Samsung Galaxy S4

[mulsas]

But what if you need to tweet, Scutter? What about the tweets?

"I can tweet, I can make any noise you want!"

great line from Billy Crystal in the movie Parental Guidance. Whenever I see tweet mentioned, it always makes me think of that.

 

[CindyE]

Got my phone Thursday and the Otterbox yesterday. I feel a lot better having the phone protected in the Otterbox. I do think the screen isn't as clear now, and I have to press the power button kinda hard to get it to work. I'm hoping I don't have to do battery pulls often, I can see that being a pain, as well. I wouldn't go back to carrying the phone w/o a case though!

 

[IndyBeerman]

Got my phone Thursday and the Otterbox yesterday. I feel a lot better having the phone protected in the Otterbox. I do think the screen isn't as clear now, and I have to press the power button kinda hard to get it to work. I'm hoping I don't have to do battery pulls often, I can see that being a pain, as well. I wouldn't go back to carrying the phone w/o a case though!

To be honest, on my old Motorola Droid X2, I did not mind doing battery exchanges, but after awhile the battery door became loose.

With my S3 (I think the S4's case is the same) the rear case to me seems that it would not stand up to repeatedly removed and reinstalled.

For that reason I bought this:

RAVPower Dynamo-On-the-Go RP-PB09 Super High Capacity Power Bank (7800mAh Capacity / 1A & 2A Dual USB Output) for iPod, iPhone, Smartphones, Digital Cameras, Tablets and E-Books

You can buy it from NewEgg...
RAVPower RP-PB09 Super High Capacity Power Bank (7800mAh/1A&2A Dual USB Output - Newegg.com
Bought mine for 23.99 when it was one of the deals of the day.

I've used it to fully recharge my S3 almost 4 times before I had to recharge it. There has been times where I have carried it with me when I know that I will not be able to hook to a car charger, just slide the Rav in my back pocket, micro USB cable out and into my side pocket and recharge while what ever I'm doing.

It's got two USB ports so you can charged two devices @ once.

It's also a nice thing to have around in case you get stranded and have a pack that will greatly extend your usage time when you need it most.

I think the next thing I'm going to try it on is my ASUS TF300 Tablet and see if it will work on that.

Almost forgot, it's even got a LED flashlight built in.

 

[edporch]

Got my phone Thursday and the Otterbox yesterday. I feel a lot better having the phone protected in the Otterbox. I do think the screen isn't as clear now, and I have to press the power button kinda hard to get it to work. I'm hoping I don't have to do battery pulls often, I can see that being a pain, as well. I wouldn't go back to carrying the phone w/o a case though!

The S4 having a removable/replacable battery was the main deciding factor in which phone I upgraded to recently.

I will not own a phone that doesn't have a removable/replaceable battery.

I have the Otteerbox Defender, and I don't have the problem of my screen not being clear.

I even had the stick on protective film on my screen before I put it in the case.

What I did to make sure the screen on my S4 was clean before putting it in the case, was to first clean it off with the cleaning rag that comes with the stick on screen protectors before putting it in the case.


I like that the side button now work a little harder.
It keeps them from being pressed accidentally when it's in my pocket.

 

[Scutter01]

I keep finding new awesome things my S4 will do. Today, I learned that it will conduct a hearing test and adjust its audio settings automatically to make it easier for me to hear alerts and stuff. My phone will now automatically boost low tones for me so that they don't get lost in the background. Sweet!

 

[Hohn]

Pretty happy with my iPhone 4S. I'd like a newer phone, but this one will do.

The Samsungs are sweet phones, but as long as they run Android, I'll never have one.



If Samsung was smart, they would buy Android and bring it in house as an exclusive OS. The fragmentation of Android is the reason it isn't dominant, nor can it be. Since Android phones boil down to Samsung vs Not Samsung.

At some point, ecosystem matters, and you can't cover that up with cute things like "kissing" phones to do file transfer.

 

[CindyE]

The S4 having a removable/replacable battery was the main deciding factor in which phone I upgraded to recently.

I will not own a phone that doesn't have a removable/replaceable battery.

I have the Otteerbox Defender, and I don't have the problem of my screen not being clear.

I even had the stick on protective film on my screen before I put it in the case.

What I did to make sure the screen on my S4 was clean before putting it in the case, was to first clean it off with the cleaning rag that comes with the stick on screen protectors before putting it in the case.


I like that the side button now work a little harder.
It keeps them from being pressed accidentally when it's in my pocket.

I cleaned my screen too before putting on the Otterbox, and cleaned the inside of the Otterbox screen. Maybe I should take it off and try again. I think it should be better than it is.

I don't have problems with the button getting pushed often, but my husband does on his old Galaxy S. He's been complaining about it a lot. We haven't been able to find an Otterbox for that phone.

When I was talking about pulling the battery, I was refering to those times when the phone freezes and pulling the battery cycles it.

 

[Scutter01]

The Samsungs are sweet phones, but as long as they run Android, I'll never have one.

Why?

If Samsung was smart, they would buy Android and bring it in house as an exclusive OS.

Google will never sell Android. There is no business case to be made for it.

The fragmentation of Android is the reason it isn't dominant, nor can it be. Since Android phones boil down to Samsung vs Not Samsung.

I think you have no idea what you are talking about. Android currently tops the marketshare in the smartphone arena. I won't dispute the fragmentation aspect of it, but it's certainly not hurting sales.

At some point, ecosystem matters, and you can't cover that up with cute things like "kissing" phones to do file transfer.

Again, I think you have no idea what you are talking about. It seems like the only thing you know about Android phones is what you've seen in the Samsung commercials, but those commercials are geared toward the lowest common denominator. The "kissing" thing you're talking about is interesting, but the built in NFC reader that it uses is FAR more interesting and powerful. If you love your iPhone, then that's great! I'm not trying to push anyone into buying one or the other. Use whatever you want.

 

[iChokePeople]

Why?

Google will never sell Android.

And oh, by the way, Motorola.

I *love* location-based reminders, by voice. "When I get home, remind me to..." Two hours later, I pull into my driveway, and bzzzz, bzzzz, hey, remember to ...

 

[Scutter01]

And oh, by the way, Motorola.

I *love* location-based reminders, by voice. "When I get home, remind me to..." Two hours later, I pull into my driveway, and bzzzz, bzzzz, hey, remember to ...

I guess "never" is a long time, but given how much Android feeds into Google's business model, it would make absolutely no sense whatsoever for them to sell it.

 

[IndyBeerman]

Scutter, the only thing worse than a Glock fan boi touting his Glock as the best, is a IPhone user.

They've failed to realize that Apple has milked them to the bone the last 4 years with marginal updates to their phones and IOS. Heck they couldn't even get their NAV app right and even recommended switching back to Google Nav.

Android has been killing I-Phones for the last year, and been doing it soundly, yet the Apple crowd fails to admit it.

Heck when my fellow employee's compared my old phone (2 year old Motorola Droid X2) side by side with their IPhone, the IPhoner's started switching over, when I got the Samsung Galaxy S3, game was over, they couldn't run fast enough to get one.

 

[No2rdame]

I, too, finally made the switch from an older, cheap smartphone to an S3. Almost went with an S4 but couldn't justify the price difference. I absolutely LOVE this phone. The best part about it, apart from how capable it is, is that I work with a true blue Apple fanboy who has a near heart attack someone in our office buys something other than his beloved iphone. I think when he saw another Galaxy in the office he almost had a coronary.

 

[Scutter01]

Scutter, the only thing worse than a Glock fan boi touting his Glock as the best, is a IPhone user.

They've failed to realize that Apple has milked them to the bone the last 4 years with marginal updates to their phones and IOS. Heck they couldn't even get their NAV app right and even recommended switching back to Google Nav.

I don't know, I like iPhones. They do a LOT right. That said, it seems like their feature set has been seriously lagging for the last two years, with marginal feature updates with each new revision. I think the loss of Steve Jobs is going to seriously impact the company's vision.

 

[Hohn]

I think it's misleading to say that "android" dominates the market. Because in my mind, there's no such thing as "android." Rather, there's "Samsung Android" and "T-Mobile Android" and "motorola android" and you get the idea.

It's not at all like Windows on a PC because any Windows runs on any PC.

I'm not grinding an anti-Google axe at all. I actually like Google (used to own stock and STILL think it's a good investment even though I don't presently own any). I also have all the Google apps on my iPhone because I think many of them are the best.

I have a love/hate thing with Apple, so I'm not a fanboy. But one thing they do well is take care of their app developers. This is where the fragmentation comes in.

A handset can only do so much. Yes, NFC is cool and should be a no-brainer for the next Apple product. Location-based reminders are also cool (and Apple does that).

I think, though, that the purpose of a handset is to enable cool apps. The handset that is a better app platform will win.

I watched the recent Apple keynote previewing iOS7, and was struck by a marked contrast: only a quarter of Android users are using the latest version of the OS, while over 90% of iOS users have the latest version. That speaks a lot to the fragmentation of Android and the problems with cat-herding the different versions.

Divide and conquer is an effective strategy-- one that Google is doing to itself with Android. I can't for the life of me see why Google doesn't force commonization on the Android platform. I don't doubt for a minute that Google has enough software-writing talent to pose a serious, perhaps existential threat to Apple. But they can't do that with so many versions. Just like (imo) Google could have already killed off Microsoft Office by kicking Google docs into orbit with killer apps that were free and all ran in the cloud as free software-as-a-service. Instead, they keep Google docs as some kind of orphan hobby on the side. I don't get it.

I think Samsung will continue to grow and perhaps dominate the handset market like Nokia used to. (Global sales, not just US. Five years ago, Nokia sold more handsets than all others combined).

I guess what I'm saying is that Apple is competing effectively not because they are the best, but because they have somewhat inept competitors (from my outsider's view). Maybe not inept (clearly they have put out a good product). But I would honestly expect them not to just equal Apple, but to SMOKE Apple. So I see some underperformance based on a perception of very high capability. Samsung owns a huge amount of IP (which is why Apple is always taking them to court). Google has access to more market research and analytical data than any entity in human history has ever had. That seems like it might be an advantage.

Sort of like how some airlines (like Southwest) have thrived because almost all their competitors are struggling.

Anyway, I'm glad that Google, Samsung, and all these companies are duking it out. The result of all this competition is that we consumers win. We get mind-boggling capability for cheaper and cheaper prices.

Free markets! Gotta love 'em.

 

[Lebowski]

Scutter, the only thing worse than a Glock fan boi touting his Glock as the best, is a IPhone user.

Galaxy S3 user here. It does the job. I don't use hardly any apps and it's more or less just so I can browse the web on the toilet and make phone calls and text messages. It does what I want.

 

[sepe]

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is like sex with a midget...absolutely amazing.

 

[Scutter01]

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is like sex with a midget...absolutely amazing.

Why WOULDN'T you? You'd have a story to tell for DECADES!

 

[sepe]

Why WOULDN'T you? You'd have a story to tell for DECADES!

A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell but I've got pics and videos (from multiple angles).

 

[Scutter01]

I've never once been accused of being a gentleman and I hope to not break my streak any time soon.

 

[s-works]

good tips here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36eq4ohKXcE
getting rid of the s4 voice launch settings. Puling up chrome is so much faster now