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Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Review Thread - All Reviews To be Posted Here

Samsung Galaxy Note Review Thread​
As with the original note, i am sure there will be a massive influx of reviews for the upcoming Note 2. We are all keen to take a look at what this great device is going to be like, so i think a centralized place for all reviews is a good idea. Hopefully it should keep the general section clean(er) and give a great resource for future note 2 owners. I will ask all to keep this thread clean of idle chit chat, all we want is quality reviews to give a clear picture of the device.
Thanks in advance to anybody who contributes

The first review is out
Solid rating from PA:
http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-II-Review_id3134
I generally don't give much importance to PA reviews, but no harm in reading it whoever is interested.

Another preview: http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_note_ii-review-811.php

A Korean review (note II got released on South Korea today). Of course I didn't understand a word but I noticed a new feature @1:53, the Note II has the same split screen feature as in the Note 10.1. Pure win. :highfive:

BGR's short pre-review:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaZrC98fnOk
Dialaphone review:
www.dialaphone.co.uk/blog/2012/09/27/samsung-galaxy-note-ii-a-display-of-power/

Hell Guardian said:
Thanks guys, great feed back
any news about the camera unit? no change at all? i know they wanted to use Sony's new BSI 13mp units but the production yields were low and LG already pre-ordered them for its Optimus G so Samsung had to stick with 8Mp camera units, so did they actually get better ones or used the same ones that take REALLY REALLY bad low light pictures? :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure why you think the Galaxy Note II produces really really bad low light pictures? I have seen a Galaxy Note 1 & 2 picture comparison where it does seem like the Note 1 produces better pictures in wide dynamic range scenes.
http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-II-vs-Galaxy-Note_id3136/page/3
But the difference is still minimal. I'm sure there will be a HDR mode like on all Galaxy phones, so when told to, it should be able to produce better images during harsh lighting conditions where there is intense brightness and dark shadows.
From what I hear, the 13 megapixel sensor on the Optimus G isn't all that great. It is providing marginally better resolutions in optimal lighting conditions while doing worse in low light situations than a 8MP sensor. From all the reports I'm reading, I'm seeing that the Note 2 will have a BSI (backlit sensor). Is there an article saying otherwise?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Check out my huge collection of 64GB Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Videos (Demos, Accessory Reviews)

http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-note-ii-retail-unboxing-and-quick-hands-video
Amazing phone.

It may be of interest to some that the Mains charger that comes with the Note II has a 5 Volt 2 Amp output. With the large battery capacity, some of the existing
chargers you may have around your home (as well as car adaptors) are likely to be of a far lower output - typically 0.5 Amp to 1.0 Amp,
My Note II came from Handtec in the UK but the box clearly shows Samsung France and the default language on set up was French.
Not a review as such but a very recent Samsung promo from Korea showing many of the features including the split/multi screen mode (around 2min 10secs through video)
available only in some of the latest ROM versions.

phones4u review:
(can you really trust reviews from a place that sells phones though?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGxTDlVuoIs

Goodm7sn said:
I think he mentioned that bluetooth has to be ON for the phone to alert u when the s-pen isn't in place!??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, he said bluetooth has to be on to detect if you walked away from the pen.
Regardless I don't believe this, and it doesn't say this in the manual.
I'll be testing it.
Another review:
http://www.autoomobile.com/news/samsung-galaxy-note-2-review/1004297/

Thread Cleaned​
As much as the comments are appreciated, this is a review thread. The idea was to give prospective note 2 owners a good list of reviews to aid there decision. All of the discussion is just going to dilute this. So please i ask you, only post reviews in this thread.
I have now moved the comments thread from the original note forum. Please use that for general comments.​

Cnet Review
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-note-2/4505-6452_7-35426722.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DigitalTrends Review
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/samsung-galaxy-note-2-hands-on/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

First impressions mini review
I was lucky enough to be one of the first to buy the phone on the pre-launch day in London 30th September. I previously owned the Original Note and currently also have a Galaxy S3 so I was keen to compare them.
First thing I noticed was the Note II seemed less bulky but also appears to be heavier in the hand than the original. It's subjective but I also feel it looks more premium and more attractive. Some people aren't fans of the S3 styling but if like me, you are, then you'll love how the Note II is clearly the bigger brother of the S3.
The screen is vibrant and definitely brighter than original. Loss of the pentile matrix isn't that noticeable, there isn't a blue tint but I can't help feel there is a tiny hint of red instead. It's hard to tell.
Placing the S3 and Note II side by side however revealed something that made me a little disappointed. The text just isn't as sharp as the S3 and although I realise this is down to the overall resolution and on a much bigger screen, it just made me feel a little let down. It's still amazing of course and it was always going to be a challenge to beat the S3. Fortunately the Note II has many more goodies to distract you.
The S-Pen is better, being longer and now has a slight texture to the button making it easier to locate. Also shaped slightly different for easy slot loading. These are welcome changes. There's also a few neat tricks that have been introduced in what happens when you remove, insert or leave behind the pen. Some new gesture commands and clever interactions with various apps have been introduced.
I am not going to dwell on these features as they are all demonstrated in any of the online reviews you look at online. This review focuses on what my first impressions.
For the first time in a long time though I actually had to consult the manual to work out and discover the new smart features, because there are many of them! Various gesture and motions to interact, some useful others gimmicky. I found that: with the screen off and phone laying flat, you place your hand near to the screen and it glows and fades in slightly to reveal any missed notifications. This was a handy one for me. Then there's a way the phone knows you are laying on your side to view the screen so it doesn't rotate to landscape mode. It works and it's amazingly useful.
The speed of the device is highly noticeable over the original Note, understandably. It flies through any amount of screen swiping. Even with a custom launcher and hundreds of installed apps I stuck on there, it has no obvious lag at all.
Battery life is outstanding. Bearing in mind I haven't done too many recharge cycles, the battery is easily lasting all day with the screen on so much of the time and all those apps I mentioned! No issues for me there.
The camera is on a par with the S3, haven't had the pleasure of a nice day outside to test it fully. Low light shots are a slight improvement over previous incarnations.
Sound from the speaker is - at last - very very good. It's loud and has more bass and less distortion. Really am pleased this has been improved.
So for me, Samsung have done a great job with this 2nd generation. Build quality, battery life, raw power, feature rich and fully loaded. Difficult to fault and even more difficult to put down!

apprentice said:
I was lucky enough to be one of the first to buy the phone on the pre-launch day in London 30th September. I previously owned the Original Note and currently also have a Galaxy S3 so I was keen to compare them.
First thing I noticed was the Note II seemed less bulky but also appears to be heavier in the hand than the original. It's subjective but I also feel it looks more premium and more attractive. Some people aren't fans of the S3 styling but if like me, you are, then you'll love how the Note II is clearly the bigger brother of the S3.
The screen is vibrant and definitely brighter than original. Loss of the pentile matrix isn't that noticeable, there isn't a blue tint but I can't help feel there is a tiny hint of red instead. It's hard to tell.
Placing the S3 and Note II side by side however revealed something that made me a little disappointed. The text just isn't as sharp as the S3 and although I realise this is down to the overall resolution and on a much bigger screen, it just made me feel a little let down. It's still amazing of course and it was always going to be a challenge to beat the S3. Fortunately the Note II has many more goodies to distract you.
The S-Pen is better, being longer and now has a slight texture to the button making it easier to locate. Also shaped slightly different for easy slot loading. These are welcome changes. There's also a few neat tricks that have been introduced in what happens when you remove, insert or leave behind the pen. Some new gesture commands and clever interactions with various apps have been introduced.
I am not going to dwell on these features as they are all demonstrated in any of the online reviews you look at online. This review focuses on what my first impressions.
For the first time in a long time though I actually had to consult the manual to work out and discover the new smart features, because there are many of them! Various gesture and motions to interact, some useful others gimmicky. I found that: with the screen off and phone laying flat, you place your hand near to the screen and it glows and fades in slightly to reveal any missed notifications. This was a handy one for me. Then there's a way the phone knows you are laying on your side to view the screen so it doesn't rotate to landscape mode. It works and it's amazingly useful.
The speed of the device is highly noticeable over the original Note, understandably. It flies through any amount of screen swiping. Even with a custom launcher and hundreds of installed apps I stuck on there, it has no obvious lag at all.
Battery life is outstanding. Bearing in mind I haven't done too many recharge cycles, the battery is easily lasting all day with the screen on so much of the time and all those apps I mentioned! No issues for me there.
The camera is on a par with the S3, haven't had the pleasure of a nice day outside to test it fully. Low light shots are a slight improvement over previous incarnations.
Sound from the speaker is - at last - very very good. It's loud and has more bass and less distortion. Really am pleased this has been improved.
So for me, Samsung have done a great job with this 2nd generation. Build quality, battery life, raw power, feature rich and fully loaded. Difficult to fault and even more difficult to put down!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to read more confirmations of the loudspeaker volume-quality as Samsung typically has been surprisingly weak there. Is the screen significantly brighter than the S3? How are the whites? I hope the camera burst mode is better than the S3?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1915487

Many pictures from russian review: http://hi-tech.mail.ru/review/misc/samsung_galaxy_note_2_n7100_obzor.html

An extensive review at Trusted Reviews. Scores higher than Fruitphone 5.

http://www.reghardware.com/2012/10/03/review_samsung_galaxy_note_2_gt_n7100_android_smartphone/
Highest score i've seen, there

GSMARENA Review
Samsung Galaxy Note II review: Writing home
Final Words
The Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100 is one beast of a droid and a major step forward for the class it represents. The second generation of the phablet is a massive upgrade, doubling the processing power of the predecessor, and bringing a bigger, and better, screen and an ampler battery.
The slimmer waistline and narrower body improve handling a great deal, and while the Note II still isn't the easiest smartphone to wield, it's much better than the original Note. There's also the new S Pen, which is not only more comfortable to use now, but also way better integrated into the platform.
Last, but certainly not least important, the Note II has received a host of software upgrades, which take the user experience a level up. From the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean platform and its Project Butter to the Buddy screens - it's obvious that Samsung's developers spared no effort to make the new Note as good as it can possibly get.
So the second-gen phablet comes across as a mature device that's able to deliver straight out of the box and give you a really smooth ride. A 5.5" screen however is certainly not for every taste, so recommending it isn't as easy as it may seem. As usual it all depends on the type of user you are.
The way we see it, there are several groups of users that would do well to consider the Galaxy Note II as their next device of choice.
First and foremost, it's those who want a true all-in-one smartphone. The Note II is able to match everything currently on the market for resolution and processing power and then raise the bid with the S Pen and the extra large screen.
Jelly Bean is still hard to come by on the market too, so the Note II is going to use that to its advantage as well, along with the various home-baked tweaks that Samsung delivered with TouchWiz.
So if you are the type of power user, who values performance over one-handed use and have pockets deep enough (literally and figuratively), the Note II seems like a perfect match. It certainly is more expensive than the Galaxy S III and the One X, but the screen upgrade alone is enough to justify the price difference, with the S Pen coming as a bonus.
The second group Samsung is aiming the Note II at is media buffs. Once again, the huge screen and the ample battery are the key weapons in the phablet's arsenal, but it also has vast codec support (both video and audio), and the expandable memory and mass storage mode to back it up.
If you fall in this group, you'll ideally have a tablet, which seems a bit better suited to the purpose, but it would be next to impossible to carry around in a pocket. We understand that the sheer size of the Galaxy Note II can put some users off, but we find it more than reasonably portable. Also there's the price thing - a capable smartphone and a good tablet will cost more than the Note II.
So if you want to save some cash and/or the effort to carry a bag for your tablet at all times, the Note II seems like a good compromise. In that case though, we'd suggest you check it out in person before forking out the cash.
Next up are people who like sketching things up on their smartphones (designers and the likes) and those who prefer taking notes the old-fashioned way - with a pen or a stylus. Samsung has made the Note II a pretty good device for the purpose and Wacom's input is easily able to make a huge difference between the Samsung phablet and anything else there is in the smartphone market.
And, finally, upgraders - and we'll just say it again: the Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100 is a worthy upgrade of its predecessor. You will notice an improvement in just about every part of the user experience, barring perhaps the camera. However, it's also a pricey upgrade and the original Note is still a pretty solid device. In a bit of a quandary there to be honest - if you love the original Note you'll want the second gen badly. But having money to burn will definitely help.
At the end of the day, the Samsung Galaxy Note II seems to have completed all it's here to do. Samsung have solidified its lead in the phablet market, while offering enough novelties to keep those already in it interested. There's also plenty of exclusive stuff too.
We guess some people will still be less than impressed by a bigger Galaxy S III with a stylus. And we're not saying that a big screen and a stylus is exactly what makes a near perfect smartphone better. But they can certainly do wonders for the right users.

Having come ftom the original Note I have been generally impressed and agree with much that has been said in the previous comments.
My only real disappointment has been to find out that apps cannot be moved to micro SD card. I have discovered that the Note II shares this 'feature' of the S3.
Having a large collection of apps that I have been accustomed to storing on a 64GB card on my original Note, I feel somewhat limited with 16GB of internal memory. I did try to get a 32GB or 64GB variant but their availability has yet to be announced.
Of further concern is that I have read that some leading devs are not supporting some Samsung products so I don't know if there will be a solution to my storsge concerns. Maybe I will have to swap my 16GB model when the 64GB model is released.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

Preliminary battery life review: http://www.digitalversus.com/mobile...te-2-battery-life-test-it-s-beast-n26373.html
Among Samsung handsets alone, the Note 2 pulverises its predecessor by practically doubling battery life! It's the same story compared with the Galaxy S3 too. In fact, the benchmark test showed 15 hrs 10 mins of feasible use time, which basically means the Note 2 can power on for two days of regular, reasonable use. Heavy users can knock about a third off that, however.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

If I don't need a hugely powerful phone, have I made the right choice?

Hi all,
When the N4 was announced I had my GNex up for sale within the hour, sold within two! The more I read about the Nexus 4, the more I am unsure it is actually for me. I do not play games and generally use my phone for browsing the net/forums, google currents, bit of music and social networking (Facebook etc.)
I am now unsure whether I have made the right choice, and whether I should snap-up another Nexus while people are selling them off cheap on the forums ready for the N4 upgrade.
I was hoping for upgrades in the following areas
Build quality... this is one area where I am fairly sure I would be happy! N4 looks great!
Screen quality... again, a fairly significant upgrade to me me as the Gnex screen always looked a little washed out and dull when sat alongside other handsets (One X, S3, S2 etc.)
Battery Life... Was hoping for this but am now unsure. Gnex seemed to heat up quite a lot and was looking forward to getting rid of that. it now seems that the N4 may have the same issues and reports of screen on time in the region of 3 hours do not seem that much of a step up from the Gnex
Processor... Whilst a speed boost would be welcomed, as I only use the phone for some casual browsing and not gaming I am unsure how much difference I will see.
Camera... Again was hoping for a major boost, but seems to be a minor incremental boost at best!
Any thoughts? Anyone else in the same position as me and wondering what to do? Price difference is in the region of £100-120 if I were to purchase like for like accessories etc.
Cheers,
Michael

The fact that it's "Nexus" also means you get a standard, Android experience, along with guaranteed quick updates (up until the point where the OS won't run smoothly on the device I guess; which should take a while). Other vendors for the most part offer updates slowly, and choose to make the general UI... non-standard (which usually has more downsides)

yeah... am only comparing the two nexus devices as that is all I would buy... love the specs of the S3 and can be picked up mint for about the same price as a new Nexus 4, but couldn't live without the updates

Literally everything is improved. You'll love it no matter what.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

One thing I wouldn't worry ahbout is battery life,
once the obvious software problems are fixed battery life is going to be good because:
-The battery at 2100mAh is pretty large
-IPS panels are allot more power efficient then Amoled screens, especially if your main use is web browsing
-The S4pro is the most efficient ARM quad-core and is the only one which allows to clock its cores independently
-There will be custom Kernels that allow undervolting and other features that improve battery life

I'm not a gamer either, but that didn't stopped me from getting this I personally think you won't regret getting it, but if you don't like it, you can always just return it and get something else
Swyped on my Galaxy Nexus running AOKP with Franco Kernel

wurzelsepp3 said:
One thing I wouldn't worry ahbout is battery life,
once the obvious software problems are fixed battery life is going to be good because:
-The battery at 2100mAh is pretty large
-IPS panels are allot more power efficient then Amoled screens, especially if your main use is web browsing
-The S4pro is the most efficient ARM quad-core and is the only one which allows to clock its cores independently
-There will be custom Kernels that allow undervolting and other features that improve battery life
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How much of a difference will custom kernels and ROMs make to the battery life? Roughly? 10% or more?
I know my current Galaxy 3 gives me an improvement of almost 30% with custom firmware, but that's because of removing the samsung bloatware.

I try to get the fastest, most powerful phone or computer out there that's at a reasonable price. By reasonable I mean most power per dollar. The people that say they don't need a super fast phone or computer are usually the ones complaining that Web pages open slow or it keeps freezing and slowing down. The better hardware you get, the longer you will be satisfied with the device. And for this price with this hardware/software? You gotta jump on it. You may not need a phone that could run crysis but if you could get it for the same or cheaper price as a lesser spec'd phone, wouldn't you?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

cyberkid2002 said:
I was hoping for upgrades in the following areas
Build quality... this is one area where I am fairly sure I would be happy! N4 looks great! I think we're going to love the build quality. I've said for a couple of years now that if Google could put out a Nexus device that felt like the iPhone 4/4S in the hand, then they'd really be on to something. I believe that's what LG has done here.
Screen quality... again, a fairly significant upgrade to me me as the Gnex screen always looked a little washed out and dull when sat alongside other handsets (One X, S3, S2 etc.) IMO, the screen is going to be great. From everything I've read, the screen is just a slight notch below the One X...so that would make it fantastic. And every review I've read that compared it to the GNex screen says that it's MUCH better and much easier to see outdoors in sunlight. This is a major upgrade.
Battery Life... Was hoping for this but am now unsure. Gnex seemed to heat up quite a lot and was looking forward to getting rid of that. it now seems that the N4 may have the same issues and reports of screen on time in the region of 3 hours do not seem that much of a step up from the Gnex. Again, this is something we'll have to wait and see (as everyone's day-to-day use is different), but I've seen a couple of reviews that say the Nexus 4 gets about the same, or just below, the battery life of the S3. If that's the case, then (for me at least), I'm golden. Yesterday I got 5 hours screen-on time on my S3 (50% brightness, stock rooted ROM, power save turned off, etc.) and I still had 23% battery life left. That's pretty darn good!
Processor... Whilst a speed boost would be welcomed, as I only use the phone for some casual browsing and not gaming I am unsure how much difference I will see. I think you'll see a major boost, even if you don't need it. Apps will open faster and things will just be snappier. I'd much rather have more performance than I need rather than the other way around.
Camera... Again was hoping for a major boost, but seems to be a minor incremental boost at best! This is the one place where I have to really disagree. The camera is VERY important to me (I use it daily in my job) and the shots I've seen seem to show the camera is a MAJOR upgrade over the GNex. While I didn't find the GNex camera to be awful, it certainly couldn't hold a candle to my S3 camera. If this camera is anywhere near as good as the S3, I'm going to be very pleased.
Any thoughts? Anyone else in the same position as me and wondering what to do? Price difference is in the region of £100-120 if I were to purchase like for like accessories etc.
Cheers,
Michael
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See my replies above. I believe you've made a great decision. :good:

Engadget has had the most negative response to the battery life of anyone, and they still got 3 minutes longer out of the Nexus 4 than the Galaxy Nexus. Assuming they never fix whatever was causing the poor battery life, you'll see the same as what you get on your Galaxy Nexus.

Would you leave LG for the S6?

I was very impressed with what Samsung had to offer. The phone looks gorgeous, the camera performs absolutely incredible in low light (based on their own comparison with the 6+), and they've finally sped up TouchWiz!
Other things I was really impressed with were
1) Exynos 7420 - First 14nm FinFET processor should offer better battery life and performance - Initial Antutu scores were over 69,000!
2) Real-time HDR on both front and back cameras
3) Wireless charging that supports both standards
4) Faster DDR4 memory
5) Faster storage memory (up to 2.7x faster than the current standard)
6) Samsung Pay and the support for MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) which will allow it to be backwards compatible with nearly all merchants and terminals
I'm sure I'm probably missing a few key points, but has the S6 made you want to switch?

Japultra said:
...has the S6 made you want to switch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hummm... Touchwiz might be faster now, but it still is touchwiz. The price for a new S6 is just to high.
If i remove money from the equation... i would wait for the LG G4!

is there any news of the lg g4? i would like to see if it's gonna be a monster too

Japultra said:
I was very impressed with what Samsung had to offer. The phone looks gorgeous, the camera performs absolutely incredible in low light (based on their own comparison with the 6+), and they've finally sped up TouchWiz!
Other things I was really impressed with were
1) Exynos 7420 - First 14nm FinFET processor should offer better battery life and performance - Initial Antutu scores were over 69,000!
2) Real-time HDR on both front and back cameras
3) Wireless charging that supports both standards
4) Faster DDR4 memory
5) Faster storage memory (up to 2.7x faster than the current standard)
6) Samsung Pay and the support for MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) which will allow it to be backwards compatible with nearly all merchants and terminals
I'm sure I'm probably missing a few key points, but has the S6 made you want to switch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read a few days ago that LG and Apple signed a deal with Samsung for those DDR4 RAM components. I'd also bet that LG will go with the faster nand (knowing that they like to keep up with Samsung). The S6 really looks snappy, but i'm not convinced it's the touchwiz/Exynos optimizations, i'd say it's because of better I/O with both the faster nand and DDR4 RAM. What i mean to say, you can bet that the LG G4, if LG decides to use the same components, might also be that snappy.
The camera is another story. The camera app launch speed, quick shutter speed, tracking autofocus, low light performance with that f1.9 lens.. it looks promising.
On the other hand, despite that newer AMOLED displays look really good (note 4 and now the S6) , but i still prefer LCD. I don't like the idea of possible burn-in issues (something i faced with my galaxy nexus back in the day).
Also, with Samsung Knox, and Exynos SoC's, i'm not sure how much development from the xda community will it get, it will always have "debloated" versions of the stock ROM, but everything other than that will be buggy.
I'd say wait a bit, more phones with similar specs and technologies (and possibly lower price tag) will emerge (Chinese and non Chinese).

Screen is too small for my taste, but the Note 5 might be a good shout if the rumors of Touchwiz not being dog slow prove true.

The LG G4 will be anounced in the next couple of months - I'll wait to see what the spec of that phone is before deciding.

I just moved from my beloved but ridiculously buggy-slow g3 to a Note 4. I miss the back controls...but other than that, not much else. I've had so many lagging/rebooting android devices now and the Note just doesn't. It'll take a lot to make me go back to LG or HTC in the near future.

NO SD Card for me it is deal bracker
Faster memory/storage is a treath, faster CPU - i never feal lack of performance?
Smaler body is also nice (one handed operation with G3 while riding my bike is Chalenging )
Small batery - we need to see how long it'll last?
at the end i am not changing (not to S6) for now

no sd card and no removable battery either... a big no no...

No sd card slot, non removable battery, 800€ for the 64gb version. Oh hell no.

QHD with ultra powerful processor, without removable battery..? i fear the battery life would take a hit
and the lack of microSD slot...
and Exynos...
yep, too many dealbreakers. won't consider as an option unless G4 is overall a worse package.

Nope, I personally hate the idea of a screen degrading to the point it basically damages itself (burn in)
Until AMOLED technology has advanced far enough that it no longer suffers from such issues, I'll stick with IPS displays.
On top of that, I'm not sure I'm sold on any phone with 2 panes of glass. Sure if must feel awesome in hand, but just the thought of it being so delicate at such a high price..no thanks.
Short answer: No, I'll stick with my G3. I could care less if the S6 camera is better

No removable battery or SD card, WTF, major,mistake , batteries really need replacing after a year, Doh

gsw5700 said:
No removable battery or SD card, WTF, major,mistake , batteries really need replacing after a year, Doh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep one possibility to secure future customers for the S7

I'm leaning more toward the HTC One M9. From the demos so far, the S6 still has a laggier interface. Not as bad as in the past, but still a bit more of a delay.

I quickly scanned the thread and failed to notice anyone say anything about the bootloader, WHICH WILL BE LOCKED

I have g3 too, but my microsd slot is empty and I never moved battery
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA Free mobile app

kinfolk248 said:
I quickly scanned the thread and failed to notice anyone say anything about the bootloader, WHICH WILL BE LOCKED
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And exynos processor. Soooo not many custom roms like cm12 etc.

It's amoled, so no, thanks.

I might leave the LG G3 ...... for the LG G4!
Though I might would be tempted by a note 5 (if there was such a thing) if it had an even bigger screen, because I really love phablets. But let's be honest, the price would likely be $800+ so once again the LG would likely win with whatever offering they had based on that fact. Also, the SD card slot is a huge sell point for me on anything.

Exynos variant posts both better performance AND battery life?

So, Ars Technica just published its review of the Galaxy S7, which goes super in-depth. And in it, some things aren't surprising: the intl 8890 spanks the US 820 models, but here's the one that's surprising.
Not surprising
Rather surprising
Very surprising
So not only does the Exynos have noticeably better benchmark performance, it also lasts longer on a charge. And while the E8890 was tested in the UK labs, while the US labs tested the S820 version, the difference should not be that big. And with the early reports of the S820's GPU being noticeably better than the E8890's proven wrong in that same review (it is slightly better, but with differences of only 1 or 2 fps), it begs the question why Samsung didn't go all Exynos again, especially since it home-grows these chips, it theoretically should be cheaper for them to just use these. I know Samsung has a partnership or something with Qualcomm, but when your product is better than theirs in every way, doesn't it just make more sense to go with the better one?

I'm happy Australia gets exynos

sigh. typical.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S7 using Tapatalk

The thing is, and always seems to be, that a quick search on Google for Snapdragon VS Exynos S7 performance shows plenty of legitimate tests that swing either way in favor of one or the other depending on which test(s) you believe. The above illustrated (in the OP) is just one of the tests. Many will show results in favor of the Snapdragon. Generally speaking, the pattern seems to support the Exynos being slightly better at intense gaming while the Snapdragon seems to be slightly better at day-to-day tasks.
That being said, I think it's ridiculous to split hairs when it comes to slight performance differences that 99.5% of most users will never notice. It's not a topic worth arguing about (though many still will). It just comes down to whose test do you want to believe over the next guys. Debating such small differences can be fun, but it won't make one variety of S7 any better than the other at the end of the day.
Here is just one of the many examples that show results a bit different than in the OP:
http://www.ibtimes.com/samsung-galaxy-s7s-snapdragon-820-vs-exynos-8890-preliminary-showdown-2334571
Again, for every site that shows one shine above the other there is another site that will show it differently. Either way, either processor, the S7 is a great phone (if your not a developer in the US).

Real world use there is no difference
Would love the exynos version

Performance: Similar
Batterylife: Exynos way ahead
It's obvious after reading the battery life threads, Exynos version is much better.

CLARiiON said:
Performance: Similar
Batterylife: Exynos way ahead
It's obvious after reading the battery life threads, Exynos version is much better.
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Click to collapse
Performance: Nope, Exynos version is simply much better. Forget about the benchmark. Look at the real world test.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI7jkyRwa8A
(S7 - Exynos, S7E - S820)

hung2900 said:
Performance: Nope, Exynos version is simply much better. Forget about the benchmark. Look at the real world test.
(S7 - Exynos, S7E - S820)
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Click to collapse
It's not a totally fair fight, S7 always has slight edge over S7 edge. I don't have any theory to support this, but I've read a lot of S7/edge benchmark and S7 always have 300->1k point higher than S7 edge
Still, 6 or 7 second lower in some game loading is a noticeable margin. Also, in this video, he only tested app loading time so it's not the end of the story. He said that he's gonna upload a new video about real FPS performance then, we shall see if Snapdragon can make a come back.
And one reason why Samsung use Snapdragon variant in US is due to LTE network spec that only Snapdragon chip support or sth. Also can't remember where I read that )

hung2900 said:
Performance: Nope, Exynos version is simply much better. Forget about the benchmark. Look at the real world test.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI7jkyRwa8A
(S7 - Exynos, S7E - S820)
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Click to collapse
I have no clue what he is saying in that clip, is he running an SD-card on either phone and do he have any apps moved to those SD-cards?

LeVvE said:
I have no clue what he is saying in that clip, is he running an SD-card on either phone and do he have an apps moved to those SD-cards?
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Click to collapse
He didn't say anything about that. He just install 20 same games and apps on both devices, and then use same 3G network carrier (which is Mobifone - Vietnam) and then speed test their loading time. I don't think he used SD card at all. Most of the time he just said that he though Snapdragon version should be faster but apparently it's not. Also, some app, like Dictionary and Chicken invader, the S7 Exynos doesn't restart the app, just normal resume, while S7 Edge SD820 need to restart the app. That's all about it.

wow, sd820 performance in that video is horrible.

Anyone know if Samsung pay works In the US on the exynos galaxy s7

Ace6644 said:
Anyone know if Samsung pay works In the US on the exynos galaxy s7
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Click to collapse
You should ask that in the S7 Help section rather than take this thread off-topic.

hung2900 said:
Performance: Nope, Exynos version is simply much better. Forget about the benchmark. Look at the real world test.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI7jkyRwa8A
(S7 - Exynos, S7E - S820)
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Click to collapse
That is literally one of the worst attempts at a comparison video I have ever watched (partially watched anyway). If people are going to do real world tests...they need to do them correctly.

scott14719 said:
That is literally one of the worst attempts at a comparison video I have ever watched (partially watched anyway). If people are going to do real world tests...they need to do them correctly.
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Must hurt to see the device you own doing crappy and so very easy to throw out "O thats not a valid comparison".
Have you been under a rock ? Many many many have reported, lag, heat, jittery slo mo, crappy battery life, crappy audio for the subpar built in Qualcomm DAC. with the SD820 S7 implementation.

insomnia said:
Must hurt to see the device you own doing crappy and so very easy to throw out "O thats not a valid comparison".
Have you been under a rock ? Many many many have reported, lag, heat, jittery slo mo, crappy battery life, crappy audio for the subpar built in Qualcomm DAC. with the SD820 S7 implementation.
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Click to collapse
Sounds like you're losing sleep over it. I couldn't resist.

Exynos-powered Galaxy S7 appears to be faster than its Snapdragon 820 counterpart
If you take the two side-by-side comparisons uploaded to YouTube into account, it appears that the Exynos 8890 variant of the Galaxy S7 is actually significantly more powerful than the Snapdragon 820-driven Galaxy S7. Not only does this model boot and open applications faster but it also renders video at a significantly faster rate.
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Side by side cool, but in real world use there is no difference. The exynos has better battery life

insomnia said:
Must hurt to see the device you own doing crappy and so very easy to throw out "O thats not a valid comparison".
Have you been under a rock ? Many many many have reported, lag, heat, jittery slo mo, crappy battery life, crappy audio for the subpar built in Qualcomm DAC. with the SD820 S7 implementation.
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Click to collapse
Are you 5 years old? Comparing a foriegn S7 against an American S7 Edge...knowing the Edge has more things running in the background due to "Edge" specific functions, as well as the modem limitations in a foriegn land and that is a good comparison?
Go troll elsewhere.

scott14719 said:
Are you 5 years old? Comparing a foriegn S7 against an American S7 Edge...knowing the Edge has more things running in the background due to "Edge" specific functions, as well as the modem limitations in a foriegn land and that is a good comparison?
Go troll elsewhere.
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Why are you so salty?
The thing is both devices are Int versions (G9350 and G930F), so your argument about "modem limitation" is not valid.
And about the edge features, here is the evidence that it is negligible.
https://youtu.be/28FjDWmLli8

Would you buy 2014 Galaxy S5 or 2016 flagship chinesse phone ?

mostly all of my phones were chinesse brands (big brands) so i am quite familiar with them and love them but as you may know the support on roms is a little bit limited because they are not open source , but even with that the manufacturers are upgrading for at least one android version upwards
so basically thats why i am in dilemma because of those 2 things
better support and the beautiful Amoled screen which most chinesse brands are not using
so my budget is around 200 pounds (GBP)
i dont know if i should get the Samsung s5 (upgradable to android 6.0) which i can find for that price on ebay or wait and get a phone with the new Mediatek Helio x20 processor which is 2016
only thing i dont like with the Samsung s5 is the battery which is like 2800mah and now there are some chinesse brands like Oukitel that are making 6000mah batteries
so at the moment cannot decide Galaxy s5 or Oukitel k6000 Pro which is like 130 pounds but that battery is soooo eye catching
or wait for Oukitel k6000 premium which should come with amoled display but not sure if it would exceed my 200 pounds limit
if you are familiar with chinesse brands phones share your thoughts what would you get and why
here is a comparision of the 3 phones mentioned
http://www.devicespecifications.com/en/comparison/4e4176268

6000mAh battery in a Chinese phone is probably 2000mAh fake
S5 every time

*Detection* said:
6000mAh battery in a Chinese phone is probably 2000mAh fake
S5 every time
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Click to collapse
nono Oukitel is very popular brand because of their big battery phones
this is not a lie there are plenty of videos on the internet that are proving that they are not fake
in case you want to see it there is a teardown already made and you can see the huuuuge battery
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/oukitel-k6000-disassembly-t3310779

mite_jan said:
nono Oukitel is very popular brand because of their big battery phones
this is not a lie there are plenty of videos on the internet that are proving that they are not fake
in case you want to see it there is a teardown already made and you can see the huuuuge battery
http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/oukitel-k6000-disassembly-t3310779
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Click to collapse
Hey folks,
Before I chip in my two cents, I want to state that this is an opinion and my facts could be wrong. Please feel free to correct me at any time, but this is my general understanding on battery tech -
Batteries using current tech simply cannot be larger capacity at the same physical size. IMO (again, may be incorrect) these budget chinese brands simply won't have the funding to use any "forward" or "advanced" tech to enable higher capacity in smaller size so the trade off is either larger/thicker phone - OR as is the case in a lot of these chinese brands - a straight up lie on the capacity of the battery (6000mAH instead of 2000mAH doesn't sound unreasonable). Make sure you check, check and check again on the battery capacity before taking that as the truth. If the phone is similar size to the S5 (I haven't checked dimensions), chances are you'd be buying a relatively similar sized battery within the device. Certainly not (again, unless more expensive tech is used/created) a battery pretty much double the capacity.
Secondly - my opinion on which will be better.
2 years in tech is like 20 years in most industries in terms of how quickly things advance. Look at the change from the S3 to the S5 (or the S5 to the S7). Things (technologically speaking, lets leave design preferences to the side) there have been massive leaps in terms of the processors, battery handling capabilities, screen tech, general efficiency, cameras etc etc. The chinese "cheap" phone is likely to be as-good if not better than the S5 in most, if not all of these areas. Maybe not so much the camera, because Samsung being a company that also produces cameras has the technical know-how to make this a great area.
That been said though..
Support from developers will be short lived and small, if at all.
Future updates will either not happen - or happen once, twice if you're lucky.
If you break it, parts can be hard to source as you'll be likely to struggle to find someone that can or is willing to put their hands on and repair it.
General build quality will be comparitively worse (and yes I am referencing this against the S5 which isn't exactly known for it's general build quality).
My honest opinon - go with the S5. It's had 2 years to mature to what it is now and the dev backing is huge. Depending on the ROM you choose, battery life is likely to be amazing (in fact it'll probably be at least GOOD, regardless of ROM). The camera, generally speaking, is incredible in well lit scenarios and more than acceptable in low light scenarios. The video recording is still absolutely fantastic in comparison to other phones on the market today.
I'll update this once I've read up on the phone you're looking to buy. I own a mobile phone repair company and as a result I get a good idea of what a phone will be like from its specs etc so I'll have a gander.
>>Edit as promised.
Right based on what I can see, that phone is clearly designed based on the iPhone 5/5S model that Apple released. Not a bad thing at all, that phone is gorgeous, just saying...
It does however look pretty.. big. It looks to me to be pretty thick and that leads to me believe that their claim for the battery size is actually true. The battery appears to be taller and wider than that in the S5, plus likely is to be thicker due to the space they have in the phone.
I'm sticking to my original recommendation but that does at least clarify the claims of the battery size. You'll no doubt be happy with your choice either way though - but the S5 DOES and WILL have a much larger developer backing for a lot longer, and thats purely due to the popularity of the S5.

yetep said:
Hey folks,
Before I chip in my two cents, I want to state that this is an opinion and my facts could be wrong. Please feel free to correct me at any time, but this is my general understanding on battery tech -
Batteries using current tech simply cannot be larger capacity at the same physical size. IMO (again, may be incorrect) these budget chinese brands simply won't have the funding to use any "forward" or "advanced" tech to enable higher capacity in smaller size so the trade off is either larger/thicker phone - OR as is the case in a lot of these chinese brands - a straight up lie on the capacity of the battery (6000mAH instead of 2000mAH doesn't sound unreasonable). Make sure you check, check and check again on the battery capacity before taking that as the truth. If the phone is similar size to the S5 (I haven't checked dimensions), chances are you'd be buying a relatively similar sized battery within the device. Certainly not (again, unless more expensive tech is used/created) a battery pretty much double the capacity.
Secondly - my opinion on which will be better.
2 years in tech is like 20 years in most industries in terms of how quickly things advance. Look at the change from the S3 to the S5 (or the S5 to the S7). Things (technologically speaking, lets leave design preferences to the side) there have been massive leaps in terms of the processors, battery handling capabilities, screen tech, general efficiency, cameras etc etc. The chinese "cheap" phone is likely to be as-good if not better than the S5 in most, if not all of these areas. Maybe not so much the camera, because Samsung being a company that also produces cameras has the technical know-how to make this a great area.
That been said though..
Support from developers will be short lived and small, if at all.
Future updates will either not happen - or happen once, twice if you're lucky.
If you break it, parts can be hard to source as you'll be likely to struggle to find someone that can or is willing to put their hands on and repair it.
General build quality will be comparitively worse (and yes I am referencing this against the S5 which isn't exactly known for it's general build quality).
My honest opinon - go with the S5. It's had 2 years to mature to what it is now and the dev backing is huge. Depending on the ROM you choose, battery life is likely to be amazing (in fact it'll probably be at least GOOD, regardless of ROM). The camera, generally speaking, is incredible in well lit scenarios and more than acceptable in low light scenarios. The video recording is still absolutely fantastic in comparison to other phones on the market today.
I'll update this once I've read up on the phone you're looking to buy. I own a mobile phone repair company and as a result I get a good idea of what a phone will be like from its specs etc so I'll have a gander.
>>Edit as promised.
Right based on what I can see, that phone is clearly designed based on the iPhone 5/5S model that Apple released. Not a bad thing at all, that phone is gorgeous, just saying...
It does however look pretty.. big. It looks to me to be pretty thick and that leads to me believe that their claim for the battery size is actually true. The battery appears to be taller and wider than that in the S5, plus likely is to be thicker due to the space they have in the phone.
I'm sticking to my original recommendation but that does at least clarify the claims of the battery size. You'll no doubt be happy with your choice either way though - but the S5 DOES and WILL have a much larger developer backing for a lot longer, and thats purely due to the popularity of the S5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dude have you seen the size of that battery ?
it is like the whole phone fat
so yes it is definitelly if not 6000mah at least 5500mah
if not check the post where i posted the teardown pictures
i agree to the fact that in same size you cannot squeaze more mah but this is lot bigger in size

mite_jan said:
dude have you seen the size of that battery ?
it is like the whole phone fat
so yes it is definitelly if not 6000mah at least 5500mah
if not check the post where i posted the teardown pictures
i agree to the fact that in same size you cannot squeaze more mah but this is lot bigger in size
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Click to collapse
I put my response on without looking at the phone itself, so no - I hadn't seen the size of it.
Basically to me that phone would be a step BACKWARDS in terms of design and build quality. Save yourself the hassle, get the S5.

yetep said:
I put my response on without looking at the phone itself, so no - I hadn't seen the size of it.
Basically to me that phone would be a step BACKWARDS in terms of design and build quality. Save yourself the hassle, get the S5.
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Click to collapse
i get it that you like most of the people are not into chinesse tech and that is fine but dont criticise before checking
so let me save you the checking
k6000 pro uses the sony imx214 sensor which can be found in Nexus 6 , Sony Xperia Z2
maybe not the same software camera optimization like those brands but pictures should be close
i have owned previously chinesse phone with same sensor and pictures were perfect (Jiayu s3)
the processor and GPU are not its best side they are midrange but good enought
like i said the only thing i like in the Galaxy S5 is the amoled display and support , but i believe there wont be any official support after marshmallow for the S5 (and we all know how good are the future unofficial ports)
for the K6000 pro there is more possibilities that it will get Android Nuts, Nesquick, Nutella or whatever it is going to be called
actually i like metal designs more on phones so i dont see it as step backwards
i think i will wait for the premium version of Oukitel K6000 with the flagship Helio x20 processor and Amoled screen and if it is going to be around 200 pounds i will buy that one without thinking
anyway thanks for your opinion

mite_jan said:
i get it that you like most of the people are not into chinesse tech and that is fine but dont criticise before checking
so let me save you the checking
k6000 pro uses the sony imx214 sensor which can be found in Nexus 6 , Sony Xperia Z2
maybe not the same software camera optimization like those brands but pictures should be close
i have owned previously chinesse phone with same sensor and pictures were perfect (Jiayu s3)
the processor and GPU are not its best side they are midrange but good enought
like i said the only thing i like in the Galaxy S5 is the amoled display and support , but i believe there wont be any official support after marshmallow for the S5 (and we all know how good are the future unofficial ports)
for the K6000 pro there is more possibilities that it will get Android Nuts, Nesquick, Nutella or whatever it is going to be called
actually i like metal designs more on phones so i dont see it as step backwards
i think i will wait for the premium version of Oukitel K6000 with the flagship Helio x20 processor and Amoled screen and if it is going to be around 200 pounds i will buy that one without thinking
anyway thanks for your opinion
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Click to collapse
Sounds like you've made up your own mind. Enjoy the phone.
> Side note, I am very much into chinese tech. In fact, if it werent for the longevity of Samsung I would tell you to go with the other option but basic facts are facts - the alternative will last 6 months, tops.

yetep said:
Sounds like you've made up your own mind. Enjoy the phone.
> Side note, I am very much into chinese tech. In fact, if it werent for the longevity of Samsung I would tell you to go with the other option but basic facts are facts - the alternative will last 6 months, tops.
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Click to collapse
still havent decided because i want phone quickly and this Oukitel k6000 premium version is going to be on the market maybe after 2,3 months
so still considering the Samsung s5 and at the same time for some other branded phone with Helio x20

purchawice galaxy s5 (exynos vs snapdragon)
Hi,
I have the opportunity to buy galaxy s5, which select the versions: snapdragon801 or exynos5422? which is better?
please help,
I greet