Category Archives: android

Oh how I hate Samsung, let me count the ways

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We’re talking total first world problems here…

I’ve written about some of my gripes with Samsung and my Galaxy S 4G phone. Being annoyed by uninstallable bloatware. Being bothered by “enhancements” on top of Android that are incompatible with some apps.

Here is a review and some new ones.

1) The Music Player – Both made for Android headphones and apps like cardio trainer and c25k don’t work with Samsung’s own hacked up version of the Android music player. Why mess with it? Especially since there are no enhancements to offset the disadvantages.
2) Browser – First off, it’s terrible. Double tap to zoom in never ever snaps to text correctly. I never had that problem on the G1 and now never have that problem with the Dolphin browser that I had to download to replace Samsung’s terrible version. Second, the way the bookmarks are set up make it incompatible with apps that need to access them (e.g. for syncing). There are other reasons too…
3) Folder Management – Apps like Dropbox have some trouble that appears something to do with the way folders are managed. Some genius at Samsung decided to mess with Android again and wasn’t forward thinking enough to realize that it might negatively effect apps down the road.

I’m tired of finding limitations to the phone. Then finding out on online forums that the limitations are due to incompatible configurations that Samsung built in to the phone. I’m tired of finding cool apps, only to see in the description a special note that the app doesn’t work well with Samsung devices. If differentiating yourself from other Android phones means being incompatible with apps and hardware, then job well done!

As good as the phone is with some things, I’m annoyed enough to stay away from all things Samsung in the future. When “enhancements” lead to limitations, I say no thank you.

T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S 4G Finally got Gingerbread

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It’s no surprise as karma has gotten me several times following blog post from me… As it turns out Gingerbread was officially released THE SAME DAY I decided to no longer wait anymore and root my phone. Wait… Is that karma, irony, coincidence?  Whatever it is, it happened.

So I upgraded my phone to Gingerbread yesterday with my fingers crossed that the rooting wouldn’t mess up the update. It didn’t thankfully. But it did unroot the phone, which I rooted back again pretty quickly.

Nothing new really wows me. Some minor improvements here and there, but nothing major. But it’s good to have the latest (or close to latest) version of Android.

I did notice that the upgrade did remove DoubleTwist, which was the bloatware that drove me over the edge in deciding to root my phone.

Finally Rooted My Phone

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I finally found some time to root my phone. I’ve written about the frustration with bloatware in the past. The reason why I held out so long is because I was anticipating the Android Gingerbread upgrade. But the longer I waited, the longer it is apparent that T-Mobile/Samsung/Google wasn’t issuing the upgrade for my phone. Rooting sometimes interferes with OS upgrades… OS wise, I’m happy with my current version of Android anyway.

Anyway, it was pretty simple with SuperOneClick. No issues so far. I also got Titanium Backup and “froze” the offending bloatware. Again, so far so good. If the phone continues to  run without any hiccups, I’m going to uninstall all of the bloatware, not just freeze it. At least they are no longer running in the background and causing app default prompts anymore. I’m also going to keep an eye on performance and battery life. I’m sure there will be some improvement on both fronts.

Samsung Galaxy S 4G Review, Part III

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This is follow up to Part 1, Part 2, and some venting.

It’s safe to say I’ll never buy a Samsung device ever again. I’m also never going to buy a subsidized phone from T-Mobile again. I’d rather spend the money and get a “un-handcuffed” device. I like T-Mobile’s service, but not the useless crapware they force on the phone.

I’m not sure who is to blame (Samsung or T-Mobile), but here are my frustrations with the phone:

  1. GPS isn’t accurate. It’s ok for driving navigation, but horrible for apps like CardioTrainer. I’m not alone as I read others complaining too.
  2. I hate both Samsung’s keyboard and Swype, which are both pre-installed on the phone. Why they don’t offer the default Android keyboard in addition to those is puzzling. I actually despise Samsung’s keyboard. There are so many issues to list I’m not going to bother. I had to install (and pay for!!!) another keyboard app. I would have been happy (and $1.99 richer) if they just left the damn default Android keyboard on it to begin with. Companies (Samsung or T-Mobile) who do things like this because they think they know what’s better for their customers make me sick.
  3. The bloat/crapware is on my nerves. There is one app (doubletwist) that continuously turns itself on. Welp, I can’t turn it off or uninstall it because some friggin genius at Samsung or T-Mobile forced it on the phone for me. On top of that, like I wrote before, 10% of the storage space is used up by apps I don’t want.
  4. My wife has the same phone, so it’s not isolated… We must reboot our phones occasionally after going from WiFi to network because the network doesn’t get picked back up.
  5. The battery usage report always lists only cell standby and display. It never reports any apps that may be using battery. Don’t know if this is due to meddling by Samsung or T-Mobile or a bug with Android.
  6. I hate the music player. I liked it on my G1. I think this is another area either Samsung or T-Mobile screwed with the default Android player. It also randomly pauses at times.
  7. I hate the swipe actions to answer calls or to unlock the phone.
  8. It has no LED indicator light to tell me if there are e-mails, texts, missed calls, etc. Luckily there is an app NoLED that is a decent substitute, but there should be no need.

That’s all I can think of for now. It’s enough to leave a bad taste in my mouth and to avoid Samsung and to be careful with T-Mobile crapware in the future.

10% of my phone’s storage is bloatware

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Irremovable bloatware. I find this pretty offensive and will definitely be more careful next time around when buying a phone. Not only do they take up useful space (10% of it!), some also run in the background and use up the battery too. And they clog up the app tray with garbage. And they also trigger default app prompts at times, like Telenav vs. Google’s Navigate.

I do not want to root my phone to get this stuff off either. I shouldn’t have to. Computers have this kind of thing too, but at least you can uninstall it!!

Here are the biggest offenders:
Think Free Office – 9.18mb – I don’t use it, or want it.
Qik – 8.88mb - Cute, but I don’t want it.
Layar – 4.12mb - I don’t use it, or want it.
Amazon MP3 – 2.92mb – I have used it, but can do without it.
Slacker Radio - 2.64mb - I don’t use it, or want it.
TeleNav – 1.97mb - I don’t use it, or want it.
Double Twist – 1.97mb - I don’t use it, or want it.

Others:
News & Weather 0.90mb, Visual Voicemail 0.70mb, Media Hub 0.67mb, T-Mobile TV 0.34mb, and there are many more smaller ones too.

Read my Samsung Galaxy S 4G Reviews here:
http://mattsoreco.com/samsung-galaxy-s-4g-review-part-ii/
http://mattsoreco.com/initial-samsung-galaxy-s-4g-review/

Finally Settled on Some Task Apps

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It took me a long time to find something that works for me to organize both my Google calendar(s) and a todo task list together on my Android phone. For the longest time I had set up a makeshift todo calendar in Google, but really the Google Calendar isn’t great at task based items.

I was always hesitant about using Google Tasks because of the lack of integration with Android’s native calendar. It made for 2 separate lists, which adds complexity and resistance.

With the help of 2 apps, I can now combine both calendar items and task items and view them together on one simple list.

The first app is GTasks by Dato. It’s a simple interface that integrates with Google Tasks. It makes for viewing, adding, and checking off new tasks very fast and easy.

The second app is Android Agenda Widget by Everybody All The Time. This hooks into both the Android calendar and GTasks and displays a complete list of items on one of my home screens. Both appointments and tasks display in one merged list for a very easy view of the day’s items. And each item can be clicked on and managed with only the one click. Very simple.

For the longest time, I kept a paper notepad with me at all times. It’s a good practice to carry a notepad for when it’s not possible to access the phone or computer. But I was finding that I didn’t efficiently get items off the paper list and into the calendar(s). And I was probably using it more because it was easier than entering something on my phone. But now with GTasks, it’s very easy (and faster) to enter the item right into the app on the phone. So now the paper notepad is just in case of an emergency (and not an extra step).

When I’m at the computer, everything is synced seamlessly. So there are no duplicate or conflicting lists to deal with.

There is one small thing. Google Tasks doesn’t allow for recurring tasks. I saw a feature request thread on their forum and they said that they are going to be working on it. Once that’s in place, my system is complete. Until them, recurring tasks/reminders still have to live in a Google calendar (not task list).

Samsung Galaxy S 4G Review, Part II

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I had the phone for almost a week now. I wouldn’t say buyer’s remorse kicked in, but the things I mentioned in the previous post are holding true.

The lack of a LED indicator light stinks. It seems like such a minor feature to add. I wonder why they made a decision not to include one. The indicator is a feature of Android that they are ignoring.

The bloatware continues to stay on my nerves. Especially since they run in the background and use up memory. I want none of it. Not one of them I found helpful or I’ve found better apps in the marketplace already. Let the customer decide for crying out loud!!!

For the longest time I didn’t really understand the http://damnyouautocorrect.com/ meme. The G1 used Android’s standard keyboard. It would suggest words, but not automatically change or insert any. The basic keyboard was brilliant in it’s simplicity. Therefore, I found nothing but a headache with both the Swipe and Samsung keyboards. Son of a @$!^#! I finally found that turning off almost all of the AI crap works best for me. I spent more time correcting the auto-corrections than doing anything else. Chalk this up to another instance of Samsung insisting on things rather than giving the customer the choice!!!

There is a bug with the browser bookmarks. If you import bookmarks with apps like GMarks, they don’t get added to the browser bookmarks tab, rather they are added to the “most visited” tab. I don’t know if this is another instance of Samsung monkeying around with the base Android browser or not, but apparently importing with GMarks is not an issue for other Android phones. The reason I suspect they did monkey around with something is because the bookmarks preloaded on the phone could not be deleted from the browser. I needed another bookmark manager app to delete the bookmarks that I DIDN’T WANT!!!

Another issue is with the music app. Again I don’t know if it’s another instance of Samsung monkeying around with the base Android app. But the music app is inaccessible to other apps like CardioTrainer. One of the beauties of Android is having apps work together harmoniously. Here I found two cases where they don’t at all.

Bottom line is create the hardware and leave the operating system alone. Offer your own enhancements via apps, but don’t force them on customers.

All of that said, I’m still happy with the phone’s performance and storage space. I can live with the above, but I expected more. I know what to look out for next time. Next time I might splurge and get the latest Google endorsed phone (e.g. Nexus)–with no third party monkeying.

Initial Samsung Galaxy S 4G Review

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I finally decided that my 2+ year old G1 phone needed to be replaced. I loved that phone. It was simple usability wise and after the kinks were worked out of Android, it was very reliable. But as newer and more powerful apps came along, I spent too much time deciding which apps I want vs. ones I REALLY want as the internal app space wasn’t big enough.

I went to the T-Mobile store with 2 phones in mind; the G2 or the Motorola Cliq. I thought I needed a physical keyboard since my accuracy using the G1′s virtual keyboard was abysmal. I really didn’t like either the G2 or the Cliq’s physical keyboards.

So I played around with the Samsung Galaxy S 4G for a little bit. I had no trouble at all with the virtual keyboard. I guess the processing speed and the screen’s sensitivity made a real difference.

I dismissed the Cliq pretty quickly given that I didn’t like the keyboard at all and I didn’t like the way it flipped open either.

It came down to the Galaxy S vs. the G2. The G2 was $50 more and had a slightly smaller screen. So I decided on the Galaxy S.

I think I’m still in the happy stage of the purchase and buyer’s remorse hasn’t had a chance to creep in yet… So here is my initial review.

Pros:

  • It’s incredibly fast. Not just the 4G speed, but fast in loading webpages, apps, etc. The sales guy said that 4G vs. 3G isn’t very noticeable, but I’d notice the processing speed. That much is very true.
  • It’s crisp and clear.
  • It has Android 2.2–which I think all other “pros” can be attributed to.
  • The keyboard is responsive and accurate.

Cons:

  • No LED indicator light!! Had I known this before, this little detail might have been a deal-breaker. So I have to actively check the phone to see if I have new texts, e-mails, etc. whereas almost all other phones have a blinking LED light as an indicator.
  • To wake the phone up, you need to do 2 separate actions. First, hit the power button, then swipe the screen. I much preferred the G1 where you simply hit the menu button twice. I like to judge the usability on how easy it is to use and navigate the phone one handed. This complicates that a little. It can be done one handed, but awkwardly. Also the power button is on the side, so if you have the phone on a desk, it’s a little awkward to hit the button on the side, then swipe the screen (whereas the G1′s menu button was on the face of the phone for an easy 2x tap if it was on a desk). I remember I bought Keyguard Disabler a while back, so I had to go and install it on this phone.
  • You have to swipe the screen to answer a call. I much prefer a physical button.
  • It’s loaded with a ton of bloatware that can’t be uninstalled. I HATE this. Let me get rid of stuff I don’t want!!! To make it worse, these apps can’t be moved to the SD card (feature of Android 2.2).  And to make it even worse, they run in the background and pop back up even after killing them. Needless to say I’m looking in forums to see if anyone had any luck removing them (without any crazy hacking).
  • I don’t know if this is a feature of the phone or Android, but the auto-brightness feature was utterly useless and highly annoying. I had to shut that off. I don’t know what triggers it uses to brighten or dim, and I don’t think the programming did either. It was all very random.

By the looks of it, there seem to be a lot more cons than pros. But the speed, amount of space (internal and SD card), and Android 2.2 are keeping me happy at the moment. I haven’t been able to test other things out fully. I know the camera doesn’t have a flash, but I knew that I don’t really care. If I want to take better pics, I use a real camera.

More to come…

Kindle for Android

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I downloaded the Kindle for Android a few weeks ago and am just now kicking the tires. I’ve ordered a book, and I’m about half way through.

I didn’t know what to expect regarding the ease of reading on the small G1 screen. I’m half-way through a light read, and the screen size is not an issue at all for me. Neither is the mechanics of the app.

There were some e-book readers on the market already, like Aldiko, but the book selection stunk. Kindle has a huge selection of books, and ordering (and getting them on the device) could not be any easier.

I give this one two thumbs up. I will definitely be reading more books on my G1.

Update G1 Post and Apps Review

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It’s been some time since I last wrote about my beloved G1 phone. Since my purchase when it first came out in October 2008, I’ve flip flopped many times from loving to hating it. Android version 1.6 stabilized a lot of issues. Then once it got turn by turn navigation, I’ve been completely content. I don’t think any device can be great at everything, and the G1 is good enough at the things that matter to me to keep me happy.

But there are still bugs:

  • The gmail app still opens up to deleted e-mails, instead of the inbox.
  • If the phone goes to sleep while sending an e-mail, sometimes the e-mail will be stuck in a sending state. It’s not in drafts either, so I have to rewrite and resend.
  • The camera is horrible, but I can live with it. I put this as a bug because it’s so bad that it could not be working as they originally wanted it to.

Those are my only real annoyances. Quite an improvement from what I’ve written about before.

And I still have a wishlist:

  • Integrate Gmail’s tasks with Android’s calendar.
  • Let the mobile version of Picasa show more than 100 pictures per album.
  • Integrate Google Bookmarks. This one has me completely baffled. Google Bookmarks should sync with Android’s bookmarks, and be available as an extension on Chrome. Seems like a no brainer, but it seems like Google is abandoning their Bookmarks. Will it be a casualty like Google Notebook?
  • Allow Android browser to edit Google Docs. I’m not sure what’s technically involved, but this one is another stunner.
  • The native Gmail app should be able to save attachments. Luckily there are apps available to do this.

This is also a smaller list than it was in the past! Is Google listening to me!? If so, please hire me. Oh but please let me work from home. I like the East Coast. But you do have an office in NYC right? Who am I talking to?

Now on to my apps reviews! To conserve space, I had to remove a lot of apps I didn’t use often or were there just for show. I ran into the out of space message too many times. It was time to make some cuts! $ indicates paid.

Google Maps: It’s listed as an app, so I’ll mention it. This could not be better. I love the new “labs” feature that has an arrow that points to the direction you’re facing. Turn by turn navigation is great. It’s very easy to punch up a location and get directions to there. I don’t know anyone who uses Latitude of Buzz besides my wife. So they are never used.

Advanced Task Killer: Kills apps that run in the background when you don’t want them to, which saves battery. Works like a charm.

AK Notepad: Decent note app. I hardly use it though. I prefer a pen and paper. Sorry. But it’s a keeper in case my pen ever runs out of ink.

Aldiko: Nice e-book reader. I just have to find good books to read. The free public domain offerings don’t cut it for me. I like modern fiction and non-fiction. So I have to find e-pub books to buy to really give this a true test.

AndFTP: I’m sure this will come in handy one day as I have 3 websites that I maintain. I kicked the tires. It works well. I just haven’t used it for real yet.

AnyCut: Uninstalled. I’m pretty sure earlier versions of Android didn’t have the shortcut making ability it does now. Now most handy shortcuts can be made my long pressing on the home screen. All the ones I need anyway.

aTrackDog: Uninstalled. Same fate as AnyCut. This was a great app for a long time to find apps with updates, but the Market app is now better at identifying apps that have updates.

Beelicious: Good app for saving bookmarks to Delicious. Works well. This would not be needed if Android would snyc with Google Bookmarks. E-mailing myself bookmarks I want to read on my PC later was becoming a chore. Dear Google, you are forcing me to use another service!

BistoMath: Great tip calculator. A keeper.

Bookmark Manager: Does the job of allowing you to rearrange the order of your browser bookmarks. Mark this down as another head-scratcher as to why this isn’t part of Android.

C25K: Awesome app to let you follow the couch to 5k running program. It worked wonders for me. I completed the program with help from this app. I fell off the wagon so hard, that I’ll need it again once the weather gets nicer!

Countdown Alarm: Pretty useful.

$ Car Locator: You mark your spot where you park your car, then help you find your car with a radar like map. I bought this app and haven’t used it yet. I know I will though. I had been using Google’s My Maps Editor to perform this function, but it was clunky to use and a space hog.

CardioTrainer: Another beauty for running training. It tracks your running route through GPS, gives you audible messaging on your pace and distance while letting music play in the background. When your done, you see how far you ran, the pace, and the map overlay. You can then save the routes to their website. Again, this will come in handy when I get back on track this upcoming spring!

Car Mode: The simplest yet most useful app. When enabled, it turns on speaker mode for all incoming and outgoing calls for hands free talking. I’ll never ever use an ear piece. Ever.

Compass: Pretty much a show and tell for me. It doesn’t take up a lot of room, so I’ll leave it.

$ Documents to Go: Word and Excel editor. Pretty handy. I got it on sale. I used it a few times, so it was money well spent.

Facebook: Pretty lame for a native app. It takes up a lot of room. I’m debating uninstalling it and just use their online interface. I am holding out for an update–but not holding my breath.

Google Finance: I don’t play the markets so this may come off my phone soon.

Foursquare: I wanted to see what this was all about. It probably stay on my phone long.

Google Sky Map: Show and tell. I can’t wait for a nice clear night to use this to identify all the stars and planets. This might come off soon…

Karl’s Mortgage Calculator: I’m a big fan of this and his site http://www.drcalculator.com/mortgage/. This will come in handy when I go to buy a new car soon.

Live Scores: Beats both Google’s Scoreboard and SportsTap, which I’ve tried and uninstalled.

NYC Bus and Subway Map: Will come in handy when and if I go into NYC. Doesn’t take up much space.

Pandora: Love this app. Matches and plays the music I want to hear. Beats both last.fm and imeem, which I’ve tries and uninstalled.

$ PhoneMyPC: Part show and tell. Part I will need it one day, but don’t know when. I wrote a while back that the G1 needs a gotomypc type app. The name alone should tell you. It allows you to remotely access your computer from your phone. It’s a little rough around the edges, but it works.

Qik: Allows you to livestream video from the phone. I used it once for my mother to see my son. But there was a long delay. This may come off the phone soon.

$ Scan2PDF: Bought and used once. It uses the camera to snap a pic and output it into PDF, which you can e-mail. It might come in handy one day.

Seesmic: Really nice free Twitter app that allows management of multiple accounts. Very well done. I’ve gone up and back, and even paid for twitter apps. All uninstalled in favor of this.

Shazam: Very cool for identifying music. It listens and tells you what song you’re listening to.

ShopSavvy: Never used. You can scan a barcode, then it bring us the best deals in the area using GPS. I actually tried it once in Lowes, and felt like a jerk trying to scan a finishing nailer’s barcode for a good 10 minutes. I think that fiasco was more of a result of the lousy camera, not the app.

The Weather Channel: It is what it is.

Toggle Settings: Love this app. Lets you set up profiles for one click setting changes. For example, work (mute phone, turn off wifi), home (turn on wifi and ringer), etc.

Google Voice: I’m not ready to abandon my cell number in favor of this and let this run everything. But I do selectively give out my Google Voice number, which comes in handy. I like the service and the app, I’m just not ready to go all in yet.

T-Mobile’s Visual Voicemail: Love this app, but does not work when WiFi is on. I don’t know why as that is an annoyance. But I live seeing the voice mail, and being able to click play and delete it without having to dial in to voicemail.

tCalendarWidget: Nice little widget app that displays the date in a small icon on your homescreen. So simple but very nice. Yet another headscratcher why it isn’t built in. The default calendar widget it big and clunky and lacks options.

$ Where’s My Droid: Lets you send a coded text message to your phone if you misplace it. It will then trigger the phone to ring at a high volume. It’ll turn the ringer on if it’s off. Luckily I haven’t misplaces my phone to use it.

Other apps that I tried but landed in the uninstalled heap:

Google Scoreboard – too clunky, sporadic updates.

SportsTap – battery hog

Google Goggles – extreme show and tell. No real use.

$ I Tweet! – Seesmic is better.

$ Keyguard Disabler – ok, but not needed.

$ Any Clip Pro – Good idea, I just never needed it.

$ Quickoffice – Documents to Go is far superior. I think the developer abandoned this app.

$ aHome – fluff

Realty Browser (Layar) – Big time show and tell. I like the augmented reality trend, but it failed to impress me too much.

T-Mobile My Account – I never needed this.

1Cast Video News – Never seemed to have up-to-date news.

Yelp – I like Yelp, but didn’t need the app.

twitdroid – Sessmic is better.

TV.com – not a lot of good content other than previews.

USA Today – likes the app, removed to save room. I use Google News webpage.

Google Places Directory – Would be a home run if the categories were accurate. It finds areas of interest using GPS. The problem is if you go into shopping, it will give you grocery and convenience stores. There are other mis-categorized business listings.

Amazon.com – not needed. Removed to save space. If I want to buy something, I’ll use my pc.

Where – Pretty cool app, just too big to justify keeping.

Evernote – Very nice but goes against my KISS standard for note taking apps.

Phew. Very long winded. I think that’s it. You can see I paid for a lot of apps I ended up uninstalling. None of them were too expensive, so there are no regrets.