Phones Long time iPhone user switched to Galaxy S3

The things you point really are making me do the switch either to android or win7 phones but theres other thing to consider atleast for me regarding the money spent in the appstore plus the "solid" integration with my other apple devices and macs.

Be sure to update your post after more days of usage, im sure theres a lot of us interested what you miss or what have you replaced.

I just saw a friends phone. The one you are talking about. It was pretty impressive to look at. The screen is weird though. It's not a phone it's a mini iPad wannabe.

Way to big to be classed as something you can stick in your jeans pocket! I'll keep my iPhone thanks but enjoy your tech. ;-)

Nice to hear you're happy with Android. While I personally don't want a phone bigger than my current 4S, I can understand why some people like a bigger screen.

baaadboy said:

At this rate of people jumping ship, I would be very worried if I were Apple.

Click to expand...

I think it would be really interesting to get numbers on this. But I have no idea where to find something on this and I don't know of any study on it.

roxxette said:

but theres other thing to consider atleast for me regarding the money spent in the appstore plus the "solid" integration with my other apple devices and macs.

Click to expand...

I use & enjoy both an iPhone 4S and a new Galaxy S III.

I've been using Android along with iOS for a few years now. I keep up with iOS because I'm a longtime Mac user. Yet I must admit when it comes to smartphones this new Galaxy S III has really made a giant leap forward in both hardware & the Andoid OS.

What many non-Android users are unaware of is that Android smartphones are stand alone computers that don't require being backed up to another computer like iPhones do. Nor are they dependent on another device to be setup or activated like iOS has been.

Android being a fully functional computer with a file system is a stand alone device that interfaces beautifully with each of my Macs. Being a completely independent device is a huge advantage for Android. And believe me I'm a die hard MacBook Pro user that has been using Apple computers since 1991.

I'd never bash an iPhone OR an Android. They each have their merits.

As far as saying "while I already have so much invested in iOS apps". Yes that's true and I know how you feel. But that's like saying I've already invested so much, I'm going to let that hold me back from progressing to an even greater experience.

Believe me, once you get a new Galaxy S III you are so happy you quickly forget what you've spent in the past.

Finally, I'm not trying to convince anyone to buy an Android, that's a personal decision. I'm not an "us vs them" type of enthusiast. I like all forms of devices & platforms.

What I am interested in is setting the record straight by sharing my knowledge in a neutral fashion so people have good information with which to make their own decision.

Baytriple said:

I just saw a friends phone. The one you are talking about. It was pretty impressive to look at.

Way to big to be classed as something you can stick in your jeans pocket! I'll keep my iPhone thanks but enjoy your tech. ;-)

Click to expand...

Let's use the facts.

The Galaxy S III is only: 1/2" wider & a bit over 3/4" taller. See below

Galaxy S III - 4.8" display
137.6 x 71.6 x 8.6 mm

iPhone 4S - 3.5" display
115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm

137.6 = Height
115.2
22.4mm = 0.88" taller

71.6 = Width
58.6
13.0mm = 0.51" wider

This _proves_ that you can have a gorgeous & very spacious 4.8" display... in a phone only marginally larger than a tiny iPhone.

I find my Galaxy S III just as easy to carry & use as my iPhone 4S.

ixodes said:

Let's use the facts.

The Galaxy S III is only: 1/2" wider & a bit over 3/4" taller. See below

Galaxy S III - 4.8" display
137.6 x 71.6 x 8.6 mm

iPhone 4S - 3.5" display
115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm

137.6 = Height
115.2
22.4mm = 0.88" taller

71.6 = Width
58.6
13.0mm = 0.51" wider

This _proves_ that you can have a gorgeous & very spacious 4.8" display... in a phone only marginally larger than a tiny iPhone.

I find my Galaxy S III just as easy to carry & use as my iPhone 4S.

Click to expand...

Having helped set up my brother's fiancee's S3 yesterday, I really can't agree that its only slightly bigger than the iPhone - its about 20% larger in both height and width.

I keep my phone in my pocket most of the time and would not be able to do that with the S3 - its too big to keep there and be comfortable or to avoid being worried about breaking it.

That's my feeling - I'm sure others have other views. I would be reluctant to change to a much bigger phone than I have now.

The size of the phone is hardly a problem, i see people saying they cant put a phone just a little bigger than the iphone in pants pocket a lot but personally i call that bs...... Unless you use extremely tight pants or i guess you didnt have a cellphone back in the day or never owned the big boys of nokia.

baaadboy said:

At this rate of people jumping ship, I would be very worried if I were Apple.

Click to expand...

Lol. I assure you, Apple has nothing to worry about.

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.

Well, Apple prefers to let their pocketbook do the talking, not so much with market share.. That 59% figure is from God knows how many different Android devices combined, versus Apple's one iPhone. I avoided Android like a plague since the 3GS, but I am very impressed with Jelly Bean on the Nexus. Unless Apple surprises everyone with a bigger screen horizontally, I suspect even more will jump ship.

After living with ICS and now Jelly Bean for a week, some things really are much easier than on the iPhone. One thing I was semi afraid to give up is Photo Stream. I take quick snaps on the 4S and edit on my MBP to post online quite often. It is just great when I open iPhoto on my Mac that the photos are already there. Well, a quick search on Google Play store I found countless file managers with SMB access. So now I can do the same on my PC and just grab the photos from my network share, or watch a video stored on the network.

Admittedly I've never looked into accessing Windows shares from my iPhone. I just assumed this is not something Apple will allow.

baaadboy said:

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/

Click to expand...

batting1000 said:

Lol. I assure you, Apple has nothing to worry about.

Click to expand...

Well, I can assure you that they do. I'm not saying anything crazy like "Apple is doomed!". They will always be wildly successful as a company and make great products, but if the new form factor for the iPhone turns out to be true, it will be one of the biggest blunders they have ever made.

The competition has gotten so much better in the last year and more and more people are jumping ship or thinking about it. You can tell a lot just from the overall attitude towards android phones on these forums just in the last few months.

Sure they will sell lots of them, but I can really see the tide turning to where they will have a smaller and smaller percentage of the market. Not just because of the ridiculously stupid idea of just making the phone taller, but because of how much better the competition's phones and OS are lately. Not to mention Windows 8 phone OS which is coming soon and looks very good.

Ya, they have a lot to worry about.

baaadboy said:

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/

Click to expand...

People don't "buy" Android. They "buy" HTC or Samsung or any of the other brands out there. This is a tired argument just like the Windows vs Mac thing.

I get really bored with iPhone 4S especially when I saw that iOS6 looks same again. I sold iPhone 4S for a good price and decided to try Samsung Galaxy S3 (i9300, internation version) and if I wouldn't like it, I could trade it for next iPhone in a few months. But I was blown away with SGS3, its stunning phone. Android really did great step forward, ICS is really polished (Gingerbread was ugly, but ICS looks great, is fast and polished). Display on iPhone is a joke compared to SGS3 screen. Also SGS3 have very ergonomic design so it doesn't feel too big in a hand - actualy it feels better than iPhone 4S and got better grip. Also everything is much more open, I can set MP3 as ringtone or alarm tone without any problems (for example, in iPhone I had to jailbreak it, then bought PlayAwake tweak in Cydia and then I was able to set MP3 as a ringtone). Anyway, in SGS3 I can do almost everything I want, everything is polished, very easy to use, works without any force closes (on iPhone I had a lot of force closes and "LowMemory" issues in Diagnostic). So It was right choice to get SGS3, because its stunning phone.

iosuser said:

After living with ICS and now Jelly Bean for a week, some things really are much easier than on the iPhone. One thing I was semi afraid to give up is Photo Stream. I take quick snaps on the 4S and edit on my MBP to post online quite often. It is just great when I open iPhoto on my Mac that the photos are already there. Well, a quick search on Google Play store I found countless file managers with SMB access. So now I can do the same on my PC and just grab the photos from my network share, or watch a video stored on the network.

Click to expand...

A Photostream "replacement" on Android, I've discovered, can be had with either Google+ or Dropbox. Both offer automatic upload of photos via either wifi only or over wifi+cellular. Going the Dropbox route makes importing in to iPhoto pretty easy since they're already mirrored on your Mac's Dropbox folder.

I also decided to leave iOS after having it ever since the first iPhone came out. The deal breaker for Android for me was the laggy UI as well. After Jelly Bean came out and seeing what iOS6 added along with the rumors for the iPhone 5, I was done. I've always been someone that liked to tweak my phone to make it the way I want it so this was my perfect opportunity.

Its not the size of the samsung galaxy 3 that is the problem, the problem is that some shorts and trouser pockets are too small. Heck I want to buy short jeans but the pocket is too small, my Samsung galaxy ace which is 3.5 like an Iphone can fall out easy.

batting1000 said:

Lol. I assure you, Apple has nothing to worry about.

Click to expand...

Yes and no...they will still sell well no doubt but the fact that they keep suing tells me they are worried. They werent suing anybody when they were still king of the mountain. Now that mountain is geting crowded and they are sliding down and dont like it.

So, are they going to be in trouble? NO, but they are going to lose a lot of customers in the phone market and already have. The new iPhone will sell very well, that goes without argument but the fact that 4" is still too small for many, they wont retain a good portion of their fanbase.

Not to mention there will be leaks and mentions of the new Nexus while the new iPhone is coming out and some will wait for that too which is said to be in November.

mproudfoot said:

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.

Click to expand...

Its only been 1 day. You will find many other things as days go by that you can do that you didnt know about. I also want to point out that the plastic back also allows for NFC functions. It wouldnt work with an aluminum or metal back cover.

The stock music player is ok by me but i use PowerAmp.

phpmaven said:

Well, I can assure you that they do. I'm not saying anything crazy like "Apple is doomed!". They will always be wildly successful as a company and make great products, but if the new form factor for the iPhone turns out to be true, it will be one of the biggest blunders they have ever made.

The competition has gotten so much better in the last year and more and more people are jumping ship or thinking about it. You can tell a lot just from the overall attitude towards android phones on these forums just in the last few months.

Sure they will sell lots of them, but I can really see the tide turning to where they will have a smaller and smaller percentage of the market. Not just because of the ridiculously stupid idea of just making the phone taller, but because of how much better the competition's phones and OS are lately. Not to mention Windows 8 phone OS which is coming soon and looks very good.

Ya, they have a lot to worry about.

Click to expand...

Vegastouch said:

Yes and no...they will still sell well no doubt but the fact that htey keep suing tells me they are worried. They werent suing anybody when the were still king of the mountain. Now that mountain is geting crowded and they are sliding down and dont like it.

So, are they going to be in trouble? NO, but they are going to lose a lot of customers in the phone market and already have. The new iPhone will sell very well, that goes without argument but the fact that 4" is still too small for many, they wont retain a good portion of their fanbase.

Not to mention there will be leaks and mentions of the new Nexus while the new iPhone is coming out and some will wait for that too which is said to be in November.

Click to expand...

That's why they'll never really be in worried. People will always buy iPhones and there will always be new customers. There are also many people on Android who are are just there till the iPhone gets a bigger screen or LTE. You cannot tell me people aren't going to be the next iPhone because of the design as though it's a flawed one or ugly one. The Galaxy S has only received tweaks over the years as have devices live The EVO and the Nexus, yet people still buy them.

The reason people are dissatisfied is because they are expecting too much of Apple. They want this size screen, that camera, this feature, and that feature when they know that's not something Apple would do. Since Apple started with the iPhone / iPhone OS, they've always released feature packed software updates.

Look at this picture:



The past two OS updates have each had roughly / over 200 new features. Find me an Android update that had that many new features / tweaks / enhancements in one OS update, or one with 10 new major features. Apple is trying to appeal to the average consumer, not people who like to manage file systems and do all this other complicated stuff with widgets and all that. It's all to cumbersome which is why Apple has stuck to tweaking interface stuff slightly over the years alongside trying to add features that everyone wants, rather than overhauling the UI year of year like Android and the manufacturer skins do.

iosuser said:

Well, Apple prefers to let their pocketbook do the talking, not so much with market share.. That 59% figure is from God knows how many different Android devices combined, versus Apple's one iPhone. I avoided Android like a plague since the 3GS, but I am very impressed with Jelly Bean on the Nexus. Unless Apple surprises everyone with a bigger screen horizontally, I suspect even more will jump ship.

After living with ICS and now Jelly Bean for a week, some things really are much easier than on the iPhone. One thing I was semi afraid to give up is Photo Stream. I take quick snaps on the 4S and edit on my MBP to post online quite often. It is just great when I open iPhoto on my Mac that the photos are already there. Well, a quick search on Google Play store I found countless file managers with SMB access. So now I can do the same on my PC and just grab the photos from my network share, or watch a video stored on the network.

Admittedly I've never looked into accessing Windows shares from my iPhone. I just assumed this is not something Apple will allow.

Click to expand...

Thats what Dropbox will do for you. Any picture i take with my phone(with DB on it as well) goes to my Dropbox on my PC.

Baytriple said:

I just saw a friends phone. The one you are talking about. It was pretty impressive to look at. The screen is weird though. It's not a phone it's a mini iPad wannabe.

Way to big to be classed as something you can stick in your jeans pocket! I'll keep my iPhone thanks but enjoy your tech. ;-)

Click to expand...

mini ipad wannabe? omg what are these forums coming to?

batting1000 said:

That's why they'll never really be in worried. People will always buy iPhones and there will always be new customers. There are also many people on Android who are are just there till the iPhone gets a bigger screen or LTE. You cannot tell me people aren't going to be the next iPhone because of the design as though it's a flawed one or ugly one. The Galaxy S has only received tweaks over the years as have devices live The EVO and the Nexus, yet people still buy them.

The reason people are dissatisfied is because they are expecting too much of Apple. They want this size screen, that camera, this feature, and that feature when they know that's not something Apple would do. Since Apple started with the iPhone / iPhone OS, they've always released feature packed software updates.

Click to expand...

Its asking too much of Apple to keep up with everyone else? Your kidding right? Apple is asking premium prices for something that is behind.

People want more and are seeing it from Android. The only thing keeping many other from Android was it just wasnt as stable. That has changed and their OS has exceeded Apples and with how they push out and have dedication to makinig it better, they will continue to keep leaping forward while Apple does their once a year thing.....and keeps falling behind.

The new iPhone looks pretty much like the last two devices but a half inch taller and it doesnt look like the iOS will look much different either. People get bored and it has been mentioned many times here.

I mean a 4" screen was so 2010

And it always going to be locked down.

The past two OS updates have each had roughly / over 200 new features. Find me an Android update that had that many new features / tweaks / enhancements in one OS update, or one with 10 new major features. Apple is trying to appeal to the average consumer, not people who like to manage file systems and do all this other complicated stuff with widgets and all that. It's all to cumbersome which is why Apple has stuck to tweaking interface stuff slightly over the years alongside trying to add features that everyone wants, rather than overhauling the UI year of year like Android and the manufacturer skins do.

Click to expand...

No problem. Too many to list so you will have to use the link. And remember, those are changes just from ICS which some have been improved. So your wrong again, Enjoy!
Also, i dont see 200 new features in your picture.

Jelly Bean Updates

Vegastouch said:

Its asking too much of Apple to keep up with everyone else? Your kidding right? Apple is asking premium prices for something that is behind.

People want more and are seeing it from Android. The only thing keeping many other from Android was it just wasnt as stable. That has changed and their OS has exceeded Apples and with how they push out and have dedication to makinig it better, they will continue to keep leaping forward while Apple does their once a year thing.....and keeps falling behind.

The new iPhone looks pretty much like the last two devices but a half inch taller and it doesnt look like the iOS will look much different either. People get bored and it has been mentioned many times here.

I mean a 4" screen was so 2010

And it always going to be locked down.

Click to expand...

No, it's only behind because you think it's behind. Apple is moving at a steady pace. Apple is asking the same price for the iPhone as Samsung is asking for the Galaxy S3 and the One X and other Android devices. The only reason Android is moving so fast is because there are so many companies manufacturing devices, most of which can't even keep up with Google's software development. Sure it's moving fast, but it's obvious it's way too fast, which is why people think Apple is moving slow. The Galaxy S3 looks pretty similar to the last two models; a middle button and two capacitive button. The difference is the corners are more rounded. Otherwise it's the same plastic / polycarbonate (still looks like plastic, you wouldn't know the difference), the same TouchWiz except more gimicky features you'll probably never use.

Again, Apple is moving at a steady and controllable pace while Android is all over the place. They have a plan with what they are releasing and when whereas with Android you've got one company making an Android 4.0 device months after it was announced, and then the next software iteration announced a few days later by Google (which isn't announced the same time every year), and it's just a mess. Devices being released left and right and software updates being released inconsistently and not to all devices. It's crazy.

I think a majority of people (most being average consumers) will stay with the iPhone while the small percentage of users will move away, those being the "geeks" or people like us on this forum (not me ). The iPhone just proves how unnecessary the features Android phones have are, even though they're nice to have. Sure Apple will announce their own version of Android stuff but that's just what companies do and it's not just Apple.

And back to what you said before about Apple suing companies. When you've got a patent, you want to protect it, whether outsiders think it hinders the advancing of technology or not. "We filed for over 200 patents for all the inventions in iPhone and we intend to protect them." There's no other way to explain it. I'm sure if you had a company and someone infringed on your patents you'd want to protect them too. It's just that Apple is a larger and more renown company which is why when they do something to protect a patent, it's magnified greatly.

----------

Vegastouch said:

No problem. Too many to list so you will have to use the link. And remember, those are changes just from ICS which some have been improved. So your wrong again, Enjoy!
Also, i dont see 200 new features in your picture.

Jelly Bean Updates

Click to expand...

That's not what the picture is meant to show. If you read it, you'd see it only mentions tentpoles, which are the major features.

Wikipedia has a running list of each and every tentpole with all the tweaks and enhancements under them. I know you won't look, but here's the link nonetheless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_version_history#Version_history:_portable_iOS_devices