Upgrade time - Apple -v- Samsung

[Goodj]

Afternoon CS

Now, I really should know the answers here, but I've been out of retail too long to have a real angle on the matter.

So, upgrade time is coming.

Now, after years of wailing on Apple fantypes I think it's probably about time I actually get an iPhone, work out for myself if they're really as great as other users would have us believe.... at length.

But then I spend a few minutes on GSM arena and in every single benchmark test, the iPhone 4s is comprehensively schooled by the recent Android offerings by HTC and Samsung. I've been using Android since the Sony X10 and get along with it fine (except the Xperia Play gets horrific slow down and is really space-limited).= so I don't want to write off the option.

This Galaxy S3 sounds to be pretty special (although this could just be pre-release euphoria) and some of the dual-core HTC's look alright. Something like the Galaxy Note looks far too big, even if it does have a stylus and decent doodling ability.

Seeing as I'll be stuck with whatever I choose for 2 years and whatever I choose will be completely out of date within 3 months, I'd rather get something as future-proof as possible. Again, this takes me back to the S3, with a quad-core processor. I know that pre-intel days, Apple computers could run a pathetic chipset but still be quick because of their OS, has this principle moved over to their handhelds now?

So, phoneshop types, what's the score?

 

[Bodge!]

You know what the answer is going to be, especially from here.

 

[Revels]

You're just looking to troll as usual.

Buy whatever you want. Nothing anyone says will make any difference.

 

[Goodj]

You're just looking to troll as usual.

Buy whatever you want. Nothing anyone says will make any difference.

Actually, no I'm not.

I was actually looking for some advice from the forum, strange as that may sound, but thanks for your input.

EDIT: Unless considering the purchase of any computing device that isn't Apple now constitutes Trolling?

 

[Revels]

EDIT: Unless considering the purchase of any computing device that isn't Apple now constitutes Trolling?

Proved my point perfectly.

 

[Goodj]

FFS.

Look, I'm asking those who know, what is actually the best to go for, I don't want to get embroiled in another pointless fanboi war.

I'm not sure what point of yours I'm proving by asking a question.

 

[Revels]

How is it a 'fanboi war' when I haven't mentioned a phone, brand or operating system?

 

[Nickson]

EDIT: Unless considering the purchase of any computing device that isn't Apple now constitutes Trolling?

Pretty much.

With regards to the OP. Get what you prefer really.

There are a number of Youtube videos with reviews etc, but none of them are as comprehensive nor helpful as actually holding the device and playing around with it to see what you prefer.

 

[Goodj]

Cheers Nickson.

I hate phone shops, mostly due to having spent such a large chunk of my life working in them, also knowing that the opinions in the shops are no more informed than I'd get on here (in fact, in some cases massively less informed).

When the 4s came out I noticed a lot of people saying it wasn't really much of an improvement over the 4, so if that's the case is it really outdated now? How long before there's an iPhone 5? If it's not ages away I'd be tempted to hang on and wait for that. It's not as if I need a new phone, the Play still works.

 

[Revels]

The 4S is a decent improvement. Not massively quicker but it is noticeable. Best selling phone for a reason. New iPhone will be Oct I expect.

If you're planning on 'future-proofing' then buying an Android with their awful updates is a crazy move. People with an S2 are struggling to get ICS nearly 8months after it came out. Many others won't get it at all.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

My Nexus makes the iPhone look small and old. It's fast and hasnt struggled with anything I've thrown at it yet.

I've never enjoyed using iPhones and my iPad annoys me.

If you want or need the things iPhones do.. Get one.

If you like android and you are after the newest thing on the market, I'd suggest the G3 would be the one to go for because as of this week, it's probably the best thing on the market.

 

[Goodj]

Cool.

I prefer that the iPhone hasn't grown to mini-tablet size, it appears to be more pocket-freindly anyway. Some of the stuff I see people using around the office look like actual Dom Jolly props.

OS updates aside, I'd have thought that getting the best processor available at any given time would be the way forward, much as you would if getting a new PC.But this is why I thought about the older Macs which ran better than the PC's of the same era but with much less processor speed.

Giraffe - Cheers for that. The write up on GSMARENA shows the S3 destoying all the other handsets on the marekt for performance, aparently there's some disappointment about the screen but, baring in mind that I'm using a Play, it'd still be a sizeable improvement yeah?

 

[Revels]

Specs are irrelevant a lot of the time.

Apple makes everything so they know what they are optimising for.

Samsung make the phone. Google make the OS. Orange add their bundle of joy.

If Samsung did everything, they'd do far better. That's why the best Android devices are the pure Google ones.

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

I'd agree with the screen if it's anything like my nexus. It's ok but my iPad2 has a far nicer screen.

 

[jenic]

Specs are irrelevant a lot of the time.

Apple makes everything so they know what they are optimising for.

Samsung make the phone. Google make the OS. Orange add their bundle of joy.

If Samsung did everything, they'd do far better. That's why the best Android devices are the pure Google ones.

This. It's why apple stuff is so good.

Xbox is another example, everything is put together by the same company and the OS is optimised for it, so it works brilliantly.

 

[Lal B3N]

Android for me everytime. Love my Galaxy S2, never had any issues and never laggy or slow and use it constantly. For what i do on it to the battery life is proving to be fantastic.

I would wait for the S3!

 

[imprezaworks]

I would prob wait for the S3 tbh. My girlfriends S2 is superb.

 

[tyranical]

Careful, you'll get infraction points if you suggest android is better than iOS.

IMO if you want a phone that just works but is extremely restricted in every aspect and is identical to everyone elses iPhone then go for an iPhone.

If you like to be able to customise your phone then go for android, the S3 is the current android flagship device so if you're going to choose android then the S3 is the best choice, if you want an iphone i'd wait til year end for the iphone 5 or whatever it will be called. Going on apples history the next iphone will be a big update, they have gone 3g,3gs,4,4S so if they keep up the approach the next will be a big update.


For me, iphone for your average phone user, android for more technically minded people.

 

[imprezaworks]

You say technically minded, i seem to cope fine lol.

 

[tyranical]

Yeh wasn't saying your average user can't get on with android but to exploit it to its full potential you need to be a geek really

 

[imprezaworks]

Or be patient lol, which im so not btw lol.

 

[realnumber 1]

I think I'd be going for the HTC One X over the S3.

 

[tyranical]

I think I'd be going for the HTC One X over the S3.

For what reason? Apart from sense is arguably better than touchwiz.

 

[realnumber 1]

As you say Sense is better although with 3rd party launchers I still probably wouldn't use it same as touchwiz on my S2. Although I'm not too bothered with it on my S2 as it's a pay off for it being light the One X looks and feels really good quality and I miss the rubberised back of my Desire.

 

[jamesd1263]

I weny from an iphone 4 to an s2 and 2 days later to the new 4s simply didnt like the s2 at all

Build quality didnt seem as good. Didnt seem that much quicker, didnt like the width although its only a marginal difference. Market place was s**t compared to itunes and the app store

Easy to do ringtones compared to iphone (if you cant figure it out on the iphone)
Has flash player installed, thats about the only 2 advantages. Still tey are probably both as good as each other

 

[Chili Red]

So at the moment I have an iPhone 4S (which I'm still learning to use as I've had it less than a week) and a Samsung Galaxy S2 running ice cream sandwich.

I like them both!! The iPhone is better quality, hands down. The OS and speed are very impressive. It's just a nice thing to have. It's also the 'in thing' to own.

But the GS2 takes better photos and video - and is more versatile in that you can put what you want on it without going through iTunes, it plays flash videos and there are more free apps for it. It's very light and the screen is massive, but the build quality does feel quite cheap.

However, if I was looking at buying a new phone now, I'd probably get the GS3.

 

[Gally]

Whatever Tom says tbh. The man knows phones.

In all seriousness individuals are different so only you know what you need.

iPhone/

 

[Keydogg]

Put it this way; My mum, dad and 3 sisters all have iPhones. They're all internet retards who think that Facebook is the best thing ever invented and that communication over the internet is a new thing. They put posts such as "Repost this if you appreciate your Mummy cos she's the best! x". That's exactly what 80% of iPhone owners are like.

iPhones are excellent for people who just want a phone to work, and very easy to learn. That's why they're so good. Android phone tend to be more for the geek who likes to chop and change things. Same reason I'll never buy a Mac, I love building and upgrading PCs.

Horses for courses, get either Android or iPhone and you won't be disappointed.

EDIT: By the way, do we really need more of these threads? It's been done to death.

 

[tyranical]

Put it this way; My mum, dad and 3 sisters all have iPhones. They're all internet retards who think that Facebook is the best thing ever invented and that communication over the internet is a new thing. They put posts such as "Repost this if you appreciate your Mummy cos she's the best! x". That's exactly what 80% of iPhone owners are like.

iPhones are excellent for people who just want a phone to work, and very easy to learn. That's why they're so good. Android phone tend to be more for the geek who likes to chop and change things. Same reason I'll never buy a Mac, I love building and upgrading PCs.

Horses for courses, get either Android or iPhone and you won't be disappointed.

EDIT: By the way, do we really need more of these threads? It's been done to death.

This tbh. exactly what I was trying to say before.

 

[Rich-D]

For what reason? Apart from sense is arguably better than touchwiz.

Build quality for one, that's why I went for a Sensation over a GS2 as the Samsung felt cheap, styling is another and the other reason is HTC's Sense

 

[The Fatty]

Get an android phone. The only reason the iphone is the best selling phone is becasue its the only phone that runs ios. As shown here, there are actually more Android phones being sold, but they dont get the handset figures as there are many phones ot choose from...

I know lots of iphone users who have jailbroken there phones so they can make it more like an android phone (like having the android lock screen). The only thing I would want from an iphone is the itunes app (and I dont really want that either as I have the sony app on mine). Also Android is a much more open marketplace for developers.

I would wait for the S3, or get the HTC One X

 

[tyranical]

Your argument is completely invalid as like the iphone is the single handset that sells the most because its the only one, android is the most popular os because its on so many phones.

 

[Rich-D]

Your argument is completely invalid as like the iphone is the single handset that sells the most because its the only one, android is the most popular os because its on so many phones.

Agreed, it's not a valid argument as there are a lot of low end devices running Android that boost that figure

 

[Andy.]

iPhones are excellent for people who just want a phone to work, and very easy to learn. That's why they're so good. Android phone tend to be more for the geek who likes to chop and change things.

Not being sarcastic here, what can you chop and change in android? I had the SII from work, but after two weeks I have swapped it back and using my old Nokia C5 as I already have a personal iPhone and don't need another brick in my pocket. I'd rather have a battery that lasts a week.

I've still got it in my drawer at work, and love tinkering with stuff, so what have I missed?

 

[The Fatty]

Your argument is completely invalid as like the iphone is the single handset that sells the most because its the only one, android is the most popular os because its on so many phones.

I dont see how that makes it invalid tbh? If there were 2 makes of phone that ran iOS, then the iphone would no longer have the number1 selling phone rank, which is the point I was trying to make. Its only the number 1 selling phone because its the ONLY phone that runs iOS, so all apple users and anyone else who wants to enjoy iOS MUST buy that phone.

Agreed, it's not a valid argument as there are a lot of low end devices running Android that boost that figure

And? low end or not, the fact is Android is more popular than the iPhone. Remeber that iOS also runs on the ipad so that also 'boosts' apples figures. What your saying is basically 'oh they arnt the top spec devices, so we wont count them'... the iPhone 1 is a pretty low end device these days as well now you know...

 

[Krispwee]

Don't just presume Android is more popular because people want it, go into a phone shop and count the number of non-android devices available on contract. People are forced in to going on to Android due to cost and lack of choice, not because they went out to specifically buy an Android phone.

 

[The Fatty]

if people didnt want android, they have plenty of options to choose from! WP7, iOS, Symbian, Blackberry...

 

[Krispwee]

Your average customer doesn't want to spend £35 a month to get the full choice, your looking more at the £15-£20 range which is gonna have around 10 android phones, 1 WP7 and 2 BlackBerrys. The salesman will naturally sell the Android devices due to the lack of confidence in customers using WP7 and the complete lack of anything worth having on a BlackBerry (and the terrible reliability on their lower end handsets).

 

[The Fatty]

I'm guessing your an apple user? I'm not looking to get into a major debate as to which mobile operating system is most popular, the point i was making was purely that the only reason iPhone has the number 1 spot in PHONES is because its the only one of its kind, and thus gets 100% of its sales. All those people who want an iOS featured phone are forced to buy that ONE phone. As a simple example, lets say we have a thousand people, its fair to say that half will want iOS and the other half will want want android (lets forget the others for now); the iPhone will get 100% of its 500 people, whereas the android based devices will only get probably around a maximum of 50 people per different device. As such, the iphone would get classed as the number 1 phone. This doesn't mean its the 'best' phone, its just more popular because there is only 1 phone to choose from that supports iOS!

 

[Krispwee]

I own an iPhone, Android phone and a BlackBerry. The iPhone is the most polished experience across any of the handsets currently out. It's the best made, the easiest to use and has the best support. The Android phones are more customisable and of course more open but that leads to issues of it's own. The Play Store is a mess, the ever expanding screen sizes and resolutions make it impossible for a developer to make an app work perfectly across all devices and you seemingly have to install an anti-virus and battery saving apps as soon as you buy the product. Kind of reminds me of what happens with Windows really...

Overall if you want a more complete experience with a phone then nothing comes close to the iPhone, if you want something that you can customise to within an inch of its life to make it work how you want to then go for an Android phone. imo of course.