Samsung Galaxy S5 announcement and owners thread

Forums › Android › Samsung Galaxy S5 announcement and owners thread

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ... | 29

2870 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#980924 5-Feb-2014 19:03

nzgeek:
NZtechfreak:Yeah, that, and overall a hardware platform no other Android can match for completeness.

If only that hardware platform was properly accessible to developers. Samsung have a habit of modifying things so that the standard open-source drivers don't work properly. Custom firmware developers (including the big names like CyanogenMod) often have to resort to hacks or reverse engineering to get everything running stable.

This and Knox have totally put me off Samsung. My next phone will probably be either a Nexus or a Sony, because they are the easiest for third party developers to code for.

I'm not so sure you are correct that Sony are easier to develop for, if this is true then why is there more activity on the XDA forums for custom roms for the Note 3 over the Z1, surely if it were that hard it would be the opposite way round, sure it may well be popularity but browsing the Z1 forums sshows some issues that are making it hard for people to flash custom roms and not brick their phone.

I could be wrong here but I think there are difficulties with all android phones barring Nexus and GE phones.

Galaxy S10

Garmin Fenix 5

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

nzgeek

618 posts

Ultimate Geek

#981258 6-Feb-2014 14:58

jeffnz:
nzgeek:
NZtechfreak:Yeah, that, and overall a hardware platform no other Android can match for completeness.

If only that hardware platform was properly accessible to developers. Samsung have a habit of modifying things so that the standard open-source drivers don't work properly. Custom firmware developers (including the big names like CyanogenMod) often have to resort to hacks or reverse engineering to get everything running stable.

This and Knox have totally put me off Samsung. My next phone will probably be either a Nexus or a Sony, because they are the easiest for third party developers to code for.

I'm not so sure you are correct that Sony are easier to develop for, if this is true then why is there more activity on the XDA forums for custom roms for the Note 3 over the Z1, surely if it were that hard it would be the opposite way round, sure it may well be popularity but browsing the Z1 forums sshows some issues that are making it hard for people to flash custom roms and not brick their phone.

I could be wrong here but I think there are difficulties with all android phones barring Nexus and GE phones.

I only have a single source of info about the Sony thing, but that source is one that I trust. When codeworkx started working on the Xperia S, he said that it was incredibly easy to develop for because the drivers were all open-source. I've read this again with regard to newer Xperia devices, but not from sources I trust.

I'm not quite sure why some devices are more popular than others on XDA. It seems to be a mix of marketing popularity, device sales, difficulty of development, and ease of flashing.

And it turns out that the Google Edition scheme doesn't mean much in terms of developer-friendliness. The S4 and S4 GE both share the same kernel, which contains a number of closed-source driver modules. This makes the source unusable for many open-source projects, including AOSP (I think), CyanogenMod and OmniROM. There was a definite sense of disappointment when the GE source was initially released and people found this fact out.

jeffnz

2870 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#982035 7-Feb-2014 18:07

Well the rumours, as usual, are out there coming thick and fast but looks like a good year for mobile phone technology.

This site looks to me like it has things weighed up pretty well so all good except I'm not a great fan of the on screen nav buttons but suppose I will get used to them. Does the 32gb min memory single a move away from the Ext Sd card, I hope not.

I'm not worried if its plastic as its light and the S4 and S3 have been good in hand.

The possibility of a low light camera would be great as I think Samsung let themselves down here and the HTC one has it better.

The software and gimmickry I care little about but be interested in the screen but I'm guessing in direct sunlight there won't be much change from the S4 but ever hopeful.

Another rumour that the new LG G3 will be the S5 killer will also be interesting to watch then the wait to see how HTC do so a pretty exciting time.

Galaxy S10

Garmin Fenix 5

DrDee

268 posts

Ultimate Geek

#982196 8-Feb-2014 09:36

I am very interested to see what HTC release this year, although I have no complaints with my current phone and can't see anything being significantly better released this year to warrant replacing it.... just yet ;)

"you may not know anything about the issue, but I bet you reckon something"

- Mitchell and Webb

Get $20 credit when you sign up to Bigpipe by using this link!

NZtechfreak

4649 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#982292 8-Feb-2014 14:44

Meh, if the S5 has the Snapdragon S800 I'm categorically not interested. My next will have either the Tegra 5 or next-gen Snapdragon AND a QHD screen, anything less is just not sufficient an upgrade over the Note 3.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

NZtechfreak

4649 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#982294 8-Feb-2014 14:46

timmmay: Unsure why you'd want 4GB RAM on a phone. It'd just encourage developers to get lazy. It's like giving your wife's word processing PC 128GB RAM.

Just. Don't. Care.

I don't care if a great user experience comes from superb coding or sheer brute force via hardware, I only care about the user space.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

jeffnz

2870 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#982300 8-Feb-2014 15:12

NZtechfreak: Meh, if the S5 has the Snapdragon S800 I'm categorically not interested. My next will have either the Tegra 5 or next-gen Snapdragon AND a QHD screen, anything less is just not sufficient an upgrade over the Note 3.

Thats a good point Murray and I was waiting for S5 but maybe if its much the same the note 3 is a better option.

I'm sure the International will be Snapdragon but processor not as much concern as ext storage and removable battery hence interested in runour they have a min. 32gb of storage but maybe to deal with all their software which jammed the S4.

Galaxy S10

Garmin Fenix 5

Batman

Mad Scientist
29715 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#982559 9-Feb-2014 10:03

If it comes with a higher fees than s4 I'm not sure I want one. I can't play angry birds on the s4 as everything is super tiny! Higher trees screen will mean flinging bacteria around the screen!

timmmay

20476 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#982562 9-Feb-2014 10:08

joker97: If it comes with a higher fees than s4 I'm not sure I want one. I can't play angry birds on the s4 as everything is super tiny! Higher trees screen will mean flinging bacteria around the screen!

I suspect you're not talking about fees and trees, rather high res. I don't really see any need for anything about 720p, it just takes more power to run for no real gain.

NZtechfreak

4649 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#982602 9-Feb-2014 11:41

timmmay:
joker97: If it comes with a higher fees than s4 I'm not sure I want one. I can't play angry birds on the s4 as everything is super tiny! Higher trees screen will mean flinging bacteria around the screen!

I suspect you're not talking about fees and trees, rather high res. I don't really see any need for anything about 720p, it just takes more power to run for no real gain.

1080p is good for me, I watch a lot of 1080p content (in addition to RDP sessions into a 1080p desktop), including via MHL connection to TV, so makes a material difference to my enjoyment. Certainly don't need higher at this point, but if I'm upgrading to a new phone this year then I'll likely be looking toward a higher resolution.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

NikT

1710 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#983166 10-Feb-2014 09:16

All I really want is a larger than 4x4 grid in the Touchwiz launcher, a calendar icon that updates with today's date, & a single clock on the lockscreen instead of two. Two clocks set off my OCD alarms.

The UI leaks that have come out so far look interesting.

Product Manager @ PB Tech

Smartphones @ PB Tech | Headphones @ PB Tech

Batman

Mad Scientist
29715 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#983177 10-Feb-2014 09:49

it's not the quantity it's the quality.

the S4 9505 with all of its 1.9GHz quad and 2Gb ram and all benchmarked at 1/2 the performance of the nexus 5 and the iphone 5s using basemark os.

no wonder i find it very laggy when opening anything

Dairyxox

1594 posts

Uber Geek

#983181 10-Feb-2014 09:59

I'd take basemark osII benchmark with a huge grain of salt.

Batman

Mad Scientist
29715 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#983210 10-Feb-2014 10:46

if 10-20% difference yes. if 40-50% difference let's look closer at the breakdown.

main problem is slow storage access ... hmmm ... a lot of lag reading the solid state storage? maybe start with fixing that?

maybe i'm too ignorant ;p

Dairyxox

1594 posts

Uber Geek

#983253 10-Feb-2014 12:00

I'd completely disregard it honestly. It seems more of an operating system benchmark, and I believe the file system effects the storage result just as much as flash hardware performance. I don't remember the s4 having slow flash storage in any of the online reviews.

If Samsung used f2fs then it might improve the score a lot.

EDIT: Anandtech SGS4 Review NAND Performance

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | ... | 29