* The Official Samsung Galaxy S4 Thread *

Robbo · 18 Mar 2013 at 20:28

toasteh said:
I had my heart set on the XZ, but all the comments on the screen are starting to get to me. Is the S IV going to be so much better I won't be bothered by touchwiz and plastic?

I was expecting the Xperia Z to feel nice and premium but in the end I found it rather plasticky as well. Was very disappointed. I was expecting an iPhone 4 sort of feel and it was absolutely nothing alike.

TouchWiz is pretty okay now, I'd rather have it than Sony's variant.

Doohickey · 18 Mar 2013 at 20:33

toasteh said:
I had my heart set on the XZ, but all the comments on the screen are starting to get to me. Is the S IV going to be so much better I won't be bothered by touchwiz and plastic?

If you're especially fussy about your screens then you probably might regret getting the Xperia Z (viewing angles in particular). While the screen is great, the fact that there are other (and older) phones out there with better viewing angles and deeper contrast, is a bit rubbish. But the screen is by no means 'poor'.

If you don't mind so much, and are happy with a stunning display (which it is) with inferior viewing angles then the XZ ticks pretty much every possible box in every other department, except for a removable battery.

Intratech · 18 Mar 2013 at 21:58

Decided to give the S4 a miss. Lets see what Motorola have in store with the X series phone.

toasteh · 18 Mar 2013 at 22:55

Doohickey said:
If you're especially fussy about your screens then you probably might regret getting the Xperia Z (viewing angles in particular). While the screen is great, the fact that there are other (and older) phones out there with better viewing angles and deeper contrast, is a bit rubbish. But the screen is by no means 'poor'.

If you don't mind so much, and are happy with a stunning display (which it is) with inferior viewing angles then the XZ ticks pretty much every possible box in every other department, except for a removable battery.

I'll be upgrading from a Desire HD, so I suspect I could pick almost any current phone and the screen will be an improvement. Plus I'm not that picky anyway, so long as the blues are blue and the reds are red I can't complain too much

Grrrrr · 18 Mar 2013 at 23:39

Nexus18 said:
Some good info on the octa chipset and development:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2191850

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=39210834&postcount=59

Interesting read

doodah · 19 Mar 2013 at 00:31

Perhaps getting the 600 isn't as 'bad' as I initially thought. Though I am still interested in how the PowerVR compares to the Adreno.

thep02 · 19 Mar 2013 at 10:57

xibinim said:
Perhaps getting the 600 isn't as 'bad' as I initially thought. Though I am still interested in how the PowerVR compares to the Adreno.

What are the chances of Samsung being able to make the exynos lte compatible, any??

If I go with the S4, which is my favorite so far, lte is my must have factor so unless Samy surprise us it'll be the 600 for me which is a let down but still ok as it is winning the benches I've seen with its competition and apparently it has a better 2 GB of ram.

Richdog · 19 Mar 2013 at 11:03

Intratech said:
Decided to give the S4 a miss. Lets see what Motorola have in store with the X series phone.

Motorola is probably the last company I would consider after a Samsung.

doodah · 19 Mar 2013 at 11:15

thep02 said:
What are the chances of Samsung being able to make the exynos lte compatible, any??

If I go with the S4, which is my favorite so far, lte is my must have factor so unless Samy surprise us it'll be the 600 for me which is a let down but still ok as it is winning the benches I've seen with its competition and apparently it has a better 2 GB of ram.

No idea but I assume its supports HSPA+ which isn't 4G but isn't a slouch. Initially I wasn't too bothered by LTE but I want this phone to last me two years and IF other companies follow 3 in their 4G pricing structure, it might be nice to have the option for later.

doodah · 19 Mar 2013 at 11:19

Benchmark I did not notice until earlier showing the 600 does have a nice performance bump from the 400 in at least one test.

The benchmark analysis in question only tested the Samsung Galaxy S4 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 SoC, and according to Poole, Primate Labs can’t say how the Galaxy S4 with the new Exynos 5 Octa SoC will perform.

However, considering the fact that the Galaxy S3 with Exynos 4412 at 1.4 GHz (4 cores) is proved faster than the other variant with the Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8960 at 1.5 GHz (2 cores), Poole believes that the Geekbench score will be similar in terms of the Galaxy S4, sporting 8-core Exynos processor, as well.

Source

thep02 · 19 Mar 2013 at 12:00

xibinim said:
No idea but I assume its supports HSPA+ which isn't 4G but isn't a slouch. Initially I wasn't too bothered by LTE but I want this phone to last me two years and IF other companies follow 3 in their 4G pricing structure, it might be nice to have the option for later.

Exactly my thinking, though i'm with 3 anyway hence the desire for lte.

Cosimo · 19 Mar 2013 at 12:45

Patent trouble brewing:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/19/4122548/samsung-and-lg-at-odds-over-eye-tracking-patents

Intratech · 19 Mar 2013 at 13:18

Richdog said:
Motorola is probably the last company I would consider after a Samsung.

I know mate but if the updates are going to be handled by Google then I think that would help a whole lot.

Richdog · 19 Mar 2013 at 13:20

Intratech said:
I know mate but if the updates are going to be handled by Google then I think that would help a whole lot.

I hear you, but we don't know for certain how it all will be handled yet, and even with Googles acquisition, the company still has some way to go before it is on the straight and narrow again. It's entire recent history is a string of bad decisions, mediocre hardware, and shoddy software support. It's certainly not worth the risk at this point in time or for this generation of phones.

Intratech · 19 Mar 2013 at 13:34

This is why I'm waiting on the rumoured announcement from Google & Motorola at the Google IO to see how they will handle it.

mrk · 19 Mar 2013 at 13:36

With the announcement that CM Team won't be supporting the S4 it leaves questions as to how many other devs will follow suit.

The initial buzz of wanting the S4 has now faded I have to say.

Nexus18 · 19 Mar 2013 at 13:40

Motorola's newest RAZR line up are very good, ace hardware and ace software, imo the razr hd and maxx are better than the gs3 overall, only let down by the poor camera so if they can bring similar quality to the X phone but with google's involvement, it will be a hit.

muffins · 19 Mar 2013 at 13:41

Cosimo said:
Patent trouble brewing:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/19/4122548/samsung-and-lg-at-odds-over-eye-tracking-patents

Lol Samsung cares not for patents.

Richdog · 19 Mar 2013 at 13:54

mrk said:
With the announcement that CM Team won't be supporting the S4 it leaves questions as to how many other devs will follow suit.

The initial buzz of wanting the S4 has now faded I have to say.

There will undoubtedly be plenty of awesome ROMs for the S4, including Omega I imagine. I have never bothered with Cyanogen mod and don't intend to either. they are not the ebe-all and end-all of phone ROM development.

Lets look at this realistically: the S IV will be so wildly popular that development is guaranteed; anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves imo.

doodah · 19 Mar 2013 at 14:01

mrk said:
With the announcement that CM Team won't be supporting the S4 it leaves questions as to how many other devs will follow suit.

The initial buzz of wanting the S4 has now faded I have to say.

Why is this? Choosing one of the big three is getting harder. I simply won't get another Sony lol. The One's camera is worrying and no memory card. The GS4 is starting to create some uncertainty.

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

* The Official Samsung Galaxy S4 Thread *