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& I switched from an iPhone 4S to a Galaxy Nexus & back to an iPhone 5 , couldn't be happier. These posts are pointless. Whatever device works for you. All of t

by sami36 14y ago

& I switched from an iPhone 4S to a Galaxy Nexus & back to an iPhone 5 , couldn't be happier. These posts are pointless. Whatever device works for you. All of these platforms have strengths & weaknesses. You can make equally cogent cases for the upcoming Blackberry 10 or Windows Phone 8. The First iPhone was a significant leap in mobile computing, since then, the way I see it, it's been mostly polish. Google & MSFT caught up to the competition, RIMM retooled. The more competition the merrier. Google Now is amazing. iOS fluidity still has no equal. Google play automatic app updates are convenient. iOS apps polish is extraordinary. Windows Phone tiles are fantastic. BB contact integration is a thing of beauty...etc.

chunkyslink 14y ago
I didnt get the impression that the author was trying to convert me, just that he loved his new phone. I'm sure he would agree with you.
acchow 14y ago
The Galaxy Nexus is garbage. I went from 4S to Galaxy Nexus too and it infuriated me. The screen was unusable in sunlight, microphone and speaker quality were laughable, battery life is half the 4S, not-very-sensitive touchscreen, etc. Now on an HTC One X, which I like more than the iPhone. It doesn't have any of the quality issues of the GNexus.
- StavrosK 14y ago
  Odd, I got a Galaxy Nexus and it's the best phone I've ever had. To each his own, I guess.
  - dasil003 14y ago
    I have to agree with this sentiment. My wife has a 4S, but when I needed to upgrade my phone last spring, I didn't want to buy an iPhone mid-cycle. I got the Galaxy Nexus and was pleasantly surprised in all aspects. With ICS and especially JB, Android has really closed the gap to the point where I'm actually glad I don't have an iPhone because I'm a big Google ecosystem user and the better Gmail and Calendar apps tip the scales for me. GN is clearly inferior in build quality to an iPhone, but you have to be a bit of a snob to call it "garbage". It's solid hardware.
    - StavrosK 14y ago
      > GN is clearly inferior in build quality to an iPhone It's only inferior in visible quality (I've dropped it a lot and it barely has a scratch on it), but I'm okay with that because it costs half as much as an iPhone, which I think is very significant. You can get a top-of-the-line smartphone for $300. That's amazing.
      - taligent 14y ago
        > You can get a top-of-the-line smartphone for $300. That's amazing. Not sure why you think this. It is mid range phone by every benchmark (e.g. no LTE, battery life, screen quality) and it gets destroyed by the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 in every performance benchmark.
        StavrosK 14y ago
        Why are you comparing it to the iPhone 5? The current top-of-the-line Google smartphone, the Nexus 4 (which is what you should compare to the iPhone 5), also costs $300.
        bjustin 14y ago
        When the phone only goes up to 16 GB of non-expandable space, it's hardly top-of-the-line. It doesn't have LTE either. Neither of these matters too much now, but will reduce longevity compared to actual top-of-the-line phones, e.g. the Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5.
        pook1e 14y ago
        > no LTE Fair enough. > battery life Benchmarks never demonstrate typical use cases, which is especially true for battery life. Unless all you do is load web pages for hours on end at fixed intervals. Personally, I have better things to do with my time. Based on what I've witnessed with my Nexus 4 and iPhone 5s in my family, battery life is very comparible. > screen quality When compared to the iPhone 5, the Nexus 4 has better blacks, better contrast ratio, but poorer whites. Color reproduction could be calibrated better, but hey, this is just a mid range phone, right? http://www.anandtech.com/show/6440/google-nexus-4-review/6 http://www.anandtech.com/show/6440/google-nexus-4-review/6 > gets destroyed by the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 in every performance benchmark. Geekbench measures CPU performance, and the quad core Krait bests both the Galaxy S3 (quad core Exynos) and the iPhone 5 (dual core "Swift"). Galaxy S3: http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1488418 http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1488418 iPhone 5: http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1488555 http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1488555 Nexus 4: http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1488266 http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1488266 In fact, the quad core Krait is arguably the best CPU you can find in a smartphone, performance wise. The only existing (ARM-based) CPU that is better is the Exynos 5250 found in the Nexus 10 (dual core A15). The GPU is the Adreno 320, which absolutely wrecks the Mali GPU in the Galaxy S3. It still isn't as good as the PowerVR SGX543MP3 found in the iPhone 5, but calling it a mid range GPU is laughable. http://www.anandtech.com/show/6440/google-nexus-4-review/3 http://www.anandtech.com/show/6440/google-nexus-4-review/3 Seriously. You have no idea what you're talking about.
- jedahan 14y ago
  I have a One X, and get a lot of questions from people with iPhones. Its just a good phone to me, but everyone else seems impressed with the screen quality, photo quality, speed etc. I thought all phones were more or less in the same ballpark.
  - acchow 14y ago
    The screen is the immediately impressive quality about the One X. Photos are mediocre in good lighting/outdoors but excellent under very dim light. Speed is alright I guess, but runs out of ram more often than I'd like (thus clearing an app out of cache causing a reload when switching back to it). To me, the most impressive is its battery life. I've gone through too many Android phones with poor battery life. The (snapdragon) One X is the only Android phone with acceptable battery life to me. So it's either iPhone or One X. Everything else dies on me at some point in the afternoon/evening.
Mahn 14y ago
> iOS fluidity still has no equal I've been using the iPhone for a while before switching to a Nexus 4, and honestly there is nothing that feels more fluid on iOS than on a Nexus 4 running jelly bean 4.2.1.
- FireBeyond 14y ago
  And though some may view it as heresy, as someone who has always had a penchant for "high end" phones, has owned and used the 4S, S3, fluidity seems to be a "solved" problem - even on my latest phone, a Lumia 920 running Windows 8 (now my favorite device, despite the lacking ecosystem - the store is my least favorite aspect).
DigitalJack 14y ago
They are not pointless. I found it informative. I may pick up an android at some point in the future, and since I'm currently an iphone user, I found this point of view relevant.

by sami36 14y ago

chunkyslink 14y ago

I didnt get the impression that the author was trying to convert me, just that he loved his new phone. I'm sure he would agree with you.

acchow 14y ago

The Galaxy Nexus is garbage. I went from 4S to Galaxy Nexus too and it infuriated me. The screen was unusable in sunlight, microphone and speaker quality were laughable, battery life is half the 4S, not-very-sensitive touchscreen, etc. Now on an HTC One X, which I like more than the iPhone. It doesn't have any of the quality issues of the GNexus.

StavrosK 14y ago
Odd, I got a Galaxy Nexus and it's the best phone I've ever had. To each his own, I guess.
- dasil003 14y ago
  I have to agree with this sentiment. My wife has a 4S, but when I needed to upgrade my phone last spring, I didn't want to buy an iPhone mid-cycle. I got the Galaxy Nexus and was pleasantly surprised in all aspects. With ICS and especially JB, Android has really closed the gap to the point where I'm actually glad I don't have an iPhone because I'm a big Google ecosystem user and the better Gmail and Calendar apps tip the scales for me. GN is clearly inferior in build quality to an iPhone, but you have to be a bit of a snob to call it "garbage". It's solid hardware.
  - StavrosK 14y ago
    > GN is clearly inferior in build quality to an iPhone It's only inferior in visible quality (I've dropped it a lot and it barely has a scratch on it), but I'm okay with that because it costs half as much as an iPhone, which I think is very significant. You can get a top-of-the-line smartphone for $300. That's amazing.
    - taligent 14y ago
      > You can get a top-of-the-line smartphone for $300. That's amazing. Not sure why you think this. It is mid range phone by every benchmark (e.g. no LTE, battery life, screen quality) and it gets destroyed by the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 in every performance benchmark.
      - StavrosK 14y ago
        Why are you comparing it to the iPhone 5? The current top-of-the-line Google smartphone, the Nexus 4 (which is what you should compare to the iPhone 5), also costs $300.
        bjustin 14y ago
        When the phone only goes up to 16 GB of non-expandable space, it's hardly top-of-the-line. It doesn't have LTE either. Neither of these matters too much now, but will reduce longevity compared to actual top-of-the-line phones, e.g. the Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5.
      - pook1e 14y ago
        > no LTE Fair enough. > battery life Benchmarks never demonstrate typical use cases, which is especially true for battery life. Unless all you do is load web pages for hours on end at fixed intervals. Personally, I have better things to do with my time. Based on what I've witnessed with my Nexus 4 and iPhone 5s in my family, battery life is very comparible. > screen quality When compared to the iPhone 5, the Nexus 4 has better blacks, better contrast ratio, but poorer whites. Color reproduction could be calibrated better, but hey, this is just a mid range phone, right? http://www.anandtech.com/show/6440/google-nexus-4-review/6 http://www.anandtech.com/show/6440/google-nexus-4-review/6 > gets destroyed by the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 in every performance benchmark. Geekbench measures CPU performance, and the quad core Krait bests both the Galaxy S3 (quad core Exynos) and the iPhone 5 (dual core "Swift"). Galaxy S3: http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1488418 http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1488418 iPhone 5: http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1488555 http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1488555 Nexus 4: http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1488266 http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1488266 In fact, the quad core Krait is arguably the best CPU you can find in a smartphone, performance wise. The only existing (ARM-based) CPU that is better is the Exynos 5250 found in the Nexus 10 (dual core A15). The GPU is the Adreno 320, which absolutely wrecks the Mali GPU in the Galaxy S3. It still isn't as good as the PowerVR SGX543MP3 found in the iPhone 5, but calling it a mid range GPU is laughable. http://www.anandtech.com/show/6440/google-nexus-4-review/3 http://www.anandtech.com/show/6440/google-nexus-4-review/3 Seriously. You have no idea what you're talking about.
jedahan 14y ago
I have a One X, and get a lot of questions from people with iPhones. Its just a good phone to me, but everyone else seems impressed with the screen quality, photo quality, speed etc. I thought all phones were more or less in the same ballpark.
- acchow 14y ago
  The screen is the immediately impressive quality about the One X. Photos are mediocre in good lighting/outdoors but excellent under very dim light. Speed is alright I guess, but runs out of ram more often than I'd like (thus clearing an app out of cache causing a reload when switching back to it). To me, the most impressive is its battery life. I've gone through too many Android phones with poor battery life. The (snapdragon) One X is the only Android phone with acceptable battery life to me. So it's either iPhone or One X. Everything else dies on me at some point in the afternoon/evening.

Mahn 14y ago

> iOS fluidity still has no equal I've been using the iPhone for a while before switching to a Nexus 4, and honestly there is nothing that feels more fluid on iOS than on a Nexus 4 running jelly bean 4.2.1.

FireBeyond 14y ago
And though some may view it as heresy, as someone who has always had a penchant for "high end" phones, has owned and used the 4S, S3, fluidity seems to be a "solved" problem - even on my latest phone, a Lumia 920 running Windows 8 (now my favorite device, despite the lacking ecosystem - the store is my least favorite aspect).

DigitalJack 14y ago

They are not pointless. I found it informative. I may pick up an android at some point in the future, and since I'm currently an iphone user, I found this point of view relevant.