Budget Above 25K SGS4 buying help

[yuvi161292]

I am planning to buy the Samsung Galaxy S4 in a weeks time
It is available for 34.2k on flipkart but i have a few doubts which i need help with
1. Is the phone worth the price??
2. I read user reviews on flipkart that there are some overheating issues with the phone. How true is this??
3. Is there any other phone i should buy instead ?? (The price should be less or equal to that of S4)

Any help is highly appreciated

 

[yuvi161292]

@blr_p
I have an S2 and i didnt like the touchwiz on it so replacedit with miui . I think ill be replacing the touchwiz on S4 also with cm10.
I have checked out G pro , S4 and htc one . Really liked all three but G pro had the biggest screen and i do prefer that up to a limit like 5.5" seems the perfect size for my hands
I also plan to have a look at xperia z ultra and see if its pocketable

@abhisheak
That is what confuses me if i decide to wait . That if the phones are launched in say september then they might not be buyable before dec-jan

 

[paarkhi]

I'd say go in a shop and check all the contenders personally and see what you like...

 

[blr_p]

@blr_p
I have an S2 and i didnt like the touchwiz on it so replacedit with miui . I think ill be replacing the touchwiz on S4 also with cm10.
I have checked out G pro , S4 and htc one . Really liked all three but G pro had the biggest screen and i do prefer that up to a limit like 5.5" seems the perfect size for my hands
I also plan to have a look at xperia z ultra and see if its pocketable

CM10 on an exyos S4 ? heh, if it exists its an unofficial build because there ain't an official one for it. Even the CM for Snapdragon S4 is still a nightly. 3 months after S4 launch, CM is still a nightly. No stable exists for the note 2 series yet and that's much older. It won't be CM you will be installing on the exynos S4.

MIUI exists for the Snapdragon S4 variants, don't see any for exynos. Hard to say how stable these MIUI builds are because MIUI only seems to do weeklies. Looking at which phones they support, development seems slower in comaprison to CM.

You did not mention the Sony's, Z & ZL already have stable CM & AOKP builds out. The CM for the Z came out just a month after its launch. Sony is more developer friendly. They have to be because they are not in the top 5.

Since you have expressed an interest in custom roms, then this is an additional factor to consider. 2-3 years means you expect dev support. The Nexus 4 has all of that. Question is if you don't want a nexus 4 then what is the best alternative. Nexus 5 ? won't be out before Oct and will hopefully be more sensibly designed than the G2. Even if you import, you're looking at getting it here by Dec-Jan. No SD card support, FM or removable battery. So what other brands or models are left in that case ?

Problem with LG is they are notorious for just one update even with flagships. Nobody knows how long they will support you beyond that. This despite the fact that LG is number 3 after Apple & Samsung.

Any size is perfect for two hands but the question is one handed operation. 5 inches i think is almost the max there and i have big hands. S4 is the ideal size, very comfortable to hold. People manage with Note 2 as well. They stick it in shirt or coat pockets, not pant pockets. Big screens need bigger pockets or handbags.

z ultra will make a good tray to carry drinks. Every reviewer i've seen laughed at its ridiculous size. The S4 looks like a toy in comparison. The ultra is good for working with but not carrying. If you want something that big a 7 inch tab would be cheaper. 6.4 inches screen size on a cellphone is in no man's land.

That is what confuses me if i decide to wait . That if the phones are launched in say september then they might not be buyable before dec-jan

Won't be an issue with samsung or Sony. A month or two max but prices will be steep during that time. LG is another matter.

 

[abhisheak]

Personally when you are spending 35k, you should get what you like. S4, One, Xperia Z, note 2,3 etc. will have decent hardware which will not get outdated in next 2 years. So go for the one you like the most, mobile phone is the most personal thing u can own, it help u in contacting your friends, contains your personal info, so get the one which u desire the most, dont buy a phone just on bases of its specs and regret your choice. Follow your heart. I hope I am able to make myself clear.

 

[paarkhi]

CM10 on an exyos S4 ? heh, if it exists its an unofficial build because there ain't an official one for it. Even the CM for Snapdragon S4 is still a nightly. 3 months after S4 launch, CM is still a nightly. No stable exists for the note 2 series yet and that's much older. It won't be CM you will be installing on the exynos S4.
CM10.2 is coming very fast for i9500 https://jira.cyanogenmod.org/browse/ESDB-5 can track progress

MIUI exists for the Snapdragon S4 variants, don't see any for exynos. Hard to say how stable these MIUI builds are because MIUI only seems to do weeklies. Looking at which phones they support, development seems slower in comaprison to CM.
MIUI

You did not mention the Sony's, Z & ZL already have stable CM & AOKP builds out. The CM for the Z came out just a month after its launch. Sony is more developer friendly. They have to be because they are not in the top 5.
Yes, they are +1 to you for mentioning it

Since you have expressed an interest in custom roms, then this is an additional factor to consider. 2-3 years means you expect dev support. The Nexus 4 has all of that. Question is if you don't want a nexus 4 then what is the best alternative. Nexus 5 ? won't be out before Oct and will hopefully be more sensibly designed than the G2. Even if you import, you're looking at getting it here by Dec-Jan. No SD card support, FM or removable battery. So what other brands or models are left in that case ?
Again +1 for correctly mentioning all the -ve of a Nexus Device. That's why I've never owned a Nexus Device.

Problem with LG is they are notorious for just one update even with flagships. Nobody knows how long they will support you beyond that. This despite the fact that LG is number 3 after Apple & Samsung.
and mostly bootloader locked LG Optimus G Pro still doesn't have any custom ROM http://goo.gl/8ZaXYB and http://goo.gl/73QsYb

Any size is perfect for two hands but the question is one handed operation. 5 inches i think is almost the max there and i have big hands. S4 is the ideal size, very comfortable to hold. People manage with Note 2 as well. They stick it in shirt or coat pockets, not pant pockets. Big screens need bigger pockets or handbags.
Personally using Note2 and don't find it so big

z ultra will make a good tray to carry drinks. Every reviewer i've seen laughed at its ridiculous size. The S4 looks like a toy in comparison. The ultra is good for working with but not carrying. If you want something that big a 7 inch tab would be cheaper. 6.4 inches screen size on a cellphone is in no man's land.


Won't be an issue with samsung or Sony. A month or two max but prices will be steep during that time. LG is another matter.

Please expand the quoted post to read my views...
To cut the long matter short. If you want Custom ROM support(you'll need it for using your device for next 2-3 years and you being a Flasho-holic) then Qualcomm is better bet compared to Exynos (due to poor documentation and all other things)

 

[blr_p]

Personally when you are spending 35k, you should get what you like. S4, One, Xperia Z, note 2,3 etc. will have decent hardware which will not get outdated in next 2 years. So go for the one you like the most, mobile phone is the most personal thing u can own, it help u in contacting your friends, contains your personal info, so get the one which u desire the most, dont buy a phone just on bases of its specs and regret your choice. Follow your heart. I hope I am able to make myself clear.

Crystal.

When i held the S4 the first time it said buy me.

Then i started to use my head.

 

[yuvi161292]

@blr_p
You make some really good points. The point that i got from your comments was that i should consider xperia z and nexus 4
i didnt know there wasnt a stable version of cm10 for SGS4 thanks for telling me that
Ill ask just one final question
In your opinion which device would be best for roms and gaming in the 25-35k range??

 

[vivek goel]

FYI phones like honami and note 3 will be announced next month, since India is not one of the main market expect bit late arrivals and steap launch prices. I will personally recommend htc one, although s4 is good too but i don't like it, cheap plastic.

for your information Samsung Phones are launched earlier in INDIA than in US or Europe.... Sony Z Ultra also launched with EUROPE launch. HTC phones too launch quickly but HTC ONE got delyed due to production issues. There is a big news that Iphone 5s will be launched in INDIA as soon as it launches in USA or other countries. So dont keep the false belief that the phone will be delayed in india.

and sir i guess you should wait till diwali to see new series of flagship and there will be discounts too during diwali. sony honami is looking great according to rumours. you can get all flagship at 35-38k on online shopping portals

 

[blr_p]

@blr_p
You make some really good points. The point that i got from your comments was that i should consider xperia z and nexus 4
i didnt know there wasnt a stable version of cm10 for SGS4 thanks for telling me that

Avoid the Z, look at the ZL instead. A couple of roms and also a custom kernel available.

If you can wait, the nexus 5 might be interesting too, otherwise there is always the nexus 4. Then there is the xperia 1i which has a good buzz around it but nobody knows yet what it will be like. Though wit 20MP camera it strikes as more photo friendly than gamer friendly.

Ill ask just one final question

In your opinion which device would be best for roms and gaming in the 25-35k range??

Best for roms & gaming is HTC one. Course it blows your budget by a good 8k

For a device that's just 4 months old it seems to have attracted quite a few devs. No stable CM yet but i think its only a matter of time given the attention.

The reason the HTC one has attracted developers is...

Development:

HTC One without a doubt. Not only that HTC provides a method to unlock the bootloader, but the One has S-off now. As you may know, S-off gives you pretty much complete control of your phone and lets you write things on the "write system partition". You can change boot animation, flash radios ect... plus it has super CID which lets you change the ID of your phone from for example an AT&T to the international version so when HTC pushes an update you'll get it on your AT&T phone despite it not being the international version. And the cherry on top of the cake is that any roms on the international HTC One can be flashed to the T-Mobile, AT&T and sprint versions ( some for the sprint versions). That is so amazing.

This means one device for the world and everybody can share their work kinda like the nexus 4. If the manufacturer makes it dev friendly then the devs will come. Custom kernels mean you fine tune things and get more thermal control. Course this won't matter much when gaming but will give you better battery life in other areas.

For gaming, you get a 32GB device with ~23GB available so can install more games than 16GB model. No microsd so you will be comprising that. Front facing speakers and nice screen means better experience than with others.

The BIGGEST con with the HTC one is its repairability. Its a difficult device to disassemble given the dearth of videos i find. Suspect that a battery change, screen replacement or other repairs is going to be pricey. What is HTC A.S.S. like in India ? that's the critical factor here. Its easier for people on carrier contracts because they will just trade the device for another. I don't think you can hold onto the htc one for too long without selling it off to avoid this issue.

@abisheak how would you respond ?

LGs are easier in comparison. If you look at the G pro, its a nice big screen and powerful too. G pro has replaceable battery and its similar to a samsung so repairs won't be hard. Rom situation with the G pro is yet to begin though.

 

[yuvi161292]

Htc one seems costly to me . Something around 33-34k would have been right for me
I looked at Xperia Z and ZL and did like the ZL more because its more comfortable to hold and has smaller bezel
Do really like the G pro but again find it costly
Nexus 4 would have been perfect for me if it had expandable storage or 32gb inbuilt and a 1080p display so for that i liked xperia zl which is nexus 4 + bigger screen with 1080p resolution and more memory but i have heard that it has bad viewing angles what about that? Also whats the best price i could get it for?

 

[blr_p]

Htc one seems costly to me . Something around 33-34k would have been right for me

What you're doing here is compromising your requirements because of budget. You want custom roms & gaming then this is the best mix you will get right now. Does a 4.7 inch screen matter here over a 5 incher. HTC is a developer friendly company.

Best thing is hold on to your money, save up and give it a month or two for prices to come down. The Butterfly S which is another very attractive device may come out and push the one's price lower. The butterfly s may have expandable memory. Hard to say whether that will be in india or elsewhere, they tend to change these things depending on the region.

I don't know how many S4 owners love their device but i'm confident its higher with One owners. Am getting quite attracted to it. The S4 it would seem is not turning out to be the hit the S3 was. Not surprising because where is the compelling need for an S3 owner to upgrade when they already have a quad core. Better for them to wait for the S5.

S3 has lots of development but its 1GB RAM limitation will limit its future.

I looked at Xperia Z and ZL and did like the ZL more because its more comfortable to hold and has smaller bezel
Do really like the G pro but again find it costly

Again budget. A bigger screen is better for gaming with good sound but it clashes with portability. Ok you can use 2 hands for gaming but what about the phone. I see people adapted to the note 2. Can you do that ?

Nexus 4 would have been perfect for me if it had expandable storage or 32gb inbuilt and a 1080p display so for that i liked xperia zl which is nexus 4 + bigger screen with 1080p resolution and more memory but i have heard that it has bad viewing angles what about that? Also whats the best price i could get it for?

The viewing angle is your call. Have not come across many xperia owners that complain about it. What i find more is reviewers making that point or others that have screens with better angles. For a mobile i don't think viewing angle matters as much as say for a tab or a TV, which are bigger devices and more stationary than a mobile in your hand. Even on a laptop i've not found a non-ips screen to be a problem at all. Given that one is firmly planted in front. Might be harder for others around to see but not me.

If you've seen the Z ultra, sony used a better screen there with no viewing problems. They should have used that in the Z & ZL. That triluminous screen will be in the next sony flagship for sure.

Flipkart has the black ZL for 33k. May be less on the street.

HTC One is the better buy.

 

[yuvi161292]

I checked out xperia z , zl , one , optimus g pro and one yesterday at croma
Didnt really see the viewing angle problem in the z . Tilting it 10-15 degrees didnt seem to have a problem with the screen and its not like i am going to tilt a screen 60-70 degrees while looking at it
S4 seemed like an upgrade to my S2 and the phone doesnt "look" like its worth 30k . I dont really like the new samsung phones look and all look the same what is with that
Liked the one and gpro
As i would like to go for a bigger screen so i would prefer gpro over one considering it has the same hardware .
Whats the dev seen in case of one and gpro?
Best price i could find was gpro 36k and one 38.5k so now these two are my final two options. what do u say?[DOUBLEPOST=1376546554][/DOUBLEPOST]LG G2 is up on saholic.com under "coming soon"

 

[paarkhi]

S4 seemed like an upgrade to my S2 and the phone doesnt "look" like its worth 30k . I dont really like the new samsung phones look and all look the same what is with that

Exactly My point, read my first post on page 1 in reply to your question.

As i would like to go for a bigger screen so i would prefer gpro over one considering it has the same hardware .
Whats the dev seen in case of one and gpro?

Dev Support for HTC One is quite good mainly because of HTC One(G) you can switch with a single click to Google edition of HTC One ROM and vice versa, but cannot be said same for the LG G Pro, As I have quoted in my previous post along with the XDA links that there is practically no Custom ROM or Dev support due to the locked bootloaders on LG Phones (but now I think the Devs are successful in unlocking it).

 

[yuvi161292]

I saw xda and didnt find any roms for g pro but one and many
Also s4 the international version seems to have roms but not the version available in india. why is that? will it change in the future?

 

[paarkhi]

I saw xda and didnt find any roms for g pro but one and many
Also s4 the international version seems to have roms but not the version available in india. why is that? will it change in the future?

The Indian Version of S4 is International version (i9500) which is based on Exynos octa core, The other one which you saw is i9505 based on Qualcomm and the same specs are in S4(G) google edition so they enjoy nice custom ROM support, unfortunately we are always getting exynos based (Even in Note3 I doubt the same will happen) and Devs are annoyed with Samsung exynos for not providing various kind of support (Documentation and some other kind of sources). So very slim hope of getting DEV support on Exynos based new released phones. As for your Question "Will it change in future?" Yes, it can if samsung decides, till then

 

[blr_p]

I checked out xperia z , zl , one , optimus g pro and one yesterday at croma
Didnt really see the viewing angle problem in the z . Tilting it 10-15 degrees didnt seem to have a problem with the screen and its not like i am going to tilt a screen 60-70 degrees while looking at it

Since you have an S2 which has good viewing angles then you are expecting similar viewing behaviour also from the new device. Another point to bear in mind is outdoors viewing legibility in sunlight. S-AMOLED will be more legible than IPS or other LCD screens. Will you be disappointed if IPS does not match what you have on S2.

Also consider the volume and call quality. Is you S2 loud enough to hear on a street. Then you expect similar or better with the next.

S4 seemed like an upgrade to my S2 and the phone doesnt "look" like its worth 30k . I dont really like the new samsung phones look and all look the same what is with that.

It means if you own last years device then nobody knows the difference Course you want to boast you have latest device, but that is only temporary until next device comes out. S2 looks different to S3. S3 is similar to S4. Samsung expects you to upgrade every couple of years. Also the samsung design in terms of repairability is the best out there.

What i'm curious to know is since you have the S2 and it has lots of dev attention. How has your custom rom experience been like with it. Found this interesting site the other day and resurrection remix ROM seems quite attractive.

http://galaxys2root.com/

Also i want to know whether you installed JB4.2 on your S2 and what the performance was like. How does a 0.5GB RAM model cope with JB.

Liked the one and gpro
As i would like to go for a bigger screen so i would prefer gpro over one considering it has the same hardware .

Not quite, the HTC one has front facing speakers which is a big win over the G Pro. See these reviews.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=55RQJeeVAB4

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LFmhSynKW8

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDh6Doywt7I‎

With tabs the difference between front & rear speakers is night & day. HTC is the only vendor to date that has attempted to do front facing speakers with mobiles. Where are your ears ? in front of the device, why more companies do not realise this (!) Otherwise with rear facing you have to play your games in a corner so the sound bounces back to you.

Best price i could find was gpro 36k and one 38.5k so now these two are my final two options. what do u say?

Need to inquire at the HTC service centre about costs for battery replacement/screen repair and their approximate waiting times. These are really the only HTC cons that have to be managed.

G Pro dev scene is yet to happen. If you see what optimus g got so far being out much longer than the one, then i expect similar with the Pro. Whereas one will just be speeding ahead and leaving everybody else behind.

The other point is if you go for a full HD screen, make sure it has wifi ac. Both HTC one & Pro have this.
Otherwise you will never be able to stream anything full-HD to it. Bandwidth will only be sufficient for HD. You can always copy stuff over but that takes time compared to streaming.

 

[blr_p]

The Indian Version of S4 is International version (i9500) which is based on Exynos octa core, The other one which you saw is i9505 based on Qualcomm and the same specs are in S4(G) google edition so they enjoy nice custom ROM support, unfortunately we are always getting exynos based (Even in Note3 I doubt the same will happen) and Devs are annoyed with Samsung exynos for not providing various kind of support (Documentation and some other kind of sources). So very slim hope of getting DEV support on Exynos based new released phones. As for your Question "Will it change in future?" Yes, it can if samsung decides, till then

Kinda kills it for the Note 3 already.

 

[paarkhi]

How does a 0.5GB RAM model cope with JB.

Sorry to interrupt but Samsung galaxy S2 has 1GB RAM. (I also have a SGS2)

 

[blr_p]

Ah, i stand corrected on that one. Good for the S2. so tell us about the custom rom experiences. For a device that was supposed to stop with GB, (vendor supports 4.1) i'm seeing CM 4.3 builds for it.

People look at S2 & S3 and expect the same dev attention for S4, but i'm not sure if that will be the case.

 

[paarkhi]

Ah, i stand corrected on that one. Good for the S2. so tell us about the custom rom experiences. For a device that was supposed to stop with GB, i'm seeing CM 4.3 builds for it.

I'm the fan of Slimbean on S2, it's pretty stable ROM and the amount of attn. the Devs pay even for minute details is quite surprising, I feel like they are the standard in Custom ROMs (ofcourse after CM, CM ROMs are pretty plain Vanila) and to summarize my overall experience in Custom ROMs is that everything common in Daily life works in (on) Custom ROMs like Bluetooth, WiFi, WiFi-AP (tether), Camera, Sound, etc. but they fall short when it comes to proprietary things AllShare (Samsung), FM, OTG, etc. So depends on the user depending his personal needs.