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

iPhone 5 to Galaxy 4

I switched from my iPhone 5 to the galaxy S4 (before iOS 7 was officially announced) I loved the S4 at first.. Huge display, control beyond belief for settings etc. I was also excited to get more into the google ecosystem. I knew that my Mac wouldn't work well with my S4 but I was too ready to switch to care. iOS 6 wasn't bad, as it did everything I needed, but it was just so stale. After the first week or so of owning the S4, I found my that all those "innovative" features like the air gestures wore off with the cool effect for me. A lot if them are limited to specific samsung apps which I didn't prefer to use. I can't speak for everyone, but my battery life was horrible! With everything turned off and nothing running in the background, I would go from 100% to 97% in minutes of doing nothing. Carrier bloat ware is horrible and I didn't like how android updates were delayed depending on carriers and etc. I hated the keyboard on the phone and had to adjust to the swype keyboard (did I spell it right? Lol) but after getting practice I was almost as fast as I am while typing on my phone. A very big positive for the phone was it's camera. Best camera I've ever used on a phone. Overall, the phone was probably one of the best android phones I could of switched to. Even though I listed a lot of the bad, everyone would have a different experience. I just felt that I was trying to change phones for the sake of change. iOS 7 was a big enough refresh from Apple that I decided to keep my iPhone and sell the s4 on eBay. Now I'm on a 5S and I couldn't be happier with my phone. Hopefully my experience helps you decide on what you plan on doing.
 
I used android for 7 weeks till I received my 5c. I used nexus 4 so I can comment on android on general.
Stock android especially JB is not really bad as we iPhone users usually say. I used the PA ROM and miui and miui gives an iPhone like experience and is better looking on general then the stock ROM. Battery life AFTER flashing kernel was more then my iPhone 4s and my iPhone 5.It used to last 12 plus hours easily and I have pretty heavy usage. But the play store sucks and overall experience is certainly below iOS atleast for me

Talking about galaxy phones. I bought s3 just to play with android last year. I hated that phone. Felt cheap tbh. Pentile display sucked and apart from camera nexus 4 IMO is better and value for money. If u really wanna go android way go for nexus 5 when it releases or get the HTC one. Don't pay Samsung your money,they suck 😛
 
All of the above, plus. Had the S4. A good phone, but can be wonky. Android turns things off and on by itself. You will REALLY miss IOS if you get the S4. I am available for counseling, night and day. Don't do it.
 
missygal said:
I'm seriously thinking of switching from my iPhone 5 to the Samsung Galaxy 4. I really dislike the iOS 7. Mainly all the white, hurts my eyes!! Has anyone else done this? Is it a bad idea??
Click to expand...

Try it.Once you start thinking about it you won't be satisfied until you do.

I switched and came back,but that was when the galaxy nexus came out .S4 is a way better phone than the nexus though.
 
Had the iPhone 3G, 4, 4s... decided to skip the 5 because I was disappointed it was pretty much the same as the 4s. So went and got a Galaxy Note 2. Got used the giant size and enjoyed watching videos on it. The quality of the phone was crap. Screen cracked twice on very short drops (original and replacement screen). I could hear the plastic squeak whenever I would press with some extra effort (like when playing a game). Plus the icons/ and Samsung's TouchWiz is just plain ugly.

Got tired of it and decided to try the HTC One. Much better phone overall, had a drop and no issue. HTC Sense 5.0 has a much nicer design. I don't think the camera is that great and I just miss the iPhone's easy to handle size.

I realized I don't really need a large phone because I use my iPad so much. So if I don't need the big screen, why stick with Android?
 
I too felt disappointed with iOS 7, and was contemplating trying an Android phone. Then my boss showed up with a Galaxy S3 and an HTC phone -- not sure which one -- and wanted me to set up email on them. So I did, and found the menu system annoying -- it took several menu layers to set up the email, whereas with iOS, all the email settings are on a single page. Then a few weeks later, my boss drops the S3 in water, so he replaces it with an S4. At the same time, he also upgrades the HTC to a newer model. I have to set up the email on both phones all over again, while cursing that with iOS, I could just hit "restore from backup."

Conclusion: as bad as iOS 7 is, it's still much more preferable than Android.
 
I did the opposite, went from S4 to iPhone 5s. I decided to sacrifice the bigger screen for the little things that matter to me. For example, there are areas around town none of my Android phone ever worked well. They would drop to 3G or just not work at all for data. My 5s works just fine in those same places, I get full LTE. I even got LTE in a parking garage the other day. The radio in the iPhones are second to none. the GPS on iPhones is very fast and accurate too, unlike my previous Android phones. Apps like Facebook and games like words with friends are much more responsive and perform better all around then their Android versions. Then throw in the comparability with my other Apple devices and it was just too overwhelming in favor of selling my S4 and keeping my 5s.
 
My Android excursion started last January with Note 2. I actually like it a lot, but once I saw the HTC One, I was sold on the screen. It's amazing. So I switched...until my 2 week old 64gb One fell off my couch. It must've fallen just right, because it cracked the screen. I'm talking a 15 inch drop. I was livid. I made an insurance claim, but Asurion had me waiting over a month until they finally told me that they never stocked the 64gb, and didn't know when they would. So they offered me the Galaxy S4, which I'm using now. Anyway, if you're going to switch, try the HTC...no lag issues what so ever. NONE!! This S4 is loaded with lag in every aspect. Anyway, just like everyone is saying here, I'm coming back as well...my 5s should be delivered today.

One more thing...if you have a Mac, you'll be introduced to a whole new kind of aggravation. Android File Transfer does the job, but having to plug the phone in over and over drove me up the friggen wall. Then the random crashes in the middle of syncing...

....SAVE YOUR MONEY AND TIME. Honestly.
 
You will only get negative opinions on such a switch on this forum. Those who have successfully made the switch are not going to be hanging around here reading this thread.
 
I went from an iPhone to a Galaxy S3 and loved it at first. The screen size is great for watching video and the quality is amazing. There's not a person I've shown it to who hasn't said "WOW!"
I've had it for 14 months and I've found myself wanting to come back to an iPhone. There's nothing wrong the S3 per se, but it is slowing down already and there's hardly anything on it. As others have said, it doesn't play well with OSX either.
As everything else I have is Apple it's the odd one out and want my phone to be part of the big happy family, so I picked up an iPhone 5. Couldn't be happier. 🙂
 
vegastime said:
My 23 year old nephew recently went from the iPhone 4s to the Galaxy. He used it for a little over a month. He then switched back to his iPhone. Of course he was using IOS 6.

Direct text from him:

"Well now that I've owned both apple and android phones I would say the iphone is far superior"

He now really wants my iPhone 5, since I ended up getting the 5s.

Only way you will know for sure is to try it.
Click to expand...

+1. i tried all phones you could imagine, blackberry, samsung, treo, motorola and all smartphones (we can upgrade every year at work) but it's iphone for me hands down.
 
I miss exactly one thing from android. Vibration on the keyboard. I know it would use more battery but the option would be nice. My typing seems much better when haptic feedback is on. No idea why that is.
 
I've gone back anf forth from iOS to Android for months. Although I am having the opposite experience from you guys. I bought the 5S and not impressed. For the first time ever on an iPhone, I'm experiencing lag which drives me nuts. Fluidity was the biggest that iOS had over Android for so long and now that they don't have that in my mind, they don't have much else.

I'm taking my 5S back today and will probably be picking up an S4. iOS really has just shiny new coat of paint on it but not much else, IMO. I want real innovation, Apple, not redesigned icons.
 
Use both an iPhone (now 5s) and Android (now GS4) daily. Each has it's strengths and weaknesses. Both are great phones. Glad I get to experience both platforms.

OP, if you are bored, switch. Why not? Don't listen to the "its laggy and unstable" nonsense. Completely untrue. My GS4 is an AT&T version, running NovaPrime and Stark icons to get rid of the ugly TouchWiz UI, and I have most of the Smart features turned off.

Android is great - allows you all kinds of customization options, and if you're into somewhat obscure techy things there's a lot you can do via Android.

I will note however, if I were forced to only keep one I'd stick with my iPhone. But I don't get "bored" with my devices as far as their looks go and I love iOS 7. For me its a familiarity thing and the fact I can do 99.9% of what I want on my iPhone (now just need to be able to attach multiple docs/pdfs in an email).

Ultimately, whatever you choose you really can't go wrong. Just give it some time if you try Android. It'll take getting used to. Don't try it for a day then come here to complain about how terrible it is. We have enough of those threads on here already.

Good luck! 😀

----------
rockitdog said:
I've gone back anf forth from iOS to Android for months. Although I am having the opposite experience from you guys. I bought the 5S and not impressed. For the first time ever on an iPhone, I'm experiencing lag which drives me nuts. Fluidity was the biggest that iOS had over Android for so long and now that they don't have that in my mind, they don't have much else.

I'm taking my 5S back today and will probably be picking up an S4. iOS really has just shiny new coat of paint on it but not much else, IMO. I want real innovation, Apple, not redesigned icons.
Click to expand...

And don't listen to this nonsense.....be smarter than this and actually LOOK at what has gone into iOS 7. Hilarious to me - Apple has been so successful at making the new tech "disappear" (as they said in their promo vids) people don't even know about all the stuff the phone does behind the scenes.

Also its funny about all this supposed "lag" everyone is experiencing. My 5s is the smoothest phone I've ever owned. Not a stutter yet - and I didn't even do a full restore. Hell, my iPad mini runs iOS 7 just fine. Couldn't be happier with the 5s or iOS 7.
 
jrswizzle said:
Use both an iPhone (now 5s) and Android (now GS4) daily. Each has it's strengths and weaknesses. Both are great phones. Glad I get to experience both platforms.

OP, if you are bored, switch. Why not? Don't listen to the "its laggy and unstable" nonsense. Completely untrue. My GS4 is an AT&T version, running NovaPrime and Stark icons to get rid of the ugly TouchWiz UI, and I have most of the Smart features turned off.

Android is great - allows you all kinds of customization options, and if you're into somewhat obscure techy things there's a lot you can do via Android.

I will note however, if I were forced to only keep one I'd stick with my iPhone. But I don't get "bored" with my devices as far as their looks go and I love iOS 7. For me its a familiarity thing and the fact I can do 99.9% of what I want on my iPhone (now just need to be able to attach multiple docs/pdfs in an email).

Ultimately, whatever you choose you really can't go wrong. Just give it some time if you try Android. It'll take getting used to. Don't try it for a day then come here to complain about how terrible it is. We have enough of those threads on here already.

Good luck! 😀

----------



And don't listen to this nonsense.....be smarter than this and actually LOOK at what has gone into iOS 7. Hilarious to me - Apple has been so successful at making the new tech "disappear" (as they said in their promo vids) people don't even know about all the stuff the phone does behind the scenes.

Also its funny about all this supposed "lag" everyone is experiencing. My 5s is the smoothest phone I've ever owned. Not a stutter yet - and I didn't even do a full restore. Hell, my iPad mini runs iOS 7 just fine. Couldn't be happier with the 5s or iOS 7.
Click to expand...

Aside from the scanner and camera update, please tell me what is so revolutionary about iOS 7? Control Center/ notification center have been around in various forms on Android. Changing fonts doesn't do anything for me either & frankly I liked the old safari & outlook better. Again, aside from the scanner and camera improvements, what does the iPhone do better that cannot be found on other devices? Android still takes the cake on screens (sizes and clarity), the ability to customize your device home screens, including NFC techonology, Google Now kills Siri.
 
rockitdog said:
I've gone back anf forth from iOS to Android for months. Although I am having the opposite experience from you guys. I bought the 5S and not impressed. For the first time ever on an iPhone, I'm experiencing lag which drives me nuts. Fluidity was the biggest that iOS had over Android for so long and now that they don't have that in my mind, they don't have much else.

I'm taking my 5S back today and will probably be picking up an S4. iOS really has just shiny new coat of paint on it but not much else, IMO. I want real innovation, Apple, not redesigned icons.
Click to expand...

You mentioned your iphone 5s "lag" in another thread claiming it was when you went into Facebook. It's the app, not the phone and if you think it lags on iPhone, wait till you see it on the S4 lol. I would sit there for 30 seconds sometimes waiting for the feed to refresh. Try doing a search for friends. You can make a sandwhich before it starts to load after you type in a few letters. The Facebook app for iPhone is much faster, more fluid and more polished than the one for Android but have fun.
 
rockitdog said:
Aside from the scanner and camera update, please tell me what is so revolutionary about iOS 7? Control Center/ notification center have been around in various forms on Android. Changing fonts doesn't do anything for me either & frankly I liked the old safari & outlook better. Again, aside from the scanner and camera improvements, what does the iPhone do better that cannot be found on other devices? Android still takes the cake on screens (sizes and clarity), the ability to customize your device home screens, including NFC techonology, Google Now kills Siri.
Click to expand...

*sigh*

Revolutionary huh? Let's simply start with what has improved. I try not to blindly throw around terms like "revolutionary" and "innovative" because half the time one person has no idea what it means and the other person only throws it out there to make their device look good.

I was in the process of typing out all the things that went into the iPhone 5S - but then I remembered Anandtech's review - which is infinitely more detailed and written by people with far more knowledge about such things than I.

Read it if you REALLY are interested in learning:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7335/the-iphone-5s-review

As for the software side and iOS 7:

-Control Center: Much needed and well implemented.

-Notification Center (Today): The new "Today" tab in the notification center is actually quite brilliant. It brings some features of Google Now (like Traffic conditions) to the iPhone and in my experience has been more accurate - it correctly predicts and provides traffic for where I'm going whereas Google Now was always sort of erratic.

-Multitasking: Not only do you get more robust multitasking (that doesn't affect battery life) but intelligent updates to apps is a neat thing as well. For instance, if I usually open up Flipboard in the morning to read articles, iOS 7 knows this and has my Flipboard magazines updated for me when I open the app.

-Airdrop: Yes, its iOS to iOS - but S-Beam is also proprietary. Airdrop is a nice way to send files p2p to people in your vicinity. Instead of tapping phones, you just open up the share sheet and voila. And Apple's already said if an app can utilize a share sheet, it can use Airdrop so it won't be long before we see all kinds of things being shared this way.

-Siri: Siri got better and beats out Google Now in both speed and voice recognition for me. She also has a wider feature set with setting alarms and reminders, making appointments, searches (NOT web searches) etc...

-Activation Lock: GREAT security feature IMO. Coupled with Touch ID and your AppleID password, iOS devices are the most secure consumer mobile devices out there.

There's also a boatload of new dev tools that I know nothing about - and I happen to MUCH prefer the new look to the old. The animations, folders, transparency all look more efficient and modern.

I get that people are upset they didn't increase the screen size or add the ability to set default apps. But let's be honest here - those two things aren't HUGE innovations in and of themselves - so their lack of inclusion shouldn't downplay the entirety of what Apple was able to do during an "s" update.

My opinion is we'll see the larger iPhone next year - which given Apple's product history makes perfect sense. It always cracks me up when people get all livid about something they should easily have seen coming. And in the interest of being fair, please do post all the innovations and revolutionary NEW features coming to the Note 3 that the Note 2 didn't have. As I'm not a fan of screens that large I'm not entirely knowledgeable on the feature sets.
 
You might consider a less expensive foray into the Android platform in case you don't like it. The S4 won't hold resale value like a 5S and it doesn't have the Apple demand on it's side either so you could end up stuck with it.

As far as the switch to Android - I went from an iPhone 4 (I've only used iPhones since 2008) to a Nexus 4 recently and I'm happy with the phone's performance. There is no screen lag, and it has the processing power to easily handle every game or other app I've come across. It lacks the impeccable fit and finish of an iPhone for sure but at just over a third of the 5S price and still under half that of the 5C, I'm more than happy to cope. It's actually pretty nice in it's own right - just not AS nice. I bought it unlocked for $250 (8gig is $200, but I'm not sure why they even make 8gig smartphones anymore) off contract (only $50 more than a iPhone 5S or Galaxy S4's contract price) so I'll also be able to save $40-50 a month on my phone bill each month as well. It has an excellent 4.7" screen at 320ppi compared to the 5S 4.0" screen at 326ppi. The Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor 1.5ghz stacks up well against the A7 dual-core 1.3ghz from the 5S and it also has 2 gigs of RAM to the iPhone 5S's 1 gig. Ultimately it's a well put together phone and I enjoy using it. I really don't miss much about the iPhone aside from the app store and the iTunes integration. The Nexus has been a more than capable replacement for the iPhone for me and it will easily save me $1K over the next two years.

Here are a couple flagship phone comparisons I found with a quick search that might help:

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/19868/20130911/iphone-5s-vs-samsung-galaxy-s4-htc.htm
http://www.igeeksblog.com/iphone-5s-vs-nexus-4-vs-samsung-galaxy-s4-features-comparison/

At least one of them seems to have it out against Apple but their spec and feature comparisons are still somewhat useful if taken with a grain of salt.

I hope you enjoy whatever phone you get.
 
naughtynumber9 said:
You might consider a less expensive foray into the Android platform in case you don't like it. The S4 won't hold resale value like a 5S and it doesn't have the Apple demand on it's side either so you could end up stuck with it.

As far as the switch to Android - I went from an iPhone 4 (I've only used iPhones since 2008) to a Nexus 4 recently and I'm happy with the phone's performance. There is no screen lag, and it has the processing power to easily handle every game or other app I've come across. It lacks the impeccable fit and finish of an iPhone for sure but at just over a third of the 5S price and still under half that of the 5C, I'm more than happy to cope. It's actually pretty nice in it's own right - just not AS nice. I bought it unlocked for $250 (8gig is $200, but I'm not sure why they even make 8gig smartphones anymore) off contract (only $50 more than a iPhone 5S or Galaxy S4's contract price) so I'll also be able to save $40-50 a month on my phone bill each month as well. It has an excellent 4.7" screen at 320ppi compared to the 5S 4.0" screen at 326ppi. The Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor 1.5ghz stacks up well against the A7 dual-core 1.3ghz from the 5S and it also has 2 gigs of RAM to the iPhone 5S's 1 gig. Ultimately it's a well put together phone and I enjoy using it. I really don't miss much about the iPhone aside from the app store and the iTunes integration. The Nexus has been a more than capable replacement for the iPhone for me and it will easily save me $1K over the next two years.

Here are a couple flagship phone comparisons I found with a quick search that might help:

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/19868/20130911/iphone-5s-vs-samsung-galaxy-s4-htc.htm
http://www.igeeksblog.com/iphone-5s-vs-nexus-4-vs-samsung-galaxy-s4-features-comparison/

At least one of them seems to have it out against Apple but their spec and feature comparisons are still somewhat useful if taken with a grain of salt.

I hope you enjoy whatever phone you get.
Click to expand...

IMHO, Excellent post and sage advice, I too have had a Nexus 4 and whole heartily agree. 🙂
 
I went from an iPhone 5 to a galaxy S4 in August.

From an experience perspective it's a massive downgrade. There's a couple of cool perks but on a whole it's an inferior experience.

I fully intend on going back to the iPhone in the near future. Until then, I do like all access on Google play music, the big screen and Swype. Those are probably the only things I will miss when I go back to iOS.
 
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