iPhone 5 vs Galaxy S3. (Not 4G)

[Dee021]

Hey everyone!

Less than a month ago I upgraded to the iPhone 5 (from a 4s) and am now VERY curious about the Galaxy S3.

I would just like to know what people's opinions on the two are and which one people prefer and all that. I would really like to be well informed before I go ahead and either purchase an S3 or stick to my iPhone.

Thanks.

 

[chanchan05]

Depends entirely on how you use your phone, but for me the S3 in terms of functionality and relative ease of use beats the crap out of an iPhone, mainly for the ability to customize my homescreen to have everything I need easily reachable for me, plus the weather, calendar and other data sre viewable without opening any app using widgets.

One caveat though is that though normally paid games on iphones have their android versions available for free, iPhone still has more games.

 

[Metroid Prime]

Moved to Device/Comparisons section.

 

[Shockwave78]

I can fill you in on my experience..

I have had a total of 3 Galaxy S3's because i could not make up my mind so i went back and forth over the course of the 3 months.

June - I had a Iphone 4s, Pre-ordered the sIII the first day it was availabe and got it the Friday before the 4th of July i believe. Initial thoughts were it was a very nice phone, loved it...Then stuff started to bug me. Colors are WAY over saturated, almost comically. Battery life was much better the Gnex i had tried (3 times again) but still not good enough. I was getting about 3 to 3 1/2 hours usage time, almost all of it is web browsing/email. Screen absolutely sucks outside in sunlight, i mean bad..really bad... Sold the phone and went back to the 4s.

July - Started thinking damn, this iphone 4s's screen is tiny. I did love web browsing on the S3, especially at night while in my house. So i got another one off craigslist. Tried it again and the same things started bugging me again. This time i knew what the problems were, but i wanted to see if i could live with them again... Battery life, i think i could have lived with, although on the weekends it would run low come nightime when i would be out and about. After that all the other stuff i mentioned again popped its head up and i sold it off again after about 4 weeks..Went back to the 4s.

September - Started thinking about the damn thing again..picked one up off craigslist again, within about 24hrs though this time i knew it just would never work. The AMOLED screens are just not my thing and will never be. They are just horrible outside...Sold it about 48hrs on craigslist...back to the 4s.

A week or two later i picked up the iphone 5...

Pro's - screen is beautiful, not because it is bigger(which you cant even tell it is bigger really than the previous gens) but it just looks like everything is floating on top of the screen. Pretty cool.

- Best outside performance i have seen of any phone

- Battery life is unbelievable for a 4G LTE device, they only increased the battery size from 1440mah to 1440mah or something and I get 5-6hrs screen on time, 80% web browsing/email, the rest is app usage that requires internet. Unreal how they were able to achieve this, i would say it is because of sharps new LCD screens that are super energy efficient, along with new 2nd gen LTE radios, apple is also only using one LTE radio on there phone, while everyone else is using two...another huge factor in battery savings. Pretty amazing i am getting about 50% battery life than any android phone, with about 1/3 less battery size.

- Camera the best out of all the phones i have tried, same with video

- Ipod, nuff said


Cons - Screen size, You cannot even tell they upped the screen size. Everything looks exactly the same when web browsing since they did not increase the width. Videos do not look anywhere near as good as the Gnex or SIII i used. Whenever you go on youtube with the iphone and go to a HD video it just looks like crap, letter boxed, and just looks like its running at 480p. However the video you take with the phone looks great and HD. I am still searching for HD video on youtube that will look great on it. I think because of the aspect ratio it does not display good, videos are going to have to be tailored to it to show correct/HD. Its amazing when you show people the new iphone 5 not one person has noticed the screen is bigger lol. Almost disappointing in a way

- iOS - Getting stale after 5yrs of using it, i was tired of it two years ago and I am dying to find a new phone to replace iphones(HTC 8x is on my list, i love the new windows phone 8 OS)


S3 - Pros - Screen Size, options in the settings menu's.

Price - You could probably pick one up in like new condition, or new for $275-$400 easily on craigslist/full price no contract. Back in september when i bought mine there were a ton for $300-$375. If you have an upgrade availabe and decide to go with the S3, then buy the iphone 5 on contract upgrade for $200, Sell it for $500 on craigslist, buy a S3 for $300 and make $200 back...new phone = FREE

Camera - Good but not great, i would say its 75% of what the i5 is. The multi-burst feature is awesome though Along with all the other camera options.

Cons - AMOLED blows outside

Battery Life - Good but not great

Colors non realistic and color profile cannot be changed unless you are
on the international version

 

[Ingenieur7]

The Samsung Galaxy S3's camera is much better than the iPhone 5's camera.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 can do burst mode, whereas iPhone 5 can't.

Also the iPhone 5's maps application is too laggy and buggy. It gives the location of cities incorrectly and the graphics are buggy. Also, zooming in and out of the Apple maps is very laggy. I wouldn't recommend the iPhone 5 to anyone.

 

[Shockwave78]

The Samsung Galaxy S3's camera is much better than the iPhone 5's camera.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 can do burst mode, whereas iPhone 5 can't.

Also the iPhone 5's maps application is too laggy and buggy. It gives the location of cities incorrectly and the graphics are buggy. Also, zooming in and out of the Apple maps is very laggy. I wouldn't recommend the iPhone 5 to anyone.

1. LOL @ the S3's camera better than the iphone, that's just fanboyism there... Iphone 5 can do burst, just not with the default app. There are many apps in the app store that have a burst mode that is as fast as the s3's going back to the 4s.

2. Maps is buggy in the larger cities mainly , Although i have had no problems in the limited testing i have used it on. Not saying there isnt an issue, but apparently the issues are being resolved daily because apple has summoned there employees at the stores to report issues in there areas. No doubt googles is better, they have what a 10yr jump on them? but how many people are going to use there for nav anyway? Almost all cars come standard with a nav system now, unless your buying something 12k. Everyone i know has a smartphone and non of them use it for nav, they either use the built in nav that came with there vehicles or use a standalone gps.


3. Zooming in, no lag here..Just tried it.

 

[Ingenieur7]

1. LOL @ the S3's camera better than the iphone, that's just fanboyism there... Iphone 5 can do burst, just not with the default app. There are many apps in the app store that have a burst mode that is as fast as the s3's going back to the 4s.

Uhh no you can't.

And how can you say that the iPhone 5's camera is better than the SGS3's camera?

The iPhone 5 has a purple tint in daylight.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2012/10/12/iphone-5-troubles/1630389/

Purple haze

Some users of the iPhone 5 have noticed a purple haze or flare on some of the pictures captured when the phone is angled toward a bright light that may be just outside a scene. This is not atypical. Tests conducted by Consumer Reports revealed that this Jimi Hendrix effect is not limited to the iPhone 5.

Apple, meanwhile, posted the following resolution online: "Most small cameras, including those in every generation of iPhone, may exhibit some form of flare at the edge of the frame when capturing an image with out-of-scene light sources. ... Moving the camera slightly to change the position at which the bright light is entering the lens, or shielding the lens with your hand, should minimise or eliminate the effect."

Screen glitches

Are bugs inhabiting some iPhone 5 displays? In the "Green glow on iPhone 5 unlock screen?" topic area in the Apple Support Communities, one user wrote that a green glow appeared around the edge of the display on his iPhone for a fraction of a second after you turn on the screen. Some users reported similar issues.

YouTube videos are documenting another screen problem, a constant flicker of light that appears under the keyboard on some devices. Apple hasn't publicly weighed in on these issues.

Slowness

Some users have experienced painfully slow times between when they tap on a message in an email inbox and when that message actually appears.

Whatever problems are emerging aren't affecting sales. Consider the issue that has gotten the most media attention: Maps. Despite CEO Cook's apology and the snags surrounding Maps — inaccuracies, missing points of interest, and so on — a survey by ChangeWave Research indicated that the Maps app is "irrelevant" when it comes to demand for the new iPhone.

And 90 per cent of those surveyed who already have tried Maps on the new iPhone or on another iOS 6 device reported no problems with the app. Only 3 per cent characterised it as a "very big problem." Maps "is not an antenna issue," says Paul Carton, ChangeWave's vice president for research.

Adds Cult of Mac's Kahney: "The vast majority of consumers are totally delighted with the iPhone 5 and iOS 6."

Apple declined to comment.

Source: USA Today

2. Maps is buggy in the larger cities mainly , Although i have had no problems in the limited testing i have used it on. Not saying there isnt an issue, but apparently the issues are being resolved daily because apple has summoned there employees at the stores to report issues in there areas. No doubt googles is better, they have what a 10yr jump on them? but how many people are going to use there for nav anyway? Almost all cars come standard with a nav system now, unless your buying something 12k. Everyone i know has a smartphone and non of them use it for nav, they either use the built in nav that came with there vehicles or use a standalone gps.

It's buggy. End of story. I've tried it myself and Apple maps is a huge bug and I can't believe they haven't even fixed it yet. Quite disappointing really.

The GPS is a huge problem on iOS 6 as well. For example, there is a grey cloud that covers the screen sometimes when you use navigation even when the weather's not cloudy. That means you can't see the streets properly. Also, the directions given by the navigation assistant are incorrect most of the time and the destination is usually incorrect.

Apple messed up the whole maps and navigation for iOS 6. That's why Apple has many people who worked on iOS 6. I doubt they're going to fix it soon.

3. Zooming in, no lag here..Just tried it.

I meant there is a lag for the map to load. Until then, the map is filled with boxes and it takes ages to load the map.

 

[Yatezy]

Depends what you want from your phone. I used to jailbreak my iphone as i hated stock iOS so it made sense for me to move to Android.

If you have spent a lot getting apps and dont mind stock iOS then it would make sense to stay with Apple. Apples problem isnt the hardware, esp with the new i5 which is meant to be a bit of a powerhouse, its iOS thats the problem. Its very, very limited.

Android for me blows me away with what it can do, personally, Tasker is a great example of how powerful Android is! Also i can get 2 days usage with moderate use mainly involving texting and phone calls with some browsing.