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Thoughts on Upgrading??

B

BamaDave

Newbie
I'm eligible to upgrade from my Galaxy S4 through Verizon. I haven't pulled the trigger, because I keep reading negative comments about the S6 and the Droid Turbo (which is almost one year old now). Just wondering what others are doing? Planning to wait for the next releases or jumping into one of these phones?
 
I do love my S4. I was reading up on the features of the S6. Its a definite a no-go for me.
After reading that the S6 is a sealed unit, having no abilities to swap batteries and no way to expand memory via a card. My last deciding factor that the s6 is a no go, is when a biased organization; Consumer Reports, have the S6 lower than the S5, that was it.
In fact, if you can, pick up the 5, if you can but, the s4 is a great unit.
 
I picked up the s6 edge variant on launch day and the nonremoveable battery is a bummer but wasn't a deal breaker for me since I don't use the device 24/7. Memory not such an issue either since it comes in larger variants too. Really fragile though which I wasn't too happy with.
 
I had been eagerly awaiting the release of the S6 as my S4 is now ageing and I'm getting those "not enough storage" warnings like I did with my S2, which forced me to upgrade to S4. Removing little-used apps wasn't really the true solution.
But with Sammy having "Apple-ized" in the S6 - no removable battery, no SD card slot, etc. - I have made the very difficult decision to jump ship and will be buying the LG G4 on Monday. It was those functionalities that enticed me from Apple iPhone in the first place - the freedom to do what I want with my phone. Lock down is a killer for me!
 
I just got an S4 yesterday lol. My S3's cracked screen and charging port had finally had enough.
So now this phone feels amazing. I'd personally stick to phones with a removable battery. Not just for swapping them out in the middle of the day, but for a year or more down the road when the battery just doesn't have the capacity it once had.
Just my opinion, but Android these days needs a quad core. And as long as it's running on a quad, whether 1.2ghz or 2.2ghz, it's gonna be smooth.
Gaming is another issue. I haven't got to test my adreno 320 out much, yet.
But, if storage is the issue, and since we can't install apps to our SD card anymore, like the good old days, then I see good reason to upgrade if your current phone can't hold what you want it to.

But this is coming from a guy who upgraded from an S3... Ya know, those twitchy phones that don't have "smooth" in their vocabulary. Compared to it, my new 975L S4 feels like a king. (Straight Talk on AT&T)
 
freakshow85 said:
I just got an S4 yesterday lol. My S3's cracked screen and charging port had finally had enough.
So now this phone feels amazing. I'd personally stick to phones with a removable battery. Not just for swapping them out in the middle of the day, but for a year or more down the road when the battery just doesn't have the capacity it once had.
Just my opinion, but Android these days needs a quad core. And as long as it's running on a quad, whether 1.2ghz or 2.2ghz, it's gonna be smooth.
Gaming is another issue. I haven't got to test my adreno 320 out much, yet.
But, if storage is the issue, and since we can't install apps to our SD card anymore, like the good old days, then I see good reason to upgrade if your current phone can't hold what you want it to.

But this is coming from a guy who upgraded from an S3... Ya know, those twitchy phones that don't have "smooth" in their vocabulary. Compared to it, my new 975L S4 feels like a king. (Straight Talk on AT&T)
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How much faster is your S4 compared to your S3? And did you have stock Kitkat on your S3 and now have stock lollipop on your S4? (touchwiz) I'm thinking of doing the same upgrade that's why I ask.
 
androidlover9 said:
How much faster is your S4 compared to your S3? And did you have stock Kitkat on your S3 and now have stock lollipop on your S4? (touchwiz) I'm thinking of doing the same upgrade that's why I ask.
Click to expand...
My S3 had 4.1.2 and I was using Google Launcher but it had TouchWiz.
My S4 came with 4.3 and I am just running TouchWiz because it's 110% smooth. No lag ever. Leaps and bounds ahead of my S3 in every aspect. No regrets. Definitely worth it. I love it. It's the Snapdragon 600 1.9ghz quad with Adreno 320. Seriously makes my S3 feel like an IBM from 1994.
 
Oh.... And it can fully charge in like one hour. And if I use power save... It lasts all day. And that's with me using it like a new toy that it is to me. You won't regret upgrading to it.

I am using the stock ROM on both but also rooted both. Rooted my S4 30 minutes after taking it out of the box.
 
freakshow85 said:
My S3 had 4.1.2 and I was using Google Launcher but it had TouchWiz.
My S4 came with 4.3 and I am just running TouchWiz because it's 110% smooth. No lag ever. Leaps and bounds ahead of my S3 in every aspect. No regrets. Definitely worth it. I love it. It's the Snapdragon 600 1.9ghz quad with Adreno 320. Seriously makes my S3 feel like an IBM from 1994.
Click to expand...

For some reason I have doubts based on the videos I saw of the S4 with Lollipop :/
 
androidlover9 said:
For some reason I have doubts based on the videos I saw of the S4 with Lollipop :/
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Not sure how it acts with lollipop. Both of mine are Jelly Bean. 4.1.2 on S3 and 4.3 on S4

Did the review you saw have the 1.9ghz quad version? My model is the s975L from Straight Talk using AT&T.
 
freakshow85 said:
Not sure how it acts with lollipop. Both of mine are Jelly Bean. 4.1.2 on S3 and 4.3 on S4

Did the review you saw have the 1.9ghz quad version? My model is the s975L from Straight Talk using AT&T.
Click to expand...

Oh, my S3 is on Kitkat (stock firmware from Samsung) and it's way faster than it was on Jelly bean, the UI and overall feel of the phone kind of bore me though :/

Idk... I feel like it won't be much of an upgrade at all from the S3 to the S4.
 
androidlover9 said:
Oh, my S3 is on Kitkat (stock firmware from Samsung) and it's way faster than it was on Jelly bean, the UI and overall feel of the phone kind of bore me though :/

Idk... I feel like it won't be much of an upgrade at all from the S3 to the S4.
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Well I can't tell ya for sure but on benchmarks I score 2x - 4x higher on everything, 8x faster on i/o read and write speeds and it's 1080 instead of 720. But the Android version can make a lot of difference. Anyway you could test one out? You live near Tennessee?
 
freakshow85 said:
Well I can't tell ya for sure but on benchmarks I score 2x - 4x higher on everything, 8x faster on i/o read and write speeds and it's 1080 instead of 720. But the Android version can make a lot of difference. Anyway you could test one out? You live near Tennessee?
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No, I live in Canada lol.
 
Thanks, all. I'm going to wait for awhile... definitely until August, since Verizon's early upgrade offer to me meant turning in my existing S4. I need to keep that as a reserve phone for my family.

I'm thinking about waiting to see what Motorola releases next. I like the idea of a more stripped down phone without all of the Samsung bloatware.
 
BamaDave said:
Thanks, all. I'm going to wait for awhile... definitely until August, since Verizon's early upgrade offer to me meant turning in my existing S4. I need to keep that as a reserve phone for my family.

I'm thinking about waiting to see what Motorola releases next. I like the idea of a more stripped down phone without all of the Samsung bloatware.
Click to expand...

There isn't as much "Samsung bloatware" as people claim really, I just disable the things I want and my phone doesn't run that bad. (It's an S3)
 
androidlover9 said:
There isn't as much "Samsung bloatware" as people claim really, I just disable the things I want and my phone doesn't run that bad. (It's an S3)
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Well, Samsung plus Verizon. I haven't been able to download the latest Android upgrade because of lack of memory. I know I could root the phone, but I don't feel like messing around with that again like I did for the last few phones I had.
 
BamaDave said:
Well, Samsung plus Verizon. I haven't been able to download the latest Android upgrade because of lack of memory. I know I could root the phone, but I don't feel like messing around with that again like I did for the last few phones I had.
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That's why you buy the phone unlocked :)
 
I'm in the same boat. I have had the Galaxy s4 for almost 2 years now and it's the longest I've ever owned a smart phone. Started in 2000 with a Kyocera 6035 and upgraded every year since. The S4 still works great and I have 3 extra batteries for it. I'm a power user, mostly business related, and get about 4-5 hours of use if connected to wifi. 3 hours if in a bad cell (3G/1x) area which I'm often at in the summer months. I have smaller hands too and use the phone one handed a lot, so in quandary about Verizon's latest phones which are all bigger than the S4. The one leading the pack is the LG G4 with removable battery. Wondering if I should wait to see what the Moto X looks like or Sony Z4z (the previous Sony had very good battery life reviews). I'd like a new phone that is a little snappier; a better low light, faster loading camera; and a brighter screen. Hmmm?
 
smartphoneguru said:
I'm in the same boat. I have had the Galaxy s4 for almost 2 years now and it's the longest I've ever owned a smart phone. Started in 2000 with a Kyocera 6035 and upgraded every year since. The S4 still works great and I have 3 extra batteries for it. I'm a power user, mostly business related, and get about 4-5 hours of use if connected to wifi. 3 hours if in a bad cell (3G/1x) area which I'm often at in the summer months. I have smaller hands too and use the phone one handed a lot, so in quandary about Verizon's latest phones which are all bigger than the S4. The one leading the pack is the LG G4 with removable battery. Wondering if I should wait to see what the Moto X looks like or Sony Z4z (the previous Sony had very good battery life reviews). I'd like a new phone that is a little snappier; a better low light, faster loading camera; and a brighter screen. Hmmm?
Click to expand...

Get a galaxy S6 :P
 
S4 is more convenient for my needs. After nokia n8 is the best phone i hsve ever had. N8 has the onky issue with non removable battery. Other ways was fantastic
 
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