iPhone 5 to Galaxy 4

[kenknotts]

I went from an iPhone 5 to a galaxy S4 in August.

From an experience perspective it's a massive downgrade. There's a couple of cool perks but on a whole it's an inferior experience.

I fully intend on going back to the iPhone in the near future. Until then, I do like all access on Google play music, the big screen and Swype. Those are probably the only things I will miss when I go back to iOS.

Looking at your post history over the summer, you were very anti Android, then for some reason you bought an S4 and liked it enough to say you were keeping it and now you want the iPhone again?

 

[Abs_p]

*sigh*

Revolutionary huh? Let's simply start with what has improved. I try not to blindly throw around terms like "revolutionary" and "innovative" because half the time one person has no idea what it means and the other person only throws it out there to make their device look good.

I was in the process of typing out all the things that went into the iPhone 5S - but then I remembered Anandtech's review - which is infinitely more detailed and written by people with far more knowledge about such things than I.

Read it if you REALLY are interested in learning:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7335/the-iphone-5s-review

As for the software side and iOS 7:

-Control Center: Much needed and well implemented.

-Notification Center (Today): The new "Today" tab in the notification center is actually quite brilliant. It brings some features of Google Now (like Traffic conditions) to the iPhone and in my experience has been more accurate - it correctly predicts and provides traffic for where I'm going whereas Google Now was always sort of erratic.

-Multitasking: Not only do you get more robust multitasking (that doesn't affect battery life) but intelligent updates to apps is a neat thing as well. For instance, if I usually open up Flipboard in the morning to read articles, iOS 7 knows this and has my Flipboard magazines updated for me when I open the app.

-Airdrop: Yes, its iOS to iOS - but S-Beam is also proprietary. Airdrop is a nice way to send files p2p to people in your vicinity. Instead of tapping phones, you just open up the share sheet and voila. And Apple's already said if an app can utilize a share sheet, it can use Airdrop so it won't be long before we see all kinds of things being shared this way.

-Siri: Siri got better and beats out Google Now in both speed and voice recognition for me. She also has a wider feature set with setting alarms and reminders, making appointments, searches (NOT web searches) etc...

-Activation Lock: GREAT security feature IMO. Coupled with Touch ID and your AppleID password, iOS devices are the most secure consumer mobile devices out there.

There's also a boatload of new dev tools that I know nothing about - and I happen to MUCH prefer the new look to the old. The animations, folders, transparency all look more efficient and modern.

I get that people are upset they didn't increase the screen size or add the ability to set default apps. But let's be honest here - those two things aren't HUGE innovations in and of themselves - so their lack of inclusion shouldn't downplay the entirety of what Apple was able to do during an "s" update.

My opinion is we'll see the larger iPhone next year - which given Apple's product history makes perfect sense. It always cracks me up when people get all livid about something they should easily have seen coming. And in the interest of being fair, please do post all the innovations and revolutionary NEW features coming to the Note 3 that the Note 2 didn't have. As I'm not a fan of screens that large I'm not entirely knowledgeable on the feature sets.

Will comment only on the siri and google now part. Having used both,google now is far better then siri for me atleast in terms of real advantage gained from the feature.The cards stuff is really good. I remember waking up in the morning with my homescreen on my nexus 4 saying .One package shipped :iPhone 5c 16gb white From : Apple . Now that's cool. It tells me traffic to my hospital in the morning and same way back during night. It also automatically tells me the times of next buses and trains if i m on a bus stop or train stop and many many other things.
Having said that if one phone was snatched away from me i would keep my iPhone and let go of nexus.

Samsung phones as someone on this forums said are jack of all trades and master of none.

 

[jrswizzle]

Will comment only on the siri and google now part. Having used both,google now is far better then siri for me atleast in terms of real advantage gained from the feature.The cards stuff is really good. I remember waking up in the morning with my homescreen on my nexus 4 saying .One package shipped :iPhone 5c 16gb white From : Apple . Now that's cool. It tells me traffic to my hospital in the morning and same way back during night. It also automatically tells me the times of next buses and trains if i m on a bus stop or train stop and many many other things.
Having said that if one phone was snatched away from me i would keep my iPhone and let go of nexus.

Samsung phones as someone on this forums said are jack of all trades and master of none.

I think Siri/Today in iOS 7 have overtaken Google Now.

My experiences:

-Google Now offers traffic based on the "fastest" route to my office each morning. Today actually offered me the route I took. So after I drove the way I normally go (which is to avoid tolls and traffic), Today learned that was my route and gave me traffic information based on that route. Google Now's suggestions and info are pointless as I already know there's lots of traffic and actively avoid the way its suggesting I go.

-Voice recognition has VASTLY improved in iOS 7. On my way to my GRE test on Saturday I was attempting to look up the school codes for SMU Cox School of Business. Because it was a voice search, I actually did pick up my GS4 first, opened up Google Now and said "SMU online MBA GRE codes". Granted, that's a lot of letters to sift through - and Google Now failed miserably. After 5 tries all it had come up with was the word "online". Color me surprised. So I went to the 5s and tried the new and improved Siri. First try, Siri knew exactly what I said and did a web search. Obviously just one anecdote - but if you haven't tried Siri in iOS 7, I don't think you can make the same claim.

-Siri has always been better for me as far as what I use her for most: Reminders. 90% of the time, I'm using Siri to set reminders. But I can also toggle settings, open apps, check sports scores, define words, get currency exchange, compose text messages/facebook statuses/tweets.....etc etc all in ONE location without opening a browser or doing a web search or even unlocking the device.

IMO Google Now's ONE advantage was its voice recog ability. In iOS 7 - it's lost that advantage IMO. Siri is WITHOUT QUESTION, imo, superior.

EDIT: I will say, the shipment tracking is cool - though I don't use a gmail primarily so I don't automatically get those Google Now notifications (as it does that by sifting through your emails). I just as easily see the email come in that my package has shipped via the notification center on iOS.

 

[Abs_p]

I think Siri/Today in iOS 7 have overtaken Google Now.

My experiences:

-Google Now offers traffic based on the "fastest" route to my office each morning. Today actually offered me the route I took. So after I drove the way I normally go (which is to avoid tolls and traffic), Today learned that was my route and gave me traffic information based on that route. Google Now's suggestions and info are pointless as I already know there's lots of traffic and actively avoid the way its suggesting I go.

-Voice recognition has VASTLY improved in iOS 7. On my way to my GRE test on Saturday I was attempting to look up the school codes for SMU Cox School of Business. Because it was a voice search, I actually did pick up my GS4 first, opened up Google Now and said "SMU online MBA GRE codes". Granted, that's a lot of letters to sift through - and Google Now failed miserably. After 5 tries all it had come up with was the word "online". Color me surprised. So I went to the 5s and tried the new and improved Siri. First try, Siri knew exactly what I said and did a web search. Obviously just one anecdote - but if you haven't tried Siri in iOS 7, I don't think you can make the same claim.

-Siri has always been better for me as far as what I use her for most: Reminders. 90% of the time, I'm using Siri to set reminders. But I can also toggle settings, open apps, check sports scores, define words, get currency exchange, compose text messages/facebook statuses/tweets.....etc etc all in ONE location without opening a browser or doing a web search or even unlocking the device.

IMO Google Now's ONE advantage was its voice recog ability. In iOS 7 - it's lost that advantage IMO. Siri is WITHOUT QUESTION, imo, superior.

EDIT: I will say, the shipment tracking is cool - though I don't use a gmail primarily so I don't automatically get those Google Now notifications (as it does that by sifting through your emails). I just as easily see the email come in that my package has shipped via the notification center on iOS.

.Google now has always been better for me. Maybe coz of my accent or whatever. I have the 5c so i have used siri on ios7 but for some reason i find google now more useful to me. I will play with siri and maybe that might change my perception.

 

[bmt134]

Maybe you have a speech impediment, but just used Google now and it searched SMU online MBA GRE codes on the first try.

 

[jrswizzle]

Maybe you have a speech impediment, but just used Google now and it searched SMU online MBA GRE codes on the first try.

Hmm - I was in the car. No speech impediment.

Well, glad to see it worked for you.

EDIT: Yup - worked for me just now on the first try. Odd.....wonder why it was so bad that day. Oh well - I still stand by my statements. Even if Siri isn't BETTER than Google Now as far as speech recog goes, its as good and the expanded feature set of Siri makes it better IMO.

 

[rockitdog]

I went from an iPhone 5 to a galaxy S4 in August.

From an experience perspective it's a massive downgrade. There's a couple of cool perks but on a whole it's an inferior experience.

I fully intend on going back to the iPhone in the near future. Until then, I do like all access on Google play music, the big screen and Swype. Those are probably the only things I will miss when I go back to iOS.

Can you please explain why you feel this way?

 

[naughtynumber9]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1644375/
You might try this to make IOS7 easier on the eyes ^

 

[TechnicallyTee]

I made a similiar switch but my path was iPhone 5--Samsung Galaxy Note 2--S4--Back to my Note 2 and now I have the 5S.

I like both platforms and both have their advantages and disadvantages. Depends on what you do everyday with your phone. I switched from my Note because I couldnt stand the lag. I had to get back to iOS smoothness. I do miss the screen size and the battery life of the Note 2 but the iPhone 5S is just a premium device and just I miss apple period!

 

[kirky29]

I moved from the iPhone 5 to the HTC One and now I'm on the S4. Personally...I feel it's the best move I've made in a long long time.
Big screen. Awesome camera. Although I did remove TouchWiz and got a Google Edition ROM. Works flawlessly too.

I'd say do it!

 

[samcraig]

I went from an iPhone 5 to a galaxy S4 in August.

From an experience perspective it's a massive downgrade. There's a couple of cool perks but on a whole it's an inferior experience.

I fully intend on going back to the iPhone in the near future. Until then, I do like all access on Google play music, the big screen and Swype. Those are probably the only things I will miss when I go back to iOS.

Personally - I find it hard to believe you consider the S4 a "massive" downgrade. But your use case is your use case. If that's how you feel. It just seems like hyperbole.

If you like swype (I did too) - you should get SwiftKey and use Flow. I have found it to be "massively" better I tease. But seriously - love it more than swype.

 

[Technarchy]

Personally - I find it hard to believe you consider the S4 a "massive" downgrade. But your use case is your use case. If that's how you feel. It just seems like hyperbole.

If you like swype (I did too) - you should get SwiftKey and use Flow. I have found it to be "massively" better I tease. But seriously - love it more than swype.

I snagged Swiftkey from the amazon store when it was free. The only thing I like more about is the easy access themes. Swype has better shortcuts for things like cut and paste and seems better at spelling the words and choosing words over Swiftkey's Flow.

And the user experience of the S4 is just not up to iOS standards. Not for me at least. I like the GS4 hardware just fine. It's the software where things go sideways.

 

[samcraig]

I snagged Swiftkey from the amazon store when it was free. The only thing I like more about is the easy access themes. Swype has better shortcuts for things like cut and paste and seems better at spelling the words and choosing words over Swiftkey's Flow.

And the user experience of the S4 is just not up to iOS standards. Not for me at least. I like the GS4 hardware just fine. It's the software where things go sideways.

Fair enough. I was more commenting on your use of "massive" - but again - that's your prerogative. Android and iOS certainly have their pluses and minues. Not sure I would call any variance in them massive.

 

[tshrimp]

I'm seriously thinking of switching from my iPhone 5 to the Samsung Galaxy 4. I really dislike the iOS 7. Mainly all the white, hurts my eyes!! Has anyone else done this? Is it a bad idea??

I have worked with both iPhone and Android phones, and if you switch to Android you may never go back to an iPhone. Just keep that in mind.

Android phones like the Samsung G4 and HTC One just have so many features out of the box. (Some you will use, and some you won't) The 5S introduced a thumb print scanner that was implemented many years ago on Android. Heck, even ios7 has copied many things from them.

I can't name one thing that the iPhone can do that an Android phone can't. But someone here might be able to tell you if I am wrong here. (Unless you are married to the Apple ecosystem)

The iPhone is just a stripped down Android phone that cannot be tweaked.

And if you get to missing your iPhone just download an ios launcher. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.picoedit.ios.launcher.lock

 

[mclld]

I really don't know how anyone can claim an Android device is decent. They are either delusional or just an Apple hater.

Wow the bs is strong with this one lol

 

[rockitdog]

Just to share my story: I have been a die hard apple fan since day 1 and still am. I've had every iphone 3, 3gs, 4, 4s, 5. Then I got bored and decided to go with Android to try something new. I switched from iphone 5 to galaxy s4. In less than two months, I am making my way back to the iphone 5s.

I will NEVER touch an Android device again. Sure I will miss the bigger screen, but I would rather have a functional phone.

The phone crashed constantly. I had to constantly clear my ram so that the phone would not slow down. I could not see anything under the sun. The phone would freeze when I unplugged it from the charger for 20 seconds. The phone would restart itself from time to time. Bluetooth streaming would cut in and out. Phone was laggy and unresponsive.

All the features are GIMMICK, half-baked, worthless IMHO. They advertise all these features but what they don't tell you is that you need to use their apps in order for the features to work. The Samsung browser is so bad, I can't even explain it.

When you first have the phone, you'll enjoy it because of all the new features and how different it is from IOS, then you'll hate it very quick.

I really don't know how anyone can claim an Android device is decent. They are either delusional or just an Apple hater.

Well it's folks like yourself that will keep Apple afloat for years when the reality is that there are many things that Apple used to do better that Android has either caught up with or now has passed Apple on in terms of features and benefits.

Apple makes great products, but so do other companies!

 

[cuzo]

Seems like the one might be a better option for me. The s4 seems pretty riddled and gimmicky with issues.

 

[rockitdog]

Seems like the one might be a better option for me. The s4 seems pretty riddled and gimmicky with issues.

I think it really all depends what your running on it and the individual user. I love the One but I just can't get past the camera and I HATE the power button. As stupid as I don't trust HTC as a company to support this device, look how long it's take from launch to now to get any sort of updates rolled out.

 

[cuzo]

yeah I think you can't depend on carrier updates at this point, how you buy the phone is realistically how it should be.

I think alot of people kinda have the wrong idea with updates, I can understand security updates but outside of that we're promised nothing really.

I know guys who dumped their android phones due to lack of updates, I was one of them until I read someone's view over at androidcentral and I agreed with him.

HTC kills samsung in build quality, I used to have a OG evo back in the day.

 

[samcraig]

I think it really all depends what your running on it and the individual user. I love the One but I just can't get past the camera and I HATE the power button. As stupid as I don't trust HTC as a company to support this device, look how long it's take from launch to now to get any sort of updates rolled out.

use case is everything.

I have no issues with the S4 - my deciding factors were:

1) ability for SD Card
2) Better camera with better options and UI
3) removable battery

I was very close to buying the One - but the camera really changed my mind coupled with the ability to save photos/video to an external SD...

 

[Tsuchiya]

Best way to decide is to just buy one and give it a good chance.

I wasn't too keen on iOS7 at first but it did grow on me. If it's just a few annoyances then thats nothing compared to getting a GS4 and spending absolutely hours getting it setup how you like (with constant tweaking thereafter).

I'm mostly satisfied with my Galaxy S4 but there is a part of me that misses iPhone. We'll see how long that feeling lasts.

 

[chrisrosemusic1]

Funnily enough I've really suffered with bugs on iOS 7. My iMessage has failed 6 times since I installed it and required a network reset each time, losing all my WiFi codes. Not to mention crashes and battery problems.

I trumped for an S4 on Friday, haven't received it yet though, but I'm really looking forward to using Nova launcher (completely removes the TouchWiz UI lag) and using a bigger screen again.

I've still (for the time being) got my iPad Mini, and of course my MacBook but I just can't stand iOS7. For me, it's not a general release build and it's going to take a few months to iron the bugs out. Hoping the Galaxy ties me over 'til the iPhone 6 (please have a bigger display!!!!).

Anyway, good luck

 

[missygal]

Well I wanted to update that I went back to the iPhone as of yesterday. I got a 5S and am so happy to be back! Android is not for me...

 

[JerZyT28]

You will only get negative opinions on such a switch on this forum. Those who have successfully made the switch are not going to be hanging around here reading this thread.

lol I made the successful switch and I'm reading all of this. So much for "you'll be back". I'll never go back to an iPhone. The Android phone experience for me is what works for me. ZERO lag on my S4, perfect size, overall great experience. Only reason why I'm selling it is because I picked up a Nexus 7 and when I found out the Nexus 5 would be similar, I was sold. The build of the Nexus 7 is amazing IMO, not to mention stock android surpasses all (Touchwiz, Sense, iOs)

 

[mib1800]

I got the Note3 now after selling off my S4. When I use my sister 5S, it is just so unusable with so many restrictions and some really bad OS oversights.

- Scrolling is so lethargic and slow on the iOS, it is not even funny. You have flip like crazy just to scroll. Totally destroy the user experience since you do scrolling all the time.
- Can't place your icons anywhere on the screen. Can't even hide icons. Don't even talk about changing icons or having any UI customization. iOS is so boring.
- If you want to use different apps to view same content/files, you have to reload the same files again for each of the apps. This is so illogical and I can't understand how anyone can put up with iOS.
- Data sharing is a dinosaur compared to Android. You have to stop what you are doing and then open up the app to share. On S4, I can share any data/files from anywhere directly without any hassle.
- Can't believe how retarded the email client in 5S. You can't even attach multiple files of any kind to email. You can't save any files.
- Loading media/video files into phone is a nightmare. First you need to find a PC, then install Itunes then wait forever for Itunes to convert video files. On my Note3/S4, I just plug my portable disk into the phone directly and copy the files over. The media player in S4 plays any file format you throw at it. So easy compare to 5S.
- Can't do any Automation in 5S. How can the 5S/iOS be even called a smartphone when it cannot do any automation. On my S4, I can have the phone automatic turn to silent mode when there is an ongoing appointment. I can schedule sms sending or I can tap my phone on a NFC tag to activate a task or turn the screen on/off automatically when I take/put the phone into pocket. S4 is totally configurable to perform automated tasks.
-S4 is a portable media player. Just need to plug the HDMI to phone and TV. No need to carry along (or pay extra) for an AppleTV box to mirror the screen.
-Proprietary lightning cable connector is just a pain. Cut-throat expensive.
-Another proprietary no-no is 5S doesnt support WCDMA 3G-video calling,
-App Store is a pain to use. You can't do purchase/download on the web browser like Google play.
-Most major mainstream apps are better in S4. e.g dropbox, Google apps,

If someone can put up with all these major 5S/iOS shortcomings I stated above, then I don't see how they can complain about S4.