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The Samsung Galaxy SII has been the inflection point for me. Such a great device, beats the iPhone in hardware and matches it in software (except in polish of s

by mrich 15y ago

The Samsung Galaxy SII has been the inflection point for me. Such a great device, beats the iPhone in hardware and matches it in software (except in polish of some apps).

CountSessine 15y ago
Huh? Slower GPU, lower resolution screen, Pentile... that's better hardware? And Touchwiz? Really?
- mrich 15y ago
  SII does not have pentile. The screen is bigger and much brighter than the iPhone's, which is more useful to me than 300+ppi (which was only done for technical reasons anyway, to get backwards compatibility with the old apps due to the 2x factor) The phone is snappy no matter what you do (it's quite amazing to see 10+ app updates download and install in parallel, and complete in 30 seconds). GPU, I don't care about (not much of a gamer), Touchwiz I don't like either (I use the MIUI ROM). I agree for people without any tech expertise iPhone is still the best choice.
  - jackvalentine 15y ago
    Frankly I think using a custom rom wipes out all your arguments.
    - mrich 15y ago
      Using the custom ROM is more a matter of taste and not functionality. I don't like the design of Touchviz personally, but there are many people who do and use it.
  - CountSessine 15y ago
    SII does not have pentile Ah - my mistake. The screen is bigger and much brighter than the iPhone's, which is more useful to me than 300+ppi I don't watch movies on my iPhone, I mostly read text and surf the web - and type on the retina display looks much better than on the S2s that I've used. (which was only done for technical reasons anyway If by that you mean that type looks much better than at 800x480, then yes, this was done for technical reasons. The phone is snappy no matter what you do We have a different definition of snappy. it's quite amazing to see 10+ app updates download and install in parallel, and complete in 30 seconds I agree. And IOS 5 does this too. I agree for people without any tech expertise iPhone is still the best choice. Your condescension is misplaced. I have 20 years of programming experience and am currently employed as an embedded systems engineer. I want a smartphone that just works, and my 4S fits the bill. Android in a carrier flavor, in my experience, is dreadful. Android on a nexus device works well enough - its just not as good as iOS. It's not that Gingerbread is bad - its just that IOS 4 is better, and IOS 5 widens that gap. I have no experience with ICS and neither do you, so we'll see whether this changes. It sounds as though perhaps Android has finally caught up - indeed, that's the whole point of this article. And while I've never installed a custom ROM on an android device, I've concluded that with all the glitchiness, poor battery life, and instability that my friends customized android phones suffer, this doesn't constitute a working smartphone. But if you really want an android device, more power to you. But when you say that an iPhone is still better for someone without any tech expertise, I certainly hope you're not implying that Android is necessarily better for anyone with tech expertise, because you'd be quite wrong.

by mrich 15y ago

The Samsung Galaxy SII has been the inflection point for me. Such a great device, beats the iPhone in hardware and matches it in software (except in polish of some apps).

CountSessine 15y ago

Huh? Slower GPU, lower resolution screen, Pentile... that's better hardware? And Touchwiz? Really?

mrich 15y ago
SII does not have pentile. The screen is bigger and much brighter than the iPhone's, which is more useful to me than 300+ppi (which was only done for technical reasons anyway, to get backwards compatibility with the old apps due to the 2x factor) The phone is snappy no matter what you do (it's quite amazing to see 10+ app updates download and install in parallel, and complete in 30 seconds). GPU, I don't care about (not much of a gamer), Touchwiz I don't like either (I use the MIUI ROM). I agree for people without any tech expertise iPhone is still the best choice.
- jackvalentine 15y ago
  Frankly I think using a custom rom wipes out all your arguments.
  - mrich 15y ago
    Using the custom ROM is more a matter of taste and not functionality. I don't like the design of Touchviz personally, but there are many people who do and use it.
- CountSessine 15y ago
  SII does not have pentile Ah - my mistake. The screen is bigger and much brighter than the iPhone's, which is more useful to me than 300+ppi I don't watch movies on my iPhone, I mostly read text and surf the web - and type on the retina display looks much better than on the S2s that I've used. (which was only done for technical reasons anyway If by that you mean that type looks much better than at 800x480, then yes, this was done for technical reasons. The phone is snappy no matter what you do We have a different definition of snappy. it's quite amazing to see 10+ app updates download and install in parallel, and complete in 30 seconds I agree. And IOS 5 does this too. I agree for people without any tech expertise iPhone is still the best choice. Your condescension is misplaced. I have 20 years of programming experience and am currently employed as an embedded systems engineer. I want a smartphone that just works, and my 4S fits the bill. Android in a carrier flavor, in my experience, is dreadful. Android on a nexus device works well enough - its just not as good as iOS. It's not that Gingerbread is bad - its just that IOS 4 is better, and IOS 5 widens that gap. I have no experience with ICS and neither do you, so we'll see whether this changes. It sounds as though perhaps Android has finally caught up - indeed, that's the whole point of this article. And while I've never installed a custom ROM on an android device, I've concluded that with all the glitchiness, poor battery life, and instability that my friends customized android phones suffer, this doesn't constitute a working smartphone. But if you really want an android device, more power to you. But when you say that an iPhone is still better for someone without any tech expertise, I certainly hope you're not implying that Android is necessarily better for anyone with tech expertise, because you'd be quite wrong.