Wait for iPhone 4S or Samsung Galaxy S2 now

[Cod3rror]

Android is not close to iOS right now.

Wait for the next gen iPhone. By that time Android Ice Cream Sandwich is supposed to be shown too and that's the Android that promises to fix things that are wrong right now... inconsistent UI, update mess, some apps working, some not, etc...

So by September you'll get a better idea what to get.

 

[Faux Carnival]

Get the Galaxy S II. It's the best phone out there by far.

 

[Tarzanman]

Samsung has just become the #1 phone maker in the world, so they have to be doing something right.

All reviews of the Galaxy S2 I have read are glowing. Even the people who dislike Android begrudgingly admit that the Galaxy S2 is at least "decent". I haven't used the S2 yet (I have a regular Galaxy), but I am looking forward to seeing how the new one compares to my old one.

Do yourself a favor and ignore the people people who claim that they 'won't touch Android'. It is the #1 smart-phone OS and Apple didn't have any problem borrowing a slew features from Android for iOS 5. That should be more than enough acknowledgement that it is the real deal.

 

[tirk]

Samsung has just become the #1 phone maker in the world, so they have to be doing something right.

Six months ago, when they were the number 1, would you have said that about Nokia??

Popularity is a poor guide to what's "better" - just look at Windows!

 

[El3ctronics]

Six months ago, when they were the number 1, would you have said that about Nokia??

Popularity is a poor guide to what's "better" - just look at Windows!

Completely different. Nokia WAS #1 (by a HUGE margin) and has gradually lost market share up to this point. Samsung has increased it's market share at a rapid rate to BECOME #1. Your point is totally invalid.

 

[wordoflife]

I would probably sign a new contract with an iPhone 4 and be on my way ...

but in your case I'd sign a 1 year contract with the Samsung Galaxy

 

[bdenge]

One thing people don't seem to talk about when switching from one phone to another is the cost of all the apps, music etc that you've purchased from iTunes. I'm not the kind of person that thinks the iPhone is the BEST phone out there, but for me to walk away from all the money I've spent on apps, a different phone would have to absolutely blow the iPhone out of the water. I don't believe the gap in features between the top phones is that great. They are all pretty darn good at this point.

For those of you that have moved away from Apple, what do you lose? Can music, iBook purchases, movies, etc be moved to Android at all?

 

[Centient]

One thing people don't seem to talk about when switching from one phone to another is the cost of all the apps, music etc that you've purchased from iTunes. I'm not the kind of person that thinks the iPhone is the BEST phone out there, but for me to walk away from all the money I've spent on apps, a different phone would have to absolutely blow the iPhone out of the water. I don't believe the gap in features between the top phones is that great. They are all pretty darn good at this point.

For those of you that have moved away from Apple, what do you lose? Can music, iBook purchases, movies, etc be moved to Android at all?

Music can easily be moved. I don't purchase iBooks b/c I knew it was too proprietary. Kindle is better IMO. Not sure if movies can be transferred. All the other stuff, contacts, email, etc.. is obviously really easy to move around.

You're right though about the apps. I find the Apple experience to be superior, on the whole, to the Android experience. Of course someone else will feel otherwise. However having tried out Android for several months I came away feeling ready to commit myself to iOS for the foreseeable future.

Before I was on the fence about which OS was for me, and that influenced my purchase decisions a great deal. Now that I'm more or less on the Apple bandwagon I'm more inclined to buy apps. More expensive apps in particular.

 

[vampyren]

Music can easily be moved. I don't purchase iBooks b/c I knew it was too proprietary. Kindle is better IMO. Not sure if movies can be transferred. All the other stuff, contacts, email, etc.. is obviously really easy to move around.

You're right though about the apps. I find the Apple experience to be superior, on the whole, to the Android experience. Of course someone else will feel otherwise. However having tried out Android for several months I came away feeling ready to commit myself to iOS for the foreseeable future.

Before I was on the fence about which OS was for me, and that influenced my purchase decisions a great deal. Now that I'm more or less on the Apple bandwagon I'm more inclined to buy apps. More expensive apps in particular.

Same as me. Even though Android has great potential the whole google term of use (developers can do whatever) has left a bad taste in my mouth. What i am most angry about is the browsing. The stock browser and even Opera browser never work the way i wanted or i come to expect from iOS. There is always bad word wrapping, crashes etc.

I wrote a long topic about my user experience with my Galaxy S2 so if your interested read it here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=14864450#post14864450

I still think GSII is a nice phone but if you want to heavily use the browser go for iPhone. Personally i'm still deciding which one to use as primary still but its leaning towards iPhone at the moment.

 

[maflynn]

Have you tried the Galaxy?

My recommendation is to visit a cellular store where one is being sold. Get a feel of the hardware and software. Android does have a learning curve but could be a nice fit for you. Only you can decide whether waiting for the 4S or get the galaxy.

Why not get the galaxy, use it until the 4S (or what ever its going to be called), and if its a phone you must have. Sell the galaxy.

 

[Patrick J]

I would get the iPhone 4 now, 350 euros, for 32gb and in-box is a great deal.

 

[gimmeiphone]

been an iphone user since launch of first iphone, recently switched to gs2, and now the novelty has worn off, i dont much like it. The camera is amazing but everything else feels so convoluted. The screen is nice and big, but there is a bug with the touch threshold in that you have to move ur finger slightly before it registers touch, download sketchpad app to see what i mean you can do dots by tapping. Another screen issue is the banding, its absolutely terrible, just bad. The worst thing about it is how hard everything seems to do, nothing is straight forward and the apps are ****, facebook app is atrocious never works properly and misses important features. Phone is a nice phone all in all and probably bit better than ip4 but im sure the next phone will be better if it has a bit bigger screen, id be happy with 4". Anyway just my 2 cents

 

[vistadude]

All options are too expensive. I would rather get an unlocked windows phone 7 device, such as the samsung omnia. Here in the states, a brand new one could be bought off amazon for $350, which suppose is 250 euros. Most WP7 phones have a good camera. Then in the fall either update to Mango or get the new iPhone or GS2.

 

[2Shae]

I'm getting my iPhone fixed and wait it out until the next iPhone shows up.

 

[baconroll]

Well I sold my iPhone 4 and used the money to get an iPad a few months back. I was waiting on a new release in June and to tied me over, I bought a brand new unlocked Galaxy S (1) for a ridiculously cheap price. I figured if I didn't like it I would sell it on in June when the new iPhone was announced. No announcement . . but do you know what? It doesn't matter. The GS1 covers all my needs and more. Sure - I miss my iPhone for certain things - I had a lot of apps for it (but iPad covers that), the flash on the camera I miss, but the camera on the GS1 is adequate for my needs (and it's a matter of personal opinion which one is better). I love being able to customize my phone to my own preferences (without having to jailbreak a phone that I paid £500 for just to get it to do certain things that a phone less than half the price can do). I have dropped my GS1 from a great height, bounced it on the floor and then just for good measure - I kicked it to help it along a bit (not deliberately of course), and not a SINGLE mark on it, glass, shell, nothing and it was not in a case. Android is not as good as the App Store IMO, and the Apps not as polished, but you can usually find anything you want. I have a memory card slot which I can use, loads of widgets - better notifications and it's thin and light. Sure - I agree with those who say the iPhone feels more expensive - that's because it is. But IMO at the end of the day, it's a phone that does everything the iPhone did for me and more for a lot less money. So unless Apple bring out something spectacular in the fall or whenever they are going to, I'm going to stick with my GS1 for now. Hope this helps some. Oh and btw, I have been doing wireless syncing of my music for months now - plenty of free apps for that in the Market as well.

 

[maclaptop]

Get the Galaxy S II. It's the best phone out there by far.

This mirrors my experience exactly.

However to be fair I have a lot of Android experience, so I have a level of knowledge that many don't have the patience to acquire. There are those who have no interest in taking personal responsibility and educating themselves, they are happiest with the ultra simple iPhone.

My Galaxy S2, is as refined as my iPhone 4.

Then there are those who love to learn and grow, in this case Android is very rewarding.

When one switches from a PC to a Mac, some learning is required. Not because Mac is hard, but rather it's simply different. This is exactly the case between an iPhone and an Android phone. They are just different.

Personally I enjoy having them both, since variety is what I enjoy most.

 

[vampyren]

This mirrors my experience exactly.

However to be fair I have a lot of Android experience, so I have a level of knowledge that many don't have the patience to acquire. There are those who have no interest in taking personal responsibility and educating themselves, they are happiest with the ultra simple iPhone.

My Galaxy S2, is as refined as my iPhone 4.

Then there are those who love to learn and grow, in this case Android is very rewarding.

When one switches from a PC to a Mac, some learning is required. Not because Mac is hard, but rather it's simply different. This is exactly the case between an iPhone and an Android phone. They are just different.

Personally I enjoy having them both, since variety is what I enjoy most.

Your right in most cases BUT there are just some things the phones dont do well and it has nothing to do with learning. I dont know if this is for all Android phones or just Galaxy S2.
The two most annoying things about GSII was as i mentioned before the browsing which was very very bad and the charging time (ok the third would be the battery drain).
Browser (opera included) just didnt do a good job compared to iPhone, the pages either zoom a bit to far which made it pretty hard to read (remember GSII has low pixel density for that big screen) or i had to manually zoom every time. With some tweak it was possible to get a good distance sometimes depending on the page. On iPhone it pretty much always does a great job in that. Also the whole page formats properly and not just text. Within the browser selecting text or link was a pain also. Simply said the browsing experience was extremely bad compared to iPhone. This has nothing to do with learning curve. I want the phone to behave the way i expect it not the other way around.

The battery also went down rapidly if i did the same activity on GSII compared ti iPhone which last me for a full day. on GSII it lasted only half a day top. Now the charging, on iPhone i get to 80% in about 40min to 1h (from 20%) but on Galaxy i went up roughly 20% in 1h.

So yes Android is fun with all the tweaks you can do (i like widgets) but with so many fundamental flaws (atleast galaxy) i couldnt bear it so i sold my GSII as quickly as i could Love to be back on iPhone now.

Ohh and another thing is the whole app quality, same app on iPhone worked great while it was buggy and lacked features on Android! Was just amazed. Sure this has nothing to do with Android itself but in my opinion its due to the bad roadmap and responsibility Google had set. You cant have the market soooo open that lazy developers do whatever they want. That my view anyway.

 

[kevinof]

Ok I gotta rebut some of these comments. Don't know if you got a lemon but couple of things just don't make sense. I have an SG2 and and ip4 (well my wife does)

charging:
Takes 1 and 40 minutes to charge from zero to full. Far as I remember the iphone takes a lot longer than that. It possible its due to the size of the mains charge (ie putting out more amps) as the iphone one is fairly small.

battery life:
When I first got the sg2 the battery lasted about 12/14 hours with reasonably heavy usage. After an update it now lasts roughly 25/30 hours or drops 3% (ish) per hour.

Browsing:
You know you can set the default zooming level to suit you (like in settings!)? I agree selecting text is a bit more painful than IOS and definitely needs refinement but browsing experience is fluid and have no issues at all. And I don't buy your comment that pixel density is going to make two hoots as to whether the page is legible or not.

Android is not IOS and IOS is not Android. They are both smartphone OS's but take a different view on how things should be done. Some people like IOS (my wife... and others) but I don't (and others) and I can never see myself owning an Iphone but choice is good. Long may Apple, Google and MS battle it out and keep giving us choice.

Your right in most cases BUT there are just some things the phones dont do well and it has nothing to do with learning. I dont know if this is for all Android phones or just Galaxy S2.
The two most annoying things about GSII was as i mentioned before the browsing which was very very bad and the charging time (ok the third would be the battery drain).
Browser (opera included) just didnt do a good job compared to iPhone, the pages either zoom a bit to far which made it pretty hard to read (remember GSII has low pixel density for that big screen) or i had to manually zoom every time. With some tweak it was possible to get a good distance sometimes depending on the page. On iPhone it pretty much always does a great job in that. Also the whole page formats properly and not just text. Within the browser selecting text or link was a pain also. Simply said the browsing experience was extremely bad compared to iPhone. This has nothing to do with learning curve. I want the phone to behave the way i expect it not the other way around.

The battery also went down rapidly if i did the same activity on GSII compared ti iPhone which last me for a full day. on GSII it lasted only half a day top. Now the charging, on iPhone i get to 80% in about 40min to 1h (from 20%) but on Galaxy i went up roughly 20% in 1h.

So yes Android is fun with all the tweaks you can do (i like widgets) but with so many fundamental flaws (atleast galaxy) i couldnt bear it so i sold my GSII as quickly as i could Love to be back on iPhone now.

Ohh and another thing is the whole app quality, same app on iPhone worked great while it was buggy and lacked features on Android! Was just amazed. Sure this has nothing to do with Android itself but in my opinion its due to the bad roadmap and responsibility Google had set. You cant have the market soooo open that lazy developers do whatever they want. That my view anyway.

 

[The Californian]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Well, the Samsung Galaxy S2 exists. The next generation iPhone does not.

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

Get the S2 now, and get the next iphone 5. That is what i am planning on doing. I don't see anything on the 4 or 4s worth getting.

However, with android, you can consider music syncing to be a little more troublesome. if you cannot live without itunes, then I would consider sticking with iphone. Otherwise, don't be afraid to switch to android.

So many features you don't have on the iphone:

Call blocking (send straight to voicemail)
Text blocking (with google voice)
integrated g-talk
tighter google voice integration
FREE google maps/navigation (murders both iphone and garmin nav)
Flash (not a big deal, but still a plus)
Custom ROMS (on cyanogenmod, you can draw a gesture on teh lockscreen and that will launch an app or shortcut: Ex: I set mine up to draw a "J" to call James; Draw an "h" to text harry; draw an arrow to navigate home) It works amazingly fast, and is surprisingly accurate.

weather widgets a must if you live in an area where rain/snow is an issue

android is def on par with ios these days. anyone that says otherwise hasn't been on one.

I still love ios though, and will move back when they bring something that excites me. looking forward to iphone 5

 

[Stealthipad]

My current 3GS is semi-broken. The ear speaker doesn't work, but I'm not getting it fixed...again.
Also my carrier contract just finished so I can get a new phone.

What should I do?
1. Get a Samsung Galaxy S2 (no contract, 450 euro)
2. Samsung Galaxy S2 with 1-year contract (pay 300 euro for phone)
3. Second hand iPhone 4 (350 euro)
4. Endlessy wait for iPhone 4S.

The thing is that don't really want the "upgraded" iPhone 4. I want the 2012 version iPhone aka iPhone 5.

Advice me please because I'm in a dilemma.

Ps: I want a phone which can also make good quality pictures which is why I'm not getting a temporary "dumb" phone.

I have been using the Samsung Galaxy S2 in the USA on AT&T. It works GREAT!

I can sit the iPhone 4 and the SG2 next to each other the the SG2 screen blows the iP4 into the toilet!

Android is so much more open! I can download files via the Internet or USB into file folders set up in My Documents on the SG2. It basically give you the freedom of having a real computer with you instead of something that it's life is dependent on iTunes! My Android even sucked all of my music right out of iTunes and totally synced with Outlook, I was up and running in no time.

Oh, you said you want pictures? The SG2 has a 8mp camera that has setting that will remind you of a real digital camera! The images are the best I have seen from any phone!

I wish I had gone to Android sooner!

 

[vampyren]

Ok I gotta rebut some of these comments. Don't know if you got a lemon but couple of things just don't make sense. I have an SG2 and and ip4 (well my wife does)

charging:
Takes 1 and 40 minutes to charge from zero to full. Far as I remember the iphone takes a lot longer than that. It possible its due to the size of the mains charge (ie putting out more amps) as the iphone one is fairly small.

battery life:
When I first got the sg2 the battery lasted about 12/14 hours with reasonably heavy usage. After an update it now lasts roughly 25/30 hours or drops 3% (ish) per hour.

Browsing:
You know you can set the default zooming level to suit you (like in settings!)? I agree selecting text is a bit more painful than IOS and definitely needs refinement but browsing experience is fluid and have no issues at all. And I don't buy your comment that pixel density is going to make two hoots as to whether the page is legible or not.

Android is not IOS and IOS is not Android. They are both smartphone OS's but take a different view on how things should be done. Some people like IOS (my wife... and others) but I don't (and others) and I can never see myself owning an Iphone but choice is good. Long may Apple, Google and MS battle it out and keep giving us choice.

Then you must be talking about another phone
Yesterday i took time, started charging from 22:00 and i had around 37% charge , 23:15 it had went up to 65%, now my iphone goes from 20% to 100% in about 55min today! So i have no clue what to say.
Also when i used the GSII my battery drained like crazy, after about 8h use it had went down to 30% or so, iPhone usually about 60%. Galaxy almost drained battery by the minute i felt, the battery went down constantly. Personally i think its due to all the background stuff and the bigger screen.

About pixel density and browser, yes i did play with all settings to set the view to far, medium etc and in all settings it was lousy formatting. And yes the text looks bad (its pixely and not and solid or clear as iPhone). Its common sense if you have a larger screen with lower resolution the image will not look better so this had nothing to do with OS or anything just the screen.

At work i demonstrated the formatting phenomena to many colleagues who were Android fans and didnt buy what i was saying and after a quick demo they just got quiet it hard to explain this in word but if your wife has a iphone it should be easy for you to test side by side. On the other hand if you dont surf all to much i can understand if you dont get annoyed by this. For me who surf daily that was a huge let down to see both the stock browser and Opera behave so badly.

Any how its good there are options as you say. Android suits some iOS others i might visit Android in the future but for now i'm satisfied with my iPhone.

OP: good luck choosing your phone. Just make sure you test them both at store.

 

[ImperialX]

I own both the iPhone 4 and the Galaxy S II.

Your best bet is to wait for iPhone 5/4s. I assure you.

 

[jackhdev]

Wait for the next generation iPhone. While there have been some stories that the fifth generation iPhone will only be a minor upgrade from the iPhone 4, there are other stories that claim it will be a bigger upgrade and that the fifth generation iPhone will be a "different form factor" than what we're expecting.

 

[truciet]

SGS2 now then iPhone 5!

Warning though, Samsung Galaxy phones get HOT