Andz From South Africa, joined Feb 2004, 8247 posts, RR: 13 Posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 3382 times:
I am due for a phone upgrade at the end of the month and it is time to move beyond my trusty Nokia E52.
I have tried a BlackBerry and I hated it, so I might as well make the leap to hyper space.
The last Apple device I used was a Lisa so I am completely inexperienced with what they can do today but the 4S video on apple.com is quite impressive.
Samsung is a washing machine company to me so what its phones are like is a mystery.
I have read comparisons online that lean one way or the other but neither seems th be the better device.
So, based on personal experience I would like some guidance... Samsung or Apple?
After Monday and Tuesday even the calendar says WTF...
tugger From United States of America, joined Apr 2006, 3557 posts, RR: 4 Reply 1, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 3377 times:
Quoting Andz (Thread starter): I am due for a phone upgrade at the end of the month and it is time to move beyond my trusty Nokia E52.
One question: Why not the Nokia Lumia series and the Windows Phone platform? It is supposed to be excellent. The 800 should be available in South Africa?
Tugg
everything I have learned I have learned by mistake
Longhornmaniac From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 2921 posts, RR: 51 Reply 2, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 3349 times:
Andz,
What you are really comparing between the phones isn't the phones themselves, but the operating system: Android vs. iOS. Both phones are made well enough, and I've heard good things about the GalaxyS II. In the US, Samsung is a very well-respected electronics company, so don't worry about buying a Samsung phone. Fundamentally, it depends on what you want out of the operating system. iOS is designed to be very simple to use, but compared to Android its functionality is more limited.
For example, if you're going to be using it for lots of internet browsing, Android is a no-brainer because it supports Flash, which, for better or worse, is still highly utilized. Furthermore, Safari sucks, and Apple for now is at a disadvantage because it doesn't support it.
Android is also the better choice if you want or need more accessibility into the operating system itself. Android is open-source, which means with enough knowledge, you can tweak just about anything the phone does.
You also get unbelievable synchronicity in the Google world. If you use Google Mail, Calendar, or any of the other Google services, the functionality couldn't be simpler.
iOS is not without its positives, though. Its user-interface is simply the best on the market, and the ease-of-use puts it over the top for many people. Personally, I've never had any problem with navigating through an Android phone, but iOS does have a bit more...intuitiveness to it.
Another plus for the iPhone is the App Store. Android's offering is perfectly satisfactory, and almost all apps worth having are developed for both, however the Apple App Store is second to none in terms of apps available.
If you're going to be using your device as an mp3 player, the iOS software is lightyears ahead of the Android offering. Even the best Android music player (Power AMP, which has considerably more functionality than the iOS player) is "glitchier" and more prone to music skipping than the iPod software built into iOS. With that said, one of the cool things about Android is I can download a player that makes the interface look almost identical to the iPhone interface. It still doesn't work as well as the real thing, though.
As I said above, it really depends on what you want out of the device. I've found that Android plays better with Windows machines, and iPhones play better with Macs (this may be an obvious statement, but still worth considering). Either with work with either, but if you already have a Mac, the iPhone may be the way to go, and vice versa for Windows and Android.
My bottom line would be I think Android is a more-powerful, more-useful operating system, so I'd go with the GalaxyS II. This is entirely based on what I like out of a phone. I had an iPhone for 4 years, and while I liked it at first, its novelty wore off, and I became acutely aware of the limitations of iOS. It took them 3 hardware updates to allow landscape mode texting, for example. I couldn't count how many times I thought "I wish my iPhone did that." With Android, because of the open-source nature of the OS, chances are if I've thought of it, someone else has already done it. And because I'm not limited to apps from the Android Market (though this is carrier specific; each carrier can impose its own limitations on whether to allow 3rd party apps), said ideas/desires are pretty easy to find. As a result, I'm almost never finding myself wishing my phone could do something it can't. And the truth is, if I wanted to really tinker around with it, I'm almost certain I could.
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 3, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 3353 times:
My view (your mileage may vary):
Samsung Galaxy:
+ tinkering with more details of the device configuration is semi-supported out of the box
+ higher number of "free" apps (including ad-supported ones)
+ can be cheaper to buy outright (subsidies may skew the picture differently, though)
+/– Google/Samsung generally prioritize raw number of features and special features over overall usability, quality and consistency
+/– OLED displays prioritize maximum colour gamut over colour accuracy and battery endurance
+/– bigger displays available, but not really usable single-handedly any more
+/– removable battery (less compact, less reliable, reboot required when swapping in another battery, but self-service easy when replacing after some years)
– delayed and limited update/upgrade support (sometimes shorter than usual contract duration)
– problematic security including various malware in the official app market
– quality of available software: low to medium; few high-quality exceptions; fragmented platform and frequent inconsistencies
– quality of available hardware: medium (plastic casings, mediocre OS integration)
– limited accessory ecosystem
Apple iPhone 4S:
+ all apps are vetted and validated; practically no malware threat
+ high security (including hardware device encryption)
+ quality of available software: medium to very high (first-release platform for nearly all mobile software; high quality standards for platform consistency and usability; quality is often to be paid for, but still cheap and ad-free; very many free apps still available as well)
+ quality of available hardware: high (glass+steel casings, highly polished OS integration)
+ very long and direct update/upgrade support (currently for 3+ years; immediate availability for all users; iOS 6 and 7 will certainly be available for the 4S, possibly beyond)
+ very large accessory ecosystem (some of it pricey)
+ FaceTime, iMessage and Siri can be really useful, as is iCloud (all included in purchase price)
+ good battery endurance for a smartphone
+ the iPhone 4S is an actually fully usable phone, including (but not limited to) a very good hands-free mode approaching the quality of high-quality single-purpose handsets (this is rare among smartphones!)
+/– unchanged 3.5" display prioritizes full and easy single-handed usability over maximum possible area (resolution is high enough so pixelation is irrelevant)
+/– Apple generally prioritizes overall usability, quality and consistency over raw number of features and special features
+/– LCD IPS display prioritizes colour accuracy and battery endurance over maximum colour gamut
+/– iTunes is recommended as the official interface to the iPhone from your computer, but is no longer required since iOS 5
+/– fixed battery (more compact, more reliable, no rebooting when connecting an add-on battery pack; replacement (usually) requires servicing)
– can be more expensive to buy outright (subsidies may skew the picture differently, though)
– strict supervision of the platform by Apple also limits availability of specific solutions in some cases
– tinkering with device configuration beyond the official settings is not supported (inofficial ways exist, but will compromise security features)
Both devices are fundamentally viable options and neither is definitively "better" in each and every possible respect; I have my own priorities which have led me to the iPhone and others have chosen Androids, but your own priorities will be decisive in which one will be best for you.
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 4, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 3333 times:
Quoting Longhornmaniac (Reply 2): For example, if you're going to be using it for lots of internet browsing, Android is a no-brainer because it supports Flash, which, for better or worse, is still highly utilized. Furthermore, Safari sucks, and Apple for now is at a disadvantage because it doesn't support it.
With Flash progressively being supplanted by HTML5 this is mostly a marginal and time-limited issue. I very rarely come across Flash content on my iPhone or iPad where i'd actually need Flash (most is just blinking and jiggling ads which I'm glad to miss). One thing to remember is that when you've got Flash installed, many web sites will switch away from the HTML5 they've already got and will insist on pushing Flash to you, while I'll see the HTML5 served to iOS.
Flash for Android has been officially end-of-lifed by Adobe as well, so it's a diminishing and time-limited advantage (if any), not least looking at the real-world performance and (often lack of) functionality under Android.
Quoting Longhornmaniac (Reply 2): As I said above, it really depends on what you want out of the device. I've found that Android plays better with Windows machines, and iPhones play better with Macs (this may be an obvious statement, but still worth considering).
Since iOS 5 you can use the iDevices completely without a computer as well if you want. It is your own choice whether you want to use iTunes to interface with them.
Quoting Longhornmaniac (Reply 2): As a result, I'm almost never finding myself wishing my phone could do something it can't.
I don't doubt that, but I can say the same about my iPhone. It depends on what your priorities are.
I have no problem with the rest of your statements from a different perspective.
Longhornmaniac From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 2921 posts, RR: 51 Reply 5, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 3327 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 4):
With Flash progressively being supplanted by HTML5 this is mostly a marginal and time-limited issue. I very rarely come across Flash content on my iPhone or iPad where i'd actually need Flash (most is just blinking and jiggling ads which I'm glad to miss). One thing to remember is that when you've got Flash installed, many web sites will switch away from the HTML5 they've already got and will insist on pushing Flash to you, while I'll see the HTML5 served to iOS.
I had a feeling I'd be hearing from you in this thread, Klaus!
As far as that statement, while I agree Flash is dying a slow death, this is still a transition that will take several years. Jobs was right on about the issues that Flash has, and correctly predicted the move to HTML5. In the interim, however, he alienated quite a few people, me included, by not building in Flash browser support.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 4): Since iOS 5 you can use the iDevices completely without a computer as well if you want. It is your own choice whether you want to use iTunes to interface with them.
Indeed, though I stand by my statement that an Apple device will inherently "play nicer" with other Apple devices.
Overall, you gave a pretty solid summary yourself from the "evil" point of view!
Andz From South Africa, joined Feb 2004, 8247 posts, RR: 13 Reply 6, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 3323 times:
Thanks guys I am going to read your replies in detail when I have a bit more time.
Quoting tugger (Reply 1): Why not the Nokia Lumia series and the Windows Phone platform?
I have been a Nokia user since 1996 but my "trusty" E52 has been erratic recently and has put me off Nokia. The service guys have bent over backwards to help me but the phone (and its warranty replacement which I got in November and is now also in with exactly the same problems) has been a disappointment recently.
After Monday and Tuesday even the calendar says WTF...
AirPacific747 From Denmark, joined May 2008, 1736 posts, RR: 24 Reply 7, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 3309 times:
Quoting Andz (Reply 6): I have been a Nokia user since 1996 but my "trusty" E52 has been erratic recently and has put me off Nokia. The service guys have bent over backwards to help me but the phone (and its warranty replacement which I got in November and is now also in with exactly the same problems) has been a disappointment recently.
Read some more reviews of the Lumia 800 before you make a final decision. My girlfriend owns the Lumia 800 and it feels extremely solid and well built. Another plus about is that it is built in Finland and not by some underpaid labourers in Asia.
It is a very fast phone.
The only downside to Windows Phone is that the appstore is 'only' a little over 50.000 apps so far, but personally I am not really missing any apps (using an Omnia 7 myself). However, I think WP7.5 seems even more fluid than iOS. It just runs extremely well.
Other than that, you have to make up your mind. Do you like to (a) tweak a phone with customizable widgets, etc. or (b) do you want your phone to just work?
if a, then go for Android - if b, then go for iOS or WP7
racko From Germany, joined Nov 2001, 4736 posts, RR: 23 Reply 8, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 3280 times:
All personal opinion:
- Compare the displays next to each other to form an honest opinion. In my personal opinion, Super-AMOLED+ (SGS2) is vastly superior, including color accuracy. Just make sure to have the "normal/natural" display mode enabled, as the dynamic mode will indeed give over-saturated colors (candy look). Some people like it, I don't. Pay special attention to black, as LCD displays aren't capable of displaying black whereas with an Super-AMOLED+ in low-light situations you can't tell where the display stops and the case begins. It's mighty impressive and a no-brainer, especially when you see the two displays next to each other, in my opinion.
- Price: I don't know about the situation in South Africa, but in Germany the price difference is staggering:
I personally see absolutely no justification for a 60% premium Apple charges.
- Form follows function vs. function follows form
The iPhone 4S champions form over function and therefore looks better, but you have to be aware of the compromises you have to make because of that:
- Using glass for the front and the back doesn't give you haptic feedback when grabbing your phone without looking. Together with the symmetry your chance of holding your phone in the correct direction when grabbing it without eye contact is 1 out of 4 (front, back, correct orientation, upside down), whereas with the SGS2 you can feel instantly where's what on your phone (glass front, plastic back, small bulge at the bottom of the phone).
- Fall survivability: While modern smartphones all use scratch-resistant glass (gorilla glass), that glass unfortunately isn't crack-resistant. That's why you usually see a protective "lip" around the display of phones, which takes the energy of the impact and guides it into the casing rather than the display. The iPhone 4S does not have such a lip, neither on the front, nor on the back. If you drop your iPhone on any semi-solid ground, chances are you're gonna need new glass. A new display runs you ~100€ in an Apple store according to the rantings of a co-worker.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 3): +/– OLED displays prioritize maximum colour gamut over colour accuracy and battery endurance
Have you actually seen a SAMOLED+ in action? The quality is amazing, including color accuracy. There's a reason why the whole marketing including high-end TVs are moving towards OLED technology. Battery life of the SGS2 is ok. You won't get better than ok from any modern smartphone.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 3): +/– bigger displays available, but not really usable single-handedly any more
Unless you have really, really tiny hands, I just don't see the issue. I use my SGS2 with one hand every day, especially when quickly replying to a SMS or just quickly checking something. Absolutely no issue. Please don't mix up the Samsung Galaxy S2 Andz asked about with the Galaxy Note, which is significantly larger.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 3): +/– removable battery (less compact, less reliable, reboot required when swapping in another battery, but self-service easy when replacing after some years)
Less compact? The phone is insanely thin. Less reliable? In ~16 years of mobile phone usage the one thing that has never failed are the electric contacts between the battery and the phone.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 3): – delayed and limited update/upgrade support (sometimes shorter than usual contract duration)
The SGS2 will receive Android 4.0 in Q1 2012 and Samsung has publicly pledged to provide updates for at least 18 months.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 3): – quality of available software: low to medium; few high-quality exceptions; fragmented platform and frequent inconsistencies
Sorry, but that's just not true. There's tons and tons of great apps available, and I never had the issue of settling for a mediocre app because there wasn't a quality one available. Might have been true 2 years ago, isn't true anymore.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 3): – quality of available hardware: medium (plastic casings, mediocre OS integration)
What exactly is wrong with the build quality of the SGS2? It feels very nice in your hand, nothing jiggles.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 3): + very long and direct update/upgrade support (currently for 3+ years; immediate availability for all users; iOS 6 and 7 will certainly be available for the 4S, possibly beyond)
It should be noted that while Apple does update the version number of the OS, older phones don't always get all the features of an OS update. Apple likes to reserve some for the new phones, Siri being the most prominent example.
And there's also the question of whether just because a phone could be updated it should be updated, as a 2-year old phone simply lacks the necessary hardware power, see for example the horrible performance of iOS4 on the iPhone 3G.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 3): + the iPhone 4S is an actually fully usable phone, including (but not limited to) a very good hands-free mode approaching the quality of high-quality single-purpose handsets (this is rare among smartphones!)
So is the SGS2.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 3): + good battery endurance for a smartphone
What's the status of the iPhone's battery problems? Last I heard was that it was fixed for some with an update, while others where still getting terrible battery life.
racko From Germany, joined Nov 2001, 4736 posts, RR: 23 Reply 9, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 3273 times:
Quoting AirPacific747 (Reply 7): Another plus about is that it is built in Finland and not by some underpaid labourers in Asia.
The Samsung Galaxy S2 is made in South Korea (phone) and Japan (battery), which both have vastly better working conditions than the infamous "suicide factories" (Workers keep jumping out of the windows while working here? Solution: install nets below the windows. Sounds like satire, actually happened) of Foxconn.in China, where the iPhone 4S is made.
Giving Windows Phone a closer look is indeed worth it though, well-thought out OS, looks nice and it'll probably establish itself, as RIM and HP have more or less surrendered the phone market. There's enough space for 3 different smartphone OS.
AirPacific747 From Denmark, joined May 2008, 1736 posts, RR: 24 Reply 10, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 3269 times:
Quoting racko (Reply 9): The Samsung Galaxy S2 is made in South Korea (phone) and Japan (battery), which both have vastly better working conditions than the infamous "suicide factories" (Workers keep jumping out of the windows while working here? Solution: install nets below the windows. Sounds like satire, actually happened) of Foxconn.in China, where the iPhone 4S is made.
True - the comment was mostly aimed against Apple
Quoting racko (Reply 8):
Quoting Klaus (Reply 3):
+/– OLED displays prioritize maximum colour gamut over colour accuracy and battery endurance
Have you actually seen a SAMOLED+ in action? The quality is amazing, including color accuracy. There's a reason why the whole marketing including high-end TVs are moving towards OLED technology. Battery life of the SGS2 is ok. You won't get better than ok from any modern smartphone
I can only agree with Racko here. My Omnia 7 has a Super Amoled screen. The battery easily lasts for 48 hours with a low to medium usage.. at heavy usage, I have never experienced running out of battery in less than a full days length.
This could partly be because of WP7 which is programmed very well it seems, but with Super Amoled displays, no power is used to display black colour.
BMI727 From United States of America, joined Feb 2009, 11547 posts, RR: 27 Reply 11, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 3250 times:
Quoting Andz (Thread starter): So, based on personal experience I would like some guidance... Samsung or Apple?
I have a Samsung Nexus S and I highly recommend it. Android is the best software you could ask for and the hardware is solid.
Quoting Longhornmaniac (Reply 2): You also get unbelievable synchronicity in the Google world. If you use Google Mail, Calendar, or any of the other Google services, the functionality couldn't be simpler.
I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but last summer I transitioned from a Droid to the Nexus S. I turned on the new phone, entered my GMail login, and all of my emails and contacts instantly transferred. And then all of the apps from my old phone cued up to download onto my new phone. The entire thing was seamless because it was backed up on GMail.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 3): – delayed and limited update/upgrade support (sometimes shorter than usual contract duration)
– problematic security including various malware in the official app market
I've never had issues with that. The only problem with updates and upgrades is that some of the latest and greatest software won't be compatible with some of the lower range phones. With a Galaxy S2 this shouldn't be an issue though.
Why do Aerospace Engineering students have to turn things in on time?
N1120A From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 25729 posts, RR: 86 Reply 12, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 3232 times:
How about a Galaxy Nexus?
Mangeons les French fries, mais surtout pratiquons avec fierte le French kiss
srqmuc From Germany, joined Jun 2010, 54 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 3206 times:
Great that someone mentioned the Galaxy Nexus as I am also searching for a new phone to replace my first gen iPhone which needs to be replaced really badly! So far I am stuck between the iPhone 4s and the Google Nexus and hoping for a rich discussion in this thread about the iPhone and the Nexus :P
N1120A From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 25729 posts, RR: 86 Reply 15, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 3207 times:
Quoting srqmuc (Reply 14): So far I am stuck between the iPhone 4s and the Google Nexus and hoping for a rich discussion in this thread about the iPhone and the Nexus
Here's Klaus' part:
APPLE RULES.
Love you Klaus-y
Mangeons les French fries, mais surtout pratiquons avec fierte le French kiss
canoecarrier From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 2265 posts, RR: 11 Reply 16, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 3197 times:
Fair disclosure here, I'm an android user with a Droid and in the market for another android based phone. However, the Mrs. was an early adopter of all things i-related and I get to use them all the time.
Quoting Andz (Thread starter): Samsung is a washing machine company to me so what its phones are like is a mystery.
To be fair, I used to work in the same building that Samsung has office space in Bellevue, WA. I only saw cell phone testing, no washing machines. GE makes washing machines too, but also jet engines.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 4): Since iOS 5 you can use the iDevices completely without a computer as well if you want. It is your own choice whether you want to use iTunes to interface with them.
One of the best changes associated with iOS 5!
Quoting Longhornmaniac (Reply 2): You also get unbelievable synchronicity in the Google world. If you use Google Mail, Calendar, or any of the other Google services, the functionality couldn't be simpler.
True, however Apple has a much smoother interface with the iTunes store than Google Market does.
Quoting Longhornmaniac (Reply 2): Another plus for the iPhone is the App Store. Android's offering is perfectly satisfactory, and almost all apps worth having are developed for both, however the Apple App Store is second to none in terms of apps available.
Quoting racko (Reply 8):
Sorry, but that's just not true. There's tons and tons of great apps available, and I never had the issue of settling for a mediocre app because there wasn't a quality one available. Might have been true 2 years ago, isn't true anymore.
I agree with racko here. For the needs of a vast majority of users the Apps available in the iTunes App Market are also
available through the android market. To date I can count on one hand the number of apps I've wanted as a casual app user that was available on the iTunes Market and not available in the android market.
More recently I have a Kindle Fire, that runs off an Android operating system. The Mrs. will often buy the same app and visa versa for her iPad so we can play with our kid on it. I've never had a problem finding one that she uses on her iPad.
Quoting BMI727 (Reply 11): I have a Samsung Nexus S and I highly recommend it. Android is the best software you could ask for and the hardware is solid.
This will probably be my next phone purchase. I did like the Samsung Nexus in the store and it was voted one of the best if not the best Android phone in the US. For what I would use it for it does everything the iPhone would do. Skype, camera, Outlook, scheduling, apps, etc. All I would want.
Zentraedi From Japan, joined Jun 2007, 632 posts, RR: 0 Reply 17, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 3188 times:
I'd also consider the LG Optimus LTE if I were you.
I've been debating between an iPhone 4S, Galaxy S II LTE, or Optimus LTE.
After spending half an hour with the both of those Andriod phones, the Galaxy S II LTE has some nicer interface touches, but the display on the Optimus is much nicer.
I purchased this phone back in December when it was released in the U.S. I've been a user for just under a month. That being said, (slight bias here) I think it's the best phone in the world at the moment. A number of my friends who have the iPhone 4S feel that as the novelty of Siri wears off, its just another iPhone, and despite all of their changes to the OS its still not as good as Android 4.0 (ICS).
Let me first lay out the bad points - The battery life sucks and the phone is pretty big. I am usually at a desk for most of the day and so i keep my phone near a plug point almost the time. I've got about 12 hours of use on the battery. I think iPhone is about the same. The phone being big is true, but it's very light and does fit in my pocket.
The good parts - It's really fast, lighter than an iPhone (considerably- even though I've got a 4G antenna which made it quite heavier), and I LOVe the interface. I like android becasue of the widgets that put everything in front of you. I can look at my calendar and email at the same time without opening any application. This allows me to multitask way more efficiently. With Apple, you have to open one application at a time, whereas with widgets you can look at things more easily. I also have an app for Google Reader, which puts all of my feeds in one place, I can view my calendar, my email, and all the days news within two swipes of my finger.
The Galaxy S2 is probably great as well, and as far as I know it's getting ICS as well. So you should be ok.
The spin-meister extraordinaire!! Note in admiration how Klaus appears to list pro's and con's of both devices, while carefully qualifying every single advantage of the Samsung and every disadvantage of the iPhone. Tweaks for the Samsung? "Semi-supported" - not just supported. Many apps are "'free'" (the quotation marks say it all). Can be cheaper (wink wink). Meanwhile, every disadvantage of the iPhone (can there really be such a thing?) is carefully put into perpective. Can be more expensive (only at full moon, mind). Locked-down system will limit possibilities in some cases!
Also note that he includes the seemingly neutral +/- section - which really means disadvantage (in the case of the Samsung) or advantage (in the case of the iPhone).
My two cents: both are extremely impressive devices that are unlikely to disappoint. We are now at a point where Android has matured and the phones have become very similar from a technical point of view. More than ever, the choice of OS now depends of the philosophy behind it: do you want an open and customizable platform that is potentially more powerful, but takes effort and the occasional frustration to make full use of? Get Android. Do you want a near-perfect user experience, so polished it will almost never give you bad surprises, but will keep you in a walled garden where everything is overseen by Apple? Then iOS is for you.
canoecarrier From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 2265 posts, RR: 11 Reply 21, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 3165 times:
Quoting Rara (Reply 19): My two cents: both are extremely impressive devices that are unlikely to disappoint. We are now at a point where Android has matured and the phones have become very similar from a technical point of view. More than ever, the choice of OS now depends of the philosophy behind it
Well, isn't that what most of these comparisons boil down too? I can respect Klaus's opinion as long as I take it with a grain of salt that he's an Apple person. There are people who use Mac products exclusively every day and there are those that have never used a Mac product. I fall somewhere in the middle and can see why people love them, but:
Quoting racko (Reply 8): - Price: I don't know about the situation in South Africa, but in Germany the price difference is staggering:
To be fair, the Galaxy and iPhone are much closer in price if you're a Verizon user here in the use. However, one could make the same price comparison between the Kindle Fire and the iPad. My wife literally could do everything she currently does on her iPad on my Fire, but the price difference isn't worth it for some people as it wasn't for me. But, people are willing to pay for the Apple brand (and it is a good product).
If you don't care about personalization and only want ease of use, go iPhone. If you like more control over what you do with your phone and don't want a "standard configuration", get one of the Android OS phones above.
AirPacific747 From Denmark, joined May 2008, 1736 posts, RR: 24 Reply 22, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 3165 times:
Quoting BlueElephant (Reply 18): The good parts - It's really fast, lighter than an iPhone (considerably- even though I've got a 4G antenna which made it quite heavier), and I LOVe the interface. I like android becasue of the widgets that put everything in front of you. I can look at my calendar and email at the same time without opening any application. This allows me to multitask way more efficiently.
It works the same way in WP7, except it is called tiles instead of widgets and they are integrated into the OS, so no need for third party widgets.
Ken777 From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 6127 posts, RR: 4 Reply 23, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 3154 times:
Quoting racko (Reply 8): I personally see absolutely no justification for a 60% premium Apple charges.
Not everyone has to pay that "premium".
Go for a iPhone plan and you pay far less. Free if you go for a 3. $99 for the 4.
Quoting racko (Reply 8): The iPhone 4S champions form over function and therefore looks better, but you have to be aware of the compromises you have to make because of that:
Apple focuses on both form & function. They blew apart the smart phone industry with the core design and the current competition is following their lead on the user interfaces.
Quoting racko (Reply 8): your chance of holding your phone in the correct direction when grabbing it without eye contact is 1 out of 4
I have 67 year old eyes and peripheral neuropathy in the hands and I haven't found it to be a problem. Nor have I on the previous 2 generation iPhones.
Overall I believe that the choice will generally be based on the software available and how it satisfies the consumer. The iOS used in the iPhone is also used on the iPad, another important factor over the next few years.
And, of course, there is also the concerns about the Samsung patent infringements.
racko From Germany, joined Nov 2001, 4736 posts, RR: 23 Reply 25, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 3208 times:
Quoting Ken777 (Reply 23): Apple focuses on both form & function.
They usually do. I'll happily acknowledge that there isn't a better laptop casing than those of the Macbook Pros/Airs. They don't with the iPhone 4(S).
Quoting Ken777 (Reply 23): And, of course, there is also the concerns about the Samsung patent infringements.
And, of course, there is also the concerns about the Apple patent infringements.
Which, of course, to the consumer, are absolutely no concerns in either case.
Quoting Ken777 (Reply 23): Not everyone has to pay that "premium".
Go for a iPhone plan and you pay far less. Free if you go for a 3. $99 for the 4.
Lol, Breaking News: If you enter a 24-month-contract with a carrier, they'll pay you a signing fee. That money can be used to buy a phone, or a dish-washer, or you can bag it. Why do they pay you a signing fee? Because you'll pay the money (and then some) back over 24 months, but it looks cheaper. All it does is obscure the costs.
The Mail, Calendar and News apps are all developed by Google, so they integrate well with the OS. Are a bit different.
I chose android because I like to choose where i see things and how easy it is to access certain features. I can turn on/off bluetooth, wireless, gps, synchro and brightness without doing anything, as it's on my home screen. With apple I'd have to go into the system settings and do them one by one. I can honestly say that within 5 touches of my phone - (Including turning it on and unlocking) - I can, see the weather, all the news headlines, check email, and see my calendar. I can't do that so quickly with Apple. And being able to do all of that within a few seconds is important to me.
I think the bottom line is, how much usability or customization does the user want. If the user doesn't care for this, or is not very tech savvy- probably ok with an iPhone. If user wants more control over how they view things and where they are. And if diversity in over all look and feel is important go with an Android.
I've never really played around with a Windows phone so can't comment although I bet it falls more in line with Androids than Apple.
racko From Germany, joined Nov 2001, 4736 posts, RR: 23 Reply 27, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 3228 times:
Quoting BlueElephant (Reply 26): I chose android because I like to choose where i see things and how easy it is to access certain features. I can turn on/off bluetooth, wireless, gps, synchro and brightness without doing anything, as it's on my home screen. With apple I'd have to go into the system settings and do them one by one. I can honestly say that within 5 touches of my phone
A possibility I really like is the automation Android allows, combined with location-aware profiles. You're at work? Phone goes to vibrate automatically. You leave work? Sound back on. Nights? Phone silent. Afraid you're going to miss an important call because of that? Set numbers that will override the setting and ring anyway.
BlueElephant From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2006, 1765 posts, RR: 8 Reply 28, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 3135 times:
Quoting racko (Reply 27): A possibility I really like is the automation Android allows, combined with location-aware profiles. You're at work? Phone goes to vibrate automatically. You leave work? Sound back on. Nights? Phone silent. Afraid you're going to miss an important call because of that? Set numbers that will override the setting and ring anyway.
Motorola has already done this on a number of their Android phones, In addition to that, I think it also shuts off 3G/4G networks when it finds your wireless network connected, and also shuts off your GPS when it recognizes you're home. Conserving battery.
CXfirst From Norway, joined Jan 2007, 2372 posts, RR: 1 Reply 29, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 3108 times:
A couple things to add.
Do you intend to get an iPad type device, do you own a Mac?
The iPhone works very well with the iPad and Mac, so if I had one of the two, or intend to get one, I would have chosen the iPhone (I don't have one of the two, so that didn't affect my decision, but I see my mums iPhone works well with her iPad and mac).
Are you interested in watching video on your phone. Many won't bother on something that small, but for me, it was a must as on short haul flights, I use my phone to watch tv shows, seeing as I don't have a tablet device, and the apple products are close to useless with most video formats, one of the main reasons I'm looking at android tablets rather than the iPad.
Although apple has more apps, the most common ones and the better must have ones are on Android anyway, and I have not felt like my android has been missing anything. However, a lot of the apps which cost money in the Apple app store have been cheaper or in some cases free in the Android market place (sometimes due to ads, but more often due to Apple's fees).
Andz From South Africa, joined Feb 2004, 8247 posts, RR: 13 Reply 30, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 3101 times:
Quoting tugger (Reply 1): The 800 should be available in South Africa?
It isn't available here at this point in time.
Quoting canoecarrier (Reply 16): To be fair, I used to work in the same building that Samsung has office space in Bellevue, WA. I only saw cell phone testing, no washing machines. GE makes washing machines too, but also jet engines.
That was a tongue in cheek comment, I know about the range and quality of Samsung devices, and your comment about GE is relevant, I sell their electromedical equipment!
Quoting CXfirst (Reply 29): Do you intend to get an iPad type device, do you own a Mac?
No and no, although the iPad maybe become a company-supplied toy in the near future.
Thanks to all who have written such detailed (and sometimes heartfelt!) replies, I am now more confused than ever
After Monday and Tuesday even the calendar says WTF...
globalflyer From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 664 posts, RR: 1 Reply 32, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 3016 times:
I just switched yesterday from an iPhone 4 to the Samsung Galaxy S II. So far I really like it although I am having a devil of a time getting my non-Gmail email to load and work at all as well as get my music over. My Apple Mac Notebook will not take the latest update of v10.6.6 which says it is needed for Winamp to move the music over?
Landing on every Continent almost on an annual basis!
racko From Germany, joined Nov 2001, 4736 posts, RR: 23 Reply 33, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2973 times:
Quoting globalflyer (Reply 32): although I am having a devil of a time getting my non-Gmail email to load and work at all
(Just making sure) You need to use the generic e-mail client, not the gmail one. Or you can get one of various third-party e-mail apps from the market. I don't use one, but I've heard good things about K-9 Mail.
Can't really help you with that, but there's a bunch of apps available if you like synced music. I for one prefer the good old method of just copying the music on the phone without any program interfering. In the settings menu there's an option you can activate that lets you connect the phone via USB as a mass-storage device.
BlueElephant From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2006, 1765 posts, RR: 8 Reply 34, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 2938 times:
Quoting CXfirst (Reply 29): Are you interested in watching video on your phone. Many won't bother on something that small, but for me, it was a must as on short haul flights, I use my phone to watch tv shows, seeing as I don't have a tablet device, and the apple products are close to useless with most video formats, one of the main reasons I'm looking at android tablets rather than the iPad.
For what it's worth, I also have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 - And I'm EXTREMELY happy with it.
my two android devices play well with each other well too.
darksnowynight From United States of America, joined Jan 2012, 189 posts, RR: 1 Reply 35, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 2897 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 3): + the iPhone 4S is an actually fully usable phone, including (but not limited to) a very good hands-free mode approaching the quality of high-quality single-purpose handsets (this is rare among smartphones!)
I can't speak about iPhones, as I've always been android, and brick before that. I will say though, that my HTC G2 is probably about the best phone I've ever had, sound quality and ease-of-use wise. I do not know if they still make that thing (mine is almost a year old now, which if it were an airliner would make it what, a 737-322 "new" wise? ), but I've had no problems with it in the time I've had it. The internet runs near flawlessly, the display is great color-wise (even the blacks), though it's probably not that AMOLED thing), and my favorite, it has a fold out keyboard.
To me, that's the single best thing over the iSeries. A haptic interface. But all this is my opinion of course. Your thoughts?
Enmity is equal to Wrath x The Speed of Fright Squared
racko From Germany, joined Nov 2001, 4736 posts, RR: 23 Reply 36, posted (4 months 2 weeks 23 hours ago) and read 2839 times:
I've been initially struggling with the on-screen keyboard, until I tried Swiftkey X. The typo correction and word prediction works so well that it is sometimes scary.
AirPacific747 From Denmark, joined May 2008, 1736 posts, RR: 24 Reply 38, posted (4 months 2 weeks 23 hours ago) and read 2835 times:
You should take a look at the 'Smoked by Windows Phone' contest at this years CES in Las Vegas. Apparantly you are able to win 100 dollars if your phone can beat a Windows Phone.
swissy From Switzerland, joined Jan 2005, 1711 posts, RR: 6 Reply 40, posted (4 months 2 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 2803 times:
It depends on what you are looking for...
User friendly out of the box, easy breezy good quality phone... then sure consider the I phone 4s. Sure not as fast as the new 4gs or LTE phones but never less still fast
If you like to customize like there is no tomorrow... sure the Droids are far better, had Samsung phones way before the "smart stuff" started and they were build very good and I had never any issues with them, wife's first gen. Galaxy still works fine despite being retired now and the I 4s is in use now. She never liked the droid much because she is not a "geek" person and out of the box these phones are not as user friendly as the I4s, she loves her I4s....
I was/still a BB guy for close to 7 years....have switched over to the I4s about 5-6 weeks ago, like it overall, had issues with the power consumption at the beginning, fixed now...no other issues to report both I4s are wrapped in the Otter skin, works great despite some drops in the past...sure most of you guys say no, man you are hiding all the good stuff oh well...we all know how the I4s looks "naked"
Love the Apple store and support....I tunes is a fantastic tool and we have no issues because our computers are Windows based...
There are pros and cons to all of them.... I still have issues because some of the features I had on the BB I do not have on the I4 and there are days I consider having a "pay as you go" plan for my BB 4g
corinthians From United States of America, joined May 2008, 193 posts, RR: 0 Reply 41, posted (4 months 2 weeks 7 hours ago) and read 2702 times:
Excellent discussion. I have an iPod Touch 4 (essentially an iPhone without the cellular radio) and a Motorola Photon 4G (my carrier's version of the Motorola Atrix). I used to own a Galaxy S and I've played around a lot with the Galaxy S2 and the iPhone 4S. Both are excellent phones and you really wouldn't go wrong with either of them.
There have been some excellent points made for both cases. I don't have that much more to add other than the following which I don't think have been touched on:
-Samsung has a tendency to forget about phones once they release them and move on to their next new model. That's why I was hesitant to get the Galaxy S2 when it came out for my carrier. When I had my Galaxy S, it took forever for them to update to Android 2.2 and even longer for Android 2.3. They also say that they won't be upgrading it to Android 4.0 even though it has the exact same specs as the Nexus S, which got the 4.0 upgrade last month. Go figure. OK, so the Galaxy S2 will get 4.0, but I think this analogy still stands and this is what Samsung has been doing for the longest time and their policy won't change. This might have to do with the fact that Samsung adds the Touchwiz skin to their phones, which makes it harder for them to release an upgrade to the next generation of the software.
-Samsung phones don't have the best cell radios. The Galaxy S2 has reception problems in the US, whereas Motorola Android phones don't have this issue.
-The Galaxy S2 has great battery life. I think it's even better than the 4S's.
-Samsung phones are easy to jailbreak (i.e. root) and they're very easy to customize to your own desire. You can jailbreak an iPhone, but I find that this affects performance. When I jailbroke my iPod, I found that the battery life got quite a bit worse. Jailbreaking a Samsung phone will actually help its performance.
-I find that iOS devices have much worse battery life after the iOS 5 upgrade. Apple has acknowledged this and they did an update, but it didn't do much and we're supposed to be getting another update pretty soon. Apple at least does updates fairly often...Samsung does not.
-With Android phones, you have an actual file manager, whereas you don't have this with the iPhone unless you jailbreak. If this doesn't matter to you, that's OK, but it's essential for me.
-iOS apps are much, much better than Android apps. You simply can't compare. More and better games. Productivity apps are better. Better quality overall and they don't force close as much. I've downloaded the same apps for both Android and iOS and you simply can't compare the two. I will say that Android apps have markedly improved over the last six months, so this might not be an issue a year from now. But the gap is still large right now.
-People have argued that the iPhone has better cross-platformability. This is true. However, Android is improving with this and this will not be so much an issue with Android 4.0 if you have an Android tablet. I have a tablet and most of my phone apps work on it, but not all. Also, there's a program called Bluestacks and you can use Android apps on your Windows (and eventually Mac) computer through this program. It will also be compatible with Windows 8 devices (phones, computers and tablets). That will be awesome!
VonRichtofen From Canada, joined Nov 2000, 4608 posts, RR: 46 Reply 42, posted (4 months 2 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 2666 times:
I can't believe I'm saying this but after having a taste of iOS5 using iCloud and iMessages on my first generation iPad I'm going present my endorsement of the iphone 4S. I've never been a big fan of Android anyway. Both my mother and brother have Galaxy S (first one) and they're pigs.
I don't have an iphone, and I'm happy with my current phone, but I'll be tempted to make the switch when the iphone 5 comes out.
Andz From South Africa, joined Feb 2004, 8247 posts, RR: 13 Reply 43, posted (4 months 2 weeks 2 hours ago) and read 2655 times:
As I expected this has been a great debate topic and I am glad it has remained civil and informative!
I have taken the day off tomorrow and am going to spend some time visiting retailers and (hopefully) playing with each device to try and get the feel of them.
Once again thanks to all for your insight.
After Monday and Tuesday even the calendar says WTF...
trav110 From Canada, joined Jun 2005, 439 posts, RR: 4 Reply 44, posted (4 months 2 weeks ago) and read 2629 times:
I'm sure you have all the information you need to make an informed decision, but I'd like to share my experience with the slightly older Galaxy S. One thing that cannot be beaten is the Super AMOLED display. It is bright with vivid colors even in the daytime or in direct sunlight. That being said, Android OS is prone to bugs and issues more so than the iPhone because of the nature of what can be submitted to its Marketplace. Quirky stuff happens pretty regularly. In 10 months of owning my Galaxy, plenty of things have happened that had me scratching my head. One of them was when my phone froze, then the alarm started going off constantly. Nothing would make it stop aside from putting it on silent. If you turned the volume up 20 minutes later, it was still going off. Had to pop the battery out a few times for that. Also the Kies software that you use to connect your computer to the device is a complete joke. It flat out doesn't work most of the time, When it gets going, it will give you error prompts that are completely nonsensical. Clearly whoever wrote the software had a shaky grip on the English language at best. It does have some neat apps and things (including free music downloaders), but day in and day out dealing with quirks and issues on a consistent basis just gets old. I would go for the iPhone 4S if I were you.
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 45, posted (4 months 1 week 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 2629 times:
Quoting corinthians (Reply 42): -The Galaxy S2 has great battery life. I think it's even better than the 4S's.
The reputable c't magazine has recently done a comparative test of the major top-of-the-line smartphones (issue 26/2011, p.84ff), among other things testing battery endurance. They are known for rather rigorous standardization of their comparative evaluations.
Video playback (brightness calibrated to 200cd/m^2):
iPhone 4S: 12.3h
Galaxy SII: 9h
Browsing the web (WiFi) (brightness calibrated to 200cd/m^2):
iPhone 4S: 11.2h
Galaxy SII: 6.2h(!)
Games:
iPhone 4S: 9h
Galaxy SII: 3h(!)
(Not quoted: The other phones were even worse than the Galaxy, which was the best of the rest apart from the iPhone.)
This shows quite clearly that:
a) Contrast-wise OLED is indeed at the top
b) the contrast in the iPhone's IPS LCD is still so high that the difference to OLED effectively doesn't matter in practice
c) the OLED display sucks battery power like there's no tomorrow when you're extensively using any web- or document-related smartphone features where the screen usually needs to be mostly white
d) similar picture for gaming, if not more extremely (factor 3 instead of 2)
e) even with movie playback (where average brightness is much lower), the OLED still can't edge out any advantage
The LCD has less contrast and a smaller colour range than the OLED, but in real-world use it is still far more power-efficient, far brighter (for usage in direct daylight) and more stable in the long run; It still fits the boring, practical priority on sustained real-world usage better than OLED does, at least up to now.
OLED is a great idea in theory – but the actual engineering hasn't been able to actually manifest most of its theoretical advantages yet.
Apple just doesn't need to discount the iPhone through back channels, since they're selling any copy they can manufacture at full price anyway.
Samsung, on the other hand, appears intent on buying market share through discounts.
Different approaches – both valid for the respective priority.
Quoting racko (Reply 8): - Form follows function vs. function follows form
The iPhone 4S champions form over function and therefore looks better, but you have to be aware of the compromises you have to make because of that:
I have to question your ability to make that judgment call after having used various iOS devices for almost four years now and finding a remarkable symbiosis of form and function there.
Quoting racko (Reply 8): There's a reason why the whole marketing including high-end TVs are moving towards OLED technology.
Again: Pure fiction. TVs are still years away from practical use of OLED technology, as they have been for quite a number of years by now. And the practical disadvantages in mobile devices are still quite pronounced (see above). This will hopefully change sometime down the road, but that's still years away from now.
Quoting racko (Reply 8): Battery life of the SGS2 is ok. You won't get better than ok from any modern smartphone.
There are major differences among different smartphones. See above.
Quoting racko (Reply 8): Unless you have really, really tiny hands, I just don't see the issue. I use my SGS2 with one hand every day, especially when quickly replying to a SMS or just quickly checking something. Absolutely no issue. Please don't mix up the Samsung Galaxy S2 Andz asked about with the Galaxy Note, which is significantly larger.
I routinely pull the iPhone out of my pocket with one hand and practically never need the other hand, nor do I need to shift or jiggle the device into a different position in my hand in order to reach the upper left corner (I'm right-handed). I've got pretty large hands and for quick, comfortable and unencumbered single-handed use the 3.5" of the iPhone is still just the limit for me. I could theoretically manage to use a larger device if I had no other choice, but it could get a bit dicey shifting it around in my hand to reach all corners without losing a proper grip.
And what would be the advantage? Higher resolution? Nope. More viewable area? Nope. I just hold the iPhone slightly closer and have the exact same visible area when I really want, at still better resolution and with a proper RGB display for clean edges everywhere (no PenTile cheats as usual with most OLEDs).
Quoting racko (Reply 8): Less compact? The phone is insanely thin.
The iPhone is already at or slightly above the length and width that's still convenient in my pocket. Even taller and wider than that and it would really become bothersome.
Quoting racko (Reply 8): Less reliable? In ~16 years of mobile phone usage the one thing that has never failed are the electric contacts between the battery and the phone.
Good for you. Many people don't share your luck, though. Plenty of taped-together phones around with the plastic covers starting to come loose and the battery contacts getting wonky.
Quoting racko (Reply 8): The SGS2 will receive Android 4.0 in Q1 2012 and Samsung has publicly pledged to provide updates for at least 18 months.
And you really believe such promises in the face of Samsung simultaneously abandoning the immediate predecessor of the SII in the same breath? I hope Samsung appreciates your faith in them enough to actually follow through this time. Colour me sceptical on this, given their actual performance so far.
Quoting racko (Reply 8): It should be noted that while Apple does update the version number of the OS, older phones don't always get all the features of an OS update. Apple likes to reserve some for the new phones, Siri being the most prominent example.
Siri is not an iOS functionality (at least not at this point). It is explicitly being sold as a device feature bound to the 4S and has never been presented as anything different.
Quoting racko (Reply 8): And there's also the question of whether just because a phone could be updated it should be updated, as a 2-year old phone simply lacks the necessary hardware power, see for example the horrible performance of iOS4 on the iPhone 3G.
The 3G has a quarter(!) of the RAM and at most half the CPU performance of the iPhone 4 (or at best a quarter of the power of the 4S). Small wonder that the initial performance of the new OS could not be on the same level as on the 4 with everything enabled (particularly the Spotlight search indexing) and that some features had to be cut entirely. Apple then substantially improved performance over the initial 4.0, however. All without cost and immediately available for all users.
My 3GS went to its new home with iOS 5, it is still fully supported and running very well, approaching 3 years after I got it. I understand that not everybody appreciates that kind of support (as a perfectly valid personal choice), but I do.
Quoting racko (Reply 8): What's the status of the iPhone's battery problems?
I have none. I regularly get several days on one charge. And by far most other users have no problems with it as well. For the few that still do, Apple is right now preparing the next update (iOS 5.1). Which will again become available for all users at no cost and immediately at the same time.
There are also plenty of people experiencing horrid battery life with their Android devices (also depending a lot on local network coverage and interference as on every device) – but the optimum ceiling is still quite a bit lower there as the c't test demonstrates.
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 48, posted (4 months 1 week 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 2610 times:
Quoting JJJ (Reply 47): Nobody mention that iPhones can't do a thing so basic as sending a file through bluetooth?
That may be because hardly anybody cares about that any more.
I've never had a situation where that would actually have been more practical than sending a proper mail or using WiFi.
Not least due to the very slow speed of Bluetooth which may have been appropriate when that legacy mechanism had first been introduced (in the era of low-resolution cameras and analog modems).
The whole point of smartphones is that they are no longer limited to specialty protocols which had been invented for low-grade feature phones.
Andz From South Africa, joined Feb 2004, 8247 posts, RR: 13 Reply 50, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 2 hours ago) and read 2341 times:
I went to our local cellular megastore yesterday and spent some time with the Galaxy S2, a Samsung Windows phone and an iPhone. They are all so different from what I am used to that to me they seemed much of a muchness, touch screen, pretty colours, easy to use menus etc.
I can get a good deal on an iPhone on my contract upgrade (64GB with no pay-in) so at the moment it has the lead, if only to see what all the hype is about. Several of my colleagues have them and they all seem satisfied with them. Only one has a Galaxy and she didn't give it a glowing report.
I spoke to Nokia, the Lumia series is only coming here in March at the earliest.
After Monday and Tuesday even the calendar says WTF...
garpd From UK - Scotland, joined Aug 2005, 2103 posts, RR: 4 Reply 53, posted (4 months 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 2085 times:
Personally, I think the fact that Apple are sueing Samsung on the Galaxy phone tells me it's just as good if not better than the iPhone.
I use android devices primarily because I do not like how Apple devices are locked to iTunes, making it impossible for you to listen to music you have already purchased and is sitting as an MP3 on your PCs hard drive. I also do not see the justification in such enormous price tags.
Rara From Germany, joined Jan 2007, 1374 posts, RR: 3 Reply 54, posted (4 months 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 2089 times:
Quoting garpd (Reply 53): I do not like how Apple devices are locked to iTunes, making it impossible for you to listen to music you have already purchased and is sitting as an MP3 on your PCs hard drive.
Wait, what? I can't simply put a song on an iPhone and listen to it?
Balls……..
You don´t have to BUY the song from I-tunes!
You just have to put whatever song you already own into I-tunes……which takes "2 clicks" if you have it on your computer and you have I-tunes installed. If you have it on a CD; insert CD; upload to I-tunes………then it will transfer to I-phone, I-pod or whatever.
No Tax On Rotax
[Edited 2012-01-22 04:47:24]
Als vader voorlicht, kan je merken dat hij achter ligt.
garpd From UK - Scotland, joined Aug 2005, 2103 posts, RR: 4 Reply 58, posted (4 months 3 days 20 hours ago) and read 2060 times:
Then everyone I know must be doing it wrong. One has an iPhone 3g, three of them have iPhone 4s and on has a 4s. Neither of them have been able upload their mp3s to they phones. Itunes refuses to accept thier licenses or some such.
Braniff747SP From United States of America, joined Oct 2008, 2037 posts, RR: 1 Reply 60, posted (4 months 3 days 18 hours ago) and read 2044 times:
Having used both, and being an owner of an iPhone 4S and also having acces to the older Galaxy, I'
Quoting notaxonrotax (Reply 59):
I mean, many friends around the world have I-phones and I-pod´s…….I personally owned 6 throughout my life, never a problem; ever.
Neither have I. 99.8% of my 10 gigs worth of music was not bought from iTunes, and it works great on iPhone, iPad, and iPod. Now, if the music was purchased somewhere else online, and it's downloads have restrictions, then something maybe going on. Even then, it will likely be accepted by iTunes.
The 747 will always be the TRUE queen of the skies!
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 62, posted (4 months 3 days 12 hours ago) and read 1976 times:
Quoting garpd (Reply 61): For now, I'm gonna go laugh in their faces as they've sworn blind they know what they're doing.
Come on, be nice!
Normally you can simply drag any MP3 or AAC files into iTunes and they will also sync to iPods and iOS devices.
What won't work will be DRM-restricted files from elsewhere. DRM-free WMA files need to be converted, but iTunes should automatically do that for you (with some degradation in quality as with any re-encoding).
A common problem is also that many people's files aren't tagged properly (artist, album and title information have not been set). In that case the files may appear to not be accepted by iTunes, but they may simply turn up somewhere out of sight since their information is still missing.
Note: iTunes doesn't care about file or directory names when looking at music files; It only uses the information tags within the files for its database, and those may be missing.
This can be fixed right within iTunes, though, and it only needs to be done once:
• in the iTunes side bar select "Library"
• in the title row of the content sort by "Date Added" with the latest additions at the top (if that column is not visible yet, right-click on any column title and set the check mark for this column to make it appear)
• even if your newly added files should not be tagged properly, they will now still sit at the top of the list
• you can now play those new files by double-clicking them and you can simply click into the Artist, Album and Title fields to set the information
• you can also select several titles at once, press CMD+i (on the Mac) or CTRL-i (under Windows) to get and set the information for a group of files at once, such as setting everything except the title for all tracks of the same album; you can also drag-and-drop an album cover image into the respective field
• you can also look at the info dialog for an individual file; in the "Summary" tab at the bottom you can see the file name on the disk if that is the only place to see the title name; you can then enter it in the "Info" tab to set the track title properly
When you're done, the files will work as well in iTunes and on all devices (from Apple or or other manufacturers) as any you'd buy from the online store since (most of) the tags are standardized and are not Apple-specific.
You might want to use only the newly tagged files after that since they are now proper and complete. Pretty much all other programs and devices will work better with them now as well.
Maybe it's just that. Many people aren't quite aware of how music file tagging works.
seb146 From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 8614 posts, RR: 19 Reply 64, posted (4 months 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 1943 times:
I have a Samsung Galaxy running Android on Virgin Mobile (probably my whole problem) and it seems to freeze a lot when trying to load Facebook or my e-mail. I have pulled the battery out twice in the last week because of it. I like all the indivitual components. The Samsung Galaxy phone is very straightforward and easy to use. Good sound quality on calls, texting is easy. Android O/S is easy to use and straightforward. The constant freezing is bothering me.
Wheel of morality turn, turn, turn. Tell us the lesson that we should learn
aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 7588 posts, RR: 51 Reply 66, posted (4 months 3 days 9 hours ago) and read 1932 times:
Quoting Rara (Reply 54): Wait, what? I can't simply put a song on an iPhone and listen to it?
Quoting garpd (Reply 55): If you didn't buy it via iTunes, no.
Sometimes, the quality of the advice found online isn't beyond doubt...
Perhaps your mates shouldn't try uploading files from MegaUpload.com or similar places. My converted CDs, Amazon downloads and Audible audiobooks all work very nicely on the first and only iPod I have ever owned; a 20GB 4th generation model which I purchased used on eBay about six years ago.
Which brings me to another important point: reliability. If you don't abuse them*, Apple products will last you an eternity (in tech terms, of course). So if you're not the kind of person who likes spending money every other year to replace a worn-out electronic toy executive business tool, the partially eaten fruit will deliver even better value for money than it already does through usability.
* keep the number of times you drop your running hard-drive type iPod on the floor to a minimum, sit on a corner of your aluminium MacBook instead of stepping on it, that sort of thing
Walk together, talk together all ye peoples of the earth. Then, and only then, shall ye have peace.
aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 7588 posts, RR: 51 Reply 68, posted (4 months 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 1806 times:
Quoting br076 (Reply 67): CRASHTEST IPHONE4S vs GALAXY S2
That's not exactly scientific.
Anyway, if I had a phone with large amounts of glass in its case I would probably put some sort of "bumper" or whatever the things are called around it.
Walk together, talk together all ye peoples of the earth. Then, and only then, shall ye have peace.
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 69, posted (4 months 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 1806 times:
Quoting br076 (Reply 67): All very good arguments and such... but how about build quality ..
CRASHTEST IPHONE4S vs GALAXY S2
These kinds of YouTube clips are of very limited use when comparing devices, since they are clearly intended to produce a specific result and for some reason achieve that intended result without fail. Must be entirely accidental, of course…
But "build quality" actually means something completely different from what you think it does.
A Mercedes S class certainly has top-notch build quality but may be less resistant to damage than a cheap utility truck with crude steel, plastic and rubber all around. Not the same things.
Galaxy:
A thin plastic back and a plastic lip going around and beyond the glass can act as a bumper for the glass which can offer protection against some types of damage. It makes the device softer and weaker against others, though, and the lip around the display is less pleasant while using the device.
iPhone:
Two rigid glass panes with rounded, exposed edges enclosed by a milled stainless steel frame make the device more susceptible to those same specific kinds of damage but make the device a lot tougher against most other forces. The completely flat glass with softly rounded edges is more pleasant to use. The actual build quality is substantially higher. If the user deems it necessary, it can be easily ruggedized against falls on concrete even beyond the Galaxy's level by adding a rubber bumper frame. I personally have never considered that, however. The iPhone 4S is my fourth iOS device through four years by now and none of them has ever sustained damage from a fall (and they've had a few).
mt99 From United States of America, joined exactly 13 years ago today! , 5640 posts, RR: 8 Reply 70, posted (4 months 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 1790 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 69): since they are clearly intended to produce a specific result and for some reason achieve that intended result without fail. Must be entirely accidental, of course…
My iphone 3GS "silent" switch.. broke.. i cant silence it anymore
Not sure if will be abel to hold of till the iphone 5 (sometime this year?) or break down and get a 4S
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 71, posted (4 months 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 1781 times:
Quoting mt99 (Reply 70): My iphone 3GS "silent" switch.. broke.. i cant silence it anymore
The 4/4S has that one in steel as well. But you could glue it back on so far, or have the switch replaced (mine never broke in the 3GS).
Quoting mt99 (Reply 70): Not sure if will be abel to hold of till the iphone 5 (sometime this year?) or break down and get a 4S
Depends on what your priorities are – for me the 64GB sealed the deal because I can really use the storage space. The i5 this autumn will likely have LTE, again a faster CPU (likely the A6 the iPad will debut with soon), but I wouldn't bet on a bigger display or most of the other rumoured features. Most of these were not really thought through properly. There will be other improvements, of course. If you don't feel a real need, you might just as well repair the 3GS and wait for the i5.
mt99 From United States of America, joined exactly 13 years ago today! , 5640 posts, RR: 8 Reply 72, posted (4 months 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 1768 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 71): But you could glue it back on so far,
When i say id "broke" i dont mean it fell off... Bu the contact behind the switch (inside the phone) is broken,. I flip the switch down but nothing happens. It does not go into silence mode
Quoting Klaus (Reply 71): The i5 this autumn will likely have LTE, again a faster CPU
Autumn huh,.. that an awful long time, an awful large number of meetings, movies and dinner for which silence is very usefull
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 74, posted (4 months 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 1758 times:
Quoting mt99 (Reply 72): When i say id "broke" i dont mean it fell off... Bu the contact behind the switch (inside the phone) is broken,. I flip the switch down but nothing happens. It does not go into silence mode
Ah, okay. Might be the actual button then, indeed. The button assembly can be replaced separately from the motherboard, however, as far as I'm aware, so it should not be too expensive to repair (you might even be able to do it yourself if the warranty has already expired).
Quoting mt99 (Reply 72): Autumn huh,.. that an awful long time, an awful large number of meetings, movies and dinner for which silence is very usefull
True. Turning ringer volume all the way down should be mostly helpful nevertheless until it's repaired.
Quoting AirPacific747 (Reply 73): About time, I'd say.. especially considering there are already LTE phones out there today.
And it's no accident that they all are huge monsters in order to carry the large battery the old chipsets still require. And still they run through a charge at record speed if LTE is actually enabled. The first chipsets with halfway civilized power consumption are expected … suprise, surprise … this fall.
AirPacific747 From Denmark, joined May 2008, 1736 posts, RR: 24 Reply 75, posted (4 months 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 1718 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 74): And it's no accident that they all are huge monsters in order to carry the large battery the old chipsets still require. And still they run through a charge at record speed if LTE is actually enabled. The first chipsets with halfway civilized power consumption are expected … suprise, surprise … this fall.
I'll wait for the reviews of the Lumia 900 to determine whether or not you're right
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 78, posted (4 months 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 1650 times:
Quoting andz (Reply 52): Here's a question... can I connect either the S2 or 4S to a PC via Bluetooth then send and receive texts a la Nokia PC Suite?
Not that I'm aware of. Texting is tightly controlled on the iPhone, not least to prevent the kind of malware abuse that's become common on Android (shady apps sending large numbers of expensive SMS in the background).
On the iPhone each text must be sent and confirmed explicitly by the user. Even officially validated apps cannot send texts in the background without explicit user review and confirmation.
ha763 From United States of America, joined Jan 2003, 3374 posts, RR: 7 Reply 80, posted (4 months 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 1598 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 74): And it's no accident that they all are huge monsters in order to carry the large battery the old chipsets still require. And still they run through a charge at record speed if LTE is actually enabled.
Yes, Android eats power faster, but to call the phones huge monsters because of the battery is just false. They are bigger because the screens are bigger. Pretty much all the newer high-end Android phones have at least a 4.5 inch screen, have higher capacity batteries, but are thinner than an iPhone 4/4S. Even the SGS2, with a removable 1850 mAh battery, is slightly thinner than a 4/4S.
Quoting aloges (Reply 76): Apparently, you'll soon be able to use voice-to-text with the S2:
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 81, posted (4 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 1595 times:
Quoting ha763 (Reply 80): Yes, Android eats power faster, but to call the phones huge monsters because of the battery is just false. They are bigger because the screens are bigger.
Then where is the iPhone-sized Android LTE device with a decent battery life if the screen size has no connection?
It looks a lot like the bigger screen just being along for the ride on the bigger battery for the old LTE chipsets (not that it's that much help as it is).
Quoting ha763 (Reply 80): Pretty much all the newer high-end Android phones have at least a 4.5 inch screen, have higher capacity batteries, but are thinner than an iPhone 4/4S.
The thinness is getting meaningless at some point when their sheer area is making them clumsier to carry and operate. My leg just doesn't happen to be flat, so a larger phone in my pocket would be at least as irritating as a thicker one, if not more so.
ha763 From United States of America, joined Jan 2003, 3374 posts, RR: 7 Reply 82, posted (4 months 5 hours ago) and read 1529 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 81): Then where is the iPhone-sized Android LTE device with a decent battery life if the screen size has no connection?
I made no such claim on battery life and size. I readily admitted that Android uses more batter power than iOS. Adding LTE uses even more battery. Your claim was:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 74): And it's no accident that they all are huge monsters in order to carry the large battery the old chipsets still require.
My response was:
Quoting ha763 (Reply 80): They are bigger because the screens are bigger.
Android phones with screens over 4 inches have been available since 2010. A phone with a 4.5 inch screen is going to look and feel huge compared to a a phone with a 3.5 inch screen.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 81): It looks a lot like the bigger screen just being along for the ride on the bigger battery for the old LTE chipsets (not that it's that much help as it is).
As you can see, there is a lot of unused space around the 1850 mAh battery in AT&T's LTE-enabled SGS2 Skyrocket, which has a 4.5 inch screen.
Even the Verizon Galaxy Nexus has a similar empty space and has an official OEM 2100 mAh battery available from Verizon and Samsung that fits in the same space and only adds millimeters to the thickness.
autothrust From Switzerland, joined Jun 2006, 1254 posts, RR: 8 Reply 83, posted (4 months ago) and read 1507 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 3): problematic security including various malware in the official app market
– quality of available software: low to medium; few high-quality exceptions; fragmented platform and frequent inconsistencies
– quality of available hardware: medium (plastic casings, mediocre OS integration)
Nonsense, you seem to spin things to your needs. Maybe you have forgotten to mention on Android Apps show BEFORE installation what exactly they will do unlike on Apple.
Also suspicious apps are veryfied by Google or deleted.
Quoting racko (Reply 8): Have you actually seen a SAMOLED+ in action? The quality is amazing, including color accuracy. There's a reason why the whole marketing including high-end TVs are moving towards OLED technology. Battery life of the SGS2 is ok. You won't get better than ok from any modern smartphone.
I have both SG 2 and Iphone 4, while the resolution of the IPS is better the SAMOLED + colors and black are unbeatable. Most people i show both smartphones are amazed by the colors and sharpness of the SG2 in comparison to the Iphone.
Some things Klaus forgot to mention:
The SG2 is still way faster then the IPhone 4S, Browsing is faster, you can individualize, personalize your SG2 to the maximum you can even remove the Samsung Logo.
You won't experience lags on your SG2 unlike the Iphone4. The drawback is battery endurance which delivers power up to two days.
You can use your SG2 as a USB-Stick without need of the horrible-desaster Software Itunes.
Also a important fact about the two: The SG2 is much more robust then the IPhone 4. There are dozens of youtube videos which prove that apart my personal experience. My SG2 has (my cat was the guilty)fallen from a height of 1.7m without any slightest damage, try this with the iphone.
I was very disspointed with the quality of my Iphone. The home-button doesn't work anymore just 4 weeks after i got the phone.
Totally i have 85 apps on my SG2 and it still works so fast, 3D-acceleration Games are amazing on the SG2.
There are more apps in the android market then the appstore. If you buy a app and you don't like it, delete it in the first 30mins and you get your money back.
autothrust From Switzerland, joined Jun 2006, 1254 posts, RR: 8 Reply 87, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 1493 times:
Quoting virginblue4 (Reply 85): So explain why many Android users had problems with their phones are downloading an app with malware etc?
Because they are care-less and don't look what permissions the app will need? I know several people with Android and none of them had problems with malware.
Quoting virginblue4 (Reply 85):
I don't understand. My iPhone 4S has never lagged once, and I mean once. I know a few friends who have the SG2 and I've seen it first hand, it lags.
My Iphone lags from time to time even when i delete the Apps from the RAM, it is slow in browsing,it is slow for loading pictures in the gallery,it needs longer to connect in a WLAN. I have seven homescreens full with widgets and apps on my SG2 and have not experienced any lag up to date.
Have worked several times with Itunes even in the company i work. You can't even imagine what problems we had on the system Itunes were installed.
However the Samsung Synchronising Software is also a disaster, the diffrence is you have been forced (activate Iphone/Updates) to use Itunes (until the cloud).
virginblue4 From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2008, 700 posts, RR: 0 Reply 89, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 1491 times:
Quoting autothrust (Reply 87): Because they are care-less and don't look what permissions the app will need?
And with Apple you don't need to bother as you know the apps are all safe. It's not care-less it's just basic that the app should come without any sort of malware / virus.
aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 7588 posts, RR: 51 Reply 90, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 1489 times:
Quoting autothrust (Reply 88): Have worked several times with Itunes even in the company i work. You can't even imagine what problems we had on the system Itunes were installed.
You're right, I can't... because I have never once had a real problem with it - not even when I moved all my content from one OS to another.
Walk together, talk together all ye peoples of the earth. Then, and only then, shall ye have peace.
Rara From Germany, joined Jan 2007, 1374 posts, RR: 3 Reply 91, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 1488 times:
Quoting virginblue4 (Reply 89):
And with Apple you don't need to bother as you know the apps are all safe. It's not care-less it's just basic that the app should come without any sort of malware / virus.
Yes, it's your safe and sanitized walled garden, where everything is overseen by Uncle Apple, who will make sure you won't ever see malware, or ladies' naughty parts, or apps that may compete with Apple's own solutions.
stealthz From Australia, joined Feb 2005, 5073 posts, RR: 51 Reply 93, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1470 times:
Quoting aloges (Reply 92): You mean like there is no Adobe Photoshop for Mac because it would compete with Apple's Aperture?
Apple appear to have adopted a very different "no compete" strategy for iOS devices than for Mac.
Having said that whilst PS is avail for Mac it is NOT a competitor to Aperture, if you wish to clutch at such straws, the closest Adobe competitor to Aperture would be Lightroom(which IS avail in a Mac version)
Quoting virginblue4 (Reply 89): And with Apple you don't need to bother as you know the apps are all safe
The folks in "1984" were safe as well... didn't have a lot of freedom to choose their own path.. but they were safe!!
If your camera sends text messages, that could explain why your photos are rubbish!
aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 7588 posts, RR: 51 Reply 94, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1469 times:
Quoting stealthz (Reply 93): Apple appear to have adopted a very different "no compete" strategy for iOS devices than for Mac.
That is true and I'm pretty ambivalent about that part of iOS. On the one hand, it does protect people from malware and lots of customers don't want to bother with vetting the apps they install. It also gives developers a very good marketing and distribution platform. But on the other hand, the my-way-or-the-highway approach isn't exactly pro-diversity.
(off topic: There was ample speculation that the App Store-only philosophy would be adopted by OS X Lion, which has turned out to be histrionics... which is the very thing that annoys me in these endless platform wars. )
Quoting stealthz (Reply 93): if you wish to clutch at such straws, the closest Adobe competitor to Aperture would be Lightroom (which IS avail in a Mac version)
I don't wish to clutch at anything, I am simply annoyed by statements like this one:
Quoting Rara (Reply 91): Yes, it's your safe and sanitized walled garden, where everything is overseen by Uncle Apple, who will make sure you won't ever see malware, or ladies' naughty parts, or apps that may compete with Apple's own solutions.
Both iOS and Android have their strengths and weaknesses, but at the end of the day the competition means more choice and faster innovation for us, the customers. It's pretty sad to watch fanboys and bashers go at each other.
Quoting stealthz (Reply 93): The folks in "1984" were safe as well... didn't have a lot of freedom to choose their own path.. but they were safe!!
Come on... the comparison isn't just far-fetched, it's preposterous.
Walk together, talk together all ye peoples of the earth. Then, and only then, shall ye have peace.
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 95, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1470 times:
Quoting ha763 (Reply 82): Quoting Klaus (Reply 81):
Then where is the iPhone-sized Android LTE device with a decent battery life if the screen size has no connection?
I made no such claim on battery life and size.
Sure – you claimed there was no connection.
Quoting autothrust (Reply 83): Maybe you have forgotten to mention on Android Apps show BEFORE installation what exactly they will do unlike on Apple.
"Exactly"? There are only very generic declarations which in many cases even IT specialists can only guess about what's really going on. And of course none of the numerous malicious apps ever declared their nefarious functions in any way.
Most people simply give up on examining the declarations.
Quoting autothrust (Reply 83): Also suspicious apps are veryfied by Google or deleted.
No, there is no verification. Criminals can pump their infected apps into the Android Market unsupervised. That is exactly how the malware gets there and why many thousands of people have had their devices infected.
From time to time Google removes malware from he store after the fact, often weeks after the infections have already been spread.
Quoting autothrust (Reply 83): I have both SG 2 and Iphone 4, while the resolution of the IPS is better the SAMOLED + colors and black are unbeatable.
The iPhone provides double the usable battery life vs. the Galaxy when viewing black-on-white documents (such as almost all of the web). The reason is the LCD vs. the OLED.
Together with the OLED's still limited durability that is the obvious reason why Apple won't touch OLED at this time – the technology may improve over time, but it's not remotely on par with LCD yet when it's about actual, practical usability in real life vs. flashy, momentary demonstrations.
The OLED-based Android phones are primarily designed to impress in the store, the iPhone is primarily designed to be a real-life tool with maximum practical usability and reliability.
Both result in different compromises being made, but compromises both still are. Neither is perfect, so you need to choose according to your own priorities.
OLED just isn't an actually mature technlogy yet.
Black levels of the iPhone Retina Display in real-life use are already beyond practical concerns, by the way. Environmental circumstances limit the actually visible contrast much more than the display technology as such does.
Quoting autothrust (Reply 83): The SG2 is still way faster then the IPhone 4S
Most tests and most users' real-life experiences have it the other way around. Where, specifically, have I overlooked my iPhone being slow? It doesn't feel like it, for some reason.
Quoting autothrust (Reply 83): I was very disspointed with the quality of my Iphone. The home-button doesn't work anymore just 4 weeks after i got the phone.
Have it replaced on warranty. I've had four iOS devices by now since 2008 and never had a single issue with any of them, so your experience isn't entirely representative, to put it mildly.
May I ask why you got the iPhone in the first place if you find it so horrible vs. the Galaxy?
Quoting autothrust (Reply 83): Totally i have 85 apps on my SG2 and it still works so fast, 3D-acceleration Games are amazing on the SG2.
The number of apps on the iPhone is not a factor for performance. And Infinity Blade is still the reference for mobile 3D performance. Especially in 3D the current A5 platform in the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4S positively smokes any Android hardware on the market by a multiple factor (and that while still providing longer battery endurance, even in a more compact device!), and the A6 is already due in spring with the iPad 3.
Quoting autothrust (Reply 83): There are more apps in the android market then the appstore.
Given that any hobbyist (and any criminal!) is free to upload whatever they want, quantity was never hard to boost; Quality is quite a different matter, though. All high-quality apps are on iOS. Much fewer on Android, though, even in absolute numbers.
Quoting autothrust (Reply 83): Also a big big plus for the SG2 :WLAN Tethering, make out of your smartphone a WLAN Router.
How is that a "big plus" when the iPhone has the same feature?
Quoting autothrust (Reply 83): Two other things, quality of telephone is on my Iphone bad also signal strength.
Most people experience better connection quality on the iPhone, but your mileage may vary, not least depending on available networks.
Quoting autothrust (Reply 83): Wait for the SG3! It will be so much ahead of everything else.
Always depends on what "ahead" means relative to your personal preferences.
It will mark the beginning of the SG2's short march towards obsolescence by support abandonment, that much is certain, regardless of people's still running contracts, while iPhones are assured to be supported for at least 3 years from release.
Device support has been a painful achilles heel of Android all along, and again Google's last initiative to improve on that has just fizzled out just like its predecessors. The Android device manufacturers and the networks simply won't have it – short-sighted interests to sell new devices trump keeping users of existing devices satisfied.
Apple is going a more expensive, less sales-pushing but more sustainable route, with one of the results being sky-high user satisfaction and another a record profit share of the market at the same time.
Quoting autothrust (Reply 88): You can't even imagine what problems we had on the system Itunes were installed.
I can imagine a whole lot, but I've yet to witness major iTunes problems first-hand, and I've been using it since version 1.0.
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 96, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1471 times:
Quoting stealthz (Reply 93): The folks in "1984" were safe as well... didn't have a lot of freedom to choose their own path.. but they were safe!!
So which actual, real apps for Android which have no counterparts under iOS express an actually greater degree of greater freedom vs. iOS justifying this kind of comparison, particularly when looking at the large number of iOS-exclusive high-quality titles?
Rara From Germany, joined Jan 2007, 1374 posts, RR: 3 Reply 97, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1465 times:
Quoting aloges (Reply 94):
I don't wish to clutch at anything, I am simply annoyed by statements like this one:
Quoting Rara (Reply 91):
Yes, it's your safe and sanitized walled garden, where everything is overseen by Uncle Apple, who will make sure you won't ever see malware, or ladies' naughty parts, or apps that may compete with Apple's own solutions.
Both iOS and Android have their strengths and weaknesses, but at the end of the day the competition means more choice and faster innovation for us, the customers. It's pretty sad to watch fanboys and bashers go at each other.
Well, it has been pointed out to you that my statement referred to iOS, not Apple's desktop computers, which are not censored (yet).
I'm not a basher by any means, I'm amazed by the quality and usability of Apple's products. But when people point out to me that a tightly moderated and controlled marketplace is actually a selling point for them, because they can feel safe from malware and who-knows-what, I can't help finding that a tad ridiculous. I'm 28 years old, I can make my own decisions, thank you very much. If I find an app called "OMG free backgroundz!!!" by crackzmaster69, I don't install it. I don't need some Cupertino control-freak to tell me that. Also, I don't go blind from seeing naked ladies. If that possibility makes you nervous, then by all means enjoy Apple's kindergarten, and blather on about "thousands" of malware apps in the Android market (the horror!).
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 98, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1462 times:
Quoting Rara (Reply 97): I'm not a basher by any means, I'm amazed by the quality and usability of Apple's products. But when people point out to me that a tightly moderated and controlled marketplace is actually a selling point for them, because they can feel safe from malware and who-knows-what, I can't help finding that a tad ridiculous. I'm 28 years old, I can make my own decisions, thank you very much.
And I'm in my upper fourties, a seasoned IT developer and I know very well that the level of validation Apple routinely does would be highly impractical (and extremely tedious) to replicate for me and utterly impossible for 99+% of all users.
Quoting Rara (Reply 97): If I find an app called "OMG free backgroundz!!!" by crackzmaster69, I don't install it.
Most Android malware poses as legitimate apps such as "Angry Birds". And since nobody validates it before it gets uploaded (where such obvious fakes would be thrown out immediately before ever reaching the App Store), the legitimate versions can get hard to find with all the ripoffs and malware clogging up the Android Market.
Quoting Rara (Reply 97): Also, I don't go blind from seeing naked ladies.
Even hardcore porn sites seem to cater quite extensively to iOS users. Nor have I ever experienced any limitations in the kinds of content that can be accessed through iOS devices.
Apple doesn't want to distribute pornography through the store. You can get plenty of that on your own anyway and Apple is in no way restricting you on that. So what's the actual problem?
autothrust From Switzerland, joined Jun 2006, 1254 posts, RR: 8 Reply 99, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1452 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 95): The iPhone provides double the usable battery life vs. the Galaxy when viewing black-on-white documents (such as almost all of the web). The reason is the LCD vs. the OLED.
Wrong, it doesn't double the usable battery life.Iphone Internet Browsing endurance: 06:17 SG2 : 7:00
Quoting Klaus (Reply 95): The OLED-based Android phones are primarily designed to impress in the store, the iPhone is primarily designed to be a real-life tool with maximum practical usability and reliability.
Do you read what you write? Apart your hyperboling if the OLED would have such a bad durability Samsung would be do nothing else then the whole time exchanging displays of the over 100million SG. Again the SG2 is much more robust no matter how you twist it.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 95): Especially in 3D the current A5 platform in the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4S positively smokes any Android hardware on the market by a multiple factor
While the Iphone 4S has a better graphics chip due to being newer(A5 dual-core ARM-9 from SAMSUNG with 1Ghz.) on the SG2 its a ARM9 or Tegra2 with 1.2Ghz respective 1.5Ghz. Because in terms of raw processing power, the CPU's of Samsung Galaxy whacked the iPhone 4S.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 95): Have it replaced on warranty.
So much for your ultra high praised quality from apple.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 95): I can imagine a whole lot, but I've yet to witness major iTunes problems first-hand, and I've been using it since version 1.0.
I have witnessed a lot of problems with Itunes and failure messages, not working synch, deleted data etc.. on windows pc's.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 95): May I ask why you got the iPhone in the first place if you find it so horrible vs. the Galaxy?
I got it, i would never buy it.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 95): How is that a "big plus" when the iPhone has the same feature?
I stand corrected, i just noticed its avaliable at IOS 4.3 upwards.
stealthz From Australia, joined Feb 2005, 5073 posts, RR: 51 Reply 100, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1455 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 95): Most people experience better connection quality on the iPhone,
Klaus... now you are pushing things.
I have something like 100-150 conversations with cell phone users a day, guess which ones have the worst drop out rate?
And I know because when I call them back... if I can reconnect I ask!
iPhones in this part of Aus are significantly less reliable, possibly carrier issues but I suspect not.
One empirical example, a good friend, a red headed, freckled Aussie version of yourself.. been in IT as long, a bit older but just as much a believer in the "Cupertino Way".. uses the same carrier as I do, same plan even.
Gets something like 25% of the Mob BB speed I do on, calls drop out while we are within several feet of each other, always apologising for "network issues" when I and others have no problem.
Nice devices, nice design, not the saviour of the world!!
If your camera sends text messages, that could explain why your photos are rubbish!
Asturias From Spain, joined Apr 2006, 1767 posts, RR: 19 Reply 101, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1447 times:
Overall, I'd recommend an Android phone. Hardware-wise the Android phones are better and more flexible, but it is on software that Android is the absolute best choice at the moment. Perhaps Windows 8 phone will match or beat it, but Apple's iOS is old tech, and it shows.
autothrust From Switzerland, joined Jun 2006, 1254 posts, RR: 8 Reply 102, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 1455 times:
Quoting Rara (Reply 97): If that possibility makes you nervous, then by all means enjoy Apple's kindergarten, and blather on about "thousands" of malware apps in the Android market (the horror!).
Good one I just don't like the paternalism of Apple.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 95): Most people experience better connection quality on the iPhone, but your mileage may vary, not least depending on available networks.
Rubbish, most test have shown the poor connection quality of the Iphone. Also having Iphone and SG2 side by side the SG2 has clear less problems. I can make a picture for you showing this. Also Stiftung Warentests wrote about it:
Rara From Germany, joined Jan 2007, 1374 posts, RR: 3 Reply 103, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 1455 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 98):
And I'm in my upper fourties, a seasoned IT developer and I know very well that the level of validation Apple routinely does would be highly impractical (and extremely tedious) to replicate for me and utterly impossible for 99+% of all users.
Weird, so how comes I never had a problem with malware or viruses? If I want an app, I search for it, I briefly look at the description and the user feedback, I install it.
If, for whatever reason, I have any doubts about the app, I can even manually restrict its accesses and priviledges - something I can't do on iOS, I assume.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 98): hard to find with all the ripoffs and malware clogging up the Android Market.
Aw come on... "clogging up"? Have you even used the Android Market at least once? In 2+ years of using Android, I've not once come across a rip-off or malware app. I wouldn't even now how to look for it.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 98):
Apple doesn't want to distribute pornography through the store. You can get plenty of that on your own anyway and Apple is in no way restricting you on that. So what's the actual problem?
Nicely done - first you argue with some hypothetical possibility of contracting malware - and now you want to speak about actual problems. So what are we talking, theory or practice?
aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 7588 posts, RR: 51 Reply 104, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 1435 times:
Quoting Rara (Reply 97): If that possibility makes you nervous, then by all means enjoy Apple's kindergarten, and blather on about "thousands" of malware apps in the Android market (the horror!).
I rest my case... good grief, you'd think I had insulted his family!
Walk together, talk together all ye peoples of the earth. Then, and only then, shall ye have peace.
racko From Germany, joined Nov 2001, 4736 posts, RR: 23 Reply 105, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 1438 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 96): So which actual, real apps for Android which have no counterparts under iOS express an actually greater degree of greater freedom vs. iOS justifying this kind of comparison, particularly when looking at the large number of iOS-exclusive high-quality titles?
Tasker.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 95): Black levels of the iPhone Retina Display in real-life use are already beyond practical concerns,
The iPhone display can not display black!
It's as easy as that. It can't. There's no such thing as "black levels". There's black and there's not black.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 69): Two rigid glass panes with rounded, exposed edges enclosed by a milled stainless steel frame make the device more susceptible to those same specific kinds of damage but make the device a lot tougher against most other forces.
Out of interest, what would those "other forces" be? And, in your estimation, how frequent are they compared to fall, or more precisely impact damage?
Here's my completely unscientific guess for the most frequent "phone killers":
1. Phone falling down
2. Walking against an obstacle while carrying the phone in your pocket
3. Water
Rara From Germany, joined Jan 2007, 1374 posts, RR: 3 Reply 106, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 1416 times:
Quoting aloges (Reply 104): Quoting Rara (Reply 97):
If that possibility makes you nervous, then by all means enjoy Apple's kindergarten, and blather on about "thousands" of malware apps in the Android market (the horror!).
I rest my case... good grief, you'd think I had insulted his family!
"You" as in "one". I'd use it in English if I didn't sound like the Queen then.
Gingersnap From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2010, 687 posts, RR: 6 Reply 107, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 1401 times:
I've been using the iPhone for a number of years now. I have the 3G, 3GS and currently use a 4.
Whilst I haven't had any major problems with it, a few things here and there...it's generally a decent piece of kit. However, one thing I will note is that I have noticed the amount of times a called has dropped (since using the 4 at least), has increased significantly.
OA260 From Ireland, joined Nov 2006, 23091 posts, RR: 60 Reply 108, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 1371 times:
Quoting Gingersnap (Reply 107): I have noticed the amount of times a called has dropped (since using the 4 at least), has increased significantly.
There were indeed lots of issues with this , the 4S seems to be less prone to this judging by consumer feedback and the amount of reported issues to tech support desks etc...
OLYMPIC AIR - ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑΚΗ "Η ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΨΗΛΑ" "GREECE FLYING HIGH"
garnetpalmetto From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 4981 posts, RR: 58 Reply 109, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 1360 times:
Quoting Rara (Reply 103): Aw come on... "clogging up"? Have you even used the Android Market at least once? In 2+ years of using Android, I've not once come across a rip-off or malware app
Likewise. Not once have I come across a piece of malware. To describe the Android Market as some shady bazaar with malware lurking around every corner is disingenuous at best. But as for malware, guess what? There's an app for that! Apps like Lookout, Avast, Norton, AVG, and Zoner are all out there. I use Lookout myself, which is a fairly small app at 2.68MB and which can be mounted to the SD card. Whenever I download an app, Lookout scans it and...tada - lets me know if it's malware or not. Even better it also backs up my content, allows me to remotely wipe the device if it gets lost or stolen, and if I can't find my phone, I can use the handy dandy web interface to track it down.
South Carolina - too small to be its own country, too big to be a mental asylum.
elbandgeek From United States of America, joined Jun 2008, 700 posts, RR: 0 Reply 110, posted (3 months 4 weeks 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 1341 times:
If I can just interrupt the Apple vs Google war for a second.
Earlier in the thread, someone [very smartly] suggested taking the 3rd option of Windows Phone but the OP said they weren't available in SA.
Well if you didn't hear, Nokia is launching the Lumia 800 there in a few weeks so I'd give it a look if you haven't made up your mind yet.
Enjoy the wonder of having quality control without selling your soul to the cult.
And as mentioned earlier the disasters that are both iTunes and the Samsung sync software, I have the solution to that right here.
ha763 From United States of America, joined Jan 2003, 3374 posts, RR: 7 Reply 111, posted (3 months 4 weeks 5 hours ago) and read 1282 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 95): Sure %u2013 you claimed there was no connection.
I only talked about battery size and screen size. Other than saying Android uses more power than iOS and LTE uses even more, I never said anything about battery life. As, I showed in the links to the pictures, the 2 Samsung-manufactured LTE phones have a lot of unused space around the batteries. If the battery dictated the size of the screen, the battery would be as wide as the phone and we could have batteries in the 2400 mAh range instead of 1850 mAh.
ABQ747 From United States of America, joined Dec 2006, 816 posts, RR: 1 Reply 112, posted (3 months 4 weeks 4 hours ago) and read 1275 times:
Quoting Gingersnap (Reply 107): Whilst I haven't had any major problems with it, a few things here and there...it's generally a decent piece of kit. However, one thing I will note is that I have noticed the amount of times a called has dropped (since using the 4 at least), has increased significantly
I've never experienced a dropped call on my Verizon iPhone 4.
The reason New Mexico is so windy is because Texas sucks and Arizona blows.
planejamie From United Kingdom, joined Sep 2011, 388 posts, RR: 0 Reply 113, posted (3 months 3 weeks 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 1264 times:
Having been an Android user and an iPhone user (and now sadly Windows Phone), I'd say get the 4S... giving up my 3G was one of the most stupid things I've done. On my Windows Phone the WiFi drops out, it looks and runs fine, but there's limited apps and everything is more expensive (app wise) on this than on the iPhone. Android was just shaky, a battery eater and very buggy.
AirPacific747 From Denmark, joined May 2008, 1736 posts, RR: 24 Reply 114, posted (3 months 3 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 1254 times:
Quoting planejamie (Reply 113): Having been an Android user and an iPhone user (and now sadly Windows Phone), I'd say get the 4S... giving up my 3G was one of the most stupid things I've done. On my Windows Phone the WiFi drops out, it looks and runs fine, but there's limited apps and everything is more expensive (app wise) on this than on the iPhone. Android was just shaky, a battery eater and very buggy.
Which Windows Phone do you have?
I just ordered the Lumia 800 myself. Regarding the apps; yes you are right but are you missing any major apps? I am only missing an app from my bank but it should be released within a few weeks from what I've heard. The games are more expensive, yes, but then some of them are of very high quality. There are a few EA titles coming out next month.
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 115, posted (3 months 3 weeks 6 days 17 hours ago) and read 1230 times:
Quoting autothrust (Reply 99): Wrong, it doesn't double the usable battery life.Iphone Internet Browsing endurance: 06:17 SG2 : 7:00
That looks a lot like the silly "half brightness" metric some magazines use for lack of expertise or proper tools, which would mean 251cd/m^2 for the iPhone but just 157cd/m^2 for the Galaxy whose OLED display is a lot dimmer (which limits its use in bright daylight).
c't calibrate the devices to the same objective brightness of 200cd for their test, and with that it is 11.2h for the iPhone 4S and only 6.2h for the Galaxy SII. This is actually quite plausible since even just at that reasonable brightness the Galaxy is already at 64% of its absolute maximum brightness vs. just 40% for the iPhone.
Quoting racko (Reply 105): The iPhone display can not display black!
It's as easy as that. It can't. There's no such thing as "black levels". There's black and there's not black.
Perfect black is unattainable in the real world as long as you are outside of a totally shielded black room with absolutely all surfaces perfectly matte black and no light sources whatsoever. And even then you cannot have any bright pixels on the screen because their light is already reflected back to the dark pixels.
The moment you put a glass cover over the display your black levels already increase substantially. When you are in a room at normal light levels even the dark areas of the display are elevated by reflections from the glass and from the display itself.
In actual, real life, the 1195:1 contrast c't measured for the iPhone will rarely be noticeably different from the theoretically much higher 10000:1 contrast of the Galaxy since both will be lower in real usage with ambient light.
Much more critical for real use is the maximum brightness since it is needed for use in bright daylight. The iPhone works very well even in direct sunlight with its very high maximum brightness of 503cd/m^2 (vs. 314 for the Galaxy); The OLEDs are notoriously limited and problematic under these everyday circumstances.
Black levels are not a critical parameter in practical use – even my old iPhone 3GS had much lower contrast than the 4S, but its LCD was semi-transflexive and thus also worked perfectly in direct sunlight even though its contrast was theoretically atrocious (and even practically limited). It just didn't get much worse even in bright sunlight, and in practical use that was much more important than having wonderfully low black levels in a dark room.
At least I need to look at the display of my phone in bright daylight a lot more frequently and a lot more urgently than I need to have perfect black when watching movies on it in a pitch-black room, but of course priorities may differ for you.
I think this exchange demonstrates quite clearly that there are worlds of difference between bragging about theoretical features and actual, real-life use.
Quoting autothrust (Reply 99): Do you read what you write? Apart your hyperboling if the OLED would have such a bad durability Samsung would be do nothing else then the whole time exchanging displays of the over 100million SG.
Durability problems present themselves primarily in the displays getting dimmer, acquiring a colour tint (towards red/magenta) and standard symbols getting burned in. This is a gradual deterioration, not a sudden spectacular failure.
The disregard for the durability of the display is matched by the short OS support from the vendor: Android devices are clearly intended to last the buyer for not more than a year in prime condition. After that the user is supposed to experience a deterioriation of the user experience as an incentive to buy a new device.
Apple does this completely differently: The devices are built to last (LCD is still the only display technology available for that). And the users get three years or more of immediately available OS support on devices which simply don't age visibly (even the backlight of an LCD will lose some of its brightness over the years, but much less so than OLEDs, and without burn-in or colour tint).
The idea is that an iPhone is supposed to last at least through a full contract term and then to support the user for at least another year before it becomes a legacy device, but is still supposed to function as on the first day (actually better, via three years of upgrades).
And when you should indeed move to a new iPhone, you simply move your entire setup with all settings, all data and all apps over to the new one and you'll be right at home, with no need to fiddle with incompatibilities or manual reconfiguration. (Under Android you can't be sure that your apps will even run on a different device.)
These are just different business models. You should effectively divide the price for the device by the number of years of prime-condition use you can get out of it. In that light, the iPhone is spectacularly cost-effective.
But Apple has always specialized on optimizing total cost of ownership, not lowest possible sticker price . It's the same with all their products, particularly the Macs included. It takes a bit of longer-term thinking to make a realistic comparison; The initial sales price is not the real issue with a device which you will probably use more frequently than any other piece of tech over the course of a multiple-year phone contract.
User experience may sound like marketing hocus-pocus, but once you've got the device in your hands, you quickly notice the difference between a company absolutely obsessing about exactly this aspect vs. ones which simply can't be bothered.
Rara From Germany, joined Jan 2007, 1374 posts, RR: 3 Reply 116, posted (3 months 3 weeks 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 1191 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 115):
Apple does this completely differently: The devices are built to last (LCD is still the only display technology available for that). And the users get three years or more of immediately available OS support on devices which simply don't age visibly (even the backlight of an LCD will lose some of its brightness over the years, but much less so than OLEDs, and without burn-in or colour tint).
There is some truth in that. After three years of use, my brother's 3GS is still as good as new, while my Milestone is quickly on the way to becoming a paperweight.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 115): But Apple has always specialized on optimizing total cost of ownership, not lowest possible sticker price .
Apple has always specialized on optimizing profits, which they tend to do particularly well. Currently, they seem to pull off a near 50% profit margin averaged over their products. That means, 50% of what you pay is for the product, 50% is for desirability.
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 117, posted (3 months 3 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 1181 times:
Quoting Rara (Reply 116): Apple has always specialized on optimizing profits, which they tend to do particularly well.
By now they do; There have been very different times.
Quoting Rara (Reply 116): Currently, they seem to pull off a near 50% profit margin averaged over their products. That means, 50% of what you pay is for the product, 50% is for desirability.
Apple reported a raw margin of 44% this past quarter, not 50%.
And "desirability" is not a free-floating property; It is an inherent component of the product, which to a large extent is created by extensive development invested into it.
By your theory the users would somehow get cheated out of 50% of the return value for their purchase. But when looking at the fact that directly competing products are actually on very similar pricing levels with Apple products usually dominating the user satisfaction rankings, that is quite implausible: You just get what you pay for.
Sometimes extensive and expensive development invested in products pays off. And sometimes it pays off by the shipload.
This particular result apparently had to do with a very high proportion of the new iPhone 4S in the mix, with again an unexpectedly high portion of 64GB top models (which are priced to offset the lower-margin bottom models), plus the iPad 2 still selling like hot cakes shortly before its replacement.
AirPacific747 From Denmark, joined May 2008, 1736 posts, RR: 24 Reply 118, posted (3 months 3 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 1126 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 115): Apple does this completely differently: The devices are built to last (LCD is still the only display technology available for that). And the users get three years or more of immediately available OS support on devices which simply don't age visibly (even the backlight of an LCD will lose some of its brightness over the years, but much less so than OLEDs, and without burn-in or colour tint).
So what will your excuse be, when Apple eventually starts using OLED displays?
And the fact that they some day highly likely will start using it, is because they know that it is the best display type.
Btw; according to this link: "Nokia launched Lumia 900 in black and cyan colours. It has a standard battery of Li-Ion 1830 mAh giving it a stand by of 300h and talk time of 7h. This is said to be the first smartphone with such a long battery life."
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 119, posted (3 months 3 weeks 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 1089 times:
Quoting AirPacific747 (Reply 118): So what will your excuse be, when Apple eventually starts using OLED displays?
And the fact that they some day highly likely will start using it, is because they know that it is the best display type.
OLEDs have objective advantages (higher contrrast range / larger colour gamut) and objective disadvantages (much higher power consumption / relatively low maximum brightness / progressive degradation with use resulting in colour shift, dimming and burn-in) relative to LCDs with crystalline LED backlights.
You appear to think that this was about the silly mine-is-bigger-than-yours competitions layman users like to have, but developing real techological devices is above all a matter of finding the closest match between available technology and the intended features and calibrating the compromises one has to make for the maximum benefit to the intended goals.
At this point, OLED is a promising, but still immature technology with some noticeable advantages (see above) but also with substantial disadvantages (see above) relative to LCD.
The thing is that both Android devices with OLED displays and iPhones with LCDs are actually good matches: One with flashy displays to make them sell in the store with planned obsolescence through support abandonment within a year or less, and one with durable and daylight-capable displays made to keep satisfaction high through 3+ years of intensive use while the device stays fully supported.
Both optimizations are viable and technically sound. Both are interesting to different groups of users, so choice is enhanced, which is a good thing in the end.
My whole point is not that nobody should buy an Android device with an OLED display. My point is that one should know what the difference means in practice and then make an informed choice.
Quoting AirPacific747 (Reply 118): Btw; according to this link: "Nokia launched Lumia 900 in black and cyan colours. It has a standard battery of Li-Ion 1830 mAh giving it a stand by of 300h and talk time of 7h. This is said to be the first smartphone with such a long battery life."
Meaning this is the endurance on 3G or even just 2G.
(Tests of current-generation LTE phones have shown that enabling LTE will usually deplete the battery within 1-3 hours with even chargers not being able to keep up with consumption. This is not the fault of the phone manufacturers per se – except that they chose to actually use the current immature generation of LTE chip sets and present LTE as a feature even though it is hardly usable in practice. The technology is just not there yet – halfway usable chipsets are expected for autumn of this year at the earliest; These may enable phones with halfway decent battery life even while LTE is enabled. But the current ones are not really fit for mobile use, at least not for pocket-sized devices.)
At 8-14 hours talk time, the iPhone 4S actually has longer endurance than the Lumia where it really counts.
200 hours of standby is indeed shorter, but much less relevant in practice. And both the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 3GS also have 300 hours of standby (with the iPhone 4 already having 7-14 hours of talk time), so the claim of the Lumia being "the first smartphone with such a long battery life" is complete nonsense – Apple has been there before already, as have others. Apple - compare iPhone models
The OLED display in the Lumia still is a liability for battery endurance – it is not surprising that the only endurance times listed are for usage with the display disabled, and by implication also the headline feature LTE.
autothrust From Switzerland, joined Jun 2006, 1254 posts, RR: 8 Reply 120, posted (3 months 3 weeks 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 1053 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 115): That looks a lot like the silly "half brightness" metric some magazines use for lack of expertise or proper tools, which would mean 251cd/m^2 for the iPhone but just 157cd/m^2 for the Galaxy whose OLED display is a lot dimmer (which limits its use in bright daylight).
Funny how you dismiss facts from a well known magazine but spin your things without the slightest source.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 119): The thing is that both Android devices with OLED displays and iPhones with LCDs are actually good matches: One with flashy displays to make them sell in the store with planned obsolescence through support abandonment within a year or less, and one with durable and daylight-capable displays made to keep satisfaction high through 3+ years of intensive use while the device stays fully supported.
You don't believe that yourself, the biggest nonsense i've ever read.
Again i have both phones and in daylight the Iphone is marginable better readable. It's not like you praise it.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 119): much higher power consumption
Wrong, generally OLEDs need less power as they don't need backlight, and their response time are about 1000 times faster then LCD. The contrast ratio of the LCD IPS is not in the same ligue as the AMOLED PLUS. However OLED need more power at displaying white.
Source:
Suyko, Alan. "Oleds Ready For The Mainstream." Electronics News (2009): 20. Associates Programs Source Plus. Web. 9 Dec. 2011.
AirPacific747 From Denmark, joined May 2008, 1736 posts, RR: 24 Reply 121, posted (3 months 3 weeks 4 days 23 hours ago) and read 1056 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 119): Meaning this is the endurance on 3G or even just 2G.
Still a better battery life than the iPhone on 3G then. And if you need LTE, you have the option to switch it on. The battery life is probably not even worse than the iPhone with LTE switched on.
Quoting Klaus (Reply 119): At this point, OLED is a promising, but still immature technology with some noticeable advantages (see above) but also with substantial disadvantages (see above) relative to LCD.
Let me guess; as soon as Apple starts using OLED displays, they have suddenly become mature?
Rara From Germany, joined Jan 2007, 1374 posts, RR: 3 Reply 122, posted (3 months 3 weeks 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 1044 times:
Quoting AirPacific747 (Reply 121):
Let me guess; as soon as Apple starts using OLED displays, they have suddenly become mature?
If you want to know when features like LTE, OLED, near-field communication, 3D-screens etc. become mature, there is an easy metric: the moment Apple adopts them. Copy-and-paste also became mature in the very moment it was instituted on the iPhone.
AirPacific747 From Denmark, joined May 2008, 1736 posts, RR: 24 Reply 123, posted (3 months 3 weeks 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 1037 times:
Quoting Rara (Reply 122): If you want to know when features like LTE, OLED, near-field communication, 3D-screens etc. become mature, there is an easy metric: the moment Apple adopts them. Copy-and-paste also became mature in the very moment it was instituted on the iPhone.
Yes of course! Everything is so clear to me now! I've seen the light!
andz From South Africa, joined Feb 2004, 8247 posts, RR: 13 Reply 126, posted (3 months 2 weeks 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 838 times:
Quoting elbandgeek (Reply 110): Earlier in the thread, someone [very smartly] suggested taking the 3rd option of Windows Phone but the OP said they weren't available in SA.
Well if you didn't hear, Nokia is launching the Lumia 800 there in a few weeks so I'd give it a look if you haven't made up your mind yet.
It was launched this week if the promo material all over the place is to be believed.
Last Sunday I went to the Vodacom shop fully intending to get the Samsung because I had been told over the phone several times in the past week that there was no stock of iPhones.
When I got there they told me they had 2 iPhone 4S 16GB in stock.
I asked about the deals, iPhone is free, Samsung is a pay in of ZAR 1,050 on the upgrade.
So I took the iPhone. Having never had a smartphone before any of them would be a quantum leap so economics won the day.
After a week I have some initial comments:
Having to get a new SIM card and ANOTHER car charger was annoying, I thought the micro USB was becoming the industry standard.
The speed that the battery depletes at is alarming but that could be cos I am playing so much.
Why is the charger cable so short???
Little niggles I know but they are part of the user experience. Overall so far I am enjoying it and having so many other users in my office is a short cut to some good tips.
After Monday and Tuesday even the calendar says WTF...
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 127, posted (3 months 2 weeks 5 days 18 hours ago) and read 807 times:
Quoting andz (Reply 126): Having to get a new SIM card and ANOTHER car charger was annoying, I thought the micro USB was becoming the industry standard.
Apple has always (since the introduction of USB with the Dock Connector) supported the regular USB-A connector which fits into all computer ports and USB chargers.
Making the micro USB port a standard across manufacturers is intended to get rid of the huge number of completely incompatible chargers many other manufacturers had been using over the years, often even different ones between successive models.
Apple had introduced the Dock port long before that (nine years ago!) and consistently used USB chargers since then. With few exceptions everything that's using the Dock Connector can be combined and will be compatible, in addition to regular USB via the Dock-to-USB cable.
The Dock port has many features beyond just USB (such as analog audio out/in at proper line levels, video out, peripheral interfaces etc.) so Apple will not give these up (nor the huge ecosystem of add-ons based on the Dock Port) without need.
By the way: The iPhone is capable of rapid charging if it is connected to a recent Mac or to a high-power charger.
Standard USB2 ports can at most supply 500mA; iPhone chargers and recent Macs can supply 1000mA. For the iPad even 2000mA.
So you could use any other USB charger as well, but the iPhone would charge much more slowly through that.
Quoting andz (Reply 126): The speed that the battery depletes at is alarming but that could be cos I am playing so much.
The display is usually the biggest power consumer, even though it is more economical than an OLED would be in most cases (particularly when browsing the web or displaying anything black-on-white).
I wouldn't be surprised if in south african summer the display was often near or at maximum brightness when you're using it outdoors. The display can get cranked up to very high brightness, but that still costs quite a bit of battery power. Automatic brightness adjustment should be on for both comfort and efficiency, but you can still set a relative base brightness even for that.
Particularly 3D games can also draw quite a bit of power; They are the equivalent of games which had required then-top-of-the-line PC graphics cards with huge power consumption only a few years ago. That they can now be played on a pocket-sized battery-supplied device is testament to the progress in chip and software technology, but pushing pixels at such rates is still not entirely free.
The network radio can also contribute to power consumption, particularly if connection is relatively weak; In that case the transmitters are cranked up to high power; Apple had originally removed the manual 3G disable switch on the 4S, but according to beta testers they may yet be re-introducing it with iOS 5.1 since in some areas with spotty 3G coverage it can still save power to simply leave it disabled altogether.
WiFi is generally not very relevant to power consumption, nor is Bluetooth. They can be left on even when out of range or not in use.
Quoting andz (Reply 126): Why is the charger cable so short???
All Macs are designed to have easily reached full-power USB ports on the desktop (either on the machine itself or on the keyboard), so longer cables would just be in the way most of the time.
There are USB-to-Dock cables available from third party manufacturers in all kinds of lengths (and colours). I've got a longer one for connecting the iPad to its charger as well. Using a below-table PC tower with no full-power USB ports on the desktop might also make such a cable necessary.
andz From South Africa, joined Feb 2004, 8247 posts, RR: 13 Reply 129, posted (3 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 704 times:
Thanks Klaus, I am still adjusting from being a 14 year Nokia user.
Of course charging from the USB on my laptop is the easiest but sometimes at home it is plugged into the wall and needs to be unplugged to make a call. I got a USB extension cable today which alleviates that issue.
After Monday and Tuesday even the calendar says WTF...
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 130, posted (3 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 690 times:
Quoting andz (Reply 129): Of course charging from the USB on my laptop is the easiest
Unless it's a Mac (which supports an Apple-proprietary USB power management extension), it will only charge at the standard 500mA, though. Using the iPhone charger or a (somewhat recent) Mac will be much quicker, so if you're in a hurry you might want to consider that.
Quoting andz (Reply 129): but sometimes at home it is plugged into the wall and needs to be unplugged to make a call. I got a USB extension cable today which alleviates that issue.
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 131, posted (3 months 2 weeks 4 days 11 hours ago) and read 651 times:
Quoting Rara (Reply 122): If you want to know when features like LTE, OLED, near-field communication, 3D-screens etc. become mature, there is an easy metric: the moment Apple adopts them.
Or the other way around: Apple adopts them when they feel they can provide an implementation which actually works so well in practice that it's actually worth it and not just ticking a theoretical box in a spec sheet.
Which also applies to this particular point:
Quoting Rara (Reply 122): Copy-and-paste also became mature in the very moment it was instituted on the iPhone.
When they introduced it, it was properly done, universal, worked everywhere (including web content and third-party apps) and everywhere in the same way. Before that they had provided various mechanisms to bridge the gap sufficiently for most cases (example: "share" button in many places).
Would an unreliable, half-baked alpha or beta version right at the start have been better? For the spec sheet, sure. For the actual users actually using it? No. And the latter is a lot more in focus at Apple than the former. Which is why I prefer their products over others for the most part, but that is certainly a matter of preference.
Among many other factors, check out the comparison of actual power consumption ("Display Power for White Screen same Peak Luminance 229 cd/m2 same 3.7 inch screen area").
The two OLEDs consume 3.8 and 4.8 times as much power as the LCD in the iPhone 4.
Sure, you can say that Apple just "doesn't get it". But the raw numbers suggest they get it very much and just have taken different consequences from that than some of their competitors have.
Haven't you wondered why it is that Apple openly lists all the relevant battery endurance times for the iPhone being used with the display actually on while exactly those times are curiously absent from most of the OLED devices' spec sheets and only standby, talk time and music playback with the OLED display off are given?
Quote: CFO Winston Yung acknowledged a lukewarm reception for fall devices but added that the company's philosophy throughout all of last year, where it was willing to make thick, short-lived devices for the sake of having 4G, was a mistake. The "next product cycle" of devices would fix this, Yung said, hinting at the Ville and Endeavor.
The company had already said it planned to focus on fewer but better phones in 2012.
[…]
HTC won't have to give up LTE for 2012, but it will have to wait for Qualcomm to ship a new chipset that should make for much smaller, more battery-efficient LTE than is available today. Given Apple's current use of Qualcomm for the iPhone 4S, many anticipate this leading to LTE iPhones, in addition to Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone models, that don't have to compromise the design.
Blindly running after any theoretical advantage at any cost is one approach; Prioritizing the actual, practical user experience is another. Both are viable approaches, apparently, but viable only for different kinds of customers.
autothrust From Switzerland, joined Jun 2006, 1254 posts, RR: 8 Reply 132, posted (3 months 2 weeks 3 days 21 hours ago) and read 594 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 131):
When they introduced it, it was properly done, universal, worked everywhere (including web content and third-party apps) and everywhere in the same way.
What a load of rubbish. Copy and Paste is elementar and it is patethic to excuse it took apple so long until the 3G to implement it and it still works horrible on the Iphone. Try to copy a letter in a word.
On every other phone(Nokia,Sony Eriscsson, Siemens,Panasonic) i had it worked everywhere in the same way it was properly done and universal.
I ask me if you have rose-colored glasses on because as soon something is with apple branded you seem to think apple is perfect and you start to praise it.
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20144 posts, RR: 57 Reply 133, posted (3 months 2 weeks 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 574 times:
Quoting autothrust (Reply 132): What a load of rubbish. Copy and Paste is elementar and it is patethic to excuse it took apple so long until the 3G to implement it and it still works horrible on the Iphone. Try to copy a letter in a word.
Just did: Tap-and-hold to select, then move the two handles to shrink or expand the selection precisely to what you want in real time, with a virtual magnifying glass allowing easy letter-precise selection. Then tap on the action you want performed with the selected text. Done.
Selecting a single letter doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I don't see how it could be made even quicker or easier. What problem was I supposed to encounter there, exactly?
And it works not just in editable input fields, but also in read-only text such as web pages, web views in any apps, incoming mails, help texts, status logs et cetera, in Apple's and in third-party apps alike and identically, just as it should and just as it has done from day one.
At the very least when it was introduced in iOS, in Android copy/paste was still limited to selecting text in input fields, if it worked at all it was inconsistent between different apps and was generally considered painful and confusing.
Has that improved since then?
Quoting autothrust (Reply 132): I ask me if you have rose-colored glasses on because as soon something is with apple branded you seem to think apple is perfect and you start to praise it.
I'm actually using the products in practice and my experience so far has been pretty consistent: Apple may not be the first to tick all the imaginable boxes, but when they do, the stuff does tend to work properly right out of the gate and is usually thought through very well.
You're the only one here demanding things to be "perfect". It's a straw man argument that's rarely helpful.
If things work properly, easily and reliably, I'm already 90% content, with a bit of space left for a particularly well-done implementation.
virginblue4 From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2008, 700 posts, RR: 0 Reply 134, posted (3 months 2 weeks 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 564 times:
Quoting autothrust (Reply 132): What a load of rubbish. Copy and Paste is elementar and it is patethic to excuse it took apple so long until the 3G to implement it and it still works horrible on the Iphone. Try to copy a letter in a word.
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The spin-meister extraordinaire!! Note in admiration how Klaus appears to list pro's and con's of both devices, while carefully qualifying every single advantage of the Samsung and every disadvantage of the iPhone. Tweaks for the Samsung? "Semi-supported" - not just supported. Many apps are "'free'" (the quotation marks say it all). Can be cheaper (wink wink). Meanwhile, every disadvantage of the iPhone (can there really be such a thing?) is carefully put into perpective. Can be more expensive (only at full moon, mind). Locked-down system will limit possibilities in some cases! 
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Maybe you have forgotten to mention on Android Apps show BEFORE installation what exactly they will do unlike on Apple.
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