*** The Official Samsung Galaxy S4 Thread ***

Mine is really very good. its not perfect though and it makes me wonder why what I'm seeing hasnt been picked up on any of the reviews. Cherry picked handsets maybe.... My screen has slight, but obvious, ghosting issues. This si the growing/shrinking grey bars that have been reports here and over at xda. It's really a small issue though and its only there if you look for it. But it's there. Also, it has quite a shallow viewing angle before the whites change to a pinkish-white. Again, similar issues reported all of the place but its minimal on my phone and it doesnt affect general use in any way so its not a problem.

Those are overly anal criticisms, though; the screen is bloody brilliant. Pin sharp, fantastic colours in movie mode, very uniform colours across the screen. I love it.

Nexus18 said:
The GS 4 has a very small FOV, smaller than the GS 3.
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You think that's small, try the full 13mp lol. Since 13mp is 4:3 on the gs4, it makes look every narrower.


Nexus18, that looks likw GSMArena's One vs S4 review? It looks like it's been re-written since those FOV images were captured http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s4_vs_htc_one-review-913p8.php The didnt seem impressed with the One at all. They also have the S4 down as having the better low-light performance as well. Do you think they've been paid off? :p
 
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stoosh said:
@kona Great picture comparison there. Thanks for that :)
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cheers mate, not a proper scientific test just a quick comparison. All 3 phones are great, each quite different and will suit different people.

Will hopefully get more pics up when I can. Wish I had a load of free time - boo!
 
Liquidfox said:
Have you updated your firmware yet? I've looked around and a few people are saying they're getting constant pop-ups about unauthorized software once rooted again so I'm reluctant to do it.
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no updates available to me yet. Not rooted either. Will do it maybe next weekend. Should be very sure and stable by then.

York said:
For those that are waiting for it there's now a recovery that works for the i9505 (i.e. UK S4 variant). Just installed TWRP 2.5 recovery and currently taking a backup to my SD card :)
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Awesome news mate :cool:

which root method did you use?
 
james.miller said:
You think that's small, try the full 13mp lol. Since 13mp is 4:3 on the gs4, it makes look every narrower.


Nexus18, that looks likw GSMArena's One vs S4 review? It looks like it's been re-written since those FOV images were captured http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s4_vs_htc_one-review-913p8.php The didnt seem impressed with the One at all. They also have the S4 down as having the better low-light performance as well. Do you think they've been paid off? :p
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Lol yeah, quite a big difference i.e. HTC one VS GS 4

Ignore the blurry mess of the one, the guy turned of the sharpening

Personally I would just stick with 9.6MP, no difference in quality and it suits the mobile screen, monitors and TVs far better.


I just took that image from their main GS 4 review.


Don't get me started on GSMarena when it comes to Samsung stuff!!! :mad: :p But yup, what they said there is true, no denying, the GS 4 is better when it comes to zooming/cropping and bright light landscape conditions, however, what about other low light/dark conditions, macro shots etc.??? Their supposed "low light" test is crap.

This is personally how I look at the cameras "overall" and the pros and cons each has over the other (going by most of the review sites and end user photos plus user thoughts who own both:

Main advantages of the GS 4 camera are;

- if you crop/zoom in on images, have a very high res. display and/or print photos on large paper.

- Bright landscape conditions

- panorama shots

- features/options overall

Main advantages of the one camera:

- very fast shutter and combined with OIS, you get more consistent/usable photos, more so in lower light conditions and/or with movement shots

- indoor conditions, low light/dark conditions

- larger FOV

- audio recording (really amazing in loud environments) and video recording overall (GS 4 looks excellent for 1080P recording but the OIS, FOV [which is further reduced on the gs4 when you enable image stabilisation] etc. give the one the edge by quite a bit imo)


The GS 4 can perform superbly in low light/night conditions with "night" mode (in some even better than the one) but it comes at a cost, slower shutter (iirc Brian said it takes about 2-3 seconds to process the shot) thus only useful with non moving objects and you need to have a steady hand (a lot of review sites use a tripod thus the GS 4 night shots in the majority of reviews look amazing and you don't experience the blur/shot latency etc. but in real world usage you might have to take the shot 3 times in order to get a good result)

Regarding the features/options, both seem to be more or less the same, GS 4 has the edge with a few more things to choose from. Most of the one's features are tied to the zoe feature and gallery i.e. sequence/drama shot, always smiling, eraser/removing objects etc. where as the features on the GS 4 are selectable through the camera app.

Macro shots look superb on both, need to see more from the GS 4, personally I think the one macro shots have the edge as they just have a very "natural" look to them and capture an insane amount of detail

Up to the end user this part, but photo size is quite different due to the difference in MP, talking about 1.5MP on average for the one VS 6.5MB for a photo from the GS 4
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And I haven't even covered the colours, exposure etc. :p which varies with each device depending on the scenario i.e. buildings look too yellow on the one. The one I personally think produces more natural colours on the whole, however, some shots do look washed out but this can be fixed/improved by putting the saturation or contrast up by one level or just use auto enhance in the gallery.

Haven't seen many end user photos for HDR, both look good in their own way, but from what I have seen so far, I would say the GS 4 is winning for this so far. One advantage of the one camera when it comes to the HDR shots is the speed at which it is taken/processed.

Of course, both will/should improve with more updates, I expect the one to improve by quite a bit more due to the tech. being pretty new for a phone camera (the OIS and big pixels) and then going by the improvements that nokia have brought to the 920.


I wouldn't say that either camera takes the "crown for the best camera phone" to date as each have their strengths and weaknesses and comes down to what is more important to the end user.
 
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Went to a wedding last night so got the test out a range of photo options. The iPhone 4S/5 crew were in total awe at the amount of options you have when taking a photo, I think they are used to just pointing and clicking and having no control. The S4 was pumping out the photos so quick they didn't think it had taken it so I have about 4 identical images for most images. Photos came out very well, I've got it at 9MP as I prefer 16:9.
 
kona786 said:
cheers mate, not a proper scientific test just a quick comparison. All 3 phones are great, each quite different and will suit different people.

Will hopefully get more pics up when I can. Wish I had a load of free time - boo!
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No worries Dude, you're lucky that you have access to all three phones! Not many people here have that privilege :cool:

That's a good summary to make and each of the phones will suit different people, it depends on what the end user is looking for!

Out of interest why did your Brother go for the Xperia Z? Surely with your wealth of knowledge when it comes to mobile phones you might have talked him out of it? LOL :p:D
 
kona786 said:
no updates available to me yet. Not rooted either. Will do it maybe next weekend. Should be very sure and stable by then.



Awesome news mate :cool:

which root method did you use?
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Used the CF-AutoRoot method on the XXUAMDF firmware (standard when it got delivered last weekend). Haven't bothered upgrading to the latest firmware that's being pushed out!

With TWRP and having been rooted this past week I haven't noticed any issues. Everything seems fine :)
 
So I had a full days use today , 2.5 hours of full sat nav on satellite view , 20 minutes of calls , 30 text and about 15 minutes surfing between 8 AM and 10PM with around 30% battery life left .

I am very happy so far , knocks spots of the IP5 I have , just sold that on Ebay.
 
I decided to get one, I ended up with the white version . Its certainly not a big leap up from the S3. The camera is pretty damn good for such a small lense though.
My phone has a weird mark on the actual screen glass, it looks like hard clear glue :confused: if I wipe the screen with a cleaning cloth it seems to disappear, once your finger goes over it a few times the mark comes back. Appart from that everything seems to be ok, I've not noticed any smearing effects or red patches.
 
chris833 said:
Thanks, so it is £429 for the handset in total and £22 pm for the line rental?
Best deal over 12 months is with phones4u on vodafone: £160 for the handset and £39 pm line rental and £100 cashback with quidco, dont use many mins or data (just emails) mainly wifi...
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Yes that's right was £429 for phone and £22 line rental, but I can pay up the cost of the phone early and they don't charge for the remaining line rental. I received my phone Friday after ordering Wednesday, very happy with it :)
 
I find that advert with the graduation silly, because they would have had to be in eraser mode, whereas most people would have just been in auto.

This is what puts me off the S4 and makes me want the HTC one with Zoe.
 
Is anybody getting messed around with Dialaphone and Orange? Got the phone with the intention of receiving 600 minutes and 1gb data ultd texts on an 18 month contract at £36 a month. On my Orange account it says I have 400mins and 750mb data... Phoned up Orange and they say that mine should e a 24 month contract in order to get the better deal.

Now I can't phone up Phones 4 U until tomorrow, breach of contract much? If they think they're taking me for a mug they've got another thing coming :)
 
The panorama mode is awesome, so easy to use and produces decent results!

6q2p8wJl.jpg

Probably would have been much better if I wasn't quite drunk :p
 
So out of curiosity what is the consensus regarding screen protection? I always had one on my S2 and very briefly had one on my S3 but realised that it took away from the overall feel and quality of the screen so never had one on it since (best part of a year). So what about the S4? It is definitely a screen 'worth protecting' but not if the quality is going to decrease.
 
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