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I was in the same boat deciding between the iPhone 4 and Captivate. Here’s my experience with both. Hopefully it will help someone in making their decision. I’m in the Chicago area and ATT works pretty well for me. I won’t go into details about numbers or front facing cameras because you’ve already read about that. I really didn’t want an iPhone. I had a 3G when it first came out and had nothing but problems.
Screen: First off, both screens look great. It’s like being at Best Buy comparing tv’s. Side by side they all look a little different but once you get it home either one will look great. Ip4 has truer color but the over saturated SC really pops out at you. Even though the screen is only a half inch bigger, the border around it makes it appear bigger yet. Ip4 was easier for me to see in direct sunlight. Touchscreen responsiveness and scrolling smoothness is awesome on both. I liked the SC better.
Buttons: I like the physical buttons on the Ip4. They have a definite feel to them and are in the right location or the location that I’m use to. I got use to the SC buttons but hated the mini usb connector coming out of the top. When using a car charger or syncing to a computer it’s always in the way. Whose dumb idea was that? The buttons on the bottom of the screen SUCK. They go off after a few seconds and you have to hunt and tap around until the screen gives the desired response. Again, after a while you begin to get use to them.
Battery: When I got my SC home, battery life was terrible. About 6 hrs. of moderate use and it was dead. That gradually improved and by the second week, the battery lasted all day with 25% to spare. Since I charge it every night anyway, it wasn’t a problem. Ip4 lasts several days but again, I charge every night.
Apps: I don’t really care about how many thousand apps one has over another. Who needs 800 tip calculators anyway? I probably use about 50. Android has a free app called Missed Reminder that you can set to ring/vibrate if you don’t hear a call, text etc. (Just like my Razor V3 had). Ip4 word, excel, pdf documants right out of the box. With Android I used a free app called Quick Office that opened about 80% of these documents. Sometimes I’d get an error message and couldn’t view the file.
Email: I use Hotmail and Ip4 works great and is very fast. I had nothing but problems with the SC’s email. When I first setup my Hotmail it retrieved my mail although very slowly. I could read messages but if there was pictures or attachments the pinwheel would spin (loading) sometimes 10-15 minutes before loading all or sometimes part of the message. I tried having Gmail fetch my Hotmail which was much faster but most of the time the attachments were blank and showed up as 0 kbts. I was able to view my mail & attachments correctly if I went through the browser but that was kind of convoluted way to get it done. I even tried K-9 mail which did not help. I spoke with Samsung, posted questions on this forum as well as speaking with ATT customer service. The best solution they could come up with was to clear the cache. Their final comments were that some phones are better at email than others. I had the phone replaced but still had the same results.
Keyboard: Ip4 keyboard has bigger buttons than the SC’s keyboard so it’s a little easier for me however I think SC’s swype keyboard is the best. Once I learned how to use it I’d never use anything else. The SC’s Speak to text is cool too. As long as you speak clearly, it’s pretty accurate. Great for texting and driving as long as you’re not checking for mistakes. (My bad).
Browser: Both browsers are great and to me, they seem very similar. IP4 does not support flash. On the SC you can zoom way in on text, double tap and it word wraps to the screen so you don’t have to zig zag through the message to read it. Nice.
Wi-fi: With the SC I can be 20 feet from my wireless router and I’m showing poor signal strength. With the IP4 not only do I show a strong signal, I can pick up three of my neighbors as well.
Phone/Data: Both phones have been in cases since they left the store. Call quality is good on both phones. The SC sounds a little tinny but clear. Several times I’ve had the SC echo when I speak into it. Had to reboot it and it was fine. SC has dropped quite a few calls, more than I’m use to. Often when connected to a land line so I know it’s not the other party. Phone can be lying on a table and signal fluctuates between 5 bars and 0. At 0, sometimes calls connect, sometimes they fail. IP4 has only dropped two calls so far (3 weeks) in known dead areas.
Misc: Haven’t really had any problems with the IP4 so far. With the SC I haven’t had the random shutdown issue I’ve been hearing about. I have had the phone freeze a few times while ringing and not been able to answer a call. Had the call drop while removing it from my pocket (many times). I tried removing it by the edges, front and back, etc. I’ve had the phone pocket dial and even had my alarms deleted. I don’t know how because the phone is locked and there are several steps required to do this. I also get a lot of connection error and network error messages while I have a wi-fi or full 3g signal. In my photo’s app, all of my album art shows up as an individual photo album. I have to scroll through hundreds of albums to get to my Pictures. (Maybe I’m just missing something). I’m sure the gps issue will be fixed but It’s been six weeks. You’d think Samsung would have been all over that. It’s just some weather apps, golf apps etc. rely on gps information.
Conclusion: I love the way you can customize the SC. Between the widgets and live wallpapers it can look really cool. I like customizing; I don’t like messing with something just to get it to work correctly. I think the SC is very promising but right now it’s just to buggy for me. Everyone talks about how the Froyo update will fix everything but its all speculation. At first ATT said it was coming out the beginning of August. Then it was September. Now they claim they may not even release it and wait for Gingerbread. They can’t even send out a fix for the gps. I don’t think there’s a smartphone out that does everything. I’ve returned the SC and hopefully in the future when it’s a little more refined I’ll give android another try. As of right now I would have to recommend the IP4 by a longshot.
I can relate to some of your issues. I have both phones and each have + & -.. Overall I like the captivate more because I can do a lot more with it. For resale value the iphone always wins.
If you embed your album are as MP3 tags you won't see it. If you transfer it over as jpg files in the album folder then it gets indexed as normal picture would.
As for connection errors - I don't have that at all. I have only had one dropped call where my iPhone would drop them all the time and sometimes require 4 or 5 attempts to reconnect. You may have a bad antenna on your phone with your wifi issues too.
I lived with the iPhone 3G for 18 months before i got copy/paste and some other missing features - I figure Samsung will fix us up at some point too.
As for the mini USB cable socket - Samsung has home and car docks that set the phone horizontal, so then the plug is in a good place. Let's face it, no location is good for everybody. The bottom port on the phone was terrible for car use (for me) because I would plug the phone charger into a dash socket and then the phone was upside down when laying on the seat - yes i could buy a mount to hold it upright, but with the Samsung, the top port works for me.
Connection error may be a bit of a fluke, bad timing maybe. I didn't experience any dropped call for several days then att started doing updates in my area, 3g finally this month. My iphone 4 friend had the same issues I did for a matter of weeks now both are better. I admit the iphone is a beautiful product but I disagree about the screen, I have never seen a screen where the colors look truer to me than a galaxy s. For me I'll never give up android, so apple implemented folders, big deal I hated the iphone3g and I hate Ios4 even more. I have no icons folders or shortcuts on my home screen, just a few widgets. I use ADW launcher and use swipe up to launch the contacts, long press search to launch navigation, and home on home screen to launch phone. And I use widget locker to go to the phone, text, camera, or email. I could never fumble through pages and pages of icons for phone functions. Just because its a touchscreen it doesn't need more steps than a traditional phone. I wasn't to pick it up and call. Not pickup, unlock, press icon, press tab for number pad, call. Apples interface need work. On android I can make my own interface. I like icon screens to allow icons to be put where I want not bumped up next to other icons. I need to scan the screen too much with my eyes before I can find the right icon and a phone should be more natural than that. On paper the iphone is fantastic but in my hand android wins hands down.
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It's just a phone. Just pick one and get a new one in one and half years.
That was extremely painful to read. If you really want other people to actually read this you should space it out properly.
mwxiao said:
It's just a phone. Just pick one and get a new one in one and half years.
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I couldn't agree more. If the phone is really bad, then you have 30 days to return it. If not, then something better will be along in 12-18 months.
tonyb81 said:
That was extremely painful to read. If you really want other people to actually read this you should space it out properly.
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+1, it's like he swyped the thing in a few secs lol.
I have to agree with the battery, the Wi-Fi has to be the biggest power drainer and I would have thought it was optimised for power saving. To be honest everybody is trying to be like the iPhone if you think about it for a minute. But I'm still for Android, live without so many restrictions .
DJNgoma said:
+1, it's like he swyped the thing in a few secs lol.
I have to agree with the battery, the Wi-Fi has to be the biggest power drainer and I would have thought it was optimised for power saving. To be honest everybody is trying to be like the iPhone if you think about it for a minute. But I'm still for Android, live without so many restrictions .
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Me or the OP? I have a habit of writing run on sentences and pushing paragraphs together. And I did swype it pretty quick. But the op did write a lot.
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I must have gotten a good phone, because I wasn't experiencing any of the negatives the OP was talking about (as far as the Captivate is concerned). Wifi range is just as good as my father's iPhone 4, never had a dropped call, never pocket dialed, the 4 buttons at the bottom are always responsive, and just about all the other negatives you said.
Plus, I actually like where the USB connection is, very convenient for me. And I haven't used email on here before, so I can't comment on that.
I'm actually on my second Captivate. The first one had the capacitive touch buttons at the bottom that would push themselves. Outside of that, my wifi signal is pretty much on par with my 3GS. The difference being that the indicator shows the reception to be a bit worse, but the through put is much much better.
The call quality and reception on my Captivate is just as good as my 3GS, however, once again it shows the signal is worse. The big difference I've noticed is that I've never dropped a call with the Captivate, and with the iPhone I would drop about every fifth call.
Some of the issue posted here are non-existen for me. You guys need to give android and the phone some time to get use too. Especially if you had the iPhone for the past 3yrs. I get great battery life remember you're in control your phone do not have things running in the background if you really dont need it.
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I would have to say (coming from a 3gs) after downloading and installing the hybrid Rom and seeing what the possibilities are I would definitely say that my captivate blows my gfs ip4 out of the water. Just by switching roms I can see how Samsung and ATT did not do a good job with the firmware. I have better reception. The phone really flies through processes. Like you would expect a phone with top of the line hardware should. and when the devs get a hold of the froyo source I can only imagine how this galaxy s will perform
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tonyb81 said:
That was extremely painful to read. If you really want other people to actually read this you should space it out properly.
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+1
Also, I skimmed through your review mate, and you really seem to go on too much about little things as opposed to the core functionality of the phones.
That being said, I have experienced some of your problems to some degree, such as imperfect wifi etc.
1 more thing, doesn't captivate come with inbuilt office program such as thinkfree? Because international i9000 version does (as I have).
p.s. don't mean to sound overly critical, I do respect and thank ya for sharing your experience
i think the battery life on the captivate was poor. exchanged it for an iphone 4, sold it, and going back to the captivate, ironically. i just prefer the android UI.
kluemenadi said:
i think the battery life on the captivate was poor. exchanged it for an iphone 4, sold it, and going back to the captivate, ironically. i just prefer the android UI.
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The battery life on this is better than the aria which was horrid. I admit the 3g I had was better in that department after the upgrade to ios 3.2 or what ever it was. But the battery life on the captivate largely depends on what you are doing, running with it.
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iPhone 4 all the way. I've got a captivate and my friend went the iphone4 route. I've used both phones extensively and its not even close. Iphone 4 smokes the captivate. Unfortunately I'm stuck with it for another 22 months
iPhone 4 all the way. I've got a captivate and my friend went the iphone4 route. I've used both phones extensively and its not even close. Iphone 4 smokes the captivate. Unfortunately I'm stuck with it for another 22 months
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Can you elaborate on how it smokes the Captivate?? I had the iphone 4 and it was good, but the Captivate is just as good or better.
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lost2030 said:
Can you elaborate on how it smokes the Captivate?? I had the iphone 4 and it was good, but the Captivate is just as good or better.
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It really depends what you use the phone for. Personally, I use it for surfing the web, playing games, email, Music, texting, and GPS. Those things are the most important to me, as I basically live on my phone.
With that said, several of those things the iPhone actually does better. Surfing the web is a toss up. The Captivate has an incredible screen with a size bonus, but the iPhone has MUCH better text fidelity and pixel density. Games are a given here. The iPhone's app store just crushes the marketplace right now. Android is catching up, but Apple has those big name developers throwing good games at them every day. Email goes to the iphone as well. The email apps for the Android are sub par when dealing with certain providers like Yahoo. Apple's isn't flashy, but it does work consistantly. Music... Again iPhone is a superior mp3 player. It's easy to manage your collection and buy music on the fly. When Google Music gets up and running they'll be on a more level playing field. Texting goes to the captivate because of SWYPE. It's frikkin fantastic. Then GPS... We know what's happening here. Just waiting on Samsung to come through with the goods.
I wouldn't say the iPhone smokes there Captivate, but you really have to look at what the majority of people do with their phones. One thing that pisses me off with my Captivate is the ESPN app. What a frikkin' dog. Run it side by side with the iPhone equivalent and it's just a slap in the face. For running on equal hardware, the Android app is slow, unresponsive, and sometimes completely non-functional. On the other side of the coin... I love the customization of the Android device. I love being able to flip between widgets and launchers on a whim.
Oh yeah... And I guess I also make calls too. It's a push here, but I do like the speaker of the iPhone a bit better. The Captivate's speaker quality fluctuated from device to device quite wildly, and my most recent handset has a tinny speaker.
@Divinedark I can only agree to the appstore been better than the marketplace, and its the only thing I'm really missing. Everything else android does the same thing in my opinion or better.
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So I got my captivate a few months ago, coming from the iPhone 3G & 3Gs(both great phones) and although I dragged my feet making the transition, I can honestly say I'm happy with my decision to get the Captivate as apposed to the iPhone 4. Here's why:
The iPhone is a great phone. Nobody can argue that. It has the best music player, best web browser, smoothest UI, best design, etc.
IMHO no other phone will be as good as the iPhone out of the box.
But when it comes to phones and technology, put simply, I'm a tweaker. I like to **** with things, experiment, add personal touches, etc,. In short, the iPhone doesn't really let you do that. The iPhone is the iPhone and the Captivate is more like a mini computer.
The iPhone "just works", there's nothing to **** with, and to me that takes all the fun out of it
I'd rather have a phone that "I" make work the way I want it to, rather than a phone that "Apple" makes work the way THEY want it to.
When it comes down to it I think it just depends on what kind of tech junky you are and what your use of the phone is going to entail.
For me, I'm gonna enjoy tweaking out on my phone for the next 2 years
K rant is done, that is all.
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I look at it like this: iPhone is like James Bond, the best there is at doing exactly what he specializes in. Android is like MacGyver, a little rough around the edges, but given the right tools he can do anything.
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Dungeon47 said:
I look at it like this: iPhone is like James Bond, the best there is at doing exactly what he specializes in. Android is like MacGyver, a little rough around the edges, but given the right tools he can do anything.
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That's a good way to look at it lol
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Dungeon47 said:
I look at it like this: iPhone is like James Bond, the best there is at doing exactly what he specializes in. Android is like MacGyver, a little rough around the edges, but given the right tools he can do anything.
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+1
Couldn't agree more
i actually considered selling my captivate and going to a 3gs or I4 largely due to the GPS issues with the device (wifes i4 GPS works flawlessly with mapquest).
I had also considered it because i recently sold my ipod classic and had considered getting a touch but if i could do a 32gb i4 and have one device cover my phone and mp3 needs why not. (captivate isn't horrible as an mp3 player but i would miss the ability to 1. control through car stereo via ipod dedicated input 2. The enhanced sound quality of using such input.
Fortunately with my wife having one everytime i had the notion i could play with hers
mp3 playing great.......games great........web device great
But the biggest missing component from IOS is a competent notification system (lack of notifcation bar, would definitely miss the convenience of the dropdown notification bar as well as being able to place information, widgets & shortcuts on the lockscreen, and lack of mobile AP (i think the latter can be remedied via jailbreak).
As much as i like to tinker and customize i could honestly live with the app grid and lack of widgets if the iphone had a more competent and convenient notification system for managing missed calls, texts, emails etc. (I don't know if anyone has played with one but the screen that comes up when multi-tasking seems like it would have been ideal for delivery and management of such notifications. When you go into multi-task/app switching in IOS (via push the button twice quickly it then displays running apps and recent apps in the very bottom row of screen. The top 95% of screen is unused and imo wasted potential to house the notifications.
i returned my captivate cuz of battery life and gps issues and picked up the iphone 4 which i currently have now. while the gps is flawless, the battery is about the same or worse while in use. On the other hand battery lasts considerably longer when the iphones screen is off compared to the captivates battery with the screen off. (good for listening to music and audio books).
The stock ios is garbage compared to android. i had to jailbreak it and then work for hours searching for repositories and tutorials on what i can do to personalize and force the phone to have some cool features. You really take silly things like moving icons where you want them and having widgets for granted while you are on android. I miss how easy it was to access information etc. it is possible on the jailbroken ios, but the pickings are extremely thin and the few available are glitchy and leave alot to be desired.
The shoddy multitasking combined with one hard button is another pain in the ass. Multitasking in ios usually means actually closing the program and then having a quick link available to u when you want to open it again.
I am pleased that there are more high quality apps available on this iphone 4. Android is not that far behind though and i can tell that app dev for the ip has slowed. Considering the sheer mass of apps available for the ios i would expect more apps designed for the ip4 to be available. Only a very small fraction of the apps utilize the ip4's retina display. Also, when i check the jailbroken repo's for new homebrew apps, development seems to be stagnating.
I've only written about the things that are important to me. Some of my complaints about the iphone can be explained away as i'm sure some people will try to do. However, my opinions stand, there is much left to be desired.
My suggestion is to find an android phone with working gps and decent battery. Or test out a new windows mobile phone. I can't say i'd recommend the iphone to someone. If you need to replace your captivate soon, i'd suggest asking for your money back because they cant deliver on gps promises, ask for a full refund. Save you're upgrade and wait for a new wave of android phones to hit att.
I had poor battery performance and abysmal GPS at first. After conditioning the battery properly by running from full to 10% a couple of times, the performance improves significantly, and now it blows my old iPhone 3GS away in battery performance. Also, the GPS issue for me has been resolved by using Assonance ROM. I get a solid lock within about 10 seconds outside, and about 30 inside, and it holds even while I drive.
All that aside, if you just want to pick it up and have it work, but don't care to 'make it your own' then iPhone is right for you. The bottom line is whether you are happy with what you have.
My experience has been that most of my friends with iPhones that absolutely love them did not own a smartphone previously and the few that did aren't as pleased with their iPhones as they thought they'd be. Then there are the ones that just refuse to admit that an Apple product isn't as good as they want you to believe.
Miami_Son said:
My experience has been that most of my friends with iPhones that absolutely love them did not own a smartphone previously and the few that did aren't as pleased with their iPhones as they thought they'd be. Then there are the ones that just refuse to admit that an Apple product isn't as good as they want you to believe.
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i have to believe this. idk who would deem most of this stuff as godly unless they havn't tried android at all.
as for what the other guy said about conditioning and gps fix, i did everything known to man to make that battery last, but i still am not satisfied with battery life in the captivate or the iphone 4. battery technology needs to catch up. Gps wise, i was really looking for a gps that could track my run's and give me distances etc. i tried roms and all the gps fix suggestions from xda but it still rarely gave me accuracy close than 10-20 meters and bounced from house to house while i was goin through my neighborhood. at least the iphone4 got one thing right.
The shoddy multitasking combined with one hard button is another pain in the ass. Multitasking in ios usually means actually closing the program and then having a quick link available to u when you want to open it again.
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good call. I guess it would get easier with more use but i also don't like the 1 button method either. The multiple buttons on the captivate makes web browsing and multi-tasking a better experience imo
Dungeon47 said:
I look at it like this: iPhone is like James Bond, the best there is at doing exactly what he specializes in. Android is like MacGyver, a little rough around the edges, but given the right tools he can do anything.
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Perfect +1
Ive had both. The reason i dont want the iphone anymore is the ridiculous cost to replace.I picked up both of my captivates for cheap. Overall i love my captivate...the only reason i will get rid of it soon is the gps. I also have a htc aria. If it had a bigger screen i would prefer it over my captivate. Its very fast and the gps is dead on.
I have had both also. It took several months for me to get used to the captivate. I use yahoo email and the iphone is better for yahoo email than android. This was almost a game stopper until I learned how to use gmail to basically look just like my yahoo box after forwarding my emails to gmail. The gps is still an issue but not as much since I carry a blackberry bold 9700 for work and the gps locks to 3 meters in about 20 seconds.
Once rooted and lag fixed, the captivate is pretty awesome! The screen is to hard to give up on. I think 4 inches is the sweet spot for phone screens. When I look at the screen on the iphone it looks so much smaller than before.
I just became elegible to upgrade my phone, I keep hearing things that vz is gonna switch to tiered pricing and would prefer to get locked in before they change things. Really split between those 3 choices, get a charge with it's amazing amoled screen thats larger and customization of android, or go with iphone 4 with it's higher pixel density, built quality and pretty good camera detail, I can always wait for the apple event on the june 6th-10th and risk being closer to tiered pricing.
I looked at dx 2 but I just couldn't get into the whole pentile screen, it just wasn't right for my taste even with a higher resolution.
Get the charge. You can always sell it on craigslist for an iphone 4. Besides iphone sucks lol
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I've used every single iPhone every year since Apple initially release it. It wasn't until last summer (2010) that I got on Android. At first I didn't like it; i thought it was pretty complicated, confusing, and too frustrating to use. I didn't like Android 1.8 that was pushed onto the HTC Hero as well. So I went back to iPhone. A week later, I got the HTC Evo 4G. I started to like Android a bit more, but still used iPhone 4 as my "daily beater," if you know what i mean.
Long story short, I LOVE android now. I never want to use another POS iOS software device again. Android is the way to go, buddy.
Z51 said:
Get the charge. You can always sell it on craigslist for an iphone 4. Besides iphone sucks lol
Sent From My VooDood Charge
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Question: If you buy the Charge on contract, and let's say in 6 months you want something else, you can't sell it because it's ESN will still be tied to your account till the contract is up, correct?
ChaOConnor said:
Question: If you buy the Charge on contract, and let's say in 6 months you want something else, you can't sell it because it's ESN will still be tied to your account till the contract is up, correct?
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It's tied to your account until you want to change it, but it requires little to no effort. You can either change either online through the verizonwireless.com portal or by calling customer service.
Once you have changed the ESN/IMEI tied to your account to your new phone, you can do whatever you want with the old phone as it is no longer tied to your account.
There is absolutely no comparison between these two phones. The charge does everything better except iTunes and battery life. Faster phone and way faster network = no comparison.
I What?
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Syn Ack said:
There is absolutely no comparison between these two phones. The charge does everything better except iTunes and battery life. Faster phone and way faster network = no comparison.
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Well, out of the box, the Charge lags quite a bit. In fact, it's almost to the point where it is unbearable. But the Debloated ED2 solved that problem. There is ZERO lag now.
Android is a hobby, not just a phone, and once you start playing with it, you'll be hooked. iPhone is pretty much a phone for simpletons who just want a smartphone.
The Charge is similar to the iPhone in some minute ways, probably the closest thing to an iPhone on the Android OS. Im trying to sell my iPhone for Verizon now because I just like Android better.
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im considering going back to my iphone 4, switching back n forth between the charge and thunderbolt right now .... as someone said, there can be quite a bit of lag with the charge, try adding a widget to your homescreen, takes a really long time to load the menu of choices ... i actually like using the tb more than the charge but can't read the screen very well in sunlight, so i use the charge more...
as for the iphone 4, most of the apps are done better than the android version, no idea why but that's the way it looks to me.... a minus for the iphone 4 is lack of voice integration, sometimes i'm too lazy to type a txt msg, so i just speak it when i'm using an android phone... it can be done on iphone 4 but you have to use 2 programs, just a pain in the ass ...
also, i don't have great eyesight anymore so it's hard to read the fonts on the iphone 4 at times, on my charge i've installed bigger system fonts so i can read pretty much everything without wearing glasses
oh yeah, games run better on iphone 4 than the charge... could be because of the smaller screen on the iphone, angry birds seasons can really lag on my charge..
another plus for android is the 'integration' of things like pics... there is an option to share with many different social networks, email, txt, etc... can be done on the iphone but usually have to use a different program....
all in all, it's a tough choice.... the iphone is really easy to use, has some great apps, and is stable for the most part..
the charge has a really nice screen, not the resolution of the iphone, but still looks great ...
too many choices, lol, hope this helps some.
Yea, what everyone else said in comparison between iPhone and Android OS/Charge is spot on.
If you're not ready to settle for a Charge and a bit unwilling to go back to iPhone/iOS, then you can definitely wait for the SGS2. I picked one up from the grey market (expansys) and I am loving it. Definitely one of the best phones i've ever used.
I would love to get a galaxy 2 but I don't think its even mentioned to coming to vz, I would prefer to stay with vz, been with them for years and am content with the service.
It's like having to choose from vanilla and chocolate but preferring strawberry.
Only concern with going with iphone is I might get renewed in a 3g data and not be allowed to switch to a 4g device without going for the new tiered pricing if thats what they have if I want to sell and change the phone. There's also low quality on youtube video unless I go wifi and it would be more complicated getting my own ringtones in it. Then again the iphone 4 is well built, reliable and stupid proof. Might be harder to unbrick an iphone 4.
You'll only receive biased answers asking this sort of question here - especially given your posting in the Charge sub-forum.
Having owned both the iPhone4 and Charge, I can say they are both great devices. The answer really depends on what you want to get out of your phone. The iPhone has far superior battery life, itunes syncing keepings things simple, the browser is far superior to any Android browser, and overall - the phone just works.
With that said, Android/Charge is the better option in my opinion. I love LTE, much prefer the 4.3" SAMOLED screen, and love that I can easily swap things like keyboards, themes, fonts, etc. I also like how google does not try to tell you what you want, much like Apple does.
If you want to lock in unlimited data, why would you lock in unlimited 3G data? The only phones on your list right now to lock in unlimited data should be Thunderbolt, Revolution, and Charge, and I'd say that the Charge is by far the best of the 3.
ellover009 said:
I would love to get a galaxy 2 but I don't think its even mentioned to coming to vz, I would prefer to stay with vz, been with them for years and am content with the service.
Click to expand...
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It seems like it's coming to Verizon under the moniker Function.
PeterDLai said:
It seems like it's coming to Verizon under the moniker Function.
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Click to collapse
The question is when will it come out? I feel like it's coming out later rather than sooner.
Iphone has great build quality.... but that's it
Apple blows. Get the charge
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
Anyone played with some nes, snes, and psx emulators on the charge? Can it keep up? Is it true you can use Bluetooth gamepads with android phones and any recommendation on a pad? I played with the xperia phone but was not impressed with the screen.
I got my charge this Sunday. I totally love this thing so far, it's not perfect but I am pretty happy with it. I am coming from a touch pro 2 phone. Only thing I miss from the tp2 is that speaker phone was quite a bit louder, and even output volume through usb jack to cassette deck adapter is not as loud as the tp2.
There's some trade off and most are positive. it's a little wider but it's thinner and a lot lighter, I definitely do not miss the extra weight associated with the tp2 and it's keyboard. Screen is responsive, I have not encountered any slowdown with the exception of flash heavy sites. But then again I am not running too much unnecessary junk on the phone.
Battery is usually 2/3 by the time I get back home or 6/7th if I don't use it much. I ended up getting the dock and it's nice, you can charge the phone and at same time an additional battery in a special compartment, don't even need to charge phone. Low battery, please, I just pull one outta the charger pop it in and put the depleted cell in there.
I wish I could force the camera to orientate itself to portrait instead of assuming your taking landscape pictures.
Programs I loaded so far are Google maps., Beautiful widgets, angry bird rio, psx4droid (got lunar 2, ff7 and crash bandicoot warped working), unEcm and linda manager (lets me browse files).
I still got some work to do, I have avoided getting the ed2 update because it intrudes with rooting. I've been content with the phone so far so I don't know if I will bother rooting and doing some mumbo jumbo with some voodoo kernel thing. ( I'm still new to the lingo, supposedly it helps make the phone faster).
Upgrades I am thinking of doing is maybe flipping my memory card and putting the difference towards a class 10 card, I ordered some phantomskin screen protector, meanwhile I got the anti glare one from vz the day I got it but I think it just makes it glitter a bit.
Rooting and the kernel thing are still under question.
I love the contrast.
Been lurking on these forums for a long time, finally decided to register to share my thoughts on the One X..
I've predominantly been an iPhone user since the launch of the 3g here in Canada. With a jailbreak and length of usage, I have my iPhone set up to do everything I need it to do almost perfectly. In the last half a year or so, however, I've become tired of looking at iOS. Every time I'd look at android devices with their big screens and useful widgets I'd feel a little pang of jealousy. Thus, I started purchasing Android devices non stop and within the last year, I tried the:
Nexus S
Galaxy Nexus
Galaxy S2
HTC Sensation
and
Galaxy Nexus again
I ended up returning / selling each of these phones for a variety of reasons, the two biggest factors were the lack of comparable pixel density and battery life. After getting rid of the Sensation I bought an iPhone 4S and was disturbed by how much worse the battery life was vs the iPhone 4. My 4 would never come close to dying and the 4S was struggling to make it through a day.
The second galaxy nexus with 4.0.4 was almost perfect BUT the samsung build quality bothered me as it just didn't "feel" like a premium device should in the hand..
I knew as soon as I saw the One X I'd have to give it a try. HTC is known for putting together phones that feel great in the hand and this is a factor for me. So far, this phone has been outstanding! I find myself unlocking it regularly just to look at the display. The battery life has been incredible, I have not come close to having the battery die on me on any given day. Granted, I do more texting, twitter, facebook, browsing and text based things vs playing games. The longest day I've had on it so far is 19h 51m with 4h 18m of screen time and I still had 11% of battery left.
Not being a hardcore android enthusiast as of yet, I don't have too much of an issue with sense 4.0. It's pretty to look at and adds some decent functionality. The downside is the minor lag when flicking between homescreens. I would hope that on a flagship, powerful device they'd be able to have virtually no noticeable lag whilst performing such tasks.
This phone does most things flawlessly, I have zero complaints regarding phone performance, call quality, text msging etc. As a phone, it seems to be working extremely well thus far. It also feels great in the hands, the polycarbonate shell almost has a ceramic feel to it. The size is a bit shocking coming from an iPhone but is easy to adapt to.
However, the device isn't without it's bugs, these are the ones I've noticed so far:
-Display: I know HTC is using two different LCD panels, mine is definitely the warmer of the two being used and the whites have a bit more of a yellowy than a blueish tinge to them. I'm not sure how much this bothers me as of yet as in every way the display seems great to look at, I run auto brightness and don't expect it to be extremely bright. I'd be interested in knowing whether anyone with a Rogers unit has a whiter or yellower display?
-Wifi seems to be an ongoing issue. At first it seemed like it would barely hold onto a solid wifi connection at home. I googled like mad and saw a suggestion regarding hard coding the IP vs using DHCP to solve the issue. I didn't think that would be the solution and found another person saying the phone seemed to work better with a wireless network mode of b/g vs b/g/n so I disabled N on my router and the wifi seems to be much more consistent now but not perfect. At times the wifi bars will just disappear for no apparent reason. I've never had an issue like this with any other wifi device at home. Also attempted a channel change. Hoping it's a software issue that gets sorted with an update
-Camera seems pretty average to me.. This is one area where I think the iPhone still excels beyond any other phone I've ever tried. Its simple camera tends to take pretty good 95% of the time. With the One X so far I had a buddy attempt to snap a quick picture of me and it wasn't great. Have tried a few test pictures around the house and the quality seems okay but not great. Keep in mind, I haven't messed with settings, just literally point and shoot. I don't feel as if though you should have to adjust settings to produce a good quality image with a camera phone, I'm not a photographer and have no real interest in learning about photography. I just want to capture a moment on demand and have it captured fairly well without much effort
-Status bar icons: Last night was the first time I've set an alarm on the phone. The icons in the status bar seemed to be going a bit nuts, the alarm icon would disappear and reappear for no apparent reason. Not sure if I just need a reboot because I haven't heard anything about this anywhere
-Call volume display: When I adjust the volume during a call, the volume display is still on the screen when I'm ending the call, which could be minutes later. For some reason it doesn't seem like it's automatically closing off the screen
Anyway, sorry for the long winded intro and thoughts. Would love to hear feedback regarding the issues I've experienced and would be glad to answer questions regarding the device for those of you still waiting to pick yours up.
Cheers!
Thanks for taking the time to give us info. Good to know.
Minor723 said:
Thanks for taking the time to give us info. Good to know.
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+1. Can't wait until Friday!
Hey there tawheed12! Picked up a One XL from Rogers friday last week as well, I'll share my experience with the issues you mentioned and maybe we can get a better picture of what's wrong. (no pun intended)
I too have noticed a yellowish tinge. However, I've been reading a lot on Google Books (reading a book on a screen this size is a real treat) and I've noticed that the more I use the phone with a solid, or near solid white screen, the less the yellowish tinge. It could be my imagination, but it could also be the screen needs to be "broken in". I don't know anything about the manufacturing process for this new generation of SLCDs so it might be possible it just takes time.
I tested the alarm and the call volume display issues, they don't seem to exist on mine for some reason. Alarms stick and the volume bar fades away after a few seconds. I tested normally and in speakerphone mode. I wonder if it's a third party app you're using?
As for the camera, I've fiddled around with most of the settings, and it seems to take more focused/better shots if you turn off the continuous shooting mode and frame your pictures normally. I know the high shutter speed is supposed to be a huge selling point but the bursting just seems useless to me. Still, even with it off, photos aren't brilliant or anything. HDR and Low Light modes can be useful sometimes, everything else just seems gimmicky or redundant to me. I have taken a few good shots though, if you want to compare let me know and I'll upload some.
My router is and has always been less reliable than my phone so I can't test that one out for ya
One thing I've noticed, the stock music app seems a little nonintuitive in some areas. Google Voice Actions' "listen to" command won't actually play anything, it just does a search in the app, and it will only do it ONCE. Further tries just bring you to the original search and ignore what you said. Hardly hands free. It also has random issues mixing up album arts with different albums in the queue. I've switched to Winamp in the meantime, but it's a shame because the stock app works very well otherwise.
One thing really bothering me, my camera clicks when changing focus. It was quiet at first, but it's getting louder fast. I hope there isnt an issue with our batch of phones! I'd appreciate knowing if anyone else is having this issue.
Anyways, hope I helped!
MatinatorX said:
Hey there tawheed12! Picked up a One XL from Rogers friday last week as well, I'll share my experience with the issues you mentioned and maybe we can get a better picture of what's wrong. (no pun intended)
I too have noticed a yellowish tinge. However, I've been reading a lot on Google Books (reading a book on a screen this size is a real treat) and I've noticed that the more I use the phone with a solid, or near solid white screen, the less the yellowish tinge. It could be my imagination, but it could also be the screen needs to be "broken in". I don't know anything about the manufacturing process for this new generation of SLCDs so it might be possible it just takes time.
I tested the alarm and the call volume display issues, they don't seem to exist on mine for some reason. Alarms stick and the volume bar fades away after a few seconds. I tested normally and in speakerphone mode. I wonder if it's a third party app you're using?
As for the camera, I've fiddled around with most of the settings, and it seems to take more focused/better shots if you turn off the continuous shooting mode and frame your pictures normally. I know the high shutter speed is supposed to be a huge selling point but the bursting just seems useless to me. Still, even with it off, photos aren't brilliant or anything. HDR and Low Light modes can be useful sometimes, everything else just seems gimmicky or redundant to me. I have taken a few good shots though, if you want to compare let me know and I'll upload some.
My router is and has always been less reliable than my phone so I can't test that one out for ya
One thing I've noticed, the stock music app seems a little nonintuitive in some areas. Google Voice Actions' "listen to" command won't actually play anything, it just does a search in the app, and it will only do it ONCE. Further tries just bring you to the original search and ignore what you said. Hardly hands free. It also has random issues mixing up album arts with different albums in the queue. I've switched to Winamp in the meantime, but it's a shame because the stock app works very well otherwise.
One thing really bothering me, my camera clicks when changing focus. It was quiet at first, but it's getting louder fast. I hope there isnt an issue with our batch of phones! I'd appreciate knowing if anyone else is having this issue.
Anyways, hope I helped!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know about the screen. It doesn't really bother me too much until I hold it next to a device with more of a blueish tinge.
I noticed the camera focusing sound too, very odd. Never had a phone that makes any type of audible noise when focusing.
I haven't used the music app so can't really help you on that one.
I'll try and take some good pics and upload them and we can compare!
My only real complaint so far is the wifi. It seems VERY shaky at much smaller distances than other phones I've had, to the point that putting my body between the phone and the router at about 20 feet makes the signal disappear. This is the only phone I've ever owned that had this much trouble with the wifi in my house. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed in software.
I still haven't experienced any issues with WiFi on mine. It's rock solid.
The only thing I can think of, is that I've disabled Packet Aggregation on my router (Asus RT-N56U) due to some incompatibilities with my D-Link AP (constant disconnections). Perhaps it's the same issue.
Don't own one yet, but I've played with the demo unit at AT&T numerous times. About half the time I've had the wifi drop out on me. This is concerning and hope it can be fixed with an update. Regardless, I will be preording my unit tomorrow.
DannySmurf said:
My only real complaint so far is the wifi. It seems VERY shaky at much smaller distances than other phones I've had, to the point that putting my body between the phone and the router at about 20 feet makes the signal disappear. This is the only phone I've ever owned that had this much trouble with the wifi in my house. Hopefully this is something that can be fixed in software.
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Click to collapse
I *HAVE* to assume this is a software issue. It's ridiculous how bad it is. Changing my router to just b/g did make it much more consistent but still not even close to 100%. It's constantly slower than my iPhone testing from the same spots of the house. Could always try to enable the "Best wifi performance" option or whatever but it apparently sucks down quite a bit more battery.
I can also say i have the same issues regarding the wifi! Seems to be a widespread issue.
Great news about the battery because I just mostly text and i talk about a good hour on the phone daily, not really a phone gamer, so my battery should be great fingers crossed.
UMGixxer said:
Great news about the battery because I just mostly text and i talk about a good hour on the phone daily, not really a phone gamer, so my battery should be great fingers crossed.
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Click to collapse
Considering your usage, I think the battery will be more than adequate!
I do keep my brightness on auto, limit some push notifications and keep my GPS off though I doubt the latter two make much of a difference.
tawheed12 said:
Considering your usage, I think the battery will be more than adequate!
I do keep my brightness on auto, limit some push notifications and keep my GPS off though I doubt the latter two make much of a difference.
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I never have gps on since it sucks so bad on my captivate I have just given up on it for now lol
I got mine about 3 days ago - yesterday and today I have noticed the battery life improving greatly - the first few charge cycles it was a hog, but it seems to be evening out.
I've had many flagship android phones and had an iphone at 6 different times (from 3G to 4S) so I would say I've had my fair share.
This HTC One X is the first android phone I've had that truely feels high end - I LOVE the screen and its all around a great looking device. No complaints from me actually - its also the first android phone I've had I didn't immediately want to flash a new rom on. I will likely flash AOSP on it though at some point, whenever that is possible.
in short - it's a FANTASTIC phone! battery life blows the 4S out of the water.
aussois said:
I got mine about 3 days ago - yesterday and today I have noticed the battery life improving greatly - the first few charge cycles it was a hog, but it seems to be evening out.
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If you are an avid ROM flasher, you know that on new phones, and after ROM flashes, the battery meter is not calibrated. The actual battery consumption is not changing. Just the % battery that is being displayed is changing (getting more accurate).
kinda lame the "Camera seems pretty average". this is supposedly one of the strong selling points of the device. i'll have my GNex laying around for a bit after i get mine so i'll be doing all kinds of comparisons between the two. i have no doubt, though, that it's going to trump my GNex in spades.
mrvirginia said:
kinda lame the "Camera seems pretty average". this is supposedly one of the strong selling points of the device. i'll have my GNex laying around for a bit after i get mine so i'll be doing all kinds of comparisons between the two. i have no doubt, though, that it's going to trump my GNex in spades.
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On the at&t model the camera is clean. Compared to my iPhone 4s and vivid cameras
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium
rambo8987 said:
On the at&t model the camera is clean. Compared to my iPhone 4s and vivid cameras
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium
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that's good to know. yeah i've been lurking on the engadget review for the international one and they had this to say:
"Now let's talk about image quality. We pitted the One X against the current cream of the crop -- the N8, Amaze 4G, iPhone 4S and Galaxy Note (which uses the same module as the Galaxy S II) plus Canon's S95 compact point-and-shoot. The camera landed somewhere in the middle of this star-studded pack, marginally beating the Galaxy Note and iPhone 4S while almost matching the Amaze 4G. Sure, it's not in the same league as the N8 (which rivals the S95 in some cases), but this is one stellar camera, especially when you consider that HTC is not positioning this phone as an imaging-centric device like the Amaze 4G."
mrvirginia said:
that's good to know. yeah i've been lurking on the engadget review for the international one and they had this to say:
"Now let's talk about image quality. We pitted the One X against the current cream of the crop -- the N8, Amaze 4G, iPhone 4S and Galaxy Note (which uses the same module as the Galaxy S II) plus Canon's S95 compact point-and-shoot. The camera landed somewhere in the middle of this star-studded pack, marginally beating the Galaxy Note and iPhone 4S while almost matching the Amaze 4G. Sure, it's not in the same league as the N8 (which rivals the S95 in some cases), but this is one stellar camera, especially when you consider that HTC is not positioning this phone as an imaging-centric device like the Amaze 4G."
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Trust me. When you get this phone. You won't be dissappointed. Esp in camera area. But again, its a phone, not a dedicated camera, so its kind of silly seeing people dis phone makers because areas like cameras, gaming, screen reso is not stelllar. Want a great camera? Lol buy a camera, want a great gaming console? Buy a game console. Want great display? Go get a 55 LCD screen tv. Maybe I'm just excited about this phone.
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium
I have to agree the only two complaints I have with mine. The first is the Wi-Fi it seems spotty unless I am less than ten feet from my router. The only other complaint I have is with the sense keyboard. I am testing a few alternatives so its more a preference than anything. Bottom line though the One X is probably the best device I have used in a long time.
Sent from my HTC One X
This is likely to be first time in 7 years i haven't upgraded my phone upon a handset refresh.
I'm a terrible phone whore with very little loyalty to brand, i like to own the best phone of the moment and hop between manufacturers. I'd imagine most people on here do the same, with the exception of the insanely irreverent fanboys. Recently (Last 2 years) i've owned.. S2, iPhone 4S, S3, HTC One X and Nexus 4. (Also throw in a couple of dips to Sony and Windows Mobile for brief periods).
First of all, the S4 and the HTC One look like cracking devices. In my eyes they both have positives and negatives and if push came to shove and somebody forced me by gunpoint to pick one, i'd be hard pressed to make a decision.. Perhaps S4 but only because of the battery life and timely updates.. There really is little in it.. Anyone who thinks so is only splitting hairs.
If you're sat using an S2 or a mobile a good 2 years old i can truly appreciate what a jump that the S4 or HTC One to be for you. But if you're the kind of person who upgrades over a 12 month period, there really is little to excite at the moment.
I can't help but feel disappointing..
CPU:
This is the most frustrating topic... We've been steadily increasing in power with little gains in power management, Nvidia tried their best with that '5th core' but ultimately left us all wanting... I'd say the biggest single concern for most smartphone users is battery life now, struggling to make it through a heavy day is part and parcel of owning a mobile.
We are so very close to big.LITTLE kicking in and it seems to be that Samsung and HTC kicked off a little early, shown by the (almost complete) lack of availability of their Exynos variant..
If i bought the S4 or HTC One i'd feel almost cheated if the rumored battery performance of the upcoming CPUs in this segment are anything to go by.
Screen:
Mobile phone addiction aside, one of my other rather 'nerdy' fascination is with audio visual kit, much to my wifes misery.. Screen quality is undoubtedly a big thing for me, yet even i struggle to justify the move from a 720p resolution to a 1080p resolution on a screen only 4.7-5" big..
I've seen the HTC One in person and while i will confess at close proximity i can distinguish the difference, it is by no means the jump the market departments of said companies would like you to think.. I'd go as far to say that most (myself included) would struggle to notice the difference between the two during regular daily use.
LTE:
This is less the mobile manufacturers fault and more the networks but 4G coverage is absolutely woeful when you consider the mass rollout of hardware to utilize. I always thought the S3 LTE was pointless but was convinced this was the early warning sign the governments / networks needed to shift into gear, it doesn't appear to have happened. It's like giving everybody a Bugatti Veyron and telling them they're only allowed to drive it in speed limited residential areas..
I've got friends in the states and U.K and despite the rather gut-wrenching price they pay for LTE price plans, the performance seems poor. I do think we are a good year away from 4G being a realistic benefit to the average consumer, with small pockets of countries experiencing early gains if they live in the capital.
The only positive i can take away from all this is my other half does not have to watch me trawl through reviews, debate the best deal and then watch me giddy on the day of delivery...
Here's hopping next year is a little better!
Have to agree with this, nothing special so far
@OP ( dont wanna quote the whole post lol), trust me when i say that i am one of the biggest phone junkies around, i owned almost all of the flagship of 2012 and plan on owning quite a few in 2013. I see what you're saying when you say " meh" cause phones like the nexus 4, S3, Optimus G and note 2 are already mighty powerful but i think this is where samsung and HTC lead the pack and differentiate themselves with other brands. HTC came out with the best design a phone ever had ( in my opinion) and fantastic sound quality while samsung is expanding its crazy awesome features ( gimmicky for some, absolutely great for me). Its hard to outdo the great phones that came out last year so my question is what did you expect?
I think you need to find more hobbies/occupations in your life tbh.
But to be honest, we are at a point where technology, and especially phones are improving at a very systematical and incremental ways.
Slightly better processor
Slightly better camera
Slightly better screen
Slightly better battery
Really, we will be stuck on this pattern until something revolutionary comes into the mobile market.
JaeKay said:
But to be honest, we are at a point where technology, and especially phones are improving at a very systematical and incremental ways.
Slightly better processor
Slightly better camera
Slightly better screen
Slightly better battery
Really, we will be stuck on this pattern until something revolutionary comes into the mobile market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but with all that, there's a lot that's looked over. Like if you have a Samsung Smart TV you can stream what is on your TV to your phoen anywhere you go.
We now have a IR controller with a built in TV Guide. Built in reminder to remind you also. Links to Rotten Tomatoes for movies.
There's a lot more. I just don't know what is revolutionary anymore. The problem is other technology has to catch up, like TVs, Amplifiers and audio receivers, car GPS, etc. The only thing the phone can do now is control and interact with other things.
What can honestly be revolutionary with current technology and our phones now?
How about work on voice call clarity. This quality has been the same Damn thing since the nokia brick phones lol
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda app-developers app
Squirrel1620 said:
How about work on voice call clarity. This quality has been the same Damn thing since the nokia brick phones lol
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda app-developers app
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The thing is in a day I make max 20 min call time but day in day out 4+hours screen time, iyam this is the norm so this dictates developments, so I bet we get stuck with ok call quality.
Euthye said:
The thing is in a day I make max 20 min call time but day in day out 4+hours screen time, iyam this is the norm so this dictates developments, so I bet we get stuck with ok call quality.
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20 min the norm? Speak for yourself.
j510 said:
20 min the norm? Speak for yourself.
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Click to collapse
I know but how about getting a different phone if your prime use is phoning, like a 2g that'll give you 2/3 days, or if you're making calls while indoors plug it in or use a land line, flagship smartphones are computing devices not really phones any more.
thedalmeny said:
This is likely to be first time in 7 years i haven't upgraded my phone upon a handset refresh.
I'm a terrible phone whore with very little loyalty to brand...!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I agree that the upgrades in the GS4 are barely a full generation ahead of the GS3, which is unfortunate given how much a jump the GS2 was over the GS1, and how much the GS1 was ahead of anything else at its time... there is a sort-of point about diminishing returns here as well. It's harder to "improve" certain aspects but so much, as we're beginning to hit the limits of what can even be perceived as an upgrade.
I mean, think about the screen. Very low res -> QVGA -> WVGA -> 720p -> 1080p. Well that's great, but for the next generation, where do you go? There's really no perceivable need to put anything higher into a sub 5" device. Maybe flexible screens? Unbreakable screens? etc etc? That's still not gonna actually increase the photonic information presented to your eyes from the device.
Or take the physical phone body. The GS4 is pushing the screen so far that it's easily covering 80-90% of the entire front surface area. So okay, next gen, you make the entire front surface a screen. Then what? Make the phone thinner? Well, at a certain point you hit a limit there as well. People can only grasp and comfortably hold objects of up to a certain depth. When you get it smaller than that, you're basically just printing a screen onto a knife blade. So that's no good...
Let's try connectivity. LTE and 802.11ac? Most cell networks couldn't saturate their LTE links if they tried, they simply don't have the capacity yet. And even if they did... You're telling me you can even find a use-case where your phone is pumping out/in 100+ mbit/s of data? I mean, at home it's nice to move music/videos/files around sure. But I highly doubt anyone is routinely moving gigabytes of data per hour on any sort of mobile device. Once you hit what you need for say HD video streaming... where else is there to go? Again, the next generation doesn't really need to move data any faster than this.
Sensors? Well, there's actually lots of room for improvement here. And also, un-coincidentally, this is where the GS4 has some the of greatest advantage over other current/last generation devices. While we're still pretty far away from a proper tricorder, we can now sense via magnetometer, accelerometer, gyroscope, light sensor, infrared sensor, microphones, thermometer, hydrometer, barometer, and two cameras... But building sensors isn't the hard part. It's building clever software to do something with these sensors.
I could go on further... but the point I should think is clear. Yea, it's a bit disappointing that nothing since the original GS1/GS2 has really been a full "generation and a half" ahead of the competition... but a large portion of that is simply because we're beginning to hit the ceiling with some of these improvements. Yea, in 20 years "phones" will be unpredictably evolved from what we have now. But I bet the screens still won't have any higher effective PPI than what we're approaching now...
nastyhobbits said:
posting to hit 10 posts so I can actually post in development section....wth.....
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Wrong and wrong.
1) There's a reason you need to post elsewhere first.
2) The fact that you say "what the hell" to that requirement further shows you are not yet ready to post in development.
3) Spamming random unrelated comments into random threads is not the way to reach the 10 post minimum
I suggest you start by reading the rules and the stickies.
Have a nice day, and welcome to XDA.
Im only getting it becuase i wanted a smaller note 2 with no spen. The s4 gives me that with plenty of horsepower. Plus the 32gb $250 price point is a good sell. If the htc one had a replaceable battery it would of been a no brainer based on design alone.
nastyhobbits said:
posting to hit 10 posts so I can actually post in development section....wth.....
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*Face palm* If there's one place where you never post something like that, it's XDA. The moderators here take people who break the rules pretty seriously.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
I wish we could have a revolutionary phone come out like the Galaxy SII did. Even today, Galaxy SII is unsurpassed with performance. Is there any app or game that it can't run? I mean, it came out nearly 2 years ago, and still has not been matched by an app.
I hope Galaxy SV comes in the way of the revolution.
Euthye said:
I know but how about getting a different phone if your prime use is phoning, like a 2g that'll give you 2/3 days, or if you're making calls while indoors plug it in or use a land line, flagship smartphones are computing devices not really phones any more.
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I never said my prime use is phone calls. I just said 20 min is not the norm. And again where do you get your information. No matter what phone whether it is a dumb phone or smart phone, one of the main focus of a phone period involves making phone calls. Otherwise it would be called a multimedia device and not a phone.
jahjah440 said:
I wish we could have a revolutionary phone come out like the Galaxy SII did. Even today, Galaxy SII is unsurpassed with performance. Is there any app or game that it can't run? I mean, it came out nearly 2 years ago, and still has not been matched by an app.
I hope Galaxy SV comes in the way of the revolution.
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Wait, what, lol!
Pretty sure the Gs1 started the trend there. Gs2 was nice, but nothing revolutionary.... The s3 was by far the best in the series thus far, until this one comes out.
With that said, I like my Note 2 more so than my s3.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2
I think the Note series has been pretty revolutionary and Samsung has worked hard to come up with clever things to do with the stylus.
I don't know what big hardware improvements are left to do. The one I would like the most is 3-D capabilities, both screen and camera, like the Evo 3D. I would imagine in the last two years the technology has gotten better and Samsung could market it a lot better than HTC. Plus there is more 3D content than two years ago. Samsung could also do cool things with 3D and the hover technology.
j510 said:
I never said my prime use is phone calls. I just said 20 min is not the norm. And again where do you get your information. No matter what phone whether it is a dumb phone or smart phone, one of the main focus of a phone period involves making phone calls. Otherwise it would be called a multimedia device and not a phone.
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Ah well tough break, I guess this phone isn't for you then.
Shammyh said:
While I agree that the upgrades in the GS4 are barely a full generation ahead of the GS3, which is unfortunate given how much a jump the GS2 was over the GS1, and how much the GS1 was ahead of anything else at its time... there is a sort-of point about diminishing returns here as well. It's harder to "improve" certain aspects but so much, as we're beginning to hit the limits of what can even be perceived as an upgrade.
I mean, think about the screen. Very low res -> QVGA -> WVGA -> 720p -> 1080p. Well that's great, but for the next generation, where do you go? There's really no perceivable need to put anything higher into a sub 5" device. Maybe flexible screens? Unbreakable screens? etc etc? That's still not gonna actually increase the photonic information presented to your eyes from the device.
Or take the physical phone body. The GS4 is pushing the screen so far that it's easily covering 80-90% of the entire front surface area. So okay, next gen, you make the entire front surface a screen. Then what? Make the phone thinner? Well, at a certain point you hit a limit there as well. People can only grasp and comfortably hold objects of up to a certain depth. When you get it smaller than that, you're basically just printing a screen onto a knife blade. So that's no good...
Let's try connectivity. LTE and 802.11ac? Most cell networks couldn't saturate their LTE links if they tried, they simply don't have the capacity yet. And even if they did... You're telling me you can even find a use-case where your phone is pumping out/in 100+ mbit/s of data? I mean, at home it's nice to move music/videos/files around sure. But I highly doubt anyone is routinely moving gigabytes of data per hour on any sort of mobile device. Once you hit what you need for say HD video streaming... where else is there to go? Again, the next generation doesn't really need to move data any faster than this.
Sensors? Well, there's actually lots of room for improvement here. And also, un-coincidentally, this is where the GS4 has some the of greatest advantage over other current/last generation devices. While we're still pretty far away from a proper tricorder, we can now sense via magnetometer, accelerometer, gyroscope, light sensor, infrared sensor, microphones, thermometer, hydrometer, barometer, and two cameras... But building sensors isn't the hard part. It's building clever software to do something with these sensors.
I could go on further... but the point I should think is clear. Yea, it's a bit disappointing that nothing since the original GS1/GS2 has really been a full "generation and a half" ahead of the competition... but a large portion of that is simply because we're beginning to hit the ceiling with some of these improvements. Yea, in 20 years "phones" will be unpredictably evolved from what we have now. But I bet the screens still won't have any higher effective PPI than what we're approaching now...
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I have to disagree about LTE. That 100mbs conection is shared across possibly 100's of users and it does not take alot to bring it down to it's knees.
Video of sub 500kbs LTE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-VVwPqhXwI
That and really 2,3,4,5,10 GB is not really that much data if you plan using the LTE speeds fully. If I didn't have a unlimited plan, my bill would be higher in a month than what my phone cost.
I will say your right about the screen 1080p is good, well really for most 720p does the trick. ( I can still see the dot's on a 720p 4.3in screen though, but most can't.)