[RANT] Are any of you disappointed with the Galaxy S4?

[blenky]

Just don't understand all the hate towards the GS4. To me the S4 is the superior phone when compared to the HTC One, and coming from an iPhone 4s I couldn't be more excited. This is going to be an amazing phone which I will be using for a very long time. Maybe im missing something, and if so please feel free to fill me in.

I think most of the ire on here is from S3 owners who expected more of a jump. I was looking forward to the upgrade but I think now I will stick with the S3. Not that I don't think the S4 will be a great phone its just not enough of a jump to warrant me moving after 10 months. However to those coming from older phones the S4 is a power house!

 

[jhawkkw]

I would say I'm content with the S4. I don't have any phone envy that make me want to buy it, but I'd have no problems recommending it to other people. Samsung has introduced some features that I wish AOSP had. I do like the fact that Samsung continues to stick with the removable battery and expandable storage to give people who like that stuff choice. Personally, I'd wish more OEM's would follow Motorola's path of putting a high capacity non-removable battery to give powers users longer battery life and still keep with the "thin" fad somewhat. The glove usage seems like a really nice add on, especially for us northerners, but I would like to see how reliable it is in real usage depending on thickness/material of gloves.

So all-in-all, at this point I'd give Samsung an 8/10 for this phone. It's seems like a good phone, nothing mind blowing, but solid nonetheless. Though maybe I should knock off a half point for their presentation

 

[blenky]

Also something no-one has seen yet are real world tests.

How does the bigger battery perform with the full HD screen and extra software bloat?

How good is that 13 mega-pixel camera compared to the competition?

Is any of the touted eye tracking stuff actually any good or just annoying?

Does the finger hover add anything to the experience or just a gimmick?

Etc, etc.

 

[sean76]

I think most of the ire on here is from S3 owners who expected more of a jump. I was looking forward to the upgrade but I think now I will stick with the S3. Not that I don't think the S4 will be a great phone its just not enough of a jump to warrant me moving after 10 months. However to those coming from older phones the S4 is a power house!

Couldn't have said it better....very good Analogy!

 

[The game 161]

Somebody who like me is coming from be iphone 5.. It's a great upgrade to me

 

[Shocky]

I think most of the ire on here is from S3 owners who expected more of a jump.

The S4 is a bigger jump in performance over the S3 than any previous Galaxy S was so what you were expecting I don't know.

 

[blenky]

The S4 is a bigger jump in performance over the S3 than any previous Galaxy S was so what you were expecting I don't know.

Good question. TBH I don't know what I was expecting that would have made the S4 a must upgrade from the S3 at the get go. I was a little disappointed (but not surprised) in the design as never a big fan of the S3 look even though I don't buy phones based on style - but performance and functionality.

Maybe the emphasis on the 'S' this and the 'S' that in the unpacking ceremony (I will never be able to unsee that!) made it seem like a gimmick laden phone?

As I said in an earlier post I'm interested in the real world tests.

 

[cybertec69]

Display is pentile which ruins screen quality. The screen itself is already low on PPI compared to the HTC it is going up against.

8 cores in only SOME markets. Doubt anyone in the US is getting the 8 core S4 unless they import it.

13 MP = megapixels don't matter - the lens quality matters

The S4 loses the spec war vs Sony and HTC.

In regards to your pentile argument, I own a S3 and have no issues with the pentile display, and neither do 50 million other S3 owners, now that it has even more Pixel Per Inch, the screen will be even sharper than before. Sorry but I do not use a microscope to look at my phone , and how does the HTC have better specs, you mean the non removable battery "if the battery goes bad in the ONE, you will have pretty looking paperweight, and you do know that batteries do lose their charging power after so many charges, a Lion battery usually has a 500 charge cycle, the more you recharge the battery the weaker it will get over time" and not to mention no expandable memory, HTC keeps on making the same mistakes, over and over and over, used to own HTC phones before going to Samsung, until HTC gets their head out of their rear end then I might go back, oh and did I mention their updates "what updates, LOL", the HTC one is hitting the market with 4.1.2 , while the S4 will have the latest software 4.2.2.

 

[cybertec69]

I'm not disappointed at all. Here's what I expected:

• Cheap plastic like the S3
• Abominable ugly tacky physical home button like the S3
• Same old touchwiz
• Looks like a slightly bigger S3
• Specs have nothing over the new HTC or Sony phone

Yep, exactly what I expected. So how could I be disappointed?

I think the physical home button is a great idea and hope they keep it in future phones, Touch Wiz, who really cares, there is many different launchers to chose from in the App store, I myself use Nova Launcher, in regards to looking like a slightly bigger S3, what is wrong with the S3 design, if it was so bad I guess 50 million people thought otherwise, plus they are not HTC throwing design after design to the market hoping it will stick, and at the end of the day, the thing that matters most is that the phone you purchase has all the latest features possible, does what it says it will do, has the most recent software. I do not buy a phone to look at, it is bought so it can be used.

 

[cybertec69]

I'm not disappointed at all. Here's what I expected:

• Cheap plastic like the S3
• Abominable ugly tacky physical home button like the S3
• Same old touchwiz
• Looks like a slightly bigger S3
• Specs have nothing over the new HTC or Sony phone

Yep, exactly what I expected. So how could I be disappointed?

Display is pentile which ruins screen quality. The screen itself is already low on PPI compared to the HTC it is going up against.

8 cores in only SOME markets. Doubt anyone in the US is getting the 8 core S4 unless they import it.

13 MP = megapixels don't matter - the lens quality matters

The S4 loses the spec war vs Sony and HTC.

Ok here I go again trying to teach someone something in regards to PPI, pay close attention, PPI stands for Pixel Per Inch "you with me so far", good. the HTC One has a 4.7" screen with the same resolution as the S4 which has a 5" screen and the LG Optimus PRO which has a 5.5" screen, all three phones have 1920x1080 resolution, here are the PPI numbers for all three phones "pay attention", 1. HTC One=468ppi 2.S4=441ppi 3.LG PRO=401ppi.
Do you see something happening here, the smaller the screen with the same amount of pixels pushed into it will in the end give you a higher PPI, the only reason the HTC One has more PPI is because it has a .3" smaller screen than the S4, same reason the S4 has more PPI than the LG PRO becasue the S4's screen is .5" smaller, do you follow. The same reason a 50" 1080p=1920x1080 screen resolution LCD or PDP screen will look sharper that a 60" 1080p LCD or PDP screen, a 50" screen with the same 1080p resolution will give you a 44 PPI and a 60" screen with the same 1080p resolution will give you a 37 PPI.
In regards to RETINA, retina means nothing, it is just an Apple marketing term, they invented it to describe their screens, that's all, it is not something the ISF industry came up with, it is an Apple term, that's all.

Display Dimensions Calculator

 

[cybertec69]

I'm not disappointed at all; Glove mode, got to love that in New England. I'm one of those case people so the lighter the materials a manufacturer uses the better. 64 GB micro SDXC compatibility is also a real plus. I can finally carry around my entire Music collection including the Christmas stuff and still have room for some DIVX movies.

Samsung knows what they are doing, plain and simple, heck even my S3 supports a 64 GB micro SDXC card, and I have over 40 gigs of high resolution music and high resolution movies on it " no need to use the cloud and data", not into low rez MP3'S, or having to download movies at $15, if I am going to pay that kind of $ for a movie, I might as well buy it on a DVD "have the hard copy" and then use DVD Catalyst and burn it on my computer and then transfer it to whatever portable media device I want to watch it on.

 

[Shocky]

Good question. TBH I don't know what I was expecting that would have made the S4 a must upgrade from the S3 at the get go. I was a little disappointed (but not surprised) in the design as never a big fan of the S3 look even though I don't buy phones based on style - but performance and functionality.

Maybe the emphasis on the 'S' this and the 'S' that in the unpacking ceremony (I will never be able to unsee that!) made it seem like a gimmick laden phone?

As I said in an earlier post I'm interested in the real world tests.

I wouldn't say the new features are gimmicks, a couple of them I would use and some I won't. It doesn't mean the ones I won't use are gimmicks, somebody else might find them very useful for their own reasons.

Also, specs will sell phones to us because we understand them, but most people don't have a clue so these "gimmicks" are good way to differentiate them from competitors.

 

[sean76]

I think the physical home button is a great idea and hope they keep it in future phones, Touch Wiz, who really cares, there is many different launchers to chose from in the App store, I myself use Nova Launcher, in regards to looking like a slightly bigger S3, what is wrong with the S3 design, if it was so bad I guess 50 million people thought otherwise, plus they are not HTC throwing design after design to the market hoping it will stick, and at the end of the day, the thing that matters most is that the phone you purchase has all the latest features possible, does what it says it will do, has the most recent software. I do not buy a phone to look at, it is bought so it can be used.

Ummm, I look at my phone

Man it's pretty easy to see that your not an HTC fan...To each his own, what ever floats your boat amigo.

However...In regards to some of your post I'll say this

I hate buttons, and with 2013 here...I think it's time Samsung as well as apple just stop with the moving parts already!

As far as 50 million people not being wrong, yea they were right...In 2012!
However this is the following year and to me making a phone which looks exactly like the previous one is just not my cup o tea...What's under the hood of course counts, but I'm also a fan of change and the shell of the S4 pretty much mirrors that of the S3.

As for HTC and they're designs, I gotta say they may have gotten it right with the one. Come on man, your going to tell me you don't think the aluminum version of the one isn't beautiful? It's probably the nicest phone I've ever seen, and truth be told, I was always a Samsung junkie...Sometimes you just have to give credit where credit is due.

 

[cybertec69]

Ummm, I look at my phone

Man it's pretty easy to see that your not an HTC fan...To each his own, what ever floats your boat amigo.

However...In regards to some of your post I'll say this

I hate buttons, and with 2013 here...I think it's time Samsung as well as apple just stop with the moving parts already!

As far as 50 million people not being wrong, yea they were right...In 2012!
However this is the following year and to me making a phone which looks exactly like the previous one is just not my cup o tea...What's under the hood of course counts, but I'm also a fan of change and the shell of the S4 pretty much mirrors that of the S3.

As for HTC and they're designs, I gotta say they may have gotten it right with the one. Come on man, your going to tell me you don't think the aluminum version of the one isn't beautiful? It's probably the nicest phone I've ever seen, and truth be told, I was always a Samsung junkie...Sometimes you just have to give credit where credit is due.

I am not a Samsung junkie, hold no loyalties to any company, the S3 is my first Samsung smartphone, I do not count the Omnia Windows phone I owned before going to Android with the HTC Incredible, then the HTC Rezound, both had removable batteries and micro SD expansion slots, once HTC went away from that and with their slow as snail updates, I said good buy. And YES the HTC ONE looks FANTASTIC, they hit it out of the park, but again they do not care about their customers "or care to listen to", no removable battery, no micro SD expansion slot "there is a reason they exist, so people can purchase them and use them, the Micro SD cards", I use a 64 gig in my S3. And did I mention that the ONE is hitting the market with 4.1.2 while the S4 will be running 4.2.2, and I do not want to hear about HTC will soon be updating the software, with their track record, it will be a year from now for any new owners of the ONE to see 4.2.2, they will be seeing 4.2.2 when everyone else is on Key Lime Pie.
Again I am not a fan boy, I just do not throw my hard earned money around just to anyone, she might be hot, but if there is nothing in that skull, she is useless to me.
By the way, not planning to go buy an S4, the S3 will hold me just fine for another year maybe two.

 

[suicidallooney]

Display is pentile which ruins screen quality. The screen itself is already low on PPI compared to the HTC it is going up against.

8 cores in only SOME markets. Doubt anyone in the US is getting the 8 core S4 unless they import it.

13 MP = megapixels don't matter - the lens quality matters

The S4 loses the spec war vs Sony and HTC.

One fatal mistake in this logic. Hardware no matter how high spec is useless if the software cannot match it. Making the two work as one good is a major problem. HTC and sony are behind samsung on this. Before becoming a samsung owner i was on the Sony field. I know from experience sony is good at matching hardware spec yet letting down on the software and that is what decides the other all user's experience.

HTC is not far behind. 8 core is a complex game and samsung has been making processors for a long time. Not only that but samsung has been delivering none stop whilst the rest hasn't been able to live upto the hype. BTW i would strongly avoid sony their support for phones is very poor and upgrades take too bloody long

 

[FinancialWar]

Samsung knows what they are doing, plain and simple, heck even my S3 supports a 64 GB micro SDXC card, and I have over 40 gigs of high resolution music and high resolution movies on it " no need to use the cloud and data", not into low rez MP3'S, or having to download movies at $15, if I am going to pay that kind of $ for a movie, I might as well buy it on a DVD "have the hard copy" and then use DVD Catalyst and burn it on my computer and then transfer it to whatever portable media device I want to watch it on.

Galaxy s3 and s4 are the perfect phones for torrent users and movie lovers due to it's support for 64gb sd card and exfat support.

I can get bluray quality movie for free and able to store many of them on my phone. Can HTC and iphone do that? And removable batteries after you used up power after watching your HD movies.

No other phones on the market can do that.

 

[EarlyMon]

Galaxy s3 and s4 are the perfect phones for torrent users and movie lovers due to it's support for 64gb sd card and exfat support.

I can get bluray quality movie for free and able to store many of them on my phone. Can HTC and iphone do that? And removable batteries after you used up power after watching your HD movies.

No other phones on the market can do that.

You may be right. I have a 64 GB card in my HTC, but exFAT requires the kernel module unique to Samsung. I guess that others are stuck with things like the ext4 filesystem. Or using reasonable compression when they rip their purchased movies for personal use.

Cool story about how you steal copyrighted material though. Entitled much?

 

[trparky]

I thought that exFAT was a Microsoft technology, not Samsung.

 

[FinancialWar]

You may be right. I have a 64 GB card in my HTC, but exFAT requires the kernel module unique to Samsung. I guess that others are stuck with things like the ext4 filesystem. Or using reasonable compression when they rip their purchased movies for personal use.

Cool story about how you steal copyrighted material though. Entitled much?

As far as I know torrent is legal, but using it to download copyrighted material isn't. I don't download copyrighted material using torrent ever.

I said I can theoretical "download high quality movies this way using a S3 or S4", but I have not done it because I don't even have a S3 or S4 at the moment.

 

[sean76]

As far as I know torrent is legal, but using it to download copyrighted material isn't. I don't download copyrighted material using torrent ever.

I said I can theoretical "download high quality movies this way using a S3 or S4", but I have not done it because I don't even have a S3 or S4 at the moment.

Hey man...So your skipping the S4? Your device list says S3 arriving soon.

 

[EarlyMon]

As far as I know torrent is legal, but using it to download copyrighted material isn't. I don't download copyrighted material using torrent ever.

I said I can theoretical "download high quality movies this way using a S3 or S4", but I have not done it because I don't even have a S3 or S4 at the moment.

I'm aware of the legal uses for torrenting.

Thanks for your clarification on the theoretical use of finding legally-available bd-quality movies for free on torrents.

Please, start on thread on that in our Media forum. Many of us would be very interested in hearing about those sites.

No one on mod staff has ever seen such a site, we'll be watching for your thread with interest.

 

[EarlyMon]

I thought that exFAT was a Microsoft technology, not Samsung.

It is a Microsoft technology but they do license it out. Various Samsung kernels do support it.

Unless there's published confirmation somewhere already that I haven't seen (highly possible), at the least, we'll find out if it's available after the SGS4 releases.

 

[FinancialWar]

Hey man...So your skipping the S4? Your device list says S3 arriving soon.

I'll probably get the S4 with a one year delay, I almost always get gadget with at least one generation delay because I personally don't like to pay early adopter's tax.

I got the S3 mainly because of the exFat ability (not for illegal purpose), right now on S2, I am using my 64GB SD card in NTFS mounted with paragon app, good enough but it makes my phone directory a mess.

 

[Morat]

As a phone/tech whore....Yea I'm disappointed! They just didn't swing for the fences with this one and went very conservative. But just because I'm bummed by what they unveiled, doesn't mean the faithful Sammy following feels the same way...I'm sure to people rocking a GS2 that this will be a nice upgrade.

I'm coming out of contract with an S2 at the moment and an S4 looks like a great phone to me. I don't understand the disappointment since I can't quite understand what else you can cram into a phone at the moment. I'm VERY pleased they kept the removable battery and external SD slot. These features alone rule out the HTC One for me (and I was an HTC Addict before the S2 came along).

I can't see pentile making a difference on a 1080p 4.99 inch screen, I guess we'll have to see the screens side by side to make a judgement. 440 DPI is plenty.

13MP doesn't excite me, but it does at least mean you can crop an image and still retain decent details.

As for the plastic body - I don't care. My S2 lived in an Otterbox from day one and so will my S4. No recent smart phone has been tough enough for my day to day pocket trauma, although my wife's Desire S in still impressive for robustness. I guess the quest for ridiculously thin phones makes it practically impossible to make a phone able to survive naked - in my kids and dogs filled world at least.

Power, great screen, good bluetooth and an array of funky sensors for innovative apps. What's not to like?

 

[sean76]

I'm coming out of contract with an S2 at the moment and an S4 looks like a great phone to me. I don't understand the disappointment since I can't quite understand what else you can cram into a phone at the moment. I'm VERY pleased they kept the removable battery and external SD slot. These features alone rule out the HTC One for me (and I was an HTC Addict before the S2 came along).

I can't see pentile making a difference on a 1080p 4.99 inch screen, I guess we'll have to see the screens side by side to make a judgement. 440 DPI is plenty.

13MP doesn't excite me, but it does at least mean you can crop an image and still retain decent details.

As for the plastic body - I don't care. My S2 lived in an Otterbox from day one and so will my S4. No recent smart phone has been tough enough for my day to day pocket trauma, although my wife's Desire S in still impressive for robustness. I guess the quest for ridiculously thin phones makes it practically impossible to make a phone able to survive naked - in my kids and dogs filled world at least.

Power, great screen, good bluetooth and an array of funky sensors for innovative apps. What's not to like?

You are in fact a perfect candidate for the S4, like I've stated a good hand full of times towards S2 owners...It will make for a very nice phone for you!

However the point I was making goes a little something like this.
If you were an S3 owner instead of an S2 owner, would you be making the switch to the S4? Do you think the S4 is so much better then the S3?