GPE S4 or Nexus 4?

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Blown 89

2[H]4U
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Oct 21, 2002
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My Galaxy Nexus has overheated in the AZ sun a few times this summer which is causing it to die a slow death. The writing is on the wall, I wish it wasn't because I love my Gnex but it is. I'm a power user and have sworn to only use Nexus branded phones as I feel they offer a more fluid and stable Android experience. Updates are important to me as well. It's important to me that everything work flawlessly with whatever phone get.


The questions is, are the GPE phones worth the hefty price? Are they as fluid as the Nexus phones are? Nexus phones always have inferior hardware but their performance on vanilla android always seems smooth and trouble free.

A good camera is important to me as is good connectivity. I'm on AT&T and I feel they purposely cripple off contract HSPA+ phones on their network (their blocking of speedtest websites supports this) so the LTE of the S4 is enticing. There are times that I feel my Gnex is on edge with AT&T and it drives me nuts (yes, I've tried every APN and plan setting known to man). I'm all for selling either phone if the Nexus 5 lives up to the hype.

What does everyone think. Is the GPE S4 worth the hefty price or does the N4's low cost negate all of its negatives (screen, camera, no LTE, no OTG, fragile). Does the GPE S4 outperform the Nexus in terms of a flawless vanilla experience or does it still have hicups like other phones?
 
Are you completely against signing a contract? AT&T gives no incentive to be contract free, so milk it. Get a One (The S4 is pretty meh) and throw a GPE conversion on it, works perfectly. Honestly though, as much as I loved pure AOSP before this, the One with a custom launcher is perfect for me. It gets rid of the majority of Sense, without getting rid of the good features.
 
entropism said:
Are you completely against signing a contract? AT&T gives no incentive to be contract free, so milk it. Get a One (The S4 is pretty meh) and throw a GPE conversion on it, works perfectly. Honestly though, as much as I loved pure AOSP before this, the One with a custom launcher is perfect for me. It gets rid of the majority of Sense, without getting rid of the good features.
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I agree with this. You can fully convert an AT&T One to a GPe One as well if you get bored with Sense after a while.
 
entropism said:
Are you completely against signing a contract? AT&T gives no incentive to be contract free, so milk it. Get a One (The S4 is pretty meh) and throw a GPE conversion on it, works perfectly. Honestly though, as much as I loved pure AOSP before this, the One with a custom launcher is perfect for me. It gets rid of the majority of Sense, without getting rid of the good features.
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I am against a contract since I plan on changing to Tmobile in the next 6-9 months. I like the idea of the One but the screen looks washed out compared to the S4, the camera isn't nearly as good overall, and I use Google Wallet a lot so it's simply not the phone for me. They are very cheap on the used market though and the front facing speakers are brilliant.....I wish more manufacturers would do that.
 
Blown 89 said:
I am against a contract since I plan on changing to Tmobile in the next 6-9 months. I like the idea of the One but the screen looks washed out compared to the S4, the camera isn't nearly as good overall, and I use Google Wallet a lot so it's simply not the phone for me. They are very cheap on the used market though and the front facing speakers are brilliant.....I wish more manufacturers would do that.
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I have been using both, and the One's screen is definitely not washed out looking. S4 screen on the other hand looks blurry to me with over saturated colors.

S4 itself is pretty good on daylight images, but when it gets out of that, One is definitely better.
 
The S4 is oversaturated, the One's screen is DEFINITELY not washed out. The camera on the One is pretty damn spectacular as well. As for Google Wallet, you won't be able to use that one anything EXCEPT the Nexus or a Sprint phone. AT&T/T-Mobile/Verizon actively block the app from finishing initialization, even if you're using a custom or GPE ROM. Doesn't matter if it's a One, S4, etc.
 
entropism said:
The S4 is oversaturated, the One's screen is DEFINITELY not washed out. The camera on the One is pretty damn spectacular as well. As for Google Wallet, you won't be able to use that one anything EXCEPT the Nexus or a Sprint phone. AT&T/T-Mobile/Verizon actively block the app from finishing initialization, even if you're using a custom or GPE ROM. Doesn't matter if it's a One, S4, etc.
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Google Wallet works on the S4 GPE as well as the GPE roms as long as you're not rooted.
 
Hands down the Nexus 4. THis is a silly question. Anything google supported is superb!
 
mizaco said:
Hands down the Nexus 4. THis is a silly question. Anything google supported is superb!
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As an N4 user I'd support that claim however I'm on my 3rd one and I'm going to be sending it back for a 4th... The phone overheats and the battery life barely squeaks by.. That said.. At the current price.. Its a no brainer. Get the N4
 
Blown 89 said:
Google Wallet works on the S4 GPE as well as the GPE roms as long as you're not rooted.
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Looked around,a nd it seems like people are having SOME success with Wallet, but half the time it seems to be breaking their NFC permanently. Odd stuff...
 
Man I hope my Galaxy Nexus doesn't start to quit on me....

...I'm still apologizing to it for throwing it against my bedroom door in a fit of rage yesterday. First time I've ever done something like that, too. Threw it so hard it knocked the extended battery and back cover clean off... but not a scratch on it.

I almost bit on the Nexus 4 now that the price is so unbelievably low, but I just can't seem to part ways with my GNex. After getting used to the Super AMOLED screen any LCD just looks like washed out crap to me... even the IPS screen on the Nexus 4. I'm just not a fan.

The rear camera on the Nexus 4 is what really makes me shy away from buying it... it's quite simply poor. Even compared to the GNex it just sort of sucks...

Maybe by next summer they will have a fire sale on the Google edition S4 and HTC One. :D
 
For $199, it's hard to argue against the Nexus 4.

Yes the GPE phones are better than the N4, but for $650+, hell no. Especially now that new phones with the Snapdragon 800 and 3,000mAh batteries are being released like the Note 3, Sony Honami and LG G2, the GPE phones feel a bit dated already, for that high price tag. I can see spending $650 on a brand new Note 3 next month, that seems like money well spent, but $650 for a Galaxy S4, no way. The GPE phones should be reduced to like $499 or so, that would be a good price for those, or have updated Snapdragon 800 versions released

Shit, you can buy a Nexus 4 now at $199, and then the Nexus-Five in Oct/Nov for $399, and still have spent less than one GPE phone.

Or I also like the idea of on contract phone HTC One, that is a beauty of a phone, and so easy to root, run with a Sense stock ROM, or the Vanilla GPE ROM.
 
txsizzler said:
Blue Falcon, can we just say "anger management"??
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Although I can admit to knocking a hole in a wall once during my teenage years, I'm usually not the type to throw something in a fit of rage. But being endlessly nagged on my freakin' BIRTHDAY just pushed me over the edge. I threw that phone pretty damned hard...

Not a scratch or a mark on it though... popped the battery back in and the back cover back on, and she was good as new.

I have to say I don't think the Nexus 4 would have handled that flight as well. :D
 
I would buy a N4 and never look back if it had a microsd slot. Not having one on a phone is pretty much unexcusable today (yes im looking at you HTC and Apple).
 
lloose said:
I would buy a N4 and never look back if it had a microsd slot. Not having one on a phone is pretty much unexcusable today (yes im looking at you HTC and Apple).
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Sorry, but why is it even needed when you have wireless ac, cloud, and having plenty of storage in the phone in the first place? That said, the N4 does NOT have ac or enough storage... But HTC One does, and Apple also does give you the option to.
 
Does anyone here own the GPE S4 ? Is it worth the $650 ? You do get the removable battery and SD/Card which is nice, but not sure if in September an S4 is worth $650, with the Nexus-Five rumored to be coming somewhat soon Oct/Nov.

And other new phones coming out in the next few weeks for the same $650 off contract price, but with the latest upgraded hardware, the Snapdragon 800 + 3,000mAh batteries; Note 3, Sony Honami, LG G2.

I would spend $650 in a heartbeat for an GPE S4 with the Snapdragon 800 and a larger 3,000mAh battery. But $650 for a Snapdragon 600 and smaller battery today, just seems sort of dated compared to newer phones very close to release.
 
CHANG3D said:
Sorry, but why is it even needed when you have wireless ac, cloud, and having plenty of storage in the phone in the first place? That said, the N4 does NOT have ac or enough storage... But HTC One does, and Apple also does give you the option to.
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Because WiFi isn't everywhere and cellular data is fucking expensive?

Also, there are Android games that weigh in at gigabytes now... how is that 'cloud' storage going to help you out there?
 
CHANG3D said:
Sorry, but why is it even needed when you have wireless ac, cloud, and having plenty of storage in the phone in the first place? That said, the N4 does NOT have ac or enough storage... But HTC One does, and Apple also does give you the option to.
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Because I think your phone shouldn't have to be connected to wifi to use it. It's a mobile phone. This 2gb limit that cell phone providers are holding tooth and nail to needs to stop. Even my "unlimited" plan gets throttled to unusable speeds after 2gb of usage.

Sure htc and apple give you the option, but both makers are putting out flagship phones. Not cheap entry level devices. It's about time they upped their game a little and put out something worth being called "top of the line". That includes on board storage.
 
lloose said:
Because I think your phone shouldn't have to be connected to wifi to use it. It's a mobile phone. This 2gb limit that cell phone providers are holding tooth and nail to needs to stop. Even my "unlimited" plan gets throttled to unusable speeds after 2gb of usage.

Sure htc and apple give you the option, but both makers are putting out flagship phones. Not cheap entry level devices. It's about time they upped their game a little and put out something worth being called "top of the line". That includes on board storage.
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I have no problems for having a microSD as an option. I just think it's silly that people believe it's absolutely necessary. There are plenty of things the HTC One has that no one else has like affordable built-in storage 32/64 GB and great speakers; and there are plenty of things that Apple iPhone 5S has like 64-bit processor, top of the line graphics, front button with integrated finger print reader, last longer than any other phone of the same weigh-class. And yet you place more importance to having a microSD when clearly there are alternatives. (Heck, my power charger has an integrated microSD slot; I got it off kickstarter.) I guess I can't tell you to change your priorities or reorder your preferences, but I just don't think microSD is all that important.
 
CHANG3D said:
I have no problems for having a microSD as an option. I just think it's silly that people believe it's absolutely necessary. There are plenty of things the HTC One has that no one else has like affordable built-in storage 32/64 GB and great speakers; and there are plenty of things that Apple iPhone 5S has like 64-bit processor, top of the line graphics, front button with integrated finger print reader, last longer than any other phone of the same weigh-class. And yet you place more importance to having a microSD when clearly there are alternatives. (Heck, my power charger has an integrated microSD slot; I got it off kickstarter.) I guess I can't tell you to change your priorities or reorder your preferences, but I just don't think microSD is all that important.
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Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the upgrades. I am just as excited for the new hardware as the next guy. I just wish there was a phone right now that fit my needs better than whats being offered. Its the fact that everyone is so close, but just falling short that makes me frustrated. IOS fluidity + microsd OR affordable space is all I want. Right now android cant offer the ios fluidity and apple doesnt offer a slot for expandable storage. I feel like im getting a consolation prize that kind of fits my needs, and its not the way I want to feel when I drop that kind of coin on a device.
 
Zorachus said:
For $199, it's hard to argue against the Nexus 4.
Shit, you can buy a Nexus 4 now at $199, and then the Nexus-Five in Oct/Nov for $399, and still have spent less than one GPE phone.
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Google charged me 226 for my N4 I ordered on 8/30. It was 9.99 for shipping and 17.91 for tax.

So you gotta figure that into it.=P

Still even for that price, 226 for last year's top tier phone is pretty good considering you'll get all the updates of Kit kat.
 
shuma1044 said:
Google charged me 226 for my N4 I ordered on 8/30. It was 9.99 for shipping and 17.91 for tax.

So you gotta figure that into it.=P

Still even for that price, 226 for last year's top tier phone is pretty good considering you'll get all the updates of Kit kat.
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Exactly :) The Nexus 4 is no slouch, it was almost top of the line spec'd last year, better hardware than last years flagships Galaxy S3 and One X, just the Note 2 being better.

At $199 + tax / shipping, that's an impossible price to compete with, for a brand new off contract phone, that will get guaranteed updates well into 2014 and 2015.

Seriously, what phone off contract out of pocket can you buy for $200 ? Nothing new that I know of with specs anywhere close to the N4. Only option would be used phones on Craigslist.
 
Blown 89 said:
OTG. Problem solved
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Just be aware that USB OTG on the Nexus 4 is not a simple "plug and play" situation. It requires both software (for the phone) and hardware customization (for the connector, not the phone or the connecting device, specifically it needs to supply power).

Unless of course something newer has come up?
 
limitedaccess said:
Just be aware that USB OTG on the Nexus 4 is not a simple "plug and play" situation. It requires both software (for the phone) and hardware customization (for the connector, not the phone or the connecting device, specifically it needs to supply power).

Unless of course something newer has come up?
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You're right, it's still a pain in the ass on the N4. It's actually a big reason why I'm dragging my feet on getting one. It's a feature I've used extensively on the GN.
 
I think the S4 and One GPE phones should come down in price, now that the next generation Snapdragon 800 phones are coming out, like the Note 3, G2, Sony Honami, and cost $650 full retail.

I think a fair price for the GPE's would be $475, costing between the Nexus 4 @ $299 and Note 3 @ $650.
 
Does any [H] member actually own a official GPE S4 or One ? Or just the carrier phone rooted with GPE ROM ?
 
Zorachus said:
Does any [H] member actually own a official GPE S4 or One ? Or just the carrier phone rooted with GPE ROM ?
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I've used the GPE Galaxy s4 and I didn't like it. It performed well but there were a lot of features in the standard version that I missed. I actually just bought an S4 off contract with ATT yesterday and Im very happy with it.
 
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