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Galaxy S2 Vs Galaxy S3 which is a better phone for using replicant?

Added by ariel enter almost 7 years ago

Hello guys:

I'm looking to sell one of my two replicant phones, a Galaxy S2 or a Galaxy S3, and use the money to donate it to the replicant project C:

I will like to keep the best phone for using it with replicant and I will like to ask you guys which you think is better.

I mean, the S3 is a newer model but replica 6.0's status table says that the s2's 2D graphics are "working fast" while s3 says just "working".

I'm pretty sure the s3 should have more progressing power and if that's the case, would it be better at playing videos on VLC without encoding acceleration?

Anyway I might test all this by my self but I wanted to hear your opinions. Thank you.


Replies (11)

RE: Galaxy S2 Vs Galaxy S3 which is a better phone for using replicant? - Added by Timothy Magee almost 7 years ago

I have never used the s2. Sorry. :-)

I have used the s3 with replicant and I was impressed with it. I do know the front facing camera does not work on the s3 so if you like taking selfies, you can't use the s3.

I am not a selfie taker so I vote s3 despite having never used the s2.

Any other opinions? And @ariel, I would love to hear your experiences with the two phones.

RE: Galaxy S2 Vs Galaxy S3 which is a better phone for using replicant? - Added by Fil Lupin almost 7 years ago

Hi,
I also am interested since I should find a new phone. :)

RE: Galaxy S2 Vs Galaxy S3 which is a better phone for using replicant? - Added by Fervi Verus almost 7 years ago

I think you should get Note 2. It is the fasters Replicant phone - like S3 on steroids; more ram, bigger screen, faster CPU ... ;)

Fervi

RE: Galaxy S2 Vs Galaxy S3 which is a better phone for using replicant? - Added by green blue almost 7 years ago

My understanding of this issue is that the S2 isn't faster than the S3 performance-wise, but that the considerably lower screen resolution of the S2 (480x800 vs. 720x1280 of the S3) makes it appear faster, because the unaccelerated graphics thing has to render way less pixels.

My phone is an S3 and I use it with an extra big battery (4400 mAh by Kranich) to cope with the very high drain when using the external WiFi chip. I guess there is not really an elegant solution for this (the USB chip even gets pretty hot at times), but I'm willing to deal with the inconvenience to demonstrate that an actually free phone is possible. Btw, for SIM card users I would recommend this battery as well, because you suddenly get 2-5 days of runtime :)

For comparison reasons - the S3 graphics is really borderline slow, esp. when typing - I recently got an S2 from eBay, but it still runs the very first Android version it was shipped with (2.3?), which makes it way more complicated to install your own recovery and then Replicant. Pretty annoying, but the previous owner didn't even wipe his phone before sending it to me, all his messaging apps started to sync when I connected to the WiFi for the first time... so always be careful there, folks ;) And try to get at least an S2 running Android 4.1.2, that makes everything much easier.

RE: Galaxy S2 Vs Galaxy S3 which is a better phone for using replicant? - Added by ariel enter almost 7 years ago

Sorry for taking so long to reply.

As “green blue” kindly explain, S2 is running the environment faster than the s3. The difference was shown right away. For instance, s3's animation of swiping through the applications looks choppy compare with the s2.

At first I didn't though it was so bad, until I received a very important call at work and I needed to put it in the speaker for my boss. I got nervous and the phone didn't want to work with me xD. I'm sure I could have learned to be patient and understand the time reactions of the phone, but I don't have this problems with the s2.

“Fervi Verus” I thought about the Note 2 until it was too late and I had already bought the s3 xD. The status table shows that only the s2 works “fast”, so I wonder if Note 2's environment performance is the same or alike as the s3. Could you confirm if that's the case? If it is, does it really matter that it has more ram and a faster CPU?

Any way, I have a Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 which has a big screen already C:

I think that the performance might be improved in future replicant's releases as shown in past replicant's status tables for some of the devices.

I also tested playing some videos on both phones using VLC without acceleration, and to my surprise, both didn't have any problem playing a 360p video I downloaded for the test. The s3 didn't show any slow down compare to the s2 while playing a video. I though that both phones were going to have problems playing videos without encoding acceleration, but the video looked very smooth. I'm guessing it might drain the battery faster thought.

So I think the winner is the s2. The only problem I found with the s2 is that it seems to have problems while trying to use an external usb wifi card of mine.

As described in my issue here: https://redmine.replicant.us/issues/1840 while trying to use a TL-WN722N card and a OTG cable, the phone reboots it's self, and some times the usb wifi card doesn't work at all. This seems to be related to the following issue: https://redmine.replicant.us/issues/1791 which is a known issue. I think it might also have something to do with follwing too: https://redmine.replicant.us/issues/1834 . If some one can point me on what log to get, I can send it and see if it helps. I believe that the problem might also have something to do with my OTG cable as it looks too thin for me. I might be buying this one to test again: https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.mx/MLM-582512699-cable-otg-sony-xperia-ec310-original-android-adaptador-usb-_JM

The other think I notice of the s2, which most probably all current supported phones have, is that it can't record video without Hardware media encoding. I'm not a big recording video guy anyway, but it get me thinking: if VLC can play videos without acceleration, wouldn't be possible to record too? Even if it is at the expense of rate frame or something.

Another thing is that, as mentioned by “Timothy Magee”, it's not possible to use the front camera on the s3. I'm not a big selfie guy my self, but I guess is nice to see that works on the s2.

After all this said, for me the winner was the s2. Thank you all for your kindly responces.

RE: Galaxy S2 Vs Galaxy S3 which is a better phone for using replicant? - Added by Bas H. over 6 years ago

Hi,

I am using a S2 for almost 1 1/2 year now and bought a few weeks ago a S3 because it was cheap and I want to try it.
I think that the S2 works really fine, fast and the size is perfect for my pocket!
In comprehension the S3 is really slow and it stucks a little bit, when you are scrolling and typing. And it is bigger then the S2 therefore I prefer the S2.
I also had problems to handle the display brightness on the S3.
So in my opinion the S2 is the better choice because it feels smoother at all, but I dont use usb wifi stick. I tested it at the beginning of the year but it drains down the battery very fast. So if you want to use wifi you should think about an S3.

RE: Galaxy S2 Vs Galaxy S3 which is a better phone for using replicant? - Added by Kurtis Hanna almost 5 years ago

Hello ariel,

Do you happen to still have your Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 device? If so, can you test a Rom for us? We just need to verify that it boots. Further instructions are here: https://redmine.replicant.us/issues/1889#note-12

Cordially,
Kurtis

RE: Galaxy S2 Vs Galaxy S3 which is a better phone for using replicant? - Added by ariel enter almost 5 years ago

I'll be very glad to do it. Let me read the instructions and I'll reply back if have a question. Thank you for considering me.

RE: Galaxy S2 Vs Galaxy S3 which is a better phone for using replicant? - Added by ariel enter almost 5 years ago

oh, I see what I need to do. It should be easy. Please allow me two days and I'll report back. Sorry it can't be any sooner. Maybe some one else can do it earlier, if not, I'll be getting back with you soon.

RE: Galaxy S2 Vs Galaxy S3 which is a better phone for using replicant? - Added by Kurtis Hanna almost 5 years ago

Hello ariel,

Thanks for your willingness to help us out with this! No worries about the couple of days delay before you can do it. If you could reply to issue #1889 when you are finished with the test that'd be great. Thanks again!

Cordially,
Kurtis

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