Phones Long time iPhone user switched to Galaxy S3

[Technarchy]

Not the same thing and you know it. Nor are those gridded icons anyway. Nor are they uniform. Why would Apple do this:

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Instead of this? Tech was readily available, in fact this was a year 2000 BB 957. The success of the other platforms and styling of the icons is why Steve stole the idea.

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Apple has been doing an icon based GUI for nearly 30 years. This notion that RIM of all firms was the progenitor is beyond absurd.

As for the iPod, it's interface was a clear case of form follows function, and nothing more. However, since you insist with this muttonheaded fallacy, which you say "was a year 2000 BB 957"...

Lets go back to 1993...grid layout, uniform icons...

 

[mattb79]

Hate to break up a good slap fight, but I'm throwing my hat in the ring as another iPhone-to-S3 convert.

My switch was more forced though...

Had an iPhone 4, stopped charging about 2 years and 2 weeks since purchase.

HUGE Apple fan. In our house, there are 2 iPhones, 3 iPads, an iMac, a Macbook Air and an Apple TV. We are/were part of the cult.

Despite all that, Apple refused to replace my phone unless I paid them $179. I know warranties are warranties, but there are two problems:

1. I've had even the dodgiest of companies replace/repair something a couple weeks out of warranty, simply because it's the right thing to do and cultivates customer loyalty. And it irks me that Apple touts the community aspect and the promise that they bend over backwards for customers, yet dug their heels in on this issue in the most arrogant and dismissive of ways.

2. In Australia, we have Statutory Warranty Rights -- where a product is bound by Australian consumer law to be working suitably for 'a reasonable period of time', whether an extended warranty was purchased or not. Basically, the Oz government's way of saying "Don't buy AppleCare...the law gives you the same rights for free".

So, despite this, no replacement without paying for it.

The 'Genius', Store Manager and Regional Manager all told me they definitely respect my consumer rights and that I should make a complaint to Fair Trading if I didn't agree with it, and they would happily honour any judgement. So, basically, Apple's line is: "We respect your consumer rights, and we will honour them -- as long as you get a government department or court of law to force us to do so."

I was so shattered, because I had the ultimate brand loyalty and they didn't care a single iota. 10-15 years and tens of thousands spent on hardware/software, and they were happy to ruin that over $179 that I, and consumer law, feels that I shouldn't have to pay for a near-$1000 phone that only lasted a fraction over two years.

So, now I have a Galaxy S3 and I love it. It's a better phone the iPhone 4, the iPhone 4S (which I have also used) and, on paper, the iPhone 5. Feature rich, relatively intuitive and very customizable.

And I'm kind of glad that this all happened, because it ripped the Apple blinders from my head and forced me to consider brands and technology that I had previously harshly dismissed.

I will always use OSX on desktop/notebooks, and I think the iPad is easily the superior tablet (at least for now) on the market -- but I'm happy to dump the iPhone for superior tech, and I've already dumped the Apple TV for a Roku (waaaaay better).

But last week I learned that while customers/users may build the Apple Cult aspect, the company side is just another company and doesn't put as much stock in the 'community' aspect as they claim, or lead you to believe, they do.

 

[SprSynJn]

So, now I have a Galaxy S3 and I love it. It's a better phone the iPhone 4, the iPhone 4S (which I have also used) and, on paper, the iPhone 5. Feature rich, relatively intuitive and very customizable.

With all those Apple products in your household, chances are you will be back to the dark side within a year or two. As good as the S3 is, it's OS is a pain in the arse compared to what else you use. You haven't seen it yet, but you will notice how convenient Apple makes your life. Even if you don't, enjoy your new toy.

 

[mattb79]

I'll go back for iPhone 6 if they actually do something new and innovative. I'll always go with the best tech, especially now that I'm not blinded by loyalty.

The phone is the one area I can confidently experiment and stray, because I rely on Dropbox and Google for syncing on all platforms. I'm not a fan of iCloud, and I will always use a streaming service (Spotify, Netflix, Amazon etc.) before I purchase something on iTunes.

I'm not swearing off Apple products all together, but the community spirit/cult aspect doesn't mean anything to me anymore.

 

[Elit3]

I'll go back for iPhone 6 if they actually do something new and innovative. I'll always go with the best tech, especially now that I'm not blinded by loyalty.

The phone is the one area I can confidently experiment and stray, because I rely on Dropbox and Google for syncing on all platforms. I'm not a fan of iCloud, and I will always use a streaming service (Spotify, Netflix, Amazon etc.) before I purchase something on iTunes.

I'm not swearing off Apple products all together, but the community spirit/cult aspect doesn't mean anything to me anymore.

^ Totally agreed, I used to be iOS and nothing else, but then I found the SGS1 a year ago, then upgraded to Nexus S and now have a SGS3. I love having the best, and if iPhone can be changed to do some custom screens and good innovation then I will be happy to go back.

 

[kicko]

^ Totally agreed, I used to be iOS and nothing else, but then I found the SGS1 a year ago, then upgraded to Nexus S and now have a SGS3. I love having the best, and if iPhone can be changed to do some custom screens and good innovation then I will be happy to go back.

I also agree, I think the slow upgrading apple has made it easier for android and it manufacturers to catch up. Other than then build quality i think they are fairly even. At this pace android will surpass Apple.

 

[Singerbox]

Good to hear your experience with the GSIII has been mostly positive. I lasted 20 hours before switching back to my 4S. Huge, clunky UI, horrible battery life and overheated from the beginning won't work for me. I'm glad I tried it though; it was a great reminder that Apple just does it better than everyone else.

 

[0ddeyes]

Good to hear your experience with the GSIII has been mostly positive. I lasted 20 hours before switching back to my 4S. Huge, clunky UI, horrible battery life and overheated from the beginning won't work for me. I'm glad I tried it though; it was a great reminder that Apple just does it better than everyone else.

Not sure what you did to make your SG3 overheat like that but it probably had something to do with why the battery drained so quick.

I switched from IPhone to SG3 a couple of months ago now and use the SG3 for hours every day with no signs of overheating & battery life pretty much the same as IPhone


You say "Apple just does it better than everyone else", a year or 2 ago I would have agreed but now I would say -

"they just did it before everyone else".


The competition has now caught up with Apple and if I was to sum up the whole of the mobile phone market using a dessert as a metaphor I would call it an -

"Apple flavored Ice cream sandwich"

 

[sentinelsx]

With all those Apple products in your household, chances are you will be back to the dark side within a year or two. As good as the S3 is, it's OS is a pain in the arse compared to what else you use. You haven't seen it yet, but you will notice how convenient Apple makes your life. Even if you don't, enjoy your new toy.

I disagree. The OS is not the pain. The apps are. Lack of many high quality apps from primarily indie developers is the issue here. I have juggled between S3 and IP5 side by side and never found the OS to be hard on me.

Infact, iPhone is more pain to me because i like to use windows 7 (even if i did have a mac, i most probably would use win7 90% of the time - the other 10% being iOS dev on OS X) and iTunes is not that awesome IMO. I hate the whole "sync" part. I am not saying Apple should take it away, but does it really hurt to keep two options available to end user? You may either sync your data/songs/videos/pictures/documents or simply copy as if it was another USB drive (without that annoying iTunes file sharing "feature", or the slow Wifi upload for large files).

Plus many of the multi format video player apps are now broken on iOS due to some patent thing so we are back to converting everything to mp4 again. Something i was relieved not to do more than a year ago thanks to these apps. So it starts being a pain again.

 

[Subu]

I, too, made the switch to the S3 yesterday from the Iphone (I've had the original iPhone, a 3Gs and a 4). Well, I say switch but I'm currently running them both until I decide which to stick with.

Some observations:

• Without rooting the S3, it's not quite as customizable out of the box as many would have you believe. You're pretty limited as to what you can show on the lockscreen in terms of notifications - e.g. when I wake my IP4 up, it shows me recent emails/Fb notifications etc on the screen. The S3 just shows me a tiny icon at the top (and flashes an LED which is like something I didn't use in the 90s never mind now). You can do all sorts with the UI when you root it but then, my IP4 is jailbroken and I'm fairly sure I could do just as much on that.
  
• I'm having real issues pairing the S3 to my car (Lexus IS220d) - it pairs, but when if i do anything else with bluetooth (e.g. stream music or copy address book entries), it loses the phone profile and won't reconnect until I remove the pairing and re-pair it. Googling and looking up various forums indicates that it's a common issue with no real fix yet.
  
• That said, it *is* nice to be able to send address book entries via BT - something my IP4 cannot manage without a JB app (to the Lexus at least)
  
• Google Play is ok to navigate through but the content is not a patch on the App Store, most of the apps i use regularly on iOS are there but I find most to be slightly more expensive.. I thought it would be the other way around.
  
• I do like that I can set default apps for specific actions - for example when I click on a url in any app, it asks me which browser I want to use (and can be set as default).
  
• The stock music app is "ok" but misses a lot of features such as gapless audio. AVRCP 1.3 is supported in the S3 but USB audio is not (at least until Jelly Bean and I'm not talking about USB storage file access but actually media streaming through USB as per iPod/iPhone).
  
• The samsung email app has issues with some exchange server configurations. I cannot get it to connect to my client's exchange server at all where my IP4/iPad has no issues. To get around it, I installed the leading Android Exchange client which was £12 - a touch pricey for something I take for granted as a built in feature in iOS.
  
• I agree that the plastic back does not feel as good as the IP4.. however, I consider that a small price to pay for being able to replace the battery (and even the back cover if I choose to).
  
• WiFi seems a little weaker than my IP4 - putting both side by side or swapping one with the other in the same location and the S3 seems to indicate a much lower signal strength. It might just be the way it's displayed but it does seem to drop the wifi connection way before my IP4 does.
  
• The quick access to various fuctions (flight mode, mobile data etc) from the drop down notifications (even when locked) is excellent - negates the need for something like SBSettings to avoid digging into iOS menus.
  

Looking up, I realise many of these are negatives towards the S3. However, I do actually like the device - the screen is very nice for pretty much any activity, it feels good in the hand and I've not experienced any performance issues. Battery performance seems to be roughly on par with the IP4 (still being tested though) and I way prefer having a MicroUSB connection to the proprietary Apple one (i can now share a charging cable between my Kindle, S3 and MyFi mobile broadband device).

My plan is to probably pass the IP4 to my partner (and she will retire the 3GS) and stick with the S3 until late fall and make a decision about whether to grab an IP5 or not.

Hi

Stumbled on this interesting post of yours today - Jan 28 2013

Could you share your experience since the post above ? i.e. What did you do re iPhone 5 in the last few months , are you still with GS III, are you as happy as you were then ? or ? / and ?


TIA

 

[alent1234]

my father in law has an S3

its a nice phone, but don't believe hype. lots of things wrong with it. i wouldn't trade my iphone 5 for it. galaxy note maybe, not the S3

 

[Gehennakat]

With 59 percent android marketshare, It really does!

Besides , samsung sold just as many S2's last year as apple did iPhones.
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/samsung-galaxy-sales-triple-in-last-year-beat-iphone-sales-50007807/

Plus Galaxy III is one of the most popular phones in the world, they should start worrying.