OT: iPhone5 vs Galaxy SIII... who ya got?

[AJC88]

Although I had the S2, and now S3 and love it, for your needs the iphone5 may be a better fit.

That's what I'm gathering through all this.

 

[Chuck]

Had a Motorola Droid2 for 2 years. I liked it just fine. I will miss the keyboard, but it was time to move on. I ordered an iPhone 5. I use my iPad religiously personally and for work so I wanted one OS if possible. It was tough because I love the Samsung commercials.

One thing I didn't like about Android is fragmentation. My Droid is a few updates behind with no chance of getting updated. I think even the GIII is lagging on getting updated.

I'm not looking forward yo going to Apple Maps over Android's turn-by-turn app.

Options are so much better than a couple years ago. Competition is good.

 

[CTMike]

For whatever it's worth, my bro works for Samsung... and his daily phone is an iPhone.

http://gizmodo.com/5946599/a-week-with-the-iphone-5

 

[Excalibur]

I had both.

Androids seem to have more features and more power. However they are notoriously glitchy. They will freeze and require rebooting and do funny stuff but have cool features and be fast. Also. Androids are friendly to file sharing. Etc.

iPhone. Very smooth. Thy is what u pay for. A phone that works flawlessly. You are a little more controlled by apple but they work great and are smooth

Not for nothing but my first iPhone froze constantly. My most recent one not as much, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it flawless.

Haven't tried a droid platform. I find the iPhone easy to use, and it meets my meager needs.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

I have the RAZR Max and i like it. Compared it to the Galaxy III....Took me 5 minutes to realize i bought the inferior Droid. Just my two cents.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

One thing I didn't like about Android is fragmentation. My Droid is a few updates behind with no chance of getting updated. I think even the GIII is lagging on getting updated.

This is the downside of Android, with there being so many different phones to update. Though the lag time is much more on Verizon/Sprint's end than it is on Google's. The GNexus had Jellybean released for it in July, I just got it at the end of September from VZW over the air. GIII is apparently next in line for JB.

 

[Revrat]

Loving my droid new RAZR M. Was going to wait for the MAXX but decided to go with the smaller footprint which suited me fine on my droid X. I now have a much smaller phone with the same screen size And it was practically free. It's already rootable but I'm going to wait until Jelly Bean hits the M to root it. I honestly would be bored to death with an iPhone. I can't wait for my little Dual Core HDMI Ice Cream Sandwich stick to get here from China to make my TV into an android device. The OS is just fun to play with to see how far you can take it.

 

[junglehusky]

Is it still true that you can't replace the battery of an iphone? I'm sure the battery is good, but that still would be a minus in my book. I'd prefer to have the option of replacing the battery if it goes bad in 2 years instead of buying a whole phone. But then I'm the type to keep my gadgets as long as possible, I just joined the smartphone world a year ago (with a lower end Samsung Exhibit II).

One possible advantage of android if you have T-mobile - you can set up wi-fi calling with your home / work wireless. Your phone will work exactly the same when using wi-fi calling, it's completely automatic, but it helps if you are in an area / building with bad or no reception. There's another company called Republic Wireless that's doing unlimited minutes for 20 bucks a month if you use most of your calls/data on wi-fi... but maybe you don't want to switch providers which is understandable.

 

[AJC88]

It's already rootable but I'm going to wait until Jelly Bean hits the M to root it. I honestly would be bored to death with an iPhone. I can't wait for my little Dual Core HDMI Ice Cream Sandwich stick to get here from China to make my TV into an android device. The OS is just fun to play with to see how far you can take it.

Now let's try that all again in idiot speak

 

[CL82]

For what it is worth, I found it easier and more intuitive to do doct downloading and opening on my Droid but I admittedly don't have a lot of iPhone experience. I also didn't like routing my pictures and video through iTunes but that's not an issue if you already use it.

 

[Johnny Mac]

Now let's try that all again in idiot speak

Here's my weak attempt to clarify...

Apple makes the operating system (newest being iOS 6) and the hardware (iPhone 5). So when Apple decides to upgrade the operating system, it is already customized for the only hardware that runs it...simple.

With the Android operating system, there are several hardware manufacturers (Samsung, LG, HTC, Motorola, etc.) that run the operating system. Every upgrade to the Android operating system has to be customized for each device that runs it. This customization has to also go through the carrier (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, etc.) so that the carrier can fill it with useless add-ons that you will never use.

Kooky Google essentially controls the Android operating system and gives each upgrade funky names like Frozen Yogurt, Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, and the newest one, Jelly Bean. Instead of waiting for the phone manufacturer and carrier to come together and customize the new operating system for your old phone (you can see that there is little incentive and no money to be made is doing so), third parties do it, post their efforts on the internet, and allow you to get the latest operating system on your phone without the crapware associated with the "official" release. To do this you must "root" you phone.

In the next episode, I will describe in detail how your 6 oz. device can be called a "brick"

 

[Fishy]

If you buy an Android phone, if you're fortunate, you'll only be one generation behind for most of your contract and probably three behind by the time you upgrade. If you buy a Nexus phone, you will get your updates more quickly unless it's a Verizon version in which case you won't. (Your manufacturer and carrier will tell you that you're getting your next upgrade in the next couple of months, in the next quarter or in the next year. They will not, however, give you a date.)

Most people will not notice or care - the Facebook widget works fine in either case.

A tiny fraction will opt to do something about it. Most of those will experience heartache at the end of a USB cable with terms like "ADB" and "hard brick" bouncing around their heads. The 15-year old from Kazakhstan who threw together the ROM they tried to flash doesn't offer a help desk, so they'll drive back to the store with their phone that "just suddenly stopped working".

If you are successful, it's something of a part time job keeping the thing running - it's much easier now than it was. I use CM10 and it's quite nice - it doesn't do a blessed thing for the lousy reception and battery life is noticeably reduced with the current batch of nightlies, but's 4.1.2, can update OTA and is perfectly usable. I'd say there are fewer FCs and random reboots on CM than the 7 has on JB.

 

[ZooCougar]

I have had the same IPhone 4 for almost two years. I have had no problems with it.

I have a Blackberry for work. It completely sucks except for the email. It's nice to not have a half full inbox if I am away from the office for a while.

 

[J187Money]

I've had an HTC phone for the last 1.5 years, and I like it. My attraction to the iPhone5 is basically that I love my MacBook Pro and all my friends have them, so I assume there's gotta be something good about them.
Mostly what I'm looking for in a phone is reliability and battery life. I don't use any crazy apps outside of fantasy football, a few games, etc, so I'm not sure about how much customization I'd need.

Battery life is very dependent on how you use apps and location services. I have a mophie juice pack on my 4s to give me double battery life. I can kill the battery btw Milford and NYC on the train. I don't have the 5 yet but you may be surprised that the battery life very dependent on how you use the phone.

 

[epark88]

I'm a BlackBerry man through and through, and will be to the bitter end - but unfortunately, I can see that end from where I'm sitting.

That's why I'm kinda getting my feet wet with the iStuff right now. My son brought home an iPod Touch last month and I tried it out - I was so impressed with the thing, the following week I got my own! The music/streaming/social stuff runs circles around my Bold, but there are still some things my BB does better like email and Twitter. Together, both devices do everything I need to do.

But since I'm such a loyal dog, I'm giving RIM the benefit of the doubt until BB's OS 10 drops - if it's the goods, I'm staying. If not, I'm definitely joining the iFamily...

 

[J187Money]

Reviews on bb10 are great so far.

 

[BlueMAB]

Need a new phone, I'm down to either the iPhone5 and the GS3. For those of you that have either one, would you mind sharing what you like/don't like about your phone. I have no ability to make a decision on my own, so I'm going to let you all persuade me.

I've had both a droid and now an iphone.

If you're a techno-geek who understood anything Fishy said in the post above, the droid might be the way to go.

If you want your phone to do the hard work and all you have to do is download, open, and occassionally update apps, then the iphone is probably the way to go.

The droids do more, but they are high maintenance. The iphone gives you less control, but never lets you down. Unless you have AT&T and live in central CT, then you'll need a phone app to make a phone call because the coverage is terrible.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I have the S3 and dislike it. The build quality is marginal, the add-ons in Touch Wiz do not work well if at all and it may have the worst reception of any phone I have ever owned.

I much preferred the previous version of the Galaxy Note.

I haven't used it, but that matches my concerns based on reviews. I got the lovely news from IT today that effectively, they will only issue two devices, an iPhone (4s or 5) or Galaxy S3. I have an iPhone 4 and having hit my 40's can't read a damned thing on it without reading glasses. Apple completely botched the iPhone 5 with the tall narrow screen. More icons and more text is useless, they need to be bigger. Yet the GS3 is not appealing. I'd get an HTX OneX instead just for the build quality, but they won't issue it. I may stick with this iPhone 4 I can barely see just to avoid being stuck with a loser for 2 years.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I've had an HTC phone for the last 1.5 years, and I like it. My attraction to the iPhone5 is basically that I love my MacBook Pro and all my friends have them, so I assume there's gotta be something good about them.
Mostly what I'm looking for in a phone is reliability and battery life. I don't use any crazy apps outside of fantasy football, a few games, etc, so I'm not sure about how much customization I'd need.

Then you may want to look at the HTC One X or soon to be released One X+. Better build quality than the flimsy plastic on the Samsung. Two more considerations along with all the others:
1. Screen size on the iPhone is not great. If you are over or approaching 40, reading tiny e-mail messages is not much fun.
2. i-message is awesome. If your family and friends have iOS devices, whether iPads, iPhones or iTouches, you can all text each other at no charge from the carrier.

 

[Nostical]

HuskyHawk wrote: "reading tiny e-mail messages is not much fun" .
Maybe I'm missing something but I have the iPhone and set the email font to be as big as I want. I have no tiny emails to read.
My advice, AJC88, is to forget all this tech talk by the phone geeks. There's a reason certain companies and products are #1. The iPhone is awesome. Go get one. Your only decision will be Verizon v AT&T. That's based on where you'll be using it. There's a lot of truth in that commercial by Hertz. When their rental car breaks down the friend asks "Didn't you rent from Hertz?" And the answer is "Not exactly".

 

[J187Money]

I'm an iPhone guy, but a couple of points:

If you use iMessage and you share an apple ID with others in your family for app/content sharing text messages get jumbled when talking between other iPhone users. For example, when my son texts my wife and she responds, i get the text as well as him because we share an apple ID. You can get around this by having multiple apple IDs on one phone but that isn't the easiest thing to manage if you are not savvy.

If your iPhone breaks you cannot go to Verizon to deal with it. You have to go to the apple store even if you have the insurance. And there are more of them now but I had to bring my wife's phone to NYC to deal with it (I work there but still). So in the meantime I activated an old phone on her number so she wasn't without a phone. All good except when I got the new iPhone and switched it back to her account they dropped the insurance. Luckily nothing else happened and 6 months later there was an open enrollment period for insurance. But understanding what apple control means is useful because it can be really frustrating.

 

[J187Money]

I make that last point because to some people a phone is just a phone and having to cough up 400 because of an insurance problem or finding an apple store is more of a hassle than it is having a "worse" phone.

And my mother in law finally has one and she does all kinds of stupid things with her iTunes account and I have to go to her house every other month to deal with some crisis.

Don't get me wrong I love it and we have 3 iPhones, 4 iPads, more iPods than I can count as well as 3 MacBook pros, 4 apple TVs. But lots of non savvy regular people get infuriated by some things that are just a lot easier outside if the apple way.

 

[HuskyHawk]

HuskyHawk wrote: "reading tiny e-mail messages is not much fun" .
Maybe I'm missing something but I have the iPhone and set the email font to be as big as I want. I have no tiny emails to read.
My advice, AJC88, is to forget all this tech talk by the phone geeks. There's a reason certain companies and products are #1. The iPhone is awesome. Go get one. Your only decision will be Verizon v AT&T. That's based on where you'll be using it. There's a lot of truth in that commercial by Hertz. When their rental car breaks down the friend asks "Didn't you rent from Hertz?" And the answer is "Not exactly".

Email was a bad example. Yes, you can adjust that font. But not on web pages, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.

 

[Fishy]

If your eyesight is that bad, you need one of those Jitterbug phones they give old people.

Blind folks can use an iPhone.

 

[Rondogg]

Are there any previews of that phone out there yet? I don't really want to wait that long but itd still be interesting to see what they had on tap

Go on youtube. tons of feature demos and comparisons. I own the s3 only because I never want to own an Apple product.