Database Users

Reception

As many people here are probably aware of...the Nexus One had some 3G reception problems on T-Mobile. How is the Vibrant working out for those who have it (or get it today)?
EDIT: I'm not here to argue about whether or not the N1 had 3G reception issues. I'm really just interested to hear about the Vibrant's 3G performance in real world use. If you have a vibrant please let me know how it is for you. Thanks!

will let you know in about an hour and 10 minutes. I have had 2 different HD2's in the past 3 months, the first one had a consistent 5 bars of 3G at my house, and my last one would average 2-3, so I'm hoping the Vibrant will be more like my first hd2 in that regards lol

sounds good. will wait to hear about it. this was my biggest gripe with the nexus one, so hopefully it is better in this phone.

N1 does not have reception issue... its tmobiles coverage .. it does the same to my tp2, tmobile dash and I even saw the galaxy doing it in poor signal... in strong area it wont even drop a bar...
And galaxys antenna is at the bottom like the n1...
Check video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LROTHrTR92k&feature=player_embedded#
And here's my tp2 doing it.... its tmobile and of course covering it. Together is the issue.. forgive the language in the video..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Eo7uFtAKDY

temperbad said:
N1 does not have reception issue... its tmobiles coverage .. it does the same to my tp2, tmobile dash and I even saw the galaxy doing it in poor signal... in strong area it wont even drop a bar...
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I'm not referring to what happens if you're in poor signal area. I'm talking about average signal areas where you have decent 3G and very good EDGE reception. The N1 loses 3G reception when held in a specific way, or often defaults to EDGE while other phones such as the G1 hold onto 3G just fine. I've tested this thoroughly, and am quite certain of this.

^ I have both, an N1 and G1. You are either very unlucky or full of $hit.

s15274n said:
^ I have both, an N1 and G1. You are either very unlucky or full of $hit.
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Wow, seems like you need to grow up a bit.
These are my observations, and the N1's signal simply wasn't good enough for me to keep the phone. I no longer own it. I'm not the only person who has had issues with the N1's signal in comparison to other phones. It is true that you can hold many phones in a specific way to drop signal, but on the N1 holding it in a natural way causes a drop, which is a pretty big issue - at least it was for me.

gsvnet said:
I'm not referring to what happens if you're in poor signal area. I'm talking about average signal areas where you have decent 3G and very good EDGE reception. The N1 loses 3G reception when held in a specific way, or often defaults to EDGE while other phones such as the G1 hold onto 3G just fine. I've tested this thoroughly, and am quite certain of this.
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Watch my vids, most phones do this. Just cause ya got full bars 3g doesn't make it a strong signal.....

temperbad said:
Watch my vids, most phones do this. Just cause ya got full bars 3g doesn't make it a strong signal.....
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I've tested this firsthand and don't need to watch any videos. natural use of other phones results in better 3G reception than natural use of an N1. unless you're actually *trying* to hurt the signal on a G1, it's not going to happen easily. That's my experience, anyways. By the way, I use the actual dbm's to measure the signal, not just bars. To say that "full bars" is not strong signal is actually pretty ignorant anyways. Generally full bars is a minimum of around -90dbm which is definitely a good signal. It differs a bit based on how they are calibrated on a particular phone, but this is an approximate rule.

gsvnet said:
Wow, seems like you need to grow up a bit.
These are my observations, and the N1's signal simply wasn't good enough for me to keep the phone. I no longer own it. I'm not the only person who has had issues with the N1's signal in comparison to other phones. It is true that you can hold many phones in a specific way to drop signal, but on the N1 holding it in a natural way causes a drop, which is a pretty big issue - at least it was for me.
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I've read the issue .. I've owned a n1 for 6 months. The issue is tmobile not the phone... I.e. my videos. They do the same.... Its tmobile.. and partially bad antenna placement but its ultimately the poor signal That causes your hand to deflect signal... and from the video the sgs has the antenna in the same place as then1

gsvnet said:
I've tested this firsthand and don't need to watch any videos. natural use of other phones results in better 3G reception than natural use of an N1. unless you're actually *trying* to hurt the signal on a G1, it's not going to happen easily. That's my experience, anyways. By the way, I use the actual dbm's to measure the signal, not just bars. To say that "full bars" is not strong signal is actually pretty ignorant anyways. Generally full bars is a minimum of around -90dbm which is definitely a good signal. It differs a bit based on how they are calibrated on a particular phone, but this is an approximate rule.
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Ignorance is starting a thread about signal and not watching vids people post to help you out... one of them vids is the galaxy s... your answer is in that video

temperbad said:
I've read the issue .. I've owned a n1 for 6 months. The issue is tmobile not the phone... I.e. my videos. They do the same.... Its tmobile.. and partially bad antenna placement but its ultimately the poor signal That causes your hand to deflect signal... and from the video the sgs has the antenna in the same place as then1
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You can point figures at T-Mobile all you want but I constantly have 3G on a G1 in a lot of places where I didn't on an N1 (tested different radios as well, with similar results). The same goes for my Nokia N900, which I can't deplete the signal by the way I hold it no matter how much I try.
It is true that T-Mobile uses the 1700/2100mhz bands for 3G, while AT&T uses lower bands (850/1900mhz). The lower bands are less susceptible to interference like this, and that's probably why the issue wasn't very noticeable on the AT&T version of the N1. However, a properly designed phone will not have as much of a problem on T-Mobile's network as the N1, especially when you're holding the phone in a natural way, and not an obtrusive way.

gsvnet said:
You can point figures at T-Mobile all you want but I constantly have 3G on a G1 in a lot of places where I didn't on an N1 (tested different radios as well, with similar results). The same goes for my Nokia N900, which I can't deplete the signal by the way I hold it no matter how much I try.
It is true that T-Mobile uses the 1700/2100mhz bands for 3G, while AT&T uses lower bands (850/1900mhz). The lower bands are less susceptible to interference like this, and that's probably why the issue wasn't very noticeable on the AT&T version of the N1. However, a properly designed phone will not have as much of a problem on T-Mobile's network as the N1, especially when you're holding the phone in a natural way, and not an obtrusive way.
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I thinks its both. But safe to say if we had better signal I.e. building penetration we would never see the issue...past this.. back to sgs
Please watch the video. The first one shows the same as how the n1 was. Imo the antenna is in the same spot. So that may help you out on your question

temperbad said:
Ignorance is starting a thread about signal and not watching vids people post to help you out... one of them vids is the galaxy s... your answer is in that video
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That's the Galaxy S, not the Vibrant.
The Galaxy S had issues with GPS signal, so far reports are that the Vibrant does not. Clearly there are some changes to the phone in that case. It could be an updated firmware. Thus I can't go by issues that the Galaxy S has, as the Vibrant could very well be different - especially considering that video seems to be from a completely different network operator/country, with different network characteristics, etc. On the other hand, on the N1, the 3G reception issue was a widespread problem, even recognized by Google to some extent - though they never did 'truly' fix it. I'll be the first to say the N1 is a really nice phone, even today - a good 6 months after its release. But it isn't quite as good as other phones in 3G reception, which I determined after owning the phone for almost three months.

temperbad said:
I thinks its both. But safe to say if we had better signal I.e. building penetration we would never see the issue...past this.. back to sgs
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These are the frequencies that T-Mobile was allocated, and they are not the only carrier using higher bands for 3G. It is the job of the phone manufacturer to develop a device that is optimized for the frequencies the intended network uses. The N900 is an example of a device that does really well in this area, the G1 isn't too bad either. In creating this thread, I was hoping to hear about actual usage of the Vibrant on T-Mobile's network, so how about we leave the thread to just that?
Thanks.

gsvnet said:
These are the frequencies that T-Mobile was allocated, and they are not the only carrier using higher bands for 3G. It is the job of the phone manufacturer to develop a device that is optimized for the frequencies the intended network uses. The N900 is an example of a device that does really well in this area, the G1 isn't too bad either. In creating this thread, I was hoping to hear about actual usage of the Vibrant on T-Mobile's network, so how about we leave the thread to just that?
Thanks.
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Its a fact tmobiles 3g doesn't penetrate buildings as well. I don't care what phone you have...
Anyways. I'm saying the antenna is more than likely at the bottom as well. So you may be getting n1 issues... anyways I'm done. Your pretty set in what you believe ...
Hope its well for you...

temperbad said:
Its a fact tmobiles 3g doesn't penetrate buildings as well. I don't care what phone you have...
Anyways. I'm saying the antenna is more than likely at the bottom as well. So you may be getting n1 issues... anyways I'm done. Your pretty set in what you believe ...
Hope its well for you...
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When did I argue anything about building penetration? Of course it's not as good as some other carriers, due to the higher frequencies in use. However, some phones handle this better than others, and I created this thread to learn about the Vibrant's 3G performance. You came here and began arguing over practically nothing, without any experience of the Vibrant yourself. And as 'heygrl' pointed out, you're clearly going out of your way to deplete the signal on the TP2, holding it an unnatural way. Thus the video is not really relevant.
heygrl said:
The vidzzzzzz you posted are crap.
Anyway I ACUTALLY have a Vibrant in a few hours and I will let the OP know how the reception is instead of posting up a bunch of stupid Youtube videos.
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Thanks. Glad to see somebody who knows what they're talking about.

gsvnet said:
When did I argue anything about building penetration? Of course it's not as good as some other carriers, due to the higher frequencies in use. However, some phones handle this better than others, and I created this thread to learn about the Vibrant's 3G performance. You came here and began arguing over practically nothing, without any experience of the Vibrant yourself. And as 'heygrl' pointed out, you're clearly going out of your way to deplete the signal on the TP2, holding it an unnatural way. Thus the video is not really relevant.
Thanks. Glad to see somebody who knows what they're talking about.
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hows that a unatural way? people hold the top alot, think about holding it in landscape, if your holding it with your left hand, your gonna cover the antenna even more so than I was especially typing.. HOW was that Unatural. LOL Thats how you hold your phone....
Edit: and what consists of Unatural? lol Its a 4 inch device, your hands are gonna cover it no matter how hard you try and avoid it... Once again hows holding it at the top vs bottom unatural?
So basically since im holding it at the top vs bottom Im holding it wrong. lol

temperbad said:
hows that a unatural way? people hold the top alot, think about holding it in landscape, if your holding it with your left hand, your gonna cover the antenna even more so than I was especially typing.. HOW was that Unatural. LOL Thats how you hold your phone....
Edit: and what consists of Unatural? lol Its a 4 inch device, your hands are gonna cover it no matter how hard you try and avoid it... Once again hows holding it at the top vs bottom unatural?
So basically since im holding it at the top vs bottom Im holding it wrong. lol
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Whatever you say - I've used a T-Mobile TP2 (in areas with slightly sketchy 3G) and didn't notice this problem. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but under my usage I didn't see this. I don't see it on a G1 or N900 either.
Anyway, I don't care about the TP2 - I'm concerned with the Vibrant, so let's see what people have to say in terms of real world usage.

temperbad said:
I've read the issue .. I've owned a n1 for 6 months. The issue is tmobile not the phone... I.e. my videos. They do the same.... Its tmobile.. and partially bad antenna placement but its ultimately the poor signal That causes your hand to deflect signal... and from the video the sgs has the antenna in the same place as then1
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there's a 78 page thread w/about 3300 posts on google's nexus one support forum that refutes your assertion that it's Tmo's signal or coverage - when the AT&T versions came out, they had same issues
convince them http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=0c0fb2a46ad64955&hl=en&start=3040

Ask me your mt4g/Vibrant comparison questions!

I have both in hand and am willing to answer questions comparing the two if anyone has any.

What's ur opinion on the new sense ui vs touchwiz?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

casual864 said:
What's ur opinion on the new sense ui vs touchwiz?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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If I had a video camera besides the phone I would do a walkthrough demo'ing it, but omg it is beautiful. The default home launcher that comes with it is as horrible as it gets so I used Launcherpro to remedy that. Other than that though, how the phone dialer is laid out, the contacts screen layout, and even simple things like text messages are unbelievably polished. You will not be dissapointed with the Sense UI on the mt4g.
EDIT: Ehh, what I was gonna show in the video was pretty basic and I thought someone must've done this already so before doing anything I looked up videos and found http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNr-ku3-O0g It is exactly the same software I would've shown you except he's running it on the Nexus One and he goes a lot more in depth than I would've

What's the battery life like, with moderate or heavy usage?

presence06 said:
What's the battery life like, with moderate or heavy usage?
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Well when I bought it, it came out of the box with only 30% charge. So I went to a Starbucks before class and it charged pretty well in about 45 mins (don't know the percentage but maybe like 75%). I used that from 5pm til 11pm when I got home. At that point it was giving me low battery warnings, but I'd say that was fair after some pretty heavy usage. I spent the whole day mesing with settings and trying to get a feel for the phone. I downloaded about 20 apps on HSPA+ in NYC and about 4 or 5 full length albums on Thumbplay over wifi in school. I also browsed the web and ran speedtests (got about 4Mbp/s down, 1Mbp/s up). Overall the battery did pretty well and so far is the least of my worries, if I could think of any.. I'd take the mt4g battery > Vibrant battery any day.

How is the overall feel of the device? Weight wise? Does it really look like a device for a 14 y.o. or it is a decent design?
How is the screen? Does it really make a lot of difference b/w SAMOLED on the lowest brightness vs MT4G on auto?
I am sure the OS interactions feel faster on it, but is it really noticeable in the everyday use?

Well, would you trade/sell your vibrant for the mt4g?

lqaddict said:
How is the overall feel of the device? Weight wise? Does it really look like a device for a 14 y.o. or it is a decent design?
How is the screen? Does it really make a lot of difference b/w SAMOLED on the lowest brightness vs MT4G on auto?
I am sure the OS interactions feel faster on it, but is it really noticeable in the everyday use?
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The actual device is a lot sexier than than dummy displays of it and better looking than photos do it justice. It is a bit heaver than the Vibrant (but what isn't lol), I think it's the perfect weight. It doesn't look like only a teenage device; I think it could appeal to anyone of any age.
Now the screen - a lot of people say the Vibrant's screen is better, which it is and I love it, but I think it was overdone. Why? Because the entire 2 months I used the phone, I used it at the lowest brightness which was still too bright. The mt4G's screen can get REALLY dim, which is nice at night because it doesn't hurt your eyes. I'd say the Vibrant's screen at the LOWEST brightness setting is about the mt4G's display at around 30% brightness. Not a bad thing. The colors are beautiful - they're as good as you need them to be and not overly saturated.
The difference between interactions so far is notable. Everything is so smooth that I don't worry anymore about hitting the buttons too fast and the phone not keeping up.

anthonys2r said:
Well, would you trade/sell your vibrant for the mt4g?
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Lol. I made that decision last night after using the device about 4 hours. I sold my Vibrant and it's in the xda marketplace right now. Definitely keeping the mt4G.
I was thinking about waiting til Nov. 8th or 11th to see what Samsung has in store for us, but I'm very disappointed that their priority seems to be putting out new devices over supporting their current ones so I went with HTC and the mt4G here.

Aspeds2989 said:
...I also browsed the web and ran speedtests (got about 4Mbp/s down, 1Mbp/s up)...
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That's what I get on my Vibrant (well from 3-5Mbs on avg [max was 6Mbps]). Is the NYC HSPA+ coverage not that good?
~SB

ShinyBuddha said:
That's what I get on my Vibrant (well from 3-5Mbs on avg [max was 6Mbps]). Is the NYC HSPA+ coverage not that good?
~SB
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I was thinking that but I also considered that I was in a very heavy populated area in midtown with many people probably hammering those cell towers at the same time. < Whoa, no homo.

Aspeds2989 said:
I was thinking that but I also considered that I was in a very heavy populated area in midtown with many people probably hammering those cell towers at the same time. < Whoa, no homo.
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So essentially "HSPA+ upgraded" phone but same speed? Doesn't sound like a winner for me. Can't wait to see some upgraded HSPA+ networks able to push out that type of throughput to phones which support it. Kinda makes a 4G phone moot at this point if you can't take advantage of it.
Good to hear about the responsive UI, although we can achieve that with any ROM from Sombionix or Eugene. But it's a plus to have that experience out of the box for what...95% of the people who don't know what a ROM is. Anything that can get more people on the T-Mobile bandwagon = more money to T-Mobile = more money for infrastructure = happy people.
~SB

ShinyBuddha said:
That's what I get on my Vibrant (well from 3-5Mbs on avg [max was 6Mbps]). Is the NYC HSPA+ coverage not that good?
~SB
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I wonder about the usefulness of speedtest. Yesterday my brother and I were at dinner and we tested our phones, his Nexus One versus my Vibrant. I was pulling down 3+ mbps and he was getting half that, even though in theory we should be pulling the same speed.

Kubernetes said:
I wonder about the usefulness of speedtest. Yesterday my brother and I were at dinner and we tested our phones, his Nexus One versus my Vibrant. I was pulling down 3+ mbps and he was getting half that, even though in theory we should be pulling the same speed.
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In theory is correct but the antenna assembly and the radios are different, therefore it's not exactly comparable and speedtest most likely has it correct. One thing that I have noticed is that my IP will be assigned to LA, San Fransisco, and even once Pittsburgh randomly. Don't know why this happens, but a reboot puts it back in the correct IP range for my area. That might have affected the test that night.
I've got this site bookmarked on my phone if I need it: http://whatismyipaddress.com/
If I ever do a speed test and find a low throughput the above reason is usually why.
~SB

Ordered mine yesterday, I am disappointed at the level of support the galaxy series has received from Sammy, I believe after this froyo update Sammy will wash their hands of this devise and move on,
I am told that the mt4g has an upgrade waiting right out the box, Now that’s what I call Support. Also rumor is mt4g will be the first to get Gingerbread upgrade.

Did it come with the new tether app? The TMO one?
If not, that might be the OTA that is being rolled out.
I was actually thinking of getting an HTC device, seeing how they got it pretty much under the belt the Android, but the new tactics with the provider that locks the phone down from root, and RW NAND keeps me at bay.
Wish I was a bit bolder when Nexus One came out, and got it, I just didn't like the marketing pitch that it was an iPhone killer, but it did nothing to decrease the popularity of the Apple product , it did increase the popularity of the Android though hopefully Vibrant is going to staying with me for at least 2 years.

lqaddict said:
Did it come with the new tether app? The TMO one?
If not, that might be the OTA that is being rolled out.
I was actually thinking of getting an HTC device, seeing how they got it pretty much under the belt the Android, but the new tactics with the provider that locks the phone down from root, and RW NAND keeps me at bay.
Wish I was a bit bolder when Nexus One came out, and got it, I just didn't like the marketing pitch that it was an iPhone killer, but it did nothing to decrease the popularity of the Apple product , it did increase the popularity of the Android though hopefully Vibrant is going to staying with me for at least 2 years.
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As far as I can see, the app fixed a glitch with the address bar in the browser and that's it. Maybe there's some other bugs it fixed that I hadn't even noticed yet, but that's a good thing. The wifi hotspot and wifi calling apps were on it out of the box already.

how was the rock band?

iynfynity said:
how was the rock band?
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I'm not a fan really, but I tried it and it's not bad at all... Pretty addicting and the graphics are nice. The Monopoly game that comes with the phone btw is sick! The graphics are as good as I've seen in a game and the gameplay is smooth. I was impressed because at first I just looked at it as bloatware to ignore, but it's "keepable." The game is by EA btw.

I had the opportunity to play with 4g, the phone is very nice. Personally I can't see myself with a phone that I can't root or flash, I mean that's why we come to forums like this. If we get root for the 4g I will be the first to get it. But as of right now I love what we can do, and what's coming with the vibrant.

Pre > Epic > Evo > back to Epic

For anyone trying to decide between the Evo and Epic, here is my take after having each for at least 2 weeks as my primary phone. These are just my opinions as everyone has different tastes
I must be an exception to the rule...I switched from a Palm Pre to the Epic for a couple weeks. I liked swype so much I decided to drop the epic for the evo.
After using an Evo for two weeks I traded it back for an Epic and I like the Epic much better for a few reasons.
First I didn't care for HTC Sense. I like the gallery, email, music player, calendar, and various apps included with the Epic better than HTC's versions. Also, HTC doesn't ship a file browser or task manager whereas Samsung does. Some people will say "just install one from the market" but those typically all have ads. I realize you can remove the ads with a host file, but that’s beside the point. These are basic OS functions that should be included.
Second the Epic feels much faster. Scrolling is smoother and games run better. Froyo or not, it’s faster.
Third…contrary to what you may believe it is MUCH easier to root an Epic. With the Epic you can essentially take the long way or the shortcut 1-click method but the Evo HW0004 currently there is only a long somewhat difficult root process.
Fourth, everyone complains that the dev community is so much better for the Evo. I would argue that this community is really top notch and has been extremely helpful and understanding to new users such as myself. I saw a lot more flaming going on in Evo forums.
Finally the hardware: Something overlooked by many, the Epic is way more comfortable to hold. Turns out rounded corners are round for a reason. After browsing the web & xda for about 30 min on the Evo I noticed the center of my palm, right where the bottom corner rests was a tad sore, almost felt bruised. This is not a problem with the Epic with its nicely rounded body and curved back. Also the earpiece is much better on the Epic, its louder clearer and is more comfortable up to the ear. And yes, the samoled screen is worth the 0.3” loss in size.
I wouldn't even consider the Evo Shift at this point. I'm shocked to see so many people recommending it over the Epic which to me is well worth the higher price.

If they fix the keyboard issues, GPS issues, and battery life issues I would agree with you that the Epic 4G is definitely the best phone on Sprint. If a Droid or the iPhone had even one of these issues, all of the media outlets would be up in arms and there would be mass returns. They are all MAJOR issues. For some reason, Samsung is allowed to get away with it on the Galaxy S devices. People are not really returning their devices in large numbers (as far as I know), and all of the reviewers gave the Galaxy S devices very high scores.
The reality is this is essentially a device with alpha or beta quality software on it, that is not getting fixed until at least six months after release. I am not buying Samsung again for mobile phones.

I have to agree with op. Best phone i ever had, and i have had quite a few smartphones. even before official froyo, it runs much smoothr than the few evos i played with. Gps, keyboard is perfect for me. And the screen is amazing.....
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Stock Evo vs. Epic battery life is within 5% I would say. I couldn't tell any difference in my usage. Probably because I am almost always within Wi-fi range which makes a big difference.
Keyboard on the Epic doesn't impress, I'll agree with you. Thats probably why I use swype most of the time. It is very handy to punch in passwords though.
GPS is better on the Evo. If you are a road warrior I would avoid the Galexy S line. That said, if you enable GPS & wireless networks it will place you on the map within 30 seconds, but it is definitely not as accurate as the Evo. Supposedly Samsung is working on improvements.
Thanks for bringing up some points I didn't include!

thechicgeak said:
If they fix the keyboard issues, GPS issues, and battery life issues I would agree with you that the Epic 4G is definitely the best phone on Sprint. If a Droid or the iPhone had even one of these issues, all of the media outlets would be up in arms and there would be mass returns. They are all MAJOR issues. For some reason, Samsung is allowed to get away with it on the Galaxy S devices. People are not really returning their devices in large numbers (as far as I know), and all of the reviewers gave the Galaxy S devices very high scores.
The reality is this is essentially a device with alpha or beta quality software on it, that is not getting fixed until at least six months after release. I am not buying Samsung again for mobile phones.
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A. The keyboard is the only legitimate argument you have here.
B. Most users who buy the epic(and yes, the users who root and are members of this forum are the minority) do not see a GPS problem. I didn't even notice one till I started reading this forum and trying to replicate the problem. I have two friends with Epics, and they have never complained of the GPS not working.
C. The battery is no worse than the Evo, and that is a fact. Read on both forums and you will see that everyone gets VERY comparable operating times. Unfortunately with screen this big and clear, you aren't going to get the battery life of other phones. Have you seen the screens on Evo and Epic compared to iphone and droid? They are night and day difference, and the product of that is battery life.
If you go to the Droid forums you will see complaints as well, however because 80% of the public does not have the same demand as the users of forums like this, the complaints are not escalated as highly. The high end techies complain about everything that is not perfect, cause techies are never satisfied, I should know, I am in that boat. However, that does not mean we are holding a inferior piece of hardware/software. Outside of this forum, I have never met a normal person dissatisfied with their Epic or Evo.

I was in a sprint store last week getting a replacement Epic so while waiting i did about 15 seperate 4g bandwidth tests with the floor demo and my replacement Epic comparing it it side to side with the Evo. I'm disappointed to say not only did the Evo best the Epic every time in some instances it nearly doubled the speed. It regularly was 1-3 megabits a second faster and the fastest speed for a Epic was 7.2 megs and the Evo was 10 megs. I also noticed that even though we were in a full coverage area the Epic would go from full to no bars for some unknown reason. The Evo must have a better antenna or the Epic has some reception issues. Has anyone else tested this out?

swanysto said:
...C. The battery is no worse than the Evo, and that is a fact. Read on both forums and you will see that everyone gets VERY comparable operating times. Unfortunately with screen this big and clear, you aren't going to get the battery life of other phones. Have you seen the screens on Evo and Epic compared to iphone and droid? They are night and day difference, and the product of that is battery life...
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I'm going to chime in here and state that the Epic's 45-nm S5PC110 is ~20% more power efficient than the EVO's 65-nm QSD8650. The SAMOLED on the Epic does eat more juice than the EVO's LCD when cranked all the way up or when displaying lots of white pages, but when displaying dark colors and blacks it can sip less energy.

swanysto said:
A. The keyboard is the only legitimate argument you have here.
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Agreed, the keyboard is junk on this device. I am not sure if it is software, hardware, or both that causes the missed keys. Hopefully it is just software issues...
swanysto said:
B. Most users who buy the epic(and yes, the users who root and are members of this forum are the minority) do not see a GPS problem. I didn't even notice one till I started reading this forum and trying to replicate the problem. I have two friends with Epics, and they have never complained of the GPS not working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can see how for some people, the GPS issues are not a big deal, but it is for people who do not want to do any sort of hacking whatsoever to help decrease the long lock times. Not the end of the world, I'll grant you that, but my point is that this would not be accepted on any other major mobile phone, so why is it so accepted on the Galaxy S devices? Look at how up in arms people were about the iPhone 4's relatively minor "death grip" problem.
swanysto said:
C. The battery is no worse than the Evo, and that is a fact. Read on both forums and you will see that everyone gets VERY comparable operating times. Unfortunately with screen this big and clear, you aren't going to get the battery life of other phones. Have you seen the screens on Evo and Epic compared to iphone and droid? They are night and day difference, and the product of that is battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When it works as it should, it can have great battery life (mine under DK28 works great and I get around 20 to 30 hours on a charge with moderate usage). That being said, there are problems in the software that, on some phones under certain conditions, cause absurdly bad battery life (10% battery drain or more per hour while idle, which is how mine was until I upgraded to DK28 and how my friends' Fascinates are) and cause the phone to heat up considerably while idle. I have only ever heard of this happening with Galaxy S phones. Either way, frequent updates from Samsung and getting the latest Android release reasonably fast would mitigate this complaint for me, but that doesn't happen, so it is a legitimate complaint.
swanysto said:
If you go to the Droid forums you will see complaints as well, however because 80% of the public does not have the same demand as the users of forums like this, the complaints are not escalated as highly. The high end techies complain about everything that is not perfect, cause techies are never satisfied, I should know, I am in that boat. However, that does not mean we are holding a inferior piece of hardware/software. Outside of this forum, I have never met a normal person dissatisfied with their Epic or Evo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will agree that many people expect too much out of their smart phones. 20 to 30 hours is not enough for many people. That being said, 10 hour battery life doing absolutely nothing with the phone is completely ridiculous, and it is a legitimate software problem with the Galaxy S devices.
EDIT: Some grammar changes

I believe every phone's capabilities have to do with their "abuse" levels. Higher the abuse, lower the satisfaction. And, with higher abuse there will be more frequent visits to the Sprint store than usual.
I got my Epic on the day it came out (8/30/2010) and I have to admit this is a very beautiful phone with nice features. And the custom roms just spice it up even more (with less abuse of course)

If you have 10% drain an hour then you have app issues or something running in the background. On eclair I was getting 60 - 80 hours with no problem. On froyo it has been 20 - 30 hours now with ext 4 its up to 55 hours
Our stock standby time is 300 hours evo is like 200.
Epic 4g Quantum Rom Ext 4

Since im replying from my phone and I don't feel like editing a quote I'll just say that the gps is a MAJOR issue as I was never able to use it until I started having my phone. Considering gps is such a basic feature nowadays that is unacceptable.
Sent from my ext4 Epic 4G running Bonsai4all 1.1.3!

so far so good
I'm always tempted by the path not chosen, but so far the Epic has done everything I've needed it to do.
I drive for a living, and while the GPS does take time to lock, it does lock. Otherwise I can find myself on the map and plot my route on the map to at least start my travels until it does lock. I consider this to be standard GPS protocol :/
I could really care less about the keyboard, but for some reason Sprint has designated the slider as their form factor of choice since the PPC-6700. It misses keys, and I thought it was just me, but I'll just have to factor that in and type more carefully. But only the form factor and the OS have been real temptations for me.
I was in the market to replace my Flip camera, and when i saw the video comparisons between the Evo and the Epic, I knew I would be very disappointed with the Evo. And while it may not matter to some, I appreciate the dedicated 2 step camera button.
I'm also feel I'm in the minority when I say that I really like plug location. I leave the phone plugged in while I drive, and it's nice to not have to stow the phone upside down and have to hold it around the plug. This has been a plus with every Samsung phone I have had, the ability to charge it in the upright position. And I cannot tell you how much I adore the slide cover of the plug.
The screen looks great from any angle even in bright light I can see it better than I could ever see the screen on my TP2.
Now, is the phone light and cheap feeling? Possibly. But I would rather drop a light phone than a heavy phone. Think about it. I already dropped it once trying to take a picture of something on the floor. Wood floor, no harm, lesson learned. But the phone seems well put together, and it should last at least the year before I can upgrade to, whatever.
4G, eh, whatever. I play with it in Chicago, and it's iffy at best. They basically tacked on an extra radio, and I mostly pretend it's not there. However, it does grant the ability to do simultaneous voice and data, which will be a plus if this network ever expands and takes hold.
So even though I am sick to death of waiting for Froyo since I'm checking on it every day, I still know I made the right choice as far as what Sprint has to offer.

docdg said:
I also noticed that even though we were in a full coverage area the Epic would go from full to no bars for some unknown reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happens to me all the time. Months ago there were some posts postulating that this problem may be because the Epic's network defaults to "WCDMA preferred" under the advanced network settings, and WCDMA, despite its name, is actually a protocol for GSM phones, not CDMA phones. The thought is that it preferentially periodically goes looking for these networks it cannot connect to.
I have found that switching this setting to "CDMA auto" causes my "time without signal" to drop from ~50% to about 4%, so there's probably something to that argument. Unfortunately the phone seems to change itself back, especially when it reboots, and in any case I still get the bars dropping away quite often, even after changing this.

Phreddo said:
I'm also feel I'm in the minority when I say that I really like plug location. I leave the phone plugged in while I drive, and it's nice to not have to stow the phone upside down and have to hold it around the plug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also like the plug where it is, though I didn't think I would when I got it. It is so much nicer than a bottom or side plug, not only when plugged into the car, but also when plugged in anywhere else, especially at the computer.

I really like my Epic over the Evo. My cuz has an Evo and it looks and feels so big and square, I really don't think I'd like carrying that thing in my pocket, like I carry my Evo. And for me, Evo's screen is actually larger than needed. I lived without a keyboard for two years with my HTC Touch and now, I can't go without a keyboard. I personally find Swype to be inaccurate and I constantly had to make adjustments. I use the android keyboard when not typing on the keyboard.

edonnelly said:
This happens to me all the time. Months ago there were some posts postulating that this problem may be because the Epic's network defaults to "WCDMA preferred" under the advanced network settings, and WCDMA, despite its name, is actually a protocol for GSM phones, not CDMA phones. The thought is that it preferentially periodically goes looking for these networks it cannot connect to.
I have found that switching this setting to "CDMA auto" causes my "time without signal" to drop from ~50% to about 4%, so there's probably something to that argument. Unfortunately the phone seems to change itself back, especially when it reboots, and in any case I still get the bars dropping away quite often, even after changing this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too noticed that in the settings. When I switch to CDMA auto, the bars were almost always full or close to full even when I was in areas that historically gave me a bad signal. Unfortunately, the phone swtiches back to WCDMA and I go back to my normal, high-and-low signal.

One final note as I am actually switching to an evo today. On the topic of task killers the one included with the epic is crap. It does not show programs samsung does not want you ending and so I've always used advanced task killer. To me GPS that works and manufacturer support far outweigh the need for a manufacturer supplied task killer.
Sent from my ext4 Epic 4G running Bonsai4all 1.1.3!

kenvan19 said:
One final note as I am actually switching to an evo today. On the topic of task killers the one included with the epic is crap. It does not show programs samsung does not want you ending and so I've always used advanced task killer. To me GPS that works and manufacturer support far outweigh the need for a manufacturer supplied task killer.
Sent from my ext4 Epic 4G running Bonsai4all 1.1.3!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I'm switching to the Epic but I haven't considered the GPS issue. I just assume I'll get a good one. lol. To me, the screen, the still and video camera are reasons to switch. Though the dev community doesn't seem as robust for Epic and the manufacturer support clearly isn't there as well.

dwd3885 said:
I think I'm switching to the Epic but I haven't considered the GPS issue. I just assume I'll get a good one. lol. To me, the screen, the still and video camera are reasons to switch. Though the dev community doesn't seem as robust for Epic and the manufacturer support clearly isn't there as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can get GPS working you just have to be on DK28. If you like the phone by all means get it. It comes down to opinions and my opinion is that there really isn't anything I like about the Epic. Its got great graphics and a good camera but I have a 42" flatscreen+a PS3 for gaming and I have a 12mp camera for pictures, I don't need my phone to do those things. Sure, having a hardware keyboard is great but considering I have to slow my typing speed down so I don't miss letters and how much I've come to love swype I don't really want/need it anymore. I've said this in the Evo Shift vs Epic thread and I'll say it here: Go try both phones. If you like one more than the other, buy it. Manufacturers and Carriers are always going to skew their descriptions and spec sheets to get you to buy something, so just go with what you want.

jbadboy2007 said:
If you have 10% drain an hour then you have app issues or something running in the background. On eclair I was getting 60 - 80 hours with no problem. On froyo it has been 20 - 30 hours now with ext 4 its up to 55 hours
Our stock standby time is 300 hours evo is like 200.
Epic 4g Quantum Rom Ext 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not quite sure exactly what it is, but it seems to be restricted to Galaxy S phones. I spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out what was causing it on my phone, and while I have heard of people like you who got good battery life in 2.1, everyone I know who has a Galaxy S device has this issue. Judging by the fact that for me and others, 2.2 has cleared up the issue, I am guessing there is a fix specifically for this in that update.
For the record, I once ran logcat to see if I could pinpoint the issue. It seemed that Google Sync was querying Google's servers CONSTANTLY even though I had configured to push in GMail, so it could be an issue with Android or the GMail app itself, but why it seems to manifest on Galaxy S devices with alarming frequency is beyond me.

Okay, now I've totally had it with LG and this phone... here's why. [found solution]

Hi XDa'ers...
I'm sorry to say I've just had it with this phone. The awesome camera was the main reason I switched my Galaxy S4 to this. The promise of wireless charging was awesome. The sd card of course made it the only current flagship worth considering. The promotion of an extra leather back + battery just sweetened the deal.
But then...
1st G4 - Camera had a distinct pink tone. The wireless charging was iffy at first, and then completely broke down. Exchanged for a new one.
2nd G4 - Wireless charging was iffy. I attempted to downgrade the bootstack and it bricked (first one on XDA to report this fun fact which I warned everyone else about)--okay, this one's on me.
3rd G4 - Refurb warranty replacement had a broken camera which could not focus past 2 feet. Sheesh.
4th G4 - Out of the blue, wifi is suffering from a ridiculous on/off cycle which is likely hardware failure related. The phone is 2 months old! My problem specifically is that it turns on and does find wifi signals, but then turns off. Then turns on again. Repeat.
It's similar to these threads, but not exactly, as the wifi does turn on, it just keeps turning itself off.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/lg...ut-doesn-t-how-can-i-get-my-wifi-working.html
http://forum.xda-developers.com/g4/help/lg-g4-wifi-stuck-trying-to-t3167191
I think it's been well established that the wireless charging on this phone is poorly implemented and a hardware issue. Fine, I can do without it. But to have the wifi crap out for no reason is really the last straw.
Looking to see what phone to switch out to. I'm on T-Mobile Jump on Demand, so the Android options are really only just the S6 or V10. I've yet to investigate the V10 forums--who knows what kind of crap engineering issues LG will have in store for us as the months roll on.

I had g4 and sold it to get the note 5, best decision ever. G4 camera was the main reason i took the phone but, the poor gaming performance the weak cpu didnt answer my demands and i hated the random lags.

Same here I am selling my g4, what upset me is I mailed them about unlocking bootloader, they replied me with this....

I am checking on blackberry priv
Sent from my LG-H815 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

that LG approach to unlocking bootloader will cost them, Sammy does the best, despite the knox counter it always comes unlocked(unless u AT-T).

Mangtas_666 said:
Same here I am selling my g4, what upset me is I mailed them about unlocking bootloader, they replied me with this....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen on Reddit where people have been unable to unlock their SEA phones...

waylo said:
1st G4 - Camera had a distinct pink tone. The wireless charging was iffy at first, and then completely broke down. Exchanged for a new one.
2nd G4 - Wireless charging was iffy. I attempted to downgrade the bootstack and it bricked (first one on XDA to report this fun fact which I warned everyone else about)--okay, this one's on me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Curious to know whether your G4 variant includes wireless charging in the back itself ootb ?
In other markets you have to use the circle case or get a sticker and connect back the two pins.
In dual sim markets there are no two pins so there is no option for wireless charging at all
Not so bothered when stock charger can take this thing from 30% to full within a hour.
4th G4 - Out of the blue, wifi is suffering from a ridiculous on/off cycle which is likely hardware failure related. The phone is 2 months old! My problem specifically is that it turns on and does find wifi signals, but then turns off. Then turns on again. Repeat.
It's similar to these threads, but not exactly, as the wifi does turn on, it just keeps turning itself off.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/lg...ut-doesn-t-how-can-i-get-my-wifi-working.html
http://forum.xda-developers.com/g4/help/lg-g4-wifi-stuck-trying-to-t3167191
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A few reports here and there, for some reason sprint seems to be having the most issues. Its weird.
Never use pubic wifi so i assign static addresses, this is something i've done for years in pc land. very stable. screw dhcp.
I think it's been well established that the wireless charging on this phone is poorly implemented and a hardware issue. Fine, I can do without it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which wireless charger did you use ? how well did it work with previous models with wireless charging.
LG has a good rep for wireless charging if you consider the Nexus 5. The nexus 6 made by motorola, heh, now that is more fussy. Get the impression that bigger devices are more finicky compared to smaller ones. Also flatter backs are better than curved ones. As screens get bigger those curves becomes important to make the thing feel smaller than it actually is.

Dang OP, you had some really bad luck with your g4's. Mines only actes retarded sometime when i try charging, and it thinks my charger is a usb.

Oh dear samsung...This money transaction too transparence
Ok end of joke.Wifi drop horror.My g4 same...

Derpling said:
I had g4 and sold it to get the note 5, best decision ever. G4 camera was the main reason i took the phone but, the poor gaming performance the weak cpu didnt answer my demands and i hated the random lags.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too got the Note 5 switching from the G4. The lag drove me up the wall. Glad that I made the switch, note 5 has more functionality, and TouchWiz has been toned wayyyy down since the Galaxy s4, the last Samsung device I had. I would go note 5 or nexus 6p.

TheEmpyre said:
I too got the Note 5 switching from the G4. The lag drove me up the wall. Glad that I made the switch, note 5 has more functionality, and TouchWiz has been toned wayyyy down since the Galaxy s4, the last Samsung device I had. I would go note 5 or nexus 6p.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While not suited for everyone, Note 5 is the best phone of this year and will hold very well for next years.
Do yourself a favor, root the device and install Arter97 kernel, it fixes the sammy aggressive ram management, and enjoy the Note!

Derpling said:
While not suited for everyone, Note 5 is the best phone of this year and will hold very well for next years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what i thought about the note 4 nd was surprised to come across a few that switched to the G4.
Sammy's pissed off the Euro's though. They only get to see note 5 in jan.
In india it was out last month and its made here for the Indian market.
Do yourself a favor, root the device and install Arter97 kernel, it fixes the sammy aggressive ram management, and enjoy the Note!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How's the battery on the note 5. sot ? run time ? mention your brightness in %.
mention how was it with stock. And then with this kernel.

Depends on your uses and what running in background.
I can get through the day easily with 30%+- remain from 7am to 8pm, 50-75% brightness, what i do is location always on, wifi+data, google sync, messages, chrome, facebook, what's up etc.
Now i also do heavy gaming since this is the only phone that cna do it right, i measured something intersting.
While forcing the phone to run at maximum speed on all 8 cores and GPU, and playing intensive game like Tekken 6 on 50-60% brightness, it will deplete to 0 after 3:30-3:40hr straight gaming at maximum frequency... which is amazing, the G4 barely held 2hr.
you won't be disappointed, specially if u come from G4.

Derpling said:
Depends on your uses and what running in background.
I can get through the day easily with 30%+- remain from 7am to 8pm, 50-75% brightness, what i do is location always on, wifi+data, google sync, messages, chrome, facebook, what's up etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So that's a run time of maybe 12-14h. sot maybe 4-5h ?
been skimming the note 5 battery thread and not seeing the stellar performance of the note 4 under kk.
i wonder if those days are gone for good or not
Now i also do heavy gaming since this is the only phone that cna do it right, i measured something intersting.
While forcing the phone to run at maximum speed on all 8 cores and GPU, and playing intensive game like Tekken 6 on 50-60% brightness, it will deplete to 0 after 3:30-3:40hr straight gaming at maximum frequency... which is amazing, the G4 barely held 2hr.
you won't be disappointed, specially if u come from G4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly, for gamers note 5 is best. No lag, faster memory, but hey you're paying for it

One Twelve said:
So that's a run time of maybe 12-14h. sot maybe 4-5h.
exactly, for gamers note 5 is best. No lag, faster memory, but hey you're paying for it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes G4 is bad for gamers, what drove me insane is that angry birds 2 lagged on it, and it has weak cpu that can't run tekken 6 and dark resurrection at 60fps, note 5 can do it, that is amazing of itself.
G4 had random lags at times, Note 5 does not have any of those, rarely it has unlock screen freeze, when u unlock the screen it freezes for 5 second and then do all your taps... should be resolved in new update(already resolved for some).
Note 5 overall is the best phone i ever used, screen sound quality touchwiz... all better than g4 and v10.

Derpling said:
that LG approach to unlocking bootloader will cost them, Sammy does the best, despite the knox counter it always comes unlocked(unless u AT-T).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unlocked with no good or intresting custom roms?

If it would been unlocked from get go, it would speed up development. But that took awhile

Derpling said:
yes G4 is bad for gamers, what drove me insane is that angry birds 2 lagged on it, and it has weak cpu that can't run tekken 6 and dark resurrection at 60fps, note 5 can do it, that is amazing of itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How will note 5 fare against the SD 820 ?
Qualcom got a bloody nose this year, they are likely to come out swinging next year. Lots of building up going on, 80k antutu bla bla.
we will see is what i say. Note 5's cpu is a 14nm i think. so qualcom is playing catch up.
G4 had random lags at times, Note 5 does not have any of those, rarely it has unlock screen freeze, when u unlock the screen it freezes for 5 second and then do all your taps... should be resolved in new update(already resolved for some).
Note 5 overall is the best phone i ever used, screen sound quality touchwiz... all better than g4 and v10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you have both devices, do you have a ac wifi router ?
do you notice any difference in stated link speed between the two.

One Twelve said:
How will note 5 fare against the SD 820 ?
Qualcom got a bloody nose this year, they are likely to come out swinging next year. Lots of building up going on, 80k antutu bla bla.
we will see is what i say.
Since you have both devices, do you have a ac wifi router ?
do you notice any difference in stated link speed between the two.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1)Note 5 will fare very well against SD820, i expect SD820 multi-test score will either slightly higher than 7420 or slightly lower, the GPU will probably be 30-40% better if it won't throttle, but who knows? i have yet seen any game that bring Note 5 to it's knees, Exynos 7420 is seriously best chip Sammy ever made, and best cheap of last generation(till 8890 at least).
2)I had G4 from June 2 till 18 Aug, i didn't really measure the speed of the upload and download of both phones , but since i know my wifi speed, the G4 would miss sometimes and stopped downloading in the middle, or download very slow despite the connection was perfect, but it was inconsistent. some days it will be good, some other won't.
Note 5 has yet to do it to me, mobile data and wifi link are great.
And btw, gonna drain my battery a bit more now and send you the picture of the SOT and battery usage, the only thing that G4 does slightly better than note 5, is taking picture in low light.

Derpling said:
1)Note 5 will fare very well against SD820, i expect SD820 multi-test score will either slightly higher than 7420 or slightly lower, the GPU will probably be 30-40% better if it won't throttle, but who knows? i have yet seen any game that bring Note 5 to it's knees, Exynos 7420 is seriously best chip Sammy ever made, and best cheap of last generation(till 8890 at least).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is the rom scene with exynos ?
yes you have an unlocked bootloader but how does rom development fare when exynos sources are not completely released.
The result seems to be the same with the Lg's use qualcom but lock the bootloader. I've not figured out why the rest of the world got locked out except europe. Its like they use europe as a test case and when they have other products for sale, quietly unlock the rest. I don't beleive the current situation will endure, when the door is already slightly open.
2)I had G4 from June 2 till 18 Aug, i didn't really measure the speed of the upload and download of both phones , but since i know my wifi speed, the G4 would miss sometimes and stopped downloading in the middle, or download very slow despite the connection was perfect, but it was inconsistent. some days it will be good, some other won't.
Note 5 has yet to do it to me, mobile data and wifi link are great.
And btw, gonna drain my battery a bit more now and send you the picture of the SOT and battery usage, the only thing that G4 does slightly better than note 5, is taking picture in low light.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What i'm thinking is the wifi chip sammy's have been using since the S5 last year is twice as fast. Not found any one to verify that though. There have been reports of sketchy wifi on the G4, maybe some tweaking required.

Overall love

Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Samsung Galaxy A71 5G, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Samsung Galaxy A71 5G is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

This phone is a trooper, I put it through the test the other day on AT&T in Orem UT, Provo UT.
This device didn't have any issue Navigating, Charging, Connecting, Texting, Phone Calls and Data in a sweltering 98+ F car with no air conditioning.
AT&T's network at the time 16th of July 2020 was overloaded in the area, I also didn't find any NR frequency's while in AT&T's Innovation network footprint, so I was sadly disappointed not to see the 1G+ speeds.
This phone averaged
~40 Mbps on 5G - peaking at about 60.
~80 on 5G-E (AKA LTE+) - Peaking at 100+
Got me through ordering an Uber to get to Auto Zone to fix my coolant belt.
This phone made it through the day without fully charging with no problems on full-screen brightness for hours on end!
This phone has passed my stress test with flying colors, I just wish AT&T had a better network in the area I broke down, as the specific spot was only pulling ~0.1-5 Mbps. It was good enough to do the Uber request and download an app or two on the new phone.
I was honestly surprised that such a populated area had poor service speeds by I-15 in Orem Utah.

This phone has really surprised me on how good it actually is compared to how good I THOUGHT it would be, especially the camera. I'm very glad I picked this over the OnePlus 8 5G, even though I initially liked that phone a bit more. I could buy higher level Samsung, but this phone is a sweet spot that checks all the boxes for the "phone you live with". For what it's worth, I recommend checking it out- even if on the initial blushes of reviews you might think it inferior. It's better than I've read.

I'm honestly a bit disappointed in this phone. Coming from the Moto G7 Power I find Samsung's software to be clunky and less user friendly. The 5G connection on T-Mobile is pretty good in my area. I'm averaging around 60mbps with peaks over 120. That is compared to about 1/4 to 1/2 that speed on LTE in the same area. Besides the software and the ads that Samsung serves you on its built in apps, I've experienced a few connectivity issues where the phone will have poor or no connectivity or at times it will drop to LTE from 5G when there is a strong 5G signal as verified by my son's One Plus 8. Toggling airplane mode for a few seconds then turning it off seems to "fix" the connection every time, but this is an annoyance that shouldn't be present on a $600 phone. Perhaps a future software update will address the issue. I also find the in screen fingerprint reader to be slow and inconsistent compared to the Moto's back fingerprint reader which was quick and accurate. The face recognition unlock works maybe 10-15% of the time. Most of the time it says No Match.
Honestly, I wish I'd waited for the Moto Edge or spent the extra $100 for another One Plus 8

I can't fault this phone much, other that hating Samsung's Bixby
and a few minor apps or adjustments. I'm on Sprint; the box is labeled for T-mobile,
so it should be good for the imminent absorption of Sprint.
I'm coming from an HTC EVO 4G LTE, which is from 8 or more years ago.
Remember that much: I don't change my device every year or two.
It worked great for my purposes until it started randomly restarting
and developing dark spots which grew on the display.
I rooted that device the day I brought it home, and unlocked the bootloader and unlocked the device
within a week or less. Just my history.
My wife got one of these as replacement of her old Galaxy S5 a week or two ago,
eliminating her troubles of the same random reboots and other issues.
It's a bit larger than I'd like it to be, but I understand that most people
are not like me, and want gigantic displays.
The display is of high quality, to be sure.
I cannot tell if I'm connecting to 5G; I suspect it hasn't yet been implemented here.
I get only an "LTE" icon in the status bar, as well as signal strength of Sprint radio, which is 100%
This is my first day with the phone; I have not yet commuted to work
or otherwise moved around with it.
I'm having trouble with accepting the main button's placement nearly in the middle of the righthand side
of the device, as my previous device placed it at the top. It's awfully easy to hit that button
just when picking up the device. Nevertheless, I've a case/holster arriving soon,
which should help to alleviate that inconvenience and decrease the likelihood of the button press.
I deactivated/uninstalled as much as I could, Googling each as I went along.
Sadly, Bixby has limited ways of disabling, and I don't like Bixby at all.
Samsung's bloatware is actually far more than HTC's was, and they don't
provide options as HTC used to.
As expected, there's an awful lot of Samsung-specific software I don't want.
Most of it can be uninstalled or disabled, but a handful cannot be dealt with.
[EDIT to add:]
So, I find some weird things on the Google Play Store which are shown as installed,
but don't show in any app lists locally: ANT Radio Service/Ant+ Plugins Service, Mobile Installer
(Apparently from SOFTBANK CORP), a couple of others. I get the SoftBank thing,
as they funded Sprint a while back, but ANT Radio -- ? I suppose it's maybe radio
hardware drivers?
I do get a 5G signal at work and home. It's a stronger signal at my workplace,
not so much at home, but throughput is significantly faster than 4G.
The display is indeed a very nice one, far better than my old device.
It's similar to my upgrade of desktop PC's 1920x1200 monitors to a pair
of full-on 4K monitors; that's how much sharper this display appears.
Battery life is fantastic compared to the incredibly-aged HTC EVO 4G LTE
this phone replaced. I could commute 15 minutes to work from 100% charge
on the HTC, and it could be anywhere from 15-35% depleted by the time
I got there, even with all radios off. Today, the A71 got me from a 98% charge
upon going to bed last night, to a final value of 87% battery upon returning home.
That's a significant difference over the 60-some to 40-some percent the HTC
would end my workday with.
5G is incredibly fast, far more so than 4G. I think I got almost 60Mb/s actually got 205Mb/s when
testing from SpeedTest, while 4G gave me around 25Mb/s max.
Even with only 2-3 signal bars out of 6, on a 5G signal, I'm getting as high as
a 25Mb/s throughput, which is better than 4G will do at my home location.
The phone responds well, and maybe a bit too readily, to touch even with
a 9H glass protector on it. There's a setting somewhere for this, and I may
explore its' options. It's not a major detractor to me.
This thing is super-thin as compared to what I've had, which is one major reason
I have a case/holster on the way. I expect it to knock down sensitivity of the
main button, as well as make it easier for me to simply pick up the phone
without pressing a button, along with general handling.
And the holster is is also something of my needs, as I don't like to carry
bulk like this in my pockets.
It seems very well-made, with excellent fit & finish of the outer shell.
It was incredibly annoying to pull off the flimsy and very-well-stuck
protective film on the outer edges. Samsung could easily apply a film
which isn't as well-adhered as the infuriating crap they currently
apply to the device.
It's kinda heavy for its size, which would indicate a rather strong
construction of substantial materials. Then again, maybe it's just
that high-capacity battery inside it.
Camera output is actually extremely good, to someone(me) who owns a Pro-Grade
Canon EOS 5D Mk IV. I'll have to spend time with the optional settings,
but I can say that the Auto-HDR gives quite good results, producing
fairly impressive images with scenes lit unevenly.
The Ultrawide option is also reasonably impressive, delivering perhaps
a wider field of view than my Rokinon 14mm super-ultra-wide lens
on a full-frame camera.
Colors appear true on my 4K calibrated monitors, while sharpness,
dynamic range, noise, and overall accuracy of the scene are also very good.
Overall, the camera and app produce a very high-quality output.
After a few days' use of this phone, I very much like it overall.
The things I'd like to change now will require root access,
so I'll keep checking in here in hopes of some progress.

Hey y'all! Man, it's been forrrreevverrrr since I've been around XDA. I was big in the early 2010s hackin' and crackin' my Note 3 and 4 at the time. From there, Note 5 and forward, cant hack em..so I've been stuck with stock. That said, I've been rocking my note 8 from verizon for quite awhile now and really been completely satisfied with it. Ultimately, I want the big display, and the big battery....so I never really cared about the stylus. So, as you can tell I've been a big note lover.
So, how does that relate to an A71? Well since early 2020, verizon launched a crap software update where the GPS was useless. It drove me nuts. So, I've been on the hunt for a new phone. However, I was repulsed by the 1200 dollar price tag of todays premiere phones.
Cue, the moto stylus G. The launch of the stylus G was right on target for my phone restlessness. So 300 bucks later, and.....well.....it was a 300 dollar phone. Dont get me wrong. The camera is adequate at 48MP, the battery life is great, and the AOSP interface is always great. Worked fine, and it sufficed on one of the two core features I *need*. Now, a quick aside, I'm on consumer cellular, on ATTs network. My note 8 was a verizon purchased and branded phone. Back to the stylus. The moto was great in one respect, it allowed data while on a call. This is an absolute must for me. Period. The other key feature was wifi calling. This, did not work. The hidden menu kept saying that it wasn't provisioned, but consumer cellular said it was. Ok. I considered going back to my Note 8, but it did not allow the data+calling. It would go into 3G mode when on a call. So, that was out.
Now, cue the A71. I had some people tell me how good their non-S samsung phones were, and that they recommended them. I started looking at the A71 since, well I'm used to a flagship phone. Amazon prime day came around, and I thought hard on it for about 3 or 4 hours as 409.99 was staring me in the face. I said screw it, and bought in. I got it two days later, and started setting it up immediately.
First, all my woes were cured with an unlocked phone. I have LTE+, I have VoLTE, I have data in a call, and I have wifi calling. All working, right out of the box. I got software and apps setup, and I'm a power user. I have lots of stuff on there, so many email accounts, so many apps, etc etc etc. And the A71 held up perfectly. Now, it doesn't have a perfectly flat display, which was disappointing. I prefer the tempered glass screen protectors.....so that's a bummer. However, the skinomi on my note 8 has been fine for years, so hopefully they release one for the A71. My city claims its on the 5G map, but that may be ATTs fake-5G crap, which is the LTE+...so I'm not sure if we have true 5G here or not. However, the phone has just impressed me and I can't tell any difference from a flagship phone. For less than half of a Note, I'm quite satisfied and I dont have to worry about stupid monthly payments for the next decade. I do hate the fingerprint scanner though. It was most natural on the back as a dedicated sensor.......I hate this on screen thing. Fun gimmick, but works like 25% of the time. I do have a case with a screen protector though.