Ditched my iPhone, just got a Samsung Galaxy S3. Please help

[TheJanitor]

I just bought an unlocked Galaxy Nexus from Google, and I love it. Pure stock android jellybean. I used to root my phones but I never really needed to, I only rooted them for the wifi tether app. Out of the box an unrooted android is still way more customizable than a jailbroken iphone.

[Skell18]

Stick with the iPhone mate, I went with a HTC thing not long ago, last less than a day before I went back to my iPhone. Its simple and easy to use, what I like, android was just too complicated for me, plus no grindr (shit wrong forum!)

[sgreger1]

This whole thing is surprising to me but let us get to the nitty gritty. My devices I need that SD card as the internal memory is minimal. Yours has 16 gigs, just like the base iphone. That being said the average app is about 10-20 megs. In short it would take between 800 and 1600 apps to fill up 16 gigs of space (excluding of course existing OS space.

You might not need to worry so much about the SD card thing with that much space. App away and use the SD card for media and you should be fine. I don't care who you are after 100 apps it gets a bit much, but you should be able to handle that no problem.

If not there is a program out there called app2sd that was for older androids before they allowed the install to SD card feature. Maybe that might do something for you.

Anyone who speaks extremes of iphone vs android either way is just a fan boy. They both have their pros and cons. However manufacturers are more and more locking down android their own way, often to the detriment of the OS. Rooting is the solution to that if need be. I will say one thing though that I love about android, not needing Itunes.

Ken

Many games are over a gig just by themselves. Of the games I downloaded so far (only 2) the last one was 50MB. I ran up against the data limit constantly on my iphone 16gb, so it might sound crazy, but this is the reason I wanted more space via the SD card.

Now I just gotta figure out how to make it save all my pictures and videos and documents to the SD card by default. At least tht way I can free up some space on the internal storage.

[Norwester]

Try Links2sd to move your apps. IIRC I have it on my Samsung Tab2 and it works as long as you're rooted. I think its the only one that works on Samsungs.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....Link2SD&hl=en
http://www.link2sd.info/faq

[sgreger1]

Try Links2sd to move your apps. IIRC I have it on my Samsung Tab2 and it works as long as you're rooted. I think its the only one that works on Samsungs.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....Link2SD&hl=en
http://www.link2sd.info/faq

Nope I tried that too. Samsun has specifically made the SD card read as a secondary external storage and has disabled the ability to link or transfer apps to it by design. No apps in the app store by any author can overcome this according to the dewscriptions they post in apps2sd links2sd ETC. They all say the same thing that it won't ever work with Galaxy S3, even if rooted.

[Ainkor]

Lol, no you dick. I mean like what software/apps etc are necessary. I know there are firewall programs, prgrams that run all your traffic through a VPN and cmpress it to cut your data usage (at the expense of internet speed) etc. I know there must be lots of cool apps out there so if anyone would like to mention them please let me know.

I know, just messing yas :P

[sgreger1]

Also I did get Quell which is an awesome game. I love puzzlers like that.

[sgreger1]

Man the androir widget unlocker is pretty cool, I got my shit set up all sweet now. See this is the kinda stuff i love about android, at least you can customize it. The TSF Shell launcher is also amazing, probably never going to switch from that. My wife likes the go launcher though, but it's stupid that folders don't work like the iphone where you just drag two apps on top of each other to create a folder. you have to manually enter them into a folder and then the folder looks like some windows 95 folder lol. Wish I could change that somehow, maybe I can. Is there a way to change the look of folders in LauncherPro?

[lxskllr]

You might find some useful information here...

http://encrypteverything.ca/index.ph..._%28Android%29

[devilock76]

Many games are over a gig just by themselves. Of the games I downloaded so far (only 2) the last one was 50MB. I ran up against the data limit constantly on my iphone 16gb, so it might sound crazy, but this is the reason I wanted more space via the SD card.

Now I just gotta figure out how to make it save all my pictures and videos and documents to the SD card by default. At least tht way I can free up some space on the internal storage.

Maybe it is just me but if I really wanted to play a lot of games I would get a device for gaming. I don't want to play games on my computer I work on my computer. I will play games on an XBox or Playstation or something. If you want to play games anywhere why not get the PSP replacement sony came out with. I hear it is pretty much a PDA in its own right, as is the Nintendo DS.

When I use my phone for anything other than phone calls, it is to avoid having to go log onto a workstation to handle something, it is a computer to keep me away from an actual computer for my sanity. When I use the tablet it is similar and also to do things that the typical computers form factor is just no as good a solution as a tablet.

Yeah I play a few games on my mobile devices, words with friends and scramble with friends comes to mind. But that is about it. Not much of a gamer most days anyway.

I guess the short version of this is I cannot relate to your first world problems. I think some games with those larger memory requirements allow you to install the main engine in the internal memory and store the data files (which take the most of the data heft of the big programs) in the SD card instead. Just a thought.

Ken

[CoderGuy]

Example. I had an Iphone for two years, a little more. It worked great, some things I wanted to do on it weren't that free and open but I could do just about anything I needed to for the most part. I never jail broke it, it was fine. I have a Viewsonic Gtablet, it came to me used rooted with VeganRom. Never switched, VeganRom worked great. Now I have a samsung charge and it is not rooted. Still the stock OS (FP1 kernel) some minor glitches but installing to SD card was the biggest fix for me. Eventually I may root it, but in no rush, it works fine for me. Next phone though, I am either going for a higher end android or back to iphone, even though I hate itunes. Tablet wise I debate an Ipad, but lately I am thinking I would rather save my money for an ultrabook with an SSD drive. Only players in that game I like are Toshiba's Protege series and of course the Macbook Air. Anyway I slice it, if buying new retail, even though higher priced the Macbook air seems to win. They now have these google chrome books coming out but I am not sold on that yet. The desktop series might be interesting as a web tv like computer.

The bottom line is that this Linux geek and IT guy uses what he needs to do get the job done. There is no overall best. Android can work quite well, but sometimes it comes across half baked. Iphone can work quite well, but some times it can be restrictive and the apps cost more and it requires Itunes.

Ken

Well said Ken. I never owned an Apple device in my life (not even an iPod) until 2007 when iPhone came out. I struggled with several different phones before that but iPhone was perfect for me. When the HTC EVO came out I got one and really liked it, but there were hardware issues and it kept rebooting on me all the time. One time on travel, I couldn't even get it to stop rebooting, so I switched back to iPhone and it felt like coming home. I have a Kindle Fire and iPad as well as a Windows laptop and MacBook Pro. I use them all for the things I want to do on them.

For me, the iPhone works, as does the iPad. They are just smoother user experiences to me, the EVO and Fire are nice, and you can do a lot of customization things with Android, but like you, I pretty much stay stock. I use my Windows laptop 80% of the time, but then there are certain things that are just easier to do on the Mac so I switch over, but there are things that make much more sense to use Linux for, like server related stuff, but I prefer Windows for everyday use.

Generally, I agree completely with your bottom line.

[devilock76]

Well said Ken. I never owned an Apple device in my life (not even an iPod) until 2007 when iPhone came out. I struggled with several different phones before that but iPhone was perfect for me. When the HTC EVO came out I got one and really liked it, but there were hardware issues and it kept rebooting on me all the time. One time on travel, I couldn't even get it to stop rebooting, so I switched back to iPhone and it felt like coming home. I have a Kindle Fire and iPad as well as a Windows laptop and MacBook Pro. I use them all for the things I want to do on them.

For me, the iPhone works, as does the iPad. They are just smoother user experiences to me, the EVO and Fire are nice, and you can do a lot of customization things with Android, but like you, I pretty much stay stock. I use my Windows laptop 80% of the time, but then there are certain things that are just easier to do on the Mac so I switch over, but there are things that make much more sense to use Linux for, like server related stuff, but I prefer Windows for everyday use.

Generally, I agree completely with your bottom line.

History is filled with failed IT projects that went awry because some one was married to their favorite platform or toolset and not the best solution for the problem at hand.

Ken

[sgreger1]

Maybe it is just me but if I really wanted to play a lot of games I would get a device for gaming. I don't want to play games on my computer I work on my computer. I will play games on an XBox or Playstation or something. If you want to play games anywhere why not get the PSP replacement sony came out with. I hear it is pretty much a PDA in its own right, as is the Nintendo DS.

When I use my phone for anything other than phone calls, it is to avoid having to go log onto a workstation to handle something, it is a computer to keep me away from an actual computer for my sanity. When I use the tablet it is similar and also to do things that the typical computers form factor is just no as good a solution as a tablet.

Yeah I play a few games on my mobile devices, words with friends and scramble with friends comes to mind. But that is about it. Not much of a gamer most days anyway.

I guess the short version of this is I cannot relate to your first world problems. I think some games with those larger memory requirements allow you to install the main engine in the internal memory and store the data files (which take the most of the data heft of the big programs) in the SD card instead. Just a thought.

Ken

While you may spend several hundred extra dollars to purchase a seperate unit for mobile gaming, I am not interested in doing so, as I already have a $600 phone that is fully capable of that. The whole idea of a smartphone is that it can take calls, browse the internet, use various office and gamings apps etc. When i'm standing in line or when i'm on the john or etc sometimes I like to play a game or browse the news. It seems completely wastefull and redundant (and impractical) to carry around a second device for gaming when my phone is always in my pocket.

Anyways, I have given up on the SD card thing. I now have a thorough understanding of why it is the way it is and why samsung has it set up the way they have it set up, as explained to me by someone else who aparently knows the deeper story behind it. Still sucks but I guess I will have to live with it, no big deal.

Other than that android is coming along nicely, I guess I just need to get used to it. A lot of freeezing etc but other than that everything seems to running pretty smooth. Thanks for all of your help.

[devilock76]

While you may spend several hundred extra dollars to purchase a seperate unit for mobile gaming, I am not interested in doing so, as I already have a $600 phone that is fully capable of that. The whole idea of a smartphone is that it can take calls, browse the internet, use various office and gamings apps etc. When i'm standing in line or when i'm on the john or etc sometimes I like to play a game or browse the news. It seems completely wastefull and redundant (and impractical) to carry around a second device for gaming when my phone is always in my pocket.

Anyways, I have given up on the SD card thing. I now have a thorough understanding of why it is the way it is and why samsung has it set up the way they have it set up, as explained to me by someone else who aparently knows the deeper story behind it. Still sucks but I guess I will have to live with it, no big deal.

Other than that android is coming along nicely, I guess I just need to get used to it. A lot of freeezing etc but other than that everything seems to running pretty smooth. Thanks for all of your help.

I am of the mindset of the more things you try to make one thing do the, worse it does each individual thing over a dedicated item. No one thing can do everything well. To me a phone as a gaming platform is best for a few simple games that make good use of the touch screen, like certain board games and things like that. A tablet maybe a touch more. Just like I can get much better music software on an iPad and much better organizational and IT function related software on android (for my purposes granted) and that I have to make a choice to which one wins out as it seems getting all in one is not happening now. Maybe in time.

Quite frankly after years of being an early smart phone pioneer, through windows mobile and symbian and palm to today's amazing models, things have come so far that I am grateful that in most cases my phone and my tablet can easily prevent me having to lug a laptop around all the time. Netbooks made me happy for a while too. Now I am thinking ok the smart phone is great but I am not sold on the tablet so maybe an ultrabook is next. Right now the winner when all things are considered in that area is the Macbook Air. But I am keeping an eye on the Toshiba Protege line as they and Fujitsu are the two companies that were technically building "ultrabooks" before Apple. All three of them were building them before there was such a thing as an "ultrabook". Heck Fujitsu did far more with tablet computing way before Apple put out the Ipad or there was even IOS or Android to speak of.

Ken

[voodooman]

browsed through the thread. sgreger was all like -> -> ->
android is linux at heart. most people can't handle it, but a true nerd loves it. as mentioned, most large games will store their data on the sd card, and a small application on internal memory.
the real action happens when you install a third party rom. the preinstalled roms are always garbage, full of bloatware and fail. cyanogenmod is a really good and popular rom. i'm running cm10 (jellybean) atm, on a two year old phone. works great. the issue with moving apps to sd card has apparently been solved in cyanogenmod by changing a simple file permission.(i believe)
stick with it and you'll love it.