Vietnam made Galaxy S4 i9500 Deep Black, really worth it @18,000 ??

[mikael_schiffer]

Firstly, i would like to hear from actual S4 users or people who personally know S4 users

Secondly, are there proper custom ROMs like CM11/12 on this phone. Working fully 100% no crash no fail

Thirdly, is there any phone which can compare to it in camera department, under Rs20k . I see lots of camera comparisons on youtube and it shows to have better overall quality than iphone 5S (which is a huge achievement)

Fourthly, the deadly heating issue. People say disabling useless features like Smart Stay and what not completely or to an extent, makes the heat issue tolerable (by android standards). So are those people being biased, or does those feature disabling trick actually work?

Finally, Is there any other 5" or 4.7" phone that can beat this phone in overall features , under Rs 20,000 ????

 

[ithehappy]

Would my comment count here? S4 i9500 was my 30th phone, well if that gives me any credibility. I used it for a good eight and a half months.

Now about your queries,

CM compatibility? No idea! I personally dislike CM and have absolutely no idea about it. But you can visit XDA anyway.

How is the camera? Well it's damn good, that's how I want to put it. Now I have no idea if some new phones popping out nowadays have better camera or not, but again, you can go to GSMA and check the samples. But DO NOT expect great low light images (talking about Xperia Z3 etc. here) but the HDR mode does the job just fine.

Heating issue? What the heck is that? Some people expect an Octa core phone to run cool in our ambient when you do CPU/GPU intensive tasks? Anyway, no, I didn't have any heating issues, at least those were not issues in my dictionary. Yes, the earpiece would get a little hot if you talk for more than half an hour, but which phone is there which acts differently? At least I haven't had any such model!

About your final query, no idea, and I can't and won't compare Apples with Oranges.

Take a note though, I was extremely angry with the phone after using it for eight months, because I was starting to hate TouchWiz. The main problem was with the TouchWiz stock lockscreen, the time there would not update with the system time, it would stuck at an earlier time and that lead to me to miss office at least three days. That was my main reason to sell the phone, and amongst other reasons there was the lack of support from XDA devs, especially for the Exynos model. I am not talking about a custom ROM or kernel here, but those flashable zips which fix a lot of problems (for me it was the flashable zip which would fix the broken screen mirroring which was caused for using a custom kernel). Overall TouchWiz was becoming unbearable for me, I simple hated that, period.

So then I bought the Moto X, then HTC M7 and after having brilliant experiences with them I am now back with Note 3, and get this straight, I am not moving to anything else, at least not in the next one to two year period. Be assured, whatever you get, you will make compromises either here or there. I just made which was less in number, that's all.

Now I don't know what type of user you are, but if you are one of those heavy users (aka Power users) then I suggest you to get the Snapdragon model (no, not because the chip is better, because of dev support) over Exynos model, but in that you will lose warranty, if that matters to you. If you don't care about warranty then you can also get the GPE of the S4, well if you could find them anywhere.

Oh by the way, if I have read right it has already got the official Lollipop update, and I can assure you its a great update. I mean those micro-stuttering which were there present on TW version of KK, is almost gone from LP version of TW. Well maybe due to the runtime change, but I don't know. That lockscreen clock issue has also been sorted out, if you care about that.

To put it simply, yes, S4 at 18k is more than worth it. You will get a gorgeous display, a good enough camera, a phone with compact size, and the points which no one will tell you, a phone with great SAR value (it matters to me), very good call quality, a LED notifier, a camera lens glass which you needn't to worry about getting scratched in whatever way you use it etc., what you won't get, a near stock Android experience, a great build quality (talking about HTCs here, nothing else).

Anything else?

 

[kkn13]

Firstly, i would like to hear from actual S4 users or people who personally know S4 users

Secondly, are there proper custom ROMs like CM11/12 on this phone. Working fully 100% no crash no fail

Thirdly, is there any phone which can compare to it in camera department, under Rs20k . I see lots of camera comparisons on youtube and it shows to have better overall quality than iphone 5S (which is a huge achievement)

Fourthly, the deadly heating issue. People say disabling useless features like Smart Stay and what not completely or to an extent, makes the heat issue tolerable (by android standards). So are those people being biased, or does those feature disabling trick actually work?

Finally, Is there any other 5" or 4.7" phone that can beat this phone in overall features , under Rs 20,000 ????

Id say get the CM phone itself for a CM experience
One Plus One meets all your requirements and is a well proven handset
only thing is display is 5.5 inch

another good phone is the HTC Desire 820

I personally dont like samsung phones and given a choice,id take the above two handsets,both look and perform very well for the price and are flagship-like in many ways
820 can pass off as a 40k phone,thats how good it looks and performs

 

[AndroidFan]

Firstly, i would like to hear from actual S4 users or people who personally know S4 users

Secondly, are there proper custom ROMs like CM11/12 on this phone. Working fully 100% no crash no fail

Thirdly, is there any phone which can compare to it in camera department, under Rs20k . I see lots of camera comparisons on youtube and it shows to have better overall quality than iphone 5S (which is a huge achievement)

Fourthly, the deadly heating issue. People say disabling useless features like Smart Stay and what not completely or to an extent, makes the heat issue tolerable (by android standards). So are those people being biased, or does those feature disabling trick actually work?

Finally, Is there any other 5" or 4.7" phone that can beat this phone in overall features , under Rs 20,000 ????

Galaxy S4 phones had a not-so-perfect exynos processor. Samsung was still learning the big.LITTLE architecture of ARM design, and the chip was experimenal. That explains the heating issue. If you are an average user, this phone would do fine. But then, if you are an average user, you will be more than happy with any decent phone, like the 6k Redmi 1S.

IMO, OnePlus One is a better phone in your price range. I would say OnePlus One is even better than the Galaxy S5. There are other smaller brands like the Lenovo Vibe X2, Huawei Honor 6 and Xiaomi Mi4 in that general price range that you should check out. Of course, read the reviews before buying.

Cheers!

 

[$hadow]

At this budget investing in One plus one would be a far better idea. Or desire 820

 

[mikael_schiffer]

I already have One Plus One, i want a compact phone, something like 4.7 inch phone. I held the S4 and i liked the compact body and the leather finish.
The desire 820 is too big..

The phones u all mentioned have crappy servicing. Honor 6, Mi4 and Lenovo Vibe dont have CM12. I want the CM11/12 experience of One Plus on a smaller and lighter device, with camera quality better than One Plus One..

 

[kamikaz]

Mi4 has cm, unofficial with glitches,
It also has almost perfect aosp lollipop 5.0.2 but the 5.1 is still a wip
Mi4 and mi3 shares same sources, I guess, since whatever that's being posted for mi3 works in mi4 and vice versa
So with the deadline for releasing kernel sources for mi3 almost up we can hope it might work for mi4

That said if you are lookin for a compact phone mi4 and s4 is a good option, I think the zenphone 2 might be an option too when it is released

 

[$hadow]

Than you should buy S4

 

[kunalgujarathi]

Get Sony Z3 Compact imported version.

 

[mikael_schiffer]

i reallly want that too but 25,000 bucks..
i want something below 20,000

 

[ankushv]

I have a s4 . Using it for a year . 95% of the time no heating issues . Of course I never play games . Only 3g data , browsing and WiFi . Awesome full HD amoled display . Good build quality . Worth the price for sure . Major drawback is that the battery lasts just about a day under light to moderate usage under mixed , WiFi , calls and 3g data . I have a s3 and note 1 too . Both have better battery life than my s4 .