To folks that have played with both version in person - Galaxy S6 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I've checked them both out twice now and I'm wondering if others have noticed the same thing. The Edge version's screen seems to be smoother? Like that locked 60 fps and fast refresh look from a good monitor vs the normal S6. the normal screen seemed have choppy moments sorta even skipping animations.

It's the first time I've heard that. I would guess that someone messed too much around with the other device.

Noticed no such thing.

Odiumvex said:
I've checked them both out twice now and I'm wondering if others have noticed the same thing. The Edge version's screen seems to be smoother? Like that locked 60 fps and fast refresh look from a good monitor vs the normal S6. the normal screen seemed have choppy moments sorta even skipping animations.
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Click to collapse
They are both the same phone except one has a dual edge curved screen. the internals are the same. Performance should be the same as well.

must be you, i noticed no difference other than the S6 feeling much better in hand.. S6 Edge is only for looks..

jamezr said:
They are both the same phone except one has a dual edge curved screen. the internals are the same. Performance should be the same as well.
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Click to collapse
The battery in the normal s6 is 2550mah, and the battery in the edge version is 2600mah.
The skipping you experienced may have been due to apps running in the background.

Just played with both an hour ago to answer the eternal question of which one should I go with (currently have a Note 4, and looking to actually have a phone again haha).
Both were demo units unfortunately with the usual running, so wasn't ideal to get a good idea of the running of the phones.
Neither seemed particularly zippy to me, and I couldn't see one being particularly smoother than the other.
The more I used them, the smoother they became. But the heavy demo running in the background would have slowed the phones down no doubt.
I found the Edge very zippy when pulling from the side to view the recent contacts though. I really liked it. When viewing them both, I definitely perferred the shape of the Edge screen. When viewing video it just looked really nice.
But as megaherts said, as soon as they were both in the hand, it was no contest.
The Edge felt a lot lighter to me, where as the S6 felt heavier, and far more premium in the hand.
But speed differences? no I didn't notice that. But i wasn't taxing it as much as yourself I dare say, and certainly not with high frame rates.

I didn't notice any performance difference between the two. The only real difference for me, was the fell in the hand. The Edge just doesn't feel right to me. I won't say uncomfortable to hold, just not what I expected. I'll be going with the regular S6.

Related

[Q] Keep my Skyrocket or get LG Nitro?

Any Opinions or Views on this?
Martinjv71 said:
Any Opinions or Views on this?
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Click to collapse
Keep the SR.. LG nitro is a second rate phone to the SR.. hated my Thrill..
This one really is a no brainer..
GalaxySkyrocket500 said:
Keep the SR.. LG nitro is a second rate phone to the SR.. hated my Thrill..
This one really is a no brainer..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. Buddy, youve got the most powerful phone on the market right now, no matter what comes out, the SR is the choice
polish_pat said:
Agreed. Buddy, youve got the most powerful phone on the market right now, no matter what comes out, the SR is the choice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks !!! Thought about it- Studied the specs and I am keeping it.
keeping my skyrocket.
just didnt feel the LG nitro was worth paying the extra $35. The HD screen is nice but wasn't blown away; the superamoled Plus display and UI on skyrocket is good enough for me. The skyrocket felt better in my hands as well. Smaller internal storage and battery concerns about the LG nitro didn't help either.
for another comparison, check out mobiletechreview.
i was in an at&t store today, and played with both phones. the nitro's screen is really stunning. i do prefer it over the skyrocket's. i also love the textured back, and general build quality of the phone.
however, the nitro was noticeably laggy. simple things like opening menus, or the app drawer caused significant hesitation. i also ran my standard web browser test where i open a heavyweight desktop-version website (http://surf-forecast.com). the skyrocket opened it fast, and scrolling was butter smooth even while the page was still loading. can't say the same for the nitro. even after the page fully loaded, scrolling and zooming was not butter smooth at all.
you can't judge a phone by one web page, but the difference was so large that i didn't bother trying any others. maybe the demo phone they had there was messed up somehow, or maybe future rom updates will smooth things out, but it looks to me like that HD screen on the nitro is taxing the hardware too much.
this quote from diane hackborn's recent post seems to add credence to this theory:
As device screen resolution goes up, achieving a 60fps UI is closely related to GPU speed and especially the GPU’s memory bus bandwidth. In fact, if you want to get an idea of the performance of a piece of hardware, always pay close attention to the memory bus bandwidth. There are plenty of times where the CPU (especially with those wonderful NEON instructions) can go a lot faster than the memory bus.
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GPS of LG Nitro
Hi guys,
For people who have the LG Nitro, could you comment on the GPS sensitivity:
- How long does it take "GPS Test" app to lock?
- Accuracy as reported by GPS Test or Google map
- Does GPS maintain lock with Google Navigation?
Thank you.
Ben74 said:
i was in an at&t store today, and played with both phones. the nitro's screen is really stunning. i do prefer it over the skyrocket's. i also love the textured back, and general build quality of the phone.
however, the nitro was noticeably laggy. simple things like opening menus, or the app drawer caused significant hesitation. i also ran my standard web browser test where i open a heavyweight desktop-version website (http://surf-forecast.com). the skyrocket opened it fast, and scrolling was butter smooth even while the page was still loading. can't say the same for the nitro. even after the page fully loaded, scrolling and zooming was not butter smooth at all.
you can't judge a phone by one web page, but the difference was so large that i didn't bother trying any others. maybe the demo phone they had there was messed up somehow, or maybe future rom updates will smooth things out, but it looks to me like that HD screen on the nitro is taxing the hardware too much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was my experience, too. I wanted to like this phone. The textured back is nice, the resolution is amazing, the screen quality is really good (except blacks, at the highest brightness, are meh next to Skyrocket), and I liked little things, like the tall widescreen (less width on the phone, easier in the hand) and the three buttons (I feel better for ICS), but the lag! Oh, how the lag killed this thing.
I'm not sure if it's the high resolution or LG's Touchwiz Lite, which I hear is poorly coded, but stuttering and jittering was the rule when scrolling. On a brand new unused store unit, it was bad enough to be frustrating in a 15 minute demo. If this gets an AOSP or CM ROM, it may turn out to be better than the Skyrocket, but until then, stay away. This phone is unusable without some good devs, sad to say.
I really wanted to buy it. Why can't AT&T have one phone with no compromises?
blognc said:
I really wanted to buy it. Why can't AT&T have one phone with no compromises?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to keep you wanting more.................
I cannot believe that people actually think the display on the Nitro is better. With both phones side by side full brightness the super amoled plus blows that IPS out of the water. Rich Eye Popping Colors and Dark Blacks Compared to the Mediocre Bland Display on Nitro. I know comparing 720 to 800x480 is crazy and the pixels are sharper on Nitro but as far as displaying two 1080p videos the Skyrocket still Looks a lot better in my opinion. Real world test with the phone a foot away you cannot tell that our Amoled Plus is not same resolution as the Nitro. I hate when someone boast about the resolution and you have to zoom in 150% just to see the difference or put the phone 2" in front of you. Whatever the case My White Galaxy Skyrocket is On Top at this Moment. Bring on ICS and Butterfinger to that Nexus.(Was so excited for the Nexus but with the messed up launch and bad news after bad news I could not make myself get it now Screw you Google)
my take on the Nitro vs Skyrocket
Phone looks and feels amazing.
I liked the screen, but clarity was nowhere near what it is on the Skyrocket. Sad too because color felt dead on (not over saturated, more real life on the Nitro) But it was "fuzzy" and did not show as much detail
Performance..dead on exactly the same on Antutu EXCEPT for RAM, the Nitro scored MUCH higher.
Linpack scores were high 80's-low 90's compared to the Skyrockets mid 70's low 80's
the deal killer....the rear speaker
At full volume we could barely hear multiple youtube videos that played loud and clear on the display Skyrocket and our Inspire
I did this test display vs display in store. We spent an hour in there.
I did notice the wierdness mentioned about the browser buttons on the bottom but it was not that big of a deal to me.
Oh, and I know I would break that usb port cover lol
and of course..the 4gb internal mem is a huge deal to me but I was willing to overlook it
in the end we ordered 2 white skyrockets from bestbuy for $139 each (frys electronics pricematch)
It really is a great phone, but not in the key areas I WANT it to be
phuynhsb said:
Hi guys,
For people who have the LG Nitro, could you comment on the GPS sensitivity:
- How long does it take "GPS Test" app to lock?
- Accuracy as reported by GPS Test or Google map
- Does GPS maintain lock with Google Navigation?
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the phone, and the GPS is the best I have ever used. I locked 12 Sats in 3-4 secs on an overcast day. It also locked while I was sitting like 5 feet from the window on the first floor of a 2 story house. Like it literally doesn't get off more than 3-4 meters of accuracy. On Google navigation it's a clean arrow all the way, no enlarging blue circles .
Again my contract was up, so I was deciding between Nitro and SR. I went with the Nitro for the screen initially but everything just works perfect on it except the battery life. It's not good at all, and I can't even force it to do 3G only to save battery.
SR is a pretty sweet phone too. Tough decision for me. Also the Nitro was $150 not $250 like most reports. If it were $250, I would went with the SR no doubt.

Post Your First Impressions

Always curious to hear.
Got mine yesterday.
It's all screen! Lighter, thinner than GS3. Feels more like a small, thin Note 2 which is a good thing to me. Not so bubbly as GS3. Screen is amazing. Bloatware is out of control. The back looks kind of like snake skin.
The speaker is much louder than GS3. So far, I love it. Haven't even tried the features yet!
Anyone else?:good:
Got mine yesterday as well. Extremely nice screen! Gorilla Glass 3 resists finger prints better then advertised in my opinion and the overall 5 inch display is incredible. Super zippy but yes, comes loaded with Samsung and AT&T Apps but this shouldn't be too surprising as Samsung did advertise there software quite a bit. Only natural they put there mark in it. On the flip side all this is easily fixable once a root is out but EVEN with this stuff the phone manages to handle it's memory well and work fast.
Overall I am glad I waited and after a couple of weeks I think there people freaking out are really gonna kick themselves for getting all worked up over stupid problems that are easily dealt with.
Got mine yesterday. see my bloatware thread.
Hardware is amazing and top notch. Software is so bloated and bogged down that, when combined with locked bootloader, I will strongly consider returning.
People might flame me for this, but even with the bloat disabled and using Nova launcher, my gs3 running slim bean is faster on everyday tasks.
Just hit 5% battery life and the phone just automatically reduced brightness to a point that I can barely use it, and phone won't let me crank it back up. Just way too much garbage.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
WMguy said:
Always curious to hear.
Got mine yesterday.
It's all screen! Lighter, thinner than GS3. Feels more like a small, thin Note 2 which is a good thing to me. Not so bubbly as GS3. Screen is amazing. Bloatware is out of control. The back looks kind of like snake skin.
The speaker is much louder than GS3. So far, I love it. Haven't even tried the features yet!
Anyone else?:good:
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Click to collapse
screen is mind blowingly good, i had a HTC one for 3 days before i got my GS4 and honestly the one was closer to the s4 then i thought it would be. the one had less bloat and it stutter a bit less (after freezing bloat my phone has gotten ALOT better). camera is awesome love the quality and wow this phone is so small for 5 inches. coming from a note 2 and a temporary lumia 920 this thing feels tiny and light, honestly one of the major selling points of the gs4 is it's bezel less design (imo). if bootloader stays locked for long i am selling it or trading it for the one or octa core version.... its a shame that the stock rom is so bloated, i traded the one back because i thought sammy software would blow htc out the water but it didn't . One more thing, the GS4 tv remote works 10000 times better then the htc one. htc could not sync to my sound bar or u-verse box no matter what i tried, the GS4 had that working in seconds. i have 3 remotes just for my bed room and the fact that i do not need them is a huge plus.
phositadc said:
Got mine yesterday. see my bloatware thread.
Hardware is amazing and top notch. Software is so bloated and bogged down that, when combined with locked bootloader, I will strongly consider returning.
People might flame me for this, but even with the bloat disabled and using Nova launcher, my gs3 running slim bean is faster on everyday tasks.
Just hit 5% battery life and the phone just automatically reduced brightness to a point that I can barely use it, and phone won't let me crank it back up. Just way too much garbage.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might need to play with the settings some more for the auto brightness settings. As for the lag, AOSP ROMs have always been faster (in my experience) to Touchwiz Roms. I'm going to put up with the stock Touchwiz for as long as I can before trying out the first releases of AOSP on the GS4. I'm hopeful we will see some crazy development action if it's true the Quad-core international version ROM's can easily be ported to the US versions and vice versa. The international GS3 had so much to chose from. I was perfectly happy on my GS3 using AOKP, but I'm sure I'm not going to regret moving over to the GS4. I had the same debate when switching from the GS2 to the GS3.
I dont get mine till tonight, but I found one in a best buy mobile store and was surpised at how much stuttering I saw just going through the homescreens.
Im hoping that when I disable all the eye tracking stuff that will all run better.
porkaysi said:
the GS4 tv remote works 10000 times better
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Click to collapse
I'm sold
I tried the htc one remote control feature and liked it. Only thing I really liked, glad to hear the gs4 one is better. Definitely comes in handy.
How is the camera? Especially the dual shot feature(I feel I'll be using this alot )? And the other camera features?
SysAdmNj said:
I'm sold
I tried the htc one remote control feature and liked it. Only thing I really liked, glad to hear the gs4 one is better. Definitely comes in handy.
How is the camera? Especially the dual shot feature(I feel I'll be using this alot )? And the other camera features?
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Click to collapse
just got the phone yesterday but i have not played with it a lot, studying for finals . but i did dual shot and it is cool and i could see it being fun to use. have not tried all the shooting modes but i am flying to NYC tonight and i plan on taking a bunch of photos and playing with the camera in depth over the weekend
SysAdmNj said:
I'm sold
I tried the htc one remote control feature and liked it. Only thing I really liked, glad to hear the gs4 one is better. Definitely comes in handy.
How is the camera? Especially the dual shot feature(I feel I'll be using this alot )? And the other camera features?
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Click to collapse
Here are some photos I snapped this morning in challenging conditions: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oll6vneulv13mz6/TZcApg0pCD
Overall, better than Galaxy S3 by a decent margin. But I used to have an iPhone 5, and my initial impression is that the IP5 takes better pictures than the GS4, at least in these conditions. I feel like it was extremely rare that I got a bad photo out of that phone, even in a relatively dark room as in these pictures, but as you can see in my link, several of these are pretty bad.
porkaysi said:
just got the phone yesterday but i have not played with it a lot, studying for finals . but i did dual shot and it is cool and i could see it being fun to use. have not tried all the shooting modes but i am flying to NYC tonight and i plan on taking a bunch of photos and playing with the camera in depth over the weekend
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well good luck with that, and post some of the pics when you can
phositadc said:
Here are some photos I snapped this morning in challenging conditions: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/oll6vneulv13mz6/TZcApg0pCD
Overall, better than Galaxy S3 by a decent margin. But I used to have an iPhone 5, and my initial impression is that the IP5 takes better pictures than the GS4, at least in these conditions. I feel like it was extremely rare that I got a bad photo out of that phone, even in a relatively dark room as in these pictures, but as you can see in my link, several of these are pretty bad.
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Click to collapse
Your pics look pretty good to me. I'm viewing them on my 24" monitor at work though. Cute dog btw. I'm sure compared to the ip5 the gs4 will have better detail due to the higher resolution in normal conditions? Is there an exposure setting? Or other settings to help low light conditions?
SysAdmNj said:
Well good luck with that, and post some of the pics when you can
Your pics look pretty good to me. I'm viewing them on my 24" monitor at work though. Cute dog btw. I'm sure compared to the ip5 the gs4 will have better detail due to the higher resolution in normal conditions? Is there an exposure setting? Or other settings to help low light conditions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that I've taken a second look, I guess you are right that they are pretty decent, except for one of them. I'm so used to looking at things on a small screen that when I blow it up on a big monitor I expect it to be just as sharp on a big screen as it was on a small screen!
phositadc said:
Now that I've taken a second look, I guess you are right that they are pretty decent, except for one of them. I'm so used to looking at things on a small screen that when I blow it up on a big monitor I expect it to be just as sharp on a big screen as it was on a small screen!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i agree. those pics you posted dont look that bad. that's the problem with the htc one camera (i own one) when you increase the resolution of the pic, the quality suffers due to only being 4mp. the gs4 is 13mp so it wont be as bad when you increase it's resolution (although there will still be some kind of quality drop off).
Just frickin' awesome. After having the Note this "cheap" plastic feels luxurious
Got mine today. Coming from an LG Optimus G. Here's a few thoughts.
1. I really like the keyboard. But since I've been a swiftkey user for a long time that's no surprise.
2. Screen is very good. Wish it was a little brighter when using auto brightness, but it is very good nonetheless.
3. Maybe I'm just not that picky, but I don't notice any lag. At least not anything bad enough to complain about.
4. Seems to charge pretty fast with the included 2 amp charger.
5. It might be plastic, but I can tell you I like the light weight and the feel in my hand better than my LG Optimus G...
6. I thought the 'swapped' menu and back buttons would bother me. But to be honest, I kind of like it better...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
I have a few questions,
1. Does the speaker have 'stereo sound' like the HTC one? Can you hear the base? What about hooking up to the headphone? Does it sound better than S3?
2. Anyone here uses Allshare cast? I have a Samsung LED Smart TV that I stream movies directly from my phone to the TV with a touch of a button on the S3. It does have occasional lags, however. Does the S4 do the same?
3. Does the S4 have the same amount of ringtones like the S3?
JasonJoel said:
6. I thought the 'swapped' menu and back buttons would bother me. But to be honest, I kind of like it better...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually really like the button setup. When I got my first smartphone like three years ago, it was a Blackberry, and it had a similar button arrangement. It went [PHONE][MENU][HOME/SELECT][BACK][END CALL]. My current Galaxy S2 is [MENU][HOME][BACK][SEARCH]. So the S4 will be the same as I am used to, and I will appreciate not having to get used to a new setup.
two issues.
1)wifi keeps on disconnecting... very annoying
i have another device on the same wifi, but it's not disconnecting at all.
2) RAM. even if i clear everything, i'm at 1.2GB ish.. i always notice the homescreen widgets refreshing themselves due to low RAM.
anyone else?
everything else is fine.
speedy, beautiful screen, good speaker, very nice camera, etc.
Speaker is very good; coming from S2
Bloat... Blah
Android without root, is like a day without sunshine.
fargonaz said:
Android without root, is like a day without sunshine.
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Click to collapse
This is a great comment! I agree 100%.
rsmolen said:
This is a great comment! I agree 100%.
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Click to collapse
I honestly dont feel a need to root with the One S4 I can see being pretty much the same. Too me stock is way more boring =/

Swtiched to S8+ from S7E, and I am not sure it is worth the upgrade, you?

Hello,
I got the S8+ a few days ago, and it definitely feels better in the hand, but to me the overall experience is about the same. Certainly, some things are improved but not feeling it is worth $850 upgrade- the S7E is really good and still is working well for me. What are your thoughts? what do you think are the killer features that are that much better than the S7e?
thanks,
aaronc_98 said:
Hello,
I got the S8+ a few days ago, and it definitely feels better in the hand, but to me the overall experience is about the same. Certainly, some things are improved but not feeling it is worth $850 upgrade- the S7E is really good and still is working well for me. What are your thoughts? what do you think are the killer features that are that much better than the S7e?
thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To early to tell but I am getting double the battery life without having to disable anything. That in itself is worth it to me. Also, my S7edge would get real slow and I would have to do a hard reset to fix it. Even now it takes forever for my S7e to boot up and work smoothly. I just feel that the S8 plus beats it hands down. I am not to excited about the screen real estate though. Most apps are not optimized for the new screen ratio so with the exception of the OS most apps make it seem like you have bezels and if you run it in full screen it cuts part of the screen off.
Reminds me when wide screen TVs were coming in. The tech is there but software will need to catch up and not sure if the new aspect ratio will catch on.
But the battery and performance are enough of a difference for me to justify it. The S7e was a solid phone but this one beats it out so far for me.
I'm on the Sprint Galaxy Forever plan and since I didn't root the S7e I had nothing to lose but some time.
My S7 Edge lagged so much. Going to the S8+, its so smooth! I'm loving this phone!!
Thanks, my S7E is still performing rather well except for battery. My S8+ battery has not been performing as well as some of you but that may because of my app choice and only a few cycles.
Appreciate the opinions...
Sent from my SM-G955U using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Sirdragonx said:
To early to tell but I am getting double the battery life without having to disable anything. That in itself is worth it to me. Also, my S7edge would get real slow and I would have to do a hard reset to fix it. Even now it takes forever for my S7e to boot up and work smoothly. I just feel that the S8 plus beats it hands down. I am not to excited about the screen real estate though. Most apps are not optimized for the new screen ratio so with the exception of the OS most apps make it seem like you have bezels and if you run it in full screen it cuts part of the screen off.
Reminds me when wide screen TVs were coming in. The tech is there but software will need to catch up and not sure if the new aspect ratio will catch on.
But the battery and performance are enough of a difference for me to justify it. The S7e was a solid phone but this one beats it out so far for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to agree with Sirdragonx, my S8+ gets better battery life, the camera is better than the S7 and the screen real estate is well worth the upgrade?
Sent from my SM-G955U using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Same here, i thinks its worth the upgrade. Im not a fan of the s7e's home button which scratches easily.
dmbfan13 said:
My S7 Edge lagged so much. Going to the S8+, its so smooth! I'm loving this phone!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah. my s7 edge is really slow and lagging after I updated to nugget. just like those people with iphone said after the update on their phone, phone gets really slow and lagging. maybe they do this on purpose to make people upgrade to a newer phone.
I agree that the S8+ is not a "big" of an upgrade over the S7Edge as maybe I've been used to in upgrading phones in the past. There are a a few little things and the upgraded hardware should make for a better overall experience, but this is not a huge upgrade really plus I've had some issues like half of my fast wireless chargers that worked just find with the S7 Edge won't work with the S8+ for some reason. But I have noticed that so far the S8+ seems to be a little snappier and the battery life seems somewhat improved. The "bigger" screen though doesn't really seem to be much of an upgrade - it's not really that much bigger at all, just a little longer which actually sometimes gets in the way or looks worst than on the S7Edge due to a lot of apps not really built to take advantage of it.
IMO it is an upgrade. I'm very happy! Looking forward to Dex thanks to the USB C. I love the longer screen, it makes reading stuff much more enjoyable. The speaker sounds much better too I think.
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
I too went from S7e to S8+. It wouldn't have been worth it for the full $850, but after AT&T's $360 for the Next trade-in, Best Buy's $100 pre-order refund, the $50 gift card Best Buy gave me for having me come in two days early because of their erroneous "Ready for pickup" announcement, and the $25 AT&T promotion I'm getting, I do think it's worth the $315 it's costing me to upgrade my phone along with my Gear VR.
Definately worth it to me.
S7e:
-Scratches easy gorilla 4
Rarely had keys in so i assumed it scratched from pocket carrying.
-Got dead pixels (twice)
-Battery drained
-Got too hot
I could keep going but im sure you all know. Loving the S8+.
I'm coming from an S7 Edge on Sprint to an S8+ on Verizon. I wouldn't say it's "worth" the upgrade but we can all agree it's a better spec phone. Software wise it's not that much different, I guess you get bixby with a dedicated hardware key.
Things I don't care
- Bixby, let alone a dedicated hardware button for it.
- Finger print sensor location
- Losing of physical home button
The big screen is great, it's a nice looking device. Those of us that always want the latest flagship, yea it's an upgrade.
I upgraded from the S7, which was my first Samsung/Android smartphone, having been using iPhones since their initial launch.
I switched to the S7 from the iPhone 6 Plus. I loved the big screen but hated the way the phone felt in my hand. That coupled with the fact the device was only 16gb made the thing useless.
I went for the smaller of the S7 devices has I hadn't had the best experience with the 6 Plus. But as soon as I saw the S8+ I knew that I'd be getting a larger screen in a device that wasn't uncomfortable to use.
That's worth the upgrade alone to me. Just wish the borders of the screen didn't have this red tinge on white!
The number one reason for me is that I no longer feel like throwing the phone against a wall due to touch sensitivity. I would always have to reset the phone in my hand to use the keyboard or hit buttons. Not an issue on the S8+. Also, everything is more responsive - even on the Day 1 installing stuff. The S7E would basically die when installing and would be utter tar after a few days without a reboot.
There are a lot of little things that are better. I'll go 36 hours on a charge where I barely got 24 on the S7E (my use case is different - I mostly use push email, Spotify, Listen Audiobooks playing constantly throughout the day. Maybe a hour of phone calls a day. I have no friends who are social, so no texts)
My S7E was lagging despite my efforts to keep it clean and performing well. Battery life was probably the biggest advantage the S8+ has over the S7E. I'm pretty impressed with how far TW has come along also - I would be using it if they offered vertical scrolling in the app drawer. So far I think the S8+ is a worthwhile upgrade - and it costs me $5/mo less at AT&T than I was paying for my S7E.
I have come to only upgrade my Samsung devices every other generation. And then I upgrade my other Sony / Nexus whatever device every other year from that again, so I have a new toy every year. That's pretty much all I can afford of these not too cheap flagship phone models, hehe.
That is, I've always been a Note-guy, and I had Note II and Note 4, and had the Note 7(6) ordered last fall, but we all know what happened then, and when they came with a 6.2 inch screen on the S8+ now, it wasn't really a question, I had to have it.
But I won't get S9 when that comes, and I will certainly see to Note again, since I have to say that I think that 6.2 inch screen is way to narrow and small. My old Note 4 screen appears bigger when they lay besides each other, and that was somewhat disappointing.
aaronc_98 said:
Hello,
I got the S8+ a few days ago, and it definitely feels better in the hand, but to me the overall experience is about the same. Certainly, some things are improved but not feeling it is worth $850 upgrade- the S7E is really good and still is working well for me. What are your thoughts? what do you think are the killer features that are that much better than the S7e?
thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With respect and zero confrontation I think only you can answer your own question. :good:
I made the change. The S8+ is no Note 7 so in my case I am not excited about the change BUT I do like the S8+ it certainly has its + points. Now when the Note 8 is released................
Ryland
Ryland Johnson said:
With respect and zero confrontation I think only you can answer your own question. :good:
I made the change. The S8+ is no Note 7 so in my case I am not excited about the change BUT I do like the S8+ it certainly has its + points. Now when the Note 8 is released................
Ryland
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Click to collapse
Of course I just was wondering what you guys were thinking where the killer features over the S7 Edge... As I'm not completely feeling it...
Sent from my SM-G955U using XDA-Developers Legacy app
dmarco said:
I have to agree with Sirdragonx, my S8+ gets better battery life, the camera is better than the S7 and the screen real estate is well worth the upgrade?
Sent from my SM-G955U using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the same camera as the s7 edge. Just worked on the wide aperture.
Also the aspect ratio is different and most apps and videos will show black bars and when changing its too big. Eventually the software will catch up, but why release a half finished product. Heck even the Bixby assistant don't work fully...
That's the reason I didn't upgrade. It's nice to look at, about it.
Sent from my MHA-L29 using Tapatalk

My thoughts after upgrading from S7 edge to S9+

I received my unlocked S9+ about a week ago after taking advantage of Samsung's trade-in offer. I'm coming from an S7 Edge and figured I'd share some thoughts, if anyone was considering the same. Hit me up if you're curious about something specific.
Size-wise, this phone isn't that much larger than the S7 edge, just maybe a couple mm wider and several more taller. However, there is a very noticeable weight increase that makes a big difference during extended sessions. The weight also makes the all-glass exterior difficult to keep a grip on and you'll have a thick disgusting smear of fingerprints to prove it -- I think a case is a must. I went with one of the alcantara cases and love it.
I haven't messed much with the iris/facial scanning, mostly because it wouldn't work anyway with most of my banking/security apps that only support a fingerprint. I love the location of the new fingerprint scanner and it is very, very fast.
Speaking of fast, this phone SMOKES. I install a crap-ton of apps and it's just as speedy as when I took it out of the box. 6 GB of RAM means apps get suspended less often, making the overall experience very, very fluid. The screen is also drop-dead gorgeous.
The camera hasn't disappointed me yet, even in fairly low light situations or with significant zoom, and all the widgets in Pro mode give full control over it all. I intend to give it a good workout during tomorrow's blizzard and see if the super slo-mo does a good job of catching the snow. The new AR emoji stuff is useless and ridiculous, I don't see it appealing to much of anyone over the age of 11 -- and even then only if they don't notice how awful it looks. It's just a half-baked attempt to emulate the nonsense on an iFruit.
Things I miss/wish were better:
*Night clock -- RIP, my bedside table friend. You will be missed.
*Edge lighting -- feels like a missed opportunity, it's just "not enough" to be really useful. It feels to me like a step back from the S7e's implementation somehow but I can't really put my finger on why.
*Bixby -- just give up already and take the button away. Awful.
*Samsung's customizations -- the Settings menus are still an exercise in frustration and patience to plow through, even without all the carrier bloat in this unlocked version.
Which version do you have? 64, 128 or 256? I will be upgrading from S5 next month, a huge upgrade for me. Can you tell me if 64 GB will be enough, keeping in view all the bloatware pre-installed. I am not a heavy user, don't keep music in my phone, just the camera and whatsapp stuff and a few bubble witch type games.
I have ordered a few cases and a tempered glass, will definitely keep the device protected. I tested it in the store and it is slippery plus finger print magnet.
ila420 said:
Which version do you have? 64, 128 or 256? I will be upgrading from S5 next month, a huge upgrade for me. Can you tell me if 64 GB will be enough, keeping in view all the bloatware pre-installed. I am not a heavy user, don't keep music in my phone, just the camera and whatsapp stuff and a few bubble witch type games.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the 64 GB version. Even with my huge pile of apps, I've still got 42 GB free. Ultra fast SD cards are so cheap these days, onboard storage is a non-event in my opinion. Store pics, vids, and music on the SD and it should never be a concern.
Plus, remember that unlocked devices don't have any of the carrier bloat!
I also came from an S7 Edge (with a couple of months on an S7 after the Edge was lost at sea. Literally.)
Anyway, I'm mostly thrilled with the upgrade. I don't find the weight an issue, but have small hands and do find the extra width just a bit uncomfortable. I could happily live with the shorter screen on the Edge, too. The extra height doesn't really buy me that much most of the time, but it isn't an issue, either. I agree a case is necessary, if for no reason other than to protect the glass if you drop it. But that's another area where the width is a problem--I used a more protective case on the Edge, but can't handle the extra width on the Plus so I'm using a thinner case.
Can't get the Iris scanning to work at all. It gets to about 50% and says my Irises couldn't be scanned. Guess I have weird eyes?
Agree Bixby is pretty much useless at this point, but (1) it should improve over time, and (2) it's Samsung's future UI for all their smart devices, phones, washers, stoves, you name it, so it's not going away. Would be nice if they'd let us remap the button, but at least there are 3rd party tools for that.
There are 3rd party edge lighting tools that are far better than Samsung's, btw. My biggest grip is the loss of per-contact text message sounds. I had to go to the 3rd party text app to get that back.
And yes, it's fast and smooth. No complaints there, even though I'm sure the Pixel cult will claim it's laggy and stutters. I'm also getting the best battery life I've gotten out of any phone, by far.
meyerweb said:
There are 3rd party edge lighting tools that are far better than Samsung's, btw. My biggest grip is the loss of per-contact text message sounds. I had to go to the 3rd party text app to get that back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you recommend something that does a better job with edge lighting?
I also didn't realize per-user alerts were missing, I didn't use Samsung's built-in on the S7e because of the wonky sharing intent support. Nice catch.
Wallcrawler77 said:
Could you recommend something that does a better job with edge lighting?
I also didn't realize per-user alerts were missing, I didn't use Samsung's built-in on the S7e because of the wonky sharing intent support. Nice catch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using this one: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lighting.edge.edgelighting
I was a beta tester for it and got it free. It meets my needs, so I haven't compared any of the other ones in the Play Store to see if they might be better.
Wallcrawler77 said:
I received my unlocked S9+ about a week ago after taking advantage of Samsung's trade-in offer. I'm coming from an S7 Edge and figured I'd share some thoughts, if anyone was considering the same. Hit me up if you're curious about something specific.
Size-wise, this phone isn't that much larger than the S7 edge, just maybe a couple mm wider and several more taller. However, there is a very noticeable weight increase that makes a big difference during extended sessions. The weight also makes the all-glass exterior difficult to keep a grip on and you'll have a thick disgusting smear of fingerprints to prove it -- I think a case is a must. I went with one of the alcantara cases and love it.
I haven't messed much with the iris/facial scanning, mostly because it wouldn't work anyway with most of my banking/security apps that only support a fingerprint. I love the location of the new fingerprint scanner and it is very, very fast.
Speaking of fast, this phone SMOKES. I install a crap-ton of apps and it's just as speedy as when I took it out of the box. 6 GB of RAM means apps get suspended less often, making the overall experience very, very fluid. The screen is also drop-dead gorgeous.
The camera hasn't disappointed me yet, even in fairly low light situations or with significant zoom, and all the widgets in Pro mode give full control over it all. I intend to give it a good workout during tomorrow's blizzard and see if the super slo-mo does a good job of catching the snow. The new AR emoji stuff is useless and ridiculous, I don't see it appealing to much of anyone over the age of 11 -- and even then only if they don't notice how awful it looks. It's just a half-baked attempt to emulate the nonsense on an iFruit.
Things I miss/wish were better:
*Night clock -- RIP, my bedside table friend. You will be missed.
*Edge lighting -- feels like a missed opportunity, it's just "not enough" to be really useful. It feels to me like a step back from the S7e's implementation somehow but I can't really put my finger on why.
*Bixby -- just give up already and take the button away. Awful.
*Samsung's customizations -- the Settings menus are still an exercise in frustration and patience to plow through, even without all the carrier bloat in this unlocked version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry after investing millions of dollars on development they're not gonna "just give up" on bixby because some people don't like it, HOWEVER, we can disable the button on bixby home, little gear icon on top and you can set the button to do nothing with a single press unless you press and hold
i like the Bixby button.... so that I can use "BxActions" to program it as my quick Sound/Vibrate button, or turn on flashlight, or take screenshot, or wifi on/off, etc...
Wallcrawler77 said:
I have the 64 GB version. Even with my huge pile of apps, I've still got 42 GB free. Ultra fast SD cards are so cheap these days, onboard storage is a non-event in my opinion. Store pics, vids, and music on the SD and it should never be a concern.
Plus, remember that unlocked devices don't have any of the carrier bloat!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want to upgrade to a 9+ from a s6 edge+ sometime in the summer. I'm assuming I would have a harder time adjusting to it since the 7 edge is heavier than the 6 edge+. On the other hand, the 6 edge+ is slightly wider than the 7 edge.
Just my 2 cents as well....Also came from the S7 Edge. Had the S4,S5 and S6 before that. Didn't want to fork out the huge amount of money with my provider for the S8. Van honestly say that this S9+ is damn quick. When looking at the speed comparison tests on youtube I sometimes think my phone in hand is quicker then that... Physically it's nor much bigger then the S7 Edge, but it feels nicer in hand and is easy to operate with one hand...I have biggish hands... Camera in general is a bit better, didn't yet get time to really compare to my S& Edge. Low light is definitely nicer and less noise. Bixby is a first for me...Not to bad....Bixby doesn't always understand our South African english accent. Haven't used google assistant for 2 weeks now...Bixby does what I want and some more when it comes to the phone settings etc. Overall very happy with the phone. Battery life with my use is a bit better then the S7 Edge. I get at least 18-28 hours of battery life, with sot of 3-4.5 hours. The S7 edge got 12-16 hours with sot 2-3. UI is good and no lag detected at all, especially how I use the phone, not a heavy user, but I'm busy on the phone
Same here. I had an S7edge for two years and loved it. I now upgraded to S9+.
I want to be honest. After the first hype you get about a new phone etc. I cannot say that I am extremely amazed by this upgrade.
Don't get me wrong. S9+ is fantastic. It is a phone that has everything. I cannot find a fault. The smoothness is amazing, the screen is amazing, the speed is amazing. But if you used to have an S7 edge, you are also used to most of what samsung offers. Excellent camera, edge screen, samsung apps etc etc.
To be honest I am a power user, so I had installed most of the updated touchwiz apps through APKs (including the new touchwiz launcher) in my s7edge so my daily experience and use of the phone remain the same.
I don't know if I should have waited for oreo to come to S7edge and then decide to upgrade or not, but there were a few areas in s9+ that made me bite the bullet and proceed in ordering it.
- The looks. S7 edge is a very good looking phone but S9+... oh my... I think I am in love with the way it looks.
- 6gb of ram. S7 edge was lacking in this sector. The ram management was not so good. The ram management in s9+ is just extraordinary. There are times that I close an app at night, fall asleep, and the next morning I reopen the app and is in the exact same page that I left it.
- Battery seems better than S7 edge. Maybe power management is better in s9+ due to processor or Oreo android.
- Cameras of both phones take excellent pictures. So nothing too special about S9.
- Speakers is a big upgrade. S7 edge speaker was very low volume. S9+ rocks the place.
- S9 supports project treble. So hopefully S9 will be getting updates sooner. Timely android updates is the only sector that Samsung is falling behind.
Bottom line is that s9+ surely worths the upgrade, but if you come from an s7 edge don't expect the changes and your daily usage and feel to be extremely different and rock your world. Especially if you just update to the s9 and not the s9+.
If you come from another phone (not a recent samsung one), for sure you will be amazed.
I could live easily with s7edge for at least another year, especially if it gets the oreo update. Or I could easily root it and install an s9 rom.
I am just saying all this so an s7edge owner to take everything into account before rushing getting the s9+.
I reluctantly upgraded from an S7 Edge. Didn't want to lose FoxFi but the S7 was so slow and charging was becoming an issue. Got an unlocked S9+ direct from Samsung. This thing is lightening fast. Love the Intelligent Scan. There are times I want to unlock but have sterile gloves on and I don't feel like dealing with a PIN.
That being said...the battery life when I got it was AMAZING. I have long days where it's a pain to charge and it last(ed). Until the update. Now battery is not so stellar. Anyone else experiencing this?
I'm surprised at how many are in the same boat upgrading from the S7 Edge!
My Tmo S7E was so SLOW after all the updates, I resisted throwing it out the window. Their trade in program giving $360 for it was a steal so I jumped on it immediately. Loving the S9+ all the way! Phone is an absolute beast and I love the 6GB of ram. It keeps prompting me to update but I AM NOT UPDATING! don't fix what isn't broken right?
xxlikquidxx said:
i like the Bixby button.... so that I can use "BxActions" to program it as my quick Sound/Vibrate button, or turn on flashlight, or take screenshot, or wifi on/off, etc...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh man, I didn't know that! I'll have to look into this...! Really wish Samsung had a physical button to set to Loud/Vibrate/Mute
S7edge to S9+ here as well, I'll comment on the VR. I ordered the new GearVR headset before I got the phone in, and using it is like night and day.
-S7edge would overheat in 10-20 minutes, show error and lock up sometimes until it cooled. Unplugged, I'd get from 100-25% in less than 1 3d movie (avg 1:30 in battery only vr usage, 50% screen brightness) When plugged into the Samsung power supply would only drop battery from 100%-70% in 2 hours.
-S9+ has yet to overheat in VR, screendoor is a little more pronounced, but can watch 2:20 movie in 3D (50% screen brightness as usual) battery only 100%-55% and when plugged in would not charge unless headset is off (sleep mode) but would not discharge any battery, start at 100% end at 100%.
S9+ VR headset: SM-R325NZVAXAR is what I ordered. I use this along with Riftcat to simulate a Vive headset and play Elite dangerous for hours, no overheat and no battery drain when plugged in. Smooth as silk.
Another person going from S7 Edge to S9+. Overall I agree with the prior comments, the phone really isn't much bigger but the performance difference is HUGE. I setup many apps and the S7E was bogging down. For example: running Google Play Music and Waze in my car would make the audio choppy at times and Waze would lag. On the S9+ it runs smooth.
A few other comments:
- I used a UAG case ( specifically the Plasma ) for my S7 Edge and now my S9+, I think it is great
- I use BxActions and have it mapped to Google Assistant. I wish there was a way officially disable Bixby and map things to Google Assistant but the BxActions app works.

S20 FE thoughts coming from a S9+

Thought this might be useful for my S9 brothers considering an upgrade.
Bottom Line: Not worth the upgrade unless your battery life is bad..
I absolutely loved my S9+, by far the best Android phone I ever had but the battery was bad from the beginning and had gotten extremely bad lately. In the beginning I could get 3.5-4 hours SOT and now its under 3 and had to recharge multiple times a day.
I got a great deal on trading in my S9+ for the S20 FE , and while I like the phone, I miss the S9+.
Battery Life: Much better, getting about 5-6 hours SOT which is a big plus for me compared to <3 on the S9+. Stand by seems to be better too.
Display: Similar but you can tell the display is inferior. Bigger bezels and I miss the curved screen of the S9+, easier to use the gestures. There is also a red tint on the phones when looking at it on an angle (especially on a white screen) which I find annoying and I might exchange for another.
120hz screen is nicer scrolling but not as life changing as I thought.
Design: Plastic back is not as premium but not that big of a deal. The phone is a tad bigger which is a bit harder to use.
Performance: Feels a bit faster but the 6 GB of Ram sucks. You can see it reload apps and chug when switching apps sometimes.
Other things: Vibration motor is a bit worse, Speakers are similar or better on the S20 FE. No notification Light. Fingerprint sensor is decent.
Ultimately not as a big of an upgrade as I was hoping, next time I will get the S21 Flagship as I miss the curved screen, nicer display, and better vibration a lot of the top of the line Galaxy. Its small improvements but definitely noticeable
Hope this helps and let me know if you have questions.
Thanks for sharing with us! I was wondering this exactly.
Moving to S20+ from my S9+.. it did serve me well..
Saggy said:
Moving to S20+ from my S9+.. it did serve me well..
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Wow, this would be my upgrade. Could you talk us what are your feelings like @spacemanvt did in the OP?
Thanks in avance!
Actually the lack of vibration on fe is bothering me
Sent from my SM-G781U1 using Tapatalk
Here's my version.. Have kept some things same from @spacemanvt version.. Thanks for that
I absolutely loved my S9+, by far the best Android phone I ever had but the battery was bad from the beginning and had gotten extremely bad lately. In the beginning I could get 3.5-4 hours SOT and now it’s under 3 and had to recharge multiple times a day, 3-4 times to be precise.
I could get my S20+ at approx. 450 USD here in India, post trading my S9+.
Battery Life: Much better, getting about 5-6 hours SOT which is a big plus for me compared to <3 on the S9+. Stand by is way better.
Display: Bigger Display with 120hz screen is nicer scrolling but not as life changing as I agree with op here only on the 120hz part ?. However, with the help of mods here @xda I’ve limited the display to 90Hz, must see how much the difference is on 120 vs 90..
Design: No Plastic or Glasstic ? pun intended, bigger than my S9+ and getting used to it.
Performance: Feels way faster but gets hot sometimes due to the Exynos version we get.. btw I did postpone my purchase till today only coz I wanted an SD Version from anywhere else and I ended up taking the same.. that’s me being me… ?
Other things: Speakers are way better than S9+. No notification Light & Fingerprint sensor is decent.
I don’t know yet whether this is an upgrade I needed at the most, but the offer price actually pushed me to take the decision to go for S20+ instead FE and also I didn’t wanted to switch to any other suppliers..
Bottom Line: Worth the upgrade and should definitely go for it unless you need an Ultra version..
Hope this helps and let me know if you have questions.
I think I wrote too much.. sorry for the lenghty post... hahah
spacemanvt said:
Thought this might be useful for my S9 brothers considering an upgrade.
Bottom Line: Not worth the upgrade unless your battery life is bad..
I absolutely loved my S9+, by far the best Android phone I ever had but the battery was bad from the beginning and had gotten extremely bad lately. In the beginning I could get 3.5-4 hours SOT and now its under 3 and had to recharge multiple times a day.
I got a great deal on trading in my S9+ for the S20 FE , and while I like the phone, I miss the S9+.
Battery Life: Much better, getting about 5-6 hours SOT which is a big plus for me compared to <3 on the S9+. Stand by seems to be better too.
Display: Similar but you can tell the display is inferior. Bigger bezels and I miss the curved screen of the S9+, easier to use the gestures. There is also a red tint on the phones when looking at it on an angle (especially on a white screen) which I find annoying and I might exchange for another.
120hz screen is nicer scrolling but not as life changing as I thought.
Design: Plastic back is not as premium but not that big of a deal. The phone is a tad bigger which is a bit harder to use.
Performance: Feels a bit faster but the 6 GB of Ram sucks. You can see it reload apps and chug when switching apps sometimes.
Other things: Vibration motor is a bit worse, Speakers are similar or better on the S20 FE. No notification Light. Fingerprint sensor is decent.
Ultimately not as a big of an upgrade as I was hoping, next time I will get the S21 Flagship as I miss the curved screen, nicer display, and better vibration a lot of the top of the line Galaxy. Its small improvements but definitely noticeable
Hope this helps and let me know if you have questions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you're definitely correct that the s9+ battery is really sucks and I'm charging almost 3 times a day which is my only issue so far. I'm currently buying the FE because it was sale right now, from $700 to $550
Replaced the battery in my S9+ yesterday. Not willing to lose the headphone jack and my phone does everything I need it to. I've been able to get great battery the entire phones life but I have always been on really debloated roms with root/adblock/etc and minimal google apps installed.
I'll be trying to get another 2 years out of this phone.
noahthedominator said:
Replaced the battery in my S9+ yesterday. Not willing to lose the headphone jack and my phone does everything I need it to. I've been able to get great battery the entire phones life but I have always been on really debloated roms with root/adblock/etc and minimal google apps installed.
I'll be trying to get another 2 years out of this phone.
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Did you replace it yourself or had it professionally done? I imagine it's not a straightforward process..

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