Samsung Intercept on Virgin Mobile: $25/mo????

[Throckmorton]

WOW

 

[Bryf50]

It’s got an ARM v11 running at 800mhz, and it lacks a dedicated GPU, instead using software to handle video.

Actually the S3C6410 Soc does include a dedicated opengl 1.1/2.0 GPU made by Samsung. But for some reason its missing the drivers. It seems like there's some work being done in the community to create drivers for it.

 

[maniac5999]

Actually the S3C6410 Soc does include a dedicated opengl 1.1/2.0 GPU made by Samsung. But for some reason its missing the drivers. It seems like there's some work being done in the community to create drivers for it.

Well, in that case, I stand very pleasantly corrected. The only place where I found an active community working on the intercept was http://forum.sdx-developers.com/intercept-development/ and they seem to be close to putting out a ROM, but I haven't even heard a peep about the Intercept having a GPU hiding on the chip. Please share your source, you're making me VERY excited about this.

(Disclaimer, I personally wouldn't trust any of the roms on the site I linked too quite yet, they're probably all sitting somewhere between beta and pre-beta testing right now, give it a week or two then see what people are saying)

 

[Bryf50]

Well, in that case, I stand very pleasantly corrected. The only place where I found an active community working on the intercept was http://forum.sdx-developers.com/intercept-development/ and they seem to be close to putting out a ROM, but I haven't even heard a peep about the Intercept having a GPU hiding on the chip. Please share your source, you're making me VERY excited about this.

(Disclaimer, I personally wouldn't trust any of the roms on the site I linked too quite yet, they're probably all sitting somewhere between beta and pre-beta testing right now, give it a week or two then see what people are saying)

http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=cpu&id=a6410&c=samsung_s3c6410
I own an Omnia 2 with the same SOC so I know it has a gpu. Specs are said to be a bit better then the original iphone gpu. Although its plagued by shitty drivers from Samsung.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_SPH-M900

As of the latest Android 2.1 build DE03, the Samsung Moment and the Samsung Intercept (also based on the same SoC) don't include support for OpenGL ES 1.1 or 2.0 despite hardware support for it. A community led complete rewrite of the g3d drivers is in development.

http://code.google.com/p/gles6410/wiki/Status

Lastly I wonder why performance is said to be so shitty. An 800mhz Arm11 really isn't that slow.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Lastly I wonder why performance is said to be so shitty. An 800mhz Arm11 really isn't really that slow.

Samsung has promised Froyo for the Intercept, it should make for a nice performance boost, 2.1 is a bit slow.

And there's this:

The Intercept had an EVDO Rev. 0 3G radio in it. Rev. 0 is a slightly older version of EVDO. Most of Sprint's 3G line-up -- including feature phones -- have been shipping with Rev. A 3G radios inside for several years now. Why the backward step? Is it only to control costs? Rev. A is faster than Rev. 0, especially when it comes to uploads.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225702650

Simply adding ADW launcher or Launcher Pro is a huge improvement, and I added jit to it as well.

Rooting is possible, then you add Barnacle Legacy tethering from here:

http://www.androidzoom.com/android_...ation/barnacle-wifi-tether_fvut.html?nav=area

 

[Throckmorton]

Out of the box, does it support USB tethering?

 

[Pliablemoose]

No

 

[maniac5999]

Out of the box, does it support USB tethering?

Yes and no. It doesn't support it out of the box, but apparently you can buy Apps that enable it without having to root your phone. (or so I've been told)

 

[Pliablemoose]

Yes and no. It doesn't support it out of the box, but apparently you can buy Apps that enable it without having to root your phone. (or so I've been told)

PDA net is available in th market and allows root free USB tethering.

If you root it, there's Barnacle legacy WiFi tethering that works quite well.

Go here: http://forum.sdx-developers.com/forum/#c16

And start reading

I rooted mine right away and added Barnacle.

 

[maniac5999]

I've actually had problems using barnacle. I'm rooted, and Barnacle says it's working fine but my laptop doesn't see it. I don't think It likes the fact that Barnacle's an Ad-Hoc network. Using another laptop I was able to detect it, but I wasn't able to connect.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I've actually had problems using barnacle. I'm rooted, and Barnacle says it's working fine but my laptop doesn't see it. I don't think It likes the fact that Barnacle's an Ad-Hoc network. Using another laptop I was able to detect it, but I wasn't able to connect.

Works great for me, but no encryption/security

Try this: http://code.google.com/p/android-wi...?name=wireless_tether_2_0_5-pre11.apk&can=2&q

 

[farrell2k]

I've had the Intercept with Virgin as a replacement for my Sprint EVO for the past 5 days. The $45/mo. savings make it worth it. The only thing I sometimes miss is flash, but the Youtube app and TV.com's app make up for any flash videos I used to watch on my evo.

In NE PA, I get download speeds ranging from 200kbps to 1Mbps.
I can tether with EasyTether.
Battery life is great. I usually average a day and a half with at least 1 hour of internet use, light texting and calling each day.
Call quality is great here, but I wish sprint's building penetration was a bit better.
External speaker is loud. In-call volume is louder than my evo.
Wifi and GPS work great.
The screen is not so small that it is unusable. It's quite usable, actually.
The phone is a tiny bit sluggish here and there, but it's nothing I even notice on a day-to-day basis.

The phone is a great option for app developers.
The accelerometer seems precise.
The vibrator is powerful.
OpenGL 1.1 is supported.
Video performance is great, which is surprising. I can push quite a few pixels by extending a View and overriding onDraw() before any slow down occurs.

If you're currently on a carrier with an Android 2.1 device, and you're within sprint's footprint, I definitely recommend Virgin's service with the Intercept.

 

[CrystalBay]

Hi , I went for this deal and so far I'm pretty satisfied... A couple of beefs is no GPU ,the slow 3g modem rev.0 and the 3.2" screen. My old eyes are suffering , browsing is a pretty painful experience( I need more screen)
The CPU/GUI is decently snappy though...

All in all though for 25 a month it's a borderline "good" experience

 

[ponyo]

So is this phone comparable to something like HTC Magic (MT3G) in performance?