Related
My X has been running slow and a little funny. I have froyo 2.3.15, with FlyX Rom, Revolution Themes, LauncherPro Plus, and Beautiful Widgets all running. Revolution was the last thing I added about a week ago and ever since then, it seems to be running different. Its slower to react, doesn't change from portrait to landscape very fast, whenever I unlock the screen, if I'm holding it straight up and down, it always opens into landscape mode. This seems like a pretty standard setup to a lot of people on here. Any advice and info on this topic would be appreciated, or just conversation about what others are running similar or different. Thanks a lot!
(also, I ran quadrant benchmark with scores between 1440 and 1495)
brandon2x said:
My X has been running slow and a little funny. I have froyo 2.3.15, with FlyX Rom, Revolution Themes, LauncherPro Plus, and Beautiful Widgets all running. Revolution was the last thing I added about a week ago and ever since then, it seems to be running different. Its slower to react, doesn't change from portrait to landscape very fast, whenever I unlock the screen, if I'm holding it straight up and down, it always opens into landscape mode. This seems like a pretty standard setup to a lot of people on here. Any advice and info on this topic would be appreciated, or just conversation about what others are running similar or different. Thanks a lot!
(also, I ran quadrant benchmark with scores between 1440 and 1495)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cannot recall whether or not FlyX includes the build.prop modifications or not, if not you would definitely want to make those. Other than that the only other thing I would recommend is giving MinFreeManager a shot, it changes the "low memory" requirements for the built in memory manager (task manager) of android. If configured properly it can really make a difference in both battery life and performance (not speed, but responsiveness). It does not do it for you, it lets you set the fields, so learn how to do it first, it varies depending on your use of your phone, I don't run any facebook or other streaming applications so my settings are 6,8,16,60,60,150 but this could vary greatly, and may adversely affect others, so read up on the app in the market.
Again that app will improve responsiveness, in that it will give you less delay when swyping the screen in the UI and such, in that your phone does not have to kill a task to free up memory to complete the next task, it will not improve benchmarks, at the same time, poor memory management will give you poor performance in real world use but may not affect your benchmarks, another reason that benchmarks are poor ways of measuring performance.
Outside of that, what it really comes down to is our Android systems need hardware acceleration... Google really needs to get of there... well... you know... and get with the game here, based off the recent discussion and their advisement to manufacturers to hold of the release of tablets until the next android release, I am hoping they are currently implementing it, but without GPU hardware acceleration in the UI and web browser, we will constantly have the appearance of choppiness and the illusion of poor performance even on our overqualified phones... it is one area where I am sad to say the iPhone has us beat... very sad to say... as a matter of fact, I just washed my mouth out with a bit of soap...
EDIT: a good example of how well that application worked for me over actual "tasks killers" on the market such as task killer and such... before having this app installed and configured, a quick investigation of "settings, applications, running services" and viewing the available memory, it would display "Avail:16MB+98MB in ##" after having this app and having it configured it displays "Avail:72MB+116MB in 26" I am assuming my poor UI responsiveness was due to the first of the two numbers...
Yeah I always hate to say that about iPhones too but they do seem to keep the same speed and responsiveness ALL the time... Oh well, they've been around a little longer so Android will just have to keep working on it. I believe it'll be there soon. I will try that app you recommended. I appreciate the speedy response.
brandon2x said:
Yeah I always hate to say that about iPhones too but they do seem to keep the same speed and responsiveness ALL the time... Oh well, they've been around a little longer so Android will just have to keep working on it. I believe it'll be there soon. I will try that app you recommended. I appreciate the speedy response.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no problem, yeah, the iPhone has had GPU hardware acceleration in the UI since it came out, they structured their OS around it, Google chose otherwise, and I can only hope they regret that decision now... but hopefully they will make amends for that...
just make sure you read the post referenced in the app itself. It is written for the HTC Hero which only has 288MB of Ram as opposed to our 512MB Ram, but it still basically applies.
Keep in mind:
It does not automatically set on reboot until you tell it to, do not tell it to until you are sure the settings you have set do not mess with anything.
You probably will not notice a difference for about an hour... at least that's how long it took for me to truly notice a difference... I'm not really sure why, it apparently took that long for the priorities to take affect, and get the right processes killed, etc., etc. After that, especially later that day I was truly noticing a difference, especially in typing... I have always had a delay when typing on this phone, and that seems to be gone now...
yeah i was guessing that. i read an article at androidcentral.com about it and just set it to aggressive for now. applied it, but the specs under "running services" haven't changed so i'll give it an hour or so. i'll let you know how it turns out. thanks again!
brandon2x said:
yeah i was guessing that. i read an article at androidcentral.com about it and just set it to aggressive for now. applied it, but the specs under "running services" haven't changed so i'll give it an hour or so. i'll let you know how it turns out. thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds good, your welcome and good luck!
If those settings work out for you without any problems, you'll probably want to up them a bit, it might say aggressive, but they are only so aggressive... If it makes a big difference for you then stick with them, if you still have slow down, and you are running what you described before, you can probably get away running settings similar to what I posted, just don't have them set on boot just in case, if they don't work out you can always set them lower or back to a preset. It is definitely something you can expiriment with, if worst comes to worst, you can always reboot, but as long as you don't touch the first 4 values, you won't mess anything up, the worst that you will do with the last 2 is temporarly screw up facebook sync. or something similar, and really you can get away with changing the 4th value to, it just has a chance of affecting more things, but I doubt you'll end up affecting anything with values around 50 anyway. Like I said, experimenting never hurts, slow phones do... Just keep an eye on it ;-) good luck again.
To add a little correction.if you are running fly x then you are not running 2.3.15 you are running the earlier related release it Is based on. Even if you did have2.3.15 before installing it fly x over writes the system to the files it uses. All roms do. Do you actually have like 2.3.9 I think
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
It does say 2.3.9. I inquired about this before because I used teamblackhat to get .15 and the system never seemed to change to .15 every time I tried to download it... I guess that's why, because of flyx...
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
After reading Captian Taco's post I was eager to try it out, and its actually making a big difference =D thanks!
Yes it is... its been running much smoother and more responsive all day. Thanks again captaintaco... (boy thats kinda funny to type...)
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Thanks CaptainTaco! Installed MFM to clear up my "lag" issues that are usually experienced in the evenings after a reset first thing in the a.m. each day. Before MFM it wasn't a huge deal to do a reset to clear up the issue, but I much prefer it to just work right all the time.
pduboise said:
Thanks CaptainTaco! Installed MFM to clear up my "lag" issues that are usually experienced in the evenings after a reset first thing in the a.m. each day. Before MFM it wasn't a huge deal to do a reset to clear up the issue, but I much prefer it to just work right all the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey don't thank me, thank the creator of MFM, I'm pretty sure he was one of the first to discover the power of Androids integrated minimum memory management, if not the first. Just glad to share my discovery of his discovery haha. But yea, to be honest I don't even use a custom Rom anymore, it runs so quick just having that (thought it works even better in conjunction with your standard simplistic task killer such as "advanced task killer" just to kill apps in the foreground after you are done with them, since many apps don't include a way of closing themselves out...
I still try the custom Roms out and play around with them for the hell of it, but as for right now, I rely heavily on corporate integration, and most of the good blurless Roms remove features required for true and proper corporate sync, such as calender sync and the like... and I just don't like touchdown pro... So this helps me out greatly... remove some bloat, throw launcher pro on there, and get this fix fired up, phone runs like a dream... now if only they could get exchange active sync running like it was on Sense... best implementation I have seen of Exchange active sync so far... I do miss that...
Well after all the advice I ended up installing the zapx rom last night. Wow! It is sooo fast... everything just responds and reacts so much faster than before. I suggest installing zapx to anyone. Best rom so far I think...
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
UPDATE v1.2 Just released onto the market
Thanks for all of the feedback. Please keep it coming. I think it's coming along nicely, next stage is to lay more in-game features.
More importantly - what do you think? The link is in my signature.
I've also started up a blog - if anyone is interested in writing their own app - it's how I've found the process.
::1.2
+ Redesigned graphics engine
+ Support for multi-sized devices including 320x480 up to tablets
+ Enhanced levelling system
+ Persisted scores and progress
+ Mute music/fx added to front screen and gameplay screens
+ Added new creep
+ Fixed FC issues on game leaving/re-entering
+ Redesigned splash screens
+ General bug fixes and graphical tweaks
---
I've just released Livestock Vs The Undead Lite v1.1 (free strategy game) onto Android Market and Amazon. (See screenshots attached)
I've tried to resolve all issues that had been raised and feel the game presents much more of a challenge. I've rewritten a large chunk of the graphics engine to handle a more involved playing environment. Added new characters, sounds and more features than I can list.
If you had tried it before and thought it too basic, or haven't tried it - please check out the new version and let me know if I'm it's starting to show any potential. If you liked it before, please let me know if you think any ways to improve it?
Sincerely - this project is being driven by feedback - so any is most welcome. All suggestions will be considered.
Many thanks,
Paul
Hi,
** EDIT : 04/06/2011 : Livestock Vs The Undead Lite is now completely free and available in the Android Market! Please check it out! **
I thought it'd be great to give and receive thoughts and feelings for my first ever attempt at an android tower defence type game. (Currently available on the android market.)
==========
A brief description:
"Only you can save the planet. Again. 'Cos you are good at it!
"The farm is under attack! It's an all out invasion from hordes of gruesomely reanimated dead and the animals aren't going to take it lying down.
"Fight wave after wave of increasing challenging life-challenged assailants.
Utilise each of the unique skills on offer from the livestock that are fighting your cause.
"This is a taste of an imminent future release."
==========
I am very new to all this and am keen to learn. The biggest question is : what do you think?
Cheers,
Paul
pphillips001 said:
Hi,
I thought it'd be great to give and receive thoughts and feelings for my first ever attempt at an android tower defence type game. (Currently available on the android market.)
==========
A brief description:
"Only you can save the planet. Again. 'Cos you are good at it!
"The farm is under attack! It's an all out invasion from hordes of gruesomely reanimated dead and the animals aren't going to take it lying down.
"Fight wave after wave of increasing challenging life-challenged assailants.
Utilise each of the unique skills on offer from the livestock that are fighting your cause.
"This is a taste of an imminent future release."
==========
I am very new to all this and am keen to learn. The biggest question is : what do you think?
Cheers,
Paul
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's what i think!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=14104107&postcount=4
Potter1984 - I've responded here : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1093941
Hi!
Under the superb advice given from these very forums I have released the game freely into the market.
Just search for 'Livestock vs the Undead Lite'.
Please check it out and I would appreciate any feedback.
Many thanks,
Paul
Hi,
Very nice for your first game. Is this an original game concept by you or did you 'copy' it from another game? (I know it's based on tower defense games, but never saw a 'top down' one like this)
Played it one time now till I got to level 3, then I died
some remarks
- why is the screen shifting when I move the phone around?
- tutorial screens are not very clear plus they dont stay on screen long enough. It's like: "1 pig is 1 rocket, 1 hay is 1 shield, wait a minute.. what?" and then the screen is already gone
- also, it wasn't obvious that the chickens and stuff cost 'cash'. At first I thought they only 'cost' time. And I couldnt figure out why I couldnt build any pigs, thats when I realised I needed to build up cash.
- there's also no clear way to tell how much each animal costs in cash
- level 1 is kinda boring, I think level 1 is necessary, because you should give people the time too learn the game, but it's too long. When you reach level 2 things get a lot more interesting, zombies are coming at you in higher numbers and at higher speed (i think).
- I also think zombies get more health as you progress through the levels? But there's no way to tell, so I didnt know how many chickens to place
- Last remark: When a zombie reaches the first of your 'last defense' chickens, your basicly screwed. There's nothing you can do. Maybe you should introduce a bomb or something to push the zombies back?
- And also introduce some animals that don't just shoot up. (or maybe there are some in later levels?)
Anyway, it's pretty nice for your first game. I even enjoyed it a bit, but tower defense type games can't hold my interest for very long i'm afraid.
Hope this was of some help to you.
Grtz
Hi swimon,
First of all: many thanks for your feedback.
"Very nice for your first game. Is this an original game concept by you or did you 'copy' it from another game? (I know it's based on tower defense games, but never saw a 'top down' one like this)"
It has elements of several tower defence games - I thought the vertical layout would set it out from the rest. I haven't seen any other quite like this.
"Played it one time now till I got to level 3, then I died "
Not bad for your first go!
"some remarks
- why is the screen shifting when I move the phone around? "
It allows the player to see a larger playing area that the phone's screen. I was hoping it would make the game more involving and a bit more interesting to watch.
"- tutorial screens are not very clear plus they dont stay on screen long enough. It's like: "1 pig is 1 rocket, 1 hay is 1 shield, wait a minute.. what?" and then the screen is already gone "
I agree. I think I shall add a 'tutorial' section that incorporates levels one to three. Players new to the game will then get a gentle intro to the game and repeat players could then skips these easier levels to get straight into the action.
"- also, it wasn't obvious that the chickens and stuff cost 'cash'. At first I thought they only 'cost' time. And I couldnt figure out why I couldnt build any pigs, thats when I realised I needed to build up cash. "
As above.
"- there's also no clear way to tell how much each animal costs in cash"
That was the next thing on my list to do!
"- level 1 is kinda boring, I think level 1 is necessary, because you should give people the time too learn the game, but it's too long. When you reach level 2 things get a lot more interesting, zombies are coming at you in higher numbers and at higher speed (i think)."
This should be addressed in the tutorial as mentioned above.
"- I also think zombies get more health as you progress through the levels? But there's no way to tell, so I didnt know how many chickens to place "
You are correct - the creeps (I take it you haven't gotten past the zombies yet?) do get harder each level. I did this so you'll never reach a stalemate which would take all interest out of the game. My intention is to make some shooters more powerful against some creeps than others, which should add to the strategy element.
"- Last remark: When a zombie reaches the first of your 'last defense' chickens, your basicly screwed. There's nothing you can do. Maybe you should introduce a bomb or something to push the zombies back?"
Yep. I have a number of attack methods to add.
"- And also introduce some animals that don't just shoot up. (or maybe there are some in later levels?)"
As above.
"Anyway, it's pretty nice for your first game. I even enjoyed it a bit, but tower defense type games can't hold my interest for very long i'm afraid. "
Many thanks. I know tower defence isn't everyone's flavour of game but I do appreciate you taking the time to try it out and even more so for giving me this feedback.
"Hope this was of some help to you."
Absolutely!
Cheers
Paul
pphillips001 said:
"some remarks
- why is the screen shifting when I move the phone around? "
It allows the player to see a larger playing area that the phone's screen. I was hoping it would make the game more involving and a bit more interesting to watch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just be careful with sensor controls. It's not everyone's cup of tea first of all, a lot of people don't like it. And secondly it's very difficult to implement well (imo).
You could also easily control the camera by swyping your fingers on the screen? Maybe make it a user defined setting.
Thirdly (is that a word?): I don't really see the point of it? I don't know at what resolution you tested it, but on my Desire, I can already see every row/column so there's no need to shift?
pphillips001 said:
"- I also think zombies get more health as you progress through the levels? But there's no way to tell, so I didnt know how many chickens to place "
You are correct - the creeps (I take it you haven't gotten past the zombies yet?) do get harder each level. I did this so you'll never reach a stalemate which would take all interest out of the game. My intention is to make some shooters more powerful against some creeps than others, which should add to the strategy element.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you should change the color of the shirts of the zombies as they grow stronger, so the player knows he's facing a stronger opponent.
pphillips001 said:
"- Last remark: When a zombie reaches the first of your 'last defense' chickens, your basicly screwed. There's nothing you can do. Maybe you should introduce a bomb or something to push the zombies back?"
Yep. I have a number of attack methods to add.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could maybe also add an option to retreat your animals. When you see your defenses are going to be breached, you can quickly change one of your chickens in for a pig or a hay stack. (or something like that)
pphillips001 said:
"- And also introduce some animals that don't just shoot up. (or maybe there are some in later levels?)"
As above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
introduce one animal that shoots sideways, the player could then first place a hay stack and beneath it a sideways shooting animal!
Also lastly: This game asked me for root priveleges? that's a big no no! so please fix that.
You can always PM me if you update to a newer version!
Grtz
swimon said:
Just be careful with sensor controls. It's not everyone's cup of tea first of all, a lot of people don't like it. And secondly it's very difficult to implement well (imo).
You could also easily control the camera by swyping your fingers on the screen? Maybe make it a user defined setting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm ripping out the tilt code for the next release. It's not really needed and I found it a bit distracting.
swimon said:
Thirdly (is that a word?): I don't really see the point of it? I don't know at what resolution you tested it, but on my Desire, I can already see every row/column so there's no need to shift?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As above. I'm a fellow Desireian. (Desirables?) We rock!
swimon said:
Maybe you should change the color of the shirts of the zombies as they grow stronger, so the player knows he's facing a stronger opponent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good suggestion.
swimon said:
You could maybe also add an option to retreat your animals. When you see your defenses are going to be breached, you can quickly change one of your chickens in for a pig or a hay stack. (or something like that)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have something cunning in mind for this.
swimon said:
introduce one animal that shoots sideways, the player could then first place a hay stack and beneath it a sideways shooting animal!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is also going on the list.
swimon said:
Also lastly: This game asked me for root priveleges? that's a big no no! so please fix that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a bit confused by this? It hooks into the wakelock and vibration permissions (both of which I have taken out of the next release) - other than that it shouldn't ask for anything else?
swimon said:
You can always PM me if you update to a newer version!
Grtz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will do, and thanks again. You are a star!
Great feedback.
Cheers,
Paul
heya,
yeah, don't know why it asks for root permission. I clicked deny and remember and the game still runs fine. So dunno...
The game is actually pretty addicting, but it's also really hard (maybe thats what makes it addicting...)
I already found a way to cheat though
When you see one of your shields (hay stack) is about to go down, quickly replace it with another at the moment it get's destroyed
You could also introduce downward shooting animals to kill off the last zombies of the wave who are still attacking your hay stacks
Looking forward to the new version, 'cause I'm a little confused by the cash/time system
Glad to see your taking on board all the advice and critique on board, THAT is what makes a dev a GOOD dev.
Thanks for listening and keep at it!
Got to level 5 yesterday,
even managed to place one cat and one cow
but i'm not sure the cash system is in balance, I wasn't generating enough cash to build the more powerful animals/defenses to hold back to numerous (!) zombies and vampires
potter1984 said:
Glad to see your taking on board all the advice and critique on board, THAT is what makes a dev a GOOD dev.
Thanks for listening and keep at it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I am trying. I'll keep developing/tweaking for as long as I'm getting feedback (I may have doomed myself there).
swimon said:
heya,
yeah, don't know why it asks for root permission. I clicked deny and remember and the game still runs fine. So dunno...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's still puzzling me that one. I've not heard anyone else being asked for it.
swimon said:
The game is actually pretty addicting, but it's also really hard (maybe thats what makes it addicting...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should be even more so (on both counts) in the next rel.
swimon said:
I already found a way to cheat though
When you see one of your shields (hay stack) is about to go down, quickly replace it with another at the moment it get's destroyed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kind of - you'll eventually run out of money, so it's only a temporary 'feature'.
swimon said:
You could also introduce downward shooting animals to kill off the last zombies of the wave who are still attacking your hay stacks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've just updated the bullet code to handle 360 degree firing. It should start to get more interesting now.
swimon said:
Looking forward to the new version, 'cause I'm a little confused by the cash/time system
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At the moment there is a slow cash over time increase - in case you put your first animal down in the wrong column on the first turn.
You get additional cash from shooting baddies - the more so the harder the creep.
The cooldown time is more for the hardier animal (apart from haystacks which I've kept quick cooldowns).
All this will be revealed in the tutorial.
swimon said:
Got to level 5 yesterday,
even managed to place one cat and one cow
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yay - well done! I can see I've made it too easy - I can easily fix that!
swimon said:
but i'm not sure the cash system is in balance, I wasn't generating enough cash to build the more powerful animals/defenses to hold back to numerous (!) zombies and vampires
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps more frugal animal spending may help? On it's current settings I have completed level 12 (only once though ).
Thanks again,
Paul
v1.1 Released to the market. Please see original post for details.
Regards,
Paul
nice, i'll check it out one of these days
(messing around with some roms atm...)
Grtz
swimon said:
nice, i'll check it out one of these days
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers, I'd appreciate it.
swimon said:
(messing around with some roms atm...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck! I've spent way too much time checking out new roms - my poor Desire is starting to have an identity crisis! XJs MIUI is my personal fave at the moment. Or is your 'messing' at a lower level?
Cheers,
Paul
I've had reports of memory issues and have tracked it down in the code.
I'll release a fix for this later today.
Regards,
Paul
v1.1a has just been released onto the market.
Please let me know if there are any further issues and I'll jump straight on them.
Regards,
Paul
v1.1b has been uploaded with further memory optimizations.
This should fix some of the issues a small number of you have reported.
Cheers,
Paul
New screenshots have been posted on the original post.
For the next release I am looking to persist current level - so when you come back to play you start at the selection screen of the last level you had reached (with the option to start from the beginning again).
I have also raised the bullets to the top level - as they were looking a little strange flying through friendlies!
I have tracked down a bug that was causing force closes when the game had be paused and the user returned.
I am also looking to add some more variety to the creeps, bullets and towers.
Any suggestions on what you'd like to see adding?
Cheers,
Paul
New version (1.2) released onto the market.
Please check it out and let me know what you think.
Cheers,
Paul
A work colleague came and asked me to explain a few things about her new S3 today, since she knows I have one and she upgraded to it after having a little look at mine last week. She had an iPhone before.
1. Play Store default setting is to dump app icons all over your homescreens - she had about 30 icons dotted across her home screens, and she couldn't understand why they were duplicated there and in her app drawer.
2. The Touchwiz launcher default is not to alphabetically organise your apps, and she said she had a hard time finding each app when she wanted to use it
3. Some of the cool features are not turned on by default, and are buried in menus which a novice user is not going to find. Case in point, voice control of apps is under Settings in S Voice. First off there is no indication that Settings is even there unless you know to pres the menu button (not intuitive at all). If these features were turned on in the first place then the popup notifications you get when using the apps would've told her about their existence, and hence she could've been using them on her own.
4. Disabling built in apps - first off she had no idea that it could be done, she just knew that she couldn't uninstall them via Play Store like her downloaded apps, and there lots she wanted rid of. When I showed her the Applications Manager this caused confusion on three counts:
A) why is there two places to get rid of/disable apps,
B) why do you have to uninstall updates to some built in apps before the disable button is shown,
C) she didn't feel comfortable messing around in a menu which clearly has essential system apps with weird (to a novice) names such as Certificate Installer, Factory Test, Security Storage and com.android.smspush
5. She didn't really understand what a Widget was and why there was a list of them at the end of her app drawer, and how to use them. I can't remember whether the setup wizard covers widgets or not, but suffice to say if it did then she had not understood it, and dismissed it. She was scrolling to the end of the apps into her widgets and saying "I don't understand these funny looking apps - they don't do anything when I press them"... She did not see the tab at the top which detotes the difference between apps and widgets, and there is no other indication when you get into the widgets.
6. She says the battery life is not good compared to her old iPhone. After having a quick look at her Battery stats (unplugged after full charge, 7.5hrs off the charger 1.5hrs screen on time, 25% battery left) there was nothing in particular acting up, however her cell reception was burning a lot of the battery. She said that her reception (measured by the number of bars - I know, I know!) was not as good as her iPhone. So the 2 issues here are that her battery is objectively not as good, and her reception is subjectively not as good as her old iPhone.
7. She does like the camera, but was unaware of features such as panorama and shooting stills whilst recording video (and I'll mention again, the possibility of voice control). However she WAS aware that the new iPhone does these things (minus the voice control).
8. She didn't understand why she needed multiple accounts for things, Google, Samsung, Dropbox - she was unaware of what these accounts were even used for, and she thought it confusing to have them all on her phone. I didn't check, but it wouldn't surprise me if she was saving all her contacts to her phone rather than her Google account and thus negating a large benefit of having an Android phone.
All these things are minor to the likes of us who are used to Android, but she felt confused and out of her depth with the phone. I tried to show her stuff and reassure her, and she has said she will give it a few more days - but she isn't comfortable with it and may return it for another iPhone...
Admittedly she is not a techie sort of person, but I do feel that Samsung (and Google) could do a bit more to simplify things for the likes of her, because ultimately they are competing against Apple the masters of simple and making people feel at home with their devices.
My discussion with her has really opened my eyes as to why so many people love the iPhone, despite it being inferior in many ways to the S3. I guess you can sell a Ferrari at Ford prices, but not everyone has the skills to drive and park such a machine...
Opinions?
Literally dude I am surprised you wrote this long problem stats. First half of the things you asked are solved in settings for ex. your first problem is solved in playstore settings and similarly same with touchwiz go in menu press option button and u get grid view choose your type and your many other problems would be solved by reading whats written in plain english and smart phones are to bug around and learn about it not to keep in showcase
Nikhil'Da Devil said:
How did you last this long on this forum...................head bang
Literally dude I am surprised you wrote this long problem stats. First half of the things you asked are solved i settings for ex. your first problem is solved in playstore settings and similarly same with touchwiz go in menu prss option button and u get grid view choose your type and your many other problems would be solved by reading whats written in plain english
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's ironic, because you clearly didn't read the beginning of his post.
For point 1, you can disable the shortcut creation in the home screen so that it will create only in the app drawer.
I expect Google having its own findmylostphone service..... Samsung drive is useless.
The one big issue that I see in S3 is the lag that is in the home screen after returning back from another app. Samsung was pathetic there. Also inside the. App drawer lags inside the widgets tab. Even though S3 is a power horse Samsung has failed in many places....
No phone is perfect to fulfil everyone's need but the features that are released shouldn't be as half baked as the TW home screen. Disappointed.
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Well you typed an essay...
Sent from my epic amaze 4g
The only thing that this post proves is that most people are stupid and don't take the time to learn things that they use everyday. Why have a smartphone of u don't take the time to learn how to use it?
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Get her to go Windows. It's just two rows but more customization than IOS.
What Samsung should do is make a Galaxy S4 and a Galaxy SW. Make the hardware exactly the same but market the S4 to intermediate to advance user and market the SW with Windows Phone 9 to beginner to intermediate users.
The reason I say that this is how they should approach it is because Android is like what you described inherently. It gives you a lot of ways to do things from every screen. Samsung can't really dumb it down anymore or there is no point using Android. So Windows for beginners is how Samsung should approach it but instead of fragmenting their market just call the next Ativ S a Galaxy SW and watch the money come in from the beginners.
IPhone for girls and soccer moms. Android is for advanced users. I understand what you're getting at.
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I have a couple of friends who got the S3 just about the same time as myself. They both were ex iphone users and were both using BB torch prior to the S3. After a month, I was quite familiar with all the functions such as smart stay, direct call, swipe capture... etc. They were quite surprised that those features existed when i showed them, despite the fact there are pop up tutorials when you first use the phone. That's how i knew those features existed.
I dont think i'm any smarter than the average person, I think they are just too lazy and can't be bothered. Or maybe they are just living life and not sitting down with a computer, hitting the refresh button to see if the link to the latest JB leak have been posted up.
Nikhil'Da Devil said:
How did you last this long on this forum...................head bang
Literally dude I am surprised you wrote this long problem stats. First half of the things you asked are solved in settings for ex. your first problem is solved in playstore settings and similarly same with touchwiz go in menu press option button and u get grid view choose your type and your many other problems would be solved by reading whats written in plain english
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You apparently have a reading comprehension disability. He was pointing out that these things are not as obvious to others as they are to us, as in the case of his colleague.
This has been obvious to me since I first got an android. I have had no issues, though I have missed some options till reading about them a time or two or just forgot where they were.
That's why there will always be a need for the iPhone, for those who cannot figure **** out on their own.
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I m gs3 USEr and GS3 is really failed phone bcoz....
wt the hell this time apple really make awesome work look at the picture...
http://mediacdn.disqus.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/344/6674/original.jpg
lol hahahaha
setspeed said:
A work colleague came and asked me to explain a few things about her new S3 today, since she knows I have one and she upgraded to it after having a little look at mine last week. She had an iPhone before.
1. Play Store default setting is to dump app icons all over your homescreens - she had about 30 icons dotted across her home screens, and she couldn't understand why they were duplicated there and in her app drawer.
2. The Touchwiz launcher default is not to alphabetically organise your apps, and she said she had a hard time finding each app when she wanted to use it
3. Some of the cool features are not turned on by default, and are buried in menus which a novice user is not going to find. Case in point, voice control of apps is under Settings in S Voice. First off there is no indication that Settings is even there unless you know to pres the menu button (not intuitive at all). If these features were turned on in the first place then the popup notifications you get when using the apps would've told her about their existence, and hence she could've been using them on her own.
4. Disabling built in apps - first off she had no idea that it could be done, she just knew that she couldn't uninstall them via Play Store like her downloaded apps, and there lots she wanted rid of. When I showed her the Applications Manager this caused confusion on three counts:
A) why is there two places to get rid of/disable apps,
B) why do you have to uninstall updates to some built in apps before the disable button is shown,
C) she didn't feel comfortable messing around in a menu which clearly has essential system apps with weird (to a novice) names such as Certificate Installer, Factory Test, Security Storage and com.android.smspush
5. She didn't really understand what a Widget was and why there was a list of them at the end of her app drawer, and how to use them. I can't remember whether the setup wizard covers widgets or not, but suffice to say if it did then she had not understood it, and dismissed it. She was scrolling to the end of the apps into her widgets and saying "I don't understand these funny looking apps - they don't do anything when I press them"... She did not see the tab at the top which detotes the difference between apps and widgets, and there is no other indication when you get into the widgets.
6. She says the battery life is not good compared to her old iPhone. After having a quick look at her Battery stats (unplugged after full charge, 7.5hrs off the charger 1.5hrs screen on time, 25% battery left) there was nothing in particular acting up, however her cell reception was burning a lot of the battery. She said that her reception (measured by the number of bars - I know, I know!) was not as good as her iPhone. So the 2 issues here are that her battery is objectively not as good, and her reception is subjectively not as good as her old iPhone.
7. She does like the camera, but was unaware of features such as panorama and shooting stills whilst recording video (and I'll mention again, the possibility of voice control). However she WAS aware that the new iPhone does these things (minus the voice control).
8. She didn't understand why she needed multiple accounts for things, Google, Samsung, Dropbox - she was unaware of what these accounts were even used for, and she thought it confusing to have them all on her phone. I didn't check, but it wouldn't surprise me if she was saving all her contacts to her phone rather than her Google account and thus negating a large benefit of having an Android phone.
All these things are minor to the likes of us who are used to Android, but she felt confused and out of her depth with the phone. I tried to show her stuff and reassure her, and she has said she will give it a few more days - but she isn't comfortable with it and may return it for another iPhone...
Admittedly she is not a techie sort of person, but I do feel that Samsung (and Google) could do a bit more to simplify things for the likes of her, because ultimately they are competing against Apple the masters of simple and making people feel at home with their devices.
My discussion with her has really opened my eyes as to why so many people love the iPhone, despite it being inferior in many ways to the S3. I guess you can sell a Ferrari at Ford prices, but not everyone has the skills to drive and park such a machine...
Opinions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
help her see the light, guide her.
2ndaccord said:
The only thing that this post proves is that most people are stupid and don't take the time to learn things that they use everyday. Why have a smartphone of u don't take the time to learn how to use it?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the reason most people don't like android phones. They find it complicated. Those who know something about technology and open source or wants more from their phone they switch to android.
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I can't understand the reason of this thread, most of the "problems" are just caused by the inexperience. Logically android it's not iOS and i don't get why she spent her money in a phone that don't wanna learn to use
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Thank you for your replies regarding on how to "fix" her issues, perhaps I didn't make it clear enough - I was able to sort all of her issues out for her as I am well versed with Android. The point is that many of her issues require digging down into menus that a novice could not know existed, or they are issues caused by thoughtless defaults on the part of the manufacturer.
Many people (iPhone users especially I think) pick up a device and learn how it works by using it, they don't want or have time to read manuals or dig through settings menus trying to guess what might or might not be in there. For instance my colleague couldn't make the mental link between installing a new app and having it appear in two different places (seemingly randomly arranged, because it would just go to the first empty space on her home screen, and her app drawer was not alphabetically organised).
If she couldn't make that mental stretch, how would you then expect her to think "Ah, this behaviour might be adjustable - where would I adjust it? Oh of course, in the Play Store settings, where if I press the Menu button (with no indicator that there is a menu underneath that button on that screen) and de-tick auto-add widgets"
And they aren't even widgets, they're app icons! So even if she had got there by some stroke of luck, she probably wouldn't have understood it anyway, because widgets are something else!
My point is that Android and Samsung have a long way to go in the usability stakes for novices.
Nosterius said:
I can't understand the reason of this thread, most of the "problems" are just caused by the inexperience. Logically android it's not iOS and i don't get why she spent her money in a phone that don't wanna learn to use
Inviato dal mio GT-I9300 con Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
She got the phone because she was impressed with it's physical characteristics, big screen & nice camera. But using it has been far more difficult for her than her old phone, and hence she doesn't feel comfortable with it unfortunately.
Man I gave up long ago trying to convert iPhone users.
I tried to convert 3 at my work, and all 3 times it backfired on me. They could not grasp Android after using iOS for so long and you become the ASSHOLE that ruins their life. iOS is a perfect operating system for most people, you don't really have to think much to use it. It's just so beautifully easy to use and intuitive that you could just pick it up and master it within 10 minutes.
On that note, I could NEVER EVER go back to iOS, ever. When I use an iOS device, it feels like I'm using a phone. When I use my Android device, it feels like I'm using a computer.
So basically OP, she doesn't know how to use the phone yet?
Why the hell did she buy a phone thinking she would instantly know how to use it?
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---------- Post added at 03:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:23 AM ----------
Dan37tz said:
On that note, I could NEVER EVER go back to iOS, ever. When I use an iOS device, it feels like I'm using a phone. When I use my Android device, it feels like I'm using a computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's exactly how it is!
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setspeed said:
Thank you for your replies regarding on how to "fix" her issues, perhaps I didn't make it clear enough - I was able to sort all of her issues out for her as I am well versed with Android. The point is that many of her issues require digging down into menus that a novice could not know existed, or they are issues caused by thoughtless defaults on the part of the manufacturer.
Many people (iPhone users especially I think) pick up a device and learn how it works by using it, they don't want or have time to read manuals or dig through settings menus trying to guess what might or might not be in there. For instance my colleague couldn't make the mental link between installing a new app and having it appear in two different places (seemingly randomly arranged, because it would just go to the first empty space on her home screen, and her app drawer was not alphabetically organised).
If she couldn't make that mental stretch, how would you then expect her to think "Ah, this behaviour might be adjustable - where would I adjust it? Oh of course, in the Play Store settings, where if I press the Menu button (with no indicator that there is a menu underneath that button on that screen) and de-tick auto-add widgets"
And they aren't even widgets, they're app icons! So even if she had got there by some stroke of luck, she probably wouldn't have understood it anyway, because widgets are something else!
My point is that Android and Samsung have a long way to go in the usability stakes for novices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I edited my reply with more thoughts. Basically, I don't see Android going that route of simplifying because that is just not in the Android genetics. All android manufacturers should follow HTC and Samsung and make idiot proof Window phones to supplement their advance android devices. Because let's face it, if they dumb down Android some more most of us are gone once we get bored of Jelly Bean. No one here wants Android 4.2 to be simple like IOS.
Don't understand it either. I jumped on a Mac the other day and was lost in iOS. Problem IMHO Mac holds your hand does it for you, whether you like it or not.
Android, less hand holding and many ways to do the same task. Can see that being confusing. It's like a prisoner being let free, all those new options are so confusing.
Like comparing a new Honda with automatic everything. To a Ferrari or Porsche that surrounds you with options of how you want everything to operate.
As I say in IT, to most plebes RTFM.
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I have an Android app on the market for college students called Degree Planner. When people do leave reviews, they are almost always positive. My problem is I get a lot of uninstalls. Lately I am getting more uninstalls per day than installs. Since no one is leaving negative feedback I cannot improve whatever it is they do not like. I have tried for months to improve anything I can think of, but still it has not fixed this issue. I was wondering if someone would not mind looking over it and giving me some criticism on improvements.
Emrys_90 said:
I have an Android app on the market for college students called Degree Planner. When people do leave reviews, they are almost always positive. My problem is I get a lot of uninstalls. Lately I am getting more uninstalls per day than installs. Since no one is leaving negative feedback I cannot improve whatever it is they do not like. I have tried for months to improve anything I can think of, but still it has not fixed this issue. I was wondering if someone would not mind looking over it and giving me some criticism on improvements.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How big is your app? Size is always one of the most important uninstall reasons.
It's pretty small. Only a couple megabytes.
Well, If there are no ratings in Google Play, you can add a "tell me your opinion" form inside the app and as allways make sure the users can contact you... hope it helps
There is this app called Super Touch that phone arena covered. Supposed to smoothen the touch experience on android by a significant margin. The developer offers no explanation as to how the app works. I've yet to test it because it is building something right now and it takes a long while to finish. From what i can make out , i think it builds some sort of scrolling cache and offloads them to GPU ? I don't know the internal android structure that well and analyzing the source if there is one , is beyond me. If there is a developer that can explain the intricate workings of this app to people , so people could stop comparing this to "snake oil" if it's legit , if it's not we can ask google to remove it from google play , that'd be great. Thanks.
The link to the article ;
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Spot...d-up-your-sluggish-Android-smartphone_id75851
I don't know if it is against forum rules to post links to articles , if it is please warn me and i will remove the link.
boltthrower56 said:
I don't know the internal android structure that well and analyzing the source if there is one , is beyond me. If there is a developer that can explain the intricate workings of this app to people , so people could stop comparing this to "snake oil" if it's legit , if it's not we can ask google to remove it from google play , that'd be great. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why is this such a great deal?
Pros
* It seems to work
* It passed google's requirements and malware checks
* Does not need root
Cons
* Closed source
Just because we (you) can't comprehend how it works, is not a reason to question its viability.
Keeping it closed source and not revealing its workings is just a way to prevent competition and/or code copying.
There are lots of fake apps that pretend to be doing something you should be more worried about.
I wouldn't really worry about this one, but if you don't trust it, don't use it.
To answer your question; I would say its either one of these
* Animation caching
* Reducing element-sizes, and thus stretching it to save system resources (since the app needs to know you screen resolution)
* System optimizations for animations (Altho these things usually require root)
On a side note, since you are posting this on the Nexus 4 forums, I assume you own/use one. The article you linked clearly says older devices benefit more from this app, since newer/better devices already handle things pretty smoothly. This means that the result of this app on a Nexus 4 may be unnoticeable. Could it be that you question this app because you don't see any result?
MerynGoesAndroid said:
Why is this such a great deal?
Pros
* It seems to work
* It passed google's requirements and malware checks
* Does not need root
Cons
* Closed source
Just because we (you) can't comprehend how it works, is not a reason to question its viability.
Keeping it closed source and not revealing its workings is just a way to prevent competition and/or code copying.
There are lots of fake apps that pretend to be doing something you should be more worried about.
I wouldn't really worry about this one, but if you don't trust it, don't use it.
To answer your question; I would say its either one of these
* Animation caching
* Reducing element-sizes, and thus stretching it to save system resources (since the app needs to know you screen resolution)
* System optimizations for animations (Altho these things usually require root)
On a side note, since you are posting this on the Nexus 4 forums, I assume you own/use one. The article you linked clearly says older devices benefit more from this app, since newer/better devices already handle things pretty smoothly. This means that the result of this app on a Nexus 4 may be unnoticeable. Could it be that you question this app because you don't see any result?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No , it could not be because i had not tested the app when i wrote that. (Had you bothered to read , you'd know.) We question everything on this forum , that's how we learn. I did not assume that it was "fake" by the way , if that's why you're hostile (and arrogant). People on other forums compared this to "snake oil". I wanted to share the app with friends so it could grow. That's why i wanted to make out how it works. I can't share this app before knowing that it's not "snake oil".
When i said i'm not "that" affiliated with Android ecosystem , i didn't mean i'm illiterate btw.
Anyway , i could already make those out from the description of the app (Yes , i too read it ). I wanted more of a technical answer but thank you , nevertheless...
On a side note , In a help thread please just answer the question if you can , skip the lectures people didn't ask for. I asked "available devs" to explain the intricate workings of an app so as to clear the air , not only did you not provide that but you tried to give me a lesson on morality. Please refrain from doing that. And please do not write a lengthy and angry reply to this. I'm just not interested in arguing with you.
boltthrower56 said:
I don't know the internal android structure that well and analyzing the source if there is one , is beyond me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Made me think you were new to Android development and coding in general. Normally people like this with these questions do not want/need a specific and technical answer which is why I told you to not worry about it.
I don't know if it is against forum rules to post links to articles , if it is please warn me and i will remove the link.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, made me think you were new here.
if it's not we can ask google to remove it from google play , that'd be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This sounded to me as if you just wanted it to be removed.
My post was not intended to sound the way you describe it, and reading it again I wonder how you came to the conclusion I was 'teaching you a lesson'. Just because I did not overflood my post with happy smileys and kind words does not mean I'm hostile and/or trying to be arrogant.
To me, your post sounds the exact same was as how you described mine.
That aside, here are my technical thoughs.
The app stores quite a lot of data on your phone, close to 7MByte on my phone, to an app-size of 2,86MByte, so I assume it makes use of some kind of caching.
It probably uses some other techniques for different element optimizations, meaning not all improvements are via caching.
My guess is it takes the animations it knows, and "replays" them, capturing the animation and storing it in its data for quick access. When you start the app and set it up, it needs time and says "building fast event for x action", which is why I think it works this way.
From the app:
When using the same smooth level, the better the GPU performance is, the smoother the operation wil be. If the GPU performance is not up to the demand, it may cause frame loss when sliding screen. Higher level may take longer time to start, a better CPU may take less time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The animation is probably "scaled" down in size, which makes it less computing-heavy. This also explains why the higher the setting, the longer it takes. (more compression = more computing power needed. Since a better CPU can do more instructions per second, it will be faster at rendering its own "database" of the animations, which is logical.
Not sure what the author meant with "better the GPU performance is, the smoother the operation will be". Operation could either refer to the process Super Touch does, or the process of animating the animation when using the phone. Personally I think this refers to using the GPU for rendering animations normally (without Super Touch), which can cause frame drops as he explains. GPU's with lower performance will have a harder time rendering an animation than a GPU with high preformance. Pre-rendering takes this load off of the GPU, making it more "smooth" in real performance.
With this method its can just 'grab' an animation from its memory and 'play' it instead of calculating it on-the-fly.
Looking at the permissions the apps needs, the app uses "draw over other apps". This is probably used to "show" the animations it stored instead of the animations of the app that is being used. How it is actually able to replace this animation is something Im not sure of.
The app has permission to run at startup, this is probably needed to "load" the core service that does this replacement.
I do not exactly know why it needs permission to read phone status & identity and change audio settings, but my guess would be that it is related to the power saving mode.
The developer offers no explanation as to how the app works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless he does, we can probably only assume how his app works. Decompiling the app and looking at the source might give you an answer, but this is not something I can help you with, mainly because my last decompiling experience is 3 or 4 years back.
Using it for 2 days. And I have to admit that it works, really well, without harming battery, which is a amazing win-win solution.
I asked on the Google play store and get the answer from the developer: the app offload the working process from the CPU to the GPU, hence everything gets much smoother and the performance level depends on your device's GPU.
After optimization, sliding is very smooth.