All about Samsung Galaxy S4

[podspi]

Samsung has typically released the Qualcomm Snapdragon version of their phone here in the US because of the LTE requirement. I don't think Samsung has yet mastered the LTE process for their Exynos. For Galaxy S2, Snapdragon was a downgrade. For S3, Snapdragon was an upgrade. For S4, we won't know til it's out which is better. I'm guessing both will be blazing fast and pretty similar. I want the Exynos 5 Octa but I'm in the minority.

I can't wait for the comparative battery benchmarks of those two. I'm really hoping that somebody tests them both identically. Ever since Big.Little there has been a debate raging on about whether it is better to have specialized cores (Big.Little) or one core that can operate at high or low power.

I can't imagine that quad-Snapdragon @ 1.9ghz will be slow, so performance imho is a non issue.

If it turns out that Snapdragon isn't more power efficient, it begs the question why bother making their own custom designs?

 

[lopri]

Aren't you the exact iPhone user who isn't going to switch I'm talking about, though?

Probably. And the other user (who I blocked but couldn't block her/his quotes) will be moving goal posts forever with her/his passive-aggressive agenda. I wish them well, but I do feel sorry for them.

As for the S4, I haven't read up much yet. I will try to catch up w/ what's happened since last night.

 

[luv2liv]

i find it hard to believe this phone isnt waterproof!
in fact, all phones should be waterproof by now. guess i will go with the xperia z even though the battery life sucks.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Probably. And the other user (who I blocked but couldn't block her/his quotes) will be moving goal posts forever with her/his passive-aggressive agenda. I wish them well, but I do feel sorry for them.

As for the S4, I haven't read up much yet. I will try to catch up w/ what's happened since last night.

It's hilarious watching some people go from complaining that the gNex should have had Exynos and generally wanting it in more devices to now complaining about devices having Exynos because some people at XDA say it is bad for development and therefore sucks.

 

[ChronoReverse]

To be fair, opinions can and SHOULD change when more information is revealed.

Before it turned out that dev was stifled by lack of documentation for the Exynos, I was a pretty big fan of its performance. But with the GS3, it turns out the Exynos version not only wasn't the better performer but dev-work on the Snapdragon version of the GS3 was better because Qualcomm was easier to get information about the chips.


In any case, for the GS4, there's a very good chance the performance will be similar between the Snapdragon and Exynos versions (since it'll be 1.9GHz vs 1.2GHz) so I'm not going prefer A15 just because it's an A15. I'll wait to see how the GPUs compare as well as the battery life before picking one up.

 

[s44]

It's hilarious watching some people go from complaining that the gNex should have had Exynos and generally wanting it in more devices to now complaining about devices having Exynos because some people at XDA say it is bad for development and therefore sucks.

If the GNex *had* used Exynos, none of the devs would have had those problems in the first place.

This Exynos goes back to SGX 5__, though, the drivers for which should be quite well-known at this point from Hummingbird, OMAP, etc. So the GPU part shouldn't be an issue.

 

[bearxor]

Aren't you the exact iPhone user who isn't going to switch I'm talking about, though?

Switch from a daily driver? Probably not until at least past August. But I've owned/used a lot of Android phones. I have a RAZR HD right now. I used a GNex as a daily driver for a few months last year.

Just because I prefer iOS now, doesn't mean I will in 6 months.

 

[MrX8503]

In any case, for the GS4, there's a very good chance the performance will be similar between the Snapdragon and Exynos versions (since it'll be 1.9GHz vs 1.2GHz) so I'm not going prefer A15 just because it's an A15. I'll wait to see how the GPUs compare as well as the battery life before picking one up.

The GPU is the the same as what's in the A6, but overclocked. Basically the GPU should be a top performer.

I'm interested in how the octo performs and its impact on battery life.

 

[ChronoReverse]

The GPU is the the same as what's in the A6, but overclocked. Basically the GPU should be a top performer.

What I meant is that I wanted to know if the overclocked Adreno 320 will be comparable.

 

[bonkers325]

Just because I prefer iOS now, doesn't mean I will in 6 months.

Probably one of the most sensible comments I have ever read regarding mobile operating systems.


But back on topic, SGS4 is a great piece of hardware if you are in the market for an upgrade. If Exynos5 Octa is as great as I hope it to be, I will dump my G Nexus for an international SGS4.

 

[MrX8503]

What I meant is that I wanted to know if the overclocked Adreno 320 will be comparable.

MP3 wins pretty much all tests vs Adreno 320. I expect the same outcome this time around as well.

 

[Red Storm]

I hope we will get some battery life comparisons between stock and turning off all the motion/camera sensing related features.

 

[WelshBloke]

...I'm interested in how the octo performs and its impact on battery life.

I hope we will get some battery life comparisons between stock and turning off all the motion/camera sensing related features.

Definitely interested in those two points.

Thats probably only going to come out when theres a decent sized user base and we get some user reviews. (which should be about a week after release the way Galaxy phones have been selling)

 

[ChronoReverse]

MP3 wins pretty much all tests vs Adreno 320. I expect the same outcome this time around as well.

You sure you're not thinking about the SGX 554 MP4 in the new iPads? That thing is a monster but the SGX543MP3 in the iPhone 5 only beats the Adreno 320 overall by a bit (and not always) in tests that actually involve drawing stuff (as opposed to micro-benchmarks).

After all, we're interested in how fast the GPU can render a game and not how fast it can draw unlit triangles right?

 

[s44]

but the SGX543MP3 in the iPhone 5 only beats the Adreno 320 overall by a bit in tests that actually involve drawing stuff (as opposed to micro-benchmarks)

Remember that Exynos is running the GPU at literally double the clock that A6 did.

 

[ChronoReverse]

Remember that Exynos is running the GPU at literally double the clock that A6 did.

Yes but the 320 in a 1.9GHz 600 should be running at a higher clock too (and the 320 in the slower Optimus G Pro already beats the A6's MP3). That's why I said it'll be interesting to see which one ends up with the lead and by how much (although I also said that I expect the Exynos to have better GPU speed).


As a sidenote, Anand might have made a mistake and got it backwards in saying it's a 1.2GHz A15 and 1.6GHz A7. If it really is a 1.6GHz A15 then I don't see even the 1.9GHz 600 winning.

 

[rcpratt]

When is the Note 3 supposed to be announced/leaked?

 

[Imported]

Meh.. not too excited. I may keep my SGS2 for another year if nothing interests me. Weird.. not upgrading for almost 2 years.

 

[ChronoReverse]

When is the Note 3 supposed to be announced/leaked?

Usually comes out October.

 

[Oyeve]

Meh.. not too excited. I may keep my SGS2 for another year if nothing interests me. Weird.. not upgrading for almost 2 years.

I know. I usually upgrade at least once a year. Lately its been 6-8 months. Hell, I usually get a new phone before I figure out all the things my current phone can do.

 

[shadow_k]

The GPU is the the same as what's in the A6, but overclocked. Basically the GPU should be a top performer.

I'm interested in how the octo performs and its impact on battery life.

The GPU should be faster than the A6 and close to A6X performance because the SGS4 uses LDDR3 and has higher clock speed.

Really not liking the design of SGS4 . I wonder if HTC will release HTC one + with the new Snapdragon 800.

 

[ChronoReverse]

If HTC had stuffed a larger battery in the HONE I'd probably go for the developer edition. I don't understand why anyone would do a sealed battery and NOT put a larger one than the competitor who has the removeable one. It seems to be such an obvious thing too.

 

[WelshBloke]

Meh.. not too excited. I may keep my SGS2 for another year if nothing interests me. Weird.. not upgrading for almost 2 years.

SGS2 is still a decent phone, the SGS4 is a pretty massive upgrade if just for the screen though.

 

[WelshBloke]

Any ides what the extra sensor is on the front to the left of the ear piece?

 

[ChronoReverse]

Maybe the IR LED? It's supposed to have IR based gesture recognition too.