Galaxy S4

[MacOG728893]

A friend just recently got a GS4. Cool phone! I like the physical look of it, the thing is pretty sleek. The screen size is nice if that's what you're into and the colors really popped. Overall, it seemed pretty "snappy" to me and seems like a solid candidate when choosing a smart phone.

Is it for me personally? No, but to each their own. I find (personal opinion) the screen way too big to use in a single hand, something I do a lot. The colors are nice, but they feel way over saturated for my taste. It has a cool design, but felt cheap in the hand and the plastic felt "gimmicky." Yes, I know the 5C is plastic, but I haven't used it yet and it very well may feel the same way.

Apple has me locked in their eco-system and it's the most efficient setup I've ever used in my life as far as technology goes. I've had various mobile operating systems all the way back to Windows Mobile 5 & 6, to the beginning stages of Android through Jelly Bean and iOS has been my favorite hands down.

 

[daveathall]

A friend just recently got a GS4. Cool phone! I like the physical look of it, the thing is pretty sleek. The screen size is nice if that's what you're into and the colors really popped. Overall, it seemed pretty "snappy" to me and seems like a solid candidate when choosing a smart phone.

Is it for me personally? No, but to each their own. I find (personal opinion) the screen way too big to use in a single hand, something I do a lot. The colors are nice, but they feel way over saturated for my taste. It has a cool design, but felt cheap in the hand and the plastic felt "gimmicky." Yes, I know the 5C is plastic, but I haven't used it yet and it very well may feel the same way.

Apple has me locked in their eco-system and it's the most efficient setup I've ever used in my life as far as technology goes. I've had various mobile operating systems all the way back to Windows Mobile 5 & 6, to the beginning stages of Android through Jelly Bean and iOS has been my favorite hands down.

Good write up. I have a S4. With regards to your point on the 5C, I have seen and held one in the Apple store in Gateshead, IMHO, the plastic is a lot better done than on my S4, it feels very substantial in the hand and as far as I'm concerned oozes quality, I was pleasantly surprised at how good it feels, I would probably choose it over the iP5.

I still prefer my S4 mainly because of the screen size (my old eyes prefer it) I also like to tinker with my phone (not root or jailbreak) and the S4 gives me slightly more options. Whatever phone (flagship) or OS one picks these days, one is almost guaranteed a great experience.

 

[MacOG728893]

Good write up. I have a S4. With regards to your point on the 5C, I have seen and held one in the Apple store in Gateshead, IMHO, the plastic is a lot better done than on my S4, it feels very substantial in the hand and as far as I'm concerned oozes quality, I was pleasantly surprised at how good it feels, I would probably choose it over the iP5.

I still prefer my S4 mainly because of the screen size (my old eyes prefer it) I also like to tinker with my phone (not root or jailbreak) and the S4 gives me slightly more options. Whatever phone (flagship) or OS one picks these days, one is almost guaranteed a great experience.

I appreciate it! This is very true. We all have what works best for us, but in this day in age, most of the technology is pretty good.

I have to say though, that Galaxy watch looks pretty bad. I have not used on myself, so it may not be fair to say. From the looks of it, I'd pass on it.

 

[samjwitwicky]

As an owner of both the iPhone 5 and S4, here are my thoughts.

The iPhone is fluid. Super responsive, very low latency to touch. Everything is zippy, even on iOS7. I love it to death. It's my life in my pocket. I've been an owner of an iPhone since the 3GS, and owned every one since. When work mandated that I carried another phone (corporate line), I jumped at the chance to own an Android phone.

Ever since the eclair days, I was curious about Android. Nothing amazed me though. But ever since Jelly bean, things really started to change. So I got myself the S4.

Thoughts?
1. S4 screen - gorgeous. Seriously, I don't care that it's pentile. It's beautiful.
2. Touchwiz - very slow touch response. swiping between homescreens is slow. But once you load up Nova launcher, its super fast. I blame it on Touchwiz.
3. Battery life - kinda poor. For a 2600Mah battery, I was hoping for more. I can barely get through a working day with it.
4. Design - Way nicer than the curvy S3, but still abit feminine. But I slapped on a Spigen Neo Hybrid, and it looks good. to me.
5. Camera - Awesome outdoors in daylight. Sucks in lowlight. The camera and gallery app are just lagfests. Replaced them with Jellybean camera and Quickpic.
6. NFC - Awesome. I use NFC tags on my nightstand, car and work desk. tap and go. I really like this feature.


Been using the S4 for the past 1 month. Very usable and very nice. I can't live without the iPhone, but I must say, I really am enjoying Android now.

 

[kasakka]

Thoughts?
2. Touchwiz - very slow touch response. swiping between homescreens is slow. But once you load up Nova launcher, its super fast. I blame it on Touchwiz.
6. NFC - Awesome. I use NFC tags on my nightstand, car and work desk. tap and go. I really like this feature.

I don't find any real difference with the Touchwiz launcher. Maybe you're referring to animation speed? Note that if you enable developer options (click build number in Settings -> About device several times) you can adjust them.

Out of curiosity, what are you doing with your NFC tags?

 

[samjwitwicky]

I don't find any real difference with the Touchwiz launcher. Maybe you're referring to animation speed? Note that if you enable developer options (click build number in Settings -> About device several times) you can adjust them.

Out of curiosity, what are you doing with your NFC tags?

I've actually set the animation to 0.5 previously. Still didnt help. But what I mean is the touch response, the higher than normal latency as compared to iOS.

Im using my tags to turn on or off WiFi at work or home, check into foursquare, enable bluetooth in the car... Etc..

 

[beegie]

After learning the only 64gb options out there are S4, HTC-1, or iPhone, I looked all day online for a new 64gb S4 (carrier-free, no contract) & can't find any anywhere, except Amazon 3rd party sellers. For a flagship phone only approx. 6-months since release, why are there none available from major sources? (BestBuy/16gb, GooglePlay/16gb, Samsung site/16gb, etc.) Annoying!

All I saw were 5-6-month-old articles & blog posts saying the 32/64gb's would be coming by Summer. It is now Fall. So whaaa happened? Did SS never release 32/64's in USA?

(Leary of ebay, CL, Amz 3rd parties. Don't want to buy via those avenues.)

And, fwiw, love "plastic" phones vs metal. Still use/love white-3Gs but it is FULL @32gb. Plastic 5c > No 64gb (+ yukko ios7). So Plastic S4 it was going to be, but doesn't appear to be available for "device only" purchase anywhere.

3Gs 135grams, S4 130. So it would be even lighter than sturdy solid 3Gs!

Also saw today the 10-day-old headlines re "Galaxy Round"! Very cool! Would love that, curved to fit better in smaller lady-size hands, white, plastic/fake leather back, etc. Unfortunately, available only in Korea as a prototype to gauge consumer interest, usage, etc. Bummer! I give up. Can't escape Apple even when I want to.

 

[lazard]

After learning the only 64gb options out there are S4, HTC-1, or iPhone, I looked all day online for a new 64gb S4 (carrier-free, no contract) & can't find any anywhere, except Amazon 3rd party sellers. For a flagship phone only approx. 6-months since release, why are there none available from major sources? (BestBuy/16gb, GooglePlay/16gb, Samsung site/16gb, etc.) Annoying!

All I saw were 5-6-month-old articles & blog posts saying the 32/64gb's would be coming by Summer. It is now Fall. So whaaa happened? Did SS never release 32/64's in USA?

(Leary of ebay, CL, Amz 3rd parties. Don't want to buy via those avenues.)

And, fwiw, love "plastic" phones vs metal. Still use/love white-3Gs but it is FULL @32gb. Plastic 5c > No 64gb (+ yukko ios7). So Plastic S4 it was going to be, but doesn't appear to be available for "device only" purchase anywhere.

3Gs 135grams, S4 130. So it would be even lighter than sturdy solid 3Gs!

Also saw today the 10-day-old headlines re "Galaxy Round"! Very cool! Would love that, curved to fit better in smaller lady-size hands, white, plastic/fake leather back, etc. Unfortunately, available only in Korea as a prototype to gauge consumer interest, usage, etc. Bummer! I give up. Can't escape Apple even when I want to.

For some reason the 64GB version was never released. As for the 32GB version, you can get it on Amazon (sold and shipped by Amazon). The 32GB version + 64GB microSD card gives you 83.16GB of usable storage.

 

[beegie]

For some reason the 64GB version was never released. As for the 32GB version, you can get it on Amazon (sold and shipped by Amazon). The 32GB version + 64GB microSD card gives you 83.16GB of usable storage.

Thank you, lazard, for filling in the mystery re 64gb! Maybe they worried their S4 wasn't ready for a 64 release due to those few "battery fires" (which I'm just guessing were on smaller HD's. I dunno. Maybe there never were any 64's & their Advertising people simply screwed up re sizes. If so, heads surely rolled!)

Another article I saw, maybe from SamMobile(?), said S4 had been a dismal failure, sales-wise (Wiki says the opposite), & that rumor has it that Samsung was rushing to release an S5 to make up for dismal S4, maybe in January, & that S5 would be metal (ugh!) & have fingerprint scanner (double-ugh!). Right back in circles to iph 5s. But if so, maybe that's why they pulled 64gb S4's.

Saw another article with speed chart from a UK org. 5s was #1, LG-G2 was #2, GS4 was #3, HTC-1 was #4, & 5c was trailing at #5, & there were 2 more worse than that.

So anyway, thanks for that heads up re the Direct-from-Amazon 32gb S4. I'll check it out. I didn't even look for 32's there as I had 64 on the brain.

 

[Markyboy81]

So here's a right bitch of a problem.

I have a completely unrooted, unROM'd, perfectly stock Galaxy S4... which tells me the device has been modified every time I try to check for updates.

Seriously the **** is up with this?

I had this problem and the solution was to take the memory card out, restart the phone and then run the software update. I'm not sure how or why this works but it did!

 

[beegie]

Thanks for that updating-an-S4 tip, Markyboy. Good to know in case I buy one!

 

[Sylon]

Anyone having wifi issues with their S4? On my phone, the icon at the top will be there, but it'll lose all connection to wifi, nothing will work right and I have to turn wifi off then back on to get it working again. Sometimes I just say screw it and turn it off all together now that AT&T finally turned the juice up on LTE in my area. But that chews up data and battery.

Also, none of my 7 or 8 other devices connected to my wifi area having any connection issues, just my S4.

 

[Heavy Fluid]

Anyone having wifi issues with their S4? On my phone, the icon at the top will be there, but it'll lose all connection to wifi, nothing will work right and I have to turn wifi off then back on to get it working again. Sometimes I just say screw it and turn it off all together now that AT&T finally turned the juice up on LTE in my area. But that chews up data and battery.

Also, none of my 7 or 8 other devices connected to my wifi area having any connection issues, just my S4.

Try deleting the WiFi network and reconnecting?

 

[jrswizzle]

Can someone provide the optimal camera settings for getting sharp photos? For whatever reason, every photo I take ends up blurry in the end.....looks sharp on screen before I take it, but after processing it looks awful.

I've almost given up using the GS4 as a camera.....which sucks considering that was arguably the main reason I went to it from the HTC One (which I thought was superior in almost every other aspect).

 

[daveathall]

Can someone provide the optimal camera settings for getting sharp photos? For whatever reason, every photo I take ends up blurry in the end.....looks sharp on screen before I take it, but after processing it looks awful.

I've almost given up using the GS4 as a camera.....which sucks considering that was arguably the main reason I went to it from the HTC One (which I thought was superior in almost every other aspect).

JR, I'm not being funny, just trying to help. You have checked that the plastic transparent sticker on the lens when new has been removed. Long shot I know but worth a go.

I never noticed it on mine at first.

 

[jrswizzle]

JR, I'm not being funny, just trying to help. You have checked that the plastic transparent sticker on the lens when new has been removed. Long shot I know but worth a go.

I never noticed it on mine at first.

Yup - no worries. I took it off when I got the phone, but did double check when I noticed the pics were blurry

 

[MRU]

Yup - no worries. I took it off when I got the phone, but did double check when I noticed the pics were blurry

It does sound maybe you have a dodgy s4. I just left mine either on auto or hdr modes and haven't had any trouble. I didn't jump through hoops or use any funky settings.

 

[jrswizzle]

It does sound maybe you have a dodgy s4. I just left mine either on auto or hdr modes and haven't had any trouble. I didn't jump through hoops or use any funky settings.

I'll post pics to show what I'm seeing and then ya'll can be the judge of whether or not its a faulty S4 or that I'm just a terrible photographer! lol

I am able to get good pics in the same situations with my iPhone 5s. That's what makes the S4's shots so frustrating.

EDIT: By the way - when do we get an Android update? I thought it was due out soon? Any news?

 

[lazard]

I'll post pics to show what I'm seeing and then ya'll can be the judge of whether or not its a faulty S4 or that I'm just a terrible photographer! lol

I am able to get good pics in the same situations with my iPhone 5s. That's what makes the S4's shots so frustrating.

EDIT: By the way - when do we get an Android update? I thought it was due out soon? Any news?

The update has already been released in overseas markets like Germany. As to when US carriers device to roll out the update remains to be seen.

 

[MRU]

Did they add any features from the Note 3 into the 4.3 update for the s4 such as extra camera mode or perhaps the magazine app ?

 

[Tsuchiya]

Anyone know if you can "stack" dropbox accounts?

I'm on my second S4, so when the bonus storage thing came up during setup I put my details in but didn't seem to get the bump in space.

Greedy I know

 

[daveathall]

Anyone know if you can "stack" dropbox accounts?

I'm on my second S4, so when the bonus storage thing came up during setup I put my details in but didn't seem to get the bump in space.

Greedy I know

I forget where I read it but I seem to remember that one can't stack the bonus space, I tried when I got my S4 after my S3. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

 

[Tsuchiya]

I forget where I read it but I seem to remember that one can't stack the bonus space, I tried when I got my S4 after my S3. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

It's cool, I'm barely breaking 10/53GB at the moment Just curious.

 

[viskon]

I'm planning to root and rom my T-Mobile S4 over the coming weekend. I have the Wicked Rom in mind to flash. Anybody have any other rom suggestions?

 

[2298754]

I'm planning to root and rom my T-Mobile S4 over the coming weekend. I have the Wicked Rom in mind to flash. Anybody have any other rom suggestions?

Task AOKP. Can't say enough good things about this ROM