Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Phones iPhone 4S vs Galaxy S3

I'm leaning towards having both for the summer and only sticking with the S3 if the new iPhone is a complete disaster - which is 99% unlikely.

Does anyone know if it's easy to switch between phones on the fly with Verizon? Say I want to go with my 4S this week and the S3 next week?
 
nooaah said:
I'm leaning towards having both for the summer and only sticking with the S3 if the new iPhone is a complete disaster - which is 99% unlikely.

Does anyone know if it's easy to switch between phones on the fly with Verizon? Say I want to go with my 4S this week and the S3 next week?
Click to expand...

There are Android apps that let you sync with iCloud so it should be fairly easy to switch between the two 🙂
 
Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

Today I sold my iPhone 4 and bought the SGS3.

I cannot express enough how amazing this phone is. Im sure Android was bad before 4.0, but ICS is so much better than iOS that it seems like a joke...

Ive been with iOS 2 years: iPhone 4 and iPad. I love my Mac ecosystem: iMac and Mac Mini as media center. But now I seriously doubt I will ever go back to iOS. Ill still buy macs, obviously.

I feel just the same way like when I went from windows to OS X. The difference was abysmal. ICS is to iOS what OS X is to Windows. It also resembles the lap I went from Samsung Omnia HD 3 years ago to the iPhone 4. Huge leap forward too.

Love how thin the device is, how lightweight, the beautiful screen, the capacitive buttons, etc.

You know whats best? Im playing Donkey Kong on a GBA emulator without needing to jailbreak! 😀😀😀 aaahhh the memories...

I mean, not having to wait for jailbreak releases again is nice, but that will be replaced by waiting for updates, right? 😀😀😀

You just need to try this device on person. I didn't want to buy it at first, but when I tried it this wednesday I knew I had to buy it.

Im surprised by Android apps. They are really good (and many look nice too). Facebook, Twitter, Skype... They look the same but on a bigger screen (which makes it so, so much better to view at).

To me, personally, this has been a VERY huge improvement.
 
Sensamic said:
Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

Today I sold my iPhone 4 and bought the SGS3.

I cannot express enough how amazing this phone is. Im sure Android was bad before 4.0, but ICS is so much better than iOS that it seems like a joke...

Ive been with iOS 2 years: iPhone 4 and iPad. I love my Mac ecosystem: iMac and Mac Mini as media center. But now I seriously doubt I will ever go back to iOS. Ill still buy macs, obviously.

I feel just the same way like when I went from windows to OS X. The difference was abysmal. ICS is to iOS what OS X is to Windows. It also resembles the lap I went from Samsung Omnia HD 3 years ago to the iPhone 4. Huge leap forward too.

Love how thin the device is, how lightweight, the beautiful screen, the capacitive buttons, etc.

You know whats best? Im playing Donkey Kong on a GBA emulator without needing to jailbreak! 😀😀😀 aaahhh the memories...

I mean, not having to wait for jailbreak releases again is nice, but that will be replaced by waiting for updates, right? 😀😀😀

You just need to try this device on person. I didn't want to buy it at first, but when I tried it this wednesday I knew I had to buy it.

Im surprised by Android apps. They are really good (and many look nice too). Facebook, Twitter, Skype... They look the same but on a bigger screen (which makes it so, so much better to view at).

To me, personally, this has been a VERY huge improvement.
Click to expand...

Glad you like it, I love mine 😀

There's one glaring omission in the Facebook app - you can't upload multiple pictures, only one at a time. There are apps on the play store to rectify this though 🙂

PM me if you want to to know some good Android communities to join!
 
Sensamic said:
Wow.

Wow.

Wow.

Today I sold my iPhone 4 and bought the SGS3.

I cannot express enough how amazing this phone is. Im sure Android was bad before 4.0, but ICS is so much better than iOS that it seems like a joke...

Ive been with iOS 2 years: iPhone 4 and iPad. I love my Mac ecosystem: iMac and Mac Mini as media center. But now I seriously doubt I will ever go back to iOS. Ill still buy macs, obviously.

I feel just the same way like when I went from windows to OS X. The difference was abysmal. ICS is to iOS what OS X is to Windows. It also resembles the lap I went from Samsung Omnia HD 3 years ago to the iPhone 4. Huge leap forward too.

Love how thin the device is, how lightweight, the beautiful screen, the capacitive buttons, etc.

You know whats best? Im playing Donkey Kong on a GBA emulator without needing to jailbreak! 😀😀😀 aaahhh the memories...

I mean, not having to wait for jailbreak releases again is nice, but that will be replaced by waiting for updates, right? 😀😀😀

You just need to try this device on person. I didn't want to buy it at first, but when I tried it this wednesday I knew I had to buy it.

Im surprised by Android apps. They are really good (and many look nice too). Facebook, Twitter, Skype... They look the same but on a bigger screen (which makes it so, so much better to view at).

To me, personally, this has been a VERY huge improvement.
Click to expand...

Congrats! This is typical. The usual Android hate comes from blind fanboys who have never even touched an Android phone before or spent time learning how to use one. Its hard NOT to love it once you start using it. BTW, where did you walk into a store and get one and what carrier? They don't seem to be available anywhere.
 
matttye said:
There are Android apps that let you sync with iCloud so it should be fairly easy to switch between the two 🙂
Click to expand...

I meant like is it easy for Verizon to have both phones on the same line? Like I could just go to my account preferences and activate the phone of the week I wanted without nonsense charges?
 
mbell1975 said:
Congrats! This is typical. The usual Android hate comes from blind fanboys who have never even touched an Android phone before or spent time learning how to use one. Its hard NOT to love it once you start using it. BTW, where did you walk into a store and get one and what carrier? They don't seem to be available anywhere.
Click to expand...

I would also like to know where. Nowhere around me has any, let alone one you can play with.
 
nooaah said:
I meant like is it easy for Verizon to have both phones on the same line? Like I could just go to my account preferences and activate the phone of the week I wanted without nonsense charges?
Click to expand...

I think it's easy with two LTE phones. If the new iPhone has LTE then you could probably sell your 4s get the new iPhone and use those two.

ETA: I really want to get the s3 but it's very hard to give up the battery life on the RAZR MAXX. I may wait to see the specs on the Atrix 3 and see if it has the MAXX battery.
 
Last edited:
mbell1975 said:
Congrats! This is typical. The usual Android hate comes from blind fanboys who have never even touched an Android phone before or spent time learning how to use one. Its hard NOT to love it once you start using it. BTW, where did you walk into a store and get one and what carrier? They don't seem to be available anywhere.
Click to expand...

Where I live (Spain) its very, very difficult to find a place where phones are on and you can try them. They are always off and you just see the outside. Thats why I never could play with Android before. This wednesday finally I found the SGS3 on (it was the only phone turned on in the whole shop!! 😀😀). I spent a really good time playing with it making sure everything was as good or better than iOS, and I found out that most things (Id say 80% or even more) are way better, like Maps, Gmail, YouTube, speech to text, etc.

I don't want to make it sound like iOS is bad. I really liked it these 2 years, but if I had tried ICS before... 🙄

The 3.5 screen now does seem like an issue when you try something bigger in HD. Not just web browsing, but specially games! On my jailbroken iPhone 4 I couldn't play Donkey Kong on the GBA emulator (only emulator that worked!) because the keys where too big and there was no space. Now, with GBAsoid, everything is perfect size. I can't wait to try the N64 and PSX emulators. Even my old games from Game Gear when I was younger! 😀😀 Good times.

I just love smartphones. I don't care about brand or OS as long as they are good. Ive been wanting to try Android for over a year, but never found a phone that quite matched the iPhone. Im glad I waited enough time for Android to get better.

Right now, being completely sincere, I see no reason to go back to iOS. I don't find apps to be so bad on Android, for example. Notifications are equally good. For games I have my dear emulators plus new releases. Screen is better (but mainly due to size). LED indicator is nice. Etc, etc.
 
Sensamic said:
Where I live (Spain) its very, very difficult to find a place where phones are on and you can try them. They are always off and you just see the outside. Thats why I never could play with Android before. This wednesday finally I found the SGS3 on (it was the only phone turned on in the whole shop!! 😀😀). I spent a really good time playing with it making sure everything was as good or better than iOS, and I found out that most things (Id say 80% or even more) are way better, like Maps, Gmail, YouTube, speech to text, etc.

I don't want to make it sound like iOS is bad. I really liked it these 2 years, but if I had tried ICS before... 🙄

The 3.5 screen now does seem like an issue when you try something bigger in HD. Not just web browsing, but specially games! On my jailbroken iPhone 4 I couldn't play Donkey Kong on the GBA emulator (only emulator that worked!) because the keys where too big and there was no space. Now, with GBAsoid, everything is perfect size. I can't wait to try the N64 and PSX emulators. Even my old games from Game Gear when I was younger! 😀😀 Good times.

And here I though Mail in iOS was better...

I just love smartphones. I don't care about brand or OS as long as they are good. Ive been wanting to try Android for over a year, but never found a phone that quite matched the iPhone. Im glad I waited enough time for Android to get better.

Right now, being completely sincere, I see no reason to go back to iOS. I don't find apps to be so bad on Android, for example. Notifications are equally good. For games I have my dear emulators plus new releases. Screen is better (but mainly due to size). LED indicator is nice. Etc, etc.
Click to expand...

I've owned every iPhone and I have a ton of apps so I'm not going to abandon iOS. I never thought I would leave the iPhone but like you said Android has improved dramatically from where it used to be. My iPad takes care of my iOS needs and Android takes care of my phone needs.
 
It's actually a joke how good the Galaxy S3 is, I expected it to be great but no where near this good! I was hesitant about getting one at first but given the size of it and my love for my iPhone 4S but I am very glad I took the gamble.

In fact now that my battery has died on the Galaxy S3 and i'm using my iPhone 4S for most general tasks it practically puts the iPhone 4S to shame. It's not even in the same league as the iPhone 4S, it's leagues above, makes me feel stupid and embarrassed for spending £500 on the 4S to be totally honest!

I actually had a Galaxy S2 before my iPhone 4S and liked it but didn't think anything about it was amazing, whereas with the Galaxy S3 I really can't find a single thing that isn't great about it.

The screen on the iPhone 4S is also a joke compared to the Galaxy S3's, not due to the size but the colours are far beyond amazing compared to the dull non vibrant ones on the iPhone 4S.

To people moaning about Android, I think it's better than iOS in many ways. Of course iOS has the better apps but besides that I don't think there's much else iOS is superior at. With some apps I've found them to be more stable and responsive on iOS (such as ATP/WTA Live Scores app) but with others it's been the other way around (such as the Wimbledon app), but in general most of the apps I use are on both operating systems and aren't better or worse on either.

Great stuff Samsung! I think I'm completely done with iPhones now, will keep my 4S but doubt I'll ever get another iPhone in the future.
 
Last edited:
What I did was sell my iPhone 4 32GB to Vodafone, my carrier. It has been like 8 months with the home button broken, which was another of the main reasons I switched to SGS3: the capacitive buttons. If the button hadn't break I would probably still be using it... so Apple is not perfect when it comes to build quality either.

With the money from the iPhone 4 the SGS3 cost me 273 euros, which is really great. The iPhone 4 cost me 350 euros 2 years ago. At that time it was the best phone on the market for me. 2 years later, iPhone is no longer the king. Im not saying the SGS3 is. Maybe the HOX is, or the Note, or the Razr... I just think the SGS3 is way, way better than 4 (obviously) and 4S.

Even the keyboard is more fast and responsive, although Im not using it since Im obsessed with the speech to text 😀😀
 
Sensamic said:
What I did was sell my iPhone 4 32GB to Vodafone, my carrier. It has been like 8 months with the home button broken, which was another of the main reasons I switched to SGS3: the capacitive buttons. If the button hadn't break I would probably still be using it... so Apple is not perfect when it comes to build quality either.

With the money from the iPhone 4 the SGS3 cost me 273 euros, which is really great. The iPhone 4 cost me 350 euros 2 years ago. At that time it was the best phone on the market for me. 2 years later, iPhone is no longer the king. Im not saying the SGS3 is. Maybe the HOX is, or the Note, or the Razr... I just think the SGS3 is way, way better than 4 (obviously) and 4S.

Even the keyboard is more fast and responsive, although Im not using it since Im obsessed with the speech to text 😀😀
Click to expand...

The SwiftKey keyboard is amazing and it's half price for £1.49 (€1.87) at the moment. Really improves typing speed and the autocorrect is phenominal 😀
 
matttye said:
The SwiftKey keyboard is amazing and it's half price for £1.49 (€1.87) at the moment. Really improves typing speed and the autocorrect is phenominal 😀
Click to expand...

Yeah, Ill try other keyboards and fonts and launcher and widgets and live wallpapers and... Cant get bored with this, right? 😀
 
I really hate you guys talking about how great & fantastic the Galaxy S3 is......

When I can't have mine yet. 🙁

Seriously though, sounds awesome & thanks for the feedback. Hopefully I can get it on Monday at the local AT&T store.

I'm getting pretty use to ICS because I've been using it on the Galaxy Tab 2, so I've had some prep time with it. Look forward too it.
 
Hahaha this is awesome!

Just copied my whole iTunes music library to the SD card on the SGS3 and it recognized EVERYTHING without me needing to do anything. So many posts all over the internet about problems with syncing with iTunes had me a little bit worried, but I didn't expect it to be so easy!

I just copied all the folders from iTunes/media/music to a folder created by me named "music" in the SD card and its all there: album artwork, info, albums, artists, etc.

How easy was that??? Take that iTunes!!! 😀😀😀

Plus, another thing Ive been wanting for years: folders in the photos app. On iOS its a poor implementation. Here I can have folders and subfolders anywhere on the SD card and it will appear automatically on the photos app.

Thank you Android, thank you 😀😀
 
Certinfy said:
Great stuff Samsung! I think I'm completely done with iPhones now, will keep my 4S but doubt I'll ever get another iPhone in the future.
Click to expand...

Certinfy, can you do me a favor? A real quick comparison for me, seeing that you have both the SIII and iPhone 4S in your possession.

I'd really like to know how the whites compare in these two devices at max brightness in the web browser. It appears I'll have to wait another week to see this for myself here in the States.

Ideally I'd like for you to set the brightness at max on both devices and disable auto brightness. Then pull up Google.com on both and see for yourself. Technically the 4S screen should be much brighter given the stats posted by Anandtech (and CNET keeps bringing this fact up too). However I keep seeing what appears to be impressive whites on some HD SIII YouTube review vids.

If you elect to do this for me, and choose to use the stock SIII browser, keep in mind that (strangely) the brightness setting for said browser is separate then the device itself. You can find it once you hit Menu with the stock browser open and then Display. Uncheck Auto and choose the Default level, not the other 3.

Getting ahead of myself. That's if you elect to do this for me. Thanks in advance!
 
Sensamic said:
Hahaha this is awesome!

Just copied my whole iTunes music library to the SD card on the SGS3 and it recognized EVERYTHING without me needing to do anything. So many posts all over the internet about problems with syncing with iTunes had me a little bit worried, but I didn't expect it to be so easy!

I just copied all the folders from iTunes/media/music to a folder created by me named "music" in the SD card and its all there: album artwork, info, albums, artists, etc.

How easy was that??? Take that iTunes!!! 😀😀😀

Plus, another thing Ive been wanting for years: folders in the photos app. On iOS its a poor implementation. Here I can have folders and subfolders anywhere on the SD card and it will appear automatically on the photos app.

Thank you Android, thank you 😀😀
Click to expand...

This is exactly what i am talking about when i tell people why i jailbroke my iPhone to use easier drag and drop. Except it doesn't automatically recognize it, i just have to slide a setting to "on" to make it so. But far better than managing iTunes.

It is amazing how drag and drop still makes things far easier than using another software layer. At least for some of us.
 
I'm on the vzw galaxy nexus made the switch before the end of 4G unlimited. Takes a little getting used to. But I love the free tethering (play store app) works great with my iPad! Interested in giving the SG3 a shot.
 
Technarchy said:
It won't take much for Apple to stay the best selling smart phone.

Though I am curious about Windows 8.
Click to expand...


Who cares about what sells best? Just because it sells more doesn't mean its better. Justin Bieber SELLS more albums and makes more money than Coldplay, but I think we all know who the better artist is....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back