Hellobee Boards

i was going to get an iphone5 and chose the galaxy s3 for the size as my sole differentiator. i'll probably get the iphone6 next tho, wanna see what the hype is about!

I never had an iPhone but I don't see why I would ever switch from Android. To me that would be like buying a more expensive phone with less features and worse hardware. One look at the specs sells it for me.

Android phones come in all shapes and sizes. Personally, I find the bigger screens are a benefit rather than a hindrance. My DH has the Galaxy S4 and loves it. I don't think the screen is too big at all, rather I'd say it's perfect size. I plan on getting the Note 3 when it comes out and that has a big screen but I'm going to be carrying it around in my purse anyway.

I think people who say Android is harder to use have been completely taken in by Apple's branding (they have the best advertising since diamonds). It's virtually the exact the same interface. If you've used any touch interface, you can use an Android phone just fine. I think people who say Apple devices are more user friendly write off any usability problems as being their own fault and are willing to give it a lot of slack, while with Android they immediately blame the device. I've experienced many usability issues on Apple phones, MP3 players and computers and I'm very tech savvy.

DH has a Windows phone and LOVES it.

android definitely has more features. I have an samsung galaxy (old one s2) and an ipad, and i definitely like the ease of the android over the ipad. most people I know who switched to android love it

I'm interested to see what people say. I have always had iPhones but I am intrigued by the new Android phones, especially the Note. I mainly browse the Internet on my iPhone and it strains my eyes. I also like how easy it is to plug in the Note to your computer and manage all the things on it.. So much less complicated than iTunes. We'll see...

IMO, I think it's all about one's preference, not one being better than the other. I have an iPhone 5 and have played around with the S4 and the biggest differences I've seen are that the S4 is a bigger phone (so that could be a pro OR a con for some people... for my DH its definitely a con) and the iPhone is more user friendly. They both have their own neat little things they can do, so its up to the user what they'd think they'd use or like more.

Another thing with Android is you are not stuck using the phone the way it is out of the box, and not by jailbreaking/unlocking it either. You don't have to be a power user to install apps that change the keyboard, home screen or even the whole interface so that it suits you better.

I went the other way - went from Droid to iPhone. I thought the iPhone hype was just that - hype. After a 1.5 years of use, I have to say that I was wrong, at least for me. My iPhone is much more user friendly, runs faster and more seamlessly, and the quality of the actual phone (wear and tear is way more minimal) is way higher than my droid was. I'll likely never go back.

The droid was great when I bought it, but the phone started degrading from day 1 - became slower and slower, bogged down. My husband's droid all but fell apart, since he carries it in his pocket all the time (he has iPhone now, and that hasn't happened).

As far as being on the cutting edge, I find that a lot of apps worth their salt develop on the app store first (think small startups that can only afford to hire one developer, hire IOS), then develop on android later, so if you have app FOMO (oh my god, I didn't have instagram...I know it sounds ridiculous but it's my favorite app and it was really lame not to have it back then) it's gets pretty bad when you're on android.

Technology advances all the time and I'm sure what's out there now is better than 2 years ago, but man. Love my iPhone!

@CathleyaS: I think it's a little unfair to compare a phone you got 2 years ago to a new phone, especially depending on the model you got 2 years ago. My DH's old phone was 2 years old and was definitely not falling apart or anything (casing and buttons still perfectly intact), but was getting older technology wise for sure.

What you are saying about apps used to be true, but it really isn't any more. Apple and Android users are split pretty evenly now, so developers are realizing they need to put their apps on both to hit a significant chunk of their market. It's possible you had such outdated and few apps available to you because you were using a very, very old version of Android. Also it sounds like you were running very old hardware too.

I'm sure if you compared a top of the line Android phone to the iPhone 5 or even the 5S you'd find they are much more similar.

(This is not really related to your post, CatheyaS)
A pet peeve of mine: People who buy a $600 windows laptop and then buy a $2500 Apple laptop and go on and on about how much better it is and faster it runs. Well yeah! Spend $2000 on a windows machine and you'll get a similar (probably better) experience!

@Mrs. Bee: I swear iPhones have a self destruct built into it once it nears 2 years. All our iPhones start dying around 2 years. A huge reason why I switched to droid.
I am def not happy with the Galaxy's photo quality.

@MrsCB: Man in Canada the legislation just changed so that we could finally have ONLY 2 years contracts!! 3 years was definitely too long, technology moves waaay faster than that.

It's different in Europe from what my dad tells me. You can buy a new phone whenever you want there apparently with no consequence. Also, unlimited data at a very reasonable price point. Ah man I wish Canada and the US could be more like that.

@pui: Well...you can buy them any time you want. But who wants to spend $600 on a phone every year?

@pui: I'm not sure how it works in Canada, but here my contracted monthly rate is the same regardless of whether I buy myself a new phone or not. So there's no reduction in not getting a subsidized phone. I would just have to pay for the phone on TOP of what my monthly bill already costs.

@MrsCB: Just because there is no discount for buying your phone elsewhere doesn't mean they don't charge you extra when you get a "free" phone with them with a contract. It just means you get ripped off if you do buy your own phone. They don't give you a free phone, they make money off them one way or another. It's just a sales tactic to include the cost of the phone in to your monthly bill because then you feel like you did get a free phone.

@MrsCB: Yes, and that's why Europe is better!

@Mrs. Bee: muah ha ha ha ha...come over to the dark side!!

I switched from an Android over to the iPhone and although I loved the bigger screen on droid phones, the iPhone has won me over with its camera. That is all that matters to me. The Android takes clear pictures, but only if you hold still enough. Maybe the newer droids are better, but the iPhone shutter speed is amazing... combined with the many many awesome photo editing apps on the iPhone.... i'm staying put!

I do miss how seamless the droid integrates all things Google though. It was so much easier to find contacts, contact numbers, email addresses, etc with the droid... and I loved the intuitiveness of the google calendar sync. It was also great that it automatically backed up all my photos and videos into G+ so I never worried about losing them.

@CathleyaS: completely agree. The droid slows down like crazzyy but my iPhone 4s is still in great condition despite many many drops! I think the battery life is also a lot better on the iPhone.

@Mrs. High Heels: You could use Google Drive instead if DropBox since it sounds like you already have a Google Account! As far as I know though it doesn't automatically put photos you take up there... but look that up maybe there is a way to set it up so it does!

@Mrs. High Heels: Google Drive includes 15gigs free and you can upgrade to 100gigs for $60/year, which if I am not mistaken is much more competitive than DropBox. Google Drive also syncs with all your devices automatically, you don't need to plug anything in (I am always editing photos on my computer, then putting them in to Drive so that I can put them on Instagram from my tablet). Also it's part of my Google account so nothing could ever get lost once it's on there.