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

[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.

 

[HuskyHawk]

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

Blind folks can use an iPhone.

Right. That's why every other smartphone manufacturer offers a bigger screen. They could have kept the aspect ratio, gone to 4" and retained a small form factor compared to the rest of the market. developers would have been thrilled. But no, Apple had to be unique and create an idiotic new screen size, just to avoid being seen as a follower.

I may end up with one of the things anyway, given my lack of choices. It is at least very light. The materials make much more sense than the glass back on my 4 (another dumb move...heavy and breakable...but it was pretty so they did it anyway).

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Right. That's why every other smartphone manufacturer offers a bigger screen. They could have kept the aspect ratio, gone to 4" and retained a small form factor compared to the rest of the market. developers would have been thrilled. But no, Apple had to be unique and create an idiotic new screen size, just to avoid being seen as a follower.

I may end up with one of the things anyway, given my lack of choices. It is at least very light. The materials make much more sense than the glass back on my 4 (another dumb move...heavy and breakable...but it was pretty so they did it anyway).

That Apple commercial promoting how the guy's thumb fits across the screen perfectly is ridiculously stupid, everyone's thumbs are different lengths, so they won't all fit perfectly across the screen! The shape of the iPhone 5 in person just looks very odd. I can't imagine it'd be any good watching something on horizontal view with it being so skinny.

 

[HuskyHawk]

That Apple commercial promoting how the guy's thumb fits across the screen perfectly is ridiculously stupid, everyone's thumbs are different lengths, so they won't all fit perfectly across the screen! The shape of the iPhone 5 in person just looks very odd. I can't imagine it'd be any good watching something on horizontal view with it being so skinny.

Just went an looked at them both again during lunch. Impressions confirmed.

iPhone 5: great build quality, light, pocketable, probably a better size for a phone. UI is getting a bit dull...boring really (no updates since the original). But everything works. Screen is brighter, better whites and is very sharp. Web sufing is limited by screen dimensions, as are HTML e-mails, which render really small. Apple keeps the carrier's hands off the phone. No crapware.

Samsung GS3: cheesy glossy plastic that is a fingerprint magnet. Just a hair bigger than is ideal for pocketability. Weight is fine though. UI is less intuitive, but more interesting and more customizable. Screen size was great for the web and HTML e-mail. Much better for watching video. USB charging is nice, as is the expandable storage, making it a much better device for watching content while disconnected (like on a plane).

Calendar and mail apps seemed about the same (Windows phone better on both counts). Both were plenty fast. Both have access to a zillion apps.

Honestly, if I could get a different Android device with improved materials and brighter screen, I'd go with it. The One X solves some of my biggest complaints about the SG3. I was kind of shocked by how dreary the iOS UI seemed. Perfectly ordered icons that do nothing. I don't think I want to look at it for two more years. I know...if it ain't broke.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

I admittedly haven't tested the screen brightness on the iPhone, but the AMOLED screens the S3 and GNexus both use are REALLY bright, the test phone must've had the brightness setting turned down, because at full blast, it will hurt your eyes. It actually can function as a full blown flashlight with a blank white screen, some Android flashlight apps actually have that function available to use the screen as a flashlight instead of the camera flash. Only thing I'd be concerned with the One X is if you'll get stuck behind in the operating system updates. That's a problem I ran into with my previous Android phone, that when it finally updated to Gingerbread, it screwed up the phone (an HTC as well) and eventually made it unusable because the model really wasn't meant to run GB and they patched together a mod for it that wasn't good. I can't see that happening at any point with the S3 since it's their flagship model, I don't know much about the One, but be wary of that. That's the reason I got the GNexus, it's a Google-made phone, so the odds that Google's operating system won't work correctly on it are very, very low.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I admittedly haven't tested the screen brightness on the iPhone, but the AMOLED screens the S3 and GNexus both use are REALLY bright, the test phone must've had the brightness setting turned down, because at full blast, it will hurt your eyes. It actually can function as a full blown flashlight with a blank white screen, some Android flashlight apps actually have that function available to use the screen as a flashlight instead of the camera flash. Only thing I'd be concerned with the One X is if you'll get stuck behind in the operating system updates. That's a problem I ran into with my previous Android phone, that when it finally updated to Gingerbread, it screwed up the phone (an HTC as well) and eventually made it unusable because the model really wasn't meant to run GB and they patched together a mod for it that wasn't good. I can't see that happening at any point with the S3 since it's their flagship model, I don't know much about the One, but be wary of that. That's the reason I got the GNexus, it's a Google-made phone, so the odds that Google's operating system won't work correctly on it are very, very low.

Not the S3. It has a Pen-tile display. Not nearly as nice as the S2 before it. Look at the reviews, they all say the same thing. The brightness is very low. Colors and blacks are great on the AMOLED displays..the whites are not good on this one.

New LG Nexus is supposed to be out soon. Might be a good option. The one you have is Samsung made I think.

 

[ffg53]

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.

I have a Verizon iPhone and get great coverage in the mountains in northwest Maine as well as the Rockies in central Idaho. When I had AT&T I couldn't get reception in either of these places and more besides.

Other than that I agree with everything you said.

 

[J187Money]

My sister, who works at Verizon, loves the Droid Incredible by HTC. She thinks the S3 is the 2nd best phone. But she has also been using the new Windows phone (which isn't out yet) and she says it is best "work" phone she has ever had. That comes out in mid-November.

 

[HuskyHawk]

My sister, who works at Verizon, loves the Droid Incredible by HTC. She thinks the S3 is the 2nd best phone. But she has also been using the new Windows phone (which isn't out yet) and she says it is best "work" phone she has ever had. That comes out in mid-November.

That's what I wanted...but my employer won't be issuing them for at least several months.

 

[UCFBfan]

So glad I just saw this thread. I have Verizon and a DROID X and like the phone but really was looking for an iPhone. However, my contract was up in August and I am having a hard time giving up the idea of my Google software. Hearing how bad Apple Maps are was a big blow. I use my DROID as my GPS all the time.

So my question is do I go DROID Razr M or get the Maxx? I have read reviews and such on the Razor but didn't know if the Maxx was worth waiting.

Does anyone know if the touch screen is more responsive on the new Droids? That's always been my complaint on my DROID x as opposed to the iPhone.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[ffg53]

So glad I just saw this thread. I have Verizon and a DROID X and like the phone but really was looking for an iPhone. However, my contract was up in August and I am having a hard time giving up the idea of my Google software. Hearing how bad Apple Maps are was a big blow. I use my DROID as my GPS all the time.

So my question is do I go DROID Razr M or get the Maxx? I have read reviews and such on the Razor but didn't know if the Maxx was worth waiting.

Does anyone know if the touch screen is more responsive on the new Droids? That's always been my complaint on my DROID x as opposed to the iPhone.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

Apple maps are not as as bad as they're made out to be. Are they perfect? Nope. When I was in Kent last weekend, Rt. 7 was marked by Apple Maps as US Rt. 20, but unless you're hopelessly geographically challenged it was an obvious enough mistake to be instantly recognizable. Of course where there's one mistake there's bound to be others, but it's not as apocalyptically awful as some are making out. It DOES load and update much faster than Google maps. And Apple is pretty good about fixing broken things. Except for iTunes, which sucks.

Someone else mentioned needing to use iTunes to download photos and videos. That's not true. When you plug your device into your computer it automatically asks if you want to download photos using other software, just like any other external device (flash drive, etc.)