The S5 was very disappointing, I personally thought the styling on the side was farking atrocious. As for removalable battery and memory, no biggy, only a small percentage of the population actually need it I think. Have I ever needed to swap out my battery or microSD? Nope.
I predict the Samsung Galaxy S6 to smash S4 and S5 sales, based on the pre-orders that is...
https://www.digitec.ch/de/s1/product...elefon-3827925
Last year's flagship from LG at a great price.
The S6 seems to be a pretty darn nice device. I bought an M9 last week out of sheer boredom with the 6 Plus but ended up returning it after a day. Lousy camera, got insanely hot and had pretty bad reception. I'll probably stick with the 6 Plus until my contract is up for renewal in late September, but if I were to drop it before that, I'd get the S6.
Hi,
I saw the S6 and S6 Edge at the weekend. Both very disappointing devices. Too expensive because of a "premium" metal case. No replaceable battery, no micro sd card. Also both massively over priced. Also it is a smaller battery but the power consumption is less...in another words a lost opportunity for improving battery life. It would have made more sense to have kept the same battery or even to have increased it's capacity.
Honestly I cannot think of any reason why I would change from an S4 to S6. Nowadays, you really don't have to get a new smartphone very often as there is very little happening to the devices. Really just nice to haves and not must haves.
I have feeling my next phone might be from LG or maybe Huawai.
I assume that S6 sales will end up being less than those of the S5 but the margins will be much larger.
Have fun
Martin
You mean like the iPhone? Only very few people switch batteries. I've never done so with any device in the last 10 years. If I have 64gb of memory, that's enough.
Samsung devices are consumer devices - power users will look elsewhere I'm sure. I have moved to a Blackberry Passport for work, so replaceable batteries and such are useless for me as this would only be a home device.
And pricing: yes, expensive - the S4 and the S5 weren't much cheaper when they were launched. Wait two months and the price will be 200 Fr less. Plus they'll likely soon be free with a contract, so most people won't care about the initial price anyway.
Samsung and iPhone "consumer phones" are the new business/power user devices... they are being rolled out worldwide in every company with an infrastructure capable of supporting them. They are used for normal calls and business emails. Blackberries, unsurprisingly, are quite rightly going the way of the dodo.
Replaceable batteries are nowadays no big deal due to easy access to power sources, and indeed phones are structurally better without them... but lack of MicroSD support is a big downside as when a device dies the internal memory often dies with it, whereas an SD card can just be popped out and put in another device.
I do twice-weekly backups of my device to my SD card, and it has saved my bacon more than once.
I played about with the S6 and the S6 Edge at the Carphonewarehouse here in London. They are both without a doubt the best built, nicest looking Samsung phones. However I was underwhelmed by the samey Touch-whizz UI and the sheer pointlessness of the edge screen. Apart from quick access to contacts, it's pure gimmickry and worst still, makes it awkward to hold as you're constantly smudging the screen. I hold out some hope that the G4 will be better.
Yeah, I don't see the point of the Edge, either - and Touch-Whizz sucks, but not as much as it did with the S4 and the S5.
There are other ways for performing backups - and I'm guessing quite a few larger companies will be very happy that the S6 doesn't offer SD support (which can be a massive security problem). As for Blackberry: they may be going the way of the dodo - but at least they're doing so with dignity. The Passport is the finest mobile device I've ever used. It's definitely not a consumer device, but if you need to balance 5 e-mail accounts, there's nothing better.
I joined the ranks of the super-early adopters and ordered a Saygus V2 (that's "V squared") a while ago. I'll be interested to see if I actually receive it on or about its scheduled delivery date next month (Saygus hasn't exactly got a great record of delivering...).
The V2's specs are insane. In addition to what you read in that link, it's made of Kevlar (trust me, I need that) and if you wondered why you'd ever need an SD card slot, read the last line of the specs. I doubt any Samsung or iPhone will reach the level of the V2 for quite some time -- and it costs half what Samsung and Apple are charging.
The LG G4 has just been announced and it looks like a beaut. Everything I liked about the G2 and G3 but now even better. Better camera, OIS and perhaps the best screen in terms of colour reproduction on the market. In addition it seems to be closer to stock Android (with better Google integration) than Samsung with Touchwizz. If I were in the market I would definitely choose this over the S6 (especially since the G4 retains a MicroSD slot).
The LG G4 is here, and as previewed, it does indeed feature a leather back, designed for comfort and durability according to the company. The smartphone has some serious bona fides when it comes to hardware specs, including a quad HD (1440 x 2560) 5.5-inch screen which uses new “quantum display” tech for better color reproduction, a completely redesigned camera with a larger sensor, Snapdragon 808 and an expandable microSD slot for more storage.
The G4’s most stunning feature might be its unique industrial design, which follows other top-end device makers in angling for quality craftsmanship and materials, but which ends up at a very different destination from most. That leather back option is the result of over three years of research, and carries a special LG-designed treatment aimed at making it water-resistant and less susceptible to scratches and mark-ups.
In addition to the brown finish we’ve seen bandied about so much already, there are beige, sky blue and black versions coming, with additional colors planned. If leather isn’t your thing, other variants use a hammered pattern back finished in metal or ceramic-painted white plastic. Bonus: All G4 backs are interchangeable with one another.
LG has also taken some cues from its more experimental phone designs for the G4 – the new flagship has a subtle curve, which, while not as pronounced as the arch of the G Flex 2, is designed to provide a better hand feel, as well as bolster resistance to breakage from direct falls.
That new display is said to have better outdoor visibility, lower-power consumption and is also up to the DCI standard, an agreed-upon reference class for color spectrum used by Disney, 20th Century Fox, Sony and many others for film and television. LG says that by contrast, displays based on AMOLED tech are oversaturated when compared to their own panels.
As for that new camera, LG is once again going with a 16-megapixel sensor on the back, but it’s a larger sensor versus the G3, and it has a super bright f/1.8 aperture, both of which should help with low light image capture. The image stabilization tech used should be twice as effective, and is the most powerful on the smartphone market, per the company.
In addition to capturing RAW, advanced photographers can also enter manual mode to control things like shutter speed, ISO, white balance and more. A special sensor positioned under the flash is also new, and helps to determine true whites for more accurate color balance without WB manipulation.
That Snapdragon 808 under the hood is a 64-bit hexacore CPU clocked at 1.8GHz, and should provide plenty smooth performance for both launching and using apps. Paired with the 3,000 mAh battery the G4 is sporting, users can expect just under 20 hours of talk time on a full charge, or around 10.7 hours of web browsing time. It also has 3GB of RAM, and ships with 32GB of internal storage, in addition to offering that microSD slot as mentioned above.
What’s nice about this year’s LG flagship is that the OS was created with Google users in mind, meaning that Google’s suite of productivity apps comes pre-installed, and that Chrome is the default browser choice. There’s OS-level Chromecast support, too, for sharing from your onboard music library and gallery apps, and most of LG’s own apps feature Android Wear extensions out of the box. You also get 100GB of free Google Drive storage for two years with G4 purchase.
The LG G4 goes on sale in Korea first, with a street date of April 29, and will arrive in the U.S. by the end of May or the beginning of June.
For those disappointed by the Xperia Z4 announcement, this might be the Sony flagship you're waiting for: http://m.androidcentral.com/sony-xpe...240mah-battery
Thin bezel, revamped camera, huge battery. Yuss please.
Huge battery; I like it already
Except the P-series is their mid-range and not flagship. Anyway if true this would be equivalent to Samsung's move last year of releasing their mid-range Galaxy Alpha handset which actually challenged their flagship S5 on build quality and aesthetics.
Its processor and (it appears) camera are far from mid-range, though.
And concerning the G4: looks good, but nothing to make me want to trade in my G3 just yet. Besides the yearly par-for-course processor upgrade, its most notable advances are in its camera and superficial aesthetics. Thing is, the G3's camera was already no slouch (laser focus and all) and while the leather back looks nice, you lose wireless charging if you opt for it. Battery's identical, screen is the same size and resolution (and I doubt all the new features add up to anything significant). It's also a bit bigger, which is disappointing since I was hoping for LG to push their small bezel philosophy further. Besides the slight curve, it's not even much of a change looks wise. A slightly smaller screen, smaller bezel, stereo speakers on the back, waterproofyness, a bigger battery, and better build quality (i.e. metallic) would have been meaningful refinements to an already-great product. Considering the G4's initial list price will be in the 600 chuff range and its release will likely push the price of the G3's 32 GB model below 350 chuffs, I'd have a hard time recommending the former as the LG phone to get this quarter. Once the G4's price crashes later this year, then we're talking.
I got the Z3 in March, after some discussion here (well the old thread-for those who remember), and lots of googling.
Last week, I tripped on some stairs and it shattered in my pocket---returned and it was deemed a write off.
Back on the market for a replacement android, using an iPhone until it's chosen, still using a blackberry for personal.
Here's my personal bread down:
Z3:
Pros of the phone: Big screen, thin, AMAZING CAMERA!!, great camera apps, OK google assistant is amazing, good-decent battery life, waterproof (never really tested it, but confidentially used it around a pool with wet hands and in wet pocket), maps
Cons: Double glass sides easy to slip while holding or on a surface. Fragile as hell! OS annoying to use--too many options and 'would you like to do...', slow, keyboard and suggestions terrible
Iphone (only using it for a few weeks).
Pros: Fast OS, simple layout, siri relatively fast
Cons: Apple , maps, gestures awkward, keyboard/suggestions
So now I'm looking for something a bit more robust than the z3, but elegantly simplistic and fast.
I am limited by the price this time around, so I think the s6 edge is out of the range, but the normal s6 might be a go
I've had the Z3 since October last, and it's been the most robust smartphone I've had. It's been through hell and the front is holding up great, while the back has clearly seen better days, but no cracks so far - only scratches and only in the back.
Battery life's been phenomenal with lots of music streaming and lots of screen time.
As far as the keyobard is concerned, Google Keyboard (from the Play Store) has been pretty good and anyway there are many out there that you can try and see what fits best.
If my Z3 broke I would buy it again in a heartbeat! I was worried for the rumored Z4, but it turns out that the 810 chipset in the Z3+ has overheat issues so I'm glad I enjoyed my phone for so much time and the new one is not as desirable as I would think it would be...
My Z2 tablet on the other hand, I would happily trade for the Z4. Not that I'm not pleased, but sometimes I'd like some more battery life...
Lg g4
Unfortunately unavailable from my company.
Anyone have experience with the S6 to share?
I would like to move back to wireless charging--which is a plus, but no SD irritates me. Can you just plug it in to a pc and drag and drop music over?
Music playing barely used up battery power on the z3 which was nice, but the software was a clusterfuc of menus and options--too irritating just to listen to some music
I doubt you'd get a better phone ,as of now, than the Z3.
S3 has the least complains. People are really the happiest with it.