Iphone 5 to GS4

[Slayers]

I am looking to jump back into Android land and want to make sure I get the right device.

Are there any short comings that the verizon GS4 has that might make me not want to get this phone?

How is battery life?

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

I am looking to jump back into Android land and want to make sure I get the right device.

Are there any short comings that the verizon GS4 has that might make me not want to get this phone?

How is battery life?

If battery life is a major concern of yours then you might want to consider the Droid Maxx.

I can't say there are any major drawbacks of the S4 vs any other phone, and that holds true with the Verizon version. If rooting is your thing, though, you should look into a Developer Edition.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

I am looking to jump back into Android land and want to make sure I get the right device.

Are there any short comings that the verizon GS4 has that might make me not want to get this phone?

How is battery life?

If battery life is a major concern of yours then you might want to consider the Droid Maxx.

I can't say there are any major drawbacks of the S4 vs any other phone, and that holds true with the Verizon version. If rooting is your thing, though, you should look into a Developer Edition.

I agree with most of this. Obviously the Droid Maxx's selling point is the larger battery, but I personally think the S4 is the better overall device, and frankly, the battery life is decent...at the very least it should be comparable to that of the iPhone 5 (based on comparing my own S4 to friends' iPhone 5's).

And yeah, if you're into rooting and installing ROMs, this may not be the device for you. While there is a roundabout way to get root access working, there still is no known way to unlock the bootloader or get custom recovery installed on phones running the latest firmware, so no custom ROMs. Of course, if don't really care about all that, then it's not anything to worry about.

Being on Verizon, the other 2 phones I'd probably look at if I were buying are the HTC One and the LG G2...in fact the G2 looks really intriguing to me, but I haven't really had a chance to play around with it myself.

 

[fatboy97]

Battery life is such a subjective term since no two people use their device is the same way... apps that run in the background, widgets, number of emails per day, number of text per day, how often you check your device, use of a browser (chrome, firefox, or any other browser you like).... and it really is the same on the any smartphone, including from one iPhone user to another.

As far as other device compared to the any other device... you have to like or tolerate what they load on the device... HTC with Sense, Motorola with their Blur, Samsung with their TouchWiz, I'm not even sure what LG does but I've heard people really like the new G2 (if reviews are to be believed). Then there is the iPhone... I have never owned nor have any reason to really look at one... I've seen them... I've read reviews... I have even taken a programming class for them... I just don't like the way their OS works, nor the way they lock things down and the work around jail breaking people have to do, and people still have to basically deal with whatever limitations in hardware and OS Apple gives you... enough of that rant.

If you want an Android, there are plenty of options in hardware and in flavor's... and if you really don't like those you can always load a different launcher to give it a different look and feel... I prefer Nova right now, but here is also Apex, Go Launcher, Next Launcher, and a number of others.

 

[garublador]

I am looking to jump back into Android land and want to make sure I get the right device.

Are there any short comings that the verizon GS4 has that might make me not want to get this phone?

How is battery life?

I have a Verizon S4 and my wife has an iPhone 5. The battery life we see is pretty similar, but I have Google Now and location based Tasker profiles running and she does not. My guess is that with that stuff on I get slightly worse battery life than she does, but with that stuff off I'd get slightly better battery life.

As far as skins and "lag" are concerned, you can install a different launcher and get most of the current high end phones to look and work about the same. I wouldn't prioritize either of those aspects of the phone very high.

IMO, the advantage of the S4 will be the micro SD card slot. You won't get that with the One or any of the Motoroloa phones. The camera is probably also all-around the best, but not by a large margin. The removable battery is nice peace of mind, too.

The advantage of the One is the higher internal memory for the price. The built in speakers are also better and the camera is probably the best in low light.

The advantages of the new Motorola phones are the always-on features (active notifications, always-on voice recognition, etc) and battery life.

I don't know anything about the G2.

My guess is if you're happy with the battery life of the iPhone 5 then you'll be happy with the battery on any of these phones. You have to actually use a lot of battery for a large battery capacity to be helpful. Plugging in every night at 80% isn't a huge advantage over plugging in at 40%. However, not having to charge in the middle of the day can be really nice.

 

[Murph5150]

If battery life is your biggest concern, pick up a Mophie Juice Pack. I use one on my S4. It's extra battery life on the go.

The S4 is LOADED with options. I'm an engineer, had the phone for 5 weeks, and am still learning its in's and out's. And worst case scenario, you return the phone and exchange it for something else. Demo the phones in the Verizon store. That's my best advice.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[tippmann15]

The only complaint I have about the s4 is the lag/stuttering it's cursed by. You can probably get used to it, but after coming from a note 2 (one of the smoothest android phones on the market) I expected a lot more from the S4.

GS4/iPhone5

 

[edgefever]

You should try a factory reset if you didn't do one after that big update. You will see a big difference.