Upgrading form Iphone 4

[Aphotic]

I'm looking to upgrade from an Iphone 4 this week (on verizion) and I'm trying to decide between the Iphone 5, Samsung GS4, Nokia Lumia 928, and Blackberry Z10.

I'm leaning towards the GS4 for it's raw power, beautiful display, and expandable storage, but I'd like to hear some opinions on any of those phones.

With my next phone, I need a decent camera, easy email access, ability to work on Word and PwP documents, and stable OS.

 

[CHANG3D]

Sounds like you want a Nokia Lumia 928. I hear it's a great phone. By far the best camera of the bunch, got Microsoft Office mobile stuff, and a very stable OS. Good luck.

 

[Zorachus]

I'd say either the GS4 or N928. Try them both out in store, which one feels better in hand, etc...

The GS4 should offer better battery life, and lots of XDA development if your into that. But if not a rooter, and want a good Exchange support stuff, then the N928 for sure.

 

[Terpfen]

I'm leaning towards the GS4 for it's raw power, beautiful display...

The Galaxy line does not have beautiful displays. They're oversaturated and poorly calibrated.

 

[Medion]

I'm looking to upgrade from an Iphone 4 this week (on verizion) and I'm trying to decide between the Iphone 5, Samsung GS4, Nokia Lumia 928, and Blackberry Z10.

I'm leaning towards the GS4 for it's raw power, beautiful display, and expandable storage, but I'd like to hear some opinions on any of those phones.

With my next phone, I need a decent camera, easy email access, ability to work on Word and PwP documents, and stable OS.

You've named every major mobile OS, so you're obviously thinking of switching ecosystems. Here's my opinion of each. Of the phones that you selected:

iPhone 5 - If you're happy with your current iPhone and just want more horsepower and a slightly larger screen, this is the phone that should be at the top of your list. If you can hold out, the next iPhone should be out in about 5 months. Your call if you want to upgrade right away for get a better version.

Lumia 928 - This device meets every requirement that you listed. If you feel the need to switch operating systems, this is an outstanding choice. Office suite support is built in natively, whereas with the other platforms, you'll need a paid app such as Quick Office.

Galaxy S4 - I'll be honest here, this phone is a disappointment. While it has the best guts, the software is a let down. Everytime I play with one, I get even more disappointed in what Samsung did with the software. It is SO laggy. Side by side, my S2 has better touch response. Now, the S4 opens apps faster than my S2, but that goes without saying. Personally, if you decide that you want to switch to the Android ecosystem, I would wait for the HTC One, which is supposedly (but not officially confirmed) coming to Verizon within the next month or two.

Blackberry Z10 - I've never used any Blackberry for any extensive amount of time, but in the short time I played with the Z10, I felt that it was a solid device. I don't know how BB's ecosystem will do, or even if they'll be around in two years. If you're feeling risky, then go for it.

The Galaxy line does not have beautiful displays. They're oversaturated and poorly calibrated.

Since the 4.1 update on older phones, and out of the box for the S4, they offer more normal looking screen modes. They look fine in these situations. Some people also prefer the oversaturation by default. I'm wondering (off-topic) if the Google Edition will be calibrated differently or offer the different screen modes. I doubt it though.

 

[Aphotic]

Appreciate all the responses!

I think I really am ready to switch ecosystems so I'm tossing the iphone 5. I also feel like Windows and Android have more potential in their OS than Blackberry so it's coming down to the lumia 928 and the GS4...

I'm sad to hear the S4 has been a disappointment and the fact that it lags at all is a bit ridiculous. The lumia doesn't have the horsepower of the S4 but that is looking like a better and better option. I'm wondering how Nokia is on internal build quality; I really don't care about plastic vs aluminum exteriors, I just want quality internals.

Also, I need the phone to last me the day. I know the S4 can handle this but how far will the Lumia go?

 

[Romale23]

I would probably go with the windows phone just for the experiment if nothing else. That being said Iphone5 isn't a bad phone and if you've already made alot of purchases its kinda hard to justify just throwing that stuff away... Also if your like me and needed an unlocked that changes it to iphone or galaxy cause you can buy them unlocked right from apple or google. you can also get the htc one unlocked and its a pretty damn good phone. I'm kinda biased against Samsung though. i've not liked one thing of theirs i've owned.

 

[CHANG3D]

Also, I need the phone to last me the day. I know the S4 can handle this but how far will the Lumia go?

According to the reviews, the battery life lasts as long as typical high-end devices.

Remember, WP is a highly optimized OS. The same 2000 mAH battery in an android will not go nearly as far.

If the 80 hr music life on the spec is any indication, it should be pretty good.

 

[Medion]

Appreciate all the responses!

I think I really am ready to switch ecosystems so I'm tossing the iphone 5. I also feel like Windows and Android have more potential in their OS than Blackberry so it's coming down to the lumia 928 and the GS4...

I'm sad to hear the S4 has been a disappointment and the fact that it lags at all is a bit ridiculous. The lumia doesn't have the horsepower of the S4 but that is looking like a better and better option. I'm wondering how Nokia is on internal build quality; I really don't care about plastic vs aluminum exteriors, I just want quality internals.

Also, I need the phone to last me the day. I know the S4 can handle this but how far will the Lumia go?

Based on what you're saying, get the Lumia. It will last you the day, possibly two. In terms of internals, Nokia and Motorola are the ones to beat. On that note, this is one thing that turned me off to the HTC One. During the injunction, we saw a shot of their internals. I know you shouldn't judge by looks, but holy crap...

 

[Terpfen]

Since the 4.1 update on older phones, and out of the box for the S4, they offer more normal looking screen modes. They look fine in these situations. Some people also prefer the oversaturation by default. I'm wondering (off-topic) if the Google Edition will be calibrated differently or offer the different screen modes. I doubt it though.

The problem is the AMOLED screen itself. Poor software calibration compounds the problem. But this is a hardware issue, not a software issue.

 

[Medion]

The problem is the AMOLED screen itself. Poor software calibration compounds the problem. But this is a hardware issue, not a software issue.

It can be brought to RGB levels via calibration. We're not there yet, but we are getting there. Just two quick points on the subject. A forum thread on OLED calibration, and Dr. Raymond Soneira's (DisplayMate) input.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1395644/smartphone-calibration

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/04/three-years-in-amoled-displays-are-finally-getting-it-right/

 

[T4rd]

The Galaxy line does not have beautiful displays.

If you've seen any reviews on the GS4, then that's a pretty ignorant statement. The display has pretty much been unanimously praised by anyone reviewing it. But there's even an Adobe RGB mode on the GS4 (and will come to their other phones with 4.2 I think) for more natural colors (but not totally accurate yet) if you're trying to professionally edit pictures on your smart phone . I've tried the "natural" mode on my Note 2 and it looks way too dull, so I actually prefer the normal slightly oversaturated look of the default display setting. Regardless though; it's a great display for 99%+ of smart phone users, so I don't see how you couldn't recommend it based solely off its display even if you yourself don't find that it's up to your professionall studio monitor standards.

That's a hard call though, OP. If you're looking into all 4mobile OS's, then you really need to decide aspects of them are more important for you. And if you're a power-user type, then you can fix that slight lag and bloat issue on the GS4 with a vanilla/AOSP ROM on it, which should be readily available soon once the Verizon GS4 launches and the release the bootloader unlock exploit for it. Then shortly thereafter, I'm sure the ROM from the Google edition GS4 will be promptly ported over for all carrier GS4 users to install themselves for a super-Nexus like experience. I'd bet battery life gets a little bump from a vanilla Android ROM too without all the TouchWiz crap running in the background. Also, if battery life is your ultimate concern, then the GS4 would surely be your choice since it has a replaceable battery and will have extended battery options available for it. The Note 2 has a friggin 9300 mAh battery available for it from ZeroLemon that allows you to go for several days if you don't mind the added bulk. They have batteries for the GS3 and I'm sure will have similar batteries for the GS4 too. But even if they don't, there's several other venders that offer double-capacity batteries for these phones too.

Also, I know the Nokia 920/925/928 camera is still pretty much the best phone camera on the market right now, but I'd venture to say that the GS4 isn't too far behind it, esp. in well-lit environments. But even in low-light areas, the low-light mode on my Note 2 works pretty good in my experience and I've seen the same reported from GS4 and GS3 users so far.

I know I sound totally Android/GS4 biased, but I'm just giving you info about the phone from the (lots of) reviews and news I've seen about it. I haven't seen too much about the 928 yet, but I know it's mostly a warmed-over 920, which is a good thing. But the hardware is (aside from the camera) a bit dated already, which I don't think means as much for WP as it does for Android since WP's UI is much smoother (though maybe not faster with all those elaborate 1-2 second long transition animations everywhere, maybe you can adjust/disable that though) than Android on lesser hardware, so it seems much more optimized. But judging by MS's record on WP so far, they haven't allowed any phone to update from one major revision to a new one (no WP7 phones got WP8 that I know of), so who knows if you'll see much support past WP8 in the next year or so. But at least Verizon priced the 928 appropriately at $99 on contract, which is the same as the 920 on AT&T at the moment. So you're still getting a great phone at a great price with it.

I could go on much longer about both phones, but the point is; just research and play with them in store to get a better idea of which phone does things better for you. They're totally different in almost every way, so I don't think it should be too hard to figure out, IMO.

 

[Whach]

I'm looking to upgrade from an Iphone 4 this week (on verizion) and I'm trying to decide between the Iphone 5, Samsung GS4, Nokia Lumia 928, and Blackberry Z10.

I'm leaning towards the GS4 for it's raw power, beautiful display, and expandable storage, but I'd like to hear some opinions on any of those phones.

With my next phone, I need a decent camera, easy email access, ability to work on Word and PwP documents, and stable OS.

I just jumped to the GS4 from the original iphone 4 this weekend. Had everything I needed in terms of the apps I used so making the jump was no problem. The only thing I needed to get used to was the new touchwiz GUI and maybe the way I sync music to the phone. Otherwise, everything is great.

Can wait to eventually put stock android on the phone. Should be even more snappy.

 

[Terpfen]

It can be brought to RGB levels via calibration.

Which is fine, except sRGB is the standard. The point stands.

If you've seen any reviews on the GS4, then that's a pretty ignorant statement

You mean like Anandtech's review pointing out the oversaturated display as a negative? Those reviews? Nah, never read 'em before. I certainly never read this quote:

The sanest of them all really ends up being the strangely-named 'Movie' mode. Professional photo gives the big gamut with a white point closer to 'Movie,' which is to say around 7000K, but it doesn't fundamentally change the still-present oversaturation or color management issue that exists in Android with these wide gamut displays. Most users admittedly don't care however and just see "bright" colors.

Or this quote:

There's that remaining question about brightness, contrast, outdoor visibility, and of course calibration and the saturation issue that has persisted with AMOLED from generation to generation.

Or this:

There's still a bias toward more green subpixels than blue or red, this isn't an RGB stripe at all, but instead of the previous RG,BG layout we see this offset pattern with green on one line, then blue and red on another line. Interestingly enough the blue subpixel appears to be a square, and red and green appear to be circles, with the difference in area possibly offsetting the luminous efficiency of each material.

Totally skipped over those, man.

 

[Medion]

You make excellent points but we are going off topic. Please make a separate thread for the topic and I'd be glad to further participate.

 

[Zorachus]

Bottom line, any new phone coming from an iPhone 4 will be a big upgrade. The Nokia Lumia 928 will feel like a MASSIVE upgrade. Or wait for Verizon's HTC One, which should be out in June. I would recommend the "Google Edition" S4, #1 hands down the best upgrade, unfortunately Verizon will not be getting that phone.

Can you handle the Note 2's size ? That thing is a beast smartphone, very fast, super long battery life, has the S-Pen for cool features. The Note 2 truly feels like a mini desktop computer in the palm of your hand.

 

[Aphotic]

Allright, so I'm going to go over to Verizon store to play with the Lumia 928 and then head over to AT&T to feel up the GS4. Both phones sound like truly solid options so it's going to come down to what feels the best in my hand and what's easiest to navigate. (I will keep in mind that running vanilla android will make the S4 snappier)

I have looked at the Note II and it's just too large for me. The Samsung GS4 is definitely hitting the limit on what I want to carry around in my pocket.

Once again, I really appreciate all the help! Great points being made that I missed in my own research.

 

[T4rd]

Which is fine, except sRGB is the standard. The point stands.



You mean like Anandtech's review pointing out the oversaturated display as a negative? Those reviews? Nah, never read 'em before. I certainly never read this quote:



Or this quote:



Or this:



Totally skipped over those, man.

You're trying too hard.

Seems like you skipped over the part where they said the display is bad (or "not beautiful"). Oh wait.. they didn't.

Then ommited this part:

The subpixels are now small enough that whatever the pattern, it all looks like a homogenous light-emitting surface, which was the goal after all. I could bring up the visual acuity discussion again but just trust me that it's small enough to not be visible even with actually perfect (not legally perfect, which is different) vision.

And missed this part that I alluded to in my post:

Most users admittedly don't care however and just see "bright" colors.

Which is how every other person and reviewer outside of Anandtech saw it and thought it was directly comparible to the One and one of the (if not the) best display they've seen on a smart phone.

I wasn't arguring that the display wasn't oversaturated or poorly calibrated (which if you notice, is why I left that part of the quote out ). I was arguing that the display isn't bad. People don't care about accurate colors. If a display can dynamically make colors brighter and prettier at the expense of accuracy, 98% of the public would pick the prettier colors over the more accurate colors on the iPhone or HTC phones, esp. when you see the phones side by side in store with their colorful UI elements and wallpapers. Which is why no one else ripped apart the display like Anandtech did.

 

[Pylon]

Based on what you're saying, get the Lumia. It will last you the day, possibly two. In terms of internals, Nokia and Motorola are the ones to beat. On that note, this is one thing that turned me off to the HTC One. During the injunction, we saw a shot of their internals. I know you shouldn't judge by looks, but holy crap...

[snip]]

That's a very specific part of the internals you're looking at (Nokia's guts are probably messier at other parts of the phone, and HTC's probably neater at other parts of the phone).

 

[limitedaccess]

You can search for teardowns and dis-assemblies of the HTC One and Lumia 928 to get better images of their insides.

 

[Trimlock]

That's a very specific part of the internals you're looking at (Nokia's guts are probably messier at other parts of the phone, and HTC's probably neater at other parts of the phone).

Not sure if hes comparing the "messy" internals or the blatant rip off a chip that was 'supposed' to be exclusive to the Nokia phones. In either way it was a screw up on the company that supplies the chips, they ended up selling them to HTC for the One when it was supposed to be purely for Nokia phones.

 

[Godmachine]

The Galaxy line does not have beautiful displays. They're oversaturated and poorly calibrated.

That's just an insane statement. You can easily choose a different mode to dim the color saturation and it makes it perfectly acceptable for nearly 99 percent of those who use smartphones across the world. If you are using your phone for any kind of critical photo work , you are doing it wrong anyway. AMOLED screens have vastly superior contrast which makes a GIGANTIC difference if you intend to watch Youtube/Movies/Netflix/Hulu or any kind of video. I recently purchased an HTC One and while its screen is 1080p , its an IPS display and compared to the AMOLED that was in my Note 2 (and 720p resolution) , its inferior in overall contrast and contrast is vital in any display. Using the One made me feel like I was using an IPS display with its sort of backlit "glow" that is common with nearly all IPS display's.

I can't even tell you how many times people have commented that my former Galaxy Note 2 had an incredibly impressive looking display.

To the OP , I would recommend the HTC One or the S4. You'll have to root the S4 and remove its bloatware which might turn you off but if you don't mind a tiny bit of tinkering you'll be left with the fastest phone on the market with the best camera. Ignore the HTC One's hype over its camera , yes its better in low light but it sucks at just about everything else and the 13MP camera on the S4 in general will take sharper/better pictures overall. I personally hate the Metro OS and I also don't like the fact that Windows Phone's don't have anywhere near the app selection of Android/iOS and that you can't hardly mod a Windows OS phone. I think Nokia makes impressive phones but MS is playing a distant third in this market and all I hear are complaints from my friends that who have those phones that they always have to wait a long time before a port from iOS/Android comes to the Windows mobile marketplace.

Happy hunting.

 

[CHANG3D]

That's just an insane statement. You can easily choose a different mode to dim the color saturation and it makes it perfectly acceptable for nearly 99 percent of those who use smartphones across the world. If you are using your phone for any kind of critical photo work , you are doing it wrong anyway. AMOLED screens have vastly superior contrast which makes a GIGANTIC difference if you intend to watch Youtube/Movies/Netflix/Hulu or any kind of video. I recently purchased an HTC One and while its screen is 1080p , its an IPS display and compared to the AMOLED that was in my Note 2 (and 720p resolution) , its inferior in overall contrast and contrast is vital in any display. Using the One made me feel like I was using an IPS display with its sort of backlit "glow" that is common with nearly all IPS display's.

I can't even tell you how many times people have commented that my former Galaxy Note 2 had an incredibly impressive looking display.

To the OP , I would recommend the HTC One or the S4. You'll have to root the S4 and remove its bloatware which might turn you off but if you don't mind a tiny bit of tinkering you'll be left with the fastest phone on the market with the best camera. Ignore the HTC One's hype over its camera , yes its better in low light but it sucks at just about everything else and the 13MP camera on the S4 in general will take sharper/better pictures overall. I personally hate the Metro OS and I also don't like the fact that Windows Phone's don't have anywhere near the app selection of Android/iOS and that you can't hardly mod a Windows OS phone. I think Nokia makes impressive phones but MS is playing a distant third in this market and all I hear are complaints from my friends that who have those phones that they always have to wait a long time before a port from iOS/Android comes to the Windows mobile marketplace.

Happy hunting.

first, the S4 screen doesn't suck, but I do not know why Samsung can't calibrate that thing. I was really happy samsung announced that they had finally released a photo accurate adobe rgb setting, which winded up worse than the movie accuracy. This means that samsung tried using marketing to fix their issues and not a real fix... What does that say about Samsung. The reason a screen needs to have color accuracy is that if you claiming your phone is a great camera phone, and your photos come out over-saturated on the screen, that is a major annoyance. Maybe "99%" of the people don't care, but how do you even know your photos are right?

If we're going to talk about "99%" of the people, 99% of the people will not be rooting their phones. The experience of the GS4 out of the box just "sucks" compared to all other high ends. Heck, the Note 2 is a better phone out of the box than the GS4.

HTC camera in daylight doesn't suck, it's just not as good due to lower pixel count. Numerous reviews shows that it held its own in daylight including a couple of reviews saying it's number 2 after lumia 920 and that's just daylight shots (the other phones in the comparison are iPhone 5 and GS4). Its night photos is obviously the best there is in a photo. Considering that most people probably take photos of themselves on their nights out, HTC definitely did something right here especially when Facebook and instagram only takes small photos.

Back to the OP, I do believe that the Lumia 928 to be the perfect phone for you. Tell us what you think.

 

[Terpfen]

That's just an insane statement. You can easily choose a different mode to dim the color saturation and it makes it perfectly acceptable for nearly 99 percent of those who use smartphones across the world.

It's not insane, it's accurate. The fact that you go on to excuse it by saying you can select an alternate display mode (which doesn't actually correct the problem) is excusing an issue because you prefer the device. That's fine. Just be honest about it.

 

[CHANG3D]

Not sure if hes comparing the "messy" internals or the blatant rip off a chip that was 'supposed' to be exclusive to the Nokia phones. In either way it was a screw up on the company that supplies the chips, they ended up selling them to HTC for the One when it was supposed to be purely for Nokia phones.

Yes, it's not HTC's fault that they were sold parts that weren't supposed to be sold.

And, if you guys are talking about that picture, the Nokia photo is taken from just a board; no glue, nothing. It's wasn't ripped out of a phone like the HTC's photo did (literally). I'm sure that HTC board looks just as clean and nice before they put it all together.

 

[Aphotic]

So went I was able to spend a good a mount of time with both the Nokia and Samsung. I have to say I was really impressed with the snappiness of the Lumia. Great screen and feels good in the hand. With the GS4 I was blown away by the screen (I'm personally not very susceptible to over saturation). The camera and all the features were great as well. The UI was noticeably slower than the Lumia but I have no problem with rooting the device.

In the end, with the fact that the Lumia was $100 cheaper and has dedicated windows office integration, it's my final choice. I know it's not as powerful as the S4 but I truly don't need my cellphone for gaming or intense mobile computing, I have a Vita and Tablet for that. I do really love the S4 though and I'd probably would have been happy with either choice.

Thank you all!

 

[Medion]

So went I was able to spend a good a mount of time with both the Nokia and Samsung. I have to say I was really impressed with the snappiness of the Lumia. Great screen and feels good in the hand. With the GS4 I was blown away by the screen (I'm personally not very susceptible to over saturation). The camera and all the features were great as well. The UI was noticeably slower than the Lumia but I have no problem with rooting the device.

In the end, with the fact that the Lumia was $100 cheaper and has dedicated windows office integration, it's my final choice. I know it's not as powerful as the S4 but I truly don't need my cellphone for gaming or intense mobile computing, I have a Vita and Tablet for that. I do really love the S4 though and I'd probably would have been happy with either choice.

Thank you all!

You made a great choice and I know that you'll love it. My wife, a diehard iPhone user, was raving about the 928. When I told her that it was exclusive to Verizon and that the T-Mobile version has less storage and no Xenon flash, she wasn't happy. She's likely going iPhone again.

 

[limitedaccess]

first, the S4 screen doesn't suck, but I do not know why Samsung can't calibrate that thing. I was really happy samsung announced that they had finally released a photo accurate adobe rgb setting, which winded up worse than the movie accuracy. This means that samsung tried using marketing to fix their issues and not a real fix... What does that say about Samsung. The reason a screen needs to have color accuracy is that if you claiming your phone is a great camera phone, and your photos come out over-saturated on the screen, that is a major annoyance. Maybe "99%" of the people don't care, but how do you even know your photos are right?

Color accuracy is an objective and measurable quality of a display and it is technically correct for a display to have more accurate colors. The issue however is what looks good (this for anything not just displays) at the end is highly subjective. So it shouldn't be surprising that not only do people not mind inaccurate colors but actually prefer oversaturated colors. There is reason for example TV displays in showrooms tend to be tuned for oversaturated colors and very high brightness.

 

[Medion]

Since people want to continue to discuss the display, I'll play along.

Color accuracy is an objective and measurable quality of a display and it is technically correct for a display to have more accurate colors. The issue however is what looks good (this for anything not just displays) at the end is highly subjective. So it shouldn't be surprising that not only do people not mind inaccurate colors but actually prefer oversaturated colors. There is reason for example TV displays in showrooms tend to be tuned for oversaturated colors and very high brightness.

I agree with you and this post is just to expand on what you said.

While color accuracy is objective, how colors look to a person is subjective. We care about color accuracy on our computer monitors for professional work. I guarantee you that most of the people here spouting about color accuracy in a mobile display are using uncalibrated TN panels for their PC monitors (note, I am as well) and presets on their HDTVs.

There are some out there that truly care about color accuracy. However, I'd be curious to know what phones they prefer. You can check Dr. Soneira's results to see which phones come close to being accurate.

http://www.displaymate.com/mobile.html

He seems to believe that the Movie mode on the SGS4 has very good calibration. While some reviews have complained about muted colors in this mode...well, accurate colors aren't vibrant and don't pop out at you. He found that white color temp was better on the SGS4 than the iPhone 5 in standard or movie mode, with movie mode being near ideal (6,591k). However, color gamut was, as expected, very excessive. Overall, the S4's display is better than many would expect. It's not perfect, but show me a mobile display that is.

EDIT: I'll do it for you. The Motorola Droid (OG on Verizon) is still the benchmark for smartphone displays. It is damn near perfect in color reproduction. Motorola had a few follow-up devices that came close, but then switched to PenTile LCD and subsequently OLED. They've never matched those first displays.