Samsung Galaxy S4 Active

[Gorgenapper]

This is such a random request. LOL.

Yellow images to my eyes look great in any mode.

Removable back yes.

Not really random, the regular S4 has an AMOLED screen. This display saturates too much green into yellow images, even on Movie Mode which is supposedly closest to the RGB standard. This active has a TFT LCD screen.

 

[blairharrington]

Not really random, the regular S4 has an AMOLED screen. This display saturates too much green into yellow images, even on Movie Mode which is supposedly closest to the RGB standard. This active has a TFT LCD screen.

Your specific website request was random. I'm fully aware of the differences between the S4 and Active edition screens. I wouldn't have purchased the Active if it had an OLED screen.

 

[gorcorps]

Really hoping mine shows up this week, as I just started having some nagging issues with my GS3. Seriously, things were just dandy until I decided to upgrade and now it's acting like it knows it's about to be replaced. My data is struggling to keep connection and I've had 2 forced reboots yesterday. I think both of these would be remedied with a fresh rom flash, but if I can hold out for just a couple days I should be good.

 

[Gorgenapper]

Your specific website request was random. I'm fully aware of the differences between the S4 and Active edition screens. I wouldn't have purchased the Active if it had an OLED screen.

Oh, well even that website isn't entirely random. National Geographic has an abundance of colorful pictures that span the entire color range - pics of nature, monkeys, orange-suited climbers on Mt. Everest, water, etc. Short of a professional image testing site, I could not think of a better way to test the color accuracy between devices.

 

[gorcorps]

Really hoping mine shows up this week, as I just started having some nagging issues with my GS3. Seriously, things were just dandy until I decided to upgrade and now it's acting like it knows it's about to be replaced. My data is struggling to keep connection and I've had 2 forced reboots yesterday. I think both of these would be remedied with a fresh rom flash, but if I can hold out for just a couple days I should be good.

Well piss on that hope. After not finding the order on my account I checked with them online and they told me there's zero record of the phone ever being purchased, even though I have a pending charge on my CC for it. *sigh* I don't have problems with ATT often, but when I do it's usually a pretty annoying fuckup. If Verizon wasn't so expensive I'd jump ship.

 

[blairharrington]

Well piss on that hope. After not finding the order on my account I checked with them online and they told me there's zero record of the phone ever being purchased, even though I have a pending charge on my CC for it. *sigh* I don't have problems with ATT often, but when I do it's usually a pretty annoying fuckup. If Verizon wasn't so expensive I'd jump ship.

Purchase it in an AT&T store.

 

[gorcorps]

Purchase it in an AT&T store.

I'm planning on it. The problem was I ordered it a couple weeks before my real upgrade time, and the store (who I went to first) said they couldn't do anything about it. Now after going through chat support several times they said they've put a special note on my account to allow the early upgrade at a store. I'm trying to get out there today to see if that really happened.

 

[shortylickens]

My Note 2 has a SAMOLED and its fine. I never have any issues with colorful desktops or movies or anything.

 

[bradly1101]

I have an S3 and have never had that problem.

 

[santz]

First decent S4 active review:

Engadget
http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/28/...utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

Highlights:
- camera great on par but not exceptional like the 13mp version
- underwater photos and videos good
- disappointing battery life (on account of new screen) just over 6hrs and 13mins in a video rundown test with screen at 50% and LTE enabled. And over 12hrs in real life test

The battery life test was just standard i think and in depth comparison results with analysis was not provided. I thought the battery was supposed to be better because of the new TFT screen sucking less power,

I am going to wait for a different review site to provide a further in depth analysis

 

[shortylickens]

The screen was picked cuz it doesnt wash out in direct sunlight, but to make it visible they had to up the brightness a lot, which means higher drain on the battery.

Personally I think if they wanna sell this to people who plan on being outdoors all day, they should have taken care to up the battery size or improve efficiency.

 

[gorcorps]

That's a little disappointing to hear about the battery. But if it just boils down to screen brightness, that can be adjusted. If it gets rooted then we should be able to adjust how bright each level of autobrightness is. It's on my gs3 rom right now.

 

[lvrzhn]

What's the battery life of the base GS4 according to Engadget? Edit: 9 hours and 15 minutes. That's 50% longer than the S4 Active.

The claims of inferior screen seem subjective. Many people prefer . color neutrality and outdoor visibility of IPS over OLED.

 

[WelshBloke]

What's the battery life of the base GS4 according to Engadget? Edit: 9 hours and 15 minutes. That's 50% longer than the S4 Active.

The claims of inferior screen seem subjective. Many people prefer . color neutrality and outdoor visibility of IPS over OLED.

The phones are identical apart from the screen. If one screen gives 50% greater battery life then I'd say its superior.

 

[lvrzhn]

The phones are identical apart from the screen. If one screen gives 50% greater battery life then I'd say its superior.

Well, people do say though that the Active appears more bright especially outdoors. So if they'd have turned both to the same subjective brightness as opposed to 50%, maybe the battery life results would have been more similar.

 

[WelshBloke]

Well, people do say though that the Active appears more bright especially outdoors. So if they'd have turned both to the same subjective brightness as opposed to 50%, maybe the battery life results would have been more similar.

They are different types of screen, it doesn't work that way.

You might as well say set them both to the same range of contrast.

 

[saad_ahmed]

I agree that it sure deserve a new thread but recently Samsung have introduced its new version of GALAXY S4 LTE-A with some new and advanced features as TechReleased website disclosed so we have to upgrade this thread

 

[gorcorps]

I agree that it sure deserve a new thread but recently Samsung have introduced its new version of GALAXY S4 LTE-A with some new and advanced features as TechReleased website disclosed so we have to upgrade this thread

That doesn't have anything to do with the active, so no

 

[gorcorps]

They are different types of screen, it doesn't work that way.

You might as well say set them both to the same range of contrast.

It works that way to a point. Engadget says they set both phones at the 50% brightness mark using the bar. Those levels of brightness should be adjustable because the rom community found a way to adjust how "bright" each level of brightness actually was already on the sgs3. So given this that means that Samsung definitely has room to adjust brightness settings at each level if they want to, if the community doesn't figure it out first.

I'd be interested to see if turning on autobrightness landed the s4 and s4 active at the same brightness levels still, or if the active is programmed properly regarding the brighter screen. In a room where the s4 would get 50%, maybe the active would get 30% making the battery life similar.

 

[Dari]

Well, people do say though that the Active appears more bright especially outdoors. So if they'd have turned both to the same subjective brightness as opposed to 50%, maybe the battery life results would have been more similar.

Samsung's OLED screens always look dimmer even at the same level of brightness so a 50% to 50% comparison would not be the same thing.

 

[blairharrington]

I don't believe in Engadget's phone battery tests. They said that the G Pro battery was disappointing and it was equal to my iPhone 5. I find the same with the Active. In my daily use with brightness at max I have over 50% left at bedtime. Everybody uses their phone differently of course.

 

[Commodus]

I don't believe in Engadget's phone battery tests. They said that the G Pro battery was disappointing and it was equal to my iPhone 5. I find the same with the Active. In my daily use with brightness at max I have over 50% left at bedtime. Everybody uses their phone differently of course.

Engadget is being purposefully conservative -- it's a lot better to be overly cautious and give some people a delightful surprise than be wildly optimistic. Besides, as smartphones grow in popularity and usability, heavy use is more likely to be commonplace.

 

[blairharrington]

[QUOTEmakes modus;35205454]Engadget is being purposefully conservative -- it's a lot better to be overly cautious and give some. eople a delightful surprise than be wildly optimistic. Besides, as smartphones grow in popularity and usability, heavy use is more likely to be commonplace.[/QUOTE]

That makes no sense. Saying a phone has dissapointing battery life when it truly doesn't for most is not being overly cautious. It's misleading. They need a better battery test like real world usage in a day and not looping video or anything else.

 

[Skurge]

I seriously doubt the the display makes up the difference. The soc and radios make a Much larger difference than that.

 

[dawheat]

I don't believe in Engadget's phone battery tests. They said that the G Pro battery was disappointing and it was equal to my iPhone 5. I find the same with the Active. In my daily use with brightness at max I have over 50% left at bedtime. Everybody uses their phone differently of course.

Battery tests, for better or for worse, are better than anecdotal experiences. I certainly wouldn't call the OGP battery life disappointing, but in every test I've seen it's somewhere between the S4 and the Note 2. I think the disappointing comment probably was in relation to it's competitor (N2) and the expectation that a newer phone would do better.

Compared to pretty much any other Android phone (except the Note 2 and Razr Maxx), the OGP has very good battery life.