5 ms·

Switching to Galaxy S4 would be downgrading my experience because of ugly and bloated Touchwiz and a display with wrong, exaggerated colors. Ignoring the color

Switching to Galaxy S4 would be downgrading my experience because of ugly and bloated Touchwiz and a display with wrong, exaggerated colors. Ignoring the color comment (given that the GS4 passes display tests with flying colors), have you actually used the "ugly and bloated" Touchwiz, or are you just going on the purist talking points (as you clearly did with the AMOLED talking point)? I regularly use a GS3, Nexus 4, and Nexus 7 (having previously used the GS2, Galaxy Glide, Nexus One, HTC Dream and HTC Magic). Both the GS3 and GS2 offered better functionality long before Google got around to it (notification area quick controls, hardware-accelerated browser, etc), and I absolutely prefer the GS3 to the Nexus 4 from a pure software experience perspective. I haven't used the GS4, but given how hollow most of the pure experience prattle is I wouldn't be surprised if it's again ahead of the Google experience.

moogleii 14y ago
The GS3 screen was destroyed by the iPhone 5's from lab tests. Maybe he's going off that (which, wouldn't be fair to the GS4, but it's an explanation to his possible bias). To be fair, you are one of the few (actually the first for me personally) that I've seen that prefers Samsung's solution over Google's, though. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
- corresation 14y ago
  The original reason why "skins" earned criticism was that it was perceived as the cause of update delays, back when Samsung, SE and HTC tossed devices out and quickly forgot them. This took hold, and an anti-skin sentiment was entrenched, despite vendors like HTC and Samsung figuring out how to do updates in a much more timely manner. Since then the argument has seldom had much to do with rational evaluation (just as much of the praise for the terrible Chrome for Android is just some sort of default conclusion). People -- speaking specifically of the tech community, having nothing to do with general users -- just seem to assume that derivations from Google's pure experience = worse. Here's the paradox, however: with each iteration Google is stealing those features from the vendor skins, to great acclaim.
  - chinpokomon 14y ago
    That criticism should be maintained. Perhaps not globally, but in the US update cadence is slowed down significantly by the carriers. It is the carriers that pay for device updates, and they have little incentive to do so when the "next" phone has already or will be released shortly. Nexus devices, and iOS for that matter, are updated outside domestic carrier schedules, so you don't have the same delays that have given skinned phones a bad reputation. As long as the majority of Americans use subsidized phones, the carriers will continue to be the biggest obstacle.
  - chinpokomon 14y ago
    That criticism should be maintained. Perhaps not globally, but in the US update cadence is slowed down significantly by the carriers. It is the carriers that pay for device updates, and they have little incentive to do so when the "next" phone has already or will be released shortly. Nexus devices, and iOS for that matter, are updated outside domestic carrier schedules, so you don't have the same delays that have given skinned phones a bad reputation. As long as the majority of Americans use subsidized phones, the carriers will continue to be the biggest obstacle.
esolyt 14y ago
Galaxy S4 display was tested by Displaymate[1] and even in the most accurate calibration mode (Movie Mode), it is still significantly less accurate. The maximum brightness is also significantly lower than that of iPhone 5's, which matters a lot to me. There are also other serious issues, like Dynamic Brightness Reduction based on APL. I personally used a Galaxy S4 and immediately noticed another very serious issue with the display. You can check out this thread on XDA forums[2] if you are curious. In summary, green subpixels have lower refresh rate, which causes gray (RGB 50,50,50) lines to temporarily turn into purple (RGB 50,0,50) while scrolling. This is unacceptable for a such an expensive and high end device. And this isn't the only issue. There are things I like about Touchwiz. I perfectly understand if you find it better than stock Android, which isn't perfect either. But my personal opinion is that it just seems to lack the design taste and consistency that stock Android and iOS have. [1] http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S4_ShootOut_1.htm http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S4_ShootOut_1.htm [2] http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2252445 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2252445
- corresation 14y ago
  Galaxy S4 display was tested by Displaymate[1] and even in the most accurate calibration mode (Movie Mode), it is still significantly less accurate DisplayMate had significant criticism of the GS2s screen. They had some criticism of the GS3 screen. They call the GS4 screen excellent, giving it the same A score as the iPhone 5s screen. Add that the GS4 screen has 3X more detail and infinitely more contrast than the iPhone 5, and it seems to be embracing a talking point to focus specifically on the color gamut (especially given that subjectively most users actually prefer it, so unless you're a graphic artist doing color matching...).
  - esolyt 14y ago
    Obviously it's an improvement over previous AMOLED displays and color inaccuracy is perhaps tolerable this time. I just don't understand how Displaymate missed the issue I mentioned above, which is the main reason I went back to my iPhone 5.

moogleii 14y ago

The GS3 screen was destroyed by the iPhone 5's from lab tests. Maybe he's going off that (which, wouldn't be fair to the GS4, but it's an explanation to his possible bias). To be fair, you are one of the few (actually the first for me personally) that I've seen that prefers Samsung's solution over Google's, though. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

corresation 14y ago
The original reason why "skins" earned criticism was that it was perceived as the cause of update delays, back when Samsung, SE and HTC tossed devices out and quickly forgot them. This took hold, and an anti-skin sentiment was entrenched, despite vendors like HTC and Samsung figuring out how to do updates in a much more timely manner. Since then the argument has seldom had much to do with rational evaluation (just as much of the praise for the terrible Chrome for Android is just some sort of default conclusion). People -- speaking specifically of the tech community, having nothing to do with general users -- just seem to assume that derivations from Google's pure experience = worse. Here's the paradox, however: with each iteration Google is stealing those features from the vendor skins, to great acclaim.
- chinpokomon 14y ago
  That criticism should be maintained. Perhaps not globally, but in the US update cadence is slowed down significantly by the carriers. It is the carriers that pay for device updates, and they have little incentive to do so when the "next" phone has already or will be released shortly. Nexus devices, and iOS for that matter, are updated outside domestic carrier schedules, so you don't have the same delays that have given skinned phones a bad reputation. As long as the majority of Americans use subsidized phones, the carriers will continue to be the biggest obstacle.
- chinpokomon 14y ago
  That criticism should be maintained. Perhaps not globally, but in the US update cadence is slowed down significantly by the carriers. It is the carriers that pay for device updates, and they have little incentive to do so when the "next" phone has already or will be released shortly. Nexus devices, and iOS for that matter, are updated outside domestic carrier schedules, so you don't have the same delays that have given skinned phones a bad reputation. As long as the majority of Americans use subsidized phones, the carriers will continue to be the biggest obstacle.

esolyt 14y ago

Galaxy S4 display was tested by Displaymate[1] and even in the most accurate calibration mode (Movie Mode), it is still significantly less accurate. The maximum brightness is also significantly lower than that of iPhone 5's, which matters a lot to me. There are also other serious issues, like Dynamic Brightness Reduction based on APL. I personally used a Galaxy S4 and immediately noticed another very serious issue with the display. You can check out this thread on XDA forums[2] if you are curious. In summary, green subpixels have lower refresh rate, which causes gray (RGB 50,50,50) lines to temporarily turn into purple (RGB 50,0,50) while scrolling. This is unacceptable for a such an expensive and high end device. And this isn't the only issue. There are things I like about Touchwiz. I perfectly understand if you find it better than stock Android, which isn't perfect either. But my personal opinion is that it just seems to lack the design taste and consistency that stock Android and iOS have. [1] http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S4_ShootOut_1.htm http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S4_ShootOut_1.htm [2] http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2252445 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2252445

corresation 14y ago
Galaxy S4 display was tested by Displaymate[1] and even in the most accurate calibration mode (Movie Mode), it is still significantly less accurate DisplayMate had significant criticism of the GS2s screen. They had some criticism of the GS3 screen. They call the GS4 screen excellent, giving it the same A score as the iPhone 5s screen. Add that the GS4 screen has 3X more detail and infinitely more contrast than the iPhone 5, and it seems to be embracing a talking point to focus specifically on the color gamut (especially given that subjectively most users actually prefer it, so unless you're a graphic artist doing color matching...).
- esolyt 14y ago
  Obviously it's an improvement over previous AMOLED displays and color inaccuracy is perhaps tolerable this time. I just don't understand how Displaymate missed the issue I mentioned above, which is the main reason I went back to my iPhone 5.