they say resistance is futile......

[triton]

over the past 4 years, i used mainly iphone or HTC phones. i have resisted to try samsung phones because i did not quite like the interface.

why the switch? iphone seems to be losing its WOW factor. from 3 to 4 to 5, nothing revolutionary has taken place. before i got my HTC, i was looking @ both samsung and HTC. eventually i got HTC due to its outlook. both phones primarily uses android os. an OS that allows users to customized quite a fair bit without having to jail break for the case of iphone.

i have always resisted rooting android os and jailbreaking iOS because of the security can be compromised. to those selected few whom i have shared why i dont perform certain tasks on mobile devices.

i finally placed my order for a samsung phone, S4 last friday. got it delivered to my office today. now awaiting for my ballastic case to arrive from US.

will i take a leap of faith and root my samsung? i got couple of days to decide.

[gmt8300]

been using the s4 i9505 quad core 1900mhz with 2gb ram and 16gb storage, since last month
best phone ever
LTE fast like home wifi

one problem - built quality cannot match iphone 5
casing feel very plastic

performance wise i9505 is better than iphone 5, and on par with 5s

[pegasi]

Sound like you had never root/jailbreak a phone and now you are comtemplating doing it on a brand new phone. Why not use it for a while first or try it on the old phone?

Curious to know what is the main thing you want to achieve with rooting a phone - to be able to install certain apps, improve speed/battery life, or simply to tweak the UI to the way you want it?

[pegasi]

Do you know why people mod their cars, watch, etc?

I assume you are asking me, and I fail to see how this question is relevant to my question to triton. I know what rooting a phone can bring but not all those benefits are important to everyone so I just want to know what a person like triton is looking for (hence the question of "what is the main thing").

[pegasi]

Nah, its a question posed to all readers of this thread
But since you mention you do not see the relevance, rooting a phone is modifying the software to make it do things that the original software cant do
Modifying a car by adding non original parts to it likewise makes a car run more powerful
Modding a rolex, eg adding a non original diamond bezel, likewise makes the watch looks 'more expensive'
Again, not all these 'benefits' are important to everyone, and warranty usually void due to these non original modifications so do these mod at your own risk

I did not say modifying cars or watches have no relevance to rooting phones. I was referring to the relevance of your question to my question.

I was asking what is the main thing out of so many possibilities following a rooting that TS is looking for, and then you asked "do you know why people mod their cars, watches etc", as if I shouldn't have asked what I asked.

[pegasi]

Rooting is just a step to unlock the OS. While it does modify the OS/software, it does little enhancement to the phone without one updating the OS, installing apps, tweaking the settings (overclock/underclock the processor) and performing other customizations.

Rooting is just the beginning, not the whole thing. In that sense rooting itself is not quite the same as modifying cars and watches.

[Nichmenichyou]

over the past 4 years, i used mainly iphone or HTC phones. i have resisted to try samsung phones because i did not quite like the interface.

why the switch? iphone seems to be losing its WOW factor. from 3 to 4 to 5, nothing revolutionary has taken place. before i got my HTC, i was looking @ both samsung and HTC. eventually i got HTC due to its outlook. both phones primarily uses android os. an OS that allows users to customized quite a fair bit without having to jail break for the case of iphone.

i have always resisted rooting android os and jailbreaking iOS because of the security can be compromised. to those selected few whom i have shared why i dont perform certain tasks on mobile devices.

i finally placed my order for a samsung phone, S4 last friday. got it delivered to my office today. now awaiting for my ballastic case to arrive from US.

will i take a leap of faith and root my samsung? i got couple of days to decide.

To be honest, I am using the Samsung S4. I personally am not very impressed. All that air gesture gimmicks does not really work. ESPECIALLY after you have a screen protector on. That is not the main problem. The phone gets extremely warm and sometimes hot, not due to the weather but usage. When I say hot, it really is. There are risks that comes with that, namely getting the motherboard "burnt". Happened to a friend of mine. He noticed that he could not get connectivity even on common roads and sent his phone in and the agent explained that the motherboard has overheated. I do feel that my phone is experiencing similar conditions. And sometimes the phone does hang considering owning it less than 6 months now, it kinda sucks IMHO. I don't play games, I only use google chrome and use 1-2 apps to track stock prices yet this is happening. I am not sure what the problem is either. Lastly the battery life is EXTREMELY UNDEPENDABLE. If you just leave your phone alone fully charged without doing anything, you will soon notice it sliding. I am not talking about HOURS AND HOURS, say just one hour? If you genuinely need to use your phone to browse/play games/listen to music, then you can pretty much time the battery life of your phone. Mine currently is about 10 mins to 5%. Just my 2 cents and maybe it is just me.

[gmt8300]

i have been using the s4 i9505 for 1mth+, none of the above issues
no overheat, no huge batt drain - if i leave it over night 8hr from a full charge, it drop about 5% (ie from 100% to 95%)
if i surf on LTE continuously for 1hour from a full charge, batt drain about 20% to 80% and the phone doesnt even feel warm to touch
i suggest you bring your phone to samsung to check - could be hardware faulty

[gmt8300]

btw mine is the i9505 s4 LTE-advance
is yours the older i9500 s4 LTE?

[Nichmenichyou]

I got it when it first came out. Probably the LTE.

[gmt8300]

The i9500 has a battery life and cpu issue hence 2month after the first release of i9500, samsung release the current i9505
in fact heard that in china samsung agree to replace all with the new improved version foc plus 1yr addition warranty
not sure singapore agent do that

[gmt8300]

now i saw there is a i9506 with a slightly inferior spec to the i9505 (lower resolution cam, physical back button, LCD instead of supr amoled, etc)
the i9500 already phase out due to the hardware overheat issue

TS any update on your experience with S4 - btw yours is i9500, i9505 or i9506

[iclebo2014]

I know how that feels