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

samcraig said:
...exactly my point. Or at least part of it.
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I think the biggest issue is that people greatly exaggerate the size of the larger Android phones. You can't go a page in one of these threads without someone talking about how they're too big to fit in their pocket, or hold with one hand, or blah blah blah. You've heard it all before.

Really, they're not that big. I could easily fit a 5 inch phone in my pocket. They're about roughly the width of your average wallet, and only a slight bit taller than the iPhone 5. They're bigger, sure, but not by vast amounts.

Unless someone's a hipster wearing skinny jeans about two sizes too small for them, everyone can fit a Galaxy S4 in their pants pocket and still have room to spare.

edit: case in point...

GS4iP5.jpg
 
Chris Blount said:
Delusional??? Geesh, you people will argue anything. It's called an iPhone!!! It's OK for people to use the other functions more but it certainly is delusional to think that it's primary function is NOT a phone.

Besides, last I looked you need a cell connection to do just about anything ouside of a wifi hot spot.
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Yes, delusional to think of it as primarily a phone. Now you are getting hung up on a name, which was chosen more than half a decade ago. Would be just as silly of me to argue an iPod touch is primarily a "pod."

By the way, you might want to research just how different "cell connections" are nowadays compared to 2007. It's just data. Do keep up.



Michael
 
Millah said:
Apples resistance to a larger screen has had nothing to do with the quality of the screen itself, it has more to do with the user experience. I think Apple's launch commercial for iPhone 5 sums up their position. A phone is a portable device. Making the screen larger for larges sake makes it less portable, less comfortable to hold, and harder to navigate the screen using your thumb.

Making the display larger actually makes it easier engineering wise, because now you have all this extra space inside the enclosure and don't have to focus as hard as Apple does making components smaller while trying to fit a large battery inside.
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Ah, you might want to take a look at what Cook, just yesterday, said. It has a lot to do about screen quality and engineering; at least, that's his spin.

Personally, unless they do make a larger screened iPhone, Apple's stock is going to continue to dip. Also, iOS 7 had better be done well.
 
ArtOfWarfare said:
The iPhone doesn't feel cheap or fragile? You can look up the drop test videos from various Android websites - they tend to show that the iPhones put up with more abuse than the Galaxy line of phones.

The iPhone 5 has LTE and a taller screen, so the upgrade from the 4S to the 5 was noticeable. The S4 doesn't seem to have much the S3 didnt.
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LTE was big ? And a taller screen ? The iphone 5 does feel cheap and fragile imo, thats the biggest difference from the 4/4s wich feel very solid and good on the hand.

The gs4 have a bigger screen than the gs3 while keeping the same size and making the device thinner :eek:

Im posting from a ipad mini and i had to buy a case for it to make it more bulky and have better grip, im tired of the industry making this things thinner and lighter.
 
Renzatic said:
If you're going for an Android phone, get the HTC One. From what I hear, everything about it is superior to the GS4.
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HTC One - Superior aesthetics but no replaceable battery, no expandable memory, and bad battery life

I'll take the tradeoff of a plasticy build ANY day over the lack of memory expandability, replaceable battery and great batery life. These are extremely important features that I use EVERY day. I stick the phone in a case anyway, so what's the big deal about the plastic?
 
Stella said:
But... the phone is far too large IMO.
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Only people who wear clown pants could fit something like that into their pockets. And unless you have hands that could palm a medicine ball, you need to use two hands just to hold it. Using it to make a phone call makes you look microencephalic.

Its THAT big!


/s

----------
ChazUK said:
The HTC One looks to be a better Android proposition to me.
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It looks great, but no SD card = no sale for me.
 
Tinmania said:
Yes, delusional to think of it as primarily a phone. Now you are getting hung up on a name, which was chosen more than half a decade ago. Would be just as silly of me to argue an iPod touch is primarily a "pod."

By the way, you might want to research just how different "cell connections" are nowadays compared to 2007. It's just data. Do keep up.
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Oh please! Talk about being hung up on the name. I meant the term "cell" as simply a name to represent the connection to the phone.

Also, what the hell difference does it make if the phone was named more than a half decade ago? The functionality hasn't changed all that much. It's still a phone plus all of the extra "smart" features.

Done with you. Seeya
 
Tones2 said:
HTC One - Superior aesthetics but no replaceable battery, no expandable memory, and bad battery life

I'll take the tradeoff of a plasticy build ANY day over the lack of memory expandability, replaceable battery and great batery life. These are extremely important features that I use EVERY day. I stick the phone in a case anyway, so what's the big deal about the plastic?
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out of the 8 or so reviews I read on the HTC one never did I read bad battery life. average with an easy day of moderate use is the general consensus
 
Chris Blount said:
Oh please! Talk about being hung up on the name. I meant the term "cell" as simply a name to represent the connection to the phone.

Also, what the hell difference does it make if the phone was named more than a half decade ago? The functionality hasn't changed all that much. It's still a phone plus all of the extra "smart" features.

Done with you. Seeya
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Go right on believing that.... as the world around you is looking at and interacting with, yet not talking on, their "phones." :rolleyes:



Michael
 
AxemanPhil said:
It has just occurred to me that on the current release schedule, by late 2015 Apple and Samsung's flagship phones will be the 6S and S6.

No scope for consumer confusion there.
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Kudos for just figuring that out. It is funny
 
G4DP said:
Has the author of this article actually seen an S4? Or are they just taking other peoples opinions and using them to determine their own view of the S4?

If thy have had personal experience of the S4 why not just voice their own concerns.

Arn, this is piss poor journalism.
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Did you just stumble into Mac rumors, sign up and then make thst post?

A key, if not primary element, of Mac rumors for many, many, many, many years is compiling reviews, information and rumors from other sources and sharing them their readers.

Review synopsis like these are very common and very appreciated by a large number of Mac rumor members. I have no desire to go around and hunt down five reviews for a product of only moderate interest. They do it for us.

Seriously next time think/read more and post less.
 
Chris Blount said:
This is my major beef as well. As soon as I need to use two hands, the device is already handicapped. Two handed operation and larger screens are what tablets are for.
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I agree. I've never felt that way about my Skyrocket though which has a 4.6" screen. I can operate easily in one hand. So can my wife - who (now) has an HTC One +. And she doesn't have large hands. But if it was a case of requiring two hands - I would probably pass too. So the note is probably not for me. But a 5" phone - well within reason.

maxwelltech said:
Good phone, but I would pick the HTC One over the Galaxy S4. That aluminum unibody design just feels more premium than the S4.
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I think the iPhone 5, HTC One and S4 are all great phones. Both the iPhone and HTC One definitely have more of a premium feel to them. If that's your deciding factor - it makes sense to go with either. Personally - premium "feel" to me is less important than functionality in terms of features and benefits. I'm also one of those people that puts their phone in a case - so what it looks like/feels like naked is less important to me for that reason alone. I care more about what the phone does vs aesthetics of the hardware.
 
vvswarup said:
We can argue about Samsung's plastic screen and refute reviewers ad nauseam. But if not anything, the reviews seem to imply that while the Samsung is a great phone, it is not the final nail in Apple's coffin that people were hyping it up to be.
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It would weird to only use one nail to keep a coffin closed anyways. Would let the zombies out.
 
It's not about the premium aluminiumness of the One, so much as the better UI, build quality, and camera. I've never been a huge fan of Touchwiz, and always thought HTC did better things with Android. Even without a replaceable battery or an SD card slot, the One is a better phone overall to me.

Also, Chris Blount, Tinmania's right. Making calls is hardly the raison d'etre (fancy word +100 internets) for smartphones these days. They're just one small feature among many. I'd venture to say more people use them for portable internet, office tasks, and games than they do for making phone calls.
 
gatearray said:
agreed. they also said the screen was ”eye catching" particularly because reds and oranges are so overly saturated and unnatural in their color reproduction. perhaps burning your retinas with fake blown-out colors is a feature to these guys?

kinda like when you go to Best Buy and all the TVs are tweaked to the max so as to compete with the other models on the sales floor, except with a cell phone you have to take it home and live with it for the next two years.

the iPhone and iPad display have nearly 100% accurate color gamut, so they can keep their cartoon AMOLED crap, no thanks.
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On perhaps my first and only serious post in this thread, earlier posters mentioned that Samsung has proven you can do big screens all that went through my head was AMOLED AMOLED AMOLED AMOLED.

Samsung's biggest issue is not the size or the resolution but that the underlying technology for the phone display is decidedly inferior and seemingly always will be.
 
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