My useless opinion

[blackterry]

What up all.. ??

So I have had my S4 for 6 months now and have had the full experience. I just feel the need to share my opinion about the phone.

It's truly an amazing phone for sure it has all the bells and whistles. I use almost all the features including the watch which I love.

However there are some bad points to the phone that detract form the good qualities.

First and foremost and this is the big clincher for me the battery life flat out stinks compared to other phones. Yes I know it has a huge screen that I love but constantly having to worry about battery life is a real drag.

The wifi is spotty. it goes in and out constantly. on off.. on off.. not good.

Tough phone with awesome features but I seriously liked my Razr Max HD better . would switch back in a heart beat.

Sorry for my rant.. haha

 

[dezymond]

Thanks for sharing your opinion about the device, always good to hear what others think about it imo.

1. The beauty of the s4 is the battery can be easily swapped out. Maybe buy a 3rd party spare battery and you shouldn't have to worry about battery life. There's also a few battery life saving tips around the forum.

I text a ton throughout the day and usually swap out my battery or do a middle of the day charge in case especially since I spontaneously go out. However, I can make it a whole day if I wanted to stretch out the battery life. I got so many battery packs, car charges, and ways to charge it's almost unnecessary for me to have a spare, but I do because I like swapping to a fully charged battery than dealing with a charging cable.

2. I've never had an issue with wifi, even in public places like coffee shops or car dealerships. If it's your home wifi, make sure your router has the latest firmware and that you're not in a spotty area of your residence.

What did you do with your RMHD? Can't switch back to it now?

 

[Raydee35]

I must be lucky because I don't have either of these problems with my S4. As a matter of fact I bought my S4, put it in a Seidio Obex case and I haven't had to remove the battery once... Not even a single battery pull. I never had my Wifi stop working and my battery is usually at 50% or more after a full day of use. Like I said I must be lucky.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Droid Forums

 

[Caesars]

My s4 didn't have the best battery life, but I too had multiple battery pack and an extended seidio battery to help me make it through the day. I upgraded to the note tho, superb battery life .

Note 3 ~ 5s

 

[leeshor]

I have been able to make enough adjustments to get nearly 2 days from a charge on my S4. Every now and then I see that I'm using more but it;s usually because an app update reset some settings I had changed. But I admit I'm an unusual case. The more a phone is capable of doing the more battery it will likely use doing it.

 

[jspradling7]

If you have "Smart Wifi" turned on then turn it off and see if it settles down. Mine was doing that on-off-on crap and it was driving me nuts so I turned it off and it works fine. And as long as I keep the location services turned off the battery lasts all day.

 

[baboon619]

Battery on mine lasts about 36 hours with just about everything turned on. Huge improvement over my last phone (Dx) which got half a day at best. +1 on that smart wifi, turn it off. Also I started paying attention to what apps were using data while I was out and on 4g. Settings-Connections-Data usage shows what apps use data. Strange how apps just want to use data for no reason. For example amazon was a huge offender. So i went into Application manager and "Turned Off" that app. If I need to use it I turn it back on. I don't recommend doing this for apps you use all the time though. Just my 2cents on battery and data saving.

 

[FunN4Lo]

I must be lucky because I don't have either of these problems with my S4. As a matter of fact I bought my S4, put it in a Seidio Obex case and I haven't had to remove the battery once... Not even a single battery pull. I never had my Wifi stop working and my battery is usually at 50% or more after a full day of use. Like I said I must be lucky.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Droid Forums

Same here. Obex on day one. Haven't taken it out since. I have no wifi issues. I get all day bat life and I don't turn anything off. I stream iHeart a couple hours a day and use GPS to go to several different locations a day. Most days I go 7am-10pm before I plug in. Occasionally I need to plug in by 7pm when I have done more streaming or used GPS longer than normal.

 

[bbtkd]

Battery life depends on what you have for apps, how often you use it and have the screen on, and signal level where you are. If I don't use mine much and have a decent signal I can go at least two days on a charge. The place I work has a sucky signal, which draws the battery down faster. You need to assess what is using the power. I highly recommend Gsam Battery Monitor Pro (free version first). This will tell you what is sucking your power. If battery drain seems high and it is the OS itself using the most power, I'll power cycle the phone and that often clears things up nicely. Another couple of tools that can help your investigation are OS Monitor and System Panel Light. I also use an app called Wifi Matic which remembers the cell towers around places you use Wifi, then it disables Wifi until you get in range of those towers, and turns it off away from those towers. That way it keeps Wifi off until you need it, and does not use more power by using the GPS continually. Works slick. DO NOT USE AN APP KILLER. Totally unnecessary on Android and will only cause problems. Lastly, Juice Defender will save a lot of power by controlling radio use, screen brightness, etc - but at the cost of some usability and the risk of issues.

 

[blackterry]

Well I am going to get my RMHD fixed and maybe use it again simple screen repair is all it needs.

My phone doesn't have a "Smart WiFi" setting so it probably screws with my phone full time.

I use GSam and it says screen is biggest offender even though I have all setting to minimums. Seems like it uses more power with screen dark... Does that make any sense. ??

Also can you disable automatic updates with apps??

Thanks.

 

[Raydee35]

I have a love/hate relationship with Wifi matic. When it works it works great but the problem I have is that it works great for a week and then completely stops working. I end up deleting the app and having to reinstall it.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Droid Forums

 

[bbtkd]

I have a love/hate relationship with Wifi matic. When it works it works great but the problem I have is that it works great for a week and then completely stops working. I end up deleting the app and having to reinstall it.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 using Droid Forums

Twice I've noted that it had not enabled my Wifi when it should have and I just had to turn the Wifi on manually to nudge it.

 

[bbtkd]

Well I am going to get my RMHD fixed and maybe use it again simple screen repair is all it needs.

My phone doesn't have a "Smart WiFi" setting so it probably screws with my phone full time.

I use GSam and it says screen is biggest offender even though I have all setting to minimums. Seems like it uses more power with screen dark... Does that make any sense. ??

Also can you disable automatic updates with apps??

Thanks.

If you use your screen much at all, then it will suck most of your power. I leave auto brightness enabled. Sure shouldn't use more power with screen darker though.

Yes you can disable auto app updates (setting in app store) but I don't believe you can disable auto OS updates unless you root.

 

[blackterry]

If you use your screen much at all, then it will suck most of your power. I leave auto brightness enabled. Sure shouldn't use more power with screen darker though.

Yes you can disable auto app updates (setting in app store) but I don't believe you can disable auto OS updates unless you root.

From here on out I'm only using this phone with no screen !!