Anyone here played around with both the Galaxy S4 and the Galaxy Note3

[bigseb]

Looking to buy either of the two this week. Trying my hardest to justify the Note 3 but not quite getting there so... opinions please...

 

[Golden]

Depends on what you need from yhe phone. I have an S4...ehat would you like to know about it?

 

[bigseb]

Nothing specific, the Note 3 is slightly better specced and has more features. The S4 is no slouch either. Heart says Note 3, head says S4... just trying to get some user opinions before I part with cash...

EDIT: Cash is the issue here. I'm the type of person that'll turn his penny over a hundred times before parting with it. So, the raw numbers are Note 3 for R8900, S4 for R6300. That a R2600 difference which is a lot of moolah... :shock:

EDIT 2: R2600 can get me a new top-o-the-line mobo or graphics card or a Haswell chip or those powertools I've been lusting after or two new knives to add to my collection...

 

[Golden]

Thats settled then : 1 x S4 and 1 x motherboard. Cant go wrong there

 

[JackALope52x]

I recently upgraded to the S4 from the S3 and I couldn't be happier. I was thinking about the Note 3 for awhile but after having some hands on time with my brothers, I am glad I went with the S4. The bigger screen on the Note is quite nice but I feel like it would be an extremely uncomfortable to use if you don't have larger hands.

As for the internals, my S4 runs all of my apps and processes flawlessly. I couldn't justify spending the extra money on faster hardware that I wouldn't even notice. The only upside to the Note 3 that I could see was the extra battery life. This really wasn't an issue for me though because my phone is rooted and I can go about 2-3 days without charging it.

Anyways I hope this helped and let us know what you end up getting.

-JackALope

 

[bigseb]

Went ahead and ordered the S4. Should be here in a few days. And no new mobo for me, there are two lovely new knives I have my eyes on (Kershaw and Spyderco)...

Yay!

 

[JackALope52x]

Went ahead and ordered the S4. Should be here in a few days. And no new mobo for me, there are two lovely new knives I have my eyes on (Kershaw and Spyderco)...

Yay!

Nice call. You won't regret it. Plus who can complain with a new Kershaw and Spyderco? Two of the best knife companies out there.

 

[bigseb]

Cancelled my order as the Pakistani store down the road sells it for less. Money money money

 

[JackALope52x]

Cancelled my order as the Pakistani store down the road sells it for less. Money money money

Good idea. Now maybe you can get a Benchmade to go along with that new Kershaw and Spyderco.

 

[bigseb]

Got it

The Seb, he like

 

[bigseb]

After three days... wow... a lot of phone. A lot of stuff on there I don't need. A lot of stuff I don't understand too... like what is the Samsung Push Service?

 

[bigseb]

like what is the Samsung Push Service?

Ok I think I swtched this off (accidentally) and my internet doesn't work. I can make calls and send sms's but can't send emails or browse the net so I assume the Samsung Push Service has something to do with this... maybe. Can anyone advise?

Cheers.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
Absolutely LOVE the s4 phone -- connects easily (and wirelessly) to TV's so you can stream multi-media to your large screen TV's even from REMOTE sources-- the s4 screen itself is amazingly clear in any case.

Phone is easily customisable -- many ROMS around so you can unlock and get rid of all the "Crapware" if you get a phone from a provider. Warning though if you "Root" the phone - Unroot it again for most Banking applications - they don't like rooted phones.

PC's aren't the only devices that come pre-installed with a lot of bloat and crapware.

Advantages of S4 over IPhone -- external sd card (up to 64GB - very useful), back comes off easily so no problem swapping battery - with the large screen of full 1080p your screen will use more battery remember, and far easier to root and use custom roms - although for a lot of people that might not be an issue -- you can still get rid of a lot of the pre-installed bloatware though.

Even for my eyes the screen is crystal clear -- go for the S4 -- don't waste your time with those ridiculous looking "Phablets" though. The S4 is about as large as you want before the phone loses portability.


Another first for Samsung -- goodness knows where they got Icelandic speakers in S. Korea but you can even set the Languge to Icelandic -- that's the first phone company I've seen that has THAT option in the Language settings on a phone !!!!.

Finally with the S4 - check the version if you intend to customize / root it - the European ones are the International LTE version with the SNAPDRAGON processor (19505) . The US model is a bit different (aren't they ALWAYS !!) so check before doing any "jail breaking" etc.

Finally both versions are fully compatible with the 4G networks when they become available in your area. There's no Firmware upgrade for the older S3 (also a great phone) to use the 4G networks so if you get offered a cheap S3 phone don't buy it unless you have no interest in 4G. The screen on the S4 is far better too -1080p full HD - the S3 has about HALF resolution - 720p although OK you can still see the difference clearly even on that size screen.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[bigseb]

like what is the Samsung Push Service?

Ok I think I swtched this off (accidentally) and my internet doesn't work. I can make calls and send sms's but can't send emails or browse the net so I assume the Samsung Push Service has something to do with this... maybe. Can anyone advise?

Cheers.

Ok after a reboot everything is back normal. Strange though, an action very reminiscent of Windows (rebooting, that is). Still have no idea what happened though...

@ Jimbo: I don't know what 'ROMs' are or what 'rooting' means... but yes, crapware there is aplenty. Sometimes I feel modern technology is aimed squarely at youngest. I certainly don't need, or even want, half the apps on the apps pages. I may well look into ridding myself of them. Any links? Beyond that I am very happy with my S4.

 

[mjf]

I need a new phone. I'll give the S4 a look but then I'm a phone troglodyte - I like them for voice communication + text messaging.
Edit: S4 is too expensive maybe the S3.

 

[JackALope52x]

like what is the Samsung Push Service?

Ok I think I swtched this off (accidentally) and my internet doesn't work. I can make calls and send sms's but can't send emails or browse the net so I assume the Samsung Push Service has something to do with this... maybe. Can anyone advise?

Cheers.

Ok after a reboot everything is back normal. Strange though, an action very reminiscent of Windows (rebooting, that is). Still have no idea what happened though...

@ Jimbo: I don't know what 'ROMs' are or what 'rooting' means... but yes, crapware there is aplenty. Sometimes I feel modern technology is aimed squarely at youngest. I certainly don't need, or even want, half the apps on the apps pages. I may well look into ridding myself of them. Any links? Beyond that I am very happy with my S4.

Samsung Push Service is just a bloatware app that sends you notifications about the apps that you the installed from the Samsung Apps app.

Rooting is the act of giving the user root access or full admin rights to the phone. This involves taking off all the software locks on the phone that have been set in place by the manufacture and the carrier. Although it typically voids the warranty of the phone I always recommend doing this for Android users. It is extremely simple to do and only takes about 5 minutes. When the phone is rooted you are then able to disable / uninstall all the bloatware apps that run in the background and eat up precious battery life and processing power.

ROMs are custom operating systems that can be installed on the phone to make the user experience / interface completely different. There are thousands of ROMs to choose from, all from different creators. These are typically for more advanced Android users who want to do specific things with their phones and I usually don't recommend using them unless you know what you are doing.

I personally enjoy Samsung's standard OS with Touch Wiz (once rooted of course). I have tried many different ROMs and it is still one of my favorites. It is perfect for most users and is incredibly solid. What I would recommend for you is to use your phone for a month or so and figure out what you use and don't use. Once you have fully committed to the device and want to keep it, root it and get rid of every app that you don't use.

Hope this helps,
JackALope