iphone vs galaxy s4 - Advice please

I hate this thread every time it comes up. But the mentality and devout attachment to platforms fascinates me.

It also fascinates me how people can make character judgements on others just because of their choice of phone manufacturer.

Cases and accessories are plentiful and cheap on Amazon. I've gotten some nice stuff for the Note 2 on there.

The GS3 has accessories everywhere the iphone has them..I suspect it will be the same with the GS4 shortly.

I went from an Android OS to the iPhone 5. I wouldn't do it again. The iPhone is only meh, okay, I guess. If I had it to do over, I would go Samsung.

Apple OS= 1 choice
Android=100's of choices.

Besides, you gotta love the Galaxy commercials and the way they slam Apple. "The head phone jack is on the bottom." Ha!

Plus the USB on an Android is actually USB.
You can't plug an iPhone into the USB port on my Motorola car charger. But you can plug in any other USB device to charge it there.

I think this new Samsung GS4 is finally gonna be the one that knocks of the iPhone. My upgrade is in August, can't wait!

I am eligible for a discounted upgrade.. and can get several different phones... Here's my issue..

I am grandfathered into UNLIMITED data... as soon as I upgrade, I lose that AND, Verizon now charges $30 to upgrade a phone...

I also have the unlimited data with Verizon-- I've upgraded (resigned contract) several times and they still kept me at the old 'unlimited data' plan. Did someone from Verizon tell you that your plan will change? I hope this is not true because I don't want to switch to Sprint when I'm eligible for an upgrade.

Sometime last June it changed I believe, anyone using the 2 year upgrade to get a new phone will be forced into their new share plans. If you want to pay full price for the phone then you can keep your unlimited grandfathered plan.

I asked myself the same question - and did the research on how compatible Samsung would be with a Mac OS. Everything I run at home is an Apple product, and I've had my iPhone4 for a couple of years and really haven't had any problems with it at all.

After doing some reading I learned that the Galaxy and the Mac don't get along well and some fixes and installs would be needed, and I'm a plug and play kind of girl, that I'd just upgrade to another iPhone, unless at some point I won't need to sync my calendar and email.

This actually is not true.

All you need to download is the Kies software from Samsung, plug it in and you go. The interface of Kies is a lot like Itunes, except you can't purchase anything in there I believe.

Plus you can add google calendar to I-Cal, and it syncs right up.

I just got the S3. I was torn on the Iphone or the S3, but ultimately went with the S3 and so glad I did. I love my phone and the capabilities of it is crazy cool.

I hate this thread every time it comes up. But the mentality and devout attachment to platforms fascinates me.

It also fascinates me how people can make character judgements on others just because of their choice of phone manufacturer.

^^ THIS.

I prefer Apple and trust me, I've been preferring it since the "cool kids" were still in diapers.

I had the Iphone 3GS. I was waiting for the 5 when the 3GS basically died. I didn't want to go back to AT&T or Apple and see if they could replace it on my dime. I had heard the Samsung phone was awesome and did some research and almost as a spur of the moment purchase bought the Samsung. In general, the only thing that you will need to get used to is the size difference. The phone is much larger (width and height) than the Iphone. If you can tolerate that it is a great phone. Most of the apps you can find in the Android store. Android actually has more apps but some of the ones I liked on Apple are not available yet.

One of the best things I found with Android was with the Iphone you needed huge memory to download all of your pictures and songs. On Google, they are stored on Google+ for backup. The songs are streamed to your phone like Pandora so you can have a 16G card and tons of apps and still have room. Plus if you run out of room can take the back panel out and change cards to a larger one. I am not a programmer computer geek but if you are the Google system is much more open to root apps or download the latest Google software before your carrier does. One thing that is a little annoying is that when Google launches their latest version of the software, each carrier does it at a different time as opposed to Apple which is self contained.

The camera on the Samsung S3 is very good. It doesn't have that panoramic feature which Apple does although I think it is a gimmick. Plus I heard the 4 will have it. It has this burst feature (which I don't use a lot) where it takes 8 pictures in rapid succession and knows which one is best. It also has face recognition software.

I have no regrets switching although I will say if Apple has the best phone on the market when my contract is up I would have no regrets going back but the fact that I can stream my music from a free cloud server with massive memory as opposed to Apple which gives you very little before charging will probably keep my with Samsung/Android.

I was split between the S3 and the iphone 5, by a stroke of luck the shop where I was buying ran out of the iphone. So by a stroke of poor supply chain I ended up with the S3 - and I'm so glad I did!

Instead of blindly claiming allegiance, here's a couple of reasons why: (in no particular order of importance)
1. bigger screen
2. removable (and easily replaceable) battery
3. expandable storage - need more just pop in a SD card, much cheaper than paying Apple's exorbitant memory prices
4. widgets! I love having weather and email notifications on my lock screen, not having to go into the actual app to see the weather
5. not locked into an ecosystem - this has pros and cons, but I've never like the "walled garden" concept
6. location based switching of settings - when I leave home the phone turns off wifi, increases the ringer volume and when I arrive at work it quiets the ringers and turns on wifi. seems kind of silly but I don't have the embarassment of being in a meeting and having the phone go off because I forgot to silence it and turning wifi off while out in public saves battery.
7. was worried about app availability (use an ipad at home) and there is a replacement (some even better) for eveything I normally use in the Google store.
8. Swype - I can type even faster now, it's incredible!
9. micro USB charing, no proprietary (read: $$$) charging stuff)

Couple of things I don't like:
over-reliance on Google - after the annoucement of Reader's impending shutdown it makes one wonder what is next
almost too many settings to tweak and you can end up getting too bogged down in minutiae instead of use
the shell is a little slippery, but can be remedied with a case
local stores (I live in a rural area so choice is very limited) have poor accessory choices

I've only had the phone since Thursday, but I'm very impressed. I can be rough on phones so we'll see how it holds up, but so far, so good. Play with both, go by what matches your needs the best and forget about marketing hype.

Excellent summary, I have the SG3 and LOVE it. I can't comment on the iPhone as this is my first smart phone. I'm a bit of a tech junky, but I held out on a phone for a long time.

But I have to add a little of info about your cons:
Reader: You can use Feedly, and if you install and set it up before Reader goes out it'll transfer all your subscriptions etc.
Settings: The amount can be over whelming to the less tech savvy, but I LOVE having the ability to change how my phone works. You don't have to play with all the settings.
Case: I live/work in Toronto, and Amazon had cases as cheap as anywhere I could find, with more selection.

The camera on the Samsung S3 is very good. It doesn't have that panoramic feature which Apple does although I think it is a gimmick.

It does have panorama...

Hubby has an Iphone4s, I prefer my SG3

I think there are a couple smartphones that finally offer comparable features and functionality that the iPhone has been praised for. Much of that has to do with Adroid becoming more user friendly and robust as an OS. Definitely worth a look at the Samsung.

Fact is, they both do essentially the exact same thing with almost exacty the same specs, but what varies is how they do it. Whichever seems to fit your workflow and needs, buy it. My advice to clients is to handle both.

App wise they both have great offerings.

All the best.