Get an S3 now or wait for the S4?

Topic title says it all. Should I upgrade my phone to a Galaxy S3 or wait for the S4 which is rumored to be out in 2-3 months?

The S4 is nothing but tons of rumors right now, but they all are indicating an early 2013 launch of the phone. I am going to keep my Verizon plan so I would be getting an S3 with ICS 4.0 instead of Jelly Bean (despite constant rumors Jelly Bean will be hitting Verizon's S3 soon).

There is no other Android phone I'm really looking at. The S3 seems to be everything I want. I considered an iPhone 5 but then wrote it off as crazy thoughts as I'm not a fan of iOS at all (I have an iPad, and the thing is great except for its OS).

Any suggestions?

I would just get the S3. Nobody knows when the S4 is actually coming and the S3 is still a great phone. That being said have you bothered looking into the Nexus4 or just no interest in it?

I would just get the S3. Nobody knows when the S4 is actually coming and the S3 is still a great phone. That being said have you bothered looking into the Nexus4 or just no interest in it?

TwistedShade

[QUOTE="TwistedShade"]

I would just get the S3. Nobody knows when the S4 is actually coming and the S3 is still a great phone. That being said have you bothered looking into the Nexus4 or just no interest in it?

mystic_knight

I'm sure it varies by person but I got my S2 back in March despite the S3 being 3 month's away and I still don't hold any regret over it. And now I figure by the Time I can upgrade again (October of next year) It'll be a great time with all the new phones having just came out.

Wait for the GS4. The hardware jump is enough to justify waiting.

The GS4 will also have support for OpenGL ES 3.0 and OpenCL 1.1.

Galaxy S3 was launched in may and then the verizon version came a month later. So you are looking at a 6 months wait, since the GS3 is still selling so well I dont see why samsung would cut its life to 10 months.

Its really not recommended to wait that long in the mobile world and you know that. There is no better android phone on verizon and since you are well aware of lackluster OTA support on verizon so you would be happy with your phone.

The only limitation in S3 is the amount of ram, you are going to sometimes get launcher refresh because of it but games and apps wont have a problem.

There is no better android phone on verizon.Gambler_3

[QUOTE="Gambler_3"] There is no better android phone on verizon.mystic_knight

And Droid dna has only 12GB memory with no SD card, thats unacceptable with a 1080p screen.

Thats fine but always buy the best on launch and you generally wont regret it, buy the phone that was the best 4 months ago, and it is more so of a regret due to having better at time of purchase.mystic_knight

I bought an S3 but included in my plan is a way to get roughly 50% off retail of a new phone, so if the S4 is really all that great I'll pay for it.

I just couldn't handle my Thunderbolt anymore.

Oh I forgot the verizon S3 is different. Well you do get a slightly inferior chipset but actually the 2GB ram is gonna make up for it and possibly more.

Oh I forgot the verizon S3 is different. Well you do get a slightly inferior chipset but actually the 2GB ram is gonna make up for it and possibly more.

Gambler_3

[QUOTE="Gambler_3"]

Oh I forgot the verizon S3 is different. Well you do get a slightly inferior chipset but actually the 2GB ram is gonna make up for it and possibly more.

mystic_knight

Why not the Nexus 4?

It currently has the most powerful SoC, a great non-pentile IPS display, superb audio quality and you get updates directly from Google. When Android 5.0 comes out, your S4 might not get it for a long, long time (or at all). The Nexus 4 will get it the week it comes out.

Why not the Nexus 4?

It currently has the most powerful SoC, a great non-pentile IPS display, superb audio quality and you get updates directly from Google. When Android 5.0 comes out, your S4 might not get it for a long, long time (or at all). The Nexus 4 will get it the week it comes out.

PinkiePirate

- glass back
- no 32GB version and no SD card slot
- terrible battery life
- throttling issues due to overheating(perhaps contributing to the bad battery life)
- takes a ridiculous time to fully charge(and obviously doesnt help the fact that the battery life is bad to begin with)
- camera isnt as good as the competition.

Dont know if LG goofed up or google but this certainly hasnt turned out to be the device I was expecting it to be when it was announced.

And mind you it may have the most powerful SoC but it isnt exclusive to it, many other phones are already coming with the same chipset. And who told you superb audio quality? No current-gen android phone has superb audio quality.

[QUOTE="PinkiePirate"]

Why not the Nexus 4?

It currently has the most powerful SoC, a great non-pentile IPS display, superb audio quality and you get updates directly from Google. When Android 5.0 comes out, your S4 might not get it for a long, long time (or at all). The Nexus 4 will get it the week it comes out.

Gambler_3

- glass back
- no 32GB version and no SD card slot
- terrible battery life
- throttling issues due to overheating(perhaps contributing to the bad battery life)
- takes a ridiculous time to fully charge(and obviously doesnt help the fact that the battery life is bad to begin with)
- camera isnt as good as the competition.

Dont know if LG goofed up or google but this certainly hasnt turned out to be the device I was expecting it to be when it was announced.

And mind you it may have the most powerful SoC but it isnt exclusive to it, many other phones are already coming with the same chipset. And who told you superb audio quality? No current-gen android phone has superb audio quality.

None of those are real problems. Most of the problems are software issues that have been fixed by the guys over at XDA. The Chrome browser is the reason the N4 scored low on the web performance and battery life tests.

Also, the Nexus 4 has an excellent DAC, which puts it's audio quality up there with the iPhone 5 and the GS3 with the Wolfson DAC. There's an entire thread on the N4's sound quality here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1962872

[QUOTE="Gambler_3"]

[QUOTE="PinkiePirate"]

Why not the Nexus 4?

It currently has the most powerful SoC, a great non-pentile IPS display, superb audio quality and you get updates directly from Google. When Android 5.0 comes out, your S4 might not get it for a long, long time (or at all). The Nexus 4 will get it the week it comes out.

PinkiePirate

- glass back
- no 32GB version and no SD card slot
- terrible battery life
- throttling issues due to overheating(perhaps contributing to the bad battery life)
- takes a ridiculous time to fully charge(and obviously doesnt help the fact that the battery life is bad to begin with)
- camera isnt as good as the competition.

Dont know if LG goofed up or google but this certainly hasnt turned out to be the device I was expecting it to be when it was announced.

And mind you it may have the most powerful SoC but it isnt exclusive to it, many other phones are already coming with the same chipset. And who told you superb audio quality? No current-gen android phone has superb audio quality.

None of those are real problems. Most of the problems are software issues that have been fixed by the guys over at XDA. The Chrome browser is the reason the N4 scored low on the web performance and battery life tests.

Also, the Nexus 4 has an excellent DAC, which puts it's audio quality up there with the iPhone 5 and the GS3 with the Wolfson DAC. There's an entire thread on the N4's sound quality here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1962872

The memory, glass back, camera and charging time are infact not software issues.

Talking about battery the video playback endurance and standy time is terrible.

And the audio output is marred by the same issue as all current android phones,

Clean audio output is on the quiet side

http://www.gsmarena.com/google_nexus_4-review-860p8.php

The volume levels are not good and no amount of "clean audio" can make up for that. In that thread most people are complaining about the volume level as well.

Its coming tomorrow.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/13/verizon-samsung-galaxy-s3-jelly-bean/

[QUOTE="PinkiePirate"]

[QUOTE="Gambler_3"]I am afraid the nexus 4 has turned out to be a disappointment. There are far too many bad things about it.

- glass back
- no 32GB version and no SD card slot
- terrible battery life
- throttling issues due to overheating(perhaps contributing to the bad battery life)
- takes a ridiculous time to fully charge(and obviously doesnt help the fact that the battery life is bad to begin with)
- camera isnt as good as the competition.

Dont know if LG goofed up or google but this certainly hasnt turned out to be the device I was expecting it to be when it was announced.

And mind you it may have the most powerful SoC but it isnt exclusive to it, many other phones are already coming with the same chipset. And who told you superb audio quality? No current-gen android phone has superb audio quality.

Gambler_3

None of those are real problems. Most of the problems are software issues that have been fixed by the guys over at XDA. The Chrome browser is the reason the N4 scored low on the web performance and battery life tests.

Also, the Nexus 4 has an excellent DAC, which puts it's audio quality up there with the iPhone 5 and the GS3 with the Wolfson DAC. There's an entire thread on the N4's sound quality here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1962872

The memory, glass back, camera and charging time are infact not software issues.

Talking about battery the video playback endurance and standy time is terrible.

And the audio output is marred by the same issue as all current android phones,

Clean audio output is on the quiet side

http://www.gsmarena.com/google_nexus_4-review-860p8.php

The volume levels are not good and no amount of "clean audio" can make up for that. In that thread most people are complaining about the volume level as well.

The charging time, battery life and standby time are software issues. When I upgraded my Galaxy Nexus to 4.2.1, battery life took a huge hit. My phone was snappier and had battery life that was twice as good on 4.1.2. 4.2 feels like it was rushed to get the N4 and N10 out before the holidays.

Personally i would wait for the s4 which will be cuttin edge tech when it does arrive rather gettin an s3 just for the sake of having a new phone right now.

My current contract is due for renewal in june next year so im hopin to get a galaxy s4 to replace my current s2, truth be told though im still more than happy with the s2 it does absolutely everythin i want from it and its still plenty quick enough even when compared to brand new phones today.

Ive had samsung phones for a while now so am lookin to stay with them unless somethin completely ground breaking comes up between now and june.

I predict the Galaxy S4 will have a quad or 8-core A-15 Krait CPU.

The Galaxy S4 probably won't be that much faster than the Nexus 4 in CPU performance, but I am almost certain the GPU will be unbeatable when it comes out.

^ The only planned 8 core from Samsung will follow ARM's big.LITTLE concept. It isn't even a true 8 core, it uses 4 Cortex A7 cores and 4 Cortex A15 cores.

The S4 is likely to use Exynos 5440 or 5450.

Thought about getting the S3/Note 2 when it's time to renew the contract, but just decided to wait since my Captivate still serves me well. S4 is definitely what I'm waiting for though.

Waiting > impulse purchase, every single time.

Galaxy S3 was launched in may and then the verizon version came a month later. So you are looking at a 6 months wait, since the GS3 is still selling so well I dont see why samsung would cut its life to 10 months.

Its really not recommended to wait that long in the mobile world and you know that. There is no better android phone on verizon and since you are well aware of lackluster OTA support on verizon so you would be happy with your phone.

The only limitation in S3 is the amount of ram, you are going to sometimes get launcher refresh because of it but games and apps wont have a problem.

Gambler_3