Coming from WP, My 1st Android Phone...Why I left...and Why I'll Be Back!

[peacefulberry]

Hello All!

I am new to AC, but not Mobile Nations..I've been a member of the WP Central community for some time now! I have to say, that I didn't see the day coming that I would actually be writing in this forum (because I kind of swore off Android some time ago, LOL) So..here we are, and I up and bought a Note II as my first Android device (never even owned an Android tablet either..yeah I'm an Android virgin!) Anyway, I've always read the horror stories of viruses, and the intrusion of privacy, adware, malware, etc. from the scary opensource platform offered by the largest tech company in the world-Google. I vowed some time ago, that it will NEVER be me and my phone, cuz I was sticking with Blackberry or WP..period!

Well, to make a long story shorter (can't promise you that it won't be a tiny bit long) my WP has been having sim card issues for some time. These issues make the phone unusable as a phone..no texting, calling, etc. This is a known issue with my model. Also, the Other Storage issue was bugging the hell out of me too! Basically, in WP8, temp. files and other misc. files are stored on your phone in an Other Storage category. (I think it's from YT videos and other music and photo files that are duplicated once you open the file/video, but not 100 sure). These files/cache could not be cleared, and it slowly eats away at your memory, until you're left with 1GB of storage and no SD card! So..I had no choice but to jump off the sinking ship and find something quick. I decided that I wanted a large size phone with multi tasking, SD card, and removable battery. The Note II seemed perfect..so I bought it!

It was scary and exciting at the same time! I loved the new UI, the screen size..everything about the phone for the first 2 days. On the 3rd day..something was different. The phone was a little slower. 1GB of memory went somewhere (I installed no games, just 20mb of regular apps.) Apps took longer to launch..this is the infamous LAG that ppl warn about on WPC all day I thought. I tried so hard, cleared caches, stopped apps I wouldn't use, removed animations in Dev Options..anything I could think of, but the lag was still there..after only 2 days of use!

On the contrary, the thing I thought I would hate, I actually loved the most..TRANSPARENCY. In WP, you can uninstall carrier bloatware with the press of a button (Don't be jealous, Ha Ha) and in Android, obviously a root is required, so I was unable to get rid of the bloatware, but I was able to download Permission Manager, turn off carrier apps, opt out of personal ads, personalization of keyboard (done by 3rd parties), and everything else that I wanted to do for my own peace of mind. I was happy that Google at least formed some level of transparency, and said, Hey we use cookies and an advert. ID, but you can opt out of the tracking as much as possible. You can deny permissions, you can do whatever you want..its YOUR phone! For this reason alone, I will be back to Android! Not the apps, games, Googlesphere, etc. but the simple fact that I was given the option to be as public or private, as simple, or as custom..

To conclude, everyone (at least I did) says that Google is a privacy monster..and that may be true, but I now realize that to have a completely personal smartphone experience, you have to share your interests, activities, family, LIFE, etc..even Cortana will require to learn more about WP users if they want to have an optimal experience..so give me a lag-free or nearly lag-free experience and I'll be back!

Peace.

 

[B. Diddy]

re:

Welcome to Android Central, and thanks for sharing your thoughts! Are you still having issues with the Note II? Let us know if you need assistance with that.

 

[peacefulberry]

re:

Welcome to Android Central, and thanks for sharing your thoughts! Are you still having issues with the Note II? Let us know if you need assistance with that.

Oh God yes!!! The lag was there after only 2 days! I finally just did a hard reset, but it still doesn't feel exactly as zippy as when I first turned it on. It's like it's jogging, when I want it to actually pick up the pace and run...there's still a bit of lag after the hard reset.

 

[Scrambler#AC]

re:

That's the touchwiz. Try nova launcher. Set animations and transitions to fastestest setting. I used to use a rooted and rom'd Note 2, and no matter what rom Ioved Nova. Use it on my current phone and Nexus 10.

 

[B. Diddy]

re:

First, don't pay too much attention to RAM--Android wants it to be somewhat full of open apps, so apps open automatically, depending on usage patterns and how the apps are coded. Killing apps can actually be counterproductive, because apps may just open again, which takes CPU and battery. See these articles:
http://www.androidcentral.com/ram-what-it-how-its-used-and-why-you-shouldnt-care
http://forums.androidcentral.com/ambassador-guides-tips-how-tos/380592-guide-ram-android.html

What may be more helpful is to Disable any preinstalled bloatware apps you never use. This will prevent these apps from opening, and therefore free up that RAM for some other app that perhaps you use more often. To Disable, go to the App Manager, select the app in question, and tap Disable. You might have to Uninstall Updates for that app first. Remember that Disable is for preinstalled bloatware or system apps only--other apps you install can't be disabled, only uninstalled (unless you root the phone, in which case you can "freeze" apps, which is essentially the same as disabling).

Do you have an external SD card? Files on SD cards can get corrupted, and on these forums, we see complaints about this most often with Samsung devices. Corrupt files on the SD can lead to slowdowns, as well as battery drain and other weird behavior. You might consider Unmounting the card (in Settings>Storage​), removing it, then rebooting, and seeing what happens to performance.

 

[peacefulberry]

re:

That's the touchwiz. Try nova launcher. Set animations and transitions to fastestest setting. I used to use a rooted and rom'd Note 2, and no matter what rom Ioved Nova. Use it on my current phone and Nexus 10.

Will I be able to set my phone exactly as it was before? Like the mosaic wallpaper, etc.? Actually, can you also give me your comparison of with/without Nova Launcher?

 

[peacefulberry]

re:

First, don't pay too much attention to RAM--Android wants it to be somewhat full of open apps, so apps open automatically, depending on usage patterns and how the apps are coded. Killing apps can actually be counterproductive, because apps may just open again, which takes CPU and battery. See these articles:
RAM: What it is, how it's used, and why you shouldn't care | Android Central
http://forums.androidcentral.com/ambassador-guides-tips-how-tos/380592-guide-ram-android.html

What may be more helpful is to Disable any preinstalled bloatware apps you never use. This will prevent these apps from opening, and therefore free up that RAM for some other app that perhaps you use more often. To Disable, go to the App Manager, select the app in question, and tap Disable. You might have to Uninstall Updates for that app first. Remember that Disable is for preinstalled bloatware or system apps only--other apps you install can't be disabled, only uninstalled (unless you root the phone, in which case you can "freeze" apps, which is essentially the same as disabling).

Do you have an external SD card? Files on SD cards can get corrupted, and on these forums, we see complaints about this most often with Samsung devices. Corrupt files on the SD can lead to slowdowns, as well as battery drain and other weird behavior. You might consider Unmounting the card (in Settings>Storage​), removing it, then rebooting, and seeing what happens to performance.

Thanks for your help!
1. Should I uninstall updates before disabling the bloatware?
2. I just did a hard reset without removing the SD card, but ended up removing it afterwards. Is it ok that I didn't press unmount SD card first?

 

[li2327]

re:

Welcome to the AC family. I used WP years ago and very glad I made the switch. You will definitely get use to the android os. So good to have you here.

Sent from my SM-G900P using AC Forums mobile app

 

[peacefulberry]

re:

Welcome to the AC family. I used WP years ago and very glad I made the switch. You will definitely get use to the android os. So good to have you here.

Sent from my SM-G900P using AC Forums mobile app

Awww thanks! My sis encouraged me to figure it out...and it actually wasn't hard...just trying to solve the lag issues, otherwise I was ok with it.

 

[B. Diddy]

re:

Thanks for your help!
1. Should I uninstall updates before disabling the bloatware?
2. I just did a hard reset without removing the SD card, but ended up removing it afterwards. Is it ok that I didn't press unmount SD card first?

You have to uninstall updates to bloatware before being able to disable.

Removing an SD card without unmounting is ok for the most part. But it's like removing a USB drive from your Windows computer without ejecting it first--if the system was in the middle of writing something to it, it might mess things up.

 

[peacefulberry]

re:

You have to uninstall updates to bloatware before being able to disable.

Removing an SD card without unmounting is ok for the most part. But it's like removing a USB drive from your Windows computer without ejecting it first--if the system was in the middle of writing something to it, it might mess things up.

Oh ok, got it! I was reading on another site, where a guy mentioned these steps:

Step 1
First of all, turn off your Smartphone & enter into the Recovery Mode. To do so just press the Down Volume & the Home button simultaneously, and at the same time while pressing those buttons press down your Power button also.
Step 2
When you are into the Recovery Mode, then select “Wipe Data/Factory Reset” option in order to wipe off complete data, after that, wipe off all the caches from your phone memory by selecting the “Wipe Cache Partition” option.
Step 3
Now, clear off the “Dalvik Cache” from your Android Smartphone. To do so you have to get into the “Advanced” settings and there you will have to select the “Wipe Dalvik Cache” option.

I did not do those above steps, I just did the factory reset...should I have done the above steps as well?

 

[B. Diddy]

re:

Clearing the system cache partition can help with various performance issues, and is usually worth trying instead of a factory reset, since the latter is such a hassle in terms of setting the phone up again. I'm not sure, but I think a factory reset also wipes the cache partition, so if you already did the reset, no need to wipe the cache so soon afterwards. But there are people who routinely wipe the cache every month or every week, depending on their issues. There's no harm in doing so.

I'm not sure if wiping the Dalvik cache is possible if your phone is unrooted, with a stock recovery. That's a bit more advanced--I don't know much about it, so I'll let someone else explain it.

Here's a link to instructions on how to wipe cache on the Note II. There's also instructions on Safe Mode, which can also be helpful to troubleshoot. Reset: Samsung Galaxy Note II | T-Mobile Support

 

[peacefulberry]

re:

If I use Nova Launcher, will I be able to set my phone exactly as it was before? Like the mosaic wallpaper, etc.? ...can someone give me their comparison of with/without Nova Launcher?

If anyone has the answer to this, I would greatly appreciate it!

 

[Rukbat]

re:

Exactly the way it was? Only if you take screen shots of the phone the way it is, save them to the SD card, then refer to them when setting Nova up. Otherwise you'll forget some widget or app and next week, when you go to run it, you'll realize that you forgot to put it on the desktop. (IOW, this is a "you" issue, not a "Nova" issue". Nova can have the same things on the same homescreens that TouchWiz had, it's just even more "personalizable" than TouchWiz.)

You can download lots of free icon packs for Nova, to make it look different. (Just search icon in the Play store - there are hundreds [maybe thousands].) You can also change the wallpaper. I usually have something for the next holiday. (July 4th and Labor day are difficult - all I can find are flags, so right now I have e generic "beehive" [a field of grey hexagons that looks like a honeycomb] with a stylized font "Android" on it.

You can also have more than one "quick launch bar" (dock) at the bottom. The maximum is 5 (with 7 icons on each). It's very customizable. And with the fancy animations and transitions turned off, it's fast. (It doesn't make your apps run faster, but it makes the desktop faster to react.)

As far as the Dalvik cache, that's where the apps are "put together" at boot time. If you wipe that, the next boot will take a long time - the phone will tell you that it's preparing apps, and count them off as it does. You basically clear Dalvik cache when you install a new ROM, since the new cache will probably be located in a different area and it'll definitely have different apps to start with. It can't hurt to clear it, but I don't think it's going to speed the phone up any. (I never bother to notice if my phone is getting slow. If it does what I want as quickly as I need it to be done, it's running fast enough. I'm not in a contest with anyone for speed [so I won't brag about how fast my benchmark is].)

Viruses? People used to say that it was Windows that got all the viruses, and Linux (which is the kernel in Android) was virus-free. Neither is true, of course. Just as a bank robber doesn't do his work in shoe stores, virus writers don't write viruses for an operating system used by only a handful of people. Back when Linux was something you had to compile yourself before you had an operating system, virus writers wrote viruses for Windows - since that was about 85% of the computers in use. Now that Android is the most used phone operating system, they're writing Android viruses. Run an anti-virus program in your phone. Not running one is like leaving your car unlocked with the keys in the ignition. It may never get stolen. But ...

Bear one thing in mind, BB, WP, Android or any other type of phone. The hardware gets better and faster (and cheaper - do you know what a 2011 phone would have cost in 1990?) all the time, so once the phone is 2 or 3 years old, unless you want to keep running the same version of the OS, and the same version of the apps, you'll need a new phone or you'll have to wait for it to crawl. Buying the current top of the line phone may cost more, but the phone will remain usable longer.