Could Apple really lose the race?

[fertilized-egg]

We are comparing devices with relatively large screens and a lot of exposed glass. That's the relevant comparison.

Not really because iPhone is built differently with glass on back. The exposed edge is definitely a weakness of iPhone. Hopefully this is something that'll be fixed with the new metal back and a new construction.

How easy something shatters is probably one of the most practical measures of a better build other than wear and tear effect. And I don't think either the Iphone or the S3 is going to look much worst during a normal usage cycle of 2 years or so.

As bad as glass is for shattering, one thing it is good at is minimizing effect of wear and tear . Compared to plastic, it's much better at resisting scratches. My Galaxy S from 2010 looks much more worn compared to my friends' iPhone 4 bought in the same year. That's probably at least a part of the reason as to why Apple chose it in the first place.

 

[Tones2]

As bad as glass is for shattering, one thing it is good at is minimizing effect of wear and tear . Compared to plastic, it's much better at resisting scratches. My Galaxy S from 2010 looks much more worn compared to my friends' iPhone 4 bought in the same year. That's probably at least a part of the reason as to why Apple chose it in the first place.

Is the Galaxy S polycarbonate? Just curious. I've had the S3 for 3 months and not a scratch on it so far. In fact, I can't imagine it scratching or wearing out in any way given the feel of the polycaronate, but we'll see. And I am constantly removing the back cover to swap micro-SD cards and the battery.

 

[protie]

The S3 does NOT feel cheap and plasticy to me. For one, the Galaxy S3 has a polycarbonate body, with is a much different higher end feel and build quality...

This is exactly what I thought while messing around with the S3's in my office.
I will be buying an S3 or the new Nexus.

 

[randy98mtu]

I can tell you first hand that I've dropped my iPhone 4S many times, without a case, and I've yet to have a single break. Am I lucky? Sure, I'll buy that. Will the iPhone break more often than a lighter plastic phone? Probably. Is the iPhone "going to shatter" as an absolute? Obviously not. You should avoid absolutes.

My 2 year old chucked my iPhone 4 with just a bumper on it from the top of the stairs on my second floor. It landed on a tile floor below. Probably a 10-12 foot drop. No doubt the bumper saved the phone, not a scratch or crack on it. It landed on the corner, evident by the crack and flat spot on the bumper. Apple store replaced the bumper for free, even after I told them what happened.

 

[damitssam]

This is definitely the very first year that I've seen so many people both switching or thinking about it. Yet Apple set a stock market capitalization value record yesterday and had their all time highest stock price, so go figure.

I certainly don't think Apple's in any short term trouble - the iPhone 5 will sell like hotcakes - but if they don't start to get more timely with modern cell phone features, they could be in for trouble on the phone side in a few years. They'll probably have switched focus to TV by then, though.

If there was only a way to long short apple without paying those damn % fees.

 

[Cody21]

Apple or the iPhone aren't losing stream, now or in the future. Sure, people want UI changes and all of that and personally I would welcome it if it happened. At the end of the day though I'm not gonna cry over any of that because I could switch to android and pick out a number of things I would like changed, too. I love my iPhone 4S just like I loved the 3g, 3gs and 4. I'll love the new iPhone when it's released. Plain and simple, Apple makes what the customer wants and loves.

 

[iMichael!]

Oh great. Another one of these Apple VS. Samsung posts.

Jealous of the GS3? Get on the floor.

 

[Lindenhurst]

The Galaxy Note 2 is being announced Aug 29. Even better than the S3. I switched to the S3 this year and I am EXTREMELY happy with this choice, but now the Note 2 is making me drool.

i.e. If you want a big screen, don't wait. We all know what the iPhone 5 will look like.

I have the current note and I am actually thinking of switching to galaxy s3. The grids always seems greener. And yes....I'm not doing anything till I see the new iPhone.

 

[Lindenhurst]

Is the Galaxy S polycarbonate? Just curious. I've had the S3 for 3 months and not a scratch on it so far. In fact, I can't imagine it scratching or wearing out in any way given the feel of the polycaronate, but we'll see. And I am constantly removing the back cover to swap micro-SD cards and the battery.

My wife removed her back cover on the s3 and it cracked. SAmsung is sending out another gratis, but it sure Is thin.

 

[pblakk]

Wait, wha?!?!?

Exactly.

 

[Sdahe]

Oh great. Another one of these Apple VS. Samsung posts.

Jealous of the GS3? Get on the floor.

Hahahahahaha...

 

[7thson]

I don't perceive Apple to be in a race, if anything they seem to be playing their own game and others are racing around them. They only roll out one phone a year and they make the bulk of their revenue from it, oh and the ipad. How many of their competition can claim that distinction? If they aren't innovating enough for their loyal legions, there are plenty of options to choose from. For all we know, they've got something else in the pipeline that they are focusing R&D on and sacrificing iphone innovations for it. Who knows? Well, I guess Apple does, but their lips are tighter than a horses arse in blowfly season.

 

[JesalTV]

Android Is Tempting Me

(FYI I've been on the forums since 2008, but forgot my password and stupid hotmail is hacked with no way back in, had to register again!).

I'm waiting til the announcement on 12th to see what the new iPhone turns out to be hardware wise, but more importantly, with the iOS. I've had the iPhone for 4 years now. Honestly? I'm just bored of it. Always knew Android was gunning for Apple, and eventually would catch up.

I think now with the Galaxy S3 and the Note 2 (when it gets announced next week), I'm finally getting genuinely tempted away. The look and feel of the iOS desperately needs a refresh, and we basically know it's not going to come anytime soon.

I'm not up to date with any Android phones except the Galaxy S3 and Note (from what I hear, they are the best out) and I've played around with them. I actually really like them. I'm starting to question how long I'm going to stick with iPhone for, as Android can do pretty much the same and more now.

The hardware is awesome on these Samsung phones, and Android is getting better. I'm not sure I like how fragmented it all is (Jelly Bean, ICS, blah blah blah). But I made a list of things I ACTUALLY use the iPhone for, and Android now has all the apps to compete.

The only problem for a music lover like me is replicating that music player experience on Android, and that is what is currently holding me back. I'm happy with my MacBook Pro, iPad, Apple TV... But the iPhone is starting to lose me, and I reeeeeally love phones! (Sad, I know).

But seriously, Apple - you need to BRING IT with the new iPhone and iOS 6. If you slip up, I will switch next month.

 

[Sdahe]

I think the new iphone will be hard to identify from the iPhone 4 or 4S... You'll have to get close and see the little .5" of difference in the screen.. Put a cover in it and it would be harder to know one from the other.

Prepare to get a taller iphone 4s... or enjoy a new GS3. You have the choice

 

[zbarvian]

I think the new iphone will be hard to identify from the iPhone 4 or 4S... You'll have to get close and see the little .5" of difference in the screen.. Put a cover in it and it would be harder to know one from the other.

Prepare to get a taller iphone 4s... or enjoy a new GS3. You have the choice

iPhone. Samsung sucks; thanks for the offer though.

 

[Geckotek]

I think the new iphone will be hard to identify from the iPhone 4 or 4S... You'll have to get close and see the little .5" of difference in the screen.. Put a cover in it and it would be harder to know one from the other.

Prepare to get a taller iphone 4s... or enjoy a new GS3. You have the choice

iPhone for me. Not sure why being able to identify it from a 4s matters in the least. Although the color difference and the screen shape will most likely be more than obvious. But it's not like I'll have an iPhone 4s and a new iPhone sitting next to each other and accidentally pick up the wrong one. I'll sell my 4s and only have one phone. So why do I need to be able to identify it??

 

[JediZenMaster]

I switched to the galaxy s3 and kept it for a month and I tried to give it a fair and balanced chance but it just did not work for me.

The moment that the browsers on the s3 would lock up and crash for no reason was enough.

But on a good note I did trade it for an iPhone that had AppleCare plus.

 

[Tones2]

I switched to the galaxy s3 and kept it for a month and I tried to give it a fair and balanced chance but it just did not work for me. The moment that the browsers on the s3 would lock up and crash for no reason was enough.

That does NOT happen for 99.9% of S3's out there, and never ever to me, so it was a solveable problem - probably a particular website you were visiting. But as a typical iPhone lover would do, rather than try to solve what was probably a very simple problem to resolve you retreated back to iPhone. Nice. Yep, that's a "fair and balanced" chance. Whew...

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The only problem for a music lover like me is replicating that music player experience on Android, and that is what is currently holding me back.

Well, there are like 20 music / video players in the Android market, several of which are fantastic and do WAY more than the Music app on the iPhone (take a look at PlayerPro and Power Amp, for instance). Plus you can sync easily with iTunes if you want using iSyncr or DoubleTwist. I guarantee that you'll find a better music app than the iPhone app in the Android market, although the iPhone Music app is not at all bad.

What you lose is that obviously you cannot play any Apple DRM copy protected music or video on android. Music is probably not an issue as it has been DRM free for a number of years, but you would have to repurchase any video you have, plus apps of course. The only other disadvantage is that you lose iTunes' ability to do on-the-fly downsampling of music to 128 kbps to save phone space. I can't find an Android app that will do this (at least currently). However, you can get a 64GB micro-sd card and have 96GB on the phone at the same time (plus be able to swap micro-sd cards), so this is less of an issue unless you can't afford the $70 for a 64GB card (although I consider the $70 an investment that will carry forward to multiple future phones, not just this one).

 

[JediZenMaster]

That does NOT happen for 99.9% of S3's out there, and never ever to me, so it was a solveable problem - probably a particular website you were visiting. But as a typical iPhone lover would do, rather than try to solve what was probably a very simple problem to resolve you retreated back to iPhone. Nice. Yep, that's a "fair and balanced" chance. Whew... .

Well first of all it was not able to be solved I tried two different ones with multiple browsers and the same thing occurred. You mentioned it was a website I was visiting? It wasn't There were no websites loading at all

The Verizon store could not even figure out what was causing this. So yes that is important to me with the iPhone I never Ever had such an odd issue occur.

The phone was not rooted or anything and I work for a large tech company and could not figure this out. When I spend money on something and it has an issue like this I'm not going to turn a blind eye and just accept it.

 

[Tones2]

Well first of all it was not able to be solved I tried two different ones with multiple browsers and the same thing occurred.

The Verizon store could not even figure out what was causing this. So yes that is important to me with the iPhone I never Ever had such an odd issue occur.

The phone was not rooted or anything and I work for a large tech company and could not figure this out. When I spend money on something and it has an issue like this I'm not going to turn a blind eye and just accept it.

Like I said, probably a PARTICULAR website your were visiting is the only real explanation.

 

[JediZenMaster]

Like I said, probably a PARTICULAR website your were visiting is the only real explanation.

It was doing this with all websites now I'm not going argue on a message board with someone.

It's obvious someone pissed in your latte and I'm not going to argue and debate what works for me. Because you don't pay my bills, you dont wipe my behind and you don't feed me

 

[Tones2]

It was doing this with all websites now I'm not going argue on a message board with someone.

It's obvious someone pissed in your latte and I'm not going to argue and debate what works for me. Because you don't pay my bills, you dont wipe my behind and you don't feed me

Sorry didn't mean to offend. To each his own. I was just trying to make it clear to anyone else considering the switch to S3 that this webite crashing issue is NOT a problem with almost any other S3.

 

[Sdahe]

iPhone for me. Not sure why being able to identify it from a 4s matters in the least. Although the color difference and the screen shape will most likely be more than obvious. But it's not like I'll have an iPhone 4s and a new iPhone sitting next to each other and accidentally pick up the wrong one. I'll sell my 4s and only have one phone. So why do I need to be able to identify it??

Just that you'll be walking with your amazing new iphone and nobody will notice is the new iphone. So you will pay for something that looks like old news in the cellphone world

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iPhone. Samsung sucks; thanks for the offer though.

If it sucks... why would Apple race with it? It looks like they are having a hard time with the GS3... a phone that sucks wouldn't give Apple such of headache. There are a lot of people buying this GS3 and not wanting to go back to the iPhone. The list keeps growing every day

 

[Geckotek]

Just that you'll be walking with your amazing new iphone and nobody will notice is the new iphone. So you will pay for something that looks like old news in the cellphone world

the iPhone is for my utilization. Why on earth would I care if anybody notices my phone?!?!?!

#ohyoureanarcicistictool

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If it sucks... why would Apple race with it? It looks like they are having a hard time with the GS3... a phone that sucks wouldn't give Apple such of headache. There are a lot of people buying this GS3 and not wanting to go back to the iPhone. The list keeps growing every day

What makes you say Apple is "racing with it"? What indication do you have that they are having a hard time? Perhaps their record sales? No, must be their record stock price? Hmmmmm...can't be that. Guess I'll never understand what's going on in that brain of yours.

Yes, people are buying the S3. Yes, more everyday. Last time I checked they are still buying iPhones as well. More everyday. Yep. It's true, I promise.

 

[tdar]

Apple has been losing the race since Ice Cream Sandwich came out and when the iPhone 5 comes out, most of this forum will be disappointed by it and many of those people will leave to Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry 10.

We'll see the trend below continue in 2013. Android will lead the market approaching 70%, iOS will be at 16% after iPhone 5 disappoints the hell out of many people, causing Apple's first decrease in marketshare this decade, mark my words.

Windows Phone will grab 4-5% of the market after Windows Phone 8 comes out, RIM will keep 5% after Blackberry 10 comes out. Symbian will be almost fully dead with 2%, and Tizen along with Firefox OS will be fighting over the measly scraps left behind.

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Then the Android developer community will realize there is a 60% piracy rate among paid android apps ( a number provided by the FBI as they shut down 2 major android pirate websites this week) and wonder if that is were they want to invest their time. One day the massive malware from hell will drop and you'll say good-by to that share almost over night. Don't worry it will happen. You can not have such a wide open target in the hands of that many people,with out someone deciding to cash in.

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You may be laughing now, but when you see the sales figures in 2013, you'll see that the sixth-generation iPhone will be the cause of Apple's first downturn in sales.

Yeah. good luck with that. The new iPhone will be the best selling iPhone ever. Take that to the bank. Or to wall street, if you get my drift.