Other device, comparisons to other devices, and upgrading phone discussion

fergie716 said:

So, as far as flagship phones, how is everyone enjoying their SGS5? I have been enjoying it a ton lately, really no complaints on my end except for the usual Samsung speaker (kind of weak).

I've been thinking about trading my phone in for an HTC One M8 (Sprint) but I don't know if I can trade in the 16 MP camera for that HTC cheese, as well as the oddly placed power button. Besides those two things the M8 and SGS5 share very similar specs. The M8 obviously has the better speaker but the SGS5 has the awesome cam. I actually like both UIs (Sense and TW) so that's kind of a tossup

Has anyone owned/used an HTC One M8? I've used one but haven't owned. I bought my phone off contract and have another week to decide on what to do here.

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I would say it depends on what your used to. This is my third generation Samsung android phone, and I love it. My wife has an htc one, she may as well have an iPhone, I hate the button layout on it, is not for me. But,I think its all about personal preference when you get into these high end phones.

I see members of my family with iphones with their tiny screens, and I just smirk and think to myself, "what a sucker".

Sent from my SM-G900P using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Xalky said:

I would say it depends on what your used to. This is my third generation Samsung android phone, and I love it. My wife has an htc one, she may as well have an iPhone, I hate the button layout on it, is not for me. But,I think its all about personal preference when you get into these high end phones.

I see members of my family with iphones with their tiny screens, and I just smirk and think to myself, "what a sucker".

Sent from my SM-G900P using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

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Yea I haven't owned an HTC device since the OG EVO lol but I loved that phone and the UI on it. It also seems like the Sprint One M8 has more development going on right now, at least with Sense.

I just don't want to sacrifice the camera lol I wish it at least had a 13 MP camera, would be such an easier decision for me

And I feel you on the button layout, I have big hands so I think I would get use to it but yea, not cool

Samsung giving up on Knox?

If this happens, I wonder if a knox tripped device could still get warranty repair?

fergie716 said:

So, as far as flagship phones, how is everyone enjoying their SGS5? I have been enjoying it a ton lately, really no complaints on my end except for the usual Samsung speaker (kind of weak).

I've been thinking about trading my phone in for an HTC One M8 (Sprint) but I don't know if I can trade in the 16 MP camera for that HTC cheese, as well as the oddly placed power button. Besides those two things the M8 and SGS5 share very similar specs. The M8 obviously has the better speaker but the SGS5 has the awesome cam. I actually like both UIs (Sense and TW) so that's kind of a tossup

Has anyone owned/used an HTC One M8? I've used one but haven't owned. I bought my phone off contract and have another week to decide on what to do here.

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Click to collapse

What did you decide to do? I'm sitting on a brand new SGS5 and wondering about swapping it for an M8.

My biggest complaints about my S5 are 1) I'm really not that impressed with the call quality, and 2) whenever I put this thing into my pocket I drop to 3G.

Any input from other's experiences would be greatly appreciated.

DurhamHusker said:

What did you decide to do? I'm sitting on a brand new SGS5 and wondering about swapping it for an M8.

My biggest complaints about my S5 are 1) I'm really not that impressed with the call quality, and 2) whenever I put this thing into my pocket I drop to 3G.

Any input from other's experiences would be greatly appreciated.

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Right now I have both, I picked up the M8 for Sprint on Monday and have been using it a lot since I got it. It's a tough choice man, the M8 UI is really nice and feels a lot smoother compared to the SGS5. The M8 also looks amazing BUT for whatever reason mine is really slippery, I feel like I'm going to drop it a lot. The power button is in an awful spot too.

I'd say take a look at vids of HTC Sense and see if you like it compared to the SGS5. There is a Google Play Edition Port for the Sprint M8 that is nice too.

For me, I'm probably going to keep the SGS5 and return the M8 for a few reasons. The radios/reception are much, much better on my S5 and it's not even close. There have been countless times I would get a voice mail on my M8 with no missed call, I rely on my phones for work a lot and cannot have that happen frequently. Also, the AMOLED screen of the S5 (to me) looks better, the colors look vibrant (I'm a fan of AMOLED screens anyway so I'm pretty biased). I also am getting better battery life out of the SGS5 (4.5 hours screen on time on average) compared to the M8 (3.5 hours screen on time). However, I'm using an extremely debloated ROM I made for myself on my S5 with virtually no Samsung account/cloud/etc so that's playing a factor. And like I mentioned before, for me the S5 feels better in the hand for me (lol) compared to the M8 (although the M8 most certainly looks 10x better IMO and feels more substantial). Oh and the camera. I don't use the camera a lot but when I do I want good, clear pictures. The M8 camera isn't awful but the S5 cam is much much better in pretty much every situation I tried it in with the exception of low light indoor shots.

IDK if that helps. HTC Sense and TouchWiz are pretty different and it's been nice to play with the M8 and see how far Sense has come since I've owned the OG EVO.

fergie716 said:

Right now I have both, I picked up the M8 for Sprint on Monday and have been using it a lot since I got it. It's a tough choice man, the M8 UI is really nice and feels a lot smoother compared to the SGS5. The M8 also looks amazing BUT for whatever reason mine is really slippery, I feel like I'm going to drop it a lot. The power button is in an awful spot too.

I'd say take a look at vids of HTC Sense and see if you like it compared to the SGS5. There is a Google Play Edition Port for the Sprint M8 that is nice too.

For me, I'm probably going to keep the SGS5 and return the M8 for a few reasons. The radios/reception are much, much better on my S5 and it's not even close. There have been countless times I would get a voice mail on my M8 with no missed call, I rely on my phones for work a lot and cannot have that happen frequently. Also, the AMOLED screen of the S5 (to me) looks better, the colors look vibrant (I'm a fan of AMOLED screens anyway so I'm pretty biased). I also am getting better battery life out of the SGS5 (4.5 hours screen on time on average) compared to the M8 (3.5 hours screen on time). However, I'm using an extremely debloated ROM I made for myself on my S5 with virtually no Samsung account/cloud/etc so that's playing a factor. And like I mentioned before, for me the S5 feels better in the hand for me (lol) compared to the M8 (although the M8 most certainly looks 10x better IMO and feels more substantial). Oh and the camera. I don't use the camera a lot but when I do I want good, clear pictures. The M8 camera isn't awful but the S5 cam is much much better in pretty much every situation I tried it in with the exception of low light indoor shots.

IDK if that helps. HTC Sense and TouchWiz are pretty different and it's been nice to play with the M8 and see how far Sense has come since I've owned the OG EVO.

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Thanks so much for sharing your experiences.

I owned the OG Epic, then an SGS3, and so this is my 3rd straight Samsung device. Seems to be going pretty good. I get decent LTE Band 26 (800 MHz) at work and at home (unless I put it in my pocket up against my leg, that is) and I've had good connection to the network while driving around town on voice calls so far. Even the low spots where my GS3 would lose the call, this GS5 will carry on through and keep the conversation going w/o even so much as a hiccup. I'm not wild about the audio quality of those voice calls, though. And I do wish my connection to the LTE network wouldn't die when I put this thing in my pocket, but other than that, I've been pleased. Battery life is good (not rooted yet) with 5+ hours of screen on time, GPS works like a champ, WiFi seems to have quite a bit more range than my GS3 did, and I'm not seeing any lag for the most part. I'm still trying to figure out the camera but it seems pretty good so far. And that's important to me. SMS and MMS messages seem to come and go pretty quickly on this thing, too.

Also ... I love that it has the FM radio ... very nice. Now I can listen to local sports broadcasts that I couldn't stream online (because of media rights) w/o having to tote around a separate FM tuner of some kind. And the IR blaster has been fun to play with. No more fighting the old lady for the remote

I'm gonna go down to the Sprint Store soon and play with the M8 and the G3 and see what I think. If there's enough difference in call quality, I might be tempted to switch since I'm still in my first 14 days.

Totally off topic but I got Alliance Rom fully working on the Sprint variant with our KT kernel. MMS, texts, calls, WiFi, and GPS all work. I gotta say this is one fast and super responsive rom. [emoji106]







Sent From My Galaxy S5 Far Far Away

Sent From My Galaxy S5 Far Far Away

I've owned both. Bought M8 when it first came out. It went Bonkers on Network issues.

I got it replaced and they sent me a new one. The new one was fine.

I didn't like the weight, size or the camera. Everything else was fine.

Camera was not very good. It could handle low light nicely but when you did have enough light or used flash it looked like a 4 year old Smart Phone image.

I jumped ship and got the S5. Bought the Wireless back.

Screen is a bit nicer. Weighs less. Nice Size.

The Software SUCKS on Samsung. HTC Blows it way.

I don't mind the "Plastic".

I love the wireless charging.

I like that it can handle water issues officially, but not critical.

Never use the Heart Rate Monitor or Pedometer or Finger Print Reader.

Call Quality is fine.

The Camera is fantastic.

Speakers are ok, but I do miss HTC speakers.

All in all, I wish I kept the M8. They are damn close in trade offs of one versus the other.

I will seriously look at HTC again on the next round, which can't come soon enough.

Would you upgrade or wait?

I have an s3 and am eligible for an upgrade. I am fine with my s3.. I have it rooted and it works well w/Gear 2 watch and I have a lot of accessories for it, so aside from being jealous of new technology, I don't need to upgrade. So, should I wait until the next phone or make the jump and grab the s5?

bugaboo90 said:

I have an s3 and am eligible for an upgrade. I am fine with my s3.. I have it rooted and it works well w/Gear 2 watch and I have a lot of accessories for it, so aside from being jealous of new technology, I don't need to upgrade. So, should I wait until the next phone or make the jump and grab the s5?

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I am the weird android lover with stacks of phones. However, I was late to get the S5 and S5 Sport. Based on side by side specs of the Nexus 6 (compared due to being the latest), I would have to say the say the S5 wins big for me at least.

Little things are missing on the Nexus 6 such as the IR remote which I love in my S5 even though most people do not know it is there.

I like my 'Seek' FLIR camera which is great on the S devices, but not on Nexus. (Predator Vision). I use it for house repair and animal detection in walls.

The lacking of size and SD card hurts when in a combo. I love my other Nexus devices, but today I tend to fill my space all the way up due in part from work and part from movies/apps. The S5 can handle a 128gb micro SD. The sprint nexus is only 32gb. No 64 offered yet.

I forget if the 6 has one, but previous models were missing the FM antenna. The S5 has one.

MHL out is nice on the S5. But really a chromecast takes care of that issue for the Nexus.

For my wife controlling text messages from the phone via the tablet is important and supported with the S5 and S 10.5. We like the traditional messing app over hangouts.

All other things compare to me primarily since I place custom software on my phones. If I were a regular user maybe my choice would be different due to 'sense' overlay on the samsung.

Biggest secondary issue for me beyond specs was price. The Nexus 6 is now $250 upgrade on Sprint. The S5 is $50 online at Amazon and then matched by Best Buy. There is also a deal for the Sport or regular S5 for a lease of $0 down and $20 a month with a $15 dollar refund each month. Thats $120 for the phone and nice for those tight on money at the moment, but you must turn it in. It compares if you think about the process of selling it used to get the next phone. Plus, at Best Buy they wave the $36 sprint connection fee for the lease. When I bought my S5 and S5 Sport I got a $50 gift card from Best Buy as well. I then sold my two S4's for $85 and $95 on gazelle. Plus, I got the 5% Best Buys rewards. And I selected the Amazon card offer on gazelle getting me another 5%. In sort I got paid to take the S5.

If you can wait the S6 is around the corner. I am not saying it is worth waiting for, but it will make the S5 cost even less.

Good luck to you.

Dave

samsumg galaxy s6 is look like a iphone clone no sd ext no baterry remove and no water proof no thanks

emanuelrv said:

samsumg galaxy s6 is look like a iphone clone no sd ext no baterry remove and no water proof no thanks

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It appears to be a nearly identical copy of an iPhone except that it runs android instead of iOS. Batteries fail. I prefer to be able to simply pop in a replacement rather than having to dismantle the whole phone to get access to the battery. No SD card support is also what kills it for me. They could have easily kept the metal/glass body while putting a card slot in.

The s6 does look kinda iphone ish. I might actually be upgrading to an iphone 6 plus instead of the s6. I work as a soundman as a second job and like to take videos at the gigs with my phone. The GS5 is complete crap for doing this. The recording mic sux and the audio just comes out distorted.

For example... I did a show with Sir Mix A Lot last weekend. My buddy and I each recorded video during the show, me on my s5 and him on his iphone 6 plus. My video looked grainy in the dark club and the audio was just total distortion anytime the bass hit. The video form the 6 plus was clear as a bell and so was the audio, no distortion at all. I was pretty amazed at that.

I really hope that the s6 is as good but Im not too optimistic about it.

AdRock02gt said:

For example... I did a show with Sir Mix A Lot last weekend.

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Sorry for the little OT but could help with this little Sir Mix A Lot fun fact. He is HUGE into CB Radio and goes by the handle Prime Minister and also builds competition amplifiers for them and they go by the brand name Skullcracka.... And is also a licensed Ham radio operator.

Fun fact over...

I'm at the point now where I'm (sadly) ready to transition away from my Photon Q 4G, and since there are no more marque physical kb phones in the pipeline it looks like S5 it is.

What's everyone's thoughts on now that the S6 has been released when the next S5 price drop (with Sprint) might happen? Right now it's $99 w/2yr agreement. I'd expect at some point they'll drop it to $49 or $0 w/2yr, but what's the feeling on how long that may take?

s5 cracked...

so I hit the lip of my pants pocket on my phone today and it subsequently flew into my concrete garage floor.....and my gs5 screen is cracked beyond helpfulness. Of course it can't be the kind of crack that I can still use..I feel like I'm going to cut my finger every time I touch it.

So to you users out there..if there is a way I can upgrade to the s6 should I? I know the whole deal about ext sd cards and battery replacement and waterproofness. those are somewhat disappointing..but 32gb should be plenty right?

Any users of the s6 out there have an opinion?

dude, S5 replacement screens arent that much and are pretty easy to replace. Dont get the new Samsung iphone clone!!! LoL