Samsung Galaxy S3 4G or iPhone 5

[Spoolio]

Been out of contract for ages now and my Blackberry Bold is pretty much past it so any comments on these 2 contenders? Don't much care for the narrow screen on the iPhone for texting but do love my iPod Touch as a music player and happy with iTunes so that's a plus. Galaxy obviously more screen to play with but it doesn't seem as bright in the shop as iPhone. What're they like outside in sunlight? Also didn't really get on with my previous Android phone but it was only a 3.5" screen running Eclair so I guess it's a lot better now (I hope).

[bodgit]

Had a play with my lads S3 at the weekend and its a great phone. The back panel is pretty fragile and the finish shows very slight cracks just from removing a few times after just one week.
Feels big in my hand but so did my S2 at first but got used to it. Only tried it the pub but if its like the S2 its useless in bright light.

[Timee80]

you can adjust the screen brightness which really helps when outdoors. I found my screen protector made the screen worse when outside too (although ive only got the s2)
overall you cant compare the 2. The galaxy is a much better phone overall. I know your last android was cheap and nasty but when youve tried one with some decent hardware inside and on recent firmware you really wont be dissapointed. Trust me Paul, the apple has had its day!!!

[Spoolio]

Yeah, to be honest the things that are keeping the iPhone under consideration are the quality of the apps (I am prejudiced as I think the Blackberry App Store is crap, so was the Nokia Ovi store I used before) and my massive iTunes library. Has the average standard of Android apps got better in the last 2 years then, it used to be pants compared to Apples offering.

[Timee80]

Most apps are free, music is free (and you dont need to mess about with itunes which i detest!!!) and it is so customisable. Hardware wise it beats the iphone too. They changed the connector port on the iphone 5 too so you then have to buy more stuff to keep everything compatible with your ipod. Just do it Paul!!

[bodgit]

Had a word with my lad and he says his S3 is crap in the sun and he has no screen protector.
The HTC One x has a better type screen for viewing in bright sunlight. Best thing is to ask the salesman for a demo outside the shop.

[Spoolio]

Originally Posted by bodgit

Best thing is to ask the salesman for a demo outside the shop.

Hmmm, will try this, although wont be surprised if they are less than enthusiastic. We'll see how much they want a sale I guess. I haven't considered a HTC before, I'll stick on the list.

[zoaman]

play with the setting and you may have to do a factory reset to get the screen brightness correct for outside.mine had a glitch the first week when slow on uploading screens.spoke to samsung and done a few setting and updates and now it great. have used the new i5 and put a cover on it and you cant get a signal.common fault.s3 all the way. oh by the way dont put cheappy screen/scratch saver on the screen .i bought a brill one from ph....4u
cost a tenner and they fitted it.totally impossible to see.well worth the tenner
s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3 s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3s3

[rollingon4]

I've run both and I'm currently on Samsung.

The touch screen sensitivity of the iphone is better, so are the quality of apps in the app store, the iphone also feels a better phone in the hand. BUT the decider for me was the fact I wanted to get shot of syncing and transferring music with itunes as I work between multiple computers and the Samsung is just drag and drop for transferring files. Wifi signal is also weaker on my Samsung which is a pain. Software updates on Android can be infuriatingly slow to be released for a particular handset and network, not a problem with Apple.

If you have no problems with itunes I'd say go with the iphone as it is the better phone in my opinion, if you prefer not to be tied to itunes and you're the sort of person that likes tinkering with your phones software go for the Samsung.

[Skye]

I was using a HTC desire on Android about 3 years ago and loved the phone. It was my first smartphone and I was hooked. I got rid though as it shipped with something ridiculous like 512mb of internal storage so I kept having to delete files as the phone kept filling up. As all HTC offerings were equally poor in terms of memory back then I went to the dark side and bought an iphone 4.

To be honest, I was an Apple hater back then and bought the phone somewhat reluctantly but I couldnt help but grow to love it. Ok so everything is maybe a little too structured and restrictive at times, but with that comes simplicity. I want a new song on my phone.... I just went on to itunes and bought it. 10 seconds later I had it, I loved that.

So when my contract was up at the beginning of September this year I was dead set on the iphone 5 and duly waited several weeks for the release. Then it was released and I was disappointed to be honest. Yes it is a good phone, but then why wouldnt it be. It is an evolution of the iphone 4 and 4s. That is probably the biggest problem though, it is more like an iphone 4s mk2 than an entirely new phone. I found it all very underwhelming, apart from the price that is! The price of approx £250 for the handset and a £40 a month contract for 2 years is way OTT for a phone that isnt much better than what I already had.

So I started looking at Android handsets again, but had similar worries to you. How would I get on with Android? What about all my photos? What about all my music in itunes?

On all of the above there is no need to worry. Both HTC and Samsung have sync applications now to ease the pain of transferring files but as I havent downloaded them to my laptop yet then I just connected my phone to my laptop and did it the old fashioned way. I chose the option to use my phone as an external storage device and it opened up the file directories in windows on my laptop. With itunes also open I just located the music file for my HTC on the laptop, opened it up and dragged all my music files into it from itunes. Simple... And it is exactly the same for any photos you may want to transfer over, it is completely painless!

So how do I feel now I have been using the handset for a couple of weeks? It took a while to become accustomised. I have to admit that in the first couple of days I kept putting the sim back into the iphone to do certain tasks, but that soon stopped once I found the equivalent app on Google Play. Now I love it!

The Google Play market has improved massively over the last 3 years. When I was using it with my HTC Desire Angry Birds was as good as gaming got. Then I went to iphone and was blown away by the games from Electronic Arts etc. So I was a little anxious to see what Android had to offer this time round.... If I am honest, its not quite at the same level as the App Store - yet - but it is hugely improved on its position from 3 years ago and it is now breathing down the App Stores neck. In some ways it is already better, I prefer the layout of Google Play. The one area it still lacks slightly is that 2 apps that I had on my iphone still arent available on Android. To put that into perspective though I had about 100 apps so we are talking about 2% that I had on the iphone that I dont have on my new HTC One X. The slightly annoying thing is that one of the two apps was the Santander mobile banking app which I used almost daily so was pretty hacked off that this wasnt available. I have since discovered though that the Santander website is mobile optimised and displays exactly the same as the iphone app did so no big deal....

And so what of the phones themselves? If I was going to Android I wanted the best. So that meant HTC One X or Samsung Galaxy S3. I did hundreds of hours (literlly) of research over a few weeks and narrowed it down to the two handsets above. I went into my local T Mobile shop to check both out and at that time was favouring the S3 slightly, purely down to a slightly higher capacity battery. That might sound trivial, but on smartphones we all know that the battery issue can be far from trivial.

When I got into the shop though everything changed. The S3 is a fantastic phone, but it looks like it has been made from recycled Quality Street wrappers. Why Samsung would make a phone that is sooo good and make it look soooo cheap and tacky is beyond me. It also felt cheap in the hand. So then I picked up the HTC One X.... If I am honest, it still doesnt have the feel of an aluminium and glass iphone as it is still made of plastic, but it at least feels like quality plastic. It has the velvety feel to it and just feels like a better constructed piece of hardware. That is probably helped by it being a single piece unit like the iphone, so there is no removable battery and consequently no removeable back cover. Once upon a time that would have concerned me, but having come from an iphone then I am used to it so couldnt care less.

So I bought the HTC One X for a lot less money than the iphone 5, on a cheaper monthly tariff than the iphone 5, and feel that I have more phone than I would have done if I had gone for the iphone 5. So am I 100% happy?

No, but only because HTC have just announced the HTC One X+ which has double the storage at 64gb instead of 32gb and a higher capacity battery..... Damn damn damn, my phone isnt yet out of nappies and they have brought out an upgrade! To be fair though, the software improvements are being rolled out to the One X so the only thing I am missing out on is the extra 32gb of storage and the better battery, but the 32gb I have should be more than enough as I got by fine with 16gb on the iphone 4 and the battery I have sees me through the day so although more would be nice then I dont need it.

So in summary, if you go back to Android I think you will find it very different from the service you left behind several years ago and I dont think you will be disappointed. As for handsets then it is obviously a personal preference, but for my the HTC One X is the better overall package than the S3.

[cjm_2008]

S3 all the way. brilliant phone - amazingly powerful & stunning screen.

[Col]

iPhone = sheep
S3 = customisable in every way. It is exactly what you make it...

[SlowOne]

I trust therefore that all the Apple-haters who think that iOS is too controlling and not so customisable are on a Linux platform with their PCs, or have they been on that controlling, non-customisable, over-priced third rate MS platform? Just a thought...

[Col]

Originally Posted by SlowOne

I trust therefore that all the Apple-haters who think that iOS is too controlling and not so customisable are on a Linux platform with their PCs, or have they been on that controlling, non-customisable, over-priced third rate MS platform? Just a thought...

I understand very little of that...

IMO the iPhone is a great phone. Unfortunately for them the S3 is better. And generally cheaper.

[Cooper]

iPhone, because I can.

[Spoolio]

Been to Carphone Whorehouse and had a fondle of many handsets. As expected though no chance of taking one outside at all. Got to admit it that the only way I'd have an iPhone would be secondhand and cheap - it's just too narrow when in portrait mode for my fat thumbs and I really did want to like it too. Bugger. Short list now down to a Galaxy S3 (and EE now offer a 4g one too just to mess with my head) and HTC One X+ (October 22nd). If those two could mate and produce a phone with HTC build, screen and interface but Samsungs SD card slot and separate battery it'd be an easy decision. I know 64gb is a lot of storage but I could fill that easy peasy.

[Skye]

Now that would be a good phone!

I went for the HTC obviously and don't regret it, but to be honest I don't think you will be disappointed with either phone. 64gb will take a lot of filling though, and the One X+ looks sexy with the red trim....

[mutoid]

Have you looked at the LG 4x?
I use one of these,and its a fantastic phone,about the same as an S3,just a little cheaper on contracts etc.