Android Questions regarding Galaxy SIII

[Langin]

Hey I have a few questions regarding the Smamsung Galaxy SIII phone:

1. How's the music player? Does it have many options? Like fade in and out?
2. How do I put music on it? Just copy paste in a directory?
3. How can I purchase apps?(Trough a credit card or something like that? Or something like an iTunes Card(No of course not an iTunes card but as example)
4. Should I buy a screen protector and a case? Or is it well protected?
5. Can I deactivate 3G etc. easily?

Thanks! Might add some questions later!

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

1. This varies. Don't like the music player? Download another one.
2. Just copy-paste into the SD card
3. You can use a credit card with the google play store.
4. I'd suggest both for any touchscreen device
5. Most of the time it's just the touch of a button.

 

[Langin]

Sd card? So I need one for music or can I also connect my device to my PC and copy it to my device?

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

You'll need one, however all carriers provide one with the device and it's usually 8GB+.

 

[Langin]

You'll need one, however all carriers provide one with the device and it's usually 8GB+.

Ah well that's okay ^^

Thanks!

I hope you don't mind me asking more questions if I have any.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Yeah go ahead, I have lots of answer.

Check out http://www.xda-developers.com as well, they're the #1 spot for Android everything.

 

[Ritsuki]

Sd card? So I need one for music or can I also connect my device to my PC and copy it to my device?

Actually you don't absolutely need one, you can put it in your device (16/32GB of internal storage).

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Oh shit that's right, the internal storage. Herp. So disregard that post about the sd card then. Totally forgot how massive the storage is >.

 

[rad140]

2. You can put music on a microSD card and play music that way OR the SIII also has 16/32 GB of internal storage, so you can hook it up to a PC with a usb cable and transfer over music that way: drag and drop, through a media player,. etc. ninja'd. 2x

3.There's the Google Play store, which is like the Apple App Store (but worse). You can pay for apps with a credit card, though there are many free ones. There are also "unofficial" apps that aren't in the Play store (manga reader Mango, for example). There was a rumour a while back that there were going to be GP gift cards.

4. The glass is Gorilla Glass, so a screen protector is kind of not necessary, unless you play on dropping your phone a lot. I don't like the feel of most screen protectors on touch screens, so it's up to you. The body is made out of plastic, so a case might be a good idea. Depends on how rough abusive you are to your electronics.

5. You can turn 3G/4G/mobile data off, but you're paying for it anyway. There are apps that will let you monitor your data usage and you can set apps to download through Wi-Fi only.

CNET has a pretty good list of the best Android apps in multiple categories. You may want to search for other best-of lists and compare and contrast features between similar apps for your needs.

I also own an Android device, so feel free to ask away.
There's also rooting and stuff, but I'd say wait to get a feel for Android in general first.

 

[Langin]

Rooting? Sorry if I ask but what is rooting?

Also are there emulators for Android I swear I've read about them somewhere...

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Rooting is basically giving your Android device administrative access. Some apps (like Titanium Backup [an app that backs up your apps]) require root to be used. Rooting is optional but pretty beneficial as well. Check the xda-developers link I gave for more information.

And yes, there are plenty of emulators for Android. However, most of the good ones aren't on the Google Play Store anymore but luckily you can generally find them online, transfer them to your phone, then install them straight from the SD card.

 

[Langin]

Rooting is basically giving your Android device administrative access. Some apps (like Titanium Backup [an app that backs up your apps]) require root to be used. Rooting is optional but pretty beneficial as well. Check the xda-developers link I gave for more information.

And yes, there are plenty of emulators for Android. However, most of the good ones aren't on the Google Play Store anymore but luckily you can generally find them online, transfer them to your phone, then install them straight from the SD card.

Will I lose my warranty by rooting my device?

Also are these emu's illegal? And can I also install these trough my internal storage?

 

[rad140]

Rooting? Sorry if I ask but what is rooting?

Also are there emulators for Android I swear I've read about them somewhere...

http://en.wikipedia....28Android_OS%29 can probably explain it better than I can. Essentially, complete access to every aspect of your phone, usually for the purpose of installing custom ROMs- which are modified firmwares (think different operating systems). Cyanogen is a popular one. I wouldn't worry too much about it yet; play around with Android first, and then if you like messing around with things, consider rooting and roms and the like.

I prefer buttons over touch screens for gaming, so I don't have much experience in using Android emulators.

EDIT: goddamn it Suprgamr.

 

[Langin]

Rooting? Sorry if I ask but what is rooting?

Also are there emulators for Android I swear I've read about them somewhere...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooting_%28Android_OS%29 can probably explain it better than I can. Essentially, complete access to every aspect of your phone, usually for the purpose of installing custom ROMs- which are modified firmwares (think different operating systems). Cyanogen is a popular one. I wouldn't worry too much about it yet; play around with Android first, and then if you like messing around with things, consider rooting and roms and the like.

I prefer buttons over touch screens for gaming, so I don't have much experience in using Android emulators.

EDIT: goddamn it Suprgamr.

Can't you connect to a Wii Remote or something like that? My iOS emu's can tho.

 

[rad140]

Will I lose my warranty by rooting my device?

Also are these emu's illegal? And can I also install these trough my internal storage?

Rooting is legal in the USA.... but in terms of warranty, a quick google search seems to be "Yes". It's an advanced/optional feature, but it's not necessary to enjoy your device. It's just there if anyone wants to do it. You can't really do it accidentally if that's what you mean.

Emulation has always been a legal gray area. I'm not entirely sure, but if it has BIOS files included, it's probably illegal. ROMs that you downloaded that aren't copies of your own games are illegal (but everyone does it).
And yes, just copy them over and install the apk (it's like an .exe for Android)

The SIII has bluetooth, so you can also use a PS3 controller too in addition to a wiimote.

 

[Langin]

Will I lose my warranty by rooting my device?

Also are these emu's illegal? And can I also install these trough my internal storage?

Rooting is legal in the USA.... but in terms of warranty, a quick google search seems to be "Yes". It's an advanced/optional feature, but it's not necessary to enjoy your device. It's just there if anyone wants to do it. You can't really do it accidentally if that's what you mean.

Emulation has always been a legal gray area. I'm not entirely sure, but if it has BIOS files included, it's probably illegal. ROMs that you downloaded that aren't copies of your own games are illegal (but everyone does it).
And yes, just copy them over and install the apk (it's like an .exe for Android)

The SIII has bluetooth, so you can also use a PS3 controller too in addition to a wiimote.

Thanks for the info! ^^

So I don't need to root for emu's right? How do the emu's runs on the SIII?(GBA will be fine but PSX and N64?)

 

[Ritsuki]

Sorry to invade your topic, but since we're talking about roms, I'm using the official rom for now, but I think about switching to Cyanogenmod. Are all the Galaxy S III specific functions (S Voice, Smart Stay, S Beam, etc...) still available with Cyanogenmod ?

 

[ProtoKun7]

There was a rumour a while back that there were going to be GP gift cards.

5. You can turn 3G/4G/mobile data off, but you're paying for it anyway. There are apps that will let you monitor your data usage and you can set apps to download through Wi-Fi only.

Play Store gift cards are becoming available (just in the US now, I think).

You don't necessarily pay for data usage if it's not used; you will if it's part of the contract, though.

Sorry to invade your topic, but since we're talking about roms, I'm using the official rom for now, but I think about switching to Cyanogenmod. Are all the Galaxy S III specific functions (S Voice, Smart Stay, S Beam, etc...) still available with Cyanogenmod ?

They wouldn't be; CyanogenMod is a firmware replacement, not an addition. It's based on AOSP (pure Android, such as on a Nexus) plus some other bits.

 

[Originality]

If you want to ditch the TouchWiz UI that makes up the Samsung official ROM, you can always try loaders like Nova Launcher, which will boot up a new UI for you to play around with. That way, if you want to get back S Voice or S Beam, you just exit out of the loader (or reset the phone) to get back to TouchWiz which has all the Samsung features.

 

[Zerousen]

If you want to ditch the TouchWiz UI that makes up the Samsung official ROM, you can always tryloaders (launchers) like Nova Launcher, which will boot up a new UI for you to play around with. That way, if you want to get back S Voice or S Beam, you just exit out of the (launchers) (or reset the phone) to get back to TouchWiz which has all the Samsung features.

You can still access the apps themselves in the App drawer, can you not?

Will I lose my warranty by rooting my device?

Also are these emu's illegal? And can I also install these trough my internal storage?

Rooting is legal in the USA.... but in terms of warranty, a quick google search seems to be "Yes". It's an advanced/optional feature, but it's not necessary to enjoy your device. It's just there if anyone wants to do it. You can't really do it accidentally if that's what you mean.

Emulation has always been a legal gray area. I'm not entirely sure, but if it has BIOS files included, it's probably illegal. ROMs that you downloaded that aren't copies of your own games are illegal (but everyone does it).
And yes, just copy them over and install the apk (it's like an .exe for Android)

The SIII has bluetooth, so you can also use a PS3 controller too in addition to a wiimote.

Thanks for the info! ^^

So I don't need to root for emu's right? How do the emu's runs on the SIII?(GBA will be fine but PSX and N64?)

You generally do not need root access to be able to use Emulators. Also, as far as I know, SIII > SII , and it runs great on the SII, so it shouldn't be any problem on the SIII.

Who knows though, you might run into an app you want but you can't use it, because you'd need root access