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

gulaman · Mar 19, 2013

I don't understand Samsung's obsession with the phone being all plastic. Why not add some steel to the chassis? It's not like making it all plastic lessens the price as it will still sell at the same premium price that the HTC One will go for, which has similar specs but a far superior build quality.

ChiTownJim · Mar 19, 2013

sean76 said:
Ahhh ha...A stock man now, like me...lol! I have no patience for the root stuff and all that, just not my cup of tea, the way these phones come is fine for me.

Yea man the DNA has some screen, the ONE should even be a little more crisp because of the smaller screen size. But who knows when this thing is going to release already. Been using my nexus 4 as my daily driver running on a prepaid T-mo unlimited everything plan for $70, not bad at all. But I'm really missing LTE man!

As for the S4...My initial response was jeez its an S3s...lol! But after playing with my friends S3 last night (sold mine 2 months ago) and not having one in my hands for a while I realized again how thin the phone is and how large the screen is. And the S4 one ups those areas with the addition of some other enhancements. I was always a Samsung guy, just wondered and began to like the look of the LCD screens and such. Most likely I'll grab the one when it releases and leave the S4 for my brother to get, and then put them in the ring together...lol

I still kind of miss my galaxy nexus other then battery life, it was a great phone I would have loved to get a nexus 4 as my personal phone but it didn't come out on verizon right now I'm rocking my note 2, a RAZR and an iPhone 4 which honestly just sits in my car as a ipod that happens to have data cell service

After having the note for a few months as my work phone I couldn't imagine not having a note phone, this thing has organized my work life in amazing ways my productivity is way up. I love it
But I want to upgrade my og RAZR soon

RajCaj · Mar 19, 2013

jhawkkw said:
The battery is bigger in capacity, but I have a feeling performance is going to be roughly the same. It might improve a little bit, but if so not by much. The increase in screen size combined with going from 720p to 1080p is going to cause more power consumption and effectively make it a wash.

Another issue to consider is all the additional features provided. It's being marketed as a "Life Companion". If you're walking around all day with the bluetooth wrist / chest band + doing all your other stuff (streaming media, web surfing, calls / texts), it will have an effect on your battery.

Like with any other phone, it still comes down to how much, and in what way, you are using your phone. The added Samsung software (which comprises most of the feature improvements) seem to promote more usage during the day.

CafeKampuchia · Mar 19, 2013

Thanks to the guys at gsmarena.com for this perspective:

gsmarena.com said:
The size of the Galaxy S4 is a marvelous achievement, which should not be overlooked. The smartphone is the exact same height as its predecessor, but is 0.8mm narrower, 0.7mm slimmer and 3g lighter, while featuring a 0.2" larger screen, a higher-capacity battery that's still removable, and a host of new sensors and radios.

All the SuperAMOLED nay-sayers should also read their comments on the screen. There will be no equal to it this year.

Slug · Mar 19, 2013

gulaman said:
it will still sell at the same premium price that the HTC One will go for, which has similar specs but a far superior build quality.

I'll reserve judgement until I've actually seen and handled one. My 'plastic' S2 has proven itself hard-wearing, and 'plastic' helmets have saved my head from damage in several bike/climbing falls. ;-)

AntimonyER · Mar 19, 2013

CafeKampuchia said:
Thanks to the guys at gsmarena.com for this perspective:

All the SuperAMOLED nay-sayers should also read their comments on the screen. There will be no equal to it this year.

I am definitely going to take a look at it when it releases, and give a fair comparison between it and my DNA. Thanks for the link!

iowabowtech · Mar 19, 2013

ChiTownJim said:
I still kind of miss my galaxy nexus other then battery life, it was a great phone I would have loved to get a nexus 4 as my personal phone but it didn't come out on verizon right now I'm rocking my note 2, a RAZR and an iPhone 4 which honestly just sits in my car as a ipod that happens to have data cell service

After having the note for a few months as my work phone I couldn't imagine not having a note phone, this thing has organized my work life in amazing ways my productivity is way up. I love it
But I want to upgrade my og RAZR soon

Good to see you back in the house Jim. Gotta love these flagship phone threads as we get to catch up with a lot of members who haven't been around in awhile. I feel you on the GNex, still rocking mine but the battery life is getting old. That may be one of the more highly needed features in my next phone. Considering my dealings have been original Incredible, Rezound and Galaxy Nexus, I am beyond due for some quality battery life. Beyond. Due.

jhawkkw · Mar 19, 2013

iowabowtech said:
Good to see you back in the house Jim. Gotta love these flagship phone threads as we get to catch up with a lot of members who haven't been around in awhile. I feel you on the GNex, still rocking mine but the battery life is getting old. That may be one of the more highly needed features in my next phone. Considering my dealings have been original Incredible, Rezound and Galaxy Nexus, I am beyond due for some quality battery life. Beyond. Due.

Only thing missing was the Thunderbolt. :rolleyes:

But in all seriousness, I want some big battery love in my next phone as well. If only Moto Razr Maxx's weren't so locked down.

dfranz · Mar 19, 2013

ben7337 said:
I'm not sure how they could have changed the appearance to make it better, the speaker on the front and mic and light sensor and notification light and screen all go in the same spot on all phones, for the most part. They moved the flash and speaker on the back around, but none of that really matters overall. In design samsung has always liked fairly rounded edges, only the gs2 and custom phones make for specific carriers had different designs.

They did change the front styling from that brushed look to a cool carbon fiber looking thing. I think that's cool, and the backplate supposedly has a different style, though I'd personally prefer something not shiny and annoying, aftermarket backplates are a dime a dozen, and most people put their phones in cases anyway. Very little of phone design matters overall.

The only way I can see samsung changing the design in a way that would get more sales, is using something like metal or carbon fiber, or some high end product in the body or backplate. most metals would make it heavier though, the gs4 actually got lighter, which is impressive.

Also why would samsung change something that sells so damn well?

I think the rumours of eye scrolling is what titivated most of us, sadly not a reality and thus the actual phone not worth the extra shell out if you have an s3. Rumours already taking s5!

ben7337 · Mar 19, 2013

The_Chief said:
As much as I would like to love the S4, I don't. Great software innovations, sure... but Sammy just can't lose that home button, can they? Do they really think users will miss it that much compared to soft keys like the Galaxy Nexus? They'll miss it: for about 5 seconds.

All I can say is the features on this phone set us up for some EPIC phones (Maybe X? Nexus 5?) come fall/winter... right when many of us are due for a new one

The stupid physical button mixed with touchscreen buttons is done to make people get used to something. No other phone has that sort of weird setup, or even puts the icons in that order anymore. It makes people who are used to samsung products, find new ones by other manufacturers hard to use or not quite right, and keeps people buying samsung's phones instead. Or at least, that's the only reason I can figure for not just making it all resistive touchscreen buttons, or even shortening the phone a bit and building the buttons into the samoled screen.

ben7337 · Mar 19, 2013

trparky said:
I don't understand all this hatred about a physical Home button. Why all this hate? I just don't understand why.

It's not comfortable. 2 buttons are resistive touch, one requires physical pushing. It isn't consistent. Apple sticks to a single hard button for home, all other carriers stick to full on resistive buttons mostly, or some use physical buttons only still, but none besides samsung make a weird mix. remembering that one function requires a push, and the other just a tap, isn't really a problem, but it did somewhat catch me up sometimes with the gs3, and can be quite annoying.

Though in a hard case, having a bottom button to press to turn the screen on is nice, since the power button in some cases is very difficult to push or feel.

ben7337 · Mar 19, 2013

gulaman said:
I don't understand Samsung's obsession with the phone being all plastic. Why not add some steel to the chassis? It's not like making it all plastic lessens the price as it will still sell at the same premium price that the HTC One will go for, which has similar specs but a far superior build quality.

Plastic can be just as durable as metal, and it often weighs less. Remember F= M x A. The force that a phone hits the ground with is directly proportional to its mass. The more a phone weighs, despite feeling for durable, the more likely it is to hit with a force that breaks its screen.

Also metal has no give, sure it can dent, but if it has no space, it will transfer the force right into the screen's side and you see it shatter. Plastic instead of denting inwards, just gets dent marks on the outside, the plastic can give on the exterior, without the interior moving and adding too much pressure to delicate glass edges.

Overall plastic isn't a bad material, metal is.

I would love to see a carbon fiber or some sort of special backplate though, or at least some texture rather than shiny slippery plastic on a super thin phone though.

CafeKampuchia · Mar 20, 2013

Another great article on the merits of the S4's Super AMOLED display for all those concerned about pentile issues and over-saturation:

Will the Galaxy S4 end the “AMOLED is over-saturated” criticism?

I'm predicting (like gsmarena) that it will have no equal.

EarlyMon · Mar 20, 2013

CafeKampuchia said:
Another great article on the merits of the S4's Super AMOLED display for all those concerned about pentile issues and over-saturation:

Will the Galaxy S4 end the

deslock · Mar 20, 2013

GalaxyNexus said:
Do any of you have absolutely no desire to pick up the Galaxy S4 after watching the live stream?

I for one have been pumped up about this launch for a long time. I was excited after seeing all of these leaked specs and how it was going to be even better than HTC One.

So I tuned into the live stream and saw the Galaxy S4 for the first time. A little bit of me died inside after seeing the Galaxy S4 looked like a replica of the S3. I wanted this to be the greatest thing yet but it just isn't (for me). If the Galaxy S4 looked like the HTC One it would be without a doubt the best phone on the planet.

I feel like Samsung was very conservative making the GS4 like the GS3- I feel like they're trying to be Apple. I know all the amazing specs and stuff along with the removable battery and that there's a micro-sd card slot.

I know that I'm not the only one disappointed in Samsung and there are probably a lot of people on AFs that's also a little upset. If this thread gets out of hand then I'll definitely be open to mods closing it, but can we please have a serious discussion about how we feel about the GS4?

Even though the S4 is only evolutionary, it exceeded my expectations.

Samsung understands what's important. The S3 and S2 both felt inferior to many other premium phones too, and yet they conquered the market because:

Huge, vibrant screen (small bezel = win)
Thin and lightweight
Fast
Decent battery life

Using plastic is a trade-off.

chris2k5 said:
Display is pentile which ruins screen quality.

Nonsense. Pentile can be annoying, but at ~315 DPI jagged edges of text were already only barely visible (very subtle and not bothersome). At ~440 DPI they'll probably be invisible.

chris2k5 said:
The S4 loses the spec war vs Sony and HTC.

Depends on which specs you're comparing. S4 vs the One:

The S4 is lighter, thinner, has a larger screen, AMOLED (advantageous for vibrance, blackness, and viewing angles), larger and removable battery, microSD slot, 13 MP camera (overkill, and I prefer the "Ultrapixel" approach... but 4 MP is a little low for daylight photos), better CPU/GPU in some markets, DDR3 (the One reportedly has DDR2), and hover to touch.

The One has slick metal chassis, stereo "BoomSound" speakers, "Ultrapixel" camera (f2.0 vs f2.2 on the S4), LCD (advantageous for color accuracy), and is narrower.

On the software side, both have lots of nifty camera features. Both have crappy custom UIs (Sense, touchwiz). The S4 ships with 4.2.2 while the One ships with 4.1.2. The S4 has multiple modes for the AMOLED screen.

RajCaj said:
their IR port only supports Samsung proprietary services & devices

FYI according to CNET, "What I really like about this blaster, other than the accompanying app, is that Samsung promises it works for all televisions, not just Samsung TVs."

EarlyMon said:
I can't see my phone replacing my remote - but I can see it supplementing it for some uses.

Bingo.

RajCaj said:
Instead of moving from brushed & carbon fiber look on slick plastic, they could have added some texture

The S4 is reportedly grippier than the SIII.

miniSQ said:
Same form factor as the S3...love it or hate it...making the S4 the same as the S3 was a huge mistake. Apple made a pretty major jump from the 4 to the 5.

Apple needed to redesign the iPhone because the 4s' screen was too small, its chassis too heavy (for the size of the device), and they finally realized that the glass back was stupid (increased fragility and weight).

The S2 was a revolutionary design. Subsequent models are derivative, which is fine because Samsung got so many things right two years ago.

sean76 said:
I think the iPhone 5 is made like garbage and that when Steve Jobs died he took the ideas of Apple with him.

The iPhone5 was approved by Steve Jobs. And frankly, the things I don't like about it are from his influence. First the positive side: The iPhone5, like the HTC One, has an upscale look and feel and compared to the iPhone4 has 8% more screen area and 22% less weight.

The negative side: It's literally too little too late. Steve Jobs was right about a lot of things, but insisting that the iPhone's form factor remain so small wasn't one of them. IMO, up to about 5 ounces and 70 mm wide is fine for a phone. Both the HTC One and S4 have acceptable form factors... which makes sense just depends on your priorities.

Gearu · Mar 20, 2013

I like the home key, it gives some backup control in case the software messes up, getting you out the back door and to the home screen. People think that if the software messes up/freezes then everything stops but this isn't always true, physical keys can save the day as they work differently.

Samsung are providing choice by continuing to use them.

Wolfedude88 · Mar 20, 2013

I like both the home key and on screen buttons so I'm generally okay with either one. I prefer the look and materials of the htc one myself but I wouldn't call the gs4 crap, I still think it looks pretty good.

To be honest though I lovedy international gs2 the most. The look and the home button on it was prefect for me. One of my favorite devices so far.

ChiTownJim · Mar 20, 2013

iowabowtech said:
Good to see you back in the house Jim. Gotta love these flagship phone threads as we get to catch up with a lot of members who haven't been around in awhile. I feel you on the GNex, still rocking mine but the battery life is getting old. That may be one of the more highly needed features in my next phone. Considering my dealings have been original Incredible, Rezound and Galaxy Nexus, I am beyond due for some quality battery life. Beyond. Due.

Yeah this about the only time I come on this forum anymore as my phones don't seem to have any issues anymore haha
If u want battery life a don't mind a big phone check out the note2 24-30hrs with 6hrs= screen time, I never turn anything off and my phone is usually on max brightness all day. I use to get 10-12hrs with my nexus but that was having things turned off and 2hrs screen on time. I never knew what awesome battery life was till this phone

Shocky · Mar 20, 2013

trparky said:
I don't understand all this hatred about a physical Home button. Why all this hate? I just don't understand why.

I don't get it either, I really don't like anything taking up room on the display that doesn't need to be there.

I remember when I first got the Asus transformer, I hated the on screen buttons, they took up so much space on screen it just looked horrible.

jhawkkw · Mar 20, 2013

I don't mind capacitive or physical buttons, but I love the software buttons. My reason for loving them is that by having pure software buttons allows for more of the device to be screen because you don't need room for the physical or capacitive buttons on the bottom. Combine that with a custom rom that removes them and uses pie controls and you can truly maximize screen size and usage.

Shocky · Mar 20, 2013

jhawkkw said:
My reason for loving them is that by having pure software buttons allows for more of the device to be screen

Even with the home and capacitive buttons the Galaxy S4 still manages a larger display than similarly sized devices,

Personally I don't think a menu or back button should be needed as applications that need them should have them included.

The Home button is the only button that should always be on a device because you need a way to get back the home screen. But there is no rule that says that button has to be on the front of a device.

jhawkkw · Mar 20, 2013

Shocky said:
Even with the home and capacitive buttons the Galaxy S4 still manages a larger display than similarly sized devices,

Personally I don't think a menu or back button should be needed as applications that need them should have them included.

This is true, but I think this is more of a consequence of OEM's removing bezel. The idea of physical or capacitive buttons requires(if they're going to be on the front) that you leave some bezel somewhere for them where as software can literally be edge to edge in both vertical and horizontal directions if the OEM chooses to do so.

I agree that the menu buttons is all but worthless in modern version of android because of the new standard, but the back button is essential. Hitting home while running an app keeps it running in the background, which means it will continue to use resources even if you don't want it to. Hitting back to get all the way out of the app closes it and frees up those resources. It's very similar to the close vs quit on a mac. Home closes, back(once done all the way) quits.

Shocky said:
The Home button is the only button that should always be on a device because you need a way to get back the home screen. But there is no rule that says that button has to be on the front of a device.

I do find this idea of putting buttons on the side of the device interesting, putting them on the back of it could lead to a lot of accidental presses though. I would like to see how this idea works in practice.

Shocky · Mar 20, 2013

jhawkkw said:
Hitting back to get all the way out of the app closes it and frees up those resources. It's very similar to the close vs quit on a mac. Home closes, back(once done all the way) quits.

But shouldn't the application have a means of exiting and shutting down without the use of a back button?

That said the back button doesn't always exit an application, far to often I have to use the home button because the back button does nothing and there seems to be no way to exit.

I do find this idea of putting buttons on the side of the device interesting, putting them on the back of it could lead to a lot of accidental presses though. I would like to see how this idea works in practice.

I don't see why they couldn't put it on the side of a device, there are ways they can limit accidental touches, similarly to what Samsung have already done with the home button.

jhawkkw · Mar 20, 2013

Shocky said:
But shouldn't the application have a means of exiting and shutting down without the use of a back button?

That said the back button doesn't always exit an application, far to often I have to use the home button because the back button does nothing and there seems to be no way to exit.

I do agree with you there, some applications don't make proper use of the back button. I most often find that these apps are ones that developers ported over from their iPhone version where there is no back button and thus forget or choose not to implement the functionality into their android version. Not always, but that seems to be the most common circumstance.

Of course, you can always go the control freak way of stopping an app by stopping it under the apps menu in general settings.

ArmchairBear · Mar 20, 2013

Just being an Android fan in general, I was disappointed with the GS4. I like Android because of the variety in phone designs. So I was disappointed that the GS4 looks very similar to the GS3, especially since this is a flagship device. As a flagship device I think it should show the next evolutionary step in Samsung's design philosophy. I wanted to see something that was different enough.

I guess Samsung is in a position where they don't really have to innovate much. They have the advantage of brand loyalty from a large install base. Their name is already out there, so they won't need to advertise as much.

I think it's going to sell well, but maybe not like the GS3 did. I say that because, the HTC One looks great. And HTC One, also, will have the advantage of being at stores first. Also, the GS3 still is a good phone, and being that the GS4 looks similar, people may not be so motivated to upgrade. Like the iphone5, a lot of people bought it, but there were still a lot of people who stuck with the iphone4 because it's still a good phone. Who knows, people may confuse the GS3 for the new GS4 and buy the older phone because it's cheaper.

Also, Touchwiz is still there, and it's still looks as ugly as ever. They didn't even try.

The GS4 is a great phone, I just wish it was more interesting. There will be a good number of phones that will have the same level of performance, so each one will have to stand out in another way. I don't think the GS4 is going to stand out much.

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

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