Database Users

Nexus-S blows away iPhone4

I bought the Nexus-S on Thursday it is my 3rd Android device, first was the MyTouch3G, and the EVO. I did have a iPhone3G back in the day.
My siblings were over for a Christmas party last night, and my brother and sister both own the iPhopne4, and boy does that OS look and feel dated.
I keep reading how awesome the iPhone 4 is, supposed to be the #1 best smartphone on the market ? I will agree, the look and design of the phone itself is very nice, and feels very solid well put together. But the OS just seems so 3 years ago, with just a screen full of app icons, and no notifications, no widgets, and a small 3.5" just not doing it for me. I think my Nexus-S is a much better product, the live wallpapers might be a gimmick, but I love my starfield one, looks very StarTrek cool. Plus the Super AMOLED screen is so much nicer than the retina display.
I am not bashing Apple, I would possibly buy an iPhone 5, if they make a larger screen, and must add in widgets and a notification system.
One last beef, is the middle thumb button on the iPhone, oh my God, that has to go. I think I would throw the phone against the wall if that's the only button to press. Where is the menu button, and back button ? Just having a home button would be annoying.

Zorachus said:
I bought the Nexus-S on Thursday it is my 3rd Android device, first was the MyTouch3G, and the EVO. I did have a iPhone3G back in the day.
My siblings were over for a Christmas party last night, and my brother and sister both own the iPhopne4, and boy does that OS look and feel dated.
I keep reading how awesome the iPhone 4 is, supposed to be the #1 best smartphone on the market ? I will agree, the look and design of the phone itself is very nice, and feels very solid well put together. But the OS just seems so 3 years ago, with just a screen full of app icons, and no notifications, no widgets, and a small 3.5" just not doing it for me. I think my Nexus-S is a much better product, the live wallpapers might be a gimmick, but I love my starfield one, looks very StarTrek cool. Plus the Super AMOLED screen is so much nicer than the retina display.
I am not bashing Apple, I would possibly buy an iPhone 5, if they make a larger screen, and must add in widgets and a notification system.
One last beef, is the middle thumb button on the iPhone, oh my God, that has to go. I think I would throw the phone against the wall if that's the only button to press. Where is the menu button, and back button ? Just having a home button would be annoying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To each, his own my good man, but I am definitely with you there... Like looking back (to five days ago) I don't know what I was thinking haha. iPhone 4 is terrible, I don't ever want to buy another Apple phone, but I somehow always do... Hopefully I'll break the tradition in '11.

The OS may feel "dated" but it is much more polished than Android is.
And that's coming from an iPhone user for the past 2+ years who just made the switch to Android with Nexus S.

Welcome to android. All that was true even a year ago with the nexus one. Android OS is just so much more interesting and useful and functional than iOS. It's not even close.
But apple OS does look more polished for some things. To me personally I don't see a huge difference though.

RogerPodacter said:
Welcome to android. All that was true even a year ago with the nexus one. Android OS is just so much more interesting and useful and functional than iOS. It's not even close.
But apple OS does look more polished for some things. To me personally I don't see a huge difference though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, this isn't my first Android device. I was an early adopter with the G1 when it first came out, but ditched it after 6 months or so.
That said, the major area where iOS beats Android is the lack of pop up menus. The flow in iOS is very nice and intuitive. Keyboard is also better plus things like copy and paste, scrolling in the browser etc. App quality and selection is still superior on iOS.

Give Android one, at best two more years, and Apple will piss into its pants.

Thought the same thing ... screen looks tiny and. Os feels out dated... and I have a vibrant..
I do agree the iphones features are very well put together and polished but. It gets boring it super difficult to customize.. also sucks how every single app has to have a back button.. also u can only have 3g only on att Wich sucks cuz att sucks! Just to put it plain and simple the iphone is well made but its boring ... alot of. More fun with android especially playing with ur home screen

The only thing i miss is the ability to take a screenshot w/o a 3rd party app. haha

There are two things iphone/ipod/ipad never has:
ogg vorbis support (much better fidelity than mp3)
adobe flash
The screen on NS is simply the best
color: NS>MT4>nexus one
contrast: NS>nexus one (both have unlimited contrast)>MT4
I also found antenna jack uncovered on NS, so you can plug external antenna when driving to get much more constant reception.
In addition, micro/miniUSB data/charging jack is much more common on smartphones now.

Im just glad people are starting to notice how Android is ahead of iOS even at its early stages..oh BTW I LOVE NEXUS S! Coming from N1

mingkee said:
I also found antenna jack uncovered on NS, so you can plug external antenna when driving to get much more constant reception.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you provide more details on that? Where's this uncovered antenna jack at?
Are you talking about the little micro-connector to the right of the batter, near the lower volume rocker, when the battery cover is removed? What kind of external antenna are you using?

My brother a big tech geek like myself, makes this comment on my Nexus-S, he says, "yeah your phone looks pretty, the weather widget w/clock, and live starfield wallpaper, and fancy Super AMOLED screen are great and all, but I like the iPhone for it's simplicity, I like to turn the phone on, see my app I want, and click it and go to it. I am not going to stare at some pretty home screen all day, that doesn't matter to me. I just want my apps, and get to them right away."

Zorachus said:
My brother a big tech geek like myself, makes this comment on my Nexus-S, he says, "yeah your phone looks pretty, the weather widget w/clock, and live starfield wallpaper, and fancy Super AMOLED screen are great and all, but I like the iPhone for it's simplicity, I like to turn the phone on, see my app I want, and click it and go to it. I am not going to stare at some pretty home screen all day, that doesn't matter to me. I just want my apps, and get to them right away."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's extremely easy on android. lol, just open the app drawer, drag and drop any app you would like on your homescreen or any other screen and THERE YOU HAVE IT!! turn screen on and tap the app! how hard was that?

Zorachus said:
My brother a big tech geek like myself, makes this comment on my Nexus-S, he says, "yeah your phone looks pretty, the weather widget w/clock, and live starfield wallpaper, and fancy Super AMOLED screen are great and all, but I like the iPhone for it's simplicity, I like to turn the phone on, see my app I want, and click it and go to it. I am not going to stare at some pretty home screen all day, that doesn't matter to me. I just want my apps, and get to them right away."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Based on that statement your bro doesn't even sound Techy/nerdy...
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

Ios is horrible......... it isn't meant for super users at all. Its a trendy os and nothing more. Android owns. Yes I have owned an iPhone.. worst mistake in technological history.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

meetagrawal said:
The OS may feel "dated" but it is much more polished than Android is.
And that's coming from an iPhone user for the past 2+ years who just made the switch to Android with Nexus S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would agree with you prior to the Nexus S....but this new Google phone is every bit as good and polished as the iphone 4 IMO.

Some general questions about ios vs android?
1)We are all saying that android is open source and ios is not...why then all the great hackers like Musclenerd, Saurik and Geohot are interested more in iphone?....which hach scene is larger?
2)Why android manufactors dont build a direct iphone killer device which also has the same top build quality and design with iphone?
3)Ok i dont like ios cause of its simplicity...but generally it is a lot user friendly.... android as rubin said is getting day by day better in tha area....but when you touch even the old iphone 3gs the smoothness of scrolling is sth unmatched by any high end android device i have used in 2010....like galaxy s with lagfix or Desire HD.....i mean the response and smooth scrolling is amazing.It feels so natural.

iPhone is cool too, unlike Nexus S, people actually put their thought in to it. Of course pure google with android is better then ios

iPhone4 owner who just bought a Nexus S here.
I am more productive on the iPhone.
Can't search through my Exchange mailbox (email app) on the Nexus? WHAT?
Can't subscribe to more than one folder in the email app?
(FYI: email app needed to connect via activesync to my corp mail server - K9 doesn't work either. GMail app is great...but since I have to use 2 different email apps, that means no unified inbox).
The Android facebook app is absolute *crap* (can't even tag people in photos, lame).
Evernote/Mint/etc look much better on the iPhone.
iPhone's battery life is SO much better than the Nexus S (anandtech's review showed you can browse the web for *twice* as long on the iPhone)
AT&Ts 3G is much better...
The iPhone's notification (screen on + pop-up) works great for me... can't even get Tasker to turn on the screen when a notification is received with Gingerbread.
There are obviously things I love about Android.. but I don't know which one I'll keep at this point.

pkx said:
iPhone4 owner who just bought a Nexus S here.
I am more productive on the iPhone.
Can't search through my Exchange mailbox (email app) on the Nexus? WHAT?
Can't subscribe to more than one folder in the email app?
(FYI: email app needed to connect via activesync to my corp mail server - K9 doesn't work either. GMail app is great...but since I have to use 2 different email apps, that means no unified inbox).
The Android facebook app is absolute *crap* (can't even tag people in photos, lame).
Evernote/Mint/etc look much better on the iPhone.
iPhone's battery life is SO much better than the Nexus S (anandtech's review showed you can browse the web for *twice* as long on the iPhone)
AT&Ts 3G is much better...
The iPhone's notification (screen on + pop-up) works great for me... can't even get Tasker to turn on the screen when a notification is received with Gingerbread.
There are obviously things I love about Android.. but I don't know which one I'll keep at this point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disagree with most of your reasoning and anandtech's review was biased, just another iPhone fan boy reviewing an Android phone? c'mon now.... Esp the battery life he claims it identical to Nexus One? He must have a defect because the battery life is a HUGE improvement and there are many forums to prove this. And speaking of notification, Android BROUGHT notification to the game. There's more than just a pop up screen that we could use. I understand maybe for the Nexus S yea it doesnt have LED but I actually think No Led is clean and unique.

Changing from iphone4

Hey all
Looking to change from iphone4. Had every iPhone since launch and am just bored of em now
Looking at android phone and the sgs2 caught my eye
However have seen a lot of negativity about it in here and elsewhere
So do you think it's a good move or should I hang on for the HTC sensation (which sounds brilliant)

iPhone user here.
Apps are far better on iOS. You wont find some apps on Android that are on iOS. Thats my only dislike about Android but thats down to the developer. Im missing loads of apps, first direct, sky sports, bbc and so on. You can use the brower for all these wit Flash though
The SGS2 is by far the best Android phone. If your truely bored of iOS then get this, its worth it.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

However have seen a lot of negativity about it in here and elsewhere
Loads on negativity about IPhone all over the net .
Point is that this forum is new and not yet representative of a large number of users .
Personally i thought the SGS 1 was as good as the IPhone 4 though some users preferred the HTc interface but i did not .
You really got to try them and read the reviews on al the phones .
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/samsung-galaxy-s2-930907/review
I am not missing any apps that i want .
Have Sky Sports news > BBC >
jje

Hello
I got bored too
I have just done the swap to a SGS2 from a iphone 4(well still have it)
Before the ip4 I was a long time winmo user
there are good and bad points to both phones
ios is slick on ip4 and does its job well...but also so limiting even with jailbreak
I f you love tweaking then get a droid phone thats why I have now bought 1
as for the negatives how many did the ip4 have @ the start

Tbh I think the ui on sgs is poor
Much prefer HTC sense (have messed about with mates)

Garfs said:
Tbh I think the ui on sgs is poor
Much prefer HTC sense (have messed about with mates)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got the HTC desire for a while, and now I've got a SGS2, and I really prefer TouchWiz 4.0 over HTC sense. TouchWiz is really good on this phone. HTC Sense, never really liked it.

I've just received my Galaxy S2 today, a bit of an act of faith after the first one, which was IMO at first a very flawed device (a little digging and you can find my previous postings about this).
I've just come from an iPhone 4 myself, via an HTC Incredible S, so I think I can comment on here. To me, the Samsung clearly takes design cues from the iphone, in the design of the icons, the central home button and even the design and some of the features (like the screen shot - home + power)... to me, the SGS2 is like a bastard child of the best android phone and the iphone mixed into one....
IMO this is a good thing. I was bored silly with the iphone, and was sick of how restricted it was, even when Jailbreaked. The iphone 4 is a very nice phone for sure, but really boring to use in the long term (although some like it, and I can see why).
With the SGS2 you get a similar UI, but you also get androids superior functions as well (widgets, live wallpaper, notifications, google integration etc).
As for the SGS2 versus Sense, well TBH I was going to wait for the Sensation, and in the meantime, I made a profit from selling my ip4 and swapping for an Incredible S, and I did so so that I could get a taste of Sense UI. Now, I will say that Sense UI is quite nice, but if I'm being totally honest here, the only things I feel I will miss all that much are the weather and clock widget on Sense and the facebook integration. I do quite like the design of the interface on Sense... and obviously the Sensation is going to have a lot more eye candy again...
Having said all that, there are some things I am not so keen on with Sense. For example, it can at times feel a little "clunky" in places, I am not a fan of the keyboard (I know this can be changed) what with the arrow buttons underneath (not needed IMO), and I just got a feeling that it was slowing the phone down slightly.
Now, when I got the SGS2 I did feel as though I'd probably just dump TWLauncher straight away, but you know what, I think Samsung have really done quite a good job with TW4 to the point where I'm honestly not sure that I can say I prefer Sense any longer. It feels lighter and less bloated, it has some nice touches (task manager, power toggles in the notification, resizing widgets, deleting screens (which you STILL can't do in Sense), folders in the App drawer and so on). Now I'm still not a huge fan of some of the included widgets (but the new calendar widget is superb IMO), and I don't think I'll use the hubs much.
I'm not actually sure whether the Sensation will be able to compete in pure speed and performance terms with the SGS2 which frankly seems to go like a rocket. In fact, the SGS2 seems to fix much of what was wrong with the first phone. I really like it.... BUT... I haven't tested the GPS, yet!
As for the iphone 4 versus the SGS2, once you get over the fact the apps quality isn't quite up there (especially games), you won't look back. Although the iphone 4 feels and looks a more premium product, the Samsung is actually a nicer thing to handle, feels more comfortable in the hand... but other than that, seriously, there seems to be no competition here really, the SGS2 is MUCH better than the iphone 4 really... better camera, MUCH faster, far bigger screen (trust me the iphone 4 looks REALLY tiny compared) and far less restricted.
If this phone lives up to its early promise then I can tell you now that this is one fine phone, and Samsung may have finally delivered the kind of phone everyone knew they could if they put their mind to it... but time will tell

Garfs said:
Tbh I think the ui on sgs is poor
Much prefer HTC sense (have messed about with mates)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's really a matter of taste, if you want a perfect Sense experience, then buying this phone wouldn't be a good choice I think
I've never really have experience on Sense (people around me use either iPhone 4 or BB!), but this Touchwiz isn't that bad except for one, no alphabetical sort in grid view on the apps drawer

I've been an iPhone user for 3 years and gone from the 3g to 3gs to the iPhone 4. I have also been an Android user for 1 year, I started with the Desire and upgraded to the SGS1. Despite liking Android a lot, I couldn't really make the switch to being a full time Android user. Mainly becasue I have bought a bunch of really specialized (medical) expensive apps on the iPhone. I dont't mind the iPhone having certain limitations as I have learnt to work around them. Also by also having an Android phone with me, they don't matter.
Like you I have grown tired of the iOS UI, especially the infamous Pop Up Notifications. As a geek I really like Android, trying out custom ROMs, not having any limitations in terms of what apps to install and being able to open web sites with flash are all part of the joy...
Currently I have sold my SGS1 and am waiting for the SGS2 to become available in Slovenia. I dont't think it will full replace my iPhone 4, but it seems it will at least keep me from buying an iPhone 5. A feat Desire couldn't manage to do!
As for the HTC vs Samsung debate. Sense is widely considered the premium Android experience, which I think it also is. But HTC is still using sub par components in its phones: the awful tiny speaker, the bad camera sensor and the worst mics for audio recording. It is for these reasons I won't be buying the Sensation but the SGS2.

Me i prefer Touchwiz and dont like sense .
jje

I'd probably pick Touchwiz over Sense too, also the first SGS imo was as good as the iPhone 4. SGSII is just so gooood....

bigmo7 said:
the first SGS imo was as good as the iPhone 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It would have been if it hadn't been filled with bugs.

bigmo7 said:
I'd probably pick Touchwiz over Sense too, also the first SGS imo was as good as the iPhone 4. SGSII is just so gooood....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gotta disagree with you there mate
Mate has a galaxy s and it's not a patch on iphone4 I'm afraid

I'm not a fan of TW or Sense, I find them both to be very simple almost condesending, like they were built for kids or blind people to use. You cannot change the screen density with them so you have to stick with 240 which I personally dont find appealing.
I much prefer a stock android framework with ADW Ex.
I am really looking forward to some custom ROM's comming out for the SGS2.
I was a WinMo user right from 1.0 to 6.5 and loved every minute of it. After my HD2 I took a jump and tried out Android, and now I'm hooked! WP7 does look very nice, but it needs to be more open before I switch to it.
I have never owned an iphone. I had a gen1 ipod touch and couldn't stand Itunes so this put me off apple for good, plus I don't like their business model.

Garfs said:
Gotta disagree with you there mate
Mate has a galaxy s and it's not a patch on iphone4 I'm afraid
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's just personal opinion, my mate has a SGS and I have to say without the bugs it had I would easily choose it over the iP4 in terms of software that is, can't stand the way the SGS looks.

Garfs said:
Gotta disagree with you there mate
Mate has a galaxy s and it's not a patch on iphone4 I'm afraid
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is better on the Iphone ???+
I tested three a few weeks ago over three days .IOS4 SGS 1 not SGS2 and Win 7 on a HTC . Hardly any difference between them all down in my opinion to user choice .
jje

First post here so go easy guys -.-
Though coming from webOS 2 on the Pre 2, then to iPhone 4 with iOS 4, and now to SGSII I'd like to think I've experience the best of Mobile UI's.
And Like you, I was bored on iPhone4, the grid of Icons just didnt cut it out for me and seemed something more akin to fisher price, Loved webOS, though the sub-part hardware and lack of Apps killed it for me.
For me the SGSII is the best of both worlds, the screen is absolutely fantastic and has to be seen to believe, the Applications arent quite iPhone but nonetheless are excellent and I have found a suitable replacement for 95% of the ones I use.
I'm also picky when It comes to butter smooth UI's, and Samsung with the implementation of Touchwiz 4 has nailed It, I'm not sure about other Android phones (This being my first) but Samsung has definately implemented GPU Acceleration into the UI, and It's butter smooth, everywhere, browsing and all, It's what really sold this device to me.
I actually hate Sense, It just looks fugly in my opinion, but to each their own, I applaud Samsung, they've done a good job on Touchwiz, I wanted iPhone style Grid Icons and not the standard App Drawer so It was perfect for me, You'll feel right at home as well with the addition of folders, pages etc
My only real Gripes are the fact It's a tad on the big side, though I have small hands and that It's a dust magnet, either that or I'm OCD which I probably am (I wipe the **** out of my screens, make sure they're speckle free ^^)
SAMOLED Plus, 1.2 GHz Blazing fast Exynos CPU, Quad Core Mali GPU, 1080p Recording, 8MP Back 2MP Front, Gingerbread with Butter Smooth Awesome UI & Customization and It's not hard to see why It's possibly the best phone yet.

Chronicles404 said:
First post here so go easy guys -.-
Though coming from webOS 2 on the Pre 2, then to iPhone 4 with iOS 4, and now to SGSII I'd like to think I've experience the best of Mobile UI's.
And Like you, I was bored on iPhone4, the grid of Icons just didnt cut it out for me and seemed something more akin to fisher price, Loved webOS, though the sub-part hardware and lack of Apps killed it for me.
For me the SGSII is the best of both worlds, the screen is absolutely fantastic and has to be seen to believe, the Applications arent quite iPhone but nonetheless are excellent and I have found a suitable replacement for 95% of the ones I use.
I'm also picky when It comes to butter smooth UI's, and Samsung with the implementation of Touchwiz 4 has nailed It, I'm not sure about other Android phones (This being my first) but Samsung has definately implemented GPU Acceleration into the UI, and It's butter smooth, everywhere, browsing and all, It's what really sold this device to me.
I actually hate Sense, It just looks fugly in my opinion, but to each their own, I applaud Samsung, they've done a good job on Touchwiz, I wanted iPhone style Grid Icons and not the standard App Drawer so It was perfect for me, You'll feel right at home as well with the addition of folders, pages etc
My only real Gripes are the fact It's a tad on the big side, though I have small hands and that It's a dust magnet, either that or I'm OCD which I probably am (I wipe the **** out of my screens, make sure they're speckle free ^^)
SAMOLED Plus, 1.2 GHz Blazing fast Exynos CPU, Quad Core Mali GPU, 1080p Recording, 8MP Back 2MP Front, Gingerbread with Butter Smooth Awesome UI & Customization and It's not hard to see why It's possibly the best phone yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. Best response yet. This may actually have sold this to me
May have to pop Into town and check one out

Garfs said:
Thank you. Best response yet. This may actually have sold this to me
May have to pop Into town and check one out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anytime, and trust me you owe It to yourself
There's quite a few Customizations I've made to the Lock and Home Screen If you don't prefer the actual stock widgets so bear that in Mind, It looks pretty awesome now, mate which still has an iPhone was pretty impressed considering.
Not forgetting there's also the HSPA+ radio, In some areas (And depending on network) expect 4MB+ easily, It's also the thinnest smartphone in Class though using a case makes It to normal thin Slab size, I can't really fault It, the only niggle Is battery Life but then again I've been using it 24/7 and I'm yet to properly cycle the battery though early reports suggest you'll easily get a day's worth.

One of the very big plus points for some users but not all users is the ability to customize Android .You do not have to stick with the defaults themes roms kernels etc etc as you like .
jje

Upgraded from Desire HD to Galaxy S2

Well guys,
I thought I will take some time to express my feelings over my upgrade from DHD to SGS2. From a normal users perspective not taking into account, the numerous numbers and values
The first thing I felt was the lightness of Galaxy S2. Really light. And very thin too!! But the downside is that the build quality and finishing is nowhere near HTC. The USB jack, earphone jack are all poorly finished. The worst thing is the shiny lining around the screen which is supposed to look like metal. The finishing of the lining is pathetic for a top end phone, it is saddening to see how unevenly light is getting reflected from this surface.The back panel is not as poorly finished as some reviews might tell. It is the most well finished part in the body of the phone I think. Handsfree is bad compared to the one HTC offers, but HTC's wires did have the tendancy to get tangled up very easily.Similary all accesories are inferior compared to DHDs ones.
But ofcourse the lightness is a welcome factor. And most of us will be putting a cover anyway. So poor finishing can be ignored to some extent.
Now coming to the part where the users look almost 90% of the time, the display. It is too good compared to DHD, and this was my primary reason for ditching the DHD.Although AMOLED of SGS2 is the best at present, it too has its flaws. The black crush -The display struggles to distinguish between various black tones, say deep black and shadow black. And color banding is quite evident in the new AMOLED compared to the LCD. But altogether I am amazed with the display. Watching movies is real fun, but some wallpapers do ask for more resolution.
Coming to the UI, I do not miss sense much. Maybe it is due to the fact that sense always reminds me of DHDs dull screen. Whatever the Touch Wiz UI lacks, the display fills up the space... Not literally, but I dont mind staring a few more seconds to the wonderful display. I would say S2 provides a more close to andriod experience. And touch wiz is more colorfull too, with blacks, yellows, greens thrown all around.
Camera is better from DHD. DHD used to produce slightly blurred images, which I think is due to the low shutter speed. No such problems with SGS2.
The most irritating thing is the lag in some important functions. Home screen has some lag to appear after I press the home button. It is due to the software which waits to confirm whether the user has double clicked it or not!!! Stupid!!
The display takes some time to appear after the call is over, this is due to the bad proximity sensor configuration it seems. Again is said to be a software configuration issue.
Another bad thing is the low output of handsfree in a call. Very bad Samsung...
Verdict????
Superb phone!
1. The brilliant display which always remind you that you are looking at the worlds best.
2. Snappier performance.
3. Light weight
4. Good camera
5. Sense is good, but TouchWiz + AMOLED is a Sense killer

Nice to see you're enjoying your new phone, albeit with a few issues
Ordered mine from play.com 2 days ago, so expecting it today/tomorrow

what do u mean by low output of handsfree

See, this is a balanced review/opinion. I agree with most of the points - the GS II is a great phone, not perfect, but pretty damn close.
Hopefully some of the problems like home response time, end of call lag, handsfree volume level and battery life will be ironed out in future firmware releases.

It is possible to adjust headset volume through service menu:
http://answers.pubarticles.com/4766,in-call-volume-low-with-headphones-on-samsung-galaxy-s2-.html

My compliments. I believe the only impartial review ever find onto our phone. I agree with you about everything there are pros and cons and you evaluated them correctly
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Hey,
I'm using the DHD since about 3 months now. Actually got some issues that people tried to call me but got no calls on good connection xD(think it's a provider issue). My cousin has ordered the GS2 last week and is still waiting. I will have a look if this thing will be an opinion . btw I don't like samsung very much at this time, because I had some bad experiences in the past. But how you can say that touchwiz+amoled is a sense killer? The GS2 got a nice display, but I think you can't compare sense with touchwiz AND amoled. So without looking at the nice amoled...what would you say is the better UI? Sense or touchwiz? At the moment I'm using sense 3 on my DHD and I'm really happy, because it's the best UI i've ever used befor.

Imho sense 1.0 still beats touchwiz 4.0 let alone sense 3.0 but touchwiz is't bad, it's just that sense is so much better. I think samsung really want to become the world's leading smartphone. Manufacturer and have really been trying to become much more reliable, updates are frequent and relatively soon after the Google release.

tjtj4444 said:
It is possible to adjust headset volume through service menu:
http://answers.pubarticles.com/4766,in-call-volume-low-with-headphones-on-samsung-galaxy-s2-.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an appliction "Volume+ " which does the same . I am using it and it
works fine.
It is on the site but I don"t remember where
Daniel

Low handsfree voice
qwerty warrior said:
what do u mean by low output of handsfree
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The handsfree speaker output is low during a call, and the microphone wont pick up the sound properly unless it is held very close to the mouth.. Really irritating.
But the handfree volume is great when using the music player. So some issues with software i guess

tjtj4444 said:
It is possible to adjust headset volume through service menu:
http://answers.pubarticles.com/4766,in-call-volume-low-with-headphones-on-samsung-galaxy-s2-.html
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I found this out when i did a bit of searching, but common, this is a basic functionality and they should have tested this out before launching the product
All the defects I have found so far are simple ones to find out, or if the tester had a common sense, and thats what is annoying me.

Using a silicone case wouldnt help for a better finish?
Anyone I saw some comparison videos between SGS1 and 2 and the new ''mat'' plastic looks way better than the glossy one.
I am just afraid of easy scratches on the plastic like Omnia HD

ike2903 said:
Hey,
But how you can say that touchwiz+amoled is a sense killer? The GS2 got a nice display, but I think you can't compare sense with touchwiz AND amoled. So without looking at the nice amoled...what would you say is the better UI? Sense or touchwiz? At the moment I'm using sense 3 on my DHD and I'm really happy, because it's the best UI i've ever used befor.
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Without looking at the amoled, sense is better than Touchwiz 4.0 by a significant margin. But coming from the DHD, I am wowed by the amoled every time I switch the display on. I assure you, that you will feel the same when you compare both the displays. No need to doubt about that.
But sense has its draw backs. You might have noticed that all the designs and themes are now going towards the 2D side from the 3D side.. Like in gingerbread(evident in icon sets), windows phone 7 etc..... Sense still seems to be stuck with the 3D style with the various bars and other things still trying to imitate the 3D curved effect with various tones of black. It is completely a personal preference I admit. Then there is the app drawer of sense, which pretty much sucks without the ability to customize the order of icons, no folders etc.... One day i find the facebook icon in the second page, the next day after installing a few programs the icon is in 3rd page.. Very irritating for me.
Mail client is bad, which will not let you forward attachments unless you download the file on to your device!! Pretty inferior to gmail app.
Sense 3 lockscreen looks cool but no added functionality for me.. I like things simple, or in the long run i feel it to be a little overwhelming.
Where sense scores is the fantastic people application with real social network integration, perfect widgets... And the dedicated dialler. SGS2 does not have a dedicated dialer. Say i opened the dialer and then went to contacts which is a tab next to dialer. The next time i want to dial and when i press the dialer icon, the contacts shows up. Sense dialer searches the call log first and then the contacts. This gives contacts very quickly. Atleast my girlfriends number will come up as soon as I press two letters No such things for touchwiz dialer. Old way of searching contacts still continues.
Touchwiz keyboard uses auto correction when I search contacts. So if I search for baj, it would correct it to bag and shows contacts with bag..Dumb!!

Who came from GS3?

Who came from a Galaxy S3? And how do you like the change? I'm coming over from being loyal to Samsung since the vibrant ( was HTC only before that). I Havnt liked the iterations of sense on previous HTC phones that's why I have been going with Samsung. Is the new sense 5.0 a lot better?
Those switching from s3 to one I would appreciate your opinions

my opinion is that I would never by a cheap piece of over priced plastic ever again. still holds true after holding an S4 yesterday.. software alone doesn't win me over.

me
I come from a galaxy s3....
I dont regret it a bit...
Wait till you hear the speakers....you will love it...

xdracco said:
my opinion is that I would never by a cheap piece of over priced plastic ever again. still holds true after holding an S4 yesterday.. software alone doesn't win me over.
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I always thought you buy HTC for the software and Samsung for hardware. I still have an sgs2 with jb touchwiz (almost the same as the sgs3 ) but I believe Samsung is still lightyears behind HTC software wise. When I got the sgs2 I went for its specs but in the end it's software that gives you a pleasant experience and that pleasant sense experience turned to be very hard to port to Samsung devices.

I previously had a Galaxy Nexus with a port of TouchWiz on it, does that count?
I've actually owned both HTC and Samsung phones, and to this day I still prefer HTC. I started with the Nexus One, and really loved the build quality. I remember disliking the Nexus S when it came out because of its really cheap plastic construction. Samsung did finally win me over with the Galaxy Nexus because of the 720p screen, but it didn't take long to start getting some AMOLED burn on the top and bottom of the screen, and that really annoyed me. Plus the blacks on the N1 and GN weren't really true black anyway, as you can see the "black" pixels are actually still dimly lit when viewing the phones in complete darkness. It's a moot point compared to the display quality of the new Super LCD3, which is pretty acceptably "black" for me in low light.
By going back to the HTC One, I don't have to worry about screen burn, and I get the awesome HTC build quality. Most of my friends that still prefer Samsung are rocking a Note instead, because the S-Pen is really the only unique feature that they need. All the other TouchWiz specific apps are just rehashes of existing Google and other third party apps, so there's no point in spending extra to get the Samsung experience. There's also much less bloat in Sense 5, and I actually love using the IR blaster, and I think BlinkFeed is a pretty decent alternative to Flipboard and Google Currents, at least when I don't want to spend a lot of time configuring my news feeds.
For me, Sense 5 pretty much hits the sweet spot in terms of additional functionality versus bloat. I'm still accustomed to having huge developer support on Nexus devices, but I'm more comfortable running stock Sense than I was with stock Android, and may just keep the stock ROM for a few more months, or even indefinitely.

godutch said:
I always thought you buy HTC for the software and Samsung for hardware. I still have an sgs2 with jb touchwiz (almost the same as the sgs3 ) but I believe Samsung is still lightyears behind HTC software wise. When I got the sgs2 I went for its specs but in the end it's software that gives you a pleasant experience and that pleasant sense experience turned to be very hard to port to Samsung devices.
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true. very true. the software, in the end, is what end users will adapt to. personally, i don't care about the stock software as I end up customizing it anyways. however, i cannot agree that Samsung is for hardware unless you mean bleeding edge hardware and not so much the plastic. Even then, I could care less if a CPU is 200MHz faster than X as memory is a better determining factor, for me anyways.

I came from gs3 lte with 2GB of ram and I still have it. I use gs3 from time to time because I have some game on it with my data.
I have to say, WOW! The One is just so much better in every aspect, I mean every, I cannot think a single thing which it lacks of.
The screen is much clearer, sharper, lighter, it does not have the over saturated colour but still provide deep black.
The smoothness of the os is just so much better on One, even they both have 2 GB ram, s3 just lags here and there, even the basic things. When I did not get the One, I never realised the lag, but now I really can't go back to s3.
The sound, the build quality, the specs, and the camera, do I need to mention again?
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

I personally came from an HTC Desire HD, but my girlfriend has an S3 and for a while I thought I was going to go with one. Great phone and very slick. The plastic construction didn't even bother me as much as I thought it would. I really loved my DHD in the beginning but the newer Sense updates made the phone feel more sluggish IMO, so I was pretty much decided on either an S3 or Nexus 4. The way I saw it, I wasn't going to get an S4 because the improvements were pretty incremental, with a huge amount of bloatware and gimmicky features that I wasn't interested in. Considering I could get an S3 for free on a cheaper, better contract, it just didn't seem worth it.
Anyways, once I saw the phone I was tempted to go back to HTC, and trying it out in person totally cemented it. The screen, speakers and camera are fantastic, and Sense actually provides useful, and completely unique features that really appealed to me. It obliterates Touchwiz in speed and minimalism, whilst improving on the stock Android look and feel. HTC Zoe, lowlight photography and HDR microphone are killer features that I would really miss now if I was to switch to any other phone. It's the best bit of tech I've ever used, and has completely restored my faith in HTC.
To top it all off it's also cheaper than an S4, meaning I'm finally on an unlimited data plan for an extra £12 per year compared to what I was paying before. So with cloud storage I don't even need expandable memory. HTC has done so much right with this phone, and while I can see it's not perfect for everyone, it comes as close as humanly possible for my needs.

I came from S3 having owned S2 before that. Waited till S4 was released to have play with it not impressed soon as held one knew I had to get it. The speakers are awsome so is camera and features everything about it really lol
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

I came from s3 and I'm happy s3 is laggy, and TouchWiz is evil
---
DimonVideo.ru

Didn't come from a GS3 but I do respect that phone alot. Fantastic device.
However, I was heavily debating between the GS4 and the One. I must say, the One takes the cake, hands down.
Sense 5 is beautiful, fast, and functional - not nearly as bad as it used to be. I (truly) have not noticed any lag at all yet.
In my personal opinion, I don't care for the GS4 based off the design and TouchWiz.
After you hear the speakers, use the camera, and hold the One... I think you'll be sold, I was.
Just my 2 cents, friend. Let us know what you decide!

I went from a HTC Desire Z --> S3 --> One.
In fact the only reason I chose S3 over the One X last year was because I needed AWS (was on Wind mobile for a while). I actually would have bought the One X if I had the choice.
To me, the S3 is kind of ugly. The plastic (especially the flimsy battery door) really made the phone feel cheap. It's not to say that all plastic phones are cheap, only the way samsung makes them. I had a Nokia N9 for a couple of months and loved the build quality.
The screen on the One is definitely nicer. I prefer the bright, crisp look of LCD vs the pentile screen of the S3.
And the thing that really sucks on samsung devices is the touchwiz. It doesn't matter if you are running gingerbread or jellybean, it pretty much looks the same.
And coming from an desireZ I was surprised that the roms were not compatible even with the identical hardware (ie Wind S3 vs T-mobile S3). With my DZ i used to flash G2 roms all the time even though they had different hw. It seems to be the same case for the One.
The things that bug me about the One are the missing menu button (I know there are some hacks available) and the fact that NAND is write protected (until we figure out S-OFF). I also miss the quick notification menu settings but I'm sure there are apps/hacks that can add this functionality (haven't bothered looking yet).

I also came from a GS3. Its an underwhelming experience on many aspects in comparison to the One. Hated the lag when opening contacts and the dialer, evil Touchwiz. Very uninspiring.
Having said that it was an older device.
The One is just mesmerising....in all the right areas.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium

Came from the S3 and it was a great upgrade
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

I came from the S3. I love the One. To me Sense 5 is less "cartoonish" than touchwiz.
The cool Touchwiz features like smart stay and such were cool at first but after a while a never used them. To me the incredible sound on this device trumps everything else for me. I watch YouTube and use speaker phone all the time. It makes such a different to use those things on a phone like this.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

I still love my S3. It was my first truly fast phone and was the largest upgrade in speed, features, and screen. It always worked perfectly and I really didn't "need" an upgrade, but my wife did so I got the One and gave her my S3
The One seems nice so far. There are a few qwirks I'm hoping HTC can address soon, but I expect to like this phone just as much.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

I'm coming from an S3 as well. I'm far happier with the One than I ever was with the S3. I always found that Samsung gave their phones a ton of features that never really seemed to work. Like using the accelerometer to flip between pages and using the front facing camera to see my face so that if I'm lying down it doesn't auto rotate. These are great features on paper but in practice they never worked or didn't work very well. The HTC One is pretty much a no frills handset (compared to the S4 in terms of features) that's beautifully designed. Honestly, I hope HTC does well with this phone, it's finally an android experience that I've been happy with.

Came from the GS3. I wasn't sure I wanted the gs4 because it was so similar to the gs3. Once i held the htc one, it was over.

s4
I came from a S4,I didn't like the plastic and now with my One I'm so happy!!
I love sense,build ,sound,display etc etc..........
byebye Samsung!:fingers-crossed:

I came from the Canadian dual core galaxy s3 and I have to say that the One is at least 1000 times better. Sense isn't filled with a bunch of useless software things that clutter up your phone and the battery life is incredible. Not to mention that in games it's much quicker and have yet to experience any lag at all in any games including modern combat 4 which lagged like hell on my SGS3

So I have an HTC One AND a Galaxy S4 now...unbiased observations between the two

I just wrote this this thread to humor myself and anyone else who cares or is interested in comparisons between the two phones. I'm coming from an HTC Sensation which I've had for about 2 years, previously owned the og Galaxy S (Vibrant), and instead of the S4 I chose the HTC one, and got the GS4 for my wife instead, and use both on a regular basis.
Here are my observations since I actually have both phones and can compare them with no bias...
-A lot of the online mainstream reviews you'll read between the two hit the nail on the head. The One imo is a better "phone". It does indeed have less features then the S4 (although many of them are gimmicks like the eye scrolling/tracking, airview, and a few others) but the speakers are far superior, which obviously aids for anyone who ever uses speakerphone or plays music and videos, the call quality is also a little better, the phone is more fluid and faster than the GS4 with basic functions like scrolling screens etc, and the phone of course has a MUCH more "premium" feel. Sense 5 is MUUUUUCH better than past versions of Sense and like a lot of review say, it *DOES* improve over stock android in actual useful features. The look is subjective of course but it's flat, useful and fast, and to me that's all that matters. The camera is better than any past smartphone I've ever used (Tmobile Dash>G1>Vibrant>Sensation>One) so I like it personally, but compared to its rivals like the GS4 I guess it's not the best, but does everything I've ever asked of it VERY well so no complaints from me.
-The GS4 on the other hand has a superior camera. The camera on the One isn't bad at all, and kills the Gs4 in low light conditions and the aspect ratio and wide lense captures waaay more in each frame, but the GS4 has more camera features, packs a crapload more detail in each shot, has some pretty useful camera modes the One doesn't have, and is just generally better. The Galaxy might not be made of aluminum like the one, but it's lighter and imo actually feels better in my hand (without a case). Once you add a case in the mix, hand feel is null and void obviously but if you like to go commando the Gs4 feels better and will probably hold up to abuse better than the One due to the polycarbonate body and gorilla glass 3. The screen on the Galaxy is bigger than the One while the actual phone altogether is lighter and smaller so that's pretty nice, but it's not really THAT noticeable to be honest. One huge, huge advantage the Galaxy has over the One is removable storage and battery, which *USED* to be a deal breaker for me back in the day, but I've learned to live without them since I got my One, so either way it's a definite advantage but I guess how much so is up to the user. The Galaxy also has native quick settings built in which the one doesn't have (yet), so minor issue but another positive for the galaxy.
As far as negative for each, I'm actually on my second One already. Somehow my camera lense glass cracked even though I keep the phone in case and have never dropped it or bumped it. It just appeared one day in addition to the top speaker grill starting to separate from the body. Weird, but I got it replaced and the replacement is doing fine and actually stands up to overclocking and undervolting better than my old unit, so that made me pretty happy lol. That's really the only issue I've had with mine, but on the whole, the phone is definitely more fragile than the Galaxy WITHOUT a case. It scratches easier, dents, chips, etc...while the Galaxy doesn't.
The Galaxy feels better in hand (caseless) than the One, but it's slippery as hell and slides around easily and can be more prone to being dropped. Again, only an issue without a case, but this is my observation.
Touchwiz...personally I think it's a mess. I don't care for the look, as many have said it feels like your still running Gingerbread 2.3. The look hasn't changed much since I had a Vibrant running Touchwiz from 3 years ago, and while Touchwiz DOES have some unique features and generally does more than Sense and stock android...it's just ugly as hell while doing so lol. The Galaxy also does feel a tad slower and microstutters every so often while the One is almost always fluid and seems much smoother even tho it's running a newer version of android and has slightly better specs on hardware...it just doesn't "feel" like it. Other than that it's a fantastic phone and we haven't had any problems with it whatsoever unlike the One.
Between the two...if I just had to pick one, it's a toss up. I prefer my One honestly but I can see the advantages of the Galaxy S4 with it having more features so I'll just break it down like this...
Usefuleness as an actual phone
One>S4
Camera
GS4>One
In hand feel, portability
One=GS4
Usefulness as a multimedia device
GS4=One
Expandability
GS4>One
I will say that between the two if this even matters to anyone...I get WAAAAAY more props and questions and even jealous stares directed towards the One.........although..........people tend to ask to let them play with the Galaxy S4 quite often lol...

This is going to be TLDR post
I think now I have owned all 1080P phones from mainstream manufacturers and Oppo.
DNA, Xperia Z, SGS4 and One.
Could not live with Xperia Z, unacceptable compromises on a flagship device. Sold DNA as well and now with SGS4 and One (And Oppo find 5 as well, but that purchase was of oa curiosity purchase )
Both have their niggles to be honest at this point. But as far as one is concerned, I am not going to live with Sense 5 in its current form. I just cant. I will keep complaining about blink feed until HTC fixes it to add custom sources or more sources comparable to Pulse. The social media capabilities of blink feed are irrelevent to me as I dont use facebook much and for twitter which I do use, it does not even comes close to functionality of Falcon Pro.
Then the caveats with app drawer, lack of options to change wallpaper from home by long pressing also gets on my nerves. Having to go through 3 steps extra to change wallpaper is just silly. So I had to resort to custom launcher which has its own share of problems due to the fact that for some reason lot of launchers are not butter smooth on One with MSM DCVS governor as well as not as smooth as Note 2 or Nexus 4 even on default On demand governor. For those who have not actually experienced what butter smooth experience means on these device, it appears smooth. My sis who came from SGS2 thinks its smooth. I can feel the jitter in UI and that is really disappointing. And it has something to do with governor and / or kernel as there are issues with jitter and microstutter in 2d arcade games like Hill climb racing on One when the same game runs just fine on older Krait 200 CPU on Oppo Find 5. I got Go launcher to be most close to what I want by adjusting animation speed. But it is still not as perfect as I want it to be.
That and menu button even when mapped to long press back using custom rom does not still behave perfectly 100% of time. Sometimes it just goes back. But I have learned to live with that. But these are notable niggles.
Camera issues I had with older camera are now fixed. I am happy with One camera results now.
The only other bugs that annoys the hell out of me is the contact bug that was there is Sense 4 as well and it is there in sense 5 as well where Sense decides to save new contact to my other gmail account than my primary account even when the second gmail account is not even set to sync contacts. Every time after installing new ROM clean I have to click on Google tab and select my primary account before hitting save.
SGS4 TWUI might be visual mess but it is very functional. Everything just works as it should on Android phone. The actions are not that far away from what we get on stock android. So even with Samsung plastering entire colour spectrum all over, everything works as I am used to. No surprises, no irritating faults. I dont might extra features. I have half of them disabled and bloat removed.
The power saving features on Exynos Octa does not seem to work properly yet, or not as good as they are suppose. The product was clearly rushed, but I guess it will be SGS3 story all over again with Samsung fixing most issues with unofficial leaks over coming weeks and with final release fixing this on OTA for those who dont want to experiement. I have that much faith in Samsung now.
Hardware I leave it to the users but SGS4 does not feel like cheap plastic. Sure it does not feel as premium as HTC One, but that typical BS people on forums and even some press spreading about SGS4 feeling cheap is just plain BS. It feels good in hands, it feels as premium as Note 2 and Note 2 did not feel cheap at all. Specially not in white colour. Rest is upto end user to decide but if you get the chance, do see S4 in person. It is great device to hold and use. With right case which I always use no matter what phone, it is not going to be an issue at all.
Coming down to personal choice, I am still using One as my personal daily driver and S4 as work phone. The bigger real estate on S4 does come in handy though and I have a feeling that in the end it is going to be better overall device to use for media consumption for someone like me who do not listen to songs or watch videos without using headphones. I dont like to watch videos even at home with the Ones wonderful speakers as I dont like disturbing my family members, and specially my hyperactive dog that just wants to get its head between me and my phone to investigate what sound is coming out of this weird device if I play anything on it using loudspeaker So really I am wasting the speakers on One. But that can be big selling points to some. For me, it is nice thing to have but I like to use phone strictly for personal media consumption and not broadcast it to others, neither do I want to disturb others at night in bed when I usually check up on some youtube videos from my subscribed channels.
The bigger real estate also helps a lot in gaming.
In the end S4 has less niggles at the moment. HTC has chosen risky strategy with Sense 5. People will either love it or those like me who simply hate it. I replaced it with custom launcher. Lot of people still love it but plenty are going to be frustrated by it. I never likes less options or restrictive behaviour on any android phone. That is exactly what HTC has done on their stock sense 5 launcher.
UI functionality is as or rather more important that UI design and feel. Sense 5 feels smooth and polished but it is very restrictive in nature and feels like HTC have done some things deliberately different just for the sake of being different without thinking logically if they really needed to do those things differently.
It is case of "So close to perfection, yet so far" with One. It is wonderful device. Good enough for me to be ready to live with the cavates it has. But sometimes I feel like switching to S4 as primary personal daily driver. But the beauty of this device is what keeping me from ditching it. That is ultimate thing in favour of One. But frustrating thing is, it could have been so much better with just few changes.

Thread closed
This thread is another sad example of the reason why we do not wnat any comparison threads here. Although the OP had the best goals with posting it, some fanboy users can't refrain from using it as another battle ground. Deleted 15 posts (some of them NOT being unfair, but I treated all equal)
So thank you OP for the comparison. It stays here as it is helpful. The rest of the discussion is not.