about to take the plunge

[lizardking13]

so, I saw a sale on the galazy s II and I don't think I can hold on anymore. I have an original Pre-, and it's dying. I kept creating reasons not to buy an android phone. But, this phone just looks amazing and it's super cheap on amazon right now. I've read many of the threads here including the thread for pre users. My only question is...is there any good reason not to get this phone? Maybe a little backround on me. I like customization, I like hacking/rooting cababilities. I use my phone all the time, whether it's email, internet, texting, or games.

also email is incredibly important to me because of my job. How is the email system? Is it anything like how synergy works on the pre?

thanks in advance...
lizardking.

 

[2ndaccord]

The signal strength is not that good. And the GPS is spotty but the phone is awesome. As long as you you are in a good signal area its fine. The phone is the fastest phone i have had and the screen is amazing. Also the battery is awesome.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

 

[lizardking13]

at home I have great signal, but at work I get meh signal. It usually depends on where I'm at. I don't care if the gps works all that great as I am used to that issue with the pre.

 

[2ndaccord]

If you don't mind that then the epic is probably still the best phone on the market.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

 

[JayWill]

Based on everything you've said, I think you'd really like it. It really is an amazing device, and development for it is pretty good. No official AOSP support yet, but it'll come probably. Being that you'll be new to Android you probably wouldn't care about that anyways.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

 

[lizardking13]

how about the email? Can I sink everything to one inbox? Is there one app I use..or are there separate icons for each email address?

also...whats ASOP?

 

[JayWill]

AOSP = Android Open Source Project

Welcome to Android | Android Open Source

Basically it's ROMs built entirely from the base Android source code of a OS version. Cyanogenmod and Miui are examples of popular AOSP ROMs. Also, what you get on the Nexus lines of phones is essentially AOSP. However, developers often tweak ROMs based on the manufacturer's release, as many have already for this phone.

People get kind of weird about the whole pure uncut Android thing sometimes. I'm quite happy with Samsung's ROM on the Galaxy S2 line though ... it's really good.

 

[JayWill]

Meh dyslexia kicking in. It's AOSP not ASOP. Fixed my posts.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

 

[lizardking13]

ahh I see...thanks for the information.

 

[androidpirate]

so, I saw a sale on the galazy s II and I don't think I can hold on anymore. I have an original Pre-, and it's dying. I kept creating reasons not to buy an android phone. But, this phone just looks amazing and it's super cheap on amazon right now. I've read many of the threads here including the thread for pre users. My only question is...is there any good reason not to get this phone? Maybe a little backround on me. I like customization, I like hacking/rooting cababilities. I use my phone all the time, whether it's email, internet, texting, or games.

also email is incredibly important to me because of my job. How is the email system? Is it anything like how synergy works on the pre?

thanks in advance...
lizardking.

I used a palm pre before upgrading to the epic touch and i can say without hesitation that you won't be disappointed with this phone especially coming from the palm pre.

some negatives: last gen resolution. 480x800 is low for a screen size of 4.52". text on the web browser at fully zoomed out view is unreadable. i dunno if others have had this happen to them, but after a reboot, the battery percentage will drop some random amount. not sure if this is the battery meter resetting and displaying the accurate value or the batter meter displaying an incorrect value. as awesome as the colors are, there is an increasingly bluer tinge to the whites & other colors progressing directly off center. the bottom half of my power button seems mushy. the top half clicks, the bottom half doesn't. i dunno if it's normal or broken but it's irking me. some games quit to home, happens randomly and a few times so far. music stops playing in zenonia 1 after a few seconds. gps seems a bit inaccurate, off by a few feet. didn't have this problem with the evo3D when i had it for a month.

that being said, go play with the phone at a sprint store, also try out the evo3D & photon. there hasn't been any news of when the galaxy nexus will come out on sprint though but i'm speculating may of next year (nexus s 4g came out in may of this year) since sprint usually sticks to a 1 year cycle of upgrading phones. overall, i'm really happy with the phone.

 

[Stearmandriver]

I made the same move. I really like android overall, and the phone in particular. I don't miss contact synergy (never liked it) and I don't miss cards. I really think people make to much of them. Minimize-swish-tap vs. long press-tap to switch between running apps...who cares? Same thing lol.

I haven't had most of the problems raised in this thread. My screen does not get progressively bluer toward the edges. Gps can sometimes be finicky about locking, but once it does it's accurate. If you like tweaking there's a quick fix you can flash to fix the lock anyway.

My one negative would be the email. You WILL miss the pre's email app. The stock email program doesn't even have a unified inbox (I don't think). There are third party apps that do (I use kaiten mail), but overall it's not as polished, and push support is not as good. The pre just automatically pushed everything. Aol, yahoo, corporate accounts, whatever. Just select it from the menu and done. Android is not like that, not even with third party apps. I STILL can't have my yahoo account push unless I use the dedicated yahoo app, thereby losing the benefits of a unified inbox. I'm still surprised, frankly, that email is as lousy as it is on android, for as polished as the os is overall these days.

That being said, I haven't actually lost any functionality, it just isn't quite as convenient. But all the other benefits of the phone more than make up for it!

 

[TheMacs]

I too came from a Sprint Pre (I 'plused' it though to buy time). Bought a couple cheap Vz Pre2's and was gonna do surgery, but I switched to the GS2 about a week after launch. Do not regret it for a minute.

Haven't had any screen color nor button issues. GPS isn't always dead-on, but you don't mind that. Google Maps opening in less than 30 seconds (like on the Pre) is cool.

My yahoo e-mail account seems to work fine in the stock email app, though I'm not dependent on it. There is a very good chance there is an app that will take care of you though.

Cards was nice, but Android lets you long press to get recent apps, which is pretty close. And the processor just blows away the Pre. Screen too is phenominal compared to the Pre.

Some people (me included) have had LoS (loss of signal) issues. Mostly seems to be in areas of not-so-great coverage. Latest updates seem to be addressing this.

None of the android music players come remotely close to Hedami's music player, but they're adequate.

Android community is pretty widespread, not as tight as the Pre's (only logical given the number of users), but folks here are very very helpful.

I looked at both the Evo3D and the Nexus. 3D was cool, but not much more than a gimmick to me. The nexus is very nice, but the screen sold me on the GS2. As someone said, go play with them in the store.

Based on what you've said so far, I do not think you will be disappointed. In fact, I think you regret not having moved sooner.

Good luck!

 

[Biggnaa20]

Welcome Fellow WebOSer!

I recently bought the Epic Touch and I'm pretty happy with it. I have had some time to get used to Android as I bought an Evo a while back. I still miss webOS, but the speed and utility of Android and the EPIC Touch make me miss it a little less.

As a guy new to Android from WebOS, you should look at this post from MiloMindbender. He was pretty active on the Precentral boards, and posted a really useful transition guide:

http://forum.androidcentral.com/general-help-how/33254-palm-webos-homebrewers-guide-android.html?

I found it helpful.

In answer to your original question, YES the stock email app in the Epic Touch does have a unified inbox. You can also grab another email client if you want to (K9 Mail has a similar unified inbox).

GPS is way better on this phone than the Pre. I think you'll be happily surprised.

On the whole I really like the phone, but I'll mention the few things that kinda irk me:

No delay to the Lock Screen: I can't put in a delay for the lock to come on if I manually turn off the phone. If I wait for it to time out, I can, but if I turn off the screen to put it in my pocket, then realize I want to check something or change a track, I can't with out putting in my Pin. Small, but really annoying.

No Camera during a call: I am not sure why Samsung decides not to include this, but you can't take a picture if you are on a call, or if the phone is on Low battery. Some people may not need this, but I was on the phone with my car insurance once and really needed to take a picture of the damage to my car and didn't want to have to hang up on my agent.

These are the only things that really bother me that the Palm Pre could do. There are a few other things relative to other Android Phones, but I don't think they are really important if you are new to Android.

Hope this helps.

Naa

Also, if you used the wave launcher in webOS, you should check out Wave Launcher. It makes switching open tasks a lot easier (in my view) than holding the home button.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mobilemerit.wavelauncher&hl=en

 

[mrejimofor]

Had the EVO 3d for about 5-6 months and hated the battery life. My wife had the pre until its battery started dying after only a few hours.
I can say that with the Epic, I feel I can have some freedom to actually use my phone without having to worry about the battery as much because it has lasted all day while checking my emails, texting, FB, on 4G etc. Couldnt have done that with the 3D without being tethered to a power source at some point during the day...almost like being back with my BB Tour hahaha (battery life wise).