The Phone wars are over...Samsung just won

[Aquila]

Value case for this? An S4 without the camera app, without any of the gizmos working, without eye tracking and jedi mind trick hand waving and possibly without a working SD card... what is that? It's a galaxy nexus with a bigger/better screen and a better processor + a menu button and a physical home button that could possibly ruin the Google Now experience. The highest value for S4 shoppers, in my opinion, is to buy a carrier S4 that comes with touchwiz and either flash an AOSP rom, knowing you can go back to the Samsung features if you want to... or do the same thing, but just put Nova Launcher on it, if all you care about is look and feel stuff. Otherwise, buying a Nexus 4 is a way smarter move for a true Google device, and you can buy two of them, 1 8GB and 1 16GB for the same price.

 

[bclinger#IM]

And there are a few of us not insisted in the pure Google experience.

Sent from my Sprint Note 2 via Tapatalk.

 

[JHBThree]

Uh, yeah, not nearly the same earth shattering news. That goes for both of those products. The iPhone was superior to the OG Droid, Google is putting out their touches on the most spec advanced phone on the market. That includes whatever Apple is putting out this year.

You're not remembering properly. Both the Droid and the Xoom were a big deal at the time. The Droid was the first handset running 2.0, and the first android handset that managed to put out specs better than the iPhone at the time. The Xoom was the first android tablet running an android tablet os, which was a big deal in and of itself.

 

[fernandezhjr]

TouchWiz is a feature.

Samsung has probably already sold more S4s than Google has sold Nexus 4s.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

This is only because carrier's subsidize the cost of the phone.

 

[thatotherdude24]

It's going to be sold online only via google play from what I understand. Most of the general public won't even know the phone exists.

I completely agree. The general public in numbers hugely out numbers us tech people. They may not even know you can buy a phone from google play store. Most think to buy a phone you go to your carrier.

I feel this way about a lot of what was announced today. Again to us techies this is big stuff but to the general public how much of this will they actually use or know about? Maps of course but the biggest 'seriously' thing to me was the music service. Most already have their favorite service such as Pandora and many of them are free. I don't see what the big wow feature is to draw the general public in to pay the $10 a month.

 

[Suda]

Value case for this? An S4 without the camera app, without any of the gizmos working, without eye tracking and jedi mind trick hand waving and possibly without a working SD card... what is that? It's a galaxy nexus with a bigger/better screen and a better processor + a menu button and a physical home button that could possibly ruin the Google Now experience. The highest value for S4 shoppers, in my opinion, is to buy a carrier S4 that comes with touchwiz and either flash an AOSP rom, knowing you can go back to the Samsung features if you want to... or do the same thing, but just put Nova Launcher on it, if all you care about is look and feel stuff. Otherwise, buying a Nexus 4 is a way smarter move for a true Google device, and you can buy two of them, 1 8GB and 1 16GB for the same price.

I know yours was just an example of the cost for this phone, but let's say you do buy two Nexus 4s, you'll get 24GB of total storage separated across two phones with no LTE, lesser battery, inferior internals, 720p screen, and an even more fragile build quality. Or you could buy a Galaxy Nexus S4 with the potential of 80GB onboard with micro SD storage (with a directory bind or the app to sd application in the play store), 1080p screen, best CPU/GPU combo currently on the market, LTE, and a better battery with the option to switch to a larger capacity one. I don't think it's been confirmed what this phone really is, all we know is the surface of it and that it'll run stock Android. The phone that was held on stage with stock Android on it had the gesture and proximity sensors on it so there is the possibility of it having those features.

Literally the only thing the Nexus 4 has going it against this phone is the price tag. That's it.

 

[Aquila]

I know yours was just an example of the cost for this phone, but let's say you do buy two Nexus 4s, you'll get 24GB of total storage separated across two phones with no LTE, lesser battery, inferior internals, 720p screen, and an even more fragile build quality. Or you could buy a Galaxy Nexus S4 with the potential of 80GB onboard with micro SD storage (with a directory bind or the app to sd application in the play store), 1080p screen, best CPU/GPU combo currently on the market, LTE, and a better battery. I don't think it's been confirmed what this phone really is, all we know is the surface of it and that it'll run stock Android. The phone that was held on stage with stock Android on it had the gesture and proximity sensors on it so there is the possibility of having those features.

Literally the only thing the Nexus 4 has going up against this phone is the price tag. That's it.

Correct in that we don't have details, but there are many reasons to believe that nothing that's part of TouchWiz will work. That'd logically include all of the sensors non-nexus, S-voice, smart stay, IR blaster, SD card and camera software. If those things are present, then the value goes up. So what I originally said, was value case.... meaning, why would you buy this instead of a regular S4? Because, the regular S4 has many advantages that this cannot have and if you really wanted stock, why wouldn't you save yourself $300 for apps, or dinner for your girlfriend or a Nexus 7, etc.

 

[Aquila]

IF this gets the camera and some of the other Samsung features on top of AOSP, that'd be HUGE and make this one of my favorite devices, even with the ghoulish button atrocity they've committed again. That's exactly what everyone wanted, at least in all the comments on like every tech site ever.

 

[Suda]

Correct in that we don't have details, but there are many reasons to believe that nothing that's part of TouchWiz will work. That'd logically include all of the sensors non-nexus, S-voice, smart stay, IR blaster, SD card and camera software. If those things are present, then the value goes up. So what I originally said, was value case.... meaning, why would you buy this instead of a regular S4? Because, the regular S4 has many advantages that this cannot have and if you really wanted stock, why wouldn't you save yourself $300 for apps, or dinner for your girlfriend or a Nexus 7, etc.

Why wouldn't the SD card work? Because it's running stock Android? It's still a Samsung phone through and through and the 16GB w/ expandable storage was made a point during the announcement. Things that are native to Samsung like S-Voice, S-Health, Knox, camera settings, etc. will obviously not be there. But Smart stay, smart pause, and the other stuff use sensors that are built into the phone. I'd like to think these features are safe or like you said you really wouldn't have a need of buying this phone, which is why I think they are.

And monogamy is overrated.

 

[TheLibertarian]

I know yours was just an example of the cost for this phone, but let's say you do buy two Nexus 4s, you'll get 24GB of total storage separated across two phones with no LTE, lesser battery, inferior internals, 720p screen, and an even more fragile build quality. Or you could buy a Galaxy Nexus S4 with the potential of 80GB onboard with micro SD storage (with a directory bind or the app to sd application in the play store), 1080p screen, best CPU/GPU combo currently on the market, LTE, and a better battery with the option to switch to a larger capacity one. I don't think it's been confirmed what this phone really is, all we know is the surface of it and that it'll run stock Android. The phone that was held on stage with stock Android on it had the gesture and proximity sensors on it so there is the possibility of it having those features.

Literally the only thing the Nexus 4 has going it against this phone is the price tag. That's it.

You're undervaluing how massive that sole advantage of the Nexus 4 is.

A 1080 AMOLED display and LTE are no where in the realm worth $300 to upgrade, IMHO.

And while the GS4 may have superior internals, the S4 Pro and Adreno 320 fly in the N4; have yet to experience lag.

And, for me, I absolutely hate physical buttons, and as I take good care of my devices, I'd much rather have a glass phone than a plastic chassis.

Battery is minimally improved.

Point is, the Nexus 4 steals the show because of how Google worked out pricing, and the GS4 without TouchWiz seems like an overly expensive Nexus.

Of course, not everyone shares my views. But that's the beauty of choice and opinions!

 

[Aquila]

Why wouldn't the SD card work? Because it's running stock Android? It's still a Samsung phone through and through and the 16GB w/ expandable storage was made a point during the announcement. Things that are native to Samsung like S-Voice, S-Health, Knox, camera settings, etc. will obviously not be there. But Smart stay, smart pause, and the other stuff is actually built into the phone through sensors and such. I'd like to think these features are safe or like you said you really wouldn't have a need of buying this phone, which is why I think they are.

And monogamy is overrated.

I hope you're right, but the code for all of those things was added by Samsung, it's just not in AOSP.. yet. Maybe they're adding it. I missed the call out on the SD card in the keynote, also hope that is there. Even though I want that tech to be eradicated, it improves the value of the phone for users who do want it. I'd just rather they replace it with internal storage. They could leave the sensors there with no code to help them, in which case you could activate them by some sort of custom hybrid kernel and coding the features into a custom ROM or Samsung could add it in to the code themselves, but it seemed like they were indicating it's the exact same code that's on the Nexus 4... which is clearly not true because of the buttons.

 

[Deleted member 1050820]

Wait, I thought the 'phone war' is between Android and Apple?

Also, the GE S4 announced at I/O today is only available for the US (and only on GSM networks).

Nothing fundamental has changed. The world is still waiting for the next Nexus.

 

[Suda]

You're undervaluing how massive that sole advantage of the Nexus 4 is.

A 1080 AMOLED display and LTE are no where in the realm worth $300 to upgrade, IMHO.

And while the GS4 may have superior internals, the S4 Pro and Adreno 320 fly in the N4; have yet to experience lag.

And, for me, I absolutely hate physical buttons, and as I take good care of my devices, I'd much rather have a glass phone than a plastic chassis.

Battery is minimally improved.

Point it, the Nexus 4 steals the show because of how Google worked out pricing, and the GS4 without TouchWiz seems like an overly expensive Nexus.

Of course, not everyone shares my views. But that's the beauty of choice and opinions!

I'm not undervaluing anything, I have a Nexus 4. I'm just not hung up on its price as I understand that it's the exception not the rule, and I'm not disappointed by this phone's price seemingly like a lot of people are. If I'm on a budget I'm taking the N4 easily. If I have a choice I'm taking this phone because I have enough storage to where I don't have to rely on the cloud, a better and bigger screen in virtually the same size footprint, LTE, and top of the line parts all wrapped in a bow for me.

And the battery is more than a "minimal upgrade".

And this is with it running TouchWiz. But you are right, choice is a good thing.

 

[Aquila]

I'm not undervaluing anything, I have a Nexus 4. I'm just not hung up on its price as I understand that it's the exception not the rule, and I'm not disappointed by this phone's price seemingly like a lot of people are. If I'm on a budget I'm taking the N4 easily. If I have a choice I'm taking this phone because I have enough storage to where I don't have to rely on the cloud, a better and bigger screen in virtually the same size footprint, LTE, and top of the line parts all wrapped in a bow for me.

And the battery is more than a "minimal upgrade".

http://cdn.gsmarena.com/vv/reviewsimg/htc-one-vs-galaxy-s4/update/gsmarena_002.jpg
http://st.gsmarena.com/pics/12/12/nexus-4-battery-life/gsmarena_003.jpg

And this is with it running TouchWiz and bloat. But you are right, choice is a good thing.

That's a pretty huge battery life difference, especially considering the higher number of pixels it's powering and looking at that video playback number, they put some serious optimization into that piece of the puzzle.

I did double check the screen shot of the Google S4 presentation, it says 16GB and doesn't mention the SD support, that's why I'm nervous about whether or not they included it.

 

[Suda]

Wait, I thought the 'phone war' is between Android and Apple?

Also, the GE S4 announced at I/O today is only available for the US (and only on GSM networks).

Nothing fundamental has changed. The world is still waiting for the next Nexus.

I have a feeling there won't be anymore Nexus-esque devices for CDMA networks, more namely Verizon.

 

[Suda]

I did double check the screen shot of the Google S4 presentation, it says 16GB and doesn't mention the SD support, that's why I'm nervous about whether or not they included it.

Check the 1:10 timeframe:

 

[Aquila]

Check the 1:10 timeframe:
Google reveals Galaxy S4 running pure Android - YouTube

Okay, that's good because it gives hope for support for some of the other Samsung stuff. Thanks!

 

[jason42090]

I've read post that people already want to jump to this phone from their current s4s. What if it doesn't sell well because of the price and if by chance this doesn't have the same specs of the tmobile and att s4s how is it going to help development? Will there even be that many devs? That would mean it would be better to just stay with our current s4s since theres already a good amount of support for it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

 

[TheLibertarian]

I'm not undervaluing anything, I have a Nexus 4. I'm just not hung up on its price as I understand that it's the exception not the rule, and I'm not disappointed by this phone's price seemingly like a lot of people are. If I'm on a budget I'm taking the N4 easily. If I have a choice I'm taking this phone because I have enough storage to where I don't have to rely on the cloud, a better and bigger screen in virtually the same size footprint, LTE, and top of the line parts all wrapped in a bow for me.

And the battery is more than a "minimal upgrade".

http://cdn.gsmarena.com/vv/reviewsimg/htc-one-vs-galaxy-s4/update/gsmarena_002.jpg
http://st.gsmarena.com/pics/12/12/nexus-4-battery-life/gsmarena_003.jpg

And this is with it running TouchWiz. But you are right, choice is a good thing.

Seeing as how the GS4 is only packing a battery 300mAh larger than the Nexus 4, I'm not sure how much I'm buying into that battery test. Wait for a test to be run on the GS4 without TouchWiz... For all we know, TouchWiz handled it's power consumption far batter than stock Android. Just saying.

 

[KwietStorm]

You get what you pay for.

The S4 is exactly the same price range as any flagship phone. My HTC Rezound was $700 retail when it came out.

It seems like you're trying to prove some point, rather than acknowledge the facts (flaws) in the argument. Even with the Nexus 4's "impressive" sales numbers, it still doesn't do the numbers a popular, advertised, and carrier branded phone does, and that's with the low price of 350. What makes you think a $650 version will be that big of a deal to anyone outside of the same niche community? Hell, the average person doesn't even know what "stock Android" means. What war exactly did Samsung win? Lol

Posted via Android Central App