Related
Been using the moto x 2013 for some time now and its just about perfect. I dont game, my use is heavy on web, text. The problem with my X is that the microphone doesnt seem to work anymore, I have to carry a wired or bluetooth to talk on the phone...which is a pain.
I want something small, similar in size, to replace it. Ive narrowed it down to a S4 or LG G2. Which would you guys recommend? Anyone else make a move from the X 2013 to one of these models?
Thanks,
Mario
If it is bought new, sure. But second hand you can get more recent models at the same prices.
Based solely on the specs, I would go for the G2. When I'm looking for a phone the first thing I look at is the performance, and, looking at the hardware, the G2 is better equipped than the S4. But this is just on paper.
For all I know, the real world performance may be the same.
I am satisfied with the S4
Thanks. Yeah either the G2 or S4 new is what I want, just curious to hear what folks think getting a 2.5 year old device. Id get a new flagship but all of them are just too big.
Get the snapdragon variant. The exynos overheats
S4 is still a very good phone: it can run without problems marshmallow custom roms and you can play on it big games like fifa 16 or asphalt. But if you want a good new phone and almost same dimensions like s4, I recommand OnePlus X.
I don't think S4 will be a good idea now. I had both versions (GT-I9500 and GT-I9505) before I moved for Xperia Z3 D6643. Unfortunately, I have damaged my Z3 and until it got fixed, I will be using the GT-i9505 again.
This phone is driving me crazy, even with max brightness, it's impossible (looks like a black screen) to use it under sunligh. 3G, and 4G (not to talk about GPS) data drains a huge % of battery, average screen on time is about 3-3,5h, no battery optmizations.
The Z3 (5.2") and Z3 compact (4.6") are the best options when talking about cost x benefit. Almost 10h screen on time and +800h standby time.
Thanks all. I kept looking and looking for new S4 or g2 but everything out on the Bay was new "other" or sellers with tons of negative feedback. Lots of positive but also much negative. I just saw no trusty sellers. Ended up pulling trigger on oneplus x. Now the wait for it begins. Hope oxygen is decent.
Sent from my Moto X
i have S4 now frome aboute 1 year and realy i am happy with
run very very good i have add the QI modul and it run official rom until custome have no bug ( zero bug ) actualy custom rom have some BT problem and i use My S4 with my smart watch here why BT are important now if you see forum you have big chois of rom ( custom ) and all tested and run very very well on S4 personaly i change phone until S4 are dead hahaha but LG have an Good support in my watch runing official 6.0 firmware LG give quicly update whet are roling out but samsung are still on 5.0.1 bad guys samsung
@spawk
Samsung has it's own update cycle. Most flagships get support from Samsung up to 2 years after released.
And, in 2016, Galaxy S4 won't be supported anymore.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD
The Only thing that is extremely bad about i9505 is its sound quality in earphones.On gsmarena u will see they will say it has best audio quality but in reality its far far away from the best its so flat and dumb.Even all the chinese phones sound better than it there is literally no bass at all in the sound and if u increase it by an equalizer the volume decreases alot.
You could also try i9506 S4 LTE+/LTE A
Ive been using this device for a long time now. Recently broke my galaxy note 3's lcd and sold my lg g2. Back on my i9506 and still good. Its not far with g2 in terms performance. Although I use 2 batteries on my i9506 but hey, great device
Usama707 said:
The Only thing that is extremely bad about i9505 is its sound quality in earphones.On gsmarena u will see they will say it has best audio quality but in reality its far far away from the best its so flat and dumb.Even all the chinese phones sound better than it there is literally no bass at all in the sound and if u increase it by an equalizer the volume decreases alot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sound quality depends a lot on the headphones. I hardly think that in-ear ear buds are great at producing bass.
Let's not forget about the song quality too. Anything with a bitrate lower than 320KBPS will have its quality reduced. So always go for 320 or FLAC.
It can have the best sound chip in the world if the headphones are garbage and the music file has static noise.
GDReaper said:
Sound quality depends a lot on the headphones. I hardly think that in-ear ear buds are great at producing bass.
Let's not forget about the song quality too. Anything with a bitrate lower than 320KBPS will have its quality reduced. So always go for 320 or FLAC.
It can have the best sound chip in the world if the headphones are garbage and the music file has static noise.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sound is really really flat although its very clear and frequency response is good too but its off no use as the sound is so flat use the same earphone on some other phone or the computer then u will understand how flat I9505 sounds
Usama707 said:
Sound is really really flat although its very clear and frequency response is good too but its off no use as the sound is so flat use the same earphone on some other phone or the computer then u will understand how flat I9505 sounds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are always better devices. My 2 other devices (An ZTE Blade and LG P350) sound crappy compared to my S4.
That's why there are mods like viper4android. With the right setup you can get nice bass.
Besides, stuff like this is just a preference. I, for instance, don't like heavy basses. I like to listen to the music, not the "boom boom" sound of the bass.
GDReaper said:
There are always better devices. My 2 other devices (An ZTE Blade and LG P350) sound crappy compared to my S4.
That's why there are mods like viper4android. With the right setup you can get nice bass.
Besides, stuff like this is just a preference. I, for instance, don't like heavy basses. I like to listen to the music, not the "boom boom" sound of the bass.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I Dont like much bass either but the sound of i9505 compared to Sony Xperia Z2,Galaxy Grand Prime,Galaxy J5,Galaxy Ace 3 and the desktop computer is really flat and lacking.I can hear more elements in even samsungs lowest end phones than i9505 using the same earphones
Stay away from S4.
- Lollipop roms are okay but not very fast.
- Exynos AND snapdragon can overheat actually depends on the kernel.
- microphone distortion (personally) which I can hear as I play back the call recording
- not as fast or smooth as I expected for quad core when I previously had S5 mini
- Sometimes run out of ram but not too often
Generally just don't expect much. The specs look really good on paper but it's actually not that good a phone.
The screen resolution is very high which is nice.
Camera quality / focus is average as well. Slow to focus. Quality average.
I suggest buy 2nd hand used S5 or S6.
Unfortunately no S6 mini.
@fatjoez
1. Really? 5.1.1 is okay for me.
2. I've a device with Intel processor and it does the same thing. In short: All CPUs could overheat.
3. -skipped-
4. Blame Samsung's policies.
5. I'm only felt it on TW ROMs.
And no, I won't buy Exynos devices. Devices with Snapdragon SOCs are the best choice.
But, it's up to you. I couldn't interfere your mind.
Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD
Well I bought a oneplus x. Been using it for one day and I'm not sure about it. Works OK. Speed us good but it's just too big. I just wish I could find a phone the same size as the 2013 moto x. Now I'm thinking either a S4 or Z5 compact. :/
Sent from my ONE E1005 using Tapatalk
As much as I like the S8, there are a few minor things that keep it from being great. Here's a quick mock up of what I think would have been the perfect S8:
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Better fingerprint sensor location
Power/volume buttons on one side, no bixby
16:9 5.1" screen
Obviously it doesn't matter what any of us think, but imo it would be nice if someone (google) were to make something like this. Anyone agree?
You left off the front facing stereo speakers. See. ZTE Axon 7 for reference.
I actually like the tall screen and the finger print scanner... so no, I dont agree
stan54 said:
As much as I like the S8, there are a few minor things that keep it from being great. Here's a quick mock up of what I think would have been the perfect S8:
Better fingerprint sensor location
Power/volume buttons on one side, no bixby
16:9 5.1" screen
Obviously it doesn't matter what any of us think, but imo it would be nice if someone (google) were to make something like this. Anyone agree?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
right on man!:good:
I like how its been designed. People are reacting a bit over too much over the fingerprint sensor location... it aint all that bad positioning afterall.
nobody seams to understand why the finger print sensor is where it is....... the battery would have to be thinner or shorter... this location maximizes your battery size... so deal with it
I'm ok with the current design... but it's okay to dream...
dmcgrath009 said:
nobody seams to understand why the finger print sensor is where it is....... the battery would have to be thinner or shorter... this location maximizes your battery size... so deal with it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the placement of the finger print sensor was mainly because they failed to achieve what they originally wanted which was a fingerprint sensor on the front display. Rather than delay the launch, they put it in an area that made the most sense without having to redesign. It's not the ideal location, but it's not terrible either.
OP I like the design. Switching from the Nexus 6, the side buttons would be great. As for the aspect ratio, I'm starting to like the S8 being more narrow, makes it feel like the phone isn't quite as big as it is while still having a lot of screen real estate. Well done though, if that was the actual S8 I would definitely have gotten it as well.
Finger print location isn't bad. If you hold your hand out like you are using samsung pay its great positioning.
I think most are complaining because they are In the habit of where the scanner it. Need to accept and use the new location to form new habit.
I'm not so sure decreasing the 18.5:9 to 16:9 would make it go all the way down to a 5.1" screen. Maybe 5.4". But I wholeheartedly agree with all of this
Someone did something similar with the Pixel. I would've bought it if it looked like this.
ChazzMatt said:
You left off the front facing stereo speakers. See. ZTE Axon 7 for reference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every thread you come in with that ZTE Axon 7 and stereo speakers. Let it die already.
STEREO SPEAKERS FOR THE WIN
ChazzMatt said:
You left off the front facing stereo speakers. See. ZTE Axon 7 for reference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rado_vr6 said:
Every thread you come in with that ZTE Axon 7 and stereo speakers. Let it die already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. I will not. In fact reviewers agree with me. One of the complaint reviewers have had about the otherwise mostly excellent S8 is Samsung's puzzling decision for mono speaker. They own Harman Kardon!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2017/04/22/samsung-galaxy-s8-review/#6425a0d73e5e
Cons: Badly positioned volume controls, idiotically positioned fingerprint sensor, pointless Bixby button and a meek mono speaker
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://mashable.com/2017/03/31/samsung-galaxy-s8-specs-compromise/
The phone only has a mono speaker
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.iretron.com/blog/posts/samsung-galaxy-s8-my-first-full-day/
I am disappointed that there are no stereo speakers,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And not only a complaint within a review, that's ACTUALLY the TITLE of an article...
http://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-stereo-speakers-761093/
Is Samsung ever going to put stereo speakers on a flagship?
Is Samsung ever going to put stereo speakers on a flagship?
But stereo speakers aren’t an under-utilized talisman for the vocal minority. Stereo speakers are the way we should hear audio from our smartphones. Heck, stereo is the way we should hear audio from any source. But Samsung’s continued resistance to putting stereo speakers on a flagship phone seems more ingrained than even the company’s love of bloatware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will continue to bring attention to such a design deficit. It's a great feature that even the Moto Nexus 6 also had. All top tier phones should have stereo speakers, especially if we are paying this much money.
It's just ZTE did it best and for least money, and most recently -- with a BMW-designed frame at that. Other manufacturers should follow that example. Google did it before and should do it AGAIN.
ChazzMatt said:
You left off the front facing stereo speakers. See. ZTE Axon 7 for reference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMO a single high quality front facing speaker that handles all the sound output of the phone is the best compromise. Phone speakers will never sound good so two mediocre speakers that take up valuable space won't sound better, just slightly louder - plus that leaves room for more battery capacity - and things like the headphone jack...
snick8467 said:
Finger print location isn't bad. If you hold your hand out like you are using samsung pay its great positioning.
I think most are complaining because they are In the habit of where the scanner it. Need to accept and use the new location to form new habit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most people are coming from older galaxies and iphones so they don't have a habit of using a rear sensor. They are complaining because it's in a horrible place and even with muscle memory you have to strain to reach it and avoid not smudging the camera. You can "accept it" - I'll keep my dignity, thanks.
Syn Ack said:
I'm not so sure decreasing the 18.5:9 to 16:9 would make it go all the way down to a 5.1" screen. Maybe 5.4". But I wholeheartedly agree with all of this
Someone did something similar with the Pixel. I would've bought it if it looked like this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn that's a nice design - I actually like it more than my samsung concept and hope the pixel 2 is half as good. Only thing I don't like is the tall screen. Tall aspect ratios turn one handed phones into two handed ones without the benefits of an actually bigger screen.
I thought about the screen size and 5.1" is doable. The s8 is so tall that it's like an optical illusion making you think it's bigger than it is. In reality the s7 and s8 are the same width so imagine the s7 with the top and bottom bezels cut in half. Kind of like this:
Looks like a 2013 LG G2, doesn't it? That phone really was way ahead of its time...
I don't know why people need such speakers on a phone.
They sound ****ty nevertheless and won't be used for any music consumption unless you are one of those ghetto kids who has his cellphone on blast in public transport.
The speaker is simply there to make "rinring" in case someone calles and even this is disabled my most people because it's too intrusive compared to a vibration feedback.
Speakers need space to work and I can see better usage of that space instead of putting stereo speakers in a cellphone. Really you can't even fit some decent speakers in there because they need so much room. Ever seen a subwoofer? You won't but that thing in a cellphone because it's 95% empty space inside there.
Use some headphones or connect the phone to your living room system for gods sake
First I will agree with you, then I'll disagree with you.
HzMeister said:
Damn that's a nice design - I actually like it more than my samsung concept and hope the pixel 2 is half as good. Only thing I don't like is the tall screen. Tall aspect ratios turn one handed phones into two handed ones without the benefits of an actually bigger screen.
I thought about the screen size and 5.1" is doable. The s8 is so tall that it's like an optical illusion making you think it's bigger than it is. In reality the s7 and s8 are the same width so imagine the s7 with the top and bottom bezels cut in half. Kind of like this:
Looks like a 2013 LG G2, doesn't it? That phone really was way ahead of its time...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the LG G2 was ahead of it's time. And I'll give you specific proof via Motorola laughable efforts during that same time...
The 2013 LG G2 was the first Android with 1080p and rear camera OIS, and why the LG Nexus 5 was based on the LG G2 instead of any Motorola designs that year, even though Google owned Motorola. Whenever I compare phones or critique phones, it's usually based on hardware specs. "Software" is more opinion based. I have my opinions on software, there are things I like, love or hate -- but hardware doesn't lie. At the time, Motorola was NOT a top tier hardware/design manufacturer.
* 2013
Within ONE week of each other Motorola and LG released their 2013 flagship phones (August 1 and August 7). Motorola released the 2013 Moto X and LG released the 2013 LG G2. The 2013 Moto X HARDWARE was an excellent clone of the 2012 LG Optimus G (G1)/LG Nexus 4: 4.7", 720p, 2GB RAM -- with not even Snapdragon 8XXX chipset. Both the 2012 LG and the 2013 Moto X used Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro. Seriously, for HARDWARE SPECS they just copied LG's Nexus phone from the previous year. The 2012 LG actually had 768p resolution and 13MP camera vs. the 2013 Moto X 720p and 10MP camera.
But when you compare the specs of the two 2013 "flagship" phones to each other, the Motorola is clearly a mid-tier design.
2013 LG G2 vs 2013 Motorola Moto X
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/LG-G2,Motorola-Moto-X/phones/7969,7885?ft=2
The 2013 LG G2 was cutting edge specs. 5.2" 1080p, Snapdragon 800, 2GB RAM, rear camera OIS. And the 2013 LG Nexus 5 was based on that design -- just a little smaller (4.95"), so it wouldn't be an exact clone. LG had run into problems with that the previous year, where the LG Nexus 4 was an almost exact copy of the LG Optimus G (G1). Why would people pay $600 or more for the LG Optimus when they could get the LG Nexus 4 for almost half the price through Google? So, for the 2013 LG Nexus 5, they tried to differentiate their flagship from the Nexus phone through display size.
* 2014
Then in 2014, the 2014 Moto X (gen2) was an excellent copy of the 2013 LG G2, but otherwise not exceptional specs. Yeah, Motorola did it again. Just copied LG's previous year flagship phone: 5.2", 1080p, 2GB RAM, only updating it with a slightly newer Snapdragon 801 chipset than LG had used, the Snapdragon 800. OK, it did have stereo speakers to improve on the LG G2...
Whereas, at the same time LG was introducing the 2014 LG G3 -- with 1440p, 3GB RAM, and laser-focused rear camera. LG was again moving to the next level of hardware specs while Motorola was looking to the past.
2014 LG G3 vs 2014 Motorola Moto X (gen2)
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/LG-G3,Motorola-Moto-X-2014/phones/8347,8897?ft=2
But REALLY, you should be comparing the 2014 Moto X to the EXCELLENT 2013 LG G2! Motorola couldn't even make a copy as good as the LG G2! And they had a YEAR to copy and paste. For instance, Motorola put in a puny 2300 mAh battery, while LG had put in a 3000 mAh battery into the 2013 LG G2. Both 5.2", 1080p, 2GB RAM. What, is 3000 mAh too big?
2014 Moto X vs 2013 LG G2
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Motorola-Moto-X-2014,LG-G2/phones/8897,7969?ft=2
* LATE 2014
Only with the late 2014 5.95" Shamu (Moto Nexus 6) and 5.2" Quark (Droid Turbo, Moto Turbo, Moto Maxx) phones did Motorola finally join the ranks of top tier manufacturers like Samsung and LG. 1440p AMOLED, 3GB RAM, 64GB internal memory, turbo charging (Quick Charge 2.0), Qi wireless charging. The larger phone had stereo speakers and rear camera OIS, not sure why Motorola left them off the smaller phone. The smaller 5.2" Quark had 21MP camera and 3900 mAh battery. Yes, the SMALLER phone had a LARGER battery. Because Google always skimped on their Nexus batteries for some strange reason.
(I haven't updated the OS specs below, it's still on the the last versions when I used this comparison, but the hardware specs have not changed on the two phones.)
I bought THREE of the Moto Maxx XT1225 phones. It was basically the 5.2" version of the Moto Nexus 6.
How do you fit a 3900 mAh battery into a 5.2" display phone? Easy. You just put it in. See that's the FALLACY I am going to bash you on in the next point. There's ALWAYS ROOM for what you want to put into a phone. ALWAYS.
And I'll explain in my next point...
HzMeister said:
IMO a single high quality front facing speaker that handles all the sound output of the phone is the best compromise. Phone speakers will never sound good so two mediocre speakers that take up valuable space won't sound better, just slightly louder - plus that leaves room for more battery capacity - and things like the headphone jack...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Then why didn't Samsung put in a a single high quality front facing speaker? Instead they put in a bottom firing speaker. You don't even know the speaker Samsung has on their S8/S8+.
What you think is the "speaker" is the earpiece to listen to phone calls.
2) But, let's pretend Samsung did put in a "a single high quality front facing speaker".
Why would you use "a single high quality front facing speaker" but then inexplicably downgrade to " two mediocre speakers" for stereo? Oh, here's a solution! How about TWO of those " single high quality front facing speaker" -- that way you would have TWO high quality front facing stereo speakers! You already have them on hand, yes? (In your scenario.)
Glad to be of help! Wow, that was VERY hard to figure out.
Oh, and maybe you could buy a STEREO MANUFACTURER with expertise to help out your obviously incompetent engineers who you think would try to put in " two mediocre speakers" . Maybe Samsung should buy Harman Kardon? Oh, they already have! Again, glad to be of help!
Samsung's own press release of the ownership tranfer shows MOBILE as a reason to buy Harmon Kardon:
HzMeister said:
plus that leaves room for more battery capacity - and things like the headphone jack...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MORE ROOM FALLACY
Oh, please. The "more room" fallacy. Let's put this to rest once and for all. It's the equivalent of politicians under investigation who resign to "spend more time with their families". That's not the real reason, it's just the only excuse they can come up with that sounds acceptable to people who don't know any better.
Apple said they ditched the iPhone headphone jack for "more" room. NO, they wanted to sell their massively expensive bluetooth wireless earbuds.
Motorola ditched the headphone jack last year for their 2014 5.5" Moto Z Force phone (June 2016), allegedly for the same reason "more room"...
Yet they included the headphone jack in their 2014 5.5" Moto Z Play (August 2016) released later in the same year. Oh, and GUESS WHAT? The Moto Z Play had a slightly larger battery (3510 mAh) than the Moto Z Force (3500 mAh). That's right -- the phone WITH the headset jack even has a bigger battery.
So, more room for WHAT? The dimensions are almost identical. I see .02 mm and .03mm difference -- that's HUNDREDTH OF MILLIMETERS -- for a larger battery AND a headset jack.
And Motorola now admits they LIED. Apple will never admit that, but Motorola is admitting that... because in the upcoming 2017 Moto Z2 Force -- GUESS WHAT? -- they are ADDING BACK the headset jack. Yes, after ditching the headset jack for their flagship phone in 2016, Motorola is bringing it back.
And I'm pretty sure it will also have the same standard components of most 2nd half 2017 flagship phone -- 1440p, Snapdragon 835, 64/128GB internal memory, 4/6GB RAM, microSD card, blah, blah, blah.
Manufacturers have included headphone jacks, larger batteries, whatever they want in past years. Headphone jacks have NOT grown in size.
Internal electronic components have only shrunk in size. RAM, internal storage, CPU chipsets get SMALLER each year.
If a manufacturer claims they are ditching headset jacks or microSD cards for "more room" they are LYING or their engineers are INCOMPETENT. In Apple's case they are lying.
Now, go back to my 2014 Moto XT1225. 5.2" 1440p AMOLED and a 3900 mAh battery. I own three of these phones. Was released as the Droid Turbo XT1254/Moto Turbo XT1225/Moto Maxx XT1225/Moto Maxx XT1250. All had 3900 mAh battery.
How did Motorola put a 3900 mAh battery into this 5.2" phone? They just did. At the time, they said people were worried about battery life and putting in a bigger battery was addressing that issue. Read that again. People are NOT demanding credit card thin phones. People want bigger batteries. So, it makes the phone a hair thicker. So what. It just makes it easier to hold in your hand!
Here's the difference between a 5.2" phone with a 3900 mAh battery and 5.2" phone with 2300 mAh battery. The only thing wrong with the 3900 mAh battery phone is Motorola should have lost the capacitive buttons on the Quark phones and instead included the front facing stereo speakers they put on the 2014 Moto X. I don't understand why they didn't do that.
5.2" 2014 Moto X with front-facing stereo speakers
When Motorola released the Quark phone end of 2014, especially with the loud PR of the Droid Turbo a lot of people were very ANGRY at Motorola. They had bought the "flagship" 2014 Moto X (which was mostly a copy of the 2013 LG G2, except for the addition of front facing stereo speakers) with only 2,300 mAh battery and then a few months later Motorola unleashes this BEAST?
(By the way, in spite of Verizon's PR LIES, this phone was NOT an exclusive for Verizon, it wasn't even exclusive in the U.S.! The U.S. Moto XT1250 has the same FCC ID, same radio bands as the Droid Turbo and runs on Verizon with a Verizon SIM card, just like a non-Verizon Moto Nexus 6. My Moto XT1225 has LTE bands 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 17 and I run them on AT&T.)
And remember these are 5.2" display phones. When you increase the size to larger displays -- even with current slimmed/zero bezels -- the additional battery thickness would be negligible. Plus, no one is demanding credit card thin phones. A little extra thickness is OK, and with extra thickness comes room for ANYTHING you wish to put in -- stereo speakers, larger battery, etc.
There's always MORE ROOM.
I see PLENTY of room on the Galaxy S8 for a BIGGER battery and HIGH QUALITY front-facing stereo speakers.
So nevermind the design or the engineering that went into the device. With a year design cycle you really think every little detail YOU care about will make it. Instead if complaining, why not use your nonexistent engineering skills to build a better device?
Omg stop with this stereo speaker nonsense. Unless you are a teenager who likes to bug people on public transports or places, or you're trying to party on your phone music, it's useless. If you are an audiophile you would have a- a nice sound system at home be it home cinema or just Sonos like system then you would have either Bose qc35, shure 846 or OPPO PM3 , or any other high end headphones. You just need to have a clear sound when it rings and loud enough for you to hear
Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
HzMeister said:
As much as I like the S8, there are a few minor things that keep it from being great. Here's a quick mock up of what I think would have been the perfect S8:
Better fingerprint sensor location
Power/volume buttons on one side, no bixby
16:9 5.1" screen
Obviously it doesn't matter what any of us think, but imo it would be nice if someone (google) were to make something like this. Anyone agree?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That render looks hideous to me. The S8 as it looks now is much better looking
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
barondebxl said:
That render looks hideous to me. The S8 as it looks now is much better looking
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess not everyone likes an easy to reach notifications tab or fingerprint sensor...
HzMeister said:
I guess not everyone likes an easy to reach notifications tab or fingerprint sensor...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You guessed right.
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
With phones starting to ship now I figured I'd get the ball rolling with a camera discussion / Image sample thread. I'll be sure to update this post once I have the device and get some sample shots. With the not so great reviews of the camera, I think this is a great thread to discuss the camera of the Essential phone. I'm sure it's going to bring a lot of debate
I'm wondering what is the actual sensor being used for the camera. Is it one of the Sony Exmor sensors that most phones use these days? If so, which one? It seems odd to me that this had not been reported on the way it usually is with flagship phones claiming to have great cameras, like the Pixel and U11.
I feel like the 360 camera was a bad choice as a first accessory.
A super high quality normal snap-on sensor would have changed the way this phone was received.
Goronok said:
I feel like the 360 camera was a bad choice as a first accessory.
A super high quality normal snap-on sensor would have changed the way this phone was received.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The camera issues are software related.
The processing may need tweaking with real world shooting. The app has issues. I think they will sort the camera out. For me it's not a big deal since I almost always have a camera with an APS-C sensor around. I only do phone cameras in an emergency.
tech_head said:
The camera issues are software related.
The processing may need tweaking with real world shooting. The app has issues. I think they will sort the camera out. For me it's not a big deal since I almost always have a camera with an APS-C sensor around. I only do phone cameras in an emergency.
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Click to collapse
Essential is saying it's software related in PR statements. But the camera issues have been around for months and they haven't been able to fix it. Droid Life reported on it back in June: http://www.droid-life.com/2017/06/05/essential-phone-camera-sample/
I think it's likely that they are using small 1/3 sensors (in order to have no camera hump in a thin phone); they seem to been avoiding publishing any information about what the actual sensors are in the phone and their size. That would definitely explain the low light issues. No software update is going to fix that.
And there have been so many cell phones that have come out with camera issues and promises of software fixes that never materialize. At best minor improvements happen. So I would not hold my breath for Essential being able to make huge imporvements. If they could have, they would have before they started handing it out to reviewers. It's not like they couldn't go out and snap photos like the reviewers are doing and see the problems (and if they didn't do that, then that level of incompetence makes me believe even less that there will be a miracle fix).
So I think people should be prepared for this being what the camera is more or less going to be like, with maybe some minor improvements.
cb474 said:
I'm wondering what is the actual sensor being used for the camera. Is it one of the Sony Exmor sensors that most phones use these days? If so, which one? It seems odd to me that this had not been reported on the way it usually is with flagship phones claiming to have great cameras, like the Pixel and U11.
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Sony IMX258
360 camera is IMX378
Kay1000RR said:
Sony IMX258
360 camera is IMX378
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Thanks. Yeah, I saw that yesterday. As I predicted, the sensor, IMX258, is a 1/3 sensor (and two years old at that). Super disappointing. This definitely explains the bad low light performance (along with EIS instead of OIS). As I said, I really doubt software updates are going to do much to improve it. Samsung has been putting larger sensors (1/2.5) in their phones for four years now. I big part of why the Pixel and U11 have good cameras are because of the 1/2.3 sensors in them. There is just no excuse for a so called "flagship" phone these days have a 1/3 sensor in it.
It seems like Essential was just overly obssessed with their perfectly flat back idea (which I don't even think looks so great, it's almost too plain) and thought they could do "magic" by combining two 1/3 sensors, one in BW mode, and somehow produce better pictures from two lower grade sensors. 2X bad information does not equal good information. Yeah, maybe they'll get a little extra detail out of the extra monochrome sensor. But it's not going to compete with a larger sensor. And it really doesn't look like they have even used the extra monochrome sensor well (while suffering the expense of severe shutter lag while the camera tries to interpolate the information from two sensors).
I'm really disappointed that they cheaped out on the camera and were overly obssessed with not having even the tiniest camera hump (which I think Samsung and Apple have proven people are totally fine with and still think their designs are great). What attracts me to the Essential phone is the large screen in a small phone size (and the titanium and ceramic are nice pluses); but I really don't give a damn about a perfectly flat back. To get the nice design with the screen I was willing to accept the lack of a 3.5 mm jack and other corners they cut on features. But they hyped the camera as being great, when they knew they had inferior sensors in it. If they can't get the things they do have in the phone right, it's hard for me to still want to get this phone (or trust this company).
cb474 said:
Thanks. Yeah, I saw that yesterday. As I predicted, the sensor, IMX258, is a 1/3 sensor (and two years old at that). Super disappointing. This definitely explains the bad low light performance (along with EIS instead of OIS). As I said, I really doubt software updates are going to do much to improve it. Samsung has been putting larger sensors (1/2.5) in their phones for four years now. I big part of why the Pixel and U11 have good cameras are because of the 1/2.3 sensors in them. There is just no excuse for a so called "flagship" phone these days have a 1/3 sensor in it.
It seems like Essential was just overly obssessed with their perfectly flat back idea (which I don't even think looks so great, it's almost too plain) and thought they could do "magic" by combining two 1/3 sensors, one in BW mode, and somehow produce better pictures from two lower grade sensors. 2X bad information does not equal good information. Yeah, maybe they'll get a little extra detail out of the extra monochrome sensor. But it's not going to compete with a larger sensor. And it really doesn't look like they have even used the extra monochrome sensor well (while suffering the expense of severe shutter lag while the camera tries to interpolate the information from two sensors).
I'm really disappointed that they cheaped out on the camera and were overly obssessed with not having even the tiniest camera hump (which I think Samsung and Apple have proven people are totally fine with and still think their designs are great). What attracts me to the Essential phone is the large screen in a small phone size (and the titanium and ceramic are nice pluses); but I really don't give a damn about a perfectly flat back. To get the nice design with the screen I was willing to accept the lack of a 3.5 mm jack and other corners they cut on features. But they hyped the camera as being great, when they knew they had inferior sensors in it. If they can't get the things they do have in the phone right, it's hard for me to still want to get this phone (or trust this company).
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You are are neglecting to factor in the increase in pixel density of the larger sensors.
The 258 has an area of 4.84mm^2 the 318 has an area of 5.24 mm^2 this is a 8% increase in area but a 60% increase in pixel.
With the pixels smaller the light collection ability and noise performance is not necessarily better.
The 318 is the newest mobile sensor that Sony has and it has 1um pixels.
They claim no drop in low light performance and noise from their 1.12um pixel sensors.
Mind you , they do not claim an increase in low light performance or noise,
So I'm not ready to dismiss the camera yet.
I'm not quite ready to dismiss it either. While the LG G6 may not win any awards for its main camera, it is definitely serviceable. Technically, the essential phone should take better snaps with the monochrome sensor combo too.
The Google camera port should help sweeten things too. I dunno, we'll see.
Goronok said:
I'm not quite ready to dismiss it either. While the LG G6 may not win any awards for its main camera, it is definitely serviceable. Technically, the essential phone should take better snaps with the monochrome sensor combo too.
The Google camera port should help sweeten things too. I dunno, we'll see.
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Google camera is a port? Not just an app? Will it take advantage of both sensors?
km8j said:
Google camera is a port? Not just an app? Will it take advantage of both sensors?
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A developer ported the Pixel version of the app with its special SW processing. So it's not really the Google camera but the Pixel camera app. I asked Michael Fisher if he tried the Pixel cam port and if it made a difference and he heard it does improve the camera but he hasn't tried it himself.
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
It also might help even more once we get Root as there is adb command to do that allows the Google HDR+ camera to use the hardware imaging processor in the qualcomn chips to work with it. Will be trying this as soon as I can.
IM0001 said:
It also might help even more once we get Root as there is adb command to do that allows the Google HDR+ camera to use the hardware imaging processor in the qualcomn chips to work with it. Will be trying this as soon as I can.
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Interested in seeing this.
tech_head said:
You are are neglecting to factor in the increase in pixel density of the larger sensors.
The 258 has an area of 4.84mm^2 the 318 has an area of 5.24 mm^2 this is a 8% increase in area but a 60% increase in pixel.
With the pixels smaller the light collection ability and noise performance is not necessarily better.
The 318 is the newest mobile sensor that Sony has and it has 1um pixels.
They claim no drop in low light performance and noise from their 1.12um pixel sensors.
Mind you , they do not claim an increase in low light performance or noise,
So I'm not ready to dismiss the camera yet.
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Huh?
The 1/2.3 sensor in the phones I was mentioning is something like the IMX378 (in the Pixel). The IMX318 is not in any of the phones I was talking about. The IMX378 in the Pixel and and the sensor in the U11 (IMX362) are physically larger and have larger pixels, 1.55 um and 1.4 um respectively. Or also something like the IMX333 in the S8. That's why they do exactly what I said which is capture more light, rather than mindlessly chase higher megapixel counts.
The IMX318 is just a megapixel chasing sensor (22.5 MP), which is probably why it's only in more gimmicky phones, like the Zenfone and the Mi Note 2. Anyway, it has absolutely zero to do with any of the phones or types of sensors I was talking about. I have no idea why you brought it up.
km8j said:
Google camera is a port? Not just an app? Will it take advantage of both sensors?
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It's both. Someone ported over the pixel HDR+ processing to work on most snapdragon 820/821/835 devices.
Really works quite well, although no, I don't think it will utilize the B&W sensor.
cb474 said:
Huh?
The 1/2.3 sensor in the phones I was mentioning is something like the IMX378 (in the Pixel). The IMX318 is not in any of the phones I was talking about. The IMX378 in the Pixel and and the sensor in the U11 (IMX362) are physically larger and have larger pixels, 1.55 um and 1.4 um respectively. Or also something like the IMX333 in the S8. That's why they do exactly what I said which is capture more light, rather than mindlessly chase higher megapixel counts.
The IMX318 is just a megapixel chasing sensor (22.5 MP), which is probably why it's only in more gimmicky phones, like the Zenfone and the Mi Note 2. Anyway, it has absolutely zero to do with any of the phones or types of sensors I was talking about. I have no idea why you brought it up.
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Okay, you are right about the 318.
The other sensors, Sony promotes a for cameras and they do not promote mobile. At least officially.
Essential made a design decision not to have a camera bump and also what would fit in the package.
Design is all about trade-offs. I've seen the pics of how full the thing is. Maybe one of the others just wouldn't fit? I don't know. I do know that if the bezels were larger I wouldn't be interested. If it were thicker, same thing.
I love the design of this phone but ya it does have tradeoffs for sure. Camera is one of them. They could have easily made the bottom bezel match the top like the S8 and put in a larger sensor for sure but decision was made to go for the super wow factor which is not necessarily a bad one in my eyes. That being said idk if i personally can "Downgrade" from the pixels camera...
tech_head said:
Okay, you are right about the 318.
The other sensors, Sony promotes a for cameras and they do not promote mobile. At least officially.
Essential made a design decision not to have a camera bump and also what would fit in the package.
Design is all about trade-offs. I've seen the pics of how full the thing is. Maybe one of the others just wouldn't fit? I don't know. I do know that if the bezels were larger I wouldn't be interested. If it were thicker, same thing.
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Whatever those sensors were originally intended for, they have been used in the best phone cameras for some time now. Samsung started using sensors like that in 2013 and Nokia, really the inventor of the modern high quality phone camera, started doing it in 2007. So Essential knew what they were doing (or not doing as the case may be).
I agree that there are trade offs with design. But Essential didn't say: in order to have a perfectly flat back we decided not to use the state of the art sensors found in other top phone cameras and do something that we think is good enough for standard users. Instead they went out of their way to promote the camera as what would be one of the stand out features of the phone. The even specifically hyped how great it's low light peformance would be. But anyone who knew the sensors they were using (without OIS) could have predicted it would not be as good as they claimed. In fact, the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus tried the exact same configuration a year before, two IMX258 sensors, one RGB the other Monochrome, with no OIS, and that camera had the exact same performance problems. So no one can say with a straight face that they didn't know what would happen.
Not only am I disappointed in the substandard performance of the camera in the Essential Phone (for a contemporary flagship), but I think Essential was totally dishonest in how they promoted this phone and apparently thought their stupid customers and reviewers wouldn't notice. Which also contradicts their claim they would be a different kind of consumer friendly company. To me, the whole clearly dishonest camera hyping episode reveals that Essential is a very different, not so nice, kind of company than they claimed and it makes me very skeptical of their claims about everything else in the phone and that they plan to do.
So I think the way things unfolded is a little different than simply Essential decided to make a design trade off.
Also, Essential has made an awful lot of design trade offs. No 3.5 mm jack. No stereo speakers. No water proofing. No sd card. And now a subpar camera. At some point it's not worth it. I was willing to live with those other things, even though I was not excited about them (especially the 3.5 mm jack). But at least the features that are there should live up to the quality the phone claims to have and the camera just does not come close.
Lastly, I really don't get it, the obsession with the perfectly flat back. The great thing about the Esssential design is the front; it's the bezeless screen and fitting a relatively large screen in a phone much smaller than usual. Secondarly the titanium and ceramic are nice touches. But who gives sh.. about the perfectly flat back? Seriously. I don't think this would have affected anyone's perception of the phone. It would have taken a very minor hump to get an IMX378 in there and without the two sensors taking up more space, they could have had OIS. It also would have fit the Essential branding. They could have said: "We are not jumping on the dual camera gimmick band wagon (since dual cameras pretty much are a gimmick, all the different ways it's done). Large sensors and OIS are what makes cameras good. So that's what we're doing. Just the 'essential' things."
In the end, the flat back just seems like a misguided obsession of Rubin himself in his desire to make his fantasy personal perfect phone.
Sounds like the phone isn't for you lol. Quite the post.
jerflash said:
I love the design of this phone but ya it does have tradeoffs for sure. Camera is one of them. They could have easily made the bottom bezel match the top like the S8 and put in a larger sensor for sure but decision was made to go for the super wow factor which is not necessarily a bad one in my eyes. That being said idk if i personally can "Downgrade" from the pixels camera...
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I doubt the design was by essential alone and instead their design choice limited by the display provided by Sharp who just released a similar phone.
Hi, I'm currently using a S8 plus. I'm thinking off upgrading to the S10e. Has anyone who currently owns this device confirm if the S10e is a good upgrade from the S8 plus? Is battery much better? Is camera significantly better etc etc?
Any help and feedback is appreciated.
Thanks
smuzza said:
Hi, I'm currently using a S8 plus. I'm thinking off upgrading to the S10e. Has anyone who currently owns this device confirm if the S10e is a good upgrade from the S8 plus? Is battery much better? Is camera significantly better etc etc?
Any help and feedback is appreciated.
Thanks
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Did exactly that while also having the S9 for a week. S8->S9 is a slight upgrade. Camera is a bit better, speakers and stereo-sound is a nice upgrade and it is slightly snappier. The One UI 2 Upgrade also brings much better RAM Management and Apps in the background close less often and the new Fingerprint location is easier to reach. Battery seemed slightly better but the S8 was also older and so might not have had its full capacity in comparison.
S8/S9->S10e is a much bigger upgrade. Camera is leagues ahead and the extra wide angle gives you so much more room to play with. Snappiness again increased and you absolutely feel the 2GB more RAM throughout the day (No closed Apps in the background). Battery seems the same in my use case to the S9. The speakers feels to be a downgrade from the S9 tho as they start crackling when on (near) full volume while the S9 speaker seemed better tuned. The new fingerprint sensor in the power button is also nice to have as i often want to take a glance while the phone is lying on the table. Missed the function to unlock without having to pick the phone up since i left my S7 behind.
All in all the S10e is a distinct upgrade over the S8. If anyone reading this got an S9, then its mostly the camera and maybe the extra RAM depending on your use case. It won't feel as a big upgrade if your already running One UI 2 and don't have Apps closing on you or want the latest camera tech.
With GCAM (look for Zexynos) the S8 and S9 look the same btw and easily crush the S10(e) in many cases.
All the above is for the Exynos variants. With Snapdragon speed increases could be bigger but battery differences could be lower.
Sorry but my opinion after upgrading from an S8 to S10 is don't do it.
I have found the camera on the 10e to be worse in every way from the S8.
My wife usually takes my old phone each time i upgrade but she has already told me she does not want this one when i change and i may decide to get rid of it early even though i only got it in September 19.
In daylight, the camera is fine but as soon as you move in doors to artificial or low light, it is woeful.
If you zoom in the pictures are full of noise and they look fake, i have pictures where skin has large chunks looking waxy or plastic, way too over processed.
If you look at Samsungs own forum for S10/S10E you will find loads of posts all around the same issues.
What makes it more annoying is the adverts and initial reviews stated the camera was professional quality yet a recent write up i seen about the soon to be released S11 was that it aimed to improve on the S10 camera which was inferior to the Pixel 3.
Other features of phone are decent but the S8 is also a very capable phone.
My own intention for the future is to move away from Samsung despite being with them since the S2 as it is the first time i have felt the new phone is inferior to the previous one.
Good luck with whatever you decide to go with.
Thanks for the replies. In all honesty I'd prefer to get the S10+ but it seems to be quite expensive still. I was thinking towards the S10e instead since it's cheaper but might hold out for something else.
Hello
Having an S21U exynos for a year now I am thinking to swap it with a S22U snapdragon (yes we are getting Snapdragon in Middle East at last)
Who "upgraded" from S21 Ultra to S22 Ultra?
Do you regret it?
-Do you feel the screen is bigger and better?
-Is it true the speakers are bad? (Flossy Carter review)
-The battery is as good as the s21 ultra or worst?
-Anyone tried a third party 45w charger? Would it be faster than the Samsung one?
-Can you finally enlarge the statusbar to get a bigger clock font?
I actually did the upgrade basically because the pre-order incentives made it close to a 1:1 swap for me and I wanted to have a stylus / note experience.
To give you some replies to your direct questions:
Don't regret it.
Screen is basically the same.
Speakers seem fine, but I don't use them very loudly, would use another media device or headphones for that.
Battery seems equal, but I'm not a heavy gamer where the power hungry tendencies of the chip may be felt.
Haven't tried 45W fast charge, I use slow charge overnight and don't need to top off during the day .
Have never thought to enlarge font on status bar, but I would imagine that would not be any ability put into a specific phone model. You'd be looking for Goodlock module or some other 3rd party app to do so.
Bottom line, I'm loving the phone, but I loved my s21 ultra too. If I had to pay a lot to upgrade I would not have - most upgrades are negligible and both phones are amazingly capable.
Note - had SD version of s21 Ultra, have SD version of s22 Ultra. Not sure if Exynos changes the equation for you at all.
It is not a justified jump, because I think s21u is a complete phone. S22 is slight better in ever aspect + S pen but is worst in ergonomics.
vegetaleb said:
Hello
Having an S21U exynos for a year now I am thinking to swap it with a S22U snapdragon (yes we are getting Snapdragon in Middle East at last)
Who "upgraded" from S21 Ultra to S22 Ultra?
Do you regret it?
-Do you feel the screen is bigger and better?
-Is it true the speakers are bad? (Flossy Carter review)
-The battery is as good as the s21 ultra or worst?
-Anyone tried a third party 45w charger? Would it be faster than the Samsung one?
-Can you finally enlarge the statusbar to get a bigger clock font?
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Click to collapse
I have both Snapdragon US variantrs
-bigger better? Better YES, Bigger, a bit
-speakers are great and both sound identical and good
-battery is better than my s21u
-I have a baseus 65w gan2 pro and it works great!
-not sure with the last part tho
I have used both Snapdragon variants. The S21 Ultra has better speakers, is narrower to hold, and has a stronger vibrate motor. Other than that the S22 Ultra is the same.
They're not the same phone. S22U is basically a note ultra.
Camera is better, mainly video glitching with AF hunting is fixed. It's the closest to iphone 13 Pro max I've seen.
Speakers don't sound as rich, but Apple wins in this department. Their speakers are like the HTC One M7 days. Battery life is brutal at first but once things settle in it's acceptable. No 13 Pro Max (is any phone even close LOL) but workable. S-pen is back, Note users rejoice! Biggest of all is e-sim actually works out of the box with the unlocked version in the USA!
I went from S21U to Google Pixel 6 Pro (meh) and now S22U, and I love it. Selling my S21U and Google 6 Pro. The camera on the S22U is a BEAST. The 1TB storage is incredible. The speed is great and I have zero regrets. Remember: soooooo many people are negative online, believe about 5% of what most people say.
I did. I dont regret it at all.
Better all around camera, especially low light pics and vids, as well as zoom past 10x. Way less lens flare too.
Battery seems almost the same, possibly a lil better.
Screen is brighter and better. My brother is still using his S21U, we put them side to side to compare. Yes, screen feels bigger/larger. S Pen is great!
Thanks everyone
So the snapdragon version doesn't suffer from the lags some people reported elsewhere?
About the speakers, people who found them not as good as the s21u, did you mean the sound quality or loudness?
I didn't root my s21u but I would for my s22u if it needs some sound mods
vegetaleb said:
Thanks everyone
So the snapdragon version doesn't suffer from the lags some people reported elsewhere?
About the speakers, people who found them not as good as the s21u, did you mean the sound quality or loudness?
I didn't root my s21u but I would for my s22u if it needs some sound mods
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I used the S21U for quite some time when it came out and now I[m on S22U, no regrets, like the form factor and design and SnapDragon is just sweet, no lags or issues on my part in more than a month. Sound is really good but then again, I'm mostly on headphones
Did they fix the built in earpiece speaker when using the phone to the ear and on a call it would exhibit distorted output if HD calling was not being used on the s21u.