UPDATE: I took the Galaxy S4 for a day-trip (Bangalore – Mumbai – Bangalore) yesterday. A day-trip is usually my ultimate smartphone stress test, again, from a common-man point of view. I’d like the phone to not lose juice before the day ends and I’m not forced to look for a charging station in places like an airport. I started the day with 88% and ended it with 30%, with about 2+ hours of screen time (that I noticed from the battery screen).
I plugged the phone for a brief 5 minutes to tether its 3G to my laptop in the noon and that’s it – I was tempted to charge it during the noon (going by how my S2 used to lose juice by 2pm, in such trips), but resisted. I did almost everything I would/could using my phone and think I didn’t skimp on usage. Data (3G) and Sync were on all through and I must have heard at least 3+ hours of audio book (my way of killing time in a flight and in an airport), besides reasonable amount of Twitter (I’m usually cautious with Twitter in a day-trip – the biggest source of battery drain, IMO).
This battery life is great – for me. This is one of the reasons why I got this phone and I’m glad that I didn’t have to rely on to post-purchase rationalization to feel good about it.
Also – this post is NOT paid for, by Samsung, as some people have alleged, on Twitter. I wish it were (for which I can add a helpful disclaimer), but for now, it isn’t the case. I’d have written (raved/cribbed is dependent on the phone) about a HTC One or a Nokia Lumia 920 too, like this, since I carry only one phone and would be taking any new phone I buy on my day-trip.
Original post:
So after announcing on Twitter that I will wait till HTC One launches (after being ‘launched’ figuratively) on May 6th… compare it with Samsung Galaxy S4 and then make a decision… (phew!)… I succumbed. And got myself a Galaxy S4.
My last phone was a Galaxy S2. I have used it extensively, in my own opinion (more about it, here and here). So, what I was looking for was not something transformational or different – all I wanted was something familiar to my S2 and does things faster and better.
S4 fits that bill perfectly.
Had I opted for a HTC One, there is that minor learning curve to appreciate and learn HTC’s custom UI. Samsung’s much-maligned custom UI is childish, no doubt, but is completely functional.
Many people have called Samsung’s approach as The Kitchen Sink, but I wanted a kitchen sink. I want to have all the features at my disposal and I, as the phone’s owner, will tinker with it for 30 minutes and decide what I want to keep and what to mute/hide/remove. I believe it should be my prerogative.
My experiments with custom OS for S2 were precisely about this philosophy too. I stuck to CyanogenMod 10 for a long time and was very happy with it. I may eventually opt for that in my S4 too, but only after the stock OS starts to appear laggy.
As for S4 itself, first impressions:
– That screen is GORGEOUS! Compared to S2’s 4.2+ inch screen, this is a great leap at 5 and brighter, better, without going into tech. jargon. Photos look wonderful and videos seem even better. I remember reading a lot of reviewers complaining about the brightness’ auto mode. I have no complaints there – it is auto, as mentioned and I prefer it not-too-bright for day-to-day tasks. Auto mode works perfectly for me and helps save battery too, I suppose.
– The phone – overall – is blazing fast. There is no lag anywhere expect the same place that S2 lagged from day 1… while opening the contacts tab. That may be due to the number of contacts, I presume. Even then, the lag is a second more, nothing worrying. And only in that part of the phone.
– One of the main reasons why I went with S4 is the assumption that the 2,600mAH battery will offer me a long battery life, at least compared to the abysmally bad S2. In that department, at least so far, I’m really happy.
Without getting into jargon, here’s how it panned out, from a common user perspective. After playing with the phone on Day 1, I switched all connections off in the night and took it to office yesterday at 88%. I use 3G all the time and the phone is set to sync too, all the time. Wifi was set to off since my office wifi is yet to be set-up (new office building, you see). With that, and a lot of calls across the day, and some showing off of the phone (it being new), I got back home to see the battery at 38%. That is incredible by S2 standards, which, I’m sure would have gone to 5% or less.
Last night, at 95%, I started watching a film. Ended it around midnight at 88%, after about 1+ hour of movie watching. That’s great, in my opinion.
As usual, like a paranoid smartphone user, I switched off wifi, 3G, sync etc. and went to sleep. Woke up to see phone at 86%. Again, impressive.
I’m not a geek to throw battery terminologies at people, but I am most certainly impressed with the rate of battery drain in S4. This is one of the most critical reasons why I changed my S2 and I’m glad that this part hasn’t disappointed me. Of course, I understand that new phones tend to be like this. But I can only say, so far, so good!
– Camera is much better than S2. The larger, brighter screen helps a LOT. The modes are nice and fun to have, but I may stick to auto mode since that captures great pics easily. I don’t want to be bothered into megapixels and minute comparisons of each mode – I don’t have so much time as a phone reviewer to tinker that much. Suffice to say, I can print these pics easily, if I want to. That’s enough for me.
– Does the phone feel plasticky? I personally don’t think so – I find it as good as my S2, if not better. The grip is firm and I’m going to use a cover anyway soon. The hinges of the back cover are adequately fit and that’s what I care about the most. Would they be like this after taking it off multiple times? I don’t know – I hope not. I don’t know what this ‘premium’ feel is about. I find S4 premium enough, though I do agree that it looks way too similar to a S3. I didn’t own a S3, so I can’t comment on that. From my S2, this is a transformational leap ahead.
– I use Chrome for browsing on the phone (and Firefox on my PC, irony!). I did notice that browsing seems much faster, on the same wifi connection I was using on my S2. I’m not sure if the phone can do something here, but links open seemingly faster. I do notice that speed visibly and I like it!
– There is a LED indicator in S4. And I really appreciate its utility value. I was used to it in the BlackBerry earlier and I’m glad it’s back in my life.
– Network connections seem better than S2. My S2 used to have middling wifi and I recall getting my router to a more central place for that. S4 seems much better in this respect. Call quality and mobile network reception wise… zero complaints. All working brilliantly well.
– That new toggle mode is amazing. I was used to this, somewhat, in CM10.1 on my S2, but this one takes the cake… and kitchen sink. As I mentioned, I demand a kitchen sink so I can customize it to fit my needs. And having all these options at my disposal (and quick access) is something I love!
– I briefly tested smart scroll, smart stay, air gesture, air whatever etc. Nothing worked for me. Or, I was probably not trying them as I should. I didn’t have these in my S2 and I don’t particularly care for these features. If at all I have time, I may read up and try them as they should be used. And then decide whether they are worth their gimmicky addition.
Overall, from my S2, I was a tad disappointed that S4 doesn’t have too many things that I can usefully tinker around with. If that was the case, I should have perhaps gone for a HTC One – a lot of tinker-time with a new UI. But 2 things firmly made me stick with the Samsung ecosystem – expandable memory and battery.
As for battery, I have explained above – it seems like the right decision.
In case of expandable memory, I used to max out my S2’s phone memory easily (movies, music, audio books etc.) and had to remove stuff to make space. I do not want to have a physical constraint on the space – I would like to have the flexibility to expand, on demand. HTC One’s 32GB cap is a constraint to me, regardless of mocking questions like ‘How much space does one need?’ and the philosophical, ‘There is no end to this need for space!’. I don’t care – I don’t want to see a cap at the device level. S4 helps me with that – I have ordered for a 32GB MicroSD card already. If I max it out, I can always order a 64GB card.
So there. At INR 41,500, I have more or less the same phone – only bigger, better, brighter and still very light. I don’t particularly care about this phone’s looks – if looks was a criteria I’d have certainly gone for Sony Xperia Z, which is drool-worthy in my opinion. But looks can’t be a driving force a week into the usage, at least to me.
My smartphone buying timeline is usually once every 2 years. S2 lasted the 2 years well, though I had to jump-start it with CM, after the first year. I don’t mind that at all – it’s a great experience taking the phone’s life to a new level, on your own! I’m assuming, from my initial experience, that S4 can last for 2+ years too without any worry.