Should i buy the S2? - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi guys. I know the S2 is one old phone, but i found one, slightly used for just over 110 dollars. I want it mostly for messing with it and putting kitkat on it (since he hates Samsungs bloat), but I intend on giving it to my father to replace his Galaxy Ace 2 which is stock, untouched.
Is it worth it?

No.

vPro97 said:
Hi guys. I know the S2 is one old phone, but i found one, slightly used for just over 110 dollars. I want it mostly for messing with it and putting kitkat on it (since he hates Samsungs bloat), but I intend on giving it to my father to replace his Galaxy Ace 2 which is stock, untouched.
Is it worth it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get moto g instead
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

i am using it its one of the best phone around moto g is good but newly launched s2 is old and has good support from devs

It's really old, mate. Most of the dedicated S2 devs have moved on. We do have good ROMs but most are made for a variety of devices including S2 (CM, SlimRom, Omny).
Also, the S2 hardware is no match to current gen chipsets are way better. Faster GPS, better WiFi connectivity and IPS-LCD tip the scale for me....
I'd go for a current gen device with modest specs. Sony have good simple devices, MotoG is a good choice. The Nexus4 comes to mind too.

vPro97 said:
Hi guys. I know the S2 is one old phone, but i found one, slightly used for just over 110 dollars. I want it mostly for messing with it and putting kitkat on it (since he hates Samsungs bloat), but I intend on giving it to my father to replace his Galaxy Ace 2 which is stock, untouched.
Is it worth it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have my words.... No ...
Reason - 1.most of the developers have moved on .
2.Although we have kitkat.. Its still no where near to what real kitkat is...
Fanboys will try to prove me wrong but i have seen kitkat on moto g and s2 ... And belive me u cant compare how bad kitkat we have (no disrespect here ) all thanks to sammy...
3.Official cm support for kitkat came very late .. Very late i mean very late... Probably we wont see official cm support for next version of android...
If it wasnt for wayland_ace ...we would have no kitkat yet .
4. KITKAT still has lots of minor bugs.
5. Eek i run stock rooted deoxed ics and its the best stock rom combo for fast performance and xtreme battery life... Only for this benefit.. A YES is present

Related

motorola photon 4g(running custom roms) or samsung galaxy s2

um.. sorry if this has been asked alot of times but i didnt find any answers to my question.
So is a rooted fully unlocked running the best custom rom (i can chose any rom i want) and all the mods n tweaks motorola photon 4g better or is the stock samsung galaxy s2 better?? (i wont be tampering with the s2 because its got warranty here in india unlike the photon).
My college buddy saw my photon 4g (im running cna rom (ics) with all the mods) and he actually offered me his samsung galaxy s2 in exchange for my phone so should i exchange it or not?
And one more question has anyone from india tried the 3g speed hack settings on the latest roms?
rituel said:
um.. sorry if this has been asked alot of times but i didnt find any answers to my question.
So is a rooted fully unlocked running the best custom rom (i can chose any rom i want) and all the mods n tweaks motorola photon 4g better or is the stock samsung galaxy s2 better?? (i wont be tampering with the s2 because its got warranty here in india unlike the photon).
My college buddy saw my photon 4g (im running cna rom (ics) with all the mods) and he actually offered me his samsung galaxy s2 in exchange for my phone so should i exchange it or not?
And one more question has anyone from india tried the 3g speed hack settings on the latest roms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you plan on keeping the s2 at stock, then stick with the photon. If you really enjoy having a good selection of custom roms and kernels then go with the s2. But honestly, having a buttload of roms is overrated because at a certain point they are all reiterations of one another with certain mods added (that can easily be done by an end user) on top of official cm, aokp, cna, aosp, etc builds. We have all of these (except aosp), which is more than enough for any flashaholic. Also, take into consideration that the drivers we have been anticipating for so long are about to drop into our laps, making our 4.x builds near flawless. All things considered, mixed with the superior hardware and build quality of the photon, i would stick where you are at. If after we get the official ics upgrade with kernel and drivers you still arnt completely satisfied with the phone and the roms we have, then consider such a trade. But things are about to get really interesting up in here when that release drops, stick around and enjoy the show.
OK.. I'll stick with the photon I guess then I actually like the build of photon better than s2 the only reason I considered his offer was because s2 costs a lot more than photon here on eBay so I thought I could exchange sell profit buy another photon .
Oh so we're getting the official ics for photon hmm.. the thing I hate about Motorola Is they suck at UI design. I hope the official pics release will be good looking and not laggy like the stock ginger bread

Making a choice

I apologize in advance for being a noob and asking a very very silly question. I'm new to the Android platform and want to learn.
Here we go. I'm impressed by the UI of Stock Android that can be seen on Nexus devices (Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, they look and work so cool). No lagging, no fancy TouchWiz or anything. But Samsung Galaxy S2 has this touchwiz thingy. I recently got to know that the UI that I love (stock Android) is a part of CM10 (I mean, CM10 looks very much like it, and has added functionality compared to stock Android), and it can be installed on the Galaxy S2. Now there are a few things:
If I get an S2 and install CM10 on it,
- Will it be free of major bugs (there are a few bugs in every OS). But will it perform like the OS on those Nexus devices?
- Would it be a better decision, compared to getting a Nexus device (I don't want the Nexus 4 for some reason, and Galaxy Nexus, well, has slightly low-end hardware).
- Also, I was preferring a Nexus device only for the stock Android look and experience, but if I can get that on a rather flagship phone, why go for a Nexus?
I'll ask more questions once you fine folks post some replies. Please help me out... Thanks, help will be appreciated in non-Androidish terms (though I'm technically sound in all aspects, but i'm a noob when it comes to Android).
Thanks in advance
if you want bug free stock android buy a nexus *period*
gs 2 will have issues with future android updates sadly we havnt got butter on cm10 even after about 6 months of development
bluefa1con said:
if you want bug free stock android buy a nexus *period*
gs 2 will have issues with future android updates sadly we havnt got butter on cm10 even after about 6 months of development
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! What about other Custom ROMs? Are there any ones out there (apart from CM10) which look, feel, and work like Stock Android?
(not worth asking, but preferably with less bugs?)
iPhoneNexus said:
Thanks! What about other Custom ROMs? Are there any ones out there (apart from CM10) which look, feel, and work like Stock Android?
(not worth asking, but preferably with less bugs?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bro in all honesty, CM10 is actually pretty good for this device and you probably wont really notice much of the bugs (ok there are some annoying niggly issues with the audio but definitely not a deal breaker or anything major, you might not even notice it) and it is a good alternative to AOSP (nexus roms). Yes project butter does not work but the ROM is still damn fast considering that its not implemented "yet".
Another good Nexus type ROM is AOKP, for me this is the better ROM because it has some damn fine swagger, and you will see what I mean if you install it. It is based of CM10 sources so very similar but still unique. Personally bro I would only stick with these two as they are very good quality ROM's, unfortunately as mentioned before, we are stuck with incomplete sources due to Samsung withholding them so we wont have fully stable ROM's until this is released.
My sincere advice is to buy galaxy nexus or nexus 4 if you can. Else I advice you to use CM9 till the time Samsung releases essential sources to make CM10 work better. CM9 will give you much better battery life than CM10. As it is the battery life of S2 is not that great.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
Thanks for all the replies guys, really appreciated. Actually I'm getting a Galaxy Nexus and a Galaxy S2 at the same price (almost $345). Since S2 is much better (in terms of hardware) as far as I know, it has less issues, better battery life and so forth. All it lacks is the OS that I want in Galaxy nexus, and since you're telling me that AOKP is just as good as stock Android, I can put AOKP (or even CM9 or Cm10) on it and use it. I just want a Galaxy Nexus for the OS, not for the hardware. As a matter of fact, the hardware of Galaxy Nexus is quite disappointing, so that's why I'm preferring the S2. The only reason I'm asking the questions is: whather I can flash a nexus-like ROM on to it and have a nexus-like OS experience. Is that possible? And is it worth doing?
choose which you think is best
ShadowArany said:
choose which you think is best
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm confused, and that's why I'm asking here!
iPhoneNexus said:
Thanks for all the replies guys, really appreciated. Actually I'm getting a Galaxy Nexus and a Galaxy S2 at the same price (almost $345). Since S2 is much better (in terms of hardware) as far as I know, it has less issues, better battery life and so forth. All it lacks is the OS that I want in Galaxy nexus, and since you're telling me that AOKP is just as good as stock Android, I can put AOKP (or even CM9 or Cm10) on it and use it. I just want a Galaxy Nexus for the OS, not for the hardware. As a matter of fact, the hardware of Galaxy Nexus is quite disappointing, so that's why I'm preferring the S2. The only reason I'm asking the questions is: whather I can flash a nexus-like ROM on to it and have a nexus-like OS experience. Is that possible? And is it worth doing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AOSP (in this case CM10) is already good enough to use, and you won't find major bugs as mentioned before (IF you can find them as you don't sound like a really heavy user but I could be wrong). So why waste money on a device if the S2 has better hardware?
AOKP is a modified version based on AOSP, but indeed has a lot more options.
Sent from the Matrix
Get a Sensation. Pretty much has a bug-free version of CM10 JB 4.1.2 and various renditions of it (MIUI, PA and even a fully-fledged stock AOSP ROM)
Sent from my HTC Sensation using xda premium
Jikstah said:
Get a Sensation. Pretty much has a bug-free version of CM10 JB 4.1.2 and various renditions of it (MIUI, PA and even a fully-fledged stock AOSP ROM)
Sent from my HTC Sensation using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because you think the S2 doesn't have these..?
Sent from the Matrix
Donnie Sins said:
Because you think the S2 doesn't have these..?
Sent from the Matrix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably, sorry for the lack of knowledge. The mood of the thread said otherwise.
Jikstah said:
Probably, sorry for the lack of knowledge. The mood of the thread said otherwise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can understand your thinking, but I think the development is both probably in the same stage
Sent from the Matrix

What should I do now?

I bought my Galaxy S5 a couple of months ago and I still have this S2. I'm really not sure what to do with this phone. Not gonna sell it away because it is an awesome phone.
But here I'm planning: (I'm sure there are a lot of people like me, not sure what to do with their old S2 now.)
- build a media center.
But this requires sammy ROM so it could be connected to the TV using HDMI.
- try out new ROMs.
Yeah awesome idea.
- use it as an IP Camera.
- use it as an "iPod"
I have some questions regarding these choices.
1) shall I stick to sammy jellybean or upgrade to KitKat? I'm currently using kikat on this S2 but I would like to use it on the TV
2) will it have any problems if I let my S2 stick on he charger 24/7? If only I would like to use it as an IP camera. Will it have any effects on the battery/motherboard?
I hope fellow S2 members can discuss all this here. Thanks!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
I am not an s2 user anymore for 1,5 years but.
1) you can stick to jellybean stock if you want it for your tv but I suggest to use a custom rom based on stock jellybean, look in the dev forums there are a couple of it.
2) I am not sure or you will have any problems but just like on a laptop and other devices its not good to let a battery charge for 24/7 so google it for sure for your own safety/phone life.
I also hope for you that other s2 member are going to discuss here with you
I dont see the point to stay on kitkat if you already have the s5. So I suggest to downgrade to an custom stock base rom since it would be also probably more bug free.
I really recommend using a custom stock rom such as neatrom for pure stability. If you prefer a little extra performance (and some new features), go with a kitkat rom such as cyanogenmod or paranoid android (and the list can go for ages).
I decided to go with JB NeatROM. Thanks for the advice guys! I find it more stable and faster as compared to KitKat. (Probably because I didn't use JB for months)

Galaxy Alpha vs. A5 longtime support from dev´s

Hi there,
i am about to buy a new phone sooner or later.
My old SGS III (I9300) is still running quite fine (thx to the dev´s in here), but after 2,5 years i looks kinda awfull by now because of the bad build quality (cheap plastic crap) of the body.
So the next should have better build quality = metal frame if pos.
So i figured out 2-3 possible phones:
Samsung Galaxy Alpha or Samsung Galaxy A5 (wont be released in the US/Canada as far as i know)
As an alternative:
Phicomm Passion
The most important point for me is the longtime community support from CM,Omni, etc. This tbh is the only reason i still use and can use my quite old S3. And i can´t even tell you how much i hate Touchwiz and crap UI´s like this.
Might it be easier to get a good working CM for the A5 because it will have a Snapdragon 400 or 410. I often read about Samsungs Exynos making it hard to develop for.
So do you got any thoughts what device will have the better community support? Yeah crappy question i know, just wanna hear your thoughts
greetings from germany
Phil
rorian said:
Hi there,
i am about to buy a new phone sooner or later.
My old SGS III (I9300) is still running quite fine (thx to the dev´s in here), but after 2,5 years i looks kinda awfull by now because of the bad build quality (cheap plastic crap) of the body.
So the next should have better build quality = metal frame if pos.
So i figured out 2-3 possible phones:
Samsung Galaxy Alpha or Samsung Galaxy A5 (wont be released in the US/Canada as far as i know)
As an alternative:
Phicomm Passion
The most important point for me is the longtime community support from CM,Omni, etc. This tbh is the only reason i still use and can use my quite old S3. And i can´t even tell you how much i hate Touchwiz and crap UI´s like this.
Might it be easier to get a good working CM for the A5 because it will have a Snapdragon 400 or 410. I often read about Samsungs Exynos making it hard to develop for.
So do you got any thoughts what device will have the better community support? Yeah crappy question i know, just wanna hear your thoughts
greetings from germany
Phil
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A5 is midranger sd410 , don't go for it .
U can't compare Alpha with A5 , go for Alpha / iphone 5s/i6 / Wait for S6 / htc M9
Touchwiz of Alpha is fine , i had moto G before and hated stock android very much .
kktkaran said:
A5 is midranger sd410 , don't go for it .
U can't compare Alpha with A5 , go for Alpha / iphone 5s/i6 / Wait for S6 / htc M9
Touchwiz of Alpha is fine , i had moto G before and hated stock android very much .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i know the the Alpha has a stronger SoC, and is intended to be a flagship device. But tbh as long as the system runs smooth i dont give a damn at antutu scores and dont even play any games.
But i think the best precondition for a good longtime support from the community is a high popularity and alot of sold devices. Atleast i think thats the reason the SGS3 for example, is still up to date.
I dont really care about the support from the producers like Samsung, HTC, LG etc. They all do quite a bad job at holding their devices up to date. (Sony might be a exception) The community does this job alot better in my eyes.
As far as i can see it the Galaxy Alpha didnt sell this great and the active dev´s and roms are quite rare (sadly).
rorian said:
Yeah i know the the Alpha has a stronger SoC, and is intended to be a flagship device. But tbh as long as the system runs smooth i dont give a damn at antutu scores and dont even play any games.
But i think the best precondition for a good longtime support from the community is a high popularity and alot of sold devices. Atleast i think thats the reason the SGS3 for example, is still up to date.
I dont really care about the support from the producers like Samsung, HTC, LG etc. They all do quite a bad job at holding their devices up to date. (Sony might be a exception) The community does this job alot better in my eyes.
As far as i can see it the Galaxy Alpha didnt sell this great and the active dev´s and roms are quite rare (sadly).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For long and good community support, this device is not it for various reasons example high price, battery performance, uncommon and exynos chipset.
leripe said:
For long and good community support, this device is not it for various reasons example high price, battery performance, uncommon and exynos chipset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I run a CM developer build and my battery lasts for 2-4 days. I never had a device with such good battery life. The exynos chipset is great, cause the modem is separated from the main system. They don't share any memory. So the modem can't access the android filesystem.
same hire,2-4 days moderate use
our phone is optimised as iphones
normaly coz we dont have every week to flash custom roms hehehe
rorian & leripe are quite right,
if you check Alpha's sub forum u will notice that is already half dead
that's sad cause Alpha is a truly strong device, will an excellent design.
It has its flaws -as all devices have-, but that's expected.
The phone went live on the market with a high price, because was directly compared with S5,
so customers expected the price to be lower than s5.
The competition was already high in this range with cheaper models.
Then finally sammie put the tombstone on the device by announcing the end of production.
The device is good , im happy to own it, and i would buy it again for sure, but it hurts when im
clicking in xda and see no interesting from the community, i blame 101% samsung for this, EPIC marketing/scheduling fail.
Sorry if my englisch isn't that good.
I'll get my Alpha tomorrow. I think the forum is quite dead at the moment because everyone is waiting for the release of the cyanogan mod custom rom. I hope that with the release of CM sooner or later (maybe with lollipop) more and more different custom roms will be made for our device.
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Free mobile app
Ipmats said:
Sorry if my englisch isn't that good.
I'll get my Alpha tomorrow. I think the forum is quite dead at the moment because everyone is waiting for the release of the cyanogan mod custom rom. I hope that with the release of CM sooner or later (maybe with lollipop) more and more different custom roms will be made for our device.
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM roms sucks ,
I love Stock touchwiz of Alpha .
Its king . Very fluid and fast and Has tons of features unlike other samsung phones which lags .
The reason behind why i choose Alpha over Nexus 5 is , i hate Stock android
kktkaran said:
CM roms sucks ,
I love Stock touchwiz of Alpha .
Its king . Very fluid and fast and Has tons of features unlike other samsung phones which lags .
The reason behind why i choose Alpha over Nexus 5 is , i hate Stock android
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You hate it, i love it, and the other way around. Just personal preferences. What i hate about Samsuns is just their update politics. They even got probs keeping their flagships up to date for longer than 1 year and even if they do, the updates are delayed for months.
Ipmats said:
Sorry if my englisch isn't that good.
I'll get my Alpha tomorrow. I think the forum is quite dead at the moment because everyone is waiting for the release of the cyanogan mod custom rom. I hope that with the release of CM sooner or later (maybe with lollipop) more and more different custom roms will be made for our device.
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are they even working on an official cyanogemod 12 for alpha or is there any dev in here working on an unofficial port yet? If yes it would be great news and it would be a big argument to buy it over the A5.
rorian said:
You hate it, i love it, and the other way around. Just personal preferences. What i hate about Samsuns is just their update politics. They even got probs keeping their flagships up to date for longer than 1 year and even if they do, the updates are delayed for months.
Are they even working on an official cyanogemod 12 for alpha or is there any dev in here working on an unofficial port yet? If yes it would be great news and it would be a big argument to buy it over the A5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-alpha/orig-development/sources-cyanogenmod-11-0-t2933305/ dev working on a unofficial port.
toms95 said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-alpha/orig-development/sources-cyanogenmod-11-0-t2933305/ dev working on a unofficial port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hope it will be done soon
Sent from my SM-G850F using XDA Free mobile app
dara007_168 said:
hope it will be done soon
Sent from my SM-G850F using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They at least have it running but probably have a ways to go. But im glad we have a devs working on it.
Since the Galaxy A5 ain't going to be launched in the US I shouldn't get my hopes up to see a custom ROM right?
Sterkriger said:
Since the Galaxy A5 ain't going to be launched in the US I shouldn't get my hopes up to see a custom ROM right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldnt say so. Yes there are alot of dev´s out there who only take care of the US prime devices, but there are even more from all over the world working on all kind of devices.
kktkaran said:
CM roms sucks ,
I love Stock touchwiz of Alpha .
Its king . Very fluid and fast and Has tons of features unlike other samsung phones which lags .
The reason behind why i choose Alpha over Nexus 5 is , i hate Stock android
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is funny I gave up my nexus 5 for the Alpha and I cannot be any happier, and Im a developer developing games for android and they run very nicely on my alpha also looking forward to the Lollipop update.
Here's Antutu Benchmark for Galaxy A5
I've just come from iPhone 6 then note 4 and then decided I wanted a smaller device but android so I purchased the alpha after looking into buying the a5 the alpha is a better device by far. I'm very happy with this only wish it was abut heavier and so slot that is all but for now I'm enjoying this little beast
Sent from my SM-G850F using XDA Free mobile app

Cooper is already 4 years old!

Hey there people who still own a galaxy ace!
Our device is already 4 years of age, and still working perfectly! Since the development for cooper is already near its end (if not yet dead), let us talk about our next phone.
Maybe for some basic users, the galaxy ace can still be useful for basic functionality like calls, sms, emails and more.
But for the advanced users here and speedfreaks, what will be your next phone?
I am planning to get myself a Xiaomi Mi4 or Mi3. OR if Windows phone 10 proves to be a success, I might as well shift platforms and get a Lumia device
TrojanHorses said:
Our device is already 4 years of age, and still working perfectly! Since the development for cooper is already near its end (if not yet dead), let us talk about our next phone.
Maybe for some basic users, the galaxy ace can still be useful for basic functionality like calls, sms, emails and more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For now I do not intend to change my phone.
SGA S5830 is simple, elegant and very good phone for what I need now.
But I do not know for how long.
I was a user of the BCM21553 variant which lasted 20 months on stock firmware. (Due to unstable CM-based ROM's back when I bought the device) but on Sep 18 2014 at night, I flashed CM11 to get rid of the obsolete GB version.
But it is no longer a main driver, since it was replaced by the GS3 Mini. Why? ARMv7 devices run games and other apps 60% better than on older ARMv6 'relics'. I still have the SGA-i by the way, running CM11 forever.
I recently switched to a MotoG 4G. It's quite an upgrade from the ace. Still the Ace is dear to my heart. Some great developers have been working on the ROMs like Mardon and Erikcas. Thanks a lot guys btw.
Sent from my XT1039 using XDA Free mobile app
blugonjic said:
I recently switched to a MotoG 4G. It's quite an upgrade from the ace. Still the Ace is dear to my heart. Some great developers have been working on the ROMs like Mardon and Erikcas. Thanks a lot guys btw.
Sent from my XT1039 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really wanted to switch to a Moto G. But sadly it isn't widely sold in my country.
I am ending the year and still have the sga with my rom port lollipop
Best support ever was provided by Mardon (ma6 kernel was and is something most amaizing) I kinda wish every phone had a dev like him on their side.I've had to move on but still,I'll keep my sga as a backup for as long as it lives.
Long live SGA
Hi,
I have a Galaxy Ace as a spare phone myself. It's a great phone and it was amazing to see Android KitKat running on it.
Anyone aware of any future plans for the device on XDA? Had a quick search there and I could only find a modded Android Jellybean made to look like Lollipop.
Long live SGA!
Steve
Sent from my GT-I9505 using XDA Free mobile app
I own Ace until 7 January this year. I'm upgrade it to Galaxy Alpha (which is still SGA XD).
My mother used my ace because her phone is dead, until April this year my Ace is also dead. RIP my 4 years old best friend :'(
Now my mother using Asus Zenfone 4S from my brother. He bought an iPhone.
I have a really great memories from Ace since first I bought it. My first Android phone, when everybody else gone crazy about Blackberry in 2011.
still using my Ace, great for when you need a small phone that fits in your pocket
still enjoy flashing roms on it.
Still using too !
just my answer in in two sentence "My Life"...
My first android...
my friends tells me why u not buying new sell phone...
I tell him.....
i can challege you to compare with me with your smart phone....
my phone running on cyanogenmod I will be faster with all functions I have special feature... that are not in your phone....
he loose and I win....
I feel proud that my phone was too many year old...but fight 2015-16 smartphones and wins....
thats why I like it forever...
LOVE YOU ACE
S5830 Simple. Uses in outdoor
Camera is best for capture.

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