Nexus S vs. Galaxy S 4G

[NunyaBidnez]

Anyone upset that Samsung is releasing a new Galaxy S phone with HSPA+ which was not included in the Nexus S?

The latest pictures show it running Gingerbread as a placeholder, though it is expected to be released with Froyo and Samsung's Touchwiz interface.

If this New Galaxy S phone ends up with pure Gingerbread, HSPA+, and an SD card expansion slot, it would be exactly what I had envisioned for the Nexus S back when it was only a rumor.

 

[czechplastik]

Anyone upset that Samsung is releasing a new Galaxy S phone with HSPA+ which was not included in the Nexus S?

The latest pictures show it running Gingerbread as a placeholder, though it is expected to be released with Froyo and Samsung's Touchwiz interface.

If this New Galaxy S phone ends up with pure Gingerbread, HSPA+, and an SD card expansion slot, it would be exactly what I had envisioned for the Nexus S back when it was only a rumor.

4G is so far off being reality in the UK it's really not an important factor for most of us when considering a phone, I know things are different across the pond though. SD expansion was a poor omission but I won't make full use of the 16GB on board the NS so again, not important for me. Touchwiz is enough to turn me right off!

 

[falconeight]

The galaxy s line is nice hardware but I just could never get on with touchwiz and the update situation makes it even worse.

 

[smileman]

4G is so far off being reality in the UK it's really not an important factor for most of us when considering a phone, I know things are different across the pond though. SD expansion was a poor omission but I won't make full use of the 16GB on board the NS so again, not important for me. Touchwiz is enough to turn me right off!

+1.

Plus, T-mobile '4G' is really 3.5G, and in the rare case you do get to use it it doesn't yield much of a real world speed bump over 3G.

 

[quantumrand]

+1.

Plus, T-mobile '4G' is really 3.5G, and in the rare case you do get to use it it doesn't yield much of a real world speed bump over 3G.

T-Mobile's 4G is real 4G, as is LTE and WiMax. Prior to last month, none of the so-called 4G networks could be considered real 4G; however, the ITU recently changed the definition of the 4G standard such that HSPA+, LTE, and WiMax are all 4G networks.

In all honesty, T-Mobile has the largest and fastest 4G network, even faster than Verizon's tiny LTE network; nonetheless, I still feel that T-Mobile, despite having the most 4G coverage and fastest speeds, has the worst 4G network. This is because HSPA+ does very little to improve network latencies, to which both LTE and WiMax provide significant improvements.

I feel that 5mbps is wholly adequate for nearly any mobile application, so the speed increases seen in 4G networks are mostly unnecessary. Speeds above 5mbps will have essentially no affect on the mobile data experience. In order for further progress to be made on the mobile data front at this point, latencies need to be reduced near broadband equivalents.

 

[Aria807]

Latency is going to be a lot harder to fix as far as wireless goes. You can't compare wired vs wireless latency. I think what T-mobile needs to work on is less 3g drop outs in certain areas.

 

[MAV3N]

the biggest problem with Tmo's 4G isnt whether or not its "real" or not, or how fast it is. (ive seen 12m throughout NYC) its the very high frequencies they use have incredibly poor penetration on structures(3G included) If I am inside my single story 40x40 workshop with concrete block wallas and steel sheet roof I am lucky to get EDGE service, step outside the building and BAM full 3-5m 3G service. Unfortunately this will never change as long as Tmo continues to utilize the 1700/2100 AWS bands.

 

[elemteacher2be]

I am buying my first Android in early March, and have been debating which phone to get.

At first I was convinced on the Nexus S. Then I began to wonder if I should get the MyTouch (my brother just got it and loves it). THEN I heard about the Galaxy S 4G and so I am now all the more confused.

Since people seem to say having a 3G phone isn't any worse than the 4G at this point, I don't know how important that should be to me (remember, I haven't used a data plan before). Then there is Nexus' 2.3. How important should that be in my decision? After all, that can be updated in the Galaxy, right? Will the Nexus' blank Vanilla slate be difficult for a new Android user? Or will all the add on's (like Inception!) be a headache and hassle to get OFF the Galaxy?

Anyone have answers or advice?

 

[B2L]

I am buying my first Android in early March, and have been debating which phone to get.

At first I was convinced on the Nexus S. Then I began to wonder if I should get the MyTouch (my brother just got it and loves it). THEN I heard about the Galaxy S 4G and so I am now all the more confused.

Since people seem to say having a 3G phone isn't any worse than the 4G at this point, I don't know how important that should be to me (remember, I haven't used a data plan before). Then there is Nexus' 2.3. How important should that be in my decision? After all, that can be updated in the Galaxy, right? Will the Nexus' blank Vanilla slate be difficult for a new Android user? Or will all the add on's (like Inception!) be a headache and hassle to get OFF the Galaxy?

Anyone have answers or advice?

Imo the Nexus S is better than both those devices. The Galaxy s 4g has touchwiz on it and no camera flash. It's nothing too advanced its just the vibrant with 4g capability and a front facing camera. And honestly I wouldn't want to be stuck waiting for an update. Sure most likely it will get android 2.3 but it probably won't get the update until late in the summer. By that time the Nexus S has android 2.4 or whatever the latest software update is.

And the mytouch 4g is a nice phone it has more ram and a slightly better processor. But it has carrier crapware on it, and it's gpu can't even compare to what's in the Nexus S or any of the samsung galaxy s phones. And if you play games that's a pretty big deal. Before I had a smartphone I never played games. But once you get a high end device it really starts to become an important factor.

As far as stock android goes it's really not that complicated. You will get the hang of it in a few days. And it's much easier than most phones with a manufacturer Ui overlayed. It's honestly the only way I will go from now on. I will keep buying Nexus phones from now on. Nothing can even compare in my eyes. And you won't have to deal with fragmentation. Even though you could root your phone but that can be complicated sometimes. Although I enjoy flashing custom roms.

Also 4g in my area doesn't really matter. I get faster speeds than my friend and he has a MyTouch 4g. Although the 4G speeds on the Galaxy s 4g will be significantly faster.

Hopefully this helps.

 

[quantumrand]

The Galaxy s 4g has touchwiz on it and no camera flash.

Words to take into heavy consideration. I don't care if a phone has a 12MP camera; without a flash, it's pretty much worthless for 90% of indoor situations and anything other than fairly bright days.

Elemteacher2be, since you're waiting until March, it's best just to pay attention to your options and make a choice once you're ready to make the purchase. I'd say that the Nexus S is by far the best choice compared to the Vibrant 4G and MT4G, but March will probably bring a few more phones. It's possible that a nice dual core phone with a bit better future proofing over the NS will be available for you.

 

[elemteacher2be]

I figured there would be more phones coming out - but I've been so anxious about picking one, and the Nexus has really been the headliner for me, that I want to see what I can figure out already . My Verizon contract expires on 3/6 (and service will be canceled on 3/7), so I'll probably go in to get a phone on 3/3 to make sure my number can carry over.

I appreciate the information you both have presented.

Can you tell me why TouchWiz is so unwanted? You both seem to not like it... so just wondering what makes it so bad.

Okay, I'll be sure to come back here when I see more phones pop up!

 

[B2L]

Touchwiz is absolutely horrible. In my opinion it looks very ugly like they tried to copy the iPhone's ui. Also it's a manufacturer skin that is on top of android. So things don't always work together so well between the two ui's. Also the worst part about it is it really slows the phone down. And it makes waiting for updates a horrifying thing that make you wait several months just so they can recode it with touchwiz.

 

[jinwons]

I figured there would be more phones coming out - but I've been so anxious about picking one, and the Nexus has really been the headliner for me, that I want to see what I can figure out already . My Verizon contract expires on 3/6 (and service will be canceled on 3/7), so I'll probably go in to get a phone on 3/3 to make sure my number can carry over.

I appreciate the information you both have presented.

Can you tell me why TouchWiz is so unwanted? You both seem to not like it... so just wondering what makes it so bad.

Okay, I'll be sure to come back here when I see more phones pop up!

Just curious, why do you want to switch from Verizon to T-mobile? Is it just to get Nexus S?

 

[elemteacher2be]

Just curious, why do you want to switch from Verizon to T-mobile? Is it just to get Nexus S?

From what I've been able to figure out T-Mobile is going to be cheaper for me than Verizon. I've also had people tell me (who've had both networks) that T-Mobile is faster for them (people living near me).

My brother is on T-Mobile, so that's a plus.

Verizon would have kept me if the iPhone were better, but I've seen too many not-so-good comments (esp. from consumer reports).

The Nexus also made me more convinced to go to T-Mobile.

So over all, you all think that between the 3G on the Nexus and the 4G on the myTouch - it's not going to be a huge difference for day-to-day use? Is the 3G REAL speed and 4G REAL speed a huge diff. or not...I think that's my biggest hold up on which of the two phones I should get (mytouch or Nexus).

 

[quantumrand]

From what I've been able to figure out T-Mobile is going to be cheaper for me than Verizon. I've also had people tell me (who've had both networks) that T-Mobile is faster for them (people living near me).

My brother is on T-Mobile, so that's a plus.

Verizon would have kept me if the iPhone were better, but I've seen too many not-so-good comments (esp. from consumer reports).

The Nexus also made me more convinced to go to T-Mobile.

So over all, you all think that between the 3G on the Nexus and the 4G on the myTouch - it's not going to be a huge difference for day-to-day use? Is the 3G REAL speed and 4G REAL speed a huge diff. or not...I think that's my biggest hold up on which of the two phones I should get (mytouch or Nexus).

The thing about T-Mobile's HSPA+ version of 4G is that anywhere a 4G phone would get faster than 3G speeds, a 3G (HSPA non-plus phone, like the NS) would max out its speeds. Real world speeds for the MT4G are usually around 7mbps but sometimes as much as 10mbps under ideal conditions in a 4G zone, but anywhere the MT4G surpasses the HSPA non-plus cap of ~7mbps, the Nexus S (or any other HSPA non-plus device) will pretty effectively max out the connection, yielding close to 7mbps.

That's just one of the nice things about HSPA+, allowing the old standard to utilize the newly backhauled system.

 

[elemteacher2be]

I'm going to pretend that I sort of understood all that... lol (I think I did)...

But is that speed really necessary. I don't play games and am not really much a player (other than boring word games lol) so I don't really think that aspect of needing the 4G to be applicable to me. I think for me it will be a lot of internet/facebook/twitter usage and texting (which I think I can do via GVoice and not have to pay for a texting package).

For that type of use - do I need the HSPA+ speeds? Or is Gingerbread more important? I think those are the two things I need to decide between but have yet to really find anyone to give me a clear idea of what I will prefer.

What do I want/need more: 4G or 2.3?

Am I right? Are those the basic differences between the phones (other than NS being vanilla)?

 

[PSkeptic]

I figured there would be more phones coming out - but I've been so anxious about picking one, and the Nexus has really been the headliner for me, that I want to see what I can figure out already . My Verizon contract expires on 3/6 (and service will be canceled on 3/7), so I'll probably go in to get a phone on 3/3 to make sure my number can carry over.

I appreciate the information you both have presented.

Can you tell me why TouchWiz is so unwanted? You both seem to not like it... so just wondering what makes it so bad.

Okay, I'll be sure to come back here when I see more phones pop up!

I don't think TouchWiz is all that bad (I have a Fascinate with it). But, to each their own.

 

[B2L]

I'm going to pretend that I sort of understood all that... lol (I think I did)...

But is that speed really necessary. I don't play games and am not really much a player (other than boring word games lol) so I don't really think that aspect of needing the 4G to be applicable to me. I think for me it will be a lot of internet/facebook/twitter usage and texting (which I think I can do via GVoice and not have to pay for a texting package).

For that type of use - do I need the HSPA+ speeds? Or is Gingerbread more important? I think those are the two things I need to decide between but have yet to really find anyone to give me a clear idea of what I will prefer.

What do I want/need more: 4G or 2.3?

Am I right? Are those the basic differences between the phones (other than NS being vanilla)?

Well for example to play a youtube video with it loading really quickly you need about 4-5 mbs. All of the things that you say you do, you can do in a breeze. Things load really quickly for me with 1-2 mbs per second.

Also google voice is great for texting. You get a different number. And you can send all the texts you want and all it requires is a data connection.

Also I wouldn't really say that the only differences are 4g and stock android. There are so many other things. I used to love HTC phones, but lately the hardware they use isn't the greatest. Especially when it comes down to the camera lens. I was really surprised with how good the lens is on the Nexus S. Honestly I could go on all day about why the Nexus S is the better choice. Plus it all depends on what's available when you can buy it in March. I mean hopefully the lg Optimus 2x comes out on tmobile by then. Although you would still have to deal with crapware and slow system updates.

 

[elemteacher2be]

Haha! So many choices!

I think I need to just stick to the Nexus for now, unless something amazing comes out. What's the Optimus?

 

[B2L]

Haha! So many choices!

I think I need to just stick to the Nexus for now, unless something amazing comes out. What's the Optimus?

The Optimus 2x is is pretty awesome. It's the first dual core tegra 2 phone. Which really is only important if you play games. It's also got a micro hdmi output. It's a very awesome phone and is very nice looking Imo. Although since android 2.2 isn't optimized for multiple cores it is only slightly better than the Nexus S. Until they release a new version of android that will take use of both of the cores.

 

[quantumrand]

I'm going to pretend that I sort of understood all that... lol (I think I did)...

But is that speed really necessary. I don't play games and am not really much a player (other than boring word games lol) so I don't really think that aspect of needing the 4G to be applicable to me. I think for me it will be a lot of internet/facebook/twitter usage and texting (which I think I can do via GVoice and not have to pay for a texting package).

For that type of use - do I need the HSPA+ speeds? Or is Gingerbread more important? I think those are the two things I need to decide between but have yet to really find anyone to give me a clear idea of what I will prefer.

What do I want/need more: 4G or 2.3?

Am I right? Are those the basic differences between the phones (other than NS being vanilla)?

IMHO, that 7.2Mbps cap of HSPA non-plus is easily enough for any Smartphone needs. It's more than enough to buffer music or video faster than you can play it. Mobile games also don't need tons of bandwidth.

What I meant with my last post was that anywhere a HSPA non-plus phone can't max out its connection, HSPA+ phones won't surpass that speed either. Think of HSPA+ as an add-on for HSPA that gives it more bandwidth to divvy out. If the extra bandwidth isn't there, neither type of phone can go any faster.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

The Galaxy S 4G does indeed have a camera flash.

Samsung Vibrant vs. Samsung Galaxy S 4G | Wirefly Learn

 

[B2L]

The Galaxy S 4G does indeed have a camera flash.

Samsung Vibrant vs. Samsung Galaxy S 4G | Wirefly Learn

As far as I know that isn't true.

Here's the specs.
http://androidandme.com/2011/02/unc...amsung-galaxy-s-4g-specs-and-february-launch/

But who knows, I thought I saw pictures of the back of it with no flash. I'll have to find them.

 

[quantumrand]

The Galaxy S 4G does indeed have a camera flash.

Samsung Vibrant vs. Samsung Galaxy S 4G | Wirefly Learn

I have tried to be careful to avoid saying for certain that it lacks a flash, but I have not yet found any official information confirming that it does. Also, the leaked photos of what is presumed to be the SGS 4G most definitely do not have a flash.

I'd find it hard to believe that they wouldn't give it a flash, given that it's a small change that makes a world of a difference in terms of photo quality with limiting lighting conditions, but it's easily just as likely that Samsung is cutting costs by simply using the exact same assembly line for the 4G that they used for the Vibrant and simply swapping out the modem chip (if you remember, the Vibrant had all the necessary housing for a FFC but left it empty and without a lens hole).

 

[Shocky]

The galaxy s line is nice hardware but I just could never get on with touchwiz and the update situation makes it even worse.

What update situation? the international version of the Galaxy S has great support, currently on 2.2.1 like many other phones.

Also Touchwiz is pretty good imo, I tried the gingerbread launcher from the market and didn't care for it at all, the app list is a just a mess.