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

[wadetheblade]

Im glad its working better for you, you where scaring me for a second there. lol.

[sgreger1]

What carrier are you with? If you haven't found it yet, there's carrier specific S3 forums at http://forum.xda-developers.com/index.php The Snuson of phone phreaks. Just don't post questions (other than in the devs threads) in the development forums,they tend to get pissy about that.
A few of the apps i couldn't live without...
Ad Free
Cache Cleaner NG
Google Currents
Pulse
Quick Boot
Root Explorer-need root
ES File Explorer
Swiftkey-paid
Beautiful Widgets-paid
Titanium Backup Pro-paid
Palmary Weather Pro-paid

I keep seeing the beautiful widgets thing, is that worth it?

I also got TSF Shell which is ****ign AWESOME. It's prety much all bling but it's a launcher that has some amazing features and has things aranged into folder etc the way I like so i'm going to stick with that for now as far as the launcher.

I just rooted it a few minutes ago and am not sure what to do yet. Probably get a backup program. I tried the tethering thing and that worked so i'm real happy about that because I have an ipad that isn't 3g (wifi only).

[sgreger1]

Im glad its working better for you, you where scaring me for a second there. lol.

Yah I got mine set up pretty nice now. Android is definitely not efficient with resources like iphone is, but the android feels more like a computer and less like a simple phone. But there are certainly some things I miss. My wife is having hella trouble on hers, she isn't a techy so she has trouble doing most things since it's not as intuitive as she is used to with the iphones. Her phone won't even run Dolphin HD browser while mine runs it fine, makes no sense.

[GoVegan]

OK - so did you try Quell yet?

[heders]

How do I get cyanogenmod. I am using the live play store right now for apps.

First, you root your phone and get Clockworkmod Recovery, then you backup your current rom (recommended: save a backup on your computer as well), then you go to Cyanogenmods website and download the right version for your phone together with the latest version of Google Apps (if it doesn't come with your CM version). Throw it on to your SD card and then boot the phone in to Clockworkmod Recovery and do a full wipe (AFTER BACKUP). Then install the zips from SD-card (I installed radio, Cyanogenmod 7, HTC custom keyboard and Google Apps when I re-installed yesterday), then reboot your phone.

I have no idea if these steps works for the Samsung Galaxy S3, but it should be the same as the HTC Desire. There are plenty of guides though.

Keep in mind that when you root you ruin your warranty. If you keep a backup on your stock rom you can switch back and then unroot your phone if things get ugly.

Okay just got launch Pro. THANK YOU. My screen isn't cluttered with SHIT anymore like it was before. This is exactly how I want my phone to look, and I can finally see my sweet live background. I'm starting to like this phone more and more. I switched out the text message app, the mail app, the browser etc and now it is all running much smoother. I think in the end I am going to love this phone.

Indeed! The phone gets like 10x faster running Launcher pro. The applist scrolls faster and so does the homescreen. It also feels like opening apps are faster as well. Love it.

You can download the plus version on the internet if you don't wanna pay (although it's worth paying for IMO). I won't give you a link here since it's illegal, but do a search for lancherproplus.apk or something on Google and you will find it. The plus version is a must.


And for the love of god turn of the live wallpaper, lol. I know it's schmexy but it kills your battery!

[Norwester]

I can't believe I forgot TWRP. Beats the jebeezuz outta CWM. Keep in mind that your CWM nands (backups) won't work with TWRP and vice versa,
http://teamw.in/project/twrp2/

[devilock76]

Trying out the Dolphin browser on my tablet as we speak. The stock browser has been hit or miss for me on it so time to try something new.

Ken

[sgreger1]

Trying out the Dolphin browser on my tablet as we speak. The stock browser has been hit or miss for me on it so time to try something new.

Ken

Yah i'm using Dolphine on mine and I love it, but on ymy wife's phone (exact same phone) it freezes the phone every time she launches it so not sure what is happening different.

I just wish there was a phone that matched the speed and performance of the iphone with the open nature of Android, that would be the perfect phone. The way Android handles backgrounding apps and such is very inefficient, if you have several open it starts getting slow very quickly and you have to go in and manually kill them. Oh iphone i could have 100 apps open and would never feel a slowdown. I am not sure why apple is able to pull this off but not any other company. Probably because they don't shit out a new phone every quarter like samsung and HTC.

All in all I am pretty happy with the switch, just going to take some getting used to. My wife hates it and I told her to reutrn it and get the iphone because she doesn't understand how to use it. Android isn't very intuitive and she isn't a really techy so she hates it. I have to agree with her that the app area is annoying because it just throws all of your apps in there and doesn't allow you to search or anything, so every time you want to look for an app than you have to look throught a list of 100 others to find what you want.

I think the #1 problem is the lack of search capability in the app area. I know you are supposedto drag them out onto your home screens and arrange them but it was really nice to have that search feature on iphone where you just type what you are looking for and it finds it on the phone. Maybe there is an android app that handles this or something.

[Roo]

How many apps do you honestly use? I just got my first decent phone ever (used a blackberry for years then lost it, then was given an older LG Android that got annihilated between my leg and the street during a scooter accident, and now have a Galaxy phone), so admittedly I am new at this. But if you delete a good number of the preloaded apps that you never use, download a bunch, then drag the ones you use into your multiple homescreens, I don't see how scrolling through maybe 25 apps is that big of a deal. They are big and colorful and easy to identify. And yea I downloaded Dolphin as well after reading this thread. Seems pretty good so far. I'll try some of the other apps mentioned here, so keep the suggestions coming. I am very new to the "app world".

[devilock76]

Yah i'm using Dolphine on mine and I love it, but on ymy wife's phone (exact same phone) it freezes the phone every time she launches it so not sure what is happening different.

I just wish there was a phone that matched the speed and performance of the iphone with the open nature of Android, that would be the perfect phone. The way Android handles backgrounding apps and such is very inefficient, if you have several open it starts getting slow very quickly and you have to go in and manually kill them. Oh iphone i could have 100 apps open and would never feel a slowdown. I am not sure why apple is able to pull this off but not any other company. Probably because they don't shit out a new phone every quarter like samsung and HTC.

All in all I am pretty happy with the switch, just going to take some getting used to. My wife hates it and I told her to reutrn it and get the iphone because she doesn't understand how to use it. Android isn't very intuitive and she isn't a really techy so she hates it. I have to agree with her that the app area is annoying because it just throws all of your apps in there and doesn't allow you to search or anything, so every time you want to look for an app than you have to look throught a list of 100 others to find what you want.

I think the #1 problem is the lack of search capability in the app area. I know you are supposedto drag them out onto your home screens and arrange them but it was really nice to have that search feature on iphone where you just type what you are looking for and it finds it on the phone. Maybe there is an android app that handles this or something.

Well first of all you need a phone with similar specs. And having a lot apps open in the background is in effect a factor of the memory on the device not the processor. You need to get an SD card and move your apps so they are installed on the SD card and not the Phone's internal memory. That will help greatly. Always does.

[sgreger1]

How many apps do you honestly use? I just got my first decent phone ever (used a blackberry for years then lost it, then was given an older LG Android that got annihilated between my leg and the street during a scooter accident, and now have a Galaxy phone), so admittedly I am new at this. But if you delete a good number of the preloaded apps that you never use, download a bunch, then drag the ones you use into your multiple homescreens, I don't see how scrolling through maybe 25 apps is that big of a deal. They are big and colorful and easy to identify. And yea I downloaded Dolphin as well after reading this thread. Seems pretty good so far. I'll try some of the other apps mentioned here, so keep the suggestions coming. I am very new to the "app world".

I had about 200 on my last phone. Even if it's only 50 though, sometimes you are looking for that one app that you rarely use and need to find real quick but you forgot where you put it, on iphone you just swipe left and start typing the app name and it brings it up and launches it. I am simply amazed that android is lacking this basic feature. Once I get everything organized it will be easier to get to things I guess.

[sgreger1]

Well first of all you need a phone with similar specs. And having a lot apps open in the background is in effect a factor of the memory on the device not the processor. You need to get an SD card and move your apps so they are installed on the SD card and not the Phone's internal memory. That will help greatly. Always does.

Okay so I am buying a 64gb SD card at lunch today. How do I go about uninstlaling everything from the phone and then re-installing it onto the SD card. Is there a program that assists with this or do I manually have to uninstall and re-install each one?.

[devilock76]

Okay so I am buying a 64gb SD card at lunch today. How do I go about uninstlaling everything from the phone and then re-installing it onto the SD card. Is there a program that assists with this or do I manually have to uninstall and re-install each one?.

Settings -> applications - > manage applications

Under downloaded tab when you click on one there is a button to move it to the SD card. Yeah you have to do them what at a time but it is typically a quick process.

Ken

[sgreger1]

Settings -> applications - > manage applications

Under downloaded tab when you click on one there is a button to move it to the SD card. Yeah you have to do them what at a time but it is typically a quick process.

Ken

Oh outstanding. Is there a way for me to make it so that all future purchases from live play store go to the SD card or is it just easier to just do it manually through manage applications like you said.

[devilock76]

Oh outstanding. Is there a way for me to make it so that all future purchases from live play store go to the SD card or is it just easier to just do it manually through manage applications like you said.

Not that I have found. Not sure why that is, it just is. Keep in mind one of the problem on installing to SD card is if you switch cards no more app... kind of making user replaceable storage a bit moot. On my phone no big deal. On my tablet it is slightly annoying but I can use a USB flash drive with the tablet for those purposes.

Ken