Excellent review

omnius · Apr 24, 2013

http://gizmodo.com/5995291/samsung-galaxy-s4-review-better-not-best

NZtechfreak · Apr 24, 2013

Sorry, that review is rubbish (like virtually all Gizmodo tech stuff).

So much ignorance it isn't funny.

Senden · Apr 24, 2013

I really liked the review, it does come across as biased against the S4, however it's refreshing change of pace from the overly positive reviews I've seen so far. How they dismissed air view, gesture, scroll blah blah blah definitely echoes my own thoughts of them being nothing more than fancy gimmicks. However I think the ability to auto pause once your eyes turn away from a video is a damn good idea especially if you're on the train and have one of those annoying passengers nearby that just can't take the hint that you want to be left alone. Some of the other criticisms are quite new too especially the inability to take away the little scrolling bar thing on videos.

Still, I can't wait to receive mine on Friday and with everything it does plus the the ability to swap batteries and SD card slot puts it far above the HTC one in my eyes.

barryl85 · Apr 24, 2013

omnius said:
Samsung Galaxy S4 Review: Better, But Not Best

So you read round the reviews and found the one that bashed on the S4 the most then decided to come into the S4 forum and post it as "an excellent review"

*claps slowly* :rolleyes:

rushmore · Apr 24, 2013

They are a bunch of "Apple" tree hugging rubes at that site. It used to be like Engadget (not nowhere near as bad as Giz), but something changed a few years ago and they went off the cliff of sanity (IMO). I used to use the site a lot, so noticed their change in site direction.

Added:

The review seems odd, shallow and too opinionated. An example is the low light pics, since apparently Giz did not use the low light feature on the S4. The speed is also odd, since common view is it is very fast and no better or worse than the One phone.

This makes Engadget reviews seems like great examples of science. Since an opinionated review, how can this be an "excellent" review, unless you AGREE with the review? Hmmmm.

rivera02 · Apr 24, 2013

Yea the reviewer was really reaching on some parts of that review. If he likes the htc one better then i have no problem with that whatsoever. It may very well be a better phone, but i haven't used either of them do i can't make that call. But when you exaggerate faults of one phone to make the other look better i find it hard to take the review seriously. The gs4 takes a full second to take a picture...really? Cuz my gs3 and note 2 take them about as fast as i can tap the shutter.

Shocky · Apr 24, 2013

Never heard of them and now I know why.

Quite a few things they complained about can be adjusted or turned off, maybe they just didn't know. :thinking:

rushmore · Apr 24, 2013

THIS is an excellent review and not opinionated like the OP seems to favor:

AnandTech | Samsung Galaxy S 4 Review - Part 1

markyboy81 · Apr 24, 2013

My favourite part was the bit about how you might forget which capacitive button was 'menu' and which was 'back'. I mean, seriously?

markyboy81 · Apr 24, 2013

chris2k5 said:
Samsung's Galaxy S4 is a good phone, not a great one - reviewers | Reuters

Gizmodo isn't the only one that doesn't like the S4.

A lot of you are mad at reviewers dissing your bias.

That article was probably the most biased against the s4,by not only using the reviews that criticised the s4 the most, but also only quoting negative things from those reviews!

Shocky · Apr 24, 2013

rushmore said:
THIS is an excellent review and not opinionated like the OP seems to favor:

AnandTech | Samsung Galaxy S 4 Review - Part 1

Yep, that's allot more like it. As expected really, but the CPU results are but odd.

Just making me want the Exynos version more.

rushmore · Apr 24, 2013

chris2k5 said:
Samsung's Galaxy S4 is a good phone, not a great one - reviewers | Reuters

Gizmodo isn't the only one that doesn't like the S4.

A lot of you are mad at reviewers dissing your bias.

Dissing your bias? That seems counter-intuitive....

There is a difference between objective and subjective weighted criticism. The Android Central one is even worse (IMO as far as opinionated) than the one linked here, but at least goes into more detail.

For others, go buy your One's or iPhones and enjoy them

Good products as well, but do not impose standards of judgement based on personal preferences. That ain't being too scientific.

Added:

It does seem though that Samsung might have polling/cpu/memory address issues with all the darn sensors the S4 uses. My advice is turn the things off to conserve battery and not have performance issues. Most of them IMO seem like gimmicks. Notice I state "opinion" and am NOT implying a standard.

LookSir,Droids · Apr 24, 2013

Hard to really consider it a "Review" when the article constantly compares the GS4 to the HTC ONE. That's a comparison. That's not a review. And if you're going to constantly compare it to the ONE and bring up all these points against the GS4, then go ahead and just do a ONE vs GS4 article and compare EVERYTHING about the two phones. It's ridiculous to "review" specific GS4 components and coincidentally compare them to the ONE. Either review the phone by itself as it is, or do a full 100% side by side comparison of the specs and performance of the two devices.

In the end, with the grammatical errors and the petty comical jabs at the GS4, are we really even supposed to take this "review" or it's writer seriously?

My two cents.

chris2k5 · Apr 24, 2013

LookSir said:
Hard to really consider it a "Review" when the article constantly compares the GS4 to the HTC ONE. That's a comparison. That's not a review. And if you're going to constantly compare it to the ONE and bring up all these points against the GS4, then go ahead and just do a ONE vs GS4 article and compare EVERYTHING about the two phones. It's ridiculous to "review" specific GS4 components and coincidentally compare them to the ONE. Either review the phone by itself as it is, or do a full 100% side by side comparison of the specs and performance of the two devices.

In the end, with the grammatical errors and the petty comical jabs at the GS4, are we really even supposed to take this "review" or it's writer seriously?

My two cents.

All reviews are like that. Otherwise, you would be just listing specs. So far, every review I've read or watched on YouTube has mentioned the unimpressive design/plastic build and how some of the sensor functions are gimmicky in that they sometimes don't work.

Not only that, but if you watch video reviews of actual production models, TouchWiz is still laggy. There is stuttering here and there which is pretty shameful in 2013.

Slug · Apr 24, 2013

chris2k5 said:
Gizmodo isn't the only one that doesn't like the S4.

Oh yeah Reuters, a well-respected news agency that took this guff as gospel:

The Galaxy S4 is so complicated that Samsung has given it an "Easy Mode" for the less mobile savvy users, Dan Rowinski at technology blog ReadWriteWeb wrote.

"Easy Mode" is a quick-start setup for the home screen and has diddly-squat to do with how "complicated" the phone is. Even the S2 has it with the JB 4.1.1. update so presumably it's present on the S3 too.

A lot of you are mad at reviewers dissing your bias.

Or perhaps mad at half-baked reviews by people who should know better than make assumptions?

In any case people living in glass houses shouldn't throw stones at others' bias, Chris. Your recent track record of posting in the S4 forum speaks volumes.

chris2k5 said:
if you watch video reviews of actual production models, TouchWiz is still laggy. There is stuttering here and there which is pretty shameful in 2013.

I can do better than that; I've actually used an S4 and can assure you that there is no TouchWiz lag. It was just as snappy and responsive as the HTC One and my own Xperia Z.

LookSir,Droids · Apr 24, 2013

Personally, as far as the design goes, I think it looks pretty slick. Sure, it's similar to the GS3.. but the flash, the speaker, the sensors, physical buttons, border, screen, bevel, and dimensions are all different. And based on pictures, I am definitely on board with the new look. I like the edge of it a lot. Again, that's all based on pics. We'll see how it is when I get it in my hands.

archer75 · Apr 24, 2013

Personally I think the reviewers give the HTC the nod due to the aluminum body. They are all feeling that "ohhh shiney!" effect. Then put it in a case and never see the aluminum again.
Frankly I worry more about scratching or denting an aluminum body then a plastic one as plastic has more flex to it. But that's just me.

The HTC has better speakers, no doubt about that, but how often do you really use phone speakers? Occasionally I use them when watching some video but most of the time I am on headphones or pluging it into my car stereo. I do think front facing speakers are the way to go though.

All the photo/video recording and movie comparison videos I have seen between the S4 and One clearly look better on the S4. IMO of course.

For the record I don't own a Galaxy S2 or S3 or Note. So I have no reason to be biased to any one phone.

LookSir,Droids · Apr 24, 2013

chris2k5 said:
All reviews are like that. Otherwise, you would be just listing specs.

rushmore said:
THIS is an excellent review and not opinionated like the OP seems to favor:

AnandTech | Samsung Galaxy S 4 Review - Part 1

All reviews are like that eh? Looks like I found one in this very thread that isn't like that at all. Sure, it compares it once or twice to other devices, but the article is 95% focused on the GS4 and it's features. And it doesn't just "list specs." In fact, the writer does a great job of explaining features and components and presenting them without bias or taking stupid little jabs at the phone, trying to be funny or cute. It's a well-written review by someone who knows how to present and write a review.

EarlyMon · Apr 24, 2013

After close conference with Slug, I've elected to remove the post attacking people rather than issues.

We simply won't tolerate the behavior further. If it occurs again and we don't see it first, please report it with our thanks in advance.

Sorry for the interruption, cheers, thanks.

omnius · Apr 24, 2013

Slug said:
Oh yeah Reuters, a well-respected news agency that took this guff as gospel:

"Easy Mode" is a quick-start setup for the home screen and has diddly-squat to do with how "complicated" the phone is. Even the S2 has it with the JB 4.1.1. update so presumably it's present on the S3 too.

Or perhaps mad at half-baked reviews by people who should know better than make assumptions?

In any case people living in glass houses shouldn't throw stones at others' bias, Chris. Your recent track record of posting in the S4 forum speaks volumes.

I can do better than that; I've actually used an S4 and can assure you that there is no TouchWiz lag. It was just as snappy and responsive as the HTC One and my own Xperia Z.

I've seen more than one review comment the Z was a touch laggy

Slug · Apr 24, 2013

omnius said:
I've seen more than one review comment the Z was a touch laggy

That's why I prefer real-life data points to some anonymous hack using a review handset for a limited time. I trust my own eyes far more.

omnius · Apr 25, 2013

Slug said:
That's why I prefer real-life data points to some anonymous hack using a review handset for a limited time. I trust my own eyes far more.

I agree, I played around with the ZL version for about 10 minutes and noticed the home screen and drawer scrolling and redraw were just a tad slower than stock 4.2.

chris2k5 · Apr 25, 2013

Slug said:
Oh yeah Reuters, a well-respected news agency that took this guff as gospel

The Reuters page took excerpts from valid and credible sources:
-New York Times Tech Column
-The Verge
-AllThingsD
-CNN Tech
-ReadWriteWeb Tech

EarlyMon · Apr 25, 2013

chris2k5 said:
The Reuters page took excerpts from valid and credible sources:
-New York Times Tech Column
-The Verge
-AllThingsD
-CNN Tech
-ReadWriteWeb Tech

The first three are so pro-Apple it's not funny.

The Verge is so biased they managed to simultaneously rag both the SGS4 and HTC One for not living up to the mighty iPhone, then giving sorta top marks anyway.

If you want to know how AllThingsD stacks up - google search: youtube Walt Mosspuppet

Laughable.

CNN is CNN.

The last one I've never heard of before.

So - I officially hereby end your senseless bickering.

You're not here to contribute - how about a nice vacation?

shalemail · Apr 25, 2013

I really don't have a dog in this fight. I have been a Motorola fan boy for the past several years. That said, way back in the pre-android days I had a few Samsung phones and they really kinda sucked. BUT I am willing to forgive and forget.

I have yet to find a good non-biased review of either the SGS4 or the HTC ONE. Not even really a fair comparative.

Now, on the SGS4 camp, why should I go and look at this phone and consider it for my next handset? I do like removable battery and micro sd option, but honestly, neither is a deal breaker (my Atrix HD already took my removable battery away) and I have not had hardly anything on my 32GB sd for some time.

So ... have at it, based on YOUR OPINION, sell me on this phone. Baffle me with facts, stats and personal preference.

GO

Excellent review

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