Technology Android

Pittsey

Knock, Knock...
Staff member
I read about hte Moto X. Sounds good. But will probably be overblown and end up being pretty ordinary.

Android@home, I would love to hear more of.
 

THEV1LL4N

Well-Known Member
Me too. I think it's time they did something with it. I mean it's been done by other companies before but if coupled with the Android ecosystem it would perhaps be more accessible than ever before. However, I feel that aside from the mobile market they are focussing more on Glass and wearable technology such as a smartwatch.

I definitely would be interested in buying light bulbs and blinds that could be controlled from my smartphone. It gives you more peace of mind when you are away from home; maybe even a device to add onto your central heating setup. It won't be cheap though.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Yeah I'm afraid the Moto X might turn out to be an ordinary phone, perhaps even a little behind the top flagships.

And I also want to hear more about Android@home. Just for the future's sake.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I spent 2 hours playing with the S3 and the S4 today. I know both inside out now.

The performance difference looks severe on paper. In real life both are literally as smooth. The S4 launches big apps visibly quicker - that's it. It's also a little faster in the web browser.

The screen is better on the S4. On paper the difference between 720p 4,8 inch and 1080p 5 inch isn't big. In real life while the S3 has a great screen, the S4's screen placed next to it just looks a little crisper. As a matter of fact, it's hard for me to picture image quality better than that.

The S4 looks cooler. The S3 alone looks kind of ok, but placed next to the S4 it looks like shit mostly because the S3 has way more bezels, especially near the buttons making it more symmetrical. The metal frame around the S4 also helps a lot - all in all I really believe the S4 looks pretty good.

An interesting note - chicks dig these designs. The S4 belongs to a female friend of mine and her and her friends can't really tell apart the S3 from the S4 oO They think both phones look very good too. Weird.

Saw the HTC One a couple of times as well. I like its design more and more. I hope HTC won't go bankrupt in the end and come up with beautiful phones after the One.. and fix the camera quality finally. They fixed the battery life with the One, at least.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Yeah, their low-light camera experiment was kinda weird. If it was a top-notch camera, it would have been a phone to seriously consider, for me.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
I'm gonna buy a cheap macro lens for my S3 when I get back home. It's like...less than $10 on Amazon. See what I can do with it.

First things first, gonna study the landscape of my scrotum.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I changed my mind, guys. I know I said it's not going to happen, but I couldn't resist. Again, I had a pretty good upgrade deal.
It's probably the most awesome phone I ever used and I don't regret paying an extra over the S3 I had for such a short time, which was a very good phone too. You can't see it on paper but this one just feels so much better. And it actually looks very good. With the S3 I had that feeling that it's not bad, but kinda sub par for a flagship and not as good enough as I'd like it. The S4 fixes that, the phone looks cool in reality. It's a beast too. Not a single aspect where it doesn't deliver the best.
 

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masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I spent over 10 hours testing that phone almost non stop, connected it to external amps, tv, tested the screen, chipset, reception, played games, checked camera. At the end I still had 56% of battery left! Easily twice as much as the S3.
The first smartphone that gives me this amazing battery life, beats the Samsung Wave I had over 2 years ago, which had a 3,3inch screen.

I also never had as much fun with any new phone I think. The software gimmicks sure are gimmicks but they make you feel like you're doing some jedi mind shit and totally enhance the experience of playing with your new phone. I totally only answer calls by waving my hand in front of my phone (although just placing it next to your ear automatically answers calls too), I scroll without touching the screen and skip music tracks by saying "next" (at home). I purposely look aways just to see the screen dim and look on it to see it turn on. Sure, gimmicks, but I had underestimated how much they enhance the fun experience.
Today I had S Voice on most of the time to do things for me, such as search for places and manage calls and messages.
The hardware is absolutely top notch too, everything inside of this phone.

I feel like people complain about the S4 because of all the software gimmick, I did too, as with S3 they weren't that obvious but having the S4 I see them very differently. They actually work better. What Samsung aims at is making a phone that would be fun to use in that cyberpunk kinda way - like in the movies where you have technology knowing what you want to do without you having to even peep at the UI. It's like a first big step in that direction and even though I'm a geek and I understand how they work and they are gimmicks, having the full package of them really is fun to use. I hope Samsung don't stop perfecting them because of all the complaints.

I totally recommend the S4 right now. Right now there's probably nothing that comes close to giving this great overall experience. If you like the underdog you can go for the HTC One but you wouldn't be as happy with it, you wouldn't know what you're missing and it'd be a good phone to have too, of course. Just not as technically cutting edge and entertaining.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
There's the Nexus rom coming soon. I have the i9505 :)

But.. I'll play with the gimmicks first. I already know I'll miss a few, such as the hand gestures and proximity sensor goodies.
 

Shadows

Well-Known Member
finally glad to see that Android Users are getting apps around the same time apple users are.

annoyed the shit out of me and almost got an iPhone.

okay, i cant afford a phone right now, but ya.
 

Casey

Well-Known Member
Staff member
In regards to the S4 gimmicks, the Group Play is cool. My homie in the shop hooked up three S4's using Group Play and blasted "Juicy". It was pretty fucking cool. It'd come in handy at a party.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
your phone still ugly though. nice personality, sure. fucks well.
I think the S4 looks very good in reality. I like the design. The awesome display that takes almost the whole front, the metal sides, the symmetry, and how slim the phone is make it feel very premium. Chicks dig it a lot too.
I didn't like the S3's design too much, although it also looks better when you just see it laying somewhere. It looks the worst on pictures. It had a little of that soap holder feel to it too, the S4 doesn't have that, it feels very different and also smaller and slimmer despite the bigger screen.

There's literally nothing bad I can say about this phone. It just works flawlessly, every component is top notch for its time and it translates to lots of fun and positive user experience on all fields.

I'm still having fun with the software gimmicks. Although I use them only at home. I have stock Android on my Nexus 7 and Samsung's UI on my S4 and I think I'll keep it that way for now. I like variety, and that Samsung's UI has a lot of things that actually enhance the experience for me, and ways of removing the unnecessary things easily. Nothing gets in my way and I have the newest Android anyway. You can even uninstall carrier's bloatware like any other app.

Saying it's overall the best phone out there right now is stating the obvious, but using it provides more fun than I expected and actually in reality it feels like a very different phone than the S3, which wasn't so obvious to me while using the S3 and just seeing some S4s. The S3 was a reasonable choice for me that I did enjoy but there was that occasional "but" here and there and I had to convince myself to like it sometimes. With the S4 I just enjoy everything.
 

Pittsey

Knock, Knock...
Staff member
Chicks dig it a lot too.


Seriously..! I think you are surrounded by the wrong women.

From Casey's party where everyone gets their phones out to share a song,. To ladies being interested in your S4. I'm beginning to think I'm older than I thought. What happened to getting hammered at parties and girls who were only interested in what you looked like. Good old school, shallow.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
Seriously..! I think you are surrounded by the wrong women.

From Casey's party where everyone gets their phones out to share a song,. To ladies being interested in your S4. I'm beginning to think I'm older than I thought. What happened to getting hammered at parties and girls who were only interested in what you looked like. Good old school, shallow.

Sounds like a bunch of dudes, to be honest with you.


Anyone use the Photo Sphere that was released earlier this year? They said the N4 was going to get it, but I have never heard about it again. I still had to flash the update as a separate zip file, meaning it still hasn't been integrated yet into the CM ROMs.
 

Casey

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Seriously..! I think you are surrounded by the wrong women.

From Casey's party where everyone gets their phones out to share a song,. To ladies being interested in your S4. I'm beginning to think I'm older than I thought. What happened to getting hammered at parties and girls who were only interested in what you looked like. Good old school, shallow.
I meant more like kicking it with your buddies over a few bottles a spliff or ten. Not like a club/bar sort of party. Fuck knows. It was just kinda cool to see how it worked.

And I have seen some evidence to suggest that Masta is correct. My sister is a model - was in the running for one of those Miss England pageant things etc etc etc and she loves the S4. She bought it the day it came out.
 

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