s4 to n5

i decided that enough was enough. even though samsung had made the last few phones i have owned, my most recent purchase in april as an upgrade to my nexus s 4g was not a google branded phone. and my experience with the samsung galaxy s4 has not been good enough for me to stay with it.

i think that even though some of the technical ideas built into the s4 are clever, it has been their tweaks to the operating system that annoy me the most.

things i have hated:

• choosing an app to launch file/object types has the usual prompt asking which one and how often. but samsung includes an additional prompt stating that the choice just made can be undone in the system application settings…EVERYTIME! how about a way to turn that off, k?


• they including a service/app which can’t be stopped or removed that puts an icon in the notification bar when the phone is fully charged. i believe one battery indicator is enough, and there is no need to turn the screen on when it’s fully charged. “hey, i am fully powered, let’s start running that battery down immediately.” if they didn’t also include led indicators for charging and full, the screen on might make a little sense.


• the biggest complaint i have is the bloatware samsung installs on their phones. not being able to remove or even disable the crap i don’t use or need frustrates me enough.


• unlocking/rooting the samsung phone requires a windows app. a WINDOWS piece of software for a linux variant operating system! i can’t emphasize the word “FAIL” strongly enough for that move.


• one preference i had some trouble getting used to was the tactile home button at the bottom rather than the touch counterpart found on other android devices. a power button the the side is one thing, but the need for an physical button seemed unnecessary. (what am i? an apple user?)

these items annoyed me. i tried to accept and power through them, but i couldn’t seem to live without the pure android os.

i did replace their limited touchwiz launcher with nova quite speedily. at least i could control that.

i started eyeing the nexus 5 around the end of last year. the design is very appealing and the display is very sharp! (it seems) the n5 is a bit faster than the s4.

my only complaint about the n5 is that the battery life isn’t as solid as i would have hoped for this generation android device. (the nexus 5 is an LG device.) add to the face that the battery isn’t removable and it might end up being a little frustrating. we’ll see. it wasn’t enough to stop me from switching.

in the end, i opted for the nexus 5. so far, i am loving it!