I agree with you on the plastic. My Captivate, Galaxy S II, and Galaxy Nexus all were naked their whole lives with little more than a few imperceivable scuffs. My iPhone 5 was beat to hell in a matter of months. My 5s has had to be in (an admittedly lovely) leather case its whole life.
I'm not sure if all plans are the same, but when I talked with an AT&T guy recently, he told me that if I renew my contract and get a subsidized phone, my plan would go up $25/mo, making it actually cheaper to buy the phone outright and stay on the next (no-contract) plan. I worked out the math and he was right. This would be especially true for an older, cheaper phone like the Note 4, which you can buy for ~$620 new or $4-500 in mint condition on swappa. Something you may want to look into. I'm personally considering the Note 4 if nothing else comes out soon. Right now, I'd say it's between that and the Alcatel Idol 3 5.5. The problem with that phone is while it's a pretty good phone for the price, it still feels a bit expensive for what it is, and I think at that point ($250), I'd rather spend an extra couple hundred for the big upgrade to the Note 4. The only thing that isn't better with it is the speakers, which I'm ok with.
A lot of people have said this. I came across an article a couple days ago discussing how the S6/S6 Edge sales have actually been pretty poor, and way under Samsung's expectations. This seems to be contradictory to what we've been reading, but it seemed legit (it was on Forbes.com, and he claimed to get the info direct from Samsung). This certainly wouldn't surprise me, and I'm quite happy about it, as they need to be taught a lesson. If they had kept even just one of the two, their sales would have been much higher. If they had kept both, considering how otherwise amazing the S6 is, the sales would have been phenomenal. But too many people like you and I said no due to the changes. Of course, personally, I would have also preferred an extra mm or 2 in thickness with another several hundred mAh battery. And waterproofing would have been nice, too. Sony can do it without adding a bunch of extra bulk, so I don't see why Samsung can't. This stuff may have reduced their profit margin per phone, but they would have sold a LOT more, which would not only mean similar or larger overall profits, but a happier and larger customer base, one who has been overwhelmingly loyal to them until this recent screw-up and would continue to be had they continued on their original path, meaning more sales on future models as well.
Interesting you mention this. I remerthis being shown aroud the same time as the Saygus in Barcelona
Thanks for the video. In the video when he takes out the removable battery, it looks like there's a microSD slot and dual SIM card slots.
This is an idea I had a while back, have the internal battery essentially act as a UPS so you can swap batteries when the removable one is getting low without having to power down the phone. Of course, it would be a lot better if it drained the removable battery first, both to allow a maximum charge on the internal battery when swapping and to reduce wear on the internal battery. If it's draining them simultaneously, I wonder how low the internal one is by the time the removable one is dead, or if you can even let the removable one drain all the way. Maybe you have to swap it out at 5% or more so you still have enough charge on the internal one to keep it running while you do so. Of course, the other interesting thing about it is that somebody finally creates a phone with this ingenious way to allow battery swapping, but in a phone that it's unlikely you'll need to swap the battery. But then, Chinese batteries aren't known for being high quality, so maybe despite the combined 6Ah rating they won't last all that long. I do hope more manufacturers start doing this, both the massive battery capacities at the expense of thinness, which is getting out of hand anyways, and the dual battery setup.
IKR? So close... :/ Incidentally, the Korean S5 LTE-A does have 3GB: http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s5_lte_a_g906s-6450.php
GREAT catch; I didn't think to look at that. It doesn't appear to work with Canadian bands either.
The LTE-A looks like it does on paper (at least for Canadian LTE-2100), but it was released as a Korea-exclusive, so I'm a little bit skeptical now.
My problem with the z3 and z4 are the huge bezels! The phone is about the same physical size of a 5.5" phone.
People keep saying this, and I haven't seen one in person, but the screen-to-body ratio is roughly the same as with the S4 and S6, and it's only very slightly larger than the S6, with a 5.2" screen vs 5.1". That said, the G4 is only barely bigger than the Z4 with 0.3" more screen size. Granted, I'd prefer it to be slightly smaller, but considering how great of a phone it is and how long the battery life is, I think I'd be ok with the slightly larger size. If the Z4 becomes available in the U.S., it'll likely be my next phone, no question. And IMO, the only phone that comes even close to it would be the V2, which isn't real. The G4 is also a top-runner, largely because, as mentioned, despite its large screen, it's barely bigger than the S6, and because it retained the expandable storage and replaceable battery. I'm just not sure how I would like the rear-mounted buttons.
I didn't realize the G4 had a removable battery as well! That's awesome. Given that it's Snapdragon 808 and not the 810, it's probably the best option (at least for me). I'll wait to see what it ends up costing in Canada (with much trepidation)... But it does look like an awesome phone.
Agreed. I haven't looked at benchmarks, so I don't know specifics, but I don't like carrying around a space heater in my pocket, and I definitely don't like the idea of paying a premium price for a sub-premium product. I'd rather have an 801 or 805, as they are still plenty fast but also more efficient. But then, most of the comments I've seen regarding the 810's issues are with screens > 1080p, and the Z4 stuck with 1080 instead of jumping on the qHD bandwagon, which is another thing I like about it. Another concern I have about the G4 is the battery life, as LG has a history of average to less than average performance in that area, and so far from what I can tell the G4 will be no exception, whereas the Xperia line is known for excellent battery life.
I agree. That's my biggest gripe about the Sony phones. I did briefly consider the smaller Z3c with a 4.6" screen but unfortunately it doesn't support LTE on band 12 which I want as a T-Mobile customer.
I'd strongly consider the LG G4 if it wasn't so large for my taste. And unfortunately the smaller G4c with a 5" screen looks like the typical lower spec compact version. The only manufacturers that doesn't skimp on specs with their compact/mini versions are Sony and Apple.
The only thing about the Z4 (besides the large bezels) is that Sony didn't bother including optical image stabilization in the main camera.
If they add an SD Slot and removable battery, that might be tempting, but we may have a long wait and a stupid invite system ahead of us to bother with for the 1+2.
