Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9500 ~ Ask your question here

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Jayce Ooi
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Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9500 is in the house at last. The octa core Galaxy S4 that loaded with HDPA+ (without LTE) arrives at Malaysia first. No worry, LTE version of Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 will come later. But it will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 instead of Samsung own Exynos 5 Octa SOC. Anyway, it is totally up to personal taste and choice on which version to get. For me, I prefer Exynos 5 Octa with PowerVR SGX544MP3 GPU since no LTE connection at my place yet. It should perform better and faster. Good battery life too thanks to ARM big.LITTLE. Are they true? Let’s find out…

Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9500

Come on, don’t be shy. Ask any question related to Galaxy S4 GT-I9500 here. I will try my best to answer all of them as soon as possible.

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98 COMMENTS

  5. hi, hows the performance so far? any laggyness or stuttering found? n lastly do you think it worth the upgrade from galaxy s3? 🙂

    • Good so far. Samsung UI is smooth but some games like Iron Man 3 lags sometimes.
      Worth to upgrade or not? Can’t answer it now as still need more time to explore it. But its 1080p screen really look great. 😉

  7. 1. how’s the airview scrolling? smooth like touch?
    2. is the wireless charger available by today?
    3. how’s the accuracy of sensor like thermo-hygrometer?
    4. can its display beat iphone5 or new ipad?
    5. is the screen finger print proof?
    6. Getting heat up quckly like HTC one x when playing game or movie?
    7. how about retina detection? sensitive?
    8. Is its Android user friendly like Nexus4?
    9. How about voice commend?
    10. is it micro or nano sim?

    • Wow… Lot of questions. I will try my best to answer them all.

      1. Good. Yes.
      2. No idea. Didn’t look for it.
      3. Look correct here.
      4. On par. But I still prefer iDevices colour accuracy.
      5. Yes.
      6. Getting warm but not heat up like HTC One X.
      7. So far so good.
      8. Huh? For me, there are the same. But S4 is loaded with lot of stuffs.
      9. Pass my tests.
      10. Micro SIM.

  14. Hi Jayce,
    Got a lot of questions, but not on PC, so for now just one, please:

    Is 9500 really without LTE?
    I spoke with the manager of the newly opened Samsung Brand Store in Warsaw, and he was really sure that it will have LTE. At least in Poland, but it shouldn’t differ as it’s the same version, apart from Chinese, Korean and so on versions. Just a normal (GT-I)9500. I was really surprised, since after a brief moment of LTE confirmation on the Internet, most sources started to claim that there’s no LTE in 9500.
    Of course, testing LTE without LTE range could be problematic, so maybe a software info or USSD testing code or some good program for checking internal specs could help. Apart from that, only a REALLY good source in Samsung, but we all know testing by ourselves is the best…

  16. Hi ,

    Pls tell me how’s the battery life.
    That’s the only thing I am curious about octa big.LITTLE.
    They said it will be much better about 70% increased.

    If you can, pls be specific. Cus I’m considering htc one aswell.
    Thanks

  19. just wondering the s-view cover is it a gimmick?

    i mean if i cut a hole on top part of a normal flip leather casing it will perform the same? 😛

  20. Jayce, thank You for answer. If you have LTE after all in 9500, you owe me a beer ; ) But I don’t suppose I’ll be dropping nearby Malaysia soon 😀 Perhaps if WCG will promote something.. then maybe; )

    But to the point: could You please answer some more questions? Dropped by on PC so got some more..:

    1) Is it possible to exchange the SIM card if metal slot is bended a bit? Normally it isn’t possible I think.
    2) VERY important: how is the call quality? I mean mostly the ear-piece, but also the loudspeaker – and of course, the other side (so – microphones). I heard call quality is JUST AVERAGE.. : / Because of the small ear-piece speaker.
    3) Also, while at call quality: how does the microphone noise reduction works? On street for example or in wind..
    4) Did you find the InfraRed usable? Does it work with just any device, or not?
    5) How is the barometer working? I didn’t find its option in S-Health, maybe there’s a dedicated software from Samsung ; I’ve read about SyPressure and pressureNet being quite good programs (one is paid, one is not, if I remember correctly)
    6) MHL 2.0: IF you have the adapter (seems like it’s a new standard) – how is the difference in charging the phone? Supposedly 2.0 is charging much faster.. (2x or so :P) Does the screen on TV reacts better? Last time I checked, even connecting to Samsung TV and putting it into Game Mode gave a slight lag.
    7) A lot.. of questions about accessories that are included with S4: how long is the charging cable? Does its ends are very bendable, or shitty as those from Apple (the cables break easily) ? What is the charging speed of the charger? (Note 2 has whole 2000, while for example S2 has a bit more than 700…) Headphones: how are they comfortable (they don’t appear 100% ear-friendly)? Is the cable really untanglinble? How is the remote working with Apple devices? 😀
    8) Is the pop-up play rescalable? Or is it better to open video app in multi-window?
    9) Are there lags in system while: a) adding a contact b) entering dialer c) closing the browser d) going into browser tabs? (9505 has terrible lags on the last one… like 2-3 seconds)
    10) How is it precise when you use gloves? I found it.. a bit chaotic. Same goes for using a metal pen or other phone (I used and iPhone and it works ; )
    11) Do you have any other accessories beside the default ones? Especially S-View Cover (how are the calls answered/rejected, is the info view in the window customizable?) or Game Pad : P
    12) Did You have any chance to try S-Beam/WiFi Direct between S4 and S4 (and if not, then S4 and S3?) It should work VERY fast, cos it’s 802.11 ac..
    13) The last one 😛 ( I feel ashamed a bit : P) Is installing the flash possible without problems in the default browser? Does installing it changes the embedded YouTube interface ? (the default one is too simple ; only play/pause, full screen on/off and moving through video..)

    Sorry it’s so much, but hopefully I could share something that could be useful for You and everybody by asking those questions : P

  22. Hi, i have in my S4 (i9505) problem with WiFi. Icon is “working” but network is unavailable. When i disconnect and connect WiFi again, everything is ok, but not for long.

  24. Hi Jayce,

    What do you know about this media server issue?
    Referring to xda forum. They said it’s the cause of heating up the phone thus draining the battery power drastically (even up to 2.5 hours for battery life)

    1) Are you having this problem?

    2) How to fix this problem?

    • Hi Limbo, I had this media server issue too. Didn’t see it after factory reset. Maybe I don’t have external SD card inside now. Will monitor and troubleshoot it.

      Do you have external SD card inside?

  25. Hello Jayce,

    I haven’t buy S4 yet,sorry.

    Yes,referring to this link forum

    http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2252978

    They said it is cause due to External SD card and corrupted mp3 something

    I studied in Google to check another kind of this issue,
    It shows that , a lot of people complaining and suffering about battery life for S4 octa can only last for 2.5 hours. They didn’t realize it was the Media issue problem that caused it.

    If you know how to fix this problem,
    We , as reader would be gladly appreciate your assistance.

    • AFAIK: GPU is worse (even comparing to 9505) ;
      screen is mostly worse (color saturation, black, contrast, and so on are better – for the natural color settings, Samsung has Adobe RGB) – apart from HTC’s display being brighter (but still behaving worse in day-light) ;
      battery is sometimes better, sometimes worse – browsing time is quite better on HTC, talk time is on par mostly, standby time and energy saving is better on S4 ;
      as for camera, it’s a mixed bag.
      Basically: better/greater FoV (field of view) on HTC both in photos and in videos (especially in 1080p when comparing to S4 (the view is ‘cut’ on this phone) AND optical image stabilization which works really good on HTC, AND videos (in good/average light) are plainly better than S4’s (check for yourselves on GSMArena (or eg Mobile-Review or others) for good examples, comparison is quite clear).

      However, when it comes to the photos (tho, not speaking of FoV, and having some luck on S4, as its digital stabilization is not good, HTC makes very ‘even’ photos), S4 wins easily in all departments. Videos are comparable in low light, on a side note.

  28. Hey Jayce,

    So the diff between GT I9505 & I9500 is just the CPU & LTE support rite ??
    In your opinion, which should i buy??

  29. Hey,

    how much is the GT I9500 and the I9505 16GB in your country?
    The GT I 9505 16GB (LTE) costs in germany about 600 Euros

    THX and very nice site ! HTC HD2 for live 😀

    greetings from germany

  30. Hi jayce,

    Do you know when S4 32GB will be come out?
    I am waiting for 32GB then straight away dash to the shop to get it.

  33. Hi jayce, i have samsung galaxy s2 and now i want to buy s4..but everyone is saying s4 is not upto the mark…as you might know asphalt 7, modern combat 4, race illegal:high speed lag sometime in s2.I want powerful phone like s4..Many people saying s4 is pure copy of s3 with some upgrade…as i don’t have s3 i should not bother about those..Just want to know your opinion should i buy s4 or not !!

  34. hello jayce is 2gb of ram is enough for s4 for regular use ?? or it became slow ?

    and if i disable boatware than will some ram become free or it still reserved ?

  36. Sorry for disturbing you once again bro,but i want to know that Android 4.3 support opengl 3.0..so when Samsung release 4.3 update for S4 then will it support opengl 3.0 or opengl 3.0 require any hardware support..? because From a youtube video I saw old nexus 4 running opengl 3.0 test…..

  37. My s4(I9500) didnot recieve 4.3 update till now.. I brought it in malaysia but i am studying in russia.. Both country recieve update long ago

  38. Hello…
    How do I know if my galaxy S4 is the I9500 model. I’m trying to buy a new case and some tell me it has to be that model. I don’t see it anywhere…probably a dumb question lol.

  40. Hi
    My S4 thermistor temperature (battery temperature) is -25 and when i want charge my phone the “battery temperature is too low”appear and stop charging
    please help me

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