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BowTheMan89

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 18, 2011
160
0
Colorado
I have an upgrade approaching and have had an iPhone for years, currently on track to either wait it out for a 5S or buy a 5 in june. Just wondering if any longtime iPhone users have made the switch to the GS4, and how is it going?
 

lordofthereef

macrumors G5
Nov 29, 2011
13,161
3,721
Boston, MA
While I haven't used the phone yet, one thing of concern is the available storage, especially on the 16gb. Apparently it is around 8gb out of the box. This can be quite problematic and has frustrated quite a few users. Samsung's official response is (paraphrased) "get an sd card". That's great. Except this isn't helpful for apps. Bottom line, expect 5+ gigs to be taken by the os and various bloat. Buy your device accordingly.
 

nabwong

macrumors regular
Apr 4, 2008
193
82
I tried the s4 a fee days ago and it is pretty impressive. But I can't get away from iMessage, facetime and photo stream since my whole family is connected internationally. Sucks. Apple, please make a 5" iPhone.
 

jonasdamn

macrumors 6502a
Mar 4, 2013
549
1
had for 3 days s4, didnt like, too much lags for such hardware phone... And build quality is like low range phone... And my iphone 5 performanced better than s4 ^^
 

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maxosx

macrumors 68020
Dec 13, 2012
2,385
1
Southern California
I tried the s4 a fee days ago and it is pretty impressive. But I can't get away from iMessage, facetime and photo stream since my whole family is connected internationally. Sucks. Apple, please make a 5" iPhone.

My large family use iPhones & have been for years at my suggestion. All on iPhone 5's currently, I keep one just for that reason.

My personal preference over the last two years especially, has been Android for its great features & benefits, plus the extreme benefit a 4.8" or larger display offers me.

For my usage, the two platforms is an ideal solution.

If at some point Apple gives in to the reality that just like an iPad or MacBook, larger displays have their advantages, perhaps they'll stop procrastinating & offer one. Keep tiny ones for tiny lovers & offer a modern size for those of us who use their smartphones extensively. For the web & lots of email, a large screen is ideal.
 

Prime85

macrumors 6502a
Mar 1, 2012
652
0
anyone make the jump to GS4?

had for 3 days s4, didnt like, too much lags for such hardware phone... And build quality is like low range phone... And my iphone 5 performanced better than s4 ^^

I hear it suffers from the same lag as the S3 and most other Androids. The only ones worth getting is the Nexus series due to lack of crap. Its all that extra bloatware and useless apps and gimmicks ("features") that it has.

Same issue i had with my S3 till i put a custom rom and got rid of all that useless crap in touchwiz.

Android has potential if it wasn't loaded with so much crap.
 

jonasdamn

macrumors 6502a
Mar 4, 2013
549
1
I hear it suffers from the same lag as the S3 and most other Androids. The only ones worth getting is the Nexus series due to lack of crap. Its all that extra bloatware and useless apps and gimmicks ("features") that it has.

Same issue i had with my S3 till i put a custom rom and got rid of all that useless crap in touchwiz.

Android has potential if it wasn't loaded with so much crap.

sometimes those gimmick features are usefull, like air view or answer calling with wave and etc. But mostly i didnt use all those features on my note2, s4, s3. But mostly those features are used to showoff for friends: hey look i can control my phone without touching it....^^
After 2 years samsung still didnt fixed contacts, sms, calls application slow opening... Nexus i dont like for a bit ugly UI, so far ios is best for me.

By the way, android likes to fck up itself, starts to lag, giving force closes and etc, then you need to do factory reset and baam again wasting time with setting everything like it was. With icloud backup i dont need to do this :)
 

wordoflife

macrumors 604
Jul 6, 2009
7,564
37
Nah I'm sticking with the iPhone.

The G4 looks pretty decent hardware wise. And of course without saying, has a ton of features software wise. I actually find all of these software features overwhelming for me though. It's hard to explain. But for example, I don't really care for having 20 different short cuts to reply to an email. I'd just open it up on my mail app in my iPhone, and reply from there. It's just one example out of many. Like the notification drop down has so many options to change the phone. Why not just open phone settings? Some people might like it though - so that's good for them. I think I really like Android when it isn't so clustereffed. I'm sure you can change all of these things, but meh ... too lazy.

I really just want something that works and that I'm comfortable using, and it's the iPhone.
 

jeepik

macrumors 6502
Oct 2, 2009
308
149
Had it for a week, packaged it up and sent it back

Horrible lag
App crashing and unpredictable battery life

These didn't cut it my book, this is a bust on Samsung's part, the note 2 is much much better
 

gpat

macrumors 68000
Mar 1, 2011
1,932
5,345
Italy
It looks like a shrunken down Note 2 and any of the improvements are hardly relevant. I'll take the Note 2's greater battery life anyday over a specs bump. When my Note 2's time is up, I won't take another plasticky phone over it and maybe switch to whatever Nexus is up. I love my N2 because it's a great phone with lots of battery life and a great screen, but I don't like Samsung's toyish build quality and horrible UI (rocking Project AOSP now). If they do not change it in 18 months, they can forget my money.
 

Danform

macrumors newbie
Apr 28, 2013
28
0
I have an upgrade approaching and have had an iPhone for years, currently on track to either wait it out for a 5S or buy a 5 in june. Just wondering if any longtime iPhone users have made the switch to the GS4, and how is it going?

Yeah I had an iPhone since 3gs and i made the jump to s4 as i was simply bored with iOS and android has more to offer, the fact I can change something i dont like is great, widgets are fantastic so i dont have to open apps, the screen size and resolution is incredible.

I personally have not experienced any lag and just awaiting a delivery of 64gb sd card now :)

I find the s4 a better experience than the iphone
 

Mrbobb

macrumors 603
Aug 27, 2012
5,009
209
No they're not, they're still here, making sure to justify their purchase at any given opportunity.


LOL. That's like getting a new girlfriend but keep checking back with the old one just to make sure she hasn't done a certain cosmetic enhancement.
 

adildacoolset

macrumors 65816
As an iphone user, I won't start shilling. I'm saying that this is a very interesting device. However:

1. Touchwiz ruins the experience. It lags, has a very ugly UI (looks like programmer graphics), loaded with bloat that occupies over 8 GB of storage, and more. Not to mention that it significantly slows down the update process.

2. No other way to say this, but the design looks very very bad. And the build quality. What's with the cheap plastic back? I don't use cases.

3. Judging from Samsung's update cycles, this phone may become obsolete in as little as 2 years. Not very good for resale value.

4. I mentioned that touchwiz slows down updates, and also apps from google play generally tend to have a very poor level of performance. Simple apps like doodle jump lag on an S3. I'm, suspecting that it has something to do with the Java VM, but I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong.

5. I won't comment on the size, as I haven't owned a 4.8-5" phone, but I'll say that I have not problem with a 4" one. The huge screen sizes aren't a necessity because I own an iPad.

And also (but not a point that deters me away), android fans are generally very obnoxious and very vocal in their personal opinions. Do I really want to become one of those? Not something that's pushing me away, but I'm just bringing this up.
 

cnev3

macrumors 6502
Sep 13, 2012
462
56
had for 3 days s4, didnt like, too much lags for such hardware phone... And build quality is like low range phone... And my iphone 5 performanced better than s4 ^^

It's because Android is coded in Java, which has a lot more inefficiencies and lower performance than the C++ coding of iOS. They can keep putting in the most cutting edge multi core mobile GPU's and double the RAM in Android phones, but the software will always create a bottleneck for the hardware. And the fact that a lot of apps are iOS ports means that a lot of software won't fully utilize the latest Android phones hardware anyways.
 

daveathall

macrumors 68020
Aug 6, 2010
2,379
1,410
North Yorkshire
I have had all iPhones up to and including the iPhone 5, I sold my last iPhone in favour of a Galaxy S3, then a Nexus 4, and now a Galaxy S4. My experiences with the two Android phones I have previously owned have been superb, and continues with my S4, I would not trade any of them to go back to the still exceptional iPhone, IMHO, they are that good. :)
 

The Game 161

macrumors Nehalem
Dec 15, 2010
30,991
20,172
UK
I have had all iPhones up to and including the iPhone 5, I sold my last iPhone in favour of a Galaxy S3, then a Nexus 4, and now a Galaxy S4. My experiences with the two Android phones I have previously owned have been superb, and continues with my S4, I would not trade any of them to go back to the still exceptional iPhone, IMHO, they are that good. :)

I'm looking forward to my android experience

3 days to go till it arrives...
 

vikingjunior

Cancelled
Aug 17, 2011
1,319
590
I waited so long for the S4 as I thought it would finally be the perfect android boy was I wrong. It lags more then the s3.
Well let's just say the s4 made my decision to go Apple easier.
 

nabwong

macrumors regular
Apr 4, 2008
193
82
My large family use iPhones & have been for years at my suggestion. All on iPhone 5's currently, I keep one just for that reason.

My personal preference over the last two years especially, has been Android for its great features & benefits, plus the extreme benefit a 4.8" or larger display offers me.

For my usage, the two platforms is an ideal solution.

If at some point Apple gives in to the reality that just like an iPad or MacBook, larger displays have their advantages, perhaps they'll stop procrastinating & offer one. Keep tiny ones for tiny lovers & offer a modern size for those of us who use their smartphones extensively. For the web & lots of email, a large screen is ideal.

You use 2 phones concurrently? How does that work for you?
 

TacticalDesire

macrumors 68020
Mar 19, 2012
2,286
23
Michigan
Same hardware as the HTC one. The difference is the GS4 lags horribly whereas the One does not. The amount of bloat samsung added is simply too much and or poorly optimized. There is not excuse for the amount of lag that thing has for such a powerful phone.
 

Southernboyj

macrumors 68000
Mar 8, 2012
1,694
69
Mobile, AL
I traded my iPhone 5 for a Galaxy Note 2 back in early December. I loved the Note 2 and felt it was much better than the iPhone 5. This week I sold my Note 2 to a friend and switched to a Galaxy S4.

I'm enjoying the S4 even more than the Note 2, and the Note 2 more than my iPhone 5. Still using my iPad daily though. :p
 
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