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

Danger Phoenix said:
That is because there is no logic... it is personal preference and therefore is no right or wrong answer. There are no rules :)
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Well sure I agree, but Robbo/Richdog seem to imply there is something more objective here that everyone must simply agree to.

Now beauty is subjective, but we can also rationalise it a little as well. Mila Kunis being more attractive that Ann Widdecombe is ultimately something subjective, but you can also logically pinpoint why most men would go for option A using concept of classical beauty, age, weight etc.

You can't though, it seems to me, to logically be able to say why aluminium is more premium than polycarbonate in quite the same way though it seems other than to just say "it is" and belittling anyone that disagrees as being some kind of philistine.
 
estebanrey said:
You can't though, it seems to me, to logically be able to say why aluminium is more premium than polycarbonate in quite the same way though it seems other than to just say "it is" and belittling anyone that disagrees as being some kind of philistine.
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I see the angle you are going for but honestly I disagree with it. Metal has always been regarded as a premium looking material for thousands of years, insides of cars are made more premium with metal trims. You can find evidence of it everywhere you look, even plastics are made to look more premium by making them look metallic think in terms of remote controls with chromed trims etc.

The reason sports cars specifically are made of carbon-fiber in your Veyron analogy is because it's a better material for a sports car, and cars are typically painted anyway so whether something is metal or plastic makes little difference.
 
A machined aluminium unibody feels better than a plastic non-unibody. The material itself is better, it feels better quality than the 'hyperglaze' does - obviously you can disagree and say the plastic feels better but in my experience this is very much a minority of people. I believe this number may be growing due to the fact so many people now have Samsung designed devices and will look to justify any perceived flaws.

There are varying degrees of plastic too, people tend to agree the HTC One X and Nokia phones use a better feeling/looking grade of plastic than Samsung do.

The fact Samsung tried to create a brushed metal effect on the plastic would indicate they agree to a certain extent as well...

I can best describe it as when you pick up the HTC One it feels very solid and high quality, you don't get the same feeling when picking up the S3... the first thing people usually comment on is the screen, not the feel and design of it. It's barely ever used in a positive context.
 
Danger Phoenix said:
In short you are still incorrect... what you might think is not premium may not be the case for everyone. My opinion is that the S3 looks/feels and the S4 looks (not felt it yet) more premium... that is my opinion and therefore it is obviously not wrong. If you think the iPhones/HTCs are more premium then so be it.
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What BS. Not everything is subjective just simply because you think it is. Things ARE measurable, and it is a commonly held opinion amongst industry experts and professional review sites that the feel and design of the iPhone, and any other phone such as the HTC One that is milled from a technical and clever process to give it a unibody aluminium design IS going to look and feel more expensive than something made from light plastic. That's not subjective just because you think that light plastic is more premium looking and feeling.

Feel free to post all the bleating and ranting you want, but nothing will change that.

estebanrey said:
You sound like a school kid who's just been asked to justify why Justin Bieber is better than the Beatles..."You just don't understand, he just is" :rolleyes:

Like I said I understand that the notion of aluminium/glass coating = more premium exists, I'm asking for a rational explanation for it.

My Coke example wasn't an analogy, I was talking about aluminium, you know like they make tin cans out of? I was merely pointing out that it's a really cheap material available in abundance. It's so cheap that the cheaper 330ml drinks come in it, whilst at larger sizes you're more likely to get plastic. Now shouldn't that be the other way around if aluminium is the more expensive..I mean 'premium' material?
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Seriously, what the chuff are you talking about? In fact, lately all I seem to see you post is completely and utter codswallop.

You are SERIOUSLY saying that because tin cans are made out of aluminium, that it then can't be a premium material? That is stupid on so many levels I don't even know where to begin. Aluminium is used for cans because it is so thin, durable, light, and compacts easily. When you start to use it in thicker amounts it becomes significantly more expensive and more complex to work with. To make a phone chassis in a unibody design of the size and thickness of the HTC One takes a complex manufacturing process that results in a sleek, seamless and solid looking and feeling piece of equipment, and inarguably more premium looking and feeling than anything made from separate parts of plastic. That is no "subjective" about that, it a is commonly accepted fact. Just because you happen to have a differing opinion does not make it in any way subjective to the rest of the world and commonly held standards.

That's not to say that plastic cannot theoretically be as durable, it can, but it is not as premium looking and feeling as well-milled aluminium.

Use some common sense.
 
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I am siding with robbo/richdog on this :p

They are all separate, you have:

- design - the looks i.e. button placement/design, speaker grill, camera lens/flash/speaker design etc. finish of the material
- premium feel - just the general feel of the phone and if it feels expensive
- ergonomics - how the phone feels in the hand in terms of comfort
- durability - how well the phone can survive a drop
- build - how well a phone is put together, does it feel sturdy etc.

Just because a phone is good in one area, doesn't mean that it will be for other areas.

Whilst the GS 3 might feel fantastic in the hand, that isn't because it is made out of plastic, it is largely due to the ergonomic curves, it isn't durable at all due to the design of it i.e. glass extending right to the edge so when you drop it, it is very likely to break since you have a very good chance of the glass edge impacting the ground (sure just look through the gs 3 thread here). With the gs 2, you would have to be very unlucky in order to break it. Lets put it this way, which "finish" would you prefer, the GS 3 plastic finish or the one X plastic finish?

Aluminium is very durable too, the main damage which is caused when dropped is usually down to the finish applied to it i.e. I dropped my one s a month or so ago onto concrete and the aluminium itself is perfectly fine, only the MAO finish came of. Plastic can crack/dent too i.e. didn't mrk post a photo of his note II not long ago where his had some dent/crack on the bottom? But plastic is more durable overall, no denying that. But aluminium isn't as weak as what people are making it out to be.

To me premium feel is about how "expensive/sturdy" the phone feels and there is no way plastic (no matter the finish/manufacturer process or whatever) can match aluminium (especially when it is a uni-body) like on the one S/one etc. I really can't see how anyone can disagree with this. Yes, you might not like how it feels in the hand i.e. cold/hard or whatever but that doesn't mean it isn't premium. Plastic designed phones can have a premium feel to it though i.e. lumia 800 and one X. Every review site always mentions about "premium" quality in their reviews and you can be guaranteed that they always refer to it for the iphones, htc phones etc. never Samsung etc.

All phones have great build quality these days, wouldn't say that one was "much" better than the other, but uni-body do feel much better than non-unibody plastic phones.


Also, the HTC one is being regarded as feeling fantastic in the hand now due to the ergonomic curves, premium feel and having superb build quality (zero gaps etc.). In fact I would imagine that the one will feel just as good, if not better than the gs 3/gs 4 in terms of comfort in the hand, due to the back part being curved as well.
 
Steve 'Cyanogen' Kondik leaves Samsung

On the S4 itself, he had praise for the new phone's hardware, saying " the device actually feels quite a bit more solid than the S3" and claiming "specwise, this device blows the competition out of the water." But on the software side, Kondik was critical of Samsung's latest TouchWiz UI. While "more consistent" than earlier iterations, he says, the new TouchWiz's fully tabbed UI "feels like it has been sent a few years back in time to the Froyo days."

The CM founder also had mixed opinions on some of the S4's new features. He praised the touchless "hover" preview capabilities and multi-window support, but said that the eye-tracking "smart scroll" feature "mostly serves to anger me into disabling it." In summary, Kondik called the Galaxy S4 a "solid device" and a "clear choice" for those upgrading from a Galaxy S2. S3 owners, he said, should feel "right at home."
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estebanrey said:
Oddly, I've never seen someone pickup a 500 ml bottle of Coke and say "you know this just doesn't feel as premium as a can does".

I understand the whole glass/aluminium = premium things exists, I just don't see what logic is behind it.
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Funnily enough I did just that when I bought some small bottles of coke at Asda just before the Olympics, the bottles were aluminium olyimpic specials and felt and looked ace, I've still got the bottles.

By weight there's about 50p worth of aluminium in a One, but it feels more expensive and prestigious but I think ergonomics and efficiency play a huge part in scoring design and assessing the quality of an item, to me this allows the S4 to at least claim equality design wise with the cool Iphone5 or One.
 
thep02 said:
By the time trusted reviews are out for both models of the S4 the Google X phone will be looming over the horizon it's pretty much between these three for me.
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this is kinda annoying in my case lol.

i was going to get n4 when it was released but due to stock issues i couldn't get it.. when it finally became available the s4/one/xz were just around the corner.. now that s4 etc are released moto x lineup will be announced.. so its just a waiting game lol..

had enough of it and i think ill get which ever i like when it comes to buying.. all of them will be epic performance/etc wise..
 
dbmzk1 said:
Octa at 1.8GHz? That's going to be near impossible I'd have thought, it would literally melt the phone! If it's true though and they have figured out how to make it work then it will be worth waiting for it as it will be silly quick!
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Not really given it's a not a true Octacore. Only the 'big' four cores would run at 1.8GHz, the 'little' ones would have course be clocked much lower.

having said, I think the likelihood is it's a typo and everyone else has said the Exy 5 ould be clocked at 1.6.
 
@ Grudas, lol even though you're an experienced hand in mobile tech you've inadvertently got caught in the "next best thing vortex", blame Google!

Tbh my task was made easier because I was getting two phones so saw the N4 as a lucky break cheap option, I got £330 for my Note, Ace and accessories which bought the N4 and its stuff plus change, so just playing the waiting game now.
 
I can't remember if someone here posted it or if I saw it in an article someone linked but I'm glad they're gonna have an API that people can use in apps for Air View, hopefully some browsers start supporting "mouse overs" when using it, it's the only thing I really miss when browsing on my phone.
 
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