Galaxy S4 Review

This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.

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I bought this thing solely to take decent pics for y’all at conventions. But how does it stack up as an actual device?

Well, it’s shit. What the hell did you expect? And before you start, let me nip these in the bud:

Q. Why not an HTC One?

A. I’m not black.

 

Q. Why not an iPod 5?

A. But I’m not that white.

 

Q. Windows Phone 8?

A. lololol

 

All right, onto the review:

 

Why the S4 is a Terrible Goddamn Phone

I'd rather death do us part
I’d rather death do us part

Bloatwared to hell and back

Damn right I disabled them
Damn right I disabled them

Before you ask, yes, I rooted it. But root doesn’t do a goddamn thing other than allowing you to accidentally fuck your phone up. Release the party balloons.

This thing comes installed with 120 apps, most of which are mysteries as to what they do. You wanna tell me what com.qualcomm.qcrilmsgtunnel does? Do I need it? Even if I don’t need it, will removing it fuck me over? Rinse and repeat this concern across the entire fucking device. I don’t have 30 hours to research how to stop Samsung from fucking me in the ass. Killing the bloat you can find doesn’t even approach how much is on this thing.

 

 

Can’t take screenshots

I really didn’t intend to drop it here, it’s just impossible to take screenshots with one hand.

fuck the s4
This is how your finger placement has to be

You have to hold the home button and the power button for five seconds in order to take a screenshot. And considering you’re pushing down on the home button and to the right on the power button, yes, that shit’s gonna fly away from you if you’re not holding it down. So you have to resort to an incredibly awkward two-hand phone grab to initiate the screenshot.

And then it’s delayed as fuck to actually take the thing. Better hope nothing interesting happens on the screen because it’s too laggy to capture it. And if you hit either the home button or the power button before the other one, you’re either closing out of the app or turning off your phone.

Great design, you kimchi-eating fucks.

No, really, fuck kimchi.
No, really, fuck kimchi.

And, sorry, you can’t fix this with other apps. I tried Screenshot UX or whatever and it lags just as badly thanks to the piece of shit CPU in this damn thing. It’s easier to just take a picture of your screen with another phone.

 

 

Design

Let’s be straight, it looks like ass. And not in the sense of “Goddamn that’s a hot piece of ass”. More in the sense of “That is a steaming load of ass.”

s4_back

If you choose the black version (like anyone with a functioning brain would), you don’t get a black backing, you get a fucking grey-black backing. So yeah, you’re gonna have to buy a custom case if you don’t wanna look like someone who enjoys museum art (by that, I mean tasteless).

And it’s gigantic and awkward-looking. It’s the equivalent of a 6’5″ guy who’s only 120 pounds. That’s not hot, that’s anorexic.

And looking at this phone will make you bulimic.
And looking at this phone will make you bulimic.

You’re gonna wanna keep this one in your pocket.

 

 

Final score: Has a decent camera at least/10.

119 thoughts on “Galaxy S4 Review”

  1. Could always install CyanogenMod or something since you already rooted it if you want to get rid of the bloat. And stock Android uses volume down + power to take screenshots, so maybe that’ll ease some of your issues?

    Reply
    • Ah, yeah. I was gonna recommend the same thing. I have a G2 running some (rather stable) CM8 RC0 or something like that. All bloat removed. I can also just hold down the power button and a menu shows up with the option of taking a screenshot

      Reply
  2. Just as Madoka has ruined the magical girl genre forever, Apple too has ruined smartphones forever.
    Never again will we return to the glory that was Pocket PCs.

    Reply
      • Nexus 4 has none of these problems – it is the superior phone for half the price.

        Also, just install PA or CM10.1 to get rid of all the bloat. They are better than whatever the fuck Samsung has installed.

        Reply
        • I bought the phone mainly for the camera. So if switching to a new firmware results in me losing some quality off it, I ain’t gonna do it.

          If I didn’t have a purpose in mind, I would definitely have saved myself $400 and just gone with the Nexus.

          Reply
            • You sure? Got links? The reviews I was reading were whining about it. I’d love to put more cash toward my pretty figures if they’re of equivalent quality.

              Reply
              • Just wait a few weeks for some roms to come out. I don’t know where you read that they screw up the camera, but that’s rubbish. Also, I think my S3 has a gesture where you swipe your palm or something like that and it takes a screenshot. Probably easier than using two hands.

                > T-mobile

                Reply
                • There have been a number of cases where the drivers for the camera are proprietary software. For some phone and ROM combinations this actually lead to a loss of camera functionality.

                  Reply
          • If the camera was really that big a deal, you should have gone with the HTC One. Looks a lot better and has less bloatware, too.

            Reply
  3. came into this thinking ‘wat. he’s trolling right?’ since i have an s3 and its been pretty great but hahaha holy shit. glad I didn’t have to deal with half of that shit on the 3!

    Reply
    • Yes I did. Just because I bought the best Android phone on the market doesn’t mean it’s a good phone.

      Smartphones suck.

      Reply
  4. Well, I know you listed your reasons above, but the highest rated cameras on phones are (in no particular order): iPhone 5, HTC One, Nokia PureView 808, Nokia Lumia 720, Nokia Lumia 920. From what I have seen and read, the S4’s camera doesn’t shine under low-light conditions.

    Many standalone point-and-shoot cameras would take great pictures at conventions, but they do lack all of those phone functions.

    Reply
  5. Err, out of curiosity, what do you mean by root? From my perspective, making your phone rooted *is* fucking it up (also, it sounds like you shagged your phone).

    Reply
    • Rooting is the same as jailbreaking. It basically gives you admin access to the phone so you can do cool things like download poorly optimized emulators.

      Reply
      • Rooting =/= jailbreaking

        Rooting gives you root access to the OS, meaning you can do whatever you want to the filesystem/spps/etc.

        Jailbreaking removes the carrier lock that prevents you from using the phone on other networks. The lock mechanism is contained in the radio firmware on the phone, and is separate from the OS.

        Either way, you should definitely put Cyanogenmod on it when it’s available. There’s no loss in camera quality, it’s free, and it’s basically stock Android so there’s no bloat. I’ve been running it on my Captivate since I got the phone and I’ve never looked back. Samsung’s stock firmware has always sucked ass.

        Check this website every once in a while until they release a version for the Galaxy S4:
        http://www.cyanogenmod.org/

        Really, there is literally no reason to keep Samsung’s stock rom. Unless you’re an M.

        Reply
        • Does jailbreaking refer to something else on the Andriod platform? Jailbreaking on iOS still gives root access.

          Reply
          • That’s because the iOS jailbreaks also root the phone.

            Actually, it’s probably more accurate to say that you’re rooting your iOS device and it happens to jailbreak it too.

            Reply
            • Is that really the case? As recently as the iPhone 4, when you jailbroke an iPhone, you then had to install ultrasn0w or something else in order to perform a carrier unlock (i.e. the carrier unlock was something separate that you performed after the jailbreak).

              Reply
              • That’s what I though too. Jailbreaking does not unlock your device at all; you have to install ultrasnow or something similar while jailbroken to do a carrier unlock.

                Reply
            • Oh, and for iOS, jailbreaking refers to getting root access. Unlocking refers to performing a carrier unlock.

              Reply
  6. Num num, firstly, you’re an idiot to expect a phone to do a camera’s job. (No offense, you just are)
    Second, there are plenty of cheap(er) phones around that have better cameras. (I’d personally go for the Pixon if I actually wanted to take pictures with my phone)
    Also, why not a Z10 for a phone? (It’s from a company named BlackBerry)
    Also, http://www.facebook.com/groups/154229468060099/?fref=ts thought maybe the first post would interest you.

    P.S. T-mobile…

    Reply
    • No offence, but you’re an idiot if you think a phone with a functional camera can’t do a camera’s job. I cannot think of a retort to that claim that isn’t wholly tautological.

      Reply
      • I’m sure it can’t. It’s the same thing with a digital camera versus an analog camera. I can only think of a handful of phones that have good cameras in them. (No, I-phone is not one of them, it does take decent pictures but there’s a big difference between its pictures than a normal camera)
        Now, I can even name better reasons why those phones suck.
        Also, if you think there’s a phone which can actually be used as a camera(aside from its call functions) let me know.
        Also, before you give me stupid shit about various stuff, let me tell you this: He chose this phone because he knew what he expected from it(although it didn’t deliver), now if he hasn’t gotten it, it’s because he didn’t know what he expected from it. I’ve seen the quality of the pictures the S4 can take and let me tell you, for a phone, it’s really good. Now that can only mean one thing, if he’s not satisfied with the phone, that’s not because of the camera, but the phone itself. Meaning that the phone in general is what let him down, the camera works. Now, that means one thing, whatever phone he had before could do everything that he wanted it to do, it only lacked the option to take pictures which he could actually archive and view in his PC; Thus, he only needed to buy a camera, the cheapest camera out there would’ve most probably gotten him the quality he wanted. Therefore, he’s an idiot for buying that phone.
        And yes, I was indeed talking generally about phones not having good cameras, if you buy a phone to take photos with it, you’re an idiot, because it’s not an item which can be used for photography and it has absolutely nothing to do with the camera, it’s the fact that it’s a phone that makes it stupid. I’m fully aware I can’t make you see my point like this, because I’d need to show it to you.
        One last thing, you never prioritize an additional feature of an item over it’s primary job. You do that and you’ll have yourself a recipe for disaster.
        Also, I never mentioned that a phone can’t be used for taking pictures, I said ((You’re an idiot to expect a phone to do a camera’s job)). And that means exactly what it says, the main job of a camera is to take photographs, whilst it’s the phone’s job to call. If you cannot understand that, then you’re not paying attention.

        Reply
        • I think there are plenty of phones that can be used as cameras. I’m now not sure if you know what a camera is. A camera is a device that records photographs. A camera phone has a camera attached which records photographs. Given that a camera is a camera, a camera phone can perform the role of a camera (see why I didn’t want to extrapolate?).

          I understand that a phone camera’s quality doesn’t compare to a five grand DSLR camera with whatever other spiffy specifications, but that doesn’t at all preclude it from being a camera. If you’re just talking about some stupid pretension about a low quality camera not truly being able to capture the artistic essence of a scene, then fine, but know that a photograph is just an image of recorded light. If you disagree that a phone camera is incapable of capturing those, then I’m sorry, but you’re sorely mistaken.

          On further reading, it appears that you actually believe that a camera can’t be used “for photography” if it is not the primary feature of the device it is part of. I’m curious as to how you think this at all relevant if it would record the exact same image as an equivalent camera. I mean, if I tie a paint brush to a bucket and predominantly use my retarded invention for carrying water, that doesn’t mean I can’t use the paint brush to paint, does it?

          I am fairly certain he already has a camera, given he took photographs of his phone. However, as you may know, most people don’t lug around their cameras everywhere they go. I can think of plenty of situations where one may wish to expressly record an image.

          Reply
          • Ok, let’s take it this way, can a phone’s camera function without its software? No, that in itself disregards it as a functioning camera. More to that, I’m pretty sure whatever phone he had before also had a camera, so why get a new one? It had to have been a major upgrade for him, if so, he failed in choosing the right one. (Well, that’s unimportant though)
            I’ll accept a camera as one only if it has what it takes to be known as one. For me, that would mean it has to possess a lens capable of functioning on its own, without any softwares backing it up.
            Now, that’s not to say a phone can’t take good pictures that one could enjoy, but, I’d never buy a phone that I’d expect from it miraculous picture taking capabilities.
            In other words, a good camera will take away the capabilities a good phone possesses thus making a phone useless, because an optional feature is taking away from the original purpose of the device, if you think that’s untrue, you’re wrong. Because it can’t be truer!
            I’m not saying that a phone can’t have a camera, if you paid attention you’d notice, what I’m saying is that it is not a radical choice to get a phone with the hopes of it acting the same way a standalone camera (made specifically for its purpose) would! D_S clearly did so, because of how he acted towards it.
            I’m not exactly seeing the point of this argument though, it’s clear neither of us wants to accept the other. Besides, I’m an arrogant person and I’m fully aware of it, meaning that even if I was(which I don’t believe I am in this case, but I’m crazy) wrong, I’d not admit it.
            Anyway, I’m waiting for the reply.(Unless you’d like to stop this)

            Reply
            • >can a phone’s camera function without its software?
              >No, that in itself disregards it as a functioning camera.

              So you’re claiming digital cameras etc are not functional cameras?

              Reply
              • Digital cameras can in fact function without their software, they just won’t produce as good results as they did before. Unless they have a lens, I judge a camera by its lens, not the software it uses; However, it’s quite amazing what some software can do. Only using software you can turn one of those old Nokia bulletproof(wait, don’t tell me? You’re not old enough to remember?) cameras to take quality pictures you only see in those Nat-Geo magazines. But no, I will not recognize it as a camera. (Even if it actually is a camera)

                Reply
                • >Digital cameras can in fact function without their software, they just won’t produce as good results as they did before.

                  No a digital camera can’t function at all without software. I don’t think you understand what the word software means. Maybe when you are old enough to actually go to school, you might ask a teacher what software actually is.

                  Reply
                  • Oh my, I’m truly sorry. I mistook you for a wise person! I thought you’d be able to understand what every word in my post was supposed to mean and to be able to deduce when and where I’d mistakenly dropped a word. So I truly, truly apologize.
                    When I was talking about softwares, i was referring to them in their general form and if you must know, the core compounds of a computer-related device are known as its Kernel, and yes, obviously they won’t run without them.(Although I can make that camera capture pictures even without it, I’d just have to take the camera apart for that purpose.)
                    Again though, I apologize, I misunderstood your wit.

                    Reply
                    • I’m sorry, by software, what do you mean then? If you use it “generally” you’re including the kernel. I’ll list the software that a modern digital camera uses that I can think of off the top of my head, and you can tell me which you consider to be true Scotsmen.

                      Kernel. Shutter driver. Lens motor driver. Display driver. Shutter button input driver. Image stabilization. Light meter driver. Aperture motor driver. Effects algorithms. Fat32 driver. Secure Digital reader/writer driver. Image compression algorithms. Image sensor driver. Demosaic filter. Antialiasing filter. Face detection. Power management. USB driver. Communication protocol. Focus detection. Zoom control. Flash driver. OSD. Whatever settings program.

                    • Clearly, of all those, you’d only need the kernel. Power management is entirely a different issue and should not be mixed in with those. The rest of the driver’s actually necessary to lead to the picture being taken are in fact controlled by the kernel. The rest of all of that additional shit you mentioned (Shutter driver. Lens motor driver. Display driver. Shutter button input driver. Image stabilization. Light meter driver. Aperture motor driver. Effects algorithms. Fat32 driver. Secure Digital reader/writer driver. Image compression algorithms. Image sensor driver. Demosaic filter. Antialiasing filter. Face detection. Power management. USB driver. Communication protocol. Focus detection. Zoom control. Flash driver. OSD.) can all be controlled by hand. Quite easily at that too. And no, only an idiot would think that the world exists purely on its own without any support whatsoever. The kernel is taken on a different view then that of a normal software.
                      Also, I’m very tired, you guys can simply think me an idiot and pass by it, I wouldn’t care any less if a few people in the world can’t learn. I’m really tired now, I’ll go sleep. I’ll educate you tomorrow if I get the time to.

                    • Yes, the kernel is in control of the whole operation, I’m glad we agree. Power management is a kernel module. Without something detecting whether the battery is charged, the camera wouldn’t ever start up. If you think kernel modules/drivers are inherently part of the kernel, then you’ve never installed an operating system on any device ever.

                      Very few digital cameras have manual lens and aperture controls, so you can’t claim that they work by hand. I also think it’s amusing that you think you can take the data from the image sensor, convert it to an image file, and write it to the SD card by hand. Nevermind that you also said you can put the image on the display by hand and send the signal to take the picture without anything to detect the shutter button being pressed.

                      I mean, it was always clear to me that at least someone at Hadena wasn’t very bright, but I would have never thought one of you would be this dumb.

                    • If you must know, operating systems are not kernel modules. And yes, I can do all those in a digital camera even by hand. How I do them is different than what you might imagine.
                      As for the Hadena matter, it’s clear to me that you’re even more of an idiot for thinking about a group of entities as whole while talking about an individual.

                    • Reading back on that, I saw a huge mistake I did. Only operating systems related directly to a hardware are operating systems. I was mistakenly in the mindset of OS systems of the computers. (the big ones)

                    • “Kernel, and yes, obviously they won’t run without them.”

                      Kernel IS a software written in assembly. On top of that it ran above the firmware, which is another software.

                      Please educate yourself a bit, before educating others.
                      Try this: http://bit.ly/Z95WJH.

                  • Please, NIAIK, the more you talk, the more you embarrass yourself. I mean, even infants understand tautologies. I guarantee you, 100% fucking percent, that you can’t operate hardware without software, so unless you’re some kind of wayward spambot, I suggest you lay off the topic you clearly have no idea about. An operating system by definition directly interfaces with hardware, and if you think otherwise, I suggest you actually read up about the very basics of computers before you make ludicrous claims.

                    Reply
                    • Have you ever made a system, any computer system that is, I don’t really think so, I have. I assure you, I can do what I say I can. I don’t care whether you guys believe me or not, the ability to not comprehend how I could have made such a device is not something so easily understood.
                      I’d also like to take this chance to formally apologize to anyone who’d read something on the net, not just anything, but a post on a joke article in the first place and takes it seriously. I keep forgetting that people lack sarcasm. Or that some people just lack common sense. I apologize, also, I was in the wrong, there I admit it. Now, please lay off my back.

                    • I don’t think anyone doubts the possibility of taking a CCD and wiring it up to something else. What was doubted was your supposed ability to figure out a CCD’s output, encode it into an image format and write it onto an SD without software (hint: if this doesn’t sound fucking retarded to you, you don’t have a clue about technology). I’m fairly certain there are people on this website who have built computers and such, if that’s what you mean.

            • What? A phone camera cannot function without software as it is digital, as an analogue camera can’t function without a plate or whatever. Unless you’re drawing some arbitrary distinction between the two, they’re both cameras. If you’re discounting a phone as a camera because one must interface with it, then I guess we should discount those cameras that have shutter buttons. You could definitely rip out a camera and wire it up to work independently as with any digital camera.

              I’m not sure on what you mean by your “acceptance” of a camera, but the sole criterion for being one is its ability to record light. Look it up in any dictionary or ask anyone with a basic understanding of a camera.
              What do even mean by “a lens functioning on its own”? I can assure you that no lenses interface with software.

              “I’d never buy a phone that I’d expect from it miraculous picture taking capabilities.
              In other words, a good camera will take away the capabilities a good phone possesses thus making a phone useless, because an optional feature is taking away from the original purpose of the device, if you think that’s untrue, you’re wrong.”

              Apart from the confusing wording, I cannot follow your train of thought at all. A good camera takes away what capabilities? I have a frankly terrible mobile that can do little more than call, text, read unmetered news and take awful quality photos. My phone isn’t inherently more capable at these things than a smartphone, and indeed performs worse at any of these functions than most phones manufactured in the last 4 years. I really would like you to extrapolate on how extra features on a phone detract from its call placing and receiving abilities. If I were to glue a Swiss army knife to my camera, it would be functioning just as well as it was before with its new “features”.

              As you can imagine, I can’t really comment on Dark_Sage’s decision, not knowing much about smartphones.

              Reply
              • Are you high?
                Let’s say I have a box, I want to fill it with books; Now, what happens if I fill half of it with cookies?

                Reply
                • …Are you implying that the attached camera is taking away space from potential calling capabilities? ‘Cause it doesn’t quite work like that.

                  Reply
                  • You are high.
                    It’s not taking away space from it, it indeed doesn’t work like that. It’s technology related, let me know how old you are and I’ll change my notes accordingly. (I’m not being disrespectful, truly! It’s just that I’m pissed at you constantly having the wrong assumptions about everything I say.)

                    Reply
                    • I think you can tell I’m not the most technologically inclined person in the world. And really, apart from your puerile insults I can take nothing from your last two comments.

                    • As I mentioned, I’m not insulting you, I assure you when I insult, it’s completely obvious that I’m doing so and sounds completely different from now. It’s just the way I talk, I know it’s weird. (I’m weird, as I said, I’m crazy. <– that can be an insult, although it's directed at me!)
                      And after that, if you're not the most technologically inclined person in the word, then take it from me that adding any additional options to any and I mean any device, will most certainly have its downsides as well. The bigger this new addition, the more changes it creates. Now, I assure you, I'm in the know and right right, there are very few phones in the world with a better camera than the S4, and they all come with various defects, some even affect the original uses of the phone. I'm not really seeing the point of this argument anymore. I do not care whether you want to believe me or not, the fact shall not change either way. Whether it be your thought or mine.
                      I've also lost the fun part of this post, because the comment system has ran out of the reply options, meaning that from now on I'll be replying only to myself…
                      I really like the columns moving forward with each reply!
                      Well, still ask away if you'd like to know more, I should warn you that my writing may not make much sense, because I'm writing as I would answer normally and in a direct conversation, in which I'm able to convey my feelings more directly as opposed to writing as this. In fact, it might even get more awkward.

                    • Oh, I understand the “worse is better” design philosophy and such, if that’s what you’re talking about, but I’m kinda lost on how you took it to a ridiculous extreme of mutual exclusivity. Of course, this is all tangential to your claims that a phone camera inexplicably doesn’t function as a camera (of which your definition I’m still unsure of).

                    • Take it this way, D_S chose a phone and now is not happy with the result. That in itself is entirely D_S’s wrong decision in wanting a phone with a good camera. His phone indeed possesses that camera, but the phone itself is a pain to work with. I’m not saying that is the fault of the camera being put there, but it is indeed the fault of the thought of getting a phone for its camera that led to this failure. Is it not?
                      But that is not the phone’s fault, or the camera for that matter; It’s the fault of the buyer for their poor choice!(Don’t take this the wrong way D_S, I’m fully aware this post was merely another troll post, I mean, is there ever a serious one?)
                      That is purely because of the wrong mindset the buyer had! Should he not have in fact gone for a phone praised for its camera, had he taken that as the primary bonus function for the phone? If so, why S4? It does indeed have a good camera, but the way I see it, it’s not based in a good environment, whilst I’ve worked with that environment and thus know it to be quite stable and easy to work with. Meaning that the buyer is either really bad at handling stuff, or he was blinded by the aspect that he chose as his focus and forgot that that is in fact a device created by Samsung working in the Android environment!(I’m using environment too much)
                      Therefore, his was a wrong one and that in itself is a fact!
                      I don’t know if you’re following me, keep me posted.

                    • I really can’t follow you there, but I can tell you that it is entirely unreasonable to blame the consumer’s gripes solely on their intended utility of their device given it is a legitimate feature and none of the complaints relate to the feature they bought it for. I’m reserving judgment on the particular purchase as I have little experience with smartphones.

                    • What you say is indeed true, but consider this, Would you buy a phone which would give you some super cool and interesting capabilities such as playing the newest games, music/video files and etc whilst the phone it self could not be used for calling functions?(I’m looking st you 4!) Or lower your reception rate?(The big M, although I love the way they look!) Or just be hard to use?( I’m looking at all you 7″+ phones out there in the countries that don’t support video calling!) Another case would be all of those other phones which make them extremely hard to care for, because of their unique options!(Yes the Camera phones with huge lenses drop in this category.)
                      In that sense, is it not taking away from the original product that you get something new?

                    • Eh, I’d be happy to have less communication channels with humans even without the incentives. And, as I said, smartphones function better than my phone in that area too. Really, your false equivalence is starting to drag on.

                  • You guys aren’t that much into philosophy, are you?
                    I can already see this argument is invalid(I’ve ever since your first post really) so I’ll stop dragging it any further. But keep this in mind, sacrificing the whole, just to get a part, is not a good idea. There are very few places that works, this is not on of them.

                    Reply
                • > Let’s say I have a box,

                  Well, you *DO* have a female avatar…

                  > I want to fill it with books;

                  So . . . a Box’o’Books?

                  > Now, what happens if I fill
                  > half of it with cookies?

                  That depends entirely upon whether the cookies are on top of, or underneath, the books, doesn’t it?

                  Reply
      • Woah, that got long! Shorter version(TL;DR):
        We’re both saying the same thing, just emphasizing on different aspects of it!

        Reply
        • This shorter version still stands valid throughout all of that wall right above it.
          D_S, did you get to read that post on that page on FB? I’d have liked some comments on it. I was crushed when I got no replies on it…

          Reply
          • Facebook requires me to log in, and unless it’s something super-awesome, I’m not liable to bother. And based off your “If a device has a secondary function, that secondary function RUINS IT. Why the fuck don’t you carry around a landline phone, an ipod, a camera, a GPS, a tablet, a laptop, a calculator, a gaming device, a watch, and a portable DVD player in your pocket” argument, I’m not inclined to put forward the effort.

            Reply
            • lol
              Clearly you’ve taken the wrong meaning out of it, but I won’t bother elaborating that here, not now. (I probably will, later, after enough trolling)
              I’ll also see if I can take a pic and send it. It’s not awesome though.

              Reply
            • Realized how tiring it can be taking a picture, I’ll just post the text(Note that you may well get disappointed):
              [::CONTAINS SPOILERS::](In the event this breaks tags, I have no idea what the tags are, I’m putting this here saying that this thing has spoilers in it.)
              You know, I was just thinking with myself,
              ((I wouldn’t really mind a Yuno stalker!))
              I mean, sure, she’s a bit loony (gives a whole new meaning to the word lunatic) but she’s a really good looking, smart, hardworking and, well, sincere person!
              I’d probably be able to cope with all her various faults that she may have. (if you can even call them faults that is)
              I’d probably do anything in the world for her, I mean, if she’s willing to do it for me, why shouldn’t I for her? (Any girl who would change the world by becoming god for my sake is worth dying for!)
              But, there’s one problem that would not make that happen, I’ve already past that certain age where the bonds should’ve first been made… :(
              Unfortunately for me, I never wrote in my survey of school that I wanted to grow up to marry Yuno Gasai! Such a shame really, only if I had done that… Only if our school actually had a survey…
              I think now I’d have to wait for a serial killer to kill me, so that maybe, just maybe, a Necromancer would raise me up again as her servant and then, only in my afterlife, enjoy life with such amazing women.

              Reply
          • > I’ll to put less pressure
            > up your asses from now on.
            > I’ll try, at the very least.

            Promises, promises…

            (And – is that a haiku?)

            Reply
    • The best camera is the one you have on you.

      If he wasn’t planing on bringing a DSLR or a high-end 4/3’s, a good smartphone is really the next best choice. It’s just as good as a compact point-and-shoot, but without the need for another device.

      Reply
  7. Lumia 920: Gorgeous design, sturdy, great camera, awesome low-light ohotos (some may find it unnaturally bright, but personally I love that), good for taking blur-free/less blur videos, no/little bloatware (OEM/carrier apps can be deleted anyway), takes screenshots instantly and takes them pretty much as fast as you can press the buttons. I have a Nexus 7 and I’m wondering why the hell it takes a few seconds to save a screenshot, and there’s that ‘press for awhile before screenshot is taken’ thing.

    Also, smooth OS. I guess you either hate or love the interface but if you don’t hate the look, give it a try. Windows Phone is actually a more than capable OS.

    The 808 PureView is pretty much a camera. Tech’s (read: 41MP) also coming to Windows Phone soon.

    Reply
  8. ok, let me guide you to the world of smartphones…
    design: its a personal matter… its not objective, so my personal opinion is htc one.
    sound:htc one by far!
    latest technology:samsung s4 except sound and camera
    camera: nokia 808 and 920, and we expect a new good camera phone at may 14(nokia event)

    Reply
    • My Captivate from 2011 has a better DAC than the HTC One. Therefore, it has better audio quality. Beats audio is just a gimmick.

      Reply
  9. You do realize you can simply download an awesome app called “Titanium Backup,” go through the apps and uninstall those bloatware you have? :/

    Reply
    • I actually have it, but I’m not gonna be the one to experiment and find out what’s useful and what’s bloatware. The hardcore community will have to suss that out first.

      Trust me, I’m gonna fuck around with this baby when I know what the optimal set-up is, but I don’t have the time, inclination, or knowledge to be the guy to figure out what that set-up is.

      Reply
      • if you disable stuff and you can still use your phone normally it’s probably safe to do a backup then uninstall the stuff (i didn’t have issues doing that). also i like how you filmed your phone with another phone.

        Reply
      • That’s the good thing about Windows Phone/iOS (and Nexus devices to a certain extent), no mucking around with bootloaders or rooting or whatnot if you can’t be bothered to.

        Reply
  10. No, disabling some RIL related thingy would break nothing except some telephony related stuff. You know those services, that carriers offer and tend to sell you computers (or cameras in your case) for in these days. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Interface_Layer

    Given everything has been properly researched on your side you just made one big mistake: You just bought the latest piece of crap that the most infamous of all of those crappy bloatware companies shit on the market in the last hour. At least wait a month or two till they have their bloatware fixed to a level where the device is almost usable. Two months? Yeah I know that’s 4 device generations and 16 variations in Samsung terms and one month after the device becomes obsolete for Samsung.

    You don’t want ol’ but rather stable and cheap hardware (Nexus)? How about an oppo find 5? Sure still old CPU but this company seems to care more about actual userexperience (as in USABLE).

    Oh yeah there is CyanogenMod with S4 support in the works. May be you get the latest (AOSP 4.3) and greatest and still usable in about a month or two as a nightly build. Though, downloading 180+ MB of updates daily/nightly/weekly is not much fun, but that’s how devices turned out to be sort of usable instead of jagging through the manufacturer firmware/OS. You could have bought a Fujitsu ARROWS X F-10D (classy name) with a borked OS instead of the S4 or whatever they are currently selling in Japan and get the same result. But japanese phones don’t get much support for CyanogenMod, so S4 might still be the better choice in that term.

    Anyway, get the factory image for your device and the software (ODIN or heimdall if you’re a Linux fag like me) to flash it as well as drivers (duh!) if you need them (WINDAZ = 2x duh!), backup your EFS (still with me? yes this is recommmended) and get flashing Custom ROMs. Because if there is anything Samsung devices are good for, it’s flashing Custom ROMs and reverting back to stock (through ODIN in download mode if all borks up).

    Reply

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