Samsung Galaxy S II

super_furry

So now that the dust has settled, what do people think of the phone? I had the Galaxy I and wasn't convinced. I don't know if it was just me but swapping screens could see it stutter, there was occasionally lag whereby nothing would happen for a few seconds and then all the commands would come through and the SD card had a really annoying habit of unmounting itself. This was all before Gingerbread mind you, so it may have had as much to do with the OS itself. Also Kies made me want to eat my own face with frustration.

I currently have an Xperia Play which is a nice console but not a great phone and am out of contract so am free to move to the likes of Meteor to get this for next to nothing. To be honest I was kind of holding out for the Sensation XE but now that's an O2 exclusive, it's out of the question. Ideally if I were to get a Galaxy II, it's be putting a 32gb micro SD in it and using it as an MP3 player replacement too.

Zagato

BenEadir wrote: »

Hi all,

Just flashed Villain Rom 3.0 which is 2.3.5. It's a long time since I installed VR 1.4 so it was a bit of a messy process but I think I've got it properly installed and my apps and setting back etc now.

I also took the opportunity to install the latest modem KI3 (link here http://crazypig.me/2011/09/01/samsung-galaxy-s-2-i9100-shipped-modem-collection/) which I thought would improve GSM/3G/Edge and (in particular) Wi-Fi signal whilst optimising battery performance but based on the last couple of hours I'm not sure KI3 is very good as I'm getting a piss poor Wi-Fi signal (where I usually get a decent one), I'm not getting a 3G signal where I usually do (I'm only getting Edge) and the last few calls I got were shocking poor quality despite the phone showing 5 bars and the other person calling from a landline.

Can anyone here point me in the direction of what is the best medem to use on Vodafone here in Ireland? I've tried looking over on XDA but it's a mass of conflicting info.

Ben

Sorry, but haven't actually gotten around to upgrading myself yet. What radio were you on before?

I'm on Vodafone, and find KH3 to be fine, certainly not bad, but to be honest I can't ever remember a noticeable improvement upgrading a newer radio. I flashed it as a .zip I got from the radio thread on XDA, but I do know that some over there do not recommend flashing radios as zips.

Will probably be the weekend before I go to 3.0 at this stage. At the moment trying to come up with a topic for presentation at 8am tomorrow -think it's going to be a late one

BenEadir

Zagato wrote: »

Sorry, but haven't actually gotten around to upgrading myself yet. What radio were you on before?

I'm on Vodafone, and find KH3 to be fine, certainly not bad, but to be honest I can't ever remember a noticeable improvement upgrading a newer radio. I flashed it as a .zip I got from the radio thread on XDA, but I do know that some over there do not recommend flashing radios as zips.

Will probably be the weekend before I go to 3.0 at this stage. At the moment trying to come up with a topic for presentation at 8am tomorrow -think it's going to be a late one

Whats the presentation on??

Ben

niallb

Like many people here I had awful battery life for the first few days.
It may have been the battery settling in, but I've made the following changes and have been much happier with battery life since.

1) Removed the Live wallpaper I was using
2) Disabled the Samsung Apps updates and application
3) Disabled "Fast Dormancy" as I've read it causes unnecessary battery drain if your network doesn't support it. I'm on Meteor - this may differ with different providers.

Fast Dormancy is on a hidden menu that comes up when you type *#9900# into the dialer. Select disable fast dormancy if enabled.
Maybe enabling it if it's disabled might have just as good an effect if your network expects it to be on. Custom ROMs may not deliver this menu.

Zagato

BenEadir wrote: »

Zagato wrote: »

Whats the presentation on??

Ben

After much faffing about, I've decided: Bronchial Thermoplasty

Yeah, I don't really know much about it either, going to be a long night, coffee pot on ........

vinnygo

That look like the iPhone.

ongarite wrote: »

Someone in Korea accidently released all the info on this new phone 2 days too early but at first glance it looks fantastic.

Android 2.3
4.3" RGB Super AMOLED screen
1GHz dual-core processor
HSPA+, Bluetooth 3.0 & 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi.
1970mAh battery
Weighs 116g (4.09 ounces) and is 8.49mm thick, which makes it one of the thinnest and lightest phones ever.

Captain Chaos

And some Boeing aircraft look like some Airbus aircraft. Nice one troll.

lafors

Ordered myself the 2000mah battery the other day and also this SGP neo hybrid case in reventon yellow


This case will fit well with the extended battery according to reports on XDA.
I don't really need the battery I get just about 2 days out of the original one but I'd be good to have that little bit extra so I don't need to worry about charging it every day.

Jilm

lafors wrote: »

Ordered myself the 2000mah battery the other day and also this SGP neo hybrid case in reventon yellow

This case will fit well with the extended battery according to reports on XDA.
I don't really need the battery I get just about 2 days out of the original one but I'd be good to have that little bit extra so I don't need to worry about charging it every day.

I have the same case and I also ordered the 2000mah extended battery.

Apparently that case isn't a perfect fit as it's a bit loose below the camera area (link). I'm thinking of getting the Neo Hybrid EX case at some stage.

Dempsey

2000mah battery, tell me more!!

Jilm

Dempsey wrote: »

2000mah battery, tell me more!!

It is slightly bigger than the standard battery and comes with a new backplate. People are getting ~25% extra battery life.

There's a good discussion at XDA.

MobileFun has it for €32.48 delivered.

Dempsey

Looks great but the extra thickness will probably mean that case is not the right fit for the upgrade

Jilm

Dempsey wrote: »

Looks great but the extra thickness will probably mean that case is not the right fit for the upgrade

Here's a list of compatible cases that fit the S2 with the 2000mah battery...

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1274045

conor.hogan.2

I will be buying that battery, thanks!

In fact is that the biggest battery available? I wouldnt mind doubling the weight and thickness.

Jilm

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

In fact is that the biggest battery available? I wouldnt mind doubling the weight and thickness.

I spotted this 3500mah clunker...

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1123068

conor.hogan.2

Sound, well I am currently carrying around a G1 so I wouldnt mind the weight/size.

The only problem is I can imagine the camera would work the same, the pics seem to show the battery sticking out a lot and possibly messing with the angles it would pick up.

irishgeo

is the phone worth it?

Four of a kind

irishgeo wrote: »

is the phone worth it?

Defo! 100% worth it!

PerryRoko

Going to pick up an SII this week, really looking forward to getting my hands on one. Big decision is where the best deal for the handset is, still not quite sure! The all you can eat data on three sure is tempting

smilerf

Lads sometimes my s2 will switch from the dim display setting to bright but still tell me its on dim. anyone else having this problem?

meglome

Jilm wrote: »

It is slightly bigger than the standard battery and comes with a new backplate. People are getting ~25% extra battery life.

There's a good discussion at XDA.

MobileFun has it for €32.48 delivered.

Just put 2.3.4 on mine (rooted it again) and used Titanium Backup Pro to remove a load of the Samsung bloatware apps. I wiped the phone and I haven't got everything reinstalled but the battery life is significantly better. The feel of the phone and some annoyances are better too, I haven't changed the default launcher this time.

Going to check out this battery too.

subway

got very bad battery life yesterday.
lost 50%+ in 2 hours during the day - culprit touchdown email causing wakelocks again (uninstalled again)
then lost a steady 15% over the evening, assumed down to browsing etc.
put phone onto airplane, silent and night screen as usual and woke up this morning to low battery alert and the remaining 25-30% of my battery trickling away
culprit this time, footmob scores and again partial wakelocks.

both uninstalled now and phone charging - unfortunately i have to reinstall touchdown when i am on call to make my life easier, i just keep forgetting to uninstall it as it seems to just get worse and worse after a few days

Four of a kind

mobile internet notification.

cant figure out what the notifications are on phone.

at top of screen when i enable data i get a mixture of 3G - G - H+ notification that keeps changing. theres also an orange arrow and green arrow underneath these notifications.

what do these values mean? i know what 3G is obv.

Ush1

Lazy question here.

I have a SG2 which was originally Vodafone, I rooted and unlocked it and have an O2 sim card now in it. What firmware would I want to put on it to bring it to the latest Android. I don't want a custom one, I've heard the official one was leaked but does it matter what provider the phone was using?

Any links?

Zagato

Four of a kind wrote: »

mobile internet notification.

cant figure out what the notifications are on phone.

at top of screen when i enable data i get a mixture of 3G - G - H+ notification that keeps changing. theres also an orange arrow and green arrow underneath these notifications.

what do these values mean? i know what 3G is obv.

G is for GPRS (WAP) it is 2G data,
E is for EDGE (2.5G),
H is for HSPA (3.5G) -the best data connection

On default setting phone tries to get 3G/HSPA network, and if there is no signal then will switch to 2G, but if you are in a poor 3G signal area this can be battery sapping as mentioned before and you may be better off putting your phone on 2G only, and then switching to 2G/3G auto if you are browsing. Switching off 3G is one of the few things that will give you a very noticeable battery improvement imo.

If phone is switching a lot between 2G and 3G it may be worth switching off Fast Dormancy. You'll have to stick that into the search box up the top as I've explained it before and ......... well it confuses me so don't want to muddle myself up again.

Ush1 wrote: »

Lazy question here.

I have a SG2 which was originally Vodafone, I rooted and unlocked it and have an O2 sim card now in it. What firmware would I want to put on it to bring it to the latest Android. I don't want a custom one, I've heard the official one was leaked but does it matter what provider the phone was using?

Any links?

www.samfirmware.com

Ush1

Zagato wrote: »

www.samfirmware.com

Which firmware would I need do you know? Or does it matter?

Baseband version: I9100BUKG1

Kernal Version: 2.6.35.7-I9100BUKG2-CL342890
[EMAIL="root@DELL102"]root@DELL102[/EMAIL] #2

Build Number: GINGERBREAD.BUKG2

Zagato

Well you are going to be updating all of those things if you flash one of the official firmwares, and follow the instructions on the site.

Remember that this will most likely wipe your phone, so back up. It will not root your phone.

The custom ROM I'm using is based on the leaked European KI3 Firmware that's available there. When you extract the RAR file, you will have a number of files to put into the different sections in Odin.

Remember read and reread the instructions before you start.

ShaneU

Was waiting for the iphone 5 to be announced (and we all know how that turned out :rolleyes:) so I'm getting this. What's the cheapest place to get it online?

I'm in a contract with Three until January, If I bought it on prepay with them how long would I have to wait to have it unlocked? Or could I just root it and unlock it with an app?

Thanks.

ScrubsfanChris

ShaneU wrote: »

Was waiting for the iphone 5 to be announced (and we all know how that turned out :rolleyes:) so I'm getting this. What's the cheapest place to get it online?

Keep an eye on http://www.adverts.ie/
I bought mine new (box opened) for €400 back in June.

Might seem alot, but I didn't want to be tied into a contract.

Or could I just root it and unlock it with an app?

Yes you can.

Zagato

ShaneU wrote: »

Was waiting for the iphone 5 to be announced (and we all know how that turned out :rolleyes:) so I'm getting this. What's the cheapest place to get it online?

I'm in a contract with Three until January, If I bought it on prepay with them how long would I have to wait to have it unlocked? Or could I just root it and unlock it with an app?

Thanks.

Usually carriers have an amount you have to spend on prepay phones rather than a time period, before they will give you unlock code. There are apps that will attempt to find the unlock code (which require root) but you cannot be guaranteed this will work until it does, if you catch me, carriers are getting wise to these apps

ShaneU

I can get it brand new and sim-free off amazon for €480, seems like a decent price.

Dave147

ShaneU wrote: »

I can get it brand new and sim-free off amazon for €480, seems like a decent price.

That's €100 less than I paid for mine the day they launched. Got mine off eBay for €580.. Best phone I've ever used tbh and couldn't wait to get it..

TheUsual

super_furry wrote: »

So now that the dust has settled, but swapping screens could see it stutter, there was occasionally lag whereby nothing would happen for a few seconds and then all the commands would come through and the SD card had a really annoying habit of unmounting itself. This was all before Gingerbread mind you, so it may have had as much to do with the OS itself. Also Kies made me want to eat my own face with frustration.

I don't get the delay thing "lag" myself. Maybe I just bought a "good" phone, but I don't get the whole thing.
I suspect Apple robots at work sending posts everywhere.
To be honest, you would have to be a muppet to slow your phone down this much. Or a spammer, just looking for attention.

Ush1

Zagato wrote: »

Well you are going to be updating all of those things if you flash one of the official firmwares, and follow the instructions on the site.

Remember that this will most likely wipe your phone, so back up. It will not root your phone.

The custom ROM I'm using is based on the leaked European KI3 Firmware that's available there. When you extract the RAR file, you will have a number of files to put into the different sections in Odin.

Remember read and reread the instructions before you start.

Thanks, got that all set up now running 2.3.5. So it really doesn't matter so much about that stuff just get the latest European release for the future?

garysully1986

Anyone know what the little refresh symbol on top is, it kind of looks like a recycling sign with two arrows forming a circle?

Professey Chin

Its the Sync symbol. Its when accounts are syncing (Google, Facebook, Viber etc)

garysully1986

Mega Chin wrote: »

Its the Sync symbol. Its when accounts are syncing (Google, Facebook, Viber etc)

Ah that makes sense, thanks a million

NinjaTruncs

garysully1986 wrote: »

Anyone know what the little refresh symbol on top is, it kind of looks like a recycling sign with two arrows forming a circle?

It's the power saving mode symbol.

08mor

hi all, have an s2 since july, however sometimes when im at home using the wifi and a call comes through, when i answer the call i cannot hear the other person, but the other person can hear me, is there anything i can do to prevent this happening?? thanks in advance.

Dozen Wicked Words

NinjaTruncs wrote: »

It's the power saving mode symbol.

If power saving mode is on, is there any way of making that symbol disappear until such time as its in effect. Don't like the icon there all the time, thought it would make more sense to come in when the battery is at whatever percentage you set.

08mor

08mor wrote: »

hi all, have an s2 since july, however sometimes when im at home using the wifi and a call comes through, when i answer the call i cannot hear the other person, but the other person can hear me, is there anything i can do to prevent this happening?? thanks in advance.

anyone?? its really annoying me and for such an expensive phone i would like to know how to sort it

Four of a kind

08mor wrote: »

anyone?? its really annoying me and for such an expensive phone i would like to know how to sort it

come to think of it, i've had this happen to me once or twice but never really thought about it. Think there could be something nagging it.

Would like to hear any info relating to this as well.

srsly78

Only happens to me because I forget to disconnect bluetooth headset. Amn't using stock rom tho.

Are you updated to latest official version?

Four of a kind

srsly78 wrote: »

Only happens to me because I forget to disconnect bluetooth headset. Amn't using stock rom tho.

Are you updated to latest official version?

well i rooted and flashed VR 3.0 ROM straight away, without upgrading to the latest firmware.

Four of a kind

can't seem to work mms lads. can't send or receive. How do i check and see settings? I'm with VF on prepay.

Zagato

Four of a kind wrote: »

can't seem to work mms lads. can't send or receive. How do i check and see settings? I'm with VF on prepay.

They should be in settings » wireless & networks » mobile network » access point names

I'm on billpay, but here are pics of my settings

Four of a kind

Zagato wrote: »

They should be in settings » wireless & networks » mobile network » access point names

I'm on billpay, but here are pics of my settings

Strange.....there're the exact same on my device!

Wonder why I cant seem to send or receive any mms?

For instance today a mate sent an mms which i got in my go sms app, and it had a download button in the msg, but when i clicked it, it said unable to download or something.

Same the other day, I tried to sent a photo via mms but just wouldn't move.

Obv I know you have to have data package enable(mobile date)...but could there be anything else that I'm not doing correctly? Would I need to call VF and get them to enable MMS setting since its a new phone or something?

Sam Vimes

Four of a kind wrote: »

Strange.....there're the exact same on my device!

Wonder why I cant seem to send or receive any mms?

For instance today a mate sent an mms which i got in my go sms app, and it had a download button in the msg, but when i clicked it, it said unable to download or something.

Same the other day, I tried to sent a photo via mms but just wouldn't move.

Obv I know you have to have data package enable(mobile date)...but could there be anything else that I'm not doing correctly? Would I need to call VF and get them to enable MMS setting since its a new phone or something?

Firstly look over the settings again and make sure they're identical

Then check if you can send mms with your sim in another phone that you know can send mms with another vodafone sim in it.

If you can't, call vodafone and tell them mms is not working on your account

If you can, check if that other person can send mms with their sim in your phone. If they can't, you've got a phone problem. If they can, I'd recommend a replacement sim.

Marco85

Sam Vimes wrote: »

Four of a kind wrote: »

Strange.....there're the exact same on my device!

Wonder why I cant seem to send or receive any mms?

For instance today a mate sent an mms which i got in my go sms app, and it had a download button in the msg, but when i clicked it, it said unable to download or something.

Same the other day, I tried to sent a photo via mms but just wouldn't move.

Obv I know you have to have data package enable(mobile date)...but could there be anything else that I'm not doing correctly? Would I need to call VF and get them to enable MMS setting since its a new phone or something?

Firstly look over the settings again and make sure they're identical

Then check if you can send mms with your sim in another phone that you know can send mms with another vodafone sim in it.

If you can't, call vodafone and tell them mms is not working on your account

If you can, check if that other person can send mms with their sim in your phone. If they can't, you've got a phone problem. If they can, I'd recommend a replacement sim.

I had the same problem with mine. The phone has to be in data network mode activated to recieve mms and not wifi.

marcbrophy

Four of a kind wrote: »

Strange.....there're the exact same on my device!

Wonder why I cant seem to send or receive any mms?

For instance today a mate sent an mms which i got in my go sms app, and it had a download button in the msg, but when i clicked it, it said unable to download or something.

Same the other day, I tried to sent a photo via mms but just wouldn't move.

Obv I know you have to have data package enable(mobile date)...but could there be anything else that I'm not doing correctly? Would I need to call VF and get them to enable MMS setting since its a new phone or something?

Stupid question, but do you have credit on your phone?
MMS's are not included in any SMS bundle you might be on!