First Reviews of Samsung Galaxy S4: Great Screen, Gimmick Features, Bad Plastic Design

[swagi]

The fact it's made out of cheap plastic and that most of the new features added since the S3 are entirely worthless? Did you read these reviews and get something else out of them?

I really don't see your point in bashing "plastic". First of all they are using polycarbonate which is a de facto standard. Second - owning the S3 for nearly a year now - I could care less about the "cheap feel".

Third - and major point - you need less energy to penetrate polycarbonate with electromagnetic waves. This means less radiation close to your ear. In effect the trend towards Aluminium enclosures isn't something to embrace IMHO.

Yes - I know Apple tries to prompt the message the antenna is on the outer rim of the enclosure. Well - do a signal reception comparison and then start talking again.

I'm all in for less radiation and more battery life. Now if Apple didn't have that destructive patent on Zirconia but actually took that to the market - then we could start talking again.

 

[nsayer]

Quote:
The overall consensus is that the Galaxy S4 is a solid upgrade over the previous S3 but that its plastic casing and minimal upgrades keep it from being great.

What?

In other words, the S3 was a piece of ****. The S4 is a solid upgrade from that, but that's not saying much.

 

[samcraig]

No surprise here. iPhone has been solid from the start in 2007. I have had an iPhone since it's debut and it was the iPhone that paved the way for my transition to the Apple ecosystem. "It just works!"

I disagree. I have had several iterations of the iPhone (including the original) and it gets/has been laggy.

No phone is immune.

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In other words, the S3 was a piece of ****. The S4 is a solid upgrade from that, but that's not saying much.

The S3 was a piece of crap? News to me. I don't think I've read that anywhere (but maybe here from people who have never used it).

But I get your attempt at humor.

 

[uknowimright]

only reviews I'd take seriously, the sites posted in the article are basically readers digest version of tech blogs

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6914/samsung-galaxy-s-4-review/

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s4-review-914.php

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the verge was portrayed as the one site with the most favorable review but in fact their video review they basically said the phone was boring, poorly made and that gimmicks where useless and annoying

Their main review guy seems like he came over from writing teen beat articles, that site had lots of potential when it 1st started but it's nothing more than hip right out of college blog writers somewhat into tech writing as if they are experts

 

[TMay]

See my comments above.

I have never considered you a paid shill.

 

[samcraig]

I have never considered you a paid shill.

Thanks. Nor I, you

 

[flottenheimer]

No matter if you prefer 3.5, 4 or 5 inches, 1920 x 1080 (standard full HD!) in 5-inches is pretty awesome.

Competition is a good thing.

 

[cdmoore74]

If you guys are worried about material quality and don't use cases buy a HTC One. Otherwise wait for the Note 3 or see what Motorola is going to release. Bottom line is that all will be better than a iPhone 5s.

 

[thasan]

I would have no doubt that many companies engage in this activity to some degree. My question was directed at a specific individual who no doubt suspects specific members here as being paid shills. Which is why I asked my question.

Most of the time people (on here) are "implied" as shills is because they simply speak positively about a competitor and/or refute FUD. That doesn't make one a shill. Nor a paid one.

the difference is: its not known. samsung got caught so its proven. in fact, they admitted it AFTER they got caught.

there are many individuals here in MACR who writes ONLY positive comments about competitors irrespective of what happens. what do you think of them? constructive? or do they look like 1) they have nothing to do so they get pleasure from antagonising many blind fanboys who come here without reason 2) they get paid from this 3) other possibilities.
forum rules otherwise i would have named the ones i have seen over the last few years. there are plenty! curious that a large % of these 'shills' have registered in 2011 and later. im not implying anything but it doesnt take a brain to make a link.

 

[samcraig]

the difference is: its not known. samsung got caught so its proven. in fact, they admitted it AFTER they got caught.

there are many individuals here in MACR who writes ONLY positive comments about competitors irrespective of what happens. what do you think of them? constructive? or do they look like 1) they have nothing to do so they get pleasure from antagonising many blind fanboys who come here without reason 2) they get paid from this 3) other possibilities.
forum rules otherwise i would have named the ones i have seen over the last few years. there are plenty! curious that a large % of these 'shills' have registered in 2011 and later. im not implying anything but it doesnt take a brain to make a link.

And I would argue that many of the people who are directly or indirectly called out for being on someone's payroll are nothing of the sort. Just dissenting opinions.

 

[Eazon]

Samsung is smart

But you got to give it up to Samsung. They are smart to get the s4 out the door ASAP. Months before anyone can even get a glimpse of the iphone 5s. That way their numbers will look a lot better if the s4 were to be sold along side with the 5s.

 

[flottenheimer]

If you guys are worried about material quality and don't use cases buy a HTC One. Otherwise wait for the Note 3 or see what Motorola is going to release. Bottom line is that all will be better than a iPhone 5s.

I happen to prefer iOS over Android.
So I'd much rather have even a 5 (which I do) than a S4, HTC One or whatever.

 

[JoEw]

So try to make all those "features" sound good enough so you get stuck on a 2 year contract only to find out later they don't really live up to the hype?

 

[TMay]

But you got to give it up to Samsung. They are smart to get the s4 out the door ASAP. Months before anyone can even get a glimpse of the iphone 5s. That way their numbers will look a lot better if the s4 were to be sold along side with the 5s.

Probably true, but equally true is that Samsung wants to crush any "upstart" Android OEM's like HTC and Sony. In this, I think that Samsung's "modest upgrade" left the door open, albeit a difficult one to exploit one for HTC especially because of manufacturing constraints.

I suspect that Samsung's marketing budget will continue to win the day.

 

[sza]

The galaxy s4 is actually pretty amazing except for the OS runs on it.

 

[WoodNUFC]

And here come the paid Samsung shills to try and defend this pathetic device.

Seeing as how this was posted directly after my post I have to ask: were referring to me?

If so, I can assure you that I am no shill. I really do enjoy technology and the last few Android phones (Note 2, Nexus 4, HTC One, S4 et al) have really started to pique my curiosity.

 

[cdmoore74]

But you got to give it up to Samsung. They are smart to get the s4 out the door ASAP. Months before anyone can even get a glimpse of the iphone 5s. That way their numbers will look a lot better if the s4 were to be sold along side with the 5s.

Don't forget about the Note 3. Hit them early with the S4 and mop up with the Note 3. To bad Apple does not implement the same game plan.

 

[samcraig]

So try to make all those "features" sound good enough so you get stuck on a 2 year contract only to find out later they don't really live up to the hype?

Don't most carriers/stores allow a 30 day return window?

 

[shurcooL]

GLBenchmark Egypt 2.5 HD Offscreen (fps)
Galaxy S III - 15 fps
Galaxy S 4 - 39 fps

That's freaking awesome.

I love how mobile device CPU and GPU performance seem to double every year (while more or less maintaining the same battery life). If the next iOS devices are twice as fast yet again, I can't wait to see the apps that take advantage.

 

[AppleFan360]

Steve Jobs had it right. Small is for phones. Big is for tablets.

The bigger Samsung makes their phones, the more turned off I get. If Samsung had their way, we would all be walking around with iPad size phones to our ears.

Keep is small, durable and functional.

 

[samcraig]

Steve Jobs had it right. Small is for phones. Big is for tablets.

The bigger Samsung makes their phones, the more turned off I get. If Samsung had their way, we would all be walking around with iPad size phones to our ears.

Keep is small, durable and functional.

Then don't buy one?

Do you really think the iPhone will stay 4" forever? Further - do you think the iPhone's size is more about what is "better" vs what would cause more pain points because of app scaling, etc/fragmentation?

Personally - I think the latter is more the reason.

 

[shurcooL]

Steve Jobs had it right. Small is for phones. Big is for tablets.

The bigger Samsung makes their phones, the more turned off I get. If Samsung had their way, we would all be walking around with iPad size phones to our ears.

Keep is small, durable and functional.

It's a personal preference. I'm already walking around with an iPad mini LTE as my sole mobile device, and I'm extremely happy with it. My previous device was an iPhone 3GS, and I felt the screen was too small for most things that I wanted to do on it (mostly to surf the web).

 

[lucas107]

No one says the build is poor only that to them the plastic feels cheap. feeling cheap and being poorly made are very different things. my old plastic s2 has taken more off a **** kicking without a case then anything I've seen before and it still looks and works great. so yes MR is adding the word bad to the headline since it was never said to be bad in any review.

 

[Tiger8]

don't most carriers/stores allow a 30 day return window?

14

 

[Smartass]

why oh why are these galaxy phones soooo damn ugly? and that plastic makes em feel so cheap. Yuk. Currently HTC One is the ONE phone to go and buy in my opinion...