Bought an SGS2 , not happy !

[miffed]

I have spent the last few months listening to people going on about how much "better" the SGS2 is than the iPhone 4 - I must admit it looks pretty nice on paper , and when I recently saw the white one I was sold ! ,so I cashed in my o2 Upgrade to get one.

It arrived yesterday , and I took it out of the box , and braced myself for this "ultra bright" screen that was soooo much better than the iPhone 4's (most people can't handle the extreme brightness and have to have it turned down , don't you know ?)

So , I switch it on .... Funny , thats not too bright ! so I check the brightness control and notice it is swiched on Auto , so I disable that and put brightness on full.
, colours look nice , but whites are a bluey grey colour , unless you have a vritually black / dark screen with a tiny bit of white on , then it can manage almost true white
Web browsing was god awful , web pages were so dark that it was hard to see , then I realise there is a "browser brightness" option , so I set this to max - makes it useable , but not "bright" by any means.

I put up with this yesterday , but then this morning looking on the web everyone is saying specifically that the SGS2's screen is brighter than the iPhone 4 - (see attached image) - I am now convinced I have a faulty unit

I have asked for a replacement - but if I am worried that if a whole batch a faulty the replacement will suffer the same problems ? .....in which case Samsung can stick it !

http://i.imgur.com/CmwYa.jpg

[DaveC]

Something wrong there. My daughter got an SG2 recently and although I haven't compared it with an iPhone I had no problem using the web browser outside on a sunny day.

[miffed]

I think there must be , the Screen on my Nexus S is brilliant !

I just hope its a faulty handset rather than a crap batch.

[Hands0n]

Cor, what a downer on the experience. It does sound like a suspect device though. I've not seen the SGS2 in the flesh, so to speak. But if reports are true then it is the handset that the messiah himself would choose :p I'm sure I've read somewhere that you could use the SGS2 while walking on water, or somesuch. :rolleyes:

I have been sorely tempted to go grab hold of one of these and sell off the Nexus S. But the price of the device puts me off, for what it is.

[gorilla]

I would have to agree that this looks faulty. My SG2 has a better screen than the iPhone 4 - my GF has one and I did compare!

My next question is, did you root it? :-) If not, do you like the Samsung OS? (I refuse to call these android phones unless they run vanilla android ;-) I'm becoming an Android snob)

[miffed]

OK , now its time for me to expose myself as a numpty ! (no , really !! )

I got my replacement SGS2 this morning , a day early (bless you o2 !)

Set it all up , and saw the same problems. Despite this, I decided that in its own right , the Samsung wasn't a bad phone ... and is only when comparing it to other phones (and reviews from fanboys) that it feels like a letdown. So I'll keep it and simply punch anyone that suggests it has a better screen in the face.

Now , for the next part I should explain that I am VERY familiar with Android ! I can reach across the room and grab at least four other Android handsets without even rummaging around in the drawer ! I KNOW android and its menu systems
I was already a little miffed that Samsung had included a separate "browser brightness" control , and having set that one to MAX , turning auto brightness OFF , normal brightness to MAX , and Powersave OFF , the last thing I was expecting to find was YET ANOTHER brightness control - yet in the Android Display settings - lo and behold we have one ! In fairness to me it was offscreen (had to be scrolled to ) and I had no idea that Samsung had f*****d around with this particular menu , but I found "Auto adjust screen power" - WTF ?? Switch this off , and all is fine !

Some might say I am the twat for not searching for a fourth brightness control - I say Samsung are the twits for messing with the perfectly good stock Android menus !

Lets not dwell on it eh ?

[Hands0n]

LOL - and all of that simply justifies gorilla's closing comment in parenthesis. Samsung, along with all of the others, are well known for tweaking the basic Android into something else. I also prefer stock, vanilla, Android which is why I stick to the Nexus stuff where I can or the Cyanogen ROM where I can't. Yes there probably are "better" other ROMs but CM is faithful to stock.

[miffed]

Totally ! I can see Touchwiz has some "nice" features that your average feature phone migrant might appreciate on their first foray into the world of Android , but the overwhelming feeling I have is "ugh , how can I get rid of this ?"

Unfortunaly , I am still in that first week or so , where I daren't mess around with my new precious phone ..... but as soon as that period wears off I'll be trying to get something more "stock" on there ASAP

This little adventure has also made me realise what a nice phone the Nexus S is ! Considering the GS2 is pretty widely touted as being the "best smartphone available" , I honestly don't find the Nexus S to be lagging behind the GS2 . Yes I am aware it is supposedly has less than half the CPU , and a measly 5MP camera ....and a slightly smaller , lower spec screen - but the Nexus certainly doesn't feel like a lesser device , in fact I'd argue that colours on the screen look more natural than its big brothers.
I was going to eBay the Nexus S , but I reckon I'll hang onto it now.

[Ben]

I wonder if these bizarre brightness tinkerings are to help them meet battery life targets? Although it sounds to me like they've messed up a bit and there are now simply too many conflicting brightness controls.

Goodness me miffed, a Nexus S AND Galaxy S2? Impressive. iPhone 4S/5 soon don't you know :p

[miffed]

To be honest , I was going to hold off the SGS2 , but once I saw it in white , I had to have it , Also , I feel as I make it my business to talk about these things on forums such as this (and occasionally in the real world too) I sort of "needed" to have one , I have always said I simply want the best device regardless of who makes it ! and since so many people are rating the SGS2 above the iPhone 4 , I really had to give it a go. May of the people that level criticism at the iOS / OSX devices do so without an ounce of experience of them - this winds me up a little , so I prefer a little to have a little experience of all the fields I chat about , if only for my my own conscience .

I retired (ebay'ed) my Nexus S to make room for the SGS2 , Which was rooted , running CM7 / Netarchy Kernal & could be overclocked to 1.4Ghz this gave me probably the best Android experience I had ever had , the thing was VERY quick and a joy to use.
So , I was expecting the SGS2 to be a nice big step up - ....And to be honest , I was disappointed ! First there was the fiasco with thinking the device was faulty (I blame Samsung's stupid over-customisation - but I accept I could be to blame too) ... Then , there was the performance - I suspect that the Dual Core CPU won't shine until I use Apps that are designed to make the most of it ? For day to day stuff it honestly felt like a step BACKWARDS from the (albeit "souped" ) Nexus S.
And then there is Touchwiz ! TBH I was looking forward to using it , as I'd heard good stuff. but JESUS IT IS HORRIBLE !! Hard to explain but everything just feels so "Fisher Price" about it , I installed ADW over the top of it , but I still got hideous bright blue bars at the top of various apps & menus throughout the OS , stuff that was neutrally coloured in every other version of Android I'd used (branded or otherwise)
And then there are software updates - OTA only does minor firmware updates (i.e. Camera firmware etc) , to update the OS ,you need Kies ( no , not Craaaig daavid's kestral ) - Kies only works on a PC (There are mac versions around , but they simply don't work)

So .... I decided it had to go ! CM7 is on nightly builds , so decided to make the switch - The following tale of woe remided me why I like mac's and why I never want to "do" anything on a PC EVER AGAIN

So here's how you root the SGS2 on a PC

1) Install Kies on the PC (for the drivers)

2) Install Odin on the PC - this is an application that enables you to flash an INSECURE KERNAL to the SGS2

3)Download the insecure kernal

4) Put SGS2 into "Download mode" , flash kernal

5) Download "oneclickroute" (I think it was called) to the PC

6) Run it (while still in download mode) PHONE ROOTED !

7) Download a secure kernal & Use ODIN to flash it back (as previous)

...And you're rooted !! Simples eh ? .....Erm NOPE !

us
I have a Vista PC at work , it is modest spec, but still works fine and gets daily use,( 2.13Ghz Celeron, 2GB RAM )

I took the trouble of putting all the relevant files on a disc (Forward thinking !) and set about "rooting"


So , step one -install Kies

This took AGES , (25 minutes ? ) and the computer was rendered useless during the installation and considerably slower once it had completed

Anyway , I crawled along while I flashed the insecure kernal - ( fortunately the phone reboots and is quite usable at this halfway point)

I then try to run the oneclickroot App, ....but it doesn't run and requests .net 4 files (?) - I was prepared for this and got my CD out , and copied the files across , or so I thought ! turned out I had just copied one of those web installer things - and it started a download app - (all the while the PC is running at a snails pace)
It was a good 10 minutes before any kind of download even started !! - and then it was going so slow that the bar wasn't moving ! I left it for nearly an hour and a half (!!) and the bar didn't move ! (internet connection was definately working at this point)

This left me well and truly stuck , so I cancelled the download , and tried to reboot the PC to get it to run a bit faster - BIG MISTAKE !! on rebooting , the PC wouldn't connect to the router (Local access only) I don't know why Vista has a horrible habit of doing this , but It simply would not have it - leaving me unable to install the files ,or get on the internet to find a solution !

Suspecting that Kies was causing the trouble , I uninstalled it , this took AGES , longer than installing it !! , and after ALL that , it still wasn't running right - so a System restore (rollback) was required - I did this (another hour or so ) and all was fine !!


So ,During the rollback , I use the SGS2 (still working thank god ! ) to search for a solution - Bloody glad that step one hadn't left me in recovery mode or anything

Eventually after much searching , I find that apparently the .net 4 thing is a HUGE file - but I cant run the Oneclickroute thing without it , so I llok for another way - I find that I could use ODIN to flash an "automatic Root" kernal - and job done ! (i.e. no need to root) - I decide this is the way forward

So .... PC wakes up from its "roll back" , working fine ! , then the awful truth hits me , I'd have to install KIES again for the drivers !!!

Do'h , so that kills another hour - but eventually I get it done , flash the new "automatic Root" kernal with ODIN , JOB DONE !!

...Then another "rollback" for the PC ! PC is all good and Kies free -SGS2 IS ROOTED !!!

Anyone with common sense would stop there ....

[miffed]

.....But I still had "touchwiz" ....After all that stress ! :mad:


So , I install "ROM manager Premium" (already purchased , had it on the Nexus)


Really is a cool app that takes any pain out of messing around with ROM's ......usually !

First thing I did was install Clockworkmod recovery (simply a "click" in ROM manager )

Seemed to be done really quick and didn''t ask for Superuser permissions , which I though was funny .....

Then I went to back up my ROM , it shut down ready to boot into CWM recovery ....only it didn't ! , for some reason CWM wasn't there ! I had noticed there were some tips on the ROM manager App page in the Market , so I went back and had a look , and it was suggested I should flash an previous version of CMD , then the new one back over it (again, just two clicks in ROM manager so no big deal ) - this didn't work

Again , I REALLY SHOULD HAVE GIVEN UP

...... But I noticed another App had been installed with the rooted kernal -
"CWM MANAGER"
I opened it and found it to be similar to ROM manager , Just like ROM manager it also "thought" I had CWM recovery installed - and it gave me the option to download and install a ROM , ....So I chose to install the latest nightly of CM7
It powered down , went into bootloader , failed to load CWM - and then stopped at the SGS2 splashscreen and stayed there !

At that point I was 100% sure I had bricked the phone ! it wouldn't go into Download mode, or Bootloader / recovery - it just sat there on the splash screen ! Pull the battery out , leave it for 10 mins , put it back in , and the splashscreen comes up again and stays there , bricked !

So that was the best part of 5 hours doing this crap , and now my phone was dead !

[miffed]

Convinced I had killed it , I was kicking myself because the splashscreen had the "yellow triangle" - which screams "yoo hoo , I have been flashed with an insecure kernal , therefore my warranty is void"

I was actually contemplating dropping it in some water and claiming off my contents insurance - I considered the phone a loss ,and was trying all manner of keypresses to revive it - to get into recovery you are supposed to hold the Home , vol+ and power buttons, this was doing nothing - but while holding the buttons , I was distracted and talking to someone - so ended up holding all the buttons for about 2 minutes, then I noticed the splash screen go out then come back on two times in quick succession , ......then lo and behold I was in CWM !!!!!

This was like being on Black or red - I didn't know whether to "flash zip" "reboot" or "Wipe data , factory reset" - I hit "reboot" - then thought "oh no - it'll just go to splash screen again" .....but luckily it booted into CM7 - ...untill it got stuck in a boot loop ... Not sure when CM7 flashed , it must have done it "behind" the splash screen ?

So , I pulled the battery (deep breath) tried to boot into recovery - and went into CWM !! (yay ! ) - Factory Reset , and all was good with the world !
I used ROM manager to flash CWM again , now it works like , well , clockwork !


So , yeah , rooting the SGS2 is easy !

[Ben]

LoL! That was quite a read! Yeah, it shouldn't be that much work to get a decent OS running on one of these things, but hey ho.

Interesting that the stock device isn't so great. I say interesting, because surely the vast majority that don't mess about with their Android phones are going to be stuck with what Samsung give them and therefore be quite disappointed?

Which begs the question... is it better than an iPhone 4? Really?

[miffed]

No - not really , I do feel like a bit of a twat for falling for it as I really should know better by now !

Ever since the N95 , the Apple hate brigade have like to grab hold of whatever "best of the rest" device is available and champion it as "iPhone killer"
- they never are , and this one is no different IMO Don't get me wrong , this is a lovely , beautiful piece of hardware with some brilliant spes ,and its a damn fine Android phone (probably the best one out there)

....but the iPhone is still champ IMO

[Ben]

Crazy.

Roll on Tuesday I guess!

[miffed]

Silly little things make the stock experience god awful IMO , -
the keyboard is terrible , so you need the XT9 thing (or at least I did !)

When you type a message in the messaging (Black background ,bright orange and blue balloons which AFAIK can't be changed -not sure I didn't spend much time looking) using the XT9 thing , you get seasick ! the enitre contents of the screen (except the keboard) move up and down depending on the amount of "suggestions" that are being offered , result being the screen is all over the place !

Little things , but all the little things add up !

[gorilla]

I missed the updates on this. I had to root the SG2 on an old netbook, but I didn't really have much trouble, it just took a while. One thing I've noticed with CM7 is that you need to install it twice before rebooting. Not sure if this is just on the SG2 but I don't recall it working that way on the Desire.
I use swype and SwiftKey as my stock keyboards which are big improvements over default Android.

Having messed around with several Android phones now I have to say that it is pretty hard to actually break them. I've always been able to get them into recovery mode and worst case scenario I had to reinstall the backup image to force it back to it's factory orignal state.
Just to state it again, I just wish OEMs would ship stock Android and let people skin them whichever way they wanted by using apps available in the market. This way there would be no need to root or install a custom ROM.
I hope you stick with the SG2 - I'm very happy with mine.

[Hands0n]

I have been sorely tempted to get an SGS2 and stick CM7 on it from the off. But given how near the Nexus Prime is I am very inclined to play the waiting game for now. If nothing else, perhaps the SGS2 will drop in price a bit more by then.

[gorilla]

I installed CM7 over the weekend and even I am impressed. These are nightly builds so you are to expect bugs, but at the minute it seems very stable.

Something tells me that the Nexus Prime is going to be ridiculously priced off contract e.g. more than £500 and limited to expensive plans and a few carriers.

[miffed]

Yeah have to say I am having no problems at all with CM , loving it and think this is exactly how both Android and the S2 should be !

I do suspect those of us that want a more "vanilla" experience are in the minority and that the masses would actually PREFER touchwiz , bizarre as that seems !
I do like the S2 , but I think it has been hyped beyond belief , the screen is nice - but reading the tales on the web you'd think it gave could give you a sun tan - I have had two now (LOL !) and while the display is nice (it's SAMOLED , its going to be !) , its not breathtaking IMO , in fact sometimes the "over saturation" of colours is bloody awful - e.g. the Facebook widget on the homepage , most of the time I can't make out peoples photos as they are so oversaturated the look "dark" .... I think a lot of this is to do with the Stock ROM as this is a tad better on CM7.
Anyway, I am only picking holes to counter the hype , I can certainly live with it !

[Hands0n]

I'm not sure that the Nexus Prime can afford to be heavily over-priced unless Google and Samsung want to see it disappear almost without trace. As it is, Samsung may have over-egged the design if the closing images in the teaser video are to be believed (see here: http://youtu.be/oM9RO-GAKjE?hd=1 ). If the Nexus Prime really is as it appears in the video there is a very strong chance that I won't bother. The glass will be very difficult to protect, and it is fragile enough on the Nexus S.

So, maybe, just maybe, I will end up with a Galaxy S2 with CM7 to replace the Nexus S.

Or will I? :)

Edit: Here's a still of the Nexus Prime. What do you think?

[gorilla]

I actually liked the feel of the Nexus S in the hand, so the curved design doesn't put me off.

@Hands0n: how much do you think the Nexus Prime will retail for? I'm betting it's more than £400.
It'll be interesting to see how long Samsung promote the phone for, because the other Nexus phones have been dead only a couple of months after launch and not really supported by the network operators. They really were reference designs. Do you think this one will be different given that Google now owns Motorola?

[Hands0n]

@gorilla - I do indeed think that the Nexus Prime will be somewhere between £450 and £500. It would surprise me greatly if it were any more, or less. Also, I have never really understood why the Nexus handsets have been so little supported by not only Google but also the manufacturers and networks. They have been gorgeous devices, highly functional and bereft of all fancy trimmings and network operator branding. Just how I like my handsets.

My gut feel is that the Nexus Prime will go the same way as the Nexus S and the Nexus One before that. Perhaps the Motorola relationship will produce the next Nexus smartphone to follow the Prime. I'd be very surprised if it didn't. But that is at least 12 months away.

And that said, I'm not sure that I want to buy a new Nexus every 12 months ...

[Hands0n]

I ordered a nearly-new SGS2 in white from eBay last night. The person who is selling it says it is an unwanted upgrade from Three that he has unlocked, debranded with "generic" Samsung firmware and used to review for a few days. We'll see.

My move was inspired by Google and Samsung's postponement of the Nexus Prime, the pictures and videos that I have seen so far, and a feeling that [at least for now] I don't really need a Prime given what I'm likely to do with it :)

My intention is to get a little experience of Samsung's Touchwiz UI and then opt for one of the independent ROMs, most likely Cyanogen as that is generally the most stable and flexible.

I'll wait out Ice Cream Sandwich from the independents. It will be AOSP and so there will be no shortage of choices in very short time after it hits the Google servers.

Edit: Kies installed to my Samsung NC10 Netbook with Windows 7. It didn't require the additional installation of .Net. The whole install took about 35 minutes of which a good 20 seemed to be Kies doing not very much on the hard disk, it claimed that it was installing the drivers, so only the heavens knows what that was all about.

[miffed]

Congrats on the purchase !

Interesting to see how long you can hold out before getting rid of Touchwiz and the dreaded "Kies" , I'd also be interested to hear what you make of the screen - at it seems like me vs the world at the moment , I say "Oversaturated , not outstandingly bright with crap viewing angles (well , a sort of blue tint when you look at it from anything other than straight on)"
...... But the rest of the world say "Perfect ! the most amazing screen in the world ever".

[Hands0n]

Cheers miffed. I had been contemplating one of these from the off, mostly for the large(r) screen than the Nexus S. But the early cost put me off. Now they're coming on stream as good quality seconds, nearly new etc. the prices are coming down nicely.

From all the screenshots and opinions I read on Touchwiz I'd say that it will be gone the first evening that I have the thing. I tend to dislike the extensions and add-ons that manufacturers and operators make to Android. It completely takes away from the so-called freedom of Android, and that just will not do :)

Probably the first thing I'll do is line up the SGS2 alongside the iPhone 4 (not S) to compare the screens. I think it is going to take something a bit special to beat the retina display. All of the various commentators on the SGS2 say it gives the iPhone a run for its money - I remain doubtful in that respect.

I still think that Android as an OS has a bit more to go to jump the bar that iOS has set and that may well happen in Android 4.0 ICS, it certainly doesn't in Gingerbread or Honeycomb that do not live up to their hype. So the SGS2 will be getting CM8 when it arrives, but is unlikely to see a bona fide Samsung version of Android ever again - well, at least while in my ownership :)

[Ben]

Grats on the SGS2!

It looks and feels tremendous I think, it's what had me lusting over a true iPhone 5. But all said and done, I'm not sure the iPhone 4 form factor isn't superior, and the S should bring the performance boost (not that iOS really needs it, but it'll be good for some apps and the camera sounds amazing). Your thoughts on SGS2 vs iPhone 4 will be waited for with breath that is baited by me!