Wanna get a smart phone, help out an old man

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Lyric Suite

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 19, 2010
Messages
273
Sort of new to the world of hand held computing (which is pretty much what a smart phone really is essentially), so help me out of here. I'm currently aiming to buy a Samsung Galaxy S II, going by hardware specs alone (which are pretty damn impressive), and the mere fact i can expand the basic memory of the unit with a micro SD (can't believe Apple doesn't allow this), but i have a few friends who are smart phone freaks who keep warning me to stay away from Android, if anything because of the difference in the numbers of applications and all the neat stuff you get after a simple jailbreak. I suppose i *could* wait to see how the Iphone 5 turns out, but i still have some reservations. One, because of the ridiculous price. Right now an Iphone 4 costs about as much the Galaxy S II even though it loses out in almost single hardware category, which is pitiful. I'm not going to even fathom how much an Iphone 5 is going to cost at launch, and i doubt its going to be significantly better then the Galaxy S II. Second, the micro SD thing. Third, i don't like Apple. Just the idea of having to install Itunes on my machine makes me skin crawl.

BTW, i have the option of buying the Galaxy S II in the states even though i'm currently residing in Europe, which is going to shave off a whole 100$ off the price. I won't have any problems using the phone while i'm Europe, right?
 
More queries for thy forum. Is class 4 the fastest micro SD card i can buy? I've been looking at some amazon listings and it appears SanDisk doesn't even bother labeling which card is which. I'm going fill out those cards with music (of which i have 1.5TB worth, don't ask. Its a sickness), movies and games, and leave the internal 16GB for the various programs i'm going to use.

Ho, and one more thing (gulp). Can i, like, run dosbox on this thing? I know i know, its crazy and all, but, well, can i? At 1.2ghz it ought to be enough to play a lot of cool old school games. You can see its an obsession.
 
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My inspire 4g supports SD cards up to class 4 so i would guess that the Galaxy S would be the same way, but you should check to see what is compatible. Android is awesome. I have had my inspire 4g for 3 months now and I have had no issues what so ever. Also, if you choose to you can root your android phone which is a lot like jail-breaking in the sense that you will have access to more apps by side loading.
 
I have the Galaxy S II and I love it. Especially if you're comparing to the Iphone, I would take the Galaxy any day over it. Android is great
 
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAJOa8hc3XU&feature=relmfu"]YouTube - ‪Apple iPhone 4 vs Samsung Galaxy S 2 "Face Off"‬‏[/ame]

Wow, you can see the difference between the screens on a mere youtube video, and that's a retina ips screen that its up against. How long before they can put amoled screens on desktop monitors? Its really impressive.
 
I'm no apple fanboy, but in your post you said the iphone 4 costs as much as the SGS2. If you buy used you can get a iphone 4 for ~$350-400 on craigslist or elsewhere. Some of them are very new, some not so much. I think iphone 4 prices have fallen some in the past few months, probably due to the release of the iphone 5.

The SGS2 is going for close to $700.
That is quite a difference.

If you want something easy to use, simple, no customization, go with the iphone.
If not, get the SGS2.

I am waiting for the SGS2 to drop in price some more.

By unlocked, they mean you can use it on any carrier that has its 3g bands. Locked would mean like an ATT version, that you can only use it on ATT unless you unlock it. The difference between the two listings is that different stores are selling it. Notice one says "Sold by TRD-Trading and Fulfilled by Amazon." and the other "Ships from and sold by Go4computers." You are not actually buying it from amazon. Amazon did have it, but it is out of stock now. Newegg has it for the same price as amazon, $670-680.


I just noticed you live in Europe, yes you can use it in Europe, just make sure your provider has the correct 3g bands. If you are not sure google it or post the provider here.
The lowest I have seen the SGS2 go for is $660 including shipping from clove.co.uk or handtec.co.uk
Expansys-usa.com also sells it, sometimes they have discounts.
 
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One thing, how is Android market now as far as gaming is concerned? I read a lot of articles saying iOS is in the lead in that department, but some of them date form last year so i'm not sure how things square out at the moment.
 
What about try the Galaxy S 4G? It's around $240 market but might as well get the gs2 if you can.
 
Lyric Suite said:
One thing, how is Android market now as far as gaming is concerned? I read a lot of articles saying iOS is in the lead in that department, but some of them date form last year so i'm not sure how things square out at the moment.
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If studio produced gaming is what you're looking for, get an iPhone. A lot of games are being ported over to Android, but not as many as are on iOS. If you're looking for FREE games, then Android has just as many.
 
You can't go wrong with the sg s2. However if you are using it in Europe make sure that the phone you buy in the state have the required frequency to use with the carrier in Europe. And I'm sure you want Internet on the phone so make sure you're able to get the full speed of the phone instead of being cripple to 2g or 3G.
 
Since you are in Europe, can you not get the SGSII through a carrier. I've heard its very cheap or even free, e.g. someone had posted they get a SGSII for free and GBP 30/month for service with Vodaphone. We can only dream of such prices here in the states.
 
We use sim card of different carriers . Different carrier may have different signal frequency which can help them differ form others. Some phone may only recogonize one or some frequency . we often say this conidtion "locked " How about a Star A5000? only about $160 from nowkin
 
Lyric Suite said:
More queries for thy forum. Is class 4 the fastest micro SD card i can buy? I've been looking at some amazon listings and it appears SanDisk doesn't even bother labeling which card is which. I'm going fill out those cards with music (of which i have 1.5TB worth, don't ask. Its a sickness), movies and games, and leave the internal 16GB for the various programs i'm going to use.
Click to expand...
Class 10 is currently the fastest Micro SD card. 32GB is the largest size. I have a PAtriot C10/32GB card in my Evo 3D and I get read / write speeds close to 20MB a second. Love it.

Lyric Suite said:
Ho, and one more thing (gulp). Can i, like, run dosbox on this thing? I know i know, its crazy and all, but, well, can i? At 1.2ghz it ought to be enough to play a lot of cool old school games. You can see its an obsession.
Click to expand...

In a word, no. You can run essentially linux TERMINAL emulators. That's not to say that you can't find an app of Wolf3D somewhere in the market.
 
Lyric Suite said:
One thing, how is Android market now as far as gaming is concerned? I read a lot of articles saying iOS is in the lead in that department, but some of them date form last year so i'm not sure how things square out at the moment.
Click to expand...
Android Now Seeing 550,000 Activations Per Day

That is from 5 days ago. With the number of Android phones out there, how much longer do you think apple will be able to keep their snooty noses in the air? Anyway, almost every good app on apples app store is available in the market as well. Is the app store bigger? Yup by a lot. But honestly, how many fart apps do you really need. Trust me, there is a lot of innovation in Android. The SGS2 is my second choice of phone only to my current Evo 3D. The screen on the SGS2 is devastatingly beautiful and as you can see, puts the retina display to shame in size and color. I rant. Yes, the game selection is great. With more coming every day.
 
Lyric Suite said:
BTW, i have the option of buying the Galaxy S II in the states even though i'm currently residing in Europe, which is going to shave off a whole 100$ off the price. I won't have any problems using the phone while i'm Europe, right?
Click to expand...

Buy it in Europe. Please. You will get a much better deal in the long run if you purchase it there through one of your carriers... All that wonderful European carrier competition is great for you. Use it to your advantage.
 
Rune75 said:
Class 10 is currently the fastest Micro SD card. 32GB is the largest size. I have a PAtriot C10/32GB card in my Evo 3D and I get read / write speeds close to 20MB a second. Love it.
Click to expand...

That card must have cost you a fortune. I really want one but I know I really don't need one.


Lyric Suite said:
Wow, you can see the difference between the screens on a mere youtube video, and that's a retina ips screen that its up against. How long before they can put amoled screens on desktop monitors? Its really impressive.
Click to expand...

One thing to note is that the iPhone 4's display tends to be undersaturated (measured results indicate it is less saturated than Apple's own desktop displays), while AMOLED type screens tend to be oversaturated. Both are not optimal.

HOWEVER, I don't know how the SGS2's SUPER AMOLED+ (seriously its name is getting ridiculous) stacks up to the old, oversaturated Super AMOLED. For all I know, the Super AMOLED+ screen may just be perfectly tinted and saturated finally. I hope so.

Also, probably quite some time before it's on desktop monitors. They've been trying for a long time. They are much, MUCH easier to produce on a small scale like a PMP or cellphone display than something relatively large like a monitor, and even then, it's not THAT easy as Samsung has trouble producing enough (hence why a couple phones, most notably the Incredible 1, switched from AMOLED to S-LCD). Sony put out an OLED TV not too long ago and it was thousands of dollars for some wimpy 15" display.
 
My brother has a Samsung Epic 4G (Galaxy S1 on Sprint). He's ran DosBOX and told me that a 3D game like Blake Stone crawls, whereas a 2D platformer like Hocus Pocus runs, but not smoothly. Perhaps the emulator still needs work and a Galaxy SII can run it with far better performance? :confused:
 
Sounds like your friends are anti android apple fanbois. Unless they have owned android phones and apple phones ignore them. I have owned both an apple ipod touch (iphone with out the phone parts) and a droid incredible and if i had to choose i would choose android over ios. It is just far more customizable and capable than ios. Apple is very closed and strict with the software and they have a premium they place on their name. Now is that to say they are a bad phone. No they are great i would place them on the mid to high end of smart phones but there are so many more android offerings that are so much better than anything apple has right now.

And a word on "jail breaking" if your looking at the iphone 5 it cant be jailbroken yet 4.3.4 is tethered jb only right now and that happens with every version apple comes out with it is not jailbreakable for a while then goes tethered jailbreak then eventually a full permanent jail break happens... Also apple likes to say jailbreaking voids the warranty...
 
Lyric Suite said:
Sort of new to the world of hand held computing (which is pretty much what a smart phone really is essentially), so help me out of here. I'm currently aiming to buy a Samsung Galaxy S II, going by hardware specs alone (which are pretty damn impressive), and the mere fact i can expand the basic memory of the unit with a micro SD (can't believe Apple doesn't allow this), but i have a few friends who are smart phone freaks who keep warning me to stay away from Android, if anything because of the difference in the numbers of applications and all the neat stuff you get after a simple jailbreak. I suppose i *could* wait to see how the Iphone 5 turns out, but i still have some reservations. One, because of the ridiculous price. Right now an Iphone 4 costs about as much the Galaxy S II even though it loses out in almost single hardware category, which is pitiful. I'm not going to even fathom how much an Iphone 5 is going to cost at launch, and i doubt its going to be significantly better then the Galaxy S II. Second, the micro SD thing. Third, i don't like Apple. Just the idea of having to install Itunes on my machine makes me skin crawl.

BTW, i have the option of buying the Galaxy S II in the states even though i'm currently residing in Europe, which is going to shave off a whole 100$ off the price. I won't have any problems using the phone while i'm Europe, right?
Click to expand...

Have you looked into refurbished cell phones? If you already have a contract with your service provider, you may be able to pick up a refurb and have it hooked up to your current plan. That way you will not be locked into another term agreement. Also, you will be saving quite a bit compared to the price of a new one. Most times, these phones are just open package items, or recent returns with no defects. The phone is usually restored to the factory settings. I see that you are in Europe, and I am unfamiliar with who the companies operate over there. Just a suggestion.
 
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