All about Samsung Galaxy S4

[Dari]

I used the wrong word for the meaning I intended. It's that they're seeing a lower number but not understanding that there are hidden costs which leads into people spending more than they had to.

That may be true for most people. But even many that post in this sub-forum stay with a carrier for at least 2 years instead of being promiscuous with our money. That is why I think T-Mobile's Uncarrier plan will fail. There really isn't a big saving there to justify the additional costs. Most people aren't willing to spend that much on a phone since the harsh reality is that the money spent TODAY is worth far more than it is in 2 years. Why? Because if that money wasn't spent today, it would be in a savings or money market account that trails inflation significantly. So, a customer puts it in things other than hardware, like good services...

 

[scaramoosh]

Crazy here we don't have to pay for the phone, three for example charge £36 a month for unlimited data one plan with more mins and textes I'll ever use and the phone is free.

I mean £470 for the phone and £12 a month (can stop it any time) is a better deal through three, it's not hard to come up with £470, if you don't have that then you probably couldn't afford a contract anyways.


Think I'd rather get The HTC One, basically the LCD screen is better, more realistic, better speaker quality, nicer build and the same specs, just clocked to 1.7. Only advantage for the GS4 I see is the Micro SD and Removable battery but 99.9% of people I know have never used those features.

I'm gonna wait for the end of the year though, both phones were a let down if I'm honest.

 

[ChronoReverse]

That may be true for most people. But even many that post in this sub-forum stay with a carrier for at least 2 years instead of being promiscuous with our money. That is why I think T-Mobile's Uncarrier plan will fail. There really isn't a big saving there to justify the additional costs. Most people aren't willing to spend that much on a phone since the harsh reality is that the money spent TODAY is worth far more than it is in 2 years. Why? Because if that money wasn't spent today, it would be in a savings or money market account that trails inflation significantly. So, a customer puts it in things other than hardware, like good services...

That's why I added the line "doesn't necessarily apply to phones". Because of the way it works in the USA, besides being locked into a contract, there's no reason you shouldn't take the subsidy.


However, money today is worth more than tomorrow but we know the actual amount it differs; it's called inflation. So you can account for this with a margin of error (and it's not that big over only a few year).

 

[Dari]

Crazy here we don't have to pay for the phone, three for example charge £36 a month for unlimited data one plan with more mins and textes I'll ever use and the phone is free.

I mean £470 for the phone and £12 a month (can stop it any time) is a better deal through three, it's not hard to come up with £470, if you don't have that then you probably couldn't afford a contract anyways.

There's a catch somewhere. I don't think it's fair when Europeans and people from other advanced countries like JPN or HK or SGP compare their plans to ours. Our carriers have to build massive networks across a huge country and they don't usually piggy-back each other unlike in those regions. In places like the UK, many carriers piggy-back off of BT's Fiber network or they share the cost. Same thing in Japan with NTT. In America, each telecom is basically on his or her own unless they come to some type of agreement. That cost is passed on, of course.

 

[Imported]

Because to get the best service you pay the same price no matter if you bring a phone or if you buy a subsized 2 year contract phone.

So basically if you DON'T take the subsidy you are wasting money if you think you will want continuous phone service the next two years (which is almost everyone).

This. I paid $600ish for my SGS2 back when no carrier had it. No one really know if or when it'd come stateside at the time. I've had AT&T for over 10 years now (grandfathered iPhone "unlimited" too) and it'd be a waste of money to buy the SGS4 off contract. AT&T doesn't give you some magical discount for bring your own phone.

 

[poofyhairguy]

This. I paid $600ish for my SGS2 back when no carrier had it. No one really know if or when it'd come stateside at the time. I've had AT&T for over 10 years now (grandfathered iPhone "unlimited" too) and it'd be a waste of money to buy the SGS4 off contract. AT&T doesn't give you some magical discount for bring your own phone.

The only place it doesn't apply is Verizon. I have heard if you take a subsidized phone from them they end your unlimited data plan. So with Verizon if you are an old customer you are stuck paying outright for a phone AND paying the with-subsidy price.

 

[Red Storm]

The only place it doesn't apply is Verizon. I have heard if you take a subsidized phone from them they end your unlimited data plan. So with Verizon if you are an old customer you are stuck paying outright for a phone AND paying the with-subsidy price.

Yep. Hanging onto my $80/month unlimited data has been so very worth it though. Not one carrier, post or pre paid comes close to matching it.

 

[Skurge]

http://blog.gsmarena.com/samsung-ga...firms-amoleds-can-finally-do-accurate-colors/

So much for AMOLED being terrible compared to LCD huh. The Sharpness if Fixed, it doesn't use ungodly amounts of power, and it has accurate colours. Brightness being a weakness although the Samsung display is less reflective than most phones so make of that what you will.

Best display out there? I'd say it's in the running now and it gives you a choice of what you want the display to look like, unlike the other 2 phones.

 

[MrX8503]

You don't get a discount for bringing your own phone so if I'm going to stay with a carrier for 2 years, I might as well take the subsidy.

I have no problems paying $600 at once, but if the discount is there, I take it.

 

[scaramoosh]

There's a catch somewhere. I don't think it's fair when Europeans and people from other advanced countries like JPN or HK or SGP compare their plans to ours. Our carriers have to build massive networks across a huge country and they don't usually piggy-back each other unlike in those regions. In places like the UK, many carriers piggy-back off of BT's Fiber network or they share the cost. Same thing in Japan with NTT. In America, each telecom is basically on his or her own unless they come to some type of agreement. That cost is passed on, of course.

No catch because they'd have ofcom on their arses. Like virgin have their own fiber lines, getting 120mbps for cheap, no bandwidth cap and it's always really fast. Same with Three, getting 40mbps off their DCHSPA+ network, free tethering, always have amazing signal and it is cheap. All the other networks though have really bad 3G and only one network has 4G but it's overpriced and it is always much slower than my DCHSPA+ connection lol, at least in this area.

 

[scaramoosh]

http://blog.gsmarena.com/samsung-ga...firms-amoleds-can-finally-do-accurate-colors/

So much for AMOLED being terrible compared to LCD huh. The Sharpness if Fixed, it doesn't use ungodly amounts of power, and it has accurate colours. Brightness being a weakness although the Samsung display is less reflective than most phones so make of that what you will.

Best display out there? I'd say it's in the running now and it gives you a choice of what you want the display to look like, unlike the other 2 phones.

Tbh you ain't gonna notice unless you have them all side by side, which no one does. All the screens are amazing, no ones eyes are that good that they couldn't stand any of them.

 

[ChronoReverse]

Maybe at 1080p, but the 720p GS3 screen isn't quite "retina" to use the hated term.

 

[Dari]

No catch because they'd have ofcom on their arses. Like virgin have their own fiber lines, getting 120mbps for cheap, no bandwidth cap and it's always really fast. Same with Three, getting 40mbps off their DCHSPA+ network, free tethering, always have amazing signal and it is cheap. All the other networks though have really bad 3G and only one network has 4G but it's overpriced and it is always much slower than my DCHSPA+ connection lol, at least in this area.

Can you point me to the terms and conditions and also have a British English to English dictionary link?

 

[lenasmith]

There's a catch somewhere. I don't think it's fair when Europeans and people from other advanced countries like JPN or HK or SGP compare their plans to ours. Our carriers have to build massive networks across a huge country and they don't usually piggy-back each other unlike in those regions. In places like the UK, many carriers piggy-back off of BT's Fiber network or they share the cost. Same thing in Japan with NTT. In America, each telecom is basically on his or her own unless they come to some type of agreement. That cost is passed on, of course.

Excellent view! BTW do you guys know the different prices from JPN, HK, SGP and UK?

 

[lothar]

That isn't what's going on here. In fact it's the opposite of what you're saying. Computer prices went down and have stabilized. This Galaxy phone price is going up. Her competitors' prices have stayed the same, which means they're going down in real terms. Samsung may be trying to see what people are willing to pay for Samsung's devices. Since people associate price with quality/premium, they want to associate their device to premium. Or her real costs may have gone up. Or maybe it's a combination of both. Samsung also just introduced an 85" 4K tv that is 171% MORE expensive than a similar tv from LG (14K vs 40K) and is justifying it by putting some silly easel around it. They've spent over $10B marketing their brand and need to recoup the money somehow. IMHO, this price will fall as soon as they see any negative impact or definitely before iP6...

Your Samsung bias is clearly showing...

What do you have to say about Sony charging $760 for the Xperia ZL?
http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/st...10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666540742
Sony trying to see what Dari is willing to pay for Sony devices?

They have some nerve to be charging that much for their inferior SOC from 6 months ago.
Both the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL are now considered a mid-range phone. They've been overtaken by the HTC One, Galaxy S4, and LG Optimus G Pro.

 

[ponyo]

So it's basically going to be $300 for S4 on 2yr contract after tax and activation/upgrade fee. Kind of pricey for mainstream phone.

 

[grkM3]

Dari at it again lol ask lg how that screen looks compared to the Samsung or just ask Apple what they think about lg screens and there quality.

I'll bet anything the Samsung TV blows the doors off of the lg one and its price premium is justified in the picture quality and reliability.

The lg Mac book pro panels are complete trash.

Let's compare a f1 car to a average daily driver.have you ever heard the saying you get what you pay for? If Samsung is pricing its TV 1000000000 then that means they have looked at what others have and have decided that is what the market will pay for

No one is forcing anyone to buy that crazy expensive TV but the people that are in the bracket and can afford one will buy the better looking set and I'll bet anything the Samsung will look better then the lg.

They are at the highest tier bracket and anyone that can afford a 20k TV can swing another 20k for a better one,heck the people in that segment blow 100k just in speakers and wires

You can blow an easy 120k on 6 Macintosh mono blocks lol

 

[grkM3]

So it's basically going to be $300 for S4 on 2yr contract after tax and activation/upgrade fee. Kind of pricey for mainstream phone.

Lucky for me as I live in ma but on the boarder or NH so no tax for me!!!

The note 2 was and still is 299 with a 2 year so 249 is exactly where I figured a 5in Samsung flagship would be priced at.Lets just be happy its not 599 with a 2 year like when the first iphone came out

 

[ponyo]

Lucky for me as I live in ma but on the boarder or NH so no tax for me!!!

The note 2 was and still is 299 with a 2 year so 249 is exactly where I figured a 5in Samsung flagship would be priced at.Lets just be happy its not 599 with a 2 year like when the first iphone came out

I think this extra Samsung tax is disgusting and am pretty turned off by the $250 price. I hope it backfires on them.

 

[grkM3]

I think this extra Samsung tax is disgusting and am pretty turned off by the $250 price. I hope it backfires on them.

lol sasmung has nothing to do with what carriers subsidize the phone,its msrp is prolly the same as the gs3 and its up to carriers to battle each other out with pricing on contracts

sprint had to drop the gs3 to 99 to sucker people into there shitty network while att and Verizon charged a premium of 199.I think at one point you could of had 2 gs3s at sprint for 99 during the holidays also.

Just want to point out that Samsung has nothing to do with what att or any other network charges the for the phone.

The iphone 5 right now on att is 199 with a 2 year and you think that is worth 200 and the gs4 is not worth 50 bucks more? heck id love to see what you think about the 400 tag on the 64 gb iphone with a 2 year on att.You can buy the gs4 for 250,spend 30 bucks on a 64 gb sd card and spend 120 bucks at a strip club with the left overs.You really hope that all back fires on Samsung but I bet you will line right up and get raped by apple on there next phone.

now if msrp is 50 bucks up I can justify it for the r&d that went into the screen alone,its a massive upgrade over the gs3 screen and that alone is worth the 50 bucks

 

[lothar]

I think this extra Samsung tax is disgusting and am pretty turned off by the $250 price. I hope it backfires on them.

How do we know that this is a Samsung tax and not AT&T trying to price gouge it's subscribers?
The only way to know if it's a Samsung tax would be if all the carriers raised prices on the Galaxy S4 along with them choosing NOT raising the price of the next iPhone and comparing top tier phones from HTC/LG/Motorola.

If the prices for all Galaxy S4 phones on all US carriers go up, while the prices for top end comparable phones from HTC/LG/Motorola remain at $200 and the next Apple iPhone 5S/5GS/5"Whatever" is still $200 with contract, then yes I'd say it's definitely a Samsung tax.

 

[krumme]

http://blog.gsmarena.com/samsung-ga...firms-amoleds-can-finally-do-accurate-colors/

So much for AMOLED being terrible compared to LCD huh. The Sharpness if Fixed, it doesn't use ungodly amounts of power, and it has accurate colours. Brightness being a weakness although the Samsung display is less reflective than most phones so make of that what you will.

Best display out there? I'd say it's in the running now and it gives you a choice of what you want the display to look like, unlike the other 2 phones.

The numbers for color acuracy is stunning. Now amoled is by far the most acurate.

I will say this screen is a gamechanger. What is not to like?

 

[Dari]

Your Samsung bias is clearly showing...

What do you have to say about Sony charging $760 for the Xperia ZL?
http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/st...10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666540742
Sony trying to see what Dari is willing to pay for Sony devices?

They have some nerve to be charging that much for their inferior SOC from 6 months ago.
Both the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL are now considered a mid-range phone. They've been overtaken by the HTC One, Galaxy S4, and LG Optimus G Pro.

Why even link to a SONY site? The same phone is most likely cheaper elsewhere...

Dari at it again lol ask lg how that screen looks compared to the Samsung or just ask Apple what they think about lg screens and there quality.

I'll bet anything the Samsung TV blows the doors off of the lg one and its price premium is justified in the picture quality and reliability.

The lg Mac book pro panels are complete trash.

Let's compare a f1 car to a average daily driver.have you ever heard the saying you get what you pay for? If Samsung is pricing its TV 1000000000 then that means they have looked at what others have and have decided that is what the market will pay for

No one is forcing anyone to buy that crazy expensive TV but the people that are in the bracket and can afford one will buy the better looking set and I'll bet anything the Samsung will look better then the lg.

They are at the highest tier bracket and anyone that can afford a 20k TV can swing another 20k for a better one,heck the people in that segment blow 100k just in speakers and wires

You can blow an easy 120k on 6 Macintosh mono blocks lol

There's a lot that goes into a television aside from the panel. I cannot judge these television as I have not seen any in person. However, I don't think anyone is stupid enough to believe that Samsung's tvs are worth the $25K premium to LG's or $20K to SONY's. Samsung tv's are usually reserved for bottom feeders at Walmart Best Buy.

lol sasmung has nothing to do with what carriers subsidize the phone,its msrp is prolly the same as the gs3 and its up to carriers to battle each other out with pricing on contracts

sprint had to drop the gs3 to 99 to sucker people into there shitty network while att and Verizon charged a premium of 199.I think at one point you could of had 2 gs3s at sprint for 99 during the holidays also.

Just want to point out that Samsung has nothing to do with what att or any other network charges the for the phone.

The iphone 5 right now on att is 199 with a 2 year and you think that is worth 200 and the gs4 is not worth 50 bucks more? heck id love to see what you think about the 400 tag on the 64 gb iphone with a 2 year on att.You can buy the gs4 for 250,spend 30 bucks on a 64 gb sd card and spend 120 bucks at a strip club with the left overs.You really hope that all back fires on Samsung but I bet you will line right up and get raped by apple on there next phone.

now if msrp is 50 bucks up I can justify it for the r&d that went into the screen alone,its a massive upgrade over the gs3 screen and that alone is worth the 50 bucks

You may be right that this is ATT's doing. As for this device being worth more than Apple's flagship phone, to many it is.

The numbers for color acuracy is stunning. Now amoled is by far the most acurate.

I will say this screen is a gamechanger. What is not to like?

How is that RGB mode any different from the GS3 or other OLED screens? They've always been good at that. This is definitely not a game changer, at least not from that perspective. Also, it'd be nice if someone could translate what theyr'e saying...

 

[GTRagnarok]

http://hi-tech.mail.ru/review/misc/iPhone5_HTCOne_SGS4_test-rev.html

Seems like there's a strong color shift at different viewing angles?

 

[thecapsaicinkid]

You can see how affected people are by carrier subsidies when everyone is calling the S4 "a $250 phone".

The S4 is a ~£600/$900 high end, luxury piece of tech in the same vein as a high end PC video card or an expensive DSLR. Yet to most it ranks alongside something like an e-reader for financial frivolity. When you take a 2yr contact on something like this you are taking out a loan for a high end piece of technology. Why is this considered sensible when, to most at least, the idea of doing this for say a new camera would be considered financially inept.

I guess most of this is more targeted at my fellow Brits who always have the choice of BYOD and cheap monthly tariffs. I wonder if T-Mobile's Uncarrier plans will make people finally twig how much money they're bleeding for these devices.