Technology Android

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
So how are we justifying Samsungs decision for non-removable battery and no expandable memory? Whatever the S5 and 6 were, the Note 5 was really anticipated to come with at least a microSD slot.

Now Android forums are saying Samsung is giving in to consumers by modeling their phones after the iPhone.

They are just following Google's guidelines, which were precisely that. Also, with that UFS storage and slim body for what it fits, it had to be done to unleash full potential of what they wanted to achieve with it.

I jumped the gun on the S6 right after I saw that chipset on 14nm Finfet, that camera which was the biggest jump for any Samsung flagship and the design change. It's the first phone since the S4 that is so far ahead of competition on so many levels, even months after launch, even though partially it's because of the competition not moving forward.
The Snapdragon 820-running devices in 2Q 2016 will be first to overtake it, because frankly, all others are in a very inconvenient situation of having no choice but running the faulty Snapdragon 810, which is a downgrade even compared to the 805, sans the GPU - the Sony series are heavier and bulkier just because of the heatsink to keep them at 805-level temperatures, and performance gains are minimal in real-life scenarios, while Qualcomm won't deliver a high-end product stack with Krait cores anymore, so OEMs are stuck between decent generations, in a placeholder low.

I have no regrets about the S6, although I miss the SD slot and sturdiness feel of polycarbonate. You drop this one and it won't be any more durable than an Iphone, which prevents me from being as comfortable with it.. yet.

From other news, HTC is basically dead, which is sad, since the latest HTC One was a downgrade compared to last year's model.
LG's G4 is also destined to be less successful than the G3, since they made many downgrades and only came up with superior camera.
Sony Z5 series are decent, but not worth an upgrade over the Z3 series.
Huawei is the biggest surprise, even though their phones are severely underpowered with semi-amateur chipsets, and out of this world prices out of a sudden.
Who else is there? The new Iphones are of course not worth the upgrade over the Iphone 6, which was surprisingly decent for an Iphone, although in some ways annoyingly so far behind the Android pack and even more surprisingly the 6s didn't fix those shortcomings. I can't believe Sony's new phone coming with 4K resolution, while the newest Iphone still rocking barely 720P, 8 times less pixels. Amongst the others, which is a shame, because I quite liked the positive change in design.
The Galaxy Note series lost it this year. Samsung came up with the A8 though, which is very underrated, but it's considered to be an upper-mid-ranger - there's lots of innovation in it, however.

I'm curious to see the Nexus phones, although the leaks are rather disappointing.

If you're not in a hurry, wait till next year. Since 2014 not that much has changed, except the S6 being a little ahead of its time. Still, there's lots of cool tech being finalized for next year's flagships that will be far superior than that.
 

THEV1LL4N

Well-Known Member
I've got the G4 and it's a very nice phone with a great camera. But for some reason it doesn't feel like it's the best phone on the market. I was getting the impression that it'd be the best phone out this year. But a great phone still, nevertheless especially as I'd upgraded from the Nexus 4, having had that for about 3 years.
 

Casey

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Agreed with Masta....... Samsung came out swinging in 2015, whilst LG, HTC and Sony all disappointed.

If speedy software updates and stock Android weren't my preference I'd probably be rocking an Edge+.

Still undecided whether I'll keep my N6 for another year or get the new N6. We'll see.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
As rumors go this next line of Nexus's looks promising. I'm looking to get the 5x. Anyone use the Moto X Pure yet?
Nope, but I've made a few different configurations on it. It's pretty neat. I think it is in the running to be my next phone.

They've just released the names of the next Nexuses, right? No word on stats, as far as I know.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Im not too excited about those Nexus phones just because o f the chipsets, and because I don't really like the design too much judging by the leaks. I really hope 2016 turns things around a little bit.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
It's a vicious cycle. We were hoping last year was the year for new devices to wow us. Same for this year. Evey flagship is being released with drawbacks so no phone is a clear winner. It's just a matter of what you value most.

The Verge released its iPhone 6S review. Apple's got the camera thing down for their phones. The screen isn't all that impressive and I'm not sure what the 3D Touch feature will bring to the table, but damn those pictures look good. I think it'll still hold the title as the best smartphone camera among the other flagships from Samsung and LG and Moto.

But those Pure X reviews are pretty good too. $400 for all of that actually makes going off contract a more attractive option.
 

Casey

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I used a Moto X Play today. Same camera as the X Style / X Pure, I believe, Was impressive.

As far as iPhones go, a friend who is a professional photographer rates the G4 camera as better than the iPhone 6. I know the 6S is supposed to be a big upgrade though.

Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P announcing next week with Marshmallow. I've been running the Marshmallow preview for about a month now and it's damn good. Probably pick up a 5X for my girl. Maybe a 6P for myself, not sure yet though.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Turns out Android Pay won't work on rooted devices. Understandable, but aren't their apps/Xposed Modules that allow you to trick apps that require unrooted phones to function? I think there was one that did that and use HBO Go as an example of an app that could be tricked.

I wonder if Google will find success with Android Pay. My sister uses Apple Pay almost everywhere now and I'm sitting here wondering why Google even updated Wallet to Pay if the shit doesn't even work. Apple released Pay much later than Wallet and they've already surpassed Google with mobile pay. Typical Apple.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Wow, Android Police straight up deflated everyone's Nexus boner. No OIS for the camera, no wireless charging, the pricing is kinda shitty, and no microSD.

So I'm guessing Google is done trying to compete with cutting-edge hardware and is putting all their eggs in the software basket?
 

Casey

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Wow, Android Police straight up deflated everyone's Nexus boner. No OIS for the camera, no wireless charging, the pricing is kinda shitty, and no microSD.

So I'm guessing Google is done trying to compete with cutting-edge hardware and is putting all their eggs in the software basket?

There was never gonna be a microSD. There hasn't been since the Nexus One.

There's no wireless charging because USB Type-C charges way faster. I have a Wireless charger and I never use it with my Nexus 6 for precisely that reason. The Turbo Charger is way faster. I just use the Wireless charger for my old 2013 Nexus 7.

Pricing is pretty much where I expected it to be. I wouldn't call it shitty, the 6P is still $100 less than the 6 was at launch.

OIS may not matter so much due to the new camera module, but we'll wait and see.

I'm definitely picking up a 5X for my girl, but I might keep my 6 for another year.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
The 6P looks pretty good at a quick glance. Definitely not what I expected. But it looks very nice and I think the screen and camera and USB-C are exactly what I was looking for.

Wireless charging seems more like a gimmick the more I think about it. But I feel like that's a big part of what flagships are about. Some cool features you use and some that you may not/are a niche feature. But you expect it to have all the bells and whistles, especially a flagship from the very company that makes the OS.

But yeah, I wouldn't yearn for it, but I'd at least like the option.

I'm just waiting to be informed of some key detail I missed that is a deal breaker for this phone. I know I'd have to pay upfront for it, but I think I can swing that if I really wanted it. With a lot of flagships having a "but....." drawback, I may have missed something that I really wanted that it's missing.

But if this does end up sticking as my favorite phone, I'll be glad to finally have a Nexus device and get all the updates as soon as they come out, especially Dev previews.

I've been running dev betas on OSX and iOS for a few years now and have enjoyed doing so. I've been really lucky with not running into hiccups so far.

Chrome Canary and Firefox Aurora builds, on the other hand.....
 

Latest posts

Donate

Any donations will be used to help pay for the site costs, and anything donated above will be donated to C-Dub's son on behalf of this community.

Members online

No members online now.
Top