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G2x or wait for Sensation?

Well I've got about $450 that I'm going to use to buy a G2x (probably for a lot cheaper since they are going for $350-$400 locally) BUT I'm wondering if it's worth buying it now seeing as the Sensation is coming out June 8th. I'm guessing it will be $500 off contract as usual so should I save my money, buy some last gen phone and wait for the Sensation or should I buy the G2x and hope the price doesn't fall too low by next month and try to sell it?

I would go with the G2X if your looking for more development. The Sensation is supposed to be pretty locked down.

I think the sensation will be the better phone out of the box but like was said, it will be locked down so probably won't have much dev support.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA Premium App

Hmm, well other phones have had locked boot loaders and had decent support no? If not then yeah I guess I'll stick with the G2x, I prefer development over out of the box performance.

Yea I was wondering the samething. Might get both one for me and the other for the wife. Hope the Sensation is easy to MOD since I'll be coming from the HD2.

cordaylec said:
Yea I was wondering the samething. Might get both one for me and the other for the wife. Hope the Sensation is easy to MOD since I'll be coming from the HD2.
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It won't be nearly as open as the HD2 and as far as modding I'm sure it'd be easier but it will probably take a while for devs to figure out how to unlock the bootloader.

I am sending my G2x back. It just doesn't seem that impressive. It doesn't feel like as big of a leap forward as I was hoping. I might get the Sensation.

crawler9 said:
I am sending my G2x back. It just doesn't seem that impressive. It doesn't feel like as big of a leap forward as I was hoping. I might get the Sensation.
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A big leap coming from which device?
It's just the first Tegra 2 phone that's why. It's not THAT impressive, but the UI speed is noticeably faster.

Serious_Beans said:
...it will probably take a while for devs to figure out how to unlock the bootloader.
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Assuming they do at all.

Step666 said:
Assuming they do at all.
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Yeah :/ I hope they do because it's a really nice device, design and specs, but the SGS2 looks pretty sick, and with quadrant scores of 3500, that's impressive and it's already been OC'd to 1.5ghz. Quadrant scores don't matter really much, and I don't really like the way it looks, I prefer the design of the Sensation so I really do hope that someone figures out a way to unlock the bootloader and if not I'm sticking with the G2x.

The Galaxy S2's specs are better IMO - the CPU seems to be more capable, it has more RAM and the slight increase in screen res doesn't really make up for the difference between S-LCD and S-AMOLED+.
Not to mention it's so light...

@OP: What device you have now? I personally wouldn't recommend upgrading right now, wait until end of the year at least. Mobile technology is in that stage right now where a 6 month old phone is "outdated".
And I would definitely wait for Sensation to see how things go down and see if bootloader is encrypted and then maybe make your decision.
The Galaxy S2's specs are better IMO - the CPU seems to be more capable
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That's subjective.
it has more RAM
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Yep +1
slight increase in screen res doesn't really make up for the difference between S-LCD and S-AMOLED+.
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Sure it does! Just look at the difference between 2 30" monitors, one running at 1920x1080 and other at 2560x1600, the difference is HUGE. Plus I would take close to accurate colors over somewhat saturated colors any day.
Not to mention it's so light...
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That's a down point for many people including me, I need to feel some weight to a phone. Also Galaxy is made out of plastic which also is a thumbs down from me.

ErOR22 said:
That's subjective.
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Not really.
It's posted some ridiculous benchmarks, which it's true mean very little individually but when you take them all together, it speaks volumes.
ErOR22 said:
Sure it does! Just look at the difference between 2 30" monitors, one running at 1920x1080 and other at 2560x1600, the difference is HUGE. Plus I would take close to accurate colors over somewhat saturated colors any day.
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Now you're just being ridiculous.
It's more like the difference between 1920x1200 and 1920x1080.
qHD is half-arsed BS, it's an excuse for manufacturers to avoid actually improving screen resolutions in a meaningful way.
ErOR22 said:
That's a down point for many people including me, I need to feel some weight to a phone.
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But not necessarily for the OP.

g2x quadrant test blows any phone of the planet with its dual core processor

Step666 said:
Not really.
It's posted some ridiculous benchmarks, which it's true mean very little individually but when you take them all together, it speaks volumes.
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Well from what I have seen I wasn't THAT impressed. It's better for sure but for how much these things cost I'm not sure it's worth it.
Step666 said:
Now you're just being ridiculous.
It's more like the difference between 1920x1200 and 1920x1080.
qHD is half-arsed BS, it's an excuse for manufacturers to avoid actually improving screen resolutions in a meaningful way
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I knew you were gonna say that and well after thinking about it for a bit I must say I was being a bit ridiculous.
But unless there are more powerful GPUs in phones they can't really up the resolution that much. Look at the ASUS Transformer tablet (I think that's the name), quite a bit of lag.
Step666 said:
But not necessarily for the OP.
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Of course but I was just stating my opinion and fact in case OP wasn't aware of that.
Anyway I think either phone is great it's just a matter of preference and it's ability to be unlocked and flashed.
EDIT: My DHD at stock speed achieves around 2300 Quadrant and 37fps in NenaMark. At 1.6Ghz Quadrant scores around 3300 and NenaMark is around 46fps. Going higher didn't do much difference as the device is majorly undervolted.
Is the extra cost really worth the extra performance?

ErOR22 said:
Well from what I have seen I wasn't THAT impressed. It's better for sure but for how much these things cost I'm not sure it's worth it.
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It generally out-does the Tegra2-based handsets by about 20% if memory serves (which makes sense since they're both built around the same ARM architecture and the Exynos CPU in the Galaxy S2 is clocked 20% faster) but like all these things, you get the odd benchmark that seems to go against the flow as it were.
On the other hand, the benchmarks for the 1.5GHz MSM8660 dev hardware weren't generally 50% better than than the Tegra2 benchmarks, which leaves me thinking that down-clocked to 1.2GHz like the Sensation and Evo 3D will use, it won't be able to compete with the Exynos.
Of course, these are all synthetic benchmarks and not indicative of real-world performance but combined with the higher screen resolution and less RAM, I have a suspicion the Sensation won't feel as smooth or as quick as the Galaxy S2.
ErOR22 said:
I knew you were gonna say that and well after thinking about it for a bit I must say I was being a bit ridiculous.
But unless there are more powerful GPUs in phones they can't really up the resolution that much. Look at the ASUS Transformer tablet (I think that's the name), quite a bit of lag.
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Well, if they were to push higher screen resolutions, manufacturers could always use something like the SGX543 GPU the iPad2 uses - it's supposed to be an improved version of the SGX540 the original Galaxy S uses, which is still one of the best GPUs in use in mobile phones just now.
As for the Transformer, I'm a bit surprised - I thought the reviews were generally very positive, much more so than those of the Xoom and the new Acer tablet.
edit:
ErOR22 said:
EDIT: My DHD at stock speed achieves around 2300 Quadrant and 37fps in NenaMark. At 1.6Ghz Quadrant scores around 3300 and NenaMark is around 46fps. Going higher didn't do much difference as the device is majorly undervolted.
Is the extra cost really worth the extra performance?
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I can't speak for New Zealand but over here the SIM-free and contract prices for the Galaxy S2 are the same as they were for the Desire HD when it was first launched.
Obviously it's come down in price since then but so will the Samsung in time.

I personally dislike the light feeling of the Galaxy S series. The only one that wasn't so bad was the Nexus S, it had a decent weight to it, but I prefer heavier phones. Also I really love SAMOLED Technology, and I heard SAMOLED+ is even better.
As far as benchmarks and speed, if the UI is smooth after a certain point you can't really tell if it's any smoother.
Also if the G2x has better development that means overclocking and improved kernels and roms which would make it better than the Sensation. I really like the specs of the SGS2 but if it's as light as the Vibrant I will hate it. Currently I'm using no phone lol and I don't feel justified paying $250 for a Nexus One or $375 for a Nexus S when I can get a G2x locally for $350 which is what I'm going to pick it up for tomorrow. I'm really hoping after this leap in phone processing power they will focus on battery and screen resolution. Every screen should be SAMOLED+ and Retina Display with a weeks worth of battery. I'm sure the technology for it exists already...hell they could use tiny fuel cells to power everything, but most big battery companies have patented that technology so fail there.

I know it doesn't mean that much but, I just ran my first quadrant score and it was 2725 on the G2x I got today.
I'm really liking this phone! I have to order some kind of protection for it now.

tooter1 said:
I know it doesn't mean that much but, I just ran my first quadrant score and it was 2725 on the G2x I got today.
I'm really liking this phone! I have to order some kind of protection for it now.
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That's pretty high! I'm hoping to keep my next phone for AT LEAST 6 months. The last phone I had was my LE Nexus S(which got scammed :/ ) which I had for about 4 months? Maybe a little less, but if the only phones I have to look forward to are the Sensation and SGS2 I might just keep the G2x. Will have to see how the SGS2 feels in hand.

I got a 3200 quadrant on my Vibrant, overclocked at 1.42!

Nexus Prime and ICS on video

A hands-on video that allegedly features the Samsung Nexus Prime. Find out more about it here: http://www.gsmarena.com/first_nexus_prime_live_photo_and_handson_video_surface_-news-3241.php

Fremen567 said:
A hands-on video that allegedly features the Samsung Nexus Prime. Find out more about it here: http://www.gsmarena.com/first_nexus_prime_live_photo_and_handson_video_surface_-news-3241.php
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks awesome but I can see the guy struggling with reach so I think it will be huge and unfortunately too big for my taste. However, just the specs we're hearing will probably twist my arm.

holy **** anyone see new rumors specs now
exynos 1.5ghz, 4.65 1280x720 super amoled plus
powerVR sgx543 32gb storage
i wasn't wasn't impressed when they mentioned slcd and qualcomm but now OMG this thing is goingto be a beast hope the rumors are true

This is the second time we've seen this similar interface (first was the guy that bought the Nexus S off eBay with ICS on it). I am thinking this is probably legit.
demo23019 said:
holy **** anyone see new rumors specs now
exynos 1.5ghz, 4.65 1280x720 super amoled plus
powerVR sgx543 32gb storage
i wasn't fan when they mentioned slcd and qualcomm but now OMG this thing is a beast i want
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think anyone ever said SLCD, unless they were talking about the European version. Same as Nexus S.

tekkitan said:
This is the second time we've seen this similar interface (first was the guy that bought the Nexus S off eBay with ICS on it). I am thinking this is probably legit.
I don't think anyone ever said SLCD, unless they were talking about the European version. Same as Nexus S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh ok i thought i ready slcd default
..games will look fantastic with anti aliasing and at 720
hope verizon doesn't get first dips should stay unlocked gsm

Awesome specs but too big of a phone... I rather not wear hammer pants just to be able to fit this phone in my pocket. Very disappointed with how big they went.... I just knew Samsung would f*** this up considering they're the one who made the Samsung Galaxy Note.... just ridiculous.

Klk450 said:
Awesome specs but too big of a phone...
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i think that's bare minimum screen size to fit such a high res before things become too small
i thought too big also but might not be that bad.
Plus the added more curvature to the phone i think this time the screen actually has curve to it
sucks for me im broke and no job ATM
wonder what this best is going to cost

demo23019 said:
i think that's bar minimum screen size to fit such a high res
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I bet.... probably only way to have such a resolution but i'm still disappointed with how big the screen is.... I haven't met a person with a phone bigger than 4,3. Like i said just kind of disappointed.... =/ it's like waiting for Christmas hoping that you would get a new gaming console or game and later finding out all you got was a sweater... lol just me, BUT i'll keep an open mind and hope the sweater is a really good one.

Klk450 said:
I bet.... probably only way to have such a resolution but i'm still disappointed with how big the screen is.... I haven't met a person with a phone bigger than 4,3. Like i said just kind of disappointed.... =/ it's like waiting for Christmas hoping that you would get a new gaming console or game and later finding out all you got was a sweater... lol just me, BUT i'll keep an open mind and hope the sweater is a really good one.
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yea it is quite big but who knows
the plus side is its first 720p samoled plus, definitely will look sweet

demo23019 said:
yea it is quite big but who knows plus side is its 720p samoled plus will look sweet
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I guess... but with only a 1,750mAh battery, can it really withstand that screen size alongside the display? and actually be able to go a full day with it? I'm like 80% sure i'll be sticking with my Nexus S and hopefully it's single core processor can withstand ICS.

If you think phone is too big don't blame Samsung, blame Google.

Klk450 said:
I guess... but with only a 1,750mAh battery, can it really withstand that screen size alongside the display? and actually be able to go a full day with it? I'm like 80% sure i'll be sticking with my Nexus S and hopefully it's single core processor can withstand ICS.
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true but the exynos is cortex a9 supposedly better power consumption compared to A8 and from what i read GS2 has great battery life but again this is a pretty big step up in spec hopefully Samsung will work their magic

It doesn't look much bigger from nexus s...

stavros86 said:
It doesn't look much bigger from nexus s...
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exactly! they did away with the 'physical' softkey buttons, and used that space up for the screen. So, the overall phone size in our hands shouldnt be too much bigger than our NexS...
i'm drooling already

it really awkwardly looks allot like a nexus s. and he doesnt show the back and sides of the device.
so im thinking.BS!
its a nexus S with a ICS rom on it or custom rom.
even though. i want it! it looks damn nice!

Love it. Really looking forward to Google rolling ICS out to the Nexus S (given that I probably won't be picking up the Prime for quite some time).

Looks a lot better then ICS on nexus S last time.

Yeah those custom roms are amazing nowadays. They can actually move the front facing camera now ....

i hope it's not exclusive to verizon. i could never afford verizon or att.

Fremen567 said:
A hands-on video that allegedly features the Samsung Nexus Prime. Find out more about it here: http://www.gsmarena.com/first_nexus_prime_live_photo_and_handson_video_surface_-news-3241.php
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Click to collapse
I just HATE on screen keys... it is such a waste of display space.
The same issue as with honeycomb tablets... not only they're widescreen.. but also the status bar must be always present..
this just SUCKS. :/

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
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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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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?
Click to expand...
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?
Click to expand...
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...
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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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This is a great comment! I agree 100%.

rsmolen said:
This is a great comment! I agree 100%.
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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 =/

Tell my why I shouldn't return my One M9 for an S6

I've had my HTC One M9 for 2 days now, and I'm starting to see things that are disappointing to me. Especially for such a high end, pricey device. Battery life is not very good at all compared to my old LG G2. And it takes forever to charge. The camera is, for lack of a better word, horrible.
I'm trying to decide if I should return it to T-Mobile in exchange for a Galaxy S6. All the reviews I've read and watched lean toward the S6.
Tell me why or why not?

...You came to the S6 forum to ask fans of the device to talk you into NOT getting it?
Seriously? -_-
Nah, this is definitely an April Fool's post.

I was torn between the m9 and s6..after watching the keynote and seeing hands on videos, I quickly decided on the s6. I'm glad I did. Pictures look better than my g2 (the phone I came from). The screen crispness, colors and brightness is superb! Didn't mind not having micro SD or removable battery since I didn't have it before.
The only thing I find weird to adjust is that whites seem to have a yellow tint, where as on my g2 they were more blue or white (in my opinion).
The front facing camera is really nice quality too.
S6,higher res screen in a slightly bigger screen size. The size of s6 is smaller and lighter than the m9.

Poetique said:
...You came to the S6 forum to ask fans of the device to talk you into NOT getting it?
Seriously? -_-
Nah, this is definitely an April Fool's post.
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Sure, why not? There's folks here that can tell me real life pros and cons.

ledvedder said:
Sure, why not? There's folks here that can tell me real life pros and cons.
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Click to collapse
Well... the only cons are the same cons that every review mentions. Lack of SD card slot and price. Also the speaker quality is obviously lesser on the S6 if that matters to you.
The only other consideration is how much you care about rooting/unlocking/custom ROM support, which will certainly be stronger on the M9 just because it's a Snapdragon device. At least that's how it'll be initially.
Other than those, the M9 loses in every other measurable area.
So really the M9 Vs. S6 issue comes down to how much the price difference matters, how much you care about "3rd party" support, and whether or not you need a SD card slot.
Edit: Suppose the M9 warranty program is worth considering as well.

tlxxxsracer said:
I was torn between the m9 and s6..after watching the keynote and seeing hands on videos, I quickly decided on the s6. I'm glad I did. Pictures look better than my g2 (the phone I came from). The screen crispness, colors and brightness is superb! Didn't mind not having micro SD or removable battery since I didn't have it before.
The only thing I find weird to adjust is that whites seem to have a yellow tint, where as on my g2 they were more blue or white (in my opinion).
The front facing camera is really nice quality too.
S6,higher res screen in a slightly bigger screen size. The size of s6 is smaller and lighter than the m9.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How's battery life compared to the G2? My M9 doesn't come close to my previous G2.

ledvedder said:
How's battery life compared to the G2? My M9 doesn't come close to my previous G2.
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Click to collapse
We'll, my G2 was running aicp 5.0.2 with custom rom which I could easily go 24hrs and be fine.
So far my s6 has slightly less battery life. But i can quickly go from 15% to 100% in an hour. Balances out. I'm using the s6 a lot to get things setup and such, so not quite a fair comparison. Letting the battery settle in for a week.
I do see a speed difference between my g2 and the s6 though
I'm even kinda been on the fence to keep my G2 and hold out what's to come in the fall, but that is very unlikely for me to do.

tlxxxsracer said:
We'll, my G2 was running aicp 5.0.2 with custom rom which I could easily go 24hrs and be fine.
So far my s6 has slightly less battery life. But i can quickly go from 15% to 100% in an hour. Balances out. I'm using the s6 a lot to get things setup and such, so not quite a fair comparison. Letting the battery settle in for a week.
I do see a speed difference between my g2 and the s6 though
I'm even kinda been on the fence to keep my G2 and hold out what's to come in the fall, but that is very unlikely for me to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The s6 is faster, or the g2? Same here with waiting. I wanted to wait for the g4, but with T-Mobile's jump, I'm able to upgrade every 6 months. So, no biggie if I wanna go back to LG at the end of the year.

ledvedder said:
The s6 is faster, or the g2? Same here with waiting. I wanted to wait for the g4, but with T-Mobile's jump, I'm able to upgrade every 6 months. So, no biggie if I wanna go back to LG at the end of the year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's my thoughts on the s6, instead of me writing a long post.http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/general/impression-unprofessional-review-t3068089

tenxo said:
Here's my thoughts on the s6, instead of me writing a long post.http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/general/impression-unprofessional-review-t3068089
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I've read it already [emoji106]

ledvedder said:
The s6 is faster, or the g2? Same here with waiting. I wanted to wait for the g4, but with T-Mobile's jump, I'm able to upgrade every 6 months. So, no biggie if I wanna go back to LG at the end of the year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't gotten the S6 yet since I'll have to wait until April 10th, and I'm also coming from a G2.
The S6 will definitely be faster- even though I really do enjoy my G2.

All the Bestbuy locations have the S6/Edge on display. I suggest you check them out in person.

If you are coming here to ask you have already made your decision. To be honest if you are interested in a G4 id wait until its announced and compare that to the S6 then get a device.

I'll tell you why you SHOULD return your One M9. The S6 is by far the biggest leap I've ever seen in a phone, and I've had every major LG/HTC/Samsung phone from the past 3 years lol.
It truly is a home run.

Keep m9 for a bit longer to see if anything changes in terms of camera and battery performance. I think a person should keep a phone for a least two weeks to get a good impression. Also go on HTC thread to see camera tricks. I'm getting m9 tomorrow and I will see if it will meet my great expectations as I'm coming from a phone that's three years old.
I would only buy s6 if camera was the main thing but for me it isn't and the negatives of the s6 outweigh my liking for the device. The soc difference isn't big in reality and I think they both have inconsistent battery reviews from people, so they are similarly disappointing. Design and ui are a personal opinion but I think m9 is better.
Go with whatever you like tbh and I hope whichever phone you choose you have a great experience
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA Free mobile app

This thread is unnecessary. The M9 is a major fail

ingenious247 said:
This thread is unnecessary. The M9 is a major fail
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I think that's a bit harsh. My only gripe with the phone is the camera.

ledvedder said:
I think that's a bit harsh. My only gripe with the phone is the camera.
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Click to collapse
Only Gripe? Having a camera THAT bad is a HUGE fail on HTC's part, when the biggest weakness they've had since the M7 fiasco was their camera
All they had to do to save their company was fix their camera and put a 2K screen in their new flagship.
Instead, they did neither. I predict either a buyout from Samsung to grab patents or HTC simply going out of business in a year.

ingenious247 said:
Only Gripe? Having a camera THAT bad is a HUGE fail on HTC's part, when the biggest weakness they've had since the M7 fiasco was their camera
All they had to do to save their company was fix their camera and put a 2K screen in their new flagship.
Instead, they did neither. I predict either a buyout from Samsung to grab patents or HTC simply going out of business in a year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Screen is a moot point no real difference with 1080p its just a numbers game tbh. iPhone 6 has a lower resolution screen and funnily enough it also looks fine.

Thank god they didn't put a 2k display and the camera isn't an epic fail. They haven't pushed the sensor to what it is capable of. Also manual control says a different story. I doubt they are going bust this year and I think they would rather die then sell themselves to Samsung. I do hope they do get bought by another respectable company so they can be in a better position. They just need more money in R&D and marketing.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA Free mobile app

Buying an S7 2017

Is it worth buying an S7 now in mid 2017? What do you guys think? I really have to upgrade to a new device. I passed on OnePlus5 because of the jelly effect, and all sorts of problems. The S7 is not flawless I know that, but I'm curious what recent users, or previous users think about it. Would you recommend buying it? I hope you guys can help me with this. Thanks in advance

ofcourse it is still worth it if you can get it for a decent price. Ill take a s7 over a Oneplus 5 any day due to the fact that you can add a sd card and of its water resistance and i really like the option to go with a non curved screen because they break to easy when dropped and the curved phones have terrible cases.

RiTCHiE007 said:
ofcourse it is still worth it if you can get it for a decent price. Ill take a s7 over a Oneplus 5 any day due to the fact that you can add a sd card and of its water resistance and i really like the option to go with a non curved screen because they break to easy when dropped and the curved phones have terrible cases.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I found some decent prices, and they are still offering it in a lot of colours too, so no problem with the availablity. I haven't thought about the curved edges at all, but good point, thank you. I absolutely agree with you there, even though the S7 is slippery because of all that glass finishing. In my opinion the S7 is a great looking phone.
The sd card was another big reason for me, so I hope thats alright, thanks for mentioning it.
Do you have any tips on cases for this phone? Or dbrand skin?
Thanks for your answer tho Sir

I'd say it depends on the variant - if you can grab an exynos model, go for it, but avoid snapdragon variants because of the inferior performance and locked bootloaders. I was torn between the OP5 and an S7 (exynos) and decided to buy another samsung because I could get it for >200€ cheaper.
The performance, display and the camera still perform really well and I like some of the unique touchwiz features, such as always on display etc. Battery life is quite good too-I can get 4h of sot without even trying. Touchwiz is still there but is better than ever with nougat. The good news is that there is plenty of AOSP development going on, so if you don't like touchwiz or tw-based-roms, you have other options to choose from.
So, in my opinion, the exynos variants of s7 are well worth it, even in the mid-2017. Just don't overpay this phone-I got a barely used one for 300€, which I think is a good deal.
What's your budget btw? If money isn't a problem you could wait for a few months and get yourself a pixel 2...
And for the skin question: I can recomend slickwraps because they are cheaper than dbrand and cover the sides of the phone as well. I am using one right now and am in love with it. If you want more customisation options, you might want to go with dbrand though.

Tados99 said:
Yeah I found some decent prices, and they are still offering it in a lot of colours too, so no problem with the availablity. I haven't thought about the curved edges at all, but good point, thank you. I absolutely agree with you there, even though the S7 is slippery because of all that glass finishing. In my opinion the S7 is a great looking phone.
The sd card was another big reason for me, so I hope thats alright, thanks for mentioning it.
Do you have any tips on cases for this phone? Or dbrand skin?
Thanks for your answer tho Sir
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have this Spigen Rugged Armor case, highly recommended
https://www.spigen.com/collections/galaxy-s7/products/galaxy-s7-case-rugged-armor-black
Takes 2 seconds to put on and take off

The S7 is a fine phone, but not exceptional. I had a Xiaomi Mi5 before it and I replaced it because of the rubbish software releases when it moved to Nougat. The Mi5 was lighter and sexier. the S7 is heavy and reliable like a family car but nothing really leaps out. Video is good, Stills camera is remarkably not sharp. S7 comes with the usual lorry load of bloatware. I use one of the battery saving modes.. its no where near as good as the Mi5 was on battery. so there you go, Strong and Stable

the\downslash\ said:
I'd say it depends on the variant - if you can grab an exynos model, go for it, but avoid snapdragon variants because of the inferior performance and locked bootloaders. I was torn between the OP5 and an S7 (exynos) and decided to buy another samsung because I could get it for >200€ cheaper.
The performance, display and the camera still perform really well and I like some of the unique touchwiz features, such as always on display etc. Battery life is quite good too-I can get 4h of sot without even trying. Touchwiz is still there but is better than ever with nougat. The good news is that there is plenty of AOSP development going on, so if you don't like touchwiz or tw-based-roms, you have other options to choose from.
So, in my opinion, the exynos variants of s7 are well worth it, even in the mid-2017. Just don't overpay this phone-I got a barely used one for 300€, which I think is a good deal.
What's your budget btw? If money isn't a problem you could wait for a few months and get yourself a pixel 2...
And for the skin question: I can recomend slickwraps because they are cheaper than dbrand and cover the sides of the phone as well. I am using one right now and am in love with it. If you want more customisation options, you might want to go with dbrand though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't afford the Pixel right now, so budget is a deal here. It's hard to tell you how much my budget actually is, because in my country prices could be a bit strange. But about 400 € - 450 €. If you have any other suggestions I welcome it, but I want a somewhat elegentish kind of phone, closer to high end, with great camera and battery life. I also like if a phone is durable, but thats not the most important thing at all. More like to be close to stock android. (I know TouchWiz is there, but it's still more stock then a Huawei for example)
Thanks for the tip on the chipset, I checked it, and it is Exynos Octa core. But I did not know thats a deal breaker so thanks for mentioning it really.

Tados99 said:
I can't afford the Pixel right now, so budget is a deal here. It's hard to tell you how much my budget actually is, because in my country prices could be a bit strange. But about 400 € - 450 €. If you have any other suggestions I welcome it, but I want a somewhat elegentish kind of phone, closer to high end, with great camera and battery life. I also like if a phone is durable, but thats not the most important thing at all. More like to be close to stock android. (I know TouchWiz is there, but it's still more stock then a Huawei for example)
Thanks for the tip on the chipset, I checked it, and it is Exynos Octa core. But I did not know thats a deal breaker so thanks for mentioning it really.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, another option in that price range would be an Oneplus 3/3T. Oneplus doesn't sell them anymore, but you can get used ones for cheap. They are far more durable than the s7, battery life is superior and the performance is still top-notch, thanks to close-to-stock os. The only things that you are really missing out on compared to the s7 are camera and wireless charging.
LG G6 has dropped in price significantly as well so that might be another option to consider. I am not a big fan of their UI, but that's just me.
Regards.

the\downslash\ said:
Well, another option in that price range would be an Oneplus 3/3T. Oneplus doesn't sell them anymore, but you can get used ones for cheap. They are far more durable than the s7, battery life is superior and the performance is still top-notch, thanks to close-to-stock os. The only things that you are really missing out on compared to the s7 are camera and wireless charging.
LG G6 has dropped in price significantly as well so that might be another option to consider. I am not a big fan of their UI, but that's just me.
Regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Problem is that I don't want to buy an used phone. And the camera is very important for me. But if One Plus would still sell them, I would have selected the 3T, because I am an OP fan really. But like this, that's not an option. I check if I can fimd any new ones, not from the original site. Thats on option.
Thanks tho!

Tados99 said:
Problem is that I don't want to buy an used phone. And the camera is very important for me. But if One Plus would still sell them, I would have selected the 3T, because I am an OP fan really. But like this, that's not an option. I check if I can fimd any new ones, not from the original site. Thats on option.
Thanks tho!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it cold be find to find a brand new one right now... In that case, the S7 is probably your best option. You might consider some of the other last-year-flagships as well, such as the HTC 10. Anyway, good luck with your purchace.

It's a pretty nice phone, I just got mine a few months ago.
Keep in mind, my previous phone was a Moto X Pure, also this is the Exynos variant of the S7.
Battery life is about twice as long as what that phone was, I get an average of about 4-6 hours of SOT and with Nougat it should last fine on standby.
Display looks amazing, an AMOLED panel at a 2K resolution in a 5.1 inch phone looks super sharp and nice, gets bright outside.
Speaker pretty much sucks... It gets decently loud, but it's so easily to cover it by accident even with a case on.
The design of the phone is pretty and nice, it holds up very well in 2017. Sure it has big bezels and no curved screen (I have a flat S7), but it's still a solidly built phone that looks beautiful. But I have to say DO NOT USE THIS PHONE WITHOUT A CASE!!! The back is VERY slippery, one drop and that beautiful glass back will get shattered...
Fingerprint scanner is decently fast and accurate, only complaint is that the scanner is in the middle of the home button, I wish it was a concaved home button like on the iPhone.
The camera is very nice, can record 60 FPS at 1080P with video stabilization making your videos look good. Pretty decent in low light, The auto focus is SUPER fast, focuses instantly and the camera snaps pictures in an instant, double pressing for camera is quick and convenient. Front camera pretty much sucks tbh, not really possible to turn off all the dumb beauty features. Tons of camera modes to play around with, not much different in terms of the camera from my Moto X Pure.
Water/dust resistance, I haven't tested this and I don't plan to, basically all I can say is people please only consider this as a failsafe as in don't rely on it, like if your phone falls in water then you should go after it right away and the phone should be fine.... But if it's not, the warranty WILL NOT COVER IT!!! So go swimming at your own risk. Also, you can use the volume buttons to take pictures for underwater photography.
And lastly..... THE SOFTWARE.
Now.... What do I have to say about the infamous Touchwiz coming from stock android? Well, my first phone was an S3 (I had it before the MXP) so I kind of knew what to expect from Touchwiz in terms of features. And I can say this phone is just PACKED with lots of neat software features! I disabled the bloat, decided not to use a theme, used the default launcher, and the phone runs fine and works fine for me. Do I miss stock android? Not really, Touchwiz has a lot of added features that I wish Stock had, and small tweaks/changes that make the experience better in my opinion. Also, there are definitely small hiccups here and there with stutters, but it's nothing too bad tbh, apps open up nice and fast and the phone is always responsive, only thing that really sucks is the usage... RAM usage is kind of high even when your recents are cleared, and the storage available out of the box is kind of low so I would recommend a Micro SD Card if you take lots of pictures (though, those can slow your phone down keep in mind). I got about three software updates (all security) since May of when I got this phone, so updates don't seem to be too bad. But keep in mind it'll be ages until we see Android O on this phone, just a heads up. All in all, Touchwiz has grown up and refined its features instead of including a million features and being laggy (S5 and below), it's now simpler and more streamlined since the S6.
And that's all I have to say about the phone! I hope my review has helped someone out there looking to see if they want to buy a Galaxy S7.
I would say try to get the Exynos variant though if you can, I heard the Snapdragon one is horrible.
Depending on how much you find this phone for, I would definitely recommend it! It has a great display (one of the best), great camera (really can't go wrong with the camera), a beautiful design (no ugly ports for water resistance), good battery life (for the average user), and the software, is not all that bad IMO, though some people do swear against it lol.

Androidlover99 said:
It's a pretty nice phone, I just got mine a few months ago.
Keep in mind, my previous phone was a Moto X Pure, also this is the Exynos variant of the S7.
Battery life is about twice as long as what that phone was, I get an average of about 4-6 hours of SOT and with Nougat it should last fine on standby.
Display looks amazing, an AMOLED panel at a 2K resolution in a 5.1 inch phone looks super sharp and nice, gets bright outside.
Speaker pretty much sucks... It gets decently loud, but it's so easily to cover it by accident even with a case on.
The design of the phone is pretty and nice, it holds up very well in 2017. Sure it has big bezels and no curved screen (I have a flat S7), but it's still a solidly built phone that looks beautiful. But I have to say DO NOT USE THIS PHONE WITHOUT A CASE!!! The back is VERY slippery, one drop and that beautiful glass back will get shattered...
Fingerprint scanner is decently fast and accurate, only complaint is that the scanner is in the middle of the home button, I wish it was a concaved home button like on the iPhone.
The camera is very nice, can record 60 FPS at 1080P with video stabilization making your videos look good. Pretty decent in low light, The auto focus is SUPER fast, focuses instantly and the camera snaps pictures in an instant, double pressing for camera is quick and convenient. Front camera pretty much sucks tbh, not really possible to turn off all the dumb beauty features. Tons of camera modes to play around with, not much different in terms of the camera from my Moto X Pure.
Water/dust resistance, I haven't tested this and I don't plan to, basically all I can say is people please only consider this as a failsafe as in don't rely on it, like if your phone falls in water then you should go after it right away and the phone should be fine.... But if it's not, the warranty WILL NOT COVER IT!!! So go swimming at your own risk. Also, you can use the volume buttons to take pictures for underwater photography.
And lastly..... THE SOFTWARE.
Now.... What do I have to say about the infamous Touchwiz coming from stock android? Well, my first phone was an S3 (I had it before the MXP) so I kind of knew what to expect from Touchwiz in terms of features. And I can say this phone is just PACKED with lots of neat software features! I disabled the bloat, decided not to use a theme, used the default launcher, and the phone runs fine and works fine for me. Do I miss stock android? Not really, Touchwiz has a lot of added features that I wish Stock had, and small tweaks/changes that make the experience better in my opinion. Also, there are definitely small hiccups here and there with stutters, but it's nothing too bad tbh, apps open up nice and fast and the phone is always responsive, only thing that really sucks is the usage... RAM usage is kind of high even when your recents are cleared, and the storage available out of the box is kind of low so I would recommend a Micro SD Card if you take lots of pictures (though, those can slow your phone down keep in mind). I got about three software updates (all security) since May of when I got this phone, so updates don't seem to be too bad. But keep in mind it'll be ages until we see Android O on this phone, just a heads up. All in all, Touchwiz has grown up and refined its features instead of including a million features and being laggy (S5 and below), it's now simpler and more streamlined since the S6.
And that's all I have to say about the phone! I hope my review has helped someone out there looking to see if they want to buy a Galaxy S7.
I would say try to get the Exynos variant though if you can, I heard the Snapdragon one is horrible.
Depending on how much you find this phone for, I would definitely recommend it! It has a great display (one of the best), great camera (really can't go wrong with the camera), a beautiful design (no ugly ports for water resistance), good battery life (for the average user), and the software, is not all that bad IMO, though some people do swear against it lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WELL! Thanks man for the long breakdown. In the end I bought the s7. Right now I'm using it. It is amazing, I really liking it so far. There are a bunch of stuff what I haven't tried yet, but we shall see! Thanks again for your breakdown!

Tados99 said:
WELL! Thanks man for the long breakdown. In the end I bought the s7. Right now I'm using it. It is amazing, I really liking it so far. There are a bunch of stuff what I haven't tried yet, but we shall see! Thanks again for your breakdown!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem! Just saying my honest opinion on the phone, if you need anything just ask!