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Galaxy Note vs LG Nitro

Hi all - I've been planning to upgrade from my Infuse 4G to a Note for a while now, primarily because of the extra screen real estate (obviously), though I hear the battery on the Note is killer as well. The thing is though that the Note isn't available in the States, which means I'm looking at $700-$800 at least to get one. Typically I'd be okay with that, but these days more and more phones are actually making it over here, and I know there is a rumor that the Note will follow suit. I'd hate to spend $800 just to see it for $400 in a couple months. I'm thinking I'd rather get something like the LG Nitro for now, which I can get for $250, and then still get the Note when it hits the States for less anyway - and still probably spend less than getting a Note right now.
Anyway, I'm looking for some opinions... The fact that there isn't a thread for the LG Nitro here yet counts for something, but I'm sure there will be one soon enough. It looks like some of the Optimus drivers work for rooting, so I'm okay there. And I don't care about the stylus at all. So it really just comes down to screen - Super AMOLED 5.3", or super high pixel density 4.5"? And is the battery on the Note really that awesome?

If you want a Note, just use your upgrade to get something with high resell value (like an iphone), sell it, then buy the Note. Even if the Note comes to the US next year, you won't be able to get it for $400 if you use your upgrade now to get a Nitro for $250.

dscline said:
If you want a Note, just use your upgrade to get something with high resell value (like an iphone), sell it, then buy the Note. Even if the Note comes to the US next year, you won't be able to get it for $400 if you use your upgrade now to get a Nitro for $250.
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I actually have two lines (one that I used in a wifi access point) that are available for upgrade. In any case, I'd rather stick with my Infuse than get an iPhone! That's a downgrade!

I'm not suggesting you actually use the iphone, just buy it, sell it, then buy what you really want with the profit. It's just a way of taking advantage of the subsidy without being limited to the phones they officially subsidize.

dscline said:
I'm not suggesting you actually use the iphone, just buy it, sell it, then buy what you really want with the profit. It's just a way of taking advantage of the subsidy without being limited to the phones they officially subsidize.
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Oh. Well, I was looking for a replacement for my Infuse, for the next few months at least.
Anyway - I did pick the Nitro up at lunch. The screen is SUPER crisp, though it does suffer from the lack of contrast range of the Super AMOLED screen. So far I like it. We'll see how it goes over the next month.
It is also LTE, and I did some side-by-side comparisons, and it definitely loads up web pages faster (though that could also be the fast proc; I'm not sure).

if youre fine with gingerbread, i'd say grab the nitro. samsung already announced the note will be getting ICS. LG are normally slow to update their phones (look at the optimus 2x, only just got gingerbread quite recently).
on the bright side, the LG uses a 4.5inch IPS panel combined with a HD resolution. the combination leads to incredibly sharp pictures with quite vivid colours. i wouldnt mind giving one a go myself. the only major downsides with the LG are tiny built in storage and the poor battery life. but if you have a 32gb class 10 microSD card and charge your phone on a nightly basis anyway, that wont be an issue.

The Note's Amoled screen will definitely have burn-ins, maybe in months if you are a heavy user. The Nitro's screen won't have any of that problem since it's screen is LCD. One thing to consider.

The massive width of the Note is the only thing I don't like, and has me considering selling and switching to Optimus LTE (or Nitro HD if it can be unlocked). The Note's screen is beautiful, taking screenshots is super easy with the stylus or with palm swipe. If Note was 1280x720 it would not be quite as wide. I do love the S-Calendar and S-Memo apps, with or without the stylus, and Samsung's text message app is nice looking too.
9 Dec - Just saw Galaxy S II HD LTE specs. 1280 x 720, 4.7". This could be perfect. Would be much easier to handle one-handed. It is only 3 mm wider than S II, and actually 1 mm less than Skyrocket in width. If they would only add the S-Pen and its apps!

cushcalc said:
The massive width of the Note is the only thing I don't like, and has me considering selling and switching to Optimus LTE (or Nitro HD if it can be unlocked). The Note's screen is beautiful, taking screenshots is super easy with the stylus or with palm swipe. If Note was 1280x720 it would not be quite as wide. I do love the S-Calendar and S-Memo apps, with or without the stylus, and Samsung's text message app is nice looking too. Doesn't have Universal Inbox for Mail, which the Atrix 2 had - just found out that Optimus LTE does have Universal Inbox.
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Yeah; I did pick it up yesterday and I was actually quite impressed with the Mail app. The only thing it is missing is that you cannot auto-sync folders other than your Inbox in Exchange accounts. BUT, I only need that for RSS feeds anyway, and I can always install another mail app for just RSS.
I am bummed though because while I could root it, I was having some problems with some apps and I used BusyBox installer to try to update BusyBox, and it broke my root! Now, I have superuser installed but it cannot actually authorize anything, and SuperOneClick can't do anything because it keeps trying to use the old BusyBox (I think). So I believe I'm stuck until someone comes up with some ODIN images...

SolusCado said:
Hi all - I've been planning to upgrade from my Infuse 4G to a Note for a while now, primarily because of the extra screen real estate (obviously), though I hear the battery on the Note is killer as well. The thing is though that the Note isn't available in the States, which means I'm looking at $700-$800 at least to get one. Typically I'd be okay with that, but these days more and more phones are actually making it over here, and I know there is a rumor that the Note will follow suit. I'd hate to spend $800 just to see it for $400 in a couple months. I'm thinking I'd rather get something like the LG Nitro for now, which I can get for $250, and then still get the Note when it hits the States for less anyway - and still probably spend less than getting a Note right now.
Anyway, I'm looking for some opinions... The fact that there isn't a thread for the LG Nitro here yet counts for something, but I'm sure there will be one soon enough. It looks like some of the Optimus drivers work for rooting, so I'm okay there. And I don't care about the stylus at all. So it really just comes down to screen - Super AMOLED 5.3", or super high pixel density 4.5"? And is the battery on the Note really that awesome?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're not dieing for the Note (Like I was haha), just wait until the price drops to $600.
DO NOT buy the AT&T N7000B, the Note that's coming to the states
Heres Why:
-The USA Note will have the 1.5ghz Snapdragon processor SoC, similiar to the T-mobile Galaxy S2 and the LTE Galaxy S2, which is even worse than the 1.2ghz Exynos in the Galaxy S2. The LTE Galaxy S2 or dubbed the "****rocket" by AT&T and the T-mobile Galaxy S2's users have reported laggy transitions, bad performance when gaming, and general slowness.
-AT&T LTE is probably the biggest marketing trap ever created. The people who want LTE think that the NEW LTE phone will be better, but they are generally worse (hardware wise). LTE from AT&T gives you decent speeds IF you live in one of the 9 cities that has AT&T LTE coverage. BUT... if you use too much data too fast, which is almost impossible to stop on LTE, you get throttled.
Then your download speeds on LTE are 0.05kbps
-AT&T and USA carriers have been found to put software that tracks your EVERY move on the device and they can see EXACTLY what you're doing. Big Brother is watching...
-AT&T is famous for releasing butchered versions of smartphones after incorporating LTE, so much so that developers for our OG Note will not be able to port over ROMS/Kernels. Basicly you're gonna receive no developer support. The AT&T Skyrocket section is so depressing that there are 2 developers, and the users are beginning to start paying for ROMS.
-AT&T bloatware... will hinder your device and sometimes you may not even realize what bloatware they have on your USA Note.
Well if that doesn't stop you from buying the USA Note, I don't know what will. While others read this, I'm going to think of a clever name to make fun of the USA Note with.

xAnimal5 said:
If you're not dieing for the Note (Like I was haha), just wait until the price drops to $600.
DO NOT buy the AT&T N7000B, the Note that's coming to the states
Heres Why:
-The USA Note will have the 1.5ghz Snapdragon processor SoC, similiar to the T-mobile Galaxy S2 and the LTE Galaxy S2, which is even worse than the 1.2ghz Exynos in the Galaxy S2. The LTE Galaxy S2 or dubbed the "****rocket" by AT&T and the T-mobile Galaxy S2's users have reported laggy transitions, bad performance when gaming, and general slowness.
-AT&T LTE is probably the biggest marketing trap ever created. The people who want LTE think that the NEW LTE phone will be better, but they are generally worse (hardware wise). LTE from AT&T gives you decent speeds IF you live in one of the 9 cities that has AT&T LTE coverage. BUT... if you use too much data too fast, which is almost impossible to stop on LTE, you get throttled.
Then your download speeds on LTE are 0.05kbps
-AT&T and USA carriers have been found to put software that tracks your EVERY move on the device and they can see EXACTLY what you're doing. Big Brother is watching...
-AT&T is famous for releasing butchered versions of smartphones after incorporating LTE, so much so that developers for our OG Note will not be able to port over ROMS/Kernels. Basicly you're gonna receive no developer support. The AT&T Skyrocket section is so depressing that there are 2 developers, and the users are beginning to start paying for ROMS.
-AT&T bloatware... will hinder your device and sometimes you may not even realize what bloatware they have on your USA Note.
Well if that doesn't stop you from buying the USA Note, I don't know what will. While others read this, I'm going to think of a clever name to make fun of the USA Note with.
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Click to collapse
I really don't care about the whole CarrierIQ stuff, and AT&T is actually getting a lot better about bloatware - you can uninstall all the crap they pre-loaded on the Nitro (though it's easy enough to freeze such apps anyway). Developer support would be a concern, and I happen to be one of those living (and working) in an area with LTE coverage - so the extra speed is ... well, something. But the processor change... why would they do that?

SolusCado said:
I really don't care about the whole CarrierIQ stuff, and AT&T is actually getting a lot better about bloatware - you can uninstall all the crap they pre-loaded on the Nitro (though it's easy enough to freeze such apps anyway). Developer support would be a concern, and I happen to be one of those living (and working) in an area with LTE coverage - so the extra speed is ... well, something. But the processor change... why would they do that?
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Well, right now it's half speculation/half leaked reports. The general consensus that people have reached is that it's the Snapdragon.
As for why... I have come to believe that AT&T likes using Snapdragons primarily because they are cheaper to manufacture/or they receive a discount for the parts.
Ah, another detail I forgot to mention (you may already know this) but... LTE radios require extra space and that adds extra thickness to the phone, as well as changes the dimensions--not too much, but enough to make our OG cases unusable for the USA note.

xAnimal5 said:
Well, right now it's half speculation/half leaked reports. The general consensus that people have reached is that it's the Snapdragon.
As for why... I have come to believe that AT&T likes using Snapdragons primarily because they are cheaper to manufacture/or they receive a discount for the parts.
Ah, another detail I forgot to mention (you may already know this) but... LTE radios require extra space and that adds extra thickness to the phone, as well as changes the dimensions--not too much, but enough to make our OG cases unusable for the USA note.
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Click to collapse
AT&T isn't the manufacturer, so I can't imagine parts cost is a factor. It's probably more likely a power consumption/radio interference issue.
Good point on the LTE thickness! I'll probably just enjoy my Note for now, and then when it does hit the States take that opportunity to check out the screen and form factor in person - make sure I really prefer it to the Nitro - and then order one from overseas...

I myself used the "if it comes to AT&T with LTE it's probably going to end up with a slower processor" argument as a reason to get an international unit now. But...
xAnimal5 said:
-AT&T LTE is probably the biggest marketing trap ever created. The people who want LTE think that the NEW LTE phone will be better, but they are generally worse (hardware wise). LTE from AT&T gives you decent speeds IF you live in one of the 9 cities that has AT&T LTE coverage. BUT... if you use too much data too fast, which is almost impossible to stop on LTE, you get throttled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand this. Assuming your data usage doesn't change (you still go to the same sites, download the same data, etc.), you shouldn't use any more data than you would on 3G. Now, if your saying that because you CAN download data faster an LTE, you COULD use more data and therefore get into trouble faster, that's hardly a downside of LTE. That's like saying you want a slower car because you get tickets in a faster car. That doesn't mean a faster car is worse, that just means you can't control yourself. Personally, I would MUCH rather have the ability to download faster, and get the same amount of data in less time. Here in Atlanta anyway, 3G is really bogged down, and when I'm at a crowded event I may not be able to get any service. I would love to have the ability to use the much less crowded spectrum. But if I have to get a slower CPU and less battery life, then it becomes less appealing.
xAnimal5 said:
Well, right now it's half speculation/half leaked reports. The general consensus that people have reached is that it's the Snapdragon.
As for why... I have come to believe that AT&T likes using Snapdragons primarily because they are cheaper to manufacture/or they receive a discount for the parts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think that has anything to do with AT&T. Even the Korean LTE Note supposedly uses the Snapdragon. Why would Samsung use someone else's CPU in their LTE enabled phones if their own CPU could do it? I don't understand why, but apparently the current version of Exynos just can't do LTE.

dscline said:
I myself used the "if it comes to AT&T with LTE it's probably going to end up with a slower processor" argument as a reason to get an international unit now. But...
I don't understand this. Assuming your data usage doesn't change (you still go to the same sites, download the same data, etc.), you shouldn't use any more data than you would on 3G. Now, if your saying that because you CAN download data faster an LTE, you COULD use more data and therefore get into trouble faster, that's hardly a downside of LTE. That's like saying you want a slower car because you get tickets in a faster car. That doesn't mean a faster car is worse, that just means you can't control yourself. Personally, I would MUCH rather have the ability to download faster, and get the same amount of data in less time. Here in Atlanta anyway, 3G is really bogged down, and when I'm at a crowded event I may not be able to get any service. I would love to have the ability to use the much less crowded spectrum. But if I have to get a slower CPU and less battery life, then it becomes less appealing.
I don't think that has anything to do with AT&T. Even the Korean LTE Note supposedly uses the Snapdragon. Why would Samsung use someone else's CPU in their LTE enabled phones if their own CPU could do it? I don't understand why, but apparently the current version of Exynos just can't do LTE.
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Click to collapse
Well, from the reports I've been hearing from my friend with an HTC Vivid, he said that some of the bloat that ships with LTE phones auto-updates even if you have it turned off. If unnoticed over a long period of time, it stacks up.
Just for me at least, if I get LTE... I will probably hit 30gbs per month haha, so I might as well stick with Faux G.
I also researched the processor predicament as well. It seems the only chipset + processor that works with Quad-band phones with LTE are the Snapdragons. It's a shame though because Snapdragons are unreliable and give a studdery performance. I played with the ****rocket at my corporate AT&T store in NYC and it was extremely laggy compared to the model for the OG SGSII.
Exynos Chipsets just aren't compatible with LTE radios yet I guess. Oh well, if I get LTE, I'll get throttled after a couple of hours, so I'll stick with my OG Note.
There may also be the question of ICS for the USA Note. Depending on when it's released, it may not ship with ICS. If that's the case, USA Note purchasers will be held hostage waiting for AT&T to give them an update for it.

One big reason to get International version.
PHYSICAL HOME BUTTON.
The size of the Note makes it very hard to solely rely on the smallish recessed upper right power button. Especially one handed.
Exynos is also a good reason. And if it gets any thicker it would fee "too big" IMHO.

SolusCado said:
. . . I am bummed though because while I could root it, I was having some problems with some apps and I used BusyBox installer to try to update BusyBox, and it broke my root! Now, I have superuser installed but it cannot actually authorize anything, and SuperOneClick can't do anything because it keeps trying to use the old BusyBox (I think). So I believe I'm stuck until someone comes up with some ODIN images...
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I would start over, root with Chainfire setup.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

cushcalc said:
I would start over, root with Chainfire setup.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
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Wouldn't I need a device-specific kernel for ODIN to do that?

Restore to stock before re-attempt root.
SolusCado said:
Wouldn't I need a device-specific kernel for ODIN to do that?
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Click to collapse
I don't know about doing it with Odin.
I would follow dr.ketan's guide (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18978158&postcount=1):
"Now How I can revert back to Stock ROM/Unroot (In case of replacemet may i need)
I you have Just rooted only but not added CWM - Just Download this Extract - Execute - Rum Me unroot.bat
If You have Root + CWM - then first find out original stock kernel (zImage file)
Now place this file in zImage folder, n repeat procedure(Initial CFRoot Flasher), which you have done at time of pushing CWM by selecting I am rooted already
Now unroot with above said unrooting tool."

I would never get the Nitro myself.
-Development by the community will most likely suck for it
-The battery life is awful
-Average build quality
-Sub par camera for 8mp
-Not an amoled screen

[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!
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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!
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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....
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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.
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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....
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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Damn.

Quality Upgrade?

I've had this Nexus 6 since it first came out and now it's giving me signs of stutter (especially with the camera app or snapchat), the battery also seems to be wearing out, barely lasts me half a day and I constantly have to charge it. I want to upgrade this device to something much better, but I would like to point out that I am on Verizon so CDMA devices only, (I wanted to get the OnePlus 3T).
So instead I started contemplating on upgrading to the S8+ especially with that $100 off deal at best buy, not really interested in the Pixel XL though or iphone lineup (had an iphone for 4 years, its boring). I had a Galaxy S5 before for about a month or so and it had a defect in the camera so I got a refund on that and got a Nexus 6 instead and now here I am 2 years later. Would definitely love to give Samsung devices another try. Anyways, what do you guys think? Which device should I upgrade to or any suggestions?

Change your carrier. If you have Verizon, your options are pretty much what is available from Verizon, and all of them are going to have a locked bootloader, even the Pixel/Pixel XL. Switching to a GSM carrier like T-Mobile will allow you to get the device you truly want.
And, before you say "but I like Verizon", Verizon uses CDMA, and CDMA is a living fossil that doesn't know that it's supposed to be extinct.

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Change your carrier. If you have Verizon, your options are pretty much what is available from Verizon, and all of them are going to have a locked bootloader, even the Pixel/Pixel XL. Switching to a GSM carrier like T-Mobile will allow you to get the device you truly want.
And, before you say "but I like Verizon", Verizon uses CDMA, and CDMA is a living fossil that doesn't know that it's supposed to be extinct.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see where you're coming from but switching to T-MOBILE is not an option, where I work and live I used to get little to no reception with them, from there I switched to At&t and the service was even worse, they're also very bad in customer support whenever I had problems.
Hence me having to stick with Verizon.

Then your only real option is to head to Lenovorola's website and purchase an unlocked CDMA device from them. It's the only way to preserve your ability to modify the device, since it should not have a locked bootloader. Samsung isn't an option as they lock bootloaders on all US devices now, plus there's Touchwiz to consider. Most of the other manufacturers focus on GSM because of its worldwide reach.

Have you done a factory reset recently? That may improve both lag and battery. Also, someone mentioned that the April update improves lag.

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Then your only real option is to head to Lenovorola's website and purchase an unlocked CDMA device from them. It's the only way to preserve your ability to modify the device, since it should not have a locked bootloader. Samsung isn't an option as they lock bootloaders on all US devices now, plus there's Touchwiz to consider. Most of the other manufacturers focus on GSM because of its worldwide reach.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest, I don't care much for modifying my device anymore, I use it as is for calls, texts, web browsing etc. Maybe the occasional file transfer between my PC and that might be all. And regarding TouchWiz, that is true, but I'm hoping there will be some sort of pixel launcher available to flash for S8+ in the near future or can get something off of the play store.
runekock said:
Have you done a factory reset recently? That may improve both lag and battery. Also, someone mentioned that the April update improves lag.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right now I'm on Pure Nexus ROM and the functionality is great, the stutter is only evident when I multitask heavily which leads to fast battery drain as well as taking pictures. Can't tell you the number of times I missed those one in a million moments because the camera app took too long to load or take the picture.
Also I've done many clean installs, these sort of problems seem to stick.

Changing the launcher only hides Touchwiz. It doesn't stop the resource drain that has plagued Touchwiz since its inception. Hell, I could drop a copy of Nova Launcher on my roommate's unmodified SIII and hide most of the ugliness of Touchwiz, but I still would have to face the issue that Touchwiz is a resource hog.
If you're not here to mod your device then why are you here? After all, it's called XDA Developers for a reason.

Okay, that sure sounds like you need more ram. And considering that 64-bit is less ram-efficient, 4 GB may not be a noticeable improvement. If you can't get 6 GB, then (oh how I hate saying this) you may want to turn to Apple - they are rumoured to have better memory management.

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
If you're not here to mod your device then why are you here? After all, it's called XDA Developers for a reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha you got me there, i myself am a programmer in C++ and C#, but aside that maybe I made an overstatement in not caring about modding. I'm still going to get root and have certain mods and tweaks like YouTube Ad Blockers and LSpeed for init.d changes, but I won't be as avid on it as I used to be.
I decided I'm going to get the S8+ and await root for it.

Since my phone has a corporate partition on it root is not an option for me... so I am waiting for Pixel 2. If I had to have a phone now it would be a Pixel. Touchwiz was so janky (and barely updated) on the last Samsung that I had I will not be going that route again.

aroy97 said:
To be honest, I don't care much for modifying my device anymore, I use it as is for calls, texts, web browsing etc. Maybe the occasional file transfer between my PC and that might be all. And regarding TouchWiz, that is true, but I'm hoping there will be some sort of pixel launcher available to flash for S8+ in the near future or can get something off of the play store.
Right now I'm on Pure Nexus ROM and the functionality is great, the stutter is only evident when I multitask heavily which leads to fast battery drain as well as taking pictures. Can't tell you the number of times I missed those one in a million moments because the camera app took too long to load or take the picture.
Also I've done many clean installs, these sort of problems seem to stick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're OK with not modifying and/or not rooting the best phone VZW has, and I'm in the same spot you are - except I need to root and modify, is the Droid Z Force. It's an awesome phone - or hold out and pray the Asus Zenfone AR comes to VZW and is affordable

I know it only works on tmo or ATT, but I sold my Pixel, and got this phone, and no doubt, its the best android device I have ever seen or tried..
no real dev for it, but I couldnt care less, since its incredible just stock; plus I still have my shamu if I want to play around, but frankly havent flashed anything in weeks, I like this phone so much..
http://consumer.huawei.com/en/mobile-phones/mate9pro/index.htm

Should I purchase a Galaxy S8?

Hi all,
I have searched to no avail, hopefully this is OK to ask and is the right place to ask it?
I have resigned myself to purchasing a new phone as it appears that my knowledge and expectations are lacking and not correct. Therefore I am looking at the or at least the most popular phone(s) that are supported with custom ROM's as I really want to be left alone and not have a $399 Leather Ikea Sofa follow me around 24/7.
What I would like to know is the following:
1. Does this phone have custom Rom support? Or is it popular enough for this type of support or customization.
2. I basically dislike all the carriers due to them shoving their bloatware, privacy invasion down my throat. I would happily pay for apps that work without tracking me and couches following me around.
3. I have Tmobile, intend on getting the phone through Tmobile, are there reasonably easy ways to Unbloat the phone, have admin rights on the phone, deal with privacy issues, and most importantly get updates all simultaneously? I know that once you Root any Android phone the God Carriers will no longer allow ANY updates to work. Additionally, my experience with Kingroot just switched devils.... I was able to deal with my phone and bloatware however traded for the same ads and bloatware with Kingroot. Maybe its changed, it has been a year since I attempted my last Root. Like I stated,, I would gladly pay for apps that are ad and bloatware free and keeping my privacy....
4. Are there better phones?
Your thoughts, ideas and links would be greatly appreciated. I dont mind a little work getting updates, I dont mind slow updates, or even using the Generic Samsung Android Version, I dont need all the apps in the world, I would prefer reasonable privacy more than anything.
Thanks in advance.

The Galaxy S8 isn't the best device for doing custom ROMs on. You need a device that is open without restrictions, the one that already good has root options and so on. I am not saying there aren't any ROMs for it... You can wait to see if Pixel 2 will be any good. I would suggest you to check out a flagship phones(if you want) and make a list of which ones you like and then search on XDA and check out the ROM section for each phone.

Any suggestions.... Im not to picky... I guess I should ask what is the most popular at this time and why???

Ratfink11 said:
Any suggestions.... Im not to picky... I guess I should ask what is the most popular at this time and why???
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Click to collapse
One Plus 5 is a great phone if you like flashing stuff. It doesn't have wireless charging, the display is a 1080P AMOLED, no mechanical image stabilization, and no official waterproofing. Other then that its great.

well, after the S6 ( i believed) samsung tighten up security on their phones, especially for a new phone like the S8. So customize ROM ( AOSP) is pretty much out the door for the S8( at the time of this comment). Well, if you really want S8, go with the Exynos version, since there is some ROMs available. And if you dont like S8, then maybe take a look, and some research at the LG G6, it's solid phone. Great build, good looking, and from a well-known company.

Get the Note 8 when it comes out soon. Don't get US Snapdragon S8 due to UFS 2.0 storage; US Snapdragon S8+ is UFS 2.1 (something like 300MB/s faster read when comparing). Don't expect to root anytime soon unless you get an international Exynos S8/S8+. I am happy with US Snapdragon S8+ but I kinda wish I waited for Note 8. I plan to root my phone as soon as a root method is published. Oh well, I'll just get the Note 9 next Fall.

zone23 said:
One Plus 5 is a great phone if you like flashing stuff. It doesn't have wireless charging, the display is a 1080P AMOLED, no mechanical image stabilization, and no official waterproofing. Other then that its great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree. OR Xiaomi Mi6 isn't bad choice also.

This will be my first Samsung in a while

here's the minireview (after i bought it so late, knowing there's no Note21 coming, and written some summary about rooting):
Looks: who cares, it's hidden in the case, every phone nowadays looks the same. Thou naked, Note10 is the hottest phone, and this one looks similar to it. How does it help? You can enjoy it on the internet, like a window shopper. Your ugly case will decide its fate! For truly unique look,. get a foldable.
Body: heavy as hell, what can I say. Ultraultrathin case on the way to compensate. You have three choices: X-Level case, pitaka case, or give up. I miss the Bixby button to program it in Xposed Edge and there's no Lockdown option anywhere. On 1+ I could use unique wakelock geatures or unique fingerprint menu to trigger some stuff. Here there's no immediate shortcuts unfortunately.
Battery: hesitated for a month reading horror stories about battery. With A11, root, usual wakelocks (AOD, dt2wake, raise2wake), bluetooth & location tracking & VPN running nonstop and 1:1 data and 200 apps as on all past phones, and even without 1+ aggressive RAM cleanup, i must claim the battery is fantastic on Exynos. 3 days easy with my relaxed usage, which is just like OnePlus 6-7-8 I used to have.
Charging: pretty fast for a single battery. You saw the results on gsmarena. Not bad for an emergency topup. Highly compatible with many chargers (unlike 1+). Of course it can't match 8T or 1+9 speed, but very close to 8Pro. But you have tons of chargers around the world at your disposal. Shame on 1+ for this "Apple" type of strategy. In my huge collection of cables and USB testers I have just one of each which supports "Warp". I charged each 1+ at 8W thanks to this as I refuse proprietary methods. Still I did have their Qi charger to celebrate the addition of Qi, and interestingly Note20 won't charge from it.
Fingerprint: better than S10, potentially faster than Oneplus, however it's killed by a massive sluggish response to unlocking. Simply put, finger is recognized very fast but then there's a huge delay til screen is unlocked or app accepts it!
Camera: took an hour to carefully analyze few pics made in the same place, under 2x zoom I couldn't fault it and only found issues on 1+ side. The 1+ 8Pro, which is my reference flagship of 2020, featured issues: yellow tint, massive hair artifacts which look like compression, massive transition artifacts (like a botched Bokeh on a picture which is not even portrait mode!), less detail in each pic, lot of extra noise, highlight clipping. On the other side, this Note didn't have any issue. I'm bit shocked, i expected more balanced battle. Not like 10:0 for Samsung. It's just one mode tested: AUTO on main camera. Nothing else matters because thats how pics are made by people (that's what Xperia owners don't get: "but but you need to use the Pro mode" ). I don't make pics, but i can see the phone will be inheritable within family very easily as they love cameras.
Software: bloated into oblivion, had a lot of work with the guide so expect some serious time burnt on debloating this monster as 1+ owners laugh into your face. Rooting and updating will be only with cable and via Odin, as you can't even enter recovery and DL mode without PC anymore. So the sd card will not save your arse when abroad. However unlocking bootloader is without "agreement", so the warranty is still valid in EU. As bragged earlier, lot of functionality forces you to login and the account demands even your phone number aaaaand I couldn't even fake email and phone! They're so dedicated to capture your real identity so it's best to stay logged out. Even the frikking wallpapers which are ugly this season cannot be changed. But on the other side, the OneUI OS gives you way more than bland 1+ or Xperias, there's always some extra for you. Like the hints in Settings, one hand use, the SmartStay, the cool magnifier, the Spen actions, voice control of camera, camera minivideos, the kid mode, the notif reminder, e-z split screen, the conversation bubbles, richer AOD, rotating wallpaper, Bixby routines, Edge panel etc. Notifbar is full of shortcuts which usually indicates how rich OS is. There are even apps, like video or song browser, something that no longer exists in many OS. Notably the firewall is missing. So overall, after debloating it's stronger perhaps more productive than those vanilla OSes. I love the split screen can be done with dragging from Edge panel.
Speed: massive improvement vs s10 generation i'd say. For the first time, i see Samsung device can be snappy. But don't expect 1+ speed, it's not THAT fast. It's still just Exynos. I even noticed lagging animations here and there, but it's not nonstop like on gen10.
Display: 8Pro and Note20 were rated as the best displays by several ranking agencies and im not paranoid enough to claim their rankings are bogus. Just like i don't hate Dxomark or even positives boasting DisplayMate. Having quite many flagships in past I can see Samsung is always more readable than any other brand. I appreciate the brightness during the day and night. It doesn't force you to increase brightness manually every single night. Now the dark environment use: the backbleeding isn't obtrusive like on Tab S* or OLED TVs, it doesn't have status bar burnt like 8Pro, and it's pretty uniform. With gray color and low brightness I could see the screen blink once which was scary but couldn't replicate it anymore. Well in any case, we do NEED new display technology to replace this pulsating OLED nonsense. No problem with swiping like on Xperia5ii or ZFlip, not many mistouches, the curve is gentle. The resolution is limited at 120Hz but I will say it again: i cannot see more pixels or any detail better under physical magnifier. FullHD is better than Xperia1ii [email protected] any time that's why I couldn't buy that Sony. I do lower resolution on every phone, incl 8Pro which can run 2K @120Hz.
Network: another improvement since S10 is improved network, just like notebookcheck reports, it's in back to top league with 8Pro. WAN speed averages for me: 482/290 on Note20U, 440/234 on 1+8Pro, 481/147 on S10. Pure WiFi AC speed averages were 600/709, 648/706, 610/696 respectively. Making S10 quite good for LAN despite initial horrible S10,S10+,Note10,Note10+ results on notebookcheck, well i'm testing them in same exact position at the same time, so my results are more real at this point.
SD card: nothing exciting here happened over a decide except when they remove this feature. No advancements were made to utilize UHS2 or UHS1+ speed of Extreme cards. Benchmark is 61MBs, so it's not capped like Xperia to 30MBs. Again, can't use sd card to recover your ROM, but rather to store encrypted backups (from OAndbackup currently as 3C can't encrypt and TitaniumBackup is dead).
Overall gen.10 Samsung owners (S10,S10+,Note10,Note10+) have every reason to update their midrangers. Others will buy S21 as it's finally got a decent Exynos. I personally won't buy 227 frikking gram brick without sd card. For 1+ owners it's a preference of freedom to root, (insert "irrational" in EU) fear of losing warranty, "i'm tired with Samsung", properietary charging (1+), sd card, too much bloat, lot of extras vs vanilla etc. Both are strong flagships, didn't expect such good battery and camera result here. After disappointing Z Flip and Xperia5ii, and a decent pause in Samsung ownership (I didn't keep Note9 and S10 for myself so my last longterm device was S8) i'm keeping this as a main driver. I can clean it up very well, there's no snitching, there's zero Samsung connections active and battery clearly proves it. So for rooted users this device is a gem. Nema problema.

Thanks for sharing.
Keep in mind that it's just your personal opinion, and other users might have different opinions.

There is a note 21 coming. Not sure where you got that from but they said it some timr ago when rumors started circulating that a new note IS comimg
And how the hell are you getting 3 days of use?! When i use my phone super light for two days i barley make it to thr second night and even somethimes i need to give it few mins of juice in thr car or somwhere just so i can make it. And that id with very light use.
What bloat are you reffering too, do tou have a contract pgone or sim free? I have sim free and the only bloat i have is the odd sammy software that i occasionally rven use.
Ps. OneUI is not an OS but skin.
Re speed i am an owner od s10, note21 and s21 and i see verry little differrnce between thr s10 and note21, although i do not play games but i use photoshop, lightroom, drawing software and some other similar there is not much difference to say it is massive. There is, it is normal but not massive for sure and all 3 phones feel snappy as hell. Started using sammy with the s7 again and from that point on one from each generation and all felth at their time spanny and very goos.
The only bad thing i have expirianced with my s10 is wifi connectivity, it was poor compared even to my older phones, and with the note 20 ultra 4G is very VERY poor. Or the regular pgone signal. I constantly loose wifi or 4G in places where my other friends do not on all 3 of my phones since the s10 including my note 20 ultra.
As a previous one plus owner i can tell you that the only difference in quality for comparing Oneplus and samsung is thr camera. Nothing else. Onepkus makes solid phones, and they are getting expensive to a point where you comoare them with the top hitters of samsung but the camera is light years behind, there are not even in the same ballpark to compare there.

It_ler said:
Thanks for sharing.
Keep in mind that it's just your personal opinion, and other users might have different opinions.
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No harm in having different opinions we are all different people after all.

tixooo said:
There is a note 21 coming. Not sure where you got that from but they said it some timr ago when rumors started circulating that a new note IS comimg
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well..that's a rumor agains rumor
tixooo said:
And how the hell are you getting 3 days of use?! When i use my phone super light for two days i barley make it to thr second night and even somethimes i need to give it few mins of juice in thr car or somwhere just so i can make it. And that id with very light use.
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yeah im also lightly using the phone.. but it's nonstop connected to PC and watches, VPN, location tracking, all typical wakelocks on. After time, I'd say it's the same as you describe, 3rd day so so. But it's way better than as people described on the forums "horrible Exynos battery". It scared me away from buying for a good month.
tixooo said:
What bloat are you reffering too, do tou have a contract pgone or sim free? I have sim free and the only bloat i have is the odd sammy software that i occasionally rven use.
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Click to collapse
well there was a link to debloat. Of course, Samsung is still the leader in bloatware. Heavily bloated like always.
tixooo said:
Ps. OneUI is not an OS but skin.
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Click to collapse
let's not nitpick. We could say the same about Linux distros etc. The whole user facing solution is the OS.
tixooo said:
Re speed i am an owner od s10, note21 and s21 and i see verry little differrnce between thr s10 and note21, although i do not play games but i use photoshop, lightroom, drawing software and some other similar there is not much difference to say it is massive. There is, it is normal but not massive for sure and all 3 phones feel snappy as hell. Started using sammy with the s7 again and from that point on one from each generation and all felth at their time spanny and very goos.
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Click to collapse
Had S7 to S10, but it wasn't snappy at all. This is first time it feels that way, thou vanilla OSes like Oxygen are snappier and stutterless. Sure enough i will like newer CPU on newer models, but I just did a sanity check - it is quite snappy.
tixooo said:
The only bad thing i have expirianced with my s10 is wifi connectivity, it was poor compared even to my older phones, and with the note 20 ultra 4G is very VERY poor. Or the regular pgone signal. I constantly loose wifi or 4G in places where my other friends do not on all 3 of my phones since the s10 including my note 20 ultra.
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Hmm, that was one problem fixed with Note20. No more moaning from my family about Wifi once upgraded S10->Note20. Connectivity good overall.
tixooo said:
As a previous one plus owner i can tell you that the only difference in quality for comparing Oneplus and samsung is thr camera. Nothing else. Onepkus makes solid phones, and they are getting expensive to a point where you comoare them with the top hitters of samsung but the camera is light years behind, there are not even in the same ballpark to compare there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that's only one difference. The main difference for me is the software. This is where OnePlus saves money, by not inveting a penny to enrich the experience and add some productivity gains. This is where OneUI OS shines.

You made a good choice.
The only other one I would consider is the N10+.
I use the SD card as a data drive. You need a V30 rated card for top transfer speeds.
Sorry Sammy, no SD card, no sale

blackhawk said:
You made a good choice.
The only other one I would consider is the N10+.
I use the SD card as a data drive. You need a V30 rated card for top transfer speeds.
Sorry Sammy, no SD card, no sale
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i have an SD card, in one of Note20 and Ultra, and it's slow just like in every other mobile (apparently there's no device/appliance with higher speed than 90MBs UHS1 cap other than PC/DSLR - e.g. Sandisk Extreme a.k.a. UHS1+ or UHS2). I mean V30 is very slow to me, both sequential and random access. Given the terrible latency a.k.a. 4K speed, i wouldn't use the SD card for anything but backups and static dead files like music/videos. SD cards are a complete joke versus UFS. Also 60Hz screen, not for me, but OK for the person who received Note20 after S10 and never experienced the 120Hz heaven))

doggydog2 said:
i have an SD card, in one of Note20 and Ultra, and it's slow just like in every other mobile (apparently there's no device/appliance with higher speed than 90MBs UHS1 cap other than PC/DSLR - e.g. Sandisk Extreme a.k.a. UHS1+ or UHS2). I mean V30 is very slow to me, both sequential and random access. Given the terrible latency a.k.a. 4K speed, i wouldn't use the SD card for anything but backups and static dead files like music/videos. SD cards are a complete joke versus UFS. Also 60Hz screen, not for me, but OK for the person who received Note20 after S10 and never experienced the 120Hz heaven))
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For the N10+ the V30 is around it's top transfer speeds, the N20 is probably good for more.
The N10+ comes with Pie so no scope storage or the other Q nasties.
Lol, 60hz is 30hz faster than I was raised on being a 60's TV child... I'm not greedy

doggydog2 said:
well..that's a rumor agains rumor
yeah im also lightly using the phone.. but it's nonstop connected to PC and watches, VPN, location tracking, all typical wakelocks on. After time, I'd say it's the same as you describe, 3rd day so so. But it's way better than as people described on the forums "horrible Exynos battery". It scared me away from buying for a good month.
well there was a link to debloat. Of course, Samsung is still the leader in bloatware. Heavily bloated like always.
let's not nitpick. We could say the same about Linux distros etc. The whole user facing solution is the OS.
Had S7 to S10, but it wasn't snappy at all. This is first time it feels that way, thou vanilla OSes like Oxygen are snappier and stutterless. Sure enough i will like newer CPU on newer models, but I just did a sanity check - it is quite snappy.
Hmm, that was one problem fixed with Note20. No more moaning from my family about Wifi once upgraded S10->Note20. Connectivity good overall.
Well, that's only one difference. The main difference for me is the software. This is where OnePlus saves money, by not inveting a penny to enrich the experience and add some productivity gains. This is where OneUI OS shines.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where are you from, and is your phonr sim free or not?because my pgone is sim free and i have close to zero bloat (except the odd sammy rmail, web browser etc. That i do not consider bloat). For me personally everything google is bloat that you cant remove (i do not like google as you can see )
Unless you are not sim free the phone it self was pretty clean when i purchased it no adds, no usless software (except 1-2 samsung things that i do not use and cant remove) but that is their pgone... It is to be expected to see their software on it.
Re the battery... To be fair i stopped listening to reviewers and people on the net lomg time ago, turns out many are biased towards this or that and tou cant really get the true story. I am extreamly happy with my battery and my camera, two points that are heavily criticized on the forums anywhere and by reviewers.
I still own s7, s8 and s10... And even now if they are not packed with software they hry are not that bad, but during their prime time they were as snappy as ever dor me. Might be a sim free vs not i do not know. All my phomes are sim free.

tixooo said:
Where are you from, and is your phonr sim free or not?because my pgone is sim free and i have close to zero bloat (except the odd sammy rmail, web browser etc. That i do not consider bloat). For me personally everything google is bloat that you cant remove (i do not like google as you can see )
Unless you are not sim free the phone it self was pretty clean when i purchased it no adds, no usless software (except 1-2 samsung things that i do not use and cant remove) but that is their pgone... It is to be expected to see their software on it.
Re the battery... To be fair i stopped listening to reviewers and people on the net lomg time ago, turns out many are biased towards this or that and tou cant really get the true story. I am extreamly happy with my battery and my camera, two points that are heavily criticized on the forums anywhere and by reviewers.
I still own s7, s8 and s10... And even now if they are not packed with software they hry are not that bad, but during their prime time they were as snappy as ever dor me. Might be a sim free vs not i do not know. All my phomes are sim free.
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Click to collapse
From EU, we don't have any locks by law. Still even such Samsungs are full of processes that waste memory, batter, keep connection, and kill privacy. It's not just what you see as icons. It's Bixby, Samsung Cloud, Find, Galaxy Friends, Pay, push service, logging, debugging, location tracking, knoxx, wifi snitching, Phone assistance, and finally sponsored vendor crap with boosted battery priorities. Can't believe you didn't notice until now There must be tons of threads about this.

doggydog2 said:
From EU, we don't have any locks by law. Still even such Samsungs are full of processes that waste memory, batter, keep connection, and kill privacy. It's not just what you see as icons. It's Bixby, Samsung Cloud, Find, Galaxy Friends, Pay, push service, logging, debugging, location tracking, knoxx, wifi snitching, Phone assistance, and finally sponsored vendor crap with boosted battery priorities. Can't believe you didn't notice until now There must be tons of threads about this.
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Click to collapse
Half of those i use, if not more. So do my friends. As i said define bloat. To me bloat is google everything and thr inability to get rid if it easily. To me bloat is not something you buy and you get the brand services, but other services you do not want likr carier services or others like microsoft/google etc.

It_ler said:
Thanks for sharing.
Keep in mind that it's just your personal opinion, and other users might have different opinions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That response,

doggydog2 said:
From EU, we don't have any locks by law. Still even such Samsungs are full of processes that waste memory, batter, keep connection, and kill privacy. It's not just what you see as icons. It's Bixby, Samsung Cloud, Find, Galaxy Friends, Pay, push service, logging, debugging, location tracking, knoxx, wifi snitching, Phone assistance, and finally sponsored vendor crap with boosted battery priorities. Can't believe you didn't notice until now There must be tons of threads about this.
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Click to collapse
Indeed, that's why a Samsung 4500mAh battery will never be as comparable as lets say a OnePlus' 4500mAh.
First thing one must do, ADB uninstall the hell out of all the Samsung garbage apps and such. For every Google spyware on ONE UI there is also an equivalent Samsung process running.

I was considering getting this phone but Samsung screwed up with the CPU heatsink big time on some of the same variant and it's random, unpredictable. Only observation of abnormal poor heat dissipation or a tear down can reveal which heat sink is used.
Russian heat sink roulette, perfect
I don't have the patience for this kind of poor quality control. It's getting to be a hallmark of Samsung. Why the hell didn't Samsung use only the copper vapor cooling solution on all of it's models? A sick, expensive joke that can't be easily retrofitted or cure by firmware.
Really?
If yours is running hot this may be why.
Here’s Why Some Galaxy Note 20 Phones Have Overheating Problems & There’s Nothing One Can Do
This is unacceptable.
www.mensxp.com