I feel like the only one who likes the Fire Phone as-is

I feel like the only one who likes the Fire Phone as-is - Amazon Fire Phone

Ok, so not 100% as-is. I sideloaded Google Play for a couple apps, namely Gmail and Line. But nearly everything else I've installed has come from the Amazon store. Unlike others, I don't feel like the phone is trying to sell me stuff, but when I do want to buy something, the process is super-simple. I actually love Firefly, and I love that it's one button away, even on my locked phone. I regularly find a new product in a store and wonder about the Amazon price. Now, it's incredibly easy to check.
Granted, I got one of the 3.6.8 firesale phones, and I think that update addressed many of the early reviewers' concerns, but it really seems like a great phone for, in essence, $100 unlocked, no contract.

I actually agree. Sideloaded play store... started with buzz launcher until I actually decided I like the Fire Launcher better. This thing performance wise in antutu is seriously a tiny tic under the S5... for $100? I'm very happy.
Sent from my SD4930UR using XDA Free mobile app

I'm really enjoying the phone without having it rooted and modded, which is a shock to me. Given that this replaces an HTC G2 (I know, ancient) I'm loving the capabilities as far as streaming audio and video - yes, video is much better on a tablet or my 45" tv, but it shows quite well. Having as much ram as it does available for running processes is pretty amazing for me. My only complaint is having to scroll through apps, books and audiobooks to find anything I haven't pinned to the front. I'll have to look into creating collections to make use easier. All in all, I thoroughly enjoy the phone.
ETA - the camera takes great pictures for a non photographer such as myself.

+1
I made the switch from a Galaxy Note II and have been an Android user since I got my first Google G1. As first I found it a little odd, but I really enjoy FireOS now (having added Google Play store for a few oddball apps). I'm actually more productive and can multitask much faster on the Fire Phone than any other Android that I've used. They have a few bugs to work out and some needed features, but not a bad start!

Same here, loving it, after Sideloaded Gapps and google now launcher (i rather have no wallpaper than use buzz launcher) overall its an amazing device for the price!

I agree. I purchased this phone for $200.00 with the one year of prime that I would have bought anyways. I'm coming from an old LG p930 that was getting slow even with Cyanogenmod installed. The battery life was awful.
This one, with update 3.6.8, is super fast, great battery life, and does a lot more than I expected. A few apps weren't there, so I side loaded them and installed the playstore. I, like most people, hate change - so was after getting an android launcher installed. I thinks this might have been the fact that i felt forced to use the Fire Launcher. I now came back to the Fire launcher, and I love it now that I have a choice. I disabled auto updates in google play as it was replacing some amazon apps that used the Fire widgets.
I really hope more apps start building for the Fire Phone as the Fire widgets are super cool, such as reading emails from the home screen, text messages, weather, etc. My only complaint right now is the fact that you cant' easily install an alternate keyboard. When I open the browser it adds the .com and makes the space bar smaller. This bugs me as I'm always either slamming it or the period instead of space when messaging or browsing. Amazon told me there has been a lot of feedback, and they design this phone to be similar to the Kindle. They assume an update will be pushed out in January that will address this, and other issues, as the Kindle allows you to change the keyboard.
Other than that, I wish I could sort my apps in the grid. Outside of those simple things, now that I can side load a few apps I used on a day to day basis, I love this thing! (I do miss Cyanogenmod from time to time though.

Mine is stock except for loading the Play Store and Play apps like Play Music, Play News Stand etc. I also use the Google Now Launcher as I like using the hands free "Okay Google" functionality to send emails and texts without touching the device. Great while driving.

Thanks for all the replies! I stand corrected!

llllI said:
Thanks for all the replies! I stand corrected!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In fairness, "as is", isn't a fair statement. Like others, I have sideloaded google apps and use the google now launcher. I find the stock launcher to be counter-intuitive (scrolling down in apps instead of sideways, and not having the apps in alphabetical order in the app drawer).
I wish I could root it and run CM11. I would rather have the same hardware without the dynamic perspective (and the extra cameras) for the same price. It's a neat "show off" feature, but it serves no actual purpose to me. I'd rather have a bigger screen in place of the 4 extra cameras.
The UI reminds me a lot of the WebOS from the HP Touchpad I had. I liked WebOS better than Android, but the app support for it was crippling. The same can be said of the Fi re Phone.
Of course, had they left it with vanilla Android, unlocked bootloader and root access, we couldn't have bought the phone for $200. The launch failure is what allowed us to get such a "deal" on the phone. If they'd given us all the features without loading all the stuff that made it Amazon-centric and breaking a lot of the apps, it wouldn't have been such a flop and they'd have sold out at a higher price. So, overall, the ONLY reason we got the phones so cheap is because of the stuff Amazon did to it.
I had a Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3, and I miss the huge screen, but a functional phone with GPS and wif i that don't regularly die is what I wanted and what I received.
I really believe that a lot of the haters out there are simply looking for reasons to hate a device they've not used. They wanted to not like it and they succeeded. I wanted a cheap phone with great specs and I got just that.

Related

My thoughts on switching from iOS/3GS to Android/HOX.

Hey xda,
So my last phone was a iPhone 3GS (16GB) that I used from October 2009 - April 2012. The phone did darn well and I've never had a phone that I've used that long, but again I never had a phone that expensive either before the 3GS. So iOS got damn boring, the phone got sluggish and there was something wrong with the sim card tray and the wifi hence I decided to pick up an Android phone which happens to be the HOX.
I've created this thread just to share my opinion on how its going on for me so far, how different it is using Android and the HOX. Keep in mind I am comparing a roughly 3 year old phone with the latest iOS to the HOX.
Honestly there isn't much I miss from iOS, maybe the ability to add more than 10 alarms(out of the box not talking about other apps), but thats all I can think of really. Maybe installous for you know what..
Android is just better than iOS in loads of ways, I'll list a few that strike me now and a few things I miss:
1)Setting a Custom Ringtone
This is a total pain in the ass in iOS. I would rather jailbreak my phone and get ringtones from cydia than make the mp3 I have a ringtone and connect a cable to phone and convert that cut mp3 to a ringtone file. Nonsense.
On the HOX I was able to trim a mp3 I had and make it a ringtone right off the phone, so convenient that is.
2)iTunes
I hate iTunes. I hate making my PC connect to my phone via iTunes and the whole sync bs that I've to go through. I like being able to copy paste songs, images and whatever I have than do all the crap required for an iPhone. I would use iTunes as a music player for my PC but thats about it, I hated dealing with it for my iPhone.
I know lots of people who "can't live" without iTunes, but I aint one of them. The best feature I like about iTunes is probably you installing a iTunes remote app to your iPhone and controlling your PC music off your phone via wifi, thats the best thing maybe.
Android is weird in a way though, I don't know if its now or it has always been this way but getting apps to your phone only via wifi? What if you don't have wifi? Play Store doesn't give me an option to download the app to my computer. iTunes and App store is better that way maybe.
3)Contacts
iCloud or whatever its called came to the iOS much much later than Android had their Google Contacts. Thats just too convenient. Besides who doesn't have a gmail account these days? And all you have to do to get your settings and contacts back is add your google account. Thats just too convenient. Android is a pure winner that way imo.
One thing I hate though is the really crap quality photos that get synced to Google Contacts and sometimes how Contacts isn't smart enough to link contacts properly.
Eg:I have [email protected] in my Gmail and Abc from my contacts. It will show up as [email protected] instead of Abc
4)Play Store
I mentioned not liking the fact I can't get an app on my pc and then transfer it to my phone, but one thing that I like about the play store is being able to start/queue app downloads on my phone without even touching it.
5)Lockscreen
Lockscreen for Android is just more productive. iOS added that camera shortcut recently. I think its sense, but its damn cool to be able to access any four apps I want directly from the lockscreen.
6)Alarms
I need loads of alarms to wake up, and iOS allowed me to put a lot of them. I used to have 30-40 a day. Sense/Android does not allow more than 10 out of the box.
7)Widgets
Its nice to have widgets rather than a whole bunch of apps to scroll through.
8)Music
I could access iPod or music in iOS just by double tapping the home-screen button twice. There's no such thing possible on the HOX.
9)Airplane Mode
Switching to Airplane mode was faster on iOS than Android. But thats something I can live with xD.
10)Hotspot
Creating a hotspot was easy for iPhone 4 or 4S but wasn't possible on the 3GS unless you got an app from cydia called myWI. Thats just ridiculous imo. Setting a iOS restraint on a older device.
11)Keyboard
Even though the screen of the HOX is huge compared to the 3GS, the iOS keyboard has a bigger spacebar to tap on. With the stock keyboard on the HOX I kept missing space and hitting '.'.
But then again Android you can choose amongst so many keyboards without any hassle. I used swiftkey and now I'm using swype, both are awesome imo.
12)Customization
There’s lots of customization possible on Android, with or without rooting.
Things I miss about the 3GS:
1)Silent Button
This was just awesome imo, every "phone" should have this.
2)Battery
It did give me much more battery life than the HOX smaller screen or not.
3)Top-notch Hardware?
I used, fiddled and played with the Silent button on the iPhone a lot for around 800 days and it was still perfect. The lock button was good too.
The home button wasn't responsive after a year or so but still very usable towards the end. The sim card tray was cheap and messed up towards the end.
But I dropped it a LOT of times and even in small puddles of water I remember and it survived all that.
The HOX on the other hand, has this weird buzz/noise after a haptic feedback response. There's a rattling sound if I shake the phone. One corner near the capacitative panel was creaking in the beginning, seems fixed or maybe I don't notice it anymore. I dropped the HOX once and there's this tiny crack in the corner. I really hope it lasts me at least 2 years.
4)Heating or rather Cooling
I played a lot of games on my iPhone, it did get a little heated after gaming for 30 minutes straight or so but thats it.
HOX gets so heated after using a browser on 2G for 20 minutes? Also gets heated while gaming. Gets heated so much that it doesn't charge, thats just a complete annoyance to me.
Besides I have to choose between charging my phone and using my phone, thats damn stupid. I've read that the 2.05 leak fixes this, I'm on ARHD 7.1.0 which is based on the leak and I've still faced the heating problems.
I know its packing a quad-core in such a slim device there isn't much space for cooling but then again if heating problems like those are to be faced then this chip Tegra3 doesn't belong in a phone.
5)Speaker
The speaker on the 3GS was placed at the bottom edge whereas the One X has it’s speaker placed at the back which is quite easy to block. The speaker placement and quality of the 3GS was undoubtedly better.
6)Charging Speed
3GS charged faster than the HOX. I’ve read the 2.05 base it charges faster, have yet to see that.
7)Software Support from Manufacturer
3GS is probably the only iPhone that will get 3 updates it came with 3 and got updates to 4 and 5 and is getting a update to 6 too. I doubt I’ll see that much from HTC.
What I like about the HOX:
It would have been easy to figure from my above statements that I like Android better than iOS, now its time to list a few things that I like about the HOX.
1)Camera
I love the Camera on this thing, I’m not a pro photographer or anything but the camera on this is really awesome. And it has a flash, my 3GS didn’t have a flash but my phones before the 3GS did so that was pretty odd.
2)The Screen
The Screen is just gorgeous on this. Its a pleasure to watch videos or look at pictures or use the internet. Most impressive.
3)Body
I like the matte body of the HOX and how solid it feels. The only gripe regarding the body would be the protruding camera lens that is easy to scratch. I haven’t put on a screen protector yet as I’ve read most of them don’t cover the screen completely because of the curved edges.
4)micro-USB port
This is a really really handy thing because not everyone I hang out with will have a iPhone charger, but most of the phones have a micro-USB port so theres a good change of finding that at a friend or relative’s place.
5)Quad-Core Fast
I love the speed of the HOX, I doubt I will ever feel it becoming sluggish. I plan to underclock/undervolt it to get more battery life once I figure out how.
6)32GB
26GB but yea, its a huge plus to have that much data storage.
7)Dev and Community Support
It feels really really good to have so much support from this awesome xda community and developers. One of the really good parts of getting this phone is the awesome support and multitude of custom roms, tweaks and mods available.
8)THD Games
I’m not a fan of games on touch screen phones anymore unless its an arcade game, but THD powered games are a plus no doubt, just doesn’t matter to me.
Things I wish are fixed with the HOX would be heating problems and better battery life. I’m going to try undervolting to get more battery life once I figure out how. But thats it. I’ve been taking good care of the phone, have ordered a Rock TPU case for it.
Thats it guys. Thank you XDA for all the support and more that will come.

That was a nice objective comparison, thanks.
With regards to updates, Apple have produced 5 phones in 5 years, it's easier for them to produce updates for longer. I think HTC are going to be producing fewer phones now, maybe that will help.
You'll find the community here will create updates for a while, I think the One X is going to have a large, active community for quite some time.
Personally I don't have the overheating problems that some do, been using the phone for an hour and it's barely warmer than the back of my hand.

Hi
Just a couple of things I picked up on:
You can add a widget (there a several of them supplied by HTC which are just buttons essentially) which will allow to switch flight mode with one button press. There is also a profile button which will lot you switch to silent or vibrate mode easily as well.
Regards
Phil

You're right, it is easier for Apple to get out updates more than HTC or others but it is something I'll miss i.e Official Support
But then we have awesome devs here so all is good

PhilipL said:
Hi
Just a couple of things I picked up on:
You can add a widget (there a several of them supplied by HTC which are just buttons essentially) which will allow to switch flight mode with one button press. There is also a profile button which will lot you switch to silent or vibrate mode easily as well.
Regards
Phil
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Phil,
I know about those widgets, I'm using them. Still switching to Airplane mode is slower i.e the time it takes for all connections to go off is slower vs airplane mode on iOS (or atleast what iOS shows)
And regarding the widget for silent mode, I'm using that too . Just nothing beats a hardware button to put your phone on silent mode.

death__machine said:
Hey Phil,
I know about those widgets, I'm using them. Still switching to Airplane mode is slower i.e the time it takes for all connections to go off is slower vs airplane mode on iOS (or atleast what iOS shows)
And regarding the widget for silent mode, I'm using that too . Just nothing beats a hardware button to put your phone on silent mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We can using the volume keys I know it's not the same but technically near enough, it is good though I've got the same button on the iPad and although useless for that device pretty cool you can switch quickly.
But plenty of widgets available to achieve the desired result.
Good write up on both OS's. Both have their pros and cons and it's good to see no fanboy bashing of either device.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

thank you for the senseful and nag free comments

Thanks for that honest and fair report.
Just picking up on your comment regarding Google compressing image backups.
I recommend getting dropbox that will automatically backup your photos without any compression or alteration whatsoever.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

You can customise till you drop on Android devices. For example with a custom rom like viperX, you can customise the buttons for example long press home and you can assign an action or even launch an app, or just use apex launcher or nova launcher no root needed for these and you can apply gestures, so swiping up can open the music app. I find these gestures very useful for my commonly used actions, I've got swipe down to show me battery, swipe up to open my music, etc and you can even put gestures on the dock icons.
That will give you back some functionality you had with the double tap home button on iOS.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

I think if a person is kind of more than an casual user - want to study how to root, install custom staff..., would love android more. If he just picks a phone from store, then use it, better to take iphone

Thank guys. I was going for a unbiased opinion.
@nikzdhd
Yea the silent button works as a orientation lock for the iPad so its damn handy.
I'll try to get some gestures running soon, there was a similar thing on iOS after JBing it, called Activator. My Android Journey has just begun haha xD
@hamdir
Anything about the One X has to be 'sense'ful imo
I'm not the type to bash on this device without any reason. I love the One X. Despite the haptic feedback noise and stuck pixel I'm not that keen on getting it exchanged.
@stuart001
Dropbox will backup my pics with the same quality, that I've seen but I was talking about how the Photos I snapped with my phone and assigned to a contact get converted or compressed when synced with Google Contacts.
@1phuong
You're right about picking an iPhone if you're not going to mess around with it and want out of the box functionality. Thats why I even recommend iPhone over Android phones to people who aren't that keen on f***ing around with custom roms and kernels to get more out of their device .i.e if they're not geeks
However there are still loads of people who are geeks but go for iPhones either because of their fanboyism or their ignorance to how cool Android is.
Beyond a point there isn't much you can do in iOS but Android is just awesome. There's loads more of messing around I have yet to do. Undervolting is one of them xD.

death__machine said:
Thank guys. I was going for a unbiased opinion.
@nikzdhd
Yea the silent button works as a orientation lock for the iPad so its damn handy.
I'll try to get some gestures running soon, there was a similar thing on iOS after JBing it, called Activator. My Android Journey has just begun haha xD
@hamdir
Anything about the One X has to be 'sense'ful imo
I'm not the type to bash on this device without any reason. I love the One X. Despite the haptic feedback noise and stuck pixel I'm not that keen on getting it exchanged.
@stuart001
Dropbox will backup my pics with the same quality, that I've seen but I was talking about how the Photos I snapped with my phone and assigned to a contact get converted or compressed when synced with Google Contacts.
@1phuong
You're right about picking an iPhone if you're not going to mess around with it and want out of the box functionality. Thats why I even recommend iPhone over Android phones to people who aren't that keen on f***ing around with custom roms and kernels to get more out of their device .i.e if they're not geeks
However there are still loads of people who are geeks but go for iPhones either because of their fanboyism or their ignorance to how cool Android is.
Beyond a point there isn't much you can do in iOS but Android is just awesome. There's loads more of messing around I have yet to do. Undervolting is one of them xD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
really awesome given that you dont even use this device for its gaming power even!
i always have trouble with iOS people and that is they fail to see the bright side and just nag about the lack or imperfections of the things they loved the most on iOS
and i tell them if you want it exactly like iOS why did u even switch..

There is a reason behind not being able to download an app to your pc and then sync it to your phone. The compatibility filtering is done by the play store, so if you have one phone with hw keyboard and one without hw keyboard you'll be able to install an app which requires hw keyboard (or specific screen size, or whatever) on both phones regardless of their compatibility. If you have filtering on the pc, then you'll have to have an Android iTunes equivalent and noone wants that, right ?
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

hamdir said:
really awesome given that you dont even use this device for its gaming power even!
i always have trouble with iOS people and that is they fail to see the bright side and just nag about the lack or imperfections of the things they loved the most on iOS
and i tell them if you want it exactly like iOS why did u even switch..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well the main problem with most 'iOS people' lol xD is that they're the type to believe that Apple cannot make a mistake whatsoever and "It is the best". Wrong that attitude is. Its not only iPhones, its these Apple Fanboys in general. There are these rich pricks who who'll go get a 15" MacBook Pro to do what? Surf the web, make word docs and ppts max.
On the other hand if a person into video/graphics editing comes and asks me if an MBP is good, I give them a go ahead because of the kickass softwares that OSX has for them such as FCP etc.
Coming back to iDevices, 4S was horrible upgrade. Old design with a new camera, processor and a beta voice assistant, no thanks.
They're running out of innovations imo. They shoved a retina display for their new iPad and even the MacBooks. Wtf really? I had no problem whatsoever with the iPad 2 display(used a friends iPad 2 quite a bit). It was gorgeous imo, they didn't need to make it retina. Same goes for the MBP, didn't have a problem with that display either. Maybe its the lack of Steve Jobs but Apple has failed to impress me lately. iOS6 doesn't seem that great to me.
HTC really upped them by coming out with this beautiful design that is the One x . They should have put prettier packaging though xP

tkolev said:
There is a reason behind not being able to download an app to your pc and then sync it to your phone. The compatibility filtering is done by the play store, so if you have one phone with hw keyboard and one without hw keyboard you'll be able to install an app which requires hw keyboard (or specific screen size, or whatever) on both phones regardless of their compatibility. If you have filtering on the pc, then you'll have to have an Android iTunes equivalent and noone wants that, right ?
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That makes a lot of sense. Thank you. But they still should give an option to custom filter out a .apk from the online play store maybe?
I'll tell you why I'm stressing on this. I wanted to download this game which was around 500mb in size and I didn't have wifi then, all I had was a 2G plan on my phone and access to internet via ethernet. Downloading off 2G would have taken ages and 3G consumption would have set me back by quite some money. It made sense to get the .apk from the comp and then transfer it but I couldn't.

You could have always used internet pass through?
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

death__machine said:
That makes a lot of sense. Thank you. But they still should give an option to custom filter out a .apk from the online play store maybe?
I'll tell you why I'm stressing on this. I wanted to download this game which was around 500mb in size and I didn't have wifi then, all I had was a 2G plan on my phone and access to internet via ethernet. Downloading off 2G would have taken ages and 3G consumption would have set me back by quite some money. It made sense to get the .apk from the comp and then transfer it but I couldn't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No app will ever be 500 MB What you need to do is download that app (around 10-15 MB) and it will download data that goes into SDcard. You can download that data from PC too if you know what to search

death__machine said:
Well the main problem with most 'iOS people' lol xD is that they're the type to believe that Apple cannot make a mistake whatsoever and "It is the best". Wrong that attitude is. Its not only iPhones, its these Apple Fanboys in general. There are these rich pricks who who'll go get a 15" MacBook Pro to do what? Surf the web, make word docs and ppts max.
On the other hand if a person into video/graphics editing comes and asks me if an MBP is good, I give them a go ahead because of the kickass softwares that OSX has for them such as FCP etc.
Coming back to iDevices, 4S was horrible upgrade. Old design with a new camera, processor and a beta voice assistant, no thanks.
They're running out of innovations imo. They shoved a retina display for their new iPad and even the MacBooks. Wtf really? I had no problem whatsoever with the iPad 2 display(used a friends iPad 2 quite a bit). It was gorgeous imo, they didn't need to make it retina. Same goes for the MBP, didn't have a problem with that display either. Maybe its the lack of Steve Jobs but Apple has failed to impress me lately. iOS6 doesn't seem that great to me.
HTC really upped them by coming out with this beautiful design that is the One x . They should have put prettier packaging though xP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no im a fan of all this retina push but not in the case where they fail to produce the same ipad2 game graphics on ipad3 due to the massive amount of pixels, like one reviewer said if this happens in ps/xbox land where the new machine fails to run the game of the previous gen in the same quality, it would be a disaster
everything you said about apple people is true and its really sickening and tiring, in life you have tons of choice in every consumer thing you purchase
every product has its ups and down, yet iPeople they gather in the corner all holding the exact same thing and giggle at everyone else
its insulting, spoiled and ignorant
apple products their presnesation and videos, have some sort of psychological effect or something, the elite thing
believe me i have no problem in trying iPhone 5 if it was worth it but i wouldn't simply because i hate to be part of that group and accept the monopoly Apple is aggressively pursuing, its almost like dictatorship
mac book pro, same old same old since ages now, the lack of "change" is seriously boring, and why is originality and "change" something that the critics consider in their review, a perfect game might get a bad score for not being new or original and yet in the apple land, its not an issue

@CoSaWa What do you mean by internet pass through?
@realunited123 yes the app was small, but the download that the app had to do was 500mb or so .. I tried looking for .apks, but it was too much work or maybe I didn't look in the right places.

death__machine said:
@CoSaWa What do you mean by internet pass through?
@realunited123 yes the app was small, but the download that the app had to do was 500mb or so .. I tried looking for .apks, but it was too much work or maybe I didn't look in the right places.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Internet pass through : Connect your phone to PC, select internet pass through from notification bar. Lets you transfer data through PC network.

Getting bored of android

Im posting this here since its the phone I currently own. I used to love android but now ever since my dad gave me an iPad, I'm thinking to myself iOS is not as bad as I once thought. I've been playing games on it and iOS has far better games IMO and you can't theme android unless you know what you're doing or have a nonstock launcher. Anyway I don't wanna turn this into an iOS vs android debate. I just wanna know what I can do with my sgs3 to make it better being rooted stock (not into flashing roms anymore) would love to know to theme with touchwiz being my launcher and maybe some good apps and games? Thanks guys you all do such great work

http://www.androidpolice.com/tags/games/ You can use sites like android police which run a lot of apps/games reviews, which is what i love about the site. If you're bored with Android over games then you only have what iOS give you, what i mean to say on Android you can run emulators etc. If you really like the games on iOS then get a iPod Touch, that's one route. If you're bored of Android overall, you will get bored of iOS even sooner, the novelty runs off when you realize although the apps my look prettier essentially the functionality of their Android counterpart is the same.
edit: Also check out post like this form AP:
http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/09/29/xx-best-new-android-games-from-the-last-2-weeks/

You mean you can't make your own themes unless you know what you're doing? Because it's fairly easy to customize it once you know how. It does take a lot of time though... but have you check out the available themes? There are many launchers to play around with. You should really explore more. Although you said you've used androids for awhile... i don't think you even scratched the surface.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

Go the next chapter: LEARN ANDROID. There are endless possibilities once you've got the ins & outs of the Android platform.
Once you've done that and understood how the platform works...its time to get into development.
There are so many things you can do with Android...and no its not just theming. Lol.

Work on your app drawer
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

Oh trust me I've tried like almost all launchers at one point that was available at the time. I've always went back to stock which was sense at the time. I just like stock and hate how you can't theme touchwiz .i mean you can but I have no knowledge in doing so and don't have much time to sit and figure it out ATM. And you're right back when I had the touch diamond I tried the iPhone 3G and got easily bored with it. I guess eventually the iPad will have same result. Thanks for the replies.

Same boat here. I starting to get bored of android. At times I'm jealous of the apple ecosystem. I mean I don't game much but finding a decent pair of headphone that is fully conpatible with this phone is a pain in the ass
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

Theming isn't that hard either. I've been able to theme without even knowing much about how it even works just by changing images. The way I've sort of figured out how to do it is using root explorer. I'll download a rom that is themed and I'll unzip the systemui.apk and basically just look through the images there. Based on the locations of particular images I'll know where to put new ones. Framework-res.apk also has stuff to look thorough add well as lidroid-res.apk. It's not original stuff but I can manage to cherry pick stuff to make my phone look the way I like. Usually changing toggles and batteries. Eventually I'd like to look into how to really theme or maybe even dev, but for now I'll leave that to the experts

Funny, I've been thinking about switching it up to IOS lately as well. Except in my case, it's not so much about being bored with Android. For me it's the need to stop spending so much damn time messing with my phone. Recently I've started looking at the iPhone's inability to easily customize IOS and install other ROMs/themes as a real positive. It would be nice to once again have a phone that I just look at as a productive tool than a toy to mess with.
After being an avid Android user for the past 3 years, some days I really do miss the simplicity of my old iPhone.

I have a curiosity with the upcoming HTC 8X. I have invested quite a bit of money on Android but I like new toys too.
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Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

Are you seriously saying android, an Os that you can do way more customizing to than ios, is getting boring and you want to change to ios? What a contradiction smh
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

Try MIUI Launcher.. See what that does for you...

As far as time spent on Android modding and so on. I agree. Apple does tout productive. And it is, to a point. My father in law is a wedding photographer. He uses Apple computers when he needs to edit some. Though he does not need an iPhone for that, it is nice to have most of your hardware from the same company so that the eco system feels complete.
To those on Android that feel like it consumes to much time in doing so. My suggestion is to use a little self control with your devices. I will attest to that being harder than said. But, it is doable. If you need to mod, then do only necessary or central things such as rooting to get useful apps to work. Some home replacement apps have the ability to save the state of setup. Technically this does not have to be such a daunting task, take a couple of days to do this. It doesn't have to be a one day consuming event.
Nowm the one thing that thw iPhone lines have over Android phones is the super wicked frikking awsome accessories hands down. Actually infuriates me at times. The SGS3 should have the same by now. It is on almost all carriers. Oh well, regardless Android rocks. And that is because the Devs that support our phones kick but. You want to talk about time consuming? Devs spend uber amounts of it on thesenphones for us. And the don't ask to get paid for it. And they have jobs and family's like we do.
Also, the act of even having thus tech no matter it be Android, Apple or any other. That in it self is time consuming. I say lets shut down the whole computing and electrical industries and start from scratch. Just live off the land. Essentially, we do things to stay alive. So get rid of all unnecessary things. You will save a bunch of time. Time is only relative to how you spend it. If you live your life to truly better others and your own lives. Then you will not waste any time. Time is only wasted when you and those around you are unhappy.
Ok I'm done, I just went into this long dissertation on life relatively. Sorry.
I just flashed the latest ROM five minuets ago and am finally getting thirty hours of battery time! This is sick!!

So this might be a short story
Back in 2010 I got into android,I wanted to save money left att and got me android phone (htc hero )I actually really like it , 2 months later the evo was announced and I got it the day it came out,now the phone changed everything love the big screen, éclair was good but froyo came out a few months later(yeah the update only took htc few months) and since I had rooted my hero I decided to give it a try on htc evo 4G, rooted and started flashing away, sometimes as bad as 3-4 roms a day. Only rom the would last me a week would be warm 2.2(myn recognized developer) and I got tired of it, didn't have more problems with money I got an iPhone 4 like it but hate it the notifications, switch around 4-5 android phones and by the end of 2011 I was tired of flashing and looking at xda every minute of my life, on October 14 last year I got my 32gb iPhone 4S, got rid of my gs2 (hated the slow camera) And evo 3D. The iPhone last it me a while, when out the country, love the app selection and the pic quality, nothing IMO was better, but htc releases the one x and I like the phone a lot but is on att exclusive so I didn't get it, the gs3 gets announce and I didn't like the whole nature UX crap, plus I was worried about the camera. Sprint gets the Galaxy Nexus and I went to check it out, I ended up buying it, love the phone but hate it the network and the camera... Evo LTE comes out and I got it as well, I took it to Mexico for vacations love the pictures and the screen is just amazing, but sprint here in vegas got overload, speeds sucks... Decided that I wanted to switch networks, I decided to get tmobile a try and get the one s, really slim and nice looking phone but storage sucks and screen was crap compare to 4s and the evo lte, I decided to switch to the gs3(even tho I didn't like it at first) because of the screen resolution and the extra memory, one month ago I was in the same spot as you, the new iPhone was about to get announced I wanted something that was useful and I didn't want to mess anymore, decide to go back to stock(not root). Really like the speed of the phone, great camera, etc. But I couldn't find apps, the play store sucks at that sometimes, on launch day I got me an iPhone 5 and is the best looking phone I ever seen. Not matter what anyone says the phone just look stunning, once I set up my iPhone from icloud I get all my apps and settings back to how I used to have on my 4s it amazes me how good apple could be with some stuff. Didn't like the OS same row of icons from 2007 :/ returned the phone and decided to keep my gs3, plus all my apps had black bars because it hasn't been optimize for the new display. Going back to the gs3 I'm still dealing with apps problem, I asked in the forums and people gave me some good responses, i started using app Aware and looking around the web. Now I have a lot good apps and games that I thought android just didn't have I'm happy with the phone and enjoy it, I think one of the biggest problems with xda members is that we keep flashing the phone too much and it feels more like a task then enjoyment. That's my point of view just enjoy your phone. You can go ahead try iPhone, trust me you going to be excited but who wouldn't is a new phone but at the end I decided to stick up with Android. Google ics changed a lot of the bad things and jellybean as well, I'm excited to see what the next update will have
Sorry for the long post... I might have some mistakes, kind of sleepy when I wrote this...
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

Is this thread serious?
The beauty of Android is not in simplicity, it's in the ability to choose simplicity if you so desire.. without being forced to.
Perhaps some people can't help themselves and spend hours every week customizing their phone. But that in itself is not an OS issue, it's a self control issue.
Saying that the iOS's restriction on customization would make you more productive is the equivalent to thinking that being in a straight jacket would keep you from using drugs. Of course it would, but it does not address your specific personal issue.
Don't blame Android for your own lack of discipline. Seriously, that is one of the funniest/saddest things I have read on this forum.
I have spent countless hours playing around with customization. When I got bored of it, I simply set up my phone to be the productive tool that some are claiming makes iOS better. Eco system? I have multiple devices from different manufacturers and everything works seamlessly. Yes, it takes more intellect to figure out everything since you pretty much don't have to do anything to make iOS products interact. In fact, they do all the thinking for you. You and your wife have iPhones? And an iPad, and Mac? Great! When those pictures you took automatically sync to every device you own, you can share everything you have in your phone with everyone in your household.. whether you want to or not. Of course, there are safeguards you can set up to prevent certain things from happening, but OH NO - you would have to learn something and spend some time customizing your setup.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3. I have a 55" LG 3D Cinema Smart TV. A Phillips Bluetooth/Android docking stereo. A PC running Windows XP. I can stream my entire music collection through my TV's wireless Bluetooth surround sound system. Or I can stream my Google Music collection through my Phillips Bluetooth stereo/dock, wirelessly or plugged in. I can control my TV from my Galaxy S3, just like a remote control with the LG Smart Remote app from the Play Store. I can stream locally stored music and videos from my S3 to my TV. I watch Hulu/Netflix on my phone, my TV, my PC. I can plug in my phone to my TV via HDMI adapter to watch my Google movies. Or I can watch my Vudu movie collection through my TV. I've barely scratched the surface.
My phone is running Jellybean (CM10), Google Wallet, and Apex. I have no icons anywhere on my home screens. I pinch my home screen and I'm taken to my text messages. I double tap it, file browser. One finger swipe up? App drawer opens. One finger swipe down, status bar. Two finger swipe down, camera. Two fingers up, Quickpic gallery. I pay for stuff by putting my phone against a paypass terminal everywhere. Grocery stores, 7-11, multiple fast food joints, Macy's, CVS, soda machines, gas stations, etc. My facebook feed and news both on separate full screen scrollable widgets. I talk to Google to find out what's going on with the Chargers/Dodgers. I tell it I'm hungry for a specific type of food and it shows me exactly where I can go and which one's the closest. The weather is in my status bar. My phone tells me how long it will take to get home from work, what kind of traffic there is, how many minutes to my favorite lunch spot - without even asking it.
Please tell me what is more productive than that. And I haven't even listed all the things I do with my phone, not even close.
Oh and as for games, I'm sorry.. did we forget about Grand Theft Auto 3? Modern Combat? NBA Jam? I could list another 20 bad ass games on Android, but I'm actually getting tired of typing. Maybe I should have just swyped this all on my phone's keyboard, since Android can do that...
Have fun with your iOS.

IOS is for the small dogs! Android is for the big dogs!!!!" Its that simply!!!!! Who agrees?!
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

[Q] Went from iPhone 4 to Note 2 - Interesting feeling

After using the iPhone for the part 5+ years, I finally got tired of the same old OS. I jumped ship and went to the Galaxy Note 2, and I absolutely love it....amazing device. All my coworkers that I show it too and amazed at the display size and the overall great looks of the phone.
What I find interesting is when I look at the iPhone's tiny display, I don't know how I survived all this time with such a small display. I feel that I can never go back to a small display now that I'm used to the Galaxy Note. The iPhone display just feels way too tiny...lol. The big brillant display of the Note 2 is very good, and I can't really tell the ppi difference between the iphone 4 and Galaxy Note 2. The past wqeek has been extremely busy at work with lots of phone use (for actual calls) and I find holding the Galaxy 2 fairly comfortable...not as awkward as I thought it would be.
That being said...I do have one question....my microSD card will sometimes unmount on it's own, and the only way to recover is to physically remove and reinsert the card again. I have a Class 10 PNY 32GB card. Has anyone else had this issue. I've reformatted the card on the phone, but have not yet tried reformatting on a windows 7 computer yet, so that is my next step. Seems to happen once or twice every few days.
Thanks for any advice regard the microSD card.

mikefly562 said:
After using the iPhone for the part 5+ years, I finally got tired of the same old OS. I jumped ship and went to the Galaxy Note 2, and I absolutely love it....amazing device. All my coworkers that I show it too and amazed at the display size and the overall great looks of the phone.
What I find interesting is when I look at the iPhone's tiny display, I don't know how I survived all this time with such a small display. I feel that I can never go back to a small display now that I'm used to the Galaxy Note. The iPhone display just feels way too tiny...lol. The big brillant display of the Note 2 is very good, and I can't really tell the ppi difference between the iphone 4 and Galaxy Note 2. The past wqeek has been extremely busy at work with lots of phone use (for actual calls) and I find holding the Galaxy 2 fairly comfortable...not as awkward as I thought it would be.
That being said...I do have one question....my microSD card will sometimes unmount on it's own, and the only way to recover is to physically remove and reinsert the card again. I have a Class 10 PNY 32GB card. Has anyone else had this issue. I've reformatted the card on the phone, but have not yet tried reformatting on a windows 7 computer yet, so that is my next step. Seems to happen once or twice every few days.
Thanks for any advice regard the microSD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to the other side. Regarding the sd card...I have a samsung 32gb class 10 and have had no problems with unmounting. Although I have not really had enough time with my note to notice (only a few days). Are you stock? If not what is your rom/kernel?

Welcome to Android! excellent device choice f,sure
Its more then likely a defective SD card.

xavier6303 said:
Welcome to the other side. Regarding the sd card...I have a samsung 32gb class 10 and have had no problems with unmounting. Although I have not really had enough time with my note to notice (only a few days). Are you stock? If not what is your rom/kernel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes..I'm running stock right from the AT&T store...no root and I made no changes to kernal, etc. Since I'm fairly new to Android, and I use this phone for work and personal use, I don't want to experiment with it yet, so I plan to keep it stock for a long time.
If reformatting does not work, I'll go back to Staples and return/exchange the microSD card since they have a fairly good return policy.

I was also an iOS user since iPhone4, and before switch to Note 2, I was using iphone5. I do love the Noteii's size, battery life, s-pen ... But in term of overall smoothness, I think IP5 still has the edge. I am not sure if there something I can do in NoteII to improve it.

eelnoraa said:
I was also an iOS user since iPhone4, and before switch to Note 2, I was using iphone5. I do love the Noteii's size, battery life, s-pen ... But in term of overall smoothness, I think IP5 still has the edge. I am not sure if there something I can do in NoteII to improve it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate to second guess you, but I can't think of what you could possibly be doing with your Note, that you really can see any difference between the smoothness of iOS 6 and JB. The vast majority of professional reviewers from the biggest tech sites, have all gone out of their way to say that the difference in fluidity between iOS 6 + JB is negligible and no longer a valid argument when comparing Android to Apple... at least not when comparing JB.

Theres soooo much more you can do on Android. Here is a few great apps for stock Android thats not available for stock IOS. Handcent (a texting app with tons of features), Perfect App Protector (let people/kids see your phone without worrying about them looking a your email or what ever app you choose to lock up), Keep Safe (lock up your naughty pictures), and Apex Launcher (easily customize your Home UI, makes IOS users envy with a cool looking UI).

Dr. Evo said:
I hate to second guess you, but I can't think of what you could possibly be doing with your Note, that you really can see any difference between the smoothness of iOS 6 and JB. The vast majority of professional reviewers from the biggest tech sites, have all gone out of their way to say that the difference in fluidity between iOS 6 + JB is negligible and no longer a valid argument when comparing Android to Apple... at least not when comparing JB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't get me wrong. I am not complaining the overall performance of Note II. And I have no doubt it has more processing power. Regardless what the so called professional reviews say, in day to day use, the smoothness of IP5 does have edge. it is small but noticeable. Not that Note II is bad in anyway, just doesn't feel as smooth. While this doesnt mean IP5 is faster, it just mean, at least from user interface/graphic point of view, iOS optimizes it better
IP4 is my first iOS device, before that I was a Window mobile user. So I don't considered myself iOS fan. And between IP4 and IP5, I have used WindowPhone7 (HTC Titan II) for a while. I was actually quite impressed with the smoothness of WP7 but I hated how restricted it is (more so than iOS, which I am not so happy with). Note II is my first Andriod device, so far I love Andriod's flexiblity. Moving away from iTune is just priceless. But the smoothness of iOS's user interface shouldn't be desputed.

I was surprised at how quickly I got used to the size of the Note II, I laughed at my brother in law when he said he wanted the OG Note. Now when I pickup an iPhone it feels like the phone from Zoolander, a child's play thing.
I have the cheapest microSD card I could find. I believe its class 4. Had it about a year. Used it on my Galaxy S II with no issues, and still no issues on the Note II. Unless you count the glacial file transferring (planning on getting one of those 64GB sdxc cards soon). No issues mounting or unmounting. I would make sure the card slot is clean of debris, and check the card for dirty contacts. Try an eraser to clean the contacts. Do you have any other cards to try? Cameras, old phones, etc that have a card you can use to eliminate the phone. I would guess bad card before I blamed the phone. But, if other cards do it too, call AT&T and get the phone swapped.
Sent from my Note II

eelnoraa said:
Regardless what the so called professional reviews say, in day to day use, the smoothness of IP5 does have edge. it is small but noticeable. Not that Note II is bad in anyway, just doesn't feel as smooth. While this doesnt mean IP5 is faster, it just mean, at least from user interface/graphic point of view, iOS optimizes it better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope I'm not starting a religious debate here, but I had the same discussion with my coworker earlier in the week. Far be it from me to say whether iPhone is better than Android or vice versa, and I'm not going to debate with you as to which is smoother or not. I have iOS 6 on my iPod Touch, and it's really smooth, but does that help me in my day to day?
Here's my phone experience.
This is my fourth Android phone (one was borrowed) and at every change, I thought about getting the iPhone. The first time I didn't because I had just finished with 2 consecutive Blackberry Pearls. Compact QWERTY/SureType spoiled me so much I couldn't type on the iPhone. I text around 2000-3000 messages a month so I need to type. iOS' lack of 3rd party keyboard haunt me to this day, especially when I need Chinese/Japanese/Korean handwriting recognition. I think that's probably the biggest deciding factor for me, and still is.
Here are the awesome things that iOS has brought me: iTunes store, FaceTime, Siri ... Passbook? Getting smartphones to the mainstream, and pushing developers to consider the mobile platform? Apps are more or less the same except in some really niche areas. I need an app for music notation, and unfortunately, most of the usable ones are on iPad.
Here are the awesome things that my current Andriod (Samsung Note II) does for me: screenshot + annotation, CJK handwriting recognition (3rd party, alas), not turning off while I'm still reading, keeping orientation when I lie down ... window in window/popup window (being able to watch videos while reading emails), OTG usb support so I can hook up card readers, usb memory sticks and external hard drives, access to the file system, quick notetaking/hurried scribbles, offline voice to text (which was also a biggie for me).
When you press space while typing an email address in Blackberry, it knows there are now spaces in email addresses, so the first space is always the "@" symbol, and the second space is always the "." ... so "me you com" turns into "[email protected]", and I thought, WOW, Rim seriously had people sitting around going, hey. what would make things easier for people.
That's the feeling I got from the Samsung Note II.
I guess in the end, maybe I'm just too function over form. I'd rather have things that work over things that look nice. This, of course, has no bearing whatsoever as to the "iPhone 5 vs Samsung Note II" debate, because that's just my opinion. I think Apple's done a fine job, but I also think they need to innovate the pudding out of their products.
Anyways, welcome to Android, and I hope you enjoy your stay!

Hmm... how should I start...
Note 2/Android deals terribly with missed calls, texts and emails. Icon badges which are extremely useful are almost non existent or simply don't work. You have to "configure" just about EVERYTHING on this system to get it to work, where as with iOS it works... simply.... It does push as Android doesn't and its smooth as silk ON ANY APPLICATION...
Anyone tried flipboard on both? Why is it that on the iPhone its so much smoother than Android? Its the same developer with the same app and goal. There has to be an underlining from the OS that dictates or does this... How does that help me on the day to day? How good looking is your car? How does the ergonomics feel? That is how it helps.... For the first time the note 2 made it "passable" or "acceptable" the smoothness or lack of.. It still stutters even after 5 years... something the iPhone got right on day one! Anyone remember the G1?
Widgets without a capacity for push/seamless push they are pretty much useless, same thing as opening an application. If things would push correctly to your phone, android would have been so much more useful than iOS that it would have brought back Apple to the drawing board.
There are no programs like LockInfo/Intelliscreen X.
pictures MMS on Android have a play button..WTF? Even ChompSMS (makers of bitesms for iPhone) can't compare to bitesms functionality and usefulness. A quick reply on Android with Chomp will leave the badge on the icon and marked as unread, when you specifically want it read... you have to open the app to clear it. That should have worked flawlessly. If it works on the iPhone, why can't they make it work on Android... Its just coded differently and has bad coding or handling of data (whatever, I don't know).
In a general sense... iOS looks so much better... Android feels like pixels on a screen where as iPhone feels totally different... Then again... w/o a jailbreak it gets boring fast... and Android has a lot more to fiddle around.
The lack of jailbreak is the second time it has pushed me to Android... And this Big Screen is such a nice addition that I feel like I couldn't go back to the tiny i5. But then again, if a Jailbreak appeared I would be returning it...
I want to like Android... The geek in me likes it, but when simple things like notifications badges and push email don't work correctly makes me see all the huge flaws android still has...
For instance.....
I have lockinfo on my iPhone.... I go to my GOOGLE calendar.... add an Appointment.... pick up my iPhone and its RIGHT THERE... RIGHT THAT VERY SECOND that I turn on the screen... Try that SIMPLE thing with Android and let me know... that is the kind of things that should have worked flawlessly from DAY 1.
Try this... Google Now... "remember me when I get home to call my aunt." See what happens... Even spanish language works so much better on Siri than on Google... Even S-voice does a better job than google :facepalm: And the ousted Forstall... What a joke.
Updates.............. Oh god.. try getting an Android update... You need to buy a new phone (nice business from ATT and such? You mean to tell me that Google can't have the same "power" over carriers?, yeah yeah yeah... Get the nexus.. Nexus is and always will be a second class/Cheap product. LTE anyone?)
Music and iTunes... for much that I hated iTunes, the fact that I can organize stuff with one simple program, no matter the iPhone (1,3g,3gs,4,4s,5,iPads bla bla bla) is killer....
The list goes on and on...
Why am I still here? No Jailbreak for iPhone = boring iPhone and no lockscreen and tethering. And the Note 2 Screen is gorgeous..
I went to the ATT store... all androids there.. test them out... ALL OF THEM LAGGED... ALL OF THEM WITH 4.1 jelly bean... Picked up the note.. NO LAG! ok.. we can try this one out..
The S-pen is really useful and wonderful and that alone could make such a difference that would put the iPhone to shame... and I really want that to happen, but I wish that android would get its act together and made it possible to upgrade the OS and work on the simple things first... Its like if Google never ever used an iPhone.
Sorry.. I had to vent this. I wish android fixed this issues and it would become a huge progress and would destroy the iPhone... In the meantime... it will still feel like a second class product.

Sounds like you really haven't put any time into customizing your phone. All of what you are talking about is very easily achieved. And who needs factory updates when Samsung actively encourages you to get roms. Unlike apple who will crucify you for even saying the word jailbreak
Galaxy Note II

R1deTheLight said:
Sounds like you really haven't put any time into customizing your phone. All of what you are talking about is very easily achieved. And who needs factory updates when Samsung actively encourages you to get roms. Unlike apple who will crucify you for even saying the word jailbreak
Galaxy Note II
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL he said all the android devices lagged, i doubt the optimius g lagged the gs3 or the htc one x+ lagged

Andrew149 said:
LOL he said all the android devices lagged, i doubt the optimius g lagged the gs3 or the htc one x+ lagged
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also never base anything on the display models. Those things have weird custom display software that att makes for them. And they go through hell every day with hundreds of people ****ing with them
Galaxy Note II

I can't believe you are comparing an iphone which is JAILBROKEN to a stock Android device. Do you really think that's a fair comparison?
I loved BiteSMS on the iphone, but I was the only person I knew who had it. Why? Because it's not in the appstore! How come you don't blame Apple for not including all those awesome features you refer to in the stock firmware? The funny thing is you can't even say "there's an app for that" because none of the stuff you mentioned can be bought through legitimate means.
The iphone does a lot of things well, even when it's stock. The "features" you miss though 95% of iphone users never had or have to begin with. Your complaint list is completely unfair and I'm surprised you didn't realize that as you were typing all that out.
There are some legitimate gripes, don't get me wrong. The one that really bothers me is carrier control over devices. ATT should be slapped down as well as the rest of the carriers. Google has the power to do so and they should exercise it.

Go SMS pro is free and has the pop up in line reply for texts. I tried to break the logic for when a text is read and unread, couldn't get it to break. (No root required)
One thing HTC did good was lock screen support. I used a "productivity" lock screen that showed calendar notices on the lock screen. It also showed missed text, email, calls etc. It worked great. (No root required on Sense)
I use Nova Prime (was $0.25 not that long ago), the badges work great, and for more apps than TouchWiz launcher. (No root required)
I don't care for the voice control of Google Now. What I like is knowing traffic is bad before I leave. Other cards that give me info I will need, but don't have to ask for.
Widget locker lets you do all sorts of lock screen customization, without root.
Then there is CM/AOKP. Lock screen calendar built in, pop up text reply built in with correct logic, all sorts of customization.
When I think about my time with iPhone, the only jailbreak thing that was easier than unrooted stock android was pirating apps. (Something I don't advocate or miss). Far more apps are legitimately free on android. And with every jailbreak tweak the system became more unstable, and slow. Any iPhone upgrades to the next version of iOS was slow enough, when adding jailbreak on too of that it was unusable to me. For me jailbrake still had a big component of trial and error to find a good mix of what I want. Android is the same, you get out what you put in. It will take some work, and Googling into all hours of the night to find the right set of apps to do what you want, but you have much more power over your experience in Android. Then, with custom ROMs its even more.
All that said ... if you want an iPhone get one. Don't mistake this for "don't let the door hit you on the way out." I've been on xda for a while, and seen a lot of people come and go. Generally I have seen the people that come in saying how much android is harder to customize, and easier jailbreak was, go back to the iPhone. You only get 14 days (instead of the old 30) to make a choice that may haunt you for 18 months. Make the right one for you. Its better to be happy with your choice and device than to be stuck on a platform you don't like because others tell you its better. Android is the right choice for ME. TouchWiz is the right choice for ME. The Note II is the right device for ME. Ultimately you need to make that choice for you, its your phone, and you will be the one using it every day.
Sent from my Note ][

highlanderx said:
Hmm... how should I start...
Note 2/Android deals terribly with missed calls, texts and emails
....
Sorry.. I had to vent this. I wish android fixed this issues and it would become a huge progress and would destroy the iPhone... In the meantime... it will still feel like a second class product.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure what planet you live on but I disagree with everything you state.
I am familiar with the apps/features you mention on the iPhone since I owned the iPhone, iPhone 3g, and Iphone 4s which I used extensively at work, traveling, backpacking, motorcycling, etc., etc.
Also I've been comparing my Note2 with my wife's new iPhone 5 her work purchased for her...and there really is no comparison.
Her prior phone was the BB Curve 2 and I thought she is going to be blown away as a new iphone user...I about died when she said "I'm not impressed...thought the screen would be more useable/bigger".
Apple has lost their creativity which saddens me because I actually used the original MAC in the '80s to develop manufacturing software AND I own a ton of AAPL stock.
I certainly understand and agree the iPhone may be better suited for certain types of people and obviously MANY like it...that's fine but your rant is over the top and based on old, wornout statements.
Just my opinion.

quarlow said:
Go SMS pro is free and has the pop up in line reply for texts. I tried to break the logic for when a text is read and unread, couldn't get it to break. (No root required)
One thing HTC did good was lock screen support. I used a "productivity" lock screen that showed calendar notices on the lock screen. It also showed missed text, email, calls etc. It worked great. (No root required on Sense)
I use Nova Prime (was $0.25 not that long ago), the badges work great, and for more apps than TouchWiz launcher. (No root required)
I don't care for the voice control of Google Now. What I like is knowing traffic is bad before I leave. Other cards that give me info I will need, but don't have to ask for.
Widget locker lets you do all sorts of lock screen customization, without root.
Then there is CM/AOKP. Lock screen calendar built in, pop up text reply built in with correct logic, all sorts of customization.
When I think about my time with iPhone, the only jailbreak thing that was easier than unrooted stock android was pirating apps. (Something I don't advocate or miss). Far more apps are legitimately free on android. And with every jailbreak tweak the system became more unstable, and slow. Any iPhone upgrades to the next version of iOS was slow enough, when adding jailbreak on too of that it was unusable to me. For me jailbrake still had a big component of trial and error to find a good mix of what I want. Android is the same, you get out what you put in. It will take some work, and Googling into all hours of the night to find the right set of apps to do what you want, but you have much more power over your experience in Android. Then, with custom ROMs its even more.
All that said ... if you want an iPhone get one. Don't mistake this for "don't let the door hit you on the way out." I've been on xda for a while, and seen a lot of people come and go. Generally I have seen the people that come in saying how much android is harder to customize, and easier jailbreak was, go back to the iPhone. You only get 14 days (instead of the old 30) to make a choice that may haunt you for 18 months. Make the right one for you. Its better to be happy with your choice and device than to be stuck on a platform you don't like because others tell you its better. Android is the right choice for ME. TouchWiz is the right choice for ME. The Note II is the right device for ME. Ultimately you need to make that choice for you, its your phone, and you will be the one using it every day.
Sent from my Note ][
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1000 times this

R1deTheLight said:
Sounds like you really haven't put any time into customizing your phone. All of what you are talking about is very easily achieved. And who needs factory updates when Samsung actively encourages you to get roms. Unlike apple who will crucify you for even saying the word jailbreak
Galaxy Note II
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By all means... I wish to solve all of those issues and be happy with my Android!... Why do you think I am here?
ROMs usually do NOT have all the features unless they are based on the stock roms.. Ports like CM10 and the such will loose most of the S-pen features if not all.
I don't get why people can't get criticism from the things they like... all it will do in the future is make a better product... If you think its all mighty and perfect, there is nothing to fix... Nothing new to add... it will be stale.
---------- Post added at 11:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:55 AM ----------
Andrew149 said:
LOL he said all the android devices lagged, i doubt the optimius g lagged the gs3 or the htc one x+ lagged
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HTC One X+ was the one that lagged the most...
S3 that comes here with the crap dragon lagged to hell
Note 2... not a single hiccup... hence why I got it... Besides I wanted the biggest one I could find... I really wanted a phablet.
---------- Post added at 11:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:56 AM ----------
andrawer said:
Not sure what planet you live on but I disagree with everything you state.
I am familiar with the apps/features you mention on the iPhone since I owned the iPhone, iPhone 3g, and Iphone 4s which I used extensively at work, traveling, backpacking, motorcycling, etc., etc.
Also I've been comparing my Note2 with my wife's new iPhone 5 her work purchased for her...and there really is no comparison.
Her prior phone was the BB Curve 2 and I thought she is going to be blown away as a new iphone user...I about died when she said "I'm not impressed...thought the screen would be more useable/bigger".
Apple has lost their creativity which saddens me because I actually used the original MAC in the '80s to develop manufacturing software AND I own a ton of AAPL stock.
I certainly understand and agree the iPhone may be better suited for certain types of people and obviously MANY like it...that's fine but your rant is over the top and based on old, wornout statements.
Just my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To quote Steve Jobs:
This phone is 5 years ahead of any phone in the market....
Its been 5 years and phones are catching up... but... until the simplicities aren't take care off.... You will see more iPhones on the road than Notes or S3s.
---------- Post added at 12:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:58 AM ----------
quarlow said:
Go SMS pro is free and has the pop up in line reply for texts. I tried to break the logic for when a text is read and unread, couldn't get it to break. (No root required)
One thing HTC did good was lock screen support. I used a "productivity" lock screen that showed calendar notices on the lock screen. It also showed missed text, email, calls etc. It worked great. (No root required on Sense)
I use Nova Prime (was $0.25 not that long ago), the badges work great, and for more apps than TouchWiz launcher. (No root required)
I don't care for the voice control of Google Now. What I like is knowing traffic is bad before I leave. Other cards that give me info I will need, but don't have to ask for.
Widget locker lets you do all sorts of lock screen customization, without root.
Then there is CM/AOKP. Lock screen calendar built in, pop up text reply built in with correct logic, all sorts of customization.
When I think about my time with iPhone, the only jailbreak thing that was easier than unrooted stock android was pirating apps. (Something I don't advocate or miss). Far more apps are legitimately free on android. And with every jailbreak tweak the system became more unstable, and slow. Any iPhone upgrades to the next version of iOS was slow enough, when adding jailbreak on too of that it was unusable to me. For me jailbrake still had a big component of trial and error to find a good mix of what I want. Android is the same, you get out what you put in. It will take some work, and Googling into all hours of the night to find the right set of apps to do what you want, but you have much more power over your experience in Android. Then, with custom ROMs its even more.
All that said ... if you want an iPhone get one. Don't mistake this for "don't let the door hit you on the way out." I've been on xda for a while, and seen a lot of people come and go. Generally I have seen the people that come in saying how much android is harder to customize, and easier jailbreak was, go back to the iPhone. You only get 14 days (instead of the old 30) to make a choice that may haunt you for 18 months. Make the right one for you. Its better to be happy with your choice and device than to be stuck on a platform you don't like because others tell you its better. Android is the right choice for ME. TouchWiz is the right choice for ME. The Note II is the right device for ME. Ultimately you need to make that choice for you, its your phone, and you will be the one using it every day.
Sent from my Note ][
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Widget locker is a program and is not a lockscreen... The program disables the lockscreen and the program activates itself...
First in lower mem (not applicable here) phones it LAGS to hell... you will always see the desktop THEN widget locker. Same goes with Executive Assistant...it got to the point where it wouldn't unlock.
I haven't tried the latest ones and this was a year ago with a craprocket that I bought and I hated it. Went to the 4S when the jailbreak came out and I was a happy camper... Again.. as I have said before.. I got tired of the same thing... of the lack of new interesting things to do with a new phone... Specially without jailbreak. I do play around with the phone and this is one of the things that I like about Android.
XDA Community for android doesn't exist for any other platform...and that simply is a bonus...
Why do I want updates?
4.2 brings some good lockscreen features and I want to try those... There might be a port... but... it might not have all the functions it would have if it where stock.
---------- Post added at 12:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:05 PM ----------
quarlow said:
Go SMS pro is free and has the pop up in line reply for texts. I tried to break the logic for when a text is read and unread, couldn't get it to break. (No root required)
One thing HTC did good was lock screen support. I used a "productivity" lock screen that showed calendar notices on the lock screen. It also showed missed text, email, calls etc. It worked great. (No root required on Sense)
I use Nova Prime (was $0.25 not that long ago), the badges work great, and for more apps than TouchWiz launcher. (No root required)
I don't care for the voice control of Google Now. What I like is knowing traffic is bad before I leave. Other cards that give me info I will need, but don't have to ask for.
Widget locker lets you do all sorts of lock screen customization, without root.
Then there is CM/AOKP. Lock screen calendar built in, pop up text reply built in with correct logic, all sorts of customization.
When I think about my time with iPhone, the only jailbreak thing that was easier than unrooted stock android was pirating apps. (Something I don't advocate or miss). Far more apps are legitimately free on android. And with every jailbreak tweak the system became more unstable, and slow. Any iPhone upgrades to the next version of iOS was slow enough, when adding jailbreak on too of that it was unusable to me. For me jailbrake still had a big component of trial and error to find a good mix of what I want. Android is the same, you get out what you put in. It will take some work, and Googling into all hours of the night to find the right set of apps to do what you want, but you have much more power over your experience in Android. Then, with custom ROMs its even more.
All that said ... if you want an iPhone get one. Don't mistake this for "don't let the door hit you on the way out." I've been on xda for a while, and seen a lot of people come and go. Generally I have seen the people that come in saying how much android is harder to customize, and easier jailbreak was, go back to the iPhone. You only get 14 days (instead of the old 30) to make a choice that may haunt you for 18 months. Make the right one for you. Its better to be happy with your choice and device than to be stuck on a platform you don't like because others tell you its better. Android is the right choice for ME. TouchWiz is the right choice for ME. The Note II is the right device for ME. Ultimately you need to make that choice for you, its your phone, and you will be the one using it every day.
Sent from my Note ][
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a post of don't let the door hit you on the way out...
Which is ridiculous... if you don't admit to your flaws you will not really know how to fix them...
I really dislike apple's wall garden and the tight grip they have on everything... I really find it annoying that they are suing everyone and the only way to make a real statement is not buy another product of theirs.. but if the community CAN'T take a simple critic about simplicities that DON'T work and you can argue it does... out of the box it doesn't and modded at best it partially works, we will never get the product we wish for.
If lag was never an issue, why does project butter exist and why do people welcomed the update? I am sure that if all the things that I have stated where fixed, everyone would be happier with their android.
I wanted more a 5.5" phone than an iPhone, hence why I got this one... I also wanted a fast phone that didn't lag. I got this one which is decent.
Right now I am using the Jedi Rom which is very nice and Apex Launcher which solves somewhat most of my issues with the badges... But there are still hiccups and there are still unread message counts that are read from time to time and only a reboot fixes the issue. Does anyone think that is ACCEPTABLE?
GOSMS is freaking ugly and laggy... sorry...
Fluidity was one of the things I really liked about launcher pro but that program hasn't been updated in years. Badges had huge hiccups. Badges is one of the things that once you get used to it, specially after 5 years, its hard to get unused to it.
What about visual voicemail on the STOCK Phone app? its nice to be able to deal with all your call's needs right on the phone app. No, we need to go to a separate app to just deal with voicemails...
You people should use an iPhone for a good while to see how simply it works on everyday stuff...
Don't get me started on Tap economy. Android requires too many more taps than iPhone to do just about the same thing.
All of the things that I have said... can be fixed... I had a LOT more complaints about android that were fixed with ICS and Jellybean, hence why I am back.
Things CAN be fixed and I bet they are fixing them.. but post like these is what makes their todo list bigger with newer updates.
---------- Post added at 12:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:09 PM ----------
andrawer said:
Not sure what planet you live on but I disagree with everything you state.
I am familiar with the apps/features you mention on the iPhone since I owned the iPhone, iPhone 3g, and Iphone 4s which I used extensively at work, traveling, backpacking, motorcycling, etc., etc.
Also I've been comparing my Note2 with my wife's new iPhone 5 her work purchased for her...and there really is no comparison.
Her prior phone was the BB Curve 2 and I thought she is going to be blown away as a new iphone user...I about died when she said "I'm not impressed...thought the screen would be more useable/bigger".
Apple has lost their creativity which saddens me because I actually used the original MAC in the '80s to develop manufacturing software AND I own a ton of AAPL stock.
I certainly understand and agree the iPhone may be better suited for certain types of people and obviously MANY like it...that's fine but your rant is over the top and based on old, wornout statements.
Just my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't agree with them... prove me wrong... we are all here to debate... If I am wrong, it means that my issue can be solved... which is what I want... I am not here to just complain, its also a way of looking for solutions... but this is also a perspective on why iphone lovers hate android. Wasn't samsung mocking android owners? Isn't Samsung trying to Snitch iPhone users? This is the way... fixing stuff. If an iPhone owner comes to all this broken OS, they will really go back. I have the opportunity to fix them and I don't mind fiddling with code and decoding and coding APKs if need be. I like to do all that.

Dude, its not android users not taking criticism, youre just *****ing about things you can fix easily. Like I said, you have not spent any REAL time trying to figure things out. Besides this phone just came out. Give the dev community a minute and I guarantee things you never even knew you wanted will become a reality.

HD 8.9 - Is it worth Rooting & Installing Custom ROM?

I know that question may seem inane at first but the elaboration is, it seems Amazon did some things to make this hard to customize like we love to do and its much riskier than say doing a Galaxy 4 phone. For some of us who just wanna play games on them and the remedial stuff, where we can still get the Google Playstore through secondary channels, why are some of you rooting and messing with it... from what I'v heard, the stock Amazon is pretty "clean" and also having access to their stock software to integrate with your Amazon account to download from their site seems like an advantage. I.e., if you really wanted a PURE Android tab, why not just get like a Lenovo, Acer, Samsung and root that... I am getting the HD 8.9 because its on sale for $180 in hand, and the display seems superior to almost any tab in its price range and class.
Thanks for any illuminating responses.

Having owned one for a year.
No. It gets slower with a custom rom. You're better off getting a Nexus.
I've used it stock, stock+root+Gapps, CM11, LiquidROM, PacmanROM currently.
Now that amazon offers its instant video with the android app, its even better off to go w/ a nexus. You just have to get it to use the Phone version of the app, not the tablet version. (which I did with the current pacman rom.) So, IMO there is no longer any benefit of the HD8.9 over faster/lighter tablets. I am strongly considering putting mine back to stock, and when a trade-in deal comes around trade it in for a Nexus tablet.

ydgmms said:
Having owned one for a year.
No. It gets slower with a custom rom. You're better off getting a Nexus.
I've used it stock, stock+root+Gapps, CM11, LiquidROM, PacmanROM currently.
Now that amazon offers its instant video with the android app, its even better off to go w/ a nexus. You just have to get it to use the Phone version of the app, not the tablet version. (which I did with the current pacman rom.) So, IMO there is no longer any benefit of the HD8.9 over faster/lighter tablets. I am strongly considering putting mine back to stock, and when a trade-in deal comes around trade it in for a Nexus tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply... they used to allow a second hand install of google play but even that doesnt work now and it seems they are forcing a root as the only way to get google play on it, sigh. I guess I will sell the stupid things as used and look for a deal on the nexus or samsung/lenovo/asus.... what a crock. I got it for $180 total which I thought was a decent deal brand new...
What trade in is available for this?

Sometimes stores like Best Buy will accept trade-ins. You'll definately not get the 180$ spent. But it'll ease the purchase price of something else.

ydgmms said:
Sometimes stores like Best Buy will accept trade-ins. You'll definately not get the 180$ spent. But it'll ease the purchase price of something else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya few months ago I got $100 for an XP laptop a client gave me from like 2002 for trade-in. I thinking I can get more just putting it on ebay for mint condition sale.

Well, if you bought it from Amazon..just return it.
Otherwise, ...good luck.

ydgmms said:
Well, if you bought it from Amazon..just return it.
Otherwise, ...good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Office depot.... :crying:
ebay/CL it is.......

I have the 8.9 rooted and running cm11 with no complaints. I enjoy the freedom of running full Android over the Amazon os. There are really only 2 apps that i havent been able to fully use. One was screen capture software, its always choppy or poor quality. Thats because the hardware isnt enough to run it properly, not an os problem. The other is the new Madden Football game, its very laggy. Again hardware problem, not the os. If the 8.9 is enough for you and Google play is the only thing holding you back, root it and install cm11. Get greenify and it will turn off apps for you keeping it running smooth. There is also an app called lagfix that cleans up the file system. Running lagfix once a month or so seems to keep it clean. In short go for it, if you don't like it flash it back Amazon os and unroot then trade it in.

Shack70 said:
I have the 8.9 rooted and running cm11 with no complaints. I enjoy the freedom of running full Android over the Amazon os. There are really only 2 apps that i havent been able to fully use. One was screen capture software, its always choppy or poor quality. Thats because the hardware isnt enough to run it properly, not an os problem. The other is the new Madden Football game, its very laggy. Again hardware problem, not the os. If the 8.9 is enough for you and Google play is the only thing holding you back, root it and install cm11. Get greenify and it will turn off apps for you keeping it running smooth. There is also an app called lagfix that cleans up the file system. Running lagfix once a month or so seems to keep it clean. In short go for it, if you don't like it flash it back Amazon os and unroot then trade it in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh really? I thought these Kindles were very particular in what they "took." I use CM for my Galaxy S4 and very satisfied with it so I have no problem trying it. I dont play Madden so thats fine (I was a big 2K fan LOL). I am really only looking to play Clash of Clans and some other remedial stuff, nothing too taxing. I guess I'll try that then since I think for the $$$ this screen is boss and the size is just about right too.
One thing, is the screen pretty responsive with CM in it? And is it ok if I ask a followup or two in case something goes out of sorts per your experience?

I play clash on mine all the time. I didn't say it was easy getting CM11 on my Kindle. It's a bit more work that rooting a Samsung phone but there are some good tutorials here on XDA, I used http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2128175. Follow it exactly and you will have no problem. The screen is responsive and works great for everyday use, books, and games like clash. Videos look great too. Feel free to ask me more
Dathaeus said:
Oh really? I thought these Kindles were very particular in what they "took." I use CM for my Galaxy S4 and very satisfied with it so I have no problem trying it. I dont play Madden so thats fine (I was a big 2K fan LOL). I am really only looking to play Clash of Clans and some other remedial stuff, nothing too taxing. I guess I'll try that then since I think for the $$$ this screen is boss and the size is just about right too.
One thing, is the screen pretty responsive with CM in it? And is it ok if I ask a followup or two in case something goes out of sorts per your experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I went back to stock because all the custom roms were too slow. Found this on the hdx forum though, pretty much all google apps working without root! Just need one quick adb command and all done... http://forum.xda-developers.com/kindle-fire-hdx/themes-apps/how-to-install-gapps-root-t2954372
Play store wont work, but you can always sideload apps. So far have google+, youtube, maps and newsstand all working without a hitch. Works fine with my chromecast too.

[Q] So who was crazy enough to buy one of these??

That would be me!! lol. Amazon made me an offer I couldn't refuse -$159- I got the free year of prime- I paid for it last year by accident and ended up getting a lot of use out of it, so this made it easy. And the phone was $60 (after putting $99 towards prime), and I opened an amazon CC which gave me $40 in an instant credit- so this phone was $20 in the end!! plus taxes of course.
Before I pulled the trigger I looked to XDA to see where development was for this phone- and it looks like it is picking up and starting to move- so I will be getting this new fire phone tomorrow!!! I have to confess I have been using an iphone 5s (JB of course!) for the last year and a half and have been missing the challenge of rooting, romming, and making the best out of the hardware that is lacking due to poor software.
My plan is to put on the latest update and add google play market- leave it unrooted for now and see how it goes. But I am keeping my eye on beta CM11 and seeing how far it goes with CM 13 possibly in the future!!
@ggow- you seem to be very ambitious with this phone!!!! You are doing some great work and I am following your development closely :good::highfive:. I have never used safestrap before, but I may just have to give it a whirl. You make it very tempting
Why was I interested in this Fire Phone??? I bought a kindle 7 hdx last year and hacked that to run google market and it turned out to be a pretty great tablet that I also got a great deal on. It has the fire OS running along side google market with a great launcher running to swap back and forth. So kindle, instant videos, amazon music, and all the google apps too. It's specs were very close to the ipad mini and was a third of the cost. I gave it to my daughter to use in NYC running on att and she has had no complaints with how I modded it. And she is not very techy! :silly:
I am getting a little bored with my 5s and wanted a bigger screen- I passed on the 6+ since we are no longer getting subsidies and $850 for a phone seems ridiculous!! I don't know if 0.7 inches will make much of a difference, but for $20, I just had to find out
I have a Fire Stick TV also and I want to see how they work together. Very excited to receive this phone tomorrow.
Even after all the horrible reviews I read and watched on you tube!! Hopefully these modifications developed here will make it great!

Geez!!!! 75 views and no comments? Come on people- loosen up and let me know if you love your fire phone or hate it or Hate me cause I got it so cheap:silly: Please share your experiences with your Fire Phone. By now it's a year old, but still looks like a great phone for $60. I am basically a really cheap bargain hunter and wait for things to go on sale. This was really a good one.
Share what you did to make it a great phone! Would love to benefit from your experiences.:highfive: Do you love the Fire OS? Do you love the Market? Or CM11? Please share And I thank you in advance:good:

Great phone for the money. If throw yourself into the Amazon ecosystem the fire OS works quite well but I think only Jeff Bezos has done that so far. I'm using it with a custom launcher at the moment but when cm11 is final I might adopt it.

sashusmom said:
Geez!!!! 75 views and no comments? Come on people- loosen up and let me know if you love your fire phone or hate it or Hate me cause I got it so cheap:silly: Please share your experiences with your Fire Phone. By now it's a year old, but still looks like a great phone for $60. I am basically a really cheap bargain hunter and wait for things to go on sale. This was really a good one.
Share what you did to make it a great phone! Would love to benefit from your experiences.:highfive: Do you love the Fire OS? Do you love the Market? Or CM11? Please share And I thank you in advance:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you asked:
The hardware is incredible for the price. The antutu benchmark puts it slightly faster than a galaxy s5. However, the bells and whistles (extra cameras, 3D, etc) are irrelevant at best. -- The os is terrible. It works well enough but is far behind other smart phones' os. Also, Amazon's wish to completely control your "experience" gets in the way of good hardware. If you root and then add gapps and the google now launcher, the phone is better to use, but still feels wrong, especially when certain apps can only be added through amazon's app store. -- Finally, I'm still irked by the locked bootloader. It was at this stage I put it in the drawer to use as an emergency backup - or maybe a "mini-gamer" for kids.
Then came ggow and his work to bring CM11 to the phone. Thanks to him, I now use it as my daily driver. I have added Xposed Framework with a few modules, all my favorite apps, and the phone is great! The only annoyance is that there are very infrequent random google play services stops which quickly correct themselves leaving a msg that needs to be swiped away. This is no big deal and ggow might have this fixed by the time you read this. Ggow also mentioned bypassing lollipop (CM12) and looking to "M" for his next major upgrade. How this will happen with a locked bootloader I don't know, but all praise to the person who brought my firephone backed to life.
Enjoy your firephone.

I bought the Fire Phone 6 months ago (I think, don't remember), when it was $189 (and a year of Prime). Having a phone with those specs at $90 was a great deal and hard to refuse. Bought it, got it, and the first day of using it I was amused with how different it was from stock Android. I had a Nexus 5, which got stolen, and I wandered with a low-end phone until I bought the Fire Phone. The Fire Phone couldn't be more different from the Nexus 5, software-wise. I saw the lock screen, toyed with it and thought: "Wow, it moves depending on where I look it from, nice!" (my first lock screen was the one with the time made from the stars and the moon with below it) but also "Did Amazon really need 4 cameras just for that? It might drain my battery" and "Which real-world use could I give to this feature?"
Yes, it was nice to see how things moved thanks to the Dynamic Perspective feature, at least at first; then, like all novelties, my attention to it faded and eventually I disabled it. Having my battery drained wasn't worth for a feature I wasn't paying attention to and which the only real-world use I could think of was showing it to some friend to surprise them a for a little time. And because this phone doesn't have a removable battery, I couldn't afford to lose it for some gimmicky feature.
Then I saw the Carousel, which is the home screen where the most recent apps are shown, with the notifications below it. They were affected by the Dynamic Perspective too. I hated that dotted pattern they used for the Carousel, and then I tried to change it for, say, whatever picture this phone could've come with.
I went to Settings, and was surprised to see, first, that that annoying dotted pattern was there too, and then that there wasn't a way to change the wallpaper. I thought "Come on, it's 2015, every OS in the friggin' world has a way to change the wallpaper. It's the most basic form of customization. Even Apple (which I don't hate), with all that walled garden feeling, allows you to change the wallpaper." But Amazon's FireOS didn't (I haven't ever seen a Kindle Fire tablet). My phone shipped with version 3.6.8, and we had to wait until May to see such a basic feature with the upgrade to 4.6.1. I got annoyed by that, but there was nothing I could to about it.
I checked the pre-loaded games, which make heavy use of the same Dynamic Perspective. I half-liked the Planet Blocks game and played it for a while. After that, I forgot I had it and remained hidden.
Then I went to the Appstore to see what was new. I knew the Appstore didn't have any Google app, and understood it. Amazon had an equivalent to every Google app and, even though I didn't like how they looked, they got the job done, and that was what mattered. Downloading and installing was what I was used to, and updating was a breeze.
But I guess I missed some apps that weren't on the Appstore and was lazy to not sideload all of them. I needed to see good ol' Google on this phone, so I went to XDA and checked if there was a way to sideload Google Play Services. After all, underneath all the Amazon skin and no traces of Google, FireOS was Android at the heart (3.6.8 was based on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, which was pretty outdated even then). There was a way to install Google Play Services, and there was a way to root the phone too, but only if you were brave (and foolish) enough to downgrade to 3.5.1 (it was a bad idea, because if you did that, there would be problems with the Amazon account registration and also some nasty overheating issue). So, I stayed with just installing Google Play Services. It went smoothly and finally got Google. With the Play Store I'd be able to download and install SwiftKey and maybe Google Now Launcher or Nova Launcher.
I got no luck with SwiftKey. It installed, but then you couldn't use it unless you activated it via ADB. After that, got SwiftKey. And about launchers, they worked, except for widgets (which weren't supported in FireOS) and the wallpaper (there was a way to change the wallpaper in Nova; you could choose the image, but it never worked; you had to like the black background because it was the only option). I checked other launchers, some supported widgets (not all widgets, but some) and some found a way to change the wallpaper. I stuck with Buzz Launcher, which made the phone look and work most similar to Android.
I hoped Amazon would sometime hear what users here at XDA (and everywhere else) had to say. The Fire Phone was a great piece of hardware, but its software was a bummer. People were trying to google it but all you could do was sideload Google Play Services. The bootloader was locked (and still is), and the Towelroot method for rooting didn't work for 3.6.8, so downgrading was the next stage for googling up the device. I remember seeing some guys here at XDA offering some money to the first person to unlock the bootloader, and some people sending a letter to Jeff Bezos himself to unlock it and then also a Change.org petition, taking the example of the HP TouchPad tablet (it saw new life after HP unlocked its bootloader, after which people flashed Android instead of the built-in webOS, becoming the second-most selling tablet of 2011). It never happened.
Then it was the question if the phone would ever receive a FireOS 4 update (based on Android 4.4 KitKat), given its lackluster sales. It finally happened on May, and came with very necessary changes to help customize the phone.
This new version would eventually be rooted via Kingroot, which is a very shady-looking app for rooting. It worked, and then there was a way to change it for SuperSU, a more reliable root app. With all the long wait, knowing a developer found a way to flash a ROM even with the locked bootloader was a relief. I flashed it as fast as I could. Now I'm using Cyanogenmod 11 and it's great (no trace of Amazon). It's still beta (the developer uploaded the first build just 4 days ago), but it works pretty well right now, and it'll only get better.
Now we can use a phone that has a great price and good specs with a great OS to match. To the people out there wondering if the phone is worth the price (right now it went back to $449 and comes with a year of Amazon Prime, with $99 alone, so the phone's real price is $350), no, it's not, you could get a OnePlus One at that price (which comes with Cyanogen OS), or a Moto X, or a Xiaomi Mi4, or many other great phones below $350 (and then if, and only if, you want Amazon Prime you can subscribe). When it gets a big discount, which happens from time to time (last one was this week and the price went down to $159), it gets more attractive (especially if you were going to subscribe to Amazon Prime). The phone has many gimmicky features which are really useless, uses an OS that is difficult to adapt to, and is overpriced most of the time (no wonder Amazon failed to sell it at launch at $199 with AT&T contact, or later at $649 unlocked, or now at $449), but may be a great deal when bought at discount (this week the real price of the phone was $60, and at that price you cannot get any smartphone off-contract) and if you're willing to tinker with the phone and flash a ROM (Cyanogenmod 11 is the only one right now, but might be more in the future), it makes a pretty good phone.
A quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU, with Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM, a 13MP rear camera and 2.1MP front camera, 1080p recording, 32GB of built-in storage and now the ability to flash Cyanogenmod 11 for just $60? I'd buy it.

Wow!! Great responses guys. I thank you for taking the time to offer your opinions and I really look forward to receiving my Fire phone

Got my Fire phone!!
I really like the screen- overall size of the phone is not really bigger than my 5s but the screen real estate is a little bigger. It's not so lite that you will drop it or so thin you will drop it either. When I use my 5s bare, I have a hard time hanging onto it. It's in a wallet case that I can get a good grab onto. I like a little heft to it and it does feel good in your hand.
I have the incipio folio case on this fire phone that I got for $10 from ATT online store. That was a really good deal. Also did a screen saver just because I like them and the protection from minute scratches they provide.
So, on my Amazon account it was registered to me and the free prime was added on. When I went to set up the phone it requires you to register again to your account and I got all errors that it couldn't be done at this time, blah blah blah. I researched it and apparently this was a big problem at launch too.
So I updated it to the latest of 4.6.1 (820) and tried again, same deal. It just wouldn't register. So I de-registered it on my computer, and tried again on the phone, no go. You can't use the phone without it being asso. with an amazon acct- no apps at all are usable, even the preinstalled ones. So I chatted online, they couldn't help me and wanted to have their Fire Team support call me back- but I couldn't at that time so I will deal with it tomorrow. I'll have to search this forum and see if there's any info about it.
In the meantime I got the google apps working so now I at least have a pretty good list of apps, but no amazon services working yet. I still have to add a sim card and check the basic call functions- since it is a phone.
The benefit of picking up a phone that is a year old is you guys have already tackled the tough parts of rooting, modding, roms, etc. I checked out this forum before purchasing and was pleasantly surprised that you just made the break through just this week for CM. I may have to check that out! I have the att Mega and that poor orphan phone is so crippled most guys just walked away. I Love it for it's 6 inch screen size. The iphone 6+ was in my thoughts but can't justify that price tag. My mega was a penny when we still did subsidies.
I thank you all for your perseverance and hard work and your stick-to-it-ive-ness:good: This could actually be a decent phone with all the modifications. I am hoping I can leave it as is and swap between the Fire OS and the Nova launcher. Hopefully I'll get it registered correctly tomorrow. It's nice getting back into android after apple. I like them both- but I do get bored.
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So even though it is 3 am here, I just got off the phone with fire phone support and I was told it was a system wide outage and there are many people having this problem. They will get back to me!! I won't hold my breath here
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Talked again to amazon and I am "on the list" to have this registration fubar sorted out. She took additional info- my mac address on the phone specifically, and supposedly this will be fixed OTA magically. We'll see.
I do have a working sim in and phone calls work fine. I have issue with the tinny sounding speakers that are suppose to be stereo- Sounds terrible- especially with music clips ringtones. Pandora sounds bad too. I did read the reviews about the sound and it appears to be true.
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So Amazon finally fixed the registration problem OTA. I can now access my Amazon stuff. Problem solved.

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