All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion

Not talking about the new features. I mean att apps, random games, and other crap I don't need.

 

Ah, ok.
Sorry, I'm just used to reading comments online along the lines of 'Any app named S-something is bloat' etc.

 

If I had to carry a unit that had a 5.5" screen... I would want it to have a pen... LG didn't copy one of the best features of the Note II.

 

If I was given a choice between an S4 and a One (my carrier doesn't carry the One), I'd probably go with the One. I don't care as much about being on the bleeding edge of Android versions and I don't care about having massive onboard storage. I prefer the One's case, and I like a large sensor more than massive megapixels (I'd likely use ProCapture with either phone, so I don't care if HTC's camera app takes junk pictures despite the large sensor). And I'd much rather have forward-facing stereo speakers than a single rear-facing speaker.

 

The biggest thing that puts me off of the One is the poor quality control. The number of pictures I've seen where the handsets just look slapped together is kind of alarming. It is a really gorgeous design, though.

 

I wonder though whether that's commentary on differing likelihood of cosmetic defects, or differing expectations. The One is meant to be a stylish, premium-look-and-feel phone. The Galaxy S4, like the S3, has a profoundly practical physical design, but one that gives zero thought to visual or tactile attractiveness. Someone who buys the latter is far less likely, I suspect, to complain about a purely cosmetic blemish than someone who buys the former.

It's kind of like how you see more complaints about MacBook Pros with tiny scratches from the factory than HP Pavilions...not because scratches are less common on the HPs but instead because of differing expectations and priorities.

 

I guess maybe that's one aspect of it. I feel like the One also has a more complex case design than the S4, which certainly factors in as well, but it's just upsetting to see some of the devices people are getting. I mean, to pay so much for a phone and not even have all the trim pieces mounted flush is kind of disappointing.

 

True, but we have no way of telling whether it's one owner in ten who is affected or one owner in one thousand.

 

Considering the One has poorer battery performance and it's non removable... that decides it for me.

"But your iPhone doesn't have a removable battery!"

Yeah... but it has longer battery life and is easier to fix/replace than the One.

 

Poorer relative to the S4. The battery last almost as long as the iPhone 5 according to GSM Arena's tests.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

Post a screenshot!

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that's a tough work day HAL. you get a lunch during that?

 

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I really don't like the wallpaper but I have a hard time finding good ones.

 

Yea, an hour. Hardly enough time to eat my damn sandwich!

EDIT: BTW, that was /s.

Stock Nexus wallpapers for 4.2 are pretty decent, IMO. I really like the nav buttons though!

 

Sure, I'm game.

Spoiler

 

I have a good explanation for everything on my list

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

What device are you on again? S3 or N2?

 

Got a busy Friday planned there!

 

Galaxy S3.

10Chars

 

Actually, that was last week when I was out of town for a school event.

1. It was her birthday and she's smoking hot.
2. A friend and I had a contest to see who could chug the most butterscotch ice cream topping. He drank 8 oz, and I lost by 1/8 of an oz.
3. We wanted to stuff ourselves with good burritos
4. We were going to go to Chick-fil-a and ask how much a shake costs. After the cashier told us, we were going to ask if it "came with bourbon or nothing"(movie reference )

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

Ahh... ok that would explain it. Samsung changed the TouchWiz icons on the Note II.

 

I dunno if it's worth 5 dollars, but it's pretty good!

Sounds like an exciting day.

 

Well here we go. At least tomorrow's an easy day for once...

 

Spoiler

 

Here's my screen shot.

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Sent from my Samsung Captivate/JB CM 10.1 via Tapatalk.

 

No screen shots as I don't have a smartphone currently.

I keep flip flopping between HTC one and the galaxy s4. they have their small things that make them incrementally better than the other.

screen: I hated the burn in on my GS2, so the HTC One is more attractive to me there.

build: I actually prefer plastic over aluminum.

Audio: I like good audio, but I hate anything marked beats.

Development: seems like the HTC one may get better developer support (at least the CM team is on board).

camera: I think I like the bigger sensor, as most stuff I try to take pictures of are Inside where it is darker. otherwise I have my DSLR.

software doesn't matter cause I'm rooting anyway.

battery doesn't matter cause they are so close in battery time anyway.

Removable storage doesn't matter cause I won't even fill up the 32 GB on the HTC one.

I worry about gaps and stuck pixels in the HTC one (I can always return it of course). I kinda would like to try samsungs new features, particularly the fitness stuff and the other "S" apps, but if I root, I'll lose those anyway. and I hate touchwiz so it would be gone as soon as they unlock the bootloader. ugh. Big choises.

 

Flip-flopping? What's that? Is that where someone beats you with a sandal until you get the phone they tell you to? Ultimately what it will come down to is likeability. Spend some time at your carrier's retail store (or best buy) and play around with the S4 and the One. Take note of which one feels better in your hand as far as shape and button placement. I would say to take each phone's UI into account, but you can always load on a custom ROM with whatever UI you want later on. All the specs and features between will be a stalemate duel. One may have a better camera, the other may have clearer call quality from better mics and speakers, etc. Choose the one you feel fits YOU better.

 

IMO, I would go with the One first since it's the 'controversial' choice. If you are upgrading from an AT&T store, find a store that have a couple on hand so you can have them switch to another phone right off the bat. In addition to that, you have a fourteen day exchange/return period as well, whether you buy the phone with a contract or outright. I would make the Samsung the 'fallback' choice since it seems to check more things off your list than the One does. If you upgrade today, at least you have up to May 10th to do an exchange, which also puts you right in line for the Optimus G Pro's release.

A couple of extra notes on the One:
- It's got an aluminum body, so it'll get pretty toasty. 5 minute of 3DMark will make this phone a great hand warmer, but fortunately no massive throttling occurred a la One X+.
- The Beats equalizer can be turned off. For headphone people, this gives your music much more neutral sound.
- You can flash ROMs amongst the International/AT&T/T-Mobile versions.
- Kernel and Radio images has gotten much easier to flash, doing it from fastboot is no longer mandatory.
- Camera image quality has been improved quite a bit with the newest firmware. Not iPhone 5 sharp, but for a 4 megapixel sensor, very good if not almost comparable to the Galaxy S III.

The AT&T model I got had some bubbling and flash on the plastic frame. This Developers Edition I've got now has a small gap on the top, but not immediately noticeable unless you're looking for it. I've been offered the original retail price for it, so I may leave it for the Galaxy S 4 or Optimus G Pro...but then again, I know neither of those will provide the same level of audio quality so I'm quite hesitant to go elsewhere. This phone will make a great dedicated DAP two to three years from now.

 

Screen shot your feature phone!

From the reviews I read, I thought the One was measurably less than the S4.

From an accessories standpoint... you may find more for the S4 than the One, it's the whole Apple effect, the brand that sells more gets more 3rd party support. I still see stuff for S2s, not so much for older HTC phones.

Someone I know who has been a staunch HTC supporter is getting the S4 (shipping today actually) and he feels, like many people, that the writing is on the wall. I like HTC products (had the Palm Treo and the Win Mobile Touch Pro) but I feel they are getting lost in the Android race... maybe WinPhone is where they can survive.

 

Why does China get SD storage?

How the HTC One's back cover pops off, China style

Just seems like HTC could have retained their design language without removing functionality.

 

GSMArena measured 63h S4 vs 48h HTC One. They did mention that the One had some issues in standby time draining it's battery considerably more than the S4. The test also noted that the HTC One had a better web browsing time on battery, most likely due to it being SLCD, and not being as power hungry as SAMOLED is on white backgrounds (which make up most of the web). Aside from the standby power drain issue (that may or may not have been fixed) the HTC One is on par with the S4 in battery life and in some instances, like web browsing, it's shown to be better.

 

The GT-I9500 is up again on eBay and available in both colours for $699.99. I managed to sneak in an order this time around.

 

Maybe you've stated this before, but what is the major reason in choosing an unlocked phone? Are you an international traveler? Certainly your monthly bills will be less expensive, but will you or when will you capture the savings- after how much time? So really your paying $500 more for an unlocked phone. Why? You live in the UK correct?

 

In the case of the Galaxy S 4, he gets better internal hardware and hopefully, better battery life over the LTE models.

...



...Darn you Convel; just ordered one in Black Mist. That Exynos 5410 leaves me too intrigued to pass up on it.

 

The international model should get faster updated as well.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

My main reason is, without doubt, the SoC. With the Exynos 5410 I get four full-fledged Cortex-A15 cores, the first big.LITTLE implementation, and a Wolfson DAC. On the GPU front, however, things aren't as clear-cut. The Adreno 320 in the GT-I9505 is certainly more modern and future proof than the PowerVR SGX 544MP3, but currently the two seem rather balanced with an emphasis on different areas. I also lose out on LTE and developer support will likely not be as good as for the Snapdragon variant. Luckily, non-LTE speeds are pretty good in my area.

Then there's the matter of cost which you seem more interested in. On my carrier with my current plan, an S4 (GT-I9505) would set me back $340. I'm not sure what the monthly price would be since I worked out a better price by phone ($34 instead of $43 per month for 12 months). Normally the monthly price would increase from $43 a month to $77 for a 12-month period, leaving the total bill for the year at $1.262, which isn't exactly a bargain. Alternatively, I could pick up an unlocked GT-I9505 for $880 where I live. Nedless to say, I simply don't get the same subsidised way of thinking from local carriers, so in the end I'm not paying extra to get the S4 model I want.

 

Been playing with the S4 at Best Buy and a friend just got his via mail today... it's so nice.

Makes my Note II look humongous and I'm really jealous of the pixel density.

I was planning on waiting for the next iPhone update... but the S4 really makes me want to just forget the iOS world.

 

Been driving round with 20-25 S4s in the boot of my car today.
Unfortunately they're LDUs.

 

I'm a little late but here's my home screen

Clock doesnt fit perfectly with the light background but I'm a huge Mustang fan and love the wallpaper so I can deal with it.

Spoiler

 

Just like mine, ahl.
Looks like we all enjoy some hd widgets.

 

Getting peed off. Asked a question on XDA multiple times about updating my firmware from mb1 to MD4 and still haven't received an answer. Yet there are others who post after me who get their inquires answered almost immediately? What the quacking quack?

 

It's XDA. Most aren't the willing-to-help type, and those who ARE willing to help are usually snide about it.

 

Better late than never to the screenshots of our homescreen:

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Nova Launcher Prime with a 5x4 grid plus a google search bar on each page, Maxelus "fire galaxy" live wallpaper, home email and work email through two separate apps so I never send from the wrong account, ProCapture for photography because it's fantabulous. And Nova Launcher Prime let me create the "camcorder" shortcut right to the video mode of Samsung's camera app so launching a video recorder isn't a two-stage process. Antivirus by Avast.

 

Not particularly exciting here.

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That eBay daily deal for the i9500 S 4 is now back up to $799.

 

Actually, the notification bar icons are [mostly] of my own making.

 

My 2 main homescreens.

Spoiler

 

My screenshot.
It's marginally different now, added an extra icon but I can't be bothered uploading it for a minor change.

 

Went to my local AT&T store today to play with the One and S4. Both are very impressive handsets. The only reason I would get the One is because of the body. It does feel better than the S4. Obviously, that does not mean it is more or as durable as the S4. The S4 has a seriously nicely designed body. Can't believe they fit that screen in such a small body. The one thing I didn't like about the One aside from no microSD slot and removable battery was the buttong placement. I didn't understand it at all. Maybe it's because I have used Samsung's Android devices the most but it was weird having the back button on the left and home button on the right. Also, the placement of the sleep button on the top left seems pretty terible, in my opinion. I think the best place is right in the middle of the right side where WP places theirs.

 

Something I've noticed: out of all the screenshots posted, only two or three of you have customized icons and themes. I mean more than just the wallpaper and UI Launcher being used. Makes me feel silly for taking the time at modding my framework and SystemUI.

 

I used to when I first got my iPhone 3G. Guess I just got tired of doing it.