Budget 15-20K Samsung Galaxy S4 for 16k - worth it in 2015?

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kadavul

Recruit
Hi all,

I was looking to buy a smartphone in the 20k range and I found the Galaxy S4 is on sale at amazon for 16k. Is it still worth considering this phone in 2015?

These seem to be the good things (that matter to me):
  1. Great display, perfect size (1080p,5 inches,440ppi)
  2. Decent Camera
  3. Physical home button
  4. Custom ROMs, cases, and easily available parts because it is a popular model
  5. After sales service that exists (with real people wearing badges and stuff)
  6. Expandable storage upto 64 gb
  7. Removable battery

Main concern:
There are lots of complaints about heating and battery issues. The Exynos chip seems to have been faulty in some way. Can this be fixed by simply tweaking some software settings? Or is the hardware really faulty? People also complain about UI lag after using it for some months. I am curious to know how this device is performing if anyone is using it as a daily driver.

Is scrolling performance and browsing smooth on this device? I will be using it for whatsapp, fb, instagram, twitter, taking photos, listening to music/podcasts, watching sitcoms, taking notes and reading. I won't be installing any heavy games on it. Display quality and battery life (1 day with moderate-heavy use) are my top priorities.

Others concerns like build quality and bloatware does not bother me much as I can deal with it.

Is buying a 2013 flagship the right thing to do? Or am I better off buying one of the mid range phones?

Almost all the other phones I considered had one of these drawbacks: questionable camera quality, non-removable battery, non-expandable storage, large form factor, or I simply did not like how they looked. These are the phones I considered: The Zenfones (hate the asus branding on the face), Lenovo A series, Yu yureka/yuphoria, Honor 4x, Mi4, Oneplus One (My closest bet. Out of stock right now. Also have doubts about size and camera quality)

I also briefly considered buying a used Nokia 808 pureview :D

Here is the link to Galaxy S4 on Amazon. I am considering this only because it is 16k. Seems to be a good deal:

http://www.amazon.in/Samsung-Galaxy...UTF8&qid=1434823815&sr=8-1&keywords=galaxy+s4
 
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ithehappy said:
WOW! Trolls are here too! Excellent.

I don't use any phone for more than one year, but I have seen so many Samsung phones, which are over 3 years old, and they are in top notch condition! Examples would be Note 1, S2 and S3. Not a single problem, even the display is perfect, even when 2010 AMOLED units are known to burn in!

Anyway, whatever.[DOUBLEPOST=1434893461][/DOUBLEPOST]
Then go for it. Battery life should be more than acceptable with LP being released for it and there is no heating problem with the phone!
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Definitely no intentions to troll here. Just stating my experience. And i have changed more phones than i can count. Anyways i've used a Note 1, Note 2, s3. And all of them had screen burning. Looked really ugly in blacks. Almost took away the feature of deep blacks in Amoled. And all the white ones i had, the fake chrome bezel all faded off in less than a year's time. Other than those issues the hardware is fine. But the ui lag is persistent throughout touchwiz and too big to ignore. The only way out of that is custom Roms or factory resets ever so often
 
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kadavul said:
4G does not matter. But battery definitely does.
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My friend still using his S4, doesn't game, with lots of calls and messages, occasionally browses, I see him using power bank 2 days a week. Many a times his WhatsApp won't be working because he's in extreme battery saving mode.

So it should last a working day from specifications and software tweaks, but be prepared for using a power bank.
Other active users can give their opinions. I wouldn't have bought it, as the battery issue is a deal breaker for me.
 
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@kadavul, read the horrible ASS stories for OPO and then decide, if your OPO goes to Service centre then the minimum stay period is 1 month and that too if you have a service center in (near) your city else .....
 
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suhailkhan said:
Samsung has earned a lot of flak because of it's budget/mid range. But this one was a flagship once so you're good there.
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No, had they released the snapdragon S4 things would have been better. They were riding on the success of the S3 and dropped the ball. This was what made me look elsewhere otherwise i think i would not have strayed.

For months after people were stuck. Many months later things improved but it left a sour taste. And then the nonsense that happened with the S5. Price drops in two months with the exynos, then introducing the snapdragon three months later. means you do not get the excitement to buy at launch and instead wait three months after. And now with the S6 they remove sd card and battery and mess with the easily maintainable design, quintessential elements of samsung that one took for granted. The only true samsung flagship left is the note and we don't know what the note 5 will be like.
 
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kadavul said:
Some people are asking me to wait for the oneplus two and nexus 5 2015. Anything else on the pipeline?
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Forget the hate, its two years later now so there are workarounds to make the s4 work better.

You said you could not handle the OPO, are you sure this isn't something you can get used to ? if so then you need a smaller device. Service wise samsung will win.

if you can wait, better will come around but that can be many months later. opo when it came out required invites it was months after that it became attainable. If you cannot handle v1, there is no guarantee you will manage with v2.

nexus 2015 will be made by lg. will they cheap out like they did with the nexus 5 because the g2 was certainly a better buy hardware wise. nexus 5 2015 won't be in the 20k range more like 30k if not more. nexus is also for people that can't handle anything besides stock. No skins. Very finicky lot. The slightest bit of lag they start jumping.

What do you use currently btw ?
 
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I've seen amazon couriers with S3 and it still looks like a fine device :)

I 've never bought into this plastic looks like crap argument. These devices are maintainable ie long lasting and the build quality is good. Build quality simply means how well it holds together. Looks is about design.
 
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blr_p said:
I've seen amazon couriers with S3 and it still looks like a fine device :)

I 've never bought into this plastic looks like crap argument. These devices are maintainable ie long lasting and the build quality is good. Build quality simply means how well it holds together. Looks is about design.
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Exactly. Mine has survived quite a few falls. Touchwood. Anyway, bottomline, this is good device at this price point for the OP's requirements if the trade-offs already pointed out aren't of much concern.
That being said, there are other options available. Have you looked at Zenfone 2? Bad camera reviews but there is an exchange offer on Flipkart along with cash back as well.
 
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suhailkhan said:
The Build quality and service of Samsung is far above everyone else. If these 2 factors are important for you, go for S4. The only major gripe being the bloated touchwiz. But if you are not averse to tinkering with your phone, you can always go the custom rom route. I personally own an S3 from last 2+ years and have faced no major issues except the phone getting slow now (again a touchwiz issue which can be overcome by rooting) and battery backup (this will happen with every battery eventually). OPO is a great choice and current price is quite tempting, but if size and looks (I personally find it good looking enough) are an issue, you can go with S4.
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Build Quality facepalm:/
Worst build quality.Name a single phkne after S2.S6 current version is OK and Edge has issues and pink screen problem.

Anyways S4 isn't worth now.

I really don't know about service but build quality is bullshit.
 
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Thanks guys. I ended up getting the Nexus 5. It was on sale at amazon for 19.6k as part of their lightning deal. I used a friend's device and I really liked it. Guess the camera quality is a tradeoff and there is no such thing as a perfect phone. Anyway it'll be a big upgrade from what I was using before (Huawei Ascend Y300). Nearly everyone told me to stay away from the S4 and it seemed like a risk compared to this. And I guess dev support doesn't get better than what the nexus 5 is enjoying.

vyral_143 said:
If can trade off warranty point, imported LG G2 makes much more sense with cost being less than 15k.
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LG G2 really looked like the phone that matched my needs perfectly. But I couldn't find anything on GEB :(
 
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Was trying to figure out what this y300 is and its a step behind the 2013 galaxy core. 512mb ram is very cramped today.

So you upgraded from an entry level 2013 device to a flagship also of the same vintage :)
 
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kadavul said:
Guess the camera quality is a tradeoff and there is no such thing as a perfect phone.
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Actually no, nexus 5 with lollipop is one of very few phones that is completely camera2 api compliant. This means you can shoot in raw. You will have to learn how to process those raw files. raw therapee is a free software that can do the job. otherwise you need lightroom and adobe camera raw. There will be a learning curve.

To demonstrate the night and day difference and incentivise you do check out the processed raw vs stock jpg comparisons in this album at 100% ;)
 
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blr_p said:
Actually no, nexus 5 with lollipop is one of very few phones that is completely camera2 api compliant. This means you can shoot in raw. You will have to learn how to process those raw files. raw therapee is a free software that can do the job. otherwise you need lightroom and adobe camera raw. There will be a learning curve.

To demonstrate the night and day difference and incentivise you do check out the processed raw vs stock jpg comparisons in this album at 100% ;)
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whoa thanks..that is definitely encouraging. I had mentally prepared myself for crappy photos based on what everyone says online.

blr_p said:
generally speaking a flagship from two years ago is a better by than a midrange of today. i think you will be happy with the N5, the form factor is near perfect. Hope you got the 32gb version.
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No, I got the 16b version. More storage would have been nice but I think I'll be able to manage. The 32gb version was above my budget.
 
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