That's why I waited 3 more months for the Samsung Epic 4G Touch (16 Sep 2011)... which I knew would be coming soon because the Galaxy S2 was released in the rest of the world in April. (HTC Evo was released on 24 Jun 2011.)
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Galaxy S4 - Watch Thread....
- Thread starter tangoseal
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thedynamics
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thedynamics
n00b
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Hold on, let me consult my magic eight ball............."Try again later."
lol, sorry.
I kept reading conflicting reports about it.
Figured someone might know.
ItaliaFerrari
Limp Gawd
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8hMqTB896A
The SGS4's Super AMOLED screen looks very bright and vibrant.
Contrast ratio and black levels are more important than white brightness.
Whenever I'm looking at my phone at night, I always like to see deep blacks. Greyish blacks annoy the heck out of me. That's why I prefer Super AMOLED over LCD.
The SGS4's new Super AMOLED screen looks like it will be getting the high contrast and vibrancy of Super AMOLED screens and also improved brightness and 441 PPI.
The SGS4's Super AMOLED screen looks very bright and vibrant.
Contrast ratio and black levels are more important than white brightness.
Whenever I'm looking at my phone at night, I always like to see deep blacks. Greyish blacks annoy the heck out of me. That's why I prefer Super AMOLED over LCD.
The SGS4's new Super AMOLED screen looks like it will be getting the high contrast and vibrancy of Super AMOLED screens and also improved brightness and 441 PPI.
Well, duh, black starts at 0 which gives super amoled infinite contrast. And surprisingly Samsung actually calibrated the display for the first time ever. Aside from the pentile, which you are not likely to see whatsoever, this display is pretty much best in its class. However, Samsung could have easily not made in pentile. They are just trying to save money... Typical Samsung.
MisterClean
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I'm excited. Placed my pre-order today.it should be in on 5/3.
Kind of disappointed att only offered the 16gb white, but oh well that's what SD cards and cases are for.
Kind of disappointed att only offered the 16gb white, but oh well that's what SD cards and cases are for.
txsizzler
[H]ard|Gawd
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I will be looking forward to y'alls user reviews for those here having preordered them for 05/03!
Hopefully official reviews coming soon ?
I am curious if Samsung finally added "Group texting" in Touchwiz ? Right now only stock vanilla Android 4.2 offers group texting, where you can text like 3 friends, and have a conversation in one text thread together. I use that a lot with family and friends.
Otherwise have to use a 3rd party app, like GO SMS, or Handcent, which I hate. I prefer to use the stock phone text app, always smoother and faster, but Touchwiz didn't do "Group texting" in the Note 2 and Galaxy S3 I tried last year. Hopefully since the S4 is based off Android 4.2, which has it stock, that Samsung made it default too ?
I am curious if Samsung finally added "Group texting" in Touchwiz ? Right now only stock vanilla Android 4.2 offers group texting, where you can text like 3 friends, and have a conversation in one text thread together. I use that a lot with family and friends.
Otherwise have to use a 3rd party app, like GO SMS, or Handcent, which I hate. I prefer to use the stock phone text app, always smoother and faster, but Touchwiz didn't do "Group texting" in the Note 2 and Galaxy S3 I tried last year. Hopefully since the S4 is based off Android 4.2, which has it stock, that Samsung made it default too ?
I don't mind it as an option, but I hate when it is the default. My wife hates when she uses her iPhone and someone sends her a group text, because if she hits reply, it goes to everyone and not the individual. A reply/send and reply all/send all option would be fine with me.
I hate it when someone sends me a text as a group, because I get EVERYONES stupid response. Group texts are easily the most annoying thing since Bob Saget.
Um...Just got this in my email anyone else get this or is this normal?
"Unfortunately, items in your order are out of stock and are backordered. We will ship them as soon as they are available, and notify you of the shipment by email. We will ship multiple backordered items when all items are in stock."
"Unfortunately, items in your order are out of stock and are backordered. We will ship them as soon as they are available, and notify you of the shipment by email. We will ship multiple backordered items when all items are in stock."
Just the 16 GB one, I believe. Which, in my humble opinion, should never be bought! It needs at least 32 GB in memory. I'll wait.
T4rd
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Why would you want a phone with a cassette drive anyways?
Figured you were going for the One..
At least people have the option to expand with this phone. Id consider 16gb with this phone and 32 with the One.
Try Whatsapp. I actually prefer this to my stock messaging function.
I never said that a cassette drive makes me exclude the phone on my list. My point was that I don't see how it could be a "deal breaker." The deal breaker on the S4 for me is if the screen wasn't calibrated correctly as usual. Luckily, the S4 has AdobeRGB profile for accurate colors. What's the point of have a "superior screen" with crappy over-saturated colors? I'd be looking at the screen every day. I would rather not have to mess with App2SD or store stuff in another drive. Even if the option is there, I'll just not use it. I require a minimum 32 GB eMMC. This is why the screen is way more important than cassette drives. However, if Nokia is indeed bringing out that 41-pixel snapper, then a cassette drive would be needed. Those files would be too big to not have a dedicated drive for picture storage.Why would you want a phone with a cassette drive anyways?
Figured you were going for the One..
As for removable battery, I hope I would not have to remove my battery in two years. If I do, that means my phone is a failure. And, seriously, why buy something I expect to fail in less than 2 years. So I will assume my battery do not need to be replaced for 2 years. If you tell me that's a foolish assumption, then you're pretty much telling me to get an iPhone. It's pretty much battle tested for longevity with very few that does fail.
Right now, deciding between the HTC One or the S4 comes down to this, whether or not I can deal with the TouchWiz crap. I already hate TouchWiz for looking like iOS. And if all those "fancy" S-features cannot help me in any way, I'd rather use Sense 5. I already know that I would appreciate BlinkFeed over Feedly and Flipboard. Rest of Sense 5 has been reviewed to be pretty darn smooth and rather low in bloat. It's even got an Editor's Choice Gold from Anandtech.
If the S4 is truly superior, then it should at least match an Editor's Choice Gold or better Plantinum from Anandtech too. Just saying.
Of course, I could be waiting for the Motorola X Phone too.
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Carbonblk46
Weaksauce
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Can't wait to pick it up. Not completely abandoning IOS always willing to give Sammy a shot
My friend's Note 2 works with group chat when he upgraded from his galaxy nexus which did not.
T4rd
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In case you missed it; I was making fun of you for calling it a cassette drive, so you can stop trying to use the term if you ever want anyone here to take you seriously again (but I think you may be beyond the point of return by now)
.In other news:
A class 10 card almost matches the read/write speeds as the internal storage on my Note 2 according to the SD Card Tester App in the Play Store. Regardless, for music, pictures and media (what storage is really for, btw, not apps), it's plenty fast enough and from what I'm seeing on the One, those Zoes/GIFs and clips take up a lot of space quickly, so I think it could easily benefit from it.
- TouchWiz hasn't looked like iOS since Gingerbread/2.3.
- For most, the removable batteries are about switching batteries on the fly and having the option to support extended batteries, not worrying about long-term battery life.
- I've never seen you (or anyone else) plug Anandtech on here at all until they gave that award to the One and since then I've seen you post that almost-exact same award comment no less than 3 other times in other threads seemingly as troll bait. If you want, I'm sure we can find other sites where the GS4 got some unrecognizable award and the One didn't. I've never known Anandtech for their phone reviews (though the One review was pretty detailed from what I saw) either, let alone be the deciding authority on what is the best phone.
- The Note 2 (not sure about the S3) has "natural" and "movie" settings for the display that tones colors down a bit to make them more realistic, but I prefer to leave it on normal since it makes my home screens and other areas look more vibrant and pleasant to look at. Unless you're trying to do professional photo editing on your phone, I dunno why this would be a big deal anyways. Most people (including me) rather prefer the somewhat over saturated colors on the SAMOLED displays, it certainly makes it stand out from other phones when side by side.
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Smashed Ixnay
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I can't wait to pre-order my S4 tomorrow. I'm going to stay up till 1am (est) so I can preorder it!
Why do you keep saying that we all expect our batteries to fail? and expecting a battery to fail does not mean the phone fails.
Batteries fail, much like HDD's in computers. HDD's failing in a computer is by far a much bigger issue then a replaceable battery failing. If the battery fails, you buy a new one from the store (or second on standby) pop it in and keep using it. If the HDD fails, you better have a backup or you are screwed.
If a non-removable battery fails, you have to send it in, leaving you with out a device regardless of the situation.
Go ahead and look up the statistics for failing batteries of internal vs. removable, there is no reason to not have an exchangable battery other then asthetics.
I'll go a step further and say that it hasn't looked like iOS since Eclair/2.1.
Touchwiz on Eclair (blatant iOS ripoff)
Touchwiz on Gingerbread (pretty distant from iOS)
And my JB update the other day pretty much nixes any iOS similarities other than a vertical icon grid that can be paged through horizontally (IE, like any other Android device, even Sense-based).
I'll add to this. I am one of those people who does expect my battery to fail, regardless of the phone, due to my absurd usage. In my case, only a flat out moron would buy a device that is sealed, unless the advantages of that device far enough outweighed the competition to justify the extra effort/cost of replacing the battery. I keep my phones for 2-3 years, and my batteries last half that. Replaceable batteries are a must for me. I can certainly respect anyone who prefers a sealed device. But, anyone who thinks that a sealed device is better for someone in my situation isn't even smart enough to be valedictorian of their special ed class (IE, no golden helmet for you!).
The natural mode (AKA, RGB mode) got added with Jelly Bean. My SGS2 now has this mode as well, and I do prefer it over the normal (oversaturated) mode. It was a welcome addition.
The point is that it shouldn't matter. Why should you have to replace your battery? Even if I can replace my battery, should I ever need to? Shouldn't the battery last its proper life-cycle? If the battery fails, then it's a fail product because either they gave you a bad battery out of the box or your device charged/discharged your device at a much greater rate than it should. A lithium-ion battery should only decrease down 20% with 400 cycles. If improper "shielding" (as in the phone case) is the reason why your battery broke, then you should probably get a more durable phone. And if you left the battery in a temperature not suitable for the battery, well, you have no one else to blame. So I hope Samsung isn't selling me crap. If I can't trust Samsung to not sell me crap, I should probably be buying Apple products. My local fix-it shop would replace my battery in minutes (guarantee in 20 minutes or less - it says on the window) at $35-50! I don't even have to waste time shopping for batteries. Apple's resale value will certainly pay for that too.
Hence, I don't worry about battery failing. I trust Samsung's quality checks. If you think my trust in them is absurd, buy Apple. And I say this with a Samsung device the Epic 4G Touch (S2) that had a failed battery. I don't expect history to repeat. I do not hold grudges.
The option to replace your own battery yourself should not be a reason to buy a phone. Sure, it's just another reason to go buy an iPhone. Would a device with removable batteries be a deal breaker? No. It's just another feature that I could ignore. What cannot be ignored is the screen, battery life in general, sound quality, and built quality. To this, I do believe that the S4 and the One are even. S4 has better screen and better battery life, though evidently barely in both cases. And One has superior sound and built-quality, although some would appreciate a thinner phone with 4 pennies less in weight.
Hence, I don't worry about battery failing. I trust Samsung's quality checks. If you think my trust in them is absurd, buy Apple. And I say this with a Samsung device the Epic 4G Touch (S2) that had a failed battery. I don't expect history to repeat. I do not hold grudges.
The option to replace your own battery yourself should not be a reason to buy a phone. Sure, it's just another reason to go buy an iPhone. Would a device with removable batteries be a deal breaker? No. It's just another feature that I could ignore. What cannot be ignored is the screen, battery life in general, sound quality, and built quality. To this, I do believe that the S4 and the One are even. S4 has better screen and better battery life, though evidently barely in both cases. And One has superior sound and built-quality, although some would appreciate a thinner phone with 4 pennies less in weight.
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German Muscle
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Batteries are wear items. They go bad on average after 2 years. It was important to me to have a removable battery for 1) To replace the one in it with a larger battery. 2) The OEM battery is kept charged on standby if i ever need it. Sometimes i use it in the phone normally to cycle it. 3) If the phone locks up and does not respond you can pull the battery to reset it. 4) After the battery decays so much to where its easily noticeable that its not lasting as long then i can replace it with a new one.
Do you expect the oil/tires/brakes in your car to last a long time?
I believe I mention battery life-cycles, and the whole thing is being debated on a two-year life-cycle of the phone...
P.S. Volume down + Power button combination is fast way to reboot your device.
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German Muscle
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things fail within that cycle. Its nice to be able to replace a 30-40 dollar battery. Then to deal with RMA and not having a phone.
I am pretty certain I covered it by talking about taking it to a local repair shop with a link to their store... where they will replace your iPhone 4S battery for $35 in 20 minutes or under... (see link...)
These shops are typically in malls across America. Some malls even have more than one store.
P.S. Reason I'm using iPhone 4S pricing is that iPhone 5 is yet a year old.
Just an FYI, but many phones have ways around this now. My SGS2 will allow you to simply hold the power button for 8-10 seconds, which effectively does the same thing as a battery pull. Many phones do this now as an alternative due to them having sealed batteries. The iPhone does this as well (using a two-button combination).
German Muscle
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That voids your warranty......
Thats a soft reset. Ive soft reset my phone many times and still had an issue. The only way it would fix it was to pull the battery/sdcard/sim for like 15 seconds. Either way you cant lose with a removable battery.
I'm sorry, but you are mistaken. A soft reset is when the reboot is performed via software. Examples are the restart button on your phone's power menu, or restart on the Windows shutdown menu.
A hard reset is when you physically cut power to the device. Holding the power button on the SGS2 for 10 seconds, or using the 2-button hold on the iPhone actually cuts power to the device, same as a battery pull. This was a necessity on the iPhone due to the lack of interchangeable battery. I can only assume that Samsung included it as a convenience. It's easier than removing the batter, IMO.
rudy
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What you say only works in a magical apple world that defies the laws of physics. It is not option it is strait up fact that Li batteries ware out, even your care battery wares out. Second there is a normal accepted rate of failure this is why warranties exist for limited time. If anyone at all could make batteries that lasted lets say 4 years with very good charge then they would surely drop a 2 year battery warranty on their phones to attract more buyers. The fact that no single company offers more than a 1 year that I am aware of proves that. Its the same on cars even the 100k warranties exclude pretty much everything but the power train. I mean what you are saying is just like saying when you buy a car you should never need to buy a new pair of tires, and the auto companies might love it if you throw out your car every time the tires ware out. Your usage model might work if your someone who only leases cars for 2 years then changes them up. Which is pretty much what these phone companies are trying to trick you into doing.
I disagree with Tard too, I buy a phone with a removable battery and my most common reason to use that are 1, to replace the battery once per year to get a fresh longer lasting 1, and 2 to buy extended batteries that last much longer for our heavy use, and 3 so I can pass an old phone on to my kids or someone I know and it wont be a useless brick. I never do daily battery changes. And I know plenty of people like myself.
Whatever you reason or use pattern the fact is a removable battery makes it easier, cheaper, and thinner , and more practical.
Also no one is saying its the only reason to buy a phone but its carries different weight, lets be honest all these phones to the average person are a rectangular screen and most people don't give a rip about color calibration etc... They need to see what they are looking at, keep the phone on a long time, and have it last / be flexible over the years they use it and as usage changes. SD cards and Batteries help with those things so when you are looking at an otherwise close match between a couple phones that's just the thing to push you over to Samsung in this case. Nothing in life is all or nothing its the mass average. If Samsung was way behind and produced slow phones that were missing many features I might give it up but they aren't there, they are right at the same competitive level as HTC, apple and everyone else flagship devices.
ItaliaFerrari
Limp Gawd
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The amount of advanced technology that Samsung Galaxy S4 possesses is amazing.
Never seen such a technologically advanced smartphone, ever.
Functions like air view, the ultra-sensitive touch screen, new Super AMOLED tech with higher brightness compared to previous Super AMOLED screens, motion sensors, and the fact it comes with Android 4.2.2 are all extremely attractive propositions from Samsung.
Never seen such a technologically advanced smartphone, ever.
Functions like air view, the ultra-sensitive touch screen, new Super AMOLED tech with higher brightness compared to previous Super AMOLED screens, motion sensors, and the fact it comes with Android 4.2.2 are all extremely attractive propositions from Samsung.
Smashed Ixnay
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Pre-ordered my S4. I ended up buying it outright instead of upgrading, because I didn't want to extend my contract since it only has a few months left. Can't wait to get it!
Batteries and tires? Seriously? Why not just compare a smartphone battery to a car battery? Most car battery should last you at least 5 years with a warranty of 3 years. If Kia sells you a new car with a battery that fails in a year or 2, you'd probably be pretty angry at Kia for selling you crap. If you're already expecting yourself to have to switch that brand new car battery out within 3 years yourself, you probably shouldn't have bought that battery or a car in the first place. But at least Toyota have a proven reliable track record on selling reliable parts. Even if your car has a failed battery from a brand new Toyota, you probably just think that you were just unlucky.
Most people also require auto-tech/mech to switch out the tires and/or batteries. To do it yourself, you require the proper tools too. Battery may be the easier to replace between the two. But I do doubt that most people have that wrench in the car at all times.
Like I said, you cannot worry about the battery failing. If you do, you'd should be something more reliable. And, unfortunately, that's Apple. Fortunately for me, I believe in Samsung despite being one of the unlucky ones before. Unless you think I'm totally naive about Samsung.
Samsung is a reliable brand now, is it not? All you guys worrying about the battery failing before it is supposed to is giving me second thoughts!
Most people also require auto-tech/mech to switch out the tires and/or batteries. To do it yourself, you require the proper tools too. Battery may be the easier to replace between the two. But I do doubt that most people have that wrench in the car at all times.
Like I said, you cannot worry about the battery failing. If you do, you'd should be something more reliable. And, unfortunately, that's Apple. Fortunately for me, I believe in Samsung despite being one of the unlucky ones before. Unless you think I'm totally naive about Samsung.
Samsung is a reliable brand now, is it not? All you guys worrying about the battery failing before it is supposed to is giving me second thoughts!
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Asking if a battery will fail is like asking if the grass is green or if a storm is windy. It will happen, just depends on when.
You are right though, Samsung provides some of the best batteries out there.
Your comparison with the S4 vs. One before was kind of spot on. Honestly I'll probably get getting which ever one comes to me cheaper. Right now it might be the One, or it could be the X-Phone (I still have hopes it exists!).
You are right though, Samsung provides some of the best batteries out there.
Your comparison with the S4 vs. One before was kind of spot on. Honestly I'll probably get getting which ever one comes to me cheaper. Right now it might be the One, or it could be the X-Phone (I still have hopes it exists!).