Phones iPhone 4S vs Galaxy S3

[DodgeV83]

You tend to talk about apps as though they're iOS features; are you talking about apps available for iOS that aren't available for Android, or are you talking about iOS itself?

iOS does of course do things that Android can't, but in terms of core features it's clear that Android is ahead.

The term "ahead" is dependant on your criteria. Are you looking at the number of checkboxes in a flat list, and weighing them all equally to see which one has more checkboxes? Using that logic, Ubuntu has been "ahead" of both Windows and OSX since it's inception, yet you probably aren't a Ubuntu user.

Are you weighing some features to be more important than others? If so, what criteria do you use to weigh them?

Would you consider one car with 1000 features, but no AC, to be "ahead" of another car with 999 features including AC, if you lived in Miami? What if you lived in Alaska?

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How about using some different images?

I.e. ones that aren't hand picked to show the iPhone as the winner.

Haha, I use the same images to counter the same points made in different threads

Those were the best images I've found that highlight the dynamic range difference (the biggest limitation of small sensors) between the two phones. Since they were taken both in the same conditions and at the same time (held side-by-side), I find it to be a valid comparison, but if you know of some other similarly-made photos I'd be open to see them

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The video shows otherwise and i trust that over what you would post since you arent open minded and use every camera app made.

Which video? If there's another side-by-side video of the iPhone 4S and S3 that includes both outdoor and indoor shots like this one does, I'd love to see it. Can you post it?

 

[Vegastouch]

Which video? If there's another side-by-side video of the iPhone 4S and S3 that includes both outdoor and indoor shots like this one does, I'd love to see it. Can you post it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aws7LT46lWk

 

[oBMTo]

No, my post highlighted the fact that my argument stands unrefuted, as you have yet to offer anything to negate it.

Android is a million times better than iOS.

See I can make useless post with bolded words too.

 

[matttye]

The term "ahead" is dependant on your criteria. Are you looking at the number of checkboxes in a flat list, and weighing them all equally to see which one has more checkboxes? Using that logic, Ubuntu has been "ahead" of both Windows and OSX since it's inception, yet you probably aren't a Ubuntu user.

Are you weighing some features to be more important than others? If so, what criteria do you use to weigh them?

Would you consider one car with 1000 features, but no AC, to be "ahead" of another car with 999 features including AC, if you lived in Miami? What if you lived in Alaska?

Depends what the 1000 features were, and I don't really see your point.

You never actually list features in these debates, you just post in vague terms.

Android has a greater list of core OS features than iOS, which in turn allows applications to achieve more. For example, NFC, widgets, custom launchers, sharing API, true multitasking. These are all "gateway" features that allow many apps to focus simply around these functionalities. For example, the Google Play store has a widgets section dedicated entirely to apps that have widgets. iOS cannot possibly have such apps because the feature is non-existent. There are lots of different launchers in Android with various features, which in turn have their own widgets made especially for them. The choices are endless.

With iPhone, you get what you get. There's relatively little customisation available. Hell, you couldn't even select a custom wallpaper until version.. 3 or 4? I can't remember.

There are of course a few things iOS has going for it; namely updates and support (from both developers and Apple).

Haha, I use the same images to counter the same points made in different threads

Those were the best images I've found that highlight the dynamic range difference (the biggest limitation of small sensors) between the two phones. Since they were taken both in the same conditions and at the same time (held side-by-side), I find it to be a valid comparison, but if you know of some other similarly-made photos I'd be open to see them

The thing is, the argument gets stale when you use the same ones over and over. It appears like they're the only pictures in the world that can suit your argument.

 

[Sensamic]

From the iPhone 3GS release in mid 2009, through to iOS 6, hundreds of features have been added. Of these hundreds, only three aren't on the iPhone 3GS - Facetime, Siri, and the new mapping system.

From the iPhone 4 release in mid 2010, through to iOS 6, hundreds of features have been added. Of these hundreds, only two aren't on the iPhone 4 - Siri and the new mapping system.

This includes all of the security updates, and all of the hundreds of thousands of apps that require the latest iOS version to run (upgraded APIs and such).

In contrast, 93% of Android devices cannot run Google's own Chrome browser. This is the price of fragmentation.

I had to wait for iOS 4 to decide to buy a iPhone, since before that iOS did not have multitasking.

Its amazing Apple waited to iOS 4 to bring us multitasking. And not to mention copy/paste also in iOS 3 I think...

And better notifications in... wait for it... iOS 5!!

And maps with turn by turn in... again... iOS 6.

The slow pace of iOS is kind of annoying. It would be much better than Android if it were to evolve at a faster pace.

 

[outz]

The slow pace of iOS is kind of annoying. It would be much better than Android if it were to evolve at a faster pace.

yeah i agree... i mean, on the other hand, the things apple does implement are typically well thought out and function as expected. i've had an iphone every year since the original, and the other week out of sheer bordom with ios i decided to pick up an s3. both my 4s and the s3 are great devices, i just decided i wanted to use something different for a while.

 

[Mac.World]

I had to wait for iOS 4 to decide to buy a iPhone, since before that iOS did not have multitasking.

Its amazing Apple waited to iOS 4 to bring us multitasking. And not to mention copy/paste also in iOS 3 I think...

And better notifications in... wait for it... iOS 5!!

And maps with turn by turn in... again... iOS 6.

The slow pace of iOS is kind of annoying. It would be much better than Android if it were to evolve at a faster pace.

And now it looks like NFC won't happen until iPhone 6 and ios 7.

 

[Sensamic]

Oh, and I forgot... like mattye says: wallpapers in iOS 4. Unbelievable... Thats the only customization you get.

And you want APIS you say? How about full sharing APIS with any app and not just twitter and Facebook in iOS?

Let me give you one example of something Ive been needing and wanting to do on iOS that I couldn't and now can on Android.

I have a Mac Mini as media center with Plex and a NAS with all my movies. Sometimes I forget to download the subtitles for foreign movies and put them on the NAS. With iOS I can upload pictures to the NAS via a dedicated app, but no other files.

With Android now I can download the subtitle from Chrome, which comes in .rar, I can extract the file using a app and then upload the file to my NAS using the same dedicated app than iOS, but better because it can upload ANY type of file to the NAS, not just pictures like iOS.

In a matter of 2 minutes I get this done and can watch my movie with subtitles Never could do the same on iOS. No way to extract a .rar file or to upload a .srt file to the NAS.

Is this more advanced to you than iOS?

Just compare the options in the SGS3 camera app to the iPhone camera app, or the Maps app.

Neither iOS or Android is perfect. iOS has more updates (but not that better like I previously said, since many stuff is already on Android and iPhone 4 doesn't get the new greatest features) and Android has more features.

 

[oBMTo]

No, my post highlighted the fact that my argument stands unrefuted, as you have yet to offer anything to negate it.

How do you refute something that is baseless?

Useless.

 

[DodgeV83]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aws7LT46lWk

From this post

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/15200246/

So you don't trust the photos I posted, which come from an unbiased, third party source, but you trust a source from HighOnAndroid.com, who is openly Anti-Apple, and is an Android developer who writes kernels on XDA?



Anyway, those iPhone 4S photos are clearly tainted. Not only do those results not match with photos I have personally taken on my iPhone (over 10 thousand now), they also do not match with those of any other third-party source on the web. It clearly looks like there's something covering the lens, as all photos are blurry and have very washed out colors, and the case is clearly affecting the flash. This is why the professionals don't do comparison reviews with phones that have cases + a huge sticker covering the whole back of the phone.

Any professional and un-biased reviewer would remove all external variables before starting, especially since it has been well documented how these things can affect the photo.

Look at the back of the iPhone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Aws7LT46lWk#t=280s

The sticker does not look aligned, and could be covering part of the lens

The photos also consistent with that of a scratched lens:

http://appleslut.com/blog/iphone/scratched-lens

This is most clearly evident in his flash test:

I can reproduce this 100% of the time when taking low light flash photos with my case on. Something is not right here.

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How do you refute something that is baseless?

Useless.

You have not shown that it is baseless. Simply stating that does not make it so.

 

[matttye]

So you don't trust the photos I posted, which come from an unbiased, third party source, but you trust a source from HighOnAndroid.com, who is openly Anti-Apple, and is an Android developer who writes kernels on XDA?



Anyway, those iPhone 4S photos are clearly tainted. Not only do those results not match with photos I have personally taken on my iPhone (over 10 thousand now), they also do not match with those of any other third-party source on the web. It clearly looks like there's something covering the lens, as all photos are blurry and have very washed out colors, and the case is clearly affecting the flash. This is why the professionals don't do comparison reviews with phones that have cases + a huge sticker covering the whole back of the phone.

Any professional and un-biased reviewer would remove all external variables before starting, especially since it has been well documented how these things can affect the photo.

Look at the back of the iPhone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Aws7LT46lWk#t=280s

The sticker does not look aligned, and could be covering part of the lens

Image

Image

The photos also consistent with that of a scratched lens:

http://appleslut.com/blog/iphone/scratched-lens

Image

This is most clearly evident in his flash test:

Image

I can reproduce this 100% of the time when taking low light flash photos with my case on. Something is not right here.

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You have not shown that it is baseless. Simply stating that does not make it so.

I'm not disputing what you're saying, but one thing I will say is that the photo and video quality shown in his video for the Galaxy S3 is vastly superior to that shown in your photos. Were your pictures tainted too?

It's worth noting that there are currently about 4 known varieties of camera firmware for the Galaxy S3. Some take drastically better low light pictures with less noise than others. It could simply be that the firmware used in the pictures you showed was not a very good one.

 

[DodgeV83]

Depends what the 1000 features were, and I don't really see your point.

You never actually list features in these debates, you just post in vague terms.

The thing is, the argument gets stale when you use the same ones over and over. It appears like they're the only pictures in the world that can suit your argument.

The point is, if you're calculating which platform is "ahead" by looking at a flat list of checkboxes, without weighing the value of those checkboxes, you aren't getting a complete picture. By your definition, Ubuntu is "ahead" of both Windows and OSX, but that clearly isn't true.

Matttye, I've listed them many times in my responses to mbell1975, it is a useless endeavor, because he ignores the post and regurgitates the same argument in the next thread, as if I didn't already prove him wrong. I'd rather not get in the same circular debate with him in every thread.

Regarding the photos, if someone makes the same argument over and over again, and never refutes my evidence to the contrary, there is no need to change my evidence. Is my evidence less true now, when it's being used against the 7th person who has made the claim, than it was when the first person made the claim? Of course not.

 

[rocknblogger]

No, it's not.



You are assuming some sort of nefarious intent in my question. I just asked a question. A simple one. As an iPhone user, when I upgrade, everything is transferred. I was just wondering how Android deals with the app/settings/feature differences between phones. I wasn't asking specifically about a carrier app that only works on one carrier.

If I'm going to lose all the data in my Samsung Whatever app when I transfer to an HTC phone, it would be a disincentive to use the Samsung Whatever app.

In some ways it's no different from an iPhone. All your contacts, emails, phone numbers are synced with your Gmail account. When you get a new phone, regardless on what carrier, all that stuff automatically syncs.

Data that is associated with apps can be backed up using one of the backup apps from the app store. Then when you get a new phone you just download the app and restore from backup. Some backup apps also back up the apps so that saves a step.

The bloat ware is usually apps for consuming content like NASCAR, NBA, NFL, music or video etc. Each carrier has their own set of bloat ware. But there's no data that you would save with any of these.

Hope that helps.

 

[DodgeV83]

I'm not disputing what you're saying, but one thing I will say is that the photo and video quality shown in his video for the Galaxy S3 is vastly superior to that shown in your photos. Were your pictures tainted too?

It's worth noting that there are currently about 4 known varieties of camera firmware for the Galaxy S3. Some take drastically better low light pictures with less noise than others. It could simply be that the firmware used in the pictures you showed was not a very good one.

Really? If that's true, I was unaware. I thought all the S3's had the same camera, if not then we can't really make comparisons without knowing which one was used.

That being said, despite the handicapped iPhone 4S in the video, the S3 still showed the same deficiencies as in my example:

 

[Vegastouch]

So you don't trust the photos I posted, which come from an unbiased, third party source, but you trust a source from HighOnAndroid.com, who is openly Anti-Apple, and is an Android developer who writes kernels on XDA?

I didnt know where yours came from. I do know you have every camera app made and for all i know , you posted those yourself. I didnt realize these were from a Android website. However, the video is live and it looks much better which matches the pictures as well.

I didnt expect you to agree, you never will when it comes to Android being better. You only comtinue to show the same results that favor your arguemets. For you, those results are golden, something else,... you have a reason why they arent if they arent in Apples favor.

Anyway, those iPhone 4S photos are clearly tainted.

You dont know that, and neither do it. You can email the guy and let him know you think they are.

Not only do those results not match with photos I have personally taken on my iPhone (over 10 thousand now), they also do not match with those of any other third-party source on the web.

Again,. you have 30 camera apps. I doubt you ever take a picture without editing it.



Look at the back of the iPhone:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Aws7LT46lWk#t=280s

The sticker does not look aligned, and could be covering part of the lens

Image

Image

You have to be kidding. That sticker is on the other side of the phone ...AWAY from the lens. That is a reach trying to say that is all one sticker and trying to say the bottom isnt lined up. Clearly there is nothing on the lens.

The photos also consistent with that of a scratched lens:

http://appleslut.com/blog/iphone/scratched-lens

Image

This is most clearly evident in his flash test:

Image

I can reproduce this 100% of the time when taking low light flash photos with my case on. Something is not right here.

Your right, he isnt using some of your camera apps to make it look better. Just the regular camera. However, this is just as good as the evidence you showed in your photo comparison.
Now if the GS3 indeed uses different camera firmwares then i can see why some are different.

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[matttye]

The point is, if you're calculating which platform is "ahead" by looking at a flat list of checkboxes, without weighing the value of those checkboxes, you aren't getting a complete picture. By your definition, Ubuntu is "ahead" of both Windows and OSX, but that clearly isn't true.

Matttye, I've listed them many times in my responses to mbell1975, it is a useless endeavor, because he ignores the post and regurgitates the same argument in the next thread, as if I didn't already prove him wrong. I'd rather not get in the same circular debate with him in every thread.

Regarding the photos, if someone makes the same argument over and over again, and never refutes my evidence to the contrary, there is no need to change my evidence. Is my evidence less true now, when it's being used against the 7th person who has made the claim, than it was when the first person made the claim? Of course not.

Right, the value of a lot of checkboxes in Android add up to excellent customisation and the freedom to do as you wish (mostly) on the platform. Clearly Android is ahead in those regards.

Clearly every camera will have its' strong points. I could take 50 pictures on my S3, five of which are better than the 4S, and go around showing those five pictures as evidence that the S3 camera is better. That's so lame it shouldn't even be called "evidence" because it proves nothing other than which was better in those specific circumstances. It doesn't even mean that the same device will be better in similar circumstances.

 

[DodgeV83]

Right, the value of a lot of checkboxes in Android add up to excellent customisation and the freedom to do as you wish (mostly) on the platform. Clearly Android is ahead in those regards.

Clearly every camera will have its' strong points. I could take 50 pictures on my S3, five of which are better than the 4S, and go around showing those five pictures as evidence that the S3 camera is better. That's so lame it shouldn't even be called "evidence" because it proves nothing other than which was better in those specific circumstances. It doesn't even mean that the same device will be better in similar circumstances.

You are correct, Android is ahead on those regards.

Regarding the photos, I've found the dynamic range to be better on the iPhone in 100% of the photos I've seen. If your particular photo doesn't require a large dynamic range, however, you won't see it. If we were talking about things like focus, or white balance, or saturation...etc, things that the camera decides at the moment the photo is taken, then you would be correct. It is very possible for the quality to vary widely, even under similar circumstances. That's not what's being comapred here.

The dynamic range of the camera is an inherent limitation, that affects each and every photo to a varying degree.

 

[Vegastouch]

Really? If that's true, I was unaware. I thought all the S3's had the same camera, if not then we can't really make comparisons without knowing which one was used.

That being said, despite the handicapped iPhone 4S in the video, the S3 still showed the same deficiencies as in my example:

Image

OK, but the pole looks better and clearer on the S3, the black car looks better on the S3, the building looks better on the S3 and overall it is brighter and nicer to look at.

 

[matttye]

Really? If that's true, I was unaware. I thought all the S3's had the same camera, if not then we can't really make comparisons without knowing which one was used.

That being said, despite the handicapped iPhone 4S in the video, the S3 still showed the same deficiencies as in my example:

Image

Yep definitely different camera firmwares:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1724124

Again you picked one part of the video that disadvantages the S3... you're good at that

Check this one out:



I prefer the S3 picture, don't know about you.

 

[lordofthereef]

This camera argument is silly. I have tried many phones. I have the GNex and iPhone 4S currently. I was excited about the HTC ONE X camera. While it is cool that it does video and photos at the same time it didn't live up to the hype. I also tried the SGS3. While it wasn't bad, it also wasn't as good as the iPhone 4S. The 4S has been the best smartphone camera I have ever used, bar none.

As for the ridiculously blurry pics posted here... get real people. There are literally millions of pictures taken with the 4S all over the internet and they don't look anywhere near that bad. I am not saying the phone was altered, sabotaged, or anything else. I am not even going to say that sticker is the cause of it. But if that is how that phone is taking pics out of the box, there is clearly something wrong with it. That's just not how the 4S takes pics in low light conditioned.

Not that I feel I need to justify, but anyone who has been on these forums longer than a day knows I have Android's (and other competing OS's) back. Point blank, there is some misinformation being pushed as fact here.

 

[DodgeV83]

Yep definitely different camera firmwares:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1724124

Again you picked one part of the video that disadvantages the S3... you're good at that

Check this one out:

View attachment 347002

I prefer the S3 picture, don't know about you.

I choose the only photo in the video where dynamic range is an issue. Clearly the S3 is better in your example, not because of dynamic range, but because of sharpness and washed out colors, something which is a consistent problem throughout his video, and is not exhibited in any other third-party source, or in any photos I have personally taken or seen.

The dynamic range issue has been collaborated both by this video, and by every other third party source I've seen. Here are some from Engadget:

And some from The Verge:

Of course, you cannot make a direct comparison, because the iPhone 4S wasn't there taking the same shot, but this is a systemic problem that shows up everywhere.

 

[matttye]

This camera argument is silly. I have tried many phones. I have the GNex and iPhone 4S currently. I was excited about the HTC ONE X camera. While it is cool that it does video and photos at the same time it didn't live up to the hype. I also tried the SGS3. While it wasn't bad, it also wasn't as good as the iPhone 4S. The 4S has been the best smartphone camera I have ever used, bar none.

As for the ridiculously blurry pics posted here... get real people. There are literally millions of pictures taken with the 4S all over the internet and they don't look anywhere near that bad. I am not saying the phone was altered, sabotaged, or anything else. I am not even going to say that sticker is the cause of it. But if that is how that phone is taking pics out of the box, there is clearly something wrong with it. That's just not how the 4S takes pics in low light conditioned.

Not that I feel I need to justify, but anyone who has been on these forums longer than a day knows I have Android's (and other competing OS's) back. Point blank, there is some misinformation being pushed as fact here.

I'm not saying the 4S isn't better overall, just that the Galaxy S3 is better in a lot of the comparisons I've seen. There are clearly strengths and weaknesses to each camera phone, or each camera in general for that matter.

I choose the only photo in the video where dynamic range is an issue. Clearly the S3 is better in your example, not because of dynamic range, but because of sharpness and washed out colors, something which is a consistent problem throughout his video, and is not exhibited in any other third-party source, or in any photos I have personally taken or seen.

The dynamic range issue has been collaborated both by this video, and by every other third party source I've seen. Here are some from Engadget:

Image

Image

Image

And some from The Verge:

Image

Image

Of course, you cannot make a direct comparison, because the iPhone 4S wasn't there taking the same shot, but this is a systemic problem that shows up everywhere.

Yep there's definitely a problem there.

 

[lordofthereef]

I'm not saying the 4S isn't better overall, just that the Galaxy S3 is better in a lot of the comparisons I've seen. There are clearly strengths and weaknesses to each camera phone, or each camera in general for that matter.

I wasn't necessarily talking about you. Truth be told, as I write this, I don't even know who posted said pics. But they were so ungodly blurry that they shouldn't even be used. A person that calls himself a reviewer posting pics like that literally can not and should not be taken seriously.

 

[BaldiMac]

With iPhone, you get what you get. There's relatively little customisation available. Hell, you couldn't even select a custom wallpaper until version.. 3 or 4? I can't remember.

I can't believe how much weight people seem to put on the ability to "customize" the home screen. Call me crazy, but I'm more concerned about the apps on my phone than making my home screen pretty.

And not to mention copy/paste also in iOS 3 I think...

Copy/Paste is always brought up this way as a pro-Android point. To me it's the perfect pro-iOS point. Yes, Android had copy/paste first. But it didn't actually work universally until more than a year after copy/paste came to iOS. It didn't even work with the email app! And reviews almost universally favored the iOS implementation to Android or WebOS.

To me, that's the clearest example of what the "Android has more features so it's clearly more advanced" argument is lacking.

 

[DodgeV83]

I can't believe how much weight people seem to put on the ability to "customize" the home screen. Call me crazy, but I'm more concerned about the apps on my phone than making my home screen pretty.



Copy/Paste is always brought up this way as a pro-Android point. To me it's the perfect pro-iOS point. Yes, Android had copy/paste first. But it didn't actually work universally until more than a year after copy/paste came to iOS. It didn't even work with the email app! And reviews almost universally favored the iOS implementation to Android or WebOS.

To me, that's the clearest example of what the "Android has more features so it's clearly more advanced" argument is lacking.

I'm not really sure about that either...I mean how many people are clamoring to customize their Windows "home screen" or Start Menu, outside of changing the wallpaper