Database Develop

[thoughts] What the S5 needs to do before April 11th to earn my money

Well, THAT happened 10 hours ago........
The launch for the S5 came and my enjoyment faded pretty quickly. You can see from my track record in my signature that I've been a pretty loyal customer of Samsung for quite some time now, and this may be the first Galaxy launch that I won't have a pre-order in the system. Other than stepping away from the Galaxy line to pick up the Atrix 4G, the first mass produced phone with a fingerprint scanner, coincidentally, I've enjoyed only Samsung phones for the last 4 years. The "premium version" of the S5 was supposed to be 5th in line, what with the 20MP camera, metal body, G-Note 3 battery size, 5.25" screen - you've seen it all and read it all, it didn't show up today. Now unless Samsung is about to pull the biggest stunt they've ever pulled, the Unpacked5 event is in the books and we're not getting anything more than what we got today.
Is there any positive that came out of this event? Sure! USB 3.0 is a big thing for me as I have lots of 3.0 gear and want that from my next phone, it's dust and water resistant, cool fingerprint scanner providing it works flawlessly unlike the one on the iThing, updated TouchWiz which (try not to judge) I actually like a little bit, the wearables, the bigger focus on health, better processor, camera, and connectivity, but then comes the let downs, especially for S4 owners. Same 1080p screen at almost the same size, same 2GB of memory, almost the exact same front camera, soon to be the same OS (again, I like TW so I'm sticking it out on 4.3 until the TW 4.4.2 comes out), same plastic body that I don't necessarily mind, but would have appreciated a little change other than just putting dimples in the back cover, and probably worst of all to me, they're offering it in a 16GB format again after what they just did to us who pre-ordered and / or early adopted the S4, sticking us with next to nothing for internal space because they believe everyone has kids and needs to have likely a ton of space dedicated to a kid mode with pre-installed games and crap. I'm single and not looking for that anytime soon!!! It's like they claimed to listen to their customers but only those who are married, have children, want a "modern glam look," whatever the hell that means, and work out enough to bring their phone with them while exercising!
Damn that's a lot of negatives so far. So what can Samsung do between now and launch to earn my money short of releasing their ultra premium version that was supposed to exist but doesn't, and calling this one the S5 Neo? Let's take a look, and please, feel free to help me add to this list!
Ship the phone with an unlocked bootloader - I know, fat chance, right? But if you don't want people complaining about lack of storage, let us kill it off as we see fit! I also know it isn't up to Samsung on this, the carriers are the ones being douchebags about it, but Samsung put their foot down with them previously by stopping them from dictating all the individual revisions when they launched the SIII, making them all the same shape and size, so why can't they force their hand on this in the sake of making even the smallest group of their customers happy - those that truly use the phone for what it was meant for!
Negate the 16GB version - this is obvious, why the hell is this even a thing anymore with Samsung.... just get rid of it if you're not going to slim down this ridiculously large ROM of yours! Ship with the 32GB at minimum and announce the 64GB as well. iThings do this as a standard now, and while iSheep love to keep their music on their device and we have this little thing called external storage and another little thing called Google Music, we don't have to, but seriously, cut the crap and ditch the 16GB model!
Allow us to remove certain features we just aren't going to use, EVER - as I stated already, I don't have kids and don't need a Kids Mode. If you aren't going to let us root the thing AND aren't going to launch it with more than 16GB, let me get rid of the damn Kids Mode. Or the health features. Or anything else I decide useless or unnecessary. When looking at pics of the camera settings on the S5, I'm able to download more features as I see fit - why not make some of this crap downloadable and not don't ship it with the device? Why not make an Aroma-like installer when you first boot it and say "hey, would you like all of this crap or just some of it?" like any PC software does when it installs something - Typical or Custom installation. Sounds like I'm asking for a lot here, but really, I'm asking to not be forced a lot that I really won't use. And before you comment that if I don't need it, don't buy it in the first place, there are so many things I love about my S4 and TouchWiz that I'm not planning to part with in order to have "a phone," my N7 has a purpose and it isn't so I can keep the screen on when I need it just by looking at it. It does great for playing movies on a trip but not for letting me change the channel of my big TV when I want to watch a blockbuster movie....
Ship with at least the S805 processor for crying out loud - if you're not going to blow us away with something new and powerful, at least ship it with the very latest processor this time from Qualcomm. The 800 has been out for months, the 801 is obviously an incremental update over the 800, and the 805 isn't that much better, but at least give us the goods instead of just going along with the same processor found in the N5 and G-Note 3. I don't think we've heard which one for sure will be included, but from what I've read, so far they say it's the 800 or the 801. EDIT - it's the 801, confirmed by Qualcomm....
Include wireless charging in the box - I shouldn't have to say this, wireless charging is now old technology, the SIII had the capability but not the attention or love needed for Samsung to just release the official cover, the S4 cover took 3 months to post online for sale, and with all the competition shipping their phones with it included, why aren't we able to get it without paying $50+ for it? I used a 50% off coupon to get it for $25, but that's $25 more than I should have spent after being let down on a promise that the SIII was supposed to be able to do it on a phone with nearly useless internal storage....
Sell us some legit accessories this time, namely a car dock - I'm always impressed when people recognize me from my review on the only working car dock for the S4 since Samsung decided to screw around with the whole thing and make my Infuse dock useless. It worked on the Skyrocket and SIII, and would have fit the S4 except it wasn't possible to get the thing working properly by charging and outputting dock audio on it, so it's collecting dust in a box right now. Sure, I get it, you want to sell me something new instead of letting me use the same one for my last phone, and that's different than what you are doing (or didn't do?) with the wireless charging cover, but in this situation, you're not even selling me one! The S4 sold tens of millions of devices, did you stop and think that maybe ONE of them would be going in a car and being used for playing music or navigating that owner safely from one place to another?
?
?
?
That's all I got for now, I'm sure we can come up with more and while I highly doubt Samsung is listening to people like me, one of their 200M customers (I'd like to think I counted 4 times for buying 4 iterations of the Galaxy line), there's always a chance someone is listening. I bet they'll listen when they're trying to figure out why the sales figures are going to be monumentally lower this go-round, that's for sure!!!
A note to fanboys of all kinds, Samsung, HTC, Nokia, iThing, etc - let's keep it clean here, please. You haven't heard me bash anyone else here, even Samsung really, so please don't get this thread locked on me. I'm sure you have witty comments like Nokia and HTC have today, with their "Samesung," "Buyers Remose," and even the most original ones like telling me that you're disappointed or this phone is ugly.... As if we haven't seen those comments before. Be original if Samsung isn't, post something relevant to the discussion if you're going to post at all! I don't waste my time on writing this stuff to insult others, so don't do it to insult me. If you were never considering buying it, you don't have any reason to comment on here because nothing you're going to say will come across as helpful to myself or others. If you were considering buying it or even, dare I say switching from another brand, or actually will be buying this phone - let's discuss intelligently your reasons why!
:good:

FM radio..
In Slovenia in past month we have major electric blackdown becouse of mother nature - no internet no nothing.. but FM radio did work.. on my S2 I could still listen what is happening, but on newer device.. bljah.. must have tool which cost them 1 euro cent per device..
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app

I agree with all you say. Particularly about wireless charging, and accessories which get launched with fanfare and then never see the light of day. The other thing they could do is to put one of the new gear items in the box too. That would be a good sweetener. Lol.
Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk

NO KNOX!!! Or forget about Custom ROMs and warranty.

redzion said:
FM radio..
In Slovenia in past month we have major electric blackdown becouse of mother nature - no internet no nothing.. but FM radio did work.. on my S2 I could still listen what is happening, but on newer device.. bljah.. must have tool which cost them 1 euro cent per device..
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you know it doesn't ?

Two points here:
1. I see you are American, and that in the US the carriers **** in their customers' heads when it comes to freedom. The international S4 has an unlocked bootloader, it has been like that since the original S.
2. The Snapdragon 805 isn't available yet, sadly.
And why isn't 2GB of RAM enough? I have 300+ apps here, 9 accounts syncing and available RAM never goes below 700MB.

I'm going to point something out to everyone here that wants Samsung to get rid of security features such as locked bootloaders or Knox.
We are the minority. Do you Expect Samsung to tailor to us and risk the average consumer's information and safety so people can run an AOSP build or a custom kernel?
Ship the phone with an unlocked bootloader - I know, fat chance, right? But if you don't want people complaining about lack of storage, let us kill it off as we see fit! I also know it isn't up to Samsung on this, the carriers are the ones being douchebags about it, but Samsung put their foot down with them previously by stopping them from dictating all the individual revisions when they launched the SIII, making them all the same shape and size, so why can't they force their hand on this in the sake of making even the smallest group of their customers happy - those that truly use the phone for what it was meant for!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I'm not excusing the US carriers for doing this, but why do you think they try to steer people away from rooting and unlocking the bootloader? People mess up, brick their phone, and then try to do a warranty claim on them. They're protecting their profits, and as a business you cannot blame them for that. Anyone else here would do the same thing to retain profits. And what do you mean "use the phone for what it was meant for?" The phone is meant to be a mobile multimedia cellular device, which in fact still does on the software it ships with no problem.
Negate the 16GB version - this is obvious, why the hell is this even a thing anymore with Samsung.... just get rid of it if you're not going to slim down this ridiculously large ROM of yours! Ship with the 32GB at minimum and announce the 64GB as well. iThings do this as a standard now, and while iSheep love to keep their music on their device and we have this little thing called external storage and another little thing called Google Music, we don't have to, but seriously, cut the crap and ditch the 16GB model!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do agree with this, I don't see too much point of the 16gb version. Still at least gives you a start of 10gb of storage at least.
Allow us to remove certain features we just aren't going to use, EVER - as I stated already, I don't have kids and don't need a Kids Mode. If you aren't going to let us root the thing AND aren't going to launch it with more than 16GB, let me get rid of the damn Kids Mode. Or the health features. Or anything else I decide useless or unnecessary. When looking at pics of the camera settings on the S5, I'm able to download more features as I see fit - why not make some of this crap downloadable and not don't ship it with the device? Why not make an Aroma-like installer when you first boot it and say "hey, would you like all of this crap or just some of it?" like any PC software does when it installs something - Typical or Custom installation. Sounds like I'm asking for a lot here, but really, I'm asking to not be forced a lot that I really won't use. And before you comment that if I don't need it, don't buy it in the first place, there are so many things I love about my S4 and TouchWiz that I'm not planning to part with in order to have "a phone," my N7 has a purpose and it isn't so I can keep the screen on when I need it just by looking at it. It does great for playing movies on a trip but not for letting me change the channel of my big TV when I want to watch a blockbuster movie....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can disable features you don't need. But just because you decide a feature you think is useless or unnecessary, does not translate to everyone else will think this too. I like the kids mode feature, I've got kids and nephews that get my phone somehow all the time.(Anyone with kids can attest to that too! ) I'm sure people will love this feature.
Ship with at least the S805 processor for crying out loud - if you're not going to blow us away with something new and powerful, at least ship it with the very latest processor this time from Qualcomm. The 800 has been out for months, the 801 is obviously an incremental update over the 800, and the 805 isn't that much better, but at least give us the goods instead of just going along with the same processor found in the N5 and G-Note 3. I don't think we've heard which one for sure will be included, but from what I've read, so far they say it's the 800 or the 801.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is Qualcomm's area right here, ARM cpus are following the development of x86 cpus. Meaning it's reached a point now where development for ARM cores is slowing down, tremendously. We probably won't see any groundbreaking ARM cpu's come out for maybe at least a year or so now, took x86 cpus years to show good and cost effective performance gains.
Include wireless charging in the box - I shouldn't have to say this, wireless charging is now old technology, the SIII had the capability but not the attention or love needed for Samsung to just release the official cover, the S4 cover took 3 months to post online for sale, and with all the competition shipping their phones with it included, why aren't we able to get it without paying $50+ for it? I used a 50% off coupon to get it for $25, but that's $25 more than I should have spent after being let down on a promise that the SIII was supposed to be able to do it on a phone with nearly useless internal storage....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now you're just being greedy.
Sell us some legit accessories this time, namely a car dock - I'm always impressed when people recognize me from my review on the only working car dock for the S4 since Samsung decided to screw around with the whole thing and make my Infuse dock useless. It worked on the Skyrocket and SIII, and would have fit the S4 except it wasn't possible to get the thing working properly by charging and outputting dock audio on it, so it's collecting dust in a box right now. Sure, I get it, you want to sell me something new instead of letting me use the same one for my last phone, and that's different than what you are doing (or didn't do?) with the wireless charging cover, but in this situation, you're not even selling me one! The S4 sold tens of millions of devices, did you stop and think that maybe ONE of them would be going in a car and being used for playing music or navigating that owner safely from one place to another?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do agree with this, but also at the same time there are 100s of other companies making accessories that Samsung does not make.
Samsung is not going to tailor the phone just for one person or a small group, they're doing it for what they believe are the best choices for their devices. Looking at their track record of the Galaxy line up, I'd say they've got it down pretty good.

Why do u need a 2k screen on a 5" device? It eats battery life, it bogs down cpu and gpu performance for something that your eyes can't notice. I cant even see a pixel on my s4.
Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk

My wishlist for S5 -Premium
1. 5.2" inches screen in body-size of S4. It's not too hard if they look at LG G2.
2. Radio FM, and playable via loudspeaker.
3. Good camera in low light condition.
4. Smaller bezel, by aluminum.
5. QHD display.
6. Better performed in drop-test, maybe
7. Keep removable battery + external SDcard.
8. Snapdragon 805 or Exynos 64bit octa-cores.
9. Only 1 "main" international version, both have LTE-A, 4K video rec etc...
10. Wireless charging included.
11. Ram 3G
12. At least 32 GB internal memory, like Note 3.
13. Fingerprint inside screen.
14. Max brightness at 600nit, like Note3.
15. Flash Xenon for camera and flash led for Camcorder.
16. 120 fps video recording at 1080p
17. Not too heavy. <150g.
18. Clearer audio recording, noise reduction.
19. Stereo sound on louder speaker like HTC One.
20. A better earphone with improved DAC
21. Sapphire glass for screen and camera lens.
22. Dust and water resistant is good, but I hope it will not affect the bezels.
23. Remove Samsung logo in the front and rear. Just Galaxy.
24. Note 3 fake leather still better than this S5C, or aluminum body.
25. Working, interchangeable for S-pen or any stylus pen, docking, etc
26. Front camera 5MP, rear 18MP
27. Hot plugged battery, SIM and microSD card without restart phone.
28. Include an projector like Galaxy Beam
29. USB 3.1
30. Removable and downloadable all bloatware, Knox, gesture...
31. 3000 mAh battery
32. New flat Touchwiz, it's still ugly.
33. Touchwiz fully runnable in ART and compatible with any pixel density.
34. Free lags, especially open the contacts/dialer must be faster.
35. Dual boot Android & WP, maybe triple with Ubuntu or GPE rom.
36. Update firmware at least 24 months, not like i9300.
37. Not too many versions in worldwide.
38. For some sharing features like Galaxy Beam, Samsung should share this app to works on other Android devices, (now we only have Android Beam).
The same for SS smart watch, smartTV....
39. Still support Adobe flash (it's not SS or GG obligation, but I hope it).
40. Improved airview and air gestures in smarter way than before (Example: hover finger on the links help user preview link, not zooming like now). Open the API for all the sensors function and support the developers to create much good app based on them.

dandroid13 said:
Two points here:
1. I see you are American, and that in the US the carriers **** in their customers' heads when it comes to freedom. The international S4 has an unlocked bootloader, it has been like that since the original S.
2. The Snapdragon 805 isn't available yet, sadly.
And why isn't 2GB of RAM enough? I have 300+ apps here, 9 accounts syncing and available RAM never goes below 700MB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When kitkat was being written all the engineers had to use a smart phone with only 512 mb of RAM.
This will be moot tho with TouchWiz which is the most bloated god awful software on Android. 2gb IS enough yet the s4 still suffered from lag.
With the newer processors not being available yet Samsung should have focused on design. They put zero effort into that. This will be their first flop in the galaxy line. And by flop I mean by their standards. It will still sell millions.
Sent from my VS980 4G using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

fernando sor said:
When kitkat was being written all the engineers had to use a smart phone with only 512 mb of RAM.
This will be moot tho with TouchWiz which is the most bloated god awful software on Android. 2gb IS enough yet the s4 still suffered from lag.
With the newer processors not being available yet Samsung should have focused on design. They put zero effort into that. This will be their first flop in the galaxy line. And by flop I mean by their standards. It will still sell millions.
Sent from my VS980 4G using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have minimal lag here, but even Nexus can lag, it's not just TW or Sense.

adichandra said:
Why do u need a 2k screen on a 5" device? It eats battery life, it bogs down cpu and gpu performance for something that your eyes can't notice. I cant even see a pixel on my s4.
Sent from my GT-I9505G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is so true. people just want a better spec sheet not realizing going above 1080p will actually lower benchmarks particularly with the s800 and 801 being the only SoC available now. To get something you probably wont even notice you will be sacrificing just about everything else performance wise.
---------- Post added at 01:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:40 PM ----------
dandroid13 said:
I have minimal lag here, but even Nexus can lag, it's not just TW or Sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Come on It was a pretty common bug on the s4. I have a Samsung tab note 10.1 and it lags considerably.
I've had numerous HTC phones over the years and sense has been toned down quite a bit. sense 3.0 was a system draining nightmare.
I really don't think you can compare a straight android ROM to A samsung rom and say with a straight face this makes no difference on performance or lag.
Just compare the size of a nexus 7 rom to any s4 rom.

fernando sor said:
Come on It was a pretty common bug on the s4. I have a Samsung tab note 10.1 and it lags considerably.
I've had numerous HTC phones over the years and sense has been toned down quite a bit. sense 3.0 was a system draining nightmare.
I really don't think you can compare a straight android ROM to A samsung rom and say with a straight face this makes no difference on performance or lag.
Just compare the size of a nexus 7 rom to any s4 rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, the Note 10.1 is slow, but the problem isn't how light or heavy the ROM is, the lag happens because the Java-based Android Runtime isn't a optimized as iOS, for example.

dandroid13 said:
Sure, the Note 10.1 is slow, but the problem isn't how light or heavy the ROM is, the lag happens because the Java-based Android Runtime isn't a optimized as iOS, for example.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's actually dalvik at runtime. Dalvik virtual machine and kitkat is optimized quite well.
When you add a huge amount of code on top of that of course it will change the performance.
Sent from my VS980 4G using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

fernando sor said:
It's actually dalvik at runtime. Dalvik virtual machine and kitkat is optimized quite well.
When you add a huge amount of code on top of that of course it will change the performance.
Sent from my VS980 4G using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, but it'll never be as good as iOS or WP, sadly.
Anyway, here's a closer look at the new TW, and, you guys can kill me, but I really like it. http://www.phonearena.com/news/New-...z-what-changed-with-Samsungs-software_id53163

dandroid13 said:
Sure, but it'll never be as good as iOS or WP, sadly.
Anyway, here's a closer look at the new TW, and, you guys can kill me, but I really like it. http://www.phonearena.com/news/New-...z-what-changed-with-Samsungs-software_id53163
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually that's a matter of opinion. My nexus 7 2013 and HTC one run as well as any iOS device I've played with. And they're of course other factors such iOS locked down system, boring home screen, no widgets, tiny screen etc.
Sent from my VS980 4G using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Saw today a tweet from O2. 661 Euro. That is a lot of money. Think I have to pass.

anubius said:
Saw today a tweet from O2. 661 Euro. That is a lot of money. Think I have to pass.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn.

Why you shouldn't wait for a better phone

Despite every single phone that has came out in the history of cellular phones, not once has a "perfect" phone been created. The logic that people use the majority of the time for holding off on the latest flagship is ALWAYS flawed.
What people need to realize is that its pointless to wait for the next big thing when it comes to cell phones. The features that cell phones have are a matter of designer preference, with input from the population. The problem is that just like anything else, there's going to be a majority, and a minority. The majority get their features, the minority doesn't. People tend to be so hard on these manufacturers for design choices, spec choices, etc., but what they don't understand, you can't please everyone, so why are you expecting them to?
If you are due for an upgrade, and this phone is somewhat appealing to you, just buy it. Spare yourself the months of bitxhing about your current phone while you wait for a new phone. Because I guarantee that when that phone comes out that you think is perfect, a better phone will come out 3-6 months later, and you'll be kicking yourself for jumping the gun.
At the current rate technology is evolving, there is no sense in "waiting around" for a better phone, because there's always going to be a better phone. Get it?
Those who are getting the Note 4, enjoy. You're going to own a powerhouse of a phone.

Galaxy note2 was, and is, a perfect phone.

Bruce lee roy said:
Galaxy note2 was, and is, a perfect phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please provide me with facts to back this up? Facts that won't be contested by anyone. I'm waiting.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There is no way to factually prove an opinion. You can only provide evidence to support your opinion. I tell my wife that I'm the perfect man. I even give her evidence but at the end of the day she points out that everyone is entitled to their opinions. It's just that mine happen to be wrong.

yup..the new nexus is coming..next year we will have the s6, g4 and god knows what else

There is ALWAYS a better tech phone coming soon.
Kicking Deuce on the Beast, Note 3

hello00 said:
yup..the new nexus is coming..next year we will have the s6, g4 and god knows what else
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try the iPhone 7 :laugh:
6s users will be like, wtf, I should have waited :good:
Then the 7s comes, 7 users will be like,"Man! I should have waited!".
It's a never-ending struggle

The Black Droid said:
Try the iPhone 7 :laugh:
6s users will be like, wtf, I should have waited :good:
Then the 7s comes, 7 users will be like,"Man! I should have waited!".
It's a never-ending struggle
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yup..im getting the note 4 this friday..if the nexus x seems better i will exchange it until another new phone comes out..trying to keep up with the technology :good:

hello00 said:
yup..im getting the note 4 this friday..if the nexus x seems better i will exchange it until another new phone comes out..trying to keep up with the technology :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm rocking a Galaxy Nexus. Just a hunch that the Note 4 is a worthy improvement

I trialed using my galaxy nexus in the interim waiting on Note 4 to arrive (sold off my Note 3 early)....I lasted about 3 days before I decided I couldn't handle that old thing. Definitely time to upgrade.

The Black Droid said:
I'm rocking a Galaxy Nexus. Just a hunch that the Note 4 is a worthy improvement
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol absolutely. This phone has the best hardware I've ever used. And no doubt the software will get better. And i hope that comes soon with custom recovery being cooked up. I am getting a significant amount of lag. It's bad. I've wiped once and disabled S-voice yet still it lags 10-20% of the time. Especially when using keyboard ( tested on multiple keyboards) There is no way I'm the only one experiencing this lol if anyone has any tips...Please share with me.

The Black Droid said:
I'm rocking a Galaxy Nexus. Just a hunch that the Note 4 is a worthy improvement
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if u are coming from a nexus, why arent u waiting for the new nexus?

johnchad14 said:
I trialed using my galaxy nexus in the interim waiting on Note 4 to arrive (sold off my Note 3 early)....I lasted about 3 days before I decided I couldn't handle that old thing. Definitely time to upgrade.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion, it's one of the older ones that still runs decently. Most likely due to all the support from Google.

True the tech is evolving so much, there is a 'better' phone every 2 months. But that doesn't mean note 4 will be classified as old anytime soon. And by the time it does, i am sure most of the people have already switched/thinking about switching their phone.
And I am gonna upgrade from galaxy ace..so a very big upgrade for me:. Maybe my tab will be left almost unused now

hello00 said:
if u are coming from a nexus, why arent u waiting for the new nexus?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am pretty business oriented nowadays, and I've always liked the old palm pilots. I'm getting this phone for it's display size and stylus..and, because my Gnex only holds a charge for 10-12 hours tops.

I pretty much agree. If it ain't the camera, it's the battery life, so on and so forth.
Folks have to live with compromise, no way around it. You can wait for the next best one that will upgrade something but you will still live with compromises.

Bruce lee roy said:
Galaxy note2 was, and is, a perfect phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep i agree. the only reason that i am thinking of getting the note 4 (on pre-order as I have until tomorrow to decide) is because of the Samsung promotion. i might as well get value for my htc sensation (current trade in value is $11) and there will come a time when my note 2 becomes non-functional

I think we've reached a point now where the marginal improvement is going to be lower for each generation.
Moore's Law has ended. The cost per transistor for SOCs is lowest at 28nm. 20nm will mean higher costs per transistor. At the same time, the marginal performance gain per node will probably drop, while the capital costs for the next node are rising. EUV and 450mm wafers are problem plagued. This in turn, limits performance potential. That means only architectural improvements are possible. Perhaps they could make bigger dies, although this might cost more. That said, with margins for smartphones still high at the high end, large dies might be practical.
Cameras are probably at their limit now for reasons of physics. Only way to make them better is to make them bigger, which is what Nokia has done. It will never rival a DSLR though.
There's limited room for improvement in terms of performance too because of heat and battery life.
On that note, one area for potential improvement might be battery life. It will mean transitioning from lithium ion batteries though.
Speakers might be an area for improvement for Samsung (something like what HTC has done), but otherwise there's limited room for improvement.
Internal storage may benefit from 3D NAND, but it seems like SSDs progress is slowing, so it's inevitable that phone progress in this front will too. SD cards will also be affected.
We will probably see some improvement in terms of display technology. Amoled is now high end a pixel density that the Pentile is not a drawback, and perhaps the Blue subpixel will be given more life. Perhaps we will see better daylight visibility too and more efficient Amoled technology. This might improve battery life somewhat. Otherwise, we are near a very good display - high enough PPI not to be annoying, bright enough to be relatively visible in sunlight (according to Displaymate), well calibrated, and with lower power consumption then the previous generation.
64 bit processing might lead to more performance and take advantage of a lot of RAM. It'll be a while though before software takes advantage of it. Heck, most mobile software cannot yet take advantage of all 4 cores on a phone.
I could see some things like water proofing get added as well. But beyond that, what else is there on the horizon?
Bruce lee roy said:
Galaxy note2 was, and is, a perfect phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree to an extent. Perhaps in its day it was arguably the best phone that could have been realistically been built.
Amoled was pretty good for its day, especially in movie mode and the Pentile because it was partial RGB, was not a huge issue despite the low pixel density
Good camera, with only the Nokia camera phones coming out on top
Pretty good battery life Wolfson DAC, providing very high quality audio out
Pretty good speakers
Exynos SOC was the best for its day, although Apple did with its PowerVR series have a stronger GPU
Qualcomm radio was pretty good at holding a signal, as was quality of call.
Only flaw was that Samsung did not release full documentation. The Exynos problems have hampered AOSP development.
No other major flaws (ex: like the Galaxy S and the GPS problem).
For it's day, it was perhaps the best phone that could have been made.

v2.2v said:
Lol absolutely. This phone has the best hardware I've ever used. And no doubt the software will get better. And i hope that comes soon with custom recovery being cooked up. I am getting a significant amount of lag. It's bad. I've wiped once and disabled S-voice yet still it lags 10-20% of the time. Especially when using keyboard ( tested on multiple keyboards) There is no way I'm the only one experiencing this lol if anyone has any tips...Please share with me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You aren't running xposed and are rooted by any chance?
If so install Wanam Exposed and tick the box in the advanced section to fix S-Health, that fixed my lag issues

Just restored my iphone 5 to factory defaults and got it unlocked from AT&T. Now it's time to list it on eBay and wait impatiently for my note 4 to arrive tomorrow! The whole waiting for a better phone, that's why I did the Next 12 plan with AT&T, cause I just might want a new one in a year.

Alright, is the Nexus 6 still worth buying in late 2016/early 2017?

There are a few other threads just like mine, except they're all almost a year old. I come here as a 1.5-year HTC One M7 (yes, the old one) user looking to buy a new, bigger phone with a better battery. Is this worth buying in late 2016/early 2017 for around $200 used? What have your experiences been like with it? Is there a better phone out there for a similar price? I'm not too concerned about size at the moment, as I usually grip my phone with two hands anyways (I am thirteen, however, so I have tiny hands).

This doesn't really answer your question, but I'm still waiting for the "Fire Sales" on the 6P that the 6 had when the 6P came out. Why have the prices not dropped signifiganctly on the 6P yet since the Pixel is out?

More than likely you had the fire sales because Motorola made too many to meet the demand, a demand tempered by bloggers and tech reviewers who simply couldn't deal with the size of the phone. It seemed you couldn't watch or read a review without someone mentioning in a negative manner the size of the Nexus 6.
I wonder if they were simply trying to compensate for their own size issues.

firedroidx said:
There are a few other threads just like mine, except they're all almost a year old. I come here as a 1.5-year HTC One M7 (yes, the old one) user looking to buy a new, bigger phone with a better battery. Is this worth buying in late 2016/early 2017 for around $200 used? What have your experiences been like with it? Is there a better phone out there for a similar price? I'm not too concerned about size at the moment, as I usually grip my phone with two hands anyways (I am thirteen, however, so I have tiny hands).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just picked mine up used on Saturday. I also had an M7 and then Zenfone 2. It is still with buying and I also use 2 hands. Nothing to worry about as I use it as a mini tablet as well as a phone.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA-Developers mobile app

I think it's still a worthwhile phone at end of 2016. I just picked one up. upgraded from nexus one. I had a galaxy nexus, but it was kinda pointless without 4g antennas, so I reverted back to n1 temporarily.
If the nexus 5x was a reliable phone on android 7, I would say get the 5x instead of a nexus 6, but from the boot loop issues the 5x has been having, and it's sub-par build quality, I think the nexus 6 is a viable alternative.
It is also worth noting that the nexus 6 was a ~$600 phone when released, while the 5x was ~$300ish, so I think the 6 is a better overall phone. If you look at the teardowns, the nexus 6 does indeed seem to be built better.
sure the nexus 6 may not be faster, is tremendous in the hands, and hard to handle, but I think It'll last me until used pixel's become affordable (~$200 range.) If you do get a nexus 6, I would experiment with cases because it is just to darn thin and tapered to get a good grip. I'm waiting on a few cases myself.
Sure, there are other phones on the market beside the nexus line, but I gravitate toward them because they tend to have long term support and are a favorite among developers
I think it is cool that you're on XDA and 13. Keep at it. I was messing around with Palm PDA's at your age and .prc files. Oh and win95 machines.
enjoy

I've had my N6 for about a year. It's been a very reliable phone. Still worth buying in late 16/ early 17, especially if you can get one in good condition at decent price and plan on flashing custom ROMs. Only cons I can think of are the mediocre camera and relatively dim screen. Love the screen size, dual front speakers, wireless charging and overall build quality.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

The Nexus 6 is a good phone it is just large for me. I still keep it at home as a media device and the speakers are very good, but myself personally it is too large for everyday use and I got sick of the size after 1 year. I just a basic 5x set up as a daily driver, and theme, flash on the 6 that I still have.

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
More than likely you had the fire sales because Motorola made too many to meet the demand, a demand tempered by bloggers and tech reviewers who simply couldn't deal with the size of the phone. It seemed you couldn't watch or read a review without someone mentioning in a negative manner the size of the Nexus 6.
I wonder if they were simply trying to compensate for their own size issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. All the "dainty" sausage loving reviewers with tiny hands don't like a big phone. Maybe memories of traumatic experiences dealing with something that was too big for them?
The rest of us with bigger fingers NEED the extra size in order to actually be ABLE to use a touch-only device.

The N6 is the best phone I've ever used. None of my other phones come close. Size, speed, storage, sound, tweakability are all great. Should something happen to my current N6 (perish the thought), I'd be on eBay in an instant finding another. It's that good.
NGOwner

Thanks for all the responses! Looks like I have just another reason to pick up one of these on Swappa. Can't wait to try out some fresh Nougat ROMs when I get it.

I got my N6 a year ago black Friday for $200, and also came from a One M7. Battery life isn't good so keep that in mind. I never get through the day on a charge. The fact that it's a Nexus is amazing for roms. Honestly even stock this phone is still pretty fast. I gotta tell you though, after a year I can't stand how big it is. Using it one handed is really annoying. I was actually looking for something different this black Friday but couldn't find anything compelling. There is an app called fooview that I started using though that has really helped it be a better phone one handed. At sub 200 it's definitely a solid buy

@spizzlo: Your battery life issues are atypical, and probably related to the apps you have installed. For example, the facebook app is really poorly coded, and as a result consumes extraordinary amounts of both memory and battery. Remove it and watch your battery life improve. So you might want to check your device with Better Battery Stats and see which of them is consuming all your battery life.

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
@spizzlo: Your battery life issues are atypical, and probably related to the apps you have installed. For example, the facebook app is really poorly coded, and as a result consumes extraordinary amounts of both memory and battery. Remove it and watch your battery life improve. So you might want to check your device with Better Battery Stats and see which of them is consuming all your battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Instagram, which is a battery hog in the background, but I have Greenify Pro with the Xposed GCM function enabled so it's no biggie. I love that I can still get my notifications when it's hibernated. Hopefully the N6 battery does me well after living with the aging one inside my M7.

NGOwner said:
The N6 is the best phone I've ever used. None of my other phones come close. Size, speed, storage, sound, tweakability are all great. Should something happen to my current N6 (perish the thought), I'd be on eBay in an instant finding another. It's that good.
NGOwner
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My thoughts exactly!
The N6 is the Best smartphone I have ever had!
Get screen and Great Front Facing Speaker!
Also I do actually like the camera...much better camera than the HTC devices I previously had.
My only complaint is the battery. No matter what I do, it still seems to drain fairly quickly. So I ensure that I keep it charged up as much as possible.
So...yes...the Nexus 6 is worth buying in 2016-2017!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

firedroidx said:
I use Instagram, which is a battery hog in the background, but I have Greenify Pro with the Xposed GCM function enabled so it's no biggie. I love that I can still get my notifications when it's hibernated. Hopefully the N6 battery does me well after living with the aging one inside my M7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had mine for a year now. I've easily been able to make it through a full day with all kinds of usage, from gaming to simple browsing. You should have no problem, especially if you're using Greenify on your battery hogs.

Beside, the battery life, you should be fine. Get extra chargers
I had mine for 2 years & I am still using it. I can't find a replacement for it yet.
Now that we can expect to get Nougat 7.1.1 on it soon, I am keeping mine until at least Dec 2017 or whenever Google stops support
Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

firedroidx said:
There are a few other threads just like mine, except they're all almost a year old. I come here as a 1.5-year HTC One M7 (yes, the old one) user looking to buy a new, bigger phone with a better battery. Is this worth buying in late 2016/early 2017 for around $200 used? What have your experiences been like with it? Is there a better phone out there for a similar price? I'm not too concerned about size at the moment, as I usually grip my phone with two hands anyways (I am thirteen, however, so I have tiny hands).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The N6 isn't totally comparable to the newest flagships, they just have better specs, that said, the N6 was ahead of its time, has pretty good hardware and access to the newest versions of Android. It also has a kickass xda community that cook up great ROMs. Running 7.1 with a good kernel, Viper audio and my phone is much better than most out there waiting for their carrier to give them an old bloatware full update.
I'll be sad to see my N6 go.
.

I've had mine since launch. Great phone.. But...
My new OnePlus 3T absolutely smokes it. No comparison.
If you have the money, get something newer.

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
@spizzlo: Your battery life issues are atypical, and probably related to the apps you have installed. For example, the facebook app is really poorly coded, and as a result consumes extraordinary amounts of both memory and battery. Remove it and watch your battery life improve. So you might want to check your device with Better Battery Stats and see which of them is consuming all your battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found the facebook app can be readily tamed by removing a bunch of needless permissions through the privacy manager and setting it up for screen off snoozing with greenify. But you're right that a bad battery experience is atypical if you know how to properly deal with battery issues (rogue apps, wakelock problems, etc.).
.

I would buy it again now. I bought it last year for a pretty good deal before the black friday/cyber week sales, and because Amazon gave me a 90-day holiday return window, I was able to "return" it and buy it for $100 cheaper a month later. But after using it for over a year now, I would have probably paid full price for it. At the time my goal was to get a new phone for my Sprint account without having to renew a 2-year contract, so the N6 was the same price as the "Sprint" N6 but had double the memory and was white.
I'm a pretty big person, but I don't have an issue with the size of the N6. It's not so much size as it is width, because most of the new phones are close to being 6" phones, it's just they're taller and not as wide. I don't like those other phones as much because of that and feel they're too tall.
I also don't have an issue with the camera -- it's great! It's nice to be able to leave my bigger dedicated camera at home sometimes knowing I can rely on getting great pics and video with the N6.
I was also looking to get a black friday/cyber monday deal on the 6p (mostly for my son, but possibly for me), but they're still not a good deal. I don't really view the 6p as much of an upgrade to the N6 anyway.

Help me migrate from iPhone 6s Plus

Good day and a happy new year. I am considering a switch from apple again and this is my target device. The things i need your help deciding are the below, in order of priority (for me) :
-Thermals. I have been switching between iphones and androids for many years. And so far all androids i owned (most samsung devices) tend to heat up even with the most normal of uses. My last switch from s7 edge to Iphone 6s Plus was purely due to that. You could feel the device back heating just from surfing on wifi indoors. Please advise how the Note 9 performs in this task.
-Camera . It is widely said that Note 9 camera does not handle motion at all . For example , shooting a person that moves or an animal, will surely result in a blurry photo. Just how bad is the situation ?
-Background applications resource usage . In my last experience with android (s7e 7.1) just about any application could run any way it wanted and hog resources/battery without any consent whatsoever. I get the benefits of multitasking but if the trade off is me losing control of what is going on i need to take it in consideration. Please advise how the Note 9 performs in this task (current android version it runs atm).
-Storage speed . iPhones over 6+ are using nvme type flash storage wich is stupid fast. I cannot find any nand benchmarks for the note 9 exynos model. Any info on that? Also what type of nand does it use(very important for future proofing).
-Processor .I n my region the only note 9 available is the one with exynos (SM-N960F). how does it perform compared to the snapdragon variant ?
-GPS . As you may have heard, iPhone GPS accuracy and lock speeds are out of this world. Is note 9's performance in this area satisfactory? (again for the exynos model).
- Any one here switched from iphone to note 9 ? Maybe you could share something that you would consider useful to know beforehand ?
So sorry to hit you with that wall of text but for me €800+ for a phone is kind of a big deal (for my current financials). That is mostly why i had to rule out the XS Max in the first place (€1350+ where i live).

Camera wise the IQ from the N9 is quite a bit better, and in Pro mode i have no issues with movement. The screen on the N9 is in another league. Resource use wise, yes Samsung has a lot of junk but it's easy enough to delete (even system) junk even on an unrooted phone, and even the ones you keep you can control each app individually for resource use (mobile data, battery). Processing wise the iPhones have always been solid but the N9 is very slick to. I've had mine a month and no heating issues at all not even a little. Battery life wise i get 7odd hours off SoT and about 60 odd hours between charges. Best phone I've ever had, and the SPen functionality is amazing!
Exynos is at least as good as Snapdragon, probably a bit better actually if you read the forums. GPS is very good I've had no issues.
I had an iPhone 7 a few years back but it cannot compete at all with the N9 imho.
Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

Well to be fair compare e iphone 6s plus to the note 9 is a hit pointless.... Any category you will se better performance l. Software wise S9 and note 9 are the android phones from Samsung that will never slow down at all. Then leaves the software experience that android and apple offers that should be where you make your decision...

brunotuga said:
Well to be fair compare e iphone 6s plus to the note 9 is a hit pointless.... Any category you will se better performance l. Software wise S9 and note 9 are the android phones from Samsung that will never slow down at all. Then leaves the software experience that android and apple offers that should be where you make your decision...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why is it that they will not slow down at all ?
In my experience all androids start to slow down after the 6-8 months mark.

I had my S8+ for over a year and never saw any decrease in performance, i cleared dalvik cache every once in a while and never saw any performance drop.
Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

I currently am using both the Note 9 snapdragon version and the iPhone xs max and BOTH phones are very fast. Without hitting every point I'll try to answer the overall questions you have. For me the one thing I like better about the iphone is the physical size of the phone. I like that it's a touch thicker and wider, just feels a bit better balanced in my hand but that's it. I have not had any issues with my Note getting warm, even a little bit. I use Package Disabler from the play store and freeze the apps, even processes which I don't want taking up resources on my phone. I think I paid a couple of bucks for the app but it works well. The photos I've taken with the phone have been fine but I'm not taking pictures everyday. I just can do so much more with my Note, the secure folder is almost like having a second phone plus the s pen can't be beat. I try new ios devices when they come out but I always get bored with them after a few weeks which is not the same feeling I get with Android. I will say ios feels a lot more Android like with the latest version then it did a few years ago but it's still too boring for me. The best analogy I've heard is ios is for people that like to play checkers and Android is for people that like to play chess.
Hope that helps,

Try the Note 9....end of story!

Birdsfan said:
I currently am using both the Note 9 snapdragon version and the iPhone xs max and BOTH phones are very fast. Without hitting every point I'll try to answer the overall questions you have. For me the one thing I like better about the iphone is the physical size of the phone. I like that it's a touch thicker and wider, just feels a bit better balanced in my hand but that's it. I have not had any issues with my Note getting warm, even a little bit. I use Package Disabler from the play store and freeze the apps, even processes which I don't want taking up resources on my phone. I think I paid a couple of bucks for the app but it works well. The photos I've taken with the phone have been fine but I'm not taking pictures everyday. I just can do so much more with my Note, the secure folder is almost like having a second phone plus the s pen can't be beat. I try new ios devices when they come out but I always get bored with them after a few weeks which is not the same feeling I get with Android. I will say ios feels a lot more Android like with the latest version then it did a few years ago but it's still too boring for me. The best analogy I've heard is ios is for people that like to play checkers and Android is for people that like to play chess.
Hope that helps,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
galaxys said:
Try the Note 9....end of story!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so very much mate..
Just one last question.
How much truth do all this fuss about blurry photo hold ? is the device hardware/software really that bad at shooting moving objects? i hear that ppl cannot even get nice photos of grass/pet furr etc . that is my only gripe.

I also use Note 9 and iPhone XS Max. The only thing I really love with the Note 9 is the secure folder function and the split screen for two apps at the same time. That’s alone make me keeping my Note.
The camera in the iPhone is better in every aspect and that is when using auto mode. Don’t have the time to fiddle with pro mode. And the problems with fur and other details in photos are really there so not that impressed with the Note camera.
The pen is nice but I don’t use it that much as I thought I would as I find the Note 9 screen to narrow to really use it in a good way for notes.
They are both really speedy devices and haven’t had any slowdowns in them. Both flying, sure the Note can have some micro lag sometimes but nothing that disturbs me.
The battery holds up much better in my iPhone with the same usage pattern but the Note still has a pretty nice battery. The speakers are much better in the iPhone. But they are not bad on the Note.
And the gesture navigation on the XS is outstanding as is Face ID. I miss this two things very much when using the Note
I have the exynos version and the snapdragon is said to be better on battery and speed

chris2busy said:
Thank you so very much mate..
Just one last question.
How much truth do all this fuss about blurry photo hold ? is the device hardware/software really that bad at shooting moving objects? i hear that ppl cannot even get nice photos of grass/pet furr etc . that is my only gripe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not had any issues with taking pictures, as I stated I don't take pictures every day but I do take my fair share of them. I was recently in Southern Germany/Austria and Hungary for an extended trip and I took many photos without any problems using my Note exclusively. I do agree with easycure1974, the battery on the iphone xs max is better, I still have about 60 to 70% left in my Note at the end of the day but maybe 70-80% left on my iphone. Both are very good but the iphone has better battery management.

Thank the both of you very much.
To be honest XS MAX is the one i wanted, but the cost is very close to double of that of the note 9. and it definately is not 2x better.
Yet again , thank you. i will most probably just on the note wagon soon !

chris2busy said:
Why is it that they will not slow down at all ?
In my experience all androids start to slow down after the 6-8 months mark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well to be fair my S8 didn't slow down my S9 plus never lost a beat and never had a app crash n9 the best phone all the S9 plus good with the large battery brighter screen and a pen.
Had iPhone 6s iPhone 7 plus 8 and iPhone x and n9 for me is the whole package.

I've switched from the iPhone 7 plus to this phone and the difference is day and night. You cant even compare the two at all. My battery is insane. Background operations are managed very well to the point where my SOT hits 7.5-8 hours easily. This phone is literally the best phone you can buy now a days. The only thing I miss is iOS and it's cleaner design. I can't wait for the note 10. Options are endless on this phone. I've had literally zero issues for the 2 months I've had this phone. And now the android pie release this month will make it even better. You won't regret it if you're not hooked to the apple "ecosystem"
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

K-alz said:
I've switched from the iPhone 7 plus to this phone and the difference is day and night. You cant even compare the two at all. My battery is insane. Background operations are managed very well to the point where my SOT hits 7.5-8 hours easily. This phone is literally the best phone you can buy now a days. The only thing I miss is iOS and it's cleaner design. I can't wait for the note 10. Options are endless on this phone. I've had literally zero issues for the 2 months I've had this phone. And now the android pie release this month will make it even better. You won't regret it if you're not hooked to the apple "ecosystem"
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice ! Good to hear ! Battery backup is very important for me too !
Btw i am not wealthy enough to be "hooked" on the ecosystem
I mean i do buy music/apps/books alot, from itunes but the iPhone is about the only apple device i have (no watches,tablets,laptops,desktops,tv,routers etc).

chris2busy said:
Nice ! Good to hear ! Battery backup is very important for me too !
Btw i am not wealthy enough to be "hooked" on the ecosystem
I mean i do buy music/apps/books alot, from itunes but the iPhone is about the only apple device i have (no watches,tablets,laptops,desktops,tv,routers etc).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll love the battery life on this phone. And good on not being hooked. Same here. I never buy anything other products beside an iPhone every once in a while. But I always go back to android. This time this note is hooking me with its goodness. I don't even miss iPhone. ::highfive::
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

K-alz said:
You'll love the battery life on this phone. And good on not being hooked. Same here. I never buy anything other products beside an iPhone every once in a while. But I always go back to android. This time this note is hooking me with its goodness. I don't even miss iPhone. ::highfive::
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He would love the iPhone XS Max even more The battery on that is even better in real life usage and the camera is so much nicer. But Android and the Note is fun to use

easycure1974 said:
He would love the iPhone XS Max even more The battery on that is even better in real life usage and the camera is so much nicer. But Android and the Note is fun to use
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure. I just cant justify the $1100 for that phone.
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

If you plan on taking pics of your furball babies you will be disappointed.
chris2busy said:
Thank you so very much mate..
Just one last question.
How much truth do all this fuss about blurry photo hold ? is the device hardware/software really that bad at shooting moving objects? i hear that ppl cannot even get nice photos of grass/pet furr etc . that is my only gripe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk

Limeybastard said:
If you plan on taking pics of your furball babies you will be disappointed.
Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh...well that is not good. so the lens is not capable of sharp pictures? e.g. it cannot shoot individual hair ?
Would a pic like the attached be impossible e.g? (the hair of pets is an example, it could likewise be same for strands of grass, hair of ppl in photos etc)

Something like that would come out not so good. There is a dedicated thread sub section about camera quality.
chris2busy said:
Oh...well that is not good. so the lens is not capable of sharp pictures? e.g. it cannot shoot individual hair ?
Would a pic like the attached be impossible e.g? (the hair of pets is an example, it could likewise be same for strands of grass, hair of ppl in photos etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk

Why is this phone getting crapped on so hard?

Every forum or YouTube videos I watch, all I see is people hating on this phone. I am actually pretty surprised, but how much negativity there is for the Pixel 4 line.
Android police poll, is heavily in the "hell no not buying" as #1
Two big tech forums I belong too, it's like 70% saying no way.
What's the deal?
I have a 64GB Clearly White 4XL on order. I go back to owning, the Nexus-One, Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Motorola Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Pixel 2 XL, and Pixel 3 XL. And yes I agree, the Pixel 4 XL could have been better, for the price at least do better than OnePlus, give us 8GB RAM, a larger battery of at least 4,000mAh, a brighter display for outdoor use, go easy n the large forehead bezel, like have the thickness if possible. But saying that, I buy the Nexus Pixel line for the software and monthly security updates.
I am interested in seeing the full blown real reviews this week.

For a few reasons:
1. Not priced like a Nexus / 3a
2. No fingerprint sensor
3. Lack of Ultrawide 3rd camera
4. Small battery
5. Removal of Ultrawide front facing camera
6. Removal of front facing speakers
7. Big top bezel for Soli
8. Soli gimmick
9. Removal of unlimited original photo upload
10. No big leap in camera hardware
11. No surprises since it was leaked all over the place
12. Only 6 GB of RAM (finally)
13. Only Snapdragon 855 instead of 855+ processor
Having said all that, I still have one on preorder.
Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Kusanagi Fire said:
For a few reasons:
1. Not priced like a Nexus / 3a
2. No fingerprint sensor
3. Lack of Ultrawide 3rd camera
4. Small battery
5. Removal of Ultrawide front facing camera
6. Removal of front facing speakers
7. Big top bezel for Soli
8. Soli gimmick
9. Removal of unlimited original photo upload
10. No big leap in camera hardware
11. No surprises since it was leaked all over the place
12. Only 6 GB of RAM (finally)
13. Only Snapdragon 855 instead of 855+ processor
Having said all that, I still have one on preorder.
Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3,9, and 12 are the disappointment for me. But that price thooooo, they could have gotten more attention if only they priced it right.
Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Kusanagi Fire said:
For a few reasons:
1. Not priced like a Nexus / 3a
2. No fingerprint sensor
3. Lack of Ultrawide 3rd camera
4. Small battery
5. Removal of Ultrawide front facing camera
6. Removal of front facing speakers
7. Big top bezel for Soli
8. Soli gimmick
9. Removal of unlimited original photo upload
10. No big leap in camera hardware
11. No surprises since it was leaked all over the place
12. Only 6 GB of RAM (finally)
13. Only Snapdragon 855 instead of 855+ processor
Having said all that, I still have one on preorder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4 may be an issue for me but everyone's usage is different so I'll wait to see my personal results before I make a final judgement.
6 is a big one for me. Before the 4XL was officially announced, I was aiming to switch from my OnePlus 7 Pro so I could get front facing speakers. I always end up blocking the bottom speaker when watching stuff in landscape mode.
10 could be a reason for me but not too much since I know it's going to be better than my current OnePlus 7 Pro.
12 is similar to my point for reason 4 (wait until I can test myself). Users say Android 10 is RAM hungry so hopefully that 6 GB is enough.
13, Even though it's a slight upgrade, it would have been nice to get the + variant of the processor.
All other reasons I don't mind too much.
But yeah I do think the phone is getting a bit too much hate.

Honestly, just the fact that last year's Pixel 3 got discounted on Black Friday combined with the fact that the 4 isn't a massive leap in hardware / doesn't check some of the minimal requirements like 8 GB RAM, 855+, and Ultrawide camera (granted, there's not much more ground to cover these days) is reason enough for this phone to get tons of hate.
Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Today Flossy admitted that he's been using the 3XL all along. He complained about that one much the way he will complain about this one in the full review. He'll says it's too expensive and many other things. Despite that he'll probably end up making it his work phone just as he did the previous Pixels. I wrote about this elsewhere but a search on Youtube will probably be able to find the dude from Unbox Therapy doing a pertinent video. He was in a suite in Vegas with a bunch of other young millionaires, Brownlee for example. The whole video was what is everyone carrying in their pocket, what was the phone they chose to use. The Pixel tied the iphone with few other phones mixed in. Brownlee had both. It wasn't because they were reviewing it, that was well past review time. It was the phone that millionaires who have tried everything and can afford anything decided they wanted in their pockets. There's a message there.
I do get it, the phone is too expensive for the specs, only a mother could love the looks, it's missing feature X and Y. But I'm sure that I'll enjoy using it in the day to day more than any other phone I could buy. It's always been that way. I couldn't make friends with the 3XL, the notch just killed it for me so I got a 6T. Nothing wrong with that phone but the next thing I knew I was picking up a 3AXL, should have been a downgrade, it was by the numbers. Wasn't long before I realized I wasn't going to use the 6T anymore and gave it to one of my grand kids. I've been using the 3A since.
Let the haters hate and enjoy your purchase. Flossy begin his quick look with talk of giving it a fair trial before he hung it, 5 minutes later he was giggling like a schoolgirl. The Pixel does that...

I agree with most here, the Pixel 4 XL could and should have been better;
- 8GB RAM
- 4,300mAh battery ( like the Note 10+ )
- Brighter display on par with the Galaxy S10 line
- Reduce the forehead bezel, to like half the size if possible, or actually do the Note 10 hole punch, and forget the faceID stuff, and keep the fingerprint scanner.
But it's funny, recent phones that I kept the longest last few years has been the Nexus or Pixel. Yeah I'd get bored with them, then I pick up the latest Samsung Galaxy whatever, and within in a few weeks already regret not having the Pixel. One time I went for the iPhone 7 Plus, when it was the hot new phone, and I was bored with my Nexus 6P, wow what a bad decision, not even a month later ran back to the Nexus, mainly because iOS is a Fischer Price kids OS, and totally blows, feels like a decade old operating system. Or I got the Note 5 at launch, was so happy to have that badass phone, but then I tried to turn it into a Nexus, deleting all the Samsung stuff, and downloading every Google app and setting defaults, and tried to make the Note 5 a Nexus Note LOL, where the phone I traded in for the Note 5 was the Motorola Nexus 6, and that thing was just so smooth, so cool, I regretted getting the Note
Point, the Nexus or Pixel phones, may be ugly, and not have the wham bam cool features, but using it day in day out, I just find them most comfortable and a joy. They are simple, they are minimalist, but they just work, and have a special thing about them.

Unfortunately, Google will never win because nothing is ever good enough for people and they will always complain about something.

techrider6262 said:
Unfortunately, Google will never win because nothing is ever good enough for people and they will always complain about something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This!
6GB RAM - My 3xl has 4 and I have ZERO problems running whatever. People need to learn that it's not necessarily about big specs, it's more about optimization. The 4's will run very smoothly with 6. Just because the S10 has 8, and the note has an option of 12 doesn't mean that does anything to speed up the phone.
128GB storage - This option is the same price as the s10 with that same storage. Maybe Google should add a third option with 256? Would that make some of you happy? It would be even more expensive though. But, again, same price as the s10.
Battery - My 3xl has a smaller battery and I get no less than 20+ hours with heavy use. Typically, I'll get 24+ hours on it. With the 90 Hz display being an as needed, I doubt the battery will last less than my 3xl.
Ultrawide camera - I DO have to agree here that it should have that. I know Google's camera's are amazing and this one will definitely be as good as the iPhone or Sammy's, but the ultrawide addition to camera shots would have been nice.
Removal of free original size photo backups - Sooo, Apple NOR Samsung, NOR any other OEM that I'm aware of ever offered this. I'm a system engineer and cloud architect. I'm here to tell you that the amount of storage and bandwidth required for unlimited originals for millions of users is INSANE. You have any idea how much this costs Google? There was no way that would ever last. It's $1.99 and $2.99 per month for the extra storage to keep original backups, plus you get other benefits. Also, grab Google Surveys app and you'll make more than the cost here by far every month. Get over it.
The front facing speakers - Definitely not happy about this. They could have fit the bottom speaker I bet. At least there's still stereo.
Anyway, anyone who wants to hate, please save us all from it and go elsewhere. This phone will be amazing and I'd put it up against ANY other smartphone. It'll be smoother and has release day updates and OS's.
Every year there are people trolling the new pixel (even the Samsung S7 edge though) threads for a couple months after release. It's incredibly stupid. If you don't like the phone, why are you here?

I haven't had time to watch the all reviews yet, but is the 4 XL battery life at least on par with the 3 XL's, or please don't tell me it's actually worse?
My Pixel 3 XL battery life is mediocre, not great, not horrible, I would like better, but certainly not worse, but could makedo with the same battery life. If the 4 XL has worse and less battery life than the Pixel 3 XL, then I need to cancel my preorder.

Zorachus said:
I haven't had time to watch the all reviews yet, but is the 4 XL battery life at least on par with the 3 XL's, or please don't tell me it's actually worse?
My Pixel 3 XL battery life is mediocre, not great, not horrible, I would like better, but certainly not worse, but could makedo with the same battery life. If the 4 XL has worse and less battery life than the Pixel 3 XL, then I need to cancel my preorder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm trading in my 3xl for the 4xl and I believe the battery life will be the same or better.
It has a larger battery so even the smooth display shouldn't hurt it too much.
The reviews so far today have trashed the 4 but pretty much everyone agreed that the 4xl should be fine.
I'm excited even if the changes are not dramatic from 3xl.

Zorachus said:
I haven't had time to watch the all reviews yet, but is the 4 XL battery life at least on par with the 3 XL's, or please don't tell me it's actually worse?
My Pixel 3 XL battery life is mediocre, not great, not horrible, I would like better, but certainly not worse, but could makedo with the same battery life. If the 4 XL has worse and less battery life than the Pixel 3 XL, then I need to cancel my preorder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From The limited reviews and tweets that I have seen, it seems to be holding its own. Averaging between 4 and 6 hours of sot, from the initial reviews. But I'm sure that that will get better, over time, as it learns your usage. Definitely getting through a whole day though, and that's all that's important

I suppose a rooted 4 XL with the Franco kernel and his app Naptime, would extend battery life too?

Zorachus said:
I suppose a rooted 4 XL with the Franco kernel and his app Naptime, would extend battery life too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, these days the only reason I root is for custom kernels, and adaway

If the battery optimization time is the same as the 3XL then none of the reviewers have attained their final screen on time yet.

First reviews are out and they say battery life is horrendous, especially on the 4. I'll pass. Too expensive for too many compromises.

I have Android 10 running on my OG Pixel XL and have zero problems with it on an older chipset and 4 GBs, but I'm sure the extra 2 GBs will be beneficial/noticeable regardless.
I suppose the people complaining the loudest fall into 1 of the following 2 categories: trolls/iphone fanbois or people who don't feel the upgrade from the 3 (or any of the last gen phones) -> 4 is worthwhile. While that's a valid concern, it's worth noting that in recent years the yearly revision has become less substantial in recent years. I've held off for 3 years so going from the OG XL to 4 XL will be a massive improvement and something I'm greatly looking forward to.

msaitta said:
I have Android 10 running on my OG Pixel XL and have zero problems with it on an older chipset and 4 GBs, but I'm sure the extra 2 GBs will be beneficial/noticeable regardless.
I suppose the people complaining the loudest fall into 1 of the following 2 categories: trolls/iphone fanbois or people who don't feel the upgrade from the 3 (or any of the last gen phones) -> 4 is worthwhile. While that's a valid concern, it's worth noting that in recent years the yearly revision has become less substantial in recent years. I've held off for 3 years so going from the OG XL to 4 XL will be a massive improvement and something I'm greatly looking forward to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every phone I've pre-ordered, it always starts the same way. Everyone has something to complain about before they even have the phone in their own hands. After awhile, the complaining, for the most part, dies down, and people realize they love the device. What boggles my mind is, why come to the forum to complain? Nobody forces an individual to buy the phone, let alone pre-order it. Instead of focusing on the negative, focus on the positives.

I'm going to vent a little bit...
I'm an older guy (48) and I've been doing tech and gadgets for over 20 years now. I love this site and have participated on and off for many years. There is a problem growing online and it is only going to get worse. The system here isn't equipped to counter a growing troll problem, so we all fall prey to the effects. Every aspect of the online consumer space is being manipulated by "troll farms" and it is obliterating the signal-to-noise ratio in everything from entertainment to personal devices. Across the board, every device is eventually portrayed to have some fatal flaw rendering it inferior. When in actuality, it can adequately perform the primary task and may only fall short in a single aspect depending on a very specific need that varies individually by consumer.
I used to participate here rather frequently, then I began to only stop by during a device's release to gauge anticipations and thoughts. Every year the noise has increased. Not just here though, almost every forum beyond a certain size has the same issue. Online sources and articles are not immune and are populated with extremely vocal "detractors" in the comment sections, they rally with a frequency and voracity that no ordinary working person could maintain. The methods used by professional trolls is complex, and unfortunately, PROFITABLE.
Without giving too much personal information, my wife WAS a partner in one of the largest PR firms in the U.S., and I can tell you that troll farms and bogus self-cross-referring review sources are real. Her firm never participated, but they could see it coming and now there's an entire "dark" branch of marketing and PR that has arisen (some would say re-emerged) that essentially has the ethics model of the old cigarette industry with the agility of a modern digital campaign.
So if you're wrestling with specs, don't kill yourself searching for the ultimate device. You can do three things and I promise you'll be as happy as you can be.
If you really care about what you're going to buy ,to the point that it may cause a devastating case of buyer's remorse you should:
- First, make lists. Make a list of what's important, make a list of what specs make your tech-feels tingle, make a list of devices and start prioritizing and crossing off.
- Second, do a one afternoon search (not one second longer) of trusted reviews and ignore very tilted reviews.
- Third, and this is crazy... Go to a store, look at the physical functioning device and play with it.
This should be an extra separate step, but whatever, I'm not going back to edit...
- Buy what you want and be prepared to return it within 30 days and pay a restocking fee. Don't like the fee? Too bad, that's life... If you don't like something you may have to pay to return it, it's the world we live in.
This should be one more step too. Damn, I really messed up.
- Unless you are doing ongoing development NEVER revisit the topic of purchasing and specs. Go and enjoy your device and every once and a while keep up with updates and new features. There's a whole life to live out there, so don't waste your energy spec-gazing or griping with trolls.
Online communities are becoming less valuable to me every day because of the noise, it's unfortunate.

Dusty Rhodes said:
I'm going to vent a little bit...
I'm an older guy (48) and I've been doing tech and gadgets for over 20 years now. I love this site and have participated on and off for many years. There is a problem growing online and it is only going to get worse. The system here isn't equipped to counter a growing troll problem, so we all fall prey to the effects. Every aspect of the online consumer space is being manipulated by "troll farms" and it is obliterating the signal-to-noise ratio in everything from entertainment to personal devices. Across the board, every device is eventually portrayed to have some fatal flaw rendering it inferior. When in actuality, it can adequately perform the primary task and may only fall short in a single aspect depending on a very specific need that varies individually by consumer.
I used to participate here rather frequently, then I began to only stop by during a device's release to gauge anticipations and thoughts. Every year the noise has increased. Not just here though, almost every forum beyond a certain size has the same issue. Online sources and articles are not immune and are populated with extremely vocal "detractors" in the comment sections, they rally with a frequency and voracity that no ordinary working person could maintain. The methods used by professional trolls is complex, and unfortunately, PROFITABLE.
Without giving too much personal information, my wife WAS a partner in one of the largest PR firms in the U.S., and I can tell you that troll farms and bogus self-cross-referring review sources are real. Her firm never participated, but they could see it coming and now there's an entire "dark" branch of marketing and PR that has arisen (some would say re-emerged) that essentially has the ethics model of the old cigarette industry with the agility of a modern digital campaign.
So if you're wrestling with specs, don't kill yourself searching for the ultimate device. You can do three things and I promise you'll be as happy as you can be.
If you really care about what you're going to buy ,to the point that it may cause a devastating case of buyer's remorse you should:
- First, make lists. Make a list of what's important, make a list of what specs make your tech-feels tingle, make a list of devices and start prioritizing and crossing off.
- Second, do a one afternoon search (not one second longer) of trusted reviews and ignore very tilted reviews.
- Third, and this is crazy... Go to a store, look at the physical functioning device and play with it.
This should be an extra separate step, but whatever, I'm not going back to edit...
- Buy what you want and be prepared to return it within 30 days and pay a restocking fee. Don't like the fee? Too bad, that's life... If you don't like something you may have to pay to return it, it's the world we live in.
This should be one more step too. Damn, I really messed up.
- Unless you are doing ongoing development NEVER revisit the topic of purchasing and specs. Go and enjoy your device and every once and a while keep up with updates and new features. There's a whole life to live out there, so don't waste your energy spec-gazing or griping with trolls.
Online communities are becoming less valuable to me every day because of the noise, it's unfortunate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely this. It's pretty darn clear that some people in the crowd are trying to spike the punch. Don't obsess over the minutiae, don't allow yourself to be herded just because it seems like sentiment is tilted one way. Figure out what you want out of a phone (is an ultra-wide camera REALLY make/break for you, or are you only thinking that because XYZ said to?). Put your hands on the device by visiting a Best Buy or carrier store. And lastly, recognize that software learns your habits (battery life after a few days won't tell you what long-term battery life means) and also gets updated (features get added, functionality becomes improved).
Be aware of the echo chamber effect and do your best to make up your own mind about the worthiness of a phone.