[AusNOG] [off-topic] Samsung Galaxy S

Thu Dec 30 17:43:37 EST 2010

I'm extremely surprised by the opinions here; I own a I9000T (Telstra branded model), and I love the phone - I'm a hopeless gadget geek who seems to regularly change phones.  I don't intend on changing this handset for some time.

I had read about the issues people were having (terrible battery life, GPS, reboots, lag), but I'm having none of them with the base 2.1 Telstra ROM and voodoo fix; average battery life of 1-2 days (screen brightness lowest, Exchange sync on, sync everything else turned off), GPS works flawlessly, unit is always responsive.

Battery life definitely could be better, but several HTC handsets I tested were worse; seems to be the achilles heel of Android phones in general currently.

I've always pondered whether the Telstra firmware had a bunch of manufacturer fixes the Optus branded ones didn't have; the build date on the shipped ROM is very recent ('2.1-update').

Have you guys tried updating to 2.2?  Maybe the issue is the shipping firmware on the Optus handsets is total junk?

R

On 29/12/2010, at 20:33 , Kai wrote:

> Hahaa, I'm on two year contract with the Galaxy S, I can't just throw it 
> out, even though I'd love to. I read Andrew Fort's email, I found the 
> only spot in the house with good enough reception for data connection (I 
> -think- it's the best spot..but the signal meter on this phone isn't 
> reliable anymore) and downloading ROM Manager, then I'll try step 2 and 
> fingers crossed that works 'cause it's gunna suck if I'm contracted to 
> this phone for another year and nine months :S
> 
> My VirginMobile plan is good but this phone sux balls!
> 
> So why'd I get one? well, my old Nokia was dying, needed a replacement, 
> thought I'd give smartphones a go since it allows me to check weather 
> radar and stuff when I'm storm chasing, didn't want an iPhone, figured 
> I'd try the Samsung... and my old Nokia got stolen about a month after I 
> got the Samsung.
> 
> I've been using Nokia for the last eight years, first time I've used 
> Samsung hasn't left a good taste in my mouth!
> 
> Cheers
> Kai
> 
> On 29/12/10 17:36, Darren Moss wrote:
>> Yep, that looks just like mine.
>> 
>> Go buy one and junk the other thing.
>> 
>> Spend less time getting the thing to work and more time actually using it.
>> 
>> Sounds like an ad.
>> 
>> :)
>> 
>> Regards,
>> 
>> 
>> Darren Moss
>> General Manager
>> Australia and New Zealand
>> 
>> em3 People and Technology, Managed Technology Experts.
>> 
>> [p] 1300 131 083 extension 105 [f] 03 9017 2287
>> [e] Darren.Moss at em3.com.au [w] www.em3.com.au
>> PO Box 2333, Moorabbin VIC 3189
>> 
>> New Zealand Airedale Street, Auckland City
>> [p] 0800 888 285 [f] 09 887 0273
>> PO Box 39573, Howick 2045
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net [mailto:ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net] On Behalf Of Kai
>> Sent: Wednesday, 29 December 2010 8:33 PM
>> To: ausnog at ausnog.net
>> Subject: Re: [AusNOG] [off-topic] Samsung Galaxy S
>> 
>> Hey Darren,
>> 
>> Hahahaaa, for some reason I was expecting at least some reassuring
>> feedback that there's a fix for all this. In all the browsing I've done
>> in the last month I can't find one reliable resolution for this bloody
>> phone.
>> 
>> I don't wanna jailbreak/root it, that'll void the warranty, I'm tempted
>> to ask Virgin for an exchange with Nokia N8 or maybe HTC but the
>> likelihood they'll actually exchange it is 0, none or bugger all.
>> 
>> My Kies CD and Samsung data cable got stolen when my car got broken into
>> in Darwin, I've been trying to get the phone to behave itself on
>> Bluetooth but either the machine doesn't want to talk to the phone or
>> vice versa 'cause they can see each other, but they can't pair and Kies
>> tells me there are no Bluetooth devices available. FFS. Anyway, I'm back
>> in Broome and managed to find the USB cable that fits the Samsung,
>> downloaded and installed Kies, backed up, upgraded firmware....but yep,
>> still crashes randomly, email doesn't know if it's coming or going, and
>> recently it says it can't send sms until a service is available even
>> though I have four signal bars displaying. Keh?
>> 
>> I think I've got a snowflakes chance in hell to get a replacement,
>> Virgin customer service staff are 99% outsourced, and with no offence to
>> outsourced staff, if it's not in their script they don't know what to do
>> so I end up on hold for ages, like I did last weekend.
>> 
>> I used my cousins Nokia N8 on the weekend, it looked ok but then again
>> anything would look ok compared to the Galaxy S. That said, I asked on
>> another mailing list and one user replied she's got hers last month and
>> she loves it, hehe, lucky her, mine sux!
>> 
>> You like the BB Torch9800?
>> http://us.blackberry.com/smartphones/blackberrytorch/
>> 
>> It has a REAL keypad, I like it already :P what are the screen dimensions?
>> 
>> Cheers
>> Kai
>> 
>> On 29/12/10 17:13, Darren Moss wrote:
>>> Hey Kai,
>>> 
>>> If I had a dollar for every complaint we've received regarding the Samsung Galaxy phone......
>>> 
>>> We've had a few of these connected up on our Hosted Exchange platform and the customers have the same complaints:
>>> 
>>> 1. Poor battery life (number 1 problem - lucky to get 8 hours)
>>> 2. Crashing and hanging
>>> 3. Phone restarts at random
>>> 4. Slow to pick up mail (even when in push mode)
>>> 
>>> We fixed some with Voda via firmware upgrade, but the bottom line was they were just too painful.
>>> There were too many "issues" and we couldn't get any real information from the telco or the vendor - similar to the old Nokia e75 handsets which were a disaster.
>>> 
>>> I thought that the handset could not possibly be that bad, so I bought one in November. It's sitting in a box at my Melbourne office after 1 week of use. Even the staff didn't want it after hearing my complaining.
>>> 
>>> Now I have a BB Torch - the best handset I have ever owned without a doubt (upgraded from BB Bold). It actually works, is fast and reliable.
>>> 
>>> HTH.
>>> 
>>> Regards,
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Darren Moss
>>> General Manager
>>> Australia and New Zealand
>>> 
>>> em3 People and Technology, Managed Technology Experts.
>>> 
>>> [p] 1300 131 083 extension 105 [f] 03 9017 2287
>>> [e] Darren.Moss at em3.com.au [w] www.em3.com.au
>>> PO Box 2333, Moorabbin VIC 3189
>>> 
>>> New Zealand Airedale Street, Auckland City
>>> [p] 0800 888 285 [f] 09 887 0273
>>> PO Box 39573, Howick 2045
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net [mailto:ausnog-bounces at lists.ausnog.net] On Behalf Of Kai
>>> Sent: Wednesday, 29 December 2010 8:02 PM
>>> To: ausnog at ausnog.net
>>> Subject: [AusNOG] [off-topic] Samsung Galaxy S
>>> 
>>> Hi guys and girls,
>>> 
>>> I hope you all had a great Christmas, I did! No prezzies, well no
>>> conventional prezzies, I had time with my family/friends for Christmas,
>>> that's all I wanted! :)
>>> 
>>> Sorry for the off-topic post, I wanted to ask everyone's valued opinions
>>> but feel free to reply off list with feedback.
>>> 
>>> Last Monday Broome's Optus repeater had issues and they had to get parts
>>> up from Perth (thanks to Chris Brown for the info), coincidentally
>>> that's also when my Samsung decided to play silly buggers. I initially
>>> thought there may be issues with Optus Broome repeater here because I
>>> have fluctuating signal strength meter readings when standing under the
>>> Optus repeater here, but, overall, the most annoying thing is random
>>> black screens and general slow performance.
>>> 
>>> Similar to the trouble this lady is having:
>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB1b0UrX9e0
>>> 
>>> Problems are intermittant enough to be annoying, ie I can't reproduce on
>>> cue but my phone is less than three months old, I expect it to work. I
>>> backed up my contacts and did a firmware upgrade last week, still
>>> doesn't work properley.
>>> 
>>> Anyone got similar issues?
>>> 
>>> In case anyone does have similar issues my details are:
>>> Model GT-I9000
>>> Firmware 2.2
>>> Baseband version: I9000DTJP3
>>> Kernel: 2.6.32.9
>>> Build: FROYO.DTJP5
>>> 
>>> I am with VirginMobile, they use Optus mobile network.
>>> 
>>> Cheers
>>> Kai
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> AusNOG mailing list
>>> AusNOG at lists.ausnog.net
>>> http://lists.ausnog.net/mailman/listinfo/ausnog
>>> 
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