iPhone Switchers - Samsung Galaxy S8+ Questions & Answers

Curious how the iPhone switchers are enjoying their new Galaxy S8 or +? Has the switch been easy?
What are you using for texting?
Any issues switching with photos, music?
Thanks
John

I'll be coming from a iPhone 7 plus 128gb. My s8 plus should be here Tuesday I'm trying to figure out what's the best option for my SMS/mms transfer. I must say iMessage is damn sweet google needs to catch up on that aspect
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm BACK! So, ive always been an android guy BUT the 7 Plus in what i call piano black was a beautiful piece. So, when my note 7 was recalled, and there wasnt another Android device that i was interested in (I had already had the S7 Edge) i said screw it and got the iphone. I was actually happier with it than i had anticipated but the whole time i had it i felt like something was missing. So, now im back and it feels good. That being said there are a few things that i am going to miss. I agree, iMessage is wonderful as far as features. I will miss that. I have a Mac Mini that is basically used as my media machine here on my desk and I think what i am going to miss most is how the whole ecosystem ties together. Being able to respond to texts and such without ever picking up my phone is probably what i will miss the most. I know its possible on android but its not as clean as it being built in.
I would say the thing i am happiest about having back though is wireless charging...... God i missed wireless charging!
Edited to add: So, there is one other thing that i am more happy to have back i think than wireless charging and its such a simple thing that i cant see why apple hasnt dont it. That little Close All button on the bottom of the recent apps screen!

antawnm26 said:
I'll be coming from a iPhone 7 plus 128gb. My s8 plus should be here Tuesday I'm trying to figure out what's the best option for my SMS/mms transfer. I must say iMessage is damn sweet google needs to catch up on that aspect
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who is your carrier there are some good I message like options on tmo if they have the same carrier. N9t as bad as message+ on vzw

cloudraker said:
I'm BACK! So, ive always been an android guy BUT the 7 Plus in what i call piano black was a beautiful piece. So, when my note 7 was recalled, and there wasnt another Android device that i was interested in (I had already had the S7 Edge) i said screw it and got the iphone. I was actually happier with it than i had anticipated but the whole time i had it i felt like something was missing. So, now im back and it feels good. That being said there are a few things that i am going to miss. I agree, iMessage is wonderful as far as features. I will miss that. I have a Mac Mini that is basically used as my media machine here on my desk and I think what i am going to miss most is how the whole ecosystem ties together. Being able to respond to texts and such without ever picking up my phone is probably what i will miss the most. I know its possible on android but its not as clean as it being built in.
I would say the thing i am happiest about having back though is wireless charging...... God i missed wireless charging!
Edited to add: So, there is one other thing that i am more happy to have back i think than wireless charging and its such a simple thing that i cant see why apple hasnt dont it. That little Close All button on the bottom of the recent apps screen!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apple will probably add wireless charging in a few years and then claim they invented it!

I was an Android user and switched back and forth a lot. I've had the 7 plus for the longest compared to other phones. I still used Google services heavily on my iPhone, synced contacts through gmail with the native IOS mail app, used Google photos for pictures, and Google play music. So the switch was easy. iMessage is not a problem as texts go through just as fast, group messaging seems to be a concern but I heard Textra solves that issue. My only gripe is the front flash not working as great when taking a selfie, Also Snapchat isn't as good on Android due to the camera2 api not being integrated. That's about it, but overall I'm liking the phone. I have thought about going back to my iPhone but I feel it's just a matter of being so used to IOS and not using Android for a long time.

Coming from an iPhone 7 Plus on Verizon to the S8+. Overall very good switch over. Make sure to turn off iMessage BEFORE you switch. I manually turned it off with the software and then did the SMS unsubscribe. MMS is good. I am using Facebook messenger to handle texts as well and so far it's 10/10. Good luck

I'll share my opinions and experiences.
Coming from an iPhone 7 Plus.
Screen of the S8 Plus is immediately the first attractive thing you notice. Followed by the sleek design.
I find iOS easier to use than Android. Maybe that's because i've been using it for so long, maybe it's not. I had the last 2 prior iPhones and before that more Androids.
iOS is more 'fluid' and quicker. I found the S8 to lag and shutter in random spots, followed by some jitters and slow loading times. Kind of weird. Might be still learning my usage patterns (after 5 days?)
Camera on the S8 is great. No complaints there. Editing software could use some minor improvements. Like where's my 3x3 overlay when resizing? Ever heard of 'the rule of 3rds' Samsung?
Battery life seems the same. I work in an area with sketchy service that constantly pops in and out. I do like Samsung's powersaving mode.
Samsung gives you a back button that I often confuse with the back button within the browser, I constantly press it and end up going to the previous app instead of the previous webpage. My bad.
I can't use Samsung's keyboard to save my life, I don't know why. Maybe because I'm left handed, and keep pressing the comma button instead of space bar. Will take some getting used to.
I got used to the fingerprint scanner quite quickly and eventually adapted to like it. IRIS scanner is nice, but can't use it in sun light? Come on.
Always on screen is amazing.
Too many back up options within Android. Google, Samsung, which do I use??? Google is more universal.. But Samsung is the manufacture of the phone.. so there must be some perk, right?
So many features of Android and Samsung. Maybe too many? I watched many youtube videos describing them. Still learning a lot. I will eventually learn to love them, despite using 1/4 of them. Do I really need to watch a youtube video while texting my SO? Maybe. Or porn.
I miss my swipe to go to the previous screen, along with 3D touch.
Bixby.. Don't get me started. So much potential, nothing but fail. Updated OS, button barely even works. Bixby takes so long to open if not used for awhile. And the cards they've chosen are 99% useless.. Room for a lot of improvement there. Voice should help a bit.
Did I mention the screen?
I miss stereo speakers, but in reality what did I need them for? To be that annoying kid on the back of the bus blasting music?
Holy **** Bluetooth 5.0 is amazing. I can stream Spotify strictly to my speaker and have all other sounds on my phone. Not to mention the 130ft range.
iMessage. Nothing comes close to it, sorry folks. Can't even send a GIF I made via MMS to a friend.. Because it's over the 1MB limit my service provider has generously set for me.
Did I mention making GIF's from videos? Amazingly cool but probably-won't-use feature.
A lot more flexibility with apps in Android. I can finally make my home automation dream come true. Robot greet me at the door? Yup.
I think that's it for now, I've had enough to drink. S8 Plus wins my vote, for now. If someone could take S8 hardware combined with iOS, I'd be heaven. But it's a nice dream.
P.S.
Here's a picture I took at the NYC Auto Show. Enjoy
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Very similar experience. Was Android til note 7 then fed up as nothing else good enough and got the iPhone 7 plus. Much better experience than i imagined. Just so intuitive. BUT I just prefer Android. S8 is clossst device to the Note 8, but i actually think the note 7 was a better device. I can't wait for the note 8. Actually want to also give a shout iut to the Mate 9 which i really enjoyed (especially the camera).
Compared to iPhone i will miss the stereo speakers, and the simple way the device connected to my networked receiver (but the pull up menus are too simple). Also the email app on Apple is just better IMHO. Speakerphone better on Apple as is voice clarity on calls, generally. Finally I can't stand the fingerprint sensor on the s8. Totally got or miss. I find the effort of trying to get the device to switch on really frustrating.

I had the iphone 7 plus after Note 7 recall. It was my first iOS experience after iphone 5 that I hated. I am an Android fan since HTC Dream but today iOS is faster than Android. I like iOS 10.3 that do not reload apps after a while, compared to S8 plus. In the future if Apple will release an iphone 8 with S8 design, for sure I'll take it. First time launch is faster on Android than iOS, except games where A10 shows its muscles. But the fact that apps do not reload on iOS, even Youtube, changes everything. S8 reloads a lot of apps for battery life, I am sure of that.

antawnm26 said:
I'll be coming from a iPhone 7 plus 128gb. My s8 plus should be here Tuesday I'm trying to figure out what's the best option for my SMS/mms transfer. I must say iMessage is damn sweet google needs to catch up on that aspect
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who is your carrier there are some good I message like options on tmo if they have the same carrier. N9t as bad as message+ on vzw

Small backstory: Long time Android user since HTC Desire and HD. I switched to iPhone 7 plus as an experiment mainly because of note 7 fiasco (had it ordered and all) and because it was good opportunity to try it out on a 6month contract.
Anyway, switching back to an android was seamless and easy for me.
Music? - i use Spotify only, so there isnt much to be said.
Photos? - i use google photos since very early days of picasa. Used it on iphone too (even tho syncing photos was hassle), so - easy switch, didnt have to do anything
Contacts? - used google contacts on iphone....
Texting? - i just use facebook messenger or whatsapp. Everyone ahs facebook messenger on my friend circle and WhatsApp too.
Do i miss iphone? Not rly. I miss few tiny software related stuff, like swipe for back, tap clock to quick scroll to top. But those are very minor things for me.
Most refreshing things to have again on android?
1. Notifactions! Fck IOS way of doing them.
2. Fast camera focus on my s8+... My iphone had terrible autofocus!
3. ''Real'' bokeh effect! Hate that fake iPhone 7+ bokeh (''portrait mode'') that creates weird distortions around the edges of the object.

Things I miss
iMessage - I love how they implemented this and wish there was a 'real' Android replacement Allo/Duo, or Hangouts isn't it.
Force Touch - I keep trying to do this on my S8+ on certain actions when navigating or doing certain things within certain apps.
Other than that... I can't think of a thing.

androidsc said:
Who is your carrier there are some good I message like options on tmo if they have the same carrier. N9t as bad as message+ on vzw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Verizon is my carrier. iMessage is hard to beat. PERIOD! I've looked at a lot of android options they aren't remotely close. For instance I can record a 1080 video for about 10 minutes and send to another iMessage recipient with no compression it's identical to WhatsApp but better.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 08:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:09 AM ----------
tzmx said:
Small backstory: Long time Android user since HTC Desire and HD. I switched to iPhone 7 plus as an experiment mainly because of note 7 fiasco (had it ordered and all) and because it was good opportunity to try it out on a 6month contract.
Anyway, switching back to an android was seamless and easy for me.
Music? - i use Spotify only, so there isnt much to be said.
Photos? - i use google photos since very early days of picasa. Used it on iphone too (even tho syncing photos was hassle), so - easy switch, didnt have to do anything
Contacts? - used google contacts on iphone....
Texting? - i just use facebook messenger or whatsapp. Everyone ahs facebook messenger on my friend circle and WhatsApp too.
Do i miss iphone? Not rly. I miss few tiny software related stuff, like swipe for back, tap clock to quick scroll to top. But those are very minor things for me.
Most refreshing things to have again on android?
1. Notifactions! Fck IOS way of doing them.
2. Fast camera focus on my s8+... My iphone had terrible autofocus!
3. ''Real'' bokeh effect! Hate that fake iPhone 7+ bokeh (''portrait mode'') that creates weird distortions around the edges of the object.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Curious as to how your getting the real bokeh effect on s8 plus
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ramer said:
Apple will probably add wireless charging in a few years and then claim they invented it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't believe Apple has ever claimed to invent something they didn't. Users of iPhones have never see the technology so assume Apple invented it. IF bashing Apple is your thing thats fine but lets not just make stuff up.
---------- Post added at 03:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:54 PM ----------
iPhone 7 Plus here things I miss well only a few: like other iMessage, handoff, Find My Friends, Facetime (don't use that much), Siri or any kind of hands free assistant. Anyone get Google Now to work with the screen off? Things I like of course the screen its just awesome, wireless charging, moving icons around freely, AOD is cool. Each OS has trade offs but I'm going to use the S8+ and my iPhone off and one. Its possible the iPhone 8 will have wireless charging and AMOLED screen that would be tits for me. Just exploring the other side, its not my first time.

antawnm26 said:
I'll be coming from a iPhone 7 plus 128gb. My s8 plus should be here Tuesday I'm trying to figure out what's the best option for my SMS/mms transfer. I must say iMessage is damn sweet google needs to catch up on that aspect
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just as an F.Y.I is you are coming from an Iphone make sure you turn of Imessage before you make the switch.......save yourself some trouble.

zone23 said:
I don't believe Apple has ever claimed to invent something they didn't. Users of iPhones have never see the technology so assume Apple invented it. IF bashing Apple is your thing thats fine but lets not just make stuff up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, I was just joking, but since I appear to have hit a nerve:
http://bgr.com/2016/06/14/ios-10-vs-android-stolen-features/
http://www.gottabemobile.com/ios-9-features-apple-borrowed-from-android/
And before you say it, I have no doubt that Android stole features from Apple.
Let's end this though, I shouldn't have posted a joke, sorry if I offended you.

Ramer said:
Actually, I was just joking, but since I appear to have hit a nerve:
http://bgr.com/2016/06/14/ios-10-vs-android-stolen-features/
http://www.gottabemobile.com/ios-9-features-apple-borrowed-from-android/
And before you say it, I have no doubt that Android stole features from Apple.
Let's end this though, I shouldn't have posted a joke, sorry if I offended you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not offended. It's all good we have made our points. BTW I did not go to your links no need. :good:

s8perman said:
Just as an F.Y.I is you are coming from an Iphone make sure you turn of Imessage before you make the switch.......save yourself some trouble.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why is this?

antawnm26 said:
Verizon is my carrier. iMessage is hard to beat. PERIOD! I've looked at a lot of android options they aren't remotely close. For instance I can record a 1080 video for about 10 minutes and send to another iMessage recipient with no compression it's identical to WhatsApp but better.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 08:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:09 AM ----------
Curious as to how your getting the real bokeh effect on s8 plus
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I call it "real" because samsung doesn't use a photo from 2 lenses and then put them together with software like apple does. Apple variant created some very noticeable artifacts around the object.
I have added a quick (its taken in a bit low light room) photo of Samsungs bokeh, i personally think it is miles better than iPhone and it doesn't even require any special mode, its just works in auto mode.
Auto mode, no edits (tho google photos my have compressed it a bit?):

Related

Captivate or IP4?

I was in the same boat deciding between the iPhone 4 and Captivate. Here’s my experience with both. Hopefully it will help someone in making their decision. I’m in the Chicago area and ATT works pretty well for me. I won’t go into details about numbers or front facing cameras because you’ve already read about that. I really didn’t want an iPhone. I had a 3G when it first came out and had nothing but problems.
Screen: First off, both screens look great. It’s like being at Best Buy comparing tv’s. Side by side they all look a little different but once you get it home either one will look great. Ip4 has truer color but the over saturated SC really pops out at you. Even though the screen is only a half inch bigger, the border around it makes it appear bigger yet. Ip4 was easier for me to see in direct sunlight. Touchscreen responsiveness and scrolling smoothness is awesome on both. I liked the SC better.
Buttons: I like the physical buttons on the Ip4. They have a definite feel to them and are in the right location or the location that I’m use to. I got use to the SC buttons but hated the mini usb connector coming out of the top. When using a car charger or syncing to a computer it’s always in the way. Whose dumb idea was that? The buttons on the bottom of the screen SUCK. They go off after a few seconds and you have to hunt and tap around until the screen gives the desired response. Again, after a while you begin to get use to them.
Battery: When I got my SC home, battery life was terrible. About 6 hrs. of moderate use and it was dead. That gradually improved and by the second week, the battery lasted all day with 25% to spare. Since I charge it every night anyway, it wasn’t a problem. Ip4 lasts several days but again, I charge every night.
Apps: I don’t really care about how many thousand apps one has over another. Who needs 800 tip calculators anyway? I probably use about 50. Android has a free app called Missed Reminder that you can set to ring/vibrate if you don’t hear a call, text etc. (Just like my Razor V3 had). Ip4 word, excel, pdf documants right out of the box. With Android I used a free app called Quick Office that opened about 80% of these documents. Sometimes I’d get an error message and couldn’t view the file.
Email: I use Hotmail and Ip4 works great and is very fast. I had nothing but problems with the SC’s email. When I first setup my Hotmail it retrieved my mail although very slowly. I could read messages but if there was pictures or attachments the pinwheel would spin (loading) sometimes 10-15 minutes before loading all or sometimes part of the message. I tried having Gmail fetch my Hotmail which was much faster but most of the time the attachments were blank and showed up as 0 kbts. I was able to view my mail & attachments correctly if I went through the browser but that was kind of convoluted way to get it done. I even tried K-9 mail which did not help. I spoke with Samsung, posted questions on this forum as well as speaking with ATT customer service. The best solution they could come up with was to clear the cache. Their final comments were that some phones are better at email than others. I had the phone replaced but still had the same results.
Keyboard: Ip4 keyboard has bigger buttons than the SC’s keyboard so it’s a little easier for me however I think SC’s swype keyboard is the best. Once I learned how to use it I’d never use anything else. The SC’s Speak to text is cool too. As long as you speak clearly, it’s pretty accurate. Great for texting and driving as long as you’re not checking for mistakes. (My bad).
Browser: Both browsers are great and to me, they seem very similar. IP4 does not support flash. On the SC you can zoom way in on text, double tap and it word wraps to the screen so you don’t have to zig zag through the message to read it. Nice.
Wi-fi: With the SC I can be 20 feet from my wireless router and I’m showing poor signal strength. With the IP4 not only do I show a strong signal, I can pick up three of my neighbors as well.
Phone/Data: Both phones have been in cases since they left the store. Call quality is good on both phones. The SC sounds a little tinny but clear. Several times I’ve had the SC echo when I speak into it. Had to reboot it and it was fine. SC has dropped quite a few calls, more than I’m use to. Often when connected to a land line so I know it’s not the other party. Phone can be lying on a table and signal fluctuates between 5 bars and 0. At 0, sometimes calls connect, sometimes they fail. IP4 has only dropped two calls so far (3 weeks) in known dead areas.
Misc: Haven’t really had any problems with the IP4 so far. With the SC I haven’t had the random shutdown issue I’ve been hearing about. I have had the phone freeze a few times while ringing and not been able to answer a call. Had the call drop while removing it from my pocket (many times). I tried removing it by the edges, front and back, etc. I’ve had the phone pocket dial and even had my alarms deleted. I don’t know how because the phone is locked and there are several steps required to do this. I also get a lot of connection error and network error messages while I have a wi-fi or full 3g signal. In my photo’s app, all of my album art shows up as an individual photo album. I have to scroll through hundreds of albums to get to my Pictures. (Maybe I’m just missing something). I’m sure the gps issue will be fixed but It’s been six weeks. You’d think Samsung would have been all over that. It’s just some weather apps, golf apps etc. rely on gps information.
Conclusion: I love the way you can customize the SC. Between the widgets and live wallpapers it can look really cool. I like customizing; I don’t like messing with something just to get it to work correctly. I think the SC is very promising but right now it’s just to buggy for me. Everyone talks about how the Froyo update will fix everything but its all speculation. At first ATT said it was coming out the beginning of August. Then it was September. Now they claim they may not even release it and wait for Gingerbread. They can’t even send out a fix for the gps. I don’t think there’s a smartphone out that does everything. I’ve returned the SC and hopefully in the future when it’s a little more refined I’ll give android another try. As of right now I would have to recommend the IP4 by a longshot.
I can relate to some of your issues. I have both phones and each have + & -.. Overall I like the captivate more because I can do a lot more with it. For resale value the iphone always wins.
If you embed your album are as MP3 tags you won't see it. If you transfer it over as jpg files in the album folder then it gets indexed as normal picture would.
As for connection errors - I don't have that at all. I have only had one dropped call where my iPhone would drop them all the time and sometimes require 4 or 5 attempts to reconnect. You may have a bad antenna on your phone with your wifi issues too.
I lived with the iPhone 3G for 18 months before i got copy/paste and some other missing features - I figure Samsung will fix us up at some point too.
As for the mini USB cable socket - Samsung has home and car docks that set the phone horizontal, so then the plug is in a good place. Let's face it, no location is good for everybody. The bottom port on the phone was terrible for car use (for me) because I would plug the phone charger into a dash socket and then the phone was upside down when laying on the seat - yes i could buy a mount to hold it upright, but with the Samsung, the top port works for me.
Connection error may be a bit of a fluke, bad timing maybe. I didn't experience any dropped call for several days then att started doing updates in my area, 3g finally this month. My iphone 4 friend had the same issues I did for a matter of weeks now both are better. I admit the iphone is a beautiful product but I disagree about the screen, I have never seen a screen where the colors look truer to me than a galaxy s. For me I'll never give up android, so apple implemented folders, big deal I hated the iphone3g and I hate Ios4 even more. I have no icons folders or shortcuts on my home screen, just a few widgets. I use ADW launcher and use swipe up to launch the contacts, long press search to launch navigation, and home on home screen to launch phone. And I use widget locker to go to the phone, text, camera, or email. I could never fumble through pages and pages of icons for phone functions. Just because its a touchscreen it doesn't need more steps than a traditional phone. I wasn't to pick it up and call. Not pickup, unlock, press icon, press tab for number pad, call. Apples interface need work. On android I can make my own interface. I like icon screens to allow icons to be put where I want not bumped up next to other icons. I need to scan the screen too much with my eyes before I can find the right icon and a phone should be more natural than that. On paper the iphone is fantastic but in my hand android wins hands down.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk
It's just a phone. Just pick one and get a new one in one and half years.
That was extremely painful to read. If you really want other people to actually read this you should space it out properly.
mwxiao said:
It's just a phone. Just pick one and get a new one in one and half years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't agree more. If the phone is really bad, then you have 30 days to return it. If not, then something better will be along in 12-18 months.
tonyb81 said:
That was extremely painful to read. If you really want other people to actually read this you should space it out properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1, it's like he swyped the thing in a few secs lol.
I have to agree with the battery, the Wi-Fi has to be the biggest power drainer and I would have thought it was optimised for power saving. To be honest everybody is trying to be like the iPhone if you think about it for a minute. But I'm still for Android, live without so many restrictions .
DJNgoma said:
+1, it's like he swyped the thing in a few secs lol.
I have to agree with the battery, the Wi-Fi has to be the biggest power drainer and I would have thought it was optimised for power saving. To be honest everybody is trying to be like the iPhone if you think about it for a minute. But I'm still for Android, live without so many restrictions .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me or the OP? I have a habit of writing run on sentences and pushing paragraphs together. And I did swype it pretty quick. But the op did write a lot.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk
I must have gotten a good phone, because I wasn't experiencing any of the negatives the OP was talking about (as far as the Captivate is concerned). Wifi range is just as good as my father's iPhone 4, never had a dropped call, never pocket dialed, the 4 buttons at the bottom are always responsive, and just about all the other negatives you said.
Plus, I actually like where the USB connection is, very convenient for me. And I haven't used email on here before, so I can't comment on that.
I'm actually on my second Captivate. The first one had the capacitive touch buttons at the bottom that would push themselves. Outside of that, my wifi signal is pretty much on par with my 3GS. The difference being that the indicator shows the reception to be a bit worse, but the through put is much much better.
The call quality and reception on my Captivate is just as good as my 3GS, however, once again it shows the signal is worse. The big difference I've noticed is that I've never dropped a call with the Captivate, and with the iPhone I would drop about every fifth call.
Some of the issue posted here are non-existen for me. You guys need to give android and the phone some time to get use too. Especially if you had the iPhone for the past 3yrs. I get great battery life remember you're in control your phone do not have things running in the background if you really dont need it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I would have to say (coming from a 3gs) after downloading and installing the hybrid Rom and seeing what the possibilities are I would definitely say that my captivate blows my gfs ip4 out of the water. Just by switching roms I can see how Samsung and ATT did not do a good job with the firmware. I have better reception. The phone really flies through processes. Like you would expect a phone with top of the line hardware should. and when the devs get a hold of the froyo source I can only imagine how this galaxy s will perform
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
tonyb81 said:
That was extremely painful to read. If you really want other people to actually read this you should space it out properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Also, I skimmed through your review mate, and you really seem to go on too much about little things as opposed to the core functionality of the phones.
That being said, I have experienced some of your problems to some degree, such as imperfect wifi etc.
1 more thing, doesn't captivate come with inbuilt office program such as thinkfree? Because international i9000 version does (as I have).
p.s. don't mean to sound overly critical, I do respect and thank ya for sharing your experience
i think the battery life on the captivate was poor. exchanged it for an iphone 4, sold it, and going back to the captivate, ironically. i just prefer the android UI.
kluemenadi said:
i think the battery life on the captivate was poor. exchanged it for an iphone 4, sold it, and going back to the captivate, ironically. i just prefer the android UI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The battery life on this is better than the aria which was horrid. I admit the 3g I had was better in that department after the upgrade to ios 3.2 or what ever it was. But the battery life on the captivate largely depends on what you are doing, running with it.
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iPhone 4 all the way. I've got a captivate and my friend went the iphone4 route. I've used both phones extensively and its not even close. Iphone 4 smokes the captivate. Unfortunately I'm stuck with it for another 22 months
iPhone 4 all the way. I've got a captivate and my friend went the iphone4 route. I've used both phones extensively and its not even close. Iphone 4 smokes the captivate. Unfortunately I'm stuck with it for another 22 months
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you elaborate on how it smokes the Captivate?? I had the iphone 4 and it was good, but the Captivate is just as good or better.
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lost2030 said:
Can you elaborate on how it smokes the Captivate?? I had the iphone 4 and it was good, but the Captivate is just as good or better.
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It really depends what you use the phone for. Personally, I use it for surfing the web, playing games, email, Music, texting, and GPS. Those things are the most important to me, as I basically live on my phone.
With that said, several of those things the iPhone actually does better. Surfing the web is a toss up. The Captivate has an incredible screen with a size bonus, but the iPhone has MUCH better text fidelity and pixel density. Games are a given here. The iPhone's app store just crushes the marketplace right now. Android is catching up, but Apple has those big name developers throwing good games at them every day. Email goes to the iphone as well. The email apps for the Android are sub par when dealing with certain providers like Yahoo. Apple's isn't flashy, but it does work consistantly. Music... Again iPhone is a superior mp3 player. It's easy to manage your collection and buy music on the fly. When Google Music gets up and running they'll be on a more level playing field. Texting goes to the captivate because of SWYPE. It's frikkin fantastic. Then GPS... We know what's happening here. Just waiting on Samsung to come through with the goods.
I wouldn't say the iPhone smokes there Captivate, but you really have to look at what the majority of people do with their phones. One thing that pisses me off with my Captivate is the ESPN app. What a frikkin' dog. Run it side by side with the iPhone equivalent and it's just a slap in the face. For running on equal hardware, the Android app is slow, unresponsive, and sometimes completely non-functional. On the other side of the coin... I love the customization of the Android device. I love being able to flip between widgets and launchers on a whim.
Oh yeah... And I guess I also make calls too. It's a push here, but I do like the speaker of the iPhone a bit better. The Captivate's speaker quality fluctuated from device to device quite wildly, and my most recent handset has a tinny speaker.
@Divinedark I can only agree to the appstore been better than the marketplace, and its the only thing I'm really missing. Everything else android does the same thing in my opinion or better.
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Captivate vs iPhone

So I got my captivate a few months ago, coming from the iPhone 3G & 3Gs(both great phones) and although I dragged my feet making the transition, I can honestly say I'm happy with my decision to get the Captivate as apposed to the iPhone 4. Here's why:
The iPhone is a great phone. Nobody can argue that. It has the best music player, best web browser, smoothest UI, best design, etc.
IMHO no other phone will be as good as the iPhone out of the box.
But when it comes to phones and technology, put simply, I'm a tweaker. I like to **** with things, experiment, add personal touches, etc,. In short, the iPhone doesn't really let you do that. The iPhone is the iPhone and the Captivate is more like a mini computer.
The iPhone "just works", there's nothing to **** with, and to me that takes all the fun out of it
I'd rather have a phone that "I" make work the way I want it to, rather than a phone that "Apple" makes work the way THEY want it to.
When it comes down to it I think it just depends on what kind of tech junky you are and what your use of the phone is going to entail.
For me, I'm gonna enjoy tweaking out on my phone for the next 2 years
K rant is done, that is all.
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I look at it like this: iPhone is like James Bond, the best there is at doing exactly what he specializes in. Android is like MacGyver, a little rough around the edges, but given the right tools he can do anything.
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Dungeon47 said:
I look at it like this: iPhone is like James Bond, the best there is at doing exactly what he specializes in. Android is like MacGyver, a little rough around the edges, but given the right tools he can do anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a good way to look at it lol
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Dungeon47 said:
I look at it like this: iPhone is like James Bond, the best there is at doing exactly what he specializes in. Android is like MacGyver, a little rough around the edges, but given the right tools he can do anything.
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Couldn't agree more
i actually considered selling my captivate and going to a 3gs or I4 largely due to the GPS issues with the device (wifes i4 GPS works flawlessly with mapquest).
I had also considered it because i recently sold my ipod classic and had considered getting a touch but if i could do a 32gb i4 and have one device cover my phone and mp3 needs why not. (captivate isn't horrible as an mp3 player but i would miss the ability to 1. control through car stereo via ipod dedicated input 2. The enhanced sound quality of using such input.
Fortunately with my wife having one everytime i had the notion i could play with hers
mp3 playing great.......games great........web device great
But the biggest missing component from IOS is a competent notification system (lack of notifcation bar, would definitely miss the convenience of the dropdown notification bar as well as being able to place information, widgets & shortcuts on the lockscreen, and lack of mobile AP (i think the latter can be remedied via jailbreak).
As much as i like to tinker and customize i could honestly live with the app grid and lack of widgets if the iphone had a more competent and convenient notification system for managing missed calls, texts, emails etc. (I don't know if anyone has played with one but the screen that comes up when multi-tasking seems like it would have been ideal for delivery and management of such notifications. When you go into multi-task/app switching in IOS (via push the button twice quickly it then displays running apps and recent apps in the very bottom row of screen. The top 95% of screen is unused and imo wasted potential to house the notifications.
i returned my captivate cuz of battery life and gps issues and picked up the iphone 4 which i currently have now. while the gps is flawless, the battery is about the same or worse while in use. On the other hand battery lasts considerably longer when the iphones screen is off compared to the captivates battery with the screen off. (good for listening to music and audio books).
The stock ios is garbage compared to android. i had to jailbreak it and then work for hours searching for repositories and tutorials on what i can do to personalize and force the phone to have some cool features. You really take silly things like moving icons where you want them and having widgets for granted while you are on android. I miss how easy it was to access information etc. it is possible on the jailbroken ios, but the pickings are extremely thin and the few available are glitchy and leave alot to be desired.
The shoddy multitasking combined with one hard button is another pain in the ass. Multitasking in ios usually means actually closing the program and then having a quick link available to u when you want to open it again.
I am pleased that there are more high quality apps available on this iphone 4. Android is not that far behind though and i can tell that app dev for the ip has slowed. Considering the sheer mass of apps available for the ios i would expect more apps designed for the ip4 to be available. Only a very small fraction of the apps utilize the ip4's retina display. Also, when i check the jailbroken repo's for new homebrew apps, development seems to be stagnating.
I've only written about the things that are important to me. Some of my complaints about the iphone can be explained away as i'm sure some people will try to do. However, my opinions stand, there is much left to be desired.
My suggestion is to find an android phone with working gps and decent battery. Or test out a new windows mobile phone. I can't say i'd recommend the iphone to someone. If you need to replace your captivate soon, i'd suggest asking for your money back because they cant deliver on gps promises, ask for a full refund. Save you're upgrade and wait for a new wave of android phones to hit att.
I had poor battery performance and abysmal GPS at first. After conditioning the battery properly by running from full to 10% a couple of times, the performance improves significantly, and now it blows my old iPhone 3GS away in battery performance. Also, the GPS issue for me has been resolved by using Assonance ROM. I get a solid lock within about 10 seconds outside, and about 30 inside, and it holds even while I drive.
All that aside, if you just want to pick it up and have it work, but don't care to 'make it your own' then iPhone is right for you. The bottom line is whether you are happy with what you have.
My experience has been that most of my friends with iPhones that absolutely love them did not own a smartphone previously and the few that did aren't as pleased with their iPhones as they thought they'd be. Then there are the ones that just refuse to admit that an Apple product isn't as good as they want you to believe.
Miami_Son said:
My experience has been that most of my friends with iPhones that absolutely love them did not own a smartphone previously and the few that did aren't as pleased with their iPhones as they thought they'd be. Then there are the ones that just refuse to admit that an Apple product isn't as good as they want you to believe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have to believe this. idk who would deem most of this stuff as godly unless they havn't tried android at all.
as for what the other guy said about conditioning and gps fix, i did everything known to man to make that battery last, but i still am not satisfied with battery life in the captivate or the iphone 4. battery technology needs to catch up. Gps wise, i was really looking for a gps that could track my run's and give me distances etc. i tried roms and all the gps fix suggestions from xda but it still rarely gave me accuracy close than 10-20 meters and bounced from house to house while i was goin through my neighborhood. at least the iphone4 got one thing right.
The shoddy multitasking combined with one hard button is another pain in the ass. Multitasking in ios usually means actually closing the program and then having a quick link available to u when you want to open it again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good call. I guess it would get easier with more use but i also don't like the 1 button method either. The multiple buttons on the captivate makes web browsing and multi-tasking a better experience imo
Dungeon47 said:
I look at it like this: iPhone is like James Bond, the best there is at doing exactly what he specializes in. Android is like MacGyver, a little rough around the edges, but given the right tools he can do anything.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perfect +1
Ive had both. The reason i dont want the iphone anymore is the ridiculous cost to replace.I picked up both of my captivates for cheap. Overall i love my captivate...the only reason i will get rid of it soon is the gps. I also have a htc aria. If it had a bigger screen i would prefer it over my captivate. Its very fast and the gps is dead on.
I have had both also. It took several months for me to get used to the captivate. I use yahoo email and the iphone is better for yahoo email than android. This was almost a game stopper until I learned how to use gmail to basically look just like my yahoo box after forwarding my emails to gmail. The gps is still an issue but not as much since I carry a blackberry bold 9700 for work and the gps locks to 3 meters in about 20 seconds.
Once rooted and lag fixed, the captivate is pretty awesome! The screen is to hard to give up on. I think 4 inches is the sweet spot for phone screens. When I look at the screen on the iphone it looks so much smaller than before.

Samsung Galaxy S4 review: Decent, but full of gimmicks

Samsung Galaxy S4 review: Decent, but full of gimmicks
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I've seen Android phones get better and more powerful over the years, as Google and phone manufacturers pack devices with more and more features. There comes a time, though, when less is more. I'm afraid we've reached that time.Samsung's new Galaxy S4 smartphone is an excellent device from a hardware standpoint. Measuring 5 inches diagonally, the screen is slightly larger than that on its predecessor, the Galaxy S III. Yet the S4 is a tad lighter and smaller overall. The S4's display is also much sharper, at 441 pixels per inch compared with 272 on the S III. The S4 has one of the sharpest screens out there.
The Android operating system it runs is excellent, too, and in recent years the Google-made system has become a healthy competitor to Apple's iOS system for iPhones. Like most Android phones, the S4 comes with a suite of useful Google apps, including Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps and the voice assistant Google Now. Because Google lets device makers customize Android to suit their needs, Samsung and others have been adding their own distinguishing features.
And that's the source of the problem. Packed with bags of tricks, phones have become way too complicated for many people to use. In some cases it's because these custom features work only some of the time. In other cases, you're confronted with too many ways to do similar things.
As much as Apple can be criticized for exerting control over what goes on its iPhones, it wins on simplicity. There are no competing agendas - just Apple's.
By contrast, Android has turned into a free-for-all. For instance, the Sprint version of the S4 phone has at least four different ways to watch video - one that comes standard with Android, one added by Sprint and two added by Samsung. Some content works with one but not the others.
And to watch video on one of the Samsung apps, the one called Samsung Hub, you have to navigate through two screens trying to sell you video that I couldn't get to work on the other apps. As much as it adds to the clutter, Samsung would rather you use its service and not the standard Android one. That way, Samsung rather than Google gets revenue from video sales. Samsung Electronics Co. has its own app store, too, to rival Google's own Play store on the same device.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't consider buying the S4.
Another highly praised phone, HTC One(Review I Pictures), has a lot of clutter as well. The display on the One is slightly smaller than S4's, but it has a higher resolution. The One sounds better, too, with front-facing speakers, while the S4 has a speaker on the back. The One might be the one for you if you watch a lot of video and listen to a lot of music. But the One feels heavier and bulkier, and its battery holds less charge than the S4.
The four national wireless carriers, plus U.S. Cellular, Leap Wireless' Cricket and C Spire, will sell the S4 in the United States. Release dates vary, and some will start this week. Expect to pay $150 to $250 up front with two-year contracts (T-Mobile calls them installment plans as it markets contract-free service).
Despite my complaints with all the add-ons on the S4, a number of them show promise
Easy Mode
It's not entirely new, as the S III and the Galaxy Note 2 have it, too. But Samsung makes that option more prominent when people set up the S4 for the first time. Icons in Easy Mode are larger, so you are less likely to hit the wrong one and have to figure out how to go back. You also get fewer choices for customizing the phone and using its camera, so there's less confusion about which to pick. Easy Mode isn't as easy to use as I would have liked, though, because features and settings from the regular mode creep in now and then.
Multi Window
Again, this feature isn't entirely new, but it's the first time I noticed it. It allows you to run two apps side by side, the way you've long been able to on traditional computers. That means I can keep up with Facebook on the top half of the screen, as I send email from the bottom half about all the dumb things my friends are saying on Facebook. Unfortunately, it works with a limited number of apps. Foursquare and Instagram aren't among them. And I needed an online video tutorial to figure it out.
Air View
When you point to an email or calendar entry with your finger, you see contents pop up in a bubble. That way, you don't have to open the entry and find the back button to return to what you were doing. Samsung has this feature on the Galaxy Note 2 phone, but that's designed for use with a stylus. On the S4, you simply hover over the entry with your finger. I wish it would work with more apps. For instance, you can use it with Android's generic email app, but you can't on the one made specifically for Gmail.
All of these would benefit from being part of Android rather than an add-on from Samsung. Easy Mode would truly be easy if it were designed from the start that way rather than as something that couldn't fully separate itself from the main Android. More apps would work with Multi Window and Air View if they were standard features, not ones app makers have to adapt for one by one.
And then there are some features that got in the way
I mentioned the competing ways to watch video and buy apps.
Another is Smart Pause, which automatically pauses video when your look away from the screen. The phone's front camera detects your eyes. Smart, but the feature also pauses the video when you cover your eyes, say, to avoid a gory scene in a horror movie. It's as if the phone is forcing you to look. And there are few times my eyes are glued to video. I typically multitask and watch video while doing other things.
Smart Scroll detects the tilt of your head or the phone to automatically scroll text, such as when you're reading a long article on a Web browser. Smart, but it sometimes scrolls past what I want to read. It's difficult to move the text back without touching the screen, something Smart Scroll is supposed to eliminate. And at times, I have to keep my neck up in an uncomfortable position to stop scrolling.
With Air Gesture, you wave your hand over a sensor for such tasks as browsing a photo album or scrolling through text. I can see it being useful when you need to answer a call while driving (not that you should), but I had difficulty getting the phone to respond properly with photos and Web pages. It reminds me of automated water faucets that won't let me wash my hands no matter how much motion I make.
Fortunately, the phone comes with many of these features already turned off, and you can turn off others you don't need or want. It took me a while to figure out that the Wi-Fi connection on my phone kept mysteriously turning on by itself because of some feature called Smart Mode. So Smart Mode is now off. Group Play is a feature that lets you share music and photos with other S4 users on the same Wi-Fi network. But I don't know of any S4 users, and it doesn't work with Group Play on the S III. I couldn't uninstall the app, so I buried that in a new folder called Junk.
The S4 has plenty of other features I could dismiss. Some might like the camera's ability to erase a stray individual out of photos or to combine several images of motion into a single shot. But I'm a purist, and I'm not a fan of manipulating images. And the feature for using the phone as a TV remote control? That's what remote controls are for.
I shouldn't have to spend a lot of time customizing the phone to turn off or hide what I don't want. Many people never change the default settings. I've been using the S III as my main phone since July, and I've rarely found a need to reach into its bag of tricks. I simply want a phone that is easy to use.
The S4 can be that, but first you must figure out how to hide all its gimmicks.
aukhan said:
[I simply want a phone that is easy to use. The S4 can be that, but first you must figure out how to hide all its gimmicks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a N2 and a lot of the "gimmicks" on it have been inherited by the SGS4. I like the gimmicks and wouldn't buy a phone in the future that didn't have some of the ones I use regularly. How everyone reacts to Samsung's features is YMMV. Like you said, they can be turned off or people can flash an alternate ROM.
BarryH_GEG said:
I have a N2 and a lot of the "gimmicks" on it have been inherited by the SGS4. I like the gimmicks and wouldn't buy a phone in the future that didn't have some of the ones I use regularly. How everyone reacts to Samsung's features is YMMV. Like you said, they can be turned off or people can flash an alternate ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well honestly i feel that Custom roms are much 10X times better then stock , But what i feel is Its better to wait for Note 3 , i would rather prefer Note 3 over s4 any day :good:
so.... you're an apple fanboy?
i'd rather choose 1 way of doing things out of 8 possible choices, or 4 like in your example of the video players, than being stuck with only one choice, that WORKS even though you might like one of the 8 choices better.
running gingerbread steeldroid. for my launcher... i use ADW on my droid 3. MX player for my videos. and handcent for my texting. i simply use them by default.
lastly, i feel like this is a review meant for phandroid or android central, not XDA haha.
aukhan said:
well honestly i feel that Custom roms are much 10X times better then stock , But what i feel is Its better to wait for Note 3 , i would rather prefer Note 3 over s4 any day :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note 3 would be awesome and guess what? The same features that you call gimmicky are one of the main reasons why people love the note in combination with the Spen and the fantastic battery life. The note 2 wouldn't have been as successful if it didn't have an S pen and multiwindow. Imagine if the Note 3 comes out without an S pen and the airview and all that (believe it or not some folks call the S pen gimmicky but those of use that use it for real will find a hard time to part ways with it). Would you still get it? Probably not cause then it becomes a big phone with great battery life but nothing that makes it special or stand out.
People love criticizing Samsung for many things, plasticky, gimmicky, cartooney touchwiz ect.... But those exact same things are what make people want more of Samsung and folks don't take a second to realise it. I actually applaud Samsung for trying to innovate and bring new features to the table, features that like you said, can be turned off anytime if you want.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
The One might be the one for you if you watch a lot of video and listen to a lot of music
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Click to collapse
I disagree strongly here. I watch a lot of movies and listen to a lot of music on my phone, and by all accounts the Galaxy S4 is seeming that it will be the best for these.
-I may be wrong, but AMOLED seems better for darker backgrounds such as watching movies I believe due to it using less battery in such environments, and the saturation color options allow things to pop out even near the screen edge.
-The GS4 offers a slightly larger screen and thus more real estate to view videos/movies on. The HTC has better ppi, but I think it goes without saying that's not going to be as noticeable as the smaller screen, if it can be noticed at all.
-Ear/head phones, wired and wireless, are always better than speakers for listening to movies and music. The speakers from the HTC produce no bass, and as a simple matter of physics, sound traveling through the air isn't going to compare to sound going by wire straight into your ears. More importantly, you can listen to music and movies without bothering other people. As far as headphone quality goes, I recall that both phones were either equal or that the GS4 produced better quality, but I'm not sure.
Lastly, I plan on carrying around a lot of podcasts, music, and videos in storage for when my connection is bad or I have no connection at all, such as being out of network range or the towers being down/needing repair or upgrades. The Galaxy S4 offers expandable storage for all media needs, a perk not offered in the HTC One. I realize this is only one part of your review I'm picking at but I just felt it was worth noting that improved speakers don't necessitate a device is better for music/movies.
barondebxl;. I actually applaud Samsung for trying to innovate and bring new features to the table said:
I totally agree with you , Its a new innovation , let me tell this , I was a real big fan of Blackberry and when i went to purchase this BB9780 Bold the same store person asked me for the requirements what specifically you are looking for said productivity (office Use) , Multimedia , Social networking , he said we had a new launched device Samsung Galaxy note I was not a real big fan of Samsung , Checked the phone came back home said give me a weekend time ill get back , Checked reviews out of Box videos Tips tricks and was amazed everything was outstanding , and now being a proud owner with Custom Rom and hacks and Mods its really difficult to live without it epically the gigantic Display , i am sure the next update will have almost all the features what s4 has but my personal opinion is Note 3 will be worth a wait :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fade2green514 said:
so.... you're an apple fanboy?
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Click to collapse
Hard Core Hatter of Apple Iphone but huge fan Macbook Air
All I got from this nonsense post is that you're afraid of gory movies. You big baby.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2
Bigjim1488 said:
All I got from this nonsense post is that you're afraid of gory movies. You big baby.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just trying to show Pros and Cons of those gimmicks
Sarcron said:
The One might be the one for you if you watch a lot of video and listen to a lot of music
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The One i was referring to HTC One
aukhan said:
Hard Core Hatter of Apple Iphone but huge fan Macbook Air
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol! Android is open source, fully customizable. Apple is not.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
jorv976 said:
Lol! Android is open source, fully customizable. Apple is not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes that is True
Apple is like an Old age phone which i would refer it as an Nokia 6600 with Touch LoL !
aukhan said:
The One i was referring to HTC One
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, I was addressing the HTC One vs the GS4 on video/music.
Sarcron said:
I know, I was addressing the HTC One vs the GS4 on video/music.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmm ... but still i feel the Stock Headphones needs to be improved a lot .
i love the loud speaker music but stock earplugs are real like dirty sound have to shell out more money and buy other brand earplugs (Beats:good.
aukhan said:
hmm ... but still i feel the Stock Headphones needs to be improved a lot .
i love the loud speaker music but stock earplugs are real like dirty sound have to shell out more money and buy other brand earplugs (Beats:good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find Beats unbearable, especially the non high end ones. Have you been to any audiophile forums at all? Go on and check what most audiophiles have to say about beats audio. Probably you find it great, and lets agree to disagree there.
And the stock headphones aren't that great, but is surprisingly one of the better ones among the rest of the crappier ones. Haven't tried S4/One headphones, but I'm referring to the ones that came with the Note II, which I presume is the same that came with S4 too. Someone had compared all the headphones on head fi, let me see if I can dig that up.
tuxonhtc said:
I find Beats unbearable, especially the non high end ones. Have you been to any audiophile forums at all? Go on and check what most audiophiles have to say about beats audio. Probably you find it great, and lets agree to disagree there.
And the stock headphones aren't that great, but is surprisingly one of the better ones among the rest of the crappier ones. Haven't tried S4/One headphones, but I'm referring to the ones that came with the Note II, which I presume is the same that came with S4 too. Someone had compared all the headphones on head fi, let me see if I can dig that up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well the headphones i got with HTC rezound i've been using them quite some time they have started spoiling , will buy some new one in next few days , yes sure i've not been to any forums but this time will check and pick the best ,
What is your preference in earplugs which one do you use ?
aukhan said:
well the headphones i got with HTC rezound i've been using them quite some time they have started spoiling , will buy some new one in next few days , yes sure i've not been to any forums but this time will check and pick the best ,
What is your preference in earplugs which one do you use ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I don't use stock at all, but if I'm stuck with stock, Samsung is decent. I use Koss KSC75, which is incredible sounding for it's price - for multimedia uses that is
tuxonhtc said:
Oh I don't use stock at all, but if I'm stuck with stock, Samsung is decent. I use Koss KSC75, which is incredible sounding for it's price - for multimedia uses that is
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i believe those are around 20$ the same in India are sold for 40$
aukhan said:
i believe those are around 20$ the same in India are sold for 40$
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, that's a rip off, but for the quality, I'd pay even 80$ without any thoughts. It rivals many of the high end headphones, it's THAT good. I don't know any <50$ earphones that are even in the same ballpark as KOSS KSC75 anyways.

Should i Jump from iPhone 6 to Galaxy S 6

Hi there how are you? I have simple confusion? Should i jump from iPhone 6 to GS6?
History:
I am not a fanboy of any OS/Brand. I have used most Symbian Smartphones, never use to like iPhone because they could not do multitasking back then. Nokia passed away i jumped to Android, used as many as 20 android phones if not more, few older HTC, Galaxy S line, recently note 3 and galaxy s5.
Always thought Android is more capable OS and iOS is dumb OS until when i used iPhone 5 for the first time. Being Android user i didn't like limitations of iOS but after that simplicity, no lags, good UI, greatest keyboard made me confused. So i liked iOS a lot, but only problem was 4" screen, due to which i swapped phones number of times between galaxy and iPhone 5s few times.
Then iPhone 6 came with 4.7" and there was no looking back.
Now?
Galaxy s6 looks good and i am confused if i should try a change again, i need help from current users on following aspects.
Built quality of both phones are same, both are slim, i have to put soft silicon cover on it, so hardware does not matter to me.
Kindly tell me:
1- Does extra real estate of GS 6 matters in real world use? (iPhone is smaller bolder fonts, i feel it may carry more text in a given screen though)
2- Does extra pixel density have any advantage over iPhone already very very good screen. ( One battery disadvantage i know)
3- Exynos and 3GB ram is fine, but is Android/Touchwiz comparable to smoothness of iPhone 6 (Kindly only those who used iPhone tell me this)
4- When i was using galaxy s5, i was trying to imitate iPhones messaging App, Keyboard and other things on Galaxy, just looked neater to me and it use to have more text in it. Android apps use to look little messy to me, can be personal choice, but tell me if such common apps are less of a mess now?
5- Even i use to hate WhatsApp for android, i had to use Mods, thankfully they sort of changed it.
I know my post can be little bit crazy, but any input can be useful.
Thanks in Advance
usmanxhmed said:
Hi there how are you? I have simple confusion? Should i jump from iPhone 6 to GS6?
History:
I am not a fanboy of any OS/Brand. I have used most Symbian Smartphones, never use to like iPhone because they could not do multitasking back then. Nokia passed away i jumped to Android, used as many as 20 android phones if not more, few older HTC, Galaxy S line, recently note 3 and galaxy s5.
Always thought Android is more capable OS and iOS is dumb OS until when i used iPhone 5 for the first time. Being Android user i didn't like limitations of iOS but after that simplicity, no lags, good UI, greatest keyboard made me confused. So i liked iOS a lot, but only problem was 4" screen, due to which i swapped phones number of times between galaxy and iPhone 5s few times.
Then iPhone 6 came with 4.7" and there was no looking back.
Now?
Galaxy s6 looks good and i am confused if i should try a change again, i need help from current users on following aspects.
Built quality of both phones are same, both are slim, i have to put soft silicon cover on it, so hardware does not matter to me.
Kindly tell me:
1- Does extra real estate of GS 6 matters in real world use? (iPhone is smaller bolder fonts, i feel it may carry more text in a given screen though)
2- Does extra pixel density have any advantage over iPhone already very very good screen. ( One battery disadvantage i know)
3- Exynos and 3GB ram is fine, but is Android/Touchwiz comparable to smoothness of iPhone 6 (Kindly only those who used iPhone tell me this)
4- When i was using galaxy s5, i was trying to imitate iPhones messaging App, Keyboard and other things on Galaxy, just looked neater to me and it use to have more text in it. Android apps use to look little messy to me, can be personal choice, but tell me if such common apps are less of a mess now?
5- Even i use to hate WhatsApp for android, i had to use Mods, thankfully they sort of changed it.
I know my post can be little bit crazy, but any input can be useful.
Thanks in Advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me at least YOU MUST change the iphone 6 with a s6
You feel the screen of the s6 way WAY way better than iphone
Due to new touchwiz and 3gb ram, the firmware does not have any lag at least for me. S6 doesn't know the word LAG
The whole firmware is way better more CONCENTRATED
I don't use Whatsapp so I can't tell you anything about it.
Anyway, I hope I covered you
usmanxhmed said:
I have used most Symbian Smartphones, never use to like iPhone because they could not do multitasking back then. Nokia passed away i jumped to Android, used as many as 20 android phones if not more, few older HTC, Galaxy S line, recently note 3 and galaxy s5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have changed phones as often as you say you have, I don't think it matters what phone you get as you will just jump to another phone soon anyways.
I would stick with an iphone. If you have a crazy love of iphone messaging apps and god forbid the awful Apple keyboard which is the worst and least intuitive i've ever used, you'll never get used to Android.
1. I haven't understand the question, sorry..
2. Some people sees a different, actually, im not.
3. I have nova launcher and it actually fast, i dont know in comparison to iphone 6.
4. Material design is just beautiful.
5. whatsmapp is actually genius. You can do anything.
Well, you can see i have problem with changing phones often, i may not be the only one here, who likes phones and want to keep a good one, every one has different needs though, even though i really want to have a phone to use it for at least two years if not more, may be this iPhone 6 can last long, when i had iPhone 5/5s, it was too small, Note 3, it was too big, galaxy s5, how should i glorify that, Nexus 5 was best Android phone ever, while using that i never missed iPhone, it was smooth and i was happy, then it started dropping signals, i was forced to quit, anyways we are talking something else here.
I don't have crazy love for iPhone messaging App, though i prefer it over any Android messaging App, even though it has flaws like i can't change bubble color. For keyboard, i know there are two kind of people, one who like iOS keyboard, one who hate it, its personal preference i guess too, wish i could take that keyboard to Android, like i use it without even word prediction feature, for me it auto corrects very well. i Should stick, may be.
Well thanks you covered it well, i will go to market to give it a hands on. ThANKS AGAIN
Material design is good, but touchwiz dont have stock material design that's my biggest hurdle, and hurdle of many. Skin seems to be not much different in real world. WhatsApp is better now after material design update, before that it was like software of 1990.
Stay with apple.
Sent from my SM-G920T
I don't know why people complain about having touchwiz skin.. Without it there would be no fingerprint scanner software, dual window, gestures and etc. As for your question you might want to stick to iOS, if you are perfectly fine with how it operates. I'm a fan of both Android and iOS, and used both for many years. A part of me regrets not getting the iPhone because I know any software issues would get patched within weeks not months. Accessory support, and software support, you'll be getting software updates till your phone can't handle it, and finally battery life of standby which is still unrivaled IMO. But I part of me would've also regretted getting an iPhone since that phone has so many limitations like as simple as sharing files, its limited. Files you've downloaded would be tied to that app. Can't even delete pictures on the go when it came from your PC/Mac. Also the lack of features you get compared with Android. All in all in the end it comes down to user preferences.
Sent from my SM-G920T1 using Tapatalk
Hey there how are you? Well touchwiz? It's cartoonish. Colours hurt eyes. It has big uneven style icons. Non symmetrical objects. Different apps are different. Even messaging app has such huge bubbles like doremo cartoons. You can say we can change them. But how much change. How much refinement. Refining rooting modifying everything our self? Then what Samsung and company is doing? Finger prints? Samsung can implement them without touchwiz by small driver app. Dual window can also be implemented without touchwiz even though I yet to use it once on my last Galaxy phones.
You talk about file sharing? In my daily life I don't find occasions when I have to share file. So just for file sharing. I can't give up other ease and smoothness.
So just file sharing can't convince me to switch over. Kindly tell if touchwiz is as smooth and lag free as iOS. Then sharing a file or song easily must be good too.
About lack of features? There must be few features which iOS may have over android. Like that of unified settings, back ground data activity can be controlled and few others too.
So if Galaxy this time around is smooth enough. I must give a try too. Not because of file sharing snd some
Other things. I feel.
usmanxhmed said:
Well, you can see i have problem with changing phones often, i may not be the only one here, who likes phones and want to keep a good one, every one has different needs though, even though i really want to have a phone to use it for at least two years if not more, may be this iPhone 6 can last long, when i had iPhone 5/5s, it was too small, Note 3, it was too big, galaxy s5, how should i glorify that, Nexus 5 was best Android phone ever, while using that i never missed iPhone, it was smooth and i was happy, then it started dropping signals, i was forced to quit, anyways we are talking something else here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android OS still got lots more function and mods but the problem is that mostly likely you will need root to enjoy it so no more warranty. One of the app I love is tasker but many features need root to enable. The camera on S6 is far better than Iphone6 though IP6 is already very great.
iOS the OS isn't great but the app store is, they still owned the most high quality apps there.
So it really depends either you need a OS more, or you need more apps. The best is to get both Android and iOS if you have money. Personally, I'm only a light user so I don't need many apps but I need tasker and camera more so Android is the only choice to me.
There's your answer. You obviously like iOS more so just stay. No one is convincing you to switch. We simply gave our opinions on why we chose a certain phone. I came from an iphone before this, I was Android before the iphone. Every 1 to 2 years I switch between Android and iOS.You say Samsung could implement an app or drivers for features, but look at it this way, every corner of the galaxy s6 has its own features, from notification bar to your dialer app. Might as well make it a skin and hide it within the system otherwise you'll be seeing more than 100 apps trying to run these features.
Unified System Settings( all in one place) vs Unified Storage( any app has access and able to use whatever you downloaded or put to you memory) I chose the latter, I mean how often do I find myself in system settings daily? The theme engine does change a lot of the look unfortunately not much themes at the moment... If you want to actually see some of the features the galaxy s6 offers here's a video...since you already know what iOS has. BTW, I'm not trying to make you switch its really up to if you care for what Android offers. I'll be back in iOS for the iPhone 7.
>>> https://youtu.be/wSNwA0aQtIA
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Jonathan-H said:
I would stick with an iphone. If you have a crazy love of iphone messaging apps and god forbid the awful Apple keyboard which is the worst and least intuitive i've ever used, you'll never get used to Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow....Well I guess this really is a matter of opinion cause I think the IOS keyboard is unbeatable, so accurate.
---------- Post added at 08:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:42 PM ----------
sol_671 said:
I don't know why people complain about having touchwiz skin.. Without it there would be no fingerprint scanner software, dual window, gestures and etc. As for your question you might want to stick to iOS, if you are perfectly fine with how it operates. I'm a fan of both Android and iOS, and used both for many years. A part of me regrets not getting the iPhone because I know any software issues would get patched within weeks not months. Accessory support, and software support, you'll be getting software updates till your phone can't handle it, and finally battery life of standby which is still unrivaled IMO. But I part of me would've also regretted getting an iPhone since that phone has so many limitations like as simple as sharing files, its limited. Files you've downloaded would be tied to that app. Can't even delete pictures on the go when it came from your PC/Mac. Also the lack of features you get compared with Android. All in all in the end it comes down to user preferences.
Sent from my SM-G920T1 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't have said it better than this person.
I love both android and IOS and used both a LOT, he summed it up very well.
Well. You must be right about camera. But you may have noticed. I never mentioned camera in my post. as I don't use camera much. iOS well I can't say if it's great if not. But my main concern was even apps like espn cric info and Twitter and even Facebook are far more smooth on iOS than on android. That's what I feel. You people can feel otherwise.
Plus I want to know about features which iPhone lacks and which matters. Features like dual windows is not useful for me. File sharing is one useful feature but since I don't find much occasions so I can live without it. But it is useful feature nevertheless. What are features are like this?
I switched from the iPhone 6 to the S6.
Do I miss my iPhone sometimes? Kinda
Did I make the right decision? For me it's a yes.
Really depends on your use case. The iPhone is a great phone. It just works without any hiccup. The S6 feels like a pocket computer, it does everything the iPhone does and more but it's less elegant and sometimes doesn't do it as well.
One of the reason I switched to the S6 is that I can't stand having to encode videos before I put them on the phone. I watch lots of videos so on android I just drag and drop, takes less than 5 minutes. However, on the iPhone it takes several hours to encode and I still have to use iTunes to transfer.
Also the camera. It's better than the one on the iPhone.
So...
1. If real estate is all you care about, yes. But I care about one handed usability as well and the smaller iPhone screen is the one I prefer.
2. Yes. The S6 screen is sharper. Not significantly sharper, but noticeably sharper. Colour accuracy is much better on the iPhone tho, not a fan of the S6's saturated display. The Amoled screen is much better at power saving compared to LCD since black pixels switch off. I use acdisplay on my S6 which is like a Moto Display rip off, this would suck lots of juice on an LCD but not amoled. Also, since the black pixels are literally off, contrast is simply stunning. Especially in the dark.
3. Short answer, almost. For my case I would say it is just as fast as my iPhone. But, if you're a lazy user and don't bother to remove the crap in your phone, the iPhone will be a smoother device in the long run. If you take care of your device I would say an android phone ages better. (My G2 is a testament to that)
5. Whatsapp for android received an overhaul and the ui imo is much better.
Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk
Controversial as it maybe but if you like ios and apple hardware I'd not switch to the s6 - yes the screen is great, the build is nice and the camera is excellent. But nothing is worth switching platform for in my opinion.
I came from a nexus device and miss that too, I like my s6 I don't love it - and that's purely down to the software experience.
Sent from my SM-G920F using XDA Free mobile app
You are not making me switch, we are talking here to share our point of view only, thanks for the video, i will see it, we all know every phone and OS has give and take, its only what you want to give up and what you want to take, and hopefully soon we can have best of both worlds. Themes are essential in Android and i don't being open and costamizable OS why themes were only for root and mod people, So now S6 have it, its good. You may agree with me Android demands lots of mods and stuff, and the first reason i switched to iPhone and refuse to even try jailbreak because i was feeling little tired of it. At the end it comes down to what a person feel better with.

Just bought a Pixel!!

Just got myself a Google pixel yesterday and restored it from my BlackBerry dtek50. So far I'm kinda OK with the phone. The BlackBerry hub integration isn't as good as dtek. No double tap to sleep function and battery percentage is not legible at all as it's inside the icon. I'd all of this on my dtek which costs half of the is phone
One question.. I really don't know what the default wallpapers are. I see a lot of walls under earth and live earth ..are they the default ones that come with pixel? Since I restored mine it had my previous settings which have all the walls from various apps I'd before.
I hope to keep this phone and not all it and get back to my BlackBerry..
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
vhl71 said:
Just got myself a Google pixel yesterday and restored it from my BlackBerry dtek50. So far I'm kinda OK with the phone. The BlackBerry hub integration isn't as good as dtek. No double tap to sleep function and battery percentage is not legible at all as it's inside the icon. I'd all of this on my dtek which costs half of the is phone
One question.. I really don't know what the default wallpapers are. I see a lot of walls under earth and live earth ..are they the default ones that come with pixel? Since I restored mine it had my previous settings which have all the walls from various apps I'd before.
I hope to keep this phone and not all it and get back to my BlackBerry..
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To answer your question, those are the default ones that come with pixel. Live earth, live data, new elements, sky high, earth, landscapes, cityscapes, life, textures... Of course, most people (I think) just download/use their own.
Other than that, I don't think there is a double tap to sleep function, but 7.1.1 updated some things so you can have your phone go to sleep when you set it down.
Battery percentages... find an app/widget. If you want it in your notification bar, there are apps for that, but if you want it to replace the current one you might want to look at alternative launchers, or if you're really tech savvy I might look into the world of Root & ROMS.
It is a great phone. But [email protected] from BlackBerry dtek50 for a business user I can't justify the price increase other than the camera and fingerprint scanner. Hub and email work a lot better with dtek 50 which is the most important aspect of a smartphone for me. I don't notice any performance difference in normal use (I don't play any games on my dtek). So I ended up selling it after a couple of days!!
Sent from my STH100-1 using Tapatalk
vhl71 said:
It is a great phone. But [email protected] from BlackBerry dtek50 for a business user I can't justify the price increase other than the camera and fingerprint scanner. Hub and email work a lot better with dtek 50 which is the most important aspect of a smartphone for me. I don't notice any performance difference in normal use (I don't play any games on my dtek). So I ended up selling it after a couple of days!!
Sent from my STH100-1 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm kind of confused. You almost seemed happy you have a Pixel. Only to basically double back to wanting your blackberry.
I feel like the Pixel is going to shine more for people who use their phone to the fullest. If you rely on ONE app for a smart phone, maybe this isn't for you? I can tell you right now, I use mine for business and am constantly flipping through Sheets,Docs,Drive,Gmail,Chrome,etc.... (Yes, I've googlefied my job) and my G3 and 5X before it can't come close to how fast this phone can multitask. It's made my job not easier.... Just better.... more fluid. No more standing in front of a customer waiting for something to load so I can show a email or something.
I dunno. If you don't feel pleased with how much you paid, I don't think you ever will. After everything I paid 848$ give or take, and I don't regret it one bit.
troy` said:
I'm kind of confused. You almost seemed happy you have a Pixel. Only to basically double back to wanting your blackberry.
I feel like the Pixel is going to shine more for people who use their phone to the fullest. If you rely on ONE app for a smart phone, maybe this isn't for you? I can tell you right now, I use mine for business and am constantly flipping through Sheets,Docs,Drive,Gmail,Chrome,etc.... (Yes, I've googlefied my job) and my G3 and 5X before it can't come close to how fast this phone can multitask. It's made my job not easier.... Just better.... more fluid. No more standing in front of a customer waiting for something to load so I can show a email or something.
I dunno. If you don't feel pleased with how much you paid, I don't think you ever will. After everything I paid 848$ give or take, and I don't regret it one bit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see your point. I do see my phone a lot but manly for business - talk, text , email, browsing and little bit of whatsapp.
Things I missed eight away on pixel when I had it for a few days:
BlackBerry calendar - when I have conference calls , I have an option to dial in directly from calendar with one click. No need to dial in and out conference id etc
Swipe gestures - regardless of which app I'm on in an always get back to the hub with one swipe. It's priceless for my work
Double tap to wake and sleep - I think pixel has only double tap to sleep option
Productivity tab - easy access to calendar events, email etc
BlackBerry keyboard. Simply the best virtual keyboard. The predictions and swipe gestures are so good
Plus obvious the cost - my dtek costs half of pixel
What I don't like on dtek is the camera it's pretty average. Battery life could be better.
Sent from my STH100-1 using Tapatalk

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