Is ICS really that good? - Samsung Epic 4G Touch

I don't know :/ Initially everything I read about it suggested that it used some form of hardware acceleration to make phones run much smoother. However, after seeing many speed tests between the Droid Razr and the Galaxy Nexus (both using TI OMAP4 chips, razr has GB and GN uses ICS) the Razr smokes the Nexus in every aspect. And I understand there are many other factors involved that could play into that, but in general it seems people's experiences with ICS point to it being much more bogged down then GB ever was. I don't know, anyone else have thoughts on this :/

Honestly I don't think it is that great. For me it is the eyecandy and a couple of cool new features that make ICS so interesting. But after running ICS for a while I went back to GB and was astonished by how good GB was. By no means is ICS bad, I just don't think that it is on GB level of performance.

It probably just depends on optimization and other stuffs. Processor doesn't determine everything, although it does help. I personally like the TW ICS and it's pretty smooth to me.

Ics gapps like youtube is one of the big big reasons why I stay and its just something different from gingerbread.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

EpicFlair said:
Honestly I don't think it is that great. For me it is the eyecandy and a couple of cool new features that make ICS so interesting. But after running ICS for a while I went back to GB and was astonished by how good GB was. By no means is ICS bad, I just don't think that it is on GB level of performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty much my experience as well. It seems they tried to make ICS very perty. And it is, it's got lots of nice transitions and neat features and a nice UI, but after going back to GB I realized how slow ICS actually is.
Perhaps that's why Google has already started Jelly bean, because they realized ICS isn't that great? :/

ICS on my phone is a minimum upgrade that works good for me but when my tab went from Honeycomb to ICS it made a much larger impact. I think ICS brings all the capable devices together and Jellybean will be the one that solidifies Android.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

We all love something new, and we all love eyecandy.
If GB is working fine for you right now, you won't gain much at all moving to ICS.

The only thing I like about ICS is that elastic scrolling of a zoomed in page works.
Samsung GB is a mess. Doubletap on any content and scroll in 1 direction, it's all over the place with no elastic snap on either X or Y axis.

pbassjunk said:
The only thing I like about ICS is that elastic scrolling of a zoomed in page works.
Samsung GB is a mess. Doubletap on any content and scroll in 1 direction, it's all over the place with no elastic snap on either X or Y axis.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So out of all the new features, elastic scrolling is most important to you?

batting1000 said:
So out of all the new features, elastic scrolling is most important to you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[fwiw, I really dig MIUI. It's my go-to.]
I haven't experienced much in ICS (leaks) that has really improved much over what we already had. Gallery is better, but Gallery ICS+ is in the market for 2.3.
*shrug*

MultiLockOn said:
Pretty much my experience as well. It seems they tried to make ICS very perty. And it is, it's got lots of nice transitions and neat features and a nice UI, but after going back to GB I realized how slow ICS actually is.
Perhaps that's why Google has already started Jelly bean, because they realized ICS isn't that great? :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google is on a yearly release schedule for major Android releases. Jelly Bean or whatever it'll be called was planned well before ICS was shown to the public.
And ICS on skinned devices isn't much of an upgrade, especially with the mess that is Touchwiz. This is due to the (correct) belief on Samsung's part that Android is more complicated and "ugly" than the average user wants/expects. Some of their feature enhancements are useful, but the visual is just awful. On its own, Touchwiz isn't worse than vanilla GB, but you can't use Touchwiz on its own. There are always elements of vanilla GB that show and that makes the entire thing an uncoordinated mess.
Android has reached a point where Google can work on refining the OS with small features. More importantly, ICS is the start of a unified and unique theme that can set Android visually apart from iOS and WP7 which look much better than any Android phone shipping with GB.
Of course, none of that matters since OEMs insist on skinning their phones. I had hoped Samsung would've followed HTC and toned down the skinning for the new version of Touchwiz, but that was a pipe dream considering the number of SGSII's they sold. My biggest problem with Touchwiz is that it doesn't mesh with the Holo theme at all which I hope app developers would use, allowing for a more unified Android look.
What I'm trying to say is: No, ICS is not that much of an upgrade from GB. But, ICS is that important to Android and its future.

pbassjunk said:
[fwiw, I really dig MIUI. It's my go-to.]
I haven't experienced much in ICS (leaks) that has really improved much over what we already had. Gallery is better, but Gallery ICS+ is in the market for 2.3.
*shrug*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually love ICS especially the last few leaks. Everything seems so fast and efficient to me
Oh and my friend finally solved 4g on Miui so be on the lookout for that sometime in the near future
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Xparent Blue Tapatalk 2

JohnCorleone said:
Oh and my friend finally solved 4g on Miui so be on the lookout for that sometime in the near future
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
now THATS interesting news!
the one thing that's really kept me from playing with miui.
and, in general, i could not disagree with many of the responses here more. (and agree with JC)
ics runs smooth, quick, and the gapps are a Major upgrade, worth it alone, imho.

kingdazy said:
now THATS interesting news!
the one thing that's really kept me from playing with miui.
and, in general, i could not disagree with many of the responses here more. (and agree with JC)
ics runs smooth, quick, and the gapps are a Major upgrade, worth it alone, imho.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah Miui with 4g will be huge! He solved it on NS4G and is building a ROM now. After that (or maybe already) other Miui.us guys like TCP should have access to his code or changes to the code
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Xparent Blue Tapatalk 2

I had some serious battery issues, but I didn't tweak much and didn't want to. I wanted to see the experience Android/Samsung intended us to have.
My favorite aspect of ICS: the ability to disable built in apps. I don't use media hub. I don't use social hub. I don't use Sprint bloatware. ETC. I love having the option of disabling crap I don't use but being able to restore it if it causes OS problems.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA

in its stock form hell yea

TrayLunch said:
I had some serious battery issues, but I didn't tweak much and didn't want to. I wanted to see the experience Android/Samsung intended us to have.
My favorite aspect of ICS: the ability to disable built in apps. I don't use media hub. I don't use social hub. I don't use Sprint bloatware. ETC. I love having the option of disabling crap I don't use but being able to restore it if it causes OS problems.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you do that?
______
DT

Well, I had it switched from the touchwiz launcher to the stock launcher. I don't think that makes a difference though. Manage apps> all> select an app> if it's a stock app instead of the uninstall option, it'll have disable. Beats the greyed out block that's on GB.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA

Yes ics is awesomee it's still being worked on and im surprised how nice it is. But like others say if u like GB then stay on it. if u want to try ics do it if u don't like it go back no big deall
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA

Majin101 said:
Yes ics is awesomee it's still being worked on and im surprised how nice it is. But like others say if u like GB then stay on it. if u want to try ics do it if u don't like it go back no big deall
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agree with you, and I did the latter because of the battery life and I'm waiting for them to polish out the bugs I found. The title of the thread is asking for peoples opinions and evaluations of ICS. You have to understand that some people are not going to share your point of view.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA

Related

Did the leak make anyone decide on getting the Nexus?

So playing around with the leak the past day and half has made me decide that I'll be getting the Nexus when it comes out, or waiting for another ICS device released with it out the box.
It was way to Gingerbread feeling for me. It didn't feel new to me. Even with the ICS launcher instead of the TW one. I know it isn't a final release, but this is basically what we are going to see.
I also know the devs do an awesome job for this phone, but I don't know if they are going to fix this up good enough for me not to just jump on what ICS was meant to be.
I understand why Samsung did it this way, but huge disappointment.
You do realize that someone, here in our very own forum, is working on putting aosp on our phone, right? Which means it will be _exactly_ what ics was meant to be.
tejasrichard said:
You do realize that someone, here in our very own forum, is working on putting aosp on our phone, right? Which means it will be _exactly_ what ics was meant to be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I realize that, but we still don't have an AOSP GB that works perfectly......
Like I said I love the devs....but idk I'll wait and see if they get it done.
Go get the Nexus, enjoy!
I might be a minority in thought, but I actually am not impressed with ASOP, for some reason, it just feels a little half baked. Back in the day, I flashed an ASOP rom on my original Epic and EVO, and let a normal user try it for a day. They looked so lost compared to their iPhone.
Not wanting to make this into a pissing match, but I see the appeal of overlays such as TouchWiz or HTC Sense. From a customer experience perspective, the overlay is what sells the device, not the version of Android. The users of this board, and similar forums, make up a small percentage of actual buyers.
gpgorbosjr said:
Even with the ICS launcher instead of the TW one. I know it isn't a final release, but this is basically what we are going to see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
does not compute. ICS launcher on our phone will be the same as the ICS launcher on the Nexus....
DevalB said:
I might be a minority in thought, but I actually am not impressed with ASOP, for some reason, it just feels a little half baked. Back in the day, I flashed an ASOP rom on my original Epic and EVO, and let a normal user try it for a day. They looked so lost compared to their iPhone.
Not wanting to make this into a pissing match, but I see the appeal of overlays such as TouchWiz or HTC Sense. From a customer experience perspective, the overlay is what sells the device, not the version of Android. The users of this board, and similar forums, make up a small percentage of actual buyers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is AOSP. And a normal user is an iPhone user? This statement is just full of not adding up, huh?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
Nothing wrong with it... Its ics power with the colorfull look and feel of gb... Its a phone patna not a lexus!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
Galaxy !?!?!
Pshhhh
iPhone is where it's at
cnstarz said:
does not compute. ICS launcher on our phone will be the same as the ICS launcher on the Nexus....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I'm not mistaken you cannot resize widgets on our phone like you can with the Nexus....
Also, I'm wondering if the widgets function differently on a normal ICS install....for example adding a contact to the home screen. On the preview it shows that what they text you comes up on the home screen, but in actual usage of it only their name comes up and never switches from that..
gpgorbosjr said:
If I'm not mistaken you cannot resize widgets on our phone like you can with the Nexus....
Also, I'm wondering if the widgets function differently on a normal ICS install....for example adding a contact to the home screen. On the preview it shows that what they text you comes up on the home screen, but in actual usage of it only their name comes up and never switches from that..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's because we only have a leaked beta version...
cnstarz said:
that's because we only have a leaked beta version...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not convinced, but we will see......
Are the new ICS widgets available using the TW Launcher? I am currently restoring EL29 and can't check. I thought they didn't when I was using it but am not sure.
I'm not totally convinced Samsung intends on including some of the features like resizing widgets, but I guess I'll have to wait and find out...
Samsung will try o deliver as much of a user-friendly experience as they can.
Remember that Google put a lot of restrictions on OEM skins with ICS. You aren't going to get the heavy skinning on ICS like you did with GB. They did this because they want ICS to look like ICS, not TouchWiz, MotoBlur, or Sense. That's why you have the option to revert to the ICS launcher. If you want AOSP experience, simply stick with Calkulin's leaked version and run ICS launcher until Cyanogen comes out with CM9.
But then again, I don't make six figures and have $600+ to blow on a Nexus, so.
dude
I've had the ics on my nexus and also on my vibrant but ONCE again the potential of this device overshadows any type of os for me and for most .. idk I just find myself actually using the browser ..phone ... apps..watching movies more than the little things a lot of the people talk about getting a nexus s for.... I say have fun I'm about the go not the show. Just like my cars
azyouthinkeyeiz said:
It is AOSP. And a normal user is an iPhone user? This statement is just full of not adding up, huh?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that's what happens when you think faster than you type.
What I was trying to say is that when you compare ICS as a build and UI experience, it is catching up, but there is a reason why overlays such as Sense and TouchWiz exist, as they really improve the experience for that common Android user. I've used the Nexus, and I still go back to the Epic Touch, just feels better in my opinion.
iSaint said:
Galaxy !?!?!
Pshhhh
iPhone is where it's at
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pffft yeah right! It's all about the galaxy nexus
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Tripsyk said:
Samsung will try o deliver as much of a user-friendly experience as they can.
Remember that Google put a lot of restrictions on OEM skins with ICS. You aren't going to get the heavy skinning on ICS like you did with GB. They did this because they want ICS to look like ICS, not TouchWiz, MotoBlur, or Sense. That's why you have the option to revert to the ICS launcher. If you want AOSP experience, simply stick with Calkulin's leaked version and run ICS launcher until Cyanogen comes out with CM9.
But then again, I don't make six figures and have $600+ to blow on a Nexus, so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neither do I, but I didn't use my upgrade on my E4GT.....I used a combination of my old phones and some video games in a Craigslist trade. So I still have an upgrade for when the Nexus comes out, but I was hoping to keep the E4GT and wait on the upgrade if ICS impressed me enough on it.
gpgorbosjr said:
If I'm not mistaken you cannot resize widgets on our phone like you can with the Nexus....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am running NOVA right now and I am able to resize widgets, there is an option in NOVA settings. i am not sure about AOSP launcher but you can do it with NOVA.
durhamite said:
I am running NOVA right now and I am able to resize widgets, there is an option in NOVA settings. i am not sure about AOSP launcher but you can do it with NOVA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll check it out when one of the devs get a smoother ICS rom up and running.
I actually went back to Blazer for now because the phone ran a little bit sluggish compared to GB and sometimes my notifications dont work....if I turned system sounds off it would stop my text notifications....and the vibration doesn't work unless the phone is on vibrate.......both things I understand are from it being a leak.
I applaud the dev's for putting up with so much whining. It's a beta build leak and the aosp is an alpha build. If dev dont release a beta build people whine saying it takes to long. When they give this forum whatever they have finished so far... more whining about bugs and stuff not working... -_- .

[Q] Why CM9?

CM9 seems to be making good progress and seems to be generating lots of excitement.
I'm trying to decide if this is for me. I've been reading some of the threads, but can't seem to find clear answer to some basic questions:
What are the advantage of CM9 and ICS?
Is about new "killer" features which are only available on ICS? If yes, what are they?
Or is it simply about having the latest/newest thing? (A sentiment I can identify with, but which I currently don't share)
Are there any advantages/disadvantages in terms of smoothness/speed, more/less memory, better/worse battery usage, stability/instability, or other general areas which aren't necessarily associated with any one feature?
(I realize CM9 is still in alpha mode; I've read the bug list and I think I can live with that for now if there are overall positive advantages).
I thank you in advance for responding (or for pointing me to another post/thread where these questions are clearly answered).
Its really about the newest GUI that makes it to die for. Its surprisingly smooth for an alpha does a little bit more battery consumption because it is a new OS version and all new OS are going to require more resources and RAM and other things in order run so the ovbious. Its really all up to your prefrence if you want the latest and greatest go for it. If you like your current setup and don't feel like the move is that important by all means stay. Its all opinion whether or not you make the "jump" is all up to you. I tried to unbiased as possible since I'm on it
Sent From My SPH-D700 Running Android 4.0
Chabsin said:
CM9 seems to be making good progress and seems to be generating lots of excitement.
I"m trying to decide if this is for me. I've been reading some of the threads, but can't seem to find clear answer to some basic questions:
What are the advantage of CM9 and ICS?
Is about new "killer" features which are only available on ICS? If yes, what are they?
Or is it simply about having the latest/newest thing? (A sentiment I can identify with, but which I currently don't share)
Are there any advantages/disadvantages in terms of smoothness/speed, more/less memory, better/worse battery usage, stability/instability, or other general areas which aren't necessarily associated with any one feature?
(I realize CM9 is still in alpha mod; I've read the bug list and I think I can live with that for now if there are overall positive advantages).
I thank you in advance for responding (or for pointing me to another post/thread where these questions are clearly answered).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the best anyone can tell you to sum it up.
Simply test Cm9 see if you like it check features do tests etc...
Try different kernels, cpu combos (schedulers, governors).
Yadada and so forth.
Hop you find whatcha ya looking for
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Nice well written question. Couple of quick observations on my part...battery is a little worse, stability is phenomenal, it uses a little more RAM, there are apps available exclusively for ICS and there will be more, it is very quick and snappy, and definitely for me about running the latest and also not available for the non-roots out there.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
I think the real question here is why not? What advantages do you have on stock that outweighs CM9? on a more serious note, I like to stick with the herd that unifies the updating experience into one rom instead of scattered roms. Hence, Cyanogenmod for me. Stock is still awesome, expecially toadlife and other stockish roms by others. Useful for dialer codes.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
I had the same question last Saturday, so I finally decided to made the jump and I'm liking it so far. It gives u a feeling of a new phone. I'm not regretting my decision but wish the battery was better. But I think u gonna like it
if I helped u in any way pls DONT hit the thanx button... I'm not a thanx-whore.
The only 2 reasons I know of to NOT jump to CM9 is the video tearing issue and the unavoidable fact that the battery lasts for less time.
If neither of these are a major concerns, CM9 should be your go to build.
Everything seems pretty much set to go, but CM9 is missing a few elements in respect to customization, that have yet to come upstream (hence the Alpha tag), themes is an example, but you can load them the old fashioned way if you want.
I would have to say don't worry about it using more RAM and battery. I ran the v6 supercharger and my RAM consumption is super low. Juice defender has also worked great for battery life. Waaay better than the phones stock capabilities.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Its worked great for me. I like to jump around roms and try new stuff a lot and I've stuck with cm9 for a while. Like it a lot...no crashes...no problems....only drawback might be battery life BUT I'm always around a charger so I'm not too worried about that
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
kennyglass123 said:
Nice well written question. Couple of quick observations on my part...battery is a little worse, stability is phenomenal, it uses a little more RAM, there are apps available exclusively for ICS and there will be more, it is very quick and snappy, and definitely for me about running the latest and also not available for the non-roots out there.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, I'm looking forward to seeing what new apps will be available with ICS.
There really are no standouts as to why cm9 is better to me, until I actually use it. Everything works better to me. Copy paste, options such as chrome browser w the sweet quick zoom option. Better t9 dialer as stock el30 only searched first or last name and cm9 searches both. There are many more little things that make it much improved to me. Folders are simple and easily organized. Very smooth w the right tweaks and overall my experience is better. I have a plethora of batteries now but battery life appears to be the same as gbread for me. I heavily use this phone for many purposes and haven't used gbread since October (had an ns4g) but for maybe a day or two. It works better for me.
I personally like CM9 due to the latest and greatest, however my biggest feature for CM9 is the bridging the gab between my laptop PC and my mobile devices. with ICS, I can natively sync chrome for example, which is a HUGE benefit for me when I have tons of bookmarks. I LOVE the UI changes in Google Apps, like GMail and Maps.
All in all, I have no problems with the build and say anyone that needs to bridge the gap between their devices should switch.
My two cents
Happy flashing!
if you want more settings control for things like app permissions then cm9 is not "there" yet (upstream issue NOT our amazing devs). Otherwise as others have said, it seems faster/more responsive. I've been using it since the first release. minimal bugs and annoyances but workable (for me at least) as a daily driver. I use zeam as my launcher so the visual diff from cm7 to cm9 did not seem all that much. It is nice to be able to take advantage of newer apps like chrome etc. I do miss the extra options/config available in cm7..
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Has development of CM7 slowed at all because of CM9?
danipoak said:
Has development of CM7 slowed at all because of CM9?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To a halt.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
Thanks to all who replied.
No one has yet enumerated clearly the "killer features". But I hear it's more responsive - though it uses more juice. I'm hearing that it's a new experience. I suppose I'll have to try it out myself and decide. So far I've already converted to mtd. Now I can try it without a large time investment.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
i think the major changes are internal at this point. by using cm9 you are extending the "life" of your phone another year or so.. and by 'life' i guess i mean ability to take advantage of the wide range of new ics things (apps/improvements etc) as they come out.. the good news is you can always wait and do it later when things mature..
E.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

Honeycomb vs ICS: not seeing a huge difference

OK so after what seemed an eternity I finally got my update.. Other than a few visual cues I am not seeing a major difference from HC to ICS.. Am I the missing the point? I I never had too many complaints with HC and I am liking ICS so far. Just wondering if there is anything else I should be looking for.
I did download Chrome and like it..Anything else?
Dont know really. I bought mine yesterday for $80 and started playing.with it. Like all my android devices i wanted to test and tinker with it. But im still trying to get the darn thing to root lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA
Not much visually but the guts of Android have substantial changes between HC an ICS. Apps that are written for ICS on phones can also run on tablets, thus you will notice more apps show up in the PlayStore you didn't see before in HC. As for Acer A100 specific, the supersensitive touchscreen bug is fixed in ICS. The ICS theme is also better looking than HC.
Try the Apex launcher, written specifically for ICS.
Camera ICS is also another good one.
My A100 used to be a dust collector since there wasn't much I could do. The stupid touchscreen issue really rendered the usability of the tablet useless. I'm using it much more now. I'm a tinkerer so unlocked bootloader, custom recovery, tuned ROM, all wonderful things a tinkerer would hope for.
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
You can eliminate task from the recent apps list and the notifications with a swipe now.... Would've better if we got the Acer ring. ....
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using XDA

ICS whats the point?

I just pulled the trigger on ics with Kies. I had not gotten the ota update. But with the fix figured I'd try it. I'm not impressed. Some silly minor interface tweaks. Stronger anti alias. Face detect. Wooo.
Chrome sucks. The rendering engine doesn't reflow text. It uses twice as much memory at idle. It's horrible with no pluses that I can see. And of course the battery drain. It's pretty much just a pig with lip gloss.
Am I missing something? At this rate I'm going back to gb. I wouldn't want ics ona galaxy s 4. Is this typical of Android upgrades?
Gingerbread has been my favorite os for android since having it on my og Tmobile g1, ICS just seems like a cluttered battery hog.
Hopefully jellybean fixes the mess that is ics and key lime pie blows away all previous versions with a complete ui overhaul, not impressed with ics ui.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
ICS/JB UI = Meh
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
well i guess i'll chime in. gb blows compared to ics/jb on every aspect. dont use stock roms, there are plenty of straight vanilla/CM builds of either version to fit anyones liking. GB is old, blocky, and slow compared to newer versions of android. Don't base your opinion of an updated OS off of what samsung gives you.
You're not going to see many ui changes when using a mfg skinned os. If you want to see the major changes try an aosp build, like pure aosp, cm, or aokp. And most of your issues are because you didn't do a clean install and more than likely have an app not updated to work on ics causing a wakelock which eats ram and battery. Try doing a full clean install of cm9 or aosp ics and then comeback and say there were no major changes over GB
We are legion, for we are many.
Sent from the DarkSide of the GalaXy with a MEK device
OK. I went back to el29 which of course required a wipe and backup. And as soon as I got back, I got the ota notification. I figured well I just wiped and have everything backed up sooooo. I'm back with ics but on a pretty fresh platform. Chrome seems better now. But I am thoroughly annoyed by the lack of reflow.
Oh and I didn't unroot so now I have no root and a useless su button. No harm there right? And I did goof around with some other launchers including straight ics. It is a tad less of a resource pig now. Is ics more sensitive to app shutdowns than gb?
To get the ICS look which I recommend go to settings,apps then hit all, go down to twlauncher and clear defaults hit the home key and select twlauncher I set it as default you can change the icons at the bottom of the home screen to whatever you want since you probably don't want the sprint id on the bottom. There is a lot of killer things in ICS it is much improved over GB in my opinion.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
2xHorn said:
OK. I went back to el29 which of course required a wipe and backup. And as soon as I got back, I got the ota notification. I figured well I just wiped and have everything backed up sooooo. I'm back with ics but on a pretty fresh platform. Chrome seems better now. But I am thoroughly annoyed by the lack of reflow.
Oh and I didn't unroot so now I have no root and a useless su button. No harm there right? And I did goof around with some other launchers including straight ics. It is a tad less of a resource pig now. Is ics more sensitive to app shutdowns than gb?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chrome has reflow, check the settings
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Dolphin browser beta has been working great for me on ics
Sent from my Malata SMBA1002 using xda app-developers app
Dolphin seems to be a battery drain for me although I like it pretty well. It doesnt reflow either on ics, so it's obviously employing the same rendering engine as stock/chrome. Where might I find the reflow setting? It works tolerably with autozoom, but I had gotten used to reflow where I could view any page in full at any zoom.
Its working reasonably well after the reset/install, but I'm overall not particularly impressed with the interface vs. gingerbread. I can see how some might think it more ios-like. But if I valued looks over function . . . .
And yes, I have played with the native launcher, ADW, and Launcher Pro, as well as Nova. For some reason, Pro and Nova crashed a bit, but ADW has been stable and is my default for now.
The upgrade to ICS from GB was great for me. I admit I had a few issues in the beginning, but most were shortly resolved by custom roms such as CM. I am now on a CM10(Jelly Bean) based rom and love it. Project Butter is amazing. I would take ICS or JB over GB any day, even with the annoying battery problems. I carry a spare with me anyways because of my crazy schedules. One can never be too careful.
Just received a replacement from samsung because I sent mine in for repair after bricking a while back. Long story short my repair was placed on hold for two weeks waiting on parts, they sent me a BNIB Epic 4G Touch for the wait.
It came pre-loaded with FF18 and I'll say, this thing is running smooth. I have no issues at all. GPS locks with 6 meter accuracy within 5 seconds, battery life is fine, chrome works no problem, etc.
Perhaps you need to do a clean install...
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
I started off only flashing leaked updates. I was scared to brick my phone with anything truly custom,but i just couldn't resist cM10. I tried it because I felt limited by touchWiz and now I realize hide truly right I was.
Do not judge Android updates based on a manufacturer skin. they are going to make sure they keep a consistent look and feel. JB offers a ridiculous amount of customization and google now is just too much fun.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app

The sad truth?

Is the sad truth that our phones will never be as smooth as it was while running gingerbread?
is it just me or will our phones ever live up to the stability of GB? I have used every ROM since I bought this phone..and GB is the "pinnacle" of software for our phone.
Now this is my first Android phone but is this the case with other phones? I.e. the software shipped with the phone is the best suited version.
Just trying to see if anyone feels the same way as I do...
Well the phone was built around that OS. Guess its like having a PC that came with XP and wanting to throw on a custom made Windows 8 OS on it.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
I'll have to politely disagree
I actually have have my phone feel more smooth on ICS and even more smoother on jelly bean.. I was on ginger bread stock for the longest time before I found out about xda and my experience has been way better since then... I even reverted back recently to try a GB Rom and felt like my experience was still better on ICS /JB
But I understand where u coming from. Every one has different experiences
-TeaM VeNuM Like A Boss
Cm9 is awesome.
sent from my BAD A$$ Epic touch
Sure, I agree that ICS and JB are way better than GB..much "sexier" to have. Matter fact, JB has sucked me back in to loving my phone. However, the argument is that no matter how hard the devs try, who do a damn good job, GB will be far and away the best OS for our phone. This includes stability, dependability and of course battery life, among other things :good:
Its not our phones fault sprint gave us a jacked ota :/
Gb wasn't always 'perfect' but ics, and eventually jb we'll most likely be just as pleasing as gb, If not more, with more features. Just give her time
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
thegoodrat said:
Is the sad truth that our phones will never be as smooth as it was while running gingerbread?
is it just me or will our phones ever live up to the stability of GB? I have used every ROM since I bought this phone..and GB is the "pinnacle" of software for our phone.
Now this is my first Android phone but is this the case with other phones? I.e. the software shipped with the phone is the best suited version.
Just trying to see if anyone feels the same way as I do...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its just you. I've had an amazing experience since Ff09 or whatever that leak was
Tappin' Typin'
thegoodrat said:
Is the sad truth that our phones will never be as smooth as it was while running gingerbread?
is it just me or will our phones ever live up to the stability of GB? I have used every ROM since I bought this phone..and GB is the "pinnacle" of software for our phone.
Now this is my first Android phone but is this the case with other phones? I.e. the software shipped with the phone is the best suited version.
Just trying to see if anyone feels the same way as I do...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just you. Here I am rocking CM9b1.
I totally feel what your saying..cuz other phones on sprint have smooth stock ics other than ours..we can go back and fourth but the fact of the matter is samsung and sprint released a half a** update for ics ..and god bless the developers trying to improve the ics experiance!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Could not agree more. I am back on gb after using ics for a while its insane the stability and smoothness of this phone on gb. Ics is smooth but gb just destroyed it on our phone!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
ICS is working fine fine with me.
مرسل من نوت 10.1
I also agree that Ics does not match gb YET. But they are making progress fi03 has shown us hope of that. It looks a little smoother and showing major improvement I'm both battery and signal. So Sammy is listening and working to smooth out ics. Keep in mind that there is even a newer build that we don't have yet fi06 who knows whats fixed in that. And I am willing to bet we will get some more drops this month of they continue with this pattern . So let's try and stay optimistic Sammy definitely has the financial backing now to afford good support for there devices. And since the s2 is still selling very well Sammy is continuing support and with Motorola making such a public announcement about there jb support you know sammy is gonna compete with that. So even of ics doesn't become perfect they will probably get it right in jb. Either way a little patience and optimisim will go a long way the future looks bright for our phone.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
cas8180 said:
I also agree that Ics does not match gb YET. But they are making progress fi03 has shown us hope of that. It looks a little smoother and showing major improvement I'm both battery and signal. So Sammy is listening and working to smooth out ics. Keep in mind that there is even a newer build that we don't have yet fi06 who knows whats fixed in that. And I am willing to bet we will get some more drops this month of they continue with this pattern . So let's try and stay optimistic Sammy definitely has the financial backing now to afford good support for there devices. And since the s2 is still selling very well Sammy is continuing support and with Motorola making such a public announcement about there jb support you know sammy is gonna compete with that. So even of ics doesn't become perfect they will probably get it right in jb. Either way a little patience and optimisim will go a long way the future looks bright for our phone.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn like this totally made me think this was an election gig and your looking for a vote haha ..RIGHT ON!!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
I honestly never had an issue with ICS even with the past leaks besides the Wimax bug which is now fixed. Maybe phones have different effects to software. Idk but that emmc bug never affected me and I used the stock recovery to wipe more than once on several occasions lol..
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
You guys must not be doing clean installs with full wipes and just doing the ota update. I haven't had any issues with ICS or JB, but I always do a thorough wipe before flashing anything and I only use aosp based roms, like AOKP or PA. I'm not a fan of TWiz so I only run it long enough to do PrL and Profile updates :shrug: if you're having issues with ICS or JB I recommend doing a thorough wipe and then flash a rom and start fresh, left over data and incompatible apps can cause all kinds of issues. I think the only reason the carriers don't wipe data on OTAs is cuz its easier to listen to ppl ***** about the update sucking than it is to listen to em ***** the update erased all their games and apps . They should just force data wipe on OTA and use the Google sync function to restore most data after a clean install, but still people would complain they lost their texts and other assorted crap that if its honestly that important should be getting saved to their external SD cards anyways, cuz if the phone breaks you're gonna lose your sh!t atleast if its on the external SD you can salvage it :thumbup:
We are legion, for we are many.
Sent from the DarkSide of the GalaXy with a MEK device
Yes I do every time. Try flashing back to el29 run it for a day or two then flash back to ics and tell me you don't see the difference. It's pretty night and day. I am willing most people that are satisfied with ics are either just happy that's it's a little but better than the ff18. **** we were given or aren't comparing it to el29 maybe cause they never ran it or it's been So long they forgot what it feels like. When you flash back to el29 coming from ics that actually feels like the upgrade. Especially on ph 4.1
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app
Cm9 is a smoother experience to me at least. Also I'm getting even better battery life than on calks 3.0
sent from my BAD A$$ Epic touch
krisI0N said:
Its not our phones fault sprint gave us a jacked ota :/
Gb wasn't always 'perfect' but ics, and eventually jb we'll most likely be just as pleasing as gb, If not more, with more features. Just give her time
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is my thought exactly. We had what, 3 or 4 official builds of GB before they got it right? And we are on number 2 for ICS.
And with that being said, I am not having any problems with ICS. The last two leaks are running great and I don't miss GB at all.
Everybody has there own experience and opinions, this is just mine.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
I agree with the OP. GB was a much more stable experience. I've flashed dozens of roms both clean and keeping user data and while ICS/JB are definitely improvements to the OS feature-wise, they tend to fail at stability including bugs, battery life, reception, and performance. I've only found one ICS rom that has actually managed a better battery life than calk's EL29 GB and that's re-calked 1.9. As far as reception goes, I get 0-1 bar on ANY ICS/JB rom/kernel/modem combo I've tried here at work and I always get 1-3 bars on GB combos such as EL26 or EL29. Performance is much better on GB for the simple reason that there's less stuff and the improvements in OS efficiency are not enough to offset the increased resource usage of all those cool new features. I also have yet to find an ICS/JB rom that handles scrolling as well as GB... with 4.x when you scroll it's either manually by holding your finger and dragging slowly to pan down or it's superobnoxiously fast and you go from top to bottom but have a hard time scrolling to anywhere just shy of the top or bottom without manually panning to those points. On GB the scrolling is slower so on a long page it may take a while to get to the bottom but at least you can scroll to any point fairly easily once you get used to the scrolling speed. ICS/JB roms have bugs too... mostly minor little annoyances that aren't worth asking a dev to fix. App compatibility is another huge hit for 4.x roms as is the major wifi bug that every 4.x rom I've tried has had which causes the wifi to show as connected after a wakeup but you can't even access google.
Yes, there are certainly some features about ICS/JB which I really enjoy and this is why I keep flashing more roms in the hopes that maybe eventually I'll stumble across the perfect rom/kernel/modem combo to make my phone uber. Re-Calked 1.9 with Agat's 5.4 and FH23 has so far been a decent step in that direction but it's still not perfect as the wifi problem still exists and scrolling is still ICS scrolling but one of these days I'll find the perfect non-GB rom.
Well it seems some people arent understanding my post. Sure, cm9 is great. Ive been running pa cm10 for the past week cause its been so fun. But the best GB ROMs have given me the best experience even it wasn't as "fun"
Maybe idk how to flash properly or my phone sucks lol

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