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heycal

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 25, 2013
826
22
These are the two phones I'm intrigued by at the moment. I'm curious to hear from anyone who's used both what the pros and cons are, everything from performance, feel, battery life to whatever else.
 

4N6guy

macrumors newbie
Nov 2, 2014
7
0
If you meant to say the note 4 rather than the s4 then I would recommend going to android central and check out their forums as well as this one. I have a note 4 and it is a fantastic device which I highly recommend. You can't go wrong with an iPhone 6 either. It's all about preference. The note has tons of options to play with while the iPhone 6 is limited with options. What the iPhone lacks in options they more than make up for it in details. You just need to figure out what's important to you.
 

Bahroo

macrumors 68000
Jul 21, 2012
1,860
2
These are the two phones I'm intrigued by at the moment. I'm curious to hear from anyone who's used both what the pros and cons are, everything from performance, feel, battery life to whatever else.

Galaxy S4? Or do you mean Galaxy S5?

I went from a Galaxy S4 to a iPhone 6 and then a 6 Plus, and the 6 and 6 Plus are dramatically better then the S4 in every single utter way (build quality, battery, cameras, screens, performance are all much better on the 6/6 Plus)
 

Bazilemac

macrumors regular
Sep 10, 2014
172
0
I went from a s4 to a 6 plus and it has been amazing. Everything is better. The only thing i miss are background capabilities (dropbox automatically adding new photos to account when you are on wifi) and downloading torrents without the need to go through a computer. But other than that, great phone!
 

Taco1933

macrumors 6502a
Aug 14, 2014
715
438
I went from an iPhone 5 to a galaxy s5 to an iPhone 6 plus. The Galaxy had tons and tons of customization options, but it just wasn't stable with the apps I used the most. It had a great screen, took great pictures, (had plenty of ram), but it just wasn't as refined as the iPhone. Seems like things that take 2 steps on the iPhone take 5 on the Samsung. I may try android again one day, but I definitely won't ever have another Samsung.
 

ezekiel97

macrumors newbie
Oct 4, 2014
22
0
Only thing keeping me with Apple is 1.resale value 2.how great the Touch ID works for unlocking.
 

Tsuchiya

macrumors 68020
Jun 7, 2008
2,310
372
I also went from a Galaxy S4 to a 6 Plus.

Not gonna lie, the S4 will go down as one of my favourite phones ever. I'm really liking my 6 Plus, but I do miss how that phone (and Android) worked in places. Claimed issues with app polish (LOL, have you seen WhatsApp on a 6 Plus?) and stability are ********. Android is solid.

That being said, it's awesome being back in the iOS ecosystem. We've got Apple TVs in the main rooms and AirPlay speakers in the lounge so being on an iPhone again is great. Being able to use iMessage again is handy, and iCloud will no doubt save my ass at some point in the next two years with it's constant backups etc.

Even navigation works better on my iPhone, if connected via bluetooth in my car then I'll get directions over the speakers. Not so with my S4.
 

heycal

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 25, 2013
826
22
I'm definitely talking about the Galaxy S4 and the iphone 6. Other variations of these models and brands don't interest me.

It's tough for me to justify choosing an older phone like the Galaxy s4 over the the brand new iphone 6 as the phone I'll be living with for the next two years, but it's tempting anyway. I love the exact size of it, love that it has a notification light, love a real working swifkey, love how it won't make a sound when I send an outgoing text, and so on and so forth. Many plusses to Android for me.

However, glitch factor concerns me greatly. I have many quibbles with iphone, but at least they are reliable and smooth. Not to mention beautiful to look at (The Galaxy's a bit garish to me).

Battery life is important to me as well. If the S4's bigger battery is actually worse than iphone 6's smaller one, that's a cause for concern.

----------

I went from a Galaxy S4 to a iPhone 6 and then a 6 Plus, and the 6 and 6 Plus are dramatically better then the S4 in every single utter way (build quality, battery, cameras, screens, performance are all much better on the 6/6 Plus)

Faster and better battery and screen, huh?

I went from a Galaxy S4 to HTC One M8 to iPhone 6. I will NEVER go back to samsung again. ever.

Why not? What was Samsung like?

I went from the S3 to the 6

How would you characterize the differences?

I also went from a Galaxy S4 to a 6 Plus.

Not gonna lie, the S4 will go down as one of my favourite phones ever.

Not glitchy or trouble prone? How was the battery life?
 

heisenberg123

macrumors 603
Oct 31, 2010
6,498
9
Hamilton, Ontario
How would you characterize the differences?

the screen was awesome, I was coming from an iPhone 4 so it was a big screen size jump, I liked the S3

I don't know why but I like iOS more, even though there are those half dozen things the sandbox feel of iOS makes you angry

If the iPhone 5 was a 4.7" screen I would of got that instead of the S3 but I am glad they didn't so I had a reason to try Android

The battery life on the S3 was pretty bad but I am sure the S4 would be better
 

heycal

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 25, 2013
826
22
the screen was awesome, I was coming from an iPhone 4 so it was a big screen size jump, I liked the S3

The battery life on the S3 was pretty bad but I am sure the S4 would be better

How much better though? These phones seem to make incremental battery improvements, so it probably isn't night and day.

Can you compare what kind of battery use you'd get on the S3 and the iphone 6?

Any glitch issues with Samsung?
 

heisenberg123

macrumors 603
Oct 31, 2010
6,498
9
Hamilton, Ontario
How much better though? These phones seem to make incremental battery improvements, so it probably isn't night and day.

Can you compare what kind of battery use you'd get on the S3 and the iphone 6?

Any glitch issues with Samsung?

I am getting close to double battery life on the iPhone 6


the Samsung did crash out of apps more often than its happened on iOS
 

silverblack

macrumors 68030
Nov 27, 2007
2,680
840
I went from an S4 to a 6+. To me it doesn't make sense to go from the 5" screen of the S4 to a 4.7" (lower res) screen of the 6. Likewise, removable battery of the S4 to a mediocre battery of the 6 is a downgrade to me. In contrast, the 6+ is an upgrade in every way in my opinion.
 

perezr10

macrumors 68020
Jan 12, 2014
2,014
1,486
Monroe, Louisiana
The battery life on the Galaxy S4 alone would scare me. There's a reason why Samsung fans learned to carry extra batteries.
 

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heycal

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 25, 2013
826
22
I am getting close to double battery life on the iPhone 6

That's significant.

I went from an S4 to a 6+. To me it doesn't make sense to go from the 5" screen of the S4 to a 4.7" (lower res) screen of the 6. Likewise, removable battery of the S4 to a mediocre battery of the 6 is a downgrade to me. In contrast, the 6+ is an upgrade in every way in my opinion.

I'm not actually going from a 5" screen to a 4.7" lower res one. I'll be going from a 3.5" iphone 4 to one of these two phones. The Plus is just too big for me, so that's out. A removable battery is not important to me, either.

I'm more about which phone will do better battery wise and performance and features wise.

The battery life on the Galaxy S4 alone would scare me. There's a reason why Samsung fans learned to carry extra batteries.

Your graphic shows iphone 6 kicking butt over the s4


But this one shows the s4 performing better.

Hmm.

That battery tests chart at GSMarenea is interesting. It lets you adjust for different usage patterns: call, web browsing, video playback.

But where does text messaging fit in? Texting account for most my smartphone usage, plus an hour a day of listening to a podcast I've downloaded, with very little web browsing, no video, and not too much talk time.

Also, I've found a few comparisons between the S4 and iphone 5s. (Hard to find an S4 compared to the 6). Some say that that the iphone 5s is both faster and has better battery life than the Samsung. If true, I imagine the 6 only widens those differences. (A few others, though, praise the s4 battery life.)
 
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warnerve

macrumors member
Sep 23, 2014
59
28
I switched, and im never going back to Samsung. Been using Android for 2 years before but when Apple announced the 6 I couldn't resist to try it. This is my first iPhone and so far im very satisfied. The S4 is a mediocre crap by Samsung, seriously. Horrible build quality, ugly UI, sluggish OS, and terrible user experience after couple months of usage.

----------


This battery test is so fishy. No way in hell my old S4 can best my 6 in battery. It can last 7 hours with mild to heavy usage straight, and my S4 could barely reach 4 and half hours of screen time.
 

themyst

macrumors 6502
Jul 7, 2010
394
12
Went from Note 2 to iPhone 6+. Basically no real difference in adjustments to me, same screen size, iPhone a bit thinner but a bit taller as well. I somewhat miss the S Pen, but nothing to lose sleep over. I do NOT miss Android apps though. Ugly as sin and ALL of them were blown up and didn't fully utilize the potential of a larger screen.

Yes, many 6+ apps are blown up and ugly as well, but there is a fix for that (if you are jailbroken). KakaoTalk which I use religiously was not yet updated for the new resolution, but this fix brings it looking normal. The good news is, the devs will eventually update all the popular apps to support the 6+ and 6 resolutions and look good.

I do like that the 6+ apps that were updated however, made smart use of all that real estate. Alien Blue is done real nice for the larger screen.

My god, I took a huge hit on the resale of the Note 2. It's worth $170-180 right now. iPhone 5 which came out around the same time can still fetch 250 or so, right?
 

ET iPhone Home

macrumors 68040
Oct 5, 2011
3,823
529
Orange County, California USA
These are the two phones I'm intrigued by at the moment. I'm curious to hear from anyone who's used both what the pros and cons are, everything from performance, feel, battery life to whatever else.

My employer just issued us all Samsung Galaxy's. Initially, I wanted the 6+ and thought it was too big, but now that I have this huge Galaxy, I can accept the size of the 6+. As far as pros and cons, I haven't the clue. I'm on my 4S more than I am on the S4.
 

mib1800

Suspended
Sep 16, 2012
2,859
1,250
That's significant.



But this one shows the s4 performing better.

Hmm.

That battery tests chart at GSMarenea is interesting. It lets you adjust for different usage patterns: call, web browsing, video playback.

But where does text messaging fit in? Texting account for most my smartphone usage, plus an hour a day of listening to a podcast I've downloaded, with very little web browsing, no video, and not too much talk time.

Texting will be like web surfing if you use white background. In this case AMOLED screen of S4 will do worse than 6 (as in the gsmarena result). If you set to dark background, it may be like video playback.


I switched, and im never going back to Samsung. Been using Android for 2 years before but when Apple announced the 6 I couldn't resist to try it. This is my first iPhone and so far im very satisfied. The S4 is a mediocre crap by Samsung, seriously. Horrible build quality, ugly UI, sluggish OS, and terrible user experience after couple months of usage.

----------



This battery test is so fishy. No way in hell my old S4 can best my 6 in battery. It can last 7 hours with mild to heavy usage straight, and my S4 could barely reach 4 and half hours of screen time.

Seriously, dont compare the "usage time" you get from iphone to screen on time in S4. They are not the same.

The "usage time" in IOS is rubbish for use in comparing battery life since it combines active usage time when the screen is both on and off. But when the screen is ON, the battery drain is like 10-20 times the drain when the screen is OFF no matter what apps you are running (except those heavy cpu intensive games).

So usage when the screen is ON is the overriding factor. Since there is no way to get screen-on time in Iphone, so there is no way to really gauge/compare except to refer to those full to empty drain test like in those reviews.

The web-browsing time from Anandtech shows 6 is better. So does gsmarena. This is expected because AMOLED doesnt do too well for white background like in web browsing. But in video playback, amoled will most probably be better due to more blacks in video.
 

Ipadlover29

macrumors 6502a
May 28, 2011
977
320
I went from an s4 to the iPhone 6. I loved it except I found the screen too small. I upgraded to the 6 plus and I'm much happier now. You can't go wrong with the 6 or 6 plus. I don't think I could ever go back to an android or Samsung phone. I like not having to micro manage everything and the standby time is so much better with an iPhone.
 

Stanick

macrumors regular
Aug 30, 2014
185
16
Sofia, Bulgaria
If you are not doing a lot of work on your phone and you don't care about customization then go ahead and grab the 6. It ill do it's job well.
 
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