Compare, contrast, opinions: GSIII vs EVO 4G LTE / Sprint-CDMA-S4 only

[Tommydaniel]

I think TommyDaniel's posts are useful and helpful, we're just all trying to get to the bottom line together as to what each phone's comparative strengths are.

It seems the delays have gotten under everyone's skin here Everyone wants to be taking out their anger on everyone Apple... Sprint... other forum members.

...at most, maybe only one deserves all this frustration targeted at them. ...and it rhymes with "Crapple."

...Snapple?

 

[suprmallet]

I knew Snapple was behind all of this! Best stuff on earth, yeah right!

 

[legacy]

Screen comparison
S2, S3, NOTE, ONEX

Spoiler

Mobile-review.com First Look at Samsung Galaxy S3 as a 2012 Flagship

Where is the ANTI-thanks button? Thanks to those screenshots and the delay on the Evo LTE, I'm going to probably cancel my pre-order until I can see the screens side by side. The S3 screen looks better in those screenshots.

 

[NeoteriX]

Where is the ANTI-thanks button? Thanks to those screenshots and the delay on the Evo LTE, I'm going to probably cancel my pre-order until I can see the screens side by side. The S3 screen looks better in those screenshots.

I personally find that photos (or videos) of screens in order to show screen "quality" to be of almost useless importance. The only thing they are good for is for demonstrating off-viewing angles, but are otherwise pointless. Shots of the screen are bounded by the digital camera's color profile, white balancing, exposure, contrast, and saturation (and what phones you have in the lineup can impact those factors)... and then add on top of that your own PC'd color profile, contrast, etc.

It's two layers of interference, which to me, makes it worthless, especially when we are comparing two screens of very close, and very high performance.

 

[i.have.droid]

Sounds like the GIII could be the better option according to this review:

Samsung Galaxy S III vs HTC One X

This is the final paragraph ( I am not a phone fanboy for the record. I had the Samsung Instinct and wanted to set it on fire).


"Well, folks, it should have become clear by now that the Galaxy S III will once again rule the land of Android, at least until a better contender arrives on the scene. For now, however, the powerful HTC One X isn't capable enough to question its leadership. Although HTC's offering is arguably better when it comes to appearance and overall design, the Galaxy S III is unbeatable as far as user experience goes and that's what's more important. Why would you need a good-looking phone that takes mediocre images and video, and as a number of nasty issues in its software? Meanwhile, the Galaxy S III may not be the most beautiful phone ever, but it does everything right in terms of functionality, meaning it will cause you far less trouble during day-to-day usage.

Once again, HTC's finest will have to play second-best to the Galaxy S phone of the year."

 

[EarlyMon]

Final warning

No more snark. Failure to heed a mod warning carries consequences. You don't want that, we don't want that.

PS - I expect everyone here to be crystal clear - this is not directed at Tommy and mods will consider this warning read by ALL HERE.

Tommy is exactly correct - this isn't the LTEvo Fan Club Thread (my words, not his) - this thread is for any or all of us to fairly consider two great phones coming soon with Android to Sprint - the Evo 4G LTE and the Samsung Galaxy S III.

To all AndroidForums.com members in good standing - post here as much as you like, that's what we're here for.

To SGS3 haters - ok to hate it, but this isn't the thread for you to express hate. There are plenty of other positive LTEvo threads for you to participate in.

This thread is for discussion and exploration of perceived issues, strengths and weaknesses of either or both phones.

I promise that this thread won't be cluttered with further warnings. If snark happens, infractions will follow.

Cheers, thanks!

 

[EarlyMon]

Sounds like the GIII could be the better option according to this review:

Samsung Galaxy S III vs HTC One X

This is the final paragraph ( I am not a phone fanboy for the record. I had the Samsung Instinct and wanted to set it on fire).


"Well, folks, it should have become clear by now that the Galaxy S III will once again rule the land of Android, at least until a better contender arrives on the scene. For now, however, the powerful HTC One X isn't capable enough to question its leadership. Although HTC's offering is arguably better when it comes to appearance and overall design, the Galaxy S III is unbeatable as far as user experience goes and that's what's more important. Why would you need a good-looking phone that takes mediocre images and video, and as a number of nasty issues in its software? Meanwhile, the Galaxy S III may not be the most beautiful phone ever, but it does everything right in terms of functionality, meaning it will cause you far less trouble during day-to-day usage.

Once again, HTC's finest will have to play second-best to the Galaxy S phone of the year."

Trouble with pre-release reviews - everything's always peachy, the phone coming destroys the one that's out in terms of fewer problems.

Number of SGS3 issues reported by users to date: zero.

Number of actual SGS3 users to date: zero.

Their firsthand knowledge that production units will cause you far less trouble day to day, than a One X: zero.

We see this for every new model, I wish they'd just stop.

 

[legacy]

I personally find that photos (or videos) of screens in order to show screen "quality" to be of almost useless importance. The only thing they are good for is for demonstrating off-viewing angles, but are otherwise pointless. Shots of the screen are bounded by the digital camera's color profile, white balancing, exposure, contrast, and saturation (and what phones you have in the lineup can impact those factors)... and then add on top of that your own PC'd color profile, contrast, etc.

It's two layers of interference, which to me, makes it worthless, especially when we are comparing two screens of very close, and very high performance.

Good point.

Just saying that the photos were enough to reaffirm my belief that I should wait until the Samsung is released and compare them side by side to see which I like better. (even though in a moment of weakness I pre-ordered the Evo LTE).

My $50 gift card from Best Buy will work for either phone.

 

[Tommydaniel]

Sounds like the GIII could be the better option according to this review:

Samsung Galaxy S III vs HTC One X

The more I see the blue version, the more I like it. It was a pretty good review, but it seems awfully early for reviews of the S3, doesn't it? According Eldar, his GS3 is still on pre-release software, so I don't see how these aren't either. Nice find I.have.droid.

 

[Tommydaniel]

I personally find that photos (or videos) of screens in order to show screen "quality" to be of almost useless importance. The only thing they are good for is for demonstrating off-viewing angles, but are otherwise pointless. Shots of the screen are bounded by the digital camera's color profile, white balancing, exposure, contrast, and saturation (and what phones you have in the lineup can impact those factors)... and then add on top of that your own PC'd color profile, contrast, etc.

It's two layers of interference, which to me, makes it worthless, especially when we are comparing two screens of very close, and very high performance.

Didn't even think about that. Good call. I was wondering why they all looked awfully close to each other lol

 

[i.have.droid]

The more I see the blue version, the more I like it. It was a pretty good review, but it seems awfully early for reviews of the S3, doesn't it? According Eldar, his GS3 is still on pre-release software, so I don't see how these aren't either. Nice find I.have.droid.

thanks. I keep hearing about the clunky sense UI..uggh. I dont know. I am trying all kinds of tricks to keep my evo battery humming so I can wait this out. I would love to wait until fall and then get to pick from the iphone 5 or best droid phone.

 

[NeoteriX]

Good point.

Just saying that the photos were enough to reaffirm my belief that I should wait until the Samsung is released and compare them side by side to see which I like better. (even though in a moment of weakness I pre-ordered the Evo LTE).

My $50 gift card from Best Buy will work for either phone.

right -- I have no doubt that the SGIII screen is amazing, though I think for some % of the population (and it probably also relates to age), the Pentile array will still be noticeable and an unviable option. For others, the SGIII screen will look awesome and yeah, seeing the phones in person will be the best bet to determine that.

 

[jcommerce]

This is fairly disconcerting about the EVO battery life...just read this on a One X vs EVO LTE comparison:

The One X has great battery life, so the fact that the Evo has an even larger 2,000mAh battery than its sibling (and no LTE to worry about) gave me great hope for its longevity. Unfortunately, I found that even getting a full day from the Evo took some finesse. Consider: I unplugged the phone at 4:15am, used it a bit on the way to the airport, turned it off on the plane until about 9, then streamed music through Rdio for about 40 minutes and did some browsing and tweeting from the device, with brightness at about 40 percent. By noon, I was down to 25 percent battery. We're running our official test now for more comparable results, but though in practice you should be able to get a full day's use from the phone with some battery TLC (and a lower brightness setting), I'm still a little underwhelmed with its performance.

How does HTC Evo 4G LTE stack up against HTC One X? - The Washington Post

 

[suprmallet]

thanks. I keep hearing about the clunky sense UI..uggh. I dont know. I am trying all kinds of tricks to keep my evo battery humming so I can wait this out. I would love to wait until fall and then get to pick from the iphone 5 or best droid phone.

If you check out XDA, several prominent devs have already said they're planning on getting the LTEvo, so you won't have to rely solely on Sense. I imagine the SG3 will also have good dev support, but the Epic Touch didn't have as much as I expected. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[i.have.droid]

Something is just off for me with this phone. I know some of you guys are locked into a preorder and will defend it to the death, but the battery reports and the clunky ui keep popping up every time I decide I want it. Tough stuff to ignore.

I also don't want to root my phone again. It's not worth it to me. That's the other thing..everyone in the EVO section basically made it like rooting is no big deal..etc but there are downsides..security holes..issues with Roms. My phone is rooted because I had to to get any coverage. It sucked. This is a weird time to need a new phone, so I'm just going to keep holding out..I tweaked more settings in my og EVO and am hoping that keeps the battery going longer so I can keep using this phone until fall.

I feel bad for you guys that are locked into the preorder..I just hope they get you guys this phone fast because this situation is unfortunate.

 

[PattiCakeUS]

Hmmm looks like a very solid phone but I think I am going to stick with the Evo LTE after watching that and looking at the photos. I do not like white phones and not a fan of that blue one either

I wish all phones would come in at least a couple of colors (black and white, at least). Color alone isn't a big issue for me, but some people (like my 25 yr old daughter) aren't that into the technical details and buy more on looks. She had a white android phone that was a few years old and in pretty rough shape (I don't remember which one it was) on either verizon or at&t and she recently switched back to sprint - but she bought the iphone mainly BECAUSE SHE COULD GET IT IN WHITE. It's funny because she put it in a jeweled case so now you can barely even see the color of the phone.

Even the Evo LTE is getting some bad press because of the look (which I do think has kind of an ugly back but it's not so ugly I wouldn't buy and use it, I'm not going to be sitting around staring at the back all the time anyway!) - if it came in a few color options maybe android sales would be up a bit more for those who are more concerned with the phone color than anything else.

 

[Tommydaniel]

right -- I have no doubt that the SGIII screen is amazing, though I think for some % of the population (and it probably also relates to age), the Pentile array will still be noticeable and an unviable option. For others, the SGIII screen will look awesome and yeah, seeing the phones in person will be the best bet to determine that.

Pentile on an HD res screen isn't as noticeable. I checked out the Note at AT&T and thought the screen was great. I would say for anyone rocking a 800x480 or below resolution either screen will be a major upgrade.

 

[Tommydaniel]

I wish all phones would come in at least a couple of colors (black and white, at least). Color alone isn't a big issue for me, but some people (like my 25 yr old daughter) aren't that into the technical details and buy more on looks. She had a white android phone that was a few years old and in pretty rough shape (I don't remember which one it was) on either verizon or at&t and she recently switched back to sprint - but she bought the iphone mainly BECAUSE SHE COULD GET IT IN WHITE. It's funny because she put it in a jeweled case so now you can barely even see the color of the phone.

Even the Evo LTE is getting some bad press because of the look (which I do think has kind of an ugly back but it's not so ugly I wouldn't buy and use it, I'm not going to be sitting around staring at the back all the time anyway!) - if it came in a few color options maybe android sales would be up a bit more for those who are more concerned with the phone color than anything else.

Haven't ever had a white phone, but I have always wanted one, they just released them too damn late. lol

 

[JMac202]

Pentile on an HD res screen isn't as noticeable. I checked out the Note at AT&T and thought the screen was great. I would say for anyone rocking a 800x480 or below resolution either screen will be a major upgrade.

As an owner of a LTE Note I can tell you the screen isnt that great. Blacks suck. It has black clipping issues as seen here.

[POLL] Black clipping / black crush - xda-developers

Blacks arent black. They are almost brownish in tint especially while watching videos with the phone. The Samsung splash screen at boot up is black with a white Samsung logo. The white isnt crisp and bleeds into the black and makes it look bluish around the logo. Hard to explain but it looks bad at start up to me.

 

[EarlyMon]

No one is stuck with anything. People can refuse the delivery or just use Sprint's no hassle 14 days return policy.

Your mileage may vary, but I put no stock in the reviewers spreading FUD about Sense.

Ditto for those spreading FUD about TouchWiz.

I've not used the latest of either, but I have used the prior version of each one, and I think that they both offer a lot for us users that want more than the plain Android without having to hassle lots of customizations just to get what Sense and TouchWiz give you right out of the box.

Remember, the blogosphere serves us with reviews, but they serve themselves with clicks and they get clicks by either being sensational or by catering to splinter groups (HTC, Samsung, Motorola lovers) within Android.

I totally don't accept that if you change the body and add a sim, that suddenly battery life is a dog, especially when so many others are reporting otherwise, for example.

I really hate to sound wishy washy, but facts are facts - both of these phones will have hidden strengths and obvious weaknesses that we won't learn about until users get them in their hands.

I think that if you like a vibrant screen, the Sammy is the winner. I think that if you care about color accuracy, the LTEvo is the winner.

I think that if you really still need the removable battery, the Sammy is the winner.

I think that there is a lot of disappointing hot air with the cameras in both phones and I will need to see users making reasonable adjustments before I see a winner.

I think that both will sport the fabulous S4 as a core and that early synthetic benchmarks are bunk.

I think that HTC will follow tradition and use Samsung memory components.

I think that rooting is less of an issue than ever before. The HTC isn't loaded with bloatware and ICS lets you freeze it out anyway.

You cats know me as an HTC fan, but what many of you don't know is that I came this >< close to buying the GNex, so the SGS3 is very much on my short list.

So please take my jabs at bad reviews at face value.

I'm not tossing them out there because they don't favor HTC, I'm tossing those jabs out because I don't feel like I'm getting SGS3 reviews, I feel like I'm getting sales pitches.

And I don't know about you, but I hate sales pitches.

 

[Tommydaniel]

As an owner of a LTE Note I can tell you the screen isnt that great. Blacks suck. It has black clipping issues as seen here.

[POLL] Black clipping / black crush - xda-developers

Blacks arent black. They are almost brownish in tint especially while watching videos with the phone. The Samsung splash screen at boot up is black with a white Samsung logo. The white isnt crisp and bleeds into the black and makes it look bluish around the logo. Hard to explain but it looks bad at start up to me.

According to the thread it seems to be a software issue, someone noted, "Using ICS and the AOSP gallery, the test image displays perfectly just like quickpic. The samsung gallery has a dropoff to black at 7. Looks like it's software guys..." So it's possible that Sammy did something to help with those issues on the GS3. Some people were saying the pentile on the GS3 is slightly different from the Nexus, so that's possible to. Only time will tell.

I didn't spend a ton of time with the Note so I definitely don't have the experience with it that you do. I have the Epic Touch and it's as black as black can be, but again it's not pentile. Sounds like I need to take another look at the Note at AT&T and the ONEX.

 

[EarlyMon]

HDTV forums will always support - the higher the color saturation, the greater tendency to black crushing, regardless of display type.

Like Pentile, some aren't sensitive to it, and many who are, simply don't care on a phone display.

SAMOLED is a great technology, but like all mobile technologies, it has inherent shortcomings.

 

[Tommydaniel]

I totally don't accept that if you change the body and add a sim, that suddenly battery life is a dog, especially when so many others are reporting otherwise, for example.


I think that both will sport the fabulous S4 as a core and that early synthetic benchmarks are bunk.

From what I have always understood it was that GSM tech uses less battery than CDMA tech, don't know how or why or how accurate that is, I just remember reading about it. But I do agree that CDMA shouldn't change the battery life that much to make it suck, especially with the bigger battery.

Did you see the rumor of the Japan version or the GS3 (with the S4) getting 2GB of Ram? I wonder if the US version will see the same specs seeing as it's rumored for the S4 chip as well.

 

[Tommydaniel]

HDTV forums will always support - the higher the color saturation, the greater tendency to black crushing, regardless of display type.

Like Pentile, some aren't sensitive to it, and many who are, simply don't care on a phone display.

SAMOLED is a great technology, but like all mobile technologies, it has inherent shortcomings.

It's probably because I have keratoconus in one eye and it's messing with my vision. haha

 

[JMac202]

According to the thread it seems to be a software issue, someone noted, "Using ICS and the AOSP gallery, the test image displays perfectly just like quickpic. The samsung gallery has a dropoff to black at 7. Looks like it's software guys..." So it's possible that Sammy did something to help with those issues on the GS3. Some people were saying the pentile on the GS3 is slightly different from the Nexus, so that's possible to. Only time will tell.

I didn't spend a ton of time with the Note so I definitely don't have the experience with it that you do. I have the Epic Touch and it's as black as black can be, but again it's not pentile. Sounds like I need to take another look at the Note at AT&T and the ONEX.

Maybe so but Samsung has done nothing to address the growing issue. GPS is still buggy too. Which is a well known Sammy issue across a lot of phones. That being said I'm not as impressed with the screen as I was when I first got it. Pictures I take look awesome on the phone display. Nice and vibrant. So much so it's almost too much but when I upload them on a computer/facebook or photobucket the quality isnt as good looking as on the phone. And yes I upload them at full resolution.

Needless to say the Note is the last Samsung phone I buy. They lure you in with specs and screens but when it comes to real world use the phone just doesnt live up to the hype and I feel that way about the Epic, Nexus and now Note that I've used. The Nexus was by far the worst for me when it came to GPS issues. It was unusable.

And HTC phone GPS has never let me down.