Technology Android

[dilla]

I don't think you can hate a company because people have made their products a status symbol. It is annoying, I agree, but it just comes down to what you like and what you make of your phone. I see people with S4s that use it for Snapchat and Instagram. And I've seen people do all their journalistic duties, including social media, on an iPhone 4. If people want a $600+ device to laugh at cat gifs and twerk videos, that's their problem. I wouldn't drop a superior product or a product I liked just because of that. Not saying the 5S or S4 are superior products, but you get the point.

If the N5 is good value for you, that's cool. I know the price is definitely enticing and I can see if you argued that it had the best specs for the price giving it its value. But I was thinking of it in that sense. First off, I have a CDMA carrier, so off-contract, unlocked phones are kind of out of the mix. And on top of that, phones are so heavily subsidized, I don't think I'll ever end up spending more than $199 on a phone, and even then I'd try and wait for it to go on sale from Amazon or Wirefly or something. So that value always resides at the $199 mark, or so, assuming it is a new phone. So the HTC One or the S4 would be the same price, it would just come down to the screen, camera, or anything else that I'm looking for.

I just don't know if the N5 has any hardware that is exclusive to it that sets it apart from other phones out there.

 

[Pittsey]

How can a product that costs $500 be a status symbol. That's my point. My shoes cost more than that. All phones are free with a £30 contract in the UK. That also gives you Unlimited Calls, Unlimited Texts and 1GB of 3G/4G.. I could get an S5 at that price. Or... I can buy an N5 off contract and save £20 a month.

I am not too enamoured with any phone at the moment, which is why I am still on my N4. I don't think I could go back to plugging my phone in now though. Wireless charging is so much easier. I really, really, really want someone to push contactless payment onto a phone in the UK. South Korea have been doing it for a while now...! I also want to have an Oyster App and contactless for the Underground.

Anyway to respond to Masta in a nutshell - I disagree. Especially about the skinned android Vs stock android experience. What are you basing it on? Something you've read? Because my real world experience of an S3, N4, N5 and numerous HTC phones is completely different.

Also... Work are trying to force an iPhone or S4 (by the time they get their way, could be an S5) on me. I don't want to give up my blackberry. Not that I like blackberries. One reason..... Battery Life...!

 

[Pittsey]

And.... I came here last night to post about the Chromecast SDK. I got caught up with baiting Masta.

Anyway....


Chromecast SDK. Might have been worth the £30 anyway. It is a handy little device. Just a little frustratingly limited. Hopefully that will change now.

 

[masta247]

Anyway to respond to Masta in a nutshell - I disagree. Especially about the skinned android Vs stock android experience. What are you basing it on? Something you've read? Because my real world experience of an S3, N4, N5 and numerous HTC phones is completely different.

Benchmarks and real world usage. For instance, the Google Play editions of flagships like the S4 and HTC One score similar or slightly lower than OEM "enhanced" not only in benchmarks, but also score lower in battery life and graphics performance.
You went from S3 to N4, which is obviously a huge performance jump (A9 core to Krait). N5 has the fastest chipset at the moment as well, just like the G2, Note 3, some S4s etc - they perform similarly, but last much longer on battery and offer superior cameras, audio, displays etc. compared to N5.

 

[masta247]

I don't think you can hate a company because people have made their products a status symbol. It is annoying, I agree, but it just comes down to what you like and what you make of your phone. I see people with S4s that use it for Snapchat and Instagram. And I've seen people do all their journalistic duties, including social media, on an iPhone 4. If people want a $600+ device to laugh at cat gifs and twerk videos, that's their problem. I wouldn't drop a superior product or a product I liked just because of that. Not saying the 5S or S4 are superior products, but you get the point.

Actually with Samsung it's just a tall poppy syndrome, in my opinion. People start complaining about it for really ridiculous reasons, they hear hate from others who think alike which reassures them it's true and with time they start believing so and hate the device or company. Emotions take over logic as well - even if they experience the phone themselves they don't allow themselves to enjoy it and will criticize it even if they have no valid reasons to do so. That's exactly what it is. At that point you have people who take it to the extreme and microwave a newest galaxy to prove themselves right.

The fact is Samsung consistently makes the most technically polished Android phones that are great all-around performers not only in a single aspect, but they just don't fail to deliver excellence on any field. When a new Galaxy comes out it's always the best performing phone, with best camera, best display, best battery life, smallest size for its screen size and comes with replaceable (highest capacity) battery and a sd slot at the same time in a high quality device with great, long-term support. That's everything people want, yet there's a growing group of people who hate on such companies just because of the momentum they've gained.
I was hating on Apple because I thought they didn't deserve their position. For Samsung, they're rightfully where they are. Even if I try hard to think what's a legit, logical reason to dislike them, nothing comes to my mind. I was never as satisfied with any smartphone as I am with the S4 - none was ever as reliable and trouble-free as well.

I just don't know if the N5 has any hardware that is exclusive to it that sets it apart from other phones out there.

Nope, it's just up there with the best flagships in some aspects and costs less, and runs stock Android out of the box. It's also very minimalistic, which some people like me enjoy. I'd be a huge fan if it wasn't for really way below par battery life and sub-par camera.

 

[Casey]

And.... I came here last night to post about the Chromecast SDK. I got caught up with baiting Masta.

Anyway....


Chromecast SDK. Might have been worth the £30 anyway. It is a handy little device. Just a little frustratingly limited. Hopefully that will change now.

I'm very pleased that it's out. DailyMotion have already stated Chromecast support is coming in an imminent update, which I'm happy about, because they have a shit ton of classic TV shows on that site that aren't on YouTube or Netflix. Koush from CyanogenMod has already updated his AllCast app with Chromecast support too, that support local casting to all sorts of devices, DLNA, Chromecast, etc etc etc.

Lots more cool Chromecast stuff to come!!!

 

[Casey]

Also, within a few hours of the SDK release, someone released CastCage. It casts random images of Nicolas Cage to your Chromecast. LOL

http://www.castcage.com/

 

[Pittsey]

Benchmarks and real world usage. For instance, the Google Play editions of flagships like the S4 and HTC One score similar or slightly lower than OEM "enhanced" not only in benchmarks, but also score lower in battery life and graphics performance.
You went from S3 to N4, which is obviously a huge performance jump (A9 core to Krait). N5 has the fastest chipset at the moment as well, just like the G2, Note 3, some S4s etc - they perform similarly, but last much longer on battery and offer superior cameras, audio, displays etc. compared to N5.

The Note might be a phone I'm interested in. But... It might just be that bit too big.

 

[masta247]

^ Why are you considering the Note but said you're not interested in the S5, which is likely to be much more awesome and smaller?

 

[dilla]

Benchmarks and real world usage. For instance, the Google Play editions of flagships like the S4 and HTC One score similar or slightly lower than OEM "enhanced" not only in benchmarks, but also score lower in battery life and graphics performance.
You went from S3 to N4, which is obviously a huge performance jump (A9 core to Krait). N5 has the fastest chipset at the moment as well, just like the G2, Note 3, some S4s etc - they perform similarly, but last much longer on battery and offer superior cameras, audio, displays etc. compared to N5.

Yup. The S3 is a May 2012 phone and the N4 is like November or early-2013 phone, at least by the time people got them after the horrible backlog/shortage.

 

[dilla]

Benchmarks and real world usage. For instance, the Google Play editions of flagships like the S4 and HTC One score similar or slightly lower than OEM "enhanced" not only in benchmarks, but also score lower in battery life and graphics performance.
You went from S3 to N4, which is obviously a huge performance jump (A9 core to Krait). N5 has the fastest chipset at the moment as well, just like the G2, Note 3, some S4s etc - they perform similarly, but last much longer on battery and offer superior cameras, audio, displays etc. compared to N5.

I just did a quick search to see if it was true. It seems a bit mixed, but the battery life of a GPE S4 is two hours better than a carrier version, it seems.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/06/samsung-galaxy-s-4-google-play-edition-review/

Thoughts?

 

[Casey]

^ Why are you considering the Note but said you're not interested in the S5, which is likely to be much more awesome and smaller?

If I was to get another Samsung, I'd go for the next Note rather than the next S. For example, the Note 3 is far more impressive than the S4.

 

[dilla]

Doesn't the Note have better hardware and is faster too? Like the Note 3 vs the S4?

Also, I just came across this article. http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sams...k-5.24-Quad-HD-screen-3200mAh-battery_id52194

I am so excited, I can already feel the sadness of dropping it within the first three days of owning it like I did with my S3.

Rumored specs, I understand, but.... Exciting.

 

[ARon]

Yeah the HTC one is the best looking phone there is. I've read the s5 is going to be pretty similar to previous models but they're going to do a more premium version of it as well.

Yay or nay to the nexus 5 in red?

I think it looks good but I'd probably never buy it

 

[masta247]

If I was to get another Samsung, I'd go for the next Note rather than the next S. For example, the Note 3 is far more impressive than the S4.

The only differences are the screen size, battery size, display digitizer and chipset though (even though new S4s have the same chipset). Other than that they're exactly same phones. Historically Notes had exactly the same hardware as S's, just bigger screen and a pen.

I just did a quick search to see if it was true. It seems a bit mixed, but the battery life of a GPE S4 is two hours better than a carrier version, it seems.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/06/samsung-galaxy-s-4-google-play-edition-review/

Thoughts?

Actually the battery life is inferior on the GPE version because of higher stand-by drain. Engadget was heavily biased towards stock Android.

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9505g_galaxy_s4_google_play_edition-review-951p3.php

Also, the updated Samsung's ROM increased the battery life further over 70 hours which makes the difference even bigger.

"Unfortunately, the overall endurance rating for the Galaxy S4 GPE fell from the 69 hours of the I9505 Galaxy S4 down to 63 hours because of the lesser talk-time and stand-by scores. And occasionally we would experience strange battery drain when we left the phone on stand-by overnight."

Truth has to be told - Touchwiz is basically taking stock Android and polishing it, optimizing, adding usability that people want but don't get with stock out of the box and.. unfortunately bloating it a little with apps. That's exactly what it is.

Doesn't the Note have better hardware and is faster too? Like the Note 3 vs the S4?

Also, I just came across this article. http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sams...k-5.24-Quad-HD-screen-3200mAh-battery_id52194

I am so excited, I can already feel the sadness of dropping it within the first three days of owning it like I did with my S3.

Rumored specs, I understand, but.... Exciting.

They're very conservative specs though, I'd expect nothing less, a lot more though. The 2k panel is confirmed by Samsung, 16mpx camera might actually turn out to be a 21mpx isocell camera (shots leaked), 4k video is guaranteed and chipset is semi-confirmed by Qualcomm - they said the Snapdragon 805 will generally hit the phones in the second half of this year, but the first phone with it will come by the end of Q1 (clocked at 2,5ghz). Obviously it's the S5, as they always pack the fastest chipsets first and they can't settle for nothing less than the 805 because of its fast GPU is required to power the 2k screen.

Yeah the HTC one is the best looking phone there is. I've read the s5 is going to be pretty similar to previous models but they're going to do a more premium version of it as well.

Yay or nay to the nexus 5 in red?

I think it looks good but I'd probably never buy it

But HTC have absolutely nothing new to offer:
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_m8_first_live_picture_is_here_has_two_rear_cameras-news-7739.php

They'll probably go bankrupt before even releasing the One+ lol. They already cancelled support on anything that came before HTC One and fired teams working on them.

Samsung is actually changing the design language for their phones this year.

 

[ARon]

http://bgr.com/2014/02/05/htc-m8-photo-leak-specs-htc-one/

Id expect similar specs for every flagship like what always happens

 

[masta247]

^ Wtf is that website on about One's design? lol

It's supposed to pack the Snapdragon 800 and a 1080P display. Pretty much last year's specs. I don't know anyone who's still looking forward to that phone.

 

[ARon]

You've never been to bgr?


http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/12/htc-one-review/

"We're smitten with the One's gorgeous industrial design and premium build."

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/05/htc-one-review-its-now-or-never-again/

"The One feels sturdy and well-built-more so than any of the plastic body phones I've used before."
They also compare it to Apple built products.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/11/4086390/htc-one-review

"The One is gorgeous. The aluminum slab's design is both totally unique and somehow still understated."

So what are you on about when it comes to the One's design?



Snapdragon 800 is the premier chip at the moment. Now samsung might use their 8 core chip but from what i've read all performance will be comparable to the 800 and vice versa. Plus phone performance is at a point where it doesn't really matter if they get even more performance cus they are crazy fast enough as it is. I don't think we will see a true 4k display on a flagship til later this year so I think the 1080p is fine. I don't think people are looking forward to it either just because it's not made by samsung. Despite the camera, it is a better phone than anything samsung offered last year. Samsung and Apple run the phone game cus of branding not because they put out the best product. Samsung makes great phones, they really do, but every once in a while HTC or LG or whoever do make something better, I think that was the case with the One. With that being said I expect something great from the m8, and I expect it to be better than the s5 unless they are changing a lot about the phone

 

[dilla]

BGR is trash. I used to visit that site a lot and even had an RSS feed from them but they sucked on Apple's dick so much, even I got tired and realized the journalism was really biased.

I've stuck to The Verge for simple analysis and then Anandtech and sometimes Tom's for in depth analysis that confuses the shit out of me.

Ars Technica is alright too. But I thought Engadger and Giz lost their appeal in 2007, or so, when they had some questionable journalism. I don't remember what, but everyone moving away from it was my trigger to do the same as well.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Any thoughts on whether there will be a second gen Chromecast device? The RAM seems a bit limited and how would the apps run smoothly if the RAM is so limited?