Concerns seem to be building

[Adrynalyne]

I think me and you are basically on the same page.. we both currently own fascinates.. and we both want galaxy nexus's.. but we are concerned about a few things and simply dont want to get burned.

Which I feel we were kinda burned on the fascinate.. which happens to be the same mfg as the galaxy nexus.

without offending anyone let me state my concerns.. and I know it will take a review or some good leaks to get solid answers on these.. but none the less these are my concerns.

1. Samsungs GPS track record.
2. I have read that Motorola and HTC have stronger radios in their phones.. whats the general concensus on this? I get like -78 dbm on my fascinate at my house.. I think thats pretty good and I have no complaints.. but Im curious if it would be even stronger on a motorola device. Of course software is a big part of the phone and pure ICS is a huge advantage.. but if its got inferior radio/gps hardware then is it really a smart buy?
3. As mentioned before, the lack of GG situation.. would like to see the screen tested for scratch and shatter resistance.. I dont expect it to be bullet proof.. but I wanna see how it holds up (who knows.. could end up being better then GG)

I basically want the best hardware phone I can get.. Im not worried about GPU/CPU so much as im worried about things like the signal strength/gps/call quality (noise cancelling mics)/etc.

I am overall split with how I feel about the Galaxy S1 that I own.. The Galaxy Nexus just seems to good to pass up though.. I guess pretty much Ill just have to wait for the reviews and hopefully the reviewers get into detail about how well it actually functions as a smartphone.. not just how pretty ICS is. Once I know for sure its going to work good for navigation and call quality and screen durability.. I would love to own one.

Regarding GPS track records, HTC hasn't had the greatest results either. I recall Motorola having some bumpy roads as well.

Regarding radios, I found my HTC Thunderbolt to have similar signal as my Samsung Fascinate.

 

[CynicX]

I wasn't aware they didn't announce all vendors. Good to know

I also read that Corning doesn't list all their vendors. Not sure if you were aware of that or not...

 

[Adrynalyne]

I also read that Corning doesn't list all their vendors. Not sure if you were aware of that or not...

I thought that was what I was replying to

 

[CynicX]

I think me and you are basically on the same page.. we both currently own fascinates.. and we both want galaxy nexus's.. but we are concerned about a few things and simply dont want to get burned.

Which I feel we were kinda burned on the fascinate.. which happens to be the same mfg as the galaxy nexus.

without offending anyone let me state my concerns.. and I know it will take a review or some good leaks to get solid answers on these.. but none the less these are my concerns.

1. Samsungs GPS track record.
2. I have read that Motorola and HTC have stronger radios in their phones.. whats the general concensus on this? I get like -78 dbm on my fascinate at my house.. I think thats pretty good and I have no complaints.. but Im curious if it would be even stronger on a motorola device. Of course software is a big part of the phone and pure ICS is a huge advantage.. but if its got inferior radio/gps hardware then is it really a smart buy?
3. As mentioned before, the lack of GG situation.. would like to see the screen tested for scratch and shatter resistance.. I dont expect it to be bullet proof.. but I wanna see how it holds up (who knows.. could end up being better then GG)

I basically want the best hardware phone I can get.. Im not worried about GPU/CPU so much as im worried about things like the signal strength/gps/call quality (noise cancelling mics)/etc.

I am overall split with how I feel about the Galaxy S1 that I own.. The Galaxy Nexus just seems to good to pass up though.. I guess pretty much Ill just have to wait for the reviews and hopefully the reviewers get into detail about how well it actually functions as a smartphone.. not just how pretty ICS is. Once I know for sure its going to work good for navigation and call quality and screen durability.. I would love to own one.

1. Samsung has worked out most if not all their GPS bugs. So if you have problems they will be new ones.

2. Motorola radios are supposedly some of the best. But their will always be a best it doesn't mean the other phones are terrible. Motorola has been building radio based equipment since the beginning of time. Maryland state police have been using Motorola radios since the 70's. Radio communication is their business. That said I get great reception on my Samsung dumb phone, just as good as my g/f's Droid 2....

3. NO COMMENT lol

 

[Adrynalyne]

All of these gimmicks...


I am still waiting to hear a story of the RAZR back unraveling and someone choking themselves to death because of it, Final Destination style.


....does that make me morbid?

 

[philly]

my fiance just got the HTC Rhyme.. and I upgraded her from the fascinate hoping for improved GPS.. it seems to be a little better but nothing incredible.

I put both phones next to eachother yesterday and she was able to get -73 dbm which I think is pretty good as far as signal strength.

milan: yes I know.. reviews are pretty much the only thing that will answer my specific questions.. I do recall in previous phone launches though that ocassionaly people would leak some of these specifics.. IE I was able to find out a good amount of solid info on the fascinate before the reviews hit. Maybe that was because it was part of a broader line up which all 3 counterparts in the USA had already launched (for example the galaxy S1 GPS issue was well known before the fascinate was even launched, and shortly before launch people were able to confirm the fascinate still had the same issue as the captivate etc.)

 

[yapkuen]

Only one of your concerns that concern me is the lack of gorilla glass....in the winter I'll occasionly conceal carry in my Xoom's bag. A few times I've accidentally slid my Xoom in the wrong pocket and then carried the bag around all, tossing it around and such. The screen looks brand new still, hell I've used it as a coaster.

Click to view quoted image


While it might not be impervious to damage its in a league of its own vs the competition.

Man, I wish concealed carry in the same bag as my mobile device was a problem I had. Freakin' California "may-issue" counties.

 

[Adrynalyne]

We don't even need concealed-carry permits here.

 

[CynicX]

One of my concerns is battery life. After doing research as I'm sure most of you have. The iPhone supposedly has great battery power life however its smaller then a lot of Android phones batteries around 1500mah according to ifixit who disassembles devices and looks at the parts.

That means iOS does a better job utilizing battery life to the best possible.

As I've probably mentioned a billion times I have a Xoom. Now here is the interesting part. My girlfriend has an I pad 2 and we can both say for certain my Xoom has better battery life with constant use. The I pad has a 6944 mah battery but my Xoom has around 6500 mah.

This would leave me to believe that the Honeycomb OS is even better at conserving the battery life then iOS is. And since ICS is based off Honeycomb with even more improvements....well you see where I'm going...

 

[revickulous2001]

One of my concerns is battery life. After doing research as I'm sure most of you have. The iPhone supposedly has great battery power life however its smaller then a lot of Android phones batteries around 1500mah according to ifixit who disassembles devices and looks at the parts.

That means iOS does a better job utilizing battery life to the best possible.

As I've probably mentioned a billion times I have a Xoom. Now here is the interesting part. My girlfriend has an I pad 2 and we can both say for certain my Xoom has better battery life with constant use. The I pad has a 6944 mah battery but my Xoom has around 6500 mah.

This would leave me to believe that the Honeycomb OS is even better at conserving the battery life then iOS is. And since ICS is based off Honeycomb with even more improvements....well you see where I'm going...

Simplicity is the biggest reason iOS has better battery life than android. No true multi-threading support. No widgets. You only get an app drawer really. Not even home screens. All these extra perks that android users carry around can take down some battery life.

However, from what I have compared to my coworker...His iPad 2 does seem to get better battery life than my Xoom stacked side by side doing similar tasks. Glad to hear somebody has gotten different results, though.

 

[CynicX]

Simplicity is the biggest reason iOS has better battery life than android. No true multi-threading support. No widgets. You only get an app drawer really. Not even home screens. All these extra perks that android users carry around can take down some battery life.

However, from what I have compared to my coworker...His iPad 2 does seem to get better battery life than my Xoom stacked side by side doing similar tasks. Glad to hear somebody has gotten different results, though.

I've heard this before. We had a major power outage and were doing similar task when we noticed this. Watching movies and listening to music...

I don't think its very fair to compare much else. For example, web browsing. I have multiple tabs open right now all desktop mode with flash ads playing. Obviously more work, more battery usage. And of course like you mentioned, I have a home screen full of Widgets and such.

 

[milan03]

As I've probably mentioned a billion times I have a Xoom. Now here is the interesting part. My girlfriend has an I pad 2 and we can both say for certain my Xoom has better battery life with constant use. The I pad has a 6944 mah battery but my Xoom has around 6500 mah.

This would leave me to believe that the Honeycomb OS is even better at conserving the battery life then iOS is. And since ICS is based off Honeycomb with even more improvements....well you see where I'm going...

Here is the part that you didn't mention. Do you have WiFi only Xoom and iPad, or is your iPad 3G by any chance?
Id your iPad is 3G enabled, that's a secondary antenna that will drain the battery for ya. Also iOS 5 is using iCloud backup and if it's ON it'll considerably drain.
Other than that, battery life is always gonna be a legitimate concern with first generation LTE device.

 

[Jeff43]

Only one of your concerns that concern me is the lack of gorilla glass....in the winter I'll occasionly conceal carry in my Xoom's bag. A few times I've accidentally slid my Xoom in the wrong pocket and then carried the bag around all, tossing it around and such. The screen looks brand new still, hell I've used it as a coaster.

Click to view quoted image


While it might not be impervious to damage its in a league of its own vs the competition.

Nice Glock...9mm?

 

[CynicX]

Here is the part that you didn't mention. Do you have WiFi only Xoom and iPad, or is your iPad 3G by any chance?
Id your iPad is 3G enabled, that's a secondary antenna that will drain the battery for ya. Also iOS 5 is using iCloud backup and if it's ON it'll considerably drain.
Other than that, battery life is always gonna be a legitimate concern with first generation LTE device.

Good point.

This was during a major power outages when we noticed. This was also before I had LTE. Both devices were in 3g using Netflix. And this was prior to iOS5.

Which leads to something else. We haven't tested this since iOS5. I have read reviews that iOS5 has made devices considerably fastest which would lead me to believe if you don't use that extra speed it may translate into extra battery.

Next time she leaves her I pad at home I'll charge both and set them side by side and run Netflix to see which dies first from 100% battery with 0 volume. Anything else I should do in preparation for the test...GPS off obviously. I think using wifi will be a more fair test with screen brightness at Max or low?

 

[CynicX]

Nice Glock...9mm?

Glock 32 .357sig

 

[milan03]

Good point.

This was during a major power outages when we noticed. This was also before I had LTE. Both devices were in 3g using Netflix. And this was prior to iOS5.

Which leads to something else. We haven't tested this since iOS5. I have read reviews that iOS5 has made devices considerably fastest which would lead me to believe if you don't use that extra speed it may translate into extra battery.

Next time she leaves her I pad at home I'll charge both and set them side by side and run Netflix to see which dies first from 100% battery with 0 volume. Anything else I should do in preparation for the test...GPS off obviously. I think using wifi will be a more fair test with screen brightness at Max or low?

Yeah I would turn the cellular data off on both, keep WiFi on, Bluetooth off, gps off, make sure iCloud backup is off, brightness 50% or max up to you but make it consistent. I'm curious to hear the results.

 

[Mr. Poppalopolis]

Glock 32 .357sig

Never been a fan of Glocks. How is it?

And about battery life, I would imagine it to be pretty reasonable for this phone. I'll most likely underclock it eventually anyways. All my friends with LTE phones (Thunderbolts) always complain about battery life, but I expect power management to be way better in ICS.

 

[Adrynalyne]

I'd rather drop the voltage and keep the current clock

 

[nemov]

Well, I am glad you are immature enough to find something I said laughable.

I'm glad you learned something about vendor agreements.

 

[milan03]

And about battery life, I would imagine it to be pretty reasonable for this phone. I'll most likely underclock it eventually anyways. All my friends with LTE phones (Thunderbolts) always complain about battery life, but I expect power management to be way better in ICS.

It's really hard to squeeze more out of the battery, especially since the first generation Category 3 LTE baseband chipsets are made using 45nm manufacturing process, and are very large and power hungry. Not necessarily perfectly optimized for mobile handsets, rather USB modems where larger battery is implemented.
Also they aren't capable of carrying voice so there is always a secondary 1X baseband that deals with voice, which maintains that constant connection and effectively drains the battery even more.
I really hope you are right and ICS has some miraculous power management, but all of us early adopters should be prepared for subpar battery life as the current chipset technology is still power hungry. To top it all off, battery technology hasn't really progressed in the last 5 years so it's clearly the weakest link.