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Should I get a Galaxy 4? Some Q's

heycal

Well-Known Member
Apr 27, 2014
206
6
I'm currently on my second new LG G2 with Verizon, and still having problems with it, battery life among them. I was thinking of going back to iphone, which I was using for several months after my ancient Android died out, and getting the iphone 6. iPhone may be woefully backwards and lame in so many ways, but at least the phones are reliable, consistent and well-made.

But I'm also intrigued by the S4. (S5 is too big for me). I like that it's smaller and lighter than the G2, I like that I can make the fonts huge for my old eyes without needing a third party app, and like a physical home button.

But I worry about battery life (G2 is supposedly much better here), and just general glitches and Android headaches and hassles. In a perfect world, I'd try one for out for a bit and see how I like it, but I'm only allowed one exchange, so whatever I chose next I'm stuck with for two years. (Unless you guys know a way around this one with Verizon).

Also, someone said these are sturdy phones and I might not need a case. But I am a phone dropper. Is a case a must?

Thoughts anyone? Galaxy S4 or iphone 6 for the next two years?
 
If you're planning to drop the phone (ANY phone), a VERY sturdy case might be a good idea. Anyway, I think the S4 is overall a dandy phone for general purpose use. However, not all folks look for the same things in their phones, and not all phones do everything perfectly, so you have to figure that out for yourself, i.e., do you need an exquisite camera, stereo speakers, etc.? The S4 form factor for me is just right, not too big for pocket or hand, nice size screen for My old eyes, etc.

Good luck.
 
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If you're planning to drop the phone (ANY phone), a VERY sturdy case might be a good idea. Anyway, I think the S4 is overall a dandy phone for general purpose use. However, not all folks look for the same things in their phones, and not all phones do everything perfectly, so you have to figure that out for yourself, i.e., do you need an exquisite camera, stereo speakers, etc.? The S4 form factor for me is just right, not too big for pocket or hand, nice size screen for My old eyes, etc.

Good luck.

I don't care about the camera at all, and if the speakers are at least adequate, that will be enough for me. Form factor matters more to me than those two things.

I do a lot of texting, some emailing, some calling, listening to podcasts, occasional music, and bit of webstuff now and then. No games, no videos, etc.

The most important things to me are efficiency in how I complete tasks and reliable performance and battery power and a headache free ride.

I know Androids are great at the efficiency part...
 
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Your list of activities is almost identical to mine. I've had an S4 for 1 1/2 years and still can't see getting a new phone. BTW I load a bunch of podcasts from TWIT (This Week in Tech) using their specific app to listen to them in the plane - perfect, and the speaker is almost irrelevant since I use various corded and bluetooth headphones and/or external speakers most of the time.

That being said, DO NOT accept a refurb as an exchange.
 
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Your list of activities is almost identical to mine. I've had an S4 for 1 1/2 years and still can't see getting a new phone. BTW I load a bunch of podcasts from TWIT (This Week in Tech) using their specific app to listen to them in the plane - perfect, and the speaker is almost irrelevant since I use various corded and bluetooth headphones and/or external speakers most of the time.

That being said, DO NOT accept a refurb as an exchange.

What kind of battery usage and screen time on can you get with your phone? I worry that this phone's battery can't perform as well as iphone 6, or the LG G2 (when it's working).

Oh, and almost all podcast and music listening is done through headphones too. G2 does perform well in this department; music sounds great.
 
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I've never had a problem with the battery running low - a quick charge first thing in the morning and just before lights out at night using the official Samsung charger/cable (2 amps) keeps everything nice and fresh. BTW using other chargers/cables will work, but MUCH slower.

Any idea what your numbers are? Hours of battery usage and hours of Screen 'Time on'? The G2 I'm using at the moment seems to offer about 16 hours of usage (morning till bedtime), and 5 hours of screen Time On before conking out.

Btw, I heard from another Galaxy owner, who has the S5, that his phone is basically indestructible and doesn't need a case even for hard drops. Not sure I quite trust that report...
 
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Sure, if you drop it on a pillow from 1 foot it will be fine without a case - but just let one of the corners hit the sidewalk from 3-4 feet and you've got an expensive paperweight, regardless of the brand or model (except for a few special purpose bricks).

As for the numbers on battery life, it's just like I said - get it up to full charge in the a.m. first thing, and it runs all day for me. Then, I give it some more juice last thing at night to make sure it will run through the night, because every once in a while something comes chugging over the wifi at night and uses up more juice than normal (like a download of a new version of the os). Battery life is to a large extent a result of how you use the phone. You will find people on the boards rant and rave about not enough battery life from almost any phone, and others (like me) who are perfectly happy. Truly, YMMV (your mileage may vary).

Cheers.
 
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Sure, if you drop it on a pillow from 1 foot it will be fine without a case - but just let one of the corners hit the sidewalk from 3-4 feet and you've got an expensive paperweight, regardless of the brand or model (except for a few special purpose bricks).

As for the numbers on battery life, it's just like I said - get it up to full charge in the a.m. first thing, and it runs all day for me. Then, I give it some more juice last thing at night to make sure it will run through the night, because every once in a while something comes chugging over the wifi at night and uses up more juice than normal (like a download of a new version of the os). Battery life is to a large extent a result of how you use the phone. You will find people on the boards rant and rave about not enough battery life from almost any phone, and others (like me) who are perfectly happy. Truly, YMMV (your mileage may vary).

Cheers.

People complain about all the bloatware on the Samsung S4, which I guess is compounded by the fact that there's only 16GB of storage available (at least on the Verizon version).

In what ways does bloatware affects user experience with this phone? (Or any phone, for that matter). I guess having to scroll through apps you don't want to get to the ones you do is annoying, and having to receive updates on these apps you don't want too. Any other ways it affects real world experience?
 
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