kingtut wrote:I used to say that too. (Granted, I still don't have one- but I want one.) They're just so much better in every aspect. I'm no techy, but they just seem to do with ease, what androids have to work to accomplish.
I have very compelling reasons for never choosing an iPhone over an Android device. The whole "Android is too hard" excuse is dumb. And the iPhone is definitely not "so much better in every aspect." That's just patently false. And especially as someone who has never even used one, you're just buying into hype. I have used both and every time I have to borrow my friend's iPhone for something because my Sprint service sucks (not the phone) I hate it. A quick list of reasons why I would still choose a Galaxy S3 over an iPhone 5 (not even counting the new and improved Galaxy S4).
1. Screen size. No contest here. The iPhone, even with the larger iPhone 5, still has a tiny ### screen. This one reason alone is enough for me to choose the GS3 over an iPhone 5, but there's more.
2. Opening commonly used apps directly from the lock screen. You can just swipe up from icons that you set on the lock screen to go directly into your messaging app, or Facebook, or the camera, or whatever you want. I use it most commonly for sending a text as I can unlock the phone directly into the messaging app without having to first unlock it and then open the messaging app.
3. Third party keyboards - I can install a custom keyboard that has predictive text; not just auto-correct but actually predicting what I'm going to type next and giving me the ability to just tap that next word without having to type it. I've saved over 114,000 keystrokes with my $2.99 Swiftkey keyboard in the last year.
4. Swype/Flow/whatever you want to call it. Being able to drag from letter to letter to type takes some getting used to, but it is ideal for one-handed texting or typing of any kind. I use it primarily when I only have one hand free like if I'm eating and need to respond to a text, I can easily swype out a text with one hand.
5. Widgets. You're not limited to just having app shortcuts on your home screens. You can have actual useful information on them too. An example would be a widget that turns the flash on and off to use as a flashlight without actually having to open the flashlight app. Another is having buttons on the home screen for going straight to certain parts of Facebook like posting a status update, or checking in.
6. Live wallpapers. A minor thing but a cool feature. Animated wallpapers are cool, especially the one I use that shows me the weather, even on the lock screen. If it's raining outside, it's raining on my phone. If it's snowing, it's snowing on my phone. If you're in a building without windows and you're wondering what it's doing outside, a quick glance at the screen will tell you. Also the snow landscape looks really cool, heh.
7. Removable battery. I have a friend with an iPhone 4 who is going to have to get rid of the phone soon because the battery is dying and doesn't last as long and it cannot be replaced. Granted, an iPhone 4 is two generations ago and generally you will upgrade before having to worry about a worn out battery, but it's still something to consider. I also haven't had any freezing issues with this phone, but with past phones, being able to remove the battery as a hard reset when the phone is frozen and the power button isn't responsive is a nice ability to have.
8. Smart rotate. You can turn on a setting that will lock the rotation of the screen if you are still looking at it the same way when the orientation changes. Example. You're reading an article in bed with the phone in portrait mode and you lay down on your side. Normally the phone will flip to landscape at this point because it's on its side. Smart rotate knows that you are also on your side by using the front camera and will keep the phone in portrait mode despite being on its side. I told my sister (an iPhone user) about this one last night and she was like "ooh, I want that!".
9. Smart calling. Say you're texting someone and you need to call them because sometimes it's just easier. From the messaging app you can just put the phone up to your ear and it will call them. No extra button presses necessary. (another feature my sister was drooling over).
10. Expandable (and much cheaper) storage. A micro SD slot is a great way to give yourself more storage than you had initially. It also gives you the capability of having equivalent or higher storage than an iPhone without paying nearly as much to get it. An iPhone with 64GB of storage costs $200 more than the 16GB version, while you can buy a 16GB SGS3 and add an additional 64GB with a micro SD card for around $50. If you wanted 32GB, you'd have to pay $100 more for the 32GB iPhone while adding 16GB to a 16GB SGS3 would cost about $15.
Again. I'm not trying to start yet another Apple vs Android flame war. I'm not insulting Apple in any way. They have a great product in its own regard. But almost no one that I know that has an iPhone started on something else and then went to an iPhone. For almost all of them, the iPhone was the first smartphone they ever used so of course it's awesome, because smartphones are awesome and so much better than their predecessors. But Android devices, and the Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4 in particular, are light years ahead of the iPhone in available features, and no, despite their previous reputation, you don't have to be a computer guru to use one.
PS, the GS3 is nice because of screen, thin and price. But holy moly is is laggy compared to our company 4S's, iPhone 5's or my Nexus 4. I am hoping the GS4 is smoother, as I may try it out. But pure Google is also butter smooth compared to the crap carriers or manufacturers are putting on phones. just wish some of the newer features were available, like the launcher for the HTC one... SICK
