I love having new gadgets.. got me a Samsung Galaxy 3S

Discussion in 'Science and Technology' started by FPAlpha, Oct 25, 2012.

  1. FPAlpha

    FPAlpha Vice Admiral Premium Member

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2004
    Location:
    Mannheim, Germany
    So i've been fretting for months or years if i should upgrade and finally get a real smartphone until i finally said F.. it! and ordered the Galaxy 3S and it arrived today.. unfortunately my new provider didn't send me the new SIM card today too.. should arrive today. Ah well.. i can still do most of it by WiFi.

    Don't you just love having new tech toys? :)

    All the time spent getting to know the possibilities, tweaking the settings and filling it with updates and other stuff.

    I'm a total noob when it comes to actually using a smartphone so i have no clue.. it's great! :techman:

    So any recommendations or must have apps? I'm absolutely no social media guy so you can pass apps for Facebook, Twitter etc.
     
  2. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    Jun 12, 2001
    Location:
    space
    I got a Galaxy Nexus not long ago. Nice phone. I was actually debating between the S3 and the Nexus. They're very similar apart from a few details.

    It was an upgrade from a Samsung Intercept. The difference is tremendous. I love it.

    As for apps, I use:

    Accupedo - Pedometer
    Astrid Tasks - Task management
    Chrome - Web browser
    eBuddy - Chat
    Gauge Battery - Nice battery widget
    Light Flow - Custom LED notifications
    Netflix - Well, Netflix!
    Pandora - Streaming music
    SMS Backup & Restore - Archiving text messages so they aren't slowing down your messaging app but you still have a history
    SMS Popup - Pops up text messages even when your phone is "asleep"
    SwiftKey - Awesome replacement keyboard, much better than the original (unless you have Swype, that might be better)
    Widget Locker - Better lock screen (worth the $3.99 or whatever it is)

    I also have some nice games on here.
     
  3. ebusinesstutor

    ebusinesstutor Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2010
    Location:
    Nanaimo
    Congrats on your new Samsung. I have the Galaxy Note.

    Here are some apps I like to have on my smart phone:

    Pulse.me - newsreading
    Aldiko - ebook reading
    Out of Milk - my grocery list
    SpringPad - my note program
    Sky Safari - star chart
    Compass
    Dropbox
    Chrome - my browser
    First Aid
    Netflix
     
  4. Santaman

    Santaman Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 27, 2001
    Location:
    Tyre city
    http://johnsphones.org/

    I've got one of these. :D my brother bought me the gold edition. :cool:

    Its very smart, canĀ“t crash and you always can access the address book even if your battery is empty which is a rather rare occasion, mine lasts 6 weeks on standby...
     
  5. Mark_Nguyen

    Mark_Nguyen Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2006
    Location:
    Calgary, Alberta
    Congrats! My wife got a Galaxy Note earlier this year and loves it... It's big, but that bigness lets so much more be done with it. Also, it's big enough that she plays with it more and stopped borrowing my Acer A700 tablet. :)

    I use Pulse religiously as my go-to news aggregator, News 360 to provide me with random articles. MX Video is awesome as a media player program and can play pretty much anything. Browser-wise, I use Quick ICS because I love the thumb-only quick control options, though the stock JB browser works fine too.

    Alas, my work-provided Blackberry is due to be replaced... By an iPhone. Perhaps it's time to change jobs... :P

    Mark
     
  6. farmkid

    farmkid Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2005
    I would love to upgrade to something like that; maybe someday. My phone is one of the early Android phones. I does most of what I want it to, but just barely. Anyway, here are the apps I've found most useful:

    Battery Monitory Widget (from 3C)
    System Tuner (also from 3C)
    GPS Essentials
    WiFi Analyzer
    Pandora
    RealCalc Scientific Calculator (I just prefer RPN)
    SMS Backup and Restore
    Terminal Emulator

    I soon plan to get a OBD2 bluetooth adapter and the Torque Pro app as well. You might be interested in that if you ever do any work on your car.

    There are others I use a lot as well, but those are more specific to me and my life and probably not of interest to you unless you have the same bank, carrier, religion, etc.
     
  7. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    Jun 12, 2001
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    space
    Let me know which adapter you end up buying. I've been thinking about getting one, but I understand the quality of the cheap ones is very hit-and-miss. Which one you get and how much you pay for it would be of interest to me (as well as it quality and reliability, of course!)
     
  8. farmkid

    farmkid Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2005
    I ended up ordering this one from Amazon. There seem to be three or four different models of cheap ones out there and many sellers for each one. This is one of those. Realizing that the cheap ones seem to be hit-or-miss, I just picked one that seemed to have decent ratings more often than not and took a chance. It works just fine for me so far, although I haven't had it long enough to really put it though its paces.

    I do find, however, that it's not really practical to drive around with it installed and connected to my phone for routine driving. It maxes out the CPU usage on my phone and runs the battery down very fast. Even plugged in the phone can't charge, as the power coming in from the charger is just barely enough to supply the needs of the phone. In other words, Torque is a high drain app.
     
  9. RAMA

    RAMA Admiral Admiral

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    Dec 13, 1999
    Location:
    USA
    just curious as to why "fretting" was involved?
     
  10. trekkiedane

    trekkiedane Admiral Admiral

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    Jan 12, 2005
    Location:
    Getting there -but slowly.
    My mum got one of those for x-mas. Since it's her first swipe/tap/shake operated device I get to be her go-to tech wizard (same with the ipad dad got for x-mas).

    Sounds cool, right? -well it's not! It means I have to figure out how to problemsolve on two devices I don't have and on two operating systems I have never before done anything on :klingon: :rommie:

    I have however found that of the two devices, the S III is the one I too would like to have. Only, my N900 (from 2009) still does everything I could ever want from a smartphone (although somewhat slower than newer phones) :(


    But, yeah, congrats on your phone -it is a nifty toy and quite the smart phone :bolian:
     
  11. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2000
    Location:
    QC, IL, USA
    Got an iPhone just before Samsung started coming out with all these new awesome gadgets. Now I really want to switch.
     
  12. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    Jun 12, 2001
    Location:
    space
    I'm very happy with my Galaxy Nexus. :techman:
     
  13. Lindley

    Lindley Moderator with a Soul Premium Member

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2001
    Location:
    Bonney Lake, WA
    I do some work with the Samsung phones. They're decent. I don't mind having an iPhone as my personal device though.
     
  14. FPAlpha

    FPAlpha Vice Admiral Premium Member

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2004
    Location:
    Mannheim, Germany
    Welcome to my world a few years back when i made the mistake and gave my dad an old laptop i didn't use (and was too dingy to sell).
    Result was me on permant tech support alert (we only lived about 200m apart back then) and i became a master in installing a Windows OS every 2-3 months.
    Fortunately he retired a few years ago and moved away which probably saved our relationship in the long run.. now he pays a young software engineer to provide tech support (and after talking to him he admitted indirectly that he sometimes regrets having offered his help. Sucka! :lol:).

    Anyway.. very happy with my phone. Still not a poweruser who juggles multiple apps at the same time and is connected to everything but the occasional web surfing during lunch break, checking mails and using the nav system is quite handy.
     
  15. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    Jun 12, 2001
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    My last Samsung device was the Intercept, which was basically a slightly better version of the Moment. My experience is that Samsung makes top-notch high-end smartphones, but if you look at the mid- or low-range, they suck pretty hard. Underpowered, underperforming, unfriendly.
     
  16. GalaxyX

    GalaxyX Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Jan 28, 2004
    Location:
    Canada
    I went from an iPhone 4 to a Nexus, to an S3.

    I found the Nexus slow as molasses, and was debating to go back to the iPhone, but instead took a chance on the S3, and it blows away the Nexus in practically everything.

    It's still slow, but at least it's usable. I find nothing, not even my iPad has been able to replace my MacBook Air.