Finally pulling the trigger on new phone (Nexus->S4)

[trailblazen]

Well,
I was hoping to ride the unlimited data train but my nexus has been feeling buggy lately and battery life has been turning to crap even with the extended. I was due back in May but was too stubborn to lose my unlimited data. Well, walked into Radio shack for a mouse of all things and they were having a sale this week only on S4 for $150, then they offered a 15% military and a $30 trade in on my nexus making it roughly $100 for a brand new S4. I had to walk home without it though since it was a not planned move (will go back tomorrow) and I have 1762 photos to get off my phone along with putting back on the back panel and standard battery since I use a Otterbox Defender and had to have back panel off. So, as I sit here waiting for everything to copy off my internal storage to my laptop I figured I would ask how everyone likes their S4, what really to expect out of it and any tips/tricks/cool things to know about the phone. I am still wrapping my head around losing my unlimited data but looking at my recent usage I really don't need it anymore. I guess it was more a nice thing to have but not end of the world. Anyway, looking forward to getting it tomorrow and hearing from you all as to how you like it.

 

[Greg C]

First of all you mentioned a military discount... if you are servin... I just want to say THANK YOU for your service. I'm an Army veteran. The S4 is an awesome phone. However I have the Nexus 4. For me you just can't beat having no bloatware, fast updates from Google and the pure Android experience. The S4 is a powerhouse. I've heard nothing but good about it from a couple people I know that have it.

Well,
I was hoping to ride the unlimited data train but my nexus has been feeling buggy lately and battery life has been turning to crap even with the extended. I was due back in May but was too stubborn to lose my unlimited data. Well, walked into Radio shack for a mouse of all things and they were having a sale this week only on S4 for $150, then they offered a 15% military and a $30 trade in on my nexus making it roughly $100 for a brand new S4. I had to walk home without it though since it was a not planned move (will go back tomorrow) and I have 1762 photos to get off my phone along with putting back on the back panel and standard battery since I use a Otterbox Defender and had to have back panel off. So, as I sit here waiting for everything to copy off my internal storage to my laptop I figured I would ask how everyone likes their S4, what really to expect out of it and any tips/tricks/cool things to know about the phone. I am still wrapping my head around losing my unlimited data but looking at my recent usage I really don't need it anymore. I guess it was more a nice thing to have but not end of the world. Anyway, looking forward to getting it tomorrow and hearing from you all as to how you like it.

 

[trailblazen]

First of all you mentioned a military discount... if you are servin... I just want to say THANK YOU for your service. I'm an Army veteran. The S4 is an awesome phone. However I have the Nexus 4. For me you just can't beat having no bloatware, fast updates from Google and the pure Android experience. The S4 is a powerhouse. I've heard nothing but good about it from a couple people I know that have it.

Yes sir, 10 years and still counting USAF. Yeah I know I am going back to bloat ware but I dunno. Seems like a really good deal for a new phone and I have been having issues with my I-515 Galaxy Nexus (Verizon version not Google version). I am pretty much getting a $200 phone for $100 with this sale. Plus from what I hear it is a powerhouse like you said. Thank you for your response!

 

[fatboy97]

I like my S4... it's been a good buy. I did buy it at full price to keep my unlimited data, but I could see in the not too distant future that Big Red will somehow phase out their unlimited data plans... it will happen. Bloatware can be disabled and some don't like even having that as an option, since it still takes up space on your device... but I've disabled 10-15 apps... and it runs very smoothly.

I also want to thank you for your service... I'm a retired Navy veteran.

 

[trailblazen]

Yeah that was my thinking too was they would find a way to get rid of it entirely but look at the unlimited everything for life Sprint just came out with. I bet when people start hopping on that bandwagon VZ might rethink (wishfull thinking lol)

 

[fatboy97]

Yeah that was my thinking too was they would find a way to get rid of it entirely but look at the unlimited everything for life Sprint just came out with. I bet when people start hopping on that bandwagon VZ might rethink (wishfull thinking lol)

At least in my large metro area Sprint is really, really, REALLY BAD. I have a couple friends and no one can get LTE in the single story brick building at work with their Sprint phones. In the past I could not get any reception just a few mile outside town. Unlimited everything sounds good in theory, but if I have no reception for my phone it's not worth it. Sure, I hope VZ makes some changes and opens things up, but I'm not going to hold my breath... working with what I have right now.

 

[trailblazen]

New phone in hand. Wow! Night and day phone and all of the gadgets and tools are pretty dang cool. Kid in candy store. I also have my Otterbox defender on order from Amazon which will be here Tuesday. Now about to transfer photos/videos/etc from laptop to S4.

 

[ibcop]

New phone in hand. Wow! Night and day phone and all of the gadgets and tools are pretty dang cool. Kid in candy store. I also have my Otterbox defender on order from Amazon which will be here Tuesday. Now about to transfer photos/videos/etc from laptop to S4.

Congrats on the new device! I'm sure you won't put it down for a while. Haha

Posted via Android Central App

 

[trailblazen]

You are right. Got it at like 5-6pm and its now 8:48 and still messing with it. Wife will probably get on my case soon about it but she also knows its a new toy so is giving me a break LOL.

 

[digitard]

That's why I try to buy my new gadgets / games / etc on SAT/SUN/MON/TUES because those are the days she works so I have at least few free hours when the youngest ones nap to nerd out!

 

[garublador]

Depending on how many pictures you have, you may want to consider a cloud storage solution for your pictures. Dropbox works really well if you're under their storage limit. You don't have to use your phone storage for them, they're always backed up and you don't have to go through that manual step of moving them to each new device.

Also consider a new launcher. I use Nova but Apex is super popular, too. TouchWiz is pretty limited when it comes to customization and IMO it uses the gigantic screen real estate poorly. With Nova or Apex you can change the number of icons that fit on the screen to something more reasonable. They seem to run better, too.

 

[mikestorm]

I, like you, came from the Nexus. I had the phone out of the box less than 30 minutes before it was rooted with customer recovery + Cyanogenmod nightly ROM installed. My S4 now looks exactly like my Nexus did, but bigger, faster, better battery and better screen.

Because your getting your phone from the Shack, they probably won't force a firmware update (many corporate VZW stores are). Check the firmware version on the About Phone screen. If the firmware ends in MDK, (and you don't care for Touchwiz) root that sucker ASAP and get your stock ROM installed. VZW tried to push the firmware update to my phone within minutes of my activating it. Had I allowed it to proceed, I would have been stuck with TouchWiz (the newer ME7 firmware bootloader hasn't been cracked yet).

Once rooted, you can choose to install a 'safe' TouchWiz ROM (one that doesn't lock your bootloader) if you want to give TouchWiz a spin.

 

[samkatz]

Hi. Good posts. I got the GNEX on day 1 and "upgraded" to the S 4 last week. As another posted, it's like night and day. As much as I liked the capabilities of the GNEX, the execution was horrible. First and foremost, this is still a phone, and with each OTA update the voice quality and reception on the GNEX got worse, not better. The apps all became very laggy, the battery life was so bad I had to carry around my New Trent battery pack all the time(even w/the extended)...etc etc.

The S 4 is much snappier, the voice quality and reception are improved(not as good as my old BB or Moto "dumb phone", and wow, the battery gets me through a whole day.

After reading about the "bloatware" and negatives about the Touchwiz, I'm pleasantly surprised. The bloatware doesn't seem to be running by itself and I can at least add some storage on the micro flash card. I don't find the Touchwiz too bad, and in fact, maybe in some senses it's better than having to add apps from the app store that might not run too well

The screen is much better I think. I can keep the backlight very very low indoors and still get a lot of detail and contrast. Outside, well, it still pretty bad, but what LCD or AMOLED isn't?

I do find that the much touted gestures and functions with the pages following your head movements,etc simply don't work, or even worse get in the way. I tried all of them just because they were so ballyhood, and then turned most off.

Overall, I'm 100% happy that I 'upgraded'...as far as hardware. I did not like losing the unlimited data either, nor did I like paying a 30.00 upgrade fee,,etc but it was still worth it.