You may want to read this if you are thinking about switching from an iPhone 5 to S3. I've been reading all your post's for many years and learned tons here. Thanks to those of you that have posted something useful. This is my 2 cents for anyone who wants to really know what life is like on the other side!
Like many of us here, I've been buying up Apple devices for quite some time, my first experience was a Titanium Macbook Pro, I never looked back from that day, until now!
My Att contract is over so "naturally" I decided to upgrade to the new iPhone 5. Well, unfortunately this time around wasn't a typical "Apple Experience" for me. My iPhone 5 (ordered from Att site) was shipped damaged directly from China. Looked at 9 other phones at two Apple store locations, only one was acceptable. Now that phone replacement had network issues
, so I decided maybe this is the time. I've been frustrated with Apple's mediocre email app for ever (can't attach files, can't even bold text... My bad, yes you can bold and attach photo or video only), lack of customization, same 'ol iOS look and feel since day one. But, it's Apple and this would be a huge step for me because I'm a small business owner and EVERYTHING and ANYTHING Digital I do has been part of the Apple Ecosystem.
A good friend of mine who has made the switch to Droid awhile back has been extremely happy with his decision and talked me into at least trying it out. So, I figured what better time, I can try it for 30 days, if I don't like it big deal, I lose a whopping $35 restocking fee!
So I decided to get the most technologically advanced android I could find that meets my business needs, I was pointed towards the Galaxy S3.
I return home with my brand new phone, show it to my adorable Asian girlfriend, she looks excited, oh oh, that's not an iPhone? "But I have an iPhone" she pleads! Yes, this I'm thinking is going to be very hard, I plead back, "I have to give this a try, after all I use this for business purposes 90% of the time and I have to do what's best for my business babe". My heart just sank, I felt like I inadvertently cheated on her, it was weird, like some sort of Geek Cheat thing, Geating perhaps?
First impression, WOW, this thing has everything, stuff I didn't even know phones could have! There is so much crammed into this phone it's amazing how it all fits in its sleek and thin footprint. I was really impressed especially that first night (not impressed with the plastic), the screen is huge, great for reading emails on the run (don't text and drive), camera was great and it takes pictures that many would/do prefer, more colorful (not as bright though). It connects to your mac like a hard drive, really cool, you can do this many ways. Wifi, USB and even Bluetooth. And you see all your files on the phone and can create files like you do for your computer! Makes sense to me? Maps? Awesome. Customization? That was simply crazy, the stuff you can do to customize your phone is insane... I think I'll love all these options for my small business.... could this be? Has Google and Samsung beat Apple in their own game?
Well, so the real life test begins. Monday comes along, I have meetings to get to (I live and work in Redondo Beach, Los Angeles), emails, texts, voip'ing (I use a voip for business calls so it looks like I'm calling from my office) you name it...
First thing off the bat: The screen practically disappeared on me in this sunny LA weather, ouch! So I max out the brightness, FAIL, Not a good start! I start up google Maps/Navigation, working great as expected! I make a VOIP call for the first time, it takes me 3 steps because apparently when you install an app on an Android it will now show up as an option when you make a call. So if you have Skype, Viber, Google Voice, Business VOIP that's going to be very taxing on making calls, maybe there's an option to change it? Didn't find it....., so, I'm driving while on a VOIP call with HEADPHONES on, I hear a beep coming from my speaker, weird, that's a text that just came in! Why in the world would it bypass my headphones? Not good when you are in a quite room with your significant other trying to sleep right next to you. Google navigation got me there ok, time to leave to the next appointment, maps is searching, searching & searching for this next address, I close the app start over again. Same deal, hell, it got me here but now I can't get it to work to get me to another appointment? At least I was able to navigate out of the area since I could see the map but Navigation is out! Luckily I know where the next appointment is so I made it in time.
So half day is gone, it's about noon, battery is scary low.... no problem, I bought one of those $80 cases that have a battery in it, I was warned ahead of time and losing juice isn't an option for me. This device will drain fast in real world applications, trust me!
Time to reply to emails while I'm eating at Gene Simmons new Beer haven in El Segundo, why not? I was right around the block... Samsung has two ways to input, Swipe and regular keyboard. Swipe is pretty handy with one finger use, I could see getting pretty efficient at this. Copy/Paste was weird if you are coming from an iPhone, not saying it's worse, just takes getting use to, a lot use to... Even when you want to place the curser in between letters to fix spelling, it's all different, of course it is! It took me forever to get that first email...man that was painful, but I did get better over time.
So I get home, my girlfriend is upset at me because I didn't respond to most of her "important" texts.... Well, I just assumed if I get a text that it will show up on my lock screen, like an iPhone? hey, Sometimes I can't hear texts coming in when I got Classic Van Halen Blasted in the background! Now that's Rockin Roll Kids... take a look here! WRONG, not even possible! You need to check your notifications screen or download an app that will at least pop the message on your home screen, but not your lock screen. Big Ouch!
So I call my buddy that had talked me into this in the first place, he's attempting to help me navigate where to go to change settings etc.... guess what, 50% or more of these settings weren't even there, he had the model before me the S2 and guess what? They changed the features so much that my buddy was confused to !#$@ so I kindly hung up and figured.... I'm on my own.
OK, what a day, time to relax and sip a beer and listen to my favorite music app MOG! I knew I was going to lose my Airplay function but I wasn't prepared to lose the everything function? This app barely works on a Droid! I'm paying $10 a month to listen to nothing? $!?... So I cancel MOG, now I'm getting annoyed!
Lets then download music to this thing, great idea? Don't even think about it, compared to iTunes with an iPhone this isn't in the same league.
So I figured, maybe I just have to sit here and study that manual, watch the video's on Samsungs site (which could use a refresh of its own), what else do I have to do, not like I'm busy, it's 11:30 pm and its quiet, now I can really concentrate on this task.
It's been 5 days and I already came to a conclusion about this phone and the Android OS (Ice Cream). This whole experience was basically what I remember Windows was and it is a STARK reminder why I left that platform in the first place. There's a whole lot of fat here everyone, lots and lots of fat. A lot of this fat can be useful, you'll probably need it when you haven't eaten for two weeks but only if its eatable! Meaning, it's a bit buggy and not nearly as refined, operating it, moving from one task to another seemed a bit laggy to me compared to an iPhone 5 especially..... I got at least two strange error's, and something like three crashes from the apps in a 5 day period. I'm comparing this to my iPhone 4 that has only crashed two times in the two years I've owned it.
Yes, you can configure to the end of day with this but there's no structure here! The last OS (Jelly Bean?) was so different that an experienced Android user couldn't help me with most of the basic features of the OS.
My digital world revolves around Apple, I'm a bit disappointed with their progress but I'm convinced that the iPhone 5 is far superior in so many "Other" ways, the "IMPORT OTHER" is the key here.
iPhone, Good = Designed for the everyday person, Reliability, Simplicity, Unmatched Design/Build, Battery Life, Screen (looks great outdoors in a sunny day), Zippy/Fast Responsiveness, comfortable to use with one hand (left hand in particular), iCloud backup and additional features, Apple Customer Support has ALWAYS been insanely great, Apple Stores, Update, add "Do Not Disturb" function, this is a big deal for me
iPhone Bad: Lack of customization, Email not designed for real business people (we need to be able to attach files from the client), forced integration due to closed system
S3, Good= Top of the line technology, Tinker Heaven for the Geek within us all (customization) I would def recommend to my network engineer brother, Camera (many would argue this), Email, USB connection/Charge (maybe a plus for the moment, who doesn't have usb connectors laying around?)
S3, Bad= Just Added 10/7 ....Updating/Fragmentation see this post because that's a subject on its own, Music Player, Not as stable as iPhone, Huge Learning Curve (don't recommend this to the untechy type, that covers about 90% of us?), Battery life, build quality is plastic, Sometimes you'll need to install a plug-in to install an App to work properly that's just weird, Very Window's Like Experience.
My recommendation? If you are coming from the iPhone, stick to Apple, if you aren't then you'll know no better and Android will be the best thing next to Sliced Bread. It's apparent to me that Android and Samsung and the rest can't match Apple's design and overall feel and intuitiveness, so they draw out all the big guns at once and keep shooting and shooting until they hit something eventually. So typical of Google especially wouldn't most of you agree? (I'm sure there are some that don't) I love Google services, well maybe 10-20% of them work great, that's exactly what this phone is, a representation of exactly that! With Apple and those of us in this ecosystem, we love about 90% of everything they do. So, give it a try, if you don't have a contract with your phone provider, chances are you will come to this exact conclusion.
I hope some of you enjoyed! For those of you that need to bash this post, $%@! OFF!
Now that was a long post, THE END......
Like many of us here, I've been buying up Apple devices for quite some time, my first experience was a Titanium Macbook Pro, I never looked back from that day, until now!
My Att contract is over so "naturally" I decided to upgrade to the new iPhone 5. Well, unfortunately this time around wasn't a typical "Apple Experience" for me. My iPhone 5 (ordered from Att site) was shipped damaged directly from China. Looked at 9 other phones at two Apple store locations, only one was acceptable. Now that phone replacement had network issues
, so I decided maybe this is the time. I've been frustrated with Apple's mediocre email app for ever (can't attach files, can't even bold text... My bad, yes you can bold and attach photo or video only), lack of customization, same 'ol iOS look and feel since day one. But, it's Apple and this would be a huge step for me because I'm a small business owner and EVERYTHING and ANYTHING Digital I do has been part of the Apple Ecosystem.A good friend of mine who has made the switch to Droid awhile back has been extremely happy with his decision and talked me into at least trying it out. So, I figured what better time, I can try it for 30 days, if I don't like it big deal, I lose a whopping $35 restocking fee!
So I decided to get the most technologically advanced android I could find that meets my business needs, I was pointed towards the Galaxy S3.
I return home with my brand new phone, show it to my adorable Asian girlfriend, she looks excited, oh oh, that's not an iPhone? "But I have an iPhone" she pleads! Yes, this I'm thinking is going to be very hard, I plead back, "I have to give this a try, after all I use this for business purposes 90% of the time and I have to do what's best for my business babe". My heart just sank, I felt like I inadvertently cheated on her, it was weird, like some sort of Geek Cheat thing, Geating perhaps?
First impression, WOW, this thing has everything, stuff I didn't even know phones could have! There is so much crammed into this phone it's amazing how it all fits in its sleek and thin footprint. I was really impressed especially that first night (not impressed with the plastic), the screen is huge, great for reading emails on the run (don't text and drive
), camera was great and it takes pictures that many would/do prefer, more colorful (not as bright though). It connects to your mac like a hard drive, really cool, you can do this many ways. Wifi, USB and even Bluetooth. And you see all your files on the phone and can create files like you do for your computer! Makes sense to me? Maps? Awesome. Customization? That was simply crazy, the stuff you can do to customize your phone is insane... I think I'll love all these options for my small business.... could this be? Has Google and Samsung beat Apple in their own game?Well, so the real life test begins. Monday comes along, I have meetings to get to (I live and work in Redondo Beach, Los Angeles), emails, texts, voip'ing (I use a voip for business calls so it looks like I'm calling from my office) you name it...
First thing off the bat: The screen practically disappeared on me in this sunny LA weather, ouch! So I max out the brightness, FAIL, Not a good start! I start up google Maps/Navigation, working great as expected! I make a VOIP call for the first time, it takes me 3 steps because apparently when you install an app on an Android it will now show up as an option when you make a call. So if you have Skype, Viber, Google Voice, Business VOIP that's going to be very taxing on making calls, maybe there's an option to change it? Didn't find it....., so, I'm driving while on a VOIP call with HEADPHONES on, I hear a beep coming from my speaker, weird, that's a text that just came in! Why in the world would it bypass my headphones? Not good when you are in a quite room with your significant other trying to sleep right next to you. Google navigation got me there ok, time to leave to the next appointment, maps is searching, searching & searching for this next address, I close the app start over again. Same deal, hell, it got me here but now I can't get it to work to get me to another appointment? At least I was able to navigate out of the area since I could see the map but Navigation is out! Luckily I know where the next appointment is so I made it in time.
So half day is gone, it's about noon, battery is scary low.... no problem, I bought one of those $80 cases that have a battery in it, I was warned ahead of time and losing juice isn't an option for me. This device will drain fast in real world applications, trust me!
Time to reply to emails while I'm eating at Gene Simmons new Beer haven in El Segundo, why not? I was right around the block... Samsung has two ways to input, Swipe and regular keyboard. Swipe is pretty handy with one finger use, I could see getting pretty efficient at this. Copy/Paste was weird if you are coming from an iPhone, not saying it's worse, just takes getting use to, a lot use to... Even when you want to place the curser in between letters to fix spelling, it's all different, of course it is! It took me forever to get that first email...man that was painful, but I did get better over time.
So I get home, my girlfriend is upset at me because I didn't respond to most of her "important" texts.... Well, I just assumed if I get a text that it will show up on my lock screen, like an iPhone? hey, Sometimes I can't hear texts coming in when I got Classic Van Halen Blasted in the background! Now that's Rockin Roll Kids... take a look here! WRONG, not even possible! You need to check your notifications screen or download an app that will at least pop the message on your home screen, but not your lock screen. Big Ouch!
So I call my buddy that had talked me into this in the first place, he's attempting to help me navigate where to go to change settings etc.... guess what, 50% or more of these settings weren't even there, he had the model before me the S2 and guess what? They changed the features so much that my buddy was confused to !#$@ so I kindly hung up and figured.... I'm on my own.
OK, what a day, time to relax and sip a beer and listen to my favorite music app MOG! I knew I was going to lose my Airplay function but I wasn't prepared to lose the everything function? This app barely works on a Droid! I'm paying $10 a month to listen to nothing? $!?... So I cancel MOG, now I'm getting annoyed!
Lets then download music to this thing, great idea? Don't even think about it, compared to iTunes with an iPhone this isn't in the same league.
So I figured, maybe I just have to sit here and study that manual, watch the video's on Samsungs site (which could use a refresh of its own), what else do I have to do, not like I'm busy, it's 11:30 pm and its quiet, now I can really concentrate on this task.
It's been 5 days and I already came to a conclusion about this phone and the Android OS (Ice Cream). This whole experience was basically what I remember Windows was and it is a STARK reminder why I left that platform in the first place. There's a whole lot of fat here everyone, lots and lots of fat. A lot of this fat can be useful, you'll probably need it when you haven't eaten for two weeks but only if its eatable! Meaning, it's a bit buggy and not nearly as refined, operating it, moving from one task to another seemed a bit laggy to me compared to an iPhone 5 especially..... I got at least two strange error's, and something like three crashes from the apps in a 5 day period. I'm comparing this to my iPhone 4 that has only crashed two times in the two years I've owned it.
Yes, you can configure to the end of day with this but there's no structure here! The last OS (Jelly Bean?) was so different that an experienced Android user couldn't help me with most of the basic features of the OS.
My digital world revolves around Apple, I'm a bit disappointed with their progress but I'm convinced that the iPhone 5 is far superior in so many "Other" ways, the "IMPORT OTHER" is the key here.
iPhone, Good = Designed for the everyday person, Reliability, Simplicity, Unmatched Design/Build, Battery Life, Screen (looks great outdoors in a sunny day), Zippy/Fast Responsiveness, comfortable to use with one hand (left hand in particular), iCloud backup and additional features, Apple Customer Support has ALWAYS been insanely great, Apple Stores, Update, add "Do Not Disturb" function, this is a big deal for me
iPhone Bad: Lack of customization, Email not designed for real business people (we need to be able to attach files from the client), forced integration due to closed system
S3, Good= Top of the line technology, Tinker Heaven for the Geek within us all (customization) I would def recommend to my network engineer brother, Camera (many would argue this), Email, USB connection/Charge (maybe a plus for the moment, who doesn't have usb connectors laying around?)
S3, Bad= Just Added 10/7 ....Updating/Fragmentation see this post because that's a subject on its own, Music Player, Not as stable as iPhone, Huge Learning Curve (don't recommend this to the untechy type, that covers about 90% of us?), Battery life, build quality is plastic, Sometimes you'll need to install a plug-in to install an App to work properly that's just weird, Very Window's Like Experience.
My recommendation? If you are coming from the iPhone, stick to Apple, if you aren't then you'll know no better and Android will be the best thing next to Sliced Bread. It's apparent to me that Android and Samsung and the rest can't match Apple's design and overall feel and intuitiveness, so they draw out all the big guns at once and keep shooting and shooting until they hit something eventually. So typical of Google especially wouldn't most of you agree? (I'm sure there are some that don't) I love Google services, well maybe 10-20% of them work great, that's exactly what this phone is, a representation of exactly that! With Apple and those of us in this ecosystem, we love about 90% of everything they do. So, give it a try, if you don't have a contract with your phone provider, chances are you will come to this exact conclusion.
I hope some of you enjoyed! For those of you that need to bash this post, $%@!
OFF!Now that was a long post, THE END......
Last edited:
