Phones My very own "I went from the iPhone to a GS4" thread!

[mib1800]

Indeed.


You talk about "expectation is only mediocre" and "squeeze a bit more out of the phone" as if these are universal constants. My demands are in performance (think reliability, not tech specs), but less in versatility (I don't have the time or inclination to customize things beyond the background images). I'm not going to say that Android can't meet my needs, because I've never used it. Based on this review it seems that Android would require too much tweaking and upkeep.

The reason why you don't see iPhone users talk about tweaking and upkeep is because they can't do any. They just learn to live with the shortcomings. Of course if someone has only use an iphone then they are less likely to realize what those shortcomings of iPhone are.

Btw I don't know what you really mean by reliability but the s3 I have is very reliable. It never crashes. In fact my ip4 requires more reboot.

 

[maxosx]

Indeed.


You talk about "expectation is only mediocre" and "squeeze a bit more out of the phone" as if these are universal constants. My demands are in performance (think reliability, not tech specs), but less in versatility (I don't have the time or inclination to customize things beyond the background images). I'm not going to say that Android can't meet my needs, because I've never used it. Based on this review it seems that Android would require too much tweaking and upkeep.

Reviews can be both misleading and biased. Written by an individual who in many instances may have a strong preference for one platform over the other.

I own and use both an iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4, every single day. They are both great in their own right. Each with it's strengths. It's why I enjoy both.

Both phones are ready to go right out of the box. The S4 is every bit as simple and easy as the iPhone. Modifications are optional, just like jailbreaking an iPhone is optional. Android does not require any special upkeep or constant fiddling. Those days are long gone.

Android is mature and these top of the line Android phones are not to be compared with Android devices of only 18 months ago. There's a lot of misinformation floating around as is to be expected in a forum dedicated to Apple. It's only natural. But I can say from personal experience it's simply a matter of personal preference.

 

[adder7712]

I also have the same bug on the YouTube app. A bit of annoyance If I'd tell you.

 

[0dev]

Taking it out and about tomorrow, will do a speed test to check out the full capability of the internet on this thing and will be testing out the camera too

 

[0dev]

So the speeds are okay I guess...

 

[0dev]

I have now actually started using Swiftkey on my S4 and the prediction is far better than it was on my N7. I'm pretty sure it's because on phones it uses your text messages to predict words whereas it can't do that on a tablet. Very happy with it so far

 

[Technarchy]

Both phones are ready to go right out of the box. The S4 is every bit as simple and easy as the iPhone. Modifications are optional, just like jailbreaking an iPhone is optional. Android does not require any special upkeep or constant fiddling. Those days are long gone.

I wouldn't say the was GS4 good to go out the box. It was noticeably laggy and was doing bizarre things because of all the Samsung sensors when I got it.

Took a couple of weeks of de-bloating, finding gremlins and turning off wonky features to get the responsiveness, performance and battery life where I wanted. This process wasn't hard, but wasn't exactly simple either.

Though I've yet to see a force close, or any instability issues at all.

 

[0dev]

I wouldn't say the was GS4 good to go out the box. It was noticeably laggy and was doing bizarre things because of all the Samsung sensors when I got it.

Took a couple of weeks of de-bloating, finding gremlins and turning off wonky features to get the responsiveness, performance and battery life where I wanted. This process wasn't hard, but wasn't exactly simple either.

Though I've yet to see a force close, or any instability issues at all.

That was a problem with old software. The latest software has no lag issues at all.

 

[gotluck]

I wouldn't say the was GS4 good to go out the box. It was noticeably laggy and was doing bizarre things because of all the Samsung sensors when I got it.

Took a couple of weeks of de-bloating, finding gremlins and turning off wonky features to get the responsiveness, performance and battery life where I wanted. This process wasn't hard, but wasn't exactly simple either.

Though I've yet to see a force close, or any instability issues at all.

GS4 GPE is the way to go if you want it good to go out of the box

I too went from iPhone 4 to GS4 cheers 0dev

 

[robjulo]

That was a problem with old software. The latest software has no lag issues at all.

+1 my GS4 had no issues with lag out of the box

 

[Technarchy]

That was a problem with old software. The latest software has no lag issues at all.

I wish that were the case, but there was tangible UI and touch input lag before and after the last big AT&T update.

However the problem seems to reside with bloatware running around unregulated behind the scenes, eating sources, and some of the new Touchwiz features that I don't use. Disabling both sorted things quick fast.

Non-issue now though. My S4 is a real screamer. As fast as my iPhone 5 in fact.

 

[0dev]

I wish that were the case, but there was tangible UI and touch input lag before and after the last big AT&T update.

However the problem seems to reside with bloatware running around unregulated behind the scenes, eating sources, and some of the new Touchwiz features that I don't use. Disabling both sorted things quick fast.

Non-issue now though. My S4 is a real screamer. As fast as my iPhone 5 in fact.

Maybe that's just an issue with the AT&T variant or something. My i9505 ran perfectly smooth without disabling anything. I still have 90% of the TouchWiz stuff enabled and all the sensors turned on and it's not laggy at all after a month of heavy use and with a lot of apps installed.

 

[bearda]

My GS4 is mostly good lag-wise after disabling a couple TouchWiz features I wasn't a fan of and installing Nova launcher. I'm on T-Mobile that hasn't gotten the latest software update yet (one the that include SD card app support). I'm under the impression that update reduced some of the random scrolling and launching lag that I still have, but 95% of the time the time it's smooth. Hopefully when that comes down the pipe it'll be perfect,

 

[Dontazemebro]

Maybe that's just an issue with the AT&T variant or something. My i9505 ran perfectly smooth without disabling anything. I still have 90% of the TouchWiz stuff enabled and all the sensors turned on and it's not laggy at all after a month of heavy use and with a lot of apps installed.

Must be because my case scenario is similar to yours and I have the Sprint variant.

 

[jrswizzle]

Must be because my case scenario is similar to yours and I have the Sprint variant.

Perhaps - I've had similar experiences to Tech and I also have the AT&T variant. Disabling most of the TouchWiz features has helped tremendously and I will say I was installing, restoring and doing all sorts of things when I first got the phone - which is when I experienced a very laggy UI.

Day-to-day use, its completely fine. I use Nova Launcher and have 99% of the smart features turned off (half of them I couldn't get to work and all of them I wouldn't use).

The GS4's biggest selling point IMO is the display to overall phone size ratio. The screen is big, but the phone is too big (its as big as I'd want to use however).

Its a great phone - having used Android (N4, HTC One, and now GS4) primarily for the better part of this year (my N4 arrived in February) I still haven't really experienced a renaissance as far as my smartphone use goes and I'm not quite sure about all these shortcomings that us iPhone users are supposed to be ignoring/not know about.

There are things about my iPhone I think should change (better email attachment options, quick reply to texts/emails) but iOS 7 is a great step forward IMO.

Likewise there are things about Android I find maddening (selecting text is a chore, a touch less smooth IMO than iOS overall, multiple apps for the same functions because stock apps are not polished, app quality in general sometimes not as polished as iOS versions, lack of built-in robust backup/restore options).

Anyways - to each his own. I've found the GS4 to be a very capable device and am overall pleased with my ownership of it thus far. Looking forward to the 5S in the coming weeks and whatever these companies have to offer next year!

 

[TheHateMachine]

I wish that were the case, but there was tangible UI and touch input lag before and after the last big AT&T update.

However the problem seems to reside with bloatware running around unregulated behind the scenes, eating sources, and some of the new Touchwiz features that I don't use. Disabling both sorted things quick fast.

Non-issue now though. My S4 is a real screamer. As fast as my iPhone 5 in fact.

Sounds like it was some sorta ATT bloat from other responses. What was the bloat you removed?

 

[0dev]

Removed SwiftKey and gone back to Google Keyboard again. Nothing beats it IMO.

 

[lsutigerfan1976]

I think this is why i went with an htc one. I saw so many complaints of lag on the G4. Plus i did not see the point of buying a Samsung phone and having to disable features out of the box, to get it to run properly. Kind of defeats the purpose of getting that phone.

 

[ramm24]

That depends on your expectation. If your expectation is only mediocre then an Iphone will work close to 100% of what you want. Android will also work near 100% given that kind of expectation. I really can't see any differences between Iphone and Android when used at the basic phone level.

But if you want to squeeze a bit more out of the phone, then Iphone really falls flat given the numerous restrictions and workarounds required.

Since you have experience with Android, i wonder what are what are those points that iPhone fell flat? What do mean by if "expectation is only mediocre"?

 

[MRU]

Removed SwiftKey and gone back to Google Keyboard again. Nothing beats it IMO.

I did the same...

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I think this is why i went with an htc one. I saw so many complaints of lag on the G4. Plus i did not see the point of buying a Samsung phone and having to disable features out of the box, to get it to run properly. Kind of defeats the purpose of getting that phone.

Well I went from the HTC One back to the GS4 back to the one and then back to the GS4. I really like the S4 camera, don't like touchwiz too much so run the GE 4.3 rom at the moment, but battery life on touchwiz is far better optimised than the stock experience, but the smoothness of stock android is a big improvement over the micro stutters and memory consumption of touchwiz.

 

[Technarchy]

Sounds like it was some sorta ATT bloat from other responses. What was the bloat you removed?

Anything that was open and running that shouldn't have been was removed. Most memorable was the AT&T stuff and just about anything else related to Samsung.

I have plenty of storage but RAM is a concern, especially with rogue bloatware doing whatever the hell ever. Apps seem to have a mind of their own which can be annoying. This is why I like to run android fairly lean. Less apps going rogue results in better performance and battery life.