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HTC One Vs. Samsung Galaxy S4

I have seen SO many threads about the pro's and con's of both handsets and most are based on bias because people just want to justify their purchase one way or another or are comparing 5 minutes of use in a shop with their every day phone. I have now got both phones and here is my "opinion" of the pros and cons for both....
Screen:
The One's screen is stunning but feels small compared to the S4 and while I am one of those people who prefers the unnatural oversaturated colours offered by the S4 the sharpness seems way better on the one. Icons on the S4 have a slight fuzzy look to them compare to the One like a JPG being stretched. Could all be down to the screen size which as I said I much prefer the S4's larger screen.
Design:
This is a lot of preference but anyone who says the S4 is better looking than the One is on crack or like I said justifying their own purchase. The Samsung's plastic obviously has benefits like being able to change the back cover when it is scratched and removable to access the battery or SD card (which I don't care about the battery as I don't keep phones for longer than 12 months usually and as long as the phone has ample storage for me I am fine). Also the plastic on the S4 feels greasy and gets dirty with fingerprints very easily. One thing that a lot of people don't like that Samsung keeps doing but I love is the physical home button. The fact I can with one hand turn the phone on with the home button is WAY better than the two handed approach with the One which the power can only be turned on by the power button on the top left. On a funny note I left my old S3 on the S4 box in my office and someone walked in and picked it up and said "wow how amazing is the new S4 it looks so much better than the S3", might be a good thing because people obviously like the look but it shows that the 4 isn't that big of a difference from the 3.
Camera:
This has been done to death but believe me that both are great. If the HTC had a 8mp camera it would be the definitive Android phone but it doesn't. Both has a lot of tricks and features and both do a great job. The HTC does a better job with low light and with moving objects and the S4 has way more details.
Sound:
HTC wins this hands down. Not only with the built in speaks but with headphones too. Samsungs audio player also pales in comparison to HTC's which is as with everything on the HTC beautiful and consistent with the resat of the OS but also correctly downloads album art and lyrics to play in a Karaoke mode.
Software:
This one I am really in two minds about and my comparison is purely on stock.. The HTC's new Sense is pretty amazing. Its fast and has a consistency in its look that Samsung should take note of. I have owned a S2 and S3 and Touchwiz has barely changed. Why is the SMS app black but the mail app is white and the calendar app is a wooden brown? It seriously feels like Samsung has way too many programmers working on Android and gave them all one app or part of the interface to work on and didn't allow them to communicate to the other people to get a consistent look. Its ugly and isn't customisable in many situations. I have shown people the S4 and they marvel at how smooth it is but until you actually run it along side the One for a period its hard to describe how much smoother the One is. Never stutters never and little pauses or skipping of animations like the S4 does. On the other hand all the things the S4 can do are cool, if not gimmicky and useless. Samsung have better support from developers and as such things like my Fitbit sync wirelessly with the S4 but not my One, Grindr crashes constantly on the One and more. Support for the one is pretty amazing already and its still brand new. I also love the fact I can download a ROM and easily install it which you can not do easily on the HTC. I only every use stock but I will use the Stock UK or American or German or what ever version is the newest as here in Australia new ROM are usually released pretty slowly. It becomes an addiction every day looking if a new Android version or ROM has been released to install and try on your Samsung. 90% of the S4's new features I have turned off, they aren't guaranteed to work 100% of the time and can be more trouble than they are worth. Example Smart stay... this rarely happens but it does happen and did happen with my S3 too is that I will put the phone down on my desk at work and it will never turn the screen off, some how it thinks my office's ceiling is a face and stays on. The one feature I do love of the S4 is the one where you wave your hand over it and it lights up for a few seconds to show the clock and alerts then turns back off. Also something simple that the S4 does that the HTC doesn't which I didn't realise until I had both was when you get a message or alert the Samsung turns the screen on and displays it (admittedly in an ugly pastel coloured but for SMS's) but the HTC will never turn the screen on unless you press the power button. I will also mention that Samsung's Touchwiz also seems unpolished and incomplete, little things like the MP3 player on the lock screen not correctly fitting and cutting the bottom off just makes me think again that Samsung's developers didn't work together to produce a single OS but instead a mish mash of individual bits to make one up (maybe they rushed it out to steal some of HTC's thunder).
Hardware:
Obviously Samsung wins this hands down but once again with Touchwiz slowing down the S4 the One just feels faster. Benchmarks are great but you don't live your life in a benchmark how the phone functions in every day use is what counts. All the sensors and support that Samsung has is way better than HTC. Just simple things like putting a magnet in the phone so covers know when they are closed and turn the phone off. Simple yet awesome. The fact that Samsung continues to make a flagship phone with only 16gb and then used up over half of it with is ugly bloated OS is just beyond forgiveness. So many people say well use the SD card but always remember that you can not install apps to the SD card and a few big games and your phone can be full. HTC has a 32 and 64gb model readily available here in Australia and I guarantee that the 32 and 64gb models of the S4 NEVER get launched here just like they did with the S3. SO many promises broken, no size over 16gb and no wireless charger released even though they showed them off at the launch.
Battery:
Both easily got me through a days use. The HTC didn't last as long in standby and the S4 didn't last as long in use so they pretty much evened each other out. The fact the S4 supports wireless charging is a huge plus for me. People ***** about its useless and not as fast as a cable but they obviously don't get it. With wireless Qi charging you can still use the cable when your in a hurry and need a fast charge but the convenience of just sitting the phone on my desk charger at work and its charging is priceless. I work 9-5 so if it sits on the charger for 8 hours then its never going to go flat on me. I don't have to worry about one of the staff stealing my Micro USB cable (which happens all the time) or even looking for a cable its just amazingly convenient to sit it down and its charging. I have ordered one of those Chinese Wireless Qi inserts for the S4 and cant wit to use it. You cant add that to the One and the One is very slow charging. VERY SLOW.
Conclusion:
Both phones are the pinnacle of Android technology right now for mobile phones and both deserve to be hugely successful. In the end I stuck with the S4 as my every day phone simply because the support it has from app developers like fitbit like I mentioned before, optional wireless charging, the home button, the screen size and the fact I can flash ROMs when ever I feel like it. Every now and then I think I have made a mistake and should keep using the One, mainly when I look at how ugly Touchwiz is and when I get stutters in the OS which is unforgiveable for a phone with this kind of power. All the flaws in the S4 can be fixed with software and I one day hope Samsung wakes up and makes Touchwiz have the same beautiful look and constancy of Sense, till then I will download other apps to replace Samsung's and hope the speed issues are resolved in updates in the future which I can flash so easily when ever I want to.

thanks for the recap on every other review out there. you are in the s4 forum, therefore s4 > htc one to all users here who arent trolls.

bnathan said:
Sound:
HTC wins .....
with headphones
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You are not talking about exynos variant right?

HTC One Cons:
- CID based roms
- Locked Bootloader, unlocking it will cost you a part of you warranty and a lot of anger if turned in for repair
- Slow updates
- Hboot versions determines wether you can flash/update a rom
This for me is enough not to buy any HTC even if it would be made of gold

iphone!

I was using the S600 9505 variant. And my post may have gone over things that reviews and such may have mentioned but no review covers it all and I have not seen a single review mention things like the fact the HTC screen doesn't turn on to show notifications.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium

Wow, yet another biased review that makes out its unbiased.....Jesus.
Couple of points:
With TW, you can change the background of the SMS app, if that annoys you? So what if its a different colour to the mail app.
Sense, unlike touchwiz doesn't have the quick settings it the notification bar. Sooooo convenient to be able to toggle things quickly without having to add widgets to the home screen.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk (how ironic is that eh)

What do you mean bias? Seems like your here to defend your decision to buy the S4. I have used both phones for weeks and I gave my observations. Simple. Not biased. I still love my S4 and that's what I am using today so I am hardly here to bash it.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium

Do we really need another useless thread?
You should carry on here...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=40865558

I've seen so many threads about the pros and cons of the S4 I decided to make another one.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2

Tomo1971 said:
Wow, yet another biased review that makes out its unbiased.....Jesus.
Couple of points:
With TW, you can change the background of the SMS app, if that annoys you? So what if its a different colour to the mail app.
Sense, unlike touchwiz doesn't have the quick settings it the notification bar. Sooooo convenient to be able to toggle things quickly without having to add widgets to the home screen.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk (how ironic is that eh)
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Click to collapse
I agree, another bias review and he says its unbiased. SMH....
---------- Post added at 09:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:48 AM ----------
marcadam said:
I've seen so many threads about the pros and cons of the S4 I decided to make another one.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
LMAO

Finally a comparison between the two. I couldn't find any.

WTF guys?! This is the general thread. OP had both devices and felt like posting his thoughts. You dont like? Move the #$^#$^ along and keep your opinions to yourself.

I dont get cretins that like Unibody design phones with no storage expansion.
Ok, on built 32 GB of space is ok, its just that when you already have a nice and good microSD card, you would need to throw that thing away and you would need to tediously copy the data from the sd card to the phone.
What about the battery? After 2 years, if you intend to keep the phone, your battery is going to be much weaker than when you bought it. Batteries get weaker with time and lose their performancel.
Sure you can keep going on, but good luck using that thing with 50% or less battery performance after 2 years.

bnathan said:
I have seen SO many threads and most are based on bias
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here is my "opinion"
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Conclusion
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Click to collapse
These types of threads are funny and fairly frequent. OP, this is what you're essentially saying - "everyone else's opinion isn't as good as mine so let me tell you what's really going on." And there's bias throughout your post and that's OK; but call it that. Everyone wants different things so their view is always going to take that in to account no matter how objective they try to be. I like Samsung's s/w features and Sense doesn't even have Awake Stay. So if I were to review TW vs. Sense which do you think I'd like best? But that's just me and I know I'm in the minority; at least on XDA. When expressing an individual opinion the best approach is to state your position, describe how you use your device, share your findings and then let others draw a conclusion based on their needs as to which phone or feature is "best."

Iphones?
As if we really need threads like this
Enviado desde un Samsung Galaxia S Cuatro LTE

HDR video from my S4

Dear god who gives a ****
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium

If i had to choose between the Galaxy S4 and the HTC One, it would be the Galaxy S4 by a long mile. Or not really since i already have the Samsung Galaxy S4 now
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There are many reasons why i did choose the Galaxy S4 over the HTC One. And maybe some of my reasons are the same reasons for you to choose the Galaxy S4 over the HTC One. I'm gonna write down all of my reasons to buy the Galaxy S4 here, so this post might get pretty long.
1. Polycarbonate body. Since this Polycarbonate body is made out of some kind of plastic, it doesn't spread the heat around your whole hand when the phone gets hot. Yes, alumininum looks and feels great, but it have a negative side because aluminum spreads the heat way more out than plastic does. Therefor, the HTC One will spread the heat to your whole hand instead of having the heat on one place only when it gets hot, like it is on the Galaxy S4.
This article shows how hot the Galaxy S4 gets under heavy usage and where the heat is and how the heat spreads out: http://blog.gsmarena.com/thermal-im...rfaces-shows-that-the-device-rarely-gets-hot/
2. HTC One gets alot hotter than the Galaxy S4 according to NordicHardware's test of the Galaxy S4. And therefor my reason number 1 is pretty valid. The article is in Swedish though, so if you want it translated, then use Google Translate.
I see some complaints that the Galaxy S4 gets pretty hot for someone. And if the Galaxy S4 gets that hot, then the HTC One for sure gets even hotter and even more bad to hold.
3. It have a microSD card slot. So yeah, i'm currently using a Samsung MicroSDXC Pro UHS-1 64 GB Class 10 card in my Galaxy S4 witch is great. Taking tons if pictures and recoring alot of videos when you are on a vacation is going to take up a HUUUUUGE amount of space. And not to mention that 1080p movies are needed when you have a 1080p screen. And those 1080p movies can take huge amount of space to. Same goes to alot of mp3 files / musics.
4. It have a removable battery witch means you can change out to a fully charged battery when you are out of battery on your main battery in 10 seconds. This allows you to keep doing what you are doing without having a big massive brick of a battery pack with you witch will be in your way when you are using the phone.
Or you can even buy a bigger battery that gives you over 3000 mAh (an example) witch will last you for ages.
5. It have a cleaner and better design than the HTC One. This is my opinion after holding and looking at the HTC One.
6. 5 inch screen is better than 4.7 inch screen. Specially when the Galaxy S4 are smaller in size than the HTC One.
7. The Super AMOLED screen on the Galaxy S4 is way better than the IPS LCD screen on the HTC One, because you can choose if you want the colors to really pop or if you just want to have perfect color accuracy (thanks to the Adobe RGB / Professional Photo mode) on the phone.
8. It have Android 4.2.2 witch is better than Android 4.1.2 that the HTC One have.
9. Samsung releases Android updates way faster than HTC.
10. It have alot of sensors witch i find great. No other smartphones have this many sensor inside a phone.
11. It have tons of cool and handy features witch i mean is there to bring the development of the current smartphones forward rather than just updating something you already have or something existing on your phone or just stand still like iOS have done since 2009. Some of the features the Galaxy S4 have doesn't really works optimal yet, but i still think it's pretty nice to have those features and they will also get better in future updates. It's always handy to have WHEN you need it and when you want to use them.
12. It's lighter and thinner witch makes it more pocket friendly. Not only that, but the backside of the phone is more flatter witch makes it better to use on a flat surface.
13. The camera on the Galaxy S4 are WAY WAY better than the HTC One in light situations. Here are some pictures i have been taking with my Samsung Galaxy S4. Remember that those pictures under are BIG.
Here is a picture of the same flower with HDR effect on.
As you can see, the true power of the Galaxy S4's camera makes the HTC One's camera to looks horrible in light situations.
14. The sound quality when you are recording videos are also better than the HTC One's sound quality. The proof is here:
15. The HTC One wasn't available when i had to buy a new phone. So since the Galaxy S4 was available when i needed a new phone, then i bought the Galaxy S4.
So there you have it. This is 15 of my reasons why i bought the Galaxy S4 over the HTC One.

Here is a little help, if you can't decide whether to take the one or s4:

My comparison betwen the S4 and Nexus 5

This is just my opinion, with a couple hours of hands on with the Nexus 5, compared to my S4. I am not starting a flame war, or saying one is way better than the other, just my thoughts between these two great phone.
I have had my ATT S4 for a couple months now. And my brother just got his Nexus 5 this past week.
I dropped and broke my Nexus 4 back in September, and couldn't wait for the Nexus 5 release, so I find a killer deal at Best Buy for new S4's @ $49ea. Was bummed at first, I wouldn't be getting the new Nexus, and had to settle with just a plain Galaxy phone, but I am so happy now that I did.
Quick opinions;
- Screen; Maybe I am used to the Plasma deep blacks of my HDTV at home, but call me crazy, I actually like AMOLED, and love my S4 screen, the reds and blues just pop, and blacks are deep, and viewing angles are great. Where as the Nexus 5 looks washed out, with terrible viewing angles, just like my Nexus 4. I guess the bright whites on the N5 look better, that's about it.
- Performance; I know the benchmarks tell the story, the Snapdragon 800 blows the S4 out of the water. But in real world performance, using both phones side by side for two hours, I could barely tell a difference in speed, just messing around with the phone. But we both have Nova launcher installed, with same settings. I guess the N5 was a hair snappier, but honestly so hard to tell much of a real world difference.
- Battery life; My brother had the phone for maybe 5 days at that point, and he said battery life was ok. He said heavy use would drain the battery down pretty quick, but that standby time was excellent. He said on average was getting like 3.5h to 4h On Screen time. On my S4 I get 5.5h to 6h On Screen time, and my phone with extreme heavy nonstop use lasts 14 to 16 hours, and on light days goes 24+ hours easily. My S4 I know gets better battery life.
- Haptic Feedback; For some reason, I never really like the haptic feel on my Nexus 4, it felt strange compared to other phones I owned. Same feel with the N5, just a weird vibration or cheep rattle feel. My S4 feels more solid when vibrating or using haptic feedback.
- Build Quality; I know the Galaxy S4 is no Lexus, it's still all plastic, but even my Brother commented that the feel of my S4 felt more premium than his N5. He said the volume and power button on my S4 felt solid, and more machined accurately, with a better pressing feel. He said his N5 buttons felt very cheap.
- Bottom line; My Brother is coming from a Galaxy Nexus, and he said to quote "Going from the EVO 4G to Galaxy Nexus felt like a night and day massive upgrade, but going from the Galaxy Nexus to the Nexus 5 now, doesn't feel nearly as a big an upgrade" He likes the Nexus 5, but said it just doesn't totally wow him, or blow him away. He said the N5 is cool, he'll keep it, mainly due to the price, and he would never spend over $350 for an off contract phone anyways, so no way would he spend $650 on a flagship phone out of contract. He's on Straight Talk ATT with the N5 by the way.
- Vanilla Android vs TW; I am a big stock Nexus fan, I like pure Android the best. But on my S4, I am running Nova + Kit Kat icon pack, plus Wanam Xposed Framework, and several other rooted tweaks, so my phone doesn't even really like a TW device anymore. I really couldn't tell a massive difference OS wise between both phones.
IMO, I am happy with my Galaxy S4, and I am a big Nexus guy. After playing with my brother's N5, I wouldn't even do an even-Stephen trade for a brand new Nexus 5 over my two month old S4. I like my screen better, I have better battery life, plus i have gotten pretty used to the bottom middle button to press and turn the screen on, I really like that.
Oh well, this is just my opinion. I think the phone for me in 2014, will be a Galaxy S5 Google Play Edition, if they make one.

Zorachus said:
This is just my opinion, with a couple hours of hands on with the Nexus 5, compared to my S4. I am not starting a flame war, or saying one is way better than the other, just my thoughts between these two great phone.
I have had my ATT S4 for a couple months now. And my brother just got his Nexus 5 this past week.
I dropped and broke my Nexus 4 back in September, and couldn't wait for the Nexus 5 release, so I find a killer deal at Best Buy for new S4's @ $49ea. Was bummed at first, I wouldn't be getting the new Nexus, and had to settle with just a plain Galaxy phone, but I am so happy now that I did.
Quick opinions;
- Screen; Maybe I am used to the Plasma deep blacks of my HDTV at home, but call me crazy, I actually like AMOLED, and love my S4 screen, the reds and blues just pop, and blacks are deep, and viewing angles are great. Where as the Nexus 5 looks washed out, with terrible viewing angles, just like my Nexus 4. I guess the bright whites on the N5 look better, that's about it.
- Performance; I know the benchmarks tell the story, the Snapdragon 800 blows the S4 out of the water. But in real world performance, using both phones side by side for two hours, I could barely tell a difference in speed, just messing around with the phone. But we both have Nova launcher installed, with same settings. I guess the N5 was a hair snappier, but honestly so hard to tell much of a real world difference.
- Battery life; My brother had the phone for maybe 5 days at that point, and he said battery life was ok. He said heavy use would drain the battery down pretty quick, but that standby time was excellent. He said on average was getting like 3.5h to 4h On Screen time. On my S4 I get 5.5h to 6h On Screen time, and my phone with extreme heavy nonstop use lasts 14 to 16 hours, and on light days goes 24+ hours easily. My S4 I know gets better battery life.
- Haptic Feedback; For some reason, I never really like the haptic feel on my Nexus 4, it felt strange compared to other phones I owned. Same feel with the N5, just a weird vibration or cheep rattle feel. My S4 feels more solid when vibrating or using haptic feedback.
- Build Quality; I know the Galaxy S4 is no Lexus, it's still all plastic, but even my Brother commented that the feel of my S4 felt more premium than his N5. He said the volume and power button on my S4 felt solid, and more machined accurately, with a better pressing feel. He said his N5 buttons felt very cheap.
- Bottom line; My Brother is coming from a Galaxy Nexus, and he said to quote "Going from the EVO 4G to Galaxy Nexus felt like a night and day massive upgrade, but going from the Galaxy Nexus to the Nexus 5 now, doesn't feel nearly as a big an upgrade" He likes the Nexus 5, but said it just doesn't totally wow him, or blow him away. He said the N5 is cool, he'll keep it, mainly due to the price, and he would never spend over $350 for an off contract phone anyways, so no way would he spend $650 on a flagship phone out of contract. He's on Straight Talk ATT with the N5 by the way.
- Vanilla Android vs TW; I am a big stock Nexus fan, I like pure Android the best. But on my S4, I am running Nova + Kit Kat icon pack, plus Wanam Xposed Framework, and several other rooted tweaks, so my phone doesn't even really like a TW device anymore. I really couldn't tell a massive difference OS wise between both phones.
IMO, I am happy with my Galaxy S4, and I am a big Nexus guy. After playing with my brother's N5, I wouldn't even do an even-Stephen trade for a brand new Nexus 5 over my two month old S4. I like my screen better, I have better battery life, plus i have gotten pretty used to the bottom middle button to press and turn the screen on, I really like that.
Oh well, this is just my opinion. I think the phone for me in 2014, will be a Galaxy S5 Google Play Edition, if they make one.
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Click to collapse
Strange
I hate touchwiz. I have had this phone 3 days and still tweaking to make it feel stock like my Nexus devices. I LOVE stock android. I have a MF3 GS4 so I cant ROM it and it annoys me a device that is as powerful as the N5 is still on 4.2 (ATT).
I honestly held both phones in the store and me and my GF both said the GS4 felt like flimsy paper next to the Nexus 5. The 5 just feels sturdier and like it has some sort of heft. Im worried having the GS4 in my pocket because bending my leg the wrong way puts pressure on it. Most Nexus devices feel strudy though. My Nexus7 is great and my Nexus S was a TANK!. My brother has gone through 3 GS4 screen and almost anyone else I know who has one has had their screen crack. I swear the image of the dandilion they use just LOOKS like a cracked screen so maybe its an omen.
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My S4 has decent battery now but I literally had to turn EVERYTHING off on it.
The bloatware on the S4 is CRAZY! Why do I need like 3 different movie and music players just because Samsung and ATT want to try and earn money from me using their store. Rooted the phone and froze all those apps out with Titanium.
Holding them side by side I liked the N5 screen better. Both being 5" I actually thought the N5 was smaller in hand until the rep corrected me. I personally prefer a smaller phone. Why have a phone 2/3 the size of my tablet? In the way of image, they seem the same to me.
I personally prefer a smaller phone.
I got the G4 because it was free and it would make a good backup device to have. My GF told me already she was getting me my N5 on Xmas.... Im just a nexus guy.

Thanks for your impressions between the two phones. Really helps my decision on considering getting rid of my S4 and switching to the N5.

The S4 and N5 weight the exact same at 130 grams. And size wise too, they are nearly identical. But I have a Spigen Neo Hybrid case on mine, adding more bulk and weight. I agree, without a case the S4 feels very light and wimpy.
Try Nova launcher with Kit Kat icon pack, and also install Wanam Xposed framework, both those will really allow some good tweaks, and make it look a lot different than stock TW.
Of course you need to be rooted. And with root, you can debloat this phone. I got rid of every ATT .apk, and a lot of Samsung crap I never use. By doing that, my battery life went up big time

Theoriginalgiga said:
Thanks for your impressions between the two phones. Really helps my decision on considering getting rid of my S4 and switching to the N5.
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Not worth it IMO. The N5 is a side grade to the S4, not a massive upgrade by any means. I think the N5 has a lesser quality screen, and worse battery life than the S4.

Screenshot of my home screen;
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app

Zorachus said:
Not worth it IMO. The N5 is a side grade to the S4, not a massive upgrade by any means. I think the N5 has a lesser quality screen, and worse battery life than the S4.
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Click to collapse
What gets me is the locked bl of the S4. Back when I was able to run task650's rom I was getting .3% battery drop an hour in standby running 4 emails constantly pushing along with bunch of texting and a little game play. I'd average 20hrs with 3 to 4 hrs screen time which IMO wasn't bad at all. After I blew out the chip on that one (from it being on my dashboard from a 700 mile drive using it as GPS) I got a replacement with Mf3. Now I'm getting anywhere between 2.2% to 9% battery drain an hour with less than 2 hours screen time with the EXACT same setup and usage. By lunchtime I put the thing on the charger. Oh I've used TiBu and frozen 99% of all the bloatware, and it helped getting it down from 13% drain an hour. I want the ability to use custom ROMS as I feel the devs on XDA are miles ahead of any of the devs with sammy or any other company. I'm not a stickler for screens, so long as I can see it outside and I can read messages I'm fine. Now my brother on the other hand... he's special when it comes to what is screen looks like :laugh:. I'll check out the battery life on the N5, maybe find a custom ROM that'll get better battery life. Worst comes to it and I don't like the N5 I'll hang onto it for a few months and trade for the next latest gadget phone.
Thanks for your feedback!

I agree 100% on the locked bootlaoder. That really pisses me off, and almost made me sell my S4. But with Root, and Wanam Xposed framework + Nova Launcher, and other.apk's, I am very happy with my S4 now.
Yes The Nexus 5 is great with the freedom, and all the custom ROM's and Kernels, etc... To me that is a big selling point to a Nexus device.
But end of the day, I care about battery life #1, and a beautiful screen #2. My S4 is gets sick battery life, somewhat close to what my old Note 2 got, and from what I read here about the N5's battery life, my S4 blows it out of the water. And screen preference is subjective, but I like the 1080p AMOLED, compared to LG's IPS displays.
I also got a S4 for my Wife, and her battery life is great too, of course her phone is rooted, with ATT and Samsung .apk's deleted. She comes home after work with 14 hours of usage, and still has 70% battery life left, but with only like an hour or little more of On Screen time. Her phone sits on her desk at work, on the ATT network, no WiFi ever for her at her workplace, and she only loses like 30% over 12+ hours with light use.

yeah the MF3 lock screws the potential of this phone. Why is it still on 4.2 (mine) when its capable of running much more.... my guess is their bloatware isnt compatible with anything higher.
I use APEX launcher myself I just find it more stable in my past experiances.
I Think for the modding, updates, and sturdiness alone the N5 is actually a better phone and more of an upgrade IF you didnt pay for your GS4 and are stuck on MF3, if you paid money then off it and get teh N5

tevil said:
yeah the MF3 lock screws the potential of this phone. Why is it still on 4.2 (mine) when its capable of running much more.... my guess is their bloatware isnt compatible with anything higher.
I use APEX launcher myself I just find it more stable in my past experiances.
I Think for the modding, updates, and sturdiness alone the N5 is actually a better phone and more of an upgrade IF you didnt pay for your GS4 and are stuck on MF3, if you paid money then off it and get teh N5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well you can jump to 4.3 if you wanted to, but again the phone is locked down so you can't root or SS which makes it kinda useless IMO. As for launchers I use Nova Prime. I really like it and it isn't heavy at all.
Agreed, it's a fantastic device, with an unlocked BL this phone would still smoke the N5 hands down. Heck if I could trade my phone over to an MDL or MDM phone so I could reload a custom rom I'd do it and never think twice about the N5. But with the phone the way it is, it's only a little better than the Iphone. Heck that's where the button came from. If apple wouldn't have fought so hard about the button, the S4 wouldn't have one. I buy android to do what I want, how I want and if I can't do it, I want the ability to make it happen. With an android phone locked and bloated that just doesn't happen and IMO detracts from what Android stands for.
/rant

Theoriginalgiga said:
well you can jump to 4.3 if you wanted to, but again the phone is locked down so you can't root or SS which makes it kinda useless IMO. As for launchers I use Nova Prime. I really like it and it isn't heavy at all.
Agreed, it's a fantastic device, with an unlocked BL this phone would still smoke the N5 hands down. Heck if I could trade my phone over to an MDL or MDM phone so I could reload a custom rom I'd do it and never think twice about the N5. But with the phone the way it is, it's only a little better than the Iphone. Heck that's where the button came from. If apple wouldn't have fought so hard about the button, the S4 wouldn't have one. I buy android to do what I want, how I want and if I can't do it, I want the ability to make it happen. With an android phone locked and bloated that just doesn't happen and IMO detracts from what Android stands for.
/rant
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear you. The locked bootloader on the S4, and now the ATT Note 3 too, really sucks. Every Android phone I have owned, has been rooted, with customer Recovery on it, and ROM's flashed on it all day long. Now this S4 being locked down, is so alien to me, not being able to flash anything on it, I feel stuck, or like an iPhone without a Jailbreak.
Thank God for Root + Wanam Xposed Framework + Nova at least :good:
I blame ATT mainly for this BS. Samsung doesn't lock down other S4's or Note 3's. The International versions, and T-Mobile, and Sprint versions can all be unlocked easily. It's ATT pulling this crap.

The KitKat theme you're running - is it KitKat (Apex Nova Adw theme) by BLADEXDESIGNS?

Zorachus said:
I hear you. The locked bootloader on the S4, and now the ATT Note 3 too, really sucks. Every Android phone I have owned, has been rooted, with customer Recovery on it, and ROM's flashed on it all day long. Now this S4 being locked down, is so alien to me, not being able to flash anything on it, I feel stuck, or like an iPhone without a Jailbreak.
Thank God for Root + Wanam Xposed Framework + Nova at least :good:
I blame ATT mainly for this BS. Samsung doesn't lock down other S4's or Note 3's. The International versions, and T-Mobile, and Sprint versions can all be unlocked easily. It's ATT pulling this crap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you're right that the AT&T phones have been the hardest to crack but rest assured that Samsung will pass these locked bootloader techniques to the rest of them. Samsung has been in so many patent wars with Apple, they're really starting to follow suit with them.
I do mainly blame AT&T as well. their whole fear of network insecurity and "wanting to ensure user's experience" is just bull. They don't know how to manage their network which causes these issues. But I don't lift any responsibility from Sammy either. If Samsung wanted to embrace the true vision of Android they'd follow HTC's model. HTC offers (at least they used to) a "developer" unlock for theirs device from their own website. Sure it would void the warranty, but so does any rooting (which is another rant for another day). I'm voting with my wallet from here on out, no more locked phones and no more Samsung phones until they offer them unlocked as well. And seriously the person who invented the Qfuse needs to be taken out back and beaten with a rubber hose lol.

Theoriginalgiga said:
you're right that the AT&T phones have been the hardest to crack but rest assured that Samsung will pass these locked bootloader techniques to the rest of them. Samsung has been in so many patent wars with Apple, they're really starting to follow suit with them.
I do mainly blame AT&T as well. their whole fear of network insecurity and "wanting to ensure user's experience" is just bull. They don't know how to manage their network which causes these issues. But I don't lift any responsibility from Sammy either. If Samsung wanted to embrace the true vision of Android they'd follow HTC's model. HTC offers (at least they used to) a "developer" unlock for theirs device from their own website. Sure it would void the warranty, but so does any rooting (which is another rant for another day). I'm voting with my wallet from here on out, no more locked phones and no more Samsung phones until they offer them unlocked as well. And seriously the person who invented the Qfuse needs to be taken out back and beaten with a rubber hose lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Next phone I buy sometime in 2014, I will really investigate first, to make sure it can be unlocked easily. But unfortunately, that means paying full price for a 'developer edition' or getting a Nexus phone. I don't see any contract phones being rootable out of the box in the future.
For sure the Galaxy S5 and Note 4, on ATT, will be locked down tight like a submarine, no custom recoveries on those phones. Maybe the upcoming HTC 1 will be unlocked ?
There are only three phones I am interested in 2014;
- Galaxy S5 = Feb / March release, but will be locked down
- HTC 1 = March release, maybe open bootloader ?
- Asus Nexus 6 = October release.

Please take this discussion here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2433789

First impressions

Now that tmobile users are getting they're hands on the s7e it would be great tovshare you first impressions. The feel of the phone overall with likes and dislikes. People can ask the users in one thread
Share [emoji2]
Sent from my SM-G925F

Okay, I'll partake. I received the T Mobile S7 edge this morning at work.
The S7e is fast as hell. I've been setting it up and playing with it for the last 3 hours. Things that would lag on the S6 no longer lag. For example, downloading a theme from the Samsung theme store and then installing it is super fast. Or going into settings> applications> default applications...that used to lag out with the S6, but with the S7 it is instant. I even forgot to change my animation speeds in developer settings to 0.5 because I just don't have to. The finger print scanner is freakin' bananas, much faster than the S6, and it seems quite accurate as well.
For anyone on T Mobile that had an S6 and suffered from CELL STANDBY DRAIN when WiFi calling and/or VOLTE were on...so far, both are on and I have had no significant cell standby drain. The phone has been on for 9 hours, SOT is at 3 hours, battery is at 45%, cell standby is only accounting for 3% of battery use:good:. Android system is at 35%, but I think that's related to this being the device's very first battery cycle. Keep in mind that the phone has been restoring all my apps and data from Google and was trapped in an office with bad coverage and weak WiFi for most of the day. I really think Qualcomm's 820 SOC is better at the signal/reception thing when compared to the Exynos. Yes, I prefer Snapdragon for 2016. Thank you Samsung for sharing that FinFet-thingy-process.
TW on Marshmallow is the best version yet, I think, mostly because of the speed, but animations are also pleasant. I guess I'll never see 6.0.1 on my S6, which is going back to T Mo for the JUMP trade-in credit.
I haven't tested the camera besides checking the focus speed, which is very impressive.
Build quality seems good. Not a huge fan of the curved edges, just don't see much of a purpose there except to complicate screen protection. But they didn't make the flat S7 with a 5.5" screen and a 3600mAh battery, so I had to get the edge, I'll learn to love it.
That's enough for now.

Dr. Fed said:
Okay, I'll partake. I received the T Mobile S7 edge this morning at work.
The S7e is fast as hell. I've been setting it up and playing with it for the last 3 hours. Things that would lag on the S6 no longer lag. For example, downloading a theme from the Samsung theme store and then installing it is super fast. Or going into settings> applications> default applications...that used to lag out with the S6, but with the S7 it is instant. I even forgot to change my animation speeds in developer settings to 0.5 because I just don't have to. The finger print scanner is freakin' bananas, much faster than the S6, and it seems quite accurate as well.
For anyone on T Mobile that had an S6 and suffered from CELL STANDBY DRAIN when WiFi calling and/or VOLTE were on...so far, both are on and I have had no significant cell standby drain. The phone has been on for 9 hours, SOT is at 3 hours, battery is at 45%, cell standby is only accounting for 3% of battery use:good:. Android system is at 35%, but I think that's related to this being the device's very first battery cycle. Keep in mind that the phone has been restoring all my apps and data from Google and was trapped in an office with bad coverage and weak WiFi for most of the day. I really think Qualcomm's 820 SOC is better at the signal/reception thing when compared to the Exynos. Yes, I prefer Snapdragon for 2016. Thank you Samsung for sharing that FinFet-thingy-process.
TW on Marshmallow is the best version yet, I think, mostly because of the speed, but animations are also pleasant. I guess I'll never see 6.0.1 on my S6, which is going back to T Mo for the JUMP trade-in credit.
I haven't tested the camera besides checking the focus speed, which is very impressive.
Build quality seems good. Not a huge fan of the curved edges, just don't see much of a purpose there except to complicate screen protection. But they didn't make the flat S7 with a 5.5" screen and a 3600mAh battery, so I had to get the edge, I'll learn to love it.
That's enough for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please keep us updated on the battery life

I played with it for half an hour in a TMobile shop in Holland and feel very tempted to buy this fast monster, could anybody from the USA perform a n Antutu benchmark and post the results so we can compare the Snapdragon 820 to the Exynos version ?

The benchmarks were already posted in a benchmark thread on the s7 forums.
About the exynos modem thats the only thing that worries me. As on the s6 cell standby is horrific andbthe ssp wake locks are killing the battery
Sent from my SM-G925F

PlatinumNick said:
please keep us updated on the battery life
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I let the phone trickle down to 13% battery this morning before I recharged it. SOT was 5 hours (4hrs 59 minutes). Not bad. I was getting 2.5 with the S6.

Dr. Fed said:
I let the phone trickle down to 13% battery this morning before I recharged it. SOT was 5 hours (4hrs 59 minutes). Not bad. I was getting 2.5 with the S6.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
um i was expecting a little bit more but i guess it will get better with time

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This was mine from last last night (i work 11pm-7am) i slept around 7-8am woke up at 2-3pm trying to drain it to the end so i can finally charge it. Always on display is activated and i am definitely amazed with battery life on this

I've had my S7 Edge since the 29th. T-Mobile of course.
I'm coming from an S4, so this was a huge upgrade in every way. Camera is amazing, in pretty much every regard. I slapped Nova 3.3 on it (for the black app drawer) and it runs lightning fast. I was happy to see that the edge apps work with Nova.
Complaint time.... I'm definitely not sold on the edges of the display though. By far my biggest gripe. I was a little disappointed that my S4 actually has as much usable screen width than the S7E. The curved edges for me, just get in the way. They distort text and images close to the edge. My finger has a tendency to sort of slip off the side of the screen when doing anything close to the edge. Kind of annoying. Many websites, even in mobile form, don't fit the edge screen properly. The right or left side is sometimes curved around the edge. Not good. Also, the edges make it slightly difficult to simply pick the phone up. Silly as that seems. The sides are a little too thin I think. Not really sure what purpose it serves at all. Takes away screen space.
I'm on T-Mobile's Jump On Demand, so I'll probably get the Note 6 this fall. I would have LOVED this to be a flat screened 5.5" display. That would have been perfect. Don't think I'll ever get another an edge screen.
I imagine I'll get used to it as time goes by, but I'm already looking forward to August or September.
Cheers!

Hoggles said:
Complaint time.... I'm definitely not sold on the edges of the display though. By far my biggest gripe. I was a little disappointed that my S4 actually has as much usable screen width than the S7E. The curved edges for me, just get in the way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I read your post earlier. I had actually pre-ordered the S7 last week. After looking at the S7E at Best Buy today I canceled the S7 and ordered the Edge. Now I'm thinking maybe I should've just stayed with the S7. I read somewhere that the Edge is out selling the S7 3 to 1. I also had a S4 and have a S6 now. I only had the S6 for about 5 months but I cannot deal with it's poor battery life any more. My S4 had a much better battery. I had it for over 2 years and never replaced the original battery and never needed to carry a spare. How does the battery on your S7E compare to your S4? Thanks.

Battery life is superb vs my Note 4.
Currently 14hours 40min on battery, SOT of 4 hours. Sitting at 20 percent with another estimated 2h40m remaining. Unplugged at 9am, almost 12am now. So easily a full day's use of work.
---------- Post added at 11:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:39 PM ----------
skivnit said:
Now that tmobile users are getting they're hands on the s7e it would be great tovshare you first impressions. The feel of the phone overall with likes and dislikes. People can ask the users in one thread
Share [emoji2]
Sent from my SM-G925F
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone feels amazing in hand but I warn you that it is slippery if you have no moisture on your hands. The curve of the phone does little with grip when there's just no friction on glass front and back. Camera auto focus is as impressive as they say. Bloatware hasn't been too bad, some can't be removed like the T-mobile stuff, so I just disabled them. Touchwiz I can't comment on because I swap to Nova as soon as I get most phones now.
Some things I noticed:
1. The recent apps button only lets you close apps now, no more shortcut to the ram usage
2. Data button no longer in notification drawer, can't add it either
3. Volume increase is not linear, it's actually exponential. I only seem to use the last 3 or 4 notches on media volume while the first 3/4 of volume media is useless
4. Edge panel is a hit or miss. It's basically the same as what Pie control does.

Eddie Hicks said:
I wish I read your post earlier. I had actually pre-ordered the S7 last week. After looking at the S7E at Best Buy today I canceled the S7 and ordered the Edge. Now I'm thinking maybe I should've just stayed with the S7. I read somewhere that the Edge is out selling the S7 3 to 1. I also had a S4 and have a S6 now. I only had the S6 for about 5 months but I cannot deal with it's poor battery life any more. My S4 had a much better battery. I had it for over 2 years and never replaced the original battery and never needed to carry a spare. How does the battery on your S7E compare to your S4? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had my S4 since May of '13. Great phone. Original battery as well. It was definitely starting to degrade though. Battery life in the S7 edge is fantastic. Over 5 hours of screen on time regularly. And that of course is pushing it pretty hard, testing it out in the first week and all.
This time around, my main focus was a larger display and battery. That's why I went with the edge. A little bummed with the edges in real life as I mentioned. It pains me to say this about a gorgeous device like this, but I honestly feel it's a hindrance to the experience.
Not in any way trying to bum you out before you get yours. You do have a buyer's remorse period, of course, if it doesn't suit you. I'll hold out till the Note 6, in part because of the VR, Netflix bundle....and I have to wait at least 4 months to do a Jump upgrade. I have no doubt that I'll love the time spent with my Edge.... Just not my cup o tea

Hoggles said:
I
This time around, my main focus was a larger display and battery. That's why I went with the edge. A little bummed with the edges in real life as I mentioned. It pains me to say this about a gorgeous device like this, but I honestly feel it's a hindrance to the experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. The larger battery is my main focus also. I also thought that the Edge would be bigger than it is. I was thinking is was more like the Note 5. I really don't want a Phablet. But after holding the Edge it's really a good size and doesn't appear to be much bigger than the S7 or my S6. If it don't work out I have 14 days to return it. I'll just have to pay the $35 restocking fee and get the S7 or maybe even something else.

Got mine from BB this morning, AT&T variant gold Edge and it is a beauty.
Setting it up and updating all the apps ran smoothly. Fingerprint scanner is great, the display is great, audio sounds fantastic vis headphones and I'm not sure what DAC is it this but it doesn't matter I guess, the size is great (I admit it is slippery BUT hello Apple, are you listening regarding the size), no lag so far but I'm not finished going through my entire analysis routine yet.
Could this be the android device we've all been waiting and hoping for? That remains to be seen but WOW!!
This thing is da bomb so far! Run, don't walk. You can return it but me thinks not!

I have to agree about the edge. Coming from an LG G3 with the same 5.5 inch screen, the Edge feels small. The curved part of the screen is useless, complicates buying of cases and screen protection.
It's pretty to look at though! So I think I'll stick with it for a year and see how I get on. I'm just worried I'll drop the phone and crack the screen with the smaller drop while my LG has flower across the room in its case and its still perfect

[REVIEWS]
Since forum moderators are closing dedicated review threads we reviewers made, here are my reviews:
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Review:
Also, here is my Galaxy S7 review:
Hope you enjoy it!

Hey here is a little tip that I just realized coming from the note 4. Is it me or does every single widget now work on 3rd party launchers? My apologies if the s6 or n5 where the same way but on the n4 most Samsung widgets only worked on the TouchWiz launchers.
This is why it initially took me a bit to switch from default so I can get the "intended experience" before modding everything until I realized just about everything works with any launcher (I'm using nova).
Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

Hi Can anyone play this http://demo-uhd3d.com/fiche.php?cat=uhd&id=26 with mxplayer in hw or hw+ decode mode? Does that video stutters? Specify exynos or sd 820 variant.
Thank
Inviato dal mio ASUS_Z00A utilizzando Tapatalk

gaetanolip said:
Hi Can anyone play this http://demo-uhd3d.com/fiche.php?cat=uhd&id=26 with mxplayer in hw or hw+ decode mode? Does that video stutters? Specify exynos or sd 820 variant.
Thank
Inviato dal mio ASUS_Z00A utilizzando Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should ask this in the S7 Edge Help section rather than taking this thread off-topic.

Received mine yesterday (3/8, T-Mo), and coming from a Note 5...
24 hours in, and my response is one of indifference. Let me preface that response by saying that, unlike many others, I didn't order this phone having a particular set of standards the s7 edge needed to attain. Having been a Nexus-head, it took me until the Note 5 to even begin to warm back up to Samsung phones in general, so w/ that being said...
Pros:
-Design. I was comfortable w/ the size of the Note 5, and have no qualms about the fit of the s7 edge in my hand. It definitely feels like a true "candy bar" style of phone. I feel confident enough in the grip that, as w/ my other phones, will likely leave this one naked as well w/ no worries.
-Battery life. Yes, I'm fully aware I'm only 24 hours in, but there is a noticeable difference in how power usage is allocated w/ the s7 edge. The only "saving" feature I've initiated is the app optimization option for approx 85% of my installed apps, while leaving everything else to run as intended. I'll refrain from using Greenify or any other optimization app for now, as I've made the choice to not root this phone unless can see that the benefits of doing so outweigh the costs of losing Samsung/Android Pay or find that there's a feature of root that is a must-have on the s7.
-Apps Edge. Having played w/ that feature on custom ROMs on the Note 5 that had it baked in, I can now say that I can see it growing on me w/ this phone and replacing LMT. I'm only using 4 feeds (weather, calendar, shortcuts and apps) and that's enough functionality to allow me to utilize more screen real estate. W/ Nova Prime,(immersive mode, dock hidden, double tap gesture to open app drawer), the Apps Edge screen compliments my daily needs perfectly w/ no clutter.
Cons:
-RAM usage. Samsung still hasn't gotten it right. They've gotten it BETTER, but still abnormally high usage. It's too early to tell how this'll impact lag down the road, but hopefully it's no worse than on the Note 5 (which for all intents and purposes, had minimal lag when running basic applications and functions, stock and rooted).
-Inconsistent screen sensitivity. I'd imagine or hope this will tackled in a future update, as it appears others have mentioned this quirk as well.
-Edge feed when screen off. It's been a challenge trying to find the "sweet spot" to activate it. Not necessarily a deal breaker for me, but could become problematic for others if coming from a previous Edge handset.
-"WOW" factor. For as nice as the phone is, there isn't really anything that particularly stands out about it coming from the Note 5. That's not a knock on the s7 edge by any means, I'm just stating my opinion that coming from another flagship device that isn't quite a year old to this one isn't a giant leap forward. The only reason I didn't hold out for the next Note is because I had a J.O.D. to burn.
Conclusion: Good phone overall. Those coming from any device older than a year should be thoroughly impressed; those coming from high-end devices less than a year old may likely echo my sentiments.

Anyone interested in M10

I'm definitely interested. I love this phone, but I didn't think the M9 was much of an upgrade. We shall see though. It will between htc 10 & moto X pure
Sent from my m8wl using XDA-Developers mobile app

sjpritch25 said:
I'm definitely interested. I love this phone, but I didn't think the M9 was much of an upgrade. We shall see though. It will between htc 10 & moto X pure
Sent from my m8wl using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would like some insight too.
1st. Would like the M10 2nd. Google (read about *4G issues?) 6P .
question is being on VZW.
will s-off and root be possible for M10 on vzw?
??

So I was on the fence for a while going back and forth with the leaks, but I think after the official announcement I'm in. Everything about this phone sounds great. I'm also liking their new ad campaign. HTC's #1 issue has been marketing. Yes the M9 was a miss for most of us on this forum, but that's because we already had the M8 and there was little reason to upgrade. The M9 was in many ways still an excellent phone. I really hope that the HTC 10 + Vive can help HTC recapture the market. The fact that they are releasing a new phone that pushes the envelope in nearly every direction despite shrinking margins and posting a net loss is very impressive.
I can't say with certainty, but I'm very hopeful of the s-off / rooting potential of this phone, even then VZW version. The unlocked GSM model will be able to unlock the bootloader via HTCDev.
As it seems is always the case these days, with everything new we get, we lose some features as well. Let's take a moment of silence for stereo front facing speakers and the IR blaster... add them to the Qi wireless charging we lost after the DNA.
My only complaints with the HTC 10 so far: Facebook will come preinstalled and can't be removed (ugh), and the rear camera sticks out, which is fine if you use a case, but I almost never do, so that's annoying.
Oh, and I apparently the Camellia Red colorway is a KDDI JPY exclusive, which stinks. I have the red M8 and I love it! If I could buy a red 10 I'd be so happy.
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spjetrovic said:
I would like some insight too.
1st. Would like the M10 2nd. Google (read about *4G issues?) 6P .
question is being on VZW.
will s-off and root be possible for M10 on vzw?
??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a feeling S-Off will come to the HTC 10, Jcase had this to say
https://twitter.com/jcase/status/719891850484559873
HTC 10 will be on all carriers except At&t, the unlocked variant will of course work on there still. I am so excited for this device, it has everything you could want in a phone. Sense UI is still great & it being closer to stock is a plus. This & the Galaxy S7 are the only 2 devices right now that have my attention, its either a phone that can be Rooted & Boomsound or a phone that is Water Resistant & has Layers Support.

krazie1 said:
I have a feeling S-Off will come to the HTC 10, Jcase had this to say
https://twitter.com/jcase/status/719891850484559873
HTC 10 will be on all carriers except At&t, the unlocked variant will of course work on there still. I am so excited for this device, it has everything you could want in a phone. Sense UI is still great & it being closer to stock is a plus. This & the Galaxy S7 are the only 2 devices right now that have my attention, its either a phone that can be Rooted & Boomsound or a phone that is Water Resistant & has Layers Support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks buddy, I love my ?8.
I recently dropped it and cracked the screen. So I have been looking for a replacement.
Would like it to be better then the M8.
Being I'm on VZW unlimited. I know Big red is locking all doors. I would like to use my phone with the least possible restriction. Would like the phone to have great community/dev support.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA-Developers mobile app

krazie1 said:
I have a feeling S-Off will come to the HTC 10, Jcase had this to say
I am so excited for this device, it has everything you could want in a phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And a built in battery which makes it a totally useless phone for me. My M8 is the only phone I'll ever own with a non-removable battery. Sorry HTC, not for me.
No removable battery or no removable storage card = NO!

xs11e said:
And a built in battery which makes it a totally useless phone for me. My M8 is the only phone I'll ever own with a non-removable battery. Sorry HTC, not for me.
No removable battery or no removable storage card = NO!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HTC 10 has a Micro SD Slot that supports up to 2TB

krazie1 said:
HTC 10 has a Micro SD Slot that supports up to 2TB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One out of two = NO! Micro SD slot AND removable battery = minimum acceptable features.
I may pick up a used Galaxy 4 again and activate it, the M8 is now two years old and the battery life has dropped quite a bit... <sigh>

Removable batteries are not a priority for the majority of users. In all the years I've had a phone I've never swapped out batteries. While I understand there may be use cases that require removable batteries, I've found that portable battery packs solve most use cases. If you must have the ability to swap batteries than I suggest looking at the LG G5.

I like the HTC 10. Seems like a solid upgrade, especially the camera which is now one of the best on the market compared to the M9 being one of the worst. Sense 8, and lack of bloatware seems fantastic for the unlocked version. If Javacard can s-off the HTC 10 on Verizon, that might pull me over! Sense is probably the cleanest, smoothest UI I've used.
I ended up getting a Nexus 6P in mid-march. Love the screen size. I'm holding LTE band 4 a lot better than I did with the M8, and can now get LTE in my basement when I was only able to get 3G on M8.
The 4G issue you were referring to could have been fixed by the last major firmware update, but who knows. Haven't had a problem with mine. Go figure. Every phone has its own personality
Only annoying part is Verizon includes free visual voicemail, but no way to use it (no app compatible) so I keep getting a text for each voicemail. Can be rectified by calling CS and downgrading to basic voicemail, but don't care enough. I may get 1 voicemail every month? lol

I use Google Voice for my voicemail, it's free and much better than Verizon's offering. As an added bonus, you get a 2nd phone number which is great for when you don't want to give out your actual cell to anyone (filtering calls is much easier in Google Voice than through Verizon).

I'll wait until the first or second price drop. Since my m8 just got marshmallow, I'm very happy with it and don't need to be on the latest and greatest. I'd rather have the money in my pocket.

I would love to get another HTC phone but the 10 isn't up to snuff compared to the Samsung Galaxy S7. I was leaning towards the S7 just because of the wireless charging ability and better camera.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

I was interested (more so bored with having the same phone over a year) but then I bought my wife a galaxy s7 and I can say for certain other than camera performance, faster charging and specs nothing has changed since 2014 worth upgrading for. For two days I ran app after same app on both with no real difference in real world speed (running stock rooted marshmallow with NO mods) despite benchmarks and specs. Increased resolution serves no purpose other than specs on a 5" screen and human eyes. Both screens look perfect. I guess a fingerprint reader would be nice for people who lock their phone or think it's easier to pull out a phone than bank card (she doesn't use it. Never even been set up).
Point is after real world comparison nothing revolutionary has changed. They aren't even getting prettier and thinner anymore (m8 and m9 look better and thinner).So I bought a skin/wrap and I feel like I have a brand new phone. Pretty sure this is why at some point they stop supporting newer software. From 2014 many people would never need to buy a new phone except for outdated software.

drumz0rz said:
Removable batteries are not a priority for the majority of users. In all the years I've had a phone I've never swapped out batteries. While I understand there may be use cases that require removable batteries, I've found that portable battery packs solve most use cases. If you must have the ability to swap batteries than I suggest looking at the LG G5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm considering the G5, hoping someone will unlock the bootloader. I suspect people with newer phones haven't encountered the battery problems I have with my M8 (my LAST PHONE with a non-removable battery!) which is over 3 years old, the battery was fine until around 30 days ago...
I hit the sack around 11 PM and connect the phone to the charger, I get up at 7 AM and take the phone off the charger. When new, I could often get to 10 PM w/o recharging, recently I have to recharge TWICE during the day and today I noticed the phone won't charge more than 85%!
So now my options are: Replace battery, this involves losing the phone for some days and spending a bunch of bucks or new phone, again a bunch of bucks or buying a used phone from Swappa, again a bunch of bucks all of which would never have happened if I could only remove the old battery and slide in a new one!

I'll definitely try to get it. When ever they decide to release it on VZW. Way worth the upgrade from the M8 . 4 gigs of ram, SD 820, fingerprint, new boomsound/headphone audio, better cameras, 4k video recording, USB C, QC 3.0, a little bigger screen size but without the size of the phone increasing, I assume better battery life.

I stopped by a Verizon store yesterday to play with their display 10. It's a nice phone, but I don't think it's worth the $600-700 price to upgrade over the M8. I like the physical design of the M8 better, not a fan of the chamfored edged on the back or the rear camera bump. For the "best mobile camera ever" I was underwhelmed. Maybe it's just the awful lighting in the verizon store, but the image quality wasn't substantially different. I noticed the 10's front camera is much less wide-angle than the M8's. Moving the headphone jack to the top sucks. Back to the days of wires sticking out the top and bottom of your device. Also, you know how the M8 has that glossy plastic strip across the top, which blends well into the IR blaster power button? Well the 10 has the same strip except it's a soft matte grey plastic that I just don't think works at all. It looks like the original M7 did.
To be honest I'm a bit disappointed. I rushed out to buy the Thunderbolt when it came out, I waited for the store to open to pick up the DNA. Upgrading to the M8 felt like a major upgrade. Going from M8 to 10 though just feels like a slight iteration, gaining some new bells and whistles but losing others. Maybe HTC will get the 11 right, if they survive that long...

drumz0rz said:
I stopped by a Verizon store yesterday to play with their display 10. It's a nice phone, but I don't think it's worth the $600-700 price to upgrade over the M8. I like the physical design of the M8 better, not a fan of the chamfored edged on the back or the rear camera bump. For the "best mobile camera ever" I was underwhelmed. Maybe it's just the awful lighting in the verizon store, but the image quality wasn't substantially different. I noticed the 10's front camera is much less wide-angle than the M8's. Moving the headphone jack to the top sucks. Back to the days of wires sticking out the top and bottom of your device. Also, you know how the M8 has that glossy plastic strip across the top, which blends well into the IR blaster power button? Well the 10 has the same strip except it's a soft matte grey plastic that I just don't think works at all. It looks like the original M7 did.
To be honest I'm a bit disappointed. I rushed out to buy the Thunderbolt when it came out, I waited for the store to open to pick up the DNA. Upgrading to the M8 felt like a major upgrade. Going from M8 to 10 though just feels like a slight iteration, gaining some new bells and whistles but losing others. Maybe HTC will get the 11 right, if they survive that long...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pixel count the image is wider. The m8 only has a 4MP camera while the 10 has a 12MP camera. It shoots @12mP in 4:3. The wide-screen mode is a cropped version of the 12MP and still is a lot more MP than the m8. Also the screen is a much higher resolution than the m8 so the same pictures from the m8 would take up less space.
Honestly the phone is solid. Battery is great. Been using mine for a couple days now.
Sent from my HTC6545LVW using Tapatalk

I'll get mine on Monday I hope.
Sent from my m8wl using XDA-Developers mobile app

xs11e said:
I'm considering the G5, hoping someone will unlock the bootloader. I suspect people with newer phones haven't encountered the battery problems I have with my M8 (my LAST PHONE with a non-removable battery!) which is over 3 years old, the battery was fine until around 30 days ago...
I hit the sack around 11 PM and connect the phone to the charger, I get up at 7 AM and take the phone off the charger. When new, I could often get to 10 PM w/o recharging, recently I have to recharge TWICE during the day and today I noticed the phone won't charge more than 85%!
So now my options are: Replace battery, this involves losing the phone for some days and spending a bunch of bucks or new phone, again a bunch of bucks or buying a used phone from Swappa, again a bunch of bucks all of which would never have happened if I could only remove the old battery and slide in a new one!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got my G5, great phone. I miss unlocked boot loader, root and custom roms but that may come later...
So adios to the M8 forums and THANKS for all the help, advice and ROMs from some amazing devs.
Sent from my VS987 using XDA-Developers mobile app

Perplexed S8+/S7E

So a little background...I currently own a LG G4 and my Wife has a G5. Against better judgment my wife decided to ignore my suggestion to put her case back on her phone and of course she dropped it and shattered the screen. I am due for an upgrade and plan on giving her my G4 and I want to upgrade to either the S7 Edge or the new S8+. I was leaning for the S8+ because of the VR that you get for free but was wondering if the S7E would be a better option. I mostly play basic games, FB, and web surf on my phones, and my phone is usually my go to camera and with a baby on the way I want to make sure I have as good of one as I can get. I will use the VR quite a bit I think as long as there are some cool apps out there for it. So basically S8+ or S7E or is the S8 a better option?

Latest is greatest. Go for S8+ or S8. Better screen, bluetooth 5.0, better video card, 2 versions of android from 7 to 9, 64 gb internal etc.

You will most definitely enjoy the amazing S8+ screen if you consume a lot of media and surf the web, and of course VR is improved once again. The S8/S8+ camera is currently the best that there is in any phone, very good at low light, and takes detailed shots with excellent colors.
But you should definitely first try the S8 and S8+ in real life, especially when you have owned a smaller phone like the LG G4 before. I bought the plus version because I have the Galaxy S6 Edge+, and the width of the S8 plus version is almost the same, only a bit taller. The normal S8 is roughly the same size as your previous phone (the LG G4), but still packs a huge display, making it great for media consumption. Buying the normal S8 will only decrease the battery size by 15%, but will cost $100 less (at least where I live, buying the phone unlocked) and you can handle the phone with one hand, while having a huge display for media. Camera and performance are the exact same on both devices.
So, I suggest you to try the phones in real life to see if you like the S8 or the S8+ better, they are the very best that there are right now, and the best that there will be until August. :good:

You would quickly regret getting the s7e IMO. The note 7 spoiled me and the s7e isn't even comparable to it IMO. I'm hoping the s8+ has the same tech (minus exploding batteries) as the note 7.
If you want a s7e bad enough, I will sell you mine on the 21st.

I have never even seen a note 7. To me a stylus would be annoying and slow down using the phone. What were the best things about the note 7? Everyone raves about them hopefully the note 8 is cool

The S7 Edge is a great phone, have it now. May also be the last phone Samsung makes that comes with an unlockable bootloader, root and xposed. I have an S8+ coming but it will be swiftly exchanged for an S7 Edge if it arrives locked down to such an extent that I deem it not to be fundimentally android anymore...

Thanks for the replies. I also agree that if the S8 is locked down to that extent I don't see myself wanting to keep it. It's like buying a house and not being able to decorate it the way you want.

S8 sd835 will for sure be locked down, if I were you I would get the exynos s8. I currently have the s7e so the s8 isn't enticing to me, but if I had anything else I would definitely jump to s8, cameras between the two r basically identical

Shuthefrontdoor said:
S8 sd835 will for sure be locked down, if I were you I would get the exynos s8. I currently have the s7e so the s8 isn't enticing to me, but if I had anything else I would definitely jump to s8, cameras between the two r basically identical
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some are saying exynos to will be equally locked down if thats the case i will return it for the exynos S7 edge; which i have now and i must say, it is awesome! Xposed and root is pretty sweet!

johnwayne27 said:
I have never even seen a note 7. To me a stylus would be annoying and slow down using the phone. What were the best things about the note 7? Everyone raves about them hopefully the note 8 is cool
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The note 7 was just on a different level as far as smoothness/quickness. I'm not sure if it was the processor or just UI differences, but I never had any lag at all on it. I've now had 2 s7e's and they both lag or hesitate when doing simple stuff like pulling up samsung pay. With the note, all I did was swipe up and pay, and with the s7e I have to swipe up and wait for 1 or 2 seconds before the screen becomes responsive again. Its small things like that.

dumpyloser said:
The note 7 was just on a different level as far as smoothness/quickness. I'm not sure if it was the processor or just UI differences, but I never had any lag at all on it. I've now had 2 s7e's and they both lag or hesitate when doing simple stuff like pulling up samsung pay. With the note, all I did was swipe up and pay, and with the s7e I have to swipe up and wait for 1 or 2 seconds before the screen becomes responsive again. Its small things like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The note was on another level. The design was pretty much perfect. Synergies now in the s8 but the height might piss us all off more than we think. Time will tell.
But the note smoothness was real and I fear that we have fond memories of a phone we didn't have long enough for it to "SammySlow" like all their products do. It kills me but I'm gonna take another leap of faith again.
I love my pixel but it's also supremely boring. Had the note never failed I wouldn't have owned the pixel. It teaches you that Google is far superior in software and that pizzazz means a ton more than that to me I guess.
Sent from my Pixel XL using XDA-Developers Legacy app

I am actually considering canceling my S8+ pre-order and getting the S7 Edge mainly because I do NOT want Buzby, the text doesn't go all the way to the Edge on the S8 like it does on the 7 and of course, cheaper.

cantenna said:
Some are saying exynos to will be equally locked down ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Source?
I haven't heard that..
Edit:
This?
Quote:
Finally, the Exynos 8895 also includes what Samsung is calling an “enhanced security sub-system with a separate security processing unit” for use with user authentication, mobile payments, and the like. Based on Samsung’s description this sounds a heck of a lot like Apple’s Secure Enclave, which would be a very welcome development, as in Apple’s case it has made their phones a lot harder to break into.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/11149/...-8895-soc-10nm

spent a couple years in iOS land wanting something different, came back to android for the Note 7. I have had every single note series phone except the note 5, lack of expandable storage ruined it for me (iphone at least had 128gb options)
Note 7 would survive me normal using it, from about 7am to 8-9pm at night and still have 20-25% battery left.
The S7E has been a real POS. Battery life sucks, the curved edge is steeper than the note 7 was and I get phantom touches out the ass that make using the phone a pain sometimes. Phones halffway dead for me by 11am, completely done in by 2pm. Have to then get it to a charger. I feel like I have to baby the phone.
I thought it was the fact the note 7 was on 7.0 and the S7E was on 6.X at the time. We have had 7.0 for a bit and surprise, phone still blows monkey chunks. Even after a factory reset.
I've seen some people luck out, but I've also seen a heavy mass of people have battery life issues. Even after a reset and installing 0 apps.
another thing, while I think about it, the Note 7 was just smooth, no matter how much you threw at it, it felt smooth. The S7E is laggy all the time. If I go in and clear out the ram it's alright for a short bit, then next thing I know it's back to total suck fest.
While I've been told the S7E works as intended, the ram for me is always 75-80% used even after being cleared and no apps running in the background. The note 7 when I had it was often at 40-45% and I don't think I ever saw it past 60%. To me, this is a real confusion and a problem and I assume a massive fault from Samsung in software between the S7E and Note 7.
All said, I cannot WAIT to get my S8+. Even if it just fixes some of the downfalls of the S7E, I'll be so much happier.

dumpyloser said:
You would quickly regret getting the s7e IMO. The note 7 spoiled me and the s7e isn't even comparable to it IMO. I'm hoping the s8+ has the same tech (minus exploding batteries) as the note 7.
If you want a s7e bad enough, I will sell you mine on the 21st.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't agree with you more. I went from the S7E to the Note 7... I then went to the iPhone 7+ just for the resale value this month.
johnwayne27 said:
I have never even seen a note 7. To me a stylus would be annoying and slow down using the phone. What were the best things about the note 7? Everyone raves about them hopefully the note 8 is cool
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Stylus really enhances how the phone is used. I loved it!!!

Eddiemc said:
Source?
I haven't heard that..
Edit:
This?
Quote:
Finally, the Exynos 8895 also includes what Samsung is calling an “enhanced security sub-system with a separate security processing unit” for use with user authentication, mobile payments, and the like. Based on Samsung’s description this sounds a heck of a lot like Apple’s Secure Enclave, which would be a very welcome development, as in Apple’s case it has made their phones a lot harder to break into.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/11149/...-8895-soc-10nm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup! Thats what some folks are saying. Google xda s8 bootloader unlock, you'll see i have exhausted myself advocqting for Samsung to keep android, android (lol)
Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk

nosympathy said:
spent a couple years in iOS land wanting something different, came back to android for the Note 7. I have had every single note series phone except the note 5, lack of expandable storage ruined it for me (iphone at least had 128gb options)
Note 7 would survive me normal using it, from about 7am to 8-9pm at night and still have 20-25% battery left.
The S7E has been a real POS. Battery life sucks, the curved edge is steeper than the note 7 was and I get phantom touches out the ass that make using the phone a pain sometimes. Phones halffway dead for me by 11am, completely done in by 2pm. Have to then get it to a charger. I feel like I have to baby the phone.
I thought it was the fact the note 7 was on 7.0 and the S7E was on 6.X at the time. We have had 7.0 for a bit and surprise, phone still blows monkey chunks. Even after a factory reset.
I've seen some people luck out, but I've also seen a heavy mass of people have battery life issues. Even after a reset and installing 0 apps.
another thing, while I think about it, the Note 7 was just smooth, no matter how much you threw at it, it felt smooth. The S7E is laggy all the time. If I go in and clear out the ram it's alright for a short bit, then next thing I know it's back to total suck fest.
While I've been told the S7E works as intended, the ram for me is always 75-80% used even after being cleared and no apps running in the background. The note 7 when I had it was often at 40-45% and I don't think I ever saw it past 60%. To me, this is a real confusion and a problem and I assume a massive fault from Samsung in software between the S7E and Note 7.
All said, I cannot WAIT to get my S8+. Even if it just fixes some of the downfalls of the S7E, I'll be so much happier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get occasional ram button lag which is frustrating but battery life has been great! Mind you i have been using a custom rom and kernel since i got it. Anyways, a good example why an unlocked bootloader is a good thing!
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dumpyloser said:
The note 7 was just on a different level as far as smoothness/quickness. I'm not sure if it was the processor or just UI differences, but I never had any lag at all on it. I've now had 2 s7e's and they both lag or hesitate when doing simple stuff like pulling up samsung pay. With the note, all I did was swipe up and pay, and with the s7e I have to swipe up and wait for 1 or 2 seconds before the screen becomes responsive again. Its small things like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do realize that the note 7 has the same processor and memory as the s7e right? And now they have the same UI since s7e is now running 7.0. only real difference between the 2 is a slight ergonomics, screen size by .2" and a spen. Of course with the spen was specific software to run the spen.
Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

cantenna said:
I get occasional ram button lag which is frustrating but battery life has been great! Mind you i have been using a custom rom and kernel since i got it. Anyways, a good example why an unlocked bootloader is a good thing!View attachment 4110962View attachment 4110963
Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Think you might be one of the lucky few. Many many people post of the same issues I have. Seems to be a real hit or miss phone. Reminds me of when HTC would sell phones with 3 different grades of processors. You could check which you had. If you lost the lottery and got a low grade one, you had lag and bad battery life. You wouldn't know until you turned it on and checked though.

nosympathy said:
Think you might be one of the lucky few. Many many people post of the same issues I have. Seems to be a real hit or miss phone. Reminds me of when HTC would sell phones with 3 different grades of processors. You could check which you had. If you lost the lottery and got a low grade one, you had lag and bad battery life. You wouldn't know until you turned it on and checked though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive actualy checked my cpu grade, it is the second best one availble, but this battery life is mainly due to having an unlocked bootloader which lets me run xposed tweaks such as Greenify Beta and Amplify, with amplify I have overide system wakelocks. Additionaly, im also running a custom kernel with governor "smartassv2" and for the little core on the cpu i have reduced it to below what is allowed by stock.
This is the advantave of having an unlocked bootloader phone, if you put the time into it, its worth it!
And if my S8 international exynos arrive with an
Un-lockable bootloader, i will simply pack it back up and send it back to Samsung with reason of return:
"this is poopoo"
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