Samsung Galaxy S4

[feather]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4

Samsung Unpacked 2013 - Engadget

[Kamal]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4

I sat through the entire launch event. Jesus what a cock up that show was. Not to mention the device itself. It left you feeling really ... meh at the end of it. Although the pre-production hands on by CNet and Engadget are both out, they don't really make you feel like the device has survived the hype.

I will be seriously looking at the Sony Experia Z or the HTC One.

[feather]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4

I will be seriously looking at the Sony Experia Z or the HTC One.

Did you see the link I posted in the HTC One thread? They're releasing limited rootable versions.

[Kamal]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4

I did, but even the locked bootloaders are crackable albeit with a crap load of effort, and I love the challenge of it anyways so will see what prices are for those as well, before I make the jump.

[Kamal]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4

[feather]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4

"Do you want a metal phone? Or do you want a plastic phone?" WTF.

The Super AMOLED display makes such a huge difference.

I wonder what the price difference between the two will be. The HTC looks so much more premium.

[Kamal]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4

The Super AMOLED display makes such a huge difference.

I wonder what the price difference between the two will be. The HTC looks so much more premium.

If you watch the video in full, you will realize that he has power save mode on the HTC, which is why it appears so dim through the review, towards the end of the video when he has disabled it, at least in the video, both screen appear at par. I think more or less they will be in the same price range (maybe $100 apart).

[feather]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4

I have issues with Samsung phones feeling like toys that break apart in your hands. In fact I've seen a Samsung dropped and the back simply splits from the case. When I'm paying that kinda price I expect my gadget to have some 'heft'.

Although the Samsungs are surprisingly light thanks to their plastic casings.

[Kamal]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4

I have now grown to have a problem with Samsung's - period. They use cheaper quality materials and electronics in their products and their reliability is atrocious. When we bought our first house, we upgraded the dinosaur edition appliances in our kitchen to all Sammy branded products (in addition to our washer and dryer). Big mistake. We already had a our refrigerator swapped out thanks to our extended warranty, we had a dead microwave oven out of the box, and our 1 year old dryer is having problems with the countdown timer.

[D.Williams]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4

Sorry if I sound dumb, but what is the point of rooting an android phone... I have always heard the term, but never understood the importance... If those screens get any bigger they'll be tablets lol

[feather]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4

'Rooting' comes from Unix lingo, 'root' refers to a user with all-access. When you root the phone (or any electronic device) you have all-access to the OS, allowing you to do anything such as installing a different OS altogether.

[D.Williams]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4

I see, so it's mainly for people who know what there doing lol

I have no idea what i would need with all that OS power

[Kamal]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4

Well rooting your phone allows you to gain access to areas of the device that standard users are kept out of. It will not only allow you to install custom ROMS (operating systems) and custom Kernels (the heart of the operating system) but you can also

- add and remove applications that are installed by default (to reduce the size of the operating and the overall load on the OS)
- Install software such as clockwork mod that will help you do more than just installing different ROMS (like deleting battery stats, clearing the cache and dalvik cache - sort of like spring cleaning for your phone, wiping / deleting ALL personal info from the phone - in android phones, doing a simple factory reset does not wipe out the phone, rooting it will show you your hidden dirs, photos, videos, etc.)
- install applications that need to have access to, and write to restricted areas of the operating system in order to function (backup and restore apps, carrier unlocking, changing the animations when the phone loads, install ad-blocking software in free apps that are not worth the $5 purchase, and many other reasons that I can't think off from the top of my head right now)

In short, its useful to learn how to do, even if it may seem complicated.

[poults]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4

Seems like it should be the Galaxy S3S rather than the S4. Was hoping they would return to the squarer shape like the mockup Feather posted and teh S2. Dont really have a problem with the plastic casing as i prefer the lighter weight from it tbh. Im not in any rush for another phone anway so will probably wait and see what comes out nearer the end of the year.

[feather]

Re: Samsung Galaxy S4

Well rooting your phone allows you to gain access to areas of the device that standard users are kept out of. It will not only allow you to install custom ROMS (operating systems) and custom Kernels (the heart of the operating system) but you can also

- add and remove applications that are installed by default (to reduce the size of the operating and the overall load on the OS)
- Install software such as clockwork mod that will help you do more than just installing different ROMS (like deleting battery stats, clearing the cache and dalvik cache - sort of like spring cleaning for your phone, wiping / deleting ALL personal info from the phone - in android phones, doing a simple factory reset does not wipe out the phone, rooting it will show you your hidden dirs, photos, videos, etc.)
- install applications that need to have access to, and write to restricted areas of the operating system in order to function (backup and restore apps, carrier unlocking, changing the animations when the phone loads, install ad-blocking software in free apps that are not worth the $5 purchase, and many other reasons that I can't think off from the top of my head right now)

In short, its useful to learn how to do, even if it may seem complicated.

I actually thought rooting will allow you to install different variations of Android. So this is not much different from jailbreaking iPhones.