Database Users

ICS and Galaxy Nexus info

THE BEST 4chan thread ever: http://boards.4chan.org/g/res/20045706
This guy apparently got some inside stuff, will post his thread here and copy + paste is for those not brave enough to look themselves.
"Alright so these Samsung representatives dropped by work today and gave our team a heads up about their mobile division and their flagship phones coming out in the near future. Basically they came in with the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus. They said it was a beta model, but it looked like a proper retail version. They talked about that phone, their Galaxy S II, it’s success and the Galaxy S III next year which is already in R&D.
I have an iPhone 4, but I’m very familiar with the Galaxy S II (my job is to work with phones) so it’s easy to make comparisons between the two.
Samsung Galaxy Nexus:
- Samsung representatives showed a working a working model of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus but not the Galaxy S III. They passed around the Galaxy Nexus phone and we got about an hour to play with it while they were here. The phone looks similar to the Sprint variant of the Galaxy S II, with a round-edged body, but also similar to the Nexus S with a curved screen. It’s a good size, not too big if you’re used to Android phones. It’s a monster compared to iPhones though.
- Reps said that Verizon passed on the SGSII to have an exclusive deal with Samsung to stock the Galaxy Nexus.
- The SGN will run on Samsung’s Exynos dual core CPU clocked at 1.5GHz, 1gb RAM, Super AMOLED Plus 4.65 inch 1280x720 HD display, 16gb internal memory (with sd card slot) is 8.8mm thick, metal body and a 2000mAh battery (the same as the new one that’s being released for the Galaxy S II).
- It is heavier than the SGSII, weighing in at around 130g-140g because of the metal casing. It feels nice and has got decent weight.
- The phone is blazingly fast, I guess it’s as fast the SGS II. It has no issues with general use and opens apps, drawers etc instantly. No lag. I tried opening a whole bunch of apps, but it was still running smooth and would auto-kill once it got overloaded anyway, so you never feel the performance taking a hit."
"Ice Cream Sandwich:
- Ice Cream Sandwich is very nice. It works like the current Gingerbread OS but has gotten a major facelift. The menus are a lot nicer and smoother, screens have a ‘glassy’ look to them. It just feels more polished with more animations (fast and smooth) when accessing things on the phone.
- On the demo unit, the Android version was 2.4.1, not 4.0 or whatever people were expecting.
- The app drawer has three sections at the top that you press and it goes to the drawer for your selection. There are sections for apps, games and widgets. The apps section is what we are all used to. Just drawer for all the apps on the phone. The games section is just a drawer for all the games you’ve downloaded, the widgets section shows all the apps that have widgets available. The cool thing is you can click the widgets in the widgets section to get a view of what they look like. So you don’t have to screw around with applying a widget on a homescreen, seeing you don’t like it, deleting it, doing it again wit a slightly different setting etc etc to see the difference. On ICS you get a visual representation of the widget, you can swap easily between the widgets the app provides, change the settings in real time, and then you can go ahead an apply it on a homescreen."
"- Best of all with the drawers is that you can create and name your own app drawer if you want. I think the ICS comes with three standard drawers mentioned above (apps, games and widgets) and then demo phone had app drawers created called “Sports” and “News” which contained all the sports and news related apps that you download. I’m not sure if the sports apps you download automatically go to the sports drawer (with some settings like auto push sports apps to drawer “Sports” or something) or if you have to put it there manually. Either way, it was very good and reduced the amount of searching for an app. With the Galaxy phones, if you didn’t know where the app was, which page it was on, it would take a while to search through it because they weren’t in alphabetical order, they were just in the order you downloaded them. This is a LOT cleaner, organised and feels more polished.
- I’m not familiar with Honeycomb, so I don’t know really what it pulled from there. I’m guessing quite a bit because visually it’s quite different to current Android phones. I always thought that Android phone manufacturers made great phones, but the Android software lacked polish and user-friendlyness I was told the glassy look is from honeycomb and there are a lot more blues and purples on the phone rather than green. The icons look different, more shiny. The marketplace app is the same as the current one. Not sure if a new one is being worked on."
"- The Gmail app is a lot better looking than the current one. If you flip the phone to the side, it has the preview pane, like how Outlook works, with the emails on on the left and the message on the right. It looks really nice. Vertically, it works similar to the current Gmail app, but looks a lot cleaner and on an email the reply button says “reply” rather than having that arrow. There’s a down arrow next to the reply button which has “reply all”, “save as draft” etc etc. The threads are smaller (could be due to the higher resolution screen) and around 10-12 threads can fit on the screen. Other than visual tweaks, it’s the same thing you know.
- Calendar app is revised, a lot less cluttered, glassy bluish look. A new calendar widget available.
- The internet browser is leaps and bounds better than what you currently get. It has a completely revamped interface and the icon is no longer the blue earth icon. The icon is now an Android behind the earth which is green and blue. Name is still “internet”. But it’s really easy to use. I personally hated the stock browser for Android but I’d actually consider using this. It has its tabs at the bottom of the screen now, similar to Opera Browser mobile. The pinch to zoom is better than before, the rendering is excellent, no checkerboards. Zoomed out the text is pristine. Really liking the browser app."
Samsung Galaxy S III:
I personally found their talk of the Galaxy S III much more interesting. They didn’t have a working model of the phone, but they had pictures and slides with specs/info:
- Samsung is planning to reveal the Samsung Galaxy S III at the 2012 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Samsung will try to get a simultaneous worldwide release for the Galaxy S III mid 2012.
- The Samsung representatives were happy with the success of the Samsung Galaxy S and Samsung Galaxy S II, their great relationship with Google and Android, and were talking about how they’re constantly trying to push the boundaries of mobile hardware technology. They revealed that the Galaxy S III will be their next flagship phone in 2012.
- The specifications for the SGSIII are of course subject to change, but are Samsung-developed 2.0GHz quad-core CPU (no codename given), 1.5gb RAM, 32gb internal memory (with sd card slot), and a 4.65 inch screen. A new display called Super AMOLED III is being developed specifically for the phone (SGS had Super AMOLED, SGS II had Super AMOLED Plus, SGS III has Super AMOLED III) with 1280x1024 resolution, giving the phone a ppi of 352, which they emphasized that a 352ppi will make it the highest ppi mobile phone.
And thats all. XD

Wow that's impressive I can't wait!
Sent from my SCH-I500 using xda premium

Interesting..

Unfortunately the link is now dead. I'm not sure if it was earlier as this was the first time I checked but from what I read in this thread it looks interesting. Do you know about the sound chip in the Nexus as the GSII actually has an inferior sound processor to the original GS from what I have heard? I hope they don't skimp out on the sound processor.

tiny4579 said:
Unfortunately the link is now dead. I'm not sure if it was earlier as this was the first time I checked but from what I read in this thread it looks interesting. Do you know about the sound chip in the Nexus as the GSII actually has an inferior sound processor to the original GS from what I have heard? I hope they don't skimp out on the sound processor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alternate link: (cached original post)
"Posted by an anonymous 4chan user, based on rumors."
http://www.samsunggalaxysforum.com/samsung-galaxy-s-lounge-(off-topic)/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-was-mentioned-by-an-anonymous-4chan-user/?wap2
"2.0GHz quad-core CPU" This would be nice but I bet it ships clocked @ 1.5 > 1.8GHz

Anymore infor on the SIII this man seemed to know his stuff before public release?

[Q] Hard to decide between Note 3 and Nexus 5

Hi guys,
I am having some serious thoughts on what to get... Basically I am a software developer and I have a Galaxy Nexus, a Galaxy S1 some ond Xperia and a Nexus 7. It is time for me to switch to a new device as my daily driver. The options I have are Galaxy Nexus 5 and the Note 3. The Note 3 is more expensive with around 150$ in my country, considering the type of contract I am getting. The phone will be used for at least one year.
Nexus 5: well, no review yet. Price is reasonable in my country and has the new 4.4. The new android version doesn't impress me. To be honest I find the google experience pretty boring but I have to admit I liked receiving fast updates on my Nexus.
Note 3: I have been reading around the forum for the last days. I saw that many have problems with the home button, the battery life, the screen issues. I like the s-pen features but I am not sure how much I'll use them.
What advice do you give me ? What should I get ?

alinescoo said:
Hi guys,
I am having some serious thoughts on what to get... Basically I am a software developer and I have a Galaxy Nexus, a Galaxy S1 some ond Xperia and a Nexus 7. It is time for me to switch to a new device as my daily driver. The options I have are Galaxy Nexus 5 and the Note 3. The Note 3 is more expensive with around 150$ in my country, considering the type of contract I am getting. The phone will be used for at least one year.
Nexus 5: well, no review yet. Price is reasonable in my country and has the new 4.4. The new android version doesn't impress me. To be honest I find the google experience pretty boring but I have to admit I liked receiving fast updates on my Nexus.
Note 3: I have been reading around the forum for the last days. I saw that many have problems with the home button, the battery life, the screen issues. I like the s-pen features but I am not sure how much I'll use them.
What advice do you give me ? What should I get ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have galaxy note 3 but if i time returns i will choose nexus 5

Please mention your reasons. It would help me a lot. Thanks

I'm using note 3 at the moment and my nexus 5 is on its way to me, will give more accurate impression once received.
Features I prefer nexus 5 over note 3
Design look and feel (massive improvement)
No TW bloatware (another massive factor)
Easier to carry around
More regular software updates kat 4.4
No lag freezing (hopefully)
Features I will miss coming from note 3
camera not impressed at all (will miss that the most)
4k video recording
Battery life
S-pen (just a little)
Multi screens (what a feature)
Large screen
Ext memory

Have you encountered any problems with the Note 3 ? Does it lag ? Do you have that effect on low brightness for dark borders ? How does TW bloatware affect you ?

Battery wise note has 50%more juice. Home button issues - do you mean the button moving around? It is not a problem, people are too much complaining about tiny tiny things they should never find unless they read about it.
Camera - i think nexus5 is way better than n3. Its not the pixels that matter, or software options. Nexus 5 camera is next level, focus is about 10 times faster.
Bloatware yes, samsung puts 700mb of bloatware that you dont receive on nexus. Not sure if anything of that is usable. But cyanogenmod should arrive soon!
I wish note3 had the new camera and with optical stabilization, then it would be perfect!
As for 4.4 - its just a number. There will definitely arrive new android versions fast on the n3, just that you have to flash it yourself and void the warranty.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using xda app-developers app

I like Nexus because:
- The design of the device and the appearance of the UI is more appealing to me. I like to keep things on my phone looking pretty "minimalistic" with few colors and lots and lots of black. I absolutely hate the Touchwiz cartoony look and I always change everything about it, the process starts immediately on first boot of the phone. Everything about Touchwiz looks awful - the icons, the menus, the choices in colors, those horrible big green quick settings toggles in the notification bar. Stock Android is much much better when it comes to looks. The Nexus 5 and its software looks like it's been designed by a design team made up of adults who actually make cohesive decisions together. Touchwiz looks to me like the school project of a pre-school class where everyone can add their favorite color and everyone gets to participate and add their touch to the design. Little Johnny wants a big blue, round icon there - OK let's put it right next to Jenny's rectangular pink icon there and add Lisa's green toggles! Fun for everybody.
I like Note 2/3 because:
- The battery is bigger. I've never been this satisfied with battery life.
- The screen is bigger. Honestly after using the Note 2, I cringe every time I use my iPhone 4 (I keep it as my spare phone) or my wife's Galaxy S III. The displays are so tiny, I don't think I could go back. Not even to a 5" display.
- I don't like the on screen nav buttons of stock Android. I want the physical menu, home and back buttons.
- The S-Pen. I'm not a heavy S-Pen user but it has really nice features on the Note 3. I use it much more with my Note 3 than I did with my Note 2.
- Memory card slot. Seriously. I could not live without one.
- Removable battery - not a big reason but nonetheless it is nice.
I hate the Note 2/3 because:
- I get to a point where I'm never satisfied with the ROM I use. New stuff is released on XDA and I feel this pressing need to try other ROMs. All the time. Sometimes it seems all I do with my phone is restoring backups. With the Nexus I think that I would be more easily able to just stick with one ROM.. Maybe even the stock ROM, just rooting it.

Don't listen to them
I just bought Note 3 after using Note 2 for couple of months
And go for Note 3 believe me this is the beast .. Note 3 Snap dragon

I am in the same boat as op.
I have a s2 now for 3 years and looking for an upgrade.
Minimum 5 inch screen, preferably a tad bigger.
Key feature should be office workability, due to a upcoming promotion as a project manager.
So I need info from all sorts of documents on the fly. Including excel.
Does the note provide this?
For free time I love playing games and viewing movies.
Help appreciated.
EJ
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app

U may have to wait for few weeks to get the full hands on review about this. Nexus 5. The specs r good. But we don't know about battery life, camera performance, and heating issues. Note 3 is good in these areas.
Sent from my SM-N9005

I am planning on using the Note 3 with stock firmware from Samsung... because of warranty issues of knox trigger. This would also help on trying to reproduce bugs that appear on TouchWiz platform easier. So, having stock on Note3 sucks performance wise ?

efjbdejong said:
I am in the same boat as op.
I have a s2 now for 3 years and looking for an upgrade.
Minimum 5 inch screen, preferably a tad bigger.
Key feature should be office workability, due to a upcoming promotion as a project manager.
So I need info from all sorts of documents on the fly. Including excel.
Does the note provide this?
For free time I love playing games and viewing movies.
Help appreciated.
EJ
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps wait for nokia lumia 1520.
That's ideal for such mundane tasks. Lol
---------- Post added at 02:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:39 PM ----------
alleshi said:
Don't listen to them
I just bought Note 3 after using Note 2 for couple of months
And go for Note 3 believe me this is the beast .. Note 3 Snap dragon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note 3 is far better then note 2 for sure but is it the best ow no. It's a beast but not the best.

If i didn't have the Note 3 already i would be pretty tempted to buy the Nexus 5. It's half the price, here, with great hardware, Kit Kat, Google updates, etc. But those touch buttons (why?) on the screen are a no no for me.

Thank you all for replies. After doing a lot of reading on the Buyers remorse thread I see that most of note3 users are happy. The only notable problems are: very weak audio output because of the small speaker, the pink effect around black edges on low brightness settings and the wobbly home button. Also I see that the battery isn't so great.
I am really thinking what to get, as I said, the difference would be around 150$ in price.

If I didn't have N3 already I would have the N5. I had N4 previously.
N3 has plus and minus points.
+ points
Battery Life - best I ever had
SD Card - installed 64GB,some users have install 128GB.
Big Screen - I like the screen some don't like AMOLED colors.
Fastest CPU & 3GB RAM
Multi Window & Pen Window
IrDA port - can control devices from my phone.
- points
Design - not very stylish
Build quality - my back cover already creaks only 1 month old. Others have experienced Home button and screen/multi touch issues
External Speakers - embarrassing from Samsung.
Samsung bloatware - unnecessary
Wireless Charging - not built in but @ extra cost
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

Costum ROM
why wouldn't you just wait on xda to get pure 4.4 android and install that ROM on your note 3 ?

Hi,
the Google Nexus 5 is indeed a very good phone. Having switched from Nexus 4 to Galaxy Note 3 I can basically give you good explanations.
The Galaxy Note 3 has plenty more features than the Google Nexus 4 abd 5 which is great.
I would say the Note 3 wins everywhere against the Nexus unless you tell me you prefer smaller screen. In my case, the screen size was the reasob why I moved.
On the otherside, yes there are a lot of Samsung apps and that sucks to me. The Galaxy Note 3 can be rooted easily, so you can easy remove those bloatwares which make me feel more confortable that way.
On the other hand, I do prefer the PURE Androis that the Google Nexus has to the TouchWiz by Samsung because it uses way less resources.
The perfect phone for me would be a Note 3 with a AOSP Rom. (CyanogenMod or Android Open Kang Project (AOKP) because it would give the pure android feeling which means higher battery life, no bloatwares, faster updates.

Ok guys, some N5 reviews have appeared and to be honest, things don't look that good in battery and camera departments. Actually that was kinda expected considering the 2300 mAh battery and 1080p screen.
Now back to note 3, all the small things that bothered me (wobbly home button, pinkish black borders, bloatware) are not important anymore. The things that worries me most is the screen burn in. I saw some reviews where this is mentioned (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3mbkoXCMhs&feature=em-uploademail from 19 minute). I have own so far a Galaxy S1 and a Galaxy Nexus both having amoled screens. On my GNex sometimes I can see the keyboard shadow after using it, but I haven't really noticed any permanent retention as it goes off after a few seconds. I just did a quick check with blue color all over the screen and I can see a very faint shadow of the top bar, but nothing really noticeable. BUT, I use the phone on auto brightness and considering that Note 3 has the most bright amoled display built, I am afraid that it will suffer from permanent burn in because of blue pixels. Could anyone tell me if they have burn in ? This is a major drawback for me and might be the point which may convince me to give up on note3 in favor of N5.
Thanks all for your help. I really appreciate it.

For me it's so simple. They don't even belong to the same category.
Do you need/like the S-Pen features (and do you actually use them)? Do you need the bigger screen and the amazing Full HD @60fps video (let alone the 4K)?
If not then the Nexus 5 is a no brainer at this price point. Plain and simple.
Apps and bloatware are of no importance to me. I always remove them to my preference, to me flashing ROMs is an integral part of a smartphone like Note 3.

I agree with you, but if the screen has issues than all the other features are pointless, considering that the screen is the thing we see most.
It would be really great if owners could do some screen tests and return with the result.

Replacing my Tab S 8.4 LTE with Z3TC

Hi
just ordered mine LTE version (Sony UK) to replace my Tab S 8.4lte. I have only had the Tab S for about a month and am sick to death of it. It will likely be my last Samsung product.
My reasons for switching are many folld and include good experiences with Z1 phone and my current Z3C phone. Especially battery life and the fact that Sony don't layer on gunk over android with a trowel (unlike Samsung).
My Tab S 8.4 is not rooted, and apparently most of the issues I list below can be fixed by rooting and de-bloating, but the fact is I should not have to do this to get a working tablet I run Nova on my devices and have done for over 2 years.. Here is what I like and hate about the 8.4
Like
- That 2K amoled display
- The neat physical attatchment and low profile of the official samsung case
- Its dimensions and weight
- Its nice to watch films on
- Physical buttons save screen space
- Fingerprint scanner works well for me, will miss that on Z3TC
- WiFi performance is superb, both range and speed.
- Multi window, although not many apps support it. Xperia small apps will be good enough
Hate
- Never had such a glitchy experience with an android device, the pregnant pauses are a right wind-up
- Mine is the LTE version, it is always disconnecting while still showing H+ going in/out of flight mode fixes, appears related to LTE/3G handover. My version is the euro lte version which uses the exynos process with an intel add-in chip for LTE. Disabling LTE fixes this issue. US versions have a snapdragon 800 whijch does LTE out of the box.
- Battery life is terrible, the age-old issue with samsung devices and wakelocks preventing it entering deep sleep, it will eat 50% battery in 8 hours sat in a bag doing nothing. It has the same apps installed as my Z3C phone - its a Samsung issue,. My Note 8 had the same issues, I should have !earnt.
- Glitchy when typing quickly, i have seen entire words appear on screen in the wrong order, with words with the first word in a sentence ending up after the two words beforehand. I beleive that this is related to all the glitches.
- Clunky battery saving modes, on the Z3C stamina happens in zero time without fuss, on the Tab S a dialogue appears on screen for several seconds while it turns power saver on or off - what the heck is it doing?
- Hate touchwiz, always use nova launcher, unforunately, you are stuck with bits of touchwiz even using nova. The fischer-price settings page for instance.
Ultimately, its the LTE/3G handover issues and the non stop glitches oh and the wakelock issues that are making me switch
I will have both tabs for a short whil!e after my Z3TC arrives, I will attempt a review.
Nigel

If you have the time, I'd really like that review. I'm still very undecided between the Tab S 8.4 and this tablet to replace my 2012 Nexus 7.
But then I have a feeling that if I go with the Tab S I will put CM on it because of TW. My Xperia SP is still stock with Nova and I'm happy with it so the Z3TC would probably remain stock also.

Falzo said:
If you have the time, I'd really like that review. I'm still very undecided between the Tab S 8.4 and this tablet to replace my 2012 Nexus 7.
But then I have a feeling that if I go with the Tab S I will put CM on it because of TW. My Xperia SP is still stock with Nova and I'm happy with it so the Z3TC would probably remain stock also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same boat. About to make the 2012 mainly a Pandora alarm clock.

I actually find myself quite annoyed at Samsung re the Tab S 8.4 - it could and should have been wonderful right out of the box.
Oh, and I don't know if this is still current, but last I heard, CM was not available for the Tab S 8.4 - it was only available for the Tab Pro 8.4.
http://www.androidauthority.com/com...enmod-installation-on-samsung-tab-s-8-4.4170/
I'm also not sure if CM supports anything other than the wifi versions of the Tab Pro 8.4?? IIRC, the Tab Pro 8.4 has an IPS LCD screen rather than Amoled, and all models feature a snapdragon 800
Edit: Noticed this on above thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...-cyanogenmod-11-android-4-4-4-t2835170/page31
Nigel

did you get your sony?
edit: especially interested in wifi range, loudspeakers, battery & camera in comparison.

I also switched to Z3TC today after using tab s 8.4 for about a month.
The reason I switched to Z3TC is that tab s 8.4 is too unstable (often be forced to reboot……) especially when it runs out of memory which I never experienced with z ultra.
So far Z3TC is stable as it has plenty of free memory (thanks to the lower screen resolution?).
The only thing I miss about tab s is the multi-window.

t705
iam also thinking about change my t705.
Battery life a choke.
How is the display agajbst the tab s?
feel the "only" 8 zoll agajnst the 8.4 from samsung ok?
thx

veletron said:
I actually find myself quite annoyed at Samsung re the Tab S 8.4 - it could and should have been wonderful right out of the box.
Oh, and I don't know if this is still current, but last I heard, CM was not available for the Tab S 8.4 - it was only available for the Tab Pro 8.4.
http://www.androidauthority.com/com...enmod-installation-on-samsung-tab-s-8-4.4170/
I'm also not sure if CM supports anything other than the wifi versions of the Tab Pro 8.4?? IIRC, the Tab Pro 8.4 has an IPS LCD screen rather than Amoled, and all models feature a snapdragon 800
Edit: Noticed this on above thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...-cyanogenmod-11-android-4-4-4-t2835170/page31
Nigel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There unofficial cm 11 ports for both the galaxy tab s 8.4 and 10.1 Wi-Fi models. T700 and T800.

Sony Xperia Tablet Z3 and Samsung Tab S 8.4
So, now i have both tablets and can write my impressions.
The sony tab is really nice to hold, very light and a very good performance.
The display is bright and give good colors. White is white.
Resolution is also right. I could not see any pixels. Its sharp and very smooth to touch.
The tab s has a little bigger display and a higher resolution.Amoled is a part that everyone must look for himself. Many love it, many hate it. I like both displays.
The qualcom cpu from the sony tab has much more power as the samsungs exynos.
No smooth handling. Battery is to small for this tablet. The sony loose 1% accu over 20 hours standby. My tab s loose a lot of accu, if i use it and also in standby.
So, after testings i will stay at sonys xperia tablet 3.
I like this very light powerfull part of hardware. The launcher is smooth and the reactions from the cpu are very fast.
A very good tablet i think.

another big win is the double tap to wake feature (found under the display setting).

My Initial Observations vs Tab S
So, my Z3TC LTE turned up, and after having played with it for a while, my Tab S 8.4 LTE is going on fleabay.
Updated: Video review (warning: long winded!!) http://youtu.be/CMKonSEd7zc
Its hard to describe just how much more responsive the Sony Z3TC is compared to the Samsung tab S 8.4!! This responsiveness makes it so so much more pleasant to use.
I have nothing to say Re the respective UI 'enhancements' done by each manufacturer since I have always used Nova Launcher. My points below are with Nova running on both devices.
Observations from from my early fiddling vs Tab S 8.4 LTE (Exynos EU Version, only US LTE versions of the TAB S get a Snapdragon, EU versions get a Exynos and offload the 3G/4G to an intel add-in chip). The US versions get a Snapdragon because the Intel add-in chip does not support all the bands in use in the US.)
Negatives (vs Tab S)
- Slightly smaller screen (hardly noticeable)
- Bigger Bezels than the Tab S, but these make it easier to hold
- Perhaps not as well weighted for typing in handheld portrait mode vs the tab S
- Screen is not as vibrant as that on the Tab S, but I don't really notice the lower resolution. Hard pressed to see any pixels
- Screen more fingerprint hungry than Tab S
- Case attachment mechanism not as neat at Tab S (official samsung case clips to back via press holders)
- No Flash for rear facing camera
- No fingerprint reader (which I did actually find pretty reliable on the Tab S
- I hate the Sony mechanism for inserting SIM cards - why not a clicky-in/click-out system like everyone else uses?
- The Sony equivilent of Samsung's 'Smart Stay' designed to keep the screen on while you are looking at it does not work as well as on the Samsung
- Tab S LTE was about £30 cheaper (after Sony's £30 rebate)
- More freebies video's/etc with the Samsung Tab S
Positives (vs Tab S)
- Lightweight
- Very high quality build, feels better in the hand than Tab S, good quality plastics, nice tactile rear panel
- Has NFC
- Does not keep disconnecting from the mobile network (requiring flight mode on/off to restore). Tab S LTE (exynos+intel 4G chip, EU version) keept doing this. It was an LTE/WCDMA handover issue I believe
- Battery life is blooming superb vs the Tab S 8.4!
- Way, Way Way faster and more responsive than the Tab S 8.4 - light years ahead, and way less anoying in day-to-day use
- Fuss-free power saving/stamina mode - Tab S required time to switch in/out and was use useless with powersaving on - it was slow enough with it off!!
- Waterproof (USB, sim/SD card slots under waterproof covers headphone sky requires no cover as its internally waterproofed
- Mag charger is easier to attatch than fumbling about with a USB cable - no socket to damage either
- I already had a Z3 Compact phone so this plays nice with that
- Smart connect works well for silencing device when plugged in between certain times. Also does not display permanent status icon unlike Samsung equiv
- Dont need to root the Sony to make it usable!!
Equal
- Nothing to choose between devices re sound quality from built in speakers or a bog standard set of headphones
- Double Tab to turn on is simplicity, but one had that with Samsung's HOME button, and fingerprint login anyway
- Both vendors try to get you to sign up for Sony account or Samsung account junk. I just dont bother logging in to any of it
- Both vendors prevent you from fully uninstalling some of the bloatware they ship
- Both Vendors prevent you from disabling some of the junk they ship
Wishlist
- SONY: Make an official keyboard case for this device - that would make for a good compact road warrior machine
- SONY: Make your official case close with a magnet like Samsungs/3rd party cases. I dont want a trashed screen or an elastic bag around my expensive Tab!
- SONY: 16GB built in (11GB free) is completely stupid in 2014. The base model should be 64GB with the next model at 128GB. Your cost price on your BOM for the additional flash is $almost nothing - dont rob us blind
- SONY: Why no 32GB model for the LTE version?
Nigel

Cool, I figured people would like it. I am disappointed to know that you can't get 32GB internal, but I typically have less apps on my tablets than my phones and my 16GB S4 still has 9GB available. So realistically I'm set with a big memory card for all my music and video. I bought the Tab S 8.4 and returned it the next day because TW and the bloat/lag was awful. Also I couldn't believe that the back cover of the device had waves in it...not very impressive build quality.

yea it would have been nice to have 32GB for the LTE but hopefully lollipop will let us use the SD to store OBB files for games. I orde a 128GB SD for my Z3TC finger cross...

Sunlight comparison
veletron, could you please give us a mini-review of the sunlight readability compared between the two tabs? Thanks!

I live in Scotland where the sun rarely shines! I can test it's waterproofing in the rain very easily though!

I've actually ordered the Z3TC and it's due for delivery on Thursday. However after the luck I've had with my last 3 Android tablets I think I'm just going to get an iPad Air 2. My last 3 Android tablets are in order: LG G Pad 8.3, Nexus 7, Nexus 9. All of them had some issue or another. I had an iPad Air last year until I dropped it off a balcony whilst on holiday, but I never had one single issue with that tablet and it had battery life that Android tablets I've owned could only dream of. I really, really like the look of the Z3TC The size is perfect, build looks good in reviews, I like the fact that's it's water resistant. But I'm just worried that it's going to have one issue or another. I also think Sony should have put a faster and newer CPU in this tablet for the price they're asking. The snapdragon 801 is basically the snapdragon 800 with a slightly tweaked clock speed, I think it's something stupid like 100MHz. This CPU is a year old! And Sony are asking top dollar for this tablet. I know it has 3gb of RAM but that only comes into play if you're running multiple apps of apps that require plenty of RAM. The speed comes from the CPU & GPU and the ones in the Z3TC are a year old as I said. There's phones out now running the snapdragon 805. And tablets running Nvidia Denver and K1. Not to mention Apple's A8 triple core that's even supposed to beat NVidia's offerings. The specs in the Z3TC are dated, yet sony want top dollar for it.
As I said - I really like the look of the Z3TC I wouldn't have ordered otherwise. But I'm just not sure if I'm going to keep it when it arrives. I think the £330 I've paid for it could get me a faster tablet with slightly newer specs. Seems I've got some thinking to do.

Maybe you could take them to the tanning booth! LOL Thanks anyway. In the Florida direct sunshine the S is barely usable and is supposed to be a little brighter than the Sony. Was wondering if the Sony contrast compensation made up for that.

I seem to remember reading that the z3 had the brighter screen, but the tab S will have better contrast due to the amoled screen. Subjectively the z3 screen picks up fingerprints more than the tab S which might be worth bearing in mind in bright sunshine.

veletron said:
I seem to remember reading that the z3 had the brighter screen, but the tab S will have better contrast due to the amoled screen. Subjectively the z3 screen picks up fingerprints more than the tab S which might be worth bearing in mind in bright sunshine.
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Do you think that you'll be sticking with the Z3 tablet, or are you still on the look out for something else?

Sticking with it. Been using it much more than the tab S cause it's actually pleasant to use! I have a Z3 Compact phone as well, and Sony has made it play nice with this. Simple tethering widget (that let's you see texts and call log on the phone as well), builtin chromecast support, the "throw" stuff works well to mirror to TV too. Oh, and I can mirror phone screen to tablet and control phone from tab remotely. My main use for this so far has been to hand tab to parent and then show pics from phone on tab screen, flicking between them using phone screen. It works well. Video streaming phone to tab works too. I take alot of pics with my phone, and can see my using this to view/delete said pics on the big screen of the tablet without ever having to actually transfer any files to the tablet.

Will the S7 Edge kill the note 6 (or note 7)? Thoughts of a note series addict

Well, I have always disliked threads about opinions but so it is... I have been a note user for 4 years, but my wife has just broken her note 2 Lte (one of my previous notes) and I have just given her my still fairly recent note 4 (15 months old).
So I have just moved to a S7 Edge, since note 5 in not available in Italy with my phone carrier and the S7 Edge actually costed me only 139 Euros plus 5 Euro per month for 30 months.
I will not speak about its technical features, since it's obviously newer than my note 4 and it must be better in that area: I was interested in comparing the spen features with their counterpart 'fingers only' sported by the S7 Edge and I have found that they are not so bad.
So, let me make a comparison and share your opinions. Consider that I post this thread here mainly because I suppose that most of you like the spen features so as I do and that's why I am interested in your opinions and feedback.
So. let's go:
- spen air view and air scroll - missing but, to be true, that's a feature I don't need that much. The S4 used to support that features through fingers and they were removed later on;
- Snote: downloadable through galaxy apps and pretty usable.... It synced with my old notes flawlessly;
- screenshot: palm swipe, home and power button and also google now on tap... No problem for simple screenshots. You can even make a scroll screen capture and crop the image with two little buttons placed on the bottom of the page! I just miss the ability to crop the image with the spen "by hand" that is not square or rectangular only. So the features are there in the s7 edge too let's say 85%
- scrapbook; it's there too, just downloadable through galaxy apps and pretty usable as well!
- aircommand: it's missing but well, screen write is replaced by "screenshot and then edit" and by the features I have just spoken about;
- screen off memo: missing and I miss it myself. It can be replaced by the one made by Xperiacle, but it can't by triggered in any way when screen is off;
- action memo: one of the most poorly designed features by Samsung in my opinion. I have never been able to jot down an entire e-mail address in such a small screen, but that's missing, if any of you actually misses it (much more usable on a tablet);
- handwriting recognition in keyboard: missing, but can be replaced by google handwriting keyboard which is not that bad. Anyway, I don't use that feature so much.
So, I still miss the spen and sometimes I look for it with my hands when I want to browse a webpage or click some little area of the screen, but most spen features do have their counterpart 'fingers only'.
Well, I feel that the note days might be gone, at least for a mass market, and note series could be confined into an even smaller niche even for power users and for people who use their phone mainly for work purposes so as I do.
I expect someone will say:"Hey bro, but the note has a wacom digitizer!". Well, it's true, but do you actually use the spen for professional painting and exploit its sensitivity to different pressure levels? With such a small screen and such a short spen? I don't, but that's my experience.
So, if I had never owned a note before, I would say the s7 Edge is perfect, but I actually owned some note phones so.....
Any flame is welcome, on condition that it does not infringe xda rules

I think one of the main reasons why people bought their Note's in the first place, was the screen size. The second being the S-Pen.
Now that (some) phones are getting bigger, they don't really need to buy a Note, unless they want to use the pen.
For me, the advantage of the new Note over the S7 Edge, would be USB Type C and whatever the increase in battery would be.
I can live without the S-Pen and I've no interest in phone cameras. I use a proper camera.
The advantage of the S8 Edge over the new Note, for me, would be BT 5. The disadvantages might be the removal of the headphone jack.

Thanks, so spen is not something you can't give up.
The other improvements you mentioned could be obviously applied to any kind of phone.
Nevertheless, when Apple developed their first big iPhone, people said it was just a bigger iPhone and not a real phablet, while I feel the Ui of the s7 edge does make it a real phablet.

Is the Note 4 the best upgrade from a Note 2?

My Note 2 has served me well, but it's time to move on. The screen shows signs of burn in, and applications frequently crash due to (likely) faulty memory. Clearing the cache helps, but it's not something I want to do daily.
I'm looking for a similar phone with a pen/stylus, replaceable battery and mSD card support. Is the Note 4 the only option? Other than having a phone with no faults, what are expected to be the main benefits if I upgrade, and are there any regressions/drawbacks to consider?
Thanks!

wait a few weeks and see what the Note 7 have to offer ( it wont have removable battery though )

definately Note 7 - waterproof, with decent camera and audio, superb screen, sd card and many many more. I migrated to Note4 (DN5) from N3 and I'm waiting also for n7 as n5 is a crap (or beta version )

Lack of replaceable battery makes the Note 7 a non starter. When travelling I frequently use the phone for many hours without charging (on-foot navigation; tripadvisor etc) and I need it to be completely dependable. With a replaceable battery I just pop a new one in and I'm good for the rest of the day. I tried using a portable charger in the past, and hated how unwieldy it was compared to just spending 10 seconds to replace the battery.
The LG Stylus 2 Plus looks somewhat comparable to the Note 4 and is newer (Android 6, touch fingerprint reader), but seems to have a more limited stylus and lacks a physical home button (which I like very much in the Samsung, but I'm not sure lack of it is a deal breaker).
Thoughts?
Edit: Man, this promotional video from LG is good!

2 august is the day!!!
SM-N910F

What happens on August 2?

If you are on a budget then yes the Note 4 is a worthy upgrade from a Note 2. As it's the last in Samsung's flagship line that had a removable battery. However if you have the cash to spend, wait and get the Note 7.

The Note 7 doesn't fit my requirements, regardless of cost (no replaceable battery). It seems I need to decide between the Note 4 and the much newer LG Stylus 2 Plus.

oren_b said:
The Note 7 doesn't fit my requirements, regardless of cost (no replaceable battery). It seems I need to decide between the Note 4 and the much newer LG Stylus 2 Plus.
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Yap.
My vote is for Note 4.
It`s really an awesome device.
I`m using this one for last one year without any issue.
Excellent Display.
Removable Battery.
Expandable Memory.
Good XDA Dev support.
Stock MM really gives good battery backup.

Micheal86 said:
Yap.
My vote is for Note 4.
It`s really an awesome device.
I`m using this one for last one year without any issue.
Excellent Display.
Removable Battery.
Expandable Memory.
Good XDA Dev support.
Stock MM really gives good battery backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the LG Stylus 2 Plus is a rather poor spec device. You are much better getting the Note 4 instead of that! As the stylus used in the LG Stylus 2 is just a regular capacitive stylus that you can get at any high street retailer.

Ok, so I'm probably getting a Note 4 later this week. A few questions to make sure I'm making the right decision:
1. Is it easy to root?
2. Do I need to worry about Knox?
3. Can I use it worldwide without an issue (roaming)? I've had no issues at all in this regard with my Note 2.
4. I can get the N910C variant for less money than the N910F. Is there any significant difference between the two? Note that I don't play games on my phone.
Thanks!
Edit: I can also get the Galaxy Note Edge SM-N915F for the same price as the N910F. It seems pretty cool, but getting a TPU case for it (which I like) seems to be impossible. Such cases are very easy to fine for the Note 4 and usually cost only a couple of bucks.

The N910C is much more stable than the N910F as the N910C uses the Exynos 5433 SOC rather than the Snapdragon 805 in the N910F. You can root it pretty easily both the N910C and F models have excellent worldwide coverage with the exception of specific US carriers.
It is possible to get TPU cases for the Note Edge I've seen them online.

When you say the N910C is much more stable do you mean the N910F tends to crash / freeze, or something else?

Bought the Note Edge eventually. I love almost everything about it, but there are some senseless regressions on the software side:
- No way to display Favorites (contacts) as a list. The thumbnail-based display uses tiny text for names and has them truncated.
- No way to display Apps as a list. The grid display is much slower to browse because the eye has to go in different direction to follow the correct alphabetization.
- Dialer log does not support long-press menu anymore. Makes it more difficult to add a number to the reject list or favorites.
Why cripple things that used to work so well?

oren_b said:
Bought the Note Edge eventually. I love almost everything about it, but there are some senseless regressions on the software side:
- No way to display Favorites (contacts) as a list. The thumbnail-based display uses tiny text for names and has them truncated.
- No way to display Apps as a list. The grid display is much slower to browse because the eye has to go in different direction to follow the correct alphabetization.
- Dialer log does not support long-press menu anymore. Makes it more difficult to add a number to the reject list or favorites.
Why cripple things that used to work so well?
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Congrats mate.
Hope you`re enjoying your new device.
Best of luck.
:good:

Overall I do enjoy it. Hopefully I can find solutions for these relatively minor annoyances.

oren_b said:
Overall I do enjoy it. Hopefully I can find solutions for these relatively minor annoyances.
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Sure mate. Best of luck.
[emoji106]

The Note 4 is great. Since you have no interest in the Note 7, then you'll be completely fine with the N4. I upgraded from a Galaxy S5 and it feels like a completely new phone even though it released a long time ago. Marshmallow breathes new life into it.

AndroidGTAF said:
The Note 4 is great. Since you have no interest in the Note 7, then you'll be completely fine with the N4. I upgraded from a Galaxy S5 and it feels like a completely new phone even though it released a long time ago. Marshmallow breathes new life into it.
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Click to collapse
Exactly. It's an amazing device