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Hi all,
Would anyone who have used both platforms tell me the UX on both? I am surely a nokia fan and a maemo fan more so..(pls dont start flaming on this point.. i am sure many of u ppl wud be from a nokia background and honestly its the only brand around here that used to and still gets prompt service and repairs) Just that its reaching the end of the life cycle is giving me worries.
I am new to the android experience and have gone thru various forums, blogs and asked the same question there too... before i make a final decision, i though i would ask the developers community of android too...the reason i am posting in the samsung galaxy s forum is coz if i am getting an android it would be this one, none of the other phones impress me as this does...
So, what do you ppl think? Ive seen the galaxy s interface personally and wasnt able to see a task manager/switcher as traditional OS built phones have(symbian ones if u may... ) Thats one big turn down for me.
The plus points ive noticed in galaxy s are :-
1. Screen Quality...
2. Updates all the time... (Gingerbread.... )
3. Better Hardware... (best on any mobile phone sold in india)
4. Battery Life ( maybe arguable as some ppl still think both kinda do the same..)
5. Apps apps apps.... everywhere.....(also all the apps that i thought were for symbian territory are getting android versions which means its gonna be huge in later future even more than how it is now... opera mobile, skyfire...)
6. HD
The downs (when compared with maemo and against my convenience) that ive noticed are :-
1. No real multitasking... (user selects what to do.. which application to close and when...)
2. Lack of task switcher/manager as i have mentioned...
3. No camera cover or flash
4. Glossy finish (big turn down..)
Among this the multitasking part is ma biggest let down... I wish there was some way around it...
So... based on what i mentioned what would be your suggestions?
Mods can move/delete this thread if found inappropriate. As i mentioned, i posted in Galaxy S thread coz i wanted to know specifically about this device.. All samsung lovers... Ive got nothing against u.. just expressing my findings and opinions which can be corrected by anyone if found wrong... Pls be gentle..... Folks who have used both platforms are welcome to share their views....
Hey man. I've spent many years supporting and buying strictly Nokia devices, but over the years I realized I was paying top of the line prices for phones that simply fell short.
My most recent phone was the e51 which I got to replace a defective e66.
Android has task switching, task managers, and even different ways of running apps (system processes and general). The way to access task switching is to long press on the hardware home button. At least that's the case on the i9000m.
There are many tools on the market which let you kill even the processes hidden from this general view.
Now as for your choice of phone. I personally love the SGS, but a lot of people have problems with it. I left Nokia after a decade due to their terrible customer service in north america, and due to the state of the symbian OS.
The SGS has some issues you may be unaware if though. The GPS is a real problem, and wile it may not affect every unit, compared top Nokia's (and other) GPS units it falls short. The other thing are the updates. So far Samsung has been lagging behind other companies with updates, and there's no guarantee of gingerbread ever coming to the SGS, partly sure to the limited RAM. They've also made some questionable choices, like RFS and TouchWiz, though the latter isn't the worst among androids.
All in all I love this phone. If this post seems critical it's only to bring issues to your attention. You can assume that anything I didn't mention is great with this phone. Hope that helped.
Sent from my GT-I9000M using XDA App
lithicus said:
Hey man. I've spent many years supporting and buying strictly Nokia devices, but over the years I realized I was paying top of the line prices for phones that simply fell short.
My most recent phone was the e51 which I got to replace a defective e66.
Android has task switching, task managers, and even different ways of running apps (system processes and general). The way to access task switching is to long press on the hardware home button. At least that's the case on the i9000m.
There are many tools on the market which let you kill even the processes hidden from this general view.
Now as for your choice of phone. I personally love the SGS, but a lot of people have problems with it. I left Nokia after a decade due to their terrible customer service in north america, and due to the state of the symbian OS.
The SGS has some issues you may be unaware if though. The GPS is a real problem, and wile it may not affect every unit, compared top Nokia's (and other) GPS units it falls short. The other thing are the updates. So far Samsung has been lagging behind other companies with updates, and there's no guarantee of gingerbread ever coming to the SGS, partly sure to the limited RAM. They've also made some questionable choices, like RFS and TouchWiz, though the latter isn't the worst among androids.
All in all I love this phone. If this post seems critical it's only to bring issues to your attention. You can assume that anything I didn't mention is great with this phone. Hope that helped.
Sent from my GT-I9000M using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for ur reply... Does that mean holding the home button brings up a list of applications from which u can easily select to switch between various ones? i know multitasking doesnt work as it does on nokia... But is there a way to switch and maybe close the apps from the long press option??
Also.. TouchWize is the UI right? But i am not sure what RFS is...
The SGS does true multitasking. It will run multiple apps and will close the ones that are least used if it needs memory or processor power automatically so yes, you can switch between live apps.
That said I am a long term Communicator user and if Nokia had assured me of a updated replacement I would still be there. Don't get me wrong I love my SGS but I am a business user and the E90 was a business focussed smart phone. Given the finance to get one I would be very tempted to go to the E7 or N9 when they are released. The N9 is rumoured to be running Maemo.
TouchWiz is the modified UI, while RFS is the file system. The latter is the cause of most of the lag people complain about, while the former is likely the cause of the remaining slowdown.
And as has been said, android does true multitasking. It's a great phone experience, as good as anything I ever got from the Nokia line of e# devices, though I do miss having hardware buttons for blind dialing (that's what you lose with any touchscreen phone)
Oh and sorry about the tons of typos in the previous post.
Sent from my GT-I9000M using XDA App
Android multitasking works differently. It's not a simple system that simply leaves an app running as you go to another. Each app is programmed how to react to different events, they can save their state so even if they are shut down due to low memory they will return to their previous state when opened.
If they need to do something in the background they will launch a service so that the whole program isn't required to stay in memory, and it will launch when required.
Not too easy to explain here, but it is true multitasking. It's just more controlled and the OS can manage it for you, no need to worry about closing the program yourself unless it's badly made junk.
As for the crappy RFS filesystem that causes lag, there's several fixes for that in the development section that make the phone blazing fast
touchwizz is very quick when rfs is "fixed" (read: gone/replaced )
the gps issues aren't big deal anymore in froyo at least for me
there's key differences between maemo and android which aren't samsung or sgs related.
For example Android is using a Linux kernel yes, but most of the system is not very "Linux like" per se. yo'uve got some cripple busybox by default at best, and most apps run as separate users in java sandboxes (some are native)
Maemo is a lot more like a "real Linux" and a lot less java
Still, I prefer the Android devices at the moment, mostly more polished/powerfull
The lack of camera cover on the SGS has never been an issue to anyone I think, the lack of flash may or may not be, it isnt for me, it is for some.
The finish is a matter of taste, the phone is very very light, and rather strong/well built actually. Nokias are heavier, and also well built, and might be more appealing to many.
Personally I had a Nokia before too and I like how I don't really feel the sgs in my pocket in comparison.
I own a Nokia N900 and a Samsung Galaxy S.
It's true, Android has a task switcher (long press home button). But there's no android device at the moment that has real 'visual' multitasking like the N900.
You can watch a video, switch to the internet and load a webpage. when you press the multitask button on the N900, it shows little windows where you still can see the video running or the webpage loading. very impressing.
one point to mention is the hardware. Camera and speaker of the N900 are better in my opinion.
on the other hand, the SGS has the android market and the great screen.
after 4 months using both devices, I'll stick with the SGS.
maemo/meego is surely a good OS that gives you all freedom of a linux system (root/shell access out of the box) but the Nokia support is even worse than samsung at the moment.
the SGS is a very good device in my opinion and I can do everything I could do on the N900. I'm only missing the hardware keyboard at times...
Tehpriest said:
The SGS does true multitasking. It will run multiple apps and will close the ones that are least used if it needs memory or processor power automatically so yes, you can switch between live apps.
That said I am a long term Communicator user and if Nokia had assured me of a updated replacement I would still be there. Don't get me wrong I love my SGS but I am a business user and the E90 was a business focussed smart phone. Given the finance to get one I would be very tempted to go to the E7 or N9 when they are released. The N9 is rumoured to be running Maemo.
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Click to collapse
lithicus said:
TouchWiz is the modified UI, while RFS is the file system. The latter is the cause of most of the lag people complain about, while the former is likely the cause of the remaining slowdown.
And as has been said, android does true multitasking. It's a great phone experience, as good as anything I ever got from the Nokia line of e# devices, though I do miss having hardware buttons for blind dialing (that's what you lose with any touchscreen phone)
Oh and sorry about the tons of typos in the previous post.
Sent from my GT-I9000M using XDA App
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Click to collapse
bilboa1 said:
touchwizz is very quick when rfs is "fixed" (read: gone/replaced )
the gps issues aren't big deal anymore in froyo at least for me
there's key differences between maemo and android which aren't samsung or sgs related.
For example Android is using a Linux kernel yes, but most of the system is not very "Linux like" per se. yo'uve got some cripple busybox by default at best, and most apps run as separate users in java sandboxes (some are native)
Maemo is a lot more like a "real Linux" and a lot less java
Still, I prefer the Android devices at the moment, mostly more polished/powerfull
The lack of camera cover on the SGS has never been an issue to anyone I think, the lack of flash may or may not be, it isnt for me, it is for some.
The finish is a matter of taste, the phone is very very light, and rather strong/well built actually. Nokias are heavier, and also well built, and might be more appealing to many.
Personally I had a Nokia before too and I like how I don't really feel the sgs in my pocket in comparison.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fboneol said:
I own a Nokia N900 and a Samsung Galaxy S.
It's true, Android has a task switcher (long press home button). But there's no android device at the moment that has real 'visual' multitasking like the N900.
You can watch a video, switch to the internet and load a webpage. when you press the multitask button on the N900, it shows little windows where you still can see the video running or the webpage loading. very impressing.
one point to mention is the hardware. Camera and speaker of the N900 are better in my opinion.
on the other hand, the SGS has the android market and the great screen.
after 4 months using both devices, I'll stick with the SGS.
maemo/meego is surely a good OS that gives you all freedom of a linux system (root/shell access out of the box) but the Nokia support is even worse than samsung at the moment.
the SGS is a very good device in my opinion and I can do everything I could do on the N900. I'm only missing the hardware keyboard at times...
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Click to collapse
Thanks guys... So i guess other than the hardware QWERTY everything else is good?
@fboneol
I dont mind not getting previews of my apps or seeing them run in the background as long it would continue working in the background.. that it does. right??
Thanks guys once again.... uve been a real help..
i have both phones
to be honest, i love sgs more (though it's bricked at the moment!) because is light, with a great screen and android looks better and there are so many apps to choose, etc
but, i need sip and sip and im are so integrated to the sistem and so easy to use. it's strange that on sgs, a google phone, you cannot do google talk voice and video, well you can do that on nokia. i usually have multiple service runnings ... no problem
sipdroid, or other android apps, are so much limited
on n900, i can email any file easily from the default email program ... on sgs i tried lots of shiny email apps ... just to email pictures and video (maybe there is a way to hack that, but ...)
...
in the end: sgs is more fun, but n900 is more eficient ...
fboneol said:
I own a Nokia N900 and a Samsung Galaxy S.
It's true, Android has a task switcher (long press home button). But there's no android device at the moment that has real 'visual' multitasking like the N900.
You can watch a video, switch to the internet and load a webpage. when you press the multitask button on the N900, it shows little windows where you still can see the video running or the webpage loading. very impressing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@fboneol ... how that you see the video playing in multitask?
on mine; if i switch the app, the video pauses ... audio, yes ... but video ... no!
its true sipdroid is not as good as nokia stuff but it works
i liked the nokia integration more ofc but the polish of the rest and the speed etc makes it up for it
Isn't Maemo dead? From what I gather all of Nokia's effort are in Meego or whatever it is.
bilboa1 said:
its true sipdroid is not as good as nokia stuff but it works
i liked the nokia integration more ofc but the polish of the rest and the speed etc makes it up for it
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Click to collapse
maemo has better sip, yep, but also google voice and video ... now skype works on android too
i'm not from us; but i have an activated voice account ... i transfer all calls to google talk ... so i get all the voice functionality on nokia
on the google phone ... talk has no voice and the google voice app is not working cause i don't have an us no
meego /maemo same thing except meego for nokia phone isn't really out there. They share a lot. Could have been called Maemo 7 or Moblin but instead they made a new name to unite both, so meego has quite some maemo code.
on the sgs video calls are supported and compatible with nokias also, and integrated the way i would expect it (unlike SIP)
About SIP i'm talking about using the standards, not Skype or GVoice. I'm not using GVoice or Skype. Nokia has standard SIP support, android a few apps doing it (but they're not as well integrated). Small but significant difference.
It's been speculated that Android has more apps that actually work on Honeycomb tablets than does iOS on the iPad. This links talks about the growth of the Android Marketplace:
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/study_android_surpass_ios_app_count_soon
Does anyone know if this is true considering most iPhone apps will not run properly on the iPad, i.e.does not fill the screen?
There are bazillions of I pad specific apps so I don't know what to tell you.
I think one of the main things that constantly gets lost is the whole quantity vs quality discussion. Sure iOS has a ton of apps, but how many of them are actually unique and not serving the same purpose as another app out there?
When it comes down to it Android, and tablets in particular, aren't far off from having the same core apps that iOS has available to it. If anything they are more functional apps since Android makes a lot more available to devs.
I miss more iOS apps on my Xoom then Android app on my iOS devices. I also think the iOS apps has a bit higher quality.
They look and "feel" better. But none of them has widgets.
Sent from my MZ604 using XDA Premium App
streetmapp said:
I think one of the main things that constantly gets lost is the whole quantity vs quality discussion. Sure iOS has a ton of apps, but how many of them are actually unique and not serving the same purpose as another app out there?
When it comes down to it Android, and tablets in particular, aren't far off from having the same core apps that iOS has available to it. If anything they are more functional apps since Android makes a lot more available to devs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, but to play devil's advocate, you could also say that the pseudo-arbitrary selection process inherent to Apple's App Store limits useless apps a little bit. (Yes, I know there are thousands of 'fart apps' on their store as well.)
In the end, I think that not having the duplicate functionality clause helps the Android Market have a few more 'gems' than would be possible on the iOS App Store. Things like Tasker, Swype, and true replacement browsers (not using stock webkit engine--e.g. Firefox and Opera Mobile on Android) etc would not be allowed on the iOS App Store. However, due to not having the arbitration, we suffer from a (slightly to somewhat) less cohesive overall user experience and (sometimes) lower polish inside of applications.
Personally, I prefer the power and 'openness' that Android's philosophy yields. Many others, however prefer the somewhat-higher level of safety and coherence that Apple's approach yields.
Just because they 'work' on Honeycomb doesn't mean they're any good for a tablet... There are only a few apps I run that aren't tablet specific yet actually take advantage of the space because it's hard to screw that up... Trillian and TweetDeck come to mind immediately.
Elysian893 said:
Just because they 'work' on Honeycomb doesn't mean they're any good for a tablet... There are only a few apps I run that aren't tablet specific yet actually take advantage of the space because it's hard to screw that up... Trillian and TweetDeck come to mind immediately.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Beat me to it. And I think you're absolutely spot on. I've found that 95% of my favorite Android phone apps run on my Xoom, but only 5% (or less) of those actually work the way that I would expect them to.
Remember, just because they do work, doesn't mean you care to use them.
I use 10 - 20 apps meant for Android that are not formatted for Honeycomb but provide the basic function. Good example would be Verizon Fios DVR app, only runs in portrait but does the job!
I think it's simply not true to say an app has to be formatted for HC to be useful.
Coming from an iPad to the Xoom, there's a small but significant group of apps that aren't present that I miss.
Truth is for me, most of the apps on my iPad were games (can live without) or things that I might on occasion run but weren't day to day needed.
Important ones are news reader (newer is ok, pulse is ok too) twitter client, remote desktop app.
Everything else I can live without if I have to, but there ARE definitely not more android tablet apps than iPad apps. Taking out the "it'll run on a tablet" aspect, just look in the market, 64 tablet apps. that's it.There's far more than that in the iTunes store that are iPad only or dual binary.
The discussion was including "It'll run apps" and by the way the 64 apps are only "Featured Apps".
I don't know if we can really tell how many apps are tablet specific/redesigned.
i think the next Honeycomb update should include an emulator for apps made to run on lower versions of android. Even if the graphic quality is ****e we should have the option.
jgrizz said:
i think the next Honeycomb update should include an emulator for apps made to run on lower versions of android. Even if the graphic quality is ****e we should have the option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We don't need this. This would be a terrible user experience.
The SDK already allows developers the option to make their app scale well to multiple different resolutions and devices. Nearly all developers have yet to implement this resolution scaling, therefore the apps don't scale well to the Xoom.
jwilker said:
Coming from an iPad to the Xoom, there's a small but significant group of apps that aren't present that I miss.
Truth is for me, most of the apps on my iPad were games (can live without) or things that I might on occasion run but weren't day to day needed.
Important ones are news reader (newer is ok, pulse is ok too) twitter client, remote desktop app.
Everything else I can live without if I have to, but there ARE definitely not more android tablet apps than iPad apps. Taking out the "it'll run on a tablet" aspect, just look in the market, 64 tablet apps. that's it.There's far more than that in the iTunes store that are iPad only or dual binary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those featured apps are deceptive. There are lots of Honeycomb apps out there that just don't get highlighted.
jwilker said:
Coming from an iPad to the Xoom, there's a small but significant group of apps that aren't present that I miss.
Truth is for me, most of the apps on my iPad were games (can live without) or things that I might on occasion run but weren't day to day needed.
Important ones are news reader (newer is ok, pulse is ok too) twitter client, remote desktop app.
Everything else I can live without if I have to, but there ARE definitely not more android tablet apps than iPad apps. Taking out the "it'll run on a tablet" aspect, just look in the market, 64 tablet apps. that's it.There's far more than that in the iTunes store that are iPad only or dual binary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By my counting, I have more than 64 apps installed that run...like 76 actually...not including pre installed stuff/OS integrated...
Just because they aren't "Featured Tablet" doesn't mean they won't run
iPad's apps, for the most part, are more polished than Xoom's tablet based apps. But they've had a year head start. More apps for the iPad? More apps specifcally for iOS tablet than for Android tablets? At this point, probably.
One good thing about the xoom, though, is even apps that weren't made specifically for a tablet still look good, for the most part, on the xoom. Where most iOS apps made for iPhone look stupid at 2x size on the iPad.
jwilker said:
Coming from an iPad to the Xoom, there's a small but significant group of apps that aren't present that I miss.
Truth is for me, most of the apps on my iPad were games (can live without) or things that I might on occasion run but weren't day to day needed.
Important ones are news reader (newer is ok, pulse is ok too) twitter client, remote desktop app.
Everything else I can live without if I have to, but there ARE definitely not more android tablet apps than iPad apps. Taking out the "it'll run on a tablet" aspect, just look in the market, 64 tablet apps. that's it.There's far more than that in the iTunes store that are iPad only or dual binary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those 64 apps are apps that Google has hand-picked. There's more than that.
I think the market should add a tablet app filtering option to find the ones that aren't blessed by Google.
jwilker said:
Important ones are news reader (newer is ok, pulse is ok too) twitter client, remote desktop app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The xtralogic rdp client is terrific. A bit expensive, but terrific.
jwilker said:
Coming from an iPad to the Xoom, there's a small but significant group of apps that aren't present that I miss.
Truth is for me, most of the apps on my iPad were games (can live without) or things that I might on occasion run but weren't day to day needed.
Important ones are news reader (newer is ok, pulse is ok too) twitter client, remote desktop app.
Everything else I can live without if I have to, but there ARE definitely not more android tablet apps than iPad apps. Taking out the "it'll run on a tablet" aspect, just look in the market, 64 tablet apps. that's it.There's far more than that in the iTunes store that are iPad only or dual binary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out team viewer, it's perfect on the xoom and it is completely free. Go to teamviewer.com and get the PC or Mac program and the android program, then game on.
Stop teh FlipFlop
rjoudrey said:
Does anyone know if this is true considering most iPhone apps will not run properly on the iPad, i.e.does not fill the screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A lot of you keep flip flopping on what you are measuring here. The op specifically lists the quote above as an example of only counting tablet specific apps. measuring by that standard, there are way more iPad only apps than Honeycomb tablet apps. For those of you who say just because it doesn't say it's not made for a tablet doesn't mean it doesn't work, I agree. By that measurement, all iOS apps work on the iPad, and they work exactly as expected because they are simply pixel doubled (Although as the op pointed out they don't completely fill the screen 100% when they are scaled).
Another point that has been raised is a qualitative measure of the apps in either store. Apple's App Store is a pretty clear winner here as well. This stems from two issues. First, the curated store versus free-for-all store. Second, device fragmentation. The later is more of a problem for the development side and thus requires dev's spend less time on "fit & finish" and more time tweaking their apps for the thousands of hardware variations. This is an issue that most dev's view as a problem for the android market (See link below). This problem also keeps some prominent dev's away from android all together (such as EPIC games). Looking at several apps that are available on both platforms, iOS apps not only look better, but in many cases some functionality has been gimped on the android app. There was a writeup about this recently to which I can't find but I was able to locate one of the screen capture comparisons of FaceBook from that article.
(due to forum rules I can't make these active links yet )
FaceBook Screen Shot:
wpuploads.appadvice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/facebook.png
Dev Survey:
\/\/w\/\/.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/04/poll-android-fragmentation-issues.php
Don't get me wrong, I like several features about android, but when it comes to the Android Market versus App Store, iOS takes the cake.. or in this case the dough $$$. I have more android devices than I do iOS devices, However I have only purchased one app from the android market. I have an iPhone 4, iPhone 3Gs, iPad 2 (WiFi), Motorola Atrix (still sad about locked bootloader), HTC Inspire, Sony Xperia X10, HTC Aria (CM6), Samsung Captivate, and a Nexus.
Summary, In small portable devices like Smartphones and Tablets, Hardware and software working in concert is of greater importance than the PC of yester-year. That being said, for Android's license model to work like Microsoft's windows license model has for PC's, Google needs to have established hardware specification / form factor windows that can be reliably tested against. Secondly, they need to separate the core OS and the UI framework so they can allow vendors to customize their UI inline with the framework, which would allow Google to release an update to the core OS without the need to wait for the vendors to customize the core OS with their UI. Users could then update to the most current OS, and vendors can customize and tweak their UI to add new features of the new OS and release an updated UI when it's ready. Right now, the more consistent approach to iOS & Apple hardware is yielding better apps that are more profitable for dev's.
P.S. sorry about the run-on sentences
jondwillis said:
I think the market should add a tablet app filtering option to find the ones that aren't blessed by Google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree completely. True there's (probably) more than those 64, not sure how to find them. But finding iPad only in iTunes is easy enough, especially from the device itself.
I think no matter how it's sliced, there's less for the xoom or tablets in general than there is for iPad.
I really hope that trend changes, I suspect it won't until honeycomb is released to the public tho
I thought I'd start a thread to talk about my research in to this tablet and the conclusions and decisions i have taken in choosing it, setting it up and the mods i choose to incorporate or leave out. Dont know if it will help other people in choosing to buy one of these or not or if it will help others into expanding the capabilities of their stock unit, but I appreciate the feedback I've been getting on the individual threads I've been looking at.
Why I chose the Note 8.0
Since tablets first started becoming mass market items, I always had a problem with the 10 inch format that is most popular. I myself own a 10 inch tablet (an ASUS Transformer) and while I enjoy using it at home, I find it too bulky to take out with me yet too small to replace my laptop for any serious tasks. Having played with many tablets in stores over the years I soon decided that the 8-9inch form factor was one that was most ideal. 7inches was too small and too close to a mobile phone for my liking. Going up 1 inch adds about 25% more screen real estate and this is significant for me. Saying that, I never found a tablet in that size range that was up to standard in terms of tech spec. They always seems over priced, underpowered or were missing an important feature for my liking. The original note phone came out. I loved the idea and benefit that the spen brought to the table but thought it was too small to be useful for any serious input.
On an average day I will carry a camera, my phone, a note pad, my 10 inch tablet and sometimes a sketchbook as well. While I feel the 8.0 is a little overpriced (not alot overpriced like many reviews seem to lable it) the benefit of the spen allows me to ditch the notepad and sketchbook as well as the 10 inch tablet. This is huge for me as although the other items arent heavy, a whole day carrying my bag can start to take its toll on my shoulder.
Initial thoughts
My tablet arrived in my hands late last night so I havent had much time to spend with it. I love the responsiveness of the spen although I'm not used to the pressure sensitivity of it yet for drawing applications.
I'm a little overwhelmed by the additional apps, functions and settings added to the OS by Samsung at the moment. There seems to be a lot to go through and at least a few things that I have no use of. After I've spent a few days with it, I will talk about what I have enabled and disabled and why but in the mean time I expect to start at least one thread asking a few questions.
Waiting on my microSD card to arrive before I attempt to root it.
A few days in
Rooted the tablet using the method in the link in the mods section bellow. The process was smooth although I no longer am able to access Readers Huib as it displays "Rooting detected"
Installed SetCPU, Trickster, Greenify and FolderMount.
Installed 18GB of games with the assistance of my 64GB microSD and FolderMount.
Set 2 underclocking profiles using setCPU (screen off and battery <= 15%). Dont think ill overclock (at least not at the moment anyway) as everything seems to be running smooth as it is.
Set a few apps to hibernate with Greenify but will build up the list as i notice more apps unncessarily running in the background.
Not really sure if ill get much use out of Trickster yet.
Not had any issues with battery life, but I tend to disable anything I dont need at the time. went the whole weekend with out needing to charge with my current set up and regular use.
Will put up pictures to show my set up when I'm next home and remember (I mostly use forums at work...).
A few weeks in
Had a bit of an extended play now and can report back some more information. I havent used it for drawing as much as I had intended so far as i've been getting carried away with the amount of games that I can store on the device. The overall experience has been extremely positive. I have found that ive not really used the "S series" apps at all. I have S calendar on there but think i preffer google callender. I've been using Awesome note to take most of my notes although I havent figured out how to sync it with evernote yet. Thats the main reason I'm using that app. Im using LayerPaint as my main drawing app. So im only using S note when Im really in a hurry and need to jot something down.
For gaming I'm finding it a pleasure to use. The screen is extremely responsive and i have had little in the way of stuttering issues. The one thing I will say is that a section of the screen gets uncomfortably warm when playing a CPU/GPU intensive game. The CPU shows a temp of 40 degrees but the screen feels warmer than that making me think it may be the GPU thats getting hot. I've not had the chance to explore this further, but it is putting my off wanting to overclock them.
The GPS signal is great and im finding having an 8 inch satnav (with navfree) a really good companion in the car. The battery life is draining about about 20% per hour as a rough estimate through my initial tests with it. volume 60%. screen 60%. GPS on. All other conections off. Power saving mode enabled (not sure this makes much difference for me. Set CPU locks the CPU at my preffered settings, so this is just reducing the refresh rate and lowing the brightness slightly).
A month in
Switched from setCPU to TricksterMod. Although you cant set up specific scenarios with it, there are guvernors that do what I intended with scenarios anyway (luzactiveQ limits the CPU when the screen is off). I overclocked and undervolted both the GPU and CPU and have been pretty stable on my current settings (in the summary section bellow). It seems to be running cooler now as well and I'm no longer getting a hot patch on the left hand side of the screen. Got a new case based on the recomendations on this forum and a few more apps. Art Flow - recommend, although I'm still stuck on LayerPaint. Reviewing a few art reference apps I noticed on FaeMinx's post your homescreen post.
Accessories
Case
I decided to try a cheap case to start me off. Reported issues with magnetized cases on older notes has me spooked (see this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2288809). I liked the idea of the "Hidden Note" (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2254176) but I think its a little overkill for me.
I'm starting off with this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mulbess-Lea...TF8&colid=2SV9ALFBCBWRE&coliid=I21F5LS9DX0EES cheap and cheerful, plus the slight lip on the bezel it has will help prevent me accidentally triggering the capacitve buttons on the bottom of the tablet while holding it in landscape. This seems to be working. There are magnets in place to hold it closed. Im not sure how I feel about this...
Now got the Poetic Revolution case. Its a little pricey but not compared to the official one, but it does everything i wanted in a case. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2311243
Additional Spen
Bought the 8pi pen a few weeks ago once I had decided I wanted a note. It works very well with the tablet from my initial tests. I plan on doing a lot of digital art on this device.
Want to get a few days of usage under my belt before I decide if I want to do this or not though http://phandroid.com/2012/12/05/how-to-adjust-s-pen/ (adjust spen sensitivity)
microSD card
Due to the small amount of internal storage i decided a large microSD card is a must and will use an app or combination of apps to either move apps or app data onto it to allow me to install more than would otherwise be avialable. Ordered a Scandisk 64GB class 10 card.
Screen Protector.
Currently undecided whether I will use one or not. The case I have should keep the screen protected in transit and I cant see myself doing any damage to it with the sylus. The Revolution comes with a screen protector built in. If it starts to annoy me, I'll just pop it out.
Car Mount.
As this device has GPS I figure I'll take full advantage and use it as my Satnav (Nav Free) / in car entertainment system. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BXFLYTW/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Mods
Root - A must for me to be able to take advantage of the microSD card. used this method http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2251033 was a smooth process.
ROM - undecided. waiting to try out touchwiz to see if I like its features and to see what I can disable / uninstall if necesary to boost performance if i find a feature of no benefit
Kernel - Flashed Civs kernal. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2272917 Really pleased with it. allowed me to both undervolt and overclock the CPU and GPU and not had any performance issues.
CPU
100 - 1704
lulzactiveq (a modified interactive but also with the benefit of limiting the cpu when the screen is off). also set ignore_nice_load to 1. so that nice to have processes are now no longer run. only the higher priority ones are.
row
uv -75
GPU settings on
160 - 837500
350 - 912500
440 - 962500
533 - 1025000
1 up - 90
2 down - 41
2 up - 90
3 down - 70
3 up - 90
4 down - 73
System Apps
Trickster - Was using setCPU but foudn the additional functionality of Trickster to be useful. Specificy with the GPU tweeks.
FolderMount - I dont want to swap the internal and external memory as I plan on still being able to hot swap SD cards if I wish to review some of the photos I've take. I hope that by only moving the app data and not the app itself, I should have no issues doing this.
Auto Airoplane Mode - switches all connections off when the screen is off
Greenify - identify apps that open in the background looking for updates and dissabling that ability in order to preserve battery. I only want some apps to update if I open them.
Other Useful Apps
Titanium Backup
ES File Explorer
DiskUsage - true view of storage space in a easily understood layout. Helps identify wasted space and erase unused files.
Apps for use with Stylus (creative)
Sketchbook Pro - still learning how to use this
LayerPaint - simple lay out, but powerful tool. My favourite at the moment. The fadein/out pen is especially good for line art.
ArtFlow - relatively new app, but good support and growing features.
Lecture Notes - Better than S Note according to sources on here. Not tried it yet
Art reference tools
Handy
Pose Tool
All comments, feedback and suggestions welcome. I've had some great feed back so far on here but would like to have my entire set up in one thread so that people can make advice for me in complete context. Any performace enhancing or battery saving tips appreciated.
Special thanks to @FaeMinx for your general art app help and discussion and @civato for your general support to the comunity. Others have been helpful as well and hopefully I've clicked thanks where appropriate, but these two have been particularly helpful to me.
thank you
Thank you for your comprehensive note.
Please report here any eventual experience with an alternative ROM.
I'm not a Note 8 owner yet, waiting for a 32GB 3G version.
hertsjoatmon said:
I thought I'd start a thread to talk about my research in to this tablet and the conclusions and decisions i have taken in choosing it, setting it up and the mods i choose to incorporate or leave out. Dont know if it will help other people in choosing to buy one of these or not or if it will help others into expanding the capabilities of their stock unit, but I appreciate the feedback I've been getting on the individual threads I've been looking at.
Why I chose the Note 8.0
Since tablets first started becoming mass market items, I always had a problem with the 10 inch format that is most popular. I myself own a 10 inch tablet (an ASUS Transformer) and while I enjoy using it at home, I find it too bulky to take out with me yet too small to replace my laptop for any serious tasks. Having played with many tablets in stores over the years I soon decided that the 8-9inch form factor was one that was most ideal. 7inches was too small and too close to a mobile phone for my liking. Going up 1 inch adds about 25% more screen real estate and this is significant for me. Saying that, I never found a tablet in that size range that was up to standard in terms of tech spec. They always seems over priced, underpowered or were missing an important feature for my liking. The original note phone came out. I loved the idea and benefit that the spen brought to the table but thought it was too small to be useful for any serious input.
On an average day I will carry a camera, my phone, a note pad, my 10 inch tablet and sometimes a sketchbook as well. While I feel the 8.0 is a little overpriced (not alot overpriced like many reviews seem to lable it) the benefit of the spen allows me to ditch the notepad and sketchbook as well as the 10 inch tablet. This is huge for me as although the other items arent heavy, a whole day carrying my bag can start to take its toll on my shoulder.
So. Here I am, about to receive my new tablet this weekend and very excited to do so. I would have bought one sooner, but I was waiting for news of a higher capacity device but according to Samsung Westfield and Samsung Customer Support that is unlikely to arrive anytime soon.
Accessories
Case
I decided to try a cheap case to start me off. Reported issues with magnetized cases on older notes has me spooked (see this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2288809). I liked the idea of the "Hidden Note" (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2254176) but I think its a little overkill for me.
I'm starting off with this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mulbess-Lea...TF8&colid=2SV9ALFBCBWRE&coliid=I21F5LS9DX0EES cheap and cheerful, plus im hoping the slight lip on the bezel it has will help prevent me accidentally triggering the capacitve buttons on the bottom of the tablet while holding it in landscape. Will report back my experience.
Additional Spen
Bought the 8pi pen a few weeks ago once I had decided I wanted a note. I tried it will my girlfriends original note and it felt nice in my hands. I plan on doing a lot of digital art on this device.
microSD card
Due to the small amount of internal storage i decided a large microSD card is a must and will use an app or combination of apps to either move apps or app data onto it to allow me to install more than would otherwise be avialable. Ordered a Scandisk 64GB class 10 card.
Screen Protector.
Currently undecided whether I will use one or not. The case I have should keep the screen protected in transit and I cant see myself doing any damage to it with the sylus.
Car Mount.
As this device has GPS I figure I'll take full advantage and use it as my Satnav (Nav Free) / in car entertainment system.
Mods
Root - A must for me to be able to take advantage of the microSD card
ROM - undecided. waiting to try out touchwiz to see if I like its features and to see what I can disable / uninstall if necesary to boost performance if i find a feature of no benefit (Peel Remote?, Multi-Windows?, spen on pull ou?t, touchdown push?)
Kernel - Will be flashing a custom kernel. I plan on overclocking the CPU slightly but will also be looking to do the same with the GPU as if it is like the S3 it can be pushed a little harder with out upping the voltage.
System Apps
SetCPU - will overclock slightly but also set it to underclock when the battery is getting low and when the screen is off.
FolderMount or link2SD - I dont want to swap the internal and external memory as I plan on still being able to hot swap SD cards if I wish to review some of the photos I've take. I hope that by only moving the app data and not the app itself, I should have no issues doing this.
That will do for now. I better get back to work. Been typing this for a while now. Will talk about about what theming I plan on doing and some of the other apps I intend on using. Wont bother talking about games or anything like that though.
All comments, feedback and suggestions welcome. I've had some great feed back so far on here but would like to have my entire set up in one thread so that people can make advice for me in complete context. Any performace enhancing or battery saving tips appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lautunno said:
I'm not a Note 8 owner yet, waiting for a 32GB 3G version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may be waiting a while... As I stated in my post, according to both the official store and the online customer service there is no current planned release date for a 32gb model (at least not here in the UK). They say that the demand isnt there (which is a joke in my opinion). Having been told this I decided to go down the "transfer app data to microSD" route.
Honestly, peel is useful to me solely for turning on the television. It's painfully slow to send commands like channel selection to the set.
Multiwindow is very valuable. Comparing things to instructions (ie, have root explorer and a browser open simultaneously to look at files; have a browser and a terminal emulator open simultaneously to read commands in the browser and issue them correctly without swapping between apps.)
I don't know if the multiwindow app in Play supports non-touchwiz roms, but at this point the alternate roms are still touchwiz based, afaik.
Civato has a kernel with underclock, undervolt and overclock support. The recommended app for working with it is trickster, and folks are getting good results.
So far the s-pen handwriting recognition has been disappointing to me. I used some of my 25 dollar Play credit to buy My Script Notes Mobile.
Using it basically requires disabling the use of the GPU for 2d rendering at this time. That's too bad, because doing so does have some impact on overall performance at least in benchmarks. I'm undecided on whether it's also a real issue in use (just learned of the fix last night) and the handwriting recognition is very good.
roustabout said:
So far the s-pen handwriting recognition has been disappointing to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really?
I found the handwriting recognition to be amazing... Perhaps I'm just lucky, but my messy inconsistent poorly formed chicken scratch gets recognised perfectly every time... I was actually surprised because I thought I would have to learn to write carefully and slowly to make use of this feature.
I'm thrilled I can whip out the S Pen and scrawl across the screen at speed and the device just understands... Hell, even I can't make out my letters sometimes.
@herts,
Thanks for liking the Hidden Note 8 concept. I'm designing the 3rd version of it with an integrated micro USB wired 3mm thick keyboard. The TPU protected Note 8 and the keyboard would be housed in a 16mm thick notebook.
Yup, it's overkill but it works for some people. More on that thread one i finish making it.
I've been trying to use Directory Bind so that large data would be on the external card and "ghosted" on to the main device memory when the app is used. Initially it works, but then the links disappear on a restart. This was successful with my Note 2, where the direct-wifi file transfers go directly onto my large capacity micro SD card.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Premium HD app
Finally got my Note 8.0 last night (a week later than planned) and will add my initial thoughts to the OP.
Basically its that I love the tablet but am a little overwhelmed at the additional features and applications added by Samsung. Need to get comfortable with them and remove those which I dont use. As a fan of efficiency, even if i only get a few extra minutes of battery life or a few extra mb free, ill still get rid of functionality I wont make use of...
FaeMinx said:
Really?
I found the handwriting recognition to be amazing... Perhaps I'm just lucky, but my messy inconsistent poorly formed chicken scratch gets recognised perfectly every time... I was actually surprised because I thought I would have to learn to write carefully and slowly to make use of this feature.
I'm thrilled I can whip out the S Pen and scrawl across the screen at speed and the device just understands... Hell, even I can't make out my letters sometimes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too, unfortunately the default settings aren't necessatily the best.
HasC in the note 10.1 Tips and Tricks thread has a great video on setting up recognition which is applicable for the note 8:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=30747569
Do you find the 8PI accurate? I use another pen and found it okay by two pixels at a perpendicular angle and at a slant is of by as many as five MM.
Sent from my GT-N5110 using XDA Premium HD app
Bonisaur said:
Do you find the 8PI accurate? I use another pen and found it okay by two pixels at a perpendicular angle and at a slant is of by as many as five MM.
Sent from my GT-N5110 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had no issues with it with the initial test sketches I've been doing with it.
I have found I leave the battery saving option in the spen settings on as I am a bit OCD about saving battery. It means I have to pull the supplied spen out a small amount when I want to use the 8pi, but I have no issues in doing this.
I read alot about the pens being slightly off, I even started a thread about it in the Q&A section of this forum, but I'm finding it to be very accurate with this device, even when using it at an angle.
There doesnt seem to be a left handed or right handed option in this tablet which makes me thing that an offset with an older Note may be purposely put there to account for people holding a pen at an angle. What ever orentation I'm using the tablet in, the pointer on the screen seems to be at the tip of the nib, so I am happy.
Added some more comments to the OP about my experience having had the tablet a few days now. added a link to the root tool i used. and a few extra comments on some of the apps i am using.
Some screen shots of my desktop area and settings...
added a but more of my experience having had the tablet a week or 2 now.
My stylus is pretty much perfect. I dont know with the others but mine is fine. Maybe because my hand are not shaky? hahaha.
alicepattinson said:
My stylus is pretty much perfect. I dont know with the others but mine is fine. Maybe because my hand are not shaky? hahaha.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shaky hands? Are you refering to the person who was complaining about the handwriting recognition? I've had no issues with both the supplied stylus or the 8pi. Both are working fantastically and I preffer the handwriting input to the keyboard when inputting text and even better with the drawing applications I've tried so far.
Added further experience. switched from set CPU to Trickster Mod and included my current settings. Got a new case and few new apps.
Not decided whether I will condence my experience progress into one section with my final result or leave it as it is showing how I came to the conclusions I have...
Does anyone encounter any serious stuttering or lag when they are scrolling a page on the internet. If anyone has any tips on how to fix it than I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm up to date so I'm hoping there is a quick fix I can do.
mikeakanice said:
Does anyone encounter any serious stuttering or lag when they are scrolling a page on the internet. If anyone has any tips on how to fix it than I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm up to date so I'm hoping there is a quick fix I can do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depending on the web page, it doesn't scroll as smoothly as an iPad if thats what you were hoping for. But this is the case I find with most android devices. Although, it has been reported that rooting the device and turning off, some of the Samsung Bloatware such as Knox applications, improves it significantly. I personally won't do that because I do like some of the samsung apps and don't want to mess up the tablet's S-Pen functionality, even though the rooting supposedly doesn't mess with that.
A friend of mine recently bought the wifi version and together with my lte variant we started doing some everyday performance comparisons.
One of the things we noted immediately was the stuttering when scrolling in the browser or when pulling down the notification bar. It was nonexistent in the wifi version , but the lte version (even though rooted and free of bloatware) was constantly stuttering. I just hope it was the effect of the performance updates the wifi version received, else I have to say the exynos is superior. What do I want with a snapdragon that can't even handle smooth scrolling..?
mikeakanice said:
Does anyone encounter any serious stuttering or lag when they are scrolling a page on the internet. If anyone has any tips on how to fix it than I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm up to date so I'm hoping there is a quick fix I can do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
noctisk said:
A friend of mine recently bought the wifi version and together with my lte variant we started doing some everyday performance comparisons.
One of the things we noted immediately was the stuttering when scrolling in the browser or when pulling down the notification bar. It was nonexistent in the wifi version , but the lte version (even though rooted and free of bloatware) was constantly stuttering. I just hope it was the effect of the performance updates the wifi version received, else I have to say the exynos is superior. What do I want with a snapdragon that can't even handle smooth scrolling..?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats surprising as I thought for sure the snapdragon would be superior. I have read the speed comparison tests and it gets better benchmarks than the wifi version. The only surprise down the road is the rumored patch that samsung is working on that will allow all eight cores to work simultaneously together which would make the enynos version faster.
noctisk said:
A friend of mine recently bought the wifi version and together with my lte variant we started doing some everyday performance comparisons.
One of the things we noted immediately was the stuttering when scrolling in the browser or when pulling down the notification bar. It was nonexistent in the wifi version , but the lte version (even though rooted and free of bloatware) was constantly stuttering. I just hope it was the effect of the performance updates the wifi version received, else I have to say the exynos is superior. What do I want with a snapdragon that can't even handle smooth scrolling..?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My device is the wifi version. Yet still horrible choppiness, stuttering, lagging when I scroll. It is starting to feel like a game breaker to me which would be ashame because the S pen feature is the most wonderfully polished feature ever. I'm a student of course though.
abacus0101 said:
Depending on the web page, it doesn't scroll as smoothly as an iPad if thats what you were hoping for. But this is the case I find with most android devices. Although, it has been reported that rooting the device and turning off, some of the Samsung Bloatware such as Knox applications, improves it significantly. I personally won't do that because I do like some of the samsung apps and don't want to mess up the tablet's S-Pen functionality, even though the rooting supposedly doesn't mess with that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find it really curious though that with 3 gigs of ram and the type of processor this device has that it shouldn't be running as smoothly as the ipad. I mean spec wise this thing is a monster. Is it just bad software optimization? I'm also afraid of rooting because I've never done it and the term is pretty new to me. I know I'm a noob
mikeakanice said:
I find it really curious though that with 3 gigs of ram and the type of processor this device has that it shouldn't be running as smoothly as the ipad. I mean spec wise this thing is a monster. Is it just bad software optimization? I'm also afraid of rooting because I've never done it and the term is pretty new to me. I know I'm a noob
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im also scared of rooting.
pretty bad when you have to do something drastic and invalidate your warranty on a £450 tablet just to get it to work properly...
mikeakanice said:
Does anyone encounter any serious stuttering or lag when they are scrolling a page on the internet. If anyone has any tips on how to fix it than I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm up to date so I'm hoping there is a quick fix I can do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you using the stock browser? I'm using Dolphin HD. I also downloaded Flash. I found that switching flash to on demand vs always on seemed to help. I occasionally get a slight freeze or crash but overall I'm pretty happy with the Web browsing.
Redline80 said:
Are you using the stock browser? I'm using Dolphin HD. I also downloaded Flash. I found that switching flash to on demand vs always on seemed to help. I occasionally get a slight freeze or crash but overall I'm pretty happy with the Web browsing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've used puffin, chrome, and stock. In fact, the stock browser has the least issue. Also, has anyone noticed that youtube videos that say HD don't look very good. Sorry, it's my first time with a tablet.
abacus0101 said:
Thats surprising as I thought for sure the snapdragon would be superior. I have read the speed comparison tests and it gets better benchmarks than the wifi version. The only surprise down the road is the rumored patch that samsung is working on that will allow all eight cores to work simultaneously together which would make the enynos version faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually seems like Samsung have nipped that in the bud by saying the wont be doing that.
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Note...Exynos-performance-patch-says-Samsung_id47977
Redline80 said:
Are you using the stock browser? I'm using Dolphin HD. I also downloaded Flash. I found that switching flash to on demand vs always on seemed to help. I occasionally get a slight freeze or crash but overall I'm pretty happy with the Web browsing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you get the flash from..adobe's site says that flash isn't supported anymore since on all devices after july 15th i believe. if you could provide that link it would be great..thx
mikeakanice said:
I've used puffin, chrome, and stock. In fact, the stock browser has the least issue. Also, has anyone noticed that youtube videos that say HD don't look very good. Sorry, it's my first time with a tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest, I believe this might be an issue with youtube. I noticed on my note 2014 that I'm only able to play 720p youtube videos. I've tried Tubemate as well as other 3rd party youtube apps that allow you to download videos and I never get any options above 720p quality. Why google/youtube would impose this restriction I have no idea.
The problem with this is that on a tablet with 2560x1600 resolution, content shot at 1280x720 resolution can look less than impressive. However, when you get a hold of quality 1080p content the screen is downright amazing.
abacus0101 said:
Where did you get the flash from..adobe's site says that flash isn't supported anymore since on all devices after july 15th i believe. if you could provide that link it would be great..thx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1907606&highlight=dolphin+flash
Geordie Affy said:
Actually seems like Samsung have nipped that in the bud by saying the wont be doing that.
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Note...Exynos-performance-patch-says-Samsung_id47977
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I already think this tablet gets way too hot for doing normal stuff. I'm not touching octa even if somebody figures out how to hack it. It would probably melt my precious plastic leather.
I'll patiently wait for Samsung to optimize the software. I know this hardware is capable enough, damn it. It's a freaking pull down. That can't be that intensive as to bring a 1.9GHz quadcore to its knees unless somebody coded it wrong.
I think performance is decent enough for this tablet without the octa patch. That is once you tinker with it and optimize everything. My rooted, customized galaxy s3 runs smoother than the beast of a note sometimes. But anyway, that's the fun part.
As for lag or stutter, I do get it, but I think after rooting and cleaning up Samsung's touchwiz, it will get much better.
abacus0101 said:
Thats surprising as I thought for sure the snapdragon would be superior. I have read the speed comparison tests and it gets better benchmarks than the wifi version. The only surprise down the road is the rumored patch that samsung is working on that will allow all eight cores to work simultaneously together which would make the enynos version faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wouldn't make it faster anyways....it would just increase battery life as the four cores that become available to you when you need high performance and have high cpu load is the slow, low speed, but power efficient chips. This is with the rumored patch of course. If you already have the a15 based chips all on and ruining at max freq then you will get nothing g, or next to nothing, from turning on 4 lower power ones.
It would be like driving a Ferrari 150mph down a race track and saying you are going to give yourself a speed boost by pushing with your feet....just ain't gonna happen
But in the case of the exynos, you will at least have the option of saving fuel (battery power) by pushing with your feet (using the low power cores) so it would be nice, but it's also been stated by mire than a few people, not sure how reliable these sources are but it's been said by mire than a couple sources, that there will be no patch for the note 3 or the note 10.1 2014 as this functionality will be savedfor a next generation device. Sad but also makes a little sense as these current devices are already basically top of the line and best I'm class, or at least right up there, as far as hardware specs go. Software may not be considered top notch by all but that isn't the point here as if these devices were patched or the functionality was released on the next generation, they both will still come with touch wiz software and thus the software part of it is a moot point. The point is, with or without this functionality, the people who would want to buy it are not concerned about it having touchwiz and thus they are getting the top end device either way. Why would Samsung push this generation device that much farther ahead when they still have a top end device and can save that "trick" for the next iteration....
/end rant
So, as I have eluded to in the tittle, could Android Wear run on a MotoACTV, theoretically?
For those who don't know, the background of the MotoACTV is that it runs GingerBread 2.3.4, has Bluetooth LE, WiFi, 256MB RAM, etc... (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motoactv for more info).
From my admittedly superficial look into Android Wear, I am assuming that the only hurdle here would be getting 4.4.2 or above running on the hardware?
im really excited about it hope motoactv receive a port of this os, altough i think it will not happen,
it will run on a 3.4 kernel http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=51260100&postcount=1
no chances for our small beast
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
on the other hand in the post i mencioned it says "<d:gl-version>2.0</d:gl-version>" if it is what i this it is (http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/graphics/opengl.html) maybe android 2.2 is the minimum version API level 8.
fingers crossed
mrmabs said:
So, as I have eluded to in the tittle, could Android Wear run on a MotoACTV, theoretically?
For those who don't know, the background of the MotoACTV is that it runs GingerBread 2.3.4, has Bluetooth LE, WiFi, 256MB RAM, etc... (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motoactv for more info).
From my admittedly superficial look into Android Wear, I am assuming that the only hurdle here would be getting 4.4.2 or above running on the hardware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there s nothing yet about minimum requirement of AndroidWear it s on KK 4.4.2 and min API is 18 (JB 4.3)
there should be hack method for motoACTV to install custom rom on it
then need compatible ported AndroidWear
and ...
i think it s possible
:good:
Motoactv development
Is there any motoactv development currently? or a forum for the device?
Runawaywill said:
Is there any motoactv development currently? or a forum for the device?
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if anyone needs a guinea pig here i am
Keeping my fingers crossed... would love to see some more options for this watch.
This would definitely be possible but whether anyone will invest the required time to do it or not is another question. The hardware in the MotoActv will be powerful enough to run Android Wear but without quite extensive work a lot of it wouldn't be compatible. I am aiming to bridge the gap in the meantime as I plan to work on a project to build a ROM with an Android Wear style experience (hopefully with ports of some of the actual Android Wear applications) on top the already functional Android Gingerbread base that we have.
I won't be able to start this properly for at least a month but I have ported the bootanimation from the LG G Watch system dump that was just leaked to help bring a very small part of the look and feel to the MotoACTV. See here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=53150797
I have a motoactv as well and am taking great interest in seeing android wear brought to it, even if its just for me till all options are out (moto360, asus, etc) if no one wants to try to make it I guess I can try but I have no previous rom making skills, if anyone is interested in helping me figure this out please do so we can get this going!
i too will participate in testing - this would be awesome! the motoactv should have been what all these smart watches build off of. i wish the new smartwatches had standalone GPS.
I have a motoactv, count me in too for testing!
tlnlion said:
I have a motoactv, count me in too for testing!
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i'm next!:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
P.S. Any suggestions to solve the Motoactv.com sudden death? Where to save our workouts?
I have a Motoactv and would be willing to participate also, but why would you really want to use it with the Motoactv?
I was pretty sure Wear was pretty highly dependent on the microphone for Google now. In theory you could use a Bluetooth headset, but Google now was meant to use your phone with Bluetooth, and obviously you can only have one device connected at a time.
On a philosophical level, what I like about my Motoactv compared to modern smartwatches with Wear is that I'm free to use whatever app on the Play Store I feel like using no matter how sadistic, for better or for worse
Not completely tangential, but has anyone read Ron Amadeo's review of the Moto360 on Ars?
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/09/moto-360-review-beautiful-outside-ugly-inside/
TL;DR - It's got an old processor that drags it down. (1GHz TI OMAP 3) and drains the battery quickly.
Doesn't the MotoActv have the same class of chip? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2170917
Could it be the same one, just overclocked? Would this help in getting Wear onto the Actv?
mjdyson said:
Not completely tangential, but has anyone read Ron Amadeo's review of the Moto360 on Ars?
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/09/moto-360-review-beautiful-outside-ugly-inside/
TL;DR - It's got an old processor that drags it down. (1GHz TI OMAP 3) and drains the battery quickly.
Doesn't the MotoActv have the same class of chip? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2170917
Could it be the same one, just overclocked? Would this help in getting Wear onto the Actv?
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Yes it does seem that the internals are based on the MotoACTV (likely to bring the cost down) which sort of makes sense because they did say at one point that it was their reference platform for the 360 during development. They both use OMAP 3 chips, clocked at 600MHz in the MotoACTV and 1GHz in the Moto 360. This would indeed potentially make it easier to port Android Wear to the MotoACTV.
The thing is though, as @m33rkat pointed out above, the MotoACV lacks a microphone and so it would not actually necessarily be all that great with Android Wear as it is quite largely driven by voice commands. It would also mean loosing access to many of the sports features we have now such as the Motoactv.com sync, activity profiles and use of ANT+ sensors.
I think the MotoACTV might be better used as it is with Motorola's fitness software. I also wish Moto had used a newer chip in the 360 such as the Snapdragon 400 because the OMAP 3 is pretty damn old!
wollac11 said:
Yes it does seem that the internals are based on the MotoACTV (likely to bring the cost down) which sort of makes sense because they did say at one point that it was their reference platform for the 360 during development. They both use OMAP 3 chips, clocked at 600MHz in the MotoACTV and 1GHz in the Moto 360. This would indeed potentially make it easier to port Android Wear to the MotoACTV.
The thing is though, as @m33rkat pointed out above, the MotoACV lacks a microphone and so it would not actually necessarily be all that great with Android Wear as it is quite largely driven by voice commands. It would also mean loosing access to many of the sports features we have now such as the Motoactv.com sync, activity profiles and use of ANT+ sensors.
I think the MotoACTV might be better used as it is with Motorola's fitness software. I also wish Moto had used a newer chip in the 360 such as the Snapdragon 400 because the OMAP 3 is pretty damn old!
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I think this may be more interesting once the next version of android wear is released. The GPS and offline music playback support would be better suited for the MOTOACTV since it contains GPS and the storage capacity to allow offline music. Can you overclock the processor in the motoactv? I wouldn't be surprised if android wear can run at a slower clock speed. I could imagine using the headphones (wired/bluetooth) to control the OS while running. Sucks there'd be no vibrations.
biggiestuff said:
I think this may be more interesting once the next version of android wear is released. The GPS and offline music playback support would be better suited for the MOTOACTV since it contains GPS and the storage capacity to allow offline music. Can you overclock the processor in the motoactv? I wouldn't be surprised if android wear can run at a slower clock speed. I could imagine using the headphones (wired/bluetooth) to control the OS while running. Sucks there'd be no vibrations.
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Yeah maybe. I guess it will depend on your individual use case for the device. As for overclocking the MotoACTV, yes that is possible.
Just wanted to throw my hat into the ring--I have a Motoactv and would also be up for testing. :good:
I'm trying to port it. I hope to have some thing running in a few days.
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AW
dproldan said:
I'm trying to port it. I hope to have some thing running in a few days.
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This would be great... count me in for testing.
Yes, count us in !
dproldan said:
I'm trying to port it. I hope to have some thing running in a few days.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Free mobile app
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