The New Phone Thread

[sn00p]

In your opinion, I feel I would make good use it with the larger screen. Still, it voids warranty and loses one key feature.

Of course - that goes without saying, but have you actually tried using it productively? It's pretty infuriating to use tbh.

We have two Note 3's in our household and I think the form factor is excellent, the screen is awesome and a decent size. They have a stupid bug in them though where one of the (samsung provided) services drains the battery, so you have to keep an eye out on that and if you notice it doing it (before it's sucked the life out of it) then you can switch the phone off and on to fix it. It's a known issue that samsung have never bothered resolving.

 

[Gally]

The S pen has the bug or the phone?

The new Pen looks pretty neater compared with the note 3. Tbf there are many in the tech world that i've read that wouldn't be without their note, okay they may be rooted but still.

The design etc of the new note has really attracted me to it. Premium feel, expandable memory. More freedom with quirks. That screen is mind blowing good looking.

I should mention that I will probably change the phone next year for M9 if it should come with proper specs like the Note4. I can always root it after a year if I have any lag.

 

[sn00p]

The OS has a battery drain bug that randomly occurs (gsiff daemon).

Touchwiz is a pretty big quirk to be living with every day, it's ghastly to look at!

Like you say, the beauty of Android is that you can move device/manufacturer without issue.

 

[Addicted]

Use the Greenify app and stop the wakelock abuse :]

To make full use of it though you need Xposed, which requires root sadly.

Both are fantastic when used in combination together though, and solve most of the battery problems people face without even having to do anything. If you don't have Xposed, you can do rules on a per-app basis, but that will be a long and tedious thing to do!

 

[Gally]

I've no idea what you just said. Bare in mind TW is reduced a lot on the 4 and is the best incarnation according to all in depth reviews. It'll still be TW but a lot better than previous gen. TW might suit the masses as I said.

 

[Gally]

This explained it well...

[QUOTE
I think its best to start with Wakelock Detector. Fully charge your phone then install Wakelock Detector and let it sit for a couple hours then open the WLD app and see whats causing CPU wakelocks and Greenifiy or remove those apps if you dont really use them.

The best way to describe cpu wakelocks is like this, say you(cpu) are trying to sleep but your annoying roommate(bad apps) keeps making noise not allowing you to sleep. Either kick them out(uninstall) or put duct tape(Greenify) over their mouths to shut them up so you(cpu) can sleep peacefully.

][/QUOTE]

 

[Addicted]

Exactly

Facebook and apps like that are notorious for it. The nice thing with using Greenify with Xposed, is that setup is done automatically, no messing about doing the detecting or rules. But as you say, if you're on a stock ROM, then you will need to do them on a per-rule basis.

Since setting up Greenify, on idle I use 0.6% battery/hour, so over night I lose maybe 6% battery - awesome tbh, S4 used to use 3-4x that at least lol!

 

[Gally]

Impressive. It's pretty much killing background refresh in essence. I'm not bad I don't have facebook and i'll delete half the Samsung stuff on it once it arrives anyway!

 

[Addicted]

Yeah exactly

The funny thing is, all the background processing for the apps still works, it just doesn't rape CPU usage (and in turn battery life) while it does it :]

And good luck deleting the stuff you don't want, theyre system apps so can't be removed (unless it's changed on newer phones since the S4).

 

[Gally]

It showed a lot of different stuff that can be deleted or hidden/turned off which is a cool feature so even if they can't be deleted you can hide it.

Does wakelock list the apps that are causing the issues? I'm guessing you can turn off/delete some apps without rooting to use greenify? So annoying that in this day and age companies still install a lot of crap on phones. Android the ad machine!

 

[Gally]

The OS has a battery drain bug that randomly occurs (gsiff daemon).

Touchwiz is a pretty big quirk to be living with every day, it's ghastly to look at!

Like you say, the beauty of Android is that you can move device/manufacturer without issue.

Anything here... http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/samsung-user-group-136/help-needed-note-3-battery-4684983.html

So greenify will work without rooting but just not on everything?

 

[Addicted]

Yeah pretty much - not sure what it won't work on without root tbh as I haven't tried it, but I'd imagine it won't work on system apps - that may mean it won't work on the gsiff daemon but hard to say without trying it :]

Not used Wakelock detector, but it should just list the apps with the issues (most wakelocks I guess), and then you can go from there and make rules where required.

 

[Gally]

Thanks dude! No doubt there will be plenty more questions to come!

 

[Addicted]

No worries, easier to do this stuff when you have it, so we know what works + what doesn't.

Nice to finally see some Android users on the forum tbh! There's always been a hate (and a love for Apple), until recently :]

 

[Amos91]

One of the biggest drains I've found is google sync & location services. Just turning your location services from High Accuracy to device only saves a considerable amount of wakelocks.

I tend to use Unbounce via Xposed to limit them too.

Mine since I rebooted this morning (Galaxy S3)

 

[Gally]

Indeed, just so happens i'm jumping in the fire with touchwiz, the missus loves her S4 and wouldn't dream of going back to Apple. Make of that what you will.

 

[Addicted]

Ouch, thats pretty nasty battery life!

My %/h is a little high atm as I was doing some intensive stuff when screen was on :]

 

[Gally]

I hardly understand that. Is that a opo?

 

[Gally]

Has Amos' down to 80% after 4 hours? Spell it out to the simpletons.

Surely the S3 is proper old hat now? Why would it cope?

 

[Amos91]

Better battery stats started recording at 85% as I rebooted. So over the 4 hours 15 mins since it dropped to 80% so that is -0.9% an hour.

Which is pretty good for an old phone. Just waiting for the details on the Nexus 6 before I pick between that and the Note 4.

The app is called BetterBatteryStats. Search for the version on the xda forum for a free one. It basically helps you track wakelocks etc and whats using up the battery.

I had it on the partial wakelock screen so you can exactly what has woken the phone up and for how long.

 

[Keydogg]

That's awesome for an old phone!

I'm going to root my Nexus 5 now and use Xposed/Greenify as I rarely get more than 10-12 hours use out of my battery.

 

[Gally]

Reading and watching reviews of so many phones brings home just how far things have moved on, even with a touch of cute nostalgia about my life and a w900i!

 

[Gally]

I enjoyed the OPO reviews etc but it's not a phone I would ever buy.

The G3 is still such an epic looking bit of tech!

 

[treemanx]

Anyone come across the xiaomi mi4? I used to use miui on my old galaxy s2 and loved it.

 

[Addicted]

Nexus 6 leak:

https://twitter.com/evleaks/status/522009640910200833

 

[Gally]

Looks old fashioned to me. "Looks".

 

[Addicted]

Yeah, not a fan at all imo - too rounded, bad colour choice (blue), and the main button looks cheap!

 

[Gally]

This any good? Did it the other day after moderate use....

 

[Addicted]

If that's screen use, when it says Usage, then yeah - otherwise no.

Hard to say, you need more in depth stats :]

 

[welshname]

Google event today. Expected to have the Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and Android L official releases. Along with Android TV and Wearable updates.

 

[Gally]

Looking forward to seeing L! By the time we actually get the Note 4 through Vodafone it'll probably be released! t***s!

 

[welshname]

Looking forward to seeing L! By the time we actually get the Note 4 through Vodafone it'll probably be released! t***s!

Good luck getting L released in a timely fashion from Samsung.

 

[Gally]

Indeed! Tbf I think things have moved on slightly according to reports.

 

[Keydogg]

I know when I had my S3 we got Jellybean absolutely ages after the Google phones had it, which annoyed me. If it's gotten quicker recently that can only be a good thing :-D

I could quite honestly see a £350 hole in my bank account by the end of the night.

Must.... Not... Press... Buy...

 

[treemanx]

Tempted to end my contract early and get the note 4.

http://m.mobiles.co.uk/index.php?page=product_tariff&value=NOTE4BLA&tariffType=paym&tid=4S44MFEB14

 

[Gally]

Note Fwend! I'll pick up mine next Tuesday or Thursday. Probably going to have to go black.

 

[Amos91]

Another in-depth review of the Note 4. Build quality looks nice but apparently lacks any significant development since the note 3.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/1...a-galaxy-alpha-had-a-really-predictable-baby/

Looks like a pretty decent upgrade as long as you're not coming from the Note 3.

 

[Gally]

Another in-depth review of the Note 4. Build quality looks nice but apparently lacks any significant development since the note 3.

Seriously? That's a kinda nonsense statement. Everything has been improved on it. As was said in the iPhone thread, you cannot re-invent the wheel. The comparisons i've seen are night and day and considering the Note 3 has been out for a while now.

 

[Gally]

http://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-galaxy-note-4-review-533774/

 

[Amos91]

Seriously? That's a kinda nonsense statement. Everything has been improved on it. As was said in the iPhone thread, you cannot re-invent the wheel. The comparisons i've seen are night and day and considering the Note 3 has been out for a while now.

There are definitely elements that could have been updated, waterproof rating for instance seems like a feature that flagship phones are going for now? It's also likely to go without Android L for a while which is disappointing if you laid out £650 on a phone tbh.