Love the Galaxy S3....

[supervelous]

but my goodness this battery is terrible. Also, I can not comfortably navigate with 1 hand, the screen is too big. And it does not compare to the design and premium feel of an iphone. When I receive my Iphone 5 this thing is likely going back.

However, it makes ios UI seem boring. Apple, please do something for ios 7 - widgets and something else fresh would be nice. I will happily return to Iphone 5 and it's stability and reliability, Facetime, app store, and imessage but the rows of apps thing is getting a bit boring.

 

[haruhiko]

Engadget ran a battery test on the iPhone 5 and it lasted more than 11 hours. Also the SunSpider JavaScript test released today by Anandtech shows that the iPhone 5 is 40% faster than the S III in this regard.

 

[deannnnn]

I think that a big appeal of Samsung devices and all other non-iOS devices is that the OS is just different. When you see the same looking OS on your iPhone for 5 years it starts to get a little boring, and that's why people get so disappointed when new iPhones come out. They think they're upset with the design of the phone when really they want a UI refresh.

 

[irDigital0l]

jailbreak...honestly

you get almost unlimited customization with the benefit of ios.

 

[supervelous]

Engadget ran a battery test on the iPhone 5 and it lasted more than 11 hours. Also the SunSpider JavaScript test released today by Anandtech shows that the iPhone 5 is 40% faster than the S III in this regard.

Good to hear, I took this S3 off the charger at 100% at 6:30am, and by about 1:30 it was at like 20% and I wasn't continually using it, or watching vids or anything very intensive.

 

[mrsir2009]

but my goodness this battery is terrible. Also, I can not comfortably navigate with 1 hand, the screen is too big. And it does not compare to the design and premium feel of an iphone. When I receive my Iphone 5 this thing is likely going back.

However, it makes ios UI seem boring. Apple, please do something for ios 7 - widgets and something else fresh would be nice. I will happily return to Iphone 5 and it's stability and reliability, Facetime, app store, and imessage but the rows of apps thing is getting a bit boring.

If you're getting bored with the standard iOS UI you can always Jailbreak - It's quite nice as you can "freshen up" the UI by adding themes, widgets, custom homescreen layouts etc

 

[supervelous]

jailbreak...honestly

you get almost unlimited customization with the benefit of ios.

My Iphone 4 is jailbroken, hopefully the 5 doesn't take too long.

 

[Che Castro]

jailbreak...honestly

you get almost unlimited customization with the benefit of ios.

This

 

[jabingla2810]

Thanks for bringing this up!

I'm cancelling my iPhone 5 order as we speak!

 

[Ent]

I think that a big appeal of Samsung devices and all other non-iOS devices is that the OS is just different. When you see the same looking OS on your iPhone for 5 years it starts to get a little boring, and that's why people get so disappointed when new iPhones come out. They think they're upset with the design of the phone when really they want a UI refresh.

This

 

[wongulous]

Why is this in iPhone? THERE IS A WHOLE FORUM DEVOTED TO iPHONE ALTERNATIVES.

I am quite well-researched on Android devices and Samsung's lineup. Do. Not. Care.

 

[supervelous]

Why is this in iPhone? THERE IS A WHOLE FORUM DEVOTED TO iPHONE ALTERNATIVES.

I am quite well-researched on Android devices and Samsung's lineup. Do. Not. Care.

Put it in here, bc although I like many things about the Galaxy, I have decided to go with Iphone 5 - also relevant to Iphone and other people in the same boat.

I choose Iphone.

 

[kvizzel]

jailbreak...honestly

you get almost unlimited customization with the benefit of ios.

not as much as you do with rooting android

 

[Castle87]

I'm not trying to sound like a douche but I feel like android is this sort of movement for people who like to be non conformists. The same people who would argue that creative zens or zunes were superior to ipods. I had an android, granted it was 2 and a half years ago, and they've made some strides since then, but honestly, I don't get the hype for android. I mean like what is it specifically that is supposed to draw you in? Like someone said earlier, most people just get tempted because ios doesn't go through massive overhauls with every release and in this short attention span generation, people are getting restless. ios works. every single time. I'll take stability and a clean, uniform, organized interface over clunky widgets and customization any day. That's just me.

 

[Gangnam Style]

I'm not trying to sound like a douche but I feel like android is this sort of movement for people who like to be non conformists. The same people who would argue that creative zens or zunes were superior to ipods. I had an android, granted it was 2 and a half years ago, and they've made some strides since then, but honestly, I don't get the hype for android. I mean like what is it specifically that is supposed to draw you in? Like someone said earlier, most people just get tempted because ios doesn't go through massive overhauls with every release and in this short attention span generation, people are getting restless. ios works. every single time. I'll take stability and a clean, uniform, organized interface over clunky widgets and customization any day. That's just me.

You could say the exact same thing about the iPhone and iOS.

As for the OP's fast battery drain, that is not normal for the S3.

 

[einmusiker]

Good to hear, I took this S3 off the charger at 100% at 6:30am, and by about 1:30 it was at like 20% and I wasn't continually using it, or watching vids or anything very intensive.

Dude, Turn the screen brightness down to 50% seriously. Makes a HUGE difference. Just like my ipad 3. If i have the screen brightness on full blast battery is CRAP, but turn it down to 50% and all good

 

[RowdyRude]

I'm not trying to sound like a douche but I feel like android is this sort of movement for people who like to be non conformists. The same people who would argue that creative zens or zunes were superior to ipods. I had an android, granted it was 2 and a half years ago, and they've made some strides since then, but honestly, I don't get the hype for android. I mean like what is it specifically that is supposed to draw you in? Like someone said earlier, most people just get tempted because ios doesn't go through massive overhauls with every release and in this short attention span generation, people are getting restless. ios works. every single time. I'll take stability and a clean, uniform, organized interface over clunky widgets and customization any day. That's just me.

I'm running an android phone now and have been for the last 3 phones and I'm honestly trying to figure out why people say android is so fresh and new over iOS. The complaint I keep seeing is that iOS just looks like an app drawer, but besides widgets how is android different? My home screen has a clock on it but otherwise it's just rows and rows of apps on every other page. Isn't that what iOS has? After three android phones I'm clearing missing it so if someone could enlighten me please.

I've got the iP5 on pre order and from what I can tell I won't be losing much if anything from leaving android.

 

[nba1341]

Engadget ran a battery test on the iPhone 5 and it lasted more than 11 hours. Also the SunSpider JavaScript test released today by Anandtech shows that the iPhone 5 is 40% faster than the S III in this regard.

*On stock browser

They didn't say what browser exactly. Does samsung have their own ****** touchwiz browser? If so thats why

 

[lavrishevo]

Good to hear, I took this S3 off the charger at 100% at 6:30am, and by about 1:30 it was at like 20% and I wasn't continually using it, or watching vids or anything very intensive.

What kills the battery is the background task. Since the S3 actually runs apps in the background it will eat away at your battery life unless you optimize this. Juice Defender does help with this but you can manually disable a lot of this as well. I get excellent battery life but I have optimized my phone and I keep background data sucking apps to a minimum.

 

[Dolorian]

My S3 has been giving me excellent battery life. It lasts me the whole day in a single charge, when I get home at around 6pm it still has about 30% left. As mentioned, you need to adjust some settings (lower the brightness, turn off haptic feedback, turn off the system sounds, disable apps you don't use, etc) and you'll be fine.

 

[KentuckyHouse]

Good to hear, I took this S3 off the charger at 100% at 6:30am, and by about 1:30 it was at like 20% and I wasn't continually using it, or watching vids or anything very intensive.

You've got something going on, because this isn't normal. My S3 has FANTASTIC battery life. You've probably got an app that's gone "rogue" and is not letting the phone get into deep sleep. Install an app like Bettery Battery Stats or CPU Spy and see.

not as much as you do with rooting android

That's the thing...you don't even have to root the S3 to get amazing options out of it. If you do choose to root, you'll have even more options. Unrooted, the S3 has more options than any jailbroken iPhone I've had.

I'm running an android phone now and have been for the last 3 phones and I'm honestly trying to figure out why people say android is so fresh and new over iOS. The complaint I keep seeing is that iOS just looks like an app drawer, but besides widgets how is android different? My home screen has a clock on it but otherwise it's just rows and rows of apps on every other page. Isn't that what iOS has? After three android phones I'm clearing missing it so if someone could enlighten me please.

I've got the iP5 on pre order and from what I can tell I won't be losing much if anything from leaving android.

See, this is what I don't get. With Android, you don't HAVE to have rows and rows of app icons. For instance, my homescreen:

I'll point out that I'm unrooted, yet I'm still able to change my icons using an app called Icon Changer and one of the many icons packs available for free on the Play Store. I like to keep it simple and clean, so I have one row of icons on the bottom of each page. I like to be able to see my wallpaper and change it often. I also hate icon labels (the words below the icons that tell you what it is). Isn't that a bit redundant? Why do app developers spend time making individual icons for their apps to differentiate them from other apps and then you have to have words down there cluttering up the screen? I just think it's messy looking.

Look, Android isn't for everyone, I get that. And there are times I switch back to my 4S for a change. But time and again, I come back to my Android devices. It's just different and fun to play with.

 

[Vegastouch]

Go in settings, app management and disable things you won't use like chat on, s suggest, and such. Your battery life will be better. Dusavke all the bloatware and it will help

 

[supervelous]

You've got something going on, because this isn't normal. My S3 has FANTASTIC battery life. You've probably got an app that's gone "rogue" and is not letting the phone get into deep sleep. Install an app like Bettery Battery Stats or CPU Spy and see.



That's the thing...you don't even have to root the S3 to get amazing options out of it. If you do choose to root, you'll have even more options. Unrooted, the S3 has more options than any jailbroken iPhone I've had.



See, this is what I don't get. With Android, you don't HAVE to have rows and rows of app icons. For instance, my homescreen:

Image

I'll point out that I'm unrooted, yet I'm still able to change my icons using an app called Icon Changer and one of the many icons packs available for free on the Play Store. I like to keep it simple and clean, so I have one row of icons on the bottom of each page. I like to be able to see my wallpaper and change it often. I also hate icon labels (the words below the icons that tell you what it is). Isn't that a bit redundant? Why do app developers spend time making individual icons for their apps to differentiate them from other apps and then you have to have words down there cluttering up the screen? I just think it's messy looking.

Look, Android isn't for everyone, I get that. And there are times I switch back to my 4S for a change. But time and again, I come back to my Android devices. It's just different and fun to play with.

I see you have a 4S and a Nexus and Galaxy S3, and have owned an HTC One X? How would you rank them if you could only own 1 device? I have an iphone 4 now and just got the Galaxy, have an iphone 5 coming in the mail, and my cousin has an HTC One X he tried to convince me to get over the S3, he loves it and he was an Apple guy before.

I am giving the S3 battery a second chance. I turned down the brightness to 50%. Also yesterday for about 30% of the day I had live wallpaper on because I was showing the phone off to some people at work who wanted to see it.

So today I have taken it off the charger at 8:30am and now at 10:05 its at 92% with light use, I guess not too bad but I'll see how it lasts throughout the day.

I still may end up going iphone for the imessage and Facetime factor, but that is personal to my situation. Almost all my friends and fam have iphones, and my daughter's mom who I am no longer with has an iphone and my daughter facetimes me often.

I guess i could use Google Voice to get around text charges (but sucks no MMS) and a third party app for vid calls like Tango...but Facetime is baked in, which makes it more likely to be used by my non tech-savy ex and my daughter.

 

[cynics]

I'm running an android phone now and have been for the last 3 phones and I'm honestly trying to figure out why people say android is so fresh and new over iOS. The complaint I keep seeing is that iOS just looks like an app drawer, but besides widgets how is android different? My home screen has a clock on it but otherwise it's just rows and rows of apps on every other page. Isn't that what iOS has? After three android phones I'm clearing missing it so if someone could enlighten me please.

I've got the iP5 on pre order and from what I can tell I won't be losing much if anything from leaving android.

You keep all the bloat in the app drawer on Android. On ios you have to try to hide it in a folder somewhere, like newsstand, compass, and all that junk.

On Android I don't even have all my apps on the home screen. Just the ones I use a lot, the rest I hide in the app drawer.

However the app drawer looks like iOS. Which is why people say that

 

[WRXHokie]

Good to hear, I took this S3 off the charger at 100% at 6:30am, and by about 1:30 it was at like 20% and I wasn't continually using it, or watching vids or anything very intensive.

Well one of two things is happening. Your phone has every setting on, a zillion background apps running,and thus is sucking battery life. OR You are lying. 7 hours of standby time is not enough to kill your battery. You are either a heavy user and lying about it, or your battery is just toast.

LTE sucks battery life, prepare for that iPhone users especially the ones that complained about the 4S battery, but the S3 has a big battery. I can go two days on a single charge with medium use, not much different than my iPhone 4.