The computer and electronics super geek thread

[mikeszekely]

That's what I thought too! Dell's website even says the most this system will run is 2G's 'max, with 1G per DIMM slot. But here this thing sits, with a 2G stick from Corsair sitting in DIMM slot B, system properties also verifies the 2G's of RAM. What do you guys make of this?

It's possible that a BIOS update or a running change on the chipset allowed it to support more, so good on that. And if you can find another stick to try in the second slot to verify that it's dead, great. But if there really is a problem with the slot, on an older computer, using older (and getting more expensive RAM), it'd be hard for me to recommend spending the money on a bigger stick even if I felt confident that the computer could handle it.

If your Toshiba is a big, powerhouse sort of computer and you just prefer to do your web surfing on something smaller, lighter, and more portable, I'd say your money is better spent just replacing the Dell with a portable. The Asus 2000E is pretty nice, and it's on clearance for $450 at Staples (assuming your local store has one). 11", Core i3, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, and a touchscreen.

[myk]

Why is the older RAM getting more expensive? Normally I would say an increased demand from people trying to hold on to their older 'tech, but I guess it doesn't make much sense if something new and flashy can be had at the price you listed for that Asus.

Oh, and I tried putting in that functioning 2G stick of RAM into the other slot-the computer wouldn't boot up, so I'm guessing the DIMM slot is shot...

Edited March 10, 2013 by myk

[azrael]

Why is the older RAM getting more expensive? Normally I would say an increased demand from people trying to hold on to their older 'tech, but I guess it doesn't make much sense if something new and flashy can be had at the price you listed for that Asus.

It's the opposite. Newer tech means older tech gets less demand. Less demand = reduce supply and prices jump up cuz now they have to spend money to make older tech when their equipment is geared toward new tech.

Your Dell probably will support 4GB of RAM but only in a 2x2GB configuration. I'm not sure if it will take 4GB on a single slot.

[myk]

It's the opposite. Newer tech means older tech gets less demand. Less demand = reduce supply and prices jump up cuz now they have to spend money to make older tech when their equipment is geared toward new tech.

Your Dell probably will support 4GB of RAM but only in a 2x2GB configuration. I'm not sure if it will take 4GB on a single slot.

If it couldn't "take" the extra RAM in the slot what would happen? Just a failure to boot or something?

[azrael]

If it couldn't "take" the extra RAM in the slot what would happen? Just a failure to boot or something?

What could happen is (a)the system may not recognize the memory, (b) may boot but not be able to address more than 2GB on a 4GB stick due to the chipset, © you get a system failure during POST. That laptop is old enough that it came with 1GB of RAM when they came out. I doubt they accounted for anything larger than 4GB for the chipset at the time since it would likely be out-of-date by the time 4GB or 8GB became the new standard. You're welcome to try and place a 4GB stick in there but it might not boot or it might not be stable.

[Archer]

So guys, I need some advice, as I'm kind of a noob when it comes to this stuff. I bought an iPhone 5 16 GB on launch day from AT&T (and I'm on a family plan). Now, 6 months or so later, both the HTC One and Galaxy S4 are set to launch, and are considerably better phones than the iPhone 5 (in my opinion of course).

Since I'm not completed with my 2 year contract, is there any way for me to get a new phone without forking over the 600 - 700 dollars full price for the new phone?

Thanks!

Edit: I'm planning on staying on contract with AT&T on the new phone, not terminating it or switching carriers

Edited March 15, 2013 by Archer

[azrael]

So guys, I need some advice, as I'm kind of a noob when it comes to this stuff. I bought an iPhone 5 16 GB on launch day from AT&T (and I'm on a family plan). Now, 6 months or so later, both the HTC One and Galaxy S4 are set to launch, and are considerably better phones than the iPhone 5 (in my opinion of course).

The iPhone 5 is gonna be a year old. It's old technology next to the HTC One (March 2013) or the Galaxy S4 (April 2013). 'Tis the life of tech....

Since I'm not completed with my 2 year contract, is there any way for me to get a new phone without forking over the 600 - 700 dollars full price for the new phone?

Edit: I'm planning on staying on contract with AT&T on the new phone, not terminating it or switching carriers

You can buy the one on your own (outside the family plan) with a new number and all. But you will be paying for 2 phones, 2 phone numbers, 2 plans.

[mikeszekely]

So guys, I need some advice, as I'm kind of a noob when it comes to this stuff. I bought an iPhone 5 16 GB on launch day from AT&T (and I'm on a family plan). Now, 6 months or so later, both the HTC One and Galaxy S4 are set to launch, and are considerably better phones than the iPhone 5 (in my opinion of course).

Since I'm not completed with my 2 year contract, is there any way for me to get a new phone without forking over the 600 - 700 dollars full price for the new phone?

Thanks!

Edit: I'm planning on staying on contract with AT&T on the new phone, not terminating it or switching carriers

Well, you have basically 4 options. None are necessarily cheap.

Option 1: Buy a new phone outright. I'm actually planning on leaving Verizon for a GSM carrier so that I can start to do exactly this with Google's Nexus phones.

Option 2: Terminate your contract with AT&T. Pay a hefty ETF, then get a subsidized phone from another carrier.

Option 3: Add a line. You'll have to pay extra money for a line you might never use, just so that you can upgrade every year instead of every 2. I have some friends that do this, actually.

Option 4: See if a family member that doesn't want to upgrade has one available. Use their upgrade. I did this for a couple of years years. My wife had a first-gen LG Chocolate that she loved, so when her line was up I'd get myself a new subsidized phone. I upgraded three times, and on the last one I gave her a hand-me down Droid Incredible. She's just now getting around to wanting an upgrade.

Like Az said, it's the life of tech. Phones change get better a lot faster than your contract expiration. If you always want the latest and greatest, you gotta pay for it. At least iPhones hold their value pretty well. If you buy a phone outright, you should be able to recover at least half by selling your iPhone.

[Archer]

Could I simply take out the SIM of the iPhone 5, and sell the phone without unlocking it? Or will AT&T unlock the phone for me if I buy a phone outright from them (for the full price)? AT&T iPhone 5s seem to be going for around 500 - 600 bucks on eBay, even without unlocking them, so I might take that strategy, and simply transfer SIMS.

And yeah, you guys are right, phones get a lot better faster than our contracts will allow us to catch up! After 6 years with an iPhone though, things are getting stagnated. It doesn't help that my iPad is rapidly becoming synonymous with the iPhone...

Edited March 15, 2013 by Archer

[mikeszekely]

Could I simply take out the SIM of the iPhone 5, and sell the phone without unlocking it? Or will AT&T unlock the phone for me if I buy a phone outright from them (for the full price)? AT&T iPhone 5s seem to be going for around 500 - 600 bucks on eBay, even without unlocking them, so I might take that strategy, and simply transfer SIMS.

And yeah, you guys are right, phones get a lot better faster than our contracts will allow us to catch up! After 6 years with an iPhone though, things are getting stagnated. It doesn't help that my iPad is rapidly becoming synonymous with the iPhone...

I honestly don't recall being impressed with the iPhone since maybe the iPhone 4, and even then I was an Android guy.

But anyway, you don't need to unlock your phone to sell it. The ESN just needs to be disassociated with your number. It only has to be unlocked to use it on a non-ATT network.

[anime52k8]

Or you could just wait a year and buy whatever phone is the fancy new thing then.

Edited March 15, 2013 by anime52k8

[Archer]

"The ESN just needs to be disassociated with your number"

How does one go about doing this? Do you just pull out the SIM? Sorry for the onslaught of questions, but I'm not very familiar with the actual "phone" part of a cell phone

Or you could just wait a year and buy whatever phone is the fancy new thing then.

I know, I know, but that'll be about a year and a half, and I'd rather not wait that long. iPhone is reliable, but it's getting to be fairly stagnated, and I'd like a little more flavor, if you know what I mean. And I use my cell phone constantly to watch videos, so the bigger screen and 1080p res. will be a huge help.

If I play my cards right, I don't actually think I'll be paying too much, since iPhone 5's are going for around 550 bucks, and the HTC One launches at 600 dollars (so about a 50 dollar charge, which I can take).

[mikeszekely]

"The ESN just needs to be disassociated with your number"

How does one go about doing this? Do you just pull out the SIM? Sorry for the onslaught of questions, but I'm not very familiar with the actual "phone" part of a cell phone .

I think that's all it took back in the day, but not so much with smartphones. Basically, you buy the new phone first. AT&T will move your number to the new phone and remove the iPhone's ESN from your account. At that point, make sure you secure wipe the device (not sure where, but it'll be somewhere in the iPhone's settings), and you're free to sell it.

[Archer]

I think that's all it took back in the day, but not so much with smartphones. Basically, you buy the new phone first. AT&T will move your number to the new phone and remove the iPhone's ESN from your account. At that point, make sure you secure wipe the device (not sure where, but it'll be somewhere in the iPhone's settings), and you're free to sell it.

Cool, thanks man! I still have a few months till the S4 or HTC one launches here on AT&T, but this is a good strategy.

[mikeszekely]

Cool, thanks man! I still have a few months till the S4 or HTC one launches here on AT&T, but this is a good strategy.

No problem.

I'm thinking about getting the One myself. The S4 looks like it turned out to be the S3 warmed over. I intend for the One to be my last non-Nexus phone, though.

[Archer]

No problem.

I'm thinking about getting the One myself. The S4 looks like it turned out to be the S3 warmed over. I intend for the One to be my last non-Nexus phone, though.

Yeah, the S4 had some innovations, but I like the One's classy look, a very nice LCD screen. As for nexus phones, I do like that they are unlocked, and sell for cheaper, but I kinda dislike that they always....*hold back* a little, making it appealing thanks to vanilla android, but also hindering, since they fail to give it steller hardware that the other superphones tend to have.

For example, the Nexus 4, an amazing phone, doesn't have LTE, which is becoming fairly standard nowadays.

Hopefully with obtaining motorola, we'll see nexus phones become the next iPhone in terms of popularity and evolution (and hopefully without the stagnation )

[mikeszekely]

Yeah, the S4 had some innovations, but I like the One's classy look, a very nice LCD screen. As for nexus phones, I do like that they are unlocked, and sell for cheaper, but I kinda dislike that they always....*hold back* a little, making it appealing thanks to vanilla android, but also hindering, since they fail to give it steller hardware that the other superphones tend to have.

For example, the Nexus 4, an amazing phone, doesn't have LTE, which is becoming fairly standard nowadays.

Hopefully with obtaining motorola, we'll see nexus phones become the next iPhone in terms of popularity and evolution (and hopefully without the stagnation )

The Galaxy Nexus was pretty top of the line when it came out. And the Nexus 4 actually does have an LTE radio. The problem is LTE is a badly-fragmented standard, and at the time it wasn't really feasible to have LTE radios for every LTE standard for a phone that was being sold unlocked and carrier free all around the world. From what I understand, recent developments will make LTE more likely on the next Nexus.

Besides, they gotta hold back a little. How else do you sell a phone unlocked and contract-free for $350? Google subsidies only go so far. As the owner of two Nexus devices, I have to tell you it's worth it. Vanilla Android has gotten better than any Android skin. Plus, you get updates fairly immediately. On a device like the One or the Galaxy S4, you have to wait for Google to release the update, then wait for HTC/Samsung to customize it and build it into a ROM for the device, then the carrier has to approve it, and before you know it you're getting Ice Cream Sandwich two months after Google released Jellybean.

[Archer]

Yeah, I know what you mean about stock Android. I actually had a Nexus 7 for a few months, and I really enjoyed the vanilla experience. At the same time, I do understand the need for software like Sense and Touchwiz to give each company its own flavor, and sometimes, there are some benefits (like sense 5's nice windows phones type live tiles).

[rotorhead]

See if you can use another family member's upgrade and perhaps give them your iPhone. It will be a long time before they can get anything else as you'll have used 2 of the upgrades for your own devices.

or...

Buy either HTC or Samsung at full price, activate it, then wipe the iPhone and sell it on ebay. You should be able to easily recoup your costs.

or...

Since you are 6 months beyond your contract signing, you should be eligible for an 'early upgrade', which is basically the 2year discount plus $250. Then wipe and sell the iPhone on ebay. This way, you've basically just extended your contract for an additional 6 months, and you still get the new phone for about $200 off full price.

oh, and YES, there will always be something newer and cooler on the way.

[Archer]

See if you can use another family member's upgrade and perhaps give them your iPhone. It will be a long time before they can get anything else as you'll have used 2 of the upgrades for your own devices.

or...

Buy either HTC or Samsung at full price, activate it, then wipe the iPhone and sell it on ebay. You should be able to easily recoup your costs.

or...

Since you are 6 months beyond your contract signing, you should be eligible for an 'early upgrade', which is basically the 2year discount plus $250. Then wipe and sell the iPhone on ebay. This way, you've basically just extended your contract for an additional 6 months, and you still get the new phone for about $200 off full price.

oh, and YES, there will always be something newer and cooler on the way.

Thanks man! I decided to go with option 2, as I am not eligible for an early upgrade at this point. I'll just sell my iPhone on eBay, and it should make up most of my costs.

[rotorhead]

no problem!

[Archer]

Well, the galaxy S4 announced price (if rumors are to be true), is $579. If that's the case, I should recuperate most of my costs by selling the iPhone 5, and if I play my cards right, I might end up making a profit as well

[Knight26]

SO my wife just started a new job where she works out in the field a lot and needs to be able to fill out reports on the fly. She would like a tablet that uses a stylus so she can check off boxed in the word file and write down her notes right there instead of having to transcribe them later. Also, she really can't type while she is out very easily so native stylus support is a must. So we are thinking a windows tablet or the Samsung Note Tablet, but can it read and write word files? So who has any suggestions, mind you nothing apple, she tried using my disabled sons iPad and that did not work well at all.

[mikeszekely]

SO my wife just started a new job where she works out in the field a lot and needs to be able to fill out reports on the fly. She would like a tablet that uses a stylus so she can check off boxed in the word file and write down her notes right there instead of having to transcribe them later. Also, she really can't type while she is out very easily so native stylus support is a must. So we are thinking a windows tablet or the Samsung Note Tablet, but can it read and write word files? So who has any suggestions, mind you nothing apple, she tried using my disabled sons iPad and that did not work well at all.

Depends. Is money an object? The way I see it, you have two choices.

The best choice is probably a Surface Pro. They start at $899 for a 64GB, and $999 for 128GB. It comes with a stylus (with Wacom tech, if I'm not mistaken), and is a full-blown Windows 8 PC with an Intel Core i5 CPU. You can buy a keyboard cover for it, so it can do double-duty as a laptop. Since it's a Windows PC, you can install Word on it (although it's sold separately), but it's also a little thicker than most tablets. If there's a Staples around, they should have it on display if your wife wants to check it out.

Money is an object? Then I'd go with the Galaxy Note 10.1. It's an Android tablet, with 16GB of storage (although it's got a microSD slot). The stylus, called the S-Pen, is the Note's big selling point. Samsung includes plenty of productivity apps designed around the S-Pen, and there are apps in the Google Play Store that claim to be compatible with Word documents, but it doesn't actually run Word (yet), so your mileage may vary. The Note 10.1 should run around $450. At my Staples, the Note 10.1 isn't on display, but the slightly smaller Note 8 is, and I think it should be similar if you wife wanted to play with one before buying.

Now, you could try the non-Pro Surface. I think it's $499 for a 32GB. It runs Windows RT, which is a modified version of Windows that runs on ARM CPUs. The plus side here is that Windows RT devices come with Office RT, including Word. The downsides, though, are that it can only get new apps from the Windows Store, since regular Windows programs aren't compiled for ARM. Also, unlike the Note and the Surface Pro, it doesn't come with a stylus.

[Archer]

I had a surface RT. I definitely recommend that if you were thinking Surface, go with a surface Pro. The Surface RT is a great idea that is killed by Window's lineage. Since it looks so much like native full windows, you always find yourself trying to run applications that it simply won't support, and once again, as others have mentioned, it does not support stylus input.

The surface pro is great in that it's literally a full computer in a tablet form, intel processor and all. No program should really be a problem for it, and it comes with the added benefit of a very well done stylus that can be used at any time and any screen.

That being said, both of the surface models are compatible with the touch and type covers. While the touch cover is gimmicky, if you fork out the extra 130 dollars, you can get a type cover which literally makes the surface a functioning laptop on the fly (how well this will work in the "field" I do not know. It'll likely vary with what this "field" is )

Hope that helps a little!

[mikeszekely]

Anyone here ever own an MSI laptop? My in-laws have an MSI all-in-one desktop... seemed pretty nice, if a little on the slow side.

I'm in the market for a laptop to replace my old Asus (Core 2 Duo, GeForce GTX 260M, 4GB RAM, 320GB hard drive). I want something with a little more oomph, but it doesn't have to be better than my desktop or anything. I kind of have my eye on an MSI GE70 OND (Core i7, GTX 660M, 8GB, 750GB), mostly because it seems pretty thin for a gaming laptop, and is much more reasonably priced than the Razer Blade. There are other laptops in the same $1200-$1400 price range with better stuff like backlit keyboards or GTX 670Ms, but they all seem to be a lot heavier and thicker (9 pounds vs. 6, 2.25" vs 1.5").

[azrael]

Carrying this conversation from the other thread...

I'm working on my Masters in Information Systems and Technology. Right now, I'm studying human interaction and usability design. From a graphic design standpoint, Metro might be pretty slick. Personally, I think it's too flat, but I'm not an artist, so what do I know? From a human interaction and usability point of view, though, it's at best unintuitive. For non-touchscreen users it fails on even basic principles of usability. I know Microsoft is feeling the heat from the iPad, but you cannot simply design a new touchscreen interface, then work backward to try to figure out how it works with a mouse and keyboard, especially when doing so requires you to unlearn 15+ years of training to even figure out how to turn the stupid thing off.

Perhaps they expect us all to be using touchscreens? Another way I look at it is an issue of market melding. For the time being, tablets and phones are consumption devices. Windows 8 tried to meld the consumption-type interface with the production-type interface and we see how that's turning out. IMO, this is where MS went wrong with Win8. They can have touch-based commands but making the whole thing geared toward touch-based doesn't work for people who use a keyboard+mouse/pen & tablet(like the Wacom input devices). For those of us who have multiple applications open, having the ability to jump between the many is much easier with keyboard+cursor-moving-input-device. We can't have full-screen apps. Booting to desktop is nice, but they need to bring back the Start menu (not hit Start button to go to the Modern UI/Start screen). The UI may work for Windows Phone, Surface, but for laptops/desktops? People won't go for that. The touch features I use on Mac OS are perfect and much more intuitive than Windows.

HCI and UX is my field at the moment and I'm currently teaching postgrad students at the uni on these subjects(usability engineering and user interface design). You won't believe how much crap we UX engineers give metro...particularly love the fact that windows returned the start button in 8.1 and it connects to the....metro interface. Genius trolling.

And MS deserves it. Maybe in a few more years, we'll get there. But I can't ask office workers to touch their screen for 8 hours a day. Let alone retrain them for the Modern UI. It was hard enough to retrain them to use the frakin' Ribbon UI.

[mikeszekely]

Carrying this conversation from the other thread...

Perhaps they expect us all to be using touchscreens? Another way I look at it is an issue of market melding. For the time being, tablets and phones are consumption devices. Windows 8 tried to meld the consumption-type interface with the production-type interface and we see how that's turning out. IMO, this is where MS went wrong with Win8. They can have touch-based commands but making the whole thing geared toward touch-based doesn't work for people who use a keyboard+mouse/pen & tablet(like the Wacom input devices). For those of us who have multiple applications open, having the ability to jump between the many is much easier with keyboard+cursor-moving-input-device. We can't have full-screen apps. Booting to desktop is nice, but they need to bring back the Start menu (not hit Start button to go to the Modern UI/Start screen). The UI may work for Windows Phone, Surface, but for laptops/desktops? People won't go for that. The touch features I use on Mac OS are perfect and much more intuitive than Windows.

This is definitely where they started to run into issues. Windows 8 is actually pretty good on a touch screen. And when you look at the sales tablets vs. the sales of more traditional computers, the writing's on the wall. I can't blame Microsoft for planning for the future.

But the problem is, they were afraid of departing too much from the Windows we all know and love. They designed an interface that works great for touch, bolted it onto "classic" Windows, and then tried to work backward to make the interface work with a mouse and keyboard. The result is confusing, counter to what we've been using for 15 years, and simply not effective for desktop computing. Maybe it would have been better if they'd given users a choice. Maybe Microsoft was afraid that having separate desktop and touchscreen interfaces would create fragmentation. I don't know. I just know Windows 8 is a mess.

And in the next few years, I don't see Microsoft fixing it. I do see them, and hardware manufacturers, pushing more touchscreen devices. I see them doing it even as they backpedal and reintroduce the Start Menu to Windows 8.1.

And MS deserves it. Maybe in a few more years, we'll get there. But I can't ask office workers to touch their screen for 8 hours a day. Let alone retrain them for the Modern UI. It was hard enough to retrain them to use the frakin' Ribbon UI.

Hey, I like the Ribbon! The updated Windows Explorer was probably the only feature of Windows 8 I actually did like...

[Archer]

So, a little update to the phone convo I had above. I did in fact get my phone switched (to an HTC One from an iPhone 5), and I got to purchase the phone for a grand total of $200 (so, I didn't have to pay the full price, even though I'm only 7 months into contract).

I also got to keep the iPhone 5, which I do plan to eventually sell. How I did it involves a weird loophole the guy at the AT&T store helped me with though (really nice guy, took him nearly an hour to do it all). I had an LTE 4th gen iPad that was tied to my current family plan, but it was being paid for month to month, not on contract.

The guy at the shop did a weird stint and shifted the iPhone 5 contract to the LTE iPad (binding me to pay 10 bucks a month for the next yearish or so, but I was already going to do that). That removed the iPhone 5 from my account and contract, and allowed me to purchase an HTC One as an open new line for 200 bucks.

Weird eh?

[mikeszekely]

So, a little update to the phone convo I had above. I did in fact get my phone switched (to an HTC One from an iPhone 5), and I got to purchase the phone for a grand total of $200 (so, I didn't have to pay the full price, even though I'm only 7 months into contract).

I also got to keep the iPhone 5, which I do plan to eventually sell. How I did it involves a weird loophole the guy at the AT&T store helped me with though (really nice guy, took him nearly an hour to do it all). I had an LTE 4th gen iPad that was tied to my current family plan, but it was being paid for month to month, not on contract.

The guy at the shop did a weird stint and shifted the iPhone 5 contract to the LTE iPad (binding me to pay 10 bucks a month for the next yearish or so, but I was already going to do that). That removed the iPhone 5 from my account and contract, and allowed me to purchase an HTC One as an open new line for 200 bucks.

Weird eh?

I wouldn't say weird. You can get a new device subsidized by renewing your contract. You couldn't renew the contract on your phone, because you'd just done that, but you renewed it on the iPad. But instead of using the subsidy on a new iPad, you used it on a phone, and applied your existing number to it.

I used to to the same sort of thing all the time. If my line was up, I'd renew it and get a subsidized phone. If my wife's line was up, I renew her line, but activate the subsidized phone with my number.

But now I just don't want to stay with Verizon. I've pretty much settled on AT&T; for all the crap they get about their network, it's second only to Verizon's for coverage, especially for AT&T. But unlike with Verizon, I'll be able to buy Nexus phones directly from Google in the future.

For now, I'm going to get a subsidized phone for being a new customer. I'd been favoring the HTC One for awhile, but after seeing it in person the S4 is a lot more appealing than I thought it'd be.

[Archer]

I wouldn't say weird. You can get a new device subsidized by renewing your contract. You couldn't renew the contract on your phone, because you'd just done that, but you renewed it on the iPad. But instead of using the subsidy on a new iPad, you used it on a phone, and applied your existing number to it.

I used to to the same sort of thing all the time. If my line was up, I'd renew it and get a subsidized phone. If my wife's line was up, I renew her line, but activate the subsidized phone with my number.

But now I just don't want to stay with Verizon. I've pretty much settled on AT&T; for all the crap they get about their network, it's second only to Verizon's for coverage, especially for AT&T. But unlike with Verizon, I'll be able to buy Nexus phones directly from Google in the future.

For now, I'm going to get a subsidized phone for being a new customer. I'd been favoring the HTC One for awhile, but after seeing it in person the S4 is a lot more appealing than I thought it'd be.

Yeah, I knew you could do it with phones, but the fact that you can switch a phone contract to a tablet is what really surprised me. But I guess it's really a one time deal since buying a $630 iPad to get a new phone wouldn't be very economically feasible every time eh?

And I was actually the opposite of you. I went in with the intent of getting a galaxy s4, but switched to the One in the last minute. Since I've been used to iPhones as my main drivers, the plastic nature of the s4 felt weird to me, especially as a premium flagship phone. On the other hand, the one's beauty easily beat out even the iphone in my eyes.

Secondly, the fun features of the S4 (air gesture, smart pause, etc. etc. etc.) stopped being fun almost a few minutes after I tried them in the store. I'm sure they'd be useful to others though. Although I also did like the deep blacks and great saturation of that Samsung AMOLED screen (I'm a sucker for pentile oled displays), something about that crystal clear LCD display of the HTC One won me over. It was mesmerizing to say the least (and I could care less about ppi advantages, etc.). This is gonna sound corny, but the best way to describe it is like drinking in a glass of ice cold water, cept only for your eyes (lolwut).

I was happy to see that the HTC One stock browser had flash support, which the S4 was missing, although I'm sure you could get that elsewhere if need be. The last thing to win me over on the One was the beats audio (not boomsound, which I will rarely use). I know Beats headphones are harped on as overpriced (which I agree), but the beats audio chip in the HTC One was awesome (our AT&T store had some headphones we could try out with it).

But like I said, I'm sure people have their uses with the S4 as well. Since you're a nexus fan, why not give the vanilla android S4 announced during google I/O a shot?

[azrael]

Weird eh?

I'm sure there are plenty of loopholes in the contracts to allow for it. You would probably need a lawyer to find them.

This is definitely where they started to run into issues. Windows 8 is actually pretty good on a touch screen. And when you look at the sales tablets vs. the sales of more traditional computers, the writing's on the wall. I can't blame Microsoft for planning for the future.

But the problem is, they were afraid of departing too much from the Windows we all know and love. They designed an interface that works great for touch, bolted it onto "classic" Windows, and then tried to work backward to make the interface work with a mouse and keyboard. The result is confusing, counter to what we've been using for 15 years, and simply not effective for desktop computing. Maybe it would have been better if they'd given users a choice. Maybe Microsoft was afraid that having separate desktop and touchscreen interfaces would create fragmentation. I don't know. I just know Windows 8 is a mess.

Now I remember what I wanted to say about this...

Yes, the writing is on the wall for traditional computing. But it's important to remember that behind those OSs like Android, iOS, Windows, and all thsoe apps we use is a mountain of code. Stuff that for better or worse, probably couldn't be written on a tablet, let alone a phone. That still needs traditional computing. Windows 8 is a DID-mess. It would be better if separated the Modern UI but left in the touch-capabilities. Yes, this would fragment the ecosystem, but it would probably fix the dissociative disorder-mess we see now. Perhaps like what Apple is doing for Mac OS and iOS. One OS for traditional and professional computing, 1 OS for all the consumption devices (phones & tablets).

[mikeszekely]

Yeah, I knew you could do it with phones, but the fact that you can switch a phone contract to a tablet is what really surprised me. But I guess it's really a one time deal since buying a $630 iPad to get a new phone wouldn't be very economically feasible every time eh?

And I was actually the opposite of you. I went in with the intent of getting a galaxy s4, but switched to the One in the last minute. Since I've been used to iPhones as my main drivers, the plastic nature of the s4 felt weird to me, especially as a premium flagship phone. On the other hand, the one's beauty easily beat out even the iphone in my eyes.

Secondly, the fun features of the S4 (air gesture, smart pause, etc. etc. etc.) stopped being fun almost a few minutes after I tried them in the store. I'm sure they'd be useful to others though. Although I also did like the deep blacks and great saturation of that Samsung AMOLED screen (I'm a sucker for pentile oled displays), something about that crystal clear LCD display of the HTC One won me over. It was mesmerizing to say the least (and I could care less about ppi advantages, etc.). This is gonna sound corny, but the best way to describe it is like drinking in a glass of ice cold water, cept only for your eyes (lolwut).

I was happy to see that the HTC One stock browser had flash support, which the S4 was missing, although I'm sure you could get that elsewhere if need be. The last thing to win me over on the One was the beats audio (not boomsound, which I will rarely use). I know Beats headphones are harped on as overpriced (which I agree), but the beats audio chip in the HTC One was awesome (our AT&T store had some headphones we could try out with it).

But like I said, I'm sure people have their uses with the S4 as well. Since you're a nexus fan, why not give the vanilla android S4 announced during google I/O a shot?

Well, I wanted to move to AT&T from Verizon, and I didn't have $650 to burn.

Let's just say it was an extremely difficult decision. Both phones are excellent, but not perfect. The One has a better screen, and I really dig the aluminum, but I don't like Sense, I don't like that a whole home screen is taken up by some weird thingy I'll never use, I don't like that the home button is right-of-center, and I don't like that the screen is only 4.8". As for the S4, I don't like TouchWiz and all the goofy Samsung apps, I don't like the oval shape, and I don't like the physical home button.

At the end of the day, I did go home with the S4. It really boiled down to it having a slightly larger screen (I really think 5" is my perfect size) and the fact that TouchWiz, while awful for someone coming from a Nexus, is less awful than Sense. Here's hoping that the fellows at XDA figure out how to get the AT&T S4 to run a stock Android ROM built from the "Nexus" S4.

In the future, though, I'm hoping Google sells a reasonably-priced 5" "Nexus 5" with LTE.

EDIT: After a day with it, I can't say I'm loving the S4. Sure, it's thin, light, and has a big screen, but TouchWiz is just awful. Maybe I was wrong thinking it'd be less awful than Sense?

One super huge annoying thing, the screen comes on with a notification when the battery's done charging. This is problematic for me, because I charge my phone on my nightstand and use it for my alarm clock. I don't need this thing waking me up at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning every night. If someone can confirm that the One does NOT do that, I might head back to the AT&T store today.

Edited May 28, 2013 by mikeszekely

[mikeszekely]

Yeah, I took the S4 back, bought a One. No regrets so far. Sure, I wish it had stock Android instead of Sense, but Sense actually bothers me less than TouchWiz after messing with it. And yeah, I wish the screen was a little bigger (and after having two Nexus devices, I wish the power button was where the volume button is), but the build quality is bit nicer.

[anime52k8]

Yeah, I took the S4 back, bought a One. No regrets so far. Sure, I wish it had stock Android instead of Sense, but Sense actually bothers me less than TouchWiz after messing with it. And yeah, I wish the screen was a little bigger (and after having two Nexus devices, I wish the power button was where the volume button is), but the build quality is bit nicer.

For someone coming off of Apple products, which would be better? I like the the aluminum body on the One but I've read the battery life and call quality are poor compared to the S4. Also, I like having a physical home button a lot. I've been considering getting an S4 on T-mobile lately.