Database Users

Question to those who upgraded from Galaxy S2

If you take battery life and camera quality out of the equation, do you think there is a good reason to upgrade to S4 from S2 ? do you find something particularly better on the S4 ?
Thanks.

Screen resolution..
Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk 2

LTE
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app

Overall screen quality, much much faster charging, lots of smart features which makes life easier.
For me, the screen and battery life(also the charging speed, was frustrated by S2 taking 4-5 hrs to charge) were the reasons enough to upgrade.

I'd say I do like the phone but was almost slightly disappointed when I first got it...I preferred the size of the s2 but have since become more used to the s4 size wise. Otherwise as others said, screen quality is much better, battery is better for me at least, some of the gimmicky stuff is good for some, nfc and just generally faster etc
worth the upgrade if you want to!

Thank you for your answers.
From what you say, it seems I don't have much to gain by upgrading from S2 to S4 currently.
I don't have LTE in my country.
I keep a spare S2 battery in my wallet (so battery is never an issue).
All the gimmicks I'll probably never use...
I do like the bigger screen, but it also makes it harder to carry...
It seems that even though the S4 is about 10X faster than the S2, this huge hardware advantage doesn't translate to real life performance gain (apart from 3D games maybe, but I hardly play those).
2 years ago I upgraded from HTC HD2 to Galaxy S2, because the S2's internet browsing speed was about 2-3 times faster than the HD2. This was a real advantage I could enjoy every day (and I am enjoying it everyday). It seems that the S4 simply doesn't have that "killer feature" which will make it a much more functional device than the S2 (browsing speed for example is practically identical between these two devices)... It could be that Android 5 will finally unleash the S4's potential (and totally kill the S2 because of lack of support), but I think Android 5 is very far away... (by then we might have the S5 already)

Ultimately, it does come down to what you use. I must say though, the S4 is very easy to get used to. So, once you're used to the 5inch in hand, it'll be hard for you to go back to anything smaller.
But browsing is smoother if anything. But, if you're happy with your S2 then you should stay and wait for S800 CPUs to arrive atleast Then, you may witness some real performance boosts. Not that you wont see any improvement with the S600 [you will ]

I upgraded from s2 to i9500.
The screen resolution its A WHOLE NEW WORLD i can tell you that, also the size of it, once you get confortable with the size, you cant never go back. The only thing its that there is a lot less roms, and another thing from my model is that there is a problem with the camera driver and some apps wont work.

I upgraded from the S2 to S4 (I9505 edition)
PROS:
* Bigger screen / better resolution / much more vibrant / much more clear / heaps better colour
* Faster / more powerful in EVERY aspect (CPU, RAM, WIFI, LTE etc etc)
* Newer / faster updates (especially with the Google Edition ROMS)
* Super Customizable (S2 was great about a year ago, since then it has died off substantial as developers have moved onto other devices)
* A HUGE number of developers on the S4 (XDA and other forums)
* Bunch of new features - pedometer, thermometer, gyro, humidity monitor, eye tracking, air-view, etc etc etc (not going to list them all, because i don't have time)
CONS:
* nothing.... S4 is basically an S2 on steroids and 2 years more advanced hardware combined with brilliant software.
Basically comes down to:
1) can you afford the upgrade
2) do the PRO's features benefit you in anyway
3) am i able to handle, such amazing power and put it to a good use...

Cons: no fm radio
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium

andymihail said:
Cons: no fm radio
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Much better, use tunein radio.
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2

I9500 or i9505 help!!

Hello everyone, i'm planning to sell my Xperia Z due to overheating problems and buy a The new SGS4 but I'M VERRY CONFUSED which model is the best I know that the best for performance is the I9500 although I saw some people say that it overheat so please i9500 owners do u have any problems with your phones?
Thank you
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app

Walid Rouabhi said:
Hello everyone, i'm planning to sell my Xperia Z due to overheating problems and buy a The new SGS4 but I'M VERRY CONFUSED which model is the best I know that the best for performance is the I9500 although I saw some people say that it overheat so please i9500 owners do u have any problems with your phones?
Thank you
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
I dont know about overheating but I know I looked everywhere for 19500 which it looks like you can only find online. From what ive read the proc itself is better .. not so much right now but has room to be used way more effectivly.. If there is no overheating issues i would get the 9500 just in case down the road these fine people are able to unlock the xtra power. As for me I couldnt wait for an order and just bought the 9505 and Im super happy with it.. Good luck either way im sure youll be happy.

I am happy with my i9505 and the development seems better also.

Walid Rouabhi said:
Hello everyone, i'm planning to sell my Xperia Z due to overheating problems and buy a The new SGS4 but I'M VERRY CONFUSED which model is the best I know that the best for performance is the I9500 although I saw some people say that it overheat so please i9500 owners do u have any problems with your phones?
Thank you
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you plan to install roms such as CM or AOKP then the i9505 is your choice, if not then it really doesn't matter, just buy the cheapest of the two.

Get the one which is being officially sold in your country. If you can have either one, I would recommend i9505.

Thank you all but does your i9505s heat up?
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app

Walid Rouabhi said:
Thank you all but does your i9505s heat up?
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine doesn't have a heating problem. Is normal to be hot when playing demanding games, but it is not extremely hot.

Snapdragon version (i9505) should be a little bit cooler (not too much though).
For better custom ROM support I suggest the I9505. But i doubt the Galaxy S4 will be much coolee than the Xperia Z.

Stay away from the i9500 , I thought I was getting a good phone and here are a few things that made me decide to stay away from samsung from now :
- It overheats like crazy (no matter what you are doing on it , even idle charging)
- It's less powerful than the i9505 (don't kid yourself , A15 @ 1.6GHz is weaker than the 1.9 GHz Snapdragon)
- Freezes and reboots itself several times a week (due to application/stock rom issues)
Horrible , horrible experience.

RTudoRR said:
Stay away from the i9500 , I thought I was getting a good phone and here are a few things that made me decide to stay away from samsung from now :
- It overheats like crazy (no matter what you are doing on it , even idle charging)
- It's less powerful than the i9505 (don't kid yourself , A15 @ 1.6GHz is weaker than the 1.9 GHz Snapdragon)
- Freezes and reboots itself several times a week (due to application/stock rom issues)
Horrible , horrible experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, something's terribly wrong with your phone. Sounds like problems that the phone had with its original first firmware. Update, wipe and than come back in.
I have I9500 and I'm on Omega v11 with stock kernel, have no issues with overheating in idle or simple tasks. Demanding tasks or games makes phone hot, but tolerable. Battery life is great, especially now on MG5!
And since I bought it, I have never had even one random reboot or freeze.
And to notice. A15 with its GPU is more potent than Snapdragon 600 with its Adreno.
Regards
Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk 2

admir83x said:
Dude, something's terribly wrong with your phone. Sounds like problems that the phone had with its original first firmware. Update, wipe and than come back in.
I have I9500 and I'm on Omega v11 with stock kernel, have no issues with overheating in idle or simple tasks. Demanding tasks or games makes phone hot, but tolerable. Battery life is great, especially now on MG5!
And since I bought it, I have never had even one random reboot or freeze.
And to notice. A15 with its GPU is more potent than Snapdragon 600 with its Adreno.
Regards
Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried almost every single firmware out there (Stock only) , I refuse to root it and/or apply modded roms since it will null my warranty (and yes , most of the bugs I came across are from firmwares but still a phone someone should stay away from)

He's right. The octa processor isn't really ready for prime time yet. It doesn't really work the way an octa core should and doesn't give any advantage over the quad at this stage. It seems it was mostly a marketing gimmick - some people will buy it because they assume more cores makes it better.
-- Sent from the mighty Note 2 --

dr.m0x said:
He's right. The octa processor isn't really ready for prime time yet. It doesn't really work the way an octa core should and doesn't give any advantage over the quad at this stage. It seems it was mostly a marketing gimmick - some people will buy it because they assume more cores makes it better.
-- Sent from the mighty Note 2 --
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"some people will buy it because they assume more cores makes it better. "
Sorry but I had no choice when buying it at AMAZON site. Only choice was the color ' black or white".
For me it was only one S4 and not many different model as today (more than 6 versions!!!) That's a funny way Samsung is playing with prodduct names.
Anyway I am happy with what I get, no LTE available in my country and it will take long time to open, so when ready I'll be buying S8!!! may be....

RTudoRR said:
Stay away from the i9500 , I thought I was getting a good phone and here are a few things that made me decide to stay away from samsung from now :
- It overheats like crazy (no matter what you are doing on it , even idle charging)
- It's less powerful than the i9505 (don't kid yourself , A15 @ 1.6GHz is weaker than the 1.9 GHz Snapdragon)
- Freezes and reboots itself several times a week (due to application/stock rom issues)
Horrible , horrible experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude your phone is a faulty unit. I have a 9500 ( stock, rooted ) and haven't had any of the problems you are saying.
I recommend the 9505 because it has a better battery life than the 9500

[Q] Is a good idea to buy now a S4+?

Hi,
I am looking to renew my phone now. First I was thinking in the S4 considering the price is quite good now the S5 is out. But then I thought maybe is more wise to get a S4+ since I plan to use the phone for a couple of years. But it seems that there is less support for the i9506 than for the original 9505 in terms of ROMs. What should I choose?
I have also cosidered the S5 but the price is too high and the only plus I see from it is the camera + dust/water protection. It feels better an S4 with the black edition back cover than the S5...
I would really appreciate some opinions/tips. Thanks!!!

i think S5 doesn't bring anything new to the table besides little cpu power.
its bulkier larger heavier. for me it;s no,no. s4 is large as it is.
you can have I9506 which is snapdragon 800 edition of s4 which is almost the same as s5 processing power.

Yeah but when u get i9506 u r stuck with stock firmware there is currently minimal development for it, and there is no 4.4.2 kk for it yet.
I wish I had gone for the i9505
Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk

i did use my S1 for years - from 2.2 (and after rooting and costum ROMs) to 4.2 - its still very good usable ..
i would say nearly as fast as on stock 2.2 when i bought it
only web rendering went a bit slow on some pages
so as long as you are not a gamer or massive picture editor you wont need the extra cpu power for years (my guess)

[Q] should i upgrade from gs3 to gs4?

Hi im a gs3 user and want to own gs4...but ive heard many problems concerning this phone, like random reboots and freezing while call..also autorotate problems after uodate to kitkat
Does these problems can be solved with customs roms? Or should i stay with my s3?
Thnksssssss a looooooooooooooooooottttt and sorry if its repeated thread....bcz im in rush. ..

tarekboukaf said:
Hi im a gs3 user and want to own gs4...but ive heard many problems concerning this phone, like random reboots and freezing while call..also autorotate problems after uodate to kitkat
Does these problems can be solved with customs roms? Or should i stay with my s3?
Thnksssssss a looooooooooooooooooottttt and sorry if its repeated thread....bcz im in rush. ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a S3 i747 and I was pretty satisfied with it, I had it with CM11 and just love it badly and think that an S4 upgrade will be unnecesary because I didn't see why the people get excited when it was first launched.
Recently I had the oportunity of hold a S4 in my hands and I see that is not larger than a S3 and I liked so much its design, the size of the LED button, its screen size and the quadcore procesosr improvement also was good so I decide to go for a S4. I bought a second hand i337m S4 for about US 300 after sold my i747 in about US 250 so it was a no thinking situation for me. I haven't noticed any annoying bug on stock rom, the camera app was pretty cool with plenty of effects and WatchOn app was great to control your TV. I'm a hardened CM fan so I can't wait to see it on my cellphone so I installed it and so far (I have CM for about 5 days now) the only bug I have see is that while the phone is charging, you can't power on the cellphone (you just have to disconnect it and power on, not a big deal), for TV control I use Peel Smart Remote App and it works just as good as Samsung's app
In conclusion: I would say that if you feel good with your S3 you have no particular need for buy a S4 (probably get the same experience with some improvements) but if you have the oportunity of upgrade at a good price, then go for it

tarekboukaf said:
Hi im a gs3 user and want to own gs4...but ive heard many problems concerning this phone, like random reboots and freezing while call..also autorotate problems after uodate to kitkat
Does these problems can be solved with customs roms? Or should i stay with my s3?
Thnksssssss a looooooooooooooooooottttt and sorry if its repeated thread....bcz im in rush. ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
some users have problems with Kitkat and some don't.
In general custom roms are running better than the original system. My guess. I'm very satisfied with S4 developed custom roms
It is your choice. There aren't any big hardware changes except full HD screen and camera quality.
Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk

cristianpark said:
I had a S3 i747 and I was pretty satisfied with it, I had it with CM11 and just love it badly and think that an S4 upgrade will be unnecesary because I didn't see why the people get excited when it was first launched.
Recently I had the oportunity of hold a S4 in my hands and I see that is not larger than a S3 and I liked so much its design, the size of the LED button, its screen size and the quadcore procesosr improvement also was good so I decide to go for a S4. I bought a second hand i337m S4 for about US 300 after sold my i747 in about US 250 so it was a no thinking situation for me. I haven't noticed any annoying bug on stock rom, the camera app was pretty cool with plenty of effects and WatchOn app was great to control your TV. I'm a hardened CM fan so I can't wait to see it on my cellphone so I installed it and so far (I have CM for about 5 days now) the only bug I have see is that while the phone is charging, you can't power on the cellphone (you just have to disconnect it and power on, not a big deal), for TV control I use Peel Smart Remote App and it works just as good as Samsung's app
In conclusion: I would say that if you feel good with your S3 you have no particular need for buy a S4 (probably get the same experience with some improvements) but if you have the oportunity of upgrade at a good price, then go for it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for yr reply, i very appreciate it ... nice if y didnt have issues with it, some people does... bcz there are some who has the issues that i have mentioned before, and i thought they will be resolved by a custom rom....
thanks again................

DarkerTimes said:
Hi,
some users have problems with Kitkat and some don't.
In general custom roms are running better than the original system. My guess. I'm very satisfied with S4 developed custom roms
It is your choice. There aren't any big hardware changes except full HD screen and camera quality.
Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for yr reply...... yes custom roms are amazing... ill buy a S4 and see....hope no problems
thanks a lottttttttttttttttttt

I had S3 and I have now S4 (i9500) with Kitkat update, S4 have 2 GB Memory (S3 only 1 GB) & it is more smooth than S3, S4 also doesn't lag as much as S3 do.
in general S4 is a nice update for your current S3, but if you want my advice try to get S5, the screen in S5 is way more accurate and better than S4 screen, the battery also is more powerful.
it depends on how much you are ready to pay $.

Hi i also upgraded from s3 to s4 last October, i would. Recommend You to upgrade to s4 as it is a really good and compact device with 1080p display and thin bezels, unlike the ugly s5 which isn't compact.
Sent from my LG-V500 using XDA Free mobile app

Exynos or Snapdragon, what do I gain

Hey,
I read thread Exynos or Snapdragon but it was closed without answering precisely few aspects.
I do not care about benchmarks but mostly daily usage, so is it true that moving to:
Exynos:
more smooth system
no other roms but based on Samsung, no AOSP
Snapdragon
more micro lags
access to AOSP
And here is the thing - AOSP.
As far I know none of AOSP rom is so rich in terms of useful things like Samsung based rom - I mean S-pen, camera, overall productivity which Samsung made for Note 4 exclusively as it is business serie.
So having Snapdragon we install AOSP rom and lose great camera (as AOSP rom has always crap camera software), S-Pen and other smaller things. Then we get not the Note but Nexus or One Plus One.
Is there a point in moving to AOSP rom in Note 4 and losing all these things? IMHO no if we lose them, and I guess we do.
So if we want to save all productivity, camera ect. we have to stay on Samsung based rom, where then it does not matter it is Snap or Exynos, except better performance of Exynos.
So judging is it better to take Exynos or my points are flawed?

Actually the Exynos does have AOSP Rom - http://teameos.org// (Don't know if it work or not).
And I had both, the Exynos is indeed faster in term of overall smoothness, opening apps etc.
I actually regret changing from the Exynos to the Snapdragon, because the Exynos was better experience for me.

I know battery drain is bigger in Exynos but I don't care as I am going to buy Hyperion 8000 mAh battery case so
So it seems there are tries to make AOSP on Exynos but overall it would be a loss of functions which make Note, THE Note, right?
I also read about camera, there is mod for Snapdragon version but honestly I do not see difference there.

Burgscheinkerkdeiktraast said:
I know battery drain is bigger in Exynos but I don't care as I am going to buy Hyperion 8000 mAh battery case so
So it seems there are tries to make AOSP on Exynos but overall it would be a loss of functions which make Note, THE Note, right?
I also read about camera, there is mod for Snapdragon version but honestly I do not see difference there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't notice significant battery drain on the Exynos when comparing to the Snapdragon, but it depends on your usage, apps etc.
And with 8000mAh I don't think you should worry.

What about camera? Any shuttering during recording? Smooth 30 (60) FPS every time?

I don't know much about the Snapdragon model, because my country don't sell Note 4 in Qualcomm (But A5 A7 E5 E7 Note Edge are Qualcomm models in my country) but you'll have access to many ROMs available on the internet, including CyanogenMod.
Exynos model have bad batteries. 50% of battery drained to 30% after just 2 hours of usage without playing games, just calls, Facebook, web browsing and light multitasking. All on 3G HSPA+ but sometimes experience weak signal and switched into EDGE (I used while going to school with TeamEOS ROM) If you want CyanogenMod, they are not available by CyanogenMod themselves, but TeamEOS ported many of the CyanogenMod features to their ROM. You get almost the same experience as you're on CyanogenMod.

phongpan355 said:
Exynos model have bad batteries
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, but I have to disagree. I have a N910C and get great battery life - 6hrs+ SoT every day, and most days I have over 30% left at end of day. This is with WiFi and Bluetooth on all day and Power Saving off. I deliberately chose the Exynos version because of the Wolfson DAC, and I have found no lag whatsoever, except in the Recent Apps button which is rumored to be fixed in 5.1.1 but doesn't really bother me anyway.

Kinsman-UK said:
Sorry, but I have to disagree. I have a N910C and get great battery life - 6hrs+ SoT every day, and most days I have over 30% left at end of day. This is with WiFi and Bluetooth on all day. I deliberately chose the Exynos version because of the Wolfson DAC, and I have found no lag whatsoever, except in the Recent Apps button which is rumored to be fixed in 5.1.1 but doesn't really bother me anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here , my exynos N910h can survive for 2 days with 6+ hours of SOT with wifi on almost all the time ... ( power saving mode activated )