The Real Reason Samsung is Beating Apple - pretty amazing

[afv011]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

I had an original Galaxy S, and there were some apps that could be moved to the SD card and some that couldn't. But, more importantly, if I moved an app to the SD card *I could no longer use their custom widget on the home screen.* Which meant that several of my most useful apps could be moved, but because their usefulness was in their home screen widget, I had to leave them on the phone.

Samsung stopped supporting my phone after Gingerbread, so it might be something that was improved for later phones with newer versions of the OS. I don't know; I have an iPhone now.

The move to SD card was a workaround to breath some extra life into phones with limited internal storage, it was never a "this is the way things will be done in the future" thing. Phones now have multiple gigabytes of internal storage, and for most folks that should be plenty, at least if you store apps internally and your humongous video files on the SD card. Only those users with a bunch of high def games might feel the pain of limited onboard storage.

[K. Molen]

Originally Posted by afv011

Good option, but I personally prefer MX player, I use it on my Nexus 10 and it is flawless, plays anything I throw at it.

My Nexus 10 is scheduled to arrive on Friday (yes, I pulled the trigger prematurely with my device list... ) and I've heard great things about MX player as an all around media player. What's your recommendation for an all around reader? Is there such a beast? For my needs, Perfect Viewer almost gets there, it can read PDF, CBZ, and CBR... if you threw in ePub I'd be all set, but alas...

So, any recommendations?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by afv011

Good option, but I personally prefer MX player, I use it on my Nexus 10 and it is flawless, plays anything I throw at it.

I use it too. I have it on my Fire HD 8.9 and my Nexus 7.

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by K. Molen

My Nexus 10 is scheduled to arrive on Friday (yes, I pulled the trigger prematurely with my device list... ) and I've heard great things about MX player as an all around media player. What's your recommendation for an all around reader? Is there such a beast? For my needs, Perfect Viewer almost gets there, it can read PDF, CBZ, and CBR... if you threw in ePub I'd be all set, but alas...

So, any recommendations?

I use Moon+ though I'm not sure if it reads PDF files: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...9vbnJlYWRlciJd

[K. Molen]

Originally Posted by Pookeysgirl

I use Moon+ though I'm not sure if it reads PDF files: https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...9vbnJlYWRlciJd

Looks pretty good. And it looks like the Pro version ($4.99) supports PDF. May just have to give that a go. I like to buy apps when the price is reasonable, so I'd likely pony up for the Pro version anyway. I'll give the freebie version a shot for sure though. Thanks!

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by K. Molen

Looks pretty good. And it looks like the Pro version ($4.99) supports PDF. May just have to give that a go. I like to buy apps when the price is reasonable, so I'd likely pony up for the Pro version anyway. I'll give the freebie version a shot for sure though. Thanks!

No problem! I've been using it since I got my Galaxy S3...didn't even know there was a Pro version .

[K. Molen]

Originally Posted by Pookeysgirl

...didn't even know there was a Pro version .

From what I can tell, if you don't need PDF or Dropbox support there's not a whole lot of reason to upgrade. Everything else seems to be decidedly in the nice-to-have category, not must-have. At least for me.

[Teknikal]

I went Moon+ as well on my Nexus but I'm currently looking for a better option as it just wont show me the series info on my files which is pretty vital to me as I usually just read big series of books. I'm also having issues with it turning pages correctly sometimes it goes page forward and sometimes page backwards with the same gesture I really don't rate it very high so far.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by K. Molen

My Nexus 10 is scheduled to arrive on Friday (yes, I pulled the trigger prematurely with my device list... ) and I've heard great things about MX player as an all around media player. What's your recommendation for an all around reader? Is there such a beast? For my needs, Perfect Viewer almost gets there, it can read PDF, CBZ, and CBR... if you threw in ePub I'd be all set, but alas...

So, any recommendations?

I personally like Mantano, but there are other good options you can try, like Aldiko or Moon reader. Most, if not all, have a free version that you can try to see if you like the features on offer.

[kyrilson]

Originally Posted by K. Molen

From what I can tell, if you don't need PDF or Dropbox support there's not a whole lot of reason to upgrade. Everything else seems to be decidedly in the nice-to-have category, not must-have. At least for me.

I tried out all of the Android reader apps and settled On Moon+Reader. I like to support developers when I like their apps, as it keeps them going a lot of times, so I ended up buying the Pro version.

[kyrilson]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

I went Moon+ as well on my Nexus but I'm currently looking for a better option as it just wont show me the series info on my files which is pretty vital to me as I usually just read big series of books. I'm also having issues with it turning pages correctly sometimes it goes page forward and sometimes page backwards with the same gesture I really don't rate it very high so far.

I use the volume buttons to turn the pages on both the Nexus 7 and my S3 smartphone. It's a nice feature that eliminates any ambiguity when swiping.

I normally rest the Nexus 7 in my left hand, with my middle finger resting on the down volume, and just click to turn the page. Works very well.

[Prestidigitweeze]

If the new HTC One had an SD slot, removable battery and supported OTG cables for digital audio on most portable DACs, I'd choose it over the S4 in a second.

My sense about the Galaxy S line's popularity is that it has to do with flexibility and reliability. People like me are willing to buy devices like the Note 2 despite the lack of style, not because we think the style is superior.

The main thing that recommends Android in the first place is flexibility. The hardware which provides the most powerful and least locked-down Android experience is the one I'll always choose, and I doubt I'm alone in that.

Truthfully, I hate to see Samsung triumphing over smaller companies. If only HTC would stop interpreting its customer surveys in terms of imposed limitations and add options instead -- particularly to their painstakingly confected hardware.

Try playing with the new One for an hour and then choosing the S4 with no qualms whatsoever. It's a harder choice than you might think.

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

If the new HTC One had an SD slot, removable battery and supported OTG cables for digital audio on most portable DACs, I'd choose it over the S4 in a second.

My sense about the Galaxy S line's popularity is that it has to do with flexibility and reliability. People like me are willing to buy devices like the Note 2 despite the lack of style, not because we think the style is superior.

The main thing that recommends Android in the first place is flexibility. The hardware which provides the most powerful and least locked-down Android experience is the one I'll always choose, and I doubt I'm alone in that.

Truthfully, I hate to see Samsung triumphing over smaller companies. If only HTC would stop interpreting its customer surveys in terms of imposed limitations and add options instead -- particularly to their painstakingly confected hardware.

Try playing with the new One for an hour and then choosing the S4 with no qualms whatsoever. It's a harder choice than you might think.

I absolutely agree with you. If I was able to put an SD card and remove the battery I would have went with the ONE X. I really liked the screen on it. I do love my S3 though. The whole phone is themed based on Knight Rider right now .

[K. Molen]

Originally Posted by afv011

I personally like Mantano, but there are other good options you can try, like Aldiko or Moon reader. Most, if not all, have a free version that you can try to see if you like the features on offer.

Cool. Thanks. I'll be sure to check those out tomorrow when I get the tablet.

Originally Posted by kyrilson

I like to support developers when I like their apps, as it keeps them going a lot of times, so I ended up buying the Pro version.

Yeah, me too. As long as they're not dreaming on the price I don't mind forking over a few dollars even if I don't need the additional features.

[sakura-panda]

Originally Posted by afv011

The move to SD card was a workaround to breath some extra life into phones with limited internal storage, it was never a "this is the way things will be done in the future" thing. Phones now have multiple gigabytes of internal storage, and for most folks that should be plenty, at least if you store apps internally and your humongous video files on the SD card. Only those users with a bunch of high def games might feel the pain of limited onboard storage.

I was a Samsung girl for a long time -- my first two flip phones were Samsung and I held onto the second one for about 8 or 9 years before I decided to trade it in for a Samsung-branded smartphone. It took me three "duds" before I finally gave up on Samsung and switched to Apple.

Samsung should have put the internal memory into the phones sooner -- that was one of the reasons I defected. I exclusively used Samsung branded phones for over 15 years until I finally decided that my faith was unfounded. My "smartphone" experience was unstable internet connectivity (Instinct, 2 years), poor reliablity and slow response (Moment, 1 year) and low internal memory (Epic 4G, 18 months). There were other issues, but those were the ones that prompted my upgrades. "Pretty" and "feature rich" doesn't do much for me if I'm always waiting on the phone to connect to the internet, perform some action or finish its random reboot.

I heard about huge improvements in Honeycomb/Ice Cream Sandwich, but even though the Galaxy S phone product was less than two years old (my husband bought one on the day it launched), it did not get support for ICS. Because I didn't want to invest in yet another Samsung product if it was going to become obsolete before my contract term ended (again), as soon as my husband's contract was up, we upgraded both phones to 64GB iPhone 5s instead of the S3.

I haven't sworn off Samsung. I am happy that Samsung is doing well and am honestly hoping that they keep it up so that I *can* come back (competition usually benefits the consumer, right?); I just can't afford to continue to buy a new phone every year (especially without the "upgrade the main line after one year" program.)

Now that I have experience with both Android and iOS, I'm happy to use whatever seems most suitable at the time. However, after buying three phones (five if you count my husband's phones) in three years, I'm hoping to keep this current phone at least to the end of its two year contract (and preferably longer.)

I see threads on other forums asking about the value of upgrading from an iPhone 3GS, which is the kind of longevity I'm looking for -- buying a new phone for new *features*, not because I am struggling with memory issues, spontaneous reboots and progressively poorer responses. If Samsung can get to that point (and possibly it has with the S3 -- it's too soon to tell) then I'll happily switch back when the S6 or S7 comes out.