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Why did you choose the S4

-=Jeff=-

-=Jeff=-

Android Expert
So I thinking of this phone to replace my RAZR MAXX. Why did you decide on this phone. Maybe there is something you thought of that I am not
 
What other features of the OS drew you to the phone? I want a phone that will not drop calls, I don't remember the last time my phone dropped a call.. It I'd a personal phone but will be used for work too
 
Dropped calls occur... and for many reasons, not necessarily phone related. I've had dropped calls on landlines too.

I suspect the quality of your local wireless service may have much to do with the dropped call scenario.

For me personally, I did not care for a Windows or Blackberry phone, nor did I want an iPhone. 3 family members have the iPhone 5. I view the HTC One as the iPhone of the Android world... nice device but no removable battery and no removable storage. The GS4 was the logical choice for me.
 
True, but some can be devices too

I do know is that the community center in my town is VZW Black hole and my RAZR MAXX will get no signal while my Nexus 7 will have LTE service ( on VZW). Now it still will lose signal there it at least gets it better then the phone.

I do know in some cases the drop will be network, but in most the areas I do go, I know my current phone works
 
-=Jeff=- said:
No looking at the Replaceable battery or SDcard slot.. what does the S4 have over the Moto X?
Click to expand...
ive said this several times, but i like the Moto X, but not for $200. It doesnt have the standard 1080p screen or quad core processors that every other $200 phone has at this point. Now the phone is fast, its not laggy, but those are my problems with it. I chose the s4 because I believe it was the best phone available at the time, and I would choose it again as I still believe it is the best phone available for what I want
 
For me it was the 5" sharp beautiful screen, the camera with all of its neat features. Form factor, removable battery and expandable storage. Samsung update rating. Touch wize and other cool features of the S4. Big battery that can get me thru a 14 he's. Day of moderate to heavy use.
 
I liked:

  • lovely big bright high resolution screen
  • it's powerful and quick (I have never experienced any lag)
  • I loved the S2 and it was bound to be better than that
  • removable battery (this is a really big + in my view)
  • micro SD card slot
  • likely to sell well so a good community was likely to build up around it
  • wide range of sensors
  • very slim and light.
It was a few months ago now so there were probably others but all of the above have proved to be good reasons and I have been really pleased with my S4.
 
I suppose these are the reasons I bought one..

Beautiful Screen
Great Performance
Good Camera
Sdcard slot
Physical home button
Removable battery
Battery life
Highly customizable due to large community, root, roms, kernels, mods.

However, reasons I now dislike the S4 and will probably be changing to the Nexus 5 despite the lack of an sdcard slot.

Interface suffers with lag
Low internal storage
eFuse ( new warranty issues when rooting and flashing )
 
Shocky said:
However, reasons I now dislike the S4 and will probably be changing to the Nexus 5 despite the lack of an sdcard slot.

Interface suffers with lag
Low internal storage
eFuse ( new warranty issues when rooting and flashing )
Click to expand...

So does that mean I cannot root without having some sort of issue? I need root for it to work with my App Radio

Also would switching to a different launcher fix the lag??
 
-=Jeff=- said:
So does that mean I cannot root without having some sort of issue? I need root for it to work with my App Radio

Also would switching to a different launcher fix the lag??
Click to expand...

Yes with the newest firmwares rooting will trigger the efuse switch and will void your warranty, you've been warned

The lag is nothing to do with the launcher, it's to do with touchwiz which you can't remove. Funny enough touchwiz on the Galaxy S3 doesn't suffer with this, go figure. :(
 
Shocky said:
Yes with the newest firmwares rooting will trigger the efuse switch and will void your warranty, you've been warned

The lag is nothing to do with the launcher, it's to do with touchwiz which you can't remove. Funny enough touchwiz on the Galaxy S3 doesn't suffer with this, go figure. :(
Click to expand...

Well that sucks! I am trying to get an android stick to work in place of a phone, if I get that working then I just need to hot spot the phone. I have a RAZR MAXX, that I can use for now if I buy a new phone, then hot spot to the RAZR and have that in the car.. Which I am okay with as well, I would think the older MAXX with just WIFI and BT and no SIM should work okay..

wonder if the Moto X or MAXX has the efuse
 
-=Jeff=- said:
Well that sucks! I am trying to get an android stick to work in place of a phone, if I get that working then I just need to hot spot the phone. I have a RAZR MAXX, that I can use for now if I buy a new phone, then hot spot to the RAZR and have that in the car.. Which I am okay with as well, I would think the older MAXX with just WIFI and BT and no SIM should work okay..

wonder if the Moto X or MAXX has the efuse
Click to expand...

I doubt they will have anything like efuse, worst you will have to worry about with Google or Motorola devices is locked bootloaders which can usually be unlocked/locked easily enough.
 
Shocky said:
I doubt they will have anything like efuse, worst you will have to worry about with Google or Motorola devices is locked bootloaders which can usually be unlocked/locked easily enough.
Click to expand...

knowing about the eFuse, just made my decision easier
 
-=Jeff=- said:
knowing about the eFuse, just made my decision easier
Click to expand...

Bear in mind that this is a hardware feature which was just activated with the firmware MH8 and similar.

Who says other phone you buy don't have it where a simple upgrade activates it ?

Nowadays you just never know ...
 
I had features I wanted, and few phones had all of them.

NFC
IR
Removable battery
Larger screen (for the wife--we use the same phone models).
MicroSD
 
Gomjaba said:
Bear in mind that this is a hardware feature which was just activated with the firmware MH8 and similar.

Who says other phone you buy don't have it where a simple upgrade activates it ?

Nowadays you just never know ...
Click to expand...

IS the eFuse in the VZW version? Very true where other may get it..
 
Why .. personally because I had an S3 and loved it and my contract was up ... So S4 there it was ... Why S3 ? Came from iPhone - got sick of it / bored, had the S3 in my hands (colleagues) and loved it - didn't need to look further.
 
I had a iPhone 5s 64gb sitting here on my desk, and decided to send it back and cancel my wife's 5s order as well. We originally put them on the Verizon Edge program, but changed my mind when I simply decided that an extra $70 per month on top of my regular cell bill was just foolish.

Even the 16gb iPhones cost $215 each and don't have enough storage. We were coming from the iPhone 4s, and the 5s really did not seem that much of an improvement (besides the 4G) from what we previously had.

I ordered the wife a White S4 from Amazon for $149 shipped, and will order myself a black one when my iPhone 5s return gets processed.
 
-=Jeff=- said:
So does that mean I cannot root without having some sort of issue? I need root for it to work with my App Radio
Click to expand...
Whether this is an issue for you will rather depend. Firstly, it will depend on which firmware version your new phone has. If you buy new now, the chances are that the phone will have a locked bootloader (I was lucky, I bought mine a few months ago and it doesn't have a locked bootloader).

You would still be able to install custom ROMs, root your phone etc. but doing so will blow the eFuse and no amount of hackery will ever unblow it. This means that you will not be able to return your phone to stock condition by reinstalling a stock ROM and your carrier/retailer may also claim that you have voided your warranty. I don't believe that this would stack up in UK law assuming the fault you were returning it for was unrelated. I am not familiar with US consumer protection law except to say that it is generally weaker than here so you may be out of luck.

-=Jeff=- said:
Also would switching to a different launcher fix the lag??
Click to expand...
I don't experience any lag with mine running the stock ROM. I have tried other ROMs and they were no quicker, but as I say, mine is snappy as it is. When the phone was first released there was a lot of talk about lag. No doubt some people did experience it but, for those that did, there were lots of fixes. Since then, the noise about lag has definitely fallen off. I don't think it's an issue at all.
 
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