[JHBThree]

Blehhh, the hardware may not be revolutionary, but I feel as if the software is. No other phone has features like it. And theyre pretty cool

To each his own, I guess. Engadget was no fan of the majority of their new software features.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[Small_law]

I really wasn't excited about this phone at all, but then I saw the Verge's review and it looked awesome. Performance was stellar. If anything, the S3 strikes me as a beefed up and improved galaxy nexus of sorts.

[Mark_C]

Read Phil's thoughts on the new Touchwiz. While Sense 4 complements and adds to ICS, the new touchwiz sits on top of it, doing its own thing while sticking vaguely to ICS paradigms. With the new Sense, its very apparent that ICS is a part of it. The same cannot be said of touchwiz. (More than a few hands ons said the experience was not different than the old version)

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Yeah I've read what Phil has written but there are no specifics, its just vague statements. When you say "the same cannot be said of touchwizz" can you give an example ? because I'm really not seeing it.

If you look at that tech radar review you'll see that TW uses some stock ICS screens, HTC don't (least not in those areas).
HTC also screwed around with the multi tasking stuff.
By far the worst part of my HTC Desire is the contacts area, its a pain in the backside.

Seems to me on ICS Sense covers up more of ICS than TW.

From what I can gather earlier versions of TW were a bit naff but its changed alot since then and some are still holding on to preconceptions of the earlier versions.

[JHBThree]

Yeah I've read what Phil has written but there are no specifics, its just vague statements. When you say "the same cannot be said of touchwizz" can you give an example ? because I'm really not seeing it.

If you look at that tech radar review you'll see that TW uses some stock ICS screens, HTC don't (least not in those areas).
HTC also screwed around with the multi tasking stuff.
By far the worst part of my HTC Desire is the contacts area, its a pain in the backside.

Seems to me on ICS Sense covers up more of ICS than TW.

From what I can gather earlier versions of TW were a bit naff but its changed alot since then and some are still holding on to preconceptions of the earlier versions.

HTC was built on Holo standards. Its clear on any screen that it uses the Android design standards. Touchwiz doesn't. It replaces Holo with Samsungs idea of what a good design looks like.

Touchwiz, quite literally, is a skin ON TOP OF ICS that hides the os. Sense is integrated with ICS, and its clearly apparent.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[wilfreb]

worst review of the GS3 so far, i will love see Joire made this review. empty, nothing new, boring and very biased.

[Crispy]

HTC was built on Holo standards. Its clear on any screen that it uses the Android design standards. Touchwiz doesn't. It replaces Holo with Samsungs idea of what a good design looks like.

Touchwiz, quite literally, is a skin ON TOP OF ICS that hides the os. Sense is integrated with ICS, and its clearly apparent.

Can you justify this? Let me give you a simple counterexample -

ICS Gallery (Nexus)



TouchWiz gallery (GS3)



Sense 4 gallery (E4GLTE)



You tell me which one is more faithful to ICS. There are examples of this throughout the UI.
TW is also a dark themed skin, like ICS. Sense 4 is blinding white.

[s14tat]

Yup. FWIW, the VZW GN is still the highest reviewed Android phone they've had (unless I'm wrong in thinking it had an 8.7), but most of that is due to ICS I reckon .

The Verge just has better presentation, and more importantly, better writers. Which isn't shocking, since essentially the heart and soul of Engadget left and founded it lol

If i remember correctly they actually rated the international version of the GS2 a 9.0 or 9.5 I do not remember. That I believe was the highest rated android device ever, and all for good reason. The GS2 felt like it was practically a entire generation ahead of the competition at the time.

edit: I just read the engadget review. What are you so mad about Tkbredx lol? This review describes this phone exactly as how I expected to. I see nothing but praises about this phone. Just because they're not " omg this phone is bomb " doesn't mean its a review that is biased against it.

[dmmarck]

If i remember correctly they actually rated the international version of the GS2 a 9.0 or 9.5 I do not remember. That I believe was the highest rated android device ever, and all for good reason. The GS2 felt like it was practically a entire generation ahead of the competition at the time.

edit: I just read the engadget review. What are you so mad about Tkbredx lol? This review describes this phone exactly as how I expected to. I see nothing but praises about this phone. Just because they're not " omg this phone is bomb " doesn't mean its a review that is biased against it.

Could be. Not gonna lie, completely forgot about that lol

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2

[JHBThree]

Can you justify this? Let me give you a simple counterexample -

ICS Gallery (Nexus)



TouchWiz gallery (GS3)



Sense 4 gallery (E4GLTE)



You tell me which one is more faithful to ICS. There are examples of this throughout the UI.
TW is also a dark themed skin, like ICS. Sense 4 is blinding white.

Sense is, actually. Go read the Android style guide and you'll understand why. TW ignores almost all of the UI 'suggestions' the android team has made.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[JHBThree]

worst review of the GS3 so far, i will love see Joire made this review. empty, nothing new, boring and very biased.

Just because you disagree, which youre entitled to do. Her criticisms are valid if you're being objective.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[Mark_C]

Sense is, actually. Go read the Android style guide and you'll understand why. TW ignores almost all of the UI 'suggestions' the android team has made.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Ok but that doesn't mean it looks like Gingerbread as Phil says.

On the example that was posted above it seems pretty clear to me that TW is closer to ICS than Sense.

Seems there is a lot of FUD over TW.
Either way I thought Sense on the HOX looked pretty similar to my original desire.

[Crispy]

Just because Sense follows UI guidelines like placement of menu button doesn't mean it's closer to the ICS philosophy. The goal of Sense is to do everything their own way, they try to replace a lot more menus and options than any other skin. E.g. Changing the way lists scroll, the task manager etc. TW has a cartoony look but their goal seems to be adding functions on top of the OS. Sense gets a lot of praise for its consistency and looks, there's nothing wrong with that.

[Kevin O'Quinn]

Two things are readily apparent after reading these two reviews.

1) This phone was totally overblown by the prerelease hype. All phones are, this one just seems worse. It looks like a great phone, and I'm sure it is. But it's not game changing like the SGSII was when it was released. It took a long time for other manufacturers to catch up to it. The SGSIII has competition now, that beats or matches it in almost every area (camera being the main exception, SGSIII appears to have better picture quality, but worse hardware )

2) Certain people that were all about the SGSIII being miles ahead of the One X now don't have as much to say. It's a mile long race that will be deciding by a couple of seconds, really.

Samsung has taken the suggested way of doing things and thrown them out the window. This is a fact. Android shouldn't have a menu button or removable storage. Period. This is clearly a step in the wrong direction for the Android platform as a whole. Yes, people want these things, but Samsung should've went ahead and planned for the future.

Also, Touchwiz very much appears as an Android replacement, not so much an Android phone. Samsung is definitely differentiating with software, and that's fine, but Sense appears to flow more fluidly with stock ICS. The options you get with a dropdown menu aren't what we're talking about. We're talking about things like the menu button, the Holo theme, etc.


IMHO Samsung has more than enough time to do a "reboot" of Touchwiz, like what HTC did with Sense. The SGSIII looks like more-of-the-same from Samsung. Exactly what I expected it to be. (for the record, I thought it would be a great device, just not miles ahead of everything else)

[HTC_fanboy]

This is what stuck out to me.

The worst thing about the GS III? No matter how hard it tries, it just isn't greater than the sum of the HTC One X's parts.

Taken from Engadget's review.

[Tkbredx]

Personally, Kevin, I like the fact that Samsung actually takes in the opinion of people and kept the menu button and removable storage. Well atleast for removable storage, theres no reason not to have it really.

[Tkbredx]

I wish someone would do a TW vs Sense vs Stock ICS video. Because I would like ti know the difference in functionality. Stock just looks the best but what does it have over TW and
Sense. Because right now I feel like TW does everything Stock and Sense does and more with the new features. That + Launcher = better stock ICS right?

[Kevin O'Quinn]

Personally, Kevin, I like the fact that Samsung actually takes in the opinion of people and kept the menu button and removable storage. Well atleast for removable storage, theres no reason not to have it really.

I bet they kept the menu button because they didn't expect dev's to actually care about updating their apps. We could probably go back and forth on that forever LOL.

Removable storage isn't needed as long as they have mulitple internal storage options (which they do 16, 32, and 64). It's all because of the file system Google wants to use. I guess it doesn't work well with external storage???

I wish someone would do a TW vs Sense vs Stock ICS video. Because I would like ti know the difference in functionality. Stock just looks the best but what does it have over TW and
Sense. Because right now I feel like TW does everything Stock and Sense does and more with the new features. That + Launcher = better stock ICS right?

Me too, but the TL;DR version would probably sound like this....Sense and Touchwiz try to add functionality, but ICS works well on it's own. Touchwiz touches everything, and does look dated, while Sense doesn't, but looks fresh. Having the option to change themes, say from dark to light, would be nice though.

Also, using a third party launcher makes some of that argument a moot point. I'm using Apex on the One X and guess what....looks like stock LOL.


Another thing people are glossing over mostly is the update situation. Basically Samsung sucks at it. HTC isn't necessarily great, but they have a better track record than Samsung.

[Crispy]

Stock ICS lacks basic features like syncing with Facebook, the stock music and video players leave a lot to be desired etc. The usual answer to these things is that there's always a replacement app for these things.

Google don't present Android in the same way as iOS and WP7. Its an open source OS that they encourage oem's to modify as the see fit. Their UI guidelines are just that, they are neither enforced nor follwed even by Google's own apps.

Earlier versions of Android were bare bones, they looked ugly and lacked a lot of things. OEM's had to modify them to sell a product to people who aren't tech savvy. The arrival of Mattias was the reason Google polished ICS, and its going to take a while before oem's respond to that.

I think there's a general fallacy among forums and technical people that everyone hates the oem skins. The vast majority of users don't root their phones or replace the launcher, dialer etc, things we take for granted. They have become very used to and attached to their way of doing things. This is why Sense/TouchWiz etc have a loyal following.

In the end usability is what matters, not some abstract guidelines that a majority of apps don't follow and won't for quite some time.

[Crispy]

Sense and Touchwiz try to add functionality, but ICS works well on it's own. Touchwiz touches everything, and does look dated, while Sense doesn't, but looks fresh

Show me where Sense modifies less of ICS than TouchWiz.

Looks are totally subjective, but e.g Sense persists in using rounded corners, gradients and button chrome when Holo is supposed to be square, monochromatic and flat. Compare the 2 dilalers and tell me which one looks more like stock.

[Crispy]

btw, lets not even mention the broken multitasking in Sense which is enough of a reason not to get the phone, and one that HTC has no intention of fixing.

[Tkbredx]

I bet they kept the menu button because they didn't expect dev's to actually care about updating their apps. We could probably go back and forth on that forever LOL.

Removable storage isn't needed as long as they have mulitple internal storage options (which they do 16, 32, and 64). It's all because of the file system Google wants to use. I guess it doesn't work well with external storage???



Me too, but the TL;DR version would probably sound like this....Sense and Touchwiz try to add functionality, but ICS works well on it's own. Touchwiz touches everything, and does look dated, while Sense doesn't, but looks fresh. Having the option to change themes, say from dark to light, would be nice though.

Also, using a third party launcher makes some of that argument a moot point. I'm using Apex on the One X and guess what....looks like stock LOL.


Another thing people are glossing over mostly is the update situation. Basically Samsung sucks at it. HTC isn't necessarily great, but they have a better track record than Samsung.

Yeahhh. I only need 16 gb really but I think the 128 gb is still a nice gesture for those who want basically everything on their phone

As for the software, I was think the same thing. With updating I'll probably be fine coming from a Palm Pre, I understand the need to have patience for software updates LOL. Plus theres always the option to root.

[Kevin O'Quinn]

Show me where Sense modifies less of ICS than TouchWiz.

Looks are totally subjective, but e.g Sense persists in using rounded corners, gradients and button chrome when Holo is supposed to be square, monochromatic and flat. Compare the 2 dilalers and tell me which one looks more like stock.

btw, lets not even mention the broken multitasking in Sense which is enough of a reason not to get the phone, and one that HTC has no intention of fixing.

Obviously we won't know until it's cracked into and the code is looked at, but many Touchwiz features appear to have to touch the framework, which means it'll take EVEN LONGER for updates.

And multi-tasking isn't broke. HTC did it the way they want. Agree with it or not, doesn't really matter. Now that the bootloader is cracked (thank God) they can start doing some really nice stuff with it.

If anybody should be complaining about anything on the One X it's the bootloader situation, and more specifically that AT&T is holding up their One X from getting on HTCDev.

[HTC_fanboy]

Show me where Sense modifies less of ICS than TouchWiz.

Looks are totally subjective, but e.g Sense persists in using rounded corners, gradients and button chrome when Holo is supposed to be square, monochromatic and flat. Compare the 2 dilalers and tell me which one looks more like stock.

Touchwiz is ugly. Sense is much nicer looking. S-Voice is a rip-off of Siri, and works just as bad. A lot of the other stuff isn't very well done, either. Why add something if it's not that great? Did Samsung just decide to throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and see what stuck?

[Crispy]

And multi-tasking isn't broke. HTC did it the way they want. Agree with it or not, doesn't really matter. Now that the bootloader is cracked (thank God) they can start doing some really nice stuff with it.

If anybody should be complaining about anything on the One X it's the bootloader situation, and more specifically that AT&T is holding up their One X from getting on HTCDev.

Really, this again? If something is defective and the manufacturer claims its how they designed it, then yes, it is broken. There's no reason to play semantic games, the user experience is all that matters.

HTCDev unlock is a joke, it doesn't give you proper root. And requiring users to root their phone (and void the warranty) just to get a usable phone, how is that acceptable?

[snoopyandroid]

I take all reviews with a grain of salt. Until I get my hands one, this phone on specs FOR ME is better than the x and no, I'm not going to justify my stance.

I like the design of the x better than the S3, but overall, I like what the S3 brings to the table. Once I see and play with it, I may change my mind.