A serious Android/GS4 VS iPhone thread

[sahni130]

First of all,
Hello!

So as you may or may not know, I've been on these forums for a while, heck, before I even signed up. So with that being said, I was hoping to get some advice. I have an iPhone 4 and 5, and last night... ATT sent me an email advertising the Galaxy S4 and offering me a good price ($199 for 32GB even though I got my 5 on launch less than a yr ago). I've been wanting to play around with Android for a while but I've never been able to give up my iPhone. While I love my 5, I still want to explore something different. So yes, I bought the GS4 and it'll be delivered in a few hours, but I'm wondering whether it'll be suitable for my usage. For work, I use a lot of Exchange email as well as a lot of Office and Oracle software. The iPhone, in my opinion, is now THE best mobile phone for email and I have never heard, personally, of anyone using Android in the business field. I'm in the position where I can keep my 5, and I most likely will, but does anyone know how email,VPN, etc support is on the GS4?

Like I said, I do not mean to offend anyone's views or bash any one company, I'm just looking for positive, constructive opinions.

-Jay

 

[dextr3k]

VPN worked just like iphone, should support your company unless it uses some crazy stuff.

But email you will definately want to look into 3rd party apps, as the default app wasnt really up to par with iphone's. I had Galaxy S2 for a year. The good thing about android is, whatever you find lackluster, you can find a tweak or rom that will suit your needs.

The bad thing about android is, you have to spend all your waking hours finding tweaks and roms that suit your needs.

Hope you like your GS4, keep us updated about how you like it!

 

[sahni130]

VPN worked just like iphone, should support your company unless it uses some crazy stuff.

But email you will definately want to look into 3rd party apps, as the default app wasnt really up to par with iphone's. I had Galaxy S2 for a year. The good thing about android is, whatever you find lackluster, you can find a tweak or rom that will suit your needs.

The bad thing about android is, you have to spend all your waking hours finding tweaks and roms that suit your needs.

Hope you like your GS4, keep us updated about how you like it!

I heart his a lot...
See, my dilemma, for lack of a batter term is that... I'm so deeply intertwined in the Apple ecosystem that I may not (may not want to) go through all the hassle. All the pictures in iPhoto/Aperture, all my music in iTunes, my calendars, etc is all iCloud and Exchange. As far as I can tell, they don't play well with Android and there don't seem to be any quality equivalent apps. Seems like my mind is already made up?

 

[sectime]

I heart his a lot...
See, my dilemma, for lack of a batter term is that... I'm so deeply intertwined in the Apple ecosystem that I may not (may not want to) go through all the hassle. All the pictures in iPhoto/Aperture, all my music in iTunes, my calendars, etc is all iCloud and Exchange. As far as I can tell, they don't play well with Android and there don't seem to be any quality equivalent apps. Seems like my mind is already made up?

I also live and work in a Mac world. After having to return several early IPhone 5's for various issues, I decided to roam a bit. First I tried a Lumia 928 on Verizon. Great phone but syncing with mac was crude. Next was a Tmobile S4.
Again syncing sucks with mac. I have come to really like the larger screen and if the new IPhone screen is the same odd size as the 5, I'm don't think I would come back. There are solutions for syncing almost everything mac to Android but I don't have the time or interest. I have a IPad mini along side the S4 and that combo works pretty well for me.

 

[dextr3k]

I heart his a lot...
See, my dilemma, for lack of a batter term is that... I'm so deeply intertwined in the Apple ecosystem that I may not (may not want to) go through all the hassle. All the pictures in iPhoto/Aperture, all my music in iTunes, my calendars, etc is all iCloud and Exchange. As far as I can tell, they don't play well with Android and there don't seem to be any quality equivalent apps. Seems like my mind is already made up?

Yeah, you can setup Google IMAP and sync with your google account, that seems to be the best option. iphoto aperture will not play nice, and music syncing you will have to find other 3rd party programs.

I mean there IS a solution to every problem you have, its whether you want to sit down and figure it out.

 

[Shuri]

I have come to really like the larger screen and if the new IPhone screen is the same odd size as the 5, I'm don't think I would come back.

How is the size of the iPhone 5 odd? One can say it's small for some people's preferences, but odd? ^^

 

[sectime]

How is the size of the iPhone 5 odd? One can say it's small for some people's preferences, but odd? ^^

Taller same width, odd size was commented on in many reviews.

 

[jrswizzle]

Taller same width, odd size was commented on in many reviews.

Only by people who didn't understand the change.

The iPhone 5 moved to the more universal 16:9 aspect ratio that 99% of modern smartphones use.

It just so happened that to do so AND increase the screen size to 4", the phone only needed to get taller and not wider.

At this point, if any screen size increases happen, the iPhone display will get both taller and wider.

If you go back and look at other 4" smartphones, they are almost identical in size and form factor to the iPhone 5. Not some odd, crazy thing Apple came up with - just how it ended up working out.

And after having used a 5 for the last year, going back to the 4S I feel its oddly stumpy and small.

That being said, OP I use both the GS4 and the iPhone 5 daily. Most of my Apple stuff syncs over to Android through various services and apps but as I use my iPhone 5 for work and GS4 for personal stuff, I can't really speak to the corporate side of Android.

IMO, the reason to stick with the iPhone wouldn't necessarily be all your Apple stuff - but the simple fact that it works, works well and is simple to set up and easy to use. At least that's why I still prefer it (though the GS4 is a wonderful device). I do like using both.

 

[sectime]

Only by people who didn't understand the change.

The iPhone 5 moved to the more universal 16:9 aspect ratio that 99% of modern smartphones use.

It just so happened that to do so AND increase the screen size to 4", the phone only needed to get taller and not wider.

At this point, if any screen size increases happen, the iPhone display will get both taller and wider.

If you go back and look at other 4" smartphones, they are almost identical in size and form factor to the iPhone 5. Not some odd, crazy thing Apple came up with - just how it ended up working out.

And after having used a 5 for the last year, going back to the 4S I feel its oddly stumpy and small.

That being said, OP I use both the GS4 and the iPhone 5 daily. Most of my Apple stuff syncs over to Android through various services and apps but as I use my iPhone 5 for work and GS4 for personal stuff, I can't really speak to the corporate side of Android.

IMO, the reason to stick with the iPhone wouldn't necessarily be all your Apple stuff - but the simple fact that it works, works well and is simple to set up and easy to use. At least that's why I still prefer it (though the GS4 is a wonderful device). I do like using both.

Ok so taller and wider is better or not? I'm confused
It is odd

 

[jrswizzle]

Ok so taller and wider is better or not? I'm confused
It is odd

If they had made the iPhone 4S both Taller and Wider the iPhone would either have been:

(1) Larger than 4"

or

(2) Not 16:9 - like almost every other smartphone on the planet.

So, if you don't like the fact the iPhone is 4", say so. But to claim it's some odd frankenstein device that Apple came up with is absurd. As I said, many 4" devices existed before the iPhone 5 and had the same dimensions.

 

[T5BRICK]

I heart his a lot...
See, my dilemma, for lack of a batter term is that... I'm so deeply intertwined in the Apple ecosystem that I may not (may not want to) go through all the hassle. All the pictures in iPhoto/Aperture, all my music in iTunes, my calendars, etc is all iCloud and Exchange. As far as I can tell, they don't play well with Android and there don't seem to be any quality equivalent apps. Seems like my mind is already made up?

For your music, I'd suggest checking out Google Play Music. It lets you store up to 20k songs in the cloud and you can set it up to sync with your iTunes library to automatically upload anything you purchase from the iTunes music store.

 

[mKTank]

Today I torrented a movie (AFK, a movie by and distributed through TPB via torrents) using uTorrent for Android, copied it to my network hard drive, and turned on my TV and Receiver and started the movie using the built-in IR blaster in my Galaxy S4. Didn't lay a finger on my laptop.

I couldn't do any of the above even with a jailbroken iPhone. Today, then, is the day that I discovered which OS I will be using for many years to come. iOS is frankly not smart enough.

 

[sahni130]

UPDATE,
well, I tried liking the S4, and I did, for the most part. I love the hardware, though the plastic feels a little cheap. I found that most of the Samsung and ATT apps were just bloatware but Android has some nice features to it. In any case, I fond out that email support, at least in my opinion, is not as good as it is on iOS and I just didn't want to go looking around for 20 different kinds of apps to do everything. ABove all, though, I found out all I wanted to do was connect one cable, and have everything synced to my phone in minutes without any hassle. Im sure if I tried, I could have found workarounds and equivalent apps, but I just didn't want to. Turns out, I love my iPhone. Who knows, I may get an android tablet or a nexus 4 in the future, but, my day-to-day workhorse will be the iPhone for the foreseeable future.

 

[Technarchy]

UPDATE,
well, I tried liking the S4, and I did, for the most part. I love the hardware, though the plastic feels a little cheap. I found that most of the Samsung and ATT apps were just bloatware but Android has some nice features to it. In any case, I fond out that email support, at least in my opinion, is not as good as it is on iOS and I just didn't want to go looking around for 20 different kinds of apps to do everything. ABove all, though, I found out all I wanted to do was connect one cable, and have everything synced to my phone in minutes without any hassle. Im sure if I tried, I could have found workarounds and equivalent apps, but I just didn't want to. Turns out, I love my iPhone. Who knows, I may get an android tablet or a nexus 4 in the future, but, my day-to-day workhorse will be the iPhone for the foreseeable future.

For those with both, you'll find certain aspects of both that will be regarded as desirable. Like Swype for example.

It's about finding which has the least amount of compromise to fit your personal needs.

As long as you're happy.

 

[T5BRICK]

ABove all, though, I found out all I wanted to do was connect one cable, and have everything synced to my phone in minutes without any hassle. Im sure if I tried, I could have found workarounds and equivalent apps, but I just didn't want to.

I sync all of my data, but I don't ever have to plug it into my computer to do it. Just like you've set everything up over time on iTunes, you can do the same with google services via wifi. I can flash a brand new ROM, with no backups, and within a few minutes of setup I have access to all of my music, contacts, emails and calendars and I can begin downloading the Apps I want. I even have backups of all of my photos on Dropbox.

I guess it just takes a little time to get used to, but once you understand how it works, it does work very well.

 

[Fernandez21]

Only by people who didn't understand the change.

The iPhone 5 moved to the more universal 16:9 aspect ratio that 99% of modern smartphones use.

It just so happened that to do so AND increase the screen size to 4", the phone only needed to get taller and not wider.

At this point, if any screen size increases happen, the iPhone display will get both taller and wider.

If you go back and look at other 4" smartphones, they are almost identical in size and form factor to the iPhone 5. Not some odd, crazy thing Apple came up with - just how it ended up working out.

And after having used a 5 for the last year, going back to the 4S I feel its oddly stumpy and small.

That being said, OP I use both the GS4 and the iPhone 5 daily. Most of my Apple stuff syncs over to Android through various services and apps but as I use my iPhone 5 for work and GS4 for personal stuff, I can't really speak to the corporate side of Android.

IMO, the reason to stick with the iPhone wouldn't necessarily be all your Apple stuff - but the simple fact that it works, works well and is simple to set up and easy to use. At least that's why I still prefer it (though the GS4 is a wonderful device). I do like using both.

If they had made the iPhone 4S both Taller and Wider the iPhone would either have been:

(1) Larger than 4"

or

(2) Not 16:9 - like almost every other smartphone on the planet.

So, if you don't like the fact the iPhone is 4", say so. But to claim it's some odd frankenstein device that Apple came up with is absurd. As I said, many 4" devices existed before the iPhone 5 and had the same dimensions.

*slow clap* Bravo sir, bravo. I still don't get how people think the iPhone's screen is some weird elongated thing apple made. What's funny too is if they kept the same aspect ratio but made it bigger people would be saying it was some weird short screen when compared to other devices.

This is what the iPhone would look like if they kept the same aspect ratio and made the screen larger.

 

[Technarchy]

This is what the iPhone would look like if they kept the same aspect ratio and made the screen larger.

Image

Actually, this is what it would look like

 

[Fernandez21]

Actually, this is what it would look like

Thanks, didn't realize it was the same ratio, for some reason I thought it was also widescreen.

 

[Savor]

Today I torrented a movie (AFK, a movie by and distributed through TPB via torrents) using uTorrent for Android, copied it to my network hard drive, and turned on my TV and Receiver and started the movie using the built-in IR blaster in my Galaxy S4. Didn't lay a finger on my laptop.

I couldn't do any of the above even with a jailbroken iPhone. Today, then, is the day that I discovered which OS I will be using for many years to come. iOS is frankly not smart enough.

Agreed.

Android is much easier to use for me without a computer, iTunes, or internet connection. I dont have internet in my house, so Bluetooth transfer is important to me. The fact Android can communicate with other apps or other more open OSes or feature phones via BT is why I like Android. I like that I can backup my apps and restore an older version if I dont like the recent update.

I was a primary iOS user for 3 yrs. I even jailbroke it when it was still on 1.1.4. I realized I have to take necessary EXTRA steps to get useful features that WinMo, Symbian, and Android has had for years. I feel iOS is really an OS for dummies. It took me awhile to like Android. But once it got its polish with Jelly Bean, I never looked back at iOS.

 

[Technarchy]

Thanks, didn't realize it was the same ratio, for some reason I thought it was also widescreen.

To your point, there is nothing odd about the iPhone screen shape.

16:9 is the standard aspect ratio for cell phones these days. It's actually getting hard for me to name a phone that is not 16:9.

Apple is just one of many on this issue. It just shows how uninformed some people are on phone specs.

 

[sentinelsx]

Today I torrented a movie (AFK, a movie by and distributed through TPB via torrents) using uTorrent for Android, copied it to my network hard drive, and turned on my TV and Receiver and started the movie using the built-in IR blaster in my Galaxy S4. Didn't lay a finger on my laptop.

I couldn't do any of the above even with a jailbroken iPhone. Today, then, is the day that I discovered which OS I will be using for many years to come. iOS is frankly not smart enough.

Works great if you are far away from home and have unlimited data plan, otherwise at home I would rather use a laptop. The sheer stutters in utorrent mobile and still a very small 5 inch screen made that task pretty annoying on my smartphone, not to mention the battery drain.

----------

Agreed.

Android is much easier to use for me without a computer, iTunes, or internet connection. I dont have internet in my house, so Bluetooth transfer is important to me. The fact Android can communicate with other apps or other more open OSes or feature phones via BT is why I like Android. I like that I can backup my apps and restore an older version if I dont like the recent update.

I was a primary iOS user for 3 yrs. I even jailbroke it when it was still on 1.1.4. I realized I have to take necessary EXTRA steps to get useful features that WinMo, Symbian, and Android has had for years. I feel iOS is really an OS for dummies. It took me awhile to like Android. But once it got its polish with Jelly Bean, I never looked back at iOS.

I still wonder what people transfer over BT that cannot be sent over SMS. I mean I tried a BT transfer of a 12 mb mp3 file from my gs4 to a buddy's nexus 4 and the slow speed and buggy disconnections took more time than a simply upload or email on my data connection.

Small bits of info can be easily sent without needing internet however.

 

[Tsuchiya]

I heart his a lot...
See, my dilemma, for lack of a batter term is that... I'm so deeply intertwined in the Apple ecosystem that I may not (may not want to) go through all the hassle. All the pictures in iPhoto/Aperture, all my music in iTunes, my calendars, etc is all iCloud and Exchange. As far as I can tell, they don't play well with Android and there don't seem to be any quality equivalent apps. Seems like my mind is already made up?

Skipping a bit of the thread to just reply to this. I felt 100% the same. There are many work arounds so that you don't have to abandon your Apple stuff, but it definitely is a hassle.

 

[Markyboy81]

Works great if you are far away from home and have unlimited data plan, otherwise at home I would rather use a laptop. The sheer stutters in utorrent mobile and still a very small 5 inch screen made that task pretty annoying on my smartphone, not to mention the battery drain.

----------



I still wonder what people transfer over BT that cannot be sent over SMS. I mean I tried a BT transfer of a 12 mb mp3 file from my gs4 to a buddy's nexus 4 and the slow speed and buggy disconnections took more time than a simply upload or email on my data connection.

Small bits of info can be easily sent without needing internet however.

What about WiFi direct though? You can send large amounts of data at blazingly fast speeds without needing an internet connection

 

[sentinelsx]

What about WiFi direct though? You can send large amounts of data at blazingly fast speeds without needing an internet connection

But you run into the same issue people criticize apple for, not everyone has a galaxy phone to take advantage of s-beam transfers. Certainly not feature phone owners.

 

[mKTank]

Works great if you are far away from home and have unlimited data plan, otherwise at home I would rather use a laptop. The sheer stutters in utorrent mobile and still a very small 5 inch screen made that task pretty annoying on my smartphone, not to mention the battery drain.

The movie downloaded over LTE at around 4MB/s, and never dropped below 3MB/s. Finished in 10 minutes. The battery took a 3% hit. Not a bad statistic for LTE downloading.

It was just as reliable as desktop uTorrent for me. And I wasn't even on Wi-Fi.