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kis

Suspended
Aug 10, 2007
1,702
767
Switzerland
From what I've seen, the S3 does not have a good camera at all. The dynamic range is very bad, with highlights consistently blown out, where the iPhone 4S shows additional detail in those areas.

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I have both - and don't have a clear preference. the iPhone's camera produces rather noisy images, while the SGS III is capable of taking noise-free ones. however, color reproduction is worse on the SGS III.
 

DodgeV83

macrumors 6502a
Feb 8, 2012
879
6
What? You really have no clue what your talking about so why do you even comment on these topics?

It makes perfect sense, and mirrors many arguments here. Like BaldImac said, if the widget takes up 1/3rd of your screen for two lines of text, it's inefficient. I have 1 second access to over 60 apps on my main home page on iOS, a single widget would reduce that to half.
 

matttye

macrumors 601
Mar 25, 2009
4,957
32
Lincoln, England
It makes perfect sense, and mirrors many arguments here. Like BaldImac said, if the widget takes up 1/3rd of your screen for two lines of text, it's inefficient. I have 1 second access to over 60 apps on my main home page on iOS, a single widget would reduce that to half.

That's why you only put widgets on your main screen that you're going to use frequently, like your agenda. I doubt you use all 60 of those apps every day.

Plus let's not forget that apps take time to load, whereas widgets are already loaded. If I put a Facebook widget on my home screen it's quicker to post using the widget than to open Facebook and do it that way, even if Facebook is on my home screen.
 

DroidNoMore

macrumors newbie
Jun 28, 2012
14
0
I would hope anyone making a comparison between Android and the iPhone is comparing a flagship Android device otherwise it's an unfair comparison :p

The problem with that is that Android flagship phones change quarterly (or more often) so you would be constantly changing that comparison. But if you want to compare a one year old phone to a brand new one, that is your option. Just not one with much validity and certainly one that most would consider a valid one.
 

Vegastouch

macrumors 603
Jul 12, 2008
6,185
992
Las Vegas, NV
It makes perfect sense, and mirrors many arguments here. Like BaldImac said, if the widget takes up 1/3rd of your screen for two lines of text, it's inefficient. I have 1 second access to over 60 apps on my main home page on iOS, a single widget would reduce that to half.

Widgets have different sizes and you can choose which size you want to use. You dont need to use the biggest one, ...but you can if you want. Your choice. Flipboards smallest takes up most likely a third of an iPhone screen but there also is Pulse and a App i like better anyways. Has more options.

Learn more about widgets if you need to but im sure you know they have different size widgets for most Apps and many are small.
 
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matttye

macrumors 601
Mar 25, 2009
4,957
32
Lincoln, England
The problem with that is that Android flagship phones change quarterly (or more often) so you would be constantly changing that comparison. But if you want to compare a one year old phone to a brand new one, that is your option. Just not one with much validity and certainly one that most would consider a valid one.

Well yeah, you should be comparing devices in the same category and price bracket. Why would you compare a mid-range cheap phone to Apples latest device? If comparing the latest iPhone, you need to compare it to the latest from the other company too.
 

Vegastouch

macrumors 603
Jul 12, 2008
6,185
992
Las Vegas, NV
The problem with that is that Android flagship phones change quarterly (or more often) so you would be constantly changing that comparison. But if you want to compare a one year old phone to a brand new one, that is your option. Just not one with much validity and certainly one that most would consider a valid one.

First off all, the 4S is 9 months old. Also when the new iPhone comes out, it will be compared to the GS3 which will be 5 months old till the new Nexus phones come out soon after. Thats just the way it is and the way it was when the GS2 came out and then the 4S came out which this place compared the 4S to.
 

404 tech junkie

macrumors regular
Jun 30, 2012
133
0
Except popularity was my whole point. :) Obviously, Android has more options! My claim was that iOS has reasonable alternatives for the most popular uses of widgets.
Having to go to all those different things I named is hardly a reasonable alternative. It is a slow manual method of obtaining the same information.


Except I showed that there were choices on iOS to access the same information easily. :)
No, you didn't. I addressed those. For you to obtain the same information, you would have to go to several different places in your phone to do it, as opposed to it all being in one place easily accessible.

Again, you are overstating the difference here. Per your screenshot, your widget shows the next three appointments, not the next week. I have a full screen view of my calendar with one tap. And my next 24 hours in one swipe.
It shows 3 because that's what's scheduled for the week. If I have more scheduled, it will show them. If I don't have anything for this week (or just a couple things for this week), it will show what's scheduled next week. Bottom line, it shows it. Don't believe me if you don't want to, but it does...unlike iOS.


The functionality is not the same, but the information is! You prefer the widget method. I don't.
It sounds more like closed-mindedness from someone who obviously doesn't have experience with making their device more efficient. That's like saying instead of buying all your groceries at one store, you'd prefer to go to one store for bread, another store for milk, another store for meat, another store for breakfast food, another store for dinner food, and so on. Instead of making one stop, you'd prefer to have to go to several locations just to get the same thing. That doesn't make sense, but hey keep telling yourself that.


Again, it does sound overwhelming when you list all of those things separately. And then you claim your setup is "accessible all at once." When it's not. :)
I can access all the things I mentioned within seconds, whereas it would take you much longer, and much more effort to do the same. You can't even separate your news when you're ready to read it. Why should I be scrolling through local news, if I'm trying to read forex headlines? I want access to both, but I don't want them combined.

The reality is that all of that information isn't needed every time I unlock my phone. Most frequently, I need my upcoming appointments, not the ones a few days from now. And accessing the future appointments is a tap away!
Well it's a good thing you don't need it...because it isn't there. Sure it's a tap away. As is other things. But when you start having to keeping going to different things just to get the same information I can get at a glance, it becomes quite inefficient. While you're going to your calendar, I've already finished checking mine, checked the full forecast, and skimmed over headlines. In the time it takes for you to check a voicemail, I've already checked mine, checked my texts, skimmed over headlines, and checked my schedule. There's no comparison. Sure you can get that same information, but it will take you much longer and much more effort.

You have news widgets that take up a third of your screen for two lines of information! I get the same information through notifications immediately and then through the notification center later with the information displayed much more efficiently. I don't subscribe to types of notifications that I'm not interested in.
You made absolutely no point there at all. The widget is resizable. I can make it take up 1 row if I so choose. I prefer it longer so I can see more when there is more to be seen. Notifications is a VERY clunky way of accomplishing this. I wouldn't want a notification for every single headline, and you can't pick which headline you're notified of. If I got news notifications, I'd either be inundated with notifications throughout the day, or I'd miss out on a lot of important headlines. It makes much more sense to have the news ready for me to go through. BTW, I could have news notification should I desire them, but they aren't an effective method of keeping up with events (for the aforementioned reasons).

Again, my point isn't that the iOS way is universally better. I just think widgets are overrated for most popular use cases. There is a reason that Microsoft stopped submissions to its gadget gallery years ago, despite widgets being supported on Windows 8! :)
As stated previously, you obviously have limited to no experience with making your device more efficient. Sure I can always get the same information a different way, but I want my information the most efficient way. It's really that simple. I'll efficiency over inefficiency every time. Sure I could go into the settings menu to turn wifi on and off, but it's much easier to just pull down the notification panel and tap the toggle. Sure I could scroll through my app drawer and find Pandora, load it up, then hit play when it loads, or I could just tap play on my home screen. Sure, I could go to my calendar and look over my week, or I could already have it laid out for me. At this point, I'm going to cease this little dialogue, because it's apparent you're choosing to be intransigent. Have a nice day.

----------

That's exactly it. Every time an Android user tries to show me the value of widgets, I duplicate whatever he's showing me on my iPhone and it's always either equal, or faster and more efficient on my phone to get to the information. For example, many people have a mail widget taking up a full homepage that they have to swipe a few times to get to, I don't get how that's more efficient than me hitting the "mail" button from my homepage. I won the speed test there every time.

Since the widgets take up so much space, it also means he needs to swipe multiple times to find his apps. I have over 60 apps on my main page, neatly organized into folders, that I can open within 1 second.

I get that it's a choice, and Android users can make folders on their home screen as well, I just don't get why widgets are valued so highly.

Ok I'll play your little game. Check your email, weather, voicemails, and text messages. I'll be finished in seconds since I have all those things in widgets on my home screens. While you're still opening different apps and checking for things, I'll have my phone back in the holster because I'd be finished. All I'd need is a quick glance, while you're still looking for those apps among your "60 apps" on your main page. You'd lose the speed test every time.. ;-)
 

Sensamic

macrumors 68040
Mar 26, 2010
3,072
689
Things I didnt like in iOS which proves its not as advanced as some people night think:

- 12 ap folder limitation. Not to mention folders where also included in iOS 4. On Android I can have limitless apps on my folders.

- Downloading something from the Internet with a downloads app requiere you to stay inside that app until the download is completed. It you exit the app to do something else the download stops. On Android the download progress is in your notification area, and you can do other stuff while waiting. I can download torrents while watching a Youtube video o writting an email.

- Just now I sent myself an email and on the SGS3 I got a notification right away, while on my iPad the notification came 10 minutes later. And this does not afectt battery on my SGS3, which has the same battery life as I had with my iPhone 4. Havent charged my phone since yesterday afternoon and its still at 58%.

- When I leave my house every day I had to turn wifi off and 3G on in the settings in iPhone. It was a little bit of a pain. Now I can do so in less than 10 seconds with the wifi and 3G toggles in the notification area or with widgets.

- On iOS apps like twitter, rss feeds and such only update when you open the app. On Android I see that twitter and Google Reader are already updated when I open the apps for the first time.

- Exiting an app in iOS requires using the hardware button. On Android is way better using the back capacitive button. Just consider how much force are you putting your hardware button every day when exiting an app and using multitasking or Siri. After 1 year the button becomes less responsive. I know because it happened to me with my iPhone 4. With the SGS3 I have a multitask shortcut on the homescreen and the S Voice or Google Voice Search icon there too. No need to press any buttons to do that stuff. To me this is important.

There are other many nice things in Android such as the notification LED, taking pictures while recording a video (iOS does not have this), news widget (BBC, NYT, CNN), etc.
 
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pdutta2000

macrumors regular
Jun 4, 2008
157
0
I finally got a chance to hold the GS3 and have to say that it felt better than expected. I was expecting it to be this ugly monster that would look ridiculous but it's not. I feel like Apple has to respond to this. The mockups we've seen so far of the next iPhone won't cut it. If Samsung can create a very svelt phone at 4.8" then surely Apple can create a work of art at 4". I think 4-4.25" might be the holy grail of screen sizes. The GS3 was just a little too big.
 

DodgeV83

macrumors 6502a
Feb 8, 2012
879
6
Ok I'll play your little game. Check your email, weather, voicemails, and text messages. I'll be finished in seconds since I have all those things in widgets on my home screens. While you're still opening different apps and checking for things, I'll have my phone back in the holster because I'd be finished. All I'd need is a quick glance, while you're still looking for those apps among your "60 apps" on your main page. You'd lose the speed test every time.. ;-)

I can't think of a single time I've had the desire to check all of those things at once, my phone from 2005 had widgets and I had no use for them then either.

When we did the speed test, we said:

"I want to check my E-mail, GO"
"Texts - GO"

...etc.

and it was no more efficient with widgets. If anything widgets took longer, as when I clicked the Mail app, I immediately had a full view, where he was pigeon-holed into a few rows of text in a Widget on the next screen.

However, if I did for some reason want to check all of those things at once, I'd simply swipe down and read them in the Notifications bar.

As a fellow Forex trader, my Android-readiness test was a complete failure. The Oanda trading app on Android was buggy and sorely missing features - unusable. MT4 and MT5 are officially available on iOS only. I synced up Prowl notifications on iOS with the MT4 client running at home, to send immediate notifications to my phone that automatically opened a screenshot of the current price action, or of my EA's recent trade. From there I can hit 3 buttons and either confirm or deny the trade within seconds.

It was an easy decision to go with iOS.
 

404 tech junkie

macrumors regular
Jun 30, 2012
133
0
I can't think of a single time I've had the desire to check all of those things at once, my phone from 2005 had widgets and I had no use for them then either.

When we did the speed test, we said:

"I want to check my E-mail, GO"
"Texts - GO"
But that's not how real life works...correction...it may work like that on an iPhone, but on my phone I can check my email and texts at once. Sure you can set up your speed test to separate the tasks into separate tasks, but in real life, you'd just do them. You wouldn't purposely separate the two. Again, I'll play your game. Check your email and texts. You will lose every time.

and it was no more efficient with widgets. If anything widgets took longer, as when I clicked the Mail app, I immediately had a full view, where he was pigeon-holed into a few rows of text in a Widget on the next screen.
But you can just as easily tap the email and it will take you to a full view of it also, so no point made there. The difference is, he can click back after he's done and be right back where he was and see the other things he has on his screen. On the iPhone, you'd have to go back to the home screen and search through your apps to find the next thing you need to open instead of having the information waiting for you on your home screen.

However, if I did for some reason want to check all of those things at once, I'd simply swipe down and read them in the Notifications bar.
You couldn't get all the information and functionality I have on my home screens from your notification panel. I won't go into listing them all again, as I've already done that a few times in this thread, but no you can't replicate it all in the notification center.

As a fellow Forex trader, my Android-readiness test was a complete failure. The Oanda trading app on Android was buggy and sorely missing features - unusable. MT4 and MT5 are officially available on iOS only. I synced up Prowl notifications on iOS with the MT4 client running at home, to send immediate notifications to my phone that automatically opened a screenshot of the current price action, or of my EA's recent trade. From there I can hit 3 buttons and either confirm or deny the trade within seconds.
Interesting set up. Though I prefer to execute my trades locally (for several reasons). Out of curiosity, why don't you use the MT5 app on your phone? On a side note, what pairs do you trade?
 

DodgeV83

macrumors 6502a
Feb 8, 2012
879
6
But that's not how real life works...correction...it may work like that on an iPhone, but on my phone I can check my email and texts at once. Sure you can set up your speed test to separate the tasks into separate tasks, but in real life, you'd just do them. You wouldn't purposely separate the two. Again, I'll play your game. Check your email and texts. You will lose every time.


But you can just as easily tap the email and it will take you to a full view of it also, so no point made there. The difference is, he can click back after he's done and be right back where he was and see the other things he has on his screen. On the iPhone, you'd have to go back to the home screen and search through your apps to find the next thing you need to open instead of having the information waiting for you on your home screen.


You couldn't get all the information and functionality I have on my home screens from your notification panel. I won't go into listing them all again, as I've already done that a few times in this thread, but no you can't replicate it all in the notification center.


Interesting set up. Though I prefer to execute my trades locally (for several reasons). Out of curiosity, why don't you use the MT5 app on your phone? On a side note, what pairs do you trade?

After thinking about it for a few minutes, I can explain why I never have the desire to check my email/texts/voicemails/missed calls...etc all at once:

lock-screen-notifications-240408.png


I already know what I'm missing, before I unlock the phone.

Yea, I also prefer to trade locally, lately I've been using the setup for notifications only, then I can either go to a computer for analysis, or do a remote desktop session with the iPhone/iPad to see what's going on. Lately I've been trading mostly the EUR/USD and GBP/USD, but I like to keep my eye on the other majors incase I see something I like :)

I use the MT4 app only to keep an eye on things throughout the day, I'll sometimes just prop the phone up, put on a 5 minute chart with volume, and glance at it every few minutes or so. That's only for analysis though, my broker is Oanda, so if I need to manage a trade remotely I use the Oanda app, as that can be easier than my remote desktop session. I don't have any use for the MT5 app, as none of the brokers I use support MT5.

What do you trade?
 

404 tech junkie

macrumors regular
Jun 30, 2012
133
0
After thinking about it for a few minutes, I can explain why I never have the desire to check my email/texts/voicemails/missed calls...etc all at once:

Image

I already know what I'm missing, before I unlock the phone.
The same is true on ICS. The problem with doing it that way is, if you have cleared your notifications (say if you intend to address the emails, texts, etc later), then you won't be able to access that. Personally, I will clear notifications sometimes without actually having addressed them. It's good to still have quick access to them later without them having to be cluttering up the notifications.

Yea, I also prefer to trade locally, lately I've been using the setup for notifications only, then I can either go to a computer for analysis, or do a remote desktop session with the iPhone/iPad to see what's going on. Lately I've been trading mostly the EUR/USD and GBP/USD, but I like to keep my eye on the other majors incase I see something I like :)

I use the MT4 app only to keep an eye on things throughout the day, I'll sometimes just prop the phone up, put on a 5 minute chart with volume, and glance at it every few minutes or so. That's only for analysis though, my broker is Oanda, so if I need to manage a trade remotely I use the Oanda app, as that can be easier than my remote desktop session. I don't have any use for the MT5 app, as none of the brokers I use support MT5.

What do you trade?
I use Gain Capital Group (forex.com), and also execute my trades with their mobile app. As for my pairs, I trade the eur/usd and gbp/jpy primarily (with the bulk of the trades being in the eur/usd). Sometimes I dabble in gbp/usd and aud/usd.
 

importfan

macrumors newbie
Jul 8, 2012
10
0
Having owned the 4s and now the Galaxy S3, its really not close IMO. The Galaxy wins out in display, battery life, ability to use SD cards, 4G and notifications among other things. Looking forward to the new iPhone to see if Apple can close the gap.
 

DeusInvictus7

macrumors 68020
Aug 13, 2008
2,377
28
Kitchener, Ontario
Having owned the 4s and now the Galaxy S3, its really not close IMO. The Galaxy wins out in display, battery life, ability to use SD cards, 4G and notifications among other things. Looking forward to the new iPhone to see if Apple can close the gap.

I feel the same way. I sold my 4S to get the S3, and so far the S3 has turned out to be the better overall. We'll see what the next iPhone brings to the table, and if it's impressive, I'll be purchasing that as well. It's good to have both, best of both worlds really.
 

chewietobbacca

macrumors 6502
Jun 18, 2007
428
0
I feel the same way. I sold my 4S to get the S3, and so far the S3 has turned out to be the better overall. We'll see what the next iPhone brings to the table, and if it's impressive, I'll be purchasing that as well. It's good to have both, best of both worlds really.

Ain't competition great?

Hope this really lights a fire under Apple's butt, because it's time again for them to step up to the plate
 

Technarchy

macrumors 604
May 21, 2012
6,753
4,927
Ain't competition great?

Hope this really lights a fire under Apple's butt, because it's time again for them to step up to the plate

It's not competition.

iPhone is a Prada bag.

Android is a China Town knock off with rhinestones.

That's not competition.
 

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,156
I'm surprised there is a lot of gripe toward widgets. I love them! There are a lot of widgets that only take a single block.

Things like weather, imagine instead of the generic weather app in iOS that always says 73 and sunny it actually said the actual weather . Or the my Verizon app, a single tile that tells you how much data you've used in your current month cycle and how much you have left...

There are some cool things that apply more toward Android too. I have a Nintendo emulator, so instead of going into the emulator and scrolling through all the roms to find the game you are looking for you can just put a shortcut widget that just plays that game. Or the app Astro which is a file manager you can make a short cut to any file on the phone. Another one I use a lot is a settings shortcut widget, since I tether a lot I have a widget that takes me right to the tether setting page instead of menu diving.

All these examples use a single square on a home page(s)....

This would be incredibly useful for feature I would love to see apple make or make their own version.
 

Sensamic

macrumors 68040
Mar 26, 2010
3,072
689
Just looking at the interfaces of some apps in iOS and Android gives you an idea of how outdated iOS is.

Compare the UI of the Youtube app in iOS to the new Youtube app in Android, which is modern and really cool. Same with the Maps app or Contacts app, named People app in Android and that shows you social updates from your contacts and you can swype left and right to change tabs.

Same with Mail and the App Store. The Play Store looks much modern and there you can also swype to change tabs.

The photos app in Android looks gorgeus. And the new Google Search is quite nice too.

Seriously, iOS needs to modernised.
 

jeffe

macrumors 6502a
Feb 17, 2008
601
50
I'm surprised there is a lot of gripe toward widgets. I love them! There are a lot of widgets that only take a single block.

Things like weather, imagine instead of the generic weather app in iOS that always says 73 and sunny it actually said the actual weather . Or the my Verizon app, a single tile that tells you how much data you've used in your current month cycle and how much you have left...

There are some cool things that apply more toward Android too. I have a Nintendo emulator, so instead of going into the emulator and scrolling through all the roms to find the game you are looking for you can just put a shortcut widget that just plays that game. Or the app Astro which is a file manager you can make a short cut to any file on the phone. Another one I use a lot is a settings shortcut widget, since I tether a lot I have a widget that takes me right to the tether setting page instead of menu diving.

All these examples use a single square on a home page(s)....

This would be incredibly useful for feature I would love to see apple make or make their own version.

What is also missing is the fact you can re-size your screen grid with launchers like Nova/Apex. You can overlap widgets, and there are also widgets that let you place four apps in a small grid in the place of one.
 

Bobby Corwen

macrumors 68030
Jul 16, 2010
2,723
474
Ain't competition great?

Hope this really lights a fire under Apple's butt, because it's time again for them to step up to the plate

Step up to the plate with what?

Android can browse web. iOS can browse web.
Android can check email and messages. iOS can check email and messages.
Android has a Facebook app. iOS has a Facebook app.
Android can play YouTube and music. iOS can play YouTube and music.

Except iOS does those in a more stable and beautiful fashion as part of a superior system.

Android is the one that needs to step up to the plate.
 

404 tech junkie

macrumors regular
Jun 30, 2012
133
0
Step up to the plate with what?

Android can browse web. iOS can browse web.
Web browsing in Android is a much richer experience. Period point blank. Without the newly released Chrome, you still would be stuck with the trash browsers you were using before. Heck Safari can't even go to a full screen mode, which is a shame considering how small your screen already is.
Android can check email and messages. iOS can check email and messages.
Unfortunately, sending email is another story. How about you go and email me two different attachments in the same email. Let me know how that works out for you....oh wait, you can't.
Android can play YouTube and music. iOS can play YouTube and music.
Please don't compare Youtube apps, it's not even close. Android and play music AND video from the cloud, iOS cannot.
Except iOS does those in a more stable and beautiful fashion as part of a superior system.
Nope. See the above reasons.
 

Mac.World

macrumors 68000
Jan 9, 2011
1,819
1
In front of uranus
It's not competition.

iPhone is a Prada bag.

Android is a China Town knock off with rhinestones.

That's not competition.

I have to ask, cause I have read a lot of your posts, why do you hate on Android based phones so much? I understand preferring to buy one phone over another, but you just hate on those phones and to a lesser extent the people that use them. I saw you had owned quite a few phones over the years, but even if they weren't great experiences I wouldn't have expected someone's heart to grow so black with loathing like yours seems to have. This is just my perception reading your posts, nothing more.
 
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