Ditched Note for Surface Pro 3

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red321red321

Senior Member
Oct 28, 2013
88
10
I have been a loyal user of Samsung galaxy products for a very long time, owning the s3, note 2, note 8, note 10.1, and note 10.1 2014. in general they have been excellent aside from very poor resale value. my favorite of all these devices used to be the 10.1 2014. it had a sharp screen and excellent battery life. then the kit kat update happened. all of a sudden my battery life went to hell and even after I rooted and such I could still not restore the device to where it had been. when I watch youtube or do anything intense the battery dies unbelievably fast,

I finally gave up and got a surface pro 3. so far I am very impressed. for my use the battery life is better than note. also fairly light and extremely powerful. onenote is far better than snote. microsofts onedrive integration is awesome.

I feel Samsung devices have gone downhill lately. I wanted to get an s4 but found the bloatware intolerable, especially annoying is my magazine. the fingerprint scanner and heart rate functionality also suck. ill also be replacing my note 2 with an lg g3 or iPhone 6.
 

DeBoX

Senior Member
Jul 26, 2010
366
28
ehm good for you, but your point being?

As I see it to each his own, congrats on a new gadget but no need to start a post just on that accord..... Just saying :)
 

Tangotango74

Member
Oct 24, 2010
8
0
I tried out the surface pro 3 and went back to note 10.1 2014. I just could not get lots of the apps I got so used to over time. Keyboard and concept was great, OS not as much , as a tablet os , it sucks to use your finger on desktop.

Sent from my SM-P600 using XDA Free mobile app
 

lanwarrior

Senior Member
Mar 5, 2006
2,196
158
Too bad that was all in your head. So-called "bloatware" takes up minimal resources in storage, and after a few minutes of having booted is no longer in your RAM nor uses any CPU cycles.

Do you have Android OS keeping the device awake? Mine have this over a course of 10 hours since disconnected from power AND only have screen on time of 1.5 hours.

I already turned off bloatware from "Application Manager", no background app like weather or social media. So this bloatware does take CPU resources and keeping the tablet awake.

2945cv8.jpg
 

kcrudup

Senior Member
Mar 27, 2007
1,517
749
San Francisco Bay Area
You have some app killing your battery, not "bloatware". I don't remove anything and have very little "awake" time that's not "screen on" time. You should get "Bettery Battery Stats" from the Play Store (if you're rooted).
 

lanwarrior

Senior Member
Mar 5, 2006
2,196
158
You have some app killing your battery, not "bloatware". I don't remove anything and have very little "awake" time that's not "screen on" time. You should get "Bettery Battery Stats" from the Play Store (if you're rooted).

This is a brand new device, just got it last Sunday. No 3rd party apps installed at all. Only setup Google account so I can update existing app and sync Gmail and calendar. If it is not "bloatware", then it is whatever apps that came with the tablet.

No Google Now crap, but GPS is turned on.

BBS won't show detailed info as I am not rooted.

EDIT: forgot to mention that I hard reset the device already.
 

lanwarrior

Senior Member
Mar 5, 2006
2,196
158
Shot in the dark- do you have a D-Link router?
No, I have an ASUS RT-N66U. I also thought that my router have something to do with the tablet, like it is broadcasting something that made the tablet responded, but the awake situation applies even when I am at the office, which uses other brand of wireless AP.

I am going to turn off GPS and see what will happen. Maybe the location based network is causing it.
 

kcrudup

Senior Member
Mar 27, 2007
1,517
749
San Francisco Bay Area
No, I have an ASUS RT-N66U.
Huh. (So do I.) I'd asked 'cause one of the things we'd noticed when I was working for a couple of companies making Android devices is certain D-Link routers management/beacon frames were coming at just the right interval to keep the WiFi chip waking up the kernel.

"Android Services" could be anything, though. You're on a WiFi-only device, right?
 

lanwarrior

Senior Member
Mar 5, 2006
2,196
158
Huh. (So do I.) I'd asked 'cause one of the things we'd noticed when I was working for a couple of companies making Android devices is certain D-Link routers management/beacon frames were coming at just the right interval to keep the WiFi chip waking up the kernel.

"Android Services" could be anything, though. You're on a WiFi-only device, right?
Yes, I have the WIFI version.

BTW, its Android OS that is causing the wake locks, not Android System according to App Manager.
 

Antrax

Member
Aug 7, 2006
32
2
I'm thinking the same thing. I'm looking at the Surface Pro to replace my Note 10.1 2014 since nobody knows how to fix it. Not even Samsung.
 

lanwarrior

Senior Member
Mar 5, 2006
2,196
158
I'm thinking the same thing. I'm looking at the Surface Pro to replace my Note 10.1 2014 since nobody knows how to fix it. Not even Samsung.

Just my 2 cents:

I did look at the Surface Pro 3 before I bought my Note 10.1. It is a great device, but it does not fit my need as follow:

1). It is much heavier than an Android tablet
2). Battery life is not as good
3). Not much apps available, especially those that I need (Google Maps is one).

I already have a MacBook Air with great battery life, so I opted to have 2 devices instead since each served its own purpose. I.e. for media consumption, I use the Note; for real work like Excel, I use the MacBook Air.
 

Stocklone

Senior Member
Aug 18, 2010
118
32
I feel your pain on the Note 2. Damn home button lag is ridiculous for me. I'm rooted on 4.4 with Knox killed and S Voice double tap turned off. 4.4 was installed after doing a complete wipe of my phone. The only way I can fix it is by clearing my memory after I have about 6 apps open. That's ridiculous for a phone with 2GB of RAM. My brother's Galaxy S II has a way more responsive home button with half the RAM and half the cores.

I am a lot happier with my Note 10.1 2014 now that I've turned off the physical buttons on the front. Note taking is absolutely perfect now.

Very impressed with what MS has been able to do in just two revisions. Can't wait to see what they do for the 4th gen.

Like you, I am seriously considering the iPhone 6. But only if the large screen 64GB price is reasonable and the camera has OIS. But I also want to see what the McLaren ends up being. A second gen Lumia 1020 sounds very intriguing. Hell, I even want to try out the Passport. The keyboard sounds really interesting.

An incredible Motorola X+1, an impressive Nexus 6 and the Note 4 which will be incredible for sure are the three phones that could make me stay Android.

It's good to be alive. I remember when hitting the 1GHz mark on a single core in 2010 was mind blowing. So many amazing choices now. We are so spoiled. It's unreal.
 

lanwarrior

Senior Member
Mar 5, 2006
2,196
158
I feel your pain on the Note 2. Damn home button lag is ridiculous for me. I'm rooted on 4.4 with Knox killed and S Voice double tap turned off. 4.4 was installed after doing a complete wipe of my phone. The only way I can fix it is by clearing my memory after I have about 6 apps open. That's ridiculous for a phone with 2GB of RAM. My brother's Galaxy S II has a way more responsive home button with half the RAM and half the cores.

I am a lot happier with my Note 10.1 2014 now that I've turned off the physical buttons on the front. Note taking is absolutely perfect now.

Very impressed with what MS has been able to do in just two revisions. Can't wait to see what they do for the 4th gen.

Like you, I am seriously considering the iPhone 6. But only if the large screen 64GB price is reasonable and the camera has OIS. But I also want to see what the McLaren ends up being. A second gen Lumia 1020 sounds very intriguing. Hell, I even want to try out the Passport. The keyboard sounds really interesting.

An incredible Motorola X+1, an impressive Nexus 6 and the Note 4 which will be incredible for sure are the three phones that could make me stay Android.

It's good to be alive. I remember when hitting the 1GHz mark on a single core in 2010 was mind blowing. So many amazing choices now. We are so spoiled. It's unreal.
How did you turn off the home button in you Now 10.1?
 

Stocklone

Senior Member
Aug 18, 2010
118
32
How did you turn off the home button in you Now 10.1?

You have to be rooted. But there are two text files you have to modify in system/usr/keylayout. gpio-keys.kl and generic.kl. In generic, key 139 and 158 need to be commented out with a #. In gpio, key 172 needs to be commented out. I used ES File Explorer but that wouldn't let me save to the keylayout folder directly after editing with the ES Note Editor so I copied the files to sdcard, modified them, copied them back then modified the properties so the RWX permissions were the same as the other files in that directory. Now I use Button Savior Pro for my virtual buttons. You can enable virtual buttons by editing another file but they are spaced out weird so I prefer Savior Pro by far. So if you ever decide to root, there you go. Jnn1 on XDA figured this out. I'm just trying to provide more thorough directions.

Also, I'm using the 600 model on a custom ROM that has Gravity Box enabled which has an option that forces the menu options to appear on the action bar. Maybe forcing the virtual buttons would do the same thing. I don't know. I do know not having to press a menu button to see if there are any options is awesome.

If you just want to do home, only the 172 key needs to be commented.
 
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Dachank

Member
Jul 12, 2014
21
2
They definitely both have their own place. The surface pro for work on the go and galaxy for web browsing/apps
 

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    Kind of apples and oranges, no?

    1
    How did you turn off the home button in you Now 10.1?

    You have to be rooted. But there are two text files you have to modify in system/usr/keylayout. gpio-keys.kl and generic.kl. In generic, key 139 and 158 need to be commented out with a #. In gpio, key 172 needs to be commented out. I used ES File Explorer but that wouldn't let me save to the keylayout folder directly after editing with the ES Note Editor so I copied the files to sdcard, modified them, copied them back then modified the properties so the RWX permissions were the same as the other files in that directory. Now I use Button Savior Pro for my virtual buttons. You can enable virtual buttons by editing another file but they are spaced out weird so I prefer Savior Pro by far. So if you ever decide to root, there you go. Jnn1 on XDA figured this out. I'm just trying to provide more thorough directions.

    Also, I'm using the 600 model on a custom ROM that has Gravity Box enabled which has an option that forces the menu options to appear on the action bar. Maybe forcing the virtual buttons would do the same thing. I don't know. I do know not having to press a menu button to see if there are any options is awesome.

    If you just want to do home, only the 172 key needs to be commented.