Database Develop

Samsung Galaxy Gear Smartwatch - Specs and Video

Samsung filed a design patent in korea and some specs about the Galaxy Gear Smartwatch have leaked now.
Samsung Exynos 4212 dual core clocked at 1.5GHz with Mali-400 MP4 GPU
320 x 320 resolution Flexible OLED display
Camera (integrated into strap)
NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, Accelerometer
Decent battery life
Android 4.3 (developer units had Android 4.1 or 4.2)
Check the source link for the drawing pictures from the patent and a 3D video based on those drawings.
This looks quite promising.
Source

np231 said:
Samsung filed a design patent in korea and some specs about the Galaxy Gear Smartwatch have leaked now.
Samsung Exynos 4212 dual core clocked at 1.5GHz with Mali-400 MP4 GPU
320 x 320 resolution Flexible OLED display
Camera (integrated into strap)
NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, Accelerometer
Decent battery life
Android 4.3 (developer units had Android 4.1 or 4.2)
Check the source link for the drawing pictures from the patent and a 3D video based on those drawings.
This looks quite promising.
Source
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Click to collapse
I must admit, I'm somewhat of a purist, I usually wear a stainless steel waterproof Fossil when not donning my MotoACTV, but that thing is pretty damn ugly from my perspective. It's very futuristic looking, but also looks like it'd be easy to break.

For me I found the device quite attractive. It looks great.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

I think it looks dreadful and the design is absolutely terrible. Given the size of the screen, i could only imagine how easy that thing would scratch.

Seems a little big, doesn't it? Like the specs though =P

No WiFi so not cetain how interested I am in owning it. I really should sell the I'M watch and maybe the motoactv if the Neptune pine works out.

ronaldheld said:
No WiFi so not cetain how interested I am in owning it. I really should sell the I'M watch and maybe the motoactv if the Neptune pine works out.
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Click to collapse
Including wifi will drain the battery faster. I still have no idea how they will be able to pull "decent battery life" with all the features on the list already. There hasn't been any groundbreaking battery improvements to claim higher capacity in a smaller footprint, unless they can stash some battery cells inside of the bracelet?
In general, until Sept 4th it's all speculations about how exactly it's going to look and what exact features its going to have. So I would take all these T3 renderings with a grain of salt Samsung could be clever with their patent pictures to mislead general outline.
Just from my own personal experience of using MetaWatch (designed by Fossil guys) smartwatch, which in my opinion doesn't get enough credit, you DO NOT want to carry a gadget on your wrist but rather a watch with smart functionality. All these "cool" features are OK for a few minutes of play, but for every day use you only need to get phone/sms/email/calendar notifications in order to know when you need to pull out your main weapon of choice - your smart phone. Remote music control is great too, for example in a situation when you want to control your wireless bt speaker playlist from a distance. I have Sony LiveView MN800 (got it brand new for $19 off ebay), so I got a taste of "smartwatch" with apps. It's OK to play for 5-10min, and that's all. For practical use - who cares. I have read a lot about MotoACTV roms and how you can turn that watch into mini-android gadget. Definitely cool, but wouldn't you rather run your apps and play games on smartphone instead? I'm Watch - sorry, but most of the reviews about that smart watch refer to it as a giant failure. What else is available right now? Pebble and MetaWatch. Pebble has an advantage of a better screen and huge hype that enabled them to $ecure fund$ thus being able to have more developers working on software to support it; but other then display and better battery life - the design is cheap. MetaWatch in my opinion has a lot better design between sporty STRATA and business FRAME (refer to my review link), but lower resolution, worse battery life, and limited sw resources are dragging them down, although they have been making some nice sw development progress lately. Martian and Cookoos - I don't even count those in the same category as other smart watches, those are more like feature-watches. Everything else "to be announced" such as Kreyos, HOT, Agent - look good on the paper, but until we see these out with proper hands'on reviews and comparison, it's all speculation and hype they are building to get pre-orders.
With all that said, I'm very excited to see what September 4th going to reveal, and how soon Samsung Gear and Note III going to be available for purchase

vectron said:
I have read a lot about MotoACTV roms and how you can turn that watch into mini-android gadget. Definitely cool, but wouldn't you rather run your apps and play games on smartphone instead?
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Click to collapse
The point isn't to replace your phone with it, it's to be able to customize it to do what you want, and without having to be tethered to your phone. Having super quick access to my Notes app, calculator app, calender app etc. is handy. Live backgrounds are entertaining, other things like playing Pokemon on a GBC emulator are fun to do when waiting in line or something. I find I use certain apps on my watch because it's convenient, and the rest on my smart phone.

speedyink said:
The point isn't to replace your phone with it, it's to be able to customize it to do what you want, and without having to be tethered to your phone. Having super quick access to my Notes app, calculator app, calender app etc. is handy. Live backgrounds are entertaining, other things like playing Pokemon on a GBC emulator are fun to do when waiting in line or something. I find I use certain apps on my watch because it's convenient, and the rest on my smart phone.
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How about battery life running all that stuff on MotoACTV?

vectron said:
How about battery life running all that stuff on MotoACTV?
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I average 3-4 days with bluetooth enabled and connected to my phone for texts and caller id. Obviously lots of games and videos will yield lower results.

vectron said:
How about battery life running all that stuff on MotoACTV?
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Click to collapse
With bluetooth on, and live wallpapers running constantly. I get same results as speedy ink (3 - 4 days). However turning the motoactv off at night I get a weeks worth of battery life.

How can the resolution be 320x320 if the display is not a perfect square?

atrix4g18 said:
How can the resolution be 320x320 if the display is not a perfect square?
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Click to collapse
Good point, maybe the display size is 320x320 but the top and bottom bezel is used for other notifications?
The first week of September is going to be crazy good!
Update: check the source for leaked screenshots, confirming NFC and 'Locate my Watch' features.

Sure but the watch may be available in the US at the same time as the N3.

ronaldheld said:
Sure but the watch may be available in the US at the same time as the N3.
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Click to collapse
N3 is what?

Note 3.

With smartphones it's different because AT&T always like to play an upper hand with introduction of latest Samsung phones a month a head of other providers. I have no idea how Verizon ends up being the last. So a lot of politics involved with N3 intro. Smartwatch intro should be independent of carrier, but could be limited due to supply'n'demand. Can't wait for Sept 4th, and hoping not to get disappointed when it will come to battery spec of Gear.

Verizon is last because of all of the fiddling they do to the OS and bloatware.

ronaldheld said:
Verizon is last because of all of the fiddling they do to the OS and bloatware.
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Click to collapse
Just heard from someone Verizon might get N3 only in November

Yes it might be November or December if release time is similar to that of last year.

The tab s is a beast!

My old tablet was a note 10.1 2014 which was heavy, somewhat slow and had a washed out screen when viewed on the sides. The tab s on the other hand is extremely light weight, fluid and virtually lag free (if you use Nova launcher)!! I can't believe Samsung did such a poor job of updating their previous flagship. These two tablets have virtually the same specs but the experience on the note was just painful because you always knew it could do more. Even opening the keyboard and typing on it was kinda slow.
I have no idea what Samsung is doing releasing these many tables to flood the market and I guess they're borrowing a page or two from apples playback regarding planned obsolescence for their hardware.
This is the best tablet experience I have ever had on Android and I have used both the nexus 7s, note 10.1 2014 and the nexus 10. Speed is on per with the note 3 which is a beast of an android.

yeah ive seen the 2014 edition as well as the tab pro tablets ive always noticed the screens are kinda washed out or im just used to super amoled on my notes lol

kingofthebraves said:
My old tablet was a note 10.1 2014 which was heavy, somewhat slow and had a washed out screen when viewed on the sides. The tab s on the other hand is extremely light weight, fluid and virtually lag free (if you use Nova launcher)!! I can't believe Samsung did such a poor job of updating their previous flagship. These two tablets have virtually the same specs but the experience on the note was just painful because you always knew it could do more. Even opening the keyboard and typing on it was kinda slow.
I have no idea what Samsung is doing releasing these many tables to flood the market and I guess they're borrowing a page or two from apples playback regarding planned obsolescence for their hardware.
This is the best tablet experience I have ever had on Android and I have used both the nexus 7s, note 10.1 2014 and the nexus 10. Speed is on per with the note 3 which is a beast of an android.
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Click to collapse
I agree completely. I will also add that there was a hardware bluetooth issue, because the same bluetooth keyboard that would constantly disconnect on the Note 2014 now works without issue on the Tab S. I had made modifications to my Note and it ran great and battery life was good, but the Tab S is just better, in every way. The ONLY thing I miss is the S Pen and I wish they would just release all their products with an S Pen, because with their track record, I'm preparing myself to be pissed when in a couple months they announce the Note S (I assume around the time they release the Note 4) [emoji35]

toyanucci said:
I agree completely. I will also add that there was a hardware bluetooth issue, because the same bluetooth keyboard that would constantly disconnect on the Note 2014 now works without issue on the Tab S. I had made modifications to my Note and it ran great and battery life was good, but the Tab S is just better, in every way. The ONLY thing I miss is the S Pen and I wish they would just release all their products with an S Pen, because with their track record, I'm preparing myself to be pissed when in a couple months they announce the Note S (I assume around the time they release the Note 4) [emoji35]
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Click to collapse
You know you can just buy an s-pen....right?

12MaNy said:
You know you can just buy an s-pen....right?
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Click to collapse
It doesn't work like that. The S Pen works with the wacom digitizer which is built into the screen of Note devices. The Tab S doesn't have th3 wacom digitizer so no, the S Pen won't work with it (the one from my Note 3 doesn't work with it for example).

The N10.1-14, Pro's, and Tab S' are the same devices repackaged. They're all using the same SoC's, core UI (TW 4.4 with or w/o M-UX), and h/w components. Exceptions being form factor, LCD vs. AMOLED, USB 3.0 on 12" tablets, finger print reader on the S'. Therefore saying "OMG! What a difference!", either positive or negative, doesn't really jive with reality. I've always been kind of LCD vs. AMOLED agnostic. AMOLED colors tend to be more blown out (which I actually like), blacks and contrast speak for themselves, but white's are always blueish. LCD displays tend to be brighter, colors are less vivid and separated, blacks and contrast weaker, with truer whites. Counting Apple's devices LCD still outsells AMOLED 4:1.
AMOLED sucks battery on whites and kicks butt on darker colors. Most productivity apps have white backgrounds which is definitely going to be a problem for productivity users. As will browsing and using the Tab S as a reader.
As for Samsung's LCD QHD tablet displays, they are the best LCD displays currently available and by no means deficient. To each their own...

BarryH_GEG said:
The N10.1-14, Pro's, and Tab S' are the same devices repackaged. They're all using the same SoC's, core UI (TW 4.4 with or w/o M-UX), and h/w components. Exceptions being form factor, LCD vs. AMOLED, USB 3.0 on 12" tablets, finger print reader on the S'. Therefore saying "OMG! What a difference!", either positive or negative, doesn't really jive with reality. I've always been kind of LCD vs. AMOLED agnostic. AMOLED colors tend to be more blown out (which I actually like), blacks and contrast speak for themselves, but white's are always blueish. LCD displays tend to be brighter, colors are less vivid and separated, blacks and contrast weaker, with truer whites. Counting Apple's devices LCD still outsells AMOLED 4:1.
AMOLED sucks battery on whites and kicks butt on darker colors. Most productivity apps have white backgrounds which is definitely going to be a problem for productivity users. As will browsing and using the Tab S as a reader.
As for Samsung's LCD QHD tablet displays, they are the best LCD displays currently available and by no means deficient. To each their own...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had both, and the difference in battery life is more than a couple hours doing the same tasks. I didn't comment on the snappiness because your right, it's all the same internals however the software is tweaked differently which makes a difference as well.
My tablets are for web browsing and media consumption and for that I usually get by without any lags or jerkiness WITH power saving on. I posted in the battery life thread and you'll notice my even shots have power saving on as I don't really game anymore much less on my tablet. Either way, I've seen real world improvements but I understand your core point.
I also disagree that amoled whites are blueish, my note 3 and tab s have the truest whites of all my devices including my macbook pro to the point where I use them at about 20% brightness indoors, often times even less because over that the whites hurt my eyes. And this also has me thinking if the battery life test you posted was with brightness at 100% as with my tab s I get about 1 hour and 15 minutes per 10% battery while browsing so I'm not sure what they did to get those results.

toyanucci said:
I've had both, and the difference in battery life is more than a couple hours doing the same tasks. I didn't comment on the snappiness because your right, it's all the same internals however the software is tweaked differently which makes a difference as well.
My tablets are for web browsing and media consumption and for that I usually get by without any lags or jerkiness WITH power saving on. I posted in the battery life thread and you'll notice my even shots have power saving on as I don't really game anymore much less on my tablet. Either way, I've seen real world improvements but I understand your core point.
I also disagree that amoled whites are blueish, my note 3 and tab s have the truest whites of all my devices including my macbook pro to the point where I use them at about 20% brightness indoors, often times even less because over that the whites hurt my eyes. And this also has me thinking if the battery life test you posted was with brightness at 100% as with my tab s I get about 1 hour and 15 minutes per 10% battery while browsing so I'm not sure what they did to get those results.
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Click to collapse
I didn't post to make anyone with a Tab S like it less. I really like the design, accessories, and larger display on the 10.5. But people can get "deals" on the Pro's and N10.1-14 that makes them worth considering (for some). I'm a 10" fan so have no interest in the 8.4 but a Pro 8.4 can be had at Best Buy for $229 which makes it pretty compelling; especially since it's S-800. Point being there's lots to like about the S' but their release didn't instantly make the Note/Pro's cow dung.
The white point average (closest to 6,500K is better) for the devices we're talking about is:
Note 3 - 7,126
Note 10.1 - 2014 - 6,821
Tab S 10.5 - 6,516
Tab S 8.4 - 6,295
IPad Air - 7,377
So the N10.1-14 does better on whites than all but the 10.5 Tab S and with a much smaller margin the S 8.4.
If you're interested, here are the links showing the detailed results for the Tab S and N10.1-14. There's no question the S' results are better (with the exception of brightness) but, for an LCD display, Samsung did a good job with their QHD panels. But let's face it, people judge displays based on what looks best to them and that's more important than statistics.
N10.1-14 - http://www.anandtech.com/show/7378/samsung-galaxy-note-101-2014-edition-review/3
Tab S' - http://www.anandtech.com/show/8197/samsung-galaxy-tab-s-review-105-84inch/2

BarryH_GEG said:
The N10.1-14, Pro's, and Tab S' are the same devices repackaged. They're all using the same SoC's, core UI (TW 4.4 with or w/o M-UX), and h/w components. Exceptions being form factor, LCD vs. AMOLED, USB 3.0 on 12" tablets, finger print reader on the S'. Therefore saying "OMG! What a difference!", either positive or negative, doesn't really jive with reality. I've always been kind of LCD vs. AMOLED agnostic. AMOLED colors tend to be more blown out (which I actually like), blacks and contrast speak for themselves, but white's are always blueish. LCD displays tend to be brighter, colors are less vivid and separated, blacks and contrast weaker, with truer whites. Counting Apple's devices LCD still outsells AMOLED 4:1.
AMOLED sucks battery on whites and kicks butt on darker colors. Most productivity apps have white backgrounds which is definitely going to be a problem for productivity users. As will browsing and using the Tab S as a reader.
As for Samsung's LCD QHD tablet displays, they are the best LCD displays currently available and by no means deficient. To each their own...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same device indeed but the performance on responsive was on the software is staggering. My note was running a custom room with everything tweaked and it still cannot open a keyboard without a split second lag or two. Everything was always one step behind and never instantaneous. The tab s is the only Android device that made me feel it was on par with the iPad in fluidity and that's high praise.

BarryH_GEG said:
I didn't post to make anyone with a Tab S like it less. I really like the design, accessories, and larger display on the 10.5. But people can get "deals" on the Pro's and N10.1-14 that makes them worth considering (for some). I'm a 10" fan so have no interest in the 8.4 but a Pro 8.4 can be had at Best Buy for $229 which makes it pretty compelling; especially since it's S-800. Point being there's lots to like about the S' but their release didn't instantly make the Note/Pro's cow dung.
The white point average (closest to 6,500K is better) for the devices we're talking about is:
Note 3 - 7,126
Note 10.1 - 2014 - 6,821
Tab S 10.5 - 6,516
Tab S 8.4 - 6,295
IPad Air - 7,377
So the N10.1-14 does better on whites than all but the 10.5 Tab S and with a much smaller margin the S 8.4.
If you're interested, here are the links showing the detailed results for the Tab S and N10.1-14. There's no question the S' results are better (with the exception of brightness) but, for an LCD display, Samsung did a good job with their QHD panels. But let's face it, people judge displays based on what looks best to them and that's more important than statistics.
N10.1-14 - http://www.anandtech.com/show/7378/samsung-galaxy-note-101-2014-edition-review/3
Tab S' - http://www.anandtech.com/show/8197/samsung-galaxy-tab-s-review-105-84inch/2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, theres 1 thing I don't like about the Tab S display. In movies human skin has an orange tint which I can't get used to, I'm awaiting a custom kernel that allows synapse color editing as it's the only one that allows for negative values, all other screen editing apps only allow you to add, not minus.

kingofthebraves said:
Same device indeed but the performance on responsive was on the software is staggering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You realize there's six pages of counter opinion about performance and lag in this thread with folks coming from Note's and Pro's saying it's noticeably worse on the S? Not challenging you (I'm actually fairly lag tolerant as long as it's not in-app) but either the binning in 5420 got you a chip with super powers or people are having very different experiences.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-s/general/disappointed-tab-s-t2803856

BarryH_GEG said:
You realize there's six pages of counter opinion about performance and lag in this thread with folks coming from Note's and Pro's saying it's noticeably worse on the S? Not challenging you (I'm actually fairly lag tolerant as long as it's not in-app) but either the binning in 5420 got you a chip with super powers or people are having very different experiences.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-s/general/disappointed-tab-s-t2803856
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Click to collapse
Lol to each his own. I setup my androids pretty much the same way so the basis for my comparisons are the same. I'm using the Lte variant BTW running on 800, I'm pretty sure most people are on the WiFi only model, perhaps a reasons for the discrepancy?

toyanucci said:
Hey, theres 1 thing I don't like about the Tab S display. In movies human skin has an orange tint which I can't get used to, I'm awaiting a custom kernel that allows synapse color editing as it's the only one that allows for negative values, all other screen editing apps only allow you to add, not minus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what you get for watching Jersey Shore ☺.
---------- Post added at 04:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:19 PM ----------
BarryH_GEG said:
You realize there's six pages of counter opinion about performance and lag in this thread with folks coming from Note's and Pro's saying it's noticeably worse on the S? Not challenging you (I'm actually fairly lag tolerant as long as it's not in-app) but either the binning in 5420 got you a chip with super powers or people are having very different experiences.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-s/general/disappointed-tab-s-t2803856
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No lag on mine.

mitchellvii said:
No lag on mine.
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Click to collapse
Aren't you using a third party launcher? Any comparisons I've made are stock<>stock. You shouldn't have to blow away features to get decent (whatever that means ) performance.

BarryH_GEG said:
Aren't you using a third party launcher? Any comparisons I've made are stock<>stock. You shouldn't have to blow away features to get decent (whatever that means ) performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me it isn't a matter of principal but just do what works. TouchWiz doesn't work so I replaced it with something that does. I consider anything which the average person can install from the Play Store without root to be "stock" and fair for comparison purposes.
I don't buy Samsung for their awesome software. ☺

BarryH_GEG said:
You shouldn't have to blow away features to get decent (whatever that means ) performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which features do you 'blow away' by loading Nova launcher?

BarryH_GEG said:
You realize there's six pages of counter opinion about performance and lag in this thread with folks coming from Note's and Pro's saying it's noticeably worse on the S? Not challenging you (I'm actually fairly lag tolerant as long as it's not in-app) but either the binning in 5420 got you a chip with super powers or people are having very different experiences.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-s/general/disappointed-tab-s-t2803856
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All I needed was root. I deboalted and all was well, same as I did with the note. Others complained of lags there too but I was lag free after debloating there as well. I also prefer touchwiz on my tablet even though I use nova on my note 3. I'll post a review video sometime this week. If it's one thing I wish samsung would do is debloat by default lol.

Freakstyler said:
Which features do you 'blow away' by loading Nova launcher?
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Click to collapse
The slow ones ?.

mitchellvii said:
The slow ones ��.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Launchers change the UI of a device. They don't blow away anything, just a different interface to utilize.
Go to task manager and check the RAM with different launchers and the same things in use, the ram ain't going to change. Bloatware impedes performance and alternate launchers do not remove them so that is why folks want to root. One can also turn off featues like multitask if they don't use them.
TouchWiz is much better than it use to be. I can easily live with this UI on the S.

BarryH_GEG said:
I didn't post to make anyone with a Tab S like it less. I really like the design, accessories, and larger display on the 10.5. But people can get "deals" on the Pro's and N10.1-14 that makes them worth considering (for some). I'm a 10" fan so have no interest in the 8.4 but a Pro 8.4 can be had at Best Buy for $229 which makes it pretty compelling; especially since it's S-800. Point being there's lots to like about the S' but their release didn't instantly make the Note/Pro's cow dung.
The white point average (closest to 6,500K is better) for the devices we're talking about is:
Note 3 - 7,126
Note 10.1 - 2014 - 6,821
Tab S 10.5 - 6,516
Tab S 8.4 - 6,295
IPad Air - 7,377
So the N10.1-14 does better on whites than all but the 10.5 Tab S and with a much smaller margin the S 8.4.
If you're interested, here are the links showing the detailed results for the Tab S and N10.1-14. There's no question the S' results are better (with the exception of brightness) but, for an LCD display, Samsung did a good job with their QHD panels. But let's face it, people judge displays based on what looks best to them and that's more important than statistics.
N10.1-14 - http://www.anandtech.com/show/7378/samsung-galaxy-note-101-2014-edition-review/3
Tab S' - http://www.anandtech.com/show/8197/samsung-galaxy-tab-s-review-105-84inch/2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The pro 8.4 was $249 two weeks ago for a single week. They are back at $330 now and were last week as well.

My Note 4 thoughts

I figured it might be a good idea to share my thoughts on the Note 4, since I always put a lot of research into smartphone buying and someone might find it useful There are some of you that are still leaning toward different flagships all of the time (like I did!), so I hope this helps.
First of all I would like to mention that about a month ago I made up my mind to give up my LG G2 and switch to a new smartphone.
The Xiaomi mi4 came up first.
I liked the design, UI, price, specs. Everything about the mi4 is just above average, but thats about it. It didn't have that even slightest "wow factor" that I needed to push me to buying one. It's a very good phone, but the warranty would require me to send the phone far into the unknown in case something was wrong, I wasn't sure If I would pay tax as well. Nobody had the 64 gb model either (16gb and no card expansion, really?!). I decided that this would probably be a wise choice but it didn't offer anything more than what I already had on the G2, and in some cases, it was worse (camera). I passed.
My second choice was the LG G3.
So like always, I started researching, checking out different variants and prices, digging through the specs, looking for its strong sides and flaws. I liked the quad hd display at first, the SD 801 SoC, good camera with laser autofocus. The UI was a nice upgrade from the LG G2's cartoonish look. The 32 gb model seemed a good option with its 3gb of ram (although I didn't like the design as I wanted something different from the G2).
As I started to dig deaper though, I noticed that the display isn't all that awesome, as there is more to it than just resolution. I think they might have made the phone much better if they sticked to a 1080p panel and focused on other aspects like color reproduction, brightness, power consumption. I found out that the 801 chip is stretched to its limits (even over them..) with that display, which caused overheating, throttling and lagging in demanding tasks and games. I believe a smartphone should be able to handle anything you throw at it so I dumped the G3 from my plans.
Then the Z3 came up.
So again- researching, digging, looking at the cons and pros. I liked the design a lot better than the G3 (besides the plastic corners, although I can justify the reason they used them for). The display was beytter than the Z2, with very good brightness and color reproduction after making some adjustments to the stock settings. The audio quality is superb as well, the whole phone is waterproof and its battery life was very well above the current smartphones.
The camera in the Z3 is top of the line, but I didn't like how it overheats. Making the phone thinner wasn't necessary in my opinion and sony might have thought about the component allocation in the device, as putting everything in the top part of the phone wasn't too smart of a choice. The UI was something that I didn't like the most though. I know I could throw a custom ROM at it in a while, but I wasn't sure how that would work with the camera, battery life and other features sony offered in the stock ROM.
I almost made my mind up on the Z3, as it had everything I wanted and I could live with its cons but then the price came into my mind: 515 pounds including tax.
Thats the part the note 4 came into play.
I watched the Note 4 presentation: the phone impressed me in overall, I liked the design, UI, hardware etc. So I started digging again.
I've always wanted the best out of my phone, no matter if I was going to use all of the functions it had or not. I used my phone for calling, texting, making notes in google keep, gps, playing games, listening to music, browsing the web, taking pictures. Usually I endep up rooting it and putting a stock like ROM on it (although I used the stock LG G2 ROM all the way). The design of the phone was always important for me, thats why I had an iphone 4s and 5 for a month before ditching it cus of the awfully simple and boring OS.
The Note 4 seemed to be a very good phone that offered what I wanted and much more beyond that:
1. The display
It's resolution could have been not increased. Samsung could have stayed with a 1080p panel. But thats not whats important about this panel. This is what the DisplayMate test results are:
"The Galaxy Note 4 delivers uniformly consistent all around Top Tier display performance: it is the first Smartphone display to ever get all Green (Very Good to Excellent) Ratings in all test and measurement categories (except one Yellow for a Brightness Variation with Average Picture Level) since we started the Display Technology Shoot-Out article Series in 2006, an impressive achievement for a display. The Galaxy Note 4 has again raised the bar for top display performance up by another notch. "
The display is a window through which you interact with your phone, and it is a component that must be top of the line. There should be no compromise here. Samsung exceeded my expectations in this matter.
2. Performance
There are 2 variants of the Note as most of you know. I'm still having a hard time with both of them. At first I thought the Snapdragon is an obvious choice considering it was superior to all of the other chips last year.
But then the 64-bit affair came into place. Anyone would like their phone to be futureproof, and a 64-bit SoC would be a wise choice. The exynos and snapdragon chips offer pretty much the same performance. I tried looking at the benchmarks, real world usage, gaming, but one outpaces the other in different things and it is very hard to tell the difference. I believe the fluidity of the UI and overall performance must be taken into consideration the most, as I believe both chips will handle anything you throw at them when apps and games are optimized. The choice is either taking the 20nm exynos and hope for better battery life and 64-bit support OR the snapdragon one and expect better dev support.
I wanted the Exynos for the wolfson chip, as I like good quality music from my phone. I'll be using good headphones and PowerAmp so I figure I wouldn't notice much difference anyway. At least not enough to pay extra and import the exynos variant.
I'm pretty much set on the Snapdragon 805 as I believe the battery life should be good on both (the andreno 420 is powerful with lowered power consumption). Like I mentioned earlier I might change the ROM after a while if something good comes out. It's a matter of personal taste- NOT performance of the chips. Thats my opinion on the matter.
3. User Interface
Touchwiz was out of the question for me up until I saw the Galaxy S5 UI. I actually liked the flat style and functions it offered. The note 4 UI is pretty similar. I really like the S-Pen experience, it should be a great change for people who haven't used it before. I love taking notes and I'll use it often. I like the functions it offers, the selection in different UI elements, the ease of copy/pasting, more precise touch input.
Touchwiz has a lot of useless apps that I might not like, but I'm sure it will be possible to get rid of the ones you don't like later on, the dev community in here will surely help. I could go on about the stamina mode, multi-window, the ability to resize apps etc, but you've all seen that on videos. The most important fact for is that touchwiz had been improved, it is eye pleasing, smoother and faster than ever. It is the best custom android OS you can get atm.
4. Camera
On paper both of the cameras looked really good to me, but I wanted to wait and see the real world results. I wasn't disappointed. there were some early comparisions done, but some of them were pictures or videos not taken with the note 4, so getting a correct view at the performance was quite hard. We have these results now and the note camera is a top notch performer. I find day pictures top of the line, the details are there, colors are popping, OIS helps as well. 4k shooting isn't all that important to me but its a nice addition. The camera seems to be very capable and will perform great in a day-to-day user's hands as well in an experienced person ones.
You may find the night shots worse than of the lumia or z3, but thats just terribly trying to find a flaw to me. Come on- who the hell is going to photograph a piece of paper in the dark of the night!? insane. There are pictures taken with the note at night, i like how the lights aren't blurred and everything seems very crisp and detailed. Do remember what you'll be using the phone camera for, and the Note 4 delivers more than I want in those terms.
5. Battery life
Many people find this very important. I thought the Note 4 might get bad results cause of that screen so I checked out some vids of the LTE-A Galaxy S5 with the higher res display. The results were the same as the standars S5.
I am not sure if its the chip that is more power efficient, some power saving changes in the OS, or the screen, or maybe all of these at once, but the results people are having on the Notes they recently picked up are very pleasing to me.
Final words
I probably shouldn't, cause its so ridiculous, but I'll mention the gap gate as well- I don't give a crap about it. I wont even notice it. Especially with the case I'm going to put on the phone. And its something that samsung probably addressed already in the new batch of phones. There are other things I should maybe mention, but these 5 are most important for me. I really like the performace of the Note 4, its UI, functions, metal frame design, micro SD storage expansion, camera, battery, IR blaster and everything else that seems to be a full package that many will find good enough to put their money on. I surely will. On the black one of course

You have really done some good work digging up info and comparing them.

Just to add couple points to OP's excellent write up:
The battery life concern in #5 is actually addressed in already mentioned DisplayMate article, right towards the bottom it clearly states that the new screen, despite having larger number of pixels is more power efficient than 1080p screen of Note3 (0.05W for 50% and 0.2 W for 100% brightness), about 5 to 10% more efficient and Note 3 has proven itself to have very good battery life already.
The gap between screen and frame around might be by design, due to combination of plastic, glass and metal having different expansion rate due to temperature changes. My thinking is that if the phone was brought from very warm room into very cold outside, metal frame would cool and shrink much faster than the rest and could even possibly crack the glass, doing so. The gap possibly allows for contraction/expansion without doing any damage. Either way, outside of aesthetics, it doesn't affect anything and it's a non issue. Probably blown out of proportions as an attempt to shift attention away from bendgate.

pete4k said:
The battery life concern in #5 is actually addressed in already mentioned DisplayMate article, right towards the bottom it clearly states that the new screen, despite having larger number of pixels is more power efficient than 1080p screen of Note3 (0.05W for 50% and 0.2 W for 100% brightness), about 5 to 10% more efficient and Note 3 has proven itself to have very good battery life already
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think he was referring to the increased GPU load due to the higher resolution which is a valid concern.
But as it has already been said, even the S5 LTE-A with its Snapdragon 805 and QHD resolution has the same battery life as the regular S5 with Full HD and Snapdragon 800.
Still, it would be interesting to see the battery life on a Snapdragon 805 device with only a Full HD display.

I would prefer the note 4 to have a 1080p panel with the same characteristics. But how many people actually use their head before buying a phone? It's a spec war for android phones..

han4mi said:
I would prefer the note 4 to have a 1080p panel with the same characteristics. But how many people actually use their head before buying a phone? It's a spec war for android phones..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Normally I would agree that FHD 1080p would be more than enough. However, since the GN4 is going to host the Gear VR, with magnifying lenses, I'm happy it went for the QHD
Sent from my Surface Pro 3 using Tapatalk

Audio Quality
Thanks for taking the time for the write up.
One area I would really like to know about is the quality of the rear speaker.
The sound quality is much more important to me than the placement (and sometimes the rear placement actually helps when you put it on a flat hard surface). I ruled out the Note 3 because its speaker was worse than the Note 2 which is still my current phone. The Note 2's speaker is actually pretty decent if the 4's is equal or better I would be thrilled.
Any input?

ymmp said:
Thanks for taking the time for the write up.
One area I would really like to know about is the quality of the rear speaker.
The sound quality is much more important to me than the placement (and sometimes the rear placement actually helps when you put it on a flat hard surface). I ruled out the Note 3 because its speaker was worse than the Note 2 which is still my current phone. The Note 2's speaker is actually pretty decent if the 4's is equal or better I would be thrilled.
Any input?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same question, ´cause I am afraid, that speeker-quality will be on low level and I am used to fantastic stereo sound of my current htv one m8.
I think, the price for Note 4 ist extremly high. Meanwhile Samsungs flagships are playing in the same €-league with the latest iphons. So I want to hold it in my own hands first before buying it. In center of Europe the Note 4 will be available in about 2 weeks.
Maybe the new Nexus 6 has a better balance between price and specs. We´ll check it out.

Just read Phone Arena's review. Here's a quote:
"Unfortunately, the audio portion of the media experience isn't so spectacular. The single speaker of the Galaxy Note 4 is rather quiet and lacking any depth, making it sound thin and weak. It's not too bad, but it's far from the best we've heard"
How disappointing! The new Moto X is supposed to have an amazing front speaker. I just wonder if it is more like the Note 2 or 3.

I believe the speaker will be good enough to play the ringtone I choose. I prefer earphones+ Poweramp for my music. Like I said, it depends what you're expecting to use the phone for. The Note 4 meets my demands in key aspects and thats why I'm going for it. I don't want THE BEST PHONE. Such a phone does not exist. All of the flagships have their strenghts and weaknesses and a smart person would take the one with the most personally suitable set of features.

Note 5 gear vr to be consumer ready

http://androidcommunity.com/galaxy-note-5-gear-vr-to-be-consumer-ready-pc-ties-possible-20150305/
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

darekz said:
http://androidcommunity.com/galaxy-note-5-gear-vr-to-be-consumer-ready-pc-ties-possible-20150305/
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's to hoping for a 4K/UHD screen! :highfive:

Toss3 said:
Here's to hoping for a 4K/UHD screen! :highfive:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I better keep my Note 4 Developer Edition in good shape for when I sell it later this year then.

<---- Saving up now for a Note 5 Edge Developer Edition and Gear VR3!
I'm thinking about USD 1300. should do it...

i just hope they make it compatible with note 4 note edge s6 and s6 edge too

avenging said:
i just hope they make it compatible with note 4 note edge s6 and s6 edge too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I highly, highly doubt it. Just like the gear vr for S6 even though the screen is smaller. This is a developer innovator edition. Gear VR2 will more then likely be a finished product.
You remember the first watch? It was horrible. Then the second one was halfway decent. Now the third one is nice and refined. So I'm sure by the time you upgrade (note 6) it should be prime time ready.

i just hope they dont kill Note 5 Gear VR with that damn Pentile. 4k full RGB subpixels OLED FTW.

avenging said:
i just hope they make it compatible with note 4 note edge s6 and s6 edge too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMO For GearVR to be successful they need to make it support a few years worth of phones --- OR DROP THE PRICE to more like $49 or $99 at very worst if it literally is one and done, We replace our phones every one or two years max, shouldn't have to replace the GearVR in the same time frame IMO

OpenBlade said:
i just hope they dont kill Note 5 Gear VR with that damn Pentile. 4k full RGB subpixels OLED FTW.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No way to make an amoled screen with that pixel density without using Pentile right now. I agree that amoled screens with a pentile matrix don't make the ideal screens for VR setups as the black area between the individual pixels is larger than for regular RGB LCD displays, but the benefits outweigh the negatives though.

Toss3 said:
No way to make an amoled screen with that pixel density without using Pentile right now. I agree that amoled screens with a pentile matrix don't make the ideal screens for VR setups as the black area between the individual pixels is larger than for regular RGB LCD displays, but the benefits outweigh the negatives though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No way ?
It is expensive but possible

Toss3 said:
Here's to hoping for a 4K/UHD screen! :highfive:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny how I used to whine that 1440p was too high for a phone, but now due to Gear VR I also want a 4K display.
I also hope the Gear VR "2" has a micro sd slot for content without the need to import to the device storage..
---------- Post added at 02:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:16 PM ----------
OpenBlade said:
No way ?
It is expensive but possible
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Expensive is the functional mass production business version of impossible

I hope "consumer ready" also means:
1. More codec support and other video player options
2. Youtube and other streaming apps also capable of viewing all 2D content and not just 3D.
3. A web browser. Set top boxes, Apple TV, Chromecast, etc, game systems and Smart TVs all have web functionality. A controller could be a basic interface and cover for most web content- just like the devices noted. It could also be voice controlled and the touch pad used as a mouse.
I am more cynical and think the real reason we see no browsers is Oculus and Samsung want to somewhat control what users stream and watch. If we had a full function browser, we could chose what we stream. I hope I am wrong, but the excuses about no browser from John and others with Oculus IMO is completely lame and insulting to average intelligence. I have below average intelligence and still it's insulting
Most of us do not care if it is a "3D" UI browser. 2D would be more than fine until a 3D one is made. Due to battery life, I would stick with the 2D one anyway.

Video Showing Galaxy S7 Inferior to Note 5 in Gear VR

I have tried 3 different S7 and one of my friends S7edge and all 4 have been inferior in their quality and visuals in gear vr (this also seems at least to me to carry over to non vr use as well) So i decided to capture video and show a comparison between the s7 and note 5 in gear vr especially while playing gunjack, but this happens in all apps and games to some degree but its noticeably worse in gunjack. I didnt play as long with the s7 because the flicker makes me nauseous.
S7
Note5
Also I did two more videos showing how the GS7 fails to render edges as smooth and clear as the note5, these are best viewed on mobile devices but are also easily noticed on pc platforms. Please forgive the watermark at the beginning. Please full screen to fairly compare the two.
S7
Note5
I have even compared the S6 and it performs better graphically although it overheats faster.
Any thoughts?

strokercrate said:
I have tried 3 different S7 and one of my friends S7edge and all 4 have been inferior in their quality and visuals in gear vr (this also seems at least to me to carry over to non vr use as well) So i decided to capture video and show a comparison between the s7 and note 5 in gear vr especially while playing gunjack, but this happens in all apps and games to some degree but its noticeably worse in gunjack. I didnt play as long with the s7 because the flicker makes me nauseous.
Also I did two more videos showing how the GS7 fails to render edges as smooth and clear as the note5, these are best viewed on mobile devices but are also easily noticed on pc platforms. Please forgive the watermark at the beginning. Please full screen to fairly compare the two.
I have even compared the S6 and it performs better graphically although it overheats faster.
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exynos or Snapdragon? Probably not as optimized for the S7 yet (most games came out long before the S7 was released).

Snapdragon. This happens even in oculus home, also the stair stepping wavy boarders are out of game. I video chatted samsung last night and showed them the videos, they are pushing it to some tech that looks into and breaks devices just to fix problems, and he he couldn't figure it out he woukd push it further up.
I have heard exynos is running pretty smooth for the most part... I have done some benchmarks with different tools that seem to indicate that while the cpu and gpu of the snapdragon is much faster than the note5 and s6 exynos, the I/O gets rated much slower. Could it be bottlenecked?

strokercrate said:
I have tried 3 different S7 and one of my friends S7edge and all 4 have been inferior in their quality and visuals in gear vr
Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a S7 edge and I play Gunjack. My S7E in no way has that jerky movement displayed on the video. If it did I wouldn't use it. Mine work about the same as your Note 5 example. I'm curious if this is happening with any other S7 owners. I had also had a S6. I couldn't use my Gear for more then 10 minutes with the S6 before I got an over heating warning. The Gear VR resolution is sharper on my S7E then it was on my S6.
Sent from my SM-G935V using XDA-Developers mobile app

Eddie Hicks said:
I have a S7 edge and I play Gunjack. My S7E in no way has that jerky movement displayed on the video. If it did I wouldn't use it. Mine work about the same as your Note 5 example. I'm curious if this is happening with any other S7 owners. I had also had a S6. I couldn't use my Gear for more then 10 minutes with the S6 before I got an over heating warning. The Gear VR resolution is sharper on my S7E then it was on my S6.
Sent from my SM-G935V using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a those in both the gs7 and gs7edge boards on xda mentioning this, and some on the galaxy gear board. Over at the oculus forums some are also mentioning they have similar issues plus a friend of mine is having it as well. I know at&t and sprint variants have this. Maybe Verizon doesnt?

strokercrate said:
There are a those in both the gs7 and gs7edge boards on xda mentioning this, and some on the galaxy gear board. Over at the oculus forums some are also mentioning they have similar issues plus a friend of mine is having it as well. I know at&t and sprint variants have this. Maybe Verizon doesnt?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll search around to see who else is experiencing this issue. I don't have a Note 5 to compare, and viewing comparisons on Youtube video's is helpful but not the same as doing it yourself with the actual devices. Maybe in some ways the Note 5 works better with Gear VR, the only thing I can say for sure is I do not have anything close to that herky, jerky movement on my S7E that was displayed on that video. I learned over the years that even though you may have the exact same device there could be differences in how they work. For example, I have an issue of an overly sensitive touch screen on my S7E. It is so annoying I considered returning it. There are many others experiencing that issue. But most don't have it or don't consider it a problem. So maybe I'm the lucky one in regards to performance with my Gear VR.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/mobile-vr/gear-vr/choppy-video-s7-edge-t3359051
Eddie Hicks said:
I'll search around to see who else is experiencing this issue. I don't have a Note 5 to compare, and viewing comparisons on Youtube video's is helpful but not the same as doing it yourself with the actual devices. Maybe in some ways the Note 5 works better with Gear VR, the only thing I can say for sure is I do not have anything close to that herky, jerky movement on my S7E that was displayed on that video. I learned over the years that even though you may have the exact same device there could be differences in how they work. For example, I have an issue of an overly sensitive touch screen on my S7E. It is so annoying I considered returning it. There are many others experiencing that issue. But most don't have it or don't consider it a problem. So maybe I'm the lucky one in regards to performance with my Gear VR.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just below this thread in gear vr board there is someone with an s7edge same issue.
I agree some are superior to others. But still shouldnt be this bad with so many. Including the issue you have with the sensitivity. Mine seems not sensitive enough i have to at times double touch things sometimes triple touch. My wife has bemoan that she hates her because its to sensitive opening stuff she has not touched and clicking while scrolling
I feel the s7/s7edge is the most buggy phone i have ever used from samsung and im a samsung fan boy and dislike the new flagships
http://forum.xda-developers.com/mobile-vr/gear-vr/choppy-video-s7-edge-t3359051

strokercrate said:
Mine seems not sensitive enough i have to at times double touch things sometimes triple touch. My wife has bemoan that she hates her because its to sensitive opening stuff she has not touched and clicking while scrolling
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in the same boat as your wife. I'm constantly opening apps and links inadvertently. I had a S6 for about 4 months. I got rid of it because of a very poor battery life. I didn't have that screen sensitivity issue with my S6. Maybe they rushed these S7's to market too soon. There are too many inconsistencies with performance.

Eddie Hicks said:
I'm in the same boat as your wife. I'm constantly opening apps and links inadvertently. I had a S6 for about 4 months. I got rid of it because of a very poor battery life. I didn't have that screen sensitivity issue with my S6. Maybe they rushed these S7's to market too soon. There are too many inconsistencies with performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i agree, i had two and both have issues the first really bad so i returned it. Now my wifes the one so sensitive is developing issues where it black screens and wont respond nor power down unless i hard reset with volume down and power for 10 seconds. I guess another going back.

So i decided to actually monitor how much of the cpu had to be used to run both oculus and also gunjack and compare between note5 and s7, again the results show that the note5 has to use less processing power then does the s7 whats interesting is that I decided to do a 2 minute log of an idle device on both as well, and the s7 has to use more processing power for the same system apps than does the note 5.
S7
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Note5

strokercrate said:
So i decided to actually monitor how much of the cpu had to be used to run both oculus and also gunjack and compare between note5 and s7, again the results show that the note5 has to use less processing power then does the s7 whats interesting is that I decided to do a 2 minute log of an idle device on both as well, and the s7 has to use more processing power for the same system apps than does the note 5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably calculating the percentages differently as the S7 snapdragon only has four cores, so if it uses two cores it's 50% on the S7 and 25% on the Note 5. CPU really isn't what you should be looking at anyhow as the GPU is doing much of the work. There really doesn't have to be any other explanation at this point than that the apps for oculus aren't optimized for the Snapdragon SoCs just yet and it is probably going to take them awhile to sort it out. Would love to try it out on my Exynos version to see if it's a SoC-issue or something else, but the game is really expensive for something I'd just use to test it out.
Have you tried to contact the developers of Gunjack?

Toss3 said:
Probably calculating the percentages differently as the S7 snapdragon only has four cores, so if it uses two cores it's 50% on the S7 and 25% on the Note 5. CPU really isn't what you should be looking at anyhow as the GPU is doing much of the work. There really doesn't have to be any other explanation at this point than that the apps for oculus aren't optimized for the Snapdragon SoCs just yet and it is probably going to take them awhile to sort it out. Would love to try it out on my Exynos version to see if it's a SoC-issue or something else, but the game is really expensive for something I'd just use to test it out.
Have you tried to contact the developers of Gunjack?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gunjack is the most pronounced. It happens everywhere in oculus, including home. Thats why one video shows the lack of smooth boarders on boxes just in oculus on the s7.
Plus i notice the s7 lags everywhere. Even doing common every day task, compared to previous s6 and note devices. Have ran test showing the snap dragon variants of s7 and edge has less i/o scores then previous gens as well.

strokercrate said:
Gunjack is the most pronounced. It happens everywhere in oculus, including home. Thats why one video shows the lack of smooth boarders on boxes just in oculus on the s7.
Plus i notice the s7 lags everywhere. Even doing common every day task, compared to previous s6 and note devices. Have ran test showing the snap dragon variants of s7 and edge has less i/o scores then previous gens as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which tests? Care to post your results? Never seen anyone with lower scores than previous generation. Have you tried a full reset and updating it to the latest apd1 firmware? Sounds like something is wrong with your phone. Maybe a faulty nand-chip or something.

Toss3 said:
Which tests? Care to post your results? Never seen anyone with lower scores than previous generation. Have you tried a full reset and updating it to the latest apd1 firmware? Sounds like something is wrong with your phone. Maybe a faulty nand-chip or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tested 3 galaxy s7 and one galaxy edge with three different benchmarks tools showing lower i/o on the s7 and s7edge than note 5 and s6, processor and gpu did score higher but lower i/o means bottleneck. I believe thats the reason for the jitter and shudder when browsing playing vr. Most of my post have been over on oculus forums with pictures. https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/33459/galaxy-s7-gear-vr-issues#latest

strokercrate said:
Tested 3 galaxy s7 and one galaxy edge with three different benchmarks tools showing lower i/o on the s7 and s7edge than note 5 and s6, processor and gpu did score higher but lower i/o means bottleneck. I believe thats the reason for the jitter and shudder when browsing playing vr. Most of my post have been over on oculus forums with pictures. https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/33459/galaxy-s7-gear-vr-issues#latest
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really wouldn't trust a beta benchmark (you only used Vellamo for some reason), and in 3DMark the S7 Edge gives you a higher score, but runs a bit hotter (still means it is faster). Why not try Geekbench (which most people use to measure single and multithreaded performance)? And Androbench for storage. I mean I am getting even lower IO scores than you and I have no stuttering (but topping the benchmarks by a fair margin in Androbench and Geekbench, so I think Vellamo shouldn't be trusted).
EDIT: Even my Note 4 it outscoring my S7 in Vellamo, so yeah that should already tell you a lot about how trustworthy the numbers are.
EDIT2: https://www.reddit.com/r/GearVR/comments/4ak3nv/galaxy_s7_stutters_like_crazy_compared_to_s6/d11jomb
"Carmack said it is in fact due to the software being unoptimized. Said s7 launch was rushed to the gates and they were not ready."
So there's no real performance bottleneck just unoptimized software (still wouldn't explain why there aren't more complaints and a lot of people saying they aren't seeing any issues).

Toss3 said:
Really wouldn't trust a beta benchmark (you only used Vellamo for some reason), and in 3DMark the S7 Edge gives you a higher score, but runs a bit hotter (still means it is faster). Why not try Geekbench (which most people use to measure single and multithreaded performance)? And Androbench for storage. I mean I am getting even lower IO scores than you and I have no stuttering (but topping the benchmarks by a fair margin in Androbench and Geekbench, so I think Vellamo shouldn't be trusted).
EDIT: Even my Note 4 it outscoring my S7 in Vellamo, so yeah that should already tell you a lot about how trustworthy the numbers are.
EDIT2: https://www.reddit.com/r/GearVR/comments/4ak3nv/galaxy_s7_stutters_like_crazy_compared_to_s6/d11jomb
"Carmack said it is in fact due to the software being unoptimized. Said s7 launch was rushed to the gates and they were not ready."
So there's no real performance bottleneck just unoptimized software (still wouldn't explain why there aren't more complaints and a lot of people saying they aren't seeing any issues).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did run geekbench but it doesn't show i/o, everyone that shows i/o shows a considerable less on s7, quadrant is another that does and antutu, and those two show ram as better in the note 5.
Never ran storage on s7, so will now.
What variant do you have?
The s7 seems to have the largest variation in performance between multiple devices i have seen based on response from people, but all the ones i have tried have been poor compared to what some get, others have said their's are poor as well. A flagship shouldnt be so inconsistent between devices.
So ran androbench, the s7 almost never even ranked in top 10
A couple of times was like 9. The note 5 on 6 occasions was top 3 and almost all top 10. So maybe bad memory controllers on 3 repetitive s7s?

strokercrate said:
I did run geekbench but it doesn't show i/o, everyone that shows i/o shows a considerable less on s7, quadrant is another that does and antutu, and those two show ram as better in the note 5.
Never ran storage on s7, so will now.
What variant do you have?
The s7 seems to have the largest variation in performance between multiple devices i have seen based on response from people, but all the ones i have tried have been poor compared to what some get, others have said their's are poor as well. A flagship shouldnt be so inconsistent between devices.
So ran androbench, the s7 almost never even ranked in top 10
A couple of times was like 9. The note 5 on 6 occasions was top 3 and almost all top 10. So maybe bad memory controllers on 3 repetitive s7s?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the exynos version so that could explain a lot, but I wouldn't really trust benchmarks and just go by what you know and apparently the software is way worse on the snapdragon version as it stands right now (gear VR performs worse, worse battery, overheating, etc.). Just wait a couple of iterations and the problem should sort itself out. I always go for the exynos version as I've always felt that the snapdragon versions have performed worse (ever since the s4). Even bought the Note 4 in Dubai in order to be the n910c which even by today's standards performs admirably.

Well, i completely agree, i absolutely hate snap dragon versions and was upset when they switched back from the exynos in previous gen. I never felt it was as good even back in the gs3. Only benefit then was lte, but now thats not an issue i wish they would quit Qualcomm all together.
Being on cdma i had no choice this time around.

My Gear VR absolutely sucks with my S7. This is absolutely pathetic!!! When I first got my Gear VR innovator edition with my Note 4 it was probably the best gadget I had ever used, but then... Verizon/Samsung released an update that totally ruined the experience. It made the VR heat up in just a couple minutes and was basically unusable. MANY long months later they released an update to finally fix it.
I was super excited to my S7 and the new gear VR, and yet I'm right back in the same crappy boat. Not only does the performance suck, but the fit is much worse on the consumer edition and view is obstructed by the edges of the VR, and light is able to penetrate on the sides. It is so laggy/choppy/slow with my S7 that it is almost unusable. I tried it with my wife's S6 Edge + and it is absolutely perfect! I am so pissed off with Samsung that I'm ready to make the switch to the dark side!
As much as it pains me to say this, this is why Samsung will never catch Apple. Apple would never let something like this happen and even if it did happen, they would be all over it to remedy the issue. One thing that is even worse is that this was a time for Samsung to really show people how great their products are yet again they've screwed the pooch.
Sorry for the rant and not meaning to turn this into an Apple vs Samsung/Android debate, but I am really pissed that I still have to deal with this crap with this "latest and greatest" S7 Edge and Gear VR and yet it ends up being an inferior experience!!!!!!![emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji853][emoji853][emoji853][emoji853][emoji853][emoji853][emoji853][emoji853]
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z06mike said:
My Gear VR absolutely sucks with my S7. This is absolutely pathetic!!! When I first got my Gear VR innovator edition with my Note 4 it was probably the best gadget I had ever used, but then... Verizon/Samsung released an update that totally ruined the experience. It made the VR heat up in just a couple minutes and was basically unusable. MANY long months later they released an update to finally fix it.
I was super excited to my S7 and the new gear VR, and yet I'm right back in the same crappy boat. Not only does the performance suck, but the fit is much worse on the consumer edition and view is obstructed by the edges of the VR, and light is able to penetrate on the sides. It is so laggy/choppy/slow with my S7 that it is almost unusable. I tried it with my wife's S6 Edge + and it is absolutely perfect! I am so pissed off with Samsung that I'm ready to make the switch to the dark side!
As much as it pains me to say this, this is why Samsung will never catch Apple. Apple would never let something like this happen and even if it did happen, they would be all over it to remedy the issue. One thing that is even worse is that this was a time for Samsung to really show people how great their products are yet again they've screwed the pooch.
Sorry for the rant and not meaning to turn this into an Apple vs Samsung/Android debate, but I am really pissed that I still have to deal with this crap with this "latest and greatest" S7 Edge and Gear VR and yet it ends up being an inferior experience!!!!!!![emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji35][emoji853][emoji853][emoji853][emoji853][emoji853][emoji853][emoji853][emoji853]
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Smooth as butter here. Are you using the snapdragon version? Have you tried a complete reset?