iPhone vs. Galaxy vs HTC vs what?

[mossy]

So, I have to admit I got irritated with Apple for releasing the exact same sized phone for like the last decade. I don't really want to wait yet another year to see if Apple does something different. After cross checking all my apps, the ones I "must have" are now on Android (except Camera+ which is upsetting)

All of my friends are running Galaxy S4's or S3's, and the size and colors of those screens are amazing.

Tell me why I shouldn't go that route for the S5 or Note 4 (when it's out). Is there some other phone I've not mentioned you'd recommend?

Thought I'd never say this, but Apple and it's limitation to be creative and customize anything at all has me bored.

Since getting into healthcare I've completely fallen off the tech train. I appreciate all the advice y'all have given me in the past and would like more.

[yeezus]

You probably should.
I've always liked the ease of use and design of the iphone, but i will likely ditch it when my upgrade comes and move to HTC. Those phones are just way too nice right now.

[Krgrecw]

Don't worry Zito will be right there with you on picking a non-apple phone. I'm an apple fan boy so I can't give you an honest opinion on a different phone and what will work best for you but just know that phones in different sizes have Thier drawbacks too.

I'd go with whatever phone you like the best. You're the one that'll be using it.

[sturg33]

I switched from iPhone to Galaxy S4 and I will never go back

[mossy]

Don't worry Zito will be right there with you on picking a non-apple phone. I'm an apple fan boy so I can't give you an honest opinion on a different phone and what will work best for you but just know that phones in different sizes have Thier drawbacks too.

I'd go with whatever phone you like the best. You're the one that'll be using it.

I've been a fanboy since my iPhone 3G. When I got it I was amazed by it. Phones had always been so clunky and frustrating when it came to doing anything. I still like my 4S I have now, it just feels like not much has changed.

I almost feel it's unfair to compare Apple with Android, so different, yet not at times.

The Windows phone look rather Apple like where customization is concerned. Is that a fair statement?

[zitothebrave]

Windows 8 Phone is locked down like iOS. Android is the most customizable.

Of the current android phones out there ignoring price this is how I's rank them personally.

1. Moto X
2. LG G2
3. Note 3
4. HTC One
5. Galaxy S4

I'm only going flagship since I don't know what carrier you have.

I'm not a huge galaxy fan, though I think as the screen gets larger (and in the case of the Note 3 the internal memory) they're more functioning devices. Samsung will clog you down with app span. So to go with Google voice, etc. you have Samsung voice and many other apps you'll never use.

I have the G2 I got it cause at the time it was the best bargain on the market (free) But that was a limited time offer.

moto x for verizon and a few other carriers is one of the few non-Nexus devices running Android 4.4 or Kit Kat. Which is big. Hinting it will have the fastest software support. It also offers an android experience more like your iPhone, very stripped down, not tons of things thrown in your face. For me the X fits best in my hand, and you have to love the ability if you're on one of the big 4 to go out and custom color your phone.

g2 has the best battery of all the flagship phones. Camera is great, screen is awesome and it's about the same size as the S4 but a larger screen. I'm not a fan of the junk apps tossed in but it's not as bad as Samsung

Note 3, as I said above, Samsung's UI gets better on larger screens. But this is a hulk

HTC One is interesting it works perfectly fine, it runs well, it has a feel of a more premium phone than the ones liested above, but something about it doesn't get me excited.

GS4 is a fine phone, but easily my least favorite Flagship device (yes even more than the iPhone 5s)

Tell me which carrier you have and I can tell you the best deal you have now. Or are you getting a phone later.

[TURBO]

Im a huge Galaxy fan. Phone is amazing

[mossy]

Thanks for the details Z.

I'm on Verizon, contract ends sometime in January. Will not be switching per their coverage maps.

One MAJOR app I didn't bring up is the MLB app. Does it still only stream video on certain droid devices? I have to have the vid streaming. Does it do so on the Flagship devices you've mentioned?

Do all of those devices allow for the 64gb microSD cards?

Why the Moto X #1?

What's the best photoshopping app for wannabe photographers?

[zitothebrave]

k m

Thanks for the details Z.

I'm on Verizon, contract ends sometime in January. Will not be switching per their coverage maps.

One MAJOR app I didn't bring up is the MLB app. Does it still only stream video on certain droid devices? I have to have the vid streaming. Does it do so on the Flagship devices you've mentioned?

Do all of those devices allow for the 64gb microSD cards?

Why the Moto X #1?

I'll hit the questions I can answer. Since you're up in January, the deals will switch but right now motorolas, either X or the Droid line are the best smartphone deals on Verizon.

As far as I know barring some weird glitch all of these phones will run MLB video app. The requirement is that it's on Android 2.2 or newer, all these are android 4.2 and newer.

Only high end Android smartphones that allow for a MicroSD on Verizon are the Galaxy series and the HTC One Max. Most manufacturers are ditching the Physical data for cloud data. Would you be using it for photos? If so I'd recommend instead just exporting your photos off your phone onto your computer once in awhile. If you're using it more short term (shooting videos say) you can get an adapter for phones like the iPhone or Android that lets you basically load an SD card as an external hard drive. It's too cumbersome as a permanent solution.

I love the Moto X for a handful of reasons. I'll preface this by saying I've owned 4 android device. The Original Droid. Droid X, Galaxy Nexus, and now the G2. The Droid and the Nexus ran on stock Android. What stock android is, is a very vanilla experience.

For a screen shot comparison of the home sscreens





That's obviously just the tip of the iceberg because you can change your homescreen, but it lets you know the design difference between the 2. Smasung is big and out there , Motorola is more minimal. Another sweet feature that you get wit hthe Motorola devices that you don't get with the GS4 is actually more space for apps with the Google searching. Both phones support a 4X4 app setup. But Motorola gives you a static google bar, meaning it's always at the top of your homescreen. Samsung you have place it. That means 4 potential app shortcuts or another widget you lose on your home screen.

Second thing this is comparing it to all biut the G2, I'm not a fan of physical or static buttons like Samsung uses. Some people like them I'm not a fan. I can't tell you the number of people who don't know there's a menu button on their GS4 because it lights up for a second than goes away. Google has a very simple UI set up and I think that Motorola takes most advantage of it and I think that ccoming from an iPhone the Moto X would also be the most similar experience since you're used to things like not having to press a menu button and instead pressing an on screen little icon.

All the phones have their killer features. The Galaxy has their air gestures, HTC has Blinkfeed and Boomsound. LG has Knock On and Motorola has touchless control, smart notifications (forget the real name) and connect. To quickly describe them, air gestures allows you to control your phone without touching it, Such as hovering your finger over a folder to open it or a video to preview it. Or it tracks your eyes to scroll while you read. Blinkfeed and Boomsound I figured including both since neither are amazing but both are cool to the right person. Blinkfeed basically turns your homescreen into a news and social media ticker. Updating you immediately when you turn your phone on. Boomsound is ingenious but lends itself to the bigger build of HTC models in that they put the speakers on the front of the phone. So if you're big on watching videos or listening to music without headpThe notifications on all of the devices are largely the same but motorola. What motorola does is limit the amount of stuff that pops up on your lock screen and helps save your battery. To compare the 2 with the motorola notifications first vs every other android





So you can see the potential power savings there.

And again I like the design of the X better than any Android. For starters, you can go to motomaker.com and customer build your device at no extra charge. Of course you can often find deals on the black and white 16 gig but if you want more memory or if you want to design your phone (say you want a blue and white or red and black) then do it through motomaker. Second is the hand feel. The other phones to me are large. I have large hands so for me they fit fine but moto X is at like the brink of one handed touch. It's not quite as large of a screen as the G2 or S4. But it's much smaller. To compare to the iPhone 5 and GS4 (with the old Razr HD)



As you can see it's not too much bigger than the iPhone 5, but it has a way larger screen and it's noticeably smaller than the GS4 with a only slightly smaller screen (4.7 vs 5)

This last part is purely my opinion, but to me the Moto X and the G2 are the most revolutionary design changes of this year. GS4 is the same designa s the GS3 but with a larger screen. Moto X conversely is the first phone designed to feel unibody, where you can't feel the edge of the screen and the edge of your phoen, same with G2. It has a specially designed back with custom battery to optimize battery life and make it's design more ergonomic. G2 has what some people will love and has the buttons on the back. I'm in between on it i like it sometimes (with my case on I've never accidentally raised the volume like I usually do with phones I rush into my pocket. but more than once I've reached to turn the volume up and touched the camera or down and turned the screen off. I'm sure over time that will happen less though.

By january we may know more about the GS5 and if it will be worth the wait. I don't think it is based on current info. But we'll see.

[The Chosen One]

I have a Note 2... and when the price drops on a Note 3 I'll get it and use my Note 2 as an mp3 player!

[zitothebrave]

One additional nugget of info. Don't sign up for Verizon Edge or whatever. Take your normal 2 year upgrade. Edge is a massive scam.

Just to lay out the math.

Lets say you want a GS4, on 2 year it's 199.99. On Edge its 25 a month for 24 months or 600 bucks. But you may say, what if I want to upgrade in a year or cancel my plan. I'll address point 2 first, Verizon has a 350 dollar ETF that goes down 10 a month, so if you cancel at then of a year your phone cost is about 430, if you have edge, still 600. For the upgrade you may have a point there. That's where it gets dicey as the upgrade price is the retail. What edge does is basically if you pay off at least half your phone and there probably is a time in there between months 6-24 where some phones to benefit you on edge. But your phone has to be in great condition. So there is a tradeoff. Now I can tell you a phone like the GS4 which is about 8 months old 300+ so the point of diminishing costs is still there. Of course if you're really into tech you have an old family plan with dummy lines for 10 bucks that you take their upgrades from.

[The Chosen One]

It's cheaper just to buy the phone without a contract anyways.

The subsidization you pay for the contract just costs outrageous.

[zitothebrave]

It's cheaper just to buy the phone without a contract anyways.

The subsidization you pay for the contract just costs outrageous.

Not with Verizon. If you're buying a phone from VZW always do it on contract. It's always cheaper.

[Krgrecw]

Subsidies will be non-existent in a few years if not sooner. T-mobile proved a subsidy free carrier works and AT&T is about to hop in.

Speaking of subsidies tmobile is about to go all in:

T-Mobile is talking a big game ahead of the International CES 2014 trade show next month.

The carrier has sent invites for a press event, to be held on January 8. “This one you aren’t gonna believe,” the invite says, according to All Things D. The invite also has a large "4.0" on it. T-Mobile has been using such numbers to refer to successive iterations of its business strategy, dubbed "un-carrier" by T-Mobile CEO John Legere.

That’s all T-Mobile is saying for now, but citing an anonymous tipster, TmoNews claims that T-Mobile could start paying early-termination fees for people who switch from other carriers. T-Mobile will reportedly focus on getting entire families to switch, paying up to $350 in credit regardless of their contract’s end dates.


That could be massive.

[zitothebrave]

It would be massive and I hope it happens. I'm rooting for T-Mo because they're the only hope to drastically reduce monthly costs.

But to add,,I don't think it will happen, when Americans have to pay 600 for an iPhone instead of 200 you'll see an uproar. Consumers are dumb people who think cell phones are stupid cheap.

[holden]

Zito, help me. I'm on AT&T, and even though they're absolutely horrible I think I'm stuck because I'm on a family plan and the incremental cost to switch to VZW would be too high. Also I'm grandfathered in on the unlimited data plan and I'd prefer not to give that up.

I've been on iPhone since the original, so I'm obviously pretty heavy into that ecosystem. I don't actually use too many exclusive apps on there anymore nowadays, and anyway I also have an iPad Air now for anything that I really need that is iOS exclusive. I kind of think Apple is an evil company who restricts everything you can do, and I'm also a bit of a nerd who enjoys tinkering with stuff, so I'm considering making the switch to another phone.. but I'm not sure it's worth the hassle. What should do I do? Make my life better plz.

(Side note: I'm thinking about taking my wifi iPad Air back (was an xmas present) and getting it a data-enabled one from T-Mobile since they have the free data plan for life deal. I know it's only 200MB/month, but still, it would be useful probably. Just not sure it's worth the extra $130.)

[zitothebrave]

Sorry Holden just saw this today. If you have AT&T, good luck. They have more options than any other carrier. My opinion on Android though is still Moto X. Though At&T has some interesting devices like the Galaxy S4 Active (water, shock, dust resistant model) and Galaxy S4 Zoom which are specialized versions of the Samsung flagship. If you like taking photos you may like the Zoom.

Also I have no clue if AT&T like Verizon forces you off your unlimited Data with a 2 year upgrade, but if you really need it and like Verizon, AT&T lets you keep your unlimted Data if you don't upgrade then for me you really only have at max 3 choices. First 2 are the Nexus 5 and the Moto X. Nexus 5 is 349.99 retail and Moto X is 399.99. Small caveat with the Nexus 5 is it's not supported by AT&T so you do have to contact Google or LG (unsure) with any potential issues. The other option lags in many aspects but it's dirt cheap off contract. It's the Moto G. I'ts got a 4.5 inch display with almost the exact same pixel density as the iPhone. The bad on it though it it's not LTE. Also you can only get it in 8 GB and 16 GB storage. The good news though? You won't spend more than 200 bucks on it off contract. Pretty dang awesome if it fits your need.

As far as switching off Apple, that's your choice. Some people can't cause they use their iPhone for music or whatever and iTunes is hard to get off, or they have too many paid apps or some **** like that. There are some limitations of Android devices. There are few 64 gig android device. In the non-expandable memory models of course. You can get a GS4 and throw a 64 gig SD card in it if you're a music junkie. Models like the G2, Moto X, and HTC One come in 32 gig models. At 16 gig iPhone prices or cheaper.

It's your choice ot leave or stay I love Android and no better OS has come along to swipe me away (though I'm intrigued by Ubuntu when that's more built up I may test it out) I would leave iOS but there is that convenience of sharing data from your iPhone to your iPad.

As far as going with the data iPad, that's really your choice, I'd probably do it, but only if you're not the type who gets a new tablet every year. If you're like me and you keep one for 3-4 years (Xoom is getting passed on to my mother, what an awesomely built device) then it's a steal. Just gotta watch for overages.

[mossy]

Any input on the reliability of micro sd cards in the galaxy phones? I'm sick of running out of space.

However, there's a lot of venom online about those cards unmounting themselves, erasing all the pix on them or any data, etc.

I wonder if that's been solved in recent years.

16gb is simply not enough for all the apps and photos I need to be on the phone. 32 is ok, but why are we so limited by these phones? Would it kill them to just give us a default of 64?

[zitothebrave]

SD Cards sometimes go haywire. A quality SD card is less likely to have those issues. I've had many Sandisk ones that still work 5+ years later. And as far as 64 goes, I think some manufacturers will go that way but Apple and GOogle would rather you sign up for cloud services. Unfortunately Verizon doesn't carry any 64 gig phones except the iPhone 5S. The G2, One, Moto X and most Android can come in at 32. Note 3, is 32 internal plus SD.