My Observation of the One and GS4

[daveathall]

So what you're saying is iPhone5 screen isn't as small as people think.

Never said that at all, where did you get that idea? I compared phone sizes. Did not mention screen size on the iPhone.

Edit; Should have noticed the wink before it was pointed out to me. Sorry about that dojoman.

 

[KAB2010]

I have been an iPhone user for years. Switched to the Nexus 4 in November and haven't looked back. Let me give you my simple breakdown.

Out of the box, an iPhone fulfilled 80% of my needs. After some customization and jailbreaking, that only bumped it up to 85%.

Out of the box, my Nexus 4 fulfilled 60% of my needs at MOST. After rooting and installing custom ROMs and kernels, it now fulfills 90%-95% of my needs.

To get the best out of an Android device, my experience has been that it has to be rooted and have a custom ROM. That is something you might need to take into considering and just understand going into a switch like this.

Setting it up will take time and headaches. Ultimately, is that additional 5%-10% worth it? Only you can answer that.

I'm concerned with voiding the warranty by rooting. Also I don't know much about it. Such as when putting a new kernel or rom on the phone does it wipe out all the apps and settings you had before?

I really wanted to like the nexus 4. If it had an improved camera and better battery life I would have kept it. Well also my unit had light bleeding from the top.

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i totally agree with you, note 2 replaces both your phone and your tablet, screen is great for watching movies and reading, none of those smartphones offer the s-pen functionality and the battery of note 2 is also great.

The Note 2 is just too big for me. Not something that I even want to try getting used to. GS4 size is as big as I'll go and I'd be perfectly satisfied with it's screen size as well.

 

[MRU]

Never said that at all, where did you get that idea? I compared phone sizes. Did not mention screen size on the iPhone.

The wink my man.. The wink.... You should now a joke / sarcasm response by now

 

[daveathall]

The wink my man.. The wink.... You should now a joke / sarcasm response by now

Thank you, I'm had a senior moment (again).

My apologies dojoman, I'm a bit slow tonight.

 

[MRU]

Thank you, I'm had a senior moment (again).

My apologies dojoman, I'm a bit slow tonight.

Its because he didn't do a nudge nudge before the wink


Actually we must poll the mods & gods for a nudge nudge emoji !! I'll start the campaign

 

[strausd]

I'm concerned with voiding the warranty by rooting. Also I don't know much about it. Such as when putting a new kernel or rom on the phone does it wipe out all the apps and settings you had before?

I really wanted to like the nexus 4. If it had an improved camera and better battery life I would have kept it. Well also my unit had light bleeding from the top.

All of those concerns are completely understandable.

Voiding the warranty on a Nexus shouldn't be a problem since Google has posted factory images of the Nexus 4. If something happens and you need to do an RMA, just restore the image. There are multiple guides for this online.

A new kernel will not wipe the phone, a new ROM will, unless it is an update to an existing ROM. Like an update to CyanogenMod won't, but switching from CyanogenMod to, for example, AOKP will.

Ya camera isn't that great, totally agree. I am one of those people that rarely use a camera though. And battery life has gotten better, especially with a custom kernel.

But looking back at my post, I am guilty of something I always disliked, which was when I had a problem, nobody had any real solutions. All the "solutions" were really just workarounds. And I think that is what you need to understand about Android. You are going to have to work around the problems in order to get it working the way you want. You will need a custom launcher, a new kernel, a custom ROM, change up the lock screen, the controls, and so much more. That is typically what people do with Nexus devices.

 

[KAB2010]

All of those concerns are completely understandable.

Voiding the warranty on a Nexus shouldn't be a problem since Google has posted factory images of the Nexus 4. If something happens and you need to do an RMA, just restore the image. There are multiple guides for this online.

A new kernel will not wipe the phone, a new ROM will, unless it is an update to an existing ROM. Like an update to CyanogenMod won't, but switching from CyanogenMod to, for example, AOKP will.

Ya camera isn't that great, totally agree. I am one of those people that rarely use a camera though. And battery life has gotten better, especially with a custom kernel.

But looking back at my post, I am guilty of something I always disliked, which was when I had a problem, nobody had any real solutions. All the "solutions" were really just workarounds. And I think that is what you need to understand about Android. You are going to have to work around the problems in order to get it working the way you want. You will need a custom launcher, a new kernel, a custom ROM, change up the lock screen, the controls, and so much more. That is typically what people do with Nexus devices.

So essentially I would have to learn how to root and flash, etc. and choose the rom I want as soon as I get the phone, otherwise installing and setting up will be a waste of time since it would wipe everything out. I've heard of Carbon for backing up but have not been on android since that came out. If Google had a unified program like iTunes to back everything up including app data then that would influence me so much more to actually stay with android. I think I'd be comfortable just using cyanogenmod since it is basically stock with better tweaks.

Everyone around me uses an iPhone now so that does kind of influence me to keep mine because of iMessage. For some reason I don't want to give up Facetime either even though I almost never use it.

 

[dojoman]

Thank you, I'm had a senior moment (again).

My apologies dojoman, I'm a bit slow tonight.

haha no prob. It is the internet afterall.

 

[strausd]

So essentially I would have to learn how to root and flash, etc. and choose the rom I want as soon as I get the phone, otherwise installing and setting up will be a waste of time since it would wipe everything out. I've heard of Carbon for backing up but have not been on android since that came out. If Google had a unified program like iTunes to back everything up including app data then that would influence me so much more to actually stay with android. I think I'd be comfortable just using cyanogenmod since it is basically stock with better tweaks.

Everyone around me uses an iPhone now so that does kind of influence me to keep mine because of iMessage. For some reason I don't want to give up Facetime either even though I almost never use it.

Haha yes, that is essentially what would need to happen. Once you root, you also often unlock the bootloader. Unlocking the bootloader will wipe everything. Installing a new ROM will wipe everything. So if you decide to stick with Android, make sure that is one of the first things you do to make things easier.

Ya, Carbon is out there, now called Helium. Most people will tell you that Titanium Backup is better, and it is IMO. But sometimes it won't restore all your apps or the data. Last time I did a full restore using Titanium Backup I had to go to the app store and redownload 30 apps because they weren't working with Titanium for whatever reason. Then to get the data, I used Carbon to restore from Google Drive just the app data. So it can be annoying for sure.

It would be great if Google had something like iTunes. Or something like iCloud. When I used my iPhone 4S, I could easily just backup ALL my apps and data to the cloud. Then when I got a new phone, just log in and it automatically reinstalls everything with the data. Also it kept app placement. Google has nothing like this. You are going to be forced to use a third party app, and it won't work as well as iCloud backup. It is almost like keeping an entire system image in the cloud with seamless restore.

And I understand FaceTime. Google also has nothing like this. The great thing about FaceTime is that, unlike G+ and Talk, you only need to know someones number. You don't have to have them on your Google buddy list. Plus the integration into iOS is fantastic.

There are a lot of areas that Android just can't compete with yet. But maybe we will see some interesting stuff at Google I/O.

 

[KAB2010]

You've been of great help. Thank you. Yeah waiting for Googles conference would probably be smart for me.

 

[Dr McKay]

Is there any way to know if your S4 has been boot locked by the carrier? My S4 has no carrier branding on the outside or inside, no carrier branding on the inside, no carrier logo on the boot screen etc or carrier apps.

However theres no unlocked padlock symbol when I boot like my Nexus 4 had when I unlocked it.

Mines a UK S4, from the carrier "EE".

 

[kasakka]

I must admit that I think it is an optical illusion, the S3 in real terms wasn't that much larger than an iPhone 5, the vibrant screen just made it seem that way, the S4 is even smaller than the S3 with a larger screen.

Here is my iPhone 5 on top of my S3.


Image

The S3 is about a full centimeter wider than the iPhone 5. That makes a big difference in how it feels in the hand. The curved back helps but apparently they've ****ed that up in the S4.

 

[Krimsonmyst]

Is there any way to know if your S4 has been boot locked by the carrier? My S4 has no carrier branding on the outside or inside, no carrier branding on the inside, no carrier logo on the boot screen etc or carrier apps.

However theres no unlocked padlock symbol when I boot like my Nexus 4 had when I unlocked it.

Mines a UK S4, from the carrier "EE".

From what I understand, it is only US carriers that lock bootloaders. Samsung themselves don't generally do it either.

Easiest way to find out though would be to Google it.

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The S3 is about a full centimeter wider than the iPhone 5. That makes a big difference in how it feels in the hand. The curved back helps but apparently they've ****ed that up in the S4.

I think the s4 feels much nicer in the hand with the flat back and squared edges.

 

[Dr McKay]

From what I understand, it is only US carriers that lock bootloaders. Samsung themselves don't generally do it either.

Easiest way to find out though would be to Google it..

Ive tried Googling it, but only articles about American GS4's came up.

 

[Southernboyj]

So what you're saying is iPhone5 screen isn't as small as people think.

No it is. He is saying the Galaxy S4's overall footprint isn't much bigger than the iPhone 5's.. even though it's screen is much larger.

 

[MRU]

No it is. He is saying the Galaxy S4's overall footprint isn't much bigger than the iPhone 5's.. even though it's screen is much larger.

He was being sarcastic.... Are people so unable to discern 'sarcasm' lately even when the poster uses the pre-requisite 'wink' ?