Daniel ‘Codeworkx’ Hillenbrand on why he’s not going to work on cm10 for the Galaxy SIII anymore: “Before the release of the Samsung Galaxy S II we were promised support and devices. We received the S2 and the whole community was praising Samsung. To me, that was nothing but a good PR stunt, because there has not been even the slightest bit of support ever since. Actually Samsung vehemently refuses to hand out any information or even a single line of code to us. Our contact at Samsung seems to be willing to support us, but gets blocked by his superiors.” His advice to prospective Android buyers is clear. “All manufacturers have an equally bad update policy, so if you like a Samsung device, just buy it. If you want to use AOSP or CyanogenMod on the other hand, you should stay away from Exynos devices, because they just don’t meet the requirements. Instead I recommend you to buy Nexus or Qualcomm/OMAP devices that haven’t been completely botched by the manufacturer.”
Sucks to hear that about the S3. Oh well…
After battling with the uncompleted CM10 for SGS3 for too long I gave up: it was slow, ate my battery and constant problems with artifacts on camera recording and so on kept me from liking it.
I had the SGS2 before I lost it (running CM9) and it was a breeze. I could put it in 500mhz and still would eat whatever phone for breakfast in terms of speed and battery life. CM on those two phones are world apart in terms of performance, thanks to Samsung.
I greatly appreciate the work the guys at CM have done so far and it is really a shame Samsung is doing this. If I would buy another device I would not go with Samsung. Perhaps Asus.
For now, back to Touchwiz.
TI pulled the plug on OMAP, and while NVIDIA still has game in the tablet segment, Qualcomm also plays well there while kinda pulling away in the phone segment. So we have Apple A-Series with PowerVR, Samsung Exynos with Mali, Qualcomm Snapdragon with Adreno, and NVIDIA Tegra with not-really-GeForce (mostly for tablets).
So AOSP should run up on stage and give Qualcomm a great big bear-hug like Microsoft did at CES last night? I imagine that keynote was quite painful for Intel to watch. Bit concerning for NVIDIA as well.
My GS3 has a Snapdragon. Had to bypass the stupid Verizon bootloader lock, but otherwise CM10 is working pretty darn well for me.
Oh, yeah. I totally forgot the US Galaxy S III’s have Qualcomm inside for LTE.
The field is further narrowed by the fact that to do anything useful with the devices we’re talking about, you need more code than just the one associated with SoC, to use:
-the touchscreen controller (not the most difficult one as it seems to be pretty standard, but still some work)
-the audio chip (again not too difficult, except when it comes to enabling FM radio)
-the camera chip (the worst: extremely custom hardware, very different even between two models from the same manufacturer)
-gyros and accelerometers (generally the last items taken care of, so you install the ROM and it works well, you enjoy it and then, you want to try an app which uses them… Pchhhhit.)
-NFC (secure elements ahoy – good thing it is not that useful yet! But it is not gonna stay this way forever)
…And for that you need the manufacturer to be… nice. Like “pretty please? With sugar on top”. So you have not only to ask the SoC manufacturer to play nice and dump code, but also the manufacturer. Apple is completely closed, RIM too, Samsung is shitting us, LG is no better, HTC has fits, the chinese (Huawei, ZTE & al.) do not give a frak, Nokia is dead; only Sony-Ericson seemed to genuinely care. And now they are assimilated into Sony, which is rather worrying.
I will get an Xperia Z, because it uses the same SoC than the Nexus 4 and I hope there are still people from Sony-Ericson with the will to share code, but… The picture is bleak.
Edited 2013-01-08 16:15 UTC
If you are not happy with a specific device don’t give money to the manufacturer and afterwards root it with another OS.
By not buying it you are giving a signal that the product as it is currently offered does not fit you as possible customer. Now if you give them money then the message is completely different.
I never root devices, rather use them as they were designed for. No use giving OEMs money for doing something else with the device.
In what concerns Android, if having a pure Android experiences is valuable to you, then buy only Nexus devices. This will send a clear message to OEMs that insist into changing the underlying OS.
I have been burned too often by OEM rubbish sofwtare and rubbish service after the point of purchase – updates, fixes, etc.
I will only buy a Nexus device now.
Now if only that had a Nexus with a pen/stylus …
Yeah, I hear that a lot. But when Nexus devices come out with no LTE, no SD card slot, limited storage, no removable battery, no video out option (Nexus 7), no stylus, shitty cameras, etc, people will say, “Well, if you don’t like it, there are plenty of other Android devices on the market …”
So basically, you’re stuck with either trying to jailbreak locked down devices, or be satisfied with whatever devices Google puts out every year. Point being, Android users just can’t win.
The one bright spot is that Visio is showing off a couple of tablets running stock Android at CES, so let’s hope they follow through, and other vendors follow their example.
Edited 2013-01-08 16:29 UTC
I don’t understand why people want a removable battery. By the time it wears out the phone will be a few generations old and obsoleted.
My wife and I have owned a number of mobile phones with removable batteries, so have people at work. The only phones for which I ever ordered a new battery were a few BlackBerries.
The battery of my iPhone 3G (no S) still works fine. hell, even my Nokia E90 still holds a charge all day.
Personally I’d give up a removable battery for any advantages that would bear.
Some people don’t have access to a charger during the day (or say you go camping, or something), and with heavy use, can run out of juice. In that case, it’s easy to pop out one battery and pop in another.
Or just pop in a larger capacity battery.
Indeed, some people. Likely most people won’t encounter such situations. For this rare or unlikely event you need to buy an extra battery (money), have/keep it charged (hassle) and take it along (hassle).
Why not buy a general purpose mobile charging device? It would work with any gadget, provide more power and you don’t have to swap batteries. If the phone breaks you wouldn’t be left with a battery that doesn’t fit the new model phone.
Right, because it’s convenient to have some f–king mobile charging unit tethered to a phone for an hour in the middle of the day, as opposed to the 30 seconds it takes to pop in a new battery.
Look, I’m not saying EVERYBODY needs a removable battery, just as not EVERYBODY needs an SD card slot. Same with LTE, etc. Point is, the Google Nexus devices leave a lot to be desired when you add up all the things they’re lacking. Personally, I don’t need a removable battery or SD card slot on my phone, but I’m kind of annoyed that the Nexus 4 has no LTE (HSPA is slower than shit in my area) and no HDMI out on the Nexus 7.
Edited 2013-01-09 02:15 UTC
It takes over 30 seconds, shutting down and booting the phone which also wastes power. Anything you would be doing will get interrupted. It’s not that much hassle to use a phone attached by wire to a charger, this phone I’m using to type this is too.
I just saw a Powermonkey pop up in my RSS feed that gives an iPhone two full charges and comes with plugs to power other brands too. You can check its charge, unlike an extra phone battery which can provide an unpleasant surprise if it turns out to be almost empty.
You apparently don’t need an extra battery, yet you mentioned it just like (I suspect) most people mention it without actually needing it.
I’m not trying to be unfriendly BTW.
I mentioned several things, not just the stuff I *personally* desired.
And I’m not going to have the removable battery vs mobile charging device debate with you. You can argue that point with somebody who says they need one. All I know is if I had to work a lot of trade shows like CES, or had a job where I was walking around a lot, I would not want to be running around with one of these mobile chargers dangling off my phone vs just popping in a new battery. But again, since I’m not in that situation, I’m not worried about it.
But I WILL argue the LTE thing
A max of 3.5mbps vs the 15-20 I was getting on Verizon kind of blows whale cock, especially when tethered to a tablet or laptop. (I switched because where I work was a virtual dead zone for Verizon coverage.)
If everybody is mentioning the battery thing, but nobody actually needs it, I think everybody should stop mentioning the battery thing. :-p
Why is 3.5 Mb/s not enough? I remember our company going from 512 kb/s to 1 Mb/s and later to 2 Mb/s. That was living the future back then. I do agree that is sucks if you can’t get the maximum your device is capable of.
I don’t care much for “fast” or “faster”, I’d rather want to have “fast” at least available EVERYWHERE. I still come across holes in 3G coverage while people start talking about 4G/LTE. For me 3G is fast enough, I just can’t get it everywhere. If those holes remain with LTE I will just have not LTE everywhere, which is really the same as not having 3G.
Also I would advice against blowing wales!!!
I need the (extended) battery, and a SD slot. If those where included, I would have bought a Nexus 4 right away. Without them, it sucks.
If you say that it sucks I get this mental picture of you staring at your Nexus with a very sad face which makes me wonder why that would suck so much.
Just wondering, why wouldn’t an external battery charger be a solution? The one I mentioned earlier holds two full charges. Instead of swapping you just plug it in, give it a charge and unplug it instantly when ever you want.
You can also charge it when you want. With a swappable battery you tend to wait until the first one runs empty. With a charger you can charge when you want so you could do this at appropriate moments. The charger can be charged itself without it needing the phone, unlike an extra battery.
I can’t think of a job that would involve usage of the phone so much that it would run out before the end of the day. Yes, if you call a lot, but if you do that why not use a dumb phone with a battery that lasts days? I can’t imagine anyone working full-time on a phone.
I see those external battery chargers as a bit inelegant solution. They add up inefficiencies of batteries, when the stored power is transferred in a “chain” like that…
Well, it’s not elegant, nor is an extra battery. The charger has many advantages. The battery only one: instant full charge (after shutdown, swap, boot).
I’ve been down voted, but nobody gave a good (or any) reason why an extra battery is needed and/or why an external charger is a better/worse solution.
Nor do I know who actually needs the extra power and why. Most phones can get you through a working day on almost non-stop use.
My Nokia 1101 from 2005 (I think) still lasts 4 days or more on a single charge. My Nokia E90 is older and also easily lasts a full day and then some. Both have their original battery.
I have no extra battery or an external charger, never needed one.
If I did I’d go for the charger, two full charges and you can charge different gadgets with it. If you have an extra battery and buy a new phone the battery will be most likely not suited for it.
I meant the more fundamental elegance of wasting less energy (since the efficiency of batteries is limited, daisy-chaining them like that results in greater energy losses along the way)
And you forget about one other major advantage of replaceable batteries: when one dies, the remedy is easier, faster, less expensive.
This did happen to me two times so far, with Nokia 3510i and 6020.
Because i rather have a big battery, like the extended ones i can use for my S2, than have another gadget, even a charger with me with the chance to loose it.
I do not know if you are dumb or playing dumb here. Carrying a second dumb phone cause I do much calling? Ridiculous.
I’m not dumb and I’m not rude. In fact I was very polite, reasonable and motivated my thoughts and questions clearly so I fail to see what caused you to start insulting me.
So I’m a bit disappointed that another attempt for a serious exchange of thoughts and viewpoints is torpedoed, but I guess that’s the live of a forum dweller.
Still, I keep believing in a better and happier world without people I do not know insulting my intelligence just because I have a wondering mind that extends beyond my own little world and shows interest in the motivations and thoughts of others. I may or may not agree with people’s way of doing things, but at least I want to understand why they do it. It’s my believe that this is a strong basis of any civilized civilization, because it fights dogma, misunderstanding and racism and breeds respect and knowledge.
Today I have learned if someone asks why some people want a phone with a removable battery I’ll just reply that I’m not sure, but it’s better not to ask or they’ll get aggressive and may assault you with their lashing tongue if you’re lucky or a poisonous dagger and trained ninja spiders if you are not.
“If you say that it sucks I get this mental picture of you staring at your Nexus with a very sad face which makes me wonder why that would suck so much.”
Why would you have to infer that? Why would you also keep telling to all the people that asked for a replaceable battery that they do not need it? My S2 lasts from 8am till 6pm. I need it at least till 10pm.
Depends, sometimes a device can be made with a low quality battery that conveniently dies outside out of warranty, and you either like the device and don’t want to upgrade it, and/or you can’t afford it to replace it.
I’ve been in that situation at least once before, and if my current phone (HTC Desire Z) were to die, I would be in that situation once more, as I don’t feel that any new phone currently available would make me want to spend a few hundred [insert local currency units] when I can get a new battery for $10-20 off eBay from China for a phone that I am very fond of.
That’s a very valid point.
But you’d need to know in advance if you’re going to like the phone so much and apart from the battery there are more weak points that can break like hardware buttons, the screen, the casing, components on the inside, USB/charging connector, the SD card slot.
I guess it’s a personal evaluation of the risks vs benefits/disadvantages mixed with feelings and experience.
Most likely by the time the phone is out of warranty and stuff breaks, which can take a long time if handled with care, better and improved models are around that valid an upgrade to them.
There are still many iPhone 3GS’s around that are years old and still work. If they break down the iPhone 5 is a huge upgrade.
Perhaps I would have if Google hadn’t gone full retard and left out SD storage. A monumentally idiotic decision.
As it stands I would rather go with some dirt cheap local or Chinese phone that’s mostly stock Android and at least has a damn SD slot.
I would buy Nexus stuff IF I COULD.
Not available in The Netherlands, like Surface.
Yeah, lack of availability is also a strike against it. Not that I would buy it anyway unless I surprisingly came into possession of wast amounts of cash that I just had to spend.
Just cross the border, Media Market and Saturn have them in Germany.
I know you have a few friends here in the States, would you be against one of them buying for you and mailing it? Or would there be import/export issues related to not being able to purchase it locally in the first place?
If you can read Dutch:
http://www.androidworld.nl/134414/uitleg-nexus-4-of-10-toch-aanscha…
I would rather buy a great phone with good developer support than any phone made of glass. Also, I want a good camera. A few talented developers can usually come up with a good ROM, whereas Google can’t quite come up with the hardware I want.
okay I already have a sgs2, but I also heard that they are moving away from android to focus on tizen.