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I initially picked up the EVO June 4th and had it and loved it for a month. Then Magenta announced they were getting the Galaxy as the Vibrant so I returned the EVO to see if the Vibrant was all I hoped it would be.
I love them both and my two week window for the Vibrant is almost up so I wanted to get some opinions on the development potential for the Vibrant vs the EVO.
I know its early and the source code just got released this week, but it seems like development for the EVO moved at a much quicker pace. I wanted some people to chime in about what they think, especially if you've had and used both phones.
Many devs are familiar with the HTC way of doing things, and samsung is different so there is a learning curve that had to be tackled first. I think the development of the SGS is pretty good and will continue to grow..
Sent from my SGS Vibrant
Yeah its only a master matter of time. Why would people not want to mess with the best hardware? Especially the developers.
SAMSUNG BEAST VIBRANT XDA APP
I've had the evo too, keep the vibrant. Way better screen, faster CPU, lighter and thinner! Development will come, I know what you mean about the evo dev being fast, but its just because developers were used to HTC ways. Samsung is different, we are finally seeing update.zip packages, I think everything will pick up shortly.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
boodies said:
Yeah its only a master matter of time. Why would people not want to mess with the best hardware? Especially the developers.
SAMSUNG BEAST VIBRANT XDA APP
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yea most of the developers are just now buying Vibrant's, as more people use them, the more it will be mod'd and developed
not to mention that 2 more galaxy s phones have yet to be released (Sprint and VZW). There will be a LOT of GalaxyS support in the dev community since just about everyone will be able to get one.
In my opinion this was a really good question. I too came from the EVO and Sprint, my wife and I got tired of the horrible customer service that Sprint was giving us so we packed up shop and moved to T-Mo hearing nothing but great things about their customer service. So far I love the hardware of the Vibrant and I too was a bit worried that the development didn't happen as fast as the EVO, so great question and here's to hoping we get strong development on this great platform.
ju5tiiv said:
In my opinion this was a really good question. I too came from the EVO and Sprint, my wife and I got tired of the horrible customer service that Sprint was giving us so we packed up shop and moved to T-Mo hearing nothing but great things about their customer service. So far I love the hardware of the Vibrant and I too was a bit worried that the development didn't happen as fast as the EVO, so great question and here's to hoping we get strong development on this great platform.
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You have to change that avatar! just kidding.
My vote is for the vibrant as well!
I too had the evo. The dev for it was awesome but didn't it seem that at least half of it was correct it's shortcomings? Fps fix, camera tweaks, different radios and kernels. The processor is sub par a well as the gpu. The phone out of the box needed to be modded. The vibrant is good out if the box. Root it and you're good. That's how I feel about it.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
The EVO WILL NOT be as strong as the SGS line.
A lot of the hardware between all the phones is very very similar and allows different communities to share their findings. We are not limited to a carrier, therefore this is one of the first times
Verizon
T-Mobile
ATT
Sprint
US Cellular
and more...
Can all work together to find stuff.
Example, the European version of the Galaxy has a speed fix that doubles their quadrant scores. This method is already porting over to the captivate and vibrant and is about %75 done!
Lastly, I'm from the Captivate forums and this shows you how much we can all work together!
SlimJ87D said:
Lastly, I'm from the Captivate forums and this shows you how much we can all work together!
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TRAITOR! KILL IT WITH FIRE!
Plus Qualcomms cpu's are crap compared to Samsung. I remember my HTC 8525 (hermes) from back in the day had a better cpu than did my HTC Kaiser which had a Qualcomm processor that was seriously weak in comparison. Ask any developer they will tell you.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
That and most of the "dev" support is seriously lacking, it's either good (probably something that optimizes a stock ROM), good but still needs more time, not all there (like the FPS fix), or is completely garbage.
With the myTouch 3G/G1, I tried to find something that was fast and worked good, never found that combo unfortunately. I don't see the need for that with the Vibrant. I think we would be best off waiting for Samsung to respond to GPS concerns & problems. Maybe we'll get an update this month that will speed us up like some of the later beta leaks along with an update to GPS functionality to tide us over until FroYo.
ju5tiiv said:
In my opinion this was a really good question. I too came from the EVO and Sprint, my wife and I got tired of the horrible customer service that Sprint was giving us so we packed up shop and moved to T-Mo hearing nothing but great things about their customer service. So far I love the hardware of the Vibrant and I too was a bit worried that the development didn't happen as fast as the EVO, so great question and here's to hoping we get strong development on this great platform.
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Been with Tmobile for 7 years, decided to check the evo out when it came out, since sprint offered 100% money back guarantee within 30 days, never again... for one, service in my area for sprint ended up sucking, specially for 3g. My evo was neat though, it was exactly what I wanted Hd2 to be, so I was happy. Only complaint was no amoled screen on it.
Anyways, I kept it for 20 days and decided to return it as I wasn't gonna pay $10 extra a month for data when I barely got 300kbps upload at my house and couldn't even stream Pandora at the gym due to 100kbps download speed there... went to local sprint store where I bought my evo. They told me to drive 30 miles to a service center because they required all of the new evo phones to be checked out by a tech first... drove there, hit rush hour, they tell me that I didn't have to drive there afterall and that the Rep who told me to didn't know what She was talking about. Returned my phone, got my money back, Guy said That hed call sprint and cancel my service, that I was good to go...awesome, not so much...
Get a bill in the mail a month later for first month of service, then one for second. Called financial department, stayed on the phone for an hour, spoke to 3 people. They are telling me that my cancellation didn't happen until July 7th and that I owe them $200! I had a reciept in front of me stating tat my phone was returned June 28th. I kept on telling them that why in the world would I go through all the hustle to return my device, not have any usage on my account since 28th and not cancel the service, knowing that I only had 30 days to do so... they ended up telling me to go back to sprint store and talk to the same rep who cancelled my service and to have him call sprint. Fat chance I was driving there again. Went to my local sprint store, spoke to this nice dude who looked at my reciept and called sprint to fix the issue. Said that he saw the name of that Rep 3 times prior, that he screwed up before.
All is good now, but after all these issues I'm sticking to Tmobile, way better customer service and coverage in my area. I had an issue with my first vibrant. Went back to the store, got a swap in minutes. People there were courteous, And super helpful. Not so much with sprint...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Ya t-mobile is the best! There no contract plans are a steal. The service is second only to verizon. They have the fastest internet. Internet isn't 30 bucks extra like BS verizon.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I'm from the international forum (although I don't quite have my Galaxy S yet, will this coming week!) but have to check over here and at the Captivate forum since we're rather fragmented forum-wise, but I'm sure that it'll be easy to port things between the phones.
I'm hoping the Galaxy S series sees developer attention as well - it has a disadvantage not being from HTC stock, but with such wide availability and being such a high-end device I'm hoping we'll see plenty. Work on CyanogenMod is very encouraging and suggests it's being taken seriously.
I don't know if we can count on Samsung releasing Gingerbread firmware; it could really go either way (the Galaxy S series will probably still be their flagship when it comes out, but UI changes may be a disincentive). But with developers interested in the platform we'll hopefully not need Samsung's help to keep the phone up to date in the future.
Going to +1 everything everyone else said and I also had evo, nexus one and all the rest, I like the samsung best and hope they learned from the behold mistake. But in my are t mobile sucks and sprint data was alot faster. But gsm and no contracts beat that.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Samsung Support
And plus there's absolutely no way that the Behold II incident could even compare because the Galaxies have been released in Korea, Europe, and all major carriers in the US so Samsung will definitely have plenty of support as well as everyone on the Galaxies can pitch in to dev this phone.
They plan to release the Galaxy S in over 110 countries and 125 carriers world wide...In South Korea alone they sold 500,000 phones in 30 days...so DEV support is gonna happen no matter how you look at it...
I'm personally sticking with sprint but going for the Epic 4G....really need the keyboard and the specs beat EVO 2x in most specs....
The EVO was impressive 2 years ago when we learned it was the Super Sonic...nowadays its pretty much just another phone....I mean it even uses a 4 year old processor....
The Galaxy S or Vibrant or whichever name you prefer to call it is more on par with the standards of 2010...
I don't know how many of you have been in the same boat (or care, really) but I am just so torn as to what to do!! I have been with t-mobile for the last 10 years and haven't had too many problems other than small hiccups from time to time. And I got onto their no roaming charges plan fairly early on after i signed up. I don't travel very often, but it was nice to not worry about roaming charges. I would always look at verizon and see that they charged roaming fees and were generally more expensive than what I had. Then I got my first smart phone in 2006 and was hooked! However, t-mobile was pretty late in the game as far as 3G speeds were concerned, especially in my area. And sometimes, the "3G" speeds really suck!! Tho I have compared against people with AT&T and verizon, and when I have 3G speeds on my phone, they tend to be faster. Hell, I can even stream netflix movies through my phone! But now with the onset of 4G, verizon seems to be in a good position. Tho I just read that Salt Lake wasn't going to get complete LTE coverage until the end of the year. Which kind of bites. Anyway I am kind of wanting to jump ships now, however I would have to cut my allowed minutes in half (to 450), and service would STILL cost like 10-15 dollars more per month than what I already pay. But I really do have my eye on the thunderbolt. I have gone in like 3 times to the verizon store to play with it. I am a little bit concerned with battery life, and I don't want to pay extra for 2 GB worth for tethering. Yes, I understand you can root and put new ROMs on the device, but that process still confuses the crap out of me since I have never done it before. The other thing that i get stuck on is that I am a terrible decision maker, so I am kind of scared of making a bad move and regretting it (like buying an HD2.) So I guess that my question is (especially for you former t-mobile customers) is why do you like verizon? I'm not asking you to convince me to switch, I just want to know why you like verizon. Is there a reason you don't like verizon? I don't think I need to ask why you like or dislike the thunderbolt, since I have found plenty of posts for that. But hopefully a few of you will give your two cents
Well, from what I can say, I'd honestly say that if you main concern is speed, verizon is the way to go, if you lookin for a balance, maybe look into sprint. They have 4g phones (the evo, and the evo shift) being almost the same as the inc I just owned (I ran an evo rom, radios, and battery), as they have decent prices and coverage and 4g. T mobile I have never used or been a fan of, but if they work, why change? They will catch up in a bit I'm sure. I've always been with Verizon as I'm on someones plan, and could never afford the insane rates myself. really though I'l check to see what you need, what you want, and what you can afford. Assuming sprint is good in your area, I'd highly suggest an eve/evo shift as a balance, but I can't really give you a definite answer. I have a thunderbolt as of he last few days and like it. I can't say I love it even with the 4G speeds being impressive at the moment. Just waiting for some more hackers and HTC to give us the code we need then I may love it.
Hope that helps a bit and I didn't bore you.
I moved over from AT&T this past summer because well I really don't like AT&T and even as a priority customer on an iPhone I had terrible coverage/service. I made the move to Verizon initially for the superior network/service. I am paying significantly more as I'm no longer on a family plan w/ my brother who didn't want to leave his iPhone...
And if you do come to Verizon by the time the free mobile hotspot promo ends I'm quite sure the hacker/developer community will have greatly simplified the rooting process and there will be custom roms/kernels to optimize power. If not the extended battery add on doesn't cost too much and doesn't add to much to the overall size, I grabbed it for those days I'm traveling. And there are tethering options that don't require monthly payments/limits that don't require root.
I'm loving my thunderbolt, though I agree w/ kdb424 I'm looking forward to some further development on the custom roms/kernels front. I only have rooted currently to get rid of the bloatware & access to the root apps, but can't wait to have some more custom roms to play with. But well currently seemingly the community is waiting for HTC to release the kernel source.
But again I love Verizon for the service/quality of network/helpful employees & I am definitely liking the thunderbolt even though it is a significant change in size from my Droid Incredible.
Holy massive block of text!
I would recommend checking out which carrier best serves your personal needs. Verizon is a little pricey if you cannot get any sort of discount (through work, family, etc.)... but they also have amazing coverage and an impressive start on their 4G LTE network.
I understand why you may not want Verizon though. Sprint is a tad more affordable and can offer great devices and service depending on your area.
I was with TMobile for about 8 years before switching to Verizon a week ago (relocated for work and had no data coverage with TMobile at my new location).
Well I have looked at the options. I might get a new job in Elko, Nevada in which case only Verizon and AT&T have any decent coverage. This is also another reason why i ask. And I doubt Elko would be getting 4G any time soon.
Oh, decisions decisions!!
Quick question guys,
I just rang my local T-Mobile store to see what their pricing is going to be on the SGS2 and i was told they still have no idea... I have a contract with them that i'm using in my SGS2 i picked up from Phones 4 u last week. I wanted it sooner rather than later so i could get a good idea of the phones performance and still have the option to return within the 14 days if i wasn't happy or if T-Mobile can do me a better deal.
the guy on the phone said that he'd heard a lot of Phones 4 u's SGS2's have been returned due to issues with the device shutting down after a couple of days usage, becoming near inopperable... When i told him i'd had no such issues, he told me that it was because i'd only had mine since the 27th.... i told him that as far as i was aware it was only available from the 26th at the earliest...
Anyways, this seems like dirty tactics to me, has anyone else heard of such reports?? As far as my device is concerned its been flawless, and i'm certain that if this was happening we'd have heard of it on here, if not from bloggers and reviewers...
the phone call really p*ssed me off, almost to the point where i'm thinking of telling t-mobile to stick it and switching to the new Orange sim i have...
dickie2007 said:
Quick question guys,
I just rang my local T-Mobile store to see what their pricing is going to be on the SGS2 and i was told they still have no idea... I have a contract with them that i'm using in my SGS2 i picked up from Phones 4 u last week. I wanted it sooner rather than later so i could get a good idea of the phones performance and still have the option to return within the 14 days if i wasn't happy or if T-Mobile can do me a better deal.
the guy on the phone said that he'd heard a lot of Phones 4 u's SGS2's have been returned due to issues with the device shutting down after a couple of days usage, becoming near inopperable... When i told him i'd had no such issues, he told me that it was because i'd only had mine since the 27th.... i told him that as far as i was aware it was only available from the 26th at the earliest...
Anyways, this seems like dirty tactics to me, has anyone else heard of such reports?? As far as my device is concerned its been flawless, and i'm certain that if this was happening we'd have heard of it on here, if not from bloggers and reviewers...
the phone call really p*ssed me off, almost to the point where i'm thinking of telling t-mobile to stick it and switching to the new Orange sim i have...
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Sales tactics never cease to amaze me.
The majority of early adopters are on here, and there has not been a single report of malfunction
Jumping from t-mobile to orange, is like choosing between 6 and half a dozen (same company)
Move over to 3 or vodafone and enjoy high speed data (instead of the t-mobile 300 kbps limit)
No issue with mine and I got it on the 26th from p4u.
yeah i couldn't find anything of it, and as i said to him, most early adopters are going to be people like me, who actively use forums and follow pre/reviews etc...
i realise they have/are merging, but i really wanted to get a better deal upgrading, but tbh it was the guys cocky know-it-all attitude that really got me, i'm a huge believer in quality customer service, and when i originally questioned Phones 4 U as to why i should choose them over T-Mobile direct, i actually got a good 'honest' sales pitch, not a cheap-ass shot at the competition...
The T-Mobile guy even tried to tell me that the reason they aren't stocking it yet, and still not for at least a week, is due to the device having faulty software and told me to expect problems with my device over the comming few days...
Hope everyone else is loving their soon to be faulty SGS2's as much as i am!!!
Typical sales bull****. If there really is a common issue, its sure going to get noticed and logged onto forums. Unless its Apple, in which case the laws of fashion step in.
Given same costs, which would you prefer?
I originally wanted to go to the Sensation, and I waited for it. But, lukewarm initial reviews, $5 more a month for a limited 2GB data cap (vs unlimited and LTE on VZW), and a more active development community with the Thunderbolt convinced me to change my order to VZW.
However, considering the terrible battery life of the Thunderbolt, the fact that I don't get LTE in my office or at home (1x and 3G are my normal connections), and the Tbolt being slightly inferior in the hardware department, I am thinking that i should switch back to the Sensation idea. I get 20% discount with Verizon, versus 12% on Tmobile.
I want to trust that upcoming Gingerbread ROMs for Thunderbolt will result in a better product on a faster network. I'm just somewhat underwhelmed with the Tbolt after a week.
Thoughts?
personally, i would look at it like this
1. what carrier has stronger signal strength where you are
2. LTE vs Hardware. your either going to get amazing download and upload speeds when LTE finally rolls out in your area and imo its amazing + its unlimited if you are grandfathered in; or you can get slightly improved specs which honestly, wont really matter in day to day usage. The only differences you'll really see are when you play high end games or something like that.
3. Which phone has a more developed community. As far as i know, the thunderbolt has a huge community just like the original incredible. Even now, after so many years the incredible is still getting roms. I saw a sense 3.0 rom on an incredible!
sooo up to you lol. your going to be using the phone not me :]
You know I was at the same exact crossroads. I just came off of my 2 year contract with T-Mobile and I was pondering buying the Sensation or switching to Verizon (which has much better coverage in my area). I like the Sensation just a tad better due to its dual core processor and how much shimmer it is. This goes without saying, the Sensation is one sexy phone. It all came down to the carrier for me. In my house I would average 1-2 bars. So I went with VZW and the Thunderbolt. Honestly I love the Thunderbolt. It's great. For you, I would say go with the carrier that has better service in your area which I believe is safe to say Verizon.
Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt using XDA Premium App
if you don't get Ltd where you are most I would go with the sensation
Yeah, it is completely a coin toss. Look at the development community here vs. Sensation, the Tbolt is much more active.
Considering the hell that an AT&T buyout would bring to Atmosphere, I'd be far happier stuck on VZW for two years.
If I can just work around this battery misery, I think the Tbolt will be fine.
Sent from my TBolt using XDA App
BoulderGeek said:
Yeah, it is completely a coin toss. Look at the development community here vs. Sensation, the Tbolt is much more active.
Considering the hell that an AT&T buyout would bring to Atmosphere, I'd be far happier stuck on VZW for two years.
If I can just work around this battery misery, I think the Tbolt will be fine.
Sent from my TBolt using XDA App
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Im getting about 8-10 hrs. on mine right now
setup in sig
Sensation looks pretty sweet. If Verizon had it in their line up it would be a top choice.
Agreed with everybody else. Depends on the carrier. If no LTE get the sensation.
T-Mobile will throttle down your data after you hit the 2GB ceiling, get Verizon before the 7th of July and you're locked in with unltd data with no cap or throttle, be it 3G or LTE. Even if you don't have LTE yet, you will eventually. The majority of features on a smartphone use network data, so all the memory and processing power technology has to offer means absolutely **** when your data stinks.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
If you don't get LTE in your area, download LTE On/Off or a similar program and switch to CDMA Auto. This will greatly improve your battery life.
I would take a not-so-hot device on Verizon's 4G any day over a "hot device" on a non Verizon carrier any day!!
Plus, the TB is definitely hot
Let me offer my feelings, because I have just completed the exact same journey you are embarking on, meaning I had a Sensation on Tmo, and just witched to VZW for the Thunderbolt. Here are my impressions:
HTC Sensation 4G:
I used to be on my company's corporate plan with blackberrys but recently accepted a new job, which allowed me to get whatever phone/carrier I wanted. I had used Tmobile years ago and did the whole HTC HD2 custom ROM thing and had a really good time with it. The sensation always claimed to be on 4g mode and I got relatively good speeds. I could always stream music/videos without any delay, and Speedtest would report about 3mbps on average, with a peak of 8 on a couple of occasions. Coverage was excellent & no dropped calls.
The phone itself is a work of art. It's very light, had outstanding battery life under heavy usage, and Sense 3.0 is beautiful. The tweaked functionality of the camera app among other things was nice. My favorite feature of course being free built in hotspot/tethering. However something was missing.
I really missed the screensize of the HD2. While both are 4.3" diagonal, the S4G has a higher aspect ratio, so the phone is actually skinnier. I didnt like this. I really liked how readable text was on my HD2, and the proximity of icons/buttons when texting were. All in all, the HD2 was simply the perfect size for me.
Then I went to a VZW store and made then unbox a thunderbolt for me so I could try it out without those security wires attached to it. I immediately fell in love and knew within seconds that this was the phone for me. I ran out the buyers remorse period on tmobile just to make sure, and finally made the switch on Monday! I cant tell you how pleased I am. The phone just feels right in my hands.
Every time I used the S4G I was constantly judging it for its screensize. This was a huge bummer, because I could never enjoy the phone. Every time I picked it up all I could think about was how much more smushed and how much scrolling I needed to do to get the same screen real estate visible on the Thunderbolt.
Thoughts on the Thunderbolt:
People arent lying, the battery life is borderline abysmal, but this is actually fine with me since I work behind a desk. I am actually charging it via USB as we speak. I'll probably also plug it into my car charger so it's boosted by the time I get home. I seem to get about 4-6 hours of heavy usage out of it (I was recording myself giving seminars this morning, then surfing all through lunch using the kickstand). I dont mind the battery life since I can easily keep it juiced, but I would NEVER recommend this phone for anyone on the go.
The only thing I actually dont like is how bulky the phone is. Even my HD2 was slimmer/lighter. Maybe its the LTE modem, or maybe it's the kickstand, but the phone feels fat in my hand. In fact, I've basically traded one nuisance for another, nagging on the S4G due to size, and nagging on the TB due to weight. Time will tell if I begin to regret my decision, but I think the other benefits will make up for it.
On TMO, within my first week on the S4G I had already used 1gb. Granted I was playing around with it a bit more than usual, but still. I think we're all gonna hit 2GB a lot sooner than we realize, and the carriers on banking on this (hence the reason they made them). Having 100% unlimited grandfathered 4G with the TB was probably my second biggest selling point. I dont like using a phone and constantly checking the MyAccount app, or 3g watchdog to determine how close I am to running over. It kinda sours the whole experience. With the TB I can just kick back relax and know I'll never be bothered with it.
And speaking of bulk/kickstand issues, I just want to say how AWESOME this kickstand is. I am constantly using it (even though it's only been 3 days lol). I love being able to stand it up and flick through web pages with 1 finger while I eat a sandwich or pasta or something at work. I'm really shocked they arent doing this will all their phones now.
Oh yeah, one other thing, performance. Believe it or not, but the TB actually feels snappier to me running Froyo than the S4G. Dual core or not, the S4G's framerate when switching homescreens always had a little choppiness to it. This really blows and feels like you're using a bogged down phone. The TB always has wonderfully smooth transitions. Obviously this is due to lack of 3d fx, but I'd rather have a smooth simply interface than a clunky advanced one. The only feature of Sense 3.0 I actually used was the lockscreen widget. It's pretty hand to be able to open emails/sms messages from here, but it really only saves you from 1 extra step when you use a standard lockscreen. All the other upgrades apps were pretty useless. Yeah the new weather widget is awesome and I would just stare and stare at it for minutes at a time. That was on my first day. On the 2nd day I never even noticed it. I even used the weather as my wallpaper, and still I didnt notice it.
P.S. I was really nervous about this whole ATT thing too. ATT has given some blanket statement that existing 4g users on Tmo's network will be "given an opportunity to upgrade" or something along those lines. Basically you WILL have to get a new phone eventually. LTE is NOT what Tmo is using, and ATT wants that spectrum baaaaad. Believe me, once it's theirs they are going to use it, and completely redeploy it for real 4G as they can. If you're LUCKY, they MIGHT do it in a series of phaseouts, letting users of phones like the S4G exhaust their contracts before each little piece of spectrum is gobbled up and transformed into LTE space. And thats assuming they're going to play nice, and since when has ATT ever played nice? ATT is always the first carrier to impose some asinine rules or restrictions on their services. They are the last company I would trust to be fair and not just force me to renew my contract in 13 months or be dumped to 2g speeds forever.
Hope that helps!
Verizon + Unlimited 4G LTE on the Thunderbolt can't be beat.
Thank you very much for taking the time to write that up, RunNGun!
You've hit upon many of my concerns and observations. I was actually thinking that the Sensation's aspect ratio difference and smaller size would be a positive for me. the Thunderbolt with a silicone bumper case feels as massive as the old Apple Newton I had in 1994.
But, I'm a relatively substantial guy at six feet and 215lbs, so it's not overwhelmingly large. I think that the 4" AMOLED of the Samsung Galaxy S line is the sweet spot for me. but, when I had one on AT&T, I returned it within three weeks. And I am glad that I did.
I'm getting about the same battery that you are. I also have USB at work and chargers all over the house, cars and motorcycles so I'm quite covered for applying power. I might get 8 hours on the stock battery, with wifi off and green power on.
I'm holding off the root and flash until I am out of return period and whatever upgrade that may come has been seen. I did port over my TMobile number that I've had since 1998, so I am pretty much sold on the Tbolt. i did a Speedtest in the car at a stoplight the other day and got 30mbit! And, I've already burned through 5+ Gigs of data just letting the bloatware do its thing and playing some Pandora.
I had a very good experience with Tmobile on my old Nokia 5800. But that sucked so badly for data services, that i only had text and voice on it. However, i could always make a call, where my GF on iPhone 4 has about a 50/50 chance of getting service or an inbound call.
I've also had good experiences with VZW in the past, but CDMA is such dead tech, it is hard to buy into it in 2011. I'd prefer a true world phone for my travels.
Cheers again for a great synopsis.
So you got the TB then? I have to agree with you about CDMA, but with a carrier as big and powerful as VZW I guess it doesnt really matter, they've certainly proven that it is a reliable platform and they can do great things with it. I wish I could use my phone overseas too, but at least I'll always have my wife's HD2 which is GSM for those occasions.
BTW I forgot to mention that my battery life is stifled from use of bluetooth a lot. I basically leave bluetooth on 24/7, GPS too, even though I'm not really using GPS that much. I dont actually shut off the radio. WiFi is always off. The first day I actually got 12 hours out of it before charging, because I was just too busy to play with it. Hard to say what my ultimate average will really be.
I am glad I switched over even though the 4G service isn't great where I live, I can sacrifice that for being able to customize MY phone/tablet/computer/anything any day. ...
If any one sees or hears anything about root/recovery for the other service providers, let them know. I know I would greatly appreciate any information to get my phone working the way I intend it to.
Thanks.
Sent from my rooted 'beaned' SM-G900T using Tapatalk Premium
em0ney14 said:
I am glad I switched over even though the 4G service isn't great where I live, I can sacrifice that for being able to customize MY phone/tablet/computer/anything any day. ...
If any one sees or hears anything about root/recovery for the other service providers, let them know. I know I would greatly appreciate any information to get my phone working the way I intend it to.
Thanks.
Sent from my rooted 'beaned' SM-G900T using Tapatalk Premium
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I'm with you. I had five lines with Verizon, all with unlimited data that I only paid 9.99 a month for because I got in on some discount; I switched them all to T-Mobile. It was a tough decision at first, but I had such a terrible time with my note 3 on Verizon, I just couldn't do it again.
Admittedly, the service isn't better, but it is good enough and now I can actually do things with my phone.
Sent from my SM-G900T using xda app-developers app
So true! I just left Verizon yesterday and signed up for TMobile! SO happy so far. I just feel good
I left Verizon for TMO 5 1/2 months ago, not long after the Note 3 came out. I had a Note 2, and my upgrade date was 4 months away. I was 20 months into my contract, and they used to do upgrades at 18 months. I was with Verizon for years, ever since they first came around. I called customer service to see if I could get my date moved and get a Note 3. The rep told me I qualified for something called Pre-Edge, so if I signed up for Edge, I could get a new phone that day. He gave me his name in case there were issues and made notes on my account. I went to the store, and no one had ever heard of Pre-Edge, nor did they see any notes on my account. When I called CS and asked for him, I was told he'd call back. I never got a call and had to leave the store because they were closing. I called back multiple times over the next 2 days and no one knew what Pre-Edge was or who I was talking about. Needless to say, I was angry. The same day, I went to T-Mobile and switched. I still have no idea what happened with that guy or what he was talking about.
I just signed up with T-Mobile yesterday and got the S5. I have been very interested in them the last couple of months. I have tried on them on pre-paid and its good enough. Much better with an actual T-Mobile branded phone. I am so disgusted with AT&T's BS on locking bootloaders and everything else that goes with that. AT&T is good for those who travel. I do not travel and so far I'd give T-Mobile about an 8/10.
Things I've noticed so far:
Generally weaker signal versus AT&T (most likely due to the high bands) Still works though.
HSPA+ is very fast, but when you hit -105dbm or greater it starts to go.
LTE is not as fast as I thought, but still very good.
Call quality is SO much better than AT&T.
LTE on Band 4 is pretty weak overall, but still usable.
13 more days to see if they work for me.
I hear ya OP. I have been watching here and the ATT forums. I am feeling really sorry for the guys over there right now. I am almost betting they will be lucky to get safestrap working and that for me personally is NOT enough. It feels like a ghost town. Since I have had my S1,S2, S3, and S4 there almost always have been a ROM or more on the first day I owned the devices (usually within a few days to a month of release).
I just called T-Mobile about switching my 4 lines from ATT over to T-Mobile. Checking prices and plans. Looks like I could save some money per month. Soecially if I just bring a few of my devices onto Tmobile (My daughters S3 and Wife's S4. I would pass her S4 to my son and get her the S5 while I get the S5 as well.
No guarantee yet that I will be over here though. Just weighing out my options. I am waiting for the 32Gb version if and when...
Sent From My Spiderman,Ironman,Red,Dark Blue,Green, GreyedOut BadAss Themed I337
...yeah, Verizon user here
I hate being locked down by Verizon. I have a T-mobile sim that I used to test T-Mobile(prepaid) in my Verizon Note 3. T-Mobile LTE is fast, but coverage is pretty sub-par compared to Verizon. When my contract is up in July I am probably going to sacrifice coverage for freedom, I mean come on still no KitKat, Verizon sucks.
I don't know about Verizon but I just left at&t for T-Mobile this past Tuesday and couldn't be happier. Their LTE is averaging about 30MB down where I live, work, and all points in between. With at&t I was averaging about 3 or 4MB on LTE at home. I'm loving this S5 but I think I'm loving T-Mobile even more. I checked the at&t forums and it is really quite over there.
TL;DR Recent family Sprint convert and so far we couldn't be happier with the S5 and TM!
I just switched my whole family (me, wife and two kids) over to TM from Sprint... we'd actually been happy with Sprint for about 6 years, weird as that may sound, but they were now trying to force us to change plans and not give us any deals on upgrades and basically it was going to cost more to stay with them monthly and we wouldn't be able to get reasonably cheap upgrades like before... for the past few years, because my kids' phones were bought almost exactly a month after mine and my wife's, we'd go in once a year, swap our phones to the kids and me and the wife would get new ones... well, they said no dice to this now. Sure, we give up unlimited data (sort of- TM is technically "unlimited" if you don't count throttling) but as it happens, that's a total worth it tradeoff.
After looking at all the options, I could have gotten away a little cheaper with Verizon (surprisingly!), and AT&T wasn't going to be much different than Verizon, but TM made it a deal we couldn't refuse: pay the Sprint ETF's, everyone got S5's financed, and we actually walked out of the store with the phones, Otter Boxes for three of them (I keep my phones "naked") and we actually had a $16 CREDIT on our first bill Yep, no money out-of-pocket whatsoever!
So far, we're loving it... had a minor snafu getting one phone switched over, but that was fixed quick and easy... the S5 itself is of course fantastic, which is no surprise... but so far, for the first time ever we actually get GREAT cell reception in our house even without IP calling (which we do use though), and it's 4G no less! (of course we're on wi-fi to save data, but still, we could barely get a Sprint signal before let alone a strong 4G signal like now). I also love that we get Hotspot for no extra charge, unlike Sprint... call quality thus far has been fine, though we frankly only use about 20 minutes a month COMBINED talk time so it's really not important anyway... coverage seems no different than Sprint so far overall... 4G speeds have been very good, about on-par with Sprint, maybe a hair better even. We only got the 1Gb plan because in looking at the past year with Sprint, only my son and I have ever gone over that line, twice each, and only once was more than a hundred Mb over... so 1Gb should be fine 99% of the time... we'll take the throttling after that if need be but no overage concerns is sweet.
And, of course, I rooted all four phones (screw the warranty, JUMP includes the handset insurance anyway and even though that costs something it makes the warranty a moot point to me) and I wouldn't give up that freedom for anything, so Verizon was a non-starter anyway (which is a shame really because we have FiOS and Verizon home phone and it would have been nice to have one provider for it all)... gotta have my root for Greenify and the mod to make the SD card writable!
Yeah, absolutely nothing to complain about at this point. I suppose things could go south at some point... until I see the ETFs paid off and the first bill to make sure nothing got screwed up I'm a little concerned... but assuming no surprises with either of those things I think this has been the best decision we've ever made WRT cell service (we had previously been on Verizon years ago, and AT&T before that, so we have some experience with all of them).
Verizon has never been a terribly bad deal for big families, but they hate single people with a vengeance
willbur73 said:
So true! I just left Verizon yesterday and signed up for TMobile! SO happy so far. I just feel good
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So did I! But I made sure to get an iPhone 5s from Verizon the day before so that I could sell it and get reimbursed from T-Mo for breaking the 1 day old contract. :laugh: Also sold my S4 and bought a junk phone to use as my trade in to T-Mo. Now the money I made off the iPhone and the S4 will pay for the T-Mo S5. So got the S5 for next to nothing.
I am on ATT - but starting with my NOTE 3 and now my S5 - I don't buy ATT PHONES. I buy TMOBILE PHONES and use them on the ATT Network. They work beautifully well.
I actually signed up for TMobile for about 2 days - but I was so dissapointed with the speeds I got - compared to ATT they were horribly slow - ATT gives me phenomenal speeds around town and inside my house. The final straw was that I found the only way I could make calls from inside my house is if I used WIFI CALLING. I started thinking the reason that TMOBILE Came up with WIFI CALLING was because so many people had trouble getting signals in their house. I don't know if that is why they did it, but It sure seemed that way to me.
Anyway - I have never been happier - I get the best of both worlds - an ulocked device I can use - and a network that provides lightening fast speeds..
it works for me - and I hope whatever you guys are doing works for you as well...
mocsab said:
I am on ATT - but starting with my NOTE 3 and now my S5 - I don't buy ATT PHONES. I buy TMOBILE PHONES and use them on the ATT Network. They work beautifully well.
I actually signed up for TMobile for about 2 days - but I was so dissapointed with the speeds I got - compared to ATT they were horribly slow - ATT gives me phenomenal speeds around town and inside my house. The final straw was that I found the only way I could make calls from inside my house is if I used WIFI CALLING. I started thinking the reason that TMOBILE Came up with WIFI CALLING was because so many people had trouble getting signals in their house. I don't know if that is why they did it, but It sure seemed that way to me.
Anyway - I have never been happier - I get the best of both worlds - an ulocked device I can use - and a network that provides lightening fast speeds..
it works for me - and I hope whatever you guys are doing works for you as well...
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I do the same. Unlocked T-Mobile phone on ATT.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
Super Sam Galaxy said:
So did I! But I made sure to get an iPhone 5s from Verizon the day before so that I could sell it and get reimbursed from T-Mo for breaking the 1 day old contract. :laugh: Also sold my S4 and bought a junk phone to use as my trade in to T-Mo. Now the money I made off the iPhone and teh S4 will pay for the T-Mo S5. So got the S5 for next to nothing.
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haha tha'ts messed up but a good idea.
This actually is the first time I had to buy a TMo version to use on ATT due to the locked BL in nature...If you can afford it, then its the best way to go in regards to the S5.
Guess I'm lucky, T-Mobile is awesome in my area. Slightly less coverage than AT&T, but the data connection is very stable and consistent.
Just took a look over there finding bounty thread - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2728051
I donated 20.00 to the cause , If anyone has extra $ they can throw their way please do.
sling said:
Just took a look over there finding bounty thread - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2728051
I donated 20.00 to the cause , If anyone has extra $ they can throw their way please do.
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Here was my post over there cause I donated too... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=52145012&postcount=60 I have Verizon and T-Mobile so I grabbed the M8 on Verizon and the S5 on T-mobile. Best of both worlds, although the M8 is waaaay snappier in pretty much every task. I wish Samsung would slim this damn TouchWiz down. Look at your available ram and tell me that this baby don't NEED 3gb of ram like the Note 3. WoW! Anyways, the more devs we all have the better if you think about it. Look how many roms and mods get ported over from different carrier variants. Yes, I am a crack flasher for sure. Glad to see you donate too though. :good:
I switched from Verizon to T-Mobile the week before the S5 came out, I was paying $125 for a single phone on Verizon with 4GB data. Now on T-Mobile I get the same 4G coverage (in come cases better) as I did with Verizon, yet my girlfriend joined my account and together we get 3GB high speed data per month each, and its $100/month plus paying for the phones per month, I got the S5, she got the Note 3. Verizon is too expensive and controlling. I am very happy switching to T-Mobile.
Those who got the TMO S5, can you comment on performance? One guy on here feels it is not optimized for AT&T. He said it can be stubborn and prefer H+ in LTE areas.