So I have an iPhone 5 and a GS4, comparison time!

[spinedoc77]

Oh I do t remember you saying anything about the note 2. I think it is very close to being as smooth. I am fine with throwing the iPhone 4 out, but I was proving a point. You still have yet to saying anything about the iPad mini and the nexus 4. You can say whatever you want, but if you want to compare different devices on each OS then the iPad mini has to be listed. It can't keep up with any of the other devices.

I was just saying the example of the N7 versus the ip5 because I've owned both devices and the N7 is quite beefy in terms of specs, it's not very far off from the N4, I'm not sure why it matters that it's a tablet, but I understand you want to compare the N4, unfortunately I've never used the N4 so can't make a judgement. I only had an ipad mini for a couple of days, and yeah I'll agree with you it is sucky, all of the ipads I've had have been pretty bad for memory management, they were not laggy though, but they crashed a lot especially with a lot of browser windows open. I'm the wrong guy though as I switched off ipads a long time ago and now enjoy windows tablets which are much better than either ios or android IMO.

I'm sure the N4 is nice and smooth, until the battery runs out!! Hehe I'm just poking at you.

 

[jeffe]

I was pretty surprised myself at how the GS3 ran compared to the Galaxy Nexus. Nexus was really super smooth compared to the GS3. Not to say it was bad...you'll notice it at first and then totally forget about it.

I'm now running CyanogenMod on the GS3 (pretty comparable to stock Android) and it is once again super smooth.

I'm not sure what but something in Samsung's software causes hiccups..if you look at Logcat you'll also see 10 times of many messages scrolling by..maybe that is it.

 

[cynics]

I feel the lag is an app optimization problem. I find Android OS to generally be a smoother experience compared to iOS however the apps are a different story.

I have plenty of screen shots showing lag in iOS doing things in the OS itself.

Like this,

This

And this

Those are examples of iOS just hanging. I rarely (not always) have that problem with Android. But a lot of the apps where I spend most of my time can be complete stutter crap. But not all apps just certain apps that are more then likely not programmed well.

The same does apply for iOS too though. Look at the current version of Facebook. It's a laggy stutter mess on even the iPhone 5. It's not that the phone is laggy, its not that the OS is laggy its the app.

Before anyone says FB is fine....it's not....

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1581014/

I find it very very helpful to reset my iPhone once a week and wipe it every 6 months. Makes a noticeable difference. I also like installing iOS updates from iTunes to get a fresh copy of iOS as that seems to help too...

 

[bmac4]

I was just saying the example of the N7 versus the ip5 because I've owned both devices and the N7 is quite beefy in terms of specs, it's not very far off from the N4, I'm not sure why it matters that it's a tablet, but I understand you want to compare the N4, unfortunately I've never used the N4 so can't make a judgement. I only had an ipad mini for a couple of days, and yeah I'll agree with you it is sucky, all of the ipads I've had have been pretty bad for memory management, they were not laggy though, but they crashed a lot especially with a lot of browser windows open. I'm the wrong guy though as I switched off ipads a long time ago and now enjoy windows tablets which are much better than either ios or android IMO.

I'm sure the N4 is nice and smooth, until the battery runs out!! Hehe I'm just poking at you.

Well I am just saying that yes iOS runs smooth on the iphone 5 with the top specs and completely optimized for it, but when you start talking about any other iphone maybe not the 4s you are talking about some lag. My sister has the ipad mini and it has some lag issues. If it requires a lot of power for games or something taxing it can start to shutter. Don't get me wrong I have the ipad 2 and love it, but it and the mini have low specs compared to what we see now. The mini is almost a brand new product and it is not super smooth.

I think the key with android is that yes it has some issues with being on so many different kinds of devices. You can have a great experience with one, and on another one it can leave with a lot to be desired. I understand people are going to compare android as a whole based on skinned devices cause they are the easiest to get. I just think people are missing out, and should understand those devices to not represent android at its core. Stock android is way smoother on the nexus 4 then any skinned phone can think about.

 

[spinedoc77]

Well I am just saying that yes iOS runs smooth on the iphone 5 with the top specs and completely optimized for it, but when you start talking about any other iphone maybe not the 4s you are talking about some lag. My sister has the ipad mini and it has some lag issues. If it requires a lot of power for games or something taxing it can start to shutter. Don't get me wrong I have the ipad 2 and love it, but it and the mini have low specs compared to what we see now. The mini is almost a brand new product and it is not super smooth.

I think the key with android is that yes it has some issues with being on so many different kinds of devices. You can have a great experience with one, and on another one it can leave with a lot to be desired. I understand people are going to compare android as a whole based on skinned devices cause they are the easiest to get. I just think people are missing out, and should understand those devices to not represent android at its core. Stock android is way smoother on the nexus 4 then any skinned phone can think about.

It's a shame this is an issue, IMO it holds Android back. Also waiting so long to get Android updates is annoying, not getting 4.2 on my Note 2 was one of the reasons I sold it as I really needed the group messaging fixes 4.2 had. Heck there are a TON of consumers still on really old versions like froyo or even older.

----------

I feel the lag is an app optimization problem. I find Android OS to generally be a smoother experience compared to iOS however the apps are a different story.

I have plenty of screen shots showing lag in iOS doing things in the OS itself.

Like this,

Image

This

Image

And this

Image

Those are examples of iOS just hanging. I rarely (not always) have that problem with Android. But a lot of the apps where I spend most of my time can be complete stutter crap. But not all apps just certain apps that are more then likely not programmed well.

The same does apply for iOS too though. Look at the current version of Facebook. It's a laggy stutter mess on even the iPhone 5. It's not that the phone is laggy, its not that the OS is laggy its the app.

Before anyone says FB is fine....it's not....

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1581014/

I find it very very helpful to reset my iPhone once a week and wipe it every 6 months. Makes a noticeable difference. I also like installing iOS updates from iTunes to get a fresh copy of iOS as that seems to help too...

What do those screenshots show? I can't tell because they are just stills, videos would be better. Does iOS completely freeze, for how long? I've never ever had iOS freeze on me like that in the years I've been using it, although I have had a specific apps freeze on me and need a restart. iOS seems to be all or nothing, for example the browser either works great, or when a lot of tabs are open it just simply runs out of memory and crashes, other apps seem like that too, they sometimes just simply crash and exit out, but usually don't show any slowdown or lag until they just crash.

 

[torana355]

It is a surprise that Google has not marketed the Nexus 4 much more aggressively. It really is an awesome phone but it seems to be lost amongst the Samsung and HTC hype.

 

[bmac4]

It's a shame this is an issue, IMO it holds Android back. Also waiting so long to get Android updates is annoying, not getting 4.2 on my Note 2 was one of the reasons I sold it as I really needed the group messaging fixes 4.2 had. Heck there are a TON of consumers still on really old versions like froyo or even older.

----------



What do those screenshots show? I can't tell because they are just stills, videos would be better. Does iOS completely freeze, for how long? I've never ever had iOS freeze on me like that in the years I've been using it, although I have had a specific apps freeze on me and need a restart. iOS seems to be all or nothing, for example the browser either works great, or when a lot of tabs are open it just simply runs out of memory and crashes, other apps seem like that too, they sometimes just simply crash and exit out, but usually don't show any slowdown or lag until they just crash.

If you have an android from the last 2 years you are not running Froyo. My 2 year old HTC inspire had gingerbread on it before I sold it. You can't blame google for Samsung and the rest of the OEMs not pushing updates out faster. Google gives it to them they have to do something with it.

Those pictures are showing the phone hanging up. The last one he is going to the search page and there are still apps that have not switched to the next page. iOS is not smooth all the time. It has its moments.

 

[sentinelsx]

It is a surprise that Google has not marketed the Nexus 4 much more aggressively. It really is an awesome phone but it seems to be lost amongst the Samsung and HTC hype.

Because google is OEMs' b!tch.

And this is the number one reason why I still have an iPhone despite running many android phones along side.

The day when google makes their own nexus and markets it as a competitor to rest of the flagships is the day I will switch completely. Until then, I hope ios7 is great or bb10 becomes a smash hit.

 

[bmac4]

Because google is OEMs' b!tch.

And this is the number one reason why I still have an iPhone despite running many android phones along side.

The day when google makes their own nexus and markets it as a competitor to rest of the flagships is the day I will switch completely. Until then, I hope ios7 is great or bb10 becomes a smash hit.

Really that is the reason you use an iPhone. I understand they need to do more with the nexus stuff, but I don't think I can stick with an iPhone because of that.

 

[torana355]

Because google is OEMs' b!tch.

And this is the number one reason why I still have an iPhone despite running many android phones along side.

The day when google makes their own nexus and markets it as a competitor to rest of the flagships is the day I will switch completely. Until then, I hope ios7 is great or bb10 becomes a smash hit.

That makes no sense, why would you stick with an iPhone due to the lack of marketing by Google??? People that do know about the Nexus 4 are generally very positive about it including myself, It leaves the iPhone for dead imo.

 

[sentinelsx]

That makes no sense, why would you stick with an iPhone due to the lack of marketing by Google??? People that do know about the Nexus 4 are generally very positive about it including myself, It leaves the iPhone for dead imo.

Not lack of marketing, lack of making it an equal to a skinned flagship. The nexus 4 has compromises when compared to the rest of them.

 

[torana355]

Not lack of marketing, lack of making it an equal to a skinned flagship. The nexus 4 has compromises when compared to the rest of them.

What compromises are you talking about? I know the N4 does not officially have LTE but in almost every other area it matched the flagship phones from Samsung and HTC. Obviously the S4 and HTC one have better hardware but they were just released. When you take the cost into account the Nexus 4 makes a very good case for itself, not to mention the fact Vanilla Android is a much smoother experience and the fact you get updates straight away.

 

[sentinelsx]

Really that is the reason you use an iPhone. I understand they need to do more with the nexus stuff, but I don't think I can stick with an iPhone because of that.

Because it is jailbroken. That's why I can put up with it easier than the nexus.


If I buy the nexus I lose LTe which I now use daily, the camera of n4 was rubbish when I used it which is another negative, and under same usage and starting from same hour of the day the iPhone 5 tended to beat the n4 in usage by a handy 2 hrs SOT easily FOR MY USES.

Sure if it was not jailbroken then I would throw it ASAP and instead use a nexus 4.

A good illustration is a balance with my iPhone 5 and the nexus 4 I had before. All of the little things in both have a weight. Whichever tips the scale is the one I go with.

If google makes a fully controlled nexus flagship without concerns about these sucky OEMs, the nexus side would tip over heavily in a flash and the iPhone will lose.

Atleast that is MY balance.

----------

What compromises are you talking about? I know the N4 does not officially have LTE but in almost every other area it matched the flagship phones from Samsung and HTC. Obviously the S4 and HTC one have better hardware but they were just released. When you take the cost into account the Nexus 4 makes a very good case for itself, not to mention the fact Vanilla Android is a much smoother experience and the fact you get updates straight away.

Camera, LTe, audio quality and battery life matter to ME.

See above post for explanation.

 

[bmac4]

Because it is jailbroken. That's why I can put up with it easier than the nexus.


If I buy the nexus I lose LTe which I now use daily, the camera of n4 was rubbish when I used it which is another negative, and under same usage and starting from same hour of the day the iPhone 5 tended to beat the n4 in usage by a handy 2 hrs SOT easily FOR MY USES.

Sure if it was not jailbroken then I would throw it ASAP and instead use a nexus 4.

A good illustration is a balance with my iPhone 5 and the nexus 4 I had before. All of the little things in both have a weight. Whichever tips the scale is the one I go with.

If google makes a fully controlled nexus flagship without concerns about these sucky OEMs, the nexus side would tip over heavily in a flash and the iPhone will lose.

Atleast that is MY balance.

----------



Camera, LTe, audio quality and battery life matter to ME.

See above post for explanation.

Oh how do you figure google holds back compared to the skinned flagship phones? Lets look at the nexus 4. It is almost the same phone as the Optimus G. How is google going to ask OEMs to make a phone that is going to have better hardware then their skinned phone? It sounds like you want Google to start building the hardware too, but I don't think they will ever do that. I mean when you are asking a OEM to make your phone you can't ask them to out do their own phone. They would never sell theirs.

 

[sentinelsx]

Oh how do you figure google holds back compared to the skinned flagship phones? Lets look at the nexus 4. It is almost the same phone as the Optimus G. How is google going to ask OEMs to make a phone that is going to have better hardware then their skinned phone? It sounds like you want Google to start building the hardware too, but I don't think they will ever do that. I mean when you are asking a OEM to make your phone you can't ask them to out do their own phone. They would never sell theirs.

"Almost the same phone".

Yeah, sure. A Hyundai is "almost the same car " as a BMW too as long as both are using a v6 engine. The specs are same, why bother buying a BMW?

You just explained in your own post how google is holding back lol.

And there are so many chrome books right? Yet the pixel was made. Showing google CAN do it, they are just chained by their OEMs.

And you may not have an issue with it, but I do. At least when it comes to windows phone, you can buy a Nokia or Samsung or htc and enjoy smooth performance, great camera, and their respective hardware enhancements (pure view, beats, Micro sd etc) while using "stock wp". However, I don't like metro so yeah, too bad.

And yeah, as long as google is holding back I would rather use an iPhone or in the future a bb10 device.

 

[bmac4]

"Almost the same phone".

Yeah, sure. A Hyundai is "almost the same car " as a BMW too as long as both are using a v6 engine. The specs are same, why bother buying a BMW?

You just explained in your own post how google is holding back lol.

And there are so many chrome books right? Yet the pixel was made. Showing google CAN do it, they are just chained by their OEMs.

And you may not have an issue with it, but I do. At least when it comes to windows phone, you can buy a Nokia or Samsung or htc and enjoy smooth performance, great camera, and their respective hardware enhancements (pure view, beats, Micro sd etc) while using "stock wp". However, I don't like metro so yeah, too bad.

And yeah, as long as google is holding back I would rather use an iPhone or in the future a bb10 device.

I am saying they are going to make the same specs as the phone the nexus is based on. I would love to see Google make their own phone, or to make all android phones be stock. I just don't ever see that happening. The nexus line is much different than anything else on the market. It is only sold unlocked, and is based on another skinned android phone. I am not sure that google makes to phone to have huge sales numbers. I think we have different expectations for the nexus than google does. Other than a little better camera what is wrong with the nexus 4? How does it not compare with the flagship android phones?

 

[torana355]

Camera, LTe, audio quality and battery life matter to ME.

Camera and LTE, yes i agree that those are inferior but Audio quality and battery life is great on my Nexus 4 compared to the iPhone 5. Then you factor in the price difference and the Nexus 4 becomes the best phone on the market imo. I would not use an iP5 over my Nexus 4 if you gave one to me for free. If the Nexus 5 can improve on the few downsides to the Nexus 4 and keep a low price i will be a happy camper

 

[cynics]

What do those screenshots show? I can't tell because they are just stills, videos would be better. Does iOS completely freeze, for how long? I've never ever had iOS freeze on me like that in the years I've been using it, although I have had a specific apps freeze on me and need a restart. iOS seems to be all or nothing, for example the browser either works great, or when a lot of tabs are open it just simply runs out of memory and crashes, other apps seem like that too, they sometimes just simply crash and exit out, but usually don't show any slowdown or lag until they just crash.

I should have explained sorry.

The screen shot with the pass code. Clearly my pass code is typed in. The phone should instantly unlock, not give me time to take a screen shot. It just hung there for a few seconds.

The one with the multitasking bar opened did the same thing. It was frozen there.

Spotlight search, the keyboard was lagged and not coming up. It eventually did.

My point is that you telling me you never experienced lag in iOS is like someone telling you they've never experienced lag in Android. I can either think you are full of it and/or just lying or your experience has been different then mine.

 

[sentinelsx]

I am saying they are going to make the same specs as the phone the nexus is based on. I would love to see Google make their own phone, or to make all android phones be stock. I just don't ever see that happening. The nexus line is much different than anything else on the market. It is only sold unlocked, and is based on another skinned android phone. I am not sure that google makes to phone to have huge sales numbers. I think we have different expectations for the nexus than google does. Other than a little better camera what is wrong with the nexus 4? How does it not compare with the flagship android phones?

And I am saying if google doesn't make that I am fine using google services on an iPhone that will always run "stock ios".

The small trade off default maps is not enough for ME to take away my 32gb local storage, LTE which I use daily, a good camera, and 1-2 hours extra usage.

And those are the areas apart from camera where the nexus doesn't compare to flagships. The gs4 and one have all those except for "stock android".

----------

Camera and LTE, yes i agree that those are inferior but Audio quality and battery life is great on my Nexus 4 compared to the iPhone 5. Then you factor in the price difference and the Nexus 4 becomes the best phone on the market imo. I would not use an iP5 over my Nexus 4 if you gave one to me for free. If the Nexus 5 can improve on the few downsides to the Nexus 4 and keep a low price i will be a happy camper

As I explained, I get almost 2 hours SOT more on iPhone 5 compared to nexus 4. Not the same.

And audio is clearer on ip5 in my experience atleast. I found the gs3s stock music player to be better than iPhone 5 though. Nexus 4 comes close but not exact.

And price is a non issue in the great white north because the big three here are all the same and whether you get a subsidized device or not, plans remains the same.

Besides I would happily pay $600 and get the 32gb storage, LTe, brilliant camera than pay $300 and be burned.

 

[andy2141]

Got a GS4 last week and have been using it heavily since..

I still have my iPhone 5 and need to decide which one to keep. As much as I like the GS4 I think I may regret my decision to keep it long term. Maybe Google IO later this week will help me make my decision, but only time will tell.

 

[bmac4]

And I am saying if google doesn't make that I am fine using google services on an iPhone that will always run "stock ios".

The small trade off default maps is not enough for ME to take away my 32gb local storage, LTE which I use daily, a good camera, and 1-2 hours extra usage.

And those are the areas apart from camera where the nexus doesn't compare to flagships. The gs4 and one have all those except for "stock android".

----------



As I explained, I get almost 2 hours SOT more on iPhone 5 compared to nexus 4. Not the same.

And audio is clearer on ip5 in my experience atleast. I found the gs3s stock music player to be better than iPhone 5 though. Nexus 4 comes close but not exact.

And price is a non issue in the great white north because the big three here are all the same and whether you get a subsidized device or not, plans remains the same.

Besides I would happily pay $600 and get the 32gb storage, LTe, brilliant camera than pay $300 and be burned.

So have storage bigger than 16gb is cutting corners? I understand that the LTE can be a deal breaker, but from what I understand it is almost impossible to get approved LTE on a phone these days without going through a carrier. Google nor I wants that. If they went through the carrier it would be up to them when the phone was updated. No thanks I want nothing to do with carriers.

Now I do agree with you on the camera, but I don't use it enough for it to matter to me. I do agree that is something they need to work on. I still don't think it some how does not make the nexus 4 compare to the flagship phones.

None of these would make me go to using an iPhone that I do not like as much as android. The battery life on the nexus 4 is nothing really different from any other android. The only one that I can think of that is better is the note 2. This is your opinion, but saying it does not compare to the flagships is kind of crazy. Having the phone unlocked limits some of the things it has, but I will take that over having to sign a 2 year contract.

 

[jeffe]

Having the phone unlocked limits some of the things it has, but I will take that over having to sign a 2 year contract.

Just wondering..How often do you switch carriers? i'd be surprised if we don't see a LTE version of the Nexus 4 announced this upcoming week.

 

[bmac4]

Just wondering..How often do you switch carriers? i'd be surprised if we don't see a LTE version of the Nexus 4 announced this upcoming week.

I have never switched carriers. Been with AT&T for over 15 years. Well started out Bellsouth.

 

[cynics]

Just wondering..How often do you switch carriers? i'd be surprised if we don't see a LTE version of the Nexus 4 announced this upcoming week.

Not unless a manufacture made a single radio that handles all bands and is inexpensive enough to not effect pricing.

Googles vision of the Nexus is a single world phone. Using the iPhone for example, there are different versions depending on LTE bands being used. There is only one Nexus 4 (aside from storage size obviously) that works worldwide on all GSM.

 

[spinedoc77]

I should have explained sorry.

The screen shot with the pass code. Clearly my pass code is typed in. The phone should instantly unlock, not give me time to take a screen shot. It just hung there for a few seconds.

The one with the multitasking bar opened did the same thing. It was frozen there.

Spotlight search, the keyboard was lagged and not coming up. It eventually did.

My point is that you telling me you never experienced lag in iOS is like someone telling you they've never experienced lag in Android. I can either think you are full of it and/or just lying or your experience has been different then mine.

I hear ya, I've never had any lag in years of using iOS, but that's if the hardware is paired with the right software. An old ip4 with ios6 I have, for example, lags a lot. I agree though, even though I've seen Android lag a lot, there are plenty of users who say Android has never lagged for them.