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animalx

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 1, 2013
474
330
Just because you say its a fact doesn't automatically mean it is. Thats just your subjective opinion. Eye scrolling is not a functionality, its a gimmick and rarely works.

And the point is you DONT get what you pay for. You get LESS in some cases i.e. storage.

It may be a functionality that you consider to be a gimmick, but it is still functionality nonetheless. As for storage, show me a phone that gives you exactly as much storage is advertised.
 

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
Well mines doesn't, Mr. Fancy Pants.

I self installed my dash, speakers, backup cam, and Navi myself. Didn't feel like messing with my steering wheel and risk buying a whole new airbag and such.

Ahh sweet lol, didn't mean to sound fancy. I thought about pre-installed systems. Didn't think about after market, sorry :D
 

daneoni

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2006
11,844
1,579
It may be a functionality that you consider to be a gimmick, but it is still functionality nonetheless. As for storage, show me a phone that gives you exactly as much storage is advertised.

Not just me. A lot of the reviewers also consider the software tack-ons as mostly gimmicks. Average end users i've come across who own the device don't even bother with it either. In other words as far as they care, the functionality might as well be nonexistent.

As for storage, they may not give exactly what is advertised but they sure as heck don't give you half of it either. 13GB out of 16GB is acceptable, 9GB out of 16GB is simply not. You can't play the "other manufacturers do this" excuse because...well they don't. At least not to the same degree. Microsoft's Surface being the exception to the norm.

To add insult to injury they don't even include a memory card in the box, knowing full well what they had done. Yet have the audacity to charge more than the average high-end smartphone.

I'm sorry but they screwed up big time and its indefensible. Lets call a spade a spade.

If you want to defend Samsung then fine go ahead. But you're not convincing me of anything. The phone is overpriced when compared to its competitors in my opinion. full stop.
 
Last edited:

Shadow Puppy

macrumors member
May 10, 2013
81
0
Not just me. A lot of the reviewers also consider the software tack-ons as mostly gimmicks. Average end users i've come across who own the device don't even bother with it either. In other words as far as they care, the functionality might as well be nonexistent.
I agree that many of the GS4's features are gimmicks. Matter of fact, that's why I bought the HTC One, which I felt was the better phone (though I still prefer my Nexus 4 over both of them lol). That being said, though I feel many of the GS4's features are just gimmicks, they still are features/functionality. They may not be valuable functionality in my eyes, but it is still functionality (that I couldn't care less about lol).
 

Fouracre44

macrumors regular
Jun 6, 2012
114
0
I was talking with a friend of mine, and I told him there are several phones that are better than the iPhone. Once I started naming some, I realized the iPhone isn't even in the top 10. In no particular order, here are 10 phones I rank ahead of the iPhone.

  • Galaxy S4
  • Galaxy Note 2
  • HTC One
  • Nexus 4
  • Optimus G Pro
  • Optimus G
  • Galaxy S3
  • Razr Maxx HD
  • Galaxy Note
  • HTC One X+

Whilst I can agree that there are certainly more impressive options hardware wise in terms of smartphones. The term " better " I believe is subjective to the user and the overall experience of the phone and real world usage is what matters most to the majority of smart phone users.

With phones having so many different options, sizes, resolutions, price ranges, screen technologies etc.. and the list goes on, it's hard to actually say what's the best. Sometimes you'll get a screen with a better resolution, but doesn't produce blacks as well.

Perhaps the build quality is stunning .... yet the device is unfixable. Perhaps the build is completely out of aluminum so it may be prone to denting and overheating. Perhaps the phone has a quad core of octa core - great, these are completely irrelevant to many of the apps that are actually being downloaded.

These things used to matter to me, things like what processor, what gpu, benchmarks etc.. but they do not matter anymore. What matters is real world usage, and I have seen quad core phones lag to buggery, excellent 1080p screens crack and break from a toilet brush, battery life last 4 hours & all the other wonderful things that come with the territory of smartphones.

"Better" is simply a preference, and benchmarks mean nothing other than to the people who benchmark for fun, or to the people who simply want to say their phone is faster.


Now here's where I sound like a hypocrit, recently I bought a HTC one, at first I was all about the build quality, jsut like everyone else. Then as I began to use the device more and more in my personal and work life ( in which smart phones play a little part ) I began to realise that this device required more and more effort for it to do what I wanted. And Although it's an incredible device and being announced by many as the " best android smartphone " I ended up with a windows 8 phone and I'm very happy.

So why would I trade in a brand new smart phone for the older & less impressive Nokia Lumia 920? Well, using windows 8 live tiles in my work & personal life is absolutely simple, I can take it on site with me, I can take it out to the pub, I can use the amazing camera and nokia's inbuilt apps. I have a kick ass screen, a dual core processor and windows 8 makes calling and texting too simple, it's beautiful. I no longer have graphs and icons organised like the old days of iOS and android and even older windows. I have a beautiful flowing colourful subtle screen of tiles that I have organised & arranged to display nicely and easily.So really, the Lumia 920 is "better" than any other phone for me. I have a custom built PC, I love technology, but I also love easy to use, solid & simple fluent technology and the Lumia makes other smartphones seem difficult and tiresome. I don't want to have my face in my phone at dinner doing benchmarks, or performing speed tests or always playing apps. I want my phone to be a tool, a communication device and every now and then have a bit of fun on. I also use this device as my camera and I'm not a serious photographer but the Carl Zeiss lens is beautiful and perfect for use at the pub, outside at the beach, inside with friends or family.

Good luck with the whole " My smartphone is better than your smartphone " debate, there is no winner there I'm afraid. And I think you and your friend could make a " 10 phones we like " list.

Realistically, most higher end smartphones will do the job and it's down to preference. I feel enlightened to the fact that I can be Tech Savvy and know what cpu is in my phone, yet be perfectly happy with a slower dual core, if it means my phone performs excellently and without lag.
 

mattopotamus

macrumors G5
Jun 12, 2012
14,738
6,109
Actually a part of Air gestures are very functional for me. That's waving your hand in front of the phone to answer calls. Very convenient when driving. Call comes in, wave my hand, and call is received via bluetooth stereo. I don't even need to even look at the phone.

Changing music tracks forward or backwards by a quick wave of the hand is also convenient. I mostly do this if I'm listening to Pandora, as I already have a set playlist for my main music.

Other than that, I really don't use air gestures. The preview air gesture is kind of annoying, especially when scrolling through email, everything would just popup and get in the way. I turned that portion off.

I'm glad Samsung made it able to turn on & off certain parts of Air gesture, Air View, and Smart Screen in the settings, instead of making it a one for all thing.

Any car you are connected via Bluetooth to likely has music and call controls on the steering wheel. I don't even take my hands off the wheel when accepting calls or changing songs.....

Well mines doesn't, Mr. Fancy Pants.

I self installed my dash, speakers, backup cam, and Navi myself. Didn't feel like messing with my steering wheel and risk buying a whole new airbag and such.

haha, I was about to say what wizzle did. That makes perfect sense in your situation, but my car has controls built in :)
 

The-Real-Deal82

macrumors P6
Jan 17, 2013
17,317
25,467
Wales, United Kingdom
I've always found build in car systems seem much more friendly towards the iPhone than any other smartphone. Things like the track name showing up on the dashboard touchscreen was something I have had no problems with on my iPhone but did on the S3 and previous smartphones non Apple.
 
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