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So the specs were released for the Samsung Nexus S and I am very disappointed.
1GHz Cortex A8 (Hummingbird) processor
16GB iNAND flash memory
The AMOLED Screen should be nice, the only thing that is nice about this phone.
It is basically a Galaxy S with Gingerbread ROM. More internal memory.
It will be a nice phone, but I expected a dual core processor.
I hate non physical buttons as my N1 had lots of issues with them.
I honestly don't see myself upgrading to this phone...
No 4G, No Front Face Camera, and a Samsung built phone.
I will stick with my MyTouch4G and I think the rumors of developing for the G2/MT4G were gonna stop when the Nexus S was released were just that rumors. There will be development for it... but it will be to set up CM7 (Gingerbread) for older phones.
It has a front facing camera and has capabilities to run HSDPA
It does have the FFC, but no hsdpa+. I still think it fails. STILL NO LED NOTIFICATIONS EITHER!!
It does have a front facing camera. I was holding out on getting the MyTouch 4G for this phone. Now I'm still pretty torn on which I should get. This is really unsettling!
VDubLife said:
It has a front facing camera and has capabilities to run HSDPA
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Ya I was wrong about the FFC but still no HSPA+.... that sucks...
I am very disappointed in this phone, and in Gingerbread. I was expecting a lot of wow in both and I don't see it. I'm not saying it won't have major speed improvements, but I thought GB was supposed to be a UI gangster =D. Oh well there's always next year (HoneyComb).
The Nexus S is simply a US version of the Euro Galaxy S with stock Android on board, NFC chipset, downgraded Bluetooth connectivity, no 720p video capture and no removable storage (no SD card). Compared to the MT4G it has less RAM (mt4g = 768mb nexus = 512mb), no hspa+ capability. So in my opinion the only upside to the nexus S is stock Android w/ up to date OS upgrades from Google, and 16gb of on board storage.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
I really don't get why they fingered Samsung to build the Next Nexus device. Maybe because they build phones like Apple.... With trendy advertisement and the illusion of awe. Lol. Only Apple can sell millions of people a 10 in pad that does nothing more than the average smart phone out there..
Avatar helped, didn't it? HTC makes great devices and they opt for "Quietly Brilliant".
sicdroid said:
I really don't get why they fingered Samsung to build the Next Nexus device. Maybe because they build phones like Apple.... With trendy advertisement and the illusion of awe. Lol. Only Apple can sell millions of people a 10 in pad that does nothing more than the average smart phone out there..
Avatar helped, didn't it? HTC makes great devices and they opt for "Quietly Brilliant".
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I think they went with samsung cuz of the near field chip. Google is said to be pretty excited about it.
itmustbejj said:
I think they went with samsung cuz of the near field chip. Google is said to be pretty excited about it.
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Yeah, NFC is a nice piece of tech and an advancement for sure... I wish them luck, but I know there is going to be a lot of pissed developers, modders, and just plain device users not having an SD Card. The whole point of Android and Googles revolution is the open freedom. What is next???? A Unremovable battery?
sicdroid said:
I really don't get why they fingered Samsung to build the Next Nexus device. Maybe because they build phones like Apple.... With trendy advertisement and the illusion of awe. Lol. Only Apple can sell millions of people a 10 in pad that does nothing more than the average smart phone out there..
Avatar helped, didn't it? HTC makes great devices and they opt for "Quietly Brilliant".
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Most big business transactions are done via a sealed bid process. It's quite possible that Samsung had the lowest bid and won the contract.
kgbkny said:
Most big business transactions are done via a sealed bid process. It's quite possible that Samsung had the lowest bid and won the contract.
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No doubt money was the motivation, which does surprise me. Google is not afraid to spend money. You would think as open as google is with their VERY FAT wallet, they would have not chosen the cheaply made plastic device as opposed to the metal and durable devices for their very own Nexus Series. I guess I just dream of the solid build of metal and glass we ask love on our MT4G, with a 4.3 screen, and no physical buttons.
I understand their reasons for the choice, I just don't understand the reasons of their choices. Lol.
sicdroid said:
No doubt money was the motivation, which does surprise me. Google is not afraid to spend money. You would think as open as google is with their VERY FAT wallet, they would have not chosen the cheaply made plastic device as opposed to the metal and durable devices for their very own Nexus Series. I guess I just dream of the solid build of metal and glass we ask love on our MT4G, with a 4.3 screen, and no physical buttons.
I understand their reasons for the choice, I just don't understand the reasons of their choices. Lol.
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It's quite possible that Samsung used the success of the Galaxy S series to seal the deal with Google. We all know about the serious issues with Galaxy S phones. However, they sold millions of units worldwide and have established brand recognition. I'm certain that Google took that into consideration when awarding Samsung the Nexus contract.
Moreover, it appears that Samsung used a different GPS antenna in the Nexus S than in the Galaxy S, and got rid of the RFS system. It's quite possible that Google had a lot of say in it. In fact, the replacement of the GPS antenna clearly suggests that the faulty GPS in the Galaxy S phones is a hardware defect.
kgbkny said:
It's quite possible that Samsung used the success of the Galaxy S series to seal the deal with Google. We all know about the serious issues with Galaxy S phones. However, they sold millions of units worldwide and have established brand recognition. I'm certain that Google took that into consideration when awarding Samsung the Nexus contract.
Moreover, it appears that Samsung used a different GPS antenna in the Nexus S than in the Galaxy S, and got rid of the RFS system. It's quite possible that Google had a lot of say in it. In fact, the replacement of the GPS antenna clearly suggests that the faulty GPS in the Galaxy S phones is a hardware defect.
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Samsung has established brand recognition within the android community...and it is not good. Specifically within the developer crowd, so it seems counterproductive to make a developer phone from a company that most developers have sworn to stay away from.
I think I made a right decision getting MT4 after I heard NS won't have memory card support and AMOLED.
Not Having a SD will make it difficult to MOD/Hack
I'm sorry but I love Google I've had every developer phone hated to sell my nexus one but the Nexus S is not spiking my interest at all. It is lacking toooooo much. Plus the MT4G has been upgrading pretty quickly it's already rooted and I know CM won't let us down on Gingerbread GO ANDROID
itmustbejj said:
Samsung has established brand recognition within the android community...and it is not good. Specifically within the developer crowd, so it seems counterproductive to make a developer phone from a company that most developers have sworn to stay away from.
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Agreed. Chalk me up as a member of the Android community who will not be buying any more Samsung phones. However, money definitely talks, and I'm sure that factor definitely came into play.
Samsung is a powerful consumer name so there's "cred" there. Also, Google may well not have wanted to put too many eggs in the HTC basket. You get a LOT better support from your vendors if they know they are not single source. So it may have had a lot less to do with unit cost and a lot more to do with reminding HTC they are not the only game in town (my opinions differ but I have to use the device, not write contracts with the vendor).
Overall the Nexus S is better than I would have expected from Samsung. Their "cred" comes with a lot of "consumer grade" baggage; I generally avoid their products. It is probably unfair at this point to call Samsung "cheap junk", but no one is going to accuse them of building high end equipment either.
Comparison wise: I waited about 7 months for project emerald, driving everyone around me only somewhat more crazy than normal in the process. I got the Glacier on the release date and cannot say a single bad thing about it. It is a worthy example of the ultra-high quality I expect from HTC.
I bought a behold the day it came out and dealt with its problems. I had a stock vibrant for 4 days when it started with its problems. I will never buy samsung again. Can't believe google allowed a company known for defects to produce their next flagship. Ill stick to my mt4g till something that actually beats it comes out.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
The Nexus S is very ugly, average specs, Samsung made and I'm not happy. I will keep my Nexus One, never sell it and guess I'll keep the MyTouch 4G.
PS - No SD card, no HSPA+, I can not believe no sd card. I always rave about the Nexus One to anyone who will listen, because of that I wanted the Nexus S real bad but I am a real nut when it comes to cell phones. I will probably figure some way of buying that damn thing anyways.
Now I'm not a mobile phone maker, but i do consider my self an active proponent of the Android Community. But there is one question that bothers me why don't phone manufacturers make a beast above all phone.
Now there are quite a few big players when it comes to Android phone manufacturers such as HTC, Samsung, Motorola, and LG those are the companies that i consider to be the TOP dogs (whether you choose to agree or not). Ok each company is known for certain things
HTC: Originally the most innovative of the bunch now in my opinion LG is becoming the most innovative, HTC builds excellent phone case-wise i personally prefer to have a heavier/thicker metal/plastic hybrid versus a plastic cheap a*s case that Samsung loves to use, HTC adopted the android OS first with the G1, you may not have noticed it but, HTC has rolled out the first LTE phone for all of the USA's major cell companies so far Sprint-EvO 4G, T-Mobile-G2 and MyTouch 4G, Verizon-Thunderbolt, and At&T-Inspire 4G, last time i checked there isn't any other manufacturer that can claim that they did that, HTC released the first pure 100% google experience with the Nexus One, and even if you didn't release it that phone was and still is a beast of a phone it is based off of the HTC Desire but it sported a great AMOLED screen, 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD 8250 Snapdragon ARM(which was the bomb). The great majority of HTC's phones have came pre-installed with the newest Firmware rather it be 2.1 or 2.2(they havent released a phone with 2.3 yet but non of the manufactures have yet right?(excluding the Nexus S). HTC although they utilize their own skin on top of Android OS called Sense UI and although i have never purchased a HTC phone i've always wanted one for this single reason it is by far the best manufactures skin when compared with MOTOBLUR, TouchWIz, and idk what LG's is called i do believe its LG Star ui but im not sure. And the biggest problem with Android is phones getting supported and HTC in my opinion upgrades the greater majority of its phones @ least once and usually in a timely manner thats something that Samsung cant say and Mototola definitely cant say now for LG they just recently stepped into the ball game so only time will tell.
Samsung- Just stepped into the real ball game with their Galaxy S devices now their devices are great hardware wise with their super ultra sexy Super Amoled screens and soon to have Super Amoled plus screens they sport those lovely Hummingbird Proccesors, but they had a huge dowfall they were released with the already old 2.1 Eclair update when the 2.1 froyo had already been out for sometime which imo is stupid and lazy they also put on top of their phones the most disgusting and horrendous skin their Touch Wiz which is horrible but meh i guess the product sells. There biggest downfall is not supporting phones such as their failed Behold 2 which didn't see a upgrade over 1.6. Their Galaxy S devices just recently began to receive updates to the Vibrant and the Evo 4G began to get its 2.2 but i guess it was recalled, Fascinate no update still on 2.1, Captivate i believe it has received its update but non the less thats ridiculous to wait so long for an update that should have been there already. Their phones are great but software not so great very simple.
LG-Very little is known about LG besides they have quite a few of great high ed phones coming very soon and their midrange Optimus One line is very impressive as a mid range phone at least.
Motorola(lol i accidently forgot them)- Moto well what to say they stepped into the Android game with the release of the Moto Cliq which was by far one of the worst phones ever imo how do u release a phone for $200 and then a month later release a phone with way superior specs the original Moto Droid for the same price if not cheaper some places and then call the 2 phones equals thats insanity the Moto CLiq was released with 1.5 which was donut i believe then was upgraded to 1.6 cupcake were it stayed at forever it was completely tied down with Motoblur if you hate motoblur now hows it is on the DRoid X it ws completely worst on the cliq and the worst part was the locked bootloader so very few roms existed for the Cliq and even the roms couldnt remove the Blur their was one exception the Eclair2CLiq rom which was great but stopped getting support so it was never finished anyways. Motorola has always been about the money im positive that it has a contract with Verizon because verizon has always gotten their high end sh*t Droid Droid2 Droid X and now the Xoom while the other companies have gotten the worst phones possible T-mobile: Defy, Cliq, Cliq XT, Cliq 2, and that one phone thats just a rectangle looking blackberry thing, and 1 more cant think of name either. At&T: had the crappy blackflip then they got the cool a*s Atrix. So Moto is always a hit or miss in my eyes i will never buy from moto because they tie their phones down wayyy 2 much if its not on Verizon and now At&T. Sprint doesnt even have a Moto phone thats android. Moto also has the dreaded bootloader locks which makes the already crappy phone even crappier and if its a good phone it makes it so you cant root or even if you can root it wont be a full root experience like Overclocking and CM7 etc.
So for now IMO HTC owns all by a football field to be honest
Now to my main question why doesn't a company say hey we can make a great phone that has all the features people wont and it will be great and sell well and everything we can put it on all carriers like the Galaxy S devices and the Optimus V/M/S/T/C/and anymore i forgot.
I personally would like to find in my found @ minimum 16 GB of internal memory(like the Samsung Vibrant/Nexus S), A kickstand (just like the HTC Thunderbolt and Evo 4G), A HDMI out connector, 720p recording capabilites, a 8mp camera @ bare minimum, 4G radios depending on the Carrier, a decent stock battery ie 1800 MaH or even 2000 MaH something decent, a lovely screen size better yet make 2 different choices for screens 4" and 4.3" thats the best 2 sizes imo, you can make a slider version for those slider people, come with a dual core proccesor of some sort rather it be Tegra, Hummingbird, Qualcomm, TI, or whatever else is out their, Come pre-installed with @ least 16gb SD CARD, come preloaded with the newest most recent Android update even if you use your skin ie Sense @ least make a separate partion on the phone that the User can flash or make an App similar to Rom Manager yet make it wayyyyy easier to utilize but make it so you can run a completely stock version of Android, come with a decent loud speaker not these tiny lite baby ones like the Galazy S and Nexus S devices im talking about ones like the Thunderbolt or LG's optimus devices(they have great speakers), come with NFC just for the hell of it, strong vibrate, stop using these crappy screens WVGA etc only use SAMOLED/PLUS or since samsung doesn't have enough for their own product even you can use the next best thing avaialbe which is qHD or that Super Clear LCD/PLUS, these are really not that big of demands to find in a phone they're actual very simple please take a look into it and tell me if this is to hard to find in a phone?
Price and affordability and compactness. For a device to feature all that, it'd be ridiculously expensive, probably >€1000 sim free. Also, to fit all that in a phone, you'd have to carry an absolute brick in your pocket. Unfeasable as of yet.
There's no point in making a single, killer handset because you that would mean you'd stop innovating and that leads to stagnation.
Nokia effectively had the killer phone for years - 90% of people I knew would have a variant of the basic Nokia handset (they varied in size but the features were the same) - and look what happened there...
You have to remember that people have a wide variety of needs too -not everyone wants a $400 'does everything' handset - there's still people who don't even text!!
I could've sworn sprint had a low end motorola i1 android phone?
Timing and market drive some development but alot of development is a function of when to release to maximize profit. Then, you start providing horizontal integration that is: to provide X then add X+1 then X+2 etc. That way they can sell you the phone at a discount once you are hooked then they sell you all the update @ retail....... ergo more profit. Sucks, but that the American way !
It's not a feasible business model to put out one killer phone and forget about it.
At the moment the scale goes from Dumbphone, few features but great battery life -> Smartphone, feature filled, crappy battery life.
Build a phone with every possible feature and you'd need to carry a generator around with you.
@ OP
lol, dude you are very naive.
Eh, I may dislike android but some of your info is a bit off. For instance the Cliq actually did see a 2.1 update which goes to show they may not be the absolute worst when it comes to updating devices. Samsung takes that cake in my opinion. The Cliq also wasn't too much lesser than the droid, the droid was just in a much fancier casing. Manufacturers would not make a perfect phone because then they would have a pinnacle issue. People would only be going for that phone and all other phones would be ignored including the OEM's other endeavors. Not to mention there is no device that would fit everyone. Your device may sound perfect to you but to me it holds all the issues that leave android lacking in my opinion so they release multiple devices to appease the masses.
rawr4dj said:
So for now IMO HTC owns all by a football field to be honest
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I have felt this way too, especially validated by fact that I have bought 5 in a row HTC smartphones ---
(1) way way back: WindowsMobile > T-Mobile MDA
(2) way back: WindowsMobile > T-Mobile Wing
(3) 2 years back: Android: HTC Hero (actually bought 2 of them, liked it so much)
(4) 1 year ago: Android: HTC Desire (worked flawlessly til about 3 months ago where a problematic USB port surfaced - later found out thru web searches that its sister model, the Sprint Evo, had this problem like CRAZY, and tons of returns and warranty replacements -- however, HTC in my case is NOT HONORING THE WARRANTY)
(5) 3 months ago: Android: myTouch 4G (HTC Glacier) --- this is a kickass phone that I still believe is very underrated because of its branding with T-Mobile) but has more internal memory to hold more apps than even nexus s
However ....
HTC America is really screwing up the BRAND REPUTATION of HTC overall. They are not only completely disorganized, but if anyone has ever called their tech suppoort, they are generally clueless, reading off of LCD screens worse that AT&T phone support -- and that's saying a lot, you can't get any worse than AT&T level 1 Support, they define "HORRIBLE CLUELESS SCRIPT-READING CUSTOMER SERVICE". But that is nothing compared to trying to get WARRANTY REPAIR WORK done by HTC AMERICA. My phone is under 1 year old, with a 2 year warranty for defective parts & labor, and yet HTC AMERICA says I am out of warranty and to fix this defective USB port --- again -- just google MICRO USB PORT HTC DESIRE ... or EVO and you can't miss it... and HTC America says they are happy to repair it for $ 317.43 .
So, I tell you what, this is having a serious impact on my next purchase. I don't have time for this bull****. And they could give a rat's ass about my customer loyalty. I've been buying HTC phones longer than the majority of their goons have even been employed there. You ask someone "Oh, how long have you been with HTC?" And you're lucky if you get "2 years".... Me -- more like 7 years. I don;t expect first line phone support to have such tenure. But when they are complete idiots...
(SEE MY THREAD FOR ACTUAL DIALOGUE AND you'll understand my statement)
... I'm sorry but this goes to overall management of a global corporation. And in this hyper-competitive space, if they don't clean up their act, they may not survive. That's not an overstatement. I thought that, with this site having formed around the HTC "XDA" all these years ago, and HTC having been ahead of the curve all these years, and they kept Windows Mobile alive by innovations like TouchFlo etc which compensated for WinMo's 6pt type size and stylus UI after the iPhone debuted, that they were probably the #1 smartphone device maker. I just assumed that.
Someone can pull the stats, but no, I was shocked to find out at the end of 2010, the pivotal year where Android just exploded -- starting with Oct 2009's Moto DROID launch, then Jan's NEXUS 1 launch -- then phone after phone in 2010, and so many HTC models, that HTC's marketshare as device maker was TINY -- fractional ... It shocked me.
So, I'm just saying... They launched their multi-million dollar "YOU" BRANDING CAMPAIGN last year I'm sure to help propel the name HTC into the brains of people who had used HTC products for many years, but many times they were co-branded by carrier names for those phones, and most average consumers weren't even aware the name HTC .... and yet their share is so small. Well, if they treat EXISTING LONG-TIME CUSTOMERS this way, they will erode their existing base. And why would I have any further brand loyalty?
Samsung is making great stuff, so is Motorola. The next device i get will be a tablet. After that, I will NOT be upgrading and buying new phones every year or 2... They will have reached a point of diminishing returns.
So, HTC better clean up their act in America or it's 再见 new phone.
you are right but that phone was for boost mobile
You seem to be quite rich
why dont you buy me a high end phone i really really need one . but i cant afford damnit!
Technology evolves
I think one you call beast today will not be a beast tomorrow.
Again phone manufacturer has to keep price in mind.
HTC is not even close to owning the whole football field.
Besides an unlocked bootloader which is changing now they are nothing special.
Every phone looks the same with minimal difference in specs.
All these companies cater to a wide range of people so thus why no one super mega phone.
Best is relative to time. What may be the best today may not be the the best tomorrow.
The best phone is already the G2
Kailkti said:
Best is relative to time. What may be the best today may not be the the best tomorrow.
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The best today is definitely NOT the best tomorrow. Nothing will ever be the best.
Not to mention that the OP's 'best phone' doesn't equal to another person's 'best'.
Agreed, a 1ghz processor will be laughed at in the next 2 years or so.
Whaddup dual core?
and it's only gonna get better
they already made a phone with quad core and 5 inch screen lol o hate to big screens though.
Sent from my LG-P500 using XDA
Post is a year old mate.
Hi, I was just wondering if I could get the communities opinion. The Samsung Galaxy S III was recently unveiled, and is soon to hit store shelves in Europe, as many people know. What I want the communities opinion on, is whether or not I should get it. I currently have the Samsung Galaxy S II, and am locked to a 2 year contract. By the time I'm able to upgrade, the S IV will be available. And while I can have the patience to wait for it, I'm currently in a hole of stupidity. I want this phone BAD. Bad enough that I would consider pre-ordering the unlocked version (which the only way it would be usable is if it is unlocked) just to have it, and also to be one of the first in North America. But my common sense/logic, which is battling my stupidity in a stand still war tells me to wait for the S IV and save my money. What do you guys think? Should I give into the hole of stupidity, or root for my common sense/logic?
I think that you should definitely wait. Quad-Core phones right now are absolutely nothing but a marketing hype. Maybe in the future they can be fully utilized but right now owning a quad-core phone is pointless, heck, the only benefit you get from owning a DUAL-core phone right now in my opinion is being future proof.
Aside the fact it is in the end JUST A PHONE, Single core phones are very capable of running more than 95% of all the apps in the market and all of those HD games only a handle of which require the NVIDIA Tegra( and is still not worth it in my opinion).
If you want a great mobile gaming experience and have money to spend, I suggest you buy a quad-core tablet, that's a good investment, but buying quad-core phones right now seems very pointless to me. ( Especially since you already own the fully capable SGSII )
I voted yes.
I read through many of these threads and I was shocked to discover that most people are impressed with this new iteration of the galaxy line. Im not a hater of Samsung I love my s3 but this seems to be a minor upgrade. The new features like pictures with sound and the eye tracking seem gimmicky. Yes Ik there are more upgrades than the gimmicks but most were very expected things like the larger screen, battery, and upgraded camera. I feel this would serve better as a s3+ or something of that nature. Am I in the minority thinking this way?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
crashck said:
I read through many of these threads and I was shocked to discover that most people are impressed with this new iteration of the galaxy line. Im not a hater of Samsung I love my s3 but this seems to be a minor upgrade. The new features like pictures with sound and the eye tracking seem gimmicky. Yes Ik there are more upgrades than the gimmicks but most were very expected things like the larger screen, battery, and upgraded camera. I feel this would serve better as a s3+ or something of that nature. Am I in the minority thinking this way?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
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LoL
you're obviously very young and don't know (yet) how the (human) world works...
it's all about gaining money, power, prestige, ...
Core Facts vs S3
1. It's thinner, smaller and thus lighter.
2. Yet it has a bigger/better screen, is much stronger and way faster.
3. It has a bigger/better battery, camera,...
1 => speaks for itself
2 => Full HD Super AMOLED (new diamiond Matrix), Polycarbonate and Gorilla glass 3, Qualcomm 600/Exynos 5 Octa, LPDDR3 RAM,...)
3 => speaks for itself
Don't be fooled by what you hear and see on the internet. Listen inside yourself and get enlightened :laugh:
Do you really believe you need this or any other device? LoL, enjoy life mate
-Sam-
Edit: yes, it's a S3+
Consider that Samsung along with every other company that becomes successful in market share and sales will one day slow up on progression. Computers in general have done that and it's the "touch screen" age that has brought an innovation to laptops and desktops. That being said, dual core to quad core is a big move, 8MP to 13MP also very big. HD Screen with 441 PPI?? Not your run of the mill screen. Saying that changes were expected and now that we know is blah is kinda ignorant honestly. There are a LOT of people like myself who want a quad core samsung phone without the size and weight of the Galaxy Note 2. Despite the small margin of size difference, it's enough for those that want true one handed operation. The reasons could go on and on, but I laugh at people saying "Really? This is it? Not very innovative...In a way, a very very small way, it makes me feel sorry for Apple all these years for the exact same reasons. I'll never budge on them sticking to the same OS for 4 years being stupid, but the other things that "aren't innovative enough to appreciate" makes me wonder honestly what people really expect out of phones? Make Smoothies for you? Cook for you? Do your laundry for you? Silly really, but what are we really saying here?
matt.wolfley said:
Consider that Samsung along with every other company that becomes successful in market share and sales will one day slow up on progression. Computers in general have done that and it's the "touch screen" age that has brought an innovation to laptops and desktops. That being said, dual core to quad core is a big move, 8MP to 13MP also very big. HD Screen with 441 PPI?? Not your run of the mill screen. Saying that changes were expected and now that we know is blah is kinda ignorant honestly. There are a LOT of people like myself who want a quad core samsung phone without the size and weight of the Galaxy Note 2. Despite the small margin of size difference, it's enough for those that want true one handed operation. The reasons could go on and on, but I laugh at people saying "Really? This is it? Not very innovative...In a way, a very very small way, it makes me feel sorry for Apple all these years for the exact same reasons. I'll never budge on them sticking to the same OS for 4 years being stupid, but the other things that "aren't innovative enough to appreciate" makes me wonder honestly what people really expect out of phones? Make Smoothies for you? Cook for you? Do your laundry for you? Silly really, but what are we really saying here?
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Maybe the problem isn't with the phone itself but with your unrealistic expectations. Setting aside the new software features, s4 has better camera, better design with less bezel (though it looks very similar), bigger battery, screen resolution, screen size, processor, and newer android version than its 1year old predecessor. That's an improvement in every department basically. Don't know what you were expecting really?
I don't know why so many people are dissatisfied. I thinks it's a nice phone. Why is everyone complaining about Samsung not changing the design very much? There is nothing wrong with it. If it isn't broke then don't fix it. Samsung found a solid phone design and rolled with it. I'm just glad they didn't remove the sd card slot, added some nice features (even if some call them gimmicky). I probably won't buy it though, since my upgrade isn't for a year. I'll be interested to see what the gs5 is like next year.
Disappointed as well I wanted at least a new look.. And I heard the SGS3 is getting most of the new features of the 4 through updates anyways.
So just a little bummed about this phone
As someone that's planning on upgrading a gs2 (wife) and move away from windows phone (me) I found the style of the gs4 to be something that both my wife and I like. Some of the features built into the phone, while seemingly gimmicky such as the health/exercise tracking, appeal to me.
So compared to the last couple of phones my family has used, it will be a huge improvement. The last android phone I used was an og droid.
People are *itching left and right about the hardware being nothing and software being crap. So what exactly did you expect the phone to come with?
Octo core CPU and people moan, Snapdragon S600 CPU and people moan. Camera gets bumped up by 5mp to 13mp and people moan. Ships with the latest OS (4.2.2) and people moan. 2gb of ram and people moan. Diamond matrix (better than pentile matrix) and people moan. Larger screen and people moan. Higher resolution and people moan. Smaller body with better internals and people moan. Still has removable battery and people moan. Still has micro sd card slot and people moan. Updated "gimmick" features and people moan. Users have the choice of not using said "gimmick" features......and of course these people are still moaning. Foolishness
MohJee said:
Maybe the problem isn't with the phone itself but with your unrealistic expectations. Setting aside the new software features, s4 has better camera, better design with less bezel (though it looks very similar), bigger battery, screen resolution, screen size, processor, and newer android version than its 1year old predecessor. That's an improvement in every department basically. Don't know what you were expecting really?
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I want ONE upgrade in the S4 vs. the S3 above all others in the S4 - a radio with reception that works well on Verizon's network. The S3 sucks as a phone but is a wonderful PDA otherwise. It's an insult to phones to call it a smartphone since the phone blows big moose. At least Apple eventually admitted there was a problem with reception on the iphone. I realize the reception issue may be local to Verizon as the Sasmung Galaxy Nexus also sucked on Verizon's network even though the HTC DNA and RAZR work great.
I say let the free market speak what it thinks of the new S4.
See my post on this pricing thread to see what Ebay prices are, already: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=39194227&postcount=6
Summary, all for GT-I9500, 16 or 64 GB, which is rumored selling in China already: Buy it now from US, $844 w/ free shipping. From UK another vendor at $752.
First lot of 2 GT-I9500 for US $1375, 2nd lot of 2 for $1225. Biy 20 and the 64 GB is $500 each.
I was expecting first units being sold closer to $1k. Between these prices, and the disappointment some posters have expressed, I think the GS4 may have under-whelmed. It may be getting looked at as an incremental GS3 update, especially since many software features will appear on the GS3.
I think the GS4 seems fine so far, but I'd really like to know the audio chip, and the prospects for FM radio on all variants (see sig).
But the free market probably knows more than I, or most of us do, LOL. Will be interesting to see how it plays out; (grabs popcorn...)
boe said:
I want ONE upgrade in the S4 vs. the S3 above all others in the S4 - a radio with reception that works well on Verizon's network. The S3 sucks as a phone but is a wonderful PDA otherwise. It's an insult to phones to call it a smartphone since the phone blows big moose. At least Apple eventually admitted there was a problem with reception on the iphone. I realize the reception issue may be local to Verizon as the Sasmung Galaxy Nexus also sucked on Verizon's network even though the HTC DNA and RAZR work great.
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As long as Samsung continues to use the same radio set up that it has used on the charge, the nexus, and the S3, reception is going to continue to be weak on Verizon's network.
The S4 is a huge upgrade from the S3; on the inside. But for me I don't care one bit that the phone looks the same because I've used cases on all my phone since the Droid OG days. The HTC Touch Pro 2 was the last phone I went caseless and it really started to look bad after white glove use. After that every phone I bought got a medium to heavy duty case.
I actually would have been upset at Samsung if they used a metal design and in the process deleted the removable battery. You can't make everyone happy unless you release 2 models at the same time.
crashck said:
I read through many of these threads and I was shocked to discover that most people are impressed with this new iteration of the galaxy line. Im not a hater of Samsung I love my s3 but this seems to be a minor upgrade. The new features like pictures with sound and the eye tracking seem gimmicky. Yes Ik there are more upgrades than the gimmicks but most were very expected things like the larger screen, battery, and upgraded camera. I feel this would serve better as a s3+ or something of that nature. Am I in the minority thinking this way?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
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People were saying the exact same thing when the S3 came out. "It's ugly", "it's iterative", "it's gimmicky". But it got rave reviews. Why? Because it was the best smartphone you could buy at the time, and the S4 will fill the same role this time around. If you look at the comments (and even articles) on the S4 on tech sites, you'll see people foaming at the mouth, seemingly furious that Samsung dared release this product. It doesn't help that random internet users and articles alike are spreading misinformation (about the size of the device, about the processors used in both the international and U.S. versions, about how Samsung apparently forced the S3 on everyone through marketing, etc.).
Here's my take on the S4 and why I think it is the best phone available and will sell even more than the S3: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=39186031&postcount=13
I really don't know what people are expecting from the S4... If Samsung came up with a different design but lower specs, people would say it's not worth it to upgrade because the hardware is not good enough. And now they will not upgrade because of the shape. I personally see fitting a 5" screen on the device size is revolutionary already.
Moreover, what you get with Samsung, you don't get with HTC and Sony. These motion features, gestures, built-in apps, dual camera, and using the phone with gloves are what make the S4 the S4.
The HTC One is too thick (and probably heavy) for a smartphone, while the screen of the Xperia Z is not the best on market. Personally, I think the S4, especially the Exynos 5 version can never be made by a different comany.
SamerBerjawi said:
The HTC One is too thick (and probably heavy) for a smartphone, while the screen of the Xperia Z is not the best on market. Personally, I think the S4, especially the Exynos 5 version can never be made by a different comany.
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+ the S4 has both removable battery and micro sd-card slot...
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
I'm hugely disappointing in it, especially in the cheap look and no doubt cheap feel it will have. Where as you look at the HTC One Sony XZ and no doubt any forth coming Motorola phones to see the massive improvement in build quality and considerably better premium feel to it.
I have the S3, love it, but the one downside is just how rubbish it feels in the hand. I don't want a light phone, I want a decently heavy phone that feels like the $1k I drop to buy it. The features they've included only further bloat the already gimmicky software.
DramatikBeats said:
People are *itching left and right about the hardware being nothing and software being crap. So what exactly did you expect the phone to come with?
Octo core CPU and people moan, Snapdragon S600 CPU and people moan. Camera gets bumped up by 5mp to 13mp and people moan. Ships with the latest OS (4.2.2) and people moan. 2gb of ram and people moan. Diamond matrix (better than pentile matrix) and people moan. Larger screen and people moan. Higher resolution and people moan. Smaller body with better internals and people moan. Still has removable battery and people moan. Still has micro sd card slot and people moan. Updated "gimmick" features and people moan. Users have the choice of not using said "gimmick" features......and of course these people are still moaning. Foolishness
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sgs4 will ship with 4.2.1 and a month later samsung will put out an update to 4.2.2
http://www.sammobile.com/2013/03/08/galaxy-s-iv-to-have-floating-touch-and-green-pholed-material-amoled-display/
http://thequantummechanics.wordpress.com/tag/samsung-galaxy-s4/
kopkiwi said:
I have the S3, love it, but the one downside is just how rubbish it feels in the hand. I don't want a light phone, I want a decently heavy phone that feels like the $1k I drop to buy it. The features they've included only further bloat the already gimmicky software.
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100% subjective. I don't want a thicker, heavier device that I will feel in my pocket and will hit the ground harder when I drop it—and get even bulkier and heavier with a case. Thinner and lighter has been the trend for a while and people seem to like it. I also don't see how you can see all of Samsung's features as bloat and gimmicks when not only does Sense weigh down the interface more than TouchWiz, but you can't even turn off some of the added 'features' like you can with TouchWiz. Everyone I know with an S3 or Note 2 enjoys leaving on and using features like Smart Stay, Smart Rotation, Direct Call, One-Handed Operation Mode, Multi-Window, Swipe to Capture, etc. even if they don't use the more gimmicky stuff like the panning gestures. And while some of the S apps aren't as useful as others (S Voice and Samsung's hubs are probably the worst offenders), they're no worse than HTC's 'bloat' apps and hubs.
The reactions to the S4 are uncannily like the reactions to the S3 and the Note 2 last year. Then also the initial reaction was disappointment which vanished after the devices were actually released.
The idea that the S4 is like the S3 S is pretty ridiculous IMO. Here is a list of hardware improvements over the S3:
Octacore processor
Better GPU
1080P screen
2GB RAM
2600 mAh battery
Gorilla Glass 3
13 MP camera
infra red
thermometer sensor
humidity sensor
Which phone out there has improved more than this in a year? And the software improvements are decent too. As usual with Samsung it's hit and miss, but you only need a couple of hits for it to be worthwhile. I think the camera software in particular is impressive.
With iPhones beginning to show its age, and Android phones coming out with faster processors, more PPI, and more premium materials, I think Android is in a prime position to take the crown here. But with this fierce competition, I'm starting to notice more and more quality control issues, weird design decisions, and what seems to be less-than-thorough testing before release.
Take the HTC One and Galaxy S4 for example. Both are getting high praises from reviewers, and people are generally happy with these devices. But looking at the forums here, the problems that people have about these phone are glaring and very noticeable but at the same time not necessary/innate, meaning that it could have been easily avoided by both manufactures with just a bit more attention to detail, better testing, and better quality control. The shear number of people who have dead pixels on their HTC One is mind boggling for example, where they have to go through exchange after exchange in order to get one without dead pixels. Looking at one of the poles, 60% reported at least one defective pixel! The lack of a menu button, or an out-of-the box option to long press for menu baffles me even more. Yes, you can root/unlock and mod the phone (and maybe lose your warranty or brick it), but how about that person who is switching from an iPhone to an HTC One who has no desire to modify their phone? Are they not going to be turned off by that ugly black box taking up an appreciable portion of their screen real estate? Then there are many people who are turned off by the gaps in HTC claimed "zero" gap design. Again doing exchange, after exchange in order to get a "good one".
Same story with the S4 with its lags, screen smearing, the always-on red pixels.....and now they are trying to fix these issues with firmware updates. These are problems that are apparent straight out of the box. Its not like HTC or Samsung could not have noticed them during testing. Someone didn't complain to HTC about that black box during testing? HTC couldn't require that a majority of its LCDs be free of pixel defect? Samsung didn't notice the ugly smearing in their menus, or the burgundy tinted blacks before release? None of the testers reported to Samsung about their god-awful Dialer app? (I'm talking about the ATT version, not sure about the international version here). No one noticed the glaring lag in at least some of the tested devices?
I mean, why shoot yourself in the foot with these easily avoidable problems? These phones are close to perfection, and in a strange way, it makes these kind of problems even harder to swallow. Why have all this great hardware under the hood, and then handicap it in the worst way with some stupid design decision, QC problems, or an obvious lack of usability testing prior to release?
Part of the problem might be that we are demanding more for our money. The 1080p LCD/AMOLED isn't cheap, machining a piece of aluminum isnt cheap, the Snapdraon 600 isn't cheap, Gorilla Glass 3 isnt cheap...so maybe Samsung/ HTC skimp on testing prior to release or demanding less from quality control. But is that what we want going forward? We all love new toys, but the joy and excitement of having a new gadget fades away quickly after you take it out of the box. Having to wait for firmware updates, or holding off to buy in hopes of a new stock, just makes the novelty fade away even quicker.
I for one would like cellphone manufacturers to take more of my money but give me a better product out of the box. Charge me more, but don't knowingly skimp somewhere. The more I think about it, the more I realize how cheap cellphones really are considering all the bells whistle they come with. I rarely use my laptop anymore unless I need to type up a paper or to do photo/video editing. I'm a gadget junky, through and through. Like many of you, I spend a good amount of my hard earned cash on newer and better TVs, cameras, game consoles, PC components, laptops, etc etc. But I must say, none of those have required more exchanges, more returns, and more DOH!s than cellphones.
My question to tech junkies and laymans alike is, where do you stand? would be willing to pay more than that ubiquitous $200 for a high-tiered subsidized phone, if you knew it was "Muaaaaaaaaaa" *kisses fingertips* out-of-the box and not have to wait for a firmware update? Would you pay more If you knew you wouldn't have to exchange it countless times in order to get a "good one"? How much more? .....or you could just say "Sam, you are an ass for typing all this"
$200?! What?!
The S4 is 649 euro's....
And you're asking if I'd be willing to pay even more?! What the hell do you expect us to pay, 1200 euros?!
Send From My Samsung Galaxy S3 Using Tapatalk 2
Pat. said:
Ass
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app
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In response to your unedited post....the whole point is to not have to wait for these glaring bugs and QC issues to be fixed. By that time newer phones will be out.
ShadowLea said:
$200?! What?!
The S4 is 649 euro's....
And you're asking if I'd be willing to pay even more?! What the hell do you expect us to pay, 1200 euros?!
Send From My Samsung Galaxy S3 Using Tapatalk 2
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LOL No, no i wasnt suggesting anything that drastic. Maybe a 50 dollars/euros increase.
PC compenent manufacturers do something similar with their "binned" versions of hardware; where they cherry pick chips/ram/vrm/controllers and sell the finished product at a slightly higher price. im not saying we should necessarily have a "binned" and regular versions of phones, but what Im hoping for is for phone manufacturers to do better inspection, better testing, and hold higher standards for what they release out in the market, even if the price goes slightly above what the consumers are use to be paying
: D
yea fair enough, I just thought "Ass" was funnier.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using xda app-developers app
I'm with you, except I disagree with paying more. If these companies want to lead the market, they HAVE to test them thoroughly before they sell them. I will say that I think Google's level of testing is very high. For that reason, I think I'm only going to get Nexus phones until they give me a reason not to.
I would pay more for a phone if everything worked and was good quality. i mostly do development with my phones and the phone i have right now has always had gps issues with none of the fixes ive ever found to help. quality damnit!
Ecksera said:
I would pay more for a phone if everything worked and was good quality. i mostly do development with my phones and the phone i have right now has always had gps issues with none of the fixes ive ever found to help. quality damnit!
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I'm with you! You can change software but not quality hardware
LOL
:laugh:
very long article. i would like to pay more only if i found it is worth , for example the hardwarequality , antishock , and more
I think the biggest problem is not in the price pressure, but in the time pressure. We want more and more quickly. The time it takes for device development (both hardware and software) is getting shorter. This means that engineers have less time to polish the device and hence the initial releases can be at most considered early beta releases.
Of course you can try to leverage that by employing more engineers, but this won't buy you much time.
So instead of offering more money for a phone I'd rather suggest giving the manufacturers more time to thoroughly develop and test their toys before launching them.
Mitt Romney jr, is that you?
KrissN said:
I think the biggest problem is not in the price pressure, but in the time pressure. We want more and more quickly. The time it takes for device development (both hardware and software) is getting shorter. This means that engineers have less time to polish the device and hence the initial releases can be at most considered early beta releases.
Of course you can try to leverage that by employing more engineers, but this won't buy you much time.
So instead of offering more money for a phone I'd rather suggest giving the manufacturers more time to thoroughly develop and test their toys before launching them.
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I agree. I think the manufacturers know how to make good hardware and software they are just rushed to release a new phone before their competitor releases theirs. Maybe phones could be released like cars. Then we could all wonder what the "2014's will look like".
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
JustLiveIt said:
I agree. I think the manufacturers know how to make good hardware and software they are just rushed to release a new phone before their competitor releases theirs. Maybe phones could be released like cars. Then we could all wonder what the "2014's will look like".
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
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I think we're reaching that point now, actually, or not far from it. This new x phone that leaked it a great example. Last year's hardware, but the idea is probably going to be more about good battery life or something like that.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
lol if someone if switching from Apple, it tends to be for better reason than never-modding or some stock FW aesthetic.
Honestly, ~$600-850 for new phones that are marginally better than last quarter's is already asking quite a bit, so even more and I'll just go back to old brick phones for all the right reasons.
Also our US carriers butchering hardware for god knows what purpose into clunky excuses for what originals were supposed to be.
I'm not really all that happy with the whole smartphone boom over the past 4 years. I quite enjoyed when these toys required proper owners who even knew of their existence.
I DO NOT want to pay more for a phone.
Why ?
Because the $600 or $700 tag already is several hundred dollars over material cost. Yes, they need to account for labour, shipping, and profit but take a look at Google and the Nexus line. Is it because Google can afford to take a loss on the hardware knowing that by using it you'll drive their revenue ? I don't think they would sell at a loss, but I'm open to being moderately surprised if that is the case. I'd guess they're breaking even.
There's no point in paying more for things that could be improved at the same price-point and still drive profit.
What WOULD help ?
Stop signing contracts that screw you for a subsidized phone. They have no incentive to make those phones as perfect as they can - they need some reason for you to keep re-signing that contract two years from now - they WANT you to be wanting to get rid of that phone. Why would they keep updating the firmware when they don't even want you to be using it two years from now ? Why not just have you keep paying them high monthly fees so you can get a "newer and better" phone for cheap (a cost they'll recover from you and then some) ?
What would help is people moving to buying their phones outright and demanding more for what they are paying - driving the market by where they're willing to spend money.
I don't think the components of a smartphone are "not cheap". They kind of are since the material cost is only $2-300. That's less than a decent desktop PC. Yes, it's a decent chunk of change but we're talking smartphones here, they're nice to have but still a luxury good (although I'd agree that a regular cell phone is not a luxury in this day and age). Many people pay more than $300 for a pair of shoes - a pair of Allen Edmonds is $350 ffs and that's $350 on some leather and stitching that people get romantic about - not an electronic device that can pinpoint your location by GPS, holy your music library, and play Netflix. A smartphone is a tiny computer, I would expect it to be priced as such.
So, no, please don't "charge me more" when there is no reason to. Please just have some quality control, although I don't really think it's a big deal because I'm not picky I guess. O well.
The theory behind what you're saying makes sense, but in reality at least here in Canada the prices have already increased a lot the past 3 years.
HTC desire came out almost 3 years ago here in Canada and it was the flagship phone. Full price no contract was $449.99. Then the HTC desire HD came out as its predecessor and it was $499. The desire z was also 499 launching around that time too.
The HTC one s was I think $550 and the one x $599 but dont quote me on that.
Now the HTC one is $650 and others from Samsung are $700. Iphones have always been more but I'm pretty sure they have been increasing steadily as well. So really how much do you want them to increase it? I take it you're very wealthy. Lol
Sent from my Desire HD using xda app-developers app
You're paying for the brand most of the time.. not actual quality
KrissN said:
I think the biggest problem is not in the price pressure, but in the time pressure. We want more and more quickly. The time it takes for device development (both hardware and software) is getting shorter. This means that engineers have less time to polish the device and hence the initial releases can be at most considered early beta releases.
Of course you can try to leverage that by employing more engineers, but this won't buy you much time.
So instead of offering more money for a phone I'd rather suggest giving the manufacturers more time to thoroughly develop and test their toys before launching them.
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Click to collapse
I'd agree with that.. I honestly don't see it as as price issue. The life cycles of new phones currently is ridiculous. It seem like by the time one concept is finalized they move on to "the next big thing" and try to mass produce as many of the currently "new" product before next version is released, sometimes in less than a year.
I' m good with mine...
To be completely honest, I got my phone for.99 cents and have never been happier...I don't need multi window nonsense on it and with dev ROMs on here I am fixing to get 4.2.2. So for that price who cares if it burns up but my first and only one is bug free and fast after the OC kernel soooo....
sent from my SGH-I577/Slimbean/1.5oc LZ kernel
I'm not sure how much benefit a manufacturer has to gain from creating a premium smartphone.
Such a project will cost untold amounts of resources with no real promise of consumer acceptance.
Apple pretty much set the precedent for competitive pricing with the $200 subsidized price tag. It has become the main reference point when consumers consider their purchases. New Android phone, specs x, y, and z for $300. Well, the immediate thought is going to be... "so what makes this so great that it is $100 above the iPhone's price tag?"
That is why I think the smartphone market does not have room for a "high end", because the $200 range is already a high end.