Am I Alone?

[Enverdaz]

I recently upgraded my phone to an entry level device. I was using a Pantech Pursuit P9020. I am among millions of others and am on a fixed income. I had been waiting for that Pantech to finally give up for over 5 years!
Enter my new Samsung Galaxy Express i437p. This isn't top shelf nor is it at all a bargain hunters special. AT&T retails it for ~$250 USD. But here's the rub, there's no one really discussing anything it, there's no forum to do so.
It's a very capable budget level device that can be manipulated to work as well as some pricier devices if the user is willing to make some very minor sacrifices in speed for price. It's no slouch with a 1.5Ghz dual core processor, 1gig ram, dedicated GPU, Super AMOLED Plus display (very clear for mid resolution) 5gig onboard storage and micro-SD external storage expandable to 32Gb. All this coupled with LTE, NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Kies.
I have been using it for over 8 months now and was pleased enough with it to cash purchase a second device for my Wife for Christmas. (Previously using same model P9020 I was, before dropping it one time too many rendering it useless and short term replacing with a horid "cheap" "I want to check out Android" ZTE 992 -bleh) She is now zipping through Facebook and such with ease and joy.
My budget doesn't justify my true desire for a GS4. Especially considering I'd be paying cash as I have no interest in post paid accounts and all the hidden tricks. $60/mo. each gets me the AT&T LTE coverage I prefer in my area.
So, where's our Forum? Don't forget about us little guys! Especially come Android Version Updates. The latest rounds of which have contained the fix for this device's only real setback, memory space. 4.3 or better would allow more use of the micro-SD card's capacity to be used thus solving the issue. Currently it's running 4.1.2 Jelly Bean.
...
O.K. back to reality. I just want some other user feedback and perhaps mutate this thing into a diamond. I already ditched TouchWiz for Action Launcher Pro amd added some Camera tools etc. But I think there's more potential in my hand than I know. I just want to learn.
-Enver

Posted via Android Central App on my Samsung Galaxy Express i437p on AT&T's 4G LTE Network

 

[wizzrah]

I recently upgraded my phone to an entry level device. I was using a Pantech Pursuit P9020. I am among millions of others and am on a fixed income. I had been waiting for that Pantech to finally give up for over 5 years!
Enter my new Samsung Galaxy Express i437p. This isn't top shelf nor is it at all a bargain hunters special. AT&T retails it for ~$250 USD. But here's the rub, there's no one really discussing anything it, there's no forum to do so.
It's a very capable budget level device that can be manipulated to work as well as some pricier devices if the user is willing to make some very minor sacrifices in speed for price. It's no slouch with a 1.5Ghz dual core processor, 1gig ram, dedicated GPU, Super AMOLED Plus display (very clear for mid resolution) 5gig onboard storage and micro-SD external storage expandable to 32Gb. All this coupled with LTE, NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Kies.
I have been using it for over 8 months now and was pleased enough with it to cash purchase a second device for my Wife for Christmas. (Previously using same model P9020 I was, before dropping it one time too many rendering it useless and short term replacing with a horid "cheap" "I want to check out Android" ZTE 992 -bleh) She is now zipping through Facebook and such with ease and joy.
My budget doesn't justify my true desire for a GS4. Especially considering I'd be paying cash as I have no interest in post paid accounts and all the hidden tricks. $60/mo. each gets me the AT&T LTE coverage I prefer in my area.
So, where's our Forum? Don't forget about us little guys! Especially come Android Version Updates. The latest rounds of which have contained the fix for this device's only real setback, memory space. 4.3 or better would allow more use of the micro-SD card's capacity to be used tjis solving the issue.
...
O.K. back to reality. I just want some other user feedback and perhaps mutate this thing into a diamond. I already ditched TouchWiz for Action Launcher Pro amd added some Camera tools etc. But I think there's more potential in my hand than I know. I just want to learn.
-Enver

Posted via Android Central App on my Samsung Galaxy Express i437p on AT&T's 4G LTE Network

It's not that AC doesn't believe that is isn't a capable device, it's just not as popular. You should send them a message to see if maybe they can make a section on it! As you may know, Samsung has so many phones on the "Galaxy" line that it's just overkill. Plus the phone has similar specs to other Galaxy devices. Now about the feedback, what would you like to improve on the device?

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Unfortunately, with the many many different models of Android phones out there (and even if you just consider Samsung alone!), it just isn't feasible to have a subforum for every single device. We're certainly glad that you've found a phone that works for you and your wife, and those specs certainly look good. One nice side effect of high end devices getting more and more advanced (and expensive) is that the lower end devices move up in quality as well. This trend has also been ushered along by the good people at Motorola and Google (with the Moto G, Moto X, and Nexus phones), who make devices that don't necessarily destroy the bank when bought outright.

I suggest continuing to post about your phone in this forum: General Help and How To - Android Forums at AndroidCentral.com. It gets the most traffic, and so you'll likely catch more attention there. Have fun!

 

[Enverdaz]

Thanks for the replies

Well, in a nutshell, I would like to be able to use my micro-SD more as the device's main storage in conjunction with the onboard storage. Since rumors seem to hint that there won't be version upgrades OTA any time soon for us little guys.

This thing is all new to me still. I am not a novice, just not a code junkie either to know what "rooting" is, the risks, and if once done there even exists a version available to reload it with ie: 4.3 / 4.4.2 (or whatever release is most stable yadda yadda). I have been doing a lot of reading lately and am aware that Android is Free, but, it's more complicated than that. If I want to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista or 7+ I just pop in a disc and follow the bouncing ball.. but how about Android? Why can't I choose the OS version that best suits the device which currently 'sounds' like KitKat given it's focus on older device types with lower memory allocation.
Did I miss the logic? Or did the logic get missed all around?

I just want to use this device to it's full potential. And as a newbie to Android, want to know more
I can follow, learn and understand instructions. But would like some input.
Thanks Again!
-Enver

Posted via Android Central App on my Samsung Galaxy Express i437p on AT&T's 4G LTE Network

 

[B. Diddy]

The external SD card is primarily useful for storing media files like music, movies, and photos. Some apps can use the external SD card for data storage, but you generally can't force other apps to use the external SD card, unless perhaps you root the device. Installing apps to the external SD card was mostly possible with older versions of Android (2.3 and earlier), but not for 4.0 and above. Even if you could install the app to the external SD card, it's usually only a portion of the app, since key portions need to remain in the main Internal Storage or App Storage partition. See this guide for more info: http://forums.androidcentral.com/am...roid-memory-how-deal-low-memory-warnings.html

Android OS updates have to go through various steps, and be vetted by a number of different entities, so it's not a simple process, and that's a big reason why older devices often stop getting updates. Read this recent AC article that refers to a nifty infographic that HTC put out: HTC details the Android OEM update process with a fancy infographic | Android Central

 

[xpgdeadone]

I couldn't agree more with the OP. I bought this phone and wanted to get all the info I could about it as far as rooting and custom roms. Come to find out though, the only forums that deal with the express at all online are not even for the P model anyways. Apparently the P at the end of the model # has different firmware and using the other works but ends up having many issues with the phones performance.