Android smartphone showdown

[rpm]

Android smartphone showdown

There’s a new Nexus on the block – here’s how it stacks up against the other heavy-hitters in the Android camp

 

[Nether]

I guess the CPUs coming out now are more than enough for a phone at this moment.

I kinda like Apple's strategy on this, less cpu, more gpu.

No wonder they are looking at replacing intel chips with amd ones. (rumors?)

 

[Avenue]

You forgot to add a last row: available in SA- NO- oh F$*%

 

[TJ99]

8/16GB with no MicroSD slot? That's pretty damn pathetic in this day and age. Why do all the Nexus phones (apart from the first one) suck so much?

 

[Randux]

8/16GB with no MicroSD slot? That's pretty damn pathetic in this day and age. Why do all the Nexus phones (apart from the first one) suck so much?

Apple tendancies

 

[masontdk]

Apple tendancies

But atleast they offer up to 64GB versions and not just 8/16GB.

 

[AlphaJohn]

But atleast they offer up to 64GB versions and not just 8/16GB.

Have you seen the size of a normal iOS app vs an Android one?
My normal iOS apps clock in at 10MB Android 1MB
Games(Not the data files) Clock in at 100MB Android 20MB

I can see why iPhones come in 64GB versions. Retina UI + icons has its drawbacks.

 

[TJ99]

Have you seen the size of a normal iOS app vs an Android one?
My normal iOS apps clock in at 10MB Android 1MB
Games(Not the data files) Clock in at 100MB Android 20MB

I can see why iPhones come in 64GB versions. Retina UI + icons has its drawbacks.

You do know "retina" isn't an actual thing right? As in it has no proper definition, it's just some marketing term they stick on stuff..

Besides, this Nexus has a much higher resolution than the iphone 4s or 5 so following your logic the apps should be bigger and thus require more space. They don't, but 16GB on something that's meant to show off the newest version of Android is a joke, plain and simple.

 

[GreyBush]

Listing specs does not equal a shootout.

And boom! As usual any cellphone thread turns into a discussion about apple.

 

[AlmightyBender]

8/16GB with no MicroSD slot? That's pretty damn pathetic in this day and age. Why do all the Nexus phones (apart from the first one) suck so much?

To keep costs low

 

[cerebus]

Why didn't you add a price row in there? It's kind of a major factor. The Nexus4 competes on an extremely aggressive pricing level compared to the others. And it's not just an IPS it's some kind of Super blah blah IPS screen with subtile blah blahs as well. Not a great comparison overall.

 

[TJ99]

To keep costs low

Sure, if the costs were low that would make sense. The Nexus tablet was pretty cheap but the phones normally cost about the same as the competition. And is adding a card slot really THAT expensive anyway? Not just referring to this phone in particular, the Samsung Nexus also lacked an SD card slot, and that wasn't cheap.

 

[GreyBush]

Why didn't you add a price row in there? It's kind of a major factor. The Nexus4 competes on an extremely aggressive pricing level compared to the others. And it's not just an IPS it's some kind of Super blah blah IPS screen with subtile blah blahs as well. Not a great comparison overall.

Agree it actually tells me nothing... take photos with the devices and give opinions on which is better, load a benching program and post the results, give opinions on the interface and snappiness of apps. Thats a shootout.

 

[GreyBush]

Sure, if the costs were low that would make sense. The Nexus tablet was pretty cheap but the phones normally cost about the same as the competition. And is adding a card slot really THAT expensive anyway? Not just referring to this phone in particular, the Samsung Nexus also lacked an SD card slot, and that wasn't cheap.

I think the problem is keeping the size down, with built in storage they can put it anywhere on the circuit board, it doesn't have to be on the outer edge in a convenient place in a seperate holder with a latching mechanism. You can quickly see why its easier, cheaper and allows a smaller form factor than removable storage.

 

[AlphaJohn]

You do know "retina" isn't an actual thing right? As in it has no proper definition, it's just some marketing term they stick on stuff..

Besides, this Nexus has a much higher resolution than the iphone 4s or 5 so following your logic the apps should be bigger and thus require more space. They don't, but 16GB on something that's meant to show off the newest version of Android is a joke, plain and simple.

Its not a ting as such but its more like a term to use for high PPI and icons/UI Elements for it. To give an example of what I am referring to, when a simple icon is

this big, then you can just imagine how the rest of the custom FX in the app affect the file size. Android on the other hand scales most of its icons and UI. (Normally not as detailed.)

For reference you can look at the app in my example.
Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.airbnb.android&hl=en 7.3MB
iOS https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/airbnb/id401626263?mt=8 28.1 MB

 

[cerebus]

Sure, if the costs were low that would make sense. The Nexus tablet was pretty cheap but the phones normally cost about the same as the competition. And is adding a card slot really THAT expensive anyway? Not just referring to this phone in particular, the Samsung Nexus also lacked an SD card slot, and that wasn't cheap.

Maybe it's a Nexus 'thing', who knows? The current direction of Nexus devices seems to be to make super high spec screens, decent bodies and top end SoC's, then chop every single else thing off and sell at cost. Highly suspect business model but they're obviously selling like Big Macs.

 

[TJ99]

I think the problem is keeping the size down, with built in storage they can put it anywhere on the circuit board, it doesn't have to be on the outer edge in a convenient place in a seperate holder with a latching mechanism. You can quickly see why its easier, cheaper and allows a smaller form factor than removable storage.

Makes sense, until you look at the size. It's only very slightly smaller than a Galaxy SIII (which has 32/64GB and a card slot AND the same battery capacity), but thicker and heavier. In fact if you calculate the total volumes, it's a bit bigger than an SIII.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

The Nexus I've got will allow you to use external USB storage (if you can get an USB adapter).

So in theory it makes more sense as you can have hundreds of 16Gb flash drives, and only need to plug it in/eject it to watch movies etc.

Not quite sure how well this arrangement will work in RealLife™ - but it do make sense, now you don't need to switch off, remove SD memory, insert new SD memory etc etc.

 

[GreyBush]

Makes sense, until you look at the size. It's only very slightly smaller than a Galaxy SIII (which has 32/64GB and a card slot AND the same battery capacity), but thicker and heavier. In fact if you calculate the total volumes, it's a bit bigger than an SIII.

But if it had removable storage it would be even bigger or have less battery capacity and probably cost a bit more than it does.

 

[TJ99]

The Nexus I've got will allow you to use external USB storage (if you can get an USB adapter).

So in theory it makes more sense as you can have hundreds of 16Gb flash drives, and only need to plug it in/eject it to watch movies etc.

Not quite sure how well this arrangement will work in RealLife™ - but it do make sense, now you don't need to switch off, remove SD memory, insert new SD memory etc etc.

Again, the SIII (and most other newish Androids) can do this as well. You can plug in lots of other USB stuffs too, even PS3 controllers and the like. I think cerebus has (surprisingly) got it right. There must be some strategy behind it, it can't be for practical reasons since other phones are smaller, just as powerful, and have more storage.