galaxy s5, htc one M8, LG G3 ?

Razr MAXX had 3300mah with case holding 4.3'''screen; most of the premium phones today have 5''+ displays with much bigger cases

There is space, but for some reason they don't want to make beefier phone

Apple has much better control of the manufactured hardware since they are making it; so it is pretty easy for them to support with newer versions of the OS; hardware is good but it comes with "apple tax"

What I believe is that it comes down to if you are willing to dive in the Apple ecosystem with all its advantages and disadvantages.

Which is up to you. I just know that I don't want to.

I was referring to the android updates. When it comes to those all manufacturers suck.

On the other hand, I don't think you are really fair to Samsung. I will not defend their build quality (I really can't), or their software support; but credit when credit due - they have been pushing other manufacturers to up their game; Galaxy 1 was good, galaxy 2 was revolutionary, Note 1,2,3 have been general success. And now, even though I agree this 5 doesn't really justify its price tag, it is still pushing other phones to be waterproof (which is the trend I would really like to continue)

What I would like to see:

- huge battery; I am talking about 4000mAh+
- sd card slot
- good build quality; Plastic can be used, but it has to be well made
- software support

optional:

- removable battery would be nice, but I can leave without this
- waterproof

what I am willing to sacrifice:

- Screen resolutions over 1080p (which seems to be the trend now); for smaller screens probably even 720p is enough. In fact if it can increase my battery life I would preffer it
- thinness; to manufacturers - don't be afraid to make beefier phone if you are going to cram a bigger battery inside
- Super-mega-ultra! camera with 123142 jigga pixels; just decent camera is enough, I will make better pictures anyway with 100$ camera without crappy phone optics
- fancy sensors for pulse, blood pressure, movement or measuring size and frequency of my farts. It really will not be the "killer feature" that makes me buy
- latest and greatest CPU that squeezes the last drop of performance in benchmark tests...which I don't really need in everyday use. Don't get me wrong, I would like snappy phone as much as the next guy, but not for the downside of battery usage and extra premium price
- fancy speakers; If I am in quietness of my home I will hear it with crappy ones also; And people who use it in public should be shot anyway

I agree with you with Apple, they are assholes, but they make good hardware. New one from HTC is really, really good. Sony is back in the game. LG has some nice phones. Motorola is also really nice (Razr MAXX is serving me nicely), but we shall see how they continue under new management;

Samsung lives on reputation, but not for long. If they continue this trend with sub-par premium offers, they will have to persuade customers in some other way to buy their phones (hint: Tizen).

You may end up liking them

I don't know about those but my Razr MAXX is still 4.1.2...and it is not exactly an "old phone"

And let us not forget that Motorola was owned by Google...and they still didn't manage to update it in that time

Yeah....but name manufacturer that is better then them?

They all suck.

With galaxy line (because of the number of units they sell) - you at least know you are covered with cyanogen (or some other) mod.

Thank you kind stranger for this wonderful review, so I can now follow slashdot's best practices - of not actually RTFA

I am not sure I follow your point.

You are arguing that it does matter who makes the software, yet take examples of the unchecked software to be examples of supporting your case. Even if you get down to hardware level, you are back to square 1 - unchecked code.

As for the build process, that only depends how thick is your tin-foil hat. I don't see any reason why Soviets are going to be any worse in producing your hardware then 'muricans or Chinese.

Mod parent up.

It is not who makes it, it is how it is made.

No

W00t!

Mesa

I would put "headphones included" as a minus; rather I get headphones I like + it doesn't become expensive paperweight in case one of the headphones goes funky

I stand corrected. From the wikipedia:

"It is the only rocket-powered fighter aircraft ever to have been operational."

Seriously, you are going to tell the pilot: "ok you have to spend ALL of your fuel before you land...because if you don't it will burn all of your skin...that is, if you are lucky not to catch fire". At least kamikaze pilots didn't have doubt about their plane flying them to death.

As for Valkyire, for a plane that costed more then 10x its worth in gold it should be expected operational use, not the gathering of "aeronautical data". No mather what was the change in military doctrine, after building working prototypes, couple of more planes could have need used for fast-response operations. If you think that is unreasonable, I will remind you that sr-71, plane that had similar flying characteristics, but much lower cargo load was in use until 1998. Which brings us to real reason - plane had problems: pieces of intake flew into the engine, wheels would lock up on landing, and electric currents where causing corrosion of the plane damaging the structural integrity. One of the problems that Concord technicians noted was difficulty in maintaining 2 internal engines...I can only imagine what would they say about Valkyires 6. The one prototype that survived was limited to 2.5mach speed because the honey-comb panels wouldn't really sustain 3+mach speeds.

Tomcat? Best time-to climb performance? No. Manuverability per size? Hell no. Phoenix missile was awesome, but plane doesn't take credit for it. For its service best plane that it took down was MIG-23...which is on this very list of "fails". For the way it looks, the plane is pure pornography, but for anything else...

And F-35....you are really going to defend that one? The one that can’t turn, can’t climb, can’t run?. The one that its cost is in the trillions? Seriously? Don't need to google, just check slashdot for the list of fails here, here and here it has been already discussed in the detail.