Corporate Work Phone -- Galaxy S4 or a 2nd Iphone

[Colgin]

I recently acquired an Iphone 5s, 64GB, Verizon phone to replace my old 4s.

For years I have been lobbying my firm to let us do corporate e-mail on Iphones (well smartphones generally) and not just Blackberrys. During the week, most of the time my Blackberry sits in my briefcase or on my desk but if I am travelling or on the weekend I should have it in my pocket (hence the annoyance of two devices). In reality, on weekend days where I expect no emergencies I will often just leave it behind although I shouldn't do so.

So, I was excited when my firm said we could have e-mail on Iphones. In fact, they are willing to buy everyone either a Samsung S4 or an Iphone 5s (shocked they didn't go for the 5c), but only 16GB. But those will be corporate phones that they will own and effectively control. There is no way I am trading in my personal phone to have only a corporate device notwithstanding cost savings. I asked if I could have e-mail only on my own phone (BYOD policy) at my own expense, but was told no (though strangely this is being permitted with Ipads so long as you agree to wipe them if they get lost).

The upshot is that I am stuck using two devices. At first I thought I should get the Galaxy S4 just to have a different device/toy; do I really need two Iphones? OTOH, there might be times when I really don't want to carry two devices and with a work Iphone would have the option of carrying that one and still having Iphone functionality, which I like. Also, I just prefer the Iphone form factor better, although the S4 seems like a perfectly excellent device (Android has come a long way from what I can tell).

Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Idefix]

Go with the iPhone.

Do you really want to have to learn and maintain a second phone brand? Do you want to put that much time and energy into a corporate phone that you may be leaving at home a lot?

 

[dave420]

I think two iPhones is a good idea, and is what I do. It's convenient to be able to use the same apps, music, etc. I'm sure there could be many advantages of having the s4 as well. If you'd like more variety you might like having the completely different devices.

 

[Bowsa2511]

Just get another iPhone

 

[Oohara]

LOL, the first three posts reveal instantly that this was first posted in the iPhone forum.

Seriously, this sounds like a perfect opportunity to try out an Android device. It can certainly do many things that the iPhone can't. Just the bigger screen alone will be a totally different experience for reading and browsing, and that's only the beginning.

Having one more iPhone will just give you two of the same. Have some fun man, especially if you don't even have to pay for it!

 

[TacticalDesire]

Galaxy S4. It will give you a new device to play with. I don't know why anyone would want two iPhones. Just one is bad enough. Ok I kid I kid. I like the iPhone. But still, try something new. If worst comes to worst and you hate it, all you have to use it for is email and phone calls.

 

[T5BRICK]

Personally, I'd probably stick with the 2nd iPhone. Not because I dislike Android, but because I cannot stand the TouchWiz skin on Samsung devices.

But if you're interested in android at all, maybe this would be a good oppourtunity to try it out. Just be aware that a GS4, while running Android, is much different than stock Android.

 

[Stuntman06]

If you are happy with the iPhone why get a different device? If you are interested in trying out the Galaxy S4, then get that one.

I have both a personal phone (SGS3) and a work phone (BB Tour). What I do is I forward my work phone to my personal phone as I do on-call duties after hours and on weekends.

 

[ucfgrad93]

Go with the iPhone.

Do you really want to have to learn and maintain a second phone brand? Do you want to put that much time and energy into a corporate phone that you may be leaving at home a lot?

Agreed, get the iPhone.

 

[Eddie Bombay]

Go with the S4, iPhone is ok but then it just gets old.

 

[Dontazemebro]

I think you're a big boy and can decide on your own. No need to let one fanatical camp sway you whichever way.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

Personally, I think very few Apple haters even realize how far superior the iOS native email and messaging clients really are. If your work phone is primarily for emails and messaging, get an iPhone and enjoy the rock-solid performance. Then get an Android for your personal device.


IPhones get stuff done, without fanfare or fiddling. Android is for playtime. Minus actual games, of course. Then iOS wins there also.

 

[Technarchy]

What's your work IT environment like?

We support iPhone and Android where I work but corporate and BYOD devices are primarily iPhone by a huge margin.

However we just got a few Microsoft Windows Phones for testing and they integrate far nicer and easier than the iPhone. Take your work phone seriously because it makes your life less hectic at times, and if everything is Windows, a Windows Phone might make the most sense if your IT environment supports it.

 

[Colgin]

Good pros and cons. Thanks for the input everyone. I ended up (somewhat reluctantly) choosing the Samsung. I don't think I will use the corporate phone too much one way or the other. But there might be times when it will be nice to have a slightly larger screen and I would like to have a better informed opinion about Android phones. Also, there are some features that I don't care about in a personal phone, but which may be useful in a work context, like the flashing LED alert so I don't need to obsessively check the phone if I am in a meeting.

 

[TacticalDesire]

Personally, I think very few Apple haters even realize how far superior the iOS native email and messaging clients really are. If your work phone is primarily for emails and messaging, get an iPhone and enjoy the rock-solid performance. Then get an Android for your personal device.


IPhones get stuff done, without fanfare or fiddling. Android is for playtime. Minus actual games, of course. Then iOS wins there also.

You seem to be overly passionate about something as silly as a mobile operating system. Care to note what makes these clients so much better?

 

[Colgin]

What's your work IT environment like?

We support iPhone and Android where I work but corporate and BYOD devices are primarily iPhone by a huge margin.

However we just got a few Microsoft Windows Phones for testing and they integrate far nicer and easier than the iPhone. Take your work phone seriously because it makes your life less hectic at times, and if everything is Windows, a Windows Phone might make the most sense if your IT environment supports it.

Windows phone was not an option or I would have seriously considered it.

 

[chagla]

Personally, I think very few Apple haters even realize how far superior the iOS native email and messaging clients really are. If your work phone is primarily for emails and messaging, get an iPhone and enjoy the rock-solid performance. Then get an Android for your personal device.


IPhones get stuff done, without fanfare or fiddling. Android is for playtime. Minus actual games, of course. Then iOS wins there also.

i respectfully disagree. how is ios suitable for work and serious business when you can only email images and videos? with android, you can email anything you want. ios neither lets you access file system nor you can share files. files are sandboxed, a really terrible way to put files.

also what's superior about ios messaging app? imessage is proprietary. if one doesn't like (not because its not functional but personal taste) android stock messaging app, there are hundreds others to choose from. same goes for email clients on android.

 

[mib1800]

Personally, I think very few Apple haters even realize how far superior the iOS native email and messaging clients really are. If your work phone is primarily for emails and messaging, get an iPhone and enjoy the rock-solid performance. Then get an Android for your personal device.


IPhones get stuff done, without fanfare or fiddling. Android is for playtime. Minus actual games, of course. Then iOS wins there also.

Messaging great? iMessage is really crap because it only works on iOS device. If you are not living under a rock then you should know that 70% of the rest of the smartphone users in the world dont use iOS device. And if you turn on "send by SMS" in iMessage you will burn thru your bundled SMS in no time (and not to mention inadvertently sending overseas SMS costing you a bomb)

I think other people mentioned iOS email which can't do serious work. Save attachment to device for later use? attach any files easily? view any attached file type? push email other than iCloud? -- We know that most email clients on ANY platforms can do all these EXCEPT iOS.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

This whole "android lets you attach any file" argument is silly. If you are creating content solely on your smartphone for your corporation, then maybe you'd have a point. But nobody is doing that....they create content on a laptop and occasionally need to forward it on to others when away from their desk via the email on their smartphone. There's Dropbox, Vault, Box and hundreds of other ways to do this efficiently.

Real corporations would likely require that you quit clogging up Exchange servers as document management systems and send links to the document revisions on corporate file shares, Wiki or Sharepoint. File attachments is such Luddite old-school behavior.

Only a peon cube dweller uses their Smartphone like this. Executives read attachments from their phones, more often via their tablets. For this iOS mail is far more than adequate, and the Exchange integration and folder synch is superior. They tweet-mail requests to peons to go do the work. And expect it done professionally by others on a real PC.....not some half-crap done on a smartphone. What a stupid, non-use-case argument.

And as for videos and picture attachments....number one use for a camera phone in corporate world is snapping a pic of notes or drawing on a whiteboard. Then sending to a peon to convert to Visio or PowerPoint.

This is why Apple has already won the BYOD fight at the corporate level. Exchange friendly. Security conscious. Choice of power brokers. Peons that want to go further get themselves out of the green bubble club as fast as possible. And any smart iOS wielding executive has both iMessage and SMS enabled...just for profiling purposes.

 

[vikingjunior]

Just get a new job. J/K!

 

[iHateLaggyStuff]

Get the S4. You can only appreciate what iPhone better once you see how terrible the "competition" is. I can guarantee you that.
On a different note, get the S4 and sell it to buy an LG G2. The best Android phone right now. And yes I dont think the Nexus 5 is the best Android phone.

 

[daveathall]

I would be tempted to try the S4 just to see the difference between the two. You may be surprised and find that you prefer using the S4.

 

[vistadude]

Corporate email most likely means you can't use the stock mail app on either phone. They're probably make you use some app like Good, which is bad for iphone and android.

I'd go with the Galaxy S4. Also you will be able to browse the web, and the S4 has a bigger screen. This is a phone you're not going to want to install apps on or put any personal info, so it's not like it's going to be much fun to use. If you want a few apps, you can install some android apps without a google account. You can't install iphone apps without an itunes accout.

Most likely you want something with good battery life and the S4 will be way better. I have a really crummy Android phone but because very few apps are installed, I get 6 days battery life on a charge and I use it a lot for email and calendar appointments (and no it's not a droid maxx)

 

[fredaroony]

Go the S4 as it's much more flexible.

The iPhone's email is either on or off while there are many different options on Android that include scheduling etc. The iPhone's do not disturb feature isn't as good.

 

[Tsuchiya]

*snip*

Ah you already chose. How are you finding it?