Hanson
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Nov 1, 1998
- Messages
- 5,272
- Real Name
- Hanson
Most of this post is copied from another thread, but I thought it would be good to break it out into its own thread.
I haven't really gotten a lot of time with it yet, but here's what I've seen so far:
The display is very nice. At 50% brightness (I hate auto brightness) it's nice and vibrant, and from the limited time I've had playing with GS3 devices, it appears clearer and sharper. And yes, it is freaking huge.
Pocketability is no problem. It doesn't stick out of my pocket and I don't feel it jamming into my hip when I sit down. It is a tiny bit harder to maneuver in and out when I'm sitting down, but if I'm standing, it's no different from my 4.5" GS2.
I'm not sure what the percentage of one handed use will be, but make no mistake -- no amount of manual gymnastics will allow me to use this like my GS2. I could hit all fours corners with my thumb before. Now it's pretty much impossible. I'll see how that affects usage.
I installed Nova Launcher to increase the number of icons on the home screen. The Touchwiz default is only four columns but 5 in the dock. I changed it to 6 X 5. I haven't activated the phone yet and I don't have all of my contacts and such on there. I'm still slowly installing apps. I think Nova Launcher is a must.
Browsing via Chrome is super fast. Faster than my GS2, faster than my Transformer Prime. The pages render at desktop-like speeds. This part is great.
The back isn't nearly as slick and slippery as I read about. Actually, it's got a friction feel to it (the Gray model at least) and between that and the even distributed weight, I can easily balance the phone on my fingertips. I can hold it at a 70 degree angle across my fingers without having to grip it.
My first pet peeve is that I can't quite reach the Back key if I'm holding it in my left hand (which is my preferred operating hand). This really impacts one handed operability.
You can sideload Adobe Flash and use it in Firefox without having to do any special settings or workarounds.
Draw Something with a stylus is THE GREATEST THING EVER. Too bad my sister is the only one willing to play anymore. Instead of spastic fingerpainting, the SPen feels like you're really drawing. I can draw very detailed pictures now.
My GS2 couldn't do it. My Transformer Prime couldn't do it. But my GN2 can stream ts files, that is, recorded mpeg2 HD files. It's not as perfectly smooth as mkv files (it stutters for a few seconds before it smooths out and slows down if there's a lot of movement), but it's watchable.
Browsing is much, much faster than the Transformer, and Flipboard smokes on the GN2. HTML5 video is super smooth.
There's a delay on the lock screen when you first turn on the phone. If you swipe immediately after you power the screen, you might end up swiping a couple of times before unlocking the phone.
The entire copy/paste functionality is much smoother now. It's hinkier on all my other devices.
The dual window mode does not work out of the box. I assume I need a firmware update to activate it. I won't be able to do that until the GN2 is activated.
I haven't really gotten a lot of time with it yet, but here's what I've seen so far:
The display is very nice. At 50% brightness (I hate auto brightness) it's nice and vibrant, and from the limited time I've had playing with GS3 devices, it appears clearer and sharper. And yes, it is freaking huge.
Pocketability is no problem. It doesn't stick out of my pocket and I don't feel it jamming into my hip when I sit down. It is a tiny bit harder to maneuver in and out when I'm sitting down, but if I'm standing, it's no different from my 4.5" GS2.
I'm not sure what the percentage of one handed use will be, but make no mistake -- no amount of manual gymnastics will allow me to use this like my GS2. I could hit all fours corners with my thumb before. Now it's pretty much impossible. I'll see how that affects usage.
I installed Nova Launcher to increase the number of icons on the home screen. The Touchwiz default is only four columns but 5 in the dock. I changed it to 6 X 5. I haven't activated the phone yet and I don't have all of my contacts and such on there. I'm still slowly installing apps. I think Nova Launcher is a must.
Browsing via Chrome is super fast. Faster than my GS2, faster than my Transformer Prime. The pages render at desktop-like speeds. This part is great.
The back isn't nearly as slick and slippery as I read about. Actually, it's got a friction feel to it (the Gray model at least) and between that and the even distributed weight, I can easily balance the phone on my fingertips. I can hold it at a 70 degree angle across my fingers without having to grip it.
My first pet peeve is that I can't quite reach the Back key if I'm holding it in my left hand (which is my preferred operating hand). This really impacts one handed operability.
You can sideload Adobe Flash and use it in Firefox without having to do any special settings or workarounds.
Draw Something with a stylus is THE GREATEST THING EVER. Too bad my sister is the only one willing to play anymore. Instead of spastic fingerpainting, the SPen feels like you're really drawing. I can draw very detailed pictures now.
My GS2 couldn't do it. My Transformer Prime couldn't do it. But my GN2 can stream ts files, that is, recorded mpeg2 HD files. It's not as perfectly smooth as mkv files (it stutters for a few seconds before it smooths out and slows down if there's a lot of movement), but it's watchable.
Browsing is much, much faster than the Transformer, and Flipboard smokes on the GN2. HTML5 video is super smooth.
There's a delay on the lock screen when you first turn on the phone. If you swipe immediately after you power the screen, you might end up swiping a couple of times before unlocking the phone.
The entire copy/paste functionality is much smoother now. It's hinkier on all my other devices.
The dual window mode does not work out of the box. I assume I need a firmware update to activate it. I won't be able to do that until the GN2 is activated.