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S4 better than note 2?

speedlever said:
Which is better is truly a subjective opinion. While not much smaller, the GS4 is small enough that I find it more attractive for my usage. But there is still so much for me to learn about the GN2. I really wish there was more than 14 days to trial a new phone.

I don't know that I will ever use the stylus. I've never used them enough to develop the "need". But the battery life is refreshing. And I've read the phone and speaker on the GS4 is inferior to the N2.

So the question in my mind is will I have more utility (comfortably) with a smaller form factor? If so, at what price (loss of features)? At my present level of knowledge, I see no downside to moving to the GS4 if battery life is reasonable. I acknowledge that ignorance is bliss. ;)

This can be such an individual thing. Seems like I could just flip a coin.
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Your first paragraph I had no idea which phone you actually have until I got to the second.... :)
Many people who around these forums thought they'd never use their S Pen either; until they did--now they cant put it down. The S Pen is more than your average rubber tipped stylus. There are nice gestures you can do with just the push of the button that resides on it.

As far as size, the Note 2 is 5.5" and the S4 is 5".....that's not a huge difference and there's nothing the S4 does that the Note 2 cant or won't be able to do once Samsung upgrades it with the S4 extras.

Battery life alone is one reason if I were you I'd keep the Note 2.
 
I would still perfer the Note 2; it has both style and functionality. Although I am not sure how wel it will work as an e-reader. As I am planning to gift it to my younger brother who is a big time ebook reader.
 
Thanks for the good feedback. Really, the main driving thing about the GS4 to me is the smaller form factor. I don't think that moving from a 5.5 inch screen to a 5 inch screen will be a deal breaker for me. But having that GN2 brick on my belt has been a little hard to adjust to.

Regarding battery life, I've read speculation that the GS4/2600 mA battery should last as long as the 3100 mA hour battery on the GN2 due to the smaller screen and more efficient display. Frankly, it's too early to know at this point. But my trial period expires before that will likely be known.

Personally, I want more time to fully immerse myself in the GN2.

Argh.
 
cheery said:
I would still perfer the Note 2; it has both style and functionality. Although I am not sure how wel it will work as an e-reader. As I am planning to gift it to my younger brother who is a big time ebook reader.
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I use mine like that all the time. I usually hold it one handed and change pages with the volume button. It's nice to have it in my pocket for when I get stuck waiting for something.
 
Well, at least in initial reviews, GS4 USA model with Qualcomm 600 chip has hiccups (stuttering) with some of the new "Air" features. And with Samsung piling on features after features in the future, i much rather have Note 3 with Exynos Octa than GS4 with Qualcomm 600 (USA). Now, the Note 2 with Exynos 4 may have the stuttering once we get the new Touchwiz with the new "Air" features (if compatible)...so, if you're limited to either Note 2 or GS4 (USA), then that is a tough choice. I would recommend waiting for Note 3 since Touchwiz future is very software laden and you need a CPU/GPU that can keep up!
 
If by "international" you mean Exynos it's not that simple with the S4 - most non-US handsets are Snap 600 as well.

The cpu can keep up either way - indeed if it needed to kick in the A15s for the UI that would be a disaster for battery life. Likewise if the adreno gpu can handle 3d games it's hard to believe it can't handle touchwiz. So I suspect that the cause of the "stuttering" that some (not all) reviews mention isn't lack of horsepower.
 
Hadron said:
If by "international" you mean Exynos it's not that simple with the S4 - most non-US handsets are Snap 600 as well.

The cpu can keep up either way - indeed if it needed to kick in the A15s for the UI that would be a disaster for battery life. Likewise if the adreno gpu can handle 3d games it's hard to believe it can't handle touchwiz. So I suspect that the cause of the "stuttering" that some (not all) reviews mention isn't lack of horsepower.
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I take a hit on battery life over a stuttering phone. Adreno 320 is good but inferior to latest PowerVR gpu, which is what Exynos Octa has.
 
Point is, I don't believe that the gpu is the issue, unless Sammy have spectacularly messed up the coding.

As for the stutter, not all Snapdragon 600 based reviews mention it (including the one I trust most). I remember one saying that turning off some sensors helped. If that is true rather than anecdote it would mean it's not gpu.

My advice is to see what real users say in the S4 forum, and see whether there is really an issue here.
 
My understanding of the processor issue is that only the snapdragon can accomodate the LTE radios. Ergo, the reason the snapdragon quad comes to the US in lieu of the Exynos octa.

IAC, I did the swap this morning... reluctantly. There is no denying that the GN2 is a sweet device.

That being said, I'm finding the GS4 form factor to be much more satisfactory in my application. We'll see how the battery life goes. I have much to do on it to set it up.

**Edit: about 10 hours after getting the GS4, battery life started out at 60% and with sporadic setup, phone calls, and texting I have 31% remaining. 10 hours and ~30% usage? That's pretty incredible, if this is an accurate assessment.

I found phonedog.com's review of the GS4 and the head-to-head comparison of the GS4 and the GN2 to be very helpful in helping me get over my analysis paralysis. And yes, I believe he was using the international version of the GS4 with the octa chip. But I don't expect any performance difference with the snapdragon quad.

Samsung Galaxy S 4 Video Review Part 1 | PhoneDog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvmkBFBc4fE&list=UUsW36751Gy-EAbHQwe9WBNw&index=3
 
Not true about LTE and Qualcomm...Octa is compatible with ALL LTE radios. The problem is production...Samsung can't make enough of Octa to satisfy all GS4s all over the world.
 
For me, it's a downgrade in every sense of the word. Lower screen size, less battery life, no S Pen - won't even consider switching. And I don't have a perfect 20/20 vision, but I can safely say that there's no drastic difference between 720p and 1080p in such small screens. It's just like MP in camera, people just like more numbers on paper rather than utility etc. Probably if I stick it under a microscope, I might be able to adore the 1080p, but I guess I'll have to live with it :P And for the record, I find color reproduction better on Note II, although S4's excellent when it comes to daylight visibility.

As for processor - I could underclock my quad core Note II processor and still I wouldn't ever tax it to the limits. And if I could, if needed, overclock the processor in future upto 2ghz (from what I gather) and still get decent juice out of it :)

There's something you don't need any super-senses to notice though - the battery life. I abuse my Note II to it's limits and still can't kill this darn thing within a day! Amazing.

tl;dr, this is the best all round device on market, period. Don't care if the newer phones come with a nuclear reactor in it, Note II gets the basics absolutely right. Thank goodness for that.
 
Further evidence that this is a very personal choice. ;)

The Note 2 was simply not for me. I wanted to love it and parted with it rather reluctantly. But I heartily embrace the (for me) more usable physical size and function of the GS4.

Regarding battery life, I took the Note 2 with me on a school field trip that lasted from 7am until nearly 9pm... 14 hours. The Note2 started out at 100% and I used it sparingly during the 2.5 hour bus ride each way. I used the N2 to take some pics at our destination (probably less than 20 pics). And by the time I got home 14 hours later, I was at 10% power remaining. (of course, everyone with their iPhones was out of power, long before we got back!)

I probably had the GPS running maybe 30% of the time as I had Root Metrics running in the b/g. But that app consumes very little power, best I can tell. My battery life usage showed the screen as being the prime user.

So maybe there was something else running that I was unaware of, I dunno. This trip is also where I discovered the limitations of the GN2 AMOLED screen in outdoor bright lighting. I struggled to see the screen even at max brightness. I don't have much hope in this regard for the GS4 either. We'll see.

My very brief exposure to the GS4 battery life as noted in post 36 above has been very favorable. Starting with 60% power out of the box, 10 hours later I was only down to 30% remaining. Mostly in wifi, mostly configuring, multiple calls and texts, and some playing with it when I had time. That may not be real world numbers... too early to tell yet. But it is initially encouraging when I has serious concerns about battery life making the swap from the GN2.

Another concern I had about the GS4 was phone quality. Would it be a downgrade from the GN2? Thus far, I am very pleased with the phone on the GS4. I can't do a direct comparison with the N2 as I'd have to swap one for the other while still on a call... but it's very close to my subjective ears. ;)
 
Yes, to my uncalibrated ears... and to my surprise. I expected an inferior phone experience coming from the GN2. But I have been pleasantly surprised with both the battery life and the phone quality to this point.

Anecdotal, of course, and YMMV and all that. Keep in mind I've had the GS4 for less than 24 hours thus far. But so far, so good.
 
speedlever said:
Yes, to my uncalibrated ears... and to my surprise. I expected an inferior phone experience coming from the GN2. But I have been pleasantly surprised with both the battery life and the phone quality to this point.

Anecdotal, of course, and YMMV and all that. Keep in mind I've had the GS4 for less than 24 hours thus far. But so far, so good.
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I believe you. I actually did a A/B comparo of cell signal b/w Note 2 and GS3 and found them to be the same (and much better than prior Galaxy phones). I just want to make sure that Samsung did not sacrifice cell signal for GS4. This is a good indication that Note 3 will continue on with great cell reception!

Thanks.
 
I have the VZ Note 2 and love it. It has the best reception of any phone I have ever owned. I get good call quality and data in my underground basement. I will be curious how the S4 does. I returned the S3 because I had NO signal in my basement.

How are the ATT and Sprint versions comparing for S4 vs Note 2?
 
Based on what I've read the note 2 is a keeper for me. I'll take the bigger screen, longer battery life and stylus. I finally figured out how to use the stylus as an input method other places besides Samsung's note pad. It's useful. I wish it was accessible from swiftkey.
 
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