New Phone: Samsung Galaxy S 2 or Iphone 4?

[LJohn]

I'm sorry but these sound like the typical standard throw-away lines touted by Apple about why one should make the switch to their products. Unfortunately they're not wholly accurate.

I'm not suggesting people buy apple products. I'm saying they make very high quality products. They are WAY overpriced. They don't suit everyone. I'm saying discounting them due to hardware is a touch ignorant. It is also a very subjective area. Apple products are well designed and their non-customisability means the hardware is always going to work with the software and the chances of it going wrong is greatly reduced. Putting that into an objective statement is something I can't do.

I had to think for a long time before going with an S2. The majority of my friends have moved to iPhones and I am yet to hear any of them say anything negative.

I can't work without both microsoft and apple products. They are both great. But bashing apple because they don't have the horsepower means you are missing the point of apple's products.

Further, as mentioned, I own an S2. I consider it a cheap feeling phone. I like the design, but it feels flimsy. I love the screen. As far as iPhones go. They feel like a higher quality product. The ergonomics however are pretty average. The functionality is great.


You're right, I shouldn't have said 'will'. That is a ridiculous statement on my part. My experience with 3 different android phones is that they freeze and reset quite frequently. It's not a big problem.


Also, regarding above post, 100% true. The form factor of the S2 with a slim case is great. They really got that right. A quality case really steps up its feel.

 

[mtb1611]

My experience with 3 different android phones is that they freeze and reset quite frequently. It's not a big problem.

I strongly disagree. I actually find it to be an inexcusable pain in the arse and it's one of the main reasons I initiated the thread. Technology of this "calibre" and this price should NOT frequently freeze and rest.

 

[LJohn]

Okay, once again, 'quite frequently' was a rubbish term to use. I had a Sony Ericsson Xperia. That was the worst. It froze, from startup, an average of 2-3 times per week. I had a cheap HTC which performed like a cheap device. It froze an average of twice per week. I have had my S2 for 3 weeks and it has inexplicably frozen and reset once. It is open source software running on multiple devices so I'm happy with that performance. You may not be. If it managed to get the same performance as an OS purpose built for specific hardware, I would be greatly surprised.

 

[Steve-0]

Stock android builds don't freeze. It's the dodgy manufacturers builds that do.

Android is miles better then iOS, If you don't think so, it's because you are computer illiterate. Honestly.

iOS is simple to use which in it's own right makes it awesome. Pick up the phone and do normal phone stuff day in day out with zero hassles. But beyond that, it gets pretty bad.

 

[No Skid Marks]

I just signed up with Amaysim, using my current I-ph. $25 a month, unlimited text and talk, 4gig download. Hope my phone doesn't break, will be digging this thread up if it does.

 

[mtb1611]

Stock android builds don't freeze. It's the dodgy manufacturers builds that do.
.

For the uninitiated, how does one manage to obtain a phone with a "stock" android build?

 

[Steve-0]

You need to learn how to flash custom ROM's to your phone. i.e. Flash Root'ed kernel (jailbreaking of sorts) + Flash custom ROM (OS).

It's fairly simple but you need a little bit of computer knowledge. However there's a hell of alot of tutorials and how-to's all over the internet that will help because pretty much everyone that want's the "best" phone will buy android and flash custom firmware.

OR if your lucky enough, I think you can buy phones from places like MobiCity that haven't been touched by any telco. However they will still have HTC's/Samsungs/LG's version of android. Which usually isn't too bad, definitely better then being full of optus/vodafone/telstra apps and bullshit.

And a little shit stirring:

 

[LJohn]

iOS is simple to use which in it's own right makes it awesome. Pick up the phone and do normal phone stuff day in day out with zero hassles. But beyond that, it gets pretty bad.

????????

There are more apps available to iOS. The only area I have true experience in is music related apps, and in that area, most are iOS specific. They are also guaranteed to run on your hardware, since there aren't many devices to choose from. How in the hell is Android 'miles better'?

Android is good, but so is iOS. It's just a preference choice really.

 

[Ivan]

Steve-o, this probably deserves another thread but I like the HTC Sense ROM. I have just rooted my phone to get rid of all the Telstra shit, and I'm going to load the clean HTC Sense, unless you can suggest an awesome ROM I doubt know about?

I just bought my wife a Samsung Galaxy Nexus for $400, and whilst the phone is impressive, I do miss some things on the plain Ice Cream Sandwich that you get with the HTC Sense.

 

[Steve-0]

Since when do apps define an operating system? Lol apps are only as good as the joker developing them.

Maybe from your point of view both systems are equal but there not. I really couldn't be arsed pointing out why. Won't prove anything. Just from your last post I can tell you have zero understanding of how computers actually work.

Maybe for what you do apple is way better. For a lot of people apple is "better", hence why it is so succesful... but considering this thread turned into which phone is downright the best... it's android based... and it's the HTC One X running a custom ICS ROM. It's about as simple as that.

Of course everyones view of "best for them" is always going to be different. I'm just coming from a purely technical point of view as everything else is up for interpretation.

 

[LJohn]

Since when do apps define an operating system? Lol apps are only as good as the joker developing them.

Maybe from your point of view both systems are equal but there not. I really couldn't be arsed pointing out why. Won't prove anything. Just from your last post I can tell you have zero understanding of how computers actually work.

Maybe for what you do apple is way better. For a lot of people apple is "better", hence why it is so succesful... but considering this thread turned into which phone is downright the best... it's android based... and it's the HTC One X running a custom ICS ROM. It's about as simple as that.

Of course everyones view of "best for them" is always going to be different. I'm just coming from a purely technical point of view as everything else is up for interpretation.

I see apple being successful as a product of their marketing department and the 'indie' crowd making iPhones cool.

Computers are just a system carrying out simple problem solving at a high scale. It's the software that drives them. And the human that drives it. Computers are stupid.

No, apps don't make the phone. In general, I avoid apps like the plague since they just take up space and half of the gimmicks are completely useless. But saying android is more functional than iOS is ridiculous unless you can back it up. Android's source code is more open to alterations, sure. But behind what may seem like a GUI designed for a 3 year old, iOS and OSX for that matter are seriously powerful, well designed bits of software.

My hackintosh/windows tower seems to indicate I know my way around the guts of a computer. Considering I built it myself and spent the hours working through the kexts, editing them to run on my hardware. This was just as a bit of fun, since I knew Windows would run straight away, but it was worth it. Now I have the OSX installation stable, it's fantastic! But then again, anybody can google a few tutorials and consider themselves a superior resource in all things computers.

I'm really failing to see how android has more functionality than iOS. It can run flash? Is that it? It has more customisability? Are you getting that confused? You can customise a car, but that doesn't make for a better car.


ON-TOPIC: mtb1611. I think this has revealed that everything involving apple and an alternative will decay into childish argument. I think what you should do is ask your mates with the phones, consider your budget, consider what you want to use it for and make a decision on which phone you want. At that level, they are all excellent phones.

 

[Steve-0]

Unfortunately I have to drive 7hrs away for work at this ungodly hour and won't be back till Friday night. I'll edit this post with reasons why android > apple in the most objective way possible.

For starters though, computers are dumb. It all comes down to adding a 1 and a 0. So for hardware arguments I fail to see how iPhones are comparable. 1.2ghz dual core compared to 1.5ghz quad core with more RAM and other goodies? Confused....

 

[LJohn]

For starters though, computers are dumb. It all comes down to adding a 1 and a 0. So for hardware arguments I fail to see how iPhones are comparable. 1.2ghz dual core compared to 1.5ghz quad core with more RAM and other goodies? Confused....

The way apple OSes are designed is to use the minimum amount of system resources idling, since they are a Darwin UNIX kernel (I don't know the specifics and don't care). OSX only loads a driver when it is required, and stops the process once it is no longer required. Windows loads all drivers at boot so it's pulling a larger load all the time. If you use Windows without many peripherals and are diligent in uninstalling unecessary programs, it will run well. But I, like most people, get a bit lazy and can't be bothered investing too much time in cleaning up Windows. OSX's efficiency was more important when CPUs weren't as beastly as today, since media editing tends to suck up CPU quick. Nowadays, having that little bit more CPU available to me helps a lot with big projects, but Windows can do just as well in most applications (Logic Pro is OSX only. I'm stuck). The more drivers are installed on Windows, the more system resources it consumes at idle. It is also important to note that most drivers (excluding printers) are already installed on OSX.

I know a very limited amount about phone OSes, because they're phones, not overly useful to me as a production tool. But iOS is designed to be fantastic out of the box. The reason it is so popular is the same reason Android is great and the same reason people are moving gradually towards macs. Android takes some time and effort. People hate time and effort. If you're putting it down to hardware numbers alone, apple wouldn't be selling anything, since on paper, it easy to buy a non-apple computer or phone that outstrips it performance wise. But have you used iOS or OSX lately? They may not give the same sense of 'I spent hours fiddling with system files to get this running like a charm', but they run well out of the box.

As a further disclaimer. I love my S2. I think it's fantastic. I run it pretty lean and the battery life is great! It will inevitably degrade, but so far I'm using max 40% in a day. I think Android is fantastic. I'm willing to spend some time to get it running perfect, if it even needs it. But I also think iOS is fantastic. I think the 4S is a great phone. If you are pinning it on hardware numbers alone, nobody would buy a 4S since they cost so damn much.

I'm trying to argue that both are great. Not that android is bad. Android is fantastic. But it's not better than iOS in every way, nor is iOS better than android in every way. They are just different.

Reiterating. They are both fantastic phones. I have an S2 and think it's great.

Good luck with the 7 hour drive. Stay safe man. That's a pretty rough run to do in the middle of the night.

 

[Steve-0]

As a further disclaimer. I love my S2. I think it's fantastic. I run it pretty lean and the battery life is great! It will inevitably degrade, but so far I'm using max 40% in a day. I think Android is fantastic. I'm willing to spend some time to get it running perfect, if it even needs it. But I also think iOS is fantastic. I think the 4S is a great phone. If you are pinning it on hardware numbers alone, nobody would buy a 4S since they cost so damn much.

I'm trying to argue that both are great. Not that android is bad. Android is fantastic. But it's not better than iOS in every way, nor is iOS better than android in every way. They are just different.

This is pretty much my view. My problem is I focus on numbers and performance, and apple never delivers (since iPhone 1-2). I spend alot of time tweaking my new phone or PC, usually takes a day each which is a massive headache. Once it's running though, it's awesome and can do anything.

Window's doesn't really run like Android but I understand the point. Minimal resources (RAM & Cache) aren't always the best way to go, but minimum CPU load usually is paramount. Phone OS's still work the same as traditional OS's as they are full blown PC's just smaller. Both devices obviously focus on battery life and multitasking though.

I find Multi-tasking harder on iOS and the ability to turn on/off wifi/data/wifi hotspot/screen brightness/anything in 2 touches is a big win in my book. Both systems do the same stuff as each other but Android is quicker and easier to navigate I find, Maybe iOS 5 will finally have widgets?

There's probably an iPhone App for everything but I can also view every single program that's run while it's been off charge and how much battery it used up. Data usage is recorded in any time frame and System proccesses are logged similar to "task manager" in windows. Mobile network options and wifi options are also very deep. It's even got 5Ghz wifi which I was suprised to find only the iPad has. Also the inherit benefit of using a Google OS is everything Google is synced perfectly. Apple has itunes + iCloud obviously but the "connected" vibe no longer has such a big benefit on the iPhone.

The biggest pro I think it Open Source vs Closed. People can write Apps to do pretty much anything you can think of on Android. Literally anything. But on iOS I beleive it's a fair bit harder, however I'm not sure as I haven't used "illegal" apps on an iPhone.

On the other hand, iOS's design is beautiful and all the apps are fast to load and use. Everything is simple and never/rarely has any hiccups. You also don't need to carry around an iPod anymore (which I do).

If I didn't browse the web and check emails on my phone I'd have a Nokia C2-00. Battery lasts for 11 days!

 

[LJohn]

On the other hand, iOS's design is beautiful and all the apps are fast to load and use. Everything is simple and never/rarely has any hiccups. You also don't need to carry around an iPod anymore (which I do).
!

I use Winamp on my S2. It works well. I fully agree with the Google sync. I love having my contact's synced. Having the Wifi, brightness and silent mode controls a touch away are also a big plus.

You sum it up well. Apple, although they don't really need to, seem to spec pretty lean hardware for the price point. I've always assumed it was due to the testing stage duration. But they could benefit from a hardware bump.

I get a huge kick out of tweaking a system and finally getting it running stable. I know most people don't want to or can't learn how to set up and troubleshoot a system, but it's worth it.

If I wanted battery life, you're so right. A brick phone would be far superior. I like having the ability to search maps and the internet at any time.

And I know the retina screen is really nice, and it is, but that AMOLED. So good.

As a portable media solution though, I have to say the iPhone has it. Plus that camera. They also work very well with Macs. Hence why it's a toss up for me but I do not regret my decision to stick with Android so far.