S4: Wrong decision?

[xcore777]

More than half a month ago I bought a Galaxy S4 i9505 as a replacement for my iPhone 4S. I also wanted to try out Android. To be short: Don't get me wrong, the S4 is a great, very capable phone, but a lot of things were different than I expected and the tons of features aren't that great because they are either very limited or don't work reliably. Plus I got a big surprise with my iTunes videos which just don't play which is kinda sad for my 64GB SD card. I also have difficulties using Android or at least Samsung's TouchWiz UI. Oh and the battery dies quicker. All together doesn't seem to give me an real advantage over my old phone, except for the screen. I'm seriously wondering if I made a wrong decision back then?

 

[jhawkkw]

More than half a month ago I bought a Galaxy S4 i9505 as a replacement for my iPhone 4S. I also wanted to try out Android. To be short: Don't get me wrong, the S4 is a great, very capable phone, but a lot of things were different than I expected and the tons of features aren't that great because they are either very limited or don't work reliably. Plus I got a big surprise with my iTunes videos which just don't play which is kinda sad for my 64GB SD card. I also have difficulties using Android or at least Samsung's TouchWiz UI. Oh and the battery dies quicker. All together doesn't seem to give me an real advantage over my old phone, except for the screen. I'm seriously wondering if I made a wrong decision back then?

Some of the battery life issues can be traced to 2 main differences. Android is a true multitasking operating system and running more processes simultaneously uses more juice. Also, your 4s was not an LTE enabled phone and the S4 is. LTE radios user more juice than standard HSPA radios. As for your videos, what have you tried to use to play them. I would suggest trying to use MX Player from the Google Play store. It's probably the best one android has. If it's a file type issue, maybe it would be worth looking into possibly converting them into a more universal file type.

 

[ceva321]

What's so difficult about using touchwiz?

 

[xcore777]

I tried MX Player, it doesn't work with these videos. The problem seems to be the DRM.

For TouchWiz I often have to google before I find what I'm looking for. (mainly settings)

 

[lotus49]

You do have to expect that you will encounter a lot of issues when you are switching platforms. I used to have an iPhone 3GS and then I moved over to Android. Two Android phones and 4.5 years later I have now been given an iPhone 5 by my employer.

Even though I used to own an iPhone, I still find lots of things on my new iPhone 5 far from obvious and I have to look them up on the net. I think what you're going through is inevitable if you aren't used to Android.

Pick off your problems one at a time and post individual questions here. This is a very helpful forum and I'm sure people will do their best to help but you will have to post specific questions about each issue individually or you won't get a very reliable response rate.

Good luck.

 

[SEMIJim]

.

 

[Goodspike]

I think a lot of your disappointment might be due to the various Samsung features which are highly advertised but very underwhelming. Except for Stay Smart, which keeps the screen on, I have all of those things turned off. Most of them only work with certain programs (e.g. the stock browser rather than Chrome) and don't work very well.

That said, the S4 is a very solid phone and with a bit of learning, you'll like Android.

I agree with others about buying DRM music. I'm not even that crazy about buying MP3s as opposed to CDs. No matter where you buy your music (Apple, Google, Amazon) that company might not be around in 20 years, but a CD will be (assuming you can find something to read it).

 

[Gomjaba]

I think a lot of your disappointment might be due to the various Samsung features which are highly advertised but very underwhelming. Except for Stay Smart, which keeps the screen on, I have all of those things turned off. Most of them only work with certain programs (e.g. the stock browser rather than Chrome) and don't work very well.

That said, the S4 is a very solid phone and with a bit of learning, you'll like Android.

I agree with others about buying DRM music. I'm not even that crazy about buying MP3s as opposed to CDs. No matter where you buy your music (Apple, Google, Amazon) that company might not be around in 20 years, but a CD will be (assuming you can find something to read it).

Since 2010 even Apple cannot offer DRM protected music ... On google you can at least download your purchased albums as plain MP3s (albeit twice only).

 

[Goodspike]

Since 2010 even Apple cannot offer DRM protected music ... On google you can at least download your purchased albums as plain MP3s (albeit twice only).

Does President Obama know there's a restriction on Apple!

I wasn't aware of the Google limitation. Good to know, and yet another reason to stick with CDs.

 

[itsallgood]

I really don't buy CD's that much anymore. (They cost to much and take up to much space on my shelf.) On occasion, I do by digital music and save it on my home computer in MP3/4 format. I can then transfer it to a blank CD as a back up. Its work well for me so far.