Samsung Galaxy S4 or iphone.

[Caleb]

iPhone for me, it's a no brainer. The only thing the droid does better is rebooting on its own. My teams on-call phone has been a blackberry, then (mind you my team is a bunch of Linux geeks) we tried to switch to a couple different droids and none of them could handle the amount of email we get. They'd either lock up or reboot randomly. I now have an iPhone 5 for my guys and it hasn't skipped a beat in the year or so we've had it.

I also just sold my 16gb iPhone 5 that I got the day they were released for $350. Droids will never hold that kind of resale. I haven't paid for a phone since I got my first iPhone. Infact I've used my phone for a year or so and then sold it for more than I bought it for on every iPhone.

I'm curious about what's "dumbed" down on the iPhone? I buy a phone to do a few things for me and some people seem to think that because it can do those things without any issues it's dumbed down. It's no more dumbed down than the droid.

 

[Cody]

I sold my sprint GS3 about 6 months ago for $350 bucks on ebay. I had to switch to verizon for a work plan.

 

[Stephen]

iPhone for me, it's a no brainer. The only thing the droid does better is rebooting on its own. My teams on-call phone has been a blackberry, then (mind you my team is a bunch of Linux geeks) we tried to switch to a couple different droids and none of them could handle the amount of email we get. They'd either lock up or reboot randomly. I now have an iPhone 5 for my guys and it hasn't skipped a beat in the year or so we've had it.

I also just sold my 16gb iPhone 5 that I got the day they were released for $350. Droids will never hold that kind of resale. I haven't paid for a phone since I got my first iPhone. Infact I've used my phone for a year or so and then sold it for more than I bought it for on every iPhone.

I'm curious about what's "dumbed" down on the iPhone? I buy a phone to do a few things for me and some people seem to think that because it can do those things without any issues it's dumbed down. It's no more dumbed down than the droid.

Agreed. Whats dumbed down? We have about 450 corporate smartphone users, 75% of those are iPhone users. And these aren't glamour fashion users. These are engineers, R&D, accountants, IT, marketing (well, I guess they are glamorous). People that use the phones hard in a business settings. We rarely have problems with the iPhones. Android phones... yeah. Constant system problems. Trouble interfacing with Exchange. Batteries over heating. We replace 3-4 Galaxy S3 or S4 displays a week. iPhones? Maybe one every other week. And considering the ratio, thats an incredibly high failure rate.

I like the Galaxy phones as a form factor. And there were features that I liked about it when I tried it out. But for regular use in a business setting, my experience is that they just don't work well. And for personal use, I just want it to work. Yeah having all the fancy new bells and whistles is cool, but I'll take reliability over cutting edge any day.

 

[Caleb]

I sold my sprint GS3 about 6 months ago for $350 bucks on ebay. I had to switch to verizon for a work plan.

Haha, and right now that s3 is worth $27 according to nextworth.com. That's where I sold my 5 to for $350 and my wife's 16g 4s for $250 (both within the last week). Like I said, no droid will hold its value like an iPhone does.

 

[Cody]

lol. And the human body is worth about a buck in raw elements. Give me a line on a supply of them for $27 please, I'll buy them all day long at that price. I'd get a sig loan to buy as many as possible at that price...you find me the supply, I'll cut you in on the profits.

A quick check for sold listings gives us....
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Cell-Phones...H_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_nkw=samsung+galaxy+s3

A little more than $27.

Did you know.....that companies like nextworth buy phones for a fraction of the market price so they can, get this, sell them for a profit? Holy schnikies! If only this had been brought forth earlier, you could have sold your iphone 5 for...

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Cell-Phones...rom=R40&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_nkw=iPhone+5

Which seems like a little more than what you got for it. Just being a smart ass, I know you probably sold it to them as more of a convenience because the extra money isn't that big of a deal...but you brought up the money part.

But the point about perceived value is spot on, and the android system is fragmented which makes it difficult for developers to create universally applicable software for them. They will never have the same following like the Apple fans and hipsters give to the iPhone, so the secondary market will never be the same. That, and Android technology is constantly changing and evolving creating a level of obsolescence to their line (but that is also the driving force behind new technology and why android devices are a couple years ahead of apple in terms of hardware technology (for example, actual 4g android phones existed about 2 years before the first iPhone was 4g (the iphone 4g, while cleverly named, did not have 4g capability). Historically, technological obsolescence has had a negative impact on resale value. Do you think Apple might understand that perhaps, and just perhaps, that enters into the equation as they roll out "new" technology in their phones? They aren't worried about Android phones making their phones obsolete, because their customers aren't buying on technology. They are worried about their new phones making the old phones obsolete, which would kill the secondary market, and it would potentially eliminate millions of people who can't afford the current phone thus lowering sales on fancy white or (GOLD!) accessories and itunes sales. New phone sales are subsidized, they make money on everything else. The new iPhone 5 just sold like a billion units..and for what? A new OS that the other phones get, a new color (OMG GOLD!..or would it be #gold?), and a finger print scanner that the NSA has access to? SWEET! You think all of those phone sales were from people who needed a new iPhone, or from people who would buy a buffalo chip from apple if they painted it white (or GOLD!) and gave it a hyped up release date? But what they did do is create a giant supply of used non-gold iphone 5's for the secondary market, so people with the iphone 3/4s will now have a more affordable way to jump to a flashier, 4g capable iphone 5 without signing a contract that would eliminate their grandfathered rate, and create new demand for the new line of cables, docks, and accessories that are needed because the 5 uses a different connection. Apple is no dummy, they know exactly who their customer is and where they make their money.

 

[Caleb]

You're correct, the extra hundred or two I COULD have gotten on the open market wasn't worth it to me. As long as it pays for my next phone, I don't care.

Two points and then I'm done with this thread. First one is apple has been very public about not always having the latest and greatest technology. You mentioned the time difference between 4g/LTE. Those first androids that had this also had a battery life of a couple hours if it was enabled. Apple made the decision that they would wait until battery life was acceptable before offering it. You, as well as anyone, knows apple will always go for user experience before offering the latest and greatest.

Second point is you still have yet to answer what's dumbed down about the iPhone? . Just because it's easy to use, does not mean it's dumbed down, that simply means they done their research and know how to design a proper UI.

 

[1adam12]

Ha ha ha! This is as good as ford vs dodge or jeep vs toyota. I just got my second galaxy. I had a original s 4g and loved it. I would take that old a$$ phone over the brand new iphone or the next one 6 months from now. I just picked up a brand new s3 for 20 bucks (with contract of course) from costco and it is awesome. And if wasn't for android the iphone would have never upgraded from the original. With that said if the s3 wasn't $20 I would have went with htc one, I have heard great things about it.

 

[1adam12]

In reality it comes down to what you are used to. I don't know anyone who has switched and been happy. If you have a android and are comfortable with it stay and vise versa with iphobe.

 

[Cody]

You're correct, the extra hundred or two I COULD have gotten on the open market wasn't worth it to me. As long as it pays for my next phone, I don't care.

Two points and then I'm done with this thread. First one is apple has been very public about not always having the latest and greatest technology. You mentioned the time difference between 4g/LTE. Those first androids that had this also had a battery life of a couple hours if it was enabled. Apple made the decision that they would wait until battery life was acceptable before offering it. You, as well as anyone, knows apple will always go for user experience before offering the latest and greatest.

Second point is you still have yet to answer what's dumbed down about the iPhone? . Just because it's easy to use, does not mean it's dumbed down, that simply means they done their research and know how to design a proper UI.

As you are painfully aware, I'm not a computer person. But it seems odd that those that are particularly computer savvy tend to use programs like Linux over Mac OS and Windows because it allows them to do more with what they know and what they want to do. Isn't Android the mobile version of Linux in a lot of ways? Wouldn't you say that Windows and Mac OS have done what they've done to their OS's so that the common user (an idiot like me) can do basic functions on them without a foundation of computer knowledge? The user experience on an iphone is simplified because, admittedly, 95% of users don't need, care, or understand the differences in technology and will simply use it for occasional phone calls, text messaging, and hipstergram. The additional rooting and personalization capabilities of the android platform allows some users, albeit a small minority, to take full advantage of the additional processing, memory, and other hardware advantages of the higher end android phones. So maybe it's not fair to say that iphone is dumbed down as it that would presuppose a level of technology that is being held back by their UI, and in apple's case it takes advantage of it's hardware capabilities pretty well and is user friendly. Maybe it's more fair to say it isn't dumbed up with a bunch of new technology that their demographic likely wouldn't know how to utilize anyway. But my argument is predicated on a lack of technology, so regardless of reality, I'm still sticking with my argument

In reality it comes down to what you are used to. I don't know anyone who has switched and been happy. If you have a android and are comfortable with it stay and vise versa with iphobe.

There is a ton of truth to that. Phones have become more than phones and they store all sorts of personal data. People are becoming entrenched in one platform vs another. It would be a painful process to try and migrate all of your contacts and such from one platform to another, and that in itself holds a large number of people loyal to a platform.

 

[1adam12]

One more thing if the phone works who cares what the resale is. I feel that with an android you can upgrade the phone you have to compare to what ever apple whoop la is out. I'm done.

 

[N-Smooth]

I'm honestly happy I have the opportunity to use both phones for work and personal use.

The GS4's taste for locking up is irritating. All the neat features do nothing for me when the phone is being restarted or I'm pulling the battery out.

The iPhone 5 screen seems small now that I'm using the GS4 but that's not really fair. Then again I can use the iPhone with one hand cause it's not a freaking tablet like the GS4.

I like notifications more on the iPhone apart from the blue light on the GS4. That is a nice feature.

The camera on the GS4 has some cool settings but it's painfully slow. Try taking pictures of an 8 month old... the iPhone 5 wins.

At the end of the day for me it comes down to a phone that works and works very well (iPhone 5) and another phone that works well (GS4) and has a million features 93.742% of people will never use.

 

[Unimog]

One more thing if the phone works who cares what the resale is. I feel that with an android you can upgrade the phone you have to compare to what ever apple whoop la is out. I'm done.

Gotta disagree with this one. No matter how much you like your current platform, the hardware and network capabilities built in will be outdated in a matter of a few years. It might be nice if this weren't true, but it has been for the last 20 years, so I don't imagine it will slow down.

I do agree with the sentiment of staying with what you are comfortable with. I have an iphone and will continue to because they were first to have a really great smart phone and now I have a ton of time and money invested in iPhone apps. The android is a great platform, but definitely not in a different league as some would represent.

I completely understand the dislike for apple's closed marketing model, but there are definitely benefits of the model to end users as well as developers and apple.

Being a software developer, I hate the iPhone software architecture compared to android, but to be fair, they are both pretty quirky in their own way.