you'll need to look at the areas from your wifi first to get the pages to cache).
I'd probably get a wi-fi analyzer, wi-fi analyzer works well for me.
For your case, thats the majority of what I'd get. I'd think about looking into getting Flash enabled instead of waiting for FroYo if my phone's second functionality would be web surfing.
SlowRain said:
Thanks. GPS is not important for me, nor are MP3s. Any video I watch will most likely be uploaded, watched, and removed within hours. I'll be reading on it if I'm ever on the road.
Looks like I'll be leaning towards the money-saving 8GB one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also, spend money on your saved 8GB into extra 2-3 batteries, it's more important for your purposes than 8GB. I can nearly guarantee.
ALL I CAN SAY IS DEFINITELY GET ONE...
I have been using mine constantly for the last few days or so since I sold my Iphone 3gs and before that came from a touch HD2, windows phone.
I can't believe I didn't go across to the android world sooner to be honest and I think I have at last made the right choice of phone, this galaxy S is simply a joy to use, I love it.
I have 7 completely customisable screens that you can scroll between I bought beautiful widgets (highly recommend this) just simply because I am hooked to these widget things. I have Beautiful Live weather wallpaper which displays some grass waving about at the bottom of the screen and clouds with sun, rain etc..moving perfectly acrosseach of the 7 screens, I know this is all old hat to some of the longer Android users, but for me I Love it...I have also bought the Pure calender widget which displays all your up and coming appointments etc...this again is completely skin-able, brilliant...seconds screen has some of my shortcuts to applicaitons, live UK TV guide, market, appbrain market, maps, zedge, calc, youtube and mail, my third screen has all these toggle widgets to quickly turn on airplane, wifi, bluetooth, sound controls, volume and battery, Screen number 4 has my Days dairy which I quite like, screen number 5 has my feeds and updates which automatically updates my facebook and twitter stuff, then onto screen 6 with the BBC news and History widget, number 7 is blank so I can stare at the weather...
I can't seem to stop type , the Swype keyboard is just so easy and quick to use, I actually enjoy typing on a small screen these days, not that the Galaxy has a small screen in fact its the perfect screen and if your into reading books like I am, I am using the free Laputa ereader, simply import all your epubs into it, Aldiko comes already installed which is equally as good, but without the funky page turn effects. the screen is so clear reading books is very nice.
Will continue on later, got to get back to work for a bit....
no no no... if you moved to Android sooner, you would have not enjoyed it.
I was also waiting for the Perfect Phone, before moving to Android
If you moved to Android when it was Android 1.5 you would have most likely ended up hating it.
It was Raw, not many apps, phone hardware were rather not at part with the HTC hardware, etc.
THUDUK said:
ALL I CAN SAY IS DEFINITELY GET ONE...
I have been using mine constantly for the last few days or so since I sold my Iphone 3gs and before that came from a touch HD2, windows phone.
I can't believe I didn't go across to the android world sooner to be honest and I think I have at last made the right choice of phone, this galaxy S is simply a joy to use, I love it.
I have 7 completely customisable screens that you can scroll between I bought beautiful widgets (highly recommend this) just simply because I am hooked to these widget things. I have Beautiful Live weather wallpaper which displays some grass waving about at the bottom of the screen and clouds with sun, rain etc..moving perfectly acrosseach of the 7 screens, I know this is all old hat to some of the longer Android users, but for me I Love it...I have also bought the Pure calender widget which displays all your up and coming appointments etc...this again is completely skin-able, brilliant...seconds screen has some of my shortcuts to applicaitons, live UK TV guide, market, appbrain market, maps, zedge, calc, youtube and mail, my third screen has all these toggle widgets to quickly turn on airplane, wifi, bluetooth, sound controls, volume and battery, Screen number 4 has my Days dairy which I quite like, screen number 5 has my feeds and updates which automatically updates my facebook and twitter stuff, then onto screen 6 with the BBC news and History widget, number 7 is blank so I can stare at the weather...
I can't seem to stop type , the Swype keyboard is just so easy and quick to use, I actually enjoy typing on a small screen these days, not that the Galaxy has a small screen in fact its the perfect screen and if your into reading books like I am, I am using the free Laputa ereader, simply import all your epubs into it, Aldiko comes already installed which is equally as good, but without the funky page turn effects. the screen is so clear reading books is very nice.
Will continue on later, got to get back to work for a bit....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm downloading it right now. So all who have updated it, please say something about the new features in 3.1.... Trust me, it will help a lot of people.
It now has exchange email setup!
Youtube 720p video playback has greatly improved. Using the test video prior to 3.1 I was getting around 9-12 fps, now I'm getting 29-32 fps.
USB mouse works now;
Two new readers (Kobo and Zinio)... Extra bloatware... Awesome! :s
In the browser options, you can switch between tablet or desktop mode (I don't know if this was in 3.0 or not, but I didn't see it)
Also, in the browser, if you use quick control, you now have more options, including switching tabs right from the quick control, and closing tabs from the quick control) You can also choose to enable/disable google instant through the labs option.
** also, the list of open apps is bigger now.... not just the last 4 open apps show up
bangali bhai -
a quite notable feature is that now the widgets are resizable
ps3 controller support
new keyboard sounds
GPS fix locks in 10 sec without wifi
Many Changes
List of changes below
Wifi shows upload download
Additional support for other video formats
speed and performance is improved
lots of bugs cleared
auto reboot and shutdown bug not there atleast from the last 12 HRs.
Settings - Storage shows more in depth info
Browser improvised
Movie Studio added
Kobo Reader and Zinio Reader added
No Lags while Scrolling from other than standard landscape mode
Social Jogger widget and Nemo player Widget added
Wallpaper picker updated and setting wallpaper shows landscape and portrait optimization
Not sure if there is an actual measurable difference, but the whole tablet feels 'snappier' and more responsive, at least in my informal testing. We'll see if this is just me feeling optimistic and wanting to see things improved or if there's a legitimate boost in performance, though.
I just really hope that Acer managed to handle the issues I was having with frequent hanging with the screen on (but on the lock screen) when charging, and with the tablet powering down completely (rather than the usual 'sleep') when left to charge overnight. Having a device I can just pick up and use without waiting for a boot sequence is the bulk of why I went for a tablet in the first place...
They seem to have been pretty good about addressing issues with updates, it's just the question of when said updates show up.
Also, Android Movie Studio (think iMovie or something- very basic at first glance, but seems quite functional so far) and Videos are new to the app list.
Also got my update just in the last hour. Overall device seems snappier and USB mouse support is nice. I can also confirm that the Youtube Video Rental app comes with the update.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App
Small point I know but it now appears that if you update apps in Market, once they are updated you now have option to uninstall the update.
The official new features list for Honeycomb 3.1 (outside of Acer updates)...
http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-3.1-highlights.html#UserFeatures
I still cant see a safe way of removing from USB other than powering down?
Differences/Improvements I noticed.
1. When you are in Market and you enter an app to download or view and you go back to previous page you go back to were you were in app selection instead of the top of the app page (which sucked ass in 3.01)
2. UI transitions obviously, but except from vertical lag it is also pretty 'laggy' when you turn it upside down.
3. Faster startup of albums thumbnails and zoom and double tap is lightning fast.
4. Website scrolling and 2 pressure point zooming is lightning fast.
5. GPS locks faster
6. Emails come instantly, dunno if anybody noticed but in 3.01 the emails would not appear as fast they did in example hotmail tray.
7. Youtube plays videos flawlessly, 720p smooth as **** thru a goose.
8. 720p MP4 can be played but not VERY smooth, MKV can be played too but with no sound. The other HD videos that I usually play I encode with Handbrake using zoom setting but it sux ass to have to convert 720p movies that should play smooth.
9. I may be dreaming but sound seems better, louder and clearer. May be my imagination.
Then there is all the obvious changed of course. I'll add more when I remember more.
Cheers!
WMA's play in the stock player!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Couple of Differences in 3.1 Update
Got the update this evening in the UK
Couple of things I've noticed:
Acer Lumiread application has improved interface. This may be considered bloatware by the masses but I really like this compared to the alternatives.
As well as this the Landscape mode now allows 2 page reading something similar to ipad Also seems a lot smoother which actually is a massive improvement. There were a few bugs with this with the leaked chinese build that came out last week but these all seem to have been remedied in this version 4 build.
Improvement in GPS lock speed. I didn't really have a massive issue but now seem to be able to find around 10 sats vs 8 indoors with 3.01 stock and leaked build. .
Desktop Mode on Browser settings. Is it just me or does this actually do anything?
I've only tested it on the bbc website but it's still recognising my device as a mobile device even when desktop mode is set or when UAString is changed. All this mode seems to do is break bbc iplayer . Anyone else in the UK notice this?
Market shows incompatible apps: I've noticed quite a few gameloft games now showing up in the app which upon trying to purchase I get a "your device is incompatible" message. Previously i wasn't shown applications and games that were incompatible.
web browsing is a lot smoother. no fc so far (fingers crossed)
Pictures are much sharper in Picture Frame widgets !
Thank God they took out Cell Standby My Battery Last Longer.
Sent from my SCH-R910 using XDA Premium App
Johnny0906 said:
9. I may be dreaming but sound seems better, louder and clearer. May be my imagination.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. Much less distortion at the highest volume setting.
saeba said:
I agree. Much less distortion at the highest volume setting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then I wasnt dreaming, awesome!
The sound is better yup yup!
Source by Andrew Williams :-> HERE
50 Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Tips and TricksFor novice users
Hi everybody
So you decided to join the ranks of Android and the millions of happy Note2 owners. But It can be troublesome to setup your phone at the begining. So I decided to search for you some little tricks you can use to better know and use your phone. I found this excellent article by Andrew Williams. I modified some content to better fit XDA's forum format but the info are the same. I also add a touchwiz tweaks that was not in the aticle, Here are 50 useful tips and tricks for new(even less new) Note2 users to pull out the best of your phone. Enjoy!
TouchwizMake Touchwiz go faster.
To make Touchwiz look good, Samsung created some animations to transit between screens. These animations take some times and can make your phone seems slow. The solution is to go in your phone Settings-> Developer options and turn off -> "Windows animation scale", "Transition animation scale" and "Animator duration scale". Now check how much snappier your phone is.:good:
***You can also turn on "Force GPU rendering" but SOME applications don't like that, so you can try it, but if you find you start having problem with some of your aplications, turn it off.
Ringtones - Alarms - NotificationsPut your Sounds in the system.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 allows us to use mp3 as ringtones, alarms or notifications. But if like me you have over 16G of music on your phone it might be anoying to "Go To Files" and search for them. Another way to do it is by creating a folder where Android will automatically look in and put the files in the "Ringtones". To do this just create a folder called "Media" on your sd-card. Inside the Media folders create 3 more folders "Ringtones", "Alarms" and "Notifications". It should look like this.
Media..
--------Alarms
--------Notifications
--------Ringtones
Now move/copy your mp3 files in the according folders. Now if you go on your phone settings->sounds->device ringtones you should see your mp3 files in the list.(Phone restart might be needed)
Screen and video
Get AMOLED colours in check
OLED-based screens like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2's tend to bring oversaturated colours that make skin tones look unnatural. They pop, but they pop a little too much. There's a solution, though. In the settings menu is a Display Setting submenu that lets you choose how vivid the colours are. We recommend the "natural" or "movie" settings.
Fill video codec gaps with third-party players
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has an excellent inbuilt media player, but there are some files it can't handle. We found that high-quality 1080p MKVs were too much for it. Snag a third-party media player like MX Player from the Google Play app store, though, and you'll be flying. These can use software encoding to fill gaps in natuve video support.
Video multi-tasking is in
One of the neatest additional features of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 is that you can overlay a video playback screen on top of any part of the phone. Just press a button in the nav bar of the media player and a little window will pop-up on the homescreen, playing the vid. Watch an episode of Peep Show while browsing the web? Don't mind if I do.
Free games to show off the screen
One of the best ways to show off the Sasmung Galaxy Note 2's screen is with a fancy 3D game. Top free picks to try include Dead Trigger.
Not bright enough? Turn off auto
The standard setting of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 uses automatic brightness, which judges the intensity of screen brightness using an ambient light sensor on the front. If it's still not bright enough at the max slider point, switch off the auto mode for real searing intensity. But it will affect battery life.
The microUSB port can output video
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2's microUSB port is more special than you might guess. It has MHL capabilities when used with a special Samsung cable, letting it output HD video and surround audio. The Samsung adapter, which is essentially an MHL-to-HDMI converter costs around £25. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 does not come bundled with one, though.
Mini home cinema? Tick the surround box
If you want to output surround sound, make sure you tick the Surround box within the Settings menu. This isn't within the Audio bit, which you might expect, but is actually in the Accessory submenu.
Battery life
Keep battery life riding high with auto management
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has a massive 3100mAh battery. Stamina is good at the worst of times, but there's also an auto power management mode to make the most of the phone's juice. It's called Power Saving and has its own section within the main Settings menu. It can throttle the CPU, change the background of the web browser to conserve power (it turns the white background blue), and turns off haptic feedback. These are compromises, but they do work.
Switch off features for extra battery life
The best way to conserve power in any phone is to switch off features - most importantly 3G mobile internet. You can do this manually in the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, directly from the pull-down notifications menu, and apps such as MySettings let you do the same thing.
Reduce screen timeout time
Another dead simple trick is to reduce the screen timeout time. This is in the Display submenu within settings, and lets you choose between 15 sec and 10 minutes of time the screen stays lit after a screen press. It's hardly a secret, but it is something not enough people consider.
Grab a spare battery, live forever
In a time of non-removable batteries - the HTC One X and iPhone 5 to name but two - we love that the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has a removable battery. You can swap it out within about 15 seconds. Spare batteries are available from eBay for well under £10. We recommend shopping around for a reliable brand though as some third-party batteries are as dodgy as Del Boy's VCRs.
Turn off S Pen
The S Pen digitser sucks away at the Note 2's battery life a little, so it's a good idea to switch off the detection feature entirely if you're unlikely to use it for an extended period. You'll find it within the S Pen sub-menu in Settings.
S Pen
Quick commands let you launch… anything
An S Pen feature that's easy to miss is Quick Commands. This lets you launch any app on the phone with a quick flick of the S Pen. Just press the stylus button and swipe up the screen, and the Quick commands box will pop-up. Draw your pre-determined character or symbol and key-presto, the right app will launch.
OCR means you can forget the virtual keyboard
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 features excellent OCR, optical character recognition, and it's built into the Samsung keyboard. Whip out the S Pen and the keyboard area will turn into a little box for you to write in, whether you're writing an email, text or searching the web. It's remarkably clever at working out your scribbles too although we haven't tested it on a doctor yet.
S Pen keeper - it's a keeper
We love the S Pen, but the thing is terribly easy to lose. Samsung has devised a way to make sure you don't leave home without it. It's called S Pen keeper. Using the accelerometer and the digitiser sensor of the Note 2, the phone can tell when you're walking away without the stylus in its little hole in the bottom of the device. Walk far enough and it bleats out an alarm tone.
Keep the kids happy with S Note
The stylus of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 makes it an obvious choice for creative types, business types and a host of other busy folk. But it'll keep the kids entertained too. S Note has a feature called Idea Sketch, which lets you write the name of an object, only for it to appear in your sketch. It's a perfect educational tool, and a fun one too.
Air View - hover pen fun
Something that makes the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 S Pen so much more than a standard stylus is that it can be sensed without even touching the screen. Samsung makes great use of this with Air View. It's used throughout Samsung's apps, and makes info pop-up when the S Pen hovers over items. For example, you can read the first lines of emails, see previews of pictures and take a closer look at calendar events. It's fantastic.
You can scribble - on anything
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 S Pen also let you scribble notes on anything. Just hold the button on the stylus down, press the nib down on the screen and hold it there until you see a flash around the screen edges. This is the phone taking a screenshot of what's on-screen, which you can then write notes on. This is further integrated into apps like S Planner, which have dedicated handwriting modes.
Other apps use S Pen pressure sensitivity
Now that the Note series is fairly established, a bunch of excellent apps already make use of the pressure sensitive S Pen stylus. Top picks include Sketchbook Pro and Infinite Painter. It's not just S Note that shows the S Pen off these days.
The S Pen takes screengrabs
Here's a really neat S Pen tool to show off to your "non stylus" friends. Press down the button on the Galaxy Note 2 stylus, draw a shape on the screen and whatever's on-screen within the shape will be saved as a screengrab.
For full S Pen compatibility, check out Samsung Apps
Samsung says that if you want full S Pen certified apps, you'll need to go to the Samsung Apps store. This comes built into the Note 2, and there's even an S Pen apps section. At present, you're still best off using the Play Store as well, though, as the Samsung Apps store isn't exactly rammed full of Note 2 apps yet.
Left handers need a tweak
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 comes setup for right-handers as standard, but there's also a mode for lefties in the Settings menu. This offsets the digitiser sensor, to compensate for the way those strange left-handed types hold pens. A creepy bunch, aren't they?
Interface
One for your grandma? Easy home screen mode
Here's one feature we were a little surprised to see in a device that's such a geek's dreamphone. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has a mode called Easy home screen, which simplifies the layout of the phone's home screens in a way that even your technophobe grandma might be able to get along with.
Full screenshots are easy
Like the Samsung Galaxy S3, the Galaxy Note II makes it pretty easy to take screenshots of whatever's on the phone's display. Just hold down the home button and the power button at the same time, wait or a white flash and a screenshot will be taken and whisked over to the Gallery app.
A cooler/easier way to take screenshot is to swipe the palm of your hand from right to left. For this to work you need to enable "Motion" in Settings and check "Palm swipe capture".
Use one-handed operation mode for on-the-go use
The big screen is one of the main selling points of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, but it doesn't half make it hard to use one-handed. Knowing this, Samsung as included a one-handed mode, which organises things like the keypad, virtual keyboard and the unlock pattern screen so that you can operate them with one mitt. You'll find it in the Settings menu.
Don't forget side-loading of apps
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is an Android device, with all the benefits that brings. You don't have to rely on the official Google Play app store for one, with APK installation files available for all sorts of other apps online. Be careful, though, as Android viruses are a real issue.
Customise your phone with non-Samsung widgets
Samsung supplied a nice handful of widgets with which you can customise your home screens, but far too few people try a new look with third-party widgets from Google Play. And there are loads out them out there. Some of our old faves include those of the Beautiful Widgets package.
Gadgets and Gimmicks
Motion control
Here's one we're not big fans of, but some of you may like it. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 lets you control things like the photo gallery and the navigation of you home screens using the accelerometer - by tilting your phone, basically. You can turn it off, though, and it's set to "off" as standard. Phew.
Face unlock
A bit Minority Report, this one. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 can scan your face to unlock your phone. It takes a picture of your mug, remembers the basic geometry of it and then scans your face whenever you try and unlock the phone. It works pretty well, but as a security measure is about as flimsy as the padlock on a filofax.
Smart Stay
The last user-facing camera gimmick is one that sounds kinda neat in principle. It scans for your eyes to check if you're reading, and if it spots them, Smart Stay stops the backlight from turning off. It's designed to make reading on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 a good deal less frustrating. It's a feature you'll find in the Settings menu.
Jelly Bean easter egg
The Jelly Bean easter egg has made it in the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Go to Settings menu > About device and tap on the Android version number entry. You'll be transported to a screen with a picture of a giant jelly bean on it. Hold your finger down on said jelly bean and the screen will fill up with dozens of the blighters, which you can flick around. Pure joy.
Arrange your music by moods
The music player of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 features a fun little extra called Music square. This scans through your music library, arranging the tracks by mood - passionate, calm, exciting, joyful or a little in-between. Tap a block in the 5x5 square grid and you'll be greeted with a tune to match your mood.
Storage
Expandable storage - where to get it cheap
If you're out to spend as little as possible (and the Note 2 doesn't come cheap as it is), your best bet is to buy the cheapest 16GB model, and supplement any other storage needs with a microSD card. Top retailers for bargain basement-price memory cards include 7DayShop and Ebuyer. A 32GB microSD card these days will set you back less than £15 if you shop hard enough.
Flush the cache for extra memory
If you find yourself running low on memory, you can easily delete the cache and temporary files of any apps you have installed. To do this, go to the Applications Manager section within settings and tap on an app to see how much memory it's leeching. There will be buttons to wipe the cache and data for the app here.
Comes with 50GB of dropbox storage
Cloud storage is the future - you may not like it, but you may as well embrace it. Samsung Galaxy Note 2 owners get to benefit from 50GB of free cloud storage from one of the best providers out there - Dropbox. There are Dropbox apps for mobiles, tablets and computers, and it honestly works like a dream. If this won't convert you, nothing will. You only normally get 2GB of free from Dropbox, making it a pretty sweet deal.
Don't sync, drag 'n' drop
If you chose to go Android rather than opting for an iPhone, there's a good chance that the open-ness of the platform had something to do with it. Samsung is keen on trying to make its users adopt the Kies desktop software, but it's actually completely unnecessary. Plug the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 into a computer with a microUSB cable and it'll show up as a media player drive, which you can drag and drop all kinds of files onto. Transfer speeds are impressively fast too.
Contacts
Nab contacts from Facebook and Twitter
When we first got our Samsung Galaxy Note 2 in, it didn't have any of the usual social apps installed. Even if you're not a massive mobile Facebook-er, it's worth giving the app a download because it lets you harvest contacts from the network, making populating your contacts book a good deal easier.
Blocking Mode
Do you have a bug-a-boo stalking you? Is there a creep who keeps calling? The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 lets you keep them away with the blocking mode. It restricts notifications and calls from all but your approved contacts - and that can be at all times, or just during the hours you choose.
Camera and Video
Use HDR mode in mixed lighting - or all the time
The 8-megapixel sensor of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is pretty good on its own, but the neat camera app ups its skills significantly. One of our favourite bonus bits is the HDR mode. This effectively combines multiple exposure in a single shot to bring out extra detail in shadows. Both the HDR and normal shots are saved, meaning there's very little downside - other than that taking shots is a little bit slower.
Check out slow and fast motion modes
Nestled within the menus of the video camera app are fast and slow motion modes, capturing either more or fewer frames per second than normal. It's not quite the 120fps mode you get in some dedicated cameras, but will come in handy if you're trying to video a sports event, for example.
Don't forget video effects
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 doesn't have the fun face-distorting video effects you get with a vanilla Jelly Bean phone, but it does have a range of funky filters. There are colour pop modes, extracting all but certain shades from your videos, and the cartoon filter is perfect for some arty rotoscope-style vids.
Give the exposure longer time than the sound effect suggests
Each time you take a photo, a shutter sound plays in the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. However, we found that occasionally the phone needs a little bit longer to attain a solid focus. Hold still for an extra half-second for good measure.
Get vid previews with Air View
Using Air View, if you hold the pen over the transport bar of a movie clip in the media player, you'll be given a preview of what's going on in the film at that point. It makes finding the right part of a film or TV ep a doddle.
Connectivity
Don't go over you allowance, with Data Usage
A staple Android feature is the Data Usage counter. This can be found within the Settings menu, and it monitors your data usage, showing it as a colourful graph. You can use it to cut off your mobile data connection once you reach a certain limit, to ensure you won't get charged by your carrier.
Wi-Fi sync with Kies
We've already endorsed drag 'n' drop file transfers over Kies sync'ing, but if you're a Kies fan, don't forget that you can also sync wirelessly. To set this feature up, scroll to the bottom of the More Settings sub-menu, where you'll find the Kies via Wi-Fi option.
S Beam
A feature introduced with the Samsung Galaxy S3, S Beam uses a mixture of NFC and Wi-Fi Direct to let you transfer files between compatible Samsung phones. You just need to tap the phones together to get them playing. S Beam needs to be switched on, though, from within the Wireless and Networks menu.
NFC lets you buy coffee
The NFC connectivity of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 also let you buy small items such as cups of coffee, sandwiches and the like. Several big high street chains have taken the NFC plunge, including Starbucks and EAT, using apps to let you dump credit onto your phone.
Share screens with AllShare Cast
AllShare used to be just about sending a video file from, say, your phone to your Blu-ray player. But now it does a lot more. AllShare Cast lets you send your Galaxy Note 2's screen contents to another display, a bit like AirPlay Mirroring.
Forget Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Direct is better
Wi-Fi Direct is tied into the S Beam transfer feature, but you can also use it easily on its own. This is a version of Wi-Fi that doesn't need an internet connection, as it can hook-up directly with another compatible device. It some ways it's a successor to Bluetooth, letting you transfer files, and at a much greater speed than old Bluetooth could handle.
Watch your 4G
If you want to get a 4G-capable Note 2, be aware that the LTE edition is separate from the standard one. EE says it'll stock the LTE Galaxy Note 2 from October 15.
Enjoy!:good:
Frequently asked questions
What is Odex and Deodex -> [Complete Guide] What is Odex and Deodex ROM? From @R_a_z_v_a_n
What is Zipalign? -> [Guide] What is Zipalign and how to make Apps zipaligned From @R_a_z_v_a_n
How to Root Note2 & keep flash counter 0 -> [Root]How to Root Note2 [N7100] & keep flash counter 0 From @dr.ketan
More to come...
PS: Without comments this thread will fall in the abyss of the system(unless it becomes a sticky, which would be good). So please keep it alive with a little reply. thanks.
<--Don't forget to hit THANKS if I helped
Re: So you just bought a Note2 - 50 Galaxy Note 2 Tips and Tricks(Make phone faster)
It is a copy and paste from a website I know I don't remember the link guys.
..................
●•¤SENT FROM MY BEAST●•¤
★★GALAXY NOTE 2 GT N7100★★
USING ●XDA PREMIUM HD● APP
aviralsingh16 said:
It is a copy and paste from a website I know I don't remember the link guys.
..................
●•¤SENT FROM MY BEAST●•¤
★★GALAXY NOTE 2 GT N7100★★
USING ●XDA PREMIUM HD● APP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The source(link) and name of author are the first thing on the OP.
Thanks
Thanks for the great article! I agree, this SHOULD be a sticky!
Re: So you just bought a Note2 - 50 Galaxy Note 2 Tips and Tricks(Make phone faster)
Good work, to the original op, and the second one.
Best regards
Sifou
Using a Samsung N7100
Great article. Really helpful.
For this point, when I connect my Note 2 directly to my Mac, it does not show up.
Any ideas?
Don't sync, drag 'n' drop
If you chose to go Android rather than opting for an iPhone, there's a good chance that the open-ness of the platform had something to do with it. Samsung is keen on trying to make its users adopt the Kies desktop software, but it's actually completely unnecessary. Plug the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 into a computer with a microUSB cable and it'll show up as a media player drive, which you can drag and drop all kinds of files onto. Transfer speeds are impressively fast too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
luckyconverter said:
Great article. Really helpful.
For this point, when I connect my Note 2 directly to my Mac, it does not show up.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't own a Mac so I can't confirm 100% but it should be the same.
When you connect your USB you should see the USB symbol on the status bar (on the top left).
pull down your status bar and select USB options
it should bring you to Connection option, selct USB as Media device
Should also add the S-Voice Tip too
Re: [Novice Guide] So you just bought a Note2 - 50+ Tips and Tricks+Make phone faster
Gj. Was handy
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
McLaren__F1 said:
Should also add the S-Voice Tip too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note taken.
OP updated.
KurlyK said:
Thanks for the great article! I agree, this SHOULD be a sticky!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree
Bump
Bumpy
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
I installed Nova launcher. I lose the S Buddy Page helper (so when you plug in headphones or take the pen out a new home page appears), but it means I can put more icons on the home screens to make better use of the display, and Nova is pretty slick and quick.
speculatrix said:
I installed Nova launcher. I lose the S Buddy Page helper (so when you plug in headphones or take the pen out a new home page appears), but it means I can put more icons on the home screens to make better use of the display, and Nova is pretty slick and quick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and you can easily make folders in the dock by sliding icons on top of each others so you can keep a clean screen. You can also "swipe up" on each icons in the dock to lauch a "hidden" apps. To do so just long press one icon in the dock and choose "edit", then chose the app you want to lauch with the icon swipe up.:good:
Thanks for posting this. Really useful for a new note 2 user shaking off the iphone withdrawl. Love this phone.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app
Smegwitch said:
Thanks for posting this. Really useful for a new note 2 user shaking off the iphone withdrawl. Love this phone.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the best.
Thanks for the tip!
bs_flatline said:
Thanks for the tip!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My pleasure
Hey guys,
I've been wanting to snag an e-Ink based reader for quite sometime now. I have an iPad 3 and reading on it is a bit of a chore since its a bit heavy (with a case). I came across this Kobo Aura HD and decided to buy until I realized that the Nook Touch can be rooted and actual Android apps can be run on it.
I also have a ton of books on PDF, so how do the Nook and the Kobo (if any of you are aware about) handle them?
Is the Nook Touch worth getting over a high-rez e-Ink screen?
Also, where can I get the Nook Touch online?
Thanks in Anticipation.
I have a Nook Simple Touch that I read on all the time. I rooted it a couple of days before its warranty expired. Honestly, I don't really run any Android apps on it. I have 5 or 10 installed including Kindle and coolreader and pageturner. I always end up using the stock reader. I have been able to make some modifications using root that allow the Nook to work more to my preferences, but as far as running Android apps, I will take my wife's Nexus 7 every time, or even my Driod 4. If you have an iPad already, I personally would look at the Aura HD or a Kindle Paperwhite depending on the funds you have available. My Nook is not a glowlight and I do wish it had the built in front light. As for a "HD" screen, my personal opinion is that they are very nice, but honestly, my NST has sharper text than most printed books so I am not sure if the higher resolution is necessary. Now, with regard to your PDF books, if they are basically text with few or no graphics, I believe that most e-readers will handle those. If they are graphics intensive, like technical manuals, then I would wait until I see reviews of the Aura HD to make a decision. I think most small e-readers and even "HD" tablets are too small to read graphics intensive PDFs.
If you are in the US, you can buy the Nook online at http://www.barnesandnoble.com
amjazz said:
Hey guys,
I've been wanting to snag an e-Ink based reader for quite sometime now. I have an iPad 3 and reading on it is a bit of a chore since its a bit heavy (with a case). I came across this Kobo Aura HD and decided to buy until I realized that the Nook Touch can be rooted and actual Android apps can be run on it.
I also have a ton of books on PDF, so how do the Nook and the Kobo (if any of you are aware about) handle them?
Is the Nook Touch worth getting over a high-rez e-Ink screen?
Also, where can I get the Nook Touch online?
Thanks in Anticipation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWBcvWuWw_w
[read the description]
The quality is poor, the sound is irrelevant. Still, it shows some of the PDF viewers in action using different screen refresh modes.
Main advantage of NST is good handling of badly converted PDF's or PDF's with lots of images/tables.
Most E-book reader try to perform a 'text reflow' on PDF's which means it converts them to text.
If the PDF is made from photographs, it's unreadable using 'reflow'.
The stock reader which is not shown in the video uses "text reflow" and is pretty good at converting to text.
If you want to buy NST outside of US try one of the British shops or Ebay
I use my NST for virtually all my ereading, the display resolution is very good and each battery charge lasts several weeks. I rooted it so that I can install and use better ereader (Mantano) and browser (Opera Mobile), plus a couple of news/weather apps (NPR, Weather Channel). I also love the fact (with a modded kernel) it can play audio via a USB audio adapter (although I have not yet found a working volume-control app so that I can listen using earphones).
digixmax said:
I use my NST for virtually all my ereading, the display resolution is very good and each battery charge lasts several weeks. I rooted it so that I can install and use better ereader (Mantano) and browser (Opera Mobile), plus a couple of news/weather apps (NPR, Weather Channel). I also love the fact (with a modded kernel) it can play audio via a USB audio adapter (although I have not yet found a working volume-control app so that I can listen using earphones).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried reassigning the page-turn buttons to volume up/down? That's what I did because most reading apps use the volume buttons to turn pages. When I press those reassigned buttons outside of a reading app, the volume bar pops up and lets me adjust it.
Here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18113297&postcount=4
The only question I have is if the factory reset by pressing the two bottom buttons at startup still works after this tweak.
LoopyDood said:
Have you tried reassigning the page-turn buttons to volume up/down? That's what I did because most reading apps use the volume buttons to turn pages. When I press those reassigned buttons outside of a reading app, the volume bar pops up and lets me adjust it.
Here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18113297&postcount=4
The only question I have is if the factory reset by pressing the two bottom buttons at startup still works after this tweak.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://nookdevs.com/Nook_Simple_Touch_restore_to_stock
Methods 2 and 3 work fine.
Just so everyone knows, the Kobo Aura HD can have Android installed on it! It's just Gingerbread 2.3.4 but man the hardware is way better than the Nook ST
Everyone should be getting their phone in the next few days. I am coming from iOS so I am not 100% sure about all of androids apps and features. I have spent a lot of time in the last month learning as much as I could about switching over but I would like to get some opinions from everyone. I hope this will also help any other novice users get the most out of the note 3.
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
2. What apps will make using the note more enjoyable/easier?
3. What apps can I wow people with a demo of?
4. Any other general app recommendations?
5. What general settings should I initially use? or disable?
6. Anything I missed for a first time android user?
1) NEXT Launcher 3D
2) NEXT Launcher 3D
3) NEXT Launcher 3D's "Swing with Scroll" feature
Impuls3101 said:
Everyone should be getting their phone in the next few days. I am coming from iOS so I am not 100% sure about all of androids apps and features. I have spent a lot of time in the last month learning as much as I could about switching over but I would like to get some opinions from everyone. I hope this will also help any other novice users get the most out of the note 3.
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
2. What apps will make using the note more enjoyable/easier?
3. What apps can I wow people with a demo of?
4. Any other general app recommendations?
5. What general settings should I initially use? or disable?
6. Anything I missed for a first time android user?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome aboard! Here's the first thing you'll have to deal with: Size. The Note 3 (I have a Note 2) will seem huge and you may get buyer's remorse. Most of us do. It wears off in a couple of days, though and then you'll wonder how you dealt with such a small phone.
1. I use Apex launcher. Why do I use a launcher? Because I like to change the number of rows/columns from the standard setting. I also like to eliminate the Google search bar. And, I like using gestures to go to apps. I use swipe-up for Google Now and swipe-down for notification shade. Why do I use Apex instead of others? No particular reason but it seemed to have the most available features for a free version at the time. I have since paid for it.
2, There are a bazillion apps. But, coming from the iPhone I would first experiment with keyboard replacements. Why? Because you can and the iphone users can't. Try Swype or Swiftkey. Swiftkey is amazing at guessing what your next word will be. Most of all, get used to swiping instead of typing. Once you get good at it it's MUCH faster than typing. Then show that off to your iPhone buddies and say, "Take that!"
3. If you really want to dazzle people with your new phone find a high def YouTube video (the Vevo ones are good). Playing a beautiful video on a large screen has some really powerful WOW! factor.
4. Some apps I use a lot:
Color Note - A great note and checklist app that syncs via the cloud.
Chrome Beta
Flixter for getting movie times and watching trailers
Gas Buddy to find cheap gasoline
Amazon App store. A free app every day. You have to side load it, it's not in the Play Store.
Droid of the Day - A new app suggestion every day
Timely - One of the most beautiful alarm clock apps. It also syncs with all your devices
The usual apps: Netflix, Pandora, Watch ESPN, HBO Go, Dropbox, et al.
5. I turn off Auto display brightness. I leave my Note 2 at full brightness all the time. The battery can handle this just fine.
I leave GPS, Wifi, and NFC on all the time.
Make sure you setup Google+ to automatically upload your photos
6. Don't go too crazy downloading apps. You may find your battery suddenly draining too fast. If you don't like or use an app delete it immediately so it won't eat battery.
Good luck and have fun.
Impuls3101 said:
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nova Prime because it is better than TW in every way.
Ok I will answer some of my own questions from using the device the last 10 or so hours I hope this helps someone else. Please add suggestions because I am still getting used to everything.
1. Nova launcher seems to be easier to use because it takes all ur tw settings and imports them. It makes it easy to switch between the two. I like the tw weather widget better though
2. -I still need to find a good email client that syncs the few accounts that I have together. I haven't looked into this yet.
-Equalizer is a really good app to put more bass or customize the sound of your music.
-Adblock plus is really nice to have while browsing the internet .. I always hated that I couldn't use it on the iphone.
-The adapt sound settings helped make my headphones sound a little better. I use an aux in on my car so it kind of sucks that they don't have profiles for different sources.
3. -Next Launcher is really nice to show people but I don't know if I could use it everyday and its 3x the price of other launchers.
-Real Racing 3 is a nice demo game but good old angry birds star wars 2 probably looks the best and it has a note 3 achievement
-slow mo camera is really nice but anything less than 1/2 speed and the image starts to look very grainy .. 4k really has a wow factor even on the 1080p screen.
4. Sketchbook for Galaxy is a lot of fun to draw in with the s-pen.
5. -I followed this guide for disabling some of the bloatware: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2478448
-I also disabled most of the air hover features because they are nice for demoing the device to someone but I probably won't use them. Plus I wear glasses and it doesn't seem to detect my eyes very well.
-People are reporting poor wifi and one of the settings suggested is to turn off network auto connect.. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2472779 .. I experienced the problem but reset my router and it seems fine now.. not sure if its a software glitch or what.
6. -Here is a useful guide on how to transfer your contacts : http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/transfer-iphone-contact-to-android/
-The only thing I am missing from iOS are the nice lock screen notifications. If anyone has a suggestion please let me know
Impuls3101 said:
Everyone should be getting their phone in the next few days. I am coming from iOS so I am not 100% sure about all of androids apps and features. I have spent a lot of time in the last month learning as much as I could about switching over but I would like to get some opinions from everyone. I hope this will also help any other novice users get the most out of the note 3.
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
2. What apps will make using the note more enjoyable/easier?
3. What apps can I wow people with a demo of?
4. Any other general app recommendations?
5. What general settings should I initially use? or disable?
6. Anything I missed for a first time android user?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I have been using Nova for a while on my Galaxy Nexus, and use it on my N3 now too. It's not too bloated, allows custom number of icons per row/column, gestures, and resize all widgets. I used to use Apex, and that was really good too, but I switched a while ago to Nova because there was some feature Apex didn't have, though honestly I don't remember what now, and they may very well have added it.
2. SketchBook Mobile by Autodesk (makers of AutoCAD and Inventor, among many other engineering-oriented programs) is kind of cool, it's a sketch program that you can do a lot with, and works well with the stylus. Not the most useful app, per se, but a fun "proof of concept" if you will, and it's free. I believe there's more options than the built in equivalent, though I haven't used either a ton yet.
3. Any high def media will look awesome. Show them Netflix streaming, or as someone else said, HD Youtube, or any other HD video. Even pictures taken with the camera look great, simply because of the huge high res screen. Pictures taken with the phone probably would look even better on the screen than ones taken with another phone with a better camera but worse screen, because it's still small enough to cover up minor imperfections, but big and crisp enough to really look amazing.
4. For a music player, I like PowerAmp. It's got a really good equalizer, and a ton of settings to play with. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of the interface, but it's not awful. You can also customize the widget as much as you want, in terms of colors, fonts, transparency, buttons, size, what's displayed, etc.
I also use UberSync for Facebook, which lets you use sync HD pictures from facebook as contact photos. You can also import birthdays into your calendar, if you want, and some other info from people's profiles. You can choose what resolution to use, how often to sync, and only use wi-fi if you want.
5. I turned off all of the Smart features and that kind of thing. I don't want to control my phone with my eyes or hand gestures, I want to use it with my hands or S Pen. Of course that's fully a matter of preference. Also I noticed that the setting to alert you if you walk away without putting the S Pen back in is disabled by default, so I enabled that. I still worry I'm going to lose it sometime, but that's just because I'm forgetful.
Impuls3101 said:
-Adblock plus is really nice to have while browsing the internet .. I always hated that I couldn't use it on the iphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How are you using Adblock without root??
jmorton10 said:
How are you using Adblock without root??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Firefox with the adblock plugin and its working great. Firefox now flies on this phone.:good: