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Bought the S4 aprox. 1 month ago. Here's why I'm selling it.
- Thread starter BlackFalcon448
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You do know that an Android phone "just works" straight from the box without need to download any apps right?
True, but as soon as someone says they don't like an aspect of the android device the recommendation is to tweak or root as a fix. I and I'm sure other iPhone users as well, were very involved in android device tweaks and rooting. That was fun for a couple of years. Now with my idevice I simply restore my iCloud data and use the phone. I don't even tweak the ring tones anymore. I really just take it out of the packaging and use the device.
Jrswizzle, very well said and love your sig quote.
I move between my HTC One and iPhone many times a day and have no issue with the iPhone keyboard - somewhat more cramped, sure but I feel like I'm LESS accurate on the HTC keyboard than I am on my iPhone keyboard.
The "press" animations and actual registering of my typing are also much faster on my iPhone - not that it really matters, but it makes for a more instantaneous "keyboard" like experience for me.
Moral of the story - not everyone feels the way you do. You may find it IMPOSSIBLE to switch back - while there are those of us who find no problem with the iPhone keyboard (and heaven forbid, actually prefer it somewhat).
Shocking, I know.
lol I think you woke up at the wrong side of the bed this morning, either that or if anyone says something even slightly negative about Apple you just end up crying, right? This is a forum, my friend. I'm allowed to post up my opinion and share similar view points with other posters. The keyboard for me is tough to type on. I know other people are able to manage it just fine there's no need to point that out and jump at my throat. Also I made this comment two weeks ago. If you're gonna criticize my post, have the decency to at least do it while I'm still active on the thread.
lol I think you woke up at the wrong side of the bed this morning, either that or if anyone says something even slightly negative about Apple you just end up crying, right? This is a forum, my friend. I'm allowed to post up my opinion and share similar view points with other posters. The keyboard for me is tough to type on. I know other people are able to manage it just fine there's no need to point that out and jump at my throat. Also I made this comment two weeks ago. If you're gonna criticize my post, have the decency to at least do it while I'm still active on the thread.
Why is it that when faced with a counter argument or instance which doesn't conform to a certain view, people always resort to posts with the bolded included.
Likewise, I was simply sharing an instance which highlighted the OTHER side of the issue. Or is that not allowed on your a forum? I seem to not understand how these things work.
Also - if you felt I was jumping down your throat, I suggest it is YOU who should be less sensitive. I sometimes read through threads and don't notice when people post and leave - my apologies for not being aware of your whereabouts.....
Seriously?
Why is it that when faced with a counter argument or instance which doesn't conform to a certain view, people always resort to posts with the bolded included.
Likewise, I was simply sharing an instance which highlighted the OTHER side of the issue. Or is that not allowed on your a forum? I seem to not understand how these things work.
Also - if you felt I was jumping down your throat, I suggest it is YOU who should be less sensitive. I sometimes read through threads and don't notice when people post and leave - my apologies for not being aware of your whereabouts.....
Seriously?
You really don't think you were a little glib and condescending there towards the end of your first post? If you're going to respond to a comment, maybe check out the date it was written. I possibly don't necessarily want to read the opinion of someone's post on something I wrote two weeks ago.
Of course I was a little glib, thicker skin perhaps?
And I wasn't aware that I made you read anything. If I respond of make a point on a post, that's my choice and it'll be the choice of whomever I quote to read and respond back to me.
Seriously bro - after claiming I'm the one who woke up on the wrong side of the bed you've gotten upitty about some sarcasm and the fact that you HAD to read my opinion on a post you wrote 12 days ago....
I do not root flash etc, if there is a part of my phone I don't like I change it by installing an (often free) app, if one doesn't like a part of one's iPhone one is stuck with it. Period. I have had all the iPhones from 3GS including the 5 so remain a big fan, but my point that you glossed over still stands "One can use an Android phone straight from the box without installing apps" and that is exactly the same as an iPhone. I honestly don't know where people think that an Android phone has to be rooted, flash, modified or needs apps to work, it just doesn't.
I agree, but that option is instantly offered as a solution. If that point is countered with the iphone experience the individual is labeled as a non tech user. I'm just saying I've been there and walked away. After owning and rooting an og droid, droid x, thunderbolt, droid razor, and galaxy nexus then moving to an iPhone I can say in my case with some certainty the iPhone is a better out of the box experience than an android device except for the razor that phone was near perfect. I wanted to share my android experience and that a somewhat techie user can be perfectly happy with a stock iPhone even minus the ability to tweak. My experience is prolly very similar to other android and iPhone users. I just wanted to share.
I understand your view point but i really don't see how it applys to what i said. "Tinkering" in my eyes is installing custom firmware or even rooting, installing a different launcher or keyboard is the same as installing any other of the 101 apps people install on their phones...
Ahh, I get you now, sorry, I should have read your post a little better. I do agree, straight from the box, IMHO, nothing beats the iPhone for simplicity of setup and thus initial experience. My opinion is that both Android flagship phones and the iPhone are superb devices in their own rights, just different to each other in some ways. Again, I apologise for misunderstanding your original response.
When threads like these come up, most comments just try and debate the original poster. They try and point out all these things to change and a bunch of work arounds to fix the problems that came up. But let's be real, not everybody wants to try a hundred different work arounds to fix problems.
And threads like this just turn into a bash fest for the most part. "Oh you like doing it one way? Well you're stupid for that and you should do it my way!"
These threads shouldn't be used to bash the original poster and say stuff like "oh you're not using it right!!! You don't deserve to use that phone!" Saying stuff like that is completely useless.
To the original poster: It sucks you had a bad experience. But I think we can all at least agree on one thing, and that is that it is good of you to try out different phones and different operating systems. You did exactly that and gave the GS4 a good amount of time to grow on you. And I hope whatever phone you use next doesn't have any of the problems you encountered with the GS4.
And threads like this just turn into a bash fest for the most part. "Oh you like doing it one way? Well you're stupid for that and you should do it my way!"
These threads shouldn't be used to bash the original poster and say stuff like "oh you're not using it right!!! You don't deserve to use that phone!" Saying stuff like that is completely useless.
To the original poster: It sucks you had a bad experience. But I think we can all at least agree on one thing, and that is that it is good of you to try out different phones and different operating systems. You did exactly that and gave the GS4 a good amount of time to grow on you. And I hope whatever phone you use next doesn't have any of the problems you encountered with the GS4.
I agree with what you're saying here but if posters on here could be a little less personal in their workarounds and less glib and sarcastic, their suggestions are actually useful and could possibly provide a solution to op.
If someone posts an opinion in a forum people are debate you them what forums are for
I'm not justifying people suggesting rooting or installing a custom ROM to fix a problem with the OS but some were pointing out that his annoyances and how to fix which were mostly as simple as RMAing his SD Card and changing a few settings in the options menu not even an iPhone comes set up as everyone would like and a few options have to be changed...
If it's stock you're wanting, your options are limited with Verizon. Probably your best bet is to get an S4, One, or whichever phone you were interested in. After you get it, give it "the works".
1. Install Holo Locker, this is an ASOP style lock screen
2. Install Nova Launcher, and change all the settings to Stock/Jelly Bean.
3. Disable the TouchWiz/Sense stock apps like Calendar/Calculator and replace them with the AOSP ones from the Play Store
4. Install the Android 4.3 Camera/Gallery app (Can find the .apk with a quick Google search)
5. Install the official Google keyboard
6. Install from the Play Store" Android 4.1 JB Messaging SMS" This is a copy of the stock messaging app, and set it as default and turn off notifications from your stock app.
If you do all these steps, your phone will look and function very closely to a AOSP device. No Root/ROM is required for any of this by the way.
Android isn't any different in this. The stock apps are about equal to iOS apps in features. TouchWiz is perfectly fine for most people including me. It is different from iOS but not much more complex and you don't have to tinker if you don't want to.
But in case you do, with iOS you have to jailbreak if even possible. With Android you can just get an alternative app, set it as default instead. I haven't bothered rooting my S4 or installing custom firmware but again the option is there.
Out of the box iphone is really not up to standard. And you CAN'T do anything about it. I just want to know the response from the poster who said you only need one app and every iphone app works the best (compared to Android) which is just a load of crap.
- Safari which doesnt reflow text or fit text. You need to side scroll to read properly. Limited tabs. Can't upload/download and save files. Cannot display Flash websites. No full screen browsing.
- Email that can't do attachment files properly. Need complicated workaround to even attach files other than picture.
- In-built Music/Video player that supports limited format. No Itunes/iCloud access and you are dead in the water.
- Phone Dialer which doesnt support predictive contact matching.
- Phone Log with no thumbnail photo support, limited log entries, no overall activities summary like call in/out duration.
- Contact. no contact import from 3rd party cloud services. No integration with 3rd party like whatsapp, line, hangout etc.
- Camera - can't take video/photo in different resolution. Devoid of any other basic camera capabilities.
The above are just the basic. There are many more shortcomings in iPhone if we look at more advanced use.
- Safari which doesnt reflow text or fit text. You need to side scroll to read properly. Limited tabs. Can't upload/download and save files. Cannot display Flash websites. No full screen browsing.
- Email that can't do attachment files properly. Need complicated workaround to even attach files other than picture.
- In-built Music/Video player that supports limited format. No Itunes/iCloud access and you are dead in the water.
- Phone Dialer which doesnt support predictive contact matching.
- Phone Log with no thumbnail photo support, limited log entries, no overall activities summary like call in/out duration.
- Contact. no contact import from 3rd party cloud services. No integration with 3rd party like whatsapp, line, hangout etc.
- Camera - can't take video/photo in different resolution. Devoid of any other basic camera capabilities.
The above are just the basic. There are many more shortcomings in iPhone if we look at more advanced use.
Android is fantastic but personally the simplicity of the iPhone as just a basic communication device is what I prefer. I will get a s4 and eventually use both the s4 and the 5 but for now the iphone is pretty good out the box. My only gripes is not you tube downloader aka tube mate for android.
Android is much better as a so but for just a basic smartphone with quality apps iphone is hard to beat.
I went with iPhone because personally I really didn't want to deal with the issues and the customization of android anymore I wanted something basic and easy to use.
Android is much better as a so but for just a basic smartphone with quality apps iphone is hard to beat.
I went with iPhone because personally I really didn't want to deal with the issues and the customization of android anymore I wanted something basic and easy to use.
I went from a 3.7" HTC Desire Z to an S3 last year that had a 4.8" screen. I had the same feelings about the screen size. I actually wanted the smaller HTC One S, but the lack of expandable storage option was a real deal breaker.
I also felt that the screen was just too big for my liking. It was a two-handed device to me at first. After about a month or so, I actually did get used to the size and can easily use it one-handed now. There are nice benefits to having a larger screen.
Not being able to change default apps is hardly a feature and I doubt that is a reason why it is popular or why someone would want to buy iPhones. Overall, the default apps as a whole work well for most people and not having the ability to change default apps is something most people overlook or perhaps not even aware that it can be a possibility on other phones. With my limited exposure to some of the default apps on iOS have been pretty good. I do feel that for most people, the default apps do a pretty good job and people are happy with them enough that they don't care for alternatives.
If people are satisfied with the default apps or how the iPhone works, that's great. If they are unhappy with some aspect of iOS, they pretty much either have to live with it or use some alternative that requires sacrificing some integration with other apps.
For instance, if you are unhappy with say Apple Maps, The alternative is to use another mapping app and lose any type of integration you had with Apple Maps. Even if you are happy with the default apps, if there is an alternative with some feature that you really like, again you have to choose which trade-off you have to make.
Whether or not you choose to take advantage of this flexibility is up to you. You often have to do some work on Android to take advantage of its flexibility. At minimum you have to install a new app and then choosing it as the default. Some changes are more sophistocated depending on what it is you want to do. It's about making the phone do the things you want and need to do and being able to access those things conveniently for you.
Any form of customisation requires a bit of work. This overhead can be quite small like changing your ring tone to another pre-installed one or just moving your icons you use most to your dock or first page. Things like this can be done on iPhones. Depending on what you like and what you are willing to do, an iPhone may offer you enough or it may not.
With an Android device, you do have options of tweaking it, so that it is more to your liking. With an iOS device, you may not have any options depending on what aspect it is you don't like about the Android device.
Personally, I prefer not having the dialog box pop up when I attempt to open a link or document. I don't want or need 6 choices - nor do I want to have to decide whether to pick each time or let it set a different app as default and have to go into settings to switch it around.
I have also, on occasion had defaults get set automatically, without me picking - which is irritating given the default that was set was not up to snuff IMO.
As I said (and it seems you agree) - until the default offerings from Apple cease to be functional, I'll continue to prefer not having to think or choose which app I use. I like having the one app and sticking with it. Somewhat OCD perhaps, but I like my phone organized with as few redundant apps and services as possible.
Choice for the sake of choice, isn't necessarily good thing. And while I'm all for options I do like to point out that for those who really want this freedom, Android awaits.
Whenever you install a new app that can be set as a default, it will give you multiple choices. For instance, if you install the Opera browser, tapping on a link in your email app will result in a menu where you can choose either the stock browser or Opera. Here you get the option of setting your default browser, so from then on every time you tap on a link, it will no longer ask which browser to use. I do pick Chrome as my default browser. For my mapping app, I use both Waze and Google Maps and do not pick a default.
This I haven't experienced before. Other than the default default apps that came with the phone, I've never seen an app that I installed automatically set as the default without asking me first. Do you recall which apps did that?
Agreed. I also think that the default apps on Android can be functional for many people as well. Perhaps the flexibility of Android gives the impression that the default apps aren't any good. Many people seem so vocal about being able to select different default apps and these people do choose alternatives.