Hate to do this but...what's the current state of affairs in the smartphone wars?

General General Discussion
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I looked for other threads but the relevant ones were from '09 and 10. Apologies if there’s a recent discussion that I’ve missed.

Inconceivably, Android vs. iPhone is a more controversial topic than religion with most people. Strong opinions all around make it very difficult to figure out what’s what.

So if some of the technology gurus here could give me some advice that would be great.

I’ve been an Android user since the original Droid came out. I have no real issues with it, aside from minor things that bug me here and there. Anyway, I got my first Mac laptop a few weeks ago and I’m impressed. The seamless hardware / software integration, input and interface features, and the overall intelligence of the thing make me wish I’d switched from PC’s years ago.

I can’t help thinking that it just makes sense to switch to the iPhone now, especially since I apparently like the way Apple thinks and the phone and Macbook Pro can work together nicely.

But I’ve also been hearing that the new Android based phones like the Galaxy S4 are beating the iPhone, and even when the 5S comes out it probably can’t match the Android phones in performance and capabilities.

So I’m conflicted. Do I get the iPhone 5S when it comes out or get something like the Galaxy S4? Please advise.

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Either will probably do whatever you could possibly ask of it. If you want the total Apple integration, the iPhone is obviously a good choice. I’d try to use both and see which you prefer instead of getting bogged down in specs. Qualitatively the Android phones will have often significantly large screen screens if that is important to you.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD

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Been using the iphone since the 3G and switched for a few months to the S3.

I personally think Android is ok but has some issues. For one apps look better on iphone, and iphone tends to get apps faster. I currently use Mailbox and Tempo for my mail and calender. Not on Android yet.

Having a back an iphone makes a lot of sense. Unless you do HEAVY word processing stuff iWork actually is really nice to use. This is Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. Basically Word, Excel and PP in Apple form. It’s really cool to start a document on a Mac then have it on the phone and vice versa. Can do a whole PP type presentation with Keynote and have it on the phone. You can log in with iCloud.com and get the docs via any web browser.

I will say the new Androids with 1080P screens are nice but if you go that route I would get the HTC One. The HTC uses ‘LCD’ and the GS4 is Amoled. Amoled sucks in sunlight. We had a GS3, and outside you could not read a single word on the screen even at full brightness.

I am also leery of having so many buttons. My MIL and SIL just got GS3’s, and when I asked the first thing my MIL said was you have to handle it like a museum piece because any errant button pressing hits a back button, menu button, volume button, ect. I gave her a Otterbox case for it which makes hitting buttons a lot harder but still. Out of the box the iphone 5 with no case is hard to accidentally hit buttons.

The best thing about the iphone is the cloud support, and I don’t care what anyone says iTunes is hardly as bad as anyone makes it out to be. Maybe 2-3 years ago but the current one is very quick, and easy to use. I used Kies with the GS3, and I can’t fathom how anyone can bash iTunes if they’ve spent just 30 seconds with Kies.

itunes also does a lot more with itunes match so any music you upload itunes match will save it to your apple ID and download a high bit rate AAC version for free. It’s also stupid easy to do backups and if you gave me a brand new phone, and I set it up to restore from a backup the phone would be exactly the same as my old one down to the screen saver, texts, tapatalk accounts, pictures from the camera roll, ect. The most I have had to do with a full restore was put in the youtube app account information again. Its so stupid easy the icloud backups are a saint.

Then comes Apple, and Apple is really cool when it comes to broken phones. I don’t want to have to deal with ATT for anything besides the sim card, and every other device besides iphones are friggin riddled with carrier BS. We have two Apple stores in Austin, and they actually gave my wife a brand new phone when she went in there expecting to pay hundreds of dollars after she washed one. They were just like be more careful next time and here you go. Handed her a sealed in the box phone, and with the free wifi her phone was exactly the same as it was the day before within 10 minutes. I do not want to deal with ATT for hardware issues, and you are forced to do that with every other brand of phone.

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I watch the pocketnow videos on Youtube, and just like the GS3 the GS4 comes with a bunch of features that don’t really work. Go check out their channel. They just uploaded a bunch of GS4 stuff. That Air gesture thing is :rolleyes:. They have a few videos and it works like half the time, and you have to use your whole hand. Just gimmicky shit you will use for 2 days and then ignore. Same with scrolling with your eyes. All that crap is meant to appeal to people in the ATT or VZW store then a week later they realize none of it works right.

If you really want Android you have to go check out XDA forums.

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I just got my first smartphone this week and went with an HTC one running android. Seems pretty sweet so far, it’s fast and doesn’t bog down and isn’t bulky either.

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First smartphone the One will be a HUGE change. Congrats!

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Getting the iPhone to integrate with the Macbook is sounding better and better. Thanks.

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That they do, so I’d say if you’re already a mac user, and you like the interface and the fact Mac does such a good job of making their stuff play nice and you use the things that benefit from that, then go with the IPhone. I will say, you can get a 4s for about half the $$$, and I have no complaints about it if you wanna save a few $$$.

People will throw numbers and stats at you of one vs the other, but if you’re already a Mac user, you won’t be unhappy with a 5S or even a 4S.

That’s my take.

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Yeah I dig it so far, hell it only took about an hour to transfer 10 gigs of music from computer to the phone and no futzing around with SD cards and such, hook it up to a usb port and it uploads all the drivers from the phone to computer automatically.

No trouble seeing the screen in direct sunlight, and surprisingly the touch screen is damn accurate, I was worried typing stuff in would be a bitch with large fingers and small buttons but it hasn’t really been a problem.

As an added bonus you can set the thing up to use as a remote control for your tv, stereo, cable box etc.

10

It works better if you get a WD My Book Live, and can do TimeMachine backups to it and they have an iphone app to use to get docs and pics and such like you own personal cloud. It will even email you when it gets an update, resets, or detects an error. $150 for 1TB and your Mac will auto detect it as a Timemachine. Even works on our Samsung TV as a media server, Samsung laptop picks it up, ect. Great investment.

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I’ve been an iPhone user since day 1 and will never stray. I don’t like how it’s so locked down by Apple, but that’s what jailbreaking is for.

I have no experience with Android.

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Most phones auto download the driver…but I know what you mean.

The HTC ‘LCD’ screens are a lot better in direct sunlight. The GS3 is crap in direct Texas sun. All phones struggle there but it was like at ax brightness and you couldn’t read a single word. On the other hand I wear polarized sunglasses, and Amoled actually is better for that. With the iPhone 5, Nokia 920, and HTC you get like a rainbow effect on the screen.

The IR blaster thing is meh to me. We already have enough remotes. I like blue tooth remotes a lot more because you don’t have to point the remote at the TV or device. We have a coffee table so with IR remotes we have to point it over or above everything anyways. Our PS3 remote is a blessing not having to go around tables, shoes, toys, ect.

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I did the 6.1.2 JB and suddenly had a lot of app crashes. Restored and no more of that.

Apple is limiting at some points with apps but thats just how they are. They don’t want rogue apps or junky shit. Like the new BB app store, and every commentator has basically said 70k apps and 68k of them are worthless. They try to cut down on the redundant and knock off crap that plagues others.

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I still prefer a actual keyboard, so Droid4 vote from this macbook user. They talk to each other just fine.

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I know that many will disagree with me, but I refuse to support Apple as a company.

I’d go with Samsung.

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I agree. Or HTC. But I also refuse to support Apple, but they do sometimes make great products, like the current MBPs.

BTW, I think jailbreaking is now illegal and punishable with a $500k fine. Could be wrong, but I think I read that somewhere.

Anyway, I just got a HTC One. I’ve used iPhones of all generations, androids of all types for the last 4 years, and even blackberries and flip phones as recently as last week. I have never been as impressed with a phone as I have with this one (the One). I even had my hands on the first android phone about 3 months before it was released publicly because a family member was an HTC employee, and I’m still more relatively impressed with this phone than I was with that one at the time.

Apple might come out with something new in the near future as the 5 is not the latest and greatest by far. If you’re dead set on staying in the Apple ecosystem, wait for the 5S or 6. If you’re open to Android at all, get the HTC One. It’s seriously amazing. Absolutely everything about it is pretty much perfect. I would’ve liked a removable battery though… I had 2 extra batteries and an external battery charger for my last phone; came in handy sitting in PAX terminals or killing time in transient tents waiting for a flight.

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You can not change out the battery for the HTC one or iphone! A HUGE minus in my opnion.

I have a Glaxy SII, my wife a SIII and I will be upgrading to the SIV when it comes out. The gorilla glass used on the Galaxys is amazing. With an otterbox I have dropped my phone down flights of stairs (concrete/metal) stairs and had nothing but scratches to the case… try that with an iphone.

I use Android over apple and Samsung over all other makers. The galaxy series have user removeable batteries which is great for backpacking, hunting, mountian biking, being outdoors etc. and swapping batteries when you have no power source for charging. I also like having the micro SD cards to backup your files but also have different cards for music etc.

I personally would never buy a phone that I couldn’t swap out batteries while in the field. While they do make solar panels, and portable battery charging stations, I can swap out a battery and have 100% charge in 10 seconds… how about you iphone/HTC one users?

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An iPhone with an otterbox is roughly as durable as a gs3 with an otterbox.

Did you not read my post directly above yours regarding batteries? Regardless, I actually have a battery pack that can transfer a charge from AA or CR123 batteries to a phone. It’s really useful… not as quick as a battery swap, but a good workaround. It’s actually designed as a rechargeable battery charger, but it can go the other way too.

But yes, no removable battery is a down side to a seamless aluminum body. The HTC One camera, speakers, screen, and body are all the best you can get in a smartphone. The internal hardware is comparable to the gs4 and other phones in the Q1 '13 time frame, but definitely at the high end. The speakers are really really impressive. The camera is good enough that it makes me reconsider taking my dslr at times unless it’s a very special occasion. The screen is an IPS screen with a higher pixel density than the iPhone5 and GS4. And the body is just great, although it’s just my opinion, it has the nicest design and material choice of any smartphone to date.

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I am biased having had 4 different Samsung phones over the years, but you can’t go wrong with either the HTC one or GS4 IMHO. I like the looks of the HTC better, but I always use an Otterbox so looks mean nothing to me. I do wish the speakers on the Galaxy phones were front facing and the screen was brighter in the sunlight, but those are the only gripes I have.

For MY life style the battery was the biggest deal breaker for me, and switching out the SD cards was also a plus.

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Theres a shit ton of portable battery packs of varying capacity on Amazon, and the good thing about those is you can use them with different phones or tablets. If you buy a bunch of batteries you’ll spend at least as much if not more, and if you switch phones in the future they will become useless to you.

iPhone 5S might be this summer or at the latest this fall. Prob just be a spec bump and not a major form factor change. Kinda have to time when you buy phones to get on a good upgrade cycle. I am on the 4>5 cycle and skip the S models since everyone went to 2 year upgrades. Used to be a 1 year upgrade as I really went 3G>3GS>4>5. When the 4S came out they had stopped yearly upgrades for iPhone users.

Maybe look into buying a used 5, and save the upgrade for the 5S. If you go Android the newest phones, HTC One and GS4, are out right now depending on your carrier. I would not burn up a new contract price or upgrade on a phone that came out basically 9 months ago. By the time you get it, and use it for 2 years it will be an almost 3 year old design. My SIL and MIL just got GS3’s, and I was like if you guys waited a month you could have gotten the One or GS4 for the same price…:confused:

I don’t mean to sound like a pure Android basher but when the GS3 came out I know a lot of people jumped ship from iPhones (me included), and most of the people I know who did that are back to iPhones (me included). iOS has gotten a bit stale but Apple took people off the OSX team and put them into the iOS crew. iOS 7 is supposed to be quite a change from 6 and previous versions. FWIW the last time they took people away from OSX is when the first iPhone came out. :slight_smile: